Mardu Woe-Reaper is one of my favorite 2-powered one drops, since it has a higher ceiling when drawn later than most other ones do. I feel that they're all kinda interchangeable, though.
How much graveyard hate do you run in your cube? Do you ever wish you had more or less?
Mystic Snake is a very versatile card, being a counterspell that also sticks around as a creature, but I find that I rarely find myself wanting a four mana counterspell or four mana 2/2, so it's currently riding the bench for me.
Do you like having more creatures with enter-the-battlefield 'spells' attached, or would you prefer to keep your creatures and spells separate?
For just an extra mana to hard cast it over Force Spike, you get the option of casting it for free in exchange of a small tempo hit. Knowing that you have Daze in your deck can make your opponent play off curve to avoid it, even if you don't have it in your hand.
How often do you play around taxing counters like Daze or Miscalculation? How often do you think it is correct to do so?
These guys make up the brunt of some of the best ramp available in cube, and I believe that the biggest question regarding them is how many of them you want to run.
What's your opinion on running functional reprints in cube? Do you like having access to more copies of certain effects, or do you prefer to keep it closer to 'true' singleton?
Collective Defiance reads powerful on paper, but it has always felt a little too fair every time I've cast it in cube. Still, I keep considering re-including it because I don't run a lot of instants or sorceries in Red that do anything besides deal damage, so having a mode that does something different might be more valuable than I think.
What are your favorite Red spells that aren't about just dealing damage? Are there any hidden gems you've found?
A two mana 2-powered creature with First Strike that can assassinate Planeswalkers and hydras seems great, but requiring double Black makes it difficult to cast on curve. This makes it less ideal for aggro decks, but it helps that its ability is still relevant later in the game, so drawing it later or being forced to play it off-curve isn't always the worst.
What is your opinion of Planeswalkers in cube? Do you believe they're too easy or difficult to deal with? Just right?
Kalitas is a very powerful midrange beater with an ability that can incidentally hose many other cards while having great stats on its own. While it only kinda supports aristocrats as an archetype, I believe that cubes need generally strong cards in addition to archetype supporters both to fill out curves and keep people honest.
Is there a tribal card you run that you wished didn't require a specific creature type? Would it be too strong if it didn't?
2-powered one drops in aggressive colors are good. Firedrinker isn't one of the best ones, since the drawback is a thing, but Red's one drops aren't as good as White's, so I'll take what I can get.
Do you enjoy attending and/or throwing parties? What do you enjoy most about them?
As more and more good legendary creatures are printed, Karakas just gets better and better. It can be used to protect yourself from your opponent's legends, as well as protect your own legends from removal.
How do you sort lands with other activated abilities in your cube? Does it matter to you if the land requires colored mana to use it's ability?
I like to think that the creature you target with this spell is created by the leftover parts of the creatures sacrificed, as some kind of horrific amalgamation.
One of the stars of manaless Dredge, in cube I feel that Dread Return is a reanimation spell that's better for midrange/value decks than combo reanimation decks due to it's higher mana cost, in addition to the value of the Flashback requiring having other creatures in play. I think it's a good include if you find that you need another reanimation spell, especially one that might make it around to a midrange drafter.
How much of a history buff would you consider yourself to be?
I'm not sure all of white's creature removal is just "better" than black's. It's just different. Black offers things that you can't always get from white. Snuff Out is free, which is an amazing upside. Go for the Throat is a largely unconditional 2-mana removal spell that's also an instant. Hero's Downfall hits 'walkers and it's an instant. Shriekmaw is better than any of the removal options white has that's strapped to a creature. And the sweepers are comparable nowadays. Day of Judgment is less conditional than Languish, but it's easier to break the symmetry on the latter one. And Toxic Deluge is the best sweeper in the game. And black has Edict effects and 187-creatures, which can situationally be the best removal spells available. White has Swords/Path and the O-Rings, which are better as straight removal options than a lot of others because of their efficiency and flexibility, but I wouldn't make a blanket statement that black's removal suite is just inferior to white's.
I mentioned White's 'best' removal because I was thinking of Path, Swords, and the O-Rings. I agree that the quality of White's removal drops off sharply after those, while Black starts off a little worse but has many more comparably strong options. Snuff Out and Dismember are great, then you have the two mana spells that destroy non-whatever creatures, the three mana ones that hit any creature or Planeswalker, and the edicts. Black has a lot of cubable options, but with White I feel that if I wanted to add another removal spell, it would be so much worse than Path/Swords that it would look out of place.
It does bother me a little that white's best removal spells are so much better than black's. Declaration is a solid removal spell that can hit any creature, with some extra value to make up for it if you have to hit some tokens. It is a sorcery, but I still think it's a shoo-in or almost all mid-sized cubes, at least. Would you play it at 360 or lower?
How often do you find yourself re-evaluating your removal options as the creatures in your cube slowly get better?
I love Dissolve as a card, but the bar that a 3-mana counterspell has to cross to be playable in Cube is incredibly high, and Dissolve doesn't make it for most cubes. Does it see any play in Pauper or Peasant? I wouldn't think so, since a lot of the counterspells we run are already common as it is, but it might be one of the better 3-mana options.
What's your favorite card that you wish was playable in cube, but isn't? Has it ever been in your cube?
Chromatic Lantern can be great at helping cast cards you're splashing for, but relying on it too hard can make it difficult to cast those spells in the games you don't draw it. In Cube, I imagine that this is a fancy Manalith a significant portion of the time.
Which line of text on a card in your cube most often goes ignored?
Mardu Woe-Reaper
Mardu Woe-Reaper is one of my favorite 2-powered one drops, since it has a higher ceiling when drawn later than most other ones do. I feel that they're all kinda interchangeable, though.
How much graveyard hate do you run in your cube? Do you ever wish you had more or less?
Mystic Snake
Mystic Snake is a very versatile card, being a counterspell that also sticks around as a creature, but I find that I rarely find myself wanting a four mana counterspell or four mana 2/2, so it's currently riding the bench for me.
Do you like having more creatures with enter-the-battlefield 'spells' attached, or would you prefer to keep your creatures and spells separate?
Daze
For just an extra mana to hard cast it over Force Spike, you get the option of casting it for free in exchange of a small tempo hit. Knowing that you have Daze in your deck can make your opponent play off curve to avoid it, even if you don't have it in your hand.
How often do you play around taxing counters like Daze or Miscalculation? How often do you think it is correct to do so?
Llanowar Elves (as well as Fyndhorn Elves and Elvish Mystic)
These guys make up the brunt of some of the best ramp available in cube, and I believe that the biggest question regarding them is how many of them you want to run.
What's your opinion on running functional reprints in cube? Do you like having access to more copies of certain effects, or do you prefer to keep it closer to 'true' singleton?
Collective Defiance
Collective Defiance reads powerful on paper, but it has always felt a little too fair every time I've cast it in cube. Still, I keep considering re-including it because I don't run a lot of instants or sorceries in Red that do anything besides deal damage, so having a mode that does something different might be more valuable than I think.
What are your favorite Red spells that aren't about just dealing damage? Are there any hidden gems you've found?
Vampire Hexmage
A two mana 2-powered creature with First Strike that can assassinate Planeswalkers and hydras seems great, but requiring double Black makes it difficult to cast on curve. This makes it less ideal for aggro decks, but it helps that its ability is still relevant later in the game, so drawing it later or being forced to play it off-curve isn't always the worst.
What is your opinion of Planeswalkers in cube? Do you believe they're too easy or difficult to deal with? Just right?
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Kalitas is a very powerful midrange beater with an ability that can incidentally hose many other cards while having great stats on its own. While it only kinda supports aristocrats as an archetype, I believe that cubes need generally strong cards in addition to archetype supporters both to fill out curves and keep people honest.
Is there a tribal card you run that you wished didn't require a specific creature type? Would it be too strong if it didn't?
Firedrinker Satyr
2-powered one drops in aggressive colors are good. Firedrinker isn't one of the best ones, since the drawback is a thing, but Red's one drops aren't as good as White's, so I'll take what I can get.
Do you enjoy attending and/or throwing parties? What do you enjoy most about them?
Karakas
As more and more good legendary creatures are printed, Karakas just gets better and better. It can be used to protect yourself from your opponent's legends, as well as protect your own legends from removal.
How do you sort lands with other activated abilities in your cube? Does it matter to you if the land requires colored mana to use it's ability?
Dread Return
One of the stars of manaless Dredge, in cube I feel that Dread Return is a reanimation spell that's better for midrange/value decks than combo reanimation decks due to it's higher mana cost, in addition to the value of the Flashback requiring having other creatures in play. I think it's a good include if you find that you need another reanimation spell, especially one that might make it around to a midrange drafter.
How much of a history buff would you consider yourself to be?
Akroma's Memorial
Seven mana is a to ask in cube, but maybe Memorial has use as a Tinker target? It does let your your creatures win combat basically forever.
What would you like to see in a possible noncreature Tinker target?
I mentioned White's 'best' removal because I was thinking of Path, Swords, and the O-Rings. I agree that the quality of White's removal drops off sharply after those, while Black starts off a little worse but has many more comparably strong options. Snuff Out and Dismember are great, then you have the two mana spells that destroy non-whatever creatures, the three mana ones that hit any creature or Planeswalker, and the edicts. Black has a lot of cubable options, but with White I feel that if I wanted to add another removal spell, it would be so much worse than Path/Swords that it would look out of place.
Declaration in Stone
It does bother me a little that white's best removal spells are so much better than black's. Declaration is a solid removal spell that can hit any creature, with some extra value to make up for it if you have to hit some tokens. It is a sorcery, but I still think it's a shoo-in or almost all mid-sized cubes, at least. Would you play it at 360 or lower?
How often do you find yourself re-evaluating your removal options as the creatures in your cube slowly get better?
Dissolve
I love Dissolve as a card, but the bar that a 3-mana counterspell has to cross to be playable in Cube is incredibly high, and Dissolve doesn't make it for most cubes. Does it see any play in Pauper or Peasant? I wouldn't think so, since a lot of the counterspells we run are already common as it is, but it might be one of the better 3-mana options.
What's your favorite card that you wish was playable in cube, but isn't? Has it ever been in your cube?
Chromatic Lantern
Chromatic Lantern can be great at helping cast cards you're splashing for, but relying on it too hard can make it difficult to cast those spells in the games you don't draw it. In Cube, I imagine that this is a fancy Manalith a significant portion of the time.
Which line of text on a card in your cube most often goes ignored?