Hello folks and happy post-release week! This week we have cards in hand from Rivals of Ixalan. Despite the fact that we have a smaller set, there are still a lot of goods here! I love a lot of these cards . . .  in theory. But now it's time to see if the play matches the hype. I am adding in cards to a lot of my casual decks and projects, like Cubes and Commander decks!

What's heading in? What's making the cut? Great questions!

Ready?

Commander Cube

What cards do I like for my Commander Cube?

I have a 1000+ card real life Cube designed to be drafted for Commander that I update each release with cards I want to add in. Each color combination has multiple draftable archetypes that can be targeted based on their leader. As an example, take a build that has intentional artifact, blink, and saboteur archetypes in there, plus control or equipment that is draftable as well. You can check out the visual spoiler of my Commander Cube here.

So what cards are good enough to make the cut?

Let's start with the obvious:

In The Immortal Sun, Out Venser's Journal -- I didn't name The Immortal Sun the best card for casual gaming in the set last week to not include it in my Commander Cube this week! That wouldn't make a lick of sense. It's an obvious inclusion, but what to pull? I'm considering Caged Sun. My Cube doesn't have great support for mono-colored decks that want to try and pull it off, and thus Caged Sun is sort of an off card. Even a mono-colored deck would rather have The Immortal Sun than to cage it. But there's another option that leaves Caged Sun as a draft-able option later. Venser's Journal. Given that I don't have a draft-able life gain archetype, it's not even on theme, so the admittedly good Journal is heading to the Great Library in the Sky.

Next?

In Huatli, Radiant Champion, Out Fracturing Gust -- Fracturing Gust proves a good brake on abuse of artifacts and enchantments, but I feel very okay with pulling it for this multiplayer powerhouse. It plays very well into Selesnya tokens while still having strong game in other shells. For example, it's a perfect partner to Rafiq of the Many's Bant deck, as that -1 could get a one-hit Commander kill with his innate +1/+1 and double strike when he swings alone. Huatli is a great partner to a lot of Commanders in her colors.

What next?

In Angrath, the Flame-Chained, Out Demonspine Whip -- Now I have to admit a fondness for the Whip in my Cube. It's a great mana sink. But it ain't no Angrath. And we all know it. This is a huge and major upgrade for in my Cube.

It's hard to make the cut in gold. With just thirteen slots per two-color combo, and five of those Commanders, that leaves just seven support cards. But these two both clearly make that cut perfectly. I wish Angrath were , because I have a Steal and Sac theme with Yasova Dragonclaw and stealing, and sacrificing. But the Murder Monster is still a force to be reckoned with.

What about now?

Let's talk lands:

Which would you prefer:

My Cube is currently running the Sanitarium and Mikikoro. Should I pull one for the Arch? No, I like them all. They have a lot of value here.

I am going to pull Arch though for a card that is very, very, very good, but no one drafts and targets and plays, even though they should in their three-, four-, or five-color decks. I've seen it in the sideboard in a Five Color deck before. Seriously. I'm not using my Cube as a thought experiment, but a real thing.

In Arch of Orazca, Out Rainbow Vale

So what's next?

In Azor's Gateway, Out Aether Vial -- Sometimes I have a swap so obvious that's unneeded for me to sell you on it. So instead, let's just pass on to the next choice!

Next?

In Profane Procession, Out Merciless Eviction -- Orzhov doesn't need mass removal for any of its tricks and it works against some of its themes, like tokens led by Ravos. Instead, it wants this exiling option, and it's also a grindier effect with a great payoff and works better in control too.

Next?

In Zacama, Primal Calamity, out Gahiji, Honored One -- Zacama's cast trigger works whether you cast it from your hand or the Command Zone. It works in either space. The body is awesome, and the abilities useful. It feels like a great ramp leader. Gahiji is a fine card but lacks identity. This is an upgrade.

Next?

In Rekindling Phoenix, out Firewing Phoenix -- The Firewing is fine, but it's a bit mana-heavy as opposed to Rekindling just paying once and then letting go. I doubt this Phoenix pulls a lot of removal at the 0/1 egg to keep it from coming back, although that's an option. But I feel if my foes waste a Swords to Plowshares or Terminate on this 4/3 flyer that does nothing else while on the board, that's a win.

In Dire Fleet Daredevil, out Generator Servant - I really like Generator Servant. A 2-drop 2/1 you can sacrifice for a pair of mana to accelerate your Commander and give it haste is pretty good. But it's not Dire Fleet Daredevil. This has first strike, already having a better board presence, and it's a reverse Snapcaster Mage on an opposing sorcery or instant. But it's still there and it still works!

In Tetzimoc, Primal Death, out Massacre Wurm -- Massacre Wurm is a good card, and will continue to be so. But Tetzimoc is a little better in most builds, and easier on the mana as well, with a little less Black in the casting cost.

In Ravenous Chupacabra, Out Nekrataal -- Nothing to see here . . . 

In Kumena's Awakening, out Dictate of Kruphix -- I think losing flash and gaining the ability to self-draw later is a whole lot better than the extra mana it costs to cast, don't you?

In Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, Out Celestial Force -- I've been looking to pull the Force for ages. Glad I finally have something worth putting in its spot!

Other Ideas

Storm the Vault -- I love the card. But I don't have an intentional artifact theme in the colors. It's there. You can draft the cards meant for Esper and Azorious along with Goblin Welder and such in Red and draft Dack Fayden. But there is no leader it works for, so you've have to twin it with something generic like Niv-Mizzet or Nin, the Pain Artist I suppose.

Wayward Swordtooth -- Love it! Not sure I can find a spot for it, however.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger -- Ghalta is an incredibly fast beater in a lot of builds! But she's no faster than Primeval Protector, already in the Cube, as well as any number of ramp targets. I don't want too many Green big beefy targets for ramp in my Cube. Right now I have the Protector, Woodfall Primus, Regal Force, Terastodon, Worldspine Wurm, Craterhoof Behemoth, Avenger of Zendikar, and Spearbreaker Behemoth as my 7+ drops (not counting cycling drops like Krosan Tusker that aren't usually meant to be cast). It's hard for a 12/12 trample that's merely cheap to push aside a card like Woodfall Primus.

Jadelight Ranger -- As you can see, it's really hard to crack my Green creature base. Many better creatures have tried and failed! Sorry!

And there we are! Check out the visual spoiler, draft the Cube (set the packs to 6 and the cards to 15) and enjoy!

Commander Decks

All right, time to update my various Commander decks. What's heading in? Great question!

Vhati il-Dal:

This Golgari deck uses damage, minuses to toughness, and -1/-1 counters to kill anything with Vhati il-Dal by giving it 1 toughness. From Staff of Nin to Liliana, the Last Hope, this deck is pretty strong at killing anything with a pulse, and most of the creatures that don't. Stupid Zombies. Anyways, any cards in here I like? One!

Golden Demise -- I'll likely have Ascend when dropping the mad Golden Demise shrinkage. Giving my foes -2/-2 is pretty cool in this shell. The problem if course is that unless I have one of my handful of untappers, like Thousand-Year Elixir, I can only kill one creature at the most. The good thing is that I can layer this with other of my effects to kill something bigger. I can tap Staff of Nin to shoot something with a three toughness, for example. I can activate Squallmonger to shoot flyers enough to finish them. You get the idea. Lots of value here! Head on in my Infect variant friend!

Oros Control:

My first Commander deck was this Oros Control that brought sweepers, beaters, and various powerhouses to the fore. Are there any cards in here that spark me?

Like Vhati, just one. But what a one he is!

Angrath, the Flame-Chained -- As Angrath is perfect for multiplayer, having the Murder Monster on my side is going to be pretty good. I can force everyone to discard and lose 2 life while growing my Minotaur threat. And I can Threaten and steal a creature only to kill it after combat if it's small enough. And you can force some folks to lose a lot of life later. It's a winning triad of potential!

Omnath's Wildfire:

Using Omnath, Locus of Rage as its leader, this deck runs massive ramping as well as mass land removal and creature removal, like Wildfire to sweep small junk and drop lands. Anything in here that wants to bite it?

The Immortal Sun -- We have few 'walkers in the deck. But dropping the mana of my bigger stuff is a useful ramp-ish things to do, and rising the toughness of my stuff to help survive mass removal is great. Card drawing? Awesome! It's a perfect fit.

World Shaper -- As is this! When it dies, you are going to spit all of those dead lands back into play! Trust me, in this deck? It's going to die all right! The only question is how many lands you are going to throw back onto the battlefield after death arrives.

Diaochan:

Diaochan is a Mono-Red control deck that uses cards and effects to protect Diaochan when she uses her ability (such as Sword of Fire and Ice to give her Pro Red), creatures that can come back if you target them (Phoenixes), creatures that already did something on arrival (Flametongue Kavu), creatures unlikely to be targeted (Humble Defector, Starke of Rath) and cards unlike to be killed (Darksteel Sentinel). The deck has a powerful long game, and uses cards like vehicles, Phoenixes, and other style to cards to creature a strong grinding game . . . 

Arch of Orazca --  . . .  which this is perfect for. Long grinding game? I'm in!

The Immortal Sun -- We only have two planeswalkers here so this barely touches us. It's an obvious powerhouse for all things Commander and works very well in a Mono-Red control build. IN!

Rekindling Phoenix -- Did you hear me say Phoenixes? You caught that? Excellent! Rekindling Phoenix is fine if someone kills it with your Diaochan activation, because by the next turn when it comes back, you can use her again. I'd wait until after combat to use her, because you want to swing with the Phoenix, but you get the idea.

All are heading in!

Fumiko:

This Mono-Red build features cards that punish enemies for attacking all while forcing them to attack. It includes cards as varied as Caltrops and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs.

Arch of Orazca -- I love the idea of adding some useful card drawing to these Mono-Red shells. Note that Fumiko has a lot of creatures, artifacts, and enchantments, so getting to Ascend is pretty easy here.

Nether Shadow Commander:

This Mono-Black deck uses Bontu as its leader, and runs a number of self-recursive cards like Nether Shadow as well as sacrifice engines such as Attrition to grind a win. I do not run Cabal Coffers, because it's too obvious, and doesn't fit my deck anyway.

Arch of Orazca -- Another card drawing grind? Sounds like a plan!

Ravenous Chupacabra -- Who likes Nekrataal effects that will always work? This guy! This is a great option for the killing of others tethered to a body I can sacrifice to Carnage Altar.

Vela's Night Children:

This deck sees Vela the Night-Clad run a powerful deck around creatures with shadow, Ninjas, and other saboteurs that are on theme. Removal and support requires flavor like Victim of Night and Night's Whisper.

There is nothing here, other than Curious Obsession which works mechanically, but it's not on theme flavor-wise, and I don't like auras for this deck anyway.

Cromat Planeswalker:

Cromat leads my fun Five-Color planeswalker deck that also runs the full suite of Sanctuary and Honden enchantments, such as Ana Sanctuary, Dega Sanctuary, and Honden of Seeing Winds.

Anything I like for this deck?

Not right now, sorry. Angrath is a potential later on, but it's hard for a 'walker to make the cut, given just how many options I have for them moving forward. I don't have the creature base for Huatli.

Alphabet Angel Avacyn:

This Boros deck requires that everything which is not a basic land begin with the first letter of my name (A). I choose an Angel themed deck with Archangel Avacyn as my leader.

It's always easy to see if anything else would make sense for the deck. Everything from Abrade to Ancient Amphitheater is here.

Arch of Orazca -- The only "A" card that fits the deck! But hey, another card is another card, right? Right!

Edric's Slippery Hosts:

This tempo-tastic Simic deck uses Edric on the third turn as a powerful card drawing engine that you play to immediately draw two or three cards with the super-fast creatures in this deck. It emphasizes speed and tempo over everything else, and has cards like Force of Will, Daze, Scryb Sprites, and Cloud Pirates.

Mist-Cloaked Herald -- Every time Wizards prints another 1-drop unblockable card, my deck gets that much better. Leading with this or Gudul Lurker feels so good when you are curving into Edric!

Surrak's Beasts and Where to Find Them:

This deck brings the Beast love of Gruul to the Gruul part of Naya, along with the power of Blue to create a fun deck that smashes hard.

Most of the cards in here that might normally be Beasts aren't, they are Dinosaurs. A card like Raging Regisaur might normally be a valuable tool for a Beast, but here it's a Dinosaur.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger -- This is a deck that cares a lot about power as it has the various power matters themed cards. That makes Ghalta a powerfully cheap option to cast from my hand at any given time! Plus it'll be uncounterable with Surrak.

Derevi's Equinaut:

This Bant colored deck runs a number of cheap creatures, self-bouncers, and engines that care about being cast, bounce, or arriving to the battlefield. Key engines include Equilibrium, Azorius Aethermage, and Aura Shards. Key creatures are Whitemane Lion, Fleetfoot Panther, Birds of Paradise, and Fleecemane Lion. It has fast creatures and lots of them, with style.

Huatli, Radiant Champion -- Up until today, the only planeswalker I run in my Equinaut deck is Venser, the Sojourner. That ends. Huatli is perfect for my deck. She'll get a ton of loyalty quickly. My deck has around 10 non-creatures it runs, so with such a deep creature pool, Huatli is going to have a ton of loyalty gain. And then you ultimate her and now you have an engine that is perfect for the deck for the rest of the game that cannot be stopped or answered. Meanwhile you can pump something, like a Birds of Paradise, into a 7/8 or something and send it in. There are a lot of options here! And tons of power as well.

Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy

This deck is more than 3500+ cards and is a highlander multiplayer deck. Yes, it's that big.

What is heading in?

Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy:

And there we are! Another 35 cards to the grindstone!

Whew! That's a lot of additions for my stuff. Over the next few weeks I'll be updating my non-Commander Cubes like my Gatherer Cube, Mono-Black Cube, and Pulp Cube. I'm not sure if I'll be doing it via article or just online at CubeTutor.com, but given that I have three Cubes I want to update, I do think one article would make sense for all three if you are interested. Are you?

As always, thanks for reading! What are you mist looking forward to adding to your decks?