It's a Great ramp target, and can be played anywhere along the curve if your trying to make it to 6 mana, but area fealing pressure before you get there, slam this down as a 4/4 or 5/5 to buy yourself some time.
it gets passed the removal in the guild section, and can be played at 4 mana to get by most of the burn spells,
can be cast for 5 to either play around wildfire, or can slot right into that deck if needed.
In the artifact deck, it combos really nicely with Metalworker, and casting Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas to dig and find this is a pretty decent play considering you can play it the next turn and turn it into a 10/10
Did I mention that it has trample?
Not trying to oversell it or anything, because obviously, the card has weaknesses, still dies to a lot of removal and cards like abrade
But I think this should find a spot if a lot of cubes,
Can be perfect fodder for the tinker deck
It's a Great ramp target, and can be played anywhere along the curve if your trying to make it to 6 mana, but area fealing pressure before you get there, slam this down as a 4/4 or 5/5 to buy yourself some time.
Fetchable with Trinket Mage, Imperial Recruiter, Recruiter of the Guard, Enlightened Tutor, Green Sun's Zenith, Demonic Tutor so not only is it castable in every color, but every color has cards that can fetch it if needed.
it gets passed the removal in the guild section, and can be played at 4 mana to get by most of the burn spells,
can be cast for 5 to either play around wildfire, or can slot right into that deck if needed.
In the artifact deck, it combos really nicely with Metalworker, and casting Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas to dig and find this is a pretty decent play considering you can play it the next turn and turn it into a 10/10
Did I mention that it has trample?
I pretty much run zero of these synergies and I'm still completely stoked for this guy. I run Endless One as a flexible, curve maximizing beater for Aggro/Midrange decks and this is Endless One +++. AFAIAC this is a cube staple
It doesn't work at all with Green Sun's Zenith but it's still a nice artifact that plays good defense and offense. It's just so module in that it can go into any deck and can be played at any point in the game. Coming down early to stop a flyer or being cast late as a finisher is a nice choice to have on a colorless card. Will test.
It's the best Endless One variant. Trample is especially nice on scalable creatures. Cubeable, but no deck particularly wants / needs it, which relegates this to a filler card that can be played in any deck that doesn't involve Oath of Druids.
It's the best Endless One variant. Trample is especially nice on scalable creatures. Cubeable, but no deck particularly wants / needs it, which relegates this to a filler card that can be played in any deck that doesn't involve Oath of Druids.
This is exactly how I feel. Cool card that I wouldn’t be surprised to see in any cube, but I try and having minimal cards that are filler+ at best.
Jeepers creepers, why are they pushing creature creep so hard in this set? I thought Endless One was a fine design, but this takes it too far. Where's the downside?
It's the best Endless One variant. Trample is especially nice on scalable creatures. Cubeable, but no deck particularly wants / needs it, which relegates this to a filler card that can be played in any deck that doesn't involve Oath of Druids.
There's a pretty wide swath of aggro and midrange decks that would beg to differ
It's filler, but it is very good filler, and it has a role it can play in many decks. It provides some decks an answer to flyers, provides some decks with a way to push through damage, can be tinkered/tutored in multiple colors, and will always provide a flexible on curve threat. Since I'm going up to 500 cards anyhow, I'll give a slot to this, but won't be surprised if it doesn't stay terribly long.
It's the best Endless One variant. Trample is especially nice on scalable creatures. Cubeable, but no deck particularly wants / needs it, which relegates this to a filler card that can be played in any deck that doesn't involve Oath of Druids.
There's a pretty wide swath of aggro and midrange decks that would beg to differ
This is going to be card 23-26 in pretty much all of my aggro / midrange decks.
Think the only way this isn't filler is in decks with a lot of recruiter type tutors.
Trinket mage being able to get mana OR a game ender once you have a lot of mana makes the world of difference in the power level of the card.
In a lowered powered cube, this is one of the better hardened scale/+1 +1 counter type cards I can think of... Cards like arcbound ravager require all artifacts, so they wont work too well, but this card is playable in a large variety of archetypes and then is awsome with +1/+1 counter synergies.
I'm a fan of filler cards when they are universally versatile.. since they allow you to include more narrow archetype buildarounds and ensure decks will get enough playables. But the difference in 20-23rd playable power and 24-27 playable power is HUGE when considering it's cubability. I'm worried this card will fall into the 24-27 range too much. It's way better than endless one, but endless one wasn't close to close for me.
Any artifact creature I am paying 5+ mana for has to be really damn special, this isn't special. Yes it can be cast 1-4 but it is really underwhelming there.
He is in the extreme end of max versatility but minimum power level. He smoothens draft and play but really really boring and vanilla. He really is not an exciting pick nor play which I don’t want my
Classic cube to have.
That said, this is a slam dunk in my artifact cube. It has overall weaker creatures and the artifact and counters matter significantly. This will replace Chimeric Mass. So far I have around a dozen updates for artifact cube, a good suprise I didn’t expect from Fairy Tale land.
It may not be flashy, but I have a soft spot for X spells of all kinds. Trample is welcome for when your plan is to go big, but I could genuinely see a random 3/3 reach be quite handy when you're staring down 2/1 flyers and the like. I do like the synergy you note with Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas as well. I'm also just keen on counters-dudes because I'm eager to have more things to proliferate, but that's pretty minor. Actually that pro Multicolor might be pretty good; we have lots of multicolor planeswalkers, and just randomly dodging the minus on Teferi or Vraska or Nicol Bolas might come up.
I find it a bit of a bummer when my artifacts don't interact too favorably with the likes of Goblin Welder, though. But on the other hand, while it may be too cute for cube, I could see this card working well alongside Emry, Lurker of the Loch; hypothetically, you might trade early and replay at higher cmc later in the game.
I don't really know if he makes it in, but, maybe.
Actually I just realized that you can't target him with Tezzeret... Still, I don't think every card needs to be flashy, but cubes do need some good filler cards to help smooth decks out. I am thinking a good cut for this might be hangarback walker. I think the two cards might be pretty close in power level (obviously play different roles). Hangerback walker is good, but it slows games down quite a bit, and I think from a good design perspective, playing cards that let you win games are better than cards that are designed so you don't lose.
Actually I just realized that you can't target him with Tezzeret... Still, I don't think every card needs to be flashy, but cubes do need some good filler cards to help smooth decks out. I am thinking a good cut for this might be hangarback walker. I think the two cards might be pretty close in power level (obviously play different roles). Hangerback walker is good, but it slows games down quite a bit, and I think from a good design perspective, playing cards that let you win games are better than cards that are designed so you don't lose.
*****. Multicolor. lol I didn't realize that either.
I think I prefer hangarback, though. You can notch that guy up, and I think the death trigger is very valuable.
I think this might actually be better than Hangarback Walker. Walker is a much cooler card but too durdly and inefficient.
This is never going to be an exciting card, but it can slot in as the 23rd playable for so many decks - the fact it has trample and the ability to be a 3/3 for 3, a 4/4 for 4, 6/6 for 6 and 10/10 for 10 means that it's always a good topdeck and always has perfect mana efficiency.
Except it's missing the one thing that makes Hangarback Walker actually good... when it's shattered, it bursts into a bunch of Thopters. When this dies, you get nothing. It's just a french vanilla creature.
This has reach and trample; two conflicting abilities, and protection from multicolor, which is barely more than flavor text.
Just my $0.02, but this card seems pretty bad outside of a format like Sealed Deck where a pool might be struggling for playables.
This card can be a niche roleplayer for +1/+1 counters or artifact synergies, but outside of those, I think it falls short for standard cubes. My buddy's artifact cube will love this, but I don't see it cracking Legacy or Vintage cubes. Outside of synergies where it can be a roleplayer for multiple decks, it's just too low on priority list.
In artifact decks, despite being castable for any X, I don't think it's all that good early. Most artifact decks I draft in Legacy/Vintage cube would much rather have a mana rock or more powerful synergistic piece (e.g., Goblin Welder) early. If I'm playing it as a 2/2 or 3/3, I'm pretty sad. As a pay-off for ramping, it's decent on both offense and defense, and has some relevant protection, but it's just worse imo than all the most played current pay-offs.
In an aggro deck, it's fine, but I'd probably just want more 1-drops over this.
This card doesn't hold a candle to Hangarback Walker, but I still want to test it. I don't think that trample and reach are "conflicting abilities" even if one is relevant to attacking and the other is to blocking. They aren't synergystic abilities like first strike and deathtouch, but they do provide flexibility allowing the card to be useful offensively or defensively or over the course of multiple turns in both capacities. I don't see this card having much staying power, but I think it is decent enough for the short-term.
Edit: Additionally pro-multicolor is sometimes relevant against commonly played artifact/creature removal. This stuffs Knight of Autumn for instance.
My impression from watching some recent streams that involved this card is that it's probably better than we were giving it credit for. Anyone have any more play experience since then?
Thsi card has seen quite a bit of play in our cube. It is quite versatile and all its abilities are relevant at times. Being an X costed artifact has its disadvantages, but decks that want to Tinker or do graveyard shenenigans have other creatures to pick up.
Not a must play, but a very decent performer if you just put it in decks.
Stonecoil Serpent X
Artifact Creature - Snake
Reach
Trample - bolded because I think I read this like 3 times before it clicked
Protection from Multicolor
Stonecoil Serpent enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it.
0/0
I think it looks decent at first glance, but might be a lot better than it actually looks.
Not trying to oversell it or anything, because obviously, the card has weaknesses, still dies to a lot of removal and cards like abrade
But I think this should find a spot if a lot of cubes,
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
I pretty much run zero of these synergies and I'm still completely stoked for this guy. I run Endless One as a flexible, curve maximizing beater for Aggro/Midrange decks and this is Endless One +++. AFAIAC this is a cube staple
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
This is exactly how I feel. Cool card that I wouldn’t be surprised to see in any cube, but I try and having minimal cards that are filler+ at best.
Social Media: Twitter, Twitch
MTG Articles: 200+ Articles on StarCityGames.com, MTG Draft AI Article
MTG AI Code: Limited Draft Bot, CubeCobra Recommender System
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
There's a pretty wide swath of aggro and midrange decks that would beg to differ
This is going to be card 23-26 in pretty much all of my aggro / midrange decks.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
Trinket mage being able to get mana OR a game ender once you have a lot of mana makes the world of difference in the power level of the card.
In a lowered powered cube, this is one of the better hardened scale/+1 +1 counter type cards I can think of... Cards like arcbound ravager require all artifacts, so they wont work too well, but this card is playable in a large variety of archetypes and then is awsome with +1/+1 counter synergies.
I'm a fan of filler cards when they are universally versatile.. since they allow you to include more narrow archetype buildarounds and ensure decks will get enough playables. But the difference in 20-23rd playable power and 24-27 playable power is HUGE when considering it's cubability. I'm worried this card will fall into the 24-27 range too much. It's way better than endless one, but endless one wasn't close to close for me.
Last Updated 02/07/24
Streaming Standard/Cube on Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/heisenb3rg96
Strategy Twitter https://www.twitter.com/heisenb3rg
Classic cube to have.
That said, this is a slam dunk in my artifact cube. It has overall weaker creatures and the artifact and counters matter significantly. This will replace Chimeric Mass. So far I have around a dozen updates for artifact cube, a good suprise I didn’t expect from Fairy Tale land.
I find it a bit of a bummer when my artifacts don't interact too favorably with the likes of Goblin Welder, though. But on the other hand, while it may be too cute for cube, I could see this card working well alongside Emry, Lurker of the Loch; hypothetically, you might trade early and replay at higher cmc later in the game.
I don't really know if he makes it in, but, maybe.
http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/63569
*****. Multicolor. lol I didn't realize that either.
I think I prefer hangarback, though. You can notch that guy up, and I think the death trigger is very valuable.
Hangarback Walker is great, and is 10x the card this is.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
This is never going to be an exciting card, but it can slot in as the 23rd playable for so many decks - the fact it has trample and the ability to be a 3/3 for 3, a 4/4 for 4, 6/6 for 6 and 10/10 for 10 means that it's always a good topdeck and always has perfect mana efficiency.
360 card powered Chicago cube:
https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/e7r
2020 Numerical Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/817969-2020-numerical-cube-power-rankings
2018 CubeTutor Power Rankings:
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-card-and-archetype/803301-cubetutor-power-rankings-2018-by-color-and-cmc
This has reach and trample; two conflicting abilities, and protection from multicolor, which is barely more than flavor text.
Just my $0.02, but this card seems pretty bad outside of a format like Sealed Deck where a pool might be struggling for playables.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
In artifact decks, despite being castable for any X, I don't think it's all that good early. Most artifact decks I draft in Legacy/Vintage cube would much rather have a mana rock or more powerful synergistic piece (e.g., Goblin Welder) early. If I'm playing it as a 2/2 or 3/3, I'm pretty sad. As a pay-off for ramping, it's decent on both offense and defense, and has some relevant protection, but it's just worse imo than all the most played current pay-offs.
In an aggro deck, it's fine, but I'd probably just want more 1-drops over this.
Edit: Additionally pro-multicolor is sometimes relevant against commonly played artifact/creature removal. This stuffs Knight of Autumn for instance.
Not a must play, but a very decent performer if you just put it in decks.
I feel compelled to repeat everything I hear