With the new MH2 Spoilers I got motivated to look through the discard/Madness cards, that currently exist:
White and Green are excluded, because while white has some good Discard outlets, there are no relevant white Madness cards and Green has basically just Arrogant Wurm and that's it. Apart from Wild Mongrel it also lacks discard outlets, so I will focus on the Grixis colors.
Before I start listing cards, some basic rules of thumb. Discard Outlets should in the best case be repeatable and cost as little mana as possible (0-1), to actually make Madness a tempo advantage. When you pay 2 mana for the discard effect to cast a Reckless Wurm with it, you are still paying 5, so it's no real advantage.
Madness cards:
(Staple = No big problem casting this without Madness and/or absolutly bonkers with Discount // Cubeable = Hard to cast/Garbage without Discarding it or not that great when cast with Madness)
Staple
Circular Logic: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A Counterspell for U is extremely broken for obvious reasons.
Cubeable
Obsessive Search: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A very low opportunity cost. It basically just gives you a "free" activation of any discard abilities.
Nagging Thoughts: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. An overcosted Sleight of Hand. It basically replaces itself with some added value.
Cubeable
Call to the Netherworld: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Very restrictive as it can only return black creatures, but a Madness cost of 0 is quite nice if you actually get the free value.
Psychotic Episode: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A pretty decent discard spell, that gives you a lot of information, even the top card, and can be cast during your opponents drawstep with instant speed discard and even hit lands.
Ichor Slick: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Actually more expensive when paying the Madness cost. It also doesn't necessarily require a discard outlet as it can discard itself.
Staple
Reckless Wurm: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A 4/4 Trample for 3 is pretty nuts.
Skophos Reaver: ++This card would even be fine without Madness. Absolutely nuts that you have the option to get it even cheaper.
Revolutionist: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. For 4 mana it's a very good deal.
Discard Outlets:
(Staple = Repeatable, cheap to activate and getting something in return // Cubeable = Non-repeatable, or simply there to discard/you don't really get anything for discarding. Also overpriced Discard effects)
Staple
Looter iL-Kor: Absolutely bonkers in every possible way.
Aeromoeba: The discard effect doesn't do much, but it's free and repeatable to activate.
Thalakos Scout: It's technically "free" to discard, but it always cost 3 beforehand.
Dreamscape Artist: Not a bad effect to get a Harrow with every discard, but it making every Madness card cost 3 more isn't all that great.
Aquamoeba: Cheap and Repeatable, but you basically get nothing in return.
Staple
Tortured Existence: This even allows you return killed Madness creatures and discard them again for additional value.
Undertaker: The difference to Tortured Existence is, that you can discard lands, when you run out of madness cards and turn them into creatures. The downside is a fragile 1/1 body with summoning sickness and T as a requirement.
Cubeable
Deepcavern Imp: Not repeatable, but quite a decent creature.
Plague Witch: Cheap, Repeatable, but sadly -1/-1 doesn't compare to drawing a card or returning a creature from your GY to your hand.
Putrid Imp: If you are really desperate for discard outlets it doesn't get any cheaper than this, but the card itself and the value from discarding are quite lackluster.
Crypt Lurker/Rank Officer: Seems like a great deal in theory, but having to pay the madness cost in the same turn, where you already spent 4 mana makes these extremely slow.
Rotting Rats: Pseudo Repeatable with Unearth. The nice thing is, that your opponent also has to discard, while you get to discard, but requireing 2 mana beforehand is a little bummer.
Trespasser il-Vec: Cheap and Repeatable, but without constantly discard to it, the 3/1 body won't really cut the deal.
Olivia's Dragoon: Cheap and Repeatable and with an initial cc of 2 quite affordable, sadly getting flying every now and then isn't that amazing.
Vampire Hounds: It definitely is cheap and repeatable, but it requires creatures and the base stats of 2/2 for 3 aren't amazing.
Bone Shards: Not repeatable, but only paying B is definitely a nice deal for killing a creature of your choice in return.
Staple
Sparkspitter: The only red card that checks all the boxes. Sadly the initial cmc 3 hurt the curve a little, but getting a "free" Spark Elemental with every discard should make up for the lost tempo quite fast.
Cubeable
Faithless Looting: Pseudo Repeatable once with Flashback, but the important part is, that you get your first discard for just R.
Gathan Raiders: Not repeatable, but it doesn't get much better than 0 mana at any time you like, while you also get a decent body.
Insolent Neonate: Not repeatable, but a onedrop you can drop nice an early and push through some points of damage for free, before saccing it.
Lightning Axe: Sadly absolutely horrible without discarding a card, but the deal you get when you do feels quite nice.
Mad Prophet: Repetable, but only cheap in activation cost. 4 mana is rather expensive, before you can even start to discard your first card.
Rummaging Goblin: Though not absolutely horrible, it's still overcosted by 1.
Merchant of the Vale: The Adventure is Ok to cast Madness cards. Sadly the Activated ability is rather expensive.
Cubeable
Patchwork Gnomes: Repeatable, Cheap, but it sadly lacks in the value department.
If I were to implement this archetype I would probably try it with these cards:
Discard: U 4 (5) // 5/5 in my cube anyway Looter iL-Kor/Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier/Waterfront Bouncer (and Thalakos Scout mostly for it's power in a vacuum. The ability to discard is just a little extra (Sidenote I do currently run Dreamscape Artist, but this would probably be one of the cuts)
I think Vampire Hounds and also Erstwhile Trooper are too much of a one trick pony for me. How many Madness creatures do you need in your deck, to activate this ability for value more than once? Your opponent can always put a 2/2 in front of these and they will always trade for a creature, either on board or in hand. I think they would be broken if they could discard any card, but with the creature-only clause they are too weak, IMO.
Is your Madness experiment still going, and have you incorporated Terminal Agony? Seems like an auto-include, but I didn't see it in your initial list of cards despite other MH2 stuff being listed.
Additionally, I'm sure certain mechanics "play nice" with the Madness archetype as well - providing pseudo-support, if you will. Stuff like Retrace, Flashback, Jumpstart, Cycling, etc... can either provide stuff you wouldn't feel horrible about discarding or stuff that provides easy discard outlets on the side.
Is your Madness experiment still going, and have you incorporated Terminal Agony? Seems like an auto-include, but I didn't see it in your initial list of cards despite other MH2 stuff being listed.
I don't get to draft all that often. I think we had about 4 drafts since the inclusion and so far it has been fine, but I'm still a bit ambivalent. We don't always draft with 8, but rather 4-6 with 50%-75% of the cube. In several drafts multiple people tried to draft the archetype and even without 100% of the cube it could get a little thin, even though I tried to go rather deep into the archetype. Another thing is, that cards like Merfolk Looter can be picked up by everyone and don't necessarily end up at the madness drafter.
Not running Terminal Agony has to do with my cube design philosophy. I don't want to dictate people what they do and I feel like, when I put this into the multicolor slot drafters would think, that they had to draft madness in BR, but that's not what I want. On the one hand there are non-madness BR decks, which work just as well and in addition to that UR and UB are about evenly supported, without a multicolor card. In addition to that Madness cards have the big problem that most of them are pretty useless for non madness decks and with having a multicolor card just for that archetype I feel like I would disadvantage non-Madness BR decks.
And last but not least one argument for the madness cards, that made the cut was that they should, if possible, be reasonable to play without madness and a 4 mana sorcery speed removal is pretty bad.
White and Green are excluded, because while white has some good Discard outlets, there are no relevant white Madness cards and Green has basically just Arrogant Wurm and that's it. Apart from Wild Mongrel it also lacks discard outlets, so I will focus on the Grixis colors.
Before I start listing cards, some basic rules of thumb. Discard Outlets should in the best case be repeatable and cost as little mana as possible (0-1), to actually make Madness a tempo advantage. When you pay 2 mana for the discard effect to cast a Reckless Wurm with it, you are still paying 5, so it's no real advantage.
Madness cards:
(Staple = No big problem casting this without Madness and/or absolutly bonkers with Discount // Cubeable = Hard to cast/Garbage without Discarding it or not that great when cast with Madness)
Circular Logic: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A Counterspell for U is extremely broken for obvious reasons.
Cubeable
Obsessive Search: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A very low opportunity cost. It basically just gives you a "free" activation of any discard abilities.
Nagging Thoughts: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. An overcosted Sleight of Hand. It basically replaces itself with some added value.
Call to the Netherworld: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Very restrictive as it can only return black creatures, but a Madness cost of 0 is quite nice if you actually get the free value.
Dark Withering: -Horrible to hardcast. B for Doom Blade is quite nice.
Gorgon Recluse: -Horrible to hardcast. The pseudo "Deathtouch" is not super relevant, but a 2/4 for BB is quite nice on it's own.
Grave Scrabbler: -Horrible to hardcast. A 2 mana Gravedigger is pretty insane. Sadly it's complete garbage without discard.
Hell Mongrel: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. This also works as a discard outlet later on.
Murderous Compulsion: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Not the best removal, but depending on the value of the discard outlet it's also not the worst.
Kitchen Imp: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. B for a Skyknight Legionnaire is a pretty amazing deal.
Psychotic Episode: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A pretty decent discard spell, that gives you a lot of information, even the top card, and can be cast during your opponents drawstep with instant speed discard and even hit lands.
Twins of Maurer Estate: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A 3/5 for 3 is pretty amazing.
Ichor Slick: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Actually more expensive when paying the Madness cost. It also doesn't necessarily require a discard outlet as it can discard itself.
Reckless Wurm: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. A 4/4 Trample for 3 is pretty nuts.
Skophos Reaver: ++This card would even be fine without Madness. Absolutely nuts that you have the option to get it even cheaper.
Fiery Temper: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. Lightning Bolt is Lightning Bolt, not much else to say.
Revolutionist: +Ok to hardcast if necessary. For 4 mana it's a very good deal.
Discard Outlets:
(Staple = Repeatable, cheap to activate and getting something in return // Cubeable = Non-repeatable, or simply there to discard/you don't really get anything for discarding. Also overpriced Discard effects)
Looter iL-Kor: Absolutely bonkers in every possible way.
Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier: They check all the boxes to be a staple.
Waterfront Bouncer: Getting a "free" Unsummon with every card you discard is pretty damn nice.
Cubeable:
Aeromoeba: The discard effect doesn't do much, but it's free and repeatable to activate.
Thalakos Scout: It's technically "free" to discard, but it always cost 3 beforehand.
Dreamscape Artist: Not a bad effect to get a Harrow with every discard, but it making every Madness card cost 3 more isn't all that great.
Aquamoeba: Cheap and Repeatable, but you basically get nothing in return.
Tortured Existence: This even allows you return killed Madness creatures and discard them again for additional value.
Undertaker: The difference to Tortured Existence is, that you can discard lands, when you run out of madness cards and turn them into creatures. The downside is a fragile 1/1 body with summoning sickness and T as a requirement.
Cubeable
Deepcavern Imp: Not repeatable, but quite a decent creature.
Plague Witch: Cheap, Repeatable, but sadly -1/-1 doesn't compare to drawing a card or returning a creature from your GY to your hand.
Putrid Imp: If you are really desperate for discard outlets it doesn't get any cheaper than this, but the card itself and the value from discarding are quite lackluster.
Crypt Lurker/Rank Officer: Seems like a great deal in theory, but having to pay the madness cost in the same turn, where you already spent 4 mana makes these extremely slow.
Rotting Rats: Pseudo Repeatable with Unearth. The nice thing is, that your opponent also has to discard, while you get to discard, but requireing 2 mana beforehand is a little bummer.
Trespasser il-Vec: Cheap and Repeatable, but without constantly discard to it, the 3/1 body won't really cut the deal.
Olivia's Dragoon: Cheap and Repeatable and with an initial cc of 2 quite affordable, sadly getting flying every now and then isn't that amazing.
Vampire Hounds: It definitely is cheap and repeatable, but it requires creatures and the base stats of 2/2 for 3 aren't amazing.
Bone Shards: Not repeatable, but only paying B is definitely a nice deal for killing a creature of your choice in return.
Sparkspitter: The only red card that checks all the boxes. Sadly the initial cmc 3 hurt the curve a little, but getting a "free" Spark Elemental with every discard should make up for the lost tempo quite fast.
Cubeable
Faithless Looting: Pseudo Repeatable once with Flashback, but the important part is, that you get your first discard for just R.
Gathan Raiders: Not repeatable, but it doesn't get much better than 0 mana at any time you like, while you also get a decent body.
Insolent Neonate: Not repeatable, but a onedrop you can drop nice an early and push through some points of damage for free, before saccing it.
Lightning Axe: Sadly absolutely horrible without discarding a card, but the deal you get when you do feels quite nice.
Mad Prophet: Repetable, but only cheap in activation cost. 4 mana is rather expensive, before you can even start to discard your first card.
Rummaging Goblin: Though not absolutely horrible, it's still overcosted by 1.
Merchant of the Vale: The Adventure is Ok to cast Madness cards. Sadly the Activated ability is rather expensive.
Patchwork Gnomes: Repeatable, Cheap, but it sadly lacks in the value department.
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My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
overloading on madness cards feels really bad if you dont run massive amounts of enabler.
I mean you can go for it, but it decreases powerlevel and consistency
technically green also has Basking Rootwalla
and red has Merchant of the Vale as well as various drawspells with discard costs.
remeber that madness is at instant, so you can "flash" creatures mid combat
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I forgot about Merchant of the Vale, even though I don't see it as a premium Madness enabler.
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Discard:
U 4 (5) // 5/5 in my cube anyway
Looter iL-Kor/Merfolk Looter/Thought Courier/Waterfront Bouncer (and Thalakos Scout mostly for it's power in a vacuum. The ability to discard is just a little extra (Sidenote I do currently run Dreamscape Artist, but this would probably be one of the cuts)
B 2 (3) // 1/2(3) in my cube anyway
Tortured Existence/Undertaker (Maybe Deepcavern Imp as it's definitely not the worst)
R 4 (5) // 0/4(5) in my cube anyway
Sparkspitter/Faithless Looting/Gathan Raiders/Insolent Neonate (Maybe Lightning Axe)
(Maybe G 1 // 1/1 in my cube anyway
I do run Wild Mongrel anyway)
Mandess
U 2 (4) // 0/2(4) in my cube anyway
Circular Logic/Obsessive Search (Maybe Nagging Thoughts also maybe readd Deep Analysis as a pseudo Madness card)
B 5(8) // 0/5(8) in my cube anyway
Call to the Netherworld/Gorgon Recluse/Grave Scrabbler/Kitchen Imp/Twins of Maurer Estate (Maybe Psychotic Episode as it's quite a strong discard effect and Dark Withering as well as Crippling Fatigue as pseudo Madness)
R 3 // 1/3 in my cube anyway
Reckless Wurm/Skophos Reaver/Fiery Temper
(Maybe G 1-2 // 0/1-2 in my cube anyway
Arrogant Wurm/Basking Rootwalla)
In total I would need to add anywhere between 15 to 24 cards.
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but in the end the only mh2 card is the imp?
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
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Also, what about stuff like Careful Study, Cathartic Reunion, Desperate Ravings, Tormenting Voice, etc... as enablers? oh... Fissure Wizard too.
Additionally, I'm sure certain mechanics "play nice" with the Madness archetype as well - providing pseudo-support, if you will. Stuff like Retrace, Flashback, Jumpstart, Cycling, etc... can either provide stuff you wouldn't feel horrible about discarding or stuff that provides easy discard outlets on the side.
Not running Terminal Agony has to do with my cube design philosophy. I don't want to dictate people what they do and I feel like, when I put this into the multicolor slot drafters would think, that they had to draft madness in BR, but that's not what I want. On the one hand there are non-madness BR decks, which work just as well and in addition to that UR and UB are about evenly supported, without a multicolor card. In addition to that Madness cards have the big problem that most of them are pretty useless for non madness decks and with having a multicolor card just for that archetype I feel like I would disadvantage non-Madness BR decks.
And last but not least one argument for the madness cards, that made the cut was that they should, if possible, be reasonable to play without madness and a 4 mana sorcery speed removal is pretty bad.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)