MTG Salvation

For a second I thought that Archetype of Endurance would cost 6 mana and was almost considering it for cube. 8 mana? Never mind.

Brimaz, Oreo King is a windmill slam staple, and is probably the best 3cc white creature in the cube. I think Kiora has potential to be the #4 card in Simic, especially if green gets a great Natural Order target to replace SSS. Those are the only two cards that will be making it into my 450 so far.

A few other cards will be decent choices for larger cubes (the black bestow flier, perhaps the WU Temple, maybe the RR burn spell, Pain Seer and Mogis might be okay).

What do you guys think of Satyr Nyx-Smith?

Quote from DerBK

Way too many manas.


(manae? manii?)

Way too few bananas...


Seriously that guy is terrible. If he was 3/1 and the creatures were free....

Hmm, I didn't get that feeling from the card, but okay then.

Brimaz is the only staple revealed thus far. I love new cards coming into the cube but think quality trumps quantity when presented with 1 choice. Lots of subpar cube cards like the 3/3 black flying thing (which IMO just isn't solid for cube to begin with).
I'm still holding out for a strong Simic Spell. Koira will probably make it in but I was hoping for some uber powerful 2cc or 3cc spell. Still crossing fingers.
I also think Pain Seer makes it in. I like the card. Yes, it's not Bob but it's a solid black 2 drop IMO. Aids black aggro as a whole.

I still got high hopes. Theros was really dull and nothing great until the second week of spoilers where I got punched in the face repeatedly by staples.

So far I'm happy with this set. So far I get

Kitty General
Screw You BLue 3/1
Not Quite bob
Yet-another-simic-card-that-won't-stick

for a small set, if we don't get anything else, I'm pretty happy.

Quote from Pringlesman

So far I'm happy with this set. So far I get

Kitty General
Screw You BLue 3/1
Not Quite bob
Yet-another-simic-card-that-won't-stick

for a small set, if we don't get anything else, I'm pretty happy.

Kitty General
Screw You BLue 3/1
1/5th bob
Yet-another-simic-card-that-won't-stick
Xenagos, big timmy enchantment
Bestow demon.

for me.

Pain Seer might make the grade just because I'm short on playable 1B drops. I think it's an OK guy but nothing special.

Herald of Torment, Brimaz, Spirit of the Labyrinth and Kiora are all in. I would like some green and red creatures pushed to the level of Brimaz and Spirit, preferably at three CMC.

Still just the Oreo King and maybe Kiora for me.

Just the Cat King and maybe Pain Seer for me.

I'm with wtwlf on this. I see two cards for sure and a couple others that might be OK.

Cheers,
rant

Definite include:
King meow

Testing:
Kiora's follower
Kiora
Torment's Herald
Xenagos, god of the revel

Nor even sure ill test:
Spirit of the labyrinth

Quote from wtwlf123

Still just the Oreo King and maybe Kiora for me.

If it was up to me I think I'd be in the same boat, but flutter seems determined to test the spirit =P

Plus, we still have 100+ cards to go. Who knows, we might bet something great, but honestly, after Theros added like, what, ~10 strong cube cards I am looking forward to a set that is easy to update lol.

Ick, what a let down by Phenax.. Was really hoping for an interesting card from him.

Quote from Altaurus321

Ick, what a let down by Phenax.. Was really hoping for an interesting card from him.

I actually think he's pretty decent in a dedicated deck (since his ability is instant-speed, free, and very high-impact). Not a contender for cube in the slightest, obviously, but better than the mill-haters in the rumor mill will give him credit for.

The new Evacuation brings up an interesting question: how cheap does this effect need to be cubeable? Being sorcery-speed is a pretty big blow and keeps it out of serious consideration for me, but it seems reasonably close.

Quote from TheTennesseeFireman

I actually think he's pretty decent in a dedicated deck (since his ability is instant-speed, free, and very high-impact). Not a contender for cube in the slightest, obviously, but better than the mill-haters in the rumor mill will give him credit for.

The new Evacuation brings up an interesting question: how cheap does this effect need to be cubeable? Being sorcery-speed is a pretty big blow and keeps it out of serious consideration for me, but it seems reasonably close.

If it was instant for 3 I think it would be a cube contender, if not staple. Sorcery speed hurts this one a lot I think. Considering you get the effect but asymetrical, hitting all nonland permanents and at instant speed for 7 mana, a symetrical version would have to be very pushed cost wise to make it, and to give you some reason to make it an interesting wrath alternative. I think at 4 mana it just overlaps with too many other cards with better effects a lot of the time.

Instant speed at four mana would have been plenty good enough. EOT Evacuation is already a kick in the nuts - or it would be if the cube's creature curve wasn't so drastically low. This kind of effect would be silly at three mana and instant speed.

Quote from PyreDream

Instant speed at four mana would have been plenty good enough. EOT Evacuation is already a kick in the nuts - or it would be if the cube's creature curve wasn't so drastically low. This kind of effect would be silly at three mana and instant speed.

Yeah, the more I think about that, 3-mana would be an auto include. With the power level of low CMC creatures in cube now though, 5 mana or sorcery speed just don't cut it. I would be curious to see where 4-mana instant, or 3 mana sorcery, would end up.

Evacuation is a pretty good card. Getting that effect at three mana would be amazing, but isn't going to happen. Whelming Wave is cool and would probably be overpowered in standard if they printed a few strong, cheap Serpents. Sad it doesn't work on Jellyfish or Fish.

So is it just me, or does the new Spiteful Returned look decent for bigger cubes that support black aggro? It's just a souped up Pulse Tracker as a 2-drop, but black aggro is often starved for mana sinks later in the game and perhaps it can take advantage of a format saturated with value pikers and cheap walls.

I don't really want to play that creature. Most of the 3/3 creatures with a drawback for 2 mana are better than he is. The bestow doesn't make up for that.

Quote from wtwlf123

I don't really want to play that creature. Most of the 3/3 creatures with a drawback for 2 mana are better than he is. The bestow doesn't make up for that.

To be fair though, in every thread I see you evaluate Bestow creatures as though they literally didn't have the Bestow ability. Maybe none of them are good enough, but you seems slanted.

Quote from Asenion

To be fair though, in every thread I see you evaluate Bestow creatures as though they literally didn't have the Bestow ability. Maybe none of them are good enough, but you seems slanted.

There are two, maybe three scenarios to cube a Bestow creature:

1. It's a good card without Bestow and Bestow is a welcome bonus.
2. The card's Bestow is so overwhelmingly good that it overshadows the mediocre creature.
(3. Both to a certain amount, but that doesn't keep the card in a cube in the long run.)

Mediocre cards don't become cubable just because they have Bestow.