Welcome to the Ravnica Allegiance Cube Update. I went into this set very excited to see Gruul and Simic get some much needed direction and an upgrade in overall power. I'm happy to say that they both received a little help, even if it's maybe not as many cards as I was wishing for. Azorius, Orzhov and Rakdos are all in very good places so while they might not have needed help quite as badly, they all got some interesting candidates to mull over as well. I used this update to make one sweeping change to the cube. I finished cutting the three color support with this update. In addition to removing all three color cards from the gold section, I removed the three color tap lands as well. I've replaced them with a set of enemy color dual lands (now all guilds are equal in total number of mana fixing lands which should help balance the color distribution with how I make packs) and I added one more card to each main color. With the paperwork out of the way, let's get talking about some cube cards!
In Out
Sometimes, simple is better. Pacifism has remained the white standard for removal for a reason as permanently shutting something out of combat has proven to be especially effective in cube, and doing so for a measly two mana is something that should be main decked heavily.
Seaside Citadel is cut as I am removing dedicated support for three color decks as it's too difficult to promote in a 720 card cube. This puts a greater focus on two color strategies while increasing the density of meaningful cards per draft. The reasoning is the same for all the tri-color tap lands that I am removing in this update so I won't be discussing the other nine in their respective change logs. I will be discussing what replaces them as they are unique decisions.
Didn't Make the Cut
Tithe Taker specifically hates against reactive blue spells. It's not really an ability that I think is at its best in cube as most of the interaction and countermagic is cheap enough that you can easily pay one extra mana for if you are aware of it ahead of time. Note that it only causes problems on your turn so they can just cast their removal spells as they wish on their own turn with no penalties. The Afterlife is honestly the best part about the card as I've been reasonably happy with Doomed Traveler but I'm not excited about this as a beater or in defensive decks. I don't like targeted hate cards and this is pretty close to that in a strategy that already has a pretty good match-up.
Blue
In Out
The value on Ptermander is always going to be linked to its Adapt ability. Luckily, blue tempo decks will always be reaching into spells for removal and interaction that further its game plan so it fits nicely into those decks. I would hazard a guess that the average cost to trigger the Adapt ability is going to be around 4U unless your game is going long. Luckily, Pteramander only gets better the longer the game goes as it turns into a game ending threat. Being able to get meaningful value out of it as an early game and late game play in a tempo deck is very important for those strategies so this should have a nice role going forward.
Mistblade Shinobi was originally added a plant in order to communicate to players that blue had a tempo strategy as it is wildly unplayable in other decks. However, better options exist now as Shinobi was only ever marginally effective since it's so easy to block after the initial surprise bounce. Pteramander has a much higher ceiling and a similar floor.
In Out
Dream Eater may also have the same three toughness problem that Glyph Keeper does but the difference here is that Dream Eater provides a TON of value before it ever enters the red zone. Flash is huge as it allows you to seriously mess up combat math while providing you with a significant edge in card quality due to its Surveil effect. I don't think it's a game ending finisher on the level of some of blue's other creatures but I do think it's a whole lot of value that goes a long way towards putting a blue deck ahead for good.
Glyph Keeper wasn't a very exciting card. While it's difficult to kill with a removal spell, it also can't interact very favorably in combat. The three toughness is just really rough and the Embalm cost is pretty steep. There are many games where you just don't get to seven mana and it's a hard sell for a card that doesn't do anything outside of combat.
In Out
Champion of Wits was borderline when it was first announced and I edged on the side of putting it on my watch list. Now that I had a free slot in blue it was a pretty easy inclusion as it supports Dimir and Simic strategies which appreciate graveyard interactions and card sifting / late game ramp targets respectively. The Eternalize is expensive but the bonus you get for getting there is significant as you are at worst drawing two cards in addition to the improved body. That's a lot of value for a three mana card.
Didn't Make the Cut
Mana Leak has long been the gold standard for reasonable two mana counter spells as it is effective for long periods of game play but can also be played around if one tries to. Unfortunately, for Quench there is a significant difference between two and three mana and if Mana Leak is reasonable to play around, Quench is downright easy. You almost have to snap this off on the first thing you can hit and if you draw it late it is nearly dead as anything but control decks are likely to be able to pay for the tax. Mana Leak is just over the line of effectiveness and Quench is just under and that's not good enough for cube. I will keep waiting for another decent two mana counterspell as I think I would like one more.
With the rise in modal spells, pure card draw needs to be extremely efficient in order to break through the cube ranks. Precognitive Perception is MUCH better than something like Jace's Ingenuity as the scry 3 will almost guarantee you to draw into gas of some sort. The problem is that five mana is a ton. I have come to prefer cheaper card draw spells that let you toe the line between committing to the board and refilling your hand as they work well in both tempo and control strategies. Perception is very good at what it does but it also fits into fewer decks at a very competitive mana slot.
Didn't Make the Cut
My inclination is that Sphinx of Foresight isn't going to trigger the scry 3 ability as often as people think it will. It's a fantastic ability that will turn any marginal hand into an automatic keeper. However, how good is it with a hand that is already keepable? It's not useless of course, but it's not game changing anymore either. This card slots nicely into tempo decks as a curve topper that smooths future draws but it's not really what a control deck is looking for. The obvious competition Sphinx of Foresight has in cube is Curator of Mysteries as it has the same body with a different upside. I think it's a close comparison but ultimately you are looking at a lot of potential benefits over cycling. The discard/cycling to scry ability on Mysteries comes up only rarely as opposed to guaranteed scry 1 every turn for Foresight. What this comes down to is that the reason that the Cycling on Mysteries is good is because the rest of the card is unexciting. If Sphinx of Foresight is in your opening hand, it's going to be great, but it loses so much value if its not that I don't think it's worth making the change. I just don't like the amount of inherent variance this possesses.
In Out
Gutterbones is exactly the type of cube card I like. It's most obvious use would be in aristocrat decks as a cheap, recursive creature. However, it also interacts wonderfully with self discard, any other graveyard strategies and black aggro. It's that last one that I really like as it improves the strategy without having to devote cards that are only good in those decks. Gutterbones is an easy inclusion.
Kokusho has long shined in Recurring Nightmare decks that use it as a combo finisher to drain the opponent out without attacking. However, those decks don't really need help as they are already above the curve in terms of power and game ending ability. Outside of those shells, Kokusho is a slow finisher that really awkwardly interacts with enchantment based removal and bounce spells as the ability doesn't trigger. Creatures are better than they used to be and Kokusho's status as a sacred cow is pretty clear at this point.
In Out
Like with Gutterbones, above, Plaguecrafter should shine in black aggro decks and aristocrat decks alike. The ability to not be a dead card when your opponent is on an empty board makes it significantly better than something like Fleshbag Marauder, something that is widely played that I have steered away from. Discarding a card isn't a huge upside but it's certainly better than nothing as Fleshbag is a dead card against an empty board. Having the ancillary ability to hit a planeswalker is also not irrelevant even if it will likely be the least used ability here.
In Out
Gonti has received very good reviews since I put him on my watch list when it was first released back in Kaladesh block. The nice thing about having a 720 card cube is that you have a little more room for cards that are just plain FUN and create good stories. Gonti does both of those things in spades. The fact that the game play with vary wildly between matches and games only helps his cause. This is the type of card that is good in a wide range of decks and that has been shown to miss extremely rarely in practice (one of my main concerns when it was released). I'm excited to be able to add him.
Night Incarnate looked like a did a lot more than it actually does. The biggest flaw is that you can't really take advantage of both sides of the equation. While ahead, it's extremely risky to play it and risk losing your board should the opponent have a single removal spell. The same problem exists at parity where its ability is entirely game play dependent as far as how good it is. It turns out, the best thing to do with it is just treat it as a four mana mass removal spell and play it in a deck without many creatures. I would much rather just play a good wrath or good creature as this toes the line poorly. It's also really aesthetically frustrating that, at first glance, it would seem to have four toughness so it can survive it's own -3/-3 effect until you realize that it's irrelevant because it only triggers upon leaving play...it's minor, but it's bothered me.
In Out
Spawn of Mayhem is a dedicated aggro card as control decks probably don't want to deal with taking damage every turn when they can get threats that don't speed up an opponent's clock. That said, aggro decks will really want this. The Spectacle ability should be pretty easy to turn on and even if you have to play one extra mana, you are not losing that much as the card is still above rate for 2BB. The trample only gets more relevant as the game goes on and the 1 damage each turn really adds up quickly. Late game, this gets even better as you can start growing it and trample guarantees that each counter will be meaningful.
You will never be able to kick Josu Vess. Sorry. It's not going to happen. I know, that one time that guy did and it was great but 99.9% of the time you are either getting the french vanilla body or you are incorrectly holding on to it. This one was disappointing. As far as attackers and blockers go, Josu Vess loses badly to Spawn of Mayhem.
In Out
Pestilent Spirit is a really sweet card that will specifically shine in Rakdos decks. It turns any burn spells into straight removal and mass removal. Outside of that shell, it's a decent body that is functionally unblockable on offense but that provides an annoying roadblock against more midrange decks that won't want to trade with it. This is another card that is very good in black aggro but also playable in other strategies. It's over performed where I've seen it played even if it loses some value against token strategies.
Liliana's Specter is a hard to cast card that can't actually attack through anything. Pestilent Spirit is an easier to cast card that has a bigger body and much higher ceiling. The inability of Specter to make you discard your own cards hurts is value and limits it to a curve filler.
Didn't Make the Cut
Drill Bit is never going to be Thoughtseize, it's just not. This is one of the cards where Spectacle is both a serious requirement to the card being effective and a serious hurdle. In order to use this card you almost have to be exactly Rakdos as the other black combinations are just too grindy and value oriented. You also can never actually cast this for its Spectacle cost on turn one and rarely on turn two because you have to find a way to deal damage first. This allows your opponent to get underneath it while you develop a board state. Too restrictive for cube.
Priest of Forgotten Gods provides a sizable benefit but the cost is extremely high. It is not easy to have multiple creatures laying around to sacrifice and even harder to do so more than once per game without completely relying on tokens. The value you gain largely relies on being able force your opponent to sacrifice something meaningful. Unfortunately, that just isn't a guarantee. If the body was larger or if it could sacrifice itself as part of the cost we would be in business but as it is I think this just barely misses the cut.
In Out
Clamor Shaman having a permanent haste more than makes up for it's anemic body when compared to Goblin Heelcutter. The larger body just isn't necessary for the effectiveness of the card. It's not like Heelcutter can attack through much more than Clamor Shaman can and having to pay for Dash repeatedly in order to take advantage of the haste prevents you from continually committing to the board and taking a turn off to hard cast Heelcutter is really not where you want to be. Clamor Shaman is a much more efficient use of this effect and should turn out much better and more consistent.
In Out
Electrodominance is probably the best Blaze variant we have in cube. Being able to flash sorceries and creatures in is a huge boon to the spell's effectiveness and while I was underwhelmed by Kaladesh block's Expertise cycle as a whole, the base effect doesn't need very much to push it over the top. The difference here is that you have much more flexibility over what is casted for free and if you have excess mana you can just pump it into the burn effect, targeting your opponent. This is better as the game goes on, obviously, but should retain value in picking off a utility creature as kicker to an existing spell. Even casting this as a shock and playing a free two drop is very good while the ceiling of this effect is incredibly high. The fact that it's both unique and fun are also hugely in its favor.
I've found that the flashback ability on Devil's Play is a little overrated. Triple red is a huge cost and while some decks don't have a problem getting there, decks in my cube are mostly two colors due to the amount of people involved in drafts being less than normal. Red also doesn't typically get that much mana overall which further limits a straight Blaze effect's usefulness. Because of this I don't want too many of this effect and Devil's Play is way less fun than Red Sun's Zenith and has a much lower ceiling as compared to Electrodominance.
In Out
Najeela adds to an ever-growing list of red three drops that go wide and can quickly snowball a game out of hand. I was a little bullish on Najeela at first because she is pretty bad unless she snowballs. However, she has been getting pretty good reviews from other cubes and the presence of other warriors in cube promise a little bit better than I thought at first. This one I want to see in action and judge for myself. The upside is certainly there as even one unimpeded attack creates a TON of value for three mana. We'll see.
In Out
Light Up the Stage is the reason I play with cards before determining cube changes. My initial thought was that the combination of sorcery speed and needing to trigger spectacle held this card back. After seeing reviews and playing with the card I am confidant that the card is not held back by being sorcery due to the likelihood of drawing lands and due to the clause giving you two turns to play the cards. Red decks are almost always littered with inexpensive options and the floor is much higher than I thought. Worst case, this is a red Divination which is already not something red has access to. Hitting lands isn't even a miss as you get to play both of them and not have to draw them. This card both fills a need in red and is sneaky powerful. I am really impressed.
Pulse of the Forge suffers from not being relevant enough a large enough percentage of the time. If you aren't killing your opponent with this (which does happen) then it's almost a blank card that you can't cast. Burn straight to the face just doesn't do enough unless it ends a game. Decks are too resilient and their density of cards that require answers are too high. While I like the option of being able to return this to your hand if you are behind, it doesn't actually bring you ahead or balance a game state (again, unless it kills them). Statistically, it just doesn't actually kill your opponent enough to make this playable outside of strict burn decks. Light Up the Stage is playable in a wider arrange of decks and fills a need while being a more unique effect (ie: not just another burn spell).
Skewer the Critics being a sorcery with Spectacle is brutal. It makes it much more difficult to clear out blockers when compared to normal burn spells unless you want to pay the full cost. Without Spectacle this isn't close to being playable in cube and this being relegated to main phase 2 for maximum effect really hurts it. It would be different if the Spectacle cost made it above curve but it doesn't, it merely brings it down to standard playability. That's not good enough when it doesn't do anything other than burn.
Didn't Make the Cut
Skarrgan Hellkite is another in the line of flying, haste cube dragons and unfortunately, it's also probably the worst. Riot isn't a huge draw here as it will almost always just have haste and the damage ability is very expensive and only good if you choose to not give it haste. It's an odd mixture of abilities for something that is probably relegated to limited bomb, not a cube one.
I've been really unimpressed with Harsh Mentor on the whole as some decks have literally zero ways for it to trigger and it NEEDS to trigger if it's going to be worth the mana investment. Immolation Shaman is in a similar boat with an even less exciting ability (1 damage instead of 2) but gains a powerful ability to effect combat. Unfortunately, the ability is very expensive and the starting body is pretty defensive with flies in the face of red's normal gameplans. This one could have been good but is a bit of a miss for me.
In Out
End-Raze Forerunners gives you an immediately game ending threat that is able to play defense effectively on the games where you don't quite have enough to deal lethal. It's a good reanimation target and great in decks with mana dorks. This is the easiest inclusion I've had in a while.
I've never been that impressed with Terastodon as a whole as I'm not a fan of blowing up your own lands and praying that they don't have a response to your board before next turn because if they do, you just lose. You can destroy their meaningful permanents and some of your own lands but the 3/3 creatures almost always trade with each other so they almost don't matter at all unless one player gets all of them. The real value is in the 9/9 body but it's so bad if they remove it. Its undoubtedly powerful but it's just not something I'm ever excited about putting in my deck unless I'm cheating it into play.
In Out
Biogenic Ooze almost slipped through the cracks on me. This get out of control extremely quickly and is a must answer threat. If this lives, the game will end in a couple turns which dampers the drawback of having to spend your whole turn making more oozes. Getting the counters on end step is huge because you get the benefits before your opponent gets to untap. Two 3/3 creatures for five mana is a fine rate and the value skyrockets if you get to actually untap with it still in play. This goes wide and over and is valuable both defensively and offensively making it an easy inclusion.
Another sacred cow gets the axe in this update as Genesis finally comes out of the cube. Genesis packs a lot of power but is almost insufferably slow. Having to figure out a way to get Genesis in your graveyard is usually the easy part, it's the fact that it's very difficult to both return and cast something meaningful each turn. Usually you return something and hope to have enough mana to do something else. Once you get there, it's great but it's not a given and a lot has to go right for this to realize it's potential.
In Out
I have really been wanting one more mana elf in my list for a long time but Wizards, perhaps correctly, has refused to print one I can add. Therefore, I am just going to be adding Boreal Druid even though it's not quite what I had in mind. The increased density of mana dorks is important in larger lists where you see them with less consistency.
Didn't Make the Cut
Green noncreature spells are few and far between and unfortunately this also misses the mark. It does nothing the turn you cast it and this is a horrific top deck as it can take several turns to actually gain value out of it. You likely aren't going to be chaining creatures together to draw multiple cards in a turn very often and this is way too irrelevant too large a percentage of the time.
Reflecting Pool has never impressed me that much because it's never what you need, it's only ever what you already have. It only improves your ability to cast double costed spells which isn't nearly as good as actual mana fixing. Incubation Druid is Reflecting Pool on a meaningless body. The best part about this card is the Adapt ability because it gives you the option of either being a much better creature or a much better mana dork but not both. Green probably isn't going to be holding this up defensively so you can flash things in or cast spells on end step, it's probably going to be tapping this so you can ramp into something which kind of makes the body irrelevant again. Vigilance or a cheaper mana cost for the Adapt ability would have been needed for this to go over the edge.
Didn't Make the Cut
Lavinia is a very interesting card for powered lists and combo cubes because they are typically much more focused on doing unfair things and that's what Lavinia shuts down. She has very few targets in my cube so she is largely just a bear which is obviously not good enough.
I am pretty positive on Dovin, Grand Arbiter as a supplement to tempo decks (which I support) but it loses a ton of value in control decks (which I also support). I think in the end, that's the death knell for Dovin as I only want one planeswalker per guild and the competition is Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. Teferi is bonkers good in control and very serviceable in tempo making it a better fit for the guild as a whole.
In Out
Thief of Sanity is what I always really wanted Nightveil Specter to be. An easy to cast, evasive threat that plays with your opponent's cards without having to jump through too many hoops (like having the available mana or having to worry about hitting lands). Dimir might not be an aggressive guild but it certainly appreciates card advantage and Thief is virtually guaranteed to hit gas if it hits at all. Dimir is uniquely positioned to be able to protect their threats, particularly cheap ones, so the worry of losing your saboteur before it connects can be mitigated. Overwhelmingly positive cube reviews have made me feel better about adding Thief as I had it earmarked as my most interesting card from Guilds of Ravnica. I'm very happy it seems to be over performing.
Ashiok is one of the top Dimir cards available and attacks on a unique access compared to the rest of cube. Unfortunately, s/he also is incredibly non-interactive and largely wins through repeated mill. I've taken efficient mill effects out of cube before as they aren't very fun to play against and go against the cube's mantra of interactive game play. Often times, the correct play is to turtle around the mill ability until the opponent is out of cards or so low that you can afford to stall until they run out. S/he just doesn't synergize with anything else in cube since the abilities all revolve around exile instead of the graveyard making it even more likely that the correct play is just to infinitely mill as long as you can. The high loyalty and low mana cost play into this strategy and it's not one I want to explore any further. It's a shame because I really do love Ashiok...oh well.
In Out
With this swap I am essentially undoing a swap I made when Vraska, Relic Seeker came out. I now thoroughly believe that the extra mana is worth it for Garruk, Apex Predator. His abilities just fit more of the Golgari strategy than Vraksa does. Golgari is just so slow. It puts a much higher emphasis on a 3/3 deathtouch than a 2/2 menace as if it wins it's going to go over the top and not wide. It would also much rather gain life attached to removal as opposed to getting more mana, which is probably superfluous at that point in the game anyway (if it was a clue token instead, we'd be talking differently). The flexibility of Vraska to be able to deal with enchantments and artifacts is nice but not a point of need as Golgari already has easy access to those abilities in other cards. I think Garruk is just an overall better fit for the guild's strategy.
Gruul
In Out
Ravager Wurm will almost always fight something upon entry while the Riot trigger will likely drift depending on game state. The land ability isn't irrelevant but there just aren't that many targets for it in cube. This still adds up to a really game changing threat as haste and removal are rarely stapled together. Another boon is that neither green nor red really has many six drops to fill their curve out so this should slot right into a spot that isn't overwhelming.
It turns out that two activations of Voltaic Brawler isn't enough to make it interesting enough to draft. I don't think it's bad but it definitely misses the pizzazz that causes people to move in. It just wasn't drafted or played enough.
In Out
Rhythm of the Wild has really overperformed and I think it should continue to do so in cube. Gruul doesn't really utilize tokens as much as some other colors so the riot ability should hit most everything that those decks will cast. The counter/haste debate should prove to be much more interesting in cube than in regular limited where it's almost always correct to go with the counter. It also adds a little insurance against counterspells as a free bonus. It's not a great top deck but it makes up for it by giving your opponent fits trying to figure out whether they can attack or not as knowing everything has haste has proven exceptionally good in past cards. The fact that Gruul really struggles to have interesting noncreature spells makes me want to try this one out.
Atarka's Command just doesn't do as much as it seems like it does. The land ability is almost as useless as the life gain ability and in practice you almost always do one of the same two things. You either nug them for 3 and pump the team or you ramp yourself and nug/pump. Having one dead ability really hurts when the other two are both situational depending on the board state and life totals. Rhythm should be more impactful while being equally maindeckable as it provides a very unique effect and should push people towards playing the color combination.
Didn't Make the Cut
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that really likes Arlinn Kord and I don't know why. She protects herself, pushes through damage, is removal and has a game ending ultimate that she can reliably get to. For the same cost, Domri ramps you each turn and can provide card advantage. He fits into Gruul's strategy well but is less of a Swiss army knife when compared to Arlinn Kord. The big advantage it does have is a ton of starting loyalty but I like the options that Arlinn provides, especially considering that the minus on Domri is really expensive and is not as consistent as it could be for the cost. Minusing Domri and missing is catastrophic and even hitting only one creature is pretty harsh. It's also a really bad top deck when behind as it essentially does nothing to protect itself.
Gruul Spellbreaker is a very efficiently costed creature with a really underwhelming ability. The hexproof ability is really only relevant if you give it haste since it's so easy to just untap and kill it when its shields are down. I really like this card but I don't think it does enough as just an efficiently costed body compared to the existing options.
Gruul Spellbreaker is a very efficiently costed creature with a really underwhelming ability. The hexproof ability is really only relevant if you give it haste since it's so easy to just untap and kill it when its shields are down. I really like this card but I don't think it does enough as just an efficiently costed body compared to the existing options.
In Out
I definitely misread Expansion//Explosion when I initially reviewed it. I read Expansion as a counterspell and not as a redirect. Explosion is a legitimate win condition in slower Izzet decks and even at six mana you get to shock something and draw two cards which will feel pretty good at instant speed. It just scales really well at all points of the game as you are never going to get "stuck" waiting for maximum value. Izzet is already full of modal cards and this fits right in. I do think this is on the lower power level because of how mana specific and expensive Explosion is but I want to see it in action.
Prophetic Bolt has been one of the most consistent cube cards I've seen. It's an expensive removal/burn spell that replaces itself with something (likely) relevant. It does a lot. Five mana though...it's just so much to hold up and it doesn't deal with larger threats. It's never dead but it's a LOT of mana to kill a 2/2 and draw a card. Expansion/Explosion provides similar advantage while being able to be much more impactful at all phases of the game.
In Out
Seraph of the Scales is a nice horizontal replacement for Blind Hunter in that it's the same cost for a bigger creature with relevant abilities. The other bonus is that instead of a Haunt effect that nobody understands the first ten times they read it, you get two evasive tokens upon death which works right into Orzhov's main strategy. The three toughness prevents this from being impossible to deal with in combat but also increases the likelihood that you will actually see the tokens. I also think people underestimate how good Afterlife 2 is. It's MUCH better than Afterlife 1 and is really annoying to deal with, especially if you have anthems.
In Out
So I realized that I added the wrong four mana Sorin to the cube. adding loyalty instead of subtracting it to make tokens is a huge difference and more than makes up for the lower starting loyalty. The emblem is also more powerful than the temporary boost ability. The ultimate also gives a more immediate impact for the same cost.
Didn't Make the Cut
Etherial Absolution suffers from being a little too expensive overall and having too restrictive of an activated ability. It doesn't fill a need as it likely won't be impactful to kill blockers outright and white already has access to a bunch of anthem effects. Against control decks this is terrible and you can't afford to have such narrow cards in your main deck in cube.
Kaya's Wrath suffers more from not being a needed effect in Orzhov than it does from its restrictive mana cost. Orzhov already has access to multiple four mana sweepers so this just doesn't do anything you can't already do and it doesn't do it any more efficiently. The life gain needed to trigger for every creature instead of only your own for this to be considered more seriously. It's good, it's just not going to unseat anything else.
In Out
Judith is a picture perfect card to slot into aristocrat shells. The combination of its abilities makes blocking literally anything an absolute nightmare as your creatures all of a sudden trade up two levels. She might not be participating in combat very often and she loses a little value with tokens but the fact that she still pumps their power prevents her from being actively bad with them. The ceiling is sky high here.
Garna is a weird card in that it does an absolute ton but also doesn't really fit into any particular shell and doesn't actually do anything by itself. You need other cards, particularly creatures, to make this effective and while that can also be said of Judith, she costs two mana less which is a huge difference. Your five drops need to be impactful when you cast them and the swings on this are significant.
In Out
I really, really like Fireblade Artist a lot in aggressive sacrifice decks. It's got an efficient body (considering haste) and represents a lot of reach with tokens or recursive threats. Remember that it can always sacrifice itself in a pinch. I think this is almost always going to over perform relative to its mana cost. The haste is great because it allows it to be a fantastic draw at any point in the game, it's either threatening bonus damage that is very hard to prevent or its getting in the red zone early. It's just really synergistic and efficient.
The Scorpion God sits in an awkward spot of being an effective card but not being the right card for the guild. This just isn't something that Rakdos decks need or get excited about. It's an expensive threat that very slowly shrinks other creatures and, with no -1/-1 counter support, rarely actually draws cards. It usually eats a removal spell and gets recast the following turn for zero value. That's not bad but it's just not low to the ground enough to interest Rakdos decks as a finisher.
In Out
Vial Smasher is legit in a one on one format where it can only target your opponent. This damage adds up extremely quickly and turns any sort of board stall or tight match heavily in your favor unless it's dealt with immediately. It doesn't really fit particularly in any strategy but should be maindecked in almost every Rakdos deck it's drafted into on pure power alone. The fact that red/black have so many instants means you get to regularly trigger it on both players turns, greatly increasing its effectiveness.
Blightning was always fine but unexciting as it loses a lot of value depending where in the game you are and what type of deck your opponent is running. Because of this, it was relegated to sideboards more often than not and brought in for particular matchups. Vial Smasher is much more likely to be played on a consistent basis.
Didn't Make the Cut
Bedevil is a card that is pretty obviously powerful enough for cube but "more removal" just isn't what Rakdos needs in a gold card. Rakdos has zero problems removing creatures and already has artifact and planeswalker destruction as well. This just doesn't support any existing strategies or shore up a weakness the colors suffer from. I do love that this gives a main deck answer to artifacts without having to sacrifice flexibility against board states or decks that don't require that mode. If it was extremely efficient I would consider it more strongly but the casting cost is pretty onerous as it is.
I'm considering Rix Maadi Reveler as a gold card because without the Spectacle ability triggering, this is way below market value for a two drop. Rummaging is pretty weak overall as you have imperfect information to make your decisions so while it's definitely worse than looting, you can just draw a card if you are hellbent which is much better. If you treat this as a four drop with backwards kicker, you get a really nice overall package. Drawing three cards and getting a creature is insane and having to discard your hand as punishment isn't really that bad of a cost for Rakdos as they are typically pretty low to the ground and tend to go hellbent with reasonable frequency. I definitely think this is on the lower end of power for cube as the basement is incredibly low and I don't think you are going to be triggering the Spectacle ability a high enough percentage of the time.
I'm considering Rix Maadi Reveler as a gold card because without the Spectacle ability triggering, this is way below market value for a two drop. Rummaging is pretty weak overall as you have imperfect information to make your decisions so while it's definitely worse than looting, you can just draw a card if you are hellbent which is much better. If you treat this as a four drop with backwards kicker, you get a really nice overall package. Drawing three cards and getting a creature is insane and having to discard your hand as punishment isn't really that bad of a cost for Rakdos as they are typically pretty low to the ground and tend to go hellbent with reasonable frequency. I definitely think this is on the lower end of power for cube as the basement is incredibly low and I don't think you are going to be triggering the Spectacle ability a high enough percentage of the time.
In Out
Hydroid Krasis is the perfect Simic card because it's amazing if you have been able to ramp to a bunch of mana but it's still serviceable if you haven't quite gotten there yet. At four mana you get a 2/2 flier that draws a card and gains a life. That's fine. At six mana you get a 4/4 flier that draws two cards and gains two life. That's one more mana than a hard casted Mulldrifter and you get an extra +2/+2 and you get to gain two life. That's a good deal when it provides you with an actual threat in combat. Anything above that is certifiably insane but less reliable. The life gain is great because Simic decks can struggle against aggressive shells where every life point is important. Remember that while it's not optimal, you can cast this with odd X costs just to get an extra point of P/T which can make a big difference depending on board states.
I'm going to say something controversial here but I don't think that Edric is a very good cube card. Hear me out. Edric is only good in aggressive shells or shells where you have a ton of mana dorks that you can cash in for cards. However, that's a difficult thing to accomplish consistently in a large cube like mine. The density of mana dorks just isn't guaranteed and it loses a ton of value when you aren't swarming with idiots. Furthermore, Simic doesn't have an aggressive component in most cubes which complicates this. In powered cubes, many decks ignore combat entirely as they race to whatever stupid and broken thing they are trying to accomplish. In my cube, combat is essential and people are going to have blockers for your attackers which makes it MUCH harder to actually get through points of damage to draw cards. I think Edric gets better the less interactive your cube is and that's literally the point of my cube...to play magic WITH someone and not just solitaire into something broken faster than your opponent can.
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Temporal Spring is a nice hidden gem of a card that really works well in Simic and shores up a weakness of the guild. Simic decks typically have difficulty answering resolved threats and Temporal Spring not only removes something from play but it denies your opponent a draw step which can be huge. Three mana is pretty fair for this because it allows you to hold up counter magic for whatever you delayed later in the game and is likely to be main decked a large percentage of the time because of the uniqueness of its effect.
I've always disliked Shardless Agent in cube as you aren't going to be able to combo off with it like you can in constructed and his performance in my cube hasn't changed my mind. Instead, you are cascading into dead cards (counterspells), mana dorks, bounce (which may or may not be relevant), and cards like Ponder which never feel good or powerful. There is an inherent value there but the lack of control really matters when so much of blue is reactive. You almost have to have built your deck a certain way to maximize the value and those are a lot of hoops to run through for a 2/2 with no other abilities.
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While Izzet tempo decks really don't want a tapped land, everyone can appreciate smoothing out their future draws and Izzet does have a control shell that loves the Temple as well. The options for enemy colored lands aren't as plentiful as they are for allied colored so this was the best option available and it's still serviceable.
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The check lands are just efficient cards that allow you to fix your mana without being punished as most of the lands in your deck are going to be basic lands. This should come into play untapped almost any point in the game past the first turn.
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See Isolated Chapel, above as it applies to Golgari as well.
In Out
Coming into play tapped matters a little less in Simic where it's more important that you are ramping effectively into your big plays as opposed to curving out. The Scry is really helpful because it filters out excess ramp spells when you need gas and gas when you need ramp spells and mana which is a weakness of the Simic ramp strategy.
In Out
While Clifftop Retreat won't let you cast a one drop on turn one, it likely comes into play untapped at every other stage of the game, allowing you to continue to curve out effectively, which is all Boros wants in a land. I've never actually seen a hand where I was punished for having one of these in my deck. It's punishing in constructed where you have multiples you can draw in your opening and and it's still correct to play four of them in standard.
Ravnica Allegiance was beneficial to the cube for sure, even if it didn't completely solve Gruul and Simic's power level and strategy issues it gave a couple of cards for each that really do help. In the end, that's all I can hope for realistically. I'm definitely glad I changed around the land section by removing tri-color support as it should streamline drafts and give more clear signals to drafters moving forward. The next set is...something....Bolas...y? No idea yet what it's going to include but I'm sure I'll have more cards to talk about. See you still in Ravnica but not for Ravnica!
Also, can I just say how excited I am for the potential cards in this modern only set? They just HAVE to have cube in mind a little bit when designing this...right?
Ravnica.
