It's been a long while since I've last done one of these, but the flavor and nostalgia of this set really got me excited to talk about it. The first Tarkir set is still one of my favorites because of the lore, flavor, and nostalgia. It was one of the first blocks, I got to really experience from announcement to prerelease and going through each set in the block with their respective games days. I was traveling bit more for the Grand Prixes during this time as well. Drafting it was just as good too with the slow, grindy nature of the format. As much as I love playing the format, modern set design has spoiled me and it's hard to play older formats. Still Tarkir and its lore with the khans and dragons will continue to be nostalgic for me and I'm hoping this new set will feel good to play. So far, the set looks right even if the cards don't make it to cube.
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How I rank the cards is based on both power level and innovation. When evaluating by power level, I'm scaling it off of unpowered vintage. By innovation, I am referring to cards that either smooth out the drafting process by overlapping into a bunch of decks or open up new archetypes in cube. The cards need to still be powerful or at least playable as they need to still be competitive versus other cards. Ultimately, your cube, your choices, address your needs. You may not even need to get anything from the set.
The List
Stormscale Scion is my slamdunk inclusion from the set because I like and want to support storm. Unlike every other big storm finisher, this one feels like it can consistently finish the game. The thresold to finish the game is significantly less than the other popular storm options. You do need to wait a turn as the dragons do not have haste and there could be flying blockers who are ready to impede your win, but the game is ending quickly with a storm count of 3 or more. What sells it further is the worst case scenario. 6 mana 4/4 dragon anthem is okay doesn't beat out the other options, but it's playable. If you can manage to storm for 2, it instantly becomes significantly better. This becomes more of a games drag out and you get access to more mana to chain spells. If you support storm or dragons, try it, otherwise easy skip.
Elspeth, Storm Slayer is the hodge podge mix of the Wandering Emperor, Anointed Procession, and Basri Ket. You get strong token generating abilities and token support in her passive. These two alone will make her problematic as any token you generate is doubled and this will quickly build your board state. Her two other active abilities only make her more deadly with both assisting her gameplan of finishing off your opponent faster. The 0 ability is an anthem that makes your creatures evasive, while the -3 ability will clear the way of problem creatures, allowing you to swing in safer. This card is going to win games.
Clarion Conqueror can be seen as a smaller Linvala that is able to come down earlier and hit more targets. The artifact tokens and planeswalkers have only gotten more prominent and problematic since Linvala has been printed. Shutting these down is going to be huge, especially in white where these cards can easily help other decks out pace it. This is all upside, expecially with it being fairly statted and a dragon. This is probably going to get better with time, but it will also be a card that gets shuffled in and out of cube based on the meta or your player's perceptions. I'd pick up a copy at least.
Ureni, the Song Unending is Dragonlord Atarka, but bigger and more resilient. This fits into the same decks as Dragonlord Atarka and will close out games faster. The difference between 10 and 8 power can be seen as finishing the game in 2 turns vs 3 turns. The protection from black and white is big as the most powerful removal spells are found in those colors. On top of that, 10 toughness will beat a majority of damage based removal, leaving counterspells as your best bet to deal with it. There's 2 things working against this card for me: the blue pip and its enter ability being scaled off lands. Most cubes will not afford space to cards beyond dual color unless they're exceptional and with the functions of this card already being found in Dragonlord Atarka, it becomes debatable (you can pitch to Force of Will though). The scaling damage is an issue in the case of Fatty cheat due to playing the card early on, though this doesn't matter if your opponent dies. If you want more fatties, pick it up.
Rot-Curse Rakshasa is the card I'm most iffy on this list and will definitely need to play more of to get a better feel for. 2 mana 5/5 with trample is absurd. No other creature comes close to that. What makes me wary of this card is the decay. You only get to swing with it one time and then Bam! dead. Just this, easy skip, but the renew is what makes the card tempting. It forces your opponent to rethink his decision to swing with their creatures and it also opens the way for you to swing in. Aggro decks in black will easily love this card especially if you're running Lurrus or Exhume. I'm not sure if this card has purpose outside of aggro, making it an easy skip if you don't support it.
Sunpearl Kirin is the latest iteration of Kor Skyfisher and there's a lot I like about it. In a vacuum, having the flash and flying is huge in white as it is the smallest creature in white to have it. On that merit alone, I'd look at it more intensely. It lends itself into 2 different uses: you can use it as an aggressive, evasive beater or as a bounce spell. The nonland clause does hurt the card as it loses land based interactions that Kor Skyfisher has, but it does gain the ability to replace itself/ generate card advantage when you bounce a token. Drawing a card is fairly consistent especially in white with cards like Thraben Inspector being so popular in most cubes. Strong consideration if you don't value the land interactions.
Desperate Measures has a lot going for it. At first glance, many saw it as a one shot Skullclamp, but it has a good variety in applications. Let's focus on the draw component first. This card only cares if the target creature dies from anything. You can swing it into other creatures or sacrifice it to get the cards afterwards, generating massive card advantage. The upside looks so good, what about the baseline? You could always use it as removal. Many of the best creatures to be concerned about only have 1 toughness. Definitely worth testing.
Descendant of Storms is a slight upgrade to Usher of the Fallen, though there are situations where you would rather have the Usher. At face value, this is another 1 mana 2/1 in white. This card gives you the option to make it bigger or go wider when it attacks. The versatility will help you adapt to the varying game conditions as well as synergizing with a larger variety of decks. You do have to make the decision to pay for the ability as you swing, which gives your opponents time to interact with you vs Usher allowing you to be more reactive. The abundance of the creature design makes it easy to skip, though I'm planning to test it if I can get my hands on one.
Trascendent Dragon is Fractured Identity (yes, I'm aware of counterspells that do this, but no one plays them) on a dragon. 6 mana is a lot to pay, but this will shift the game into your favor if you can hit the counterspell. The card will never feel bad in this regard. Even better, the ceiling wants you to steal any of their big commitment spells and turn it on them. In the worst case scenario, you are still getting a flashing, flying beater, which is serviceable. Fortunately, this is a rare case that this will happen. I'm planning on trying it out.
Will of the Jeskai might be the best alternative to Wheel of Fortune upon release. All decks in red can use the draw effect as it will quickly replenish the hand to keep the gas going. The card does cost more and draw less, however the alternatives are not consistent. This alone warrants consideration. The 2nd mode of the card is what takes it over the top. Past in Flames gets better with time, however not every deck really wants to use it and it can be clunky to use at times. Thus Will of the Jeskai solves this by offering the Wheel effect, so that any deck can use it and still catering to players who want to spam spells. The only downside to the card is the mentioning of commander elements. If you don't have a Wheel of Fortune or want a second one, easy include for me.
Ugin, Eye of the Storm might the best card in the set. It's not a card I'm too excited for, but I already know it's strong. It's card advantage, removal, and ramp in a single card making it desirable in non aggro decks.At worse, you get removal even if the card is countered, which puts into a decent spot already. The card is going to buy you a ton of time and be difficult to deal with since it starts off with such high loyalty and the ability you want to be using is the +2 ability. That life gain and draw will easily pace you ahead of damage based wincons while digging for your answers. The 0 ability is a solid option to set up explosive turns or just a source of mana if you manage to cheat this out early. The colorless theme is a nice touch and gets better if you support it, but most cubes will treat these as flavor text. This is a solid big colorless option for cubes wanting it.
The End Step
Unfortunately a multicolor set doesn't do to well in cube because of the color restrictions. Many cards will get overlooked because of the restricted space for gold cards. On positive news, the cards I'm eyeing are more interesting as they are variants of existing cards already with a small tweak that help them fit in more decks. This is especially true for commander cube if you support dragons as they're making a bunch of dragons that are not red, adding more density to enable the 5c dragon deck that I keep trying to make a reality. I'm looking forward to playing this set and I hope all of you will enjoy this as well.
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