Niblis of the Urn is a second-but-worse Topplegeist, which seems to do ok around here. I'm not a fan of Flying Men with marginal upside (and Niblis is worse than that), but stuff like Spectral Sailor is going some ways to give me hope for future designs.
What's the reasoning here? Topplegeist on average is going to get way less taps than niblis.
Basic research skills. I looked up most of the cubetutor lists from the active posters on this subforum and virtually none of them run Niblis, while a couple run Topplegeist. Bit iffy to search now as cubetutor seems to be acting up, but I recommend checking in on your fellow cubers' lists once in a while to see what the trends are.
This might only be germane to me, but I also cross-referenced several cubes of my size (540 range) that were updated in the last few months. Again, not a lot of Niblis. So my logic is based on observation of a few trends at work.
Oppressive Rays seems fine, but it only goes into aggro. White has better removal that goes into more decks. I could maybe see it in larger cubes with depowered removal.
Angelic Renewal looks easy to control until you play with it. In most cases you're using it to repeat an etb anyways, so Ephemerate is likely better with less awkwardness.
Niblis of the Urn is certainly playable, but it's pretty slow for a 2 drop. It doesn't represent much damage by itself on t2, which makes it hard to justify playing over a damaging 2 drop. I personally prefer Territorial Hammerskull, as it doesn't die to any blocker/removal and is good on curve (it's also far more of a direct comparison than Topplegeist). Topplegeist is significantly faster, filling in the less contested 1 drop slot if needed and coming down a turn earlier or tapping down a full turn before Niblis would for half the cost. Topplegeist also sees play in decks that can trigger delirium easily, so it's a bit more versatile.
Generally speaking, if a card is played way less than a counterpart, it's not crazy to say that it's the worse version. Unless the card is doing something really weird that may turn people away, like rite of the raging storm or something.
Being able to start dealing damage in the 1 drop slot increases the dps of your game. Being able to surprise people before combat is valuable. Being able to fit in as a play for more turns when drawn outside of the opening hand is valuable.
If my opponent goes land pass, next turn land niblis, I'm not particularly worried.
/
I used to like angelic renewal. I think I still respect it, but it mostly shines in situations you can't forcibly orchestrate.
As an aside, has anyone looked at No rest for the Wicked? It is kinda similar to angelic renewal, but wording means that it doesn't have to be on the battlefield when the creature dies for it to work.
What's the reasoning here? Topplegeist on average is going to get way less taps than niblis.
Basic research skills. I looked up most of the cubetutor lists from the active posters on this subforum and virtually none of them run Niblis, while a couple run Topplegeist. Bit iffy to search now as cubetutor seems to be acting up, but I recommend checking in on your fellow cubers' lists once in a while to see what the trends are.
This might only be germane to me, but I also cross-referenced several cubes of my size (540 range) that were updated in the last few months. Again, not a lot of Niblis. So my logic is based on observation of a few trends at work.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Angelic Renewal looks easy to control until you play with it. In most cases you're using it to repeat an etb anyways, so Ephemerate is likely better with less awkwardness.
Niblis of the Urn is certainly playable, but it's pretty slow for a 2 drop. It doesn't represent much damage by itself on t2, which makes it hard to justify playing over a damaging 2 drop. I personally prefer Territorial Hammerskull, as it doesn't die to any blocker/removal and is good on curve (it's also far more of a direct comparison than Topplegeist). Topplegeist is significantly faster, filling in the less contested 1 drop slot if needed and coming down a turn earlier or tapping down a full turn before Niblis would for half the cost. Topplegeist also sees play in decks that can trigger delirium easily, so it's a bit more versatile.
Being able to start dealing damage in the 1 drop slot increases the dps of your game. Being able to surprise people before combat is valuable. Being able to fit in as a play for more turns when drawn outside of the opening hand is valuable.
If my opponent goes land pass, next turn land niblis, I'm not particularly worried.
/
I used to like angelic renewal. I think I still respect it, but it mostly shines in situations you can't forcibly orchestrate.
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
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox