MTG Salvation

I'm probably going to obtain these but sit on them until the cycle is filled out. I think they're generally better than the manlands except Colonnade and maybe Tar-Pit? Even with those two being better than this cycle on average, this cycle as a whole is probably better so that would be my swap.

I was just about to make this thread. Less work for me! I have a 500 card unpowered cube.

In
Heartless Act - It's a better Go For the Throat. Has more targets overall and can even have some unexpected synergies with creatures that want to lose counters. I can't justify edicts anymore with the possible exception of Liliana's Triumph. Diabolic Edict is getting the chop.
Lutri, the Spellchaser - Unlike Lurrus, I think this is the real deal. Izzet is a shallow guild and I won't miss Electrolyze at all for this. Its companion clause is guaranteed in most cubes so it's basically a guaranteed 8th card in every opening hand that is easily cast in any red and/or blue deck and is likely the most playable fork variant we are ever going to get for cube on top of just being a serviceable creature at its absolute worst.
Vivien, Monsters' Advocate- Protects itself and grants flexibility in the creatures you create with it, provides potential card advantage, lets you (and you only) see your upcoming draws. Like Lukka it is all about that second loyalty ability though. Only Vivien's affect doesn't polymorph+, it lets you search your deck for any creature costing less than the one you cast and puts it on the battlefield...that is insane value, flexibility, and a huge boon to creature combo centered strategies. The Green Walkers are all pretty solid but Nissa, Worldwaker can be cut for a walker of this caliber.

Testing
Fiend Artisan - Feel strongly that this will make it in, but the cut is tough here. Trophy, Pulse, and Garruk are safe, so it is between Life // Death which is a pet card that I love for its reanimator support or its unwitting 1 mana go wide and kill mode or Abrupt Decay which is another extremely efficient Golgari permanent killing spell.
Luminous Broodmoth- Another card I'm fairly confident will make the cut. The competition at this slot is fierce though. I'm probably going to slot this in place of God-Eternal Oketra instead.
Lurrus of the Dream-Den - Card seems a bit overrated to me, especially if you're trying to run it as a companion. Maybe powered builds have more tricks with this (Black Lotus comes to mind)? Orzhov is not so shallow a guild that a 3CC lifelinker that trades down with one drops and might occasionally let you pay to recast your extremely low cost permanents from the graveyard is a slam dunk. I easily prefer Sorin (LOI), Vindicate, and Lingering Souls, Anguished Unmaking and Tidehollow Sculler are about on par with this for me. Worth testing, but 1st impression is lukewarm.
Neutralize - 3CC counters are not highly desirable, but when you have the added flexibility of being able to cycle them it might be worth giving it a shot. Though I'm not sure this is better than Supreme Will which has been on the cusp of inclusion into my cube for a while now.

Watching
Flame Spill - My gut says Super-Duper Death Ray black border style isn't pushed enough to make the cut. Still curious to hear about other's results with this. Hope to see this effect return
Gemrazer - The games where this snipes your opponents mana rock off of a turn 1 elf will be great. Though I think its just as likely that you have to ramp into this guy without a target and then have to choose between attacking or ramping and risk getting 2-for-1'd against removal. Pair that with a very average hard-casting cost and almost no other cubeable mutate cards and I think this is a clear miss.
Kogla, the Titan Ape - A trample away from being tested. ETB fight and artifact/enchantment removal on attack is big game, but the activated ability requiring both 2 mana and a human to bounce is a problem. Add in no trample and this is on the outside looking in.
Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast - This card is really all about that second ability. The first ability is a craptastic Light up the Stage impression. Polymorphing up is powerful and will sometimes in the right deck be game winning, but the random nature of the effect and having to exile your creature to trade up means I can't even see this unseating Koth of the Hammer in my cube.
Shark Typhoon - Maybe it's just the (cube buzzword incoming!) additive distraction, but I'm not wild about this card on first glance. It feels like a bad Hydroid Krasis. I appreciate that it is monocolor, has flash, and once in a great while being uncounterable will come into play, but its not the stabilizing play I want in my blue decks and is just a little too fair for my taste.
Weaponize the Monsters- the jump from 1 to 2 damage is huge. Purphoros, God of the Forge is considered a cube all-star by many. Impact Tremors? Not so much. That said the 2 activation cost is 1 to much. If this were 1 I would have run this immediately.
Wilt - Does a cycling Naturalize add enough additional value to get people to remove Nature's Chant? I think for now I prefer the hybrid card since it lets me consolidate two slots into one, but with some strong reviews I could be persuaded to test this.

Overall not a ton of inclusions, but a stronger showing then Theros. Appreciate that every color is represented in the IN or Testing categories. I'm disappointed that there isn't a single "fatty" from this set that merits inclusion in cube. Mutate just isn't terribly cube friendly and most of the "best" creatures in Ikoria work around that mechanic. This looks like a great set to draft....hopefully we'll be able to do this in person again soon.

Get in my Uril, the Miststalker EDH.

Enchantment - check
Gives Uril Haste - check
Gives Uril Trample - check
Cycles when not needed - check.

I think this card is great in that it has no opportunity cost besides drafting it and casting it. You don't have to put in in your deck, you don't have to draw it and both of those facts can't be overstated enough. That said, I don't know how many spells matter decks I've put together where a timely fork (attached to a dude) would've been the difference. This is the most playable fork variant we are likely to ever get and it is in a guild that could use the help so I expect this card to be a staple. Is it power good in my estimation? Probably not. It is a very high pick in cube overall though.

Good things are instant value, artifact/enchant removal on attack, and potential indestructibility. Bad things are the triple G in the cost, no trample, and the indestructibility cost is problematic given that it costs additional mana resources and requires a human.

I'm also of the opinion that Primeval Titan has not aged well, but alas I don't think this is the guy to replace him. A green fatty without trample means chump blocks for days. The fight ability is good, but it often won't be enough to ensure the beats get through which is the big idea here. I would have traded either the 2nd or 3rd ability for trample (preferably the 3rd even if its super flavorful).

From THB I still have the following:

Ashiok, Nightmare Muse - Solid generic Dimir walker option. Gives U/B a strong control oriented walker that isn't reliant on the artifact archetype.
Phoenix of Ash - Everything we ever wanted from Chandra's Phoenix.
Shatter the Sky - Mono-color 4 CC wrath allowed me to free up an Azorious slot by taking out Supreme Verdict.
Woe Strider - Does a little bit of everything. Fantastic sac outlet.

I think Uro, Heliod, and Thassa are worthy of inclusion in many lists as well though they are currently outside of mine.

Fork effects have always just missed inclusion because they're so situational and the chance of it being a dead card was too great to merit its inclusion in my final 23. This card remedies all of this. It doesn't require a slot, it is hybrid, it is attached to a reasonable body with flash, and it is an Elemental Otter. Izzet is a somewhat underwhelming guild as well -- I'm definitely ready to cut Electrolyze for this. Great card.

Consistency is king in cube. Randomly obtaining keywords 1 turn at a time isn't going to cut it for me. It's super fun though -- I'll give it that.

I think this card is great within this set. I'm not convinced that with the limited inclusions of the keyword mutate that will make it into most cubes that this will be good enough. This has an excellent best-case scenario of eating a mana-rock off of a mana dork, but I don't think the average case scenario is going to be good enough. Hard-casting this is very underwhelming and probably guarantees no triggers of the mutate ability, and requiring a creature to be able to use its mutate can be an issue. I second Wtwlf's comment about how adding ETB to some of these would go a long way.

This is likely going to replace Nissa, Worldwaker for me. NWSTH fills the ramp role better than Worldwaker, and this can create bodies that you can shape to your needs based on the board state and don't require you to make a land into a creature which can create additional risk should it be destroyed. Additionally, this card gives you foresight into your upcoming draws without also revealing to your opponent (Thank goodness), potential card advantage from being able to play creatures from the top of your deck, and can turn any cast creature into a tutor to the battlefield for any lower CC creature in your deck? That's insane. This is a very pushed PW.

This set is insanity. I feel there are going to be a lot of Cube winners here. Some big bodies, cycling, enchant creature auras without their primary drawback--losing their target (a.k.a. Mutate), and at least 1 hugely impactful companion card that you can cast from your sideboard as if it is in your hand. Not to mention a ton of variety in aesthetics for many of these cards.

As for the Moth, in addition to being a great persist combo enabler, it also strikes me as a potentially strong aggro finisher. You can play this on turn four and swing with impunity knowing that whatever they can block and kill will come back as an evasive threat which can close out the game. I think I may be taking out God-Eternal Oketra for this one and for those still running the Lark' I emphatically endorse switching that out for this.

Scarring Scoundrels R
Creature - Goblin Warrior (R)
When Scarring Scoundrels enter the battlefield they deal 3 damage to any other target creature, player, or planeswalker of target opponent's choice.
3/2

Would you take a bolt to anything else of your opponent's choice in exchange for a 3/2 red 1 drop? Only thing they can't target is this creature.

Respectfully, why isn't this in baseless speculation? Unless you have news rather than conjecture it doesn't belong here.

Quote from wtwlf123 »

Quote from BlackWaltz3 »

...he is the linchpin for the strategy...

Maybe I misunderstood this somehow? Sounds like you're implying exactly that decks that want Purphoros fail without Purphoros... Isn't that what linchpin means? It all comes apart if it's missing?

Why do you partial quote--Particularly when it modifies the perceived meaning of what was said? The full quote was..."Honestly the biggest drawback to Purphoros is that there is no redundancy to the effect he offers. Having only one copy of this in your deck when he is the linchpin for the strategy is a bummer."

I'm speaking specifically to how go-wide decks with Purphoros want to resolve Purphoros because they are more likely to win if they do and stating that redundancy would help improve the likelihood of this. I'm not calling Purphoros the linchpin for all go-wide strategies broadly. I appreciate the many go-wide strategies that exist without utilizing Purphoros.

It sounds like we both think the card is a winner though so that strikes me as a good place to rest the subject. Cheers.

Respectfully, you've changed my words to counter an argument I didn't make.

I said there is a decent gap in the win percentage of go-wide decks that would want Purphoros based upon whether or not it resolves within a game and therefore some redundancy would help with this. (Also, just an effect I'd like two of within the cube to improve the odds of seeing what is a major player in the archetype within each draft).

I did not say that without Purphoros, go-wide strategies "fold" nor did I imply it.

Maybe Ikoria has our Red Impact Tremors bear? A boy can hope!