I've been brewing a mono-white list that uses 4 each of dragon hunter and mardu woe-reaper in addition to kytheon. This lets me put through an absurd amount of damage with arashin foremost. I'm also thinking that a list with only 2-4 noncreature spells would be good since it would allow me to maindeck a full set of vryn wingmare. How essential have raise the alarm and the anthems been for you?
Apparently everyone has failed to mention the fact that he took the goyf, hates on any deck that is on green... and its entirely splashable if he would have chosen to do so, But merely taking such a threat from his opponents is still a great choice, over a marginal burn spell.
Goyf is by no means a bomb in limited, and hatedrafting in general is a pretty poor strategy. Burst lightning is not a "Marginal Burn Spell" either. Due to the kicker, it's premium removal, and would have made his deck better.
What about card auctioning? One player auctions off a card, and must take one offer. Then, the winner of that auction auctions a card, and so forth until everyone's content. This forces more transparency to fight collusion.
Awaken the Bear C up from D+. This is an excellent trick, since the trample gives you damage to the player too. This is the sort of thing that Lava Axe and Act of Aggression dream of being.
Except that act of aggression is instant steal, so it isn't comparable at all. Act of aggressionis conditional 2-for-1 removal for 3 in any color, with the upside of also being act of treason.
Commons and Uncommons are the key cards to evaluate, so I'll share my gripes with your common and Uncommon rankings:
White: Defiant Strike: I think defiant strike is good enough to make the cut most of the time. C- Dazzling Ramparts: The fact it can't block and lock down an attacker at the same time makes me hesitant to play this. D Seeker of the Way: While C+ is the normal grade for a bear with upside, in this case the upside is huge. Prowess isn't too uncommon, and a 3/3 lifelink is backbreaking. B
Overall, I think your evaluations of most white commons were pretty solid.
Blue: Crippling Chill: Frost breath is almost always playable, and I'd argue that a card is better than tapping another creature. The prowess synergy is just gravy. C, C+ if you have prowess. Jeskai Windscout: I think prowess will happen pretty often, so this card is going to be awesome in pretty much any blue deck. B- Treasure Cruise: As your only delve, it will likely be a B. With one or two other delves, it probably drops to C, but do not underestimate 3 for 1's in such a slow format. Jeskai Elder: A looter that eats morphs is going to be very solid. C+ Riverwheel Aerialists: This card does a pretty good mahamoti djinn impression, and in this format, six drops are going to get played. Also, it's splashable, which is key when the standard deck is two colors + splash. B
I think you really underestimate prowess. I suspect it will happen very frequently.
Black: Disowned Ancestor: Kraken hatchling that grows will get played in almost every black deck, even aggressive ones where it triggers raid. C Sultai Scavenger: 3/3 flyers are very solid, and this one can come down for four mana consistently. This card will pull me into black. B- Bellowing Saddlebruise: Four mana 4/5 is excellent. Like, first-pickable excellent. Even a control deck will brave the downside for that kind of efficiency. I think this is one of the best black uncommons. B in control, A- in Aggro Despise: This just wrecks game plans. I would almost always play this. C+
Overall, your black reviews were, but some were pretty far off the mark in my opinion.
Red: Canyon Lurkers: This is worse than cobblebrute, and even rakdos decks weren't happy playing that. D- Arc Lightning: This is generally considered a limited bomb. This gets played in powered cubes. I will take this over 95% of the set's cards. A
Your red reviews were really good, but it's obvious you've never played with arc lightning.
Green: Hooting Mandrills: This will get played for 4 often enough to be considered excellent. B+ Kin-Tree Warden: I think that the versatility of morph makes this very playable. C
For the most part, green was good as well now that you changed incremental growth.
Multicolor and Colorless: Armament Corps: I think you missed that it can pump itself. Five mana 6/6 at worst. B+ Efreet Weaponmaster: The best of the cycle, in my opinion. B Master The Way: Removal is important enough that I think this will be a really solid in slower decks. D+ in aggro, B in control Winterflame: This does a passable electrolyze impression, so I'm inclined to think it's good. B Briber's Purse: This is overcosted, but versatile removal, and in colorless. C+
Your review was decent, but there were several things I disagreed on. I haven't looked at your rare ratings, but I suspect I'd have problems with those too.
You guys are nuts, it absolutely matters what clan you pick. Your going to get a seeded pack of that clan, which means your gonna get mana fixing for those colors. and some common/uncommons of those colors. so clearly the best way to choose a clan is to look at the full spoiler, and go through and add up the colors with the most playable common and uncommons, then the clan with the most playable common and uncommon cards. and whatever three color pair has the highest number of limited playable cards, pick that clan to increase you chances of having decent cards.
When i looked at the spoiler, i saw that white has 12 good limited common and uncommons, blue has 12, black has 13, red has 13, and green has 9. Now these cards are all at common and uncommon levels. so you will be getting most of these. So to increase my chances of getting playable cards, i would pick mardu.
But thats just an example. im still looking at the spoiler and deciding what cards are most playable, and that i will have the best chance at getting.
Thats a good approach, but the problem with it is you put too much stock in uncommons. 73% of your pool will be commons. Only 20% will be uncommon, and 8% rare. (The extra percent is the result of rounding because the prerelease rare gives you a 91 card pool.) This means the commons of a specific color are 3 times as important as the uncommons. My method is to put the commons of each color into 3 groups: Good, Playable, and Bad. I only take into account "bomb uncommons" (Arc Lightning, Incremental Growth). This way, I get a more accurate idea of what I'll actually get.
I'll support night's whisper. It's excellent cheap card advantage that fits pretty well into any black deck.
I'd also like to nominate Moonlight Bargain. I prefer it to promise of power because you can put things into the graveyard selectively, and it's easier to play in 3+ color decks.
I built my cube from cards I owned, and a bunch of stuff I found in 10 cent boxes. I spent 7.50 for 1000 penny sleeves, and maybe 75$ on singles for the cube. All told, just under 100$.
It's too bad only a couple of us use squadron hawk, because that card is awesome, and really deserved to be on here. I was also surprised I'm now the only one who really likes goldnight commander.
Maybe order from highest to lowest mean placement, among subsections based on popularity. So:
Cards appearing on 75% or more of lists would be at the top, in order of average placement, then after all of those would be the card on at least 50% of lists with highest average, and after everything on at least 50% of lists, you have everything on at least 25% of lists, and after those, if there's still room, you put the highest-placing pet cards. This way, a card doesn't get bumped down significantly from one person not running it. For example, I literally just got a Mom, and haven't tested it yet, so it isn't on my list. This method accounts for both popularity and quality.
We all know that card-parity tutors, like demonic tutor and regrowth (I count recursion as a sort of tutor) are good, and that card-advantage tutors, like imperial recruiter, are awesome. What I'm wondering about are card disadvantage tutors. With these, you sacrifice card advantage for versatility and/or card quality, so there's a fine line between which are good and which aren't. These are the ones I'm considering:
Goyf is by no means a bomb in limited, and hatedrafting in general is a pretty poor strategy. Burst lightning is not a "Marginal Burn Spell" either. Due to the kicker, it's premium removal, and would have made his deck better.
Except that act of aggression is instant steal, so it isn't comparable at all. Act of aggressionis conditional 2-for-1 removal for 3 in any color, with the upside of also being act of treason.
White:
Defiant Strike: I think defiant strike is good enough to make the cut most of the time. C-
Dazzling Ramparts: The fact it can't block and lock down an attacker at the same time makes me hesitant to play this. D
Seeker of the Way: While C+ is the normal grade for a bear with upside, in this case the upside is huge. Prowess isn't too uncommon, and a 3/3 lifelink is backbreaking. B
Overall, I think your evaluations of most white commons were pretty solid.
Blue:
Crippling Chill: Frost breath is almost always playable, and I'd argue that a card is better than tapping another creature. The prowess synergy is just gravy. C, C+ if you have prowess.
Jeskai Windscout: I think prowess will happen pretty often, so this card is going to be awesome in pretty much any blue deck. B-
Treasure Cruise: As your only delve, it will likely be a B. With one or two other delves, it probably drops to C, but do not underestimate 3 for 1's in such a slow format.
Jeskai Elder: A looter that eats morphs is going to be very solid. C+
Riverwheel Aerialists: This card does a pretty good mahamoti djinn impression, and in this format, six drops are going to get played. Also, it's splashable, which is key when the standard deck is two colors + splash. B
I think you really underestimate prowess. I suspect it will happen very frequently.
Black:
Disowned Ancestor: Kraken hatchling that grows will get played in almost every black deck, even aggressive ones where it triggers raid. C
Sultai Scavenger: 3/3 flyers are very solid, and this one can come down for four mana consistently. This card will pull me into black. B-
Bellowing Saddlebruise: Four mana 4/5 is excellent. Like, first-pickable excellent. Even a control deck will brave the downside for that kind of efficiency. I think this is one of the best black uncommons. B in control, A- in Aggro
Despise: This just wrecks game plans. I would almost always play this. C+
Overall, your black reviews were, but some were pretty far off the mark in my opinion.
Red:
Canyon Lurkers: This is worse than cobblebrute, and even rakdos decks weren't happy playing that. D-
Arc Lightning: This is generally considered a limited bomb. This gets played in powered cubes. I will take this over 95% of the set's cards. A
Your red reviews were really good, but it's obvious you've never played with arc lightning.
Green:
Hooting Mandrills: This will get played for 4 often enough to be considered excellent. B+
Kin-Tree Warden: I think that the versatility of morph makes this very playable. C
For the most part, green was good as well now that you changed incremental growth.
Multicolor and Colorless:
Armament Corps: I think you missed that it can pump itself. Five mana 6/6 at worst. B+
Efreet Weaponmaster: The best of the cycle, in my opinion. B
Master The Way: Removal is important enough that I think this will be a really solid in slower decks. D+ in aggro, B in control
Winterflame: This does a passable electrolyze impression, so I'm inclined to think it's good. B
Briber's Purse: This is overcosted, but versatile removal, and in colorless. C+
Your review was decent, but there were several things I disagreed on. I haven't looked at your rare ratings, but I suspect I'd have problems with those too.
Thats a good approach, but the problem with it is you put too much stock in uncommons. 73% of your pool will be commons. Only 20% will be uncommon, and 8% rare. (The extra percent is the result of rounding because the prerelease rare gives you a 91 card pool.) This means the commons of a specific color are 3 times as important as the uncommons. My method is to put the commons of each color into 3 groups: Good, Playable, and Bad. I only take into account "bomb uncommons" (Arc Lightning, Incremental Growth). This way, I get a more accurate idea of what I'll actually get.
I'd also like to nominate Moonlight Bargain. I prefer it to promise of power because you can put things into the graveyard selectively, and it's easier to play in 3+ color decks.
Fathom Mage's Ability is actually a "may".
Cards appearing on 75% or more of lists would be at the top, in order of average placement, then after all of those would be the card on at least 50% of lists with highest average, and after everything on at least 50% of lists, you have everything on at least 25% of lists, and after those, if there's still room, you put the highest-placing pet cards. This way, a card doesn't get bumped down significantly from one person not running it. For example, I literally just got a Mom, and haven't tested it yet, so it isn't on my list. This method accounts for both popularity and quality.
What are your opinions on these cards? Are there more that I forgot worth mentioning?