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
Last March of the Ents 1
Tribal EDH card and more of a silly fun one than anything else. You need a big tough thing in play for this to be good and that makes this already dodgy 8 mana card even dodgier. Counterspells were never the issue with this card, split second is what it needs, that and a big old cost reduction as well really...
Orcish Bowmasters 8.5
This seems off the chart good. Either one of the ping or the amass triggers would be enough to secure this a cube slot. Likely also true of only having the EtB or the draw cards trigger, and yet it has both of those as well. This card is essentially four times more powerful and effective than it needed to be (above and beyond the 1/1 body that is). Doesn't need the flash either. This is egregiously powerful. I nearly gave it a 9/10 rating but it isn't that kind of power. It is tediously good rather than oppressively good. Somehow that keeps it just outside the realms of broken. This reminds me a bit of when Baleful Strix first landed on the scene. By modern standards Strix now seems fine but all those years ago the card was just insane all round upside. It always got you ahead for almost no risk and it just felt like cheating. Bowmasters is an Arc Trail like card that really punishes the single toughness card. If this kills your play on top of being a pain in play and a pair of tokens then you got done pretty hard. God, I just realized what this does with the flash - imagine responding to the poor fool who just cast Brainstorm with this. Yikes. I'll have a 4/4 army and four pings... That is Hullbreacher levels of unreasonable. By itself this card is above the playable bar for cube. When it kills things or disrupts it is pretty unfair beating. This is very much the sort of card that might get some soft bans and reduced play.
Hew the Entwood 1
Big build around sort of thing. Likely needs to be paired with green. Pretty useless if not built around and not all that exciting even when it is.
Boromir, Warden of the Tower 7
Just a solid rounded white feeling card. Selfless Spirit is great. This is a bit less good in that capacity lacking the lower cost and evasion. This however adds more stats, more disruption capacity, and some tempt value. Nothing broken but a suitably white and tedious card that should see just about enough play. Very on theme.
Nazgul 2
Fun build around, these do get pretty wild in multiples.
One Ring to Rule Them All 2
Slow mass removal is bad. There is another 4 mana black saga that has mass removal on phase two and it is shocking. It gives away way too much information to the opponent while giving the time to effectly minimize the damage these cards can do. Or they just don't Wrath in time and you die. That is also bad. This needed way more perks than it offers to make up for being a slow Wrath.
Bilbo's Ring 1
Overcost even if you are playing just halflings (which you can't really yet anyway). This is a tempo horror show. Don't play this in cubes and expect to survive very long.
The Balrog, Flame of Udun 0
It has been a long time since just stats has done well in cube. This isn't even a very well costed fatty. He has a big old dumb pumpkin face too.
Legolas, Master Archer 6
A little polar for my liking. If you can buff this and then get to targetting other things than you are going to dominate the board while gaining tempo and value. Make this and either have no ability to trigger it or no relevant targets to ping and your card is very limp. Green isn't a colour that is good at targetting either. This is worth a test but despite the potential I fear this is too unreliable to be holding onto a cube slot. The ceiling here is pretty foolish. Imagine what you could do to someone with five mana, Legolas, Reckless Charge, and a Lava Dart. Sounds like 17 total damage. Casually slap down a pair of your 6/6 dorks then hit you in the face for 5.
Oliphaunt 2
Only playable for the impressively cheap mountaincycling. Thus a very niche card.
Council's Deliberation 5
Rubbish if you cast it but if you mill this over or loot it away then it is absolutely fabulous. It is not a million miles off Deep Analysis in that regard. The needing of both a way to get this in the bin and then a scry probably make it too narrow for general cube use but it is quite rounded so perhaps it gets a pass on this. A two mana cantrip isn't the worst... In the right deck this is going to really impress, it has that sort of Creeping Chill vibe to it.
Rivendell 3
Cool card, very playable, but seemingly just weaker than Castle Vantress. While Vantress was great in cube it was still too low impact to be worth the slot it too up so no real hope for Rivendell.
Mines of Moria 2
Another cool card but paying effectively 5 mana and using up 3 cards from the bin is waaaay to high a price for some treasure, especially treasure that late in the day.
Barad-dur 6
Four effective mana for a 1/1 or +1/+1 to your army. Six mana for a 2/2 or equivalent pump, eight for a 3/3 etc. This is more efficient and more flexible than Castle Ardenvale, and the Castle cycle really did push the boat out on utility lands. Barad-dur requires turning on to use and it is less likely to enter untapped than Ardenvale, the latter of which is actually the most relevant part of the utility land, not what it utility it offers! To mildly counteract this black is good at getting those morbid triggers and it has more need of token generation than white. Regardless of all this, the rate is just too high, black can get dorks that get themselves back for cheaper than this glorified swamp! Basically when you can use cards like this you have generally already won or lost. The few times that they get activated, let alone relevantly so, make it so that it is not worth including such cards. Play a swamp and have a more impactful card in the slot. Yes, these cards are "free" in decks a lot of the time but they are never free in a draft, they cost a pick and the opportunity on a different card. And in cube those different cards are always powerful and playable.
Minas Tirith 7
Easily the best of this cycle. Three is cheap to activate and an ok rate on drawing cards. Attacking is what white wants to do and it is reasonable at getting in with multiple dorks, even a chump attack with a token to turn this on is going to be reasonable. Given that even Castle Lochthwain didn't last in cube for being too poor in tempo and too low impact this is certainly no lock in. I rate this above Lochthwain both for effect and for being in a colour much more desiring of card draw. Even so, I can still fully see this not lasting.
No comments:
Post a Comment