I'm also in the 'no functional reprints, no strictly-betters' camp. I do think this pushes my cube away from aggro and towards grindier decks, and I don't really support aggro strongly in all colors. That's a tradeoff I'm willing to live with, but it's a personal preference.
Lumberjack has always been a pet card of mine, but Gruul is just too strong to justify it in my cube. After all it still turns Forst into Black Lotuses. If your are looking for a cut, the Emissary can definitely not be your consideration power level-wise. I would suggest Ground Assault instead. Red is not really short on removal and while Assault can deal huge chunks of damage, sorcery speed is a big downside without the possibility of being pointed at a players face it's not all that strong.
Definitely would not cut BTE for it, but Lumberjack is actually pretty decent. 5 mana on turn 2 is no joke.
Soulstinger Borderline. I'm not quite sure how this guy works. Could you put the -1/-1 counters on a Skittering Horror before you sacrifice it? Or does the sacrifice effect go on the stack and get resolved first?
No, the Horror triggers when you cast a creature, not when a creature EtB.
The graveyard shenanigans archetype is one of the strongest it Pauper, even though having a real reanimation spell outside of Exhume (which doesn't meet criterion 5.) would certainly help.
The thing with +1/+1 counters is, that we sure have a huge amount of good cards with +1/+1 counters on them, but nearly no payoff cards. All the payoff cards keep getting printed at uncommon rarity and personally I think we are years aways from this beeing a considerable archetype. Wotc pushes it really hard, there are cards with +1/+1 counters in nearly every set, but unless we get a whole bunch of real payoff cards at common rarity there is just no reason to run them.
This. Ainok Bond-Kin gets better with every set, but it's still pretty lonely.
Sorry, I was unclear. I think that Lightning Bolt is actually a great thing to have in a no-strictly-betters cube, because it cuts out a huge mass of burn from consideration that otherwise might be too dominant, so it sort of saves you from the problem of having too much burn in a very neat way. I've actually ended up cutting Incinerate for just the reason you describe.
I used to play Dawn and Evolution Charms, but I think they're both cut for being too low-power at this point.
My cube is also aiming for no-reprints, no-strictly-better. It actually helps with a few problems that unrestricted cubes have, while introducing others. (Specifically, there are a lot of burn spells that are strictly worse than Lightning Bolt which you can immediately cut.)
When I decided to do pauper cube, I told myself I would either foil it out and get the fanciest version of everything, or go the other direction and get the cheapest possible versions of everything and white-bordered unlimited lands. I decided to go the former, mostly as a joke, and it's been a ton of fun (and money). Slowly replacing foils with painted full-art cards now...
Artful Takedown just seems really overcosted next to Agony Warp.
Definitely would not cut BTE for it, but Lumberjack is actually pretty decent. 5 mana on turn 2 is no joke.
I like it in slower decks that don't have blue, but my cube is slower than many here, and it's still a low pick.
No, the Horror triggers when you cast a creature, not when a creature EtB.
Seriously, what do you have against Peema Outrider?
You think Peema Outrider and Thriving Rhino are Borderline?
Breath of Life?
...not that I run it, despite running Exhume.
This. Ainok Bond-Kin gets better with every set, but it's still pretty lonely.
Edit: (The others being Guardian of the Guildpact, Capsize, Rolling Thunder, and Sprout Swarm, but I haven't reevaluated this in a while.)
My cube is also aiming for no-reprints, no-strictly-better. It actually helps with a few problems that unrestricted cubes have, while introducing others. (Specifically, there are a lot of burn spells that are strictly worse than Lightning Bolt which you can immediately cut.)