General CBS

[Zoss]

Warden is very solid. It is definitely a cut above Figure of Destiny while doing a lot of similar things.

Bristlebud is very very strong but kinda cool.

Monument is very strong but very cool.

They all seem like good calls for your cube on power level and excitement, tbh! Though I'm not as familiar with your specific goals, a glance at your list makes me think that all six of these might be fun.

 

[shamizy]

At this point, I'm looking mostly for archetypal bleed cards to branch different strategies and ways to patch up holes with perceived weaknesses.

Warden of the Inner Sky interests me as a way to give an aggressive W/x deck a different way to attack that can also synergize with the +1/+1 counters subtheme I've put together. It's a human which is relevant, scrying away bad cards is always useful for aggro decks, and turning into a big evasive beater in the air is really appealing once the ground gets gummed up.

Astrologian's Planisphere seems like a nice bridge card for artifacts/tokens/spellslinger decks. I like that blinking it with Teleportation Circle lets you just make another body to build up, firing off a Brainstorm can turn into a +2/+2 permanent boost in combat, and it turns the equipped creature into a wizard for Flame of Anor synergy.

I like that Refurbished Familiar can help branch artifacts more into black and I'm hoping to eventually be able to center than theme in Grixis colors with a few more cards in the next few years. I like the idea of a flying beater for potentially cheap, more discard options are always welcome in my environment, and it's a bonus Zombie for Gravecrawler shenanigans.

Bristlebud just looks like a nice beefy boy for a classic G/x Midrange deck. Making artifacts is always welcome and being able to turn it into a trinket to recur a milled card is some nice pseudo card advantage. It just looks like a solid roleplayer and you just need big bodies to break through boardstalls and apply pressure.

Both of the artifacts just help expand those themes a little more, I think Monument is more impressive as a support piece with the plethora of looting effects nowadays. I had seen some example decks from @Nanonox's cube which got my wheels turning and led to picking up a copy of Rydia, Summoner of Mist (and then adding some more sagas) to try and maximize it.

I've got an idea of how each of these cards could fit into my cube and help make things more fleshed out, but I'd like for anyone to chime in with actual experience from playing them whether they're as good as I think they can be. A part of me is thinking it's shiny new toy syndrome but I'll also flip through the binder and see them staring back and think what if.

 

[Dom Harvey]

Warden is fantastic, my favourite white one-drop in a long time - it lets you feel like you're actually doing something important with your trinkets and it represents a real threat more quickly than you expect

Planisphere feels almost overengineered to be a glue card for Riptide-y Cubes - not the best at anything and not a thrilling card on its own but does enough of everything that I like it

Not much direct experience with Farmer but even if you don't care about Food/artifacts/trinkets per se I think it nicely straddles the divide between 'four drops without immediate impact or haste have a high bar to clear' and 'at least gives you something if it's Doom Bladed' without being Titan-esque

Stridehangar is pretty obvious + polarized in a way I like - you know if your Cube makes enough stuff to support it and if you do it's a shoe-in

 

[Nanonox]

Hearing both Zoss and Dom praise Warden, I’ve clearly been sleeping on it. It doesn’t look impressive to me!

I haven’t gotten any real cubing done since adding Stridehanger, so I can’t comment, but just a heads up that alongside Warren Soultrader you can go hard with Marionette Apprentice or infinite with Blood Artist. You decide if that’s a positive or not.

I’ve cubed on Arena with Bristlebud Farmer and it was quite the roadblock for aggro! Between the bodies and the food, good luck. Outside any other food synergies, it was a decent value engine bringing a couple of things back for more gas in the mid to late game.

 

[Schafkurai]

Those are some very nice cards! Warden and Bristlebud are in my cube and stridehangar and Monument will come in with my next update.

As everyone has said already, Warden is a cool and strong card. It's just a decent beater in a normal aggressive deck but cards like


Really put it into overdrive. It can snowball and end games on its own, if your opponent has no removal. But because the ability comes at a cost (usually tempo) there is often enough time. I like it a lot! Also I'm sure my players forget 50% of the times the added scry..

Bristlebud Farmer I have not seen too often since I added it, but what everyone is saying about it is how envision it to play out and I like that.

As for the others, I'll keep an eye out after my next update and thanks for pointing out Stridehangar Automatons combo potential.

 

[MilesOfficial]

I clearly need to re-evaluate Warden of the Inner Sky. I didn't like the art and let that get in my way, it does have a really nice play pattern that works well with my Cube.

Astrologian's Planisphere is incredible. I've played more FF limited than most any other set in recent memory, and it performs really well. It feels like a less oppressive version of Cori-Steel Cutter that keeps more of its advantage from turn-to-turn, working in UB midrange decks just as well as the more obvious spells-focused builds. It's really the Quirion Dryad/Deeproot Champion in blue I've been waiting for.

Bristlebud Farmer is nuts. I love the body size and the incidental food tokens. I love the regrowth effect. It's the whole package, but it also boils down to a 4-mana Vindicate test. You can't complain too much with food tokens from the deal. A very ideal midrange beater that is going to be powerful enough for even larger Vintage-style Cubes, but isn't so pushed compared to Polukranos, World Eater that it's worth fearing in mid-powered lists. Big green beaters is what Magic's about, baby!

Stridehangar Automaton is my favorite new card of 2025 so far. I've used it as an excuse to start depowering my list, and have re-prioritized cards that work well with it. That said, I haven't Cubed in person with it yet. It's been a crazy year for me personally -- I Cubed more with my local playgroup when I lived in another country than I have so far this year.