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  • Writer's pictureVisserdrix

Ikoria Lair of Behemoths & Commander 2020

Updated: May 3, 2020

Ikoria turned out to be another great set for cube, similar to Eldraine, pumping out a ton of playable cards that will be role players in cubes for years to come. In fact, some of the cards might be too good for cube. Let's take a look at the new inclusions for testing!

White:

Luminous Broodmoth for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite


Elesh Norn is great, but it hasn't been seeing any play. Broodmoth adds a new effect to white kind of like a supercharged Hallowed Spiritkeeper. Wrath protection and interesting in Orzhov aristocrats decks I'm excited to see what it brings to the table for white.


Blue:

Shark Typhoon for Talrand's Invocation

Voracious Greatshark for Gilded Drake


If you told me I would be adding two new cards to blue and both would feature sharks I would have never believed you, but here we are. Both Invocation and Drake were sitting in side boards so I've been looking for replacements. Typhoon is kind of weird because the value is all in the cycling cost and the cards normal form is kind of wonky. Still, flashing in a flying threat that scales in size and cantrips is no joke. Greatshark is one that a lot of other cubers aren't as high on as me, but I think this card will be great in my list. A big body that can flash in and eat an attacker or have pseudo haste being cast at the end of turn is a decent floor, having the option to get the body and counter an opponents threat is just gravy on top.


Black:

Heartless Act for Cast Down


Cast Down is a great card and has actually performed marginally better than Go For the Throat, but it hits less targets than GFTT and that's why I opted for this switch. Heartless Act looks like one of the best additions from Ikoria and between the two modes it kills most creatures in the cube. As a bonus it's a semi-combo with Thing in the Ice which could use a bump in play.


Red:

None


Green:

Gemrazer for Ripjaw Raptor

Slippery Bogbonder for Briarhorn


Gemrazer is the lone mutate card on the inclusions list and I think it will play quite well. A big body that can be cast for 3 if you have a non human on the board to disenchant sounds promising. Turn two mutate off a dork to blow up a talisman and leave you with a 4/4 is tough to beat. Slippery Bogbonder is the lone addition from Commander 20 and I am interested in seeing how it plays. It isn't often I consider adding a card with unconditional hexproof, let alone one that results in two creatures having hexproof, but this card is too perfect an upgrade to Briarhorn. I love Briarhorn and some of my best cube stories feature flashing in the 3/3 elemental, but it is lower on the power scale and I am hoping this change will give green a bit more of an edge against removal heavy decks that they tend to struggle with.

Gold:

Lurrus of the Dream-Den for Anguished Unmaking

Fiend Artisan for Pernicious Deed

Lutri, the Spellchaser for Electrolyze

Rielle, the Everwise for Dack's Duplicate

Winota, Joiner of Forces for Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice


Normally colour heavy sets are not good for cube because Gold sections are so small and competitive, but Ikoria printed some really interesting cards. Beginning with Lutri and Lurrus and the Companion mechanic, these will be interesting cards to test. Both are already making waves constructed formats and with Lutri having no hoops to jump through to be a companion in cube it might actually be too strong despite having an effect that is marginal. Lurrus requires some more thought in deck building, but the card itself is very solid on its own. Time will tell, but if Companion is too broken these cards might find their way out of the cube for warping the game.


Fiend Artisan, Rielle, and Winota are replacing a few tired Gold cards that haven't been performing in weaker guilds. I am really hoping that these will breathe some fresh life into these guilds and give them a little boost in power to make them more of a priority to draft into.


Colourless:

The Ozolith for Scroll of Fate


I've had a +1/+1 counters archetype moving in an out of my cube since it's inception and this card will be a big addition to what is a middle of the road archetype. Scroll had some interesting applications but in the end it sat in the sideboard.


Land:

None


Conclusions:

Great set for cube. Xmage has not been able to implement the mutate mechanic yet so I haven't had a chance to get in any early testing but I can't wait to jam these cards after the disappointment that was Theros Beyond Death.


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