Read the thread on this forum titled "Official Cube Power Rankings". Be sure to include the top ranked cards (I noticed you don't have a quite a few of them).
Wow. Mogg Fanatic, Fulminator Mage and Sakura-Tribe Elder just got a lot worse. Also, the new double-blocking rules are just too confusing.
Some of the new cards are good though, I like the Creeping Mold Ooze and the Zombie Slayer. Also, it appears that Vampires are becoming one of black's foremost tribes. The new duals are only good in two-color decks though, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because this doesn't work very well with the cards in Alara Block.
Probably why they did it. I don't think Wizards like everyone being able to play 5CG so easily.
Just an addendum. Thornling is now probably the best of the bunch. It can go big and become indestructable, thus being the only one that can do a ton of damage into a blocker and still survive.
The other two got nerfed, as did Triskelion, pentavus, ravager, jitte, Mongrel, Psychatog, etc.
Unless Thornling is facing a creature with Wither, not much changes for it.
Wizards could have fixed this problem with one sentence: "When combat damage resolves, if a creature is not in play it does not deal damage."
Instead, they chose to completely rewrite how the timing of combat abilities works. Good job wizards!
Also I like how they chose to re-word the problem with the "at end of turn" vs "untill end of turn" instead of fixing the problem. I predict that no one who was confused before will be less confused how Rakka Mar can make a creature at the end of an opponents turn and it be able to attack the next.
Lifelink/Deathtouch: They said that older cards would keep their functionality and not be hurt by Lifelink's static effect. Those old cards (Genju of the Fields) will still get to have multiple instances of "damage gains life," just won't be called Lifelink. Loxodon Warhammer is less useful in multiples, but that was sort of ridiculous anyway. And who needs a Rhox War Monk with double life gain? I like the change. Death touch not killing twice and being able to assign its damage in the old fashion is also a fine idea and I am glad they recognized how it was working before and would work under the new rules if not fixed.
AFAIK, all previous instances of "Whenever this deals damage, you gain that much life" has been changed "Lifelink". Click on the link to Genju you provided. Oracle text for it is now "Lifelink". Under M10 rules, Genju+Warhammer= 4 life (current rules, 8).
I think its hillarious that people are *****ing that literally 1/9000 cards in the game are now weaker.
I didn't know Mogg Fanatic carried so much weight. Honestly people; its a single 1/1 for 1. It shouldn't be able to stop 2 ball lightnings by itself in the firstp lace.
Mogg Fanatic can't stop 2x Ball Lightnings. Only 1.
It's a bit more than 1/9000 cards that got nerfed:
Bounce Spells.
Blink Effects.
Morph/Torch/Thornling.
Sac Effect Creatures (I'd guess at least a couple hundred of these. Baloth, Ravager, etc. etc.)
Sounds like a fun idea. I checked the Gatherer to see how many cards are available in each color combination. (numbers are slightly off, split cards probably got counted multiple times)
I don't understand the question. Time Walk should absolutely be on the list of the 10 best cube cards.
The real questions are: How is Sol Ring at 6? Where is Library of Alexandria? What the hell is Sword of Light and Shadow on a top ten list (esp when SoFI is missing)? Mox Emerald above Mox Sapphire?
Edit: The grading almost seems random as I just got a 94.8% with nothing special going on.
The rating is not random. Basically, each card in the cube is ranked (when you are in Expert mode, your choices can affect the rank) from 1 to 700 or however many cards there are in the set.
The rating is based on how many times you pick the highest ranked card in the pack, regardless of what your deck may turn out to be. The only way to get a high rating is to treat each pack as though it were p1p1.
You can see what the computer would pick by turning on "Pick Assistance" or something similar in the options. When you mouse over cards, it will highlight the highest pick in blue, and the next highest picks in yellow (IIRC).
That's what I've been able to figure out on my own; or at least that seems to be the way it works.
Basically, you can have an awesome deck with a crappy rating, or a crappy deck with an awesome rating.
(Read the flavor text)
There are a lot of cards that are powerful AND cheap:
Balance $3
Armageddon $2
Land Tax $3
Bribery $2
Mind Twist $2
Living Death $3
Rude Awakening $1 (100000x better than Biorhythm)
Rancor $1
Starstorm $1
Probably why they did it. I don't think Wizards like everyone being able to play 5CG so easily.
Unless Thornling is facing a creature with Wither, not much changes for it.
Wizards could have fixed this problem with one sentence: "When combat damage resolves, if a creature is not in play it does not deal damage."
Instead, they chose to completely rewrite how the timing of combat abilities works. Good job wizards!
Also I like how they chose to re-word the problem with the "at end of turn" vs "untill end of turn" instead of fixing the problem. I predict that no one who was confused before will be less confused how Rakka Mar can make a creature at the end of an opponents turn and it be able to attack the next.
AFAIK, all previous instances of "Whenever this deals damage, you gain that much life" has been changed "Lifelink". Click on the link to Genju you provided. Oracle text for it is now "Lifelink". Under M10 rules, Genju+Warhammer= 4 life (current rules, 8).
Mogg Fanatic can't stop 2x Ball Lightnings. Only 1.
It's a bit more than 1/9000 cards that got nerfed:
Bounce Spells.
Blink Effects.
Morph/Torch/Thornling.
Sac Effect Creatures (I'd guess at least a couple hundred of these. Baloth, Ravager, etc. etc.)
1) Sol Ring
2) Mana Vault
3) Sensei's Divining Top
4) Coaltion Relic
5) Duplicant
6) Crystal Shard
7) Obliesk of Alara
8) Erratic Portal
9) Aether Vial
10) Sundering Titan
Bane of the Living
Bone Shredder
Dusk Urchins
Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Nekrataal
Shriekmaw
Tombstalker
Allied
U/W: 109
U/B: 108
B/R: 111
R/G: 109
G/W: 114
Enemy
W/B: 55
B/G: 56
G/U: 54
U/R: 54
R/W: 56
Shard
Bant: 27
Esper: 27
Grixis: 27
Jund: 27
Naya: 27
Enemy Shard?
W/U/R: 2
U/B/G: 2
B/R/W: 2
R/G/U: 2
G/W/B: 3
5 Color: 19
Looks like the top 10 changed a slight bit. Mind Twist and Mox Ruby have been replaced by Masticore and Library of Alexandria (which was ranked 11th).
Looks like SoFI is ranked 14th.
Obviously, whoever is drafting has not Cube drafted IRL. Look at the top 10 white cards (in order).
1) Exalted Angel
2) Elspeth, Knight Errant
3) Balance
4) Swords to Plowshares
5) Wrath of God
6) Reveillark
7) Oblivion Ring
8) Yosei, the Morning Star
9) Armageddon
10) Ajani Goldmane
The rating is not random. Basically, each card in the cube is ranked (when you are in Expert mode, your choices can affect the rank) from 1 to 700 or however many cards there are in the set.
The rating is based on how many times you pick the highest ranked card in the pack, regardless of what your deck may turn out to be. The only way to get a high rating is to treat each pack as though it were p1p1.
You can see what the computer would pick by turning on "Pick Assistance" or something similar in the options. When you mouse over cards, it will highlight the highest pick in blue, and the next highest picks in yellow (IIRC).
That's what I've been able to figure out on my own; or at least that seems to be the way it works.
Basically, you can have an awesome deck with a crappy rating, or a crappy deck with an awesome rating.