Which of the Escape creatures do you like best? I like Escape generally better than Delve (except for
Magmatic Sinkhole,
Necropolis Fiend and maybe
Ethereal Forager), especially as a long-term payoff for grindy selfmill/gy decks. Those three come to my mind first:
but I wonder, as it's very easy to support Escape in cube, if those actually might be oppressive? My cube is going to be lower powered, but I only have experience playing with them in Limited, and THB doesn't support gy as good as a cube can, obv
maybe those three are actually good enough:
any experience to share?
Every escape card:
Good but not game breaking. She does more work in cube than anywhere else because she provides any white deck with a card advantage engine not normally available to the color. Good card, please play.
A fine card for low power formats. It can be relevant in prowess decks. It's not
that good though.
Probably fine but definitely worse than
Think Twice and
Radical Idea. I think those cards do everything this card wants to do. Having to exile 5 cards from the graveyard for this to escape is just too much- if it only cost 3 or 4 from exile,
Glimpse of Freedom might be playable. Otherwise, I'd pass.
This card just isn't that relevant. It's
fine, but not impactful enough to warrant a cube slot 99% of the time.
A mill enabler. This card is playable in some mill section but I'm not sure what that looks like.
A really good cantrip in black. This card can eat graveyards, gain life, and creates card advantage. Since it's just and engine piece, it can fit into a wide variety of cubes at almost every power level. It's a great card, and worth a slot in any cube with space for it's inclusion.
Bump in the night's mediocre little brother. This card is pretty bad in terms of damage output.
This card is a fusion between a removal spell and a pump spell. It's value increases in formats with a large density of X/1 creatures. I remember this being pretty good in THB limited, and I would play it in any low power cube.
Pharika's Spawn is pretty good when it gets to escape, but it's base rate of a vanilla 3/4 for 4 is relatively bad. This card is at home in cubes with heavy self-mill and discard elements. I think the spawn is good, but I'd be a little weary bad it is when it doesn't get a chance to escape. I would not worry about this card in low power.
A great little attacker that can come back big later. The biggest strike against Underworld Charger is that it can't block. Otherwise, this could be played at even relatively high power levels. As is, the card is a perfect fit for most low-powered cubes.
Woe Strider is not a low power card, but it is nowhere near oppressive. I'm playing this card as inevitability for B/x midrange decks, a payoff for Sultai Mill strategies, and as an engine piece for Aristocrats builds. The card is just so flexible that it can go into most decks, but it fills a different role in every deck in which it is played.
Woe Strider is the rare card that goes everywhere without feeling like a boring monotonous auto pick.
The best part about this card is the art. A +1/+0 and haste boost is usually not particularly relevant. Most decks would rather have an extra creature. However, this is a good heroic enabler since it can come back when the first creature it's enchanting dies. There are homes for this card, but they are few and far between.
Ox of Agonas is better in constructed than it is in cube, but I can see it as a card discard and Jund loam decks will play. The "half wheel" ability of this card is a good enabler for decks that care about discarding a bunch of cards at once. The escape cost is very steep, so it's not a card that will be escaping more than once in an average game.
I'm extremely bullish on this card. It's really good in red decks trying to apply early pressure. It gives aggro strategies a way to pressure midrange in a way most other red creature's can't, and it's ability to survive board wipes makes any deck playing it have a better matchup against control. I've had overwhelmingly positive experiences with
Phoenix of Ash card and it's something any high power environment should play. I this card does not detract from deckbuilding in mid-power environments, but having enchantment or exile based removal for this card does become important in any format where a 2/2 flying haste for three with firebreathing could be problematic. I highly recommend.
This card is good. It acts as a great intersection between several archetypes, including true aggro, something which is hard to support without delving into heavy parasitism.
Satyr's Cunning is great because it can simultaneously give red decks a one drop attacker and things to do with their mana in the event that they enter top deck mode. It can also keep Prowess triggers going off even during a noncreature spell drought. While the rate of token production could be better, it's still a good inclusion for any environment with a heavy synergy component.
The goodest boy is also one of the goodest escape cards for aggro, just behind
Phoenix of Ash. While the card's "Dumb Attack" ability means that it will sometimes get ripped to shreds in the ramp matchup, the fact that it comes back as a 4/2 means that it can effectively
dispatch most creatures. It can even block the turn it comes into play, which is more than can be said about the card's closest analog
Horse Friend. I like this card. It's good.
Spider Man is similar to
Pharika's Spawn in the sense that it can act as a good payoff in discard and mill/dredge strategies. The fact that it can potentially snipe multiple fliers and come back as a relevant 4/5 in the late game is just great. I would recommend this card to people with space for it.
This card is only ok. It dies to basically everything, and unlike
Underworld Rage-Hound which is an aggressive card an aggressive color, it's a little too expensive to justify the bad stats. In my experience with this card, it usually just becomes a dedicated 5-mana chump blocker or a 5-mana terrible
Diabolic Edict. It's heavily mediocre, but probably playable in low power.
I like this card, but it's lack of evasion means that it is incredibly easy to stonewall. It doesn't make armies flee or kingdoms fall in practice. However, it is a reasonable card to act as an intersection between self-mill and ramp strategies. The card is reasonable, especially in low to mid power cubes.
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger is a great card. It gives every red-black deck an inevitability and damage engine. Control loves this as a finisher, too. The biggest strike against this card is that the Rakdos guild section is incredibly competitive. Even though this card is strong, there are cards that allow for more focused plays. Also, as a Titan, Kroxa can be quite annoying to play against. I don't think it's as annoying as Uro, but I would exercise caution with this card outside of mid or high powered environments.
I really wanted this card to be good, but after much play experience, it has proven itself to be pretty mediocre in practice. Polukranos losing counters equal to the amount of damage dealt to it is just abysmal. Even the 12 counters from escaping can feel like not enough. Fighting the world is cool on a top-end finisher, but weak when it effectively permanently shrinks the creature. If
Polukranos, Unchained had
Phantom Nomad text, even with fewer counters, it would be great. As is, it is heavily mediocre.
Do. Not. Play. This. Card. I find that Uro completely invalidates both aggro decks and any synergy-based midrange strategies. It doesn't matter how much cute stuff I'm able to do with
The Gitrog Monster or and a bunch of other loam pieces some other expensive midrange engine when
Uro is off gaining a million life and drawing a million cards all by itself. Uro can easily gain between 6 and 12 life over the course of a single game, giving aggro an impossibly hard hill to climb. It also ramps, for some reason. Uro does everything in a way no card really should. Unless your cube's only goal is to just play generically good cards without any need for synergy, do not play Uro.
I really like the escape mechanic, so everything I've said here is based on extensive play experience. The only cards I haven't at least tried in a cube or constructed setting are
Sleep of the Dead and
Fruit of Tizerus because I found them to be so mediocre in my retail limited decks.
but thank you for elaborating.
