March of the Machines Preliminary Review: Part 10

 

0 - unplayable in 40 card singleton

1 - effectively unplayable

2 - has low tier constructed decks it might go in

3 - has mid tier constructed decks it does go in

4 - pretty powerful stuff with several potential homes, able to perform well in lower powered cubes

5 - powerful stuff that is either just too narrow or has too many superior alternatives

6 - fringe cube worthy

7 - cube worthy

8 - cube staple

9 - unpowered cube bomb

10 - powered cube bomb 

Invasion of Gobakhan 6

Well, I love this. Not sure if it is any good but I am a fan. I love the early disruption and information aspect. This can really mess up cards that have channel or that want to be discarded. It can also just disrupt their curve or snipe out their potential to Wrath the following turn. It is very easy to flip being cheap, a little disruptive, and needing just three damage. The flipped side is curious, a Seal of Heroic Intervention, and a kind of Stromkirk Noble / Slith style after the fact growth for your whole team. Good for evasive dorks and good against a lack of good blocks! White has a lot of (manaless) protective effects and they seem to scale with one another. It is so hard to beat Serra Paragon with things like Giver of Runes and Selfless Savior kicking about. This will add to those difficulties. Overall this card seeks like a total kicking for control decks and potentially a bit of a do nothing against other lists. If I had to guess I would assume this card fails to make the cut, most do after all! Really hoping it does cut it however. This is spot on card design and spot on for the colour pie.

Collective Nightmare 2

This looks pretty good but in practice I am playing the more powerful 4 mana convoke removal or I am playing 1 or 2 mana removal without convoke.

Khenra Spellspear 4

Looks cool but is probably just a bit tame on the front end to last. Sure, I'll play this if I need to in my prowess style decks but I really shouldn't need to these days, the two slot is stacked with good options. I do like that you can pretty much ride this to victory by itself if you so desire. Tempo decks like to be able to operate well on a low dork count. Even so, this is just on the fair side. 

Djeru and Hazoret 2

This is fine but all a bit gold and random to want in cube. Where this is rather more interesting is in a place where you can setup some big Eldrazi to cast with the trigger. Empty my hand ramping, dump out this and flip an Emrakul that I stuck on top in one of many ways! Seems to be one of the more reliable ways to get out Emrakul plus the cast trigger. If not built around and heavily abused the card is pretty unplayable in cube.

Kroxa and Kunoros 2

Powerful but super top end, super gold, and a little narrow. Always feels a bit harsh giving cards with such immense power a 2, obviously this would look really impressive in play in almost any cube game. It is a 2 out of 10 for opportunity cost, the other many better, more playable, or more suitable, 6 mana alternatives this would be taking the place of. 

Rona, Herald of the Invasion 7.5

Merfolk Looter has come a long way! This is +0/+2 on a Looter or +1/+1 on little Jace. This gets to double loot sometimes or be tricky in other ways with the untap. And then, if that wasn't enough, this can just sink 5 or 6 mana and become a 5/5 trample that they are going to have to try and avoid damaging while having cards in hand. That will hold off a lot of attacks and attack pretty well itself. This is just one of those cards that can't not be good. It is a cheap card that starts off in a really good place with an impressive floor, the kind of floor you might even consider playing. Then they just layer on some juicy perks. This is not a bomb, it is probably still a chunk weaker than little Jace, but it is none the less a pretty ideal and rounded cube card.  

Invasion of Eldraine 1

Mind Rot into weak Rack Drake. Unplayable front end results in unplayable card. 

Rampaging Raptor 6

This looks like a bomb, it looks like a Questing Beast or something and yet my gut is that even this isn't good enough anymore. That is largely down to it being red, I think all the other colours would snap this up but red just isn't in the market for cards like this. If it is paying 4 mana for something it wants more raw power or more threat diversity. Red doesn't need hard hitters like this at four mana when it has things like Rabblemaster and Laeila at three mana! Obviously this is a lot of card and it is quite on theme with what red gets upto and so it will perform fine in cube but I do not see it getting more play than Torbran, Torch of Defiance, or even Outpost Siege and the Nalaar parents. Those cards all offer something different that you can build up and scale up, this is just more of the same. If that is the case then what is the point of having this in cube. 

Invasion of Theros 2

A niche tutor and on the fringes of playability in terms of cost. This will certainly see commander play but beyond that I doubt it. Not like you are playing this in modern to find Heliod for your combo. Not and expecting to survive long enough to go off anyway. The back side is certainly pretty powerful and would work nicely in an aura based deck. Still however feels like over extending somehow! Regardless all way too narrow for draft settings.

Invasion of Pyrulea 5

Well 2 mana to scry 3 and draw a card is pretty close to the mark. A 1U instant at that would be better than Impulse. This however is gold and sorcery speed and mostly forces you into drawing land. That all quite handily ruins this card's chances. The back end is meaty and certainly worth the cost of life given away, mana, and card, and probably even the time delay most of the time, if you were assured it. But as with all battles you are not and have to work with the floor. To me this feels right on the line and it clearly isn't, it is either really obviously awful or rather good and a very small amount of testing will bear that out. Absolutely I will cautiously lean on the side of it being rubbish but I have feelings of doubt about my doubts!  

Invasion of New Cappena 2

This looks tedious enough that I can't even be bothered to test it. Sure, it isn't useless. But never the less, no thanks. 

Invasion of Vryn 2

I really like the design on this battle but despite that the power and suitability are quite a long way shy of what cube wants. 

March of the Machines Preliminary Review: Part 9

 

0 - unplayable in 40 card singleton

1 - effectively unplayable

2 - has low tier constructed decks it might go in

3 - has mid tier constructed decks it does go in

4 - pretty powerful stuff with several potential homes, able to perform well in lower powered cubes

5 - powerful stuff that is either just too narrow or has too many superior alternatives

6 - fringe cube worthy

7 - cube worthy

8 - cube staple

9 - unpowered cube bomb

10 - powered cube bomb 

Sheoldred 8

Another praetor pretty comfortably good enough at the front end alone. A 4/5 menace plus edict? Lovely. Can hit walkers, can't hit tokens. Should be reasonable most of the time. You don't need to hit their best thing for this to represent a good deal on both main metrics. There are no silly hoops or anything. So many black removal dorks miss things or hurt you and require extra costs and things. This is just a good dork that kills a something. Great. The True Scriptures is again, very winning over the course of the saga. More removal, value, disruption and big powerful board dominating effects. You pretty much need to top deck a mass removal spell immediately after this hits stage III to survive it. A five drop that is pretty good to play anytime and that can go a fairly long way to winning the game with a five mana investment made on it all sounds pretty terrifying. 

Dusk Legion Duellist 4

Really good card draw if you have things that put counters on. While there are many such things it isn't quite enough unless your cube is specifically pushing that synergy. I want this to be enough as we all love drawing cards in white, and it very nearly is enough making it all the more sad.

Surge of Salvation 7

While this looks a bit like a colour hoser I think it is probably just good enough. This is a counterspell against most forms of removal, including non-black/red stuff. It counters hand disruption and that kind of unpleasantness too. Lazotep Plating was pretty impressive in cube and had a high ceiling but blue didn't need the effect when it had access to more rounded counter magic. It is also a lot harder keeping two mana open for protection effects than it is one mana. Surge is already close to Rebuff the Wicked and Blossoming Calm in one card before we even get to the bits that affect black and red stuff. Much as I am loving all these white tools I do worry a bit that it is pulling a bit too far ahead as the strongest colour in cube. It just has it all now. It has card advantage and disruption on top of the best removal. 

Zimone and Dina 4

Good card but no Leovold. This can just be a 3/4 and only really shines when you have support for it. Very much not the sort of card that gets into cube when gold, especially not three colour gold.  

Change the Equation 4

This is surprisingly on point as it is the big red and green spells most in need of countering as a blue mage. Even so, I think I generally would just rather Prohibit in my deck and Prohibit is just a little too embarrassing on the draw a little too often for my liking. 

Sunfall 7

They are getting closer and closer on Wraths that cost more than four mana. This exiles and it makes a potentially large token too. I have been finding I want Wraths in my midrange decks more these days. Perhaps I just need more dorks in my control decks but either way, this is the sort of Wrath I am more into if I am a midrange deck. It isn't one sided but it should leave me ahead. Massacre Girl is the card I feel like this is probably closest to presently in my cube. That is a good place to be as well. Suited to the meta and in reasonable demand. 

Invasion of Belenon 1

Much as I love an Anthem this is not how I want to go about getting one. A grey Orge token is a shocker of a starting point and then the five damage needed to flip? No thanks. This not only feels like it should be more like 3 to flip, it feels like it should be Anthem front end and token on the back (still with Anthem). Hard pass on this thanks. This might be one of those stealth worse than a blank cards. The temptation to attack this for the flip and then going on to lose because you couldn't get those last few points of damage through... 

Zephy Singer 5

I like this a lot and will test it along with a significant blue convoke package. Sadly I suspect that a 4 mana 3/4 flier just isn't enough card for your card. Giving some flying is nice, convoke is great, but this is just a bit of a dork. Not bad but not good or exciting. It is even better in blue than anywhere else and still looks a little short. 

Bloated Processor 4

Nearly great but the inability to sacrifice non-phyrexians ruins the utility. If you just got the token this would probably be good enough but the 2 mana cost to incubate keeps this enough worse than the likes of Flesh Carver. 

Invasion of Ulgrotha 2

A very poor Lightning Helix! Just not enough impact for the cost. You are rarely getting the back end out either which makes the overall value a bit of a shocker too. 

Abomnable Sleep 4

I guess I will try this with the Convoke package but it is too much of a do nothing really. Send to Sleep always performed really well and then didn't see enough play. This is narrower and so will be getting even less play I suspect! Just a classic non-threat, non-removal card that is going to wind up with almost no play time.

Invasion of Kylem 2

Ornithopter x 2 and this is so close to the instant flip! Even then we can't be getting too excited about what is on offer. Invoke the Ancients doesn't excite and it is a whole lot better than this! This card is the epitome of a win more card. 

Nahiri's Witchcraft 7

Super interesting card. Kill a big thing or kill a small thing and get a bit of value. Deal three damage and get a Mishra's Research Desk activation is a good deal for three mana. A key difference that may be a translation issue is that Witchcraft needs you to play the spell this turn, while being a sorcery speed effect itself. This means you need to hit cheap stuff, use it very late, or just find land. One might be able to find niggles with the card as removal or as a source of value. I also always say you want your removal direct and pure. This however is looking like an exception, this is too versatile, with too high of a floor, and too much raw power to not cut it in cube. Five damage for 3 is fine. Killing something and getting cards is great. This can be value and tempo at once, the holy grail of cube cards. You can even just blow it on some 1/1 token to get a bit of an Impulse if you are digging for something specific. Cool card with cool design. Very impressed to see a removal spell with value that doesn't seem broken and yet does still seem playable.

March of the Machines Preliminary Review: Part 8

0 - unplayable in 40 card singleton

1 - effectively unplayable

2 - has low tier constructed decks it might go in

3 - has mid tier constructed decks it does go in

4 - pretty powerful stuff with several potential homes, able to perform well in lower powered cubes

5 - powerful stuff that is either just too narrow or has too many superior alternatives

6 - fringe cube worthy

7 - cube worthy

8 - cube staple

9 - unpowered cube bomb

10 - powered cube bomb 

Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution 7.5

Five mana 6/6 trample reach is hefty. That keeps you in control of the board, provides some threat, and some protection. A nice kickboard for a dork. EtB of getting two forests is better than it seems. It is a bit Yasharn, a bit Yayimaya Elder! Cards in hand, excess mana, and dud draws out of deck are translating more and more into proper value. We have sinks, loots, and just things like Old One Eye helping to turn spare stuff into gas. Not to mention we can find cycling Triomes with Vonrinclex should we directly wish to convert. All told this feels a lot like a massive threat with a near Divination bolted on, super Muldrifter. Multhumper if you will. I would absolutely play this just at the front end without and backside saga silliness. The activated ability is powerful too, it gives you a use for those extra lands and should be able to break a stall if for some reason you cannot punch through with your 6/6 fatty. Providing you can survive the mill 10 the saga will rain brutal power down upon the opponent. Free monsters, make everything huge, big fight in which all your stuff wins and all theirs dies followed by alpha strike. If somehow still alive, get Vorinclex back too! Just a massive amount of card and action with little to no weakness. Green too so expect all this kicking off from turn three...

Captive Weird 7

Comically this might be another of those cards blue needs to keep up. The total cost of 4 or 5 mana for a 3/3 and a card isn't good enough, Kavu Climber is not a cube staple. However, a 1/3 defender one drop is exactly how blue can stay alive long enough to leverage the powerful spells it has. Hard Evidence is a tool very like this which is presently getting a good amount of play in the slower blue based decks. While this is rather more mana than Hard Evidence it is also rather more board presence which is after all why we are playing them. A 1/3 fights back, it actually shuts down attackers rather than just fogging one. It is also a real card and not something that dies to a bounce or flicker, and then it turns into a reasonably meaty 3/3 that can pressure or trade or whatever is needed. I think this will not get cashed in as often as Hard Evidence but that does matter a little less as you get more body both on the front end and once you have cashed in as well. That is assuming you can play the card you exile which will mostly be the case. It is however another factor that delays and reduces the frequency of the activation. I am looking forward to this new world for blue where it has some relevant cheap dorks it can make and then gets to do novel stuff with convoke. 

Pile On 7

Lethal Scheme is in my cube and performing very nicely thankyou. Just the other day I managed to gain 8 life with it thanks to a full convoke and Sheoldred in play. Got a couple of counters too! Pile On is much the same card with a couple of quality of life perks but a lower ceiling and average power level. Convoke with 2 or more dudes and Lethal Scheme is better, 1 or fewer and Pile On takes the prize. Removal is pretty premium in cube at present and these cards play really nicely in a world of lots of token chaff and little dorks. Having the ability to significantly interact at little or no open mana is amazing. It feels like the cube has more than enough room for another Lethal Scheme. 

Ozolith, Shattered Spire 7

Seems a bit too convenient not to work out. It makes me think of Ranger Class. While not as good in the tempo department the Ozolith has some rather more serious scaling potential. As a 2 mana artifact that pays 2 to sorcery speed put a pair of +1/+1 counters on something we would have a card that is solid. A kind of Vulshok Morningstar that you could reequip additively and never lose the buff. A slow but relentlessly powerful equipment. Throw cycling onto that and your card becomes more playable and less reliant on always having a dork. This is all a nice floor and it doesn't consider this working passively or scaling with cards that take advantage of +1/+1 counters. All your Scavening Ooze, Tireless Tracker, Biophagus, Gala Greeters, etc, just casually getting a chunk better. That is a nice perk, a good raising of the ceiling. And then finally lets throw into the mix cards like Walking Ballista and Hangarback Walker which get bigger on being made, double their own growing potential, and benefit from the activated Ozolith counters more than other cards. You cannot have too many cards like this in your cube decks but this certainly seems like one of the very best on offer to green. 

Invasion of Regatha 2

Front end is all a bit narrow and does not line up too well with the flipping of this. Do four to your face, and then what? Do anther 4 to this? That is not a good lining up of resources and as such this seems unplayable despite the relatively high powered collection of stuff that has the illusory appearance of working together. 

Invasion of Innistrad 4

Flash is cool on a battle, especially a removal spell, but 4 mana is too much to kill a dork for the most part. The flip side is also surprisingly low impact. Sure, a pair of 2/2 tokens is nice, it is looking like a real wonky Ravenous Chupacabra. I think however only getting my dorks if I send five damage this way is a real turn off. I am just going to play cheap removal or removal with dorks that I get there and then. Obviously I'll be testing this as it is so new and different but expecting it to fall well short of Chupacabra. 

Xerex Strobe Knight 5

Two spells is pretty easy to achieve in cube however it is still usually a bit of a detour. There is a lot of power potential here but a few too many bad cases or ifs for me to have any confidence in the card. This dies to all the removal easily and yielding no advantage. It does very little on the board right away either, it is holding off few threats and not something you want to be blocking with. I like the idea of slapping in for two each turn while also churning out 2/2 dorks but this is a long way from the norm. I think mostly the norm will be you losing tempo, and sometimes also card advantage, as they efficiently clear away your stuff. 

Invasion of Kaldheim 6

Really cool and unusual design on this one. Love the control you have over the exiled cards you get to play and the tension on exiling more to draw more and the extra cost that comes with that. Ideally you want a massive hand full of super cheap spells so you can draw a whole new hand and lose nothing in the process. A nice 4 mana draw 7! In practice those big payoffs are going to be prohibitively slow to setup and you are looking much more in the 3 to 4 cards gained overall range with this. Still some nice value and utility but a lot fairer. The flip side is easy to get to and incredibly powerful. Not just Seismic Assault but one that offers a very reasonable degree of card advantage as it does so. This card makes me think of Vance's Blasting Cannons but all a lot faster and more powerful. You get your value right away rather than one a turn and then you continue to get value and don't have to pay mana to shoot stuff once flipped! As far as battles go this is one I am absolutely going to aim burn at to flip. I think you can quite happily play this in aggro or control decks should you wish. While the power feels there it is quite a late game card and might suffer from having 0 other cards in hand by the time you can afford to play this, be it in mana or game situation terms. Much as I am very impressed with this it smacks of being a bit luxury and fiddly. It probably winds up only being good in a couple of decks and only then some of the time. Mostly I suspect people will just gravitate to more direct stuff like planeswalkers and creatures. 

Invasion of Karsus 6

Removal wants to be pure, cheap, and directed to purpose. This is a four mana spell with the power of a three mana spell. That likely has it dead in the water. The back end is fairly powerful and reasonably accessible and so perhaps we are going to try and play this like a big wonky Goblin Chainwhirler. Certainly this is enough monster that I am going to aim some burn at this battle rather than face at much lower life totals than most other battles so that is something. It is also a much more control and midrange card in general meaning they will likely be on higher life totals when this comes down! I can see a lot of lines where this comes down and stabilizes somewhat on turn four and then some kind of hasty evasive thing flips it the following turn and puts the game well out of reach. 

Oracle of Tragedy 4

Mostly this just loots although the reshuffle is some utility I guess. In a world where blue really wants bodies and stats this has hope. If the blue convoke cards are getting it done then I am on board. Merfolk Looter reworked for a world of tempo. If you cast this and have it trade in combat somehow it is substantially better than a Looter. Just a safer more substantial and immediate play that does similar sorts of things. Much as I like this I always like the cheap dorks with like scry or whatever on them and they are rarely enough. I just think I would always rather have a Fblthp for the actual value on my speed bump or just a little Jace so as to have raw power and threat instead. I will absolutely be adding this so as to give convoke the best chance in blue but I anticipate it coming right back out again quickly. 

Deeproot Wayfinder 7

At three mana this would be all wrong and nasty but at two I think I can overlook the various issues. If you make this with any sort of sac land turn two and start connecting there after, or just lucking out with the surveil and finding lands to put in the bin then you are going to just win. Card advantage, ramp, and card quality, all on the back of your not unreasonable two mana 2/3. One free land is going to be massive, let alone a couple. Yes, this dies to removal easily, doesn't dominate the board at all well, and does nothing if it cannot get through, or really late game at all. Even so, the investment is so low I am more than happy. It was not so long ago that Sylvan Advocate was a good cube card...

Ancient Imperiosaur 8

This is the green Murktide Regent. This will come out fast and end games faster. I can easily see this on turn 4 as a 12/12. And not just a 12/12 either, one with trample and ward thus making it an absolute beast to shut down. You will need very precise removal and quickly. Red decks are just dead to it, they need to keep all the little dorks that might convoke this out dead beforehand. Not much more to say than that, this is a very very big dork that is suitably protected and evasive to get away with just being stats. It is dodgy against mass removal but absolutely beastly against everything else. There are likely plenty of good routes to convoking this out as a near 20/20 bigboy and giving it haste for that one shot win. EoT March of the Multitudes sort of thing. I don't like this card much, it is very boring and so direct that it leaves little to the imagination. It is just good at lowering life totals through attacking.

Temporal Cleansing 3

At instant speed I think I might look to play this in cube but at sorcery I have no interest thanks. It needed to hit land or cost at most 3 to be sorcery speed appealing. If the convoke theme in blue really takes off this is not without hope but low starting power really work against this even then. 

March of the Machines Preliminary Review: Part 7

 

0 - unplayable in 40 card singleton

1 - effectively unplayable

2 - has low tier constructed decks it might go in

3 - has mid tier constructed decks it does go in

4 - pretty powerful stuff with several potential homes, able to perform well in lower powered cubes

5 - powerful stuff that is either just too narrow or has too many superior alternatives

6 - fringe cube worthy

7 - cube worthy

8 - cube staple

9 - unpowered cube bomb

10 - powered cube bomb 

City on Fire 7

This is Fiery Emancipation but given the convoke treatment. Overall I think that makes this better. Six is a bit much for most decks but four or five isn't. The dynamic means by which you can play this and how it isn't likely to be an over extension is all very appealing. Things like Seasoned Pyromancer and Anax make it super viable to play this 8 mana card in decks with curves ending at 4, even 3. It is a lot of potential reach and value. Should ever the game stall you get to pause, flop this out, and then threaten lethal on the board and from hand with a lot more conviction! One of many very powerful cards in this set that do nothing by themselves. It will be interesting to see where the new mark lies for such cards. All the older less powerful cards of this nature have been crept out of the cube over the last few years such that most decks are just removal/answers and threats now. All these new cards like City on Fire would have made the cube recently but if they still can will be interesting to see. 

Tribute to the World Tree 6.5

Another GGG card I see. Garruk's Uprising was decent in cube but a little unpredictable. This is a lot more reliable but pays for it by having a much more demanding cost. You were only really playing either in green based decks anyway but still... These are also both still cards that do nothing by themselves and that is, as just mentioned an issue. As such they need to go above and beyond. Tribute probably manages that although I am not sure if I wouldn't just rather have Guardian Project. I have found I come close to decking myself with Project and so the counters on small guys might be a buff. Equally, these being very green things perhaps GGG is a better cost than 3G. It is all very close and worth a test that is for sure. Power here is good but it is a hard card to play and those kinds of cards usually fail to get the numbers. It might well just be supplanted by the new Ozolith from the get go before getting much of a chance to prove itself. 

Kolga and Yidaro 7

This is a lot of card. Options and power up the wazoo. It may be gold and it might be competing with the likes of Inferno Titan and Dragonlord Atarka but utility and potentially lower cost usages should carry this to cube. Four mana to Naturalize is poor but stick a cantrip on it and you are a bit happier. Especially if you get to shuffle your massive threat back into the deck. And this is a big fuck-off threat with an insurance policy built in. The actual card is great, somewhere between Glorybringer and Voracious Hydra. Either you slap them hard for 7 trample or you swat out their dork and leave your big fat one sitting there staring them down. Much as this is an auto include as of right now there is so much top end from this set looking to go into and dominate the cube that perhaps this is looking too slow, gold, and fair all of a sudden. 

Render Inert 3

Likely too narrow but you can at least always cycle this! In a world with a lot more battles and planeswalkers this might pack the required utility but in a dork and tempo dominated meta this is just doing too little too infrequently. 

Invasion of Muruganda 1

A five mana sorcery speed fight card you say? Moving on. 

Invasion of Arcavios 1

I'm not sure you could play this at three mana. This is appalling tempo and dubious utility. I certainly wouldn't play this in combo. Or in control. I struggle to see the place where this is anything more than a fun card. 

Invasion of Shandalar 4

Now this is more of the kind of invasion we are looking for. Five mana to get back three things is a reasonable deal. Flipping into personal Show and Tell every turn is cute too. Quite cheaply too for such a big invasion. Much as I like this card I cannot see it making the cut. Three is a lot, not many bins have three things you want in them. There is too much exile removal, graveyard removal, and often just too much stuff sitting in play staring at each other. Getting a good triple Regrowth will be hard, even getting two things you want and like a land will be less than common. Equally, by the time you do that then flip this, how useful is the Show and Tell? Feels like not at all. I might play this in a kind of super big deck, some kind of Tooth and Nail mashup. Beyond that I cannot see 40 card decks having the wiggle room to sensibly use this very well. Play another big threat or more low end and reliable value, don't play this silly situational half mast card. Not in 40 card decks at least, the bigger they get the more accommodating they can be to these tools 

Invasion of Lorwyn 1

A six mana sorcery speed conditional removal spell. This would need Emrakul levels of back end to even start a conversation about playability in formats of cube power level. 

Ayara, Widow of the Realm 7

The front end is fine. It offers some reach, some lifegain, and some utility. Sure, it is weak to removal but at 3/3 size and just three mana I am OK with that for the most part. The transform is decent too adding threat, value, and more utility to the card. I think two things will give this a chance in cube. The first is suitability, black loves a sac outlet. The second is the capacity for some fun scaling with a variety of cards that have much higher mana values than you actually paid for them. 

Invasion of Alara 1

Weeee! This is all rather fun. Front end is a bit of value at a mild tempo cost. Back end is a bit of everything. Much as this is fun it isn't all that powerful and is rather aimless. In a world where cards with the WUBRG cost, or anything close to it, are game breaking bombs this is not getting a look in. 

Invasion of Xerex 1

A four mana sorcery speed Unsummon? Are you kidding me? The art on the back is cool but erm, struggling to see where I would get anywhere close to my manas worth here. Brazen Borrower literally just wet itself reading this....

Invasion of Mercadia 6

Front end is a fairly close to going rate for that kind of card filtering in red. The back end dork is decent utility as well. Just a 3/3 is meaty and feels good off the back of your 2 mana setup battle. The ability it has is also pretty strong and gives lots of utility, synergy, and angles of attack. This is a pretty fair looking card but it is interesting, reasonable value, and all seemingly quite suitable. My best guess is that this is a little too fair and a little too near the floor of its potential in cube to last but it is looking like one of the better battles. Certainly one of the more rounded and nicely designed ones.  

Omen Hawker 7

So this is a Sol Ring on legs. Literally no way this isn't the centrepiece of some decks. This is too powerful not to find a way to abuse. Omen Hawker is comfortably legacy power level if you can find the right payoff to go with it. Hawker is a bit of a lock in for cube already without any real synergy and cube is one of the places it is going to underperform relative to the other formats. Silly silly card. Lets have a very quick gloss over some of the cards I think this will be most insane with. Arcum's Astroblame! Urza's Saga. Reckoner Bankbuster. Umezawa's Jitte. Any Signet. Shark Typoon. Cycling. Incubate? This card opens up blue very nicely and at very low cost. I do look forward to playing with it at least. Broken enablers with no obvious direction are at least fun and interesting to begin with. I would rather have broken cards like this than game ending threats and the self contained all rounder stuff we have been getting. I wonder if this is good enough to finally get Thran Turbine the love it has deserved for so long! Keep your 8 key and 8 cast decks, I'm all about that 8 ring!