"Remove a counter from a permanent you control:" Can be any type. So power conduit can turn those level counters, quest counters, gem counters, and so on into boosts for your creatures.
As I think more about power conduit, I'm starting to think it might be quite cubeable. It plays very well with persist and undying. It is a hilarious little combo with the vivid lands, turning them into mega-llanowar reborns (and mirrodin's core). Also, in no particular order, levelers, sphere of the suns, serrated arrows, fading, shrines, quest for the gravelord, and probably other things I forgot. All that in addition to creatures that could have +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters naturally, which become more plentiful if you support the theme...
I'm testing out Haze of Rage and have nothing else to say about it yet... Also, Goblin Rally is a card that is maybe not good enough but might interest you.
Oh, and if you're supporting aggro tokens in red I'd be curious if Kolaghan Forerunners is good for you.
I understand the desire to go GR as it does kind of fit there, but most of the best combo pieces seem to be Bant colors (with some solid black support as well). Red lacks some depth, but does have two of the most impressive enablers in Rage Forger (!) and Falkenrath Exterminator (!!!)
The actual token generators are surprisingly easy to find. Between phantom creatures, undying, dethrone, evolve, scavenge, devour, graft, unleash, and I'm sure one or two other mechanics I forgot, there's no shortage of +1/+1 counter stuff. And if you want to include a counter to this strategy, there's always Kulrath Knight...
To add a card that was popular way back in the day, Flickering Ward might actually have a place here. It's not a fantastic card, but it's quite solid, and if you're looking to repeatedly trigger any sort of constellation-type effect, this is good (also, heroic). Likewise, Cage of Hands seems like a good inclusion if you're running this archetype, but some of you were probably running that already...
Pristine Talisman is also pretty good. If you're looking for something a little more out there, check out leonin bola and viridian longbow; not for every cube, but they do good work in some cubes and some decks.
This card needs to be able to actually machine gun to be viable.
Did somebody say Flickering Ward? Actually, I suspect the card is playable even without blightcaster, as it used to be pretty decent in powered cubes (7 or 8 years ago, mind you, before people had any idea what they were doing). Even with this, I'm still not sure blightcaster is playable. Cool card though.
Squirrely, I see your point, but I'd also encourage you to try it, since it plays very well. I was underwhelmed by Capsize long before it was cool [/magichipster], but Vanish is still in my cube doing good work. Also, like I said, it's not looting, the vast, VAST majority of the time it's card advantage (a la Careful Consideration).
Living Tsunami was great for me when I ran it; I cut it when I decided that blue had way too many flying 4/4s, but it might find its way back in now that blue tempo is more of a thing (and some of those 4/4s got cut). Also, a cute corner case is that it combos with refuges.
I love Kiss of the Amesha, which nobody else has mentioned. But more importantly, you should all be playing vanish into memory. It obviously works as a flicker effect but it's often a fog/draw spell (you target an attacking creature with more power than toughness). It has usually in my experience been something like "Flicker a creature, draw 3, discard 2". At instant speed.
Corner case: Surprisingly often, you hit tokens (destroy a creature, draw 1-3, discard 0) or creatures wearing enchantments/equipment (in the case of grafted wargear, draw 4-5, discard 1-2), and then you high-five yourself.
Quest for the Gravelord has been pretty good for me since I re-added it a short while ago, but I have a sacrifice theme in my black section to give it a boost. Even if you don't, it's still not hard to get three creatures to die in black...
Cone of Flame is a fine card, but I'm not sure I would run both it and Shower of Coals, which seems better. If you have a large enough cube, you could run both, but red in particular can be a little overstuffed with 3-for-1s if you're not careful at smaller cube sizes.
It's funny that you guys are talking about Nimble Mongoose and Wild Mongrel here. I'm putting together a graveyard cube and I keep wondering "How many copies of Wild Mongrel can I run in the cube before it gets too silly?"
Since we're talking about threshold, has anyone tried out Centaur Chieftain? It seems pretty darn sweet if you can reliably hit threshold...
Fair enough. Because of the shortage of madness, hellbent, threshold, and the additional flashback, I was thinking opening it up to Time Spiral might be a good move, but I can appreciate working with restrictions.
I have actually been working on a cube like this! Well, working on might be a stretch, as I'm still in the planning and card searching phase. I'm also considering adding some interesting rares, both to up the interactions and complexity and also to give some non-traditional cards a chance to shine. For example, Living Death is way too strong, but Lhurgoyf or Body Double are cool cards and of an appropriate power level to fit in among mostly commons and uncommons. Even more powerful cards like Mindslicer or Hermit Druid could be cool here, just nothing backbreaking.
Are you restricting yourself to *only* cards from Innistrad and Odyssey, or are we able to suggest cards from other sets that fit the theme?
Oh, and if you're supporting aggro tokens in red I'd be curious if Kolaghan Forerunners is good for you.
Abzan Battle Priest
Meadowboon
Sporeback Troll
Mer-Ek Nightblade
Oona's Blackguard
Sage of Fables
Sapphire Drake
Zameck Guildmage
Korozda Gorgon
Power Conduit
I understand the desire to go GR as it does kind of fit there, but most of the best combo pieces seem to be Bant colors (with some solid black support as well). Red lacks some depth, but does have two of the most impressive enablers in Rage Forger (!) and Falkenrath Exterminator (!!!)
The actual token generators are surprisingly easy to find. Between phantom creatures, undying, dethrone, evolve, scavenge, devour, graft, unleash, and I'm sure one or two other mechanics I forgot, there's no shortage of +1/+1 counter stuff. And if you want to include a counter to this strategy, there's always Kulrath Knight...
Pristine Talisman is also pretty good. If you're looking for something a little more out there, check out leonin bola and viridian longbow; not for every cube, but they do good work in some cubes and some decks.
Did somebody say Flickering Ward? Actually, I suspect the card is playable even without blightcaster, as it used to be pretty decent in powered cubes (7 or 8 years ago, mind you, before people had any idea what they were doing). Even with this, I'm still not sure blightcaster is playable. Cool card though.
Corner case: Surprisingly often, you hit tokens (destroy a creature, draw 1-3, discard 0) or creatures wearing enchantments/equipment (in the case of grafted wargear, draw 4-5, discard 1-2), and then you high-five yourself.
Cone of Flame is a fine card, but I'm not sure I would run both it and Shower of Coals, which seems better. If you have a large enough cube, you could run both, but red in particular can be a little overstuffed with 3-for-1s if you're not careful at smaller cube sizes.
Since we're talking about threshold, has anyone tried out Centaur Chieftain? It seems pretty darn sweet if you can reliably hit threshold...
Are you restricting yourself to *only* cards from Innistrad and Odyssey, or are we able to suggest cards from other sets that fit the theme?