I like the old frame (and black border), but I also like the crispness of the mana symbols. So when I decided to create a dedicated land station, I chose the arts I liked the most from Portal, Portal 2nd Age, Invasion, Odyssey and Onslaught (Commander Masters would qualify nowadays).
So e.g.
The problem with punisher cards is you play them for the punisher effect (e.g. loads of damage or cards), and you can't get the part of the effect you'd want at any given point. Boone however is a Lifelinking 3/3 for 3 that can also help stabilize with Reach, so the baseline seems passable if very uninteresting. But Boone's punisher trigger happens even if Boone itself is not attacking, so e.g. tokens get to bombard the hell out of the opposition with Boone shooting from the back, and the shots have Lifelink. E.g. if you have evasive or repeatable tokens it's doesn't seem like a stretch to say Boone can really take over a game if left unanswered. Deals 2 to the face the turn Boone enters, 4 dmg the next and you've gained 6 life in the process, ahead in any race.
Either way I'm disqualifying running Boone by the flavour word alone.
No. The game as a whole is pushing me to steer clear of cards that don't align with my vision of Magic, and that includes aesthetics of the text box as well. E.g. no tempting, no unique etb flavour words.
Boros Elite and Judge's Familiar were recently downshifted to common, so I'm considering them for my pauper cube.
I wanted to ask if anyone had any experience with these in their peasant cube? The Familiar is probably very solid, but I have super hard time evaluating the Elite. Is it worth it or a trap?
I believe Boros Elite used to be a fine card to run in peasant, see our Evaluate Everything thread. Good in aggro, works with tokens. Simply outclassed for us nowadays with so many Elite Vanguards with upside, but I would try it in pauper for sure.
Black high end is ridiculously stacked. A 4/4 Flying Abyss that goes away when the opponent has no board doesn't sound like a card I'd want to run over the other like 5-8 cards I'm more excited about.
I think you might be missing the fact Welcome to Sweettooth says "one plus the number of foods". So while it's slow, it provides a 3/3 creature + food worth of stats for only 2 mana, of which 2 +1/+1 counters can be given to another creature instead (but might get hit by removal) yadda yadda etc.
Soul Coil Viper is mostly strictly better than doomed necromancer, as finality counter doesn't prevent blinking. Basically a worse topdeck than bonecaller cleric, but is 2/3 with nothing like Deathtouch better enough? Blocks 2/X aggro creatures and reanimates in the midgame?
I thought about that the other day, there are actually quite a few commonly cubed cards that involve casting things from elsewhere. Big ones are Adventure, Rebound, Suspend, and Flashback. Turns out there are quite a few mechanics that let you cast from exile. Big ones are Adventure, Rebound, Suspend, and Flashback.
I wondered why you would say Flashback casts from exile so FTFY.
Sontaran General. Because Charging Monstrosaur clearly needed extra upside. Power hath crept some again.
4R
Trample Haste 5/5
Battalion - Target creature can't block and is also goaded.
I'd like to say Myth Realized, mostly because it's a rare I already had and would like to put in the cube, but that's probably wrong. I haven't played games with either yet, but probably the real answer is neither.
The Myth's just one mana, so you can start building it up earlier, and it can add counters to itself. The activation cost is cheap, too. It's an enchantment, and I think artifacts are generally slightly more likely to be targeted (due red).
However, it's not in the right colour for optimal use, which is the biggest knock against. It doesn't fly, but does either card really look to activate early on a populated board anyway, when the buildup takes so long? (If yes, play Riddleform.) The Statue has a fail case of being a 1/1 all by itself, but if you need the activation at that point, things are going really badly anyway, so I think it matters little.
Up the Beanstalk is better than the Garruk card, as it's only 2 mana with guaranteed cantrip. The hoop for the payoff is too high, however, so I doubt it'll be worth inclusion, unless you have an enchantment theme in your cube. (Then again that deck only really wants the upfront card, so I'm still down on its inclusion.)
Eriette's apple I'm into. A very Brwg card to be sure, and it's not cheap, but sac decks can easily look to grind out the game, and after acting the treasonous part it helps you either survive or deal the last points of damage. Certainly testing.
If I considered cutting cards for being color pie breaks, I'd have to keep up with the year to year changes as time goes on and be even more at the whims of a company I only barely respect.
Indeed, and I never claimed I do it all that rigorously. I wouldn't want to make myself cut StoP or Tim, and Harmonize is too darn valuable for green. But a card that saves your creature *and* nugs an innocent bystander? That's quite un-white. Likewise I won't give blue direct damage.
Once each turn, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell from the top of your library. 2/5
My, what a big butt you have! And you just made Melek, Izzet Paragon seem very slow and not worth a cube slot. Thank goodness these spoiler seasons come so fast I hadn't even had time to order that one in the first place!
The other uncommon signposts didn't seem all that exciting apart from the 2WU "Freeze a creature, draw a card" merfolk.
3/3 is too much in our environment. With elking you're not making the creature bad enough. Beasting hits *anything* at instant speed which makes it great. Personally I think I've cut the card though as a colour pie break.
I like the old frame (and black border), but I also like the crispness of the mana symbols. So when I decided to create a dedicated land station, I chose the arts I liked the most from Portal, Portal 2nd Age, Invasion, Odyssey and Onslaught (Commander Masters would qualify nowadays).
So e.g.
Either way I'm disqualifying running Boone by the flavour word alone.
I believe Boros Elite used to be a fine card to run in peasant, see our Evaluate Everything thread. Good in aggro, works with tokens. Simply outclassed for us nowadays with so many Elite Vanguards with upside, but I would try it in pauper for sure.
I think you might be missing the fact Welcome to Sweettooth says "one plus the number of foods". So while it's slow, it provides a 3/3 creature + food worth of stats for only 2 mana, of which 2 +1/+1 counters can be given to another creature instead (but might get hit by removal) yadda yadda etc.
I wondered why you would say Flashback casts from exile so FTFY.
4R
Trample Haste 5/5
Battalion - Target creature can't block and is also goaded.
The Myth's just one mana, so you can start building it up earlier, and it can add counters to itself. The activation cost is cheap, too. It's an enchantment, and I think artifacts are generally slightly more likely to be targeted (due red).
However, it's not in the right colour for optimal use, which is the biggest knock against. It doesn't fly, but does either card really look to activate early on a populated board anyway, when the buildup takes so long? (If yes, play Riddleform.) The Statue has a fail case of being a 1/1 all by itself, but if you need the activation at that point, things are going really badly anyway, so I think it matters little.
Eriette's apple I'm into. A very Brwg card to be sure, and it's not cheap, but sac decks can easily look to grind out the game, and after acting the treasonous part it helps you either survive or deal the last points of damage. Certainly testing.
Indeed, and I never claimed I do it all that rigorously. I wouldn't want to make myself cut StoP or Tim, and Harmonize is too darn valuable for green. But a card that saves your creature *and* nugs an innocent bystander? That's quite un-white. Likewise I won't give blue direct damage.
You may look at the top card of your library any time.
Once each turn, you may cast an instant or sorcery spell from the top of your library.
2/5
My, what a big butt you have! And you just made Melek, Izzet Paragon seem very slow and not worth a cube slot. Thank goodness these spoiler seasons come so fast I hadn't even had time to order that one in the first place!
The other uncommon signposts didn't seem all that exciting apart from the 2WU "Freeze a creature, draw a card" merfolk.