Staff of Compleation 1
Over cost and hard to use a lot due to life requirements. Not sure where you might want a card like this other than EDH. There is a lot of functionality so I am certain people will put it to use. I am a lot less confident that those people will find winning uses for it in cube settings however....
Minor Misstep 3
Isn't this what Prince Andrew got into all that bother over? This is no Mental Misstep that is for sure, and something to be thankful of! A broader range might seem nice but the difference in mana cost from 0 to 1 is always going to blow target range out of the water for power level. Minor Misstep is much more in the camp of Nix (shocker!) and Spell Snare. While it is a lot more playable in cube than Nix it is still less playable than Spell Snare as well as a lot less powerful. The best you can do with Misstep is go 1 for 1 on all resources while Snare lets you get a mana advantage. Snare also doesn't blow hard when on the draw which is an issue here too. This could do very well in formats like modern and legacy where one drops dominate however in cube they are too low value and infrequent to invest in a card like this.
Mesmerizing Dose 2
Another attempt to lure me into a card with proliferate! These sort blue removal auras are not really good enough. The random janky proliferate isn't going to change that sadly. Removal is never where you want your bolt on perks to be located.
Vanish into Eternity 2
Really cool design but I think one mana somewhere too costly to be viable.
Tyrannax Rex 5
A better designed version of Carnage Tyrant thanks to ward generally being a better mechanic than hexproof as far as gameplay goes. Also thanks to haste giving Rex a bit of immediate impact and sorcery speed mass removal play around. While this is a solid green threat with a lot of muscle and reach I fear it is too far up the curve. Worth a test but I can't see why I am not just playing cheaper cards to this in my decks and cubes. It is not like I am shy of options if I want hard hitting stats or hard to interact with bodies. This certainly doesn't seem like a poison card and so the toxic isn't needed for this to be good but it is a small help even when played with no other sources of poison.
Capricious Hellraiser 7
The ceiling on this is mental. A RRR 4/4 flier is a very tidy starting place. A free spell on the back of that gets pretty outrageous. That could be Ugin?! It could be Ruinous Ultimatum. And it really doesn't need to be. A humble two mana spell on the back of your high tempo threat is going to be really swingy. This card feels very Bloodbraid Elf to me! I had gotten myself all ready to poo poo this now based on it being too hard to consistently get 9 cards in the bin however this is still pretty foolish as a six drop. Especially if you have some control over your own graveyard. You need to hit a good card for this to be worth six mana but it doesn't have to be outrageous. Any planeswalker or really most three or more mana spells. Like, I am very happy with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Fiery Confluence, Outpost Seige, Burn Down the House, a Chandra etc. Red being red you should be able to consistently hit a shock at the very least and a 4/4 flyer with an EtB Shock is not the worst floor. Considering the various upsides this can offer it feels worth testing. I suspect a bit narrow and random for my liking but it would be remis to fully overlook. Certainly I think it packs more than enough average power to overcome slight narrow and random limitations.
Sword of Forge and Frontier 4
As far as the design of the Sword I like it. It is very on flavour and I like the way the abilities complement each other. It is an elegant Sword. It is still however a Sword and even Fire and Ice is starting to look pretty tired in cube. Tired and never really something that played too well. Protection is just a sucky ability and randomly owns games. I am glad we are in a world were less of these things plague formats. This is a fine card but it is unlikely to get much cube love with there being so many Swords to chose from, a clear best that isn't this, and a dwindling demand for them....
Swooping Looking 2
Boring but some deck will want this as support somewhere along the line.
Jawbone Duelist 2
Quite good for poison decks if they happen to be white. This is cheap and can apply a lot of counters fairly quickly while being a little trickier than your usual customer to block.
Noxious Assault 1
This would be cool with infect creatures but with toxic ones the pump is rather less impressive. Odd design. Cool in some ways but seemingly missing the point in others. Not a cube card regardless.
Bilious Skulldweller 3
Sure, these things pair up nicely and result in a good one drop in a collection of toxic, poison, and/or deathtouch builds. If you are black and need a one drop with the right key words this is going to be there for you! A classic cheap filler card.
No comments:
Post a Comment