I've always disliked Triumph of Ferocity. Takes three turns of you being ahead on board (yeah, biggest power doesn't ALWAYS mean ahead, but it's certainly strongly correlated) to match Divination?? Pass pass pass pass. The 2/1 seems... nearly as bad, though at least cutesy with the couple of decent walls that Green can play. I'd consider it more if it was an end-step rather than an upkeep trigger.
Because they both check for ties, you don't actually need to be ahead for triumph to work. Also if they have 2 2/3's and you have 1 2/2 you're behind on board but triumph is still drawing you cards.
When you say it like that it sounds bad (3 turns for a divination?) but in reality it just wins games. You just stall and draw 2 a turn.
If you've never played it and just basing this off this reasoning, I suggest you test it.
I just wanna jump in and say that I think you undervalue silent departure and especially withdraw.
It's easily tier 1 in my eyes, very commonly bouncing two creatures, or saving 1 of yours from removal and bouncing another.
Even just bounce and reuse an EtB does the job sometime, and all for the low low price of 2 mana!
Phyrexian rager is still awesome in my books. getting a 2/2 and a card is just so much value.
I pick it in the middle of the pack, on the top end of the "good" cards.
I think cone of flame is one of the best red spells. I like it better than shower of coals. Hitting x/3's is better than being able to kill three bears imo, and there are a lot of 1 toughness guys in my cube so that it almost always hits. But my cube is large so obviously I'm running both.
I think I still run Tidings. I have never run Opportunity. I think the instant speed isn't worth the extra mana, but I might be wrong.
I also prefer concentrate over Jace's Ingenuity.
I am not playing shadow guys in my cube as well, because I don't like it.
But looter il-kor isn't a shadow guy.
He is a merfolk looter that also pings for 1 when it loots.
I'm not sure why I'm okay with him over running dauthi slayer etc. Maybe it's that he has only 1 power, maybe because he's pretty amazing while the other shadow guys are fine, but it won't really hurt my cube if I include other similar cards.
I think Pyrokinesis is one of the most powerful red spells in the cube.
Free instant speed removal for 2-3 creatures is completely backbreaking.
Last cube we did, we both curved out, and on my opponent's turn 3 I pyro'ed his Steppe Lynx, Knight of Glory and Knight of Dawn. Guess who won that game.
Drake looks very meh to me, a 2/3 flier isn't that impressive, and even though it's free it can only get down on turn 5.
The shadow guys look pretty meh, except for the 3/1 which looks fine.
I'm assuming you're already running Looter Il-Kor?
The guy he suggested doesn't fly. It would obviously be too good if it was a flying mystic snake for 3.
Without flying a 2/1 looks alright to me.
Do you think the suggested guy is cubable? I don't think it is.
I agree that completely fixed packs are not very good, but we keep running into randomness problems in drafting which alter the entire draft.
Our current system is semi-randomized packs, which give good balance to the draft but don't give away exactly which colors were drafted.
We do 1 of each color, 1 multicolor, 1 fixing, 1 artifact/hybrid in each pack (that's 8 cards), and shuffle up the rest of the pool to complete the packs.
We are currently doing 3 packs of 14 cards, but I'm interested in the 4 packs system. Why do you think it's better?
Banners Held 4R
Enchantment
Creatures you control get +1/+0.
When Banners Held enters the battlefield, creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn.
When Swiftform Snake enters the battlefield, counter target spell unless its controller pays 2.
1/2
Don't think this is good enough on a 3 mana 1 power guy. It can be a 1U 1/1, or a 1UU 2/1 and it will be good, but not insane. The 2/1 is probably better, but not by much.
I don't think both colors should support aggro. Red and white are already the aggro colors, and letting both support aggro makes every color play too much alike.
Black has multiple 2/2's for 1, evasive 2's and removal, so I think it supports aggro better than green.
Also, you can have green "aggro" that is actually more midrange-ish with accelerators and big 3-4 mana guys.
This is why I don't like things like Jungle Lion, Wild Dogs and Twinblade Slasher in green.
Green decks can still be very aggressive, but the color itself takes a slightly different approach.
Because they both check for ties, you don't actually need to be ahead for triumph to work. Also if they have 2 2/3's and you have 1 2/2 you're behind on board but triumph is still drawing you cards.
When you say it like that it sounds bad (3 turns for a divination?) but in reality it just wins games. You just stall and draw 2 a turn.
If you've never played it and just basing this off this reasoning, I suggest you test it.
Anyway I really like the 2GG 4/3.
The 2/1 triumph of ferocity looks good too. Not sure if it's better than triumph, but I will gladly run both.
It's easily tier 1 in my eyes, very commonly bouncing two creatures, or saving 1 of yours from removal and bouncing another.
Even just bounce and reuse an EtB does the job sometime, and all for the low low price of 2 mana!
I pick it in the middle of the pack, on the top end of the "good" cards.
I think I still run Tidings. I have never run Opportunity. I think the instant speed isn't worth the extra mana, but I might be wrong.
I also prefer concentrate over Jace's Ingenuity.
But looter il-kor isn't a shadow guy.
He is a merfolk looter that also pings for 1 when it loots.
I'm not sure why I'm okay with him over running dauthi slayer etc. Maybe it's that he has only 1 power, maybe because he's pretty amazing while the other shadow guys are fine, but it won't really hurt my cube if I include other similar cards.
Free instant speed removal for 2-3 creatures is completely backbreaking.
Last cube we did, we both curved out, and on my opponent's turn 3 I pyro'ed his Steppe Lynx, Knight of Glory and Knight of Dawn. Guess who won that game.
Drake looks very meh to me, a 2/3 flier isn't that impressive, and even though it's free it can only get down on turn 5.
The shadow guys look pretty meh, except for the 3/1 which looks fine.
I'm assuming you're already running Looter Il-Kor?
Without flying a 2/1 looks alright to me.
Do you think the suggested guy is cubable? I don't think it is.
Our current system is semi-randomized packs, which give good balance to the draft but don't give away exactly which colors were drafted.
We do 1 of each color, 1 multicolor, 1 fixing, 1 artifact/hybrid in each pack (that's 8 cards), and shuffle up the rest of the pool to complete the packs.
We are currently doing 3 packs of 14 cards, but I'm interested in the 4 packs system. Why do you think it's better?
tima
Would like it better if the etb ability would be something like the Gruul War Chant / Pyreheart Wolf trigger
Maybe just a static ability that says "Whenever one or more creatures you control attacks, target creature can't block this turn." ?
Don't think this is good enough on a 3 mana 1 power guy. It can be a 1U 1/1, or a 1UU 2/1 and it will be good, but not insane. The 2/1 is probably better, but not by much.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=513723
this should help
Black has multiple 2/2's for 1, evasive 2's and removal, so I think it supports aggro better than green.
Also, you can have green "aggro" that is actually more midrange-ish with accelerators and big 3-4 mana guys.
This is why I don't like things like Jungle Lion, Wild Dogs and Twinblade Slasher in green.
Green decks can still be very aggressive, but the color itself takes a slightly different approach.