M10 Prerelease; Cubing Continues

I've made a few updates to the PMC (which you can read about here) and M10 promises to bring quite a few new commons to work with. Here's a quick look at what I'm considering:

Blinding Mage is yet another tapper for White. Any Blue/White control deck would love to get a tapper or two and being able to run yet another seems good.

Safe Passage looks to be weak at a glance but I'm struggling to find something solid in White that can get a slow control deck to flip a game on its head. A one-sided Holy Day feels like it wouldn't the all bad, but I don't think there's anything it's directly superior to in the cube now. Dawn Charm is similar but functions as a counter or saving grace for a critter, flexibility that's relevant more often than Safe Passage.

Ice Cage is a two mana Arrest in a color that lacks real removal. While it won't hold for long it can shut down something long enough for an answer to appear or a game to be won. It feels decent but I'm not sure what this would replace.

Child of Night isn't an evasive creature, but lifelink is not an ability to joke about. This is cheap enough to fall right into an aggressive black focused deck's curve and strong enough to be worth something later on.

Doom Blade is very similar to Terror but in trading away the anti-regeneration clause for being able to smoke artifact creatures makes this feel better than Terror. With very little in terms of regeration abilities in the cube I suspect that Doom Blade will outperform Terror in many cases. Does it replace Terror? Hell no. But it does up the "two mana cost removal" count by one which is very nice.

Sign in Blood is the common improvement on Night's Whisper that can also win a game by killing your opponent. Drawing cards or dropping an unexpected Shock on an opponent? Count me in.

Deadly Recluse is the sign of deathtouch becoming the way Green is given removal. From my experience in the prerelease today (which I played two Green heavy decks in my drafts) this guy is both annoying and useful. While his toughness nearly ensures that he dies to nearly anything he blocks it's big enough to avoid pingers and the deathtouch keeps him able to trade with virtually any creature your opponent has around.

Thursday promises to be great as Klug, creator of one of the first commons/uncommons cubes as well as all round great Magic player, is going to give some input and help feel out more of the cube. I have a feeling I know a few things he'll point out but it's the alternatives and reasoning that will ultimately be better than the swaps that will invariably result. Stay tuned for the update!