Continuing in the trend of recent sets, Fate Reforged supplied a surprising amount of intrigue to cubes. Most of this came in what to do with the off-color hybrid activation creatures. Some cubers are going to classify them as gold cards, others hybrid, and others yet as some sort of colorless section. I am going to discuss them in the monocolor sections. Any that make the cut will be added into the monocolor section that is in their casting costs, taking their activation costs into account not at all. My reasoning for this is that you physically can't cast them if you don't use their main color so that has to be included. The fact that it is a hybrid activation means that it will be used in multiple types of decks including three color decks that don't include all three colors at all. Therefore, I am going to only include cards whose merits WITHOUT the activation are respectable, treating the ability as a bonus. I do not expect them to be cube-worthy without the ability. I only ask that they are not embarrassing to play by themselves in the turns where the ability is not being activated. But we have lots of other cards to talk about including a couple extra surprises. Here we go!
White
In Out
Mardu Woe-Reaper is the next in a long line of cube worthy 2/1 for W with marginal upside. The more of these that white aggro decks have the better for those decks. As is, I imagine we will eventually get to the point where these are not exciting anymore but we aren't there yet...in red either for that matter.
Soltari Monk is a card that people just absolutely love to play in decks that aren't all about attacking. I just don't get it. Every time it's played against me it gets in there for about six damage and then I am able to ignore it, kill it or swing through it for the win. The only time it's threatening is when it's holding equipment. If it costed 1W instead of WW it really would make a huge difference. As is, it doesn't, and I am pretty excited about getting rid of it for another aggressive option in white.
In Out
Monastery Mentor is quite strong. It's not going to be as busted as it could be in constructed due to critical spell density not being the same in limited. As is, you really only need to trigger the ability once or twice for the tokens to become pretty annoying. This is very difficult to attack into and acts as a very powerful threat with any sort of anthems.
Linvala was always one word away from being insanely good. That word is triggered. If she shut down those abilities instead of activated ones she would be ridiculous. Alas, she does not, and the amount of activated abilities worth shutting off are very low. They do exist, it's just not enough to warrant including a card that without that ability is kind of boring. It's not bad as it has a nice body, but it's not particularly great either.
In Out
Soulfire Grand Master is the first of the hybrid activation cost creatures and boy is it a doozy. This is a very respectable body without the hybrid ability and giving your burn spells lifelink is quite good in a Boros deck even if it is mostly irrelevant elsewhere. The hybrid ability works equally well in both red and blue albeit differently. In red it is going to buy back burn spells to kill your opponent while in blue it is going to likely be counterspells and card drawing that is copied over and over. Either way can easily lead to victory and this is a lot of power to pack into such a cheap package.
Daring Skyjek was okay but that's about it. The 3/1 body is very poor as in cube there is always something around that can either kill it or trade down with it and that's not what this card is trying to achieve. The battalion ability came up once or twice but it's really easy to turn off if you aren't relying on tokens as oftentimes it caused you to suicide your creatures into blockers for the sake of getting an extra 3 damage in there. That is fine for certain decks but most were hesitant to include it.
In Out
Valorous Stance is an unassuming card that packs a lot of diversity into a cheap package. Neither of these effects are particularly notable by themselves but together they support numerous strategies as aggressive decks will want to protect their best threats while not having this be a blank against creature matchups. That's the biggest thing here, it's never a blank, it's just great value.
I thought about cutting Devouring Light here until I realized that Condemn is very similar but just not as good. The major difference being that Devouring Light hits blockers or attackers while Condemn is only good defensively. If you have someone on their heels they aren't going to be attacking you so Condemn loses value. The life gain clause is also pretty frustrating for aggressive decks as that could potentially be an entire extra turn of life for your opponent. Devouring Light costs about the same as the convoke doesn't really come into play too often beyond tapping one of your creatures that just came into play as couldn't attack yet. Either way, I wanted to get rid of a removal spell since I like the density in white right now as it is.
Didn't Make the Cut
Despite being really good in limited, Daghatar doesn't translate well to constructed or cube. His base body is fine but the ability is not going to be relevant beyond making himself weaker in response to removal. I guess he could act as the worse Mikaeus, the Lunarch you have ever seen. I mean, seriously, look at those two in comparison. This is a good card but not cube worthy.
Wandering Champion joins the list of 3/1 white creatures for 1W with a marginal upside. Wait, this sounds familiar. Oh yeah! We just cut Daring Skyjek from the cube and that is better than this guy. The ability is nice but it's just not enough to crack the two drop slot these days. Here's hoping for one of these to actually be exciting soon since it seems clear at this point they are comfortable experimenting.
Didn't Make the Cut
Citadel Siege could be good enough. It could be. I don't think it is but I would not be surprised if other people try it out and find it to be fine. The biggest problem that I have with it is that whatever mode you select at the time had better pan out in three turns, otherwise this is going to be super frustrating. I like that the Khans triggers at combat so you can play a creature first main phase and get it bigger instead of upkeep where you wouldn't have that option to recover to quickly. The Dragons is okay and will probably play better than it feels at the moment. I could see this going into the cube in a future update after getting data from others but for now I remain skeptical.
Lightform just isn't what you want to be doing in cube. Even if you look at this as a 2/2 flying lifelinker for 1WW with 50% of the time flipping, what deck wants this? Aggro decks are just going to flip their creatures into the same thing since they are all around the same power and toughness as the manifest token already. Control decks don't want the body. Mid-range decks? They get enough love by cards defaulting into their deck already that they don't need targeted help. No thanks.
In Out
Shu Yun really over performed when I played him in the Fate Reforged prerelease. I believe that his strengths will project favorably to cube play. Prowess doesn't need multiple triggers to be worthwhile and it works well in the color combination. The double strike ability is very strong as it can target any creature, not just itself. I don't think it's a slam dunk addition but I do think it's worth testing. Time will tell whether or not it sticks around.
Fatespinner was played and performed well. It wasn't oppressive but it was pretty irritating to deal with. The one thing it doesn't do is support any strategy currently implemented in blue or any other color. It's just a random griefer card. Those have their place but I think i would rather add a card that actively promotes a strategy.
In Out
Impulse is a card that I had never played with before using the Holiday Cube and it was quite strong. It's a little better in decks that are trying to combo out and while those exist I still think it can hold value as card selection even if its not actual card advantage. Either way, it's likely to get maindecked more than Braingeyser.
Braingeyser wasn't really ever played as better and cheaper card draw becomes available. It's just a little unwieldly. However, long live the creature-less Homles draft deck with this as its only win condition. Viva la resistance!
In Out
Torrent Elemental has a very nice power and toughness for the cost and the ability will make sure that your team always unblockable. That is quite strong without the situational colored ability. I can see this being played as the top end of an aggressive deck just because it absolutely has to be dealt with. Control decks are less likely to care about it as it is kind of reliant on having other creatures to really get the win. I think this could come out at some point but I want to see it in action in cube at least a couple of times so I have a better idea of what the average case scenario looks like.
Soul of Ravnica was just in the cube until they printed something that wasn't embarassing. Congrats Wizards! To review, 5UU is approximately equivalent to hard casting Emrakul...or at least it feels like it.
Didn't Make the Cut
Frost Elemental is an interesting creature as the drawback isn't really a drawback because of the 1 toughness. 90% of things that would be targeting this would already kill it anyway so in this case the IDTE rule is actually not a significant factor. The problem with this is that tokens are rampant in cube and any one of them would trade with this which leaves the Frost Elemental controller way behind. I can see this being useful in cubes that support blue tempo but do not have a strong token subtheme but, alas, mine does so this will have to sit on the sidelines.
Cloudform has a similar problem with Lightform. Blue creatures probably already have flying and I don't actively want to give them hexproof at all. Other than that the commentary is the same as to why this powerful card isn't the right fit in cube.
Didn't Make the Cut
Monastery Siege (like all the sieges) could be better than it appears at first glance. I literally have no idea how good the second ability is. I think you will choose the Khans ability more often than not since it supplies actual card selection as opposed to being totally reliant on your opponent's deck. However, against the right opponent I can see a deck wanting to use the Dragons too. This could go in the cube in a future update if it gets favorable results elsewhere but for now I want to hold on it.
Reality Shift is a lot like Pongify. Testing proved that giving your opponent a 3/3 was a real drawback and the manifested token is going to be so much worse some percentage of the time that I don't think this is going to get there. It's a powerful ability but I don't think this is something the cube needs or wants.
Didn't Make the Cut
Temporal Trespass doesn't actually do that much. Time Warp is probably just better due to it being easier to cast in a two color deck. Delving 8 is certainly possible but just taking an extra turn actually doesn't do as much as people seem to think it does. It's not busted until you start taking multiple extra turns, something this can't do since it exiles upon resolution.
In Out
Mardu Strike Leader makes some extra dudes which is strong for the token and sacrifice strategy but it also is a solid creature in its own right. The tokens stay behind to block or attack the following turn and the dash ability allows you to get an attack in when your opponent can't really plan around it. Dash has been very strong in practice since if people plan for the dashed creature you just don't cast it...you do something else or you can always hard cast the creature instead. Very difficult to play around.
Mogis's Marauders loses a lost a lot of value when I took the black aggro out of the cube. Creatures still attack but it's not the same kind of power. Also, black devotion isn't a thing either so this isn't really designed to work in the cube anymore. Gotta cut your loses when you can.
In Out
Brutal Hordechief works in any deck containing critical mass of creatures but also is insane with tokens. Note that you can use the ability without having to attack with Brutal Hordechief! This is a very powerful card with or without the ability but with it it is a potential game ender for aggressive decks.
I added Braids back in the cube to supplement the sacrifice strategy but it looks like I went a little heavy on the sacrifice cards and did not have proper support for the things to be sacrificed. Instead of focusing on sacrificing for abuse I should have been focusing on sacrificing for value. I think it's going to work out better like that.
In Out
I imagine that Tasigur is going to cost just B a large percentage of the time. There aren't a lot of cards with delve in cube so there won't be much competing with the resources this guy uses. One thing that makes this guy better is that sure he is strong early for his body but if you cast him late you can delve away cards you don't want to get back with his ability when you cast him. His ability is pretty slow and grindy but that's totally what these color combinations want to have in a card. I think this is one of the more powerful cards for black in a while even if it doesn't seem it at first glance. You are going to have less dead cards in cube than you might have in other formats so everything you get back should be very powerful.
Hexmage is a product of an age where there wasn't any good answers to planeswalkers and black aggro was a thing. Now, such answers exist and the BB casting cost is too restrictive for such a body.
In Out
I have been decidedly undecided on all of the Sieges (a trend that will continue) but I think this one is in a position to succeed even with my doubts. Raise dead isn't a particularly powerful effect but when you are able to do it every turn it quickly begins to spiral out of control as control decks will run out of answers while you will continuously start each turn by returning one of yours to your hand. If that doesn't seem promising you are still able to drain your opponent for 2 (or more depending on format) is really strong in decks looking for extra reach. It makes it difficult to race while giving you a clock that is difficult to interact with. I think this is going to be quite strong.
Makeshift Mannequin was consistently being left out of main decks in favor of either just another creature or a better reanimation effect that is more permanent. It's not particularly fast and the drawback is in fact a drawback as you are apt to be reanimating things that would otherwise not be able to be dealt with with a simple removal spell. You would think the instant speed would be more impactful but it just never was. I might look back on this and put this card back in and just force it into decks when I draft it but for now I think it needs a break to get a fresh perspective.
In Out
I definitely undersold Murderous Cut as compared to the other removal options. Specifically, edict effects as a whole are relatively underpowered in cube where tokens are running around and removal is less about small increments of value and tempo and more about answering specific threats as they are presented. Edict effects don't really do that. Chainer's Edict retains its value because of the flashback (albeit overcosted). In practice, the correct play was often to just fire off Diabolic Edict at the first available target and hope that was good enough. Sometimes it was, but I will still be looking forward to casting Murderous Cut much more.
In Out
I am always cautious about the density of wraths in my cube but Toxic Deluge has more often been a Duneblast than anything else...one that is splashable and costs 3 mana. That is bonkers. Sure, you have to pay life but it's a small cost when it means taking out a lot of other creatures that black otherwise has a lot of trouble dealing with. This is something black needed to deal with tokens and I am always on the lookout for cards that shore up a color's weaknesses.
"How could you take out Sorin Markov?! He was so OP" - said nobody ever. This guy sometimes got maindecked but was more often relegated to the sideboard because of his unwieldly casting cost. There is a certain amount of time that the middle ability was going to be really super important but the other percentage of the time this card is just worse than Palace Siege. I am all for taking out a planeswalker when it underperforms...even if that means black only has one left.
Didn't Make the Cut
I currently do not run Fleshbag Marauder and this is just worse than that due to the creature type difference. That won't matter much of the time at all but if I am not running Fleshbag then this is staying out. That said, again, if you are running Fleshbag in your cube this guy is a great source of redundancy.
I think some people are really high on Qarsi High Priest but I just don't see it. This reminds me of Stitcher's Apprentice in that it really doesn't add anything to the board that you don't already have. Sure, sometimes you are going to flip over something nasty with the manifest but you aren't adding to the board, you are maintaining. This is a lot of value for a one drop so this might be egg on my face but I don't think it's good or fast enough especially since it's own body is irrelevant.
Didn't Make the Cut
Having just added Toxic Deluge I certainly wasn't going to add another wrath to black without cutting one. I just think that the current options are better than Crux of Fate. I think people are seriously underestimating it in standard but cube is not standard. It would still be very strong in cube and I would not fault others for including it, I merely am happy with my removal in black at the moment.
In Out
I'm not convinced that Alesha is going to be a definitive cube card but I think it's solid enough as a roleplayer to include. The ability is very strong in the Rakdos sacrifice deck as it continuously gives you fodder and value. In the Boros aggressive deck, Alesha becomes a must answer because you can just suicide attack your creatures into blockers to get as much damage through as possible. The thing about her that shines is that her body is perfectly acceptable as it is, without the ability. It's not going to set the world afire but a 3 power first striker is dangerous in combat. The three drops in red are a bit lacking as it is so I am happy to get an exciting one.
The Soul cycle turned out to be kind of a bust for cubes. This wasn't exactly surprising since we all knew they weren't on the power level of titans going into things but it was still a little disappointing. The cards are just too slow and mana intensive. The white titan is still good enough but that's probably it. I am just happy to lower the curve in red, here.
In Out
Goblin Heelcutter accomplishes the same thing as Pyreheart Wolf but with a different skill set. Instead of being highly resilient on a useless body, it now actually has power and toughness and straight out prevents one creature form interacting in combat. I think Pyreheart Wolf is still good but it's a little slower than Heelcutter which gains haste with Dash and that is what pushes it over the top here.
In Out
Stoke the Flames allows red decks to maximize their mana while still committing to the board. That is great value. This will probably cost two or three on average as I expect to cast a cheap creature and then burn them out with the convoke from that same creature. It also has the advantage of giving value to smaller creatures stuck in play after something has stuck on the opposing side they can't attack through.
Comet Storm is slow, clunky and inefficient mass removal I am happy to have leaving. It's just not necessary and what it does isn't efficient enough to warrant inclusion anymore. If I am going to cast 2RR I would much rather deal 4 damage than 2 split in most cases.
In Out
Kher Keep got some good reviews in other cubes and it gives red a grindy option for the sacrifice strategy. I really think this is a little out of place but every time I have seen it in play it was frustratingly impressive. I think it's worth a closer look.
Urza's Rage is probably the worst burn spell remaining in cube as 99.9% of the time it is 3 damage for 3 mana which is...fine...but just fine. The kicker never comes into play and it's not worth including otherwise. Time to stop holding on to unrealistic dreams of pure value.
In Out
Shaman of the Great Hunt originally wasn't going to be included because it's just not as strong as the other options at four mana like Hellrider and Hero of Oxid Ridge. Then I realized that Rakka Mar is actually a five drop since that is when you will be able to make a token. The fact that she has haste only means you can attack with her if you only have four mana. That is hardly impressive. Shaman has two more power and the non-irrelevant condition to put counters on creatures and make the tiny threats more respectable. I do not think that the card draw ability will be all that relevant but if it is even sometimes relevant then that is a huge bonus. I will enjoy finding out.
Didn't Make the Cut
The strength of Mardu Scout is almost entirely dependable on how good it is when you Dash it because having to pay for a 3/1 by casing RR is pretty terrible in cube. I am betting on the fact that it's not worth as much as it does elsewhere because of the tokens in red. Dash, on average, has turned out to be much more powerful than I had at first thought so these cards are something to keep an eye on.
I love shock variants but damage prevention isn't really a thing so it is mostly just an actual Shock. We need an actual upgrade in order to be cube worthy. Maybe next time.
In Out
Didn't Make the Cut
Outpost Siege, like the other sieges, is very interesting. The Khans ability is very powerful in a longer game as it acts like a pseudo-Phyrexian Arena but instead of losing life you have to cast the spell that turn. This is a very powerful effect that gives slower red decks a lot more reach than just another burn spell. The Dragons ability is very narrow as it is only good in token strategies and even then only if you lose your creatures. I guess it adds a little incremental value to the sacrifice deck but it doesn't seem like this mode will be used nearly as much as the Khans one. My inclination is that this is a little too slow for cube play in red but it's a powerful enough ability to keep my eye on.
This was my original thoughts on Outpost Siege. Then I realized that even when I am trying to talk it down, the card advantage seems insane. Even if the Khans ability is the only mode that gets used it's one mana more than Phyrexian Arena but is splashable and does not cost you life. If you flip a land you just play it and don't feel bad at all. If you flip a spell why would you feel bad about casting it? The only time this isn't insane is if you flip a card you don't have mana for but...idk...don't play 8 drops in your Outpost Siege deck (or vice versa)
Wheel of Fate never made it into a single cube deck in its entire existence. I don't think anyone ever said "Man, where was Wheel of Fate when I needed one" either. Moving on...
Flamewake Phoenix is not better than Chandra's Phoenix as the ability on the Flamewake is much less likely to be triggered. It is better if it does get triggered as it comes straight back into play to attack right away. A quick look at cube shows that ferocious isn't all that easy to trigger. Likely, you aren't going to have that many cards in your deck that will trigger this and while, technically, you only need to have one....I just don't see that it is all that likely. The bigger, slower decks that would benefit from this probably have better options and I don't want to cast it in a super aggressive red deck without the Ferocious ability. Close, but not quite.
In Out
Yasova Dragonclaw is both easier to cast and a much bigger threat than Troll Ascetic. It's clearly not as good without the ability but when you are playing a green deck it shouldn't be too difficult to spread out into other colors. It also gives a real threat for Simic decks which are a little underplayed in cube. The ability itself is very powerful when you have the ability to do it in consecutive turns. It prevents your opponent from playing a huge blocker or relying on a single threat. I really like the sheer power this card boasts. Green three drops are pretty disappointing as a whole so I am hoping this is a step in the right direction.
You have no idea how excited I am to finally get a decent three drop in green. Troll Ascetic was only really very good with equipment and irritating to no end due to the hexproof otherwise. Yasova is much more offensive and interesting, even if it is just as mana intensive.
In Out
Whisperwood Elemental has received great reviews in other cubes and I don't think it will lose any steam in mine. The last ability is a particularly powerful ability that will only be relevant against some matchups. However, it is going to be game changing in those instances. The ability to automatically recover from a wrath and keep swinging is very powerful when it's more or less tacked on to an already imposing threat. The first ability is really where it's at as it gives you an ever growing army at the low low cost of not letting your 4/4 die. Sure, removal spells exist but welcome to cube. This does enough.
Bellowing Tanglewurm loses a lot of value when you take away green aggro because green goes from having a lot of reasonably sized creatures to fewer, more threatening ones. Intimidate is less needed on threats that aren't going to be profitably blocked anyway so I think it's time for a different kind of green fatty.
Didn't Make the Cut
Warden of the First Tree fails the requirements of being at least marginally plausible without its abilities. A 1/1 for G is the definition of embarrassing and even with the abilities it's super mana intensive and slow. You need to curve out with both lands and colors of mana in order for this to be any good and the second ability is fairy not helpful in cube for the mana input it requires. Lastly, this isn't even a green card due to the specific mana and it's certainly not good enough to crack any of the gold sections even at 8 cards deep. I am willing to have the egg on my face if I am wrong but I don't think I am.
Frontier Siege is probably the only siege I am really confidant is not good enough. The Dragons ability is horrible since no green creatures are going to have flying and the Khans ability is fine but not worth the mana input. I guess if you are playing a Simic deck you can draw cards on your first upkeep, cast them on your second or actually gain advantage from your Dragons ability due to the density of fliers. Either way, I don't want to add this into green knowing it is actively not useful in that color. Color me unimpressed.
In Out
Ugin is incredibly powerful in the right deck. The right deck being any deck that can survive to 8 mana in cube. That is going to be every control or ramp deck where this is going to be an absolute all-star. The thing that makes this so good is that it is great in any scenario. Ahead on the board? Free lightning bolts for everyone. Way behind? Time to destroy all the meaningful permanents in play. This is very powerful and is probably the easiest inclusion in the cube in quite some time.
Steel Hellkite was just another expensive finisher that happens to share a similar board wipe ability with Ugin. I don't want these floating all over the place and I like Ugin more. Don't want infinite six drops in cube so if I add something expensive I always try to cut something expensive to keep the mana costs down. I was never disappointing with Steel Hellkite but I think it's the weakest of the expensive colorless spells.
Didn't Make the Cut
After much consultation, I believe this is strong enough for cube. The body is very large and very difficult to deal with while the ability is a nightmare for certain decks as it destroys combat math and outright kills many tokens. The problem is, I don't like hexproof as a rule and I really don't think anyone is going to be clamoring to play against this guy, it just seems painful. This might come in later if I am unsatisfied with a finisher in Dimir but the hexproof really just makes me not want to play with this. I just hate the mechanic so much.
In Out
Dack's Duplicate is nasty to play on curve as giving the largest threat on the board haste can be game changing. It's realistically costed and fits very well in the Izzet tempo strategies. Dethrone is going to be huge when it hits since if you are copying your opponent's creature it means they can't trade with your copy once the counter goes on. You have the advantage and have incentive to press it due to the haste. Nobody expects this off the top and it has proven to be a real finisher in the right circumstances.
Niv-Mizzet is just so expensive and mana intensive in a color combination that isn't really looking for this effect. It doesn't curve or tempo out well at all and the color already has infinite reach. I think Dack's Duplicate is just a better fit.
In Out
Kolaghen was exactly as I expected when I saw him in play. It is a gigantic, game ending threat that your opponent absolutely cannot plan around until they already see it hitting them once. Once again, Dash shines here as your opponent has to plan around things you don't even have to cast a second time. The threat of activation is enough to mess with opponents. The tiny fire breathing effect is a really nice boost with any kind of team, even if you are only going to be getting one pump from it.
Torrent of Souls is a finisher that I really like but just not as much as Kolaghen. It will stay on the list of Rakdos cards to keep in mind just in case something doesn't pan out but for now I want to try out the Dash Dragon and see how things go. I have a feeling this might work its way back in eventually over something like Tymaret, the Murder King if it doesn't pull its weight.
This was another strong set for cube (a pattern I don't think is going to let up anytime soon) and I am really happy that they are making so many interesting cards after all these years. Lots to talk about and a ton of options for customization. As always, these are my thoughts but I love hearing your own so feel free to respond if you think I did something wrong or just want to put your own opinions in the fire. Next time should be for Dragons of Tarkir where....I suppose there may be Dragons.
Enjoy!
