And the Google sheet that lists every single different card as well as how many were running that card, just in case you want to further explore beyond what made the list or see exactly where a card fell. The sheet also includes all of the cubes that were used.
With that out of the way, you can ignore the rest of my chatter if you want.
We had 42 total cubes in the comparison this year. The vast majority of those came from right here on MTGS. This remains the best peasant cube community on the web, full stop. Of those that did not come from MTGS, I used Spooty's cube from the Soley Singleton podcast as well as Klug's cube. I also found a few regularly updated lists on CubeCobra and CubeTutor, but I believe they were all included last year as well.
One thing I did not change this year that I've done in the past is to omit specific cards due to type or rarity. Everything that made the list in the end is on the list. The Un cards and Conspiracies weren't popular enough to make the final uploaded list, but you can find them in the Google sheet. What did make the list, oddly enough, are a couple of rare duals (Isolated Chapel and Inspiring Vantage) as well as Fabled Passage.
I'm also aware that everyone has their own way of sorting their lists. Some put Signets in the multicolor section, others put them in artifacts. A few throw some hybrids into mono colored sections. I'm not here to tell you how to sort your cube. I just let the sort fall where it falls when it comes to those types of preferences. You can see what cards are there and then sort them how you choose if you end up including anything from this list. The one sort that I did force were man lands into their respective color sections, but that seems to be the preference across the board.
If you want to run your own comparison on CubeCobra to see what cards fell off from last year's list, the 2019 cube ID is mtgs19.
I color coded the list on CubeTutor. The filter function on that site is much easier to use in my experience. I didn't filter or categorize the cards on CubeCobra. In my experience that wasn't something I used on CubeCobra very much just due to the interface. If you are disappointed by this and want me to categorize CubeCobra as well, I certainly can.
And finally, remember that just because a card you love is not on this list or a card you don't like very much is in a high number of cubes, that doesn't mean that you're wrong. This list is in no way trying to tell you how to build your peasant cube. It's a fun exercise that I like to do each year because I think the data is interesting and it seems that at least a few others enjoy it too.
Well, that's it, friends. Post your takes on the 2020 list here and here's looking forward to 2021 and hopefully getting to actually cube in person again.
Thanks again for doing this. It's always interesting to see what's fallen in or out of favor. In some cases, it's quite surprising. But also great to see a lot of variety - means we aren't all running the same list.
Thanks so much for this list! I apologize for not being here enough to throw my CUbe on here as well.
I came for some help in putting together a black based sacrifice package, which is deck I usually derided, but am now considering running.
The most interesting category of cards I am not currently running is this grouping of three cards (all in 30 Cubes) that I presume are part of the Persist deck combo: Good-Fortune Unicorn, Renata, Called to the Hunt, and Rhythm of the Wild. You could also add Grumgully, the Generous there too.
I mostly dismissed those cards as being not good enough on their own and/or not better than existing guild cards. I also tended to dismiss this combo for being hard to assemble in a larger cube where more cards go undrafted, although I can see a lot of redundancy.
Are most of those cards good enough outside of combo decks? Is the combo deck relatively easy to put together for the people that have it? Any other relevant cards I may be missing?
And thanks again! Already making some changes in my cube because of the list.
Are you adding Bloodbraid Elf? lol
I removed it because I wanted both Grumgully, the Generous and Rhythm of the Wild in Gruul and only have two slots per guild. If I would go to three slot I would re-add the Elf, but I think the other two cards are more interesting from a draft and deck building perspective.
Other things that stood out for me in the new list:
- Duress was in less cubes than I thought.
- No Kor Blademaster or other cheap double strikers in many cubes.
- Peregrine Drake is not even on the list (7 cubes).
- Fewer people tried Malefic Scythe or already removed it.
- Oketra's Monument in a decent amount of cubes, but Whitemane Lion is not.
I'm not surprised by the lack of Kor Blademaster type cards. Fencing Ace has been around for a while and it's never been a popular choice in peasant cubes. I don't think we have enough equipment or aura effects to really take advantage of these 1/1 double strikers.
Peregrine Drake is fine as a "free" 2/3 flyer, but I can't see including it over any of my current 4+ cc inclusions. I think there are several four and five drops in blue that I'd run over Drake. Shipwreck Dowser, for example, is on my list to try to make room for after this analysis. I just don't think there's enough ways to take advantage of the untap effect on the drake to justify including a french vanilla 2/3 flyer.
What's the comparison between Monument and Lion? I used to run Whitemane Lion, but I feel like that was a long time ago. We've gotten a bunch of really sweet white 2-drops over the past several years that have just pushed the Lion out. Monument feels like a value card that helps to support token strategies. I don't run it either, but I'd be more willing to make room for it in my 360 than the Lion at this point.
I suppose it is mostly a comment about the combo between the two and how Monument sees play even if you do not run Lion alongside it.
Ah, you're probably right. Now I feel stupid. I didn't even pick up the combo potential between the two. My bad, Arbor. That said, though, Lion is probably still a little too low power on its own to include over other options just for the potential do something fun with Monument.
Cryptic Caves sees quite a bit more play than I would've thought, seems pretty dull to me, anyone feel fairly positively about it?
It's fine. It will be your 17th or 18th land so long as the rest of your mana base is good and can afford a colorless value land.
So, as I said above and I'm sure like many of you, this list usually prompts a round of changes for my cube. That's not because I feel like my choices are wrong, but because this often shows me the way to supporting a new archetype, points out cards from recent sets that I may have overlooked, or just highlights a few interesting cards that I want to give a shot.
I may make a post about the changes this project has prompted with some thoughts. I also encourage you all to do the same thing. One change I'm contemplating and would like some feedback on, though, is Rhox Veteran over Kongming. Kongming feels a bit iconic to me, so my bias may be getting in the way. I also kind of feel like I want the full on anthem effect over the battle cry. What are your thoughts on this swap specifically?
I have twisted the rulings on common/uncommons to warrant inclusion for a large number of powerful cards, but couldn't ever justify Arachnogenesis (only an uncommon online, and only during a cube season, and only for packs that you won). So for those that have ever played it or currently play it: Is it as backbreaking as it seems like it would be? How many times is it a complete blowout for your opponent and how many times is it an expensive Fog?
The most interesting category of cards I am not currently running is this grouping of three cards (all in 30 Cubes) that I presume are part of the Persist deck combo: Good-Fortune Unicorn, Renata, Called to the Hunt, and Rhythm of the Wild. You could also add Grumgully, the Generous there too.
I mostly dismissed those cards as being not good enough on their own and/or not better than existing guild cards. I also tended to dismiss this combo for being hard to assemble in a larger cube where more cards go undrafted, although I can see a lot of redundancy.
Are most of those cards good enough outside of combo decks? Is the combo deck relatively easy to put together for the people that have it? Any other relevant cards I may be missing?
I'm not opposed to combos as long as the cards are worth running on their own, and I do run a couple of these.
- Good-Fortune Unicorn replaced Juniper Order Ranger as a cheaper +1/+1 counter signpost card that makes all my creatures larger and more aggressive while making payout cards (like Ainok Bond-Kin, Abzan Falconer, Bramblewood Paragon, etc.) more effective.
- Rhythm of the Wild is great, providing counter protection and the flexibility of bigger/faster creatures as needed in the moment.
The fact that they could assemble a combo is fine with me, but that's not why I run them. I also only run two persist creatures (Finks and Redcap) because i feel they are the only ones worth running in a vacuum.
Cryptic Caves sees quite a bit more play than I would've thought, seems pretty dull to me, anyone feel fairly positively about it?
I just cut it recently; not a particularly exciting card, and I never felt strongly about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops from even more lists in the coming year.
I like the rise and fall data. Super interesting to see cards that swung 20 ranks up or down. Something weird going on, though, because you have Frontier Bivouac listed at two different ranks with different amounts of falling in rank.
Something weird going on, though, because you have Frontier Bivouac listed at two different ranks with different amounts of falling in rank.
I believe this is my fault. I'm not sure why, but my pivot table picked up Frontier Bivouac twice. Once with 27 instances and once with only 1 instance. I didn't catch it before uploading. This doesn't change the final result, really, but it is something that happened for some reason.
None of these even hit the lowest threshold of 8-9 cubes.
Scale Up is aggressive early game and powerful late game. I assume it's the sorcery speed that people don't like?
Reality Shift is cheap exile removal that 60+% of the time just gives them a vanilla 2/2 and prevents recursion schenanigans.
Vampire of the Dire Moon is a powerful answer to aggro and continues to trade 1-for-1 even in the late game.
Goblin Oriflamme pumps all of your attackers. Do people just not like taking a turn to drop this instead of an actual threat?
Aside from being biased because I dream of some day getting T1 Vampire of the Dire Moon followed by a T2 Scale Up for a 12-point life swing, I'm not seeing why these are so unpopular this year. people who cut these cards, what prompted you to do so?
How quickly do folks usually pick up new stuff around here? Kangee, Sky Warden seems super solid to me, but currently well behind the other flying lords.
How quickly do folks usually pick up new stuff around here? Kangee, Sky Warden seems super solid to me, but currently well behind the other flying lords.
It looks like the Commander Legends cards with the highest adoption rate are in 13-15 cubes right now. I'm also curious if this is due to slow adoption or actual card choice.
Interesting thoughts. I liked the look of Kangee quite a lot for being a high floor relative to most of the others, not so parasitic. Will have to think about it, and decide if I want 1-2 slots for that in the multicolored section.
For me the problem is really the guild slot. Flyers don't really need a lord or payoff card to work well, they're already useable on their own. And Azorius has a lot of great cards. I run Soulherder, Reflector Mage and Migratory Route and even though I consisdered Kangee I decided that ultimately I want/need the other cards more.
If it was a 3UU or 3WW card I'd run it for sure, but in a guild it's just not worth it when I only have three slots.
These cards are all interesting and certainly not bad, but for me, they just don't beat out competition at their respective slots. I'm at 360, though, so real estate is valuable. If I were to go up to 450, these would probably be the types of cards I'd be looking at.
How quickly do folks usually pick up new stuff around here? Kangee, Sky Warden seems super solid to me, but currently well behind the other flying lords.
I wouldn't put much stock into where cards from the newest sets fall in this exercise. Look at a card like Syr Konrad between the two years. Eldraine had only just released and he was in 12-14 lists in 2019. In 2020, though, he's now in 37-39 lists. Kangee may be a bit different just due to it being a guild card in a guild that already has several good options for that type of archetype signpost.
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtgs2020
CubeTutor: https://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/175081
And the Google sheet that lists every single different card as well as how many were running that card, just in case you want to further explore beyond what made the list or see exactly where a card fell. The sheet also includes all of the cubes that were used.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18ZrhumMOGSHYAdFF0rzuJbJKnSU6pKBKTY74bphYUA8/edit?usp=sharing
With that out of the way, you can ignore the rest of my chatter if you want.
We had 42 total cubes in the comparison this year. The vast majority of those came from right here on MTGS. This remains the best peasant cube community on the web, full stop. Of those that did not come from MTGS, I used Spooty's cube from the Soley Singleton podcast as well as Klug's cube. I also found a few regularly updated lists on CubeCobra and CubeTutor, but I believe they were all included last year as well.
One thing I did not change this year that I've done in the past is to omit specific cards due to type or rarity. Everything that made the list in the end is on the list. The Un cards and Conspiracies weren't popular enough to make the final uploaded list, but you can find them in the Google sheet. What did make the list, oddly enough, are a couple of rare duals (Isolated Chapel and Inspiring Vantage) as well as Fabled Passage.
I'm also aware that everyone has their own way of sorting their lists. Some put Signets in the multicolor section, others put them in artifacts. A few throw some hybrids into mono colored sections. I'm not here to tell you how to sort your cube. I just let the sort fall where it falls when it comes to those types of preferences. You can see what cards are there and then sort them how you choose if you end up including anything from this list. The one sort that I did force were man lands into their respective color sections, but that seems to be the preference across the board.
If you want to run your own comparison on CubeCobra to see what cards fell off from last year's list, the 2019 cube ID is mtgs19.
I color coded the list on CubeTutor. The filter function on that site is much easier to use in my experience. I didn't filter or categorize the cards on CubeCobra. In my experience that wasn't something I used on CubeCobra very much just due to the interface. If you are disappointed by this and want me to categorize CubeCobra as well, I certainly can.
And finally, remember that just because a card you love is not on this list or a card you don't like very much is in a high number of cubes, that doesn't mean that you're wrong. This list is in no way trying to tell you how to build your peasant cube. It's a fun exercise that I like to do each year because I think the data is interesting and it seems that at least a few others enjoy it too.
Well, that's it, friends. Post your takes on the 2020 list here and here's looking forward to 2021 and hopefully getting to actually cube in person again.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
still the best
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
And thanks again! Already making some changes in my cube because of the list.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
I came for some help in putting together a black based sacrifice package, which is deck I usually derided, but am now considering running.
The most interesting category of cards I am not currently running is this grouping of three cards (all in 30 Cubes) that I presume are part of the Persist deck combo: Good-Fortune Unicorn, Renata, Called to the Hunt, and Rhythm of the Wild. You could also add Grumgully, the Generous there too.
I mostly dismissed those cards as being not good enough on their own and/or not better than existing guild cards. I also tended to dismiss this combo for being hard to assemble in a larger cube where more cards go undrafted, although I can see a lot of redundancy.
Are most of those cards good enough outside of combo decks? Is the combo deck relatively easy to put together for the people that have it? Any other relevant cards I may be missing?
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
Are you adding Bloodbraid Elf? lol
I also got access denied. I submitted a request for access. You probably need to update the privacy setting to "anyone with the link can access".
Your cube is included in the analysis.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
That would explain the one person playing Wasp of the Bitter End, I suppose.
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
Other things that stood out for me in the new list:
- Duress was in less cubes than I thought.
- No Kor Blademaster or other cheap double strikers in many cubes.
- Peregrine Drake is not even on the list (7 cubes).
- Fewer people tried Malefic Scythe or already removed it.
- Oketra's Monument in a decent amount of cubes, but Whitemane Lion is not.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Peregrine Drake is fine as a "free" 2/3 flyer, but I can't see including it over any of my current 4+ cc inclusions. I think there are several four and five drops in blue that I'd run over Drake. Shipwreck Dowser, for example, is on my list to try to make room for after this analysis. I just don't think there's enough ways to take advantage of the untap effect on the drake to justify including a french vanilla 2/3 flyer.
What's the comparison between Monument and Lion? I used to run Whitemane Lion, but I feel like that was a long time ago. We've gotten a bunch of really sweet white 2-drops over the past several years that have just pushed the Lion out. Monument feels like a value card that helps to support token strategies. I don't run it either, but I'd be more willing to make room for it in my 360 than the Lion at this point.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Also, seems like I am the only only running Reckless Racer. Truly my pet card, then.
Ah, you're probably right. Now I feel stupid. I didn't even pick up the combo potential between the two. My bad, Arbor. That said, though, Lion is probably still a little too low power on its own to include over other options just for the potential do something fun with Monument.
It's fine. It will be your 17th or 18th land so long as the rest of your mana base is good and can afford a colorless value land.
So, as I said above and I'm sure like many of you, this list usually prompts a round of changes for my cube. That's not because I feel like my choices are wrong, but because this often shows me the way to supporting a new archetype, points out cards from recent sets that I may have overlooked, or just highlights a few interesting cards that I want to give a shot.
I may make a post about the changes this project has prompted with some thoughts. I also encourage you all to do the same thing. One change I'm contemplating and would like some feedback on, though, is Rhox Veteran over Kongming. Kongming feels a bit iconic to me, so my bias may be getting in the way. I also kind of feel like I want the full on anthem effect over the battle cry. What are your thoughts on this swap specifically?
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
The link seems to work for my partner??
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gcY9SE6nFGgBwHx0KQUGEyxNEqZsPIzRo0hEZ0nu1eQ/edit?usp=sharing
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
- Good-Fortune Unicorn replaced Juniper Order Ranger as a cheaper +1/+1 counter signpost card that makes all my creatures larger and more aggressive while making payout cards (like Ainok Bond-Kin, Abzan Falconer, Bramblewood Paragon, etc.) more effective.
- Rhythm of the Wild is great, providing counter protection and the flexibility of bigger/faster creatures as needed in the moment.
The fact that they could assemble a combo is fine with me, but that's not why I run them. I also only run two persist creatures (Finks and Redcap) because i feel they are the only ones worth running in a vacuum.
I just cut it recently; not a particularly exciting card, and I never felt strongly about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it drops from even more lists in the coming year.
I like the rise and fall data. Super interesting to see cards that swung 20 ranks up or down. Something weird going on, though, because you have Frontier Bivouac listed at two different ranks with different amounts of falling in rank.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
I believe this is my fault. I'm not sure why, but my pivot table picked up Frontier Bivouac twice. Once with 27 instances and once with only 1 instance. I didn't catch it before uploading. This doesn't change the final result, really, but it is something that happened for some reason.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Scale Up (5 cubes) - dropped 12 slots
Reality Shift (6 cubes) - dropped 9 slots
Vampire of the Dire Moon (6 cubes) - dropped 13 slots
Goblin Oriflamme (7 cubes) - dropped 14 slots
None of these even hit the lowest threshold of 8-9 cubes.
Scale Up is aggressive early game and powerful late game. I assume it's the sorcery speed that people don't like?
Reality Shift is cheap exile removal that 60+% of the time just gives them a vanilla 2/2 and prevents recursion schenanigans.
Vampire of the Dire Moon is a powerful answer to aggro and continues to trade 1-for-1 even in the late game.
Goblin Oriflamme pumps all of your attackers. Do people just not like taking a turn to drop this instead of an actual threat?
Aside from being biased because I dream of some day getting T1 Vampire of the Dire Moon followed by a T2 Scale Up for a 12-point life swing, I'm not seeing why these are so unpopular this year. people who cut these cards, what prompted you to do so?
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
As for Kangee, Sky Warden, it's in a very competitive guild and in a very competitive slot. How many flying-matters lords or signpost cards do we have now? 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 think five mana hurts Kangee quite a bit here. I'd run Wyvern over Kangee, and I dropped that for Eagle. I'd be curious if we polled peasant cube players to directly compare all of these cards and see how they were ranked with no concern for actual slots or support in a cube.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
If it was a 3UU or 3WW card I'd run it for sure, but in a guild it's just not worth it when I only have three slots.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
These cards are all interesting and certainly not bad, but for me, they just don't beat out competition at their respective slots. I'm at 360, though, so real estate is valuable. If I were to go up to 450, these would probably be the types of cards I'd be looking at.
I wouldn't put much stock into where cards from the newest sets fall in this exercise. Look at a card like Syr Konrad between the two years. Eldraine had only just released and he was in 12-14 lists in 2019. In 2020, though, he's now in 37-39 lists. Kangee may be a bit different just due to it being a guild card in a guild that already has several good options for that type of archetype signpost.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.