I also like Warden of the Woods, will replace Scaled Behemoth in my cube. While hexproof is better than the draw two cards effect vigilance is a huge upside for a ramp creature like that. I remember a lot of situations where I couldn't afford to attack with my giant hexproof monster (Behemoth or Plated Crusher when it was still in my cube) because I needed it as a blocker.
On top of that the Warden effect will be more fun to play with, hexproof is always a bit boring.
EDIT: Leaping Augur is ok, but nothing I've been waiting for. And if there is one cmc section in red I don't need more creatures for it's the 4 cmc section, so it's an easy pass for me.
Basri's Acolyte is great for a common, but from my pov it's slightly worse than Relief Captain and I don't need two of these.
Quirion Dryad is tempting, mono color is rarely an option in cube and it grows automatically. Plus +1/+1 counters support, plus there is an old frame card I can use. Will most likely try.
Shipwreck Dowser is finally a playable card (unlike Archaeomancer or Mnemonic Wall) with this effect. Still not sure I like it enough to add it, would rather like to a see a 2U Snapcaster Mage at uncommon.
Llanowar Visionary looks nice and I have a bunch of (ramp) creatures in the green 3 cmc section that can be replaced so I will most likely give it a try.
Teferi's Tutelage is a playable addition for people who want a mill archetype, but it's still an extremely narrow card. It's probably not worse than Sphinx's Tutelage, just different. I'm not interested.
Maleficent Scythe looks ok, but I'm not sure I have place for it in black. I can see it getting used in aggro and aristocrats, though aggro always has a hard time finding a place for non-creature spells.
I don't like Consecrated Veteran that much. To me it's clearly worse than Adanto Vanguard and whether discarding a card is worth it or not will be highly situational, much more than the 4 life you have to pay for Vanguard.
Tidal Whale is a lot worse than Striped Riverwinder in reanimator and as a control finisher due to the lack of resilience (plus you can't discard it t1 in reanimator) so the only place for it would be a slow midrange deck and in that case it's not even clearly better than Riverwinder. Pass.
Siege Striker is interesting, but usually dedicated double strike/equipment decks don't run that many creatures. It can fit into a regular white go wide aggro deck, but it's odd as it's only good if you don't attack with the rest of your team. On the other hand white 3 cmc creatures are severely lacking in my cube and I could need another one. Will think about it.
Heartless Act is another playable 1B instant removal option. I have quite a lot of counters in my cube, so for me it's not better than what I already run.
Magma Charger seems like a pretty decent card, though Scrapper Champion is better and you probably don't need two of these at 4 cmc.
Grimdancer is certainly not bad, but I don't get the excitement about a 1cc card when we already have Gifted Aetherborn and Vampire Nighthawk. How many of these creatures do you need and is Grimdancer better than either of those? I cut Gifted Aetherborn for the cc mana cost and I think Grimdancer is slightly worse since the 1 mana is more important than the possibility to give menace. Nighthawk is obviously better as well. It's a decent card, but from my pov it's #3 for that type of creature in black and below 540 I wouldn't run it.
The cycling creatures are a lot worse than Krosan Tusker. Tusker gives card advantage when you cycle and with 7 cmc it's more likely you can actually play the creature later in the game. Far, far better than a 9 cmc creature that gives a trample token when you cycle it. And also better than the black creature - I'd rather play Twisted Abomination instead.
Reconnaissance Mission is just bad. How often do you hit your opponent four times or more with your creatures after playing a 2UU enchantment and aren't already winning anyway? No one plays Concentrate and that's a better card 90% of the time. Coastal Piracy may be a nice EDH card, but it's terrible in cube.
I really like Call of the Death-Dweller, finally another playable reanimation spell. It's not a spell for a reanimator combo deck, but any aggressive deck that wants Unearth or Reanimate can make very good use of it.
Anyone looking to revisit this thread? I'll toss out a number of "iconic" cards from the past that I think just aren't cutting it anymore:
Agree:
I've never played Capsize, it was bad even when I started with my cube 5 years ago. Far too low impact for the insane cost.
Somewhat agree:
Can somewhat agree with Yavimaya Elder, though I don't think he's that bad. I still play him, but I thought about cutting him for a while. It's a 2 power body that gives you card advantage when he dies and the double green cost isn't that hard to pay for green decks. It's good value and it's not like slower ramp decks are steamrolled by aggro decks in peasant, and I support aggro a lot. But yes, it's mediocre only.
Always found Opportunity to be boring, but I don't think there are much better massive instant speed card draw options available. It's a finisher for a counter/control deck obviously and I don't think it's worse than something like Chemister's Insight in such a deck, just different.
Deep Analysis I can also agree with, but I still play it as in combination with looters it's pretty decent. But I agree that the life loss hurts and that there are lots of great card advantage options in blue, so I wouldn't blame anyone for not playing it.
Hymn to Tourach is a matter of taste, but from my experience the often mentioned problem that it ends the game when your opponent discards all his lands on turn 2 almost never happens. Usually you get one good and one bad card and that's it. It obviously is random and I can understand if people don't like that, but it's not as overpowered on average as many claim. And Wrench Mind? That card is just bad and that's why no one plays it, which only shows that Hymn isn't that op.
Disagree:
Lightning Mauler is a relatively unique card, so I don't see how a run-off-the-mill cards like War-Name Aspirant can replace it. There are more than enough spots for your typical 3/2 with counter two drop in red (I also support an aggressive counter archetype), no need to cut a more interesting card like mauler.
Guttersnipe is a decent payoff for spells matter decks. It comes with a body that can help in some cases and it does the job it has to do pretty well. Nothing you need to run, but not terrible either considering there aren't that many cards to support the archetype.
Psychatog is great in the right deck. It's a card you can't just put into any ub deck without thinking about it, but in the right deck it's explosive. Nothing you need to run if you want a more versatile card, but if people know how to play with it it's great and - very important - a lot of fun.
Worn Powerstone is a good card for slow mana hungry decks that don't run green. A good example would be blink/bounce decks, you need all the mana you can get in those decks and bouncing and replaying Lone Missionary is a lot better than Pristine Talisman.
Strongly disagree:
Clone was and still is a great card, strongly disagree that it belongs into this thread. Getting the best creature on the battlefield with etb effect is easily worth 4 mana in most games. And it's even splashable. This is still a possible first pick in my cube.
Disagree with Cultivate, very good ramp spell that gives card advantage and the additional land can definitely make a big difference for a true ramp deck that plays lots of 5+ cmc cards. I like it a lot more than Rampant Growth, there are enough +1 mana options that cost less.
Gryff's Boon is basically a fixed Rancor, so I agree with the others that it's one of the best auras we have.
Curse of Predation is a completely broken card in Peasant (so broken that many people, including me, don't run it), if the tiers are about powerlevel alone it should easily be in the same tier as Rancor.
Fertile Ground? I don't think I've seen anyone play that card. It's certainly not terrible, but the difference between one and two mana for such a card is pretty huge. Utopia Sprawl is a million times better and there are lots of other one mana ramp options in CU/be. Paradise Druid at least gives you board presence.
Same is true for Wolfwillow Haven. The 2/2 you get in the late game doesn't even remotely make up for the 2 mana you spend for a Wild Growth.
The problem with all those Pacifism effects is that while they're not terrible you can't have that many of them, especially if you want a balanced cube that also has instants and sorceries. Most people already play Oblivion Ring and/or Banishing Light because they're versatile (plus there is Conclave Tribunal and Cast Out, which are also very playable), how many Pacifisms do you want on top of that? I run two in my 405 cube, and that's more than enough.
The same is true for 'traditional' auras like Hyena Umbra, Elephant Guide or Armadillo Cloak. They're decent, but how many can be in a deck? I often have a hard time finding a place for Gryff's Boon, and that's one of the very few auras of this kind I run. An aura needs a creature, so you can't have that many unless you have the boring bogles archetype in your cube. And I haven't seen that in any cube yet, because it's the most boring way to play Magic.
There is a good amount of decent auras you can theoretically play with, but that doesn't mean you can add a lot of those auras to your cube unless you only add them to support the parasitic enchantment archetype. Sure, I could maybe replace two or three cards in my cube with auras without completely destroying the balance, but anything more than that wouldn't work for me.
I've only played old school EDH with cards from Alpha to Ice Age. That was pretty fun, though I wouldn't want to play it that often due to the limited card pool.
I can see how regular EDH could be pretty boring though, it's much more complicated with all those modern cards that have walls of text and weird rules interactions and thus turns take much longer, plus it has all those two or three card combos that make you win the game instantly.
I also hate it if you have to do gentlemen agreements to balance the power level of something. I want rules and then I want to do the best I can to win by those rules. And not think to myself 'nah, I can't play these cards because other players would think it's no fun if I win that way'.
I like Renata, Called to the Hunt. It's basically a mono green Good-Fortune Unicorn and that is a very good card. Yet another great support card for WG tokens/counters, it almost feels like this archetype could become too good now as it is already really strong in my cube. May have to add some more countermeasures, but I will most likely run Renata.
I'm not a fan of Weaver of Destiny. I think Jade Mage is a good comparison and without other enchantments this is just way worse. I don't run a lot of enchtantments and even in WG the lands will rarely become more than 2/2. The counterspell protection only helps against blue and even blue doesn't have that many counterspells in cube, so it will rarely have a meaningful impact. I doubt this card is good enough in cubes that don't have a dedicated enchantment theme, though it's certainly one of the few cards that may enable such an archetype in the future if more 'not completely terrible on their own' cards get printed.
Well, so far this set truly sucks. There is still a lot to spoil, but an uncommon like The Binding of Titans is basically a really bad version of a mediocre common from another set (Grapple with the Past), which is not a good sign. And it's unlikely we'll get any broken devotion cards so unless your cube is based around mono color decks most of what we'll get for that mechanic will be out of question. Just a few weeks ago I cut Gray Merchant, and I doubt we'll get anything better than that.
If you don't want to build the cube from the ground up I'd look for useful additions for existing archetypes and add just a few cards each time you play. Or, if you want to introduce a new archetype that doesn't work in pauper normally, add a whole bunch of cards.
In this thread you can find a list of playable cards for pretty much any peasant archetype possible. The lists are a bit outdated so you have to find relatively recent cards yourself.
Adding 'basic' cards that just have a higher power level than their pauper counterparts will probably destroy the balance of the cube, so I wouldn't do that.
The color scheme isn't really a "scheme" or trying to be anything other that just different colors. I just have to work with the colors that CubeTutor offers for tags. It's easier to keep track if you use the filter function on the view list page and filter down to only the ones you want to see.
Cubetutor actually has enough red/orange/green tones for the list. Here is the original 2017 list I made:
I only did a 'colorblind edition' because some people had problems discerning the colors. For me personally the regular list is far easier to read than the colorblind one:
For most cards anecdotal evidence isn't enough to prove anything. Sol Ring is very easy to evaluate and it has been around since Alpha, so millions of players had a chance to play with it. Sure, it's still a situational card and just because you draw a Sol Ring, even early in the game, doesn't mean you are bound to win. But if you can make use of the mana and if you can play it on turn one or two it will give you a HUGE advantage.
Sol Ring may be ok in a slow multiplayer format like EDH (though it's still an unfair advantage in that format from my pov), but in any reasonably fast 1 vs 1 CU/be setting it will very noticeably increase win chances for any deck it is played in. I don't think there is a need to test that, it's just a matter of taste whether you think it's ok to have such a bomb in the cube or not.
About the blocking and flaming: Stop it please? While making controversial statements generalizing magic players is pointless, reacting to it in this way only sustains it. These posts are a report of a person's experience. Even if we experience things differently, isn't there something to be learned?
No, there is absolutely nothing that can be learned from his posts. He just keeps repeating the same nonsense (even with the same wording) over and over and over and over again. A lot of people, including me, have tried to get through to him and show him a different perspective. But he doesn't care and just starts his 'Magic players hate the game/see shroud and hexproof/playing terrible card x is like sprinkling holy water on a vampire and that's great because everything Magic players hate is great' nonsense all over again. Every. Single. Time.
I believe I'm a pretty nice guy and in all these years on this forum (post count is wrong, profile was reset due to change of site ownership) I've never ever considered blocking anyone, even if discussions could get a bit heated at times. But there is a point where discussion isn't possible anymore and that point was reached weeks ago for me already. And reading quoted comments by him like today shows me I was 100% right.
On top of that the Warden effect will be more fun to play with, hexproof is always a bit boring.
EDIT: Leaping Augur is ok, but nothing I've been waiting for. And if there is one cmc section in red I don't need more creatures for it's the 4 cmc section, so it's an easy pass for me.
Quirion Dryad is tempting, mono color is rarely an option in cube and it grows automatically. Plus +1/+1 counters support, plus there is an old frame card I can use. Will most likely try.
Shipwreck Dowser is finally a playable card (unlike Archaeomancer or Mnemonic Wall) with this effect. Still not sure I like it enough to add it, would rather like to a see a 2U Snapcaster Mage at uncommon.
Llanowar Visionary looks nice and I have a bunch of (ramp) creatures in the green 3 cmc section that can be replaced so I will most likely give it a try.
Teferi's Tutelage is a playable addition for people who want a mill archetype, but it's still an extremely narrow card. It's probably not worse than Sphinx's Tutelage, just different. I'm not interested.
Maleficent Scythe looks ok, but I'm not sure I have place for it in black. I can see it getting used in aggro and aristocrats, though aggro always has a hard time finding a place for non-creature spells.
I don't like Consecrated Veteran that much. To me it's clearly worse than Adanto Vanguard and whether discarding a card is worth it or not will be highly situational, much more than the 4 life you have to pay for Vanguard.
Tidal Whale is a lot worse than Striped Riverwinder in reanimator and as a control finisher due to the lack of resilience (plus you can't discard it t1 in reanimator) so the only place for it would be a slow midrange deck and in that case it's not even clearly better than Riverwinder. Pass.
Siege Striker is interesting, but usually dedicated double strike/equipment decks don't run that many creatures. It can fit into a regular white go wide aggro deck, but it's odd as it's only good if you don't attack with the rest of your team. On the other hand white 3 cmc creatures are severely lacking in my cube and I could need another one. Will think about it.
Heartless Act is another playable 1B instant removal option. I have quite a lot of counters in my cube, so for me it's not better than what I already run.
Magma Charger seems like a pretty decent card, though Scrapper Champion is better and you probably don't need two of these at 4 cmc.
The cycling creatures are a lot worse than Krosan Tusker. Tusker gives card advantage when you cycle and with 7 cmc it's more likely you can actually play the creature later in the game. Far, far better than a 9 cmc creature that gives a trample token when you cycle it. And also better than the black creature - I'd rather play Twisted Abomination instead.
Reconnaissance Mission is just bad. How often do you hit your opponent four times or more with your creatures after playing a 2UU enchantment and aren't already winning anyway? No one plays Concentrate and that's a better card 90% of the time. Coastal Piracy may be a nice EDH card, but it's terrible in cube.
I really like Call of the Death-Dweller, finally another playable reanimation spell. It's not a spell for a reanimator combo deck, but any aggressive deck that wants Unearth or Reanimate can make very good use of it.
Agree:
I've never played Capsize, it was bad even when I started with my cube 5 years ago. Far too low impact for the insane cost.
Somewhat agree:
Can somewhat agree with Yavimaya Elder, though I don't think he's that bad. I still play him, but I thought about cutting him for a while. It's a 2 power body that gives you card advantage when he dies and the double green cost isn't that hard to pay for green decks. It's good value and it's not like slower ramp decks are steamrolled by aggro decks in peasant, and I support aggro a lot. But yes, it's mediocre only.
Always found Opportunity to be boring, but I don't think there are much better massive instant speed card draw options available. It's a finisher for a counter/control deck obviously and I don't think it's worse than something like Chemister's Insight in such a deck, just different.
Deep Analysis I can also agree with, but I still play it as in combination with looters it's pretty decent. But I agree that the life loss hurts and that there are lots of great card advantage options in blue, so I wouldn't blame anyone for not playing it.
Hymn to Tourach is a matter of taste, but from my experience the often mentioned problem that it ends the game when your opponent discards all his lands on turn 2 almost never happens. Usually you get one good and one bad card and that's it. It obviously is random and I can understand if people don't like that, but it's not as overpowered on average as many claim. And Wrench Mind? That card is just bad and that's why no one plays it, which only shows that Hymn isn't that op.
Disagree:
Lightning Mauler is a relatively unique card, so I don't see how a run-off-the-mill cards like War-Name Aspirant can replace it. There are more than enough spots for your typical 3/2 with counter two drop in red (I also support an aggressive counter archetype), no need to cut a more interesting card like mauler.
Guttersnipe is a decent payoff for spells matter decks. It comes with a body that can help in some cases and it does the job it has to do pretty well. Nothing you need to run, but not terrible either considering there aren't that many cards to support the archetype.
Psychatog is great in the right deck. It's a card you can't just put into any ub deck without thinking about it, but in the right deck it's explosive. Nothing you need to run if you want a more versatile card, but if people know how to play with it it's great and - very important - a lot of fun.
Worn Powerstone is a good card for slow mana hungry decks that don't run green. A good example would be blink/bounce decks, you need all the mana you can get in those decks and bouncing and replaying Lone Missionary is a lot better than Pristine Talisman.
Strongly disagree:
Clone was and still is a great card, strongly disagree that it belongs into this thread. Getting the best creature on the battlefield with etb effect is easily worth 4 mana in most games. And it's even splashable. This is still a possible first pick in my cube.
Disagree with Cultivate, very good ramp spell that gives card advantage and the additional land can definitely make a big difference for a true ramp deck that plays lots of 5+ cmc cards. I like it a lot more than Rampant Growth, there are enough +1 mana options that cost less.
Curse of Predation is a completely broken card in Peasant (so broken that many people, including me, don't run it), if the tiers are about powerlevel alone it should easily be in the same tier as Rancor.
Fertile Ground? I don't think I've seen anyone play that card. It's certainly not terrible, but the difference between one and two mana for such a card is pretty huge. Utopia Sprawl is a million times better and there are lots of other one mana ramp options in CU/be. Paradise Druid at least gives you board presence.
Same is true for Wolfwillow Haven. The 2/2 you get in the late game doesn't even remotely make up for the 2 mana you spend for a Wild Growth.
Gift of Paradise follows the same concept.
The problem with all those Pacifism effects is that while they're not terrible you can't have that many of them, especially if you want a balanced cube that also has instants and sorceries. Most people already play Oblivion Ring and/or Banishing Light because they're versatile (plus there is Conclave Tribunal and Cast Out, which are also very playable), how many Pacifisms do you want on top of that? I run two in my 405 cube, and that's more than enough.
The same is true for 'traditional' auras like Hyena Umbra, Elephant Guide or Armadillo Cloak. They're decent, but how many can be in a deck? I often have a hard time finding a place for Gryff's Boon, and that's one of the very few auras of this kind I run. An aura needs a creature, so you can't have that many unless you have the boring bogles archetype in your cube. And I haven't seen that in any cube yet, because it's the most boring way to play Magic.
There is a good amount of decent auras you can theoretically play with, but that doesn't mean you can add a lot of those auras to your cube unless you only add them to support the parasitic enchantment archetype. Sure, I could maybe replace two or three cards in my cube with auras without completely destroying the balance, but anything more than that wouldn't work for me.
I can see how regular EDH could be pretty boring though, it's much more complicated with all those modern cards that have walls of text and weird rules interactions and thus turns take much longer, plus it has all those two or three card combos that make you win the game instantly.
I also hate it if you have to do gentlemen agreements to balance the power level of something. I want rules and then I want to do the best I can to win by those rules. And not think to myself 'nah, I can't play these cards because other players would think it's no fun if I win that way'.
I'm not a fan of Weaver of Destiny. I think Jade Mage is a good comparison and without other enchantments this is just way worse. I don't run a lot of enchtantments and even in WG the lands will rarely become more than 2/2. The counterspell protection only helps against blue and even blue doesn't have that many counterspells in cube, so it will rarely have a meaningful impact. I doubt this card is good enough in cubes that don't have a dedicated enchantment theme, though it's certainly one of the few cards that may enable such an archetype in the future if more 'not completely terrible on their own' cards get printed.
In this thread you can find a list of playable cards for pretty much any peasant archetype possible. The lists are a bit outdated so you have to find relatively recent cards yourself.
Adding 'basic' cards that just have a higher power level than their pauper counterparts will probably destroy the balance of the cube, so I wouldn't do that.
Cubetutor actually has enough red/orange/green tones for the list. Here is the original 2017 list I made:
https://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/91386
I only did a 'colorblind edition' because some people had problems discerning the colors. For me personally the regular list is far easier to read than the colorblind one:
https://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/91402
You can add the 2017 list(s) to the op if you want, I think it's always interesting to see what changed over the years.
Sol Ring may be ok in a slow multiplayer format like EDH (though it's still an unfair advantage in that format from my pov), but in any reasonably fast 1 vs 1 CU/be setting it will very noticeably increase win chances for any deck it is played in. I don't think there is a need to test that, it's just a matter of taste whether you think it's ok to have such a bomb in the cube or not.
No, there is absolutely nothing that can be learned from his posts. He just keeps repeating the same nonsense (even with the same wording) over and over and over and over again. A lot of people, including me, have tried to get through to him and show him a different perspective. But he doesn't care and just starts his 'Magic players hate the game/see shroud and hexproof/playing terrible card x is like sprinkling holy water on a vampire and that's great because everything Magic players hate is great' nonsense all over again. Every. Single. Time.
I believe I'm a pretty nice guy and in all these years on this forum (post count is wrong, profile was reset due to change of site ownership) I've never ever considered blocking anyone, even if discussions could get a bit heated at times. But there is a point where discussion isn't possible anymore and that point was reached weeks ago for me already. And reading quoted comments by him like today shows me I was 100% right.