General (DSK, DSC) Duskmourn Testing/Includes Thread!

[TrainmasterGT]

This is a testing/includes thread. Post pictures using /ci or a text list using /c with what cards you plan to include and what cards you plan to test.​

Including:


Including if I Open:


Testing:


Unstable Cubicorns:


Testable:


Duskmourn finally broke the streak of sets with massive structural failures for the first time in 2024. While Murders at Karlov Manor had bad design and bad lore, Outlaws of Thunder Junction had good design but bad lore, and Bloomburrow had bad design but good lore, Duskmourn finally represents a set with both great design and great lore. I love the final version of this set. While I was initially skeptical that "80's Horror Haunted House Plane" would feel like another cheap reference festival in the style of Murders at Karlov Manor or the 2021 Innistrad sets, I was pleasantly designed to see how well they pulled off the worldbuilding. I think the set has a look and feel that fits in with the rest of the Magic multiverse. The character designs feel in-line with what I would expect from a "magic take on 80's/analog horror" and generally feel very tasteful. The story of the plane itself (a powerful Demon manipulates a sad teenage girl into helping him overpower a binding curse and his prison to encapsulate the entire plane) feels both very Magic and also very modern horror. While this set has a couple of fairly obvious references for people who are familiar with the genre (mainly Let's Play a Game and Break Down the Door), there are no overtly cringe names or card themes like Mouse Trapper, Crumb and Get It, Witch Enchanter or Steamcore Scholar. The fine folks at WOTC did a great job of balancing the usage of pop culture trope space with keeping things feeling original.

The set design is also awesome. I think Manifest Dread is the natural evolution of face-down card mechanics (as opposed to slapping Ward 2 onto the cards without fixing any of the underlying costing structure problems). I think a lot of the cards that use the mechanic are sweet, especially the ones that let your opponent Manifest Dread in return for your getting a stronger spell. Rooms are really cool, they feel like a fun twist on split cards. I appreciate that they're enchantments as opposed to an entirely new card type, since they're easier to interact with using existing cards than something like Battles. Both of the new land cycles are great. I think every set should have a common land cycle to make limited run more smoothly, and Duskmorn has proven that this can be done in a way that fits with the set theme. Impending is cool, although I wish it had appeared on more cards. Finally, I love seeing the return of delirium. My only real criticism is that a lot of the power level of the set is tied up in things that are both complex and playing in new space (mainly the Overlord cycle, Room cards, and Enduring cycle). I really wish Play Design had spent more of their power points on the cool Manifest Dread cards like Hauntwoods Shrieker. I don't think this will be an issue if we see Manifest Dread again in the somewhat near future. However, it would be unfortunate if we have to wait 9+ years to see the mechanic return.

I was personally a little more conservative than usual with cards I am clamoring to include. My Cube is being featured in the main event of CubeCon 2024, and I need to have my list fully locked in by next week. Considering that I haven't even had a chance to fully test Bloomburrow for my Cube, a relatively mediocre set with few slam inclusions that has been out for nearly two months, there's just no way I'm going to have a chance to explore everything this awesome set has to offer. That said, I think Fear of Missing Out and Rite of the Moth are for sure making it in before the event, as both are fun cards that support existing archetypes within the Cube. I also think Curator Beastie, Chainsaw, Wildfire Wickerfolk, Abhorrent Oculus, Splitskin Doll Unwanted Remake, Don't make a Sound, Fear of Impostors, and Piggy Bank all have a really good chance of showing up if I can find relevant cuts and acquire the cards in time.

All in all, Duskmourn is a great set to cap off the year. If WOTC is smart, they will use it as a template for all future top-down sets.

I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts! What are your plans for this set?
-GT

 

[Brad]

Gonna look at non-Rooms first and loop back to Rooms at the end. Won't be adding the card type unless several interest me, so I'll group them together. I'm listing anything I'd consider so that I can reference this post later.

Spoiler

Commander:

Bad toughness but has persist probably balances out. Pretty cool way to gain some slow advantage and keep opposing Spawns/Scions away.


I like good "bad" removal in order to keep my titans from dying for 1 mana. This one is pretty interesting. Probably adds a lot of tension and makes a minigame, too.



Main set:

Cool payoff for Unearth, etc.


Speaking of Unearth related cards.


I might want one more effect like this in white.


Me when I don't wear sunscreen.

Card filtering or advantage are both good.


I appreciate some mild grave hate.


How good is this? It's either decent or really good and I can't tell.


Spawns and Scions love her.


Not too efficient at killing a titan, but it's flexible. Those are both a good thing to me.


Stupid name. Good card.


Is this the best one mana red monkey ever?!


Ogre Battledriver has been considered to give haste to annihilator or to give power to Spawns and Scions. This is quite the upgrade without being too strong. ETB 3/3 do nothing might still be too weak.


Menace is solid and you'll almost never have mana screw/flood with this out.


Aggro 2 drop with ramp in its ass? Sold!


A lot of effect for one card, but it probably only kills their second best dude and gets an extra guy through. Pretty interesting removal that favors aggro a bit.


Solid "Channel" on a big body. It's so cool with Say Its Name that I'm tempted to make a cube with multiples of each.


Effect is perfect. Should be fine even though it sticks around.


Made for Eldrazi.


"Any target" has me nervous, but at least it can't trade Spawn for Spawn like Mayhem Devil.


I dunno. Definitely gotta try it.


Rooms have a few hits but ultimately didn't look worth adding a card type.

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

This set had some nice hits for Multivalent, my peasant cube.

<- Chaplain of Alms
I really like a 1-drop that can set up reanimation tricks, delirium, and other graveyard shenanigans. This creature also transforms without needing to be double-faced, and the art/flavor is great. These cards play in the same space but I like the Goat more.

<- Watcher for Tomorrow
I really like this gross fish-person. Both these cards benefit the flicker deck, but I think the merfolk has broader appeal more ways to play.

<- Bloodcrazed Hoplite
Delirium is a favorite mechanic in this cube, and in the past I've included several artifact creatures simply because they enable Delirium. There's no real "artifact matters" strategy available here. So it's exciting to include some artifact creatures that explicitly include Delirium text to make drafters pay attention to this relationship.

<- Extinguish All Hope
Live or Die is 10/10 in terms of card concept resonance, and the beautiful art really brings the whole thing together. Love that it's instant speed. Seems like a fun way to reanimate Scion of Darkness, or an Angel of Despair that you pitched to Possessed Goat on turn 3.

<- Spirespine
This guy helps the red/green stompy deck, while also signaling and enabling Delirium. Big fan of this card, and since Green recently got some fun Bestow cards in MH3, I'm OK cutting Spirespine to get it.

<- Voltaic Brawler
I kind of forgot I had Voltaic Brawler in the cube. It's the only Energy card and is therefore on the chopping block. He's here to be an above-rate body (and because I was really hurting for R/G two-drop creatures that I actually liked), and Wildfire Wickerfolk actually synergizes with other stuff in the cube. A no-brainer.

<- Catacomb Sifter
This googly-eyed idiot brings my Golgari Spider count up to 4! Great card. Best friends with Vilespawn Spider. Cutting Catacomb Sifter lets me smooth out the curve on my Golgari cards a bit. I might go a step further and cut Back for More to get Spider Spawning. There's no spider synergy in the cube, but I just like the theme.

<- Foreboding Statue
These cards are very similar in function, but Haunted Screen appeals to me for a few reasons. The big one is the way it shows the colored mana symbols in the rules box. I think it's really eye-catching and will make people want to read the card. Plus, I love haunted analog tech and it'll be fun to have this in the environment.

 

[Chris Taylor]

I've been running this card since it was spoiled, and it's been excellent. It's a lot like blade splicer, and it's both better and worse in ways I wasn't really expecting. Huge fan.


Honestly lets get the readable version of this image. I'm interested here. As ever, I don't love the bespoke token, but a 2 mana semi consistent source of 1/1s (artifact creatures no less) with an "ultimate" feels like the kind of overrun my cube wants at this point. Your opponent gets to see it coming, and it's not rotting in your hand if you're not ready to kill them yet.


Honestly I'm going to give it a shot. Venerated Loxodon makes waves in constructed from time to time, and while that is REALLY all in, this has more of it's value tied in the main body, which I like.
Also that static text aint nothin, hopefully that's the kind of akward hexproof and not the game ruining hexproof.
And yes, this can also be the most expensive turn aside ever, but you'll get em in game 2.


I've always got an eye for graveyard hate people will maindeck, and I was running Mardu Woe-Reaper anyways, this seems more interesting, it gives you a dream, even if you probably need vehicles for that dream to work in any game you're not already winning.

This hexproof I'm somewhat more leery of, but time will tell.


Yeah sure. I don't hate it being an enchantment, it does cool things, cheap blue creatures have had a resurgence in recent years but I'm the kind of sicko who wants like 13 good ones so hopefully this impresses.


I'm in for a 2 mana dual typed lifelinker that has "Delirium colon upside" on it, so sure.
It reads a little weird, hopefully people can see the connection between this and like Torment of Hailfire


I'm sad this is the only one of this cycle that really fits my goals here, I like the idea of "suspend but you can interact with it".
And yeah, I cut the last suspend card (ancestral vision) a while back, so there's no "competition" beyond what boomers and constructed players are already bringing to the experience.


So I try and include aggro-friendly sweepers as much as I can, but this thing sure does have the words I like on it.
Might be too much, also might be just 1 too many sweepers, we'll see.


So I've noticed recently my go wide decks were lacking anthems, and also that anthems are hard to include in decks in general because they aren't threats (on their own) and they aren't removal spells, so the average deck has room for like, 1-3 of those cards (and I run a LOT of cantrips).

Despite the obtuse wording, this is goblin oriflame, and hey you also get a draw 2. I've seen worse, and certainly played worse.


Mostly this is just because the card made me chuckle, but it's a 2/1 for R, how bad could it really be.


This has also been excellent for like 3 drafts now. I would mostly have been interested in 1R deal 3 type artifact, and this is impressively more than that sometimes.


I'm thinkin about it, but A) I've already got enough 5s, and B) does my delirium deck even want this?
Current leaning is no, but I could be surprised.


In general, I'm mostly leaning away from manifest dread because I specifically want tokens in my cube. If someone's making a 2/2, I'd rather it be a wolf than a face-down creature, with my current priorities.
Also I'm a stubborn ass, and the delirium cards are all in BUG for me, and also not leaning aggressive, so cards that you'd think would be slam dunks for me like Wildfire Wickerfolk or Fear of Missing Out end up as misses because of the signaling.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Exorcise in for Resplendent Angel
The Wandering Rescuer in for Gideon of the Trials
Split Up in for Secure the Wastes

Exorcise makes up for its sorcery speed with devastating utility. The Wandering Rescuer is what I always wanted Venerated Loxodon to be. Split Up is what I wanted Temporary Lockdown to be, and will make drafters feel very clever to use.


Get Out in for Haughty Djinn
Enduring Curiosity in for Blade of Shared Souls

Undo was in my Cube for about 8 years as a tempo play, but was surprisingly just as frequently a sorcery speed Run Away Together as it was a way to clear all blockers. I think Get Out provides a lot of great flexibility as a counterspell, both allowing you to deal with obnoxious creatures your opponents play (increasingly popular targets to counter in 2024) as well as to protect or reuse your own dudes when the situation calls for it. Because it's reasonably costed, I can imagine decks of all stripes being interested in this card.

Enduring Curiosity is a Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar variant I've been waiting for. Edric, Spymaster of Trest is still a worthy inclusion, but capping at a single card per hit is not ideal. By giving this type of creature both a fun surprise element via Flash and some long-term value when it dies, I think we've justified a 4-drop slot in such a tight color but...I don't know. I still personally prefer Grazilaxx, but my drafters avoided him like the plague. I wouldn't be surprised if this kitty has a short tenure as well.


Cynical Loner in for Sorin of House Markov
Valgavoth’s Faithful in for Gravecrawler
Overlord of the Balemurk in for Hoarding Broodlord

Cynical Loner is a fair-feeling way to reward aggressive players by letting them repeatedly fill up their yards with whatever they like. Gravecrawler finally leaves Cube due to the Zombie Drain that the last few years have provided, and Valgavoth’s Faithful is too compelling in a world where recurring small guys to recur slightly larger guys is a theme I'm intent on supporting. Overlord of the Balemurk is my second favorite card of the set, helping to fill graveyards on turn two and not limiting you on what creature you take back -- something I've been looking for in black at 2MV anyways! The upside of its later value is only even more exciting, and with the other cheaty cards I've got, it's maybe time for Up the Beanstock as has been recommended more than once. Not too keen on removing Hoarding Broodlord, but I've got a bit too much of a top-end in all my colors anyways, and he may make it back.


Untimely Malfunction in for Flare of Duplication
Chainsaw in for Invasion of Tarkir
Norin, Swift Survivalist in for Embereth Veteran
Overlord of the Boilerbilges in for Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
Fear of Missing Out in for Dreadhorde Arcanist

These are easy, almost obvious swaps in all cases but one. Untimely Malfunction is my favorite card of the set: finally, a redirect spell with the modality and cost necessary to justify its way into 40-card decks. Chainsaw has fewer words than Invasion of Tarkir, as does Norin, Swift Survivalist with Embereth Veteran, who also demands her own unique token. I'm also generally a big fan of Norin's ability, even if it doesn't come up terribly often.

Overlord of the Boilerbilges admittedly does not seem all that likely to stick around, powerful though it is. I've got too many big things in red as it is, even if you can play many of them earlier. But I like the gameplay it promises, and Chandra, Acolyte of Flame has felt too anemic for a few years now.


Balustrade Wurm in for Ojer Kaslem, Deepest Growth
Formless Genesis in for Abundant Harvest

Balustrade Wurm feels deeply replacement-level with the multitude of green 5-drops we've had over the years, but I like it better than any old Tendershoot Dryad / Thragtusk / Verdurous Gearhulk by nature of its recursive ability, something generally limited to 6-drops before now. I love any card that can come out of the 'yard.

Which is also why I like Formless Genesis, probably my favorite retrace card to date.


Nashi, Searcher in the Dark in for Master of Death

It's a bit weird to have my entire Dimir section turn into 2-drop creatures, but this Nashi is too perfect for my Cube's loudest themes to ignore.



Giggling Skitterspike in for Chromatic Sphere

A bit of a test as well. The top comment on Reddit was that this card was awful except for in any environment where it's oppressive, but I've wanted a Stuffy Doll variant for my Cube since I ran Stuffy Doll back in 2013, so as much as I agree with that Reddit comment, I think it's worth a brief run.


Not running Rooms because they're nearly as bad as Battles in terms of visual design and grokkability, without the upside of the novelty they bring. Not running any Manifest Dread cards because none of the ones I like have reminder text.

Aesthetically, this set is not for me. Design-wise, it generally is, but I was surprised to not find more delirium cards or ways to fill my graveyard that were more compelling. Still managed to find some great pickups though!


Miles' Top 5 Cards from Duskmourn

5. Cynical Loner
4. Split Up
3. Nashi, Searcher in the Dark
2. Overlord of the Balemurk
1. Untimely Malfunction

 

[Nanonox]

Survival: I like mechanics that encourage attacking (or crewing vehicles). It also reminds me that Moonsnare Prototype, Springleaf Drum and Paradise Mantle are cards I should give a second look.

Rooms: I really like Rooms as they've mostly stapled a solid base effect onto enchantments with a more narrow mana sink for later. The fact that these staple effects are on permanents open synergy lines with Flickerwisp or Kor Skyfisher which is a plus. Also, cards that care about high mana costs also increase in value alongside these.



This is a good example of why I think Rooms are great, you have a 1 mana bread and butter effect you can use in mostly any deck and then the other half is a committal build around that not everyone would play. It's a very efficient use of cube slots that savvy designers will use to great effect IMO.

Impending: On board suspend is likely a better mechanic as you can interact with the card before it comes down and still have it trigger your enchantment matters cards. Also the fact that you have to wait a whole turn cycle before being able to attack helps limit how oppressive they can be.

Manifest Dread: I am usually pretty down on these face down mechanics, but this one is really great IMO. First off, the rate is much more playable IMO as few people actually have the power level where a 3 mana 2/2 is playable. The fact that you also have a choice on which card to manifest means it's easier to get value by turning it up or cheating it into play with Blink effects. Putting the other card in the GY means it becomes a solid enabler for GY decks too. Lot's of small upsides that makes it interesting.

---

Favorite card



A steady stream of threats form the GY that you can mill/discard for value and play when you need it. I was missing this in Green so hyped to fill that gap!

+1/+1 counter support



I have a +1/+1 counter theme in my cube that has very few payoffs. Rishkar, The Ozolith and Agatha's Soul Cauldron being the major ones. White is good at distributing counters, but doesn't have a real payoff, so I am happy to test one that gives redundancy to The Ozolith.



I don't run many 2 MV mana dorks, but this one seems fun and synergistic enough to have me consider it. It naturally stacks counters on itself and later can give you a board of threats. The nice part is that it works with any counters so great with the Role Model that I am also adding. Then there is also a combo element in my cube with Paradox Engine or Jeskai Ascendancy if you can swing the mana.
It's also a fun puzzle to figure out when to crack the Doll. Do you need the extra mana or the board presence? Do you stack up a ton of counters and risk getting blown out by removal?

Control support



A cheap but conditional wrath that has a lot of play to cast and play around. Control could use extra help in my cube and having a 3 mana wrath might do the trick.



This card has a very good "front side" that sets up your GY decks perfectly. Getting a late game threat for free is a push in the right direction for giving slower/control decks the right tools to combat faster decks.

Aggro support



The Zombie creature type is doing some heavy lifting here, but the card has legs on its own. It's nice that you can trigger it with a removal spell on an opponent's creature or if there is a trade in combat. It's also a Reassembling Skeleton in your aristocrat deck the turn you want to go off which isn't the worst.



I like extra combat step cards, but none really fit with what my cube is doing (Great Train Heist is the closest). Having a scaled down version that rummages and attacks is really cool, especially since the discard will help fill the GY for Delirium. The untapping can also be randomly relevant with an assortment of cards (Welders, Emry, Steel Overseer, ...).



Very cool removal spell, that I am not sure I have the space for. Trying to support Young Pyromancer and Dreadhorde Arcanist means that the cube needs a certain amount of instants and sorceries. I like the following that I run more than the equipment Pyrite Spellbomb, Legion Extruder and Seal of Fire (which is worth a second look with all the Delirium cards released!). So a pass that I expect to revisit one day.

Manifest Dread?



I mentioned I like the mechanic and the reason is that these cards are well designed for my cube. The sorceries help Green with the spells matter deck and are "creatures" that the Oath of Druids deck can play and they play well with the GY. The issue is that space is tight and they may not always compare well to alternatives.

Manifest Dread is considerably worse than Malevolent Rumble since you lose on the card smoothing, the ramp and the GY filling.
Under the Skin is a more restrictive Regrowth or Eternal Witness.
Valgavoth's Onslaught is a nice one giving you a 3/3, a pair of 4/4s or three 5/5s with counter and GY synergies.

The creatures are fine? I like having a Green card that indirectly supports artifacts with the Beastie and the Shrieker can cheat on mana big time if you are able to set up your deck with a Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library.

Ultimately, I don't think it's worth including for just 2 or 3 cards, so I'll pass and build another cube to use them

Cards I like but can't find room for

 

[ellogeyen]

Jeskai Cube Includes:


Norin, Swift Survivalist fills a hole in my cube. I've been looking for an agressive red 1drop for some time that's simple. I'm also always on the lookout for legendary creatures. Lastly, I love how Norin sort-of hints at a blink theme in red. Norin will replace Frenzied Goblin. I'll add this card to my battlebox as well!

Maybes (in order of likelihood):

---

Sticker Cube Considerations
For this cube I'm mainly looking for creatures with:
- low mana value and downsides
- high mana value but early-game applications
- power/toughness synergies

Duskmourn has a relatively high amount of creatures I'm eyeing, because of the excellent landcyclers and the presence of downside abilities (a rarity these days, maybe because of the horror theming?). Additionally, the lower mv creatures are enchantments- of artifacts in addition to their creatures types, which I've found a convenient downside as well: I've upped the disenchant effects in the environment.


I do hope Impeding as a mechanic will return very soon. It's perfects for the sticker cube if the creatures are low-powered, and is really a fixed version of suspend in many ways.

 

[CosmicTabulator]

I haven't managed to get a single draft in with the BLB/MH3/MKM/LCI/WOE cards, so I really shouldn't be eyeing this set, but I have no self-control so here we are. There are far too many cards in this list and I think less than half will actually get tested so this is closer to just a pile of cards I like than an actual testing list. Lots of cool stuff in this set but I'm not sure if I actually need any of them, my thoughts will def change a lot after prerelease and a couple drafts of both the set and my cube.

The Weird Cube
Dollmaker's Shop // Porcelain Gallery - Love that this has a finisher bolted on, I can probably find a token maker to cut for this. Plus it's another artifact generator in white
Reluctant Role Model - Build-your-own baneslayer that also plays nicely with the counters deck? I'll see if I have room. Need a fix for the art and name though
Unwanted Remake - Some very sick removal! Closest comparison is probably Bovine Intervention but being 1 mana instead of two is a great deal
Veteran Survivor - Great little aggressive one drop that can grow and provides some incidental graveyard hate or synergy depending on the deck
Abhorrent Oculus - Looks like a fun finisher for blue that rewards you for having a full graveyard while also filling it, also a nice creature to reanimate.
Mirror Room // Fractured Realm - Could be a lot of fun, probably just too expensive but I do love copy effects
Cynical Loner - One of the first repeatable entomb effects! Should be able to do plenty of good work in my cube
Funeral Room // Awakening Hall - Bastion of Remembrance with a sweet finisher! An easy test
Unstoppable Slasher - A fantastic aggressive creature for black! I like the minigame of recursion, and it should be slow enough and feasible enough to interact with to not be oppressive.
Valgavoth's Faithful - The perfect reanimator card for my format! I love how elegant this is, and being a one drop creature lets you do so many fun tricks with it with all the mini-renaimator effects in orzhov
Irreverent Gremlin - Another aggressive 2 drop that's a discard outlet and filtering! Tbh this one's pretty replaceable and may not be the best madness outlet, but that art sure is cute
Balustrade Wurm - The delirium deck wants finishers, so I might try this. Been o the hunt for creatures which can be played from the graveyard
Hauntwoods Shireker - Might be too strong, though I think the average pull for manifest dread will look like land + 3 drop. Very curious to see how it plays.
Insidious Fungus - I think this will be playable in more decks than Cankerbloom, though it's possible I might go back (I'm a sucker for proliferate)
Valgavoth's Onslaught - Acceptable at X=1, incredible at X=2 and nuts beyond that, this is sorta the perfect thing to ramp into. Also fills the graveyard!
Wickerfolk Thresher - Lovely card for delirium in multiple ways, what more to say? They've been printing a lot of this effect lately, feels like there should be a name for it
The Jolly Baloon Man - As people have said before, this sets up a nice etb package in boros along with Feldon of the Third Path and company.
Niko, Light of Hope - I'm a little unhappy with my current flicker support in azorius and this card looks fun, it's both good at flickering and likes to be flickered, plus copying things is fun. Probably won't stick around for a long time though
Undead Sprinter - I hate the name and art for this card but it's a great effect, slots right into all the sacrifice/discard/self-mill stuff. I'll see what I can do about custom art
Wildfire Wickerfolk - I've been a bit unhappy with my gruul section and this seems like a fun direction to push it in! Wild stats for a two drop
Bear Trap - Yesss more colorless removal!! These kinds of cards look weak but they get played every single draft
Dissection Tools - This is a fun equipment and sac outlet that also fills the graveyard. I'll see if I can find room for it
Ghost Vacuum - What a fun way to do graveyard hate! Looking forward to testing this
Formless Genesis - God I love retrace

The Peasant Cube
Patched Plaything - I like how this plays well with so many strategies like flicker, reanimator, artifacts, equipment, etc and it's an artiact to boot! Seems like a fun little puzzle to get value from
Splitskin Doll - Great little value creature, might even like it more than Spirited Companion. Plus it's an artifact!
Unwanted Remake - Nothing more to say about this
Floodpits Drowner - What a unique effect! Though it probably wants to be blinked instead of shuffled back, it's nice to see more creative removal in blue.
Live or Die - A solid modal spell, though I worry the rate is a little too slow
Osseous Sticktwister - Great little attrition piece, the lifelink pushes it a cut above. Could end up in my main cube instead honestly
Valgavoth's Faithful - God I love this card
Clockwork Percussionist - I was just looking for aggressive one drops in red!
Piggy Bank - Borderland Marauder finally bites the dust, I'm unsure how much red aggro actually can use the treasure but it's a nice bonus regardless
Under the Skin - I suspect this will play really well, often times being a 2/2 that draws you a card since you can bin something off of the manifest dread and immediately get it back with the regrowth half.
Saw - A decent equipment and a decent sac outlet

Into the toolbox

Spoiler

Cards that I think are neat

Spoiler

Random Thoughts
Great mechanical ... aesthetics? Not really sure what it's called but I like this card a lot
I feel like there's a pun here that I'm missing
This art is so sick I love it
Didn't know that I needed the words "land token"
The cowards were too afraid to define prime numbers lol
These lands kinda irk me because they add chirality on top of color combinations so they're even less symmetrical than your typical unfinished land cycle. Hopefully they'll print all 20 one day. Still pretty cool though, was not expecting anything like this from this set

All in all, looks like a great set, I'm looking forward to playing it!

 

[ravnic]

Immediate swaps:



I've been waiting for more decent enchantment removal in black and an upgrade over Silver Bolt, so I'll happily make that upgrade asap.

Very likely with my next update:



I love manifest dread, but there are only these two cards I see fit for my cube as of yet. Clockwork Percussionist is also super cool and if I open one at prerelease I might just swap that one in for Rabbit Battery.

Interested but no concrete plans to add:



These are mostly more manifest dread cards that might have a chance if I happen to love them in arena drafts. Most of them look a little weak whereas Under the Skin looks a little too good next to Gravedigger.

Fear of Isolation is a second Kor Skyfisher but I am really not sure if I want more than one.

Special case:



I currently have Tatyova, Benthic Druid as my Simic gold card. And while I like her, she only supports one of the three big themes in G/U: Landfall, Madness and Selfmill. These two would actually support two of these each, but they come with problems. Zimone is probably a little too good for my cube. And the bookworm is probably the ugliest card ever. I passionately hate art and concept of it and would only add it, if I could do a nive alter. (I also don't love the overstatted body, but that's okay for a gold card I guess)


It seems like I will at least end up with five Duskmourn cards. That's more than I expected from a set that uses fashion impression from a time that is famous for it's ugly fashion and is also just too goofy and close to reality for MtG. But the horror aspects of the set look really cool and it has my faourite new mechanic of the year so ...

 

[shamizy]

Gave the card gallery a deeper look after Prerelease, these will be the additions for my cube:



Those 4/4s created by Toby are pretty big and if you can blink him even once to produce 8/8 worth of stats that is a hell of a return on investment. Blade Splicer has always been reliable, but the 3/3s aren't nearly as big as they once were with the size of creatures nowadays. 4 power lets you punch through most anything until around T5-6 so I can see them doing work. That creature token clause represents some interesting sequencing that could lead to big swings in the air out of nowhere. There aren't too many decks in my cube that can create multiple flying blockers that can trade with 4/4s so I'd imagine it would be a pretty gross chunk of damage if you can sequence into a big turn. There was way more play to it than I was expecting with the 4/4s having that can't attack/block alone clause and I think this is a fun inclusion that will get drafters thinking of ways to maximize or break it.

The Overlord cycle is a slam dunk to me and I'm very interested in running all three that are in Esper colors. All of these sequence really well into wrath effects while providing some inevitability in the late game. I didn't know how much I'd like them until I had the white one in my prerelease pool where even though the suspend is for a couple of turns, it does present some tough choices on the opponent's side because they know they'll have to deal with it at some point if they come alive. I also like the idea of curving Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd or Flickerwisp into some of these and getting that extreme value early in the game. The ETB effects all feed into different things that each of the colors would be fine doing anyway at a similar CMC so they're fine to play on curve with Impending. The blue and black ones at 5 mana are perfectly castable otherwise and the white one gets the benefit of multiple wrath effects to help extend into the later game where it can actually come down.

Razorkin Needlehead was an inclusion from day one when it was spoiled. This is the exact kind of effect you want in an aggressive R/x shell with passive damage and being able to put up a mini Sheoldred impression. For two mana I'd say if you can get 4-5 damage out of it that is a great return on investment and you're happy with anything else. Being able to combo it with other cards makes it an appealing little puzzle and made go ahead and slot back in Windfall and Collective Defiance to let drafters live the dream.

 

[Seeker]

The less said about my actual cube for this set the better.
I'm sure I'm missing whatever tears up Constructed, but nothing in the set even tempts me? Wild.

but

I have been periodically kicking around the idea of another cube, as everyone here inevitably does, and the only thing I knew I wanted was some sort of Boros-but-bleeding-into-the-other-three legendary-matters aggro, to give Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful a home as the even-better Champion of the Parish it deserves to be, and trigger stuff like Sarah Jane Smith, and use various LotR cards, and so on.

And then I see this post:

Mostly this is just because the card made me chuckle, but it's a 2/1 for R, how bad could it really be.

and I didn't realize that you got to cast it again
I thought he was just a dumb meme like the og Norin the Wary who came back on his own
but not only does it trigger "legendary entering" it triggers "legendary casting" which means it works with all the historic stuff too and so on, like a deluxe Zurgo Bellstriker (surely there's no better R legend with Dash 1R, right?)

(and while it still won't get me to put it in a cube, even one where there's a million synergies, I have so much irrational love for my boy Rocco, Street Chef who is perfect with Norin...)

 

[MilesOfficial]

I have been periodically kicking around the idea of another cube, as everyone here inevitably does, and the only thing I knew I wanted was some sort of Boros-but-bleeding-into-the-other-three legendary-matters aggro, to give Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful a home as the even-better Champion of the Parish it deserves to be, and trigger stuff like Sarah Jane Smith, and use various LotR cards, and so on.

And then I see this post:

and I didn't realize that you got to cast it again
I thought he was just a dumb meme like the og Norin the Wary who came back on his own
but not only does it trigger "legendary entering" it triggers "legendary casting" which means it works with all the historic stuff too and so on, like a deluxe Zurgo Bellstriker (surely there's no better R legend with Dash 1R, right?)

So I support this exact deck in my relatively high powered Cube (especially for Riptide standards) and it's a real deck.

Norin is great for a dozen reasons, but yeah, having another strong legend for the deck at 1MV is excellent, and I love being able to get extra cast triggers in situations with bad blocks. He also makes combat tricks dramatically better, if that's your thing.

 

[Seeker]

So I support this exact deck in my relatively high powered Cube (especially for Riptide standards) and it's a real deck.

Norin is great for a dozen reasons, but yeah, having another strong legend for the deck at 1MV is excellent, and I love being able to get extra cast triggers in situations with bad blocks. He also makes combat tricks dramatically better, if that's your thing.

...your cube is literally perfect for what I'd want to be doing so I'm just going to copy that list and cut 360 cards (and then cut another 50 and add another 50 and so on but you know what I mean dammit)

Thank you!

edit: that said, do you really have two Birds of Paradise with zero other duplicates, or is that just CubeCobra messing with the African/European Swallow BoPs somehow?

 

[MilesOfficial]

edit: that said, do you really have two Birds of Paradise with zero other duplicates, or is that just CubeCobra messing with the African/European Swallow BoPs somehow?

My playgroup was delighted to break singleton for African Swallow and European Swallow, but yeah, CubeCobra doesn't currently support it, or if they do, I haven't figured it out yet!

 

[Brad]

My playgroup was delighted to break singleton for African Swallow and European Swallow, but yeah, CubeCobra doesn't currently support it, or if they do, I haven't figured it out yet!

You could manually change the image URL, but it is odd that they don't offer the back art.