Welcome to my 26th HOT TAKES article on CubeCobra! Does Aetherdrift make you feel the NEED for SPEED? Why did Kaladesh get renamed to Avishkar? How come girls always unmatch from me on Tinder when I ask them how they feel about DFT? Let's find out!
These takes are just my opinion and I am generally viewing the cards on how I think they would perform in singleton cubes that are in the style of the MTGO Vintage / Legacy cube lists.
WHITE Basri, Tomorrow's Champion
A legendary Savannah Lions with cycling, a cycling trigger, and an exert ability is always a good place to start. Cycling is a really nice touch to a Savannah Lions since they can quickly lose their value as the game progresses. 
is a bit much for cycling, but it's better than nothing. The exert ability is awkward because this wants to attack as much as possible. Exerting Basri means it can't attack for two turns, and the payoff of a 1/1 cat for lifelink seems to be not worth the effort. It's something to do in a board stall or if Basri gets hit with removal when it's untapped and doesn't have summoning sickness. The cat tribal text is mostly flavor text, but Ocelot Pride / Ajani, Nacatl Pariah being two of white's best creatures helps a bit.
While Basri looks great on the surface, I think all the text is just a shiny veneer that makes this card look better / more desirable than it actually is. While cycling is nice, Thraben Inspector / Novice Inspector gives you the best of both worlds where you can pay + over two turns and still get a body out of the process. Not only that, but they’re better with blink effects while also contributing to artifact critical mass synergies. I also can't get over how much of an anti-pattern its exert ability is for an aggro deck. Kytheon, Hero of Akros / Usher of the Fallen are two of the better Savannah Lions variants in white because their abilities compliment their aggression while exert only holds Basri's aggression back.
I'm not going to pretend that it's still 2012 where any new Savannah Lions with upside is the most desirable card in the set since they're a dime a dozen these days. In a vacuum, I'd say this is somewhere between my third or fifth favorite Savannah Lions variant (Ocelot Pride doesn't count). Kytheon, Hero of Akros / Usher of the Fallen are my top two, so this is fighting Isamaru, Hound of Konda / Dauntless Bodyguard for the 3-5 slots. That being said, it's hard to go wrong with a Savannah Lions with cycling. Basri's value really skyrockets if you support Mox Amber / other legendary matters stuff. But otherwise I like the following creatures more for (ordered alphabetically):
Skyseer's Chariot
Phyrexian Revoker x Smuggler's Copter. This has good stats and crew 2 is passable since most creatures you'd play in an aggro deck are going to have at least 2 power. Evasion is always nice for contesting monarch / initiative. Like Phyrexian Revoker, this shuts off most mana rocks (although they can use it for very expensive mana filtering), and severely neuters Grim Monolith / Basalt Monolith. Unlike Phyrexian Revoker and other Pithing Needle effects, this doesn't completely shutdown non mana abilities, most notably planeswalkers.
How good this is going to be for you is going to be very dependent on how good Phyrexian Revoker currently is in your cube. This will obviously be better in a powered cube where it has cheap mana rocks to shut off in the early game. Personally I'm not a fan of Pithing Needle type cards outside of Phyrexian Revoker and Tishana's Tidebinder, and even then I think they're fairly medium. I value this ability the least in white since it has all the single targeted removal in the world for any nonland permanent they want to remove. This is still a decent card though, it's just not for me.
Voyager Glidecar
A Kird Ape mobile with crew 1 and ETB scry 1 is unprecedented. Whether it's good or not is hard to tell! Probably not so much. I originally thought its activated ability turned it into a creature permanently, which would've given it a decent Guide of Souls impression. As is I'm not really interested in this unless you're really heavy into artifact aggro stuff featuring Toolcraft Exemplar.
Bulwark Ox
Just play Selfless Spirit / Luminarch Aspirant instead.
Sundial, Dawn Tyrant
A vanilla legendary artifact creature that leaves Watchwolf / Cloistered Youth in shambles. Mono colored Watchwolf with a single pip isn't exactly great on its own without additional text, but this does provide critical mass for both legendary AND artifacts matters while being decent on its own. This compares most to Porcelain Legionnaire to me since the 3 toughness is a fair trade for first strike. I can see this being appealing if you're supporting Mox Amber and / or Mox Opal, but is pretty passable if you're not.
Wizened Mentor
White's take on Harsh Mentor. This triggers on any permanent type and not just lands / creatures / artifacts, but comes at the tradeoff of only triggering once each turn. I think Harsh Mentor is generally better since it can stop a lot of things in their tracks like Time Vault combo, Kiki-Twin, Sensei's Divining Top loops / etc where this can't. If you're really into Harsh Mentor effects though, than this will probably be pretty appealing to you.
Here's two CubeCobra filter queries that you can use to help determine the effectiveness of this and Harsh Mentor.
o:":" -o:add or type:equipment or type:planeswalker
o:":" -o:add AND (type:land or type:creature or type:artifact) or type:equipment
These filters aren't perfect. Some things to keep in mind:
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Activated abilities from hand / graveyard will appear as FALSE POSITIVES (cycling / channel / eternalize / etc)
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Permanents that tap for mana and have activated abilities are FALSE NEGATIVES (Strip Mine / Wasteland / Library of Alexandria / Karakas / Deathrite Shaman / Horizon Canopy cycle / Landscapes / etc)
Perilous Snare
Banishing Light in artifact form. Being an artifact is pretty relevant and opens this up to a lot of synergies / critical mass strategies that generally outweighs being more fragile than an enchantment. The speed text is a nice bonus and is better than nothing. This is a good replacement / supplement to Oblivion Ring / Banishing Light if you're currently playing those, but probably isn't so much better to include this if you're already not playing those.
Guardian Sunmare
Ward 2 and putting a nonland permanent with mana value 3 or less from your library onto the battlefield is cool, but the hoops it has to jump through is quite high. I'd rather just play Guardian Scalelord and easily recur things from my graveyard.
Spectacular Pileup
It took over 30 years, but we finally got Wrath of God with cycling! 
is still playable for this effect considering Sunfall is fairly popular, and having a non-inflated cycling cost of is much appreciated. Removing indestructible and hitting vehicles is a nice touch. While the only vehicles that most MTGO Vintage style cubes probably only run are Smuggler's Copter / Esika's Chariot, taking those out is a big deal for control decks.
I'm always looking for more control tools / sweepers, so I'm very interested in this. I still prefer the efficiency of Wrath of God / Day of Judgment more, but I think this is more useful than Sunfall. Cycling becomes much more valuable the more expensive / situational a card is. If I think a card will be cycled about 50% of the time compared to being cast, I'll lean towards the card with cycling but a slightly weaker effect than the card without cycling but has a stronger effect. That's the case here for me since expensive cards tend to get cycled more than they're actually cast.
BLUE Diversion Unit
A 2/1 flyer that can sacrifice itself for Miscast ain't an awful floor, and being an artifact is always randomly good (until it isn't!). Only hitting instants / sorceries makes its activated ability quite narrow. It's also made much worse by your opponent knowing it exists. Malevolent Hermit is fairly similar. It doesn't fly right off the bat, but being able to hit noncreature spells and being castable from the graveyard via disturb gives this a good run for its money. I'd give Diversion Unit the edge in a cube with heavy monarch / initiative presence since it has flying right off the bat. But even then, this is nothing special. Being an artifact doesn't carry a lot of weight for me since this will probably be the worst card in your artifact deck (or any deck really). Tempo decks would rather just play a looter so they can draw into their disruption / win conditions. In a high powered environment I'd much rather just play Spell Pierce / Negate. Stern Scolding is also a really good option since it helps shore up blue's weakness to small creatures in the early game.
Rhet-Tomb Mystic
A 2/1 flyer that gives all your creature cards in your hand cycling for 
sounds cool in theory, but messy in practice. Cards like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy / Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel / Duelist of the Mind / Suspicious Stowaway / Kitsa, Otterball Elite / Shoreline Looter / etc don't apply a tax for every card I want to loot away, actually loot (draw then discard) and not cycle / rummage (discard then draw). They're also not restricted to just looting away creatures!
This card is a trap unless you dislike the power level / complexity of the commonly played looters and / or explicitly support cycling matters stuff like Astral Slide / Astral Drift / etc. Blue literally has no shortage of awesome ways to loot cards away. Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman have a more powerful ability that's half the cost and is in a better color for this effect. If you really want to pay 2 mana every time you want to loot / rummage, Currency Converter will do it for you while spitting out treasure / creature tokens while not being limited to just discarding away your creatures.
Scrounging Skyray
This is great if you support a discard matters theme. Flying is especially really nice on this since it can grow quite fast. Without a discard theme this is generally much worse than things like Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel / Duelist of the Mind / Ledger Shredder / etc.
Repurposing Bay
I've never been a fan of Birthing Pod because it's slow and the strict linear approach of the search makes it very narrow. This is just as slow and even more narrow since creatures are both much higher in both quality and quantity than artifacts.
Stock Up
Mini Dig Through Time for . This digs as deep as Fact or Fiction while being able to always pick the two best cards. Not fueling the graveyard / being a sorcery / no potential to get more cards is a bummer, but is worth the tradeoff for being a mana cheaper. This digs deeper than Brainsurge and not getting hosted by Hullbreacher / Orcish Bowmasters / etc is really nice. I feel like this is somewhere between Brainsurge and Thirst for Discovery, making it at least testable in my eyes. This will probably mostly find a home in combo decks since it's pretty good at stringing together a high impact play. I'll probably give this a test since I'm always looking for value cards that allow me to dig for my combos at the same time.
Waxen Shapethief
I first read this as a Stunt Double that cycles and thought “that’s pretty good!” Then I read it again and thought it was a Stunt Double that cycles that also copies artifacts too like Phyrexian Metamorph and I was thought “wow, that’s REALLY good!” Then I read it a third time and realized that it only copies your own stuff and that completely ruined the card for me. Clone effects like Phyrexian Metamorph / Phantasmal Image have gone up alot in value for me over the years because of the power creep of cheaty face targets, initiative enablers, and just doing really dirty things by copying Pyrogoyf / Broadside Bombardiers. Clone effects that can only copy your own stuff have never worked out for me since it effectively halves your target and opens you up to more blowouts from your opponent having removal. This having flash helps in that regard, but not being able to copy your opponent’s stuff also really hurts the comeback factor that clones can give you to crawl back into a game. Glasspool Mimic was okay at the time since it was an MDFC land. This has potential to be better with flash + cycling, but even then I still really don’t like this card. Only copying your own things with a Clone effect is such a huge dealbreaker for me.
BLACK Gas Guzzler
A black Savannah Lions variant that also doubles as a speed enabler / payoff. A one drop beater is pretty much the ideal speed enabler sans an actual burn spell which would guarantee you to go from 0 to 2 speed in a single turn. While getting max speed can be slow, the ability is quite strong. This pairs well with all the Gravecrawler / Bloodghast type creatures in black and fits quite well in aristocrat decks. I personally don't support aristocrats or Gravecrawler type cards anymore since I've found hatebears to be much better in my cube. If I did support that package though I'd probably be fairly interested in this.
Grim Bauble
Disfigure in bauble form. Being an artifact and being able to sacrifice this to scry can make up for the lack of instant speed or being an aura like Dead Weight. This really goes up in value if you're really into things like metalcraft / affinity / Shrapnel Blast. Cheap removal spells that you can blink with Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is always nice (not that Phelia needs any explicit help), and Lurrus of the Dream-Den always likes its baubles. I'd like this card much more if the scry ability wasn't so expensive. As is I think this is about on par with Disfigure. Personally I'd prioritize the instant speed of Disfigure to help reactive decks more. But even then I think Disfigure effects are generally worse than other removal spells for 
like Bloodchief's Thirst / Cut Down / Fatal Push. Cheap removal is always playable, but this isn't a high priority for me since I'm already not playing Disfigure and aren't desperate for a critical mass of artifacts.
Intimidation Tactics
Divest that exiles and cycles! Intimidation Tactics has no need for introductions for me since Dreams of Steel and Oil has been a solid tier 2 discard spell for . Cycling is always welcome on a card, although this is one of those scenarios where I think it's going to be cast much more than it'll be cycled. If something is going to be cast roughly 80% of the time, I'd rather have the more powerful effect than the option to cycle. The same goes for Dread Fugue where I'd probably just pay the cleave in most scenarios rather than cycle it.
As far as tier 2 discard spells for goes, my personal ranking for them goes Dread Fugue > Dreams of Steel and Oil > Intimidation Tactics. Currently Dreams of Steel and Oil / Intimidation Tactics has a slightly higher hit rate for of 47.7% than Dread Fugue's 44.8%, but the ability to cleave more than makes up for that 2.9% gap. I also value Dread Fugue's ability to hit problematic combo spells like Flash / Demonic Consultation / Oath of Druids / actual reanimator cards / etc. Black combo decks also really appreciate being able to hit counterspells.
Here's the CubeCobra filters if you want to do the math between the cards for your own cubes.
Dreams of Steel and Oil / Intimidation Tactics
t:creature OR t:artifact
Dread Fugue
mv<=2 AND -t:land
Locust Spray
Black's take on Spark Spray. Only hitting things with a single toughness makes this pretty narrow even with its cheap cycling ability. Less than 1500 cubes on CubeCobra run Spark Spray, so I don't see this being too appealing unless you're a Drake Haven gamer or something. For funsies I asked ChatGPT to write a review of a few cards from this set. If you think I’m a harsh critic, ChatGPT is extremely brutal to any card that isn't Black Lotus / Ancestral Recall / Tinker / etc and makes me look like the Easter Bunny in comparison.
ChatGPT review:
Review of Locust Spray in the Context of MTGO Vintage CubeAt first glance, Locust Spray is a fairly low-impact card in the context of Vintage Cube, a format defined by hyper-powerful spells, game-breaking combos, and premium removal. Let's break it down in terms of playability, potential synergies, and overall viability.
Power Level and PlayabilityA one-mana instant that gives a creature -1/-1 until end of turn is about as marginal as removal gets. In the Vintage Cube, where creatures are either enormous threats (Griselbrand, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) or hyper-efficient (Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Monastery Mentor), this effect is rarely impactful. It can snipe a Llanowar Elves or Dark Confidant, but most high-priority threats will laugh at a single point of toughness reduction.
Cycling UtilityCycling for is the one saving grace of this card. In a deck that values consistency over raw power—perhaps a Storm or Reanimator deck looking to filter draws—it might not be completely unplayable. However, even in that context, there are far better cyclers (Street Wraith, Unearth, Miscalculation), and decks prioritizing filtering effects will want higher-impact spells.
There are a few theoretical interactions that could make this card worth playing:
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Recurring Nightmare / Reanimator Decks – Can be cycled to put a big creature into the graveyard (editor’s note: this is wrong, ChatGPT is often incorrect about rulings / interactions).
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The "Cycling Matters" Niche (Rare in Vintage Cube) – If there's an Astral Drift or Drake Haven deck (highly unlikely), this could be a fine role-player.
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Storm / Fast Combo Decks – Cycling for
might help dig for key combo pieces, but there are much better options.
In a format that runs Fatal Push, Snuff Out, and Dismember as premium black removal spells, Locust Spray is laughably weak. Even in powered cubes that run low-mana filler like Disfigure, Dead Weight, or Bloodchief's Thirst, Locust Spray wouldn't make the cut outside of extreme desperation.
Final VerdictIf this were in a lower-powered cube, perhaps something like a Pauper or Peasant Cube, it could be an acceptable inclusion. However, in MTGO Vintage Cube, this is utterly unplayable. It lacks the power, efficiency, or game-winning potential needed to justify a slot in any deck. It's strictly worse than almost every removal spell and filler cantrip available.
Rating: 1/10 – Unplayable in Vintage CubeIt's a fun and flavorful design, but unless you're meme-drafting or doing an all-cycling challenge, this is a card that should never make your 40-card deck.
The Last Ride
Quag Feast
Kind of sort of Fell x Eliminate. Fueling your graveyard is always nice, and being able to always kill Smuggler's Copter or potentially destroy Esika's Chariot makes the vehicle line fairly useful. I can see this being appealing in a lot of cubes, but I don't think I'm currently in the market for this. My bar for black 1-2 cmc removal is very high these days. This is closer to Fell / Eliminate to me than Sheoldred's Edict / Bitter Triumph while lacking the modality of Shriekmaw / Collective Brutality. I like this better than Fell since this fuels the graveyard and can hit planeswalkers / vehicles. I do think Eliminate is better than this since it has the better floor and being an instant is huge against bombs like White Plume Adventurer / Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot / Hullbreacher / etc. This is still a decent card, but 2 mana, being a sorcery, and not being reliable in what it can kill gives this a lower position on the cheap black removal totem pole.
Gastal Raider
Whether or not you care about speed, I would just play Thought-Stalker Warlock instead.
The Speed Demon
![[Speed Racer Demon on Wheels]](https://cdn2.steamgriddb.com/logo_thumb/c4c2e7143c8d44b7a6779cddfe1860ed.png){kind=logo}
Bloodgift Demon on speed. This ain't bad for a Baneslayer Angel type card, and having an end step trigger is a big upgrade compared to Bloodgift Demon. This is probably the single best payoff for speed if you wish to explicitly support that theme. In a way this kind of reminds me of The One Ring in how it keeps on drawing you more cards / losing more life. The big difference being that The One Ring draws you 3 cards by your next upkeep for 1 life where this has to wait another whole turn cycle to draw that much. Personally I'd only consider this if you want to support speed or are already playing things like Bloodgift Demon / Doom Whisperer.
RED Greasewrench Goblin
Kellan, Planar Trailblazer x Falkenrath Pit Fighter... at uncommon! This has a lower ceiling than Kellan, but is more efficient in pumping itself up. Not having to sacrifice itself / another vampire and giving itself a +1/+1 counter makes it much more desirable to me than Pit Fighter. This is also very reminiscent of Hired Claw which is also very good and quite underrated, IMO. Hired Claw is a bit more efficient, but lacks the ability to rummage.
Despite being a lower rarity and having much less text, I like Greasewrench Goblin for red much more than I like Basri, Tomorrow's Champion for white in a vacuum. Greasewrench Goblin is arguably the second best red Savannah Lions after Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, but a lot of it comes down to personal preference / what you want to support. If you want pure aggression, Hired Claw is probably the best of the “level up” one drops due to its efficiency. Kellan, Planar Trailblazer / Norin, Swift Survivalist / Zurgo Bellstriker are more preferable if you really want to support Mox Amber and friends. Greasewrench Goblin is arguably the most versatile of the three since it can rummage and can act as a backup discard outlet when needed.
Marauding Mako
A much better Flameblade Adept since it gets +1/+1 counters instead of just +1/+0 until end of turn for each card you discard. Having cycling gives this a lot of flexibility and also makes it both a discard payoff and enabler. This is huge if you support madness and are already playing things like Ivora, Insatiable Heir. Personally I'm not in the market for this card since I don't support these things, but even then this is still fairly appealing without explicit madness support.
Draconautics Engineer
A new take on Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei (because we all remember what the card does!). Both have the same floor of Grizzly Bears, but Draconautics Engineer gives itself a counter and has a cheaper and non-conditional way to make a dragon. These come at the cost of its abilities having exhaust, but overall it's still better than Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei. That being said, Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei was never great to begin with… The floor of a 2/2 for 
or a 3/3 with haste for is pretty whatever. Sure this is great if you're able to milk its abilities to their absolute fullest, but that takes a lot of time and mana. The beauty of other mana sink creatures like Kellan, Planar Trailblazer / Hired Claw / Greasewrench Goblin / etc is that the floor of a Savannah Lions for is much better than the floor of a Grizzly Bears / Hulking Bugbear for / respectively. This would've been cool 5+ years ago, but there's just too much competition for me to consider this in 2025.
Tyrox, Saurid Tyrant
Red has more than enough legendary creatures to comfortably support Mox Amber and I'd rather just play any 2/2 with haste for instead.
Howlsquad Heavy
A Goblin Rabblemaster variant with the set mechanic. Having a third toughness is quite relevant since this doesn't die to Shock / Disfigure variants and makes it harder to trade with in combat. Not forcing every goblin to attack and giving other goblins haste is a nice touch. The speed bonus is going to feel like a planeswalker ultimate where it's going to be flavor text most of the time, but this is one of the better speed enablers if that's something you want to support.
While most Goblin Rabblemaster type cards are baseline playable, they're in what's probably by far the most competitive slot in a typical MTGO Vintage style cube. The bar being so high for these cards means details really matter in terms of what actually makes the cut. Goblin Rabblemaster / Legion Warboss / Squee, Dubious Monarch have a higher solo damage output than Howlsquad Heavy which IMO outweigh Howlsquad Heavy's benefits. Things like Squee, Dubious Monarch / Phoenix of Ash / Gastal Thrillroller having recursion is generally more valuable than having a third toughness.
Giving other goblins haste isn't much a dealmaker in my cube since I only have 7 goblins, and 2 of them already have haste. I need to be playing all the other Goblin Rabblemaster variants for the haste clause to be more relevant, and that's a hard sell because there's a good amount of cubes now that don't even play Goblin Rabblemaster. Without a speed / goblin theme, this is a much lower priority to me than other similar aggro beaters like Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot / Laelia, the Blade Reforged / Goblin Rabblemaster / Squee, Dubious Monarch / Death-Greeter's Champion / Screaming Nemesis / Legion Warboss / etc.
Fuel the Flames
A more flexible Pyroclasm / Sweltering Suns. Being instead of , instant speed, and cheaper cycling cost makes this much more desirable than Sweltering Suns. While I said that I prefer the cheaper effect of Wrath of God / Day of Judgment to Spectacular Pileup, I like this over Pyroclasm since that's a much more narrow / situational effect than Wrath of God. Pyroclasm is so cheap that you typically don't play it on curve anyways unless you really need to deal with premium threats Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer / Ocelot Pride / Hexdrinker /Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / etc, or want to slow down your opponent's mana dorks. I've actually been testing Pyroclasm lately since small creatures are so powerful these days, so I'll probably just swap that out for Fuel the Flames.
Gastal Thrillroller
Fleetwheel Cruiser x Hell's Thunder makes this pretty aggressive. This has more raw power by itself right out of the gate than any other Rabblemaster variant right out of the gate, and the recursion makes this a strong closer. This plays closest to Squee, Dubious Monarch / Phoenix of Ash to me, and has some nice advantages over them like more raw power / being easier to recur. For those that weren't cubing when OG Kaladesh was released, Fleetwheel Cruiser was a very strong aggro curve topper since the only other comparable 4-cmc haste beaters at the time were Hellrider / Hero of Oxid Ridge / Koth of the Hammer. Fleetwheel Cruiser was also played in Workshop Aggro decks for a while in Vintage as a replacement to Slash Panther since killing Jace, the Mind Sculptor was very important back in the day. I don't like this more than Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot / Laelia, the Blade Reforged, but this has a solid argument for being in the next tier of aggressive red 3-cmc creatures alongside Goblin Rabblemaster / Squee, Dubious Monarch / Phoenix of Ash / Death-Greeter's Champion / Screaming Nemesis / etc.
Chandra, Spark Hunter
Chandra doing the iconic Akira bike slide!
![[Akira Bike Slide GIF]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0da475404edcaaf05cbe46ec8e7238f8/815e416b186f1c14-f9/s540x810/1a44cecd9371236ffdb73f27ea5c8370baeb028f.gifv)
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The static ability is cool since in tandem with its second ability it functions as a pseudo Koth of the Hammer that doesn’t put your mountains at risk.
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Gaining two loyalty per activation is nice to have, but a pseudo Demand Answers for a single draw is pretty weak by itself and this is quite pricey just for a discard outlet.
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Making a 3/2 vehicle with crew 1 is fine with the static ability. Not gaining any loyalty or being good at protecting this planeswalker can make this feel pretty bad in the long run though. While it's only crew 1, a lot of creatures that you're going to be playing this with will probably have at least two power, reducing your overall gains.
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The ultimate just feels like a bad version of Chandra, Torch of Defiance's ultimate.
As much as I love the design of this planeswalker, this is very mediocre at best to me. It doesn't really have a home where it can shine in and will probably suffer from massive card #24 syndrome. Being a 4-cmc red card also doesn't help since that's a very competitive slot. Overall I think this is just a much worse Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but I can see this being appealing in more fair environments that support artifact aggro type strategies.
Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer
This is cool if you support Goblin Welder / Daretti, Scrap Savant type strategies. I'm generally not a fan of Goblin Welder since it's essentially asking for a 3-4 card combo that requires a 1/1 surviving a full turn cycle. This being a threat on its own and being able to do its thing while being offensive at the same time is nice.
Territorial Aetherkite
Red's take on Massacre Wurm. This is actually pretty good if you're looking for a Massacre Wurm type creature in red. I used to play Thunder Dragon in Legacy Reanimator vs Goblins in the very early days of Legacy, so this card tickles my heart a bit. Giving this haste is a huge overall upgrade from Thunder Dragon. While I'm always looking for more energy cards, this doesn't really fit well with the current energy package. While this isn't strictly worse than something like Inferno Titan, this does have a lot of competition with that and modal options such as Trumpeting Carnosaur / Overlord of the Boilerbilges. Great card if you're looking for a cheaty face target with crowd control abilities like Massacre Wurm, but fairly passable if not.
GREEN District Mascot
Cute, but I think this is worse than other grow creatures like Pelt Collector / Experiment One, not to mention other similar aggressive creatures like Ascendant Packleader / Pawpatch Recruit.
Molt Tender
This is probably pretty good if you're breaking singleton for fetchlands. But at that point what's stopping you from breaking singleton for Deathrite Shaman? On the singleton side of things, I'm not a fan of this. The primary strength of mana dorks is to be able to ramp on turn 2, which this can't reliably do. Deathrite Shaman can at least eat your opponent's fetch and is a strong hatebear.
Webstrike Elite
Kalonian Tusker with reach and cycling. The cycling trigger makes this a very strong 2 for 1 for 
against any moxen / Mana Crypt / Urza's Saga / etc. While it's great in exactly those scenarios, I don't think it's anything special outside of those scenarios. I would've much rather this have trample or vigilance over reach. I have a very high bar for mono colored 2-cmc cards with double pips. This is kind of borderline in that regard since it has the flexibility of cycling. While you can do much worse than this, I'm not a big fan of cards that requires your opponent to have exactly a moxen / Mana Crypt / Urza's Saga to be great. Personally I’d probably just rather play Foundation Breaker / Reclamation Sage.
Dredger's Insight
A generally better Winding Way since this can also get artifacts. This is a nice option if you're really into Insidious Roots, very passable if you're not. Malevolent Rumble is tough to beat for this effect.
Thunderous Velocipede
I'm no expert in this subject, but this seems to be one of the cooler persist (the mechanic, not the card Persist) combo enablers? Being a vehicle means it's harder to remove than other persist enablers that are probably creatures (again, not an expert in the combo options). Being able to pump other creatures that enter the battlefield after this helps mitigate its fairly high crew cost. Giving your more expensive creatures three +1/+1 counters instead of one is also a nice bonus. Curve Deep Forest Hermit into this and you'd get a 4/4 hermit and four 3/3 squirrels!
Oviya, Automech Artisan
Power crept Elvish Piper. Giving your creatures trample is VERY relevant and can easily speed up your clock by a turn or two. Having an extra toughness and giving artifact creatures you cheat in two +1/+1 counters is a nice bonus, although being vulnerable to Karakas sucks. While this is an overall upgrade to Elvish Piper, that's already generally a worse Monster Manual / Quicksilver Amulet in cheaty face decks playing things like Show and Tell / Eureka / Oath of Druids / Sneak Attack / etc. Natural Order order style decks would probably rather just play Magus of the Order since it doesn't require having the cheaty face target in your hand.
Agonasaur Rex
A giant beatstick that has a decent combat trick for a cycling trigger. An 8/8 with trample for makes Colossal Dreadmaw look like an old dinosaur in comparison. The cycling trigger giving two +1/+1 counters + trample and indestructible can lead to quite a blowout in combat. This plays out a lot like a modal Verdurous Gearhulk that trades an ETB trigger for cycling. Agonasaur Rex seems better to me due to its flexibility and not having the fragility of being an aritfact. That being said, I haven't cubed with Verdurous Gearhulk in years and this just seems okay to me at best. The two closest comparisons to this right now are probably Generous Ent / Overlord of the Hauntwoods. Generous Ent is generally more useful since it's really hard to beat its cheap forest cycling ability. I can go either way between this and Overlord of the Hauntwoods (which has been okay at best also). Overlord of the Hauntwoods ramping and enabling domain does make it the more interesting card to me though, but this is probably one of the better modal combat tricks if that's more your thing.
OTHER Mendicant Core, Guidelight
A pseudo Karnstruct for is fairly interesting. Being locked at 3 toughness is a bummer though. The speed text has a high ceiling, I wish it wasn't limited to just a cast trigger. But even then I'm really not too interested in this.
Skyserpent Seeker
I've always found the drawing a card part of Baleful Strix to be more important than flying + deathtouch. With that logic, I'd rather just play Coiling Oracle than this.
Zahur, Glory's Past
This seems quite good if you explicitly support aristocrats / speed. A 3/2 sac outlet for 2 mana is already good on its own even if you can only activate it once per turn. This being a legendary zombie cat warrior also gives this a lot of typal considerations if you’re explicitly supporting legendary / zombie / cat / warriors.
Broodheart Engine
This would've been great back in 2017 when Search for Azcanta was hot stuff. That card is pretty unplayable these days, and it's not like reanimator needs any help outside of very large cubes.
![[Won’t somebody think of the reanimator players Simpsons meme]](https://i.imgur.com/zeRZIGn.jpeg)
Ketramose, the New Dawn
This gets my vote for the coolest / most interesting card in the set. Not for cube though since it's a 3 mana do nothing on its own that's probably worse than Phyrexian Arena. Drawing 4 cards by comboing Ephemerate with Solitude / Palace Jailer is tempting though. It's important to note that this only triggers once with delve no matter how many cards you exile. I really do want to make an EDH deck with this as my commander where I just exile things all day.
Broadside Barrage
While this lacks the flexibility of Prismari Command and buildaround of Flame of Anor, what really kills this card for me is the fact that the art portrays sharks having hands. Jokes aside, this is really nice for an uncommon. The peasant cubers are eating tonight!
Brightglass Gearhulk
Ranger of Eos on speed steroids. Being able to search for artifacts and enchantments in addition to creatures is a big improvement from Ranger of Eos. Compared to Ranger of Eos this can fetch combo pieces like Fastbond / Zuran Orb and key goodstuff cards like Skullclamp / Urza's Saga / actual power like Black Lotus and moxen. Being able to find removal spells like Static Prison / Portable Hole or silver bullets like Soul-Guide Lantern gives this a lot more utility than OG Ranger of Eos while also being a much better threat. To be fair to Ranger of Eos, better scaleable threats that it can tutor for like Hexdrinker / Goldvein Hydra / Stonecoil Serpent / Walking Ballista etc have been printed since Ranger of Eos has and those also pair well with Brightglass Gearhulk.
Brightglass Gearhulk has a lot going for it in terms of its stats, utility, and lack of competition among Selesnya cards. The two things that hold it back for me are its mana cost and its high competition amongst mono white / green 4-cmc creatures. While this has more upfront value than something like Omnath, Locus of Creation, is arguably easier to cast than , and Omnath really just asks for fetchlands to really make the most of it (and those aren't even required). decks tend to either be really aggressive, goes really wide, or going for Natural Order. Things like monarch and initiative are also a very high priority for this color combination if you support those mechanics. Being able to reliably curve into Palace Jailer / Seasoned Dungeoneer / Undermountain Adventurer is huge for decks, as is getting immediate damage in with things like Questing Beast / Elspeth, Knight-Errant to immediately contest monarch / initiative.
Brightglass Gearhulk really isn't a reason to pull me into Selesnya, and is still competing with a ton of 4-cmc cards, which white and green are very stacked to the brim with. The stars really have to align in terms of mana fixing and having ideal targets. I think its average case scenario is going to be PXP15 / sit in sideboard a vast majority of the time. I'd be much more interested in this if it cost and wasn't supporting monarch / initiative, which would free up a lot of slots at that part of green / white's curve. While this is the gearhulk in this set that I'm the most interested in, I don't recommend anybody to just add a cycle of 10 lands to their cubes just for this.
Captain Howler, Sea Scourge
This is a really strong discard matters payoff that's also just pretty solid on its own. A 5/4 with ward 2, pay 2 life is really annoying to deal with. Giving a creature +2/+0 for each card you discard can end a game very fast. Getting a temporary Curiosity (for combat damage only) is also a nice way to make up for the potential card disadvantage of all the cards you'll want to discard for this. I like how this is a much better solo threat / less gimmicky than Rielle, the Everwise. This is quite strong even if you're not going all in on discard matters payoffs since it's good on its own and it's very easy to loot a lot in . This is probably the best payoff / signpost that you can ask for if you are supporting a discard matters theme.
Oildeep Gearhulk
For you'd think this would just be a Thoughtseize effect instead of Coercion + draw a card. Or at least have the draw on a death trigger like Thought-Knot Seer. As is I'd just play Grief / Concealing Curtains /Vendilion Clique instead.
Coalstoke Gearhulk
A gearhulk with a pseudo Shallow Grave effect. Only being able to recur creatures with 4-cmc or less disqualifies this as a pure reanimator card, but this is still a very respectable midrange curvetopper. Getting back something like Pyrogoyf / Headliner Scarlett / Grief / Broadside Bombardiers / Phyrexian Metamorph / any initiative enabler / etc is big game. The mana cost isn't too big of an issue with this since you can easily reanimate it. This is actually pretty appealing if you can stomach the mana cost, support initiative, and aren't hip to Universes Beyond cards like Chaos Defiler or Modern Horizons / Commander cards like Emperor of Bones]] / Metamorphosis Fanatic. Personally I'm okay skipping this since Chaos Defiler is way better just on mana cost alone, and Emperor of Bones / Metamorphosis Fanatic does pretty much everything this wants to do and can be cast for .
Riptide Gearhulk
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria built for multiplayer. A 2/5 with double strike / prowess and an ETB trigger that shoves any nonland permanent three cards deep into your opponent's library makes for a decent Chaos Defiler imitation. is a very common pairing for artifact decks, and this is a very strong creature to blink / clone. Like its other multicolored gearhulk brethren, the mana cost is atrocious, and this has a mountain of competition against cards with cleaner mana costs like Fractured Identity / Teferi, Hero of Dominaria / Yorion, Sky Nomad / Shorikai, Genesis Engine. Hell, Torrential Gearhulk is probably preferable to this since it's mono blue and is more flexible overall.
Loot, the Pathfinder
![[Simpsons Brainstorming Poochie]](https://i.imgur.com/vyz0t4M.jpeg)
A mini titan for . Having double strike / vigilance / haste right off the bat doesn't make this too awful on curve. If you treat this as a 6 drop and have mana open (preferably in most scenarios), then this is essentially a build your own Inferno Titan / Primeval Titan / Arcanis the Omnipotent with its exhaust abilities. Only being able to activate each ability once is a bummer, but you should be pretty far ahead if you're able to pull off both Ancestral Recall / Lightning Bolt. This particularly pairs well with things like Displacer Kitten and is probably the singlest best hit for Agatha's Soul Cauldron.
The bar is high for 3-4 color cards that aren't just cheaty face targets like Atraxa, Grand Unifier. This is definitely in the realm of castability since things like Omnath, Locus of Mana are fairly common. This being green also helps and makes for a decent back up Natural Order hit. I tested Borborygmos and Fblthp in the past which has the same exact mana cost. Borborygmos and Fblthp has the better floor at 5 mana, but the ceiling and build around nature of Loot, the Pathfinder makes this more appealing. This is a fun pick if you're looking for a spicy 3 colored card, especially if you support both Displacer Kitten / Agatha's Soul Cauldron. I'll probably pass on it for now since I don't support those cards and Satya, Aetherflux Genius aligns more with what I want to support and I probably don't want to add more 3-4 color cards beyond that at the moment.
Spoiler of what happens Loot by the end of the year
![[Poochie dies on the way to his home planet GIF]](https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExeHphMG9tc21wb3c1d3Ruemo5Zmc3M3JsNHhicmtxdGlhNTBlNXE1diZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/SFp9RLto964Ew/giphy.gif)
Pyrewood Gearhulk
While the mana cost isn't so bad on this compared to the other gearhulks since it's a 6 drop in green that makes for a decent finisher with Natural Order, I'd much rather just play Earthshaker Giant instead.
Voyage Home
This is a great option if you want a third Thoughtcast / Thought Monitor variant, very passable if you're not into those.
Dune Drifter
Being able to recur Black Lotus or something is cool. I feel like only aggressive decks would want this creature, and in that case I'd rather just play Unearth / Pre-War Formalwear.
Monument to Endurance
A hands free Currency Converter. Being able to turn any discard into a draw / treasure / Lava Spike can generate a lot of value very quickly with the right card, especially with Occult Epiphany / Bazaar of Baghdad. What makes Currency Converter great is that it's cheap and is self-sustaining since it can loot itself. This doing stone cold nothing on its own makes it much worse and only appealing if you're explicitly supporting a discard matters theme.
Stridehangar Automaton
A thoper lord / generator that is castable off Mishra's Workshop seems neat at first glance. Running a filter through my cube I have a little over 30 cards that create artifact tokens. I'm not the biggest fan of Young Pyromancer / Monastery Mentor / Saheeli, Sublime Artificer type cards these days, especially at 3 mana. This has much less things to trigger off of compared to those 2, and it's not like there are a ton of thopters flying around to maximize its anthem effect. Cute card, but I think this card is a trap since it's really bad on its own and the reward seems low compared to the hoops this has to jump through.
The Aetherspark
A legendary artifact planeswalker that's also an equipment… Rolls right off the tongue! A planeswalker that you can Stoneforge Mystic for / cast off Mishra's Workshop is very unique and unprecedented. Not having to pay any mana to equip and giving your creatures +1/+1 counters makes this very convenient compared to most other equipment. The real draw to this card is the combat damage trigger to add that many loyalty counters to this in conjunction with its draw ability. It's not too hard for this to draw 2 cards every (other) turn. The ultimate adding ten mana of any one color to your mana pool is there in case you need to cast your Tinker targets or something.
I've always been bummed that I can never cast a Karn variant off Mishra's Workshop, and this is probably the closest thing we'll ever get to that. I'm always looking for more things to cast with Mishra's Workshop, so that alone makes this appealing to me even if it's just for a test. This is quite narrow since you can't just shoehorn this into a deck like a lot of other planeswalkers / equipment. The closest comparison I can think of is probably Nettlecyst, and I'd say this is at least more versatile since it's not directly reliant on critical mass of artifacts, it just wants to be in those decks since they can maximize The Aetherspark the most. It's not hard for artifact decks to have a creature big enough to put 4-5 counters on this a turn, and those decks really appreciate having a reliable draw engine. If anything will be the downfall of this card it will be the fact that it can’t immediately draw 2 cards. This card isn't for every cube, but being castable off Mishra's Workshop / friendly with Stoneforge Mystic / being a common artifact deck pairing that can be very aggressive does at least give this a niche that's worth testing. I'll happily bite the bullet on this one for everybody else that doesn't want to test this, check in with me in 6 months if you're curious how this turns out.
![[Transformers Matrix of Leadership]](https://i.imgur.com/mk9eMxG.jpeg)
Radiant Lotus
I'm sure there are plenty of artifact cubes where turning every artifact into a Black Lotus will make this one of the most ridiculous cards in said cubes. Otherwise this is super overkill unless you’re already running Gilded Lotus / Krark-Clan Ironworks and want even more of those types of cards. While this does look like a Krark-Clan Ironworks on steroids, it’s important to note that Radiant Lotus has to tap to activate. This makes it a one-shot effect per turn cycle, so you can’t loop the effect unless you have ways to untap it like Voltaic Key / Manifold Key / etc.
Marketback Walker
A new Hangarback Walker / Walking Ballista variant. This has a powerful death trigger, but this arguably takes the worst parts of its predecessors. Like Hangarback Walker, this has no manual control over its +1/+1 counters like Walking Ballista does. This also has Walking Ballista's much less efficient method of putting +/1+1 counters on it. I think this is closer to Hangarback Walker than Walking Ballista / Stonecoil Serpent. This is a good supplement to Hangarback Walker, but I'd argue that this is the worst of Walking Ballista / Stonecoil Serpent / Hangarback Walker. I'm personally not interested in this since I haven't liked Hangarback Walker in a long time and I think this is just generally worse.
Enemy Verge Lands
The verge cycle is now complete for those that want it. While you can never go wrong with verge lands or other land cycles, I do prefer things like the Horizon Canopy cycle / fastlands / painlands more since they're more flexible, but they're all pretty interchangeable. I personally prefer my land cycles to offer me more strategic value beyond just raw mana fixing. Here's my personal land tier list for the 10-ish cycles that I would consider for my cube. Plenty of room for argument between high and high-mid. Cycles within each tier are not ordered in any particular way.
TOP
- Fetch
- Dual
- Shock
HIGH
- Horizon Canopy (incomplete)
- Triomes
- Surveil duals
- Landscapes
HIGH-MID
- Pain
- Fast
- Pathway
- Verge
HOT TAKES TIER LIST TIME!
Criteria is based on the following:
-
Amount of cubes I think a card will see play, particularly in powered / high powered settings.
-
How long I predict they will last in cubes.
-
How cards compare to their competition in terms of function and cmc.
The cards within the tiers are unordered:
TOP
HIGH
HIGH-MID
LOW-MID
LOW
NICHE
BOTTOM
FINAL THOUGHTS
Aetherdrift isn't exactly the best Magic set to start 2025 with. While there's a lot of cards to consider for a high powered Vintage cube, there are no real heavy hitters and everything seems supplementary / niche at best. Speed isn’t the most thrilling mechanic and will just lead to more complaints about how everybody’s allergic to any keyword not created by Richard Garfield himself. There being less new cards since there's only 2 commander decks doesn't help things either. That being said, this seems like a goldmine for more fair environments with heavy discard / artifact themes. I'm most disappointed that the energy themed commander deck really didn't have anything to help keep the energy momentum up from Modern Horizons 3. Knowing that it'll probably be years before we get new energy cards certainly doesn't help either. On the bright side, it only took about 30 years to get Wrath of God / Pyroclasm with cycling!
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