The Phyrexian guys should be colorless and you don't need more multi cards really. They reduce options in drafting and some aren't all that impressive.
I also like Flayer Husk and I like Scimitar too. Vault Skirge was never very impressive for me.
All three cards are mediocre but good enough to include. I like Vault Skirge and Scimitar the most out of the three - a 1/1 flier is a fine one drop for any aggressive deck but a 1/1 on the ground even with an upside is more marginal.
I really like borderposts and hate gold cards for pauper cube. We need fixing and borderposts are actually really fine fixing. Gold cards are hard to cast and make drafting more awkward as the last picks are almost always gold cards
Boon of Erebos - good as a black combat trick? Seems to play almost like a black giant growth.
Also, Sapphire Charm and Reality Ripple. Good? Doesn't activate ETP effects, but you can blink opponent's stuff, it randomly superpwns flayer husk etc.
Boon of Erebos - good as a black combat trick? Seems to play almost like a black giant growth.
Also, Sapphire Charm and Reality Ripple. Good? Doesn't activate ETP effects, but you can blink opponent's stuff, it randomly superpwns flayer husk etc.
I'm not really fond of phasing out in cube. It's uses are really limited and like you said, doesn't even trigger ETB effects which I think are much more important in Pauper than phasing.
Boon is okay, but I'd rather have Altar's Reap, and even then there are probably better things to be running.
To dig a few posts back, I'm a pretty big fan of Vault Skirge. He doesn't look like much at first, but he's terrifying if you can land a turn-two Bonesplitter or some other kind of equipment on him.
A side note: I've just finished my first pauper cube! It's a 420-card composite of Hoogland's and Lanxal's with an addition or two of my own (e.g., Gray Merchant). Feel free to take a look at it and/or draft it (link's in my signature)! Comments always appreciated
Hey guys! I haven't been around for a while now, owing partly to myself being busy with a combination of life and MTGSalvation and partly to graduation from high school cutting down my Pauper Cubing opportunity to basically nil. I just find that I have no time to participate in the Pauper Cube community these days, which makes me sad, but which has been something I've had to accept to not go mad with grief. =P And plus, you guys have been trucking on gloriously without me.
What it does mean, though, is that I won't be able to host the 2013 Pauper Power Rankings. I really want to, we've been doing it for three years now and I don't want to end it here, but it is quite a lot of work collecting and crunching the numbers. This is especially true with the MTGS beta (which you might have noticed from the very conspicuous announcement above is still trucking towards completion) on everybody's plate in the coming months.
Things might change for 2014, when I settle into university life, but for now the Pauper Power Rankings project will have to be put on hiatus. D=
What it does mean, though, is that I won't be able to host the 2013 Pauper Power Rankings ... but for now the Pauper Power Rankings project will have to be put on hiatus. D=
I could do the project for this year; it's definitely worth having someone do it, especially since the pauper cube card pool has gotten quite a few new good cards this last year, not to mention how useful of a resource it is.
Merry Christmas, on a sidenote, thoughts on Sigil of Sleep?
Very cool card, but a bit high variance / win-more for me - it's obviously insane when you can connect with it and it turns any creature into a "must block" threat, but if you're already behind or you can't connect with it, it seems like a wasted card. Also, the typical "it's an aura" disadvantages still apply.
It's a solid aura for a value-laden game, and when it's good it will be excellent, but it doesn't have what I want from an aura. Because they have the inherent risk of card disadvantage I like my auras to either push through a lot of damage and demand a quick answer (Madcap Skills), protect the creature in some way (Snake Umbra) or otherwise help to recoup some of the lost advantage (Rancor, the Bestow creatures). Sigil of Sleep is at its best when it will be triggering for more than a single turn, but with all the quality removal we have in this format, that seems like an unrealistic goal. Too high-variance of a card. obviously putting it on a Silhana Ledgewalker will probably be game over but its average case scenario is likely a worse Unsummon so I don't want anything to do with it.
On a semi-related note, has anyone had experience with Hopeful Eidolon? It seems strong enough to consider as a Mark of the Vampire that leaves a body behind.
I could do the project for this year; it's definitely worth having someone do it, especially since the pauper cube card pool has gotten quite a few new good cards this last year, not to mention how useful of a resource it is.
You are absolutely welcome to have a go at it! You should be warned that the number crunching does take a bit of work, though, although you don't have to put in all of the additional statistics I have around. The main thing is the average listing, which isn't terribly difficult to put together.
Edit.: I just had the opportunity to see Slow Motion in action and it was performing awesome. Against a mana screwed or at least slightly mana screwed deck it's able to win the game nearly on it's own.
This isn't a very good selling point. You probably shouldn't need extra help against a mana screwed opponent ><
Also strange seeing you advocate blue land D when you cut all of your red land D which is a color that should most be trying to hose poorly constructed control mana bases.
This isn't a very good selling point. You probably shouldn't need extra help against a mana screwed opponent ><
Also strange seeing you advocate blue land D when you cut all of your red land D which is a color that should most be trying to hose poorly constructed control mana bases.
Eh, slow motion also ties up all of their mana so they can't cast a dude and have mana up for a trick, or cast a dude at all. Doesn't even have to be mana screwed. Guy has six lands, but can only cast a 4 drop.
I'm concerned that slow motion will just end up oscillating between singlehandedly crushing aggro and being useless. Like what the peasant people say about propaganda and ghostly prison.
Right now my stance on SM is "if you want a sideboard-only card that completely murders aggro, cube this"
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I'm concerned that slow motion will just end up oscillating between singlehandedly crushing aggro and being useless. Like what the peasant people say about propaganda and ghostly prison.
Right now my stance on SM is "if you want a sideboard-only card that completely murders aggro, cube this"
I don't think it's quite that good at crushing aggro. The big difference between Ghostly Prison/Propaganda and Slow Motion is that the latter is more spot removal while the former are not. Propaganda effects are far more punishing since you can't get around them by playing more creatures. Aggro decks can get around Slow Motion either by playing more small threats or paying for slow motion and swinging in anyway since you just tapped out / spent a turn playing it instead of developing the board. Also, Slow Motion becomes a dead draw around turn 6 or 7 against most decks, but Propaganda is never really a dead draw since it still shuts down huge late game swings with lots of creatures.
Also, tying up mid game mana, even against non-aggro decks, seems like a pretty good potential tempo advantage. That makes me think it's not a sideboard-only card. However, 3 CMC is a lot, especially since 3-4 CMC is a really important jump in power level for a lot of decks; is it worth not affecting the board on turn 3 or 4 to severely limit what your opponent can do on turn 4 or 5? This is especially relevant against aggro and faster midrange decks - if you're already behind, spending a turn to make sure your opponent doesn't develop more doesn't solve your problem; you're still taking a big chunk of damage in response.
Pretty good. Regeneration is very solid and it has a relevant ability, especially for control decks. I'm probably (re)adding it in my next update. I think people don't play it only because of vague color balance concerns - most people don't seem to have or want explicit support for 3-color archetypes, even though they still play things like Wild Nacatl.
Speaking of Regenerate, I've been running Clay Statue for the past few months and it's being doing incredibly well. It's 1 Toughness means nothing when you can easily regenerate it, and the fact that it's an Artifact is super relevant in a format full of Fear creatures and effects that don't affect Artifacts.
I had Splicer in when I first built the cube and cut it, I found it to be surprisingly unimpressive. 7 power over 3 bodies seems nice, but 3/3s that die to bounce are not what I want out of my ramp targets.
I had Splicer in when I first built the cube and cut it, I found it to be surprisingly unimpressive. 7 power over 3 bodies seems nice, but 3/3s that die to bounce are not what I want out of my ramp targets.
True. Plus I've pretty much got it filled at it's CMC slot with creatures that have performed well.
'Izor' already said it, Cloudskate is outclassed by Welkin Tern and Vaporkin. These 2 are definitly cubeable, but if they are staple or not depends on your cube, if you want to support aggro decks with blue or not.
Just some thoughts:
I liked Immolating Souleater so far as a 2 drop. It's quite scary in many situations.
Am I just blind or aren't there any Gathan Raiders in your list? This is maybe one of the best red 3 drops of all.
You are not playing Searing Blaze? Even if it has pseudo sorcery speed it's still one of my favourite burn spells. I'm also definitly missing Rift Bolt among your burn spells.
+1 for Immolating Souleater. It's been extremely good in R/x aggro decks for me too.
And on Gathan Raiders, it's fine but I've never been too impressed with it. Maybe I've been missing something huge, but I've rarely wanted to pitch a card to unmorph it. I also just don't include morph cards, but that's a separate issue.
Am I missing something with the Souleater? It seems kind of sub par to me, mainly due to it's 1 Toughness, 1/1 status for 2 and an ability I wouldn't like to play outside of Red. Not to mention taking the Phyrexian 2 damage to pump it only for 1 Power doesn't seem like a good trade to me.
Am I missing something with the Souleater? It seems kind of sub par to me, mainly due to it's 1 Toughness, 1/1 status for 2 and an ability I wouldn't like to play outside of Red. Not to mention taking the Phyrexian 2 damage to pump it only for 1 Power doesn't seem like a good trade to me.
It's pretty common that the threat alone of pumping it for either R or 2 life allows it to swing past much larger blockers. It's also a mana sink as well as an artifact creature which aren't entirely irrelevant. You're right that you wouldn't want to play it outside of red decks, but it's a fine card for red decks.
The 2 for 1 life trade can become highly relevant. Let's say you had a fast start in an agressive deck. You have untapped 3 mountains and your opponent is already down to 13 life, while you are still at 20 life. Your opponent is tapped out and for any reason he can't block the Souleater. You just need to invest the 3 mountains and 18 life and the Souleater deals 13 damage on it's own.
Compared to the low powerlevel of many other red 2 drops, the Souleater definitly is one of the better.
The 2 for 1 life trade can become highly relevant. Let's say you had a fast start in an agressive deck. You have untapped 3 mountains and your opponent is already down to 13 life, while you are still at 20 life. Your opponent is tapped out and for any reason he can't block the Souleater. You just need to invest the 3 mountains and 18 life and the Souleater deals 13 damage on it's own.
Compared to the low powerlevel of many other red 2 drops, the Souleater definitly is one of the better.
Despite the sheer ridiculousness of the situation given, and the unlikeliness of it ever happening, I still want to include it now just based on the fact that something like that COULD happen. For that, I'll include it, just because it'd be amazing.
All three cards are mediocre but good enough to include. I like Vault Skirge and Scimitar the most out of the three - a 1/1 flier is a fine one drop for any aggressive deck but a 1/1 on the ground even with an upside is more marginal.
I really like borderposts and hate gold cards for pauper cube. We need fixing and borderposts are actually really fine fixing. Gold cards are hard to cast and make drafting more awkward as the last picks are almost always gold cards
Draft it on Cubetutor!
Also, Sapphire Charm and Reality Ripple. Good? Doesn't activate ETP effects, but you can blink opponent's stuff, it randomly superpwns flayer husk etc.
I'm not really fond of phasing out in cube. It's uses are really limited and like you said, doesn't even trigger ETB effects which I think are much more important in Pauper than phasing.
Boon is okay, but I'd rather have Altar's Reap, and even then there are probably better things to be running.
A side note: I've just finished my first pauper cube! It's a 420-card composite of Hoogland's and Lanxal's with an addition or two of my own (e.g., Gray Merchant). Feel free to take a look at it and/or draft it (link's in my signature)! Comments always appreciated
What it does mean, though, is that I won't be able to host the 2013 Pauper Power Rankings. I really want to, we've been doing it for three years now and I don't want to end it here, but it is quite a lot of work collecting and crunching the numbers. This is especially true with the MTGS beta (which you might have noticed from the very conspicuous announcement above is still trucking towards completion) on everybody's plate in the coming months.
Things might change for 2014, when I settle into university life, but for now the Pauper Power Rankings project will have to be put on hiatus. D=
Oh a happier note, Merry Christmas to everyone!
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
I could do the project for this year; it's definitely worth having someone do it, especially since the pauper cube card pool has gotten quite a few new good cards this last year, not to mention how useful of a resource it is.
Very cool card, but a bit high variance / win-more for me - it's obviously insane when you can connect with it and it turns any creature into a "must block" threat, but if you're already behind or you can't connect with it, it seems like a wasted card. Also, the typical "it's an aura" disadvantages still apply.
Happy holidays!
On a semi-related note, has anyone had experience with Hopeful Eidolon? It seems strong enough to consider as a Mark of the Vampire that leaves a body behind.
And happy holidays!
Level 1 Judge
You are absolutely welcome to have a go at it! You should be warned that the number crunching does take a bit of work, though, although you don't have to put in all of the additional statistics I have around. The main thing is the average listing, which isn't terribly difficult to put together.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
This isn't a very good selling point. You probably shouldn't need extra help against a mana screwed opponent ><
Also strange seeing you advocate blue land D when you cut all of your red land D which is a color that should most be trying to hose poorly constructed control mana bases.
Eh, slow motion also ties up all of their mana so they can't cast a dude and have mana up for a trick, or cast a dude at all. Doesn't even have to be mana screwed. Guy has six lands, but can only cast a 4 drop.
Right now my stance on SM is "if you want a sideboard-only card that completely murders aggro, cube this"
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
I don't think it's quite that good at crushing aggro. The big difference between Ghostly Prison/Propaganda and Slow Motion is that the latter is more spot removal while the former are not. Propaganda effects are far more punishing since you can't get around them by playing more creatures. Aggro decks can get around Slow Motion either by playing more small threats or paying for slow motion and swinging in anyway since you just tapped out / spent a turn playing it instead of developing the board. Also, Slow Motion becomes a dead draw around turn 6 or 7 against most decks, but Propaganda is never really a dead draw since it still shuts down huge late game swings with lots of creatures.
Also, tying up mid game mana, even against non-aggro decks, seems like a pretty good potential tempo advantage. That makes me think it's not a sideboard-only card. However, 3 CMC is a lot, especially since 3-4 CMC is a really important jump in power level for a lot of decks; is it worth not affecting the board on turn 3 or 4 to severely limit what your opponent can do on turn 4 or 5? This is especially relevant against aggro and faster midrange decks - if you're already behind, spending a turn to make sure your opponent doesn't develop more doesn't solve your problem; you're still taking a big chunk of damage in response.
Level 1 Judge
Pretty good. Regeneration is very solid and it has a relevant ability, especially for control decks. I'm probably (re)adding it in my next update. I think people don't play it only because of vague color balance concerns - most people don't seem to have or want explicit support for 3-color archetypes, even though they still play things like Wild Nacatl.
Even better in the 'artifact' deck.
Or maybe Maul Splicer?
Seal's okay. Maul Splicer is good. Better with blink.
Level 1 Judge
True. Plus I've pretty much got it filled at it's CMC slot with creatures that have performed well.
+1 for Immolating Souleater. It's been extremely good in R/x aggro decks for me too.
And on Gathan Raiders, it's fine but I've never been too impressed with it. Maybe I've been missing something huge, but I've rarely wanted to pitch a card to unmorph it. I also just don't include morph cards, but that's a separate issue.
It's pretty common that the threat alone of pumping it for either R or 2 life allows it to swing past much larger blockers. It's also a mana sink as well as an artifact creature which aren't entirely irrelevant. You're right that you wouldn't want to play it outside of red decks, but it's a fine card for red decks.
This basically sells me on it now. Thanks.
Constructed (Casual) | Pinksleeves |
Constructed (Pauper) | Izzet Fiend | Mono Black | Burn |
Constructed (Standard) | Under Construction |
Constructed (Modern) | Fate Seal |
Constructed (Legacy) | Dream Halls |
Constructed (Vintage) | Not Yet |
Constructed (Commander) | Sliver Overlord | Uril, the Miststalker | Braids, Cabal Minion |
Limited | Alara Block | Time Spiral Block | Innistrad Block | Rise of the Eldrazi |
Despite the sheer ridiculousness of the situation given, and the unlikeliness of it ever happening, I still want to include it now just based on the fact that something like that COULD happen. For that, I'll include it, just because it'd be amazing.