I don't think Reveler is a staple because its as good as Marauder. I think its a staple because basically every Pauper cube will play it, even if no Cube builder consider it to be amongst the most powerful black creatures (which I leave open for debate). The numbers heavily support my interpretation.
I take a middle position on it personally. I think its a better resilient attacker than Al gives it credit for, but I don't think you can discount the fact that its mediocre if you have to drop it as a wall. The point is illustrated by the fact that I think everyone would agree that a straight 3/4 for B2 would be better than the fragile Dautih Marauder.
Have you recognized, that on Stave Off the rules text does not say "a creature you controll"?
So you can even target opponents creatures to give them protection from the color of a spell that tries to enhance or protect them!
Maybe it should be ranked a bit higher because of this flexibility?
And Apostle's Blessing and Gods Willing also have advantages that Stave Off doesn't have; I think ranking the three of them as Borderline makes a lot of sense, especially since all three of them fit the given definition of borderline cards very well. Personally, I've also found the flexibility to target opponents' creatures with Stave Off to not really be relevant in most games, or at least not be better than the other protection spells.
I agree, in a particular deck you could slice things thin enough to rank them, but for the cube they're basically indistinguishable unless you want to not confine the effect to white decks.
Ehm, Repulse is maybe the best bounce spell except for Capsize. Into the Roil is mainly played as a worse version of Repulse. It seems like the amount, how often a card is played, doesn't have say much, in some cases.
Right. I don't pretend to understand the whys and wherefores.
@KBH:
It just means, that it's one of the few playable bounce spells, that doesn't cause card disadvantage. Just because everyone plays it, doesn't mean, that the card is good, it just fills a gasp, for everyone who looks for every playable bounce spell.
Its played in more Cubes than
Silent Departure
Withdraw
Repulse
Rushing River
Repeal
it only trails Capsize -- which isn't really the same
According to the Number Crunch I've done, Into the Roil is a staple..not 100% inclusion, but just behind, so I would say that any fair classification has to be 'Cubeable' or better
Into the Roil dropped to Borderline - It's no Repulse, which most of what you will bounce will be creatures, though there is a corner case for noncreature, nonland permanents.
Into the Roil is probably borderline in most Cubes but I think its pretty good in aura heavy cubes. Can really swing a game by surprise bouncing an aura off a hexproofer midcombat
It really depends on how you want to go with the Evaluate Everything. If you want to give an overview of the general perception of each card or if you want to provide a personal perspective that includes disagreeing with the conventional thinking.
I agree with you, I think it is very interesting which cards are (near) universally played and which are not. Sometimes the disparity in power level is striking (like Dead Reveler).
It seems like this is one of the biggest services of a Rank Everything Project -- helping to discern how cards that are nearly ubiquitous stack up vs each other.
Black had some disagreements but you had no cards that were Questionable.
I will list one drops separately since you've commented on the issue many times and I will simply be listing them all. Note that this applies to both creatures AND spells.
As an avid pauper cuber, this is totally true. Some of the cards that we play would be totally laughable in peasant cubes.
KBH, have you drafted with Heavy Ballista? I think the card is absurd (in pauper cube).
I haven't drafted with it no. But the list I made was based on a survey of 13 cubes and not my personal opinions (I don't have any because I haven't played enough!). Heavy Ballista was only played in 5/13 Cubes
I wonder if some Cubes exclude the Ballista for exactly the reason that its so absurd?
EDIT: I'm reaching for anything to explain it because to me she looks like a mini-Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile and Brigid is near unbeatable once she's active.
While you'd certainly be stupid not to use this (excellent) Pauper evaluation as a starting point, you'd still need to change a few ratings/explanations for the commons too. e.g. Celestial Flare might be fine for Pauper but Peasant has enough better White removal spells that it doesn't get a look in. Or the Dredge commons get "more cubeable" because you'd have access to various synergistic uncommons to combine them with. That sort of thing.
Without prejudice, I don't think the consensus is as high on Celestial Flare as Al Z is.
From the Peasant Rankings I've seen it really does look like the ranking of commons is fairly different. Which makes sense in a bunch of cases where some cards are staples in Pauper only because there is nothing better available -- especially at higher mana costs.
Yeah the Healer is still terribly underrated, IMO. I saw it deciding soo many games, that it's actually a reason for me to draft white, when I get it. I mean it's not just a walking Fog, it's also one of the few options against the strong burn archetype. My opponent had to give up, after trading 3 lands against 3 burnspells. Then the Healer died to the 4th one, while I got 3 other creatures left on an empty board against an empty hand.
I think my evaluations should fit with the opinion of the most people. If someone finds any card he still sees under- or overrated, please tell me.
There's not a ton of disagreement that I noticed.
Going color by color starting with White
Questionable Staples
Heavy Ballista
Test of Faith
Celestial Flare
Deftblade Elite
Soltari Visionary
Arrest
Recumbent Bliss
I take a middle position on it personally. I think its a better resilient attacker than Al gives it credit for, but I don't think you can discount the fact that its mediocre if you have to drop it as a wall. The point is illustrated by the fact that I think everyone would agree that a straight 3/4 for B2 would be better than the fragile Dautih Marauder.
I agree, in a particular deck you could slice things thin enough to rank them, but for the cube they're basically indistinguishable unless you want to not confine the effect to white decks.
Right. I don't pretend to understand the whys and wherefores.
Its played in more Cubes than
Silent Departure
Withdraw
Repulse
Rushing River
Repeal
it only trails Capsize -- which isn't really the same
Into the Roil is probably borderline in most Cubes but I think its pretty good in aura heavy cubes. Can really swing a game by surprise bouncing an aura off a hexproofer midcombat
It seems like this is one of the biggest services of a Rank Everything Project -- helping to discern how cards that are nearly ubiquitous stack up vs each other.
I will list one drops separately since you've commented on the issue many times and I will simply be listing them all. Note that this applies to both creatures AND spells.
One drops
Carnophage
Fume Spitter
Vampire Lacerator
Vault Skirge
Dead Weight
Tragic Slip
Disfigure
Duress
MISSED STAPLES
Dauthi Slayer
Wretched Anurid
Blind Zealot
Dead Reveler
Gravedigger
Pith Driller
Sign in Blood
Crippling Fatigue
Stab Wound
Snuff Out
And for viewers just joining us, let me reiterate that I am just going by the numbers and not expressing any personal opinions.
MISSED STAPLES
Halimar Wavewatch
Sea Gate Oracle
Force Spike
Withdraw
Repulse
Condescend
QUESTIONABLE STAPLES
Welkin Tern
Thalakos Scout
Illusionary Forces
Phantom Monster
I haven't drafted with it no. But the list I made was based on a survey of 13 cubes and not my personal opinions (I don't have any because I haven't played enough!). Heavy Ballista was only played in 5/13 Cubes
I wonder if some Cubes exclude the Ballista for exactly the reason that its so absurd?
EDIT: I'm reaching for anything to explain it because to me she looks like a mini-Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile and Brigid is near unbeatable once she's active.
Without prejudice, I don't think the consensus is as high on Celestial Flare as Al Z is.
From the Peasant Rankings I've seen it really does look like the ranking of commons is fairly different. Which makes sense in a bunch of cases where some cards are staples in Pauper only because there is nothing better available -- especially at higher mana costs.
There's not a ton of disagreement that I noticed.
Going color by color starting with White
Questionable Staples
Heavy Ballista
Test of Faith
Celestial Flare
Deftblade Elite
Soltari Visionary
Arrest
Recumbent Bliss
Missed Staples
Aven Riftwatcher
Steppe Lynx
Blinding Beam