This is something that I've been trying to make work for quite some time either as a mono-blue or Simic archetype. In theory, both places seem like great homes for a tempo deck along these lines, but in my experience it doesn't seem to come together that often, and I think that's because it's lacking a density of good flash creatures. I really want it to work. I remember fondly coming back to Magic after my first break during Lorwyn block when Faeries was a deck; I also greatly enjoyed the TarmoTwin deck with Bounding Krasis in Modern, and more recently I recall getting stomped by the U/G Flash deck with Frilled Mystic when I was playing on Arena a couple of years ago.
I think I've heard others speak about playing around with a "Flash" archetype before, but maybe that was in the rare cube section. Is it possible in Peasant?
What are your experiences?
For reference, these are the creatures I'm currently cubing that I think help make up this archetype (I'm a bigger cube - 720 - but even for that some of these, while "cubeable," are admittedly a stretch).
There are obviously plenty of others that I'm not playing, but I think I've definitely got the strongest ones. Let me know if I'm missing something. Also, there are some flash creatures in other colors (I think U/B Ninja's if anyone plays such a thing could be kind of a "Flash" deck). Finally, all of these, for obvious reasons, play well with Instants, whether that be card-draw, Unsummon-effects, and/or especially counterspells.
First and foremost, I think it's really tough to make a linear archetype like flash viable at such a large cube size. I'd say that's doubly true at peasant where, despite all the bangers we've gotten the last few years, the card quality still starts to fall off pretty quickly after the 450/540 range.
With that said, I do love UG Flash as an archetype. It's fun to play and super annoying to play against. With Spellstutter Sprite, I think you also want Faerie Duelist and Faerie Vandal. Threnody Singer and Nebelgast Intruder are good combat tricks for the flash deck. Scion of Stygia, Breaching Hippocamp, and Illusory Ambusher are other cards I'd be looking at in blue to support a flash archetype. There a ton of french vanilla flash flyers, but I think I'd stick with a tempo game plan. For green I think Ambush Viper is great as "removal" for the deck. I also like Briarpack Alpha and Pack Guardian as top end cards. I don't like the 5+ mana options that much, since you're mostly looking at a tempo/midrange deck. In gold Fleetfeather Cockatrice could be one of the few 5+ mana creatures I'd look at. Deathtouch is nice for the removal aspect and it can help to close out the game and take advantage of potential flood. Other than that, Horizon chimera and Winged Coatl are both decent filler to help increase density.
You mention ninjas as well and I think you could have some really nice cross-pollination between the two archetypes and try to go a little deeper in UB with ninjas as the tempo deck of choice, especially since your list is larger.
Yeah, thanks for all the suggestions and general archetype advice. I think one of the greatest things about having a bigger cube is that I can go a little deeper with archetypes like Flash that aren't exactly all top-tier cards. However, just because I have a little more range doesn't mean I can go all-in on one particular archetype with a bunch of suspect - or even bad cards - because they'll only be played in that archetype. Also, I love the fact that I can support a large variety of archetypes that may or may not appear in a single draft, but I can't afford to over-support one at the expense of the others; this would just leave people pigeon-holed.
That said, Faerie Vandal and Faerie Duelist are decent cards that I definitely overlooked and should at least consider if I plan on keeping Spellstutter Sprite (though it is suspect itself). Additionally, I have cubed Ambush Viper in the past, and it was ok, nothing special, but it usually did what you wanted it to do; I could see putting it back in.
Threnody Singer, Briarpack Alpha, Pack Guardian, and Fleetfeather Cockatrice are also decent, and worth consideration, but are probably slightly worse versions of already borderline includes. 720 is deeper than you think. Maybe not in this archetype (unfortunately), but the bench of "cubable" cards is deep!
I think if you want to support Flash as an archetype, especially at 720, you need those "worse Pestermites" to fill it out. Otherwise you just end up with a Simic deck that happens to have one or two flash cards. After doing the yearly comparison for the average MTGS cube for a few years now, I can't disagree more on how deep the peasant card pool is beyond 450/540. Even at 360 I still have several cards that I'm looking at replacing with upcoming new releases.
I do like the flash -2/-0 creatures, but I don't like it on a 1/2. It's hard to take advantage of the power reduction to use that as a trick unless you already have some sort of board presence. That's why I like Nebelgast Intruder. Despite being priced at two more mana, the two power plus flying really helps to turn it into a pseudo removal spell.
As for Infiltrator and Shinobi, I believe you'll need both if you want to push Ninjas as a UB archetype. Unfortunately, Ninjutsu isn't a very fleshed out keyword for peasant legal cards. Only five or so in blue and black that are worth running, imo. I'd also look at running some of the cheap unblockable creatures in both blue and black to help get those ninjas on the board.
I think I've heard others speak about playing around with a "Flash" archetype before, but maybe that was in the rare cube section. Is it possible in Peasant?
What are your experiences?
For reference, these are the creatures I'm currently cubing that I think help make up this archetype (I'm a bigger cube - 720 - but even for that some of these, while "cubeable," are admittedly a stretch).
Blue:
Spectral Sailor
Spellstutter Sprite
Cunning Nightbonder (probably a signpost)
Merfolk Trickster
Quickling
Brineborn Cutthroat (another signpost)
Pestermite (many equivalencies)
Ninja of the Deep Hours (Ninjutsu is kind of like Flash)
Moonblade Shinobi (Ninjutsu)
Pouncing Shoreshark
Blizzard Strix
Green:
Swift Warden
Wolfir Avenger
Beast Within (an Instant-speed pseudo-creature in addition to being removal)
Briarhorn
Snapping Sailback
Beast Attack (another Instant-speed pseudo-creature)
Great Oak Guardian
Simic:
Bounding Krasis
Frilled Mystic
There are obviously plenty of others that I'm not playing, but I think I've definitely got the strongest ones. Let me know if I'm missing something. Also, there are some flash creatures in other colors (I think U/B Ninja's if anyone plays such a thing could be kind of a "Flash" deck). Finally, all of these, for obvious reasons, play well with Instants, whether that be card-draw, Unsummon-effects, and/or especially counterspells.
With that said, I do love UG Flash as an archetype. It's fun to play and super annoying to play against. With Spellstutter Sprite, I think you also want Faerie Duelist and Faerie Vandal. Threnody Singer and Nebelgast Intruder are good combat tricks for the flash deck. Scion of Stygia, Breaching Hippocamp, and Illusory Ambusher are other cards I'd be looking at in blue to support a flash archetype. There a ton of french vanilla flash flyers, but I think I'd stick with a tempo game plan. For green I think Ambush Viper is great as "removal" for the deck. I also like Briarpack Alpha and Pack Guardian as top end cards. I don't like the 5+ mana options that much, since you're mostly looking at a tempo/midrange deck. In gold Fleetfeather Cockatrice could be one of the few 5+ mana creatures I'd look at. Deathtouch is nice for the removal aspect and it can help to close out the game and take advantage of potential flood. Other than that, Horizon chimera and Winged Coatl are both decent filler to help increase density.
You mention ninjas as well and I think you could have some really nice cross-pollination between the two archetypes and try to go a little deeper in UB with ninjas as the tempo deck of choice, especially since your list is larger.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Some of those cards you mentioned like Breaching Hippocamp, Illusory Ambusher, Winged Coatl, and Horizon Chimera just seem too underpowered to consider - even at 720 (heck, even at like 1000 for a couple of them). Others like Nebelgast Intruder, Scion of Stygia, Nebelgast Herald, Deceiver Exarch just seem like worse Pestermites.
That said, Faerie Vandal and Faerie Duelist are decent cards that I definitely overlooked and should at least consider if I plan on keeping Spellstutter Sprite (though it is suspect itself). Additionally, I have cubed Ambush Viper in the past, and it was ok, nothing special, but it usually did what you wanted it to do; I could see putting it back in.
Threnody Singer, Briarpack Alpha, Pack Guardian, and Fleetfeather Cockatrice are also decent, and worth consideration, but are probably slightly worse versions of already borderline includes. 720 is deeper than you think. Maybe not in this archetype (unfortunately), but the bench of "cubable" cards is deep!
Let me ask about a couple you didn't mention (yes, the latter two aren't Flash per say, but Ninjutsu). What do you think about Brinebarrow Intruder, Ingenious Infiltrator, and Okiba-Gang Shinobi?
I do like the flash -2/-0 creatures, but I don't like it on a 1/2. It's hard to take advantage of the power reduction to use that as a trick unless you already have some sort of board presence. That's why I like Nebelgast Intruder. Despite being priced at two more mana, the two power plus flying really helps to turn it into a pseudo removal spell.
As for Infiltrator and Shinobi, I believe you'll need both if you want to push Ninjas as a UB archetype. Unfortunately, Ninjutsu isn't a very fleshed out keyword for peasant legal cards. Only five or so in blue and black that are worth running, imo. I'd also look at running some of the cheap unblockable creatures in both blue and black to help get those ninjas on the board.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.