My Pauper Twobert Says Goodbye to the Thriving Lands

The Phantom Lands

Some time ago, Jumpstart gave pauper cubers a brand new land cycle to play with and they seemed pretty good. Resembling a possibly better version of the Vivid lands, which had yet to ever be printed at common, the Thriving lands were a welcome addition to pauper's less than ideal fixing land pool. They're just an innocent cycle of lands to help decks build their own guildgate... right?

My own pauper environment can be found here and is a relatively small cube where 2-4 players draft 180 of the 240 cards and get 45 picks each. 

I have found, due to the nature of drafting with few people, you generally have more than an abundance of playables by the end of the draft. Because of this lands become incredibly high picks with little risk associated with them as you'll never be short on high quality playables and you'll more or less never see a monocolored deck. However, pushing out monocolored decks for 2 or even more often 3-color decks is not something I'm particularly worried about with this cube, after all a small environment can't support every macro archetype of Magic like a 540 card environment can.

Revenge of the Goodstuff

Here's where the problem comes in. In my last couple drafts of my cube I've decided to try and just force the infamous 5-color goodstuff deck and while I suspected the deck may be a problem due to the amount of lands I run, I was not expecting how incredibly easy it was to cast my spells every single time during the games. The truth is, while I run Ash Barrens, Evolving Wilds, and Terramorphic Expanse, I wasn't running 3 rainbow lands I was running 8!

The Thriving lands, in truth, can simply act as another Evolving Wilds and do not even need to be played in a deck containing their signature color. In a multicolored deck they are often better than Evolving Wilds since not only do they get you whatever color you currently need in that moment, but you can tap them for their signature color when you need it later. The quality of fixing I was playing with was through the roof and I didn't even need to be base green.

A New Manabase

All in all I have decided the 5-color deck is too good and too open for the environment I want. The disadvantage of playing below curve with almost all your lands coming in tapped simply isn't enough without the shaky unreliable mana base a 5-color deck should have. I'll be saying goodbye to the Thriving Lands and won't be replacing them as I also want to see how 35 lands play instead of 40. I will, however, be replacing one of my colorless lands with a less deceptive rainbow land in the Thriving style, Shimmerdrift Vale.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the post! I do plan to do more posts beyond the simple set reviews so be sure to check back from time to time.

Crimson Vow Considerations for Pauper Twobert

It's time to talk about pauper cube and the cards Crimson Vow has provided for it!

In this post I will be writing about all the cards people may be considering for a pauper cube environment, mostly in the context of my own Pauper Twobert! In my verdicts for my pauper posts, I've decided to be a little less focused on whether or not the cards will specifically make it into my own cube and more on whether I think they are worth testing in most environments. As more and more quality commons come out, I have realized at a cube size of 240 I simply can't include every card worthy of a slot and I still want to promote those cards as high as they deserve.

 Drogskol Infantry // Drogskol Armaments

The Good: A bear that draws a card on death is just good rate we don't often see. Mother Bear has played very well for me even with the card it draws you being static and slightly under rate. The card is just good value.

The Bad: The card it draws is considerably worse than what you get from Mother Bear. While the +2/+2 will likely be significant enough to push through damage where you otherwise couldn't, as with all auras you open yourself up to a punishing removal spell.

The Verdict: This card is certainly worth testing and could possibly even be very good. Disturb is basically Flashback/Aftermath for permanents and those tend to matter more in a pauper environment. I think I'll test this card over Seeker of the Way in my Pauper Twobert.

Fierce Retribution

The Good: Generally a modal Swift Response, a card that still sees play. Doom Blade rate is pretty good for pauper and while the Cleave cost is pretty steep, it's just nice to have the option.

The Bad: While the conditional isn't nothing, you generally want to take out the creature that would be attacking your life total anyway and most creatures at common don't have attack triggers. The only real downside this has over Swift Response is that you can't hit mana dorks.

The Verdict: If you run Swift Response I think this would be good to run alongside it or instead if you don't want 2 of this effect. I don't know which side of that "or" I'm going to be on but I will be testing this.

Piercing Light

The Good: So Play with Fire was an uncommon good enough to consider in unrestricted cubes, however I was put off by the fact the scry happened when it was a burn spell rather than a removal spell. Well here we are, burn is no longer an option but we have a 1-mana removal spell that scrys 1 and it's at common! I know we're spoiled by the likes of Lightning Bolt but Shock is premium removal, especially if your curve runs low. The little removal spell hits a whopping 64% of the creatures I run and combat can increase that percentage even more.

The Bad: Like with Fierce Retribution, the conditional isn't nothing. You're likely not hitting a mana dork with this but considering this is in white and not red I'm going to count my blessings.

The Verdict: I will be running this and I think it's going to be a slam dunk. 1-mana removal is always going to run hot and this one hits a lot of creatures.

Cruel Witness

The Good: A 3/3 Flying for 4 is not a bad rate at common and tacking on a surveil for each of your noncreature spells is pretty good upside. I imagine this would play very well in control or some other spells matter shell.

The Bad: 4 mana is high enough in the curve where this may be a little vanilla, but I don't know, the stats and flying are pretty solid. 

The Verdict: It's not as proactive as some other 4-drops in blue but I can definitely see this card finding a home in pauper cubes. If you run any sort of spells matter deck I would definitely give this one a shot. For my Pauper Twobert it runs a little high in mana cost for not providing immediate value. 

Lantern Bearer // Lanterns' Lift

The Good: As a general rule it's probably best to always at least consider these low cost Disturb cards. A 1-mana 1/1 with Flying is on rate and drawing a card on death is value you don't often see on 1-drops. The card it provides is certain to be relevant too. While of course under rate, it is fairly cheap and the ability to give one of your threats evasion and some extra stats later down the line is a great thing to have access to.

The Bad: There's honestly not much negative to say about this card, it's just 1-drop creatures in blue aren't really a high priority and while it's not a bad card I don't see it getting picked very highly.

The Verdict: I think this card will play well if you decide to run it. The value is there and if you're in the market for a blue 1-drop this is one of the better ones. Personally I only want a single blue 1-drop in my cube and I'm not cutting Wingcrafter for this.

Scattered Thoughts

The Good: Wow pauper finally gets its Fact or Fiction and it's a lateral difference rather than a powered down version too. Seeing 4 cards deep, taking the best 2, and then fueling your graveyard is very powerful. This is bar none the best of the 4-mana draw spells at common.

The Bad: Nothing to say here.

The Verdict: Slam dunk, this card is gas. I don't currently run any noncreature 4-drops in blue but I will be finding something to cut for this.

Stitched Assistant

The Good: Phyrexian Ragers are good and while this one requires a little something extra, if you have sac fodder lying around the value here is crazy good. For the cost of edicting yourself you get an extra power and a scry before the draw.

The Bad: You will never want to have this card Exploit itself. If you don't have a board or simply don't have anything you want to sacrifice, this card is very underpowered.

The Verdict: While not every deck will want it, I think this is a powerful synergy piece for decks that run the Doomed Dissenters and the like. I'll have to test this one out, but for larger environments I think this is definitely good enough if you run the support.

Blood Fountain

The Good: Raise Dead is generally a very good effect in pauper cubes and 4 mana to get 2 of your threats back is the rate you usually pay for Death Denied, a card I've been very happy with. It is also technically the same rate as the recent Crawl from the Cellar which is also a great card.

The Bad: I'm worried that it doesn't do much on the front side of its text box. Rummaging is not very powerful and costing 2 total mana just isn't worth it for the effect.

The Verdict: I think this card plays. I would definitely play it as one of the bigger Raise Dead effects and I'm going to try it in my Pauper Twobert.

Persistent Specimen

The Good: Reassembling Skeleton has been the most important part of the aristocrats deck for peasant cubes, and pauper cubes have been waiting for its version. 

The Bad: 3 mana is pretty expensive for this effect.

The Verdict: If you run an aristocrats package this is a shoe in and will likely be a high pick for the deck. The Pauper Twobert just doesn't have a need for this synergy piece.

Reckless Impulse

The Good: This card is great, red gets a Night's Whisper. 2 cards for 2 mana is all the value you want.

The Bad: Of course you're going to run into situations where this isn't strictly draw 2 because you either can't play one of the cards or don't want to. This is relatively small downside however.

The Verdict: I think this card will make it in most cubes, I certainly think it compares favorably to cards like Thrill of Possibility. I'll be testing this card in my own cube as well.

Voldaren Epicure

The Good: Thraben Inspector is such a great card for cube that anything resembling it should probably be looked at, especially since Thraben was so unassuming itself. Of course Blood is a lot worse than Clues but the extra little aggression the ETB provides makes me hopeful this will play well.

The Bad: As I've said before Blood is quite a bit lower power than something like a Clue. I'm unsure if such an effect is worth running a 1-mana 1/1 for.

The Verdict: I don't think my current 1-drop creatures in red are very good right now so I'm definitely going to test this and I'll keep my eye out for how this card plays in other cubes too.

Rural Recruit

The Good: A 3/1 is a pretty good body for a token that can be mass produced with blink effects and that's pretty much all I'm looking to do with this one.

The Bad: The base rate isn't quite there being just a 4/2 for 4. I feel like training is negligible the vast majority of the time.

The Verdict: Green just has a lot of great options for 4-drops, I wouldn't run this unless you're really trying to push a blink archetype.

Spore Crawler

The Good: On rate and replaces itself on death. This is just a classic pauper 2 for 1 and I'm sure it will play great.

The Bad: While essentially a smaller version of the powerhouse Silverback Shaman, I would have liked this much better if it had a relevant keyword like that card does.

The Verdict: I think this one is a shoe in for most pauper cubes. While not the highest pick, you'll never be unhappy drafting this and it will most always make the main deck.

And that's all I've got for the pauper cubers this set. Nothing too exciting but I'm quite happy with the options this set has brought. A lot of simple card advantage playables and that's always a good thing to fill out cube lists. Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

Crimson Vow Considerations for Possibility Cube

Full spoilers are out and it's time to talk about the cards I'm looking at for my Possibility Cube!

In this post I'll be writing about all the cards from Crimson Vow that people are talking about or should be talking about for an unpowered unrestricted cube environment in the context of my personal cube, the Possibility Cube. Check back later where I'll be looking at some pauper inclusions for my Pauper Twobert. Now, let's get into it!

Cemetery Protector

The Good: A 3/4 Flash for 4 mana is nothing to scoff at as a combat trick and nabbing the right card type can make this card do its best Young Pyromancer impression. The incidental graveyard hate is probably less relevant here than on the others you will see in this cycle, but it's always nice to have.

The Bad: This really doesn't seem snowbally enough. It kind of has to eat an attacker to be worth it and that will never be a guarantee. Hero of Bladehold doesn't pass the Vindicate test but at least it ends the game real fast if it sticks around. If this card sticks around it's just a 3/4 with no evasion that will get you a 1/1 every turn or two.

The Verdict: Hard pass for me, the card just isn't quite pushed enough for my cube. Might have had a chance as a Murmuring Mystic type card but the double white pips make it hard on the splash. I really feel like they could have added attack clause on the graveyard hate like the others in this cycle.

Faithbound Judge // Sinner's Judgment

The Good: A 4/4 flier is quite the hurdle for an aggressive deck to get over, combine that with the fact that this will end the game pretty quick on its own if the game goes on and this could be a pretty good option for a control deck. If your opponent does kill it, and they will certainly have to, you'll gain access to a faster acting Approach of the Second Sun which does see some play in certain cubes.

The Bad: This card is very slow. This is the kind of card that you run in a control deck that's just looking to extend the game as long as it takes for the opponent to run out of gas. While it would do well in that kind of deck, the thing is that kind of deck can really kill you with whatever it has lying around, preferably a manland like Celestial Colonnade that doesn't eat a playable slot.

The Verdict: I'm tempted to test this one just because it's a cool card, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a pass. But, if your cube runs Approach of the Second Sun and it performs well I think this would have a nice home there too.

Fleeting Spirit

The Good: 3/1s for 2 mana that have the ability to protect themselves at the cost of no additional mana are historically very good. A free discard outlet can also be a useful thing to have on cheap creatures if your cube supports archetypes like reanimator.

The Bad: This card is not Seasoned Hallowblade or Adanto Vanguard. Those cards push damage through because your opponent is forced to chump if they want to block. A single 1/1 from your opponent won't chump block this card, it will either be a trade or a free block at the cost of a card in your hand. While the ability to gain First Strike for 1 mana is powerful, exiling 3 cards from your graveyard is just too many to make this at all reliable.

The Verdict: Another pass from me, I need my aggressive 2-drops to push damage through and this doesn't do that.

Hopeful Initiate

The Good: Won't be hard to make this a 2/3 by the time it attacks. Isamaru is still a good card, so if it can be that at its base then the rest is gravy. Incidental artifact/enchantment hate is great to have on an already decent creature, however it is quite expensive to activate.

The Bad: This will never be a 2 power attacker on turn 2 in a white wheenies shell, every Savannah Lions has that advantage over this card. While this card could easily get to 3 power by its second attack, you really want to be playing your 2-drop 3/1 on turn 2, not this.

The Verdict: I have a couple of flex slots currently in Skymarcher Aspirant and Giant Killer that haven't been performing well lately so I may just slot this in to test. I would not be surprised if it doesn't last however.

Savior of Ollenbock

The Good: The ability is powerful and repeatable. The part where this can also be a reanimate spell is really cool.

The Bad: It's just so under stat'd and I know it's to let you trigger Training but this card is literally worthless if you don't already have a board state.

The Verdict: The card is cool but I think it's actively bad in a higher powered environment. I really wanted this to trigger on ETB in addition to training but alas, the card's a pass.

Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity

The Good: This card should play like a Saga who's final mode sticks around forever. Let's forget the draw text for a moment. If it survives you will be getting 6 power and toughness for 3-mana plus an additional power and toughness for each other creature you have or play and enchantments are one of the more survivable permanent types. On top of this, if you already have a board state where you're on the offensive, instead of commiting more to that board you get to draw a card instead which is exactly what you'd want!

The Bad: Perhaps it's a bit slow for a really aggressive deck, but I'm having a hard time seeing the downside of what is essentially a 3-mana planeswalker.

The Verdict: This one definitely almost slipped under my radar. I was skeptical at first but the more I thought through the play patterns the more I realized this is a slam dunk. I will be running this and I expect it to do very well.

Welcoming Vampire

The Good: Gives you 2 evasive power and turns one of your Savannah Lions into a cantrip once per turn.

The Bad: White three drops have a lot of competition and they're often pushed in aspects of aggression and disruption, both of which are lacking in this card. The card is an upgraded version of fan favorite Mentor of the Meek, but that card has not been cubeable in quite some time.

The Verdict: I know people are high on this card, but I think the hype from white card draw and another option for EDH is just overflowing a bit into the cube community. I'm not looking to play the attrition game in white wheenies, I'm looking to get my opponent dead and thus I will be passing on this card.

Cemetery Illuminator

The Good: A 2/3 flier that gives you Future Sight is not a bad deal for 3 mana. While you won't be able to cast everything right away, triggering on attack means you'll always be unlocking more. Repeatable graveyard hate is also a nice thing to have around.

The Bad: This card is asking a lot for it to become Future Sight. It's essentially asking you to get Delirium into a graveyard and then remove the types 1 by 1. The fact you can't play lands off the top is the final nail in the coffin for me.

The Verdict: Pass, there are just better options for blue at 3 mana. If you could hit a land and make this blue Courser of Kruphix then maybe we could have talked.

Overcharged Amalgam

The Good: This card is a modal card that ranges from decent to great. 4 mana for a hard counter, not great but sometimes needed. 4 mana for a Flash 3/3 with Flying, nice way to get a threat on the board as the blue player and will sometimes eat a blocker. And then if you have some fodder to sac, it can be both!

The Bad: 4-mana spells in blue are not something you generally want a lot of and it's already full of great options. 

The Verdict: I'm going to pass on this one. I like Venser, Shaper Savant a lot better for this kind of effect, it has a worse body but doesn't require you to sacrifice a creature and does a lot more on the field with access to blink effects.

Scattered Thoughts

The Good: It is crazy to me we're getting this card so soon after Memory Deluge. When I reviewed that card I mentioned that it was worse than Fact or Fiction for being less splashable and not fueling the graveyard. This card is the best of both worlds and wow is it powerful.

The Bad: Fact or Fiction digs a little deeper and will often get you 3 cards instead of 2, but I'm just finding things to be picky about at this point, I don't think I'd consider either of these to be worse than the other.

The Verdict: Slam dunk, I will be running this and it will be replacing the newly added Memory Deluge. I value the splashability and graveyard fueling more than the super expensive flashback mode.

Thirst for Discovery

The Good: This card is essentially an instant speed Compulsive Research, a card I currently play as a good card advantage option and as support for reanimator.

The Bad: While you normally discard a basic land anyway, you are going to run into a feel bad situation where you feel punished for having good mana because the only land in your hand is a nonbasic.

The Verdict: I'm going to replace Compulsive Research with this, it'll be hard to tell how relevant the downside actually is without testing. I will say Compulsive Research is one of the weaker card advantage cards I run and I'm not interested in running both of these.

Bloodvial Purveyor

The Good: I'll admit I was looking for more of a downside on this stats monster. I started playing Magic around the time Desecration Demon was a powerhouse in standard so these cards often get romanticized in my head, that being said this thing will end a game really fast.

The Bad: This card fails the Vindicate test really hard in that your opponent is getting a free Blood token just for casting the Vindicate. Baneslayers are a little more forgivable at 4 mana but generally not where you want to be unless you're pushing aggro in my opinion.

The Verdict: I'm not pushing black aggro in my cube and I really want my black 4-drops to impact the board. I will not be testing this card.

Dread Fugue

The Good: Can nab your opponents turn 1 or turn 2 play and really disrupt their game plan. Later on when you top deck it and have extra mana lying around, you can cast it for 3 mana and take anything.

The Bad: I honestly just think both modes on this card are bad. I can really only see playing it in a powered cube where it's important to nab their Sol Ring or Ancestral Recall. Even then the Cleave cost doesn't really matter, Thoughtseize is more often than not a bad topdeck late in the game anyway.

The Verdict: I am not as high on this card as other are and I will not be playing with it. This card hits 40% of nonland cards in my cube as opposed to Inquisition of Kozilek hitting over 80% and you will feel that massive difference when you play it.

Falkenrath Forebear

The Good: A 3/1 with evasion that generates value when it connects is great to have in an aggressive deck if you can get it going. This has the added value of being recurrable if your opponent doesn't deal with it right away.

The Bad: This card is really lacking immediate board impact or disruption. Part of what makes cards like Elite Spellbinder and Flickerwisp so powerful is that they leave behind 3 power in the air after immediately disrupting the opponent.

The Verdict: This set is giving us more options for black aggro in cube, but that's not where my cube is headed so this will be another pass.

Graf Reaver

The Good: Great stats for a 2-drop and it doubles as 2-mana planeswalker removal. If you have a Gravecrawler or other fodder hanging around you get both for very little cost.

The Bad: No one plays Sangrophage and I don't think many would even if it only dealt you 1 damage instead of 2. I think you really need to be in for the 2-mana 3/3 or this card is just going to be a sideboard only card. Even then I think the times I'd sideboard it in are few and far between.

The Verdict: Another one where people seemed very high on this card but I just don't get it. If you need this effect, Vampire Hexmage seems like a better option because you can deploy it early and cash it in when you need it. As it is a vanilla 2-mana 3/3 doesn't do anything for me in black and there are better ways to deal with planeswalkers than sandbagging this in my hand.

Henrika Domnathi // Henrika, Infernal Seer

The Good: This card passes the Vindicate test by drawing a card the turn you play it and then if you untap with it you're attacking with a 3/4 flier with Lifelink and Deathtouch, that is crazy value. Besides that great base case, you get access to a Fleshbag Marauder option and even the option to transform right away if you really need a great blocker. 

The Bad: It's a little awkward with Blink effects, and I wish it could be a Deathtouch blocker the turn it comes down like Gonti, Lord of Luxury, but generally this is going to do what you want it to.

The Verdict: People are way too low on this card. I see a lot of people talking about how it just dies to removal and you don't untap with it but that's completely fine. While Gonti has a lot of ways to push its advantage, I know you've been completely satisfied casting him as a 4-mana card that replaces itself and eats a removal spell. It's not a slam dunk but I am going to test it and I expect it to hold its own.

Sorin the Mirthless

The Good: So I almost let this card go unnoticed because of how boring/basic the design is. However the classic planeswalker formula just kind of works. Most often the activations are going to look like -2, then +1, then another -2. It slows down a bit from there but at that point you have more than enough value for 4 mana. Planeswalkers are just powerful and this one, while not busted, is a good option.

The Bad: Starting with 1 more loyalty like Karn, Scion of Urza would have been a huge boon for this card. I have a lot of options for 4-mana black cards with immediate impact so this has some competition.

The Verdict: This may be a hesitant test for me. I'm afraid it will be too easily run over at my power level, however I would not be upset to see this in a cube and I may just try it myself.

Voldaren Bloodcaster // Bloodbat Summoner

The Good: If you're looking for an cheap evasive beater to run in black aggro this seems to be a good option. Generating value if your opponent kills it is big in making this card playable. If you ever transform this card it is absolutely back breaking for the opponent, a 3/3 flier that makes 2/2 fliers is going to be hard to beat.

The Bad: I fear the high ceiling on this card is going to be near impossible to achieve. I think you really need to be in for the front side and it's probably not quite good enough.

The Verdict: Interesting for additional aristocrat/aggro support in black, but I don't really need that kind of support so I will be taking a pass on this one.

Cemetery Gatekeeper

The Good: Ankh of Mishra can be a real good source of repeatable damage and if you can nab a fetchland this card becomes Ankh on a 2/1 body with First Strike to push damage through. If you are able to get 4 damage off of this you've more than gotten your value in damage, that would be 1 attack and 1 trigger getting through.

The Bad: 2/1s with First Strike are not good enough on their own and red hatebears that aren't Eidolon of the Great Revel have historically not performed well in my cube. It worries me how little choice you're going to have in graveyards if you're playing this on turn 2.

The Verdict: I'm going to pass on this one, I much prefer Eidolon that will always get in its 2 damage when it's removed.

Chandra, Dressed to Kill

The Good: As a good rule of thumb, always consider the 3-mana planeswalker. They are historically very good and even with suboptimal abilities, 3 mana is not a lot to pay for a card that will generate value every turn. Chandra, Dressed to Kill does not have very flashy abilities but they are both +s and can make quite the difference on each turn. Just thinking about playing this and a 1-drop on turn 3 and then a Dragon on turn 4 is making me feel like this could be really good.

The Bad: Her impulse draw is pretty weak, the color requirement limits the card to just Red Deck Wins and while that's generally where she'd be played anyway, the ability also suffers a great deal by not letting you play your mountains off the top.

The Verdict: I'd like to test this and will have to find room somewhere. I have my concerns about just how good her abilities will be but I also think they have potential.

Kessig Wolfrider

The Good: A 1 drop with evasion and the ability to make 3/2s later down the road could be quite appealing for an aggressive deck.

The Bad: I really just don't think this card is good. A 1/2 Menace is not even close to good enough in the 1-drop slot and the ability is just too unreliable with it needing 3 cards from your graveyard.

The Verdict: This card is not for me, hard pass. However, if you're running a lower powered environment and want something a little more interesting than another Jackal Pup, I could see you maybe trying this out.

Manaform Hellkite

The Good: A 4/4 flier for 4 is a good rate and attached to it is a powerful effect for the spells matter archetype. It also is serviceable in the red deck as it packs a punch and adds some damage to your burn spells.

The Bad: I really wish this card had only 1 red pip as it's a lot better in the spells matter deck than in the red deck. Having to untap with your 4-drop is not where you want to be in red deck wins.

The Verdict: A cool option but I don't think it makes it there for my cube. I just have better ways to accrue values from my spells and to kill the opponent.

Volatile Arsonist // Dire-Strain Anarchist

The Good: The floor is certainly there for this card, a 5/4 with haste and evasion is exactly the kind of card you want at 5 mana in red. This card also gives you a cool little Inferno Titan impression when it attacks. If this card ever flips it becomes very scary, not only does it gain a power and toughness but the upgrade from pinging to shocking is huge.

The Bad: Really the only thing this card has against it is it's amazing competition. While important, 5-drops in red often can't be allocated many slots. I will also say the red deck often wants to play its spells on its turn and won't want to transform this itself.

The Verdict: Crazy to say but I'm going to be passing on this one. I absolutely would not scoff at you for running this but I'm not willing to cut any of my red 5s for it. I run Fury, Glorybringer, and Thundermaw Hellkite, add in Kiki-Jiki and Zealous Conscripts for combo and I just don't have room for more.

Voldaren Epicure

The Good: This unassuming little card is quite reminiscent Thraben Inspector, a card that has consistently been outperforming expectations since it came out. Now I don't think this card is as good as Thraben Inspector, but it provides a body for blocking, a Blood token to loot away later, and even always gets in a point of damage.

The Bad: Red 1-drops generally want to have 2 power, but then again that's true for white 1-drops as well. A Blood token is quite a bit more worse than a Clue token, however if you have a land you're not using it does only cost 1 mana instead of 2.

The Verdict: I'm going to find a cut and I'm going to test this. I'm very curious how well it will perform.

Ascendant Packleader

The Good: This could potentially be quite big for a single mana investment. It's really nice it doesn't specify creature as you can grow it with your planeswalkers.

The Bad: The problem with this card is where it fits into your curve. Even in a green beatdown deck you want to play a mana dork on turn 1 so you're not playing this there. But now we have the problem of it's later in the game and it doesn't matter how efficient it is, a vanilla stats monster that can't push damage through is not what you want to be casting. This card really needed a way to gain Trample like Pelt Collector does. I'd argue this will be as much of a dead draw as your mana dorks will be when you're in topdecking wars.

The Verdict: I'm still mostly on the green ramp deck over the beatdown deck, but even if I wasn't I don't think I'd play this. You're just always going to be wishing you had something better to play.

Avabruck Caretaker // Hollowhenge Huntmaster

The Good: Hexproof is a really good keyword, put it on a body that can end the game by itself and it's going to be pretty powerful.

The Bad: The fact you don't get to put the counters on itself right away makes this card really slow. You don't get to have it be the 8/8 monster that will end the game until 2 turns after you cast it.

The Verdict: I think I'll pass, I have very good 6-drops in green that provide instant value despite being susceptible to removal. This card will no doubt be very annoying to play against though and I'd expect it to do well if I see it in a cube.

Cemetery Prowler

The Good: A 3/4 with Vigilance for 3 mana is a great rate and plays well on both defense and offense. Repeatable graveyard hate is always a nice thing to have as well. The real spice of this card is that last ability though. If it can consistently save you 1 or maybe 2 mana a turn the value you're accruing here is crazy good.

The Bad: If you can't consistently make use of the last ability this card is a little vanilla. It also isn't a very impactful topdeck later in the game where mana is a non-issue.

The Verdict: I'm curious to see how this performs in other cubes but I will not be running it myself. You generally don't have as much control over what's in graveyards as you think, especially on turn 3 so I worry about actually saving mana with this.

Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth

The Good: Now this is what you want if you're supporting green beats. An amazing aggressive rate that pushes damage through and then becomes an absolute bomb if the game goes late.

The Bad: There are better options for the green ramp deck for both resilient 4-drops and big topend threats.

The Verdict: I don't generally support the green beatdown deck, but if you do I'd definitely try this out. For me and my cube however, I'm going to pass.

Olivia, Crimson Bride

The Good: This card is expensive but potentially very powerful. This card seems like it would do very well in a midrange Rakdos shell with a little bit of reanimator mixed in. If you have targets that have decent power and ETB effects, your opponent is going to have to kill this thing and kill it fast.

The Bad: 6 mana is a lot and you generally don't want to go that high in a reanimator deck, excluding of course your actual reanimate targets.

The Verdict: I would love to draft and play this in a cube, not my cube however.

Torens, Fist of the Angels

The Good: So this card is essentially a Monastery Mentor for creatures instead of noncreatures. A 2/2 making 1/1s with training is quite powerful as they will become 2/2s if they attack together. This is an interesting twist on a classically powerful ability.

The Bad: While the change from noncreature to creature may seem negligible when the color change also makes your deck more suited towards creatures, you do now run into the problem of putting all your eggs in 1 basket. A card like Monastery Mentor is good because it's generates you card advantage on the board while the spell you've cast generates value elsewhere such as drawing you a card or countering a spell. With Torens you get bodies on the board by continuing to overly commit to said board and it's going to hurt very badly when you get wrathed.

The Verdict: I will not be playing this card for the reasons outlined above. A shame too as I'd really like some good Selesnya cards.

And that's all I got for Crimson Vow! While I'm sure I missed some, those were all the cards I've been considering or have seen others considering for an unrestricted cube. Overall not the slam dunk fest that Midnight Hunt was but there were still a lot of cool and fun options for cubes. It seems like I was much lower on a couple of the cards than most but I also am quite high on cards like Wedding Announcement and Voldaren Epicure which I've hardly seen anyone mention at all! Thanks for reading and I hope you come back when I go through Crimson Vow cards for my Pauper Twobert!

3 Midnight Hunt Additions for Tempo Twobert

This will be a shorter post than the ones for my other cubes and I will only be talking about the cards I have specifically found a home for in my Tempo Twobert.

Tempo Twobert has a very low mana curve and very specific gameplay it is trying to push so I imagine it may not get a dedicated post every spoiler season. That being said I have 3 Midnight Hunt cards that I think will be great additions to the cube! Let's get into it.

Consider

I am sure this will come as no surprise, Consider is perfect for this cube. Being the only card making it into all of my cubes, Consider is just a great and cheap bit of hand smoothing and in the Tempo Twobert it fuels the ever present Xerox decks and Delve cards. Slam dunk card for just about every cube I'd ever want to make.

Infernal Grasp

So their isn't actually much room for Doom Blades in the Tempo Twobert. There are just so many efficient ways to deal with the cheap threats the cube sports and at 2 mana you mostly trade even to down. I do however have room for a single copy of this effect and this is hands down the one I want. While it's arguably worse than Power Word Kill, which hits 95% of my creatures and never deals you 2 damage, the 2 damage pushes the fast paced tempo play I want for this cube and especially so for the Death's Shadow and Scourge of the Skyclaves decks.

Faithful Mending

Careful Study and Faithless looting are power houses in this cube. While spending a card to loot is technically card disadvantage in a vacuum, in this cube more often than not you'll be able to turn it into straight card advantage. Digging 2 cards deep and fueling your graveyard on the cheap is very powerful and while Faithful Mending costs 1 more mana than Faithless Looting, what you get for that mana is quite a lot. Instant speed is the obvious upside but that 2 life is actually very relevant in this environment where your life is used liberally as a resource. The fact that it's multicolored has little significance due to the quality and density of fixing my Tempo Twobert provides. I expect Faithful Mending to do very well.

And that's it for me from Midnight Hunt and right in time for Crimson Vow spoilers! Like I've said my Tempo Twobert probably won't get a dedicated post every set as there will probably be sets where nothing makes the cut. For Midnight Hunt though, I am very happy with the 3 I got and I expect it will be one of the better performers in inclusions for this cube. Thanks for reading, cheers!

Midnight Hunt Considerations for Pauper Twobert

Time to talk commons, specifically commons for my Pauper Twobert!

In this post I will be writing about all the cards people may be considering for a pauper cube environment, mostly in the context of my Pauper Twobert. Unlike my main cube, slots in this cube are very tight at only 240 cards. So while my ultimate verdict may be a pass for me, these cards or cards I've opted to not talk about could certainly be good enough for a larger pauper cube.

Candletrap

The Good: One mana "removal" is quite good even if it's soft removal. If you're happy with Pacifism, for one less mana you can do the same thing except it gets to block. If you have to use it on a creature larger than all of yours that's fine, you may not be able to get through right away but eventually you can pay 3 mana to get rid of it permanently. 

The Bad: Like all soft removal it can feel really bad to have this in your hand when you need to remove a creature whose problem isn't attacking. It does give you an avenue to use it as straight removal but I'm not sure how reliable Coven will be to have active.

The Verdict: I'm going to test this one, seems like it could be one of the better removals for control even without the coven ability, especially against aggressive decks.

Cathar Commando

The Good: This is exactly the type of maindeckable artifact/enchantment removal I can run at this size. A 3/1 for 2 with Flash is certainly playable and currently my enchantment-based removal is quite powerful as I don't run much hate for it.

The Bad: It's hard to complain about this one honestly, it's pretty pushed for a common but I suppose the 1 toughness kind of hurts.

The Verdict: I will be putting this card in my cube, I expect it to perform very well.

Search Party Captian

The Good: We just got a white Phyrexian Rager in Priest of Ancient Lore last set and here we have another, but this one has the potential to be even less than 3-mana. This is exactly the kind of early creature you want in pauper cube, a near rate body that gives you straight card advantage.

The Bad: The card is quite unimpressive when you have to play it at full cost.

The Verdict: I'll be testing this one, can never have too many Phyrexian Ragers in my opinion.

Consider

The Good: This card is great! In most cases strictly better than Opt and in my cube that's sure to be relevant.

The Bad: Nothing to say here.

The Verdict: I think for my cube I will be straight replacing Opt, I think I like my 1 mana blue cantrip number at 3 and with this, Ponder, and Preordain, they're a very solid 3.

Falcon Abomination

The Good: Man we've come a long way from Wind Drake the last couple of sets. I view this card as a blue Storm Caller as I can't imagine your opponent ever wanting to trade with your zombie. Instead of the third power you get evasion and that's a pretty decent trade.

The Bad: I am no fan of Decayed tokens and if you draw into this while behind on board, I imagine it will be just Wind Drake a lot of the time.

The Verdict: I don't think this card cuts it for my cube, I run Eldrazi Skyspawner and the fact that its token can block or ramp is way higher upside than getting in 2 extra damage sometimes.

Galedrifter

The Good: A 3 power flier for 4 mana that draws you a card is pretty good. Now this draws on death and it always draws you an under rate creature but it's card advantage none the less.

The Bad: A 5-mana 2/2 flier is generally significantly worse than a random card off the top of your library and the front half isn't quite good enough on rate to make that worth it.

The Verdict: I'm going to pass on this one, I currently run 3 blue 4-drops and they're all better than this.

Organ Hoarder

The Good: This card seems great, a decent sized body with selective card advantage that fills your graveyard and can work with blink shenanigans. 

The Bad: Would have been nice to have an extra toughness but it's hard to complain about this one.

The Verdict: My biggest problem here is that I want to play this card but I don't know what to cut. Blue is easily crowded with the best of the best at this cube size. At any rate this card is certainly good enough.

Crawl from the Cellar

The Good: A strictly better Morgue Theft? Sign me up! This card is probably the best Raise Dead variant right above Blood Beckoning.

The Bad: Can't complain.

The Verdict: For me this is a slam dunk. In the grindy, attrition-based games my cube tends to produce, the ability to recur your creatures is big value.

Ecstatic Awakener

The Good: What an amazing way to curve out in your black deck. Most of blacks 2-drops lend themselves to being sacrifice fodder and a 4/4 on turn 3 can be quite the beater.

The Bad: I could see this being a bad topdeck if you're behind on board. Certainly this won't work in every black deck.

The Verdict: I'm really excited to test this one. I may be a little high on it because of how much I've been winning with it in MID limited, but I'm pretty sure this one is a banger.

Morkrut Behemoth

The Good: This is just a VERY big creature and it has evasion. It would be the biggest creature bar none in my cube and for just 5 mana. Black will have something around to sacrifice. 

The Bad: The card is a Baneslayer and it can feel double bad to have it removed or countered after sacrificing another one of your creatures.

The Verdict: I have some flex slots in black so maybe I find a cut to test this, the card is huge but my environment is quite removal heavy. I wouldn't be surprised if my environment just can't have unprotected Baneslayers at 5+ mana.

Novice Occultist

The Good: I love Dusk Legion Zealot and this card is quite the same. The extra toughness doesn't really do anything for me and the drawing on death instead of ETB just means you get your card a little later.

The Bad: It can feel bad to have this one unsummoned but I don't have much bad to say about this card.

The Verdict: I'll be playing this card. Black 2-drops that replace themselves is the cube's MO.

Ardent Elementalist

The Good: Easier to cast, easier to splash, aggressively stat'd, red Archaeomancer. I love Archaeomancer and I love this card too. Recurring spells is great in the grind and gets real devious with all the blink shenanigans I run.

The Bad: Hard to complain about this one.

The Verdict: I will be playing this card, getting back your removal is gas and the card combos with Settle Beyond Reality which is one of my favorite things to do.

Famished Foragers

The Good: I'm quite high on this card. If your opponent has lost life, at the very least this card will be Keldon Raider. The fact that you can rummage repeatedly and more easily splash this card makes it a shoe in as a replacement in my opinion.

The Bad: The trigger requirement isn't nothing, there will be times when you just cast this as a 4-mana 4/3. But honestly, with the activated ability tacked on, that is not a horrible rate.

The Verdict: I don't run Keldon Raider but I will be running this, it won't be that hard to turn the rummage into a 2-spell turn instead and a 1-mana 4/3 is absolute gas.

Tapping at the Window

The Good: A nice little Impulse for green to find more gas and it has Flashback at a reasonable cost.

The Bad: Green has actually gotten quite a few 1-mana and 2-mana cards like this and this card will be competing directly with them.

The Verdict: Pass for me as I only run 2 of these type of cards in Abundant Harvest and Winding Way. I personally would also play Adventure Awaits before this.

Alright that does it for pauper cards. I'm thinking I may need to change up the format for these pauper posts as there were some cards worth considering that I ended up cutting from the post. The problem was I didn't want to get bogged down with cards I was passing on and could only say 1 or 2 things about since they were essentially just French-Vanilla creatures or very generic effects. Overall I'm very happy with what Midnight Hunt had to offer in terms of commons and the spooky flavor is one of my favorites in Magic. Thank you for reading this far and check back for my MID inclusions for the Tempo Twobert post!