I restrict myself to Modern and the reanimation options there are sad, but I think even so I'd rather run no reanimation before I run Summons. I run Rescue though because at least it's more interesting and has a higher ceiling.
Murderous Cut I also like at 3. I value Ribbons at a 3 too, it's a card I'm happy to first pick and even happier to cast.
I played Rescue From the Underworld in Theros block limited and a really janky Standard budget brew, and I can't say I'd want to run it in my cube. It's flavorful, it can blank a removal spell, and get some extra mileage out of ETB and death triggers, but it's also painfully slow. Not only do you have to pay 5 mana and sac a creature you've already invested mana into for it to do anything, but also because the creatures come back during your upkeep whatever you bring back still has summoning sickness even if you cast it during the opponent's end step. It's unique, and it does enough different things at the same time, that I wouldn't say it's completely unplayable, but you'd have to be going pretty deep on recursive strategies to want it, because it's so much less efficient than Victimize or Dread Return. A 1 seems right here.
Ruthless Disposal - 0? 1? Description - Did anyone test this, or have relevant experience from EM limited that might translate? It's a 3 for 2 which is bad..., but it kills everything that can be targeted… but the '3' card cost also includes 5 mana for this and on average probably at least a few mana you spent casting the creature you sacrifice… can't cast it if your board is empty... can't cast it as a top deck... Seems pretty clunky to me.
I remember this card well from EMN limited, and opinions seemed to be pretty divided on this card among limited players. It may be card disadvantage, but there were plenty of situations where tossing your worst card and worst creature that's outclassed in the later game to get rid of the opponent's worst creature would be a 3-for-2 you'd be happy to take. There were also plenty of creatures that weren't even really staying away for good like Ghoulcaller's Apprentice or Haunted Dead in that environment, so it was decent removal in that environment. However, paying 5 mana for unconditional removal is a great deal in retail limited, in Peasant cube, not so much. Comparing this to cards like Ashes to Ashes and Reckless Spite makes Ruthless Disposal look a lot worse, and I don't think it's actually better than the 5-mana unconditional single-target removal they keep printing at common like Final Reward. I think we can give it a 0, but I could see cube managers that are actively depowering their removal wanting this as a pseudo-Damnation that takes some extra work.
Murderous Cut to 3. I don't have any direct experience so I guess undervalued it slightly; I need to create a 'black removal pile' and cycle in some of these cards from time to time (as well as piles for other categories of cards).
Necromantic Summons to 1. I think the description explains when you might cube it, even if it isn't high on the list.
Let's play catch up on Amonkhet now that it has been out a while. I haven't played any of these in a cube setting, and there are some potentially iffy 'build arounds', but you know me, err on the side of inclusion.
4 - Staple - Cards with enough base power that your cube is less powerful from their omission. They are cards that are likely to never rotate out of your cube unless you ban them for being too good. 3 - Strong - These are solid cards that get the job done. Their exclusion is probably an indicator that you are actively not supporting a popular deck / archetype / effect. 2 - Playable - These are good cards, but they are either interchangeable (e.g. lots of removal, aggressive red 2-drops) or are build-around cards that need a little support to be good (Favorable Winds). 1 - Niche - These cards aren't usually considered great, but might be included to support some obscure archetypes, specific interactions, or if going deep on a particular type of deck / archetype / effect. No reason to cube - There isn't a reason to cube these over options. You might find some perfectly 'playable' cards here, but there is little reason to put them into your cube in the first place unless you are intentionally depowering an effect.
Festering Mummy - 1 (Shambling Goblin to 0) Description - It can take out x/2's on it's own if required, but even just making a larger creature a little smaller can still be beneficial even if it can't trade. A little better in a defensive deck than aggressive, and slightly better if you can sacrifice it. A -1/-1 counter theme is probably not a thing in most cubes, but if you do you might want to give it more consideration. Anchors - Supports - Sacrifice
Cursed Minotaur - 2 Description - Fine for black aggro. Doesn't do anything flashy, but the menace will help it get through, and potentially open your opponent up to combat tricks if they double block. Anchors - Supports -
Lord of the Accursed - 1 Description - It's a clear signal card for a Zombie deck, but they might not be as prevalent in your cube as you might initially think. If you cube it, you will need to dedicate some additional slots to at least a couple of other zombie matters cards, which most non-Zombie decks won't want. Anchors - Zombie Tribal Supports -
Bone Picker - 2 Description - Paying a single mana for this is excellent, and even at 4 mana it isn't bad. Getting a creature to die isn't a foregone conclusion but happens frequently in games of magic. Anchors - Supports - Sacrifice
Supernatural Stamina - 2 Description - Protects from most removal and helps win combat for a single mana. Negative compared to some protection spells; creature comes back into play tapped. Upside; retriggers enter the battlefield triggers, and 'protects' creatures from sacrifice effects. Anchors - Supports -
Lay Bare the Heart - 2 Description - For most peasant cubes, this just means 'nonland card'. That is a fine range of targets for 2 mana. Playable if you want this type of effect but not essential. Anchors - Supports -
Trial of Ambition - 1 Description - You are generally better off playing the instant speed Edicts (and those may already be a little shaky); the only reason to consider this is if you also cube enough cartouche's. Getting multiple activations out of this IS going to add up, but you obviously need to dedicate a bit of space in your cube to the Trial / Cartouche subtheme. Anchors - Supports -
Cartouche of Ambition - 1 Description - It's not great removal, and there are only so many of your own targets where the power boost and life link combo will be great (mainly evasive creatures). Probably only for cubes that have depowered their removal to make auras a little better. Anchors - Supports -
Wander in Death - 1 (Mostly copied Death's Duet and modified to account for cycling. Death's Duet and Morbid Plunder to 0.) Description - You could view it as a black Divination, with some caveats. It has upside of always getting you business spells to cast, where a Divination can draw you lands you don't need. If you don't have targets, you can always cycle it. Can help with other recursion creatures like Eternal Witness to grind out advantage. Death Denied has a higher ceiling, but this is more splashable and smooths draws if that matters for your cube design. Anchors - Supports -
Ruthless Sniper - This isn't very good if you aren't getting triggers. The effect is fine, but it isn't going to get triggers consistently enough, even if you cube all of the better looters and 'discard for effect' cards.
Doomed Dissenter - Outside of some corner cases, Sultai Emissary is better, as sometimes you can manifest it into something big.
Wasteland Scorpion - You probably just want to cube a better deathtouch creature.
Grim Strider - There might occasions where this would perform, but not consistently enough, especially when even if it's best mode it is still a vanilla big creature, with potential for downside chucked on.
Soulstinger - It might be annoying to face, but there are higher impact options.
Horror of the Broken Lands - It doesn't look horrible, with two modes that aren't a complete fail, but it also is rarely going to be really good either.
Nest of Scarabs - Too inconsistent; you need to trigger it 3 times almost immediately for you to get value, and that just isn't going to happen often enough.
Trespasser's Curse - Doesn' do enough; you can get this type of effect attached to creatures or with other upside.
Faith of the Devoted - It doesn't affect the board, and requires too much investment.
Grim Strider is probably playable in really low curve decks that top out at 4, but a 4 mana 5/5 that restricts deckbuilding is really not what you want. I could some hypothetical black sections that could use it, but realistically it's a 0.
Horror of the Broken Lands isn't horrendous, but you have to evaluate it at better than a 6/5 cycling vanilla for it to be good, which is pushing it. Playable, but not good enough to cube.
No way ruthless sniper will ever get enough triggers. You can get like a looter and a one shot in your deck and you're running a squire
I wonder if catouche of black could be a 2. It's so ridiculous in amonkhet draft I thought to try it out.
Maybe only if the removal is dialed down can it work, though.
I don't think festering mummy is as good as the typhoid rats type of cards that I'm already only a tentative 2 on
Typhoid Rats is probably better as a pure defensive creature, but the upside of Mummy is that it's good on defense while also being something you're happy to sacrifice, if you want to support that kind of deck. Even though I want it to be good I'm still not convinced it's a 2 though, but it's at least a 1.
I wonder if catouche of black could be a 2. It's so ridiculous in amonkhet draft I thought to try it out.
Maybe only if the removal is dialed down can it work, though.
You're not even that high on Banewhip Punisher, which is either a 2/2 or B more for a murder instead of the +1/+1 lifelink enchantment so I'm hard pressed to see the cartouche as anything more than a 1. Is +1/+1 lifelink aura that valuable?
I still feel Ruthless Sniper is worth a niche rating. I agree that you won't get enough triggers if you just throw it into most of our cubes without any changes. But I think you could make it work by making some conscious swaps of other effects that have 'discard for benefit' effects that are still playable on their own, on top of the standard looting effects most of us play. Like Bloodrage Brawler, Burning-Fist Minotaur, Heir of Falkenrath, Macabre Waltz, Mask of Memory, Noose Constrictor, Rakdos Guildmage. That was based on a quick gatherer search so I'm sure there are plenty of others. (Magical Christmas Land bonus round - play Land Tax, strip deck of lands until I have to discard, distribute 3 -1/-1 counters every turn!)
When it comes to the Cartouche, I used to play Gift of Orzhova, which I still think is probably fine, but it never got drafted so I removed it. Cartouche seems similar; you trade flying and get a -1/-1 counter. Which I'd guess is probably worse on average, but will always depend on board state.
I thought Festering Goblin was originally a 2, but it was a 1. Festering Mummy is strictly better, but I'm fine for it to replace the Goblin at 1.
The single-discard effects dont make ruthles sniper playable. You either need like 7 of them in your deck, or 3 multiple-discard outlets, or some combination (2 and 2, let's say).
You just get nothing from the plain body, and getting one trigger isn't worth the card (which is why I set my single discard effect so high. 2 triggers may be good enough, but you'd want a reasonable shot at 3 so you're not just scraping by)
It also doesnt just work with a card like bloodrage brawler if you play brawler on curve. Or rakdos guildmage because 5 mana is a ton. It even has a hard time fitting in efficiently with enclave cryptologist
I'm inclined to agree with Leelue here. Ruthless Sniper worked in AKH limited because it was just stuffed with Cycling commons and uncommons, so it wouldn't be hard to build your deck around it and a few other Cycling payoffs like Drake Haven. I'm having a much tougher time imagining a cube with enough self-discard effects to make Ruthless Sniper consistent, and it's not even that great of a payoff even if you do.
Speaking of AKH limited build-arounds, it was pretty hard to make Nest of Scarabs do enough in that format to justify being a 3 mana do-nothing, and I don't think there are anywhere near enough enablers that make the cut to make it worthwhile for C/Ube.
Zero seems right for both of these cards to me.
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465 card Unpowered cube thread. Draft it here and I'll be happy to return the favor.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
4 - Staple - Cards with enough base power that your cube is less powerful from their omission. They are cards that are likely to never rotate out of your cube unless you ban them for being too good. 3 - Strong - These are solid cards that get the job done. Their exclusion is probably an indicator that you are actively not supporting a popular deck / archetype / effect. 2 - Playable - These are good cards, but they are either interchangeable (e.g. lots of removal, aggressive red 2-drops) or are build-around cards that need a little support to be good (Favorable Winds). 1 - Niche - These cards aren't usually considered great, but might be included to support some obscure archetypes, specific interactions, or if going deep on a particular type of deck / archetype / effect. No reason to cube - There isn't a reason to cube these over options. You might find some perfectly 'playable' cards here, but there is little reason to put them into your cube in the first place unless you are intentionally depowering an effect.
Labyrinth Guardian - 2 Description - Most cards of this type also trigger on effects, but this only triggers on spells, making it much better; most of the time if your opponent is going to cast a spell on your creatures, it is some form of removal anyway. Decent stats, and something worth considering if you want to push blue aggro, while also being two bodies for sacrifice decks, or even control decks that need an early blocker. Anchors - Supports - Sacrifice, Graveyard Matters
Cartouche of Knowledge - 2 Description - As long as you get it into play, the replacement draw mitigates the usual aura drawback, and power boost plus evasion is decent, particularly if your opponent doesn't have an answer. Depending on the board state, can also be a decent top deck. Anchors - Supports -
Censor - 2 Description - It will feel good when you hit something, and while the window of opportunity is low, you can also cycle it when it isn't likely to help your game plan any more. Anchors - Supports -
Open into Wonder - 1 Description - It looks a little clunky, but there is certainly some upside to be had. There is opportunity for lots of lines of play, but they will ultimately depend on what you include in your cube. If you support blue aggro / tempo, sending in 2 or 3 guys to get the opponent low and draw into the likes of Undo or Man-o-War could seal the deal. In a control deck that is going wide, you might be able to win in one swing. Anchors - Supports -
Slither Blade - Gudul Lurker is better if you really want this effect at 1 mana.
Seeker of Insight - It has three toughness, and looks like it anchors spells matters, but you would nearly always just prefer Merfolk Looter.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands - It has a few quirky interactions, and it has multiple modes, but each mode isn't particularly good and the flexibility doesn't make up for it.
Hieroglyphic Illumination - Glimmer of Genius has a better effect. The cycling here is worth something, and it is an ok card, but not enough to warrant cubing.
Trial of Knowledge - Glimmer of Genius (and probably some other filtering cards) is better in the majority of situations that you wouldn't want to cube these, even if you care about Trials / Cartouches.
I think Naga Oracle is a pretty safe 0. A 2/4 body for 4 is horrid, and paying 4 mana for card filtering just isn't where you ever want to be.
Censor is somewhere between a 1 and a 2. Kind of hard to place because the cycling is so cheap, but I would lean towards a 2.
How is Winds of Rebuke a 2? Disperse got a 0, and I doubt that a mill 2 is worth 2 points, especially when it also fuels your opponent's graveyard synergies. I could see it at a 1, but even then that's relying on a lot of synergies.
Galestrike is probably just too expensive. If Repulse wasn't a card I could see it at 1, but that's not the case.
Trial definitely feels closer to 0 than 1, but if there are any redeeming factors about it, it's that it's an enchantment and it has the bonus effect with Cartouches. This + any Cartouche + Mesa Enchantress would be a good time, and those cards are niche-to-playable on their own.
I think I used my quota of brain farts on this one. I cube Repulse, so I don't know why I even considered Galestrike. And I forgot about Into The Roil, so 0 for Winds of Rebuke.
Hieroglyphic Illumunation can got 1.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands I remember people talking about and seemed a bit divided. But 0 is fine by me.
Wholeheartedly agree, 3 at a minimum. It kills everything, at instant speed and it's really not that hard to make it cost next to nothing.
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
I run the two enchantments. I guess I just wanted a non-enchantment spell, and reanimate is too expensive money-wise.
Murderous Cut I also like at 3. I value Ribbons at a 3 too, it's a card I'm happy to first pick and even happier to cast.
My cube discussion thread
I played Rescue From the Underworld in Theros block limited and a really janky Standard budget brew, and I can't say I'd want to run it in my cube. It's flavorful, it can blank a removal spell, and get some extra mileage out of ETB and death triggers, but it's also painfully slow. Not only do you have to pay 5 mana and sac a creature you've already invested mana into for it to do anything, but also because the creatures come back during your upkeep whatever you bring back still has summoning sickness even if you cast it during the opponent's end step. It's unique, and it does enough different things at the same time, that I wouldn't say it's completely unplayable, but you'd have to be going pretty deep on recursive strategies to want it, because it's so much less efficient than Victimize or Dread Return. A 1 seems right here.
I remember this card well from EMN limited, and opinions seemed to be pretty divided on this card among limited players. It may be card disadvantage, but there were plenty of situations where tossing your worst card and worst creature that's outclassed in the later game to get rid of the opponent's worst creature would be a 3-for-2 you'd be happy to take. There were also plenty of creatures that weren't even really staying away for good like Ghoulcaller's Apprentice or Haunted Dead in that environment, so it was decent removal in that environment. However, paying 5 mana for unconditional removal is a great deal in retail limited, in Peasant cube, not so much. Comparing this to cards like Ashes to Ashes and Reckless Spite makes Ruthless Disposal look a lot worse, and I don't think it's actually better than the 5-mana unconditional single-target removal they keep printing at common like Final Reward. I think we can give it a 0, but I could see cube managers that are actively depowering their removal wanting this as a pseudo-Damnation that takes some extra work.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Necromantic Summons to 1. I think the description explains when you might cube it, even if it isn't high on the list.
Rescue From The Underworld to 1 based on comments.
Ruthless Disposal to 0, too clunky.
Urborg Uprising to 0.
Ribbons of Night 3. Another card I should chuck in my cube.
I'll move Necrologia to 1.
Though I do like the unholy grixis trinity of Ribbons, Bit Blast and Prophetic Bolt
My cube discussion thread
4 - Staple - Cards with enough base power that your cube is less powerful from their omission. They are cards that are likely to never rotate out of your cube unless you ban them for being too good.
3 - Strong - These are solid cards that get the job done. Their exclusion is probably an indicator that you are actively not supporting a popular deck / archetype / effect.
2 - Playable - These are good cards, but they are either interchangeable (e.g. lots of removal, aggressive red 2-drops) or are build-around cards that need a little support to be good (Favorable Winds).
1 - Niche - These cards aren't usually considered great, but might be included to support some obscure archetypes, specific interactions, or if going deep on a particular type of deck / archetype / effect.
No reason to cube - There isn't a reason to cube these over options. You might find some perfectly 'playable' cards here, but there is little reason to put them into your cube in the first place unless you are intentionally depowering an effect.
Festering Mummy - 1 (Shambling Goblin to 0)
Description - It can take out x/2's on it's own if required, but even just making a larger creature a little smaller can still be beneficial even if it can't trade. A little better in a defensive deck than aggressive, and slightly better if you can sacrifice it. A -1/-1 counter theme is probably not a thing in most cubes, but if you do you might want to give it more consideration.
Anchors -
Supports - Sacrifice
Cursed Minotaur - 2
Description - Fine for black aggro. Doesn't do anything flashy, but the menace will help it get through, and potentially open your opponent up to combat tricks if they double block.
Anchors -
Supports -
Lord of the Accursed - 1
Description - It's a clear signal card for a Zombie deck, but they might not be as prevalent in your cube as you might initially think. If you cube it, you will need to dedicate some additional slots to at least a couple of other zombie matters cards, which most non-Zombie decks won't want.
Anchors - Zombie Tribal
Supports -
Bone Picker - 2
Description - Paying a single mana for this is excellent, and even at 4 mana it isn't bad. Getting a creature to die isn't a foregone conclusion but happens frequently in games of magic.
Anchors -
Supports - Sacrifice
Supernatural Stamina - 2
Description - Protects from most removal and helps win combat for a single mana. Negative compared to some protection spells; creature comes back into play tapped. Upside; retriggers enter the battlefield triggers, and 'protects' creatures from sacrifice effects.
Anchors -
Supports -
Lay Bare the Heart - 2
Description - For most peasant cubes, this just means 'nonland card'. That is a fine range of targets for 2 mana. Playable if you want this type of effect but not essential.
Anchors -
Supports -
Trial of Ambition - 1
Description - You are generally better off playing the instant speed Edicts (and those may already be a little shaky); the only reason to consider this is if you also cube enough cartouche's. Getting multiple activations out of this IS going to add up, but you obviously need to dedicate a bit of space in your cube to the Trial / Cartouche subtheme.
Anchors -
Supports -
Cartouche of Ambition - 1
Description - It's not great removal, and there are only so many of your own targets where the power boost and life link combo will be great (mainly evasive creatures). Probably only for cubes that have depowered their removal to make auras a little better.
Anchors -
Supports -
Wander in Death - 1 (Mostly copied Death's Duet and modified to account for cycling. Death's Duet and Morbid Plunder to 0.)
Description - You could view it as a black Divination, with some caveats. It has upside of always getting you business spells to cast, where a Divination can draw you lands you don't need. If you don't have targets, you can always cycle it. Can help with other recursion creatures like Eternal Witness to grind out advantage. Death Denied has a higher ceiling, but this is more splashable and smooths draws if that matters for your cube design.
Anchors -
Supports -
Horror of the Broken Lands isn't horrendous, but you have to evaluate it at better than a 6/5 cycling vanilla for it to be good, which is pushing it. Playable, but not good enough to cube.
I wonder if catouche of black could be a 2. It's so ridiculous in amonkhet draft I thought to try it out.
Maybe only if the removal is dialed down can it work, though.
I don't think festering mummy is as good as the typhoid rats type of cards that I'm already only a tentative 2 on
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
My cube discussion thread
Cubetutor link - 380 Peasant Cube
I still feel Ruthless Sniper is worth a niche rating. I agree that you won't get enough triggers if you just throw it into most of our cubes without any changes. But I think you could make it work by making some conscious swaps of other effects that have 'discard for benefit' effects that are still playable on their own, on top of the standard looting effects most of us play. Like Bloodrage Brawler, Burning-Fist Minotaur, Heir of Falkenrath, Macabre Waltz, Mask of Memory, Noose Constrictor, Rakdos Guildmage. That was based on a quick gatherer search so I'm sure there are plenty of others. (Magical Christmas Land bonus round - play Land Tax, strip deck of lands until I have to discard, distribute 3 -1/-1 counters every turn!)
When it comes to the Cartouche, I used to play Gift of Orzhova, which I still think is probably fine, but it never got drafted so I removed it. Cartouche seems similar; you trade flying and get a -1/-1 counter. Which I'd guess is probably worse on average, but will always depend on board state.
I thought Festering Goblin was originally a 2, but it was a 1. Festering Mummy is strictly better, but I'm fine for it to replace the Goblin at 1.
Morbid Plunder to 0 as well.
You just get nothing from the plain body, and getting one trigger isn't worth the card (which is why I set my single discard effect so high. 2 triggers may be good enough, but you'd want a reasonable shot at 3 so you're not just scraping by)
It also doesnt just work with a card like bloodrage brawler if you play brawler on curve. Or rakdos guildmage because 5 mana is a ton. It even has a hard time fitting in efficiently with enclave cryptologist
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
Speaking of AKH limited build-arounds, it was pretty hard to make Nest of Scarabs do enough in that format to justify being a 3 mana do-nothing, and I don't think there are anywhere near enough enablers that make the cut to make it worthwhile for C/Ube.
Zero seems right for both of these cards to me.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
Amonkhet blue stuff up to our current cmc.
4 - Staple - Cards with enough base power that your cube is less powerful from their omission. They are cards that are likely to never rotate out of your cube unless you ban them for being too good.
3 - Strong - These are solid cards that get the job done. Their exclusion is probably an indicator that you are actively not supporting a popular deck / archetype / effect.
2 - Playable - These are good cards, but they are either interchangeable (e.g. lots of removal, aggressive red 2-drops) or are build-around cards that need a little support to be good (Favorable Winds).
1 - Niche - These cards aren't usually considered great, but might be included to support some obscure archetypes, specific interactions, or if going deep on a particular type of deck / archetype / effect.
No reason to cube - There isn't a reason to cube these over options. You might find some perfectly 'playable' cards here, but there is little reason to put them into your cube in the first place unless you are intentionally depowering an effect.
Labyrinth Guardian - 2
Description - Most cards of this type also trigger on effects, but this only triggers on spells, making it much better; most of the time if your opponent is going to cast a spell on your creatures, it is some form of removal anyway. Decent stats, and something worth considering if you want to push blue aggro, while also being two bodies for sacrifice decks, or even control decks that need an early blocker.
Anchors -
Supports - Sacrifice, Graveyard Matters
Cartouche of Knowledge - 2
Description - As long as you get it into play, the replacement draw mitigates the usual aura drawback, and power boost plus evasion is decent, particularly if your opponent doesn't have an answer. Depending on the board state, can also be a decent top deck.
Anchors -
Supports -
Censor - 2
Description - It will feel good when you hit something, and while the window of opportunity is low, you can also cycle it when it isn't likely to help your game plan any more.
Anchors -
Supports -
Open into Wonder - 1
Description - It looks a little clunky, but there is certainly some upside to be had. There is opportunity for lots of lines of play, but they will ultimately depend on what you include in your cube. If you support blue aggro / tempo, sending in 2 or 3 guys to get the opponent low and draw into the likes of Undo or Man-o-War could seal the deal. In a control deck that is going wide, you might be able to win in one swing.
Anchors -
Supports -
Censor is somewhere between a 1 and a 2. Kind of hard to place because the cycling is so cheap, but I would lean towards a 2.
How is Winds of Rebuke a 2? Disperse got a 0, and I doubt that a mill 2 is worth 2 points, especially when it also fuels your opponent's graveyard synergies. I could see it at a 1, but even then that's relying on a lot of synergies.
Galestrike is probably just too expensive. If Repulse wasn't a card I could see it at 1, but that's not the case.
I'd put Hieroglyphic Illumination at 1. It doesn't trigger Young Pyromancer-type cards when cycled, but is nice enough for any control deck and does enable things like Enigma Drake and Cryptic Serpent.
Illumination is probably a 1.
Trial of knowledge just can't compete with the many 4 drop instants.
Open into wonder is probably a 1 or 0.
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
Vizier, Winds of Rebuke, Galestrike agreed on being 0.
Between Careful Consideration and Concentrate, it seems like Trial of Knowledge should be a 0?
My cube discussion thread
Hieroglyphic Illumunation can got 1.
Vizier of Tumbling Sands I remember people talking about and seemed a bit divided. But 0 is fine by me.
And Trial can go to 0.
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