MTG Salvation

Hey, guys. Long time no see. My cube life has been taking a back seat to retail limited--for shame, I know--and Constructed. Also, there really wasn't much to discuss/report post-SOI (for a number of us, it seems).

Now the next new set is gonna start spoilers soon. I wanted to get everyone's feelings. Are you excited? Are you pessimistic? What would you like to see?

Hey man, welcome back!

I'm pretty excited. The last set was pretty great for cube, and I'm hoping for more of the same.

I'd like a good black 4 or 5 drop, and some more of these sweet, delicious red 1-drops.

A new great 1W creature, a good 3WW/4W spell, a good black 5cc creature, and maybe completing the new Eldrazi titan cycle with an Emrakul that can be reanimated. A sick Rakdos 'walker would be cool too.

Nope. Black could use its Elspeth/Gideon equivalent. I fully endorse that idea.

Hey, guys. Long time no see. My cube life has been taking a back seat to retail limited--for shame, I know.

No shame in that at all. SOI draft is a really well made Limited format that I've really been enjoying as well. I think that there's a lot we can learn from it in terms of how to support archetypes with synergistic cards that are not parasitic. It's also dripping with flavor, so I'm pretty excited about Eldritch Moon.

I've really been enjoying the Investigate mechanic, so I'm hoping that Investigate continues in the next set and we get a few more things that make Clue tokens. The fact that saccing Clues costs 2 has allowed them to tack Investigate onto a lot of fairly efficiently costed cards like Thraben Inspector and Press for Answers. Those didn't quite get there for cube, but I'm hoping they continue this, particularly in blue, with maybe a Cancel + Investigate or a 0/4 wall for 1U that Investigates on ETB, or maybe even a looter with halfway decent stats like 1/3 for 1U that lets you discard cards to Investigate.

Otherwise, my wishlist for my unpowered cube remains the same as it's been for a while:

A better black 5-drop, preferably a flying Demon
Quality Red and Green 3-drops that beat down for 3, preferably splashable
A better red 1-drop than Village Messenger/Monastery Swiftspear/Reckless Waif
A 5-color fixing land

For Peasant, all of the above at uncommon plus:

A 5-color fixing land
A quality red 5 or 6-drop, preferably a Dragon
A control finisher that passes the Terminate test
A quality Threaten effect
Another creature with Blood Artist's static ability

What kind of white spell, Mark?

What we always want. A great 5cc black creature.

General EMN Wishlist:

1. Cubeable red cards with investigate. Hoping for 2+, but I'll be satisfied with 2. This is my biggest wish but on the other hand we'll probably see a lot of red artifact generators in Kaladesh so I won't be too disappointed.
2. Some more Aristocrats support in Rakdos, especially token makers in red or sac outlets in either color.
3. New versions of Emrakul, Thalia, Bruna, Gisela, and Gisa.
4. Red angels, preferably MP Cube friendly.

Lots of hopes for red, but red is the color that needs the most work in MP Cube. Ideally by the time we get past EMN, Conspiracy 2, and Kaladesh, I'd like to have a functioning red MP Cube section that I'm not constantly re-examining every few months because all of the red's MP themes are too insular and the cards just keep on wheeling.

Wishlist:

Frankly, just more of the same from SOI. SOI works so damn well with the stuff from INN and DKA, that I'd just like to see more cards that blend the fantastic flashback + madness + delirium synergy.

More specifically, I loved SOI's roster of 1X stuff, like duskwatch recruiter and asylum visitor; more great stuff in that 2 cmc vein would be fantastic.

Some more, inexpensive zombies that tie together the U/B tribe would be great as well!

I want a dank Thalia.

As Dolono said. More of the same stuff from SOI but this time with usable Angels on common, so I can put them in my Pauper Cube.

Quote from MerfolkMagic »

I want a dank Thalia.

You and I both know that whenever they print another version of a legendary creature that was once competitively costed, they will make it into a 5+ drop.

Quote from Edward Mass »

What kind of white spell, Mark?

Hart to say, really. A great 5cc sweeper with upside, or an engine card for the 'Lark/Recruiter style shells would be cool too. I designed a custom 'walker that supported the blink shell with its {+} and the 'Lark deck with the {-} and I'd love to see something like that. Also, s replacement effect for Ajani Goldmane would be nice, since I'd like to release some of the burden on the 4cc white noncreature slot.

White's version of Reclamation Sage. A similar thing for red for artifacts only but with a 'may' trigger, and slightly stronger offensively to make up for inability to deal with enchantments, along the lines of an upgraded Manic Vandal. A strong 5 cmc mono-black cubeable demon. Man-o'-War/Æther Adept variant with a 'may' trigger. Blue and/or white 1 drop prowess creatures of comparable power level to Monastery Swiftspear. Support for the following tribals: horror, zombie, werewolf, human, spirit.

Some good white non-aura non-creature static enchantments at 2 and 3 cmc that aren't anthems, weaker than ghostly prison, but stronger than Brave the Sands or Knighthood, but that isn't just sideboard style kind of thing like Rest in Peace, or removal like Banishing Light. Intended largely for enchantment focused decks in white.

Pauper cube worthy commons in every color and colorless.

Since "destroy target artifact or enchantment" is now firmly green, as much as I would love a white rec sage, I don't think we're getting one. A "may" manic vandal seems eminently doable, though, and would be a welcome replacement for cube.

With Kor Sanctifiers and Revoke Existence and stuff still being printed (even after Naturalize effects "migrated" to green) I don't think it's unreasonable to want a white Disenchant-on-legs to get printed. Hopefully we'll see one at some point.

I'm just really hoping the new Emrakul checks all the same boxes that Ulamog 2.0 does. So, a worthwhile attack trigger for Sneak Attack, reanimatable, and feasibly castable in ramp. I could see it going either way though. Both new titans have been reanimatable, but it seems almost a given that Emrakul will be a flip card. If that's true, the front side will most likely be the moon. Which would be a land? Or maybe an enchantment? Neither one really lends itself well to those kinds of decks.

Besides that, I want the good equipment I was promised when Relic Seeker was printed. I believe this is the last set before it rotates, so now is the time. Make it happen, Wizards!

I'm expecting more artifacts in this set to support the artifact block, which in turn supports my artifact themed cube. But I'm more about Kaladesh, because of that Cube, Tron, and Commander decks that revolve around artifacts. So yea artifacts all the way.

Now looks highly likely that Emmie is back, so I guess I'm hoping it's closer to newlamog than new (bad) kozilek.

Quote from asmallcat »

Now looks highly likely that Emmie is back, so I guess I'm hoping it's closer to newlamog than new (bad) kozilek.

Is New Kozilek that bad? I feel like he's on par with the old one. They both have their respective strengths, but I don't see the new one being bad. I mean, being able to reanimate the new ones is a pretty big bonus.

I think the new Kozilek is better than the old one. Especially in this format.

Quote from Juju »

Quote from asmallcat »

Now looks highly likely that Emmie is back, so I guess I'm hoping it's closer to newlamog than new (bad) kozilek.

Is New Kozilek that bad? I feel like he's on par with the old one. They both have their respective strengths, but I don't see the new one being bad. I mean, being able to reanimate the new ones is a pretty big bonus.

He's not a good reanimation target (compared with what else we have in cube), he's got conditional protection in that you need the right cmc card in hand so if you do reanimate him or sneak attack him, he's a lot more fragile, and while he's a great super ramp target I don't like having a card that's a payoff only for that deck and no other when all the reanimatoable creatures are good in both decks. He's a fine creature, but not one I want for cube (nor do I want old kozilek - although annihilator makes him much more attractive for sneak attack decks) whereas I love newlamog in cube. Which is why I want something more like newlamog. Because kozilek is bad (bad as in i'm not interested in putting him in a list) in cube.

Quote from asmallcat »

...he's a lot more fragile...

Do you mean a lot less fragile? It's much harder to remove the new Kozilek than the old one.

Outside of exactly the cards Sneak Attack/Through the Breach, I'd much rather have the new Kozilek. It's better when you cast it, and it can be reanimated. And I think you're really underrating both of the other abilities. The Spell Blast protection is far more consistent than you think, and the Menace is serious business when you get him to the board early. And given that it can be reanimated, seeing it in play early is more common.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from asmallcat »

...he's a lot more fragile...

Do you mean a lot less fragile? It's much harder to remove the new Kozilek than the old one.

I meant more fragile than newlamog, not old kozilek. But yeah, that was super unclear.

Otherwise, agree to disagree, I think the spell blast protection when he just ETB's instead of casts is not particularly reliable as you don't refill your hand, but you've tested him and I haven't so your opinion probably carries more weight =P

Oh yes, the the new Ulamog is certainly more resilient.

I was worried about the consistency of the Spell Blast counter protection, but it has proven to work a lot of the time. The CMCs of the spells that go into the decks that play new Kozi (reanimator, ramp, etc) are loaded in the 1-3cc range, which happens to correlate strongly with the CMCs of the removal in this format that can kill it.