I tried out a hexproof aura strategy in my cube recently, but I had a little trouble finding cards that truly synnergised well with the strategy. That's both in cube construction and drafting. I really wasn't convinced that [cardPrimal Huntbeast[/card] or Rubbleback Rhino had merit as cube cards. The decks did end up coming together, but the fact that the majority of the time you were making Knight of Cliffhaven bigger, which just seemed kind of bad. With the advent of heroic though, I think we finally get a couple of legitimately good targets. Wingsteed Rider and Akroan Skyguard are potentially very powerful cards and Setessan Oathsworn has potential.
Of course, the spells/auras that work best with heroic aren't exactly the same as those that work best with hexproof creatures or with the filler creatures that you'll still end up having to play. However, I do think there is enough overlap that I'd rather play good heroic creatures and good hexproof creatures (read: Silhana Ledgewalker)than include mediocre creatures in either category. The best heroic enablers (like Travel Preparations) are still very good on hexproof creatures and vice versa.
I don't think Heroic is viable in a cube. It's overall a terrible ability and it wouldn't even work in Theros limited if there would be more hard removal.
I agree. All the heroic cards are pretty mediocre on their own, while the G/x auras cards with the exception of perhaps Aura Gnarlid are at least okay since hexproof is a great mechanic given how much removal we have access to and the auras still make normal creatures huge threats and occasionally grant good abilities like regeneration. A dedicated hexproof/auras deck has only rarely come together in my cube, but I don't think that's a huge problem because the cards still get played. I'm not sure that would be the case for Heroic, although you do have more control over that with a 360 card cube.
Of course, the spells/auras that work best with heroic aren't exactly the same as those that work best with hexproof creatures or with the filler creatures that you'll still end up having to play. However, I do think there is enough overlap that I'd rather play good heroic creatures and good hexproof creatures (read: Silhana Ledgewalker)than include mediocre creatures in either category. The best heroic enablers (like Travel Preparations) are still very good on hexproof creatures and vice versa.
The best heroic enablers, along with the best auras / hexproof creatures, are just good cards that you'd probably include anyway. The question is how much more support you'd need to make the archetype viable. I agree with Al that you'd probably want to play almost all of white's protection suite, along with quite a few combat tricks - part of what made heroic okay in Theros limited (along with the lack of removal) is that there were so many heroic enablers. But that's a lot of cards for only a few very narrow heroic cards. I don't think that's really worth it.
To support Heroic or any other mechanic that relies on one large creature that is either ramped into or supplemented with Enchantments or other sort of effects requires adjusting the removal spells that exist around it. Formats like Rise of the Eldrazi and Theros did this by limiting the amount of cheap instant speed unconditional removal that was available to players. Pauper cubes tend to have lots of these spells by the nature of players simply selecting the highest powered versions of each type of card to include. If you want this sort of mechanic to work, you need to make the environment less hostile.
I know the kill spells in Rise, and the ones you list are all very good in Pauper cube, but were not so universally applicable in the environment, not just because of ramp, but because of the other strategies in the format built around dedicating resources to creatures already in play, including Aura Gnarlid, Kiln Fiend, Bloodthrone Vampire, and Levelers.
Vendetta is the only one of those three that is cheap and instant, and Vendetta has vastly diminishing returns in a format with walls, common 8/8 creatures, and larger ramp targets beyond that.
Flame Slash is very good early, but again, doesn't work as well against ramp targets or levelers or Aura Gnarlids that grow outside its range almost immediately.
Staggershock was solid at dealing with levelers or Bloodthrone early, but only if you catch them at the right time.
I didn't bring this up earlier, but the other way Rise dealt with the typical removal > creatures dynamic is to have token producers, which obviously leave creatures around afterward to make it so one removal spell isn't as big a downer. Only Staggershock among these three deals with two creatures, but not too well when it comes to most of the token makers.
All this is to say, there's no problem with having good removal in Pauper cube. I just think making the removal less universal and making it so evaluating each piece of removal for its actually relevant pros and cons in a draft is not only more conducive to strategies devoting resources to creatures like the mechanics in Rise, but also more interesting to draft.
I'm really not a fan of Hexproof as a mechanic because it is so unfun/fair to play against even though it does make creature enchantments playable. However, I don't think Heroic is really the best answer to not playing Hexproof. While heroic makes targeting creatures with enchantments even better, it doesn't offset the problem of getting 2 for 1'd by any removal/bounce spell.
Maybe I should put it differently: for anyone running aura strategies, Wingsteed Rider is as natural a fit as Aura Gnarlid and is better in decks that only run a few targets as it's actually passable without heroic (obviously not terribly powerful though). I'm not even sure about the skyguard, but rider is just so efficient that I can't see it being bad in a cube that runs a decent number of things that can target it. It's still a good card even if you're not all in on it.
I have to agree that going all-out to support this deck is probably not worth it due to the high number of removal spells and the low number of passable heroic creatures. Maybe the next set might deliver?
There have been so many times when I've considered playing some of the Infect creatures with errata turning their ability to Wither instead. I haven't quite gone that far in changing the function of cards just to cube with them, but man, so many Infect creatures would be fantastic with Wither instead, and Priests of Norn is high on that list (along with Razor Swine, Rot Wolf, Blightwidow, and Blight Mamba).
Of course, the spells/auras that work best with heroic aren't exactly the same as those that work best with hexproof creatures or with the filler creatures that you'll still end up having to play. However, I do think there is enough overlap that I'd rather play good heroic creatures and good hexproof creatures (read: Silhana Ledgewalker)than include mediocre creatures in either category. The best heroic enablers (like Travel Preparations) are still very good on hexproof creatures and vice versa.
What do other pauper cubers think?
Draft it on Cubetutor!
I agree. All the heroic cards are pretty mediocre on their own, while the G/x auras cards with the exception of perhaps Aura Gnarlid are at least okay since hexproof is a great mechanic given how much removal we have access to and the auras still make normal creatures huge threats and occasionally grant good abilities like regeneration. A dedicated hexproof/auras deck has only rarely come together in my cube, but I don't think that's a huge problem because the cards still get played. I'm not sure that would be the case for Heroic, although you do have more control over that with a 360 card cube.
The best heroic enablers, along with the best auras / hexproof creatures, are just good cards that you'd probably include anyway. The question is how much more support you'd need to make the archetype viable. I agree with Al that you'd probably want to play almost all of white's protection suite, along with quite a few combat tricks - part of what made heroic okay in Theros limited (along with the lack of removal) is that there were so many heroic enablers. But that's a lot of cards for only a few very narrow heroic cards. I don't think that's really worth it.
Vendetta is the only one of those three that is cheap and instant, and Vendetta has vastly diminishing returns in a format with walls, common 8/8 creatures, and larger ramp targets beyond that.
Flame Slash is very good early, but again, doesn't work as well against ramp targets or levelers or Aura Gnarlids that grow outside its range almost immediately.
Staggershock was solid at dealing with levelers or Bloodthrone early, but only if you catch them at the right time.
I didn't bring this up earlier, but the other way Rise dealt with the typical removal > creatures dynamic is to have token producers, which obviously leave creatures around afterward to make it so one removal spell isn't as big a downer. Only Staggershock among these three deals with two creatures, but not too well when it comes to most of the token makers.
All this is to say, there's no problem with having good removal in Pauper cube. I just think making the removal less universal and making it so evaluating each piece of removal for its actually relevant pros and cons in a draft is not only more conducive to strategies devoting resources to creatures like the mechanics in Rise, but also more interesting to draft.
PS. Best Heroic enabler. Hidden Strings
I have to agree that going all-out to support this deck is probably not worth it due to the high number of removal spells and the low number of passable heroic creatures. Maybe the next set might deliver?
Draft it on Cubetutor!