I could probably run morph with a list. That... makes me more warmed up to the idea. Not that I like a lot of morphs, though.
If that helps, I have 11 morphs in 440 cards (between 1 in White and 4 in Blue) in the Pauper cube, so in the usual two color decks there's only a range of 3 or 4 possible morphs. It seems to be enough to make people think about the possibilities without being overwhelming. You're playing 80 cards less, so 10 would go even further. I've never looked into morph at uncommon, so I've no idea how many are actually playable, but surely there should be 10 morphs that are worth looking at?
I could get around this by having a list in my box for review with the free spells written on it, but that sounds... uncomfortable.
I have a list of morphs in my Pauper cube and tell people they can look at it if they want to know what they can expect if their opponent plays a morph, but so far nobody's actually asked to see it. At least having it around feels more fair, even if I'm apparently the only one who cares.
Better take out Daze to keep it you know, consistent. And Fireblast.
I actually did that and I don't regret it. But then again, I just want to play good cards rather than the very best and try to have an environment that is most fun for the people I usually cube with, most of which are just playing Magic for fun now and then. I seriously doubt I'd add them back in even if I was playing with a more competitive group though. I think it really comes down to your group and what you want your cube experience to look like.
I mean... that's the "player expectation" if you've never seen a card outside of Battle for Zendikar. We pay U for Treasure Cruise and 1 to -5/-5 something and B to Reanimate a 7/7, paying 0 for +2/+2 seems eminently fair.
I don't think it's about power level only. I suppose one way to look at it is considering the work you have to put in to get a U treasure cruise or have a target to reanimate. There are drafting and deckbuilding opportunity costs for some of these cards.
As for Dismember, as petty as it sounds, having to have any mana open at all makes a difference in a lot of situations. Plus, if it's larger than 5 toughness, you're out of luck and at least you can see that your opponent still could be doing something. Daze and Snuff Out just hit you whenever, you can't play around that very well, even if you know your opponent has them. It's not very interactive or interesting, at least to me.
I wonder if we're going to get cards that are accidentally playable through Ingest and Devoid. Seems like there might be some interactions once we know more about how the mechanic is going to play out.
Streamlining Magic is what it slowly kills and the old sets (pre 4th edition) still have the best flavor in the game and are the main reason this game still exist. The fundament is just so strong, that MaRo and his henchman couldnt destroy it.
Besides, everyone who wants start playing paper tcg is pretty much forced to play magic now, because its so big and established.
The old spirit of magic is almost dead though, I notice this everytime im building flavorcubes. You notice every corner that magics philosophy is just about making money now or maros bonkers sense of fun/humor
For what it's worth, I agree about the negativity. We know there will be 5-10 interesting cards in the set, and it would be unreasonable to expect more, given that Cube is an eternal format. So I don't know which of your hopes have been shattered, other than that you appear to be bitter about Magic in general. I've been lurking here for a while and I always found the "crushed hopes" theme of the spoiler threads rather comical.
NWO, like it or not, is the reason we're still getting 5-10 new cards per set. Without NWO we likely wouldn't get any anymore. The people who buy Magic cards and keep the game alive care about the competitive nature of Standard, Modern and Limited formats (for all of them pre-4th like cards would be insta death)or they're casual and love the awesome flavor-mechanic links of otherwise uninteresting cards like Thraben Sentry. The thing is, as useless as Thraben Sentry is to Cubers, it's a better design than any of the old cards. NWO has made Magic a more popular, and designwise a vastly superior, game to what I was playing when I started in the 90s (and it's the only reason I got back into it recently). An overall healthy Magic ultimately benefits Cubers as well.
I don't think it's a good body, as I said it's completely average. I just don't think it's bad as you said, not within the common range at any rate. Given what is on offer for common flyers, the body is solid and I don't think it should not be considered a downside. What makes Custodi Squire good is the ability, but it's got the same solid base line as the Owl and wouldn't be played without that.
Either way, I'm not disagreeing with your assessment of Owl, I just think you make the card sound worse than the rating you gave it. It's unremarkable, not unplayable.
Ringwarden Owl: Prowess is not a very good ability, because it wants you to play your noncreature spells before combat. The upside, that prowess can be used as pseudo-evasion is only relevant, when the body is good enough without the pump, which this isn't.
Not saying the Owl should be better than borderline, but I feel like your description doesn't do it justice. I think you should rephrase that.
The point of Prowess is to threaten instants and cantrips during combat, which is significant as there are very few flyers who even get to trade with Owl at just one Prowess trigger (I couldn't name any that outright kill it and survive off the top of my head). Not every cube may have the critial mass of instants and cantrips to make this work all the time, but that doesn't make Prowess bad in general and your opponent still has to consider almost every block against the owl because of it's stat line in combination with the threat. Plus, the body is in fact fine and completely average, as there is only one blue flyer at 5 who's got a better stat line (Prescient Chimera).
(Also: Hey guys, been lurking since last year when I started Pauper cubing with a copy of Alex Ullman's cube and am currently building my own. This threat has been a great resource to get to know cards.)
If that helps, I have 11 morphs in 440 cards (between 1 in White and 4 in Blue) in the Pauper cube, so in the usual two color decks there's only a range of 3 or 4 possible morphs. It seems to be enough to make people think about the possibilities without being overwhelming. You're playing 80 cards less, so 10 would go even further. I've never looked into morph at uncommon, so I've no idea how many are actually playable, but surely there should be 10 morphs that are worth looking at?
I have a list of morphs in my Pauper cube and tell people they can look at it if they want to know what they can expect if their opponent plays a morph, but so far nobody's actually asked to see it. At least having it around feels more fair, even if I'm apparently the only one who cares.
I actually did that and I don't regret it. But then again, I just want to play good cards rather than the very best and try to have an environment that is most fun for the people I usually cube with, most of which are just playing Magic for fun now and then. I seriously doubt I'd add them back in even if I was playing with a more competitive group though. I think it really comes down to your group and what you want your cube experience to look like.
I don't think it's about power level only. I suppose one way to look at it is considering the work you have to put in to get a U treasure cruise or have a target to reanimate. There are drafting and deckbuilding opportunity costs for some of these cards.
As for Dismember, as petty as it sounds, having to have any mana open at all makes a difference in a lot of situations. Plus, if it's larger than 5 toughness, you're out of luck and at least you can see that your opponent still could be doing something. Daze and Snuff Out just hit you whenever, you can't play around that very well, even if you know your opponent has them. It's not very interactive or interesting, at least to me.
For what it's worth, I agree about the negativity. We know there will be 5-10 interesting cards in the set, and it would be unreasonable to expect more, given that Cube is an eternal format. So I don't know which of your hopes have been shattered, other than that you appear to be bitter about Magic in general. I've been lurking here for a while and I always found the "crushed hopes" theme of the spoiler threads rather comical.
NWO, like it or not, is the reason we're still getting 5-10 new cards per set. Without NWO we likely wouldn't get any anymore. The people who buy Magic cards and keep the game alive care about the competitive nature of Standard, Modern and Limited formats (for all of them pre-4th like cards would be insta death)or they're casual and love the awesome flavor-mechanic links of otherwise uninteresting cards like Thraben Sentry. The thing is, as useless as Thraben Sentry is to Cubers, it's a better design than any of the old cards. NWO has made Magic a more popular, and designwise a vastly superior, game to what I was playing when I started in the 90s (and it's the only reason I got back into it recently). An overall healthy Magic ultimately benefits Cubers as well.
Either way, I'm not disagreeing with your assessment of Owl, I just think you make the card sound worse than the rating you gave it. It's unremarkable, not unplayable.
Not saying the Owl should be better than borderline, but I feel like your description doesn't do it justice. I think you should rephrase that.
The point of Prowess is to threaten instants and cantrips during combat, which is significant as there are very few flyers who even get to trade with Owl at just one Prowess trigger (I couldn't name any that outright kill it and survive off the top of my head). Not every cube may have the critial mass of instants and cantrips to make this work all the time, but that doesn't make Prowess bad in general and your opponent still has to consider almost every block against the owl because of it's stat line in combination with the threat. Plus, the body is in fact fine and completely average, as there is only one blue flyer at 5 who's got a better stat line (Prescient Chimera).
(Also: Hey guys, been lurking since last year when I started Pauper cubing with a copy of Alex Ullman's cube and am currently building my own. This threat has been a great resource to get to know cards.)