The last time we've done a Power Rankings was in 2014. For reference, here's the 2014 thread
Below you can find all the information and 'rules' for this year's Peasant Cube Power Rankings!
Read carefully, because we're doing this differently this time around! Several points were discussed to be changed to this year's power rankings, but they have been resolved by discussion or vote and incorporated into the rest of this post.
Voting process
* All categories will be open for voting at the same time.
* Voting is possible from the time the thread goes live, until December 16th (Friday).
* There will be one single voting thread. Each individual member should post/edit all their voting in one single post (see below for formatting).
* The vote consists of a Top 20 cards based on how effectively they contribute to game wins in a traditional cube environment. For colorless cards, the guilds and for lands, it will be a Top 10, Top 5 and Top 10 instead, respectively.
* The votes will be tallied with each card receiving a score in the inverse order of the votes, added to the total number of ranks in that list - so, in a Top 20 ranking the #1 card gets 40 points, the #2 gets 39 points and so on. The final score will be equal to the sum of all scores divided by the number of voters.
Categories
* Top 20 White cards
* Top 20 Blue cards
* Top 20 Black cards
* Top 20 Red cards
* Top 20 Green cards
* Top 10 Colorless cards
* Top 5 Guild cards per Guild
* Top 10 Land cards
Note: we've decided to not do a 3+ color section.
Classification Rules and Frequently Asked Questions
* How will be cards with similar effects be handled?
If the card has the exact same type, cost and effect, they are considered a single card and must be voted as a single entry. Also, if the difference in effect is small enough that differences in interaction are rare, the card is considered a single card as well. Example: Banishing Light and Oblivion Ring
As a rule of thumb you should ask: are there enough cube cards that cares about this difference? Assume a regular peasant cube, powered or not; we're not voting for pauper, commander, block or tribal-themed cubes here.
Note that this also includes (most) cycles of dual lands and similar cycles (unless specified otherwise).
When in doubt, feel free to ask. Examples of commonly included cards that fall within this rule will be given at the beginning of the voting thread.
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* Must I vote for cards I don't run in my own cube?
It's up to you. You can vote based on your experience drafting other player's cubes, for example. But if you've never played with that card or just aren't sure how to rank it, feel free to not include it at all in your ranking. However, if you are excluding a card from your own cube because you believe it is powerful enough to be unbalancing in your own cube environment (e.g. Sol Ring or Library of Alexandria), it should not be excluded from your rankings in this project because you have already made an assessment about its power level.
Note: If you feel a card is TOO powerful, you may put a red X (for overpowered) behind the name of the card. If a single card receives an 'overpowered' mark by more than 50% of the voters, it will be noted in the final ranking.
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* How are some cards classified?
- Hybrid mana counts as both colors. Example: Rakdos Cackler is Rakdos (B/R).
- Phyrexian mana counts as colorless. Example: Porcelain Legionnaire is colorless.
- Off-color kicker, flashback, alternate costs, activation costs, etc. count as all needed colors. Example: Lingering Souls is Orzhov (W/B), Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree is Selesnya (W/G), Crystal Shard is blue.
- Cards that have an ability that works when you control lands of a certain basic land type or permanents of a certain color, or even that you play spells of a certain color, will be of that color. Example: Kird Ape is Gruul (R/G), Shrine of Burning Rage is red.
Notice these rules apply even for lands and other mana sources, but:
Cards that produce mana are a special case. In addition to the rules above about costs, and to stay consistent with the previous Rankings:
- Lands that produce mana of a single color will be listed as being of that color. Example: Treetop Village is green.
- Lands that can produce only colorless mana, or mana of two or more colors, are to be voted in the Lands ranking, except for those that fall in the above rules about "costing" mana. Notice that most dual (and triple) land cycles fall into the "same card" rule.
- The following cycles are included in the Lands voting: MI Slow fetches, RAV Bouncelands, ZEN/KTK Lifegain lands, ALA/KTK Tri-lands, LW Vivids, RTR Guildgates.
- Other lands voted in Lands: Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse, Wasteland and other strictly colorless lands; City of Brass, Mirrodin's Core and other "any color" lands.
- Colorless artifacts that produce mana of two colors are included in the respective guild section. Example: Azorius Signet and Talisman of Progress are both Azorius (W/U).
- The other artifacts that produce colorless mana, mana of a single color or mana of all colors are classified as colorless. Example: Darksteel Ingot, Worn Powerstone and Fire Diamond are all colorless.
- The rules about costing mana or requiring land types still apply to mana artifacts. Thunder Totem is white.
- Colored cards that produce mana will be categorized only by the colors in their costs, not the types of mana they produce. Example: Elves of Deep Shadow, Llanowar Elves and Avacyn's Pilgrim are all Green.
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* How to vote?
Just put the lists, numbered 1-20 (or whatever number of cards is being voted), inside different Spoiler tags. That's all. It looks a little like this (example will also be in the voting thread):
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
That's it, 20 cards ranked per category, starting with the one you're more likely to draft as P1P1.
You are free to edit your vote as many times as you need, up until the moment when the thread is closed. Please make a complete ranking; partial votes will be ignored.
Also, feel free to not do all the votes at the same time. The fact that all the categories are open at the same doesn't mean you can't do them separately. Just edit different categories back into your post. As long as all the votes are in when the voting closes, it's fine.
Outside of that, please try to keep the voting post clean. A few comments aren't a problem, but if you want to talk, use this thread.
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* What cards can I vote on?
Essentially, any released Magic card that:
- is or has been an uncommon or common in any English-language Magic set (paper or online), according to Gatherer.
- is DCI approved for one or more formats of competitive Constructed Magic can be included in your voting. This excludes silver-bordered cards and Conspiracy-type cards.
However, spell cards that affect and are affected by the draft from Conspiracy and Conspiracy: Take the Crown (e.g. Cogwork Librarian) will be voted on according to their color identity like any other cards.
The following sets have been released since last year's Power Rankings:
Magic 2015 Core Set
Khans of Tarkir
Fate Reforged
Dragons of Tarkir
Modern Masters 2015
Magic Origins
Battle For Zendikar
Commander 2015
Oath of the Gatewatch
Shadows over Innistrad
Eldritch Moon
Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Kaladesh
Commander 2016
Also, since we're doing online-only commons/uncommons, make sure to check online compilation sets:
Masters Edition I, II, III, IV
Vintage Masters
Tempest Remastered
Now, some other things that aren't cards for this project: Planes, Schemes, Vanguard and anything else that isn't regular-card-sized; Theros's Hero cards and Challenge Deck cards are also excluded.
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For reference, here's the points we discussed:
Before we start, there are a couple of things we need to decide on:
1) Cards with similar effects: one entry or separate?
Near-functional reprints but with a slight difference. Example: Banishing Light and Oblivion Ring (timing of return), or Savannah Lions and Elite Vanguard (creature types).
Obviously, cards with the exact same type, cost and effect are considered a single card and must be voted as a single entry.
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes or no?
Should people vote for cards they know are powerful, but have no experience with? What about cards they banned for power level reasons?
3) Classification of certain cards 3a) Phyrexian mana as colorless or colored? 3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color?
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? (Lingering Souls, Crystal Shard)
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? (Kird Ape, Shrine of Burning Rage)
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? (Elves of Deep Shadow)
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored?
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+?
4) Lands get their own category: yes or no?
The guys over on the rare side do a separate 'lands' category. They count lands that produce a single color and/or lands that have activation costs as their respective colors, but all colorless lands and lands that produce 2 or more colors (in cycles, where applicable) go into this category.
5) Do we exclude sets? If so, which ones?
If we exclude sets, we should probably only exclude the last couple of sets (KLD, C16) and maybe un-sets.
Also, Conspiracies count here as well.
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I've seen the rare-cube guys discuss this and found a little discussion on it in previous Power Rankings threads. Never thought about this, really, but maybe it's good to discuss. Personally, I think something like 'most powerful' will do. P1p1 is too narrow, as is most game-ending. But, I still think it's good to at least discuss this a little bit.
EDIT:
8) Crossposting on Reddit/other platforms yes/no?
9) Voting on all categories at the same time (for 2-3 weeks), or do them in succession (4-5 days per category)
For 4- what about putting non-fixing lands in the respective coloured sections, (Faerie Conclave is blue, Library of Alexandria is colourless) and then all fixing lands in a separate category?
For 5 I vote no un-sets, but I don't feel too strongly.
For 6 I think it is easiest to be all-inclusive.
For 7 I think it should be some combination of "how often will you pick this" and "how much will it improve your deck when you pick it". And then it will be subjective after that. I.e. "most powerful" I guess.
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: Yes in all cases. It would seem strange to have my vote skew the results towards Modern cards just because I have a Modern cube.
3) Classification of certain cards
3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color? Treating them as both colors puts them up against guild cards, which seems like a less-than-useful comparison. What about Top 10 Hybrid Cards across all colors?
Other color issues: It might be simplest to do cards by color identity, e.g. Lingering Souls is Orzhov. Then just add that anything that necessitates another color to reach full value, like Kird Ape or Battle Brawler, counts as multicolor. I agree on artifacts and lands that produce all colors being treated as colorless.
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I would treat this as if I was making a pick order list for C/Ube. That is, unless I was drafting a deck with specific synergies that changed the contextual value, I would always take the higher-ranked card.
The reason why he's so very good is because he is black and red after all.
I would modify this slightly to say it's because he is black or red, which is fundamentally different from being black and red. I agree with valgatiag that a section for the top 10 hybrid cards would be more useful than putting them with guild cards.
For 4- what about putting non-fixing lands in the respective coloured sections, (Faerie Conclave is blue, Library of Alexandria is colourless) and then all fixing lands in a separate category?
I like this. Library is as much a colorless card as Faerie Conclave is blue.
I wouldn't bother with a 3+ color section: rare cubes have access to several cards that can be powerful enough to justify inclusion despite such tough color requirements but we generally don't.
3+ colors *could* also hold rainbow lands. Not sure if this is the best option, but that's why I wrote it the way I did.
Even without rainbow lands: What about a top 5? It can be a decent tool for people looking to include 3+ color cards.
I think it could be better to just have all the votes open at once (for e.g. 2 weeks) rather than going section by section? That way it can be kept to a single thread too (put a blank "answer sheet" for people to quote and fill in?)
Love it! This would mean a lot less time-management for me as well.
6) I like a hard definition of "if English language gatherer says it's an un/common then it is, otherwise it isn't."
So yes to all except Archnogenesis and Triskelion.
This is the easiest to check at any rate, which I'm a fan of.
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Btw, how do you guys feel about me cross-posting this on Reddit? It might be fun to see what happens if people from outside this community contribute?
I'm also definitely against a separate hybrid list, especially because not everybody lists hybrid separately.
@ Lands list: somehow it doesn't *feel* right to rank Mishra's Factory in the same list as land cycles. Not sure why this is, maybe because they serve different purposes in cube lists? They might have the same card type, but in my mind Mishra's Factory counts as a colorless card more than it counts as a land. Just like Treetop Village goes into green, I'd put Mishra's Factory into colorless.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a Lands top 10. Personally, I'd classify lands like this:
- Lands with colored activated costs go into their respective colors/guilds -> Faerie Conclave, Nantuko Monastery
- Lands that produce a single color go into their respective colors -> Cabal Pit, Teetering Peaks
- Lands that have a colorless activated ability (that's not a way to fix mana, ex: Terramorphic) go into colorless -> Maze of Ith, Mishra's Factory
- Lands that produce 2 or more colors (in cycles where necessary), or have the ability to fix or smooth your mana go into Lands top 10 -> City of Brass, Terramorphic Expanse, Tri-lands cycle, Bounceland cycle
- Lands that only produce colorless mana without doing more than produce mana go into Lands top 10 -> Urzatron, Mage-Ring Network
In short: Lands that *only* produce/fix/smooth mana go into Lands top 10, Lands that do something else/have other utility go into colors/guilds/colorless.
That said, if people feel strongly about other styles I'm fine. This just makes the most sense to me, somehow.
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Edit: Anyone AGAINST opening all the voting at the same time, vs in succession?
3a) Phyrexian mana: as colorless
3b) Hybrid mana: as guild
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? As guild
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? All needed colors
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? Single colored. Elves of deep shadow is not a golgari card. It is simply a green card that makes black cards more easily splashable in a 3+ color deck.
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored? As colored except rainbow.
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+? Agreed that there are so few playables within this category that Wild Nacatl should be noted as the best and the rest just left off.
4) Lands get their own category: I like the idea of a land category, but not for just fixing. There aren't enough notable individual cycles of lands since most people seem to want to group similar cards that Library and Ancient Tomb still leave plenty of room for all the rest of the lands.
5) Do we exclude sets? No
6) I agree with rarity based on gatherer, no Triskelion or Arachnogenesis
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I also see this as though it is a pick order list. Still a subjective answer, but that's why we're doing this project in the first place. To see everyone's opinions of what they believe is the best/most powerful C/Ube cards.
I understand your argument (and don't disagree), but it can be made the other way around. 'Lands' would be the *only* type that we vote on by card TYPE, while the other cards are classified by color identity. If Green can have creatures, spells, artifacts and lands.. why can't colorless? Colorless just means 'playable in any deck', just like white means 'playable in any deck with white'.
Also, to be entirely accurate in the light of actual 'colorless' being the 6th color now and most colorless cards counting as 'generic', maybe we should rename the category to 'Top 20 colorless/generic cards'?
And the Top 10 Lands could become: 'Top 10 fixing/enhancing lands' (better wording needed here). Ancient Tomb, for example should go into this category as well.
1. One entry -- "one mana Elf" is a top-ten green card, way better than splitting Fyndhorn/Llanowar/Mystic
2. Definitely yes
3a. Colorless
3b. Single color or separate section -- basically nobody is cutting Curse of Chains for Migratory Route, for example. Triple-hybrid guys (Hearthfire Hobgoblin and the rest of its cycle) can count as guild since something like the Hobgoblin is so hard to cast in a 2-color, not-Boros deck.
3c. Single color
3d. Single color -- forest-less Kird Ape decks don't exist, 95% of Shrine of Burning Rage decks have mountains in them
3e. Single color -- never seen Deep Shadow or Avacyn's Pilgrim in a Selesnya or Golgari section
3f. Does this mean signets? Colorless I guess? Or single color? Or guild? I've seen them classified as all three, and have no real strong preference.
3g. Single-color, but this basically applies to just Wild Nacatl.
4. Nah, the draft implication between Bonesplitter and Strip Mine, e.g., is the same as Lightning Bolt vs Flametongue Kavu (or two cards in the same guild).
5. Run everything, why not? A little speculation on the 2-3 playable C16 cards from people actually using them is totally fine by me.
6a. Absolutely
6b. Maze is actually C1, not U1, so it's clearly a Peasant-legal card. The real question is "U2" stuff like Library of Alexandria... I say no for the same reason I don't Cube the cards, which is that explaining the rarity system of Arabian Nights to explain why something is in a "no rares" cube is not something I ever want to do.
6c. No, this seems even more obscure than U2's.
6d. No. Unless you make a living running a bot chain on MTGO, you have no reason to know that a card that showed up once in a commander set at rare would be called uncommon.
7. Basically a draft order rating. P1P1, more or less.
8. Can advertise on Reddit, but I don't know how many social media-active Peasant cube owners aren't already on here.
lol just went to gatherer.wizards.com to see how they list "U2" cards (99% sure it's as rare) and of course the site is down. How the heck is that company so bad at basically everything aside from designing cards?
I still have a problem with the way we used to do points for these things, because a rogue voter on a thread with fewer votes has a chance of putting a noname card in the final list if they stick it up high enough. This is only a problem when the first place vote is worth significantly more than the last place vote (usually it's worth 20 times as much).
I do think it would be strange to not vote on cards like sol ring. It is number one. If the point (or part of the point) is to advertise the best peasant cards, not including it is disingenuous. The alternative would be to have a like... honorable mentions list or something.
I also firmly, 100% believe that cards with offcolor text or activations should be sorted by their optimal color set. Kird ape is Gruul. Faerie conclave is blue. Anything else is madness. Sorry lingering souls, the like 9% of the time you get played without swamps doesn't matter to me.
Wild nactl is an annoying case because it is the only card like it to make the list in the end. We should probably just stick it in green unfortunately.
The vivids and trilands should probably be grouped as the 5 and 10 cards respectively, and honestly the signets should probably be the same so someone's list isn't 6 signets + other cards.
//
Power to me would be
"If I was making a cube where my sole priority was to only cube with the most powerful cards regardless of cube health, what would those cards be?"
I'm totally open for suggestions about assigning points.
The method used now is totally the easiest to understand and most transparent. It's also the method we (and the guys in the rare forum) have used before and might therefor be easier to use when comparing lists.
We could do something like ignore all the single entries. That way, at least we make sure weird pet cards won't show up (unless it's the pet card of multiple people, but what can you do).
I had suggested moving the baseline points up by 10 or 20 before.
With 20 points, you get 40 at the top and 21 at the bottom.
This would make it so if two out of 10 people think a card is a top 5 option (bloodhunter bat cough cough) then they won't sneak into the final listings with those 30 to 40 points (which would get them averaged in at like #17 or #16 in the end). The other lists just don't have enough sway with their lower point values to push out rogue votes in a current system.
1) Cards with similar effects: one entry or separate? 2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes or no? 3) Classification of certain cards 3a) Phyrexian mana as colorless or colored? 3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color?
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? (Lingering Souls, Crystal Shard)
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? (Kird Ape, Shrine of Burning Rage)
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? (Elves of Deep Shadow)
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored?
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+?
4) Lands get their own category: yes or no? 5) Do we exclude sets? If so, which ones? 6) When is a card common/uncommon legal? 6a) Online-only uncommon yes/no? (Pianna, Nomad Captain)
6b) U1 as uncommon yes/no? (Maze of Ith)
6c) Foreign only uncommon yes/no? (Triskelion)
6d) Arachnogenesis yes/no?
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings? EDIT:
8) Crossposting on Reddit/other platforms yes/no?
9) Voting on all categories at the same time (for 2-3 weeks), or do them in succession (4-5 days per category)
1 - Group similar cards if they generally play the same. The interaction between Oblivion Ring and flicker effects can come up but it's not the normal case.
2 - Yes if you've played with them or they're objectively broken like Sol Ring?
3a - Phyrexian Mana as per colour identity. I don't count them this way in my cube but it's simpler that way.
3b - Hybrid cards as per colour identity in their respective guilds. As above.
3c - Colour identity. It's assume they're played in their guild to achieve maximum power and this is a power rankings thread.
3d - As above though in the case of a Shrine for example that's not really colour identity. Same reasoning as 3c.
3e - Casting cost dictates their colour for this one. Elves of Deep Shadow is a dork that taps for C and occasionally the B has use.
3f - If it's a cycle (and we'll come to this soon) it should be colourless. If it's not then it should be coloured.
3g - "Rainbow" category for cards that don't fit elsewhere.
4 - Yes. Cycles grouped together. Possibly 1 category for fixing and another for utility?
5 - Exclude Un sets.
6 - U1 is fine, Online is fine, Arachnogenesis is fine, foreign is fine. As loose as possible on this.
7 - Power is how much of an improvement a card will be to a deck that supports it. Lightning Bolt will be good in any red deck. Vampiric Rites will be broken in a deck that supports it and unplayable in any others but should be rated on the assumption that the card is being used properly.
8 - I was going to say no way, but after considering it some more I've chanted my mind. There are a decent number of peasant cubers on /r/mtgcube and it would be interesting to see how they evaluate cards. It can be a bit of an echochamber here and you miss out on a lot of perspective if you don't go looking outside our small (and heavily inbred) community. Just make sure there's the caveat that we really only want to hear feedback from people who actually play peasant cube, rather than rare cube owners voting on un/common cards they think are good. I don't want Vampire Hexmage to show up in anybody's top10
9 - Do several (like maybe 3) at once but not all of them. Having to check the thread every few days to keep up with the next vote is a bit of a chore and would make me less inclined to participate. If you want to do separate threads for separate votes you could leave each vote up for like 1 week (with the thread's creation date in the title) then make a new one so there's no confusion as to where we're up to. Having to dig through 1 thread to find the post where the votes changed isn't very elegant unless you track it in the OP too. Voting on all categories is a lot of work in one sitting so I'd rather not do it that way.
1) Cards with similar effects: one entry or separate? Functional reprints should definitely be single entry (e.g. Llanowar Elves/Elvish Mystic/Fyndhorn Elves). In general I favor single-entry for similar cards as well, but you might want to consider clarifying and even voting on specific cards that fit this. Are Savannah Lions and Elite Vanguard close enough? How about Incinerate vs. Lightning Strike?
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes or no? Vote for cards you ban based on power level at the top. If you don't have experience with a card, but don't think it's worth banning, I think it's fine to abstain from ranking it.
3) Classification of certain cards
3a) Phyrexian mana as colorless or colored? Colored 3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color? Both 3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? (Lingering Souls, Crystal Shard) Guild 3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? (Kird Ape, Shrine of Burning Rage) All needed colors 3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? (Elves of Deep Shadow) Single. 3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored? Colorless, and I recommend voting on cards like Diamonds and Signets as complete cycles. 3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+? Because there are so few that are relevant to Peasant, single mana is the best option. Hopefully there will be reason to revisit this in the future.
4) Lands get their own category: yes or no? Yes, but lands with colored-mana activation costs (e.g. Faerie Conclave) should be categorized by color.
5) Do we exclude sets? If so, which ones? I'd only exclude un-sets.
6) When is a card common/uncommon legal?
6a) Online-only uncommon yes/no? (Pianna, Nomad Captain) Yes 6b) U1 as uncommon yes/no? (Maze of Ith) Yes 6c) Foreign only uncommon yes/no? (Triskelion) Yes, although I didn't know this was a thing until now. 6d) Arachnogenesis yes/no? Yes.
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings? In the rare-cube forum, we agreed to replace the old metric of P1P1 by defining "powerful" as "how effectively a cube card contributes to winning games when included in a traditional cube environment". I was a strong proponent of this because I felt P1P1 gave too much weight to combo build-arounds that often rot in sideboards when opened later in the draft.
EDIT:
8) Crossposting on Reddit/other platforms yes/no? I'd say advertise it there if you like, but don't take votes from anyone who isn't a member of MTGS. If they don't care enough to sign up and discuss it here, they shouldn't be voting here either.
9) Voting on all categories at the same time (for 2-3 weeks), or do them in succession (4-5 days per category) In succession. Voting for all categories simultaneous sounds like a pretty daunting task.
Edit 2: If we're still in disagreement about some things by the time we want to start, I reserve the right to decide.
If there are irreconcilable differences about something, I highly recommend making a Poll thread to decide it instead of doing so by fiat. One thing I learned from co-administering the Power Rankings in the rare-cube forum this year is that the people who argue most passionately don't always represent the feelings of the community as much it might appear. A simple yes/no poll creates a much clearer picture of what the majority wants, and that's what you want the guidelines of the Power Rankings to reflect, IMHO.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
I do think it would be strange to not vote on cards like sol ring. It is number one. If the point (or part of the point) is to advertise the best peasant cards, not including it is disingenuous. The alternative would be to have a like... honorable mentions list or something.
"This is by far the best possible card in the format, but please do not ever put a copy in your cube" seems like a crappy take-away if everyone votes Sol Ring as the #1 card here (if we do a "top overall" section, which I'd definitely encourage).
Like... yes, it's an uncommon, but not something that any competent CUbe owner would ever actually sleeve up.
I do think it would be strange to not vote on cards like sol ring. It is number one. If the point (or part of the point) is to advertise the best peasant cards, not including it is disingenuous. The alternative would be to have a like... honorable mentions list or something.
"This is by far the best possible card in the format, but please do not ever put a copy in your cube" seems like a crappy take-away if everyone votes Sol Ring as the #1 card here (if we do a "top overall" section, which I'd definitely encourage).
Like... yes, it's an uncommon, but not something that any competent CUbe owner would ever actually sleeve up.
I think it's a great point--if it's a power ranking, then you want the absolute best card on top. Like, the disingenuous thing would be to not vote on it because you don't think it should be there. Someone looking at these lists will see Sol Ring as the undisputed card on top and realize the massive power gap is there for a reason and will be able to draw their own conclusions. (Or they'll run it for a few drafts, watch it absolutely dominate, and then remove it.) In addition, if it's not universally voted as the best then it's going to look silly if it somehow doesn't sit at the top of the list. Like how could you take any power ranking seriously if Sol Ring and Library of Alexandria aren't at the top? They are the best options for a CUbe if you're looking for the strongest cards, even if they absolutely shouldn't be included.
The point is to advertise / discuss the FORMAT, not just a pile of cards of a certain rarity.
Stuff like Warhammer or Skullclamp get tricky -- they're not in a big majority lists due to power level, but definitely will show up if you click on every sig's CubeTutor link around here -- but Sol Ring is excluded from like 99+% of lists.
Like... if someone asks me for a recommendation for the best restaurants nearby, I'm not going to suggest a place that costs $300 per plate and has a two month waitlist. That food is better than whatever I'd actually recommend, yes, but it's irrelevant since you can't actually go out and eat it.
What if the best restaurant for them is whatever is the most expensive and has a two month wait list? What if it's not irrelevant for them? What if they're asking 2 months in advance specifically because they want a place with a wait list? Are you actually recommending the best overall restaurant that you could possibly eat at, or just best considering an additional set of circumstances?
----------------------
That analogy aside, if I see a list of 'power rankings' and 'top colorless/overall cards' for a peasant cube, those types of descriptions don't lend credence to the idea of 'best commons/uncommons with power level balance concerns in mind'. Unless it's explicit in banning cards like Sol Ring or Library--which IMO would be fine since the gap is noticeable once you get past that drop-off of the absolute-best commons/uncommons--not having everyone vote on those cards will be silly as anyone who does will conflict with those who do. A list that has Sol Ring/Library at all but not explicitly as the best cards you could have is not helpful, as anything that indicates them as top cards without also recognizing the massive gap in power level is misleading at a glance, which is what most users will do when these votes are all said and done.
EDIT: I like Phitt's 'overpowered' suggestion, seems like a good compromise.
Lands are tough to categorize. They are fundamentally different from other types because they don't compete with other draft picks during deckbuilding. Instead, nonbasic lands replace the 17-ish basic lands that you are able to add during deck construction. Non-basic lands also are competing against each other - you don't want too many lands that enter the battlefield tapped, or too many lands that only produce colorless mana.
On the other hand, lands still do follow normal color expectations. Any deck can play Evolving Wilds or Mishra's Factory, just like any deck can play Wayfarer's Bauble or Guardian Idol. Only a deck with other ways to produce green mana will play Treetop Village, just like only a deck with other ways to produce green mana will play Werebear. Only a deck that plays both black and red will play Rakdos Carnarium. Most cubers agree that Treetop Village counts as a green card. So why do we struggle to expand that assumption to gold and colorless lands?
This brings us back to the first point. In deck construction, Rakdos Carnarium is never competing against Bituminous Blast for inclusion in your deck. In draft, however, they absolutely are. Both send signals that black/red is open, both are only playable in a deck that includes both black and red. It can be a very tough pick to decide between fixing and a powerful card, and one of the most important skills in draft is knowing when to take the land. The same argument can be made for lands that don't fix your mana. When you expect to have 23+ playable nonlands, picking Faerie Conclave or Mishra's Factory starts to look a lot more appealing than picking a card that is only marginally better than card number 23. But often Faerie Conclave is competing directly with Mist Raven for your pick, even though the Conclave will be replacing an Island if it makes it into your draft pool.
So are cube design principles more like deckbuilding or more like drafting? I don't claim to have the answer, but I like the discussion this has promoted.
VOTING THREAD IS UP!
(format inspired by Spike Rogue's)
The last time we've done a Power Rankings was in 2014. For reference, here's the 2014 thread
Below you can find all the information and 'rules' for this year's Peasant Cube Power Rankings!
Read carefully, because we're doing this differently this time around! Several points were discussed to be changed to this year's power rankings, but they have been resolved by discussion or vote and incorporated into the rest of this post.
Voting process
* All categories will be open for voting at the same time.
* Voting is possible from the time the thread goes live, until December 16th (Friday).
* There will be one single voting thread. Each individual member should post/edit all their voting in one single post (see below for formatting).
* The vote consists of a Top 20 cards based on how effectively they contribute to game wins in a traditional cube environment. For colorless cards, the guilds and for lands, it will be a Top 10, Top 5 and Top 10 instead, respectively.
* The votes will be tallied with each card receiving a score in the inverse order of the votes, added to the total number of ranks in that list - so, in a Top 20 ranking the #1 card gets 40 points, the #2 gets 39 points and so on. The final score will be equal to the sum of all scores divided by the number of voters.
Categories
* Top 20 White cards
* Top 20 Blue cards
* Top 20 Black cards
* Top 20 Red cards
* Top 20 Green cards
* Top 10 Colorless cards
* Top 5 Guild cards per Guild
* Top 10 Land cards
Note: we've decided to not do a 3+ color section.
Classification Rules and Frequently Asked Questions
* How will be cards with similar effects be handled?
If the card has the exact same type, cost and effect, they are considered a single card and must be voted as a single entry. Also, if the difference in effect is small enough that differences in interaction are rare, the card is considered a single card as well. Example: Banishing Light and Oblivion Ring
As a rule of thumb you should ask: are there enough cube cards that cares about this difference? Assume a regular peasant cube, powered or not; we're not voting for pauper, commander, block or tribal-themed cubes here.
Note that this also includes (most) cycles of dual lands and similar cycles (unless specified otherwise).
When in doubt, feel free to ask. Examples of commonly included cards that fall within this rule will be given at the beginning of the voting thread.
===
* Must I vote for cards I don't run in my own cube?
It's up to you. You can vote based on your experience drafting other player's cubes, for example. But if you've never played with that card or just aren't sure how to rank it, feel free to not include it at all in your ranking. However, if you are excluding a card from your own cube because you believe it is powerful enough to be unbalancing in your own cube environment (e.g. Sol Ring or Library of Alexandria), it should not be excluded from your rankings in this project because you have already made an assessment about its power level.
Note: If you feel a card is TOO powerful, you may put a red X (for overpowered) behind the name of the card. If a single card receives an 'overpowered' mark by more than 50% of the voters, it will be noted in the final ranking.
===
* How are some cards classified?
- Hybrid mana counts as both colors. Example: Rakdos Cackler is Rakdos (B/R).
- Phyrexian mana counts as colorless. Example: Porcelain Legionnaire is colorless.
- Off-color kicker, flashback, alternate costs, activation costs, etc. count as all needed colors. Example: Lingering Souls is Orzhov (W/B), Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree is Selesnya (W/G), Crystal Shard is blue.
- Cards that have an ability that works when you control lands of a certain basic land type or permanents of a certain color, or even that you play spells of a certain color, will be of that color. Example: Kird Ape is Gruul (R/G), Shrine of Burning Rage is red.
Notice these rules apply even for lands and other mana sources, but:
Cards that produce mana are a special case. In addition to the rules above about costs, and to stay consistent with the previous Rankings:
- Lands that produce mana of a single color will be listed as being of that color. Example: Treetop Village is green.
- Lands that can produce only colorless mana, or mana of two or more colors, are to be voted in the Lands ranking, except for those that fall in the above rules about "costing" mana. Notice that most dual (and triple) land cycles fall into the "same card" rule.
- The following cycles are included in the Lands voting: MI Slow fetches, RAV Bouncelands, ZEN/KTK Lifegain lands, ALA/KTK Tri-lands, LW Vivids, RTR Guildgates.
- Other lands voted in Lands: Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse, Wasteland and other strictly colorless lands; City of Brass, Mirrodin's Core and other "any color" lands.
- Colorless artifacts that produce mana of two colors are included in the respective guild section. Example: Azorius Signet and Talisman of Progress are both Azorius (W/U).
- The other artifacts that produce colorless mana, mana of a single color or mana of all colors are classified as colorless. Example: Darksteel Ingot, Worn Powerstone and Fire Diamond are all colorless.
- The rules about costing mana or requiring land types still apply to mana artifacts. Thunder Totem is white.
- Colored cards that produce mana will be categorized only by the colors in their costs, not the types of mana they produce. Example: Elves of Deep Shadow, Llanowar Elves and Avacyn's Pilgrim are all Green.
===
* How to vote?
Just put the lists, numbered 1-20 (or whatever number of cards is being voted), inside different Spoiler tags. That's all. It looks a little like this (example will also be in the voting thread):
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
Guildname
1 Cardname
2 Cardname
2 Cardname
That's it, 20 cards ranked per category, starting with the one you're more likely to draft as P1P1.
You are free to edit your vote as many times as you need, up until the moment when the thread is closed. Please make a complete ranking; partial votes will be ignored.
Also, feel free to not do all the votes at the same time. The fact that all the categories are open at the same doesn't mean you can't do them separately. Just edit different categories back into your post. As long as all the votes are in when the voting closes, it's fine.
Outside of that, please try to keep the voting post clean. A few comments aren't a problem, but if you want to talk, use this thread.
===
* What cards can I vote on?
Essentially, any released Magic card that:
- is or has been an uncommon or common in any English-language Magic set (paper or online), according to Gatherer.
- is DCI approved for one or more formats of competitive Constructed Magic can be included in your voting. This excludes silver-bordered cards and Conspiracy-type cards.
However, spell cards that affect and are affected by the draft from Conspiracy and Conspiracy: Take the Crown (e.g. Cogwork Librarian) will be voted on according to their color identity like any other cards.
The following sets have been released since last year's Power Rankings:
Khans of Tarkir
Fate Reforged
Dragons of Tarkir
Modern Masters 2015
Magic Origins
Battle For Zendikar
Commander 2015
Oath of the Gatewatch
Shadows over Innistrad
Eldritch Moon
Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Kaladesh
Commander 2016
Also, since we're doing online-only commons/uncommons, make sure to check online compilation sets:
Vintage Masters
Tempest Remastered
Now, some other things that aren't cards for this project: Planes, Schemes, Vanguard and anything else that isn't regular-card-sized; Theros's Hero cards and Challenge Deck cards are also excluded.
---
For reference, here's the points we discussed:
1) Cards with similar effects: one entry or separate?
Near-functional reprints but with a slight difference. Example: Banishing Light and Oblivion Ring (timing of return), or Savannah Lions and Elite Vanguard (creature types).
Obviously, cards with the exact same type, cost and effect are considered a single card and must be voted as a single entry.
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes or no?
Should people vote for cards they know are powerful, but have no experience with? What about cards they banned for power level reasons?
3) Classification of certain cards
3a) Phyrexian mana as colorless or colored?
3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color?
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? (Lingering Souls, Crystal Shard)
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? (Kird Ape, Shrine of Burning Rage)
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? (Elves of Deep Shadow)
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored?
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+?
4) Lands get their own category: yes or no?
The guys over on the rare side do a separate 'lands' category. They count lands that produce a single color and/or lands that have activation costs as their respective colors, but all colorless lands and lands that produce 2 or more colors (in cycles, where applicable) go into this category.
5) Do we exclude sets? If so, which ones?
If we exclude sets, we should probably only exclude the last couple of sets (KLD, C16) and maybe un-sets.
Also, Conspiracies count here as well.
6) When is a card common/uncommon legal?
6a) Online-only uncommon yes/no? (Pianna, Nomad Captain)
6b) U1 as uncommon yes/no? (Maze of Ith)
6c) Foreign only uncommon yes/no? (Triskelion)
6d) Arachnogenesis yes/no?
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I've seen the rare-cube guys discuss this and found a little discussion on it in previous Power Rankings threads. Never thought about this, really, but maybe it's good to discuss. Personally, I think something like 'most powerful' will do. P1p1 is too narrow, as is most game-ending. But, I still think it's good to at least discuss this a little bit.
EDIT:
8) Crossposting on Reddit/other platforms yes/no?
9) Voting on all categories at the same time (for 2-3 weeks), or do them in succession (4-5 days per category)
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
For 3e I am undecided. (Does this matter much? How many cards are there that could be plausible inclusions in someone's t20? Avacyn's Pilgrim, Elves of Deep Shadow, Tinder Wall..?)
For 4- what about putting non-fixing lands in the respective coloured sections, (Faerie Conclave is blue, Library of Alexandria is colourless) and then all fixing lands in a separate category?
For 5 I vote no un-sets, but I don't feel too strongly.
For 6 I think it is easiest to be all-inclusive.
For 7 I think it should be some combination of "how often will you pick this" and "how much will it improve your deck when you pick it". And then it will be subjective after that. I.e. "most powerful" I guess.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: Yes in all cases. It would seem strange to have my vote skew the results towards Modern cards just because I have a Modern cube.
3) Classification of certain cards
3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color? Treating them as both colors puts them up against guild cards, which seems like a less-than-useful comparison. What about Top 10 Hybrid Cards across all colors?
Other color issues: It might be simplest to do cards by color identity, e.g. Lingering Souls is Orzhov. Then just add that anything that necessitates another color to reach full value, like Kird Ape or Battle Brawler, counts as multicolor. I agree on artifacts and lands that produce all colors being treated as colorless.
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I would treat this as if I was making a pick order list for C/Ube. That is, unless I was drafting a deck with specific synergies that changed the contextual value, I would always take the higher-ranked card.
My cube discussion thread
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
I like this. Library is as much a colorless card as Faerie Conclave is blue.
You might be right, I think this is fine. Even in deeper guilds, a top 10 would feel more like 'name all the playable options' anyway.
3+ colors *could* also hold rainbow lands. Not sure if this is the best option, but that's why I wrote it the way I did.
Even without rainbow lands: What about a top 5? It can be a decent tool for people looking to include 3+ color cards.
Love it! This would mean a lot less time-management for me as well.
This is the easiest to check at any rate, which I'm a fan of.
----
Btw, how do you guys feel about me cross-posting this on Reddit? It might be fun to see what happens if people from outside this community contribute?
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
CubeTutor: www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/72
Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
@ Lands list: somehow it doesn't *feel* right to rank Mishra's Factory in the same list as land cycles. Not sure why this is, maybe because they serve different purposes in cube lists? They might have the same card type, but in my mind Mishra's Factory counts as a colorless card more than it counts as a land. Just like Treetop Village goes into green, I'd put Mishra's Factory into colorless.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a Lands top 10. Personally, I'd classify lands like this:
- Lands with colored activated costs go into their respective colors/guilds -> Faerie Conclave, Nantuko Monastery
- Lands that produce a single color go into their respective colors -> Cabal Pit, Teetering Peaks
- Lands that have a colorless activated ability (that's not a way to fix mana, ex: Terramorphic) go into colorless -> Maze of Ith, Mishra's Factory
- Lands that produce 2 or more colors (in cycles where necessary), or have the ability to fix or smooth your mana go into Lands top 10 -> City of Brass, Terramorphic Expanse, Tri-lands cycle, Bounceland cycle
- Lands that only produce colorless mana without doing more than produce mana go into Lands top 10 -> Urzatron, Mage-Ring Network
In short: Lands that *only* produce/fix/smooth mana go into Lands top 10, Lands that do something else/have other utility go into colors/guilds/colorless.
That said, if people feel strongly about other styles I'm fine. This just makes the most sense to me, somehow.
--
Edit: Anyone AGAINST opening all the voting at the same time, vs in succession?
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes
3a) Phyrexian mana: as colorless
3b) Hybrid mana: as guild
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? As guild
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? All needed colors
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? Single colored. Elves of deep shadow is not a golgari card. It is simply a green card that makes black cards more easily splashable in a 3+ color deck.
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored? As colored except rainbow.
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+? Agreed that there are so few playables within this category that Wild Nacatl should be noted as the best and the rest just left off.
4) Lands get their own category: I like the idea of a land category, but not for just fixing. There aren't enough notable individual cycles of lands since most people seem to want to group similar cards that Library and Ancient Tomb still leave plenty of room for all the rest of the lands.
5) Do we exclude sets? No
6) I agree with rarity based on gatherer, no Triskelion or Arachnogenesis
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings?
I also see this as though it is a pick order list. Still a subjective answer, but that's why we're doing this project in the first place. To see everyone's opinions of what they believe is the best/most powerful C/Ube cards.
Also, to be entirely accurate in the light of actual 'colorless' being the 6th color now and most colorless cards counting as 'generic', maybe we should rename the category to 'Top 20 colorless/generic cards'?
And the Top 10 Lands could become: 'Top 10 fixing/enhancing lands' (better wording needed here). Ancient Tomb, for example should go into this category as well.
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
2. Definitely yes
3a. Colorless
3b. Single color or separate section -- basically nobody is cutting Curse of Chains for Migratory Route, for example. Triple-hybrid guys (Hearthfire Hobgoblin and the rest of its cycle) can count as guild since something like the Hobgoblin is so hard to cast in a 2-color, not-Boros deck.
3c. Single color
3d. Single color -- forest-less Kird Ape decks don't exist, 95% of Shrine of Burning Rage decks have mountains in them
3e. Single color -- never seen Deep Shadow or Avacyn's Pilgrim in a Selesnya or Golgari section
3f. Does this mean signets? Colorless I guess? Or single color? Or guild? I've seen them classified as all three, and have no real strong preference.
3g. Single-color, but this basically applies to just Wild Nacatl.
4. Nah, the draft implication between Bonesplitter and Strip Mine, e.g., is the same as Lightning Bolt vs Flametongue Kavu (or two cards in the same guild).
5. Run everything, why not? A little speculation on the 2-3 playable C16 cards from people actually using them is totally fine by me.
6a. Absolutely
6b. Maze is actually C1, not U1, so it's clearly a Peasant-legal card. The real question is "U2" stuff like Library of Alexandria... I say no for the same reason I don't Cube the cards, which is that explaining the rarity system of Arabian Nights to explain why something is in a "no rares" cube is not something I ever want to do.
6c. No, this seems even more obscure than U2's.
6d. No. Unless you make a living running a bot chain on MTGO, you have no reason to know that a card that showed up once in a commander set at rare would be called uncommon.
7. Basically a draft order rating. P1P1, more or less.
8. Can advertise on Reddit, but I don't know how many social media-active Peasant cube owners aren't already on here.
9. Probably all categories at once
Still... how on earth did they decide to make that less rare than El-Hajjâj?
I do think it would be strange to not vote on cards like sol ring. It is number one. If the point (or part of the point) is to advertise the best peasant cards, not including it is disingenuous. The alternative would be to have a like... honorable mentions list or something.
I also firmly, 100% believe that cards with offcolor text or activations should be sorted by their optimal color set. Kird ape is Gruul. Faerie conclave is blue. Anything else is madness. Sorry lingering souls, the like 9% of the time you get played without swamps doesn't matter to me.
Wild nactl is an annoying case because it is the only card like it to make the list in the end. We should probably just stick it in green unfortunately.
The vivids and trilands should probably be grouped as the 5 and 10 cards respectively, and honestly the signets should probably be the same so someone's list isn't 6 signets + other cards.
//
Power to me would be
"If I was making a cube where my sole priority was to only cube with the most powerful cards regardless of cube health, what would those cards be?"
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
The method used now is totally the easiest to understand and most transparent. It's also the method we (and the guys in the rare forum) have used before and might therefor be easier to use when comparing lists.
We could do something like ignore all the single entries. That way, at least we make sure weird pet cards won't show up (unless it's the pet card of multiple people, but what can you do).
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
With 20 points, you get 40 at the top and 21 at the bottom.
This would make it so if two out of 10 people think a card is a top 5 option (bloodhunter bat cough cough) then they won't sneak into the final listings with those 30 to 40 points (which would get them averaged in at like #17 or #16 in the end). The other lists just don't have enough sway with their lower point values to push out rogue votes in a current system.
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
1 - Group similar cards if they generally play the same. The interaction between Oblivion Ring and flicker effects can come up but it's not the normal case.
2 - Yes if you've played with them or they're objectively broken like Sol Ring?
3a - Phyrexian Mana as per colour identity. I don't count them this way in my cube but it's simpler that way.
3b - Hybrid cards as per colour identity in their respective guilds. As above.
3c - Colour identity. It's assume they're played in their guild to achieve maximum power and this is a power rankings thread.
3d - As above though in the case of a Shrine for example that's not really colour identity. Same reasoning as 3c.
3e - Casting cost dictates their colour for this one. Elves of Deep Shadow is a dork that taps for C and occasionally the B has use.
3f - If it's a cycle (and we'll come to this soon) it should be colourless. If it's not then it should be coloured.
3g - "Rainbow" category for cards that don't fit elsewhere.
4 - Yes. Cycles grouped together. Possibly 1 category for fixing and another for utility?
5 - Exclude Un sets.
6 - U1 is fine, Online is fine, Arachnogenesis is fine, foreign is fine. As loose as possible on this.
7 - Power is how much of an improvement a card will be to a deck that supports it. Lightning Bolt will be good in any red deck. Vampiric Rites will be broken in a deck that supports it and unplayable in any others but should be rated on the assumption that the card is being used properly.
8 - I was going to say no way, but after considering it some more I've chanted my mind. There are a decent number of peasant cubers on /r/mtgcube and it would be interesting to see how they evaluate cards. It can be a bit of an echochamber here and you miss out on a lot of perspective if you don't go looking outside our small (and heavily inbred) community. Just make sure there's the caveat that we really only want to hear feedback from people who actually play peasant cube, rather than rare cube owners voting on un/common cards they think are good. I don't want Vampire Hexmage to show up in anybody's top10
9 - Do several (like maybe 3) at once but not all of them. Having to check the thread every few days to keep up with the next vote is a bit of a chore and would make me less inclined to participate. If you want to do separate threads for separate votes you could leave each vote up for like 1 week (with the thread's creation date in the title) then make a new one so there's no confusion as to where we're up to. Having to dig through 1 thread to find the post where the votes changed isn't very elegant unless you track it in the OP too. Voting on all categories is a lot of work in one sitting so I'd rather not do it that way.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
2) Voting for cards not in your cube: yes or no? Vote for cards you ban based on power level at the top. If you don't have experience with a card, but don't think it's worth banning, I think it's fine to abstain from ranking it.
3) Classification of certain cards
3a) Phyrexian mana as colorless or colored? Colored
3b) Hybrid mana as both or single color? Both
3c) Off-color kickers/flashback/activation costs as single color or guild? (Lingering Souls, Crystal Shard) Guild
3d) Cards that need permanents or spells of a single other color to work as base color or all needed colors? (Kird Ape, Shrine of Burning Rage) All needed colors
3e) Cards that produce off-color mana as single or guild? (Elves of Deep Shadow) Single.
3f) Colorless cards that produce colored mana as colorless or colored? Colorless, and I recommend voting on cards like Diamonds and Signets as complete cycles.
3g) 'tri-brids' like Wild Nacatl, Slave of Bolas single color or 3+? Because there are so few that are relevant to Peasant, single mana is the best option. Hopefully there will be reason to revisit this in the future.
4) Lands get their own category: yes or no? Yes, but lands with colored-mana activation costs (e.g. Faerie Conclave) should be categorized by color.
5) Do we exclude sets? If so, which ones? I'd only exclude un-sets.
6) When is a card common/uncommon legal?
6a) Online-only uncommon yes/no? (Pianna, Nomad Captain) Yes
6b) U1 as uncommon yes/no? (Maze of Ith) Yes
6c) Foreign only uncommon yes/no? (Triskelion) Yes, although I didn't know this was a thing until now.
6d) Arachnogenesis yes/no? Yes.
7) What is 'power' in the context of the Power Rankings? In the rare-cube forum, we agreed to replace the old metric of P1P1 by defining "powerful" as "how effectively a cube card contributes to winning games when included in a traditional cube environment". I was a strong proponent of this because I felt P1P1 gave too much weight to combo build-arounds that often rot in sideboards when opened later in the draft.
EDIT:
8) Crossposting on Reddit/other platforms yes/no? I'd say advertise it there if you like, but don't take votes from anyone who isn't a member of MTGS. If they don't care enough to sign up and discuss it here, they shouldn't be voting here either.
9) Voting on all categories at the same time (for 2-3 weeks), or do them in succession (4-5 days per category) In succession. Voting for all categories simultaneous sounds like a pretty daunting task.
If there are irreconcilable differences about something, I highly recommend making a Poll thread to decide it instead of doing so by fiat. One thing I learned from co-administering the Power Rankings in the rare-cube forum this year is that the people who argue most passionately don't always represent the feelings of the community as much it might appear. A simple yes/no poll creates a much clearer picture of what the majority wants, and that's what you want the guidelines of the Power Rankings to reflect, IMHO.
450 card Peasant cube thread. Draft it here.
"This is by far the best possible card in the format, but please do not ever put a copy in your cube" seems like a crappy take-away if everyone votes Sol Ring as the #1 card here (if we do a "top overall" section, which I'd definitely encourage).
Like... yes, it's an uncommon, but not something that any competent CUbe owner would ever actually sleeve up.
This might be hard since we're posting on an internet message board, but if you find the right pair of scissors...
I think it's a great point--if it's a power ranking, then you want the absolute best card on top. Like, the disingenuous thing would be to not vote on it because you don't think it should be there. Someone looking at these lists will see Sol Ring as the undisputed card on top and realize the massive power gap is there for a reason and will be able to draw their own conclusions. (Or they'll run it for a few drafts, watch it absolutely dominate, and then remove it.) In addition, if it's not universally voted as the best then it's going to look silly if it somehow doesn't sit at the top of the list. Like how could you take any power ranking seriously if Sol Ring and Library of Alexandria aren't at the top? They are the best options for a CUbe if you're looking for the strongest cards, even if they absolutely shouldn't be included.
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Stuff like Warhammer or Skullclamp get tricky -- they're not in a big majority lists due to power level, but definitely will show up if you click on every sig's CubeTutor link around here -- but Sol Ring is excluded from like 99+% of lists.
Like... if someone asks me for a recommendation for the best restaurants nearby, I'm not going to suggest a place that costs $300 per plate and has a two month waitlist. That food is better than whatever I'd actually recommend, yes, but it's irrelevant since you can't actually go out and eat it.
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That analogy aside, if I see a list of 'power rankings' and 'top colorless/overall cards' for a peasant cube, those types of descriptions don't lend credence to the idea of 'best commons/uncommons with power level balance concerns in mind'. Unless it's explicit in banning cards like Sol Ring or Library--which IMO would be fine since the gap is noticeable once you get past that drop-off of the absolute-best commons/uncommons--not having everyone vote on those cards will be silly as anyone who does will conflict with those who do. A list that has Sol Ring/Library at all but not explicitly as the best cards you could have is not helpful, as anything that indicates them as top cards without also recognizing the massive gap in power level is misleading at a glance, which is what most users will do when these votes are all said and done.
EDIT: I like Phitt's 'overpowered' suggestion, seems like a good compromise.
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On the other hand, lands still do follow normal color expectations. Any deck can play Evolving Wilds or Mishra's Factory, just like any deck can play Wayfarer's Bauble or Guardian Idol. Only a deck with other ways to produce green mana will play Treetop Village, just like only a deck with other ways to produce green mana will play Werebear. Only a deck that plays both black and red will play Rakdos Carnarium. Most cubers agree that Treetop Village counts as a green card. So why do we struggle to expand that assumption to gold and colorless lands?
This brings us back to the first point. In deck construction, Rakdos Carnarium is never competing against Bituminous Blast for inclusion in your deck. In draft, however, they absolutely are. Both send signals that black/red is open, both are only playable in a deck that includes both black and red. It can be a very tough pick to decide between fixing and a powerful card, and one of the most important skills in draft is knowing when to take the land. The same argument can be made for lands that don't fix your mana. When you expect to have 23+ playable nonlands, picking Faerie Conclave or Mishra's Factory starts to look a lot more appealing than picking a card that is only marginally better than card number 23. But often Faerie Conclave is competing directly with Mist Raven for your pick, even though the Conclave will be replacing an Island if it makes it into your draft pool.
So are cube design principles more like deckbuilding or more like drafting? I don't claim to have the answer, but I like the discussion this has promoted.
CubeTutor Link