Annoyed Altisaur is fine, but it's so generic there's not really a reason to play it over the other green 6-7 drops that fill a niche.
Feast of Succession being incredibly bad against manlands and haste creatures while discouraging you playing creatures that can get a hit in makes me hesitant. I find monarch plays decently as long as you can reasonably take it back if you lose it, but I don't think most decks playing this will be able to do that.
Daring Saboteur is a pretty unimpressive downshift. Outside of pirate synergies I don't really think any deck is particularly happy to play it.
Impulsive Goblin is kind of novel. It does a bunch of things not particularly well, but it is 2 bodies and 2 treasures for red sac synergy for a fairly low cost on a versatile body.
I'm definitely testing Araumi of the Dead Tide, but I'm a bit hesitant about expensive sorcery speed tap abilities on defensive bodies in general. The quality of targets also varies wildly depending on whether you're the aggressor or defender, so it's hard to say how good they are. (Also curves into Tormod, the Desecrator and can make a zombie, then later activate + encore makes 2 tokens)
I know Tormod is one or more. Psychatog, escape, and Reassembling Skeleton + sac outlet can still net multiple tokens though since they can make things leave the graveyard multiple times (as opposed to reanimation/delve effects always netting 1 token). To clarify for escape: putting a card onto the stack and paying its cost happen at different times and both would trigger Tormod, so Tormod happens twice afaik.
I'm really not excited to play a 4 mana 4/2 + 2/2 that I probably can't play until t6. I'd only really want to play Tormod, the Desecrator with multiple things that make multiple tokens, but those are pretty spread out. Escape makes 2 (I'm pretty sure) but there's not a ton of cards with it, Pychatog works very well, and Rancor(edit: doesn't net tokens though)/Reassembling Skeleton + sac outlet works but is a 3 card combo. With sufficient combos he's probably pretty good, but that's a lot of setup for a fairly slow and fragile engine.
Fall from Favor is good, but I don't think removal + monarch makes for good gameplay.
I kinda like Staunch Throneguard. It's pretty similar in power level to the rest of the old non-Palace Jailer monarch cards and gives every colour access to monarch by itself.
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith is a pretty sweet card. Bad topdeck, but producing 2 mana shocks is a pretty powerful effect.
Dargo, the Shipwrecker seems pretty good as far as all in cards go. Curves out of any of the 2cmc make 2 dudes cards or Thraben Inspector for a 7/5 trampler on t3. Being able to cast it for R also opens up some neat stuff like Reckless Charge + Temur Battle Rage with low mana requirements. It's also not the worst if you play it as a midgame threat: 7/5 trample is big for 5 mana and it also functions as a one time board sac if it's needed.
Big fan of Coastline Marauders. At its best in a more midrangey shell, but still strong in aggro.
Merchant Raiders is pretty good, but most (all?) of the good pirates are lower cmc than it. Probably still worth it without deliberate support if your blue section wants it.
Kitesail Skirmisher might be worthwhile if we get more pirate tribal support. 1 toughness isn't great, but a 3 power flier for 4 with some offensive utility and a reasonable recursion cost is pretty close.
Until people are going to 4, mulligans still generally make for a functional game of magic, so I don't really see the need for free mulligans when they can alter deckbuilding. Starting from unbalanced positions also often makes for interesting games (and if being down 2 cards loses the game it generally happens really quickly). Informally, if someone ever went to 4 I made them draw 5 or 6, but I don't think I've had anyone go to 4 since London mulligan was introduced.
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In the opener you're generally looking for 3 lands. The chance you get 2 or more lands in your opener with 17 lands is 89.5%. 18 lands brings it to 91.9%. Exactly 2 lands is 24.5% vs. 21.6%. If you want 3 or more lands it's 64.9% vs. 70.3%. On the play with a 2 lander you're 33% vs. 30% to miss your third land drop. 19% vs. 17% on the draw.
So, comparing 17 vs. 18 lands, on the play you're 8.0% vs. 6.5% to miss your 3rd land. On the draw 4.6% vs. 3.7%. 0.9-1.5% isn't really a relevant amount imo, especially when these calcs presume you keep every 2 lander, so I'm not really convinced aiding mulligans is a valid primary reason to run mdfcs (outside of maybe going from 14-15 to 15-16 lands). I am ignoring the potential to avoid mana screw, but that's less important and shouldn't be more than a percent at most.
Cubing a card solely because your 23rd card is generally worse is sketchy reasoning imo. There are definitely arguments for mdfcs, but "better than your 23rd card" is basically the definition of filler. Maybe this is a personal thing, but if I consider a card filler it's on the list to be cut.
Is Akoum Warrior better than Ghitu Encampment, a played card that is getting phased out? Similarly, Sejiri Shelter vs. Shelter or Malakir Rebirth vs. Undying Evil/Supernatural Stamina? I understand that these aren't straightforward comparisons in the same way the cycling lands are, but comparing mdfcs to a cycle of cards I don't think anyone has played for years is pretty pointless even if you decide mdfcs are better (which I think I agree they are).
Nothing we got access to feels remotely pushed. There's some alright cards, but a lot of them are not really worth going out of the way for unless you already support their archetype. Mdfcs are somewhat novel, but the cards themselves are unexciting unless you are super into value lands.
Fearless Fledgling - I dislike most white aggro 2s and this seems solid Skyclave Geopede - Decent aggro threat with some respectable synergies Bloodchief's Thirst - Cards that might be able to diversify hard removal suites don't come around often, even if I have some doubts about this one Bubble Snare - Very reasonable card all around
Playing a mdfc instead of a 17th land doesn't really get you much benefit since probably 70% of the time it'll just be a etbt land that doesn't fix. The effect may be better than the value lands we have access to, but you won't be able to have that value often enough for it to be much better (and we don't play many value lands rn anyways). I'll make the exception that if the card is sometimes worth skipping a land drop it might be worth it (Skyclave Cleric is probably the best example. Maybe Malakir Rebirth or Spikefield Hazard?).
Playing them as an 18th land removes the etbt issue and gives them much better uptime while giving you a better chance to hit land drops. There is some real upside here, but it would be competing with a spell. The issue is most of the spell sides are significantly worse than the non-mdfc version so the land cycling doesn't make them interesting: Sejiri Shelter vs. Shelter, Jwar Isle Disturbance vs. Censor, Bala Ged Recovery vs. Regrowth, Malakir Rebirth vs. Undying Evil/Supernatural Stamina (though that one may be close).
Iridescent Hornbeetle is a bit expensive, but it's nuts with any +1/+1 counter card since it counts each counter. Might be the best payoff for the archetype while also being strong on an empty board?
Fearless Fledgling is starting to make me think this set is an elaborate scheme to have me keep in karoos. 3/3 is probably a normal size for it to end up at, and even if drawn late it not basically completely dead (like Steppe Lynx) since it gets evasion. I'm in a love-hate relationship with the normal art, but definitely testing.
I'm a fan of Bubble Snare. Reasonable removal that can be played around.
Skyclave Geopede being non-hastey Skizzik for 1 less mana is good enough for me to test, especially since 3/1 trample isn't even that bad a floor. 7/5 trample might also be a payoff worth building around for some GR ramp deck.
Bloodchief's Thirst is pretty fair as far as removal goes. I'm not really sure how much the kicker would come up, but even unkicked it's not bad.
Windrider Wizard seems like too much of a luxury card outside of wizards; creature slots are highly contested in spells matter decks and card filtering can be done with spells.
The dfcs are probably not worth the cube slot unless they are okay without the land part or have some unique interactions. If this set came out prior to Jumpstart I'd probably be much higher on them since I was playing Karoos.
I'll point out Skyclave Cleric (the w creature dfc) specifically since it has some more neat interactions: Imperial Recruiter can fetch it as a land and Flickerwisp can turn it from a land to a creature late game. Even outside of that it's a pretty respectable modal defensive card for slower white decks.
Acquisitions Expert is pretty decent party support even if it's unexciting. Black is probably the best colour for it too since it gets all 4 types.
The variance is low, but that shouldn't distract from how it's a Gurmag Angler with 2x the cost if you have other relevant removal targets (it's particularly funny if you have both it and Angler in play). Waker of Waves should easily win the game if you overwhelm their unconditional removal suite (which is rarely that large) with threat density / counterspells / reanimation / taking it in draft / them being in the wrong colours, but in my experience Striped Riverwinder needs the game to be basically already won to start attacking.
Halana seems really powerful. 2 kicker is probably expensive enough that it's not oppressive.
Best I can think of for Alena is dropping an Enigma Drake (or similar) for 6+ then playing Rolling Thunder (or similar), but that's far too narrow to justify an expensive fragile card. Turning Reckless Charge into a ritual is novel too I guess.
IMO I'm not sure sprinking in a few CC cards will hurt existing archetypes that much, especially given how low-drop heavy mono-red and mono-white already are. I like the idea of diversifying the aggro strategy to call into question whether you really need that second color, or whether mono-color would be better. It would help make aggro draft about more then just how many 2 mana 3/1s and burn spells did you see in your packs.
Even without CC 2 drops you should already be considering making 1 and 2 drops in aggro all the same colour. Imo adding CC cards that have slight upgrades over the 1C version isn't worth the difficulty aggro has with them when they don't have the cards to go mostly mono coloured. If there's something really powerful (or isn't played on t2) I don't have an issue with it, but there just aren't many of those at peasant.
I agree on Crusader, not so sure how I feel about Ball Lightning (even though I did suggest it). I'm not sure peasant decks can be all-in enough to make ball lightning good.
Ball Lightning is basically just a CCC Keldon Champion, right? Having your top end be 3cmc in aggro is also really nice since you can go 1-2-3-Ball Lightning + 1cmc removal. I may be underestimating how much it doesn't get through, but our burn suite is strong enough that dropping your opp to the 6-8 range on t4 probably lets you burn them out.
That's the idea no? Bad outside of mono black? A payoff card.
I just don't really think Gatekeeper of Malakir is good enough to justify including if it's only playable in mono B; it's possible I'm overly low on sac effects in general.
Feast of Succession being incredibly bad against manlands and haste creatures while discouraging you playing creatures that can get a hit in makes me hesitant. I find monarch plays decently as long as you can reasonably take it back if you lose it, but I don't think most decks playing this will be able to do that.
Daring Saboteur is a pretty unimpressive downshift. Outside of pirate synergies I don't really think any deck is particularly happy to play it.
Impulsive Goblin is kind of novel. It does a bunch of things not particularly well, but it is 2 bodies and 2 treasures for red sac synergy for a fairly low cost on a versatile body.
Juri, Master of the Revue is another really solid addition to RB aristocrats we've gotten recently.
I'm definitely testing Araumi of the Dead Tide, but I'm a bit hesitant about expensive sorcery speed tap abilities on defensive bodies in general. The quality of targets also varies wildly depending on whether you're the aggressor or defender, so it's hard to say how good they are. (Also curves into Tormod, the Desecrator and can make a zombie, then later activate + encore makes 2 tokens)
Fall from Favor is good, but I don't think removal + monarch makes for good gameplay.
I kinda like Staunch Throneguard. It's pretty similar in power level to the rest of the old non-Palace Jailer monarch cards and gives every colour access to monarch by itself.
Dargo, the Shipwrecker seems pretty good as far as all in cards go. Curves out of any of the 2cmc make 2 dudes cards or Thraben Inspector for a 7/5 trampler on t3. Being able to cast it for R also opens up some neat stuff like Reckless Charge + Temur Battle Rage with low mana requirements. It's also not the worst if you play it as a midgame threat: 7/5 trample is big for 5 mana and it also functions as a one time board sac if it's needed.
Prava of the Steel Legion needing less requirements and being easier to interact with than Intangible Virtue are big pluses for me.
I don't think there's a way to make Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh decent even if you build entirely around him.
Merchant Raiders is pretty good, but most (all?) of the good pirates are lower cmc than it. Probably still worth it without deliberate support if your blue section wants it.
Kitesail Skirmisher might be worthwhile if we get more pirate tribal support. 1 toughness isn't great, but a 3 power flier for 4 with some offensive utility and a reasonable recursion cost is pretty close.
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In the opener you're generally looking for 3 lands. The chance you get 2 or more lands in your opener with 17 lands is 89.5%. 18 lands brings it to 91.9%. Exactly 2 lands is 24.5% vs. 21.6%. If you want 3 or more lands it's 64.9% vs. 70.3%. On the play with a 2 lander you're 33% vs. 30% to miss your third land drop. 19% vs. 17% on the draw.
So, comparing 17 vs. 18 lands, on the play you're 8.0% vs. 6.5% to miss your 3rd land. On the draw 4.6% vs. 3.7%. 0.9-1.5% isn't really a relevant amount imo, especially when these calcs presume you keep every 2 lander, so I'm not really convinced aiding mulligans is a valid primary reason to run mdfcs (outside of maybe going from 14-15 to 15-16 lands). I am ignoring the potential to avoid mana screw, but that's less important and shouldn't be more than a percent at most.
Is Akoum Warrior better than Ghitu Encampment, a played card that is getting phased out? Similarly, Sejiri Shelter vs. Shelter or Malakir Rebirth vs. Undying Evil/Supernatural Stamina? I understand that these aren't straightforward comparisons in the same way the cycling lands are, but comparing mdfcs to a cycle of cards I don't think anyone has played for years is pretty pointless even if you decide mdfcs are better (which I think I agree they are).
Fearless Fledgling - I dislike most white aggro 2s and this seems solid
Skyclave Geopede - Decent aggro threat with some respectable synergies
Bloodchief's Thirst - Cards that might be able to diversify hard removal suites don't come around often, even if I have some doubts about this one
Bubble Snare - Very reasonable card all around
Playing them as an 18th land removes the etbt issue and gives them much better uptime while giving you a better chance to hit land drops. There is some real upside here, but it would be competing with a spell. The issue is most of the spell sides are significantly worse than the non-mdfc version so the land cycling doesn't make them interesting: Sejiri Shelter vs. Shelter, Jwar Isle Disturbance vs. Censor, Bala Ged Recovery vs. Regrowth, Malakir Rebirth vs. Undying Evil/Supernatural Stamina (though that one may be close).
Fearless Fledgling is starting to make me think this set is an elaborate scheme to have me keep in karoos. 3/3 is probably a normal size for it to end up at, and even if drawn late it not basically completely dead (like Steppe Lynx) since it gets evasion. I'm in a love-hate relationship with the normal art, but definitely testing.
I'm a fan of Bubble Snare. Reasonable removal that can be played around.
Skyclave Geopede being non-hastey Skizzik for 1 less mana is good enough for me to test, especially since 3/1 trample isn't even that bad a floor. 7/5 trample might also be a payoff worth building around for some GR ramp deck.
Windrider Wizard seems like too much of a luxury card outside of wizards; creature slots are highly contested in spells matter decks and card filtering can be done with spells.
The dfcs are probably not worth the cube slot unless they are okay without the land part or have some unique interactions. If this set came out prior to Jumpstart I'd probably be much higher on them since I was playing Karoos.
I'll point out Skyclave Cleric (the w creature dfc) specifically since it has some more neat interactions: Imperial Recruiter can fetch it as a land and Flickerwisp can turn it from a land to a creature late game. Even outside of that it's a pretty respectable modal defensive card for slower white decks.
Acquisitions Expert is pretty decent party support even if it's unexciting. Black is probably the best colour for it too since it gets all 4 types.
Thwart the Grave is actually pretty efficient even for 3BB. It is a bit clunky, but the party specific reanimation gets back some pretty valuable stuff in U and W (Custodi Squire, Cloudgoat Ranger, Mother of Runes, Whirler Rogue, Shipwreck Dowser, Looter il-Kor) as well as some decent stuff in the other colours.
It's also pretty good support for both persist and Peregrine Drake combos. For persist you can get back 2 of Vizier of Remedies (the other combo pieces work, but you need to get back Seer too), Viscera Seer, and a persist creature (Marsh Flitter can replace Seer for Murderous Redcap, and Vampire Aristocrat can replace it for any persist creature). For Peregrine Drake you need a sac outlet and a party the size of the sac outlet's cost + 1, then it goes infinite reanimating Archaeomancer/Shipwreck Dowser + Peregrine Drake.
FYI: On CubeCobra you can filter for party creature types all at once with t:warrior OR t:wizard OR t:rogue OR t:cleric
Best I can think of for Alena is dropping an Enigma Drake (or similar) for 6+ then playing Rolling Thunder (or similar), but that's far too narrow to justify an expensive fragile card. Turning Reckless Charge into a ritual is novel too I guess.