I'll take opportunity over jace's ingenuity all day. You get more card for your mana, and it targets which means it can deck someone in the occasional control on control matchup. I remember one game where we'd each neutralized each other threats, I'd just won a counter war on the last turn, and my opponent had 3 cards left in his library to my 6. He proceeded to cast deep analysis, flashed it back, and compulsive research all targeting me to deck me...haha. I've had similar situations happen enough to make me value the targeting clause on draw spells.
I would say Gush is better than Thirst for Knowledge unless you have a ton of artifacts in your cube.
I run a good bit of artifacts for my cube size. About 10% of my cube is artifacts. It's also included to help enable reanimator.
And returning two lands at end of your opponents turn means you'll draw three cards before you drop your next land, if you draw a single land in those three you've set yourself back considerably. And if you're at the point in the game where that's irrelevan (or you can hardcast it) a card that nets you more cards would often be superior.
I can't stand cards like Hungry Spriggan and Ravenous Skirge...heavy hitters that die to essentially every form of removal in the cube annoys me to hell and back. It's hard enough for me to run Dauthi Marauder...haha
Arrogant Bloodlord's drawback is just too much. Every deck/archetype has a few to a lot of <2 power creatures. Looters, walls, tokens, mana elves, etc.
Well I cut Gush to bring in Opportunity for the dedicated control decks. I didn't see Gush as being anything close to what a control deck wanted to run...netting one card in the mid to late game and returning two lands to your hand to do so is bad for the decks that are trying to do busted things with lots of mana late in the game. Aggro/Tempo decks aren't hurting for card draw options either. They have Tandem Lookout, Compulsive Research, Thirst for Knowledge, Looter il-Kor, Mask of Memory, Standstill, and Fact or Fiction all of which I like more than Gush.
I think war drums could be slightly better than the wolf. It provides an immediate board change so there's less time to react to it compared to the wolf (drop a couple other guys for blocks or leave mana up for removal). It's also more difficult to deal with. The only thing Pyreheart Wolf has on it is its ability to wear equipment, auras, etc. I may consider it if Spellshock doesn't work out.
I added Gush as part of the storm package. It seemed like a reasonable cut since I just cut storm and removed some blue aggro support. I really enjoy blue based control and realized I was stretching its resources a little thin in supporting storm and aggro as much as I was. I think it's a good card, but just not right for my cube at the moment.
i could cut fervent cathar instead, that card hasn't been too hot lately. i don't have a reasonable explanation for cutting the wolf.
Edit: I do have a reason after thinking about why I considered cutting it. It's a 3 drop with 1 power that has no immediate board impact. It just feels a little awkward in my aggro decks and the body is pretty insubstantial. It also doesn't do that much when played in curve. Those qualities add up to me not really liking it.
and I actually didn't mean that as any kind of slight. I just think the customizations you've made to the format make more sense after having some experience with a peasant cube to begin. I also think it's easier to hit the ground running with a more traditional cube that uses traditional draft formats.
I think it's natural to get defensive, especially when you've put a lot of time and effort into something. But it's good to remember that you're in a unique position. You supply the most thorough results of your cube which opens it up to more detailed analyses and criticisms. Which is better for everyone because we get to do more than theorize, we get to look at numbers and debate about them. Like I couldn't do the following with anyone else's cube:
I sourced your winning decks from the last 3 pages of your cube: 19 drafts total. 16 of those decks were not strict aggro decks, 3 were. There were a few speedier midrange builds in that 16 so it could be somewhat debatable. But of those 16 non-aggro decks, 11 of them had more than 2 colors.
So...
3 of 19 were aggro
16 of 19 weren't
11 of 19 were 3+ colors
I've probably drafted 19 total times with my cube since creating it haha..and that's just 3 of 34 pages of your cube's recorded history. That does gives us clear information to debate.
Brood of Cockroaches: Brood has been fantastic. It’s been everything Reassembling Skeleton is, plus synergy with Looters, Spellshapers and other discard outlets. The life loss does add up, but Brood also has the defensive benefit of blocking the turn it hits play.
Brood of Cockroaches unfortunately has to be put into the graveyard from play to return it to your hand...so no synergy with looters.
I think the closest thing I have to a pet card in my cube is Constant Mists. It's a card that can eat an unprepared aggro deck alive, and is a nice soft lock with Isochron Scepter. There are outs to it in most colors, and it's hard to sac lands for more than a few turns unless you have Land Tax out. I've been pretty happy with it so far.
I've really wanted to give Spellshock a try. I can just imagine the scenarios where you deal 12 damage to your opponent early and drop this and they just flat out lose.
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I run a good bit of artifacts for my cube size. About 10% of my cube is artifacts. It's also included to help enable reanimator.
And returning two lands at end of your opponents turn means you'll draw three cards before you drop your next land, if you draw a single land in those three you've set yourself back considerably. And if you're at the point in the game where that's irrelevan (or you can hardcast it) a card that nets you more cards would often be superior.
Arrogant Bloodlord's drawback is just too much. Every deck/archetype has a few to a lot of <2 power creatures. Looters, walls, tokens, mana elves, etc.
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Discard a card from your hand: Joyrider gets +1/+0 and flying until end of turn.
1/1
I added Gush as part of the storm package. It seemed like a reasonable cut since I just cut storm and removed some blue aggro support. I really enjoy blue based control and realized I was stretching its resources a little thin in supporting storm and aggro as much as I was. I think it's a good card, but just not right for my cube at the moment.
i don't have a reasonable explanation for cutting the wolf.Edit: I do have a reason after thinking about why I considered cutting it. It's a 3 drop with 1 power that has no immediate board impact. It just feels a little awkward in my aggro decks and the body is pretty insubstantial. It also doesn't do that much when played in curve. Those qualities add up to me not really liking it.
-aven riftwatcher, +fiend hunter
-syndic of tithes, +leonin relic-warder
-keening apparition, +kami of ancient law
-quickling, +augur of bolas
-vaporkin, +careful study
-gush, +opportunity
-frantic search, +thirst for knowledge
-miscalculation, +memory lapse
-chainer's edict, +wight of precinct six
-vampire interloper, +rakdos guildmage
-pyreheart wolf, +ghitu slinger
-volcanic dragon, +spellshock
-pyrohemia, +hissing iguanar
-empty the warrens, +mogg war marshal
-rolling thunder, +fireball
moved tattermunge maniac to red
-howlgeist, +centaur glade
-strangleroot geist, +viridian emissary
-edge of autumn, +cultivate
-manamorphose, +penumbra spider
-blightning, +rix maadi guildmage
-elixir of immortality, +pierce strider
-gitaxian probe, +mask of memory
-guardian idol, +coldsteel heart
Khans update will happen once cards are in hand, and cubetutor is primed for it.
I sourced your winning decks from the last 3 pages of your cube: 19 drafts total. 16 of those decks were not strict aggro decks, 3 were. There were a few speedier midrange builds in that 16 so it could be somewhat debatable. But of those 16 non-aggro decks, 11 of them had more than 2 colors.
So...
3 of 19 were aggro
16 of 19 weren't
11 of 19 were 3+ colors
I've probably drafted 19 total times with my cube since creating it haha..and that's just 3 of 34 pages of your cube's recorded history. That does gives us clear information to debate.
Brood of Cockroaches unfortunately has to be put into the graveyard from play to return it to your hand...so no synergy with looters.
I think the closest thing I have to a pet card in my cube is Constant Mists. It's a card that can eat an unprepared aggro deck alive, and is a nice soft lock with Isochron Scepter. There are outs to it in most colors, and it's hard to sac lands for more than a few turns unless you have Land Tax out. I've been pretty happy with it so far.
I've really wanted to give Spellshock a try. I can just imagine the scenarios where you deal 12 damage to your opponent early and drop this and they just flat out lose.