DGM in Cube

[Christopher Morris-Lent]

so i know it's silly to claim that one can evaluate cards in any format during spoiler season (ffs LSV gave SFM a 2.0 constructed-wise!) but i thought it would make sense to start a list of potential cube "playables" with a little analysis. then when we get to play with the cards we can post our analysis and make new suggestions or something. i'll start:

renounce the guilds -- good in a multi-color cube

blood scrivener -- this guy may be a staple!

renegade krasis -- green needs more beef at cmc3, as without an extra color in there it's mainly utility and value dudes there. i'm gonna try it.

exava, rakdos blood witch -- may suffer from cmc=4 and the same issue as krasis, viz. not enough counters, but seems strong to me.

legion’s initiative -- probably doesn't justify its awkward cost and marginal effect especially in a cube without many sweepers

mirko vosk, mind drinker -- ends the game in a hurry, not sure if it's the kind of effect i want though.

progenitor mimic -- 6-mana simic repeatable clone is already filled by spitting image, and this card is not from eventide, but i like it a lot. clones are fun in cube.

ral zarek -- worth a try, especially if your izzet section is light (like mine)

savageborn hydra -- an heir to the surprisingly good wrecking ogre, being double-strike and too inefficient for constructed but maybe it'll find a home here. gruul doesn't lack for sweet options, though, and i'm not sure this guy is good enough.

sire of insanity -- worth testing, i love this design.

tajic, blade of the legion -- not my favorite (medic makes all! your guys indestructible) but we'll see

varolz, the scar-striped -- graveyard theme!!

voice of resurgence -- very hard to evaluate, so must try it.

zhur-taa ancient -- with wake being mostly unplayable i'd be hesitant to slam him in but who knows.

far // away -- probably just bad jilt, which i don't see in many lists these days, but w/e

flesh // blood -- incidental graveyard hate plus recursion is nice, probably not good enough though

your thoughts here!

[Jason Waddell]

I'll save any thorough stuff for an article, but the cards on my radar at the moment are:
Ral Zarek

Voice of Resurgence

Blood Scrivener (will test)

Advent of the Wurm (but probably not)
Varolz (but probably not)

Wear // Tear (but probably rather have Ancient Grudge)
Putrefy (not really, I always get a laugh when people get excited about a new cube card that's actually a reprint)

I also think on Evaxa you can view the +1/+1 clause as flavor text. 4/4 First Strike Haste is pretty significant. Still sticking with Falkenrath though. 

[Nathan Weizenbaum]

I'm testing the following DGM cards at the moment:

* Wear // Tear (in an red artifact-hate slot that I haven't found anything great for)

* Ral Zarek (I always test new planeswalkers, but this guy is especially easy since I had two Izzet slots I wasn't happy with)

* Render Silent (this has been bad and will probably come out soon)

* Sin Collector (hasn't been played yet; I'm not especially optimistic)

* Advent of the Wurm (trample is relevant in my swordful cube)

* Voice of Resurgence (as I mentioned elsewhere, I think this card will be good to very good)

* Far // Away (this isn't especially powerful, but it has lots of cool utility that I like)

* Plasm Capture (in place of Mystic Snake)

* Progentior Mimic (I love clones, and this is a sweet clone)

* Savageborn Hydra (competition is heavy in Gruul, but the upside on this is too high not to test)

[Eric Chan]

Holy crap, we badly need some kind of autocard feature up in here. I'm horrible with card names, and have no idea what most of the cards are that you guys are listing. 

I tend to be pessimistic when it comes to evaluating new sets, so for the moment I'm only interested in:

  Far // Away

  Progenitor Mimic

  Ral Zarek

  Voice of Resurgence

Savageborn Hydra looks cool, and since that sweet Apocalypse Hydra artwork a few years back, I've wanted hydras to break out badly. But isn't it mostly just a worse Primordial Hydra? I know it's got double strike along with sorcery-speed leveling, but auto-doubling in size every upkeep still seems like it makes a bigger fatty for less work, and Primordial has the bonus of staying monocoloured.

[Christopher Morris-Lent]

nathan -- you're already testing, sweet. how has ral been?

eric -- i'm initially pessimistic too but sometimes you get some pleasant surprises. gyre sage and experiment one seemed like trash and they've turned out to be staples. keep your eyes peeled!

[Nathan Weizenbaum]

Ral has only been in for one draft, and didn't get opened, so the jury's still out.

[FlowerSunRain]

So far Zhur-Taa Ancient is my favorite card.  I can't see not putting him in.  Than again, we still think Mirari's Wake is a bomb, so ymmv.

Savage Hydra seems really fun.

Armed and Dangerous looks like a pretty good red card with a game winning upside.  Most red-green decks that go to six mana probably don't want this card.  Its debatable.

Far and Away is great.  If you like Simic Charm, you'll love this!

Toil and Trouble is mega-swingy, but 3 mana stormseeker can be really funny.  I'm not convinced, but I'm not dismissing.

Ral-Zarak should bring some life to the red/blue section.

Voice of Resurgence is a good bear.  It'll probably rotate in and out in a bear slot.

Sire of Insanity is hilarious.

Exava is clearly good, but its clearly a card I already run like three versions of.

[Dom Harvey]

I hate hate hate Blood Scrivener, but it might be good enough if I'm pushing Zombies. It's nice with Putrid Imp/Wild Mongrel. We'll see.

Deputy of Acquittals, much like Azorius Charm, is exactly the type of card that I want in the Cube but which isn't a realistic inclusion thanks to the inherent restriction the draft format puts on manabases. I'd love to be able to fix that.

Lavinia is a good 5-drop in colours and a format that already has too many good 5-drops.

Legion's Initiative is... weird. I think it's a card that I'll have to play with before I can gauge its effectiveness.

I love Obzedat's Aid, but I'm not sure there are enough good non-creature targets for it. Karn/Nicol Bolas/Form of the Dragon/Akroma's Memorial/Eldrazi Conscription/Mindslaver/Take Possession are the only ones that I might want to play.

Ral Zarek is a slam-dunk.

Trostani's Summoner might be the Hornet Queen that Jason's always wanted! I'm not sure how much better/worse the power increase is compared to mono-deathtouch, but I can see how it would be less oppressive. 

Vorel is intriguing but probably too narrow. Nobody played Gilder Bairn to begin with.

Beck/Call makes me irrationally excited. If it was in the Cube, I'd probably pick it over better cards all the time and try to make it happen. This one might actually be good enough though. You can play Beck and reward yourself with 3-4 cards for going up a Pod chain. With a sac outlet in play, play Beck into Promise of Bunrei, or Caller of the Claw, or  Mitotic Slime if you have enough mana. Got a discard outlet (say, Lotleth Troll) in play? Discard a dredger, play Beck, play a creature and dredge into a Vengevine, play another creature and draw two cards (dredging again once/twice if you want to); or go really deep if that outlet is a Zombie Infestation. Or...

Sign me up for some Breaking/Entering.

Far/Away is good, Toil/Trouble less so but still a contender.