Welcome to the Murders at Karlov Manor Cube Update for the Awesome Cube! Murders at Karlov Manor utilizes the plane of Ravnica as a backdrop to tell its own murder mystery story. Like the previous backdrop set, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the mechanical identity of the plane is less emphasized than its denizens and locations. It's an interesting use of established lore and I'm largely here for it as it makes the worlds feel more lived in and less rote. As a top down set focused on the murder mystery genre, Murders at Karlov Manor features a ton of recognizable tropes and features mechanics that enhance the narrative. I really enjoyed the limited environment for what it was, and while there aren't as many cards to discuss as usual, I really like what they did with the flavor even if the actual design was hit and miss. As always, the discussions here are made within the context of my personal cube, The Awesome Cube, whose list you can see in my profile. I'm not going to make suggestions for cube play at large as you all know your own lists better than I ever will. I'll discuss the mechanics first followed by the actual changelog featuring cards that went in, came out, and those that didn't quite make the cut. I'm also going to be introducing mechanic grades with this article. There are going to be two grades for each mechanic. The first will be a grade for the mechanic within its own limited environment based on the design and gameplay it generates. I will not be taking any constructed applications into account as it would be outside the scope of the article. The second will be a context grade based on how I expect it to perform and be supported within my own cube ONLY. The effectiveness of individual mechanics varies wildly among cubes, and a mechanic that is a D in my cube may be an A in yours. I'll lay out the grading criteria below.
A - Contributes to interesting gameplay and deck building decisions, may have cross synergies, no baggage. Sparks joy. (Cube - actively looking to include)
B - Works as intended, may have cross synergies and/or existing support structure, but has at least one developmental/design frustration. (Cube - actively looking to include)
C - Mechanic is inoffensive. Does not spark joy or enhance an environment, but it does not create issues or confusion when considered (Cube - will include as appropriate)
D - Mechanic is functional, but has baggage, may not be supported properly, and/or has some frustrating lines of play. (Cube - cards must excel in spite of mechanic)
F - Mechanic does not work as intended, is not supported, and/or contributes to an actively frustrating experience. (Cube - excluded from consideration)
With that out of the way, let's jam!
Morph and Manifest
In order to properly discuss the mechanics of Murders at Karlov Manor, I need to first discuss both Morph and Manifest. Morph is a keyword ability, first seen in Onslaught, that allows you to cast a creature with the ability from your hand, face down, as a 2/2 creature for 
. You can then pay its Morph cost to turn it face up at any time. This may trigger abilities and will likely reveal a different power and toughness than the face down 2/2. Morph requires a certain density of effect for the mechanic to be fully realized. After all, the more morph creatures in your environment, the harder it is for your opponent to identify which creature you may have played face down. It also plays best in lower powered environments that can tolerate playing 2/2's for , something that has been increasingly difficult to justify as creatures have gotten more powerful. Morph can succeed, but it requires a carefully crafted environment around it that highlights its strengths and downplays its weaknesses and relative complexity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Morph has struggled to find success in my cube due to these factors. There simply are not enough playable cards with the mechanic in my environment, and the relative power level and efficiency of the competition makes it very difficult for the face down cards to compete at face value. You often do not have the time and resources to both play your creature face down and turn it face up without making significant concessions. Because of this, I no longer consider Morph cards for my cube.
Morph Grade: C-
Morph Grade in Cube: D-
Manifest is a keyword action, first seen in Fate Reforged, that allows you to play cards from different zones, face down, as 2/2 creatures. A creature that has been played face down in this way may be turned face up at any time by paying its mana cost. Noncreature cards cannot be turned face up, but their very existence alleviates one of the main concerns of Morph: that your opponent is able to identify your face down card before you turn it face up. This alone allows cards that Manifest to stand on their own regardless of how well represented the mechanic is in your cube. You also aren't priced into paying for the face down 2/2 creature since Manifesting is tied to effects on existing cards. This allows it to be much more cost effective, scaling with existing Magic power level much more appropriately. The only thing holding the mechanic back is that it's inherently immensely complex. Explaining Manifest to someone who is unfamiliar with it is quite involved, and while I feel it leads to interesting game states, it does take some work getting to that point.
Manifest Grade: B
Manifest Grade in Cube: B-
Disguise, the first mechanic that's actually from Murders at Karlov Manor, is an updated version of Morph that attempts to alleviate some of the aforementioned gameplay concerns that Morph experiences in modern Magic. It's essentially the exact same mechanic, with the exception that the face down creatures have Ward 
. There are also some fiddley differences that aren't really worth discussing in too much detail. Suffice it to say that playing Disguise alongside Morph does result in some minor bookkeeping issues. Chief among these are the fact that the two mechanics make functionally unique face down creatures. When played alongside each other, it's readily apparent which creature is Morphed and which is Disguised. This means you cannot improve the quality of Morph gameplay by adding Disguise to your cube. Ward is also a pretty miserable way to make face down creatures more playable, as it dissuades interaction instead of allowing your face down creatures to be outclassed less effectively. You're still putting yourself at a severe disadvantage by playing a vanilla 2/2 creature for . Disguise is attacking a legitimate problem from an angle that does not result in more satisfying gameplay, particularly when taken into context with a wider card pool. As such, I won't be discussing any card with Disguise in this article.
Disguise Grade: D+
Disguise Grade in Cube: F
As Disguise is to Morph, Cloak is to Manifest. Like Disguise, adding Ward to your face down card doesn't improve the gameplay of Manifest in a meaningful and positive way. This is particularly true for Manifest because of how rarely players are incentivized to actually target these creatures with a removal spell. Whereas Morph creatures always threaten to flip over for an unknown upside, Manifest creatures are much less guaranteed to do so. Wasting a removal spell on a vanilla 2/2 that ends up being a Forest is a pretty miserable waste of resources. In the event that a player is able to flip over their Manifested creature, it nearly always feels exciting instead of random. Because of these factors, I'm actually lower on Cloak than I am on Manifest itself. Ward makes Cloak better in a vacuum, but it's such a counterproductive and unnecessary benefit that I wish it wasn't there at all. None of this is enough to dissuade me from playing cards with Cloak in my cube though, as I do still think the mechanic promotes positive gameplay patterns. Despite this, the relatively low number of cards that were printed with Cloak in the set means that there won't be many cards to discuss in the first place.
Cloak Grade: B-
Cloak Grade in Cube: B-
Investigate is a deciduous keyword action that creates a Clue token. Clue tokens are artifacts that can be sacrificed for in order to draw a card. Investigate is one of my favorite mechanics and I'm always excited to see it return. It's powerful without being overwhelming, has cross synergies with artifacts matters cards, and it shores up color balance inadequacies by providing direct card draw to those colors that have less easy access to it. It's an an obvious inclusion in a set designed around a murder mystery, and I'm excited to consider more cards with it for my cube.
Investigate Grade: A
Investigate Grade in Cube: A
Suspect is a keyword action that identifies a creature as "suspected". In practice, this grants them menace and renders them unable to block. While you can target a creature on either side of the battlefield, Suspect is primarily an aggressively slanted mechanic. Regardless, it retains relevancy throughout the entirety of a game and its value can change from turn to turn. It can push an existing advantage or create one when at parity. It really struggles when behind though, as neither effect is desirable when being attacked. Because of this, the best Suspect cards are either aggressively costed (thereby being poor when behind anyway) or give you the option of not selecting a creature to suspect at all. It can be disappointing to decline the trigger when it's part of the reason you're playing a card, but it's much better than being forced to make your own creature unable to block when you badly need to. Suspect is best experienced in moderation, as having too many creatures suspected just leads to noninteractive game states where nobody can block and everyone is unblockable. I have no desire to return to the days where aggro decks were supplemented by Shadow creatures, and fortunately that won't be the case in cube. My main issue with Suspect is that it's yet another mechanic that relies on paperboard cut out tokens to designate a suspected creature. I've mentioned in previous articles how much I dislike utilizing these due to how much of a headache they are to maintain physical inventory of. It's not enough to strike the mechanic from the list entirely, but it is baggage that needs to be taken into consideration.
Suspect Grade: C-
Suspect Grade in Cube: C+
Collect Evidence X is a keyword action that allows you to exile any number of cards with total mana value X or greater from your graveyard for an additional effect. Collecting Evidence has quite a lot of variability in its design both in how and when it can be triggered, as well as the actual effect you receive upon resolution. Despite being an obvious boon to decks that are able to fill their graveyard through non-routine methods, it does not require this additional synergy to be effective. Because you can exile multiple cards to pay a single Collect Evidence cost, even decks playing mostly inexpensive spells can cobble together enough to pay for a single trigger through simple attrition. In decks designed to use the graveyard as a resource, it's yet another option in an ever-growing toolbox. The only concerns with the mechanic revolve around the tension experienced with exiling cards from your graveyard, as it's a limited resource that's being shared with Delve, Flashback, Delirium, Escape, and reanimation effects, among others. There's only so much room for these cards in a deck before they start to cannibalize each other. There does need to be restraint and thoughtful attention paid to both enablers and payoffs to ensure that the correct balance is achieved. That said, the relative size of my cube does allow enough room for these mechanics to breathe. It also provides play variety between drafts, as graveyard decks don't necessarily play the same every time and can . Collect Evidence significantly overperformed my expectations and was one of the more fun and interesting things to do in its limited format. It has a natural extension to cube play and I expect it to perform splendidly with future iterations continuing to impress.
Collect Evidence Grade: B+
Collect Evidence Grade in Cube: A-
Cases are a new enchantment subtype that are segmented into three distinct sections. The top segment is the base effect that can be a one time or persistent effect. The middle segment dictates a condition you must meet if you wish to "solve" the case. The bottom segment is the reward for having "solved" the case. Cases are as messy in practice as they are visually, as all three sections of the card require a different amount of attention at different stages in a game. The top part is always active on some cards and only active once on others. The middle section requires attention every turn until it's triggered and can then be ignored. The bottom section requires awareness constantly but is only actually active once the case has been solved. They divide your attention in an extremely disjointed way, behave inconsistently across cards, and fail to provide a clear indicator whether they have been solved. There is a cleaner design here somewhere that utilizes DFC technology, and while I don't usually promote the use of DFC's, it does feel like an appropriate situation. Complexity and narrative confusion aside, Cases are functional as immediate effects that provide the potential for long term upside. Some are only playable if you can solve them, while others provide an on-rate effect regardless of whether or not they are solved. Complicating this further is the fact that all Cases become solved only at the beginning of the end step after you satisfy their solving criteria. This often prevents you from being able to accrue the intended bonus until the following turn when it would first become relevant. While I appreciate the consistency, it makes resolving some of these effects incredibly frustrating, particularly if there was otherwise a way to strategically do so in a beneficial way. The cards that flow smoothly and are costed efficiently would perform adequately in nearly any environment, so the mechanic isn't a total wash. The gameplay just isn't terribly interesting or rewarding, especially considering the extremely unsatisfying visual design and narrative complexity.
Cases Grade: D+
Cases Grade in Cube: D
Thraben Inspector is one of the most consistent and ubiquitous performers in the 
section of my cube due to its simplicity, effectiveness, and opportunities for synergy. It provides a disposable body that can be pumped, equipped, sacrificed, or thrown underneath an aggressive opponent while still providing card advantage to a color that generally has to work harder to obtain it. Intentionally supporting artifact synergies in 
only makes the card more desirable. Novice Inspector is a functional reprint of Thraben Inspector and I'm excited to add another copy to the cube without breaking singleton.
Delney, Streetwise Lookout definitely has a floor that is lower than I typically like in my cube creatures, but they present so many fun and powerful interactions that I have to at least give them a trial run. At worst, you are getting a 2/2 creature that limits the favorable blocks your opponent is able to make as long as you are building your deck around their limitation. As triggering their secondary ability is the entire reason to play the card in the first place, this should be a given. Fortunately, there are an absolute ton of creatures that interact favorably with Delney, Streetwise Lookout across all five colors, to the point where listing them all is completely impractical. Many of these creatures' abilities are so impactful that triggering them a second time is enough to make your investment worthwhile, even if you don't have additional creatures to follow-up with. Triggering Charming Prince and Inspiring Overseer for value is one thing. Triggering Deep Forest Hermit, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Palace Jailer, or Priest of Fell Rites is both egregious and hilarious. There are going to be games where you cast Delney, Streetwise Lookout and either don't have the board presence to leverage their first ability or can't follow them up with meaningful creatures. There are also going to be games where they immediately put you so far ahead that your opponent will struggle to make up for the difference in card advantage. Regardless of how they play out, their threat of activation will force your opponent's hand more often than not, as they simply cannot afford to let them stay in play over the course of several turns. This is an addition being made in the spirit of fun, and man would I love it if it worked out on power level as well.
I've never been a huge fan of Raise the Alarm in cube since it's relatively low impact when you aren't able to take advantage of its synergies. This can be challenging since it plays best in a deck able to leverage it being an instant, something that can be challenging in . Resolute Reinforcements being a creature was supposed to increase the available synergies and hopefully allow it to be a more palatable maindeck glue card. While this was technically successful, the margins were small, and Novice Inspector accomplishes the task much more efficiently.
Reidane, God of the Worthy was the latest in a string of similar three drop creatures that force your opponent's permanents to enter the battlefield tapped. Archon of Emeria, Kinjalli's Sunwing, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar all try to prevent an opponent from stabilizing by delaying their mana and/or making their creatures unable to block the turn they enter play. I tried out Reidane in the hopes that she would be desirable in a wider array of decks, regardless of whether they were skewed towards aggro or control. Aggro decks would desire the creature, while control decks would desire the artifact, and they would both have the option of casting either side depending on the game state. This modality ended up not being worth the complexity, as simply reading the card ended up causing significant frustration, particularly during the drafting process. It took so long to read and comprehend that eventually people just stopped reading the backside altogether. Reidane, God of the Worthy's predecessors accomplish a similar task in much easier to grok packages, making them infinitely more desirable, despite being less objectively powerful.
Tenth District Hero reads like Figure of Destiny and Evolved Sleeper, but plays out completely differently. Its predecessors activate based on mana alone, allowing them to serve as aggressive attackers on curve. Tenth District Hero requires you to have nonland cards in your graveyard in addition to its mana requirements. This makes it much more difficult to activate within the first couple turns, and nearly impossible to activate successively when played on turn 2. is historically the worst at filling its graveyard, and even if you are able to activate it in the midgame, the third stage creature promotes some really unsatisfying play patterns. Making all of your creatures indestructible wasn't fun with Elspeth, Knight-Errant, and it's arguably less fun with this implementation. Having to worry about a single removal spell blowing you out mid-combat is frustrating, and decks are largely going to have to attack through blockers once this is active. There's enough frustration and complexity in this design to sully the fact that you are getting a 2/3 for 
as a baseline creature.
I've always been skeptical of cards like Assemble the Players, that allow you to conditionally play cards from the top of your library, unless they provide commensurate value when you are unable to trigger them. Even decks playing almost all creatures will, at best, have only a ~58% chance of revealing a creature card from the top of their library. That's not counting cards drawn during the game or, in this case, any creatures with power greater than 2. In order to accrue the necessary amount of value from Assemble the Players, you're going to have to be playing a very specific deck and string together at least a couple of additional creatures. There are more consistent and reliable methods to draw cards in now, and the average case of Assemble the Players hasn't demonstrated to be nearly as powerful as it reads.
It's proven surprisingly difficult to actually make Clue tokens with Wojek Investigator, particularly on curve. It seemed like nearly every turn that I found myself at the beginning of my upkeep, only to see that my opponent had the same amount of cards in hand that I did. I found that even in the low to the ground aggressive decks, you almost have to be on the play to reliably trigger it. You do actually need to be investigating with Wojek Investigator too, as the 2/4 flying, vigilant body doesn't exactly pressure an opponent's life total as effectively as other three drops you could be playing. This concern can be alleviated somewhat in both mid-range and control decks that are more naturally able to leverage the defensive creature. However, those decks are also much more likely to have more cards in hand than their opponent. It's very difficult to build a deck that is able to take full advantage of both the creature and investigate halves of Wojek Investigator, and even those that can are at the mercy of the die roll a little more often than I feel comfortable with.
I dislike Otherworldly Escort more every time I read it. It's a four drop creature whose only way to accrue value requires it to trade with something in combat. While it can leverage flash to accomplish this, the upside it presents once it does so creates a repetitive board state that can either be safely ignored by your opponent, or dissuades them from attacking entirely. Neither situation generates particularly satisfying gameplay, and that's compounded by how irrelevant the charge counters on it are. Spear of Heliod has probably been activated less than four times during its entire existence in my cube. Any time you would want to activate the ability, your opponent will just opt not to trigger it. This results in you rarely actually activating it, even when it's a relevant ability on the board. It's highly unlikely you'd ever be able to use all four charge counters, so it feels like superfluous complexity on an already complicated card. The ability to destroy creatures that have dealt you damage is really only desirable in control decks, playing awkwardly in decks looking to play from ahead. While it's a minor upside on Spear of Heliod, it's the driving force behind Otherworldly Escort, as the card is quite bad if you aren't activating the ability. That's ultimately where the card falls flat, it's a mediocre creature that relies far too heavily on threat of activation, and your opponent playing poorly, to accrue any tangible value.
The key to extracting the necessary value out of Merchant of Truth lies in maximizing the discordant aspects of her card design. Her main draw is that she's a defensive body that turns your dying creatures into Clue tokens. You can then turn these Clue tokens into either damage (with Exalted) or cards (by sacrificing them). If you're ahead, she presses the advantage. If you're behind, she is able to slowly recoup lost assets. Of course, she can't do any of these things unless your nontoken creatures are dying while she's in play. This means you can't cast her and immediately benefit from Exalted. You can't cast her post-wrath and start drawing cards. She only works if you're trading resources over the course of a long game while she remains in play. This makes her far too slow for any proactive deck, and far too reliant on creatures for a controlling deck. Merchant of Truth is slow, expensive, and overly reliant on pre-existing and continued board presence to compete at such a competitive slot in the cube, particularly when so few decks are actively able to maximize her potential.
How much value you put on No Witnesses will likely come down to where you stand on Shatter the Sky and Depopulate. I'm not currently playing either as I haven't felt the mana efficiency was worth providing your aggressive opponent with additional resources. I've been perfectly happy playing five mana wraths with upside like Sunfall to supplement the normal Wrath of God suite. Investigating is much worse than allowing your opponent to straight up draw a card, but the end result is the same. Your opponent should quite easily be able to pay to draw their card if they've emptied their hand flooding the board into your wrath on previous turns.
Cryptic Coat is a very unique card that should fit smoothly into any 
deck, regardless of strategy, because of its ability to stand on its own as a win condition that promises inevitability. Being able to turn the top card of your library into a new creature at will is a very powerful proposition, particularly in decks that have a lower overall creature count. There, this can serve as a win condition all on its own, without ever actually being able to threaten flipping the manifested creature over. It gains additional utility in decks that do run creatures, being able to threaten more dangerous attacks and blocks if left unchecked. It won't be able to trigger ETB effects, but it can greatly upgrade from the base 3/2 body while taking advantage of any additional utility your flipped creature may have. Being able to return Cryptic Coat to your hand and recast it in order to create more manifested creatures does threaten a repetitive board state. However, having to pay to do it should prevent this from taking place too frequently, especially since the creatures it creates are not particularly good blockers. Likewise, the lack of an actual equip cost prevents you from being able to abuse the unblockability in connection with your other creatures. This forces you to play the card as intended, and while it's objectively less powerful because of that, I think being being able to re-equip would make it miserable to play against. Cryptic Coat is a card that toes a very thin line between power, interaction, and repetitiveness, and I am very interested to see how it plays out long term in the cube.
Boon of the Wish-Giver has been on the outs for a while now, just waiting for something to replace it with. I'm largely appreciative of Cycling as a way to provide value to late game cards when you are either unable or unwilling to wait for their full value. However, I'm a bit disenfranchised with cards whose entire purpose becomes cycling them; I do expect both effects to be played with some consistency. Cards like Krosan Tusker and Waker of Waves get around this requirement because they interact favorably with ramp and reanimation effects. Boon of the Wish-Giver is cycled approximately 99% of the time as six mana is just far too expensive, particularly at sorcery speed, which prevents you from casting any of your newly drawn cards until the following turn. I'm just not interested on wasting cube slots on cards whose only function is to be cycled away, regardless of how ubiquitously playable that feature makes them.
Think Twice always got by far more on the back of its graveyard synergies as opposed to its actual ability to draw cards at an effective rate. Deduce cuts a mana off of the second card draw trigger, and it interacts favorably with artifact synergies as it does so. Even though I'm actively increasing the artifact synergies in the cube, I'm not yet at the point where I'm looking to add cards whose only real attractiveness is tied to creating an artifact to sacrifice. I'd still like the cards to stand on their own independently of that to ensure that a wider array of decks would be interested in playing them. While this would technically interest both an artifact build and spells, there are cheaper cards that provide more immediate dividends.
Proft's Eidetic Memory requires a very specific deck to be more than the sum of its parts. In order to maximize your returns, you'd need a aggro or tempo deck that also has ways to consistently draw cards during its precombat main phase. This timing allows you to put extra +1/+1 counters on your evasive threats, but also interacts poorly with the various Wharf Infiltrator variants those decks consistently play. Being unable to trigger off of your looting leaves a lot of value on the table, value that you desperately need since the initial effect is hardly worth the cost. Even a card like Phyrexian Arena that actively draws you a card every upkeep isn't necessarily that exciting in combination with Proft's Eidetic Memory. You really need burst card draw like Harmonize and Memory Deluge to warrant the inclusion of a card that requires both specific sequencing and deck requirements, and that's too narrow for me to get excited about.
Final-Word Phantom does something that a lot of players tend to find exciting, but I've rarely found leads to satisfying, strategic, and interactive gameplay. Granting all of your spells flash trivializes a significant amount of critical decisions for both players. Once everything has flash, you no longer have to determine whether to commit to the board or hold up interaction. You no longer have to bother paying attention to what mana you hold up either, as you can just present anything in your deck as a potential spell to cast. Why bother worrying about what creatures to attack and block with when you can threaten a blocker at instant speed at no cost whatsoever. Your opponent cannot reasonably attack unless they are willing to walk into a clearly telegraphed blowout. In which case, why bother paying attention to sequencing? Hell, there won't really be any since everything happens during the same phase every single turn. Why should they bother playing around counterspells or removal either? They can't play in a way that would force you to waste your mana, so they might as well just play as if you didn't have anything. It might sound like I'm being dramatic, but that's been the experience described to me by players repeatedly when playing against cards like Leyline of Anticipation, Prophet of Kruphix, Teferi, Time Raveler, and Yeva, Nature's Herald. All of these cards have had transient stays in my cube in the past. I'm still playing Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, but she hasn't impressed, and I've been actively looking for a replacement. Yes, being able to cast your spells whenever you want is powerful and, for some players, intoxicating. However, it also removes much of the interplay that makes Magic so much fun to play; and that interplay is a fundamental design philosophy for my cube as a whole. Now, that all said, Final-Word Phantom isn't as egregious as I've described because it restricts your ability to cast spells as though they had flash to your opponent's end step. I wrote this preamble not to explain why Final-Word Phantom didn't make the cut, but to explain how I don't think the card is going to be nearly as satisfying as many expect it to be. Those that love this ability and want to have "all the fun" may find these limitations too restrictive. Those that don't aren't going to be swayed by it only ruining most of their interplay. Final-Word Phantom fortunately promises something it's not going to deliver on, and despite that, it still promotes a repetitive game state that goes against many of my design philosophies of maximizing fun, interactive gameplay. It's an easy pass for me, regardless of power level, and it's a reminder to pay attention to the impact certain designs have in both my playgroup and cube as a whole.
Steamcore Scholar reminds me a lot of Champion of Wits as a creature that smooths your hand while providing value on board. Whereas Champion of Wits serves as a roadblock in the early game and a much bigger threat in the late game, Steamcore Scholar looks to provide all of its value up front. Unfortunately, what it does just doesn't amount to all that much. Being able to keep one of the drawn cards if you pitch an instant, sorcery, or creature with flying is nice, but you are getting rid of a meaningful spell from your hand to do so. Thirst for Discovery is valuable because you can almost always afford to get rid of an extra land from your hand, while the same cannot be said of the required card types here. I also really hate that this creature has vigilance. It's extremely awkward on a 2/2 flier and adds basically nothing to the card except extraneous text. If you could discard any creature I'd be more positive about its fit in reanimation decks, but being restricted to a flier means you're likely going to have to discard two cards. Not to mention graveyard decks don't really have a use for an evasive beater.
If you're pushing a 
flash strategy that focuses on heavy board commitment, Scuttling Sentinel can fit right into your list as a versatile creature that can protect something from removal, force a trade in combat, or act as a combat trick that leaves a body behind. My section utilizes the ramp in and the big mana spells and creatures in both colors to largely eschew early-game combat entirely. It's not really interested in something that requires an abundance of early game creatures to function. And despite Scuttling Sentinel being hybrid, neither nor are set up well to take advantage of it independently, either. decks lack the interactive combat decisions that would maximize its utility, instead largely relying on evasive creatures that avoid interacting with blocking entirely. decks would be able to make better use of the body, but lack the instant speed interaction to make natural use of flash. Scuttling Sentinel provides a lot of interesting decision points and promotes an interactive game state, my cube just isn't set up to maximize its potential.
I'm currently running Fact or Fiction and Memory Deluge as big card draw spells, and I'm not interested in replacing either with Intrude on the Mind. As seen with Steam Augury, handing control of which cards you draw over to your opponent significantly decreases the consistency and effectiveness of your spell. Any graveyard synergies or card advantage you accrue are completely overshadowed by your lack of agency over what Intrude on the Mind actually does. Obtaining a creature token of variable size makes up for some of this but, again, your opponent has full control over how big that creature is going to be. This makes it difficult to create piles of 4:1 or 5:0 because your opponent can simply offset your entire spell with a single piece of removal. They just have too much control over both the amount and type of value you get from this spell.
Unshakable Tail is a self-contained value engine whose ceiling grows as you surround it with cards that support its synergies. Its Clue generation and built in recursion make it a natural fit in any grindy, midrange deck with self-mill or artifact synergies. Fortunately, most 
decks tend to skew grindy and care about the graveyard naturally, which makes it an ideal glue card that I expect to maintain a high play rate. I also expect it to create diverse, interesting gameplay decisions that vary not only between games but across turns. Whether you Surveil to the top of your library or your graveyard, how many Clue tokens you have, how much mana you have, the board state, and your life total all contribute to you making different, meaningful decisions when it comes to maximizing Unshakable Tail. You definitely want to create at least one Clue token to at least threaten recursion, thereby dissuading removal spells from your opponent and making it more than a mere roadblock in combat. The longer it remains in play, the more incremental value you accrue, even if you aren't making Clue tokens. I'm always excited to add more natural ways to mill yourself in the cube, and I'm thrilled that Unshakable Tail provides as many positive gameplay interactions as it does while doing so.
I absolutely love the Magic Origins DFC planeswalker cycle from a flavor and storytelling perspective, but they've had mixed results from a mechanical one. Liliana, Heretical Healer's best attribute is how trivial it is to actually transform her, as every deck has the capability to have a nontoken creature die. Unfortunately, you do really need to transform her, because she is well below what one would expect for a creature on rate. Kytheon, Hero of Akros and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy both provide tangible benefits even if they aren't transformed, which allows a diverse gameplay experience and immediately justifies their mana investment. Liliana, Heretical Healer is basically only giving you your mana's worth if you can transform her AND activate her abilities a couple of times. Casting her, sacrificing a creature to transform her, then immediately reanimating the sacrificed creature with her -X doesn't actually put you that far ahead. That's a lot of setup and complexity for a Zombie token and a planeswalker devoid of loyalty. Her -8 provides a viscerally exciting payoff but, like all planeswalkers, it's just not that realistic to spend several turns building towards it. Unshakable Tail is a more synergistic, easier to cast creature that I'm just more excited to play and draft with, especially because it's not utilizing DFC technology.
I'm currently not running Eliminate because I prefer my removal spells to be a bit more versatile in what they can target. It's the same reason I'm not playing Portable Hole or Prismatic Ending, they just don't reliably affect enough potential targets in my cube. Conversely, I have been impressed with cards like Bloodchief's Thirst and Virtue of Persistence that provide the inexpensive yet conditional removal, yet can also be cast later in the game for increased value. Long Goodbye is just an Eliminate that cannot be countered. Preventing Counterspell interaction is not a very effective way of increasing a card's playability. We almost never see "draw-go" control decks that are filled to the brim with Counterspells anymore, and that's the only instance where I can see that condition being an upside. I'm not looking to randomly hose countermagic when it's one of 's main methods of interaction. As such, I really have no interest in Long Goodbye whatsoever, despite its general community appeal.
I've been relatively unimpressed with tutors in my cube on the whole since I'm not supporting any intentional combo pieces and games largely progress with interactive board states more than silver bullets. As such, I'm much less excited about the prospect of solving Case of the Stashed Skeleton in my cube than I would be in a cube with different design philosophies. The main draw here would be on the evasive body with upside for two mana, which lowers the ceiling and relative playability of the card quite a bit. aggro decks would still be interested in it, but only those that are seamlessly running sacrifice outlets. It's just not realistic to expect your opponent to block or use a removal spell on your suspected Skeleton token. While this could see play in aggressive versions of or aristocrat decks, I'd much rather run inexpensive creatures that provide an upside more relevant to an aggressive gameplan, or those that could see also play in different styles of decks entirely. Case of the Stashed Skeleton requires too specific of a deck build for what it is offering.
Outrageous Robbery is a monocolored Villainous Wealth that requires you to pay mana for each card you cast from exile. While it does allow you to cast these spells for the rest of the game, this just amounts to it being a less effective Braingeyser in , and I cut that card ages ago. When you aren't casting them for free, drawing cards off of your opponent's deck has never provided consistent, commensurate value. Your opponent's deck is unlikely to promote the same synergies you have built your deck around, instead offering up creatures and spells that may not align with your deck's goals. In order to offset this, these effects need to be mana efficient, draw enough cards to offset their volatility, or both. While Outrageous Robbery can scale into the later stages of a game, it never does so with efficiency. I'd rather just cast a cheaper and more consistent card draw spell like Night's Whisper, or Summon the Pack as an expensive option as I prefer its story potential.
Massacre Girl, Known Killer completely changes the flow and feel of a game as soon as she enters play, as long as both players are committed to creature combat. Because the ability to draw cards when your opponent's creatures die is limited to when their toughness equals 0, you do need to have a willing participant when it comes to attacking and blocking. If your opponent is attacking on a different axis, like with evasive creatures, or if they're a control deck that eschews combat entirely until the game is basically over, it can be difficult to extract tangible value from Massacre Girl. This is exacerbated by how cleanly she can be answered with removal, and how devastating it can be when that happens mid-combat if you are leveraging the potential -1/-1 counters from wither. For four mana, I'd expect more immediate or guaranteed returns on my investment. In the right circumstances, Massacre Girl, Known Killer complicates your opponent's combat decisions and threatens long term incremental value. Ultimately, it's simply too easy for your opponent to play around, ignore, or cleanly answer the challenges she presents.
RedMuch like Embereth Veteran, Frantic Scapegoat is an aggressive one drop that can enhance another creature with more favorable attacks. Whereas Embereth Veteran has to sacrifice itself to do so, Frantic Scapegoat remains in play and can keep attacking in a weakened state, or be sacrificed for value. Suspecting creatures is also much preferrable to utilizing role tokens, which were just as frustrating as I knew they would be. Putting a +1/+1 counter on a creature didn't enable nearly as many attacks as giving something menace will. Making Goblin Rabblemaster a 3/3 doesn't let it attack through a Beast token, and allowing your aggro creatures to trade isn't the reason you put these cards in your deck. Frantic Scapegoat presents less damage when attacking across multiple turns, but it serves a better supporting role later in the game, presenting more damage and allowing another otherwise stymied creature to attack more reliably. The inability to suspect a creature at will does make it a rather frustrating top deck once you've already deployed your other creatures, but I'm happy giving it a trial run for now, especially when I have such an easy replacement available.
The only Thrill of Possibility variant I'm currently playing is Bitter Reunion, and only because it provides cross synergies with multiple decks. Both and are happy to play it, which greatly increases its chances of being actively drafted and played in the main deck. Similarly, Demand Answers is desirable in both and due to its ability to sacrifice artifacts. While Bitter Reunion offers upside after it's been resolved, Demand Answers can function as actual card advantage while remaining relevant throughout the entirety of a game. Sacrificing a Treasure or Map token nets you an additional card without detracting from what might be in your handk. Discarding a card can still be chosen if you lack an artifact to sacrifice, or if there is a card in your hand you'd rather be in your graveyard. This is particularly helpful during the early turns when you are still developing your mana and board state. Between the more intentional artifact synergies in , and the increase in incidental artifact token generation over time, Demand Answers is only going to be more consistent and synergistic as times goes on.
decks tend to fall into one of two very different categories. They're either a very aggressive deck that leans on its creatures, or a much more grindy midrange deck that leans on the incremental advantage provides. While Carnage Interpreter will shine in the first, it's much more risky in the second, as you can't afford to go all in on a singular threat if your plan is to grind into the later stages of a game. Similarly, there are more 
decks that would be able to go hellbent profitably than decks. decks tend to leverage selective discard to put key cards into the graveyard, but they need those remaining cards in their hand to reanimate and maintain board control. In these aggressive builds, Carnage Interpreter becomes a 5/5 menace as early as turn three and provides you with four Clue tokens to either draw cards with or sacrifice for value. This helps mitigate the risk of discarding your hand should your opponent immediately kill your creature. Nevertheless, there are certainly going to be games where you just can't afford to cast this until you are well off curve, lessening the impact of a 5/5 menace for three mana. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it happens more often than I like and I end up cutting Carnage Interpreter for a more consistent card, but I'm willing to give it a trial run to find out.
Hero of Oxid Ridge has not felt like the game ending threat it once was in a long time. Part of this can be attributed to the decrease in low power, high toughness defensive creatures as a way to slow aggressive decks. The rest is simply because other cards have proven to be more explosive and individually threatening. Hero of Oxid Ridge requires you to have an existing board state, it has to survive long enough to attack, and your opponent can't have creatures with power 2 or greater. If any of this doesn't line up just right, you're likely threatening trades instead of lethal damage. It also provides zero value in games where you aren't well positioned to be attacking with all of your creatures. Headliner Scarlett cleanly prevents all blocks as soon as she enters play, regardless of what creatures your opponent controls. You don't need to attack with her to do this, which interacts favorably with removal spells and board states where you may not want to attack with all of your creatures. While she doesn't provide that same benefit turn after turn, Hero of Oxid Ridge often didn't survive the initial attack anyway. The game either ended or it was blocked by whatever creature was still able to, likely trading as a 4/2. Scarlett's secondary ability allows you to pull ahead in games where you're behind or at parity, making her exponentially more desirable in midrange decks that would never have considered Hero of Oxid Ridge at all. Headliner Scarlett provides more guaranteed initial impact, value that lasts beyond her initial turn, and is playable in a wider array of decks.
For discussion of Embereth Veteran see Frantic Scapegoat, above.
Weaponize the Monsters turned out to be a much more frustrating card than anticipated. Far too frequently, it was cast on turn 1 and not activated a single time throughout a game, despite numerous turns where creatures were sent to its owner's graveyard. mana simply proved too much to hold up throughout combat and in response to removal spells. The upside of trading your creatures for your opponents' rarely came up due to resource scarcity and relative creature size/importance. The only time I ever saw it get activated reliably was if it was able to deal the last couple points of damage to end a game. While this reach is appreciated, there are more consistent ways to accomplish this that don't tax your mana as heavily, particularly in aggressive decks that are only playing 15 or 16 lands to begin with. It's just so rare that a deck playing this would rather hold up mana for a potential sacrifice than continue to commit to the board or play an interactive spell.
Sin Prodder is a perfect example of how enticing, and ultimately frustrating, the punisher mechanic can be. An inherently aggressive creature, Sin Prodder needs your opponent to be actively worried about their life total in order for its ability to matter in the slightest. This relegates it to aggro decks that are able to pressure an opponent quickly, complicating the choice of whether to give you an extra card or take some extra damage. These decks also tend to have an extremely low mana curve, which limits the amount of damage you can deal by revealing cards. The trigger becomes even less exciting any time a land is revealed, since your opponent can easily put it in the graveyard and take zero damage. While that acts as a pseudo-Scry, getting rid of a land you likely don't want to draw, it always feels disappointing. Sin Prodder can also be played in grindy decks that care more about accruing lots of incremental value over time, and are less concerned about the exact type of value obtained. Regardless, there are more controllable sources of card advantage for these decks, and more reliable methods to threaten lethal damage in aggressive ones, which leaves Sin Prodder without a proper home most of the time.
For discussion of Hero of Oxid Ridge see Headliner Scarlett, above.
Connecting the Dots isolates Bomat Courier's abilities onto an enchantment and spreads the exile trigger out to all creatures you control. While this can allow you to exile more cards across fewer turns, being an enchantment instead of a creature is a significant downgrade. Bomat Courier is good because it keeps the pressure on your opponent while it sets you up for an explosive turn later in the game. Both cards can start exiling as soon as they enter play, but Connecting the Dots requires you to already have a board state, making it a very awkward top deck when you aren't in a position to attack. It also provides literally zero value until you choose to sacrifice it. If you're already attacking with multiple creatures, you will likely find yourself able to win the game before you need to draw all of your exiled cards. In these cases, I'd rather have a card that actively contributed to dealing lethal damage as quickly as possible. While that can make for an interesting push your luck experience, it doesn't make for an effective cube card.
I spoke earlier about how Thrill of Possibility variants need to provide additional benefits, on top of their base effect, and be playable in multiple decks to be considered for cube play. Case of the Crimson Pulse provides explosive late game card draw in the vein of Bedlam Reveler, but you need to jump through a significant hoop to do that. It's proven much more difficult to empty your hand in recent years than it used to be. Every color has access to card advantage and has plenty of things to do with their mana now. While the most aggressive decks still go hellbent from time to time, it's just never a position to want to put yourself in, and certainly not something you make contingency plans for. You need an extremely low to the ground aggro deck to ensure this happens with any regularity, and that's really the only deck I can see being happy playing Case of the Crimson Pulse. If the end goal is merely more card draw, I'd rather play something that has immediate access to it without utilizing such messy and complex mechanics.
Legolas's Quick Reflexes is a defensive combat trick that can protect a creature from removal, create a surprise blocker mid-combat, act as a removal spell if cast proactively before you declare attackers, and do some combination of the above when cast on a creature with an activated ability that requires them to tap. This is a lot of utility for a single mana at instant speed. While I'm usually not a huge fan of split second, it's doing some real work here as you cannot be blown out with removal if you choose to cast this precombat, something that's a very real concern with Tyvar's Stand.
I was a big fan of The Huntsman's Redemption during my initial review but held back on adding it in order to give some other cards more time to breathe. Now that I've done that, I'm ready to let it stretch its wings. While I do not think it's an overwhelmingly powerful card, I do think it appeals to nearly every deck in cube. The creature decks can make best use of the Overcome ability, decks can turn Llanowar Elves into Hydroid Krasis, decks like putting an extra creature in the graveyard, and decks can utilize all three abilities satisfactorily. Being able to tutor for a basic land won't be the preferred use of the middle ability, but it's going to be much appreciated when you desperately need a fourth land. While it requires some setup to maximize its abilities, The Huntsman's Redemption should be a solid role player for any deck and provides value at any stage in a game.
Lonis, Genetics Expert is both a payoff and enabler for +1/+1 counter matters strategies, and unlike Hardened Scales, it's not completely unplayable if you aren't heavily in that strategy. While it excels in decks that benefit from counters specifically, you can also just curve through with creatures and card advantage until you either run out of Evolve triggers or Clue tokens. I'll discuss shortly with Sharp-Eyed Rookie about how difficult Evolve can be to support for aggressive creatures, but Lonis is looking to play a longer game and is therefore much less of disappointing when played off curve. You do still need to follow it up with another creature, but nearly anything should trigger it for the first time, and that gets you a +1/+1 counter, an artifact, card draw, and another +1/+1 counter on something else. The two cards are very similar in principle, but play out pretty differently strategically, and I think Lonis matches up better with what my decks are trying to do. It also has artwork that doesn't make me want to rip my eyes out.
I originally added Tyvar's Stand both as a way to provide decks with a way to protect their creatures from removal, and to inject combat tricks into the cube environment. After all, I've always been a huge fan of finding ways for the cube to reflect more aspects of the color pie, something that has been challenging without making power level concessions. It was often difficult to make use of both aspects of Tyvar's Stand in the same turn though, as it required your opponent to cast a removal spell after attackers and blockers were declared, before combat damage, and on a creature that needed the +X/+X to win the combat they were engaged in. As such, you nearly always chose one mode or the other. Legolas's Quick Reflexes retains these functions while also opening up additional utility depending on when it's cast, and all for less overall mana.
Wildborn Preserver proved much too difficult to maximize until the latest stages of a game. The idea was that you could play it on curve and flood your extra mana into it across multiple turns, creating a much greater individual threat. In practice, you rarely have excess mana until you start running out of cards to cast. By the time you do have the excess mana to start triggering it, you are much more interested in casting your expensive spells or, worse, simply don't have creatures to cast to trigger it anymore. Even when you can make it larger, your opponent can just chump block it until they draw a removal spell. The base rate isn't exciting either, as it was rarely able to make great use of either flash or reach as a 2/2. It's almost impossible to surprise block something AND grow it in the same turn, after all. Wildborn Preserver is an awkward creature on curve, remains awkward through the later stages of a game, and isn't particularly desirable for any deck from a strategic perspective.
I really like the design of Old-Growth Troll as an above curve three drop creature with interactive recursion. It's much preferable to something like Thrun, the Last Troll which sticks around entirely on the back of your opponent being unable to interact with it. You're can't just turtle up behind Old-Growth Troll because of this, which encourages you to leverage it in aggressive decks. I just wish it didn't cost triple to cast. Yes, you can ramp it out as early as turn two with a Llanowar Elves, but my aggressive decks normally aren't that heavy . Without this interaction, it can be very difficult to cast at all. I'm just not interested in playing cards that are only conditionally castable, regardless of how much I may appreciate their play patterns.
Analyze the Pollen ensures you hit your lands drops and colors of mana in the early game before searching for board presence once you've established your mana base. Of course, that's only if you're willing and able to collect evidence 8, something that I don't feel is very realistic at any point in a game. The only way to consistently reach that threshold is to rely on self milling cards in , as it simply takes too long to fill your graveyard to that extent naturally. While this is a supported strategy in the cube, exiling cards from your own graveyard is counterintuitive to much of what those decks are trying to accomplish. This is totally acceptable if the reward is worth the payment, but I don't feel that tutoring for a creature is what I'm looking for at that cost. Analyze the Pollen can be an excellent card in the early and late game, it's just wickedly mediocre throughout the vast majority of most games and not something I'm looking to spend my limited resources on. If I was interested in this effect, I would much rather play Traverse the Ulvenwald, which accomplishes much of the same without eliminating your resources from the graveyard.
Evolve is a tricky mechanic to maximize as it requires an aggressive deck playing a lot of creatures, as well as the proper sequencing of those creatures. When it doesn't work out, you are sometimes left with a creature that is providing no value at all. Because of this, it's critical that the floor of a creature with evolve be as high as possible to make up for the times when the mechanic isn't triggering. Sharp-Eyed Rookie has evolve in all but name, except that whenever it triggers, you also investigate. The ceiling is therefore quite high as curving this on turn two and triggering evolve the next two turns will net you two cards and a 4/4. decks should be able to scrounge up creatures of the requisite size, but you are still at the mercy of your draws more than you normally are. This is particularly true considering how low the floor of Sharp-Eyed Rookie is, and how few decks actually want such an aggressively slanted creature. Even ones that do, likely and , can find more reliably aggressive two drops and sources of card advantage that don't tie up their mana quite so much. It's very difficult to trigger this and draw a card with your Clue token in the same turn, and I'm really not that excited about the creature unless you are actively drawing cards with it. For an "aggressive" creature, it's really not pressuring an opponent at a rate that's appealing. This is doubly awkward considering how much worse it gets when played off curve. The later in a game you cast it, the fewer creatures you can draw that trigger it, minimizing its initial impact significantly. I also die a little inside every time I look at that artwork. I legitimately find it physically painful to look at.
Archmage's Charm was an easy pass for me due to the fact that it only had 2 usable abilities and was nearly impossible to cast reliably. I understand the community has been generally very happy with it, but I cannot emphasize enough how good a spell needs to be to justify a triple mana pip investment. There have been plenty of times when I've been unable to cast Cryptic Command because I was missing my third source, and it's very frustrating every time. I keep that in the cube because it has proven to have diverse play patterns where all four abilities get used, often in different combinations, to great effect. Archdruid's Charm is closer to Cryptic Command than it is Archmage's Charm in its versatility, and it's fundamentally easier to cast due to the presence of Llanowar Elves and mana fixing in . However, only being able to choose a single effect when cast looms large, as none of these abilities are anywhere close to justifying the investment on their own. I also have ample access to all of these effects on maindeckable cards already, so it's not doing anything particularly unique. The combination of onerous mana cost and underwhelming abilities makes me far too hesitant to include Archmage's Charm into my list.
Axebane Ferox is pretty much completely interchangeable with Questing Beast and Ulvenwald Oddity when it comes to both strategy and power level. I don't want to play yet another variant of the same card, so it just comes down to which of the three I find least enjoyable. They all have their flaws, but I find myself liking Axebane Ferox the least. Questing Beast is a mountain of text, but having both vigilance and being particularly good against planeswalkers plays well with most of what the decks are trying to do. Ulvenwald Oddity offers a payoff for decks that generate a lot of mana, but it's a DFC, and I'm generally trying to work most of those out of the cube on principle. That leaves us with Axebane Ferox which cannot be blocked profitably because of deathtouch, but whose other upside relies on dissuading interaction with your opponent entirely. How difficult it will be for your opponent to collect evidence 4 will change based on their deck and what colors they are playing. Nonetheless, the better this ability ends up being, the closer it gets to hexproof, an ability I actively do not want to be represented at all. Given the choice between DFC and hexproof, I'm going to lean towards the card that has otherwise good gameplay and whose power level will vary based on your own deckbuilding prowess instead of your opponent's. This leaves Axebane Ferox on the outside looking in, despite being an objectively powerful creature.
There are a ton of generically good gold cards in every guild that I could include on rate and effect alone, but I'm not interested in populating my gold sections with cards that just provide density of effect. and both have access to Counterspells at this point, and while No More Lies is an effective one, I'm not going to cut something that provides interesting gameplay, is a splashy and powerful effect, or sends drafters a signal about a supported archetype. I'm already using one slot on Supreme Verdict as there are less high quality Wrath of God effects than Counterspells. No More Lies is just a Mana Leak that exiles something. It's a good card, but it's not doing anything special enough to warrant inclusion in such a tight spot in the cube.
Glorious Anthem effects are becoming increasingly superfluous to the success of aggro decks as creatures continue to become more individually powerful while providing archetypal support. As such, a Glorious Anthem really needs to provide some other source of upside in order to see play in cube. In the Trenches doubles as removal, Flowering of the White Tree provides synergy at a reduced mana value, and Spear of Heliod provides defensive capabilities that make it more desirable in slower creature decks. I honestly cannot say I'd be interested in another Glorious Anthem at this point unless its replacing Spear of Heliod. Warleader's Call provides unnecessary redundancy while occupying a heavily contested gold slot. Including it would mean removing a card that provides much greater synergy, archetypal support, or raw power. The Impact Tremors ability provides some inevitability but, much like the card itself, it fails to do so at a rate that overshadows the existing options.
Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice lines up poorly against the rest of the section in cube because it fails to provide immediate value beyond suspecting a creature when it enters play. While this can create new attacks when ahead, it's not comparable to Éomer, King of Rohan granting The Monarch, Otharri, Suns' Glory attacking with haste and triggering its ability, or Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon being able to trigger her ability by attacking with an existing creature for less mana. It's in the conversation once you're able to attack with it, likely exiling a creature in the process, but it needs to be equipped or enchanted to be anything more than a 4/4 for four on offense. Vigilance isn't nearly as helpful when you're providing your opponent with evasive threats to race you with, either. If your opponent is able to kill this before you exile their suspected creature, it can make racing difficult if you aren't already ahead. It's important to note that you can also suspect one of your own creatures in the absence of a good opposing target, it's just so much less powerful than exiling a creature on the following turn. Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice lines up poorly against the existing higher mana options in due to its comparative lack of immediate value and somewhat underwhelming board impact.
I've been looking for better payoffs in graveyard decks, and Izoni, Center of the Web is a perfect fit. Six mana for 9/6 menace in stats, spread across three bodies, is a great way to take over a game, particularly if you're able to add a couple extra Spider tokens to the board when Izoni attacks. Collect Evidence 4 has shown to be fairly easy to trigger, especially by the time you're ready to cast your six drop, and the milling synergies in should make triggering her multiple times fairly commonplace. I don't expect players will be sacrificing their tokens for profit very often, but it's a nice bonus to have access to. This is especially true because the ability fails to specify a type of token, allowing you to cash in any Clue or Food tokens without spending extra mana. This ability can also be used as a self-contained method to refill your graveyard to create more Spider tokens. Izoni, Center of the Web has marvelous synergy with the rest of my section and is as fun to build around as it is effective.
Underrealm Lich was originally added as an enabler for the graveyard decks in , but I've found it to be a frustrating creature to play with. It fills your graveyard whenever you draw cards, but it does so in a way that slows down the game dramatically. Sylvan Library has never been the most straight forward effect, and without the ability to actually draw extra cards, it's just not worth the complexity and confusion it generates. Being able to protect itself hardly makes up for this, as paying 4 life is a real cost in a grindy deck that's already looking to stabilize against aggressive opponents. Adanto Vanguard is able to leverage the life loss because it's always racing. It's a much less useful ability on a five drop whose only role is to provide hand smoothing and fill your graveyard for other cards to take advantage of. The decks perform better with inexpensive enablers and expensive payoffs, as they fit into your sequencing more naturally that way. As such, I'd rather have Izoni, Center of the Web at the top of my curve than Underrealm Lich.
In order to get a creature with the stat line of Anzrag, the Quake-Mole for only four mana, you'd normally expect a drawback of some kind. Surprisingly, this legendary mole god comes with two upsides instead. Unfortunately, it also kind of has the punisher mechanic unless you plan on investing another 7 mana into it. Anzrag is either going to deal your opponent 8 damage, or provide you with an extra attack step after it likely trades with, or kills, whatever blocked it. However, your opponent has an entire turn to interrupt this and then has full control over which upside you get. If you don't have an established board presence they can trade and allow you an unhelpful second attack step. Not to mention the times when they actually have removal. The interaction with Rhythm of the Wild is a strong one, but unlike the existing options in , you need that interaction for this to be reliable enough. Anzrag, the Quake-Mole provides you with a ton of raw stats and snowball potential, but it doesn't do enough when you are behind, and it's too easy to play around and interrupt.
decks typically win by dealing incremental damage over time, often independent of combat. Teysa, Opulent Oligarch is able to leverage this damage by creating Clue and Spirit tokens each turn she remains in play. She doesn't even need to attack in order to procure this value, allowing you to leverage her defensive body while doing so. The Spirit tokens are multipurposed in these decks: they attack for chip damage, chump block, and are sacrificed for value. It's disappointing that you can't investigate on your opponent's turn, but you can double up on Spirit token generation if you have other ways to create Clue tokens, something that's only going to become more commonplace as time goes on. Teysa, Opulent Oligarch is a grindy, value engine that fits perfectly within the confines of the aristocrats strategy, providing defensive value as it eeks out an advantage turn after turn.
I really like having access to either Armageddon or Ravages of War as a unique way for aggro decks to close out a game, but I no longer feel the need to have both. Land destruction on any scale isn't fun to play against, and I don't think any game is fun to keep playing after one of these spells has resolved. It usually just devolves into top deck battles highlighted by lots of turns where neither player is able to do anything at all. The best gameplay comes when the game immediately ends, which isn't really a ringing endorsement. I'd rather run a card that I'm excited to play with, as opposed to something I'm actively hoping to not see too often.
In the interest of staying consistent with my vision for my gold section, I'm going to shift Damn to my section as another four mana wrath variant. Even though it's imminently playable in either or , and best in proper, very few decks are going to draft it because of the ability. There is an abundance of better single target removal spells in , and nearly all of them are better than Damn. If this spell cost , and you could Channel it for to kill a single creature, I'd already have it in to begin with. That's literally the exact same card in form and function, it's just more aesthetically appealing. I'm much happier being loose with color definition if it lets me squeeze another card into the list while not cutting a card I don't want to cut.
Because I restrict planeswalkers to a maximum of one per gold section, Kaya, Spirits' Justice is competing directly against Sorin, Lord of Innistrad for a slot in the cube. For the same mana cost and starting loyalty, Kaya is able to create a marginally better token with her +1 (Spirit token vs. Vampire token). Beyond that, the comparison mostly lies in play patterns and complexity. Sorin plays best when you are at an advantage, going wide with his token generation while making your creatures more threatening in combat with his emblems. His ultimate, while devastating, doesn't get used very often because you're often able to leverage his abilities proactively to win a game. Regardless, it provides an alternative plan of attack when you are in a board stall, or stuck using your Vampire tokens defensively. Kaya is able to build loyalty more quickly if you can afford to not commit to the board, and she uses this loyalty to alternate between making tokens and removing creatures with her -2. She's decidedly more grindy and she makes better use of 's graveyard synergies with her passive ability. Her ability to immediately exile a creature makes her better when played from behind, but both planeswalkers are versatile once at parity, and she's quite a bit worse at pushing an advantage when ahead. I can't fault anyone for preferring one over the other, but Sorin, Lord of Innistrad accomplishes what it's trying to do in a much simpler, less complex way. Kaya, Spirits' Justice's passive ability requires far too many readings before it's understood, and the effect just isn't worth all of the comprehension complexity.
Trostani, Three Whispers has the capability to completely dominate combat both offensively and defensively so long as you have an established board presence, a lot of mana, and the willingness to spend it activating their abilities. This makes Trostani a better play later in the game as opposed to on curve. Once you've emptied your hand of threats, you are free to leverage the activated abilities while maximizing your available mana. You can't expect to activate many of these abilities when played on curve though, and it's very underwhelming as just an oversized beater. Morphling style creatures haven't fared well in cube in ages because of how risky it is to rely too heavily on a single threat. Answers are diverse and plentiful, and you need to be able to accrue value around your opponent's interaction. decks typically do this by going wider than opponents can, and holding up your mana turn after turn to activate these abilities is the antithesis of that strategy. Trostani, Three Whispers is too mana intensive and overly reliant on having an established board presence to overtake any of the existing options.
Unruly Krasis demands that you play a high density of early game creatures that actively want to attack an opponent. There are a ton of evasive creatures that would be able to benefit from having their power boosted when they attack, particularly since they are often balanced by having only 1 or 2 power. I'm less enthused with the options in though, as most of the early game creatures are more interested in ramping or fixing your mana than attacking. The creatures that are focused on attacking are already abnormally large, receiving only a nominal benefit from Unruly Krasis unless you've activated its Adapt ability. and just don't create effective aggro decks when played together in my cube, and that's the only place I'd be happy playing Unruly Krasis.
I'm only slightly more interested in the Surveil cycle of lands than I was the Temple cycle of lands, basic land types be damned. The reality is that in a cube of my size, it just isn't realistic to be able to line up your fetch lands and your fetchable dual lands without breaking singleton. This means you're going to be impacted by these lands entering play tapped far, far more than you will be able to fetch for one. I can see an argument being made for the ones since all of those color pairs care about the graveyard to some extent, but I'd still much rather play lands that have the capability to enter play untapped.
Murders at Karlov Manor was a somewhat controversial set when it comes to its limited environment, its utilization of the Ravnica setting, and its general aesthetic. It certainly didn't work for everyone and I think that's okay. I personally agree that there were issues with balance in draft with quite a number of missed opportunities both mechanically and strategically. However, I am very much in favor of returning to established planes and either exploring new facets of those settings or watching them evolve organically over time. The detective backdrop felt a bit forced and unnatural, but I think there is real room to grow from here. In regards to cube, this was one of those sets that didn't seem to have a lot for any one cube, instead setting a wider net and providing a few cards to many different designers. Next up is Outlaws of Thunder Junction, another hat-filled plane that is sure to annoy people who hate having their head warm. Until then though, may all your packs contain a card for your cube.