Dazzling reflection is borderline in my opinon. It doesn't state, that the target has to be your creature. You an target a big threat of your opponent and gain life for that. If you target something like Eldrazi Devastator or similar it looks good.
Dazzling reflection is borderline in my opinon. It doesn't state, that the target has to be your creature. You an target a big threat of your opponent and gain life for that. If you target something like Eldrazi Devastator or similar it looks good.
white has tons of those effects and this one is definitely one of the worse ones.
I think control in black is a common enough archetype in the majority of pauper cubes that Vampire Envoy could probably be considered cubeable instead of borderline.
well, im not sold on the vampire yet, although im going to add it to my tier1. in a vaccum its only a borderline card. if it had lifelink it would be another story.
we didnt rate cards based on its value in certain archetypes yet, why would we change it now?
btw. working on the bfz update i noticed Kalastria Nightwatch. this could become a real good addition if youre going to run some more lifegain. it already seems really strong in bw.
im more likely to move tajuru pathwarden to staple, but lets not overrate card before we even played them.
Dazzling reflection is borderline in my opinon. It doesn't state, that the target has to be your creature. You an target a big threat of your opponent and gain life for that. If you target something like Eldrazi Devastator or similar it looks good.
white has tons of those effects and this one is definitely one of the worse ones.
This "ton" is exactly one card Awe Strike and it only gives you live, when you prevent damage. Dazzling damage costs one more for removing that restriction.
Dazzling reflection is borderline in my opinon. It doesn't state, that the target has to be your creature. You an target a big threat of your opponent and gain life for that. If you target something like Eldrazi Devastator or similar it looks good.
white has tons of those effects and this one is definitely one of the worse ones.
This "ton" is exactly one card Awe Strike and it only gives you live, when you prevent damage. Dazzling damage costs one more for removing that restriction.
hmm, youre right. Ive misread the card. It also prevents damage in creature combat, so you can block and probably kill the creature without trading and get life on top. That makes it probably cubable lol. It still competes with a lot of white spells.
Btw. Brute Force is also just a red Giant Growth, but it's so much worse in red, because it's outclassed, by sooo many better spells.
No, actually, it's still really good. It's literally the same spell as giant growth. It works exactly as effectively as giant growth. Like, yeah, it's not as good as lightning bolt? That's like saying giant growth is not as good as rancor, or something. That doesn't matter.
(Additionally, I think this is besides the point, but since I expect you to say that brute force is worse than most burn spells, you should remember that it gives red an answer to large and/or hexproof creatures for just 1 mana. The only other red cards that do this are flame slash and the extremely similar rubblebelt maaka. Otherwise, the only red cards that handle big creatures cost 4+ mana or would have you 2 for 1 yourself, or just suck (bathe in dragonfire etc.) Red really appreciates brute force IMO.)
Elemental uprising, on the other hand, is not the same spell as lightning blast. It's considerably worse (albeit for 1 less mana)
My top five cards for Oath, in no particular order. Green and red are the biggest winners, white and black got very little. Blue gets a role-player who could potentially be better than credited:
Honorable mention to Crumbling Vestige and Seer's Lantern for providing some much-needed effects at common. Really though, this list could easily be twice as big. In particular, I may eventually come to revise this to include some of the excluded cards, including Cinder Hellion, Sparkmage's Gambit, Umara Entangler and Vines of the Recluse. Vines in particular could be swapped in to cubes for something like Spidery Grasp, since the Vines provide half the boost at a third of the cost. What do you think?
The two cards I want to specifically mention are Umara Entangler and Goblin Freerunner. I think Umara Entangler is being severely underrated. This card is an amazing two drop for tempo decks, because combining it with cheap burn or bounce spells allows you to swing for 3 damage while still playing more threats. Goblin Freerunner, on the other hand, I think is being slightly overrated. Don't get me wrong, it looks solid, but we don't have quality 1 drops to enable this card turn 3, so most likely scenario is playing it turn 4 with another 2 drop. I am still going to run it, and expect it to perform well, but I am a little skeptical about how good surge will be in practice.
Fortunately for Zada's Commando, most of those cards you listed are red, which makes it less of an issue for it. Umara Entangler has built in protection from those types of spells too. In general though, I do agree that people run too many x/1 aggro creatures. And Gambit is a solid card not only because of the split 1 damage ping, but because late game it can push your aggro creatures past their blockers.
most of the time Umara Entangler will be just a 2/1 or you wont develop your board and its a lonely reactive 3/2.
also i diont think that its a lesser issue that most spells are red, because theyre very easy to splash and there are enough available for 3-5 players and subpar in pure aggrodecks.
LSV about Dazzling reflection: "This is an interesting card. At first, I was ready to say that it was the bad kind of trick, because it doesn’t grant any stats, but upon further reflection I’m interested in what it does during a race. It turns a 5-point swing to a 5-point life gain, a difference of 10 life, and it can be used to save one of your creatures to boot. If your deck is looking to race, I could see this being incredible, but it fares poorly against a control deck or in a control deck (most of the time). My guess is that this gets overvalued, but when it’s good, it will be very good. I’m going to start by looking to sideboard it in, but I’m calling this one of the cards that is most likely to increase in value once we get a better idea of the format."
Dazzling Reflection seems good, but too reactive/anti-aggro/staller for my tastes right now.
I don't get the excitement about Umara Entangler. Isn't it a worse Kiln Fiend? And I know most of you don't run the kiln fiend anyway.
Sparkmage's gambit edge over other spells that divide damage is that it is useful in late game to remove blockers, even if the 1 damage doesn't kill stuff. And as it is sorcery, it doesn't have the undesired effect (for some of us) of weakening aggro to much.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I don't get the excitement about Umara Entangler. Isn't it a worse Kiln Fiend? And I know most of you don't run the kiln fiend anyway.
Imo Prowess is an ability that fits best into Tempo-Control decks, so comparing it to Kiln Fiend is misleading. Admittedly Tempo-Control often looks aggressive, but Prowess is very much about the timing instead of the pure damage output.
as lsv says. its good in race situations when youre not going to block, but buy you 2 combat steps with this card.
and if youre going to block its depending on your boardstate whats better. if you have a bunch of small stuff they all can block a bigger creature unharmed, where a 3/3 might just die.
I agree that heroism is better in terms of fire and forget - usuable at every point of the game, where moment is more fringe, but also more interesting and surprisingly
However, I doubt LSV takes into account a paiper cube environment. He is likely drawing on the normal set/expansion limited environment.
I like Moment of Heroism as nearly the best '1C: +2/+2 and Ability' card. But it is forever in my cut/want to add piles. I would need a ton of convincing to try out another pseudo- Boros Fury-Shield, and how does this stack against say Kor Chant? Yes, I know they are 1 different.
I think I'd generally prefer Undying Evil over Unnatural Endurance; +1 power isn't a huge effect, and undying is better than regeneration (permanent better stat boost, retriggers ETB, comes back into play untapped, etc.).
Unnatural Endurance gives +2 power, not +1. Boon of Erebos is a borderline card, and Unnatural Endurance is strictly better, so its an easy swap if you run Boon. Its not so much better that it would make me want to add it if I weren't already playing Boon of Erebos. For whatever its worth though, Unnatural Endurance would be extremely annoying paired alongside Guardian of the Guildpact, as its one of the few ways to regenerate it.
Containment Membrane does look solid, but I think it falls just short of cubeable. If it tapped the creature that you cast it on, it would be amazing. Still, its definitely worth testing.
What about Shoulder to Shoulder? Being able to pump two creatures permanently without costing you a card seems solid, but maybe unexciting.
Whoops, misread the card. +2 power makes it significantly better. Maybe I'll try it over Undying Evil in my cube, although that's been one of my pet cards.
Not that interested in Containment Membrane. As fluttershy mentioned, not tapping the creature you cast it on is a pretty big disadvantage. Also, I doubt most cubes have room for it. I also think it compares unfavorably to Hands of Binding.
Glorious Anthem costs you a whole turn during the early game, and doesn't really advance your board much more than Shoulder to Shoulder (StS), yet its still a decent card. Obviously StS is worse than the anthem, but it does replace itself at the very least. Also, I wouldn't necessarily count on playing StS on turn 3, but rather turn 4 or 5 after you have sufficiently developed your board.
Unnatural Endurance does black really need combat tricks? Black has enough cheap removal. If you want to make your cube more interesting, go for it. Powerlevelwise Id stick to CC2 removal. Also my philosophy is to keep the strength of each color and compensate its weaknesses with a 2nd color. So no green pseudoremoval and no subpar black combat tricks. Although this one could be an exception since it also softcounters removal.
Shoulder to Shoulder is not to be played on turn 3, is for when you have already deal a good amount of damage and the opponent stabilizes; it works as reack making your creatures useful in later stages of the game. You play it when you have more than three mana, with creatures on board, and the 'draw a card' allows you to play a second spell with the mana that you didn't spend.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Holiday Armadillo... Cloak
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
white has tons of those effects and this one is definitely one of the worse ones.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
we didnt rate cards based on its value in certain archetypes yet, why would we change it now?
btw. working on the bfz update i noticed Kalastria Nightwatch. this could become a real good addition if youre going to run some more lifegain. it already seems really strong in bw.
im more likely to move tajuru pathwarden to staple, but lets not overrate card before we even played them.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
This "ton" is exactly one card Awe Strike and it only gives you live, when you prevent damage. Dazzling damage costs one more for removing that restriction.
Or are you interested in a Fiora flavor cube? Conspire and win!
Level 2 Judge
hmm, youre right. Ive misread the card. It also prevents damage in creature combat, so you can block and probably kill the creature without trading and get life on top. That makes it probably cubable lol. It still competes with a lot of white spells.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
No, actually, it's still really good. It's literally the same spell as giant growth. It works exactly as effectively as giant growth. Like, yeah, it's not as good as lightning bolt? That's like saying giant growth is not as good as rancor, or something. That doesn't matter.
(Additionally, I think this is besides the point, but since I expect you to say that brute force is worse than most burn spells, you should remember that it gives red an answer to large and/or hexproof creatures for just 1 mana. The only other red cards that do this are flame slash and the extremely similar rubblebelt maaka. Otherwise, the only red cards that handle big creatures cost 4+ mana or would have you 2 for 1 yourself, or just suck (bathe in dragonfire etc.) Red really appreciates brute force IMO.)
Elemental uprising, on the other hand, is not the same spell as lightning blast. It's considerably worse (albeit for 1 less mana)
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
1. Zada's Commando
2. Goblin Freerunner
3. Scion Summoner
4. Tajuru Pathwarden
5. Elemental Uprising
Honorable mention to Crumbling Vestige and Seer's Lantern for providing some much-needed effects at common. Really though, this list could easily be twice as big. In particular, I may eventually come to revise this to include some of the excluded cards, including Cinder Hellion, Sparkmage's Gambit, Umara Entangler and Vines of the Recluse. Vines in particular could be swapped in to cubes for something like Spidery Grasp, since the Vines provide half the boost at a third of the cost. What do you think?
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
1. Zada's Commando
2. Tajuru Pathwarden
3. Umara Entangler
4. Goblin Freerunner
5. Sparkmage's Gambit
The two cards I want to specifically mention are Umara Entangler and Goblin Freerunner. I think Umara Entangler is being severely underrated. This card is an amazing two drop for tempo decks, because combining it with cheap burn or bounce spells allows you to swing for 3 damage while still playing more threats. Goblin Freerunner, on the other hand, I think is being slightly overrated. Don't get me wrong, it looks solid, but we don't have quality 1 drops to enable this card turn 3, so most likely scenario is playing it turn 4 with another 2 drop. I am still going to run it, and expect it to perform well, but I am a little skeptical about how good surge will be in practice.
Edit: In addition to those listed above, I will also be testing Elemental Uprising, Cinder Hellion, and Corpse Churn.
of the iceberg.
everyone considering x/1 aggrocreatures really have to nerf their cubes...
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
also i diont think that its a lesser issue that most spells are red, because theyre very easy to splash and there are enough available for 3-5 players and subpar in pure aggrodecks.
LSV about Dazzling reflection: "This is an interesting card. At first, I was ready to say that it was the bad kind of trick, because it doesn’t grant any stats, but upon further reflection I’m interested in what it does during a race. It turns a 5-point swing to a 5-point life gain, a difference of 10 life, and it can be used to save one of your creatures to boot. If your deck is looking to race, I could see this being incredible, but it fares poorly against a control deck or in a control deck (most of the time). My guess is that this gets overvalued, but when it’s good, it will be very good. I’m going to start by looking to sideboard it in, but I’m calling this one of the cards that is most likely to increase in value once we get a better idea of the format."
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I don't get the excitement about Umara Entangler. Isn't it a worse Kiln Fiend? And I know most of you don't run the kiln fiend anyway.
Sparkmage's gambit edge over other spells that divide damage is that it is useful in late game to remove blockers, even if the 1 damage doesn't kill stuff. And as it is sorcery, it doesn't have the undesired effect (for some of us) of weakening aggro to much.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Imo Prowess is an ability that fits best into Tempo-Control decks, so comparing it to Kiln Fiend is misleading. Admittedly Tempo-Control often looks aggressive, but Prowess is very much about the timing instead of the pure damage output.
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
vs
Dazzling reflection: Vanilla lifegain + combat trick that works only on trades
Moment is clearly better in 90% of games
Knowledge is power, money is power, time is money, you are actually gaining time by reading my posts
check out my EDH and Pauper EDH decks here
and if youre going to block its depending on your boardstate whats better. if you have a bunch of small stuff they all can block a bigger creature unharmed, where a 3/3 might just die.
I agree that heroism is better in terms of fire and forget - usuable at every point of the game, where moment is more fringe, but also more interesting and surprisingly
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I like Moment of Heroism as nearly the best '1C: +2/+2 and Ability' card. But it is forever in my cut/want to add piles. I would need a ton of convincing to try out another pseudo- Boros Fury-Shield, and how does this stack against say Kor Chant? Yes, I know they are 1 different.
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Containment Membrane does look solid, but I think it falls just short of cubeable. If it tapped the creature that you cast it on, it would be amazing. Still, its definitely worth testing.
What about Shoulder to Shoulder? Being able to pump two creatures permanently without costing you a card seems solid, but maybe unexciting.
Not that interested in Containment Membrane. As fluttershy mentioned, not tapping the creature you cast it on is a pretty big disadvantage. Also, I doubt most cubes have room for it. I also think it compares unfavorably to Hands of Binding.
Containment Membrane Seems reasonable. But Singing Bell Strike Narcolepsy and Curse of Chains is already enough removal for my blue.
Shoulder to Shoulder seems too slow in strong cubes.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters