Thanks for the list. I really do think you should consider making a list for some of the other booster products, like Modern Horizons etc. If anything, MH2 was the most impactful set of last year.
I do think you're underrating the new Ob Nixilis though. I've seen it played a few times now and it plays better than it looks. You should test it for sure (maybe in place of Daretti).
This card is super good, and I’m going to predict it plays better than Hero of Bladehold in practice, despite it having a lower ceiling in terms of raw damage. Creating evasive tokens and being evasive itself is huge, not to mention, potentially creating a token the turn it comes into play. I’m definitely including this.
Responding to OP's Goblin Chariot quip: To be fair to the olden days of Magic, we have had Suq'Ata Lancer since 1996, which was strictly better than Goblin Chariot well before the the chariot existed.
We draft four people all the time. We do packs of nine, and just draft regularly. Works well for us. I don’t think I’d want to have a small cube for that purpose, as it gets pretty boring seeing the exact same cards every time. My cube is 500 cards btw.
It's interesting how Gods in Magic have become steadily less resilient. The Theros and Amonkhet ones were indestructable. Then the Hour of devastation ones just raise-deaded themselves when they died. Now these ones go into your library third from the top. The next ones will probably just shuffle into your library.
That said, it’s a fourth-tier red removal spell and that list is already long as hell.
This is completely accurate. I've still got some junky red burns that I wanna cut, but if I replaced one with this, it would just be a slightly less junky burn.
I looked at your cube, and yes, you have some very junky burn cards. I’d certainly run this before some of the ones you have.
A 2/3 flying for 2 mana is the best we have ever had. We all used to run stormfront Pegasus and Mistral Charger. This is so much less susceptible to burn than Soltari Monk or Trooper, although I still like Trooper a lot. I think it’s a very solid card and worth testing.
I do think you're underrating the new Ob Nixilis though. I've seen it played a few times now and it plays better than it looks. You should test it for sure (maybe in place of Daretti).
I agree on a bunch of your other evaluations though.
I looked at your cube, and yes, you have some very junky burn cards. I’d certainly run this before some of the ones you have.