I think she's two mana too expensive to be a slam dunk and one mana too expensive to be a fringe inclusion. Five mana is a lot to ask for a 3/3 with a landfall trigger in cube.
I haven't gotten to play with Tatyova yet, but I've seen a few draft videos, and I was impressed. I think Tatyova works in a Green deck splashing Blue because she cover's one of the archetype's biggest weaknesses by rewarding it for what it wants to be doing. The Green deck can have a habit of ramping into nothing, and Tatyova is good at keeping cards flowing as the deck ramps. Not just Fastbond, but also cards like Courser of Kruphix and Oracle of Mul Daya pair perfectly with Tatyova. Primeval Titan is an incredible when played the turn after Tatyova. Even top-decked Cultivates and Kodama's Reaches which normally would be dead draws turn into Divination. She could make it into a Blue deck splashing Green as the 23rd spell, but you'd be less happy about it. She certainly has some glaring weaknesses, but she does offer something good to the Green Blue deck in return. I'm interested in testing her out more, but at the moment I think she's good.
Arcane Artisan is a somewhat surprising new enabler for cheating creatures into play, which in the last few years has received many great targets to put into play, but not many new ways to do it. As a small-bodied creature that needs to tap to do anything, Artisan draws comparisons to Elvish Piper. Compared to Piper, Artisan has several downsides: it costs more mana to activate, making it less likely you get to play another spell on the same turn, and is more weak to removal once it's been in play, since if it dies, so does your cheated creature. However, Artisan has the big advantage that of costing one fewer mana, which is extremely valuable and places it a level above the Piper. Acting as an expensive Merfolk Looter or giving you a free card every time you cheat something into play is also nice. Another side benefit for cube construction is that it deepens Blue's support for cheating decks, which historically has been limited to powerhouse Tinker and Show and Tell.
Artisan is the nuts. Card is awesomely powerful and fun.
You mentioned that the cut deep-feind from the MTGO cube to make space for it, and I’m honestly surprised that Feind ever even made it into their cube in the first place. I’ve never tried any of the Emerge Ccards in cube, are any of them any good? I can’t remember any good ones, but I do recall the arts on almost all of them looking incredible.
I added Elder Deep-Fiend with the KLD update, having slept on it during EMN. It initially didn't get picked, then someone drafted it in an Azorius tempo shell where they sacrificed Blade Splicer, Kitchen Finks, etc. and it was a blowout. It still gets maindecked so I'm not intending on cutting it.
Graveyard Marshal is in the unfortunate position of being a CC 2-drop. Many years ago, there were a number of double colored mana cards making the 2-drop section of even the smallest cubes (Soltari Priest, Ember Hauler, Nantuko Shade). These were challenging to play consistently in 2 color decks, especially if you had CC cards in two different colors. As Wizards continues to print good 2 drop creatures at both 1C and CC mana costs, those with less strict casting requirements have mostly out-competed more difficult to cast ones. Some CC creatures are powerful enough to be worth it and some cube managers even like that a CC forces drafters to more heavily commit to a color. The question is, does the Marshal make the cut? 3/2 is a good size body for only 2 mana, and the ability to turn previously killed creature into tokens can provide a form of reach for aggressive decks. If it only cost one colored mana, I think Marshal would compete with some of blacks best two drops. With its actual mana cost, it seems like a good option for larger cubes or those pushing strategies requiring higher color commitment.
It was fine, but the BB cost hurt too much. If it were 1B (even with a 1BB activation to compensate) I'd still be playing it. But I've already taken it out of my cube.
The super-secret 5-drop mode was a good selling point for it, but that's not as important now that we've got Doom Whisperer in that slot.
It's definitely a fine card, but I've settled on having only 3 BB cards in my cube. I've had more in the past, but the color intensity was too much. I wouldn't mind another BB card if it was just that powerful, but I think it falls off pretty hard after Hymn to Tourach / Bloodghast / Sinkhole. It helps that there's a lot of great 1B options.
Being a zombie is great, but I also really don't like how it eats from your own graveyard. Targeting your opponent's graveyard would've gone a long way. I think Nezumi Graverobber gives this card a good run for its money, especially for how high the ceiling is on Graverobber.
Yeah underperformed here by a solid margin.. Generally the creatures I was exiling had value in the graveyard themselves, and the games weren't grindy enough that zombies mattered to the extent I hoped they would.
2B ended up being a pretty expensive cost to make the zombie and was only something I wanted to do when hellbent (which wasn't very often).
The biggest Ajani follows the classic planeswalker pattern of "+ to draw, - to remove a creature, Ult to win", though with a couple of interesting wrinkles. Swords to Plowshares is a nice removal spell and Ajani's loyalty costs allow you to cast it every other turns. The card draw ranges between good and really terrible depending on the makeup of your deck. In a control deck that's playing a lot of instants and sorceries, it will be pretty bad, but fortunately, most controlling green and white decks will have a reasonable number of value creatures. 6 mana is a tough spot for planeswalkers, and dealing with a single creature on the turn it comes into play just doesn't cut when compared to a card like Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Chandra, Flamecaller.
He's strong, but he's hard to fit. GW wants hatebears. Gx 6+ drops want to be creatures. Control decks don't want to splash for "nonland permanents."
I could imagine supporting a GW enchantment-based control deck where he would be great. I just don't think that's very common, and I'm probably not going to force it any time soon
The Bestiary provides card advantage slowly, but can make an awful lot of it. Green decks tend to have a ton of creatures, so it's not too hard to find things to play for an extra card. Needing to pay an mana every time can be irritating, but the rate of 1 mana to make the creature is a cantrip is a good deal, and green decks often have enough mana that you can afford it. It makes your mana elfs a much better draw late game by effectively letting you cycle them.
Even when doing a Thassa, God of the Sea or Search for Azcanta impression by just scrying every turn, it's not an awful deal. The scry can help set you up to draw more card by removing non-creatures from the top of your deck.
The downside of the Bestiary is, like most card drawing spells, that's all it does. You can spend a lot of mana on it without impacting the board. However, the fact that it's rewarding you for impacting the board by playing creatures alleviates this somewhat.
While Ajani Unyielding maybe underwhelming in normal cube enviromment, it's actually incredible in multiplayer/commander cube! This card is a mean engine of its own and I highly recommend trying it!
Bestiary can be strong when the rest of your green creature-based midrange deck can be weak. It shines against control, and in long grindy games, it can represent a lot of value. It's better than it looks.
Bestiary can be strong when the rest of your green creature-based midrange deck can be weak. It shines against control, and in long grindy games, it can represent a lot of value. It's better than it looks.
Hmm. What size do you think you would consider playing it? I may have to get one to test.
630+ probably, especially since the green 3cc noncreature slot isn't super stacked. If you want a tool in green to help out with the midrange matchup against control, I'd give it a trial spin. Decent card.
I am a big fan of Increasing Devotion, it finds a lot of synergies in the cube with cards like anthems, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Smokestack etc. but even outside of that 5 mana for 5 power on 5 bodies is a reasonable rate for a lot of decks. It blocks for days, provides a lot of disposable bodies and can let you go wide round a large blocker.
The fun doesn't stop there though, if you can hit 9 you get to flash it back for double the bodies. 9 mana can be a difficult ask but in some matchups you will make it there often enough. You opponent always has to play round it once it is in the yard, its telegraphed but if you have the right board it often wont really matter.
Is there anything you would like to increase you devotion to? A talent? A family member? A sport?
I like supporting a flashback theme in cube. This is a good way to do so.
I liked the whole cycle, unfortunately most were not cube worthy, but I really liked the idea of the cycle.
I think the blue one is deceptively strong if you have a mill theme. It has all the usual problems of mill not effecting the board but it mills a lot of cards and in an older (much jankier) version of my cube I would run it as a finisher. In a long game where you cast it twice you often milled 20+ cards. Wouldn't make the cut now, but I still have a soft spot for those days.
Increasing Devotion was decent in dedicated token decks, and I tested it for a while after it came out. But ultimately it just didn't do enough, and we cut it.
I played Increasing Devotion for at least a year while my cube was still in its infancy and missing better cards. It was solid but IMO it doesn't really compete with the top ~70-80 white cube cards on power level. If I were at 720+ cards or playing a "tier two" or flashback cube or something, would give it some consideration there. One of the biggest strikes against Increasing Devotion nowadays is the printing of two more superb white 5-drops in Lyra Dawnbringer and Angel of Invention.
Also agree with TheGroglord re: Increasing Confusion. That card actually makes for a pretty reasonable singleton mill subtheme if you're dead set on including something of the sort. I don't play it anymore but wouldn't fault others for doing so, even in smaller and more powerful cubes.
At 5cc, there seems to be a lot more options in armies in a can. Cloudgoat Ranger offers evasion and in 4 bodies. Angel of Invention supports the token, artifact, ans +1/+1 counter theme. Regal caracal provides a potential 11 point life swing. There are even fringe playables like Geist Honored Monk and Scion of
Vhitu Ghazi. All of which work well with Blink, Reanimator, and some with “2 power theme” for Lark/Recruiter/Alesha.
The flashback payoff is what sets it apart, though. Assume you reach this late stage of the game then this is decent. Otherwise I’ll stick with the armies in a can.
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Arcane Artisan is a somewhat surprising new enabler for cheating creatures into play, which in the last few years has received many great targets to put into play, but not many new ways to do it. As a small-bodied creature that needs to tap to do anything, Artisan draws comparisons to Elvish Piper. Compared to Piper, Artisan has several downsides: it costs more mana to activate, making it less likely you get to play another spell on the same turn, and is more weak to removal once it's been in play, since if it dies, so does your cheated creature. However, Artisan has the big advantage that of costing one fewer mana, which is extremely valuable and places it a level above the Piper. Acting as an expensive Merfolk Looter or giving you a free card every time you cheat something into play is also nice. Another side benefit for cube construction is that it deepens Blue's support for cheating decks, which historically has been limited to powerhouse Tinker and Show and Tell.
You mentioned that the cut deep-feind from the MTGO cube to make space for it, and I’m honestly surprised that Feind ever even made it into their cube in the first place. I’ve never tried any of the Emerge Ccards in cube, are any of them any good? I can’t remember any good ones, but I do recall the arts on almost all of them looking incredible.
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Graveyard Marshal is in the unfortunate position of being a CC 2-drop. Many years ago, there were a number of double colored mana cards making the 2-drop section of even the smallest cubes (Soltari Priest, Ember Hauler, Nantuko Shade). These were challenging to play consistently in 2 color decks, especially if you had CC cards in two different colors. As Wizards continues to print good 2 drop creatures at both 1C and CC mana costs, those with less strict casting requirements have mostly out-competed more difficult to cast ones. Some CC creatures are powerful enough to be worth it and some cube managers even like that a CC forces drafters to more heavily commit to a color. The question is, does the Marshal make the cut? 3/2 is a good size body for only 2 mana, and the ability to turn previously killed creature into tokens can provide a form of reach for aggressive decks. If it only cost one colored mana, I think Marshal would compete with some of blacks best two drops. With its actual mana cost, it seems like a good option for larger cubes or those pushing strategies requiring higher color commitment.
If I'm taking a turn to pay 2B for a 2/2 in Cube, I'm not optimistic about that game.
3/2 for BB is so much worse than 3/2 for 1B that I'd rather run either of the Kaladesh Artifacts-matter 3/Xs
The super-secret 5-drop mode was a good selling point for it, but that's not as important now that we've got Doom Whisperer in that slot.
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Being a zombie is great, but I also really don't like how it eats from your own graveyard. Targeting your opponent's graveyard would've gone a long way. I think Nezumi Graverobber gives this card a good run for its money, especially for how high the ceiling is on Graverobber.
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2B ended up being a pretty expensive cost to make the zombie and was only something I wanted to do when hellbent (which wasn't very often).
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The biggest Ajani follows the classic planeswalker pattern of "+ to draw, - to remove a creature, Ult to win", though with a couple of interesting wrinkles. Swords to Plowshares is a nice removal spell and Ajani's loyalty costs allow you to cast it every other turns. The card draw ranges between good and really terrible depending on the makeup of your deck. In a control deck that's playing a lot of instants and sorceries, it will be pretty bad, but fortunately, most controlling green and white decks will have a reasonable number of value creatures. 6 mana is a tough spot for planeswalkers, and dealing with a single creature on the turn it comes into play just doesn't cut when compared to a card like Elspeth, Sun's Champion or Chandra, Flamecaller.
I could imagine supporting a GW enchantment-based control deck where he would be great. I just don't think that's very common, and I'm probably not going to force it any time soon
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The Bestiary provides card advantage slowly, but can make an awful lot of it. Green decks tend to have a ton of creatures, so it's not too hard to find things to play for an extra card. Needing to pay an mana every time can be irritating, but the rate of 1 mana to make the creature is a cantrip is a good deal, and green decks often have enough mana that you can afford it. It makes your mana elfs a much better draw late game by effectively letting you cycle them.
Even when doing a Thassa, God of the Sea or Search for Azcanta impression by just scrying every turn, it's not an awful deal. The scry can help set you up to draw more card by removing non-creatures from the top of your deck.
The downside of the Bestiary is, like most card drawing spells, that's all it does. You can spend a lot of mana on it without impacting the board. However, the fact that it's rewarding you for impacting the board by playing creatures alleviates this somewhat.
I have zero input on Lifecrafter's Bestiary other than it seems grindy at a glance.
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Hmm. What size do you think you would consider playing it? I may have to get one to test.
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I am a big fan of Increasing Devotion, it finds a lot of synergies in the cube with cards like anthems, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Smokestack etc. but even outside of that 5 mana for 5 power on 5 bodies is a reasonable rate for a lot of decks. It blocks for days, provides a lot of disposable bodies and can let you go wide round a large blocker.
The fun doesn't stop there though, if you can hit 9 you get to flash it back for double the bodies. 9 mana can be a difficult ask but in some matchups you will make it there often enough. You opponent always has to play round it once it is in the yard, its telegraphed but if you have the right board it often wont really matter.
Is there anything you would like to increase you devotion to? A talent? A family member? A sport?
I like supporting a flashback theme in cube. This is a good way to do so.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I liked the whole cycle, unfortunately most were not cube worthy, but I really liked the idea of the cycle.
I think the blue one is deceptively strong if you have a mill theme. It has all the usual problems of mill not effecting the board but it mills a lot of cards and in an older (much jankier) version of my cube I would run it as a finisher. In a long game where you cast it twice you often milled 20+ cards. Wouldn't make the cut now, but I still have a soft spot for those days.
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Also agree with TheGroglord re: Increasing Confusion. That card actually makes for a pretty reasonable singleton mill subtheme if you're dead set on including something of the sort. I don't play it anymore but wouldn't fault others for doing so, even in smaller and more powerful cubes.
Vhitu Ghazi. All of which work well with Blink, Reanimator, and some with “2 power theme” for Lark/Recruiter/Alesha.
The flashback payoff is what sets it apart, though. Assume you reach this late stage of the game then this is decent. Otherwise I’ll stick with the armies in a can.