The cube has undergone a ton of quick iterations over the past couple weeks, and is much more cohesive than it was initially. Most of the guilds have a cohesive theme, although not quite all of them. All the changes should be captured in the blog for the cube.
Azorius: Artifacts/Artifact Creatures with an Energy subtheme
Dimir: General Value (I'd like to work on this one with additional releases)
Rakdos: Treasures
Gruul: +1/+1 counters
Selesnya: Go-Wide/Food
Orzhov: Aristocrats/Semi-Aggro (This is the guild I want to work on the most)
Izzet: Spellslinger with an Energy subtheme
Golgari: General Value (this one also needs some work)
Boros: Equipment
Simic: +1/+1 counters/proliferate
The flexibility is definitely strong. It’s also ultimately a different card than Eliminator. I agree with steve_man that this is more of a control card, while I think Eliminator is more of a midrange card. Imo it depends on which deck you want to support more, and my group enjoys a good midrange deck.
I think that this is competing more directly with Necron Deathmark, which I think fits in better for a control deck than Eliminator, and I’m not interested in cutting Deathmark for this.
EDIT: This does kill about 60% of the creatures in my cube, and I think if I was considering this, I’d be considering it with the discard as the primary mode (and the card I’d be cutting for it). I might see how I feel about it over Go for the Throat, which I like more than considering a 5-drop creature. I currently categorize Beanstalk Giant this way, although I don’t categorize Bonecrusher Giant this way.
I think that I’d also prefer to play Primaris Eliminator over this. Primaris Eliminator is on the outside looking in for me currently (playing Necron Deathmark and Junji). This definitely has a better body than Eliminator, but the symmetrical effect isn’t quite selling it for me at this rate.
Being able to play Eliminator and then attack is a big swing this can’t really provide.
I'm interested in trying this out. I've added more slots to my guild, and having a card that does a decent impression of Inferno Titan (and also ramp like Primeval Titan!) and isn't a 4-drop is intriguing. I've added Radha, Heart of Keld back into the cube as my 9th Gruul card, and I'll be trying this over Radha.
Definitely excited about this one! One of the hard things I always have with trying to find potential cuts for X spells is deciding what point on the curve to find a cut from, but this definitely is one that will make it into the cube for me.
Casting a spell that targets the opponent or their stuff is committing a crime. After all, attempted robbery is still a crime even if you don't succeed in what you were trying to do.
I have a timing question about how Forsaken Miner works with Goblin Bombardment (or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician). If I sacrifice the Miner to Bombardment and target my opponent or something they control with 1 damage, then I committed a crime. However, I think that Miner won't be in the graveyard in time to be triggered by that particular crime because the targeting happened at the same time as the sacrifice, meaning I would have to commit a second crime in order to trigger the Miner's ability to return to the battlefield. Is that correct?
From what I've been told in the MTG Judge Discord server, Forsaken Miner would trigger off itself being sacrificed to Goblin Bombardment / Yawgmoth.
The Forsaken Miner is in the graveyard and would trigger from the crime committed
I've seen arguments both ways - the step involving targeting happens before costs are paid, at which point Forsaken Miner is still on the battlefield. I can't find any existing card that has this same awkward timing window, so I'm going to wait for the release notes to clarify how this works - or specifically when the crime is considered "committed". It's definitely still cubable for me either way.
I have a timing question about how Forsaken Miner works with Goblin Bombardment (or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician). If I sacrifice the Miner to Bombardment and target my opponent or something they control with 1 damage, then I committed a crime. However, I think that Miner won't be in the graveyard in time to be triggered by that particular crime because the targeting happened at the same time as the sacrifice, meaning I would have to commit a second crime in order to trigger the Miner's ability to return to the battlefield. Is that correct?
If so, these cards still have great synergy, but it doesn't work the way I initially assumed where they create a 2-card machine gun loop for B, because the combo requires additional sac fodder.
We won't know the answer to how it interacts with Goblin Bombardment until we see the full rules text for committing a crime, but I suspect that you're correct. It's still very good with Goblin Bombardment etc, but it's very likely that it won't be a 2-card combo machine.
I'm not sure how many 5s green needs. This has a very high ceiling, but I think that the Hermits are still my preference. If you're running three 5s, this might be third best? I'm currently running Vorinclex in that slot and my drafters are happy with it, but being able to set this up with plot the turn before is big game.
“For free” isn’t technically a thing in Magic. Plot waives paying the mana cost, but I can’t think of anything offhand that allows you waive additional costs when casting a spell. Regardless of why/how you’re casting a spell, if an additional cost exists that applies to the spell, it always has to be paid.
Aven Interrupter 1WW
Creature - Bird Rogue (R)
Flash
Flying
When Aven Interrupter enters the battlefield, exile target spell. It becomes plotted.
Spells your opponents cast from graveyards or from exile cost 2 more to cast.
2/2
I'm not sure how good this is, but it seems like it's an interesting option to test at 3. Since part of being plotted requires casting on a later turn, they won't be able to recast the spell even if they have the mana to pay the extra 2 that turn. It has flash and flying so it does a decent job of fighting over monarch/initiative. Additionally, casting a plotted spell can only be done at sorcery speed, so this thing stops a counterspell cold.
The incidental extra hate on graveyard/exiled spells is probably largely flavor text, but it's not without interactions - for me at 630, it hits more than I expected (some more relevant than others). This hits flashback, escape, rebound, madness, foretell, adventures, battles (if you run any), red's impulse drawing, and a fair number of one-off effects.
I've been looking to add a couple more cards to each guild based on feedback from my drafters, and I was considering this card in the context of monarch/initiative. If there's a battle over either status, Faramir will generate three 1/1 tokens to swing back and secure it. He also triggers if they attack, not if they deal combat damage to you, so he can also help you secure monarch/initiative by giving you three speedbumps on future turns. If you're in a position where they aren't attacking you, then you're drawing an extra card each turn cycle instead.
It's a feel-bad do much if it's removed immediately, but if your opponent doesn't remove him before your end step, you will still either draw a card or make 3 tokens if they remove him on their own turn, so in many cases, he'll either replace himself or be a multicolored Captain's Call that drew a removal spell.
He's definitely not fighting for top-tier, but I'd be looking to add him into a very large guild section (Signet, Talisman, and 7 other cards).
I assume that by "commandos", Mergatroid is referring to creatures with abilities that trigger on combat damage? I've heard this referred to as saboteurs, so it isn't a stretch to have that be it.
These lands are definitely near top-tier. Got to see most of them in action over the weekend, and especially for slower/control decks, being able to fetch and manipulate your draw step was pretty huge. One player specifically noted passing shocklands to prioritize these, and ended up with a rainbow soup control deck that I believe went undefeated.
Except possibly for very aggro-focused color combinations, these feel like a clear #4 guild land to me.
Azorius: Artifacts/Artifact Creatures with an Energy subtheme
Dimir: General Value (I'd like to work on this one with additional releases)
Rakdos: Treasures
Gruul: +1/+1 counters
Selesnya: Go-Wide/Food
Orzhov: Aristocrats/Semi-Aggro (This is the guild I want to work on the most)
Izzet: Spellslinger with an Energy subtheme
Golgari: General Value (this one also needs some work)
Boros: Equipment
Simic: +1/+1 counters/proliferate
I think that this is competing more directly with Necron Deathmark, which I think fits in better for a control deck than Eliminator, and I’m not interested in cutting Deathmark for this.
EDIT: This does kill about 60% of the creatures in my cube, and I think if I was considering this, I’d be considering it with the discard as the primary mode (and the card I’d be cutting for it). I might see how I feel about it over Go for the Throat, which I like more than considering a 5-drop creature. I currently categorize Beanstalk Giant this way, although I don’t categorize Bonecrusher Giant this way.
Being able to play Eliminator and then attack is a big swing this can’t really provide.
The combo with Goblin Bombardment is pretty sweet for sure.
Aven Interrupter 1WW
Creature - Bird Rogue (R)
Flash
Flying
When Aven Interrupter enters the battlefield, exile target spell. It becomes plotted.
Spells your opponents cast from graveyards or from exile cost 2 more to cast.
2/2
I'm not sure how good this is, but it seems like it's an interesting option to test at 3. Since part of being plotted requires casting on a later turn, they won't be able to recast the spell even if they have the mana to pay the extra 2 that turn. It has flash and flying so it does a decent job of fighting over monarch/initiative. Additionally, casting a plotted spell can only be done at sorcery speed, so this thing stops a counterspell cold.
The incidental extra hate on graveyard/exiled spells is probably largely flavor text, but it's not without interactions - for me at 630, it hits more than I expected (some more relevant than others). This hits flashback, escape, rebound, madness, foretell, adventures, battles (if you run any), red's impulse drawing, and a fair number of one-off effects.
I've been looking to add a couple more cards to each guild based on feedback from my drafters, and I was considering this card in the context of monarch/initiative. If there's a battle over either status, Faramir will generate three 1/1 tokens to swing back and secure it. He also triggers if they attack, not if they deal combat damage to you, so he can also help you secure monarch/initiative by giving you three speedbumps on future turns. If you're in a position where they aren't attacking you, then you're drawing an extra card each turn cycle instead.
It's a feel-bad do much if it's removed immediately, but if your opponent doesn't remove him before your end step, you will still either draw a card or make 3 tokens if they remove him on their own turn, so in many cases, he'll either replace himself or be a multicolored Captain's Call that drew a removal spell.
He's definitely not fighting for top-tier, but I'd be looking to add him into a very large guild section (Signet, Talisman, and 7 other cards).
Except possibly for very aggro-focused color combinations, these feel like a clear #4 guild land to me.