Icehide Golem is easily the best if you spend the time/money/errata to make it work
Yeah, but I'm not a fan of making a house rule in order for a card to be playable in my cube. I'm also not a fan of spending a ton of money on snow basics (or really just snow basics in general) in order to make a few cards (is it even that many?) cubeable.
So, excluding snow, the big changeling looks to be what we got. Kind of a bummer, honestly.
There are definitely enough new cards in this set to push out a too-early Top 20 list for Modern Horizons. A lot of this set is super interesting, and I can easily imagine something off of this list making a splash in my Cube. I also feel the frustration of having so few generally powerful cards, and SO many theme-specific cards between all of the tribal support, lands in the graveyard, and snow mana.
As always, I rank based on my personal preference to Cube, meaning I value interesting over solid.
20) Gluttonous Slug- I think of Slug similarly to a suspense creature. Pay 2 mana early and hopefully have a 2/5 menace 2 or 3 turns later. The upside is Slug growing to 3+ power and the downside is being an awful topdeck.
19) Martyr's Soul- There's no likely scenario to have a 5/4 on turn 3, but cost reduction mechanics are good even in the midgame and 5/4 is a relevant body all game long.
18) Everdream and 17) Splicer's Skill- Both cards with low basements (Dream more than Skill) but lots of upside if drawn late and spliced onto other spells. A extra bonus for having more free spells in your Cube.
16) Magmatic Sinkhole- Worse than Murderous Cut, but Murderous Cut is really good. Cool that it hits Planeswalkers now that we have access to them.
15) Ravenous Giant- I agree with this over Bloodfray Giant, but I did cut that a while ago too.
14) Faerie Seer and 13) Watcher for Tomorrow- I like both of these over mid-tier card draw spells but I do not think any of my card draw spells qualify as mid-tier. Great way to add creatures to blue if so desired.
12) Goblin Champion- Another hasty red 1-drop with upside. I could see this making it in based on how well the exalted feels in the vanilla draft format.
11) Valiant Changeling- I just think way too much has to go your way (right two creatures, opponent has no early removal) for this to make it on the battlefield before turn 4. That said, casting this for 3 on turn 6 still matters and the body is really solid.
10) Soulherder- Getting this with *any* ETB creature is pretty, pretty good. I think the downside is pretty severe since it is really bad if stranded by itself.
Solid and More Cubable
9) Treetop Ambusher- Attacks on its own as a 3/2 with two solid upsides (dash and spreading the +1/+1 bonus) and one reasonable downside (blocks as a 2/1). Worth trying for greeen aggro decks.
8) Orcish Hellraiser- I am cautiously optimistic about this creature. The downside is very real, but so are the upsides. I think this being a guaranteed two damage gives a lot of upside as a topdeck, where most red 2-drops flounder.
7) Ephemerate- I have no temporary stealing effects, so this has major upside over Cloudshift and the potential to go crazy in the right situation.
6) Saddled Rimestag- My sleeper pick for this set. This reasonably attacks for 4 on turn 3 and probably hits for 4 a few more times after that. Feels like an Exert card in that sense, where being a 4/4 is so good early that you can live with it working just every other turn. Also, 4/4s matter all game long.
The Snow Cards- I have always played with snow mana and grabbed more than enough Coldsnap basics when I started my Cube 10 years ago, so I have no dilemma with slamming all of these cards in my Cube. Honestly, I have been waiting for this moment for SO long, just to have more powerful options to play with and to show off my Snow basics.
5) Arcum's Astrolabe- I am inclined to believe a 1-mana Prophetic Prism is better than our lower- and mid-tier five-color fixing options and will be happy to run.
4) Winter's Rest- Immediately outclasses all of the other 2-mana tapping enchantments in blue. Becomes blue's best spot removal immediately.
3) Frostwalk Bastion- A very solid option for any deck than can afford the colorless-producing land. Heck, count it as a spell slot for your control decks and you will be very happy.
2) Abominable Treefolk- Effortlessly massive, has trample, and locks a creature down immediately. A top 3 Simic option if you can support it.
1) Icehide Golem- "Easily the best," as _i0 said. Immediately becomes the best 1-drop in Cube (maybe behind Mom) and fits in every aggro deck. A massive, rim-rattling slam dunk #1 pick.
I am really baffled by how many more commons interest me in this set than uncommons.
I am really baffled by how powerful the rares and mythics are in this set compared to the commons and uncommons. Don't get me wrong, drafting this set looks like it will be a ton of fun, but from a cube standpoint rare cubes are getting 10-20 cards and we peasants seem to be getting 1-3 for tighter lists. I was really hoping to see some sweet downshifts or really pushed uncommons.
Is Valiant Changeling the best thing we got? Maybe Goblin Oriflamme?
In tighter rare cubes I think its mainly the 6 auto include lands that are boosting the count so high.
Expect to be good Watcher for Tomorrow - Goes into the vast majority of blue decks. Hard to go wrong with it. Saddled Rimestag - 2 mana 4/4 is nuts. 2 mana 2/2 is passable enough for a worst case scenario. Treetop Ambusher - 3/2 attacker for 2 with multiple upsides. Green 2s getting even more crowded. Soulherder - Exciting UW card with high synergy, fairly high floor and great art. Ephemerate - Large upgrade to a playable card with high synergy.
Boring but probably good Rhox Veteran - Killing this guy in combat is actively difficult, which is really nice with battle cry. Gluttonous Slug - 2 mana 2/5 menace is just so many stats, and that's not difficult to get.
Testing Scale Up - Kills from nowhere with a number of cards. Decent fair overrun outside of that. Valiant Changeling - Don't think I have the creature type variety in white to support this being better than a 4 mana 3/3 with downside.
Considering Alpine Guide - Super interesting effect. Probably bad, but curving into a 5 is big game. Faerie Seer - I hate the art enough and like Augury Owls art enough that I'm not going to swap them. I'm also going to make the claim that scry 3 feels way better that scry 2, regardless of actual gameplay power.
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All of the snow matters cards are just not very interesting. Abominable Treefolk is the only base card effect that I actively would want, but snow ruins it for me; I actually designed this exact effect except it was on a 4/3 or 4/4. Because of the snow it's just ridiculous; even on 4 lands it's a 4 mana 5/5 trample at BASE with a large upside on top of that.
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There's some okay C/U cards in this set, but none of them I would consider remotely pushed (ignoring the snow stuff and maybe Saddled Rimestag). It seems like all the numbers were lowered as far as they could be while still being playable. None of the designs were particularly exciting either, just mostly keyword stapling (with the exception of Soulherder and Scale Up).
I can't imagine an acceptable way to use Snow cards without going down the path of "all basics are Snow" (either via actual snow basics or errata)
Don't worry about Savannah Lions, every deck that wants a 2/1 for 1 wants about a half dozen of them -- extra mass of that effect actually makes Lions and friends BETTER.
It's different than the MH1 limited environment, but... I'm sure as heck not going to make anyone spend actual draft picks on basic lands in order to enable like 4-5 cube cards.
Am I taking crazy pills or does anybody else think Faerie Seer is kind of crap?
Unlike Cloudfin Raptor or Pteramander which both are likely to achieve reasonable bodies, all the Farerie will ammount to is Flying Men. Omen Speaker might cost more, and a 1/3 isn't anything to write home about but it does a decent enough job holding the ground.
This dies in literally all combat scenarios, and often won't even trade. As far as average floors for cards go, "U: Scry 2, then fog a creature" is not where I want to be at.
I am not committed to including Faerie Seer but basically, more aggressive decks always benefit quite a bit from filtering their draws since they need such a fine balance of lands to spells. If you drop it early, it contributes an evasive body that you can use to get in some damage while also filtering your super-important early draws (since you are playing a deck that tries to end the game quick). If you get it late, it still provides more value than your average 1-drop. A late Cloudfin Raptor is pretty bad even if it can be absurd early; Pteramander is just crazy in the right deck so it is hardly a good threshold for blue 1-drop creatures' floor for inclusion. That Faerie Seer also works with slower self-bounce and blink decks adds to its value as a draftable.
Oh, and if the argument is going to be 'but you would still be better off with an early drop that does more things itself in an aggro deck' - true. Those are in limited supply with base-blue, though.
In tighter rare cubes I think its mainly the 6 auto include lands that are boosting the count so high.
That's a valid point, but my list for my powered cube has 17 cards on it that I want to try to make room for in addition to those lands. I've been going back through the full spoiler this morning and I managed to find 9 cards that I think are interesting and could make medium to larger peasant cubes, but really only a couple that I think make the cut in my 360. I guess 2-3 cards is all I can ask for at 360, so maybe I'm being too hard on this set. I just wish we'd have gotten something that everyone was like "Holy crap! They printed that?" over and we didn't.
Anyway, here's my thoughts on the nine cards I found interesting. I think all of these would make the cut at 540 and most would make it at 450.
Rhox Veteran - Decent curve topper for aggressive decks. This may accidentally make the cut over Relief Captain, but I'm not convinced it's better. At 360 I don't think there's room for both.
Martyr's Soul - This is maybe decent if you support a tokens strategy and have room for him. I don't know how often you'll be able to get the counters without setting yourself back, though. Part of the beauty of convoke is being able to cast a couple things, then tap those summoning sick creatures to help cast something else.
Valiant Changeling - A 3/3 with double strike that should reasonably be castable by turn four in most aggro decks is pretty sweet. Most of the white aggressive creatures tend to have two creature types, so it's not reaching too far to think you might be able to curve Dragon Hunter into Adanto Vanguard into this on turn three. I'm thinking I'll look to cut a three or four drop to make room to test this guy. He gets my vote for the best non-snow card we got this set. It's the only one I actively want to make room for.
Watcher for Tomorrow - I think this card is interesting and probably worth a test in medium cubes since we've not really gotten Hideaway as a mechanic in peasant before. There are two aspects that make this card fall short compared to other Hideaway cards that normally see cube play, though. First, a creature entering the battlefield tapped is a much bigger drawback than a land. Second, this puts the card into your hand as opposed to casting it. So for all intents and purposes this is a vanilla 1U 2/1 that ETB's tapped and draws a card when it dies.
Gluttonous Slug - This guy is a decent aggro dork for black if you support it. It really needs to keep the evolve triggers happening to be worth it, though. I could see this over maybe Dauthi Horror or Thrill-Kill Assassin. Missing your three drop after playing this guy on two would probably feel pretty miserable, though.
Orcish Hellraiser - It's another two mana three power aggro guy for red. At first glance I thought the two damage on death made this better than the other commonly seen 1R 3/2 guys, but after having time to really dig through the set and look at other cards in my cube for potential cuts, I don't think that death trigger is so good that it warrants having an echo cost.
Treetop Ambusher - I would have snap included this in red. For green, though, I don't think I need something this aggressive. I might swap this in for Merfolk Branchwalker or maybe Nest Invader as a test. It's definitely a dork that want's the be in the red zone. I just don't know that green is the color that really wants those types of creatures.
Saddled Rimestag - A 4/4 attacking on turn three is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Again, though, is green that aggressive? Maybe I'll swap both of these in for the two cards I just mentioned. I wish this guy had vigilance or something. Untamed Kavu had both vigilance AND trample and that guy was in a standard set.
Soulherder - This may actually be the best non-snow card in the set. Unfortunately, it's fairly archetype specific. At 360 I'm only running three cards per guild and I'm not supporting blink as an archetype. For us the Azorius decks tend to be tempo or control and I think my current suite of Reflector Mage, Dovin, and Migratory Route better fit the needs of those types of decks. This would most definitely make the cut as my fourth Azorius card, though.
Some free time after set dropping = time to write a set preview! peasant-cube.blogspot.com
I always like writing these, they help me think a little longer on what I actually think about the new cards. ^^
Btw, how do people feel about the Signets vs Talismans discussion? I've seen a number of people on Twitter cutting their Signets for Talismans, which feel weird. It doesn't make sense to me to not play the available Talismans before if these have always been better (or to run the whole cycle, but that's a different discussion). Or are these SO much better that it would have upset the balance between guilds before?
Anyway, how about peasant? Anyway making the swap? If so, why?
Maybe some people consider signets to be a little too good and now they can run a complete cycle of something that's more reasonable but does roughly the same thing?
Signets *can* also get awkward when you need to cast multiple things - specifically, when you need to have mana available for instant speed stuff afterwards. I have experienced this many times in EDH.
Watcher for Tomorrow - I think this card is interesting and probably worth a test in medium cubes since we've not really gotten Hideaway as a mechanic in peasant before. There are two aspects that make this card fall short compared to other Hideaway cards that normally see cube play, though. First, a creature entering the battlefield tapped is a much bigger drawback than a land. Second, this puts the card into your hand as opposed to casting it. So for all intents and purposes this is a vanilla 1U 2/1 that ETB's tapped and draws a card when it dies.
When it dies or leaves the battlefield - important distinction for blink decks. However, I agree with the assessment. I like everything on the card except the word "tapped," and that kind of kills it for me. Digging four deep and getting the best is great. Reusing it over and over (like with Soulherder) is great. But ETB tapped is terrible. I want to like it, but I prefer Faerie Seer even if it doesn't dig as deep and doesn't put a card in hand simply due to cheaper mana cost, evasion, and ETB untapped.
VariSami and Funkdragon both mentioned Cunning Evasion, but I think it deserves more discussion. For two mana you never have to lose an attacking creature unless you want to. Your opponent has to weigh up the costs of taking a hit vs letting you recast your ETB value creature. You don't have to push a Blink archetype for this to be good, you just have to run strong ETB creatures. You can drop it on turn 2 if you have nothing to do, or just as likely drop it on turn 5 once you've developed your board and immediately get value.
It seems like one of those cards that makes optimizing combat a nightmare for your opponent in the same way that something like Maw of the Obzedat does.
The art is also cool and I suspect it'll make an awesome foil for those who care about these things
I think it's a sleeper candidate for best card in the set.
I think it's a lot of work and hope to get your opponent to decide to Unsummon your Mulldrifter (Reflector Mage, FTK, whatever) for you
Looks like it's great at turning a game that you're 75% favored to win into one where you're 95% favored, but does little or nothing when you're at 30-40% and need literally anything that has P/T, removes an opposing threat, or draws cards on its own.
finally time to sit down and spew some thoughts out.
ephemerate: i run cloudshift so this is a fairly easy switcheroo. i don't think i want redundancy for this effect but i think 1 mana blink spells are strong in general so if i have any other appealing cuts i could see running both.
martyr's soul: probably way too conditional and not a 5/4 often enough. but i want to like it.
rhox veteran: good combination of abilities and on a resilient creature. this should be really good at pushing damage through. white has a ton of good 4 drops already though.
valiant changeling: i went through and counted creatures types in white at three or less cmc and i have 16 different creature types. i feel like you are in pretty good shape to cast this t4 often. a 3/3 double striker is strong af. i think i like it.
vesperlark: my cube atm has 45 targets for this ability. not all of them are great, but some value on your 2/1 flier is acceptable obviously. not sure how i feel about this guy.
eyekite: seems easy enough to trigger, and you get a 3/2 flier out of it which is definitely strong. maybe just not as consistent as the 2/1 for 2 fliers we already have heaps of.
faerie seer: i'd rather pay 1 mana more for the 1/3 body.
moonblade shinobi: flying tokens are good, but this thing might need too much happening in its favour to be more than a 3/2. blue tempo decks are pretty good at keeping the board clear though.
oneirophage: this gets big pretty quickly, but i think the base body lets it down too much.
pondering mage: obviously i like ponder, but once you get to 5 mana it's not so amazing. the 3/4 body is quite good for blue though.
watcher for tomorrow: love it, don't think the etbt thing is a big deal at all. seems like a very good 2 drop.
winter's rest: claustrophobia for 2 mana, which is a great rate, but not sure about snow stuff yet. if i figure them out this makes it.
defile: quite strong removal, but we have better options i think.
feaster of fools: i like this a lot as i support tokens in black pretty heavily, and graveyard stuff as well. playing this as a 5 mana 5/5 seems pretty ok.
first-sphere gargantua: you get a ton of value out of this card. none of the individual elements of the card are amazing but you can probably draw two cards with this fairly easily, and it'll probably trade with something. seems fine, just 6 mana is a lot.
gluttonous slug: i love this boi. evolve is one of my favourite mechanics, and starting with zero power makes it super easy to grow. it's also an evasive and resilient threat late game.
sling-gang lieutenant: gives a goblin deck reach, and would be good if you support goblins as an archetype. i don't mind it as is since it's three bodies on one card.
undead augur: bb sucks, and i only run like 10 zombies. card seems strong if you go in on zombies though.
bogardan dragonheart: 4/4 flying haste for 3 if you have fodder lying around is awesome. a curve filler that could double as a finisher might be good but it does come at a cost.
goblin champion: honestly not sure how i feel about this card. exalted is definitely strong.
goblin oriflamme: do i need more anthems? maybe, and this one is cheap.
orcish hellraiser: solid 2 drop body, relevant death trigger, echo isn't expensive. does disrupt your curve but seems strong regardless.
ravenous giant: i mean it's huge but i think i prefer bloodfray giant over it. trample is a thing man.
throes of chaos: this just lets red aggro only draw gas. i don't hate it.
mother bear: bear with pretty nicely costed upside if it's binned. shame it doesn't have the full grizzly fate text though it is still pretty dece.
rime tender: depends on the snow stuff, but it's at least a ramping bear.
saddled rimestag: this thing is huge in green aggro. a 4/4 attacking on t3 is nuts.
treetop ambusher: another nice green aggro card but not sure if it's good enough to break into a tight section.
trumpeting herd: similar to crested herdcaller, except no trample, but cheaper and staggered. at the end of the day a 6/6 over two bodies for 4 mana is not bad at all.
abominable treefolk: if i sort out the snow situation i think this is probably the strongest simic card.
soulherder: great for the blink deck, and is a good win con in it. i dig.
icehide golem: snow again, but the best 1 drop in aggro bar none. sick.
cave of temptation: a good ability on a land which fixes any colour. seems good.
frostwalk bastion: snow again. this land looks really strong though. i love me some manlands.
Saddled Rimestag - A 4/4 attacking on turn three is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Again, though, is green that aggressive? Maybe I'll swap both of these in for the two cards I just mentioned. I wish this guy had vigilance or something. Untamed Kavu had both vigilance AND trample and that guy was in a standard set.
What I want to know is how a different 2-drop than the Reindeer ended up as the Dasher. There were infinite terrible puns in this set and they passed on that one..
Other thoughts: Gluttonous Slug
Sure, this seems good if you follow this up on turn three with an one and two drop in aggro, but any game in which you play a two drop followed by an one and two drop next turn is good in aggro. With the only difference that the slug is extremely bad if you can't do a follow-up compared to other two drops. Ravenous Giant
I think I like the trample on Bloodfray Giant more than the ability to block and the one extra toughness. Skizzik has been too solid to cut for Ravenous Giant as well. Alpine Guide
If I was breaking the peasant rule and playing (shock)duals this would be great but the fact that is has to attack I am not sure which decks wants this card. Throws of Chaos
Awesome card but perhaps the pinnacle of inconsistency. Trumpeting Herd
I like this but I am not sure I like it more than any of my current green cards. Any suggestions?
I realize I forgot to even mention a few cards like Soulherder which I think I might use in place of Reflector Mage. However, looking at the pre-prerelease, Quakefoot Cyclops also caught my eye. Opinions on it? Both versions are pretty solid, even if its ETB does little unless you have means to attack that turn. Given how many Haste enablers there are, though, there is a decent chance even the cyclops itself will get to attack. The cycling makes it so much better than the other similar card we had, I'd say.
Edit: The card I had in mind is Seismic Elemental. It is a bit like a better combination of the good sides of that and Glarewielder, even if the card has no native haste.
I might end up testing him, but I dunno.. we'll see... I could see it being sweet by playing Alpine Guide and next turn before combat playing Rite of the Raging Storm... we'll see
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Yeah, but I'm not a fan of making a house rule in order for a card to be playable in my cube. I'm also not a fan of spending a ton of money on snow basics (or really just snow basics in general) in order to make a few cards (is it even that many?) cubeable.
So, excluding snow, the big changeling looks to be what we got. Kind of a bummer, honestly.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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As always, I rank based on my personal preference to Cube, meaning I value interesting over solid.
20) Gluttonous Slug- I think of Slug similarly to a suspense creature. Pay 2 mana early and hopefully have a 2/5 menace 2 or 3 turns later. The upside is Slug growing to 3+ power and the downside is being an awful topdeck.
19) Martyr's Soul- There's no likely scenario to have a 5/4 on turn 3, but cost reduction mechanics are good even in the midgame and 5/4 is a relevant body all game long.
18) Everdream and 17) Splicer's Skill- Both cards with low basements (Dream more than Skill) but lots of upside if drawn late and spliced onto other spells. A extra bonus for having more free spells in your Cube.
16) Magmatic Sinkhole- Worse than Murderous Cut, but Murderous Cut is really good. Cool that it hits Planeswalkers now that we have access to them.
15) Ravenous Giant- I agree with this over Bloodfray Giant, but I did cut that a while ago too.
14) Faerie Seer and 13) Watcher for Tomorrow- I like both of these over mid-tier card draw spells but I do not think any of my card draw spells qualify as mid-tier. Great way to add creatures to blue if so desired.
12) Goblin Champion- Another hasty red 1-drop with upside. I could see this making it in based on how well the exalted feels in the vanilla draft format.
11) Valiant Changeling- I just think way too much has to go your way (right two creatures, opponent has no early removal) for this to make it on the battlefield before turn 4. That said, casting this for 3 on turn 6 still matters and the body is really solid.
10) Soulherder- Getting this with *any* ETB creature is pretty, pretty good. I think the downside is pretty severe since it is really bad if stranded by itself.
Solid and More Cubable
9) Treetop Ambusher- Attacks on its own as a 3/2 with two solid upsides (dash and spreading the +1/+1 bonus) and one reasonable downside (blocks as a 2/1). Worth trying for greeen aggro decks.
8) Orcish Hellraiser- I am cautiously optimistic about this creature. The downside is very real, but so are the upsides. I think this being a guaranteed two damage gives a lot of upside as a topdeck, where most red 2-drops flounder.
7) Ephemerate- I have no temporary stealing effects, so this has major upside over Cloudshift and the potential to go crazy in the right situation.
6) Saddled Rimestag- My sleeper pick for this set. This reasonably attacks for 4 on turn 3 and probably hits for 4 a few more times after that. Feels like an Exert card in that sense, where being a 4/4 is so good early that you can live with it working just every other turn. Also, 4/4s matter all game long.
The Snow Cards- I have always played with snow mana and grabbed more than enough Coldsnap basics when I started my Cube 10 years ago, so I have no dilemma with slamming all of these cards in my Cube. Honestly, I have been waiting for this moment for SO long, just to have more powerful options to play with and to show off my Snow basics.
5) Arcum's Astrolabe- I am inclined to believe a 1-mana Prophetic Prism is better than our lower- and mid-tier five-color fixing options and will be happy to run.
4) Winter's Rest- Immediately outclasses all of the other 2-mana tapping enchantments in blue. Becomes blue's best spot removal immediately.
3) Frostwalk Bastion- A very solid option for any deck than can afford the colorless-producing land. Heck, count it as a spell slot for your control decks and you will be very happy.
2) Abominable Treefolk- Effortlessly massive, has trample, and locks a creature down immediately. A top 3 Simic option if you can support it.
1) Icehide Golem- "Easily the best," as _i0 said. Immediately becomes the best 1-drop in Cube (maybe behind Mom) and fits in every aggro deck. A massive, rim-rattling slam dunk #1 pick.
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/peasantsnowcube
-- Updated with Outlaws of Thunder Junction
The PioneWer Peasant CUbe
https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/pionewer
-- Updated with Murders at Karlov Manor
Faerie Seer - Probably replacing Omenspeaker
Sling-Gang Lieutenant - Possibly replacing Marsh Flitter
Scale Up - Replacing Blessings of Nature
Good-Fortune Unicorn - Replacing either Dryad Militant or Juniper Order Ranger
Soulherder - Replacing Deputy of Acquittals
Honorable Mention:
Crypt Rats (replacing Crypt Rats)
Soulherder is better than I initially thought as it triggers on the end step. It also supports both blink and +1/+1 counters.
There are a handful of other cards that Interest me, but I'm not sure yet if I'll test any of them.
Battle Screech
Ephemerate
Moonblade Shinobi
Goblin Oriflamme
Cave of Temptation
Generous Gift
Recruit the Worthy
Cunning Evasion
Watcher for Tomorrow
Bogardan Dragonheart
Winding Way
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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In tighter rare cubes I think its mainly the 6 auto include lands that are boosting the count so high.
Watcher for Tomorrow - Goes into the vast majority of blue decks. Hard to go wrong with it.
Saddled Rimestag - 2 mana 4/4 is nuts. 2 mana 2/2 is passable enough for a worst case scenario.
Treetop Ambusher - 3/2 attacker for 2 with multiple upsides. Green 2s getting even more crowded.
Soulherder - Exciting UW card with high synergy, fairly high floor and great art.
Ephemerate - Large upgrade to a playable card with high synergy.
Boring but probably good
Rhox Veteran - Killing this guy in combat is actively difficult, which is really nice with battle cry.
Gluttonous Slug - 2 mana 2/5 menace is just so many stats, and that's not difficult to get.
Testing
Scale Up - Kills from nowhere with a number of cards. Decent fair overrun outside of that.
Valiant Changeling - Don't think I have the creature type variety in white to support this being better than a 4 mana 3/3 with downside.
Considering
Alpine Guide - Super interesting effect. Probably bad, but curving into a 5 is big game.
Faerie Seer - I hate the art enough and like Augury Owls art enough that I'm not going to swap them. I'm also going to make the claim that scry 3 feels way better that scry 2, regardless of actual gameplay power.
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All of the snow matters cards are just not very interesting. Abominable Treefolk is the only base card effect that I actively would want, but snow ruins it for me; I actually designed this exact effect except it was on a 4/3 or 4/4. Because of the snow it's just ridiculous; even on 4 lands it's a 4 mana 5/5 trample at BASE with a large upside on top of that.
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There's some okay C/U cards in this set, but none of them I would consider remotely pushed (ignoring the snow stuff and maybe Saddled Rimestag). It seems like all the numbers were lowered as far as they could be while still being playable. None of the designs were particularly exciting either, just mostly keyword stapling (with the exception of Soulherder and Scale Up).
After thinking about everything for a bit, it seems like the 2/2 for 1 kinda devalues Savannah Lions and company. That doesn’t seem fun.
Does making all lands in cube snow, circumventing the design of snow stuff mess things up? I’m beginning to think so.
Don't worry about Savannah Lions, every deck that wants a 2/1 for 1 wants about a half dozen of them -- extra mass of that effect actually makes Lions and friends BETTER.
It's different than the MH1 limited environment, but... I'm sure as heck not going to make anyone spend actual draft picks on basic lands in order to enable like 4-5 cube cards.
Unlike Cloudfin Raptor or Pteramander which both are likely to achieve reasonable bodies, all the Farerie will ammount to is Flying Men. Omen Speaker might cost more, and a 1/3 isn't anything to write home about but it does a decent enough job holding the ground.
This dies in literally all combat scenarios, and often won't even trade. As far as average floors for cards go, "U: Scry 2, then fog a creature" is not where I want to be at.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Oh, and if the argument is going to be 'but you would still be better off with an early drop that does more things itself in an aggro deck' - true. Those are in limited supply with base-blue, though.
That's a valid point, but my list for my powered cube has 17 cards on it that I want to try to make room for in addition to those lands. I've been going back through the full spoiler this morning and I managed to find 9 cards that I think are interesting and could make medium to larger peasant cubes, but really only a couple that I think make the cut in my 360. I guess 2-3 cards is all I can ask for at 360, so maybe I'm being too hard on this set. I just wish we'd have gotten something that everyone was like "Holy crap! They printed that?" over and we didn't.
Anyway, here's my thoughts on the nine cards I found interesting. I think all of these would make the cut at 540 and most would make it at 450.
Rhox Veteran - Decent curve topper for aggressive decks. This may accidentally make the cut over Relief Captain, but I'm not convinced it's better. At 360 I don't think there's room for both.
Martyr's Soul - This is maybe decent if you support a tokens strategy and have room for him. I don't know how often you'll be able to get the counters without setting yourself back, though. Part of the beauty of convoke is being able to cast a couple things, then tap those summoning sick creatures to help cast something else.
Valiant Changeling - A 3/3 with double strike that should reasonably be castable by turn four in most aggro decks is pretty sweet. Most of the white aggressive creatures tend to have two creature types, so it's not reaching too far to think you might be able to curve Dragon Hunter into Adanto Vanguard into this on turn three. I'm thinking I'll look to cut a three or four drop to make room to test this guy. He gets my vote for the best non-snow card we got this set. It's the only one I actively want to make room for.
Watcher for Tomorrow - I think this card is interesting and probably worth a test in medium cubes since we've not really gotten Hideaway as a mechanic in peasant before. There are two aspects that make this card fall short compared to other Hideaway cards that normally see cube play, though. First, a creature entering the battlefield tapped is a much bigger drawback than a land. Second, this puts the card into your hand as opposed to casting it. So for all intents and purposes this is a vanilla 1U 2/1 that ETB's tapped and draws a card when it dies.
Gluttonous Slug - This guy is a decent aggro dork for black if you support it. It really needs to keep the evolve triggers happening to be worth it, though. I could see this over maybe Dauthi Horror or Thrill-Kill Assassin. Missing your three drop after playing this guy on two would probably feel pretty miserable, though.
Orcish Hellraiser - It's another two mana three power aggro guy for red. At first glance I thought the two damage on death made this better than the other commonly seen 1R 3/2 guys, but after having time to really dig through the set and look at other cards in my cube for potential cuts, I don't think that death trigger is so good that it warrants having an echo cost.
Treetop Ambusher - I would have snap included this in red. For green, though, I don't think I need something this aggressive. I might swap this in for Merfolk Branchwalker or maybe Nest Invader as a test. It's definitely a dork that want's the be in the red zone. I just don't know that green is the color that really wants those types of creatures.
Saddled Rimestag - A 4/4 attacking on turn three is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Again, though, is green that aggressive? Maybe I'll swap both of these in for the two cards I just mentioned. I wish this guy had vigilance or something. Untamed Kavu had both vigilance AND trample and that guy was in a standard set.
Soulherder - This may actually be the best non-snow card in the set. Unfortunately, it's fairly archetype specific. At 360 I'm only running three cards per guild and I'm not supporting blink as an archetype. For us the Azorius decks tend to be tempo or control and I think my current suite of Reflector Mage, Dovin, and Migratory Route better fit the needs of those types of decks. This would most definitely make the cut as my fourth Azorius card, though.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I always like writing these, they help me think a little longer on what I actually think about the new cards. ^^
Anyway tl;dr:
Top cards
Best archetype card - Soulherder
Surprise of the set - Oneirophage
'Best art' - Generous Gift
Best cards in the set:
3 - Treetop Ambusher
2 - Alpine Guide
1 - Talismans
0 - Icehide Golem (the actual best card in the set)
--
Btw, how do people feel about the Signets vs Talismans discussion? I've seen a number of people on Twitter cutting their Signets for Talismans, which feel weird. It doesn't make sense to me to not play the available Talismans before if these have always been better (or to run the whole cycle, but that's a different discussion). Or are these SO much better that it would have upset the balance between guilds before?
Anyway, how about peasant? Anyway making the swap? If so, why?
My Cubes:
Peasant Travel Cube on CubeCobra (180 cards, modern frames) (mtgsalvation thread can be found here)
I had a blog for a while @ peasant-cube.blogspot.com where I may or may not post again, lol
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
CubeTutor Link
It seems like one of those cards that makes optimizing combat a nightmare for your opponent in the same way that something like Maw of the Obzedat does.
The art is also cool and I suspect it'll make an awesome foil for those who care about these things
I think it's a sleeper candidate for best card in the set.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Looks like it's great at turning a game that you're 75% favored to win into one where you're 95% favored, but does little or nothing when you're at 30-40% and need literally anything that has P/T, removes an opposing threat, or draws cards on its own.
ephemerate: i run cloudshift so this is a fairly easy switcheroo. i don't think i want redundancy for this effect but i think 1 mana blink spells are strong in general so if i have any other appealing cuts i could see running both.
martyr's soul: probably way too conditional and not a 5/4 often enough. but i want to like it.
rhox veteran: good combination of abilities and on a resilient creature. this should be really good at pushing damage through. white has a ton of good 4 drops already though.
valiant changeling: i went through and counted creatures types in white at three or less cmc and i have 16 different creature types. i feel like you are in pretty good shape to cast this t4 often. a 3/3 double striker is strong af. i think i like it.
vesperlark: my cube atm has 45 targets for this ability. not all of them are great, but some value on your 2/1 flier is acceptable obviously. not sure how i feel about this guy.
eyekite: seems easy enough to trigger, and you get a 3/2 flier out of it which is definitely strong. maybe just not as consistent as the 2/1 for 2 fliers we already have heaps of.
faerie seer: i'd rather pay 1 mana more for the 1/3 body.
moonblade shinobi: flying tokens are good, but this thing might need too much happening in its favour to be more than a 3/2. blue tempo decks are pretty good at keeping the board clear though.
oneirophage: this gets big pretty quickly, but i think the base body lets it down too much.
pondering mage: obviously i like ponder, but once you get to 5 mana it's not so amazing. the 3/4 body is quite good for blue though.
watcher for tomorrow: love it, don't think the etbt thing is a big deal at all. seems like a very good 2 drop.
winter's rest: claustrophobia for 2 mana, which is a great rate, but not sure about snow stuff yet. if i figure them out this makes it.
defile: quite strong removal, but we have better options i think.
feaster of fools: i like this a lot as i support tokens in black pretty heavily, and graveyard stuff as well. playing this as a 5 mana 5/5 seems pretty ok.
first-sphere gargantua: you get a ton of value out of this card. none of the individual elements of the card are amazing but you can probably draw two cards with this fairly easily, and it'll probably trade with something. seems fine, just 6 mana is a lot.
gluttonous slug: i love this boi. evolve is one of my favourite mechanics, and starting with zero power makes it super easy to grow. it's also an evasive and resilient threat late game.
sling-gang lieutenant: gives a goblin deck reach, and would be good if you support goblins as an archetype. i don't mind it as is since it's three bodies on one card.
undead augur: bb sucks, and i only run like 10 zombies. card seems strong if you go in on zombies though.
bogardan dragonheart: 4/4 flying haste for 3 if you have fodder lying around is awesome. a curve filler that could double as a finisher might be good but it does come at a cost.
goblin champion: honestly not sure how i feel about this card. exalted is definitely strong.
goblin oriflamme: do i need more anthems? maybe, and this one is cheap.
orcish hellraiser: solid 2 drop body, relevant death trigger, echo isn't expensive. does disrupt your curve but seems strong regardless.
ravenous giant: i mean it's huge but i think i prefer bloodfray giant over it. trample is a thing man.
throes of chaos: this just lets red aggro only draw gas. i don't hate it.
mother bear: bear with pretty nicely costed upside if it's binned. shame it doesn't have the full grizzly fate text though it is still pretty dece.
rime tender: depends on the snow stuff, but it's at least a ramping bear.
saddled rimestag: this thing is huge in green aggro. a 4/4 attacking on t3 is nuts.
treetop ambusher: another nice green aggro card but not sure if it's good enough to break into a tight section.
trumpeting herd: similar to crested herdcaller, except no trample, but cheaper and staggered. at the end of the day a 6/6 over two bodies for 4 mana is not bad at all.
abominable treefolk: if i sort out the snow situation i think this is probably the strongest simic card.
soulherder: great for the blink deck, and is a good win con in it. i dig.
icehide golem: snow again, but the best 1 drop in aggro bar none. sick.
cave of temptation: a good ability on a land which fixes any colour. seems good.
frostwalk bastion: snow again. this land looks really strong though. i love me some manlands.
so many cards. again, a ton to mull over.
What I want to know is how a different 2-drop than the Reindeer ended up as the Dasher. There were infinite terrible puns in this set and they passed on that one..
Except for this guy
Grateful Apparition > Valiant Changeling
I Like the changeling. A 3/3 double striker for 4 is ok enough for me to try this.
Pianna, Nomad Captain > Rhox Veteran
The rhino seems more resilient than Pianna.
Gust Walker > Ephemerate
I don't think Cloudshift is good enough even in a blink deck but this blinks twice.
Stitched Mangler > Faerie Seer
Seems solid in blue tempo/aggro.
Supreme Will > Watcher for Tomorrow
Watcher seems like an ok card but coming into play tapped could turn out to be too big of a drawback.
Plaguecrafter > First-Sphere Gargantua
Gargantua is nice card advantage on a big stick.
Smoldering Werewolf > Goblin Oriflamme
For the red aggro and token swarm decks.
Merfolk Branchwalker > Treetop Ambusher
Green can be an aggro color in my cube so this seesm like an easy swap.
Longtusk Cub > Saddled Rimestag
See above.
Adventurous Impulse > Mother Bear
I love this bear.
Enlisted Wurm > Good-fortune Unicorn
In my experience Juniper Order Ranger is usually too slow. The Unicorn doesn't have that problem but it might turn out to be too fragile.
Migratory Route/Reflector Mage > Soulherder
Not sure which to cut. Mage is probably the stronger card but also the most generic.
Other thoughts:
Gluttonous Slug
Sure, this seems good if you follow this up on turn three with an one and two drop in aggro, but any game in which you play a two drop followed by an one and two drop next turn is good in aggro. With the only difference that the slug is extremely bad if you can't do a follow-up compared to other two drops.
Ravenous Giant
I think I like the trample on Bloodfray Giant more than the ability to block and the one extra toughness. Skizzik has been too solid to cut for Ravenous Giant as well.
Alpine Guide
If I was breaking the peasant rule and playing (shock)duals this would be great but the fact that is has to attack I am not sure which decks wants this card.
Throws of Chaos
Awesome card but perhaps the pinnacle of inconsistency.
Trumpeting Herd
I like this but I am not sure I like it more than any of my current green cards. Any suggestions?
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Edit: The card I had in mind is Seismic Elemental. It is a bit like a better combination of the good sides of that and Glarewielder, even if the card has no native haste.
I might end up testing him, but I dunno.. we'll see... I could see it being sweet by playing Alpine Guide and next turn before combat playing Rite of the Raging Storm... we'll see