Necroing again, sorry guys.
but I have to ask:
What about 'flashback' creatures?
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice,
Dauntless Cathar,
Nearheath Chaplain and
Mother Bear all play similarly to
Call of the Herd,
Lingering Souls,
Battle Screech and
Chatter of the Squirrel although you can't use them twice on curve if they didn't die until then.
Call of the Herd is played by some people here, and I think most people find it quite boring as 3-4 drop, while Lingering Souls requires at least splashing, provides chump blockers for control and fits tokens/aristocrats. Of the creatures, I only find Mother Bear really interesting, as you usually play it out t2 and have a high chance that you use its flashback on t5.
Grizzly Fate,
Roar of the Wurm and
Beast Attack all seem better and even more interesting, though. I also find Grizzly Fate to be way more interesting than
Increasing Devotion as you need to set it up and get rewarded with a really strong spell.
Bone Dragon,
Angel of Grace,
Runehorn Hellkite,
Seasoned Pyromancer,
Soul of Innistrad,
Soul of Ravnica and
Soul of Theros are also noteworthy. The Pyromancer looks absolutely great for cube, fueling a lot of strategies red wants to follow. I like it.
Bone Dragon is a repetitive finisher, but it needs a lot of work to be done, so it's rather slow. Not my favourite.
Angel of Grace doesn't look too bad, giving slower white decks some interesting play vs aggro. It also brings a nice body, and it's not as bad for aggro as repeatedly gaining life from eg.
Gnaw to the Bone or destroying everything with
Cleansing Nova. I'll personally try this one out, does anybody have any experience with it yet?
Runehorn Hellkite also looks
really interesting, and if I recall correctly, some people here already use(d) it in their cubes. I'm tempted to try it out, but is anybody able to tell me about it?
Soul of Innistrad compares to
Death Denied with being restricted to three creatures but providing a body for reanimator strategies.
Soul of Ravnica does compare to
Deep Analysis and other draw spells in a certain way, but it won't draw too many cards if the build is not dedicated to it. I still like that it rewards playing more colours, but even if you're playing 4C control or something, it is hard to get out that many differently coloured permanents, so the flashback actually being worth six mana might be a problem. This one also provides a body for reanimator.
Soul of Theros is the last one of which I personally think that it's an interesting card. Again, this might be a nice body for reanimation, and its flashback needs to be compared to
Rally the Peasants and the likes. Lifelink on this one is no joke, but you need to get this one in grave AND build up a board to be worth the six mana you pay for it. I really don't know what I have to think about this one except that I find it somehwat interesting.
Now, I still have some cards up my sleeve, hue hue.
Embalm/Eternalize
Glyph Keeper looks quite powerful to me, comparing to
Rekindling Phoenix which I already think is very strong. Using two removal spells to get rid of the big flier is annoying, but that you need to do this
twice sounds pretty ambitious for a mid/low powered cube to me. Now that I think of it, I might try the phoenix, but stay away from the Glyph Keeper.
Honored Hydra is a big pile of stats and compares to the
aforementioned green flashback cards. It's better than the roar because it has trample and does cost less for playing it from your hand, but I want to encourage my players to discard the card to be rewarded from the lower flashback cost - that's why I go with Roar of the Wurm instead.
Heart-Piercer Manticore is very nice for aristocrats, red aggro and midrange and has more play to it than FTK. Cool card.
Sacred Cat,
Labyrinth Guardian,
Trueheart Duelist - the playable vanilla flashbacks, comparable to
Call of the Herd and
Mother Bear. Personally, I have a soft spot for the duelist, as it offers relevant typing (human/zombie).
Oketra's Attendant is more interesting than
Think Twice and the vanilla creature flashbacks, as it provides both card draw and a body. It also fuels discard/cycling payoffs. Love this card.
Vizier of Many Faces is a cool
Clone variant. I'd say definitely playable, and reanimating a big guy t4 and then copying it t5 by embalming the vizier feels reeeeaaaaally good.
Champion of Wits is an interesting choice. Played on t3 it usually isn't as strong as
Seasoned Pyromancer, but its Eternalize effect is huge in the late game.
Adorned Pouncer is a cool 2drop for aggressive strategies that pump their creatures. A cc5 4/4 double striker also is a real threat, I'm just not sure if I find this interesting enough.
Sunscourge Champion is really cool, as it fits into a lot of different strategies, providing two appropriately costed bodies for more aggressive strategies, good blockers plus lifegain for defensive lists and discard for decks that care about it.
Earthshaker Khenra and
Resilient Khenra both fit more aggressive strategies quite well while also providing a bigger body for the lategame. I found both of them interesting, but I'm not sure about either, as they don't seem to help explicite strategies I have in my cube.
So, that's it, got a bit longer than I wanted in the first place, but my cube is in the middle of a big overhaul, and I find graveyard strategies to be more and more interesting.
Coffin Purge and
Purify the Grave still don't seem worth the inclusion, while
Memory's Journey looks pretty interesting as an enabler for baron-esque decks
and incidental gy hate.
