Not too excited about Prosperous Thief... Or anything so far from this set. There are a few cards I am lukewarm on, but the themes either miss my cube or I do not like the mechanics.
Ninjustu always feels like card disadvantage to me, where you try to gain tempo by buying back cheap creatures or creatures with ETB abilities, at which point I would rather just have another ETB creature.
Reconfigure looks like similar equipment mechanics like Living Weapon or Ancestral Blade types, but those at least gave you a creature AND an equipment, instead of a creature OR equipment. Maybe they can make a well-statted creature that'll work, but everything is rough so far.
Yeah... I've got to agree. I was actually excited about the set, but so far what I've seen has been pretty mediocre. No doubt, I'll add a few, but as you said, some of the mechanics seem to be missing me. Also, I just don't think the overall power-level has been there like it has in the last five sets, which is fine of course. All sets can't be a home run. Still, I'm only looking at three adds atm, and since I have a bigger cube, I'm usually looking for slots for tenish cards (they don't all get in, and often some are replaced themselves after a short time) with maybe another five to ten that are on my radar as "interesting."
Circuit Mender and Twinshot Sniper were looking strong to me, Circuit Mender a virtual lock. Some of the flip cards looked good if you do that in your cube as well.
Circuit Mender and Twinshot Sniper are in for sure. I'm also including Jukai Naturalist, since Selesnya has an Enchantress theme in my cube, but I doubt many other cubes will. Moon-Circuit Hacker and Greater Tanuki are on my radar as possibles if I find room for them. Other stuff is out there worth taking a look at, but none of these others have made me seriously consider looking for slots for them. Hopefully there is more to come.
Like TyranidBill, I think Looter il-kor is the best of the four due to its ability to carry equipment. Merfolk Looter is probably more reliable of the remaining three - it puts a body on the board and lets you unconditionally cycle your cards. Moon-Circuit Hacker is a good choice if you emphasize bounce/blink in your cube, but does not outright replace the reliability of the two Looters for card filtering/reanimator. The Modern Age seems pretty slow to me.
Right now, there has been nothing to jump up and say "Yes, I am definitely better than this good card you already play." I was already not running Filigree Familiar, so is an upgrade worth it?
Reinforced Ronin seems to be a must have for Peasant. Is not affected by Sorcery speed removal, and is not bad if you topdeck him and need something better.
I think it's probably time to say goodbye to Jackal Pup.
For me, I see a lot of cards that are similar to existing cards that are fringe players in my cube or not in the cube at all. Okiba Reckoner Raid / Nezumi Road Captain is an interesting take on Diregraf Ghoul, lower damage output, but with some lifegain and a better creature at the end.
In the aggressive black deck, when you play the new card on turn one, it deals two damage (gain shouldn't matter), and you finally get to attack with a Menace 2/2 on turn four. If it gets to do anything, you've won and you would've done so with any other card as well. I struggle to see a reason to cube the card.
Love the Ronin. Goblin Guide for peasant that can only be interacted with on your turn, and if it's too far in the game for it to matter, just cash it in. Seems very good. No idea yet how my 1-drop section will end up though.
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I wish all archetypes could be equally hated. Or loved, but the former better reflects the mindset of the vocal portion of the player base. My 540ish Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
I dunno, I kinda like the Okiba reckoner raid. You basically miss one attack relative to say a diregraf ghoul (if you play it turn one, you miss t2 and t3), but you immediately get half of one attack back and the other half the next turn in an unblocksble way (plus life gain), so you’re really only down 2 damage overall and only if the opponent couldn’t block/kill it turn 2/3, and then the 2/2 menace is way more likely to be able to get in on any subsequent turn.
The thing with Okiba Reckoner Raid is that the scenario in which you play it t1 is the best case for it. Every turn after that it will just be a 2/2 menace with what basically amounts to a more fragile suspend 3 with marginal upside, with no way of hardcasting it should you really need the body. I think these sagas should be valued on their steps, too, and I think this one falls short.
Comparing to diregraf ghoul, I’d probably rather have the raid on later turns as well - you miss one turn of potential blocking in exchange for +2 life, and it’s much more likely to deal damage than the ghoul. Admittedly it does start to compare a bit less favorably once you start considering equips/buffs for the two turns of missed attacks, but then again, having menace means that once it does get to pick up an axe or whatever, it’s that much better.
EDIT: It is also quite a bit worse with stuff like curse of shallow graves, to be fair
Haven't posted yet, though I've been watching the spoilers unfold. Nothing terribly exciting, but I was a fan of original Kamigawa, and I haven't decided how I feel about the new direction. There are some good cards so far, mostly for Commander, but a few for Peasant, too.
Circuit Mender - Easy shoe-in replacement for Filigree Familiar, which I run. I like that it's even better in blink decks. Will add.
Twinshot Sniper - Two decent modes, and you shock something either way. Reach is a nice counter to the flying archetype.
Greater Tanuji - Comparable to Krosan Tusker. It's ramp instead of drawing a land and another card, and trample makes it a better reanimation target. The difference is noticeable, but I don't know which I'd rather.
Discover the Impossible - Instant speed and fetching the best card from your top five seems alright. The free cast is gravy with cheap removal spells.
The sagas are too generally slow.
Like Okiba Reckoner Raid sounds fine as a one mana card that makes opponents lose 2 life, you gain 2 life, and you get a 2/2 menace with an additional though mostly irrelevant ability. But it takes three turns before it affects the board and can't even attack until yet another turn later. Even playing this turn one seems slow, but drawing it late game and not having access to the body right away feels really bad.
And The Fall of Lord Konda may affect the board with conditional removal, but then it basically does nothing the next turn and just gives you a bad Wall of Omens on the third chapter. The Modern Age may be the best, with double looting and a flying 2/3, but I still wonder about late game when you really want a creature now, not a creature in a couple turns.
Touch the Spirit Realm is an interesting Oblivion Ring variant. It's a bit more narrow, it can only hit artifacts and creatures, but it also has Channel for 1W to flicker an artifact or creature. I really like cross pollinators and O-ring mostly hits creatures or artifacts in my cube. I don't run the uncommon planeswalkers and there aren't a ton of enchantments in my environment.
Touch the Spirit Realm is an interesting variant. Even though my white section has an enchantment subtheme I opted out of O-Ring #3 (Borrowed Time or whatever it was called) in favor of Prison Realm for variety's sake, and I consider this to be comparable to that. Hitting creatures and artifacts is obviously better than creatures and planeswalkers (I think I only run four), but Scry 1 is pretty good - probably better than the slightly wider target pool of Touch the Spirit Realm. However, Channel 1W to Blink something could be the extra value I'm looking for to push this over the edge. It's pretty niche, but... hey... maybe. Most people will likely have no interest or not enough room for such a luxury though - probably not unless they're running O-Ring #3, though they may want the variety over O-Ring #2.
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I'm actually liking the look of this Blossom Prancer a ton - probably my second favorite card so far after Reinforced Ronin.
A 4/4 Reach for 3GG is a good body, and having a CIP ability that says "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or enchantment card from among them and put it into your hand" is almost guaranteed to hit provided you constructed your deck appropriately. And on the very rare occasion that you don't hit, well "you gain 4 life."
I'm actually liking the look of this Blooming Stag a ton - probably my second favorite card so far after Reinforced Ronin.
A 4/4 Reach for 3GG is a good body, and having a CIP ability that says "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or enchantment card from among them and put it into your hand" is almost guaranteed to hit provided you constructed your deck appropriately. And on the very rare occasion that you don't hit, well "you gain 4 life."
I could see it as a replacement for Arborback Stomper. Losing trample is a bummer, but it digs pretty far and gives you the option for life gain as well. Good catch.
I also like the flexibility of Touch the Spirit Realm. Not sure how many enchantment removal cards I want to carry though.
I have a Modern peasant cube so unfortunately, Malcolm isn't legal. Annoyingly most of my small evasive creatures are pirates rather than rogues or ninjas probably not but as a card it is nice. I was considering is removing +1/+1 counter support from blue and moving in some more rouges.
Speaking of rouges how does Acquisition Octopus compare with Jhessian Thief. I feel like the ability to equip this to a flyer is really good.
4 mana is a little steep but Towashi Guide-Bot recurring card draw is nice, particularly with arcbound.
Blooming Stag is pretty good, but I think I like Arborback Stomper more still. What I want from the card is mostly a way to deal with aggro and +5 life and a 5/4 trample is simply quite a bit better than +4 life and a 4/4 reach. It's another nice option for the 5 cmc slot though.
I like Invigorating Hotsprings. It can give up to 4 creatures a +1/+1 counter and haste and it will give any creature haste that is 'modified'. I like it more than Rhythm of the Wild, which gives either haste or a +1/+1 counter. 4 counters should be enough for a game and you can put counters on creatures that are already on the battlefield, which ensures it has a direct board impact when it comes down on turn 3. And you can even use it for tokens if you have to. Will most likely add it.
EDIT: Rabbit Battery is also nice. A Raging Goblin that turns into a useful equipment later. Another red one drop I will add.
Containment Construct is very exciting and has a really unique ability. Makes looting, cycling, and channeling much more powerful. Very reasonable mana cost as well.
I really like Gravelighter, but am not sure whether it is strictly better than Plaguecrafter. Plaguecrafter always removes, whether this does not remove if you boardwipe and have 1 big guy left. I think I will be cutting Hypnotic Specter, even though that card is very dear to me, it has not performed as well as I would like lately.
Gravelighter is great in either mode - a 2/2 flying cantrip or a Fleshbag Marauder with a better body - and I will be adding it, but the one thing I don't like is that you are at the mercy of your opponent's instant speed removal or sac outlets. When you really need the removal or the card draw, your opponent can make sure you get the one that hurts them least.
Rabbit Battery is great. Hasty attack turn 1, much bigger hasty attacks on subsequent turns for just 1 Mana. And you can occasionally surprise your opponent by unattaching it for one extra attacker during a final alpha strike. I'll be adding this, too.
Prosperous Thief it seems good on its own actually
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
Ninjustu always feels like card disadvantage to me, where you try to gain tempo by buying back cheap creatures or creatures with ETB abilities, at which point I would rather just have another ETB creature.
Reconfigure looks like similar equipment mechanics like Living Weapon or Ancestral Blade types, but those at least gave you a creature AND an equipment, instead of a creature OR equipment. Maybe they can make a well-statted creature that'll work, but everything is rough so far.
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
Circuit Mender and Twinshot Sniper were looking strong to me, Circuit Mender a virtual lock. Some of the flip cards looked good if you do that in your cube as well.
Like TyranidBill, I think Looter il-kor is the best of the four due to its ability to carry equipment. Merfolk Looter is probably more reliable of the remaining three - it puts a body on the board and lets you unconditionally cycle your cards. Moon-Circuit Hacker is a good choice if you emphasize bounce/blink in your cube, but does not outright replace the reliability of the two Looters for card filtering/reanimator. The Modern Age seems pretty slow to me.
I think Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator might be a little better, unless you are all in on Ninja/Rogues.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
Also just saw Network Disruptor, think I'm a fan of that one, very good value if you pick that one back up for ninjutsu.
Okiba Reckoner Raid / Nezumi Road Captain is an interesting take on Diregraf Ghoul, lower damage output, but with some lifegain and a better creature at the end.
Tales of Master Seshiro / Seshiro's Living Legacy is probably much worse than Ridgescale Tusker, but could be situationally better.
Is Acquisition Octopus even as good as Mischievous Catgeist?
Right now, there has been nothing to jump up and say "Yes, I am definitely better than this good card you already play." I was already not running Filigree Familiar, so is an upgrade worth it?
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
I think it's probably time to say goodbye to Jackal Pup.
My Omniscience Draft Cube[/b]
My Commander Cube
My Pai Gow Cube
My Two-Headed Giant Cube
In the aggressive black deck, when you play the new card on turn one, it deals two damage (gain shouldn't matter), and you finally get to attack with a Menace 2/2 on turn four. If it gets to do anything, you've won and you would've done so with any other card as well. I struggle to see a reason to cube the card.
Love the Ronin. Goblin Guide for peasant that can only be interacted with on your turn, and if it's too far in the game for it to matter, just cash it in. Seems very good. No idea yet how my 1-drop section will end up though.
My 540ish Peasant Cube on Cubetutor
I do like the Reinforced Ronin, between it and Twinshot Sniper, seems like red is getting a lot of love!
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
EDIT: It is also quite a bit worse with stuff like curse of shallow graves, to be fair
Circuit Mender - Easy shoe-in replacement for Filigree Familiar, which I run. I like that it's even better in blink decks. Will add.
Twinshot Sniper - Two decent modes, and you shock something either way. Reach is a nice counter to the flying archetype.
Roaring Earth - Landfall +1/+1 counters.
Greater Tanuji - Comparable to Krosan Tusker. It's ramp instead of drawing a land and another card, and trample makes it a better reanimation target. The difference is noticeable, but I don't know which I'd rather.
Discover the Impossible - Instant speed and fetching the best card from your top five seems alright. The free cast is gravy with cheap removal spells.
Moon-Circuit Hacker - Not as good as Ninja of the Deep Hours. It may be cheaper, but looting versus draw and only 1 toughness just don't cut it.
The sagas are too generally slow.
Like Okiba Reckoner Raid sounds fine as a one mana card that makes opponents lose 2 life, you gain 2 life, and you get a 2/2 menace with an additional though mostly irrelevant ability. But it takes three turns before it affects the board and can't even attack until yet another turn later. Even playing this turn one seems slow, but drawing it late game and not having access to the body right away feels really bad.
And The Fall of Lord Konda may affect the board with conditional removal, but then it basically does nothing the next turn and just gives you a bad Wall of Omens on the third chapter.
The Modern Age may be the best, with double looting and a flying 2/3, but I still wonder about late game when you really want a creature now, not a creature in a couple turns.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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Anyone else like Touch the Spirit Realm?
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I'm actually liking the look of this Blossom Prancer a ton - probably my second favorite card so far after Reinforced Ronin.
A 4/4 Reach for 3GG is a good body, and having a CIP ability that says "look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or enchantment card from among them and put it into your hand" is almost guaranteed to hit provided you constructed your deck appropriately. And on the very rare occasion that you don't hit, well "you gain 4 life."
I could see it as a replacement for Arborback Stomper. Losing trample is a bummer, but it digs pretty far and gives you the option for life gain as well. Good catch.
I also like the flexibility of Touch the Spirit Realm. Not sure how many enchantment removal cards I want to carry though.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
I have a Modern peasant cube so unfortunately, Malcolm isn't legal. Annoyingly most of my small evasive creatures are pirates rather than rogues or ninjas probably not but as a card it is nice. I was considering is removing +1/+1 counter support from blue and moving in some more rouges.
Speaking of rouges how does Acquisition Octopus compare with Jhessian Thief. I feel like the ability to equip this to a flyer is really good.
4 mana is a little steep but Towashi Guide-Bot recurring card draw is nice, particularly with arcbound.
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
Touch the Spirit Realm is pretty sweet and Reinforced Ronin is great.
Draft it on Cubetutor here, and CubeCobra here.
Treasure Cruise did nothing wrong.
Looks solid and supports a lot of directions - artifacts, Fires, equipment
Gravelighter is great, will add it.
I like Invigorating Hotsprings. It can give up to 4 creatures a +1/+1 counter and haste and it will give any creature haste that is 'modified'. I like it more than Rhythm of the Wild, which gives either haste or a +1/+1 counter. 4 counters should be enough for a game and you can put counters on creatures that are already on the battlefield, which ensures it has a direct board impact when it comes down on turn 3. And you can even use it for tokens if you have to. Will most likely add it.
EDIT: Rabbit Battery is also nice. A Raging Goblin that turns into a useful equipment later. Another red one drop I will add.
My Old School Battlebox
My Premodern Battlebox
Rhythmn of the Wild and Grumgully, the Generous are still better if you support Persist combo or go wide, but Invigorating Hotsprings is a much better +1/+1 signpost.
I also really like the flexibility of Rabbit Battery. Good to see Red aggro get some new toys.
After a slow start, the set seems to be improving.
My 2-Player Signed Legacy Cube
My Lord of the Rings Cube
Rabbit Battery seems exciting, maybe I will cut Boots of Speed or some other haste enabler.
Invigorating Hotsprings is nice, but I am not sure I like it more than the existing options.
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
Rabbit Battery is great. Hasty attack turn 1, much bigger hasty attacks on subsequent turns for just 1 Mana. And you can occasionally surprise your opponent by unattaching it for one extra attacker during a final alpha strike. I'll be adding this, too.
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
MTGSalvation tags
EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter