Agreed. Cut the votes for these cards in half and there's a good chance they'll make neither list at all. The community voted by a quite healthy margin of 26-11 to recategorize cards like Noble Hierarch and Rattleclaw Mystic as Green based on their costs for the purpose of this vote. Feel free to bring this up again next year if you feel strongly about it, perhaps feelings about it will have changed by then.
As luck would have it, since we just made the change this year, you'll probably get a more accurate idea of what it would look like to have them in both categories by comparing this year's Green results to last year's Shard/Wedge results.
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I actually don't feel very strongly about it. Either is fine, and asking first which way to go is definitely the best. I just thought that would be the best of both worlds, but you're probably right about splitting the voters, which would suck.
37 people voted on the rules but only 20 people actually bothered to vote on the last section...
I wish that all 37 of those people could be convinced to vote in every category of this project too, but it's harder to rank 20, 30, or 50 cards than it is to vote on a few yes/no questions, so I don't think we should find that so surprising. They may also feel they don't have enough experience to vote on certain categories. All the same, I'd wager that everyone who voted on the rules does care about how this turns out in terms of what they want to see ranked against each other.
Every vote matters, though, so get out there and vote!
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Shivan_Knight made an interesting point in the 3+ color voting thread about Sunburst cards like Etched Oracle being considered as a 3+ color card in response to my mentioning that the only 4 color cards eligible for votes this year are the Nephilim. We hadn't discussed this previously, but I believe he has a very valid point, that Sunburst cards with 3+ CMC probably should all be considered to be 3+ color cards because they require 3 or more colors of mana to fully function, just as a card like Ana Battlemage does. Of course, Engineered Explosives is an even more commonly cubed Sunburst card than Etched Oracle, and I really don't see any reason why that shouldn't be voted on in 3+ color instead of colorless.
Furthermore, Converge cards reward using more than 2 colors of mana, so I don't see any reason why Painful Truths and Woodland Wanderer shouldn't also be considered as 3+ color.
Going a bit further down the rabbit hole, Domain cards also reward you for having multiple basic land types, so something like Evasive Action or Radiant Flames should probably also be voted on as 3+ color. Wild Nacatl already fits this pattern and we're voting on it as 3+ color now.
I don't think this is even changing the rules of categorization mid-vote, either, but rather clarifying the classification principles that are already laid out in the opening post of 3+ color voting. We probably should have discussed this in more detail before we began voting on the project, but as far as I know, no one had really considered this until now, and for all its similarities to the old Shard/Wedge category, this is actually a brand new category. If anyone wants to revised their 3+ color vote, feel free, and I'm even open to extending the time for voting on this category by a few days.
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Engineered Explosives is an even more commonly cubed Sunburst card than Etched Oracle, and I really don't see any reason why that shouldn't be voted on in 3+ color instead of colorless.
Explosives should be colorless for the same reason folks voted for Noble Hierarch to be green instead of Bant. Explosives is a good card even in 2-color decks. Hierarch is good even in just a green deck. So unless we're going to start classifying every card where it's best instead of where it's playable, I don't see why we should move Explosives anywhere.
Etched Oracle makes more sense though, since unlike Explosives, it's unplayable without access to 4+ colors.
The difference is that those cards don't require any specific color (besides its 'real' color). Sure, something like Evasive Action or Woodland Wanderer push you towards including more colors in your deck, but those extra color(s) aren't restricted by the card itself. Evasive Action doesn't care if your UB draft starts splashing W or R or G, while Wild Nacatl does pushes your RG aggro deck towards getting W cards over B.
Also, Woodland Wanderer was already voted as a green card. We are avoiding having the same cards in two categories.
Etched Oracle makes more sense though, since unlike Explosives, it's unplayable without access to 4+ colors.
I'd say they're all pretty much unplayable in cube with access to less than 3 colors, I can't say I'd ever play EE in a 2-color deck, but the fact that they've already been voted on as colorless or mono-colored is a very fair point. Let's table this and consider Sunburst, Domain, and Converge cards already voted on, but I do think it's worth discussing and voting on next year before voting begins.
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I also play EE in 2-color decks. Killing a few 2-drops is pretty sweet. Access to more colors does give the card more versatility, but it's still good with only access to two.
I think that the classification should care about the category where the card is at its optimum.
...thus why Hierarch should be classified in Bant.
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I just don't feel that "rainbow" mana producing colorless cards like Gilded Lotus should be classified as "colorless" whereas Talisman of Dominance is a Dimir card.
There's no intrinsic quality to Guilded Lotus that aligns it to a specific section. The Signets and Talisman do. You just said above that classification should care about where the card is optimum...
I completely disagree about wanting to classify Noble Hierarch as Bant since it's perfectly 100% functional in a mono green deck. In my eyes, you're optimizing Bant playing Noble Hierarch but it's not an optimization of Noble Hierarch. Noble Hierarch doesn't care if it's in a mono green / Selesnya / Simic / Bant deck, it's still getting maximum usage regardless.
Steve man: That's my point. If we're classifying Hierarch as green because it's playable there instead of Bant where it's ideal, Explosives should stay in colorless. For the same reason. If we move Explosives to 3+ colors because we want to change classifications to where cards are ideal, Hierarch should follow suit.
Shivan knight: I don't see how if Hierarch is green, Lotus is anything but colorless.
Now that 3+ color voting is closed, I have a few things to say about this discussion on Sunburst/Domain/Converge. First, I apologize for having brought this up mid-vote. I thought that this was going to be a simple matter of clarification, it clearly was not. I apologize for not having thought to bring it up before we began voting. It's clearly more contentious than I'd realized, and had this much disagreement come up prior to voting I would have included this in a straw poll in order to get a clearer gauge of where community opinion stands. I'm saying it now to get it on record for next year: We should vote on this before next year's Power Rankings begins.
Here's my take on this:
In the case of Noble Hierarch, Avacyn's Pilgrim, and Rattleclaw Mystic, the community voted by a pretty hefty margin (26-11) to categorize mana dorks based on the costs involved in casting and/or activation - as green, where Birds of Paradise has been all along. Not everyone agreed, but the majority did, and it's consistent. I think we learned something quite valuable this year by seeing how Noble Hierarch ranks (#13) compared to the rest of green, and barring a vote to the contrary, I don't see any reason to change this in future votes.
I also don't see the case of Sunburst/Converge/Domain as comparable wtwlf123's argument of categorizing Noble Hierarch as Bant because where they're best. Sunburst and Converge contain a cost of multiple colored mana, and rewards a player for paying them. This is not much different from cards with off-color kicker costs, which we categorize as multicolored as specifically stated in the opening post of 3+ Colors. Similarly, Domain rewards a player for having multiple 3 or more basic land types. The principle we've been following so far:
The only difference is that it's not specific to which colors are required, but to my mind the-more-colors-you-use-the better-it-gets plays a lot more like multicolored than pay-any-color-you-like or no color at all. Wild Nacatl is unplayable in a mono-green deck, and Evasive Action is unplayable in a mono-blue deck for essentially the same reason.
There were some other issues that came up during the voting on multicolor cards that I think are worth discussing and perhaps voting on before next year's Power Rankings vote.
Mana Rocks. Our categorization of color-producing mana rocks seems a bit incoherent at the moment. As it stands, mana rocks that make 0, 1, or 5 oolors are considered Colorless, while mana rocks that make 2 or 3 colors are considered multicolored. I understand the principle behind this, as there are many users who choose to run Signets only in certain guilds, so for them they compete with spells. However, there were enough people who complained about ranking Signets against multicolored spells that I can't help but wonder if it's what the community really wants. I'd be in favor of voting for the Signets, Talismans, and Obelisks as complete cycles in Colorless going forward, just as we do for Moxen, Diamonds, and Myr mana dorks as well as 5 color mana rocks. Keyrunes, Cluestones, Monuments and the like should remain multicolored because of their activation costs.
Manland Duals - Based on this year's vote, it looks like the overwhelming majority of the community is running the entire cycle of manland duals. There were also complaints in the Guild voting threads about voting for them there instead of Land. If enough people aren't comfortable with ranking them against Guild spells, perhaps it's time to fold this cycle into Land. FWIW, I would vote against this, as they contain multicolored activation costs, and each land in that cycle is so different from each other. However, there were enough complaints that it may be worth a vote to make sure we're all on the same page on this.
Since the votes in question are already over for this year, I don't expect us to take any action on this now, but I do think this is all worth taking into consideration for next year.
Now that I've said my piece on this, 3+ Color results are done, and Overall Voting has begun. Get out there and vote!
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Steve man: That's my point. If we're classifying Hierarch as green because it's playable there instead of Bant where it's ideal, Explosives should stay in colorless. For the same reason. If we move Explosives to 3+ colors because we want to change classifications to where cards are ideal, Hierarch should follow suit.
Shivan knight: I don't see how if Hierarch is green, Lotus is anything but colorless.
Ah, I see now. I thought you were making a declarative statement rather than a comparative one.
Imo, the most important thing is to have a single, simple rule and to use that one consistently. I can think of the following options to classify cards (and this classification would be only used for the rankings, and has very little to do with how we classify cards for our cubes. In our cubes we have to ask ourselves which cards do we want to run, here it's just about which cards do we want to see compared to each other):
1) By their minimum colored mana and basic land requirements.
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
3) By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considereing all casting cost and activation options, and also considering the color of mana they produce.
lands producing colored mana and fetchlands are their respective colors
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
4) By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considereing all casting cost and activation options, and also considering the color of mana they produce, except cards that produce mana of any color.
lands producing colored mana and fetchlands are their respective colors, unless they produce mana of any color
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
There are of course more ways to do it, but those four seem to be the ones most commonly suggested.
My favorite one is number 2. It can be easily explained and matched the way we did it this year closely, only signets would be colorless instead.
Even in example 2, Explosives wouldn't be rainbow. It would be colorless. It doesn't need to be a multicolor card to work, it needs to be multicolor to be ideal. That's a different classification method than what is outlined in example 2.
Example 2 would be the closest to my choice there, although I fall somewhere between examples 2 and 3 on my personal preference. Although if you're looking at true "requirements" Engineered Explosives is never rainbow, since it doesn't actually require you to play it with colored mana. I've seen it played for zero to blow up a board of tokens (and Moxen) often enough.
I agree with a simplified list, but I don't think it's that easy. I feel like each card needs to be evaluated based on its functionality, so there's not really a clear rules set on how to categorize them. I'd want to go with "ideal" so Birds is green, Noble Hierarch is Bant, Shrine of Burning Rage is red, etc. Although, I'd still categorize Moxen as a colorless cycle even though they are more ideal in decks of their color, which I'll admit doesn't really make much sense outside of my head.
EE doesn't require colored mana to do something, but it does require colored mana to do more than blow up tokens, moxen, and Kobolds, and it does more if you spend multiple colors of mana. As far as I'm concerned, that's a multicolored cost that functions quite similarly to an off-color kicker.
I'd want to go with "ideal" so Birds is green, Noble Hierarch is Bant, Shrine of Burning Rage is red, etc. Although, I'd still categorize Moxen as a colorless cycle even though they are more ideal in decks of their color, which I'll admit doesn't really make much sense outside of my head.
With the exception of Noble Hierarch, all of those conform to Option #2.
I'm not sure why we are still arguing about Noble Hierarch. If I have to accept Trump as president you can accept Noble Hierarch as mono-green! Lol. I kid, but seriously the points on both sides have been well fleshed out and if you want to have another vote next year, that is just fine. Let's give it a rest this year though...
I don't think wtwlf123 is campaigning to make Noble Hierarch Bant again so much as using it's being considered as an analogy to illustrate why he believes Sunburst cards should be considered colorless. I don't think his analogy holds up as I explained above, but we're not rehashing Noble Hierarch's classification here.
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I'm not sure why we are still arguing about Noble Hierarch. If I have to accept Trump as president you can accept Noble Hierarch as mono-green!
Yes, it's a bit early to discuss for next year ... then again people are (rightfully so) thinking about the next presidential election in four years too.
Even in example 2, Explosives wouldn't be rainbow. It would be colorless. It doesn't need to be a multicolor card to work, it needs to be multicolor to be ideal. That's a different classification method than what is outlined in example 2.
The intend of example 2 was to take all colors for casting cost into account. You can cast EE without access to any color, but having access to 5 colors gives the card more options, just like a off-color kicker cost. So in example 2, cards would be classified where there are ideal regarding cost, but not regarding mana they produce. In example 3, cards would be classified where they are ideal regarding both.
The difference between Noble Hierach and Wild Nacatl could be expressed like this:
Wild Nacatl is ideal *in* a Naya deck.
Noble Hierach is ideal *for* a Bant deck.
That's the difference between examples 2 and 3, and EE is ideal in a rainbow deck.
For simplicity's sake, I'd prefer to either do "as printed" or "where best", since neither are subjective. When you use a hybrid between the two, there are always going to be differing opinions, since "as played" classification methods vary from person to person.
I just classify everything as printed and lands as lands and none of the suggested options matches that. This method doesn't always line up with how the cards actually play,* but it is an easy and objective marker.
* The most extreme example would be Vedalken Shackles, which classifies as a colorless card by its cost, but which does literally nothing unless you are playing blue. At least Kird Ape (classified as red) is still a 1/1 outside a green deck!
Yes, it's a bit early to discuss for next year ... then again people are (rightfully so) thinking about the next presidential election in four years too.
Even though it's too late to take any of this into consideration for this year's vote, I think it makes a lot of sense to discuss these issues now while they're still fresh in our minds from doing this year's vote. Also, by discussing it on this forum now, we'll have a record of this discussion that we can refer to when we discuss this again in the weeks leading up to next year's Power Rankings.
For simplicity's sake, I'd prefer to either do "as printed" or "where best", since neither are subjective.
While I think it's a good idea to have simple principles for categorization and voting, I think it's even more important for those principles to reflect how most people in the community categorize these cards when considering them for their own cubes. That's why I've made a point of getting in as much discussion as possible on these points and bringing them to a vote in straw polls where irreconcilable differences have come up.
Voting on cards as printed would do a very poor job of reflecting how most of the lists of regular users based on what I've seen. Most people make a point of overriding Cube Tutor's defaults to re-categorize cards like Kird Ape, Vedalken Shackles, tri-brids, and other cards whose functions don't strictly match their casting costs. Simplicity is the only advantage I can see to this arrangement.
I also think that the continued argument about many of these cards should make it pretty clear that "where best" is quite subjective, and too much so to be the actual rule for categorization per se. I think voiddisciple's option #2 "By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considering all casting cost and activation options" comes quite close, but if there are enough cases that people are disagreeing with we should put those cases up to a vote. Ultimately, it may well be that we're better off considering categorization principles instead of hard-and-fast rules.
Enough bickering about next year's categorization already. Get out there and vote for this year's Overall Power Rankings!
As luck would have it, since we just made the change this year, you'll probably get a more accurate idea of what it would look like to have them in both categories by comparing this year's Green results to last year's Shard/Wedge results.
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I wish that all 37 of those people could be convinced to vote in every category of this project too, but it's harder to rank 20, 30, or 50 cards than it is to vote on a few yes/no questions, so I don't think we should find that so surprising. They may also feel they don't have enough experience to vote on certain categories. All the same, I'd wager that everyone who voted on the rules does care about how this turns out in terms of what they want to see ranked against each other.
Every vote matters, though, so get out there and vote!
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Furthermore, Converge cards reward using more than 2 colors of mana, so I don't see any reason why Painful Truths and Woodland Wanderer shouldn't also be considered as 3+ color.
Going a bit further down the rabbit hole, Domain cards also reward you for having multiple basic land types, so something like Evasive Action or Radiant Flames should probably also be voted on as 3+ color. Wild Nacatl already fits this pattern and we're voting on it as 3+ color now.
I don't think this is even changing the rules of categorization mid-vote, either, but rather clarifying the classification principles that are already laid out in the opening post of 3+ color voting. We probably should have discussed this in more detail before we began voting on the project, but as far as I know, no one had really considered this until now, and for all its similarities to the old Shard/Wedge category, this is actually a brand new category. If anyone wants to revised their 3+ color vote, feel free, and I'm even open to extending the time for voting on this category by a few days.
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Explosives should be colorless for the same reason folks voted for Noble Hierarch to be green instead of Bant. Explosives is a good card even in 2-color decks. Hierarch is good even in just a green deck. So unless we're going to start classifying every card where it's best instead of where it's playable, I don't see why we should move Explosives anywhere.
Etched Oracle makes more sense though, since unlike Explosives, it's unplayable without access to 4+ colors.
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Also, Woodland Wanderer was already voted as a green card. We are avoiding having the same cards in two categories.
I'd say they're all pretty much unplayable in cube with access to less than 3 colors, I can't say I'd ever play EE in a 2-color deck, but the fact that they've already been voted on as colorless or mono-colored is a very fair point. Let's table this and consider Sunburst, Domain, and Converge cards already voted on, but I do think it's worth discussing and voting on next year before voting begins.
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It makes zero sense to count Hierarch as Green and not count Explosives as colorless.
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...thus why Hierarch should be classified in Bant.
There's no intrinsic quality to Guilded Lotus that aligns it to a specific section. The Signets and Talisman do. You just said above that classification should care about where the card is optimum...
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Shivan knight: I don't see how if Hierarch is green, Lotus is anything but colorless.
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Here's my take on this:
In the case of Noble Hierarch, Avacyn's Pilgrim, and Rattleclaw Mystic, the community voted by a pretty hefty margin (26-11) to categorize mana dorks based on the costs involved in casting and/or activation - as green, where Birds of Paradise has been all along. Not everyone agreed, but the majority did, and it's consistent. I think we learned something quite valuable this year by seeing how Noble Hierarch ranks (#13) compared to the rest of green, and barring a vote to the contrary, I don't see any reason to change this in future votes.
I also don't see the case of Sunburst/Converge/Domain as comparable wtwlf123's argument of categorizing Noble Hierarch as Bant because where they're best. Sunburst and Converge contain a cost of multiple colored mana, and rewards a player for paying them. This is not much different from cards with off-color kicker costs, which we categorize as multicolored as specifically stated in the opening post of 3+ Colors. Similarly, Domain rewards a player for having multiple 3 or more basic land types. The principle we've been following so far:
The only difference is that it's not specific to which colors are required, but to my mind the-more-colors-you-use-the better-it-gets plays a lot more like multicolored than pay-any-color-you-like or no color at all. Wild Nacatl is unplayable in a mono-green deck, and Evasive Action is unplayable in a mono-blue deck for essentially the same reason.
There were some other issues that came up during the voting on multicolor cards that I think are worth discussing and perhaps voting on before next year's Power Rankings vote.
Mana Rocks. Our categorization of color-producing mana rocks seems a bit incoherent at the moment. As it stands, mana rocks that make 0, 1, or 5 oolors are considered Colorless, while mana rocks that make 2 or 3 colors are considered multicolored. I understand the principle behind this, as there are many users who choose to run Signets only in certain guilds, so for them they compete with spells. However, there were enough people who complained about ranking Signets against multicolored spells that I can't help but wonder if it's what the community really wants. I'd be in favor of voting for the Signets, Talismans, and Obelisks as complete cycles in Colorless going forward, just as we do for Moxen, Diamonds, and Myr mana dorks as well as 5 color mana rocks. Keyrunes, Cluestones, Monuments and the like should remain multicolored because of their activation costs.
Manland Duals - Based on this year's vote, it looks like the overwhelming majority of the community is running the entire cycle of manland duals. There were also complaints in the Guild voting threads about voting for them there instead of Land. If enough people aren't comfortable with ranking them against Guild spells, perhaps it's time to fold this cycle into Land. FWIW, I would vote against this, as they contain multicolored activation costs, and each land in that cycle is so different from each other. However, there were enough complaints that it may be worth a vote to make sure we're all on the same page on this.
Since the votes in question are already over for this year, I don't expect us to take any action on this now, but I do think this is all worth taking into consideration for next year.
Now that I've said my piece on this, 3+ Color results are done, and Overall Voting has begun. Get out there and vote!
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Ah, I see now. I thought you were making a declarative statement rather than a comparative one.
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1) By their minimum colored mana and basic land requirements.
Wild Nacatl is Green
Noble Hierarch is Green
Birds of Paradise is Green
Birthing Pod is Colorless
Engineered Explosives is Colorless
Gilded Lotus is Colorless
Mox Emerald is Colorless, and can be voted on as a cycle
Dimir Signet is Colorless, and can be voted on as a cycle
all lands are Lands
2) By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considereing all casting cost and activation options.
Wild Nacatl is Naya
Noble Hierarch is Green
Birds of Paradise is Green
Birthing Pod is Green
Engineered Explosives is Rainbow
Gilded Lotus is Colorless
Mox Emerald is Colorless, and can be voted on as a cycle
Dimir Signet is Colorless, and can be voted on as a cycle
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
3) By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considereing all casting cost and activation options, and also considering the color of mana they produce.
Wild Nacatl is Naya
Noble Hierarch is Bant
Birds of Paradise is Rainbow
Birthing Pod is Green
Engineered Explosives is Rainbow
Gilded Lotus is Rainbow
Mox Emerald is Green
Dimir Signet is Dimir
lands producing colored mana and fetchlands are their respective colors
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
4) By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considereing all casting cost and activation options, and also considering the color of mana they produce, except cards that produce mana of any color.
Wild Nacatl is Naya
Noble Hierarch is Bant
Birds of Paradise is Green
Birthing Pod is Green
Engineered Explosives is Rainbow
Gilded Lotus is Colorless
Mox Emerald is Green
Dimir Signet is Dimir
lands producing colored mana and fetchlands are their respective colors, unless they produce mana of any color
lands that have colored activation costs are their respective colors
other lands are Lands
There are of course more ways to do it, but those four seem to be the ones most commonly suggested.
My favorite one is number 2. It can be easily explained and matched the way we did it this year closely, only signets would be colorless instead.
1)Bring to Light is Simic
Evasive Action is Blue
2-4)Bring to Light is Rainbow
Evasive Action is Rainbow
This is my favorite option, too.
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I agree with a simplified list, but I don't think it's that easy. I feel like each card needs to be evaluated based on its functionality, so there's not really a clear rules set on how to categorize them. I'd want to go with "ideal" so Birds is green, Noble Hierarch is Bant, Shrine of Burning Rage is red, etc. Although, I'd still categorize Moxen as a colorless cycle even though they are more ideal in decks of their color, which I'll admit doesn't really make much sense outside of my head.
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With the exception of Noble Hierarch, all of those conform to Option #2.
I don't think wtwlf123 is campaigning to make Noble Hierarch Bant again so much as using it's being considered as an analogy to illustrate why he believes Sunburst cards should be considered colorless. I don't think his analogy holds up as I explained above, but we're not rehashing Noble Hierarch's classification here.
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Yes, it's a bit early to discuss for next year ... then again people are (rightfully so) thinking about the next presidential election in four years too.
The intend of example 2 was to take all colors for casting cost into account. You can cast EE without access to any color, but having access to 5 colors gives the card more options, just like a off-color kicker cost. So in example 2, cards would be classified where there are ideal regarding cost, but not regarding mana they produce. In example 3, cards would be classified where they are ideal regarding both.
The difference between Noble Hierach and Wild Nacatl could be expressed like this:
Wild Nacatl is ideal *in* a Naya deck.
Noble Hierach is ideal *for* a Bant deck.
That's the difference between examples 2 and 3, and EE is ideal in a rainbow deck.
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* The most extreme example would be Vedalken Shackles, which classifies as a colorless card by its cost, but which does literally nothing unless you are playing blue. At least Kird Ape (classified as red) is still a 1/1 outside a green deck!
Uril, the Miststalker RGW -- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre C -- Vhati il-Dal BG -- Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer RW -- Animar, Soul of Elements URG
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker R -- Maga, Traitor to Mortals B -- Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW -- Sliver Hivelord WUBRG
Even though it's too late to take any of this into consideration for this year's vote, I think it makes a lot of sense to discuss these issues now while they're still fresh in our minds from doing this year's vote. Also, by discussing it on this forum now, we'll have a record of this discussion that we can refer to when we discuss this again in the weeks leading up to next year's Power Rankings.
While I think it's a good idea to have simple principles for categorization and voting, I think it's even more important for those principles to reflect how most people in the community categorize these cards when considering them for their own cubes. That's why I've made a point of getting in as much discussion as possible on these points and bringing them to a vote in straw polls where irreconcilable differences have come up.
Voting on cards as printed would do a very poor job of reflecting how most of the lists of regular users based on what I've seen. Most people make a point of overriding Cube Tutor's defaults to re-categorize cards like Kird Ape, Vedalken Shackles, tri-brids, and other cards whose functions don't strictly match their casting costs. Simplicity is the only advantage I can see to this arrangement.
I also think that the continued argument about many of these cards should make it pretty clear that "where best" is quite subjective, and too much so to be the actual rule for categorization per se. I think voiddisciple's option #2 "By all their colored mana and basic land requirements, considering all casting cost and activation options" comes quite close, but if there are enough cases that people are disagreeing with we should put those cases up to a vote. Ultimately, it may well be that we're better off considering categorization principles instead of hard-and-fast rules.
Enough bickering about next year's categorization already. Get out there and vote for this year's Overall Power Rankings!
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.