I love Koth, but he is mostly relegated to only mono red aggro. He's great there, but I do wish he was a little more versatile in that regard. I have a sweet duel deck foil signed by Eric Deschamps. Picked it up at a random con somewhere in BFE Kentucky for like two dollars.
On the subject of mono red aggro, it's one of my personal favorite strategies in cube. Play creatures, turn them sideways, burninate the village. I love it and draft it any time I see it open.
Koth is a good 'walker, but as others have pointed out, he's not as unique as he once was. There are more options at the 4cc "haste" slot, and more options in the 'walker slots than previous. And you have to be at least relatively dedicated to red to make him work correctly. Still a great card, but I'm not as high on him as I once was.
I love red aggro, but it's usually not mono-red. It's typically Boros or Rakdos aggro (or Naya/Gruul even), as the tools from the other colors tend to make the deck a lot more resilient and with more payoff cards for aggro. I've been playing more mono-red aggro than I used to as of late though, thanks to the impact that C has had on the cube. It provides some powerful incentives to stay one color, and I think making the colorless utility lands better and using cards like TKS/Smasher makes mono-colored decks way better than cards like double- and triple-color cards and Devotion cards do.
Koth's slot is more competitive than ever thanks to red's deep suite of aggro curve-topper creatures as well as Chandra, Torch of Defiance, but Koth still easily makes the cut for me. It's a great "attacker", but it's also a stellar ramp card helping fuel big dudes and Wildfire. Koth's ultimate is also not very difficult to achieve, and ends games quickly. It's the first red planeswalker I added to my cube, and until I actually get my hands on a copy of the latest Chandra, I can still say it's my favorite.
I dig the Duel Deck foil art, it's much more menacing looking than the art on the original. As always with Duel Deck foils, it's also great that it's quite reasonably priced compared to the pack foil, but in this case I actually prefer the newer art. It's much more menacing looking than the art on the original.
I do enjoy the quick-and-dirty nature of mono-red, but I try to avoid playing it unless I'm drafting with mostly people who are more experienced with cube drafting. Not only don't I want to demoralize the noobs, but I also want to leave this relatively easy-to-draft but still competitive archetype open.
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I like Koth, but the new Chandra seems like it could replace Hammertime. Red aggro has Hero of Oxid Ridge and Hellrider to top a curve, and the new Chandra goes into way more decks than Koth. So maybe that'll happen? I don't want three 4 mana red walkers, and I'm not cutting Daretti.
As far as red aggro: I rarely play monored, but I play Boros aggro all the time. There are two directions to go with it: burn-heavy with white good creatures filling out the curve below Hellrider and pals, or my favorite, Boros weenie led by Kytheon and the Thalias with only a smattering of noncreature spells. Boros Charm, incidentally, is amazing in either of those decks.
I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
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I've wanted to get a Koth but haven't yet, and the 4 spot for red is very competitive anyway. Very good curve topper for red aggro, but not as versatile as other red walkers.
I love Koth, but, yes, the competition is better. I don't think he's relegated to red aggro. He's been great for me in Gruul midrange by providing some ramp or adding a 4/4 to the attack. I run him in Wildfire decks for both the ramp and a post-Wildfire attacker.
Koth is good for his versatility, but Chandra is even more flexible. I like Koth more in an aggro deck than Chandra, but even then it still competes with Hellrider / Hero. I'm more willing to P1P1 Koth over Hellrider / Hero though since Koth survives sweepers. He's decent in Wildfire shells for ramp, but Chandra's +1 makes Koth's -2 look silly in comparison. While he's one of the more aggressive planeswalkers, he can't protect himself which is a bummer. At 540, I don't see myself cutting Koth anytime soon, he puts in a lot of work.
I pushed mono red in 540 a bit too hard pre-Kaladesh. Since the artifact deck really doesn't work in an unpowered cube, I just filled my "spare" slots with burn. I toned it down a bit by swapping in new Chandra and Subterranean Tremors. It's actually pretty amazing how diverse red has become over the past year: Chandra, Flamecaller / Chandra, Torch of Defiance / Fiery Confluence / Subterranean Tremors and other multicolored cards like new Daretti and Kolaghan's Command has given red a lot of control tools. For example, red was almost always the tertiary color in a Grixis control deck, but now it's not uncommon to see it as the primary color over black / blue.
Jackal Pup is around the 4th-5th best red aggro one-drop. So, at this point, it's all about your cube size. It's a Savannah Lions with a small drawback (not as bad as it looks at first sight), but that's still better than the Eager Cadets and Raging Goblins with conditional self-buffing.
We do get 2/1s with upsides in red sometimes now (Falkenrath Gorger would be unthinkable five years ago), so I won't shed a tear when the time comes to put the old dog down, but there are still 3-4 cards in that slot I'd cut first, and I don't plan to downsize my cube any time soon.
- - -
I have six dogs. One purebred German Shepherd, five rescued mutts. It's a mess, I tell you.
I haven't ran it, I have preferred to run things like goblin glory chaser (it is less damage on the first swing but evasion after). For me the 2nd point of power never seemed worth the drawback, but again I haven't seen it in action. The only thing id cut for it on my list would be my Goblin Fireslinger, and is only filling a slot until i get a Grim Lavamancer and i have a friend who likes him
Can't see me ever deciding to run him with the fact we got a few decent red 1 drops over the past few years and I see the trend continuing.
Is the logic to jackal pups effect is its so cute seeing it in pain hurts you? That was the vibe I got from the original art.
Unfortunately I don't have a dog because I rent but my dad has two Lurchers (Grayhound/X crossbreed) from animal shelters. One a quiet shy one and the other crazy.
So many people overreact to Jackal Pup's drawback. Is taking damage bad? Yes, of course. Will you lose the game because you took damage from your Jackal Pup? No, and it'll probably trade with something after it got in for four to six damage. I'll agree that it's gone from the top of the red 1-drops list to somewhere below the middle at this point, but I don't think it's close to the chopping block just yet.
I don't have any dogs, but I do love them and would like to have one. Unfortunately, my house is right on a main road and my yard is not fenced in, so I worry about putting a dog in that environment. My wife does like to post pictures of cute puppies from the local animal shelter's Facebook page on my own Facebook wall, though.
Falkenrath Gorger kicked this dog from my cube... It is an exciting era, a time when 2/1 for R doesn't have any drawbacks! I'm excited to see what wizards could give us for a single red mana in the future outside of the gorger...
I don't have a dog... It would chage when I would start my degree, I believe.
I feel I would take any of them over pup in general, though admittedly in hard agro he beats a few of them.
Does he play more like porcelain legionnaire than I'm giving him credit for? I would guess you take 2-3 damage on average.
Part of me not planning on including him is the feeling that he will just get cut in the next set anyway. Maybe I will try and pick one up and try him over fire slinger, people are always so solid on him so I may just bow to conventional wisdom and give him a shot (at least until the print another R 2/1).
So many people overreact to Jackal Pup's drawback. Is taking damage bad? Yes, of course. Will you lose the game because you took damage from your Jackal Pup? No, and it'll probably trade with something after it got in for four to six damage. I'll agree that it's gone from the top of the red 1-drops list to somewhere below the middle at this point, but I don't think it's close to the chopping block just yet.
You *might* lose the game from the damage, but your point still stands, since if the Jackal Pup damage is killing you then you probably aren't winning that game with most any other creature in that spot anyways. At the end of the day, it's a 2 power one drop in a color that both wants them the most and is still lacking them overall. One day it will be cut since wizards isn't afraid of printing aggro creatures since their standard formats are generally dominated by midrange decks of a variety of flavors, but I don't think that day is today.
Love dogs, but due to living situation don't have any.
Maybe I will try and pick one up and try him over fire slinger, people are always so solid on him so I may just bow to conventional wisdom and give him a shot (at least until the print another R 2/1).
You should probably look at Firedrinker Satyr first, if you're looking for a Pup variant.
Jackal Pup is still one of the best options available, and it's the 5th best red 2-power 1-drop. I can't see it failing to make the cut even in the smallest of cubes.
I feel I would take any of them over pup in general, though admittedly in hard agro he beats a few of them.
Assuming I'm playing an aggro or tempo deck, I'm drafting and maindecking Goblin Guide, Zurgo Bellstriker, and Falkenrath Gorger over Pup and that's it. Jackal Pup is Savannah Lions in red, and it's better than Savannah Lions because it's in the best aggro color. When I'm playing a red aggro deck, I want to know that my 1-drops are attacking for 2, and I won't have to jump through any other hoops or hope my opponent doesn't play a spell of their own or have a blocker in the way that will leave it stranded with only 1 power. Firedrinker Satyr's obviously strictly better as well, and I also like Grim Lavamancer over Pup even in an aggro deck, but they'll have to print a few more Zurgos and Gorgers before I'm thinking about cutting the Pup. When you're playing aggro, you generally don't care about the damage you take when you trade of the pup for an opponent's creature or to get in some damage in an alpha strike. Just be prepared to side it out against matchups where the damage is too much of a liability.
I love the FNM promo foil of Jackal Pup, with the adorable Tempest art plus the badass Shakespeare quote. I've gotta agree with the earlier poster, though, the flavor of Pup's drawback doesn't make any sense to me either.
I don't have a dog, just two cats, but my wife loves dogs so one of these days when we have a place with some outdoor space for a dog to run around in we'll get one.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
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I still like Pup over any conditional 2-powered one drop in red. Savannah Lions with a drawback, not much else to say except that original art >>>>> others.
I had a dog growing up and watched my friend's dogs in NYC a lot. I love dogs and feel incomplete without one, but can't commit to one at the moment. Unlike cats, dogs are super high maintenance and you basically have to schedule your life around the dog's bladder.
Pup is still good enough for red aggro. I prefer the Kev Walker art.
I don't own a dog. I really like dogs, but I don't want to take time to train a pet and have to schedule my life around its social and bathroom needs. I currently have cats, snakes, and tarantulas. When we move in ~1 year, I plan to expand the reptile collection and get a fish tank.
It's hard to argue back with anything other than "it just seems so much worse than Savannah Lions" and the arguments for him are solid.
Like I said, the drawback is not as bad as it sounds. It's not like it will take damage more than once in a game; the first time the ability damages you, the pup is already dead, and you're probably still ahead in the damage race.
01 Goblin Guide
02 Zurgo Bellstriker
03 Firedrinker Satyr
04 Falkenrath Gorger
05 Grim Lavamancer
06 Greater Gargadon
07 Goblin Welder
08 Jackal Pup
09 Monastery Swiftspear
10 Village Messenger
11 Stromkirk Noble
12 Reckless Waif
13 Goblin Glory Chaser
---------------------- I run all of the above at 555. If I were to drop to 360, I'd probably run everything above Jackal Pup and possibly Pup itself if I could find room.
14 Mogg Fanatic
15 Frenzied Goblin
16 Legion Loyalist
17 Lightning Berserker
18 Foundry Street Denizen
19 Stonewright
20 Spikeshot Elder
01 Goblin Guide
02 Zurgo Bellstriker
03 Firedrinker Satyr
04 Falkenrath Gorger
05 Grim Lavamancer
06 Greater Gargadon
07 Goblin Welder
08 Jackal Pup
09 Monastery Swiftspear
10 Village Messenger
11 Stromkirk Noble
12 Reckless Waif
13 Goblin Glory Chaser
---------------------- I run all of the above at 555. If I were to drop to 360, I'd probably run everything above Jackal Pup and possibly Pup itself if I could find room.
14 Mogg Fanatic
15 Frenzied Goblin
16 Legion Loyalist
17 Lightning Berserker
18 Foundry Street Denizen
19 Stonewright
20 Spikeshot Elder
While I generally agree with this ranking, I don't think 2-powered aggressive 1-drops should be compared with Gargadon / Lavamancer / Goblin Welder since they're entirely different cards with different applications.
On the subject of mono red aggro, it's one of my personal favorite strategies in cube. Play creatures, turn them sideways, burninate the village. I love it and draft it any time I see it open.
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I love red aggro, but it's usually not mono-red. It's typically Boros or Rakdos aggro (or Naya/Gruul even), as the tools from the other colors tend to make the deck a lot more resilient and with more payoff cards for aggro. I've been playing more mono-red aggro than I used to as of late though, thanks to the impact that C has had on the cube. It provides some powerful incentives to stay one color, and I think making the colorless utility lands better and using cards like TKS/Smasher makes mono-colored decks way better than cards like double- and triple-color cards and Devotion cards do.
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I dig the Duel Deck foil art, it's much more menacing looking than the art on the original. As always with Duel Deck foils, it's also great that it's quite reasonably priced compared to the pack foil, but in this case I actually prefer the newer art. It's much more menacing looking than the art on the original.
I do enjoy the quick-and-dirty nature of mono-red, but I try to avoid playing it unless I'm drafting with mostly people who are more experienced with cube drafting. Not only don't I want to demoralize the noobs, but I also want to leave this relatively easy-to-draft but still competitive archetype open.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
As far as red aggro: I rarely play monored, but I play Boros aggro all the time. There are two directions to go with it: burn-heavy with white good creatures filling out the curve below Hellrider and pals, or my favorite, Boros weenie led by Kytheon and the Thalias with only a smattering of noncreature spells. Boros Charm, incidentally, is amazing in either of those decks.
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Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
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I pushed mono red in 540 a bit too hard pre-Kaladesh. Since the artifact deck really doesn't work in an unpowered cube, I just filled my "spare" slots with burn. I toned it down a bit by swapping in new Chandra and Subterranean Tremors. It's actually pretty amazing how diverse red has become over the past year: Chandra, Flamecaller / Chandra, Torch of Defiance / Fiery Confluence / Subterranean Tremors and other multicolored cards like new Daretti and Kolaghan's Command has given red a lot of control tools. For example, red was almost always the tertiary color in a Grixis control deck, but now it's not uncommon to see it as the primary color over black / blue.
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Jackal Pup
BONUS QUESTION
Do you have a dog?
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We do get 2/1s with upsides in red sometimes now (Falkenrath Gorger would be unthinkable five years ago), so I won't shed a tear when the time comes to put the old dog down, but there are still 3-4 cards in that slot I'd cut first, and I don't plan to downsize my cube any time soon.
- - -
I have six dogs. One purebred German Shepherd, five rescued mutts. It's a mess, I tell you.
Can't see me ever deciding to run him with the fact we got a few decent red 1 drops over the past few years and I see the trend continuing.
Is the logic to jackal pups effect is its so cute seeing it in pain hurts you? That was the vibe I got from the original art.
Unfortunately I don't have a dog because I rent but my dad has two Lurchers (Grayhound/X crossbreed) from animal shelters. One a quiet shy one and the other crazy.
I don't have any dogs, but I do love them and would like to have one. Unfortunately, my house is right on a main road and my yard is not fenced in, so I worry about putting a dog in that environment. My wife does like to post pictures of cute puppies from the local animal shelter's Facebook page on my own Facebook wall, though.
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I don't have a dog... It would chage when I would start my degree, I believe.
I feel I would take any of them over pup in general, though admittedly in hard agro he beats a few of them.
Does he play more like porcelain legionnaire than I'm giving him credit for? I would guess you take 2-3 damage on average.
Part of me not planning on including him is the feeling that he will just get cut in the next set anyway. Maybe I will try and pick one up and try him over fire slinger, people are always so solid on him so I may just bow to conventional wisdom and give him a shot (at least until the print another R 2/1).
You *might* lose the game from the damage, but your point still stands, since if the Jackal Pup damage is killing you then you probably aren't winning that game with most any other creature in that spot anyways. At the end of the day, it's a 2 power one drop in a color that both wants them the most and is still lacking them overall. One day it will be cut since wizards isn't afraid of printing aggro creatures since their standard formats are generally dominated by midrange decks of a variety of flavors, but I don't think that day is today.
Love dogs, but due to living situation don't have any.
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Assuming I'm playing an aggro or tempo deck, I'm drafting and maindecking Goblin Guide, Zurgo Bellstriker, and Falkenrath Gorger over Pup and that's it. Jackal Pup is Savannah Lions in red, and it's better than Savannah Lions because it's in the best aggro color. When I'm playing a red aggro deck, I want to know that my 1-drops are attacking for 2, and I won't have to jump through any other hoops or hope my opponent doesn't play a spell of their own or have a blocker in the way that will leave it stranded with only 1 power. Firedrinker Satyr's obviously strictly better as well, and I also like Grim Lavamancer over Pup even in an aggro deck, but they'll have to print a few more Zurgos and Gorgers before I'm thinking about cutting the Pup. When you're playing aggro, you generally don't care about the damage you take when you trade of the pup for an opponent's creature or to get in some damage in an alpha strike. Just be prepared to side it out against matchups where the damage is too much of a liability.
I love the FNM promo foil of Jackal Pup, with the adorable Tempest art plus the badass Shakespeare quote. I've gotta agree with the earlier poster, though, the flavor of Pup's drawback doesn't make any sense to me either.
I don't have a dog, just two cats, but my wife loves dogs so one of these days when we have a place with some outdoor space for a dog to run around in we'll get one.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
As always a useful thread, thanks guys.
I had a dog growing up and watched my friend's dogs in NYC a lot. I love dogs and feel incomplete without one, but can't commit to one at the moment. Unlike cats, dogs are super high maintenance and you basically have to schedule your life around the dog's bladder.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra
I don't own a dog. I really like dogs, but I don't want to take time to train a pet and have to schedule my life around its social and bathroom needs. I currently have cats, snakes, and tarantulas. When we move in ~1 year, I plan to expand the reptile collection and get a fish tank.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
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Like I said, the drawback is not as bad as it sounds. It's not like it will take damage more than once in a game; the first time the ability damages you, the pup is already dead, and you're probably still ahead in the damage race.
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Holy *****, never noticed that, really ******* cool.
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My ranking would look like this:
01 Goblin Guide
02 Zurgo Bellstriker
03 Firedrinker Satyr
04 Falkenrath Gorger
05 Grim Lavamancer
06 Greater Gargadon
07 Goblin Welder
08 Jackal Pup
09 Monastery Swiftspear
10 Village Messenger
11 Stromkirk Noble
12 Reckless Waif
13 Goblin Glory Chaser
---------------------- I run all of the above at 555. If I were to drop to 360, I'd probably run everything above Jackal Pup and possibly Pup itself if I could find room.
14 Mogg Fanatic
15 Frenzied Goblin
16 Legion Loyalist
17 Lightning Berserker
18 Foundry Street Denizen
19 Stonewright
20 Spikeshot Elder
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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While I generally agree with this ranking, I don't think 2-powered aggressive 1-drops should be compared with Gargadon / Lavamancer / Goblin Welder since they're entirely different cards with different applications.
My High Octane Unpowered Cube on CubeCobra