Sets [M20] Core Set 2020

[Chris Taylor]

B
Creature - Vampire Knight
2B : Knight of the Ebon Legion gets +3/+3 and gains Deathtouch until end of turn.
At the beginning of your end step, if any player lost 4 or more life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Knight of the Ebon Legion.
1/2

Not bad.

 

[shamizy]

I'm happy with slim pickings for once. Gives me less to think about when making swaps for MH1 and WAR. I've got a handful of cards I want to try out on my short list thus far:

 

[sigh]

I'm with shamizy. I'm like 5 sets behind by now....

Still disappointed in the color hate

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Remember, don't hate congratulate!! Not everyone's cube is the same. What passes as uninteresting for you might as well be exciting for someone else!

Although I would generally agree with this statement, this set as a whole just doesn’t have as much for as many people as most of the previous sets.

You’re always going to have a card or 2 from a given set that someone is going to want to try or play. For example, Pete seemed interested in that Reef Elemental guy. That’s not necessarily a card most people would run, but if it works for him, than it’s great! After all, it can be very hard to find the best version of an oddball or niche effect, sometimes the options just aren’t always there.

This set’s issue, however, is that the vast majority of the cards that have been previewed are simply just not things very many people are going to want to add to their cube. Pretty much every set of the last 2 or so years has had a good chunk of cubeable cards. Many Riptiders had a good 15-20 options they were considering for their cubes out of GRN and RNA, and the card considerations weren’t even necessarily the same!! Even the last core set had a good chunk of solid playables, some of which are even becoming cube staples.

This set just isn’t like that. Many of the designs are bad/narrow outside constructed/ or unplayable. The few semi-interesting options are either stat monsters or fighting for space in tight slots. Chandra’s Regulator is an interesting card, but it’s not worth re-building a solid red section to fit 97% of the time.

The unplayable or uninteresting nature of the cards in this set is not it’s sin, however. Many sets don’t end up with a lot of cubeable pieces because they were pushing into new design space that was narrow. For example, Rivals of Ixalan really wasn’t a great set for cubes, but it did introduce interesting things into other formats in new design space. M20 isn’t doing this. Instead of being a “bread and butter” type set like M19 or Ixalan, M20 is full of a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t even seem to serve a real purpose within the context of the set itself.

So yeah, this is a bad set for cubes. I’m sad about it, but I’m not sorry for saying it.

 

[Velrun]

All core sets are beautiful.

 

[Chris Taylor]

All core sets are beautiful.

Not all fire imps tho

 

[Onderzeeboot]

So yeah, this is a bad set for cubes. I’m sad about it, but I’m not sorry for saying it.

I'm now determined to find 15-20 viable options for my cube when the full spoiler is up. If anything, I saw cards that were too pushed for my cube. So far I'm looking at...

Honestly, there's more cards I like, but that just don't fit in my cube, either because they're the wrong colors, or because they have a CC casting cost.

 

[Peter LaCara]

There's also this new three-color friend who has, honestly, a point or two too much toughness for me:

A 3/5 for 5 is too big? What do you have against Mammoth Spider?

 

[Chris Taylor]

A 3/5 for 5 is too big? What do you have against Mammoth Spider?

Deathtouch Lifelink

 

[Seeker]

Deathtouch Lifelink

Exactly, it's just so miserable to attack into that I would have liked a smaller backside (or just, you know, not giving it lifelink, slap reach on it if you need or something)

 

[japahn]

I'm really curious about how strong Rotting Regisaur will be in cube. I think it will be amazing in graveyard decks, but in other decks the lack of evasion will make it pretty tame. I don't think it will be GRBS. Looking forward to try it.

 

[Brad]

I'm really curious about how strong Rotting Regisaur will be in cube. I think it will be amazing in graveyard decks, but in other decks the lack of evasion will make it pretty tame. I don't think it will be GRBS. Looking forward to try it.

I think it's going to be really high variance:
- You abuse the discard and crush them with your 7/6.
- You smash them with a 7/6 and they're dead right away.
- They kill it after you discard and fall behind badly if it wasn't a value discard.

Exactly, it's just so miserable to attack into that I would have liked a smaller backside (or just, you know, not giving it lifelink, slap reach on it if you need or something)

I don't entirely know what it is, but it absolutely looks like it has deathtouch and reach. At least it doesn't link into that much life.

 

[Peter LaCara]

Oooooooooh.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

That one drop is sweet

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Nice green two drop!

A toned down Dig Through Time might actually be just right for some environments. I cut Dig from my cube, because eot Dig for was a tiny bit too scary. Sorcery speed does hurt it, but... is it a bad thing if blue can't do everything at instant speed for a change?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Oooo! That's a pretty sweet green one drop. Not as good in my cube, since I don't run utility lands, but this is still sweet with Ramunap Excavator and Crucible of Worlds

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

Nice green two drop!

A toned down Dig Through Time might actually be just right for some environments. I cut Dig from my cube, because eot Dig for was a tiny bit too scary. Sorcery speed does hurt it, but... is it a bad thing if blue can't do everything at instant speed for a change?

Amazing what adding a mana to divination does...

 

[ravnic]

Oooooooooh.

Yeah two more includes. For me this set is incredible. Love both here.

BUT

It is embarassing that they printed the artwork upside down ... here's how it was probably meant to look like:

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yeah two more includes. For me this set is incredible. Love both here.

BUT

It is embarassing that they printed the artwork upside down ... here's how it was probably meant to look like:

View attachment 2540

Hahahahaha, that's a hilarious goof :')

 

[Aston]

I thought it was intentional, like you're meant to take a second to register the orientation.

 

[Velrun]

Nice catch!!

Jokes aside it looks like a deliberate choice because it looks so cool/strange/dangerous to have everything that isn't the focus creature upside down

Also they probably decided that it was confusing during combat or something to have the creature upside down so they went the 'normal' route.

 

[Velrun]

Oooo! That's a pretty sweet green one drop. Not as good in my cube, since I don't run utility lands, but this is still sweet with Ramunap Excavator and Crucible of Worlds

1a. You should run utility lands.
1b. If you are worried that cards like Kessig Wolf Run are too easy to win with and too difficult to disrupt or keep in check you can either choose to only run the interesting utility lands at your power band or choose to add more non-basic land disruption or cards that disrupt lands that have activated abilities that doesn't add mana.

2. Is this card usefull if your green section does not support aggro?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

1a. You should run utility lands.
1b. If you are worried that cards like Kessig Wolf Run are too easy to win with and too difficult to disrupt or keep in check you can either choose to only run the interesting utility lands at your power band or choose to add more non-basic land disruption or cards that disrupt lands that have activated abilities that doesn't add mana.

I'm not worried, I did run them in the past, in a separate Utility Land Draft. At one point, I decided I wanted to streamline the draft again. I didn't feel the separate ULD was worth it. I then made a conscious decision to not include utility lands in my main cube, because a) they take up a lot of space, and b) more importantly, I feel that, if you include utility lands, you also need to provide players with the tools to combat those lands, i.e. you need to run land destruction. The problem is that I run a heavy multicolor theme in my cube, and land destruction heavily disincentivizes running multiple colors. In other words, the consequences of running utility lands runs counter to a backbone theme of my cube. There was only one possible conclusion for me there, honestly; to not run utility lands.

2. Is this card usefull if your green section does not support aggro?

Yes, I think it is! I don't even know if this is most at home in an aggro deck. It searches for any land, so that makes it very useful in midrange and control decks as well. It also thins your deck, and fills your graveyard. I think it's a pretty rad card!

Also, for those running at a higher power level than me...



Niiiice.

 

[Mondschwein]

I like Elvish Reclaimer better than KotR. White is not one of my primary colours for lands.dec so I'll happily swap the Knight out for the Elf.

Bloodthirsty Aerialist makes BW lifelink more interesting/viable, in fact I find +0/+1, flying and even being black better for this kind of ability than it is on Ajani's Pridemate. Vampire of the Diremoon is something I'm willing to test. 1/1 deathtouchers are boring, but with lifelink it gets way more interesting with cards like Trusty Machete, Odric, Lunarch Marshal and the aforementioned Bloodthirsty Aerialist. Nice duo for my black section.

Woodland Champion is good for tokens and +1/+1 counters, but you need to compare it to the other creatures that are able to get counters laid on them repeatedly, like Champion of the Parish, Experiment One, Quirion Dryad and, again, Bloodthirsty Aerialist.

Drawn from Dreams is interesting. I LOVE Fact or Fiction for its skill-testing nature, but I have to admit that it might be too strong in comparison to the other draw spells. This one might be right for its slot, even if it means removing one of my absolutely favourite cards in the whole MtG TCG. It doesn't have Delve and is a sorcery, which makes it a toned down version of Dig Through Time. Will definitely test it.

And wtf, didn't see Season of Growth yesterday. Looks interesting for Heroic/Enchantress if you support that in your cube. If the next block will bring us back to Theros (Temples in M20 might be a hint) I might even want to implement such themes myself.

Until yesterday, just like TrainmasterGT, I wasn't very excited from the spoilers for cubing. Today changed EVERYTHING.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

HL

I'm now determined to find 15-20 viable options for my cube when the full spoiler is up. If anything, I saw cards that were too pushed for my cube. So far I'm looking at...

Honestly, there's more cards I like, but that just don't fit in my cube, either because they're the wrong colors, or because they have a CC casting cost.

Well, you’re halfway there . Let’s see if they’ll stick...

Oooooooooh.

Ravnic’s gonna love these XD

Oooo! That's a pretty sweet green one drop. Not as good in my cube, since I don't run utility lands, but this is still sweet with Ramunap Excavator and Crucible of Worlds

This might be worth a test. The real question is whether or not this is more flexible than the myriad of other good green 1s. I’m kind of interested in this, but I’m unsure as to whether or not it’s worth the space.