It's that time of year again, friends. I try to do these just before or after the final set of the year and here we are. Definitely some interesting new inclusions, cards that jumped some spots, cards that fell some spots and cards that fell completely off from last year.
I hope this project is as useful to you as it is to me. I really feel like a new peasant cuber could basically take to top 360 cards here and build a pretty decent cube to start with. I enjoying seeing stuff that I might be over or under valuing throughout the year. I noticed a lot of Commander Legends stuff that I need to take a second look at in my next update.
Obviously no CubeTutor link this year. I'll miss the filter function from over there as I can't for the life of me figure out how to filter on multiple tags. It was nice to filter down to near a certain size to get the average 360 or 450 list rather than the full on big list. If you know how to do that, I'd certainly appreciate the shared knowledge!
Anyway, here's the links. I'd definitely be interested and reading your thoughts on the changes from this year to last year.
In this doc, you'll find links to all the cubes used to create the list, the card list with exactly how many times each card appeared, as well as the full list of all the cards from all the cubes along with which cuber is currently running it.
Awesome! Thank you for doing this. I was just thinking about it earlier today. These average lists are super helpful. It's really useful to see how others value cards.
For pretty much everything cube data related, I prefer CubeCobra, but for this one project, CubeTutor was definitely superior. The colored tags were easier to read and filtering with a drop down and check boxes was much easier than typing out all of the tags.
I noticed a lot more tokens and +1/+1 counters support in the list this year compared to previous years. Also a higher inclusion of persist combo enablers.
Comparing my cube to the average cube, I find that I have 35% uniqueness in card choices - meaning that while 65% of my cards are also shared in the average cube, 35% are not. That's partially because I put extra emphasis on ETB effects in all colors, but it also involves cards that I am surprised no one else is running. Suture Priest Fog Bank Ravenform Bogardan Dragonheart Brute Force Wrangle Farhaven Elf Scale Up Bloodwater Entity Swiftfoot Boots
Did people try these and not like them? Or liked them well enough but bumped them when something new came along? Or just never try them at all?
Of course, I'm sure this goes both ways. I'm sure I'm missing plenty of cards that others consider staples. I've gone through the list and spotted a few cards I hadn't properly considered before, and I will likely make some changes in the coming weeks.
But even if I'm not trying to copy the average cube (and I'm not), this project every year is super helpful and informative. I really appreciate the work that goes into it.
For pretty much everything cube data related, I prefer CubeCobra, but for this one project, CubeTutor was definitely superior. The colored tags were easier to read and filtering with a drop down and check boxes was much easier than typing out all of the tags.
I miss CubeTutor's intelligent drafting bots, and I found their draft analysis stats to be more useful. Granted, I haven't run nearly as many draft sims in CubeCobra, but it's partly because when I switched over, they didn't have anything good in this department. Maybe it's better now? It just seems like the bots pull random cards instead of making intelligent picks, and good stuff cycles around the table that would be snatched up in a real draft.
The average list almost always prompts some end of year changes for me. There are definitely cards in my cube that either don't make the cut on the average list at all or fall pretty low on the inclusion rankings. This year I added a bit more +1/+1 counters support to white, a couple Commander Legends cards I overlooked, and went ahead and finished out the Signets cycle (I wasn't running four of them).
One of the biggest surprises for me was fixing lands. At 360 I'm running the ten tri lands alongside the allied gain lands and the enemy Campuses, as well as the Thriving duals. It seems people are back on the RAV block bounce lands over the tapped duals nowadays. I kind of played with the idea of removing the duals for the five Vivids and adding one card to each color, but I don't know if I like that as a fixing solution.
It definitely seems like +1/+1 counters was the archetype that grew the most this year.
Doing a non-exhaustive look at the raw data, it also looks like only ~6 cubes (including mine) are running rare lands.
A couple of observation specifically from my cube:
Faith's Fetters is significantly more popular than I would expect. I feel like enchantment-based removal in white is pretty stacked and I had ranked Faith's Fetters below the now 3x O-Ring effects and Cast Out. Am I undervaluing the life gain?
Blossoming Defense being more popular than Snakeskin Veil surprises me, especially given the +1/+1 synergies present in a lot of cubes.
Did people try these and not like them? Or liked them well enough but bumped them when something new came along? Or just never try them at all?
I have tried a couple of them:
Suture Priest - A card that I keep going back to and considering whether to add to my cube. My main hesitation is that it feels like a sideboard card and I try to avoid including narrow hate cards in the cube. How has it played for you?
Ravenform - I ended up deciding to keep hard removal largely out of blue, especially artifact removal. This is entirely a "flavor" choice, as it is a good card otherwise.
Bogardan Dragonheart - I really should give this another chance. Sometimes it ends up just being a Grey Ogre unfortunately.
Scale Up - My green has become more graveyard focused, so I dropped Scale Up and settled on one mass pump spell (Overrun). The fact that Scale Up does not grant trample limits it as well.
Bloodwater Entity - This role has a lot of competition - Sprite Dragon, Crackling Drake, Enigma Drake, etc. I ended up going with Enigma Drake because of its larger toughness and the ETB effect of Bloodwater Entity never felt strong enough (getting a spell back is great, but waiting a turn and "losing" a draw is less great). If you are looking for a prowess-like card, I am also a fan of Adeliz, the Cinder Wind because it has haste and has the potential of turning a number of weaker wizard utility creatures into attacking threats.
I have to agree that CubeCobra's draftbots do not feel nearly as intelligent as those on CubeTutor. And I think that the need to hover over stuff to see its meaning is probably why I find this UI less intuitive for the average cube.
Just to speculate...
Shriekmaw: It's still a Terror variant and there is less and less need for those in Black. I could see the choice to just exclude them altogether regardless of power level.
Bloodwater Entity: I did run it for a bit but opted for Experimental Overload instead. Getting the key spell straight to hand just feels so much better and this can grow rather big in the right deck.
Scale Up: The better your creatures are already, the worse this becomes. Four toughness is a lot but it will also feel like they become more vulnerable compared to a +3/+3 boost. Plus, no trample so less finisher potential.
Blossoming Defense: As a combat trick, +2/+2 is better than adding a +1/+1 counter. It allows you to get surprise kills in more situations.
Faith's Fetters: There is some incidental Aura support that people might run. I believe that one of its big benefits has always also been that it can take out utility lands like Maze of Ith. For a more controlling or bouncy deck, the life gain is not bad, either.
Of the two, I run Araumi, but it's not necessarily better. I see Obsessive Stitcher more as an enabler because of its looting ability, but it can only reanimate one creature because you have to sac it. Araumi of the Dead Tide doesn't fill the graveyard, but it is repeatable reanimation, even if they only come back for one turn. Depends on which trade-off is more valuable for you.
Suture Priest - A card that I keep going back to and considering whether to add to my cube. My main hesitation is that it feels like a sideboard card and I try to avoid including narrow hate cards in the cube. How has it played for you?
I love Suture Priest. Life gain for you, life drain for them. It generally makes a fairly noticeable swing in your life totals before eating a piece of removal that now can't be used against your next threat.
Scale Up: The better your creatures are already, the worse this becomes. Four toughness is a lot but it will also feel like they become more vulnerable compared to a +3/+3 boost. Plus, no trample so less finisher potential.
Good points. I generally use it as a single target pump on an evasive creature, but I like the flexibility that it can be used as a mass pump spell. But I still dream of landing a turn one Vampire of the Dire Moon, followed by a turn two Scale Up for a 12-point life swing.
Blossoming Defense: As a combat trick, +2/+2 is better than adding a +1/+1 counter. It allows you to get surprise kills in more situations.
+2/+2 is better in the instant, but if your creature survives thanks to the hexproof, the +1/+1 counter can do more damage in the long run, and that doesn't even take into account +1/+1 counter synergies, proliferation, etc. I debated it for a while but eventually cut Blossoming Defense to make room for Snakeskin Veil.
+2/+2 is better in the instant, but if your creature survives thanks to the hexproof, the +1/+1 counter can do more damage in the long run, and that doesn't even take into account +1/+1 counter synergies, proliferation, etc. I debated it for a while but eventually cut Blossoming Defense to make room for Snakeskin Veil.
Oh, I am not denying that. But for the people who care about its use as a combat trick rather than just a hexproof with upside, Blossoming Defense fits that need better. Personally, if I were to run either, I would still opt for Blossoming Defense for that reason, for example. It gives it more utility as a spell. After all, you could make the argument that permanent bonuses are more damage over time for any stat boosting combat trick but the greater momentary boost allows for more situations that can get you board advantage, as I mentioned.
Shriekmaw: It's still a Terror variant and there is less and less need for those in Black. I could see the choice to just exclude them altogether regardless of power level.
Agreed. Spell based removal in black has improved a lot this year and there are a lot of diverse choices for creature-based removal as well. Shriekmaw is pretty iconic for Peasant and it plays well with blink strategies, so I figured it would have avoided the chopping block. It would be hard for me to remove it.
Faith's Fetters: There is some incidental Aura support that people might run. I believe that one of its big benefits has always also been that it can take out utility lands like Maze of Ith. For a more controlling or bouncy deck, the life gain is not bad, either.
Of the two, I run Araumi, but it's not necessarily better. I see Obsessive Stitcher more as an enabler because of its looting ability, but it can only reanimate one creature because you have to sac it. Araumi of the Dead Tide doesn't fill the graveyard, but it is repeatable reanimation, even if they only come back for one turn. Depends on which trade-off is more valuable for you.
I think the other distinction is that Obsessive Stitcher is the true reanimator card. While it is slow, it can still cheat out a Waker of Waves or Dinrova Horror on turn 4. Araumi of the Dead Tide gives you a more repeatable benefit, but you are still paying full retail for the creature coming out of the bin (and you exile the creature card which is a nonbo with other reanimator spells). I may still test out Araumi as its effect feels more unique.
I'm really interested in the reasoning for healer's hawk over battlefield raptor. Sure lifelink can be really useful, but a first strike flyer can be such as nuisance to block, especially in peasant cube, where loxodon hammer, vulshok morningstar and alike are legit picks for aggro decks. Out of the two I'd probably run battlefield raptor. Also, the one extra toughness is minimal, but still welcomed with mayhem devil and pingers existing.
I think the other distinction is that Obsessive Stitcher is the true reanimator card. While it is slow, it can still cheat out a Waker of Waves or Dinrova Horror on turn 4. Araumi of the Dead Tide gives you a more repeatable benefit, but you are still paying full retail for the creature coming out of the bin (and you exile the creature card which is a nonbo with other reanimator spells). I may still test out Araumi as its effect feels more unique.
On the araumi debate, I'd probably run obsessive sticher, simply because Araumi is a brickwall of text, and during drafting it would slow down the draft. That's partly why I intentionally avoid specific frames/promos, as they don't explain a niche mechanic.
I'm glad this has sparked a bit of discussion. One thing I'd note about the yearly average cube list is that I wouldn't take it as gospel. For the example of Snakeskin Veil vs Blossoming Defense it could be that the +1/+1 counters crowd just aren't running a trick like that and the numbers are skewed from Defense being a better card in a vacuum. Point being, you should go with what you think is best for your cube and the environment you're trying to create.
I don't have experience with Araumi or Stitcher. Dimir in my cube doesn't really have much of a theme, I'm just running what I feel are the three best Dimir cards. Of the two, though, if I wanted to push reanimator in that color pair, I'd probably go with Stitcher. It is a one shot compared to repeatable with Araumi, but don't forget you're playing reanimator. Sac the Stitcher, bring back a monster, then use your Reanimate on the Stitcher itself to only lose three rather than seven or eight. It's also a lot more straight forward, so you don't have to deal with drafters who don't know exactly what an obscure ability like Encore is.
For people running Meteor Golem: What are the decks that want it? I can think of three in theory but it doesn't seem appealing for any of them. It seems way too low impact in reanimator compared to for instance Ulamog Crusher. The same applies to ramp decks. And for blink decks it could be good but 7 mana is a lot. I am misevaluating the card?
Seven mana is a lot, but you can get to that if you keep it in mind during drafting/deck building. I like that it's colorless unconditional removal that can go into all of those decks you mention. Crusher is better for reanimator/ramp, but I wouldn't cut that for the Golem. I'd run both or only Crusher.
Does anyone have a strong opinion on Stinkweed Imp? Is it just for reanimator support or is there a Dredge deck I am missing?
I am also curious why Cabal Initiate does not show up in cubes. Outside of Heir of Falkenrath, black (and by extension GB) does not have many options for dumping reanimation targets from hand without splashing Red or Blue. It seems like it would be the closest we have to Oona's Prowler for Peasant.
I'm really interested in the reasoning for healer's hawk over battlefield raptor. Sure lifelink can be really useful, but a first strike flyer can be such as nuisance to block, especially in peasant cube, where loxodon hammer, vulshok morningstar and alike are legit picks for aggro decks. Out of the two I'd probably run battlefield raptor. Also, the one extra toughness is minimal, but still welcomed with mayhem devil and pingers existing.
I do not run either in my Peasant cube, but I used to run Healer's Hawk in my Pauper cube. Healer Hawk was a good enabler for the cube's BW lifegain theme and I suspect others are running it for this reason as well. I agree that Battlefield Raptor is typically the better choice for aggro or equipment.
For people running Meteor Golem: What are the decks that want it? I can think of three in theory but it doesn't seem appealing for any of them. It seems way too low impact in reanimator compared to for instance Ulamog Crusher. The same applies to ramp decks. And for blink decks it could be good but 7 mana is a lot. I am misevaluating the card?
As you noted Meteor Golem is extremely expensive, but the upside is that it give decks removal they generally do not have access to (like giving B/R enchantment removal) and, given its propensity to wheel, can be an emergency late pick if you are being cut on removal (again, regardless of your deck's colors). I recently removed it to run Clay Golem which still provides colorless removal, but has a more aggressive body. Clay Golem has its own issues (dice rolling, even more mana, no ETB), so I am hoping something better will come along.
@calibretto- This list is always awesome. I used the 2020 list a lot to help tune up my +1/+1 counter support (as it seems many others did) and to help put more emphasis on more token/sacrifice decks in Mardu colors.
The first thing I did this year was determine which cards I am playing that appear in 5 or fewer lists and which cards I am NOT playing that appear in 16 or greater lists. Usually there is a reason specific to my cube philosophy that leads to a card appearing or not appearing in my list. If there is not a specific reason, it it worth a deep think to investigate.
Re: Meteor Golem. I have definitely swung towards the "dies to removal" theory when it comes to 5+ mana creatures. It is certainly possible I have swung too far in that direction, having cut all of the 7+ mana colorless Eldrazi from my Cube. I know people do not always have the removal, but it always felt like such a huge tempo loss whenever resources were poured into either ramping or reanimating a creature which promptly disappeared without impacting the board at all. I also do think a 7-mana spell is a more reasonable ask for control decks without dedicated ramping elements.
I am curious how people feel about white removal spells. I was shocked to see that Pacifism and Bonds of Faith are each below 4 cubes played. Were there enough creatures with relevant ETB and static abilities where stopping them was too low impact? Were there too many sacrifice and bounce abilities to get value out of an enchanted creature?
Are Seal Away, Blessed Alliance, and Kabira Takedown all more reliable than ol' standby Pacifism?
I am also curious why Cabal Initiate does not show up in cubes. Outside of Heir of Falkenrath, black (and by extension GB) does not have many options for dumping reanimation targets from hand without splashing Red or Blue. It seems like it would be the closest we have to Oona's Prowler for Peasant.
I have to agree that CubeCobra's draftbots do not feel nearly as intelligent as those on CubeTutor. And I think that the need to hover over stuff to see its meaning is probably why I find this UI less intuitive for the average cube.
Sorry to dig this up after the initial conversation, but I was thinking about it and trying to figure out what you meant. Are you referring to when you are in Table View and have to hover over a card name to see the card image? (If so, have you tried Visual Spoiler?) Or am I way off base, and you mean something entirely different?
I mean, Heirloom Mirror was felt by many to be too much of a do-nothing as a black discard outlet despite rummaging and evolving into a big flier at the end. Cabal Initiate just does not have the stats and the lifelinking only really matters if you get through which is unlikely unless you are already at Threshold. Plus, a card for an expected 2 life is... not great. I would rather (and do) run Miasmic Mummy, for example. The timing is more restrictive but at least it is symmetrical and can even go to an aggressive deck at times without being a high priority pick for those.
Oh, and @FunkyDragon: I was referring to how the explanations for tag colours are not shown in the main view. Instead, you have to check individual cards to see the meaning of their tag colour (or go to a separate menu).
I do not run either in my Peasant cube, but I used to run Healer's Hawk in my Pauper cube. Healer Hawk was a good enabler for the cube's BW lifegain theme and I suspect others are running it for this reason as well. I agree that Battlefield Raptor is typically the better choice for aggro or equipment.
I really feel like Orzhov has some identity crisis. It has so many overall good cards such as lingering souls, corpse knight, mortify and tidehollow sculler that it struggles to stay unique. As of now WB is kind of explored, but probably not deep enough. That's probably why healer's hawk stuck out so much.
As you noted Meteor Golem is extremely expensive, but the upside is that it give decks removal they generally do not have access to (like giving B/R enchantment removal) and, given its propensity to wheel, can be an emergency late pick if you are being cut on removal (again, regardless of your deck's colors). I recently removed it to run Clay Golem which still provides colorless removal, but has a more aggressive body. Clay Golem has its own issues (dice rolling, even more mana, no ETB), so I am hoping something better will come along.
Unconditional removal is always good to have around. Clay golem seems like a potential contester, but again, I tend to stray away from unique mecanics, and dice rolling requires the player to have access to dice.
Sorry to dig this up after the initial conversation, but I was thinking about it and trying to figure out what you meant. Are you referring to when you are in Table View and have to hover over a card name to see the card image? (If so, have you tried Visual Spoiler?) Or am I way off base, and you mean something entirely different?
CubeTutors bots were better designed as drafters. I'm fairly new to CubeCobra so idk much about it yet (RIP CubeTutor, you served us good for a long time), but from I've seen the bots tend to go very greedy (3 colors+). They might be better designed for legacy/vintage cubes where fetches/dual lands help a greedier deck. From my personal experience 1 or 2 players might go into 3c, but not much more, whereas every bot goes 3c+
*Edit : I let the bots bot draft the whole thing, 2 are 3colors, 3 are 4 colors and 3 are 5 colors. It really seems like the drafting algorithm doesn't work for peasant cubes
Oh, and @FunkyDragon: I was referring to how the explanations for tag colours are not shown in the main view. Instead, you have to check individual cards to see the meaning of their tag colour (or go to a separate menu).
Makes total sense. I grew frustrated with the inability to see what the tags meant and had to start filtering so it would just show one group at a time. CubeTutor was definitely better for this issue
CubeTutors bots were better designed as drafters. I'm fairly new to CubeCobra so idk much about it yet (RIP CubeTutor, you served us good for a long time), but from I've seen the bots tend to go very greedy (3 colors+). They might be better designed for legacy/vintage cubes where fetches/dual lands help a greedier deck. From my personal experience 1 or 2 players might go into 3c, but not much more, whereas every bot goes 3c+
*Edit : I let the bots bot draft the whole thing, 2 are 3colors, 3 are 4 colors and 3 are 5 colors. It really seems like the drafting algorithm doesn't work for peasant cubes
Yeah, that would throw things off. I had one friend who always took it as a challenge to go 4-5 color, but most of my drafters comfortably settle into 2 colors, with the occasional monocolor or 3 color splash.
When I just did a checkup on CubeCobra by having 8 bots draft, every single one of them went with a WUBR pile and put their green cards in their sideboard.
I hope this project is as useful to you as it is to me. I really feel like a new peasant cuber could basically take to top 360 cards here and build a pretty decent cube to start with. I enjoying seeing stuff that I might be over or under valuing throughout the year. I noticed a lot of Commander Legends stuff that I need to take a second look at in my next update.
Obviously no CubeTutor link this year. I'll miss the filter function from over there as I can't for the life of me figure out how to filter on multiple tags. It was nice to filter down to near a certain size to get the average 360 or 450 list rather than the full on big list. If you know how to do that, I'd certainly appreciate the shared knowledge!
Anyway, here's the links. I'd definitely be interested and reading your thoughts on the changes from this year to last year.
Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x55KUQBUX3R85wIDGOg1thA1AcHXTKowodElMtIJ594/edit?usp=sharing
In this doc, you'll find links to all the cubes used to create the list, the card list with exactly how many times each card appeared, as well as the full list of all the cards from all the cubes along with which cuber is currently running it.
Cube Cobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtgs2021
If you want to compare the two, here is last year's average list: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtgs2020
Cheers, everyone, and happy cubing!
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
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
Probably the most surprising thing that I noticed was how Standstill no longer gets played.
I noticed a lot more tokens and +1/+1 counters support in the list this year compared to previous years. Also a higher inclusion of persist combo enablers.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Some comparisons between the 2020 and 2021 cubes if people are interested:
1. Usher of the Fallen +32
2. Flametongue Yearling +30
3. Dragon's Rage Channeler +29
4. Archfiend of Sorrows +27
5. Barbed Spike +27
6. Frost Trickster +26
7. Ornithopter of Paradise +25
8. Scurry Oak +25
9. Abundant Harvest +24
10. Cathar Commando +24
11. Lose Focus +23
12. Infernal Grasp +22
13. Legion Vanguard +22
14. Tireless Provisioner +20
15. Blazing Rootwalla +18
16. Morbid Opportunist +18
17. Bannerhide Krushok +17
18. Timeless Witness +17
19. Herd Baloth +16
20. Shimmerdrift Vale +15
No major surprises, although Herd Baloth is more popular than I expected.
1. Feast of Succession +13
2. Slaughter the Strong +10
3. Conclave Mentor +9
4. Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith +8
5. Coastline Marauders +8
6-10. The Thriving Lands +8
11. Halana, Kessig Ranger +7
12. Prava of the Steel Legion +7
13. Fall from Favor +6
14. Fireblade Charger +6
15. Abzan Falconer +5
16. Brainstorm +5
17. Mayhem Devil +5
18. Rite of the Raging Storm +5
19. Tuya Bearclaw +5
20. Victimize +5
Several of these additions are cards that probably just missed the cutoff for the last average cube. However, Conclave Mentor stands out.
1. Cast Down -15
2. Dragon Hunter -14
3. Blossoming Defense -13
4. Exclude -13
5. Thrashing Brontodon -13
6. Condescend -12
7. Lightning Helix -12
8. Qasali Pridemage -12
9. Quirion Dryad -12
10. Stormfront Pegasus -12
11. Venerable Knight -12
12. Consul's Lieutenant -11
13. Fireblast -11
14. Gore-House Chainwalker -11
15. Goremand -11
16. Heartless Act -11
17. Imperious Perfect -11
18. Orcish Hellraiser -11
19. Search for Tomorrow -11
20. Shriekmaw -11
A lot of cards that show up here saw direct improvements printed (like Cast Down > Infernal Grasp or Dragon Hunter > Usher of the Fallen). Shriekmaw is a surprise to me.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
Suture Priest
Fog Bank
Ravenform
Bogardan Dragonheart
Brute Force
Wrangle
Farhaven Elf
Scale Up
Bloodwater Entity
Swiftfoot Boots
Did people try these and not like them? Or liked them well enough but bumped them when something new came along? Or just never try them at all?
Of course, I'm sure this goes both ways. I'm sure I'm missing plenty of cards that others consider staples. I've gone through the list and spotted a few cards I hadn't properly considered before, and I will likely make some changes in the coming weeks.
But even if I'm not trying to copy the average cube (and I'm not), this project every year is super helpful and informative. I really appreciate the work that goes into it.
For me, I dislike that I can't see what the tags mean while looking at the list. In CubeCobra, I have to make it pop-up instead. I miss CubeTutor's intelligent drafting bots, and I found their draft analysis stats to be more useful. Granted, I haven't run nearly as many draft sims in CubeCobra, but it's partly because when I switched over, they didn't have anything good in this department. Maybe it's better now? It just seems like the bots pull random cards instead of making intelligent picks, and good stuff cycles around the table that would be snatched up in a real draft. Also surprised. Shriekmaw is in my cube to stay.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
One of the biggest surprises for me was fixing lands. At 360 I'm running the ten tri lands alongside the allied gain lands and the enemy Campuses, as well as the Thriving duals. It seems people are back on the RAV block bounce lands over the tapped duals nowadays. I kind of played with the idea of removing the duals for the five Vivids and adding one card to each color, but I don't know if I like that as a fixing solution.
There are at least a couple on that list that I'd likely give a shot if I weren't at 360. Finding room can be tough.
Same.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Doing a non-exhaustive look at the raw data, it also looks like only ~6 cubes (including mine) are running rare lands.
A couple of observation specifically from my cube:
Faith's Fetters is significantly more popular than I would expect. I feel like enchantment-based removal in white is pretty stacked and I had ranked Faith's Fetters below the now 3x O-Ring effects and Cast Out. Am I undervaluing the life gain?
Blossoming Defense being more popular than Snakeskin Veil surprises me, especially given the +1/+1 synergies present in a lot of cubes.
I have been running Obsessive Stitcher as a signpost for U/B reanimator. Is Araumi of the Dead Tide the better choice?
I have tried a couple of them:
Suture Priest - A card that I keep going back to and considering whether to add to my cube. My main hesitation is that it feels like a sideboard card and I try to avoid including narrow hate cards in the cube. How has it played for you?
Ravenform - I ended up deciding to keep hard removal largely out of blue, especially artifact removal. This is entirely a "flavor" choice, as it is a good card otherwise.
Bogardan Dragonheart - I really should give this another chance. Sometimes it ends up just being a Grey Ogre unfortunately.
Scale Up - My green has become more graveyard focused, so I dropped Scale Up and settled on one mass pump spell (Overrun). The fact that Scale Up does not grant trample limits it as well.
Bloodwater Entity - This role has a lot of competition - Sprite Dragon, Crackling Drake, Enigma Drake, etc. I ended up going with Enigma Drake because of its larger toughness and the ETB effect of Bloodwater Entity never felt strong enough (getting a spell back is great, but waiting a turn and "losing" a draw is less great). If you are looking for a prowess-like card, I am also a fan of Adeliz, the Cinder Wind because it has haste and has the potential of turning a number of weaker wizard utility creatures into attacking threats.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
Just to speculate...
Shriekmaw: It's still a Terror variant and there is less and less need for those in Black. I could see the choice to just exclude them altogether regardless of power level.
Bloodwater Entity: I did run it for a bit but opted for Experimental Overload instead. Getting the key spell straight to hand just feels so much better and this can grow rather big in the right deck.
Scale Up: The better your creatures are already, the worse this becomes. Four toughness is a lot but it will also feel like they become more vulnerable compared to a +3/+3 boost. Plus, no trample so less finisher potential.
Blossoming Defense: As a combat trick, +2/+2 is better than adding a +1/+1 counter. It allows you to get surprise kills in more situations.
Faith's Fetters: There is some incidental Aura support that people might run. I believe that one of its big benefits has always also been that it can take out utility lands like Maze of Ith. For a more controlling or bouncy deck, the life gain is not bad, either.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Oh, I am not denying that. But for the people who care about its use as a combat trick rather than just a hexproof with upside, Blossoming Defense fits that need better. Personally, if I were to run either, I would still opt for Blossoming Defense for that reason, for example. It gives it more utility as a spell. After all, you could make the argument that permanent bonuses are more damage over time for any stat boosting combat trick but the greater momentary boost allows for more situations that can get you board advantage, as I mentioned.
Agreed. Spell based removal in black has improved a lot this year and there are a lot of diverse choices for creature-based removal as well. Shriekmaw is pretty iconic for Peasant and it plays well with blink strategies, so I figured it would have avoided the chopping block. It would be hard for me to remove it.
I ran Faith's Fetters in my Pauper cube and it was great since you could fetch it using Heliod's Pilgrim or Totem-Guide Hartebeest. For Peasant, the card selection for this slot is a lot bigger and I would have assumed it would be less popular than Banishing Light, Cast Out, Conclave Tribunal, and Bound in Gold. That is why I really appreciate these types of meta studies.
I think the other distinction is that Obsessive Stitcher is the true reanimator card. While it is slow, it can still cheat out a Waker of Waves or Dinrova Horror on turn 4. Araumi of the Dead Tide gives you a more repeatable benefit, but you are still paying full retail for the creature coming out of the bin (and you exile the creature card which is a nonbo with other reanimator spells). I may still test out Araumi as its effect feels more unique.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
On the araumi debate, I'd probably run obsessive sticher, simply because Araumi is a brickwall of text, and during drafting it would slow down the draft. That's partly why I intentionally avoid specific frames/promos, as they don't explain a niche mechanic.
I don't have experience with Araumi or Stitcher. Dimir in my cube doesn't really have much of a theme, I'm just running what I feel are the three best Dimir cards. Of the two, though, if I wanted to push reanimator in that color pair, I'd probably go with Stitcher. It is a one shot compared to repeatable with Araumi, but don't forget you're playing reanimator. Sac the Stitcher, bring back a monster, then use your Reanimate on the Stitcher itself to only lose three rather than seven or eight. It's also a lot more straight forward, so you don't have to deal with drafters who don't know exactly what an obscure ability like Encore is.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
My C/Ube on Cube Cobra
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
I am also curious why Cabal Initiate does not show up in cubes. Outside of Heir of Falkenrath, black (and by extension GB) does not have many options for dumping reanimation targets from hand without splashing Red or Blue. It seems like it would be the closest we have to Oona's Prowler for Peasant.
I do not run either in my Peasant cube, but I used to run Healer's Hawk in my Pauper cube. Healer Hawk was a good enabler for the cube's BW lifegain theme and I suspect others are running it for this reason as well. I agree that Battlefield Raptor is typically the better choice for aggro or equipment.
As you noted Meteor Golem is extremely expensive, but the upside is that it give decks removal they generally do not have access to (like giving B/R enchantment removal) and, given its propensity to wheel, can be an emergency late pick if you are being cut on removal (again, regardless of your deck's colors). I recently removed it to run Clay Golem which still provides colorless removal, but has a more aggressive body. Clay Golem has its own issues (dice rolling, even more mana, no ETB), so I am hoping something better will come along.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
The first thing I did this year was determine which cards I am playing that appear in 5 or fewer lists and which cards I am NOT playing that appear in 16 or greater lists. Usually there is a reason specific to my cube philosophy that leads to a card appearing or not appearing in my list. If there is not a specific reason, it it worth a deep think to investigate.
Re: Meteor Golem. I have definitely swung towards the "dies to removal" theory when it comes to 5+ mana creatures. It is certainly possible I have swung too far in that direction, having cut all of the 7+ mana colorless Eldrazi from my Cube. I know people do not always have the removal, but it always felt like such a huge tempo loss whenever resources were poured into either ramping or reanimating a creature which promptly disappeared without impacting the board at all. I also do think a 7-mana spell is a more reasonable ask for control decks without dedicated ramping elements.
I am curious how people feel about white removal spells. I was shocked to see that Pacifism and Bonds of Faith are each below 4 cubes played. Were there enough creatures with relevant ETB and static abilities where stopping them was too low impact? Were there too many sacrifice and bounce abilities to get value out of an enchanted creature?
Are Seal Away, Blessed Alliance, and Kabira Takedown all more reliable than ol' standby Pacifism?
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
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Oh, and @FunkyDragon: I was referring to how the explanations for tag colours are not shown in the main view. Instead, you have to check individual cards to see the meaning of their tag colour (or go to a separate menu).
I really feel like Orzhov has some identity crisis. It has so many overall good cards such as lingering souls, corpse knight, mortify and tidehollow sculler that it struggles to stay unique. As of now WB is kind of explored, but probably not deep enough. That's probably why healer's hawk stuck out so much.
Unconditional removal is always good to have around. Clay golem seems like a potential contester, but again, I tend to stray away from unique mecanics, and dice rolling requires the player to have access to dice.
CubeTutors bots were better designed as drafters. I'm fairly new to CubeCobra so idk much about it yet (RIP CubeTutor, you served us good for a long time), but from I've seen the bots tend to go very greedy (3 colors+). They might be better designed for legacy/vintage cubes where fetches/dual lands help a greedier deck. From my personal experience 1 or 2 players might go into 3c, but not much more, whereas every bot goes 3c+
*Edit : I let the bots bot draft the whole thing, 2 are 3colors, 3 are 4 colors and 3 are 5 colors. It really seems like the drafting algorithm doesn't work for peasant cubes
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter