Yeah, classifying hybrids as mono-colored creatures is just an excuse to run more multi-colored creatures heh
This line of thinking has never made a bit of sense. The argument (and I use the term loosely) appears to be that if you count Cackler as a gold card you can "cheat" on gold cards since it really isn't gold. First, this is an admission that Cackler isn't a gold card. Second, if you want to play less gold cards in your Cube you can simply..I dunno..play less gold cards in your Cube. Which has nothing to do with Rakdos Cackler or hybrid cards in most cases (obviously things like Boros Reckoner or Boggart Ram-Gang push the envelope)
Using hybrid mana as a strange technicality to claim/pretend that you have more gold cards in your Cube has absolutely nothing to do with Cube design whatsoever. If anything, it creates the opposite problem where you decree a quota of gold cards but some of the color pairs have hybrids in those slots and some don't. Which produces a higher density of true gold cards in the color pairs which don't.
The only explanation I've ever been able to muster is that Cube taxonomy has turned into a fetish.
I disagre pretty heavily that Master of Feast > Geralf's Messenger. I think Master is actually more restricted -- or at least AS restricted -- in terms of which deck(s) it can go into.
I think it really depends on what type of black decks you can build (ie support) in your Cube. Becuase to me they aren't particularly comparable cards and if no one ever wants to draft black aggro, then Master is going to sit in sideboards every draft.
That's because you are burying your points (if you have any) in hyperboles and bad rethorics.
This is unhelpful because the question is if he has a point or not.
I think there is an issue of card power in play. Look at the distorted viewpoint of the Cube forum based on "power level". If you only listened to this forum you'd think Gatecrash was a terrible set and the only worthwhile cards were Experiment One and Boros Charm.
In fact, Gatecrash was a great set. It was a great set for casual play too (which Cube is a part of)..unless you are hyper-fixated on card "power".
I think this is misguided advice because it depends on how focused your white decks are on cranking out damage.
Paladin, Youth, and Entity are all awesome contributors and better than Flickerwisp for rush decks. Its a question of emphasis moreso than power level.
There must be a good reason to run Acidic Slime? In my cube I have my 5cc slot devoted to Deranged Hermit, Acidic Slime, Vorapede, Indrik Stomphowler and Thragtusk. Before my friend got rid of his aggro focused cube he had taken out Acidic Slime. There was something I don't think he liked about Acidic Slime or some reason why he felt his cube didn't need him. I thought the reason to run Acidic Slime is because it's a deathtouch creature that can destroy a land, enchantment or artifact. If Acidic Slime didn't have deathtouch then it wouldn't be a very good creature.
Our group sometimes wonders about the Slime as well. Its ok as a utility creature, but the only way it gets to staple status is if you have tricky ways to replay it. Its one of the target thats you would really like to have for Recurring Nightmare, which is a big part of why its a mainstay (in our estimation)
Also, I don't think Thelonite Hermit belongs anywhere near cube. It doesn't have an ETB trigger, so there's no way to abuse it. It's probably the most fair green creature you could ever play. It's also very slow. Deranged Hermit can do some really sick things, and this card does none of them.
Thelonite Hermit is in no way "the most fair green creature you could ever play". You are significantly underestimating how much of the value of either Hermit is the fact that they put 9 power and toughness into play on turn 5. Deranged's ability to be replayed or blinked (ie his "abusability") adds to his value but only because its base effect is so powerful.
Thelonite takes more time to set up than Deranged BUT if your squirrels aren't enough to keep you in the game you are in trouble since you won't be doing anything on turn 6 except pay echo. And if you don't pay his echo, 4 1/1s isn't the best consolation prize in the world.
I've always been somewhat shocked that Thornling and Genesis stayed in the conversation when cards like Vorapede, Kalonian Hydra and Wolfir Silverheart came along. They just attack for too much damage.
I would probably have Deranged Hermit (and Thelonite Hermit as well) in that category but we normally cube with Symbol Status over the Hermits. And SS is possibly the best green card.
I like them in this order:
Redcap
Cackler
Dreadbore
Aristocrat
Cheers,
rant
I don't consider them in the same category. Redcap is close to being black and Cackler is close to being red. Their hybrid mana simply lends them extra versatility, whereas Dreadbore and Aristocrat are restricted due to their casting cost.
So unless you have a weird catchall section that includes cards that are easier to cast than mono-colored AND cards gold cards that are more difficult to cast, it makes no sense to evaluate them for the same slots.
I've yet to play with her as she didn't interest me when she first came out. Having said that Sorin wasn't impressive during his time in my cube (not long) and Liliana Vess was only in there by default (booted when Veil came out).
Soltari Trooper is a good evasive beater, especially at 270 where the concentration of sick equipment is probably very high. Likewise, Steppe Lynx should be able to find multiple fetches in the average draft. Those are probably the two I'd drop in first.
Those guys are just conditional beaters. We already run the bad 1 drops to support the rush opening and those are not the cards that are going to win you the game anyway.
Champion of the Parish
Mirror Entity
Leonin Relic-Warder
Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Cloistered Youth
Steppe Lynx
Personally I think that we have the critical density of humans to support Champion. I also want to include Mirror Entity which would probably encourage us to tweak our Green section to make support Entity as a ramp finisher (more Elves in particular).
We may not need so many 2 power 1 drops at 270.
Relic-Warder I'm iffy on. It seems a bit of tokenism but we always waver on what constitutes the correct amount of artifact hate.
Qasali Pridemage, Gaddock Teeg -- these guys have shined for us in the past and seem suited to powered Cubes in particular. But it would be heavy G/W in a 270 Cube.
EDIT: the second tier beaters are more or less ruled out because they would clog too many packs as undesirables, ie
Steppe Lynx
Soltari Priest/Monk/Trooper
Knight of Meadowgrain
Cloistered Youth (my opinion, others in our draft seem to want her)
This line of thinking has never made a bit of sense. The argument (and I use the term loosely) appears to be that if you count Cackler as a gold card you can "cheat" on gold cards since it really isn't gold. First, this is an admission that Cackler isn't a gold card. Second, if you want to play less gold cards in your Cube you can simply..I dunno..play less gold cards in your Cube. Which has nothing to do with Rakdos Cackler or hybrid cards in most cases (obviously things like Boros Reckoner or Boggart Ram-Gang push the envelope)
Using hybrid mana as a strange technicality to claim/pretend that you have more gold cards in your Cube has absolutely nothing to do with Cube design whatsoever. If anything, it creates the opposite problem where you decree a quota of gold cards but some of the color pairs have hybrids in those slots and some don't. Which produces a higher density of true gold cards in the color pairs which don't.
The only explanation I've ever been able to muster is that Cube taxonomy has turned into a fetish.
I think it really depends on what type of black decks you can build (ie support) in your Cube. Becuase to me they aren't particularly comparable cards and if no one ever wants to draft black aggro, then Master is going to sit in sideboards every draft.
I don't personally think there is much overlap between the cards because they fill such different roles, but Wolf Run can just be insane sometimes.
I think its better than Blade Splicer
This is unhelpful because the question is if he has a point or not.
I think there is an issue of card power in play. Look at the distorted viewpoint of the Cube forum based on "power level". If you only listened to this forum you'd think Gatecrash was a terrible set and the only worthwhile cards were Experiment One and Boros Charm.
In fact, Gatecrash was a great set. It was a great set for casual play too (which Cube is a part of)..unless you are hyper-fixated on card "power".
I think this is misguided advice because it depends on how focused your white decks are on cranking out damage.
Paladin, Youth, and Entity are all awesome contributors and better than Flickerwisp for rush decks. Its a question of emphasis moreso than power level.
Our group sometimes wonders about the Slime as well. Its ok as a utility creature, but the only way it gets to staple status is if you have tricky ways to replay it. Its one of the target thats you would really like to have for Recurring Nightmare, which is a big part of why its a mainstay (in our estimation)
Thelonite Hermit is in no way "the most fair green creature you could ever play". You are significantly underestimating how much of the value of either Hermit is the fact that they put 9 power and toughness into play on turn 5. Deranged's ability to be replayed or blinked (ie his "abusability") adds to his value but only because its base effect is so powerful.
Thelonite takes more time to set up than Deranged BUT if your squirrels aren't enough to keep you in the game you are in trouble since you won't be doing anything on turn 6 except pay echo. And if you don't pay his echo, 4 1/1s isn't the best consolation prize in the world.
I would probably have Deranged Hermit (and Thelonite Hermit as well) in that category but we normally cube with Symbol Status over the Hermits. And SS is possibly the best green card.
I don't consider them in the same category. Redcap is close to being black and Cackler is close to being red. Their hybrid mana simply lends them extra versatility, whereas Dreadbore and Aristocrat are restricted due to their casting cost.
So unless you have a weird catchall section that includes cards that are easier to cast than mono-colored AND cards gold cards that are more difficult to cast, it makes no sense to evaluate them for the same slots.
I would only compare it to the last two because the rest are aggro creatures
Its not even that great in draft IMO
Those guys are just conditional beaters. We already run the bad 1 drops to support the rush opening and those are not the cards that are going to win you the game anyway.
Currently we are going through a redesign but suppose for now that we are playing the obvious staples
Cards we are considering
Champion of the Parish
Mirror Entity
Leonin Relic-Warder
Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Cloistered Youth
Steppe Lynx
Personally I think that we have the critical density of humans to support Champion. I also want to include Mirror Entity which would probably encourage us to tweak our Green section to make support Entity as a ramp finisher (more Elves in particular).
We may not need so many 2 power 1 drops at 270.
Relic-Warder I'm iffy on. It seems a bit of tokenism but we always waver on what constitutes the correct amount of artifact hate.
Qasali Pridemage, Gaddock Teeg -- these guys have shined for us in the past and seem suited to powered Cubes in particular. But it would be heavy G/W in a 270 Cube.
EDIT: the second tier beaters are more or less ruled out because they would clog too many packs as undesirables, ie
Steppe Lynx
Soltari Priest/Monk/Trooper
Knight of Meadowgrain
Cloistered Youth (my opinion, others in our draft seem to want her)
Because its a high profile card in other formats. Its not a particularly good Cube card.