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
Most Wanted 2
The high upfront cost of this combat trick really hurts it. Treasure is lovely but this is too low impact and too situational. There just doesn't seem like any deck that is after what this offers.
Ominous Parcel 0
Nice utility but rather over cost to see any play.
Extract the Truth 3
Loving 2 mana modal discard, especially when removal is the other mode. This sadly is no Collective Brutality. You cannot do both modes with Extract the Truth. The target range for both modes isn't huge nor is it really what you want. Black can deal with dorks and walkers, black discard is at it's best when hitting instants and sorceries. That is what has always given it the edge over Naya colours and allowed it to compete with blue in the most powerful formats. So, much as I like the concept of this card the execution of the design leaves it rather wanting. Hopefully we will see more cards following this design premise. A Duress type of effect and a Smother/Edict/Terror mode to go with it for two mana would be delightful indeed. Much as I have given this a poor review it is still a cheap enchantment removal spell in black with added utility. It will be suitable in a number of places and will perform OK most of the time elsewhere.
Goldhound 7
Delightful. A glorious little support card and very red as well. This is good general support what with damage being a common thing red wins with and mana being a common thing decks use to deploy spells and effects! It is also a specifically good support card in that it has a whole pile of types and effects for a one drop making it even more interesting in artifact decks or sac decks. I liken this to Voldaren Epicure in many ways. This lacks the spread of resources that Epicure has but being a one mana acceleration tool it is a whole lot more dangerous than Epicure. Goldhound is likely more playable as well being quite a tenacious source of damage. Menace and first strike combine to make for some really tough to block dorks, even with just one power as Kari Zev has demonstrated. Even drawn late Goldhound has a reasonable chance of being able to safely attack. If you can hit for a couple of damage or more with this it starts to look like free ramp. Excited to see how this one plays out and would not be surprised if it became a common little dork to see in my cube.
Corrupt Court Official 3
Are we getting a new Ravenous Rat every set now? Blah blah, something about types and targets, blah blah playable but wont be.
Expendable Lackey 2
A slow blue Chatter of the Squirrel that needs to die before you can "flash it back" but has some evasion on the back end to make up for that. I am sure this will have it's uses but really it is not worth the card or the mana by itself. You need a lot of synergies to make up for the lack of power here and I am not sure what deck, if any, can offer those. Even so, neve rule out an interesting or unique one drop such as this.
Prize Fight 2
We are on the cusp of a good fight spell but I fear this is not it. We get one mana sorcery fights and two mana instant fights, both that come with healthy upsides. Blizzard Brawl seems to be top of the pile and this does not look to upset that. Early on this will not have suitable targets and late the treasure will be of less use. A fine card but not a cube card.
Sticky Fingers 1
I loved Curse of Opulence and this does much of the same cool stuff. Sadly this needs a target, it needs combat damage, and it far easier to answer, often in a way that costs you card advantage. The only perk this offers over Opulence is menace which isn't nothing but is also not making up for the drawbacks. Much as Curse of Opulence was very cool and performed fairly well in cube it was on the unreliable side being pretty bad against significant creature removal and pretty bad when drawn late. Those issues on top of being neither a threat nor an answer ended Curse of Opulence's cube career with me and sadly also shut the door on Sticky Fingers even getting started on one.
Exhibition Magician 1
Very cool little utility common but rather lacking in power these days. Plundering Barbarian does a far more rounded and powerful array of things for you and even it is seeing basically no play in cube. Turns out things like Abrade, Fiery Confluence, and You Find Some Prisoners are all much more the kind of thing you want in your cube Shatter effects.
Cutthroat Contender 1
Not sure vampires needs one drops badly enough to run this anymore, probably not even a mono black list. Which is sad for this as that is the only place it is getting action.
Fake Your Own Death 2
This is the perfect combat trick for a dork with an EtB effect. It is good sacrifice support and protection against removal. Sadly at the cost of two mana upfront it is just a bit unwieldy. The bar for these non-threat, non-answer cards is so high. There is no way I am putting this in my cube over Village Rites or Malakir Rebirth though.
Gilded Pinions 1
Seems like this doesn't do enough but I cannot totally ignore a card that produces two artifacts for relatively little mana, one of which is a treasure. Cards like Servo Schematic and Blood Fountain have seen play for arguably less returns.
Warm Welcome 2
This lacks the selection needed to cut it. I really want to be able to find more types than just dorks. It can miss and it will often simply not be able to find the card you most need. At three mana card quality needs to be better than this, even if it comes with a citizen token! The instant side of it is a bonus for the token for sure but in practice it is a bit hopeful that you are getting a good trade in combat with it and a bit underwhelming otherwise.
Broken Wings 1
I feel like I have made the claim that if Crushing Vines/Canopy could properly Naturalize things it would be enough for cube. Well, now we have that and I really don't think it is enough for cube any more. This is dead or low value far too often and has quite a high cost for the returns. One for one removal at three mana is rarely pulling you ahead, as such you cannot afford for such cards to be dead weight often at all. I like this, it is versatile and green, but it doesn't seem playable.
Majestic Metamorphosis 2
Interesting card. The cantrip aspect makes this somewhat easy to play as it will rarely have no targets and being instant means you can safely deploy it. That being said, what is it doing for you? A potentially minor downgrade on an opponents dork or a minor upgrade to one of your own? Perhaps a big upgrade to a Talisman or something? Even so, this is at most four extra damage to the face or to a planeswalker if you are lucky. For three mana this just isn't actually doing very much that you want it to. While not bad it is rarely going to be good either. Making a surprise blocker is the best use and that is all rather situational at that point.
Backup Agent 1
Cool that green has let white in on this style of dork. Still a bit lacking in power, even in a heavy synergy deck, to see play but it is a good colour shift if nothing else.
Giada, Font of Hope 6
This packs a lot of power. An outstanding commander for tribal and an all important cheap support card for angels outside of EDH. There is enough here that it is close to playable without any angels in your deck and that is rare in white cube decks. Almost all the good white dorks from four mana and up in cube are angels. Probably this doesn't often enough add mana or pump things in cube and then the body is just a little fair and linear for cube but it is always an eye opener when a lord like card gets consideration for play outside of the tribe. When the floor of a narrow card with impressive scaling is decent then you have an impressively scary card on your hands.
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