General [Almost Daily] Every Set in Magic, Cube Edition

[shamizy]

Ixalan was a neat set when it came out, lots of cool cards between all the flip lands and various tribal cards. Unfortunately not much long term staying power as FIRE came into being not long afterwards and also we just got improved versions of multiple effects over time. I think the only card that still has a home in my cube nowadays is Chart a Course which is just a very clean and effective design. Two mana to draw two cards is always a great rate, love the utility in self-mill/reanimator decks. I remember running and liking Search for Azcanta for a long time before swapping over to other cards and eventually settling on Narset, Parter of Veils. Maybe I'll revisit it again someday because the play patterns were pretty cool and the late game inevitability was great for the grindier decks that my drafters would put together.

Funnily enough, my favorite memory from this set is with Limited when Fatal Push was the FNM promo card.

At the time myself and my playgroup were super into Modern and really looked forward to the chance of winning one of these which were in high demand. I think the store fired off 4 full pods of 8 for this set just because people wanted the promo. Anyway, I think I drafted some weird Naya Dinos deck that was okay but nothing to write home about while my buddy in the same pod ended up being the only drafted in U/G Merfolk so he had like every single card wheel to him. Everyone else is fighting over Vampires and Dinosaurs and Pirates while he's sitting pretty with this insane deck. He proceeds to crush the entire draft going 3-0, 6-0 which included myself getting absolutely curbstomped. I'm talking every relevant uncommon, all the Merfolk tricks, and I think two lords? It was disgusting and I had no chance at all.

I did eventually win my own copy a week or two later, but then decided nah this Limited environment is actually not worth running it back any further. Especially once they were out of FNM promos.

 

[Humpty_Dumpty]

Always forget about



I like it as a soft answer to PW before they can get value or specific enchantments. You can even use it as mana denial, might need to give it a second look.

How do you use it as mana denial? Mana abilities are explicitly excluded.

 

[Nanonox]

Fetches was my idea since I run two sets of them

 

[ravnic]

I was pretty hyped for Ixalan back in the day, as I'm a huge dinosaur fan and I adored the choice to put feathers on them (closer to how they actually looked liked). However, looking back at the set, it is pretty boring. Super low power mostly, very high typal. Currently, I am only cubing these two:



Chart is one of my best performing blue cards, works with well in every blue deck, most of which either want to attack with evasive creatures or discard cards anyway. I added Munitions when I realized that Goblin Bombardement was too much and now I am happy about the artifact synergies too.

I am also sometimes flirting with Ruin Raider, which is a cool, slightly worse Bob variant.

However, my vote for the best design here has to go to:

Spoiler: Best Ixalan Design

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I cut DFC’s from my cube, because no matter how you look at it, they’re a logistical hassle, and this is one of the two I honestly miss (the other being Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy). It’s such a sweet one drop, and I love how cleanly this lets aggro decks skimp on lands a bit.


I don’t run this card, and I’m wondering why. I have ninja’s that want to attack, and discard matters and graveyard matters decks that want to discard stuff…


I switched to Deep-Cavern Bat, but only because humans aren’t an archetype anymore, and because I want Brain Maggot for Zur the Enchanter. The Freebooter is a tight card that plays very well.


This might recently have been outclassed by Quaketusk Boar, but the single red pip matters in a cube that pushes towards three-color decks, plus dinosaurs are cooler than boars. This card hits like a truck, and always seems to overperform when it hits the battlefield. Love it!


I actually found Goblin Bombardment too free, and prefer sacrificing stuff for damage to have a mana cost. This and Weaponize the Monsters are a nice tag team for this effect in red.


Somehow still surviving in my cube, this is just a nice little ramper that works really well with pump and fight effects.


You all know I love me some Wildfires, and what’s sweet than stapling card draw onto that effect? I really hope to see enrage return one day, because I think it’s a really neat mechanic!


Speaking of pump and fight effects, this is a lovely one if you run a couple of dinosaurs. It’s still decent at three mana, because the +1/+1 counters stays around, but at one mana this is pretty nasty!


A couple of years ago, I decided to cut all permanent steal effects from my cube, because they caused players to end up with each other’s cards in their decks. After all, with the cards already sleeved, there’s no telling your and your opponent’s cards apart. Hostage Taker rules though, it’s a super sweet removal and value spell, highly recommend it if you don’t mind the memory issues!

 

[Seeker]

This might recently have been outclassed by Quaketusk Boar

They have the same abilities, because Reach does nothing when you're attacking. You forgot that they're both Juggernauts. So obviously the one-pip one is better!

 

[ravnic]

Hmm. Maybe I should put Charging Monstrosaur in my Occasionals. It's the kind of card that I like as a brutal surprise, that will only actually come up like once a year but will put some fear in peoples minds even when it wasn't in the pool.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Hmm. Maybe I should put Charging Monstrosaur in my Occasionals. It's the kind of card that I like as a brutal surprise, that will only actually come up like once a year but will put some fear in peoples minds even when it wasn't in the pool.

If you can stomach Universes Beyond cards and multiplayer wording, there is also



It's a great effect, but Charging Monstrosaur is a lot cleaner and fits the vibe of Magic a lot better in my humble opinion. Anyway, the General is there for people who just want better cards and don't care about feathered dinosaurs.

 

[ravnic]

I think with Sontaran General in your cube, you start and stay at 0% coolness.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I think with Sontaran General in your cube, you start and stay at 0% coolness.

Hahahaha, that made me laugh out loud XD

 

[wahoopride]

This set definitely is way too synergistic for its own good. The power level already isn’t there, especially compared to modern sets, but this fact is only exacerbated by how much of the set’s “power” level is hidden in synergies. Gempalm Incinerator is a fine card if you run a goblin deck, but supporting it in cube means you have to dedicate so many slots to the Goblin deck.

Maybe I’m not as good at mtg as other people and that is the disconnect here, but I don’t really feel like Gempalm Incinerator requires you to have to support goblin tribal to be good. There are so many incidental goblins that make there way in to my cube that gempalm feels like it would be fine in most decks running red. In many ways if your supported goblin tribal it feels like it would be TOO good (killing a 5 toughness creature while getting a card advantage). And it also has the flexibility to just cast it as a body.
Maybe it’s just the power level of our cubes our different, but that feels very powerful in the games I’m used to playing. Just off the top of my head, siege gang commander, kuldotha rebirth, dragon fodder all make enough goblins to make this playable and that doesn’t take in to account a ton more random incidental goblins that would be available to drafters. Maybe I’m way off, though