Well, it *is* a 3/3 for 2 which will be attacking on turn 3. How many such cards will you find in white, or other colours for that matter? Black has a few with much worse drawbacks and green's require two coloured mana. A 3/3 for 2 is very big and a nice aggressive card even without evasion.
Well, Serendib Efreet is an obviously good card, as mentioned.
Juzam Djinn is probably not worth the monetary investment for those who do not already have him but I really like having the card in the CU/be because the body is very much relevant. Outside of green's biggest baddies and Eldrazi, you hardly get bigger than that in Peasant and Juzam Djinn comes online quite a few turns in advance. The fact it costs relatively little to play is also beneficial to decks which want to leave mana open.
Old Man of the Sea us a personal favourite and often takes over games. Even without any form of support (although plenty is available), the Old Man simply represents so much value if the opponent plays any small creatures at all.
Is this deck I just drafted as crazy as I think it is, or is it all just in my head? Since the meta has been favouring control decks, I would really like to know whether an aggro deck like this had a chance to win a draft.
Well, the question about Pendelhaven Elder's playability fringes on whether a 2/3 wall that comes into play tapped for 2 would be a good enough worst case scenario. Because it can always tap itself after blocking to gain the benefits of a grizzly eater. That card would most definitely not be good enough by itself but tagging a decent albeit limited (mostly to tokens) anthem effect on it might be good enough. This anthem only works either on the offence or on defence, and it only affects particular creatures. It is more of a limited War Horn or Thunderstaff effect with a much better boost available to a more limited number of creatures.
Probably still unplayable (I did have it in my CU/be at one point to support tokens in green, though).
I just noticed my CU/be was the second most drafted Cube in CubeTutor this week. I suppose I should thank the user called 'Confection' as well as my own procrastination with an important essay.
The trilands are the best currently available 10 land cycle. However, the gainlands are perfectly playable and after having replaced the bouncelands with them a while ago, I must admit they have their strengths. It is actually quite funny seeing someone who has opted to drop the Peasant restriction in order to gain better fixing berate the latter since they are perfectly fine if rare lands are still excluded. For one, simply having the trilands and vivids plus whatever rainbow lands are available would not suffice for me, and either the gainlands or the bouncelands are the next best option.
Death Denied has been discussed quite a bit and it is good value. However, it needs to be activated for a lot to actually be viable, and there are not that many situations where you would actually even have enough targets available. Erebos's Emissary might provide a decent mono-B discard outlet but it is simply a very unexciting card on average. Pawn of Ulamog does provide double value for sacrificed non-tokens in the right deck but oftentimes those decks already run a big token suite as sacrifice fodder, reducing its value. Finally, the proliferate cards are likely among the weaker alternatives in the colourless section. I personally like Tezzeret's Gambit quite a bit, but Contagion Clasp might be better if you really want to support going deep with +1/+1 counters.
I just recently included Su-Chi myself. It will be sent alongside my BFZ preorder. Thus, I have no experience with the card, but I would argue that it is definitely better than Juggernaut. Juggernaut's clause which forces it to attack is particularly bad on a creature which will trade downwards.
The consensus is Epic Confrontation being the best, and I agree with the assessment. Contrary to the Juggernaut example, this card allows you to kill bigger creatures than the creature could handle by itself. While you actually do not necessarily trade, it could be conceptualized as 'trading upwards'. Of such cards, Epic Confrontation is the most reliable and cost-effective.
To be honest, I would never Cube Drana's Emissary. It is unexciting and should only ever be considered if your guild section is big enough to make Kingpin's Pet a consideration. IMHO, it should never be. And this is coming from someone who had 10 cards per guild at 360 at the very beginning. Currently, I run 2.
Why would people run Jackal Pup? Because it is probably the best alternative available for the job in its respective colour. Jungle Lion is very similar in this regard. Black and white may have better aggressive 1-drops - even strictly better ones, colour notwithstanding. But colour is actually a very real consideration in terms of cube design.
The other two are cards I would personally not run but they have things going in their favour. Trophy Hunter can become quite big quite easily if there are small fliers for it to pick on, and it even provides a lot of value in such cases. Personally, I would run it if its effectiveness was not reliant on your opponents' choices during deckbuilding. Darkthicket Wolf threatens to provide value if you decide to block it, making a trade a chumping instead. This, I believe, is nice value for the 3 mana it takes, and often it grants a sort of unblockability. Unlike Nantuko Husk (which is not a bad card, actually), the wolf threatens to provide actual value. It is also a bear and not a gray ogre, which is very relevant.
Quite a few still include Skullclamp despite it being a known potential format breaker. However, it has to yet cause all that much havoc in my CU/be. Similarly, I run Library of Alexandria which, I believe, is known as the second best pick after Sol Ring in normal cubes. However, Library has yet to win a single draft or sealed event I have held.
I did momentarily decide to include Sol Ring but removed it before a single draft with it was enacted. That is where even I must draw a line.
Well, Mortarpod gives you one free ping in colourless. That itself often helps it pay back for itself to a degree. It also provides a minimal toughness boost when not being used as a sac outlet. Basically, it does things even when not activated. Vampiric Rites, on the other hand, requires 1BB to do anything at all. And the first card you draw actually only replaces the investment in the enchantment itself.
I would have to say 'dedicated control decks'. It is very much possible to build a deck which will keep the creatures to which the hammer can be equipped in check even if the hammer itself resolves. Similarly, fast enough aggro decks can make the hammer too slow unless the player also draws enough answers. Thus far, it has bee one of the least problematic 'broken' cards. Grafted Wargear, for example, has a much higher win percentage. The free equip cost helps by *a lot*. Plus, the toughness boost is also very relevant in keeping the creatures alive, whereas those equipped with the hammer can and will often still trade in combat.
Well, Phantasmal Bear and Frost Walker are relatively low priority targets which would die to most things targeting them in any case. Note how almost no one runs Phantasmal Dragon, for example. The cards one animates with Makeshift Mannequin are very likely to be bigger creatures which suffer much more from dying to more things. Of course, having hexproof makes them almost immune to this weakness, and there are a few such finishers. Then there are the likes of Trostani's Summoner where the actual card is not the main threat.
It has a big upside, easily being a 2-for-1. It will often also allow you to attack the next turn, which may take the opponent by surprise. Most definitely worth considering but the drawback is real.
Juzam Djinn is probably not worth the monetary investment for those who do not already have him but I really like having the card in the CU/be because the body is very much relevant. Outside of green's biggest baddies and Eldrazi, you hardly get bigger than that in Peasant and Juzam Djinn comes online quite a few turns in advance. The fact it costs relatively little to play is also beneficial to decks which want to leave mana open.
Old Man of the Sea us a personal favourite and often takes over games. Even without any form of support (although plenty is available), the Old Man simply represents so much value if the opponent plays any small creatures at all.
Probably still unplayable (I did have it in my CU/be at one point to support tokens in green, though).
Death Denied
Erebos's Emissary
Pawn of Ulamog
Contagion Clasp / Tezzeret's Gambit
Death Denied has been discussed quite a bit and it is good value. However, it needs to be activated for a lot to actually be viable, and there are not that many situations where you would actually even have enough targets available. Erebos's Emissary might provide a decent mono-B discard outlet but it is simply a very unexciting card on average. Pawn of Ulamog does provide double value for sacrificed non-tokens in the right deck but oftentimes those decks already run a big token suite as sacrifice fodder, reducing its value. Finally, the proliferate cards are likely among the weaker alternatives in the colourless section. I personally like Tezzeret's Gambit quite a bit, but Contagion Clasp might be better if you really want to support going deep with +1/+1 counters.
The consensus is Epic Confrontation being the best, and I agree with the assessment. Contrary to the Juggernaut example, this card allows you to kill bigger creatures than the creature could handle by itself. While you actually do not necessarily trade, it could be conceptualized as 'trading upwards'. Of such cards, Epic Confrontation is the most reliable and cost-effective.
To be honest, I would never Cube Drana's Emissary. It is unexciting and should only ever be considered if your guild section is big enough to make Kingpin's Pet a consideration. IMHO, it should never be. And this is coming from someone who had 10 cards per guild at 360 at the very beginning. Currently, I run 2.
The other two are cards I would personally not run but they have things going in their favour. Trophy Hunter can become quite big quite easily if there are small fliers for it to pick on, and it even provides a lot of value in such cases. Personally, I would run it if its effectiveness was not reliant on your opponents' choices during deckbuilding. Darkthicket Wolf threatens to provide value if you decide to block it, making a trade a chumping instead. This, I believe, is nice value for the 3 mana it takes, and often it grants a sort of unblockability. Unlike Nantuko Husk (which is not a bad card, actually), the wolf threatens to provide actual value. It is also a bear and not a gray ogre, which is very relevant.
I did momentarily decide to include Sol Ring but removed it before a single draft with it was enacted. That is where even I must draw a line.
It has a big upside, easily being a 2-for-1. It will often also allow you to attack the next turn, which may take the opponent by surprise. Most definitely worth considering but the drawback is real.