Cubism: Aether Revolt Set Review Part 2

Aether Revolt is finally here! I’m back this week finishing where I left off with my Aehter Revolt review. If you missed the first half, you can find it here. With that out of the way, lets finish the second half.

Yahenni, Undying Partisan

The first card on the list is Yahenni, Undying Partisan. Yahenni fits into a weird category, not quite aggressive enough for aggro, not quite the body you want for a midrange deck. It does play well with the Stax package and what black does in general (mostly kill things). Being easy to cast and fitting into enough black strategies makes it worth testing. My biggest problem with Yahenni is it isn’t a role player. It’s not a specific effect I want in any particular deck – with the exception of a deep tokens/sacrifice outlet theme. He’s just… fine, having these cards are fine, but generally don’t last long.

Baral’s Expertise

Easily the flashiest of the expertise, Baral’s Expertise leaves a lot to the imagination. Bouncing 3 creatures and leaving behind a Planeswalker is a hard offer to turn down. The biggest draw back to the card is (and this is by no means a complaint) being a sorcery. Cube is typically a fast paced format, making early turns pretty crucial in a lot of match-ups. Not the best against aggro, a dud against control but a dream against midrange make its matchups kinda narrow. In the right environment this card can be quite the blowout. In a non powered environment, this card could easily find a home.

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider / Ragavan

Wow what a 2 drop! Kari Zev is a super efficient 2 drop that can bring the pain real quick. Easy to cast, hard to block, and it brings in an expendable (but adorable) attacker, its hard to find something bad about the card. Looking like a Borderland Marauder on crack, few to no other 2 drops can attack as efficiently as Kari. It even blocks well in a pinch!

Aethersphere Harvester

3/5 flyer for only 3 mana seems like quite the bargain. Attacks well, blocks well, gains lifelink for a couple turns, it seems like all upside. With Kaladesh, I added Smuggler’s Copter, Skysovereign Counsul Flagship and Fleetwheel Cruiser to my cube, Copter being a great addition giving colours like green and red access to a cost efficient flyer and card filtering. Skysovereign and Cruiser however haven’t been as successful. The flaghship still manages to sneak itself into decks every now and then, while Fleetwheel Cruiser comes out of sideboards more then making main deck appearances. Aethersphere Harvester is a little more genereic, but still provides green and red a creature they wouldn’t have had before. I look forward to trying the Harvester out.

Heart of Kiran

The next Vehicle on our list; Heart of Kiran is clearly more pushed being a 2 mana 4/4 with its unique ability to be crewed by Planeswalkers. Crew 3 isn’t the easiest to do on curve but its not impossible. Heart of Kiran isn’t so much the vehicle you want in aggressive decks, but a great card in midrange strategies. Midrange is more likely to have the beef and Planeswalkers around to crew it, creating a pretty big threat in the air on attack and defense. I’ve had a tough time evaluating this card and time will tell how good it ends up playing out.

Kari Zev’s Expertise

Threaten effects are always so enticing to add to cube. It can turn a lot of games around or just help you seal the deal early. Kari Zev’s Expertise lets you threaten a creature while still laying on the pressure. I don’t get very excited for this kind of effect, but the tempo it can create is too tempting to pass up.

Honourable Mentions

• Trophy Mage: Other then finding the ever popular swords, it can find other utility cards like Vedalken Shackles, a slew of mana artifacts, Crucible of Worlds and a couple other utility cards.
• Aether Chaser: Not flashy but efficient. Creates 3 power over 2 bodies (hopefully) and not easy to block make him a good option in aggressive decks.
• Renegade Rallier: Quite the powerful card in the right environment. With a little aggro support from green, Renegade Rallier can be a great tempo card.
• Yahenni’s Expertise: Another great expertise but not quite what I’m looking for. With Damnation, Toxic Deluge and even Languish if you want, Yahenni’s Expertise is my 4th choice of black wrath’s.
• Glint-Sleeve Siphoner – Menace makes this card and I don’t know how far it is from being playable. It has to live 3 turns before being able to draw you 1 card, but its body isn’t the worst.

So with all the cards I wanted to cover out of the way, here are the first changes I’ll be making to my cube:

Borderland Marauder > Kari Zev, Skyship Raider

Mizzium Mortars > Kari Zev’s Expertise

Augur of Bolas > Baral, Chief of Compliance

Dissolve > Disallow

Disfigure > Fatal Push

Champion of the Parish > Aethergeode Miner

Banishing Light > Sram’s ExpertiseWhite has access to so much efficient removal now a day, I’ve been wanting to cut one of them for while. Other then Path/Plow, I was playing O-Ring, Banishing Light, Council’s Judgment, Declaration in Stone and Unexpectedly Absent, Banishing Light is the easy cut.

Fleetwheel Cruiser > Aethersphere Harvester: Fleetwheel Cruiser came out of sideboards against control players. Like I mentioned earlier, it never made the main deck.

Bearer of Silence > Yahenni, Undying Partisan: Bearer was an interesting card but never really performed.

Mogg War Marshal > Aether Chaser

Add Heart of Kiran

Add Baral’s Expertise

I added the last two not knowing what to cut for them. I’m a big fan of just adding a couple cards to test them out not forcing myself to cut cards. After a couple cubes, we’ll talk about it and cut something if they earn the spot.

So what do you think of Aether Revolt? How many cards made it into your cube? Have a great release day everyone and I’ll see you next time here at The Mana Base.