Theros: Beyond Death Preliminary Review Part X

Thryx, the Sudden Storm 7

This seems pretty good for cube. A flying 4/5 flash dork is exactly what control decks want. You just want to be able to represent counter magic while having the ability to develop the board with a reasonable blocker come threat. Resto Angel, Avacyn, and Dream Eater are some of the most commonly seen dorks in control decks. A list to which Thryx fits right in. The ability is also fantastic. It is brutal against control and fine elsewhere. Being able to hold up countermagic as you deploy your top end a turn or so quicker is lovely. Four mana Teferi, Hero of Dominaria sounds like a very good deal! Just having your big spells being uncounterable is so savage is the mirror. I don't think Thryx is amazing but he is very suitable and as such I expect him to get a bunch of play. Probably edging out cards like Cavalier of Gales. Not only is he good in control he is great in midrange and again, is especially good against control opposition. Mostly this is just a big flier but that is a classically good way to win games of magic!


Archon of Sun's Grace 4

This is a whole lot of card but it is too narrow for cube presently. If the enchantment count got high enough this would be one of the first cards in to synergize with that. The floor of this card is pretty reasonable as it is. Churning out 2/2 flying lifelink tokens gets out of hand fast! One trigger and this is worth it, two and this is pretty nuts.











Whirlwind Denial 6

Very interesting counterspell that has a pretty reasonable floor of being Disallow and a nice ceiling of completely shutting down combos and big plays. This is quite splashable and quite firm as far as soft counters go. I don't see this getting multiple instances of value very often but I think it will be utterly game ending most of the times that it does. That on top of it being a fairly reasonable and playable iteration of an otherwise reasonable counterspell make this certainly viable for a number of cubes and worthy of some testing.



Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath 6

Interesting design on this cycle of two that I am a fan of. Certainly a nice Titan feel about them as a result. This Simic Titan is two quite different cards all told. There is a three mana Explore with 3 bonus life and there is a 6/6 with Titan like value triggers for 4 that you can only play from the bin. Either you just use the first part, you mill or discard it and just use the latter or you do all of it. There is so much going on it is pretty hard to account for the power of the end result. It is good, it is a lot of card but I think it is a bit like the new Polukranos in that it is a little too awkward to really make a big impact. It is gold, it is colour intense as well as requiring things to be in the bin. It might need loot and mill synergies. Yes, it is big, yes it generates lots of value, yes it recurs, but somehow it isn't a massive threat. The scariest thing it does is probably draw cards, perhaps the life gain in certain mathups. A 6/6, even at four mana just isn't all that impressive. It is too easy to kill when you need the value and too easy to stop when you need it to be a threat. It is even liable to getting got by a Deathrite Shaman or other graveyard exile card before it can ever be a thing in play. So while I like the design and cannot deny that there is a lot going on with this card I am not very impressed with it and expect it not to see enough action in cube. It ins't good enough at any of it's specific roles so just has to be outstanding in a general sense which feels unlikely. Seems like it might be a big player in standard though.



Careless Celebrant 6

Pretty solid defensive tool for the midrange and control decks. Seemingly not enough power or convenience for the aggro decks to get all that excited. You want this to hold off attackers as it is too savage a 2 for 1 to attack into early. I fear it is perhaps a little narrow and unbelieveably a little low powered to really stand the test of time in the cube but it is certainly a pushed yet cheap and clean card.










Kiora Bests the Sea God 5

Now tokens don't normally scale all that well in size but this one having hexproof makes it unconcerned about most of the usual issues. A 7 mana 8/8 hexproof is a long way from good though, it needs evasion at the very least. Phase II of the saga does at least provide two turns or 16 damages worth of evasion for the token. The third phase is pretty spicey too, it is loads of value, tempo, disruption, and further helps to ensure the token is connecting. Kiora certainly does do one on Thassa if this card represents events accurately!? It is a lot of stuff for 7 mana but it is slow and perhaps not the best means of bouncing back. Mostly I am wary of the extreme price tag on this but otherwise it seems pretty impressive. Sufficiently so that I plan to test it so that I am able to rule it out with some more confidence.





Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger 5.5

Pretty much all the things that put me off Uro also turn me off to this. It is needy and a bit aimless. It is even less powerful than Uro. The early mode of Kroxa isn't a thing you are super keen to do early and it scales less well. Certainly also a powerful card and not one I am ruling out, just one I expect not to perform in testing. Even without making it into the drafting cube both these Titans will have roles to play in many other places.











Fateful End 4

Well, I prefer it to Magma Jet... still pretty arse though. Certainly not a card I like more than a simple Lightning Strike. Basically adding to a card's effect and cost when the original effect is as pure as direct damage serves to make that card worse. Only if you get a lot more extra than the mana cost. In this case at scry 3 I might be interested but even at scry 2 I think the card is still just a bad Lightning Strike. Burn simply wants to be efficient and tacking crap on makes it less efficient burn. This is a fine card and it has a power level that is pretty decent. It is just not something that is optimal. Effectively off theme with itself.



Soul-Guide Lantern 6

A midway point between Tormod's Crypt and Relic of Progenitus. This can be no card cost or it can be efficient, effective disruption. Possibly low cost enough that it is a good addition to drafting cubes. Certainly something that is showing up in sideboards all over the place.










Alsied of Life's Bounty 2

This might well cut it as a support card for some unusual decks but as a stand alone card this is lacking. Low stats and a protective one off ability you need to have mana open for. No thanks. Compare this to either of the other W Bodyguard cards and it looks pretty poor. Lifelink on a 1/1 counts for very little. Being an enchantment dork counts for little too if you are not a good or useful card. The only thing this really does of note is protect enchantments but that isn't stopping the card from being weak either. As with being an enchantment, that is only good if you are starting from a good place.



Altar of the Pantheon 0

Cute, but also poo. A Borderpost does most of what this does but better. Three mana ramp cards need to be nuts and some narrow crap and super situational minor life gain are laughable attempts to tip that scale. Llanowar Tribe taps for two more mana, adds two more devotion, and gets to do combat.












Taranika, Akroan Veteran 2

This hits like a truck. Much as it has a lot of power and potential I don't see it making the cube. It goes one for one with most removal. It is not all that impressive in combat itself and it needs another attacker to gain the main attraction of this card. Yes, we can hit for 7 of which some is indestructible and potentially has other scaling. We can also just be a 3/3 and that isn't enough.









Skophos, Maze-Warden 0

Cute flavour but awful.











Eidolon of Obstruction 6

I quite like this and think that cube is one of the places it will be best. It feels a lot like Thalia (the original two drop) but less polar. Thalia ruins control and combo decks but is fairly minor against midrange and aggro. This will do a touch less overall but it will do so far more evenly across the board which is going to make it a nice card to have around. I look forward to seeing planeswalkers made on curve into this and passing the turn unused! I like the ongoing potential for this to disrupt but that sounds fairly wishful, the card is not exactly robust and most walkers can deal with it themselves eventually.

Theros: Beyond Death Preliminary Review Part IX

Tymaret, Chosen from Death 6.5

This just looks like a frilly new take on Withered Wretch. Better in most ways but a tiny bit worse at the one thing you play the card for - graveyard disruption. You don't even play Wretch any more for that as they it is too slow and low powered for cube. Tymaret is at least a very sturdy blocker, good source of devotion, and some life gain on top of that disruption potential. All told he does do more than enough on top of Wretch to see play in a rounded sense rather than a targetted one. As far as cube potential goes it is really a matter of build. If your cube supports archetypes where Tymaret is a good fit/counter then he will be good for your cube, if not then he will get little to no play. Very much a card on the line on both power and playability.




Erebos's Intervention 3

These modal X cards are on the money in that they have a nice general use mode and a narrower mode you cannot otherwise play on a card. That is exactly the form you want your modal cards in for the best results but sadly I fear this is just not good enough power wise or in terms of floor. The removal mode scales well but it pretty poor in the early game and a pretty bad tempo card. It feels like you will often be paying two mana over the cost of the thing you kill for which the life gain is rarely going to compensate. It doesn't really matter how good the narrow mode of the card is if the main mode isn't really there and this doesn't even excite there. Playable but certainly not good.





Purphoros's Intervention 0

Basically just a Blaze that is better against things and worse against players. Twice X damage to things makes this passable early and scale well enough that it makes up for that sub par early performance. Sadly the best thing about X spells is the ability to reliably do a bunch of face damage and finish a game. This is stopped by so much, from a first striker to a tap effect, that it is a very poor imitation of a Blaze going face. I would either play premium creature removal or a good X spell like Devil's Play over this every time.






Oread of Mountain's Blaze 1

I want to like this but three mana to loot is just unacceptable. If you want a red two mana 1/3 with the enchantment tag then this is your card. If you want a looter, this is not. The former is not impossible but pretty unlikely.








Siona, Captain of the Pyleas 5

There are not enough aura cards in most cubes for this by quite a long way. While this might not be much cop in the limited side of cube in the constructed end of the spectrum this picks up power. In any aura heavy deck this is a great card. It is a 2 for 1 off the bat with a scary body and some ongoing value potential. Imagine if Young Pyromancer cast a Peer Through Depths as well! On top of that there is the infinite combo with Shielded by Faith to churn out as many 1/1 dorks as you like, one of which will be indestructible! Expect to see this in a bunch of places that are not drafting cubes.




Discordant Piper 1

Two bodies in one card for two mana but about as low powered as you can be in that regard while remaining playable. I think we now have enough alternatives to this in black that it isn't making any 40 card lists. EDH decks might use this as fodder.















Dryad of Ilsyian Grove 6

This will certainly see play in enchantment decks and land decks, both primarily to put extra lands into play. In the former it is doubly nice being an enchantment and thus likely drawing you cards itself when made. Those lists have so much draw being able to put out extra lands is pretty profitable. The statline is beefy, especially when compared with Azuza's stats or indeed the % of time active you find a Wayward Swordtooth. Fixing is a nice perk but less nice than the lifegain on Courser of Kruphix which is itself pretty minor and certainly not why the card is played. Just a contributor to its power. Much as this is a great card I am not sure how it will do in cube. Extra land drops on a three drop do not do all that much in most decks. Beyond that this card isn't doing a lot and so probably isn't for drafting cubes although I do expect it to do very well in a range of other formats.



Eat to Extinction 7

A rework on Vraska's Contempt. Remove a black in the cost and gain a surveil for one at the cost of no longer gaining two life. Overall that sounds like a win for cube. Even if it is not that much more powerful the ease of splashing this makes it vastly more playable. All the other mono black cards that kill planeswalkers are double black to play and so this feels like it is going to do a lot of getting splashed. Removal that hits walkers and dorks is in high demand at present so despite the high mana cost this is looking pretty good ticking all the boxes as best it can. Exile quality, instant speed, without target restrictions or conditionality.






Gravebreaker Lamia 2

Entomb on 4/4 lifelinking legs with enchantment themes and cost reduction perks. Sadly both Entomb and cost reducers have lost their luster by five mana. You might get a bit of value with the Lamia if you have good recursive cards. I am not getting excited about the 5 mana 4/4 which I might get value from. Goblin Dark-Dwellers are not all that impressive in a cube setting and I fear this will be even less impressive. Useful sometimes but ultimately too slow and low powered to get that much work done. It might crop up doing some somewhat unexpected things in unusual places, it is that sort of card. Can't see it being a big deal any where much though. Not the kind of card to break formats! Most likely home is as a good EDH support card.


Mantle of the Wolf 1.5

This is a charged up Elephant Guide. You get more stats on both ends which is nice. You get more bodies on the back end and you get a little bit more security on getting those bodies as contingent on the Mantle going to the bin and not the thing it enchants. Much as I like this and think it offers a lot of good pressure I am never going to play a four mana card I need a target for and which can so easily get me wrecked with a high tempo two for one. This is only something I would play in a deck with almost assured protection in some form. Hexproof sounds the most obvious but in such a place you can do rather better than Mantle of the Wolf so perhaps it just doesn't see any cube play. Potent but awkward.





Renata, Called to the Hunt 2

Bleh. High power with no evasion is pretty unexciting. Four mana for 3 toughness and no immediate value is a huge turn off. The counter effect is nice but it is slow and on a card that is both vulnerable and otherwise pretty poor you might as well just run something which is much better and that also does that sort of thing. The Great Henge? Gavony Township? Grumgully? I could go on naming cards for a long time before I found something Renata appealed more than. I'll bet I do play her one day though, she will just somehow tick all the boxes.






Anax, Hardened in the Forge 7

Now this is a demigod I can get behind. The floor on this is Hurloon Minotaur that dies into a 1/1 that can't block. Hardly good but not shocking, still two bodies in one card. A lot better than the Kraken that is for sure. What is so impressive about Anax is the scaling all over the place. He threatens to give you many bonus dorks making him a high urgency target and really limiting your opponent's sensible options. A bit of a Shalai, Voice of Plenty in that regard. He can do so on command too if you happen to have a sac outlet at the ready. Anax also grows in power pretty sharpish. Being red and relatively cheap means it is far easier to get in attacks than for cards like Renata. As such Anax can easily threaten to hit for a lot of damage. Just curving out with R, 1R, Anax at 1RR, and then a 3R card is Anax at six power. A certain Embercleave is a massive fan of this power! Getting in just one big hit is also a lot more profitable for a red mage than those of other colours. For a last appreciation of the scaling Anax offers let us consider the extra value he offers when in the position of having a Goblin Bombardment and a Purphoros, God of the Forge in play. All our smaller dorks will do three extra damage and the bigger ones six! Just Anax and nothing else in that situation comes in and does 2, sacs to make a pair of dorks for another 2 each on entering and then sacing as well for one a piece resulting in 9 damage! I think Anax is somewhere between Judith, the Scourge Diva and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin in play and quite possibly power as well.

Theros: Beyond Death Preliminary Review Part VIII

Nylea's Intervention 2

Interesting card. Able to tutor for both parts of a Stage / Depths combo for just four mana! Most decks do not want scaling land tutors but in any that do this is pretty excellent. It is passable at X = 1 and quickly gets better. It also has a nice built in mass air control mode which is situational but very powerful when you need it. You can't really play things like that on their own and so it is doubly nice when you find them on modal cards you might otherwise play. Sadly this is a bit too slow and not really a card with an obvious home in cube as it presently stands. Feels harsh rating it so low as it is unique, potent, and interesting.







Drag to the Underworld 6

This is the closest to Terminate we have yet had in black. The card is decent, the floor is passable and the ceiling is great and easily met. Two things I don't like about this; The more controlling your deck is the weaker this gets. There are just plenty of archetypes where this is worse than Doom Blade. The second gripe I have with this is simply that it isn't a broad removal spell. These days you really want your removal hitting both walkers and creatures. All the Doom Blade cards are really out of favour at present and see barely any play. This feels like it will suffer the same fate but worse due to being weaker in lighter black decks and less board developing decks. Sure, this is the best Doom Blade in a few archetypes but that isn't bringing the average performance up enough and that is what it is all about.


Stinging Lionfish 1

Cheap and offering a pile of synergies. Also fairly fragile, low powered and needy in terms of things it works well enough with to be a consideration. Unlikely to see all that much play but interesting and potentially useful.














Archon of Falling Stars 0

A bit expensive to use as a means to cheat enchantments into play.... Other than that, utterly useless.




Dawn Evangel 1

Low floor and too much setup. Have a thing on a thing and another specific kind of thing in the bin and then have that first thing die all while Dawn Evangel sits in play like a mug. We have better things to do with enchantment themes and auras. I doubt I'll ever play this, I am only rating it at all because bodies that are enchantments feel hard to rule out while there are still so few of them.












The Triumph of Anax 0

This seems slow and unreliable. Yes, a +6/+0, trample and fight are worth 3 mana, but the spreading out of these effects makes them vastly lower tempo and much harder to get value out of. I can't see this working out in any singleton, cube, or really even 60 card constructed deck.





Phoenix of Ash 7

While very much in the same bracket as Chandra's Phoenix and Flamewake Phoenix I think this is the most rounded and highest power level of the three. This is the least demanding on specific kinds of cards to recur and is the best while in play. Being a bit firebreathing and sometimes being a 3/3 make this far more threatening and more useful in combat. The exile cost of cards is fairly low and while it is not a mana cheat it that much more worth it due to the higher value of having it in play when compared to the other two. Chandra's Phoenix lasted a long time in cube and I think this will do a reasonable job of picking up where it left off. The card this is really now competing with is Rekindling Phoenix. This is much more resource intense but it is also much harder to deal with and much more threatening. Much as these things are great having a zero mana recursion is amazing when working that way.


Thassa, Deep-Dwelling 3

I am not a fan of this at all. The cost to tap down is pretty obscene and is really only super late game or in desperate times as far as cube play will go. The body is much the same as the others, just hard to get excited by something so easily chumped or handled, especially when it is not a dork most of the time. Really this comes down to do you want a flicker each turn enough to invest in a four mana card? I would much rather something that did other things too like Brago or Venser but this is at least single colour and hard to remove. EDH and powered down cubes love flicker effects and will likely welcome this gladly. As far as more powerful cubes go this is terrible tempo, inconsistent, and low powered.






Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea 3

This could be fairly punchy as far as a blue aggressive card goes. Lack of evasion or something to support or scale with the high power detracts from this a lot but I guess we have things like original Thassa and Whirler Rogue to help there. Dungrove Elder does not get much love and so things are not looking good for this on that basis. Blue doesn't really do making fat ground pounders and so this has no obvious cards you would pair it with as far as builds go. Playing it as an enchantment synergy card is also going to wind up being a bit at odds with what Callaphe does. Potent but a bit off kilter.







Omen of the Forge 3

Eek, this makes Magma Jet look good and Magma Jet is wildly overrated. I am only ever playing this if I need things in play, devotion, or enchantments in my deck. Very low power card indeed although doing clean useful things like damage and scry while being housed in an unusual package keep it playable.








Haktos the Unscarred 2

Sort of a True Name Nemesis. Better in that you have some hope of interacting with it but much worse in that it is super hard to cast, very poor on defense, and just not that good. Every now and again you will get lucky and you will just win with your 6/1 protection from everything your opponent had. Mostly you will spend 4 mana on a 1 toughness dork that dies easily, willingly, and affords you little choice in its doings. Funny card but seemingly awful from several perspectives.





Shimmerwing Chimera 0

No doubt some nice things you can do with this but all too slow, vulnerable and needy to be good at cube level. A booster draft limited card only, all be it a nutty one with things like the Omen cycle for it to bounce.














Omen of the Sun 4

This I will need to test but my gut is that it is a no for drafting cubes. Really it is a bad Raise the Alarm with a bunch of minor things bolted on, all of which combine in failing to make up for the extra cost over Raise. It adds a devotion... gets you closer to the city's blessing? It makes humans for the few synergies on offer there. It can scry at a pretty hefty rate. It can assist with flicker or enchantment synergies. Certainly a lot going on for a Raise the Alarm and certainly enough that it will see play in a pile of specific places. The drafting cube just feels like it probably isn't going to be that place. Servo Exhibition didn't last and it is not exactly like Raise the Alarm is a powerful card.



The First Ironian Games 7

Well this is one of the most stuff in a card I have seen in a long time, perhaps ever. If this all works out as intended you get 4/4 worth of stats and draw two cards for a mere 2 mana total. That is madness. That puts Ancestral Recall to shame. Luckily the card is framed in such a way that it is probably pretty fair. Like Ancestral Visions this takes many turns to do the things and is immediately a lot fairer than the sum of it's parts looks like. The Gold token being the last thing you get makes it about as low value as it can be. The single mana back three turns after you invest your three upfront is unlikely to do all that much. There is a good chance it does more as a thing in play empowering other cards by that point! There is a bit of a house of cards feel to this saga too. If you make it on an empty board you have to keep the 1/1 alive in order that the second phase does anything. If it is killed off in this instance you not only waste most of the stats this card offers but you stand to miss the card draw as well unless you can play a 4 or more power dork from hand that turn which is not dealt with. Missing either of phase 2 or 3 is savage and turns the card from amazing to merely OK. Missing both makes the card awful. Playing this, baiting a removal spell out on the 1/1 and just getting a Gold token is reasonably the floor of this saga which I guess is higher than the floor of plenty of cube cards. Given what the ceiling is I think there is a pretty decent chance this is a good card. Most of the time you will make it once you have a little bit more going on, perhaps a couple of dorks or a planeswalker able to make dorks. At the very least a man land able to take the counters and be that 4 power dork for phase 3. Sometimes you will have Walking Ballista for the counters and feel amazing! Mostly this card will give out the things it offers, it will just be slow and a little awkward about doing so and that is what will keep it in the fair but good range.

Theros: Beyond Death Preliminary Review Part VII

Setessan Petitioner 1

A lot better than the Hill Giant sized version we had but still just a mediocre life gain dork. I am not expecting to want a dedicated life gain card in any deck where I have a consistently high devotion to green. As such I am not expecting to play this ever. Probably a great sideboard card somewhere at least.















Glimpse of Freedom 0

I wish this was a touch better than it is but sadly it just looks like a poor Think Twice. Exiling five is extreme. One of the few nice things about Think Twice is that it baits people into poor action against reactive decks as they know doing nothing against open mana and a Think Twice in the bin leads to them falling a bit behind. Glimpse doesn't do that as you can't exile five cards early in the game often at all. You have to have exiled 10 cards before this has done something more than Think Twice as well. Pretty savage. Blue likes to have cards in the bin for things like Snapcaster or some actually good draw spells like Treasure Cruise. This just asks too much for way too little return.




Sweet Oblivion 0

This has much the same problem as the previous Glimpse. It isn't very mana efficient and the escape costs are extreme. You are not using this on yourself with the escape as you are required to consume the resource you generate. It is like a terrible looting for the graveyard effect. I just want to add to my yard, not filter it thanks. I'm unlikely to use this on others either with their simply being many better alternatives. Perhaps as a one off in some bad constructed mill deck but even that seems far fetched.








Reverent Hoplite 5

This has some serious potential. It might well even have an average performance above something like a Cloudgoat Ranger or Angel of Invention. The issue is that it is both inconsistent and bland. All you get with this is bodies. Mostly that is what you want but the extra bits you get with most one man armies do tend to make a big impact. Army in a can cards want to be good at recovering a losing position and this is where the Hoplite falls down most. If you just get the 1 token then you just paid 250%  what you should have done! All told white is one of the better devotion colours and so getting more than three tokens with this, even on a board with no other creatures on it, would be both common and very powerful. An Oblivion Ring card, an Anthem and a planeswalker would usually afford five tokens, for 12/13 total power given the Anthem! So while this might have the highest average power due to some silly scaling you are mostly concerned with things like floor performance, reach, and reliability with your top end creatures and on that front Hoplite is rather bad. I will play it in my constructed devotion decks but not in my drafting cube.


Nessian Boar 1

This seems actively bad to me. It is one of those cards that could actually be amazing so worth watching. Mostly it seems like a great way to give your opponents cards. Perhaps it is a great way to give them tempo as they answer your 5 mana do nothing with a two mana spell or a planeswalker activation. Best case scenario this is a 5 mana Wrath with a one turn delay that gives the opponent a card for each creature killed. I guess you could argue that best case was being able to kill a couple of medium sized dorks one at a time but lets be real, this gives way too much control to your opponent. They are not going to get buggered by this most of the time. Obviously the huge statline begs this card to be paired with things that give trample or haste. Those help to stop this sucking and might even make it good.


Rise to Glory 0

Expensive, gold, and super niche. If you are bringing something back from the bin you really shouldn't need an aura to help with that, even if it is a disruptive one rather than a buff.















Pharika's Spawn 0

The escape part of this card is nice but sadly the front end is unplayable which rather ruins the package.





Blood Aspirant 6.5

This might do too much not to be good. It is pretty easy to grow this thing fast in cube. Absolutely this card will see some play just based on the growing effect alone. The second effect is pretty wild. It triggers the growth which is nice. It does damage and prevents blocking. It sacrifices enchantments! I will play it for that alone in some places. Aggressive Mining certainly has a new buddy! Sadly the floor is low. A two mana 1/1 with a two mana and tap ability that does less than a one mana spell... ouch. Even so, too much potential with too many other good things not to get there I expect.








Arasta of the Endless Web 5

Sadly this is very polar. Some decks will ignore this for the glorified Giant Spider it is. Others will get utterly wrecked by it. A removal effect on a planeswalker or creature and the Arasta player is very behind. A clean Doom Blade style effect and the deal is pretty even. Lose a couple of mana, get a spider token, fine. It is when you have to toss a couple of spells at it, like a couple of burn spells or some dig and draw to find an answer. I think that sadly for Arasta the latter mode will be fairly rare and the first two will be pretty common. Even just leaving her in play and working around a 3/5 with reach while not using instants or sorceries is not that much of a trail for a lot of decks. Obviously this will happen a lot too. Overall you have some minor chances of big payoff and some reasonable chances of getting blown out. Especially given Arasta is an enchantment and dies to things like Vivien Ried. I do like this card and want it to be good but it is not looking to likely. I will at least get to play it in some enchantment themed decks as it is close on power, that extra bit of synergy will be enough for her to be good in a few quirky decks.


Tectonic Giant 6

This is an odd card but it does look decent. Although it technically doesn't do anything the turn you make it what with lacking an EtB or haste the fact it triggers if targetted means that it mostly does. Only 187 dorks and planeswalkers really ruin the day of this Giant. A 3/4 for 4 is bad but still besting most things in combat. Getting to Lava Spike or weird red Sleight of Hand every turn is great. Lots of potential value or some rapid game ending damage. This makes me think of Meren of Clan Nel Toth. OK sized body that just generates value. Rankle a bit too. Worse than both but not so much that it doesn't have some hope in cube. Test worthy at the very least.








Nyx Herald 1

Not a cube card due to being so narrow. I suspect the bland and non-scaling nature of this narrowness means it wont even see play in an aggressive enchantment themed deck which is the one place it would be good.








Wavebreak Hippocamp 4

Another fairly polar card. If you can get this out and then sit behind some counter magic and a bit of instant dig/draw then you are going to crush. If not then you probably made yourself vulnerable to develop the position of a Grey Ogre. This dies to everything. It isn't even all that cheap in the grand scheme of things. Not like you can wait to five and deploy this with counter backup. It really wanted to be a 1/3 with flash, then it might have been pretty naughty card draw. As it stands I can't see it getting working into draft builds or even that many constructed ones. The upside of opponents just not being able to answer or punish you playing this are pretty extreme. It has a dash of the Monastery Mentor about it although obviously rather less potent.



Polukranos, Unchained 5

This is probably better than the original but then it is also gold so needs to be significantly better to be getting into the cube. This does some powerful things but it is also pretty clunky. No evasion makes the large size less impressive although the ability to fight a way through blockers is quite a help here. Sadly the shrinking so fast in doing so negates the size so all in all I think I would prefer a 5/5. Mitigating things like lifelink and deathtouch are cute but they don't make up for shrinking either. So what is this card really doing? It feels more like a Profane Procession than any other card although certainly better due to the high tempo Polukranos affords. Being a 4 mana 6/6 is pretty good, especially when compared to a 3 mana do nothing enchantment. Also only costing three to activate removal mode as opposed to five makes Polukranos better again, even if the removal effect isn't quite as impressive. Fighting as a 3/3 gets most stuff so you can do some reasonable work reliably and often. Board control, mana sink and late game value are what this dork offers. He is a threat in so much as he can eventually clear a board and start swinging and that he can come back. Even so, that is a lot of mana and cards exiled from the bin. To kill six 3/3 dorks is a hefty 28 mana. Killing nine 2/2s takes you to 37. Most decks won't be able to output that kind of mana or could find better ways to employ it. Despite all my misgivings about it being slow and clunky I suspect it is probably pretty good. Just being able to flop out a 6/6 for 4 mana will force action, then being able to do a 12/12 later down the line will close a lot of games. That is huge, it will wipe out a board or failing that, kill stupidly fast. Polukranos Unchained does a good job of both posing questions and answering things. His main failing is in the face of exile removal. His second is being gold. His third is his shrinking mechanic but I guess he needs that to be at all fair. While very potent I fear the overall package is just a bit too awkward to shine in cube settings.