Sets The Best of Tarkir Block

[Chris Taylor]

Given how successful Dig Through Time has been in generic cubes, I wouldn't really call it a home run for design. It's nice if you have graveyard stuff going on, but just playing magic it's basically Fact or Fiction with a bit of mana upside. Fine card, but uninspiring.

For Soulflayer: looking back through FRF I'm surprised how many of the cards I do like are simply solid playable versions of otherwise boring stuff like Brutal Hordechief, Yasova Dragonclaw, Goblin Heelcutter, Flamewake Phoenix, Whisperwood Elemental, etc

I think there's an argument to be made for Alesha being inspiring. Red never really did the bringing back part of the equation, more the throwing away part, and you can get some interesting stuff going pushing more value out of cards like Faithless Looting and Mardu Skullhunter

 

[GenericZero]

I think you won me over. I was going to skip over Surrak entirely, but now I think I'm going to test him.

I don't know what's gotten into you, GenericZero, but your posts lately have been completely kick ass.

Implying my posts ever sucked.

But for real, I killed the OG owner of this account. Then I stole his identity. His own family hasn't even noticed. I'm just that smooth.

 

[Diakonov]

Still needs time to prove itself, but could be my sleeper favorite of Khans. For Fate I'm torn between Shu-Yun, Yasova, and Ugin. They've all been perfect.

 

[Lucre]

I just want my green 4s to do something more than add attacking. Giving them haste is neat if you are trying to push a stompy deck but I'm not sure you are getting much more depth from that decision.

I liked horedling outburst from day 1 because you know how much I like token spells in synergy heavy cubes. I feel like prowess type effects enabled outburst and not so much the other way around but there are lots of cubes that would like a red 3 that blocks well and isn't trying to be abominably aggressive.

This set has been an incredible windfall for Peasant + Fetchland Cubes and I'm gonna have to dust off my list pretty soon.

 

[shamizy]

I'm going with:



As mentioned in that awesome writeup, Seeker is just an All-Star across so many spectrums. WOTC really knocked it out of the park with this one. Such a simple design, but it generates so much value. Honestly, I just love Prowess as a mechanic. All the Prowess guys currently in my cube (Seeker, Mentor, Swiftspear and Shu-Yun) have all been pretty sweet in play.

Yasova has been bonkers for me here in the few drafts I've been able to hold since FRF was released (busy w/school mostly). I was looking for relevant green threes around FRFs release, since there weren't that many huge immediate payoffs to T1 dorks, and she fit the bill. The most memorable deck was easily Worldknit Pod where she was just insanely fun to watch in action. Pod into her, have no mana issues with threaten, steal dudes, sac to go up the pod chain. It was so sweet. Threaten effects are fun, she's got a good body, and she pushes the theme pretty well on her own.

For DTK I have high hopes for new Sidisi. Saccing creatures to generate value is one of my favorite things to do, she has a good body with Deathtouch stapled on, and she supports zombies. I also prefer something like this near the top of my curve in black rather than Grave Titan who just dominates games without an immediate answer. She's definitely more interesting and will have more play to her than the Titan just throwing up value all over the field.

 

[Lucre]

I feel like tasigur and ilk lead to more interesting decks where as 4/2 threaten leads to more swingy games. The phrase "do you have it" comes to mind but I don't want this to be a criticism of yasova or what she gives to floundering UG decks.

As much as I love dig, and feel like blue wants more interesting options for riptide cubes, I gotta say seeker really opened peoples eyes up and gave white sections the push in the right direction.

 

[Goldenpineapple]

These are my picks:



Sidisi takes the BUG reigns from The Mimeoplasm quite easily, and while I daresay I'm a lot more supportive of 3-color decks than most here I just have to sit back and admire how big of a signal she is and how handily she enables and powers up her deck. Striking a card off my "I wish there was a..." list is pretty much the best thing a set can do, and this is it.

Yasova does the best job at promoting multicolor play without needing to be built / played around too heavily, as the other past-khans. Simply leads to more interesting plays and decisions than other cards in the set. There's not too much more to say about her, but a lot of the cards in FRF are either very high raw power (Tasigur, whisperwood) or relatively unexciting cards that just slot in easily (battle brawler, battle rage) so she takes the cake for me by just hitting a lot of sweet spots without feeling overly pushed.

Silumgar was another card like Sidisi- I've been wanting a non-embarrassing, non-Oona splashy UB finisher for a long time, and this looks great! Sower is highly-picked, and I've always been a fan of anything that can punish a planeswalker. As a morph-hater and someone not on the +1/+1 counter plan, it's easy for me to gloss over a lot of this set's awesomeness and pick something relatively 'safe' as far as cube favorites go.


KTK Runner-ups
Dig through time isn't particularly exciting mechanically, but it's mis-played so often that I can't hate it. No other card has made people regret their decision more often.
Tormenting voice, seeker of the way, and murderous cut are all great cards that I feel their colors needed to some extent- filtering that doesn't suck, a beater with text for all decks, and cheap unconditional removal, respectively. (Slaughter pact / doom blade's nonblack feels more and more dated every draft)

FRF Runner-ups
Shaman of the Great Hunt is a lot more interesting than the other various 4-power-4-cmc haste guys in red, and does a comparable job of supporting multicolor play to yasova.
Abzan Beastmaster, Gurmag angler, mardu strike leader, and whisperwood elemental all slot into places I wasn't happy with before, but aren't really exciting.

DTK Runner-ups
Collected Company is a super high-potential card, but I'm just not confident enough in it to give it the crown. Very close pick, though.
Profaner of the Dead seems like it also has a pretty high power ceiling and a very dramatic, blowout-y effect, but again I'm not confident in it.
Ojutai Exemplars fits in a lot of decks and takes the place of the much more durdly/answer-demaning white 4s, another section it's hard to find the RIGHT cards for.
Another slew of less exciting cards (imo) that slide right in or take up residence where I've been unhappy like zurgo bellstriker, surrak, the hunt caller, and secure the wastes are riddled throughout the set and are by no means bad.

 

[Chris Taylor]

Alright, I'm gona be different. My Pick for Kahns:

I can basically say at this point that my cube should be running this card instead of gravecrawler, and the only reason I'm not making the switch is because I'm an asshole and have 4 of the buy a box gravecrawler.
He synergizes with more things since he's a human, and a warrior, He's way more fair when you can combo off with blasting station, much easier to recur otherwise, he has a stupid nickname (Randy "Two Shields" Jackson) and a dumb explanation for that nickname (Why does a creature that can't block have two shields? Well the first one is to hit you with, and the other one.... is to hit you with)

Honerable Mentions:

I've always loved sweet things to do with +1/+1 counters, and 5/6 fliers are high on the list of "cool things to do"


Yeah, he's sweet. He's actually quite a bit above the curve for a 2 drop, and while I love that he exists, the theme is mostly Him, Young Pyromancer (Another card well above the curve) and a whole bunch of creatuers I like to pretend wouldn't break legacy that I made up.
Amazing card, so much potential, but WotC is really scared (for good reason)


Thank you wizards for finally understanding red! It was just Koth sitting alone on his throne for so long as the only good red planeswalker, but sarkhan here really gave red another angle (Midrange) to go for, rather than accidentally fall into.
go figure, you staple Flametongue Kavu to Thundermaw Hellkite and make it immune to sorcery speed removal and you get a strong card. I'm shocked *Eyeroll*


This poopy card gets the award for the best in joke, as my wife (Nicknamed the Heatherbear) will sometimes wake up from a nap to find a few scattered around her

 

[Chris Taylor]

Ugh Fate reforged is really boring from a design perspective.

My pick:

Honestly she doesn't have much competition. I love me some reveilark, and the thoughts that go swirling around in people's heads happen many times over when looking at this card, and it's a way more manageable and less durdly cost on Alesha. As well, when it's just bringing back shit like Ash Zealot or something, it's still damn fine, so It's great for both the deep and shallow end of the deckbuilding spectrum, and actually has some cross appeal, when the aggro player sees someone bringing back a mulldrifter they just evoked.
Also: Super cute to attack someone for 0 with your wall of omens.

Runners Up:

Yeah, it's good, and I love me anything that makes someone more likely to play GR or GU, but I really hate that greens 3 drops are either fragile or tiny. At least Yasova does actually do sweet stuff if it doesn't die immediatly, unlike boon satyr ever did.
Like alesha, this card can inspire people. I catch a lot of people not noticing it triggers on combat, not at the beginning of your turn, and some people miss the mode where it's a 6 mana threaten + guy when it would have been sweet.
Most people are aware of the ammount of pump in my cube though, and while I haven't seen her steal a titan yet, it will happen someday


Man, I love this card way more than I ought to.
Pacifism has been the staple white removal spell in many a limited format for so long we've kind of forgotten that white does have other ways to deal with creatures, and sadly pacifism was so effective that when I want an instant/sorcery removal effect the only ones that exist are either Path to Exile or Angelic Edict, with very little in between that doesn't only hit attacking creatures, for eg.
We're not quite there yet, especially with the curve of my cube as low as it is, but doubling as a counterspell is a sweet upside. Still love this thing though.


I really REALLY hate that this card was printed in the same set as tasigur. Had this card been in Kahns instead I might have tried him out and maybe had some fun, but It's become abundantly clear that Tasigur is more in line with the power level of my cube, both for being only a single black and the 5th toughness. I feel bad though, since Tasigur is mostly just this derpy powerful card that laughs in the face of azure mage and Hooting Mandrills, whereas Soulflayer is actually interesting.


It's hard for 1 drops to be interesting, but I like this little guy. Incidental lifegain, graveyard hate, and triggering on a tribe that might have a few other creatues in your deck is cooler than just happeneing when you play him, which easily could have been the case.
It's not hard to get me to like a savannah lions expy, but credit where credit's due, this card grew on me from that somewhat high baseline. Top Marks.

 

[Chris Taylor]

As for Dragons... I have no idea about a favorite yet. I'm just gonna gush.


I really want Bolster to be good. Am I alone on that? I love more counters just floating around and being somewhat hard to control, which leads to interesting sequencing decisions and cards that might be cheaper than they would otherwise be if they said "Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature"
Sadly bolster has been really lackluster so far. I hope she works out!


Getting to fog Thundermaw Hellkite is a cool corner case for a savannah lions. Like I said about woe reaper above, it's not hard to get me to like 1 mana 2/1s.


I love this card for suggesting the idea that the prowess cards aren't all just more balanced kiln fiend type guys, even if that was always true because Seeker of the Way is fine in control


Love the psudo shroud, hate the 3 tougness, but hate the alternative 5 drops. He'll do for now.


Every explot card is sweet and awesome and has lots of ineteresting decisions and is mostly too weak for my cube. I might have to make some, since I was actually thinking up this exact guy but as cancel rather than remove soul


As said ABOUT DAMN TIME! This could be french vanilla and I'd be happy, but I'm much happier that the morph ability is a real possability


Black 2 drops suck, Since this guy can block he'd be fine if he just had the goblin war drums thing for himself, but warriors are creeping in here and there, and when that does happen it'll be sweet.


See stratus dancer. Also, more red draw! Can't get me enough of that!


I really hope this works too. What is it with +1/+1 counter guys in this set and being CC cards I'm worried about on their own!


I want more cards with this P/T at 3! He preformed beautifully at the prerelease, and I want more of that in and around my cube. Might be time to add another Courser of Kruphix, if anyone would attack with the damn thing


+1/+1 counter, recursion, Wandering Wolf is probably better in my cube than it looks initially, love it! Also unlike the black one it doesn't get less evasive when you morph it.


This was everything I wanted Bogardan Hellkite to be but randomly got +3/+3 and trample. Thanks I guess?


This is what I wanted blightning to do but now also does other cool things and is an instant! My cube needs shatter less than most, but having it there is still nice, as I've found with Qasali Pridemage

 

[Lucre]

I cannot wait to rebuy a strix with the command and make my opponent discard. Cards that return or tutor for something and then have another effect are always a bit hit for me.

The UW command is also looking pretty sweet since blue and white 2s have been getting a lot of love. Getting back a pyromancer or seeker or snapcaster with that spell seems real good, on top of just being able to exclude with it.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I love the order of abilities on that command

 

[safra]

oh wow a four mana 3/3

 

[Rasmus Källqvist]

oh wow a four mana 3/3

at instant speed, and four life, it's a mini thragtusk

 

[safra]

at instant speed, and four life, it's a mini thragtusk

right, sorry, a situational four-mana 3/3

besides gain 4 / draw a card i don't think there's a pair of choices i want less on a good, powerful card

e: maybe i'm not being very clear - Ojutai's Command is a good card and will probably be lots of fun! but idk there's just so many things that excite me more about it (remove soul / ~unearth) and I'd probably be happy to gain 4 as a bonus when I really need one of the other modes, and the Pridemate interaction is nice, but it just feels underwhelming compared to the other options.

 

[FlowerSunRain]

The thing with gaining life is that it always sucks except when it doesn't. Its like a really binary ability, making it a lot better on a modal card where you can just ignore it when it isn't relevant. I'm not enamored by Ojutai's Command at all, but I think its safe to say that if you are going to throw "gain 4 life" somewhere, this is a pretty good spot. You can hold open mana to exclude a dude and still play a threat and draw a card if they durdle, plus in any of those circumstances you can substitute the card for the life if its relevant.

 

[Eric Chan]

It's a little tangential to this conversation, but I continue to be surprised at how relevant Obstinate Baloth is in cube, even when his discard clause is just flavour text. There's a lot of competition at four mana, especially in green, but he gets consistently picked early and makes the maindeck almost every time. It's one of those things where on paper, we've been trained to think that gaining life is actively bad and should be avoided, but in practice, life gain makes a great rider on pretty much any card. Nobody's looking to cube Brooding Saurian or even Chameleon Colossus, but the Baloth always seems to find a home.

Like FSR, I suspect it's even better on a modal card, where you can ignore it when you actually don't need it, and just straight up draw a card instead. It's not exactly the same, but I'd suspect that gaining 7 life is the most often used mode on Primal Command, too.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yup. I was just bringing up a neat interaction here, I'm fully aware that those two particular choices are not the combination you are usually going to choose. Still, I love how they go together, and since there are two pridemates in my cube, it might come up somewhen!

 

[Meltyman]

Best of Khans of Tarkir:


Milling your opponent in cube isn't used too often and this bad boy lends multiple ways of milling your opponent.
Fastbond + bounce land / Aluren+ Cavern Harpy / Koth of the Hammer + Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded + Cloudstone Curio / Intruder alarm + Goblin Welder + swap 2 artifact creatures...
Many infinite options.
I'm not sure how well it will work in a fair manner, like tokens, because you probably will be just hitting the opponent to zero life before you mill the opponent.
Sideboard option in a grindy control mirror match ?
Anyway this card seems like the most interesting build around card to me in Khans. If only it milled target player instead of opponent
Khans had some nice creatures, but as mentioned before they are hard to cast and/or not that exciting. Narset, Enlightened Master is close, but needs a lot of work.


Best of Fate Reforged:



Siege Outpost works in the same slot as Altar of the Brood, but you can also play it in a non-combo deck really easily.
Aggro doesn't mind having creatures that also punishes for mass removal. In a control shell this is OK, not the best but usable.

Soulfire Grand Master is also a really exciting build around from Fate Reforged, really close second.

Best of Dragons of Tarkir:



This card feels like it has to work even in cube.
In my mind this card will be useful in most phases of a game, maybe not in the first 1-4 turns, but after that it either chump blocks, gets in for 4-5 dmg or in a stretched out game it makes 10 dmg easily.
Exciting card, but haven't seen it in action yet.

Risen Executioner caught my attention because i would really want to see more playable zombies to add to my cube... this one is close, if i happen to add more tribal theme in there.

 

[Chriskool]

Right now, I am smitten with the following lower-powered cards:



Honorable mention: clan trilands! These open an interesting design space with ALA's shard trilands.

Honorable mention: Impact Tremors. I know y'all have been waiting to jam Furious Assault!

Tormenting Voice is probably my favorite red card to date. I think the red looting effect has finally been captured in a palatable vessel!

Sabertooth seems like a durdle machine, but it also has a bit of lasting power and is stat'd to enter the red zone. Although I can see lower-power environments where indestructibility doesn't play well.

Ainok Survivalist: finally, Nantuko Vigilante makes it back to cubing!

 

[Chris Taylor]

Furious Assault + Hordeling Outburst =

Edit: I actually played Tormenting Voice at the prerelease. My deck was jammed with 3s, 4s and Cheap(ish) Red Removal, and most of my losses were to mana screw/flood, so I added it because of the dearth of bears in my pool, and it preformed pretty well.

I'm much more worried about running it in a format where people would actually cast 1-2 drops, in which case It seems super loose to skip your turn 2 for card parity

 

[Chriskool]

I'm much more worried about running it in a format where people would actually cast 1-2 drops, in which case It seems super loose to skip your turn 2 for card parity

It may surprise you to discover that I have sporadic "drafting problems" via MTGO 8-4s; in my FKKing experiences, I wanted at least one Tormenting Voice in almost any deck that was playing but not splashing red (okay w/o if deck was 16-lands, non-Monastery Swiftspear CMC1s or used Bitter Revelation/Enhanced Awareness to draw cards instead). As KTK and FKK tended to be slower, turn two on the play (or with delve) Voice didn't feel like huge tempo losses. Primarily, though, I used it to cycle lands/low-impact spells in the middling turns when developing the board with card(s) in hand didn't do much (which was great to dig toward better threats, burn, Barrage of Boulders or Trumpet Blast). I doubt it does much in powerful cube formats, but... I would love to try it in Vintage rotisserie draft.

 

[Lucre]

Supes tentative and kinda too encompassing: