Juvenile Gloomwidow (borderline) & Garruk's Companion (cubeable) I think that double mana on any two drop you really need to play on curve is unplayable. I think they are both borderline. Although 3/2 on turn two is nice, it still trades with everything and won't be castable on turn two half the time. If Terrain Elemental is cubeable then it either needs to go to staple or Garruk's Companion needs to go to borderline as the elemental is way ahead due to being reliably cast on turn two.
Werebear is cubeable and Ulvenwald Captive is borderline. Outside of a deck that is looking to mill for delve which in itself kind of plays against threshold, although it does give you another card that can cash in on cards in the graveyard; I would prefer the opportunity to guarantee my mana dork turning into a 4/6 beater for 7 mana that can still also provide an extra 2 mana. I also think being unpingable is a solid positive of the captive. Defender is largely irrelevant as you would so rarely find the chance to attack with either until they transform. I think the Werebear suits more aggressive decks, but do you really want to spend your second turn ramping in such decks? Has anyone had a chance to play Ulvenwald Captive much? Also compare it to cubeable Voyaging Satyr, the satyr fixes double mana and can combo off with one or two other cards in your cube that enchant land, but the body will never be relevant and this card is junk when drawn late, unless you have those land enchantments when it might ramp you to your 7 or 8 drop. It is rated cubeable. Unless I had Utopia Sprawl or Overgrowth in my deck I would take the other two every time.
Quilled Wolf A pet card of mine. Is being a 2/2 on turn two bad enough to put this at borderline, even though this is a totally acceptable manasink draw late game, unlike the majority of green 2 drops? Wandering Wolf is rated cubeable, but similar to the Voyaging Satyr it is only of any value when comboed with a handful of auras, unless you like using combat tricks pre-combat. Unless I have a decent number of auras in my deck I would take the Quilled Wolf every time.
If you can't tell, I place a lot of value in two drops that are good when drawn on curve or drawn late.
I've always been curious about Okina Nightwatch since I first picked it up in some random ebay buy a decade ago. Does it generally only perform in control decks?
Like so many cubeable cards, I so rarely get a chance to draft and play them. Green ramp is always a favourite in my cube so I never get to draft it myself. I play with a very casual group and people generally steer clear of the more tricksy blue shenanigans, which leaves me often finding myself in blue. I'm giving blue a complete overhaul once cubetutor adds the Amonkhet cards shortly. It's a bit too janky at the moment with a few too many fringe cards.
I'm really curious how the 2 toughness limitation on blockers works out on the battlefield. It does seem sweet on paper, most of the time you either eat a significant creature or you get in for 7... As you say, any cube with a big slice of 2 mana removal makes any 7 drop look a bit shaky. Outside of a monstrous Nessian Asp, (that card is so good and was clearly an uncommon, but got shifted down due to the set number of uncommon spots for Theros) when defending; it also eats every cube creature besides Eldrazi.
I also love the Oakgnarl Warrior, but unfortunately he doesn't quite make the grade with limited ****s in the 7 drop section.
One more positive for the Greater Sandwurm (I suspect there will be a Lesser Sandwurm in the next Amonkhet set at 5 mana) is that its ability is great against late game utility sponge creatures like Citanul Woodreaders and Mnemonic Wall which soak up damage even against tramplers. In general it can't be blocked by a surprising majority of typical cube creatures. Browse some cubes and look at how many 2 power or less creatures there are right up the curve.
Looking at Humphrey's cube, blue in particular has a grand total of 7 and a half creatures that can block it and aside from Ingenious Skaab they are all creatures you'd be stoked to have your wurm dining on. White has six creatures that can block it. Black has six and two conditionals that can block it and none of the deathtouchers can chump it. Red has 8 and two conditional blockers. Green has 18 potential blockers and four conditional blockers. Green being the least likely opponent you'll face. Except for green and maybe white, the majority of creatures that can block are actually quite good so you wouldn't be unhappy consuming them with your wurm.
For Humphrey's T1 cube the wurm can only be blocked by 31% of the mono-coloured creatures (40% of those creatures are in green) and around two thirds of the potential blockers are creatures that are a serious blow for your opponent to have to chump with. Double and triple blocking is also troublesome with the 2 power stipulation.
If you're happy to drop some one and two drop slots on creatures that like being sacrificed I think you can start making it work. Amonkhet gave us another one and two drop that can be played early that love being sacrificed. You can also sneak in multiple copies of certain cards as well.
I just think that to properly balance sacrifice at the pauper level involves too much watering down across the cube, otherwise no one will draft most of the sac cards. I'm not keen to take on that task. I'm looking forward to the freedom of designing a masters cube in the near future.
I will be picking up the new Snap for the artwork. It's like a million times better than the old.
I was thinking about Minotaur Sureshot and then once again pondering why I see so few green 3 drops with reach in people's cubes. There are a lot of 1 toughness two and three drop flyers about in most cubes. All you ever see is Crocanura though. Defensive reach creatures make good defenders all round. It seems most other options are ranked as borderline or bad.
The old classic Woolly Spider blocks every flyer in pauper cube and survives. It kills all two drop flyers and even a lot of three and four drop flyers. It also has acceptable artwork for an old card. That seems pretty awesome to me. The double green on turn three is a bit of a doozy, but it is relevant all game so doesn't always have to come down on curve.
Ember Weaver I have cheated this into green before as it becomes a boss in red green decks. However, as a strictly green card it is merely acceptable.
Netcaster Spider Quite reasonable as it does its job early and will trade for the bigger flyers. It can go in for the attack and put out damage if required.
Sporecap Spider is unexciting, but it blocks everything your opponents can throw at it until turn 5 most likely, flying or otherwise. It will happily kill all 2 drop flyers.
Silhana Starfletcher Not as resilient as the other two options, but it also fixes and ramps. It seems to be a jack of all trades, master of
none.
Frostweb Spider Everyone always seems to hate on this card saying that you will never get counters on it. However, if this isn't getting counters on it, then surely it is doing its job and has delayed your opponent's early flyers from attacking?
Pincer Spider is acceptable on curve and still has relevance when drawn late. Neither option really blows the mind though.
Oran-Rief Recluse doesn't really do enough on curve, but the six mana version kills a flyer and leaves you with an unimpressive blocker on turn six. It also seems like a sideboard only card most of the time. I think I would prefer a Tangle Spider and be limited to only being able to eat an attacker, but getting a more useful body in return.
Honourable mention goes to Juvenile Gloomwidow at the two drop spot. Unfortunately the double green makes it unacceptable.
Is the main drawback to these spideys the fact that most of them are unimpressive when you need to put the hurts on your opponents? The 2 power variants seem acceptable at the 3 mana slot.
I love Jungle Weaver, it is a big pet card of mine, especially as I love spiders. However, 5/6 and reach never seemed quite good enough for a 7 drop, even with cycling. It doesn't quite compare to the other 7 drops available when you're looking to finish your opponent off. The other options have trample or at least force your opponent to chump with decent creatures.
I don't dispute Oakgnarl Warrior or Havenwood Wurm are better creatures when you cast them. I'm talking about them being dead in your hand for the first 5 turns of the game when you might need something to do on your turn or need a land draw.
The Yoked Plowbeast is overcosted by one, even considering cycling. Such creatures can easily be sourced from other colours as well. By comparison, a 3/3 flyer like Winged Shepherd is only going to be reliably found in white or blue. Compare the plowbeast to say a River Serpent, where you overpay by one mana for the benefit of cheap single mana cycling. If the River Serpent cost 7 mana to summon it would be meh.
Valley Rannet is simply not good enough for a two colour card, if it had 4 toughness I would rate it a lot more highly as the fixing is awesome and the body would at least be trading with 4 drops or higher. As it is, it will trade with a lot of two and three drops. If it was 5/4 I would also be a lot happier.
My love of cycling isn't something new, it is just that we finally have a bunch of playable beef with cycling. I also agree that land cycling is superior to regular cycling, especially on the high mana cost cards. With all things being equal I prefer it for sure. I do prefer a 3/3 flyer in white to the 3/6 ground ouncer with land cycling though.
If your problem is fixing then the colourless cycling can have benefits, but 2 mana potentially screws up a turn more than 1 mana. Paying one mana to cycle a card and still do something is more appealing in most situations. There are definitely pros and cons to both.
I particularly love the artwork for the black cards in Amonkhet. It is most unsettling.
Lull can be cycled when not needed which is quite useful for such a situational effect, but there have been more interesting suggestions already. Moment's Peace can be used twice and also supports graveyard themes.
I am really looking forward to drafting it. It did confirm some of my suspicions whilst also challenging some ideas I had already formed on some cards.
They quite liked Pathmaker Initiate for the same reason it interested me; it can get in for an attack or two itself when played on turn two and late game allows your inferior creatures to get through for 2 or more if you have pump of some sort. Being useful early and late is pretty cool for a red aggro card.
They hated Bloodlust Inciter due to the useless body and weakness when drawn late. I am also extremely critical of cards that are rubbish when drawn late, but when you are talking the red section of a cube, then most of its creatures are devoted to out and out super aggro along with some control and midrange creatures thrown in and the being useless when drawn late doesn't quite hold the same water. You could say the same thing about most red two drops as well. I still think it is worth a try.
They also highlight just how much better a card becomes with cycling, I totally agree.
It also dawned on me that a lot of the cards from this set in black don't just give -1/-1 until end of turn; they give -1/-1 counters. These are way more versatile as they can shrink big creatures etc and are otherwise permanent. Something to be considered when evaluating the cards from the set.
Aven Initiate I still think this guy is an absolute boss unless games from your cube never get to turn 7. This is what it is up against as far as staples go:
I would generally prefer those cards, except maybe the Shimmering Glasskite, as I don't run hexproof or psuedo hexproof in my cube.
Here's the cubeable competition:
Ghost Ship is about the only one that tempts me as much as the Aven Initiate in most circumstances.
Greater Sandwurm This guy is definitely finding his way into my cube. It can't be cheaply chump blocked and if drawn early then he is cycled away for a new card. I would prefer him to Havenwood Wurm or Oakgnarl Warrior for the cycling alone.
Shimmerscale Drake The only real current comparison is Prescient Chimera which is staple. Do you value incidental scry (or build around instant/sorcery scry) or the ability to turf this when you need a land drop or some action? Again, I value the cycling a lot so will be finding room in my cube. The Shimmerscale Drake can find a home in more decks than the Chimera can because of the cycling. The scry is really only of concern to a blue deck focused on a lot of instants and sorceries. This card is staple by comparison. Compare it to Shoreline Ranger as well.
Winged Shepherd In a lot of white decks you are cycling this most of the time; for 1 mana. That is no great loss and almost turns your deck into a 39 card deck. When you need it you have a 3/3 flyer with vigilance. Once again, when compared to its contemporaries in white at 6 mana it is cubeable. The only true six drop to compare it to is Noble Templar and although I value land cycling an awful lot, I would prefer a 3/3 flying body most of the time as I feel that will help me finish the game compared to the more defensive and less aggressive 3/6 templar. Regular cycling will often net you a land as well.
Horror of the Broken Lands In most cubes you aren't really looking at getting too many activations with this card. But even as a 4/4 for five with cycling for 1 mana it seems fine. I think this compares favourably with a lot of borderline 5 drops due to the cheap cycling. If you have any way of reliably activating this in your cube it seems pretty pleasing (Dimir comes to mind). Compare it to a Barkhide Mauler. I think blue's River Serpent is in a similar place. Think of how much trouble it is to block when you have a looter on the board and some blue cards in your hand.
Desert Cerodon Not as useful as the staple Chartooth Cougar as the firebreathing on the top end is an awesome mana sink, but it competes for a spot against the cubeable Tenement Crasher. Unexciting, but it's never a dead card like the crasher is when drawn early and a big improvement over Ridge Rannet.
Djeru's Resolve Unexciting, but it saves a creature, or ambushes an opponents creature. When not needed it can be cycled. It's comparable to current cubeable 1 mana white tricks and has the added untap bonus and it can be cycled. Seems it is easily cubeable.
The other thing to remember about cycling is that it doesn't just allow you to get rid of a card that isn't needed, it allows you to hit all important land draws.
You make a good argument. I'm fairly sure I am going to remove a few cards from my cube related to sacrifice as I feel it just isn't strong enough yet. I think I'm going to go back to supporting swarm, enchantments, and ramp only.
I'm going to scratch my archetype itch by making a masters cube once I finish uni for this trimester.
I like the idea in theory, but it means a bunch of extra work for someone. Again, I'm not too fussed personally as I'm always poring over cards of my own free will.
Cheers for your thoughts. I think Mr Syborski gets a bum rap around these parts, but the dude plays his pauper cube all the time with a regular play group. That is something that very few people on this forum can claim they do. I would feel way more comfortable making changes to my cube if I got to 8 player draft it every couple of weeks.
Just a short comment on the ratings for cards. I think 'bad' ratings should be for cards that will never find their way into any type of cube. Black and red's extremely cheap removal warps every powered cube down a narrow path of suitable deck builds, and that's fine. However, when someone just starting out is going to design a cube, powered or otherwise. They aren't going to take the time to read all the bad cards. I think a lot of key archetype cards can find their way into the bad section. I think borderline is fine for cards that aren't ideal in a powered cube, but find their way into non-powered cubes of all varieties, with the usual caveat of a quick note saying what archetypes it could support.
I'm not talking Undergrowth Scavenger here either. I'm talking things that still hold value, but become stronger in the right cube like the already discussed Amonkhet card Wander in Death. Late game it picks up your two best creatures from the graveyard and can be cycled. That is a fine card, although when rated against powered cube standards such late game jiggery-pokery might not rate too highly as the game will be decided by then due to the extremely aggressive nature of powerful creatures and the mass of premium removal.
When I first started out I created a powered cube and found myself consistently sideboarding premium removal because I had so much of it in my draft pile. That told me I had way too much removal in my cube. I think a lot of cube designers have made a conscious decision to tone down removal to various degrees and this in turn will influence how effective other cards will be within the cube. I think it's important new cube designers are aware of how things can change when you tweak the removal or some other factor of a powered cube and what possibilities it opens up to new card choices.
While I'm ranting, it annoys me how many aggro cards I have to include in a cube to make the deck viable. You have to stuff all these narrow cards in that will never find their way into any deck except the aggro deck. I way prefer having cards in my cube that can find a home in virtually any deck and still hold some value.
Juvenile Gloomwidow (borderline) & Garruk's Companion (cubeable) I think that double mana on any two drop you really need to play on curve is unplayable. I think they are both borderline. Although 3/2 on turn two is nice, it still trades with everything and won't be castable on turn two half the time. If Terrain Elemental is cubeable then it either needs to go to staple or Garruk's Companion needs to go to borderline as the elemental is way ahead due to being reliably cast on turn two.
Werebear is cubeable and Ulvenwald Captive is borderline. Outside of a deck that is looking to mill for delve which in itself kind of plays against threshold, although it does give you another card that can cash in on cards in the graveyard; I would prefer the opportunity to guarantee my mana dork turning into a 4/6 beater for 7 mana that can still also provide an extra 2 mana. I also think being unpingable is a solid positive of the captive. Defender is largely irrelevant as you would so rarely find the chance to attack with either until they transform. I think the Werebear suits more aggressive decks, but do you really want to spend your second turn ramping in such decks? Has anyone had a chance to play Ulvenwald Captive much? Also compare it to cubeable Voyaging Satyr, the satyr fixes double mana and can combo off with one or two other cards in your cube that enchant land, but the body will never be relevant and this card is junk when drawn late, unless you have those land enchantments when it might ramp you to your 7 or 8 drop. It is rated cubeable. Unless I had Utopia Sprawl or Overgrowth in my deck I would take the other two every time.
Quilled Wolf A pet card of mine. Is being a 2/2 on turn two bad enough to put this at borderline, even though this is a totally acceptable manasink draw late game, unlike the majority of green 2 drops? Wandering Wolf is rated cubeable, but similar to the Voyaging Satyr it is only of any value when comboed with a handful of auras, unless you like using combat tricks pre-combat. Unless I have a decent number of auras in my deck I would take the Quilled Wolf every time.
If you can't tell, I place a lot of value in two drops that are good when drawn on curve or drawn late.
I'm really curious how the 2 toughness limitation on blockers works out on the battlefield. It does seem sweet on paper, most of the time you either eat a significant creature or you get in for 7... As you say, any cube with a big slice of 2 mana removal makes any 7 drop look a bit shaky. Outside of a monstrous Nessian Asp, (that card is so good and was clearly an uncommon, but got shifted down due to the set number of uncommon spots for Theros) when defending; it also eats every cube creature besides Eldrazi.
One more positive for the Greater Sandwurm (I suspect there will be a Lesser Sandwurm in the next Amonkhet set at 5 mana) is that its ability is great against late game utility sponge creatures like Citanul Woodreaders and Mnemonic Wall which soak up damage even against tramplers. In general it can't be blocked by a surprising majority of typical cube creatures. Browse some cubes and look at how many 2 power or less creatures there are right up the curve.
Looking at Humphrey's cube, blue in particular has a grand total of 7 and a half creatures that can block it and aside from Ingenious Skaab they are all creatures you'd be stoked to have your wurm dining on. White has six creatures that can block it. Black has six and two conditionals that can block it and none of the deathtouchers can chump it. Red has 8 and two conditional blockers. Green has 18 potential blockers and four conditional blockers. Green being the least likely opponent you'll face. Except for green and maybe white, the majority of creatures that can block are actually quite good so you wouldn't be unhappy consuming them with your wurm.
For Humphrey's T1 cube the wurm can only be blocked by 31% of the mono-coloured creatures (40% of those creatures are in green) and around two thirds of the potential blockers are creatures that are a serious blow for your opponent to have to chump with. Double and triple blocking is also troublesome with the 2 power stipulation.
I just think that to properly balance sacrifice at the pauper level involves too much watering down across the cube, otherwise no one will draft most of the sac cards. I'm not keen to take on that task. I'm looking forward to the freedom of designing a masters cube in the near future.
I was thinking about Minotaur Sureshot and then once again pondering why I see so few green 3 drops with reach in people's cubes. There are a lot of 1 toughness two and three drop flyers about in most cubes. All you ever see is Crocanura though. Defensive reach creatures make good defenders all round. It seems most other options are ranked as borderline or bad.
The old classic Woolly Spider blocks every flyer in pauper cube and survives. It kills all two drop flyers and even a lot of three and four drop flyers. It also has acceptable artwork for an old card. That seems pretty awesome to me. The double green on turn three is a bit of a doozy, but it is relevant all game so doesn't always have to come down on curve.
Ember Weaver I have cheated this into green before as it becomes a boss in red green decks. However, as a strictly green card it is merely acceptable.
Netcaster Spider Quite reasonable as it does its job early and will trade for the bigger flyers. It can go in for the attack and put out damage if required.
Sporecap Spider is unexciting, but it blocks everything your opponents can throw at it until turn 5 most likely, flying or otherwise. It will happily kill all 2 drop flyers.
Silhana Starfletcher Not as resilient as the other two options, but it also fixes and ramps. It seems to be a jack of all trades, master of
none.
Frostweb Spider Everyone always seems to hate on this card saying that you will never get counters on it. However, if this isn't getting counters on it, then surely it is doing its job and has delayed your opponent's early flyers from attacking?
Pincer Spider is acceptable on curve and still has relevance when drawn late. Neither option really blows the mind though.
Oran-Rief Recluse doesn't really do enough on curve, but the six mana version kills a flyer and leaves you with an unimpressive blocker on turn six. It also seems like a sideboard only card most of the time. I think I would prefer a Tangle Spider and be limited to only being able to eat an attacker, but getting a more useful body in return.
Honourable mention goes to Juvenile Gloomwidow at the two drop spot. Unfortunately the double green makes it unacceptable.
Is the main drawback to these spideys the fact that most of them are unimpressive when you need to put the hurts on your opponents? The 2 power variants seem acceptable at the 3 mana slot.
I don't dispute Oakgnarl Warrior or Havenwood Wurm are better creatures when you cast them. I'm talking about them being dead in your hand for the first 5 turns of the game when you might need something to do on your turn or need a land draw.
The Yoked Plowbeast is overcosted by one, even considering cycling. Such creatures can easily be sourced from other colours as well. By comparison, a 3/3 flyer like Winged Shepherd is only going to be reliably found in white or blue. Compare the plowbeast to say a River Serpent, where you overpay by one mana for the benefit of cheap single mana cycling. If the River Serpent cost 7 mana to summon it would be meh.
Valley Rannet is simply not good enough for a two colour card, if it had 4 toughness I would rate it a lot more highly as the fixing is awesome and the body would at least be trading with 4 drops or higher. As it is, it will trade with a lot of two and three drops. If it was 5/4 I would also be a lot happier.
My love of cycling isn't something new, it is just that we finally have a bunch of playable beef with cycling. I also agree that land cycling is superior to regular cycling, especially on the high mana cost cards. With all things being equal I prefer it for sure. I do prefer a 3/3 flyer in white to the 3/6 ground ouncer with land cycling though.
If your problem is fixing then the colourless cycling can have benefits, but 2 mana potentially screws up a turn more than 1 mana. Paying one mana to cycle a card and still do something is more appealing in most situations. There are definitely pros and cons to both.
I particularly love the artwork for the black cards in Amonkhet. It is most unsettling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMAtJTJrnwA
I am really looking forward to drafting it. It did confirm some of my suspicions whilst also challenging some ideas I had already formed on some cards.
They quite liked Pathmaker Initiate for the same reason it interested me; it can get in for an attack or two itself when played on turn two and late game allows your inferior creatures to get through for 2 or more if you have pump of some sort. Being useful early and late is pretty cool for a red aggro card.
They hated Bloodlust Inciter due to the useless body and weakness when drawn late. I am also extremely critical of cards that are rubbish when drawn late, but when you are talking the red section of a cube, then most of its creatures are devoted to out and out super aggro along with some control and midrange creatures thrown in and the being useless when drawn late doesn't quite hold the same water. You could say the same thing about most red two drops as well. I still think it is worth a try.
They also highlight just how much better a card becomes with cycling, I totally agree.
It also dawned on me that a lot of the cards from this set in black don't just give -1/-1 until end of turn; they give -1/-1 counters. These are way more versatile as they can shrink big creatures etc and are otherwise permanent. Something to be considered when evaluating the cards from the set.
Aven Initiate I still think this guy is an absolute boss unless games from your cube never get to turn 7. This is what it is up against as far as staples go:
Illusionary Forces
Mist Raven
Shimmering Glasskite.
I would generally prefer those cards, except maybe the Shimmering Glasskite, as I don't run hexproof or psuedo hexproof in my cube.
Here's the cubeable competition:
Archaeomancer
Aven Fleetwing
Cloaked Siren
Crookclaw Transmuter
Elgaud Shieldmate
Ghost Ship
Makeshift Mauler
Nephalia Seakite/Sentinels of Glen Elendra
Phantom Monster
Separatist Voidmage
Ghost Ship is about the only one that tempts me as much as the Aven Initiate in most circumstances.
Greater Sandwurm This guy is definitely finding his way into my cube. It can't be cheaply chump blocked and if drawn early then he is cycled away for a new card. I would prefer him to Havenwood Wurm or Oakgnarl Warrior for the cycling alone.
Shimmerscale Drake The only real current comparison is Prescient Chimera which is staple. Do you value incidental scry (or build around instant/sorcery scry) or the ability to turf this when you need a land drop or some action? Again, I value the cycling a lot so will be finding room in my cube. The Shimmerscale Drake can find a home in more decks than the Chimera can because of the cycling. The scry is really only of concern to a blue deck focused on a lot of instants and sorceries. This card is staple by comparison. Compare it to Shoreline Ranger as well.
Winged Shepherd In a lot of white decks you are cycling this most of the time; for 1 mana. That is no great loss and almost turns your deck into a 39 card deck. When you need it you have a 3/3 flyer with vigilance. Once again, when compared to its contemporaries in white at 6 mana it is cubeable. The only true six drop to compare it to is Noble Templar and although I value land cycling an awful lot, I would prefer a 3/3 flying body most of the time as I feel that will help me finish the game compared to the more defensive and less aggressive 3/6 templar. Regular cycling will often net you a land as well.
Horror of the Broken Lands In most cubes you aren't really looking at getting too many activations with this card. But even as a 4/4 for five with cycling for 1 mana it seems fine. I think this compares favourably with a lot of borderline 5 drops due to the cheap cycling. If you have any way of reliably activating this in your cube it seems pretty pleasing (Dimir comes to mind). Compare it to a Barkhide Mauler. I think blue's River Serpent is in a similar place. Think of how much trouble it is to block when you have a looter on the board and some blue cards in your hand.
Desert Cerodon Not as useful as the staple Chartooth Cougar as the firebreathing on the top end is an awesome mana sink, but it competes for a spot against the cubeable Tenement Crasher. Unexciting, but it's never a dead card like the crasher is when drawn early and a big improvement over Ridge Rannet.
Djeru's Resolve Unexciting, but it saves a creature, or ambushes an opponents creature. When not needed it can be cycled. It's comparable to current cubeable 1 mana white tricks and has the added untap bonus and it can be cycled. Seems it is easily cubeable.
The other thing to remember about cycling is that it doesn't just allow you to get rid of a card that isn't needed, it allows you to hit all important land draws.
I'm going to scratch my archetype itch by making a masters cube once I finish uni for this trimester.
I'm not talking Undergrowth Scavenger here either. I'm talking things that still hold value, but become stronger in the right cube like the already discussed Amonkhet card Wander in Death. Late game it picks up your two best creatures from the graveyard and can be cycled. That is a fine card, although when rated against powered cube standards such late game jiggery-pokery might not rate too highly as the game will be decided by then due to the extremely aggressive nature of powerful creatures and the mass of premium removal.
When I first started out I created a powered cube and found myself consistently sideboarding premium removal because I had so much of it in my draft pile. That told me I had way too much removal in my cube. I think a lot of cube designers have made a conscious decision to tone down removal to various degrees and this in turn will influence how effective other cards will be within the cube. I think it's important new cube designers are aware of how things can change when you tweak the removal or some other factor of a powered cube and what possibilities it opens up to new card choices.
While I'm ranting, it annoys me how many aggro cards I have to include in a cube to make the deck viable. You have to stuff all these narrow cards in that will never find their way into any deck except the aggro deck. I way prefer having cards in my cube that can find a home in virtually any deck and still hold some value.
Not a short comment at all...
Consistently guilty of this. I'll take my further waffling to the evaluate everything thread.