Hello, everybody! Just a quick update to discuss a few of the cards from the new Commander 2018 decks. I usually wrap these updates into a main set release but I have a feeling that the next Ravnica set is going to be a biggie, especially as I rework my gold sections. There are only a couple of cards to talk about today so let's get through this quick.
White
Didn't Make the Cut
Balance is an interesting card and putting it on an efficient creature would make a solid card at first glance. However, Balance is best in the following scenarios. You cast it to wipe your opponent's board for two mana in a control deck; you Armageddon your opponent with a bunch of mana rocks out; you drop your whole hand really quickly and Mind Twist your opponent. In all of these scenarios there are two things in common. One, your opponent cannot prepare for this seismic shift in resources. Two, it only costs two mana which means it's flexible throughout the game and can change modes based on when you draw it and what the situation is. As a creature, Balance loses both of these advantages. Your opponent gets a full turn to play around it and by costing five mana to use the ability, it restricts the use to late game utility only. This strongly inhibits its usefulness as a source of discard, one of the key features of Balance. That said, the question isn't whether this card is better than Balance (a card banned from my cube for power reasons) but whether it's better than the existing options. I don't think it is. The killer here is that your opponent has a turn, or more, to just cast removal on it. I know that IDTR is not a convincing argument but the set up just takes way too long and is too unreliable for the investment. Aggro decks (the only decks willing to play a 2/2 for 1W) aren't going to want this and control decks would rather just be playing a wrath.
In Out
Ok, I've talked myself into it. I don't think Balance is too good for unpowered cube. I think it's potentially very powerful but also has a relatively fair average power level. As mentioned above, part of the power with Balance is your ability to drop your whole hand and take your opponent's away, something that control decks aren't going to do without power and fast mana (which is much more scarce in my cube than in most small lists). This means that in order to make the most of Balance you need to draft appropriately and then still craft a gamestate where you get the most out of it. Yes, it still functions as a two mana mass removal but at the cost of lands and cards if you have the most. This is a real cost for control decks and I would like to see how this plays out over a couple drafts. I think this is a relatively safe unbanning, mostly due to my cube size and lack of reliance on fast mana artifacts.
Wing Shards is a replacement level removal spell that never really overachieved, especially once your opponent knows you have it in your deck. Rarely do they HAVE to play a spell pre-combat and it's pretty free to just attack first. Three mana is a lot to keep open when your opponent can choose the creature to lose and when it's only good on defense.
Didn't Make the Cut
I think the easiest way to evaluate Ever-Watching Threshold is to compare it to a similar, and excellent, cube card in Curse of Predation. Both are three mana enchantments that trigger on an attack and both have very good effects when they trigger. They differ in one huge way though and that is that while you have complete control over Curse of Predation's trigger, you have zero control over how often your opponent triggers Ever-Watching Threshold. Your opponent can still attack for lethal (yes you get a card) and can hold back attackers if it doesn't seem worth the investment. You might be able to get a couple of free turns out of this where your opponent doesn't want to attack with their unopposed 3/3 for fear of you getting a card (it's a really good bonus after all) but ultimately, you only draw one card per turn at most and only if your opponent deems it worthwhile. I think this is close as your opponent will likely have to attack eventually but really suffers from being too unreliable. If you are ahead in the game, this does literally nothing. I'm going to hold off for now but I can see this performing better than expected elsewhere. I'm keeping my eye on it from afar.
Primordial Mist is really interesting but too slow for cube. For your initial 4U investment you get a 2/2. Every turn thereafter you get another 2/2 with the flexibility to cast a manifested noncreature spell as long as you obey all timing restrictions. I like that this second ability costs no mana and can be done as often as you want but you have to pay 4U and likely at least two turns to be able to actually do it. That's a lot of extra mana and time to be up one card. The 2/2 creatures are fine but are too slow to really swarm your opponent with. This is another one that could potentially overperform but I want to see how it does elsewhere first.
In Out
Night Incarnate is, essentially, a splashable mass removal spell. I think that most of the time you will be using the Evoke trigger as opposed to running out a creature. That said, this is really nice flexibility and a 3/4 deathtouch for 4B isn't a terrible card as it blocks and attacks well into anything. The ability triggering on leaving play is a little rough to plan around if you aren't using Evoke but the flexibility is worth it. There is a little bit of blowout potential but good deckbuilding will tell you that this doesn't go into an aggro deck that has a bunch of small creatures. Also, black doesn't have a very strong aggro component so it's less of a risk than it is in some other colors. Black five drops are also really underwhelming so getting a nice one in there feels good.
Yahenni's Expertise suffered a bit from having too low of a floor and not a high enough ceiling. You aren't getting card advantage out of Yahenni's Expertise as at best you are getting mana advantage only. Too many times the last card in your hand is either too expensive, not impactful or situational cards that you might not want to cast at this point in time (removal spells for example). If you aren't casting a free spell with Yahenni's Expertise, you are losing out on a ton of value and playing a marginal spell. This was too often the case.
Didn't Make the Cut
Varchild is a sweet card that ultimately really, really needed evasion in order to function properly. As it is, the payoff is so high for dealing damage that it is unlikely your opponent blocks anything other than this. Also, as a 3/3 for 2R, it's not exactly winning combat and efficiency wars with its raw power. It's a shame because this would be really cool as a gold card for sacrifice decks if it costed 1BR and had menace instead.
In Out
Retrofitter Foundry is such an interesting card made even more interesting by the fact that in cube, the tokens printed on the card are going to be largely self contained to Retrofitter Foundry. You aren't going to be playing a deck that can immediately cash in Servos or Thopters the turn it's cast. You will have to build from the ground up almost every time. In that case, my instincts are that this is too slow. Being able to untap the Foundry goes a long way to making this playable and the rest of the abilities are reasonably costed. Once you get going you are likely to be able to use all of your mana every turn making this wonderful for decks that don't have mana outlets. It also can legitimately win a game on its own if not challenged as it scales very well with mana, making actual threats sooner than it seems like it does. Altogether, I can see a card that will either be absolutely busted as it makes the cut in every main deck 100% of the time or one that is just way too slow to be viable, sitting in play for turns without doing anything. I think it's at least worth testing as I can easily see a scenario where this is highly coveted. It's just so easy for this to pay for itself and then some.
I almost cut Boros Signet here as Boros decks just never play that card but any control deck will play a signet even if its completely off color just for acceleration. Many aggro decks don't even want to play with Adventuring Gear. For every game that it gives consecutive turns of +2/+2 it sits in play doing nothing because the aggro deck is only playing sixteen lands and you drew it on turn five and have only been drawing gas as your deck intended. Nobody is going to miss this one.
Didn't Make the Cut
With the "one per guild" rule in effect for planeswalkers, Saheeli has direct competition in cube all-star Dack Fayden. Even though the steal an artifact clause on Dack loses a ton of value in nonpowered cubes, there are still a multitude of great targets for Dack to pilfer. Add in a really cool ultimate and a very powerful plus ability and you get a card that is infinitely more interesting, and expresses a wider variety of play, than Saheeli, the Gifted does. You will cast Saheeli and immediately make a Servo every time. After that, you will continue to make Servos until you can use the ultimate (if you still have a ton of Servos or something worth copying in play) or just continue to make Servos. Once every couple of turns you might use the cost reduction if it allows you to cast an extra spell but it will still likely be better to make more Servos. These are the type of planeswalkers I try to avoid putting in cube as they are repetitive and boring, feeling more like an enchantment that just makes a 1/1 every turn and has limited synergy with the rest of the guild.
Didn't Make the Cut
Xantcha is a very interesting card. In cube, what essentially happens is your opponent gets a 5/5 that can't attack but can still block (this part is important). The payoff is in the card draw and life loss to your opponent. Is that worth paying 1BR to give your opponent a 5/5 creature with defender? I'm not so sure that it is. You certainly are the favorite to win the long game if you have this as the ability but Rakdos decks don't really play the long game. Instead, this will probably be a favorite for burn decks that don't really interact that much in combat. In those decks, every six mana will equate to about 4 life lost and maybe one burn spell. Conservatively lets say that six mana equals about 7 damage. That adds up quickly. However, burn decks don't play that much mana and having six mana each turn isn't a guarantee. If you are using your whole turn to draw a card and burn your opponent, you quickly realize you can't activate the ability and cast the cards you are drawing making this much slower than it seems at first glance. I'd rather have something that functions well in sacrifice.deck as that's the Rakdos bread and butter strategy.
Didn't Make the Cut
I would seriously consider adding Arixmethes if the creature had a relevant ability like trample. As it is, the mana ramp is very much in line with the Simic ideology and is likely the best part about the card. However, the payoff just isn't there for turning this into a creature. Coming into play tapped also lessens the playability as the turn you cast this it does stone nothing. Five spells isn't insurmountable but it is a real cost that takes a lot of effort to get through. A 12/12 isn't that different from a 7/7 in cube and without any evasion it's just not worth the effort.
As is normal for these supplementary Commander sets there was only a couple of cards to discuss and even fewer that actually made the cut. I don't mind though as even one switch out is an exciting event, especially if it replaces a card that I knew wasn't really pulling its weight anymore. The next update is going to be a doozy as it will encompass the first five guilds of the new Ravnica set. I'll only be focusing on updating the gold sections of those five guilds as I'll hit the next five in the followup set where they are highlighted. Until then, happy cubing!
