The never-ending spoilers are never-ending, it seems. I didn't see a thread for this set, and I'm not sure how many people are interested, but here we are.
New Cards: Angelic Cub - Strange card that grows when targetted and gains flying with 3+ +1/+1 counters. Could work in a counter deck, but not sure it's worth it. Biblioplex Kraken - Scry 3 on a large-ish body that can also become unblockable by bouncing a creature. Chains of Custody - Removal and protection on an aura. Coalborn Entity - A burn mana-sink. "Target ctreature token, player, or planeswalker" is an interesting group of targets. Wonder why it can't hit non-tokens. Creeping Bloodsucker - Built for multiplayer. Distinguished Conjurer - 1W for a 1/2 lifegain isn't great, and the flicker ability, while repeatable, is a bit expensive. Dutiful Replicator - Not great unless you already have a really nice token, in which case, you could keep flickering it for a pseudo-populate ability. Even then, why not just run a populate card? Goblin Researcher - Potential card advantage, providing it survives long enough to attack. Hold for Questioning - Investigate stapled onto a Sleep Paralysis variant, that also targets planeswalkers and stops activated abilities. Ingenious Leonin - Overcosted pump. Launch Mishap - No Escape/Syphon Essence variant that creates a flying Thopter. Not great. Magnanimous Magistrate - Counter-based reanimation, but they're a weird counter type and probably only playable with a lot of proliferation. Even then I question it, what with starting at 6 mana. Merfolk Pupil - ETB loot that can also happen from the graveyard. Possible use in a reanimator theme. Mild-Mannered Librarian - +1/+1 counters and card draw on a 1-drop. Ossuary Rats - Would have been overcosted even if it hit the opponent directly. Planar Atlas - Mana rock that potentially sets you up to draw a land, but do you really want a land after you've already ramped? Plundering Predator - More like Rummaging Dragon. Primeval Herald - Baby Prime-Time is not a card I expected to see. Is it any good starting at 4 mana and having only 1 toughness? Rampaging Growth - Interesting Rampant Growth/Animate Land variant Read the Soul - Modal counterspell or draw, but at 4 mana, it's a lot to hold up. Spectral Hunt-Caller - Overcosted pump. Synchronous Dismissal - Overcosted bounce outside of tribal. Towering Gibbon - Always at least a 4/4 Reach with possibly more power, but no Trample to take advantage of any growth. War Instruments - Overcosted tribal anthem.
I've bolded the few that I think might warrant discussion, but there aren't really any must-run standouts.
Most of these aren't making a case for inclusion in my 360 list, but there's a few I have my eyes on.
Planar Atlas - Looks interesting. Playing a mana rock but missing your following land drop is pretty self-defeating, so it's nice that this solves for that. CIPT is tough though. It's so much harder to weave this into your regular plays than a Mind Stone, for instance.
Conductor of Cacophony - I think you missed this one, Funky. Battle Screech is a menace in limited, and I'm always looking for ways to cut down on the dominance of 1/1 fliers without hating too hard on generic aggro and without including straight-up hate cards . I like this one for those reasons. You can definitely include this in a random deck make combat very awkward for your opponent. In the end of the day it _might_ be too weak, but I want to give it a shot.
Dutiful Replicator - If you get to use the ability this is going to be at least a decent rate, but I just don't think tokens are prevalent enough to make this powerful enough for the consistency (yet). I really want them to bring back populate as a mechanic, but until then this will sit in the maybeboard.
Creeping Bloodsucker - As far as enablers for life gain/loss we've come a long way since Ajani's Mantra. That said there's yet to be a payoff that actually makes the effect desirable enough for cube. Maybe one day.
Biblioplex Kraken- At a certain point, scry 3 is equal to drawing a card, so that's nice. I am usually not a fan of these types of gating abilities, but this one gets in 4 damage and re-uses a good ETB trigger too.
Conductor of Cacophony- Sort of an interesting creature/sweeper hybrid thing that plays well with +1/+1 counters. It is pretty expensive to deal damage the turn this enters, unfortunately.
Mild-Mannered Librarian- The installment plan is nice, but it ends up getting you a Kavu Climber. It does not help that the original body is subpar.
Planar Atlas- It is kinda nice to guarantee an land drop in those dedicated ramp decks. Otherwise, you can always bottom all 4 cards.
Primeval Herald- My mind has compared this to everything from Explosive Vegetation to Ondu Giant. The attack trigger is good enough for me to happily run this into small creatures that it trades for. The overall value is so dependent on tbe board state.
Soul Read- I have more time than most for this type of effect, since a built-in fallback to holding up counter mana saves a lot of lost tempo. I wish this one countered a bit better, but I know they will one day make a perfect modal counterspell tbat we will always play in Cube. Better than Supreme Will.
Conductor of Cacophony - I think you missed this one, Funky. Battle Screech is a menace in limited, and I'm always looking for ways to cut down on the dominance of 1/1 fliers without hating too hard on generic aggro and without including straight-up hate cards . I like this one for those reasons. You can definitely include this in a random deck make combat very awkward for your opponent. In the end of the day it _might_ be too weak, but I want to give it a shot.
Yes, I did miss it. I remember seeing it at one point but forgot when compiling everything.
As for Conductor of Cacophony, it's a Pestilence variant on a stick. Or a more limited Crypt Rats that doesn't kill itself. In last year's average peasant cube, only 6-9 people were running Pestilence, and I may be the only person running Crypt Rats because it doesn't even appear on the average cube. It's more open to removal than Pestilence and can only be activated twice without counter support, but it does advance an empty board with a 4/3 body and doesn't have that sacrifice clause.
I don't know - I find the competition for black 4-drops to be very stiff, so I probably won't test it in my cube, but I'd be curious how it works out for others.
I've updated the New Art section of the original post with another half-dozen cards.
And we have a few more new cards, but nothing good.
Suspicious Shambler - Two zombies in a trench coat may be the best thing about this card. While it can yield three bodies over time, 3B and 4BB are pretty steep costs for a vanilla 4/2 and two 2/2 tokens.
Deadly Plot - Modal really only in a tribal cube (I have 9 zombies total and wouldn't want to waste this on 1/3 of them), and it's overpriced as just removal.
Daring Piracy - A token a turn sounds really good, except they don't stick around. For 3 mana, I'd like tokens that stick around.
The only two new cards from this that I find interesting are Conductor of Cacophony and Mild-Mannered Librarian. I don't know if either will find a home in my 360, though.
I like that Conductor is a play on Crypt Rats and Pestilence and I like that it plays well with other +1/+1 counters. I think that it needed just a bit more for inclusion over current black fours in tight 360 peasant lists, though. As a Demon, it probably needed flying. I don't think that would have made it too powerful since you're planning to make it smaller. Probably just not good enough overall.
As for the Librarian, the initial body on this one really needed to be a 2/1 or maybe have Trample or something. I like installment plan cards like this that you can play out early and then have a mana sink later. Unfortunately neither version of this is good enough, IMO.
It really seems like they held way back on the power level for the new cards in this set, especially the commons/uncommons. Not only are the interesting new cards at our rarities just not that great, but there are zero downshifts for us or pauper cubers. Every card I think has a neat and interesting ability really just needed one or two small tweaks to make it.
I'll probably pick up a couple of the anime arts and I really like the new art on Reassembling Skeleton. They don't come in foil, though, so I'm not even sure I'll make those swaps.
This is overall a very disappointing supplemental set.
When I look back, I only added two spells from the last Jumpstart with only one remaining in my 512-card Cube (Spiteful Devil) as of now. Obviously, the Thriving lands were the big splash last time, but you cannot expect them to reinvent the fixing every time.
I imagine Planar Atlas is a fringe mana rock that some people might try out.
I am enthralled by Primeval Herald. I keep thinking how good this would be if you get two lands before trading off with an opposing 2-drop. Herald's output is too unpredictable to accurately determine its power, but I will certainly pick one up.
I am enthralled by Primeval Herald. I keep thinking how good this would be if you get two lands before trading off with an opposing 2-drop. Herald's output is too unpredictable to accurately determine its power, but I will certainly pick one up.
Feels like it should be half a Primeval Tiatan, so I wonder why it's not a 3/3. Being a 3/1 is essentially the only thing that keeps it out of my cube.
I am enthralled by Primeval Herald. I keep thinking how good this would be if you get two lands before trading off with an opposing 2-drop. Herald's output is too unpredictable to accurately determine its power, but I will certainly pick one up.
Feels like it should be half a Primeval Tiatan, so I wonder why it's not a 3/3. Being a 3/1 is essentially the only thing that keeps it out of my cube.
Yeah, especially at 4 mana - that's over half the cost of a Prime Time, but one toughness sucks. As a 3/3 I absolutely would have added it to my cube.
I know spoilers ended a while ago, but I was just coming back to the set and don't think I'll add anything to my cube.
I ended up adding Biblioplex Kraken, Primeval Herald, and Planar Atlas. I wish that the kraken could bounce itself, though, just to have the option to use it as repeated filtering in a pinch. I added the herald since just attacking once is good enough value already in my eyes. Might get cut, though.
Mild-Mannered Librarian- The installment plan is nice, but it ends up getting you a Kavu Climber. It does not help that the original body is subpar.
I've been meaning to say this, but it really helps to remember that these installment plan type creatures (even like hypnotic grifter) have the statline, but essentially with haste if they came down on turn 1.
New Cards:
Angelic Cub - Strange card that grows when targetted and gains flying with 3+ +1/+1 counters. Could work in a counter deck, but not sure it's worth it.
Biblioplex Kraken - Scry 3 on a large-ish body that can also become unblockable by bouncing a creature.
Chains of Custody - Removal and protection on an aura.
Coalborn Entity - A burn mana-sink. "Target ctreature token, player, or planeswalker" is an interesting group of targets. Wonder why it can't hit non-tokens.
Creeping Bloodsucker - Built for multiplayer.
Distinguished Conjurer - 1W for a 1/2 lifegain isn't great, and the flicker ability, while repeatable, is a bit expensive.
Dutiful Replicator - Not great unless you already have a really nice token, in which case, you could keep flickering it for a pseudo-populate ability. Even then, why not just run a populate card?
Goblin Researcher - Potential card advantage, providing it survives long enough to attack.
Hold for Questioning - Investigate stapled onto a Sleep Paralysis variant, that also targets planeswalkers and stops activated abilities.
Ingenious Leonin - Overcosted pump.
Launch Mishap - No Escape/Syphon Essence variant that creates a flying Thopter. Not great.
Magnanimous Magistrate - Counter-based reanimation, but they're a weird counter type and probably only playable with a lot of proliferation. Even then I question it, what with starting at 6 mana.
Merfolk Pupil - ETB loot that can also happen from the graveyard. Possible use in a reanimator theme.
Mild-Mannered Librarian - +1/+1 counters and card draw on a 1-drop.
Ossuary Rats - Would have been overcosted even if it hit the opponent directly.
Planar Atlas - Mana rock that potentially sets you up to draw a land, but do you really want a land after you've already ramped?
Plundering Predator - More like Rummaging Dragon.
Primeval Herald - Baby Prime-Time is not a card I expected to see. Is it any good starting at 4 mana and having only 1 toughness?
Rampaging Growth - Interesting Rampant Growth/Animate Land variant
Read the Soul - Modal counterspell or draw, but at 4 mana, it's a lot to hold up.
Spectral Hunt-Caller - Overcosted pump.
Synchronous Dismissal - Overcosted bounce outside of tribal.
Towering Gibbon - Always at least a 4/4 Reach with possibly more power, but no Trample to take advantage of any growth.
War Instruments - Overcosted tribal anthem.
I've bolded the few that I think might warrant discussion, but there aren't really any must-run standouts.
New Art (mostly but not all Anime):
Aftershock
Arlinn, Voice of the Pack
Arrest
Blood Artist
Caustic Caterpillar
Coldsteel Heart
Dragon Mage
Drannith Stinger
Eidolon of Rhetoric
Elvish Rejuvinator
Emancipation Angel
Feast of Blood
Feast on the Fallen
Festering Evil
Fireslinger
Flicker of Fate
Ghoul's Feast
Hydra's Growth
Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
King of the Pride
Lord of the Accursed
Magnifying Glass
Merrow Reejery
Mirror Image
Morkrut Banshee
Nezumi Bone-Reader
Oathsworn Vampire
Preordain
Rapacious Dragon
Reassembling Skeleton
Rigging Runner
Ruin in their Wake
Sage's Reverie
Spawning Pit
Spear Spewer
Spectral Sailor
Stitcher's Supplier
Thrashing Brontodon
Thrill of Possibility
Tragic Lesson
Tragic Slip
Uktabi Orangutan
Valorous Stance
Wakedancer
Whirler Rogue
Wizard Mentor
Not many of these even see play, but there are a couple. It's totally up to personal taste.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Planar Atlas - Looks interesting. Playing a mana rock but missing your following land drop is pretty self-defeating, so it's nice that this solves for that. CIPT is tough though. It's so much harder to weave this into your regular plays than a Mind Stone, for instance.
Conductor of Cacophony - I think you missed this one, Funky. Battle Screech is a menace in limited, and I'm always looking for ways to cut down on the dominance of 1/1 fliers without hating too hard on generic aggro and without including straight-up hate cards . I like this one for those reasons. You can definitely include this in a random deck make combat very awkward for your opponent. In the end of the day it _might_ be too weak, but I want to give it a shot.
Dutiful Replicator - If you get to use the ability this is going to be at least a decent rate, but I just don't think tokens are prevalent enough to make this powerful enough for the consistency (yet). I really want them to bring back populate as a mechanic, but until then this will sit in the maybeboard.
Creeping Bloodsucker - As far as enablers for life gain/loss we've come a long way since Ajani's Mantra. That said there's yet to be a payoff that actually makes the effect desirable enough for cube. Maybe one day.
Conductor of Cacophony- Sort of an interesting creature/sweeper hybrid thing that plays well with +1/+1 counters. It is pretty expensive to deal damage the turn this enters, unfortunately.
Mild-Mannered Librarian- The installment plan is nice, but it ends up getting you a Kavu Climber. It does not help that the original body is subpar.
Planar Atlas- It is kinda nice to guarantee an land drop in those dedicated ramp decks. Otherwise, you can always bottom all 4 cards.
Primeval Herald- My mind has compared this to everything from Explosive Vegetation to Ondu Giant. The attack trigger is good enough for me to happily run this into small creatures that it trades for. The overall value is so dependent on tbe board state.
Soul Read- I have more time than most for this type of effect, since a built-in fallback to holding up counter mana saves a lot of lost tempo. I wish this one countered a bit better, but I know they will one day make a perfect modal counterspell tbat we will always play in Cube. Better than Supreme Will.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/peasantsnowcube
-- Updated with Outlaws of Thunder Junction
The PioneWer Peasant CUbe
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pionewer
-- Updated with Murders at Karlov Manor
As for Conductor of Cacophony, it's a Pestilence variant on a stick. Or a more limited Crypt Rats that doesn't kill itself. In last year's average peasant cube, only 6-9 people were running Pestilence, and I may be the only person running Crypt Rats because it doesn't even appear on the average cube. It's more open to removal than Pestilence and can only be activated twice without counter support, but it does advance an empty board with a 4/3 body and doesn't have that sacrifice clause.
I don't know - I find the competition for black 4-drops to be very stiff, so I probably won't test it in my cube, but I'd be curious how it works out for others.
I've updated the New Art section of the original post with another half-dozen cards.
And we have a few more new cards, but nothing good.
Suspicious Shambler - Two zombies in a trench coat may be the best thing about this card. While it can yield three bodies over time, 3B and 4BB are pretty steep costs for a vanilla 4/2 and two 2/2 tokens.
Deadly Plot - Modal really only in a tribal cube (I have 9 zombies total and wouldn't want to waste this on 1/3 of them), and it's overpriced as just removal.
Daring Piracy - A token a turn sounds really good, except they don't stick around. For 3 mana, I'd like tokens that stick around.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
I like that Conductor is a play on Crypt Rats and Pestilence and I like that it plays well with other +1/+1 counters. I think that it needed just a bit more for inclusion over current black fours in tight 360 peasant lists, though. As a Demon, it probably needed flying. I don't think that would have made it too powerful since you're planning to make it smaller. Probably just not good enough overall.
As for the Librarian, the initial body on this one really needed to be a 2/1 or maybe have Trample or something. I like installment plan cards like this that you can play out early and then have a mana sink later. Unfortunately neither version of this is good enough, IMO.
It really seems like they held way back on the power level for the new cards in this set, especially the commons/uncommons. Not only are the interesting new cards at our rarities just not that great, but there are zero downshifts for us or pauper cubers. Every card I think has a neat and interesting ability really just needed one or two small tweaks to make it.
I'll probably pick up a couple of the anime arts and I really like the new art on Reassembling Skeleton. They don't come in foil, though, so I'm not even sure I'll make those swaps.
This is overall a very disappointing supplemental set.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I imagine Planar Atlas is a fringe mana rock that some people might try out.
I am enthralled by Primeval Herald. I keep thinking how good this would be if you get two lands before trading off with an opposing 2-drop. Herald's output is too unpredictable to accurately determine its power, but I will certainly pick one up.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/peasantsnowcube
-- Updated with Outlaws of Thunder Junction
The PioneWer Peasant CUbe
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pionewer
-- Updated with Murders at Karlov Manor
Feels like it should be half a Primeval Tiatan, so I wonder why it's not a 3/3. Being a 3/1 is essentially the only thing that keeps it out of my cube.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I know spoilers ended a while ago, but I was just coming back to the set and don't think I'll add anything to my cube.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
I've been meaning to say this, but it really helps to remember that these installment plan type creatures (even like hypnotic grifter) have the statline, but essentially with haste if they came down on turn 1.
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