The point I'm trying to make is, that you don't need a dedicated "spells matter" deck. Pauper remains the format with the highest discrepancy in power level between creatures and noncreature spells. In my experience the average U deck contains more instant/sorceries than creatures and R non aggro decks also tend to mostly run the red burn over the dudes.
For the weird/Pledgemage you don't need all the cantrips in the world, because you don't need to be proactive with your casting. You simply have to play your deck the way you intended to do anyway and passively you are generating a very big threat of which your opponent rarely knows how big it can become at any given time. You can't really attack with your 2/2 into a freshly played weird and even 1 open mana. It's also very risky to try and Disfigure or Firebolt it.
I've played a bit of Strixhaven now. There weren't many surprises, Frost Trickster is the best common in the set, Lash of Malice is a decent removal, but the one card really stood out to me as above average and I totally looked over it in the spoilers.
It's Quandrix Pledgemage. Basically just a Ug Spellgorger Weird, but I actually really like the Weird and about 95% of the noncreature spells to trigger it are instants and sorceries. I don't know how much the UU hurts, because this is not really a green card, but I could free up a spot in Simic to fit this in. I just really like these cards.
I mentioned before why I dislike stuff like Prowess or Kiln-Fiend-esque cards, since you always need to proactively play your noncreature stuff, either in your precombat mainphase or before damage. The problem is, that it's very risky to tap out before combat damage, since your opponent then knows that they can freely kill the creature. These cards are fine for a dedicated constructed deck, but don't really work well with a majority of noncreature spells in cube.
The Weird and the Pledgemage don't suffer from this problem, because they don't need to be pumped proactively. You can simply attack with them and your opponent can't really block. If your opponent doesn't block there is no need to pump, you can simply say go, wait what your opponent does and eot do what you planned to do. These guys will grow regardless.
To summarize:
"Eot Prowess": Meh, because it requires you to do a bad sequencing of spells.
"Permanent Prowess": Good, because it it doesn't mess up your sequencing and works anyway.
I think that the Karoo Lands are still better than the Campus Cycle.
My changes are: (Out > In) Wingcrafter > Frost Trickster: Wingcrafter rarely get's drafted nowadays. Soulbond is also always risky against instant speed removal, when you rely on it too much. Groundswell > Bayou Groff: I do still have a Swarm theme in Green, so this should be fine there. Elves of Deep Shadow > Moldering Karok: The Elves where moved to mono G.
Overall not too much. I'm especailly disappointed by the multicolor cards in this set. Most of them are highly set specific or just outright bad. There were some UC ones, that would have been cool commons, e.g. Decisive Denial or Witherbloom Apprentice. WIll try to Karok for now, but only because BG has such bad option apart from Putrid Leech and Consume Strength. Grisly Salvage might replace the Karok if it doesn't perform.
I could argue that the evasion is better than lifelink.
Not necessarily. Lifelink gets better the bigger the creature is, since it doubles. My problem is, that it's quite a basic boring card, that could just as easily exist in monocolor. I personally really dislike putting boring cards into my multicolor section, unless they really outperform monocolor cards. If the Karok where a 4/4 lifelink it would definitely qualify, but as a 3/3 it's not that great.
I think the best comparison is Borderland Ranger, but without the fixing aspect or a 2nd point of toughness and instead a little bit of a lategame use.
I really hope we get some strong Golgari or Simic multicolor cards, as I feel these guild lack the most. Moldering Karok is not bad, but I'm not completely convinced.
I personally don't play many fatties, that are seriously shrunk by making them 4/4. If used as a suprise combat trick, it's basically some kind of Feral Invocation, if you target a vanilla 2/2. It sure can be used against removal, but so can Village Rites, Fling or Perilous Research, none of which I would play just for that purpose.
I agree with MrEng1neer, that it's one of those cards that sounds great in theory, when you construct all the scenarios where it's great, but in practice I doubt it will be that amazing. I am of course open to be disproven, feel free to test it and share your results.
I like that fact that boros has something else to it, that just cheap creatures and attacking. A little bit of spells matter theme is a refreshingly different approach.
I don't think that the "leaves the GY" theme is in any way feasable outside of this set.
The Lorehold Pledgemage has a similar role as Fault Riders. It's a offense/defense hybrid. It can attack freely most of the time, but with only 2 power it's not much of a threat. First Strike is at it's best on defense, especially with multiple first strikers or in combination with burn to bring down bigger foes. The big difference is that Lorehold Pledgemage needs open mana to block anything with 3 or more toughness, while Fault Riders can be used while tapped out. The problem with the raiders is, that they can open you up to a 2 for 1, but most of the time it doesn't need to be activated to pose a threat and when your opponent makes a stupid attack you usually know what's up and don't run into it. I think I like the Riders more and am not willing to give one of the highly contested multicolor spots to a weaker version of Fault Riders.
It's definitely expensive, but it's free and definitely better than the random 1 life on the gain lands. My problem is, that it's only going to be half a cycle and I dislike giving some guilds a random advantage. IDK when the cycle will be completed.
Pest Summoning might be a hint we get some useful lessons down the road that are cubable on their own
I don't think so. I think the only way this mechanic could be interesting is, if you don't draft the lessons, but simply offer drafters to choose a lesson of their choice after drafting a learning card.
For the weird/Pledgemage you don't need all the cantrips in the world, because you don't need to be proactive with your casting. You simply have to play your deck the way you intended to do anyway and passively you are generating a very big threat of which your opponent rarely knows how big it can become at any given time. You can't really attack with your 2/2 into a freshly played weird and even 1 open mana. It's also very risky to try and Disfigure or Firebolt it.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
It's Quandrix Pledgemage. Basically just a Ug Spellgorger Weird, but I actually really like the Weird and about 95% of the noncreature spells to trigger it are instants and sorceries. I don't know how much the UU hurts, because this is not really a green card, but I could free up a spot in Simic to fit this in. I just really like these cards.
I mentioned before why I dislike stuff like Prowess or Kiln-Fiend-esque cards, since you always need to proactively play your noncreature stuff, either in your precombat mainphase or before damage. The problem is, that it's very risky to tap out before combat damage, since your opponent then knows that they can freely kill the creature. These cards are fine for a dedicated constructed deck, but don't really work well with a majority of noncreature spells in cube.
The Weird and the Pledgemage don't suffer from this problem, because they don't need to be pumped proactively. You can simply attack with them and your opponent can't really block. If your opponent doesn't block there is no need to pump, you can simply say go, wait what your opponent does and eot do what you planned to do. These guys will grow regardless.
To summarize:
"Eot Prowess": Meh, because it requires you to do a bad sequencing of spells.
"Permanent Prowess": Good, because it it doesn't mess up your sequencing and works anyway.
Thoughts on the Pledgemage?
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
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My changes are: (Out > In)
Wingcrafter > Frost Trickster: Wingcrafter rarely get's drafted nowadays. Soulbond is also always risky against instant speed removal, when you rely on it too much.
Groundswell > Bayou Groff: I do still have a Swarm theme in Green, so this should be fine there.
Elves of Deep Shadow > Moldering Karok: The Elves where moved to mono G.
Overall not too much. I'm especailly disappointed by the multicolor cards in this set. Most of them are highly set specific or just outright bad. There were some UC ones, that would have been cool commons, e.g. Decisive Denial or Witherbloom Apprentice. WIll try to Karok for now, but only because BG has such bad option apart from Putrid Leech and Consume Strength. Grisly Salvage might replace the Karok if it doesn't perform.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
I really hope we get some strong Golgari or Simic multicolor cards, as I feel these guild lack the most. Moldering Karok is not bad, but I'm not completely convinced.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
I agree with MrEng1neer, that it's one of those cards that sounds great in theory, when you construct all the scenarios where it's great, but in practice I doubt it will be that amazing. I am of course open to be disproven, feel free to test it and share your results.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
Frost Lynx: "Sad cat noises."
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
I don't think that the "leaves the GY" theme is in any way feasable outside of this set.
The Lorehold Pledgemage has a similar role as Fault Riders. It's a offense/defense hybrid. It can attack freely most of the time, but with only 2 power it's not much of a threat. First Strike is at it's best on defense, especially with multiple first strikers or in combination with burn to bring down bigger foes. The big difference is that Lorehold Pledgemage needs open mana to block anything with 3 or more toughness, while Fault Riders can be used while tapped out. The problem with the raiders is, that they can open you up to a 2 for 1, but most of the time it doesn't need to be activated to pose a threat and when your opponent makes a stupid attack you usually know what's up and don't run into it. I think I like the Riders more and am not willing to give one of the highly contested multicolor spots to a weaker version of Fault Riders.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
It's definitely expensive, but it's free and definitely better than the random 1 life on the gain lands. My problem is, that it's only going to be half a cycle and I dislike giving some guilds a random advantage. IDK when the cycle will be completed.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
Interested in building your own Pauper Cube? Take a look at some of the lists and the following project: The "Evaluate Everything" Project (updated to M21/JMP)