MTG Salvation

1. Balance 18.81
2. Armageddon 15.38
3. Swords to Plowshares 14.52
4. Elspeth, Knight-Errant 14.03
5. Wrath of God 12.87
6. Path to Exile 10.84
7. Stoneforge Mystic 10.23
8. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 9.87
9. Monastery Mentor 9.1
10. Mother of Runes 8.97
11. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 7.9
12. Palace Jailer 7.26
13. Moat 7.23
14. Land Tax 6.94
15. Elspeth, Sun's Champion 6.87
16. Council's Judgment 6.39
17. Gideon Jura 6.35
18. Restoration Angel 5.1
19. Hero of Bladehold 3.42
20. Brimaz, King of Oreskos 2.65

Keep in mind (just like the others) that this is a set preview. Similar to draft predictions in professional sports, this list is an educated guess at best. Some cards I value highly in here may turn out to not last long in the cube. Other cards that are lower down on the list (or even missed entirely!) could (well, very likely may) turn out to be great cards. Even Tom Brady was drafted in the 6th round! Again, this is not intended to be gospel, set in stone or written as a review for posterity. This is simply written to be an enjoyable guess at cards I like for cubes, and hopefully it'll allow some cube managers to evaluate cards they may have otherwise overlooked and/or put some cards in perspective that may've been overhyped. Nothing more.

Trostani Discordant

A good Selesnya token support card.

What I Like: Trostani gives you 5 power and 8 toughness for 5 mana; some of which has lifelink, and simultaneously buffs all your other creatures on the battlefield. As a 1-power creature, it works with Reveillark and Imperial Recruiter, and the anthem effect and ETB trigger make it an easy include for decks that function around making tokens and providing buffs for them. The main body also has 4 toughness, so it stays out of Bolt range, and has a built-in mechanism to counteract Control Magic effects.

What I Don't Like: Unlike Mirari’s Wake, Trostani can’t help to support both token decks and super ramp decks. And both white and green are saturated with great 5cc creatures in small- to medium-sized cubes, making the dedication of a guild slot to that role less than desirable.

Verdict: If you have a cube that utilizes ~7 or so guild slots and you play a lot of midrange Selesnya token decks, Trostani is going to be a good card to try out.

Ionize

A splashable Izzet Undermine.

What I Like: It is very rare to see “Counter Target Spell” on a card without at least two blue mana symbols in the upper right-hand corner. Undermine isn’t a card that sees much cube play anymore, but I could see the splashable nature of Ionize be appealing to players that want hard counters but like to stretch their mana. You can get access to a hard counter with only ~6 sources of blue in your deck …which is kinda unheard of unless it’s strapped to a spell that has a significant drawback attached. Plus, countering a spell and burning the opponent does play well in an established archetype that dates back to the early ‘90s. If that’s your kind of deck, this could be your kinda Izzet card.

What I Don't Like: The inability to redirect damage to planeswalkers hurts the value of this card now. I feel like it could’ve been a Bolt, and maybe just that 3rd damage would’ve been enough to push it. But I’m not sure. It’ll probably play well in practice, but it just feels so unexciting.

Verdict: Izzet is nowhere near as dry as it used to be, and unless you play the kinds of decks where needing to dodge the double-blue for other hard counters is a big issue, I don’t see Ionize making it into too many cubes. But if you find value in the splashable nature of the countermagic, this could be playable in cubes dedicating ~7 or so slots to each guild.

Chamber Sentry

A “multi-color” Walking Ballista variant.

What I Like: In multi-color decks, the initial body that’s produced is quite a bit bigger than one of the other scaleable colorless creatures. If you can make 3-4 colors on mana on curve, it can function like an Endless One that also has the ability to shoot down targets as the game progresses. And in a true 5-color deck, the recursion can be a powerful effect if the game winds up going long.

What I Don't Like: The colored-mana restrictions, the requirement to tap and the inability to grow makes this a lot less versatile and thus a lot worse than a card like Walking Ballista. Sentry is going to have to rely on the bigger initial body to make up for its other deficiencies.

Verdict: I think at the end of the day the limitations will outweigh the upsides, and this ultimately won’t be the next Walking Ballista. But it’s still a flexible creature for multicolor decks that can drop on-curve as a decent body, and then be used to snipe off an important target if one presents itself later on. I might test this out in a cube that’s maybe 720 in size, but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic about it.

Sinister Sabotage

A new and improved Dissolve.

What I Like: Surveil is a great ability. Scry is good, and Surveil is just better in a huge majority of situations. It feeds the ‘yard for delve, flashback, Snapcaster targets, reanimation, Loam, recursive threats, Azcanta, ‘Goyf and a whole lot more things. If you were playing Dissolve before, replacing it with Sabotage seems like a very easy exchange.

What I Don't Like: 3cc counters need to be pretty pushed to be worthwhile, and I haven’t had much success with them in small- to medium-sized cubes. But larger cubes run low in the counterspell department rather quickly, and I could see this spell stacking up against the competition pretty well.

Verdict: If you were playing Dissolve before, I’d probably replace it with Sabotage. And I think Dissolve is a spell that’s fringe playable at 720. So this feels like a relatively solid 720+ inclusion to me.

Conclave Tribunal

An Oblivion Ring variant with Convoke.

What I Like: The ceiling on this card as a 0-2cc Oblivion Ring is relatively high, and there are a lot of white shells that have either a high creature count or play a lot of token-generating cards. In those kinds of shells, you can shoehorn Tribunal into your curve alongside army-in-a-can creatures and cheap critters to drop a proactive O-Ring on the cheap. And despite having a base CMC of 4, this is more of an X spell during deck construction, since you won’t often be priced into tapping 4 lands to play it. Which is important, because the 4cc white non-creature section is too competitive for a card like this.

What I Don't Like: Convoke cards have a fundamental issue with consistency, and that prevents them from competing with the more reliable forms of removal. And white has a lot of better versions of this effect available that aren’t dependent on your board, curve and current game state to control their effect. Plus, it’s limited to decks that have high creature/token counts. In a creature-light deck, this is largely unplayable, and that’s a big restriction on a card that sells at least part of its value on its universal playability.

Verdict: Larger cubes that have a focus on white swarm decks and token shells might want to give this a trial run at the very least. It has a high ceiling in decks that can maximize the windows where it can be cast for cheap.

Thief of Sanity

An evasive card advantage engine.

What I Like: In decks that are trying to apply pressure, an evasive beater that can generate card advantage can shore up some weaknesses. If it exiles threats, it can mitigate the risk of over-extension, and if it hits removal and utility cards, you can cast them when opportunities present themselves. Plus, the effect is fun and exciting. Casting your opponent’s spells makes the card feel different every time it’s used. Plus, Thief provides some backdoor mill support, if that’s a thing your cube is trying to do.

What I Don't Like: The competition in blue/black is stiff, and Thief is only going to be an ideal inclusion for some decks. Unlike a card like Hypnotic Specter, the Thief doesn’t provide any reliable disruption. And unlike something like Shadowmage Infiltrator, you can’t secure additional lands, and you’re at the mercy of your opponent’s deck composition to find cards that reliably interact with your own game plan. Not to mention that you may be spilling cards into your opponent’s ‘yard that they can interact with positively, which will occasionally be problematic. Plus, unlike similar engines, you have to pay mana for Thief’s card advantage. Unless you’re playing an aggressively-slanted deck, this effect will often be worse than what you can get from Ashiok too, which is something to consider.

Verdict: Depending on the composition of your Dimir section and how you want that color-combination to play out, Thief of Sanity can be a fun and interesting card to include. And even if you want the card and desire the effect, the competition will still keep it out of all but the largest of multicolor sections. It might be playable in the 630-720 range if all of its upsides apply to your vision for how Dimir should work. Plus, the art is gorgeous.

Midnight Reaper

A splashable 3-power 3-drop with some card advantage potential.

What I Like: The most similar card to this that we’ve seen is Grim Haruspex. The biggest differences between the two are that the Reaper counts itself, and functions as a Zombie for Gravecrawler shenanigans. Even though Reaper makes you pay a life for the draw, I think the fact that it counts itself makes it better than Haruspex unless it’s used for a Morph subtheme. On its own, it has a splashable casting cost and gives you 3 power still, and it allows you to play out extra threats without as much risk for over-extending. With a board of him and one or two other creatures, the opponent has to give you a Night’s Whisper or an Ancient Craving if they want to sweep the board away, which can be pretty punishing.

What I Don't Like: Black’s 3cc creatures are more competitive than they used to be, and I fear that the 2-toughness on Reaper will just cause him to trade away in combat too often. If the ACS on Reaper is a trade in combat, I might as well play something like Phyrexian Rager, since I get the draw right away and it has some blink interactions.

Verdict: Certainly not a bad creature, and I could see cubes in the 630-720 range wanting to see how it plays out for them.

Bounty Agent

A bullet for legendary cards strapped to a 2-power 2-drop.

What I Like: There are a fair number of good targets for the Agent in the cube, and the opportunity cost is relatively low considering the body and the casting cost. The vigilance works well with the ability since it requires it to tap, so it’ll always be at the ready to deal with a freshly-played Kalitas or Meloku or whatever. It can also deal with Jittes and Search for Azcantas since it can hit artifacts and enchantments in addition to legendary creatures.

What I Don't Like: A 2/2 vigilance isn’t a good body. It trades away with too many things in the cube, and since the ability won’t always be relevant, you have to keep in mind what you get when it’s not sniping permanents. Unlike cards like Selfless Spirit and Remorseful Cleric, Agent doesn’t give you a serviceable body while you’re waiting for an opportunistic window to use its ability. That’s what will ultimately limit this creature’s playability.

Verdict: There becomes a point where all the better universally playable 2cc options are exhausted though, and depending on the composition of the cube and your saturation of targets, Bounty Agent might be a very worthwhile inclusion somewhere in the 630+ range.

Mission Briefing

A surveilling spell form of Snapcaster Mage.

What I Like: We know the effect is powerful. Flashing back instants and sorceries at instant-speed is good, plain and simple. And Surveil 2 is a good additional upside to feature on a card like this, because it can add more tools to the ‘yard, and can help orchestrate future draws. And, it’s a spell itself for cards like Mentor, Pyromancer, Thing in the Ice, and others. There’s not much not to like about the effect Briefing provides.

What I Don't Like: Snapcaster Mage this is not. Not just because the Surveil trigger is not as good as a 2/1 body, but because of the double-blue casting cost. The cost is the big issue here, because it pigeonholes the spell into decks that can reliably afford the double-blue PLUS any additional blue sources that might be required to flash back any blue spells in the ‘yard that you want to target. Snapcaster Mage can reliably flash back a spell like Mana Leak in a deck with about 10 or so sources of blue mana. Briefing can’t. Snapcaster Mage can reliably flash back an off-color 1cc spell like Bolt or Thoughtseize on turn 3 in a deck with approximately 6 sources of blue. For Briefing to fill that same role, you need to double that number of blue sources. That’s hard to do, and it’s brutally limiting to the number of decks that will be able to reliably use this spell the same way they might use a card like Snapcaster Mage.

Verdict: The double-blue cost is what will prevent this card from cracking into smaller cube lists. But in larger powered cubes, the effect itself will still be strong enough to justify testing. I’d test this out in a 630+ card powered cube, but probably not anywhere else.

Ritual of Soot

An anti-aggro sweeper that dodges your 4+cc creatures.

What I Like: By limiting the restriction to casting cost instead of toughness, it opens up opportunities for midrange and control decks to get access to a sweeper effect that will be wildly asymmetrical. I can put this into a deck with no creatures with a cmc < 4, and still play all the 4+cc utility creatures and finishers I want with impunity. While not as reliable at killing everything as Languish or Damnation, there are some decks that might actually prefer an effect like this so it leaves all my creatures alone.

What I Don't Like: In the windows where I absolutely have to kill all my opponent’s creatures because their Hero or Bladehold or whatever has me on the ropes, Soot missing those kinds of cards will be critically problematic. Which is why cards like Damnation and Languish are ultimately better.

Verdict: I really like the idea of having access to a sweeper that is so easy for the deckbuilder to break symmetry on. And there are a lot of creatures in the 4+cc range that midrange and control decks might want to have access to, but ultimately don’t play in their final 40s because there’s too much collateral damage with your Wraths. Soot provides those decks with a tool that can guarantee asymmetry and give you more deckbuilding options because of that. I would want to test this card out at 630+, and it might very well be worth trying out at 540 if you want to construct decks around it.

Nullhide Ferox

A big beater.

What I Like: Well, in decks where it’s potential drawback won’t matter much (due to a large creature count and/or lower CMC of noncreature spells) it’s a big beater for cheap. It gives the cube access to at least one tool that can punish discard shenanigans, which when it shows up will likely be backbreaking. And I like the 2-mana tax as a defensive measure a lot more on a 4cc card than on a 6cc card like Frost Titan. It makes it much harder for the opponent to effectively deal with this via O-Rings, Vindicates and Chupacabras.

What I Don't Like: The noncreature spell restriction hurts. It means that the deck needs to have very few (if any) noncreature spells that cost more than 2 or 3 mana at the most. I think ultimately that’s going to cause the biggest problem.

Verdict: A hard to kill 6/6 creature for 4 mana is no joke. But the restrictions provide difficult issues to work around. In the right deck against an opponent with a specific array of answers it can be insanely powerful. But in other situations, the card is unplayable. Hard to evaluate, but since the green 4cc creature competition isn’t particularly stiff, I could see this being a card that people want to test. It might be good enough for cubes all the way down into the 540-630 range …or it may be wildly unplayable. It’s a unique card that’s kinda hard to evaluate until I’ve seen it on the battlefield a few times, to be sure.

Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice

Now this is a 4-drop.

What I Like: She’s a stat beast. On offense 4/5 flying, trample, mentor is big game. And a 2/5 flying creature is big game (thanks to her vigilance) on defense. Not to mention that she can pump an existing creature the turn she resolves to provide a little extra pressure. Her specific combination of abilities makes her a monstrous 4-drop for creature mirrors, and she’ll be hard to beat if they can’t answer he quickly. She also has 5-toughness, so she’s a playable threat in Wildfire decks, and has flying so she’s good in the Moat/‘Quake shells as well.

What I Don't Like: Despite how powerful she is on paper, I’m not sure how needed she is in practice. Neither white nor red are short on the playable 4cc card department, and she doesn’t provide anything specific to decks that are currently lacking tools. If her white ability was lifelink and/or her red ability was haste, she could give tools to decks that are lacking in them now and/or straight-up replace existing options. But as is, I like my existing 4cc aggro curve-toppers more for my aggro decks, and I like my existing suite of slower 4-drops for my creature light midrange/control decks or token-centric builds. As nice as it is to have another 5-toughness 4-drop for Wildfire, those decks are pretty creature-light, so her initial combat boost will often miss, and her mentor effect will likely never trigger.

Verdict: She’s probably the 5th or 6th best Boros card post-Guilds of Ravnica, which means that despite her “need”, she’s just too good to be excluded from larger cubes. Depending on how you evaluate the powerlevel of the existing Boros options, she could easily be squeezed into even the smallest of cubes, and her powerlevel alone will make her an easily justifiable inclusion. She’s good enough for 540-630 card cubes at a very minimum, and not ranking her higher will likely be my biggest miss from this set preview.

Connive // Concoct

A strange but versatile split card.

What I Like: The Connive half is a good defensive measure. It has a flexible casting cost, and can be used as a Chupacabra variant of sorts to kill a small body and give you a small body. Trading Connive away for two of your opponent’s bears (one via theft and one in combat) is a good way to help stabilize against early pressure. Unlike a card like Chupacabra, you can’t kill big creatures with it, but you can often steal bodies that are better than a vanilla 2/2, including some powerful ones like Mentor, Cryptologist, Jace, Meloku, Confidant, Ophiomancer, Welder, Pyromancer, the Rabblemasters, mana dorks, Cobra, Courser, Excavator, Elder, Oracle, Edric, Metalworker and a slew of creatures with activated abilities, flying/first strike/deathtouch and more. Unlike similar effects like Threads of Disloyalty, Connive can be cast with only black mana and it can’t be disrupted by Disenchant effects. And that’s half the card. Concoct isn’t the reanimation spell you want for a dedicated reanimator deck, but it is a very good utility spell in the midgame to return a powerful ETB creature or finisher from the ‘yard, and you strap Surveil 3 to the effect. Which is a really good effect. Even if I’m only returning a utility creature with it, adding Surveil 3 to a Nekrataal or whatever is well worth the extra 1 mana. Plus, the Surveil can actually feed your graveyard before you choose a target! In a deck with a reasonable number of targets for it, by the time you’re casting 5cc spells, 3 cards out of your library is a decent percentage, and there’s a good chance you’ll spill over another target for you to consider. The hybrid/splashable nature of the costs makes this spell really appealing on splashes too, since a heavy-blue deck splashing black with like 4-5 sources can get access to a Chupacabra-esque type of effect without double-black, and a black deck splashing blue can get access to a Control Magic-esque type effect with only 4-5 sources of blue in the deck. And lastly, if you play the Corpse Dance/Shallow Grave kind of reanimation, it’s important to note that you can return Eldrazi super-titans and the like to the battlefield with Concoct before they get reshuffled.

What I Don't Like: The competition in the Dimir slot is high, and that might limit the number of cubes that can find room for such a card.

Verdict: The card is pretty versatile, and with such an odd combination of effects, it’s hard to properly analyze the card without giving it reps. But I think it’s relatively comparable to the middle group of Dimir cards like Hostage Taker, The Scarab God and Dragonlord Silumgar. Not better than any one of those cards at a specific job, but the added flexibility adds a lot of value. It’s probably testable in the 540-630 range.

Pelt Collector

A solid green aggro beater.

What I Like: Experiment Two! (A nickname coined by the ever-witty Dr.Ruler.) I like Experiment One, and I feel Pelt Collector is comparable. It trades the ability to trigger off toughness for the ability to re-trigger when creatures die, and exchanges the regeneration clause for a trample one. And it trades human sub-theme interactions for warrior and elf sub-theme interactions. But otherwise, it’s largely the same creature. I look forward to interactions with cards like Shriekmaw (as pointed out by our very own Krazedkarl) and Flickerwisp that can immediately double-trigger the Collector.

What I Don't Like: I wish he gained trample with two +1/+1 counters, since a 3/3 will often be where he settles. Alternatively, if it gained trample at 4 power (instead of basing it off his counter count) I could pump him with equipment and still get the trample. C'est la vie.

Verdict: If you play green aggro, cube with this card. If you don’t, pass on it. That means that this card’s playability is not based on size, but on composition. But I’ll split the difference and estimate ~540 just for article position.

Legion Warboss

Another Rabblemaster variant.

What I Like: Legion Warboss enters the fray as the 2nd fastest clock in the history of Magic. When cast on curve and left alone, with no support other than him and no additional resources needing to be spent, he attacks for more than 20 damage by the end of combat on T6. And while he’s slightly behind Goblin Rabblemaster in terms of overall damage output, he’s not strictly worse. If the opponent deals with Warboss after an attack or two, you’ll be left with some number of 2/2 creatures on the board instead of 1/1s. And, he only forces the token he creates to attack, and only on the turn its created.

What I Don't Like: The damage output is less than that of Rabblemaster. The combat survivability is less than that of Garrison. And the value extracted by interactions is less than that of Najeela. So despite being a fantastic card and a fast clock, he’s probably the 4th best version of this effect we can find for cubes.

Verdict: Warboss is good, and just off its raw powerlevel alone it should see play in cubes in the 450-540 range. Perhaps even smaller if it’s an effect you really gravitate towards.

Doom Whisperer

A good black 5cc creature.

What I Like: This is a 6/6 flying trample for 5 mana, and that’s not even the best part about the card. Look, however good you think the Surveil ability on this card is, it’s better than you think. If feeds your graveyard. It sculpts your draws. It digs for outs. It fixes flood issues. Basically, every single time you either don’t know what the top of your library is or you’re unhappy with the top card of your library, Surveil. And then Surveil again. If this card has performance issues, it’ll be because players are unwilling to Surveil with it as often as they should. Similarly to how newer players approach Sylvan Library, I think people will be far too conservative with Whisperer on average. It’s going to be a hell of a card for black midrange decks to resolve in the mirrors and against control, because the Surveil ability is just so strong in those matchups.

What I Don't Like: It doesn’t shine in aggressive matchups or when your life total is dangerously low. And for some reason, my brain keeps creating a correlation between the 6/6 body and a casting cost of 6. I guarantee you there’ll be at least one time where I mistakenly pass with this in hand and 5 mana available because I’ll make the incorrect assumption that it costs 6 mana.

Verdict: Cubes need access to playable 5cc black creatures, and this is a good one. I would play this at 450 for sure; perhaps even 360 if you can find a reasonable cut.

Tajic, Legion's Edge

A hard-hitting Boros 3-drop.

What I Like: Fast, early pressure and abilities that make the body relevant in the later stages of the game. When the mentor triggers matter, Tajic is one of the fastest clocks in the history of Magic. And more importantly, his explosiveness starts right out of the gate. Haste + mentor means that he can attack for NINE damage by the end of combat on T4, which is just unprecedented explosive damage (a value pointed out by Swarles_Barkley in their analysis of the card). The ability to gain first strike has big implications as the game progresses and the board gets more congested. And I like how Tajic’s impact can be felt after he leaves the battlefield; you never know when that +1/+1 counter you added to that random flying creature makes the difference. In comparison to the other big-damage 3-drops when left unchecked, Tajic represents the most damage as a later-game topdeck, making him potent on both open board T3 situations and congested board turn 5+ game states. Tajic is just too explosive and good in too many windows to not play it in my Boros aggro decks. Oh ya, he also makes all your other creatures immune to Lightning Bolts, Walking Ballistas, Earthquakes and Wildfires …even if they’re your own.

What I Don't Like: Just like the other Rabblemasters, an untapped Grizzly Bears on the other side of the table can limit the immediate impact Tajic can have, and you may have to wait until you can threaten the first strike activation in order to attack into certain board states.

Verdict: I’m not sure if Tajic is the 3rd or 4th best Boros card, but I would certainly play it in the vast majority of cubes. I would find room for it in at least 450+ card cubes, if not smaller.

Assassin's Trophy

A premium removal spell.

What I Like: I have designed a “Path to Vindicate” multiple times for various wishlists and custom cubes. I designed instant speed onea at 1WB & 1WW and a sorcery speed one at 2W. Never in a million years did I assume we’d get this effect at instant speed at 2 mana. And without white! It destroys any permanent. The drawback in the early game can matter, but the flexibility of the range of targets just makes this card too good not to play. Unlike a comparable spell like Abrupt Decay, Trophy continues to get better and better as the game goes on instead of getting worse.

What I Don't Like: It’s a little unfortunate that all of the best Golgari spells for this format are just various removal spells. It would be nice if they printed a good graveyard-centric Loam/Recursion engine or a nice Stax support card or something. But oh well, if my Golgari theme becomes “Great Removal Spells” …that’s a theme I can live with.

Verdict: If I was being honest, this is probably the best Golgari card. I have it ranked #2 in my personal rankings behind Pernicious Deed just because of what that card is capable of when it’s built around. And there will be cubes that due to certain speeds or structures this may be worse than Malestrom Pulse too. But I have a hard time imagining a case where a cube has 3+ cards per guild and it doesn’t have Trophy in its Golgari section. I think this is an easy 360+ playable.

Knight of Autumn

An incredibly flexible 3-drop.

What I Like: No matter what situation is presenting itself to you, Knight of Autumn is good. If you’re on the offensive and need to beat down, make a 4-power beater for 3. If there’s a problematic or powerful artifact or enchantment that needs to be removed, give yourself a Reclamation Sage. If you’re on the back foot and need some breathing room against aggro, cast Knight in Lone Missionary mode. It fills so many rolls, and it wraps up effects that are valuable in each game quadrant into one effect. And it’s also really easy to abuse. With bounce and blink effects, it’s the perfect card, because as the landscape of the game changes, you can switch modes with the card. Smash that Monolith with it, flicker it in and out of play with Resto, and bring it back as a 4-power beater the 2nd time around. It also has interactions with the Recruiters and ‘Lark because of the size of the base body.

What I Don't Like: Not much to complain about. I wish it was a 2/2 so it could be a 4/4 in beatdown mode, but that’s just being greedy.

Verdict: This is my current #2 Selesnya card, and that’s only because I support green aggro and Dryad Militant is such an important card there. As a pure GW card, this is the best one, and it’s probably not close. It can replace any like effect for you to make room for it, which covers pretty much everything since this card does a bit of everything. If you have green-white gold cards in your cube, you should be playing Knight of Autumn. Easy 360+ slam dunk.

Goblin Cratermaker

A really flexible red 2-drop.

What I Like: This creature shames all previous iterations of its kind. It’s a creature-killing, artifact smashing, Eldrazi slaying, Karn/Ugin murdering, splashable …2cc goblin. I was just wondering if it would be worth bringing back Torch Fiend when we got this gift spoiled, which eclipses that kind of effect by miles. If the coast is clear, you can bash in for 2. If there’s a utility body preventing the rest of your team from attacking, you can kill it. If the opponent presents a must-kill artifact, you can shatter it. If they drop a big colorless monster/planeswalker, you can snipe it off. You can use it as a flexible 3cc removal spell if you need to. It can be brought back by other effects for re-use. It can be tutored up by the recruiter(s). There’s just so much flexibility, and the opportunity cost is almost free.

What I Don't Like: If this could shock any target, it would be better, but it’s not at all necessary to make the card great.

Verdict: I was comparing this to the existing 2cc creature suite in red, and it probably falls #2 or #3 on the overall list of all-time playable red cube 2-drops. Which means, as long as your cube has 3 or more red 2-drops in it, you should be cubing the Cratermaker. Which makes this the easiest slam-dunk inclusion we’ve seen in a while.