Addendum is find a card with a "rider". Now make that rider only happen if played as a sorcery. Perfect mechanic.
That is just lousy design. You are being ripped off and offered the full card, just at Sorcery.
Yes this new Repulse is better than Sorcery Repulse, but who was using that?
From skimming pauper lists online, it looks like Rift Bolt is on its way out of 360 lists, and it's on the chopping block even at 540 for me as my weakest burn spell (I've cut Lava Dart/Geistflame, but I'm keeping Flame Jab around because it seems really good with my recent additions of Thermo-Alchemist and Firebrand Archer). I don't see this card sticking around, even if it looks good on paper. The quality of red burn at common is just too good.
Thats probably because players dont want to overload their cubes with burn. As far as i know rift is still part of constructed burn lists. I dont see skewer being much better still.
Green getting haste for its fatties is a significant buff. Hopefully a good sign for future sets. Riot is also a natural way to support +1/+1 counters.
The hybrids all seem very meh. Overall, multicolor was weaker than I expected. I was hoping to fill out the second half of the guilds with some goodies, but aside from Frenzied Arynx for Gruul, the other guilds lost out.
Tenth District Veteran is not bad, but I'm not sure it makes the cut. I have dauntless Aven right now in my cube.
Sage's Row Savant works for me because I don't play Welking Tern variants so I don't have that many options for blue 2-cmc tempo creatures. I guess most of you will not even consider it, though.
Ill-Gotten Inheritance is interesting, but too slow I think. We have Monarch in black for that kind of grindy win condition.
Plague Wight is fine. Black 2-drops are not that strong.
Undercity Scavenger is ok, but as it gives Scry instead of Surveil I think is a pass.
Lawmage's Binding is good, I have a big guild slot so maybe I will find a place for this.
Everything else is bad.
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
Knight of Sorrows doenst even have a big butt. Pretty meh
Tenth District Veteran indeed seems interesting. but beside 2 exterts there is not much payoff and i think we already have a similar card. *the aven right.
phantom monster cost 4, much better
Sage's Row Savant I really like it. blues 2 drops are lacking for bigger cubes and this one is very solid. i like it better than omenspeaker since it trade better
Lawmage's Binding dont need more enchantment based removal that also occupies a guild slot tbh, but its good
Im not hyped to add anything tbh, but thats what i expected since the last set was pretty mediocre as well. the final set of the 3 might get a higher powerlevel again. there are quite a bunch of cards for the medieval cube though, which is very nice
Oh yeah, I was looking at Ill-Tempered Cyclops for potential inclusion. I still see it in quite a few lists online, but it seems very meh. No haste, under-curved, no real abilities to speak of aside from a late-game mana-sink.
I dunno, I like the fire-and-forget style, but it is overcosted by about one mana. Sanitarium Skeleton was far too overcosted to be worth it either unless you were pairing it with spellshapers or something.
Plague Wight pretty good if you want to support black aggro and are not shy to run x/1s.
I don't know if this is actually better than a 2/1 with real evasion. That's almost my entire black 2CC section at this point.
Wrecking Beast really good, but 7 is too much for the powered cube. For ramp it seems nice.
Trample and haste is a great combo. At the very least, it could push out Havenwood Wurm for anyone still running it.
A bit overcosted as a trick, but to rebuy ETB effects, untap a creature, or save a creature from removal, I think two mana is still mostly acceptable. I'm really curious how often you can combine that with the first strike to do real damage.
Aside from hitting mana dorks, I don't see how it's better than Gideon's Reproach - semi-decent sounds about right.
Knight of Sorrows doenst even have a big butt. Pretty meh
Yeah, it's very bad on this guy and the 5/3 Thrull in black. I think they both needed at least a small bump in toughness before they could be considered.
Tenth District Veteran indeed seems interesting. but beside 2 exterts there is not much payoff and i think we already have a similar card. *the aven right.
Dauntless Aven and this guy could form a sort of tag team package with the exerters, but it seems iffy. There's actually three exerters in white that see scattered inclusion (Gust Walker/Oketra's Avenger/Tah-Crop Elite) but red and green have their own and it might actually be ok considering the other tappers in these colors (I'm thinking Fireslinger, Gideon's Lawkeeper, Sparksmith, mana dorks...)
phantom monster cost 4, much better
People ran Aven Surveyor for a while and Chillbringer seems better, since it gives you both effects and is slightly easier to cast (bounce is usually seen as better, but it allows opponents to replay an untapped blocker/haster and rebuy potential ETBs, so I would consider it a wash). Don't underestimate having a critical mass of these fellows either. Getting every threat you play nailed down or bounced turn after turn while your opponent curves out is pretty backbreaking.
Yes it is. We've never seen haste on such decently sized bodies in green though. It's got potential.
Lawmage's Binding dont need more enchantment based removal that also occupies a guild slot tbh, but its good
I actually cut Arrest recently in favor of Cage of Hands (a card I highly recommend since I ran Prison Term in my regular cube and both were great) since three mana is a lot to ask for this effect. Getting flash changes the evaluation though.
Lawmage's Binding might be better than Curse of Chains. Instant speed is pretty nice and shutting of abilities can be very relevant. I'm still not sure, that I like it more than Momentary Blink, which I currently have as my 3rd Azorius card.
Plague Wight is basically a Fallen Askari that can block. It's kind of worse though, since it can't attack into 2/X creatures without dying and a lot worse than Ashmouth Hound, which also works when you block with it.
As far as i know rift is still part of constructed burn lists.
Well, this could be easily explained by the needs of a constructed burn deck being different than those of a draft deck. Burn decks are playing a game of "damage to face / mana cost", while I imagine the decks youre used to playing need to deal with creatures a lot more often.
Here are the things that caught my attention and will probably get a trial run:
WHITE:
Justiciar's Portal. I'm considering adding a little bit of a Blink subtheme, but my big issue with that archetype has always been that Blink cards are a bit too dubious on their own and the payoffs are a bit small for it to really be worth the effort. Portal seems like it could be more than the sum of its parts by pairing a Blink effect with a mediocre trick. The dream scenario is a little bit Magical Christmas Land, but it's also possible with so many cards that it seems worth giving a shot.
BLUE:
Chillbringer. I've been happy with Aven Surveyor in the past, and this is better. It's a little bit expensive and very-good-not-great to eat up a "basically good with minimal synergy" slot, but there's a lot of stuff here that I like.
BLACK:
Undercity Scavenger. I was already considering more of a sacrifice subtheme, and I don't even think this needs that to be playable. It's basically a Festerhide Boar that activates itself, in a color with less competition for a 4 drop fatty. I think it gets a test at least.
RED:
Some interesting stuff that I hope is good enough, but nothing that I want to start.
GREEN:
Rampaging Rendhorn and Wrecking Beast. I want some sort of ramp strategy to be playable in Cube, but the abundance of removal makes it hard to find worthwhile payoffs that both actually work and don't feel out of place as sort of weird meta choices (I understand why bad Hexproof fatties are necessary for us, but man do I hate them and try to avoid their inclusion). The fact that these have haste when it's necessary or are very on-rate when it's not really make me want to give them a shot.
Sauroform Hybrid. I'm not entirely sure about this guy, but I really like this sort of card and want to give it a shot. Green has that weird problem where its best cards push in opposite directions, and Hybrid feels like a nice blend of those two directions. It might be awful though, and it doesn't really have any sweet synergy.
MULTICOLOR:
Frenzied Arynx has Riot, which I'm just realizing is an ability that I really like, but a 4/4 with some form of evasion for 4 feels like exactly something Gruul wants. I just think this card is good.
Footlight Fiend. Yeah, you'd better call the fire department, because it's time for a hot take. So, this card is not very good, and if you count Hybrid cards in your guild section, this is entirely indefensible. I don't, though, and I see this card as potential glue. Red always wants more one drops than it has. This isn't as bad as it used to be, but it's still true. Black has a budding sacrifice theme that could use some fodder like this guy. Together, you have a card that isn't really good enough for either of its colors main sections, but as a pseudo-artifact it actually does a lot of work. It'll be on the watch list, just because it looks SO bad, but I think this guy could be a hidden gem.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 450 Card Pauper Cube is going through major renovations. Feedback appreciated!
I had a blinktheme in white for a while but it was really bad tbh. There is just not enough payoff and besides dodging some removal it never really did anything. Only the double blink in blue is good since it also activates the infinite combos. And blue has the better etb effects as well.
Festerhide Boar also triggers on opponents creatures btw. Unless you run dedicated sac outlets I dont see me play Scavenger that often.
The problem with all of the cards you mention is that, while they are individually better, the card slot is too specialized to ever be worth it. For these niche cards in particular we need to keep track of how often a deck will want a certain card, but also how common that deck is. Running any of the cards you mention would only do one of the two jobs that this card does, even if they are better, and the card just isn't worth a slot if it's doing marginally better work in one half of the decks. The card's not great, and it may be getting too cute in the search for glue, but the existence of better cards in a monocolor slot is only somewhat relevant when looking at hybrids, IMO.
That's always been my problem with Blink too. I doubt there's enough there to justify a full archetype, but I'm willing to give it an incidental shot.
Festerhide Boar is a 3/3 an awful lot of the time. Figuring out how to make sure a creature died this turn is a significant cost on Boar, and part of the reason it's not a lock for its slot is that it's a 3/3 trampler A LOT of the time. Scavenger might be a 3/3 a lot of the time as well, and if it is it's not worth it. But by simply requiring a creature rather than requiring a creature to somehow die, it gives you a lot more control over what your cards do, which I think is a significant benefit. But also yes, I think this card gains a lot by my considering Sacrifice and currently supporting tokens, so the cost of "a random creature" doesn't feel as high.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 450 Card Pauper Cube is going through major renovations. Feedback appreciated!
I ran the Boar for quite some time and somehow player managed to trigger it all the time, even when it got bounced a couple of times. It was on my watchlist for an eternity. In the end I had to cut it to make room in the CC4 slot, but it really was quite good. Trample on a 3/3 is also surprisingly annoying.
I came to think that the best comparison for Undercity Scavenger is Soulstinger. If most of the time you want to play Soulstinger as a 4/5, then Scavenger is better. So maybe I should give it a try.
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
So when players triggered Boar constantly, were they constantly triggering it on Turn 4 (or elsewhere)? The thing about these sorts of weird set-up costs is that they're very easy to ignore how much you're losing out on by jumping through hoops to pay them. If Boar is consistently basically a six drop because of the extra work that it takes to turn on, I don't think it's even really in the ballpark of viable. If it's consistently a 4-drop, then we can talk.
I like the Soulstinger comparison too. It might be better on account of greater flexibility (the "fail case" of a 2/3 that can easily turn into a 2-1 is better than a 3/3 for 4, even if the best mode is marginally worse).
EDIT: I had a thought about the Hybrid question. In my mind, the question you ask is "would a significant number of decks in either color play this." The existence of better options is relevant, because the fact that a color has enough playable options for a particular role speaks to how frequently the color would play a card. But there is also stuff that can change the calculus, like how many versions of the effect a color wants or how much competition there is for the better option. The devils may just have too much competition in both of their colors at this point, it's on the cusp even for the hybrid calculations, but I'm looking at it more through that lens.
So when players triggered Boar constantly, were they constantly triggering it on Turn 4 (or elsewhere)? The thing about these sorts of weird set-up costs is that they're very easy to ignore how much you're losing out on by jumping through hoops to pay them. If Boar is consistently basically a six drop because of the extra work that it takes to turn on, I don't think it's even really in the ballpark of viable. If it's consistently a 4-drop, then we can talk.
I like the Soulstinger comparison too. It might be better on account of greater flexibility (the "fail case" of a 2/3 that can easily turn into a 2-1 is better than a 3/3 for 4, even if the best mode is marginally worse).
EDIT: I had a thought about the Hybrid question. In my mind, the question you ask is "would a significant number of decks in either color play this." The existence of better options is relevant, because the fact that a color has enough playable options for a particular role speaks to how frequently the color would play a card. But there is also stuff that can change the calculus, like how many versions of the effect a color wants or how much competition there is for the better option. The devils may just have too much competition in both of their colors at this point, it's on the cusp even for the hybrid calculations, but I'm looking at it more through that lens.
Ideally Boar would be coming down t3 using a mana elf. In our Cube experience (disclaimer: not necessarily representative) that didn't work as we hoped.
If you take the literal average (50% 5/5, 50% 3/3 =~4/4) maybe it would be worth it (compare to the Kaladesh creature) but when the fail case means you likely won't play the Boar that turn it completely changes the calculation. Is it good enough at "4.5" mana (40%t4, 50% t5)? Maybe so but then in that case it's a matter of the math not matching impressions.
A lot has to be go right to get the Boar down on T3, but not impossible. Trading your 2 drop into the enemy can happen a lot. But its quite unreliable. I didnt follow any scenario where Boar was played, but I asked for feedback how it performed and most players could trigger it consistently.
When I played it often I would trade something that turn anyway since green was the aggressor or I had to run my manaelf into some blocker.
pass on Skewer the Critics for now. dont see it above rift bolt, because it cant reliably be cast for 1 to remove some blocker, even if it takes a turn
pass on Skewer the Critics for now. dont see it above rift bolt, because it cant reliably be cast for 1 to remove some blocker, even if it takes a turn
pass on Skewer the Critics for now. dont see it above rift bolt, because it cant reliably be cast for 1 to remove some blocker, even if it takes a turn
Completely agree here.
What did you swap for the juggler?
Returned Phalanx which wasnt bad in any way, but i dont think ub control needs it that desperately
That is just lousy design. You are being ripped off and offered the full card, just at Sorcery.
Yes this new Repulse is better than Sorcery Repulse, but who was using that?
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Cards I think might be worth discussing:
Justiciar's Portal - more blink support.
Impassioned Orator - interesting take on lifegain.
Knight of Sorrows - looks like afterlife is a way for bigger butts to bring value.
Tenth District Veteran - could be interesting? Exert fans might want this.
Chillbringer - detain mechanic appears higher up the curve. Could be an interesting choice if you run Phantom Monster.
Sage's Row Savant - stronger than Sage of Epityr but weaker than Omenspeaker.
Ill-Gotten Inheritance - interesting take on the bleed mechanic.
Plague Wight - better Ashmouth Hound in black.
Undercity Scavenger - nice sac payoff.
Ghor-Clan Wrecker - definitely the kind of creature red wants. Might be good enough.
Storm Strike - this is the first Sure Strike variant that makes me think about inclusion.
Rampaging Rendhorn - I'm really liking the choices that riot gives. Better than Hollowhenge Beast, and that card needed at least one keyword to be playable.
Wrecking Beast - straight-up better Duskdale Wurm.
Green getting haste for its fatties is a significant buff. Hopefully a good sign for future sets. Riot is also a natural way to support +1/+1 counters.
Multicolor:
Applied Biomancy - might be an ok trick. Should really be +2/+2 to stand a chance though.
Azorius Knight-Arbiter - good combo of keywords but seems slow and overcosted. Doesn't look much better than Hussar Patrol.
Lawmage's Binding - instant speed Arrest.
The hybrids all seem very meh. Overall, multicolor was weaker than I expected. I was hoping to fill out the second half of the guilds with some goodies, but aside from Frenzied Arynx for Gruul, the other guilds lost out.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Sage's Row Savant works for me because I don't play Welking Tern variants so I don't have that many options for blue 2-cmc tempo creatures. I guess most of you will not even consider it, though.
Ill-Gotten Inheritance is interesting, but too slow I think. We have Monarch in black for that kind of grindy win condition.
Plague Wight is fine. Black 2-drops are not that strong.
Undercity Scavenger is ok, but as it gives Scry instead of Surveil I think is a pass.
Lawmage's Binding is good, I have a big guild slot so maybe I will find a place for this.
Everything else is bad.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
I think the only card I consider for my T1 is the Frenzied Arynx. As said I have to cheat on the guildslot then though, but somehow I want to replace Ill-Tempered Cyclops. oh and Skewer the Critics ofc
noteworthy:
Ill-Gotten Inheritance is a interesting card for the grindgames, but i dont think it does enough. Sanitarium Skeleton seems better for those
Plague Wight pretty good if you want to support black aggro and are not shy to run x/1s.
Wrecking Beast really good, but 7 is too much for the powered cube. For ramp it seems nice.
Impassioned Orator finally a playable soul warden
Justiciar's Portal a blink effect that also works as combat trick
Summary Judgment semi decent removal
Pyredreams list:
Knight of Sorrows doenst even have a big butt. Pretty meh
Tenth District Veteran indeed seems interesting. but beside 2 exterts there is not much payoff and i think we already have a similar card. *the aven right.
phantom monster cost 4, much better
Sage's Row Savant I really like it. blues 2 drops are lacking for bigger cubes and this one is very solid. i like it better than omenspeaker since it trade better
Undercity Scavenger seems reasonable for sac
Ghor-Clan Wrecker overcosted by 1. meh
Storm Strike those cc1 combat tricks that give first strike are really good, but red can just play burn
Rampaging Rendhorn its okay. cc5 slot is pretty tight though
Lawmage's Binding dont need more enchantment based removal that also occupies a guild slot tbh, but its good
Im not hyped to add anything tbh, but thats what i expected since the last set was pretty mediocre as well. the final set of the 3 might get a higher powerlevel again. there are quite a bunch of cards for the medieval cube though, which is very nice
known but considered
Burning-Tree Vandal
Sauroform Hybrid
Blade Juggler
Estimated changes:
T1
Ill-Tempered Cyclops < Frenzied Arynx
Sign in Blood < Blade Juggler
Thriving Grubs < Skewer the Critics
T2
Omenspeaker < Sage's Row Savant
Wall of Heat < Burning-Tree Vandal
Scorned Villager < Sauroform Hybrid
Coiling Oracle < Aeromunculus
Grim Harvest < Plague Wight
Momentary Blink < Lawmage's Binding
Boggart Brute < Thriving Grubs
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I like Suture Priest better
Loose Change Pauper Cube-cast
Pauper Cube Article #1
Pauper Cube Article #2
Personal Enjoyment Cube
Oh yeah, I was looking at Ill-Tempered Cyclops for potential inclusion. I still see it in quite a few lists online, but it seems very meh. No haste, under-curved, no real abilities to speak of aside from a late-game mana-sink.
I dunno, I like the fire-and-forget style, but it is overcosted by about one mana. Sanitarium Skeleton was far too overcosted to be worth it either unless you were pairing it with spellshapers or something.
I don't know if this is actually better than a 2/1 with real evasion. That's almost my entire black 2CC section at this point.
Trample and haste is a great combo. At the very least, it could push out Havenwood Wurm for anyone still running it.
I wouldn't be so sure. It only triggers on your own creatures, so I question how often it'll even be better than something like Bishop's Soldier.
A bit overcosted as a trick, but to rebuy ETB effects, untap a creature, or save a creature from removal, I think two mana is still mostly acceptable. I'm really curious how often you can combine that with the first strike to do real damage.
Aside from hitting mana dorks, I don't see how it's better than Gideon's Reproach - semi-decent sounds about right.
Yeah, it's very bad on this guy and the 5/3 Thrull in black. I think they both needed at least a small bump in toughness before they could be considered.
Dauntless Aven and this guy could form a sort of tag team package with the exerters, but it seems iffy. There's actually three exerters in white that see scattered inclusion (Gust Walker/Oketra's Avenger/Tah-Crop Elite) but red and green have their own and it might actually be ok considering the other tappers in these colors (I'm thinking Fireslinger, Gideon's Lawkeeper, Sparksmith, mana dorks...)
People ran Aven Surveyor for a while and Chillbringer seems better, since it gives you both effects and is slightly easier to cast (bounce is usually seen as better, but it allows opponents to replay an untapped blocker/haster and rebuy potential ETBs, so I would consider it a wash). Don't underestimate having a critical mass of these fellows either. Getting every threat you play nailed down or bounced turn after turn while your opponent curves out is pretty backbreaking.
Seems extremely reasonable, especially with token makers like Fungal Infection, Wakedancer and Moan of the Unhallowed now in black.
I actually like it a lot. Seems better than Ill-Tempered Cyclops and at least a little bit better than Hostile Minotaur. Could use the testing.
Haha yeah, I don't even have room for actual burn at this point.
Yes it is. We've never seen haste on such decently sized bodies in green though. It's got potential.
I actually cut Arrest recently in favor of Cage of Hands (a card I highly recommend since I ran Prison Term in my regular cube and both were great) since three mana is a lot to ask for this effect. Getting flash changes the evaluation though.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Lawmage's Binding might be better than Curse of Chains. Instant speed is pretty nice and shutting of abilities can be very relevant. I'm still not sure, that I like it more than Momentary Blink, which I currently have as my 3rd Azorius card.
Plague Wight is basically a Fallen Askari that can block. It's kind of worse though, since it can't attack into 2/X creatures without dying and a lot worse than Ashmouth Hound, which also works when you block with it.
Undercity Scavenger seems really nice for my cube.
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)
Well, this could be easily explained by the needs of a constructed burn deck being different than those of a draft deck. Burn decks are playing a game of "damage to face / mana cost", while I imagine the decks youre used to playing need to deal with creatures a lot more often.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
WHITE:
Justiciar's Portal. I'm considering adding a little bit of a Blink subtheme, but my big issue with that archetype has always been that Blink cards are a bit too dubious on their own and the payoffs are a bit small for it to really be worth the effort. Portal seems like it could be more than the sum of its parts by pairing a Blink effect with a mediocre trick. The dream scenario is a little bit Magical Christmas Land, but it's also possible with so many cards that it seems worth giving a shot.
BLUE:
Chillbringer. I've been happy with Aven Surveyor in the past, and this is better. It's a little bit expensive and very-good-not-great to eat up a "basically good with minimal synergy" slot, but there's a lot of stuff here that I like.
BLACK:
Undercity Scavenger. I was already considering more of a sacrifice subtheme, and I don't even think this needs that to be playable. It's basically a Festerhide Boar that activates itself, in a color with less competition for a 4 drop fatty. I think it gets a test at least.
RED:
Some interesting stuff that I hope is good enough, but nothing that I want to start.
GREEN:
Rampaging Rendhorn and Wrecking Beast. I want some sort of ramp strategy to be playable in Cube, but the abundance of removal makes it hard to find worthwhile payoffs that both actually work and don't feel out of place as sort of weird meta choices (I understand why bad Hexproof fatties are necessary for us, but man do I hate them and try to avoid their inclusion). The fact that these have haste when it's necessary or are very on-rate when it's not really make me want to give them a shot.
Sauroform Hybrid. I'm not entirely sure about this guy, but I really like this sort of card and want to give it a shot. Green has that weird problem where its best cards push in opposite directions, and Hybrid feels like a nice blend of those two directions. It might be awful though, and it doesn't really have any sweet synergy.
MULTICOLOR:
Frenzied Arynx has Riot, which I'm just realizing is an ability that I really like, but a 4/4 with some form of evasion for 4 feels like exactly something Gruul wants. I just think this card is good.
Footlight Fiend. Yeah, you'd better call the fire department, because it's time for a hot take. So, this card is not very good, and if you count Hybrid cards in your guild section, this is entirely indefensible. I don't, though, and I see this card as potential glue. Red always wants more one drops than it has. This isn't as bad as it used to be, but it's still true. Black has a budding sacrifice theme that could use some fodder like this guy. Together, you have a card that isn't really good enough for either of its colors main sections, but as a pseudo-artifact it actually does a lot of work. It'll be on the watch list, just because it looks SO bad, but I think this guy could be a hidden gem.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
You even get that effect as ETB Fourth Bridge Prowler or spell Fungal Infection (which is probably the best) and sac outlet Plagued Rusalka
By now red has pretty decent one drops with Bloodlust Inciter Goblin Motivator Jackal Pup and if you want real aggro Mogg Conscripts Goblin Cohort. Scorched Rusalka isnt too bad either if you want a sac theme.
I had a blinktheme in white for a while but it was really bad tbh. There is just not enough payoff and besides dodging some removal it never really did anything. Only the double blink in blue is good since it also activates the infinite combos. And blue has the better etb effects as well.
Festerhide Boar also triggers on opponents creatures btw. Unless you run dedicated sac outlets I dont see me play Scavenger that often.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
That's always been my problem with Blink too. I doubt there's enough there to justify a full archetype, but I'm willing to give it an incidental shot.
Festerhide Boar is a 3/3 an awful lot of the time. Figuring out how to make sure a creature died this turn is a significant cost on Boar, and part of the reason it's not a lock for its slot is that it's a 3/3 trampler A LOT of the time. Scavenger might be a 3/3 a lot of the time as well, and if it is it's not worth it. But by simply requiring a creature rather than requiring a creature to somehow die, it gives you a lot more control over what your cards do, which I think is a significant benefit. But also yes, I think this card gains a lot by my considering Sacrifice and currently supporting tokens, so the cost of "a random creature" doesn't feel as high.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
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
I like the Soulstinger comparison too. It might be better on account of greater flexibility (the "fail case" of a 2/3 that can easily turn into a 2-1 is better than a 3/3 for 4, even if the best mode is marginally worse).
EDIT: I had a thought about the Hybrid question. In my mind, the question you ask is "would a significant number of decks in either color play this." The existence of better options is relevant, because the fact that a color has enough playable options for a particular role speaks to how frequently the color would play a card. But there is also stuff that can change the calculus, like how many versions of the effect a color wants or how much competition there is for the better option. The devils may just have too much competition in both of their colors at this point, it's on the cusp even for the hybrid calculations, but I'm looking at it more through that lens.
Commanders:
Toshiro Umezawa
Rona, Disciple of Gix (Pauper)
Ideally Boar would be coming down t3 using a mana elf. In our Cube experience (disclaimer: not necessarily representative) that didn't work as we hoped.
If you take the literal average (50% 5/5, 50% 3/3 =~4/4) maybe it would be worth it (compare to the Kaladesh creature) but when the fail case means you likely won't play the Boar that turn it completely changes the calculation. Is it good enough at "4.5" mana (40%t4, 50% t5)? Maybe so but then in that case it's a matter of the math not matching impressions.
When I played it often I would trade something that turn anyway since green was the aggressor or I had to run my manaelf into some blocker.
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
final inclusions
T1
T2
pass on Skewer the Critics for now. dont see it above rift bolt, because it cant reliably be cast for 1 to remove some blocker, even if it takes a turn
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Completely agree here.
What did you swap for the juggler?
After all, consume strength is a strong golgari card.
My 490 Pauper Cube
Modern frame only- Common on paper only - no functional copies, no strictly-betters - no subtype-matters
Returned Phalanx which wasnt bad in any way, but i dont think ub control needs it that desperately
T2 powpercube Value https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t