Hello guys =) I have some time on my hands and wanted to try to do a set review.
I've never done one of these before or written another kind of article, so bear with me a bit.
Any kind of feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated and would motivate me to write more if you like it!
I wouldn't call myself one of the most experience cube drafters on this forum, as I've only been cubing for two years now.
However, I hope you might still find my thoughts interesting or at least noteworthy.
I'm only going to talk about cards that have at least a chance to get into regular cubes, that way I don't have to type 'crap' 200 times.
WHITE
Angel of Jubilation
Comparing this with Celestial Crusader shows just how far creatures have come during the last years. Although it loses Flash, Split Second and is more color intensive, its ability is more powerful on average and its stats are more impressive. However, white four drops are extremely competitive with 2 planeswalkers, Armageddon, Hero of Bladehold and so on. On raw powerlevel, I can't see this making it into 360 or 450 cubes, but I am considering it for 540. Its most direct competition is probably Calciderm, but I am not quite sure who wins out between them. If you support Tokens in your cube, which has gotten a lot of powerful cards in this block, this card becomes close to an autoinclude. Tokens wants all the anthems it can get and loves having them on bodies. A shame it doesn't pump Bitterblossom tokens, though!
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
The postergirl of the set and quite the cool and epic feeling card. However, 8 drops have a real hard time making it into the cube as they are mostly restricted to Ramp and Reanimator decks. Avacyn is, however, unfortunately not one of the best at that job. While her ability is strong, many players have lost the game even after an Elspeth, Knight Errant ultimate. I can only see this girl being included in cubes based on her coolness factor.
Banishing Stroke
I have to admit, I still have a hard time evaluating Miracle cards. This one seems at least interesting for cube as it is very versatile and has the cheapest Miracle cost possible. I think this could make the cut, but I can't really see cutting anything in 540 for it. Maybe in 720 or bigger cubes?
Emancipation Angel
+ 1 White Mana and + 1 Power over Kor Skyfisher is not a fair deal. I don't think this makes the cut in any cube that doesn't support the blink / self bounce deck as a special archetype.
Entreat the Angels
Topdecking this any time starting turn 3 is very powerful. However, is a card that is very mediocre if it is in the first 9-10 cards you've drawn or in the cards you've drawn off a draw spell really worth it? It's best place is probably in UW control decks that might also have brainstorm to set it up or some looting effects to get rid of it if you've drawn it too early. In the lategame, it is a respectable finisher even for retail. I could see testing it in Decree of Justice's place, but I like Martial Coup more.
Restoration Angel
This one of the few auto includes from this set in my opinion. 3/4 flying Flash for 4 mana is already impressive, but having a flicker ability tacked on pushes it over the top. Saving one of your creatures from removal is a blow out, resetting a creature with ANY enters the battlefield ability is extremely strong, but you can also do tricks like saving one of your blocked creatures. In my testing, my girlfriend had this girl in her RBW deck where she was able to reset Blade Splicer, Murderous Redcap, Siege-Gang Commander, Shriekmaw and others and it was just sick. You never really attack into her when she had 4 mana open.
Silverglade Paladin
2 power double strike for 3 mana is already extremely strong, as I'm certain that Mirran Crusader would see play even without protections. This card has the drawback that it needs another creature on the board, but has the upside of also pumping the kind it is bound to. In testing, it has been very strong thus far, following up your 2 drop with this happens frequently and is such a beating if your opponent doesn't have a removal on the spot. I would probably even include this in 360, but at 450+, it's a given.
Terminus
I think this is stronger than Hallowed Burial and Austere Command and might be on the same level as Rout. Paying 6 for a better-than-Wrath is fine, if unexciting, but ripping this for its Miracle cost is so strong. Early in the game, you get a Wrath earlier and cheaper than you should be able to and later in the game, you wrath and can then slap down a finisher or Planeswalker. Or keep counter mana open. I am actively looking to include this in my 540, but am not confident that you could find the place in 450 or less. Akroma's Vengeance is probably better.
BLUE
Fettergeist
This creature is obviously a throwback to Serendib Efreet, which I believe is run into every cube. In a hard control deck, Fettergeist is probably better as the 1 life per turn does matter and you don't have to pay anything if you don't have other creatures. However, there are also aggro / tempo decks that want to run 3/4 flyers for 3 and there, the old school Efreet is way better. All in all, I think Efreet is the better card, but starting at 450, you can include both of them. In my 540 cube, I will definitely be including both.
Lone Revenant
So close! With evasion, this card would probably have had what it takes. As is, a 5 mana 4/4 hexproof IS decent, but not good enough on its own for cube. The ability has two drawbacks and will thus rarely be a factor. Having to be the only creature (which, granted, isn't too hard to do) and the lacking evasion seriously limit its usefulness. Maybe at 720+, but probably not.
Mist Raven Man o' War and Aether Adept are cube staples, helping Control stabilize the board and helping Tempo decks press their advantage. Flying is a really good ability to have, but comparing this card to Venser, Shaper Savant or even Dungeon Geists shows that it's quite lackluster. Only for huge cubes.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
A huge percentage of the planeswalkers printed thus far have made it into cube thus far. Only extremely narrow or overpriced ones didn't make it. For me, Tamiyo is in neither category. At first I was underwhelmed by her, but I think I underrated her first ability at first. Ajani Vengeant is a huge beating, and Tamiyo might be more expensive, but she's also harder to kill and in a color that appreciates Icy Manipulator even more! Like most other planeswalkers, her ultimate is just a fancy way to say "win the game", so she provides excellent inevitability if you can just control the opponent's board for a few turns. Her middle ability will probably be relevant in tempo oriented blue decks only or if she will die anyways and you want to "cash her in". Of course, there's also the possibility of living the dream by combining her with Gideon Jura and his +2 ability. All in all, the Moon Sage is probably good enough for every cube, and in everything 450+, you don't even have to think about it much.
Tandem Lookout
As a 2/1 for 3, it’s not really spectacular. Where it shines, however, is against control decks when you already have 2 drop on board. If you get even one card out of it and the opponent has to deal with it, it becomes a good deal. Obviously only good in cubes that are a bit larger and support blue aggro / tempo at least a little bit. I think I will try it in my 540, but am not confident that it will last long.
Temporal Mastery
The most discussed and maybe most spectacular Miracle card does not seem to cut it for cube. 7 mana for a Time Warp is way too much, and if you rip it before turn 3, you can’t Miracle it. If you Miracle it right on Turn 3, it’s fine, but not much better than an explore. I wouldn’t fault anyone for running it, but I’m fairly certaint you can’t make it consistant enough in Cube.
BLACK
Dark Impostor
This card can really take over games. Once you get to 6 mana and they can’t deal with it, it should take over a game. However, before then it’s just a Scathe Zombies. Still, that’s actually not the worst. It’s an unconventional card and I really do like it and would like to give it a try. Also, for some reason I can’t quite explain I really like the art. What’s your opinion on her?
Demonic Rising
A 5/5 that does not die is fine, but this card is way too narrow to be good in cube.
Descent into Madness Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion are both awesome, but don’t be fooled, this card is way worse. It’s way way slower and you’re not even guaranteed to get their lands. You also can’t abuse it with recurring cards like Bloodghast or Gravecrawler or Life from the Loam. This is junk.
Gloom Surgeon
Now, this is something! At least we got an interesting card in the last batch of spoiled cards. This is not an insane ability or anything, but the ability is certainly good. It will be fine at holding the ground in a defensive deck and is also a fine attacker. It’s ability definitely doesn’t play like Indestructible, because after it took some damage you do have to leave it back. But still, I like this card a lot and am certain I can cut some mediocre black aggro dude for this creepy guy.
Griselbrand
If you want to support Reanimator more, I think this is a very good guy. It’s almost as good as Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, but infinitely more hardcasteable and also playable in Control decks.
RED Archwing Dragon
This is not good at all. The four drop slot is already insanely crowded and tying up your mana every turn just to deal 4 damage is really bad.
Bonfire of the Damned
A good card, but probably only at its best in Ramp with red. It’s splashable but probably too narrow to be included over more consistent X spells or board sweepers.
Burn at the Stake
Another finisher that is fine, but all the Blaze effects in red are probably more consistent. Token decks with red don’t really needs this and also don’t want to pay RRR, as they are probably more white based.
Dangerous Wager
An interesting card, but way too much work to just draw two cards. The same thing for 3 mana and 3 cards would be playable, right? We’ll just have to wait for some more nice red looting cards, but I’m sure we’ll get them in the next sets.
Hound of Griselbrand
Now THIS is a solid 4 drop. It doesn’t have the speed that red 4 drops normally have, but it certainly has power and resiliency. Some compared it to a red Phantom Centaur, and I think that is certainly valid. This is a good include for 450+.
Kruin Striker
An unexciting aggro gal. Nothing to write home about, but fine for 600+ or 720+.
Lightning Mauler
Now this is what we’re talking about. I am less excited about this card than most of the cube forums, I think, but it is undoubtedly a good card, good enough for just about every cube. It has a lot of play to it and will be both fun and powerful.
Reforge the Soul
Only include this in your cube if you think a 5 mana Wheel of Fortune is good enough, as the Miracle isn’t realy good on this card. You want this effect later in the game when your hand is depleted and you want it cheaply so that you can cast afterwards. As is, I do not think this makes the cut.
Rite of Ruin
Wildfire decks are fun, but this is really no Wildfire at all. Destructive Force is way better and does not see a lot of play.
Thunderous Wrath
Another hard to evaluate Miracle card! It is probably around the same level as Banishing Stroke but a bit better, as 5 damage to the face is a lot. This might make it into 450+, but really, we all have to test and see how Miracle cards end up playing out. I’m skeptical.
Tybalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Here we have an example of a very narrow planeswalker. 2 Mana for a planeswalker is very very good, but Tybalt’s effects aren’t particularly impressive. I think he will find a home in constructed against slow decks and will be used in decks that get a lot of mileage out of the random looting, but in Cube, he is just way too narrow to really be good. I won’t even be including him in 540.
Vexing Devil
So far, Punisher cards have always been worse than they looked. However, I think this will be good in super aggressive red decks, which the Cube produces a lot of. I will be testing it and am quite sure that on average it will play out like a 4 damage Lava Spike that you can’t kill your opponent with. Which is absolutely fine in my book.
Zealous Conscripts
Word of Seizing with a bonus 3/3 haste. A really good red 5 drop for cubes that won’t another one of those. I currently only run Siege-Gang Commander in the 5 slot and will probably be including this.
GREEN
Abundant Growth
Alright, this probably isn’t making it into a lot of cubes, but this card is just such a sweet design! It is a great enabler for 5 color green decks and would probably even make a lot of cube decks... but it just does comparably little, so giving it a slot during cube design is hard to do. I would also appreciate your thoughts here!
Somberwald Sage
A sweet card to push ramp even further in green. It’s fine, but can dominate the game if you have one or two fatties in your hand. Mana Elf + This = Turn 3 Titan. But its fragility will keep it out of green sections that do not heavily promote ramp.
Triumph of Ferocity
Probably not cubeable, but maybe it isn’t all that hard to get 2 cards out of this?
Ulvenwald Tracker
Fight Club! This is a very good card in every green deck, as green creatures tend to be bigger and you can always have your biggest guy fight their smaller ones. Only bad against control decks with little to no creatures, but that’s not too bad.
Wolfir Avenger
I like it a lot. I think it is better than Great Sable Stag, but I was luckily able to take out Carven Caryatid for it. I bet it will very often take out an attacker than be a hard to deal with creature.
Wolfir Silverheart
Now THIS is power. 12 power for 5 mana? And 4 of it can have haste? True, the Wolfir dies to all black and white removal, but a lot of creatures do. At 5 mana, it is still fine to fail the Terminate test if the creature kills fast enough and the Silverheart actually passes the more important Vindicate test! This is by no means a staple, but it is pretty damn solid and should at least be tested in 450+. I’m currently testing it and without having seen it in play thus far, am confident that it will be in the cube for a while.
OTHER
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Sigh. Really, Wizards? Alright, us Cubedrafters are addicted to pure power, but did they really need to make a creature even less interactive than one with Hexproof + Evasion? I like Kitchen Finks and Qasali Pridemage more than her, but after that, she’s probably the third best Selesnya card. I could see some including Mirari’s Wake over her, that’s a matter of taste. Luckily, I can run them all in my 5 card gold section and also Loam Lion.
Desolate Lighthouse
Yes! Izzet has always been cursed with weak gold cards, also because ALL of the hybrid cards are crap. The loothouse is however really good and plays right into the counterburn archetype. You leave mana open to counter or burn their creatures and if they don’t do anything, you increase the quality of your hand slowly. This also fits very well into Red Deck Wins splash blue for something like Fact or Fiction (or Ancestral Recall in powered cubes).
Slayers' Stronghold
Probably the strongest utility land from Innistrad block for Cube. However, it has more competition than the Loothouse. But that shouldn’t keep it from being included in any cube. Ajani Vengeant and Figure of Destiny are better of course, but some will even include it over Lightning Helix. Once again, I don’t have to make that decision but would probably cut Helix for the land if it came to that.
And that’s it! After seeing just how much text this is, I doubt anyone actually read through all of it, but if you did, or at least found some useful tidbits, let me know! Feedback is very important to me, especially since this is the first time I’ve done anything like that. If there’s any card I missed or any glaring language mistake (English is not my first language), please mention that as well!
Hey! Nice review. I can agree on most of them. But I think Burn at the Stake in any aggro and midrange deck should be able to tap three creature rather consistently, making it 9 damage to the head for 5 mana. That seems rather good to me. I'll most likely be trying it.
That's a pretty good review, Sylar, especially considering it's your first one. My only criticism is that I think you are overly optimistic about several cards performance. This could also be because I'm conservative with my cube adds. At 500 cards, I don't see that many cards that I'll be adding to my cube. Cards that I think you are particularly rosy on are Tandem Lookout, Angel of Jubilation, Dark Imposter, Gloom Surgeon, Hound of Griselbrand, and Vexing Devil. None of these interest me at all, except the Hound but red has too many 4-drops as it is and I like them all more than Hound.
I actually like Abundant Growth and think it may be a cube sleeper. It draws a card and ramps for 1 mana. That seems good to me. Even if the land is destroyed, you maintain card parity and it's a lot less common to lose a land or enchantment than to lose a BoP or an elf. I think I'm going to try this out.
You did a great job, Sylar. There's a number of cards I rate slightly higher or lower than you, but I'd have been flabbergasted if that hadn't been the case. Two thumbs up!
Oh, it's not too long; I think you covered the cards you should and didn't skip any that deserves mention.
EDIT - I agree about Abundant Growth, looks very good. I think we're going to run that.
But you could also swing with those creatures most of the time? And then any X spell or any burn spell really would be better in that situation.
Did you like the style of the review? Was it too long?
Yes, but on that turn, it's 9 unblockable damage, unless with counterspell. X spell would have only dealt 4 damage, and burn spell probably range from 2-3.
Sylar, I really liked the review. A good thing you have going is you evaluate cards relative to other exisitng cube cards, which ones it may replace, and more importantly what cards are at par with it. (and will depend on taste as to which should be included). I like you you say which cards you will include yourself in your cube, as it gives confidence to your evaluations.
I agree with most cards, and for my 450 will probably include Restoration Angel
Silberblade Paladin, Fettergeist, Tamiyo and Wolfir Avenger. Hound of Griselbrand and Vexing Devil are maybes.
Also, I dont find Ulvenwald Tracker very impressive, but I see everyone's on board with this card. I think I will test it just out of curiosity and hope it gives green some much needed removal.
Alright guys, I finally have the time to answer! I am mostly on my iPad nowadays when I'm not at home, and as I don't yet have a real keyboard on it, I wanted to wait until I have access to a laptop again.
Quote from Jinxed Idol »
Sylar, I really liked the review. A good thing you have going is you evaluate cards relative to other exisitng cube cards, which ones it may replace, and more importantly what cards are at par with it. (and will depend on taste as to which should be included). I like you you say which cards you will include yourself in your cube, as it gives confidence to your evaluations.
I agree with most cards, and for my 450 will probably include Restoration Angel
Silberblade Paladin, Fettergeist, Tamiyo and Wolfir Avenger. Hound of Griselbrand and Vexing Devil are maybes.
Also, I dont find Ulvenwald Tracker very impressive, but I see everyone's on board with this card. I think I will test it just out of curiosity and hope it gives green some much needed removal.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the format, although I am sure it's in no way perfect yet. I'll see what I will change for future sets (if I still have the time and motivation to do a full set review then).
I can understand that you are not amazed by Ulvenwald Tracker. I am also not sure if he will really stick, but he is just a very unique card that seems like he has a lot of potential. I have only played it seen in one deck so far, a U/G deck with both Tinker and Survival of the Fittest and also 3 Planeswalkers. It didn't shine there because the games didn't really devolve into ground stalls, but it still carried Sword and Jitte just fine. Note that this is not a qualitiy of him, because really, he just played like a 1/1 for 1 for me. But in other matchups and in other decks, I still believe that he can be stellar.
Quote from Regarding Jubilation Angel »
Since this isn't something that you can reliably cast on turn 4, comparing it with other 4 drops doesn't really give you any relevant information.
I can see reliably casting it on turn 4 in a lot of cube decks. Decks that would want it will have a tendency to be heavier white more often than the average white deck and with the mana fixing present in cube, hitting 3 of your main color on turn 4 really isn't all that difficult. I'm casting Cryptic Command on turn 4 quite often.
Quote from Regarding Banishing Stroke »
1 mana is the cheapest Miracle card available - not possible.
6 mana for a 1:1 removal spell is very poor, even at 4 mana it wouldn't do something broken.
I don't know what you mean with the first sentence, but I agree that I was probably too optimistic about that card. I don't see it making it outside of very big cubes now.
Quote from Regarding Entreat the Angels »
Topdecking it on turn 3 still means zero Angels unless you had a ramp spell.
Argh! I missed that it was XWW to Miracle and not XW. A little bit worse, then.
Quote from Regarding Dark Impostor »
Playing a Scathe Zombies is actually pretty close to "the worst" and if you are planning to use the 6 mana ability, you might as well play a real 6 drop in that slot. This really doesn't look like the new Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief.
Can't really argue against what you're saying, I just like the concept of the card, but the raw stats before 6 mana probably speak against it.
Quote from Regarding Gloom Surgeon »
I am not sure if you have missed that the card only cares about combat damage. Imo you should be less concerned of running out of cards and more about weakening your search effects.
I did not miss it. Sure, it can be burned, but just about every 2 mana creature can get burned. I am actually concerned about neither. How many search effects are you really running? Even if you have tutors, you should still be able to find good cards in your decks. It just seems like something that should very rarely come up.
I've never done one of these before or written another kind of article, so bear with me a bit.
Any kind of feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated and would motivate me to write more if you like it!
I wouldn't call myself one of the most experience cube drafters on this forum, as I've only been cubing for two years now.
However, I hope you might still find my thoughts interesting or at least noteworthy.
I'm only going to talk about cards that have at least a chance to get into regular cubes, that way I don't have to type 'crap' 200 times.
WHITE
Angel of Jubilation
Comparing this with Celestial Crusader shows just how far creatures have come during the last years. Although it loses Flash, Split Second and is more color intensive, its ability is more powerful on average and its stats are more impressive. However, white four drops are extremely competitive with 2 planeswalkers, Armageddon, Hero of Bladehold and so on. On raw powerlevel, I can't see this making it into 360 or 450 cubes, but I am considering it for 540. Its most direct competition is probably Calciderm, but I am not quite sure who wins out between them. If you support Tokens in your cube, which has gotten a lot of powerful cards in this block, this card becomes close to an autoinclude. Tokens wants all the anthems it can get and loves having them on bodies. A shame it doesn't pump Bitterblossom tokens, though!
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
The postergirl of the set and quite the cool and epic feeling card. However, 8 drops have a real hard time making it into the cube as they are mostly restricted to Ramp and Reanimator decks. Avacyn is, however, unfortunately not one of the best at that job. While her ability is strong, many players have lost the game even after an Elspeth, Knight Errant ultimate. I can only see this girl being included in cubes based on her coolness factor.
Banishing Stroke
I have to admit, I still have a hard time evaluating Miracle cards. This one seems at least interesting for cube as it is very versatile and has the cheapest Miracle cost possible. I think this could make the cut, but I can't really see cutting anything in 540 for it. Maybe in 720 or bigger cubes?
Emancipation Angel
+ 1 White Mana and + 1 Power over Kor Skyfisher is not a fair deal. I don't think this makes the cut in any cube that doesn't support the blink / self bounce deck as a special archetype.
Entreat the Angels
Topdecking this any time starting turn 3 is very powerful. However, is a card that is very mediocre if it is in the first 9-10 cards you've drawn or in the cards you've drawn off a draw spell really worth it? It's best place is probably in UW control decks that might also have brainstorm to set it up or some looting effects to get rid of it if you've drawn it too early. In the lategame, it is a respectable finisher even for retail. I could see testing it in Decree of Justice's place, but I like Martial Coup more.
Restoration Angel
This one of the few auto includes from this set in my opinion. 3/4 flying Flash for 4 mana is already impressive, but having a flicker ability tacked on pushes it over the top. Saving one of your creatures from removal is a blow out, resetting a creature with ANY enters the battlefield ability is extremely strong, but you can also do tricks like saving one of your blocked creatures. In my testing, my girlfriend had this girl in her RBW deck where she was able to reset Blade Splicer, Murderous Redcap, Siege-Gang Commander, Shriekmaw and others and it was just sick. You never really attack into her when she had 4 mana open.
Silverglade Paladin
2 power double strike for 3 mana is already extremely strong, as I'm certain that Mirran Crusader would see play even without protections. This card has the drawback that it needs another creature on the board, but has the upside of also pumping the kind it is bound to. In testing, it has been very strong thus far, following up your 2 drop with this happens frequently and is such a beating if your opponent doesn't have a removal on the spot. I would probably even include this in 360, but at 450+, it's a given.
Terminus
I think this is stronger than Hallowed Burial and Austere Command and might be on the same level as Rout. Paying 6 for a better-than-Wrath is fine, if unexciting, but ripping this for its Miracle cost is so strong. Early in the game, you get a Wrath earlier and cheaper than you should be able to and later in the game, you wrath and can then slap down a finisher or Planeswalker. Or keep counter mana open. I am actively looking to include this in my 540, but am not confident that you could find the place in 450 or less. Akroma's Vengeance is probably better.
BLUE
Fettergeist
This creature is obviously a throwback to Serendib Efreet, which I believe is run into every cube. In a hard control deck, Fettergeist is probably better as the 1 life per turn does matter and you don't have to pay anything if you don't have other creatures. However, there are also aggro / tempo decks that want to run 3/4 flyers for 3 and there, the old school Efreet is way better. All in all, I think Efreet is the better card, but starting at 450, you can include both of them. In my 540 cube, I will definitely be including both.
Lone Revenant
So close! With evasion, this card would probably have had what it takes. As is, a 5 mana 4/4 hexproof IS decent, but not good enough on its own for cube. The ability has two drawbacks and will thus rarely be a factor. Having to be the only creature (which, granted, isn't too hard to do) and the lacking evasion seriously limit its usefulness. Maybe at 720+, but probably not.
Mist Raven
Man o' War and Aether Adept are cube staples, helping Control stabilize the board and helping Tempo decks press their advantage. Flying is a really good ability to have, but comparing this card to Venser, Shaper Savant or even Dungeon Geists shows that it's quite lackluster. Only for huge cubes.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
A huge percentage of the planeswalkers printed thus far have made it into cube thus far. Only extremely narrow or overpriced ones didn't make it. For me, Tamiyo is in neither category. At first I was underwhelmed by her, but I think I underrated her first ability at first. Ajani Vengeant is a huge beating, and Tamiyo might be more expensive, but she's also harder to kill and in a color that appreciates Icy Manipulator even more! Like most other planeswalkers, her ultimate is just a fancy way to say "win the game", so she provides excellent inevitability if you can just control the opponent's board for a few turns. Her middle ability will probably be relevant in tempo oriented blue decks only or if she will die anyways and you want to "cash her in". Of course, there's also the possibility of living the dream by combining her with Gideon Jura and his +2 ability. All in all, the Moon Sage is probably good enough for every cube, and in everything 450+, you don't even have to think about it much.
Tandem Lookout
As a 2/1 for 3, it’s not really spectacular. Where it shines, however, is against control decks when you already have 2 drop on board. If you get even one card out of it and the opponent has to deal with it, it becomes a good deal. Obviously only good in cubes that are a bit larger and support blue aggro / tempo at least a little bit. I think I will try it in my 540, but am not confident that it will last long.
Temporal Mastery
The most discussed and maybe most spectacular Miracle card does not seem to cut it for cube. 7 mana for a Time Warp is way too much, and if you rip it before turn 3, you can’t Miracle it. If you Miracle it right on Turn 3, it’s fine, but not much better than an explore. I wouldn’t fault anyone for running it, but I’m fairly certaint you can’t make it consistant enough in Cube.
BLACK
Dark Impostor
This card can really take over games. Once you get to 6 mana and they can’t deal with it, it should take over a game. However, before then it’s just a Scathe Zombies. Still, that’s actually not the worst. It’s an unconventional card and I really do like it and would like to give it a try. Also, for some reason I can’t quite explain I really like the art. What’s your opinion on her?
Demonic Rising
A 5/5 that does not die is fine, but this card is way too narrow to be good in cube.
Descent into Madness
Smokestack and Braids, Cabal Minion are both awesome, but don’t be fooled, this card is way worse. It’s way way slower and you’re not even guaranteed to get their lands. You also can’t abuse it with recurring cards like Bloodghast or Gravecrawler or Life from the Loam. This is junk.
Gloom Surgeon
Now, this is something! At least we got an interesting card in the last batch of spoiled cards. This is not an insane ability or anything, but the ability is certainly good. It will be fine at holding the ground in a defensive deck and is also a fine attacker. It’s ability definitely doesn’t play like Indestructible, because after it took some damage you do have to leave it back. But still, I like this card a lot and am certain I can cut some mediocre black aggro dude for this creepy guy.
Griselbrand
If you want to support Reanimator more, I think this is a very good guy. It’s almost as good as Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, but infinitely more hardcasteable and also playable in Control decks.
RED
Archwing Dragon
This is not good at all. The four drop slot is already insanely crowded and tying up your mana every turn just to deal 4 damage is really bad.
Bonfire of the Damned
A good card, but probably only at its best in Ramp with red. It’s splashable but probably too narrow to be included over more consistent X spells or board sweepers.
Burn at the Stake
Another finisher that is fine, but all the Blaze effects in red are probably more consistent. Token decks with red don’t really needs this and also don’t want to pay RRR, as they are probably more white based.
Dangerous Wager
An interesting card, but way too much work to just draw two cards. The same thing for 3 mana and 3 cards would be playable, right? We’ll just have to wait for some more nice red looting cards, but I’m sure we’ll get them in the next sets.
Hound of Griselbrand
Now THIS is a solid 4 drop. It doesn’t have the speed that red 4 drops normally have, but it certainly has power and resiliency. Some compared it to a red Phantom Centaur, and I think that is certainly valid. This is a good include for 450+.
Kruin Striker
An unexciting aggro gal. Nothing to write home about, but fine for 600+ or 720+.
Lightning Mauler
Now this is what we’re talking about. I am less excited about this card than most of the cube forums, I think, but it is undoubtedly a good card, good enough for just about every cube. It has a lot of play to it and will be both fun and powerful.
Reforge the Soul
Only include this in your cube if you think a 5 mana Wheel of Fortune is good enough, as the Miracle isn’t realy good on this card. You want this effect later in the game when your hand is depleted and you want it cheaply so that you can cast afterwards. As is, I do not think this makes the cut.
Rite of Ruin
Wildfire decks are fun, but this is really no Wildfire at all. Destructive Force is way better and does not see a lot of play.
Thunderous Wrath
Another hard to evaluate Miracle card! It is probably around the same level as Banishing Stroke but a bit better, as 5 damage to the face is a lot. This might make it into 450+, but really, we all have to test and see how Miracle cards end up playing out. I’m skeptical.
Tybalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Here we have an example of a very narrow planeswalker. 2 Mana for a planeswalker is very very good, but Tybalt’s effects aren’t particularly impressive. I think he will find a home in constructed against slow decks and will be used in decks that get a lot of mileage out of the random looting, but in Cube, he is just way too narrow to really be good. I won’t even be including him in 540.
Vexing Devil
So far, Punisher cards have always been worse than they looked. However, I think this will be good in super aggressive red decks, which the Cube produces a lot of. I will be testing it and am quite sure that on average it will play out like a 4 damage Lava Spike that you can’t kill your opponent with. Which is absolutely fine in my book.
Zealous Conscripts
Word of Seizing with a bonus 3/3 haste. A really good red 5 drop for cubes that won’t another one of those. I currently only run Siege-Gang Commander in the 5 slot and will probably be including this.
GREEN
Abundant Growth
Alright, this probably isn’t making it into a lot of cubes, but this card is just such a sweet design! It is a great enabler for 5 color green decks and would probably even make a lot of cube decks... but it just does comparably little, so giving it a slot during cube design is hard to do. I would also appreciate your thoughts here!
Somberwald Sage
A sweet card to push ramp even further in green. It’s fine, but can dominate the game if you have one or two fatties in your hand. Mana Elf + This = Turn 3 Titan. But its fragility will keep it out of green sections that do not heavily promote ramp.
Triumph of Ferocity
Probably not cubeable, but maybe it isn’t all that hard to get 2 cards out of this?
Ulvenwald Tracker
Fight Club! This is a very good card in every green deck, as green creatures tend to be bigger and you can always have your biggest guy fight their smaller ones. Only bad against control decks with little to no creatures, but that’s not too bad.
Wolfir Avenger
I like it a lot. I think it is better than Great Sable Stag, but I was luckily able to take out Carven Caryatid for it. I bet it will very often take out an attacker than be a hard to deal with creature.
Wolfir Silverheart
Now THIS is power. 12 power for 5 mana? And 4 of it can have haste? True, the Wolfir dies to all black and white removal, but a lot of creatures do. At 5 mana, it is still fine to fail the Terminate test if the creature kills fast enough and the Silverheart actually passes the more important Vindicate test! This is by no means a staple, but it is pretty damn solid and should at least be tested in 450+. I’m currently testing it and without having seen it in play thus far, am confident that it will be in the cube for a while.
OTHER
Sigarda, Host of Herons
Sigh. Really, Wizards? Alright, us Cubedrafters are addicted to pure power, but did they really need to make a creature even less interactive than one with Hexproof + Evasion? I like Kitchen Finks and Qasali Pridemage more than her, but after that, she’s probably the third best Selesnya card. I could see some including Mirari’s Wake over her, that’s a matter of taste. Luckily, I can run them all in my 5 card gold section and also Loam Lion.
Desolate Lighthouse
Yes! Izzet has always been cursed with weak gold cards, also because ALL of the hybrid cards are crap. The loothouse is however really good and plays right into the counterburn archetype. You leave mana open to counter or burn their creatures and if they don’t do anything, you increase the quality of your hand slowly. This also fits very well into Red Deck Wins splash blue for something like Fact or Fiction (or Ancestral Recall in powered cubes).
Slayers' Stronghold
Probably the strongest utility land from Innistrad block for Cube. However, it has more competition than the Loothouse. But that shouldn’t keep it from being included in any cube. Ajani Vengeant and Figure of Destiny are better of course, but some will even include it over Lightning Helix. Once again, I don’t have to make that decision but would probably cut Helix for the land if it came to that.
And that’s it! After seeing just how much text this is, I doubt anyone actually read through all of it, but if you did, or at least found some useful tidbits, let me know! Feedback is very important to me, especially since this is the first time I’ve done anything like that. If there’s any card I missed or any glaring language mistake (English is not my first language), please mention that as well!
Over and out,
Sylar aka @Superhiro21 on Twitter
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Did you like the style of the review? Was it too long?
I actually like Abundant Growth and think it may be a cube sleeper. It draws a card and ramps for 1 mana. That seems good to me. Even if the land is destroyed, you maintain card parity and it's a lot less common to lose a land or enchantment than to lose a BoP or an elf. I think I'm going to try this out.
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Oh, it's not too long; I think you covered the cards you should and didn't skip any that deserves mention.
EDIT - I agree about Abundant Growth, looks very good. I think we're going to run that.
It doesn't ramp. It turns your land into a 5-color land. If it provided extra mana, it would be better than birds of paradise.
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Yes, but on that turn, it's 9 unblockable damage, unless with counterspell. X spell would have only dealt 4 damage, and burn spell probably range from 2-3.
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Wow! Totally misread that! No wonder why no one was talking about this card. Yeah, not good at all then.
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I agree with most cards, and for my 450 will probably include Restoration Angel
Silberblade Paladin, Fettergeist, Tamiyo and Wolfir Avenger. Hound of Griselbrand and Vexing Devil are maybes.
Also, I dont find Ulvenwald Tracker very impressive, but I see everyone's on board with this card. I think I will test it just out of curiosity and hope it gives green some much needed removal.
Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked the format, although I am sure it's in no way perfect yet. I'll see what I will change for future sets (if I still have the time and motivation to do a full set review then).
I can understand that you are not amazed by Ulvenwald Tracker. I am also not sure if he will really stick, but he is just a very unique card that seems like he has a lot of potential. I have only played it seen in one deck so far, a U/G deck with both Tinker and Survival of the Fittest and also 3 Planeswalkers. It didn't shine there because the games didn't really devolve into ground stalls, but it still carried Sword and Jitte just fine. Note that this is not a qualitiy of him, because really, he just played like a 1/1 for 1 for me. But in other matchups and in other decks, I still believe that he can be stellar.
I can see reliably casting it on turn 4 in a lot of cube decks. Decks that would want it will have a tendency to be heavier white more often than the average white deck and with the mana fixing present in cube, hitting 3 of your main color on turn 4 really isn't all that difficult. I'm casting Cryptic Command on turn 4 quite often.
I don't know what you mean with the first sentence, but I agree that I was probably too optimistic about that card. I don't see it making it outside of very big cubes now.
Argh! I missed that it was XWW to Miracle and not XW. A little bit worse, then.
Can't really argue against what you're saying, I just like the concept of the card, but the raw stats before 6 mana probably speak against it.
I did not miss it. Sure, it can be burned, but just about every 2 mana creature can get burned. I am actually concerned about neither. How many search effects are you really running? Even if you have tutors, you should still be able to find good cards in your decks. It just seems like something that should very rarely come up.