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.
We return to Middle-Earth! There's goblins, and hobbits, and wolves, and dwarves, and so on. Which cards from the set are you looking at for your Cube(s)?
For me, it's:
The Queen of Dale is about as wordy a mechanic as I'm willing to have on one card, but the package of a hatebear, draw smoothing, and flavour text about a Dragon absolutely sold me. The Eagles are Coming!, in addition to being one of very few Magic cards with an exclamation point in its name, is a two mana gating effect tied to a very solid token which just so happens to be the exact stats I develop creature combat around. Getting the full six mana's worth should be a pretty dope pseudo-Paradoxical Outcome for creature decks. Bilbo's Gambit is more, eagerly welcomed, countermagic for White.
Bilbo, Thief in the Night is the clean power-max pick here. Compare with Dreadhorde Arcanist, except you can cast any spell, and you're getting it discounted to boot. A very solid package that should play pretty well. There are a few cards like this now but this guy is extremely flexible; imagine just getting to loop a Mishra's Bauble or whatever. Most Decrepit Old Bird is a flying man who's sometimes even relevant in combat. plus - an adventure! The Lord of the Eagles is the other side of the coin here - it should solve board stalls while providing up-front value with a surprise flash block, probably not for a lot of mana. Bilbo's Gambit is pushed, and we love a subgame, don't we, Precious. That it fuels the graveyard is nice for the caster, and her opponent has a new wrinkle on the classic Fact or Fiction dilemma, one which maybe totally changes how you evaluate the piles. A+.
Dreaded Bat-Cloud I expect will not be in my cube for long. But I like the idea of a two mana 4 power flier, even without a sacrifice theme to enable it. I'm envisioning this coming down on turn two or three and being relevant but pretty killable.
Desolation of Smaug is another home run for my cube - I appreciate the conditional nature of the wrath almost as much as I'm in for the mana you get back out.
I didn't love the green cards. Sorry! Someone remind me what's good here!
The Black Arrow is a three mana remove-opponent's-best-threat equipment that sticks around to give someone else Reach later on. I'm gonna try it and see if it passes muster as one of those 'one-and-a-half cards' type value stuff we get these days.
I can't tell if I want Bard, Heir of Girion, Bard's Company, or both. The Heir is another card in the vein of previous baneslayer-mulldrifter hybrids, where they do still die to Doom Blade and that's it, but which provide immediate combat value that turn. the Company is, by contrast, a mulldrifter dude - flash in two bodies and an anthem for a very messy combat (for your opponent).
Near Misses (for me)
Last Light of Durin's Day is just too slow for my format, but if I were running Scapeshift shenanigans, this would be a sweet pickup for the RG Valakut deck.
Iron-Hills Blacksmith isn't on-theme enough for me but this is a home run for the protect-the-queen enjoyers on here.
Nasty Little Rabbit seems quite solid, but there are enough one-mana goyfs out there that you can kind of take your pick.
Beorn, Reluctant Host is a neat variant on an Explore where you draw this guaranteed big dude. If I ran two mana explore effects he'd be very tempting.
The Arkenstone feels like an homage to 2010's value engines. It's almost a Captain Sisay plus a Mirari! If you squint!
I bet if you're on-theme with some of the retail limited stuff going on this set is going to be huge for you. What are you hoping to pick up?
We return to Middle-Earth! There's goblins, and hobbits, and wolves, and dwarves, and so on. Which cards from the set are you looking at for your Cube(s)?
For me, it's:
The Queen of Dale is about as wordy a mechanic as I'm willing to have on one card, but the package of a hatebear, draw smoothing, and flavour text about a Dragon absolutely sold me. The Eagles are Coming!, in addition to being one of very few Magic cards with an exclamation point in its name, is a two mana gating effect tied to a very solid token which just so happens to be the exact stats I develop creature combat around. Getting the full six mana's worth should be a pretty dope pseudo-Paradoxical Outcome for creature decks. Bilbo's Gambit is more, eagerly welcomed, countermagic for White.
Bilbo, Thief in the Night is the clean power-max pick here. Compare with Dreadhorde Arcanist, except you can cast any spell, and you're getting it discounted to boot. A very solid package that should play pretty well. There are a few cards like this now but this guy is extremely flexible; imagine just getting to loop a Mishra's Bauble or whatever. Most Decrepit Old Bird is a flying man who's sometimes even relevant in combat. plus - an adventure! The Lord of the Eagles is the other side of the coin here - it should solve board stalls while providing up-front value with a surprise flash block, probably not for a lot of mana. Bilbo's Gambit is pushed, and we love a subgame, don't we, Precious. That it fuels the graveyard is nice for the caster, and her opponent has a new wrinkle on the classic Fact or Fiction dilemma, one which maybe totally changes how you evaluate the piles. A+.
Dreaded Bat-Cloud I expect will not be in my cube for long. But I like the idea of a two mana 4 power flier, even without a sacrifice theme to enable it. I'm envisioning this coming down on turn two or three and being relevant but pretty killable.
Desolation of Smaug is another home run for my cube - I appreciate the conditional nature of the wrath almost as much as I'm in for the mana you get back out.
I didn't love the green cards. Sorry! Someone remind me what's good here!
The Black Arrow is a three mana remove-opponent's-best-threat equipment that sticks around to give someone else Reach later on. I'm gonna try it and see if it passes muster as one of those 'one-and-a-half cards' type value stuff we get these days.
I can't tell if I want Bard, Heir of Girion, Bard's Company, or both. The Heir is another card in the vein of previous baneslayer-mulldrifter hybrids, where they do still die to Doom Blade and that's it, but which provide immediate combat value that turn. the Company is, by contrast, a mulldrifter dude - flash in two bodies and an anthem for a very messy combat (for your opponent).
Near Misses (for me)
Last Light of Durin's Day is just too slow for my format, but if I were running Scapeshift shenanigans, this would be a sweet pickup for the RG Valakut deck.
Iron-Hills Blacksmith isn't on-theme enough for me but this is a home run for the protect-the-queen enjoyers on here.
Nasty Little Rabbit seems quite solid, but there are enough one-mana goyfs out there that you can kind of take your pick.
Beorn, Reluctant Host is a neat variant on an Explore where you draw this guaranteed big dude. If I ran two mana explore effects he'd be very tempting.
The Arkenstone feels like an homage to 2010's value engines. It's almost a Captain Sisay plus a Mirari! If you squint!
I bet if you're on-theme with some of the retail limited stuff going on this set is going to be huge for you. What are you hoping to pick up?
