Wednesday 21 June 2023

Lord of the Rings Preliminary Review Part XI

 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


Erebor Flamesmith 4

While dudes like this are a decent archetype they already have enough support. I have also found that I prefer the higher toughness iterations of these than those with better attacking. This is fine but likely not ever getting called up to a 40 card list. This was not the functional reprint anyone was looking for. 





Elven Farsight 5

Love this but wish you could do lands as well as creatures. As it is I fear the card is a little on the narrow side. In a deck with a third dorks you are going to not see a creature in those first three cards about 30% of the time. (you are missing over 10% of the time even with a 50% dork count which is about as high as you can ever reasonably go in cube). You can ditch the cards you see all and hope to hit blind if you miss initially on the draw trigger but that isn't where you want to be. When you are digging for land it is more of a scry 2 quality card which is fine but green does have better options there. I like it but I suspect Adventurous Impulse has it just about beat and Impulse was found a little lacklustre for cube being fairly roundly beaten by Abundant Harvest, Once Upon a Time and Oath of Nissa. 





Gorbag of Minas Morgul 3

Sure, this card is fine enough in terms of flaw but it isn't good. To become good you not only need other orcs and/or goblins but you need to have a good reason to want to sac them, or at least produce a lot of treasure. Gorbag will do some role filling here and there but mostly just an average aimless card power crept out of relevance long before it was even conceptualized! 





Denethor, Ruling Steward 3

This is certainly quite on theme for a sac/drain aristocrats deck but it is a little narrow and fair. Low board impact, easy to have it do nothing etc. Likely not getting into the 40 card lists anymore but interesting for EDH. 





The Grey Havens 2

A little awkward to turn on for fixing but a scry land is always nice and will get love on that front if nothing else. 





Sauron's Random 3

Somewhere between Atris and Fact or Fiction. This card is pretty good I think. A card for a mana is a good rate on reducing the cost on Fact or Fiction. I like the mini-game. I like cheaper card draw on the whole and I like it when it has added utility such as filling up the bin or whatever the tempt may end up doing. Much as I suspect this is a fair chunk better than an instant speed Divination I still do not expect it to make it in cube. Gold is the real killer but I fear it would struggle to see play if it were just blue or black. Raw card draw spells have not been performing all that well in cube for a very long time now, even before it was all about tempo. That is the real bar for entry on this otherwise excellent looking card.   






Scroll of Isildur 2

All a bit conditional and aimless. Outside of EDH I am not sure where you would play this or why. 




Birthday Escape 2

Cheap enough that this probably does something useful somewhere.




Stone of Erech 7

Cute little utility artifact. This is exactly the sort of rounded card that does well in cube where cards like Tormod's Crpyp do not do so well. This might be the best of these Relic of Progenitus style effects as far as cube goes. You don't need those cards and they are utility filler but I do like the extra dimension one adds, especially if you are packing Urza's Saga in your cube.






Shadow Summoning 7

Very very potent and liable to be carried pretty hard by Lingering Souls. This is narrow, you really only want it in the Orzhov weenie deck that is powered up by Anthems, equips, or sac triggers. That is a powerful and popular cube archetype which this slots right into. Much as this is spot on the fact it isn't offering that much to anything else makes it a little parasitic and not something I am all that excited to add to the cube. 




Old Man Willow 3

Potent but a little slow. Also potent on average, much of that power comes from the scaling into the late game. Often a bit of a Hill Giant on curve and that is never the best starting place. 




Glamdring 2

Horrendously narrow. Increase the density of things to empower this in a deck and reduce your chances of having a thing to put it on. Very shonky. 




Ranger's Firebrand 5

I do love a cheap burn spell you can aim anywhere. Sorcery speed Shock is one of the less exciting starting points however. Tempt is only really good if you can get a couple going, the first is giving a dude skulk and that is often doing nothing, either due to lack of target or just being inapplicable. Certainly using this on turn one removes the tempt perks. All in all I doubt this makes it and if it does it will be due to a really high count of other tempt cards carrying it.





Orcish Medicine 4

I really rate the utility here. Gain some life, save a guy, surprise blocker etc. While I like the utility this offers it lacks power and is realistically way too situational. 





 Easterling Vanguard 4

Just not good enough. Too few stats with nothing else going on. This is just a two bodies in one card and we can do better at two mana now. I spent ages wishing for cards like this and now we have them I am less than impressed. 





Gollum's Bite 7

Tiny upgrade to Disfigure. None the less, probably enough to turn a marginal card into a good one given that it is a one drop. Very little extra is capable of shifting the scales quite a lot on cheap cards, especially when they have a reasonable floor and are the playable sort. This really will not need to win many games through tempt to be competing with Fatal Push. This is one of those unique to cube situations where in modern the idea that this is even in the same discussion as Fatal Push is laughable. In cube Bite should relevantly exile at least once per 100 games, probably a little more. In modern that it is unlikely to happen in a 1000 games. This is also killing a much more comparable percentage of the creatures you find in cube than it is in modern. Any who, if you are looking to add some cheap removal, this is going to perform fine. It will be mildly interesting and have some synergies on the go.





Smite the Deathless 7

Another removal spell offering just enough to edge it into cube I would have thought. It seems to be two things better and one thing worse than the closest comparisons I am currently packing in cube. As such that sounds like enough. Non-face damage burn is ever more playable in cube and so I can absolutely see this replacing Incendiary Flow if it turns out I am already at capacity for burn (which I doubt), and if I am not at capacity this will add in nicely alongside many similar cards! Exile removal is nice and getting around indestructible is no bad thing, even if it is somewhat narrow. 




Rohirrim Lancer 3

Not enough card but in a world where the tempt Shock makes it this just might as well. Also, this artist can do horseface better than most. Feels wasted on this narrow little common!




Mordor Muster 5

This is the kind of support card that might see play if black wanted prowess triggers more than actual dorks. It does not and so this will sit on the side lines. 




Lorien Revealed 5

While a little low in power this is ticking some good boxes. Late game gas, early game consistency, and filling up the bin with the right sort of cards. Probably not lasting but worth a little test. 




Hithlain Knots 7

Ice with a scry, or Opt with a tap. Either way, this is great little filler spell. Buy some time etc. Might not get enough play as the decks after this sort of stuff do not have much room for filler. 





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