I saw this card spoiled yesterday, and had to think about it for a while if it was something I was interested in. After giving it a day, I'm pretty excited about testing it. I think it could work for me, and may interest others, as well. I enjoy including hatebears in cube, but I find there's a few criteria they need to fit in order to work.
1) There should be somewhere the card can fit that doesn't hurt the player playing the card, or at least hurts them much less than it hurts the opponent.
2) There should be a broad range of archetypes it's good against, and ideally, it can hate out a broken strategy.
#1 was what I was concerned about. White has some ETBs it cares about (Stoneforge Mystic, Resoration Angel). My time playing Leonin Arbiter proved to me that while it can hate out some strong effects like Tinker and Survival of the Fittest, the white player usually didn't want to include Leonin Arbiter because it also hurt their Stoneforge Mystic and Land Tax, and they'd rather play their strong search effect and relegate Arbiter to the board.
While there are a handful of good ETBs in white, I think there is a deck that can be made that makes good use of Hushbringer. Possibly in mono white, or in WB, WR, and WG. I don't think WU can use Hushbringer, at least in my cube, but it seems possible to make work in the other color combinations.
A 1/2 lifelink flier can carry equipment well, crew a Smuggler's Copter, and pairs well vs. Goblin Rabblemaster tokens. In the end, it may fail #1 for me like Leonin Arbiter did, but I think it looks good enough to test.
Edit: just realized this card has a funny interaction with Shriekmaw. You can Evoke Shriekmaw with this in play and get a 3/2 with fear. You don't get the Terror, but 3 power evasion for 2 mana is interesting. Mulldrifter works, too, but 3mana 2/2 flier is less impressive.
That evoke interaction is pretty unique, and you make great points on what this card CAN do against certain decks & cube staples.
I agree with your requirements for a hatebear, but in CUBE, they have an additional, and more critical, requirement: Being a good creature for the cost - being a strong aggressive play IN ADDITION to making your opponents’ life harder.
Blowouts or not, this will ALWAYS be a 2-mana 1-power flyer, and that anemic body will feel real bad when you are behind. Shutting off my opponent’s Thragtusk is big value, but when I’m in a matchup where this doesn’t matter, I can’t afford to be so behind on curve in an aggressive deck (where hatebears truly shine).
This card is sooo sick and the art is BIG GOOD, but despite the dope wings, I don’t she has the legs for cube.
It's a toolbox hatebear that suffers from missing the 2nd point of attack - I can see it as a 1 of sideboard card in Survival of the Fittest decks in Eternal formats (it's almost certainly not good enough to main deck in survival as there are much better hatebears) but not cube.
Unless you're playing aggro, it's too difficult to break the symmetry of this card. Even then, there will still be a decent amount of collateral damage. Too niche / narrow / symmetrical for cube, IMO.
I saw this card spoiled yesterday, and had to think about it for a while if it was something I was interested in. After giving it a day, I'm pretty excited about testing it. I think it could work for me, and may interest others, as well. I enjoy including hatebears in cube, but I find there's a few criteria they need to fit in order to work.
1) There should be somewhere the card can fit that doesn't hurt the player playing the card, or at least hurts them much less than it hurts the opponent.
2) There should be a broad range of archetypes it's good against, and ideally, it can hate out a broken strategy.
#1 was what I was concerned about. White has some ETBs it cares about (Stoneforge Mystic, Resoration Angel). My time playing Leonin Arbiter proved to me that while it can hate out some strong effects like Tinker and Survival of the Fittest, the white player usually didn't want to include Leonin Arbiter because it also hurt their Stoneforge Mystic and Land Tax, and they'd rather play their strong search effect and relegate Arbiter to the board.
While there are a handful of good ETBs in white, I think there is a deck that can be made that makes good use of Hushbringer. Possibly in mono white, or in WB, WR, and WG. I don't think WU can use Hushbringer, at least in my cube, but it seems possible to make work in the other color combinations.
As to #2, what broken things does it hate?
Splinter Twin
Craterhoof Behemoth
Clocknapper
And some incidental hate:
White: Sun Titan, Restoration Angel, Blade Splicer
Blue: Man-o'-War, Vendilion Clique, Mulldrifter
Black: Shriekmaw, Blood Artist, Gray Merchant of Asphodel
Red: Purphoros, God of the Forge, Flametongue Kavu, Abbot of Keral Keep
Green: Thragtusk, Deep Forest Hermit, Acidic Slime
Colorless: Myr Battlesphere, Sundering Titan, Solemn Simulacrum
A 1/2 lifelink flier can carry equipment well, crew a Smuggler's Copter, and pairs well vs. Goblin Rabblemaster tokens. In the end, it may fail #1 for me like Leonin Arbiter did, but I think it looks good enough to test.
Edit: just realized this card has a funny interaction with Shriekmaw. You can Evoke Shriekmaw with this in play and get a 3/2 with fear. You don't get the Terror, but 3 power evasion for 2 mana is interesting. Mulldrifter works, too, but 3mana 2/2 flier is less impressive.
[180 classic cube]
I agree with your requirements for a hatebear, but in CUBE, they have an additional, and more critical, requirement: Being a good creature for the cost - being a strong aggressive play IN ADDITION to making your opponents’ life harder.
Blowouts or not, this will ALWAYS be a 2-mana 1-power flyer, and that anemic body will feel real bad when you are behind. Shutting off my opponent’s Thragtusk is big value, but when I’m in a matchup where this doesn’t matter, I can’t afford to be so behind on curve in an aggressive deck (where hatebears truly shine).
This card is sooo sick and the art is BIG GOOD, but despite the dope wings, I don’t she has the legs for cube.
This is still the best place for high-power-level cube chat & debate.
Here's to many more years at MTGS *clink*
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
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra