Hi all! Welcome to the cube update for Eldritch Moon! I was a little concerned when I found out that there were going to be more Eldrazi in the new set as they historically don't provide much in the way of cube cards outside of big dumb finishers. However, this set was actually pretty interesting as far as cards that are worth talking about and we definitely got some home runs as well. Let's dive in.
White
In Out
Didn't Make the Cut
In Out
This iteration of Thalia is a bigger version of Imposing Sovereign, a card that was cut from cube a few sets ago. The big difference between the two is that Thalia is an actual threat in combat. Adding first strike makes her body reasonable and a much bigger threat to actually successfully attack through blockers. It works well with her ability, even if the land clause will be hit or miss.
I've been really unimpressed with the Soulbond ability in cube as time progressed. It's just too easy to disrupt and for the most part the creature is married to the first thing it gets bonded to for the rest of the game. It just doesn't play as well in cube as it does in regular limited. Double strike is really swingy and a card like this is really frustrating because its entirely dependent on the card it gets bonded to. The body on the Paladin is almost never relevant even with double strike on it and I think Thalia is going to be a more consistent threat.
In Out
The ability on Selfless Spirit has always been a very powerful one that over performs. The difference between this and something like Dauntless Escort is that the body is better for the cost. Stormfront Pegasus has always been close in terms of quality and giving it a relevant body easily puts it over the top.
Much like with Silverblade Paladin, above, the body is really unimpressive even with lifelink and the quality of this is entirely in whatever it gets bonded to. At least double strike assists in combat while lifelink doesn't cause any swings or change combat math at all.
Thraben Inspector is the beneficiary of some shifting cube slots and I've been pretty impressed with it when it gets into play. The body isn't as good as a 2/1 but it's not terribly far off either and giving white some card advantage is a big boon to white which really suffers in that regard.
I've been very happy with Soulfire Grand Master and it's not getting cut. It's merely getting moved over into a gold slot for the one card in Jeskai. It's just not played without being able to use the ability and that's really what drives it getting drafted so it makes more sense in that slot.
In Out
Gisela is just a tiny Baneslayer Angel. One less mana and you get a smaller body and an irrelevant block of meld text. That's still really good. It plays well in both aggro and control decks looking for fewer, more efficient threats. It's not the most interesting card since the meld is impossible to trigger (Bruna is not in the cube) but it's still going to pull its weight.
Sublime Archangel was always a little awkward. It has a nice body for the cost and it usually attacks a little bigger due to the exalted trigger. The problem is that white decks typically utilize swarm tactics that push through more damage than this is capable of by itself. This wasn't terrible was usually wasn't played over the other four drops especially since its so bad outside of aggro.
Didn't Make the Cut
Collective Effort, while crazy in Eldritch Moon limited, doesn't translate that well to cube. The first ability is actively not what decks want and neither of the other two are worth the cost. There is an argument for flexibility but there isn't a default mode on this beyond putting counters on your creatures. Having to then not attack with those creatures to choose other modes is a very awkward cost. I like these modal spells though and look forward to more in the future.
Blue
Didn't Make the Cut
In Out
Emerge is an interesting cube mechanic. There are always ancillary creatures hanging out throughout a cube game that have served their purpose and are willing to be sacrificed. Figuring you will be sacrificing something that costs two or three mana most of the time, this is a reasonable cost almost entirely due to it having flash. You can cast this to disrupt combat, in response to a removal spell, at upkeep to mess with your opponent's mana or at end of turn to remove blockers. It has a ton of reach and interesting applications. I'm categorizing it as blue because the emerge is the default mode as paying the full 8 mana is doable for some decks but shouldn't be the norm.
Clever Impersonator really suffered from being entirely reliant on your opponent. There were times when you could set up something fun from what you have in play but it always played better to surprise your opponent with something cool that they have. The problem is that you always get it second and that you still copied creatures almost 90% of the time, making this only marginally better than Clone, a card that hasn't seen cube play in years.
In Out
Wharf Infiltrator is what Azure Mage was trying to be. It works perfectly in a tempo shell, looting away with skulk being a pretty convenient source of evasion. It gets stonewalled by tokens but in all other match ups its an all-star. While you won't be putting 3/2's into play every turn like it seems like you might its a nice benefit when creatures in your hand are too expensive or if you have graveyard interactions. It's a nice, free bonus to an already powerful ability.
Azure Mage always really performed well when it got left alone and the board stabilized enough to be able to activate the ability a couple times. It was also good when mana flooded or with counterspells. The problem is that when those stars didn't align it was a literal Goblin Piker which is just terrible, especially in blue. It doesn't block or attack effectively in a color that isn't set up to support swarm strategies. It didn't fit particularly well into any deck.
In Out
Imprisoned in the Moon is going to hit creatures about 80% of the time. You'll sometimes pick off a planeswalker and every once in a great while hit a Volrath's Stronghold and those times will feel great. This would give blue the closest thing it has to unconditional removal at a moderate cost. The Song of the Dryads drawback is much less painful than Beast Within because they still have to actually make their own threats. Blue doesn't get an effect like this and its really appreciated.
Pact of Negation really only gets casted when it is going to win you a game. It's great when that happens but rarely is it that you NEEDED to have it cost zero. Most of the time, a two or three mana counterspell would have done the trick in the exact same way. It's just a little too expensive and costly. Yes, I get the irony of it also costing nothing.
Didn't Make the Cut
Docent of Perfection suffers from relying on wizards as a creature type. There are a decent number of wizards in blue for cube but very little elsewhere. Odds are you might have one or two other wizards in your deck at most which means this will almost always require two or three instants and sorceries to transform. If this lives for two or three turns before flipping without having already won the game it would be highly surprising. When it flips it then requires another couple of turns before feeling like you got the most out of your card. It's powerful, but none of that power is immediate, making it weaker than the other big blue finishers.
Unsubstantiate is interesting but, ultimately, just missing a little bit of what I want. The only reason that Remand and Venser, Shaper Savant are cube staples is because they give you a bonus on top of the ability to bounce a spell. The bonus here (of returning a creature) is not very good. Unsummon is just too weak of an ability to merit much consideration by itself and the combination of the two, without any sort of card advantage, leaves you only delaying the inevitable for one turn. It fits well into tempo, but so does all the other bounce in the cube and I think I prefer the suite I already have.
Black
In Out
This iteration of Liliana is really, really good. This Liliana is nearly as good as Liliana of the Veil and could potentially be better in the correct deck. Being able to always tick up is nice as sometimes you can't or don't want to tick up Liliana of the Veil and it hurts it in cube. Her plus ability also lasts until the next turn making it both offensive and defensive depending on the target. With only two planeswalkers in the black section so far, she's a slam dunk inclusion.
Ironic that I'm taking out Innocent Blood after just talking up Liliana of the Veil. However, the only reason that she is so good is because the edict effect is potentially repeatable. It makes up for so much of the swingy nature that edicts suffer from in cube normally. Usually, the correct decision with Innocent Blood is to just slam it as soon as possible as long as you hit a target and while it is cheap, there are too many occasions where it just doesn't actually do all that much.
In Out
Cryptbreaker is a more appropriate one drop for how I am treating black in my cube. Black is more of a grindy, mid-range and control color and given enough time, Cryptbreaker can completely take over a game while also providing sacrificial fodder for decks that desire that. It's pretty slow but can be very annoying to play against once it gets going. There are also a lot more creatures that happen to be zombies in black which makes this much better than at first glance.
Bloodsoaked Champion is a hang over from when I was supporting black aggro. It was really good in those shells but horrible elsewhere. Unfortunately for it, no longer support black aggro and therefore it's a bit out of place.
Didn't Make the Cut
It's really difficult to discard multiple cards for so little return. The first mode is almost not even worth casting for fear of missing and both of the other modes are so inconsequential that its kind of sad. I feel like you would always use the middle mode unless you are killing them. There are better discard outlets than this, especially since this is best on curve to kill an early drop and maybe not miss with the discard mode. Just not worth it.
Having played against Distended Mindbender a couple of times I can say that when it works, it's really difficult to come back from. However, you really need to play this on curve in order for it to be effective. If you whiff on it or draw it too late in the game you are paying an awful lot for very little. Taking one card is still good but the body isn't amazing for what you are potentially paying. This also doesn't actually threaten to win a game by itself, you still need to have a board presence without this to threaten that. Because of that, I like the current black finishers more.
Red
In Out
Hanweir Garrison is kind of like a little Hero of Bladehold. It doesn't have the same raw power due to lacking Battle Cry but it is one cheaper and that means you are more likely to be able to swing with it if you land on curve. If this gets to swing more than once you are putting an awful lot of pressure on your opponent. Even if this dies in combat you are dealing way more damage than average once all the token damage adds up, not to mention providing sacrifice fodder for other interactions. Unchecked, this can win a game, especially when its backed up by a couple burn spells to remove problematic blockers.
I really wanted Pia and Kiran Nalaar to work out, I really did. I don't think they're bad but I do think they are awkward. The fact that the tokens have flying is the best part of this card. In cube you rarely have miscellaneous artifacts lying around other than the tokens and this body is very bad for the cost. Paying six mana to shock something twice is a nice option to have for free but often its better to just keep the tokens around.
In Out
I really underestimated how good menace is on a larger body. You are very likely to hit on the flash back cost since you control when you cast Goblin Dark-Dwellers and its very difficult to actually kill this in combat without drowning in card disadvantage. This puts a real clock on your opponent and gives red another card with a unique and interesting effect to take advantage of.
Urabrask was always fine but felt a little less special as more fatties with haste were printed. Now, there are so many of them that this feels like "just another" red fatty. It's still good but I've been impressed with Goblin Dark-Dwellers and wanted to give red a little more variety in what it does.
In Out
Speaking of variety, swapping out Exquisite Firecraft for Collective Defiance feels like an almost strict upgrade in terms of variety. The spell mastery ability is never exciting and giving players options on their burn spells makes it feel like they are doing more than just counting to twenty as fast as they can. Collective Defiance also mitigates mana flood with the escalate ability and the first mode which is a great thing to tack onto a spell for such a small extra cost.
In Out
I underestimated how powerful Fiery Confluence was and its been getting very good reviews in other people's cubes. Being able to Lava Axe or Pyroclasm on the same card is ridiculous value and it ended up just being a more flexible Sulfurous Blast. The three to everything mode on blast was nice but doesn't make up for the ability to be able to just dome your opponent out of the game if you are ahead on board. This makes Fiery Confluence both offensive and defensive depending on the circumstances while Sulfurous Blast was really just a board wipe.
Didn't Make the Cut
I waffled back and forth on Hanweir Battlements a little bit before ultimately deciding not to include it. I've seen effects like this before and they are really good in colors that aren't red. Big red creatures already have haste so it makes this awkward when its only good in other colors. Two extra mana for haste is a lot when you are trying to curve out and the late game applications don't really make up for sacrificing your colored mana in the early to mid game.
The floor on Nahiri's Wrath is ultimately too low to make a good cube card. You need to have a combination of both good cards to discard and targets that are in range of those discards. If you top deck this it's an absolute blank and even casting it on curve requires you to rid yourself of multiple sources of gas. The upside isn't high enough to make up for this.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Incendiary Flow was an instant, it would make the cube easily. However, at sorcery speed there are more than enough generic burn spells with minor upside that I already play. This isn't particularly better than any of them.
In order to properly evaluate Bedlam Reveler you need to see what it costs on average and on what turn. I think I'm only happy if it costs around four mana on average and even then you are looking at turn six or seven at the earliest.. The body just isn't very good without evasion and while drawing cards should get you more gas to trigger prowess, you need to use up a couple instants and sorceries just to make this castable. How many is a single deck going to play? It might be a nice finisher in a dedicated burn deck but even then you are only playing it for the card draw. I think we have better things that can fill that role.
Green
In Out
This is a pretty straight forward upgrade as the color changing ability of the Mongrel is mostly irrelevant and reach is a very relevant ability. Other than that they are identical as neither is a good creature type and I don't want multiples of this type of card in green now. Wild Mongrel wins in flavor text though in a landslide.
In Out
Seasons Past is a pretty cool non-creature spell in green which I am always up for more of. My first thought was comparing it to the no longer cube worthy Restock. However, that card was well liked and felt close to good enough. This is way better and has bonkers upside. Not to mention that with shuffle effects, you have the very real possibility of casting this more than once in a game. I can't imagine having more fun than doing that.
Yasova Dragonclaw is being moved to the Temur section, see below for a more detailed explanation.
Didn't Make the Cut
Birthing Pod and Green Sun's Zenith are good because they are reusable sources of search that are extremely flexible. They are efficient at all points on the curve and, while deck dependent to maximize their potential, they generally are a safe addition to most decks running green. Eldritch Evolution, on the other hand, is a one use only effect that also costs you a creature. While it can be nice to upgrade into a titan, you are really punished by removal spells where you effectively three for one yourself. Two up on the curve means bigger rewards but it also really restricts what you can do with it to only a couple good targets per deck. I really don't like this card for cube at all.
Kessig Prowler is a slam dunk inclusion or any cube that supports green aggro. Mine currently does not so it sits on the sideline. However, it's a step in the right direction in revisiting the conversation. A couple more cards like this and I might have to look into it again.
Didn't Make the Cut
Green only has room for so many Overrun-esque finisher creatures because I like there to be some variety to what you are ramping to instead of always having the same goal. I am already running Craterhoof Behemoth and Great Oak Guardian and I think that Hoof is better while GOG is more interesting. Having to sac a creature to make this castable is awkward as well as it not doing anything when cheated into play via reanimation or other methods. It comes down to preference as I think this is still very strong but I prefer the existing options.
Colorless
Didn't Make the Cut
Historically, I have not been a fan of the legendary Eldrazi creatures. I don't run many of the cards necessary to cheat them into play beyond reanimation and many of them aren't particularly good targets for that anyway. Emrakul is all about the cast effect and delirium is very finicky in cube. You are likely to have two to three card types in the graveyard in every deck regardless of build but even dedicated decks will likely only be able to get upwards of five (creature, land, instant, sorcery, planeswalker). This is still worth 8 mana but I don't think it's worth a slot as control decks have plenty of finishers already and I'm totally fine with continuing to spite the Eldrazi as much as possible.
I'm a big fan of Cryptolith Fragment and I think it's really close to being good enough for cube. The life loss is great for mid-range decks but awful for control. If it came into play untapped I think we would be talking as the other side is a great benefit for late in close games and it flips pretty reliably in my experience. However, it doesn't provide any immediate benefit and the color fixing isn't enough to make up for the slow down. It reminds me of a more interesting Coldsteel Heart except that taking off turn three is a lot worse than taking off turn two when you are getting attacked by an aggressive deck.
Azorius
In Out
Spell Queller offers a lot more excitement than Azorius Charm and gold cards should be all about pulling people into their combinations. Azorius Charm was effective but one of the least exciting in the cycle while Spell Queller can lead to huge blow outs on either side. It's very fun and leads to unique game play states that are memorable. A fine addition to Azorius tempo decks and one of the better Azorius cards in general.
Gruul
Didn't Make the Cut
I could not be more bored with what this card does for being a legendary werewolf. There really isn't a good argument to be made for this in cube, I just wanted to express my disappointment.
Bant
Jeskai
Temur
In Out
Bant Charm, unlike Azorius Charm, is one of the more exciting charms in the cycle. The problem here is that its three colors and nobody is picking it unless they are already in those colors because it doesn't do anything game changing. It's an excellent modal removal spell. Tamiyo is a game changing reason to move into Bant and perfectly lines up a particular style of deck. It makes for a much more interesting draft.
Jeskai
In Out
Soulfire Grand Master gets moved over to the Jeskai section in place of Mantis Rider for conistency's sake. It was really tough to actually play Mantis Rider on curve and it does lose a bit of power every turn you play it after turn three. Soulfire, on the other hand, is actively fine being casted any time throughout the game while still being an exciting reason to play Jeskai.
In Out
Much like with the above switch out, Savage Knuckleblade is just too mana intensive to reliably cast and be able to do anything with. The options are all over the place but its tough to have the right mix of lands to make it near its ceiling. Yasova Dragonclaw is more consistently powerful while still being an exciting and unique addition to a Temur deck.
Conclusions
Did I get something wrong or not talk about a card you really like? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
While the next main set might be Kaladesh we actually have a pretty quick turnaround for new content in the form of Conspiracy: Take the Crown. I'll be back with more cards next month. Until then, stay cubing!
Did I get something wrong or not talk about a card you really like? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
While the next main set might be Kaladesh we actually have a pretty quick turnaround for new content in the form of Conspiracy: Take the Crown. I'll be back with more cards next month. Until then, stay cubing!
