I'm definitely testing Araumi of the Dead Tide, but I'm a bit hesitant about expensive sorcery speed tap abilities on defensive bodies in general. The quality of targets also varies wildly depending on whether you're the aggressor or defender, so it's hard to say how good they are. (Also curves into Tormod, the Desecrator and can make a zombie, then later activate + encore makes 2 tokens)
Stitcher gets you any fattie not in your colors, she doesn't matter the cmc. It's only one shot, but can bring back a Plated Crusher. She also filters your deck to fill the graveyard.
I'm really liking Araumi of the Dead Tide; dimir has always been the dominant colours for reanimator in my cube, but their gold cards are seriously lacking in that department. Both blue and black have plenty of creatures with ETB/dies triggers so she shouldn't be to difficult to get value from. She kinda reminds me a bit of Sedris, the Traitor King.
Honestly this whole cycle of uncommon gold legendries has been my favourite part of the set so far, I'm considering trying out at least half of them.
Kangee, Sky Warden is this better than our current flying lords? It's definitely strong if you have a way to make sure it lives a turn, but at 5 mana you don't have a lot of options for that protection.
Araumi of the Dead Tide I like a lot. Not only can it function as the aforementioned Dimir midrange valuefest, but I can imagine it doing okay in faster Dimir with a lot of Shadow creatures, giving you a way to push through damage.
Kangee, Sky Warden seems great for UW flying archetype. A flying vigilance 5/3 on offense and 3/5 on defense seems like a decent floor. Snap include for me!
Thalisse, Reverent Medium seems interesting, but would probably be better at a lower cmc. Not a great top deck, which I think ia unfortunate for an expensive guild card.
Prava of the Steel Legion seems good to me. Regarding 4 mana to create a token beeing bad, I think having the tokens beeing 2/5 on offense help offset this. I also prefer the 1/4 body on an anthem effect over the 2/1 body of Jade Mage. Not sure if I will include cards with Partner, as I try to minimize the unneccessary rules text/complexity.
Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty has a nice effect, but 3/1 is terrible for a 5 mana creature and it's not like you cast 6+ mana spells every turn, not even in Simic. If it was a 3/4 or at least a 2/4 I'd consider it.
Araumi of the Dead Tide is a nice value card, but nothing I'm looking for in Dimir. For a reanimator combo deck the effect is useless as it's too expensive.
Reyav, Master Smith is a great signpost for the Boros equipment/pants deck and I have room in Boros, so I'll definitely try it.
Kangee, Sky Warden is great, the best skies lord we have so far imo. Will most likely include it, but it's hard to find a cut in Azorius.
Annoyed Altisaur] is a wonderful common to consider. Good body, two relevant keywords to attack and defend, and then Cascade to get even more value.
The "bad" thing, this only is a payoff for ramp decks, not so good to reanimate because Cascade in on cast, not an ETB ability.
Other considerations: you may cascade into a mana dork, or a ramp spell, so you don't get all the possible value. Your good payoffs probably cost seven mana (at six I only run Hooting Mandrills and Great Oak Guardian) but at least, you did something and removed from the deck a not so usefull spell at that point of the game. If you cascade into a mana dork could be nice to dodge edicts But if you cascade into a Ridgescale Tusker, Arborback Stomper, Acidic Slime or Charging Monstrosaur... Oh, boy.
I really like this guy, but it has a tougher competition in green at seven mana.
This set does bring a lot of extended art versions of C/Ube staples. I can see Acidic Slime, Abrade, Mulldrifter, Fact or Fiction, Boros Charm, Fyndorn Elves, Kodoma's Reach, Victimize, Preordain and Terramorphic Expanse.
Edit: Annoyed Altisaur reminds me of Enlisted Wurm which I loved when it was still reasonable. Too bad I like my current 6+ green drops more.
Feast of Succession seems like it could be a solid closer for black control decks.
What do people think of the monarch mechanic (?), I've avoided it so far as it's not explained on the card. A proper sweeper is something I've been looking for outside of red, so this might change my mind.
Feast of Succession seems like it could be a solid closer for black control decks.
What do people think of the monarch mechanic (?), I've avoided it so far as it's not explained on the card. A proper sweeper is something I've been looking for outside of red, so this might change my mind.
I'm not a huge fan of it on more midrange cards that you can just splash into anything, but I think I might like this one. It's a real sweeper and if it goes off properly it can close off the game with CA, seems like a really solid 6 drop.
I don't like monarch as a mechanic, but I agree that Feast of Succession is a very good card. Only 16 creatures in my cube would survive this (not counting growing creatures, so it's probably more like 20) and if the board gets wiped it's pretty much guaranteed that you draw two cards (three cards total) before your opponent can hope to become the monarch. Which should be enough to keep the board control and after a few turns you should win the game due to overhwelming card advantage. Very tempting, I'd add it immediately if I wouldn't dislike the weird monarch ability that isn't explained on the card at all.
EDIT: Don't think haste or manlands are much of a problem. I have about 7 creatures with haste in my cube and all of them go into aggro decks. How likely is it that your opponent has one of these in his hand after you cast a 6 mana spell with a control deck? Happens in 1 out of 100 games, and then it's something to laugh about. Manlands are good in control decks and you can see them before you play the spell. And of course there are only four of them in my cube, so it's not like you see them often anyway.
Annoyed Altisaur is fine, but it's so generic there's not really a reason to play it over the other green 6-7 drops that fill a niche.
Feast of Succession being incredibly bad against manlands and haste creatures while discouraging you playing creatures that can get a hit in makes me hesitant. I find monarch plays decently as long as you can reasonably take it back if you lose it, but I don't think most decks playing this will be able to do that.
Daring Saboteur is a pretty unimpressive downshift. Outside of pirate synergies I don't really think any deck is particularly happy to play it.
Impulsive Goblin is kind of novel. It does a bunch of things not particularly well, but it is 2 bodies and 2 treasures for red sac synergy for a fairly low cost on a versatile body.
21 creatures don't die to Feast of Succession in my cube, 18 of which can actually attack (not walls). Over half of those are green.
16 cards have haste.
3 manlands.
246 creatures, 16% of which are any good in the face of that card. I'll slam that in any non-aggro black deck happily. Playing with wraths in your hand feels unfair, like you get to decide when the game ends and you're in control. You don't have to be some creatureless control deck to profit from it, just having the option to wrath means you can never truly fall behind.
Full spoiler and finally time to consider these? Let's see now...
Likely Inclusion: Prava of the Steel Legion: Me like tokens. Armix, Filigree Thrasher: It does not require much investment to start paying dividends. Just one more artifact and you're turning cards to Disfigure. Even the -1/-1 from Armix itself makes sure it is never useless. Tormod, the Desecrator: It would not take much to make him work wonders and the base stats are passable, especially after even one activation. Coastline Marauders: Quickly gets big in most games and hardly ever behind the curve. Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith: Those rocks are pretty nice. Adds extra synergies, too. Halana, Kessing Ranger: Still very solid way of getting value. Reyav, Master Smith: Does a lot of things that I want.
Considering: Benevolent Blessing: Basically instant speed protection that sticks. Fall from Favor: Personally, I like Monarch in limited numbers. Especially when it is tagged on removal. Feast of Succession: It is expensive but also does a proper Languish and Monarch is worth some extra. Breeches, Brazen Plunderer: Not bad base stats and decent upside. Frenzied Saddlebrute: Late game big haste but also hastes the whole team going forward. Volcanic Torrent: This is actually not bad at all. Cascade does some heavy lifting, sure, but it is also asymmetric and gets crazy with just one more spell. Shimmer Myr: Just a 2/2 colourless with flash is not terrible already. Staunch Throneguard: Decent way to also keep Monarch and colourless. Guildless Commons: Could be fun; I like bouncelands even if I do not run them.
Interesting: Alharu, Solemn Ritualist: A bit to expensive bit overall solid card that has several synergies. Ardenn, Intrepid Archaelogist: Could be interesting as a support card for combo of sorts but not strong enough on his own. Kangee's Lietenant: I do not think I have enough of a skies archetype for this but otherwise great. Kinsbaile Courier: Decent price on the Encore to make it worth *some* consideration. Slaughter the Strong: It's a sort of Wrath variant; not not one that really does its job that well. Daring Saboteur: It's not a great card but it's an earnt downshift and still pretty solid. Ghost of Ramirez dePietro: It's an interesting effect but has bad evasion to back it. Kitesail Skirmisher: Pretty solid package, just not quite good enough with all its competition. Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator: A steady stream of treasure is good but overall still on the unimpressive side. Merchant Raiders: Not easy to evaluate but blue is stacked and I do not exactly have a pirate archetype. Siani, Eye of the Storm: Overall decent; just too much competition. Nadiel, Agent of the Duskenel: Too expensive and niche but fun. Alena, Kessig Trapper: Still fun. Boarding Party: Actually, not terrible for a high end red creature. Fathom Fleet Swordjack: Decently efficient with two artifacts around it. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh: I'd rather play this guy than any other colourless 0-drop creature. Araumi, the Dead Tide: Not what I want from Dimir, necessarily, but pretty solid. Thalisse, Reverent Medium: Too parasitic but a nice effect. Tuya Bearclaw: Very strong; just hard to push something from Gruul.
Maybe I'm undervaluing the wrath on Feast of Succession itself, but betting on your opponent to not have even 10% of the cube by t6+ doesn't feel like good odds to me. Obviously this isn't the full story (holding up removal, using x/5s yourself, haste creatures played beforehand, death triggers, flash, etc.), but if a average deck has 2 ways to get the monarch immediately, they are 55% to have drawn 1 by t6.
//////
Great set: encore, monarch, and cascade are all mechanics we can use and the power level is pushed because it's commander. Lots of archetype cards that may show up down the line once they get more support. Bad set for Iwamori of the Open Fist though.
Confident they're good: Coastline Marauders - Big numbers + trample + recursion Gilt-Leaf Winnower - 5 mana conditional Nekrataals are pretty fair and good Halana, Kessig Ranger - Value engine on a reasonable body Volcanic Torrent - Encourages big red. Might honestly be unfair with any prior spells
Testing, probably good: Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith - Good combination of interesting and powerful Boarding Party - Has basically no competition and red is a great cascade colour Araumi of the Dead Tide - I have no idea what deck wants this, but the text is good Tuya Bearclaw - Big numbers is a solid GR archetype, though missing trample isn't great Staunch Throneguard - Mainly interested for slot efficiency, but monarch is powerful enough to justify unimpressive stats
Good day, all! I basically only show up to make my traditional Way Too Early Top 20 cards for Commander Legends. This set is so jam-packed with interesting cards that I even found room for 5 more besides the top 20. There are obviously tons of interesting and powerful cards for our CUbes, but it is a tad disappointing that we got so few interesting cards under 3-mana. Would have been nice if the overall power of the set leaked down to 1 and 2 CMC as well. First, some broad thoughts on the set.
Cascade- A very swingy ability, especially on more expensive cards with a wider range of outcomes. In this set, it felt like all the cascade cards are just less powerful than the base card on several existing creatures.
Monarch- An easy way to run away with the game, but is another very swingy ability. The best Monarch cards are those that either make it harder to lose the Monarchy or easy to win it back. As they say, it's good to be king.
Expensive Spells- It has become easier and easier to find powerful spells at 6+ mana in CUbe. The job of a good Peasant Cube manager is to figure out how much of that power to make available before the ramp and control decks start overpowering the aggro decks. A few cards in this set really push those boundaries in Peasant.
Now, onto the rankings.
25-20: Solid Cards
25) Frenzied Saddlebrute- Good stats and a good ability, but that only makes this the ~5th best red 5-drop, and there's no room for that.
24) Kinsbaile Courier- An okay creature that can get one last lick in. Reasonable in +1/+1 counter heavy CUBes.
23) Slaughter the Strong- A spell that requires that right accompanying board presence to be great. That makes it feel like a white Infest or Barter in Blood, but in a color that does not want the effect.
22) Araumi of the Dead Tide- Decent value engine, but it is not this hard to make Skinrender and Cloudkin Seer good.
21) Breeches, Brazen Plunderer- A little too much needs to go right to generate card advantage from this. Bonus if you have lots of red Pirates.
20) Benevolent Blessing- An overpriced combat trick that could sometimes win the game. I might have this 10 spots too low.
19-13: Cards That Need Some Support
19) Ghost of Ramirez DePietro- I like the evasion ability and the possible card advantage, just needs to be paired with constant self-mill or looting.
18) Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty- I think this offers just a bit too little from the initial body and an inconsistent upside with 6+ CMC spells. Great if you push ramp a lot.
17) Thalisse, Reverent Medium- A lot of time and effort to set up, but has a ton of upside with commonly played white and black token makers.
16) Tormod, the Desecrator- Similar to Thalisse, but with a little less set up, and a few decent engines in black to pair with it (Phyrexian Reclamation, Dredge cards).
15) Armix, Filigree Thrasher- Not too difficult to throw around free Disfigure, but requires attack triggers and the body itself is a little fragile.
14) Dargo, the Shipwrecker- Not a card I can support at all right now, but makes me more interested in having a sacrifice archetype in Rakdos.
13) Alharu, Solemn Ritualist- Has a decent effect on its own, but would really shine with extra +1/+1 counter support. Surprisingly similar to Elite Scaleguard, another good option for that +1/+1 archetype.
12-6: Cards That Might Support Themselves
12) Kangee, Sky Warden- A card that attacks and blocks pretty solidly on its own and packs a huge wallop with even 1 other flier. That said, it is difficult to be too excited for a multicolored 5-drop that has no impact the turn it hits the battlefield
11) Tuya Bearclaw- The floor is pretty low for a card that could sometimes be a multicolored Hungry Spriggan. Plays great with big creatures, but hard to justify cutting one of those big creatures from a packed Gruul section. That said, the upside is huge (attacking for 7 on turn 4!) and it doubles up all your pump, auras, and equipment. Will certainly try it out to support the Gruul Pump archetype.
10) Merchant Raiders and 9) Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator- Two cards that are pretty close on their own (Raiders feel very similar to Mist Raven, in my opinion) and have the additional Pirate upside. It would be nice to add them together, as I have also added a few other cheap Blue pirates lately.
8) Prava of the Steel Legion- Like some others, I am replacing Intangible Virtue with this. I think the bonus of +1/+4 on your turn is better than +1/+1 and vigilance. Easier to destroy than the enchantment, but the token making ability might give it some extra play in controlling Azorius decks.
7) Halana, Kessig Ranger- Does require you to untap and play another creature before you get more than just an okay 4-drop. Obviously not too hard to play another creature, but some set up required. Also a little awkward in ramp decks, where the mana elves usually cannot kill anything else and the ramp targets are too expensive to also activate the ability.
6) Crimson Fleet Commodore- A 5/2 trample for 3R that also draws a card? Seems great. Obviously the Monarchy has potential downside, but I trust my red aggro decks to deal combat damage and it helps to have a 5-power trampler to steal back the Monarchy if needed.
5-1: Great Cards
5) Fall from Favor- A cheaper removal spell that has card advantage upside. Blue keeping the crown may be difficult, but it certainly helps that you lock down their best creature. It is also nice that your opponent needs to keep the Monarchy for an entire turn cycle to even untap their creature, meaning that creature cannot even defend against you stealing the crown back.
4) Gilt-Leaf Winnower- A very respectable body attached to a kill spell that hits ~40% of creatures by a rough estimate of my CUbe. Decent enough floor with a high ceiling. Feel like I might be close to having enough black creatures that also kill an opposing creature.
3) Feast of Succession- Almost exactly what I want from a 6-mana control spell. Game winning against aggro, but not 100% of the time. Relevant but not back-braking against mid-range and ramp. Even could be a decent card advantage engine in control matchups. Could be the foundation of black control decks. Sky-high ceiling, but enough holes in the floor plan to feel balanced.
2) Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith- Amazing reach for aggro red decks and good board control for ramp-based Gruul decks. Turning a land drop into a Shock is such great upside, even if the damage dealing is a little clunky. Extra Rocks laying around make creatures relevant into the late game and tilts combat in your favor. Excellent creature.
1) Coastline Marauders- Pure aggro goodness. Does not block well, but who cares when your 3-drop is a 5-power trampler that requires little set up. The Encore ability is such an awesome way to help finish a long game. Exactly the kind of card that helps aggro beat cards like Feast of Succession. A hasty, 6-power trampler that steals the crown back and does not even cost you a card? Solid #1 pick for me.
Oh, man, I didn't even notice that Slaughter the Strong was downgraded until people started talking about considering it. As a card I've actually played in Commander, I can say it has both arguments for and against. Like any wrath, you have to play it when it does more damage to your opponent than you. Unlike most other wraths, it gives your opponent a choice. It does punish the +1/+1 counter, big stompy, and token swarm archetypes rather well; any creature with 5+ power automatically dies, and they can either keep one 4 power or a couple smaller creatures, but they get the choice, rather than you, so they will pick whatever hurts them the least. It also can make them decide between their mana dorks or the one guy they ramped into with said mana dorks. However, at three mana, you can often play this and then follow it up with either another threat or a piece of spot removal to really swing things in your favor. This is not a "cast it and win" card - it very much will test the skill of the person playing it to wait for the opportune moment, perhaps allowing you to clear just enough of a path to punch through for lethal. So, low floor, high ceiling. But also a rather unique effect in our environment. I too am considering it but don't know if it'll stay or not. I will say in Commander it is usually fairly effective at wiping people's boards, but those boards tend to be higher power than ours.
Feast of Succession is also getting a bit of talk, but honestly, I like it less. I prefer my wraths to be less than six mana, especially if they aren't unconditional or one-sided. If this were Languish, I would run it in a heartbeat, but two extra mana is a lot to ask. There will be games where you really need to cast it now but only have five mana. I'd rather the cheaper cost without the card draw. The closest thing to this in my cube is Slice and Dice, which is essentially the same cost for the same wrath, but it offers a much more flexible card because you can cycle for 2R to draw a card and top off 1 damage to each creature (perhaps post combat to even kill bigger things). For everyone who's been extolling the flexibility of the MDFCs from Zendikar, I'd recommend Slice and Dice over Feast of Succession.
So, cards I'm considering:
- Slaughter the Strong - (See above)
- Halana, Kessig Ranger - Four mana is a tough spot, but Reach is becoming more relevant, and a repeatable damage/removal source each time you drop a creature seems good. It's also one-sided, not actual fight, so there is little risk, and it plays well with deathtouch.
- Araumi of the Dead Tide - Exile one seems like a low price to flashback a creature from the graveyard with haste. Especially with good ETBs. Shriekmaw could be super potent with this.
- Coastline Marauders - In theory, it should always attack as at least a 3/3 trample, gets really big in the late game, and goes well with any pump or +1/+1 counters. It does have built-in recursion with haste, and even if it's a bit expensive, it is even more deadly by the time you can pay that cost. And it pairs well pre-combat with Slaughter the Strong.
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator - Flying ramp? It's a weird card, but I've been least pleased with my blue section and might give it a try.
25) Frenzied Saddlebrute- Good stats and a good ability, but that only makes this the ~5th best red 5-drop, and there's no room for that.
I feel you can make the case that Monstrosaur or Rite of the Raging Storm is better (depending on what you want of your red 5 drops), but that's about it. Which cards would you consider the top 5?
Araumi of the Dead Tide: Finally a card to replace the strong but boring Baleful Strix. (I know Strix is stronger, but with only two cards per guild I don't think I want strong but boring).
Ordering a copy and likely test later: Merchant Raiders: I Think this is a good card and the effect is stronger than bounce. Against many aggro decks this is way better than Mist Raven. Too bad it doesn't work that well with blink.
Tormod, the Desecrator: If I add this, it will be for the UB(G) graveyard matters deck. I expect it to be good in that deck. I don't mind a single parasitic card for a specific deck but I am not sure the deck needs Tormodd. If the deck ever seems barely not playable I will try Tormod.
Ordering a copy for the "maybe try one day"-pile: Prava of the Steel Legion: I prefer Intangible Virtue as a token payoff card as it is way more resilient. I also dont't like he pure aggressive nature of the effect.
Gilt-Leaf Winnower: I don't think I want another "ETB: kill a creature" card at 360. I already have Ravenous Chupacabra & Skinrender but if I ever do this might be the one (I don't cube Shriekmaw because I dislike "non-black").
Volcanic Torrent: If you can play at least one other spell this seems good, but that would likely neeed a set-up (keeping a Ponder in hand for instance). I don't like reactionary card that need set-up but the powerlevel may be there.
Tormod, the Desecrator might be worth considering if you run the selfmill package and cards like Raven's Crime, Wurm Harvest, Darkblast and Stinkweed Imp. I run all four and I am thinking of at least ordering a copy.
What do people think of Araumi of the Dead Tide? Could be strong in a grindy Dimir deck?
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Juri, Master of the Revue is another really solid addition to RB aristocrats we've gotten recently.
I'm definitely testing Araumi of the Dead Tide, but I'm a bit hesitant about expensive sorcery speed tap abilities on defensive bodies in general. The quality of targets also varies wildly depending on whether you're the aggressor or defender, so it's hard to say how good they are. (Also curves into Tormod, the Desecrator and can make a zombie, then later activate + encore makes 2 tokens)
Stitcher gets you any fattie not in your colors, she doesn't matter the cmc. It's only one shot, but can bring back a Plated Crusher. She also filters your deck to fill the graveyard.
Araumi has more versatily, looks more midrange oriented, recovering smaller creatures with more immediate value, such a Faerie Seer, Man-o'-war , Mulldrifter or Ravenous Chupacabra.
Great card. I probably will run both.
Reyav, Master Smith, I like him for my Boros Equipments archetype.
My Omniscience Draft Cube[/b]
My Commander Cube
My Pai Gow Cube
My Two-Headed Giant Cube
Honestly this whole cycle of uncommon gold legendries has been my favourite part of the set so far, I'm considering trying out at least half of them.
Araumi of the Dead Tide I like a lot. Not only can it function as the aforementioned Dimir midrange valuefest, but I can imagine it doing okay in faster Dimir with a lot of Shadow creatures, giving you a way to push through damage.
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
Thalisse, Reverent Medium seems interesting, but would probably be better at a lower cmc. Not a great top deck, which I think ia unfortunate for an expensive guild card.
Prava of the Steel Legion seems good to me. Regarding 4 mana to create a token beeing bad, I think having the tokens beeing 2/5 on offense help offset this. I also prefer the 1/4 body on an anthem effect over the 2/1 body of Jade Mage. Not sure if I will include cards with Partner, as I try to minimize the unneccessary rules text/complexity.
Araumi of the Dead Tide is a nice value card, but nothing I'm looking for in Dimir. For a reanimator combo deck the effect is useless as it's too expensive.
Reyav, Master Smith is a great signpost for the Boros equipment/pants deck and I have room in Boros, so I'll definitely try it.
Kangee, Sky Warden is great, the best skies lord we have so far imo. Will most likely include it, but it's hard to find a cut in Azorius.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
The "bad" thing, this only is a payoff for ramp decks, not so good to reanimate because Cascade in on cast, not an ETB ability.
Other considerations: you may cascade into a mana dork, or a ramp spell, so you don't get all the possible value. Your good payoffs probably cost seven mana (at six I only run Hooting Mandrills and Great Oak Guardian) but at least, you did something and removed from the deck a not so usefull spell at that point of the game. If you cascade into a mana dork could be nice to dodge edicts
I really like this guy, but it has a tougher competition in green at seven mana.
My Omniscience Draft Cube[/b]
My Commander Cube
My Pai Gow Cube
My Two-Headed Giant Cube
Edit: Annoyed Altisaur reminds me of Enlisted Wurm which I loved when it was still reasonable. Too bad I like my current 6+ green drops more.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
What do people think of the monarch mechanic (?), I've avoided it so far as it's not explained on the card. A proper sweeper is something I've been looking for outside of red, so this might change my mind.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
I'm not a huge fan of it on more midrange cards that you can just splash into anything, but I think I might like this one. It's a real sweeper and if it goes off properly it can close off the game with CA, seems like a really solid 6 drop.
EDIT: Don't think haste or manlands are much of a problem. I have about 7 creatures with haste in my cube and all of them go into aggro decks. How likely is it that your opponent has one of these in his hand after you cast a 6 mana spell with a control deck? Happens in 1 out of 100 games, and then it's something to laugh about. Manlands are good in control decks and you can see them before you play the spell. And of course there are only four of them in my cube, so it's not like you see them often anyway.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
Feast of Succession being incredibly bad against manlands and haste creatures while discouraging you playing creatures that can get a hit in makes me hesitant. I find monarch plays decently as long as you can reasonably take it back if you lose it, but I don't think most decks playing this will be able to do that.
Daring Saboteur is a pretty unimpressive downshift. Outside of pirate synergies I don't really think any deck is particularly happy to play it.
Impulsive Goblin is kind of novel. It does a bunch of things not particularly well, but it is 2 bodies and 2 treasures for red sac synergy for a fairly low cost on a versatile body.
16 cards have haste.
3 manlands.
246 creatures, 16% of which are any good in the face of that card. I'll slam that in any non-aggro black deck happily. Playing with wraths in your hand feels unfair, like you get to decide when the game ends and you're in control. You don't have to be some creatureless control deck to profit from it, just having the option to wrath means you can never truly fall behind.
This set is sick.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Edit:
So full spoiler is up:
Gilt-Leaf Winnower: Its ETB is worse than most other such cards but the body is way more relevant.
Slaughter the Strong: We got our unplayable Wrath of God or is this playable?
Alharu, Solemn Ritualist: Seems like a very decent white 5 drop.
Frenzied Saddlebrute: I think I prefer Charging Monstrosaur but this seems better in certain decks (gruul aggro, reanimator?).
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Saddlebrute is also pretty interesting to me. Lots more going on than Monstrosaur.
Likely Inclusion:
Prava of the Steel Legion: Me like tokens.
Armix, Filigree Thrasher: It does not require much investment to start paying dividends. Just one more artifact and you're turning cards to Disfigure. Even the -1/-1 from Armix itself makes sure it is never useless.
Tormod, the Desecrator: It would not take much to make him work wonders and the base stats are passable, especially after even one activation.
Coastline Marauders: Quickly gets big in most games and hardly ever behind the curve.
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith: Those rocks are pretty nice. Adds extra synergies, too.
Halana, Kessing Ranger: Still very solid way of getting value.
Reyav, Master Smith: Does a lot of things that I want.
Considering:
Benevolent Blessing: Basically instant speed protection that sticks.
Fall from Favor: Personally, I like Monarch in limited numbers. Especially when it is tagged on removal.
Feast of Succession: It is expensive but also does a proper Languish and Monarch is worth some extra.
Breeches, Brazen Plunderer: Not bad base stats and decent upside.
Frenzied Saddlebrute: Late game big haste but also hastes the whole team going forward.
Volcanic Torrent: This is actually not bad at all. Cascade does some heavy lifting, sure, but it is also asymmetric and gets crazy with just one more spell.
Shimmer Myr: Just a 2/2 colourless with flash is not terrible already.
Staunch Throneguard: Decent way to also keep Monarch and colourless.
Guildless Commons: Could be fun; I like bouncelands even if I do not run them.
Interesting:
Alharu, Solemn Ritualist: A bit to expensive bit overall solid card that has several synergies.
Ardenn, Intrepid Archaelogist: Could be interesting as a support card for combo of sorts but not strong enough on his own.
Kangee's Lietenant: I do not think I have enough of a skies archetype for this but otherwise great.
Kinsbaile Courier: Decent price on the Encore to make it worth *some* consideration.
Slaughter the Strong: It's a sort of Wrath variant; not not one that really does its job that well.
Daring Saboteur: It's not a great card but it's an earnt downshift and still pretty solid.
Ghost of Ramirez dePietro: It's an interesting effect but has bad evasion to back it.
Kitesail Skirmisher: Pretty solid package, just not quite good enough with all its competition.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator: A steady stream of treasure is good but overall still on the unimpressive side.
Merchant Raiders: Not easy to evaluate but blue is stacked and I do not exactly have a pirate archetype.
Siani, Eye of the Storm: Overall decent; just too much competition.
Nadiel, Agent of the Duskenel: Too expensive and niche but fun.
Alena, Kessig Trapper: Still fun.
Boarding Party: Actually, not terrible for a high end red creature.
Fathom Fleet Swordjack: Decently efficient with two artifacts around it.
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh: I'd rather play this guy than any other colourless 0-drop creature.
Araumi, the Dead Tide: Not what I want from Dimir, necessarily, but pretty solid.
Thalisse, Reverent Medium: Too parasitic but a nice effect.
Tuya Bearclaw: Very strong; just hard to push something from Gruul.
//////
Great set: encore, monarch, and cascade are all mechanics we can use and the power level is pushed because it's commander. Lots of archetype cards that may show up down the line once they get more support. Bad set for Iwamori of the Open Fist though.
Confident they're good:
Coastline Marauders - Big numbers + trample + recursion
Gilt-Leaf Winnower - 5 mana conditional Nekrataals are pretty fair and good
Halana, Kessig Ranger - Value engine on a reasonable body
Volcanic Torrent - Encourages big red. Might honestly be unfair with any prior spells
Testing, probably good:
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith - Good combination of interesting and powerful
Boarding Party - Has basically no competition and red is a great cascade colour
Araumi of the Dead Tide - I have no idea what deck wants this, but the text is good
Tuya Bearclaw - Big numbers is a solid GR archetype, though missing trample isn't great
Staunch Throneguard - Mainly interested for slot efficiency, but monarch is powerful enough to justify unimpressive stats
Might test at some point:
Juri, Master of the Revue - If RB aristocrats is on the menu
Dargo, the Shipwrecker - See above
Impulsive Pilferer - See above
Tormod, the Desecrator - Would need to add a few more enablers, but I like the card
Crimson Fleet Commondore - If Staunch Throneguard doesn't work out
Slaughter the Strong - I'm pretty sure this is just a sideboard card, but not 100% confident
Exquisite Huntmaster - Unexicitng, but a good roleplayer
Fin-Clade Fugitives - 5 mana for a 7/4 haste with some evasion is pretty exciting, but it needs a discard outlet to avoid the frontside
Cards I'm still thinking about:
Notable Reprints:
Cascade- A very swingy ability, especially on more expensive cards with a wider range of outcomes. In this set, it felt like all the cascade cards are just less powerful than the base card on several existing creatures.
Monarch- An easy way to run away with the game, but is another very swingy ability. The best Monarch cards are those that either make it harder to lose the Monarchy or easy to win it back. As they say, it's good to be king.
Expensive Spells- It has become easier and easier to find powerful spells at 6+ mana in CUbe. The job of a good Peasant Cube manager is to figure out how much of that power to make available before the ramp and control decks start overpowering the aggro decks. A few cards in this set really push those boundaries in Peasant.
Now, onto the rankings.
25-20: Solid Cards
25) Frenzied Saddlebrute- Good stats and a good ability, but that only makes this the ~5th best red 5-drop, and there's no room for that.
24) Kinsbaile Courier- An okay creature that can get one last lick in. Reasonable in +1/+1 counter heavy CUBes.
23) Slaughter the Strong- A spell that requires that right accompanying board presence to be great. That makes it feel like a white Infest or Barter in Blood, but in a color that does not want the effect.
22) Araumi of the Dead Tide- Decent value engine, but it is not this hard to make Skinrender and Cloudkin Seer good.
21) Breeches, Brazen Plunderer- A little too much needs to go right to generate card advantage from this. Bonus if you have lots of red Pirates.
19-13: Cards That Need Some Support
19) Ghost of Ramirez DePietro- I like the evasion ability and the possible card advantage, just needs to be paired with constant self-mill or looting.
18) Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty- I think this offers just a bit too little from the initial body and an inconsistent upside with 6+ CMC spells. Great if you push ramp a lot.
17) Thalisse, Reverent Medium- A lot of time and effort to set up, but has a ton of upside with commonly played white and black token makers.
16) Tormod, the Desecrator- Similar to Thalisse, but with a little less set up, and a few decent engines in black to pair with it (Phyrexian Reclamation, Dredge cards).
15) Armix, Filigree Thrasher- Not too difficult to throw around free Disfigure, but requires attack triggers and the body itself is a little fragile.
14) Dargo, the Shipwrecker- Not a card I can support at all right now, but makes me more interested in having a sacrifice archetype in Rakdos.
13) Alharu, Solemn Ritualist- Has a decent effect on its own, but would really shine with extra +1/+1 counter support. Surprisingly similar to Elite Scaleguard, another good option for that +1/+1 archetype.
12-6: Cards That Might Support Themselves
12) Kangee, Sky Warden- A card that attacks and blocks pretty solidly on its own and packs a huge wallop with even 1 other flier. That said, it is difficult to be too excited for a multicolored 5-drop that has no impact the turn it hits the battlefield
11) Tuya Bearclaw- The floor is pretty low for a card that could sometimes be a multicolored Hungry Spriggan. Plays great with big creatures, but hard to justify cutting one of those big creatures from a packed Gruul section. That said, the upside is huge (attacking for 7 on turn 4!) and it doubles up all your pump, auras, and equipment. Will certainly try it out to support the Gruul Pump archetype.
10) Merchant Raiders and 9) Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator- Two cards that are pretty close on their own (Raiders feel very similar to Mist Raven, in my opinion) and have the additional Pirate upside. It would be nice to add them together, as I have also added a few other cheap Blue pirates lately.
8) Prava of the Steel Legion- Like some others, I am replacing Intangible Virtue with this. I think the bonus of +1/+4 on your turn is better than +1/+1 and vigilance. Easier to destroy than the enchantment, but the token making ability might give it some extra play in controlling Azorius decks.
7) Halana, Kessig Ranger- Does require you to untap and play another creature before you get more than just an okay 4-drop. Obviously not too hard to play another creature, but some set up required. Also a little awkward in ramp decks, where the mana elves usually cannot kill anything else and the ramp targets are too expensive to also activate the ability.
6) Crimson Fleet Commodore- A 5/2 trample for 3R that also draws a card? Seems great. Obviously the Monarchy has potential downside, but I trust my red aggro decks to deal combat damage and it helps to have a 5-power trampler to steal back the Monarchy if needed.
5-1: Great Cards
5) Fall from Favor- A cheaper removal spell that has card advantage upside. Blue keeping the crown may be difficult, but it certainly helps that you lock down their best creature. It is also nice that your opponent needs to keep the Monarchy for an entire turn cycle to even untap their creature, meaning that creature cannot even defend against you stealing the crown back.
4) Gilt-Leaf Winnower- A very respectable body attached to a kill spell that hits ~40% of creatures by a rough estimate of my CUbe. Decent enough floor with a high ceiling. Feel like I might be close to having enough black creatures that also kill an opposing creature.
3) Feast of Succession- Almost exactly what I want from a 6-mana control spell. Game winning against aggro, but not 100% of the time. Relevant but not back-braking against mid-range and ramp. Even could be a decent card advantage engine in control matchups. Could be the foundation of black control decks. Sky-high ceiling, but enough holes in the floor plan to feel balanced.
2) Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith- Amazing reach for aggro red decks and good board control for ramp-based Gruul decks. Turning a land drop into a Shock is such great upside, even if the damage dealing is a little clunky. Extra Rocks laying around make creatures relevant into the late game and tilts combat in your favor. Excellent creature.
1) Coastline Marauders- Pure aggro goodness. Does not block well, but who cares when your 3-drop is a 5-power trampler that requires little set up. The Encore ability is such an awesome way to help finish a long game. Exactly the kind of card that helps aggro beat cards like Feast of Succession. A hasty, 6-power trampler that steals the crown back and does not even cost you a card? Solid #1 pick for me.
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
Feast of Succession is also getting a bit of talk, but honestly, I like it less. I prefer my wraths to be less than six mana, especially if they aren't unconditional or one-sided. If this were Languish, I would run it in a heartbeat, but two extra mana is a lot to ask. There will be games where you really need to cast it now but only have five mana. I'd rather the cheaper cost without the card draw. The closest thing to this in my cube is Slice and Dice, which is essentially the same cost for the same wrath, but it offers a much more flexible card because you can cycle for 2R to draw a card and top off 1 damage to each creature (perhaps post combat to even kill bigger things). For everyone who's been extolling the flexibility of the MDFCs from Zendikar, I'd recommend Slice and Dice over Feast of Succession.
So, cards I'm considering:
- Slaughter the Strong - (See above)
- Halana, Kessig Ranger - Four mana is a tough spot, but Reach is becoming more relevant, and a repeatable damage/removal source each time you drop a creature seems good. It's also one-sided, not actual fight, so there is little risk, and it plays well with deathtouch.
- Araumi of the Dead Tide - Exile one seems like a low price to flashback a creature from the graveyard with haste. Especially with good ETBs. Shriekmaw could be super potent with this.
- Coastline Marauders - In theory, it should always attack as at least a 3/3 trample, gets really big in the late game, and goes well with any pump or +1/+1 counters. It does have built-in recursion with haste, and even if it's a bit expensive, it is even more deadly by the time you can pay that cost. And it pairs well pre-combat with Slaughter the Strong.
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator - Flying ramp? It's a weird card, but I've been least pleased with my blue section and might give it a try.
Cards that don't quite make it:
- Feast of Succession - (See above)
- Kangee, Sky Warden - Five mana in a crowded, quite competitive guild; also like our 5th/6th/somethingth flying-matters lord/card. I'm running Empyrean Eagle at three mana but not Thunderclap Wyvern, Watcher of the Spheres, Kangee's Lieutenant, Windstorm Drake, Siani, Eye of the Storm, Sprite Noble, Jubilant Skybonder, or the parasitic Favorable Winds. I'd absolutely take the Wyvern over this.
- Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith - It's funny, but you need landfall and then two mana and a tap-able creature for a shock. I mean, it can hit players, which is good, but it just feels a little too Rube Goldberg to me.
- Tuya Bearclaw - Gruul is a crowded guild, and I like my other options better.
- Shimmer Myr - Also didn't catch the downshift here. My peasant cube simply doesn't have enough artifacts to make this effective; my Tiny Leaders cube is a different story.
- Reyav, Master Smith - Awesome ability, stupid good with Loxodon Warhammer, but i just don't have enough of an aura/equipment theme going to slot it in.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Gilt-Leaf Winnower! yessss a nice downshift.
Slaughter the strong actually this is pretty great to have a wrath in white like this.
Shimmer Myr is too small on its own as fun as flash artifacts are.
Aura's suck.
Plus a bunch of sweet reprints so I can get hard to get cards in foil :).
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Anyway, here are my (possible) inclusions:
Going to include:
Halana, Kessig Ranger: Great green value card.
Coastline Marauders: Easy swap with Acolyte of the Inferno.
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith: I think red can use another value engine in my cube.
Araumi of the Dead Tide: Finally a card to replace the strong but boring Baleful Strix. (I know Strix is stronger, but with only two cards per guild I don't think I want strong but boring).
Feast of Succession: Not sure whether to cut Barter in Blood or Inner Demon yet. Anyone has a suggestion?
Alhura, Solemn Ritualist: Think I am going to swap this with Custodi Squire. I like the idea of having both Alhura and Elite Scaleguard. Might also add Abzan Falconer and Basri's Solidarity.
Slaughter the Strong: After thinking about it I think this deserves a test.
Ordering a copy and likely test later:
Merchant Raiders: I Think this is a good card and the effect is stronger than bounce. Against many aggro decks this is way better than Mist Raven. Too bad it doesn't work that well with blink.
Tormod, the Desecrator: If I add this, it will be for the UB(G) graveyard matters deck. I expect it to be good in that deck. I don't mind a single parasitic card for a specific deck but I am not sure the deck needs Tormodd. If the deck ever seems barely not playable I will try Tormod.
Frenzied Saddlebrute: Still not sure if I want this or Charging Monstrosaur.
Ordering a copy for the "maybe try one day"-pile:
Prava of the Steel Legion: I prefer Intangible Virtue as a token payoff card as it is way more resilient. I also dont't like he pure aggressive nature of the effect.
Gilt-Leaf Winnower: I don't think I want another "ETB: kill a creature" card at 360. I already have Ravenous Chupacabra & Skinrender but if I ever do this might be the one (I don't cube Shriekmaw because I dislike "non-black").
Volcanic Torrent: If you can play at least one other spell this seems good, but that would likely neeed a set-up (keeping a Ponder in hand for instance). I don't like reactionary card that need set-up but the powerlevel may be there.
Reyav, Master Smith: Strong but currently not what my Boros is doing.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra