It was a year of midrange all stars.
It was a year of familiar and long-awaited gifts.
It was a year of singleplayer power from multiplayer product.
In this post I will be writing about all the cards from 2022 that are currently in my unpowered vintage cube, Possibility Cube, and my experiences playing with them. While not as heavy a year as 2021, there's still a lot to cover. Of course my cube can't contain every card that is worthy of cube and so I will be shouting out some honorable mentions that, while not in my cube, you may want to check out. If you have any questions regarding why I've chosen not to include these cards, please ask! I certainly have my thoughts on them and will be happy to share if you want to know. Now, let's get started!
To start out the year strong we got Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and it brought with it quite a few new tools.
Lion Sash
And here we have the first familiar face of the year, a white-shifted Scavenging Ooze! Scavenging Ooze has been in my cube since the very beginning and Lion Sash should be in for the long run as well. Most decks will use the graveyard as a resource to some extent, but pure graveyard hate is never going to be a high priority during the draft and only shows up incidentally in sideboards, overall they're not worth the slot in my cube. Lion Sash is that perfect kind of graveyard interaction that offers interesting choices and is perfectly maindeckable in its own right. It may start out smaller than Scooze, but being able to grow off of not only creatures, but any permanent (fetchlands being the big one) more than makes up for it. I'm a big fan and expect to cube with this for some time.
The Wandering Emperor
The standard sets this year were great for the broader format that is cube, but for a traditional vintage cube environment there were few all stars. I'm happy to say The Wandering Emperor was one of the few and boy do I love playing with this card. 2WW continues to be a powerhouse for planeswalkers and I find myself wanting this card even over Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. This card offers 3 different ways to remove an opponent's creature at instant speed while also giving you access to a planeswalker they'll have to deal with. You can even Flickerwisp it to get an extra activation on your end step! The Wandering Emperor was certainly one of the slam dunks of the year and I'm glad to have it.
Swift Reconfiguration
So this is the only card I've picked up from this year's standard-adjacent commander precons and I've been very happy with how it plays. I draft a lot of white and the 1-mana removal plays such an important role that I pick it up over almost anything. Of course I'm always hoping for Swords to Plowshares and/or Path to Exile but they're not always around and I've gladly picked up Swift Reconfiguration countless times. It sometimes lines up poorly or needs to get sided out completely, but I'm glad to have the option and have found it's just removal a high amount of the time. Bonus tip: Swift Reconfiguration + Devoted Druid = Infinite Mana.
Blade of the Oni
So I'll admit, due to the nature of shuffling up a cube to draft and not being able to do that infinite times, sometimes you just don't see a card very often and thus I don't have a ton of experience with Blade of the Oni yet. The few times it has been played in my cube it has done pretty decent and I'm hoping to play with it more as my black section is getting a little less aristocratsy and a little more aggroey. A 3/1 Menace for 2 is a great card for an aggressive deck and Reconfiguring makes your board a little more resilient to removal, something I've been doing to great effect in standard currently.
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
For me this was the unexpected all star of the year. It's not that I was low on the card, I just saw it as an unassuming midrange value card. All it took was playing it to make me realize I had made a mistake in not considering it for my cube and once I got it in there's been no looking back. Even if it's across 3 turns, the amount of value packed into this card really is insane for a 3-drop. Board presence, ramp, card selection, this card has it all and has become a high pick for me in any cube I see it in.
Kumano Faces of Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano
While nothing special, this has been a nice little 1-drop for the red aggro deck. It's got a little bit of reach to raise the floor and has quite a high ceiling. What you're generally hoping to do is cast this on turn 1 to deal a damage and then buff your 2-drop so you can swing in on turn 3. That's 4 damage from this card on turn 3 which isn't crazy but hey, it's a turn 1 Zurgo Bellstriker. If your turn 2 play has haste, that's an extra point of damage as is every hit after turn 3 you get with the creature you gave the +1/+1 counter to.
Eater of Virtue
Bonesplitter is a favorite of mine and is arguably the best aggressive equipment for cube (Grafted Wargear is the only other case I could see being made for the spot) and I have been delighted to have another one. 1 mana to add 2 power anywhere on the board is extremely powerful and flexible. It's been another great Urza's Saga tutorable as well. Now I will say for how many more words Eater of Virtue has, this has expectedly been mostly just Bonesplitter number 2, however sometimes your Haster or First Striker will die with this equipped and you'll get more value than you could ever hope.
Shoutouts: Spirited Companion • Rabbit Battery • Kaito Shizuki • The Channel Lands
Streets of New Capenna was admittedly a little underwhelming to me for cube as a whole, there were some flavor fails for me and the power level was the weakest of the year in my opinion. That being said, I got a few things out of it.
Inspiring Overseer
Across all cube environments, this year has been throwing playable white 3-drops at us. White's gotten Phyrexian Rager after Phyrexian Rager and Inspiring Overseer is easily the best of the lot. While perhaps unexciting, this has predictably played great in my cube. While in the perfect color to do some Ephemerate shenanigans, it even more often slots into white-based aggressive decks. While it might not be as stat-heavy or as disruptive as my other 3-drops, 2-power in the air usually warrants some kind of removal on this creature that's already replaced itself. If I have some equipment like, let us say Eater of Virtue, I pick this even higher than some of the more stat-heavy 3s.
All-Seeing Arbiter
This new blue titan variant has been doing very well in my cube, even if the decks that want a blue 6-drop are becoming fewer and fewer. I still take Consecrated Sphinx over this guy because of the higher ceiling, but there have definitely been times I was thankful to get my ETB trigger before an untimely Infernal Grasp.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary
So I was very excited for this card when it first released and it has since played alright but I'm much more mellow on it. While it's true the ceiling of having 2 of these planeswalkers on turn 3 has been very good and quite oppressive, it more often comes later and I did not expect it to fall off so fast. Sacrificing some of your board presence to get 2 of these planeswalkers on even turn 4 or 5 just hasn't been super exciting. I have gladly drafted it in a number of aristocrats decks where there's fodder to both sac to and protect this card and it has been very powerful there, so if that's what you're doing I think he's definitely worth the slot. As I'm cutting more and more aristocrat support, Ob Nixilis may not be long for this world but he's a fine addition to my cube as of now.
Scheming Fence
This card's been great for me, and by great I mean it's very groan-inducing whenever it comes down. The decks in my cube love their Talismans and being able to simultaneously stifle your opponent's ramp and gain some ramp of your own has been very good. A turn 2 Scheming Fence on the draw after your opponent's turn 2 was a mana rock usually catapults you into a lead. I will reiterate, this is a groan-inducing card and not all playgroups will find it fun.
Shoutouts: Depopulate • Ledger Shredder • Witness Protection • Lethal Scheme • Jewel Thief • Titan of Industry • Unlicensed Hearse • The Triomes
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate is quite notable for cube due to the fact that it introduced one of the most busted singleplayer mechanics Magic's seen, Initiative. I'm not sporting a lot of cards from this set, but the ones I am are the most powerful of the year and I should possibly be running more of the Initiative cards.
White Plume Adventurer
Alright let me lay out how initiative creatures have been playing out for my white aggressive decks. ETB: Draw a basic land, next upkeep put 2 +1/+1 counters on it, next upkeep your opponent loses a quarter of their health... they're dead. White Plume has, for all intents and purposes, been a 3-mana 5/5 creature with Vigilance that gets a free 5-damage bop to the face (not to mention it draws you a card, albeit a land). Even if you have removal for it right away, the counters can just go onto a different creature and you're still going to take 5 to the face the turn after. You really need removal and the ability to steal the Initiative right away and that's a lot to ask to deal with your opponent's turn 3 play.
Seasoned Dungeoneer
Looking 1 mana up the curve we have Seasoned Dungeoneer which, somehow, has been even more busted than White Plume Adventurer. What the hell is "It explores." doing just tacked onto this card for like no reason at all. Let's just quick do a rundown of the usual with this card. 4-mana for a 5/6 unblockable that explores when it attacks and gets a free 5-damage bop to the face. The crazy thing about initiative is that beyond the busted baseline, it's so vastly modal and if you haven't already won, Undercity's end will surely give you the victory. Card is busted, I both love and am baffled by it.
Descent into Avernus
Now this has been an absolute joy to play. Way back when I first started playing magic, I made and loved my first EDH deck with Heartless Hidetsugu at the helm, one way or another the game was going to end and it's not going to take long. Descent into Avernus takes that sentiment and throws it into an incredibly fun and very cubeable card. Ramping your opponent is always going to be dangerous but you get the first turn with that ramp to dump your aggressive hand and your opponent isn't going to have very long to try and stabilize. From the turn it comes down Descent's total damage goes 0 to 2 to 6 to 12 to 20... someone's dead, possibly both of you. I've been putting this card into red deck wins to great effect and even into some gruul decks to varying but incredibly fun results. This card is a blast to play with and I highly recommend it.
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
This card is currently regarded as a higher priority pick in my cube than Oko. This planeswalker gives you board presence, reach, card advantage and is all in all just everything you'd want to be doing. For 4 mana you get a 4/4 trampler with haste, then on the next turn you can make it a 7/7 or, after attacking, sacrifice it to remove an opponent's creature and draw 4 cards, of course you'll get the 4/4 trampler with haste back the next turn. This card is busto.
Shoutouts: Astrak Dragon • Caves of Chaos Adventurer • Gut, True Soul Zealot • Undermountain Adventurer
Depending on your cube's synergies and the support available, Dominaria United provides various amounts of playable cube cards. For me and my cube there wasn't much, powerstones aren't very powerful in my environment and the support for Domain cards is rather dubious.
Aether Channeler
Rest In Peace, Man-o'-War, 2022. In truth I had, with tears in my eyes, cut Man-o'-War from my cube some time ago and I'm actually quite happy to have Aether Channeler as its spiritual successor. This card has just been solid filler that makes the maindeck more often than not and the choice between cantripping or bouncing a permanent has been great.
Cut Down
So when I added Cut Down to my cube, I also re-added Fatal Push. I did the math and these cards killed such a large percentage of creatures in my cube that they just had to be correct to run. The reason I cut Fatal Push in the first place was that while it does hit so much of my cube, later in the game it just wasn't killing the threat you really needed dead and I'd find myself just wishing I'd drafted a Doomblade, the extra mana doesn't matter because it was, well, later in the game. That's my biggest fear in running this card and I think I have probably been avoiding it because I don't have a lot of play with this one yet. For what it's worth, I have been getting good results from Fatal Push, but mostly because it's killing a lot of tokens that Cut Down can't. I need more time with this one and should actually just start drafting it. It hits around 67-70% of creatures in my cube, I imagine I'm going to like it the more I play with it.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Alright I was a bit late to the party on this one but, to be fair, midrangey 4-drops like this have historically not been very good in my cube. What I realize now is that at 4-mana, the risk of this just getting hit by removal right away is well worth it for what comes if it's not removed, same reason Hero of Bladehold is still in. This card simultaneously rewards you for doing what you want to be doing and punishes your opponents for doing what they want to be doing. Drawing cards is just everywhere in cube and this card is going to wreak havoc if it stays on the board. A 4/5 body is also beefy enough that it can get into the red zone. Like I said I was a bit late to the party so it hasn't been in my cube very long, but I know I have been destroying with it in the MTGO Vintage Holiday Cube, resolve a draw-7 with Sheoldred out and you've essentially won the game.
Radha's Firebrand
This card has been a really nice aggressive 2-drop for me. For a while now I've been jealous on behalf of my red section of all the white 3-power 2-drops that can push their damage through. 2-power 2-drops with haste just consistently do less damage. So far, Radha's Firebrand has been a nice taste of what I've been missing. I'd say on average this card's been good for 2 hits and that's often enough out of your 2-drop. It not only pushes itself through but your other creatures as well. It should also be noted that, while I've never seen this card outside a monored deck, I have seen it activated to hit for 5 a non-zero number of times.
Shivan Devastator
I was very excited for this card and I've been quite happy with it so far. There's nothing like curving out in a red deck and that always seems possible when this is in your opening hand. While a 5-mana french vanilla 4/4 hasty flier wouldn't be worth a cube slot, the red deck would certainly play it. Shivan Devastator is that but worth the slot as it is also a 3-drop, 4-drop, 6-drop, etc.
Squee, Dubious Monarch
I haven't seen Squee get played much yet but the red decks he has been a part of were pretty good. 3 hasty damage is always a good start and if you can keep the board clear, this deals the same total damage as the OG Goblin Rabblemaster by the turn after it's cast (not to mention more the turn it's cast). Like I said, I haven't seen much of Squee yet but I'll note that I don't think the recursion has ever mattered yet.
Shoutouts: Guardian of New Benalia • Leyline Binding • Rona's Vortex • Cult Conscript • Electrostatic Infantry • Tear Asunder • Two-Headed Hellkite • Timeless Lotus
The quality and quantity of cards from the Warhammer 40,000 commander decks that I wanted to cube with was much higher than anticipated and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was my personal favorite product in 2022. Universes Beyond has been a tricky subject throughout the entire Magic community and I personally wasn't sure whether I'd want to include them in my cube, but then 40K spoilers hit and I forgot all about that in the excitement of all the cool new designs. Without even thinking about it I realized these were magic cards to me and I'm happy to run them.
Triumph of Saint Katherine
I have been loving this card. It is very rare that I don't want to cast this for 2 mana the turn I draw it and it really is just a whole lot of beef suddenly on the board. It also feels so bad for your opponent if they have to use a non-exile removal effect on it because it will most assuredly be back. You really don't want this card in the top 9 cards of your deck, but it's honestly been worth the mulligans and the fallback of 5-mana 5/5 with Lifelink isn't even that embarrassing. I've mostly been running it in aggressive decks, but I've had it played in some UW control decks to great effect as well.
Necron Deathmark
I've been very happy with this card so far, a lot of that happiness due to the fact that black 5-drop creatures have historically kind of sucked in cube. This card has been doing a pretty nice Solitude impression and the graveyard fueling has been very fun. I've also had the chance to loop this a bit with Goblin Welder and I must say that's a winning strategy.
Old One Eye
This is the green 6-drop I've been waiting for, last year I thought it was Tovolar's Huntmaster, but I was wrong. This card is great and has been my highest priority pick to ramp into as the generic green deck (well okay yeah, Craterhoof exists but come on that's just a combo card). 11 trampling power over 2 bodies and the recursion, while costly, is very real and it's not hard to sandbag some lands to be able to do it. It's splashable too, I don't think I've seen anyone Ephemerate Tovolar's Huntmaster but I've definitely seen them Ephemerate Old One Eye. This has quickly risen to the premium green 6-drop in my cube rivaled only by Carnage Tyrant.
Chaos Defiler
Remember how great I said it was looping Necron Deathmark with Goblin Welder? Enter Chaos Defiler. I've been drafting this card very highly and it's been very good. The 5/4 trampler that's left behind after you kill your opponent's threat will beat your opponent down and if they kill it they'll have to say goodbye to another one of their threats as well. I've seen this card in a Goblin Welder/Recurring Nightmare deck and it was very powerful and very fun. Oh and the other crazy part, I've killed a Carnage Tyrant with this, I've killed a True-Name Nemesis with this, this card slaps and slaps hard.
Mawloc
Gruul is possibly the least played color pair in my cube (either that or Selesnya). Minsc and Boo pack 1 pick 1 has been helping with that and Mawloc almost always shows up in those decks. I cut Voracious Hydra long time ago and this has been playing so much better than it, the extra 2-power makes all the difference. This 40k set has had a lot of Ravenous Chupacabra variants and this RG one has been doing a pretty good impression of one that scales. There's always something to kill with this, even if it's just a 2-mana sorcery speed removal, that kills a lot of creatures in my cube and so this card is always live.
Thunderhawk Gunship
I have to say, if there was one winner after this set released, it was Goblin Welder. This card is kind of unassuming but has just been very solid so far. It does a good little impression of a colorless Grave Titan and packs quite the evasive punch. I really have loved playing all the 40k cards and this one is no exception.
Shoutouts: Space Marine Devastator • Ultramarines Honour Guard • Zephyrim • Sicarian Infiltrator • Vanguard Suppressor • Primaris Eliminator • Royal Warden • Knight Rampager • Noise Marine • Hormagaunt Horde • Callidus Assassin
Rounding out the year we have Brothers' War. As it is with the last set of the year, my play experience with these cards ranges from little to none due to the fact that the set's been out for only about a month. And so these cards are a little more speculative than the others we've talked about but I have high hopes for them. It should also be noted that not every card I'd like to test from the set is in the cube yet.
Loran of the Third Path
I feel like we've been due a monowhite Reclamation Sage for awhile now so this was a welcome surprise from Brothers' War. I haven't gotten any games in with Loran from my cube yet, but I have gotten to try her out in the MTGO Holiday Cube and she's been great, better in white than Reclamation Sage is in green in my little experience as of now. White just really capitalizes on curving into a 3-drop 2-for-1. The activated ability is not nothing either, it's actually quite relevant and pretty skill intensive in deciding whether or not to activate it!
Steel Seraph
Again, not from my cube yet, but the Holiday Cube has been showing that this card is as awesome as I had hoped. A 3-drop 3/3 flier that will immediately give your 2-drop flying to swing in and then continue to provide evasion or lifelink every combat as needed? Oh and at 6-mana this is completely castable as a Baneslayer if the game goes a bit late.
Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim
I'm excited to see how well this does, it's a little light on defense the first turn with just a 2/2, but that 2/2 is quickly going to get really good at both offense and defense. Historically the 5-mana planeswalkers that have "0: Draw a card." haven't been the best but this is more like a +2 with the static ability. It's also possible you're more here for the -2. If you just make 2 of these creatures right away, even if they then remove your Teferi, these creatures will get out of hand very fast.
Hostile Negotiations
So generally, unless they've shown you removal for your thing, you're going to want to give your opponent the face up pile. It is almost always going to be more correct to have known information than hidden. So this is essentially a Draw 3, Mill 3, Lose 3 card except probably a little bit worse due to the choice your opponent gets to make. It's instant speed, splashable, fuels the graveyard, this card has potential but I'll need to get some reps in with it.
Misery's Shadow
This is the card from Brothers' War I'm most excited to play more with and I have actually gotten to play it in my cube once so far. Nantuko Shade's power has been lost to history but Misery's Shadow is bringing it right back. For those of you that don't know how this works, the threat of activation essentially makes this 2-drop unblockable while converting any mana you know you don't need into extra damage. If your opponent makes the mistake of blocking or is forced to block because you have a Fireball on a stick, you get to spend some mana and enjoy some nice 1-for-none removal. I will admit I did sideboard this card out a couple games, combat just isn't as much the name of the game as it used to be. I honestly could see this getting pushed out of my cube for that reason in the future but for now I'm excited to have it.
Feldon, Ronom Excavator
So earlier I talked about how I wasn't a big fan of the 2-mana 2-power hasters that red gets, but I'm quite hopeful with this one. Would you run a 2-mana "Deal 2 and draw a card"? I think so. I'm hoping this will do its thing until it gets walled by a 3/3 and then it either keeps doing its thing or gets cashed in for a card with a bit of selection.
Third Path Iconoclast
Young Pyromancer is easily a cube favorite and I know I wasn't the only one feeling the age of it triggering off only Instants and Sorceries. For an extra color, we finally get to play with a Young Pyromancer that triggers off any noncreature spell, the 1/1s are even artifacts for some nice incidental synergies! I'm very happy and excited to play with this one.
Shoutouts: Lay Down Arms • Recruitment Officer • Siege Veteran • Soul Partition • Arcane Proxy • Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor • Transmogrant's Crown • Brotherhood's End • Argoth, Sanctum of Nature
And that was 2022 for my cube! While I'm not as sporting as many 2022 cards at the year's end as I was 2021 cards last year, I sure got some powerful and fun new tools. Cube is easily my favorite hobby and Magic format and it seems like every year, 2022 included, is just a good year to be a cuber. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading and I hope you have a happy new year!
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