The Garbage Cube & Amonkhet Selections

OK, sorry everyone but after coming back from California, I just haven't had the opportunity to get many games in.

So instead, let's talk about what I'll be adding to my Cube.

Here's a link to the latest Garbage Cube list.

For those of you who don't know; my cube is an attempt to assemble the worst Magic cards from every set I own, Highlander style (so one card from each color) and make a playable Cube.

This is offset by a ton of mana fixing, which is also bad but those are the cards where I break my "one-of" rule. The other spot is that in big sets, I usually add in an extra card in order to keep the creature ratio high.

In the sets that are highest rated for limited play, Ravnica, Rise of the Eldrazi or Innistrad, for example, the creature density was higher than sets like Mirage or Invasion. I needed more creatures and the bigger sets are the best place to find them.

While the card is supposed to be bad, it's supposed to be bad because it's a crappy Magic card, not because it's got an inherent disadvantage. For example; Break Open, while a crappy card, is completely unplayable in my Cube as there are no targets. That's not what I want.

Nath's Buffoon, however, that works juuuust fine. So does Phytotitan.

So what from Amonkhet should go in?

White's offerings are Sparring Mummy, Rhet-Crop Spearmaster, Winged Shepherd and Compulsory Rest are my candidates. Compulsory Rest is a definite winner because it gives the opponent something.

The creatures are trickier as they all suck for different reasons. The Mummy has a one-and-done ability, the Shepherd is expensive (but cycles so that's a ding against it) and the Spearmaster has Exert, which is a lame ability, made lamer by what exerting the Spearmaster does.

So I think it's Rhet-Crop.

For Blue, Floodwaters makes a strong case, despite being cycleable, as does Lay Claim. The creatures I'm considering are Tah-Crop Skirmisher and River Serpent.

While River Serpent is bad, it's bad in a very traditionally Blue way: overcosted dude who doesn't so what you want unless a condition is met. I've got a lot of those already. Whereas the Skirmisher is overcosted in a way that actually allows for early plays. In order to try and give Blue that sometimes-turn two play, the Skirmisher wins. Similarly, Lay Claim is an effect that isn't in the Cube much, so for seven mana, I think I'll let this one in.

Black is next and it's a bit more difficult. Final Reward is expensive for what it does and so is Blighted Bat. Dune Beetle could provide some interesting options for the color, defensively and it's a vanilla creature on top of that.

I think Final Reward and Dune Beetle make the cut here, though.

Red has Consuming Fervor, which isn't terrible but does have a relevant downside. Warfire Javelineer could have some interesting interactions without being overpowered and Ahn-Crop Crasher is another exert creature that sucks.

In the end I went with the Crasher and, in a surprise move, By Force is going to get a shot. Red should have some mass artifact destruction and this isn't as efficient as many others so I'm sleeving it up.

Green's offerings are easier: Oashra Cultivator is an easy include. 4 mana for a basic land that enters tapped? Yeah, that's the kind of suck I want to see. Picking a spell is a little more difficult. Stinging Shot is calling out, due to the narrowness of uses but so is Dissenter's Deliverance.

Because of the artifact density of my cube, the Deliverance will get the nod. I may have to swap it out, but for now I think it's OK.

The gold and artifact cards are all just too good. I thought about the Monuments for their cost reduction affect but no, the added ability on each makes them too strong.

Cradle of the Accursed looks like a good addition: 4 mana for a 2/2 is a bad deal.

That's what I picked-should I have done something else?

Amonkhet Survey

The link is here if you want it.

If you're new to the blog, these posts are ones that allow me to talk a little more about the surveyed cards so I can explain a little bit about why I like or dislike the card, instead of just giving WotC number data (or as they have it, Very Poor to Excellent). I feel as though there's a grain of salt element to all of this, because I haven't had a chance to play with the cards yet but these reviews are still fun for me. Let's get to it!

Hazoret's Favor: While my overall rating is Fair-this card needs a deck to be built with it in mind for it to be useful-the artwork and the flavor text were excellent, I thought. Although red-tinted art in a red border card.....sigh.

I should really ask about why they do that.

Because they even do it on (both parts of the artwork of!)-

Failure/Comply: The artwork on these cards is...just so cramped and difficult to see. I can't even really make out if it's good or bad; Comply being especially hindered by this card layout. However, F/C is cheap and useful, so it still gets a Good rating.

Scribe of the Mindful: A challenging card to rate, I felt. 2/2 for 3 mana is pretty standard and the ability is a useful one. Is it Excellent? No but Good, I think, yes. 

Oketra the True: Ah, one of the marquee cards! The art on this feels weird; I don't know why the head is turned away from the body. It's like a statue pose, instead of a living one. However, let's not mess about: the ability and stats on this card are really good and the drawback is minimal, especially in White. Excellent card is Excellent.

Shadow of the Grave: So, here's the thing about Shadow of the Grave: it's terrible. This isn't a good card for Limited formats-your ROI is too small for that to be relevant-and what deck wants it in Constructed?

A combo deck. Something very specific needs this card and will break it in half. Or at least make something interesting! So I'm rating this Fair, despite it being a Poor card, because I want to encourage these kinds of designs.

There is a nice piece of flavor text to help build the world and that helps push the card up, too.

Final Reward: UGH. I get that Black shouldn't have exile level removal at the same level as White. But THIS? Too expensive and only useful in Limited formats because you need removal.  Play value Very Poor, value Poor, because the name and flavor text were nice. The art is Fair, because in a picture that shows so much depth, having so little contrast makes it all look washed out.

Winged Shepherd: White art on a white card...but, the flavor text does some good worldbuilding, the abilities don't suck and while six mana is pricey, being able to cycle it away for W means I'm rating the card Fair, overall. In Limited, this puppy is probably even better.

Hapatra, Vizer of Poisons: Now we're talking about something interesting: a card that wants to highlight one of the mechanics of the set. I think she's Excellent, quite frankly and it's an easy decision. Her first ability boosts her second, which still operates independently and is great regardless, while her base stats are very good. Hard to do better, I think.

Protection of the Hekma: Sphere of Safety this isn't. Heck, it's not even Urza's Armor. But the artwork is great, the flavor text does good by the plane, and the ability is a static one will stack with other Protections. It's fairly costed for what it does, I think, so a Fair card it shall be.

Brute Strength: This is the kind of card that needs to be produced because that sort of combat trick can be a hell of a thing in Limited. However, that doesn't mean that this is good. Just that it's necessary. Poor rating.

Benefaction of Rhonas: Green has been getting a few cards like this since Zendikar and I think they are good cards to add to most any Green deck. Sometimes you can only get creatures, sometimes it's lands or enchantments, sometimes a combo but I think these are always useful. Good rating-and I may have underrated it, neglecting the 'put the rest of the cards into the graveyard' part, which is relevant in Standard.

Hazoret's Monument: The Monuments are all interesting designs! Part Medallion effect, part color-specific effect, wrapped in a Legendary artifact so they can't stack. Nicely balanced. Also, I think Hazoret's ability, allowing players to filter through their deck for every creature spell they cast is a great one, so I'm rating this Excellent. Probably higher than I should, but I think this card makes a strong case for being in any deck of the appropriate color.

Hyena Pack: as with Brute Strength, this is a necessary card but not a good one. The art is solid and the flavor text helps boost the card a bit but a 3/4 for four mana is a Poor card. That doesn't mean it's bad so much as it means that the only real spot for this card is in a theme deck or a Limited one.

Faith of the Devoted: When I was writing my Amonkhet Overview, I said

'Now that WotC has given us reminders that cycling triggers discard effects, I wonder if some novel or previously overlooked interactions will bubble up?'

which Faith of the Devoted could be the poster child for. There is a lot of versatility in this card and I think it's going to be a plausible addition to a few decks. Excellent stuff.

Zenith Seeker: and this is the opposite of Faith of the Devoted. Expensive, easy to kill, with an ability that's pretty meh. In Limited, this is a Fair card-which was my overall rating-but Poor for playability.

All in all, I haven't changed my opinion about the set, yet. It's OK. That's all-for now. I'm hopeful that the format will develop and show me some cool tricks. How deep those tricks go, the interactions with previous sets: that I can't say. But I'm looking at it and I'm pretty hopeful that I'll see (and maybe even discover) some cool things.

Amonkhet Overview

The spoiler is out! So, you know...spoilers ahead.

Mechanics:

Embalm is a pretty interesting thing to me, from a flavor perspective. White zombies just don't happen unless Black is involved. From a plane where death is considered a positive though, this makes sense. Aside from that, however, it's just Flashback for creatures. Nothing wrong with that but nothing super exciting either.

Although I will say that having a way to get a creature despite countermagic is a positive. It could mean some better countermagic is coming (a positive for control players who have been complaining for a decade now), as well as an opportunity for older formats, too. We shall see.

Cycling is an old classic making it's 4th appearance. Cycling is always a good thing. It's well balanced and offers a lot of options to players at every stage of the game. Now that WotC has given us reminders that cycling triggers discard effects, I wonder if some novel or previously overlooked interactions will bubble up?

-1/-1 counters I am excited about! I've always liked this mechanic and believe that there's more room to develop or play with than one might think. Partly because of the interaction between +1 counters (a + and a - will, just like in math, cancel each other out) so there's some fun to be had with mechanics from other sets, partly because there is an opportunity to do some powerful cards with a drawback players have to be clever to work around.

I liked it in Shadowmoor/Eventide and I like it here.

Aftermath is an excellent marriage of split cards and flashback. Nothing too fancy, mind you but definitely something I hope continues in Hour of Devastation* (which is the next Magic set, just in case you hadn't heard). Solid ideas don't have to be flashy, they can just be solid.

Exert...is...meh. It just is. There isn't anything clever about working around the drawback (untap your critturs or give them vigilance) and the only time to really use the ability is when you're already winning. There isn't going to be some kind of trap set up by your opponents causing you to say "oh, if only I hadn't exerted!"

Smaller themes I noticed:

Enchantments matter again. Seems like the gods of Amonhket manifest their powers through enchantments and I am digging it.

Tapped creatures matter. Yeah, yeah, this is there to make exert more interesting but it's also a fallow area of the game that I'm surprised WotC hasn't looked into before. Creatures tap to do almost everything, why not explore themes that reward us for using them?

The graveyard matters. Again. I'm very, very dubious about this, even though it isn't a big theme, because of what Shadows Over Innistrad had. On the upside, this could bring in some new decks, or revive old ones. On the downside, too much focus on the graveyard without any legitimate hate cards raises a red flag for me.

Cards in hand matter. Blue wants cards in hand. Red/Black don't.

You know what would thrill me? If there was a legit excellent R/B deck that came out of this. What's also interesting? This is a spot where Blue/Black don't get along.

Zombie tribal is getting a big push. I'm OK with that...up until Fuz realizes how much he can upgrade his zombie deck.

Minotaur tribal might finally become a thing, too.

Specific cards of interest:

They're going to do something with Oracle's Vault/Pyramid of the Pantheon and the brick counters. Just a matter of time. I suspect Hour of Reckoning will have some fun cards for it.

Approach of the Second Sun + Fork is a neat win condition.

I suspect Cryptic Serpent might be the new Gurmag Angler. But Slither Blade is better than it has any right to be.

Bone Picker is going to make a friend with Blood Pet. If I can create a 3/2 flying deathtouch creature on turn 1, that's cool.

Shadow of the Grave is going to create a combo deck of SOME kind.

I think Harsh Mentor might be one of the best red cards I've seen in awhile.

Manglehorn is very interesting and I wonder if it might have some impact on Vintage. I don't know Vintage very well but if it's possible to drop that on turn one, you could put a real hurt on a lot of Vintage manabases.

I think Sandstorm Convergence is going to make a splash in Commander: it's great protection and a creature generator is never a bad thing.

And that's about it. It'll be interesting to see what comes of Amonkhet. I can't say I'm thrilled by it, but I'm definitely interested by the possibilities and the interactions that might arise with older sets.

*Edited because I thought the next set was "Hour of Reckoning". My bad.