Card/Deck Single Card Spotlight

[Nanonox]

You missed the original "we need a Jeskai mana elf" from the day it was spoiled:

These two are so good because you naturally discard them to Ascendancy, great suggestions.

Some of you have never tried to cube with Disciple of Deceit and it shows.

That's fair and the card looks like a really cool build around. The selection for Jeskai Inspire cards is thin though...

My favourite combos with ascendancy in my cube are Life//Death and Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia (the back side of Invasion of Segovia).

Green is so good alongside Ascendancy. If you can manage to splash the enchantment in a Green deck, you are going to have a good time. Didn't know about Sea Tyrant, but it's a perfect fit!

 

[Dom Harvey]

Aside from the usual Birds of Paradise/Sylvan Caryatid etc there's:



Life/Death tickles me pink because it pairs the afterthought green mode of a BG split card with a WUR combo piece but it is a legitimately powerful combo too

 

[TrainmasterGT]

God Duskmourn was such a cool set.

 

[Dom Harvey]

What are the vibes on Dack Fayden these days? Stealing a decent artifact feels so swingy and quite hateful if you support an Artifact Deck but as a continuous looter it's quite appealing

 

[MilesOfficial]

What are the vibes on Dack Fayden these days? Stealing a decent artifact feels so swingy and quite hateful if you support an Artifact Deck but as a continuous looter it's quite appealing

He's always been a favorite, but I think he's the most compelling planeswalker in 2025. Certainly the most important card in Izzet for me!

Artifacts play a pretty big role in my Cube to the point that it's never a dead ability, even if YMMV. The key is really the draw two, discard two, which an ever-increasing segment of my Cube is interested in, like the Maurading Makos and Ivora, Insatiable Heirs.

 

[Nanonox]

I don’t like Control Magic effects and that extends to Dack. Removing an artifact is one thing, stealing it is such a huge tempo swing. If you have an artifact cheat deck, it gets even worse!
That said, the looting ability is amazing and maybe I’m too conservative here.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I cut all steal effects from my cube when I realized it is pre-sleeved, so players can’t tell apart their cards. It’s so easy to accidentally shuffle up one of your opponent’s cards after the game.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

What are the vibes on Dack Fayden these days? Stealing a decent artifact feels so swingy and quite hateful if you support an Artifact Deck but as a continuous looter it's quite appealing

I think the vibes are good on Dack!

 

[Seeker]

I cut all steal effects from my cube when I realized it is pre-sleeved, so players can’t tell apart their cards. It’s so easy to accidentally shuffle up one of your opponent’s cards after the game.

Does this include Threatens? Not that I have more than just Claim the Firstborn at the moment.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Does this include Threatens? Not that I have more than just Claim the Firstborn at the moment.

No, Threatens are fine if they last until end of turn. People don't really forget to give back the creature at end of turn. I think I currently run Eriette's Tempting Apple. I used to have Yasova Dragonclaw, but I don't know if that's still there.

 

[Seeker]

Sometimes the threaten does not last until end of turn!

(...you kill them with their creature, then make sure to shuffle it into your deck, then kill them with it again. Got 'em!)

 

[shamizy]

Sometimes the threaten does not last until end of turn!

(...you kill them with their creature, then make sure to shuffle it into your deck, then kill them with it again. Got 'em!)

Infinite card glitch, Magic players HATE this simple trick.

 

[LadyMapi]

Really stupid idea: cube draft, but after the game is done you shuffle villain's battlefield into your library (and vice-versa).

 

[ravnic]

Battlefield or graveyard? Or both?

 

[Seeker]

Battlefield is funnier, because then you want to leave their bomb alive and kill them through it. Graveyard you'd just swap pairs of "removal and target" and so on.

Battlefield also makes countermagic worse!

 

[Rusje]

Both. Battlefield does give lands but no spells, graveyard gives spells and dead permanents but likely no lands

 

[LadyMapi]

Battlefield or graveyard? Or both?

My original idea was the battlefield, because I feel like that's more interesting? Sac outlets suddenly become more interesting for everyone, and Kaervek's Spite is suddenly an awesome way to finish out a game.

 

[Velrun]

Sometimes the threaten does not last until end of turn!

(...you kill them with their creature, then make sure to shuffle it into your deck, then kill them with it again. Got 'em!)

The moment you flip the top card of your library when playing for ante and you flip their own card. Got ‘em!

 

[Dom Harvey]

Vibe check on Soulherder - it's a strong/pushed incentive for a natural UW archetype (if a repetitive one) but that seems to be why a lot of people dislike it. Is that context exclusive (I can see it being obnoxious in Peasant etc)? Does Soulherder have shooters here?

 

[MilesOfficial]

Vibe check on Soulherder - it's a strong/pushed incentive for a natural UW archetype (if a repetitive one) but that seems to be why a lot of people dislike it. Is that context exclusive (I can see it being obnoxious in Peasant etc)? Does Soulherder have shooters here?

I don't really run much blink support so it's basically a single-card build-around, which I think works just fine with my power-level and the power-level of ETBs in general. It's pretty good. Soft to removal, but basically justifies a 3MV cost without making you feel like a fool if they have instant speed interaction.

I get why people don't like it, because it's quite strong and a little too obvious/straightforward, but without a dedicated blink theme I feel like it hits a pretty good balance in my list, and it opens up some interesting strategies. I'm a fan.

 

[ravnic]

a little too obvious/straightforward

That is the reason I don't like it. The design feels, despite the high power level, too much like a signpost gold card. It says "when you do X I grow" and "I do X every turn with out any input needed", that's a bit blunt. Also, it can't blink other permanents like e.g. Brago, King Eternal and it can't blink opponent's stuff like e.g. Mistmeadow Vanisher, so it is also narrow, even for a blink support payoff card.

 

[inscho]

Sometimes a little bluntness is good. I still like Soulherder but would cut it in a second if I was presented with something more interesting. My Azorius section is pretty unimpressive….but not as bad as Boros

 

[Seeker]

Sometimes a little bluntness is good. I still like Soulherder but would cut it in a second if I was presented with something more interesting. My Azorius section is pretty unimpressive….but not as bad as Boros

Same about Azorius, but I'm actually pretty happy with Boros - Warleader's Call and Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon are really obvious signposts, but they've got interesting synergies with things.

There's also Showdown of the Skalds, Banon, the Returners' Leader, Winota, Joiner of Forces... there's a lot even without dipping into the Comet/Forth/Otharri Vintage-Cube-Level pool. If you want lower power, there's my beloved Reconstruct History, we had a whole post conversation about Queen Kayla bin-Kroog like a month back, Sami, Ship's Engineer has got to be better in Cube than in retail EOE, etc.

And, of course, there's always the various vanilla uncommons, Frontline Rush, Heroic Reinforcements blah blah.

 

[MilesOfficial]

For me, Boros is maybe the most competitive guild in terms of raw number of interesting cards, including some of my favorite underrated Cube cards (each category in order of favor):

Supporting my favorite archetypes



Single-Card Build-Arounds



Sweet, sweet cards that have just one thing that I don't like


(Usually this is unique tokens)

OK, I'll just list them out:
Bruse 2: Unique token
Velomachus: Too much text
Riders: Just barely not enough juice
Lightning: Not synergistic enough
Ajani: Way too strong
Wildfire: Too fiddly with unique tokens, no one ever drafted it even though it's a bomb :<
Bruse 1.0: I'm the only one who ever drafted him, my players are cowards
Legion Leadership: Feels bad to have a combat trick/land take up a guild slot, especially when Boros hates taplands
Swooping Pteranodon: Too much text and too hard to read
Zirda: Companion baggage, too much thinking required
Gallifrey Falls: A bit expensive and fiddly
Twinmaw: Omen
Ezio: Assassin text and slightly too low power-level
Dinosaurs: Unique token and no suspend reminder text

Look, I'm not saying Boros is the deepest guild, but it's probably the coolest.