Kozilek's Pathfinder - a colorless 5/5 for 6 is really nice, since blue, black and white usually lack big stuff or it comes with drawback. Will add to t2.
Warden of Geometries - probably too slow for standard cubes, but might fit my t2 very well. not sure yet
Searing Light - cheap and effective. will stick to pacifsm effects for now, though.
Blinding Drone - if you have enough colorless sources, this one is the best tapper we get.
Containment Membrane - usally this type of removal costs double U and this one can be played for 1. Might be good enough to consider.
Stalking Drone - my t2 has already a lot of colorless manasources in green. All the Eldrazi spawns, Boreal Druid and ill add a bunch of wastes to my basic landpool, so they can be fetched.
Tajuru Pathwarden - Vigilance and Trample is a very nice combination. Toughness 4 might be a problem, but i probably give it a try.
Isolation Zone - weaker O-ring might be interestig for bigger cubes
Expedition Raptor3WW
Creature - Bird
When Expedition Raptor enters the battlefield, support 2.
Flying
2/2
Isolation Zone2WW
Enchantment
When Isolation Zone enters the battlefield, exile target creature or enchantment an opponent controls until Isolation Zone leaves the battlefield.
Zada's Commando1R
Creature - Goblin Archer Ally
First strike
Cohort - T, Tap an untapped Ally you control: Deal 1 damage to target opponent.
2/1
Elemental Uprising1G
Instant
Target land you control becomes a 4/4 Elemental creature with haste until end of turn. It must be blocked this turn if able.
I... was not expecting eldrazi to be this bad. Some of the colorless-matters cards are almost strictly worse than their colored counterparts (Eldrazi Aggressor --> Ronin Houndmaster, Slaughter Drone --> Hand of Silumgar, Kozilek's Translator --> Skirge Familiar, and it goes on). There is either an unprecedented enthusiasm for Limited-only set design, or they have grossly overestimated the value of colorless mana
Not enough incentive to start supporting the colorless cards yet. I'll still be picking up a couple foils, Stalking Drone in particular looks awesome if we get to the point that it can be activated easily, but we're not there just yet.
- Sweep Away: Interesting, but not sure if good enough.
- Containment Membrane: Same here, don't forget that this doesn't tap.
- Elemental Uprsising: Either a bad removal or a bad Giantbaiting.
- Saddleback Lagac: I don't think it's bad, but I do think it is green and CC4, so there is no place for it.
- Tajuru Pathwarden: Best Common in set. Not only seems better than Sentinel Spider, but also makes me think about finally replacing the powerfull-but-dull Oakgnarl Warrior with the more interesting Maul Splicer.
- Lead by Example: Very nice, not sure if better than the other tricks green has, but pumping permanently 2 creatures for one (inexpensive) card seems quite good.
- Zada' Commando: Great stats for a 2 drop. But it REALLY annoys me the second ability. I'm not sure if I want to put in my cube a card that has two lines of rules text that are completely useless.
- Sparkmage's Gambit: Red could use more 'cannot block' cards. But I don't know if this is good enough.
- Cinder Hellion: Likeable but not good enough. 3 damage to opponent could have sealed the deal.
- Vampire Envoy: Pestilence.deck? Naah, not good enough.
- Corpse Churn: I really like it. I have to compare it to other 'fill the graveyard' cards around, but seems solid... Wait, it's like an Anticipate but for black and better, because it fills your graveyard, right??
- Unnatural Endurance: A strictly better Boon of Erebos. Y removed the last one from my cube, but the versatilty without the lifeloss could be re-testable.
- Oblivion Strike: Second best common in the set. Complete Disregard has worked waaaay better than expected, and this is like its big brother.
- Expedition Raptor: Not good enough. If support allowed to put the counters on itself, maaaybe. But as it is, is way worse than Supply-Line Cranes
- Shoulder to Shoulder: I still like it, I could try it.
- Goblin Freerunner: Yeah, will test it.
- Scion Summoner: Will depend on what I end up doing with green regarding swarm.
- Kozilek's Pathfinder, Warden of Geometries: I have to seriously evaluate the state of my colorless section to see if anything of this could go in.
I'm really sadden that Wizards is telling us that we are not gonna get 'counters matter' cards on common. Every single one is in uncommon. We get 'put counters' stuff, but no 'counters matter' =( Ainok Bond-Kin is an (not good enough) experiment I don't think they repeat.
hm i overlooked Zada's Commando (anyone else reads zeldas command?), no tier1 material because of toughness 1, but might find a spot in t2
Tajuru Pathwarden - i run sentinel spider in my t1 mainly to have an answer to Illsionary Forces and some other flyer, so i probably wont replace it. might replace Rhox Maulers, though. at least itll fit t2 for sure. wont replace oakgnarl though, because toughness 7 is what makes it so strong.
well, its no big deal to add a bunch of wastes to your landpool. also some nonbasics could become more interesing loke the alara fetches. and you could increase your artifact section. but i only see 2 potential cards. the tapper and the green bear, rest is pretty bad.
Kor Sky Climber - Any one considering this card? 3/2 for 3 is solid stats and it can get evasion, we really don't have anything like that in white right now.
Blinding Drone - Essentially a two-color Master Decoy with one more toughness. Given how rarely Master Decoy is run I don't think this guy is good enough.
U
Jwar Isle Avenger - 3/3 flyer for 5 is not good enough, 3/3 flyer for 3 that you have to do work for is probably not either.
Sweep Away - I don't think Whisk Away is good enough, and I think this card is maybe slightly better since you can bounce your own things.
Umara Entangler - I'd like to get more tempo cards for blue in the early game, and this card is a good start.
B
Kozilek's Shrieker - Seems pretty good if you have access to some colorless mana.
Witness the End - Does a reasonable Blightning impression in one color. Worth considering over other discard spells.
R
Cinder Hellion - Not bad, a good body that gets in for 2 even if it dies. Worth considering.
Goblin Freerunner - I might be off on the surge cards but I think this guy is going to be worse than Boggart Brute the majority of the time. I think that makes it not good enough for me.
Scion Summoner - If you're trying to support tokens this card is an easy inclusion since green previously had very poor options at 3 mana. Was using Gilt-Leaf Ambush myself.
Stalking Drone - With access to colorless mana this is one of the best two drops in the cube.
Tajuru Pathwarden - A really fantastic fatty for green. Probably not as good as Sentinel Spider but should be better than anything worse.
I qualified a few of those with "with access to colorless mana". Before seeing the commons I was considering letting my players put as many Wastes as they wanted in their deck. I don't think this set gives me enough cards to make that worth it, but I doubt that Wizards would errata thousands of cards and then never use the diamond symbol again so maybe we'll get more.
actually i dont expect them to print more diamond mana cards in the near future. like snowmana in coldsnap, which was never used again. colorless cards are zendikar plane only and it would be pretty terrible if theyd print diamond dependant cards in normal sets. maybe some commander cards will use it.
about some unmentioned cards you brought up.
Kor Sky Climber is indeed an interesting card with 1-2 relevant creaturetypes, but whites 3-drops are pretty stacked already.
Searing Light depending on your cube it usually kills more stuff than Righteous Blow or Shock. Toughness >2 is more likely than power >2 on white and blue creatures. Probalby add it to my t2, because of all the morphs already floating around there.
Master Decoy and its functionals are a bit underrated compared to the 1/1 guys, because theyre way to fragile. 1/3 is pretty solid as a blocker on its own. But my blue doesnt have much access to colorless mana (yet). Might check to readd Mind Stone and some nonbasics.
Sweep Away good point about whisk away which is better. Anyways I think 3 mana combatdependant spells are too slow for standard cubes. Repulse is already pretty close to get moved from t1 to t2.
Umara Entangler it only really fits in the spells matters archetype and there you could just play a better red 2-drop. also x/1. meh.
actually i dont expect them to print more diamond mana cards in the near future. like snowmana in coldsnap, which was never used again. colorless cards are zendikar plane only and it would be pretty terrible if theyd print diamond dependant cards in normal sets. maybe some commander cards will use it.
I see what you're saying I just can't believe they'd errata all those cards just for this set. They errata'd cards from the previous set! I'm not sure how they'd enable the costs though outside of just letting people put Wastes in their deck, which I expected them to do in this set but they didn't.
Umara Entangler - A solid 2 drop, but not all that exiting either Corpse Churn - Yup, its pretty much an instant speed raise dead, but I like how it supports graveyard archetypes Goblin Freerunner - I like Boggar Brute, and have been pushing a 'hard to block' theme in red, so this fits right in. Zada's Commando - This card is amazing for red, especially with how first strike interacts with burn spells. Sparkmage's Gambit - Seems like a card to break board stalls, and can double as removal if your lucky. Tajuru Pathwarden - A solid 5 drop for green. I've been wanting something to compliment Nessian Asp and Sentinel Spider, and this looks like it will do just that.
Not a great set overall, but still has plenty of testworthy cards.
Edit: Removed Consuming Sinkhole. Thought it just said Exile target land.
If I had to pick, I would say:
Tajura Pathwarden
Goblin Freerunner
And they everything else is fringe. A 2nd 5cc Vigalance with a 4 rear is pushing out other 5cc's in green. The Goblin lets aggro drop 2 threats on turn 3 or 4, depending on your curve. I still have some red 1cc.
Everything else I would need to be convinced. Although as Al mentioned a red 2cc 2/1 First Striker does get some wok done. The 3cc Vampire Envoy is interesting. Does control kr midrange want it over the other contents of your cube?
Pet Pick: Unnatural Embrace. I still like random combat tricks here and there. And 1cc, in black, and regeneration is the kind that sneaks into decks as a late pick.
I'm also thinking about Oblivion Strike. Seems good to me.
Also Sweep away looks like a pretty bounce spell. Brute Strength could fit in Gruul Monsters archetype, but is maybe not good enough, I have to try.
good point about Vampire Envoy. but 1 power and 1 life is much worse than 2 power. I still think it fits very well in the control archetype, but i have trouble finding a slot. It competes with Basilica Screecher, which is more fragile but also is better on offense or cards that support B/x aggro combinations.
Oblivion Strike seems horrible. Exile doesnt matter 95% of the time and its only a sorcery. Black has like 10 better removal spells
I thought the same about Complete Disregard and it shut my mouth. Exile matters a lot against regenerate, undying/persist, and indestructible, and devoid trumps protection.
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My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
in standard cubes there is only 1 creature with protection, thats Guardian of the Guildpact, there is no indestructible and the 2 or 3 playable persist and undying creatures are the 5%. Regenerate doesnt matter for blacks removal, since its either bury or minus toughness effects.
- Oblivion Strike: Second best common in the set. Complete Disregard has worked waaaay better than expected, and this is like its big brother.
I sincerely doubt that. Like Humphrey said, there's only one creature with protection running around in most cubes (Guardian of the Guildpact). There's one or two regenerators at most (River Boa), and little to no undying or persist (or indestructible). The exile would have to matter more than the instant speed and mana discount from Murder, Rend FleshandEyeblight's Ending, all of which are already borderline cards.
Oblivion Strike also evades stuff like Center Soul or Gods Willing and it is unrestricted removal. I don't say, it's the best removal existing, but I say it shoudn't be overlooked.
Vampire Envoy: If we say a 2/4 flier for cc4 or a 2/2 fliers for cc3 isn't exciting but playable a 2/4 flier for cc3 would be insane. I read this card like a 2/4 flier, where 1 damage doesn't go to your opponent, but is added to your life. This could be the kind of defensive, life-safing/-gaining type of card I was looking for in order to support black control.
Yeah, but a 2/4 is still better than the "clock" from a 1/4 lifelink, I think.
The 3cc Vampire Envoy is interesting. Does control or midrange want it over the other contents of your cube?
I don't think so: It's terrible in aggro where you want to be getting in. One damage is basically irrelevant here, especially from turn three onwards, except maybe in borderline cases where you get Equipment.dec or Auras.dec. It's terrible in control: if you're attacking with it, then you're not holding it back to block, and control decks don't particularly care about chipping away while they're being overrun (I'm open to being swayed here though, I just don't think this card is in a place where it's playable for control) so the only reason to play it is the lifegain, which for 2B and 1 life per turn, is worse than something like Ajani's Mantra (but, to be fair, has better corner-cases with stuff like Springleaf Drum and the new Holdout Settlement )
Cards that catched my eye: Pulse of Murasa: Lifegain attached to effects, that are fine anyway has often been a good thing. Pretty interesting for ramp.
Good because 6 life is a LOT and your choice of value is a nice deal, but three mana is an awkward spot to be playing this.
I like it, but this almost certainly doesn't beat Nightbird's Clutches for value or Ruthless Invasion for universality. I think this is a solid third place, which is more like tenth place if you're including the creature variants
For Swarm: Expedition Raptor: I'm kind of pissed by the "other"-creature-clause. This makes it so much worse than Supply-Line Cranes, but as part of the swarm archetype this could actually do something, even if I doubt, that it makes the cut.
Very unfortunate, as I misread this to read that it could Support itself. Without that option, it's a deal-breaking, generally-worse Cranes.
Based on the power level of my cube: Kor Sky Climber - Any one considering this card? 3/2 for 3 is solid stats and it can get evasion, we really don't have anything like that in white right now.
I think it's far from solid. Warpath Ghoul has been out for ages and doesn't get played. A marginal improvement that requires you to invest mana and lose tempo is not what I want from my aggro beater. I'd rather have the fire-and-forget evasion with Chapel Geist or Vassal Soul.
Blinding Drone - Essentially a two-color Master Decoy with one more toughness. Given how rarely Master Decoy is run I don't think this guy is good enough.
Good points. High toughness is not the selling point of Master Decoy, it's his ability to lock down any creature, any time, no matter how big. Making his ability harder to use is not the way to improve him.
Umara Entangler - I'd like to get more tempo cards for blue in the early game, and this card is a good start.
This is blue's 3/2 for 2, along the lines of red's Gore-House Chainwalker and Borderland Marauder. It has a different downside as a 2/1, but a pretty high upside to balance it out, much better than the unfortunate Kiln Fiend thanks to Entangler's ability to rock in combat(I'm seeing a lot of retrace, buyback and flashback shenanigans in this guy's future, with or without those other 3/2s and Izzet's excellent burn/counter/bounce suite to help it out ).
Kozilek's Shrieker - Seems pretty good if you have access to some colorless mana.
If you can reliably get access to colorless mana, this is a superpowered version of Geyserfield Stalker. One of the best candidates for colorless matters.
Witness the End - Does a reasonable Blightning impression in one color. Worth considering over other discard spells.
Four mana is just an awkward slot for Mind Rot. I don't think the extra mana is worth the 2 life (which also nerfs the original Blightning as a planeswalker killer in regular cubes, here it's pretty lackluster).
Most definitely. An easy 2-for-1, or another Falter effect to get past fatties. Wrap in Flames was just a little bit overkill in both casting cost and spread of targets, but Sparkmage's Gambit hits the sweet spot in both of those areas.
Stalking Drone - With access to colorless mana this is one of the best two drops in the cube.
Agreed, but how much better is it than Boreal Centaur? There's arguably less opportunity cost in both cube design and deck construction to include the centaur, so I have to ask if the bump in toughness here is worth the disproportionate escalation in complexity.
Overall first strike Piker and new Sentinel Spider are the standouts, but I'm surprised people aren't looking at the Elemental Uprising more closely. A 4/4 is huge for pauper. So much better than Giantbaiting, which was a crappier Ball Lightning most of the time. Here, Uprising is a combat trick, removal or Fireblast wrapped up in a delicious green package. At the very least, I have to debate whether to include it over the more expensive tricks (Ferocious Charge, Spidery Grasp or Wildsize )
Bit late to this thread -- overall, it's definitely not the best set for us, but we still got a few okay cards.
Best part of the set for pauper cube: Tajuru Pathwarden.
Worst part of the set for pauper cube: Colorless-only mana requirements. This took up a huge number of common slots; I'm not a fan of parasitic limited mechanics anyway, but this really neutered the set for us.
Cards I'm tentatively including:
Goblin Freerunner - Still have to see how Surge plays as a mechanic, but I think most R/x aggro decks won't have a problem with getting this out early. Even if it's a slightly higher variance Boggart Brute, that's not a huge downside. I also simply really like how menace gives aggro decks some hope in longer games; maybe this is making me overrate the card a bit.
Zada's Commando - I played Riot Piker for a while and it was okay (but not great), and this is a straight upgrade. It's probably a bit better than something I'm currently playing in its slot, but at the rate that Wizards is giving us 2CMC red creatures, I imagine it will be outclassed soon.
Elemental Uprising - This card can do a ton. On the defensive, it eats most creatures in the cube and on the offensive, it pushes through damage while probably eating a blocker in the process. Not sure I have a slot for it right now, but I'm still going to test it out.
Scion Summoner - It's okay, but not a must-include. Cards like this are why I'm glad I have a 450-card cube; there's no way it would make a 360-card version of my list.
Tajuru Pathwarden - Good midrange beater, and it's probably ranked around 3rd in its slot. I expect this to stay in my cube for a while.
Cards I'm also looking at:
Kozilek's Pathfinder - a 5/5 for 6 in non-green is really nice, but I'm not sure what deck is going to want to play this except if a draft went horribly wrong. Most color combinations already have archetypes with well-defined playstyles that this just doesn't really fit into. Is having a fine card that will almost always be in the sideboard worth including?
Vampire Envoy - I'm in the same place as Humphrey on this; the 4 toughess + flying is good for control, but I'm not sure I have a slot for it. Not sure it's worth cutting an aggro creature for it.
Four mana is just an awkward slot for Mind Rot. I don't think the extra mana is worth the 2 life (which also nerfs the original Blightning as a planeswalker killer in regular cubes, here it's pretty lackluster).
I've seen this opinion a few times now, does the extra mana make that much of a difference in people's experiences? In other formats, I find myself picking the Mind Rot type effects up based on how useful it is in the format or in my deck, regardless of whether it costs 3 or 4. I find it's generally incorrect to cast it on turn 3 anyway unless you have nothing else to do (and maybe not even then), so the primary advantage a cheaper version is the ability to cast another spell with it on turn 5+.
Agreed on Blightning type cards being worse in common cube than in a format with plainswalkers, but it's still over 2 cards worth of value in one if all goes well.
cards i think are interesting:
Kozilek's Pathfinder - a colorless 5/5 for 6 is really nice, since blue, black and white usually lack big stuff or it comes with drawback. Will add to t2.
Warden of Geometries - probably too slow for standard cubes, but might fit my t2 very well. not sure yet
Searing Light - cheap and effective. will stick to pacifsm effects for now, though.
Blinding Drone - if you have enough colorless sources, this one is the best tapper we get.
Containment Membrane - usally this type of removal costs double U and this one can be played for 1. Might be good enough to consider.
Seep Away - seems like a really strong tempocard.
Scion Summoner - already known and will move into my t2
Stalking Drone - my t2 has already a lot of colorless manasources in green. All the Eldrazi spawns, Boreal Druid and ill add a bunch of wastes to my basic landpool, so they can be fetched.
Tajuru Pathwarden - Vigilance and Trample is a very nice combination. Toughness 4 might be a problem, but i probably give it a try.
Isolation Zone - weaker O-ring might be interestig for bigger cubes
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Couple possible diamonds in the rough!
Expedition Raptor 3WW
Creature - Bird
When Expedition Raptor enters the battlefield, support 2.
Flying
2/2
Isolation Zone 2WW
Enchantment
When Isolation Zone enters the battlefield, exile target creature or enchantment an opponent controls until Isolation Zone leaves the battlefield.
Umara Entangler 1U
Creature - Merfolk Rogue Ally
Prowess
2/1
Zada's Commando 1R
Creature - Goblin Archer Ally
First strike
Cohort - T, Tap an untapped Ally you control: Deal 1 damage to target opponent.
2/1
Elemental Uprising 1G
Instant
Target land you control becomes a 4/4 Elemental creature with haste until end of turn. It must be blocked this turn if able.
Honorable mention: Sparkmage's Gambit, Cinder Hellion, Stalking Drone, Loam Larva, Pulse of Murasa, Tajuru Pathwarden, Vines of the Recluse
I... was not expecting eldrazi to be this bad. Some of the colorless-matters cards are almost strictly worse than their colored counterparts (Eldrazi Aggressor --> Ronin Houndmaster, Slaughter Drone --> Hand of Silumgar, Kozilek's Translator --> Skirge Familiar, and it goes on). There is either an unprecedented enthusiasm for Limited-only set design, or they have grossly overestimated the value of colorless mana
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
I like Unnatural Endurance well enough, but I don't think the lifeloss was the tipping point on Boon of Erebos.
Zada's Commando has very solid stats and is almost certainly better than SOMETHING in my red 2s.
I think Cinder Hellion looks a bit better than Shatterskull Recruit so I'll likely make that swap.
Goblin Freerunner looks very good to me. Vines of the Recluse looks like a nice trick but not one that I am missing.
I like Tajuru Pathwarden, but not more than Sentinel Spider, so I'll probably pass on it for now.
Not enough incentive to start supporting the colorless cards yet. I'll still be picking up a couple foils, Stalking Drone in particular looks awesome if we get to the point that it can be activated easily, but we're not there just yet.
Level 1 Judge
- Containment Membrane: Same here, don't forget that this doesn't tap.
- Elemental Uprsising: Either a bad removal or a bad Giantbaiting.
- Saddleback Lagac: I don't think it's bad, but I do think it is green and CC4, so there is no place for it.
- Tajuru Pathwarden: Best Common in set. Not only seems better than Sentinel Spider, but also makes me think about finally replacing the powerfull-but-dull Oakgnarl Warrior with the more interesting Maul Splicer.
- Lead by Example: Very nice, not sure if better than the other tricks green has, but pumping permanently 2 creatures for one (inexpensive) card seems quite good.
- Zada' Commando: Great stats for a 2 drop. But it REALLY annoys me the second ability. I'm not sure if I want to put in my cube a card that has two lines of rules text that are completely useless.
- Sparkmage's Gambit: Red could use more 'cannot block' cards. But I don't know if this is good enough.
- Cinder Hellion: Likeable but not good enough. 3 damage to opponent could have sealed the deal.
- Vampire Envoy: Pestilence.deck? Naah, not good enough.
- Corpse Churn: I really like it. I have to compare it to other 'fill the graveyard' cards around, but seems solid... Wait, it's like an Anticipate but for black and better, because it fills your graveyard, right??
- Unnatural Endurance: A strictly better Boon of Erebos. Y removed the last one from my cube, but the versatilty without the lifeloss could be re-testable.
- Oblivion Strike: Second best common in the set. Complete Disregard has worked waaaay better than expected, and this is like its big brother.
- Expedition Raptor: Not good enough. If support allowed to put the counters on itself, maaaybe. But as it is, is way worse than Supply-Line Cranes
- Shoulder to Shoulder: I still like it, I could try it.
- Goblin Freerunner: Yeah, will test it.
- Scion Summoner: Will depend on what I end up doing with green regarding swarm.
- Kozilek's Pathfinder, Warden of Geometries: I have to seriously evaluate the state of my colorless section to see if anything of this could go in.
I'm really sadden that Wizards is telling us that we are not gonna get 'counters matter' cards on common. Every single one is in uncommon. We get 'put counters' stuff, but no 'counters matter' =( Ainok Bond-Kin is an (not good enough) experiment I don't think they repeat.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Tajuru Pathwarden - i run sentinel spider in my t1 mainly to have an answer to Illsionary Forces and some other flyer, so i probably wont replace it. might replace Rhox Maulers, though. at least itll fit t2 for sure. wont replace oakgnarl though, because toughness 7 is what makes it so strong.
Kor Scythemaster and Expedition Raptor are overcosted by 1
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
So is everything that requires colorless mana just useless to us? I want stalking drone but i'm pretty sure it's really just grizzly bears
With all the parasitism of colorless costs AND cohort, I guess we should be lucky if we get even 1 usable card. Bleughh.
Tajuru pathwarden is neat, I will probably switch out stampeding elk herd for it
There are a bunch of fringe cubables and a couple cute things but I'm really not even feeling like they're worth bringing up lol/sigh
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T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
W
U
B
R
G
I qualified a few of those with "with access to colorless mana". Before seeing the commons I was considering letting my players put as many Wastes as they wanted in their deck. I don't think this set gives me enough cards to make that worth it, but I doubt that Wizards would errata thousands of cards and then never use the diamond symbol again so maybe we'll get more.
about some unmentioned cards you brought up.
Kor Sky Climber is indeed an interesting card with 1-2 relevant creaturetypes, but whites 3-drops are pretty stacked already.
Searing Light depending on your cube it usually kills more stuff than Righteous Blow or Shock. Toughness >2 is more likely than power >2 on white and blue creatures. Probalby add it to my t2, because of all the morphs already floating around there.
Master Decoy and its functionals are a bit underrated compared to the 1/1 guys, because theyre way to fragile. 1/3 is pretty solid as a blocker on its own. But my blue doesnt have much access to colorless mana (yet). Might check to readd Mind Stone and some nonbasics.
Jwar Isle Avenger t1 stuff for me as said, but for 5 its still on curve. Phantom Monster is an online only common.
Sweep Away good point about whisk away which is better. Anyways I think 3 mana combatdependant spells are too slow for standard cubes. Repulse is already pretty close to get moved from t1 to t2.
Umara Entangler it only really fits in the spells matters archetype and there you could just play a better red 2-drop. also x/1. meh.
Kozilek's Shrieker agreed, its good if you support some colorless
Untamed Hunger far away from madcap skills. played correctly, madcap does at least +3dmg for CC2. Hunger would only deal 2 for 3
Witness the End overcosted by 1
Goblin Freerunner will be fine in my t1.
Sparkmage's Gambit i overlooked it. another bane for all those x/1s. will be an option for my t2. t1 already has twin bolt and forked bolt
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I see what you're saying I just can't believe they'd errata all those cards just for this set. They errata'd cards from the previous set! I'm not sure how they'd enable the costs though outside of just letting people put Wastes in their deck, which I expected them to do in this set but they didn't.
Yeah he's definitely better in your cube than most with all the 1 drops.
Umara Entangler - A solid 2 drop, but not all that exiting either
Corpse Churn - Yup, its pretty much an instant speed raise dead, but I like how it supports graveyard archetypes
Goblin Freerunner - I like Boggar Brute, and have been pushing a 'hard to block' theme in red, so this fits right in.
Zada's Commando - This card is amazing for red, especially with how first strike interacts with burn spells.
Sparkmage's Gambit - Seems like a card to break board stalls, and can double as removal if your lucky.
Tajuru Pathwarden - A solid 5 drop for green. I've been wanting something to compliment Nessian Asp and Sentinel Spider, and this looks like it will do just that.
Not a great set overall, but still has plenty of testworthy cards.
Edit: Removed Consuming Sinkhole. Thought it just said Exile target land.
Tajura Pathwarden
Goblin Freerunner
And they everything else is fringe. A 2nd 5cc Vigalance with a 4 rear is pushing out other 5cc's in green. The Goblin lets aggro drop 2 threats on turn 3 or 4, depending on your curve. I still have some red 1cc.
Everything else I would need to be convinced. Although as Al mentioned a red 2cc 2/1 First Striker does get some wok done. The 3cc Vampire Envoy is interesting. Does control kr midrange want it over the other contents of your cube?
Pet Pick: Unnatural Embrace. I still like random combat tricks here and there. And 1cc, in black, and regeneration is the kind that sneaks into decks as a late pick.
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Also Sweep away looks like a pretty bounce spell.
Brute Strength could fit in Gruul Monsters archetype, but is maybe not good enough, I have to try.
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Oblivion Strike seems horrible. Exile doesnt matter 95% of the time and its only a sorcery. Black has like 10 better removal spells
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I sincerely doubt that. Like Humphrey said, there's only one creature with protection running around in most cubes (Guardian of the Guildpact). There's one or two regenerators at most (River Boa), and little to no undying or persist (or indestructible). The exile would have to matter more than the instant speed and mana discount from Murder, Rend Flesh and Eyeblight's Ending, all of which are already borderline cards.
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It would need to gain life, give card advantage or selection, target multiple permanent types, come attached to a body, something. As is, no.
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Yeah, but a 2/4 is still better than the "clock" from a 1/4 lifelink, I think.
I don't think so: It's terrible in aggro where you want to be getting in. One damage is basically irrelevant here, especially from turn three onwards, except maybe in borderline cases where you get Equipment.dec or Auras.dec. It's terrible in control: if you're attacking with it, then you're not holding it back to block, and control decks don't particularly care about chipping away while they're being overrun (I'm open to being swayed here though, I just don't think this card is in a place where it's playable for control) so the only reason to play it is the lifegain, which for 2B and 1 life per turn, is worse than something like Ajani's Mantra (but, to be fair, has better corner-cases with stuff like Springleaf Drum and the new Holdout Settlement )
Good because 6 life is a LOT and your choice of value is a nice deal, but three mana is an awkward spot to be playing this.
I like it, but this almost certainly doesn't beat Nightbird's Clutches for value or Ruthless Invasion for universality. I think this is a solid third place, which is more like tenth place if you're including the creature variants
Very unfortunate, as I misread this to read that it could Support itself. Without that option, it's a deal-breaking, generally-worse Cranes.
I think it's far from solid. Warpath Ghoul has been out for ages and doesn't get played. A marginal improvement that requires you to invest mana and lose tempo is not what I want from my aggro beater. I'd rather have the fire-and-forget evasion with Chapel Geist or Vassal Soul.
Good points. High toughness is not the selling point of Master Decoy, it's his ability to lock down any creature, any time, no matter how big. Making his ability harder to use is not the way to improve him.
This is blue's 3/2 for 2, along the lines of red's Gore-House Chainwalker and Borderland Marauder. It has a different downside as a 2/1, but a pretty high upside to balance it out, much better than the unfortunate Kiln Fiend thanks to Entangler's ability to rock in combat(I'm seeing a lot of retrace, buyback and flashback shenanigans in this guy's future, with or without those other 3/2s and Izzet's excellent burn/counter/bounce suite to help it out ).
If you can reliably get access to colorless mana, this is a superpowered version of Geyserfield Stalker. One of the best candidates for colorless matters.
Four mana is just an awkward slot for Mind Rot. I don't think the extra mana is worth the 2 life (which also nerfs the original Blightning as a planeswalker killer in regular cubes, here it's pretty lackluster).
Most definitely. An easy 2-for-1, or another Falter effect to get past fatties. Wrap in Flames was just a little bit overkill in both casting cost and spread of targets, but Sparkmage's Gambit hits the sweet spot in both of those areas.
Agreed, but how much better is it than Boreal Centaur? There's arguably less opportunity cost in both cube design and deck construction to include the centaur, so I have to ask if the bump in toughness here is worth the disproportionate escalation in complexity.
Overall first strike Piker and new Sentinel Spider are the standouts, but I'm surprised people aren't looking at the Elemental Uprising more closely. A 4/4 is huge for pauper. So much better than Giantbaiting, which was a crappier Ball Lightning most of the time. Here, Uprising is a combat trick, removal or Fireblast wrapped up in a delicious green package. At the very least, I have to debate whether to include it over the more expensive tricks (Ferocious Charge, Spidery Grasp or Wildsize )
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Best part of the set for pauper cube: Tajuru Pathwarden.
Worst part of the set for pauper cube: Colorless-only mana requirements. This took up a huge number of common slots; I'm not a fan of parasitic limited mechanics anyway, but this really neutered the set for us.
Cards I'm tentatively including:
Goblin Freerunner - Still have to see how Surge plays as a mechanic, but I think most R/x aggro decks won't have a problem with getting this out early. Even if it's a slightly higher variance Boggart Brute, that's not a huge downside. I also simply really like how menace gives aggro decks some hope in longer games; maybe this is making me overrate the card a bit.
Zada's Commando - I played Riot Piker for a while and it was okay (but not great), and this is a straight upgrade. It's probably a bit better than something I'm currently playing in its slot, but at the rate that Wizards is giving us 2CMC red creatures, I imagine it will be outclassed soon.
Elemental Uprising - This card can do a ton. On the defensive, it eats most creatures in the cube and on the offensive, it pushes through damage while probably eating a blocker in the process. Not sure I have a slot for it right now, but I'm still going to test it out.
Scion Summoner - It's okay, but not a must-include. Cards like this are why I'm glad I have a 450-card cube; there's no way it would make a 360-card version of my list.
Tajuru Pathwarden - Good midrange beater, and it's probably ranked around 3rd in its slot. I expect this to stay in my cube for a while.
Cards I'm also looking at:
Kozilek's Pathfinder - a 5/5 for 6 in non-green is really nice, but I'm not sure what deck is going to want to play this except if a draft went horribly wrong. Most color combinations already have archetypes with well-defined playstyles that this just doesn't really fit into. Is having a fine card that will almost always be in the sideboard worth including?
Vampire Envoy - I'm in the same place as Humphrey on this; the 4 toughess + flying is good for control, but I'm not sure I have a slot for it. Not sure it's worth cutting an aggro creature for it.
I've seen this opinion a few times now, does the extra mana make that much of a difference in people's experiences? In other formats, I find myself picking the Mind Rot type effects up based on how useful it is in the format or in my deck, regardless of whether it costs 3 or 4. I find it's generally incorrect to cast it on turn 3 anyway unless you have nothing else to do (and maybe not even then), so the primary advantage a cheaper version is the ability to cast another spell with it on turn 5+.
Agreed on Blightning type cards being worse in common cube than in a format with plainswalkers, but it's still over 2 cards worth of value in one if all goes well.
not really excited about Elemental Uprising. Plain old Giant Growth will be better most of the time.
I wouldnt agree with green having a weak 3-slot
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