Zendikar Rising Preliminary Review Part VIII

Phylath, World Sculptor 4

Seems like a bad Avenger of Zendikar. Makes less plants. Is gold. Puts all the planty eggs in one basket. Avenger is a very potent threat and general magic card so while this is never ahead of it in line it might still creep in to the club. Not the drafting cube club but the ranks of the playable at least.












Cinderclasm 7

This is excellent and probably outclasses the classic Pyroclasm. Instant is a big win and the ability to vary the damage dealing gives a nice element of control. The only thing Pyroclasm has over this is cost per damage. This is cheap enough as mass removal goes that it seems like the least significant of all three differences. Red is becoming really good at midrange and control builds and this is a nice useful little tool to assist in those kinds of deck. I expect this to cut it in cube and give red yet another edge. Yet more early Arc Trail style blow out wins in store.



Scale the Heights 2

Mini Uro! Or probably better put Uro without escape. The counter is a nice extra but feels like it can lead to getting your spell fizzled or just wasted due to when you want to be playing this kind of card. This does a bit of everything but isn't very well costed for any of those things. A bit late for ramp or cantrip, a bit low tempo for life gain. An interesting type of support card that I suspect will struggle to get action in higher powered formats.











Luminarch Aspirant 7.5

Hardly exciting but seemingly pretty powerful. This is a Slith that doesn't need to connect to grow and can buff other more suitable or scaling dorks too. This can attack as a 3/3 on turn three. This can make your 2/1 hit for 3 on turn 2 and become quite a scary beater. A top rate two drop offering options, power, reach, late game relevance, and synergy potential. I want to liken this to Rabblemaster but that seems perhaps a touch generous. Perhaps sat between Rabblemaster and Stromkirk Noble.


Magmatic Channeler 8.5

Finally a red looter that is good enough to compare with blue offerings. This feels very red and is about as far from a Looter as you can get and still deserve that title. This has several perks over a standard Merfolk Looter style card but also a few downsides. This doesn't draw cards while forcing you to use things found that turn. It is also a rummage rather than a loot which is slightly weaker. You need exile at least one card every time you use this which can be a burden on things like threat density and library size. These are somewhat minor drawbacks. A 1R 1/1 with tap to exile a card from hand to exile the top card of your library and be able to play that card this turn would still see some play. Channeler has quite a lot of perks over that. Starting with 3 toughness is a big help and makes this more durable and relevant on the board. Getting the choice of 2 cards you can play makes this far far better at getting what you want than a looter. When after a land this a fraction over twice as good. It is better immediate card quality than all other comparable looters although it can help less when it comes to setting up for later turns. Overall it is safe to say that it is a more effective card quality spell overall but not evenly across the spectrum. Already we have a really solid looter style card but the final ability pushes it from just a card quality card into the realms of relevant threat too akin to Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. Becoming a 4/4 in the mid to late game is a pretty big deal for a 2 drop that has provided card quality already. Most red decks should be able to satisfy the requirement fairly easily too. That feels like it makes this an auto include in most red decks. The cheap utility is amazing for the slower decks and the condensed power and punch will appeal to the aggressive ones. Very powerful, very red, and very well suited to cube.

Jawri Disruption / Ruins 8

This is another take on Censor. Both help keep you safe early when they are likely active effective disruption. Then both help keep you making land drops and curving out beyond that. This is probably better in decks where you are lighter on the blue. Censor is likely better in decks that want to populate the bin with things. Jwari Disruption and Censor are closer than Memory Leak and Pelakka Predation which is impressive. Given that Censor is a great spell I can't see this not getting a significant amount of play and doing good work.










Kazandu Nectarpot 1

Low power but providing redundancy to Jaddie Offshoot etc as an effect you might well want. This sets up some infinite loops with Fastbond and is just a nice stall or buffer for land themed decks.








Blackbloom Rogue / Bog 6.5

This is a hard one to call with the Rogue being so variable. A 5/3 menace for 3 is good and needs an answer. A 2/3 with menace for 3 rather less so. Black is very three drop heavy so it is rarely the point on the curve you need a filler card to help pad things out. Later on when land is most likely dead this is more likely a 5/3 which is nice. It is also fairly versatile in what it will do for you early game. A 2/3 blocks quite well and the menace does make him rather better at threatening opposing walkers. I feel like this falls into the camp of having to play it is a land rather than as a spell or as half a land but I would guess at this doing just enough to be useful in cube.





Leyline Tyrant 5

Well you can certainly do some fun things with this one! This works very nicely with some of the Neheb cards that give you a pile of mana to use. It also works nicely with Fires of Invention as a cool mana sink. Much as it does cool things and has cool synergies it is just a 4/4 flyer for 4 most of the time. It will die easily and usually when you have no available red. I suspect you will get more out of playing Thunderbreak Regent or Verix Bladewing. Very very cool for commander however, makes me want to build a big red mana deck and I don't even play commander!





Skyclave Pickaxe 5

Nice cheap equipment with quite a serious potential power outlay. You can get this to be +4/+4 or fairly close to that on average in the mid and early game in aggressive decks if you want. For one mana that is pretty savage! It does need dorks, ideally those that scale with it well, and it also needs lots of lands, ideally sac lands. Being just a beatstick with little in the way of utility I think it is all a bit narrow and conditional for limited cube but it is very close. This is a powerful card. I can certainly see myself playing this in decks that want big cheap stats boost. Imagine the brutality of the Naya landfall deck these days being able to hit for 8 with a Steppe Lynx alike dude on turn two with this. Three lands, two of which sac, both the red and white Lynx, plus this is a turn three goldfish. Scary.






Veteran Adventurer 1

Helps to form a party and offers a lot of tempo when the party is full or nearly there. Sadly it is just a fatty and so I am not all that excited by it. I probably play it in any green party deck but it isn't a pull to the colour particularly.














Mind Drain 1

This might have some uses but the mill is just too dangerous in cube on average. A bit of a life syphon is cute but Mind Rot is a decent way off playable in cube as it is.







Turntimber Symbiosis / Serpentine Wood 7

The cost of running this is low. The potential life cost is not much of an issue but the not being a forest is more harmful in green than in most other colours. Despite this there feels like too much upside for Turntimber not to make the cube. Seven mana is pretty easy to get in green. While this will rarely save you mana when playing Symbiosis in cubes without combos that cheat out fatties it is still card quality and reasonable tempo. A 5/4 Eternal Witness or Paradise Druid is handy! Diffing seven deep to find that Glorybringer is well worth those 2 extra mana etc. This is land when you need it and appropriate action at a reasonable cost late game.









Concerted Defence 1

Much worse than Spell Pierce outside of a party deck and not that much better in a party deck. Playable but a reasonable way off exciting.

Zendikar Rising Preliminary Review Part VII

Hagra Mauling / Broodpit 8/10


This is competitively cost and a broadly desirable effect. This will be Murder 20 to 30% of the time in my cube but that will be rather better odds early in the game when it matters most. While not an impressive rate it is still totally workable for when you simply need the answer, an event that is ever more frequently occurring in magic with the focus of power creep being on creatures. Hagra Mauling will let you hedge a bit on your removal which is a great place to be for creature kill where some decks have loads you need to answer quickly while others have relatively few important targets. Being instant makes this card good, it will save your skin against man lands or a crucial equipment turn. It might well still be playable as a sorcery but it would leave a bad taste and be rather sucky. You can basically play this as a land or a spell in your deck as you see fit in building and that is something very few of these split cards achieve. I suspect this will make 100% of black decks in cube able to support double black costs. 










Cragplate Baloth 1/10

This is just a bad Carnage Tyrant. It is smaller, costs more, and most ruinously has no trample. I do not see myself ever being so desperate to resolve a fatty that I play this.










Shatterskull Smashing / theHammer Pass 8.5/10

This is not very cost efficient prior to x = 6 but it is versatile, scaling and handles most of the threats you might face. It is also really easy to overlook the mana intensity of the spell what with this costing you basically nothing to run. Three life as a red player is generally irrelevant. This is the lowest cost land of all the flip lands in this set and it has a good spell half to boot. The ability to wipe out the two best things your opponent has late or do things like Arc Trail for a mere five mana are very happy upsides for a land! This should win most games when cast late game while being useful all the way to that point. This is removal and land which is good in the same way Hagra Mauling etc are good but it is also good in that it hurts less to run and most relevantly that it has game winning upside rather than just nice utility or skin saving capacity. I think I am going to find very very few red decks in cube where this isn't an auto include. The only reason I think I might not is if my mana base cannot support a red land that doesn't also tap for another colour. 




Inscription of Ruin 6.5

While not as needed nor as punchy as the green offering this is still a fine card. The Mind Rot is a decent rate and a decent disruptive two for one. Sorcery speed Smother at three mana is under par but still a useful thing to have on a modal card. It won't ever be value or tempo but it will stop you just rolling over and losing to a Rabblemaster and the like which is what you want from removal. The recursion mode also fails to be tempo or value by itself but gives you proactive ways to use this without the need of the opponent being in any specific state. The kicker is pricey and fairly unlikely to get used all that often. It could well be a four for one but it still not going be all that for tempo. At the seven mana mark smother and unearth also have fairly low impact. Even without the kicker I think the range and usefulness of the modes should make this playable. It feels somewhat in the Elspeth's Nightmare category of card both in power level and feel. This is a bit more reliable but offers less value most of the time.



Roil Eruption 7.5

Wow, this has been a long time coming. Eldrich Moon was the last time we got a burn spell that was a good rate and would go to any target and Incendiary Flow is hardly the most crucial or powerful of burn options. Mostly this is Volcanic Hammer which would place it as the weakest of the still playable burn options in cube. The Rampant Growth of burn if you will! The kicker does a good job of pushing this from a mediocre burn spell to a decent one. Five is a lot of damage from one card and affords a lot of reach and killing power. Games are going longer and longer at present and having seven mana is not unseen as it once was, even for the aggro decks. 









Thieving Skydiver 5

This is impressive in powered cubes and multiplayer. In my cube artifacts are common but not assured and not always that relevant. Paying 4 mana for a 2/1 flyer to steal a Talisman or Signet is going to be pretty low value unless on or close to curve. Stealing equipment, vehicles, and Retrofitter Foundry will be outstanding but otherwise you basically just have a poor little flyer. It doesn't feel like that will happen nearly often enough to justify running this given the floor and low power level. At least Dack loots when he isn't on the pinch. This is an amazing sideboard card in most formats but you shouldn't be running those in limited cubes. 






Spare Supplies 5.5

Lovely little filler card that is rather akin to a concise Mazemind Tome. I am happy playing this most places I would play an Ichor Wellspring and most places I would play the Tome. The former is really only combo decks but the latter is a number of slower cube draft decks. Sadly I think this is just a bit too fair and capped in power to really stand out and last but it is none the less a fine card. 









Iridescent Hornbeetle 1

Much as this is really clunky, narrow, slow, and low powered it can be abused hard and easily and make a world of 1/1 dudes if that is your thing.










Kargan Intimidator 4

This looks good but compare it to something like Kari Zev and it seems pretty garbage. This is a 3/1 without spending mana on it. That makes it very easy to kill and quite easy to ignore. A 2/1 trades with this... I don't want my two drops to need more mana investments and I certainly don't want them vulnerable, poor at applying pressure, and weak at gaining value. All told this is still a high powered card with a lot of options meaning it will likely get a bunch of play in a bunch of places. The bar for the drafting cube is just too high now for fancy cards like this. Stuff needs to just be good, it can't need supporting or mana or time to get good. It can't have ways in which they are bad or risky and so Intimidator fails. 




Sea Gate Restoration / Reborn 5

While this is low cost to run the spell mode is pretty mental. By the time you can fire this off it is probably only getting you like 3 or so cards at best. It might just mill you to death at worst. Not to mention tapping you all the way down for an effect that does nothing to affect the tempo. I can't see me wanting to cast this very often and I can't see it having a massive impact even when it is cast. Give me Castle Vantress over this every day. I feel like this is a card I will only really run in extreme combo decks with things like Omniscience or in commander! Too marginal for cube. 








Moraug, Fury of the Akoum 4

Feels easily abused in a build around. Haste it up, flop it out with a sac land to play and that is pretty much all she wrote. In a limited cube setting this is slow and vulnerable and probably wants some degree of support in both landfall enablers and other dorks to do much of much at all. Just make this on turn six and see how that goes. You will probably be dead already. If not Moraug probably will be before you untap and even if neither of those things occur you are unlikely to be able to attack with your 6/6 that much if at all because of some deathtouch dork or enough power on the other side to take him down. Too polar for a six drop - a slot that should be reserved for cards that reliably win or swing a game and not potential ceiling.








Lithoform Blight 6.5

The black Spreading Seas. This does four things. Either it turns off a utility land, it is a cheap cantrip permanent you can build up devotion and the like with, it can be a means to aid your own fixing, or it can be a means to force a bit of damage onto the opponent else they have their fixing disrupted. Highly versatile card with low cost to play. Probably not enough synergies in cube to push it and baseline it is a little too low impact. Great little card though that I expect to see all over the place. 

Zendikar Rising Preliminary Review Part VI

Yasharn, Implacable Earth 6

Angel of Jubilation meets Krosan Verge!? This is just a nice meaty value dork that has a surprisingly annoying disruption effect bolted on. So many good cards have life costs or indeed sacrifice things in order to work. Sadly I suspect what kills this off in cube is that you really need a couple of each basic to play this effectively and that just isn't at all likely in the current meta. You only play Selesnya when splashing one of the colours or when you have three or more colours total. All of which mean you are unlikely to get full value from this. Very powerful and well worth revisiting if Selesnya becomes a competitive strategy again.




Skyclave Geopede 0

Too much cost for just a beater, especially one with a single toughness and relying on support to perform properly.
















Vastwood Surge 1

A nice solid big ramp spell. More of an EDH thing than anything else with most other formats being too fast, but still a noteworthy card. There are now I think four cards that do roughly what this does with a variety of minor twists. That makes this card effect still fairly rare as far as singleton goes.




Roiling Regrowth 3

Harrow but not vulnerable to countermagic at the cost of having the lands enter tapped. Harrow was best when you could abuse that untapped aspect and have it ramp in combo with cards like Heartbeat of Spring. While lacking the combo application this is still a solid card that you will happily play if you are in the market for instant speed ramp, extreme fixing, and landfall! Too slow for most cubes though sadly.











Vine Gecko 1

I guess I'll play this in a kicker themed deck if that ever happens (although Izzet is looking like the best colour pair for such things presently, perhaps we can push it to Temur). Not enough incentive fora kicker deck yet.








Adventure Awaits 1

I really like the design on this one but sadly I fear it is just too expensive. Never missing is a big win but only digging for dorks is too limiting. Why not just play Commune with Nature if it is dorks you need? Why, if you think you risk not hitting something you are after would you not play a card quality effect that hit lands or action and actually get a consistency boost? This probably needed to be instant and find lands to make the cube. That or cost 1 and only go 4 deep. Hopefully next time they use this design they will push it a bit harder.




Rockslide Sorcerer 0

Much as damage to any target makes this a little tempting it is just far far too fair for a 4 drop these days. This is vulnerable, low impact and needs support. A couple of decades ago this would have been really hot but now it looks unplayable.














Malakir Blood-Priest 0

Not the party payoff we are after. This just has a terrible body for the cost and an effect that is hard to leverage for singleton. It is quite nice when it is more than two but that is too rare to risk such a low power and impact card.



Broken Wings 2

This seems to be Vivien Reids -3 at instant speed! Nice to finally have this complete iteration of the card after having skirting around it for many years. It is sadly going to be too unreliable to see main deck action in cube decks. I am pretty sure I made the claim about Crushing Vines that if it were this instead it would be good enough. We have power crept enough for that to now be wrong and leaving this without much hope of action despite seeming decent.









Makindi Stampede / Mesas 5

This compares pretty well to Shefet Dunes and that was a pretty decent card. Both line up very nicely with the game plan for white weenie. Dunes saw some play and this should do so too. While the effect of this is double that of the Dunes it is actually worse in all other ways. While Dunes is good and saw play it wasn't impactful enough to hold the cube slot. This I fear could well suffer the same fate. Dunes is quicker mana which is what aggro decks want. It also gets to be a land all early game and then also be team buff. Makindi is one or the other. It really all comes down to how much better the +2/+2 is and how often it leads to being able to perform a devastating attack and I suspect it is not quite enough.




Bubble Snare 2

Cheap and versatile. I like it but it is just too soft as far as removal goes for cube. I can see it getting some love when things like devotion or auras are affording good synergy.















Fearless Fledgling 7

Pretty boring card but seemingly pretty strong. This is an evasive threat that scales up. It needs answering and reminds me rather of Stromkirk Noble. This is better at growing and better at getting through. Fledgling is no bomb but it is certainly a good beater. A bit rough as a late game topdeck but still no worse than most one or two drop beaters in white.




Kabira Takedown / Plateau 7.5

Seems like this probably has to make the cut. While you can only really play this in creature heavy decks thus somewhat ruling out control this is just a fine little card. The removal is decent tempo and scope when you have some dorks and removal is the sort of thing that you want access too all the time without it costing you in other aspects of your gameplan. This is pretty much exactly that. More consistency both in your mana and in your ability to resolve issues at hand. Cube boards do tend to clutter up fairly well so this will still see play in plenty of control decks that just happen to be a bit more heavy on the dork side of things and be solid there too. This is exactly the kind of card you can play as half a land or a whole land should you wish and that gives some nice deck tweaking ability.




Kazuul's Cliffs / Fury 7

Fling is a very powerful and commonly used tool in magic and so this will certainly see play backing it up in those specific archetypes. As for more conventional cube uses this is quite a wild card. On the one hand it is a burn spell you can send anywhere at instant speed and have do a pretty good rate while also being a land. On the other hand it is very unreliable, risky, and awkward. To make it an impressive 4 or 5 damage spell you are going to be two for one-ing yourself and putting a pretty relevant card into the bin in the process. This means it is either desperation or winning the game even if you are lucky enough to have that option. Often this is doing two or three and looking like a bad rate on cards and mana. Seems bad compared to burn spells but when compared to land that do damage Kazuul's Fury looks rather more impressive. Given Ramunap Ruins was banned and there are such things as creatures you want to sacrifice even in limited cube decks this probably has to good enough.



Resolute Strike 1

This has some combo potential with the likes of Colossus Hammer but is otherwise not a constructed card nor a cube card.















Brushfire Elemental 5

An upgrade to Plated Geopede for the most part. Certainly one of the hardest hitting two drops on offer for a stompy deck with reliable land drops, something this set is going to really help achieve. Too gold and niche for limited cubes but the power is there. As a two drop it is not all that much better than Geopede but as a play on later turns with land drops to make it is wildly better. With a mana dork you can legitimately 5 your opponent on turn two. That is utter filth. Green is also a good colour for a good landfall card as you can have things like Ramunap Excavator and Wrenn and Six to ensure you are hitting. Explore to get even more landfall triggers! The more I talk about this the more it seems like one of the best all time two drop beaters. The only thing keeping it reasonable is that it is narrow in a couple of ways.




Field Research 5

Not quite the upgrade to Divination I was after (instant or a mana off or some scry!) but this is still a surprisingly decent card. There are plenty of places I would run this over Mulldrifter. Low powered but direct, flexible, and scaling.














Subtle Strike 1

A bit conditional and low powered but something I would consider in a deck using +1/+1 counter synergies.









Utility Knife 1

Much as I can't think of anywhere I would run this it seems to cheap and unique to be entirely useless.












Ashaya, Soul of the Wild 1

Mmm, Acid Rain me! This can be big and can help you make a bunch of mana it does nothing well. The former is conditional and mostly useless due to lack of evasion. The mana is nice but just do yourself a solid and play something like Cryptolith Rite, Earthcraft, or just some mana dorks and then real threats in your five slot. Perhaps there will be some abuses for creatures with the forest type but that feels like a janky three card combo using five drops...

Zendikar Rising Preliminary Review Part V

Mind Carver 0

Cute but not powerful enough without the enemy threshold like thing being on which you shouldn't really support in cube and cannot rely on even if you try and turn on.

















Sea Gate Colossus 1

I'm not sure I want this that much in my party decks. It is just a dork and it isn't very good at supporting party mechanics being high cost when the party is empty and needs filling up. Best thing about this is being a warrior which is one of the more awkward types to find in suitable or high powered guises if you are not in red (or green).




Angel of Destiny 3

This is a fairly silly card and yet also a  well designed one. It works fairly well in a life gain matters deck. It will give you a lot of lifegain triggers while it is in play and turn all your dorks into super life linkers. Assuming this survives it should win the game pretty fast in a number of settings. It however it gets killed you have wasted a load of damage and gained it as life instead for potentially no real gain. I think it is pretty powerful as a stand alone dork in a midrange white deck or even a control one and a great dork in a lifegain deck, especially the more attack focused ones. I think it is too clunky and unreliable for most cubes however.





Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats 2

This needs to consistently cost four or less to compete in the cube and it will not. While quite powerful as a party themed deck card I am still only rating red as the 4th best party colour. I'll play Zagras in a party build already with his colours but he isn't a strong pull to go that way.














Inscription of Abundance 8

Finally a fight card that is absolutely playable. This is a bit of a Selesnya charm meets Collective Brutality, both of which are strong cards. Being mono colored and a decent removal spell in green is a big win for this even if the removal is conditional and not the most reliable. I suspect the counters mode will be the most commonly used being both a decent combat trick and a reasonable persistent buff for the mana. It even has bonus synergies with a bunch of cards like Walking Ballista and Glen Elandra Archmage. Life is the least exciting mode but it is always welcome on a modal card and will do some good work against red. All told this is a huge card for green giving options and interaction at instant speed. Five is also pretty reasonable to expect this getting kicked quite often. That will be a huge blowout play as something gets huge, eats something else, gains a pile of life and then perhaps wins a combat as well! This card makes me excited to play green and not enough cards have done that lately. Green needed more interaction and this is a great start, decent power, option rich and all without feeling off colour. 




Fissure Wizard 1

This has minor support potential being cheap, having some relevant types, and most importantly having a rummage effect bolted on. Low power but clean and direct. 
















Relic Robber 0

This wants to fool you into thinking it is a Rabblemaster like card which it surely is not. This needs to connect to do anything and will frequently offer no bonus value. The stats are very poor for the cost. Perhaps worst of all you might just empower your opponent with things to sac for benefits or perhaps just the city's blessing!





Feed the Swarm 6

Well now... While I can see why some people think this is sacrilege I am fine with it. Just being cold to something or being forced into running clunky artifacts to solve your issues isn't a win for the game. This still feels very black and is still weaker than other colours abilities to handle enchantments. Feel, style and flavour are the more important aspects of the colour pie and we are fine here on those fronts. This might be viable for cube. It is weak but it is unique, versatile and cheap. Worth a test but likely just a bit too much of an ask for what it offers. Instant speed would have made it great however.









Song Mad Treachery / Ruins 6

Feels like this might be too situational and expensive to merit the cube slot but it is still getting tested. It is better than the 4/5 dork for 6  and will win more games directly but it is also so much more situational that I think it becomes hard to justify in the cube.









Crawling Barrens 7

I really like this man land. It is a reasonable mana sink and can scale to what you need it to be. It could fairly legitimately be a win condition for control decks. Not having to animate while you grow it lets you keep it super safe if you need to. It feels like Raging Ravine but a little more flexible. A fairly hard hitting late game man land rather than a cheeky little hit here and there manland like Mutavault and Factory.






Archon of Emeria 3

This is quite nice but it is also just a bit meh. I am never playing this over Thalia 3 as she is so much more of a rounded package. She is more threatening and much more of a tempo play tapping down lands and dorks. Just limiting spells to one a turn is a bit annoying but is much more relevant against combo than anything else. I expect this Archon to get ignored a lot or killed easily when needed. I don't expect it to do much work while in play either at pressuring a win or providing value. Certainly a suitable hate card in certain metas but I can't see many cubes without storm in them running this.








Valakut Exploration 7

This either turns all your land into a ping or a card draw. That seems pretty good for three mana. Where this is awkward is that you need lands to trigger this yet you cannot stockpile lands with the ability so as to ensure you trigger it every turn. If you could assure a trigger every turn then this would be some kind of amazing Phyrexian Arena, arguably even a Torch of Defiance! It does give better odds of having gas each turn as you draw a spell and you have that to play or you draw a land and get another effective draw to potentially play. Where this really shines is in a deck that has effects that give you additional lands drops. This is then like your own personal Horn of Greed  where you can chain off a load of lands even when this exiles them. This seems like a fine but fair card advantage engine in a cube draft and a great one for a build around deck.

Sea Gate Stormcaller 7

The proactive Snapcaster Mage! While this does have some upsides over the classic Snappy it is not a better card by any means. You need to line up cards in hand for this to be good where as Snappy is generally a great top deck and has little impediment to your play. You might try and hold a Ponder when you have this so as to get value but that might turn out to hurt you more than help. This by far and away the main reason Snappy is the superior card. Stormcaller also has a smaller range of targets but that is fine, the cheaper spells are mostly the kinds of thing you are looking to Fork. No flash is another thing this loses to Snappy on. The Perks of Stormcaller include protection from graveyard disruption. The ability to gain extra value with the kicker, although that is super minor as the cost is so extreme. Having other better things to do all the way up to 8 or 9 mana while still holding this and a relevant Fork target seem hopeful to say the least! The best thing about this kicker is that you can find it more easily with Coralhelm Chronicler!  You also don't exile the card you copy meaning you can delve it away or indeed flash it back with Snappy at a later date which is nice. The best thing this does compared to Snapcaster is actually tempo based. When you copy something with this you don't need to pay the cost again. If I copy a two mana spell with this I get a saving of two mana. This plus Searing Spear is a big tempo play at four mana while it is closer to par for tempo at six mana as it would cost to do with Snappy. This is certainly good but it might be a little bit too narrow and clumsy for cube like Dreadhorde Arcanist turned out to be. It is certainly better than the Dreadhorde for cube but this is no bomb.