I carried Aven Riftwatcher for a looong time, but now I feel my white has enough lifegain ressources elsewhere, so it got the axe.
I think more accurately white got more 1-drops and therefore is in less need of lifegainy Aven Riftwatcher. I still have a few years of white ones to gather before I exclude Riftwatcher. Aven Riftwatcher still gud when it isn't competing with Elite Vanguard.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
Seeker of the Way is bonkers. It also is only downshifted in supplementary sets, so I haven't moved it in yet. It will definitely be included when I get around to it. It is possibly even better than Topan Freeblade and I rate that 2 drop pretty well. Lifegain* and prowess on a Glory Seeker even ignoring the prowess is decent. Vice-versa with prowess without lifegain*. Seeker of the Way is a strictly better white Mage-Ring Bully, although that's not quite true because red has access to more abundant, cheap and powerful noncreature spells at common.
Not so hot on Healer's Hawk, which is weird because I rate Vault Skirge which is arguably worse that Healer's Hawk. I think I just have a prejudice for 1/1's of 1 even when they are loaded with keywords. I think I prefer Vault Skirge because I can play it with Carnophage and Vampire Lacerator. I think black's card advantage incentivises me to play slightly more 1's in that colour than I would otherwise because I can recuperate my losses when the game begins to go late. Whereas in white I'm typically looking to flood out at 2 and 3 with some land cutting tricks. I could give Healer's Hawk a go, but that would mean altering my play-style a bit, and like any self-respecting Magic player, I will refuse to alter my my play-style even when it is arguably worse than the alternative until I've been beaten repeatedly.
So uhh, I don't actually know how decent Healer's Hawk is because I've never really played it. Although I am a fan of Vault Skirge.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
Healer's Hawk on it's own, just like Vault Skirge aren't that impressive, but if you have a lot of ways to pump it (equipments, auras, combat tricks) it's really good. I personally currently don't run either, because since I cut the aura theme I simply don't have enough ways to pump it, and my white cmc 1 is also pretty full, but it's definitely in consideration for the future.
Healer's Hawk on it's own, just like Vault Skirge aren't that impressive, but if you have a lot of ways to pump it (equipments, auras, combat tricks) it's really good. I personally currently don't run either, because since I cut the aura theme I simply don't have enough ways to pump it, and my white cmc 1 is also pretty full, but it's definitely in consideration for the future.
Your artifact section is very light. I typically run a lot of the subpar equipment to juggle around. I think my logic behind running additional artifacts is that they will find a home in some deck, but typically the artifact has to provide a well costed effect not easily available to most colours. Copper Carapace and Leonin Bola is typically where I draw the line for equipment. True-Faith Censer is a weird Human centric one as well, but it can feel bad skewing deck building for relatively marginal gains. Clay Statue is colourless regenerate which is better than it sounds. And Wall of Tanglecord. It wall. If you have green it wall fliers as well. 2 mana for 0/6 is about a cheap as decent walls get.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
the usefulness of healerhawk is obv a bit connected to the amount of flyers/reach in your cube. Im a little lighter there, so Hawk is just fantastic, even without pump. I really like it, because it works in turboaggression while also setting you up to go mid/late. It also works quite well with all the exalted available in white.
It easily gets you 3 life on average, which is almost Aven Riftwatcher
My concern with Healer's Hawk isn't whether it gains life, rather whether it trades, which 1/1's rarely do. So it leads to card-disadvantage, which is often a condition for losing against non-aggro decks. Still I don't want to undervalue lifegain, just there are some decks out there that don't care whether you have 40 life or 1 life as long as they can gain control of the board.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
While revisting my old ratings in the evalute everything project I stumbled over Curse of the Pierced Heart. I think this can be a very strong effect for aggressive red decks to push through the final points of damage, when you run out of gas right in front of the finish line. This card is a staple in constructed pauper burn and considering the strength of cards like Pillory of the Sleepless and Ill-Gotten Inheritance, these
hard to deal with pesky enchantments with repeating effects can be a real nuisance. I think this might be an overlooked gem. What do you think?
Another thing is the question of Cycle lands and maybe more utility lands over all. I've found that my cube has way way to many playables, which was made awfully clear to me during the last draft where we simply stopped after the 2nd pack and everyone had a decent deck. Decreasing the amount of playables by replacing them with utility lands like Haunted Fengraf are some more the the mono colored etb-lands could be interesting.
curse plays fine in more durdly cubes. if your opponent does nothing except slowing you down or assembling an army, it does its work. in faster cubes its bad, because it takes 3 turns to become a lava spike. its also a finisher for UR control, which you like so much.
the strenght of illgotten imo comes from the drain, so you survive aggro and its sac effect to close the game.
idk about too many playables, maybe you can diversify their effects. for example tempo cards dont work in control very good, so deckbuilding is more challenging instead of just playing everything and call it a draft.
cycle lands are fore sure powerful in lower curved decks that still want to reach a certain threshold of mana.
in the end the utility lands often end as last picks either way. running more duals is also an option.
As I was just evaluating Throne of Eldraine I stumbled over Wildwood Tracker and checked how many humans I have in green. The answer is 2 out of 42. This means that in the context of a green deck this is pretty consistently a 2/2 for G. It's obviously still weak to 1 damage burn, but so is Elite Vanguard. Except for white my other colors aren't particuallry flooded with humans, so outside of GW this is actually a decent onedrop for aggro decks, I've personally overlooked, since it was pretty bad in ELD limited.
Blade Banish - An exile version of Triumpant Surge which doesn't gain life. I don't think the exile is that relevant here outside of black's recursion suite. 4 mana is a lot for conditional removal, especially when white has access to redundant Pacifisms. Reprisal is the cheapest 4 power or greater effects removals we have. Radiant Judgement is the 3 mana cycling version. Bring to Trial is the 3 mana sorcery variant of Blade Banish.
Coordinated Charge - Not worth considering over Borrowed Grace. Cycling is a bit expensive on this card, considering that decks that want to use group pump effects generally have a low curve.
Daysquad Marshal - Provides 4/4 worth of stats divided among 2 creatures for 4 mana. Worth considering in going wide strategies.
Divine Arrow - Alright removal for slower white decks. The stipulation of only being able to use this spell in combat makes it not so good for aggressive strategies.
Drannith Healer - Makes Glory Seeker look embarrassing. The cycling is very cheap which makes this card worth considering past turn 2. The life gain text is essentially irrelevant. The main downside of cycling this card is the expected outcome from the top of your library is often a land, which tends to be better when you are mana screwed, than the case where you have been drawing out smoothly and would rather a random card than a 2/2. Between Syndic of Tithes and Topan Freeblader, the existing quality of white 2 drops tends to be quite good anyway.
Helica Glider - Neither option is terribly enticing.
Imposing Vantasaur - I've ran Noble Templar for a while with decent results, and this is very similar. I think cycling 1 is a stronger effect than plainscycling 2. Again it comes down to price, so Imposing Vantasaur for Noble Templar might be an easy cut.
Light of Hope - Cheap enchantment removal is my first thought. While options are nice, the most realistic option is the +1/+1 counter at instant speed. 4 life can be relevant as well. This is the first charm that hasn't been labeled as such. It could be a niche trick or just be underwhelming.
Maned Serval - A 2 mana Yotian Soldier. Given the amount of cheap evasion creatures people tend to run, this could not make much of an impact of boards.
Patagia Tiger - Hits hard and the flying body is decent. The main drawback is not having enough humans in non-white colours. Although black has picked up a few more in recent years.
Snare Tactician - Simply not enough cycling to be worth considering.
Solid Footing - Cheap and instant speed, which makes it worth thinking about. We tend to not favour high toughness creature, so there probably won't be enough natural synergies in the average cube to make this great.
Spontaneous Flight - 3 mana is a lot for +2/+2, but you get a flying counter out of it. Not really worth the effort.
Vulpikeet - Could be decent, depending on what junk is lying around on board. Most white creatures are too big to be worth considering and not big enough to be worth considering again. However Vulpikeet synergising very nicely with Slippery Bogle strategies. So if your cube has lots of cheap hexproof, this is probably worth your time to run.
Capture Sphere - Four mana is a lot for instant speed removal, even in blue.
Convolute - This is decent purely because you can run counter magic off a blue splash. 3 mana is still a lot when Mana Leak is available. Not really worth considering in a heavy blue build, because then you have access to the double blue costed Counterspells.
Crystacean - Again what was said for Aegis Turtle. Again 4 mana is a lot and this creature isn't going to do much well other than block.
Frost Lynx - In my opinion, weaker than Man-'o-War. Still a fine card, only blue 3's are pretty stacked.
Frostveil Ambush - The cycling makes this worth considering. Instant speed frosty tapping 2 creatures can swing games. Probably worth trying out. Also cycling 1, so strong.
Glimmerbell - A combo piece for an interaction we don't have. Outside of that, this can be ok at blocking cheap fliers if you cube has an excess of 2/1 fliers, which it probably doesn't.
Gust of Wind - Errr, ok. This is no Repulse because of the speed restriction of sorcery. Also the cost reduction is conditional and creatures can be difficult to keep alive in a game of Pauper.
Keep Safe - Strictly better than Confound. But not significantly better, a least given the creature centric nature of most cubes.
Of One Mind - 1 mana draw 2 seems like the dream. However this requires at least 2 creatures down on your side of the battlefield and most of the humans are in white, not blue. In saying that, this is probably up to the power level of most cubes, but can act as a red herring in most deck building processes.
Phase Dolphin - I didn't realise that dolphins were classed as whales. I guess concessions had to be made. The piggybacked evasion is decent, but there isn't much way of suiting up this dolphin outside the odd Vulshok Morningstar or Bonesplitter.
Startling Development - This is a startlingly good blue combat trick. 'Polymorphing' creatures has been one of blues things for quite some time, but this is the first decent cheap buff. The cycling 1 really helps sell this card to be. It seems strong and I'm expecting to get a lot of play out of Startling Development.
Wingfold Pteron - 6 mana is a lot. But both the options are worth taking in the right context. Benthic Giant sees play and is is comparable.
Blitz Leech - Flash, -2/-2 and the body make for quite a succinct package for 6 mana. Black is a colour geared towards actually making it to 6 mana to take advantage of cards like this. Cuttable, but could be fun to include to add variation to builds, if people are able to use all the parts on this card.
Blood Curdle - Expensive removal with upside. The strength of this depends on the eligibility of viable targets for the menace counter. I suspect most creatures will be too small to really make the menace counter sing, and in that case it is just overcosted removal.
Bushmeat Poacher - Alright sacrifice outlet. Maybe when cubes see a higher density of high toughness creatures is this going to be useful.
Cavern Whisperer - Well stated, keyworded and makes people discard. I'm sold.
Corpse Churn - Tends to be slightly too expensive for graveyard centric decks to take advantage of.
Dark Bargain - Overcosted for the available synergies.
Dead Weight - Fairly solid reprint. Most cubes look for some cheap black removal and this is one of those pieces.
Durable Coilbug - Alright on curve although 2/2s tend to be outclassed quite easily. The recursion is expensive.
Gloom Pangolin - Another high toughness creature that we are not going to be able to take advantage of.
Lurking Deadeye - Removal on a flashy creature body. Depends of the cube to how reliably this will effectively get it's removal off. I suspect not often enough. Seems pretty decent with firststrike.
Memory Leak - Again with the cheap cycling. This could be another counterpart to Duress, or it could be overcosted. It's hard to say. I think most strong decks curve too aggressively for this to be of much use.
Serrated Scorpion - A cheap annoying body. A lot of aggro decks are missing 1 drops, and this could fit that role. Not much use to decks that don't have a low to the ground curve. Also is susceptible to losing out on card advantage.
Unlikely Aid - Combat tricks ok. Black tends to have a bit of competition in its spells between Doom Blade and whatever else people put into black that cards like Unlikely Aid tend to not make the cut.
Whisper Squad - Only worth considering running in multiples, and most cubes are singleton.
White to Black done. Other colours may come later.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
What are your thoughts on these? I tend to favor Dead Weight in the 1 CMC slot since it can permanently shrink a bigger critter and has enchantment synergy, but Last Gasp seems the better card in the 2 CMC section due to its instant speed.
Disfigure and Last Gasp are significantly better than Dead Weight and Mire's Grasp. The enchantment shrink is nowhere near as good as being instant speed here. There is little synergy for the enchantments and the permanent effect is nullified by the pace of most games. I would consider running both Dead Weight and Disfigure if you can find space because black tends to be quite thin on 1 mana answers. Whereas at 2 mana you begin to compete with Doom Blade and its ilk. Mana efficiency wins games.
On the topic of black removal, how to people rate Victim of Night and Rend Flesh? Victim of Night is 2 mana and gets most things that aren't Zombies, though costs 2 black so isn't easily splashable. And Rend Flesh gets most things. There tend to be less Spirits than Elves in cubes, so I prefer Rend Flesh over Eyeblight's Ending as my 3 mana black psuedo-destroy target creature spell of choice. Plus Rend Flesh is such a flavour win; one of the best designed cards of Kamigawa.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
Blazing Volley - Comparible to Electrickery. I prefer the 1 mana sorcery to 2 mana instant. The best case is this Arc Lightnings your opponent for cheap. However that is somewhat optimistic, Arc Lightning's strength came from the flexibility of damaging players, 1-for-1ing or 2-for-1ing depending on the board, but always being useful. Whereas Blazing Volley the strength is almost all tied into the cost, and actual impact will fluctuate a lot depending on the game. Simply put most cubes won't want Blazing Volley, unless there is an emphasis on 1 toughness creatures and going wide.
Blisterspit Gremlin - Pretty much entirely insignificant. Notable for being the cheapest uptaps whenever you cast a noncreature spell card.
Cathartic Reunion - Alright card filter. Quite weak to countermagic because the discard is an upfront cost. Obviously synergises with with discard-matters effects and flashback. Overall this is the kind of card that doesn't get ran the pure aggro, but can find a place in midrange decks which look to play 5 or so lands then no more.
Cloud Piercer - If your red section has decent mutate targets then ok, if not (and this is probably the case) not worth your time. The surprise damage off a Goblin token (or a Mogg War Marshal) seems to be where this be best suited. Red doesn't have the best abilities to combine with the stats. The card filter is ok as well, but it doesn't quite compensate for the exposed vulnerability of card disadvantage. Reach is a funny nod towards recognising red's lack of flying non dragons. 5 power out of nowhere still smacks hard. And it only takes 4 Lava Axes to win a game...
Drannith Stinger - Red is suited slightly better towards a 2 mana 2/2 cycling 1 than white is. Plays well into gotta go fast strategies, where the endgame is looking for a burn spell.
Ferocious Tigorilla - I played Vestige of Emrakul for a while and then is in most ways better. The choice between menace and trample means you get the right tool for the job most times. Although I imagine the menace counter will be chosen most times.
Fire Prophecy - Seems pretty staple. Can't target players, which means that it is slightly worse than Searing Spear in burn builds. In games where burn is mostly directed at creatures such as in midrange, Fire Prophecy is much stronger than Searing Spear. Card filter on removal is powerful.
Frenzied Raptor - A boring vanilla creature with aggressive stats. This can make a find placeholder at 3 until you get some Blood Orges and Splatter Thugs.
Go for Blood - Competes with Searing Spear. In general, fight is worse than direct damage. Cycle 1 is potent, but considering the opportunity cost of running running Searing Spear (which is almost never a dead card), then Go for Blood seems pretty bad.
Heightened Reflexes - This is a red combat trick I can see myself playing. The main downside is this will often be underwhelming, and will often live in the sideboard. Not really the kind of card I want against control. Brute Strength is probably better.
Lava Serpent - I really like this. While this seems suited as a midrange card, the body is a respectable threat late game and cycling means you can pitch it in the games where it is not relevant. Haste is really strong on the body.
Prickly Marmoset - If there was enough strong cycling this would be great.
Rumbling Rockside - At four mana I have the implicit expectation that a card should be able to deal with everything. This gets most creatures, but still not enough to justify in my mind.
Shredded Sails - Could be Searing Spear. It will hit a target more often than Smash to Smithereens. And has cycling as a kicker (not the mechanic). The main considering factor is how common are worthy artifacts and by extension fliers. Artifacts aren't that common, though it is a good feeling blowing up a Vulshok Morningstar after your opponent has sunk mana into it, the occurrences of such games is unlikely to be common enough to warrant including Shredded Sails into a main deck. Now that coloured artifacts are present outside of Alara, there might be hope for Shredded Sails in the future.
Spelleater Wolverine - Yes. I like casting cheap instants and sorceries. Getting a 3 mana 3/2 double striker even behind curve is great news.
Excavation Mole - Similar to Hyrax Tower Scout. The self-mill can fuel some decks better than others. Untapping a creature allows some midrange decks to race aggro ones.
Fertilid - Expensive to get going, and we don't have that many spare +1/+1 counters available.
Greater Sandwurm - Decent big endgame monster. The problem is most games are decided before 7 mana. And at 7 this competes with Maul Splicer. The multiple bodies help remove the vulnerability to single target removal. Cycling is costly.
Honey Mammoth - 4 life is enough to keep midrange decks functioning into late. Still the weakness to single target is likely going to make this weak against more control oriented build. And losing to control feels about as bad as losing to aggro. So ultimately not worth it. It would be nice to see this with trample.
Migratory Greathorn - Plays well with Young Wolf. Depends largely on the availability to mutate targets. Green is a colour which if built right can contain enough enticing targets. Plays nicely with Silhana Ledgewalker as well. The ramp and body are aggressively costed.
Survivors' Bond - Best case is a cheap 2 for 1. Likely outcome is you don't have the right combination to make this work. Pairs well with white, which is by far the human colour. Green does not have many humans at all.
Thwart the Enemy - One sided prevention makes for nice race conditions. Still with so much single target removal going around this might not do what you want it often enough to warrant a slot.
I REALLY like Fire prophecy. Non-player burn basically cannot make Staple unless it is ridiculous. See Flame Slash. And that is not even ubiquitous. I am glad there is better card filter options in Red. But it is not going to be as big a threat as say Magma Jet.
@Deck Thinning (E. Wilds)
It is advantage, but it takes so long to prove it that it is more of an overhyped math claim than a result.
@Mutate:
I am still trying Tom wrap my head around a proper evaluation. I think once prerelease... oh, wait... once we hear more reports trickle in, we will all be reevaluating what these do. I found spots for all 5 as they are somewhere between Ninja and Sorcery Buffs.
*Reprints are reprints. Seldom does one gain or lose value unless something major happens
If you want to be bold and use the Bad/Borderline/Cubeable system, it helps us revisit our own views and discuss. I too give high praise for Borderline cards, but still need to admit they are not necessary adds.
I carried Aven Riftwatcher for a looong time, but now I feel my white has enough lifegain ressources elsewhere, so it got the axe.
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I think more accurately white got more 1-drops and therefore is in less need of lifegainy Aven Riftwatcher. I still have a few years of white ones to gather before I exclude Riftwatcher. Aven Riftwatcher still gud when it isn't competing with Elite Vanguard.
and Seeker of the Way
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Not so hot on Healer's Hawk, which is weird because I rate Vault Skirge which is arguably worse that Healer's Hawk. I think I just have a prejudice for 1/1's of 1 even when they are loaded with keywords. I think I prefer Vault Skirge because I can play it with Carnophage and Vampire Lacerator. I think black's card advantage incentivises me to play slightly more 1's in that colour than I would otherwise because I can recuperate my losses when the game begins to go late. Whereas in white I'm typically looking to flood out at 2 and 3 with some land cutting tricks. I could give Healer's Hawk a go, but that would mean altering my play-style a bit, and like any self-respecting Magic player, I will refuse to alter my my play-style even when it is arguably worse than the alternative until I've been beaten repeatedly.
So uhh, I don't actually know how decent Healer's Hawk is because I've never really played it. Although I am a fan of Vault Skirge.
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It easily gets you 3 life on average, which is almost Aven Riftwatcher
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
If youd run empyrial armor..
Also equipments
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
hard to deal with pesky enchantments with repeating effects can be a real nuisance. I think this might be an overlooked gem. What do you think?
Another thing is the question of Cycle lands and maybe more utility lands over all. I've found that my cube has way way to many playables, which was made awfully clear to me during the last draft where we simply stopped after the 2nd pack and everyone had a decent deck. Decreasing the amount of playables by replacing them with utility lands like Haunted Fengraf are some more the the mono colored etb-lands could be interesting.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
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the strenght of illgotten imo comes from the drain, so you survive aggro and its sac effect to close the game.
idk about too many playables, maybe you can diversify their effects. for example tempo cards dont work in control very good, so deckbuilding is more challenging instead of just playing everything and call it a draft.
cycle lands are fore sure powerful in lower curved decks that still want to reach a certain threshold of mana.
in the end the utility lands often end as last picks either way. running more duals is also an option.
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Blade Banish - An exile version of Triumpant Surge which doesn't gain life. I don't think the exile is that relevant here outside of black's recursion suite. 4 mana is a lot for conditional removal, especially when white has access to redundant Pacifisms. Reprisal is the cheapest 4 power or greater effects removals we have. Radiant Judgement is the 3 mana cycling version. Bring to Trial is the 3 mana sorcery variant of Blade Banish.
Checkpoint Officer - Overcosted Gideon's Lawmage in just about every way.
Coordinated Charge - Not worth considering over Borrowed Grace. Cycling is a bit expensive on this card, considering that decks that want to use group pump effects generally have a low curve.
Daysquad Marshal - Provides 4/4 worth of stats divided among 2 creatures for 4 mana. Worth considering in going wide strategies.
Divine Arrow - Alright removal for slower white decks. The stipulation of only being able to use this spell in combat makes it not so good for aggressive strategies.
Drannith Healer - Makes Glory Seeker look embarrassing. The cycling is very cheap which makes this card worth considering past turn 2. The life gain text is essentially irrelevant. The main downside of cycling this card is the expected outcome from the top of your library is often a land, which tends to be better when you are mana screwed, than the case where you have been drawing out smoothly and would rather a random card than a 2/2. Between Syndic of Tithes and Topan Freeblader, the existing quality of white 2 drops tends to be quite good anyway.
Garrison Cat - Consider Doomed Traveler, Hunted Witness then this.
Helica Glider - Neither option is terribly enticing.
Imposing Vantasaur - I've ran Noble Templar for a while with decent results, and this is very similar. I think cycling 1 is a stronger effect than plainscycling 2. Again it comes down to price, so Imposing Vantasaur for Noble Templar might be an easy cut.
Light of Hope - Cheap enchantment removal is my first thought. While options are nice, the most realistic option is the +1/+1 counter at instant speed. 4 life can be relevant as well. This is the first charm that hasn't been labeled as such. It could be a niche trick or just be underwhelming.
Maned Serval - A 2 mana Yotian Soldier. Given the amount of cheap evasion creatures people tend to run, this could not make much of an impact of boards.
Pacifism - A staple reprint.
Patagia Tiger - Hits hard and the flying body is decent. The main drawback is not having enough humans in non-white colours. Although black has picked up a few more in recent years.
Perimeter Sergeant - Pretty much what was said for Patagia Tiger.
Savai Sabertooth - Another 3/1 for 2 cat.
Snare Tactician - Simply not enough cycling to be worth considering.
Solid Footing - Cheap and instant speed, which makes it worth thinking about. We tend to not favour high toughness creature, so there probably won't be enough natural synergies in the average cube to make this great.
Spontaneous Flight - 3 mana is a lot for +2/+2, but you get a flying counter out of it. Not really worth the effort.
Vulpikeet - Could be decent, depending on what junk is lying around on board. Most white creatures are too big to be worth considering and not big enough to be worth considering again. However Vulpikeet synergising very nicely with Slippery Bogle strategies. So if your cube has lots of cheap hexproof, this is probably worth your time to run.
Aegis Turtle - Too much evasion to effectively turtle unless that turtle is Calcite Snapper.
Anticipate - Hasn't stopped being mediocre.
Capture Sphere - Four mana is a lot for instant speed removal, even in blue.
Convolute - This is decent purely because you can run counter magic off a blue splash. 3 mana is still a lot when Mana Leak is available. Not really worth considering in a heavy blue build, because then you have access to the double blue costed Counterspells.
Crystacean - Again what was said for Aegis Turtle. Again 4 mana is a lot and this creature isn't going to do much well other than block.
Dreamtail Heron - Wretched Gryff is great. This is functionally other Wretched Gryff, given the card interactions will work differently.
Essence Scatter - Decent reprint with cool art and flavourtext.
Facet Reader - A very bad Merfolk Looter.
Frost Lynx - In my opinion, weaker than Man-'o-War. Still a fine card, only blue 3's are pretty stacked.
Frostveil Ambush - The cycling makes this worth considering. Instant speed frosty tapping 2 creatures can swing games. Probably worth trying out. Also cycling 1, so strong.
Glimmerbell - A combo piece for an interaction we don't have. Outside of that, this can be ok at blocking cheap fliers if you cube has an excess of 2/1 fliers, which it probably doesn't.
Gust of Wind - Errr, ok. This is no Repulse because of the speed restriction of sorcery. Also the cost reduction is conditional and creatures can be difficult to keep alive in a game of Pauper.
Keep Safe - Strictly better than Confound. But not significantly better, a least given the creature centric nature of most cubes.
Of One Mind - 1 mana draw 2 seems like the dream. However this requires at least 2 creatures down on your side of the battlefield and most of the humans are in white, not blue. In saying that, this is probably up to the power level of most cubes, but can act as a red herring in most deck building processes.
Phase Dolphin - I didn't realise that dolphins were classed as whales. I guess concessions had to be made. The piggybacked evasion is decent, but there isn't much way of suiting up this dolphin outside the odd Vulshok Morningstar or Bonesplitter.
Startling Development - This is a startlingly good blue combat trick. 'Polymorphing' creatures has been one of blues things for quite some time, but this is the first decent cheap buff. The cycling 1 really helps sell this card to be. It seems strong and I'm expecting to get a lot of play out of Startling Development.
Thieving Otter - Functional reprint of Stealer of Secrets. Has proven to be too susceptible to dying to be of much use.
Wingfold Pteron - 6 mana is a lot. But both the options are worth taking in the right context. Benthic Giant sees play and is is comparable.
Blitz Leech - Flash, -2/-2 and the body make for quite a succinct package for 6 mana. Black is a colour geared towards actually making it to 6 mana to take advantage of cards like this. Cuttable, but could be fun to include to add variation to builds, if people are able to use all the parts on this card.
Blood Curdle - Expensive removal with upside. The strength of this depends on the eligibility of viable targets for the menace counter. I suspect most creatures will be too small to really make the menace counter sing, and in that case it is just overcosted removal.
Boot Nipper - Straight off the heels of Smitten Swordmaster and Child of Night. But with flexibility to switch with deathtouch. And realistically how many times was Curry Favor going to be useful.
Bushmeat Poacher - Alright sacrifice outlet. Maybe when cubes see a higher density of high toughness creatures is this going to be useful.
Cavern Whisperer - Well stated, keyworded and makes people discard. I'm sold.
Corpse Churn - Tends to be slightly too expensive for graveyard centric decks to take advantage of.
Dark Bargain - Overcosted for the available synergies.
Dead Weight - Fairly solid reprint. Most cubes look for some cheap black removal and this is one of those pieces.
Durable Coilbug - Alright on curve although 2/2s tend to be outclassed quite easily. The recursion is expensive.
Gloom Pangolin - Another high toughness creature that we are not going to be able to take advantage of.
Lurking Deadeye - Removal on a flashy creature body. Depends of the cube to how reliably this will effectively get it's removal off. I suspect not often enough. Seems pretty decent with firststrike.
Memory Leak - Again with the cheap cycling. This could be another counterpart to Duress, or it could be overcosted. It's hard to say. I think most strong decks curve too aggressively for this to be of much use.
Mutual Destruction - Not enough creatures with flash. Still a strictly better Bone Splinters.
Nightsquad Commando - A black version of Mardu Hordechief. Less to do with the tokens in black than white for the meantime.
Serrated Scorpion - A cheap annoying body. A lot of aggro decks are missing 1 drops, and this could fit that role. Not much use to decks that don't have a low to the ground curve. Also is susceptible to losing out on card advantage.
Suffocating Fumes - Overcosted. Better to just play Evincar's Justice.
Unexpected Fangs - The lifelink counter is tempting. Probably decent enough. At the very least this is comparable to Mark of the Vampire.
Unlikely Aid - Combat tricks ok. Black tends to have a bit of competition in its spells between Doom Blade and whatever else people put into black that cards like Unlikely Aid tend to not make the cut.
Whisper Squad - Only worth considering running in multiples, and most cubes are singleton.
White to Black done. Other colours may come later.
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- Mire's Grasp vs Last Gasp
What are your thoughts on these? I tend to favor Dead Weight in the 1 CMC slot since it can permanently shrink a bigger critter and has enchantment synergy, but Last Gasp seems the better card in the 2 CMC section due to its instant speed.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
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powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
On the topic of black removal, how to people rate Victim of Night and Rend Flesh? Victim of Night is 2 mana and gets most things that aren't Zombies, though costs 2 black so isn't easily splashable. And Rend Flesh gets most things. There tend to be less Spirits than Elves in cubes, so I prefer Rend Flesh over Eyeblight's Ending as my 3 mana black psuedo-destroy target creature spell of choice. Plus Rend Flesh is such a flavour win; one of the best designed cards of Kamigawa.
Blazing Volley - Comparible to Electrickery. I prefer the 1 mana sorcery to 2 mana instant. The best case is this Arc Lightnings your opponent for cheap. However that is somewhat optimistic, Arc Lightning's strength came from the flexibility of damaging players, 1-for-1ing or 2-for-1ing depending on the board, but always being useful. Whereas Blazing Volley the strength is almost all tied into the cost, and actual impact will fluctuate a lot depending on the game. Simply put most cubes won't want Blazing Volley, unless there is an emphasis on 1 toughness creatures and going wide.
Blisterspit Gremlin - Pretty much entirely insignificant. Notable for being the cheapest uptaps whenever you cast a noncreature spell card.
Cathartic Reunion - Alright card filter. Quite weak to countermagic because the discard is an upfront cost. Obviously synergises with with discard-matters effects and flashback. Overall this is the kind of card that doesn't get ran the pure aggro, but can find a place in midrange decks which look to play 5 or so lands then no more.
Cloud Piercer - If your red section has decent mutate targets then ok, if not (and this is probably the case) not worth your time. The surprise damage off a Goblin token (or a Mogg War Marshal) seems to be where this be best suited. Red doesn't have the best abilities to combine with the stats. The card filter is ok as well, but it doesn't quite compensate for the exposed vulnerability of card disadvantage. Reach is a funny nod towards recognising red's lack of flying non dragons. 5 power out of nowhere still smacks hard. And it only takes 4 Lava Axes to win a game...
Drannith Stinger - Red is suited slightly better towards a 2 mana 2/2 cycling 1 than white is. Plays well into gotta go fast strategies, where the endgame is looking for a burn spell.
Ferocious Tigorilla - I played Vestige of Emrakul for a while and then is in most ways better. The choice between menace and trample means you get the right tool for the job most times. Although I imagine the menace counter will be chosen most times.
Fire Prophecy - Seems pretty staple. Can't target players, which means that it is slightly worse than Searing Spear in burn builds. In games where burn is mostly directed at creatures such as in midrange, Fire Prophecy is much stronger than Searing Spear. Card filter on removal is powerful.
Forbidden Friendship - A stronger Dragon Fodder.
Frenzied Raptor - A boring vanilla creature with aggressive stats. This can make a find placeholder at 3 until you get some Blood Orges and Splatter Thugs.
Go for Blood - Competes with Searing Spear. In general, fight is worse than direct damage. Cycle 1 is potent, but considering the opportunity cost of running running Searing Spear (which is almost never a dead card), then Go for Blood seems pretty bad.
Heightened Reflexes - This is a red combat trick I can see myself playing. The main downside is this will often be underwhelming, and will often live in the sideboard. Not really the kind of card I want against control. Brute Strength is probably better.
Lava Serpent - I really like this. While this seems suited as a midrange card, the body is a respectable threat late game and cycling means you can pitch it in the games where it is not relevant. Haste is really strong on the body.
Prickly Marmoset - If there was enough strong cycling this would be great.
Pyroceratops - Not really a fan of Pyre Hound.
Raking Claws - Great with Immolating Souleater. Typically there isn't great double striking targets, and again this comes under the category of I would rather have Searing Spear.
Rumbling Rockside - At four mana I have the implicit expectation that a card should be able to deal with everything. This gets most creatures, but still not enough to justify in my mind.
Shredded Sails - Could be Searing Spear. It will hit a target more often than Smash to Smithereens. And has cycling as a kicker (not the mechanic). The main considering factor is how common are worthy artifacts and by extension fliers. Artifacts aren't that common, though it is a good feeling blowing up a Vulshok Morningstar after your opponent has sunk mana into it, the occurrences of such games is unlikely to be common enough to warrant including Shredded Sails into a main deck. Now that coloured artifacts are present outside of Alara, there might be hope for Shredded Sails in the future.
Spelleater Wolverine - Yes. I like casting cheap instants and sorceries. Getting a 3 mana 3/2 double striker even behind curve is great news.
Tentative Companion - Simply put, no where near enough cheap menace.
Adventurous Impulse - The green Anticipate that you'll never play.
Almighty Brushwagg - An overcosted Basking Rootwalla. If the ability costed less it is likely to have been too good.
Bristling Boar - Falls behind curve of what green can cast at 4 mana.
Essence Symbiote - No way we'll have enough mutate for this.
Excavation Mole - Similar to Hyrax Tower Scout. The self-mill can fuel some decks better than others. Untapping a creature allows some midrange decks to race aggro ones.
Fertilid - Expensive to get going, and we don't have that many spare +1/+1 counters available.
Flycatcher Giraffid - Awkwardly worse than Bitterbow Sharpshooters.
Fully Grown - I prefer Predator's Strike. 3 mana is a lot for a combat trick.
Greater Sandwurm - Decent big endgame monster. The problem is most games are decided before 7 mana. And at 7 this competes with Maul Splicer. The multiple bodies help remove the vulnerability to single target removal. Cycling is costly.
Honey Mammoth - 4 life is enough to keep midrange decks functioning into late. Still the weakness to single target is likely going to make this weak against more control oriented build. And losing to control feels about as bad as losing to aggro. So ultimately not worth it. It would be nice to see this with trample.
Humble Naturalist - Ilysian Caryatid is much stronger than this. 3 toughness is ignorable to most self-respecting decks these days.
Migratory Greathorn - Plays well with Young Wolf. Depends largely on the availability to mutate targets. Green is a colour which if built right can contain enough enticing targets. Plays nicely with Silhana Ledgewalker as well. The ramp and body are aggressively costed.
Mosscoat Goriak - Defence-mode creature that we don't need.
Plummet - Bog-standard reprint.
Ram Through - Rabid Bite upgrade. Instant speed as well!
Sudden Spinnerets - Vines of the Recluse upgrade. +3 toughness means even more survivability. And a reach counter as well! Pretty stoked with this.
Survivors' Bond - Best case is a cheap 2 for 1. Likely outcome is you don't have the right combination to make this work. Pairs well with white, which is by far the human colour. Green does not have many humans at all.
Thwart the Enemy - One sided prevention makes for nice race conditions. Still with so much single target removal going around this might not do what you want it often enough to warrant a slot.
Wilt - Strictly better Naturalize. Same as what was said for Shredded Sails.
Adaptive Shimmerer - Not at all what we are looking for in colourless.
Farfinder - Worse than Pilgrim's Eye.
Mysterious Egg - Again not what is needed.
Sleeper Dart - Expensive for little upside.
Springjaw Trap - Overcosted removal.
Bloodfell Caves - Standard B/R duel.
Blossoming Sands - Standard G/W duel.
Dismal Backwater - Standard U/B duel.
Evolving Wilds - First pickable land, due to flexibility and deck thinning.
Jungle Hollow - Standard B/G duel.
Rugged Highlands - Standard R/G duel.
Scoured Barrens - Standard W/B duel.
Swiftwater Cliffs - St****rd U/R duel.
Thornwood Falls - Standard G/U duel.
Tranquil Cove - Standard W/U duel.
Wind-Scarred Crag - Standard R/W duel.
I REALLY like Fire prophecy. Non-player burn basically cannot make Staple unless it is ridiculous. See Flame Slash. And that is not even ubiquitous. I am glad there is better card filter options in Red. But it is not going to be as big a threat as say Magma Jet.
@Deck Thinning (E. Wilds)
It is advantage, but it takes so long to prove it that it is more of an overhyped math claim than a result.
@Mutate:
I am still trying Tom wrap my head around a proper evaluation. I think once prerelease... oh, wait... once we hear more reports trickle in, we will all be reevaluating what these do. I found spots for all 5 as they are somewhere between Ninja and Sorcery Buffs.
*Reprints are reprints. Seldom does one gain or lose value unless something major happens
If you want to be bold and use the Bad/Borderline/Cubeable system, it helps us revisit our own views and discuss. I too give high praise for Borderline cards, but still need to admit they are not necessary adds.
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