And I guess there's a 10 image limit per post, so my final inclusions that I couldn't post for now are the mana rock
Liquimetal Torque and the equipment
Nettlecyst. I'm a fan of the number of archetypes that are being fleshed out further with this set. A lot of them aren't for me, but I'm all aboard for this incidental U/R Artifacts support that is sure to flesh out the archetype even more and further improve the stock of
Goblin Welder and
Urza, Lord High Artificer (not that this one really needed help).
Esper Sentinel doesn't really fall into this mold, but I like it as another impact 1 drop with some human synergy potential and the ability to be a disruptive card once it gains just one +1/+1 counter. There's just such a low opportunity cost as a 1 drop that only really needs to replace itself to be worth it. If it wasn't a human I'd probably pass, but being to pull off additional sequences with the likes of
Champion of the Parish and
Thalia's Lieutenant is pretty much all it takes to get me on board.
I've been looking for another reanimation spell and wasn't too big on
Reanimate being able to pull from any graveyard, so the new
Persist is perfect for what I'm going for. I think the only major target it can't hit currently is
Sheoldred, Whispering One within Grixis colors (which is where reanimator is usually situated in my cube), but being able to still hit targets like
Noxious Gearhulk and
Herald of Anguish is sweet. I like presenting these kind of innocuous decision points for my drafters as it leads to a more engaging draft experience overall when you really need to consider your payoffs and possible gameplay lines. Big fan of this non-legendary reanimator theme they're looking to port into Modern.
I love whenever aggressive decks get a new tool and
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is a pretty incredible card all on its own. It's definitely way above rate from what should be expected at that slot, being a very pushed mix of
Zurgo Bellstriker/
Grenzo, Havoc-Raiser, but at the end of the day it's still a 2/1 without any evasion. Barring a nuts sequence of removal just clearing every blocker in way for a handful of turns, this card is likely to lose its luster rather quickly once the opponent begins developing. I can totally see games where it ends up being overbearing, but with the propensity of cube decks to lean midrange I think I'm okay with that every one in a while with the crazy draw. The only part I don't like is the exiling + casting opponents cards. Makes sense flavorfully as a monkey pirate stealing stuff, but that's definitely an effect that shouldn't be at 1 mana. I'm mostly just glad to have another strong 1 drop for R/x Aggro that has play to it instead of having to resort to the likes of
Jackal Pup or
Falkenrath Gorger.
Grist, the Hunger Tide has already had a pretty close analog in the past with
Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast in the past with its abilities, but it synergizes well with existing themes in my cube unlike RB Daretti. +1 to make bodies is always a strong ability, but I'm more in it for the self-milling to synergize with cards already in my green and black sections like potential card draw off
The Gitrog Monster, filling the grave with recursive threats ala
Bloodghast and
Skyclave Shade, or even just fueling the yard with cards for reanimation effects. The weird ability of treating it like a creature elsewhere opens up a ton of interesting lines with cards like
Green Sun's Zenith,
Birthing Pod,
Collected Company, and even cute interactions with cards like
Unearth. This is the kind of card that gets my wheels turning as a deckbuilder evaluating draft picks in a different light and trying to figure out ways to gain extra utility. Big fan of the design.
The rest of my inclusions aren't really standouts as much as cards to flesh out decks and plug in holes. I love
Flametongue Yearling as a scalable version of the classic Kavu. The RR cost ensures that it isn't as splashy across the board, but will still serve as a solid roleplayer in pretty much every deck that leans towards Red as its main color.
Tireless Provisioner is a nice powered down callback to one of my favorite dense cards of all time, but promotes those landfall synergies on a different axis with Food and Treasure. This can get very nutty in any fetch heavy environment allowing for the early deployment of 5 drops. The dream is honestly to use it to power out a
Titania, Protector of Argoth off a fetchland and just go to value town. I'm all for it. Finally, I just like
Master of Death as a card that can serve as a road block and help fuel the grave for reanimator shenanigans. It can do a Squee impression while having relevant creature types and helping to flesh out interactions with cards like
Rankle, Master of Pranks and
Rotting Regisaur. I've been a huge fan of
Champion of Wits over the years and this falls into a similar slot/role while serving as a potential gold signpost as well.
Twelve cards is a hell of a cube update. With the wide utility of these across the board, I expect them to have similar staying power to all the MH1 options that are still putting in work two years later. I think what I love most about this set is the amount of synergies that lead me into wanting to revisit old cards. Like I can bring back
Wicked Wolf as an on-curve fight effect with more opportunities to utilize the activated ability of a Food Token.
Toolcraft Exemplar has additional artifacts to make sure its more consistently a 3/2 and with more opportunities to attack with first strike.
All in all a super impressive set and I imagine there will likely be more inclusions down the road as I hear more of testing results for cards that I might have missed on first glance.
