Sets (OTJ/BIG/OTC/OTP) Outlaws of Thunder Junction & The Big Score Mega Testing and Includes Thread!

[TrainmasterGT]

This is a testing/includes thread. Post pictures using /ci or a text list using /c with what cards you plan to include and what cards you plan to test.​

Including:

(Archmage's Charm is a reprint, but I'm expecting it to drop the price to a more reasonable number!)

Including if I Open:


Testable:


BREAKING NEWS: The Breaking News bonus sheet has a ton of good reprints on it.

As a whole, I think this set has a better overall design than any other set this year, but I think it's probably the second weakest full set, just ahead of Karlov Manor. As with every set in the past 18 months, there are a ton of potentially interesting Cube cards. However, I think there are fewer "slam-dunk" tier items than I had hoped for. In either case, the set is pretty cool, and I'm excited to draft it!

What are your plans for this set?
-GT

 

[Brad]

Shout out to Outlaws, Pot of Avarice, and Akul the Unrepentant for having Black Cube energy.



I'm going to have an excess of cards here. I'm waiting to see the Eldrazi in MH3, so I'm keeping my options open until then.

Spoiler

This is definitely good, but is it too good?


The three toughness is a lot, but it works early and late, which is at a premium for me.


This is another one that might be too good. All of those effects are really good and the 6 mana instant Wrath is pretty powerful, but none of this seems particularly broken.


If I can fit reminder text for Saddle on it.


Not sure if this is a fun minigame with Eldrazi or an unfun piece of crap. Probably doesn't realistically go in a deck with Eldrazi.


Is this the best 4 mana single creature exile? I like instant answer to Ulamog at 4 and the surveil is a nice consolation.


Sorta scared of this one, but it might be ok. A lot of cards on the upper end of what I'm comfortable with in this set.


Pretty happy to play this for 4, which isn't too tough.


Discard is a bit too strong when your opponent wants to work up to their 10 drop, but this dude's pretty sweet.


Each mode of this costs 1 too much, but the combination looks pretty worth it. It can be a 5 mana tutor for a 4 drop.


I like to have counter play to my Spawns/Scions without blowing out the 2/1 for 1 aggro decks. This might work.


I dunno if this is good or not.


Aggro and ramp, depending on the flavor of red. A friend of Wildfire?


For being a soothing non-combatant, this guys beats! Bit scared of this one.


Token friend and token foe in WB.


This has to be too strong, right? On stats alone, it's powerful.


Treasured Emrakul sounds too fun.


I shouldn't run a mild 3c card, but maybe this makes the cut until we see a double annihilator trigger.


This is doing a lot between the effect and the body, but it's basically two commons stacked together. This isn't that strong, right? No one has ever cried over a Goblin Electromancer.

No comments:

Spree is MVP.

Still not huge on the flavor, but it balanced out a bit as spoilers went on. The mechanics and cards were great here.

I'd love feedback on my cards with commentary.

 

[Seeker]

At least marginally interested in:



I suspect no more than two of those will make the cut long-term - thinking Aven Interrupter and Phantom Interference, though I bet I'm underrating Duelist of the Mind because they rarely make bad invitational cards, you know?

Plus tempted by every spree card and this weird Thunderclap Drake thing.

This is more than I've been tempted by, straight out of the gate, since like... I honestly don't even know. ZNR, probably, with the double-faced spell land rare cycle that could enter untapped? It's been a long time. I like cheap spells that do things I want done.

 

[gaytransmulldrifter]

Not a ton of automatic slam dunk shit in this set for me but a lot of stuff where I am looking at it out of the corner of my eye and saying "hm, perhaps". Good amount of cards that I'm thinking about just picking up to have in my maybeboard boxes. Lots of cool one-off designs here.

I think I'm officially past the point of my cube design journey where I want to read through an entire set file to dig for stuff, I'm mostly just pulling from what gets talked about in the spoiler thread here. I'm pretty happy with where my cubes are at overall and don't really feel the need to dig deep for inclusions just for the sake of it.

Cards that I'll include somewhere if I decide I want to spend complexity points on Spree

Interesting that we got two different modal Spree counterspells. Interference is a cool spin on Miscalculation, a card that I already like quite a bit. Three Steps Ahead seems almost a little insane to me, that is a crazy flexible card and I feel like if you get to lategame counter a thing and clone a thing the game is probably just over.

I'm still kinda shocked that they printed an Entomb effect into a standard environment with Atraxa in it lol. I think this card could be pretty cool and interesting in low-to-mid power environments, really encourages a lot of weird choices and deckbuilding restrictions. The two modes pulling you in two different directions ("reanimate a big stupid thing" and "reanimate one or two smaller things") is pretty interesting to me. Could be very cool with mechanics like Eternalize as well.

Just kinda does everything and I like the card's vibe, but the triple black pip means this one might not make it.

Cards that I'll include somewhere if I decide I want to spend complexity points on Committing Crimes

This card is just kinda sick, right? Like it's badass? Like you would hang out with him? I would. Could be cool in Pushstart.

"Recursive black one-drop" is one of my favorite genres of card, especially when they have aggressive stats like this so they can play well in both aggro and aristocrats. I like that this one has completely different incentives than all the others. Upside: plays insane with Blood Artist. Downside: plays bad with Cult Conscript.

Cards that will maybe go in Fair 'Nuff if I ever decide to add an artifact theme

Legion Extruder would maybe be pushing it but both of these are interesting enough and have diverse enough incentives that I'd be down to give them a shot.

Cards that just seem generically useful and I will either be including somewhere or keeping on standby

This card is a slam dunk for Pushstart. Pretty much guaranteed to be a menace in an environment where most of the fixing is Prismatic Vista. Simple, cheap, and effective. Best kind of Magic card.

I just think he's neat. I think this creates a bunch of funny minigames and the story equity is through the roof.

Wowowowow so flexible...good for her good for her.

I'm a sucker for this genre of card. Blue/red prowess adjacent shit. This one has meaty base stats and is a fun alternative to just boosting it's own power. Would be cool if I ever make some kind of mid-high power environment that has artifact synergies. I like the incentives here.

This card seems kinda cracked right? Right? Hello? Mom?

This is probably slightly too good for Fair 'Nuff but I do love Blade Splicer...

Lands payoff Overrun on a body?? Okay I see you. Definitely considering this one.

This is like the most generically playable and straightforward gold card in the whole set lol. I feel like Gravedigger doesn't quite get there in middle power cubes for me so I like this upgrade. Kinda wish it wasn't gold lol I already run so many Golgari cards because they're all so cool.

Cards that I'm probably never going to actually put in a cube but I will enjoy looking at them and thinking about them because they're funny

hoo hoo hee hee

 

[Nanonox]

I shit on the flavor and characters of the set, but I find myself liking a lot of individual card designs. Oops! That said, I don't know yet if I want to include Crime, Plot or Saddle, but they seem fairly intuitive and fun.

Include



This guy is looking really good to me. Double spelling gives you a 2/2, and anything more gets very threatening. This reminds me of Monastery Mentor (but triggers off of anything), where the tokens grow with each new spell cast, except the buff stays even if you don’t finish them off. Counters synergies + zombies for Gravecrawler and Cryptbreaker are definitely a plus!
I think your cube needs to be loaded with free spells and cantrips to consider this at higher power levels, but I am fine with that!



2 mana conditional counterspell is always playable, and I like giving an alternate mode or a mana sink later in the game for slower decks. I think Spree is simple enough that even as a one of it's fine.



A 2 mana Shock variant that works so well with all of the artifact trinkets/tokens in my cube. I currently run Twinshot Sniper which plays great, but this takes the spot for now. I've always been bummed that the Sniper doesn't work with Goblin Engineer. The Extruder not only fills the GY for the Engineer/Welder/Emry/Lurrus, but is also a target to be recurred.



Not your typical landfall guy in the sense that in my cube at least, landfall decks fall in the more grindy range and Bill here smashes face. So if it doesn’t go in the landfall deck, is it still worth it? Definitely!
Double fetches, land tutors or recursion are baked into the format meaning you’ll hopefully be able to distribute plenty of counters. A fetch makes this a 2 mana 4/4 or a Rishkar, Peema Renegade type effect buffing itself and another creature. The flexibility of placing the counters is key for me and the mana sink is just gravy.



The rate is great and so are the synergies. Pushing trample on tokens is especially relevant with Urza's Saga and other construct producing cards. I've included a counters theme in the cube as well and this goes just perfectly in there too.

Interested



Another conditional counterspell(ish) in White. Depends on whether or not Plot is included. Though double White mana sucks.



A cheat card in White? Seems actually decent!



I just love the potential here with Wheel effects and Proft's Eidetic Memory could be a redundant piece for an aggressive Blue deck.



This hits really hard, but Plot?



Love self-binning cards in Black especially, but not sure if I have the room.



If I want to drop the zombie theme.



Love the mana costs on this + combat damage trigger just like the original. The abilities fit what an aggressive deck wants. I know I tend to overvalue untapping stuff, but how can I resist untapping an Urza's Saga or Rishadan Port!

Cool but probably not

Fortune, Loyal Steed
Oltec Matterweaver
Nurturing Pixie
Omenport Vigilante
Requisition Raid
Stoic Sphinx
Highway Robbery
Magda, the Hoardmaster
Ornery Tumblewagg
Outcaster Trailblazer
Rise of the Varmints
Goldvein Hydra
Honest Rutstein
Make Your Own Luck
Malcolm, the Eyes

 

[Mown]

This set has way too many cards I want to find a place for, real shame about the plane itself being so lackluster, I'd much rather jam some cool looking gnomes or merfolk from ixalan.



Second pass after looking through what I'd have to cut for this. I can already say with certainty that I won't find space for four new red 2 drops.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Huge fan of spree and plot even if I'm not going to use any cards with those mechanics because those cards happen to not fit.
Crimes is a huge gamechanger for me, I'd been looking into black prowess, and while the 2nd spell thing fits decently because of some kaldheim cards, I think crimes is
A) a huge flavor fit for black cards
B) fits in well with the whole "We know you're just here for thoughtseize" identity black prowess will inevitably have and
C) is just an excellent, excellent thing to batch.

"targeting your opponent's things" is something I want to encourage ALL the time, so this text basically boils down to "have you cast a non-threat" with some cute little bonuses like the crime of putting a +1/+1 counter on Villan's stuff, for eg. I'll have to do a pass on my spells to make sure there's as little "each opponent" as possible, since I really want it to be intuitive what is and isn't a crime, and also make it as broad as possible.

Not only am I including a few of these, I'm going to make some of my own, I'm sure of it.

Also: this set has a ton of sweet little tokens and trinkets cards?! Sure!


I've talked about this before but I was doubling up on Ledger Shredder before this set and it proved a bit too strong. These two cards share a lot of DNA, but they kind of encourage different things in the cards they want you to cast, and offer different payoffs for doing so
Shredder kinda wants you to chain cantrips and sit back (It triggering on your opponent is brutal IMO), duelist does actually want you to fuck with your opponent and be aggressive. I'm still keeping one Ledger Shredder in, but I love what Deulist encourages.


This card is excellent, credit to Ari Lax for pointing out this dynamic (Y'all should listen to Dominaria's Jugement and not just for our home...forum? hero Mr Harvey)
This card shares a lot of DNA with everyone's favorite pogchimp (Though toned down, for sure), except the dynamics are kinda flipped: the best way to fight ragavan (other than killing it, ofc) is to put a blocker down. If you do, sometimes they miss and you can trade off for the Ragavan. Other times they kill your blocker, they draw a card off your deck, but you had to try, you know?
Tinybones, if you try and put down a blocker and they kill it, they steal your blocker. If you just ignore it....you take 1?

Don't get me wrong, he's adorable, and I'd fault nobody for running him, but this card makes me think about not developing my board, and I'm not sure I like that dynamic.
It's like a little mini-ink eyes, and I'm not sure I care.


Likely doubling up on this guy, maybe more. "Prowess" 1 drops suffer from having 1 power + prowess, which adds up to ~1.5 power, which aint great.


Artifact theme relevant removal spell, lets you turn trinket tokens into threats. Honestly frustrated I didn't think of this one myself given how simple it is


More sweet tokens cards, good on their own, better if you have their specific flavor of support. A+ design


Yeah I'll give it a shot. I'm not actually playing any black 5 drops at the moment, and this having "evoke" is sick.

Edit: Forgot this guy:

I do think crackling drake was the only good drake like this, and we've definitely never had a good groundpounder version, but I'm giving this a shot.

 

[shamizy]

My cube isn't so focused on exploring new mechanics and trying to make it work like it used to as much as it is just refining existing archetypes and branching out with more synergy whenever possible. I just don't think I have as many flex spots available for swaps 10+ years in. For that reason I'm not all that interested in mechanics like plot or cards mentioning crimes because it's just a lot of text and also crime just reads goofy as fuck. Especially for players who aren't keeping up with Magic every set like they once might have.

Cards that are simple to understand on their face, but have density based upon the interactions a drafter comes across, are much more compelling. I don't want to tie up complexity points in just reading through cards; I'd rather utilize that elsewhere.



Legion Extruder is really simple as a baseline Shock, but I like the potential interactions upgrading various artifact tokens and other cards in my environment. I like that it's cheap enough to Entomb with a Goblin Engineer and that you can get real cute setting up something like a Twinshot Sniper loop via Goblin Welder. Blinkable via Teleportation Circle and you can also curve right into cards that produce token bodies ala Breya's Apprentice. It's the kind of card that makes you think of ways you can accrue maximum value.

Lots of green cards, but they all feed into a small +1/+1 counters subtheme. Bill looks like a staple to me, I can see that card being excellent in my environment and it makes me want to revisit other ways that I can get triggers twice a turn more frequently aside from fetches. Salvager is the Green Blade Splicer though I'm not sure if I'm as high on it without first strike buff; that's a big reason why the token gets to rumble as often as it does for W/x decks. I'm also not sure if green decks care as much or can maximize the benefits of going wide like white decks can. We'll see how it goes, but Green 3s are really crowded nowadays so I could see this one not sticking around beyond a trial period (especially with MH3 on the Horizon).

Goldvein Hydra seems better to me the more I think about it. It's a simple card to understand but I like the decisions that a player gets to make with the X-spell flexibility. Modal creatures are never as great as their on rate counterparts in modern Magic, but the beauty comes in the flexibility you're granted. Even if this one is cast for X=3 or less and then immediately dealt with, it's still leaving behind something to set up your next big turn be that ramping into something big and beefy or being able to deploy two threats with extra mana available. Once it's up to X=4 it can really start to rumble and apply pressure, anything beyond that will make it a formidable creature on board. Having more big G/x ramp payoffs ala Hydroid Krasis or Shivan Devastator that can be played at earlier points of the game is just the flexibility that leads to tighter and more varied gameplay.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

I'd love feedback on my cards with commentary.

Ok, sure!

This is definitely good, but is it too good?

Probably not. I think this card feels like a Elite Spellbinder variant that trades some power for a lot more fun. In my opinion, Aven Interruptor answers the question "what if Elite Spellbinder was cool?"

The three toughness is a lot, but it works early and late, which is at a premium for me.

Yeah I think this card is probably pretty good. The floor is high enough that it's unlikely to ever be an actively bad card, although I'm unsure how cool it is in practice.

This is another one that might be too good. All of those effects are really good and the 6 mana instant Wrath is pretty powerful, but none of this seems particularly broken.

This is just mono-color Duneblast with a protection spell mode. I doubt the play patterns will be less toxic than the original Duneblast so I think this card is pretty skippable.

Not sure if this is a fun minigame with Eldrazi or an unfun piece of crap. Probably doesn't realistically go in a deck with Eldrazi.

I think this card looks like fun if you're in the market for a snake horse thing.

Sorta scared of this one, but it might be ok. A lot of cards on the upper end of what I'm comfortable with in this set.


Pretty happy to play this for 4, which isn't too tough.

If I'm being honest, I don't think these two cards would comfortably fit into the same power band.

Each mode of this costs 1 too much, but the combination looks pretty worth it. It can be a 5 mana tutor for a 4 drop.

I can't speak for Cube, but I know people who are excited about this card for use as copies 5-8 of Sheoldred in Standard!

I dunno if this is good or not.

I think this card is not good. The new Magda might be cool in this slot, though!

For being a soothing non-combatant, this guys beats! Bit scared of this one.

This is one of my favorite cards in the set. At the end of the day, this card is just an exciting and flexible beater. Even if it ends up being too good for what you're trying to accomplish, it's sure to be fun while it's in!

Token friend and token foe in WB.

I worry these cards will be a bit too niche, but Pest Control specifically is probably better than it looks thanks to cycling.

This has to be too strong, right? On stats alone, it's powerful.

I think stats matter less than people tend to give them credit for, especially on curve toppers like this. I doubt this card is actually bad, but it's unlikely to be too good provided the Cube has actual interaction.

Treasured Emrakul sounds too fun.

Yeah, this gal looks like a lot of fun!

This is doing a lot between the effect and the body, but it's basically two commons stacked together. This isn't that strong, right? No one has ever cried over a Goblin Electromancer.

I doubt this card is too strong. It is a bit generic, though.

You may want to proxy this one without the EDH text as well.

No comments:


Spree is MVP.

All four of these cards look like fun. I think Phantom Interference and Three Steps Ahead may end up being Cube classics if they're as good as I want them to be!

It makes me a bit sad to see Bill Nye the Cactus Guy but no Ornery Tumblewagg. I think these two would be best buds!

 

[Shpungo]

Hi team, so I actually printed out some proxies for revealed ootj cards and played a couple drafts with them. I've found Magda the hordemaster to be a really nice card in red that doesn't feel unfair, but enables really nice ramping as a payoff for interacting w your opponent. However, I also played a draft with Rakdos, the Muscle, and discovered that it was extremely unfair. My cube is fairly mid powered, and Rakdos is an unbelievably strong mythic bomb that is only appropriate for very high leveled cubes. He's extremely hard to remove and over the course of the game I managed to exile 20+ cards from my opponent's library and win by decking them. It's the kind of card that immediately demands an answer, one that dodges indestructible, or else he singlehandedly wins the game due to the sheer amount of card advantage and pressure he creates.

 

[froggy]

current tests

 

[ravnic]

Likely to get tested:



Strix is a nice 1-drop for ninjas and other aggressive blue decks, and the loot ability adds extra synergie potential.

Pixie is also a cool flying men variant, you either play it if you want evasive 1-drops or if you're blinking. Ideally a bit of both. Also cool with ninjas.

Potentially:



I'm surprised to be the only one to mention Embrace the Uknown. A cool red draw spell with retrace for loam synergies? Only problem for me is the ugly rare frame, lol.

Legion Extruder comes in a decent showcase frame. It would be a bit of a power outlier potentially, bit a very synergistic one, so I could see me get a copy of it doesn't end up being expensive.

Bloodsucker is kinda close. A lifelinking bear is not that much below my other creatures and mill yourself for two can be real card advantage.

That's it I guess.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Worth noting Final Showdown is an instant, it does have that over duneblast

 

[gaytransmulldrifter]

Anyone else not notice until like, today that the Spree cards have a little plus sign next to the mana symbol

 

[Mown]

Anyone else not notice until like, today that the Spree cards have a little plus sign next to the mana symbol

I noticed it a while ago, and I think it's kind of stupid, because it made me think that the spree cost was added to the actual mana cost of the spell rather than being an additional cost, but it's not.

 

[Erik Twice]

Like most people here, these are my picks:



A while ago, I pushed for a +1/+1 subtheme, but I ended up cutting most of the cards. Yet, the support and some great roleplayers are still in the cube. Thanks to these new additions, the theme is better than ever and neither card is forced.

What I like most about Bill is that it's not a good-stuff card, but it does fit a wide variety of decks. It's good in aggro decks, because it's a 4/4. It's good in midrange, where it can accumulate value and threaten an Overrun effect. I would happily play it in some Loam decks, as well in some Earthcraft ones, because those get redundancy through cards like Katila, Dawnhart Prime and Rishkar, Peema Renegade.

Sandstorm Salvager gives a much needed blink effect in green. While some already existed, most options were redundant (Simian Simulacrum) or boring (Naturalize effects). The second ability makes for a more well-rounded card than Blade Splicer. It's also a human, which is important for me.



This is the perfect Riptide Lab card. It replaces Pyrite Spellbomb, which was a plain burn spell, with a card with more interesting properties. It's the playable Hammer of Purphoros, reduces the need to run Makeshift Munitions and other middling cards that provide coverage at the cost of power. It's 2 mana for Scrap Trawler, too, and it produces Golems which have some nifty little synergies.



I haven't drafted a deck with this guy yet, but it looks like the black spells matter card we always needed.

Black has always played a part in spell decks because all its staples fit the bill. It has discard, removal, some draw and even provides some alternates angles through the likes of Yawgmoth's Will and . What it lacks is a card with more general uses.

My hope is that this supports that kind of decks and allows for funky stuff like playing it off a Dark Ritual and then playing it back. It should also work with Tendrils of Agony, which looks cool. The most important thing is that it's not limited to once per turn, so you can replay a ton of value spells. The real limitation here is black spells only, that means you cannot return Wheels to your hand.

 

[inscho]

Certain:
Harvester of Misery: Love this card. My favorite in the set. Elegant and relevant at multiple stages of the game. This is generally good for control, but is a great early stabilizer for reanimator strategies against aggro. By turn 3 or 4 you can channel and reanimate in the same turn to give one creature -4/-4 and the rest -2/-2. There's just a lot of flexibility and it's all at a reasonable rate.
Legion Extruder: Great engine card that provides a serviceable floor. Instant speed activation is clutch.
Sandstorm Salvager: A card a lot of us have wanted for a while...not much to say.
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower: Generically good beater, but gets crazy quick in land strategies. Aggro loam is one of my favorite archetypes and this will be a monster within that archetype.

Near Certain:
Forsaken Miner: I avoid Tribal so I've never run Gravecrawler...this provides a similar type of combo potential with things like Blood Artist, Mayhem Devil, Goblin Bombardment, Judith, Scourge Diva, and Blasting Station. I don't love introducing new keywords....but I'll suck it up.

Uncertain but Interested:
Kaervek the Punisher: I used to run Toshiro, Umezawa in EDH...it was so completely un-fun for everyone since you can loop creature removal with the trigger on the stack. Kaervek is kind of a pushed version of Toshiro. It's a lot more flexible. Getting to recast any black card is kind of nuts, but it still feels a little fussy for my liking. I'm sure there are some crazy best case scenarios, but on average I think needing to commit a Crime and paying mana to cast keeps it from being a cube consideration for me. It feels like more of a midrange value card than a combo card to me...I'm interested to hear others feedback from testing.
Nurturing Pixie: The new and improved Glint Hawk. Really a shame that you can’t return a land. That would made it an instant include for me.
Tinybones, the Pickpocket: Cute and fun, but I don't think the timing complications are particularly appealing. It's a one drop that needs to connect in later stages of the game. In the early stages this has to: 1) connect with damage and 2) have a permanent in the opponent's graveyard that's A) cheap enough to cast and B) worth casting over something else you can play from your hand. At points in the game that the ability is relevant it's likely going to just eat a removal spell or be chump-blocked and traded.
Phantom Interference: Not sure if I want to cut Mana Leak for this. 3 mana is a lot more than 2, and leak more often plays like a hard counter than something like Miscalculation. I think I like the option to cycle Miscalculation when dead in hand over having access to a 4 mana Vexing Gull.
Duelist of the Mind: We are nearing critical mass for the spell-centric tempo/aggro deck. It's not a deck I currently support, but will be keeping an eye on.
Slickshot Show-Off: See above^
Collector's Cage: This is a really fun and interesting card, and would be a blast in slower environments. Probably too fiddly for the GCC.
Stingerback Terror: I have a soft spot for big dumb beaters for my hellbent archetypes. I played Lupine Prototype for years. However, I don't think I need a bluntly offensive creature like this anymore with all of the versatile options we have available. I also don't plan to introduce the plot mechanic to my cube.

Interested but Doubtful:
Final Showdown: This may play a little better than it looks, but I don't think any of the options are very good. 2-3 mana for a combat trick has never worked in my cube. 3WWW for an instant speed wrath isn't interesting to me either.
Highway Robbery: I would've considered this before Demand Answers was printed.
Oltec Matterweaver: Really fun, but I didn't like how Welcoming Vampire felt at 3cmc in my creature heavy archetypes, and I'd much rather draw a card than make a 1/1 or another Food token. There's definitely some high upside scenarios to be had if given the time. At least it has strong base stats.
Bristlebud Farmer: A couple years ago this would be a quick include for me, but there are better options now.
Geralf, the Fleshwright: This is really great for a deck that can line up a big turn. I'm just not sure how good it will be on average. It's a pretty vulnerable body, and you need to cast 3 spells in a turn to get real impact. Is it a 3 drop? You probably want to be able to at least cast one more spell after you play it to net a token....if not more. Maybe if it put counters on all your zombie tokens regardless of when they hit play? I don't know...I'm just a little underwhelmed, but eager to be proven otherwise!
Smirking Spelljacker: A better Voracious Greatshark. This seems great in a midrange cube, but holding 5 mana open feels pretty hard to do these days.

 

[MilesOfficial]

Going to do a proper write-up later, but I'm pretty happy with this set. For my 720 Cube, 29 new additions is a lot for a single expansion, but really, thanks to BIG, it's not too crazy, especially considering this is just a first draft.

There's a few all-timers in here that I'm beyond excited about like Legion Extruder, Three Steps Ahead, Harvester of Misery, and Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. I really like Jace Reawakened and Sandstorm Salvager as well.

As a big fan of Westerns -- but also good storytelling -- this set/plane is a mixed bag for me. The Aftermath stories were legitimately interesting and made me stoked for Magic's larger plot and I'm happy to have some cowboy-styled cards to fight alongside my Kaldheim vikings (as well as Samwise Gamgee and my New Vegas NPCs I guess).

The Atiin were probably considered the least-bad way they could include some indigenous American content without acknowledging some of the core challenges with thoughtfully and respectfully tackling this era of history/region, but it also makes the set ring super hollow to me. I love Westerns not for cowboy hats, but for the complexities that come with the era. It feels cheap. The "everyone's wearing hats/cosplaying" thing feels a lot more true when every other card is a reference to a movie's name and there's (purposely) not as much world building to make it Magic's own version as we'd normally expect.

Also, the fact that the set was build, designed, etc. as a "villain set that just happens to take place in the Ol' West" but then was marketed as "YEE HAW" 100% is...less than ideal. Many of my issues would have been addressed by more thoughtful framing.

 

[ellogeyen]

I really like the mechanics for this set and it seems like a lot of fun to draft! But for my own cube, I don't think I'll add anything. The following cards are the biggest maybes, in order of likelihood (likely to unlikely):

 

[StrionicAdventurer]

I'll be making several updates to Welder's Workshop with this set. The cube has hit max capacity, so every new card has to be associated with a cut.

First up: my favorite cards from the main set:

<-> Sinister Sabotage

This spell is just perfect. I've trawled through a lot of counterspells to find the ones that fit my mechanical themes (lots of 3-mana counterspell with set mechanic stuff), and Sinister Sabotage was added to the list back when Surveil was much harder to find. Meanwhile, Three Steps Ahead allows players to pursue an exciting token clone strategy and keep some control tools in their back pocket. So, this is an easy switch.


<-> Venser, the Sojourner

This is a cool piece of removal that can upgrade a Servo token into something much cooler. Lots of applications for this thing. It's replacing Venser, who is essentially a glorified Teleportation Circle here. I had fun adding planeswalkers to my list, but not all of them have the chops to stick around.

Next, some straightforward switches.

One Last Job <-> Repair and Recharge
You will always get your mana's worth out of One Last Job in this cube.

Smuggler's Surprise <-> Lifecraft Awakening
Lifecraft Awakening is here to turn trinket tokens into threats, but I don't find it as interesting as Smuggler's Surprise. That having been said, Green might have enough access to self-mill already.


The Big Score

This micro-set is truly a big score for my cube. Most of the cards in here fit my environment so perfectly it kind of worries me. Did the 5G chips in my Covid booster finally activate, allowing real-time psychic datamining and a whole new echelon of targeted advertisement? Almost certainly. But that won't stop me from playing these cards.

<-> Twilight Drover
These cards are not as similar as they first appear, so this isn't exactly a straightforward upgrade. But the Matterweaver's potential ability to clone some crazy tokens makes him really exciting.

<-> Invasion of Vryn
Another way to get cool token copies. Invasion of Vryn is basically here just for the artifact on its reverse side (although the draw/discard wasn't a waste of space), but Esoteric Duplicator lets you skip the Battle and go straight for dessert.

<-> Crystal Shard
This one is a little tough. I actually think Crystal Shard is a more interesting card, so this switch might not stick. Or, I might cut something else for the Synthesizer, which seems awesome and has a unique trigger for the cube.

<-> Dream Eater
Dream Eater has been living on borrowed time for a while. As much as I like ETB Surveil 4 as a flicker incentive, I nust don't think I can run this and Astral Dragon in the same environment. Meanwhile, Worldwalker Helm does everything I want a card to do.

<-> Vulshok Factory
These cards are pretty similar, but the Extruder seems better in almost every way. I love having a new way to upgrade random trinket tokens.

<-> Draconic Destiny
I've been trying to find space for Determined Iteration for a long time, and the new Molten Duplication seems dramatically better than that. Meanwhile, Draconic Destiny is mostly here to upgrade random 1/1 tokens, and I guess I just don't find that as exciting. There's tons of good Equipment floating around to do that job.

<-> Bramble Sovereign
This weird cactusboy is likely to stick around for quite some time. Meanwhile, I don't think I need both Bramble Sovereign and Caller of the Untamed. Since Caller of the Untamed is uniquely charming in Cube, and because I love the art, she stays.

<-> Emrakul's Evangel
The Evangel has been in danger for a while. It's here as a way to upgrade token armies and set off death triggers, but it has always bothered me that the resulting colorless 3/2s aren't artifacts! Anyway, Sandstorm Salvager does a lot of the same work, but seems more immediately profitable. Plus, gettable by Vesperlark!

<-> Everythingamajig
A dream card for my cube. Honestly, a 5-mana durdle machine that cranks out trinkets and has a crazy payoff? Is this fake? Is this a wildly undisciplined CustomMTG design? It's apparently very real. Although Everythingamajig has been good for the memes, it's time to replace it with a black-bordered card.

<-> Tocasia's Digsite
Tocasia's Digsite was already a placeholder card since I didn't want to buy another copy of Inventor's Fair. No further thoughts on this obvious upgrade.

 

[safra]

Creatures with Flying:


Good cards for me and my format. Really really excited about "Elemental Eruption" as another Storm target that doesn't necessarily need the all-in get-to-ten-Storm wheels-and-rituals engine required for Tendrils of Agony or Brain Freeze. I think this is lethal at Storm counts as low as 3-4, just like mommy Dragonstorm, and I'm very excited to test that out.

Tools:


I think these will all do work. Optimistic about Collector's Cage as an unfair angle of attack for fair creature decks. Rumbleweed isn't just something to NO for, but is also an Elemental, which means it's easier to cheat out in my format than Hoof was, so this is a no-brainer swap and one I'm happy for. The additional angles - reanimating an elemental card, sacrificing all your lands to discount it, "hardcasting" it in a dredge deck - are all different gameplans and so I'm stoked to have one fatty work in so many different gameplans. Legion Extruder I'm hopeful will add a much-needed extra angle to artifact-heavy decks, and Pest Control is the cleanest answer to Urza's Saga shenanigans since Dress Down. Molten Duplication might be a dud but I want to see what it does with Candelabra or Memory Jar type stuff, since that's the thing that might push it into playability for me vs Twinflame, which was just shy of good enough a few years ago.

Dudes:


Two awesome ground pounders, who I expect will stick around for a while.


Nervous about, waiting to hear more about so I can evaluate their quality of fit:
Jace (no Plot reminder text!), golemcrafter greenguy (although probably I should just put it in the cube and pretend it's a Tarkiri sandstorm, but this isn't what my green threes do anymore), nurturing pixie, Magebane Lizard, Harvester of Misery (beautiful card that if it were an Elemental or Dragon I would slam dunk include, but too high a density of non-iconic creatures at the top of the curve and suddenly the cube is no longer "about" "making dragons"), the invitational card (the ceiling is enormous but I'm sympathetic to what Ari Lax was saying about the card's odd defensive fit on Dominaria's Judgment).

Also attached are two re-renders I've done to make the pixie and drake aesthetically fit Sharzad (EDIT: yeah, the pegasus wasn't quite it. found another pic in another folder)

 

[jms]

For the 360:

Harvester of Misery - The only thing that scares me about this card is how quickly and easily it can enter the battlefield ahead of schedule (while leveling everything else), but it's a terrific and flavorful design. Assuming it's played on curve, it has to instantly be in the running for one of the strongest if not most interesting black five drops.
Hostile Investigator - Generates value in a flavorful way with little to no investment, and Liliana of the Veil and Rotting Regisaur both work well with it. Clues on board are very appealing in a low resource game which this guy seems to want.
Slickshot Show-Off - I'm slightly skeptical of how effective this one will be outside of the very cantrippy, velocity spells stuff, and thus how broadly appealing it is. But maybe a realistic case of cracking in once for ~5 + whatever burn spell you aimed at your opponent is more than enough.
Vaultborn Tyrant - Going back and forth on whether I want this green Wurmcoil considering I don't have anything nor want anyone to cheat this into play and leave the token behind.
Sandstorm Salvager - Green increasingly is building this solid artifact subtheme, and as others have pointed out, a few blink/regrowth spells and Urza's Saga constructs make this card a win condition on its own.
Selvala, Eager Trailblazer - It's really good for a Selesnya card!

For the 180:

Savvy Trader
Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius
Kellan, the Kid

All three promote playing cards from zones other than your hand, which is explicitly what I wish to promote in this cube. The tough part, especially at 180, is finding what comes out.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

Vaultborn Tyrant - Going back and forth on whether I want this green Wurmcoil considering I don't have anything nor want anyone to cheat this into play and leave the token behind.

This is more of an updated Penumbra Wurm than a version of Wurmcoil Engine in my opinion. The card is very good but I don't think it's going to be frustrating to deal with.

 

[Brad]

This is more of an updated Penumbra Wurm than a version of Wurmcoil Engine in my opinion. The card is very good but I don't think it's going to be frustrating to deal with.

If it's frustrating to deal with, GOOD! It costs 7 and the rest of pixelated panda's cards are pretty high power. Should be fine.



@safra
Need a capital on Sacrifice on the Drake.

I'm also skeptical that other art is an angel. I don't see wings on it and it's riding something else with wings. I'd probably make it "Pegasus Rider" or something.

 

[jms]

If it's frustrating to deal with, GOOD! It costs 7 and the rest of pixelated panda's cards are pretty high power. Should be fine.

Well, one of my gripes with Wurmcoil--and why it's not in the cube despite probably being of an appropriate power level--is that it's so effective and everyone can play it. Slippery slope, I know, because there're plenty of cards in the cube with subjectively undesirable play patterns, but at least you've got to commit to a color or two. And with that logic, Tyrant is probably OK, because it's a color and it even costs 1 more.

Then the next question is what comes out. Is it different enough/more interesting/better than Titan of Industry? And it's certainly different enough and probably stronger than Hornet Queen, but then I'd have two similar green 7s.

This is more of an updated Penumbra Wurm than a version of Wurmcoil Engine in my opinion. The card is very good but I don't think it's going to be frustrating to deal with.

Makes sense. I think I can agree on about 75% Wurm and 25% Coil ...er I mean, it's mostly Penumbra Wurm with a triggered Wurmcoil Engine life gain.