So I've been a little AWOL but had to make sure I got something in for this set. Do the aesthetics fit for MTG? No if we're focused on the fantasy aspect of MTG, but I like cowboys. Especially so, coming off Karlov Manor, which I didn't care too much about and fell away from the game to take a break. Hopefully this set will actuall be fun to draft cause MKM was not my cup of tea.
The List
Smuggler's Surprise is versatile for what you want with green. The spree mechanic gives the card both scalability and flexibility on what you can do with it, making the card never bad. At minimum, it can always been used as a draw spell/ graveyard filler since the cards do go to the graveayard instead of the bottom of the deck. This will be universal regardless of what deck it is being ran in. Its other two modes are strong, but do need to be built around to be effective. The second mode opens it up to being a Tooth and Nail alternative, while the last part is a conditional Heroic Intervention. I can't foresee this card ever being unplayable in any cube.
Three Steps Ahead is a great addition to all cubes thanks to its versatility. Counterspells in cube have always been the section that I liked the least not because they counter spells, but because they have a very small window in which they are effective. Archmage's Charm and Mystic Confluence were a step in the right direction as it opens up the timing of when to play these cards. Three Steps Ahead aligns with this perspective. The other modes on the card allow it to not only played in more situations, but gets better and becomes more impactful as the game progresses. This is something that is important since the decks that want to incorporate this card like to go for the long game, where cards like this can turn into complete blow outs.
Slickshot Show Off is the card on everyone's radar and I think its justified. It falls in line with the long list of Kiln Fiend esque cards but it could possibly the best variant available. Kiln Fiends only want to do one things and that is deal explosive damage to your opponent. Haste is an important part of the card as it enables better situations of when to attack. The true break through is the fact that the card has flying evasion on a card like this is always insane. It lowers the threshold of success for this card and opens more routes to devastating plays. This card might be the extra weight that turns kiln fiend decks from a gimmick to a consistent threat in your cube. Also this is monored where as other similar cards like Sprite Dragon are Izzet. Plot is something I'm still not sure about in the general context of MTG and cube, but it doesn't hurt to have to option and I'm pretty sure someone smarter than me will use it effectively.
Aven Interrupter reminds me of Spell Queller. I like Spell Queller and I like counter spells in white, thus I should be liking this card and without really playing it yet I do. In fact, the more I look at this card the more I appreciate its design. A baseline Wind Drake with flash isn't the most impressive, but the ability to "counterspell" and function as a hate bear is what makes it so peak. Exiling a spell on the stack will be one of the most popular uses for the card. Not only does it negate the effect, it beats spells that are can not be countered. Useful versus a card like Supreme Verdict. The static effect of the card is a practical effect thanks to how the game has advanced over the past decade. Making cards more difficult to cast from graveyard and exile will be crippling to those game plans. Flashback and red's impulse draw are the biggest victims to this and are both popular in most cubes. This card will have a dominant presence in more powerful cubes and will be a very real threat in anything less.
Duelist of the Mind is something I really didn't need, but man is blue eating real good in terms of creatures. These past several years have given blue amazing 2 and 3 drops; this is just another one in the pool. Vigilance and flying are amazing set of keywords together as both aggressive and slower paced decks can make use of this. Committing a crime is also ridiculously easy to do.
Forsaken Miner is another recursive black aggro creature that has great stats and a very easy threshold for returning the card to the battlefield. Like many of its cousins, the card cannot block preventing abuse. Even with that, Committing a crime is easy making this card easily a top 5 for this type of card.
Lava Spur Boots is angry Swiftfoot Boots and I really like them for that reason. Being colorless already allows it to be played in all decks. With a mana cost and equip cost of 1, this is not a hard card to play once you draw it. The power boost is the real kicker for the card as it gives incentive to equip the card even if your creature doesn't need the protection or haste, the extra power generally will only help you. As a source of protection, ward has proven itself to be a strong enough deterrent for single targetted removal. It buys the extra time you need, which can spell life or death. This is definitely worth testing, possibly even overshadowing the other haste boots, since the extra power is that important.
Crackling Spellslinger is a guilty pleasure pick for me. Anything I could use to make storm more consistent I'd take it. Much like Thousand Year Storm, this is a build your own storm wincon. If you're running storm, this means you can loosen up spots for other cards. One of the cool things about this card is that multiple instances of storm will stack. Take Tendrils of Agony for example, it would take a storm count of 10 to reduce a person from 20 life to 0. Having that extra count of storm changes is from 10 to 5, which is significantly more doable. I wouldn't recommend this card for most cubes, but I'm gonna try to make it happen for mine.
Vaultborn Tyrant is another one of those big dump aspirational creatures that you want to play. There's a good abundance of them, but what sets this apart is its resiliency and card advantage. In a vacuum, this card draws a card, recovers some life, and serves as a beefy body. Even if the card dies (not exiled) on the spot, it just replaces itself with a copy of itself and repeats the steps just mentioned. This should send your opponent into a spiral of dread and also create some cool game play routes. Should it remain in play, it functions as a card draw outlet for big creature decks and will overwhelm your opponents easily. Where I like this card the most is in Sneak Attack/ fatty cheat decks. It makes these decks more consistent and resilient. Definitely worth considering, but the plethora of similar card makes it generally less impressive.
Elemental Eruption says storm and the storm effect is game ending. Red storm cards have been the most concerning to play with since I got invested in its inclusion in my cube. The effects that were available were either too RNG or needed heavy investment to secure the win other than Empty the Warrens. I'm projecting that this card will mitigate these concerns as you really only need a storm count of 2 to secure the win fast. Even the worst case scenario of playing this as a single 4/4 prowess flier is okay. Okay baseline, exciting ceiling, and the extra density for storm solidifies this as a must add if you support storm in your cube.
The End Step
Overall, the set looks fun for draft. With a lot of it being revolved around mercenaries and committing crimes, we'll see how active this format really is. The one mechanic that I'm not sold on yet is saddle/mount. This just seems like a weird amalgamation of enlisting and crew. To this day, both mechanics that don't see a lot of cube love, but we'll wait and see the verdict on this one. Aside from that, I have hopes for this set, but only time will tell.
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