I really like supporting both control and aggro in all colors. Even if only one color has no aggro/tempo options, you have 5 less decks/combinations to draft. Having only one real speed available in blue gives you less options in draft.
The counter to that argument could be that blue based control requires a significant density to support and see do well in drafts. Add that to the fact that blue facilitates blink, reanimator, spells matters, and prison...there's a lot it can be doing outside of tempo. This is more of an issue for smaller cubes...as there's not enough good blue control cards to shirk tempo in a cube your size. It's a no brainer at 540. Blue control is favorite of mine so I prioritize it in my cube.
I support tempo in blue, but only as a secondary color with the highest impact cards. I have no interest in cloudfin raptor and the like.
The thing about those archetypes inscho is that beyond a couple of cards most of the pieces for those decks already fit squarely in control. Propaganda, fine. Cantrip, fine. It only has one blink enabler as far as I remember.
I don't think there are enough aggressive options in blue to support aggro very well at 500+. Also, I'd consider cloudfin raptor fairly early when compiling even a small aggressive package.
I mostly agree with you, inscho. I do like a lot of tempo cards in blue and I think it makes a great compliment to other aggro decks, but I don't like enough of blue's aggro creatures to fully support in lieu of other things. I feel, that with few exceptions, blue's aggro creature are worse than every other color's aggro creatures, so a two-color aggro deck with blue is titled more towards that other color.
For example, I can see playing a red-blue aggro deck with only 7 blue cards, but I can't see playing that deck with only 7 red cards. I'd to see a heavy blue aggro deck that other people have been able to draft, but I don't see enough reward to adjust my blue section accordingly.
And I do have a 512-card cube, so that might be a lot of my issue supporting blue beyond cards like Cloudfin Raptor, which I run and would play in a lot of different blue decks.
So, after reading a comment in the Magic Origins thread, I felt like I really want to discuss a certain card: Rix Maadi Guildmage.
A lot of people (inlcuding me) play it in their rakdos section and it might be rightly so, but with a 2 card guild section I am not sure I should. It's a card that is never picked very highly but if you're rakdos aggro and you have it in your pool, it will make the cut almost 100% of the time. Also, it also gets worse the more your decks favors one of the two colors. It's best in a deck with 8 swamps and 8 mountains and worse in a deck with 10 swamps and 6 mountains. It is a good card, but I am not sure I should play in a two card guild section above something like Bituminous Blast.
Things it has going for it:
1) Above average reach for Rakdos Aggro
2) Cross-over value in the Sacrifice deck in conjunction with Goblin Bombardment, Blood Artist, and friends.
I've kept it in my guild section so long because of that theoretical versatility. That's good stuff in a hyper small guild section. However, what I'm realizing is both decks rarely have the available mana to capitalize on it's abilities. Strap that to a vulnerable body, and you have a recipe for disappointment.
Bit-Blast is ridiculously good, and I've avoided it to keep control from having too many 5cc game-breaking spells and having a Rakdos section solely comprised of removal (alongside Fiery Covenant). I'm considering the new Hellhound as I expect it to really do some work in the Sac deck, but Blast is a more reasonable choice for power.
You guys. I finally got around to uploading my peasant list on CubeTutor. I would appreciate some drafts and some feedback either here or in my peasant thread (link in my sig). Thanks!
Looks pretty solid to me. There were a few things that were maybe too low impact, like Shuko or Sai of the Shinobi, but overall it looks like it would play well. Are you going to have all of the pain lands in there eventually? Also, I was very happy that you were using what I consider to be the best looking Incinerate. Heck, that may be my favorite art on a burn spell period.
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Thanks for checking it out! I only included the pain lands in the colors that really felt like they really needed a dual option that didn't ETB tapped. Shuko and Sai are both a little low impact, but the artifact quality, especially in equipment, is quite low at this rarity beyond the obvious mistakes that WotC has made. And as for Incinerate, I think I like Mirage art the best, but I also really like the original Ice Age art as well as the Tenth Edition art. There's some solid options for that card.
I've not played it, but Sai of the Shinobi seems ok for what may be an investment of only a single mana. You can always swing with something it is equipped to, then cast a creature on curve and equip it for free as a blocker that is harder to attack into. I think it and Shuko are similar enough that you might not want both in the same card pool; Sai of the Shinobi isn't strictly better, but I'd suspect the extra toughness is going to more relevant than the number of times you might actually pay the equip cost.
After the comments on my previous post I decided to cut Rix Maadi Guildmage. While doing so I saw Truefire Paladin and realized almost the same arguments apply to it. How has it been performing for people lately? And if I were to cut it, any suggestions for a replacement that is not Lightning Helix or Boros Charm?
It keeps surviving my cuts due to really sporadic strong showings, but I probably should cut it too. Boros charm or stun sniper (might over perform?) Would be my choices as I don't really need token support.
I already run orims thunder and I always mainboard it. Hitting a signet and a flier is tres magnifique
I was going to say Spitemare too. I still have yet to give this whole hybrid thing a spin.
Anyway, I still find that Skyknight Legionnaire still does a lot of work. It's not really that flashy, but it's gotten there a few times. I also like Bull Cerodon as another workhorse kind of creature. I run Squee's Embrace for the buff as well as the totem armor-ish kind of effect.
EDIT: I wish Blaze Commando was good, but by the time he hits the board I've probably played a lot of my burn and have no hand.
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While doing so I saw Truefire Paladin and realized almost the same arguments apply to it. How has it been performing for people lately? And if I were to cut it, any suggestions for a replacement that is not Lightning Helix or Boros Charm?
Truefire Paladin gets passed quite a lot if no one is in R/W-Aggro. It's also not a huge signal that leads people in a specific archetype. I might cut it soon as well.
Possible replacements:
- Orim's Thunder is quite interesting as well but might end up in Sideboards too often
There's not much else apart from that.
- Thundersong Trumpeter is quite flexible in playing both control and aggro and War Flare is a decent combat trick.
It keeps surviving my cuts due to really sporadic strong showings, but I probably should cut it too. Boros charm or stun sniper (might over perform?) Would be my choices as I don't really need token support.
I already run orims thunder and I always mainboard it. Hitting a signet and a flier is tres magnifique
11 unique cards were voted on! Thank you to the following voters for participating:
inscho, Chipsinabox, Darkprophet, majikian, Squirrely, Leelue, revengeanceful, BrownDog5117, El Panda Rojo, ArBoR4817, boburning, RxPhantom and midnight_baker.
Quoting my power rankings thing makes me wanna do the 2015 version, but I won't be able to until December when I return from my world travels. Leaving Thailand in a few days and I'll be off to Brazil and Costa Rica until the holiday season. I'll pick it up then.
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
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The counter to that argument could be that blue based control requires a significant density to support and see do well in drafts. Add that to the fact that blue facilitates blink, reanimator, spells matters, and prison...there's a lot it can be doing outside of tempo. This is more of an issue for smaller cubes...as there's not enough good blue control cards to shirk tempo in a cube your size. It's a no brainer at 540. Blue control is favorite of mine so I prioritize it in my cube.
I support tempo in blue, but only as a secondary color with the highest impact cards. I have no interest in cloudfin raptor and the like.
I don't think there are enough aggressive options in blue to support aggro very well at 500+. Also, I'd consider cloudfin raptor fairly early when compiling even a small aggressive package.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
For example, I can see playing a red-blue aggro deck with only 7 blue cards, but I can't see playing that deck with only 7 red cards. I'd to see a heavy blue aggro deck that other people have been able to draft, but I don't see enough reward to adjust my blue section accordingly.
And I do have a 512-card cube, so that might be a lot of my issue supporting blue beyond cards like Cloudfin Raptor, which I run and would play in a lot of different blue decks.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/peasantsnowcube
-- Updated with Outlaws of Thunder Junction
The PioneWer Peasant CUbe
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pionewer
-- Updated with Murders at Karlov Manor
And this would be my majority blue deck. I messed up my draft capabilities on cubetutor so I had to use a sealed pool, but w/e.
Blue has a few of the top options for aggro, between latch seeker, cloudfin raptor, infiltrator il-kor serendib efreet, standstill, man o war, Mist raven, Daze, and whirler rogue. It also has a bunch of cards that do very well in aggro between the control magics, saboteur effects, snap, illusory angel packages, sleep, 2 mana counterspells, and our flying manland. The only issue I have with it is the low creature count, but that's eroding with time.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
A lot of people (inlcuding me) play it in their rakdos section and it might be rightly so, but with a 2 card guild section I am not sure I should. It's a card that is never picked very highly but if you're rakdos aggro and you have it in your pool, it will make the cut almost 100% of the time. Also, it also gets worse the more your decks favors one of the two colors. It's best in a deck with 8 swamps and 8 mountains and worse in a deck with 10 swamps and 6 mountains. It is a good card, but I am not sure I should play in a two card guild section above something like Bituminous Blast.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Things it has going for it:
1) Above average reach for Rakdos Aggro
2) Cross-over value in the Sacrifice deck in conjunction with Goblin Bombardment, Blood Artist, and friends.
I've kept it in my guild section so long because of that theoretical versatility. That's good stuff in a hyper small guild section. However, what I'm realizing is both decks rarely have the available mana to capitalize on it's abilities. Strap that to a vulnerable body, and you have a recipe for disappointment.
Bit-Blast is ridiculously good, and I've avoided it to keep control from having too many 5cc game-breaking spells and having a Rakdos section solely comprised of removal (alongside Fiery Covenant). I'm considering the new Hellhound as I expect it to really do some work in the Sac deck, but Blast is a more reasonable choice for power.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/36010
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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1x Dryad Militant
1x Experiment One
1x Frenzied Goblin
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Wild Nacatl
1x Mogg War Marshal
1x River Boa
1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Stormblood Berserker
1x Guttersnipe
1x Splatter Thug
1x Bloodbraid Elf
1x Goblin Heelcutter
1x Keldon Champion
Artifact Creature
1x Porcelain Legionnaire
1x Grafted Wargear
1x Loxodon Warhammer
Instant
1x Incinerate
1x Lightning Strike
1x Magma Jet
1x Searing Blaze
1x Predator's Howl
Sorcery
1x Arc Trail
1x Regrowth
Enchantment Creature
1x Leafcrown Dryad
Land
1x Kazandu Refuge
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Rugged Highlands
1x Treetop Village
6x Mountain
5x Forest
1x Blinding Beam
1x Cultivate
1x Dragon Hunter
1x Faithless Looting
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Fireblast
1x Galvanic Juggernaut
1x Gemstone Mine
1x Lashknife Barrier
1x Lingering Souls
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Phantom Centaur
1x Pyreheart Wolf
1x Shrine of Burning Rage
1x Simic Growth Chamber
Looks pretty solid to me. There were a few things that were maybe too low impact, like Shuko or Sai of the Shinobi, but overall it looks like it would play well. Are you going to have all of the pain lands in there eventually? Also, I was very happy that you were using what I consider to be the best looking Incinerate. Heck, that may be my favorite art on a burn spell period.
My 720 Peasant Cube
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
I already run orims thunder and I always mainboard it. Hitting a signet and a flier is tres magnifique
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Spitemare depending on how you do hybrids.
Sunhome Guildmage is a quite solid tokens card
Anyway, I still find that Skyknight Legionnaire still does a lot of work. It's not really that flashy, but it's gotten there a few times. I also like Bull Cerodon as another workhorse kind of creature. I run Squee's Embrace for the buff as well as the totem armor-ish kind of effect.
EDIT: I wish Blaze Commando was good, but by the time he hits the board I've probably played a lot of my burn and have no hand.
My 720 Peasant Cube
Truefire is by no means a bad card, of course. It just... doesn't get drafted.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article