The difference is in the mana curve. You usually want more copies of low-cmc creatures, and less copies of high-cmc creatures. Aggro needs more redundancy than control. That's why functional copies of Welkin Tern are more needed than multiple copies of Sentinels of Glen Elendra.
That said, Angel of Mercy and Spire Monitor are bad for that CMC. Look for better cards, you will find them.
Disclaimer: If you happen to look at my cube, you won't find functional copies at all, but that is a design choice, not a contradiction with what I said here.
Yeah, I thought as much about the lower CMC copies, I'm just a redundancy freak and want to give drafters both options (in case someone else snags the finisher that they needed) and consistency in deckbuilding.
I'm curious about the Angel though, what other White 5 would you run in it's place considering you already run theusualsuspects? The other remotely interesting card would be Dawnfeather Eagle which I might as well swap for Angel now that I think about it, because it supports tokens and go wide while also still supporting blink.
White fours are also loaded. How many fives do you feel you need?
They are constantly at pains to emphasize that guild mechanics need to be *simple* due to the fact that there are five of them crammed into one set AND they need to overlap somewhat between the featured guilds.
Spanish speaker here, if this is legit, then the English name should definitely be "Light the Stage".
Professional translator here. When translating titles and such, a lot of other aspects than exact literal translation come into play, such as intended flavour (what kinds of feelings are evoked by the words) and how cool/natural it sounds in the target language. Translation is not an exact science, and shouldn't be treated as such.
This is not meant as criticism towards you, your input here is super useful. I just want people on the forums to not decide that "this MUST be the English name because that's what it says in this other language" like they wrongfully do over and over again during spoiler season. Don't name/number crunch this based on its most literal translation.
I'm more than aware of that, I've done translation work myself, and I know the Spanish translators for Magic are often hacks (don't get me started on the atrocious Rakish Heirs translation or the genius who violated spelling rules with "Dóran" la Torre de Asedio)but in Spanish Iluminar el Escenario is a stock phrase like "light the stage" in English, I'd be really surprised if the English name turns out to be anything different. Unlike in English where you have "light" and "illuminate", which sounds more cultured and is often connected with the idea of imparting knowledge, in Spanish whenever you add light to something or a place you use the verb "iluminar", encender means either to light a fire or to turn a machine or the actual lamps on.
Also to the people who commented about the flavor text hinting at something huge because Judith calls "all the world" to their seats, that sounds fun but in fact "todo el mundo" (all the world) simply means "everybody" in Spanish.
In the last set they got a little more "jaunty" with card names than usual (eg Collar the Culprit). Its probably too far removed from the literal translation to be correct but I wonder if this could be something like "Hit the Lights"
Am I that far off? I think I might be a little bit liberal, shown by the split ratings, but I the ratings are mostly based off of existing cards. Do you have any specific reasons to knock my ratings down?
If your ratings were correct Guilds would have 7 Cubeable or better cards of which up to 3 would be Staples and then two more possibly Cubeable cards (I'm omitting Bull-Rush Bruiser which isn't from Guilds). Two of the cards in question would have to be upgraded as well since they already exist and are widely considered to fall short of Cubeable status (Siege Wurm, Spinal Centipede)
In all, that would be one of the strongest sets in memory
I don't think Wrath of God or Armageddon are strong in 360 power cubes.
Controversial stuff. Care to expand on this?
Its just because if you're going for straight power, Cube is an absurdly (over)powered format. 4 mana KO spells are probably worse in such an environment than almost anywhere else (Mind Twist has the same problem incidentally). You have to downgrade midrange (and pure control) quite a bit because everything ends up at an extremum on the GO FAST<--->GO BIG spectrum. But then I've felt for many years that pure control decks were more of a nostalgia kick than a desireable/optimal Cube design decision.
What are the 5 next equipments (TOP 15)? and What order?
There's not really an answer to that question because other than the missed-the-mark-by-a-mile mistakes + the aggro equips, they basically aren't good enough for Cube if you're judging primarily on power level.
Hi! Attempting to support the Green Aggro/Tempo archetype in a small cube (200) here. I have two questions:
1) How do mana dorks fit into these archetypes?
2) I think I only have room for 3 aggro/tempo 1-drops. Assuming Wolfbitten Captive is the best (not sure of that tho), which non-dork 1-drop package is the best to include?
-Growing 1-drops (Pelt Collector, Experiment One)
-2/1 for 1 (Jungle Lion, Kessig Prowler)
Wild Nacatl and Skyshroud Elite are the ones you're looking for IMO. Jungle Lion being the worst and (MO) unplayable.
At 360 if you're building a "power level" Cube I think the reverse is the bigger issue: "value engines" have a hard time keeping up. Even 2 per color ends up being more of a quota than a cap.
I could probably cut every white 5 drop @ 360 and it not make a huge deal.
We did exactly this some time ago and if you're building a power cube IMO you almost have to do so (not literally mandatory but you are basically clinging to interia otherwise). Tbh its been a long time since I can legitimately say I've *liked* any of the white 5s. 5 mana is just too much compared to the efficiency at lower mana costs. Gideon Jura still works as an exception to the rule but even he's not as indispensable as he once might have been.
Of course, I think this trickles down into the 4s as well because my list of top white 4s is both shorter and completely at odds with what seems to be the consensus. I don't think Wrath of God or Armageddon are strong in 360 power cubes.
EDIT: as an aside, Entreat the Angels is easily the best white "five" for us
From the cards listed on this page I think the following are solid 360:
Palace Jailer
Karakas
Carrion Feeder
Containment Priest
Champion of the Parish
Gaea's Cradle
Ashiok, Ashiok Nightmare Weaver (subject to the usual caveats about how you build your Cube)
Craterhoof Behemoth
Volatile Chimera
(I'm exempting the Conspiracy cards)
A big thing is that those cards combine power level with different effects that help to break up the monotony of many cube sections. For that reason I didn't list Shrine of Burning Rage because everybody can already figure out what it does and why and make a decision accordingly.
Super annoyed at the (apparent) drop of Prowess. It figures that one of the only good 'in character' things to put on UR creatures, would be 'problematic'.
I realize there are subtle rules issues but something like Boost (This has +1/+1 as long as you've played a non-creature spell this turn) seems like it has a much better chance of surviving as evergreen. That way you don't have to worry about multiple instances of the bonus or deal with triggers, both of which they are said to be soured on. But they often dig their heals in over minor rules tweaks followed by coming up with some crazy off-the-wall BS that seems "out there" just for the sake of being "out there"
The attachments in post 3 and post 7 actually show different lands. I think that is what's confusing.
Does Afterlife X create X 1/1s of one X/X?
White fours are also loaded. How many fives do you feel you need?
In the last set they got a little more "jaunty" with card names than usual (eg Collar the Culprit). Its probably too far removed from the literal translation to be correct but I wonder if this could be something like "Hit the Lights"
Not to disparage the card but "7 mana creature hoser" isn't synonymous with "slam dunk"
If your ratings were correct Guilds would have 7 Cubeable or better cards of which up to 3 would be Staples and then two more possibly Cubeable cards (I'm omitting Bull-Rush Bruiser which isn't from Guilds). Two of the cards in question would have to be upgraded as well since they already exist and are widely considered to fall short of Cubeable status (Siege Wurm, Spinal Centipede)
In all, that would be one of the strongest sets in memory
Its just because if you're going for straight power, Cube is an absurdly (over)powered format. 4 mana KO spells are probably worse in such an environment than almost anywhere else (Mind Twist has the same problem incidentally). You have to downgrade midrange (and pure control) quite a bit because everything ends up at an extremum on the GO FAST<--->GO BIG spectrum. But then I've felt for many years that pure control decks were more of a nostalgia kick than a desireable/optimal Cube design decision.
There's not really an answer to that question because other than the missed-the-mark-by-a-mile mistakes + the aggro equips, they basically aren't good enough for Cube if you're judging primarily on power level.
Then fill in with the other Swords I guess (but they get marginal), but that's about the entirety of the list IMO.
Wild Nacatl and Skyshroud Elite are the ones you're looking for IMO. Jungle Lion being the worst and (MO) unplayable.
We did exactly this some time ago and if you're building a power cube IMO you almost have to do so (not literally mandatory but you are basically clinging to interia otherwise). Tbh its been a long time since I can legitimately say I've *liked* any of the white 5s. 5 mana is just too much compared to the efficiency at lower mana costs. Gideon Jura still works as an exception to the rule but even he's not as indispensable as he once might have been.
Of course, I think this trickles down into the 4s as well because my list of top white 4s is both shorter and completely at odds with what seems to be the consensus. I don't think Wrath of God or Armageddon are strong in 360 power cubes.
EDIT: as an aside, Entreat the Angels is easily the best white "five" for us
Palace Jailer
Karakas
Carrion Feeder
Containment Priest
Champion of the Parish
Gaea's Cradle
Ashiok, Ashiok Nightmare Weaver (subject to the usual caveats about how you build your Cube)
Craterhoof Behemoth
Volatile Chimera
(I'm exempting the Conspiracy cards)
A big thing is that those cards combine power level with different effects that help to break up the monotony of many cube sections. For that reason I didn't list Shrine of Burning Rage because everybody can already figure out what it does and why and make a decision accordingly.
I realize there are subtle rules issues but something like Boost (This has +1/+1 as long as you've played a non-creature spell this turn) seems like it has a much better chance of surviving as evergreen. That way you don't have to worry about multiple instances of the bonus or deal with triggers, both of which they are said to be soured on. But they often dig their heals in over minor rules tweaks followed by coming up with some crazy off-the-wall BS that seems "out there" just for the sake of being "out there"