I read your series today and I really liked them. Your opinions are well supported, and your analysis covers each keyword from many different aspects in a broad view.
I have one correction to make though. Suspend wasn't the first ability to use the exile zone in a way that no other card could, imprint in Mirrodin block did it first (albeit in an unexciting and not very memorable way). This mechanic still has quite a lot of untapped design space.
I don't have an idea what the first keyword would be. Trample is one of the most beloved mechanics of all time, that plays well and has history. However, it's not very innovative - many attacking/blocking mechanic have been made alongside it from the very beginning, and it's not as resonant as flying.
OTOH I definitely know what will make the worst ten keywords of all time: Shroud!
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- Metamind
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That's far from true. You cannot change your archetype with your sideboard in drafts, ever. You may tweak your curve a bit but that's it. Actually my "simple math" tells me sideboards = good.
1) Less cutting in the draft. It feels bad when you send signals carefully and someguy just randomly cuts your card over a playable card in his colors just because he wouldn't play it in his main (whether he should or shouldn't, if he had the sideboarding option he wouldn't cut it).
2) Less dead cards. You can take out subpar, irrelevant cards. That increases the amount of fun and action in each game.
3) Connects to number two - Decreases the amount of luck involved and increases the amount of skill needed. Just because your deck has a few subpar cards against another single deck in the draft can lose you the entire event. With sideboards it doesn't happen. Add to that more decisions each game.
4) More cards see play each draft.
5) You can undo deckbuilding mistakes partially if you can spot them later.
I have already said that it forces you to learn the performance of each piece in your deck in each matchup, and the drafting of narrower cards.
Sideboarding is a fun part of deckbuilding. I don't see them separated. We play a fixed amount of matches, and really sideboarding doesn't take more than three minutes tops.
If in limited you play with sideboard, knowing how to use it well will make you a better player, and not playing without it. Not that cube is a good practice for regular drafts anyway. I value it as another strategical aspect.
Sideboard is more than just not playing disenchant effects. It forces you to learn the performance of each card in your deck in different matchups. Masticore in control is great against aggro but sucks against another control deck. You may prefer your 3rd or 4th instant utility spell instead. If you play without sideboards you lose a lot of decisions.
There's no way I'd take Plow Under out of my cube.
Enchantments -
Both -
If we're already talking about Jace, how do you usually play him? Do you just milk him for as many cards as possible via the second ability.
The land CIPT, and has a hard condition to just drawing a card, and in that condition you are winning anyway.
Has been barely better than a 2/2 for 3. Hard to find the time to put it, not so easy to activate it, doesn't deal with enough.
Discarding a card is a harsh drawback, and most decks cannot afford it for a mere acceleration of 1 (and it doesn't even fix all the time)
As much as it helps you in the discard, it helps your opponent, it costs a lot, is slow and never seems useful.
Playing it turn three is almost always just to cycle. He's clearly the worst planeswalker in my cube, and in limited.
You realise the number is decreasing constantly? Once you said it was top 5, then 8-9, now 15-20...
Why do I bother arguing with the guy who says Suntail Hawk is better than Isamaru?
I won't start this again.
My cube is 720 cards. About the card evaluations, I'd like to think at least some of them are right... They are affected by all of what you say of course, but will you be able to figure it out? My last few discounted cards were: Shelldock Isle, Willbender, Chrome Mox, Memory Jar, Jace (kinda recounted, though), Mox Diamond (again, this may not count)
I don't think the fact that my cube is powered changes the whole issue, because my cube is large and still the moxen aren't first picks. Aether Vial, however is a first pick. Sol Ring is obviously first pick, Black Lotus is 1-2, Grim Monolith and Mana Vault can sometimes table, Ancient Tomb tables easily...
Horizon Canopy is great in my cube. I wait for the day the whole cycle will come out, I will add it for sure.
That's the most blunt exaggeration I've heard for some time (even more than Shelldock Isle being degenerate). Regular moxen are never first pick, so this could safely be later.
But it's a fair point about Chrome Mox. I guess I was just used to see it. I think I'll replace it with Mox Diamond next update.
Chrome Mox is a bad example IMO. It easily tables and doesn't always make a deck. Losing a card is almost never worth the acceleration, that's why even Black Lotus isn't among the top five cards. And really, why would you pass a bomb/removal/good creature for this?
Can you write it down please? I do believe you, but I always thought the higher percentage was intentional.
Interesting enough, decks in my don't have a problem reaching hellbent, but do have a problem reaching threshold, which seems opposite to your cubes.
Sometimes, the problem is that the players don't want to draft aggro. We have a wide enough pool of drafters that every archetype is being drafted (I mean literally, I can't think of a single archetype that hasn't been drafted), but it was a major problem in the beginning. What to do? Talk with them about it, I'm sure someone will volunteer to try. One successful deck is really all what's needed to change the draft habits.
Good to hear. I've just included it, but it does seem good on paper.
Bargain was solid for us, in the control vs. midrange or control vs. control.
Yea, for some reason WW was exceptionally good in my cube. It is constantly the underdog in testing, but it had three drafts unmatched, and now some players even consider it the best archetype in my cube
I've never heard anything bad about it (except for it's art), and that's a sign of a good card.
Azorious Guildmage is good, but it really is just a white card in disguise. Augustin is solid, and after that everything is quite bad. U is a bad color at multicolored.
I agree with Kenny's thoughts about Memory Jar. It has a lot of potential, that's why it's still in there for now, but if nothing changes it'll get cut next update.