I was psyched when I saw Anguished Unmaking downshifted. I think I'll be slotting it in as well as the duals. I'm running the SNC common allied duals now. Seems like potentially coming in untapped outweighs the ability to sac for a card later in the game.
Rumor Gatherer didn't even make the average list this year, probably because of what Phitt said with folks cutting it quickly once Mentor was downshifted. If I had to pick one, it'd be Flickerwisp. Not only is it blink support, but it's also a solid evasive beater. Even if you're not in blink, you can still get a ton of value from it by blinking a random ETB guy on your side or a token or blocker on your opponent's side.
I always thought the Class's work pretty straight-forwardly. All of the costs are directly above, so pay the casting cost, get the first. Pay the second, get the second. So on and so forth. I may be a little biased from playing them on Arena, though, where the game kind of forces you to play them correctly. I'm also confused where Leelue is getting those numbers from.
I dropped Liberator for exactly the day/night tracking reason Leelue mentioned. Last cube night I tried to explain how Day/Night worked to someone who hasn't played much over the past couple years and he straight removed the card from his deck. Day/Night is an example of a mechanic that works great on digital and while it does translate to paper, it doesn't translate very well.
With that said, though, Cankerbloom is probably the best of the three for that effect.
Thanks for all the kind words on the project and I'm glad folks are finding it useful. I've been traveling for work all week, so I haven't gotten my MTGS fix.
@Leelue - I technically got the list up a week or two earlier than I said I would, so sorry about not getting your list included. You gotta stay on top of that!
@vertigo451 - Very interesting and useful info. Remember that there were more cubes included this year and a few from last year that didn't get included. That alone might have some effect on popularity of specific cards.
I run Radiant over Serra Angel. Radiant is popular among my group and I don't want to run both. Serra Angel has stood the test of time, though. Five for a 4/4 flying vigilance is still pretty damn good.
I'm still running the big Eldrazi monsters for the exact reason Leelue mentions. I mostly like having them in as options for the reanimator deck, but they are still castable in big ramp when that deck comes together.
All right, peasant friends. It's that time again. It's the Average Peasant Cube for 2022!
As a disclaimer I want to say that this list is not “THE” list. It's a fun project that I like to do that generates some discussion and some folks seem to find helpful. Your cube is your cube and you should build it in a way that you and your play group find fun. If you're the only one running a specific card, that doesn't make it wrong. I personally like to use this list throughout the year to help me make the tough cuts for new cards. It can also be a little eye opening and help you “kill your darlings” so to speak. I have no intentions, however, of cutting Knight of the Holy Nimbus, even though I am literally the only one of you savages that's running it.
If you're not here for my ramblings, let's just get right to the links:
We lost 10 cubes due to those cubers not having updated their list in a long while. I wanted to ensure that all cubes were updated at least through DMU, but ideally through BRO. Even with that loss, though, it seems the popularity of peasant is pretty high because I was able to get the lists used up to 51 total lists this year! The cubes that didn't make it in the average list are listed in the Google Doc in red text.
One note I want to make, however, is that our little MTGS community has only dwindled over the past few years. While this is labeled the MTGS Average Cube, in reality it's more like the CubeCobra average cube. I had to source most of the cubes used in the comparison from recently updated lists over there. If we stuck to only those of us that are active on MTGS, we'd have a paltry number of lists to compare.
Now, on to the data and some things I noticed.
We technically got 9 new sets this year that could potentially add new cards to our peasant lists. If you discount Jumpstart 2022 for being generally unimpressive and Unfinity for being fairly niche, that's still 7 sets with potential additions.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Streets of New Capenna
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate
Double Masters 2022
Dominaria United
Unfinity
The Brothers War
Jumpstart 2022
Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40K
The most prominent thing that really stood out is how it seems folks are moving away from dual lands in favor of the Thriving lands, the new Gates, and Vivids. I don't know if I'm on board with that just yet, but it was interesting to see.
There were 201 cards in last year's list that did not make the cut this year. A note on that is last year's list ended up at over 800 cards, but this year's came in at just over 750. When I upload the list, I filter down to 720 cards and then just take the rest of the cards from that section. This year that got us up to cards that were present in at least 9 cubes. Last year I had to go all the way down to cards present in at least 6 cubes.
Last year I noticed that several cubers were really supporting +1/+1 counters. This year, I noticed that cubers seem to be leaning into more archetype focused environments in general. There is a good amount of support for Blink and Graveyard Matters themes represented in the average list. It also looks as though more people are hopping on the Persist Combo support train, which I am here for.
I've already compared my own list to the 2022 list and am considering several swaps. I noticed a few higher ranking BRO cards that I may have overlooked and I like the idea of including more archetype focused cards to help flesh out some things I'm already supporting in one way or another.
Anyway, I look forward to the discussion on this year's average list. I hope you all find it somehow useful. I'm sure I'll be referring back to it quite often over the next year.
I'm sure a lot of the CotH love is nostalgia talking. However, I do still think the card is good on rate as 2-for-1 value in green, especially at peasant power level. It's decent in multiple different archetypes from beatdown decks self-mill or graveyard decks, to Rock style midrange decks. I'm definitely giving it a go in my 360.
Welcome back around! Three years is a while to be away. You can certainly check out last year's average list to get an idea of what folks have been including in the time you've been away. This year's average list should be up in the next couple of weeks. I'm really psyched to see how it shakes out this year. We've gotten some real bangers in 2022.
I am enthralled by Primeval Herald. I keep thinking how good this would be if you get two lands before trading off with an opposing 2-drop. Herald's output is too unpredictable to accurately determine its power, but I will certainly pick one up.
Feels like it should be half a Primeval Tiatan, so I wonder why it's not a 3/3. Being a 3/1 is essentially the only thing that keeps it out of my cube.
The only two new cards from this that I find interesting are Conductor of Cacophony and Mild-Mannered Librarian. I don't know if either will find a home in my 360, though.
I like that Conductor is a play on Crypt Rats and Pestilence and I like that it plays well with other +1/+1 counters. I think that it needed just a bit more for inclusion over current black fours in tight 360 peasant lists, though. As a Demon, it probably needed flying. I don't think that would have made it too powerful since you're planning to make it smaller. Probably just not good enough overall.
As for the Librarian, the initial body on this one really needed to be a 2/1 or maybe have Trample or something. I like installment plan cards like this that you can play out early and then have a mana sink later. Unfortunately neither version of this is good enough, IMO.
It really seems like they held way back on the power level for the new cards in this set, especially the commons/uncommons. Not only are the interesting new cards at our rarities just not that great, but there are zero downshifts for us or pauper cubers. Every card I think has a neat and interesting ability really just needed one or two small tweaks to make it.
I'll probably pick up a couple of the anime arts and I really like the new art on Reassembling Skeleton. They don't come in foil, though, so I'm not even sure I'll make those swaps.
This is overall a very disappointing supplemental set.
I can't agree more with Leelue. I use the average list all year long and you can certainly just take the top 360 cards and end up with a decent starter list. I think it's important, though, to make sure you're also including cards that bolster the environment you and your group like. If that's rare land cycles or pet cards, then that's absolutely the correct thing to do.
I plan on putting the list together the week before Christmas. I have vacation that week, so I'll have time to work on it. Plus that gives everyone time to get their lists updated with BRO.
With that said, though, Cankerbloom is probably the best of the three for that effect.
@Leelue - I technically got the list up a week or two earlier than I said I would, so sorry about not getting your list included. You gotta stay on top of that!
@vertigo451 - Very interesting and useful info. Remember that there were more cubes included this year and a few from last year that didn't get included. That alone might have some effect on popularity of specific cards.
I run Radiant over Serra Angel. Radiant is popular among my group and I don't want to run both. Serra Angel has stood the test of time, though. Five for a 4/4 flying vigilance is still pretty damn good.
I'm still running the big Eldrazi monsters for the exact reason Leelue mentions. I mostly like having them in as options for the reanimator deck, but they are still castable in big ramp when that deck comes together.
As a disclaimer I want to say that this list is not “THE” list. It's a fun project that I like to do that generates some discussion and some folks seem to find helpful. Your cube is your cube and you should build it in a way that you and your play group find fun. If you're the only one running a specific card, that doesn't make it wrong. I personally like to use this list throughout the year to help me make the tough cuts for new cards. It can also be a little eye opening and help you “kill your darlings” so to speak. I have no intentions, however, of cutting Knight of the Holy Nimbus, even though I am literally the only one of you savages that's running it.
If you're not here for my ramblings, let's just get right to the links:
The cube on CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/mtgs2022
The Google doc with ALL the data: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SUOOAnf4beTsnYp9-FHNqDak2kmjyg6y6FaogxAJLNw/edit#gid=0
We lost 10 cubes due to those cubers not having updated their list in a long while. I wanted to ensure that all cubes were updated at least through DMU, but ideally through BRO. Even with that loss, though, it seems the popularity of peasant is pretty high because I was able to get the lists used up to 51 total lists this year! The cubes that didn't make it in the average list are listed in the Google Doc in red text.
One note I want to make, however, is that our little MTGS community has only dwindled over the past few years. While this is labeled the MTGS Average Cube, in reality it's more like the CubeCobra average cube. I had to source most of the cubes used in the comparison from recently updated lists over there. If we stuck to only those of us that are active on MTGS, we'd have a paltry number of lists to compare.
Now, on to the data and some things I noticed.
We technically got 9 new sets this year that could potentially add new cards to our peasant lists. If you discount Jumpstart 2022 for being generally unimpressive and Unfinity for being fairly niche, that's still 7 sets with potential additions.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
Streets of New Capenna
Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate
Double Masters 2022
Dominaria United
Unfinity
The Brothers War
Jumpstart 2022
Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40K
The most prominent thing that really stood out is how it seems folks are moving away from dual lands in favor of the Thriving lands, the new Gates, and Vivids. I don't know if I'm on board with that just yet, but it was interesting to see.
There were 201 cards in last year's list that did not make the cut this year. A note on that is last year's list ended up at over 800 cards, but this year's came in at just over 750. When I upload the list, I filter down to 720 cards and then just take the rest of the cards from that section. This year that got us up to cards that were present in at least 9 cubes. Last year I had to go all the way down to cards present in at least 6 cubes.
Last year I noticed that several cubers were really supporting +1/+1 counters. This year, I noticed that cubers seem to be leaning into more archetype focused environments in general. There is a good amount of support for Blink and Graveyard Matters themes represented in the average list. It also looks as though more people are hopping on the Persist Combo support train, which I am here for.
I've already compared my own list to the 2022 list and am considering several swaps. I noticed a few higher ranking BRO cards that I may have overlooked and I like the idea of including more archetype focused cards to help flesh out some things I'm already supporting in one way or another.
Anyway, I look forward to the discussion on this year's average list. I hope you all find it somehow useful. I'm sure I'll be referring back to it quite often over the next year.
Cheers, friends, and happy cubing!
I'm also psyched for Mystic Enforcer. MiracleGro was my jam twenty years ago.
Feels like it should be half a Primeval Tiatan, so I wonder why it's not a 3/3. Being a 3/1 is essentially the only thing that keeps it out of my cube.
I like that Conductor is a play on Crypt Rats and Pestilence and I like that it plays well with other +1/+1 counters. I think that it needed just a bit more for inclusion over current black fours in tight 360 peasant lists, though. As a Demon, it probably needed flying. I don't think that would have made it too powerful since you're planning to make it smaller. Probably just not good enough overall.
As for the Librarian, the initial body on this one really needed to be a 2/1 or maybe have Trample or something. I like installment plan cards like this that you can play out early and then have a mana sink later. Unfortunately neither version of this is good enough, IMO.
It really seems like they held way back on the power level for the new cards in this set, especially the commons/uncommons. Not only are the interesting new cards at our rarities just not that great, but there are zero downshifts for us or pauper cubers. Every card I think has a neat and interesting ability really just needed one or two small tweaks to make it.
I'll probably pick up a couple of the anime arts and I really like the new art on Reassembling Skeleton. They don't come in foil, though, so I'm not even sure I'll make those swaps.
This is overall a very disappointing supplemental set.
I plan on putting the list together the week before Christmas. I have vacation that week, so I'll have time to work on it. Plus that gives everyone time to get their lists updated with BRO.