Yeah, I'd rather almost all of those over this new guy. I only run two of them - Guardian and Honor Guard, and all but Sanctum Gargoyle and Skyhunter Patrol are, imo, most likely better than this new guy.
Also, Brimstone Volley :2mana::symr:
Instant
Brimstone Volley deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Morbid - Brimstone Volley deals 5 damage to that creature or player instead if a creature died this turn.
Brimstone is good, but not THAT good. 3 mana burn spells aren't really good enough. It'll probably edge it's way in most cubes, but over time it may be on the chopping block.
We did get a nice treat today though:
Delver of Secrets - This guy is absurd. It is very cheap, and lets you keep counters up. Exactly what a ton of blue decks want.
I think this is near cubeworthy. On the fence, really. I'll have to try it out.
This is a bizzaro card.
If you have the cards for it, I suppose you could attack, then transform it through a sacrifice effect.
Still, 4 mana for a */2 vigilant seems... unexciting. Too many ways (in my cube at least), to kill it. I certainly don't see it taking the place of any of my other 4 mana white creatures or spells.
The new black removal and the green viper are cool too. This set rocks for a common cube so far. Shame i just decided to stop investing money into magc.
Proxies man, proxies. It's like vintage, you invest once, it might be a bit pricey to start, but then as new sets come out, the cost to update is very low in comparison
What do people think of Frightful Delusions? From my experience, opponents tapping out to play threats in the T3-T5 parts of the game is not uncommon. Think it could work?
Edit: Nevermind. Comparing it to Runeboggle makes me realise that it's pretty bad.
What are people thinking of removing for Victim of Night? I like all the 1B ones I have right now; BB can just be difficult.
What do people think of Frightful Delusions? From my experience, opponents tapping out to play threats in the T3-T5 parts of the game is not uncommon. Think it could work?
Edit: Nevermind. Comparing it to Runeboggle makes me realise that it's pretty bad.
What are people thinking of removing for Victim of Night? I like all the 1B ones I have right now; BB can just be difficult.
No on both of those. Delusions is such a soft counter, Victim of Night is not worth colour screwing yourself, IMO. Grasp of Darkness just seems better, even if it isn't I think that's gone from my cube now.
Victim of Night is.. most certainly worth "color screwing yourself" though I don't see it that way. In rare cubes, sure it might not make it into many 180-500 cubes easily, but in pauper and peasant, BB isn't really a big deal, the format is a bit slower over all, and being able to kill just about everything in the cube brackets in peasant is worth that BB. Most of the time, its going to cost 1BB as you wait for your third land in a dual color set up, but regardless that's at its worst. At its best, its prime removal.
Since whether or not something is a Human or Vampire will probably be relevant in evaluating some of these cards, I've gone through my cube and listed them out. It's a fairly typical optimised cube (with a slightly stronger focus on control), so there should be a fair bit of crossover in these results, but your mileage may vary. It's 450 cards.
Full Innistrad spoiler is up! A quick glance & these are the cards I'm thinking of adding to my 500 card Commons Cube. The ones with ?'s I'm less sure of. Obviously all of these won't make it in but are at least worth thinking/talking about. Some of them are ridiculous slam-dunks like the Viper and Brimstone Volley. Will post more coherent thoughts later...
Avacynian Priest?
Bonds of Faith
Chapel Geist
Feeling of Dread?
Silverchase Fox
Spare from Evil?
Thraben Sentry
Claustrophobia
Delver of Secrets
Forbidden Alchemy
Frightful Delusion
Lantern Spirit
Lost in the Mist?
Makeshift Mauler
Stitched Drake
Altar's Reap
Bump in the Night?
Dead Weight
Vampire Interloper
Victim of Night
Walking Corpse?
Brimstone Volley
Crossway Vampire
Cursed of the Pierced Heart?
Harvest Pyre?
Night Revelers?
Pitchburn Devils?
Tormented Pariah/Rampaging Werewolf
Traitorous Blood
Village Ironsmith/Ironfang
Ambush Viper
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Caravan Vigil
Darkthicket Wolf
Festerhide Boar
Grizzled Outcasts/Krallenhorde Wantons
Orchard Spirit
Somberwald Spider
Villagers of Eastwald/Howlpack of Estwald
Woodland Sleuth
I'm going to write up a review (for the whole set, separately, too) and don't want to read anyone else's opinions yet. Afterwards we can compare notes. I usually am interested in some cards that pass by, so we'll see how it goes.
Here's my quick and dirty pauper cube review. Cards that are not noteworthy are not noted. Bolded cards are ones that I will try out.
Avacynian Priest - 3x blinding mage variants makes this guy pretty sad. Chapel Geist - Nice body on this flier. I think this is better than the first striker, even with the double white.
Feeling of Dread - I love these types of cards, but needing to be U/W really kills it.
Moment of Heroism - I think this is better than Mighty Leap. I would rather play the universal Fortify type pumps though. Rebuke - AWOL, but more main-stream. This is probably better than a few white removals I have. Spare from Evil - there are a lot of variables at work here. I don't think I can fit any more utility spells though.
Village Bell-Ringer - 3 drops are really tight, but this is a sweet trick. Doesn't really fit with white, unfortunately. Voiceless Spirit - Nice flier, but again, 3 drops are packed. I think this is better than Cloud Crusader, though.
Claustrophobia - Good blue removal. Delver of Secrets - Exactly what you want. Small mana investment, big payoff.
Forbidden Alchemy - my views on Impulse have been well known. It isn't very good, since the card quality in pauper cube is pretty steady. I would rather have card advantage than card selection. Makeshift Mauler - The drawback is non-existent, and a 4/5 for 4 is pretty big.
Moon Heron - 3 power fliers for 4 have long been out-dated imo. Sensory Deprivation - Nullify a creature for 1 mana? This might actually be decent. I have to think about it more.
Silent Departure - bounce is way too good in pauper cube to consider this. Stitched Drake - already mentioned. This is exactly what blue wants.
Stitcher's Apprentice - too hard (impossible?) to abuse.
Dead Weight - pretty cheap. I think I'd rather have an instant, but this kills a lot, so maybe it's worth it?
Ghoulraiser - I wish this could be added. It's going to be awesome in limited. Markov Patrician - I love child of night, this is even better. Stromkirk Patrol - this is probably the fattest black creature behind Abomination available. I'll debate it over Zombie Boa. Vampire Interloper - sweeeeet. Victim of Night - top tier removal spell.
Ashmouth Hound - too many good 2 drops. I don't think this is too close to making the cut. Bloodcrazed Neonate - great when backed by removal. Brimstone Volley - deals a lot of damage, and I don't think morbid is hard to trigger.
Kessig Wolf - it's a bit pricy to activate, but War-Spike Changeling is pretty great.
Night Revelers - this probably has haste a good amount of the time. I don't really run 5 drops in red though. Nightbird's Clutches - this is a solid faulter effect. Pitchburn Devils - seems like a great high-end card for an aggro deck. Village Ironsmiths - 3 power 2 drop, kind of...
Ambush Viper - Awesome card. I think this actually makes it into normal cubes, too.
Darkthicket Wolf - too many good 2 drops, even if this is hard to block. Festerhide Boar - Morbid seems easy to trigger, and a 5/5 trample for 4 is a sick deal.
Orchard Spirit - this is a reprint of Treetop Rangers. Prey Upon - seems like solid removal. Ranger's Guile - seems great vs removal. not sure if that's enough, though.
Spider Grasp - expensive, but great on defense. Woodland Sleuth - green would love a gravedigger. Being random is kind of a shame though.
Hm. Definitely interesting, even if I disagree with certain parts of it. One question, though: No love for Crossway Vampire? It might not be good enough, but I guess I've had enough problems with Red creatures to consider it. Goblin Shortcutter has been a welcome addition to my Cube, and the slight size increase makes the vampire feel like a decent second version. I would at least consider it, even if I'm not sure it's quite good enough to make it in.
Hm. Definitely interesting, even if I disagree with certain parts of it. One question, though: No love for Crossway Vampire? It might not be good enough, but I guess I've had enough problems with Red creatures to consider it. Goblin Shortcutter has been a welcome addition to my Cube, and the slight size increase makes the vampire feel like a decent second version. I would at least consider it, even if I'm not sure it's quite good enough to make it in.
It's a decent card, it'll be a big player in Innistrad limited for sure. Still, I don't think it makes it into most of our cubes - yeah, I think it's probably better than shortcutter (which is surprisingly good), but red two drops are terrible, and red three drops are really good. That's the only reason.
It's a decent card, it'll be a big player in Innistrad limited for sure. Still, I don't think it makes it into most of our cubes - yeah, I think it's probably better than shortcutter (which is surprisingly good), but red two drops are terrible, and red three drops are really good. That's the only reason.
I can definitely see this being the case. I just didn't see wolfer comment on it at all, which I found surprising since I think it's among the more interesting (not quite in, but can't quite discount it) cards in the set.
Abbey Griffins: Very obviously doesn’t stack up with other options. Vigilance with two toughness is mostly worthless, since it won’t be able to block much. Avacynian Priest: Humans make up ~20% of Pauper cubes, so even though Blinding Mage variants are annoyingly colour intensive, this still isn’t good at all. Bonds of Faith: It’s versatile, but I would much rather have a Pacifism than a bad pump enchantment. Pacifisms are already removal spells that are relatively easy to answer, so reducing the targets makes this a bit too narrow for my tastes. I’d say not cubeable, but might be testable for some. Chapel Geist: Actually pretty decent as a flying beater. The worst part about this is the WW in the casting cost, and white mana bases are already strained. Pass for now, but might be worth a second look. Doomed Traveler: Reminds me of Tukatongue Thallid. This is better, but I still don’t think it’s cubeable. Maybe if we had more good equipment or more useful things to do with flying 1/1s. At any rate you would still need it to die first, and before then it does nothing. Elder Cathar: Solid enough, especially as white has a lot of Humans, but not a big enough effect or cube. Ghostly Possesion: Easily destroyed, and actually gives them a useful blocker and is otherwise just atrocious removal. Moment of Heroism: A nifty little combat trick that just really doesn’t do enough. Why play this over a creature? Rebuke: Not bad removal, but at three mana it’s certainly not better than Smite, and that doesn’t usually get cubed. Not good enough. Selfless Cathar: I’m not sure what to do with this. It’s either a sorcery speed +1/+1 one time effect, a chump blocker with the potential for a very telegraphed (and thus very unlikely) blowout, or something worse. Not cubeable. Silverchase Fox: Significantly worse than Ronom Unicorn and Kami of Ancient Law. Not cubeable. Smite the Monstrous: Really not enough large creatures, but even without the restriction it would be questionable at four mana. Spare from Evil: White’s beatstick creatures are for the most-part already evasive. There are a large number of relevant creatures this doesn’t affect. I guess it’s testable, but I’m not a fan. Thraben Purebloods: Simple vanilla filler. Nope. Thraben Sentry//Thraben Militia: Simply far too small before transforming, and as a four mana creature, who knows how many turns you’ll be waiting (anything more than two is just terrible), especially if your creatures are evasive. Unruly Mob: Slow, and a useless card played on any turn other than two. Urgent Exorcism: I would play Revoke Existence before this. Spirit isn’t a relevant creature type in Pauper cube. Village Bell-Ringer: A really nifty trick in the same way Stonehorn Dignitary is nifty, but not cubeable. Three mana is too much to hold up and is very obvious. Voiceless Spirit: Dies to pingers and otherwise underwhelms. First strike on a flying creature is redundant for the majority of the time.
Armoured Skaab: A pretty easy “nope” on this one. Simply bad. Claustrophobia: I’m a little worried about the double blue cost, but it’s not bad as removal for blue. Probably cubeable, but not a staple. Curse of the Bloody Tome: Not at all cubeable, unless you have some crazy crazy cube where mill is a consistent wincon. You crazy cuber you. Delver of Secrets//Insectile Aberration: Totally brilliant in a control deck. Allows you to drop a threat while keeping counter mana up. I think people will try to force this into aggro decks and be disappointed – you need to run this in if not a full-on control deck then at least one with strong control elements to it for this to work. Sits in exactly the same slot as Thakalos Scout as a card that won’t usually close the game for you, but beats until you’re able to land your finisher and means you have to worry about keeping that alive for less time. Deranged Assisstant: Doesn’t provide anything blue needs. Not cubeable. Dream Twist: Mill again. Nope. Fortress Crab: If you have a section in your cube where you include cards to be drafted as drink coasters, this is perfect. Frightful Delusion: Soft counters for three are bad. In Wondrous Easterland this is amazing, but at most other times you’ll be wishing you hadn’t drawn this turn five, or a similar scenario. Hysterical Blindness: A well-known, awful, effect. Sneak Razor Boomerang into your draft deck instead and risk a DQ by the Head Cubist. It’ll probably win you more games. Maybe. Lost in the Mist: Pretty cool combination of effects. Gives a really nice tempo swing, but for five mana this is just far too expensive. Makeshift Mauler: I’m not sure an invasive creature fits the bill as a blue finisher. He’s big, though. Definitely cubeable, but blue is tight and there may not be room. Moon Heron: We’ve seen it before, and we don’t need it. Selhoff Occultist: A ‘vanilla’ 2/3 doesn’t even come close. Sensory Deprivation: So –X/-0 is a blue Innistrad theme? Weird. Not good, of course. Silent Departure: Probably the best common Unsummon variant yet, but being a sorcery makes this a lot worse. Five is a lot too, and the value of the tempo gain you get at that point in the game is questionable. Spectral Flight: An enchantment that pumps and isn’t Rancor, in the tightest colour. We’re done here. Stitched Drake: A perfectly decent control finisher. This will lend itself more to the slightly more aggressive ones (i.e. more than 9 creatures) for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less great. Stitcher’s Apprentice: Turns your removal’d creatures into bears. Alone he’s a bit weak though, and he’ll probably be the target of removal first. Also very easy to ping away. Not good enough, even if Oglor is the man. Think Twice: Hey! New art!
Altar’s Reap: I’m actually rather intrigued by this. The important thing to note with this one is that it’s an instant, so you can sacrifice creatures in response to removal. Two mana’s not too hard to keep up if you have a beater online, either. The value of this just depends on how much you expect your creatures to be killed, as there’s no card advantage involved. There’s no real point on using this on your own turn, or anything like that, as anything other than a desperation play. I’d say it’s worth testing, but might not be quite good enough. Brain Weevil: Really not good, even in a heavy discard deck. Corpse Lunge: I keep calling this one Corpse Lunch by accident. Omnomnom. Three mana removal is already clogged with good cards in black. No. Curse of Oblivion: Graveyard decks are (mostly) not a valid deck type in cube, so not one that needs to be hosed. It’s true you can make a ‘Gravedigger’ deck, but this is far too narrow. Dead Weight: Sorcery speed Disfigure that can be used on creatures you can’t quite kill to screw with combat math or some such shenanigans. Seems really good, as Disfigure has always been solid. Cubeable. Ghoulcaller’s Chant: Raise Dead has been covered before, and Zombies are pretty uncommon overall. Ghoulraiser: Same as above; this is mostly a bad bear. Gruesome Deformity: Just not close to good. Auras with small effects open you up to two-for-ones and are just a waste of a card. Manor Skeleton: There are better regenerator walls. Haste is mostly pointless. Nope. Markov Patrician: One toughness is a big problem for a three drop. Child of Night is a disposable cheap attacker that gives a sweet life swing, but this needs to do significantly more for three, and it doesn’t. Night Terrors: Bad discard, and not worth it. Rotting Fensnake: When this isn’t dying to pingers, unable to attack, or being killed by an unkicked Burst Lightning, it’ll just be on the table looking ugly. Because it’s bad. Skeletal Grimace: Easily responded to, and otherwise underwhelming. Wicked cool art doesn’t always translate, unfortunately. Stromkirk Patrol: It’s big, but probably not that good. No evasion makes connecting annoying, and for five a 4/3 is just not okay. There should be more than enough ways to prevent this ever connecting more than once by turn five. Typhoid Rats: Actually a fairly cool blocker. One drops are good. Unfortunately it’s totally defensive and black really doesn’t need more ways to stop creatures at sorcery speed with all sorts of conditions. Not cubeable. Vampire Interloper: Stormfront Pegasus! Well, Welkin Tern. Call it what you like, I call it Winning. Cube this. Victim of Night: Doesn’t hit a few targets, but not enough to make this not worth running. I would put this at roughly the same as Rend Flesh, deck dependant, as it’s harder to cast colour wise and hits slightly less, but costs 1 less mana. Very cubeable. Walking Corpse: Keep walking, bud. Door’s that way.
Ashmouth Hound: Better flanking is very cool. I think this is better than Goblin Shortcutter, but I’m still undecided about whether I want it in (as I’m cutting the Shortcutter). I’d call this one cubeable. Very aggressive, and that’s absolutely what red needs right now. Bloodcrazed Neonate: Another aggressive two drop. I find myself wanting to cube both of these, because the curve really needs it. The attacking every turn drawback isn’t negligible with just one toughness, but this is still quite good. I prefer Hound though. Brimstone Volley: High quality burn is something you want around. It’s even splashable! Cubeable. Crossway Vampire: A really useful effect on a good body. And I’m resisting the obvious joke. Testable. Curse of the Pierced Heart: Slow. Really, really slow. Goblin Fireslinger if you must have this effect. Topdecking this turn 5+ is just a hilariously bad draw. Feral Ridgewolf: The three slot’s quite clogged up already, and this doesn’t stand out any more than any other available option. Nope. Furor of the Bitten: A bad pump spell, or bad removal? You decide! Or better yet, don’t run this, and don’t decide. Geistflame: Comprehensively outclassed by Lava Dart. Not cubeable. Harvest Pyre: Would be worth a second look if it could hit players as well, but you need to drop three cards to just get this close to Incinerate levels… and it really isn’t worth the effort. Infernal Plunge: Not at all designed for cube, and not really workable here in any form. Kessig Wolf: Again, the three drops are tight, and this is really unremarkable. Night Revelers: This part of the curve is sewn up, and occasional-haste doesn’t beat out other options. Don’t run it. Nightbird’s Clutches: Better with Flashback, but the effect is very narrow and not something to spend a card on. I’ll pass. Pitchburn Devils: A good creature, but it doesn’t do what I want my five drops to do, which is win the game. I’d rather play a cheap burn spell and not have to worry about my 3/3 being useless because of blockers. Most likely it’ll be hard to get it to die when you need it to, and hard to get it to connect when you need that. Overall not as good as it first looks. Riot Devils: Very vanilla, very no. Tormented Pariah//Rampaging Werewolf: My take on Transform Wolves is that not only will it sometimes be tricky to get them to activate, but with the very possible chance that they flip back they often become quite useless. This possibility and effort means they need to be at least a little relevant in both states, and not just a dead card that gets you nowhere. A 3/2 is at least something you can work with (although I don’t get why a wimpy human is a 3/2…?), but the transformed state is the obvious cake here. I’m not convinced it’s cubeworthy, but testable. Traitorous Blood: A really cool card. I’d say this one is definitely testworthy. It’s probably worse than Act of Treason thanks to the cost though – trample’s not that relevant really. Vampiric Fury: Tribal Cubes only. And really, that just isn’t that possible within Pauper, anyway. Village Ironsmith//Ironfang: Not a fan of this one. As before, this needs to be relevant in the original state, and it’s just not. The first strike is meaningless, and by the time you get it to flip and stick that way you’ve probably lost the aggressive edge of having the 3/1 first striker, keeping in mind this is the same turn cards like Stormfront Pegasus and Porcelain Legionnaire go online. I don’t think it’s testworthy.
Ambush Viper: A sweet mix of abilities that should make this one cubeable for most. Run it! Caravan Vigil: Too many better options. If you don’t have the land you need and you have to resort to using this in the first couple of turns, you should have mulliganed! Darkthicket Wolf: A mana suck that’s not good enough most of the time. Festerhide Boar:I didn’t like this at first, but I think you should be able to get this to go off as a huge threat to be dealt with. Large creatures are scary in Pauper, and this is no exception. It’s not a game ender on the scale of the Wurms or Kavu Primarch though. Testable, but there’s not definitely going to be room. Gnaw to the Bone: Flashback makes this great still terrible. No. Grave Bramble: is this a Plants vs. Zombies reference? At any rate, not cubeable. Cool though. Grizzled Outcasts//Krallenhorde Wantons: Possibly better than Tangle Hulk. The card is a big beatstick that turns into a bigger beatstick, but either way you’re swinging with a large guy that will win you the game if he keeps connecting. I wouldn’t be too upset if this just stayed as a 4/4 for most of the time if it meant it put pressure on my opponent in the lategame to manage it. Probably fairly cubeable; testworthy. Kindercatch: This is good for mono green, but that deck just doesn’t exist and the commitment to green in that cost is obscene. Not cubeable. Moonmist: Doesn’t apply to us. Orchard Spirit: Actually an interesting creature, but flying creatures do exist and it probably won’t work. That said, evasion (other than trample) is so rare in green that this may be worth coming back to. For now I won’t test it, though. Prey Upon: Just really good removal. It’s conditional, but all green removal always is and these conditions at least fit the usual gameplan. Big creatures shouldn’t be too much of a problem provided you do this on your opponent’s turn after damage has worn off from the attackers. For one mana, you can’t go wrong. Compared to the other similar sorcery speed removal options in Green (Lignify and Utopia Vow), this definitely sits in a good position. Cubeable. Ranger’s Guile: A just okay response to removal that still isn’t worth cubing with. Fair enough card though. Somberwald Spider: If you have a flying problem with green, then this might be okay. For five mana it’s a bit too defensive, though. Testable on the side of not cubeable. Spidery Grasp: It’s okay, but I wouldn’t cube it. Three is a lot to hold up, and the card it costs won’t always guarantee removal. Villagers of Estwald//Howlpack of Estwald: Possibly very cubeable. When compared to Centaur Courser, which is solid, this has a lot of upsides. This is the right point in the game for players to start not having a spell to play each turn, too. Going out on a limb and saying cubeable, but it will need testing to back this up. Woodland Sleuth: A slightly bigger Gravedigger that also has all these ugly conditions slapped on. A bit too tricky to get it to do exactly what you want. Not really cubeable.
Blazing Torch: This is a very useful removal spell on the cheap which leans towards being better in the aggro decks for a change. It was good in Zendikar, and the rarity drop makes this worth it. Cube this. Cobbled Wings: Compare Neurok Stealthsuit. The effect’s not really enough, but it’s close. Not bad, but not quite cubeable. Ghoulcaller’s Bell: Not in cube it ain’t. One-Eyed Scarecrow: Strange, and narrow, and a defender. Ugh. Traveller’s Amulet: Wanderer’s Twig is okay, but you certainly wouldn’t need two. Not cubeable. Wooden Stake: Wanderer’s Twig is okay, but you certainly wouldn’t need two. Not cubeable.
Bump in the Night: A flashback black Lava Spike isn’t good enough. You won’t win with burn and no board presence! Avacyn’s Pilgrim: Really not good enough for this colour combination. Maybe they should give it exalted… and make it tap for green and blue… Travel Preparations: Same as above; GW is chocka. Forbidden Alchemy: This card is excellent. Impulse is fantastic because it lets you dig three deep for your answer to the board state during your opponent’s turn, and this lets you do it twice, with one more card. Instant speed means that the increased mana cost isn’t too much of a problem, because you can always do it EOT while holding your counter mana up. I like Recoil and Probe better, but in my opinion this is significantly better than Dimir Infiltraitor, Soul Manipulation, or Agony Warp. Very cubeable, provided you support control. Feeling of Dread: Reminds me of Moment’s Peace, but not quite as good. I would rather have Silkbind Faerie, Curse of Chains or Azorius First Wing, though.
Conclusion
Tons and tons of good stuff. Nothing that's really broken good or super powerful except perhaps Brimstone Volley, but overall a good bump to the quality of cards (but especially in red, finally). How good the Werewolves are is anyone's guess at this stage though, but given your opponent gets to interact with them to try to force flips, they're probably slightly worse than however bad/good you think they are.
Thanks for that, was sure it was instant. o_O Regardless I still think it's very cubeable, as we're still lacking instant speed removal in green to compete with (unless you count Provoke, Lace with Moonglove, or Hornet Sting...)
Having unbalanced multicolour quantities will have a bigger effect as the size of your cube decreases, but as this section makes up a small amount of the cards in a cube, this shouldn't have a massive impact. The best thing I can suggest is to try to figure out what strategies frequently appear and do well as legitimate archetypes, and figure out how those are helped/hindered by the changes. Although having equal numbers of cards in each section is a useful (and organised) way of balancing the cube, but due to fluctuations in the actual use of different cards this does not always provide total balance. You may be able to do this in a way that's beneficial t oyour cube, but that also depends on how important the 'equal number of cards' thing is for you.
Yeah, I'd rather almost all of those over this new guy. I only run two of them - Guardian and Honor Guard, and all but Sanctum Gargoyle and Skyhunter Patrol are, imo, most likely better than this new guy.
Also,
Brimstone Volley :2mana::symr:
Instant
Brimstone Volley deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
Morbid - Brimstone Volley deals 5 damage to that creature or player instead if a creature died this turn.
is an auto include. SO sick.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
We did get a nice treat today though:
Delver of Secrets - This guy is absurd. It is very cheap, and lets you keep counters up. Exactly what a ton of blue decks want.
The Set Review will be incredibly fun, in any case.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
This is a bizzaro card.
If you have the cards for it, I suppose you could attack, then transform it through a sacrifice effect.
Still, 4 mana for a */2 vigilant seems... unexciting. Too many ways (in my cube at least), to kill it. I certainly don't see it taking the place of any of my other 4 mana white creatures or spells.
Shame, really.
Damn this set is going to be a fine, fine set to review.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Proxies man, proxies. It's like vintage, you invest once, it might be a bit pricey to start, but then as new sets come out, the cost to update is very low in comparison
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Edit: Nevermind. Comparing it to Runeboggle makes me realise that it's pretty bad.
What are people thinking of removing for Victim of Night? I like all the 1B ones I have right now; BB can just be difficult.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
No on both of those. Delusions is such a soft counter, Victim of Night is not worth colour screwing yourself, IMO. Grasp of Darkness just seems better, even if it isn't I think that's gone from my cube now.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
Humans
White
18/49 Creatures - 36.7%
Akrasan Squire
Infantry Veteran
Deftblade Elite
Gideon's Lawkeeper
Icatian Javelineers
Benevolent Bodyguard
Youthful Knight
Order of Leitbur
Blinding Mage
Master Decoy
Benalish Trapper
Shu Cavalry
Thermal Glider
Nightwind Rider
Hallowed Healer
Benalish Knight
Coalition Honour Guard
Noble Templar
Blue
Thought Courier
Dreamscape Artist
Ninja of the Deep Hours
Sea Gate Oracle
Æther Adept
Prodigal Sorcerer
Zuran Spellcaster
Neurok Invisimancer
Black
Undertaker
Blind Zealot
Red
Martyr of Ashes
Keldon Halberdier
Fireslinger
Keldon Marauders
Prodigal Pyromancer
Vithian Stinger
Vulshok Sorcerer
Ghitu Slinger
Gathan Raiders
Keldon Vandals
Anarchist
Green
Quirion Ranger
Yavimaya Elder
Borderland Ranger
Multicolour
4/20 Creatures - 20%
Izzet Chronarch
Skyknight Legionnaire
Shadow Guildmage
Stormscape Apprentice
Vampires
Vampire Lacerator
Child of Night
Zombies
Carnophage
Wretched Anurid
Twisted Abomination
Gravedigger
Skinthinner
Putrid Leech
Totals
Humans: 46/213 - 21.6%
Zombies: 6/213 - 2.8%
Vampires: 2/213 - 0.9%
G Omnath, Locus of Mana G
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Pauper {360} 2013 REVIVAL UPDATE
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Avacynian Priest?
Bonds of Faith
Chapel Geist
Feeling of Dread?
Silverchase Fox
Spare from Evil?
Thraben Sentry
Claustrophobia
Delver of Secrets
Forbidden Alchemy
Frightful Delusion
Lantern Spirit
Lost in the Mist?
Makeshift Mauler
Stitched Drake
Altar's Reap
Bump in the Night?
Dead Weight
Vampire Interloper
Victim of Night
Walking Corpse?
Brimstone Volley
Crossway Vampire
Cursed of the Pierced Heart?
Harvest Pyre?
Night Revelers?
Pitchburn Devils?
Tormented Pariah/Rampaging Werewolf
Traitorous Blood
Village Ironsmith/Ironfang
Ambush Viper
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Caravan Vigil
Darkthicket Wolf
Festerhide Boar
Grizzled Outcasts/Krallenhorde Wantons
Orchard Spirit
Somberwald Spider
Villagers of Eastwald/Howlpack of Estwald
Woodland Sleuth
Blazing Torch
Cobbled Wings?
Traveler's Amulet
Can't wait til the Prerelease!
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
twenty minutesTWO HOURS.My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Here's my quick and dirty pauper cube review. Cards that are not noteworthy are not noted. Bolded cards are ones that I will try out.
Avacynian Priest - 3x blinding mage variants makes this guy pretty sad.
Chapel Geist - Nice body on this flier. I think this is better than the first striker, even with the double white.
Feeling of Dread - I love these types of cards, but needing to be U/W really kills it.
Moment of Heroism - I think this is better than Mighty Leap. I would rather play the universal Fortify type pumps though.
Rebuke - AWOL, but more main-stream. This is probably better than a few white removals I have.
Spare from Evil - there are a lot of variables at work here. I don't think I can fit any more utility spells though.
Village Bell-Ringer - 3 drops are really tight, but this is a sweet trick. Doesn't really fit with white, unfortunately.
Voiceless Spirit - Nice flier, but again, 3 drops are packed. I think this is better than Cloud Crusader, though.
Claustrophobia - Good blue removal.
Delver of Secrets - Exactly what you want. Small mana investment, big payoff.
Forbidden Alchemy - my views on Impulse have been well known. It isn't very good, since the card quality in pauper cube is pretty steady. I would rather have card advantage than card selection.
Makeshift Mauler - The drawback is non-existent, and a 4/5 for 4 is pretty big.
Moon Heron - 3 power fliers for 4 have long been out-dated imo.
Sensory Deprivation - Nullify a creature for 1 mana? This might actually be decent. I have to think about it more.
Silent Departure - bounce is way too good in pauper cube to consider this.
Stitched Drake - already mentioned. This is exactly what blue wants.
Stitcher's Apprentice - too hard (impossible?) to abuse.
Dead Weight - pretty cheap. I think I'd rather have an instant, but this kills a lot, so maybe it's worth it?
Ghoulraiser - I wish this could be added. It's going to be awesome in limited.
Markov Patrician - I love child of night, this is even better.
Stromkirk Patrol - this is probably the fattest black creature behind Abomination available. I'll debate it over Zombie Boa.
Vampire Interloper - sweeeeet.
Victim of Night - top tier removal spell.
Ashmouth Hound - too many good 2 drops. I don't think this is too close to making the cut.
Bloodcrazed Neonate - great when backed by removal.
Brimstone Volley - deals a lot of damage, and I don't think morbid is hard to trigger.
Kessig Wolf - it's a bit pricy to activate, but War-Spike Changeling is pretty great.
Night Revelers - this probably has haste a good amount of the time. I don't really run 5 drops in red though.
Nightbird's Clutches - this is a solid faulter effect.
Pitchburn Devils - seems like a great high-end card for an aggro deck.
Village Ironsmiths - 3 power 2 drop, kind of...
Ambush Viper - Awesome card. I think this actually makes it into normal cubes, too.
Darkthicket Wolf - too many good 2 drops, even if this is hard to block.
Festerhide Boar - Morbid seems easy to trigger, and a 5/5 trample for 4 is a sick deal.
Orchard Spirit - this is a reprint of Treetop Rangers.
Prey Upon - seems like solid removal.
Ranger's Guile - seems great vs removal. not sure if that's enough, though.
Spider Grasp - expensive, but great on defense.
Woodland Sleuth - green would love a gravedigger. Being random is kind of a shame though.
there it is. A lot of stuff I want to add =x
My Trading Post! Bunches of valuable EDH/Modern/Legacy stuff, looking for foil commons!
Always remember: Rarity changes don't balance cards that are overpowered in constructed formats.
It's a decent card, it'll be a big player in Innistrad limited for sure. Still, I don't think it makes it into most of our cubes - yeah, I think it's probably better than shortcutter (which is surprisingly good), but red two drops are terrible, and red three drops are really good. That's the only reason.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
I can definitely see this being the case. I just didn't see wolfer comment on it at all, which I found surprising since I think it's among the more interesting (not quite in, but can't quite discount it) cards in the set.
My Trading Post! Bunches of valuable EDH/Modern/Legacy stuff, looking for foil commons!
Always remember: Rarity changes don't balance cards that are overpowered in constructed formats.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Edit: Done!
First Impressions - Innistrad
See cards here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/article.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/innistrad/cig]
WHITE
Abbey Griffins: Very obviously doesn’t stack up with other options. Vigilance with two toughness is mostly worthless, since it won’t be able to block much.
Avacynian Priest: Humans make up ~20% of Pauper cubes, so even though Blinding Mage variants are annoyingly colour intensive, this still isn’t good at all.
Bonds of Faith: It’s versatile, but I would much rather have a Pacifism than a bad pump enchantment. Pacifisms are already removal spells that are relatively easy to answer, so reducing the targets makes this a bit too narrow for my tastes. I’d say not cubeable, but might be testable for some.
Chapel Geist: Actually pretty decent as a flying beater. The worst part about this is the WW in the casting cost, and white mana bases are already strained. Pass for now, but might be worth a second look.
Doomed Traveler: Reminds me of Tukatongue Thallid. This is better, but I still don’t think it’s cubeable. Maybe if we had more good equipment or more useful things to do with flying 1/1s. At any rate you would still need it to die first, and before then it does nothing.
Elder Cathar: Solid enough, especially as white has a lot of Humans, but not a big enough effect or cube.
Ghostly Possesion: Easily destroyed, and actually gives them a useful blocker and is otherwise just atrocious removal.
Moment of Heroism: A nifty little combat trick that just really doesn’t do enough. Why play this over a creature?
Rebuke: Not bad removal, but at three mana it’s certainly not better than Smite, and that doesn’t usually get cubed. Not good enough.
Selfless Cathar: I’m not sure what to do with this. It’s either a sorcery speed +1/+1 one time effect, a chump blocker with the potential for a very telegraphed (and thus very unlikely) blowout, or something worse. Not cubeable.
Silverchase Fox: Significantly worse than Ronom Unicorn and Kami of Ancient Law. Not cubeable.
Smite the Monstrous: Really not enough large creatures, but even without the restriction it would be questionable at four mana.
Spare from Evil: White’s beatstick creatures are for the most-part already evasive. There are a large number of relevant creatures this doesn’t affect. I guess it’s testable, but I’m not a fan.
Thraben Purebloods: Simple vanilla filler. Nope.
Thraben Sentry//Thraben Militia: Simply far too small before transforming, and as a four mana creature, who knows how many turns you’ll be waiting (anything more than two is just terrible), especially if your creatures are evasive.
Unruly Mob: Slow, and a useless card played on any turn other than two.
Urgent Exorcism: I would play Revoke Existence before this. Spirit isn’t a relevant creature type in Pauper cube.
Village Bell-Ringer: A really nifty trick in the same way Stonehorn Dignitary is nifty, but not cubeable. Three mana is too much to hold up and is very obvious.
Voiceless Spirit: Dies to pingers and otherwise underwhelms. First strike on a flying creature is redundant for the majority of the time.
BLUE
Armoured Skaab: A pretty easy “nope” on this one. Simply bad.
Claustrophobia: I’m a little worried about the double blue cost, but it’s not bad as removal for blue. Probably cubeable, but not a staple.
Curse of the Bloody Tome: Not at all cubeable, unless you have some crazy crazy cube where mill is a consistent wincon. You crazy cuber you.
Delver of Secrets//Insectile Aberration: Totally brilliant in a control deck. Allows you to drop a threat while keeping counter mana up. I think people will try to force this into aggro decks and be disappointed – you need to run this in if not a full-on control deck then at least one with strong control elements to it for this to work. Sits in exactly the same slot as Thakalos Scout as a card that won’t usually close the game for you, but beats until you’re able to land your finisher and means you have to worry about keeping that alive for less time.
Deranged Assisstant: Doesn’t provide anything blue needs. Not cubeable.
Dream Twist: Mill again. Nope.
Fortress Crab: If you have a section in your cube where you include cards to be drafted as drink coasters, this is perfect.
Frightful Delusion: Soft counters for three are bad. In Wondrous Easterland this is amazing, but at most other times you’ll be wishing you hadn’t drawn this turn five, or a similar scenario.
Hysterical Blindness: A well-known, awful, effect. Sneak Razor Boomerang into your draft deck instead and risk a DQ by the Head Cubist. It’ll probably win you more games. Maybe.
Lost in the Mist: Pretty cool combination of effects. Gives a really nice tempo swing, but for five mana this is just far too expensive.
Makeshift Mauler: I’m not sure an invasive creature fits the bill as a blue finisher. He’s big, though. Definitely cubeable, but blue is tight and there may not be room.
Moon Heron: We’ve seen it before, and we don’t need it.
Selhoff Occultist: A ‘vanilla’ 2/3 doesn’t even come close.
Sensory Deprivation: So –X/-0 is a blue Innistrad theme? Weird. Not good, of course.
Silent Departure: Probably the best common Unsummon variant yet, but being a sorcery makes this a lot worse. Five is a lot too, and the value of the tempo gain you get at that point in the game is questionable.
Spectral Flight: An enchantment that pumps and isn’t Rancor, in the tightest colour. We’re done here.
Stitched Drake: A perfectly decent control finisher. This will lend itself more to the slightly more aggressive ones (i.e. more than 9 creatures) for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t make it any less great.
Stitcher’s Apprentice: Turns your removal’d creatures into bears. Alone he’s a bit weak though, and he’ll probably be the target of removal first. Also very easy to ping away. Not good enough, even if Oglor is the man.
Think Twice: Hey! New art!
Testable: Makeshift Mauler
BLACK
Altar’s Reap: I’m actually rather intrigued by this. The important thing to note with this one is that it’s an instant, so you can sacrifice creatures in response to removal. Two mana’s not too hard to keep up if you have a beater online, either. The value of this just depends on how much you expect your creatures to be killed, as there’s no card advantage involved. There’s no real point on using this on your own turn, or anything like that, as anything other than a desperation play. I’d say it’s worth testing, but might not be quite good enough.
Brain Weevil: Really not good, even in a heavy discard deck.
Corpse Lunge: I keep calling this one Corpse Lunch by accident. Omnomnom. Three mana removal is already clogged with good cards in black. No.
Curse of Oblivion: Graveyard decks are (mostly) not a valid deck type in cube, so not one that needs to be hosed. It’s true you can make a ‘Gravedigger’ deck, but this is far too narrow.
Dead Weight: Sorcery speed Disfigure that can be used on creatures you can’t quite kill to screw with combat math or some such shenanigans. Seems really good, as Disfigure has always been solid. Cubeable.
Ghoulcaller’s Chant: Raise Dead has been covered before, and Zombies are pretty uncommon overall.
Ghoulraiser: Same as above; this is mostly a bad bear.
Gruesome Deformity: Just not close to good. Auras with small effects open you up to two-for-ones and are just a waste of a card.
Manor Skeleton: There are better regenerator walls. Haste is mostly pointless. Nope.
Markov Patrician: One toughness is a big problem for a three drop. Child of Night is a disposable cheap attacker that gives a sweet life swing, but this needs to do significantly more for three, and it doesn’t.
Night Terrors: Bad discard, and not worth it.
Rotting Fensnake: When this isn’t dying to pingers, unable to attack, or being killed by an unkicked Burst Lightning, it’ll just be on the table looking ugly. Because it’s bad.
Skeletal Grimace: Easily responded to, and otherwise underwhelming. Wicked cool art doesn’t always translate, unfortunately.
Stromkirk Patrol: It’s big, but probably not that good. No evasion makes connecting annoying, and for five a 4/3 is just not okay. There should be more than enough ways to prevent this ever connecting more than once by turn five.
Typhoid Rats: Actually a fairly cool blocker. One drops are good. Unfortunately it’s totally defensive and black really doesn’t need more ways to stop creatures at sorcery speed with all sorts of conditions. Not cubeable.
Vampire Interloper: Stormfront Pegasus! Well, Welkin Tern. Call it what you like, I call it Winning. Cube this.
Victim of Night: Doesn’t hit a few targets, but not enough to make this not worth running. I would put this at roughly the same as Rend Flesh, deck dependant, as it’s harder to cast colour wise and hits slightly less, but costs 1 less mana. Very cubeable.
Walking Corpse: Keep walking, bud. Door’s that way.
Testable: Altar's Reap
RED
Ashmouth Hound: Better flanking is very cool. I think this is better than Goblin Shortcutter, but I’m still undecided about whether I want it in (as I’m cutting the Shortcutter). I’d call this one cubeable. Very aggressive, and that’s absolutely what red needs right now.
Bloodcrazed Neonate: Another aggressive two drop. I find myself wanting to cube both of these, because the curve really needs it. The attacking every turn drawback isn’t negligible with just one toughness, but this is still quite good. I prefer Hound though.
Brimstone Volley: High quality burn is something you want around. It’s even splashable! Cubeable.
Crossway Vampire: A really useful effect on a good body. And I’m resisting the obvious joke. Testable.
Curse of the Pierced Heart: Slow. Really, really slow. Goblin Fireslinger if you must have this effect. Topdecking this turn 5+ is just a hilariously bad draw.
Feral Ridgewolf: The three slot’s quite clogged up already, and this doesn’t stand out any more than any other available option. Nope.
Furor of the Bitten: A bad pump spell, or bad removal? You decide! Or better yet, don’t run this, and don’t decide.
Geistflame: Comprehensively outclassed by Lava Dart. Not cubeable.
Harvest Pyre: Would be worth a second look if it could hit players as well, but you need to drop three cards to just get this close to Incinerate levels… and it really isn’t worth the effort.
Infernal Plunge: Not at all designed for cube, and not really workable here in any form.
Kessig Wolf: Again, the three drops are tight, and this is really unremarkable.
Night Revelers: This part of the curve is sewn up, and occasional-haste doesn’t beat out other options. Don’t run it.
Nightbird’s Clutches: Better with Flashback, but the effect is very narrow and not something to spend a card on. I’ll pass.
Pitchburn Devils: A good creature, but it doesn’t do what I want my five drops to do, which is win the game. I’d rather play a cheap burn spell and not have to worry about my 3/3 being useless because of blockers. Most likely it’ll be hard to get it to die when you need it to, and hard to get it to connect when you need that. Overall not as good as it first looks.
Riot Devils: Very vanilla, very no.
Tormented Pariah//Rampaging Werewolf: My take on Transform Wolves is that not only will it sometimes be tricky to get them to activate, but with the very possible chance that they flip back they often become quite useless. This possibility and effort means they need to be at least a little relevant in both states, and not just a dead card that gets you nowhere. A 3/2 is at least something you can work with (although I don’t get why a wimpy human is a 3/2…?), but the transformed state is the obvious cake here. I’m not convinced it’s cubeworthy, but testable.
Traitorous Blood: A really cool card. I’d say this one is definitely testworthy. It’s probably worse than Act of Treason thanks to the cost though – trample’s not that relevant really.
Vampiric Fury: Tribal Cubes only. And really, that just isn’t that possible within Pauper, anyway.
Village Ironsmith//Ironfang: Not a fan of this one. As before, this needs to be relevant in the original state, and it’s just not. The first strike is meaningless, and by the time you get it to flip and stick that way you’ve probably lost the aggressive edge of having the 3/1 first striker, keeping in mind this is the same turn cards like Stormfront Pegasus and Porcelain Legionnaire go online. I don’t think it’s testworthy.
Testable: Crossway Vampire, Traitorous Blood, Tormented Pariah//Rampaging Werewolf
GREEN
Ambush Viper: A sweet mix of abilities that should make this one cubeable for most. Run it!
Caravan Vigil: Too many better options. If you don’t have the land you need and you have to resort to using this in the first couple of turns, you should have mulliganed!
Darkthicket Wolf: A mana suck that’s not good enough most of the time.
Festerhide Boar:I didn’t like this at first, but I think you should be able to get this to go off as a huge threat to be dealt with. Large creatures are scary in Pauper, and this is no exception. It’s not a game ender on the scale of the Wurms or Kavu Primarch though. Testable, but there’s not definitely going to be room.
Gnaw to the Bone: Flashback makes this
greatstill terrible. No.Grave Bramble: is this a Plants vs. Zombies reference? At any rate, not cubeable. Cool though.
Grizzled Outcasts//Krallenhorde Wantons: Possibly better than Tangle Hulk. The card is a big beatstick that turns into a bigger beatstick, but either way you’re swinging with a large guy that will win you the game if he keeps connecting. I wouldn’t be too upset if this just stayed as a 4/4 for most of the time if it meant it put pressure on my opponent in the lategame to manage it. Probably fairly cubeable; testworthy.
Kindercatch: This is good for mono green, but that deck just doesn’t exist and the commitment to green in that cost is obscene. Not cubeable.
Moonmist: Doesn’t apply to us.
Orchard Spirit: Actually an interesting creature, but flying creatures do exist and it probably won’t work. That said, evasion (other than trample) is so rare in green that this may be worth coming back to. For now I won’t test it, though.
Prey Upon: Just really good removal. It’s conditional, but all green removal always is and these conditions at least fit the usual gameplan. Big creatures shouldn’t be too much of a problem provided you do this
on your opponent’s turnafter damage has worn off from the attackers. For one mana, you can’t go wrong. Compared to the other similar sorcery speed removal options in Green (Lignify and Utopia Vow), this definitely sits in a good position. Cubeable.Ranger’s Guile: A just okay response to removal that still isn’t worth cubing with. Fair enough card though.
Somberwald Spider: If you have a flying problem with green, then this might be okay. For five mana it’s a bit too defensive, though. Testable on the side of not cubeable.
Spidery Grasp: It’s okay, but I wouldn’t cube it. Three is a lot to hold up, and the card it costs won’t always guarantee removal.
Villagers of Estwald//Howlpack of Estwald: Possibly very cubeable. When compared to Centaur Courser, which is solid, this has a lot of upsides. This is the right point in the game for players to start not having a spell to play each turn, too. Going out on a limb and saying cubeable, but it will need testing to back this up.
Woodland Sleuth: A slightly bigger Gravedigger that also has all these ugly conditions slapped on. A bit too tricky to get it to do exactly what you want. Not really cubeable.
Testable: Festerhide Boar, Grizzled Outcasts//Krallenhorde Wantons
COLOURLESS
Blazing Torch: This is a very useful removal spell on the cheap which leans towards being better in the aggro decks for a change. It was good in Zendikar, and the rarity drop makes this worth it. Cube this.
Cobbled Wings: Compare Neurok Stealthsuit. The effect’s not really enough, but it’s close. Not bad, but not quite cubeable.
Ghoulcaller’s Bell: Not in cube it ain’t.
One-Eyed Scarecrow: Strange, and narrow, and a defender. Ugh.
Traveller’s Amulet: Wanderer’s Twig is okay, but you certainly wouldn’t need two. Not cubeable.
Wooden Stake: Wanderer’s Twig is okay, but you certainly wouldn’t need two. Not cubeable.
MULTICOLOUR
Bump in the Night: A flashback black Lava Spike isn’t good enough. You won’t win with burn and no board presence!
Avacyn’s Pilgrim: Really not good enough for this colour combination. Maybe they should give it exalted… and make it tap for green and blue…
Travel Preparations: Same as above; GW is chocka.
Forbidden Alchemy: This card is excellent. Impulse is fantastic because it lets you dig three deep for your answer to the board state during your opponent’s turn, and this lets you do it twice, with one more card. Instant speed means that the increased mana cost isn’t too much of a problem, because you can always do it EOT while holding your counter mana up. I like Recoil and Probe better, but in my opinion this is significantly better than Dimir Infiltraitor, Soul Manipulation, or Agony Warp. Very cubeable, provided you support control.
Feeling of Dread: Reminds me of Moment’s Peace, but not quite as good. I would rather have Silkbind Faerie, Curse of Chains or Azorius First Wing, though.
Testable: Feeling of Dread
Conclusion
Tons and tons of good stuff. Nothing that's really broken good or super powerful except perhaps Brimstone Volley, but overall a good bump to the quality of cards (but especially in red, finally). How good the Werewolves are is anyone's guess at this stage though, but given your opponent gets to interact with them to try to force flips, they're probably slightly worse than however bad/good you think they are.
And if you haven't already, go check out Lanxal's review here! http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=357614
G Omnath, Locus of Mana G
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Pauper {360} 2013 REVIVAL UPDATE
Having unbalanced multicolour quantities will have a bigger effect as the size of your cube decreases, but as this section makes up a small amount of the cards in a cube, this shouldn't have a massive impact. The best thing I can suggest is to try to figure out what strategies frequently appear and do well as legitimate archetypes, and figure out how those are helped/hindered by the changes. Although having equal numbers of cards in each section is a useful (and organised) way of balancing the cube, but due to fluctuations in the actual use of different cards this does not always provide total balance. You may be able to do this in a way that's beneficial t oyour cube, but that also depends on how important the 'equal number of cards' thing is for you.
G Omnath, Locus of Mana G
=CUBE=
Pauper {360} 2013 REVIVAL UPDATE