This is definitely better than Mikokoro, but Mikokoro isn't particularly close, and this isn't better enough for me to give it a shot. Looking forward to playing it in constructed, though.
This seems not close for non-land-pack cubes. There are better discard outlets if that's what you want, there's better looting, there's better draw, and there's no madness so it's hard to break symmetry. What am I even doing with this? 2 mana is way too durdly, and a lot of decks don't want a land that only taps for <> with this marginal of an effect.
Supports colorless and reanimation / Recurring Nightmare decks. I can see playing this an issue in 3-4 color Cheaty Face decks, but you can easily slot this as a spell during deck construction if you really need that discard outlet.
Loam isn't really a great cube card anymore either, though, and this is a really slow reanimation land. You are reanimating on t4 at the EARLIEST with this land, and you're letting your opponent dig for answers.
Is spending 3 mana to loot away a land, bring it back with crucible, and let your opponent loot worth it? I don't think so.
Maybe in the grindiest of matchups, but if you're resolved recurring nightmare and are activating it you're already winning a grindy game in all likelihood.
The only way I see this making it is if you heavily support <> decks, and I have to imagine there are far better choices for that still.
I think this thing is better than Mikokoro, because your opponent will sometimes be hellbent in the late game, but that's about all I'm going to say about it.
Cool card, but yeah I have no strong desire to cube with it. Decks that want looting in my cube already have a good number of methods without giving the opponent the potential benefit.
I would want to see more really cool interactions with looting that justify it, maybe more madness cards, before I considered this.
This card can whittle an opponent down, then lock them out quite efficiently. It also doubles up as a flexible discard outlet, or filterer to find the reanimate spell, in that archetype.
We also have an additional Crucible effect to break the symmetry in Ramunap Excavator in case that could be build around, since it's in the right colours assuming you're going Sultai for Leovold.
I think this card warrants some re-evaluation in 2022:
TLDR - I feel the looting is less symmetrical as aggressive/ fair decks are too efficient and unfair ramp/ combo decks would appreciate the support.
I played quite a few Streets of New Capanna Drafts and we found that Sky Crier is a decent 2 drop (1-off) in aggressive decks. Its 4 mana both players draw 1 would often approximate "draw 1" for tempo decks backed by Out of the Way, Hold for Ransom, Out of Town etc.
This didn't really make a huge splash in modern, but it was a decent 1-off in UW control decks (with hard counters + narset), grishoulbrand decks and Tron decks as the looting is very asymmetrical in the late game as these decks would top deck much better than the opponent.
What I've noticed with manlands, 4 drop top end, Kroxa/ Seasoned Pyromancer etc., aggressive decks are frequently losing by running out of gas similarly, the curves for fair decks are significantly lower/ efficient that the neon dynasty spell lands - Otawara, Ethereal City / Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire are often seen as unnecessary/ overcosted given their non-existent deck building cost.
On the other hand, I've found that combo decks - Reanimator, Artifact Ramp (Wildfire/ Urza etc.), Jund Walkers etc. frequently struggle with drawing excess mana in the mid to late game with the density of combo pieces/ mana rocks draw.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Legendary Land
Tap: C
Tap 2 (so 3, basically): Each player loots.
Reminds me most obviously of Desolate Lighthouse meets Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
both of which see/saw play to varying degrees.
Is this new card what we want?
I'm officially proposing we retire the word "insane" from the MtG vocabulary.
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Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
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My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Is spending 3 mana to loot away a land, bring it back with crucible, and let your opponent loot worth it? I don't think so.
Maybe in the grindiest of matchups, but if you're resolved recurring nightmare and are activating it you're already winning a grindy game in all likelihood.
The only way I see this making it is if you heavily support <> decks, and I have to imagine there are far better choices for that still.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I would want to see more really cool interactions with looting that justify it, maybe more madness cards, before I considered this.
Draw prevention - Hullbreacher, Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Narset, Parter of Veils, Notion Thief
This card can whittle an opponent down, then lock them out quite efficiently. It also doubles up as a flexible discard outlet, or filterer to find the reanimate spell, in that archetype.
We also have an additional Crucible effect to break the symmetry in Ramunap Excavator in case that could be build around, since it's in the right colours assuming you're going Sultai for Leovold.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
TLDR - I feel the looting is less symmetrical as aggressive/ fair decks are too efficient and unfair ramp/ combo decks would appreciate the support.
I played quite a few Streets of New Capanna Drafts and we found that Sky Crier is a decent 2 drop (1-off) in aggressive decks. Its 4 mana both players draw 1 would often approximate "draw 1" for tempo decks backed by Out of the Way, Hold for Ransom, Out of Town etc.
This didn't really make a huge splash in modern, but it was a decent 1-off in UW control decks (with hard counters + narset), grishoulbrand decks and Tron decks as the looting is very asymmetrical in the late game as these decks would top deck much better than the opponent.
What I've noticed with manlands, 4 drop top end, Kroxa/ Seasoned Pyromancer etc., aggressive decks are frequently losing by running out of gas similarly, the curves for fair decks are significantly lower/ efficient that the neon dynasty spell lands - Otawara, Ethereal City / Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire are often seen as unnecessary/ overcosted given their non-existent deck building cost.
On the other hand, I've found that combo decks - Reanimator, Artifact Ramp (Wildfire/ Urza etc.), Jund Walkers etc. frequently struggle with drawing excess mana in the mid to late game with the density of combo pieces/ mana rocks draw.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i