MTG Salvation

One of the first things any new player learns (or needs to learn if he’s to find any success and enjoyment in the game), is that some Magic cards are more powerful than others. They have low mana costs for their effects, they do something few other cards in the game (or format) do, or they’re extremely versatile. So deckbuilding is just an exercise in determining which cards are the most powerful in any given format (a relatively easy exercise) and throw as many of them as our mana will allow into a deck, right? Luckily, this is not the case. Some relatively less powerful cards shine in combination with certain other cards, forming decks that are greater than the sum of their parts and that can go toe-to-toe with the decks playing the most powerful cards in the format. Such cards are said to have “synergy” with each other. The basic tension between power and synergy is at the heart of basically any Magic format.

Cube is no exception. While Cube originated from a desire to play Limited with the best (i.e. most powerful) cards in Magic’s history, when you combine cards from over 20 years’ worth of Magic sets, strange things happen and strong synergy-based decks come together. The next logical step, and one most Cube designers have taken a long time ago (although to different degrees), is to intentionally “seed” certain synergies into their lists. Whether it’s because a Cube designer wants to recreate and relive a beloved deck from some past or current format, or it’s with the aim of mimicking recent retail Limited formats, where some or all color combinations usually have fairly well-defined synergy-based strategies available to them, the end result is the same: drafters are incentivized to pay attention not just to the power levels of the cards in their packs, but also to any synergies those cards have with the cards already drafted (or even with cards they hope to open or get passed later in the draft!).

In this article I will use the term “archetype” to refer to a set of cards that share a certain synergy, or to a deck based around that particular synergy. I think this use is fairly commonplace in Cube discussions, but it’s important to note that it’s slightly different from the use of “archetype” in non-Cube Magic talk, where it has the meaning of “deck sharing similarities (and usually a number of cards) with other known decks, regardless of the deck in question being power-based or synergy-based”. In non-Cube Magic, one may refer to “the Blue-White Control archetype”, or the “Sligh/Red Aggro archetype”. For the purposes of this article, however, those are not descriptions of archetypes, but indicate that decks belong to a certain “theatre”. Decks in the same theatre can differ wildly from one another, but share a similar fundamental strategy, meaning they look to win the game in a similar way and in a similar amount of time (i.e. turns).

There are four theatres: aggro, control, midrange and combo.

An aggro deck uses creatures costing one to three mana backed up by some form of disruption and/or reach to reduce the opponent’s life total to zero in the early game (around turn five, ideally). A midrange deck relies mainly on creatures and planeswalkers costing from three to five mana, often played ahead of schedule due to mana acceleration and backed up by some card or board advantage engine to grind opponents out in the mid to late game. A control deck’s strengths are cheap interaction (blockers or spot removal spells), counterspells, mass removal and card drawing. It wants to win in the late game after answering all the opponent’s threats and dedicates only a few deck slots to actual victory conditions. A combo deck foregoes all or most interaction with the opponent in order to assemble a combination of cards that will win the game more or less on the spot, relatively early in the game.

Note that I consider combo to be a separate theatre, but an optional one. While decks using each of the three main strategies will come together almost automatically in each draft (although not necessarily an equal amount of each), the question of whether a combo deck is possible depends entirely on the particular Cube list in use and requires special attention of the Cube designer. It’s entirely possible to run a successful list without any combo support, but it’s also possible to support archetypes that play very similarly to combo decks in Constructed Magic and that cannot be usefully classified as aggro, control or midrange.

Archetypes and theatres exist side by side. Each deck belongs to a certain theatre (note that hybrids are possible) and may or may not belong to one or more archetypes. Some archetypes always play in the same theatre (Storm is always a combo deck), while others can be flexible (Tokens can be an aggro deck, a midrange deck, or even a combo deck in extreme circumstances).

Archetypes are also not to be confused with themes. A “theme” is a design choice with an overarching impact on the entire Cube, where many or even all of the individual cards are somehow related to the central theme. Themes can be gameplay-related (e.g. Tribal Cubes, Artifact Cubes, Multicolor Cubes, Creatureless Cubes (!)) or be based on flavor, storyline or even something like a particular artist. Archetypes differ from themes because they’re much narrower in scope: in a small (360-450) list, supporting an archetype can often be done by adding 5-10 archetype-specific cards, while introducing a particular theme will most likely entail a full Cube re-design.

The benefits of the archetype-based approach to Cube design are clear: the drafting process becomes more interesting, because it’s not just a matter of picking two (hopefully open) colors and then drafting the most powerful card in those colors that’s in each pack. Archetype-based decks are very satisfying to play (at least when they’re successful), as the drafter feels like he has created a small work of art (even though arguably the credit should go at least partly to the Cube designer). Archetypes also help to set one Cube apart from another, because whether a certain archetype is available depends on the subjective preferences of the Cube designer. Since finding the most powerful cards in each color is easy (relatively speaking), all Cubes would look alike if power level was the only criterion to decide on a card’s in- or exclusion.

However, archetype-based Cube design can be taken too far. Since cards that are included due to their synergies with other cards are by definition less powerful in a vacuum, drafters who are drafting a deck not based on that particular set of synergies will not be interested in those cards. Conversely, a player who is drafting a certain archetype will be less interested in any cards not working well in that archetype. In the extreme case, where a list has as many archetypes as there are drafters, and very few cards that are generally powerful, the decks will look the same draft after draft, and you might as well be playing Constructed at that point.

The solution to this issue is twofold: “anchor cards” and “cross-pollination”. “Anchor cards” are cards whose objective (i.e. archetype-independent) power level is high enough that their inclusion in the Cube can be justified based on that alone, but that get even better when played in a certain archetype. Restoration Angel is an anchor card for the Blink archetype, as is Tinker for the Artifacts archetype, and Siege-Gang Commander for the Tokens archetype. Using anchor cards, it’s possible to support archetypes without including too many cards that are useful only in that archetype.

“Cross-pollination” occurs when two different archetypes share certain similarities, or rely partly on the same set of cards, so that it’s possible to include elements of both in the same deck. Think of it as “synergy between synergies”. Examples are Tokens-Pox/Stax, and Storm-Spells Matter. A card that works well in multiple supported archetypes can earn its place in the Cube, even if its objective power level isn’t quite on par with that of other Cube cards.

Another pitfall to watch out for is scattering support cards for a single archetype over too many colors. You may have a couple of cards in all five colors that have awesome synergy, but if no deck can reliably cast all of those cards, the archetype will not be successful. It’s better to choose one or two colors for each archetype and only support the archetype within those colors. Note that some archetypes are deep enough that you can conceivably run cards for them in all five colors, for example Tokens and Blink.

In order to provide Cube managers with some ideas on which archetypes to support, I’ve compiled the following alphabetical list. It is meant to be comprehensive, meaning that some of the “archetypes” will be a bit “out there”, i.e. I don’t expect many Cube designers to include them. Of course, I’m bound to have missed some archetypes, so if you think of any others, please leave a comment to that effect and I will add them to the list.

For each archetype, I’ve listed the color(s) that are able to support it (main and secondary), its “anchor cards” (see above), some archetype-specific cards (i.e. cards you probably only want to include if you intend to support that archetype*), the “theatre(s)” the archetype can play in and any “cross-pollination” with other archetypes (see above). Note that this depends on Cube size. A card may well be a staple at 720 and “only” an archetype-support card at 360.

I’ve intentionally excluded from the list a number of powerful cards that nevertheless require a deck to be built around them in order to be effective. Examples are Moat, Upheaval, Doran, the Siege Tower and Isochron Scepter. These cards have very unique effects that are not available (at reasonable costs) on any other cards. At the same time it’s pretty obvious which cards work well together with them (you play Moat in a deck with fliers, Doran with creatures with higher toughness than power and Isochron Scepter with cheap instants - shocking, I know). I don’t think it’s very useful to consider these full-blown archetypes.

A final comment: while I hope any Cube designer can find some inspiration in this list, it’s mainly written for singleton, single-player, rares-allowed, unthemed (see above), Vintage-legal Cubes of any size. This is simply because I have little to no experience with other types of Cubes.

As noted throughout this article, some cards with slightly lower power levels (for Cube standards, of course) may nevertheless be worth including because they contribute to several specific archetypes (preferably while being respectable cards in their own right).Here are ten cards you may not have considered before, but which may have an interesting role to play in your list.

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.

Return to Nature

A better Naturalize!

What I Like: Well, if you like Naturalize, you’re gonna want to play RtN. The additional upside seems marginal, but in the situations where it’s important to snipe cards out of the graveyard, it will have a big impact on the game. It’s probably just enough of a bump to make folks reconsider using this spell if they switched from Naturalize to cards like Deglamer and Unravel the Aether over it before.

What I Don't Like: Green has a lot of naturalize effects available to it in the cube, and the majority of them are tied into creature bodies. Which is an advantage for multiple reasons. First, it’s functional card advantage when it’s strapped to a creature, and second, there are lots of green cards that function well with creatures. Disenchant is a better white card than Naturalize is a green card, and I’m not sure that the anti-graveyard tech is enough to put it over the edge in comparison to the effects green currently plays that are attached to bodies.

Verdict: This doesn’t quite get there for me, yet, but my guess is that the additional anti-graveyard tech is going to push a fringe-playable card into something that more cubes should be using. If you can find room for Return to Nature, I’d try it out and see how often the upside comes into play for your playgroup. For me, it might be somewhere in the 630-720 range, but that can change dramatically from one playgroup to the next.

Eternal Taskmaster

A solid beatdown 2-drop.

What I Like: A 2/3 body with a splashable 2-mana cost is a great baseline. Being a zombie is a nice additional benefit, and the ability can be powerful in situations where the game goes long. Any time you have an aggressive 2cc creature that can represent card advantage, it’s worth a closer look to see how it might play out. I like the fact that it can keep a stream of threats coming in situations where your deck may have otherwise run out of gas.

What I Don't Like: The only real complaint is the steep activation cost on the ability. 3 mana is a lot, and in decks looking to play attacking 2-drops, it may not be the kind of cost your deck is engineered to pay without losing a turn doing so. That, and the entering tapped clause prevents it from being a great defensive creature, so it gets further pigeonholed into the aggressive shells.

Verdict: I think this is a good creature, but it fell just outside of my cube range due to an unnatural attachment my playgroup and I have with a couple of the black 2-drops we play. But I would play this at 630+ myself, and there’s a good chance it should be included in cubes smaller than that too. Good body, splashable cost, card-advantage potential …it’s a recipe for a good cube creature.

Ugin, the Ineffable

A decent 6cc colorless planeswalker.

What I Like: Ugin grows his loyalty by adding a 2/2 body to the table that essentially draws a card when it dies. That makes for a good defensive tactic because it further disincentivizes the opponent from attacking into them. And Ugin has a flexible {-3} ability that can deal with most any kind of permanent you need it to. And while the static ability won’t provide a huge benefit to every deck, there are certainly shells that will be able to use his -2 cost to colorless cards as an upside.

What I Don't Like: If I need to use it to destroy a threat, Ugin’s loyalty gets quite low; running him all the way down to 1 after a single activation. While that won’t be super relevant in the cases where you’re removing the only card that can realistically threaten him, it will be an issue against boards with multiple threats out. He can’t be used to destroy colorless threats, so if the opponent presents a powerful artifact or colorless card that just needs to be removed, Ugin can’t do it. And lastly, the static cost reduction ability is pretty narrow. There are a lot of cases where it simply won’t do anything at all outside of very specific draws.

Verdict: There’s certainly nothing wrong with this Ugin. He’s a good card in pretty much every respect. I couldn’t find a slot for him in my current colorless section, but if my cube was even a little bigger, I’d have an opening for Ugin to slot into. I’d play Ugin at 630+, but depending on how much you feel like the static ability will be used by your group, Ugin could certainly be playable down into smaller cube sizes.

Mobilized District

A solid colorless manland.

What I Like: I originally wrote this off because it didn’t fit the mold for what I want my manlands to be doing. Typically, I want manlands to meet one of three criteria: 1) They fix my mana. Any manland that fixes mana I’m down with. 2) They attack for more than their activation cost. This allows me to make cost-effective attacks with the card when the opportunity is there. 3) The card attacks for at least 2 damage with evasion. This makes the manland a reliable win condition in the later board-stall stages of the game that doesn’t take an eternity to kill the opponent. Without fixing mana or having evasion, District was going to have to hurdle criteria #2. Originally I evaluated the card without accounting for the vigilance. But being untapped after attacking effectively reduces its activation cost by 1. Which means I’m tapping 4 lands to attack for 3, which still isn’t quite efficient enough. But the activated ability is reduced by both planeswalkers AND legendary creatures, and having even one of those kinds of cards in play makes the District a cost-effective attacker. There are a lot of legends and ‘walkers in the cube, so I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to think having one in play is too difficult. Some decks can pretty easily turn this into a reliably cheap-activating manland. And if the cost reduction reaches 2 or even 3? The card gets insanely good. If you can start activating this for cheap, you can be attacking and blocking with it in the same round. And attacking for 3 with a manland and only winding up having tapped 2 lands to do so is an insanely good rate. And not impossible for some decks to expect to reach.

What I Don't Like: The cost reduction is inconsistent. It’s not good enough without help on the battlefield, and in every situation where it’s activating for cheap and being an incredible card, it’ll be activating for 4 mana and being largely unplayable.

Verdict: If you can deal with the inconsistency issues, or have decks that your group commonly drafts that can consistently reduce District’s activation cost, it’s going to be a great land for you. For us, it just misses the cut below 630+, but there are probably groups that will want to play this in smaller cubes too. With one legend and one ‘walker in play, the land’s spectacular. And even with one target out, it’s quite serviceable. Probably worth extended testing to see how consistently the discount applies.

Enter the God-Eternals

A Dimir Flametongue Kavu!

What I Like: The easiest comparison to make is the obvious one to FTK. Enter has +2 toughness on the body, mills for 4 and gains 4 life in comparison to the Kavu. The milling is meh, but the 2 additional toughness is relevant. The 4 life gain is really significant. For a slower, more controlling Dimir shell, being behind on life is really common. Getting a life buffer to help stabilize, killing a threat AND creating a 4/4 body is no joke. Being stapled to a spell gives it interactions with Jace, Snappy, Mystical Tutor (and others) within its colors too.

What I Don't Like: Losing the creature card type makes it harder to abuse than FTK. And being 2 colors with 3 colored mana symbols makes it far narrower. Plus, the competition in Dimir is steep. Also, the double-blue just feels off… with creature removal, a black zombie body, lifegain, the card feels more black than blue if anything, and since black has a shallow shelf of 5cc cards in the cube, it would’ve been nice if the non-black color was the splash.

Verdict: This isn’t quite good enough to start pushing out top-tier Dimir cards. But it’s easy to overlook this card because of how good the other options are. If this looks like a card your playgroup might be interested in testing, I recommend doing so, because I think the spell is really good, despite the insane competition. I think this competes well against the tier-2 Dimir cards, and if it looks appealing, don’t hesitate to test it. It might make the cut for me as the #6 Dimir card or so, which makes it a 630-720-ish kinda card probably. If you ‘re willing to give it a shot over other legitimately good cube cards, that is.

Angrath's Rampage

An edict version of Bedevil.

What I Like: Being able to surgically apply which edict mode is selected helps to reduce the number of choices the opponent actually has. Planeswalkers are so very often the only ‘walker in play that its controller controls that an ‘walker edict is going to be the same thing as a targeted removal spell for them 95+% of the time. In the early game, you should be able to use this to kill any lone creature or lone artifact. But as the game progresses, you won’t be able to shatter that Sword because the opponent can ditch a Signet. And you can’t kill their fresh bomb creature because they can sacrifice a cheaper critter. The flexibility will bring a lot of value to the card in comparison to things like Dreadbore and Terminate because this can kill artifacts and those can’t. And in comparison to something like Bedevil, Rampage only costs 2 mana and is splashable. So it’s somewhere in that mix. Not fundamentally better or worse than any of the other commonly played options.

What I Don't Like: Creature edicts usually have 2 advantages over the targeted removal options of the same type. The first is the ability to get around shroud/hexproof/protection and the like, since it doesn’t target. The second is that the spell has no targeting restrictions (they’re not limited to non-black or non-artifact targets, for example). Angrath’s Rampage loses that second upside because the spells that it’s being compared to (Dreadbore, Bedevil, Terminate, Etc) don’t have restrictions on what kinds of creatures they can kill. Which makes Rampage a worse creature edict in comparison to cards in its slot than cards like Diabolic Edict are to mono-black 2cc removal options.

Verdict: Hard to evaluate without seeing it in action. My gut tells me that it’s really close to both Dreadbore and Bedevil in terms of being quality Rakdos removal spells, but because there are no targeting restrictions on the removal spells it’s being compared to, I’m less willing to sidegrade into an edict effect here than I am in mono black. It could very well be playable at 540, or it might not be needed at all. It’s going to be very playgroup dependent, and it’s going to require a lot of reps to flesh out exactly where it’ll settle.

Sarkhan the Masterless

Half Sarkhan half Broodmate Dragon.

What I Like: Sarkhan comes down, makes a 4/4 dragon and immediately makes it harder for your opponent to pressure you or your planeswalkers. It effectively shuts off all 1-toughness attackers, and allows all your smaller bodies to trade up in combat. On subsequent turns, he turns himself into a dragon too, and allows you to bash for 8 with flying the turn after he resolves. It almost plays more like a 5cc Broodmate Dragon with built-in defenses than it does a traditional ‘walker. It’s important to note that the {+1} ability turns ALL your ‘walkers into dragons, so in a superfriends shell you can threaten a really fast clock with other planeswalkers in play. And the defensive trigger applies for each dragon. So if he ticks up into a 2nd token or you have another dragon in play somehow, the defensive ability gets out of control.

What I Don't Like: Great card on its own, but there just aren’t that many red decks I create in cubes that want to play this. It’s too slow as an aggro curve-topper without haste. It doesn’t interact well with Wildfires. It’s basically relegated to generic midrange decks, red control shells and Moat/Quake decks. Which is fine, but I’m looking for a little more flexibility out of my 5cc cards unless they’re specifically used to help enable a decktype.

Verdict: Good card, and one that I initially slept on a little bit. If you play decks that want this kind of card often, add it in. It’s really powerful. For us, it’ll ultimately be too narrow because I can’t use it in our most popular red builds. Easily good enough on its own for any cube size 540 or bigger as long as you’ll use it regularly, but just make sure that your playgroup has a home for him before tossing it into the cube.

God-Eternal Bontu

A powerful sacrifice engine.

What I Like: Well, a 5/6 menace that’s hard to permanently remove is a good baseline for 5 mana. Add on the ability to convert unneeded and outclassed permanents into fresh cards and you’ve got yourself a stew goin’. It’s surprisingly easy for decks to find a land or two they might not need, and maybe an extra mana rock, creature token or outclassed early-game body to sacrifice to Bontu when he resolves. When I was testing it, it was typically finding 2-3 cards to sacrifice, which made for a very powerful ETB trigger. Where he really shined though was in decks that were designed to bring these cards back. Loam/Crucible/Excavator shells could use Bontu to draw extra cards for little to no cost. Pairing him with Gravecrawlers and Bloodghasts and the like also made his drawback close to free, which made the trigger into pure card advantage. In those kinds of decks, he tested really well.

What I Don't Like: When I was testing him in decks that didn’t have ways to make his sacrifice effect into card advantage, the trigger was far more fair. When the sacrifice was actually a cost, it was only really beneficial when I was heavily flooded or I had an army of tokens that were being stonewalled. Wasn’t a great card for control or Wildfire decks because of the nature of his sacrifice effect being resource hungry.

Verdict: Great card for the sacrifice/recursion decks and Loam/Crucible packages. Solid card in other situations. Just a bit too narrow to make the cut in the current configuration of my 540. It’s a bit too late, as this card would’ve been a sight for sore eyes when black’s 5cc creature section was empty.

Domri, Anarch of Bolas

A good 3cc ‘walker.

What I Like: It’s a good card for Gruul that’s not 4 mana! It’s a powerful package of effects for 3 mana. The +1/+0 anthem is a good static ability for go-wide aggressive decks and token decks. The {+1} ability provides good ramp and makes your midrange threats uncounterable. The {-2} fight trigger allows your oversized monsters to dominate smaller critters. All of his abilities are good.

What I Don't Like: Well, he does nothing on his own, and he can’t build up towards anything on his own either. If the opponent can keep your creatures off the board, Domri does literal nothing. And while all of his abilities are good effects for you, they seem to be pulling in different directions. The static ability is best suited for aggressive shells and go-wide builds. Which is the opposite kind of deck that wants the fight trigger, which is best suited for decks with powerful, oversized midrange bodies. And the middle ability is great for making my 4 and 5cc creatures uncounterable, but those bodies don’t care much about the 1 extra power.

Verdict: I would play this card myself if I had one extra slot in Gruul. But It just missed my 540 as is. But it is a good card, and I expect people to have success with it in this format.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Black’s powerful 6cc ‘walker.

What I Like: This looks to be black’s version of the 6cc Chandra and 6cc Elspeth that red and white have access to. Better in some instances and worse in others. First, Liliana has a powerful static ability; drawing a card whenever a creature dies is a very good line of text. And it works well with her {+1}. She resolves a 6 loyalty, can tick up to 7 while creating a blocker that can both trade off with an attacker and draw cards when it dies. That’s a tough uphill grind for the opponent to try to get through if they need to remove her. And her Barter in Blood trigger is a powerful effect for two reasons. First, it makes her quite effective at destroying boards with a small number of powerful threats on them. And second, her static ability really works towards making her Barter trigger asymmetrical. Your opponent loses quality creatures, and you either lose nothing, or draw up to 2 cards during the exchange. And she has an ultimate that’s very good. Liliana will prove to be a midrange breaker. Against medium-density decks with powerful individual threats, she’s going to be a complete bomb.

What I Don't Like: Both of the other 6cc control ‘walkers I use are good in scenarios where Liliana isn’t. They’re both good against swarm aggro and go-wide token decks. Those two decks are very popular in my cube. Elspeth creates 3 blockers to protect herself with, and Chandra can wipe boards against those strategies. Liliana’s biggest weakness is a strength shared by both Elspeth and Chandra. Secondly, Liliana is a painfully slow clock in comparison to those other cards. Elspeth creates 3 bodies a turn, creates 50% more power, and has an ultimate that in conjunction with her {+} ends the game on the spot most of the time. And Chandra produces 6 power of hastey threats… Chandra has attacked the opponent for 12 damage on the same turn when Liliana’s tokens have chipped in for their first 2.

Verdict: Liliana is a good ‘walker. Powerful synergistic abilities and she’s a silver bullet for threat-light builds. But her weakness to swarm aggro and token decks, and the slow nature of her clock caused some concerns with us during testing. I have her included for extended testing at 540 at the moment, but I'm not 100% sold on her as a permanent inclusion yet.

Finale of Glory

A scaleabble token producer.

What I Like: Unlike other cards of its kind, Finale of Glory produces power and toughness at a very respectable rate. If you compare it to the good fixed-cost token producers that commonly see cube play, the power/cost ratio on Finale is decent. Starting with 4 mana, cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Whirler Rogue make 4 power and multiple bodies …so does Finale. Cards like Angel of Invention and Cloudgoat Ranger make 6 power and multiple bodies for 5 mana …so does Finale. Broodmate Dragon makes 8 power and multiple bodies for 6 mana, and so does FoG. No matter where it gets played in the curve at 4+ mana, it’s going to generate a good amount of power and toughness for you, even at a rate comparable with fixed-price effects. And of course, when X=10, Finale produces 60 (SIXTY!) power worth of creatures. That’s completely absurd and wildly unprecedented. And it can occur on curve directly after Mirari’s Wake (which actually makes it 80 power). And no matter the value, the tokens all have vigilance which is a nice upside in decks anticipating a race.

What I Don't Like: Only specific decks are in the market for a scaleable token engine. W/x token/anthem decks and W/G ramp. Now both of those decks are popular in my group, but they’re not for everybody. And while the P/T created by Finale is above-average, it loses some upsides other cards of its kind have, like splashable costs, instant speed and token count.

Verdict: Card’s good but not great. If you support the decks that are interested in its efficient power/cost ratio while making multiple bodies (W/x token shells) and/or you play W/G super-ramp decks that can can potentially reach 12+ mana I suggest giving it a shot. It least until you’ve seen it create 60+ power once or twice. I play both of those decks in my playgroup, so the card appeals to me at 540. For other groups, it may land somewhere higher in the cube size value, or not be appealing at all.

Vivien's Arkbow

A unique and interesting green utility engine.

What I Like: Arkbow does a lot of little things. It’s a repeatable cheap discard outlet for graveyard-centric decks. It has the ability to turn unneeded resources into potential uncounterable threats, and it can do so at instant speed. Every time a deck draws an extra land, dead utility card or lackluster card, you can spin the wheel and try to convert it into something valuable. When you’re able to hit, you just took a useless resource and turned it into something you can use. More importantly, Arkbow has a lot of synergy with cards that want to be in the graveyard. Loam decks with Loam or excess lands? Turn them into threats at no real cost. Graveyard recursion decks? Pitch that Blooodghast, turn it into another threat, and bring the ‘ghast back for free. You get the idea. It goes from decent to amazing in decks that can use the discard to their advantage. Don’t use it when you don’t need to; activate it when you truly have dead cards, and the effect can function like pure upside for you.

What I Don't Like: The card is only okay at face value. It can miss, so if the discarded card is a resource of any value, the risk is often not worth the reward. It’s going to be relegated to decks that can take advantage of the discarded cards, where it’ll be great. But it’s going to be 22nd-23rd playable at best in generic green decks.

Verdict: A lot of what I use green for in my cube involves graveyard utility. This card will be great in Loam decks, in reanimator decks, and in recursion decks. Not to mention that it has some backdoor utility in artifact.dec shells, where it’s both an artifact and can discard big targets to your Welders, Darettis and Feldons …and it can help justify that green splash for that Verdurous Gearhulk. I plan on testing this at 540 for some extended time because it’s a hard c ard to properly evaluate without reps, and I extensively play all of the archetypes that can have success with the card. For other groups, this can range from a staple to a complete miss depending on how your playgroup likes to play.

Finale of Devastation

A new GSZ variant.

What I Like: The most obvious comparison we can draw from is Green Sun’s Zenith. Finale has the ability to target creatures in graveyards in addition to libraries, which adds quite a bit of utility in volatile singleton formats. Plus, Finale can grab creatures of any color, which makes it a lot more flexible than a card like Zenith in this format. When you build decks centered around creature effects, being able to target creatures of any color and being able to bring them back from the ‘yard makes the deck a lot more reliable. Not to mention that the card has an absurd additional upside at X=10 or more, where you get a massive overrun and global haste effect after you fetch up your creature. Which will simply end the game better than 9 times out of 10.

What I Don't Like: The XGG cost makes it slower in the early game, which makes it worse at fetching up mana dorks. Finale will be worse at enabling your ramp than GSZ is. And increasing the baseline cost of your target by 2 mana is a lot. It makes whatever you’re grabbing with it a lot less mana efficient.

Verdict: I play a lot of decks centered around creatures and creature interactions. And the ability to tutor them up regardless or color and being able to return them from the graveyard raises the consistency of those decks by quite a bit. I’m looking forward to playing this card at 540, and I expect it to stick around for me for a while. If you play similar creature-centric builds, it could see play in cubes even smaller than that too.

Gideon Blackblade

A planeswalker that plays like a creature.

What I Like: This Gideon is more akin to a creature than a traditional ‘walker. It’s a 4/4 indestructible creature that can’t take damage on your turn, which makes it a very effective attacker that can survive your own mass removal. The indestructibility he can gift to other creatures can make him very effective at making your mass creature removal effects asymmetrical. He grants vigilance too, which is good at protecting his loyalty, and he can provide lifelink which makes Gideon very hard to race. All of this is being done while attacking for 4 every turn, while quickly building up to an ultimate that can exile your opponent’s permanents.

What I Don't Like: He can’t protect himself without help, so you need other bodies on the board to take full advantage of his abilities and keep him safe from counterattacks.

Verdict: Might not be the most exciting ‘walker, but Gideon is definitely good. All of the Gideons have been creatures in some respects, but this one takes that concept to its logical conclusion. I’ll be playing this at 540, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it falls anywhere between the 450 to 630 range, depending on playgroup preferences.

Liliana's Triumph

A new Diabolic Edict variant!

What I Like: Well, if you like Diabolic Edict, you’re gonna like Liliana’s Triumph. Any time you have a Liliana out, you get to snag an extra card from their hand in addition to the creature they have to sacrifice, which is a great rate of return for a 2-mana instant. It also doesn’t target the opponent, so it can get around Willbender effects and Aegis of the Gods/Leyline of Sanctity effects if your cube plays any of those.

What I Don't Like: It’s not strictly better than Diabolic Edict, since you can’t target yourself. If a situation arises where you need to fizzle a Treachery or stop the opponent from getting a threat with their Control Magic, you can’t do it. But I think I’ve cast more Edicts with a Liliana on the battlefield than instances where I’ve needed to target myself with one before, so it’s a pretty marginal drawback.

Verdict: If you like Diabolic Edict, you can run this instead. If you love Diabolic Edict (like I do) you can play both. Otherwise, you can probably continue to run neither. I think this is safely a 540 card, with maybe some 450 cubes playing it if you’re into the effect. If you hate edicts, you won’t play it. Simple as that.

God-Eternal Kefnet

A good body with a powerful ability.

What I Like: Blue might be the color that benefits the most from the way the new gods protect themselves for a few of reasons. First, between the card draw and the library manipulation, blue won’t have an issue re-drawing the god quickly if it’s dispatched. Second, blue decks tend to be more threat light, which means that having one that’s almost impossible to truly get rid of makes your won conditions more reliable. Lastly, blue decks are typically slower, so the time it takes to redraw and recast your threat doesn’t go against the deck identity as much. Kefnet is a 4/5 flying creature for 4 mana that can’t be effectively dealt with on a permanent basis. And that’s not even mentioning the ability on the card, which is insanely powerful. Each time that you draw a valid target, Kefnet can copy it …at a discounted price. And the spell goes into your hand. So it doesn’t cost you a card, you just get free card advantage. Draw an impulse? Cast it for one mana and put the Impulse into your hand (along with your chosen card). Extra Ponders, Lightning Bolts, Disenchants …you name it. Some cards get crazy with it, like 1-mana Arc Lightnings and 1-mana draw 7’s. 4-mana on-curve Wildfires? Sign me up. 3-mana free copies of Bribery? Mystic Confluence? The list goes on and on. Not to mention that Kefnet is part of an infinite combo (something that was brought to my attention by ryansaxe, thanks!) with Time Walk and one of either Scroll Rack or Jace, the Mind Sculptor. Insane.

What I Don't Like: Blue’s competition at the 4cc slot is tight for small cubes, and while this may be one of the more generically powerful 4-drops available to the color, the other ones may be more important for supporting specific decktypes.

Verdict: I found a way to shoehorn this into my cube because I think it’s just too powerful not to play in medium-sized cubes. There won’t be any situation where this card is bad, but there might be cubebs that are arranged in such a way where finding room is too difficult. I’m playing this at 540, and it can certainly fit into smaller cubes if you can find room, but I don’t think it should miss the cut in anything at least that size or bigger.

Ilharg, the Raze-Boar

A strong creature with a unique ability.

What I Like: Ilharg (which we’ve been calling ill-hog, because he’s one sick pig) is a good monster. A 6/6 trample that’s hard to permanently deal with is a good rate for a 5cc creature, and he fits into a variety of red’s more unique archetypes that it supports. First, it’s a great backup support card for Sneak Attack/Oath fatty-cheating decks. It gives you another effect that can drop big monsters to help with consistency, and it’s particularly helpful in Oath because the attack trigger can give you a way to extract value from a fatty that may otherwise be trapped in your hand. Ill-hog is also fantastic in Wildfire shells, not only because it resolves on T5 and survives an on-curve Wildfire, but also because once the Wildfire pops and players are playing a low-resource game, he helps you utilize otherwise uncastable creatures in your hand. In addition to those decks, Ilharg also works with the Feldon/Alesha/Vat/Portal decks that are engineered to abuse ETB creatures. For obvious reasons, since he puts the creature onto the table, gives you the ETB effect, and then returns it to your hand where it can be used again later. Some creatures in the cube are just insane with this creature, since they either hit really hard, provide powerful effects, or both. The more we’ve seen the boar in action, the more new and unique ways we’re finding to take advantage of it. Great with Greaves and Fires effects too, if you support ‘em. Plus, it’s a BOAR GOD.

What I Don't Like: Since it doesn’t have haste, the opponent can cost-effectively keep it at bay with their removal spells and it doesn’t guarantee you any value. The tuck clause helps, but it can still be painful against cheap removal spells.

Verdict: I was skeptical, then I was a fan, and then I decided to test it and I’m sold. While there are better 5-drops in red, there aren’t any on the outside looking in that can contribute the the success of so many different red decks. I’m stoked to have this in at 540, and I’d play it at 450 too. If you play all the decks that want the boar, it could be playable all the way down to 360 as far as I can tell. Surprisingly good creature.

Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

A hybrid Young Pyromancer variant.

What I Like: We’ve never really seen a card that functions quite like this before. It’s a planeswalker, but it plays more like an enchantment with loyalty interactions. It will often be correct to elect NOT to use her ability and simply preserve loyalty. She creates her own blockers and has 5 loyalty, so she has some resilience despite not having a {+} ability. The static effect is great. It’s like a hybrid between Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor with the additional upside of creating artifacts. The ability will be useful in token decks, the artifact.dec and in spells matters decks, which makes her valuable for a wide range of archetypes. And she has a hybrid mana cost, even further adding to her flexibility! The {-2} effect will be really broken in certain windows. Copying a Pyromancer or Mentor before unloading a chain of spells is crazy. Turning a cheap artifact into a bomb creature will randomly win games. Saheeli will keep that effect in the bag until it’s time to do something bonkers with it. Like copying big mana rocks and generating massive mana all at once!

What I Don't Like: It’s going to take some getting used to when it comes to loyalty management on a ‘walker with no {+} ability.

Verdict: This card’s power is largely subtle. Incremental advantages, value generated through synergy, strength through flexibility, etc. It doesn’t have the raw obvious strength that attracts less experienced players to it. But I do think this card is really good. Both in the cube and probably for eternal constructed formats too. It would not shock me at all to see this card become a staple everywhere. I would play this card at least at 450, if not all the way down into the #3 slot in Izzet and seeing play at 360.

Blast Zone

Ratchet Bomb, in my lands? It’s more likely than you’d think.

What I Like: The advantage Ratchet Bomb has over something like Powder Keg is the ability to hit ‘walkers. The problem that Bomb has with ‘walkers is the length of time it takes to build enough enough counters to pop them. Zone enters with a counter, and can add XX counters per activation, making it a faster way to deal with those kinds of threats when it’s drawn later in the game. Not to mention that entering with a single counter allows you to pop all 1cc cards the turn it resolves, which can help deal with aggro beaters and other utility cards. And since transform cards maintain the CMC of their front sides now, not being able to pop for 0 is less of a liability. And ya, did I mention that this effect is attached to a land?! It doesn’t require a dedicated slot during deckbuilding, and it can be chained with Loam effects. And it enters play untapped. For cheaper CMC targets, Zone is a full turn faster. For more expensive CMC targets, Zone can be twice as fast at reaching a point where it can deal with them.

What I Don't Like: For obvious reasons, the card couldn’t enter with 0 counters, so you can’t use Zone to blow up tokens or Moxen like you can with other cards like it.

Verdict: I like how they navigated the drawback of not being able to be popped for 0 by making it better at dealing with higher CMC permanents. It’s really rare to see this kind of effect attached to a land, and I was really surprised to see it when it was spoiled. I think the card’s going to be quite good. It’s probably good enough for 360 cubes, and I would certainly try and test it for permanent inclusion at 450+.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

Another Rabblemaster variant?

What I Like: This is yet another take on Goblin Rabblemaster, and we have 5 options for this kind of card now. I sat down and did an incredibly in-depth analysis of the 5 cards in comparison to one another, with the goal to objectively rank the 5 contenders head to head and create a ranking list. I measured each card in 5 categories, and the categories were ultimately weighted from most important to least important. The 5 categories were: Total damage output (bby the end of combbat on T6), Combat survivability, Number of tokens produced (by the end of combat on T6), Floor value and Cube interactions. Damage is the most important, because at the end of the day, it’s a 3cc red creature and dealing damage is what you want it to do (damage was measured at a multiplier of 5). Combat survivability is the 2nd most important aspect of the card, because nothing much matters if the card dies in combat to everything (combat was measured at a multiplier of 4). Next, was the number of tokens produced. While these are attacking red creatures, aggro isn’t their only role. They’re also token makers for those kinds of decks, and how many tokens they generate is important (tokens were measured at a multiplier of 3). Floor value measures how much guaranteed value I get from the card even if it’s dealt with. The first scenario involves the opponent untapping and killing my creature with a removal spell. Am I guaranteed any value if that happens? The second scenario involves dying in combat with the first attack (to a flash creature like Vendillion Clique). How much value do I get if it survives to attack once, even if it dies doing so? Those 2 scenarios combined to create the floor analysis (floor value is measured at a multiplier of 2). The last category was cube interactions, designed to estimate the card’s ceiling in scenarios where the card has help. This was mainly used for a tiebreaker, since while important, it wasn’t as important as the other categories (interactions were measured at a multiplier of 1). So what did that data look like when tabled?


So I compiled all the weighted data, and it gave me the following ranking by the numbers:

#1 (51 Points) - Goblin Rabblemaster
#2 (48 Points) - Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
#3 (43 Points) - Hanweir Garrison
#4 (42 Points) - Najeela, the Blade-Blossom
#5 (41 Points) - Legion Warboss

I literally set out to prove that Krenko wasn’t up to snuff and ended up proving that he’s the 2nd best one of the bunch. But how? Despite being the lowest in damage output (which was the category with the highest ranking)! Krenko can attack effectively into the biggest blockers. Krenko makes the most tokens. AND Krenko has some of the best interactions in the cube, since anything that pumps his power allows him to make more tokens.

What I Don't Like: The damage output is lower than the other cards in the competition and the floor value is among the worst.

Verdict: My analysis kinda backfired on me because I set out to prove the opposite of what the data ended up showing me. But it’s ultimately a success because it showed me that I needed to see Krenko in action before judging him. So I put him in for testing and haven’t looked back. It’s really a great card. Growing in size makes him far more survivable, and the tokens he creates spiral out of control quickly. While not entering tapped and attacking lowers his damage output, it does allow you to dominate races by having blockers available. Overall, the data suggests that he’s the 2nd best one of those creatures from the pool, and I think that even 360 cubes are playing at least 2 cards of this kind. Therefore I’m concluding that this card is worthwhile at 360. The testing has been proving the data right, I can’t say enough good things about this card.