What do you mean by mechanics? As in keyword mechanics or the more general non-keyworded and keyworded mechanics.
It's also worth noting that in general we tend to think of mechanics as powerful only if there are really high powered cards printed with those words on them, but in reality if R&D prices the mana costs and tweaked the numbers properly they could make almost anything powerful. Really, they could.
Thoughts; Buyback in Pauper tends to be the most powerful spell based mechanic. Hexproof for creatures, but at common they have been really careful to keep the power of those cards down, as a result there are more powerful cards with Shroud than Hexproof, beside being a strictly less powerful mechanic.
The borderposts should simply not be removed they are amazing mana fixers. Also Desert is a power house. You should remove cards from other sections for those. Also I would add both Sparksmithe and Fireslinger. They are both really good. Although Fireslinger slightly more so.
the rest I don't disagree with. Although I would keep 1 of each of the etc effect lands for each colour except for the black one and run Barren Moor. Good lands are worth cutting cards from other sections to include.
I think the only color lands I run are the Ponder land and Bojuka Bog. I cut all the rest a long ime go, because they always went really late in picks. They just watered the packs down.
Also, glad to see Hussar Patrol getting play. I just added it in mine and I have high hopes for it. Not unlike RTR limited, 4 toughness is critical in Pauper cube. Not that UW really needed another 4 drop, but it's better for the deck than what I cut.
I think the only color lands I run are the Ponder land and Bojuka Bog. I cut all the rest a long ime go, because they always went really late in picks. They just watered the packs down.
Also, glad to see Hussar Patrol getting play. I just added it in mine and I have high hopes for it. Not unlike RTR limited, 4 toughness is critical in Pauper cube. Not that UW really needed another 4 drop, but it's better for the deck than what I cut.
I would argue against Bajuka Bog being cubable. It's normally worse that a basic and more of a narrow sideboard card. Not really the type of card I want in cube.
Also there is a god chance that your play group are underestimating those lands and are picking them low. The power that replacing a basic with something that adds more to your deck is really huge. Especially because you are guaranteed to play with it if it is on colour. It's often the right pick over something like an additional creature that you might be cutting from your deck, even if it makes the cut, the marginal bonus that it provides over the card that got cut over it isn't likely to be more that the raw power the land would add over a basic.
Lots of people are talking about cutting Cultbrand Cinder for Rakdos Shred-Freak for the B/R hybrid slot. This is probably a good time to have a discussion about Cultbrand Cinder. At first I added it because it was the best B/R hybrid I could find, and thought it would be a decent filler card. After playing with it enough though I have come to appreciate it's value. Often times it'll flat out kill a creature. There are a ton of very good creatures in pauper cube with one toughness. Even if you can't out-right kill a creature, putting a -1/-1 counter on a creature will probably be able to marginalize it. Being left with a 3/3 is pretty nice, as 3/3s in pauper cube tend to beat pretty hard. Especially in red and black where you don't get much bigger.
Shred-Freak on the other hand is just a dime-a-dozen two drop. If it were either mono-red or mono-black, it might not even make it into some people's cubes. Is it really much better than another 2/1 for 2?
I would argue against Bajuka Bog being cubable. It's normally worse that a basic and more of a narrow sideboard card. Not really the type of card I want in cube.
I'll say it's not super exciting most, but it actually does something. Tortured Existence, Disturbed Burial, Death Denied, any playable Scavenge creatures that might make it in. Granted, the cards I actually named are black, but still.
I mean, you're running a cycling land. Think about that. It's worse than a basic early in the game and it's big benefit is that late game it becomes another random card. Without Loam or something else to get consistent card draw out of them, they are just B: Draw a card...and is that a card you'd really run? The cycling lands are fine mid-game, I suppose, but they just don't do enough because I include them in their prospective color sections.
If instead of discarding it, you could sacrifice it, I would have no problem running them. That's pretty obvious I suppose. As it stands though, cycling lands do nothing your other cards can't do. They either tap for mana or become a random card + a mana.
Really, I understand the flexibility of a land + a minor spell, but they just don't stack up to actual spells once you put them in the color sections. And they're in the color sections anyway so I don't get suckered into playing entire cycles of crappy lands.
Also there is a god chance that your play group are underestimating those lands and are picking them low. The power that replacing a basic with something that adds more to your deck is really huge. Especially because you are guaranteed to play with it if it is on colour. It's often the right pick over something like an additional creature that you might be cutting from your deck, even if it makes the cut, the marginal bonus that it provides over the card that got cut over it isn't likely to be more that the raw power the land would add over a basic.
I think you're vastly overestimating the "raw power" of many of these lands. Now that I think about it, I might still be running the land that gives you a 0/1 plant. I kinda like that one because you can block with it or put an equipment on it...mostly blocking though. I'm not 100% if it's in the cube, but I could see going either way on it.
I actually don't like the green land that gives you a plant very much outside of the random chump blocking that sometimes provides, but even then I don't like the gain 2 life land, which the green one often plays as.
The awesome thing about the cycle lands is that you can run a slightly higher land count than normal, about half a land which works out when you get all sneaky with valuing lands, curve, other mana ramp and card draw. Why? Because if you run a sneaky 1 land up then you are less likely to be mana screwed because you have slightly more land than normal. But there is the increased chance of flooding. In that case you can just cycle it into something else.
This is really good because it ups mana consistency, which is really important. It's kind of why cards like Ponder are always really good. They don't do anything like kill stuff or gain CA, but the bonus in consistency is really important when you are trying to make your deck as good as possible.
It's never going to be a super high draft pick, but it's still a decent pick over a card that will likely be cut, and always improves deck quality.
I like the cycling cards because all kinds of decks want them - being able to cycle it lategame is very, very good. Plus, I'm not so convinced that ETBT is such a big deal most of the time, even in an aggro deck.
Not a fan of Bojuka Bog because it's rarely relevant at all (whereas a carddraw is always a good option to consider) or Khalni Garden because 0/1s are fairly insignificant.
neither cycling lands or any non-Halimar depths, non Teetering Peaks 1 colour tapland are enough better than a basic to make it into the cube, in my opinion.
Yeah, I looked at my cube and I definitely cut the plant land. I just don't see the appeal of cycling lands. I mean, I get it, but they don't actually do anything. The flexibility on cards like Shorline Ranger and the like is miles past cycling lands, so I think that's a bad comparison. You know what you're getting with Shoreline Ranger every time and neither is bad.
And Desert is most certainly nowhere near a land version of Fireslinger. They have to be attacking, and it deals with it after damage is dealt. That's hardly at all like Fireslinger. Don't get me wrong, it's still in my cube and I think it's good enough to make the cut, I'm just not terribly excited about it because it can hamper playing your spells in the mid-game if you're playing two colors or more, obviously. And it's not the best land in Pauper. I'd rank it below bouncelands, gates, as well as Promenade/Rupture Spire. I'm just a big fan of casting spells and tempo more so than I am playing lands that can hurt my tempo despite acting like spells.
Again, having said all this, it's still in the cube. It's just not the best Pauper land; hyperbole gets us nowhere.
Yeah, I looked at my cube and I definitely cut the plant land. I just don't see the appeal of cycling lands. I mean, I get it, but they don't actually do anything. The flexibility on cards like Shorline Ranger and the like is miles past cycling lands, so I think that's a bad comparison. You know what you're getting with Shoreline Ranger every time and neither is bad.
And Desert is most certainly nowhere near a land version of Fireslinger. They have to be attacking, and it deals with it after damage is dealt. That's hardly at all like Fireslinger. Don't get me wrong, it's still in my cube and I think it's good enough to make the cut, I'm just not terribly excited about it because it can hamper playing your spells in the mid-game if you're playing two colors or more, obviously. And it's not the best land in Pauper. I'd rank it below bouncelands, gates, as well as Promenade/Rupture Spire. I'm just a big fan of casting spells and tempo more so than I am playing lands that can hurt my tempo despite acting like spells.
Again, having said all this, it's still in the cube. It's just not the best Pauper land; hyperbole gets us nowhere.
Agree with this 100%. It's notable that some pauper decks have real trouble beating desert, but they're few and far between and in general bad decks anyway because of other similar effects.
I think people are really underestimating the power of the cycling lands. I updated my WW pauper deck to play 4 of them, and it was instantly way better. It was recommended to me and I was pretty hesitant because it hate lands which ETB tapped. They are strong though.
I like the cycling cards because all kinds of decks want them - being able to cycle it lategame is very, very good. Plus, I'm not so convinced that ETBT is such a big deal most of the time, even in an aggro deck.
One of my favorite plays is (late game)
Tap Barren Moor for black, play Dimir Aqueduct bouncing Barren Moor, cycle barren moor with the mana in your mana pool. It's a shame borderposts can't bounce cycling lands.
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I think people are really underestimating the power of the cycling lands. I updated my WW pauper deck to play 4 of them, and it was instantly way better. It was recommended to me and I was pretty hesitant because it hate lands which ETB tapped. They are strong though.
I totally agree that they should be run.
They're great in constructed, because they're (sometimes) slightly better than basic lands. They're close to pointless in limited - you will very rarely pick one over a relevant card in your colours and that's what makes for an uncubable land in my book.
So people are suggesting running the 10 Karoos, 10 Gates and keeping the borderposts, plus that some (or most) of the Zendikar block 'spell' lands are good enough too. Plus there's utility such as Desert, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Haunted Fengraf, Transguild Promenade and Rupture Spire.
My cube is 360, with a 25 card land section. Tough decisions ahead. I either make my cube bigger or just make more of it lands. Lands are good and all, but not exciting picks most of the time.
I just all the fixing I can get, because there isn't much and you need as much as possible.
I don't have room in my three card multicolor section, though I would love to run it. And if I added a fourth card I would probalby add that 3/3 centaur that gains you 3 life. I remember liking the UB one in alara block draft, though I do remember liking Jhessian Zombies during ALara block draft. I don't think any of the other ones are close enough to being good enough to consider running them.
Speaking of alara block multicolored cards that no one runs. Man how do I wish that Cerodon Yearling was a 2/2 first trike haster instead of a 2/2 first strike vigilance. A 2/2 haste first striker is the exact card I want to fill out RW.
I want to increase my "colorless" lands to 10 when I go up to 450. I really want to run Transguild Promonade and Quicksand. But the only other colorless land worth running is Shimmering Grotto, and I don't care for that card. There just isn't 3 other colorless lands taht are worth playing at the time.
In two-color decks with tight mana, being able to ping attackers can be huge. It can completely change combat maths and simply stop X/1s in their tracks, and there are quite a few of them. Definitely worth the inclusion.
Nice article Lanxal. Something that you kind of aluded to. One of the great things about pauper is when you start off, almost everyone will have one of the crappy commons you need in foil sitting in there binder that they will just throw into a trade, happy to get rid of them.
I know that's how I got my Azorious Arrester and Wingcrafter.
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What do you mean by mechanics? As in keyword mechanics or the more general non-keyworded and keyworded mechanics.
It's also worth noting that in general we tend to think of mechanics as powerful only if there are really high powered cards printed with those words on them, but in reality if R&D prices the mana costs and tweaked the numbers properly they could make almost anything powerful. Really, they could.
Thoughts; Buyback in Pauper tends to be the most powerful spell based mechanic. Hexproof for creatures, but at common they have been really careful to keep the power of those cards down, as a result there are more powerful cards with Shroud than Hexproof, beside being a strictly less powerful mechanic.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
the rest I don't disagree with. Although I would keep 1 of each of the etc effect lands for each colour except for the black one and run Barren Moor. Good lands are worth cutting cards from other sections to include.
I think the only color lands I run are the Ponder land and Bojuka Bog. I cut all the rest a long ime go, because they always went really late in picks. They just watered the packs down.
Also, glad to see Hussar Patrol getting play. I just added it in mine and I have high hopes for it. Not unlike RTR limited, 4 toughness is critical in Pauper cube. Not that UW really needed another 4 drop, but it's better for the deck than what I cut.
I would argue against Bajuka Bog being cubable. It's normally worse that a basic and more of a narrow sideboard card. Not really the type of card I want in cube.
Also there is a god chance that your play group are underestimating those lands and are picking them low. The power that replacing a basic with something that adds more to your deck is really huge. Especially because you are guaranteed to play with it if it is on colour. It's often the right pick over something like an additional creature that you might be cutting from your deck, even if it makes the cut, the marginal bonus that it provides over the card that got cut over it isn't likely to be more that the raw power the land would add over a basic.
Shred-Freak on the other hand is just a dime-a-dozen two drop. If it were either mono-red or mono-black, it might not even make it into some people's cubes. Is it really much better than another 2/1 for 2?
I'll say it's not super exciting most, but it actually does something. Tortured Existence, Disturbed Burial, Death Denied, any playable Scavenge creatures that might make it in. Granted, the cards I actually named are black, but still.
I mean, you're running a cycling land. Think about that. It's worse than a basic early in the game and it's big benefit is that late game it becomes another random card. Without Loam or something else to get consistent card draw out of them, they are just B: Draw a card...and is that a card you'd really run? The cycling lands are fine mid-game, I suppose, but they just don't do enough because I include them in their prospective color sections.
If instead of discarding it, you could sacrifice it, I would have no problem running them. That's pretty obvious I suppose. As it stands though, cycling lands do nothing your other cards can't do. They either tap for mana or become a random card + a mana.
Really, I understand the flexibility of a land + a minor spell, but they just don't stack up to actual spells once you put them in the color sections. And they're in the color sections anyway so I don't get suckered into playing entire cycles of crappy lands.
I think you're vastly overestimating the "raw power" of many of these lands. Now that I think about it, I might still be running the land that gives you a 0/1 plant. I kinda like that one because you can block with it or put an equipment on it...mostly blocking though. I'm not 100% if it's in the cube, but I could see going either way on it.
The awesome thing about the cycle lands is that you can run a slightly higher land count than normal, about half a land which works out when you get all sneaky with valuing lands, curve, other mana ramp and card draw. Why? Because if you run a sneaky 1 land up then you are less likely to be mana screwed because you have slightly more land than normal. But there is the increased chance of flooding. In that case you can just cycle it into something else.
This is really good because it ups mana consistency, which is really important. It's kind of why cards like Ponder are always really good. They don't do anything like kill stuff or gain CA, but the bonus in consistency is really important when you are trying to make your deck as good as possible.
It's never going to be a super high draft pick, but it's still a decent pick over a card that will likely be cut, and always improves deck quality.
Not a fan of Bojuka Bog because it's rarely relevant at all (whereas a carddraw is always a good option to consider) or Khalni Garden because 0/1s are fairly insignificant.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Draft it on Cubetutor!
And Desert is most certainly nowhere near a land version of Fireslinger. They have to be attacking, and it deals with it after damage is dealt. That's hardly at all like Fireslinger. Don't get me wrong, it's still in my cube and I think it's good enough to make the cut, I'm just not terribly excited about it because it can hamper playing your spells in the mid-game if you're playing two colors or more, obviously. And it's not the best land in Pauper. I'd rank it below bouncelands, gates, as well as Promenade/Rupture Spire. I'm just a big fan of casting spells and tempo more so than I am playing lands that can hurt my tempo despite acting like spells.
Again, having said all this, it's still in the cube. It's just not the best Pauper land; hyperbole gets us nowhere.
Agree with this 100%. It's notable that some pauper decks have real trouble beating desert, but they're few and far between and in general bad decks anyway because of other similar effects.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
I totally agree that they should be run.
One of my favorite plays is (late game)
Tap Barren Moor for black, play Dimir Aqueduct bouncing Barren Moor, cycle barren moor with the mana in your mana pool. It's a shame borderposts can't bounce cycling lands.
Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor
They're great in constructed, because they're (sometimes) slightly better than basic lands. They're close to pointless in limited - you will very rarely pick one over a relevant card in your colours and that's what makes for an uncubable land in my book.
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10 karoos
10 gates
5 bordeposts
5 panoramas
rupture spire
transguild promenade
terramorphoic expanse
evolving wilds
shimmering grotto
desert
quicksand
huanted fengraf
hilimar depths
teetering peaks
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/9o1
I'd run 30 lands for sure. Casting spells is important! Even at 30 that's still less than most 360 card powered cubes run
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My errata'd commons cube
I don't have room in my three card multicolor section, though I would love to run it. And if I added a fourth card I would probalby add that 3/3 centaur that gains you 3 life. I remember liking the UB one in alara block draft, though I do remember liking Jhessian Zombies during ALara block draft. I don't think any of the other ones are close enough to being good enough to consider running them.
Speaking of alara block multicolored cards that no one runs. Man how do I wish that Cerodon Yearling was a 2/2 first trike haster instead of a 2/2 first strike vigilance. A 2/2 haste first striker is the exact card I want to fill out RW.
And for my mana fixing I use.
10 Signets
10 Bouncelands
10 Gates (Proxing the missing ones)
5 Panoramas
5 borderposts
1 Desert
1 Teramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Rupture Spire
1 Hunted Fengraf
I want to increase my "colorless" lands to 10 when I go up to 450. I really want to run Transguild Promonade and Quicksand. But the only other colorless land worth running is Shimmering Grotto, and I don't care for that card. There just isn't 3 other colorless lands taht are worth playing at the time.
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Agree as a whole, but Desert/Quicksand should definitely be under bouncelands, and I rank Haunted Fengraf under Halimar Depths personally.
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My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Edit: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I FINALLY DID IT. MY FIRST ARTICLE ON PAUPER CUBE!.
Don't expect many more of these things in the next few months. Final year of high school doesn't bode well for a "regular publishing schedule".
Or even a second one at all.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
I know that's how I got my Azorious Arrester and Wingcrafter.
Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor