The most cubey paper set they've printed yet, I figured they would have some sort of Savannah Lions at common to emulate the critical mass of aggro beaters in cube lists. Elite Vanguard is a fantastic downgrade.
Peregrine Drake allows for an actual infinite combo with Ghostly Flicker+Chronarch effect, while still being a reasonable piece on its own unlike Cloud of Faeries. Now, whether that's something I want in the format, I'm not sure, but it's worth noting.
I don't think Sylvan Might is overcosted. Its slightly worse than the already playable Predator's Strike if we ignore flashback, but the flashback is what makes it awesome. If you go into combat with this in the graveyard, it makes combat extremely awkward for your opponent. They can block, in which case you can pump to kill their blocker, or they can let your attack go through, in which case you can cast whatever you want second main phase. It essentially gives one of your creatures Darkthicket Wolve's ability (with trample), which is pretty solid.
Is Desperate Ravings actually good? The discard at random bothers me a bit.
Peregrine Drake allows for an actual infinite combo with Ghostly Flicker+Chronarch effect, while still being a reasonable piece on its own unlike Cloud of Faeries. Now, whether that's something I want in the format, I'm not sure, but it's worth noting.
A 4 card combo (Ghostly Flicker + Peregrine Drake + Mnemonic Wall like effect + outlet) that won't be online most of the time until at LEAST turn 5 or 6 doesn't sound like it's going to be as back breaking as you think as long as your cube is healthy.
are all interesting. I like the drake even without a combo, he is fine for a control deck that needs a body T5 but still wants to hold up counter/removal mana. Plus he can even ramp you if you with the bounce lands. ravings, sage, and the goose all give me more of a reason to try to fit a GY theme into my cube.
Peregrine Drake allows for an actual infinite combo with Ghostly Flicker+Chronarch effect, while still being a reasonable piece on its own unlike Cloud of Faeries. Now, whether that's something I want in the format, I'm not sure, but it's worth noting.
A 4 card combo (Ghostly Flicker + Peregrine Drake + Mnemonic Wall like effect + outlet) that won't be online most of the time until at LEAST turn 5 or 6 doesn't sound like it's going to be as back breaking as you think as long as your cube is healthy.
I should clarify, I don't think it's necessarily too powerful, but it's not necessarily a direction I want to encourage. Ghostly Flicker is already a strong lategame value engine that doesn't really need the extra capability, and I'm not sure it needs another tool.
Rally the Peasants is one of the best boros cards we have, so I think it is definitely an auto include based on power level as well. I agree with the rest of the list, and I'm now convinced to add Peregrine Drake.
Being able to advance your boardstate with no mana investment is pretty good, and a 2/3 flyer is not a bad body to have. It's by no means a staple, but i definitely think its good enough. I certainly prefer it over the 4 mana 2/3 flash creatures. Also, fun times with Ghostly Flicker.
Initially didn't notice that Desperate Ravings was an instant... I think I am going to include it now, as Izzet is one of my weaker guilds.
Counterpell: the Duel Decks one is literally my least favorite of the ~8 current options, so I guess change to this I cube a Masques foil and use Tempest in constructed decks.
Daze: the Nemesis art is "iconic" but I never actually liked it much. New one could be basically any recently printed counter, but it looks quite nice and wouldn't fault anyone for making the change. Also, a new foil will be somewhere around $80 less than an OG one, so I just might look into it myself.
Deep Analysis: the Jesper Ejsing one (from Duel Decks, now in EMA) is way, way better than the original Cephalid nonsense. I love old frame blue foils more than anything, though, but if that's not your priority then I'd definitely recommend an EMA foil.
Firebolt: Odyssey (or Duel Deck for modern frame) by a million miles!
Kird Ape: Arabian Nights! Such sweet art. It's rare for me to skip a Nielsen option on a card, but it's an easy choice here.
Memory Lapse: the new one is not bad at all, but it can't compare to the Mark Tedin judge version (or Guay's Mirage one).
Mogg War Marshal: if you're not attached to the original for nostalgia, the new art looks pretty sweet.
Phantom Monster: ehhh, pass, but I guess the light blue will look cool with foil. The Beta version is pretty typical "bad" 1993 Magic art, but I like the kitsch and would run that as my Monster of choice. Guay's 5ED is very cool, but has a white border.
Hymn to Tourach: Quinton Hoover Hymn is perhaps the finest art to ever appear on a Magic card. Play that one.
Chain Lightning: it's not BAD, it just looks identical to the M10 Lightning Bolt. Legends one is much sweeter
Great expansion for us. I don't play functional copies nor strictkly worse's, so no twin brothers on my cubes, but really glad to see other stuff.
YES!
Sylvan Might is a card I've wanted at common for so long... great art (I still remember the big store posters back in oddissey times) and really good effect for GY
Rally the Peasants excelent, go Boros go.
Night's Whisper really nice, goodbye Sign in Blood.
Peregrine Drake I will try it, maybe it's time to include Empty the Warrens and Frantic Search and see what happens n.n
Elite Vanguard is really cool, I have to thin my white 1-slot section to make room for it...
Kird Ape finally a black-expansion-symbol with that cool art =)
Elephant Guide the same, I can now replace the proxy I've been using (black-expansion-symbol =P )
MAYBE
Cephalid Sage could be a better Gurmag Drowner, but I must test it.
Warden of Evos Isle I think is more of a constructed card.
Desperate Ravings is going in for a try, but I think that without good madness cards it could end up being just an Izzet Think Twice
NO
Nimble Mongoose I don't think this works in out limited.
Emperor Crocodile I don't have a swarm archetype in green and finally I don't think I'm gonna include it, so no.
Wildfire Emissary no, because of pro-red.
Phantom Monster may be solid, but it's too boring for my tastes.
Humble seems funny with all 1/1 tokens white has, but I think that we have better stuff.
Dragon Egg may be good but I don't like walls in low CMC.
Prowling Pangolin I don't quite see it. If only had trample or menace...
Yavimaya Enchantress its worse than Aura Gnarlid, for me. Few relevant non-aura enchantments and the Gnarlid can get inside any permapump deck, with equipments or +1/+1 counters.
I really liked the Werebear art, but the flavour text kills it for me. That I am a libertarian myself has nothing to do with it, the original is hilarious.
I would loved to see Beetleback Chief and Roar of the Wurm at common, but I suppose it wasn't healty for the format (which seems very fun and nostalgic-flavoured).
Random Thougth: Call of the Herd is too good for our format?
Memory Lapse: JvC version. Modern border *and* Rebecca Guay? Sign me up. The new art is still very good, though.
Daze: I like the new one quite a bit. Probably will pick it up.
Hymn to Tourach: I would do unspeakable things if it meant that the Quintin Hoover art would be reprinted in a modern frame. The new art is fine, it just doesn't quite compare.
Phantom Monster: Why couldn't they just re-use Rebecca Guay's 5ed art? I'll be playing this one because it's not white-bordered and its in a modern frame, but it always hurts to pass up a Guay piece.
Deep Analysis: The Dual Decks / EMA one is really cool looking. Personally, I never really liked the Cephalids anyway.
Elephant Guide: I really like the new art. Feels much more in line with what the card does than the old art.
Firebolt: JvC version, hands down. The new one feels completely generic.
Kird Ape: New version; the old art is iconic but never really did much for me. Always felt like a grainy Bigfoot sighting picture or something.
Chain Lightning: Legends art is much more unique, but I want a not foiled, modern border version so I'll be getting this.
I think your cube still has potential to include a minor sacrifice theme. You basically only need 2 Nantuko Husk and Carrion Feeder in blakc and 2 steal effects in red to support a nice synergy. And those cards are strong outside their archetypes as well. You included way too many mediocre cards for the sac archetype anyway.
Im sill not sold on the drake. Yeah its cute with Flicker, once in 5 drafts, but what does it do on its own? A 2/3 flying on turn 5 seems outclassed.
If you want to be fancy, why not include High Tide, Cloud of Faeries, Snap, Frantic Search and Temporal Fissure as well
Im sill not sold on the drake. Yeah its cute with Flicker, once in 5 drafts, but what does it do on its own? A 2/3 flying on turn 5 seems outclassed.
Tapping out around turn 5 can be problematic for a lot of blue decks, because that's when a lot of other decks start being able to do really scary things. A free okay flier with the ability to keep up mana for permisson / removal / etc. is what a lot of these decks want. Granted, I don't think the Drake is an auto-include. I'm putting it in my 5th 5CMC blue creature slot (replacing Gryff Vanguard). It might be ranked a bit higher than that, but it's pretty hard to compare it with Aven Surveyor and Prescient Chimera.
Yeah -- T5 is a crucial turn. Resolving a Drake then something else important is generally more powerful than being tapped out with an extra card in hand (in the case of Gryff Vanguard).
Yes, Vanguard is way better on T10 if you have 10 lands and no other spells, but that's a far less common scenario than needing to make a big impact on the board when the game is close on T5
@Al:
If you are re-including Mnemonic Wall-type guys, I wouldn't cut Withdraw, cause it has a cool synergy when you bounce an enemy creature and your own guy, and repeat the next turn. Sure, it is mana-intensive, but is a good lock to wait for the Ghostly Flicker.
I would keep Carrion Feeder and Traitorous Instinct, too. They are the best of each kind of effect and are good enough on their own.
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My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
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Humble is interesting but not necessary.
Mistral Charger finally joins its Stormfront Pegasus brother!
Rally the Peasants seems amazing, considering Fortify and Inspired Charge are already cubeable.
Cephalid Sage is a very cool way to add more playable (?) looters to pauper.
Glacial Wall is unbeatable without a kill spell, but still just a wall.
Peregrine Drake is a free Wind Drake+, should see play.
Warden of Evos Isle looks pretty awkward next to Peregrine Drake.
NIGHT'S WHISPER.
Prowling Pangolin probably not good without some kind of beast synergy.
Carbonize is neat but not good or necessary.
Desperate Ravings! More looting.
Dragon Egg. Eh. Death trigger is not really something that can be pulled off consistently. Payoff too low.
Ghitu Slinger. Not a common, just a missed opportunity to put Fire Imp in
Orcish Oriflamme! Overcosted by about 1.
Pyrokinesis at rare???????????
Undying Rage would be neat to add to the critical mass of auras, but it definitely looks clunky next to Rancor.
Emperor Crocodile is an old favorite. It's going in for now, but I have a sinking feeling it'll end up like Scion of the Wild, not quite good enough.
Roots! Green removal, but four mana is a lot.
Sylvan Might is overcosted by about 1 in both modes.
Yavimaya Enchantress helps open up enchantments-matter.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
my changes
tier1:
Soltari Foot Soldier - Elite Vanguard
Eyeblight's Ending - Night's Whisper
Kalastria Nightwatch - Prowling Pangolin
Monstrify - Elephant Guide
Tier2:
Warden of Evos Isle
Rally the Peasants
Wildfire Emissary
Phantom Monster
Yavimaya Enchantress
Mistral Charger
Orcish Oriflamme
Emperor Crocodile
Undying Rage
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Level 1 Judge
Is Desperate Ravings actually good? The discard at random bothers me a bit.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
A 4 card combo (Ghostly Flicker + Peregrine Drake + Mnemonic Wall like effect + outlet) that won't be online most of the time until at LEAST turn 5 or 6 doesn't sound like it's going to be as back breaking as you think as long as your cube is healthy.
I give up on the outlets for now, I think that is a good enough list
mistral charger
elite vanguard
rally the peasants
night's whisper
emperor crocodile
sylvan might
are all auto includes for me and
cephalid sage
peregrine drake
desperate ravings
yavimaya enchantress
nimble mongoose
warden of evos isle
are all interesting. I like the drake even without a combo, he is fine for a control deck that needs a body T5 but still wants to hold up counter/removal mana. Plus he can even ramp you if you with the bounce lands. ravings, sage, and the goose all give me more of a reason to try to fit a GY theme into my cube.
I should clarify, I don't think it's necessarily too powerful, but it's not necessarily a direction I want to encourage. Ghostly Flicker is already a strong lategame value engine that doesn't really need the extra capability, and I'm not sure it needs another tool.
Level 1 Judge
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Definitely going in:
Elite Vanguard
Mistral Charger
Phantom Monster
Night's Whisper
Elephant Guide
Cards I'll test:
Desperate Ravings
Wildfire Emissary
Emperor Crocodile
Sylvan Might
Rally the Peasants
Other interesting cards:
Humble
Peregrine Drake
Prowling Pangolin
Undying Rage
Yavimaya Enchantress
And a lot of cards with updated art / modern frames that I'll be picking up too.
i cant breathe
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
Level 1 Judge
Also elephant guide for those previously deterred by uncommon symbol
Personally super excited for yavimaya enchantress and auramancer x2 monk idealist, enchantment decks can get some real consistency now
Probably will also play rally the peasants and emperor crocodile. A bunch of the other stuff is interesting and cubable too.
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
Level 1 Judge
Initially didn't notice that Desperate Ravings was an instant... I think I am going to include it now, as Izzet is one of my weaker guilds.
Counterpell: the Duel Decks one is literally my least favorite of the ~8 current options, so I guess change to this
Daze: the Nemesis art is "iconic" but I never actually liked it much. New one could be basically any recently printed counter, but it looks quite nice and wouldn't fault anyone for making the change. Also, a new foil will be somewhere around $80 less than an OG one, so I just might look into it myself.
Deep Analysis: the Jesper Ejsing one (from Duel Decks, now in EMA) is way, way better than the original Cephalid nonsense. I love old frame blue foils more than anything, though, but if that's not your priority then I'd definitely recommend an EMA foil.
Firebolt: Odyssey (or Duel Deck for modern frame) by a million miles!
Kird Ape: Arabian Nights! Such sweet art. It's rare for me to skip a Nielsen option on a card, but it's an easy choice here.
Memory Lapse: the new one is not bad at all, but it can't compare to the Mark Tedin judge version (or Guay's Mirage one).
Mogg War Marshal: if you're not attached to the original for nostalgia, the new art looks pretty sweet.
Phantom Monster: ehhh, pass, but I guess the light blue will look cool with foil. The Beta version is pretty typical "bad" 1993 Magic art, but I like the kitsch and would run that as my Monster of choice. Guay's 5ED is very cool, but has a white border.
Hymn to Tourach: Quinton Hoover Hymn is perhaps the finest art to ever appear on a Magic card. Play that one.
Chain Lightning: it's not BAD, it just looks identical to the M10 Lightning Bolt. Legends one is much sweeter
YES!
Sylvan Might is a card I've wanted at common for so long... great art (I still remember the big store posters back in oddissey times) and really good effect for GY
Rally the Peasants excelent, go Boros go.
Night's Whisper really nice, goodbye Sign in Blood.
Peregrine Drake I will try it, maybe it's time to include Empty the Warrens and Frantic Search and see what happens n.n
Elite Vanguard is really cool, I have to thin my white 1-slot section to make room for it...
Kird Ape finally a black-expansion-symbol with that cool art =)
Elephant Guide the same, I can now replace the proxy I've been using (black-expansion-symbol =P )
MAYBE
Cephalid Sage could be a better Gurmag Drowner, but I must test it.
Warden of Evos Isle I think is more of a constructed card.
Desperate Ravings is going in for a try, but I think that without good madness cards it could end up being just an Izzet Think Twice
NO
Nimble Mongoose I don't think this works in out limited.
Emperor Crocodile I don't have a swarm archetype in green and finally I don't think I'm gonna include it, so no.
Wildfire Emissary no, because of pro-red.
Phantom Monster may be solid, but it's too boring for my tastes.
Humble seems funny with all 1/1 tokens white has, but I think that we have better stuff.
Dragon Egg may be good but I don't like walls in low CMC.
Prowling Pangolin I don't quite see it. If only had trample or menace...
Yavimaya Enchantress its worse than Aura Gnarlid, for me. Few relevant non-aura enchantments and the Gnarlid can get inside any permapump deck, with equipments or +1/+1 counters.
I really liked the Werebear art, but the flavour text kills it for me. That I am a libertarian myself has nothing to do with it, the original is hilarious.
I would loved to see Beetleback Chief and Roar of the Wurm at common, but I suppose it wasn't healty for the format (which seems very fun and nostalgic-flavoured).
Random Thougth: Call of the Herd is too good for our format?
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Memory Lapse: JvC version. Modern border *and* Rebecca Guay? Sign me up. The new art is still very good, though.
Daze: I like the new one quite a bit. Probably will pick it up.
Hymn to Tourach: I would do unspeakable things if it meant that the Quintin Hoover art would be reprinted in a modern frame. The new art is fine, it just doesn't quite compare.
Phantom Monster: Why couldn't they just re-use Rebecca Guay's 5ed art? I'll be playing this one because it's not white-bordered and its in a modern frame, but it always hurts to pass up a Guay piece.
Deep Analysis: The Dual Decks / EMA one is really cool looking. Personally, I never really liked the Cephalids anyway.
Elephant Guide: I really like the new art. Feels much more in line with what the card does than the old art.
Firebolt: JvC version, hands down. The new one feels completely generic.
Kird Ape: New version; the old art is iconic but never really did much for me. Always felt like a grainy Bigfoot sighting picture or something.
Chain Lightning: Legends art is much more unique, but I want a not foiled, modern border version so I'll be getting this.
Im sill not sold on the drake. Yeah its cute with Flicker, once in 5 drafts, but what does it do on its own? A 2/3 flying on turn 5 seems outclassed.
If you want to be fancy, why not include High Tide, Cloud of Faeries, Snap, Frantic Search and Temporal Fissure as well
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Blasphemy.
Tapping out around turn 5 can be problematic for a lot of blue decks, because that's when a lot of other decks start being able to do really scary things. A free okay flier with the ability to keep up mana for permisson / removal / etc. is what a lot of these decks want. Granted, I don't think the Drake is an auto-include. I'm putting it in my 5th 5CMC blue creature slot (replacing Gryff Vanguard). It might be ranked a bit higher than that, but it's pretty hard to compare it with Aven Surveyor and Prescient Chimera.
Yes, Vanguard is way better on T10 if you have 10 lands and no other spells, but that's a far less common scenario than needing to make a big impact on the board when the game is close on T5
Sylvan Might (for Wildsize probably)
Rally the Peasants
Warden of Evos Isle, as I'm supporting WU flyers.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
If you are re-including Mnemonic Wall-type guys, I wouldn't cut Withdraw, cause it has a cool synergy when you bounce an enemy creature and your own guy, and repeat the next turn. Sure, it is mana-intensive, but is a good lock to wait for the Ghostly Flicker.
I would keep Carrion Feeder and Traitorous Instinct, too. They are the best of each kind of effect and are good enough on their own.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters