War of the Spark is unequivocally one of the most powerful Magic: the Gathering sets that we have ever seen. The sheer density of powerful, unique effects that are contained in this set is staggering and part of that is thanks to the density of planeswalkers being so high. Even beyond that we have multiple cycles to talk about as well as a large number of interesting cards. Add to that a little bit of cleanup and tinkering and I think it's safe to say this is going to be the longest cube update I've ever written. I'm excited! But before we get too far ahead of ourselves I think I need to say a few words on planeswalkers in cube so as not to repeat myself overmuch. I currently limit the number of planeswalkers in my cube to three per WUBRG color and colorless. I also allow only one per guild color pair. The new uncommon walkers are different. With no ability to boost their loyalty up they have a much lower game warping effect as often times you don't HAVE to attack them in order to not lose. In practice, they play out much more like interactive enchantments in that the opponent has an easier time answering them while you get to make gameplay decisions based on their continued presence. I actually really like the way they are designed and how they have played out so far. Because of that, I'm open to widening the scope of planeswalkers to allow some of these so long as they don't have a plus ability. The rare/mythic planeswalkers in War of the Spark are looking at stiff competition but the uncommon ones have a wider breadth of cuts that are possible. Because of this, I'm going to be talking about a lot more cards than I normally would...so buckle up.
White
In Out
Adorned Pouncer was mostly irrelevant unless it could Eternalize. While there were games where you can play this and get both halves of the card, the ones where you draw it late and have to manufacture its death to get the larger body really hurt. Even in the early games the original body is just so meaningless it never does anything other than chump block. That leaves it squarely as a road block and inefficient in aggressive decks where it just deals two and won't get blocked. It's very hard to make it what you want it to be as your opponent just has too much control over its death outside of sacrifice.
Tithe Taker is a much more flexible card that works in almost any white deck as an attacker or repeated blocker. The multiple bodies make it just annoying enough and not having spend mana to get the token is huge. The tax ability is mostly free but in practice has been annoying enough that it makes your opponent change their game plan around it if they have a lot of interaction. Much more likely to get main decked and good in multiple archetypes.
In Out
Angel of Condemnation is a victim of me trying to skim the four drops in white a bit as it pretty much did what it was supposed to do but was never as powerful as the other creatures it competes for deck slots against. The problem is that it's just so slow and all of your advantage and value comes in your opponent not dealing with it. The blink is fine but it almost always gets exerted as it mostly got played by mid-range decks. When it dies your opponent gets all the CITP abilities and at least once leading to a blowout mid combat with surprise blockers. Good, but flawed.
Brightling turned out to get a little bit better reviews than I thought it would. My initial concern was that it needed you to really go all in on its abilities in order to make it worthwhile but it turns out that threat of activation is enough most of the time. It's just a really annoying creature that has a lot of utility in a lot of different decks. The lifelink is much better than I gave it credit for as even one connection can swing a game against an aggressive deck. The fact that its a good blocker and attacker allow many decks to main deck it which is always something I'm looking for. The ability to return to your hand, while clunky, means that people mostly won't target it if you have the mana up. Wasting a removal spell to put it back in your hand will happen sometimes but mostly it will be enough to deter an attempt altogether for fear of wasted value. It also provides a nice interaction with wraths for control decks as they can put her out early as board presence only to bounce it, cast a wrath when overwhelmed and still have it as a follow up play for the next turn.
In Out
Archangel of Tithes is a really weird card with a really restrictive mana cost. It's a great blocker that punishes players for attacking while also making it difficult for decks to block your creatures if they want to commit to the board. The problem is that most decks just don't want the full package. Aggro decks don't care at all about the blocking ability and the control decks don't care at all about the attacking ability and the mana cost means you are really paying for both. Instead of being an all around package it ended up being an awkward mix that nobody really wanted as it didn't further anyone's game plan in a meaningful way. That's how you get cut.
Recruiter of the Guard is a really unassuming card that provides white with badly needed card advantage. There are so many utility creatures that this can get that no deck should lack for targets and it should be really easy to be played in any type of deck. The body it leaves behind is fine for to sacrifice or to throw in front of attackers. While aggressive decks might not like the anemic body they will have many options for the ability and really appreciate that the card advantage doesn't require them to take a turn off, even if a 1/1 isn't the ideal body to add to a board. The future prospects of this guard look brighter as more sets are released and the list of tutorable targets improves.
In Out
Oketra is an absolute house once resolved with any sort of extended board presence. She does have to actually untap in order to pay for herself but she is incredibly difficult to answer and a single trigger of her ability is well worth the investment. Keep in mind that of all the colors, white is most likely to be able to trigger her ability and keeping multiple cheap creatures in hand to ramble off consecutive activations isn't that unreasonable. Control decks are a little less impressed as their lower density of creatures makes it less likely to trigger her repeatedly but aggro and mid-range would love such a resilient threat.
Wingmate Roc suffered badly from needing to trigger Raid for full value. The card is just so bad when behind and having to throw away a creature in a board stall in order to get the token felt bad even if it was the correct call. When able to trigger Raid it really feels difficult to lose but in so many of those situations you are already favored to win. This does nothing to pull you from behind whereas Oketra can act as a giant wall for a turn before running away with a game if unchecked. The fact that she is such a huge clock by herself makes up for the delayed/situational ability triggers.
In Out
I've always liked having access to Safe Passage as an effect but if I have to be honest, the power level just isn't there and the card should have been cut ages ago. Unbreakable Formation is exactly what I always wanted Safe Passage to be. Aggressive decks have a way to protect themselves from a wrath while also being proactive when not facing down imminent doom. The Addendum effect is significant enough that it makes it a tough call whether or not to use it or save it for a worst case scenario. I also really like that it permanently effects the board in the form of +1/+1 counters as it makes your likely very small army more imposing on future turns.
In Out
I really like white's suite and density of removal so I originally wasn't going to add Prison Realm at all until I saw I was still running Prison Term. I really like the original play lines that Prison Term supplies as it can often prevent players from playing good creatures for fear of switching targets (whether right or wrong). Losing that ability is worth the bonus of hitting planeswalkers and scry 1 though as it also comes in a more splashable casting cost. I do think this is on the lower end of white removal but I like the idea of adding more forms of card advantage for white decks as they often need them more than other decks to avoid running out of meaningful things to do later in games. That said, this is probably the worst removal spell in white as it is fairly expensive and restricted in targets compared to other, similar removal spells at the same cost.
In Out
I spoke earlier about my feelings on tappers in cube and while Scepter of Dominance seems like it's better because it can tap anything you really only ever want to tap creatures or lands with it so the ability is a bit superfluous. It's just an awkward ask that I've grown to like less and less in cube. Holding up mana for this effect each turn is difficult for some decks to do and it doesn't mitigate all of the advantage gained by CITP effects or go wide strategies.
Let me lead with an aside on the entire Finale cycle. You are never going to cast them for X=10 so it's a total waste of time to assess them with that bonus in mind. The card has to stand completely on its own without that clause in order to be considered. Luckily, I think Finale of Glory does just enough to squeeze by. It's difficult to compare Finale of Glory with other token making cards because you never really know what X is going to be until the game is in motion. At X>3 it's absurd but it's reasonable all the way down to X=2 even if it's not optimal. With any anthem effects the lower mana costs get much better as the tokens mean a lot more and its easier to swallow getting less of them if you have to commit to the board. Control decks should be able to play this an actual win condition as it just adds so much power and toughness to the board and it interacts so well against the spot removal that non control decks are likely to play. Diversifying threats is very strong and an unexpected benefit to play with and terrifying to play against out of a control deck. Aggro will also play this but will have to be less picky about when its casted. Luckily it scales well and the vigilance makes it very difficult to race against in a mirror. I don't know how good this will really be until I play with it but it's certainly powerful and flexible enough to at least get a good look.
Didn't Make the Cut
Tappers are very powerful in regular limited and while they retain a lot of their usefulness in cube functionally, they also don't really ever fit into any specific strategy. They get better the more generic and less cohesive your deck is and that's usually not a recipe for success in cube. This is why you don't see me playing any. If you do like tappers though, I find that Law-Run Enforcer is a quite good one. The inability to tap one drops and tokens isn't really that debilitating and the one mana input is also reasonable. This essentially taps what you most need to tap but the limitations really do add up when you're looking at the total package. If you like tappers and are already playing the existing options I think this has some interesting play to it, I'm just not in the market for it.
Tomik is basically a 2/3 flying for WW. That got kicked out of the cube years ago when it was named Kor Skyfisher and was easier to cast. Yes, Skyfisher came with a "drawback" and this comes with "upside" but they were both mainly about the body in my cube. We've come a long way from that and you need a relevant ability if you are going to stick around. Powered cubes that try to abuse things like Strip Mine and Wasteland this has a lot more value but I don't like land destruction in cube (especially repeatable) so it does nothing for me. I think this is playable though in cubes that do want that interaction and find it to be poorly managed.
Didn't Make the Cut
There are going to be actual board states where Single Combat is going to be an absolute blowout in your favor. Other times this is going to be stuck in your hand because you will die on the spot if you do. It's just way to uncontrollable and board state dependent. Giving your opponent the choice of creature/planeswalker to save is horrible and not being to follow up this spell with a play for two turns is also horrible. Yes, sometimes you will be left ahead with a bigger creature and this will prevent them from catching up while you attack but it's just so swingy. This doesn't make a good cube card.
Parhelion II costs 8 mana and you can't reanimate it meaning unless you want to Tinker it into play (I don't run Tinker) you are casting it the old fashioned way. Not having a way to impact the board immediately almost completely destroys the prospects of this in even the slowest and most grindy of cubes. Sure, if you are able to attack with this you almost assuredly win that turn as it attacks for an evasive 13 but the crew is also an actual cost that isn't guaranteed. Being able to make creatures that can crew it in the future is cute but if you can't get it to attack the first time that doesn't matter.
Didn't Make the Cut
Teyo is actually a really strong play against red aggro decks as he prevents them from pointing burn at your face while also creating a couple of roadblocks to block early attackers. He won't single-handedly stop everything as he eventually does get overwhelmed but he makes life really annoying for your opponent while likely gaining you quite a bit of life in the process. If your cube is really hampered by the mono-red aggro decks controlling the metagame, I can think of worse things to do than include Teyo as a roadblock to let slower decks stabilize. Even staying at a single loyalty is great because the hexproof is so useful against the red decks. Unfortunately, it doesn't help against any other color which relegates it to a sideboard slot in my cube. I'm not a big fan of strictly sideboard material in cube as slots are so precious and there are so many strategies to try and support. I think that while Teyo is likely better than you think he is, he still isn't good enough.
The Wanderer fills similar space as Teyo but suffers badly from having a static that just doesn't synergize well with the loyalty ability. In theory this makes her much more versatile compared to Teyo as she is relevant against big creatures and burn decks but in practice neither one of the abilities is worth the card and it's going to be difficult to have games where both are relevant at the same time. This is another solid sideboard card that just doesn't fit into any of white's game plans.
Didn't Make the Cut
Gideon is so close to being an amazing cube card. The fact that you don't have to use a loyalty ability to make him a creature is extremely powerful and his size is way above rate when you factor in indestructible. He even has a solid 5 loyalty on turn three making it difficult for opponents to destroy him before he can attack. Putting him in aggressive decks somewhat mitigates his inability to protect himself since you will likely be putting pressure on your opponent and they might not be in a position to attack back. However, all of his value is tied to him being able to attack as neither of his loyalty abilities really do anything. His plus can't target himself which severely limits its usefulness as granting a keyword but no P/T boost doesn't even guarantee you can deal more damage. The exile effect is expensive and slow and if you are behind you won't be able to rely on it in a pinch. Gideon is also solidly up against existing planeswalkers for a slot since he does play out like a regular planeswalker. There's just too much going against him.
In Out
Kefnet is such an insane upgrade over Curator of Mysteries it's not even funny. Curator was on the edge of playability and I've been looking to swap him out for a while and Kefnet gives me an easy upgrade. Now that all said you get an extra point of toughness (which is actually huge as 5 toughness on a flier wins a lot more combats) and the God tuck ability. Both are nice upgrades to the cycling/discard shenanigans that are just too hard to synergize with in cube. I actually don't think the ability is as good as it looks which is what makes this potentially replaceable in the future. It only triggers on draw and it doesn't interact well with counterspells and there will be times when you have to copy a removal spell with no good targets. Even then it won't be bad as you still get the original card too. That doesn't even take into account revealing a card type you can't copy where it will be a complete whiff. I think on average you might get to copy a couple of cards per entire draft. Not nearly as much as you might think, but when you get to copy something relevant it's absolutely devastating. Kefnet acts as a giant stats monster and competes against others like it as opposed to value creatures that have a more indirect impact on life totals. I think that's fine, especially with such an obvious cut. I can see something beating this out long term but for now it's a slam dunk inclusion.
In Out
Fblthp is just an Augur of Bolas that is never going to miss. You lose a little bit on the blocking ability which is unfortunate but often times Augur of Bolas gets maybe one good block in before it gets outclassed by attacking creatures. Four toughness is really where you need to get if you are looking to keep blocking long term. Giving up what is essentially one block for guaranteeing a draw is a nice turnaround. Augur is better in the Izzet spells deck but Fblthp is going to be played in many more main decks. Keep in mind that control decks really do want to keep drawing lands in addition to spells so drawing a land early game isn't bad at all. Tempo decks appreciate a body of any kind attached to card draw and even if the library cast ability will never trigger you have guaranteed value. The shuffle ability is likely never going to come up unless you target him yourself. The opponent just isn't going to give you that value unless they are winning the game because of it. Fblthp is just really nice deck glue for a lot of different decks.
In Out
Kasmina is pretty impressive for an uncommon planeswalker and exactly the type of card I was talking about in the intro. The lack of a plus means that this has a straight gameplay line (a negative) and shouldn't warp the game around her as once she gets to one loyalty she acts as an enchantment and gives your opponent the choice to ignore her or try and kill her (a huge positive). If you get to activate her twice you get two 2/2 creatures, loot twice, tax your opponent's mana and make them use a card or save life if they want it to go away. That's a lot of value spread over two turns. She has graveyard, token and control synergies and that's a lot of decks to fit into. You really do need to get two activations out of her so you lose a lot of value by running her out onto a board when behind but the fact that you get a blocker goes a long way towards making that more palatable. The tax ability is going to be better against any decks playing non-white, non-green but should never be irrelevant. I'm very interested to see how this plays out as it will give me solid data for this type of card moving forward.
So this is going to seem like a very strange cut for some of you so bear with me for a minute while I explain myself. Time Spiral is a card that has a ton of potential power but has never actually done anything in cube. I can count on one hand the total times it's ever been put into a main deck and I can count even fewer the times it's actually been cast. The decks that want Time Spiral are just so specific. Storm decks love it but I don't support storm as a strategy. Control decks will play it but with so many powerful game ending creatures running around they are now more apt to just play those as they actually end the game. Time Spiral doesn't end a game, it resets it. I've had times where I casted a Time Spiral and I then drew five lands and immediately lost the game because of it. When you aren't abusing it the situations where it is playable in your deck and good in a game are few and far between. It's really only good if you are behind or at parity and in both those situations the game literally hangs on you drawing more relevant spells than your opponent. Being able to cast them first doesn't actually matter if you don't draw the right mix of cards while also factoring in what your opponent draws. Everyone always assumes you are going to draw a couple counter spells, removal, a creature and lands which lets you control the game until your inevitable win and while that does happens sometimes, it certainly isn't a guarantee. The floor is just so low that I don't think it makes up for the high ceiling. Again, a huge factor in this is that it just doesn't get played and I see it going around the table a ton. If players aren't drafting and playing a card, either it's not doing its job in the cube or it doesn't have the support it needs to succeed. I think this one is a little bit of both.
In Out
Callous Dismissal is a really good bounce spell. Tempo decks love committing to the board in anyway when disrupting blockers and even control decks can play this as it provides a chump block or sacrifice fodder along with the disruption. Being a sorcery is the only thing that puts this on my radar as more of a trial run than a slam dunk but I have a feeling this will make a large number of main decks and will over perform on average.
I was really high on Dungeon Geists when it first got released but I've since come down on it quite a bit. The body just isn't that great when you consider that losing this creature unlocks one for your opponent. It's probably at its best in the more tempo decks where the combination of body and ability matter most and even there it just never really shines. It's not bad but it's been eclipsed by quite a few cards in recent years.
Didn't Make the Cut
Both of these cards are similar in that they are common spells stapled to a token for a couple extra mana. In both cases, I don't think the combination of mana, ability and creature size equals a cube card. Keep in mind that because there is no Amass in cube both of these will always create a token unless they are somehow returned to your hand and casted a second time. I see a lot of people comparing Crush Dissent to Mystic Snake that's easier to cast, and I don't think its apt. Mystic Snake is a hard counter and this isn't. Mana Leak becomes obsolete later in games as it is easily played around and costing four mana means it is very difficult to snap this off early in the game reliably. Furthermore, there is a significant difference between Rune Snag and Mana Leak. Rune Snag isn't a cube card for a reason and stapling a 2/2 for two extra mana isn't worth it.
Similarly, I see a lot of people calling Commence the Endgame a finisher in blue as you get to make a huge creature and get some card advantage. The instant speed is nice and at worst you get a 2/2 token with your two cards for six mana. And yeah, sometimes you are going to be able to make a large creature but in those instances, aren't you already winning that game? A control deck that has six cards in hand, six mana and is able to take the turn off to flash in a vanilla creature should absolutely be winning. Six mana to make a small token and draw two cards is terrible and I understand that the size of the token is variant but it's never going to be big when you most need it to be. Even if you have a big token, it's still "only" a draw two and six mana is a TON for a token and two cards. That's not the hallmark of a good card and this just isn't worth it.
Didn't Make the Cut
Jace is extremely easy to determine if you want in your cube. If you support Laboratory Maniac as an alternative win condition/deck then he will be phenomenal. I am not a huge fan of this strategy as it's entirely uninteractive and promotes a solitaire gameplay plan where you ignore your opponent entirely and race your library instead of your life totals. Without supporting this strategy, Jace really only has one ability and isn't worth the card.
Finale of Revelation (unlike Finale of Glory, above) just isn't on par to existing options without the X=10 ability. It actually is a strictly worse Mind Spring since you have to exile it. Mind Spring hasn't been in the cube forever since you aren't ever getting to X=10 (even in blue control decks) this won't either.
Didn't Make the Cut
Blue has a common problem of having difficulty dealing with resolved threats. It's one of the reasons why it has to branch out into others colors; once something has resolved blue usually can only deal with things on a temporary basis. Kasmina's Transmutation essentially turns a meaningful target into a chump blocker which is a fairly unique effect at this cost. However, a chump blocker still extends a clock so tempo decks won't want to play this. Control decks already have access to hard removal in Black/White/Red. Simic is most likely just going to try and ignore problematic creatures by going over the top of them with their own threats. So while this is an efficient, unique effect, it's also not one that any particular deck is interested in playing.
Watch List
I really like Narset, Parter of Veils a lot. She has a passive that should be relevant against most decks no matter the color combination and ETB with the ability to immediately trigger selective card draw. She can't draw creatures or lands but she should still fit nicely into any blue deck as even the tempo decks play a good number of non-creature spells. Control decks will love her as she is just so cheap and impactful. Only being able to use her ability twice does hurt but she digs so deep that you should be able to find two relevant spells and have her stick around with her static. I'm just not sure what I want to cut to include her. I think I'm going to get a spot for her eventually, I just want to get some more reps to find what's expendable. She's on the Watch List for now.
In Out
God-Eternal Bontu is kind of insane. I talked about the tuck ability earlier with Oketra so I won't dwell on that one moving forward beyond saying its resilient and difficult to deal with. The body is enormous when you factor in menace and having a CITP ability works very well with the tuck. Being able to sacrifice permanents means you can cast this and sac a couple lands as well as miscellaneous creatures that are lying around to refill your hand. The propensity to draw further lands mitigates potential mana problems and lets you be more aggressive with your sacrifices. This will be an all-star in token and sacrifice decks as the payoff is just incredible. Even worst case when you don't have a board and need to run this out on turn five, a 5/6 menace that sacs a land and draws a card is still good and if you can get two cards it's great. The ceiling is very high but the floor really isn't that low because of how low risk sacrificing even one land is. If it's destroyed, having to wait a couple of turns to recast if its tucked is actually fine here as it gives you a couple of turns to refill the board to utilize the sac ability again. One of black's better five drops, Bontu is going to stick around for a long time.
I've been looking to upgrade from Puppeteer Clique for a long time as it doesn't synergize well with really any decks. Only being able to target your opponent's graveyard really limits its potential and means that sometimes the targets are terrible. Aggro decks for example just don't have the creatures to make this powerful and control decks might not even have a creature in the graveyard in the first place. Control decks don't care about the haste damage and this is too inconsistent to be a curve topper in aggro. It's just an odd card that has a widely variable power level and it's best trait is that the effect is unique and cool. Cards are too powerful now to run things like this and I'm excited that black fives finally have a couple of powerhouses.
In Out
When compared to Liliana, Death's Majesty, Liliana, Dreadhorde General does a lot for one extra mana. You get an extra starting loyalty and an ultimate that actively wins the game instead of being conditionally powerful depending on board state. As for the things that really matter, you lose the mill effect on the +1 but gain an incredible passive ability that has wide ranging effects. The minus is more expensive but arguably more impactful. Barter in Blood is a huge effect and when you get to draw a card or two for every creature you sac it goes way up in value. Reanimating a creature is nice but also conditional on your graveyard. Death's Majesty fuels its own abilities but I would argue that Dreadhorde General is a better finisher and value machine with all the recursive threats black has access to. The extra mana does hurt but you really are getting your bang for your buck. The ability to cast Dreadhorde General no matter the board state and have it be good is a huge win. While it loses a lot of value against go wide token decks, Death's Majesty wasn't good in those situations either so this is still an upgrade.
In Out
Dreadhorde Invasion is such an interesting card. Let me get this out of the way first. It's not Bitterblossom. That's independent of power level entirely as it's just a completely different card. The tokens are almost strictly on chump duty unless you can grow them large enough (which is extremely slow) and you can never go wide. The Amass cannot grow other zombie tokens and there isn't a way in cube to actually trigger the lifelink ability independently of growing your Amass token over six turns. You also lose 1 life each turn so casting this late game is pretty detrimental. So why am I adding it at all? Because black decks have been looking for a good token generator for ages and this is outstanding in that respect. Giving you repeated sacrifice fodder turns on an absolute ton of cards. Also, if you do cast this on curve it is actually very good as the life loss doesn't matter yet and the token all of a sudden does. Against control decks that don't punish your life total this gains a lot of value too. Keep in mind that if you are just using these as chump blockers every turn, you are probably saving more than the 1 damage you take on upkeep anyway so it's not actually costing you as much life as it seems. I would not be surprised if this ends up too slow and gets replaced but the sheer number of sacrifice triggers this provides is amazing and worth testing. It helps that I have an extremely cuttable card on the chopping block.
Scepter of Fugue is really powerful against specifically control decks as it prevents opponents from holding up answers late in games. However, it's really slow and almost a total blank against other decks. It almost never gets main decked and is routinely one of the last cards in packs. This has been a long time coming.
In Out
I'm feel pretty confidant that Eternal Taskmaster is going to be a transient inclusion. I really think returning creatures to your hand is an underrated ability because of how often people just want things to go straight to the battlefield. It's not as good obviously but it's not bad. Entering tapped hinders it a bit but you should be able to get the first activation pretty free and if you get the second you are way ahead. This fits really well into a number of decks and should be a solid role player even if it gets replaced by the next nuts two drop that is printed in black.
I've never been that interested in Carrion Feeder as a card as it's way too all in for my tastes and I don't feel I'm missing much by removing it. The sacrifice deck isn't really an all in aggro deck and that's kind of what this is best in. Sure, sacrificing for free is a nice bonus in response to spells but this has to pretty much ignore combat entirely until the first couple activations. The play just isn't interesting either, sac everything to this and pray they don't have a removal spell is usually not a recipe for success.
Didn't Make the Cut
Liliana's Triumph is, for the most part, a slight upgrade to Diabolic Edict so if you are running that you should probably just make the swap if you don't want another Edict effect. I am not a huge fan of edict effects because of how many tokens my cube runs; they have typically under performed. I don't think it's realistic to expect to trigger the discard ability due to the size of the cube so this is an easy pass for me. Keep in mind that if you play with hexproof/protection/shroud in your cube (I don't) then these effects go way up in value and you probably should be running these.
Spark Harvest is another upgrade on an old card as it is a strictly better version of Bone Splinters since you can cast it without having to sacrifice a creature if you want to pay extra mana and you can target planeswalkers. If you are running Bone Splinters still then this is an easy upgrade. As much as I like the gameplay, there are just more efficient removal spells and I cut Bone Splinters a long time ago. I don't think this is enough better as 3B is just too much at sorcery speed even when you factor in the flexibility.
Didn't Make the Cut
Bolas's Citadel is an interesting card and I think in cubes that push artifact synergies and fast mana it's a much closer inclusion. Given the right circumstances this can absolutely run away with a game. My cube is entirely too fair for this type of card to exist. I don't have the capability to cheat this into play early enough to really be able to abuse the life loss the way it needs. Running this out on turn six and hoping you have enough life to cast a couple of free spells is going to be best case scenario. Even then I think this would win some games outright but there are also going to be a large number of times where you just can't cast anything due to the pressure your opponent is putting on you. The more degenerate your cube environment, the better this is going to be. Aggro is too big of a component in my cube to realistically be able to abuse this and it's just not good enough as a fair card.
These common effects stapled to a small Amass token are really interesting designs. Unfortunately for Bleeding Edge though, -2/-2 is just not worth a card no matter how much it costs (well I guess if it was free). The bonus of getting a 2/2 makes this more like a Skinrender and that has all kinds of synergies that make it better. This badly needed to be an instant so you could pick off creatures post combat or flash in the token and since you can't do either, all the value is in the token and that's not good enough.
Didn't Make the Cut
Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted is a very powerful card and has a lot of hidden complexity to it. Being able to target your own creatures to draw two cards is a big game and the life loss only hits opponents so you can do it without worry. That life loss does add up after a while keeping it relevant at all stages of the game. However, when you point the removal at your opponent, things start to get dicey fast. In regular limited there are a ton of games where you can let them draw extra cards as long as you are ahead and not really get punished for it. The cards are so high quality in cube though that doing this is extremely risky. We've seen that ability before, in Master of the Feast as an extreme case (in both power and risk) and it ended very poorly for the player who casted the demon. I really like the design of the card but you just can't afford to allow your opponents to gain cards under any but the most extreme circumstances. There are enough Nekrataal effects in cube already and this doesn't even provide a body. Sorry, Nixi.
Blind discard spells have never been very good in cube. You need to have some factor of mass and selection in order to make them playable. Davriel has the ability to get three cards and deal damage but since it is split across multiple turns you never have the option to get their last meaningful card because they can always hold a card they don't mind discarding. This is only going to be good when its dealing damage and players aren't usually hellbent in cube like they are in regular limited. There are just better discard options available.
Didn't Make the Cut
Finale of Eternity suffers in cube from just having more efficient removal options, namely wraths. There are numerous cards that can sweep a board for four mana and while this does only remove opposing targets, it just doesn't hold up as well as it will never be played over an actual wrath in control decks. Aggro decks don't really want effects like this as they are too streamlined as opposed to regular games of limited where they almost always have to plan for failure. The X=10 ability will of course never come into play making this just not the right type of card for black in cube.
Massacre Girl has a lot of play to her and when she is good she is going to be insane. However, it's very difficult (although rewarding) to set her up so that she actually pays off the way you think she will when you initially read the card. Against green decks or token decks she will likely kill things and start to walk up the chain. However, there are a lot of times when you can't actually cast her because she only tanks your team. I like the design but the floor is sub-level low even if the ceiling is very high. Note that she doesn't affect herself so you will always be left with at least a 4/4 menace for 3BB which is fine. But seeing as how I just added a black five drop, I don't think I have room for another one. Ultimately, this is just too difficult to control and wildly inconsistent which really hurts her power level.
Didn't Make the Cut
Lazotep Reaver is really only for black sections that heavily invest in a Pox strategy and badly need sacrifice fodder. This really doesn't do anything else as it doesn't block or attack really effectively at all. I don't think I need to go quite so all in on the token making at this point but I do like that this is a somewhat unique effect for the cost. Black really doesn't get this type of card normally so it's nice to see something pushed a bit in a different but valid direction. It doesn't quite do enough for me though.
In Out
Imperial Recruiter is a card that I was on the fence about but gets enough love in other cubes that I realized I probably just should be running. It doesn't look like much being able to go get a large swath of creatures for your aggro deck is a really nice boon. Red (like white) just doesn't get a lot of card advantage and this ensures you get to keep doing things as the game continues. It's just really solid and will be deck glue for a lot of decks.
Hell's Thunder is just doesn't do enough. It's a nice damage source as it almost never gets blocked but red just doesn't have that many graveyard synergies so putting it in the yard isn't as good as it would be in some other colors. It's almost exactly a burn spell to the face and that's not what I'm looking for. Red has cards that are more interesting, provide better gameplay and are more powerful.
In Out
I've been really unimpressed with Purphoros because he just never becomes a creature. He's raelly just an enchantment as red just doesn't go wide with red mana symbols. It goes wide with tokens or in conjunction with another color. It's also just not as fun as Ilharg which has the potential to do some truly silly things if you can untap with it. It doesn't even have to deal damage as you get the creature on attacking. My favorite thing about it is that it's best in Gruul as that guild probably needs more help than any other and this works perfectly in it. It's a little slow compared to the rest of red's fives but I also like some diversity and not just having ten copies of the same card at each spot in the curve.
In Out
I really like Heartfire for a couple of reasons. Firstly, four damage for two mana is a great rate that answers some problem creatures that red has trouble with as most of its removal hits for three outside of specific circumstances. Secondly, it's to any target (a prerequisite for cube level burn) and an instant. Lastly, the sacrifice effect means that certain decks will want this and certain ones won't. The spells matter Izzet decks will probably shy away as they have a lower creature count but the Rakdos decks will love this and I like that it won't just get pilfered by players looking for generic removal.
Shard Volley is mostly just a burn card as many decks just don't want to sacrifice the land. There aren't any land based synergies in the cube so it's really just a drawback. I'll take the extra damage, mana and synergy any day.
In Out
This is largely a trial run for Mizzium Tank as I'm dissatisfied with Electrodominance and other cubers seem to be pretty high on the tank. It's at its best in Izzet but should be playable in the other strategies as well as the crew cost is very palatable. There is a lot of play to the prowess ability that i like I'm just not convinced this will survive a combat it gets involved in with so little toughness. At least I have an easy cut so this really doesn't cost me much to try out. I'm always open for red spells that aren't burn.
The more I try them, the more disappointed I am with X spells in cube. There are some exceptions to the rule but largely, you just don't have games that slog to a top decking battle where both players have a lot of excess mana. That's where these shine. Most commonly X is only ever a couple and Electrodominance is an extremely inefficient burn spell. The bonus of an extra burn attached to a spell just hasn't mattered as much as I had thought it would have.
In Out
We are actually getting to the point where I have to start making decisions about how many Goblin Rabblemaster-esque cards I want to have in red. We aren't quite there yet though so Krenko is an easy add. He doesn't have quite the goldfish damage output that other variations do but he has the best guaranteed value and staying power. Guaranteed to make at least two tokens that actually stick around (not tapped and attacking) is very different from the norm and if you can get two attacks in (not unrealistic) then he snowballs incredibly quickly. The tokens sticking around is actually nice as it gives you insurance if things don't go according to plan. I like it.
Volatile Chimera has a really cool effect and I absolutely love that it utilizes cards you drafted but didn't elect to play. Having to randomly transform though really limits the gameplay as you end up having to use the ability a couple times to get what you want (likely) and then end up just never changing it after that. You also don't get any CITP or cast effects so the actual targets aren't as varied as it seems at first glance. If you draft it later in the draft, you also lose a lot of potential for drafting creatures that this can copy. It's also more of a cool card rather than one that actually fits in any decks.
Didn't Make the Cut
I really like scry 1 as a bonus but this needed to get +1/+1 or +2/+0 or something to break through the ranks. It's just too defensive as a creature in red. Being able to block is nice but it needs to pose a threat on offense too.
Finale of Promise badly needed to be an instant. Not being able to actually cast the instant at instant speed removes counterspells and a lot of reactive spells from contention. You also can't select your targets based on the actions of your opponent. That limits the usefulness greatly. With this type of effect you badly need to hit with both cards and having to hit one sorcery and one instant instead of any combination is another limiting factor. Again, you are never hitting X=10.
Didn't Make the Cut
Both of these spells badly suffer from not being able to hit players which is a shame because I'm always on the lookout for more interesting burn spells. Alas.
Didn't Make the Cut
Grim Initiate suffers from just being too easy to ignore. Both sides of his effect don't really do that much and as such he will only ever see play as sacrifice fodder. If he was a 2/1 or in some way could get aggressive I'd definitely add him in as a multi-purpose tool but he's just too low impact even if he does only cost one mana.
I hate Dreadhorde Arcanist in cube. Yeah you can flashback your one mana burn spells and removal but decks just don't play a critical mass of spells and red isn't going to be pumping its own creatures in cube. If you aren't casting a spell with this it's absolutely terrible. The body is anemic and the trample is completely irrelevant when you aren't pumping it. It just doesn't do anything. Yeah, some games you are going to get a free Lightning Bolt and that'll be great but every other game it's going to be awful.
Didn't Make the Cut
Jaya badly needed to deal 3 damage with her minus in order to really make an impact. Dealing 2 is just not enough for five mana even if the static is a very good one. Five mana is just too much for that effect and a shock in red.
If you support a life gain strategy that is really strong in your cube then I can see Tibalt being a very solid addition as the token making is a nice addition to the main draw of the card. I don't really have a dedicated life gain package and I'm not interested in turning off the few cards I do have that are good against red aggro so I'm not interested.
Didn't Make the Cut
The only really cuttable red planeswalker is Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and I don't like either one of these better than it for the sole reason that if you are behind, the Dragonspeaker can actually affect the board by killing a creature. Both the new Chandra and Sarkan focus solely on dealing damage to your opponent. Because of that, they are rather narrow in their gameplay as they have one line that they will follow until they are removed. Chandra will tick up until she can ultimate. Sarkhan will make a dragon the first turn (because you don't get haste with his plus), tick up the second turn and then maybe you get to make a decision. The variety in gameplay isn't good and I like the Dragonspeaker as a more well rounded threat. I would eventually like to upgrade from Dragonspeaker but this isn't the update for that it seems.
Didn't Make the Cut
Unlike with big pig above, Neheb does actually have to deal combat damage and that's a much different story. Yes, it has trample and five power but the ability isn't even that good when you get to use it. Red usually doesn't have a ton of cards leftover in its hand so at most you are able to draw a card or two and if one of the cards you would have to discard is even passable you are taking a huge risk by getting rid of it. Rummaging is so much worse than Looting as you just have no control over what you are keeping. This is a hard pass for me.
In Out
Just a general upgrade in mana dork here. I'm okay with conditional hexproof when it's on creatures like Paradise Druid as you are almost guaranteed to get at least one activation out of it but it's not unanswerable or board warping. The body is passable for when you don't need the mana and making any color is a huge boon as it fits in any color green deck well.
Channeler Initiate looks like it plays offense and ramp well but in reality, Paradise Druid just does it better. If you draw Channeler on turn two it's great as it really does tick down and become a relevant body. Any later and the counter removal is just too slow to be meaningful, especially when you really don't need the mana and having to sacrifice another creature isn't really worth it when you are just getting a 3/4 vanilla creature. If you could split the counters it would be more interesting and have more play to it. There just isn't any synergy with the -1/-1 counters as the best thing you can do is to cancel out with +1/+1 counters, but it's just too slow.
In Out
The previous swap was a mana dork upgrade and this is a deck glue upgrade. Ohran Viper tended to make a lot of main decks despite having virtually no synergy whatsoever with any relevant green strategy. Elvish Visionary is cheaper and is guaranteed to draw a card. There are a lot of times when you just don't care about trading with a creature and all you want to do is draw cards with Ohran Viper and your opponent has all the control. It doesn't give any value until it gets into combat and at least Elvish Visionary is a good sacrifice target once it has served its purpose. It's on the lower end of green creatures for sure as the body is mostly just a blip in the road but it's consistent and should get played.
In Out
Kessig Cagebreakers is a fantastic card that almost nobody has ever heard of or played with. It's absolutely devastating with any sort of graveyard presence and the body is pretty decent once you consider that each token it makes is actively attacking. With even two creatures in your graveyard it makes seven power for five mana. The true test will be seeing if it ever survives to attack. The green graveyard decks needed a bump and this is a really good payoff. It should find a home in both Golgari and Simic decks that care about graveyards.
Thornling is just a big generic beater. At least Kessig Cagebreakers can be a lynchpin in supported strategies. Thornling just kind of sits there and attacks. I like the card but it's really mana intensive as you almost have to cast it with the ability to use haste and/or indestructible. You don't need everything open but this really does cost six or seven mana.
In Out
Satyr Wayfinder has long been one of my favorite cards and now that I'm pushing green with a graveyard strategy in Simic and Golgari I really need more payoffs and enablers. Wayfinder is a fantastic enabler as it fills your yard and fixes your mana while leaving back a road block to preserve your life total. Digging four cards deep is quite far and it's gotten good reviews in other cubes. I'm excited to see this guy in limited decks again.
Strangleroot Geist is a powerful card in aggressive decks but doesn't synergize well with any of green's strategies and isn't a high pick because of it. Undying is a really powerful ability but Selesnya is the only deck that would remotely want this and the double green really hurts. Satyr Wayfinder is much more exciting.
In Out
Return to Nature is probably the best Naturalize they've ever printed (thanks best of one getting popular in Arena) and it's an obvious slam dunk in cube. It's really nice to put in niche abilities like the exile effect without having to use an entire card slot to do so. The ability is essentially free here and even if it won't be the most common mode, when it's relevant it will be greatly appreciated. I didn't want to cut Naturalize outright as Seal of Primordium is a little weaker. If I had some cards that took advantage of Delirium I'd make the swap for Naturalize in a hurry as getting the enchantment in your yard is significantly harder. If that's the direction I take in the future, this has a spot again. Until then, upgrading to instant speed is nice.
In Out
So I'm cheating a bit here with the next two swap outs. Normally, I would consider these gold cards in most circumstances but green just has so many fewer playable non-creature spells compared to the other colors that it essentially has extra open slots. Travel Preparations has the potential to be a lynchpin in the Selesnya go wide decks and it's playable without the flashback, diversifying your resources and providing a unique effect.
Bramble Sovereign seems like a really cool effect stapled to a moderately exciting body. It turns out that the ability is symmetrical so if you are playing against a green deck it's actually unplayable since the opponent gets to copy a creature before you do. I also thought you could copy your opponent's creatures for 1G but that's not what the card does either. As it is written, this is an obvious miss and one I'm glad I'm cutting...the moral of the story is to read the cards closely. These supplemental sets are so tough when I don't get to actually play with any of the cards.
In Out
Similar to the last swap, Spider Spawning can be a lynchpin strategy in Golgari while being a playable card in Simic decks that utilize the graveyard. It's just a really fun card that I like playing with. Until green gets better non-creature spells I'm excited to try things like this out.
Great Oak Guardian is a fine card but for six mana you really need to win big on the ability. It turns out the circumstances do come up but most of the time you have to settle for lower value and that's disappointing for a six mana card. This is never bad but it's also just a generically good card that nobody actually wants. It feels like this only goes in your deck when your draft went sideways and you need playable cards.
In Out
Rude Awakening is a nice payoff for a ramp deck but it only synergizes well with having a lot of lands. The more mana dorks you have the worse this gets because you activate less lands. Finale of Devastation works well in ramp decks as a finisher and is unique in that it can get any creature as most of these type of spells limit you to green creatures. It can also search the graveyard, making it very difficult to run out of targets even in a threat light ramp deck. Green is also the only color remotely capable of getting to X=10 and if you do it's an actual win condition because it grants haste and team wide pump. It also works well in the mid game to get a value creature if you need to commit to the board while not requiring you to worry about how green dense your threat targets are. This improves the drafting experience and deck building flexibility.
In Out
Vivien's Arkbow is a card I'm torn on. I'm trying it out mostly because Moment's Peace doesn't really do anything but it does have some positives. While I don't love discarding a card and paying mana as a cost, the upside is pretty good as you get instant speed access to a creature and green is able to dig pretty deep to find something with all its ramp. The discard can be useful in graveyard decks and for getting rid of excess mana and ramp in big mana decks which is definitely that decks biggest weakness. Even though it's pretty slow, I'm optimistic this will stay around awhile, but mostly because the competition is so poor.
Moment's Peace works well in graveyard decks but doesn't really do anything. Fog has its uses but a telegraphed one is particularly bad. Green's non-creatures are just so unexciting so it's nice to have some new toys to play with.
In Out
Nissa, Vital Force was a card I liked but couldn't find room for when it was released. Mostly because I really enjoyed Nissa, Worldwaker decks. However, green isn't as narrow strategically as it used to be and Vital Force is more important in a greater variety of decks. Ramp loves the ultimate (which is very reasonable to hit), Golgari loves the middle ability and Gruul and Selesnya will like the top. All of the abilities feed into each other to mitigate any lost value if your lands die and she comes in with a large amount of loyalty and relevant abilities even with exactly five mana. It puts pressure on your opponent, provides card advantage, can protect itself and has an easy to reach ultimate that doesn't flat out end the game but provides inevitability in a synergistic way. I'm very happy with this swap.
I've played a lot with Nissa, Worldwaker in my cube and I've found it to be exceptional in two cases; mono green ramp and GU with Capsize. In both of these cases you are able to take advantage of the untapping forest clause to great effect. That is critical for this card to be anything other than mediocre. The plus ability likely has to be played with ramp or on turn six in order to be able to attack with the creature and the ultimate is just way too slow to actually acquire. Either she dies or the game ends before you are able to get there. Without capsize, even the GU decks have trouble using her effectively as you just don't have enough actual forests and ramp cards to utilize effectively. Nissa, Vital Force is just more flexible and better in a wider range of decks.
In Out
I really like Vivien a lot. Her gameplay has a lot of variety to it and flash to your creatures is one of the coolest static abilities they did in this set. Vivien, like Garruk Relentless, doesn't really fit into any given strategy so she's more of a generic good card. The plus is fine once you have creatures letting you pressure and protect her but it's lacking quite a bit when behind. Missing out on her minus would be really bad but green decks tend to play a lot of creatures which should make this rarer than some other colors. I also like that you can just bring her in and minus twice if you need gas and don't have time to play around. Once you untap with her it's really difficult for your opponent to game plan and attacks become terrifying.
Nissa is a good card that fits really well in the Selesnya go wide decks but really awkwardly everywhere else. The plants look really bad most of the time their only function is as chump blockers as you can't really attack with them until you use the minus multiple times. I like her ultimate but it takes forever to get there and it requires you to ignore the best part of her card to get there. Vivien has better play and fits in a wider range of decks.
Didn't Make the Cut
I'm really unimpressed with God-Eternal Rhonas relative to what could have been. Deathtouch is probably the worst keyword they could have given a 5/5 as it just doesn't matter that much. The ETB ability will range from game ending to useless depending on board state and the staying power just isn't there. Green five drops are too good to include something as situational as this. It just doesn't provide anything green decks need.
I've heard a lot of chatter about Arboreal Grazer in cube circles as a foil to aggressive decks in ramp. It provides a decent early game blocker while ramping you in a way that doesn't slow you down if it dies. This won't mess up your game plan if it gets killed immediately which means opposing decks won't even want to target it, allowing it to actually block. On turn one or two this is going to be a great play for green defensive decks. Later in the game though it's just embarassing. At least mana dorks provide a continual source of mana throughout the game. And yes, they are fragile but this does absolutely nothing if you draw it when you don't have an extra mana. You can't even keep marginal hands with this in it because it needs a surplus of lands to actually do anything. A high ceiling and a bottomless pit of a floor is the type of card I try to avoid.
Didn't Make the Cut
Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi is a tough one. Instant speed is the only reason this gets looked at obviously but the lack of trample means that it's most likely going to eat a creature in combat and then get chump blocked. If you can't wait for an attack you can EOT cast this and attack into a chump block but that sounds terrible. I just don't think you are ever actually going to be able to deal damage to a player unless you cast this on an empty board. If you can reliably take out two creatures for five mana that is great but that's not what this does. You don't control if any creatures attack/block so you can only get what your opponent offers up. This is almost guaranteed to get you value but I don't think it's going to get you what you really want any significant portion of the time.
For seven mana you really need to be actively winning the game. I have little to no interest in proliferating planeswalkers because I strive to make them a seasoning to cube rather than a main course. Gaining life is great but isn't winning you anything either. Returning permanents and the tokens is what actually wins so you will likely be doing a combination of the two of them and gaining life if necessary. This probably does get you a lot of value but I'd rather just play ramp finishers that end the game rather than prolong it. For seven mana, you shouldn't just be setting up your next couple turns and that's all this is really doing.
Didn't Make the Cut
If Arlinn made three 3/3 wolves right away we would be talking a possible addition. That's not what she does though. For six mana she needs to pressure an opponent and this is really slow and likely better on defense than offense. If you have a lot of wolves or werewolves in your cube she skyrockets in value and is probably actively good. In most cubes though her static will likely only affect herself and that's not going to get it done.
Jiang Yanggu is a really slow card. It pumps a single creature over the course of a couple turns and if he dies, they lose their ability to produce mana. He will likely be useful for two or three turns and the value provide is just so small it's not worth investing in.
Didn't Make the Cut
This Nissa does almost exactly nothing unless you are nearly mono-green. Her mana doubling only hits forests and she makes a land a creature like all the other Nissas do. Unless you are abusing the static this is terrible. Mono colored decks don't really get played in my cube so I feel comfortable saying this is blanket statement unplayable. Even the ultimate just doesn't do anything. You get all your lands after you already have a ton of mana and if she is still alive you can make them into creatures otherwise you just have a bunch of lands...yuck.
In Out
These cards from supplementary products really tend to sneak up on me since I usually don't get to play with them. I have to wait until other people play with them and I see their data. Credit to Usman for suggesting this as it's clearly very good. Cheap to equip and a good bonus, the power is really in the ability as you are able to almost guarantee one card draw per game and more are possible based on deck construction. Ensuring that you have a follow up play should your creature die in combat (likely trade because of the power boost) or be removed shores up an inherent weakness of equipment and should make the main of a lot of aggro decks.
I really like being able to Scry on command and Scry 2 really does dig you deep pretty quickly. The problem is that in the end, it's only card selection and not advantage. It's really good when you are digging for something specific or just trying to bin lands to get gas but you are still only drawing the one card a turn. Because of that it's pretty slow and clunky compared to the new toys we have nowadays. Scry is a more common ability and it's been stapled to a lot of effects as a bonus when it never was before. All colors now have access to some card advantage naturally so Crystal Ball doesn't really fit into as many decks and therefore has trouble finding the main as much as it used to. Good while it lasted but it's just been overtaken in raw power and efficiency.
Didn't Make the Cut
Ugin and Karn are probably solid additions to your cube if you support eldrazi and/or artifact strategies respectively. Their passive abilities really need to shine to be playable. Ugin's two abilities are great but it isn't worth the mana investment if you are getting nothing out of the passive. Karn is either going to be a slam dunk or a total miss based on your artifact strategy. I don't really support strategies in either one but if you do, they are probably going to work out really well for you.
Didn't Make the Cut
Firemind Vessel does a couple of things right and a couple of things wrong in terms of cube play for mana artifacts. Adding multiple colored mana is great (and it really doesn't matter that it has to be different colors). Costing four mana and entering tapped are not so great. Not being able to use the mana right away really hurts as it prevents explosive turns and is quite slow. It's still ramp and fixing but it just doesn't do enough efficiently to warrent inclusion.
Azorius
Didn't Make the Cut
With only one slot per guild for a planeswalker, there just isn't room for anything other than Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. If I was going to include a second planeswalker, I'd probably include Dovin, Grand Arbiter because I think it's better in tempo than this is. Hero of Dominaria is obviously perfect in control decks. This is worse in either category as the plus ability just isn't as impactful as people think it is. It's good if you have gas in hand but it does stone nothing if you are behind or already have a hand full of reactive cards. There are going to be turns where you tick up but don't actually gain any value out of it. The static is nice but is merely a hindrance more than something that provides actual protection. The minus is nice but only in tempo decks as control would much rather have a permanent solution. Only being able to use it once (likely per game) really hurts.
Watch List
Time Wipe is probably my favorite card in the set but I'm not in the market for more wraths. I already have Supreme Verdict which is better at four mana and while you can save your best creature for an extra mana you won't always be in a position to take advantage of that. I really like this card and I think it's clearly good enough for cube but I don't think there is a spot for it. God I love that card though...I'll have to think about it...the advantage to swapping it with Supreme Verdict would be for more varied gameplay. Supreme Verdict is "just" a wrath as the can't be countered isn't really anything special. This provides unique gameplay as you can bait your opponent into overcommitting to the board into your wrath and have a guaranteed follow up play after you clear the board. I'm talking myself into it...it's going on the watch list.
Didn't Make the Cut
Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge (like all Tezzerets) are primarily artifact matters cards that I can't utilize to their fullest because I don't support that as a strategy. If you do, he might be good. I don't, so he's not.
Watch List
I really like Enter the God-Eternals but the competition is just so insane. This should act as a solid removal spell that can stabilize both the board and your life total. The mill will most likely target yourself and can be relevant depending on your deck list. I don't think that this does enough to unseat the existing cards though. It doesn't end a game and it doesn't pressure the opponent. The closest card to this would be Far // Away and the modal use of that has been really important for control decks that draw it early and need the interaction. I'm putting this on the watch list as I do think it's good enough in a vacuum.
In Out
Deathrite Shaman has come and gone a couple of times and this time I think he's back for good. I've gone back and forth before about the ineffectiveness of his mana ability and I don't think anything I've said in the past is wrong. You likely won't be able to use it on turn one like you can in constructed and you are at the mercy of gameplay to trigger the other abilities. So what's changed? Well, I've pushed up the graveyard interaction in green quite a bit and I think there is a much larger window of operation for his abilities. You still likely won't be able to use the mana ability early but I think that's okay. Golgari is so grindy that you likely have a use for extra mana later in the game and his other two abilities can keep you alive and chip away at the opponent as you eventually grind out a victory. I don't the card or my evaluation of it has changed but the surrounding environment has in a way that now benefits it more.
Lotleth Troll is a pretty good grindy option because of the regenerate. Early game it sits there as a blocker and late game it becomes a really annoying threat as you can get rid of your worthless creatures and upgrade this. Unfortunately, you don't really have that many worthless creatures in these decks and the troll tends to only get a counter or two. That's good but I think Deathrite represents a better overall gameplan and payoff.
In Out
Find // Finality is a nice combination card that can play defense and offense depending on where you are. It's only a bad draw early in games as you won't be able to do either mode most likely. Mid to late game though both sides should be live and you have the freedom to do whichever is better for you at the time. Two creatures is a lot of value to return to hand and the fact that your wrath boosts one of your creatures should allow you to attack the turn you cast it which is fairly unique even if it's a bit slow.
In a vacuum, Abrupt Decay is probably in the top four of Goglari cards. However, all of those cards are removal and there just isn't variety or signposts in drafting beyond "kill things". This is a downgrade in terms of raw power and efficiency but should make draft signals more clear and gives the Golgari section more payoffs for its graveyard deck. That's ultimately more important. Golgari doesn't "need" more removal.
Didn't Make the Cut
Casualties of War is almost always going to destroy a creature and a land at bare minimum. It's likely you will be able to craft a gamestate where you are able to destroy one of either an artifact/enchantment/planeswalker but it's going to be few and far between where you are actually able to destroy everything. The stars just aren't going to align or you aren't going to be able to wait it out for the higher value. I think this objectively a very powerful card but it's also very expensive with a difficult mana cost and is "just another removal spell" in a guild that already has access to some of the best and most diverse removal in cube. It just doesn't fill a need even if it is cool.
Find // Finality is the only card that Storrev could really compete with and I want to get some reps with it before I make any decisions about replacing it. Storrev is a nicely sized body but the cost is a bit difficult. I like that he works with hitting/returning planeswalkers as that doesn't usually work with these abilities. Like many cards that haven't worked out in cube, you need to untap and attack with Storrev for him to get you value and that's a difficult ask even if the body is above curve.
Didn't Make the Cut
Domri will work well in Gruul sections that support low to the ground aggressive decks but my Gruul is more mid-range and this doesn't work nearly as well in those. They just care a lot less about the power bump because everything is already going to go over the top. The fight is nice but it can't do it more than once without having to ramp and that's just not as exciting. I'm not cutting Arlinn Kord for this as the gameplay isn't nearly as interesting.
In Out
Saheeli seems like a really powerful card as Izzet is tailor made to abuse the static ability and she feeds her minus ability quickly. She really doesn't need to make that many tokens to be worth the investment and it's not difficult to copy one or two creatures. The equity on the copy is obviously going to vary but being able to copy both yours and your opponent's creatures really makes it difficult for it to be bad. Even if there is nothing good to copy she should quickly make tokens and be able to pressure or defend effectively. This is a lot of value for three mana and despite how it looks it really doesn't need any sort of artifact support to be good. It slows down how explosive it can be but it doesn't make it bad like it does for Tezzeret and Karn, seen above. I've been impressed so far and am excited to see it in action.
I don't know why I overvalue X spells as much as I do. I also don't know why I continually misread Expansion as a counter spell instead of a copy spell. They really aren't the same thing. Explosion is just too expensive to really make a different in any but the most controlling of decks and only really late in those games. I was okay with that when I thought Expansion was a counterspell and the main mode. Now I'm out.
Didn't Make the Cut
Ral, Storm Conduit is probably better than it looks as going up two loyalty means you can use the minus pretty much as needed. The static is also very good and the minus feeds into it, guaranteeing two damage on top of every activation. If his plus ability did actual anything I think this would be a tough decision but Scry 1 is just so inconsequential when you have to put equity into it. Every time you leave the card on top you gained nothing other than more loyalty and you can't afford to take turns off in cube.
Didn't Make the Cut
Dreadhorde Butcher is a very aggressive creature that, unfortunately, needs to deal damage to a player to be relevant. Haste helps with this but it still grows slowly and requires a lot of help to be any more than a minor annoyance. It also doesn't help the sacrifice strategy at all which is Rakdos's main draw.
Without Amass being at critical mass in cube you will only ever be able to make a 2/2 creature and then Pyroclasm. You will never deal more or make a larger creature. That's not going to be worth it for four mana and at a difficult casting cost.
Didn't Make the Cut
Angrath's Rampage is a really versatile removal spell that can deal with a number of problematic permanents. While you will probably have total control over the planeswalker and artifact being sacrificed, the creature is probably not going to go your way. Rakdos only has a couple slots for removal and Dreadbore already has control over what it targets even if it is at sorcery speed. Kolaghan's Command is even better. There just isn't room for another removal spell that doesn't send a strategy signal or act as a lynchpin in a deck.
In Out
Glare of Subdual is a great card in GW tokens as you can really leverage your smaller fodder offensively and defensively as needed. Tapping artifacts probably won't come up as often and you can't tap lands as you can with Opposition but it's still going to get the job done. Oftentimes you only need one or two creatures to really hamper your opponent's strategy. This should be a high pick in the Selesnya token decks.
Knight of the Reliquary was a mistake to begin with. It's just not that good in a cube environment unless you support land matters as a strategy. Self mill makes this better so I don't think it's bad as it has cross synergies with Golgari but it's never going to be anything other than a moderately large vanilla creature. I'd rather have something that supports Selesnya's go wide strategy.
Didn't Make the Cut
Ajani, the Greathearted is pretty much just an alternate version of Ajani Goldmane. Same abilities just tweaked a little bit. You can still minus consecutively and you gain more life. It's probably worse because you can't minus into oblivion but it's still good. I cut Goldmane a long time ago and I'm not in the market for another one. This is mostly because the plus one is terrible in aggressive decks and it has poor, repetitive gameplay. Minus as much as humanely possible and only plus in order to keep your planeswalker around for more minuses. Not fun or interesting.
I like Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves quite a bit more. It ETB makes a token, gains life and acts as removal for a small creature. The cost isn't easy to pay for though and if your wolf can't fight something you are looking at a much worse Armada Wurm. I'd rather just have Armada Wurm and that got cut a while ago.
Didn't Make the Cut
Tamiyo's minus ability is amazing and her plus and static are horrendous. Ergo, she's pretty bad.
Watch List
Roalesk is more interesting. He's a big body with stats but he can't put the counters on himself so you need backup to make him good. Double proliferate loses a lot of value in my cube because my planeswalker count isn't as high as some other cubes. I also don't have a bunch of the other mechanics that use counters such as infect, wither, charge counters, alternate win counters, etc. He mostly just hits +1/+1 counters and it's a tough sell at that mana cost. There is definitely a strategy that exists where he will be great but I don't think I have +1/+1 counters pushed enough yet to make full use of it. I'm putting this in the watch list for my Simic section. If I fill out Simic with more cards that have +1/+1 counters then he rises up the power rankings quite a bit. I think this has a shot in the future if Simic comes up to speed.
In Out
Blast Zone has a unique and surprisingly efficient effect that I didn't expect to see on a land. The ability to jump up the chain so quickly really adds to its usefulness and the fact that it can't hit anything with a CMC of 0 matters a lot less in an unpowered cube than a powered one. The only possible target in my cube are tokens and while that would be nice it's not a barrier to entry. Control decks and mid-range decks should like somewhat free addition to the deck as it doesn't count against the starting 40. Aggro decks won't want this at all as their mana is usually pretty tight in requirements and number. This is almost virtually guaranteed to make the main a high percentage of the time and those are the kinds of cards I'm looking for.
I like Vesuva but it can't consistently fix your mana as it depends entirely on what your opponent has in play to give you something you don't already have. Entering tapped means even if you do copy a land you really need access to you can't even use the mana right away which really limits its usefulness. I love the design but the card hasn't been good enough for a long time.
I can't remember a set since I've had my cube that had so many cards that needed discussing. I'm really happy with where my guilds are at right now as only Gruul and Simic need tweaking with strategy. All the others have solid strategies and cross synergies. Next up is the set I am more excited about than any set in history for cube. Modern Horizons. We should see a very powerful set that has another huge list of cards to talk about so I wouldn't be surprised if the next update is a whopper as well. Have fun cubing until then!
