As far as artifacts and lands to avoid, there's not much. I mean, as long as you guys have fun with the cards and the cube is an enjoyable experience, you're doing it right. I would caution against overdoing lands that enter the battlefield tapped though, if you want aggressive decks to be playable in more than one color.
Cheers, and happy cubing!
There are cards that are good enough tempo wise to justify card disadvantage. Force of Will and Fireblast are two, and I think this goblin is another one. It will get in for lots of damage, and fast. Faster than any other aggro creature ever printed. If you on average, you'll flip a land for your opponent just under half the time. The average 1-Drop 2-Power creature will get in for about 4-6 damage before being dealt with, or get held back during combat. That means that this creature can get in for 6-8 damage because of the haste. If I can get in for 8 damage with only R invested... sign me up -- even if it means giving my opponent 2 lands in the process (and allowing me to see 2 other non-land cards in my opponent's hand at the same time).
It's not good in the cube. It requires only black creatures. In a mono-black deck (where you may, occasionally hit 4 black creatures in your yard, and even still probably not) it's pretty much strictly worse than Cabal Coffers, which still isn't even good enough for the cube. It's way too slow and inconsistent.
In the perfect situation, where my graveyard is full of creatures, I'd rather be using the Stronghold anyways...
I can't believe Stronghold hasn't been good. It's so absolutely bonkers in every other cube I've drafted.
I was convinced you were joking. *shrug*
I can only assume you threw this one in as a joke... Being that Volrath's Stronghold is one of the best lands ever printed, and absolutely bonkers in the cube, and this new land is inconsistent, slow and worse than Cabal Coffers.
I mean, look at that card. You have to have FOUR (4!) Black creatures in your graveyard before it's better than a swamp... that comes into play tapped.
He's a 6-Drop that costs 5 for that very reason.
If your opponent has the instant-speed removal, they can get rid of Ob Nix, but they can't stop the life-loss.
I cast Ob Nix.
He resolves and enters the battlefield.
I retain Priority and play another land.
Landfall trigger goes on the stack.
Opponent Lightning Bolt's Ob Nix.
Ob Nix goes to the graveyard.
Landfall trigger resolves.
Defending player loses 3 life.
The 3 +1/+1 counter effect fizzles.
Because of the order of the abilities that trigger on Ob Nix, the defending player CAN'T prevent the life loss if the Ob Nix does in fact resolve. Which is why you need to play him as a 6-Drop, IMO. As a 5-Drop, you run the risk of him doing absolutely nothing for your mana.
I like Mannequin also. I think Necromancy is better. It only costs 2B it can target both graveyards, and the creature doesn't die to an Icy Manipulator. Plus, I can equip my creatures I reanimate with the Necromancy... which is sometimes really important. Also, the Necromancy can be played as an instant too! When using it to grab a creature for a combat trick, or a weak creature with a CIP ability, the Necromancy is better there too, because it costs less.
I think this set will ultimately be like Champions of Kamigawa, in that it will provide a solid range (15-20) cards for the cube after they hype wears down a bit.
*hopes to see lots of Nightmare Before Christmas themed old-school cards for my cube*
Agreed. But there are quite a few 3-color cards that aren't terrible, and that actually perform well in the cube.
Personally, I wouldn't use more than one from each shard myself, but some people like to use more.
I also agree that you shouldn't add in bad cards to achieve balance. The easiest and best (imo) thing to do is to cut gold's numbers back so that you can still have balance, and only be using the best cards of each combination. But that debate's been beaten into the ground so much that we shouldn't re-start it here...