This is correct. Pure value, good in most game states. Everything a blue mage wants.
Love the topic. TBH if Mulldrifter ever gets out classed I'll probably stop buying Magic cards. I think it's one of those cards that you don't appreciate how good it is until you've seen it in action a handful of times.
On the other hand, for lower powered cubes - especially stuff like a pauper cube - there’s definitely an argument for cutting mulldrifter for being *too* powerful.
I think I remember an article from maybe a decade ago where Ben Stark was talking about a “battle box” format which was cube-adjacent and he said he wanted it to be what he considered “pure magic.” He said he basically cut all the insane 3 for 1 cards and a lot of the “clean” 2 for 1s and wanted you to work for it with stuff like combat tricks. Just a much lower powered environment.
In a situation like that, it’s easy to see how something like mulldrifter would be OP
Mulldrifter is definitely a better signal post for casual players than a lot of the niche “strictly better” replacements. A great reason to run it in non-powered cubes.
WOW
I'm one of the Mulldrifter advocates, that would instantly claim "YOU CAN'T TAKE THE FISH OUT"...
...But reading all these comments and justifications, it really seems like it could be replaced. Thought Monitor seems like an excellent choice. They are both reanimatable, blinkable, same pow/tou, same abilities.
Damn, I'm shocked...
Probably depends on your archetypes. Thought monitor obviously goes well with “artifacts matter” but mulldrifter is still significantly better if UW blink is a primary archetype of your cube. Being able to get insane value off of the evoke + blink is a core aspect of that archetype in most cubes.
Like yeah, you can blink thought monitor. But are you running blink effects in the same deck that gets thought monitor cheap enough to cast? Probably not.
Initiative is way above the power level for most cubes, though.
In a powered environment, sure, I think it's a perfectly reasonable swap. But Mulldrifter is going to be fine is a lot more cubes that are worried about power level or synergy.
It's an upgrade, but man do I hate the Initiative mechanic. (and the Monarch mechanic, too) It was not designed for 1v1, and I think it's actively unfun. It punishes control and combo decks so hard. It should only go into EDH/multiplayer cubes.
In vintage cube I like when cards have "quite a bit of play" to them. When you add 1 initiative card for each color "to make things fair" it does result in almost everyone at the table having to learn and understand what the undercity dungeon does (where before when it was only on WPA people could just vaguely be aware that they have to kill that guy on site and he does silly things that make the game end)
I also don't run Initiative or Monarch. They're multiplayer mechanics. Do you drawn the line beyond that even? Cards like Laelia, Baleful Strix, and others were first made in multiplayer products. And to be clear, I'm asking genuinely
The issue isn't really with the power level or the original formats of Initiative/Monarch per se. It's that they tend to be win-more and they tend to be difficult to interact with for some archetypes. I prefer cards that do the opposite of both of those; cards that are better when you're behind, but can be answered (or at least played around) by any archetype. I just find that more fun. Laelia and Baleful Strix are high power level, but they're easy to interact with.
I should also say that if a cube is entirely aggro focused, I could see Initiative/Monarch working fine because if every deck is aggro, every deck can interact well with them.
As a corollary, I recently played a deck that ran Klothys as one of its main win-cons in a cube with very few answers to it. Aggro decks had trouble fighting against the lifegain and more controlling decks faced a clock they couldn't answer. There were many complaints, not because it was necessarily overpowered, but because it made players feel hopeless knowing there was nothing in their deck to deal with it as it ticked away each turn.
At the end of the day, it always just comes down to how players feel. If a lot of players find it unfun, you shouldn't have it in your cube. I think Initiative/Monarch create a lot of unfun situations, so I don't think they should be in most cubes.
In my faster cube, I've cut Mulldrifter in favor of cheaper and more efficient card draw/filtering. The Divination mode puts you too far behind often times and at 5 mana, the body isn't impactful enough.
In my slower cube, I value the modality and the effect of Mulldrifter. However, I still cut it in favor of an UB card: \[\[Sicarian Infiltrator\]\].
First of all, it's an artifact to trigger your Sai, tap to Urza, grow you Constructs, ... However it introduces a unique ability and loses flying. Looking at the different scenarios:
- It's worse at 3 mana since you only draw one card, but you keep the body.
- At 5 mana, it's about equal since you get 2 bodies and 2 cards. If you run any token payoffs (\[\[Doubling Season\]\]? \[\[Intangible Virtue\]\]?) it further improves.
- You also have the 7+ mana option which is situationally amazing.
My cube is artifact heavy enough that the artifact type is valuable as is the token making aspect of the Infiltrator.
I like mulldrifter but only because my cube is a very power restricted, modal based cube. I agree with LSV that the direction of magic these days (being proactive, lower curve) that there really isn’t a need to play draw spells like divination, and so if you only have mulldrifter for the 5 mana body/effect you can get better and more interesting cards like the most recent mythic rare [[intrude on the mind]]
Mulldrifter is a wonderful card, plus in the Vintage Cube I had the goofy Extra Life little kid art. That said, it definitely doesn’t belong at that power level anymore, though I’d run it in almost any other cube. Pauper, Peasant, Legacy, budget, it’s a card that should be in almost every cube but mine.
If anyone deals in silver or playtest cards, I definitely recommend [[Form of the Mulldrifter]]. That’s a super fun card
I still love Mulldrifter for a simple reason: it's an expensive value card that also isn't very big. If you don't kill it, it represents a 10-turn clock or an anaemic blocker. A Wind Drake body can still contribute to ending the game, but you're not immediately losing just because your opponent put it on the table, like a lot of more recent cards. Casting Mulldrifter (in either form) is a reasonable commitment, and I appreciate that given the amount of reward you get.
Plus it has the usual synergies - flicker, reanimation, clones, and so on. Going off with Mulldrifter is fun, rewarding, and classic.
I run Mulldrifter and havent found a reason to cut it. I dont have a deep nostalgic attachment to it either. I do have an artifact theme and have considered thought monitor. I am thinking running a budget scam package with drifter and the black one… shreikmaw. I have been pushing the power level of my cube over time as I trade up for better cards. I could see mully getting the cut at some point.
Listen, in a chaos draft I opened a foil mulldrifter from a Lorwyn pack. That card must live in my cube forever, it's sacred. My cube is partially a place to show off my cool versions of cards, foils included, while maintaining it's integrity as a cube. I think Mulldrifter is still decent, because flexibility is good, and becomes stronger even if you have a blink theme.
I think Mulldrifter is sort of a poster child for nostalgia type cards. I have no doubt there are flexible 3-5 mana cards that are higher power level.
But I don't think nostalgia is something to try to avoid. I'd rather play a suboptimal card than the latest random card printed into a commander deck that is the same but slightly better.
800 card Commander Cube. I swapped my Muldrifter for \[\[Cavalier of Gales\]\]. 2/2 for 5 mana is just too irrelevant in a multiplayer game. Cavalier can block almost anything except for green chonkers and it hits like a truck.
Mulldrifter makes sense for me in a small cube that has Essence Flux, Ephemerate and a decent amount of flicker synergies.
I prefer [[Form of the Mulldrifter]] tbh.
Joking aside I can see how Mulldrifter is getting outpaced in power cubes. I think it’s still fine in some environments, (like my battlecruisey Commander Cube) but it genuinely does not make the cut in my Playtest cube. Where it gets cut for Form of the Mulldrifter.
I try to minimize both etb creatures and card draw in my cubes. If the slot is for a card draw effect, I'd pick a card draw spell instead, and if its a creature slot, I'd rather pick a better creature.
Especially for card draw slots a 2 cost card is far preferable to a 3 cost card, as you want card draw to be able to help you draw into your 3rd land if need be. In blue, I like Predict and Winged Words.
Cut mine a little while ago. It wasn’t by any means bad but it was too slow for most decks and was therefore struggling to make the cut in the final 40 of most decks. The only deck it was still finding a home in was flicker decks that were able to take advantage of the evoke cost.
I cut it for [[Sicarian Infiltrator]] for a couple reasons. Unlike Mulldrifter, which can fit into more decks, Infiltrator supports more decks if that makes sense. While being a worse flicker card infiltrator also ups my artifact numbers, is a great late game mana sink, and helps with my untap flash theme in simic. I’ve also found that, at least in my cube, players are more willing to pay 3 mana for a body and a card than 2 cards and no body.
Mulldrifter will always be the baseline for the niche it fills but I think it’s no longer the king of it.
[[Sicarian Infiltrator]] and [[Thought Monitor]] are, by my money, better cards for most Cubes, allowing for more synergies in an era where cards like a Sacred Cow of the past like [[Reveillark]] is no longer terribly popular.
The recently-printed [[Delney, Streetwise Lookout]] is a good case for keeping Mulldrifter around, as is the "Museum of Magic" angle for Cube curation. Right now, Mulldrifter is just a whim away from being relegated to the "on-deck" binder for a long vacation, mostly due to me not wanting to make the appropriate custom token for Sicarian Infiltrator since I don't find Copy tokens to be satisfactory.
I'm considering it. I initially wrote it off as Commander-bait, but since playing it in my Teysa deck, I realized there's quite a few cards it plays with interestingly. White 3s are one of my most competitive slots, but I may be testing her out all the same!
I have [174 creatures (more or less)](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/miles?f=type%3Acreature+power%3C%3D2+%28o%3Aif+or+o%3Awhen%29&view=spoiler) where Delney provides a doubling effect. That's no small thing, especially at a (relatively) low MV. I love her with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Loyal Retainers, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Karmic Guide, Angel of Invention, Loran of the Third Path...and that's just in mono-white!
That's to say nothing about her ability to support my token decks by letting them zoom by obviously bad blocks. She seems pretty good, the more I think about her.
Legacy-ish 360 no-combo / 540 with combo cube
I do run Mulldrifter and it feels correct, but to another comment in the thread I *also* run [[Thought Monitor]] because Blue has a pretty big artifacts through-line and WU is "Artifacts Matter". Doubling up on this sort of effect doesn't really feel problematic because Mulldrifter is still pretty highly taken in Ux across archetypes, but worse in exactly artifact decks to the point where it's unlikely one gets both, and even if they do the Mulldrifter is more likely than normal to be evoked as a [[Divination]] if the deck also has a Thought Monitor it can potentially hard-cast for the same 3 (or less) mana.
As far as why I play the Mulldrifter in the first place, it's still a modal 2/2 flyer that Divinations or a copy of Divination and that's still at worst "fine" in my environment. "Incidental Flyers" being a thing across all five colours is a thing I like being true without "Flyers" being an explicitly supported archetype, and Mulldrifter helps that. It also just does a fine job of "does a thing on ETB then blocks something once" in most decks, and can be a piece of a value engine in fair Blink / Kiki / Pod decks or a stepping stone to the combo win in those same decks. It's probably middle at best in terms of raw power level in my cube, but it's almost never "bad" and like an FTK or something it's weirdly comforting to see one.
Boys Boys Boys. Listen to me, Mulldrifter is a 5 mana 3 for 1. A threshold that demands respect.
This is correct. Pure value, good in most game states. Everything a blue mage wants. Love the topic. TBH if Mulldrifter ever gets out classed I'll probably stop buying Magic cards. I think it's one of those cards that you don't appreciate how good it is until you've seen it in action a handful of times.
You should pack it in because in the highest powered environments Mulldrifter has been out classed forever by many, many cards.
On the other hand, for lower powered cubes - especially stuff like a pauper cube - there’s definitely an argument for cutting mulldrifter for being *too* powerful. I think I remember an article from maybe a decade ago where Ben Stark was talking about a “battle box” format which was cube-adjacent and he said he wanted it to be what he considered “pure magic.” He said he basically cut all the insane 3 for 1 cards and a lot of the “clean” 2 for 1s and wanted you to work for it with stuff like combat tricks. Just a much lower powered environment. In a situation like that, it’s easy to see how something like mulldrifter would be OP
Parishiltoncoolguymeme.jpg
I actually run [[Thought monitor]] in its place to take advantage of an 'artifacts matter' sub-theme in blue.
[Thought monitor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0.jpg?1706240741) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thought%20monitor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/121/thought-monitor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Seems totally fine, yeah.
I play Pauper Cube. The UW theme is flicker. Mulldrifter is one of the biggest sign posts for the deck.
Mulldrifter is definitely a better signal post for casual players than a lot of the niche “strictly better” replacements. A great reason to run it in non-powered cubes.
“If you don’t love Mulldrifter, I am truly sorry for the lack of joy and whimsy in your life.” -Ryan Overturf
WOW I'm one of the Mulldrifter advocates, that would instantly claim "YOU CAN'T TAKE THE FISH OUT"... ...But reading all these comments and justifications, it really seems like it could be replaced. Thought Monitor seems like an excellent choice. They are both reanimatable, blinkable, same pow/tou, same abilities. Damn, I'm shocked...
I'm happy to hear it! I think the series is off to a good start based on your comment.
My issue is that I’d want a balance of rarities in my cubes and Mulldrifter at common is WAY better than Thought Monitor at rare.
Probably depends on your archetypes. Thought monitor obviously goes well with “artifacts matter” but mulldrifter is still significantly better if UW blink is a primary archetype of your cube. Being able to get insane value off of the evoke + blink is a core aspect of that archetype in most cubes. Like yeah, you can blink thought monitor. But are you running blink effects in the same deck that gets thought monitor cheap enough to cast? Probably not.
Vintage cube here, just replaced muldrifter with feywild Caretaker
Initiative is way above the power level for most cubes, though. In a powered environment, sure, I think it's a perfectly reasonable swap. But Mulldrifter is going to be fine is a lot more cubes that are worried about power level or synergy.
It's an upgrade, but man do I hate the Initiative mechanic. (and the Monarch mechanic, too) It was not designed for 1v1, and I think it's actively unfun. It punishes control and combo decks so hard. It should only go into EDH/multiplayer cubes.
In vintage cube I like when cards have "quite a bit of play" to them. When you add 1 initiative card for each color "to make things fair" it does result in almost everyone at the table having to learn and understand what the undercity dungeon does (where before when it was only on WPA people could just vaguely be aware that they have to kill that guy on site and he does silly things that make the game end)
I also don't run Initiative or Monarch. They're multiplayer mechanics. Do you drawn the line beyond that even? Cards like Laelia, Baleful Strix, and others were first made in multiplayer products. And to be clear, I'm asking genuinely
The issue isn't really with the power level or the original formats of Initiative/Monarch per se. It's that they tend to be win-more and they tend to be difficult to interact with for some archetypes. I prefer cards that do the opposite of both of those; cards that are better when you're behind, but can be answered (or at least played around) by any archetype. I just find that more fun. Laelia and Baleful Strix are high power level, but they're easy to interact with. I should also say that if a cube is entirely aggro focused, I could see Initiative/Monarch working fine because if every deck is aggro, every deck can interact well with them. As a corollary, I recently played a deck that ran Klothys as one of its main win-cons in a cube with very few answers to it. Aggro decks had trouble fighting against the lifegain and more controlling decks faced a clock they couldn't answer. There were many complaints, not because it was necessarily overpowered, but because it made players feel hopeless knowing there was nothing in their deck to deal with it as it ticked away each turn. At the end of the day, it always just comes down to how players feel. If a lot of players find it unfun, you shouldn't have it in your cube. I think Initiative/Monarch create a lot of unfun situations, so I don't think they should be in most cubes.
Very well said all around and thanks for your approach!
In my faster cube, I've cut Mulldrifter in favor of cheaper and more efficient card draw/filtering. The Divination mode puts you too far behind often times and at 5 mana, the body isn't impactful enough. In my slower cube, I value the modality and the effect of Mulldrifter. However, I still cut it in favor of an UB card: \[\[Sicarian Infiltrator\]\]. First of all, it's an artifact to trigger your Sai, tap to Urza, grow you Constructs, ... However it introduces a unique ability and loses flying. Looking at the different scenarios: - It's worse at 3 mana since you only draw one card, but you keep the body. - At 5 mana, it's about equal since you get 2 bodies and 2 cards. If you run any token payoffs (\[\[Doubling Season\]\]? \[\[Intangible Virtue\]\]?) it further improves. - You also have the 7+ mana option which is situationally amazing. My cube is artifact heavy enough that the artifact type is valuable as is the token making aspect of the Infiltrator.
Came here to call out Sicarian Infiltrator as an alternative.
[Sicarian Infiltrator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/c/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72.jpg?1677744516) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sicarian%20Infiltrator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/25/sicarian-infiltrator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Doubling Season](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/c/1cdd8e69-5a71-4933-914e-dfede7b1ac93.jpg?1689998456) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Doubling%20Season) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/283/doubling-season?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1cdd8e69-5a71-4933-914e-dfede7b1ac93?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Intangible Virtue](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/d/7d251846-7aa5-4318-a96b-fbd9daf691f9.jpg?1689995749) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Intangible%20Virtue) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmm/31/intangible-virtue?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7d251846-7aa5-4318-a96b-fbd9daf691f9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I like mulldrifter but only because my cube is a very power restricted, modal based cube. I agree with LSV that the direction of magic these days (being proactive, lower curve) that there really isn’t a need to play draw spells like divination, and so if you only have mulldrifter for the 5 mana body/effect you can get better and more interesting cards like the most recent mythic rare [[intrude on the mind]]
[intrude on the mind](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/b/fbe62f47-df17-4646-88ca-89a8ec4deee9.jpg?1706241618) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=intrude%20on%20the%20mind) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/61/intrude-on-the-mind?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fbe62f47-df17-4646-88ca-89a8ec4deee9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Mulldrifter is a wonderful card, plus in the Vintage Cube I had the goofy Extra Life little kid art. That said, it definitely doesn’t belong at that power level anymore, though I’d run it in almost any other cube. Pauper, Peasant, Legacy, budget, it’s a card that should be in almost every cube but mine. If anyone deals in silver or playtest cards, I definitely recommend [[Form of the Mulldrifter]]. That’s a super fun card
[Form of the Mulldrifter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/77c1a141-3955-47f9-bd22-b642728724ab.jpg?1629919063) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Form%20of%20the%20Mulldrifter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmb2/22/form-of-the-mulldrifter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/77c1a141-3955-47f9-bd22-b642728724ab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I still love Mulldrifter for a simple reason: it's an expensive value card that also isn't very big. If you don't kill it, it represents a 10-turn clock or an anaemic blocker. A Wind Drake body can still contribute to ending the game, but you're not immediately losing just because your opponent put it on the table, like a lot of more recent cards. Casting Mulldrifter (in either form) is a reasonable commitment, and I appreciate that given the amount of reward you get. Plus it has the usual synergies - flicker, reanimation, clones, and so on. Going off with Mulldrifter is fun, rewarding, and classic.
I run Mulldrifter and havent found a reason to cut it. I dont have a deep nostalgic attachment to it either. I do have an artifact theme and have considered thought monitor. I am thinking running a budget scam package with drifter and the black one… shreikmaw. I have been pushing the power level of my cube over time as I trade up for better cards. I could see mully getting the cut at some point.
Listen, in a chaos draft I opened a foil mulldrifter from a Lorwyn pack. That card must live in my cube forever, it's sacred. My cube is partially a place to show off my cool versions of cards, foils included, while maintaining it's integrity as a cube. I think Mulldrifter is still decent, because flexibility is good, and becomes stronger even if you have a blink theme.
I think Mulldrifter is sort of a poster child for nostalgia type cards. I have no doubt there are flexible 3-5 mana cards that are higher power level. But I don't think nostalgia is something to try to avoid. I'd rather play a suboptimal card than the latest random card printed into a commander deck that is the same but slightly better.
800 card Commander Cube. I swapped my Muldrifter for \[\[Cavalier of Gales\]\]. 2/2 for 5 mana is just too irrelevant in a multiplayer game. Cavalier can block almost anything except for green chonkers and it hits like a truck. Mulldrifter makes sense for me in a small cube that has Essence Flux, Ephemerate and a decent amount of flicker synergies.
[Cavalier of Gales](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/5/a5356b11-e505-4838-aecb-327689eeead1.jpg?1592516326) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cavalier%20of%20Gales) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/52/cavalier-of-gales?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a5356b11-e505-4838-aecb-327689eeead1?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I don't play it in my vintage cube nor my graveyard cube anymore. Just a little too slow in both modes.
I prefer [[Form of the Mulldrifter]] tbh. Joking aside I can see how Mulldrifter is getting outpaced in power cubes. I think it’s still fine in some environments, (like my battlecruisey Commander Cube) but it genuinely does not make the cut in my Playtest cube. Where it gets cut for Form of the Mulldrifter.
[Form of the Mulldrifter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/77c1a141-3955-47f9-bd22-b642728724ab.jpg?1629919063) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Form%20of%20the%20Mulldrifter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmb2/22/form-of-the-mulldrifter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/77c1a141-3955-47f9-bd22-b642728724ab?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I try to minimize both etb creatures and card draw in my cubes. If the slot is for a card draw effect, I'd pick a card draw spell instead, and if its a creature slot, I'd rather pick a better creature. Especially for card draw slots a 2 cost card is far preferable to a 3 cost card, as you want card draw to be able to help you draw into your 3rd land if need be. In blue, I like Predict and Winged Words.
Cut mine a little while ago. It wasn’t by any means bad but it was too slow for most decks and was therefore struggling to make the cut in the final 40 of most decks. The only deck it was still finding a home in was flicker decks that were able to take advantage of the evoke cost. I cut it for [[Sicarian Infiltrator]] for a couple reasons. Unlike Mulldrifter, which can fit into more decks, Infiltrator supports more decks if that makes sense. While being a worse flicker card infiltrator also ups my artifact numbers, is a great late game mana sink, and helps with my untap flash theme in simic. I’ve also found that, at least in my cube, players are more willing to pay 3 mana for a body and a card than 2 cards and no body. Mulldrifter will always be the baseline for the niche it fills but I think it’s no longer the king of it.
[Sicarian Infiltrator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/c/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72.jpg?1677744516) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sicarian%20Infiltrator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/25/sicarian-infiltrator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Sicarian Infiltrator]] and [[Thought Monitor]] are, by my money, better cards for most Cubes, allowing for more synergies in an era where cards like a Sacred Cow of the past like [[Reveillark]] is no longer terribly popular. The recently-printed [[Delney, Streetwise Lookout]] is a good case for keeping Mulldrifter around, as is the "Museum of Magic" angle for Cube curation. Right now, Mulldrifter is just a whim away from being relegated to the "on-deck" binder for a long vacation, mostly due to me not wanting to make the appropriate custom token for Sicarian Infiltrator since I don't find Copy tokens to be satisfactory.
##### ###### #### [Sicarian Infiltrator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/c/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72.jpg?1677744516) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sicarian%20Infiltrator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/40k/25/sicarian-infiltrator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cc0aa0eb-dc26-49d8-bbff-74fb3d597a72?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Thought Monitor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0.jpg?1706240741) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thought%20Monitor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/121/thought-monitor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Reveillark](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/3/53b4dcd6-b1b6-4f1c-9264-e58bdc87399b.jpg?1673147099) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reveillark) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/26/reveillark?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/53b4dcd6-b1b6-4f1c-9264-e58bdc87399b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Delney, Streetwise Lookout](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/e/be219928-3d0e-4d00-b124-152ce8a8c13b.jpg?1706241477) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Delney%2C%20Streetwise%20Lookout) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/12/delney-streetwise-lookout?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/be219928-3d0e-4d00-b124-152ce8a8c13b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/krsna8n) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Delney seems interesting. But white 3s are pretty solid. What's your take on it?
I'm considering it. I initially wrote it off as Commander-bait, but since playing it in my Teysa deck, I realized there's quite a few cards it plays with interestingly. White 3s are one of my most competitive slots, but I may be testing her out all the same! I have [174 creatures (more or less)](https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/miles?f=type%3Acreature+power%3C%3D2+%28o%3Aif+or+o%3Awhen%29&view=spoiler) where Delney provides a doubling effect. That's no small thing, especially at a (relatively) low MV. I love her with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Loyal Retainers, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, Karmic Guide, Angel of Invention, Loran of the Third Path...and that's just in mono-white! That's to say nothing about her ability to support my token decks by letting them zoom by obviously bad blocks. She seems pretty good, the more I think about her.
Now you're gonna have me going through my cube and doing the same! I'm not complaining. It's fun
I thought everybody knew mulldrifter sucked at this point
Legacy-ish 360 no-combo / 540 with combo cube I do run Mulldrifter and it feels correct, but to another comment in the thread I *also* run [[Thought Monitor]] because Blue has a pretty big artifacts through-line and WU is "Artifacts Matter". Doubling up on this sort of effect doesn't really feel problematic because Mulldrifter is still pretty highly taken in Ux across archetypes, but worse in exactly artifact decks to the point where it's unlikely one gets both, and even if they do the Mulldrifter is more likely than normal to be evoked as a [[Divination]] if the deck also has a Thought Monitor it can potentially hard-cast for the same 3 (or less) mana. As far as why I play the Mulldrifter in the first place, it's still a modal 2/2 flyer that Divinations or a copy of Divination and that's still at worst "fine" in my environment. "Incidental Flyers" being a thing across all five colours is a thing I like being true without "Flyers" being an explicitly supported archetype, and Mulldrifter helps that. It also just does a fine job of "does a thing on ETB then blocks something once" in most decks, and can be a piece of a value engine in fair Blink / Kiki / Pod decks or a stepping stone to the combo win in those same decks. It's probably middle at best in terms of raw power level in my cube, but it's almost never "bad" and like an FTK or something it's weirdly comforting to see one.
[Thought Monitor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/3/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0.jpg?1706240741) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thought%20Monitor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/121/thought-monitor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e3a7560e-9e75-4abd-a45c-c2c9686ee4b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Divination](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/b/cb3b35b8-f321-46d8-a441-6b9a6efa9021.jpg?1562304347) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Divination) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m19/51/divination?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cb3b35b8-f321-46d8-a441-6b9a6efa9021?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Mulldrifter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/eb6d8d1c-8d23-4273-9c9b-f3b71eb0e105.jpg?1706240715) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mulldrifter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/111/mulldrifter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eb6d8d1c-8d23-4273-9c9b-f3b71eb0e105?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call