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:
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!
- Frozen_In_Ice
- Registered User
-
Member for 8 years, 10 months, and 13 days
Last active Tue, Mar, 19 2024 21:14:59
- 0 Followers
- 235 Total Posts
- 6 Thanks
-
7
calibretto posted a message on MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2022Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion -
1
A_WasherDryer posted a message on Peasant Cube Testing ResultsHad our first full table in a few months and wanted to share a bit about how some of the new cards (and one older) performed.Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
- Phyrexian Missionary did well for the BW midrange/aristocrats drafter. It played well on offense when he needed a turn 2 play, helped him stabilize against an aggressive UR drafter, and netted some pretty sick value against me when it bought back a blitzed Night Clubber.
- Elas Il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim was good as expected. The triggers, 2 power, and deathtouch all work together to do what BW wants. It's not an amazing late game top deck, but performed well enough that I expect it'll keep it's gold spot for a good while.
- Balmor, Battlemage Captain was pretty impressive for our UR drafter. UR normally ends up more controlling in my cube thanks to cards like Murmuring Mystic. But, Balmor and Sprite Dragon pulled a drafter who was mostly red aggro into blue in packs 2-3. Balmor gets pretty scary with a few bodies, cheap cantrips, and burn spells. I think I will keep Balmor over Prophetic Bolt for a while to give UR drafters a reason to build it multiple ways.
- Knight of Dawn's Light was fine. But, it was in UW as a 22-23 card for curve and didn't really fit into the blink theme. Still, it blocked well and was a good mana sink if I stalled out. I expect this will do better in decks that are primarily white and want to attack.
- Shardless Agent really underwhelmed, again. Granted, I'm not sure the UG drafter built their deck to best use SA, but I'm beginning to think it no longer deserves a spot. It is hard enough to encourage my drafters to play Simic as is, and I think something like Growth Spiral, may just be better.
-
1
ArBoR4817 posted a message on [[Peasant]] The Peasant Cube Discussion Thread (C/U/)I love blink as an archetype becomes it needs very little dedicated support. Most if not all blink targets are good enough on their own and most blink spells are still decent in decks without many blink targets. The only narrow blink cards I run are Displace, Ghostly Flicker, Momentary Blink and Soulherder. All the other cards are still fine in other decks as well.Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
The deck can be very strong but is often weak against full aggro decks. This can be mitigated by cards like Aven Riftwatcher and Lone Missionary but in my experience you should be careful to not add to much life gain if you want to support aggro in your cube. Drafting it is straightforward but not really parasitic as most cards are good enough on their own. You can start your draft with Ghostly Flicker or Soulherder and work from there but you can just as easily have a U/W control deck and see a second pack Ghostly Flicker and look at your cards and think: "Yeah, that's definitely good enough in my deck".
As for playing the deck, I think it is very fun to play, the only downside is that it doesn't often have a premium win con. This means that sometimes you have taken over the game, your opponent has no board presence, is on 20 life and is in topdeck mode, you are on 6-8ish life, have 6 cards in your hand and your are trying to win by attacking with a Mulldrifter or Cloudkin Seer ten turns in a row. This can be frustrating to play against.
Looking at your cube I would replace some of the protection spells like Ajani's Presence, Emerge Unscathed, Shelter, Test of Faith etc. in white for some blink spells as they can serve a similar function (cards like Ephemerate, Cloudshift and since you seems to support +1/+1 counters Otherworldly Journey and/or Long Road Home are decent as well).
You play most of the premium blink targets already (Mulldrifter, Cloudgoat Ranger etc.) You can replace some of the dedicated flier cards in blue and white with cards that like Watcher for Tomorrow, Alirios, Enraptured, Sea Gate Oracle, Master Splicer, Glimmerpoint Stag, Dawnbringer Cleric, Whirler Rogue and the before mentioned Displace, Ghostly Flicker, Momentary Blink and Soulherder.
As for the other colors:
Green usually brings the most. It has Eternal Witness and Timeless Witness for "comboing" with Displace or Ghostly Flicker. It also has some other premium blink targets like Blossom Prancer, Trostani's Summoner and Acidic Slime. Halana, Kessig Ranger is also pretty good with blink spells. It also has quite of few cards like Llanowar Visionary, Wall of Blossoms, Reclamation Sage which are good on their own and decent to blink.
Red brings the obvious Flametongue Kavu but also Beetleback Chief, Ardent Elementalist (for "comboing" again) and Imperial Recruiter (can search for a lot of good blink targets and can be blinked itself as well).
Finally, black gives you the "etb: destroy creature" cards like Shriekmaw, Skinrender and Ravenous Chupacabra. It also has some other decent blink targets like Vampire Sovereign and Sling-Gang Lieutenant. It also has some cheap reanimate cards which can work well with creatures with etb abilities and cards like Malakir Rebirth and Undying Evil.
-
1
rancoredmalone posted a message on Modern Horizons 2 spoilers for Peasant CubeI am so excited that this full set is finally spoiled! This set has a ton of interesting cards and, I believe, a pretty flat power level. I only think a single card is a staple and I could really see having fewer than 5 cards from Modern Horizons 2 in my Cube by next year. Since there are so many interesting cards, I have been thinking for a week exactly how large my set review should be and this is the biggest one yet. Commander Legends went to top 25, but Modern Horizons 2 will have a top 30! And that's excluding another 30+ cards I considered. Here comes my Way Too Early TopPosted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion2030 List for Modern Horizons 2!
30) Prismatic Ending, 29) Glinting Creeper, 28) Sweep the Skies, 27) Radiant Epicure and 26) Kaleidoscorch - I have zero true multicolored cards on this list, as I think my sections are pretty tight and nothing will break through. However, I think all of the Converge spells are pretty interesting. This rank order basically reflects how playable I think they are at 2-3 different colors used. Kaleidoscorch is reasonable enough as a Firebolt simile and if you squint, Radiant Epicure kind of looks like Siege Rhino.
25) Jade Avenger- What exactly is this card most like? A 2/2 first striker? A 2/2 with limited evasion? A 4/4 wall that sometimes attacks? I lean towards this playing mostly like a 2/2 first striker, and that is slightly underpowered for green 2-drops.
24) Monoskelion- I think paying 1 to deal damage severely hurts the power of this card. Instead of a potential 2 mana two-for-one, you get that deal for 3 mana. This is certainly a flexible card though and benefits by being reasonable in all types of decks.
23) Scuttletide- With delirium active, turning excess cards into 1/4s is very reasonable. I doubt this will ever be a single-card win condition, but it clogs up the board and can assist with closing the game. Really cute with cards like Sanitarium Skeleton.
22) Dragon's Rage Channeler- This looks good for the spells deck and maybe decent enough for generic red aggro. That said, I do not believe there is any deck that reliably has this at 3/3 earlier than turn 5.
The Reanimation Trio
21) Bone Shards, 20) Young Necromancer, and 19) Vile Entomber- All three of these cards fall a bit flat for me outside of very dedicated reanimator decks. Bone Shards has a lot of recent competition at 1 mana for creature kill spells. Young Necromancer falls among my 8th to 12th best reanimation spells, and I play 7 right now. Vile Entomber falls slightly behind other spells which self-mill for more cards, as non-reanimator graveyard stats do not typically need 1 specific spell in the graveyard.
The Counter Quartet
18) Constable of the Realm, 17) Herd Baloth, 16) Bannerhide Krushok, and 15) Scurry Oak- This set has convinced me to try out additional cards for the Persist combo decks, as a potential precursor to focusing even more on +1/+1 counters down the line. Constable of the Realm gets hurt by having a lot of competition among white 5-drops for +1/+1 counter support. Herd Baloth has the infinite combo with Ivy Lane Denizen but, without that, is pretty unreliable. Bannerhide Krushok is really, really close to getting in right now, looking like a mono-colored Ghor-Clan Rampager. Scurry Oak adds a lot to the battlefield with just 2 evolutions, and I think stands alone well without specific combo support (like Ivy Lane Denizen again).
More Interesting Cards
14) Blazing Rootwalla- I have jumped all over on this one. My main concern is that it feels a little underwhelming on a crowded board, whereas some other red one-drops can sometimes contribute.
13) Goblin Traprunner- This card feels less like a Goblin Rabblemaster and more like a swingy Beetleback Chief. This should be pretty good in most aggro decks, but I think sacrifice decks will benefit from the extra bodies AND provide more chances for Goblin Traprunner to keep attacking.
12) Legion Vanguard- Definitely an awesome way to turn those extra bodies into an advantage, but exploring is always a bit inconsistent in which advantage it provides.
11) Mine Collapse- A card that looks kind of Magmatic Sinkhole, an interesting MH1 card I never wanted to add. I believe the upside of being a free spell means a lot, but I need to be fully convinced.
10) Archfiend of Sorrows- I think this card could be an archetype defining sort of card, reminding me a lot of Feast of Succession. We have a big, expensive spell that really puts the clamps on aggro but also functions as a reasonable finisher in other matchups. This costs 7 mana instead of 6, but does have the potential Unearth upside.
9) Tireless Provisioner- This card might have its most upside in treasure-making, but could also be a great roadblock when it starts cooking up food. Pretty versatile, if not specifically powerful.
Slight Upgrades
8) Rift Sower, 7) Barbed Spike, and 6) Foundation Breaker- All three of these cards are good enough to replace similar cards (Search for Tomorrow, Stormfront Pegasus, and Conclave Naturalists), but none are so compelling that I would play them otherwise. Still, excited to have some upgraded cards in the Cube.
Cards I Am Excited To Play
5) Abundant Harvest- I am still skeptical of this card, but excited to test out. I worry this card is going to be mostly air. Whereas blue can use all that air to pump out something big (Pteramander or Rise from the Tides), green has fewest places to put that air. If there is a good spot to play it early, Abundant Harvest can help smooth out land drops or find a play for later. If these is not a good spot to play it early, it can make your turns a little awkward. Is adding G to the average spell in your deck better than the best spell in your sideboard?
4) Lose Focus- Probably the best two-mana counter spell since Remand? I could certainly see a world where this is better than Miscalculation, with its different type of flexibility. Even it is not better, being in the same realm as those two spells is pretty great.
3) Thraben Watcher- Always Watching was such an amazing card because the pump plus vigilance made your creatures dominate on offense and defense. This is more fragile than Always Watching was, but also attacks as a 2/2 flier. As a static ability, Thraben Watcher can impact the board the turn cycle it hits.
2) Timeless Witness- A bit controversial at #2, but I kept coming back to this being a potential four-for-one. Getting all of the card advantage is slow and expensive, but this is a pretty decent two-for-one on its face for 2GG. I also kept comparing this to Harmonize, where the three cards you "draw" are a 2/1 on the board, a cast Regrowth and a 5GG sorcery that makes a 4/4 plus Regrowth.
1) Flametongue Yearling- This was an easy #1. At RR, this is equal to Fire Imp and at 2RR, this is (mostly) better than Stalking Yeti. Besides already comparing well to two other Cube cards I really like, you also get the option to make it even bigger or combine pump spells with the ETB trigger. The only card I would consider an absolute staple from this set. -
1
Poster formerly known as Phitt77 posted a message on Double Masters downshiftsPosted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
For 3 mana it's not even worth a card. For 5 mana you get a crappy version of Grizzly Fate without Threshold and Flashback. For 7 mana you finally get something that is not terrible, but that is still worse than Trostani's Summoner or the quality green 7 drops (Pelakka Wurm, Plated Crusher etc) we have. It doesn't offer enough in the 3-5 mana range to make up for the lack of power in the 7 mana range and 9+ mana doesn't happen often enough even in green.
I assume this card may be playable in commander if you can somehow generate 9+ mana quickly (I don't play commander, so I may be completely wrong about it), but in CU/be it's just bad. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1
1
There's so many good options for Wind Drake+ now that are all pretty close to each other in power. Honestly, I say just pick the ones that fit the strategies that want to promote for blue. Frost Trickster, Aven Eternal, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Mistral Singer, Aerial Guide, Nimbus Naiad, Windrider Wizard, Warden of Evos Isle are all perfectly fine options IMO (these are just the ones I've personally considered at some point). If I had to guess, the first two I listed are have the most raw power, but others could be more powerful in your cube.
1
1
1
I'd be right with you there if it also tutored up the $20 to buy reanimate
1
It's only 7 mana to get Pelakka Wurm from your deck onto the battlefield if you get animate dead or exhume!