Tagging in @TrainmasterGT for the includes thread, but in the meantime, Steve's tier list is compelling as always, even without the written analysis. Cards he's rated well that I haven't touched on yet:
Jennifer Walters is one of the more talked-about cards from the set, and I understand the appeal of turning off much of your opponent's interaction. No counterspells to worry about, no tricks, no mid-combat removal. Voice of Victory is a premiere 2-drop in any Cube that plays it for a reason! But I think the "you get two token triggers and two death triggers and two extra damage" element of Voice of Victory is an equally important reason to play it.
But she does keep your creatures counter-proof and your opponents off their game while you build up the mana to get to The Sensational She-Hulk, who is more than just a Colossal Dreadmaw with extra steps. The damage ability is really cool, and basically guarantees that combat will go your way.
She's definitely one of the better Selesnya cards, but she doesn't spark joy for me personally. Maybe after I take down an RCQ with her I'll feel differently, because intellectually I feel like she'd be a slam-dunk for my Cube, but my aversion to superheroes (even though I think She-Hulk is more interesting than most) mixed with my aversion to MDFCs (though I am running Miles Morales to my own exhaustion) make this card on the outside looking in, currently.
I don't actually get the hype for this one. Wolverine, Fierce Fighter is a Mawloc with haste, but locked at 4mv (where it deals one less damage). The second ability is really only relevant the turn it comes in, so that you can fight one thing and still go into combat fresh, basically making it a bite effect rather than a proper fight. So if we read the card as "4mv 3/5 with haste, etb deal 3 to a creature" are we happy? Yeah, I guess, but it still feels boring to me, especially compared to my boy Mawloc. How different is this card from Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath?
Cloak and Dagger, Entwined is pretty good. Yeah. This is a pretty ideal Cube card in a lot of ways. I don't have a lot of thoughts on this, or reasons why I'm not motivated by it, but it's so unbelievably flexible that I feel foolish not considering it more strongly. If I had to confront myself critically about this, I guess I'd rather use my guild slots for more thrilling bombs or synergies.
I called Archnemesis a Phyrexian Arena suitable for 2026 Cubes, but then didn't put it on my testing list for whatever reason. I think that's fine, even though it's certainly better than a lot of things I'm already running, particularly something that has been a surprising miss in Golbez, Crystal Collector. I'll probably slot this in.
Bruce Banner was an initial standout from the first preview cards revealed, but I had cooled on it quite a bit since. I guess I just don't want the MDFC version of this card. I'd be totally happy with a solo Bruce Banner, but it's also not necessarily better than my current suite of blue 1-drops.
Still can't handle the art on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. This is usually not such a problem for me that it wholly precludes a card from joining Cube, but this is still way too wonky.
I talked about Lockjaw, Slobbering Teleporter when the Fantastic Four deck was spoiled as a strong card, and while I thought Council of Reeds was similarly good, I figured both were too EDH-core for my Cube. But the more I play them out in my head, the more I think I was wrong. I recently swapped in H.E.R.B.I.E., Lovable Robot and it made me really consider: hey, I do love sorcery-speed cantrips and equipment.
I think I have some aesthetic issues with both, but there's some value in having a bunch of cards request the same trigger in a Cube. It's a nice little mini-archetype that I like so much, and one that plays very well with what Cube is doing overall. The Council of Reeds, in particular, can double in size each turn, providing a much saner version of the Phoenix Fleet Airship that I liked a fair amount from Avatar.
Asgardian Inspiration is a sweet card that I don't really have interest in (my Cube doesn't really support all that much burn-to-the-face these days) but I think there are enough incidental ways to trigger it that I don't hate the notion of getting a card back from your graveyard whenever it does happen. If it were free or only cost (1), I think I'd be more inclined to consider it.
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EDIT: oh, there are some other cards I had put in my notes I wanted to talk about too
Heroic Return is reasonable white reanimation. Without the additive distraction of the "hero" clause, I'd probably be willing to run this. It's about equal with Late to Dinner, a card I love but that's always going in-and-out of my list. Four mana is a lot to reanimate creatures limited to your graveyard, but if that's the only restriction, and it can be used as a piece of combat trickery/removal as well...well, yeah! That seems OK.
Professor Hulk has the vibes I wish more cards in the set had, a card that's not apologetic about being silly and cool at the same time same time, and not so beholden to the 70 years of lore that it's incomprehensible for people who have only watched a few movies. It's not quite good enough for my Cube, but I'm not opposed to playing it either, as its ability can be explosive in the right context. I'd be stoked to Sneak Attack it in, and though it fails the Vindicate test handily, I'd be happier to have this on my side of the battlefield than even some of the premiere threats like Alpha Deathclaw in plenty of situations. I'm going to more seriously consider this, knowing it'll be a pet card if it does make the cut.
A few years ago, Amazing Spider-Girl would've been a big deal. Web-slinging is truly a fun mechanic, and if I ever want to go deeper on Sneak/Ninjutsu, I'd be thrilled to try this out, as vanilla as it is. Even now, I'll be greedily putting this into both my reject Cube and my bar Cube.
Gert and Old Lace, Runaways is a novel glue card. We now live in an era of Environmental Scientist and Earthbender Ascension, but you don't have to in your Cube! If you look at this as a red card, or have a large discard-matters theme, this is an extremely flexible card for midrange soup that hits like a truck. This is an instant win for the Bar Cube but may even make its way into the on-deck binder for my main list if I'm feeling spicy enough. I wish it put the land into play (it'd be an easy include if it did) but that's also a little out-of-scope for red.
White Tiger, Amulet Keeper is a card I ran out of time to talk about when it was first spoiled, but I like 3/1s for 2. I like cheap legendary creatures. I like cards that have value in the graveyard. This does all of those things...just at a much fairer power-level than I'd like. Bar Cube? Absolutely. Anything else? Probably not, but that's fine because I think the art looks dumb.
Iron Man, Master of Machines is a dumb card. It'd be pretty good in my main Cube, though. I'm pretty OK paying 4 mana for a Karnstruct; if that's all I get out of Urza, Lord High Artificer or Karn, Scion of Urza, I'm rarely upset. It's also why I really want to put Urza's Command back in my list. This is a flying Karnstruct that's also a legendary artifact that I can cast for more than 3 mana to trigger Simulacrum Synthesizer which then makes more Karnstructs while drawing a card almost every turn and....this is all a little too EDH-brained, I think. It's the kind of Magic many Cube players come to Cube to escape from.
Because most of my players are more EDH players than general Magic players, I do try to appeal to their sensibilities in this way when I can, and I think it's fun, too. This one, besides being, well, Iron Man, is a little too much in this direction, but I'm not ruling it out. I'd rather my Karnstructs be related to Karn, not Tony Stark, and I'm pretty happy with my Izzet section anyways. Don't shame me too much if it ends up in my Cube by the end of the year, though.
Jennifer Walters is one of the more talked-about cards from the set, and I understand the appeal of turning off much of your opponent's interaction. No counterspells to worry about, no tricks, no mid-combat removal. Voice of Victory is a premiere 2-drop in any Cube that plays it for a reason! But I think the "you get two token triggers and two death triggers and two extra damage" element of Voice of Victory is an equally important reason to play it.
But she does keep your creatures counter-proof and your opponents off their game while you build up the mana to get to The Sensational She-Hulk, who is more than just a Colossal Dreadmaw with extra steps. The damage ability is really cool, and basically guarantees that combat will go your way.
She's definitely one of the better Selesnya cards, but she doesn't spark joy for me personally. Maybe after I take down an RCQ with her I'll feel differently, because intellectually I feel like she'd be a slam-dunk for my Cube, but my aversion to superheroes (even though I think She-Hulk is more interesting than most) mixed with my aversion to MDFCs (though I am running Miles Morales to my own exhaustion) make this card on the outside looking in, currently.
I don't actually get the hype for this one. Wolverine, Fierce Fighter is a Mawloc with haste, but locked at 4mv (where it deals one less damage). The second ability is really only relevant the turn it comes in, so that you can fight one thing and still go into combat fresh, basically making it a bite effect rather than a proper fight. So if we read the card as "4mv 3/5 with haste, etb deal 3 to a creature" are we happy? Yeah, I guess, but it still feels boring to me, especially compared to my boy Mawloc. How different is this card from Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath?
Cloak and Dagger, Entwined is pretty good. Yeah. This is a pretty ideal Cube card in a lot of ways. I don't have a lot of thoughts on this, or reasons why I'm not motivated by it, but it's so unbelievably flexible that I feel foolish not considering it more strongly. If I had to confront myself critically about this, I guess I'd rather use my guild slots for more thrilling bombs or synergies.
I called Archnemesis a Phyrexian Arena suitable for 2026 Cubes, but then didn't put it on my testing list for whatever reason. I think that's fine, even though it's certainly better than a lot of things I'm already running, particularly something that has been a surprising miss in Golbez, Crystal Collector. I'll probably slot this in.
Bruce Banner was an initial standout from the first preview cards revealed, but I had cooled on it quite a bit since. I guess I just don't want the MDFC version of this card. I'd be totally happy with a solo Bruce Banner, but it's also not necessarily better than my current suite of blue 1-drops.
Still can't handle the art on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. This is usually not such a problem for me that it wholly precludes a card from joining Cube, but this is still way too wonky.
I talked about Lockjaw, Slobbering Teleporter when the Fantastic Four deck was spoiled as a strong card, and while I thought Council of Reeds was similarly good, I figured both were too EDH-core for my Cube. But the more I play them out in my head, the more I think I was wrong. I recently swapped in H.E.R.B.I.E., Lovable Robot and it made me really consider: hey, I do love sorcery-speed cantrips and equipment.
I think I have some aesthetic issues with both, but there's some value in having a bunch of cards request the same trigger in a Cube. It's a nice little mini-archetype that I like so much, and one that plays very well with what Cube is doing overall. The Council of Reeds, in particular, can double in size each turn, providing a much saner version of the Phoenix Fleet Airship that I liked a fair amount from Avatar.
Asgardian Inspiration is a sweet card that I don't really have interest in (my Cube doesn't really support all that much burn-to-the-face these days) but I think there are enough incidental ways to trigger it that I don't hate the notion of getting a card back from your graveyard whenever it does happen. If it were free or only cost (1), I think I'd be more inclined to consider it.
------
EDIT: oh, there are some other cards I had put in my notes I wanted to talk about too
Heroic Return is reasonable white reanimation. Without the additive distraction of the "hero" clause, I'd probably be willing to run this. It's about equal with Late to Dinner, a card I love but that's always going in-and-out of my list. Four mana is a lot to reanimate creatures limited to your graveyard, but if that's the only restriction, and it can be used as a piece of combat trickery/removal as well...well, yeah! That seems OK.
Professor Hulk has the vibes I wish more cards in the set had, a card that's not apologetic about being silly and cool at the same time same time, and not so beholden to the 70 years of lore that it's incomprehensible for people who have only watched a few movies. It's not quite good enough for my Cube, but I'm not opposed to playing it either, as its ability can be explosive in the right context. I'd be stoked to Sneak Attack it in, and though it fails the Vindicate test handily, I'd be happier to have this on my side of the battlefield than even some of the premiere threats like Alpha Deathclaw in plenty of situations. I'm going to more seriously consider this, knowing it'll be a pet card if it does make the cut.
A few years ago, Amazing Spider-Girl would've been a big deal. Web-slinging is truly a fun mechanic, and if I ever want to go deeper on Sneak/Ninjutsu, I'd be thrilled to try this out, as vanilla as it is. Even now, I'll be greedily putting this into both my reject Cube and my bar Cube.
Gert and Old Lace, Runaways is a novel glue card. We now live in an era of Environmental Scientist and Earthbender Ascension, but you don't have to in your Cube! If you look at this as a red card, or have a large discard-matters theme, this is an extremely flexible card for midrange soup that hits like a truck. This is an instant win for the Bar Cube but may even make its way into the on-deck binder for my main list if I'm feeling spicy enough. I wish it put the land into play (it'd be an easy include if it did) but that's also a little out-of-scope for red.
White Tiger, Amulet Keeper is a card I ran out of time to talk about when it was first spoiled, but I like 3/1s for 2. I like cheap legendary creatures. I like cards that have value in the graveyard. This does all of those things...just at a much fairer power-level than I'd like. Bar Cube? Absolutely. Anything else? Probably not, but that's fine because I think the art looks dumb.
Iron Man, Master of Machines is a dumb card. It'd be pretty good in my main Cube, though. I'm pretty OK paying 4 mana for a Karnstruct; if that's all I get out of Urza, Lord High Artificer or Karn, Scion of Urza, I'm rarely upset. It's also why I really want to put Urza's Command back in my list. This is a flying Karnstruct that's also a legendary artifact that I can cast for more than 3 mana to trigger Simulacrum Synthesizer which then makes more Karnstructs while drawing a card almost every turn and....this is all a little too EDH-brained, I think. It's the kind of Magic many Cube players come to Cube to escape from.
Because most of my players are more EDH players than general Magic players, I do try to appeal to their sensibilities in this way when I can, and I think it's fun, too. This one, besides being, well, Iron Man, is a little too much in this direction, but I'm not ruling it out. I'd rather my Karnstructs be related to Karn, not Tony Stark, and I'm pretty happy with my Izzet section anyways. Don't shame me too much if it ends up in my Cube by the end of the year, though.
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