It's also worth noting that as your Cube gets faster it tends toward more heavy single colored decks that lightly splashes a second color just because as you reduce land you also reduce color consistency. 14 lands is actually not that bad if you have a low curve -- but it lessens the guarantee of hitting two colors of mana.
I wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised - or upset - if these continued into June. What are the obvious Pride candidates beyond Alesha? Does Ashiok qualify as an ally?
I think the shooters are an interesting splash, because there arent too many good 5 drop creatures around.
Even when the GG doesnt matter I fail to see why you want to prefer the Spider.
when it comes to lands my cube usually wants 15 in a deck, otherwise you flood horribly.
thats definitely true for the fully supported spells matters deck, when you have accesss to like 4 cmc1 cantrips plus Impulse and stuff youre fine running as low as 13 lands.
It doesnt really matters whether or not you have delver reliably on turn1, because no matter what, it can and will happen and you dont wanna autolose to that.
in fact green has a bunch of "staple" reach creatures at lower cmc, so no problem there. you are not relying on the spider, thats why i cut it (and keep asp)
that said, you really should get rid of the mindset that cubedraft follows the same rules as booster draft. Its much closer to preconstructed.
I tend to take your side that Cube can be/is something other than a traditional booster draft format but almost all of the disagreements between you and Al are rooted in a failure to acknowledge that your Cubes do not fundamentally share the same philosophy. Its not necessarily true that one is more valid than the other (personally, most groups you introduce pauper Cube to are going to expect/desire it to be All Star Booster Draft)
The Spider was the first card printed and the difference is pretty marginal, even though one is obviously strictly better. I sometimes hear the argument that 4C is better than 3CC, because you can splash it. I think this argument is pretty invalid if the card, referred to, is a card you would nearly never realisticly splash for. and in a 2 color deck on turn 5 you should pretty consistently have a 3/2 land split in either way.
4C vs 3CC matters IMO because green is by far the mostly likely to go three colors in which case keeping color requirements to a minimum is a nice bonus.
EDIT: and, like Hump said, a 3 color deck might consider the Sharpshooters because there isn't a ton of competition at 5.
Even when the GG doesnt matter I fail to see why you want to prefer the Spider.
Primarily if you want to encourage green decks to stay "base green" rather than going 3 color.
You both make some good points, but Excavating Anurid has always been great for me in Pauper. I often prefer it over Entourage of Trest because Monarch can be a liability against some decks.
As I mentioned, the context of what else is in your deck, and at what point in the game it is, matters. Obviously, you don't power this out via a mana elf on turn 4, sac your fourth land (especially if it's the last one you have, and go down to just three when you have other 5-drops to play, and when you likely don't have Threshold yet. Anurid isn't really a MGA kind of card; I guess it could be your curve topper, where trading in the fifth land that you weren't going to use anymore is real card advantage, but even then it seems unlikely that you're taking advantage of the bonus +1/+1 and Vigilance that Threshold provides - at least immediately. That said, it wasn't that long ago that people were playing Kavu Climber and such, and Anurid is likely better than those even without the bonuses.
Where Excavating Anurid really shines imo is in a midrange - or even control - deck. There it serves as sort of curve topper that comes in, draws you a real card in exchange for a superfluous land, can swing in for 5 damage to end the game quickly, all while playing defense at the same time because of Vigilance. Cards like Satyr Wayfinder, Winding Way, removal, and instants and sorceries in general - anything that goes to the yard really - go well with it. Note also that it is very spashable.
To each his own though.
I was only talking about Anurid in the context already mentioned which was as a 5cc beat down creature. It is definitely a nice finisher in a midrange deck.
Hmmm interesting. I thought I was the only one who had a sweet spot for Stampeding Elk Herd. I think it's kind of underrated. Formidable is quite a weird mechanic. A turn 2 Glade Watcher needs 5 additional power before it can be turned on and then it might not be such an impressive attacker, while the Elk only needs 3 additional power on the board which should basically always be given, once you can play your 5 drop and so it should ususally be a 5/5 for 5 with "Creatures you control have trample."
I like the Elk Herd too but in our experience it will be your main attacker. Which means that it is somewhat of a drawback of having to have 3 more power on board for it to have trample.
I also really like Entourage of Trest. Monarch is a very strong ability and this is one of the very few ways you can generate card advantage in green. Also the ability is quite useful.
There are players who are just against having Monarch in Cube in general is my biggest concern
I'm not so sure about Nessian Asp actually. It sure is solid as 4/5 reach, but once you have 7 mana to make it huge it's simply a huge vanilla without trample (unless you have Rancor or the Elk), which means your opponent will simply kill it if it bothers him and in that case you have traded 12 mana for 2-3. Arguing that it at least becomes a must-answer-threat is not quite valid, because on the one hand 5 drops usually always require an answer anyway and this is pauper, the format with the highest discrepancy in power level between removal and creatures of all formats. Also making your 5 drop a target for removal is never advantageous, because every answer will cost a lot less.
Also not sure Monstrous jives with Excavating Anurid very much.
Excavating Anurid Both provide a nice combination of beef and card advantage.
Well it doesn't provide card advantage though. Only card selection. I totally think it's a fine card. but I'm not the biggest fan. In the context of a mono green deck you might not need lands at some point, but in combination with cards from different colors you might not want to sac a land on turn 5, like blue and black in general and in red with XR spells.
If you played it off an elf you are looking at going down to three lands potentially. Its not as though the Anurid is guaranteed to win you the game.
Also, threshold is far from guaranteed either..
He is a little slow to get started but Syr Faren, the Hengehammer is absolutely ridiculous if it gets to attack.
Also, remember that Scale Up is better with anything that has counters or a static bonus such as Skarrgan Pit-Skulk or Skyshroud Elite. Still, I consider it more of a poison card, personally.
Entourage of Trest - Getting the monarch is pretty crucial for a latelategame of green since the color lacks carddraw badly.
Excavating Anurid - since my curve pretty much ends at 5, the sac isnt a loss and carddraw is so sweet
Nessian Asp - block blues 4/4 flyer and lives, also becomes a monster if you flood.
Stampeding Elk Herd -give those fatties trample while also being reliable fat on its own
some of the other are either too small (for cmc5 i definitely want 5 power) or lack trample.
the gorilla is okayish, but a lot of removal doesnt kill. get the anurid. Tajuru Pathwarden defnitely is the best sentinel spider, so those are outclassed.
I think I will compile the Future Sight "review" into an actual set review, evaluating them into a bomb, cubeable, borderline, weak, terrible framework. I'm not sure if the rubric needs to be reworked or not? I'll clean up some typos and maybe offer a bit more commentary than Leaden Fists: WTF.
Also I want to get around to reviewing Planar Chaos, because it's a mess.
Planar Chaos had a very high rate of good cards. On top of that, ~half of the color shifted cards are now in color.
Militant is great. It's better than most 2-power 1-drops in either of its respective colors, and the hybrid mana cost is a HUGE deal. Card's fantastic.
Is it really better? My green 1 drops are mostly about ramping (mana dorks), but let's look at the options in white:
Dauntless Bodyguard (better than dryad militant IMO)
Isamaru, Hound of Konda (better than dryad militant IMO)
Kytheon, Hero of Akros (better than dryad militant IMO)
Mardu Woe-Reaper (better than dryad militant IMO)
Skymarcher Aspirant (better than dryad militant IMO)
Soldier of the Pantheon (better than dryad militant IMO)
Student of Warfare (not a 2/1 but better by turn 2 than dryad militant IMO)
I don't think it's a BAD card, probably #6 or #7 in Selesnya IMO, but I just think there are more interesting options in GW, such as:
Qasali Pridemage
Voice of Resurgence
Kitchen Finks
Knight of Autumn
Knight of the Reliquary
To your larger point, I have no idea why anyone would classify Dryad Militant as Selesnya in the first place. In many cubes it is mono-W and even in those that it isn't you could just count Militant+Finks as 1 white card and 1 green card. I've noticed some Cube owners are doctrinaire about strict color balance but then try to pretend that hybrid cards are gold cards which they decidedly are NOT in many cases.
If you do support some green aggression, the card becomes much better. If you support proper green aggro it is probably one of the best one drops.
More like, "if you support green aggro, it gets a little better". It can be a nice piece of disruption but even in the most favorable (combo?) Cubes it is still a 2/1 with a double-edged marginal ability a huge percent of the time. Hardly close to the best one drops.
Kytheon is better, and Bodyguard is better in some decks. Student has the edge over it in mono white. Militant is better than all of those other cards though IMO ...even when the green mana is irrelevant. Which it's not, because in every deck that has access to both green and white mana, Militant is better than every card on that list and by a significant margin too. The spell disruption is a big deal when applicable. It injures combo decks, weakens cards like Snappy, Gearhulk, and Jace, makes the opponent's delve cards less consistent, kills all flashback spells ...that's a lot of disruptive utility to strap to a 2-power creature for 1 mana. Far more relevant than protection from multicolored, for example.
Finks and maybe Knight of Autumn are the only two cards on that list I would include ahead of Militant on the list you posted.
Militant gets marginally better in a GW deck but it's not very significant. Being able to cast it turn one with either color is..nice..but what hands are you ever keeping that you can't cast it turn 1 in any deck? You're not going to win too often color screwing yourself..
Oh boy, can't wait for SL: Gay Day and SL:May Day
I tend to take your side that Cube can be/is something other than a traditional booster draft format but almost all of the disagreements between you and Al are rooted in a failure to acknowledge that your Cubes do not fundamentally share the same philosophy. Its not necessarily true that one is more valid than the other (personally, most groups you introduce pauper Cube to are going to expect/desire it to be All Star Booster Draft)
4C vs 3CC matters IMO because green is by far the mostly likely to go three colors in which case keeping color requirements to a minimum is a nice bonus.
EDIT: and, like Hump said, a 3 color deck might consider the Sharpshooters because there isn't a ton of competition at 5.
Primarily if you want to encourage green decks to stay "base green" rather than going 3 color.
For balancing
I was only talking about Anurid in the context already mentioned which was as a 5cc beat down creature. It is definitely a nice finisher in a midrange deck.
I like the Elk Herd too but in our experience it will be your main attacker. Which means that it is somewhat of a drawback of having to have 3 more power on board for it to have trample.
There are players who are just against having Monarch in Cube in general is my biggest concern
Also not sure Monstrous jives with Excavating Anurid very much.
If you played it off an elf you are looking at going down to three lands potentially. Its not as though the Anurid is guaranteed to win you the game.
Also, threshold is far from guaranteed either..
I count Nessian Asp closer to the Spiders than the Pathwarden actually..
Also, remember that Scale Up is better with anything that has counters or a static bonus such as Skarrgan Pit-Skulk or Skyshroud Elite. Still, I consider it more of a poison card, personally.
Do you not run the Nightwatch anymore?
I think another Future Sight would be a pretty terrible idea in Standard but for us I think Modern Horizons is as close as we'll get probably.
Planar Chaos had a very high rate of good cards. On top of that, ~half of the color shifted cards are now in color.
To your larger point, I have no idea why anyone would classify Dryad Militant as Selesnya in the first place. In many cubes it is mono-W and even in those that it isn't you could just count Militant+Finks as 1 white card and 1 green card. I've noticed some Cube owners are doctrinaire about strict color balance but then try to pretend that hybrid cards are gold cards which they decidedly are NOT in many cases.
More like, "if you support green aggro, it gets a little better". It can be a nice piece of disruption but even in the most favorable (combo?) Cubes it is still a 2/1 with a double-edged marginal ability a huge percent of the time. Hardly close to the best one drops.
Militant gets marginally better in a GW deck but it's not very significant. Being able to cast it turn one with either color is..nice..but what hands are you ever keeping that you can't cast it turn 1 in any deck? You're not going to win too often color screwing yourself..