Survival Cache - borderline to cubable. white has gotten much cubable lifegain/lifelink. question is, does your white need plain card draw, so probably only borderline. btw your examples show that the card does exactly what you want. ca against control and stabilizaion against aggro.
Sustainer of the Realm - bad. flyer want to attack
Jhessian Thief - borderline. those creature are underperforming a lot and we got much better options with Tandem Lookout and Saltwater Stalwart
Wight of Precinct Six - bad. its a 1/1 for 2 in the first turns which is horrible and later on its lower cost doesnt matter much
Draconic Roar - bad. there are like 2 dragons in pauper plus some changelings. and volcanic hammer is already borderline
Furnace Whelp - borderline. dies to everything
Mark of Mutiny - bad. this is the worst threaten effect since it permanently pumps the creature
Ivy Elemental - boderline to cubable. being a creature and not a token is a big difference against bounce effects. the flexibility is really strong. Slime Molding is one tier lower.
Lead the Stampede - borderline - without library manipulation the card is way too random and a tempo loss. green has better carddraw
Scion of Ugin - borderline. its overcosted for spikey cubes.
I didnt check tha latest updates, but I see the trend of being way too lose or even totally wrong on the ratings here. I myself get a little to soft on the rating here, because Im tinkering with my T2 so much and get a distorted view on the insane powerlevel T1 provides. Stuff like Riverwheel Aerialists is totally unplayable there...
maybe al is happy that i found the only 3/1 i actually consider playable with Oketra's Avenger, since its able to attack into tokens or 1/3s every other turn. and mayybe Daring Skyjek but please put the rest in bad.
Jhessian Thief seems to go done in ratings here, though being staple in Peasant. Interesting. Maybe peasant has more stuff to get it through?
Wight of Precinct Six is bad. We don't have enough mill to make it good. If you just rely on killing your opponents creatures, you just don't want an early 1/1 or a fatty without evasion lategame.
Earth elemental is borderline to bad.
Furnace whelp is borderline to bad. It dies to almost anything.
Mark of mutiny is bad. I don't want to pump my opponents creature. In multiplayer, this can be fun, but not in regular 1v1.
Lead the stampede is borderline. too unreliable.
Prey's vengeance is borderline. +2/+2 is not very much. often your creature still dies.
Star Compass ist bad. Doesn't fix.
Scion of Ugin is borderline I think. For 5 mana I would totally cube it, but as is, I'm not sure.
Forkbolt. I was sure, this was already rated, but it somehow got lost. Yeah, it has the flexibility of Twin Bolt but at sorcery speed - huge downside. I think it's borderline at best.
I think all cc2 manastones are playable and since it also adds colored mana it can help cast double color costed spells. but the compass is borderline at best because it competes with the signets. wouldnt rate it bad in a vaccuum but againt the alternatives it probably is.
Thanks for the input, valid points. I'll fix the ratings when I put them in. A few thoughts/things on individual cards though
Didn't get around to actually doing anything with the white 3/1 vanilla's yet. Will address that with next update.
Yeah, concerning Thief, Idk maybe it's overrated a little bit in peasent and/or it's just because peasant has more overall powerful non-creature spells. Pauper still has some solid removal and non-cratures though. Haven't had much experience with it myself so borderline for now.
My reasoning for putting Earth Elemental as borderline was because the somewhat similar (at least in sum of p/t) 5/4s for 5 vanillas at borderline, which may or may not be the correct rating for them Idk. I guess you'll usually want the extra power over the toughness but Idk if that means E Elemental should go down a rating, to where there are also vanilla 4/4s. I agree it's a not a great or exciting card overall but that was my thought process at least.
Cubeable seems like a fine spot for Forked Bolt then. I think it's on par with the 1 damage spells that can be cast at least twice.
I'll go ahead and move Burn the Impure down a rating to be with Draconic Roar at bad then.
Slime Molding has few advantages of it's own, when compared to Ivy Elemental, though probably fewer overall. It works with Archaeomancer-like cards a few other way more fringe things. Ivy Elemental may have the edge overall, but I they're still underwhelming enough in the earliar parts of the game that borderline is fine for both of them.
Borderline still seems fine for Star Compass. Yes it comes into play tapped, but that doesn't always make a big difference and helping fix for single-color double mana-symbol costs can be useful if your low on one type of land. It's still a 2-mana rock and it's at least on the same level as the group of generic 2 cmc colorless mana rocks with fringe upsides at borderline.
a good measurement for a rating is
- if you have all cards available would you put it in your deck? = staple or cubable
- if not, would you pick it in a draft except as a filler? = borderline
- would you only run it as a filler or never consider it? = bad
earth elemental is filler at best. red wants to be aggressive so power always > toughness and it got insane stuff in that slot in the past 2 years. dont forget a lot of the rating are horribly outdated. when this thread was created fire elemental was the best 5 drop
Humphrey has a point, don't put to much value on existing ratings because the powerlevel has risen significantly.
Also, we eliminated one rating (we had bad and terrible before) and maybe some cards that should have gone to bad went to borderline.
Finally, sometimes a card that is strictly worse than other may share a rating with it just because is not bad enough to receive a lower rating.
- Stapple = always in the cube unless specific reasons.
- Cubable = can go or not, interchangable with other cubables.
- Borderline = always out of the cube unless specific reasons (archetype is specific)
- Bad = never in
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Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Its not always powercreep, sometimes when we get new cards former bad cards can become borderline or vice versa because it allows for new synergies or strategies.
Like i was defending running Ghazban Ogre and other "bad" cards for the Gr aggro archetype quite long, because it was the only color combination that allowed fast aggro plays. With the recent additions of 2 Savannah Lions in white and Jackal Pup + (2) Bloodlust Inciter in red, that archetype shifted heavily into RW or GW with white one drops. Even black got another 2/1, so green can focus on other strategies, like hexproof.
Sparksmith is borderline to cubable for me. Fireslinger is the better card, since it can also hit players. Spark also tends to deal too much damage. Often enough that wont help you stabilize against aggro.
Generator Servant as well. Like all x/1 creatures its way too fragile, since spike cubes run tons of ping effects. Its also card disadvantage for a small tempogain.
Ruinous Minotaur is bad. The double red cost makes it quite clunky and it also trades way too unfavorable. I ran it in my T1 for a while as well, but in practice the card is unplayable.
Trusted Forcemage can be quite strong into t1 mana elf, but is bad on an empty board and removal can mess your combat. cubable.
Wild Leotau works quite well in my cube but i can see it only cubable, becaue of its upkeep. (often negectible though)
Opaline Bracers borderline to bad. this card is clunky and most of them time a worse Vulshok Morningstar which is already pretty slow. it may work if you heavily support 3+ colors and even then it reads pay 4, skip a turn.
Disturbed Burial once was quite strong, nowadays its way too slow. its unplayable now aka bad. Death Denied is the only spell worth running for that effect.
I actually think the term staple is as outdated as the terrible subcategory. Sure, it can help to find those most spikey cards, but in the end aiming for the highest powerlevel will become supporting certain archetypes where you will run "borderline cards in a vacuum" As soon as you decide to support different archetypes for gameplay reasons, the "incube meta" will shift towards other cards being most powerful. The most common discussion I have here is the amount of x/1 creatures compared to the amount of ping effects. Like is Generator Servant better in a vacuum or Fireslinger.
I also think that 60 or even 70% are way too many staple cards. The staple category if you want to keep it should fill like maybe 20% to keep a high diversity in cubedesigns and to mark the really outstanding cards. Otherwise you could just copy the average cubetutor cube and modify from there.
I started a reevaluation a while ago where i wanted to use a mathematical function to weight cards, but the variables werent perfect yet and i would need to calculate it by hand, since i lack the programming skills to get an automated sheet working.
Bracers is definitely a pet card of your AL. Other multucolor cards get downgraded when theyre triple colored, because 99% of the draft decks are 2-colored. So you have to jump to some loops already to make it +3+3. But even then it costs whooping 6 mana to equip it the first time and 2 to reequip is still somewhat costly outside the very late game. Just play Moldervine Cloak
I tried it and the card is just bad unless your cube is overloaded with color fixing so it can even get +4+4
Disturbed Burial also suffers the "rating memory" I dont want to pay 5!! to draw an extra card, especially not in pauper, where you dont get any bombs back. Capsize actually dropped heavily in powerlevel as well, but is at least playable since it manipulates the board.
its another pet card of al, although he doesnt even run it anymore himself
Just for fun im checking white creatures and there are some more pet cards to find
Daring Skyjek borderline at best and how can it be in the same category as Porcelain Legionnaire (which is staple)
Soltari Trooper/Stormfront Pegasus/Mistral Charger cubable at best
Kor Hookmaster borderline. this is not even close to ManOwar
Master of Diversion outclassed. Was always cubable (now borderline) Again 2 different powerlevels in the same category
Soltari Visionary cubable at best. Just another 2/2 unblockable in white (that cant block iteself..). Double W cost definitely a drawback, trigger often irrelevant
Blue
Looter il-Kor/Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier. Looter are cool, but I definitely dont want them in every cube without synergies. Il-Kor being the best and probably staple, the other 2 are not.
Waterfront Bouncer, also just another activator for discard shenenigang and nowhere close to staple
Ninja of the Deep Hours just cubale?
Spined Thopter the best 2/1 fly for 2 just cubable? (im fine with cubable, but its better than the white ones)
Pestermite why should it be staple, but Eldrazi Skyspawner only cubable?
Stitched Drake lol
not going into cubable, but stealer of secrets better than Jhessian Thief? both borderline.
Shimmering Glasskite not a staple and pretty on par with Aven Fleetwing
Peregrine Drake wtf?
Prescient Chimera ???
(same category with mulldrifter...)
Daring Skyjek borderline at best and how can it be in the same category as Porcelain Legionnaire (which is staple)
Soltari Trooper/Stormfront Pegasus/Mistral Charger cubable at best
Agreed. 3/1s always trade down, and you need to go through more hoops to get flying. 2/1 fliers are good. But not the end all
Kor Hookmaster borderline. this is not even close to ManOwar
Disagree. While not manowar, it does provide tempo, preventing 2 blocks and an attack. It can push through damage, or stall for you.
Master of Diversion outclassed. Was always cubable (now borderline) Again 2 different powerlevels in the same category
Soltari Visionary cubable at best. Just another 2/2 unblockable in white (that cant block iteself..). Double W cost definitely a drawback, trigger often irrelevant
Agreed. Master hasn't been great for a bit.
Looter il-Kor/Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier. Looter are cool, but I definitely dont want them in every cube without synergies. Il-Kor being the best and probably staple, the other 2 are not.
Disagree. I actually like the Il-Kor the least (despite not wanting shadow in my cube). Having to hit the player means you don't get to loot prior to combat it needed. Or if they have a shadow answer, you can't attack. Or in response to removal, the tappers can loot.
Waterfront Bouncer, also just another activator for discard shenenigang and nowhere close to staple
Ninja of the Deep Hours just cubale?
Spined Thopter the best 2/1 fly for 2 just cubable? (im fine with cubable, but its better than the white ones)
Agreed. Bouncer isn't that great, the ninja is. The thopter I think is still on par with the white ones, but still cubable.
Pestermite why should it be staple, but Eldrazi Skyspawner only cubable?
Agreed. One has to give.
Stitched Drake lol not going into cubable,
Disagreed. It can do work in the right deck. Cubable is fine.
but stealer of secrets better than Jhessian Thief? both borderline.
Agreed. They take some effort to make them worth while. Else their under-classed against other creatures.
Shimmering Glasskite not a staple and pretty on par with Aven Fleetwing
Peregrine Drake wtf?
Prescient Chimera ???
(same category with mulldrifter...)
Agreed. The Drake and Chimera are not on the same power level as Mulldrifter. Both cubable.
Striped Riverwinder feels pretty staple to me
Disagreed. Seven mana is just too much for staple. The cycling is nice, but it can still be chumped blocked. If it had more evasion perhaps.
You will never be able to cast the Drake on curve, since double U AND the gy creature will prevent you. Realistically its an undercosted T5+ play, which is also weak to bounce, unless you have some selfmill going. A 3/4 flyer is very strong, but this one cant be used in every deck in every cube, so its not staple. I tend heavily towards borderline, but can live with cubable.
were my blue staple list.
Still open to discussion about Striped Riverwinder, because the card exactly does what blue control wants. It cantrips or is the best blue finisher.
You will never be able to cast the Drake on curve, since double U AND the gy creature will prevent you. Realistically its an undercosted T5+ play, which is also weak to bounce, unless you have some selfmill going. A 3/4 flyer is very strong, but this one cant be used in every deck in every cube, so its not staple. I tend heavily towards borderline, but can live Cubable
Apologies, I thought it was already in cubable. I agree its not staple because of mana restriction.
hehe, we are slowly getting there. I still dont think there will ever be a setup where Stab Wound is better than the stupid amount of cc3 removal black has AND the cc2 removal.
Shadow is better than flying if youre the aggressor, but as soon you need to block its worse. Also the Trooper is 1/1 outside of attacking and therefore pretty susceptible to pings. I like the card, but its not a staple.
Same reason I dont like Bouncer and Looter in every situation. When you dont want to discard something (which quite often happens with the card quality we run) those are dead cards. Weak to pings and completely useless in combat. In pure limited theyre insane, but in cube meta, nah. I really love them as madness and gy enabler though.
Ninja of the Deep Hours is already strong on its own and retarded with ETB effects. Spellstutter Sprite, Man-o'-War..
Peregrine Drake is bad outside the combo. On turn 5 it competes with 3/4 flyers and the untap is completely irrelevant that late pretty much always.
Its funny how Chiemera was staple considering the flames I received when comparing her to Cloudreader Sphinx So she is probably only borderline now and Sphinx cubable.
Dauthi Horror, Nezumi Cutthroat, Vampire Interloper 2/1s that cant block are bad. Ive said it often already and I wont ever change that. Horror I can see cubable, but the other two are only borderline, especially since black tends to be controlish if you add the other staples like Crypt Rats.
Thrill-Kill Assassin is fine, but dont feel staple.
Undertaker same reason like the blue discarder.
On the other hand
Hand of Silumgar
Sinuous Vermin
Basilica Screecher
seem pretty staple to me. A bear that is useful in the mid and lategame can go in every deck. A 2/1 that trades with everything offense and defense. And Extort is just incredible powerful.
Child of Night is also very much cubable.
Warren Pilferers is too slow or too weak for my taste to be staple.
Gurmag Angler should be staple.
Red
I think you need very specific reasons not to run Bloodlust Inciter = staple
seeing in cubable:
Goblin Patrol is unplayable = bad
Intimidator Initiate is also borderline
Raging Minotaur/Talruum Minotaur are borderline to bad now, Ive never seen them as cubable. Now we have Pierce Strider
but lets rework cubable next
Penumbra Spider was pretty unimpressive for me lately and got moved to T2. It doesnt trade into the big blues and pretty often it doesnt matter much that it revives itself. So I think its only cubable now.
Dont know about the mana slot (Id say CCX), but Hooting Mandrills is staple
If you would play mono green, I agree with Hooting Mandrills, but in UG, RG or BG its a pretty strong card and almost on par with the Angler. I dont see a reason not to include it in every cube. Its strong and flexible.
And I really want to see
Hand of Silumgar
Sinuous Vermin
Basilica Screecher staple as well. You need very good reasons not to run them.
I think the project needs to at least give a nod towards consensus regarding staple status, which rules out Hand of Silumgar. I wonder how many cubers think Hand is better than Thrill-Kill Assassin..
And I really want to see
Hand of Silumgar
Sinuous Vermin
Basilica Screecher staple as well. You need very good reasons not to run them.
I disagree here. The Hand is very fragile. Dies to any 1/1 token, any pinger, any one damage spell (like the looters you mention). Many times it's forced to be a blocker. Then it looses it's value a lot. The Vermin are good. But not amazing. Many times I trade this off with another 2 drop. If it gets to be big, great. But that isn't that often. The screecher is good. But adding one cost to all your spells can be troublesome. So you may not use it all the time. so it loses value on not having an extra power.
I think the project needs to at least give a nod towards consensus regarding staple status, which rules out Hand of Silumgar. I wonder how many cubers think Hand is better than Thrill-Kill Assassin..
The Thrill Kill to me much better because you get to choose the mode. Do you need a 2 power creature with psuedo evasion (a la Hand) but is heartier. Or do you need a blocker that doesn't die to a ping. I liked it better at Staple myself.
I also still have a soft spot for the Spider. I can go either way from Staple to Cubable. While it doesnt eat all the fatty fliers, it blocks them well. And can usually get some kind of 2 for 1.
I agree with MrEng1neer. Thrill-Kill Assassin is just better than Hand of Silumgar. And the spider is 4 power, 8 thoughness for 4 mana. It doesn't kill flying fatties, but does stop most flyers (and aggro ground creature) anyway.
Private Mod Note
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Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
hm yeah, maybe i overrate the hand a bit, but it was an allstar while playing. thrill kill ended up being 1/2 in my cube most of the time, so its hardly better. but i like the arguments against it, being a 1 toughness creature, so i kinda argue against my own philosophy when i want to see it better than cubable. (although i think the drawback is kinda fair, since deathtouch is so insanely powerful)
the vermin on the other hand is a bear, which every cube needs and there are almost none in black anyway and it would be great in every color. definitely staple for me. you cant get any better than this on a 2 drop.
i underrated screecher on paper at the beginning, but since i run it, it has proven to be extremly powerful. its definitely better than the 2/1 noblock flyers.
Survival Cache - borderline to cubable. white has gotten much cubable lifegain/lifelink. question is, does your white need plain card draw, so probably only borderline. btw your examples show that the card does exactly what you want. ca against control and stabilizaion against aggro.
Sustainer of the Realm - bad. flyer want to attack
Jhessian Thief - borderline. those creature are underperforming a lot and we got much better options with Tandem Lookout and Saltwater Stalwart
Wight of Precinct Six - bad. its a 1/1 for 2 in the first turns which is horrible and later on its lower cost doesnt matter much
Draconic Roar - bad. there are like 2 dragons in pauper plus some changelings. and volcanic hammer is already borderline
Furnace Whelp - borderline. dies to everything
Mark of Mutiny - bad. this is the worst threaten effect since it permanently pumps the creature
Ivy Elemental - boderline to cubable. being a creature and not a token is a big difference against bounce effects. the flexibility is really strong. Slime Molding is one tier lower.
Lead the Stampede - borderline - without library manipulation the card is way too random and a tempo loss. green has better carddraw
Scion of Ugin - borderline. its overcosted for spikey cubes.
I didnt check tha latest updates, but I see the trend of being way too lose or even totally wrong on the ratings here.
maybe al is happy that i found the only 3/1 i actually consider playable with Oketra's Avenger, since its able to attack into tokens or 1/3s every other turn. and mayybe Daring Skyjek but please put the rest in bad.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Jhessian Thief is borderline (prowess matters or nothing). Also, now we have Saltwater Stalwart
Thrill-Kill Assassin is Stapple, indeed.
Wight of Precinct Six is borderline.
Earth Elemental is bad.
Furnace Whelp is borderline.
Lead the Stampede is borderline.
Prey's Vengeance is borderline.
Star compass is bad (doesn't fix and enters tapped)
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Jhessian Thief seems to go done in ratings here, though being staple in Peasant. Interesting. Maybe peasant has more stuff to get it through?
Wight of Precinct Six is bad. We don't have enough mill to make it good. If you just rely on killing your opponents creatures, you just don't want an early 1/1 or a fatty without evasion lategame.
Earth elemental is borderline to bad.
Furnace whelp is borderline to bad. It dies to almost anything.
Mark of mutiny is bad. I don't want to pump my opponents creature. In multiplayer, this can be fun, but not in regular 1v1.
Lead the stampede is borderline. too unreliable.
Prey's vengeance is borderline. +2/+2 is not very much. often your creature still dies.
Star Compass ist bad. Doesn't fix.
Scion of Ugin is borderline I think. For 5 mana I would totally cube it, but as is, I'm not sure.
Forkbolt. I was sure, this was already rated, but it somehow got lost. Yeah, it has the flexibility of Twin Bolt but at sorcery speed - huge downside. I think it's borderline at best.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Didn't get around to actually doing anything with the white 3/1 vanilla's yet. Will address that with next update.
Yeah, concerning Thief, Idk maybe it's overrated a little bit in peasent and/or it's just because peasant has more overall powerful non-creature spells. Pauper still has some solid removal and non-cratures though. Haven't had much experience with it myself so borderline for now.
My reasoning for putting Earth Elemental as borderline was because the somewhat similar (at least in sum of p/t) 5/4s for 5 vanillas at borderline, which may or may not be the correct rating for them Idk. I guess you'll usually want the extra power over the toughness but Idk if that means E Elemental should go down a rating, to where there are also vanilla 4/4s. I agree it's a not a great or exciting card overall but that was my thought process at least.
Cubeable seems like a fine spot for Forked Bolt then. I think it's on par with the 1 damage spells that can be cast at least twice.
I'll go ahead and move Burn the Impure down a rating to be with Draconic Roar at bad then.
Slime Molding has few advantages of it's own, when compared to Ivy Elemental, though probably fewer overall. It works with Archaeomancer-like cards a few other way more fringe things. Ivy Elemental may have the edge overall, but I they're still underwhelming enough in the earliar parts of the game that borderline is fine for both of them.
Borderline still seems fine for Star Compass. Yes it comes into play tapped, but that doesn't always make a big difference and helping fix for single-color double mana-symbol costs can be useful if your low on one type of land. It's still a 2-mana rock and it's at least on the same level as the group of generic 2 cmc colorless mana rocks with fringe upsides at borderline.
It's a work in progress
- if you have all cards available would you put it in your deck? = staple or cubable
- if not, would you pick it in a draft except as a filler? = borderline
- would you only run it as a filler or never consider it? = bad
earth elemental is filler at best. red wants to be aggressive so power always > toughness and it got insane stuff in that slot in the past 2 years. dont forget a lot of the rating are horribly outdated. when this thread was created fire elemental was the best 5 drop
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Also, we eliminated one rating (we had bad and terrible before) and maybe some cards that should have gone to bad went to borderline.
Finally, sometimes a card that is strictly worse than other may share a rating with it just because is not bad enough to receive a lower rating.
- Stapple = always in the cube unless specific reasons.
- Cubable = can go or not, interchangable with other cubables.
- Borderline = always out of the cube unless specific reasons (archetype is specific)
- Bad = never in
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Like i was defending running Ghazban Ogre and other "bad" cards for the Gr aggro archetype quite long, because it was the only color combination that allowed fast aggro plays. With the recent additions of 2 Savannah Lions in white and Jackal Pup + (2) Bloodlust Inciter in red, that archetype shifted heavily into RW or GW with white one drops. Even black got another 2/1, so green can focus on other strategies, like hexproof.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Sparksmith is borderline to cubable for me. Fireslinger is the better card, since it can also hit players. Spark also tends to deal too much damage. Often enough that wont help you stabilize against aggro.
Generator Servant as well. Like all x/1 creatures its way too fragile, since spike cubes run tons of ping effects. Its also card disadvantage for a small tempogain.
Ruinous Minotaur is bad. The double red cost makes it quite clunky and it also trades way too unfavorable. I ran it in my T1 for a while as well, but in practice the card is unplayable.
Nantuko Vigilante is ok if you want that effect, but Wickerbough Elder is the better card.
Trusted Forcemage can be quite strong into t1 mana elf, but is bad on an empty board and removal can mess your combat. cubable.
Wild Leotau works quite well in my cube but i can see it only cubable, becaue of its upkeep. (often negectible though)
Opaline Bracers borderline to bad. this card is clunky and most of them time a worse Vulshok Morningstar which is already pretty slow. it may work if you heavily support 3+ colors and even then it reads pay 4, skip a turn.
Disturbed Burial once was quite strong, nowadays its way too slow. its unplayable now aka bad. Death Denied is the only spell worth running for that effect.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Ruinous Minotaur is borderline.
Opaline Bracers is cubable or borderline.
Disturbed Burial is cubable.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I also think that 60 or even 70% are way too many staple cards. The staple category if you want to keep it should fill like maybe 20% to keep a high diversity in cubedesigns and to mark the really outstanding cards. Otherwise you could just copy the average cubetutor cube and modify from there.
I started a reevaluation a while ago where i wanted to use a mathematical function to weight cards, but the variables werent perfect yet and i would need to calculate it by hand, since i lack the programming skills to get an automated sheet working.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I tried it and the card is just bad unless your cube is overloaded with color fixing so it can even get +4+4
Disturbed Burial also suffers the "rating memory" I dont want to pay 5!! to draw an extra card, especially not in pauper, where you dont get any bombs back.
Capsize actually dropped heavily in powerlevel as well, but is at least playable since it manipulates the board.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Just for fun im checking white creatures and there are some more pet cards to find
Daring Skyjek borderline at best and how can it be in the same category as Porcelain Legionnaire (which is staple)
Soltari Trooper/Stormfront Pegasus/Mistral Charger cubable at best
Kor Hookmaster borderline. this is not even close to ManOwar
Master of Diversion outclassed. Was always cubable (now borderline) Again 2 different powerlevels in the same category
Soltari Visionary cubable at best. Just another 2/2 unblockable in white (that cant block iteself..). Double W cost definitely a drawback, trigger often irrelevant
Blue
Looter il-Kor/Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier. Looter are cool, but I definitely dont want them in every cube without synergies. Il-Kor being the best and probably staple, the other 2 are not.
Waterfront Bouncer, also just another activator for discard shenenigang and nowhere close to staple
Ninja of the Deep Hours just cubale?
Spined Thopter the best 2/1 fly for 2 just cubable? (im fine with cubable, but its better than the white ones)
Pestermite why should it be staple, but Eldrazi Skyspawner only cubable?
Stitched Drake lol
not going into cubable, but stealer of secrets better than Jhessian Thief? both borderline.
Shimmering Glasskite not a staple and pretty on par with Aven Fleetwing
Peregrine Drake wtf?
Prescient Chimera ???
(same category with mulldrifter...)
Striped Riverwinder feels pretty staple to me
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Agreed. 3/1s always trade down, and you need to go through more hoops to get flying. 2/1 fliers are good. But not the end all
Disagree. While not manowar, it does provide tempo, preventing 2 blocks and an attack. It can push through damage, or stall for you.
Agreed. Master hasn't been great for a bit.
Disagree. I actually like the Il-Kor the least (despite not wanting shadow in my cube). Having to hit the player means you don't get to loot prior to combat it needed. Or if they have a shadow answer, you can't attack. Or in response to removal, the tappers can loot.
Agreed. Bouncer isn't that great, the ninja is. The thopter I think is still on par with the white ones, but still cubable.
Agreed. One has to give.
Disagreed. It can do work in the right deck. Cubable is fine.
Agreed. They take some effort to make them worth while. Else their under-classed against other creatures.
Agreed. The Drake and Chimera are not on the same power level as Mulldrifter. Both cubable.
Disagreed. Seven mana is just too much for staple. The cycling is nice, but it can still be chumped blocked. If it had more evasion perhaps.
So Blue would probably look something like:
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Looter il-Kor (??)
Man-o'-War
Eldrazi Skyspawner
Illusionary Forces
Mulldrifter
Errant Ephemeron
were my blue staple list.
Still open to discussion about Striped Riverwinder, because the card exactly does what blue control wants. It cantrips or is the best blue finisher.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Apologies, I thought it was already in cubable. I agree its not staple because of mana restriction.
Shadow is better than flying if youre the aggressor, but as soon you need to block its worse. Also the Trooper is 1/1 outside of attacking and therefore pretty susceptible to pings. I like the card, but its not a staple.
Same reason I dont like Bouncer and Looter in every situation. When you dont want to discard something (which quite often happens with the card quality we run) those are dead cards. Weak to pings and completely useless in combat. In pure limited theyre insane, but in cube meta, nah. I really love them as madness and gy enabler though.
Ninja of the Deep Hours is already strong on its own and retarded with ETB effects. Spellstutter Sprite, Man-o'-War..
Peregrine Drake is bad outside the combo. On turn 5 it competes with 3/4 flyers and the untap is completely irrelevant that late pretty much always.
Its funny how Chiemera was staple considering the flames I received when comparing her to Cloudreader Sphinx So she is probably only borderline now and Sphinx cubable.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Black
next bunch of pet cards
Dauthi Horror, Nezumi Cutthroat, Vampire Interloper 2/1s that cant block are bad. Ive said it often already and I wont ever change that. Horror I can see cubable, but the other two are only borderline, especially since black tends to be controlish if you add the other staples like Crypt Rats.
Thrill-Kill Assassin is fine, but dont feel staple.
Undertaker same reason like the blue discarder.
On the other hand
Hand of Silumgar
Sinuous Vermin
Basilica Screecher
seem pretty staple to me. A bear that is useful in the mid and lategame can go in every deck. A 2/1 that trades with everything offense and defense. And Extort is just incredible powerful.
Child of Night is also very much cubable.
Warren Pilferers is too slow or too weak for my taste to be staple.
Gurmag Angler should be staple.
Red
I think you need very specific reasons not to run Bloodlust Inciter = staple
seeing in cubable:
Goblin Patrol is unplayable = bad
Intimidator Initiate is also borderline
Raging Minotaur/Talruum Minotaur are borderline to bad now, Ive never seen them as cubable. Now we have Pierce Strider
but lets rework cubable next
Penumbra Spider was pretty unimpressive for me lately and got moved to T2. It doesnt trade into the big blues and pretty often it doesnt matter much that it revives itself. So I think its only cubable now.
Dont know about the mana slot (Id say CCX), but Hooting Mandrills is staple
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
And I really want to see
Hand of Silumgar
Sinuous Vermin
Basilica Screecher staple as well. You need very good reasons not to run them.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I disagree here. The Hand is very fragile. Dies to any 1/1 token, any pinger, any one damage spell (like the looters you mention). Many times it's forced to be a blocker. Then it looses it's value a lot. The Vermin are good. But not amazing. Many times I trade this off with another 2 drop. If it gets to be big, great. But that isn't that often. The screecher is good. But adding one cost to all your spells can be troublesome. So you may not use it all the time. so it loses value on not having an extra power.
The Thrill Kill to me much better because you get to choose the mode. Do you need a 2 power creature with psuedo evasion (a la Hand) but is heartier. Or do you need a blocker that doesn't die to a ping. I liked it better at Staple myself.
I also still have a soft spot for the Spider. I can go either way from Staple to Cubable. While it doesnt eat all the fatty fliers, it blocks them well. And can usually get some kind of 2 for 1.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
the vermin on the other hand is a bear, which every cube needs and there are almost none in black anyway and it would be great in every color. definitely staple for me. you cant get any better than this on a 2 drop.
i underrated screecher on paper at the beginning, but since i run it, it has proven to be extremly powerful. its definitely better than the 2/1 noblock flyers.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t