I keep spore frog in my cube mostly because of tortured existence and the fun engines like it. Sherei just adds to the engine fun. Kami of False Hope is one if you prefer it to be in white and black.
I don't know. Compare to Diabolic Servitude? Servitude gives every creature an "extra life" for 3B and is super strong. Sigil gives every creature infinite extra lifes for 1W + mana cost.
So most of the time more expensive, but doesn't exile and can use again and again. But you need to keep up the mana. My suspicion is still that this will be very strong, unless a cube is lightning fast.
But Servitude puts the creature into play; Sigil costs 2-3x more, with a huge added condition, to get even your 1 card back. I can't really see a spot where it's good outside of hyper late game scenarios.
I’m very excited for the Phoenix. A 4/2 flyer for 4 is not bad at all and the recursion is great as lategame fuel for midrange and as resilient threat for controllish decks.
it's really slow though, 8 mana if you want to get it back and cast it, and it still doesn't have haste. If you have to get it back turn one, cast it turn two, attack turn three... not sure if that's good enough
I also think Firewing Phoenix will be pretty good. The baseline mode is pretty good (4/2 flier for 3R) and the rest is upside. I honestly think the base body will be the bigger draw for speedier decks and the recursion for slower decks. All in all, I think it is probably somewhere among the 5th to 8th best red 4 drop creatures.
I am interested in Living Lore to see if it can be good in situations where it is smaller than 4/4. Is it good enough to exile a Compulsive Research and then have a 3/3 you might be able to cash in for the Compulsive Research at some point? It does have to survive combat to do so, but maybe it makes some awkward scenarios for opponents?
Nothing else particularly strikes interests me for my CUbe among the other downshifts.
While I will end up only playing so many of the cards, I really like all the downshifts thus far. Including stuff like Laboratory Maniac. Firstly, it shows Wizards being a bit more adventurous with their downshifts for a change, like Worm Harvest in the original MM, and technically, you could build a draft deck around LabMan. Especially with the help of cards such as Apprentice Necromancer. While I really like Living Lore as a card, it is likely the worst of the bunch thus far if only because there are so few worthwhile targets in most CU/bes.
A lot of these are misses for me, but I do like that they're all at least interesting thus far.
Living Lore kinda needs to be at least a 5/5 to be worth the awkwardness, but I don't think that would be consistent enough in most decks. Sacrificing it is upside, but most of the time you probably just want the body instead of the spell if you can get through.
I know LabMan isn't worth the slot, but it's cool enough that I'll probably play it anyways.
4 power on Firewing Pheonix probably just gets there sometimes, but decks that want that probably can't recur it easily.
Apprentice Necromancer is interesting, but probably too gimmicky in most cases: 1/1, summoning sick, and not many great targets considering the risk.
man angel of despair is a super awesome downgrade. like it's huge and kills ***** very dead, but 7 mana is so much, and it's a guild slot. i want to love it but it's a real cost to include it.
firewing phoenix interests me, because we don't really have any inevitability in red yet iirc. but in saying that 4 mana for "just" a 4/2 flier isn't exactly amazing by our standards either.
i was interested in magmaw but thinking about it in comparison with goblin bombardment... meh. also living lore seems bad, since it's 4 mana and we don't really have any huge spells to make it a big boy.
Orzhov isn't exactly a super deep guild in peasant. I think Angel of Despair easily makes the top three. I saw a lot of cubes running Maw of Obzedat and I like the angel a lot more than that guy.
Angel of Despair was my favorite card for years. The cmc is pretty high, but I'm seriously tempted to add it to my cube. Blowing up any permanent and getting a 5/5 flyer is pretty sweet. Blinking it or reanimating it is even better.
Apprentice Necromancer is interesting, but probably too gimmicky in most cases: 1/1, summoning sick, and not many great targets considering the risk.
Every creature with a good etb is a good target for it. Summoning sickness isn't great, but getting a good etb trigger plus a free attack (say Angel of Despair for 3 mana) shouldn't be too hard if you draft correctly. The creature is sacrificed instead of exiled as well, so you could get it back in other ways after you necromancer it.
I'm excited to try Sherei, Lab maniac, Angel of Dispair, and Apprentice Necromancer. these will all be almost auto includes.
Lab man is the one I see less excitement for but I see it as a control/combo finisher. My cubers often try to grind out to decking so I think it would be cool to have the anti-decking tech while also being a filler body, nothing spectacular in combat but is serviceable.
Every creature with a good etb is a good target for it. Summoning sickness isn't great, but getting a good etb trigger plus a free attack (say Angel of Despair for 3 mana) shouldn't be too hard if you draft correctly. The creature is sacrificed instead of exiled as well, so you could get it back in other ways after you necromancer it.
Most good etbs are barely worth 3 mana though. Obviously you can cherry pick stuff like Pelakka Wurm or Angel of Despair, which are certainly worthwhile, but if you're running those cards you probably don't care too much about the damage and probably just want actual reanimation. Anything else at 6cmc or below is pretty average to bad without the damage, and 2 mana 1/1s and good etbs aren't great if you want to chip down a life total to make the damage good. Even considering the damage (which is in no way guaranteed), most good 6cmc or less targets are only worth about 3 mana.
I play Doomed Necromancer, and its not more than OK. There are so many good reanimation spells available that I don't really see the need for Apprentice Necromancer. It is a creature though, so perhaps you can have a grand old time with Gravedigger, Eternal Witness etc.
How does the rules work with living lore? The "When it deals combat damage" will trigger, go on the stack, then damage happens, and then if the lore is still around you get the chance to sacrifice it?
Most good etbs are barely worth 3 mana though. Obviously you can cherry pick stuff like Pelakka Wurm or Angel of Despair, which are certainly worthwhile, but if you're running those cards you probably don't care too much about the damage and probably just want actual reanimation. Anything else at 6cmc or below is pretty average to bad without the damage, and 2 mana 1/1s and good etbs aren't great if you want to chip down a life total to make the damage good. Even considering the damage (which is in no way guaranteed), most good 6cmc or less targets are only worth about 3 mana.
If I play reanimator the whole point is to "cherry pick" stuff like Pelakka Wurm?
It's just a solid complement for reanimator decks imho. It's certainly not the bee's knees, but there's plenty of value to be had and most of the time you'll be fine with paying 3 mana for it. Even if you use it defensively and don't get the attack, you can probably get a decent block. Is that enough to make it into your cube? No idea, that's up to you, but it's an option. Given that we're very unlikely to get actual reanimator spells that are any good any time soon, I'll take it.
I think Angel of Despair is especially good in Rakdos reanimator decks, because those have access to Faithless Looting, allowing a turn 2 land destruction, with a 5/5 flyer attached.
Also, it doesn't just work in off-colour reanimator decks. Most Orzhov control decks in my cube would love this guy, it being basically a very big, flying Chupacabra that also kills problematic permanents. (Grafted Wargear or Sphinx's Tutelage come to mind)
First one. Looks like a cool value engine but might be too expensive and fragile.
I wanna like it, and I’m sure there are some sweeter combos with it than Murderous Redcap. But 5 mana 2/2...
Also: I really hate these spirits that don’t fly. It looks flying to me.
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So most of the time more expensive, but doesn't exile and can use again and again. But you need to keep up the mana. My suspicion is still that this will be very strong, unless a cube is lightning fast.
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Legacy Cube
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
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it's really slow though, 8 mana if you want to get it back and cast it, and it still doesn't have haste. If you have to get it back turn one, cast it turn two, attack turn three... not sure if that's good enough
I am interested in Living Lore to see if it can be good in situations where it is smaller than 4/4. Is it good enough to exile a Compulsive Research and then have a 3/3 you might be able to cash in for the Compulsive Research at some point? It does have to survive combat to do so, but maybe it makes some awkward scenarios for opponents?
Nothing else particularly strikes interests me for my CUbe among the other downshifts.
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The PioneWer Peasant CUbe
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Living Lore kinda needs to be at least a 5/5 to be worth the awkwardness, but I don't think that would be consistent enough in most decks. Sacrificing it is upside, but most of the time you probably just want the body instead of the spell if you can get through.
I know LabMan isn't worth the slot, but it's cool enough that I'll probably play it anyways.
4 power on Firewing Pheonix probably just gets there sometimes, but decks that want that probably can't recur it easily.
Apprentice Necromancer is interesting, but probably too gimmicky in most cases: 1/1, summoning sick, and not many great targets considering the risk.
firewing phoenix interests me, because we don't really have any inevitability in red yet iirc. but in saying that 4 mana for "just" a 4/2 flier isn't exactly amazing by our standards either.
i was interested in magmaw but thinking about it in comparison with goblin bombardment... meh. also living lore seems bad, since it's 4 mana and we don't really have any huge spells to make it a big boy.
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Every creature with a good etb is a good target for it. Summoning sickness isn't great, but getting a good etb trigger plus a free attack (say Angel of Despair for 3 mana) shouldn't be too hard if you draft correctly. The creature is sacrificed instead of exiled as well, so you could get it back in other ways after you necromancer it.
Lab man is the one I see less excitement for but I see it as a control/combo finisher. My cubers often try to grind out to decking so I think it would be cool to have the anti-decking tech while also being a filler body, nothing spectacular in combat but is serviceable.
Most good etbs are barely worth 3 mana though. Obviously you can cherry pick stuff like Pelakka Wurm or Angel of Despair, which are certainly worthwhile, but if you're running those cards you probably don't care too much about the damage and probably just want actual reanimation. Anything else at 6cmc or below is pretty average to bad without the damage, and 2 mana 1/1s and good etbs aren't great if you want to chip down a life total to make the damage good. Even considering the damage (which is in no way guaranteed), most good 6cmc or less targets are only worth about 3 mana.
I play Doomed Necromancer, and its not more than OK. There are so many good reanimation spells available that I don't really see the need for Apprentice Necromancer. It is a creature though, so perhaps you can have a grand old time with Gravedigger, Eternal Witness etc.
How does the rules work with living lore? The "When it deals combat damage" will trigger, go on the stack, then damage happens, and then if the lore is still around you get the chance to sacrifice it?
I like phoenix.
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
If I play reanimator the whole point is to "cherry pick" stuff like Pelakka Wurm?
You can also make tokens with cards like Cloudgoat Ranger, or (temporarily) remove and important blocker with cards like Fairgrounds Warden or Mist Raven, you can use it as burn with Vampire Sovereign and Gary, or even as a removal spell with Kraul Harpooner or Flametongue Kavu.
It's just a solid complement for reanimator decks imho. It's certainly not the bee's knees, but there's plenty of value to be had and most of the time you'll be fine with paying 3 mana for it. Even if you use it defensively and don't get the attack, you can probably get a decent block. Is that enough to make it into your cube? No idea, that's up to you, but it's an option. Given that we're very unlikely to get actual reanimator spells that are any good any time soon, I'll take it.
Also, Angel's body of a 5/5 flyer is not irrelevant. The only creature that can fight with it in the air is Radiant, Archangel and Vampire Nighthawk. Oh, and Skysnare Spider, of course.
Also, it doesn't just work in off-colour reanimator decks. Most Orzhov control decks in my cube would love this guy, it being basically a very big, flying Chupacabra that also kills problematic permanents. (Grafted Wargear or Sphinx's Tutelage come to mind)
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube