Currently there's still
38 cards of this era in my cube (not counting reprints)! I haven't updated the cube in a while though, so that number might decrease once I incorporate Assassin's Creed, Bloomburrow, and Duskmourn. Many of the cards strike me as not particularly pivotal to my strategies, and thus potentially replaceable, but there are some standouts that I expect to last for a good while.
Convoke simply is a delicious mechanic, it speaks to me, just as creative white card advantage does.
Venerated Loxodon was a bit boring when I ran it, and Bennie is so much more fun. It doesn't shut the game down like the Loxodon, instead it slowly buries your opponent in card advantage. Who doesn't love death by a thousand stings over brute force?! Bonus: this card makes you feel smart when you get to trigger it on both your and your opponent's turns
This has secretly grown to be maybe my favorite wrath effect for cube, because it's actively good in other archetypes than just control. In fact, it can be a potent tool
against control (if you catch them without a counterspell). Because those decks usually run a lower creature count, you can really get them by wiping their side of big beefy game enders, while leaving the most important half of your own bard intact. Meanwhile, control decks will just yell: "BIO for 13!" and be done with it. Great stuff!
It's only a common, and it might not have a permanent spot in my cube, but for now I'm really happy with the crab. It has multiple relevant modes, and I've seen all of them used. It being an artifact actually matters as well, with
Sharuum the Hegemon being one of the Esper slots. There's nice synergy with the channel ability there!
This might be my favorite kill spell ever. I already confessed my love for convoke, but connive is another great keyword that I hope they'll revisit sooner rather than later. Card filtering is always welcome, but it's especially great in a cube that runs a self discard archetype! (Spoiler warning: this will be a recurring theme...) The +1/+1 counter for discarding a nonland card is occasionally super relevant,
great mechanic!
This has been a really nice addition to the
discard deck. Another
Drake Haven is just what the doctor ordered. This year has really given the archetype the support it needed to perform at a high level consistently, and I'm not even running the insane new tools like
Psychic Frog that are a bit
too much for my power level!
There are so many incidental artifacts around these days, that little goblin is upgrading treasures and Servo's left and right in the right shell, and it feels rewarding when you have that shell.
My cube has a heavy focus on gold cards, but the way I support it means most players end up with mainly two or three color decks. I do like some minor support for players wanting to go ham, and Hiveheart Shaman is such a delightful little treat for the five color deck. It provides a nice grindy payoff, counting all the land types, regardless of whether you've dropped duals or basics. However, it only searches for basics, pushing the drafter to really embrace the five color strategy.
If I recall correctly, this was only third choice for a new Esper card, but it far outperformed my expectations! I already talked about connive, but Kamiz also synergizes really well with the other
mechanic: ninja's! Like,
really great! Not only can it make a ninja unblockable, it can also grant another one double strike. With the right choice of cards you'll be triggering saboteur triggers like a maniac! This really feels worth the three colors of mana!
Speaking of tools for the
discard deck, it
really got some nice tools this era! This was instantly recognizable as an incredibly useful cog for the archetype. Looting your cards away and still getting to play them? Who could resist the value!
Had you told me Containment Construct wouldn't be my favorite new artifact for the
discard deck at the end of the year, I would have called you crazy! It's a great
Trinket Mage target, it has great synergy with discard outlets (and self-enables in a pinch), and it creates two different relevant game objects! I think Currency Converter turned out to be my favorite cube card of the era
Used to be that
Steel Overseer was the best, and really only, cheap colorless artifact synergy piece I wanted to run in my cube. I really was in the market for another one, and the Automaton is a great sticky threat for the deck!
Last but not least, these aren't
really new, but ever since the Triomes came out and played so, so well, I ran Esper and Naya Triome as customs. Such a warm and fuzzy feeling when they actually complete a cycle! (
bicycle lands, I'm looking at you!)
