I would be hard pressed to say that this new Jace will be good in competitive, constructed decks but he is extremely good in powered cubes. He fuels multiple archetypes and can recast a few powered cards. I think every cube should give him a shot.
Definitely seems better suited for cube (discard outlet and flashback is at a premium).
But.... Like... He's 2 freaking mana! Wouldn't be surprised if people try to make him work in standard.
2 mana, 5 loyalty, I don't know who their playtesters are but hot damn at least we get something that will stick in cube for a long time. I think he's 360 even in unpowered lists for now since 2cmc creatures are weak in blue after the first few. Possibly a staple, but he does have a high variance compared to all the 360 powered staples.
I'm sure he'll get some standard play, how much depends on all the instants and sorceries that they'll print while he is in standard.
I would be hard pressed to say that this new Jace will be good in competitive, constructed decks but he is extremely good in powered cubes. He fuels multiple archetypes and can recast a few powered cards. I think every cube should give him a shot.
She gets worse every time I read her. I wish the whole cycle was easily cubeable but it looks like Nissa and Chandra will be lucky to make it into the on deck binder. Let's hope Gideon gets redemption after his last walker card.
Out of all these options I almost like Boros Signet the best for the 5th slot. unless you prefer Slayer's Stronghold. RW doesn't usually appreciate mana rocks. but the RW decks that do REALLY love them.
Ha, yeah we'll go with that one. It's even more powerful
I'm hoping if we keep asking for a Sower of the Graveyard we'll get it
Zombie Bandits 4B
Creature - Zombie Rogue
When ~ enters the battlefield, return target non-zombie creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, it becomes a zombie in addition to its other types.
When ~ leaves the battlefield, sacrifice that creature.
3/5
Drawn to Darkness2BBB
Enchantment - Aura [R]
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
At the beginning of your upkeep, enchanted creature deals 1 damage to its owner and you gain 1 life.
I like this design, it's printable but would be extremely good in cube. I made a very wordy but intuitive iteration of it, quite a bit more powerful:
Drawn to Wickedness 2BBB
Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield choose one —
• If it's on the battlefield, it becomes an Aura with "enchant creature on the battlefield with ~." You control enchanted creature.
• If it's on the battlefield, it becomes an Aura with "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with ~." Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control and attach ~ to it. When ~ leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.
With the current rules this card is quite a pain to design. I'd make it an aura in the first place but Animate Dead's text is even longer than Necromancy.
Either way it's exactly the type of card black could use for cube. Your version is far more likely to see print. Plus the extra flying power is great as black could always use more reach.
Checks all the boxes for Lark, Alesha, Recruiter all while supporting nearly every deck type in black.
3BB
Creature - Goblin Rogue
When ~ enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield. 1B, Sacrifice a Faerie: Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove up to two counters from target permanent.
2/2
Body and Mind is the only one I might say is too powerful. Jitte is absolutely bonkers but otherwise forces you to play a somewhat fair aggressive deck unless you sneak it into a deck with a few weenies like blue control or elves ramp.
They can be stopped with counterspells, creature removal, or artifact removal. I find that to be one of the learning lessons from playing cube and designing cubes with the swords and jitte in it: EITHER play a degenerate deck OR play a "fair" deck with artifact removal.
This isn't only because of the swords, it's because of cards like Shackles, Mimic Vat, mana rocks, Batterskull, Wurmcoil, Sundering Titan... etc
Considering the competition is already steep I don't think swords would be overpowered in a 360 unpowered list. They're great aggro tools just as Balance and Treachery are great control tools. You'll always have something that is much more powerful than the average cube card until you cut power and then 20 or so cards on top of that. There are plenty of great artifact removal effects to allow swords in at 360 that should be mainboarded anyways and I do believe that a classic, powerful cube (even unpowered) should have at least enough artifacts to justify running mainboard artifact destruction.
I wouldn't fault a designer for not running them, check with your playgroup to see what they think since they're the ones who draft with you.
2 mana, 5 loyalty, I don't know who their playtesters are but hot damn at least we get something that will stick in cube for a long time. I think he's 360 even in unpowered lists for now since 2cmc creatures are weak in blue after the first few. Possibly a staple, but he does have a high variance compared to all the 360 powered staples.
I'm sure he'll get some standard play, how much depends on all the instants and sorceries that they'll print while he is in standard.
Seriously though, I really hope they are all cubeable.
I'm hoping if we keep asking for a Sower of the Graveyard we'll get it
Zombie Bandits
4B
Creature - Zombie Rogue
When ~ enters the battlefield, return target non-zombie creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield, it becomes a zombie in addition to its other types.
When ~ leaves the battlefield, sacrifice that creature.
3/5
I like this design, it's printable but would be extremely good in cube. I made a very wordy but intuitive iteration of it, quite a bit more powerful:
Drawn to Wickedness
2BBB
Enchantment
When ~ enters the battlefield choose one —
• If it's on the battlefield, it becomes an Aura with "enchant creature on the battlefield with ~." You control enchanted creature.
• If it's on the battlefield, it becomes an Aura with "enchant creature put onto the battlefield with ~." Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control and attach ~ to it. When ~ leaves the battlefield, that creature's controller sacrifices it.
With the current rules this card is quite a pain to design. I'd make it an aura in the first place but Animate Dead's text is even longer than Necromancy.
Checks all the boxes for Lark, Alesha, Recruiter all while supporting nearly every deck type in black.
3BB
Creature - Goblin Rogue
When ~ enters the battlefield, put three 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature tokens with flying onto the battlefield.
1B, Sacrifice a Faerie: Put two -1/-1 counters on target creature or remove up to two counters from target permanent.
2/2
They can be stopped with counterspells, creature removal, or artifact removal. I find that to be one of the learning lessons from playing cube and designing cubes with the swords and jitte in it: EITHER play a degenerate deck OR play a "fair" deck with artifact removal.
This isn't only because of the swords, it's because of cards like Shackles, Mimic Vat, mana rocks, Batterskull, Wurmcoil, Sundering Titan... etc
I wouldn't fault a designer for not running them, check with your playgroup to see what they think since they're the ones who draft with you.