Its a common consensus that Noble Hierarch/ Birds of Paradise are the strongest mana dorks. But what are people's opinions about what I consider second tier mana dorks:
You can get green from her devotion. Especially in tri color decks, this can tap for 2-3 in the later game which could be very strong. At her worse, she's a 2 mana 1/1 that taps for 1, which is still pretty good Bloom Tender
Pretty good stats that can tap for anything: Paradise Druid
Another one mana dork tap for nothing: Boreal Druid
Obviously these myr are not Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, but I'm not sure if the splashability of these creatures makes up for it.
I'm planning to give these guys a shot inside my cube. What are other's people's take on them.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Boreal Druid is like playing Avacyn's Pilgrim in a deck without white - still basically always makes the cut and is better than most ramp spells that cost more than one.
Paradise Druid's fixing grants it great playability. Whether Druid or a land searcher is better depends on the deck. In lists with a lot of colors, or a lot of creature synergy (Natural Order, Gaea's Cradle, Craterhoof Behemoth, Skullclamp and swords etc etc) she takes the lead.
Bloom Tender I have tested a long time ago but it was very underwhelming. It doesn't really fix and ramping is conditional. At some point it will be worth revisiting, when we have enough hybrids cards, especially one drops. Currently I think Devoted Druid is better.
The myrs are overall worse than the Diamond cycle, which is in turn worse than the Talisman cycle and the signets. I think the only reason to play them is if you want to intentionally weaken artifact ramp.
I do run Devoted Druid, and its potential to one shot for 2 mana and is part of the persist combo makes her one of the best 2 drop mana dorks in my strong opinion.
Boreal Druid was something I been considering as we done as far as Gilded Goose as one drop and in all honestly, any 1 drop green creature that ramps is just insane in my books.
The Myrs are prob not going to make the cut, I thought being a creature would make them slightly better in these midrange creatures decks with opposition/ skullclamp/ cradle/ aristocrats etc. But yah, I will prob leave them out.
Bloom Tender was a card I thought about alot, especially with these aristocrats decks going up to cards like Liliana, Dreadhorde General and often bottle necked by mana, I thought about more explosive mana potentials, but then again, most of these mana dorks are played in green ramp decks splashing one other color as well.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
From our experience at 720 unpowered, all of the 1-mana elves are gold, even Boreal. The density of green dorks is sort of like red burn. It feels redundant in list building but makes a significant positive difference in how the Cube plays if properly supported. This includes Elves of Deep Shadow as well.
A bit unrelated to the question, but recently I was tempted to cut Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth from my list. After receiving backlash from the players I realized that those cards are played in lot of decks, and I happened to be the player who was building the most decks that benefitted much more from the Elves (green aggressive midrange shells plus Simic Opposition/Edric), but a lot of folks who built decks like Bant/Temur Walkers or Oath love those 1-mana enchantments.
The lower tier 2-mana options are a different story. If you support 10 signets and 10 talismans, then I would not overdo the lower tier 2-drop green ramp unless it has a unique effect you want to support. I like Devoted Druid because playing a 5-drop on turn 3 is rare in unpowered. But I’m not as much of a fan of Paradise Druid. I prefer the flexibility and morph support of Rattleclaw Mystic if you start to add the 2-drop guys, but that card still misses the cut in our Cube because of signet/talisman redundancy.
You can get green from her devotion. Especially in tri color decks, this can tap for 2-3 in the later game which could be very strong. At her worse, she's a 2 mana 1/1 that taps for 1, which is still pretty good
Bloom Tender
Pretty good stats that can tap for anything:
Paradise Druid
Another one mana dork tap for nothing:
Boreal Druid
Artifact Myr Cycle:
Silver Myr/Leaden Myr/Copper Myr/Gold Myr/Iron Myr
Obviously these myr are not Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, but I'm not sure if the splashability of these creatures makes up for it.
I'm planning to give these guys a shot inside my cube. What are other's people's take on them.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
Boreal Druid is like playing Avacyn's Pilgrim in a deck without white - still basically always makes the cut and is better than most ramp spells that cost more than one.
Paradise Druid's fixing grants it great playability. Whether Druid or a land searcher is better depends on the deck. In lists with a lot of colors, or a lot of creature synergy (Natural Order, Gaea's Cradle, Craterhoof Behemoth, Skullclamp and swords etc etc) she takes the lead.
Bloom Tender I have tested a long time ago but it was very underwhelming. It doesn't really fix and ramping is conditional. At some point it will be worth revisiting, when we have enough hybrids cards, especially one drops. Currently I think Devoted Druid is better.
The myrs are overall worse than the Diamond cycle, which is in turn worse than the Talisman cycle and the signets. I think the only reason to play them is if you want to intentionally weaken artifact ramp.
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
I do run Devoted Druid, and its potential to one shot for 2 mana and is part of the persist combo makes her one of the best 2 drop mana dorks in my strong opinion.
Boreal Druid was something I been considering as we done as far as Gilded Goose as one drop and in all honestly, any 1 drop green creature that ramps is just insane in my books.
The Myrs are prob not going to make the cut, I thought being a creature would make them slightly better in these midrange creatures decks with opposition/ skullclamp/ cradle/ aristocrats etc. But yah, I will prob leave them out.
Bloom Tender was a card I thought about alot, especially with these aristocrats decks going up to cards like Liliana, Dreadhorde General and often bottle necked by mana, I thought about more explosive mana potentials, but then again, most of these mana dorks are played in green ramp decks splashing one other color as well.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i
A bit unrelated to the question, but recently I was tempted to cut Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth from my list. After receiving backlash from the players I realized that those cards are played in lot of decks, and I happened to be the player who was building the most decks that benefitted much more from the Elves (green aggressive midrange shells plus Simic Opposition/Edric), but a lot of folks who built decks like Bant/Temur Walkers or Oath love those 1-mana enchantments.
The lower tier 2-mana options are a different story. If you support 10 signets and 10 talismans, then I would not overdo the lower tier 2-drop green ramp unless it has a unique effect you want to support. I like Devoted Druid because playing a 5-drop on turn 3 is rare in unpowered. But I’m not as much of a fan of Paradise Druid. I prefer the flexibility and morph support of Rattleclaw Mystic if you start to add the 2-drop guys, but that card still misses the cut in our Cube because of signet/talisman redundancy.