I run a loose grading scale, based on my personal interest in the card:
Slam it - The holy-crap-I-am-so-happy-they-printed-this card.
Cube - This card will go into my cube and I expect to be happy with it.
Needs testing - The card looks like it could be powerful, but may or may not work out.
Playable - Interchangeable with similar cards, depending on the flavor of the moment might see play.
So close - I want to play this, but it's probably better if I don't.
? - No idea what to think of this card.
Pass - Not interested. Every card not listed here automatically gets this grade.
If the card is not on this list, you can assume I'm not interested, is a reprint (or forgot to list it). Some reprints will get listed if it's the first time it gets a modern border.
Link to Modern Horizons card image gallery on Dailymtg.com
(In some cases, I'll list two different grades if there would be a big difference based on the cube)
WHITE
Battle ScreechVerdict: Slam it (Modern border)
I love a Battle Screech. It's great to push tokens, or just aggressive white decks in general. There's a copy in my Classic cube, and I'm happy to play it in my Modern cube as well.
Ephemerate
Verdict: Cube
Cloudshift is already playable as a trick or cheap Blink archetype card. The only case in which Cloudshift is better is in combination with steal effects, but Ephemerate trumps it in every other case. As an archetype enabler, Ephemerate gets 2 uses from your best comes-into-play effects for a single mana. Great card.
Face of Divinity
Verdict: Pass / Needs testing (archetype card)
It's peasant's Daybreak Coronet! I used to run an enchantress theme in my old archetype cube that was surprisingly solid. This looks like a fun addition to that archetype if I decide to bring it back one day.
Impostor of the Sixth Pride
Verdict: Slam it (Tribal cube)
Changelings are a huge feature in my tribal cube, making all the different tribes overlap so much better. This one is especially good being a 2-drop and has very efficient stats.
Irregular Cohort
Verdict: Cube / Slam it (Tribal cube)
Again a changeling, so it's an easy pick for my Tribal cube. It even creates two bodies with changeling. That said, two 2/2 tokens for 2WW mana is pretty good on itself, making this a good addition to any cube.
Martyr's Soul
Verdict: ? / Cube (Tribal cube)
The ceiling on this card is huge, but I don't think having to tap three creatures to cast this is generally worth it. Maybe certain token decks might want it, and I guess a 3/2 for 3 isn't the absolute worst? I will put it into my Tribal cube to test. Mainly because it's both a soldier and a spirit AND has +1/+1 counters, so it should be perfect in my specific case.
Recruit the Worthy
Verdict: Needs testing
Both 1 and 4 mana for a 1/1 is a bad deal. Being able to pay 4 each turn for a 1/1 at instant speed might be a decent mana sink. It's so mana intensive though.
Rhox Veteran
Verdict: Playable
Not terribly exciting, but it has a nice combination of abilities. The biggest problem with past creatures with battle cry was that they were either quite fragile or worthless without a whole army around them. This solves both these weaknesses in a pretty manageable mana cost.
Splicer's Skill
Verdict: ?
This doesn't look good in all but the slowest cubes. Paying 4 to create a 3/3 each turn sounds pretty good, but after playing with Splice onto Arcane in my Tribal cube I found it a lot harder than it looks. I guess if you draft a lot of cheap interaction this might be a nice way to grind out the game.
Valiant Changeling
Verdict: Cube / Slam it (Tribal cube)
Double strike is a scary ability, especially on bigger creatures. Scrapper Champion is quite playable as (essentially) a 3/3 double strike for 4. For Valiant Changeling to be better than that, you need four different creature types. This may be more doable than it sounds, with a lot of modern creatures receiving both a race and class as creature types. In my tribal cube this will regularly be cast for WW, which is just insane.
Vesperlark
Verdict: Needs testing
After playing around with Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker a bit, I think this card has potential. You do need to draft around this a bit, but there are a good number of good creatures to return with power 1 or less. I can see this being pretty good in something like W/U Blink or W/B sac/return, paired with cards like Wall of Omens, Master Splicer, Apprentice Necromancer. Should be a fun card.
Tl;dr
Nothing insane in white. My tribal cube will gain a couple of very good cards. There are also some very nice cards if you run a blink archetype.
Top white cards for peasant cube: Ephemerate, Valiant Changeling, Rhox Veteran.
Dark horse: Vesperlark
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BLUE
Faerie SeerVerdict: Cube
If your cube is interested in a 1/1 flying for 1 (blue aggro/tempo, ninja, flying matters, etc), you'll be happy playing this. Scry 2 is very close to drawing a card anyway. Bonus synergy with Spellstutter Sprite.
Moonblade Shinobi
Verdict: Needs testing
As far as Ninja goes, this has a pretty good ability. This should be great in cubes that run a lot of white 'Tap when attacks' or red 'Target creature can't block'. Having said that, I've cut Ninja of the Deep Hours because it usually translated in 1U: draw a card and was blanked after that.
Oneirophage
Verdict: Cube
This will get out of hand very fast in the right deck. I've played with Lorescale Coatl a lot, and the biggest drawback is the lack of evasion. This one is expensive for its base stats, but imagine following it up with Compulsive Research for a 5/6 attacking on turn five.
Pondering Mage
Verdict: ?
It's no Mulldrifter, but what is? A 3/4 is just big enough to stabilize the board, and Ponder is a pretty powerful card. It's probably too slow though.
Rain of Revelation
Verdict: Playable
Instant speed might just make Sift a lot more likely to get included in cubes.
Scour all Possibilities
Verdict: So close
I actually don't hate the front end of this card, so the flashback (while expensive) only makes it better. Card quality is so high in cubes that I don't see this making it into a lot of lists. Maybe if you want to make Quiet Speculation work?
Smoke Shroud
Verdict: Pass / Needs testing (Tribal cube)
In a cube that can trigger the bottom ability, this might be pretty good. All the Changelings in my Tribal cube could have this be a fun little aura.
Watcher for Tomorrow
Verdict: Cube
An aggressive blue 2-drop that gives you value when it dies just looks great. Just remember that part of Hideaway is that this comes into play tapped.
Winter's Rest
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Snow basics)
Assuming you're allowed to play snow-covered basics instead of normal basics, this is good blue removal.
Tl;dr
Two great cheap creatures with card selection for blue. Oneirophage has a lot of potential. The rest doesn't bring anything groundbreaking.
Top blue cards for peasant cube: Faerie Seer, Watcher for Tomorrow.
Dark Horse: Oneirophage
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BLACK
Azra SmokeshaperVerdict: Playable
This is a cute trick for aggressive black decks. Attack with two 2/2 creatures into a big blocker, upgrade one while saving the other.
Changeling Outcast
Verdict: So close / Cube (Tribal cube)
I'm of the opinion that 1/1 unblockables are more playable than they look in regular cubes. With any equipment or other pump they can annoyingly add up to a lot of damage over the course of a game. This one not being able to block is a drawback, but will probably almost never matter because this should be swinging most of the time anyway. The Changeling ability makes this an easy include in my tribal cube.
Crypt Rats
Verdict: Playable
This is actually not the first time this has been printed with a modern border, but I still wanted to mention it. There's a very obscure white-bordered version that came with a magazine.
Feaster of Fools
Verdict: Needs testing
Holy crap what a swingy card. I really want to like this as a very exciting card for the token/sacrifice deck. I think that I'd be fine playing a 5/5 flying for 5 + sac/tap a guy. That seems like a manageable cost and a decent floor. The ceiling on this bad boy is obviously nuts. Any recursive creatures or expendable bodies make this huge. Cards like Lightning Greaves, Anger or Fling make this even better.
First-Sphere Gargantua
Verdict: Playable
Phyrexian Gargantua is a very playable card. This is bigger, threatens five hasty damage on the return and gives you two bodies to sac or otherwise use. If your cube has a blink theme or often recurs creatures for value, the Phyrexian might be a little better because of the raw card advantage it gives. Having options while constructing your cube is nice.
Gluttonous Slug
Verdict: ?
This seems decent, but might be very clunky. You really want to evolve this twice to make it really worthwhile, but that doesn't seem too hard to do. Playing this on turn two and following it up with a 1- and 2-drop on turn three sounds very annoying to deal with.
Graveshifter
Verdict: Playable / Slam it (Tribal cube)
Gravedigger is on the low end of playable, but generally has been outclassed in regular peasant cube. In a lower powered and/or tribal cube it's pretty insane to get your best creature back while possibly adding a relevant creature type to the board. Value!
Mob
Verdict: Playable
Conclave Tribunal has been pretty good. Convoke is just such a good ability. I'd image that an extra mana for instant speed and not being an enchantment can still create some nice tempo swings.
Putrid Goblin
Verdict: Playable
This is version X of the black 2-drop that either comes back once or creates a guy when it dies, either 2/2 on the front and 1/1 on the back or the other way around. Pretty playable, version depends on your cube. Does your cube want zombie or goblin, choose this one.
Ransack the Lab
Verdict: Cube
Night's Whisper is somewhat of a staple card in peasant cube and this reminds me of it. In a lot of cases, picking the best card from the top 3 is better than blindly drawing 2. There are decks that prefer the raw drawing Whisper provides, but Ransack has a lot of value if your deck has graveyard synergy of needs more specific cards.
Return from Extinction
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Tribal cube)
Returning two creatures for 2 mana is good. Most cubes will not be able to use this, except (obviously) a tribal cube.
Sling-Gang Lieutenant
Verdict: Cube
Army-in-can cards like these are great for black decks in cube. Being a creature makes it recurrable, which is nice. Most peasant cubes have a slew of goblins or goblin tokens in red, which makes this a very scary build-around that has the ability to end games on the spot. Sling-Gang is reminiscent of Marsh Flitter, which I prefer as a stand-alone card, but I will be very happy to run both.
Undead Augur
Verdict: ?
In a cube that supports a zombie theme, this is obviously great. I'm a little sad it costs BB, otherwise it would be a great addition to any cube. As it stands, I don't think the double colored is worth the pay-off, but it's close.
Venomous Changeling
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Tribal cube)
Another changeling. Get into my tribal cube.
Warteye Witch
Verdict: cube
I really like this one for cubes with a sacrifice theme. There are actually surprisingly few good peasant legal cards that trigger off of creatures dying (opposed to sac outlets), and scry 1 is pretty nice. It's also a goblin for additional synergies.
Tl;dr
Black has a lot of playable cards that might see cube play depending on what a cube needs. Tribal cube rejoices once again.
Top black cards for peasant cube: Sling-Gang Lieutenant, Ransack the Lab, Warteye Witch.
Dark Horse: Gluttonous Slug.
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RED
Alpine GuideVerdict: Slam it
What a great way to put ramp in red. Any red deck that can use the land will be very happy picking this card up. Forced attack is annoying, but the 3/3 body will let it trade with something in most situations.
Bogardan Dragonheart
Verdict: Needs testing
I like sacrifice decks a lot. Both of the tokens+Blood Artist and Threaten varieties. Red weirdly doesn't have a lot of sacrifice outlets, seeing as a lot of sacrifice decks are B/R. This threatens (ha!) a lot of damage if you can keep it fed, and it can start swinging for four damage in the air as early as turn 3.
Geomancer's Gambit
Verdict: So close
This is more like a weird mana fixer than it is actual land destruction. Target your own land to get the right mana, while not costing you a card. The land comes into play untapped, so if you can use the mana right away it costs 2. Super janky, but it might have its use in some cubes. Although, being able to destroy something like a Maze of Ith is pretty good utility.
Goatnap
Verdict: Playable
Threaten is much cleaner for basically the same effect, but this has such delightful silly flavor.
Goblin Champion
Verdict: So close
Exalted always plays better than I expect. It can make early creatures 'unblockable' by making them larger than similar creatures on the opponent's side, and can make later creatures trade up. I dislike that it requires you to attack with a single creature, which makes it worse in decks that want to swarm the opponent (like goblin decks usually do). This puts the card in a weird place, especially since I usually want to pair my 1-drops with more 1-drops.
Goblin Oriflamme
Verdict: Needs testing
I remember a discussion on MTGSalvation about running Alpha Orcish Oriflamme. What I don't remember is if we reached consensus. War Horn turned out to be too expensive, and the 'attacking creatures' rider proved awkward. Maybe 2 mana will make the card playable.
Goblin War Party
Verdict: Playable
Either choice is on the expensive side but useful. I've played and enjoyed Hunting Triad in a lot of iterations of my cube. If your cube wants tokens, this is a good glue card. I don't expect to see it entwined a lot.
Hollowhead Sliver
Verdict: Playable / Cube (Tribal cube)
This sliver is a pretty significant upgrade to Rummaging Goblin. The goblin did not see a lot of play, but a 2/2 version looks solid. With all the changelings in my tribal cube, this gives a backdoor option into slivers and might lead me to find room for a couple of other slivers.
Lava Dart
Verdict: Playable
First modern border printing for who wants it. It's a decent card for spells matter and graveyard-filling strategies.
Magmatic Sinkhole
Verdict: Playable
Murderous Cut is one of the better removal spells available in cube. This is very similar, in a color that doesn't get many cards that are able to remove 5 toughness creatures without help. Red graveyard-filling decks are one of my favorite things to draft: U/R spells matter, B/R Reanimate, R/G delve/madness/Anger. Delve is a real cost and has some anti-synergy with things like threshold though.
Orcish Hellraiser
Verdict: Cube
A bread-and-butter red 2-drop. Echo is annoying, but the single R should be manageable. The most successful red aggro decks are full of 1- and 2-drops anyway. You can't follow this up with a 2-drop and burn spell though. That said, the guaranteed damage makes this a real threat, and not a bad top deck when your opponent stabilized the board.
Ore-Scale Guardian
Verdict: Needs testing
I will try and find room for this. As mentioned above, I like red graveyard decks. While peasant doesn't have a lot of fetchland, self-mill and looting can make this a cheap finisher in certain decks. I'll also take any excuse to try and make Worm Harvest to work.
Ravenous Giant
Verdict: Playable
Decent big dude. Biggest drawback is that you only have room for so many 4-drops in colored sections.
Throes of Chaos
Verdict: So close
I have trouble evaluating this card. Being able to turn your late-game manaflood into spells is very good. Card quality in cube is high enough that you will most likely hit good cards off of the cascade. However, the fact that this doesn't affect the board on its own and you can't plan around what it will hit will make it a liability more often than not. I'd love to be proven wrong about this though. Card looks like a lot of fun to play with.
Urza's Rage
Verdict: Pass / Slam it (Old border cube)
If you want a cards like this you should run Fight with Fire. My old border cube will happily include the Invasion version.
Viashino Sandsprinter
Verdict: Playable
This can deal a lot of damage if your opponent doesn't plan around it. And if they do, you can draw it. I also like that you can surprise your opponent and than cash it in when they've seen it.
Volatile Claws
Verdict: Pass / Playable (Tribal cube)
Where creatures with changeling are perfect glue cards for tribal cubes, cards that grant types are way less exciting. However, with enough overlapping tribes you can surprise someone if you have multiple different lords in play.
Tl;dr
Red has a couple of interesting cards. Personally, I like this a lot better than black's playable-but-similar cards. In the end, the red cards might be worse or even unplayable, but at least they give us options and something new to think about.
Top red cards for peasant cube: Alpine Guide, Orcish Hellraiser, Magmatic Sinkhole
Dark Horse: Bogardan Dragonheart, Ore-Scale Guardian
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GREEN
Conifer WurmVerdict: Pass / Cube (Snow basics)
If you can play with all snow-covered basics, this is an absolute monster. It can threaten NINE damage without playing another land on turn six. Say you manage to ramp yourself to eight snow lands, a double activation makes this a 20/20.
Excavating Anurid
Verdict: Playable
This looks pretty nice as the top end of a midrange deck. Green has a lot of ways to fill your graveyard so you are either at or close to threshold. This even helps itself. Green's fives are already pretty good, and you only need so many in your cube though. So, pick and match depending on your cube.
Frostwalla
Verdict: Pass / Playable (Snow basics)
Very close to a 4/4 for 3 if you can activate it. Sounds pretty good.
Glacial Revelation
Verdict: So close / Needs testing (Snow basics)
More snow synergy. I want to start by saying this is instant threshold if you don't have any snow permanents in your deck. This alone makes it a cool build around for certain cubes. In decks with all snow-covered basics, this will draw you around 2.5 lands. That's not enough to warrant inclusion at 3 mana. It has to be seen how many snow permanents are playable in the end to see if this ends up worth it.
Mother Bear
Verdict: Cube
2-Drops that have value in the late game are great. The value being graveyard based lets it play very well in decks like Spider Spawning.
Murasa Behemoth
Verdict: So close
I remember the time where 8/8 trample creatures for 6 had a huge drawback. Getting a land into your graveyard looks very doable making this a very big dude. It suffers from being 'just' a fatty. There's no utility beyond that, and for being big it's has less ridiculous potential like the aforementioned Conifer Wurm.
Nantuko Cultivator
Verdict: Playable
A 3/3 for 4 that draws a card when it comes into play is solid. Helps filling your graveyard for threshold and delve, has +1/+1 counter synergy. It's not a great top deck, but does have lategame value by filtering unneeded lands away.
Rime Tender
Verdict: Pass / Playable (Snow basics)
Solid card if you have enough snow. You do really want more than just snow lands, but even with only lands to untap it's bigger than most mana producing 2-drops.
Saddled Rimestag
Verdict: Cube
Awesome card. Green aggro decks shouldn't have a lot of trouble playing creatures for long enough for this to be 4/4, and even without it's a fine 2/2. It's also very pretty.
Savage Swipe
Verdict: Needs testing
At base level, it's Prey Upon. Now, Prey Upon (and fight cards in general) has been upgraded to cards that just punch (not fight back). Those cards usually cost more than a single mana though, so this does has value. The other 'drawback' fight cards have is that small creatures do not work with them. I'm not sure how often you have a creature that has exactly two power that you want to throw into a fight, but I imagine this card being very useful.
Scale Up
Verdict: So close
There seem to be wildly varying opinions on this one, ranging from totally unplayable to very good. I imagine it being good in very specific cubes/archetypes (Berserk combo or lots of unblockables come to mind), but otherwise too narrow. The scenario of creating 3-4 flying tokens and following it up with this for 18-24 damage is nasty. In most cases, I think I'd rather have something like Overrun. Not only does that pump enough to usually put away the game, it also prevents chump blocking.
Springbloom Druid
Verdict: Playable
First off, this is not Harrow. Having the lands come into play tapped makes it a lot worse. However, this still ramps and fixes 2 colors while filling your graveyard.
Thornado
Verdict: Playable
Cycling makes Plummet maindeckable if you think your cube needs something like this. My biggest gripe with this is that I keep reading it as Thor-nado (instead of Thorn-ado), which makes me think of the Norse god and therefor no sense in Magic.
Treefolk Umbra
Verdict: ?
My friend is tinkering with a toughness matters theme, which this might be a part of. It's essentially +2/+2, with the potential for more on the right creature. I like it as an archetype enabler, crossing with something like enchantment or aura matters, but it's very narrow.
Treetop Ambusher
Verdict: Cube
A 3/2 on attack for 2 is already good. The utility provided by Dash for surprise damage and being able to spread the pump around makes this a very good card.
Trumpeting Herd
Verdict: Cube
This set looks pretty good for green. Even though it's a little slow and spreads out over two turns, you get 6 power for 4 mana. That sounds like a great deal. It's also great for R/G spells matter decks, which is a very fun archetype.
Webweaver Changeling
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Tribal cube)
Luckily there's a new non-white non-black changeling in the set. I'll happily put it into my tribal cube.
Winding Way
Verdict: Playable
There's now officially no reason to cube Mulch anymore. Early game this gets you mana while putting creatures in your graveyard to reanimate later. Late game this gets you creatures when you have plenty of mana. Useful little card.
Tl;dr
Green received some great cards, in my opinion. Especially on the 2-drop front. For cubes willing to run snow-covered basics, there are also a handful of fun additions.
Top greencards for peasant cube: Mother Bear, Saddled Rimestag, Treetop Ambusher
Dark Horse: Trumpeting Herd
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MULTICOLOR
Abominable TreefolkVerdict: Pass / Cube (Snow basics)
Like the other snow matters cards, this is great if you run only snow basics. It has a great ability, and should be at least a 4/4 for 4 when it comes down.
Etchings of the Chosen
Verdict: Pass / Slam it (Tribal cube)
This is my favorite card of the set. Cheap anthem for your favorite tribe that also protects your most valuable lord? Sign. Me. Up.
Good-Fortune Unicorn
Verdict: Playable
The easiest comparison for this is Juniper Order Ranger. Both have their (dis-)advantages. I like that this comes down early, but it's also a lot more fragile on its own. I can see running either, or both, or neither if you just don't have a need for +1/+1 counters.
Ingenious Infiltrator
Verdict: So close
I've mentioned Ninja of the Deep Hours above, which this basically is. Deep Hours usually runs into stuff after its first hit, and I don't expect this to be different. Being multicolored is a definite strike against this. I guess if your cube naturally has multiple ninja and/or changeling this goes up in value and can be a fun build around.
Munitions Expert
Verdict: So close / Playable (Tribal cube)
My tribal cube does not have goblins, so I won't be running it there. Regular peasant cubes are starting to see more goblin synergies though, meaning there's definitely a place somewhere. Rakdos sections are pretty stacked though, and this is just narrow removal.
Nature's Chant
Verdict: Playable
Disenchant is a maindeckable card in most cubes. This takes up a different slot in your list. Especially if you have a hybrid section, this is a very easy inclusion that adds a lot of versatility.
Rotwidow Pack
Verdict: So close
The design of this is very cool. In the end I think it's just too expensive to used. It even makes future Spider Spawnings worse, and generally Spider Spawning doesn't have trouble finishing the game without help.
Soulherder
Verdict: Cube
Now this is a build around. I've always had a little trouble with 'blink' as an archetype. Pairing comes into play effects with self bounce is good, but also just a little good-stuff-y. It lacked good build around cards to really hammer home the archetype feel. This does that, while also being a potential finisher. At three mana it's cheap and it works the turn it comes down. It doesn't need mana to activate or to recast creatures. I just love the design. My biggest problem is that I'm not sure in which cube I want it, or if I just put it in both my tribal (spirit and +1/+1 counters) and modern (blink archetype) cubes.
Tl;dr
Mostly build arounds, which is just how I like my gold cards. Also mostly not good enough, which is often the case with build arounds.
Top multicolored cards for peasant cube: Soulherder, Nature's Chant, Abominable Treefolk (if snow).
Dark Horse: none
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ARTIFACTS
Amorphous AxeVerdict: Pass / Playable (Tribal cube)
For obvious reasons, this is only good in tribal based cubes. I already run Runed Stalactite, and this is a nice addition.
Arcum's Astrolabe
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Snow basics)
This is a nice fixer if you can cast it. I wouldn't start supporting snow just for this though. Prophetic Prism exists, and is not that much worse.
Birthing Boughs
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Tribal cube)
This very expensive token creator is the perfect power level for slow formats and/or tribal cubes. I'm gladly picking this up.
Fountain of Ichor
Verdict: Playable
It's neither a great mana fixer nor a great creature, but stapled together it's something I like having for control decks. It probably doesn't make the cut in most cubes, but I imagine it playing well enough.
Icehide Golem
Verdict: Pass / Slam it (Snow basics)
Holy uncommon Isamaru! If you run snow basics, this becomes one of the best 1-drops in your cube. Not only because it's a 2/2 for 1, but because it's colorless. One of the biggest holes in peasant legality remains the mana fixing. Multicolor aggro decks suffer from not having a lot of ways curve out with different color creatures. This helps with that immensely. Great card.
Lesser Masticore
Verdict: So close
The cost to play this is just too high. But, if you think you need a cheap colorless way to discard something, this is a fine inclusion. I'm mainly just sad that one of my favorite cards has such an inferior version that it's close to unplayable.
Talisman of Conviction, Creation, Curiosity, Hierarchy, Resilience
Verdict: Slam it
This grade is not only a reflection of how powerful these are, but also of how happy I am they printed these. Having said that, I'm not sure how these compare to Signets in peasant cube. I've seen a lot of people on Twitter that are switching the Talismans in for Signets in powered cubes. This makes sense if your cube wants to play 1-drops after playing a Talisman on turn two. Signets fix for two colors at the same time and do not hurt you. Both cycles are great, and you can't go wrong with either. My stance for now is that it depends on the cube which one you want, and you can even choose the right one per color combination.
Aside: My first reaction was to assume Signets are better. The reason for this was that the allied color Talismans have been available for ages now and (almost) nobody seems to run a split. However, there are a lot of people (including myself) who run a handful of Signets. Why didn't we run the available Talismans instead? This makes me think: how much are we (in/correctly) influenced by cycles of cards? Anyway..
Universal Automaton
Verdict: Pass / Cube (Tribal cube)
MORE CHANGELINGS! Cheap, colorless, great addition to a tribal cube.
Tl;dr
Talismans. Snow. Changelings.
Top artifact cards for peasant cube: Talismans, Icehide Golem (if snow).
Dark Horse: Fountain of Ichor.
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LANDS
Barren Moor, Forgotten Cave, Lonely Sandbar, Secluded Steppe, Tranquil Thicket
Verdict: Playable
Actually, these were already available in modern frame. Anyway, cycling lands are a difficult one to tackle. These are the definition of cards that are great in actual decks and gameplay, but will almost always late picks. As a cube designer, you have to choose between adding these for gameplay reasons or include other cards that make for more interesting draft decisions. Having played both with and without cycling lands for periods of time, I usually choose to include more specific cards that might get picked more highly. I'm not sure if it's the correct choice, because they play so well in practice.
Cave of Temptations
Verdict: Playable
A weak mana fixer if your deck needs one, its main use is in +1/+1 counters decks. I guess giving a flyer a permanent +2 in the midgame can also be great even if it's slow.
Frostwalk Bastion
Verdict: Pass / Cube
Obviously great if you can activate it.
Snow-Covered basics
Verdict: Depends on the contents of your cube.
I'll do a future blog on this.
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Conclusion
This set is amazing. So many throwbacks in card names, art, abilities, flavor text, mana cost. For a long time Magic player as myself, this hits home in a number of different ways. The spoiler season at times made me gasp, laugh or remember stories from the past. It underlines that Magic is and has become so much more than only a game.As far as the cards go, the set marks the return of some fan favorites as well.
Snow returns, giving us a handful of very powerful cards. My last blog was on how peasant cubes are starting to look more different each year, and I think the addition of new snow cards will see a larger divide between snow and non-snow (before only a handful of players used snow where the majority didn't). Tribal also returns, which gives players fond of that style more cards to set themselves apart as well as options for general cubes to incorporate minor tribal themes without unhinging the existing setup of the cube. We even get a 'new' tribe in Ninja, which will find a home with people as well.
Even blink gets some love with a couple of great archetype enablers.
There's a new lands-in-graveyard matters theme in the set, which looks to be a lot of fun. It will definitely be something I'm going to explore.
The power level of the set looks to be very balanced. No single card is so powerful that a cube is much worse without it. A lot of cards are either minor upgrades or sidegrades that personalize a cube, or specific to certain archetypes. This is both a positive (nothing you *must* include) and negative (nothing that makes you fall of your seat unless you're already into a specific archetype).
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Top cards
Best archetype card - Soulherder
Surprise of the set - Oneirophage
'Best art' - Generous Gift
Best cards in the set:
2 - Alpine Guide
1 - Talismans
0 - Icehide Golem (the actual best card in the set)
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