Authority of the Consuls 2
Although very cheap and rather potent in the right matchup this does little to nothing in many matchups. Rarely do you want their guys coming in tapped as well as life, usually one or the other is the thing your deck needs. The life is too minor to be worth the card and the coming in tapped is just too situational for my liking. This could be a decent sideboard card but I don't see it being something you want in any cube maindeck. Certainly not a card for the drafting cube.
Bomat Courier 5.5
Really cool design here. This is powerful and cheap and versatile but sufficiently slow to setup that it is far from overpowered. It is a Raging Goblin any colour can play. It is an artifact which is cheap and thus will help a lot of decks looking for synergy support cards. Each attack you get with this it reserves a card from your deck. For just one red mana you can sac the Courier and pitch your remaining hand to get all the reserved cards into your hand. In a perfect sort of situation you make the Courier turn one and get to attack with it every turn. Let us say that you empty your hand on turn four then you can cash in your Courier for four cards. That is 2 mana for 4 damage and 4 cards drawn. There is nothing really like this in cube, the closest is probably an Ancestral Visions. This is much quicker to be useful late in the game but will rarely be such a potent first turn play as I described or indeed as Ancestral Visions! You need the Courier to live to be able to cash it in. This means you can only ever reliably get one card out of it if they have blockers. It also means that even if you get in multiple attacks, until you have sufficiently emptied your hand to make the cash in good value you are still incredibly vulnerable to any sort of removal on the little 1/1 Courier.
As it is exiling your cards you likely can't afford to run this in a deck without a good amount of redundancy. You don't want to lose to exiling an important card and having the Courier killed before you can use it. There is also the potential discard synergy for Courier. If you want to dump a load of your hand into the bin then this is a relatively cheap and effective way of doing so. It makes it much quicker to reach that good cash in point quickly in the game if you play it with discard synergy stuff. I can see this being viable in red deck wins and Welder, potentially in affinity too. The only other place I can really think wanting this is a Jund delirium style deck. Those homes will be plenty enough to make it playable and more exotic ones could easily exist. Cute and versatile card with very high top end potential. There will be a lot of tough choices for both palyers with this in play. Much as this ticks most of the boxes for a cube auto include card it is a touch underwhelming, even for a one drop, when you make it and take a long time to become that relevant.
Scrapheap Scrounger 3
This has reasonable stats for the mana and an OK recursion mechanic. Why I am not getting too excited by the card is because it doesn't really fit in that well anywhere. It is just a linear dork. The body is fine but far from exciting. Not being able to block puts it exclusively into the aggressive camp. Two mana to recur is what it costs to cast so you are only getting card value unlike Bloodghast which gets card and mana value on recursion. Lastly you have to exile other creatures which is generally pretty uncomfortable. In the kind of deck you would play this there is a good chance a lot of your other dorks also have from graveyard effects. Certainly a playable card but not one that I am eager to try out in anything really.
Dovin Baan 6.5
Just a very solid and well rounded planeswalker. He does all the core things you want a planeswalker to do and he does them pretty well. He protects you and himself from enemy creatures and their pesky activated effects. He draws you cards and throws in some life to ensure you have the time to use those cards and he threatens a scary ultimate should he not go unchallenged. Dovin is the first Azorius planeswalker to be widely playable and not need specific deck design to make him good. Dovin will just be good anywhere. He is quite a lot like Jace, Architect of Thought. Raw power wise Dovin is the better card but as a gold card he is still marginally less playable. Both are planewalkers where you are happy to use there -loyalty ability over and over until they are spent. There are not many where you can do this and feel like you got good value from your walker. Four mana for six life and three cards is pretty decent! The emblem doesn't win the game nor is it that likely to be used as the -1 is just so juicy. Despite this the ultimate is pretty scary and just the threat of it will ensure Dovin can't be ignored. The +1 ability is more than just a protection effect. You can target a Rofellos and deny them mana production should that be what you need to do. Dovin is a threat and he can create a favourable change in tempo or in card advantage. This is the crux of what you want a planeswalker to do. The planeswalkers in Kaladesh have been tuned up a notch it seems.
Aetherborn Marauder 0
Just a dork and not even a very good one of those. Beyond refreshing undying guys there is little merit to be had from moving about your own +1/+1 counters onto this. Low power and narrow but then it is a limited card so I probably shouldn't be wasting my time reviewing it in this cube review...
Salivating Gremlins 0
This can hit very hard pretty easily. It is a viable threat in a deck like affinity. The thing is that affinity is pretty full up and has cheaper better cards than this. You could use this in an Enduring Renewal combo if you liked but it wouldn't be better than an alternate finisher.
Ruinous Gremlin 0
Nice that red has this option on the curve. I think this might even be better than Scavenger Folk! The thing is I don't think it is better than Torch Fiend. Overall it is a cheaper way to remove things and is actually a relevant body as well. Also, there is a card called Gorilla Shaman if you really want a one drop than can smash up artifacts.
Whirler Virtuoso 3
This is pretty efficient all round as dorks go. It is a 3/4 for three with some bonus utility and synergy. Part flying, part artifact, an energy source and an energy dump. All of this gives you some decent options with a card that is pretty good value. The issue is where are you playing this? It is a very midrange card in the least midrange of colour pairings. The only place I really see this is in an energy deck which will almost certainly not be a thing that finds its way into the drafting cube. This reminds me most of Catacomb Sifter, that was a card that fitted perfectly well into the colours yet still didn't get much play as it was just a bit too generic and middle of the road.
Padeem, Consul of Innovation 2
Quite powerful and synergic effects but far too situational for a drafting cube. There may well be occasion to play this in more constructed cube formats. I played Hanna's Custody in an extended GP (thats right, go look up what it does, no one ever knows) and Leonin Abunas in standard! This is a decent chunk better than Abunas but it is still a four drop with relatively little impact on the board. The card draw is nice but the thing is, if you are going to the trouble of protecting your stuff then you should be winning with that stuff! You don't ever play this as a card draw tool alone, you have to want to protect your artifacts for this to be viable. Spellskite seems like the card that does that best. Counterspells probably come after that...
Inventor's Apprentice 3
Kird Ape style of card that wants artifacts in play to become not awful. Not many aggressive red decks have artifacts in play. There is some call for that kind of synergy in red already but really very little, white has more of it. The power you seem to gain from being a bit kwirky doesn't seem worth it, both in general in the cube and specifically to this card.
Attune with the Aether 3
Lay of the Land plus two free energy. Sounds good. Traverse will step on this cards toes in standard for a good while but this will still be the big name in the energy decks. This is one of the best energy sources they have printed. It is very low cost, gives a decent amount of mana and is card neutral. I suspect a green standard energy deck will play a full set of these. If such a deck transfers over to cube then this will come with it. Obviously this only gets play in energy decks and such things seem unlikely. Great card though.
Chandra's Pyrohelix 6
This is called Fire, there is no such thing as a Pyrohelix. Its not a Twin Bolt either, what an awful name, Twin Bolt obviously does 6 total damage. Twin Ping I might accept! Anyway, Fire, good card. Ruins green and white players days. Ruins creature decks pretty hard. One of the reasons that red is overpowered! Not quite sure how many of these cards you want in a cube but it is certainly cube worthy along with all the others, Forked Bolt, Avacyn's Judgement, the works!
Skywhaler's Shot 2
This is pretty solid removal but it just a tad too pricey for cube use although the scry is a huge temptation.
Aethersquall Ancient 1
Without the ability to use the energy right away this is far too slow for the cube. A 6/6 flier is good but as a 7 drop it is far less so. Briefly contrast this to Dragonlord Atarka... Another card that is in the massive pile of unlikely energy only cards.
Metalwork Colossus 3
I like my Colossus to have indestructible but I would happily forgo that for some trample. This card aches for trample. Without it is isn't that exciting. Even in cube where you can easily cast this for zero on like turn three. The recursion mechanic is a nice little perk that makes the card more rounded and usable but it really doesn't solve the lack of trample problem. Bosh Iron Golem is the reason to play this card! Beyond that I don't really see it. Just play a threat that does something. This card has more of the Squee and the Draco about him than he has anything resembling more traditional Colossi!
Disappearing Act 0
Because Deprive was too good.... Sure, this has some synergy with Mana Vault and EtB stuff but that is not the kind of thing you want tacked onto a counterspell.
Perpetual Timepiece 3.5
Very interesting card design here and one that may well make it into the cube. This is part self mill Splinterfright style card and part Elixir of Immortality. Now such things may seem at complete odds with each other which is true and may well harm the playability of this outside of cube. In the cube however this really enables graveyard based decks rather well. One of the issues with cube dredge style decks is that you run out of deck too fast and have a small window of time left alive one you hit your critical mass. This card lets you go ham on your library while having a lot more safety. Often such lists run things like Primeval Command just to have some means to live longer but this is a useful proactive card that helps you do what you want to without fear rather than a do nothing 5 drop. I am not sure how deep you need to be before this is something worth putting in your deck. Does a bunch of flashback and delve with a Grim Lavamancer cut it? Likely not. Do all the jund graveyard guys in a deck do it for the Timepiece? Perhaps. Useful and interesting card. Glad to have it as an option.
Creative Spark 4 (as a result of some heavy bias!)
This is one of my favourite designs on a card, not just in the set but of all time. I really hope I can find ways to make this playable. So, you need a creature in play to target this with even if you want to cycle it. That is fine, you can use your own but it does reduce the utility of the card. It is also a poor turn one play as you cannot realistically hope to use the thing you reveal and have little control over what you hit. Unless you are gunning down a Phantasmal Bear this is very poor turn one removal. I guess if you absolutely need to kill the thing now (Mother of Runes?) then it might be worth a punt. This is a pretty weak RDW card as you have such low average CMC that you are better off running any kind of Shock or even Flame Slash! This card is somewhere between a Spark Spray and a Flameslash but more awkward. To offset this awkwardness it has some perks going for it as well. Firstly, you can one shot most creatures in the cube with this which is quite exciting for a one mana red spell. When you do miss with it as a removal spell you will generally get the cycling effect. I see this having some hope of being playable in prowess decks and artifact ramp decks. Prowess decks don't have loads of high CMC stuff but they do have the odd 8 mana delve card and so forth combined with a selection of cards that give you control and information over the top card of your deck. It is also a potential one mana red card neutral prowess trigger which is nice too. In ramp decks things like Scroll Rack and Dvining Top are quite good and you have plenty of expensive stuff to make Spark an OK removal card. Being able to have something useful that also cycles away and thins the deck is also something ramp decks are fond of. Sadly I think this is too narrow for the cube but I really really like the card. More of this please.
Brazen Scourge 6
While this looks rather dull it is actually pretty good. This is likely easier to cast than Boggart Ram-Gang even in a red green deck. Having the freedom to play things like Kessig Wolf Run is significant and Scourge lets you do that well. Wither is a relevant ability but it is far from one of the better ones. You play Ram-Gang because it is a 3/3 for 3 with haste. So is this. Red has recently got a lot of good three drop dorks so perhaps this no longer cuts it. Certainly a good card just perhaps not needed in cube.
Refurbish 1
I don't play Resurrect, I won't play this. A somewhat unique effect for white at least so might see a little dabbling of play.
Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter 0
Lots of text and healthy stats for the mana but far too slow and expensive in what it offers. This wishes it was a Deathrite Shaman and it so utterly isn't.
Captured by the Consulate 0
Quite comedy. Kill your dork but really make you kill it so I get a nice two for one. In reality this is a bad four mana Pacifism that will itself get removed and return the scary threat to play. Far to clumsy and situational for a four mana removal spell.
Cathartic Reunion 6.5
At a glance this looks like the closest thing to Brainstorm they have every printed. While it obviously still isn't near that standard this card has a massive amount going for it and indeed outperforms the Brainstorm in a few ways. With both this and Brainstorm you essentially see three new cards and do away with two others. While top of deck and discard both have loads of synergies we could discuss and compare at length the more important factor is what the card does in isolation. Brainstorm isn't really card quality if you can't further manipulate the top of your deck. Cathartic Reunion is a near Brainstrom level of card quality that needs no support to be good. It is about twice the card quality that you get from Tormenting Voice. So, lets look at the downsides because this sure as hell has them. Firstly, you get this countered and you have lost. It is like having a Brainstorm Plagiarized! Secondly, if you don't have two cards in hand to ditch, this does nothing. Brainstorm gets to pitch cards from the 3 news ones while this doesn't and that makes it much harder to just fire off. All told I think the pro's of this card greatly outweigh the cons. I am all for shit red Brainstorm, sign me up. I can avoid running a two mana spell into a counterspell. I can remember to consider my land drops and things for cards like this I have in my deck. I would happily play this in any deck with graveyard synergy from Reanimate to delirium and I would happily play it in RDW or Izzet prowess. Very potent but in a rather red way it is compensated by risk rather than awkwardness or sloth.
Weaponcraft Enthusiast 2
Pretty darn awful but has some mild application as one of the cheapest ways to make a load of tokens in black. If you really just need bodies to sac and things then this is an OK tool for the job. Other than a source of 1/1s and an 0/1 this guy is pretty awful.
Reckless Fireweaver 1
No real decks for this and none likely to crop up in the drafting cube. Some mild combo potential with this one but little hope beyond that.
Restoration Gearsmith 2
Hill Giant Graverobber plus! Even with a 2 for 1 a Hill Giant, especially a gold one is far from good enough to be cube worthy. Playable in a midrange deck but just so underwhelming.
Foundry Inspector 3
You can get this effect already for two mana if you can find a blue among them. This has more attack power but that isn't why you are playing it. I think this is a bit vulnerable and three mana to see much play but you should never rule these kinds of card out. Cost reduction is a powerful effect and these dudes can reduce things to the most broken cost of all - zero! Mild affinity potential and some mild combo potential too.
Era of Innovation 3
I really don't know what to make of this one. Sometimes it looks like 2 mana to draw 3 cards and other times it looks more like an Ancestral Visions that actually cost you five mana. Two energy for any creature of artifact is quite a good influx however having to pay a mana is a real chore. It stops you curving well but wants to be played early. As pure draw this is too expensive, slow and conditional. As pure energy gain it is too onerous on your mana. As a good source of energy that can turn into a bunch of cards as and when that is the way to go then perhaps this is a good tool but it would then be a very narrow one. The card has a lot of angels and does some powerful things but it all feels a little too convoluted.
Master of Marionettes 1
Very cool design and interaction with the fabricate. For cube you want this to make dorks and as such it is pretty poop. Five is the going rate for one man armies, at six this is rather dwarfed by Grave Titan. The life loss mechanic on Master of Marionettes is a mild boost but to get much out of it will be rare. It will be 3 or 4 without other artifacts in your deck or pump effects!
Insidious Will 3.5
Now this is actually rather interesting. Despite being way over cost for any of the one effects the option on them makes this card both very powerful and very reliable. Misdirection allows for some of the biggest swings in the game but you can rarely play it because it is so narrow. This is always a Counterspell, all be it a terrible one, but when you can win a game with a Redirect then it is fairly tasty. A good Redirect hit is typically more value than a good Cryptic Command hit. There are not many situations Twincast is a better option than either Counterspell or Redirect however it can happen. Typically you want to copy your own things and that is not at all likely with a four mana card. At three mana this would be one of the best counterspells in the game (like top 10, which is still really good). At four mana it is likely too clunky. If the cube continues to slow down (by which I mean longer games rather than more expensive cards) then this might creep in just but for now this is still a no go.
Fairgrounds Warden 2
Fiend Hunter got mildly easier to cast. Banisher Priest is the best of those cards and it rarely sees play as it is too easy to undo the removal and get blown out. This suffers the same issue and is further down the pecking order. Playable but hardly good.
Syndicate Trafficker 3.5
This is somewhere between an Arcbound Ravager and a Falkenrath Aristocrat for what it does but sadly it is no where near the potency of either of them. The need of artifact synergy does not suit cards that are not artifacts themselves. This also needs mana up to activate it which makes it doubly hard to keep alive as an early play. This is a very good card in the right sort of deck but I am not quite sure what that deck is. A kind of value tempo deck with loads of cheap disposable artifacts? The new Daretti and things like clues will help this be good but I don't think there is enough of that sort of stuff for this to be worth a drafting cube slot.
Fumigate 1
Neat little perk for a Wrath card to have but this is still a five mana Wrath. Really a five mana Wrath needs to be instant before it is much of a cube consideration. These days is it quite common to Wrath one or two guys as well making this unreliable life gain.
Renegade Freighter 5.5?
Well this is a very punchy vehicle indeed. For three mana you get to have something that can attack as a 5/4 trample. Curving out with this and the two drop in red that gives vehicles haste will be such a beating in limited. For cube this looks like one of the better aggressive vehicles. Crew two is not too problematic for most aggressive decks and this really does pack some punch for the mana. It may even be viable in things like affinity where being an artifact is a big deal, as is having evasion. Just thinking about this card I have realized that vehicles, in particular this one and the big Consul Ship jobby, scale very well with Relentless Assault effects. Not that any of them are in the cube but something to keep in mind none the less. This might just be too much of a dork to be cube worthy but my hope is the extra options vehicles present will make this kind of thing useful enough.
Aradara Express 0
The big durdly vehicles clearly are not the thing for cube. This is hard to crew, hard to cast and way too easy to kill. Even if it is getting to attack it is hardly a game breaking threat. Three turn clock with no bonus value is not impressive.
Ballista Charger 0
Unlike the Sky Skiff this has no chance of seeing cube play despite there being a functionally better version of the vehicle on offer. The Skyship Consul thing is just so much juicier than this and it is not a card so potent that you want everything there is like it as well.
Sequestererd Stash 2
Generally worse than the Inventor's Fair but unique lands are almost impossible to rule out. This has some graveyard synergy and some top of deck synergy. You can use this to good effect with Combustible Gearhulk and Creative Spark if you have a big thing! Far from a bomb and generally worse than Academy Ruins but still a card with some potential.
Eager Construct 1
This is a bit too fair of a body and the scry is rather negated in value by giving it away as well. Hard to rule out a cheap artifact body with scry but it would be a very specific or quirky use if this ever sees play.
Deadlock Trap 2
This is a kind of Tumble Magnet that works on planeswalkers and creatures. Tumble Magnet was decent but not quite enough punch to be a mainstay. This is even less punch with two built in activations only and having to wait a turn to use it. The latter really hurts the tempo of this card and pretty much rules it out. The only possible place for this is of course, the mythical energy deck I have yet to build and lose horribly with! With loads of other energy stuff this could be a fantastic Icy Manipulator or that boost of energy you need that turn. Cool card but like so many, very narrow.
Consulate Skygate 2
This actually deals with a lot and potentially offers more synergy than you might think. Certainly not a great card, not powerful enough for a drafting cube, but a card you could reasonably find in some more specific constructed style cube decks.
Veteran Motorist 7.5
Well this is rather spicy. I love that they are putting scry on aggressive and otherwise playable creatures. Obviously without the scry this is far far too narrow for cube. With it, and two of it, this is a really good value two drop. Three power is a good amount to have. The stats are enough and so the scry has that rare "free" feeling. Really you are paying for it with something like two more toughness or first strike because that is how good gold cards are these days but still, a 3 power two drop is a fine starting place. Scry 2 is doing something you can't get at all easily on good tempo cards and that is why I am so excited about this card. Really it is fair but it is exactly the sort of thing you want which is more important than random power. Speaking of random power we have the vehicle clause on this. I am sure it will come up here and there, this does very efficiently crew most things, certainly all the things I plan to put into the cube. Either way, that last ability in no way effects my cube rating for this card. I greatly greatly look froward to going one drop two drop scry two. That feels really rather winning!
Empyreal Voyager 2
This is another semi Vampire Nighthawk style card. Sadly trample is not so hot on a two power dork although it does scale with the energy production value of the card. This is a pretty good energy generator but it is too gold and fair without a super good use for that energy and ideally some pump to milk the Voyager a bit more.
Servant of the Conduit 2
Good card but not good enough as a stand alone one. As ever, this has the clause "needs to have other things that might want the immediate energy influx" before it is cube worthy and that leaves it very narrow. At least this aggro energy deck is looking like it has lots of support even in a singleton format!
Sage of Shaila's Claim 2
While worse than the last card in a vacuum as you are mostly about the energy this card isn't that different. Obviously all the same narrow clauses apply!
Ornamental Courage 2
Another double use combat trick. This is a lot less useful than gaining hexproof and the single power gain takes a lot of the punch out of this. I don't see it as a pure trick but being so cheap it could just as well turn up in some combo decks. Ascendancy type things...
Fateful Showdown 3
Expensive and situational. Not a card I like but there is some application for it. I can see it setting up big Reanimate plays or just killing people with Griselbrand after such events. Very narrow but unique and potentially powerful. This is only really potent when you have five or more cards in hand and when you have that many it is rare you want to ditch them!
Subtle Strike and Rush of Vitality 1
Neither are quite cheap, powerful or broad enough to see cube play but they are both good solid cards that along with many from Kaladesh represent a significant power creep in combat tricks.
Night Market Lookout 0
A long time since Pulse Tracker was anywhere close to viable, it never really was to be honest. This might be better but is still unplayable for all the same reasons Pulse Tracker sucks.
Harsh Scrutiny 5
Ostracize was never quite reliable enough to see play. Despise was very close but didn't break through. Since those times creatures have continued to increase their frequency in cube decks. Colours also all have way more access to card quality effects allowing you to put dead cards to better use. Although Despise probably becomes playable before this the scry one is pretty huge. Turn one you almost always want to hit dorks over planeswalkers and so the scry is free juice when you are in best case scenario. These kinds of cards are pretty weak anyway in worst case scenarios including the best and broadest versions. I am going to try this out, I don't have high expectations but I do desperately want one mana scry cards and particularly black one drops for the cube.
Fretwork Colony 0
Back in the day this might have been good enough. It is a bit like the Slith series of guys except this doesn't need to get in to grow. Now a days you can get a lot more meat and value for two mana than this card which is just far too slow.
Embraal Bruiser 1
Acceptable stats and an evasion perk if you wind up with an artifact in play. While this is still playable without much or any artifact synergy it is pretty bottom of the barrel stuff.
Select for Inspection 3
Unsummon is a good cube card and this is most of Unsummon and has a scry bolted on. Part of the quality of Unsummon is no restrictions on target and so while I very much like this card I fear it will not be a satisfactory bounce spell. Good against aggression but poor to force through damage, disrupt mana production or other activated ability or vigilance dorks!
Minister of Inquiries 3
This is a lot of mill for the mana and that is just with the energy it comes with. If you can find a sensible way to gain more energy in a mill deck this is one of the best cheap cards such a deck has. Narrow but effective.
Glimmer of Genius 3
This is just about playable because it is instant. Two cards and scry 2 is good, well worth 3 mana but four is quite steep, you can get some really powerful things going on for four. You probably only play this when you have several good uses for energy in your list which seems rare.
Gearseeker Servant 0
Affinity is back! This time it is unplayable.
Dramatic Reversal 3
Turnabout for your non-lands at two mana is pretty dangerous. This is the second spell in this set that has some really abusive synergy with the top rate mana production artifacts and could get some vintage use. You can produce some disgusting openers with filthy amounts of mana and card draw. Very narrow outside of such decks but certainly a card with some serious combo applications. This one also works to some extent with things like mana elves so may see some modern play.
Confiscation Coup 1
Restriction on CMC and a five mana price tag rule this out for cube even if it is both Control Magic and Steal Artifact. It is a playable card as it scales with what is being played. When it is cube level bombs then the steal stuff gets better. Even so, this is a weak stealing card. Having an energy theme doesn't do much to change that. Could still be big news in standard I guess.
Aether Theorist 5.5
So I got a little over excited by Sigiled Starfish when they printed it. Suffice it to say I was well off the money on that one. This is somewhat of an upgrade. The one power makes all the difference and makes Theorist quite playable over the Starfish. Being able to block and kill things or nibble away for damage is useful. A 0/X body is basically just a lifegain spell and a pretty weak one at that. At least a 1/X dork threatens to trade or otherwise get value. This only gets 3 scrys compared to the ongoing ones from the Starfish but you are playing it for the early ones rather than the ones in ten turns time! Just in terms of scrying I don't expect the Starfish to do that much more work. Games don't go on that long, stuff doesn't live that long. Theorist is a cheap OK body and a scry three leading into the midgame. It is good filler in the way a Satyr Wayfinder is. It is fine in a deck with no other energy cards and mildly improves as you add them. Theorist is low power but reasonably streamlined and effective. You do have to actively want the 1/3 body to play this card otherwise it is card disadvantage on top of relatively low power level.
Servo Exhibition 7
This is weaker than Raise the Alarm of Gather the Townsfolk simply because it doesn't produce white things and thus doesn't scale so well with Honour the Pure and the like. White pump effects are moving away a little from only buffing white dudes and there are some artifact synergies on the go but still, the entry point for this card is a little below the others that do basically the same thing. Despite this tokens are great and two for two is a good deal. I expect this to see a bunch of play in exactly the same way the others see a bunch of play.
31 Lands
Tranquil Thicket
I should have played Gamble simply for another Life from the Loam. I likely should also have played Exploration. Making two lands a turn would have been much more relevant than I initially gave it credit for. I figured I needed such a serious amount to do anything useful that I would die before I got anywhere making lands two at a time. In reality two lands a turn is exactly what this kind of deck wants. Lots of the time I was using Fastbond I was holding back and would have been better off with Exploration. Mostly my revisions to the deck make it look more like the vintage list, not a shocker really!
Obviously Wastelands and Stripmine are both nutty good in this kind of deck, as indeed was the Dustbowl. They are far better still with the Crucible of Worlds option. I have used that combo plenty before and know it is good. For the even in question I didn't have the points spare to invest in them nor the urge to bore people with things I have done before. The best build of this would include as many of such cards you can get your hands on.
There were a couple of other cards I considered briefly. Arcane Sanctum was a possibility if I was facing any sort of Solitary Confinement prison deck or some kind of naughty hexproof card I needed to tie up in the Maze of Ith. Rogues Passage was an option for getting in with Inkmoth Nexus but it is removal rather than blockers that pose a problem for that route and as it costs so much to use it rather negates the use of Wolf Run. All told the Passage seems one of the least useful cards I considered.
Dimir Guildgate
Deserted Temple
Dark Depths
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
