This is a continuation of the cube update post for most sets of 2021. Part one covered White and Blue, part two covered Black and Red, this part covers Green, Multicolored, Colorless, and Lands.
Green
–Satyr Wayfinder; +Lair of the Hydra
A scalable manland
Why cut Satyr?
Satyr is only good with heavy synergies. As it is neither ramp nor a threat, it is a filler for most decks. The following swap changed a three-drop for a two-drop, breaking the slots even.
What I like about Lair of the Hydra
Lair is a great mana sink. If the board is empty, you can fireball your opponent repeatedly. Green decks can generate large amounts of mana, so it is likely the largest creature on board in the late game. This is one of the best targets for Primeval Titan.
What I dislike about Lair
It has no evasion, so a token maker could comfortably block for a very long time. For small values of X, it is very inefficient.
Prediction
This manland fits green’s game plan very well. I am very optimistic about this land.
The creature version of Search for Tomorrow
Why cut Rampant Growth?
Growth is the worst ramp spell. It can only fetch basic lands, unlike Farseek and Into the North. The land always enters tapped, unlike Three Visits and Nature’s Lore. One drop ramp is more potent than those that cost two mana.
What I like about Rift Sower
Rift Sower is similar to Search for Tomorrow. However, unlike Search, it fixes all colors of mana – it is not locked to a choice of basic land. In addition, Sower is a better topdeck than Search, as it is a creature that can block or carry equipment.
What I dislike about Sower
It dies to spot and mass removals, while Search doesn’t. As a topdeck, Search fixes mana immediately while Sower doesn’t due to summoning sickness. Of course, mana elves are better as Sower cannot ramp you into a three-drop turn two.
Prediction
Sower sits somewhere between most two-mana ramp spells and mana elves in power. Splash-heavy decks would love Sower.
–Thrashing Brontodon; +Outland Liberator
The mono green Qasali Pridemage
Why cut Brontodon?
The cheaper Liberator outclasses it. The double green can be awkward sometimes.
What I like about Liberator
It is a mono-green Qasali Pridemage, or rather the green version of Goblin Cratermaker. You can play it early and attack/block with it until your opponent plays a dangerous artifact or enchantment. You can also keep it in hand until an appropriate target shows up.
Liberator does not have exalted like Pridemage, but it is monocolored and has a strong backside. Note that Frenzied Trapbreaker does not have to connect to destroy something. Trapbreaker generates card advantage and can kill multiple permanents throughout the game.
Being a cheap green Disenchant on a creature is a boon as Liberator can be tutored easily.
What I dislike about Liberator
The card is very fair if it doesn’t flip. Some decks have a low number of artifacts and enchantments, and against them, Liberator should be sided out. A Grizzly Bear is terrible, and so is a three-mana Naturalize.
Prediction
Liberator is cheap and adds a lot of utility. I think it should be playable in most green decks unless they have many Naturalize effects.
–Wall of Blossoms; +Briarbridge Tracker
An undercosted beater that replaces itself
Why cut Wall?
Wall is good only in certain matchups – a giant ground blocker is not always relevant. It’s true that at worse, it cycles, but so does Tracker, and it’s the more proactive cards that more decks will desire.
What I like about Tracker
Tracker is an undercost beater, being a 4/3 vigilance for three mana. Green can play it as early as turn two with a mana elf. Once Tracker trades or dies to removal, you can cash in the clue for card advantage. At the very late game, Tracker can immediately cycle itself. Again, green needs more card advantage.
Tracker gets the power boost if you control any token, not just the clue it provided. Green is heavy with tokens, and in Selesnya decks, it will be elementary to meet this condition even after popping the clue. Tracker can be flickered to gain more clues.
What I dislike about Tracker
Three toughness is not too hot against aggro. It trades down with many two drops and burn spells. Yes, you get a card on this exchange, but if the game is fast enough, you might not realistically have the time to crack the clue.
Prediction
This is a beautiful value creature. Not being good in ramp is problematic for a green card, but it is still one of the better proactive green three drops.
–Nissa, Vastwood Seer; +Augur of Autumn
The second coming of Courser of Kruphix
Why cut Nissa?
Getting to seven lands is not easy and far more demanding than getting to seven mana. Nissa only finds a basic forest, so she does not fix mana colors. While the planeswalker is good for three mana, it is not a late-game bomb. Nissa is not bad, but there are so many new three drops coming in.
What I like about Augur
It is almost a Courser of Kruphix. Both play lands from the top of your library to generate card advantage. Both cost the same and have two power. Augur has three advantages, though. First, it does not reveal the top card of your library to your opponent. Two, it cannot be destroyed by Disenchant effects.
On top of that, Augur has the coven ability. It is unclear how easy it is to get coven. Green usually has a lot of creatures, but are they diverse enough in power? A random token or mana elf will have one power quite consistently, and Augur has two power itself. It is fair to say that eventually, the green deck will get coven in every game. It is very rare for it to be active turn three, though.
How good is the coven ability? If your deck is creature-heavy, it can generate consistent card advantage. The problem is that it encourages you to overcommit to the board – you already have a least three creatures out due to coven, and now you pay even more. But, overall, Augur should be playable even in light creature decks.
What I dislike about Augur
Having only three toughness means it is a far worse blocker and is vulnerable to most burn spells. This is a far more significant vulnerability than not being an enchantment is a plus. No life gain compared to Courser is also a bummer. Augur, unlike the centaur, is not an anti-aggro kingpin.
Prediction
Augur will be the second fiddle to the tried and true Courser.
–Wolfbriar Elemental; +Primal Adversary
An undercost beater with a mana sink
Why cut Wolfbriar?
Wolfbriar fills the same worse far worse. The baseline is terrible, and scaling is very green-heavy.
What I like about Adversary
At its base, Adversary is an undercost beater. You can cast it on turn two after a mana elf in green. A 4/3 with trample is enormous for this stage of the game, and it is a must-answer threat if you want to deploy planeswalkers.
Adversary can also be a midrange creature. You get 8 power and seven toughness spread over two bodies for five mana. You get the same stats for six mana, except 3/3 of them have haste. The same scaling continues, making Adversary a good mana sink.
What I dislike about Adversary
Turning lands into creatures makes them vulnerable to creature removals. Primal Adversary exposes you hard to a mass removal if it is kicked, perhaps even kicked several times.
Prediction
As Adversary is good across many deck types, it should easily find homes.
–Polukranos, World Eater; +Ulvenwald Oddity
Questing Beast lite
Why cut Polukranos?
Polukranos is a big midrange body for its cost and a mana sink for super ramp decks. It is also a form of green removal. It is, however, relatively weak all around. As a midrange monster, it has no evasion and doesn’t pass the removal test. As a removal, it is expensive and limited to small creatures. Oddity just outclasses it.
What I like about Oddity
The base body is the better part of Questing Beast. While smaller than Polukranos, it has haste and evasion, so it will deal significantly more damage on average. Oddity is good at sniping down planeswalkers, especially as it tramples over the tokens they make. It also gets to attack once before being answered by sorcery speed removal.
Later in the game, it can be flipped to a huge, game-winning bomb at instant speed.
What I dislike about Oddity
Transforming Oddity is very expensive and will not realistically happen in most games. Compared to Polukranos, it has no utility in the midgame besides attacking. Compared to Questing Beast, it cannot play both offense and defense and is stopped by larger dorks.
It’s not a great card unless you have the chance to get to seven mana some of the time when it matters. However, as a ramp target, it doesn’t work with any cheat cards you might be playing.
Prediction
I think it will play better than Polukranos, but it will not be a bomb. Oddity is another small step at letting green have more proactive midrange decks, not just ramp decks. This, in turn, should make Gruul decks better. Oddity does this while also being a mana sink for ramp decks. I hope it will fill both roles well.
–Acidic Slime; +Foundation Breaker
Cheaper disruption
Why cut Slime?
Green five drops have become extraordinary. On the other hand, we have a lot more Naturalize effects strapped unto creatures in green, so Slime often feels like the most cuttable green five drops. Yes, it is a two-for-one, but it is not a threat like most five drops.
What I like about Foundation Breaker
Breaker is similar to Reclamation Sage. The significant advantage it has is that you can Naturalize something for less mana and potentially a turn earlier. If cast as a creature, Breaker has one more toughness. Evoking Breaker lets you reanimate it if you need to destroy two targets. You can cast a Naturalize a turn with Meren.
What I dislike about Breaker
It is unclear how often you want to evoke Breaker and ignore the card advantage. If not evoked, Sage is close to being strictly better than the elemental.
Prediction
Breaker is about the same as Reclamation Sage. I think it is slightly weaker, but it shouldn’t matter. Reclamation Sage is an excellent creature, and a second version is welcome.
Green inevitability
Why cut Vivien?
Vivien offers some utility and card advantage, but she is not a threat. Vivien wins the long game, but Zone is better at this role.
What I like about Zone
Enchantments are hard to stop, and Zone makes a 2/2, then a 4/4, then an 8/8, continuing in an endless stream. Your opponent might be able to kill the first few tokens, but it is not enough to outlast Zone. Zone is especially brutal when ramped into, perhaps as soon as turn three with a mana elf plus any other ramp spell. Zone is not too far from Liliana, the Last Hope’s emblem.
What I dislike about Zone
It is a bit slow to start. The first token is a meager 2/2, and the second is only a 4/4. Zone is not great when you are behind, and fliers can go over it.
Prediction
This is a reliable way to eventually win the game. I predict control decks will splash for this card.
–Kogla, the Titan Ape; +Tovolar’s Huntmaster
A green Grave Titan
Why cut Kogla?
Kogla has several shortcomings. The biggest is not having evasion, so it can be blocked for ages. The other is having no removal protection. Having a creature to fight with is not common in every matchup. The triple green mana cost is also annoying.
What I like about Huntmaster
Huntmaster is reminiscent of Grave Titan. It creates three blockers immediately and passes the removal test with flying colors. Like Titan, it is a solid reanimation, ramp, and cheat target. The card is better in green than black because of all the creature tutors, Natural Order, and cards that encourage going wide, like Craterhoof Behemoth and Gaea’s Cradle.
Huntmaster does not create two new tokens per attack until it transforms to Packleader. However, Packleader is even larger than Titan and has an activated ability. It is nice that you can skip casting spells on your turn to transform Huntmaster, then immediately use the mana for the activated ability rather than waste it.
What I dislike about Huntmaster
Skipping an entire turn to transform it is very painful, especially as your opponent can double spell to transform it back again. Furthermore, Packleader’s activated ability is very inefficient, costing four mana to do two damage and likely killing a token in the process.
Prediction
Huntmaster is weaker than Grave Titan. This is not a bar creatures need to pass, however. Huntmaster is a multipurpose top-end creature that I see staying in the cube for a long while.
–Terastodon; +Somberwald Beastmaster
A giant army in a can
Why cut Terastodon?
Terastodon’s effect is somewhat of a double-edged sword. Sometimes it’s fantastic; other times, the tokens are a real problem and contribute to a board clog. The elephant itself has no evasion, so it is poor at closing the game.
What I like about Beastmaster
Beastmaster has 10 power and 10 toughness spread across four different bodies. This value cannot be easily undone by spot removals. While usually a 2/2 or a 3/3 creature is unexciting at the late stages of the game, Beastmaster gives all your tokens deathtouch.
Beastmaster is splashable and a good cheat/ramp/reanimation target. Beastmaster is perhaps the most potent ETB effect to abuse with flickers and Recurring Nightmare. It can be tutored with Recruiter of the Guard.
What I dislike about Beastmaster
Beastmaster produces fewer deathtouch bodies than Hornet Queen and has the same P/T as Tovolar’s Huntmaster. While the effect is good, the competition is also powerful. In addition, producing three tokens of different sizes at once is annoying.
Prediction
This is a significant upgrade, but Beastmaster may still be one of the weaker 7+ creatures in green.
Multicolored
–Lutri, the Spellchaser; +Expressive Iteration
Maximal efficiency card advantage
Why cut Lutri?
Lutri is playable in every deck, for free. But we play with the errata for companion. Paying to put Lutri into your hand is so inefficient, it is a last resort. We did see it cast once or twice, total. If you could pay the companion tax at instant speed, it would have still been viable. Currently, this is a card you don’t particularly care if you have access to or not. It constantly tables and does not add much to the gameplay.
What I like about Expressive Iteration
Drawing two cards for two mana is up there with the most efficient draw spells in the game (barring Ancestral Recall). Iteration is that, on top of some card selection. You don’t need a low curve either; you have a high chance of finding a land drop in the top three cards of your library.
What I dislike about Iteration
On turn two, it is not really card advantage. Also, there is always a chance to draw three expensive or situational cards and lose the card advantage.
Prediction
Iteration proved itself across multiple constructed formats. I think its inclusion rate in Izzet decks would be close to 100%. It is just that good.
Play tip
Play Iteration before your land drop for the turn.
A multipurpose fatty
Why cut Wake?
Wake has several problems. First, it does absolutely nothing by itself. This is pretty unacceptable for a gold five drop. Second, it is very narrow. No aggro or token deck would pay five mana for an anthem, so you really need the ramp to matter. Similarly, for Wake to be better than any cheaper ramp spell, you need to have a use for 10+ mana. Some decks do, but most don’t, especially in Selesnya.
What I like about Wurm
It is 10 power and 10 toughness worth of stats with trample. It is a viable ramp, reanimation, and cheat target. It can be found with Natural Order, leaves a sizable body with Sneak Attack, and slowly goes with infinite with Recurring Nightmare. A 5/5 trampler is a substantial payoff for blink effects.
What I dislike about Wurm
The casting cost is ugly. Only Selesnya decks will be able to hard cast it. The full impact of the card can be undone with a board wipe.
Prediction
Wurm is an upgrade but likely still a placeholder more than anything else. Selesnya didn’t get good gold cards in a long while.
–Valki, God of Lies; +Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
The Rakdos Uro
Why cut Valki?
The creature mode is very disappointing. The hitting rate is low with the discard. Imitating creatures is even rarer – most one and two drops have similar bodies to Valki. Many creatures have a significant part of their value tied to their ETB effect and are expensive compared to their stats. Tibalt wins games but is very expensive.
What I like about Kroxa
Kroxa, like Uro, provides lasting power. If your opponent has a board wipe, Kroxa is a strong follow-up. Black and red are relatively spell-heavy colors, so getting one escape should be easier than Simic. Repeatable discard/burn is strong. You do not even have to cast Kroxa; it can be discarded for value.
Kroxa can be cast every turn with Lurrus.
What I dislike about Kroxa
Playing Kroxa is low value, as your opponent chooses what to discard. I do not see aggro decks preferring to play Kroxa over their two-drop. As Kroxa still requires a spell-heavy deck, I am not sure it will have enough homes.
Prediction
I have a hard time evaluating Kroxa. It looks weak to me, but so did Uro, which is a powerhouse. Judging by constructed precedence, Kroxa deserves testing.
–Judith, Scourge Diva; +Falkenrath Aristocrat
A fast, evasive, durable four drop doubling as a sac outlet
Why cut Judith?
Judith is an aggro three-drop in Rakdos, weaker than the mono-red three drops. A playable but entirely unnecessary card.
What I like about Aristocrat
We have played Aristocrat before, so we know what to expect. Aristocrat hits fast and hard and survives mass removals and most spot removals. It slays most planeswalkers in the air.
Aristocrat is also a sacrifice outlet, which adds value in various situations. For example, you can chump block and sacrifice the blocker to prevent lifegain from Wurmcoil Engine or Jitte from accumulating counters. Your opponent cannot play Control Magic on your other creatures. You can sacrifice a creature to reanimate it if it has a sufficiently strong ETB trigger.
What I dislike about Aristocrat
It is soft to exile removal. Without other creatures out, Aristocrat is easy to kill. Plus, there is the known competition in red aggro four drop slots.
Prediction
We think Aristocrat is strong enough to compete with the red aggressive four drops, especially since we have cut a few in this update.
–Qasali Pridemage; +Kaito Shizuki
Tempo, card advantage and discard outlet rolled into one card
Why cut Pridemage?
With the additions of Cathar Commando and Outland Liberator, it got outclassed very hard. When you have several Disenchants on creatures, the value of a card like Pridemage drops significantly.
What I like about Kaito
Kaito’s most common play pattern would be to create a token. After the token is created, Kaito phases out and is immune to attacks for a turn. You can use the first ability to draw a card the next turn. Kaito almost always replaces itself (unless your opponent kills the token). If the token survives, then you have a Phyrexian Arena set up. Kaito curves very well into a mass removal on turn four – it is protected during turn three, and you can have a ninja right after the board wipe.
Kaito can sometimes start drawing cards immediately when drawn later in the game. The ninjas are excellent equipment carriers, can easily steal the crown, and can deal the final few points of damage to planeswalkers.
In addition, Kaito serves as an immediate and consistent discard outlet for reanimator decks. We are always looking for discard outlets that are good in other roles.
What I dislike about Kaito
Kaito doesn’t defend itself well after the first turn. Killing the ninja from your own mass removal would be awkward. The ninja dies to burn, and generating card advantage off of the planeswalker is hard without it on the battlefield.
Prediction
Three mana planeswalkers have a history of being overpowered. Due to its multi-purpose nature, Kaito is incredibly appealing. However, if it is not good in control decks, it will likely be too narrow to stay in the cube.
–Garruk, Cursed Huntsman; +Vraska, Golgari Queen
A cheaper removal/card advantage planeswalker
Why cut Garruk?
Garruk has actually been very strong. The problem is that real estate for six drops is limited – most decks just don’t need a lot of them. So, if possible, we prefer six drops to belong to multiple archetypes, which usually means creatures you can reanimate and/or cheat in Golgari colors.
What I like about Vraska
Abrupt Decay is a tried and true removal that solves myriad problems, and that’s her floor. Vraska’s plus ability gains two loyalty, so she is not easy to take down in combat. Sacrificing permanents for cards can help cycle excess lands away. You can abuse this ability with Bloodghast and the self-recurring black one drops, as well with the green token makers. Her ultimate is threatening, but she should be plenty good enough by alternating between Abrupt Decay and some card draw.
What I dislike about Vraska
When you cannot afford to sacrifice anything, her plus ability does nothing but increase Vraska’s Loyalty. Obviously, Vraska cannot protect herself from permanents costing four or more mana.
Prediction
Vraska has performed very well in other cubes. She is cheap and exciting, and I hope she lasts.
Colorless
–Mox Diamond; +Liquimetal Torque
Letting green destroy EVERYTHING
Why cut Mox?
It is card disadvantage. Few decks can stomach that. Most of the time, it’s also a weaker topdeck than a basic land.
What I like about Torque
Torque’s floor is a mana rock. On top of that, it has two more uses. The main one is turning your opponent’s planeswalkers or creatures into artifacts and then killing them with Naturalize effects. This is especially appealing to green as it has plenty of ways to destroy artifacts but few ways to kill creatures or planeswalkers. White and red could also use this effect sometimes.
The other use case is to turn your own stuff into an artifact. You can do this for various reasons, like creating more fodder for Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast, or pumping an Urza token.
What I dislike about Torque
When you don’t have a reason to turn something into an artifact, Torque is just a colorless mana rock.
Prediction
The floor is high enough for it to see play. The question is whether or not it is better than other mana rocks, which will be interesting to see.
–Double Stroke; +Grand Coliseum
A gold land we haven’t tried yet
Why cut Stroke?
Stroke is too powerful. While Backup Plan is likely even stronger, it doesn’t let you do things you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do in a game. Plan raises the floor; Stroke literally doubles the ceiling. It really feels unfair to double any burn spell, for example. We grew tired of it.
What I like about Coliseum
It provides mana for all colors, which makes it incredibly playable. Coliseum’s pain is optional. Coliseum is perfect for little flashes, such as flashing back Lingering Souls or adding a color to Prismatic Ending. Coliseum is also a source of colorless mana for Eldrazi Displacer.
What I dislike about Coliseum
It both enters the battlefield tapped AND deals you damage. This is one of the worst duals out there in a two-colored deck.
Prediction
I believe 3+ colored decks would always play it, while 2 colored decks won’t touch it (except if they have Eldrazi Displacer).
Fixing Lands
–Glacial Fortress; +Deserted Beach
–Drowned Catacomb; +Shipwreck Marsh
Slowlands enter the battlefield untapped most of the time. They do not require basic land types and are very good for splashes. However, the first few turns of the game are generally the most important. I think they are worse than the fastlands, for example. We can add the rest of the cycle if they are very successful.
Checklands worsened after adding more nonbasic lands, especially the MDFCs that lack basic land types.
MtG Cube Crafting 