Hello everyone! Welcome to the Amonkhet Cube Update. Holy cow, Amonkhet. This is the most interesting set for cube that I have seen in a very long time. Having every single keyword in the set being cube worthy really pushes this over the top. Usually there is at least one keyword that just doesn't function well in cube. That isn't the case here as the split cards, cycling and embalm are all very powerful effects. I'm not entirely sold on Exert for cube though. In Amonkhet sealed the one-turn delay hasn't seemed to matter too much and multiple games that I have been a part of have been won due to a single evasive threat with Exert. In cube, I don't think you can afford to take that many turns off. This means that in order for a card with Exert to be good enough it will have to be either very efficient without Exert or overwhelmingly powerful with exert or both. I might be less convinced of Exert but even that has some very powerful cards associated with it. This all means that this is going to be a long one so buckle up and sit tight. Here we go!
White
In Out
Angel of Sanctions is a card that is going to be good in a lot of situations and styles of deck. Control strategies backed by removal will like this as a hard to kill, evasive threat that can grind out a game while aggro will like it as a curve topper that removes a blocker while adding board presence. The embalm cost being one higher than the CMC is great because if they immediately kill it you can bring it back on the next turn giving them very little chance to answer both sides. Control decks probably wish this was a little higher on the power side to end the game quicker but they will still play this without too many complaints.
Soul of Theros is the weakest of white's finishers and just isn't as good as the new Angel. The body is fine but it is heavily reliant on already having a board presence to be functional. They both have been functioning as win more cards and I have often felt I would just rather have another good two drop in white decks.
In Out
Glory-Bound Initiate is your cookie cutter 3/1 for 1W which passes the cube white weenie vanilla test. Being a 4/4 lifelink attacker in addition to that is incredible. It makes it very difficult to race for another aggro deck and even late in the game it should be able to attack through most potential blockers on size alone. If it can't, it will at least trade and give you a life bump. It loses a lot of value when you are behind since Exert only functions on attack but you can say that of any aggressive cube staples. The question is whether or not the bonus from using Exert is worth taking the next turn off and in this case I think it is.
In the goal of getting a couple more two drops in white I'm cutting a four drop. Jazal Goldmane is probably the weakest of white's fours due to his reliance on swarm strategies and being ahead on board position. I went back and forth between cutting Jazal and cutting Ojutai Exemplars. In the end I think that the Exemplars being useful in a control shell makes it a little better. Jazal is incredible with any sort of swarm support but by itself is just a very efficient body. Activating the ability is a full turn investment which is fine when you are ahead but it does very little to pull you back from behind.
In Out
Gust Walker will likely live and die by its Exert ability. Being a 3/3 flier is good at any stage of the game and makes for a fine bear. I think Gust Walker and Glory-Bound Initiate are on the lower end in terms of power level for white two drops but deserve addition to at least try out. At the very least they match up favorably with cube staples like Accorder Paladin and Seeker of the Way. You won't necessarily use their best case scenario every turn but you don't feel too bad about it because when you do it's easily worth it. I think these cards will fall into a similar role.
There's Ojutai Exemplars! Another 2 drop for 4 drop swap as the next weakest 4 heads to the bench. While I just said this was functional in both aggro and control it's positively embarrassing if you don't have a hand full of cards. In practice, you have one or two triggers on this per game and while those turns are fun and interesting white decks just don't play enough noncreature spells on the average to turn this on a high enough percentage of the time.
In Out
Adding one extra mana for instant speed and the ability to cycle goes a long way towards having people actually main deck their artifact/enchantment destruction in cube. A lot of times people lose game one with Revoke Existence in their sideboard then bring it in to deal with the problems. People will more likely maindeck Forwake the Worldly and while the extra mana is a bit cumbersome, upgrading to instant speed takes some of the bite out of it.
Revoke Existence is definitely cube worthy but without a heavy artifact theme I don't really have the need for a high threshhold of these effects.
In Out
Cast Out is clearly a very good card but figuring out how good was rather difficult. The cycling feels like a minor tack on as you will rarely use it. That said, it's basically a free bonus. The big advantage to this is the flash. Is that worth and an extra mana better than Banishing Light? I'm not honestly sure but Cast Out is unique and gives white another instant speed answer which it really doesn't have very much access to. There is already a bit of redundancy with Banishing Light effects so I'm happy to ad one that adds a little variety.
Didn't Make the Cut
I hate Gideon of the Trials. It's just a stupid card. The emblem is absolutely worthless in cube as you will only have this Gideon in your deck. You can't play the middle ability the turn you cast it. This means you will always cast it and use the +1 which gives no variety of play at all. Sure, if they have no creatures I guess you can play the emblem for laughs but that's it. Next turn, you attack for 4 if you can or blank one creature if not. There isn't interesting variance here or any actual decision making. There are enough planeswalkers that people need to stop adding ones that don't do anything interesting from a gameplay perspective.
Dusk is a very situational wrath that benefits weenie players and punishes midrange decks. It's not exactly great to cast against control when it kills one creature. Even weenie decks will likely lose a couple of their own guys making it awkward. But, you can just get them back with Dawn, the turn after you say? No you can't, that only returns smaller creatures that Dawn missed. This is a weird card and not at all cubeable despite your feeling the first time you read it.
Didn't Make the Cut
I am only talking about Trueheart Duelist because other cube people are excited about it. They shouldn't be. It sucks. A 2/2 for 1W is bad in cube. It's been bad in cube for years whether those people want to admit it or not. I saw people saying that this is pretty good in control decks because it acts as a two turn fog and can still be serviceable in aggro. The only way I could see that is if this said "it can block any number of creatures" or acted as a Pariah for damage. As it is, this protects your planeswalkers which isn't something that control decks were screaming for.
Oketra is almost a line for line re-reading of Heliod, God of the Sun. While not creatures they have a similarly costed ability to put a token in play. Oketras are smaller but have vigilance at the cost of only one white colored mana instead of two. They turn into creatures with about the same frequency with the exception that Oketra actually fuels her own requirement. When creatures they are both indestructible with very similar P/T (factor in double strike). Heliod isn't close to being good enough for cube. In order for the Gods to be cube worthy they have to have two of the following: be able to turn into a creature the turn it is cast; have a backbreaking activated ability; be game changing when a creature; easy to turn on when they are not a creature. Oketra's doesn't meet those requirements for the same reason as Heliod. The ability is slow and clunky and the body gets turned off very easily by your opponent. When it's a creature it's good but that's not enough. You just can't have cards that once every five games actually work the way you want them to.
Didn't Make the Cut
This compares most similarly to the aforementioned go wide five drops but loses out to all those already in the cube. The tokens are useless without the actual card and none of them have evasion leaving this in an awkard spot of actually being more defensive than offensive. Not really an ideal go wide card.
In Out
Glyph Keeper is a difficult to kill, evasive five drop that can end a game. It's power and toughness shows that it will likely trade in combat if blocked and embalm is a nice bonus to give it some resiliency. Overall, it's a beater and little else so I can see it being traded out in a future update. For now though I think it's better than Teferi.
Teferi is just too hard to cast for a creature that doesn't actually interact positively in combat. The big draw on Teferi is limiting your opponents to sorcery speed spells. That modicum of control is very useful when it comes to interacting in combat and resolving your spells. However, Teferi is just too easy to deal with and difficult to cast to be worth it.
In Out
A 4/4 is pretty big for a four mana flier. It's not on par with black's huge flying fours but those all have significant drawbacks. Curator of Mysteries has a minor upside (probably not taking advantage of the Scry ability too often) and a moderate upside (there are very real scenarios where you will cycle this looking for some sort of answer). That they are both free is a welcome surprise.
Tradewind Rider has always been just a little too slow. Two creatures is a real cost and oftentimes makes it difficult to main deck this over other, more powerful four drops. It blocks pretty well but oftentimes you just don't have enough gas and are in a position to activate its ability. It rarely functions on offense and even when its active it doesn't allow you to press your advantage but merely allows you to tread water.
In Out
Censor is one of my favorite cards in Amonkhet. This is the kind of card that really takes maximum advantage of having cycling. People tap out a lot early game and even frequently in the middle to late game. This will likely always be maindecked and it will feel glorious when you draw it no matter what stage of the game you are in.
Careful Consideration is a very misleading card. Upon first look most people read "draw four" and emotionally stop there. This is a lot more like Foresee than it is a cheap Jace's Ingenuity. That doesn't make it bad but it does clarify where it really stands. Four mana is a lot to hold up to only draw one card even if it does give you great selection. Sometimes you cast this with a couple of lands in hand and it's fantastic but I've found that oftentimes is not the case. In practice you only have so much room for expensive spells in your deck and those card draw spells have been pretty interchangeable.
In Out
Speaking of Forsee, most of what I've said about Careful Consideration holds true for this. It's expensive card draw that provides some selection. I've found that it is fine but it can be hard to find a turn where you can afford to take a whole turn off to cast it without falling too far behind. Gush provides card advantage at a mana free cost if you can afford the set back to your curve. Late game it's essentially free and even early you can float the mana before returning your lands which allows you to cast a spell and even hit your land drop if you haven't yet. It's a very powerful card that I'm glad to welcome to the fold. Note that in cube having two islands will be mostly trivial since most decks don't have that many non-basic lands.
In Out
I had taken Jace Beleren out to mix up the planeswalkers a bit and try out some new cards. It's since become clear that baby Jace is just a lot better than the other options out there so far.
Jace, Unraveler of Secrets was fine but expensive. The ultimate is good but not really that fun. Jace Beleren will end up drawing more cards on average and while it can't protect itself, costing only 3 is just so important.
In Out
Vapor Snag supplements blue tempo as a very cheap annoyance that hits their life total too. This will make most main decks just because of how cheap it is.
Nobody ever drafted or played Drifter il-Dal even when they were in blue tempo. Right or wrong I can't argue with the crowd, if it doesn't get drafted it won't stay in.
In Out
The power here is all up front on getting value out of your Commit. Delaying something for a couple turns for four mana can range from very good to nerve wracking depending on what's in your hand when you cast Commit. It's never going to be bad but it has a real failure mode if you just can't answer their spell on the second go round. Memory is the most free that the Timetwister ability has ever been. People really hesitate to put those effects in their main deck because they have a hard time imagining a scenario where they cast them. People won't have to worry about that with Memory. They are playing this card for the Commit side. Hopefully they will get to cast a Memory or two and live to tell the tale as well.
Imprisoned in the Moon has been better than something like Beast Within and on average worse than something like Song of the Dryads. Part of that is that it's in a color that has ways to interact with resolved permanents outside of combat. While ramping your opponent is better than giving them a creature, it's still a very real cost. The only real exciting part of it is that it gave blue an answer to planeswalkers, something it really lacks if one resolves. Commit serves a similar role while being marginally better and more flexible in other areas.
In Out
As Foretold is a really unique card. It essentially does nothing for the first couple turns but after two or three turns you essentially are able to cast one free spell for the rest of the game. The big advantage here is that it triggers off of X or less so once you get to four or five counters (turns) it can cast most anything in your deck. Is spending three mana to do nothing for two turns worth it? How many spells do you need to hit to make this worth it? It depends on what you are casting. It triggers each turn so you can use it to cast instants on your opponent's turn for free which seems...amazing. It's been getting really good reviews around the circuit so I'm going to try it out and see. I could see this going either way but I think it'll average out worth it.
Harbinger of the Tides is far and away the worst four drop in blue. Originally it was seen as a cheap creature with upside but in practice you almost always just had to cast it at instant speed to maximize the value. In tempo shells you wanted to be bouncing blockers, not attackers and in control shells the body is too weak to be excited about. It's just an awkward mix of ability and size to not fit well anywhere.
Didn't Make the Cut
It is really hard to get seven cards in your hand in limited, even cube. The ability is expensive and while it does further the goal of increasing your hand size, returning the land is not free until very late in the game. This just isn't going to be a creature often enough and the ability is too expensive to activate over multiple turns.
I think Vizier of Many Faces is my favorite four mana clone but like I've said before, That's a lot of mana for that effect. Even being able to rebuy it later in the game doesn't make it worthwhile. There's just too many instances where its either dead or there aren't any targets worth wasting the copy on.
Didn't Make the Cut
I think if you are still running Stroke of Genius in your cube then this is an easy upgrade. Sure, you lose out on milling your opponent but that was a rarely used mode of that card. That said, I cut Stroke long ago and haven't been in the market for an X card draw spell since. This is an instant which is mandatory for these to be playable but even then I prefer any of the cheaper, less flexible mana costs to this.
In Out
Both of these cards are cards that work in all black decks but work best in aggressive ones. The drawback on Master of the Feast has been significant. While it does demand an answer, dealing five damage to let your opponent draw multiple cards has really hurt. Plague Belcher provides a similarly evasive threat that is actually splashable. It works well with tokens and the recursive zombies and the menace makes this difficult to not gain value on. The worst case of playing this as a 3/2 menace for 2B isn't good but you should easily have something that can eat the counters without feeling too bad. I don't think this is a bomb but I do think it's less painful than Master of the Feast.
In Out
Never and Ruinous Path are the same card without the secondary mode. However, while Return gives you a minor upside for free, Ruinous Path was always a feel bad card. You rarely, if ever, had enough mana to cast this with Awaken which left players often incorrectly holding it in their hands for use down the line. A use that never actually came. Never // Return has an upside that will always come into play even if it's not nearly as game breaking.
In Out
Remembering that I limit planeswalkers to three per color, the only competition for this card are Liliana of the Veil, Liliana, the Last Hope and Ob Nixilis, Reignited. The two cheaper Liliana cards are just that, less expensive. Veil is very different from this and I don't want to cut it. The Last Hope is pretty similar though. For the extra two mana, Death's Majesty lets you commit to the board with both abilities while the Last Hope provides a combat speed bump and card advantage. It also fits into a very different deck than this. Ob Nixilis is boring but powerful. They have the same loyalty and costs but do very different things. Neither +1 is terribly impactful for five mana but Death's Majesty is both synergistic with its other abilities and more interesting. The -3 is removal vs. reanimation which is a classic black comparison. In practice, both are effective and useful. Ob Nix will get to its ultimate slower but it actually kills an opponent directly after a few turns while new Lily will put you in a position to win regardless of hands and board condition. In doubt, I lean towards interesting interactions and gameplay, and Liliana, Death's Majesty beats Ob Nixilis Reignited in that category.
Didn't Make the Cut
I don't think Bontu is very good, even with the sacrifice theme in black. Its 6 toughness is irrelevant in cube since its also indestructible. If this was a 4/1 it would be the same card as cube has no -1/-1 counters theme. It also has a really awkward ability to make it a creature since combat death doesn't really benefit you as its too late for this to attack or block. That means the only way to turn this is to use its ability or use another sac outlet. While you can easily just do that you aren't going to be able to do it every turn under most scenarios. It doesn't have enough power to kill an opponent by itself and you aren't using the ability to combo anyone out of the game either. It's just an awkward mixture of abilities, power and toughness to be pretty ineffective in cube.
Archfiend of Ifnir would match up pretty well with the rest of blacks, admittedly, underwhelming five drops. The problem is that you just aren't ever going to turn on this ability in my cube. Cycling is at a real minimum so unless you drafted a looter you aren't going to be discarding that many cards either. It can happen, but this is essentially a Shivan Dragon in black. The cycling is a nice bonus but much like other cards, its somewhat wasted on a card that you will rarely want to get rid of. It's a nice upside but hardly something that makes this an autoinclude. If your cube runs a ton of self discard or has a -1/-1 theme, I think this is probably the best five drop in black. Big variance with that ability, huh?
Didn't Make the Cut
Bone Picker is very good in a very specific deck with a very specific draw. If you are playing the black sacrifice deck and have a sac outlet you can cast this on turn two or three with the right draw. That's best case scenario. Even if this costs B you can't actually cast it for that cost until later in the game. That makes this more like a Surge card than anything else. The body isn't bad but the deathtouch isn't really ideal for a flier that will likely trade if blocked anyway.
The eternal question with these 2/1 for B creatures are "does your cube support black aggro" and "is it good outside of those decks". The answer for both of these questions for me is "not really". The recursion ability is more of a grindy ability that is too mana intensive to allow too many shenanigans and broken turns. Coming into play tapped means it can't abuse the ability to block making it only good on offense. That's just not the direction black takes in my cube. If you support black aggro its an auto-include.
In Out
I've been really impressed with Goblin Heelcutter with dash and this is very similar except it stays in play and only does the ability every other turn. I think this is a really good ability that makes it very difficult for your opponent to sit back on fatties and play defense. Red is in need of better three drops anyway so this is a good start.
Alesha isn't getting cut, it's just getting moved to the Mardu section. See Mardu, below, for what it's replacing.
In Out
The exert ability on Glorybringer is much better than the monstrosity ability on Stormbreath Dragon. Keep in mind you don't actually have to exert so if the body by itself is winning the game you can just keep attacking. In that respect it's the exact same as Stormbreath minus the pro-white. Cutting a card with protection always makes me happy so that's just a happy coincidence.
In Out
Harsh Mentor is very similar to Eidolon of the Great Revel in that it is unlikely to be a player in combat despite having a decent body for the cost. The power here is all in the ability. Just like with Eidolon, if you can get 4-6 damage out of this it has done its job. Being asymmetrical is a nice bonus and it will make decisions difficult for your opponent.
Kargan Dragonlord is weird. It sees play with pretty good results in mono-red decks and literally nowhere else. It's just too red mana intensive to justify playing it in a two color deck. Even in mono red you usually cast it and then pray your opponent doesn't have removal. If they don't you just win. It kind of feels like flipping a coin. There isn't much interesting play to it and you don't feel particularly clever when it works.
In Out
I've been pretty happy with Unstable Mutation in blue tempo and Consuming Fervor is just a color shifted version of it. It's a really cheap way to deal a ton of extra damage at the low, low cost of losing one of your small creatures in a couple turns. Usually, your opponent will use a removal spell on it instead of getting hit for a couple turns. Not bad for one red mana.
Kher Keep was a stretch to try and make the black sacrifice theme a little better. Unfortunately, at that point it might as well be a gold card because it is horrible in every other deck. It was just stretching a little to far.
In Out
Sweltering Suns is a really unique card. It provides a wrath effect in a color that only sometimes wants them. Some decks will love this but even then its not always necessary or good. Adding cycling to this effect really amps up the usefulness, probably one reason why the cycling is a little expensive. Cutting a mass removal spell for this is important because I don't want too much of this effect.
There have been a couple drafts now where I see multiple Earthquake variants all going to the same red player because nobody else wants them, even on a splash. The red player doens't even want more than one and it's not so critical to see one every draft. This is just the worst one.
In Out
Insult // Injury is going to end games. At first glance it seems like a win more card but upon closer inspection just casting Insult to randomly deal an extra 4-8 damage is really good. It allows your small creatures to trade up in combat and drives your opponent crazy doing combat math once they know its in your deck. The way this is costed really plays well whether you wait and cast this for 4RR or just pop both of these spells off on separate turns. If you actually do cast this for 4RR it seems unlikely you lose the game. I think this will play much better than it looks at first glance.
Browbeat has got to be the most overplayed card in cube. It always makes the main deck, always underperforms and always gets rave reviews. People just love to hurt themselves by playing this card. It will never deal lethal to an opponent. It will never draw you cards when you really need to claw back in a game you are behind in. Yes, it does stuff but as the opponent I am actively happy when an opponent plays this. Yes, sometimes it doesn't matter what your opponent chooses. It's either early in the game or you are way ahead already. Just remember, in those situations your opponent is choosing what they would rather deal with. Even if it feels good for you, it's never as bad as it could be for your opponent. Just getting rid of it seems to be best for everyone involved.
In Out
The trade here is renown 1 for prowess, an extra toughness and the -1/-1 counter ability. If renown doesn't trigger, Goblin Glory Chaser is absolute trash. If it does, it moves to very good. On average, it just doesn't trigger that often as everything blocks it profitably and you have to get very lucky to get through. Soul-Scar Mage will be much better on average. I don't think it's as good as something that consistently has a larger body but prowess usually plays better than it looks allowing this to give your opponent a difficult time assigning blockers. The -1/-1 counter ability further complicates blocking in a good way.
Didn't Make the Cut
Entangler is actually pretty close to being cube playable. A couple sets ago it would probably have made it. The trample being totally irrelevant without the exertion makes it pretty awkward. The off-state is just a little too weak to be playable. The exact card with 3 power might have made it.
I am not a fan of Combat Celebrant at all. The one toughness means it will likely always die in combat which means you get exactly one shot at using the ability. Cards like this just need too much to go right for them to work. You need a board position consisting of this and other creatures. You then also need the other creatures to be able to profitably attack through your opponents blocks. Then you need all of that to be worth 2R for this to be good. Those are way too many things you need to go right.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Heart-Piercer Manticore could fling itself or just dealt a guaranteed amount of damage it would be so much better. As it is, you need not only a second creature to sac but you need a large enough one to do some damage. Red's four drops are too good for that.
Flameblade Adept is not going to be able to add to its power very often making it a 1/2 menace for R which isn't nearly good enough. If you could add power even every other turn it would be good, but it's just not that likely.
Didn't Make the Cut
Hazoret is great if you can get her active the turn you cast her, ideally on turn four but effective on any turn. Once casted, Hazoret loses a lot of the appeal as you are relying on the ability to discard excess lands to turn her on again. This is a lot of work to make something that is really on par with red's existing options at the four. This only deals damage with its ability when you spend mana and discard a card, a lot more resources than something like Purphoros which does it for free as you play the game.
In Out
I really like Channeler Initiate as a mana dork that becomes a legit part of combat later in the game. It's body doesn't get too big even when all the counters are removed but it does at least become a creature at that point. Adding any color of mana provides nice fixing as well. You can also put the counters on a different creature you control to just make this a beater if the situation calls for it. Not overwhelming but it's got a spot in most green decks.
River Boa was always a weird include in the cube once green aggro was out. It's not overly aggressive unless you happen to be playing a blue player and yet it always saw play. Eventually it always turned into a wall that just awkwardly sat there accomplishing nothing.
In Out
While I don't support green aggro, Managorger Hydra has shown that it is a very respectable creature in its own right even without direct aggro support. Usually after a turn or two it's already a reasonable size and if it sits around it grows out of control faster than I had anticipated. It's just a really solid three drop.
See comments for River Boa as they also apply to Mire Boa but for swamps.
In Out
Rhonas is probably the most powerful of the new Gods and its no coincidence its the only one that is making the cut. The real power is in the creature trigger and activated ability. Use the ability once and this will definitely turn on to attack or defend. What pushes it over the edge is that the ability is cheap enough to use multiple times later in the game (especially in green decks that often have excess mana lying around). Deathtouch does seem pretty ancillary on a 5 power indestructible creature since it will probably already be winning combats but you aren't paying anything for it so its essentially free.
Woodland Bellower is trash. The restrictions for a green creature with CMC 3 or less just never allowed it to get anything exciting. You were always searching for a mana elf or something that just didn't justify the six mana vanilla beater. Not what anyone was excited to ramp into.
Didn't Make the Cut
Green aggro cubes should probably just add Exemplar of Strength but it is an awkward add in mine. Without other attacking creatures it can be tough to get the first counter off which makes you rely on putting the counters on another creature altogether. That's just not reliable on turn two when this is good. The difference between this and Channeler Initiate is that the Initiate can remove the counters without involving your opponent altogether. This one is much more difficult.
The reason why Oracle of Mul Daya is good is because it gains value the turn it comes into play. It adds lands rapidly, drawing you into gas and giving you the resources to actually cast it. Vizier of the Menagerie does not do this. It does nothing the turn you cast it unless you cast it late in the game and get lucky with the top of your library. It doesn't benefit you with what you already have in your hand unless you are really stretching your mana base which is uncommon. The negative reviews its been getting in cubes supports this.
Didn't Make the Cut
Champion of Rhonas ranges from absurd to absolutely embarrassing depending on what your hand looks like. You need to hit on this ability because the body is not acceptable for the cost and that's why this falls up short. It's only good on curve when you have gas in your hand as late game you can just cast the expensive creatures you draw making this a blank once you are top decking.
Manglehorn is an easy add in artifact heavy cubes but mine doesn't have power or a theme so it hinders its usefulness.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Feed was any other card, like literally any other card, this would be a really close call compared to Call the Herd. As it is, Feed is really expensive and needs to hit multiple cards to be worth it. It's a tough sell and really comes across as win-more.
In Out
Edifice of Authority is really annoying to play against. It's very much a control card in that it takes out one threat for a couple turns before becoming a threat on both offense and defense to push through your larger threat. I'd say it's a little slow but if you cast it on turn four you can use the ability immediately which seems a lot better than casting it for 3 and waiting with no value. I think this one is going to over perform and I don't see a lot of people talking about it.
Chimeric Idol is a really unique card. It's essentially a 3/3 for 3 that dodges sorcery speed removal if you want it to. The problem is that tapping all your lands is an actual cost and not one worth making a vanilla 3/3 anymore. Back in the day that was a nice sized creature but now it's just okay.
In Out
This might be cheating a bit since Samut is already really effective without the white activated ability but people are going to want to use the whole card. Realm Razer didn't give people a good reason to go into Naya which is really what these gold cards are supposed to accomplish. Samut is more likely to get played and is just more powerful.
In Out
Nissa is a perfect addition to Simic cube. Simic is a guild that really needs a marquee card that will pull players in. Nissa does this much better than Kiora due to her ability to scale as the game progresses. She is built to actually use her ultimate which can be game winning the turn you cast her. Even as a three drop she comes in with three loyalty and sets up your next turn. Playing her off curve doesn't punish you as she just gets more loyalty making her 0 ability better. The fact that her plus allows you to play more with her 0 and set up your next turn for the 0 is great. This is a powerhouse and my favorite card from the set for cubes.
Kiora has been fine but doesn't really hold a candle to Nissa in terms of pure excitement and effectiveness. She just has so little loyalty! I want to just keep using the minus ability since the plus ability is usually so unexciting. If you are actually ahead you are not benefited by using the plus at all, it's an actual blank and that's frustrating.
Didn't Make the Cut
I went back and forth comparing Weaver of Currents to Kiora's Follower and came to the conclusion that I would rather have the ramp a turn earlier with the ability to add colored mana. The ability to untap creatures and artifacts makes it more flexible if you don't need the mana as well.
Bounty of the Luxa would make the cut if I could choose between drawing a card and adding mana each turn. As it is sometimes you will spiral perfectly and it will feel amazing. At other times you will really need the card or mana and the inability to choose will make this very frustrating. It's not worth the hassle.
In Out
Alesha is a cheaper card that is much easier to cast. It still has a cool ability that functions well in multiple decks and pushes player into Mardu. It's really not playable without the ability unless you are desperate for bodies. It's just more likely that it gets drafted because people get scared when they see three different mana symbols in the top right corner.
In Out
Didn't Make the Cut
I think the cycle lands are on par with the scry lands in terms of power. Being tapped is a pain but the card advantage is really appreciated on a card type that you have so much redundancy with. I think at least they are all more interesting than the core set lands. Therefore, that switch is being made in the guilds that still play them.
I'm not playing the core set lands in these guilds and I don't think I want to cut any of the existing lands for them right now. If the others over perform I can see swapping out the temples for these.
Amonkhet is the best set for cube in years. Many of the cards that I did not include are auto-includes in cubes that support different strategies. I'm really excited to see what Hour of Devastation offers around the corner. Have fun cubing!
