The name of the new planeswalkers has been revealed and had a story about her, pretty safe to say she will be black / white which is unfortunate for how stacked Orzhov is. I was hoping maybe she'd be mono black but after reading today's story she is most likely BW.
Hmm, I've actually never put mana elves in an aggro deck. Idk, do you think they fit? How did the elves perform in that deck?
I would have greatly preferred to lower the curve, but I was getting cut a bit on green. I had alot of low-drop creatures in red, but didn't want to stretch the mana to accommodate.
I count 9 lands that provide red mana in your list (and 12 green), I think you could have gone for more red drops without much of a stretch, maybe with one more mountain and one less forest.
Elves work fine in aggro decks since they work around Winter Orb and ramp up to Armageddon.
I want to take opinions on which of these cards I should most seriously consider for my 450 unpowered cube. I have some pucapoints to cash in and am making some decisions. None or multiple are also acceptable answers. I'm also open to other suggestions outside of power, fast mana, and the swords.
Tarmogoyf - I know this is widely considered a staple, but I don't run green aggro and I've always been unimpressed by this creature even if it scales extremely well. Not sure that its modern success translates to cube.
Force of Will - My counter suite is already quite strong. I know Desertion would be a good swap for this, but I really like that card. Not sure Blue needs more help.
Rishadan Port - Not sure how impactful including this would be. I don't have a lot of experience with this one. The lack of reprint also really hurt the chances that I'll buy into this one since it skyrocketed in price.
Sinkhole- Not sure how bad I need a one of land destruction spell in black. I get why it is strong, but I'm not sure I see a cut for this.
Scroll Rack - How do people feel about this effect in unpowered cube? Seems incredibly strong to me and maybe worth going in on.
Thanks for the help ahead of time.
Cuts I would consider taking a quick glance at your Cube:
Master of the Feast / Vampire Hexmage / Despise seem like easy cuts for Sinkhole.
Basilisk Collar for Rishadan Port. Port is definitely the best card of this bunch.
Troll Ascetic / Vorapede / Vengevine for Tarmogoyf.
Dungeon Geists / Serendib Efreet for Force of Will.
Chromatic Lantern or Black Vise for Scroll Rack: I don't think you need Lantern if you're running signets.
Stoke is one of the better 4 damage burn spells, but there's a lot of competition now between that effect / cost between Exquisite Firecraft / Fiery Confluence / Collective Defiance, all which I like more than Stoke. I cut Stoke at 540 last year for Firecraft but would definitely cube it in anything bigger.
I'm stoked for Conspiracy 2! More potential cube cards and now it'll give me an excuse to finish my conspiracy module.
As a cube card, DRS is pretty nifty since he's one hell of a Swiss Army knife for one hybrid mana AND he just so happens to be a 1/2. I recently retired Lotleth Troll and brought back Abrupt Decay as my #4 Golgari card. I rank Abrupt Decay a bit lower in unpowered because I love Life // Death too much.
Personally, I really hate DRS. DRS + Abrupt Decay single handedly ruined Legacy for me for a couple years because I'm a Stax player.
The "Unpopular Opinions" series on the MTGCube Subreddit is one of the more entertaining things on the MTGCube subreddit, but I often disagree with many of the author's opinions. While I may not P1P1 Demonic Tutor over an archetype enabler (depending on my mood) like Sulfuric Vortex / Recurring Nightmare / Upheaval / Wildfire, taking Demonic Tutor first keeps me much more open at the beginning of the draft since it doesn't particularly heavily commit you to something and is easily splashable.
I'll play Demonic Tutor in any black deck regardless of archetype, the beauty of the card is that it's whatever you want when you need it, sometimes you just need to tutor for that one land....
As far as art goes, original is always best, foil Demonic Tutor is wrong.
I like Dark Ritual quite a bit, it's great risk / reward and there are plenty of discard outlets black can pitch it to when it's no longer useful. Being able to power out turn 1 Phyrexia Arena, Liliana of the Veil / the Last Hope, or Thoughtseize + Dark Confidant are all amazing things that any unpowered cube can pull off.
Hard to go wrong art wise: the original art is a classic but the Guay is just beautiful. The Langley version has a lot of nostalgia to me since it was one of the first cards I ever cast. My preference goes to the Guay.
As I said with Brainstorm, Mercadian Masques art tends to be my preference of choice for a lot of cards.
Simic has plenty of options, but outside of Edric everything is mostly utility. FWIW, I think Kiora 2.0 is better than Kiora 1.0, she's very useful in ramp decks since she either ramps out your threats or draws for gas when you need it.
Splashable soft counter that can replace itself when it's no longer effective, seems like a staple in my book. Not sure how I'd rank the 2 mana counterspells besides putting Mana Drain at the top, Counterspell / Mana Leak / Arcane Denial / Remand / Miscalculation are all staples in my book.
I never use my pinky toe, so that's an easy choice.
Regarding Yawgmoth's Will, I wish there was a more expensive version of it that's also an instant and lasts until your next end step. There's a red X spell from Theros that gives you X YOLO draws that has this clause, it'd be nice to cast Yawg Will on opponent's end step so I have all my mana available to utilize the effect.
I tried to make Yawgmoth's Will work but I always ended up stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, it's much weaker in an unpowered cube, but if I power up my cube, there's no room for Yawg Will unless I really dedicate a lot to storm combo.
I love Yawgmoth's Will itself but I think it's a very misunderstood card. A lot of people just think it's a card you wombo combo and win with, but its most useful applications are to just play it for value. Nothing wrong with casting Yawg Will, replay a fetchland and a removal spell, pass turn. It's essentially a more expensive Snapcaster Mage that affects your entire graveyard.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/story/planeswalkers/kaya-ghost-assassin
EDIT: I'm seeing a lot of speculation that she may also be Dimir or Esper, but my money is still on Orzhov.
Elves work fine in aggro decks since they work around Winter Orb and ramp up to Armageddon.
Cuts I would consider taking a quick glance at your Cube:
Master of the Feast / Vampire Hexmage / Despise seem like easy cuts for Sinkhole.
Basilisk Collar for Rishadan Port. Port is definitely the best card of this bunch.
Troll Ascetic / Vorapede / Vengevine for Tarmogoyf.
Dungeon Geists / Serendib Efreet for Force of Will.
Chromatic Lantern or Black Vise for Scroll Rack: I don't think you need Lantern if you're running signets.
I'm stoked for Conspiracy 2! More potential cube cards and now it'll give me an excuse to finish my conspiracy module.
Personally, I really hate DRS. DRS + Abrupt Decay single handedly ruined Legacy for me for a couple years because I'm a Stax player.
I'll play Demonic Tutor in any black deck regardless of archetype, the beauty of the card is that it's whatever you want when you need it, sometimes you just need to tutor for that one land....
As far as art goes, original is always best, foil Demonic Tutor is wrong.
Pick to keep? If so, keep Supreme Verdict, Hero, and Restoration Angel.
Hard to go wrong art wise: the original art is a classic but the Guay is just beautiful. The Langley version has a lot of nostalgia to me since it was one of the first cards I ever cast. My preference goes to the Guay.
As I said with Brainstorm, Mercadian Masques art tends to be my preference of choice for a lot of cards.
I never use my pinky toe, so that's an easy choice.
Regarding Yawgmoth's Will, I wish there was a more expensive version of it that's also an instant and lasts until your next end step. There's a red X spell from Theros that gives you X YOLO draws that has this clause, it'd be nice to cast Yawg Will on opponent's end step so I have all my mana available to utilize the effect.
I love Yawgmoth's Will itself but I think it's a very misunderstood card. A lot of people just think it's a card you wombo combo and win with, but its most useful applications are to just play it for value. Nothing wrong with casting Yawg Will, replay a fetchland and a removal spell, pass turn. It's essentially a more expensive Snapcaster Mage that affects your entire graveyard.
IMO
Black Oath > Reignited >>>> Vess