I do like stinkweed imp and suggest it in place of the scorpion. It's a good card, but the synergies with it are all kind of weak in pauper cube so we cut it a while back.
While I like snap, I think that by far its most broken was not in draw-go control decks - we're talking about a card that's been in a huge number of ridiculous combo decks. But yeah, neither of those are supported that well in this cube. It's also very good in blue tempo decks, which are good in pauper.
Carrion Feeder: I don't like this card much - the decks that want a beater that can't block don't want to have a 1 drop that just sits around for ages until it does anything good
Blightning: Very powerful card, great in aggressive decks and even good in controlling ones (it was played in Jund a lot)
War-Torch Goblin: This card doesn't suck, but it's a trick that they can see from a million miles away so is a lot worse than it looks.
Sewn-Eye Drake: good in BR, pretty terrible in UB. I'd count it as a BR card personally, but there is much better competition. If you count it as a grixis card, it gets destroyed by Shadow Guildmage (both in power level and in an actual game)
Wild Might: It's not that bad, but it's best case scenario is just above curve (Titanic Growth, a card that isn't particularly close to cubable) and it turns into a complete dud after a certain point. Additionally it's very bad to use on blockers in general
Thrill of the Hunt: Very powerful, but so are other GW cards.
Indomitable Will: Seems a bit weak to me. I don't think I'd even play a mono coloured Common Bond
Stab Wound: A powerful and interesting effect. I do think it has less raw power than black's most efficient removal spells (I just cut it with this set) but it's certainly a good card.
Kor Hookmaster: Like the card a lot, but recognise it's not super powerful. However, white's not that powerful in general so I think it deserves a spot. Great utility in aggressive decks.
Elephant Ambush: Like it quite a bit. A 4 mana 3/3 flash isn't terrible and you will probably eventually get another elephant.
Havenwood Wurm: Mediocre, but so are the other green finishers. I like it enough for now, but if they keep printing cards as good as Nessian Asp and Sentinel Spider at the top end of green's mana curve then it might not last.
I actually like Grim Harvest more than Death Denied. Raise dead for 1b at instant speed isn't even that bad if you have no plan of actually recovering it over and over again, but you can't say the same for 1bb. I should probably try Death denied again, but like the ability that Grim Harvest has of totally taking over a game after both players start topdecking, even if you don't have a huge graveyard. The downside is, of course, that it's a lot more mana intensive.
I like Witches enough, but it's awkward that it doesn't fit into black aggro at all, where it would otherwise shine because of all the 1 toughness creatures that that deck runs. If you want that slot to support control, go ahead.
@Runner: you clearly appreciate the power of Thrill of the Hunt, why play sundering growth over it?
Maybe I should put it differently: for anyone running aura strategies, Wingsteed Rider is as natural a fit as Aura Gnarlid and is better in decks that only run a few targets as it's actually passable without heroic (obviously not terribly powerful though). I'm not even sure about the skyguard, but rider is just so efficient that I can't see it being bad in a cube that runs a decent number of things that can target it. It's still a good card even if you're not all in on it.
I have to agree that going all-out to support this deck is probably not worth it due to the high number of removal spells and the low number of passable heroic creatures. Maybe the next set might deliver?
I don't get why people would cube this. It can improve your draft but it can also do absolutely nothing. Cube packs are so good that I would never p1p1, I would only pick it from a pack with nothing I wanted instead of hate drafting. It just doesn't seem that good.
That's like saying that Sol Ring can do absolutely nothing because it's possible to have a deck without coloured mana symbols. This is clearly a very poweful effect to draft - picking it at pick 8 or so will almost guarantee you a card that's better than whatever else you would have picked due to the fact that you'll see two more 15 card packs as well as a bunch with 14/13/12. That's just talking about the raw power level of cards and not the value of staying open and picking up cards that have synergy together without ever having to worry about if one of them will wheel.
And no, this won't make maindecks. If that's against the "spirit" of your cube then just don't run it. To me it seems like the people who got incredibly mad about flip cards which ended up not being a deal at all (and a bunch of them play Garruk 2.0).
I tried out a hexproof aura strategy in my cube recently, but I had a little trouble finding cards that truly synnergised well with the strategy. That's both in cube construction and drafting. I really wasn't convinced that [cardPrimal Huntbeast[/card] or Rubbleback Rhino had merit as cube cards. The decks did end up coming together, but the fact that the majority of the time you were making Knight of Cliffhaven bigger, which just seemed kind of bad. With the advent of heroic though, I think we finally get a couple of legitimately good targets. Wingsteed Rider and Akroan Skyguard are potentially very powerful cards and Setessan Oathsworn has potential.
Of course, the spells/auras that work best with heroic aren't exactly the same as those that work best with hexproof creatures or with the filler creatures that you'll still end up having to play. However, I do think there is enough overlap that I'd rather play good heroic creatures and good hexproof creatures (read: Silhana Ledgewalker)than include mediocre creatures in either category. The best heroic enablers (like Travel Preparations) are still very good on hexproof creatures and vice versa.
I run an aura theme in my cube, and I do not run Empyrial Armor. I've had it in my cube for a long time but it's one of those cards that just doesn't usually get picked very highly. I agree that normally gives +3/+3 to a guy (though it's a terrible topdeck)but I disagree that on average it gets bigger and bigger each turn. Yes, it does so if you don't play spells or lands, but that's a pretty terrible drawback for an aura to have.
I like Moldervine Cloak a whole lot more for the same effect. Of course it's not in the same colour, but I'm just not too sad that the cloak doesn't have an equivalently powerful card in white.
Drooling ogre is seriously bad. If you both have artifacts, it'll stray from your side for a turn unable to block and come back summoning sick, unable to attack. I think that's enough of a drawback on a 2 mana 3/3. The fact that it will get stolen and you won't have anything to bring it back relatively often (I'd say certainly more than a quarter of games), in which case it's just disastrously bad, means that I really don't think the risk pays off.
EDIT: When you build a good draftdeck, you need a good curve, not just as many 1 or 2 drops as much, because "midrange" decks will outclass your creatures much faster, than you can kill them. After the first rush, you need stuff with more impact than 1 toughness, cant block.
I very much disagree. This is not normal limited. Cube is powerful enough that you can actually draft archetypes. 1 drops are not commonly good in normal limited because it's hard to get enough of them to have a cohesive strategy. That's relatively easy in cube. I'd much rather forego all but a few 3 and 4 drops for efficient and/or evasive cards that cost 1 or 2. Playing your hand out early and winning with the momentum that this buys you is a very good strategy in my cubes, from GW to BR to mono black.
They think it's an integral part of the balance of standard, and hence there have only been a couple of months where a 4 mana white wrath wasn't legal (during which a creature deck dominated, so go figure). It's not exactly guaranteed to be fully constant, but it's pretty close
I've found black aggro to be very good. It has a ton of efficient evasive creatures, has strong one drops and has very good support in cards like Sinkhole, hymn and Ashes to Ashes. One of my preferred decks to draft is mono black aggro or close to it. Gray Merchant being a thing doesn't hurt.
I don't know if you noticed, but Drift of the Dead cannot attack, it wouldn't be that powerful even without the snow clause. I don't think it gets in even just on power level.
I like Gangrenous Zombies and Skred, the rest of the cards are only alright even if they are always active. I have been meaning to do this for a while but have never got around to it because the payoff seems too low
I've been saying a similar thing for a while. I don't think that these cards deserve anything like the praise that they commonly get around here. However, I think that people aren't so wrong that they should be cut from cubes. They're like Brainstorm - stop expecting the card to be one of the best cards, and be happy with the amount of value that they really provide (in both cases easily enough to warrant inclusion)
Definitely all true. The main reason I made the disfigure to Eyeblight's switch. It'll be hard to see the results because it's such a small change, but I like the theory behind it.
I think I have a similar removal spread as you once you count counters and deathtouchers.
Talking about power level, disfigure is a lot better, early game interaction is key for all decks. Talking about having the right balance when it comes to removal, I think I'd rather take out removal spells than just run worse ones.
Wasn't it banned because it created "toolkit" style green decks. The format has changed since then and it could possibly be at the right power level now. We already have Chord of Calling and that seems like the much better tutor for silver bullets.
Chord of calling being better than Green Sun's in any capacity is ludicrous. Without the flexibility of being able to get Dryad Arbor and function at base value as Llanowar Elves, chord is rather overpriced and is only seeing play in combo decks.
Cut:
Mind Stone
Armillary Sphere
Wayfarer's Bauble
Pilgrim's Eye
Prismatic Lens
Move from colored to colorless:
Porcelain Legionnaire
Spined Thopter
Vault Skirge
Pith Driller
Slash Panther
Mind stone is the best card there, and I like the lens too. Though I do like moving the phyrexian mana creatures to colourless. Since when was Spined Thopter ever played more in blue decks?
I like the idea of a marshmist titan + gray merchant theme, but I don't think you have to go overboard with the double cost guys. I'd rather have a good 1B card than a bad BB card even in that deck
Wow, I feel really sorry for you having to go through all of tha. I wish it was me :-/. Be strong man, you are obviously recovering. I hope you see better days soon.
EDIT: You are serious, right? The last line makes it seem, well, a bit weird.
While I like snap, I think that by far its most broken was not in draw-go control decks - we're talking about a card that's been in a huge number of ridiculous combo decks. But yeah, neither of those are supported that well in this cube. It's also very good in blue tempo decks, which are good in pauper.
Blightning: Very powerful card, great in aggressive decks and even good in controlling ones (it was played in Jund a lot)
War-Torch Goblin: This card doesn't suck, but it's a trick that they can see from a million miles away so is a lot worse than it looks.
Sewn-Eye Drake: good in BR, pretty terrible in UB. I'd count it as a BR card personally, but there is much better competition. If you count it as a grixis card, it gets destroyed by Shadow Guildmage (both in power level and in an actual game)
Wild Might: It's not that bad, but it's best case scenario is just above curve (Titanic Growth, a card that isn't particularly close to cubable) and it turns into a complete dud after a certain point. Additionally it's very bad to use on blockers in general
Thrill of the Hunt: Very powerful, but so are other GW cards.
Indomitable Will: Seems a bit weak to me. I don't think I'd even play a mono coloured Common Bond
Stab Wound: A powerful and interesting effect. I do think it has less raw power than black's most efficient removal spells (I just cut it with this set) but it's certainly a good card.
Kor Hookmaster: Like the card a lot, but recognise it's not super powerful. However, white's not that powerful in general so I think it deserves a spot. Great utility in aggressive decks.
Elephant Ambush: Like it quite a bit. A 4 mana 3/3 flash isn't terrible and you will probably eventually get another elephant.
Havenwood Wurm: Mediocre, but so are the other green finishers. I like it enough for now, but if they keep printing cards as good as Nessian Asp and Sentinel Spider at the top end of green's mana curve then it might not last.
I actually like Grim Harvest more than Death Denied. Raise dead for 1b at instant speed isn't even that bad if you have no plan of actually recovering it over and over again, but you can't say the same for 1bb. I should probably try Death denied again, but like the ability that Grim Harvest has of totally taking over a game after both players start topdecking, even if you don't have a huge graveyard. The downside is, of course, that it's a lot more mana intensive.
I like Witches enough, but it's awkward that it doesn't fit into black aggro at all, where it would otherwise shine because of all the 1 toughness creatures that that deck runs. If you want that slot to support control, go ahead.
@Runner: you clearly appreciate the power of Thrill of the Hunt, why play sundering growth over it?
I have to agree that going all-out to support this deck is probably not worth it due to the high number of removal spells and the low number of passable heroic creatures. Maybe the next set might deliver?
That's like saying that Sol Ring can do absolutely nothing because it's possible to have a deck without coloured mana symbols. This is clearly a very poweful effect to draft - picking it at pick 8 or so will almost guarantee you a card that's better than whatever else you would have picked due to the fact that you'll see two more 15 card packs as well as a bunch with 14/13/12. That's just talking about the raw power level of cards and not the value of staying open and picking up cards that have synergy together without ever having to worry about if one of them will wheel.
And no, this won't make maindecks. If that's against the "spirit" of your cube then just don't run it. To me it seems like the people who got incredibly mad about flip cards which ended up not being a deal at all (and a bunch of them play Garruk 2.0).
Of course, the spells/auras that work best with heroic aren't exactly the same as those that work best with hexproof creatures or with the filler creatures that you'll still end up having to play. However, I do think there is enough overlap that I'd rather play good heroic creatures and good hexproof creatures (read: Silhana Ledgewalker)than include mediocre creatures in either category. The best heroic enablers (like Travel Preparations) are still very good on hexproof creatures and vice versa.
What do other pauper cubers think?
I like Moldervine Cloak a whole lot more for the same effect. Of course it's not in the same colour, but I'm just not too sad that the cloak doesn't have an equivalently powerful card in white.
I very much disagree. This is not normal limited. Cube is powerful enough that you can actually draft archetypes. 1 drops are not commonly good in normal limited because it's hard to get enough of them to have a cohesive strategy. That's relatively easy in cube. I'd much rather forego all but a few 3 and 4 drops for efficient and/or evasive cards that cost 1 or 2. Playing your hand out early and winning with the momentum that this buys you is a very good strategy in my cubes, from GW to BR to mono black.
I like Gangrenous Zombies and Skred, the rest of the cards are only alright even if they are always active. I have been meaning to do this for a while but have never got around to it because the payoff seems too low
Talking about power level, disfigure is a lot better, early game interaction is key for all decks. Talking about having the right balance when it comes to removal, I think I'd rather take out removal spells than just run worse ones.
Chord of calling being better than Green Sun's in any capacity is ludicrous. Without the flexibility of being able to get Dryad Arbor and function at base value as Llanowar Elves, chord is rather overpriced and is only seeing play in combo decks.
Mind stone is the best card there, and I like the lens too. Though I do like moving the phyrexian mana creatures to colourless. Since when was Spined Thopter ever played more in blue decks?
I like the idea of a marshmist titan + gray merchant theme, but I don't think you have to go overboard with the double cost guys. I'd rather have a good 1B card than a bad BB card even in that deck