I have a timing question about how Forsaken Miner works with Goblin Bombardment (or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician). If I sacrifice the Miner to Bombardment and target my opponent or something they control with 1 damage, then I committed a crime. However, I think that Miner won't be in the graveyard in time to be triggered by that particular crime because the targeting happened at the same time as the sacrifice, meaning I would have to commit a second crime in order to trigger the Miner's ability to return to the battlefield. Is that correct?
If so, these cards still have great synergy, but it doesn't work the way I initially assumed where they create a 2-card machine gun loop for B, because the combo requires additional sac fodder.
I wouldn't cube 1B destroy target creature. If I wanted to cube a card like that I'd be playing Power Word Kill, it hits everything you'd want to remove early except for Carnage Interpreter. Holding this up and having your opponent play one of the cheap aggressive rogues or pirates is a crushing tempo loss.
It depends on the specific make up of the cube. For my cube, Power Word Kill hits 89.5% of creatures, while Shoot the Sheriff hits 96%. I also think I will lose more games if my removal spell cannot answer the opponent’s big Dragon or Angel than if my removal spell cannot answer their small early threat.
Saddle looks a whole lot like Enlist to me: that is to say a mechanic unlikely to be used much. Tapping down your creatures during your turn to NOT attack is a hard sell.
Unlike Enlist, Saddle work with summoning sick creatures. I think Saddle closer to an upgraded Crew, where in an aggro deck the creature you just played each turn is usually hopping in the saddle.
Slamming Ornery Tumblewagg into my cube! I have been happy with both Luminarch Aspirant and Court of Garenbrig in cube, and this feels like a fun mash-up of those two cards. I love counter doubling effects that come with a built in way to make counters, because they support a deep +1/+1 counters theme centered in Selesnya. And counterdoubling effects get exponentially better in multiples (literally).
If you do have a red permanent lying around, X/1 creatures continue to become more of a liability in the era of stuff like Orcish Bowmasters and Wrenn and Six...
Ajani is also great against pingers. Go ahead Bowmasters, I dare you to ping my 2/1 Cat.
Hooray for flipwalkers! I always love these, both as flavorful origin stories for how the planeswalker got their spark and mechanically as creatures with a built in quest. Maybe Ajani, Nacatl Pariah will be the start of a new cycle or supercycle like thefivefromMagicOrigins? EDIT: This is indeed a cycle in MH3.
Anyway, there’s a lot to love about this card:
I like that the flip trigger on the front side is a may, so your opponent cannot bolt your cat then swing in to kill your planeswalker.
This is a welcome addition for white blink decks, because they typically have lots of high value 3-5 mana ETB creatures, but not many great 1-2 mana ETB creatures that come down before the Flickerwisp or Guardian of Ghirapur.
This is a great combo with Goblin Bombardment because it lets you sac the cat to flip the planeswalker immediately, then Bombardment provides a red permanent for the 0 ability.
Not only is Ajani a great stat monster play on turn 2, but it’s also a great late game top deck on a stalled board. The -4 is very powerful, so when you are stable the play pattern of +2 then -4 seems backbreaking against a big board.
Most of the set mechanics didn’t jive with what I’m going for in cube:
Investigate is a great returning mechanic and I’m happy to be including Sharp-Eyed Rookie and Lonis, Genetics Expert.
Disguise looks very fun for MKM limited where there will be a high density of disguise cards, but it isn’t a good enough rate for cube, and to keep the face-down mystery going you would need to devote a high density of cube slots to disguise cards.
Cloak could work in cube, but I haven’t seen a specific card I wanted to add. I can imagine power level tweaks that would have gotten there... maybe if Veiled Ascension triggered the turn you played it, or if Vannifar, Evolved Enigma cloaked from the top of a library instead of from your hand?
Suspect is a downside mechanic and it’s hard to track, which are both strikes against it.
Collect evidence cards work against one another, against other graveyard-as-resource mechanics like delve and reanimate, and against graveyardcountingcards.
Cases I was very hyped for and was hoping for something to include, as this kind of ETB effect + mini-quest enchantment can be a lot of fun. I’m not sure which specific case card(s) would fit in a cube environment. For me Case of the Gateway Express (the ETB is nice with lifelink or deathtouch, but vulnerable to instant speed creature removal) and Case of the Shifting Visage are closest. The timing restriction of solving on your end step makes the payoffs all a little slow.
I like this for cubes with Yorion or other blinkshennanigans. It's too bad there are so few cube cards that can blink enchantments, most of these effects seem to be limited to targeting creatures and sometimes also artifacts. It's nice that this card overlaps with supporting fun themes like drawing cardsmatters, +1/+1 counters, and enchantress. I'm also happy to finally add a playable version of "You have no maximum hand size."
I really like 1R for a 2/1 with prowess and haste, especially when it has abilities that care about instants and sorceries and might let you loot or draw cards.
The shell game of guessing the morph/megamorph/manifest, foretell, or disguise/cloak is a lot of fun in limited. The primary issue for cube is reaching a high enough density of the mechanic such that the face down cards are not too easy to deduce. There would need to be at least 2-4 good disguise creatures specifically in red for Fugitive Codebreaker's identity to be a mystery. So far, there's only this and maybe Pyrotechnic Performer. Unfortunately, disguised creatures do not mix and match well with morphs because you have to declare whether it's a morph or a disguise when you cast it face down.
If so, these cards still have great synergy, but it doesn't work the way I initially assumed where they create a 2-card machine gun loop for B, because the combo requires additional sac fodder.
It depends on the specific make up of the cube. For my cube, Power Word Kill hits 89.5% of creatures, while Shoot the Sheriff hits 96%. I also think I will lose more games if my removal spell cannot answer the opponent’s big Dragon or Angel than if my removal spell cannot answer their small early threat.
Now that is how you write reminder text!
This shoots 96% of creatures in my cube. Seems great.
Unlike Enlist, Saddle work with summoning sick creatures. I think Saddle closer to an upgraded Crew, where in an aggro deck the creature you just played each turn is usually hopping in the saddle.
1W with Squad 3, so 4W, then 7W, then 10W?
Ajani is also great against pingers. Go ahead Bowmasters, I dare you to ping my 2/1 Cat.
Anyway, there’s a lot to love about this card:
Good luck trying to block Doctor Tongue.
Reanimator decks love free discard outlets that don't have to tap, and tempo decks love pecking away while drawing extra cards.
That card costs one more mana and is in the Clue set: Lonis, Genetics Expert. I really enjoy the fun of mixing and matching synergies between the many +1/+1 counters mechanics. Fathom Mage, Benthic Biomancer, and Dusk Legion Duelist are other options in this vein.
Makeshift Binding replaces Quarantine Field
Proft's Eidetic Memory replaces Forbid
Steamcore Scholar replaces Barrin, Tolarian Archmage
Sharp-Eyed Rookie replaces Quirion Beastcaller
Edit: Lonis, Genetics Expert replaces Duskwatch Recruiter
Most of the set mechanics didn’t jive with what I’m going for in cube:
I like this for cubes with Yorion or other blink shennanigans. It's too bad there are so few cube cards that can blink enchantments, most of these effects seem to be limited to targeting creatures and sometimes also artifacts. It's nice that this card overlaps with supporting fun themes like drawing cards matters, +1/+1 counters, and enchantress. I'm also happy to finally add a playable version of "You have no maximum hand size."
The shell game of guessing the morph/megamorph/manifest, foretell, or disguise/cloak is a lot of fun in limited. The primary issue for cube is reaching a high enough density of the mechanic such that the face down cards are not too easy to deduce. There would need to be at least 2-4 good disguise creatures specifically in red for Fugitive Codebreaker's identity to be a mystery. So far, there's only this and maybe Pyrotechnic Performer. Unfortunately, disguised creatures do not mix and match well with morphs because you have to declare whether it's a morph or a disguise when you cast it face down.