Introduction
Hello all! Welcome to the Khans of Tarkir Cube Update. Khans is one of my favorite sets in quite a while, not only for cube but for other forms of play as well. There are tons of cards to talk about so I am going to get right into it. Here we go!
I say that but I needed a quick aside first. Recently, I cut the all-in aggro plan in green because it was bringing the rest of the color down and wasn't played a bunch. It has worked wonders for green and I am going to do the same thing with black. Unless you are playing reanimation, you are only splashing black or playing it as a supplementary color. I am getting rid of the all-in aggro cards and replacing them with a sacrifice for value theme. This should help people actually try to draft black as a main color instead of always being a bridesmaid. One of my other cube friends, Phil, has tried this strategy to great success so I am going down a similar path.
Okay...and without further ado...
White
In Out
High Sentinels of Arashin is a sweet card that has been very strong in practice. Being able to make the rest of your creatures better is very good, especially when it makes itself stronger on the way and doesn't inhibit attacking. Its body is very respectable by itself already and it can make itself even stronger which makes it a great top deck. Very happy with this addition.
Calciderm games typically went the same way every time. Someone plays it and the opponent stares at it until it disappears. Usually it deals damage, maybe kills a creature and everyone goes along their way. That said, it's super boring and shroud is really un-fun. Upgrade on all accounts.
In Out
The value of Wingmate Roc lies entirely in how much you are able to trigger raid. In most decks playing this that should be almost every single time unless you play this with no other creatures in play. The token subtheme should make this even better since you have creatures you don't care about to attack with even if they die. Also, the life gain is a little better than I thought at first glance. It is an essentially free ability and that is the best kind of life gain since there is value in it but you don't want to pay more for it.
Yosei is a very powerful card but the problem is that it isn't all that good in an aggressive deck and the control decks just have better finishers now. That leaves it in a weird place where unless you are abusing the ability with sacrifice effects and reanimation, why are you playing it? I think this is a fine time to say goodbye to one more of the Kamigawa Dragons. Fortunately for black, Kokusho, the Evening Star is insane.
Didn't Make the Cut
Herald of Anafenza is so close to being great. If Outlast didn't need to tap, if it costed W instead of 2W, if you could Outlast at instant speed...so close. As is, this is most likely going to only outlast once and then become the most expensive Loam Lion ever. So much can go wrong for this that it's just not worth the investment. I really like the design though and one drops with late game value are always going to be looked at closely.
Blue
In Out
Clever Impersonator is amazing. Let's just run a quick list of what this can become. Creatures - the hallmark of any clone, very powerful but expected. Artifacts - probably the weakest of the options, especially when swords leave the cube shortly but still has its uses. Enchantments - this is huge. Almost all of the enchantments in cube are back breaking effects and being able to copy your opponent's will be great. Planeswalkers - only useful when copying your opponents due to the Legend rule but this is very powerful and should not be ignored. This card is incredibly versatile and I am excited to cast it in the future.
Wake Thrasher is the opposite of versatile. It is horrible defensively and only good when attacking. It doesn't have evasion other than being just immensely huge all the time. For three mana in blue that's not bad but it has never been interesting and there are plenty of times when this is really frustrating to draw and almost always is one of the last cards added to a deck. Pure upgrade for excitement and interesting...ness.
In Out
Kheru Spellsnatcher and Draining Whelk are pretty similar in that their base stats are underwhelming (but let's be honest Kheru Spellsnatcher is at least borderline playable while Draining Whelk is just abysmal without its ability). They both counter any spell but while Draining Whelk is best countering expensive spells so it can become an actual threat, Kheru Spellsnatcher is totally fine countering any spell since it can then re-cast it later. That is not only very different but it is way more fun and interesting. Of note is that you do not need the Spellsnatcher in play to re-cast the exiled card, so feel free to trade with other 3 toughness creatures and get more value.
In Out
Card draw spells are plentiful in cube but what I really enjoy about them are ones that do it in an interesting way or give you ancillary benefits like discarding cards or untapping all your lands...things like that. Dig Through Time, essentially, draws you two cards. However, being able to choose those two cards from among the top seven is ridiculous, especially at instant speed. The power is there. The real question is whether or not this is at all castable at a reasonable rate. I am happy casting this if I can cast it for four mana. Delving four cards is very simple, especially since blue is going to have instants/sorceries and other ways to get cards in the graveyard. Don't forget this is only Delve card in cube so you definitely won't have any other conflicting cards like you would in a standard Delve deck.
Fettergeist is weird. It's drawback turned out to be too significant in aggressive decks but it doesn't do enough as a control card. It's right in the middle at being good enough to play but always being slightly underwhelming. I also had a glut of three drops in blue so I wanted to cut one for the instant.
Didn't Make the Cut
Treasure Cruise would have to be consistently exiling four cards in order to be as good as Jace's Ingenuity, a card that is not in the cube. You are really going to have to be going all in on this in order to get a good enough rate. Like with Dig Through Time, that is very possible and even plausible to do. The thing is, it's just way less exciting. Lots of cards in the cube draw cards and this one is the least interesting. It's powerful, sure, but I don't think it's enough better than the existing options.
In Out
Quick reminder that I am getting rid of some of the cards that have no use outside of the all-in aggro decks. This would not be a swap I would be making otherwise. That said, Bloodsoaked Champion is a more versatile version of Vampire Lacerator. And by versatile, I of course mean bat-shit crazy good. It can trigger Raid itself and then come back the same turn it attacked, it works well in sacrifice decks and aggressive decks, and it doesn't damage you if your opponent is still at a healthy life total. Solid upgrade.
In Out
Grim Haruspex is another card that works very well in sacrifice decks but also is fully functional as a pure value card outside of them. The Morph here is silly because in a format without other morphs you are literally never casting this face down. That's fine as it doesn't make the card any worse than it is.
Nantuko Shade is something that loses a lot of value outside of super heavy black decks and I have never seen one of those to begin with. Gotta add cards the cube needs instead of things that would only be good if the color didn't need any more help.
In Out
Viscera Seer works as a sac outlet. However, it is very reasonable as a fair card just to manipulate your library. In response to removal or other tricks this can give you a slight bonus at a very low cost. This is especially true if you need to dig for something since it can sac itself as well. It routinely over performs when I have seen it in play.
Knight of Infamy is not a bad card but as I am slowly removing all the shroud and protection from the cube, this is a good opportunity to get rid of it.
In Out
Xathrid Necromancer doesn't seem like it would be that great since there isn't a Human tribal theme but a lot of creatures just happen to be humans and since it makes a Zombie token off of itself, it is worth quite a bit already. You don't need to make many tokens for this to be worthwhile.
In Out
Braids is yet another card supporting the new theme. A powerful build around me card, Braids isn't the most fun to play against sometimes but oh god is she fun to play with. I can see her getting switched around if future cards look more exciting but I want to give her a go-round at least once.
I never really found that the mana from Crypt Ghast mattered that much because there just weren't enough ways to use that much excess mana. The Extort was nice but the body is horrible. Don't feel bad about this one at all.
In Out
Blood Artist is a win condition it the right deck and even in any deck it can get a ton of value for only two mana. Sure, it doesn't attack or block but that ability is very powerful.
Vampire Interloper is another all-in aggressive card that was pretty marginal most of the time.
In Out
Drana is very powerful and has rarely disappointed but oh my god is Mikaeus more fun and interesting. It's a good finisher that works really well with others and is ridiculous in the sacrifice deck. Exciting stuff.
In Out
Attrition has always been good enough and now is its time to shine. A very powerful effect that is way better than anything Sarcomancy can provide now that we don't care about the token.
In Out
Stupor has rarely been much better than Mind Rot which is the definition of butts in cube. Curse of Shallow Graves provides a unique effect that scales pretty well. Two free zombies and you probably feel great about having casted it for only three mana. Just remember to make sure you enchant your opponent with this so you get the Zombies.
Didn't Make the Cut
Murderous Cut is just another removal spell, of which the cube has enough. It's not better than any of the current options as they all cost two mana anyway. Great card in general but just not needed.
Red
In Out
The three drops in red are actually not all that exciting for a color that, when working on all cylinders, peaks at four mana. Flamespeaker has been quite a bit better than I thought at first when looking at the results from other people's cubes. I am now willing to try it out and I am hopeful about it.
Wrecking Ogre was super great when the bloodrush mattered and a bit disappointing when it didn't. Also, there was a slight glut in the more expensive spells in red so I wanted to lower the curve a little bit. It was clearly the worst five drop in red.
In Out
Fire Imp has been a cube staple for years and still holds a spot in most lists. This is the first time I have added it since I want some better three drops and am willing to experiment a little bit.
Manic Vandal is good but not great and there are plenty of artifact destruction spells now that it isn't really that important. This is especially true since swords are coming out and those were 80% of the reason I needed such a glut of artifact removal. I think everyone wins once those come out. Just have no idea what to replace them with.
In Out
War-Name Aspirant is a very good two drop. That evasive ability is nice because it allows this to ignore tokens and walls even if you don't trigger Raid. That said...the raid ability is a nice addition that should almost always get triggered. I feel like this is a rotating two drop that they just keep making a little better so I actually wouldn't be surprised to see it get upgraded shortly in the future. Either way it's good enough for now.
Ogre Battledriver is good and was never disappointing. That said, I had too many four drops and not enough cheaper drops. This is purely because it was the weakest of the four drops.
Ogre Battledriver is good and was never disappointing. That said, I had too many four drops and not enough cheaper drops. This is purely because it was the weakest of the four drops.
In Out
Sarkhan is probably the best red planeswalker in cube. He acts mostly as a split card where one side is a removal spell when you need it and the other side is a freaking Stormbreath Dragon. Seriously, that is just nuts. The ultimate is one of my favorite type of ultimates that doesn't just win the game so they can make it realistic to actually attain.
Chandra, the Firebrand is really cool when you have a card to copy and does literally nothing when you don't. It's usually just not worth the mana since at most you can copy one spell. This is a pretty huge upgrade.
Didn't Make the Cut
Valley Dasher is fine. It would be a slam dunk a couple of years ago but just isn't that exciting now. The attacks each turn if able really isn't that bad because let's be honest, that's what it was going to do anyway. The best two drops are either evasive or give some sort of extra value. Haste is nice but just not quite there.
I had a lot of success with Jeering Instigator at the prerelease but even there it was really swingy. The morph ability loses a ton of value in cube where the body is just awful either way for the cost. I really like the ability but the card falls just a bit short.
In Out
Vorapede has been very good in other lists and he is a welcome addition. The undying works well in the sacrifice theme and makes him very difficult to interact with in combat. I like him a lot.
Kalonian Hydra is a big dumb guy that attacks. I knew this when I added him and it is still true. Vorapede is on a similar power level and is more interesting. Easy swap.
In Out
Hooded Hydra is pretty cool. It adds tokens and is very resilient since they are on a death trigger. I don't know how often you are going to morph this vs. playing it out but it becomes pretty good in a ramp deck too since it is dual purposed. I think this is likely to overperform on average.
Getting rid of more protection guys in this update since they are butts. Pro black was the only thing ever relevant on this card since there were limited tribal interactions and that was always one of the main draws for Chameleon Colossus. Always just felt the worst when someone played this and you stared at your black deck and just felt bad for drafting a color. Protections = butts.
Didn't Make the Cut
I really like this card a lot but I just don't think it's better than the existing options in either aggressive or ramp decks. It kind of does both but it does both awkwardly. Unless you are ramping to six or seven the ramp ability is frustrating because it comes at the cost of two turns. The mana fixing is nice but not terribly necessary since that color combination isn't really ever played to begin with. It is interesting but not superb.
Didn't Make the Cut
I definitely think that Winterflame is strong enough for cube. The problem is that it also isn't better than the existing options. I could cut something like Ral Zarek or Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, but those are the only two cards in Izzet that do something different. This is similar back to when I cut Terminate, not because it was weak or disappointing but because it was just too redundant.
In Out
Speaking of redundancy. Utter End is an upgraded version of Mortify. I will add an extra colorless mana to widen the range of targets, gladly.
Didn't Make the Cut
This Sorin is both worse than Sorin, Lord of Innistrad and equally unexciting. It just makes tokens and boosts your team. I like that you can use the first ability to block favorably the following turn but that's about all that piques my interest. Again, not a power-level concern but a concern about variance of play and fun.
In Out
Siege Rhino is kind of insane, actually. That body (with trample) is ridiculous for the cost and the CITP effect is also very strong, especially with any blink. I can easily see a scenario where Abzan Charm is switched in for this later but the two cards are so close that I wont' know until I try them out and get more raw data. (See Abzan Charm discussion below).
Either way...both of these options are better than Ghave. Ghave is probably the best of the old Wedge cards in the cube but even then it was always a little slow and clunky. It is super versatile but always seems just a little weaker in play that it looks at first glance. All of the wedge updates are going to be huge upgrades, but this is probably the smallest of them aside from Jeskai.
In Out
I am adding in all five of the Khans of Tarkir tri-lands and taking out all five Lorwyn Vivid Lands. This is an upgrade in terms of both narrowing the color fixing and making the decisions more challenging while drafting. Experienced players would take any vivid land even if it was completely off-color because it was essentially two free mana whenever you wanted it and then colorless mana when you don't need to color fix. I think the restriction of three colors is still very strong but much more interesting.
Didn't Make the Cut
Anafenza, the Foremost is a large body for the cost and the counter ability is nice but it isn't really that exciting. The last ability is mostly flavor text until it randomly hoses some graveyard based deck. I don't like valuing this type of hosing too highly but I like it when its tacked on for free as it is here. A solid card but the two other options are even stronger and I have only one slot.
Abzan Charm and Siege Rhino go hand in hand. I think Abzan Charm is stronger but it is very, very close. I can easily see making this change sometime down the road since Abzan charm does everything I could hope for in a card other than be exciting to open and build a deck around.
In Out
I think if Lightning Angel didn't already exist, then I would feel a lot more confident that Mantis Rider was the correct call here. It is very powerful, much like Lightning Angel was. I will gladly trade a point of toughness for a mana cheaper since it's whole job is to get in there and fight. It blocks a little more weakly but....also...look at the art! He's flying on a Mantis!
In Out
Same explanation as before.
Didn't Make the Cut
This charm is probably the weakest of the wedge charms. The removal option is the only exciting one (unless you are killing them) since paying for the last ability will be powerful but not exciting. The middle ability is also not exciting. I am sure this is good but man is it just underwhelming to look at.
I almost added Narset. I really did. I really really did. She is really fun, interesting to build around and very powerful in the right deck. The problem is that deck is going to be pretty tough to build in cube. You can't rely on counterspells or mass removal because neither are casted with her ability. Burn spells, card draw and other value spells still work....removal...kind of? It depends on the board state. You aren't combo-ing off like you would in a constructed deck so everything else is too dependent on factors you can't control. I love this card but cube isn't the right place for it.
In Out
If Jeskai shows the smallest improvement this is pretty clearly the biggest. Butcher of the Horde is absolutely bonkers. It furthers the sacrifice plan, is a massive evasive body for a reasonable cost and is a single card wrecking machine. This will end games in the future. Guaranteed.
Tariel is a million mana and not all that great. Not much else to say.
In Out
Same explanation as before.
Didn't Make the Cut
Mardu Charm and Zurgo are both powerful but neither are in the same league as the Butcher. I only have one slot so that is where it goes. I think Zurgo is the closer of the two simply because it is more obviously powerful and exciting to open in a pack. That really does count for something with these gold cards. It's not everything, obviously. If the Charm was bonkers insane I'm not going to not add it because it's just a charm...see Bant Charm or Sultai Charm. There are more exciting cards but those ones are very, very much better than the other options. Just something to think about when evaluating cards for cube.
In Out
Sultai Charm is everything I want in a charm. It has one mode that you might not play that often (the middle one) but when you do it will be because you absolutely positively need to...and that often will make it the best card you could draw in your deck at those times. The other two abilities are awesome, creature destruction and card advantage. Add in that you get to discard a card in a wedge that cares about graveyards and this one just does it all.
I have played with Damia a couple of times and she has really never been awesome. She is very difficult to cast and is not a great body for the cost. The deathtouch usually isn't relevant since she is a 4/4 so you are really paying for the ability to draw cards only. Too clunky.
In Out
Same explanation as before.
Didn't Make the Cut
Like Narset, I really like Sidisi and look forward to brewing with her in constructed. That said, she is also not super exciting for cube. She isn't bad but in limited you can only really trigger that ability so many times and you had better be getting value on them almost always because she isn't winning any combats any time soon. In constructed you can carve a deck out where that might not be true since you can have other ways to get cards in your graveyard but that probably won't happen in cube.
In Out
Savage Knuckleblade is really wonderful design when you think about it. The big knock on gold cards has always been "well when can you reasonably cast this card and how good is it if you don't curve out properly into it". The answer for Savage Knuckleblade is "actually better than if you curve out perfectly into it sometimes". Extra mana gives you haste, more gives you pump potential or protection. Even more gives you all of it. If you DO curve out then you get a great body for the cost and a very dangerous creature if it's not dealt with immediately. Being able to do all of these abilities at instant speed is great because it blocks just as well as it attacks. Love this guy.
Guided Passage is a pet card that isn't really that powerful but is a ton of fun to actually cast. I don't know where else this card fits but I would like to get it into a deck at some point just because it is so fun to cast and look through your deck and make decisions. Clearly it is not as powerful or exciting as the new contenders from Khans though.
In Out
Same explanation as before.
Didn't Make the Cut
Surrak Dragonclaw was the next man out, just behind Savage Knuckleblade. The difference here is that I am not a huge fan of can't be countered when it comes to cube since it's either worthless or feel bad for your opponent. Other creatures have trample is also really wishy washy so you are actually paying for a huge flash body. That is very good but way less exciting and fun to play than Knuckleblade.
I am actually not a huge fan of Temur Charm. It's good...all charms are in some fashion, but it's way less exciting. The removal option (while flavorful and good design) is just worse than the other charms. The counter spell is fine but not what I want to be doing with the mana. The last ability is a finisher ability that can win games. The problem with Temur Charm is that it doesn't accomplish what I want in a Charm. My favorite charms are ones that you can cast at any point in a game regardless of board states and get value. This is almost entirely dependent on board state to be successful. Not bad, but not nearly good enough.
Jeez! That was a long one. I have no idea what to look forward to in the next set (Fate Reforged) but I can't wait to find out. My only hope is that it is as intriguing as Khans when it comes to limited play and cube. Got thoughts or concerns about my cuts and additions? Let me know on facebook or in the comments and we can talk it out. I definitely am open to having my mind changed about cards. Likewise if I didn't discuss a card you think is interesting. Until next time...
Enjoy!
