There is definitely lots of middle ground between theros block removal and pauper cube removal
Over 90% of creatures in most pauper cubes have toughness 3 or less. IMO this makes something like lightning bolt far, far too strong. In my opinion a card like yamabushi's flame/barbed lightning (just random 3cmc burn spells for example) is a lot more reasonable. It's still perfectly playable, it just seems awful if you're cubing a bunch of lightning strikes and incinerates
But yeah, the quantity of removal seems to be an even more common and egregious issue in pauper cubes than the quality
Personally I also really like getting tempo though cheap combat tricks, so replacing some removal with stuff like unnatural endurance makes things more fun too. Also as the format designer you can mess with removal density by including ones that are fine for aggro but unplayable for control, for example crippling blight, or the reverse, like hobble. YMMV.
In general people are massively overrating the sacrifice archetype right now.
Suit yourself, the deck is fun as hell. My #1 goal is a fun cube. As always, setting an arbitrary restriction (commons only, in this case) and filling in each color with the 55 strongest cards available does not result in the most fun cube, or even the most skill-testing, for that matter.
Feeding it a 1/1 vanilla token (mogg war marshal etc) seems fine too
Otherwise yeah you probably choose the executioner mode
In my previous post I was envisioning you are playing against some aggro or midrange deck, so you play the 2/3 that's hard to attack into/remove (If they burn it or trade in combat they get 2 for 1'd. If they pacify it, it's free value for you if/when you can sacrifice it.) Then later once the game is stabilized you can sac and recur it and get your 4/5.
Do you guys enjoy playing with strong ETB creatures and easy x-for-1s?
I personally really hate cards like flametongue kavu, skinrender and cloudgoat ranger. Just a bunch of value in a can. Feels like they can singlehandedly turn a board state to the caster's favor.
I'm also wary of stuff like pyroclasm. I cut arc lightning from my own cube because it was way too easy to get a 2 for 1, and it's not really reasonable to play around it (never play a 1-toughness creature?)
I'm more okay with stuff like concentrate because it doesn't affect the board, or even mulldrifter (although pushing it) since it doesn't just singlehandedly nullify a bunch of your opponent's tempo (only a little, in the form of blocking and trading. Whereas something like cloudgoat ranger is just like "haha good luck attacking me")
My goal for my cube is sort of like a modern/eternal masters, but not beholden to anything except being a good limited format, so no bombs/mythics and every card belongs in some deck you can draft. (wotc/masters have to reprint constructed staples and sell packs, which makes the limited environment worse)
If you are playing sacrifice.dec, you LOVE your opponent's pacifisms and want them to play as many as possible.
If the soulstinger was just a 2/3 that put 2 -1/-1 counters on something when it dies, it would be a lot worse. A 4/5 black creature can close out games. Play it as a roadblock to aggro, sac it once you've stabilized and grab it with recover/urborg uprising/whatever, now you have a win condition
I'm not trying to say it's a staple or anything but if you have sacrifice support it's pretty good.
I increased the artifact count in my cube to make manic vandal (and by extension disenchant) maindeckable. I want there to be answers for noncreature permanents so that I can run interesting ones.
In most limited formats artifact/enchantment removal is only sideboard playable and you're better off just running a reliable business spell (like any decent creature.)
I'm just a sucker for demons (scorpion demon at common!) and anything that plays well in sacrifice decks. He can be a roadblock, or if you have a blazing effigy/mudbutton torchrunner he can be a 4/5 black creature with no downside
I use or have used a lot of these downshifted cards in my cube, which is supposed to be somewhere between pauper and peasant power level, but tandem lookout is one I always felt like was really pushing it and was probably too good. If you support anything aggressive in blue it's pretty easy to get a card from lookout the turn you play it, at which point it becomes phyrexian rager meets phyrexian arena.
I've also had falkenrath noble in for a while but he generally seems to underperform, surprisingly.
Dinrova horror at common is sweet. It may not actually be that great but it's always been a personal favorite. Glowing lovecraftian fatties are best fatties.
You could try playing enough enchantments and planeswalkers so that mogis is a creature post-jokulhaups, but 7 devotion means you'll need at least 2 permanents alongside him, if not 3.
Seems hard. It's not that there aren't good enchantments/PWs to run, but playing out mogis + 2-3 other permanents + jokulhaups is lot of mana and turns that have to go right.
The possibility to be cast for 5 mana to actually help you stabilize could potentially matter a lot. At 6 mana, benthic giant is pretty much only getting cast if control is already winning
I've run equipment like opaline bracers or vulshok morningstar + random bodies as a wincon in control (so your omenspeaker/man-0'-war type stuff can double as threats late game) plus there are some artifacts control decks actually want like perilous myr, prophetic prism, serrated arrows
The bastion inventor could also potentially show up at the top of the curve in some midrangey deck with equipments
Over 90% of creatures in most pauper cubes have toughness 3 or less. IMO this makes something like lightning bolt far, far too strong. In my opinion a card like yamabushi's flame/barbed lightning (just random 3cmc burn spells for example) is a lot more reasonable. It's still perfectly playable, it just seems awful if you're cubing a bunch of lightning strikes and incinerates
But yeah, the quantity of removal seems to be an even more common and egregious issue in pauper cubes than the quality
Personally I also really like getting tempo though cheap combat tricks, so replacing some removal with stuff like unnatural endurance makes things more fun too. Also as the format designer you can mess with removal density by including ones that are fine for aggro but unplayable for control, for example crippling blight, or the reverse, like hobble. YMMV.
Suit yourself, the deck is fun as hell. My #1 goal is a fun cube. As always, setting an arbitrary restriction (commons only, in this case) and filling in each color with the 55 strongest cards available does not result in the most fun cube, or even the most skill-testing, for that matter.
Feeding it a 1/1 vanilla token (mogg war marshal etc) seems fine too
Otherwise yeah you probably choose the executioner mode
In my previous post I was envisioning you are playing against some aggro or midrange deck, so you play the 2/3 that's hard to attack into/remove (If they burn it or trade in combat they get 2 for 1'd. If they pacify it, it's free value for you if/when you can sacrifice it.) Then later once the game is stabilized you can sac and recur it and get your 4/5.
I personally really hate cards like flametongue kavu, skinrender and cloudgoat ranger. Just a bunch of value in a can. Feels like they can singlehandedly turn a board state to the caster's favor.
I'm also wary of stuff like pyroclasm. I cut arc lightning from my own cube because it was way too easy to get a 2 for 1, and it's not really reasonable to play around it (never play a 1-toughness creature?)
I'm more okay with stuff like concentrate because it doesn't affect the board, or even mulldrifter (although pushing it) since it doesn't just singlehandedly nullify a bunch of your opponent's tempo (only a little, in the form of blocking and trading. Whereas something like cloudgoat ranger is just like "haha good luck attacking me")
My goal for my cube is sort of like a modern/eternal masters, but not beholden to anything except being a good limited format, so no bombs/mythics and every card belongs in some deck you can draft. (wotc/masters have to reprint constructed staples and sell packs, which makes the limited environment worse)
If the soulstinger was just a 2/3 that put 2 -1/-1 counters on something when it dies, it would be a lot worse. A 4/5 black creature can close out games. Play it as a roadblock to aggro, sac it once you've stabilized and grab it with recover/urborg uprising/whatever, now you have a win condition
I'm not trying to say it's a staple or anything but if you have sacrifice support it's pretty good.
In most limited formats artifact/enchantment removal is only sideboard playable and you're better off just running a reliable business spell (like any decent creature.)
So no one else likes the strictly-much-better undead executioner? soulstinger
I'm just a sucker for demons (scorpion demon at common!) and anything that plays well in sacrifice decks. He can be a roadblock, or if you have a blazing effigy/mudbutton torchrunner he can be a 4/5 black creature with no downside
5 to make a 3/2 is probably just useless to all but the grindy-est of decks
I've had the parrot in every cube I've ever made, it's embodied perfection
I've had some good times with wordmail too, as part of a larger auras/enchantments package. Usually +2/+2 unless you get the wombo combo like blade of the sixth pride or order of the golden cricket. 5/5 syndic of tithes isn't bad. Randomly wombos with some out of color guys too like sentinels of glen elendra becomes a 6/7 flier.
Tandem lookout is one that I've suspected is too strong for this cube, yet MM3 has it at common, so I'll keep him around for now.
I use or have used a lot of these downshifted cards in my cube, which is supposed to be somewhere between pauper and peasant power level, but tandem lookout is one I always felt like was really pushing it and was probably too good. If you support anything aggressive in blue it's pretty easy to get a card from lookout the turn you play it, at which point it becomes phyrexian rager meets phyrexian arena.
I've also had falkenrath noble in for a while but he generally seems to underperform, surprisingly.
Dinrova horror at common is sweet. It may not actually be that great but it's always been a personal favorite. Glowing lovecraftian fatties are best fatties.
Seems hard. It's not that there aren't good enchantments/PWs to run, but playing out mogis + 2-3 other permanents + jokulhaups is lot of mana and turns that have to go right.
9 mana explosive vegetation?
I've run equipment like opaline bracers or vulshok morningstar + random bodies as a wincon in control (so your omenspeaker/man-0'-war type stuff can double as threats late game) plus there are some artifacts control decks actually want like perilous myr, prophetic prism, serrated arrows
The bastion inventor could also potentially show up at the top of the curve in some midrangey deck with equipments
Also picks up inventor's goggles for free lol