Hello everyone! Welcome to the Oath of the Gatewatch Cube Update! It's a very unique cube update this time. The reason for that is the new "diamond" colorless mana symbol utilized in Oath of the Gatewatch. There are some extremely powerful cards that require use of strictly colorless mana to either cast or activate abilities of cards in the set. Many cube designers are going out of their way to accommodate these new cards by either adding Wastes to their basic land boxes or drastically changing their artifact/mana sections to incorporate more ways to make colorless mana. I am taking a strong stance on this one. I do not believe that these cards are worth adding to ANY cube and I will not be adding ANY cards that require colorless mana in ANY way. I feel this requires some explanation so bare with me.
The new cards requiring colorless mana are undoubtedly powerful and if you were able to use these abilities without stressing your mana base there are many that are slam dunk inclusions and many more that are worth consideration. It's not a power level issue. The problem is that I do not like the idea of altering either my land or colorless sections to accommodate what will be at most 10 cards out of my 720. They just aren't going to come up frequently enough to validate changing around so much of my cube's composition. Furthermore, even when they do show up, you are never going to have a deck that wants so many Wastes or so much access to colorless mana that these are going to be anything more than splashes. And it is there that the real problem arises. Splashing what is essentially a full extra color is rarely worth it when you aren't going to have easy access to colorless mana. It stresses your mana base too much to be worth it, especially in decks that want to curve out. In Oath limited, playing cards that require colorless activations/costs is EXTREMELY debilitating to your mana base. And that is with a set specifically designed to support these spells to their fullest.
Drawing a Waste ranges from insane to horrible depending on the make up of the rest of your hand. It's way too swingy and unreliable. Because of this, I will not even be discussing any of the cards that require a colorless to cast. It's just not worth it. I will also not be talking about cards with colorless activation because people will draft those cards expecting support to be there and it's just not. It's like cubing with Gemhide Sliver. It's perfectly fine on its own but when people draft it they expect to see other slivers. It messes with expectations in a negative light, leading to bad feelings. I try to avoid cards like this.
Where does that leave us? Unfortunately, that leaves us with an underwhelming set for cube. There are still some changes to be made and some interesting cards though so let's get to it!
White
Didn't Make the Cut
This is a really difficult card to evaluate for cube. On the one hand, its crazy when you are behind as gaining 5 life and getting a 3/3 flying token on top of the 5/5 flying angel is absurd. That said, if you aren't taking advantage of the bonus abilities, I never want to play a 5/5 flier for 6 in cube, it's just not up to snuff. Let's say on the average you are able to take advantage of one of the two abilities. I am guessing its going to be the gain life effect since white has tokens and naturally is the color that goes widest in cube. Would I play a 5/5 flier that gains 5 life for 6? Not over the existing options, I wouldn't. I would have to cut Baneslayer Angel to include this and I would rather have Baneslayer in most cases where you aren't getting a token AND gaining 5 life.
Didn't Make the Cut
Crush of Tentacles is just plain awful if you can't utilize the Surge ability reliably. Since this is a) a sorcery and b) doesn't bounce lands, your opponent gets to recast all of their permanents before you do. In almost all cases this is just worse than Evacuation without Surge and that isn't even in the cube. The question, then, is how often are you going to be able to use Surge. I don't think you are going to be able to reliably hold this until you have 7 mana, play a two drop and then cast this. In that scenario, you are just bouncing your two drop back to your hand as well. This is then best with two mana sorceries since you can't cast this at instant speed to take advantage of counterspells. Despite the initial hype, this is just a trap. Just a note, if you happen to play a lot of two-headed giant cube this is totally bonkers and a legit bomb.
In Out
Kalitas is an interesting card. I am not entirely sure if his token ability is a little bit too grindy for cube but I want to try it out and see. The base body is great due to the lifelink and there are more than a few random vampire and zombies floating around that you can sacrifice to him. I think this is probably on the lower end of four drops for black in cube but the upside is very high. It allows you to make combat decisions you otherwise wouldn't makes life difficult for your opponent as trading in combat becomes extremely detrimental, let alone chump blocking. And this guy will have to be chump blocked because he gets very big with only a single activation of his ability. Again, I need to see it in practice to see how often this happens and get his average value so this could just be another failed experiment. Never be afraid to experiment, people!
Speaking of experiments, I both overestimated and underestimated Smothering Abomination. The gravy train that this guy rolls on is VERY strong when you have a bunch of ancillary creatures that you don't mind sacrificing each turn leading to many cards drawn. However, the downside of casting this without any of those things present is not only bad but feels SO much worse than I had anticipated. The Abomination has its place for sure but too often there was a sense of fear associated with casting it rather than excitement.
Didn't Make the Cut
Inverter of Truth is obviously up against the other 6/6 fliers for 2BB in Abyssal Persecutor and Desecration Demon for inclusion. The two demons have been great and part of the reason if that you aren't fighting against a clock, your opponent is. I wouldn't add this over either of the other options and I don't think there is room for three. The ability is just too unreliable and difficult to take advantage of for the payoff.
I actually think that Sifter of Skulls is close and would be playable if it triggered off of either tokens dying or your opponents creatures dying too. One or the other would be enough to put this over the edge. As it is, you have a mediocre body that you don't want to risk in combat for fear of wasting the ability. It also doesn't leave behind a Scion when itself dies. The black four drop is already pretty competitive so it takes a lot to plunge through.
In Out
I wanted to lower the overall curve in red creatures just a bit and I realized that Abbot of Keral Keep was consistently overperforming where I was seeing him in play. He's still not the greatest card ever and I wish red had better two drops in general but its a lot better than I initially thought. Even if you do have to wait until turn four or so to really maximize his value, you should have other early game plays if your curve is correct.
Avaricious Dragon wasn't bad but I just have too many 4 and 5 drops in red. I probably need to cut another five drop for the next good 2 drop that comes around as well. I think this is the worst four drop just because there are definitely feel bad hands when you draw this. I'll miss the little guy though.
In Out
Chandra is a very interesting red card. Fitting more into the big red deck, it packs a TON of punch for the mana cost. Having played on both sides of this it's safe to say that it's worth the mana investment. The +1 ability is just so so good at pressuring the opponent as six haste damage turn after turn adds up very quickly and actually makes this very difficult to attack into unless you kill it in one shot. Red is back up to max planeswalkers so we will see what happens with future ones. Not sure which one would be on the chopping block from here.
Beacon of Destruction was always a little too expensive for what it did. The instant speed rarely mattered and oftentimes it was hard to take a turn off to cast it. Never horrible but rarely maindecked due to its cost.
Didn't Make the Cut
I am not a huge fan of this card. The body really needs haste to compete with the other five drop options and the flashback is nice but not mind blowing like it could be in some constructed deck. Powerful, but the existing options are better, faster and more resilient.
Maybe I am really undervaluing Surge here but I do not like this ability at the casting cost. Sometimes you are going to pop off a Lightning Bolt or something but most of the time this is just too expensive to kill what you want to kill and by the time you get the mana to kill a cheap threat, there are more pressing things in play. Great in Oath sealed and maybe in some constructed big mana deck but just underwhelming in cube.
Didn't Make the Cut
I'm not playing any of the large Eldrazi in my cube so the second ability is an actual whiff in my cube. That makes this just an instant speed Pyroclasm for one more which I'm not playing. If your cube runs the big Eldrazi spells this definitely goes up in value but for me, it's pretty bad.
In Out
Oath of Nissa is essentially a green Ponder which is something every color can appreciate. Ponder and Preordain always serve important roles in smoothing out draws and the fact that this hits both creatures and lands makes it very mulligan friendly and smooths the curve with an inexpensive cantrip that green totally lacks. This fills a need and serves important utility. A huge addition. The only question is what to cut.
Plummet is strictly a sideboard card that never got maindecked for obvious reasons. I think I was stretching for more green non-creatures and thought this would help shore up a weakness to fliers. Sideboard cards are tough with a cube so big because you can't rely on seeing them so green just relies on other colors to shore up that weakness and it's been fine.
In Out
Let's talk about these together. Beast Within is just not worth the investment. The 3/3 body is very relevant and oftentimes results in this being left in sideboards in favor of removal in other colors that's both cheaper and cleaner. Prey Upon seems like a removal spell that will rarely get put in sideboards because its so cheap and clean. You can easily cast a spell and then "kick" the spell with Prey Upon or leave mana up for instant speed tricks.
The land clause on Sylvan Advocate is going to be flavor text 90% of the time since there are just so few man lands and awaken cards in cube that you can play. Other than that, this guy is great in green aggro (which I don't support anymore) and acts kind of like a Scute Mob or Dragonmaster Outcast in that it sits around trying to avoid dying for a while until it gets out of control. The difference is that both the other cards are absolute must kill on sight since when they become active they take over a game entirely. This guy's high end is a vigilant Tarmogoyf at 4/5. If you cast this with six lands already in play its obviously bonkers and getting six mana should be doable in most games. I think this is a good way to lower your overall curve in your deck without sacrificing late game power.
Wolfir Avenger was fine but unexciting. Having to wait for turn five to ambush and regenerate caused some headaches and his body is just a little too small to act as an attacking force. Oftentimes this was very defensive and slowed the game down as a Drudge Skeleton. Not bad, but not efficient or offensive enough.
In Out
The newest iteration of Nissa is extremely powerful and easily cube worthy. If you are a doubter just trust me she plays SO much better than she looks. The only question is whether or not it beats out Garruk Relentless, Garruk, Primal Hunter or Nissa, Worldwaker because I only have three slots. All three are extremely powerful and work great in my cube. I am not cutting Worldwaker because she is both relatively new and extremely fun. I don't want to cut Primal Hunter because its a really great incentive to play green and a personal favorite. Relentless is one of the more varied planeswalkers in terms of abilities and leads to really interesting gameplay. If I had to pick one I would say Primal Hunter gets the axe just because its been around the longest and I like to switch up the planeswalkers from time to time. I'm holding on to my copy of Garruk though because I see a switch happening down the road sometime if I want to mix it up again.
In Out
Hedron Archive serves the same role as Thran Dynamo while also providing some late game utility when the big mana deck runs out of gas. That second part is something that is sorely, sorely needed and I have been very impressed with the Archive when its been in play. This is a pleasant surprise and I hope more like it appear since they are always feel good stories.
Nobody plays Smokestack. Just nobody. Is it powerful? Sure. Is it fun and interactive? Not particularly. So what function does it serve? It hoses control decks by limiting the amount of lands they have in play while being simultaneously too expensive and slow for aggro decks to actually utilize. So what decks play it? Decks that can take advantage of sacrificing permanents better than their opponent. The problem is you can't control what your opponent is playing and tokens decks don't really need help. Also, NOBODY PLAYS SMOKESTACK. This is a sacred cow that is here on reputation more than actual results.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Captain's Claws made a 1/1 token that came into play not attacking this would be great. Even if it came into play tapped this would be great. The problem is that the 1/1 is almost always going to die by getting blocked by some random 2/2 utility creature that usually stays out of combat. The rest of this card isn't worth it by cube standards because it doesn't pump toughness meaning your creatures won't be winning any combats it otherwise would have been losing or trading in. The only time this is going to be good is when you can accrue tokens for the long term. I am skeptical that scenario exists more than a small percentage of the time.
In Out
Reflector Mage is pretty solid. Bouncing a creature and giving yourself a turn of breathing room is nice since by the time they recast it you can plan around it and have mana open. The body is better than expected for this cost and effect and I like that you can just throw it into combat willy nilly after it does its thing. Is it great? Not really, but I don't think it has to be. I think it's on the bottom end for Azorius right now but it has room to move should it overperform.
Narset is just butts. That's it. The whole card is flavor text. I wasn't terribly high on her to begin with but wanted to try her out. The all spells decks doesn't really exist and you whiff on her way too often to be worth playing. Sure, you get a lot of loyalty but you don't do anything with it. Your best bet is to use the -2 ability over and over until she dies which isn't interesting or fun. I'm not bringing back Venser since he has his own problems and I don't think anyone will complain with fewer planeswalkers total. I know I'm not.
In Out
Azorius Charm is pretty unassuming. What it does is usually unheralded but necessary. It works well in control or aggro decks which is perfect for this color combination and being able to cycle it just feels great. I'm always up for a little utility.
D Sphere has been solid, if unexciting. The problem is that it's just another Oblivion Ring effect when white now has tons of options with that ability. It's just not needed anymore and it being gold doesn't actually make it better since the ability to exile multiple things doesn't come up in cube. Times change. I still like you D Sphere, it's not you, it's me.
In Out
If you have ever seen Baloth Null in play you understand why I value it so highly. His body isn't as impressive in cube as it would be in regular limited but it's still large enough to rumble in the red zone. The ability is really strong in cube where each creature has a lot more value and it fits nicely in the Golgari guild where grindy advantages are key. I'm going to be honest, this isn't the most powerful cube card in the world but...damn is it just so much value. I'm excited to cast it at least!
I have not been very impressed with Deathrite Shaman in cube. If you can't use the mana ability this loses a lot of value and more often than not you can't use the mana ability because you don't have fetch lands (720 card cube) and neither does your opponent. At most you get one use out of the mana ability and then rely on gaining or losing life depending on what's available in graveyards and the board state. That's not bad but it's never what people want to do with this. The average case scenario is just so much lower than the best case scenario
In Out
Keranos really provides a lot of value regardless of whether or not he is a creature. The abilities on him are just so good the longer the game goes regardless of which ability to trigger or how many times. If you are able to make him a creature he is totally out of control. Either way he's a lot more exciting than Steam Augury.
Steam Augury was accurately identified as a worse Fact or Fiction when it was released, the only question was how much worse was it. In actuality it's not all that much worse but the problem is that Fact or Fiction isn't as strong as it used to be as creatures have gotten better. It's only still great because it gets you what you need no matter what. This oftentimes won't so you are banking on the greatest value. Much of the time though, you can't afford to not get what you need.
Didn't Make the Cut
Both of these cards are easily abusable in the correct constructed deck but putting that together in cube is very difficult. For the sake of consistency I am just leaving both of these on the outside looking in. Of the two, I think Stormchaser Mage is closer but I don't want to cut any of the noncreature spells for it and the other creatures are just way more splashy and exciting which is kind of the point of the gold section.
In Out
With the removal of black aggro support, Putrid Warrior loses just enough value to fall out of contention. Ayli still works in decks that want to attack but is also just so much more powerful when things go wrong for you. You get an extra point of toughness plus deathtouch for the same cost and while the last ability is probably just not realistic the middle one can be very impactful. This is a pretty strong upgrade.
Land
In Out
I think Wizards realized this time around that man lands are really, really oppressively good in constructed formats. The power level of the new man lands is nowhere near their Worldwake brethren, and that's ultimately okay. I think the deathtouch and cheaper cost here makes Quagmire the best of the three new lands even with the small body. It's certainly more exciting than Woodland Cemetery which is the ultimate "okay" land for cube.
In Out
Boros really doesn't want too many come into play tapped lands so I want to limit those. In direct comparison, it would much rather have a land that becomes a creature over a one use Scry 1. I don't think the rate for this man land is all that great but it's a good mana sink for an aggressive deck once it empties its hand and man lands always play better than they look on the surface. That said, this is probably the worst of the three new ones.
In Out
Sulfur Falls, like Woodland Cemetery above is fine but unexciting and can't be played on turn one for profit. I like getting the man land in there as its useful range is quite wide. Sometimes the blocker will be nice and if your opponent has an empty board it threatens a lot of damage that adds up quickly. It also acts as a very annoying attacker just as a 1/4 on the right board. Again, not as good as the Worldwake man lands but they should still be serviceable.
The intrigue of this set relies heavily on where you stand with colorless mana. If you are going out of your way to include these cards and maximize their potential, your cube is in for a massive overhaul because simply adding Wastes to basic lands isn't going to be worth the stress on your mana bases. With mine, there wasn't much going on once I set aside all these cards as they were some of the most interesting in the set. Regardless, I think that this was the correct decision for the overall health of my cube and I stand by it. I am really looking forward to Shadows Over Innistrad and a return to some graveyard synergy (no, it's not confirmed but...come on...let's get real, it's going to be in there). I'll see you all then.
Have some fun out there!
