Hello! Welcome to the Core Set 2021, Magic 2021, M21, whatever you want to call it cube update. I never got comfortable with the naming strategy for the core sets. I'm also including the updates for both the Commander 2021 and Jumpstart sets as well. With their powers combined, this is a pretty routine set update despite the actual Core Set being a little underwhelming in terms of total cards. There is still some exciting stuff though so let's not waste any more time.
White
In Out
Knight of the Holy Nimbus was a card that I originally cut because I wanted to decrease the amount of double white two drops I was running back when that was really all that white had access to in terms of playable cards. It's less of a concern nowadays and I just didn't remember this card existed until recently. It's really strong. It's incredibly difficult to be able to block profitably as it requires your opponent to hold up mana they might not be able to spend and straight up trades with opposing 3/3 creatures. Late game they might have the mana lying around but it's likely done work already as on curve this is just pretty much unblockable.
I really like Consul's Lieutenant but I should have paid attention to my previous cube experience from the beginning. Needing to deal combat damage in order to unlock it's true potential hinders this quite a bit as it doesn't do enough to force its way through blockers. If you play it on curve it usually does the job but any later and they are just going to be able to interact with it. I still like this card and how it synergizes with go wide strategies. The problem, ironically, is that the double white makes this difficult to play on curve whereas something like KotHN, above, can be played a turn or two later and still pose a threat. Consul's Lieutenant needs to be able to hit the opponent and while this is very good when it does, it's frustratingly inefficient when it can't.
In Out
Adanto Vanguard has performed exceptionally well in other cubes as an indestructible 3/1 that attack with impunity. The life loss can be relevant in certain matchups or while racing but more often than not you are the one applying pressure if this is in your deck. The threat of activation is enough to dissuade potential blockers in most cases and the life loss isn't ever mandatory so if trading with the blocker is preferable, it's always an option. I've been looking to overhaul white aggro a little bit and massaging the two drops is as good a place to start as any.
Mentor has been a very disappointing mechanic for cube on creatures with two power because it just doesn't hit as many creatures as you need it to. It really only hits 1/1 tokens and almost nothing on curve as even the aggressive one drops mostly have two power meaning this isn't putting counters on things when it's most able to actually attack profitably. Sunhome Stalwart has too much of its value tied up in an ability that just doesn't trigger.
In Out
While similar in principle to Adanto Vanguard, Seasoned Hallowblade plays out a little bit differently. Unlike life loss, discarding a card costs you real capital in a color that has the least amount of access to card draw. That's a real cost but it comes with a couple of advantages. Always being a 3/1 means it's a good blocker and the ability comes with no mana attachment making this a good discard outlet if you are in a deck that can utilize the graveyard. This slots pretty well into aggressive Orzhov decks that have recursive one drops or other graveyard synergies.
I'm hard out on cards that serve no purpose other than enchantment/artifact removal. White has enough access to Oblivion Ring effects that it doesn't need slots dedicated to only these card types. This is more about maximizing card slots and less of a commentary on Forsake the Worldly than anything else. Aggro badly needs the redundancy and the only way to accomplish that is to dedicate to the strategy.
In Out
I did a quick inventory of Humans in white and found that half of my white creatures are humans and that doesn't include tokens that are made or other colors. This is going to likely put a counter on at least on other creature and realistically grow at least a little over the next turn or two. This is a two drop that is probably better drawn later in the game but isn't a blank if you draw it early. It might turn out there I just don't have the critical mass but I'm pushing the white twos up and this sees play elsewhere so I'm giving it a shot.
See Forsake the Worldly conversation, above.
In Out
Basri's Lieutenant is quite flexible in how it gains its value. It will usually put a +1/+1 counter on something that can attack immediately and still have a big enough body to play both offense and defense admirably. On an empty board it is an undercosted fatty with vigilance and in both cases you get a token if your creature dies. Where this really shines is with other cards that put counters on things. There are quite a few ways to accomplish this in cube and it is a perfect fit in the Selesnya decks where the counters are really focused. I had initially intended the +1/+1 counter theme to be more of a Simic strategy but the more I look at it the more I think Selesnya is a better fit. More cards like this and we will have a bonafide strategy beyond midrange-go wide-attacking generalities. Here's hoping.
Emeria Angel is an example of a card that the community at large really likes that I just don't. It's come and gone a couple of times over the years and every time I bring it back it just doesn't ever do what it claims to. Part of the problem is that Emeria Angel is essentially a five drop as you don't want to open yourself up to removal and not get any value out of her. This relegates her to midrange decks and control decks as a slow, eventuality more than a curve topper. Those decks also are more likely to hit their land drops as they are relying on more than four or five every game. The problem is that every time I see it in play, it makes a single bird and is removed. The base body is just so anemic for the cost and I've found that landfall cards just can't be entirely reliant on the landfall for value. This one is no different. I didn't miss it when I removed it before and nothing has changed now.
In Out
Emiel might end up being too mana intensive and slow to really shine in cube but it's interesting, synergistic with multiple strategies and potentially very powerful. This isn't really a four drop for an aggro deck as much as it's a mid-range card but the Selesnya counter decks and Wx blink decks will be able to get a lot of mileage out of it. I really wish it was able to target itself with the blink ability to dodge removal because right now it needs another creature to be anything more than a vanilla creature. That is usually a good sign that a card won't work in cube but I have a slot I'm open to flexing and the fun factor on this is high enough that I'm okay trying it out even if it means replacing it after a couple of sets.
I had imagined Leonin Warleader playing out similarly to Hero of Bladehold as a game ending threat for an aggro deck that goes wide while also going tall. It didn't exactly work out that way as the larger body failed to make up for the lack of Battle Cry which is what really puts Hero over the edge. The damage potential is just off the charts and while Leonin Warleader has potential, it also needs to attack to do anything and there are only so many slots available for these types of cards. If I'm going to have a second, I'd rather it support a different variety of decks than be pure redundancy.
Didn't Make the Cut
Idol of Endurance provides late game utility for aggro decks by allowing them to rebuy creatures that have died throughout the course of the game. The turn you cast it you get a 3WW reanimation spell for a single target. Being restricted to only a single card each turn is likely going to be too slow when you are bringing back cards that aren't impressive on their own or at a late stage in the game. Immortal Servitude returns all creatures at once for a single mana more and it's not even close to being cube playable. You also need to already have the creatures in your graveyard before you cast this so it's very poor early in the game as you can't even cast it and accrue value later on. I don't really understand the interest here.
Nine Lives is not only an incredibly un-fun card but it also varies wildly in effectiveness. Against control decks that rely on a single threat, like Aetherling, it single handedly buys you ten turns to find a way to win the game that you were probably going to lose anyway otherwise. Against aggro it will likely buy you a couple of turns to stabilize. Losing the game when this leaves the battlefield isn't a drawback because you likely weren't going to be winning the game after taking damage ten separate times. After all, you aren't curving out into this, you are waiting until you are as close to dead as possible and then casting it even if it has to rot in your hand the entire game. It's an actual blank if your opponent isn't threatening lethal as it doesn't have any other function than buying time. There might be some cubes that are into that sort of thing but this is bad gameplay regardless of the times it warps the game around itself.
Didn't Make the Cut
Mangara is really only going to be functional in a multiplayer environment. It's just too easy to play around and while it does an effective job of altering your opponent's game plan it doesn't guarantee any value and you can't afford to be durdling around like this in cube.
Basri Ket is good with a board presence but does actual nothing without one. Even with creatures to target with his abilities, he doesn't have the damage potential or game breaking ability of the existing planeswalkers in white which makes him an easy pass.
In Out
Ghostly Pilferer acts as another solid discard outlet that fits well into both tempo shells and graveyard based blue decks. It's unfortunate that it so few of the tempo decks are graveyard decks so it isn't likely to ever hit on all accounts but that also means that it's almost always going to be a card that someone is interested in. The slower control decks are going to be interested in the card draw and can likely afford the extra mana in the late game to draw an extra card. It's expensive but not mandatory. You aren't likely to trigger the middle ability very often but you aren't really paying anything for it to be there so it's just a happy bonus you might be able to benefit from every couple of drafts. This seems like a solid role player in a number of blue strategies and blue two drops badly need an influx of power and usefulness.
Nimble Obstructionist has been incredibly frustrating to play with because I always want to be able to get some value out of the card and then have the creature and that's just not how the card is written. Stifle is an incredibly poor ability in cube where effects happen so often and are many time repeatable that a single instance just isn't worth a card. I had hoped that adding draw a card would make it more useful but that just hasn't been the case. You just play this as a 3/1 flier so often that the cycling trigger is mostly flavor text. There are also the frustrating times when you need to cycle it but don't have an ability to counter which leaves this feeling very disappointing.
In Out
Barrin is a great tool for tempo strategies as a Man-o'-War that has some interesting utility even if it's not going to come up in the majority of games. If you have six mana you technically have the ability to cast Barrin, target himself to return him to your own hand in and recast him in order to draw a card but that's extremely inefficient so I don't expect that to happen very often. The real draw here is the ability to bounce planeswalkers as they are very difficult for certain decks to deal with once they have resolved. Bouncing and countering is an effective strategy, especially when you leave behind a 2/2 body.
Serendib Efreet is a sacred cow that just doesn't hold up to the scrutiny anymore. It's an under-costed flier but comes with no utility and drains your life the longer it stays in play. Blue has so many options for creatures now that it just doesn't need to rely on creatures as narrow and unexciting as this. It's not critical to any particular strategies and is very replaceable in its function.
In Out
I know, I know, Sublime Epiphany costs six mana but look at all it does! You are nearly always going to be able to choose at least three to four of these abilities and at instant speed that's a ton of value. There is something to say that six drops need to be game ending but I'd argue that casting this gets you as close to ending the game as you can get without dealing damage. It's always going to draw a card and bounce something and it should nearly always be able to copy something it's just not clear what that something is going to be from game to game. There is a big different between copying a Torrential Gearhulk and a Fae of Wishes but it's still going to be good. Six mana is a lot to hold up over multiple turns and it telegraphs poorly but you shouldn't be pressured to wait for a particular target, just countering the first spell you see is going to get you there under most circumstances. I see a lot of people comparing this to Draining Whelk but I think it's a poor comparison because you can still obtain a mountain of value without countering anything whereas Draining Whelk gave you a 1/1 flier. Even when Draining Whelk worked successfully it was nowhere near the ceiling of Sublime Epiphany. Cube only has so many slots for six mana cards and I think I'm at it in blue so from here on out, we are going to have to push cards out to get in.
Impulse is a great card if you are supporting a combo strategy as it digs you four cards deep and replaces itself. It's not card advantage though so if you are just playing it as a value card draw spell you have much better options. While I have a lot of synergy in my cube there isn't a whole lot of pure combo which really limits the usefulness of Impulse. It's not bad but I have been underwhelmed. If it filled the graveyard I'd be all in but as it is, we have better options that fit my cube better.
Didn't Make the Cut
I went back and forth on Waker of Waves several times. I've decided that the "correct" way to look at it is as a cantrip card that just so happens to put a specific creature in the graveyard every time. While this is going to shine in a reanimator deck, allowing you to dig deeper for your synergy pieces, it will just be flat out playable in blue decks that just want to smooth their curve and have ancillary graveyard synergies. Note that it's not actually an instant so you don't get the benefit of the spells matters cards. The actual creature isn't very good but is big enough that it can't just be completely ignored. As a good cantrip that promotes graveyard synergies that doubles as a late game spell or reanimation target it's pretty solid. This mirrors Realm-Cloaked Giant, a card I felt strongly about when it was released that has been fine but unexciting. Like the Giant, this is primarily a slightly below rate effect stapled to a well below rate threat that will likely only see play in control decks. The difference here is that while white didn't have access to a bunch of wraths at five mana that I was interested in, blue has an abundance of effects at the two mana cantrip slot. I'm not sure I actually like this any better than the existing options as they all dig deeper into your deck or provide other utility that I prefer more than the unexciting fatty.
Shacklegeist would have been amazing in cube when we were desperate for early drops for the tempo decks. While that slot is still looking for improvements regularly, this isn't what we need to reach for anymore. The blocking restriction shouldn't be too relevant for a card that only goes in aggressive decks as it will essentially be attacking every turn anyway. The tap clause just won't happen very often and is a strange fit in a deck that is probably filled with evasive threats that want to be attacking. Needing two creatures to tap one also puts you down in creature parity, only really being useful when very behind or with Spirit tokens. That is to say that Shacklegeist really isn't all that much better than Welkin Tern, a card that I cut a while back and now use as the bar for tempo two drops. This meets but fails to exceed it.
Didn't Make the Cut
See the Truth is a step behind the cube worthy cantrips because you have no control over the fate of the non-selected cards. They go to the bottom of your deck whether you want them or not. The gameplay and selection provided by Scry (Scour All Possibilities), Milling (Waker of Waves) and even being able to shuffle your deck (Ponder) are sorely missed here. You really need to be able to take advantage of the secondary mode for this to be worth inclusion, especially at two mana. At that rate, it's obviously fantastic. You just aren't going to be able to do that with any semblance of regularity though. While there are ways to do it, they number in the single digits and not all of them are even in blue. Cubes with boom/bust gameplay will probably like this as a decent playable with a nuclear option but I'm unimpressed.
I really don't like cards with cost reduction triggers like Stormwing Entity. It's essentially an Izzet spells card that ideally follows Gitaxian Probe so you can actually cast it on curve. Whiel you can still enjoy a significant cost reduction with a Lightning Bolt, it requires you to play proactively since this doesn't have flash. That takes Counterspell off the table and limits the utility greatly. At full price this isn't great and even with the cost reduction it only really bops when you are casting it on turn two or three. Any later and you are getting a fine but unexciting creature. People love to shortcut and say that this is a two mana creature but it just isn't true. You can cast a two mana creature on turn two with two mana. You still need 3-5 mana for this as well as another card and while that isn't difficult to accomplish, it isn't as explosive as it suggests. These types of cards never are.
Didn't Make the Cut
I was initially very excited about Teferi, Master of Time for cube because I didn't understand how phasing worked. I didn't realize the creature could attack the turn it phased back in. As it is, -3 is a very steep cost to phase a single creature. That, combined with the fact that Teferi doesn't actually provide any card advantage, but only selection, makes me a bit underwhelmed. I think he is a good planeswalker that will be serviceable in cube. However, for four mana he really needs to do more. I think they did a really good job of balancing the card for power considering how devastating the static ability would be with abilities that were pushed. That doesn't make it a desirable cube card though. After thinking it over, I'd rather save a mana and just draw an extra card for a couple of turn with Jace Beleren, give blue an out against go wide strategies with Jace, Architect of Thought or actually win the game outright with Will Kenrith.
In Out
Malefic Scythe's base stats are already fine, if not exciting, but the real draw is how inexpensive everything is. Two mana to play and one to equip is ideal as it doesn't cost you much to attack with something and then pivot it over to a blocker. This starts to snowball pretty quickly and synergizes well with the sacrifice and recurrent threats in black, not to mention making tokens relevant red zone threats. Fitting well into aggro decks as an immediate buff and grindy midrange decks that put many more counters on it to create eventuality, it's an interesting card and I like getting new effects in the main colors from time to time.
I'm still looking for cards that fill your graveyard while performing other tasks but Tymaret Calls the Dead isn't it. While you do get to put six cards in your graveyard, the only way to make this worthwhile is to remove two of them for what are likely worse creature tokens. The final ability is not card advantage but merely sets up your future draws and gives you a life buffer. On curve, you run the real risk of this whiffing on a creature you want to exile and late in the game the tokens are largely irrelevant while the milling ranges in superfluousness. I love the concept but the execution just doesn't do it.
In Out
Eliminate hits 38% of the planeswalkers in my cube and 65% of the nontoken creatures. That's a pretty significant number of targets considering Doom Blade hits 84% of its targets and doesn't hit planeswalkers. This is going to be live most of the time and best in the early game when you are trying to establish your board position and hold your opponent back. As a splashable effect this is very desirable and I'm excited this is available at a cheaper total mana cost considering the value you are already giving up in targeting a planeswalker with a removal spell. Allowing them to minus and then using a card to deal with it shouldn't also come with an expensive mana tag.
Malicious Affliction costing double black is a significant hurdle when you consider that this mostly acts as a single target removal spell with a target restriction. Morbid just isn't always going to be active and you don't always have two targets available when you are able to trigger it. Most of the time you just have to use this on a problematic creature and you don't always have the set up available. In those cases this is quite a bit worse than the other two mana removal equivalents.
In Out
Kels has an aggressively costed body and an ability that can leverage the menace ability to attack and the indestructible ability if it needs to block. It's nearly always going to be relevant in combat and it also provides card advantage that synergizes well with what black is already trying to do. The hybrid cost is a little odd as it leans Dimir instead of Rakdos but it's not really a false signal because the card is largely just mono black. It's a little unfortunate that both the sacrifice effect and draw effect cost 1 mana as that can add up over a couple turns. Working with tokens is huge and what really makes me open to trying her out. She loses a bit of steam if she is the only creature in play but with so many recursive threats in black that shouldn't be too common of an occurrence.
Yawgmoth feels like someone randomly selected a bunch of black abilities and put them on a creature. There's just too much going on and at first I thought that this would add up to a card that never feels dead in play as it can always do something but in practice it's just impossible to ever remember what this does without reading it a couple times. Multiple abilities, each with multiple, unique costs that don't really synergize all that well with each other (you get an extra -1/-1 counter, big deal)...it's just a mess. I don't want to read it anymore. It's not worth the mental upkeep.
Didn't Make the Cut
Village Rites is about as pushed as this effect has been and it still isn't good enough. Morbid has been harder than expected to turn on in cube despite the sacrifice theme when you need to do it on command and even if you are able to do that this doesn't net you cards, it merely replaces. Thrill of Possibility is good because it's inexpensive and instant speed (like this) but it also replaces a card in your hand instead of one in play. That's a big difference even if you can hold this up to respond to removal (that isn't guaranteed to actually arrive when you expect it). In order for this effect to make it in cube, you are going to have to end up positive on cards and I'm not sure they are going to push that hard.
Demonic Embrace gives you a significant boost with both evasion and a +3 power bonus. Auras aren't played in cube because of the propensity of removal and the fact that you can't afford the card disadvantage. Being able to return it to play helps mitigate this but the cost is steep as it comes with further card disadvantage and life loss. You realistically can only recast this one before the life loss becomes oppressive and even then you are paying a high cost for it. The bonuses push you towards an aggressive strategy which isn't really what black is trying to do in cube by default. I like the design but this isn't Rancor and that's pretty much the bar for a cube worthy aura.
Didn't Make the Cut
Liliana's Standard Bearer reads a lot better than it plays out. Creature combat in cube does happen but not at the same frequency or intensity that it does in retail limited. In cube you are at most going to see one or two creatures hit the graveyard in a single combat and board stalls are frequently broken wide open before they get to the mass exodus phase. There are just too many individually powerful effects. So yes, while this can technically draw you several cards in response to wrath (it's best use) it's much more likely that it draws you a single card in response to a removal spell or a trade in combat. The flash helps with this but it's also not exactly going to eat something in combat with one toughness and since it only triggers on your own creatures it doesn't synergize at all with your own removal spells. Sacrifice effects can bend it further to your advantage but you are doing a lot of heavy lifting for a single card and an underwhelming body. This is just going to be an awkward Phyrexian Rager to high a percentage of the time to be worth it.
Liliana, Waker of the Dead is a replacement level walker that can do a pretty good approximation of Liliana of the Veil if you are on a budget. If you aren't there really isn't a reason to include her over the existing options as they are markedly better and provided a more guaranteed effect. Her power level is going to vary greatly based on when you cast her and there's an argument that you don't actually want to play her on curve as it's highly unlikely you are going to be able to take advantage of the -3 ability at that point in the game. The emblem is fun but her abilities, like Teferi's, are just a little too fair and expensive.
In Out
It is a cruel joke that Heartfire Immolator can't hit players. I swear it did the first six times I read the card and the first two times I played it. Turns out it doesn't! That said, it's still a Prowess bear that can act as removal as needed and hit planeswalkers if it can't attack through the defenses. A single red mana isn't too difficult to hold up and while damage doesn't go on the stack anymore it still is a fine attacker/blocker while doubling as a removal spell afterwards. It's just a solid two drop for any red deck.
Bloodrage Brawler suffers from a couple of things. Best case scenario it's an undercosted vanilla body that costs you a card. If your opponent is able to kill it you two for one yourself. While aggro decks usually don't need excess mana it's not always true and there are definitely hands where the discard really hurts, particularly on the mulligan or when it's drawn late in a game and you have to hold it until you get something to discard. Discard on command is much more powerful because you are at least getting your card every time. This can't even guarantee that.
In Out
Cube is filled with two power creatures and making them unblockable for a single mana is a very powerful ability in decks that just want to push damage. Subira can't target herself with the unblockable ability so the three toughness is pretty helpful in allowing her to survive a combat she is involved in. Unfortunately, you have to tap her in order to use the card draw ability so you can only trigger it off of other creatures attacking. Because of this, and the steep restriction of having to discard your hand, I don't expect this to trigger that often. As a late game ability for an aggro deck though, it can really turn the tide if you are able to draw two or three cards and get through for a couple damage. It's not often that your three drop is going to end games but this is relevant at all phases of the game and is a must answer as your opponent's total gets closer to zero.
I've been pretty happy with Ahn-Crop Crasher on its initial swing as it's a very powerful ability but Exert is a significant cost as taking a turn off can sometimes allow your opponent to play that extra blocker or draw that extra card to render this less effective. The body and haste are great but Subira is going to serve a similar function with more utility.
In Out
It's been absolute torture trying to find an Act of Treason effect that is playable in cube but The Akroan War really holds up as a powerful one. Being able to hold onto the creature for a couple of turns mitigates the lack of haste and it synergizes amazingly well with the sacrifice effects in black. That this acts as a soft mass removal spell is not flavor text and while aggressive decks might already want to be attacking you, they almost uniformly contain creatures who will die to the third ability. Forcing an attack is very strong when you are the one putting on the pressure as it removes blockers and you don't really care about taking the damage as much as the opponent does. This isn't the fastest card but the first ability can remove a blocker to allow you to push damage. I'd be in the market for one or two more of these types of effects if they are pushed.
Magmatic Sinkhole does a fine impersonation of Murderous Cut which was exactly what I was expecting it to do. However, it's also just another removal spell in a color that is filled to the brim with them. I'm excited about powerful, interesting red cards that do more than just point damage at things and The Akroan War checks all those boxes.
In Out
Terror of the Peaks is a great top end card for mid-range decks as they are most able to take advantage of its last ability, having creatures with greater power than low to the ground aggro decks. While this doesn't have haste, it does come with a guaranteed 3 damage should the opponent remove it. This is better in some circumstances and worse in others but is a big reason why the card is so playable. It threatens a lot of damage if you can untap with it and since it triggers on tokens you don't need to worry about awkward sequences of plays. Not every red deck is going to need this at the top of its curve but it threatens to end a game in a hurry and is difficult to play around.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers almost exclusively acts as a 4/4 menace that casts a burn spell on ETB. The ability reads like there is a lot of variety and play to it but since you have to cast the spell immediately, it just doesn't play out that way. Aggro decks like the free burn spell but aren't really excited about the body. Mid-range decks don't really care about the card at all and control decks would much rather return the spell to their hand rather than be forced into casting it. This leaves it in an awkward spot where it isn't any deck's first choice of five drop and since decks can only run so many, it only gets played when things didn't go according to plan.
Didn't Make the Cut
Lightning Phoenix is a paint by numbers amalgamation of all the other three mana Phoenix cards we have seen over the years. The problem here is twofold. The trigger happens on your end step and the Phoenix can't block. This means that even if you get to trigger the return clause, you can't attack or block the turn you actually do it. It just has to sit in play doing nothing for a full turn. That's just way too slow. You are playing a haste creature to get in there and this only does that well once.
Zurzoth is one tweak away from being an extremely exciting card for the Rakdos sacrifice decks. If only it started with a Devil token in play, had a body more conducive to attacking (a 1/4 would be nice) or if it triggered on each turn instead of only your own. As it is, you have an easy route to getting your first Devil token but doing anything extra with it involves attacking with your 2/3 and it not dying in combat which seem sketchy at best since this doesn't have haste. Your opponent isn't just going to give you Devil tokens so you are going to have to force them to. Unfortunately, there isn't a good enough methodology of doing that repeatedly. I love the design of the card, it's just not the self contained engine it needs to be for cube.
Didn't Make the Cut
Defensive, artifact minded red decks might be able to find a place for Gadrak but I'm not sure those decks exist in nature. If this was a 4/5 I could see it in Wildfire decks but, alas, it only has 4 toughness. You can create your own artifacts through the death clause but only on your own turn. This means that it's not attacking, for at least a couple of turns without some outside the box shenanigans. If it actually gets to attack it's still not better than the five drops and while it only costs 3 mana, not doing anything to take advantage of that inexpensive mana cost kind of defeats the entire purpose.
Soul Sear is as close as we are going to get to a red Hero's Downfall, and it's splashable. Five damage is going to kill all but 26 cards in the cube and nearly all the planeswalkers as they just don't get that high in loyalty that often. At worst, it will prevent them from using their ultimate, if that's where they are headed. It also deals with Gods, for good measure. As stated before though, red can already point damage at things and it needs variety for good gameplay and to make it more interesting.
Didn't Make the Cut
I've railed on cards like Chandra's Incinerator before and it has the same commentary as Stormwing Entity does in blue, above. The upside here is that all of your burn spells turn pull double duty with targets once it's in play but without casting literal burn spells it's just a 6/6 trample for 5R. Considering you have to use one of your burn spells if you want to make it cheaper, that's one less spell to trigger it with. This is another card that people are going to look at and say it always costs 2R and that's just not going to be the case enough of the time.
Like all the other planeswalkers so far, Chandra Heart of Fire is a decent budget option if you can't afford the typical red options. Five mana is a lot and demands an immediate payoff in order to be worth your investment. While she comes into play with a lot of loyalty, neither of her abilities are worth the mana cost even if they are both plus abilities, especially considering that the turn you cast her your only option is to Shock something. Just not close to the existing options in terms of power level or play variety.
In Out
Irony, your name is Llanowar Visionary. An extra mana gets you an extra power, toughness and the ability to tap for an extra mana. I think this is going to be a little bit better than Elvish Visionary as it serves a similar "glue" function while still forwarding the game plan that most green decks have. Ramping mana elf into this is also a much cleaner play than ramping into your Elvish Visionary.
Elvish Visionary is a very awkward fit in green decks. The ramp decks would rather have something that helps them get to the late game whether it be through mana production or serving as a roadblock. The mid-range decks want something that can actually attack and pressure the opponent. Elvish Visionary was better the worse your deck was or when you were really hungry for low drops. Basically, the more streamlined and focused your deck was the less you wanted this. I'd rather just put something in the cube that helps the focus of a particular deck than a random catch all.
I'm bending my planeswalker limit a little here for a couple of reasons. Firstly, green noncreature spells are just in dire need of some spice, power and excitement. They are much less interesting and powerful than the other colors. Secondly, Nissa works really well in the Selesnya decks and I'm happy she is back in. I didn't want to cut one of the other planeswalkers for her so this feels right. Her counter ability works with the go wide decks while her plus ability puts even more creatures in play. Her ultimate is good but not why you are playing the card and it doesn't come up all that often. She's been here before and done well and I don't think this ride will go any different.
Fight spells are just such a risk in cube. I had really hoped that the one sided nature of Nature's Way would combine with the trample and vigilance bonuses to overcompensate for that drawback and it just hasn't worked out that way. Nissa is going to be a much better card for the decks that want her and green can always rely on the other colors for its removal. It's just too much of a blowout to try to fight something and get your creature bounced or destroyed in response.
Didn't Make the Cut
Fungal Rebirth is another victim of the unreliability of Morbid as a mechanic. Without the tokens this is an expensive Regrowth that doesn't even hit spells. The instant speed only matters with the token since you aren't returning something and casting it immediately in response to anything. You just can't wait and hope that you can trigger Morbid to make this worthwhile.
Garruk is actually a little closer to cube worthy than the rest of the non-Teferi planeswalkers from this set but he still doesn't match up well against the competition. Five loyalty is a fairly high amount but you need a creature in play to pump for that to work out. It can make two tokens in a row and maybe not die if you get "lucky" that your opponent has more creatures than you. The other Garruk planeswalkers already make tokens though and have a second ability that is more than a damage push. This isn't bad but it isn't exciting and doesn't outclass any of the existing options.
Didn't Make the Cut
Elder Gargaroth is a very strong five drop in the Baneslayer Angel vein of creatures. It attacks and blocks very well and gives you a ton of value if you are able to do either. The gameplay on this is just really bad though. Because of the vigilance, the gameplay consists of attacking every turn no matter what. There aren't any interesting decisions beyond which form of value you want (which will be fairly obvious each time anyway). Your opponent is never attacking into this unless they kill you and since it has reach, it just prevents all creatures from attacking until it dies or the game ends. You are never getting value on your blocks because your opponent isn't going to give it to you. There is a lot of power in being able to single handedly dictate combat but the interactivity is just terrible. This is a removal check and those just don't make for fun magic cards unless you really need a way to end games in your cube. And since ending games is about the least worrisome thing in cube, I don't see a place for this.
In Out
Someone compared Mazemind Tome to a sorcery that puts four clue tokens in play for two mana and it looks much more favorable under those lights. Considering it's actually much better than that, I'd like to give it a go. Clue tokens aren't very fast but being able to get some immediate value out of the Scry ability goes a long way towards making this feel less do nothing. Gaining four life works perfectly in line with what the control deck want to do and while you can't gain the life immediately, it's a nice bonus when your card advantage/selection runs out. I'm at my limit on these types of effects in colorless now so it's all about replacement from here on out.
Untethered Express is a powerful threat that scales well into the late game but at four mana isn't really what any cube deck is going to play with its limited number of slots. Crew 1 is completely acceptable but being a large trample body and nothing else, isn't.
Didn't Make the Cut
If you are having problems with planeswalkers in your cube, the correct fix is to just be more stringent on how many you include and which ones you include. Designing a better environment is almost always a better solution than adding laser focused silver bullets. It's why my Disenchant effects all do something else instead of only serving that function. If they have the problem card and you have the answer, great. If they have it and you don't, you are losing. If you have it and they don't have the problem, you have a dead card in hand. Adding a card like Sparkhunter Masticore doesn't solve your problem. Needing to discard a card in order to cast a spell is a severe cost and it's the reason none of the other Masticore creatures see play in cubes anymore. You don't need to jump through that hoop for a reasonable creature these days. Three mana is too much to hold up for indestructible turn after turn and while the ping ability is very powerful against planeswalkers, it just doesn't do enough outside of that role.
Didn't Make the Cut
Gruul isn't going to be doing too much other than attacking with beef and hoping it gets there. Radha does that once you get to six mana but otherwise acts as an aggressive version of Courser of Kruphix. The issue here is that the decks that want the Courser ability aren't really the same ones that want to be pressuring the opponent with creatures. Gruul decks will be able to use the land ability but it's not the reason they are playing the card. She will play out fine but doesn't pressure the opponent enough and can be easily chump blocked even if she does pump herself. This just isn't the type of card my Gruul section is looking for.
In Out
The aristocrats decks lives and dies by redundancy and synergy. Mayhem Devil is just another card that rewards you for sacrificing things and it does so without requiring extra mana or equity of any kind. You just get an efficient creature and a bunch of free pings. Being able to target anything is huge as it punishes with impunity allowing you maximum freedom when it comes to your limited resources. The damage here really adds up over time and this does become a card that they need to answer as the game wears on. Note that this triggers if your opponent sacrifices anything as well, so watch your triggers!
Dreadbore is a good card but, as I've said ad nauseum in the past, gold slots need to go to powerful, interesting effects that the colors can't do themselves or act as signposts for a draft. They need to pull a person into those colors, or at least give them an idea of what that color combination can do. Black and red already have a ton of ways to kill creatures and planeswalkers. While efficient, this just isn't an effect that needs to take up a gold slot. I haven't missed Terminate at all since I cut it and I don't expect any different here.
Magic Core Set 2021 wasn't a great set for cube but that's not all that surprising. I feel good about limiting artifact/enchantment destruction to only cards that are able to serve another function as it increases the density of cards people actually want to be playing. The next set in Zendikar again and I'm hoping to see a way to supplement the white aggro strategy or a way to make Gruul more interesting. No idea what the set is about yet so I'm excited to find out. Until then, happy cubing!
