Welcome to my 22nd HOT TAKES article on CubeCobra! Will Modern Horizons 3 live up to the extremely high expectations of the previous Modern Horizons sets? Can energy and colorless matters make the cut in 2024? Why doesn't every other card have hats on them like the previous two sets from this year? Let's find out!
DISCLAIMER
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 Guide of SoulsA Soul Warden variant that also gives you . 2 toughness is always good to have on a 1-cmc creature. Unlike Soul Warden, this only gains life for your own creatures, but if energy matters at all in your cube then this is well worth the tradeoff. As somebody who likes Archangel Elspeth more than most, the attack trigger for this is deceptively powerful. This is one of the better energy generators if you play a good amount of energy cards, and is also useful for other lifegain matters cards like Ocelot Pride / Sorin of House Markov. There's also the potential to generate infinite life + energy if you're looping this with Worldgorger Dragon / Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward.
A 1-cmc creature for that has similar snowball potential to Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer. Usher of the Fallen is one of the better Savannah Lions variants, and this is more efficient with a higher ceiling. Not trading with early X/1s makes this a bit harder to check than your typical Savannah Lions variant in the early game, although this can't trade with an X/2 by itself. Being a cat is nice for Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and gaining life is good for Sorin of House Markov. Generating a few 1/1s in the early game can really help with contesting monarch / initiative in the midgame or using as fodder for Skullclamp / Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot / etc.
The ceiling is also very high in the late game with city's blessing, allowing you to double every token that you created that turn with its triggered ability. It's important to note that this includes any token, including noncreatures like clues / food / treasure / maps / blood / etc. The combination of first strike and lifelink makes this scale very well with pump effects since it becomes difficult to deal with this in combat, not to mention racing it. I'd argue that this is better than any Savannah Lions variant in white due to it having a high ceiling with no drawbacks and a very little investment cost.
Static PrisonBanishing Light x Suspend. Being able to hold down any permanent for 3 turns for is appealing, especially since games can be closed out much faster now. There's a lot of value in hitting an early game Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer / Sol Ring / Birds of Paradise since their potency can wane over time. This can also buy you a lot of time to lock out your opponent's stuff with Parallax Wave / Moat / Containment Priest. Having other energy sources, ways to blink this with Flickerwisp / Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd, or proliferate can greatly increase how long this card can lock something down. This seems pretty decent on its own, and gets really powerful the more energy / proliferate enablers you have.
Ajani finally gets his comeuppance after living in the shadows of Elspeth / Gideon all these years. 3 power spread over 2 bodies, can be flickered, provides fodder for Skullclamp / Broadside Bombardiers / Gut, True Soul Zealot, and transforms into a planeswalker makes this one of the best 2-cmc spells out there. The planeswalker half making 2/1 cat warriors and dealing damage to any target equal to the number of creatures you control if you control another red permanent is BONKERS for a planeswalker this cheap. While there currently aren't a lot of cats for this to pump with its +2 ability, it does ramp up to its ultimate pretty fast that can clean up a lot of your opponent's board. I've been playing this card for a while since it was spoiled early, and unsurprisingly it's been absolutely amazing and is easily a staple going forward. This is very easily a top two 2-cmc creature alongside Orcish Bowmasters.
Metastatic EvangelThis is a very strong proliferate enabler if you heavily support things like +1/+1 counters / energy / etc. This isn't too shabby even if you don't explicitly support those things, although there are probably other Blade of the Sixth Pride variants that you might want to run over this instead.
White Orchid PhantomThis is a decent hate bear if you're looking to bolster heavy mono colored strategies / punish multicolored decks. Destroying things like Urza's Saga is always nice (which is probably why this and many other cards in this set were primarily printed in the first place). A 2/2 with flying and first strike is nice for a 2-cmc creature, but can be a bit steep for this creature considering how many great options there are for
, especially new cards from the same set like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd.
The goodest girl! A 2/2 with flash for and extra text is always a good place to start. Unlike Containment Priest, the extra text on this isn't matchup dependent or potentially a double-edged sword. Being able to exile up to one target nonland permanent when this attacks is extremely versatile since it can also clear your opponent's blockers or just straight up eat their tokens. Being able to blink your own Thraben Inspector / Staff of the Storyteller / Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / etc is really strong. This giving itself a +1/+1 counter on your end step if you blinked something you own is also really nice.
Another thing that makes Phelia very unique compared to other blink enablers is that it can blink your 3-cmc / 4-cmc cards on curve. Charming Prince / Flickerwisp were always awkward on curve since 1-2 cmc cards typically aren't the best blink targets. This being able to blink something like White Plume Adventurer / Blade Splicer / etc on curve is HUGE. Not to mention a repeatable blink effect is just stupid with something like Parallax Wave. You can also reset the loyalty counters on your planeswalkers in a pinch. The Wandering Emperor works especially well with this since you can activate it again on your end step when it blinks back in.
While some people aren't keen on this having to attack in order to blink something, the “downside” is well worth it considering all of its advantages. Odds are you'll at least break even on value if you're attacking this into an unfavorable block, and you're coming out ahead on a trade assuming you're blinking something for value. While white has a lot of great 2-cmc creatures to choose from these days, but I do think this has the potential to be one of the more premium ones.
Charitable LevyA noncreature variant of Thalia, Heretic Cathar. While this is more sturdy as an enchantment, this lacking any board presence / pressure on your opponent is a huge downgrade and is what makes OG Thalia, Heretic Cathar great in the first place.
Razorgrass Ambush // Razorgrass FieldAn MDFC bolt land variant of Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. Being cheaper by default is nice, but this is also a strictly worse land and its effect can be hit by counterspells. I generally like Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire more since it's not too hard for its channel ability to cost , and the extra damage is really key when dealing with things like Questing Beast. Not bad if you have an extra slot to spare (disclaimer: I'm going to be saying this a lot for most bolt lands).
This is fairly decent on its own since it swings for 4 + 5 + 6, totaling 15 damage over 3 turns. Being able to Stoneforge Mystic for a stat monster that's very easy to cast is also nice to have. This isn't great as an equipment though since you only get +1/+1 equal to the amount of energy you have, AND it has to be attacking. I plan to test a good amount of energy cards and have a heavy artifact package in white, so this really goes up in value for what I'm trying to do right now. Energy cards become very above rate with one extra energy lying around. A lot of the new energy cards are in RW and lean aggressive, so this will really help glue things together. This isn't for every cube, but this can really help tie things together if you're planning to test a good amount of energy cards.
Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed MeadowReclamation Sage on an MDFC bolt land. This is probably one the better utilitarian MDFC bolt lands since this is a modal 2 for 1 that can slip into any white deck. You can play this as a land early and “transform” it with Flickerwisp later in the game if you need to. Having extra creatures around for Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman is also really nice. Powered cubes probably prefer Loran of the Third Path over this, especially since it also doubles as a hate bear towards Thassa's Oracle combo. Unpowered cubes might prefer the modality of this. While this isn't exciting like a lot of the original MDFC bolt lands from Zendikar Rising, this does remind me most of Shatterskull Smashing. That was generally considered the best of the original cycle, and this being a pretty reliable 2 for 1 for makes this pretty comparable. I do think this is a cut above most of the other MDFC bolt lands from this set. While white has a deep shelf when it comes to utility lands, this might be one of the better ones not named Karakas.
Mono white's take on Pernicious Deed. This can be really useful in decks that can break the symmetry of this card, and it becomes very efficient if you have an extra energy or two lying around. Temporary Lockdown has become more attractive to me with all the power crept 1-2 cmc cards there are running around now. This isn't as efficient as sweeping up small things by itself, but being scalable does make it less matchup dependent. I'll probably test them both side by side in my next update and see if any of them stick around.
Monumental HengeI'm not a fan of this. Impulse effects that can only find certain types of cards usually never work out unless it's really broad like lands + creatures / permanents / noncreature. Historic is essentially artifacts matters + legendary permanents, which is still narrow for an effect like this. 5 mana is such a huge investment to MAYBE just draw a card, not to mention you still have to cast it. White has a very deep suite of utility land options, and I'd rather just play Castle Ardenvale than this.
BLUE Tamiyo, Inquisitive StudentHard Evidence with a lower floor, but much, much higher ceiling. Generating a clue on every attack can add up to a lot of value very quickly and is great for artifact critical mass. Being a 0/3 with flying makes this difficult to take out in combat. This can also transform fairly reliably either off its own clues, chaining together other cantrips, or simply casting something like Ancestral Recall / Brainstorm / Chart a Course / Night's Whisper on turn 2. On turn 3 it can easily transform off something like a draw 7 or off a turn 2 Sylvan Library.
The planeswalker side is very reminiscent of Jace, Telepath Unbound with its ability to shrink the power of your opponent's creatures and recurring an instant / sorcery to your hand. While this can't immediately recur a spell when it transforms like Jace, Telepath Unbound can, this has +2 loyalty gain and is much more annoying by giving your opponent's team -1/-0. Returning a spell to your hand is better than flashback since you can recur something you don't have to cast immediately like a counterspell, and the spell you recast doesn't exile itself, giving you the ability to recur something like Time Walk multiple times. Adding 1 mana of any color to your mana pool if you recur a green card and its ultimate drawing half your deck is nice, but will generally be flavor text in most scenarios.
I've seen some people cast some doubt on Tamiyo. If you're not convinced yet, just know that you have everything to gain and nothing to lose, all for a single . Blue has never had a great 1-cmc cube creature, and now it arguably has one of the strongest 1-cmc creatures, period. This has similar snowball / cheese potential of Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and maintains its value throughout the game unlike a lot of other 1-cmc creatures. The synergies with other cantrip / draw spells and providing artifacts is everything blue wants to do. As donethemath on r/mtgcube said, “I feel like another generation is about to learn how obnoxious -1/0 on attacks truly is with this card”, which I'm assuming they're referring to Jace, Architect of Thought. The planeswalker half being reminiscent of Jace, Telepath Unbound and just as annoying to deal with in combat as Oko, Thief of Crowns makes this a very resilient planeswalker. While I've always found every other Tamiyo variant to be a bit overrated, this is a perfect score of a creature and is definitely a standout in not just its cycle, but in the entire set alongside Ajani, Nacatl Pariah.
A new Swan Song variant. Hitting creatures / planeswalkers / artifacts makes this much less matchup dependent than Stern Scolding. This currently hits 288/540 (53.3%) cards in my cube. In comparison, a Negate effect hits 256/540 cards in my cube (47.4%). Giving your opponent a 2/2 is a real drawback, but it'll often be better than them getting Black Lotus / Sol Ring / Ancestral Recall / Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer / Hexdrinker / Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Orcish Bowmasters / etc. The threat list of creatures / planeswalkers / artifacts is very real. The potential bull case for this card is that this can be blue's Path to Exile. Small chance, but that kind of potential is definitely worth at least testing in my book.
Tune the NarrativeRemember when Attune with Aether got banned in Standard?
Emrakul's MessengerA 2/1 with flying and additional text for is always worth looking at. Being able to make an Eldrazi Spawn token is pretty unique compared to other similar cards. While devoid is mostly flavor text and occasionally a drawback with things like Chrome Mox, being colorless hurts blue the most since it has the most pitch spells with Force of Will / Force of Negation / Subtlety / Flare of Denial. Having flash or making 1/1 Eldrazi Scions instead of 0/1 Eldrazi Spawns would've gone a long way. This is a decent card, but I generally like it a lot less than other similar creatures like Faerie Mastermind / Duelist of the Mind / Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel / Ledger Shredder / etc.
Also, is it just me, or does the flavor text kind of sound like they can be lyrics straight out of a song from Athur?
A saga that can generate a ton of artifacts. The first mode can save you a lot of life or even just turn off Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer for the turn. The second mode is the real meat and potatoes of this card. This can generate a lot of artifacts / card advantage similar to Carnage Interpreter. And the third mode can put your Tinker target back into your library or provide a shuffle effect for your Brainstorm / Sylvan Library or something. While this can draw you lots of cards, it requires +
+
to come out ahead, making this quite slow without Tolarian Academy. Ultimately I think this is a bit narrow and artifacts matters is eating quite well and doesn't need something like this.
This is a cool stat monster / proliferate engine if you support proliferate shenanigans. This works well with planeswalkers that draw you cards since they help you double spell while this keeps increasing their loyalty.
BrainsurgeBrainstorm x Counsel of the Soratami. This digs deeper and is guaranteed card advantage unlike Thirst for Knowledge / Thirst for Discovery, and is cheaper than Fact or Fiction / Memory Deluge. The ability to put cards from your hand back into your library is both rare and valuable, especially if you support miracles. There's also a lot of explicit payoffs now for drawing multiple cards in a single turn with things like Duelist of the Mind / Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student / Proft's Eidetic Memory.
I wasn't too high on this card when I first read it, but have slowly come around to it. Originally I was hung up on this not fueling the graveyard like Thirst for Knowledge / Fact or Fiction and combo decks generally rather having Impulse. But I've also had a mono blue variant of Sauron's Ransom with any baggage of The Ring on my wishlist since last year, and this is fairly close to that. I've also always wanted a Brainstorm for that draws 2 cards and puts 1 card from your hand (lovingly referred to as “Brainfart”), and I'm a bit upset that they moved in the opposite direction of Brainfart. I'd still rather have mono blue Sauron's Ransom to fuel the graveyard and get around Hullbreacher and friends, but this will do for now. I feel like this is a subtle card that is easy to underrate, I'm curious to test and see how other players perceive it.
Cancel with the new set mechanic. This is pretty dependent on how many cheap (
) creatures you have in your cube. The main appeal of this card is the ability to be proactive and reactive at the same time. This has a much better floor than Force of Negation since it can hit creatures, and is much easier to hardcast than [[Force of Will]. That being said, being able to pitch a blue card from your hand is generally a much better alternative mana cost than sacrificing a nontoken blue creature you control. While blue doesn't have a ton of commonly played 1-cmc creatures, it does have a ton of great 2-3 cmc creatures.
It's very important to note that you can't just cast Snapcaster Mage and then sacrifice it or another nontoken blue creature to cast Flare of Denial from the graveyard. Snapcaster Mage gives it a different alternate casting cost of that's separate from its original alternate cost. Things like Yawgmoth's Will / Underworld Breach / Jace, Telepath Unbound do allow you to use the alternate casting cost. I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will try to use this the wrong way with Snapcaster Mage on MTGO / Arena and immediately rage quit when they realize it doesn't work.
I think a lot of people are too hung up on this not being online ASAP like Force of Will / Force of Negation are. I don't think that's too much of an issue since nobody's saying this is a replacement to any of those. The floor of a Cancel is acceptable, and this being more flexible / available makes me like this over other Cancel variants like Three Steps Ahead. I also like the idea of blue having a higher critical mass of free counterspells like Force of Will / Force of Negation / Daze / Subtlety and now Flare of Denial. I think this is card is strong in the right blue section, but is less of a priority compared to other free blue counters due to its restrictive alternate casting cost.
Sink into Stupor // Soporofic SpringsVenser, Shaper Savant in bolt land form. Otawara, Soaring City and Remand are great cards, and I'm a big fan of the flexibility that MDFC bolt lands offer. It's a worse land than Otawara, Soaring City, but Sink into Stupor is generally a better spell. This being cheaper (although more intensive) right off the bat and interacting with the stack is a fair trade for being counterable / hit by Thoughtseize effects / not being able to bounce things you control.
I like this a lot more than most of the original MDFC bolt lands, making this closer to Shatterskull Smashing than the rest of the original cycle. Red is less concerned about paying 3 life than blue is, but Sink into Stupor is more versatile and cost efficient. Otawara, Soaring City is the second best blue utility land in my book (Tolarian Academy obviously being #1), so this being similar to Otawara at least puts this in the top 3 for me. I also like how this is reminiscent of Denying Channel, which was Tiago Chan's original invitational card design. This is what the original design looked like before WOTC mercilessly struck it down and eventually became Snapcaster Mage.
Denying Channel
Land
: Add
.
, discard Denying Channel: Counter target spell.
I generally like this more than some of the more fringe counterspells like a lot of the Negate / Quench / Cancel variants. Those cards tend to be card 22-24 in decks, where this will always make the cut in any deck where blue is one of the main colors. I also like this a lot more than other commonly played blue utility lands like Academy Ruins / Shelldock Isle.
BONUS TANGENTSpeaking of Shelldock Isle, I do believe that's the most overrated blue card in powered Vintage cubes and will never pass up an opportunity to express that opinion.
It's a bad Island most of the time with a very slow, random effect.
It's not generically good like a Lightning Bolt / Preordain / Thoughtseize / etc, nor is it a good roleplayer or fill a specific niche.
Other than being cute with Primeval Titan / Doomsday, no deck particularly wants or needs it.
The only thing more overrated than Shelldock Isle is storm, which IMO is the worst of the viable combos in a powered Vintage cube. Sure they're fun and memorable, but I don’t think they’re half as good as their stans would like you to believe.
Ugin's BindingProbably not for most cubes since the front half is overcosted and most cubes probably have very few cards that can actually trigger its graveyard ability. I'm sure there's some devoid cube enthusiasts out there that will appreciate this, but most other cubes will be much better off running other things like Brazen Borrower / Cyclonic Rift / Into the Roil and its many variants / etc.
BLACK NethergoyfA Tarmogoyf for that only counts your own graveyard. This technically still has the same floor / ceiling as the original Tarmogoyf, it just grows at a slower rate. As somebody who's always 1 card type short when checking for delirium, I'm pretty confident this will be a 3/4 on average. Recursion is nice, although it'll probably come back smaller than a ¾ most of the time unless it's really later in the game.
One big strike against Nethergoyf compared to Tarmogoyf that I'm concerned about is that it's much more vulnerable to graveyard hate. A single Endurance from your opponent can neutralize Nethergoyf, but they'd have to eat their own graveyard to do the same to Tarmogoyf. This kind of reminds me of a Tasigur, the Golden Fang as a cheap stat monster, except this has a different set of hoops to jump through and doesn't eat your graveyard on the front end. I like this as much as I like Tarmogoyf and is probably one of black's better standalone 1-cmc creatures, IMO.
Accursed MarauderA cheaper Fleshbag Marauder variant that dodges tokens is pretty nice if you explicitly support aristocrats and have a lot of recursion. This also has two very relevant creature types for cubes that support tribal matters. Not being able to sacrifice a token can be a drawback at times though since now you can't use your own Ophiomancer tokens as fodder or something, but it's probably overall a net positive.
Emperor of BonesA solid hate bear that can pump itself and Shallow Grave up anything it exiled. It's important to note that you can hit ANY graveyard, so this doubles as a reanimation spell in your reanimator decks as well as just being a random hate bear. This also works well with / against initiative since it can steal an initiative enabler and trigger the Shallow Grave ability with the +1/+1 counters from Forge. Emperor of Bones having a cleaner mana cost than Dauthi Voidwalker, being able to exile things that were already in the graveyard, and the ability to trigger the Shallow Grave ability more than once with other +1/+1 counter enablers makes this very strong.
Marionette ApprenticeBlood Artist x Disciple of the Vault. This doesn't trigger itself or on your opponent's stuff, but having a better body than Blood Artist and the combination of both effects is really nice, especially since it comes with its own fodder that can also contribute to artifact synergies. I'd imagine this is a slam dunk for cubes that support a heavy aristocrats theme.
Sorin of House MarkovA grindy creature that transforms into a food / Lightning Bolt spamming planeswalker is certainly intriguing. It's rare to see a cheap defensive minded creature with lifelink in black, which tends to be full of aggressive / recursive creatures that can't even block. The combination of lifelink + extort makes it fairly easy to transform itself, especially if you have a way to pump Sorin. There are plenty of cards that can transform this by itself like swinging with Intrepid Adversary / Steel Seraph / Solitude / Barrowgoyf / Passageway Seer / etc, Charming Prince's life gain mode, or any food generated by Oko, Thief of Crowns / Gilded Goose / Tough Cookie / The Goose Mother / etc. My cube has about 40 cards that gain life. Here's a filter you can use on CubeCobra to see how much life gain you have (there will probably be false positives with this filter).
o:food OR (o:gain AND o:life) OR o:lifelink
Sorin's planeswalker half has a lot of potential. +2 to generate food in combination with this retaining extort can make it a serious grind to deal with both you and Sorin. This can immediately use the -1 for a Lightning Bolt at minimum the turn it transforms. This being scalable is what makes Sorin truly dangerous since it won't be hard to do 5-6 damage off two food tokens or swinging with a big creature with lifelink. Even without going crazy with other lifegain generators, just being able to throw out Lightning Bolt / Lightning Blast every other turn is extremely powerful.
While this isn't as generically powerful as Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, the scalability of Sorin's planeswalker gives it a much higher ceiling and makes it a much more interesting build around. I think this is the best designed card not just in its cycle, but probably in the entire set. I've always wanted more lifegain in black and lifegain payoffs in general, and this truly delivers on that wish.
Chthonian NightmareRecurring Nightmare x Unearth. Being cheaper than Recurring Nightmare is nice and the floor of an Unearth effect isn't bad, especially if you're already running Unearth and / or all its variants. That being said, the ceiling is nowhere near Recurring Nightmare since this is limited by your energy count. Also unlike Recurring Nightmare, having an ETB trigger gives your opponent an opportunity to Disenchant this in between resolving the spell and activating it. I think this card still has decent potential by itself since Unearth isn't uncommon to see in a lot of cubes and 2-3 cmc creatures are just that strong now. This can really start to feel like Recurring Nightmare with proper energy support.
GravedigGravedigger with multiple payment plans. Raise Dead by itself is pretty awful, but is always nice on a modal spell like this or Kolaghan's Command. This has a lot of potential for aristocrats / zombies matters or pauper / peasant cubes.
Ripples of UndeathBlack's attempt at Sylvan Library. Fueling the graveyard is cool if you heavily support self-mill shenanigans. As a card drawing engine, this is quite slow though. 3 life + 1 mana is a lot for a single card. This is really inefficient in comparison to one shot effects like Night's Whisper / Ransack the Lab / Painful Truths / Shadow Prophecy / etc. I'd much rather have Dark Confidant and a lot of its other variants over this like Caustic Bronco / Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. Call of the Ring is also more life / mana efficient while providing bonuses to your creatures.
BarrowgoyfTarmogoyf with deathtouch + lifelink + combat damage trigger is pretty appealing for 1 extra mana. This solves the issue for me of Nighthawk Scavenger being vulnerable to Lightning Bolt, and black can really use all the life gain it can get (especially with the new Sorin). The combat trigger being optional is nice in case you're afraid of milling yourself out. A lot of people have been liking Preacher of the Schism, but I like this a lot more with its scalable stats + lifelink + combat damage trigger.
Warren SoultraderA new sacrifice outlet that doesn't require any mana. The activated ability having the same cost as Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, but creating a treasure instead gives this a lot of potential, especially when it comes to combos. Being a zombie goblin wizard makes this versatile with creature types matters for things like Gravecrawler / Goblin Rabblemaster / Seasoned Dungeoneer / etc. This can go infinite with Gravecrawler + any Blood Artist variant. Even without the infinite, this is still a useful way to stockpile on treasure tokens. This is probably one of the better sacrifice outlets in black alongside Yawgmoth, Thran Physician / Woe Strider and can really shine in cubes that heavily support aristocrats.
Breathe Your LastA strict upgrade to Hero's Downfall if you're running that, passable if you're not. Not bad for a common!
The Creation of AvacynProbably one of the cooler sagas from a design / lore perspective (especially from this set). This is essentially suspend 2 for either Entomb + Reanimate or Demonic Tutor. A turn 5 Atraxa, Grand Unifier isn't bad on curve, but playing this on turn 1 or 2 Black Lotus / Dark Ritual / any moxen / etc makes this an incredibly efficient 1-card cheaty face combo. Like actual suspend cards, this makes for an awful topdeck when drawn beyond the turn you'd typically cast this on curve. This can especially be miserable if this gets removed after you exiled your best creature from your deck and lost a bunch of life equal to its mana cost.
This card really pulls at my heart strings since I heavily support reanimator / cheaty face. I love the design and the risk / reward aspect since this has an incredibly high ceiling. I just wish this had an immediate value option like Lively Dirge does. As much as I want to play this, reanimator / cheaty face doesn't exactly need the help in my cube, and I would probably play Grim Tutor first since it's more versatile and works immediately. I do think this is a good option for larger cubes though where consistency can be an issue and things might not be as fast where suspend 2 isn't the end of the world when drawn off curve.
Fell the Profane // Fell MireA nice upgrade to Hagra Mauling. Hero's Downfall on a bolt land is always nice to have, even if it costs . Reactive decks especially appreciate the modality of this. I would've really liked this pre 2023, before we started getting a lot of great removal spells like Sheoldred's Edict / Bitter Triumph / Long Goodbye / Get Lost / etc, but now there's no shortage of ways to deal with creatures / planeswalkers. That being said, you can argue this is one of black's better utility land options, but that's not saying much since I've always considered black to have the worst color when it comes to utility lands. Like most bolt lands, this is great if you have the space for it.
Etali, Primal Conqueror in giant enemy crab demon form. Exiling a random card from your opponent's hand / library / graveyard is cool, although you only get to cast one of them and can't play lands. Not guaranteeing a spell like Etali, Primal Conqueror is a bummer, but being cheaper to cast and exiling a random card from your opponent's hand is a decent consolation prize. Emerge from artifact is a nice bonus too. Being a 5/5 without any other static / triggered abilities is a huge bummer for this card. This is a good option if Griselbrand / Archon of Cruelty are too much for your cube, but not exactly a high priority super fattie in my book.
Spymaster's VaultProbably one of the more interesting black utility lands out there. 2 mana to connive X can be a decent deal even at 1, and is incredibly efficient once you hit 3 or more. This seems very strong if you have more control of this with sacrifice outlets. Cubes that support aristocrats will probably be pretty interested in this.
RED Galvanic DischargeFinally got that instant speed Strangle I've always wanted. Being a self sustaining energy enabler / payoff makes this even better. Even if you're not supporting any other energy cards, you can use any leftover energy to make this a Flame Slash or bigger if you recur this with Snapcaster Mage / Eternal Witness / Regrowth / etc. Incinerate effects are a dime a dozen, but this is a premium removal spell in red. Only Lightning Bolt itself can also deal 3 damage unconditionally to a creature or planeswalker at instant speed for . Everything else is either a sorcery like Chain Lightning / Strangle, or makes you jump through hoops like Unholy Heat / Galvanic Blast.
An energy matters Mirran Banesplitter. Flash makes this a decent combat trick and can catch your opponent's Questing Beast or something off guard. Being an energy generator is nice, especially since a lot of energy cards do lean on the aggressive side. I really wish this only used 1 energy to re-equip though because so many energy matters cards in this set become much better with just 1 extra energy lying around. Without a decent amount of energy cards I'd much rather just play any Bonesplitter variant or Rabbit Battery over this.
Amped RaptorKind of sort of Bloodbraid Elf on an energy matters raptor. A 2/1 with first strike isn't the worst floor for a creature considering this can potentially cascade into another 2-cmc spell by itself. This is absolutely awesome value when you do get a hit, especially if you have extra energy lying around to cast 3-4 cmc cards or above. Unlike other 2-cmc aggressive creatures, this isn't too hot in tempo decks where you can whiff on a counterspell or something. I think this can slot comfortably in a lot of aggro decks where this has a greater than 50% chance to hit something. This goes especially well with Lurrus of the Dream-Den and is THE creature you want to be recurring over and over again with Lurrus.
Red's new take on Merfolk Looter. This being a 1/4, offering more card selection, not having to tap to use its ability, and giving noncreature spells you cast from exile convoke is a nice upgrade over Merfolk Looter. This rummaging instead of looting is a downgrade, as is not actually keeping cards in your hand. This is an interesting spells matters creature if people want some more support for that, although I do think this is a lower priority creature for that theme.
Ral, Monsoon MageA new variant of Baral, Chief of Compliance / Goblin Electromancer that can transform into a planeswalker. The creature half of this randomly dealing 1 damage to you is annoying, but this is pretty trivial to transform. Retaining its ability to function as a spell reducer is good, and the ability to pick off problematic threats like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben / Dauthi Voidwalker is nice for storm to have. While the ultimate is fairly Magical Christmas Land-ish, it has a decent chance to win the game by itself, especially if you were storming off the same turn anyways. Like most Baral, Chief of Compliance / Goblin Electromancer variants, this is really attractive if you support storm. Even if you don't, having spell cost reducer that can transform into a Forked Bolt / Electrolyze ain't bad by itself.
Reckless PyrosurferThis compares very well to other 2/2s with haste for like Robber of the Rich / Bloodthirsty Adversary. While those have more flashy abilities, this is more straightforward to aggro's game plan and doesn't require additional mana. This is especially strong in the late game with tokens. Battle cry stacks too, making this very powerful with fetchlands. Even without going wide, just having your other 2 powered creatures being able to swing for 3 or 4 damage is really strong and can force a lot of unfavorable trades for your opponent. I think this is one of the better aggro red creatures for
and consider this to be generally better than all the other similar 2/2 creatures with haste like Robber of the Rich / Bloodthirsty Adversary.
Phoenix cards are always fun to play with, and this is probably one of the better 3-cmc ones not named Phoenix of Ash. A 2/2 with flying and haste is a decent baseline to start with, and having a recursive bestow makes this fairly modal. Giving a creature +2/+2 with flying + haste is really strong, especially since they have to deal with the phoenix itself also if they somehow removed the bestow creature. That being said, collect evidence 6 can be a tall order, but can be achieved as early as turn 2 with most of the LTR landcyclers like Oliphaunt. Recursion is most ideal when you have no board presence, so not being able to recur this without a creature to bestow is a huge bummer. While this is a serviceable 3-cmc creature, you gotta be truly great to compete with red's current suite of 3-cmc options, and I generally like other recursive options like Squee, Dubious Monarch / Phoenix of Ash more than this since they're stronger solo threats and are generally easier to recur.
Flare of DuplicationWake up babe, new Fork just dropped… and it's actually good! I've always wanted a good Fork effect (Lutri, the Spellchaser doesn't count because it can't copy your opponent's spells). This is quite strong in aggro / tempo builds where you can either close out games by copying your burn spells, especially Ghostfire Slice / Fireblast / Fiery Confluence, or use this in response to your opponent's removal to make this a 1 for 1. Copying scaleable effects like Pest Infestation / Forth Eorlingas! / Occult Epiphany can especially be huge. And you can just fizzle your opponent's Pest Infestation if you really want to by nuking the same exact targets. Or steal your opponent's creature with their own Reanimate / From the Catacombs. Not to mention powered cubes get to copy Ancestral Recall / Time Walk.
I see a lot of people dismissing this card because Fork / Dualcaster Mage never worked out for them. I don't think the misgivings of those cards matters too much for this since flexibility is key with the alternate casting cost allowing you to be both proactive and reactive at the same time. Many people dismissed Grief / Fury because Unmask / Pyrokinesis weren't good cards, and Grief / Fury ended up being all-time great cards. I'm not saying this is as good as Grief / Fury, but I do think this is easily the best card of the flare cycle for high powered Vintage cubes.
Ghostfire SliceChar with a glow up! Removing the drawback of the self damage, ability to kill an active Mother of Runes, and potentially costing if your opponent controls a multicolored permanent all adds up to a pretty decent upgrade to an already decent card. The multicolored clause is especially useful since a lot of multicolored cards are really dangerous. Having an immediate answer to Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes (especially in response to its trigger / Grist, the Hunger Tide / Dack Fayden / Omnath, Locus of Creation / Chaos Defiler / a medium sized Mawloc / etc is HUGE for red. While this is a strictly better Char (I am using strictly better correctly here, so don't try to “WELL ACTUALLY” me), it is important to note that this cannot pitch to Fury and is useless with Chrome Mox since that requires a card to have a color in order to tap for mana. I was just thinking about re-adding Char to my cube just for Flare of Duplication shenanigans, so this couldn't have come at a better time for me.
Flametongue Kavu x Tarmogoyf. Being scalable and able to hit any target makes this generally better than OG Flametongue Kavu. This triggering off other lhurgoyf creatures like Tarmogoyf / Nethergoyf / Barrowgoyf is a nice touch, it'll be fun to have a Tarmogoyf subtheme in Jund. Clone effects are especially powerful with Pyrogoyf since it triggers both the original and the copy. This is also new best friends with Broadside Bombardiers where this will often end up dealing 10-12 damage in the late game, not to mention this is one of the best red creatures to blink / recur.
Pyrogoyf is essentially the perfect red midrange creature. Most red 4-cmc creatures either have to choose between the immediate aggression of Hellrider or having an ETB trigger like Flametongue Kavu, and this gets to choose which one it wants to be. Pyrogoyf's only flaw is that its not great to ramp into in the early game, but neither was Flametongue Kavu. This can at least be played if your opponent has an empty board. This card is easily a slam dunk and is IMO red's second most powerful overall 4-cmc creature after Caves of Chaos Adventurer.
Sawhorn NemesisA one-sided Furnace of Rath... on a stick! Being splashable and amplifying damage from any source regardless of color or controller makes this a huge upgrade to Torbran, Thane of Red Fell. Doubling the damage on all your burn spells can end games really quickly if you untap with this. Things that inflict self damage to your opponent are also doubled like City of Brass / Mana Crypt / Mana Vault / pain lands / etc (loss of life effects like Dark Confidant / Mana Confluence don't count). Broadside Bombardiers sacrificing a 3 / 4/ 5 drop goes from dealing 5 / 6 / 7 damage to 10 / 12 / 14 damage respectively. And not being legendary means copying this QUADRUPLES all damage to your opponent!
There's no doubt that this card has an insanely high ceiling, it's just a matter of what its average case scenario is. The opportunity cost of not having an immediate impact on the board itself is a huge opportunity cost in red. Red loves its variants of Hellriders / Flametongue Kavus, not to mention monarch / initiative enablers like Emberwilde Captain / Caves of Chaos Adventurer. This will have less immediate impact than Hellrider / Rampaging Raptor if you have less than 4 combat damage on the board. Being immune to Lightning Bolt like Rampaging Raptor is nice, but it also has the worst floor against the Vindicate test. This is the worst solo threat out of any of the other commonly cubed red 4-cmc creatures. Hellrider will often be just as effective when going wide, Rampaging Raptor is better at splitting damage between creatures and planeswalkers, and Headliner Scarlett can push damage through a stalemate and is better at grinding.
While this can win the game out of nowhere, I feel like most other 4-cmc red creatures will be just as good in most scenarios, and will often be more reliable. Still, the ceiling on this is hard to ignore, especially with Pyrogoyf / Flare of Duplication / Ghostfire Slice being released in the same set. That being said, Pyrogoyf does make the competition that much higher. I'll probably give this a test to spice things up a bit. Red creatures can be very monotonous. For those that want more variety in their red 4-cmc slot, I think it'll be hard to beat the combination of this / Caves of Chaos Adventurer / Pyrogoyf / whichever Hellrider variant you think is the most handsome (which for me is Rampaging Raptor).
Arena of GloryThis seems like a decent haste enabler with a fairly low opportunity cost. While half of red's creatures tend to have haste anyways, things like Pyrogoyf / Caves of Chaos Adventurer / Inferno Titan really appreciate getting haste, as do creatures from other colors. This is one of red's more interesting utility lands, especially if you're a fan of old school archetypes like Fires of Yavimaya. Exerting the land is a bummer, but giving haste to something with an attack trigger can be really spicy.
GREEN Grist, Voracious LarvaProbably the most difficult to transform out of the cycle, especially within its own color. While all the other flipwalkers give you a bonus for playing a certain color, this pretty much mandates it, and it's almost always going to be black. While I'm not the biggest fan of this in straight up reanimator shells, this goes very well with things like Gravecrawler / Unearth effects / Lurrus of the Dream-Den companion shells / persist creatures / etc. Recurring a creature AND paying gives this the highest hoop to jump through compared to other flipwalkers from MH3. Even then, I think the planeswalker half is a bit overrated. The +1 potentially putting a deathtouch counter on your insect can be nice, but -2 for Naturalize is disappointing compared to the original Grist's ability to Hero's Downfall things for -1 and sacrifice a creature. This seems cool if you're really into Unearth effects, but is pretty passable if you're not.
A new mana dork for . Being a 1/4 makes this fairly sturdy like Wall of Roots / Sylvan Caryatid, especially since it can't die to a stray Lightning Bolt / Incinerate variant. Ferocious isn't too hard to achieve these days with how power crept things are, not to mention this enables itself later in the game with eternalize. The floor is very serviceable, but the combination of ferocious and being a threat by itself with eternalize really makes this stand out compared to other 2-cmc mana dorks. While not as explosive as Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, this is much more versatile since it can fit outside of heavy green decks, and has a much better body / mana cost. You can curve this into a turn 3 Questing Beast into a turn 4 Woodfall Primus / Craterhoof Behemoth / etc. This is especially great fodder for Natural Order / Survival of the Fittest since this can be cashed in for a 4/4 mana dork that can tap for
later in the game. Not tapping for any other color except
is a bit of a bummer, but that's really my only complaint for this card besides being a snake that’s incompatible with Ophiomancer. This compares well to any other 2-cmc mana dork otherwise since this generally both has a higher floor and ceiling than most of them.
This is an interesting payoff for +1/+1 counters matters if you support that. This can especially be dangerous with hydra type cards that solely rely on counters for its power and toughness, not to mention planeswalkers and Dark Depths.
Springheart NantukoGreen Young Pyromancer on steroids with bestow + landfall. The wording is confusing on this card, but here's how it works with each landfall trigger:
If this IS NOT bestowed, you NEVER get a chance to pay and always get a 1/1.
If this IS bestowed and you DO NOT pay , you get a 1/1.
If this IS bestowed and you DO pay , you get a copy of the bestowed creature.
A Young Pyromancer with landfall would be pretty decent on its own, but the bestow mode gives this 2 drop a lot of options and a crazy high ceiling. The ideal curve would be turn 1 mana dork -> turn 2 White Plume Adventurer -> turn 3 bestow White Plume Adventurer, play your third land and pay to copy White Plume Adventurer. Some other really strong interactions with Springheart Nantuko include:
Skullclamp + Fastbond allows you to keep making tokens, draw cards off them with Skullclamp, play more lands to make more tokens, etc. This is a stronger combo than Courser of Kruphix + Fastbond sans the lifeloss.
Bestowing a forest creature while you control Nissa, Who Shakes the World can create infinite copies of the bestowed forest with a single landfall trigger. This has to be done with a forest since Nissa, Who Shakes the World allows the fresh copies to pay the to create new copies that do the same thing on repeat. This infinite doesn't win the game on its own since the copies are NOT creatures, but this does give you infinite mana and infinite landfall triggers for other things like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower / Tireless Tracker / Sentinel of the Nameless City / etc.
This has a lot of potential to loop with Nadu, Winged Wisdom + something with a cheap equip cost like Lightning Greaves / Skullclamp / any Bonesplitter variant. Each landfall trigger gives you a 2 more chances to “draw” into another land to trigger landfall again, etc. This combo has caused Shuko to jump up to $15 at the time I'm writing this.
Bestow with Eternal Witness can set up a very annoying recursive loops, especially with Ancestral Recall / Time Walk.
Bestowing Primeval Titan with this can get really out of hand. Every Primeval Titan trigger will trigger the bestow twice and you can keep making copies for as many times as you can pay for it that turn. Throw Lotus Cobra into the mix and you get to make as many copies of Primeval Titan as you have lands in your deck.
Springheart Nantuko does pretty much everything green wants to do (sans Oath of Druids), from providing fodder for Natural Order, critical mass for Gaea's Cradle / Craterhoof Behemoth, going crazy with Fastbond, copying your best value creatures, and is even an insect for Grist, the Hunger Tide! Being genetically good by itself while providing a lot of combo potential makes this a very premium green card. I think this is not just the best green card from this set, but the best green card we've seen since Court of Garenbrig. IMO it's also the best 1-2 cmc non mana dork green creature not named Hexdrinker, and is arguably a top five 2-cmc creature, period. Easy slam dunk inclusion.
Birthing RitualA new twist on Birthing Pod. Being cheap and not strictly linear like Birthing Pod is a nice change, but a lot of that is mitigated by not being able to search your whole library. I'm skeptical about this card and don't see any particular curves / sequences that can make this consistent enough to be enticing for me. I've always said that Birthing Pod variants are worse than Survival of the Fittest variants, and I don't think this is any better than Birthing Pod (which I'm not the biggest fan of anyways). I've always thought Eldritch Evolution was underrated, has gotten much better over time, and is generally better than Birthing Pod. I'd at least include Eldritch Evolution before considering this.
This card looks good in theory, but in practice I think it'll be a liability since there will be a lot of turns it doesn't do anything. I’d rather have the reliability of finding exactly what I need in creature based combo decks. Instead of grabbing the mystery box in hopes of it having the boat you really want, just get the boat directly. For these reasons combined with the fact that I don't think this is any better than Eldritch Evolution / Birthing Pod, I think this card is a trap.
If you're a fan of Requisition Raid then this is similar enough to probably interest you.
Malevolent RumbleSatyr Wayfinder x Invasion of Ixalan. Being able to hit any permanent and getting a back is very powerful. Ramp + card filtering makes this feel like a pseudo Explore with much more card selection. This can easily set up a turn 3 bomb 4-cmc card, or simply just Impulse for a permanent to cast that turn since you get a rebate on your
. Fueling your graveyard is a nice touch, especially if you're going Tarmogoyf tribal or playing an Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath shell. I love how this combines all the best aspects of Satyr Wayfinder / Winding Way / Invasion of Ixalan and is by far the best variant of these types of cards. This isn't a flashy card, but I think this is subtly great. I've always had Impulse that fuels the graveyard on my wishlist, but I'll gladly take a green variant that ramps.
Power crept Realmwalker / Vizier of the Menagerie. Being able to cast creatures off the top of your library and cheat things into play has a lot of potential as a back up to Natural Order / Channel like how Smuggler's Surprise is. Playing a creature off the top is usually much worse than playing a land off the top of your library since sequencing matters much less for lands. Creature heavy decks still have more lands than creatures, and just because you can play a creature off the top of your library doesn't mean it's the best play for that turn. The order of lands becomes much less important beyond turn 3.
This is a crowded role in green since there are a lot of great supplementary cheaty face enablers and grindy midrange cards, and this card isn't particularly great at either of them. This is decent in straight ahead midrange decks, but generally worse than other green 3-cmc options that will give you more value like Tireless Tracker / Sentinel of the Nameless City / Courser of Kruphix / Augur of Autumn / Six / etc. I like this a lot more than other supplementary cheaty face enablers like Magus of the Order / Elvish Piper, but less than things like Selvala's Stampede / Monster Manual / Smuggler's Surprise. Decent card for larger cubes looking for more cheaty face support that's decent on its own, but it's not a high priority for me right now.
SixAn interesting lands matters engine. A 2/4 is fairly sturdy and the attack trigger fueling your graveyard and potentially drawing you lands is a decent floor. The real kicker to Six is giving all your nonland permanents in your graveyard retrace, which the attack trigger perfectly fuels. This can get out of hand really fast, especially in the late game if you have some lands to spare. I wish this had vigilance or flash in combination with its reach because it really wants to be attacking as much as it can. While this has a lot of potential, it's also a bit slow. This is definitely test worthy, but it's also in a weird spot between things like Eternal Witness / Ramunap Excavator / Sentinel of the Nameless City / Wrenn and Realmbreaker / etc.
Flare of CultivationKodama's Reach with the set mechanic. Unlike other cards with the flare cycle, this doesn't cost more mana than the original version, it's just more mana intensive (Cancel variants like Flare of Denial are all just more expensive Counterspells). I've been testing this for a while now since it was revealed early and it's been doing pretty well. Cashing a mana dork on turn 1 to protect your curve from removal is huge, especially with how powerful 3-cmc creatures are. This powering up your scalable spells like Pest Infestation / Occult Epiphany / Goldvein Hydra is always nice. Goldvein Hydra plays double duty as ideal fodder for this, as is Caldaia Guardian / Fanatic of Rhonas. Fueling landfall cards like Springheart Nantuko / Tireless Tracker / Bristly Bill, Spine Sower makes this brings a lot of synergy to the table. This is a strong upgrade to Kodama's Reach / Cultivate if you're already playing those, and is definitely worth a test if you're currently not running those.
Sowing MycospawnReap and Sow in eldrazi fungus form. The cast trigger to tutor up ANY land and put into play untapped is huge for lands matters combo decks, especially things like Dark Depths / Strip Mine / Gaea's Cradle / etc. The kicker is a nice bonus for the late game. While not having an ETB trigger makes this worse with blink / recursion, a true lands matters combo deck would rather just have a cast trigger that can't be hit by a counterspell. This is really attractive if you support Dark Depths and is pretty decent even without it. This is decent in midrange shells without the combo potential, but will generally be outclassed by other options.
Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of FreyaliseDisciple of Bolas in green MDFC bolt land form. Out of all the MDFC bolt lands from this set, this is the closest one to its predecessor (Turntimber Symbiosis). Disciple of Freyalise being cheaper, pitchable to Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman, and found by Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman / Oath of Nissa / Once Upon a Time / Malevolent Rumble / etc does make this more versatile. While Turntimber Symbiosis is more flashy and is compatible with Oath of Druids, the accessibility of Disciple of Freyalise generally makes it a better card, IMO.
Colossal DreadmaskKind of sort of Volrath's Shapeshifter on a green utility land. Being able to copy any permanent from your graveyard gives this a high ceiling, although it's probably going to be a creature in most cases. While this can combo with Dark Depths in your graveyard, I think this is generally best as a backup for Uro / reanimator / cheaty face decks. Those decks can fill up the graveyard just fine and will have prime targets for you to target. Copy effects that don't get an ETB trigger usually end up as duds. It's also important to note that this dies if it copies a planeswalker. When the copy ability resolves, state-based effects are checked and this will be put in the graveyard since it has 0 loyalty counters on it. This is why flipwalkers like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy have to exile themselves before transforming. Base green decks can struggle with getting delirium online, especially without Mulch / Satyr Wayfinder effects. That being said, the opportunity cost of playing this in a green deck is fairly low, so this isn't a bad hedge to have in the late game.
This is essentially green's Shelldock Isle. While I'm not a fan of Shelldock Isle for various reasons, I like this a lot more since it can ETB untapped fairly easily, you have more control of its effect, and it can be online much earlier. That being said, I do think this card is a bit overrated. No deck particularly needs it, and it's probably a decent value card at best. It's not bad if you have a slot to spare, but spare slots are becoming much harder to come by with how deep this set is.
OTHER Kudo, King Among BearsAn interesting build around / hate BEAR (king) for Selesnya. This can upgrade a good amount of tokens while really shrinking down your opponent's super fatties. Griselbrand isn't so scary when it's a 2/2, and this can really put a damper on Flash hits like Worldspine Wurm. On the flipside, it's very easy for to break the symmetry of this by going wide with tokens or pumping your creatures with equipment / +1/+1 counters. This can especially be deadly with things that make flying tokens like Lingering Souls / Occult Epiphany.
While I'm sure a vast majority of people reading this absolutely know their layers, especially the intricate differences between Layers 7a - 7e, here's some freebie rules interactions that a select few people might need a refresher on when Kudo is blessing you with his royal presence:
Manlands are dependent on timestamps. If you activate a Treetop Village while Kudo is already in play, the Treetop Village will be a 3/3. If you activate Treetop Village and then Kudo enters the battlefield afterwards, Treetop Village will be a 2/2.
Crewing a vehicle will always be a 2/2 with Kudo around regardless of timestamps. This may seem counterintuitive with the land example, but that's because crewing a vehicle simply just turns the vehicle into a creature. The vehicle itself already has a set power / toughness that's defined by the card's characteristics itself and isn't dictated by the activated ability like how manlands are.
Counters that increase or decrease power / toughness like +1/+1 counters, -1/-1 counters, and other weird counters like -0/-1 and -2/-1 counters (shoutouts to Wall of Roots and Contagion) will always be applied AFTER Kudo's effect regardless of timestamps. So a Birds of Paradise with a +1/+1 counter on it will be a 3/3 with Kudo in play.
If Humility is also in play, every (unmodified) creature is a 1/1 regardless of timestamps, but Kudo still makes everything else into a bear! While this really doesn't make sense on the surface, this is where the rules get really messy and technical. Humility removes Kudo's abilities in Layer 6, but Kudo makes everything into a bear before that happens in Layer 4. Then Humility sets Kudo's power and toughness to 1 in Layer 7b. The best constructed analogy I can think of for this is Magus of the Moon still making nonbasics lands into mountains while Humility is in play.
Psychatog x Shadowmage Infiltrator. A cheap discard outlet that draws cards when it deals combat damage to an opponent is a good place to start. Putting +1/+1 counters on itself instead of a temporary +1/+1 effect is a strong upgrade from things like Psychatog / Wild Mongrel. Reanimator / Recurring Nightmare always appreciates a discard outlet, and this can be a legitimate threat on its own with its pump effect and ability to give itself flying. Psychic Frog is a strong roleplayer / potential value card, but it does have a decent amount of competition with things like Kaito Shizuki / Tainted Indulgence. This is a stronger win condition over Kaito Shizuki, but Kaito is sturdier and is a more reliable value engine. Tainted Indulgence digs faster for key combo cards and is compatible in Oath of Druids shells.
I've been testing this for a while and think it's good, but a bit overrated. While this card has been solid, I feel like the only time it's really dominated is when the opponent literally had no removal / blockers for it in the early game. That being said, this card is still very good. It's generically strong by itself and will always have a niche as long as people are playing reanimator / draw 7s. Dimir's options are mainly roleplayers anyways, so competition isn't exactly high. Baleful Strix is the #1 Dimir card in my book by a wide margin, but Psychic Frog has a strong case for the #2 slot.
Wight of the ReliquaryPower crept Knight of the Reliquary in Golgari. This being cheaper and having vigilance is a nice upgrade from the original. Counting creatures in the graveyard instead of lands is generally better since creatures die more often than any other permanent type. Sacrificing a creature to pay for its activated ability is arguably worse than sacrificing a land though. It's also important to note that unlike the original Knight of the Reliquary, the lands this tutors up ETBs tapped. While that can be annoying, it's far from a deal breaker since this can still tutor up ANY land.
While the original Knight of the Reliquary was more of a niche pick for heavy lands matters support, this is actually pretty solid by itself. Counting creatures makes this very good in any creature heavy deck since it's a pretty good stat monster by itself and will always be bigger than Fiend Artisan, and can also randomly tutor up Gaea's Cradle / Strip Mine / etc. This is a shoe-in if you support a good amount of land combos like Dark Depths / Fastbond / Life from the Loam / etc, and is still pretty strong even if you're not playing any of those cards.
Cranial Plating in Rakdos. This having living weapon makes this much stronger by itself, although it comes with the tradeoff of costing , a more expensive equip cost, and loss of instant speed attachment. Seems like a shoe-in if you have a heavy artifact theme in
and are already playing Cranial Plating, but pretty passable if you're not.
Impulse x Growth Spiral. Digging 4 cards deep and getting around Hullbreacher and friends is well worth not being able to ramp out lands already in your hand. This is far from an exciting card, but it is a good glue card for larger cubes that want to make their decks more consistent.
Power crept Serendib Efreet in Simic. Flying + 4 toughness is a good combination with its ability since this dodges most burn spells. Its triggered ability is very reminiscent of Leovold, Emissary of Trest's second ability. Unlike Leovold, this ability only applies to creatures and also counts towards your own spells and abilities too. Triggering on your own stuff is a VERY important difference because it essentially turns your cheap equipment into Skullclamp triggers.
The “triggers only twice each turn” clause is PER CREATURE, so with Lightning Greaves you can trigger this twice as many times as you have creatures (except if you only have 1 creature since it'll have shroud and can't be targeted). The interaction with Lightning Greaves (or any other equipment with a cheap equip cost) becomes insane when you throw Springheart Nantuko into the mix. Every landfall trigger will create a 1/1, which gives you two chances to put another land onto the battlefield with Nadu's trigger, and that land will trigger Springheart Nantuko again, etc. Bristly Bill, Spine Sower also works very well with Nadu since every landfall trigger can potentially lead to another landfall trigger.
I like how this is a unique build that has you care about things in that you normally wouldn't prioritize like cheap equipment. There are plenty of other things that can randomly trigger this regularly like Court of Garenbrig / Sentinel of the Nameless City / Luminarch Aspirant / etc. Don't sleep on this card, I think this has potential to be one of Simic's better options after Oko, Thief of Crowns / Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath.
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath in ! Lightning Helix is always good, and this does a strong Inferno Titan impersonation when escaped. While white isn't the best color at fueling the graveyard, red can more than make up for it given all its spells and discard outlets / rummaging effects, especially Faithless Looting / Fable of the Mirror-Breaker / Inti, Seneschal of the Sun.
As far as titans goes, this is probably closer to Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath than it is to Kroxa, Titan of Death's hunger. The main reason why Uro >>> Kroxa is because Uro's triggered ability buys you time and resources to fuel its escape cost. This potentially destroying a creature and gaining 3 life does make this a decent Uro impersonation, and is a faster clock by itself once escaped. While Boros has a lot of options now, this is definitely in the conversation as one of the better options. It's certainly one of the most unique ones at least. This especially rockets to the top of the list for those who aren't fans of Universes Beyond / Unfinity / etc.
Invert PolarityA coin flip between a harder to cast Cancel or a Commandeer that can also hit creatures for . As much as I love the idea of a 3 mana Commandeer, this being triple pip and involving a coin flip is a bit too much for me.
An aggressive creature that can copy other nontoken creatures you control when it attacks is pretty cool. Having menace + haste + the creature you copy enters attacking makes this pretty aggressive and very reminiscent of Broadside Bombardiers. While Broadside Bombardiers can sacrifice noncreature artifacts and kill your opponent even before combat damage happens, Satya is very sturdy with 5 toughness and grinds better by copying ETB triggers and potentially keeping the copies with enough energy lying around. Speaking of Broadside Bombardiers, copying that with Satya is potentially 18 damage (7 combat damage + 6 damage sacrificing Sataya + 5 damage sacrificing the copy of Broadside Bombardiers).
I play very few 3-colored cards that I can't cheat into play, but Satya, Aetherflux Genius is pretty enticing. Even without an energy package, it's still very strong on its own. I'd argue that this is potentially just as good if not a better Jeskai card than Aragorn, King of Gondor. This being able to potentially provide immediate value and just end the game immediately with something like Broadside Bombardiers is huge, not to mention it doesn't have any potential drawbacks that every monarch enabler has. Satya is especially appealing to me since I support Kiki-Twin, all its value variants like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker / Jaxis, the Troublemaker, and plan to run an energy subtheme that will mostly be in .
A bigger Bloodbraid Elf with escape looks appealing. While Bloodbraid Elf is still an effective card, it's pretty overshadowed by Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes plus other mono colored options like Questing Beast / every Hellrider variant / initiative enablers / etc. Thundermaw Hellkite / Glorybringer variants are still effective at 5 mana. This is worse at closing out games since this has no evasion, the built in value of cascade and escape more than makes up for it. The escape is really the x-factor for this card, which is a big differentiator over Bloodbraid Elf. This is much easier to escape multiple times than Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath / From the Catacombs / Squee, Dubious Monarch since this only requires 3 cards to exile.
From the Catacombs has shown me how good a 5-cmc escape card can be from the graveyard. While this doesn't have the ceiling of From the Catacombs, this has a better floor and doesn't carry the risks of initiative. This plays well in since red has more playable discard outlets than any other color and Green has Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman / Malevolent Rumble. This is especially good with Broadside Bombardiers since sacrificing this twice should just end the game. Seems worth a test if you have a Gruul slot to spare.
WOTC's bandaid for all things wrong with Alpha / MH2. This can be very powerful on the play where you get to drop your Moxen and your opponent doesn't. Being able to control when you or your opponent gets to pitch cast their Grief / Fury / Force of Will / etc can also be backbreaking. I like how this is a universal way to interact with otherwise very hard to interact with spells, and being a bauble / egg helps add to a lot of artifact / graveyard synergies. Not being free like Urza's Bauble / Mishra's Bauble or getting some of your mana back like Chromatic Sphere / Chromatic Star makes me like this less than those overall, especially in an unpowered cube.
Winter MoonWinter Orb x Blood Moon. I was pretty excited about this card at first because the masochist in me has always been a big fan of griefing people with Winter Orb. I've cooled down on it for my cube since I've noticed that 4-5 color piles have been less common. I still think this is a really useful tool for cubes with a high density of nonbasics to help promote more 1-2 color decks. You can't shut this off with Urza, Lord High Artificer like you can with Winter Orb, but the decks playing this should already be breaking the symmetry. I'm not in the market for this right now, but can definitely see myself wanting it in the future depending on how the meta shifts over time.
Disruptor FluteA new Pithing Needle / Sorcerous Spyglass variant. Having flash is arguably better than looking at your opponent's hand since it allows you to be more reactive. This is especially useful as a follow up to a Duress / Thoughtseize to act as a pseudo Elite Spellbinder against a card that doesn't even have an activated ability. If you're running Pithing Needle, this is probably better overall sans not being fetchable with Urza's Saga / Trinket Mage. I personally have no interest in this. IMO, Pithing Needle effects were only halfway decent at best back in the day when planeswalkers were very difficult to deal with since direct answers to them being were rare and creatures were not as aggressive. Fast forward to 2024 and there's much better, more versatile answers to more things and way more dangerous threats that Pithing Needle type cards do nothing against. I still don't mind Phyrexian Revoker since it can shut down mana rocks. I think Tishana's Tidebinder is fairly overrated, but that at least has a decent floor of a 3/2 creature with flash.
Solar TransformerA Coldsteel Heart / Noble's Purse variant for energy. Not stacking treasures makes this a bit worse than Noble's Purse, but this does have the upside of tapping for when you don't need colored mana. Not being locked into a single color and helping fuel other energy spells makes this generally better than Coldsteel Heart.
Kozilek 3.0. Casting this gives you up to 19 power on the board spread over 3 bodies while drawing you up to 4 cards. It's important to note that manifest is NOT optional, so you and your opponent must manifest as much as possible when targeted. The board presence + draw actually makes this one of the better Channel hits, and is one of the easier Eldrazi to cast fairly. That being said, this is just a french vanilla 9/9 colorless lord when cheated out in any other way, making this by far the worst Eldrazi Titan when cheated out with anything else besides Channel. And here I was hoping that this Kozilek wouldn't be the worst Eldrazi Titan for three consecutive cycles… Fourth time's a charm!
Ulamog, the DefilerOne of the more interestingly designed Eldrazi Titans. The combination of its ward, cast trigger, and conditional annihilator arguably makes this the best Channel hit after Emrakul, the Aeons Torn herself. The way this is worded means its ETB trigger for +1/+1 counters / conditional annihilator trigger looks at any card from exile, not just the ones exiled from its cast trigger. This still gives it potential with other cheaty face / reanimator enablers depending on your deck / matchup. Channel can always use more hits in larger cubes, but being weak with other cheaty face / reanimator enablers is quite the downside compared to previous iterations of the Eldrazi Titans.
Emrakul, the World AnewEmrakul 3.0. There's a lot to unwrap with this Eldrazi Titan, so let's weigh the pros and cons.
PROS
Protection from spells and from permanents that were cast this turn makes this the most resilient Eldrazi titan. There are VERY few ways to deal with this without a sweeper: Council's Judgment / Chaos Defiler are the only two things that come to mind that can reliably deal with this. Sheoldred's Edict / Liliana of the Veil work, but they can miss.
The cast trigger is extremely powerful later in the game. Your opponent dealing with this forces a clean board sweep.
CONS
Emrakul's protection ability has a downside of not working with aura based reanimator spells like Animate Dead / Necromancy / Dance of the Dead etc. Being legendary means it can't be recurred with Persist, and the LTB trigger makes it a potential liability with Shallow Grave / Corpse Dance.
Emrakul's LTB trigger is a huge liability when you're not hard casting it. This is going to be an issue more often than not since you're probably cheating this in more often than not.
The lack of trample and annihilator means this can randomly be walled by Lingering Souls / Bitterblossom / Occult Epiphany / etc.
The madness cost is supposed to be this card's selling point, but realistically it's pretty impossible to achieve without Channel or having some combination of Grim Monolith / Basalt Monolith / Mana Vault.
While this isn't a great early Channel hit, it still presents a resilient two turn clock. It's a decent reanimator target, but not being compatible with roughly half of viable reanimator spells 3-cmc and below is rough. The lack of trample can make it lackluster with Sneak Attack, and the LTB trigger can be a liability with Eureka. I'd probably be much more interested in this if it worked with more reanimation spells and / or had trample, but without it I think this is more reserved for larger cubes that are looking for more colorless super fatties.
Horizon of ProgressHorizon Canopy x Reflecting Pool. Paying 1 life for Reflecting Pool is a bit of a bummer, but you're doing that for Horizon Canopy anyways. The ability to ramp for 4 is a nice bonus, but didn't have to be there. My only complaint about this card is that it can't tap for mana without any other lands lying around. Many people aren't a fan of Reflecting Pool because of that and the fact that it doesn't give you mana you already don't have. I've always been fine with Reflecting Pool, so I don't mind the drawbacks. I'm a big fan of the Horizon Canopy cycle and consider it better than any other land cycle besides fetches / duals / shocks, so this is a fine consolation prize for the Horizon Canopy cycle not being completed (again). Slam dunk inclusion for me.
Lazotep QuarryA spicy desert that can recur creatures. Being a sacrifice outlet makes this a pseudo Phyrexian Tower, trading ramp for mana fixing. This ability can especially be useful in aristocrats or keeping your opponent from copying your best creature with Fractured Identity or something. The recursion ability is a bit pricey, but 4 mana + sacrifice this to recur a 1-cmc creature that's guaranteed to be a 4/4 is a nice insurance policy to have. This is strong to recur with Wrenn and Six / Crucible of Worlds effects and fetch with Primeval Titan / Golos, Tireless Pilgrim.
This card seems like a strong inclusion in a lot of decks playing cheap creatures, particularly aggro beaters / mana dorks. This works especially well in a lot of green shells by recurring your Survival of the Fittest / Fauna Shaman / Natural Order fodder, or just turning your bolted Birds of Paradise into a 4/4 flyer. Cheap, scaleable creatures like Goldvein Hydra / Mawloc / Flametongue Yearling / etc also work really well with this. I really like this as a more versatile Volrath's Stronghold / Takenuma, Abandoned Mire since it's more efficient, makes everything a 4/4, and can be played with any color.
Talon Gates of Madarame looking for any hints of a Universes Beyond: Naruto set in the future
A land that phases out up to one target creature certainly is unique. The most basic offensive / defensive use cases of this are removing a blocker for a turn or protecting a creature you control from sorcery speed removal / sweepers, or using the ability from your hand to blank your opponent's removal spell. More advanced use cases include putting this into play with Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath to bypass its sacrifice trigger when cast without escape and tutoring this up with Crop Rotation / Knight of the Reliquary / Wight of the Reliquary to blank a removal spell. While I've never been a fan of paying to mana to filter your colors, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. This is a nifty trick and really goes up in value with all the instant speed land tutors.
Urza's CaveA low opportunity land tutor is nifty if you support Dark Depths, passable if you're not.
The Landscape CycleA strict upgrade to the Jund Panorama cycle. Being a Wastes that doesn't interrupt your curve (sans color fixing) that also functions as a pseudo Evolving Wilds and has the ability to cycle in the late game makes these quite versatile. Other than fetching typed lands, this has all the side effects and benefits of the OG fetchlands such as double landfall triggers, fueling the graveyard, increased fodder for Wrenn and Six / Crucible of Worlds effects, shuffling your library for Brainstorm / Sylvan Library / Jace, the Mind Sculptor / revolt for Fatal Push / etc.
I think this cycle is much better than people give it credit for. These are a huge boon to colorless / lands matters cards, and are better when you're curving out since they're not reliant on the OG fetchlands like triomes / surveil duals can be. Titania, Protector of Argoth benefits greatly from these since it can struggle with consistency outside of smaller cubes. A lot of recent cards care about lands / fueling the graveyard like Springheart Nantuko / Bristly Bill, Spine Sower / Uro, Titan of Nature's Fury / Pyrogoyf / Nethergoyf / Barrowgoyf / Reckless Pyrosurfer / etc. Don't underestimate these. This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I like these a lot more than triomes unless you're explicitly supporting domain or are playing a ton of multicolored cards. The amount of synergies these bring to the table is very hard for me to ignore.
Hybrid ETB Tapped Dual LandsProbably not for high powered Vintage cubes since most of these are draft chaff at best, but these 3 stand out from the rest. Still pretty filler-ish to me, but I figured I'd at least bring them up.
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:
GOD TOP HIGH HIGH-MID LOW-MID LOW NICHE BOTTOM FINAL THOUGHTSI'm currently planning to play / test around 40 cards from this set, making this a deeper set for cube than Alpha. I'd argue that MH2 has more topshelf cards than this set does, but MH3 has a much deeper catalog of options.
As far as themes / archetypes goes, I'm probably most excited for lands matters, which is getting a huge jolt in the arm from so many cards. More versatile land tutors like Sowing Mycospawn / Wight of the Reliquary / Urza's Cave is a huge boon for assembling land combos, especially Dark Depths. The landscape cycle is amazing for all sorts of things (most notably Titania, Protector of Argoth, Six brings a new engine to the table, and Springheart Nantuko is both generically great while having an insane amount of combo potential.
Colorless matters is a flop. The opportunity cost to play things like Thought-Knot Seer was much lower back in 2016 since a lot of colorless matters cards were stronger than the average card in same weight class. There was also less competition for land cycles, so you didn't have to go too far out of your way to play things like the pain and filter lands. Fast forward to 2024 and the average colorless matters creature is generally worse than the average creature in the same weight class, and there's a much higher opportunity cost to run pain / hybrid filter lands over other cycles like triomes / surveil duals / restless manlands / etc.
I'd like to see people have a more open mind when it comes to energy, which I feel like it suffers from a lot of splash damage from other mechanics like monarch / initiative. I think energy is a very clean, well designed mechanic other than being a bit parasitic and hard to interact with. It's just as easy to track as your life total with a simple die and is much easier to track than any token.
While most MDFC lands were pretty overrated when they first premiered in Zendikar Rising (especially the ETB tapped ones), bolt lands are a great way to smooth out your draft / game play if you have the room for them. For those who aren’t a fan of DFCs (or any other mechanic), please know that there are plenty of support groups about this subject that many Reddit / RiptideLab threads eventually derail into and that you’re much better off directing your grievances there than you are to me ;)
Thanks for reading! Let me know if there's a card that I missed and I'll respond back with the hottest of takes! Also, feel free to join the Online Cube Drafts Discord Group to discuss all things Cube plus use Xmage to host tournaments to draft / play with our own cubes!
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