There's so many good options for Wind Drake+ now that are all pretty close to each other in power. Honestly, I say just pick the ones that fit the strategies that want to promote for blue. Frost Trickster, Aven Eternal, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Mistral Singer, Aerial Guide, Nimbus Naiad, Windrider Wizard, Warden of Evos Isle are all perfectly fine options IMO (these are just the ones I've personally considered at some point). If I had to guess, the first two I listed are have the most raw power, but others could be more powerful in your cube.
Thanks for the response, I had completely forgotten some of the above!
Really interesting: Dina, Soul Steeper - If GB continues being aristocraty in the future this could be the best card in the set, but it's not rn. Would auto include it if it was BW Reconstruct History - Similar to Dina but for RW being graveyard based Ardent Dustspeaker - A red creature that directly gives CA is rare. Stats are on the weak side, but essentially drawing 2 on attack might be worth it
"Destroy target creature with flying" is far better than "destroy target enchantment". So if anyone is running an instant naturalize variant (or something they think might be a clogging up their 5 mana slot) they should probably consider tangletrap
What do you folks think about the common duals from this set? Is a possible later scry better than one life on ETB?
1 life is usually trivial - it's rare that a player gets knocked out at exactly 0 life - there's usually excess damage being dealt. Of course, there are also those games where 1 more life would have made all the difference.
If the game hits a point where I want to tap five lands (4 plus the Lorehold Campus) just to scry 1, I'm in real trouble. It could prevent losing the game because you drew a land when you needed gas, but man, does that game suck if you had no better options and had to take a turn off to scry.
Agree with FunkyDragon, I would avoid running either land cycle, but if I had to choose I'd take the scry lands. 1 life is basically the lowest amount of upside you can possibly get from a card, but I could imagine in very long games the scry could really make a difference if you are in top deck mode with a lot of lands in play.
Liking the decently efficient equipment for a change to help that archetype along. Other than those, the most contentious choice is probably the Combat Professor. It's got a decent body and adds some value pretty quickly when you play it. At least as an attacker, it's got a decent enough floor, too. Just a card that I liked and wanted to test.
For reference, I think Killian is just a name. Isn't that the name of the bad guy form Jessica Jones?
And Zephyr Boots is... an interesting comparison to mask of memory but I think it's worse. Mask of memory is terribly efficient, if less consistent than the boots, and that efficiency pays off even in long games because its equip cost probably won't get in the way of the extra cards you draw.
Liking the decently efficient equipment for a change to help that archetype along. Other than those, the most contentious choice is probably the Combat Professor. It's got a decent body and adds some value pretty quickly when you play it. At least as an attacker, it's got a decent enough floor, too. Just a card that I liked and wanted to test.
Apparently the winrate of team pennant is really bad in its native environment, and I can't really see why it would do better for us. And on the other hand, apparently combat professor is doing quite well.
Am I missing something? The deck that shows up for me has 33 non-land cards and it's a two color aggro deck full of CC cards and one drops from two different colors that would require a mana base like a contructed Legacy deck.
It's certainly possible to make a real deck out of this pile, but then you'd either have to go black with only Thunderous Orator and a few other white cards with low color commitment. Or (which would probably be the better option) you could go down the white token route, in which case you'd have to ditch the black CC cards and one drops.
And Danitha Capashen, Paragon really doesn't have a place in either build due to lack of pump and equipment/auras.
In any case, this doesn't look insane to me. To me it just proves that Thunderous Orator is a Stormfront Pegasus (which is by now certainly a lower end card, it's about time we get a 2/1 flyer with upside) that trades reliability for a potential upside if it gets played in a perfect deck for it.
If you don't mind the variance certainly a playable card, but not more than that.
I wasn't saying the deck was insane. I suppose I was implying that thunderous orator had multiple ways to be keyword soup in just the first pile it belonged to. Which seems indicative of its upside. The phrase "seems completely insane" leaves out all that nuance, that's my fault.
Also, funny that you say this about stormfront pegasus. I run a depowered cube with 430 cards and I just cut it 3 days ago. I'm surprised that red has opened the floodgates on grizzly bears with upside, blue gave frost lynx flying, but white has zero 2/1 flyers with any upside.
I also gladly upgraded all possible cards to their mystical archive variants. Unfortunately I cant include any japanese variants because, well ... we cant read them.
Thunderous Orator was stolen with Control Magic on Saturday. That person had Grimdancer with lifelink/menace.....
In my experience, keyword soup cards are certainly super fun and can definitely make some interesting gameplay. Who doesn't want to curve this guy into Aerial Responder.... or even Healer's Hawk into this guy...
The sequences where he's fun to play make him worth it. Plus a 2/2 vigilance isn't useless in combat...
Thanks for the response, I had completely forgotten some of the above!
If I had to rank them, I agree that Aven Eternal is at the top. Frost Trickster would be a close second.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator and Windrider Wizard provide good value over time, instead of up-front value like the top two. They seem solidly middle of the pack.
Mistral Singer, Aerial Guide, Nimbus Naiad and Warden of Evos Isle are all fairly narrow use or fail to provide value, which relegates them to role-players.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
Deadly Brew - Really interesting utility spell
Frost Trickster - Great card
Thunderous Orator - Rotating door of decent white 2 drops rotates again
Really interesting:
Dina, Soul Steeper - If GB continues being aristocraty in the future this could be the best card in the set, but it's not rn. Would auto include it if it was BW
Reconstruct History - Similar to Dina but for RW being graveyard based
Ardent Dustspeaker - A red creature that directly gives CA is rare. Stats are on the weak side, but essentially drawing 2 on attack might be worth it
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
What do you folks think about the common duals from this set? Is a possible later scry better than one life on ETB?
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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If the game hits a point where I want to tap five lands (4 plus the Lorehold Campus) just to scry 1, I'm in real trouble. It could prevent losing the game because you drew a land when you needed gas, but man, does that game suck if you had no better options and had to take a turn off to scry.
Personally, I wouldn't (and don't) run either.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
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EDHREC
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My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
Liking the decently efficient equipment for a change to help that archetype along. Other than those, the most contentious choice is probably the Combat Professor. It's got a decent body and adds some value pretty quickly when you play it. At least as an attacker, it's got a decent enough floor, too. Just a card that I liked and wanted to test.
Mogis's Marauder -> Umbral Juke (has Marauder really been in my cube since 2014??)
Stitched Mangler -> Frost Trickster
Zealous Persecution -> Killian, Ink Duelist - not that ZP is bad, just that I like Killian right now (what a dumb name, what did Ian ever do lmao)
I like the Campus lands and hope they'll complete the cycle soon for Pauper.
Regarding Wind Drake+ cards, did I miss the meeting where it was decided that Cloudkin Seer is bad?
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
I thought the same, but I assumed that just like Eldrazi Skyspawner they don't count it as Wind Drake since it's a 2/1.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
For reference, I think Killian is just a name. Isn't that the name of the bad guy form Jessica Jones?
And Zephyr Boots is... an interesting comparison to mask of memory but I think it's worse. Mask of memory is terribly efficient, if less consistent than the boots, and that efficiency pays off even in long games because its equip cost probably won't get in the way of the extra cards you draw.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Apparently the winrate of team pennant is really bad in its native environment, and I can't really see why it would do better for us. And on the other hand, apparently combat professor is doing quite well.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
So if anyone wasn't convinced by thunderous orator, this is the first deck I ever drafted that had one in it.
Seems completely insane.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Am I missing something? The deck that shows up for me has 33 non-land cards and it's a two color aggro deck full of CC cards and one drops from two different colors that would require a mana base like a contructed Legacy deck.
It's certainly possible to make a real deck out of this pile, but then you'd either have to go black with only Thunderous Orator and a few other white cards with low color commitment. Or (which would probably be the better option) you could go down the white token route, in which case you'd have to ditch the black CC cards and one drops.
And Danitha Capashen, Paragon really doesn't have a place in either build due to lack of pump and equipment/auras.
In any case, this doesn't look insane to me. To me it just proves that Thunderous Orator is a Stormfront Pegasus (which is by now certainly a lower end card, it's about time we get a 2/1 flyer with upside) that trades reliability for a potential upside if it gets played in a perfect deck for it.
If you don't mind the variance certainly a playable card, but not more than that.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
Also, funny that you say this about stormfront pegasus. I run a depowered cube with 430 cards and I just cut it 3 days ago. I'm surprised that red has opened the floodgates on grizzly bears with upside, blue gave frost lynx flying, but white has zero 2/1 flyers with any upside.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Mardu Woe-Reaper > Thunderous Orator
Illusory Angel > Frost Trickster
Read the Bones > Plumb the Forbidden
Gaea's Anthem > Bookwurm
Zealous Persecution > Killian, Ink Duelist
Lightning Helix > Rip Apart
I also gladly upgraded all possible cards to their mystical archive variants. Unfortunately I cant include any japanese variants because, well ... we cant read them.
Legacy Cube
But i guess it probably wouldn't be as cool in english.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
In my experience, keyword soup cards are certainly super fun and can definitely make some interesting gameplay. Who doesn't want to curve this guy into Aerial Responder.... or even Healer's Hawk into this guy...
The sequences where he's fun to play make him worth it. Plus a 2/2 vigilance isn't useless in combat...
My Peasant Cube thread !!! (380 cards)
Draft my Peasant Cube on Cube Cobra !!!
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