Wow, I’m impressed by
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s of Mirrodin – we’re less than a week into official spoilers, and the Cube contenders are flowing. I won’t be making final decisions until the entire set is spoiled, and I usually put new cards in on the day of the prerelease… But it’s never too early to start figuring out swaps and debating what makes the cut. I’m going to mention everything I think is worth at least thinking about for the Cube.
Darksteel Axe
It’s a slower, indestructible Bonesplitter. When you have Bonesplitter in your opener, games often play out like this:
Turn 1, play Bonesplitter.
Turn 2, play creature.
Turn 3, equip and swing.
This guy is letting you swing for the same amount on turn 3, albeit for one more mana. Not bad.
On the other hand, the higher equip cost means that I wouldn’t replace Bonesplitter with
Darksteel Axe
(Bonesplitter rarely eats a Naturalize anyway, since most decks have scarier targets), but I might consider running them side-by-side. Mask of Memory is in my Cube now, but
Darksteel Axe
might be more deserving of a spot — though it’s obviously not a similar card.
Elspeth Tirel
Wow, White is
so
winning the planeswalker race in both quantity and quality. White has four mono-colored walkers, while Green, Black, and Red are both sitting at two? Yikes.
New Elspeth is clearly good, but her plus is conditional and her minus leaves her vulnerable to any random evasive dude. I’m only running one planeswalker per color, and I don’t think Elspeth Tirel can compare to Elspeth, Knight-Errant for the Cube. Actually, I’d rather have Gideon Jura if I was running two — he’s so backbreaking in Limited and feels kind of like another Command when you play him — “How do you want to win this turn?” But if you’re running infini-planeswalkers per color, enjoy. It’s not hard to see how she’d fit into a lot of Cube decks.
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Whoa. Not to oversell it, but what a cool combination of abilities, and a really mythic feeling card. This card feels very “untap and win” to me — his ability is reminiscent of Oona, Queen of the Fae’s, along with very repeatable reanimation ability. He also immediately reminded me of Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni.
Geth will usually cost more, and you have to pay for his ability. But he doesn’t need to connect to use it, and he’s actually more likely to connect a second time due to evasion. I also love the Beacon of Unrest-esque ability to bring back an artifact. It’ll no doubt be crazy relevant in Limited (if you somehow don’t win on the spot), and it will show up in the Cube as well.
I’m thinking that he’ll replace Laquatus’s Champion in my Cube. I’ll be curious to see if (and how) other Cube drafters work him in.
Palladium Myr
I don’t run Worn Powerstone, but it is a Cubeable card. This guy compares well. He taps for mana on the same turn, but he can swing or block in a pinch. And by being an artifact, he skips a little of the extra vulnerability that usually comes with being a creature. I’m a fan!
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
He’s so cool! I can’t get over how much I love just the type line, let alone the art. Basically, I have every reason to
want
to love this guy for the Cube…
…But I just can’t. He is, on his own, a three-turn clock. That certainly sounds good. But after sleeping on it, I don’t think he’s right.
Imagine it’s the late game after a board sweeper, you have tons of mana, and your opponent is nearly dead. Skithiryx is still a three-turn clock, even when the board position is such that any other creature would end things in one turn. That’s got to be a bummer.
Ultimately I think that the complete lack of synergy with the other damage you have been doing before you cast him makes him not worth it in the Cube. Maybe
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s of Mirrodin block will make it worthwhile to run a poison subtheme in black, though I doubt it. But I can’t see running Skithiryx on the only card with infect.
Aside #1: I can’t wait until we can start calling him Dry Bones.
Aside #2. If you have a Liege/Anthem effect out and play a hasted Skithiryx for five, and then Soul’s Fire for lethal, I will be so impressed with you. But then I’ll have some questions about why Soul’s Fire is in your Cube.
Steel Hellkite
Another absolute hit on the art front — I love what Wizards has been doing with creepy cloud-wreathed monsters like Progenitus and this guy.
But art aside, isn’t this guy great? He’s absolutely on curve (even for Red) and I can see him being fantastic for decks that need evasion (or to deal with opposing fliers).
And
you get a one-sided Engineered Explosives on top of that? Wow.
The only concern here is that the artifact section has usually had relatively cheap creatures — I’m not sure how to fit this guy in alongside the other great high-end colorless creatures. Looking at my own Cube, I can see Juggernaut and Grim Poppet getting cut with the
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s of Mirrodin update, but since a third of set is artifacts, I think we’ll be seeing many more cards competing for those spots.
Sword of Body and Mind
This isn’t news at this point, but for completeness I thought I’d talk about the latest in the cycle of Darksteel Swords.
Sword of Body and Mind is actually little bit of a departure from the earlier two. The effects it grants on damage are worth approximately two mana (a 2/2 token and two Tome Scour), whereas Sword of Light and Shadow gave Disentomb and Healing Salve, and Sword of Fire and Ice gave Shock and Serum Visions. (My guess is that the reason that Sword of Body and Mind was given a bit more is that it doesn’t grant protection from relevant colors for removal.)
But even if protection from Green and Blue isn’t doing anything for you, it’s a huge bomb in the Cube. The Millstone effect ends games quickly, and you always have a guy to wear the sword. I cut Obelisk of Alara for this, which is about the most monstrous upgrade you can imagine. This cycle is so huge for the Cube that I’m actually a little worried about the implications of including all five, if they are all printed. All of the Swords are really powerful in the Cube — they win games on their own. I think I’m going to respond by adding both ways to use them, like Stoneforge Mystic, and ways to deal with them — more Disenchant effects and especially the quality cards like Uktabi Orangutan that I’m not currently running.
Venser, the Sojourner
I’m so excited about this card! I’m an absolute sucker for enters the battlefield effects, and Venser would have been awesome in a bunch of my favorite Cube decks. I can’t wait to first-pick Venser and build a deck that can really abuse his abilities.
Now, it’s true that like Sarkhan the Mad, Venser doesn’t do much on his own — but Sarkhan has been great in my Cube nonetheless. I expect Venser will be the same, and in my Cube I think he’ll be replacing Ith, High Arcanist or Wall of Denial. I have a soft spot for Ith, but I think Venser is going to be stronger on average and support a more interesting archetype. In looking through my list, many of my favorite cards in U/W are a great fit for Venser decks: Cloudgoat Ranger, Flickerwisp, Mulldrifter, Venser, Shaper Savant (!), and most of all… Karmic Guide. Shenanigans!
Wurmcoil Engine
Wizards really loves to combine deathtouch and lifelink lately.
Also popular: Putting deathtouch on creatures too big to need it.
Even more popular: Getting a whole lot for your colorless mana.
This is nothing if not a fair cost on a really impressive body with resilience to removal. As I said, I’m not sure exactly how it will all shake out when we’ve seen all the artifacts in this set, but I’m comfortable saying that this guy deserves a spot. The flavor is also pretty hilarious — two wurms got together and joined forces! If those forces don’t get it done, well, they’ll go their own way.
After that run-down, I have to say that I’m really excited for this set. Maybe Wizards has shifted back towards spoiling the flashiest cards first, but it definitely seems like this first bunch has been really impressive — including some cards, like Myr Galvanizer, that aren’t for the Cube but are super exciting for normal Limited.
The other things that I’m looking for as we get further into the commons and uncommons? Good artifact removal, and I’m hoping for a piece of versatile removal in white — something like Oblivion Ring.
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the spoiled cards as well — and watch for Art Fight next week!