Green
–Gilded Goose; +Delighted Halfling
An anti-control mana elf
Why cut Goose?
Not ramping every turn is a serious drawback. Creating food for repeated life gain is not a good mana sink and rarely affects game outcomes.
What I like about Halfling
We play Boreal Druid, and Halfling is better in three ways:
1) It has two toughness, a rarity for a mana elf. Halfling survives Wrenn and Six and Plague Engineer.
2) It fixes colors of mana for legendaries. There are 94 colored legendaries in the cube. Several of them are bombs you want to splash for in most green decks, such as Minsc and Boo, Oko, and Grist.
3) It makes legendary spells uncounterable. There are 107 legendary spells in the cube.
What I dislike about Halfling
As a control player facing this, it can feel random that some spells are uncounterable while others aren’t. Halfling didn’t need the anti counters rider text to be great.
Prediction
This fantastic card will stay in the cube for many years. It is about as good as, if not slightly better, than Llanowar Elves.
–Duskwatch Recruiter; +Scavenging Ooze
The grave hate is on
Why cut Recruiter?
Not only is it a DFC, it is the only werewolf that works under the old rules. Combine it with a mediocre card, and you get a card we really wanted out of the cube.
What I like about Ooze
It is one of the most maindeckable graveyard hate options. See the discussion in the intro of this update into why we want to add a little now. Ooze is a scalable threat with some lifegain and ongoing instant speed disruption.
What I dislike about Ooze
Ooze has been in and out of the cube a few times now. Ooze is green-heavy, requires to keep mana open if you want that instant speed disruption, and is not an efficient threat. It doesn’t have a lot of synergies, either.
Prediction
Ooze is still the best for maindeckable grave hate in green. I hope we can get something better to fill this role.
–Outland Liberator; +Cankerbloom
Less tracking
Why cut Liberator?
It is a double-faced card, and tracking night // day is a chore. It seldom flipped, so Cankerbloom is a pretty direct upgrade.
What I like about Cankerbloom
It is a mono-colored Qasali Pridemage with three points of power instead of exalted. The ability to proliferate will let you ultimate planeswalkers a turn early or add +1/+1 counters to potentially several creatures.
What I dislike about Cankerbloom
Proliferate is still narrow. The main point against Cankerbloom is that there are many Disenchant effects, so it is not a high-priority card to pick up.
Prediction
Cankerbloom is aggressive, disruptive, reactive, and proactive. Green has few good two-drops that don’t ramp, so Cankerbloom isn’t competing against strong contenders. Cankerbloom would be a hard card to cut from the final 20, and it has the potential to create some incredible stories on top of that.
–Wall of Roots; +Llanowar Loamspeaker
A two mana ramp dork upgrade
Why cut Wall of Roots?
The last few years have made zero-power and defender creatures much less desirable. Not being able to carry equipment, crew a vehicle, or retrieve the monarch is sad. The general power creep also makes a 0/4 defender a lot less attractive. A wall is not helping you as much against a Rabblemaster, an evasive dork, or nearly anything. Wall of Roots can produce mana the turn it comes into play, even two mana at a turn cycle (once during each turn). That is not enough when the body is quickly meaningless and when it doesn’t help with splashes.
What I like about Loamspeaker
A 1/3 gold mana elf is a good baseline. A 1/3 body can arguably be better on defense than Wall of Roots, as it can kill a token or Ragavan, where a pair of goblin tokens would smash right into Wall of Roots. Fixing for every color is also a huge deal, significantly increasing playability and reducing color screws.
Animating lands is a way to make your mana elf relevant offensively later in the game. If you are flooded, or it is the late game, Loamspeaker is a sort of “recurring” threat – if the land is killed in combat, a new land can be animated and attack next turn.
Almost equally important is the threat of activation. Having Loamspeaker on the battlefield can prevent your opponent from deploying a planeswalker to the board.
What I dislike about Loamspeaker
Two-mana elves that are vulnerable to removal and produce only one mana will never be the most exciting cards. At least Loamspeaker has enough advantages over a talisman to see play.
Losing a land to removal/in combat after animating it hurts a lot. It basically resets back the ramp the elf provided you. It can very well be that by the time you can afford to lose a land, the 3/3 body is not relevant anymore.
Prediction
It’s an improvement, but Loamspeaker is not an amazing card. It could be better than Biophagus, though.
A massive three drops that solves several of Green’s problems
Why cut Adversary?
Adversary was a colossal letdown. A 4/3 trampler is less strong than it reads, as it is very easy to take down in combat. Adversary’s ability to animate lands is expensive and comes online so late that it rarely matters. No deck wanted this card – aggressive decks have far better three-drops and ramp decks have better mana sinks.
What I like about Endurance
Endurance has a beefy body for its cost. On top of that, Green has several weaknesses that Endurance solves quite well. First, Green has few instant speed plays. Endurance can eat an attacker by surprise. With four toughness, it is easy to block with Endurance and have it survive.
Second, Green is weak to fliers, which Endurance stops (or surprise blocks to kill) very well. It blocks like a Restoration Angel.
Third, Endurance can shuffle a graveyard to disrupt reanimation, escape, flashback, and more. You can also shuffle your graveyard if you fear running out of cards in your library.
Endurance also has an evoke ability, which lets you emergency stop a reanimation without open mana. It is nice for Green to have some disruptive capabilities against combo decks.
What I dislike about Endurance
In matchups where a 3/4 reach creature is not strong, Endurance will underperform – this will be the case against some midrange decks with larger creatures or combos that do not care about the graveyard, like cheat or wheel decks.
The evoke ability is card disadvantage, so it is unlikely to be used much in practice. There is also some in-built tension where you want to keep Endurance in hand to disrupt graveyards at the right moment, yet playing it as a three drop is often a bigger priority, and holding up three mana is seldom feasible.
The double green in the mana cost limits its use, especially as green typically loves splashing several colors.
Prediction
While Endurance is less potent than other cards from its cycle, it has seen constructed play in eternal formats. Endurance was not included because we feared disrupting reanimator, not because we thought it was weak. It is a rounded card that will perform well in most matchups.
–Oracle of Mul Daya; +Collected Company
Is the powehouse that defined formats now positioned to take over the cube?
Why cut Oracle?
A 2/2 for four mana is fragile and nearly irrelevant in combat. Oracle only generates value when you have lands on top of your library, which is unreliable. She was weak for a very long time now.
What I like about Company
Playing two creatures out of the top six at instant speed is of immense value. The ceiling is hitting two three-drops and netting two mana, but even if at mana parity (a one-drop and a three-drop or a pair of two-drops), adding instant speed and selection are well worth it. The power of low drops, especially three drops, has skyrocketed in the cube recently.
Company’s light-green cost makes it easy to splash for.
What I dislike about Company
It is an inherently narrow card – you must have a mass of creatures costing less than four. Ideally, that should be most of your deck, thus widening your choices when looking at the top six cards of your library. You also want the creatures to be good in the mid-game; a pair of mana elves usually do very little for you at that game stage. Company is not a good fit for ramp or cheat, which are the majority of decks in Green.
Company has a decent chance of missing at least one creature. It can even miss on both, becoming a literal do-nothing.
Prediction
Company is a narrow card. However, in decks where it is good, the card advantage, selection, and board advantage are rare. It seems like there is one deck in every draft that would love it. We have seen Lurrus as a companion enough times to believe that the Collected Company challenge is surmountable. I hope it will see enough play and that decks of other colors will splash it.
Play Tip
If you have haste creatures, it is wiser to play CoCo before the attack phase.
–Verdurous Gearhulk; +Thrun, Breaker of Silence
A cheaper Carnage Tyrant?
Why cut Gearhulk?
Gearhulk’s average case is a 6/6 trampler that puts two +1/+1 counters on a mana elf. It can be an 8/8 trampler, but that is putting all eggs in one basket, especially as Gearhulk dies to Shatter effects. Pumping a mana elf is not often relevant. Gearhulk is best when you have other creatures out, is not great on defense, and offers little utility but stats.
What I like about Thrun
Thrun is like a cheaper Carnage Tyrant. A 5/5 uncounterable trampler is a good start. Hexproof from nongreen abilities is very strong and almost identical to shroud. The only cards in the cube that can target and kill it are Grist, Maelstrom Pulse, Assassin’s Trophy, Dragonlord Atarka, and Oko.
Thrun is better than Tyrant at attacking, as blockers can never trade with it. It’s almost a green True-Name Nemesis.
What I dislike about Thrun
It has no indestructible on defense, so it is not a great blocker. It can also die to board wipes. A 5/5 is not a massive body for five mana, and Thrun is not fast at closing out games.
Prediction
It is better than Thrun, the Last Troll, and Carnage Tyrant.
–Paradox Zone; +Nissa, Ascended Animist
A planeswalker that does it all
Why cut Zone?
Zone is slow, with an initial board impact of just a 2/2 for 5 mana. It could be a better defensive card, too.
What I like about Nissa
Nissa has three different modes. She immediately generates a 4/4 that protects her for five mana and four life. The tokens Nissa produces become larger with time. If Nissa is cast at six mana, she generates a 6/6 token. This is similar to the Minsc and Boo situation, where both the token and the planeswalker are threats you need to answer. She can immediately ultimate at seven mana and potentially do a Craterhoof imitation.
In addition to that, Nissa can Disenchant on consecutive turns for a long time. The flexibility to play Nissa as a 5-drop token engine, a 7-drop finisher, or a Disenchant makes her a fantastic card.
What I dislike about Nissa
At the five-mana mode, losing four life hurts a lot and makes her a not-so-hot card against aggressive decks. A flicker/bounce removes the token and leaves her defenseless; killing her hurts a lot after you have paid four life to cast her.
Her ultimate wants many forests, as does her mana cost if you wish to have the option to cast her for 6 and 7 mana, limiting her number of potential decks.
Burning Nissa in response to the +1 ability will shrink the token. Note that if you burn Nissa to death in response, the resulting token would be a 0/0, but if she is killed with a Hero’s Downfall, the token would still be the same size.
Prediction
Nissa is a fantastic card that fills several different roles exceptionally well. She is in the top 8 planeswalkers in the cube.
–End-Raze Forerunners; +Worldspine Wurm
Cheating it up
Why cut Forerunners?
Forerunners are a lower-tier redundancy for Craterhoof Behemoth. Craterhoof and Forerunners are narrow cards, only fitting into ramp decks with many creatures on board. Forerunner have a better body, which is an afterthought on those cards as the goal is to one-shot people. Forerunner’s pump is weaker, so it is much harder to one-shot people with the boars.
What I like about Worldspine Wurm
It is a gigantic threat that leaves behind a massive trampling army. Wurm is excellent with Sneak Attack, Natural Order, and the newly added Flash. It is also barely affected by board wipes or spot removal.
What I dislike about Wurm
Wurm is cold to exile removal. It is also pathetic against bounce and Maze of Ith. Wurm is only significant on defense if you can sacrifice it. Finally, it doesn’t work with reanimation spells.
Prediction
These are both narrow cards. Let’s see if Wurm can pick up enough play now that we push the cheat archetype more – it has already been tested in the cube once and got cut. There are also some concerns about binary play – either you have an answer, and the Wurm didn’t do much, or you do, and the Wurm kills you very quickly.
Multicolored
–Dreadbore; +Atraxa, Grand Unifier
The new best cheat target in the game?
Why cut Dreadbore?
Black has now many Hero’s Downfall effects. Red always had spades of burn spells that could kill a creature or a planeswalker. This makes Dreadbore an efficient spell but far from a needed one. It does not solve any problem for either color; therefore, it is a card you rarely splash for.
What I like about Atraxa
Atraxa has a potent ETB effect. On average, she will draw 3-4 cards with some selection. You are all but guaranteed to hit a land and a creature, and every other card type is a bonus on top. Atraxa passes the removal test with flying colors. On top of that, Atraxa has a fantastic body. It attacks for 7 lifelink damage in the air while staying untapped to defend you. Atraxa is basically impossible to race.
Atraxa is a prime reanimation target. If she is cheated with Sneak Attack, Atraxa can find you another target pretty consistently. Since Atraxa is green, she can also be fetched by Natural Order. Her ETB is strong enough to make her a good Flash target (for example, her trigger can dig for a reanimation spell on Atraxa for the next turn).
Compare Atraxa to Griselbrand. They have the same body, with Atraxa having a slight edge with vigilance and deathtouch. Atraxa is one mana cheaper, and four black mana are not necessarily easier to get than four colors. Griselbrand can draw more cards immediately, but Atraxa draws cards without paying any life. This makes a big difference when on the back foot, especially when fearing removal. Griselbrand also doesn’t work with Flash or Natural Order. Overall, Atraxa is likely the better cheat target.
What I dislike about Atraxa
With four colors, casting Atraxa is tough. Atraxa would be the only four-colored spell in the cube.
Prediction
Atraxa has been an all-star in every constructed format she has been a part of. There are good reasons to think Atraxa is the best cheat target in the cube. Mana fixing in the cube is good, especially in green, so I expect Atraxa to be cast often.
–Ob Nixilis, the Adversary; +Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
The inevitable finisher returns
Why cut Ob?
Ob is narrow. It only goes in aggressive decks with many cheap creatures, ideally with some you don’t mind sacrificing. On turn three and with casualty, the card is a powerhouse. Without casualty or when on the back foot, Ob is very disappointing. It didn’t make enough main decks to earn a permanent cube spot.
What I like about Kroxa
Kroxa has the meaty escape, like Uro. It is a card you can cast again if killed or countered, and don’t mind discarding or milling. Kroxa is enormous, and the ETB + attack trigger makes it a fast clock.
What I dislike about Kroxa
The escape is color-heavy. Getting six cards in the graveyard is not trivial. We have tried Kroxa in the cube before, and it didn’t yield good results.
Prediction
Kroxa is a more playable card that has seen more success in constructed formats, and one of our players is keen to try it. I am skeptical, but Ob was such a dud it will definitely be an improvement.
–King Darien XLVIII; +Arwen, Mortal Queen
A nightmare for aggro decks
Why cut Darien?
Darien is underpowered on a small board. Darien has the power of a below-average mono-white three-drop – even in the decks best suited for it, the white three drops often best it.
What I like about Arwen
An indestructible 2/2 is very annoying. It blocks forever, survives board wipes, and most removals, including burn. Arwen is a great defender of planeswalkers. Some decks have few or no ways to answer her.
Arwen’s activated ability is a pain in the ass to play around. If you have a mana open, you can save any creature from spot removal. The threat of activation will render many cards dead in your opponent’s hand. Then, it also makes Arwen a 3/3 lifelinker forever, pumping and granting lifelink to the other creature. Racing after that would be seriously hard.
Arwen plays well with blink effects. She is one of the safest bodies ever to carry equipment around.
What I dislike about Arwen
Arwen is not great alone on the board – while being indestructible is annoying, a 2/2 can ultimately be ignored in many game states. It can be outclassed, bypassed by fliers, or overrun with a wide board. Some colors, like white, easily answer an indestructible creature.
There is a genuine concern the card is oppressive against aggro. Burn cannot kill Arwen. Attacking into her will cost a creature, and a pair of lifelinkers can put the game way beyond reach.
Prediction
Arwen is a unique card that is rounded against most deck types. Against control, she survives board wipes or saves your best threat. Against aggro, she is an insurmountable blocker that gains an ungodly amount of life. Against midrange, she still represents 4/4 in stats for four mana, along with double lifelink and perhaps some removal/trade blanking. Selesnya is a very lacking guild, so there are pretty good chances for Arwen to stick in the cube.
Play Tip
Arwen comes into with the indestructible counter – it is not an ETB trigger, so there is no window to kill her with removal.
–Plargg, Dean of Chaos; +Forth Eorlingas!
Reach, board, and card advantage rolled into an incredible package
Why cut Plargg?
Plargg was played quite often, actually. I have seen Augusta played a lot without red and Plargg without white, though more rarely. However, in both roles, it is a filler card – you play Plargg in a slow deck that needs more early plays, or Augusta in an aggressive deck that needs more three-drops. It is not a card you splash for, pick highly, or pulls you strongly into a second color.
What I like about Forth Eorlingas!
Forth Eorlingas has several unprecedented qualities. At first, it is the cheapest monarch enabler. If you have a one drop, you can gain monarch as early as turn two. Then, it is also a scalable burn spell at a better rate than we have ever seen before. A Fireball that costs one more but deals twice X damage to your opponent will end many games on the spot. The tokens can be blocked or killed, true, but they stick around for another hit next turn, and they have trample, so they cannot be chumped with tokens.
Combining both results in a card that gains both tempo and card advantage. For 4 mana, you get 4 power and 4 toughness in stats with haste and become the monarch, which is absurd. This card will take a lot of work to recover from.
What I dislike about Forth Eorlingas!
The card is far worse if you are very far behind. If you cannot afford to attack or cannot connect with creatures, you don’t become the monarch. Also, scalable token makers haven’t performed well in the cube historically.
Prediction
The card was tearing up constructed formats and cubes alike. It has a very good shot at being the best gold card in the cube alongside Minsc and Boo, and it is by far the best Boros card.
–Scheming Fence; +Shorikai, Genesis Engine
A card advantage engine that’s also an 8/8
Why cut Fence?
It didn’t have targets as often as needed, especially on turn two. Even fewer were abilities that are positive for you. For a multicolored card, it is too narrow. A huge letdown.
What I like about Shorikai
Every activation nets you a three-for-one. That’s a bit of cheating, though, as a 1/1 does not equate to a full card. But it is a stream of chump blockers to protect your planeswalkers or keep your crown. It is also a quick way to recoup after a mass removal. When the tide is turned, you can use the tokens to crew the massive 8/8 vehicle that finishes your opponents in short order. Shorikai is immune to sorcery speed creature removal, and with 8 toughness, it is almost impossible to burn down.
Shorikai fits into several strategies. The constant stream of creatures works well with Opposition and Skullclamp. It can be fetched with Tinker. Shorikai is also a respectable discard engine, although that is less often relevant in Azorius.
What I dislike about Shorikai
It is not a fast card – it requires 5 mana for the first token to see play. To crew it by itself, you need three tokens. A 1/1 token is not always enough to stabilize you after such a severe tempo hit.
Prediction
Surprisingly, the card sees play in eternal formats and other cubes. As it is so broad, safe, and well-fitting into popular archetypes, I think this vehicle will be a success story.
A general-purpose fattie for the cheat deck near you
Why cut God?
It is slow and has a low initial board impact. It can win the game if it survives and has cards to exile, but that’s a big if. It’s one of the cards I most want to see against me when I have a Jace TMS on the board.
What I like about Rider
You don’t want to cast this card, but it works well with many cheat cards. This includes reanimation, the newly added Flash, Sneak Attack, and Show and Tell, to name a few. Rider is good at stabilizing, removing their best permanent, and adding a sizable flier they don’t want to kill.
Rider is one of the few cards that can answer lands. And yes, with Flash it is a double Stone Rain on turn two!
What I dislike about Rider
It is not great at finishing games. A 5/5 flier is a relatively slow clock for a creature this expensive.
Prediction
Rider will be a card that tables to the reanimation/cheat player. It is probably one of the worst targets, but it is a glue that holds several cheat archetypes together.
–Ashiok, Nightmare Muse; +Riders of Rohan
A Boros Grave Titan?!
Why cut Ashiok?
Ashiok is underpowered for her price – the tokens are small, she doesn’t permanently answer anything, and her ultimate depends on your opponent’s carts. Ashiok was functional but definitely replaceable.
What I like about Riders
Riders put down 8 power and 8 toughness spread across three bodies. That is quite a lot for the price, and it is hard to answer all of it. It can attack for 4 damage immediately, or if you wait for 6 mana, you can dash it for 8 face damage and two more tokens next turn. Dash allows Riders to avoid board wipes and sorcery speed removals. Riders are a prime blink target.
What I dislike about Riders
While the army is wide, it is not big – a pair of opposing 3/3s blocks Riders pretty effectively. Then, there is the question of which deck will play it. Five is a bit high for aggro decks, let alone six, yet it is not sticky enough to be a control finisher. It should be noted it is a decent reanimate and cheat target for sheer stats alone.
Prediction
Riders were printed with another direct competitor in its guild – Eomer, King of Rohan, which we should try some day too.
Colorless
–Sword of Sinew and Steel; +Reckoner Bankbuster
A mana sink that comes with a body
Why cut SOSAS?
The opponent didn’t always have a permanent to destroy with the sword, which meant it wasn’t effective enough. 5 mana to cast + equip is a lot to ask for. If there isn’t some guaranteed value for it, you’d probably have been better off playing another threat.
What I like about Reckoner Bankbuster
It’s a 2 drop mana sink that draws cards, meaning it can go in any deck. Then, after drawing 3 cards, which will probably mean that you’ve stabilized somewhat, you get a 1/1 token and a treasure. The treasure helps fix in cases where you’ve been mana or color screwed, and the body can directly crew the Bankbuster for it to become a 4/4, a respectable body. For one card, that is a good amount of value to guarantee yourself, especially early in the game.
In parallel to all of the above, Bankbuster is a vehicle that can grant your creatures pseudo haste should you need to apply pressure, or you don’t have the mana to activate it. A Bankbuster on board will deter many planeswalkers from being played.
What I dislike about Bankbuster
4 turns of sinking 2 mana is a lot of time and resources. The only deck that would consistently like to do so is control, which wants to spend its mana after it holds it up for counterspells. Midrange could also do so, but it often has better things to do, especially as the cube gets faster.
Furthermore, it’s much harder to utilize the vehicle if the token gets killed since Crew 3 is no small feat. However, considering that you’ll have drawn 3 cards by then, this drawback is acceptable.
Prediction
This card has proven itself in standard, where it saw considerable play simply because of how easy it was to slot in decks and the Swiss army knife of value that it brings. The cube’s competition is much fiercer than the standard format, so it remains to be seen whether the card will truly shine in the same way, but its best function is helping struggling decks – which is a good thing to have in the cube.
–Advantageous Proclamation; +The One Ring
The namesake of the famous trilogy comes to bind the cube to its will
Why cut Proclamation?
Proclamation, being a conspiracy, can undoubtedly be strong for the player that picks it – fewer cards means better odds for combo decks and consistently drawing the best threats for aggro decks. However, the card was never exciting, and its effect was never flashy or worthy of a good story after the game. As conspiracies are gradually being phased out of the cube, its time has come, even if it did good work.
What I like about The One Ring
This is truly a unique Magic card that takes work to evaluate. When you cast it, you gain a turn of invulnerability, giving you a precious break from the terrifying aggro clock and letting you attack with your less important creatures without repercussions to your life total.
More importantly, its active ability stacks, drawing you cards at increasing rates. This means that on the first activation, you draw 1 card, then 2 on the second activation, then 3, and so on. Within the first 2 activations, you get the value of the mana you paid for, and from then on, anything else you get is a big bonus. Such incredible card draw rates are rarely seen and are reminiscent of Necropotence and friends, except that The One Ring doesn’t require you to give up your draw step!
Additionally, you lose life each turn, according to the number of times you activated the ability – the number of counters on the ring. The best way to go about this is to draw with the ability only after the upkeep life loss trigger – then, you will draw the same number of cards but lose less life.
Finally, the Ring is not only good by itself, but it has some significant synergies. In the cube, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse can give you back the life that you lost and then some. The Ring can be bounced or flickered to reset the life loss and gain another turn of damage prevention.
What I dislike about The One Ring
Firstly, it’s crucial to note that you don’t get protection from the ring if you don’t cast it. This means that any tactic to cheat it into play, like with Channel or Tinker, will probably not be worth it.
Secondly, the Ring’s life loss is pretty much inevitable unless you happen to run Vampire Hexmage. This is because the Ring itself is indestructible, meaning any plan to draw cards and then kill off your own Ring without a sacrifice outlet would require you to have exile removal, which is much rarer and more valuable.
It also makes drawing more cards with the Ring much more dangerous – the life loss clock is already problematic with a few cards drawn, but once you reach 3-4 life loss each turn, you surely won’t survive for long. And don’t forget, the protection you gained was only for one turn – you still have to deal with your opponent’s board, or they’ll kill you much more quickly with the Ring’s damage!
Lastly, just as there are synergies with card draw, there are countermeasures from the opponent’s side. With Consecrated Sphinx, your opponent will draw more than you with none of the life loss. With Narset and Hullbreacher, the card draw will be completely negated, and if your opponent has Sheoldred or the new Orcish Bowmasters, they will gun down your life total even more quickly.
Prediction
The One Ring is a powerful Magic card, especially if you build around it. It’s proven this in all three of Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, where it saved games out of nowhere with its protection, and its card draw was enough to completely blow opponents out of the water.
However, a big part of this was because the Ring could draw into another copy of itself, and playing the second copy would give you another instance of protection and reset the card draw and life loss. The Ring’s ability to dig would be so extreme that you could consistently reach 2 of your other Rings, drawing enough cards to drown the opponent with card advantage, especially with the free MH2 evoke elementals not requiring mana to get you ahead.
As the cube doesn’t support multiple copies of the Ring, this aspect is significantly less dangerous, and the life loss might be strong enough to lose the game for the Ring’s wearer. But there is exile removal, and there is the ability to sacrifice it for other benefits (i.e., Tinker, Pia and Kiran), so there is no telling how it might turn out. One thing is for sure – it will be fascinating and create very precious opportunities.
Play Tip
Did your opponent play the Ring? If it’s still early and the Ring barely has any counters, you might want to exile it with removal to prevent the opponent from drawing cards. However, if it already has 3 or more counters, it might be preferable to let them keep it and defend themselves from their card advantage or lifegain synergies until the loss of life costs them the game.
–Everflowing Chalice; +Noble’s Purse
Scaling colorless mana to single use colored mana
Why cut Chalice?
Chalice was never an all-star, merely a filler in midrange and ramp decks. The cube’s rapidly increasing speed meant it was getting multikicked less and less, lending little use to it over similar choices. It will probably not be missed.
What I like about Noble’s Purse
It’s cheap and colorless, requires no effort to use outside of its casting cost, and gives you treasure tokens. Splashing other colors has become more and more of a priority for midrange to fit as many bombs as possible, and the purse will lend those decks much use for that goal. Another pleasant interaction is the artifact synergies that would love more artifact permanents, like Urza’s Saga, 4mv Urza, and more.
What I dislike about Noble’s Purse
It comes into play tapped, costing you a precious turn before you can use its fixing, which might be deadly versus aggro or when drawn as a topdeck. Even then, its treasures are limited, and after expending its treasures, the purse becomes completely useless without synergies like sacrificing artifacts or turning them into Elks.
Prediction
Purse will most likely be more generally useful than Chalice, but I don’t see it staying for long.
–Karn liberated; + Cityscape Leveler
An old planeswalker evolves into a giant destructive mech
Why cut Karn?
Karn was once the only colorless planeswalker, but he’s been showing his age in recent years. Most often, even when played, he would come into play, exile a threat, and then die on the backswing. The recent newcomer 6mv Ugin has been performing a very similar role, except 6 mana is much easier to play than 7, and a +1 to create a creature that draws a card on death is much more reliable than a +4 that exiles a card from hand. Now outclassed, Karn can rest easy knowing it was an MTG icon.
What I like about Leveler
Leveler is a cheat target and a threat in multiple types of decks. Firstly, it immediately destroys a threat when cast, making it ideal for Channel cheat decks and green ramp. It also tramples and destroys a threat every time it attacks, making it equally great for Sneak Attack and TTB decks. Its artifact type makes it ideal for Tinker decks, and finally, it has unearth 8, strengthening it even more as a late-game surprise option from the graveyard.
What I dislike about Leveler
While it excels in the decks mentioned above, it still doesn’t shine in other cheat decks, like reanimator, Oath, Show and Tell, etc. since it does nothing on ETB if not cast, and it’s terrible with other cheat spells like the newly added Flash. Its artifact type also opens it up to many removals, meaning if you cheated it in and your opponent killed it, you gain nothing for your trouble besides unearth. Your opponent also gains a powerstone token when you kill their stuff with Leveler, and they could potentially use it to their advantage.
Prediction
Leveler has seen some play in eternal Tron decks that can easily cast it to utilize the cast effect. While it is a bit of a polarizer, I have faith that it will see play in more decks than Karn did and be more effective in those roles.
–Heirloom Blade; +Anduril, Flame of the West
A sword worthy of the King of Gondor
Why cut Heirloom Blade?
The cheap equip cost is great, but the equipment does not really affect the board. This makes it too inefficient, with Grafted Wargear being an exception, since a free equip is infinitely cheaper than an equip costing 1. The card draw upon the death of the equipped creature was also inconsistent since it wouldn’t trigger if the creature was bounced or exiled, and even when it did trigger, it whiffed a noticeable amount of times.
What I like about Anduril
The new Flame of the West has the same bonus stats as the Heirloom Blade, which are pretty aggressive and great. Even a 1/1 can kill a blocking wall, and a 3/1 can kill a titan.
The best part is that you gain two 1/1 fliers when you attack. In fact, if you equip and attack with a legendary creature, like Kytheon or Ragavan, the two evasive tokens enter the battlefield attacking, boosting your damage and putting severe pressure on your opponent, like Hero of Bladehold.
However, unlike Hero of Bladehold, the effect survives any Doom Blade effect. If the original equipped creature dies, you can still reequip Anduril onto one of your newly generated tokens to swing and create more.
What I dislike about Anduril
The cost is higher, up to the level of Sword of X and Y, which we’ve already mentioned is inefficient and slow for the rapid pace of the cube today, and lacking protection for two colors is a significant reduction in value compared to a standard Sword.
Also, if not equipped to a legendary creature, the new tokens neither attack nor defend for the first round, giving the opponent an opportunity to deal with the threats. Finally, all of the value you gained with Anduril can be deleted with a single board wipe from the opponent, unlike a card like Jitte or Sword of Fire and Ice, which can give you a longer-lasting advantage.
Prediction
Anduril seems to have a clock fast enough to be played in aggro, and midrange will also like the board presence that the sword generates. The fact that it’s generated on attack instead of on hit, like a Sword of X and Y, will give it many points compared to other equipment.
–Sentinel Dispatch; +Unlicensed Hearse
Grave hate is officially in the house
Why cut Sentinel Dispatch?
As mentioned earlier, conspiracies are slowly being phased out of the cube, and this card is no exception. Sentinel Dispatch is more polarizing than the aforementioned Advantageous Proclamation since it’s usually very relevant to specific deck types (i.e., Tinker) or against certain matchups (i.e., versus aggro).
What I like about Hearse
This vehicle is very cheap and can provide a significant advantage over time. Its main effect is constant grave hate – tap it each turn to exile two cards from your opponent’s graveyard, hosing synergies like reanimator and effects like unearth or flashback. But this is only part of its appeal: as the game goes on and the exiled cards stack, it becomes a vehicle with power and toughness equal to the total number of the exiled cards, essentially gaining +2/+2 each turn, and with a crew cost of merely 2 power. This means that even most 1 drops can crew it, giving most of your creatures haste and a big p/t bonus, which is excellent for defending from big threats or attacking once the opposing board is empty.
What I dislike about Hearse
It’s an abysmal topdeck, doing next to nothing when it enters. Moreover, it’s not best at suiting the cube’s decks that like value over time: control does not like crew 2, as it rarely has enough creatures to consistently crew the vehicle, and midrange does not care for the vanilla body that the vehicle grants, large as it may be. Finally, cheap artifacts are pretty easy to kill for most cube decks at this stage of the cube, making the big body flimsier than it reads. The vehicle might be relegated to a sideboard card from the start.
Prediction
Hearse has seen play in multiple eternal formats: Pioneer, Modern, and even Legacy, setting it up for a good track record. However, the cube is a different format to constructed. The vehicle’s future remains to be seen.
–Hangarback Walker; +Palantir of Orthanc
A third legendary LOTR artifact can really flip things over
Why cut Hangarback Walker?
Walker was not loved. While it slotted into every deck in theory, in practice, it was horribly inefficient at every cost, and being an artifact meant it was easily killed. While in previous iterations of the cube it managed to buy time to defend and grow with its tap ability and eventually unleash a thopter army, nowadays it would be lucky to see 3 or even 2 counters before dying to defend your life total. Walking Ballista’s immediate splittable damage has proven much more useful, even with its much more expensive ability.
What I like about Palanthir of Orthanc
This is another unique artifact with the potential to swing games. This orb gains counters each turn, you scry (flavor win), then the opponent has to choose whether to let you draw a card after scrying – essentially giving you a free Preordain – or milling your top cards, taking damage to the face equal to their total cost. The number of cards milled increases each turn, posing more of a risk for your opponent’s life total over time. Even if your opponent never chooses to mill you, this artifact still gives you a free Preordain each turn, which is much better than Coercive Portal, and we already know how much a single card every end step is worth from the monarch.
As the counters increase, so do the odds of your opponent letting you draw a card instead of taking damage and milling you. But in the first few turns, your opponent faces a dilemma: either let you draw a card or mill it and potentially take a lot of damage to their face, maybe even losing the game there and then with a card like Emrakul, the Promised End. Cheat decks have high-cost threats, and aggro decks want to pressure the opponent’s life total, so both could possibly be interested in this unique gem of a card.
What I dislike about Palanthir of Orthanc
The effect, unique as it may be, is strapped to a 3-drop artifact that doesn’t affect the board immediately; something we’ve already covered is on the verge of being too slow for the cube. It’s still a punisher effect, meaning the opponent can choose the more convenient option. If the opponent never takes damage from it at a low life total, aggro will probably not like it enough, especially since it costs 3 and isn’t a creature. The amount of damage it deals is variable and unpredictable. Finally, an opponent may deck you out with Palantir if the game went on long before it was cast.
Prediction
Palantir of Orthanc has been added to the MTGO Vintage Cube and seems to be doing quite well there. Sometimes, it’s an artifact that draws cards. Sometimes, your opponent chooses to mill you and finds a fattie – which quickly reduces your life total within Fiery Confluence range or even lower. It will be a solid and interesting card if it performs just as well in this cube.
–Terramorphic Expanse; +Shire Terrace
It is a simple exchange with little to say about it. Shire Terrace is an interesting option for fetching basics, as it can help pay costs early while later being easily switched to a basic land that you need. The ability to hold up the ability until the end of turn seems favorable for control decks, which is at least one deck that would like the ability to fetch a basic land so slowly. It’s also possibly playable in midrange or ramp that both care about playing early mana rocks or important spells to leverage later in the game, so this new hobbit house is ready to be tested.
MtG Cube Crafting 