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
Hiveheart Shaman 3
Infinite Wastes! This guy is all a bit slow and needy. He kind of works well in some iterations of multi-colour green but not all of them by any means. The mana sink helps this be relevant but when push comes to shove the inconveniences of this guy means he isn't competing with alternatives like Oracle of Mul Daya, Solemn Simulacrum, Cavalier of Thorns, Golos, or really any other mid level dork you see in cubes that deals in putting lands into play. Fine but more risk than I like for a card in this role.
Skull Skaab 2
A little bit niche, gold, and minor. None the less a suitable support card for both an exploit theme or some tribal builds.
Dreamshackle Geist 4
Quite a potent aggressive tool able to race well by keeping things tapped down or force through damage by removing potential blockers. I dislike a sorcery speed three drop with such low stats but the abiltiy to do something right away might just keep this in contention. Certainly some cubes with aggressive blue setups will be more interested in this. Fine but a little unsuited to blue in cube and a little underwhelming on power level.
Reclusive Taxidermist 3
A kind of new Werebear that is better fixing, starts with better stats and can get away with less things in bin to turn it on. On average Taxidermist needs more in the bin and is a little tougher to build with appropriately than the Bear. Werebear isn't even all that hot these days. This is an OK card but it is narrow and competing with a lot of alternatives.
Stormchaser Drake 3
Too narrow for cube with very little in the way of things you want to target your own dorks with but in a deck doing that sort of thing this gets a lot more exciting. Vulnerable but good floor and nice clean payoff. This could work in an aura deck but it could equally work in a deck trying to abuse cards like Curiosity with cards like Dive Down to back it up.
Eruth, Tormented Prophet 4
Lots of power essentially doubling all your draws but not something you can play in many decks. You need to be cheap and proactive. Counterspells are balls with this, as are lots of big spells. Once down it makes getting cards in hand tough too harming planning. While I think this is too narrow for drafting cube I can see running it in some aggro decks.
Faithbound Judge 6
A Plumeveil that becomes a Serra Angel that becomes a kind of Approach of the Second Sun. This keeps you alive early, is relevant and useful in the mid game and then gets you there in the end game if needs be. You don't feel too hard done by on value thanks to the disturb aspect of the card even if it is very slow and unlikely to be used that often. This seems like a fine all round card. Playable early is big, and having both mid and late game components really solidify the cards chances. I don't think it is a bomb, it is pretty fair by todays standard but it is nicely suitable and a fair pile of card. I have a fairly wide range in terms of how I expect this to perform. It could be an 8/10 card but it could also be a 4/10 card. It is different and convoluted enough to really muddy the waters on assessment and really needs some play testing to clear that up.
Cemetery Desecrator 3
Generally a Hero's Downfall on a six drop 4/4 menace. Not quite good enough. I would take the assured removal and lifegain of Noxious Gearhulk over the planeswalker control and graveyard disruption on Cemetery Desecrator every time, and Gearhulk is a bit slow for cube these days. Playable in cubes but somewhat sub par.
Kessig Flamebreather 6
These kinds of cards are pretty good when built around. Worth running if you have a spell synergy theme going on and generally still playable in cubes even if you don't. This is likely a touch better than Electrostatic Field and comparable to Thermo Alchemist. Just based on durability it is likely also better than Firebrand Archer. Close on all accounts and offering a lot, perhaps too much for 40 card decks, redundancy on that synergy.
Wash Away 6
A cute take on a three mana counter. Probably better than most of the three mana counters out there thanks to having that cheap mode. It comes up more than you might imagine in cube so this does have a chance. Typically however three mana counters, while fine in cube, do just wind up getting cut. They are not really needed and tend to add relatively little.
Hopeful Initiate 6
This I like. It is a solid beater in an aggressive deck. Somewhere between Champion of the Parish (in cube specifically) and Town Gossipmonger as a threat. These are some solid one drop beaters. They hit hard, have good durability, and do an OK job of remaining relevant as the game goes on. Initiate has all these key qualities. It stands alone a lot worse than an Elite Vanguard but when it comes to a one drop white beater it doesn't matter as much, you are not playing these kinds of cards in a deck where they will have to stand alone. You will have a lot of other cheap aggressive dorks and they will do good work training up the Initiate. Getting to 2/3 is fairly trivial, getting to 3/4 will be doable but will not be so quick or reliable, which is for the best, this could be a little oppressive otherwise. Just a 1/2 with training might be good enough but it would be pretty dull. Slap on a removal mode that makes the counters more relevant and suddenly we have a much more interesting and useful card. Perhaps you play this in a counters deck as you can abuse the training and go nuts on the removal mode, or perhaps just because you want access to answers without dropping the dork and synergy counts. The relevance of the removal on this card makes it more of a synergy card as it is worth more putting extra counters on it. Overall this card is reasonably powerful and interesting but it is no bomb and is fairly narrow. Training somewhere limits a card to the more aggressive and dork heavy builds. I initially gave this a 7/10 rating expecting it to be a fairly comfortable cube inclusion however I have managed to play with it in cube already and I was underwhelmed with it. While one event is not enough for me to be anywhere concluded on the matter it certainly bodes less well for the card. It was just too easy to have it being a do nothing as a 1/2 or even a 2/3.
Cartographer's Survey 5
Four mana double ramp is rarely desired in cube as it is getting a bit on the late side. This being able to ramp non-basic lands does make it rather more interesting. There are a good number of reasons you could play this. With 40% lands or so in your deck you should double hit the vast majority of the time and very rarely double miss. The upsides of getting spicy utility lands is worth more than the risks of missing. Much as I can imagine lots of places that want this I do not see it quiet cutting it in my cube for being a bit too narrow, too late in the day, and lacking in tempo. Looks like EDH gold dust if nothing else. Tron or Amulet Titan might be pushing it...
Fleeting Spirit 2
Ultimately this seems like a side grade on Seasoned Hallowblade. Flicker is better at avoiding removal but no so much better than indestructible that I am getting excited. As far as utility in combat it is rubbish which compares very poorly on a beater rather than a utility dork. First strike is nice but the cost is pretty high at nearly one escaped Elspeth! Even if this is better than Hallowblade, which I strongly doubt, it doesn't really matter as Hallowblade didn't make the cut, discarding cards in white is a big old cost and the well runs dry fast. If white ever wants a discard outlet this is great as it is then a utility dork and one that is very hard to turn off. As a beater however there are just better things to play.
Restless Bloodseeker // Bloodsoaked Reveler 2
I might play this in a life deck but really this is pretty small fry when compared to the sorts of things you can play in life decks. As such this is probably more EDH filler where the 100 card decks run the bomb payoff life matters cards dry. Restless Bloodseeker is reasonably powerful and has an appealing cost but lacks the ability to stand up alone and that rather ruins the chances. You need a pretty high ceiling to overcome failings like not standing up on its own and this does not have said high ceiling.
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