Seer's Lantern, Unstable Obelisk, and Pristine Talisman all serve similar functions and how they rank is going to fluctuate based on your deck and likely matchups. You're right that none of them are great if you have CMC2 mana rocks, but a lot of us are moving away from generic turn two ramp effects in order to curate our cube metagames.
Keep in mind that animating a land with Wall of Resurgence is a "may" ability. I think making the 3/3 when you cast it on curve is probably the wrong decision a lot of the time, but a 0/6 wall that can also turn an extra land into a relevant body in the late game is playable in control.
I disagree. I think in the game of Magic you should always be prepared for something to happen, even if your opponent is tapped out.
Okay, but that's a preference of taste, not an objective rule of the game. Again, I'm not personally against free spells existing or even being cubed, they're just not for me. If you like it, go nuts and enjoy! That's the beauty of cube, everyone can build to their own preferences.
I think it's very reasonable to suggest that instant speed spells that can be played for zero mana are different from other tricks. Being able for new players to see their opponent being tapped out as a green light is a good thing, in my opinion. If you play with experienced people or a regular group that's totally cool, but not everyone has that situation.
Leelue, have you considered just giving each player X number of Evolving Wilds (or City of Brass, etc) as part of their pool and making your drafts revolve around spells and utility lands? Maybe reduce the total picks by a couple of cards in order to compensate for the change.
As far as I'm concerned as long as your cube has more in common with other peasant cubes than the ones in the main forum it's fine to make this your home base for discussion. Cube should be about creativity as well as limitations, so I'm down with all types of experiments as long as they're intended to improve player experience.
I'm finally getting the chance to work with my cube in ages. Just updated my thread for the first time in almost two years, yikes! I guess that's what grad school will do to you.
I agree that efficient 1-for-1 removal spells are not always stifling to aggro (I think midrangey 2-for-1s like Shriekmaw and Flametongue Kavu do more to shut down aggro decks).
If you start playing worse removal because removal is too good at some point I imagine you'll start playing worse threats because removal isn't keeping up at all. Repeat forever till you're pack1pick1ing Sorrow's Path.
Don't downgrade, sidegrade.
really necessary?
Lots of people have started to move away from power-max philosophies in their cube building. There's no need make weird value judgments or slippery slope arguments about it. Using a removal suite that fits your preferences isn't a downgrade of anything.
My intention is to include 1-2 pieces of "premium" removal in each color, with the remaining spells specifically geared toward aggro (Cast Into Darkness) or control (Kill Shot) decks rather than universally good. Obviously each deck type might be willing to play removal from the other side of the spectrum, but will do so with some awkwardness.
My planned rule of thumb is that non-premium removal spells should only have one or maybe two of the following traits: instant speed, cheap (CMC2 or less), or non-conditional.
It's super flavorful, but I agree it's probably a bit clunky if you run a power-max cube. Also the casting cost is really hard to read on the original AN printing, which might lead some people to try and cast it for just BB if they're not familiar with the card.
A community consensus list of the top cards for specific archetypes (Reanimator, +1/+1 Counters, Tokens, etc.) seems more interesting to me than separating things solely by color. Given the availability of the ranking tools available through Cube Tutor, manually created lists of top cards per color seems a bit redundant anyway.
Building power rankings around archetypes rather than colors also mostly avoids the problem of Sol Ring, Control Magic, and other generic good stuff cards that are either the best cards in your cube or banned. Talking about them more seems relatively less productive than looking at other cards.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/pauper-peasant-discussion/554299-possible-to-support-combo-strategies-in-a-peasant
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/pauper-peasant-discussion/509662-storm-decks-and-combo-in-peasant-cube
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/pauper-peasant-discussion/193922-combo
Okay, but that's a preference of taste, not an objective rule of the game. Again, I'm not personally against free spells existing or even being cubed, they're just not for me. If you like it, go nuts and enjoy! That's the beauty of cube, everyone can build to their own preferences.
Aka, the race to come in second behind Flametongue Kavu.
But are comments like this:
really necessary?
Lots of people have started to move away from power-max philosophies in their cube building. There's no need make weird value judgments or slippery slope arguments about it. Using a removal suite that fits your preferences isn't a downgrade of anything.
My planned rule of thumb is that non-premium removal spells should only have one or maybe two of the following traits: instant speed, cheap (CMC2 or less), or non-conditional.
Building power rankings around archetypes rather than colors also mostly avoids the problem of Sol Ring, Control Magic, and other generic good stuff cards that are either the best cards in your cube or banned. Talking about them more seems relatively less productive than looking at other cards.