Hi everyone! This is my peasant cube that I have been working on for a while now. I decided that I wanted to build a cube because I love limited, especially drafting. I'd done a few cube drafts and enjoyed them a great deal. I chose peasant mainly because of how much more like normal limited it is, but also because of the cost of a normal cube.
I look forward to comments and discussion about my choices and cards I may have missed. As far as the design of my cube goes, I value interesting and balanced games and drafts. I have tried to give options for many different color/archetype choices, and I try to avoid too many cards that are identical or close to it (this is why I only have 1 2/1 white flyer). I often will value a card that has an interesting or unique effect slightly higher than something that is simply good. With that said, I do try to make sure that the power level is there in general before including anything.
I don't get to cube as often as I would like to, but I love it when I do!
Basic Info
Cube Size: 360 Cards
Standard or Theme Cube: Peasant (any card printed at uncommon or lower in paper is acceptable)
Snow Lands: No
Average # Players: 6-8
How Often Drafted: Monthly
Card Selection
Powered?: No
Portal?: Yes
"Un-" Cards: No
Banned Cards for Power-Level: Skullclamp, Sol Ring
Banned Cards for Time Constraints: Top
Banned Cards for "Fun" factor: No
Cube Design
Standard or Multiplayer: Standard
Sideboards?: Yes
Even Color Balance: Yes
Perfect Creature/Non-Creature Balance: No
Gold Balance: Yes
Hybrid/Split/Kicker as Gold: Varies
Color Triggers as Gold: No
Perfectly Balanced CMC: No
You are goin to have to succumb to running cards that are very similar or identical to another or else archetypes are gonna be playing short in some cases. Imagine this
In a regular peasant cube there are anywhere between 3 and 5 one drop mana accelerants in green. Green decks love them. But by throwing away arbor elf, you've hurt every single green deck. Not only that, but by not playing both Cultivates, your ramp and 5color decks suffer.
Its one thing to do this on purpose. It's another to incidentally make black aggro worse, green decks less potent, and deny yourself the option of running a good card.
I strongly echo what citynoise said.
Here is a list of some specific "upgrades" you could make:
Stonecloaker < Flickerwisp
Kemba's Skyguard < Aven Riftwatcher
Assault Griffin < Spectral Procession
Stave Off < Emerge Unscathed
Soul Tithe < Temporal Isolation
Neck Snap < Devouring Light
Pestermite < Deceiver Exarch
Vedalken Anatomist < Niblis of the Breath
Thieving Magpie < Tandem Lookout
Encrust < Claustrophobia
Binding Grasp < Mind Control
Shoreline Salvager < Harbor Bandit
Mind Rot < Stupor
Slavering Nulls < Crimson Muckwader
Keldon Vandals < Oxxida Scrapmelter
Punishing Fire < Arc Trail
Pyrotechnics < Shower of Coals
Refuges + Signets < Guildgates
Fair enough. Pestermite it more of an aggro card, Tandem Lookout is more of an aggro card. I guess it doesn't make them strictly worse or better, so good point.
Hi guys, thanks for all the feedback! There is a ton of it but I will try to address as much as I can. First of all a bit more about the design of my cube. I am not necessarily aiming to make it as powerful as I can. I want it to produce strong decks for sure, but my overall goal is to make the drafts and games interesting and varied. So I while I do try to have redundancy of slots for various decks and archetypes, as much as possible I try to do that by using slightly different cards. So far in actual practice I have seen a very large range of decks do well, so I am fairly happy with how it is playing out. When I don't run the second 2/1 flyer, that slot is still taken by an aggressive white 2 drop. Out of personal preference I am avoiding specific color protection. I used to have a couple, and was not happy with the effect they had. Either the protection is not relevant and does nothing, or it is relevant and isn't fun. There are also some cards I choose not to run for power level or time reasons (top, crystal ball, sol ring, skullclamp).
Now I'll try to respond to some specific people!
Leelue
You are goin to have to succumb to running cards that are very similar or identical to another or else archetypes are gonna be playing short in some cases. Imagine this
In a regular peasant cube there are anywhere between 3 and 5 one drop mana accelerants in green. Green decks love them. But by throwing away arbor elf, you've hurt every single green deck. Not only that, but by not playing both Cultivates, your ramp and 5color decks suffer.
Its one thing to do this on purpose. It's another to incidentally make black aggro worse, green decks less potent, and deny yourself the option of running a good card.
Also
Why is loam lion white. Or for that matter any of those cards that are actually multicolored.
Chapel geist is stronger than kemba's skyguard
Get a Temporal isolation quicky
errant ephemeron, benthicore, jetting glasskite, Jodah's avenger. Get between 2 and all of these guys.
Talrand's invocation is wonderful
Shower of coals is bonkers
Sprout swarm is the best green card hands down.
rakdos guildmage is significantly better than shred freak.
kird ape is staple status
darksteel sentinel is lights out
vulshok morningstar is brutal. very efficient.
Gemstone mine is a boss
vivids are beyond staple
Or at least get arcane sanctum and co.
treetop village is great
Serrated arrows and crystal ball are both fun and interesting and good
Go seahawks
Loam Lion etc - Its just left that way from my original setup. I have 1 in each color.
Chapel Geist - missed this potential change when I did my Innistrad update. Good idea!
Temporal Isolation - used to be in, took out to test Soul Tithe
Blue finishers - at 360 I don't have room for them all. Blue so far hasn't been hurting for high end guys, but I have a copy of the Ephemeron I have been considering adding in.
Talrand's Invocation - In my can't find room for pile
Shower of Coals - Wasn't aware of this one. Might go well in the Pyrotechnics slot
Sprout Swarm - I used to have this in and it never seemed to perform. I have been thinking of adding it back in since I know its a powerful card.
Rakdos Guildmage - I want to try either this guy or the new Rtr one in this slot.
Kird Ape - Not sure why I've never put this guy in. Branching Bolt hasn't been working out that well and so he will probably take that spot.
Darksteel Sentinel - In a small stack of cards sitting next to my computer that I am planning to put in for testing
Vulshok Morningstar - If I wanted 1 more equipment this is the next to go in.
Gemstone Mine - also in my stack to put in
Vivids/shard lands - I haven't put these in since the manafixing so far has been about where I want to be.
Treetop village - Left out because green decks (especially with white) were performing better than others. This is also part of why Behemoth Sledge is no longer in my list.
Serrated Arrows/Crystal Ball - Arrows is in my maybe pile. Crystal ball is out because of how long it makes games take in the hands of some people.
Citynoise
So much text
Too many cards for me to go card by card, so I will simply talk about some that catch my eye
Cuts:
Soltari Crusader - I want to have 1 white shadow guy, and 3 mana is where I had room for one
Totem-Guide Hartebeast - I have been happy with his performance. He had a big back end while fetching removal, mind control or Rancor
Stave Off - The only card like this that can target your opponents creatures. I like that additional functionality. Being able to counter Rancor, or get back one of your guys that has gotten Control Magic'd at a time other then just when the theft is cast.
Phantasmal Dragon - Has performed well
Spire Monitor - I like having one of the blue high end creatures having flash
Brainstorm - Ponder is probably a little better. I like Brainstorm though, and to me the difference is not big enough to make me need to switch.
Encrust - Blue removal for creatures or artifacts, currently in testing.
Traumatic Visions - This is currently actually Force of Will. If your reply is why play a 5 drop counterspell at all, the answer is because I have as many cheap ones as I want in the list, but I wanted to have 1 more in the cube.
Fire Servant - I do not want my red to be only an agro color. This guy is there for the slower red decks and is a big threat
Punishing Fire - Currently testing because I realized how many life gain effects there are in the cube.
Puncture Blast - This has been amazing in my experience and I have no idea why I would cut it. Its great red removal because unlike most burn it deals with a lot of things that have higher toughness than the damage it deals.
Stone Rain - This is something I'm always happy to draft in my aggressive decks.
Gravetiller Wurm - Planning to bu cut for another green fatty, just haven't gotten around to it.
Gaea's Embrace - This has ended a lot of games for us. As an aura it does have a higher risk, but the payoff is big and the regen gives some protection.
Traveler's Amulet - Probably moving this out as it hasn't been needed
Bouncelands - My playgroup likes them and so I prefer to have the full set.
Move:
I try to organize cards like Lingering Souls in the way that I expect or see them play out in actual drafting. White decks without black are often happy to take Souls, so I organize it as a white card. I never see Unburial Rites in decks that can't flash it back so it is Orzhov. Also, I tend to fudge things a little to fit in the cards that I need to. Also, I do not organize my fixing within the guilds, and I plan to stay with that for now.
Cards that are not moving because of how they are actually played in my group:
Lingering Souls, Dismember, Ribbons of Night, both Shrines
Cards to run:
Path - Already have swords, don't want 2 1 drop hard removal
Land Tax - Excluded by choice
Harrier - Don't need another 1 drop tapper
Solari Bros - No protection
Flickerwisp - After seeing the responses here I'm considering him for the Stonecloaker spot
Cenn's Enlistment - I already have a lot of white token makers, not sure I want another one that this expensive.
Mind Control/Persuasion - I don't feel like I need more than 3 of this effect at 360. I used to have Mind Control, but I'm testing Binding Grasp right now.
Forbid - Excluded by choice
Remand - I prefer the counterspell suite I am running right now. I'm happy to hear your thoughts on why I should change my mind
Thirst - Don't see having an extra artifact often enough
Nekrataal - In the past I had more black removal in the cube and I wasn't happy with the effect that having such a high volume of removal had on games. This guy is a casualty of that.
Justice - I think I prefer Pestilence. 7 mana to buyback is a lot
Demonic Tutor - Excluded by choice
Barter in Blood - Another one that I feel isn't needed
Doom Blade - I've been happy with the edicts + gfft for my 2 drop black removal. What changes would you make to get this in?
Incremental Blight - Had a few too many games where there were not 3 targets
Necromancy - Have preferred my current reanimation suite. Thoughts?
Vampire Lacerator - Is in my list.
Arc Lightning/Flames - I've been trying to find room for one of these.
Keldon Champion - Been considering putting him into the Dragon Whelp spot. Its nice to give red a flyer though and the whelp does a lot of damage as well.
Pyroclasm - How many red sweeper effects do you think I should run?
Arc Trail/Firebolt - No room!
Fireblast - Haven't been able to find room for this either
Slice and Dice - I just don't like this one.
Chain Lightning - In my stack to try to find a spot for.
Cone of Flame - Prefer Pyrotechnics (or maybe Shower of Coals if I add that)
Sprout Swarm - Underperformed, but I would like to get it back in.
Phantom Centaur - Protection
Sylvan Library - Excluded by choice
Centaur Glade - I don't own one!
Deadwood Treefolk - Might make it into the wurms slot
Regrowth - Excluded by choice
Kodama's Reach - Don't want a second cultivate
Briarpack Alpha - Also redundant
Maze of Ith - Excluded by choice
Strip Mine - Don't own one somehow
Skullclamp - Excluded by choice
Mishra's Factory - I have been meaning to add this, but I can't find mine
Wasteland - Will add Strip Mine instead
Sol Ring - Excluded by choice
Ancient Tomb - Been wanting to try this out
Crystal Ball - Excluded by choice
Chimeric Idol - In my list that I've been considering. So far I've been happy with Angel's Tomb
Juggernaut - Could add in the Pierce Strider slot, but I like his reach
Perilous Myr - Anther one that might need a spot
Artisan of Kozilek - 9 mana is so much. As it is the crusher doesn't get played a lot and I think another mana on top of that will get played even less.
Darksteel Sentinel - Planning to add
Beefy
I'm in seattle too
I strongly echo what citynoise said.
Here is a list of some specific "upgrades" you could make:
Stonecloaker < Flickerwisp
Kemba's Skyguard < Aven Riftwatcher
Assault Griffin < Spectral Procession
Stave Off < Emerge Unscathed
Soul Tithe < Temporal Isolation
Neck Snap < Devouring Light
Pestermite < Deceiver Exarch
Vedalken Anatomist < Niblis of the Breath
Thieving Magpie < Tandem Lookout
Encrust < Claustrophobia
Binding Grasp < Mind Control
Shoreline Salvager < Harbor Bandit
Mind Rot < Stupor
Slavering Nulls < Crimson Muckwader
Keldon Vandals < Oxxida Scrapmelter
Punishing Fire < Arc Trail
Pyrotechnics < Shower of Coals
Refuges + Signets < Guildgates
Good luck, have fun, cube lots etc. (^-^)b
Where are you around Seattle?
Stonecloaker - Thinking of making this swap now!
Riftwatcher - Too short term for my liking. If I swap out the Skyguard it will be for the Geist that Leelue suggested I think
Assault Griffin - This seems like maybe a good change.
Stave Off - I talked about this above. I do want 1 give protection spell in white, but the only other one I would consider is the cantripping one.
Soul Tithe - Tithe took Isolation's spot, to test. Very possible I will switch back.
Neck Snap - Not sure I want double white in my removal, but convoke is nice. I will consider this one for sure.
Pestermite - I like the mite much, much better. The flying body is just so much more relevant.
Anatomist - Anatomist is expensive to use, and I always think about taking him out, but then every time he gets played he threatens to take over the game.
Magpie - Functions on his own, which is why he is here. Lookout is too fragile
Encrust - I like that Encrust turns off artifacts as well.
Binding Grasp - I've been testing this over Mind Control, but I've only had 1 draft with it in so far. I'm not sure if the cheaper mana cost is worth the upkeep.
Salvager - Salvager is there to lock up games for Dimir decks. A solid body that feeds you cards is really tough to beat once it starts connecting. Bandit is more of an aggressive card.
Mind Rot - I forgot about Stupor, if I have/get one I will make this swap
Slavering Nulls - This is probably a good switch.
Keldon Vandals - I feel like 3 mana is better than 4 for this effect and I like the 4 power. I just recently added the Vandals, if they don't seem to be working out I will probably put Manic Vandal back in.
Punishing Fire - Testing the Fire right now, with the amount of lifegain that there is I think it may turn out well.
Pyrotechnics - I don't have a Shower of Coals righ now, but I think I want to pick one up to try out.
Guildgates - These will go in once Gatecrash brings the other 5
Again, thanks for the feedback everyone. I don't get to talk about my cube choices enough with the people around here, but I love doing it. For any suggestions I turned down, I'm always willing to have people try to convince me!
I'll type up a bigger/better reply when I'm not on my iPad but 2 things jumped out at me:Brainstorm and Sprout Swarm
Brainstorm is unplayable. However much better you think Ponder is, it is probably 10 times or more better.
Sprout Swarm is the best green card. The card is bonkers, how did it underperform?
I don't really agree with the no random protections, no slow/powerful cards, or no functional reprints policies either. Pro-color is kinda like 4 toughness, just a random upside that occasionally hoses some decks hard. Are you going to exclude X/4s because they can rock red sometimes? I know some people ban Clamp/Ring for power reasons, I don't get why. Excluding functional (or near functional reprints) only makes your cube weaker but the real problem is what decks and colors become weaker is very skewed. Aggro and ramp hurt the most.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
Brainstorm is unplayable. However much better you think Ponder is, it is probably 10 times or more better.
I've played a lot with both cards, so I feel comfortable with my previous statement. I know that without a shuffle effect Brainstorm loses a lot of it's power, but the shuffle effect on Ponder is not the most amazing thing either. Sometimes the shuffle from Ponder is good, sometimes you use Brainstorm to hide something from a discard spell. At the end of the day, Brainstorm gets played a lot in my cube and it does it's job so I don't feel pressed to make this change.
Sprout Swarm is the best green card. The card is bonkers, how did it underperform?
1/1s are not always relevant. I was surprised as well. As I said above, I know its very strong and I'm looking to put it back in.
I don't really agree with the no random protections, no slow/powerful cards, or no functional reprints policies either. Pro-color is kinda like 4 toughness, just a random upside that occasionally hoses some decks hard. Are you going to exclude X/4s because they can rock red sometimes? I know some people ban Clamp/Ring for power reasons, I don't get why. Excluding functional (or near functional reprints) only makes your cube weaker but the real problem is what decks and colors become weaker is very skewed. Aggro and ramp hurt the most.
Protection is something that was simply never fun and that's why I no longer include those cards. Excluding cards like clamp/ring is just my personal preference. I understand that they are not broken beyond use, but I prefer a limited environment without them.
I know the reprints thing is weird to people, and I understand that. This is part of the design philosophy I have for my cube, so until I have a good reason to change it I don't plan to. I have not had a problem with any archetypes being underdrafted or underperforming, so I don't feel compelled to change. Both agro and ramp do well in my drafts, so I'm not sure where the hurting is. If I ever feel like my cube's health is suffering because of the lack of these cards, I will definitely change.
With that said, I'm open to talking about specific ones I'm missing, and what I'm using instead. Maybe you can convince me of the error of my ways. That's why I put my list here, to talk about it!
After reading through all these suggestions, I went through and did an update to my cube tonight! Hopefully I will get some chances to draft with the new cards soon.
Out > In Kemba's Skyguard > Chapel Geist - I think the extra toughness will be better than the life gain Griffin Guide > Flickerwisp - I was going to replace Stonecloaker with the wisp until I realized it doesn't have flash. Luckily, I've been wanting to get rid of guide for a while Spire Monitor > Jetting Glasskite - Trading flash for a bigger, tougher threat Mind Rot > Stupor - Either I forgot about Stupor or I thought it was a rare. Pillage > Chain Lightning - Finally picked up a Chain Lightning. Pillage was mostly there for agro decks, as a second Stone Rain. I think the cheap burn will help them more Fiery Fall > Arc Lightning - Should be an overall more useful card that goes into more decks Gravetiller Wurm > Jungle Weaver - I was trying out the wurm, but it has never been very exciting. Time to try another fatty Leeching Bite > Sprout Swarm - Been meaning to put swarm back in for a while. Bite is fine but not amazing Rakdos Shredfreak > Rakdos Guildmage - Shredfreak has not been as good as I expected. Trying the old guildmage, and probably will swap it to try the new one at a later date. Branching Bolt > Kird Ape - Branching Bolt in practice is seldom the 2 for 1 I had hoped Traveler's Amulet > Spined Thopter - Amulet has turned out to not be needed as cheap fixing. Been wanting to try the Thopter as a flexible agro card Geistcatcher's Rig > Darksteel Sentinel - Rig has been fine, but I want to give the Sentinel a try Skarrg, the Rage Pits > Gemstone Mine - Skarrg gets put into decks, but usually only because no one takes it so someone going r/g gets it late. Never does much. Haunted Fengraf > Mirrodin's Core - Recursion in a land slot seemed decent, but its pretty underwhelming.
Hi guys, thanks for all the feedback! There is a ton of it but I will try to address as much as I can. First of all a bit more about the design of my cube. I am not necessarily aiming to make it as powerful as I can. I want it to produce strong decks for sure, but my overall goal is to make the drafts and games interesting and varied. So I while I do try to have redundancy of slots for various decks and archetypes, as much as possible I try to do that by using slightly different cards. So far in actual practice I have seen a very large range of decks do well, so I am fairly happy with how it is playing out. When I don't run the second 2/1 flyer, that slot is still taken by an aggressive white 2 drop. Out of personal preference I am avoiding specific color protection. I used to have a couple, and was not happy with the effect they had. Either the protection is not relevant and does nothing, or it is relevant and isn't fun. There are also some cards I choose not to run for power level or time reasons (top, crystal ball, sol ring, skullclamp).
...
Beefy
Where are you around Seattle?
Stonecloaker - Thinking of making this swap now!
Riftwatcher - Too short term for my liking. If I swap out the Skyguard it will be for the Geist that Leelue suggested I think
Assault Griffin - This seems like maybe a good change.
Stave Off - I talked about this above. I do want 1 give protection spell in white, but the only other one I would consider is the cantripping one.
Soul Tithe - Tithe took Isolation's spot, to test. Very possible I will switch back.
Neck Snap - Not sure I want double white in my removal, but convoke is nice. I will consider this one for sure.
Pestermite - I like the mite much, much better. The flying body is just so much more relevant.
Anatomist - Anatomist is expensive to use, and I always think about taking him out, but then every time he gets played he threatens to take over the game.
Magpie - Functions on his own, which is why he is here. Lookout is too fragile
Encrust - I like that Encrust turns off artifacts as well.
Binding Grasp - I've been testing this over Mind Control, but I've only had 1 draft with it in so far. I'm not sure if the cheaper mana cost is worth the upkeep.
Salvager - Salvager is there to lock up games for Dimir decks. A solid body that feeds you cards is really tough to beat once it starts connecting. Bandit is more of an aggressive card.
Mind Rot - I forgot about Stupor, if I have/get one I will make this swap
Slavering Nulls - This is probably a good switch.
Keldon Vandals - I feel like 3 mana is better than 4 for this effect and I like the 4 power. I just recently added the Vandals, if they don't seem to be working out I will probably put Manic Vandal back in.
Punishing Fire - Testing the Fire right now, with the amount of lifegain that there is I think it may turn out well.
Pyrotechnics - I don't have a Shower of Coals righ now, but I think I want to pick one up to try out.
Guildgates - These will go in once Gatecrash brings the other 5
Again, thanks for the feedback everyone. I don't get to talk about my cube choices enough with the people around here, but I love doing it. For any suggestions I turned down, I'm always willing to have people try to convince me!
>>
I cube Brainstorm. I like it.
I feel that way about bandit a lot too, but he is a 3/3 which is fairly beefy. I'm playing 10 U/B cards over both, but I think both are fine choices.
I love anatomist, probably more than I should. I wouldn't fault anyone for playing him.
Yeah, I like Chapel Geist better than them both as well.
I never noticed that about Stave Off. If Emerge Unscathed wasn't already on the way out I would make the switch right now
I think spice > power is a good policy. We're not building decks (as in, to win), we're building formats (as in, to have fun). I'm cutting my color protection creatures as well. I like all the new changes you've made.
If your cube is too fast for crusher I would cut him. If not, I would play Artisan soooo fast. Artisan gets cast, wins games. He's a peasant Emrakul
>>
I think spice > power is a good policy. We're not building decks (as in, to win), we're building formats (as in, to have fun).
This is basically how I feel. The other thing is that whenever I draft, I always have way more than enough playable cards, so to me there is plenty of room for more situational cards to be in the cube. Sure there won't always be a deck that wants them, but they will be there when someone drafts that deck.
If your cube is too fast for crusher I would cut him. If not, I would play Artisan soooo fast. Artisan gets cast, wins games. He's a peasant Emrakul
I wouldn't say the cube is too fast overall. Crusher generally gets played when someone drafts a ramp deck and occasionally in 4-5 color control deck as a finisher. Now that you've gotten me thinking about it, I can see that perhaps the extra mana won't matter that much for the decks that actually want one of these guys. I guess I need to track down a promo Artisan
I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for for running protection guys. Their powerlevel is fine. I think its down to the preference of the designer/playgroup.
I'm actually a bit torn right now. I really want to try out Scryb Ranger, except for the pro blue. Maybe I'll break my rule and see. Blue isn't really a removal color and the body is small, so maybe it won't be as obnoxious.
I really want to try out Scryb Ranger, except for the pro blue. Maybe I'll break my rule and see. Blue isn't really a removal color and the body is small, so maybe it won't be as obnoxious.
(Excluding cards I consider unplayable, even then there are only like 3-4 total)
Hand disruption cards in your cube:7 (1.94%)
Shuffle effects in your cube:8 (2.22%)
Bottoming effects in your cube:2 (.56%)
So for brainstorm to be good you need to draft it and at least 1 of the 10 shuffling/bottoming effects (all of which are Blue, Green, or Colorless), play both, and draw both or your opponent needs to draft 1 of the 7 hand disruption effects (6 of which are Black, 1 of which is Red), draw it, and cast it on you when you have U open and brainstorm in hand.
So brainstorm is only actually going to reliably be good in UG ramp decks or against B decks with a discard theme. Not good enough at 360 and certainly nowhere near as good as Ponder/Preordain by a large margin.
This isn't just me either. The power ranking blue vote had 12 people vote for a total of 74 cards. Ponder and Preordain both got 5 votes and were ranked 23rd and 15th. Brainstorm received 0 votes.
-----
I can sorta grok why people dislike protection on beefy creatures (kinda like how I dislike hexproof/split second). It is just a personal opinion thing and my opinion is all the protection cards printed so far are fine.
-----
Another big thing - I 100% disagree with the 'spice' over power design philosophy. Like Dragon Whelp may be 'spicer' than Keldon Champion but the Champion is leagues better. My earlier list of cuts/adds can basically just be summed up with, ''overall increase in powerlevel.'' Some cards on that list I don't run myself (Soltari 2drops, Necromancy) but are still very good. If you don't care about powerlevel then feel free to run Card X over Card Y or not run functional reprints.
The worst Brainstorm can ever be is still strictly better than cycling for U.
Since when is Dragon Whelp spicier than Keldon Champion? Keldon Champion is spicier and better. Playing fun cards over strong cards doesn't mean ignoring power level (In fact, we still care a great deal about power level). It means choosing cards that do exciting things, and make the format better, over cards whose only merits are strength. Just because we like fun and unique cards doesn't mean we are going to start jamming Dragon Appeasement or something. I bet that decks from all three of our cubes could compete on a relatively equal level, regardless of what our personal design philosophies happen to be.
The worst Brainstorm can ever be is still strictly better than cycling for U.
Since when is Dragon Whelp spicier than Keldon Champion? Keldon Champion is spicier and better. Playing fun cards over strong cards doesn't mean ignoring power level (In fact, we still care a great deal about power level). It means choosing cards that do exciting things, and make the format better, over cards whose only merits are strength. Just because we like fun and unique cards doesn't mean we are going to start jamming Dragon Appeasement or something. I bet that decks from all three of our cubes could compete on a relatively equal level, regardless of what our personal design philosophies happen to be.
Brainstorm may be strictly better cycling at worst, yes. But it performs at its worst the overwhelming majority of the time. Would you run a card that basically only cycles for U with some tiny upside? Seems awful.
Braindrain
U
Instant
Draw a card. Target player gives you a high five.
Cycling with an upside that is irrelevant most of the time.
-----
I really dunno what is spicier, Whelp or Champion, I guess that is personal taste but Champion is leagues better. I'm not accusing spicy cards of being bad cards but if spice matters to you at some point you sacrifice power even if only a little. Then those little sacrifices add up to a much weaker overall environment. I find power fun so I just like the best cards.
I don't think a cube that makes choices based on anything other than powerlevel (like spiciness, flavor, pet cards, art, fun, ect.) would produce decks that could compete with those coming from a cube that is designed only caring about power (I don't only care about power, I care about balance too so I am in the not-just-powerlevel camp but am probably closer than anybody since cards like Sol Ring and Library excite me >.>).
Take for example 2 360cubes that are identical except doesn't run walkers and one cut the weakest 2-4 cards in each color for walkers. I would bet that over time if you accounted for play skill/variance the walker cube would win a statistically significant higher percentage of the time.
----------
Even if you want to run spicy cards I still think there are some clear cuts.
Chapel Geist
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power
Assault Griffin
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power
Totem-Guide Hartebeast
I really dislike 2-card-combo type cards like this and creature auras tend to be rarer in cubes
Steelshaper's Gift
You don't have enough equipment to make this reliably do anything
Disenchant
I like the Ronom Unicorn brothers even if they can't kill artifacts. Disenchant is just too narrow/sideboardy in my opinion.
Soul Tithe
Awful card, the only good thing it has is it is a way to screw their walkers over and those don't exist at Peasant.
Neck Snap
Just horrible. 4 mana for conditional removal is just worlds away from being cubeable.
Vedalken Anatomist
Just too slow. 3 mana is a whole turn.
Phantasmal Dragon
Dies to literally everything. Doesn't generate CA/Tempo. Costs 4.
Carrion Feeder
This is basically a combo card without combos in cube in large numbers. As a 1drop beater it is sketchy, late it does nothing since it can't even chump. What purpose does it serves? Giving you value VS removal - if that is going to be an issue that game your opponent will just kill the Feeder.
Blood Artist
Again, a combo card in a world without sufficient numbers of the other combo pieces. Also a 0/1 does 0 work on its own.
Mad Prophet
This would be a lot better in blue or black but this just isn't really what red wants to be doing at Peasant.
Stone Rain
Pure LD isn't my cup of tea. Cubing this over Pillage and Molten Rain is also crazy.
Pouncing Jaguar
Green aggro is really hard to support, if you want to support it you need to actually support it. Run all the aggro cards, or don't run them at all - basically anything else just leaves you with eternal 15th picks like a random Jungle Lion or Pouncing Jaguar. Also echo is a *****.
Cradle Guard
Vanilla, Echo, not really above the curve by a lot
Sporecap Spider
Vanilla and below the curve
Pale Recluse
Selesnya is stacked beyond reason. Running this just makes me so sad.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
I have to disagree with the all or nothin on green aggro cards. Green has excellent two drops that are aggressive and sprinkling in jungle lion has certainly not made it a perennial last-pick. Often I'll be in red early, see a green aggro card, and be happy to play a jungle lion the moment one shows up. I've also found that running a ton of mana elves gives green a chance to not just be a support color when in aggro and jungle lion rides alongside them in those builds just fine.
Pouncing jag Is garbage though.
I suggested chapel geist over kembas skyguard, just because its better than skyguard at the very least. It's hard to make suggestions for this cube because of the restrictions, too.
My red has no problem goin control so a card like mad prophet isnt unthinkable. That particular card didn't pan out for me, though. Just a comment on the concept.
My cube had produced Red control decks. I even once had the all-FTK RB control deck. Mad prophet just doesn't seem to be really worthwhile even in those decks (costs 4, rummaging is way worse than looting, only 2 power without evasion).
I dislike green aggro 1s that aren't mana elves. My green aggro creatures (besides elves) start at 2cmc. I would rather go T1-Elf, T2-3drop over playing a Jungle Lion. Green 2s are so good and the aggro 1s are so bad. Not every color has to have everything and I just decided to have green aggro play elves and rely on another color for better 1s. Even if you do want to support green agro Jaguar is still crappy. Echo on 1s is unreal painful.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
re: Brainstorm: I know that the discard/shuffle effects are going to be rare. I don't really factor those into my perception of it's power level it my cube. I just disagree that the difference in power level between Ponder and Brainstorm is as big as you make it out to be. Ponder gives you plenty of awkward 3 card stacks where there is 1 really good card and 2 junk and you have to decide whether a shuffle + random draw will be any better. Even if it's 3 bad ones, there's no guarantee that it will be any better after a shuffle. In an case, I suspect the best case here is for me to respectfully agree to disagree.
Pouncing Jaguar is something I've been meaning to cut and just haven't decided what to put in his place yet. I might go with another elf (Arbor Elf maybe), another 1 drop agro like Jungle Lion, or just with another 2 drop (maybe this will be the home of Scryb Ranger). A few low curve green agro guys are nice for x/g agro decks. Elves are better yes, but also tend to be fairly high picks so you don't always get a shot at them.
Some of these cards (like the Skyguard and Assault Griffin) have been in my cube since my first draft of it or close, when card availability was a factor. I am gradually working my way to cutting them for better cards. Many of them are simply fine cards, so they get drafted and played even if they could be something better. That makes them get less noticed as "need to go" then the cards that simply don't get played. This thread has definitely been helpful for me in identifying cards that I want to replace/upgrade.
Chapel Geist
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power Going to see about replacing him, especially now that I've added another flyer in Flickerwisp
Assault Griffin
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power Will be looking to replace
Totem-Guide Hartebeast
I really dislike 2-card-combo type cards like this and creature auras tend to be rarer in cubes I've always been happy with him, so he will probably stay. It's pretty easy to grab 1-2 auras for him and they are normally going to be cards you want even without him.
Steelshaper's Gift
You don't have enough equipment to make this reliably do anything Another one to replace sooner or later
Disenchant
I like the Ronom Unicorn brothers even if they can't kill artifacts. Disenchant is just too narrow/sideboardy in my opinion. A nice catchall, but not something I love. May cut eventually. I definitely want to make sure there are enough answers to things like Lox Hammer though.
Soul Tithe
Awful card, the only good thing it has is it is a way to screw their walkers over and those don't exist at Peasant. As I said before, this is currently just in for testing. If it doesn't perform well it'll be back out
Neck Snap
Just horrible. 4 mana for conditional removal is just worlds away from being cubeable. Another card that's been in the cube a long time and probably needs to be replaced
Vedalken Anatomist
Just too slow. 3 mana is a whole turn. He's slow, but he takes over games
Phantasmal Dragon
Dies to literally everything. Doesn't generate CA/Tempo. Costs 4. He doesn't need to generate ca/tempo, he just wins the game if not killed. Fragility is a needed downside for his huge flying body
Carrion Feeder
This is basically a combo card without combos in cube in large numbers. As a 1drop beater it is sketchy, late it does nothing since it can't even chump. What purpose does it serves? Giving you value VS removal - if that is going to be an issue that game your opponent will just kill the Feeder. The way you put that is definitely making me question him. I will have to re-evaluate this slot
Blood Artist
Again, a combo card in a world without sufficient numbers of the other combo pieces. Also a 0/1 does 0 work on its own. He's been more or less in testing as well. He's really good in agro mirrors, but not as good vs control as they just kill him. Going to keep him for a while longer before I decide if I like him.
Mad Prophet
This would be a lot better in blue or black but this just isn't really what red wants to be doing at Peasant. Having a 2/2 body with haste has made him pretty solid. I like the effect even if it's not as good as real looting. He's often played in agro or midrange decks as an extra body that pitches dead lands when he can't get through for damage.
Stone Rain
Pure LD isn't my cup of tea. Cubing this over Pillage and Molten Rain is also crazy. This is simply a tempo card, here to help agro decks punish greedy 4-5 color control decks. I play this over those 2 because of the single red in the cost. Having to wait for the correct mana to play it is terrible. You want to LD on turn 3 not turn 4-5.
Pouncing Jaguar
Green aggro is really hard to support, if you want to support it you need to actually support it. Run all the aggro cards, or don't run them at all - basically anything else just leaves you with eternal 15th picks like a random Jungle Lion or Pouncing Jaguar. Also echo is a *****. He's getting cut, I'm just not sure what for yet.
Cradle Guard
Vanilla, Echo, not really above the curve by a lot One of my favorite things to drop off a t1 elf. Echo does suck though
Sporecap Spider
Vanilla and below the curve We find him to be a great early defensive drop. I would like a green, 3 drop defensive guy in this slot, if I cut the spider what would you recommend for that slot?
Pale Recluse
Selesnya is stacked beyond reason. Running this just makes me so sad. Land cycling fatties are great and big spider is pretty beefy. Selesnya is insane though so there are a ton of cards that could go here. I tend to rotate though cards for this guild simply to change things up.
If you are ok running a card like Orim's Thunder in white I like it a lot more than Disenchant. Sure it costs 1 more but you can potentially get a 2-for-1. I feel way better MDing it than I ever did Disenchant. Killing their Pacifism and blocker mid-combat and blocking their attacker is a blowout. Kill their Hammer and other attacker and block. Even just kill a 2/2 artifact creature and a 2/2 regular creature is solid.
Vedalken Anatomist reminds me of Imperious Perfect - fragile, slow, but powerful if left untouched. I am liking the Perfect less and less every time I draft it. If your cube tends towards grindy games I bet it crushes games left and right. I am just a sucker for upfront value.
Winning the game if unkilled is something basically any 4+ mana flier will do. So why not play one that wins the game if unkilled that also has some resiliency or citp ability? I like the bear because it is a 2/2 for 1 and you never plan on riding you 1drops all the way, 4drops are kinda different.
I can see Blood Artist being good in aggro mirrors and I do want more good-in-aggro-mirrors cards in black. Let me know if he continues to perform.
I like the job Mad Prophet does (giving reach/digging to aggro and midrange decks) I just think there are better options. My big 3 in red are: Faithless Looting, Flame Jab, and Genju.
Pillage/Molten could cost RRR for all I care really most of the time. My red aggo decks tend to be either all-red or splashing 1-2 cards (BBE, Helix, ect.). The 2R vs 1RR is a very small difference in most cubes I think. Molten Rain it is a bigger deal I think because that is often *just* Stone Rain. Pillage is actually a lot better because of the flexibility, I can't count the number of times I've sided it in to kill a Hammer in a Grixis control deck.
I would rather have any of the 0/4 walls over the spider. Wall of Blossoms, Overgrown Battlement, Vine Trellis. They may not block fliers or attack but they get value or ramp you and all cost 1 less.
I like the idea of rotating cards in guild sections to mix it up. I do love cycling too. The spider would probably be an auto-include for me if it was mono-green but being a guild card just makes the competition for spots go way up since there are less spots to go around. I would love a card like:
Basics Giant
4
Artifact Creature - Golem
Basic Landcycling 2
3/3
----------
I know I probably won't ever change your mind on Brainstorm. I know Ponder has some really awkward 3 card piles where you love 1 and hate 2. I think 'Brainstorm is good' is just this very classic trap we all fall into when building Peasant cubes for the first time, I know I did. If you aren't assuming you are going to have a shuffle effect/your opponent is going to have a discard effect...what do you expect it to do in a cube? Cycle and kinda speed you up a draw step at the cost of a draw step later?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write about cube and run cube drafts on magic online.
Orim's Thunder is a good idea. I always forget that kills enchantments as well as artifacts.
I got to do a cube draft today (actually 3; 1 with mine, 1 with another peasant cube and 1 with a normal cube). I played Brainstorm in a blue/red tempo deck. Another thing I like about Brainstorm is because it's instant, you can save it until you know what you need and then spend mana on their turn. In at least two games I was able to wait and use it to dig into a counter or bounce in response to something my opponent was doing.
One guy drafted a junk midrange/reanimator deck. He won several games on the back of stuff like Blood Artist/Mortarpod. He pretty much always performs. Besides being good in agro mirrors, he's good in grindy control or midrange as long as you have a decent supply of other gas, because it's hard for people to prioritize killing him, and he gives you a really nice life buffer for all the trading you want to do.
The undefeated deck out of my cube today was a heavy blue/light black deck that used the Anatomist to good effect. It also ran the Shoreline Salvager and he seemed very happy with it.
I don't see a lot of mono/very heavy red agro in my cube, though it is very good when it comes together. Maybe that is why I value the easier cost on Stone Rain more highly. Part of that I think is that the people I tend to draft with love to play or splash red, especially burn, so it's hard to get a big pile of good red card with enough reach.
I really like the reach on Sporecap Spider. Often times in G/x decks the worst feeling is when the opponent is just stalling you on the ground and killing you with a flyer or two. Being able to put out something with a big butt to block flyers can really help you stabilize and take over with some big green monster.
I look forward to comments and discussion about my choices and cards I may have missed. As far as the design of my cube goes, I value interesting and balanced games and drafts. I have tried to give options for many different color/archetype choices, and I try to avoid too many cards that are identical or close to it (this is why I only have 1 2/1 white flyer). I often will value a card that has an interesting or unique effect slightly higher than something that is simply good. With that said, I do try to make sure that the power level is there in general before including anything.
I don't get to cube as often as I would like to, but I love it when I do!
Cube Google Doc
Summary:
Cube Size: 360 Cards
Standard or Theme Cube: Peasant (any card printed at uncommon or lower in paper is acceptable)
Snow Lands: No
Average # Players: 6-8
How Often Drafted: Monthly
Card Selection
Powered?: No
Portal?: Yes
"Un-" Cards: No
Banned Cards for Power-Level: Skullclamp, Sol Ring
Banned Cards for Time Constraints: Top
Banned Cards for "Fun" factor: No
Cube Design
Standard or Multiplayer: Standard
Sideboards?: Yes
Even Color Balance: Yes
Perfect Creature/Non-Creature Balance: No
Gold Balance: Yes
Hybrid/Split/Kicker as Gold: Varies
Color Triggers as Gold: No
Perfectly Balanced CMC: No
Cube List
White
Creatures
1 Gideon's Lawkeeper
1 Icatian Javelineers
1 Loam Lion
1 Mother of Runes
1 Steppe Lynx
2 Lone Missionary
2 Cloistered Youth
2 Knight of Meadowgrain
2 Kor Skyfisher
2 Azorious Arrester
2 Daring Skyjek
2 Stormfront Pegasus
2 Wall of Omens
3 Court Street Denizen
3 Kor Hookmaster
3 Kor Sanctifiers
3 Soltari Crusader
3 Stonecloaker
3 Flickerwisp
4 Assault Griffin
4 Celestial Crusader
4 Glimmerpoint Stag
4 Goldnight Commander
4 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Calciderm
5 Serra Angel
1 Mana Tithe
1 Stave Off
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Sunlance
2 Pacifism
2 Journey to Nowhere
2 Disenchant
2 Moment of Heroism
2 Raise the Alarm
3 Ghostly Prison
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Blinding Beam
3 Midnight Haunting
3 Timely Reinforcements
3 Lingering Souls
5 Miraculous Recovery
5 Swell of Courage
Creatures
1 Enclave Cryptologist
1 Phantasmal Bear
2 Azure Mage
2 Looter il-Kor
2 Merfolk Looter
2 Augur of Bolas
2 Welkin Tern
2 Riftwing Cloudskate
3 Calcite Snapper
3 Fettergeist
3 Pestermite
3 Sea Gate Oracle
3 Arctic Aven
3 Vedalken Anatomist
4 Clone
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Thieving Magpie
4 Archeomancer
5 Murder of Crows
6 Jetting Glasskite
7 Errant Ephemeron
1 Preordain
1 Silent Departure
2 Narcolepsy
2 Arcane Denial
2 Condescend
2 Counterspell
2 Standstill
2 Into the Roil
2 Mana Leak
2 Power Sink
3 Frantic Search
3 Encrust
3 Compulsive Research
4 Control Magic
4 Dismiss
4 Fact or Fiction
4 Ray of Command
4 Deep Analysis
4 Grasp of Phantoms
4 Binding Grasp
5 Traumatic Visions
5 Volition Reins
5 Capsize
Creatures
1 Diregraf Ghoul
1 Fume Spitter
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Thrull Parasite
2 Dauthi Slayer
2 Fledgeling Djinn
2 Nezumi Graverobber
2 Reassembling Skeleton
2 Blood Artist
2 Vampire Interloper
2 Wight of Precinct Six
3 Necrogen Scudder
3 Hypnotic Specter
3 Liliana's Specter
3 Phyrexian Rager
3 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Entomber Exarch
4 Falkenrath Noble
4 Shoreline Salvager
4 Skinrender
5 Sengir Vampire
5 Shriekmaw
6 Phyrexian Gargantua
6 Twisted Abomination
1 Disfigure
1 Tragic Slip
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Reanimate
2 Animate Dead
2 Diabolic Edict
2 Go for the Throat
2 Chainer's Edict
2 Hymn to Tourach
2 Night's Whisper
3 Ashes to Ashes
3 Infest
3 Stupor
3 Dismember
4 Diabolic Servitude
4 Pestilence
4 Snuff Out
4 Moan of the Unhallowed
4 Makeshift Mannequin
6 Enslave
Creatures
1 Jackal Pup
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Reckless Waif
1 Stonewright
2 Ember Hauler
2 Lightning Mauler
2 Hellspark Elemental
2 Keldon Marauders
2 Plated Geopede
2 Crimson Muckwader
2 Stormblood Berserker
2 Torch Fiend
3 Pyreheart Wolf
3 Cunning Sparkmage
3 Ghitu Slinger
3 Suq'Ata Lancer
3 Keldon Vandals
4 Bloodfray Giant
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Keldon Champion
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Tormentor Exarch
4 Mad Prophet
5 Mindclaw Shaman
6 Volcanic Dragon
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
1 Reckless Charge
1 Chain Lightning
2 Punishing Fire
2 Incinerate
2 Magma Jet
2 Searing Blaze
3 Flame Javelin
3 Puncture Blast
3 Staggershock
3 Mark of Mutiny
3 Arc Lightning
3 Stone Rain
4 Lightning Blast
4 Breath of Darigaaz
5 Pyrotechnics
1 Fireball
1 Rolling Thunder
Creatures
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Wild Nacatl
1 Experiment One
2 Scryb Ranger
2 Darkthicket Wolf
2 Jade Mage
2 Nest Invader
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Thornweald Archer
2 Wall of Roots
3 Eternal Witness
3 Crocanura
3 Uktabi Orangutan
3 Wolfir Avenger
3 Yavimaya Elder
4 Druid's Familiar
4 Blastoderm
4 Briarhorn
4 Wickerbough Elder
4 Penumbra Spider
4 Wildheart Invoker
5 Bellowing Tanglewurm
5 Stingerfling Spider
6 Howlgeist
6 Jungle Weaver
6 Krosan Tusker
6 Pelakka Wurm
1 Prey Upon
2 Lignify
2 Sprout Swarm
2 Moment's Peace
2 Vines of Vastwood
2 Pit Fight
3 Beast Within
3 Crushing Vines
3 Invigorate
3 Cultivate
3 Wild Hunger
4 Creeping Mold
4 Harmonize
5 Grizzly Fate
5 Bestial Menace
5 Overrun
5 Savage Conception
Multicolor
2 Azorius Guildmage
3 Azorius Herald
3 Lyev Skyknight
2 Momentary Blink
3 Wall of Denial
Dimir
2 Agony Warp
4 Moroii
3 Soul Manipulation
5 Slave of Bolas
2 Lim-Dul's Vault
Rakdos
5 Bituminous Blast
3 Blightning
4 Murderous Redcap
2 Rakdos Guildmage
2 Terminate
Gruul
4 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Kird Ape
3 Firespout
2 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
6 Enlisted Wurm
2 Qasali Pridemage
5 Hymn of Rebirth
3 Centaur Healer
2 Selesnya Guildmage
Golgari
4 Cankerous Thirst
3 Putrefy
2 Putrid Leech
3 Dreg Mangler
Orzhov
3 Mortify
3 Necrotic Sliver
5 Unburial Rites
3 Kingpin's Pet
Boros
6 Bull Cerodon
2 Truefire Paladin
2 Lightning Helix
2 Wojek Halberdiers
6 Nucklavee
3 Electrolyze
2 Izzet Charm
2 Jilt
Simic
3 Lorescale Coatl
2 Simic Charm
5 Urban Evolution
3 Trigon Predator
Shards
3 Naya Charm
3 Crosis's Charm
3 Rhox War Monk
3 Esper Charm
3 Sprouting Thrinax
Creatures
2 Porcelain Legionaire
2 Wall of Tanglecord
2 Spined Thopter
3 Gathan Raiders
4 Galvanic Juggernaut
4 Peace Strider
4 Pierce Strider
9 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Sylvok Lifestaff
1 Trusty Machete
2 Lightning Greaves
2 Vulshok Morningstar
5 Strandwalker
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
2 Boros Signet
2 Golgari Signet
2 Izzet Signet
2 Orzhov Signet
2 Simic Signet
2 Prophetic Prism
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions
3 Angel's Tomb
3 Darksteel Ingot
3 Pristine Talisman
3 Crystal Shard
4 Jade Statue
0 Boros Garrison
0 Dimir Aqueduct
0 Golgari Rot Farm
0 Gruul Turf
0 Izzet Boilerworks
0 Orzhov Basilica
0 Rakdos Carnarium
0 Selesnya Sanctuary
0 Simic Growth Chamber
0 Graypelt Refuge
0 Jwar Isle Refuge
0 Kazandu Refuge
0 Sejiri Refuge
0 Rupture Spire
0 Shimmering Grotto
0 Evolving Wilds
0 Terramorphic Expanse
0 City of Brass
0 Gemstone Mine
0 Dread Statuary
0 Urza's Factory
0 Faerie Conclave
0 Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
0 Ghitu Encampment
My Trade Thread
In a regular peasant cube there are anywhere between 3 and 5 one drop mana accelerants in green. Green decks love them. But by throwing away arbor elf, you've hurt every single green deck. Not only that, but by not playing both Cultivates, your ramp and 5color decks suffer.
Its one thing to do this on purpose. It's another to incidentally make black aggro worse, green decks less potent, and deny yourself the option of running a good card.
Also
Why is loam lion white. Or for that matter any of those cards that are actually multicolored.
Chapel geist is stronger than kemba's skyguard
Get a Temporal isolation quicky
errant ephemeron, benthicore, jetting glasskite, Jodah's avenger. Get between 2 and all of these guys.
Talrand's invocation is wonderful
Shower of coals is bonkers
Sprout swarm is the best green card hands down.
rakdos guildmage is significantly better than shred freak.
kird ape is staple status
darksteel sentinel is lights out
vulshok morningstar is brutal. very efficient.
Gemstone mine is a boss
vivids are beyond staple
Or at least get arcane sanctum and co.
treetop village is great
Serrated arrows and crystal ball are both fun and interesting and good
Go seahawks
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
Cards I wouldn't play:
Icatian Javelineers
Kemba's Skygaurd
Soltari Crusader
Assault Grifin
Totem-Guide Hartebeast
Stave Off
Steelshaper's Gift
Disenchant
Soul Tithe
Moment of Heroism
Griffin Guide
Neck Snap
Vedalken Anatomist
Phantasmal Dragon
Archaeomancer
Spire Monitor
Brainstorm
Silent Departure
Arcane Denial
Power Sink
Encrust
Grasp of Phantoms
Traumatic Visions
Carrion Feeder
Dauthi Slayer
Blood Artist
Shoreline Salvager
Mind Rot
Slaving Nulls
Dragon Whelp
Mad Prophet
Fire Servant
Punishing Fire
Puncture Blast
Mark of Mutiny
Stone Rain
Fiery Fall
Pouncing Jaguar
Cradle Guard
Sporecap Spider
Gravetiller Wurm
Leeching Bite
Snake Umbra
Invigorate
Wild Hunger
Gaea's Embrace
Creeping Mold
Marisi's Twinclaws
Pale Recluse
Hymn of Rebirth
Centaur Healer
Bull Cerodon
Naya Charm
Crosis's Charm
Traveler's Amulet
Boros Signet
Prophetic Prism
Angel's Tomb
Jade Statue
Gruul Turf
Rakdos Carnarium
Selesnya Sanctuary
Haunted Fengraf
Sakrrg, the Rage Pits
Cards I would move to another section:
Loam Lion
Lingering Souls
Arctic Aven
Dismember
Ribbons of Night
Rakdos Cackler
Wild Nacatl
Golgari Signet
Izzet Signet
Orzhov Signet
Simic Signet
Shrine of Burning Rage
Shrine of Loyal Legions
Crystal Shard
Azorius Chancery
Boros Garrison
Dimir Aqueduct
Golgari Rot Farm
Izzet Boilerworks
Orzhov Basilica
Simic Growth Chamber
Akoum Refuge
Graypelt Refuge
Jwar Isle Refuge
Kazandu Refuge
Sejiri Refuge
Faerie Conclave
Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
Keldon Megaliths
Cards you should run (top20 cards you aren't running):
Path to Exile
Land Tax
Spectral Procession
Goldmeadow Harrier
Soltari Priest
Flickerwisp
Soltari Monk
Cenn's Enlistment
Mind Control
Persuasion
Jetting Glasskite
Talrand's Invocation
Forbid
Remand
Thirst for Knowledge
Nekrataal
Demonic Tutor
Barter in Blood
Doom Blade
Incremental Blight
Necromancy
Evincar's Justice
Vampire Lacerator
Arc Lightning
Flames of the Firebrand
Keldon Champion
Shower of Coals
Pyroclasm
Arc Trail
Firebolt
Fireblast
Slice and Dice
Chain Lightning
Cone of Flame
Sprout Swarm
Phantom Centaur
Sylvan Library
Centaur Glade
Deadwood Treefolk
Regrowth
Kodama's Reach
Briarpack Alpha
Maze of Ith
Strip Mine
Skullclamp
Mishra's Factory
Wasteland
Sol Ring
Ancient Tomb
Crystal Ball
Chimeric Idol
Juggernaut
Perilous Myr
Artisan of Kozilek
Darksteel Sentinel
peasantcube.blogspot.com
I strongly echo what citynoise said.
Here is a list of some specific "upgrades" you could make:
Stonecloaker < Flickerwisp
Kemba's Skyguard < Aven Riftwatcher
Assault Griffin < Spectral Procession
Stave Off < Emerge Unscathed
Soul Tithe < Temporal Isolation
Neck Snap < Devouring Light
Pestermite < Deceiver Exarch
Vedalken Anatomist < Niblis of the Breath
Thieving Magpie < Tandem Lookout
Encrust < Claustrophobia
Binding Grasp < Mind Control
Shoreline Salvager < Harbor Bandit
Mind Rot < Stupor
Slavering Nulls < Crimson Muckwader
Keldon Vandals < Oxxida Scrapmelter
Punishing Fire < Arc Trail
Pyrotechnics < Shower of Coals
Refuges + Signets < Guildgates
Good luck, have fun, cube lots etc. (^-^)b
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Now I'll try to respond to some specific people!
Leelue
Loam Lion etc - Its just left that way from my original setup. I have 1 in each color.
Chapel Geist - missed this potential change when I did my Innistrad update. Good idea!
Temporal Isolation - used to be in, took out to test Soul Tithe
Blue finishers - at 360 I don't have room for them all. Blue so far hasn't been hurting for high end guys, but I have a copy of the Ephemeron I have been considering adding in.
Talrand's Invocation - In my can't find room for pile
Shower of Coals - Wasn't aware of this one. Might go well in the Pyrotechnics slot
Sprout Swarm - I used to have this in and it never seemed to perform. I have been thinking of adding it back in since I know its a powerful card.
Rakdos Guildmage - I want to try either this guy or the new Rtr one in this slot.
Kird Ape - Not sure why I've never put this guy in. Branching Bolt hasn't been working out that well and so he will probably take that spot.
Darksteel Sentinel - In a small stack of cards sitting next to my computer that I am planning to put in for testing
Vulshok Morningstar - If I wanted 1 more equipment this is the next to go in.
Gemstone Mine - also in my stack to put in
Vivids/shard lands - I haven't put these in since the manafixing so far has been about where I want to be.
Treetop village - Left out because green decks (especially with white) were performing better than others. This is also part of why Behemoth Sledge is no longer in my list.
Serrated Arrows/Crystal Ball - Arrows is in my maybe pile. Crystal ball is out because of how long it makes games take in the hands of some people.
Citynoise
Too many cards for me to go card by card, so I will simply talk about some that catch my eye
Cuts:
Soltari Crusader - I want to have 1 white shadow guy, and 3 mana is where I had room for one
Totem-Guide Hartebeast - I have been happy with his performance. He had a big back end while fetching removal, mind control or Rancor
Stave Off - The only card like this that can target your opponents creatures. I like that additional functionality. Being able to counter Rancor, or get back one of your guys that has gotten Control Magic'd at a time other then just when the theft is cast.
Phantasmal Dragon - Has performed well
Spire Monitor - I like having one of the blue high end creatures having flash
Brainstorm - Ponder is probably a little better. I like Brainstorm though, and to me the difference is not big enough to make me need to switch.
Encrust - Blue removal for creatures or artifacts, currently in testing.
Traumatic Visions - This is currently actually Force of Will. If your reply is why play a 5 drop counterspell at all, the answer is because I have as many cheap ones as I want in the list, but I wanted to have 1 more in the cube.
Fire Servant - I do not want my red to be only an agro color. This guy is there for the slower red decks and is a big threat
Punishing Fire - Currently testing because I realized how many life gain effects there are in the cube.
Puncture Blast - This has been amazing in my experience and I have no idea why I would cut it. Its great red removal because unlike most burn it deals with a lot of things that have higher toughness than the damage it deals.
Stone Rain - This is something I'm always happy to draft in my aggressive decks.
Gravetiller Wurm - Planning to bu cut for another green fatty, just haven't gotten around to it.
Gaea's Embrace - This has ended a lot of games for us. As an aura it does have a higher risk, but the payoff is big and the regen gives some protection.
Traveler's Amulet - Probably moving this out as it hasn't been needed
Bouncelands - My playgroup likes them and so I prefer to have the full set.
Move:
I try to organize cards like Lingering Souls in the way that I expect or see them play out in actual drafting. White decks without black are often happy to take Souls, so I organize it as a white card. I never see Unburial Rites in decks that can't flash it back so it is Orzhov. Also, I tend to fudge things a little to fit in the cards that I need to. Also, I do not organize my fixing within the guilds, and I plan to stay with that for now.
Cards that are not moving because of how they are actually played in my group:
Lingering Souls, Dismember, Ribbons of Night, both Shrines
Cards to run:
Path - Already have swords, don't want 2 1 drop hard removal
Land Tax - Excluded by choice
Harrier - Don't need another 1 drop tapper
Solari Bros - No protection
Flickerwisp - After seeing the responses here I'm considering him for the Stonecloaker spot
Cenn's Enlistment - I already have a lot of white token makers, not sure I want another one that this expensive.
Mind Control/Persuasion - I don't feel like I need more than 3 of this effect at 360. I used to have Mind Control, but I'm testing Binding Grasp right now.
Forbid - Excluded by choice
Remand - I prefer the counterspell suite I am running right now. I'm happy to hear your thoughts on why I should change my mind
Thirst - Don't see having an extra artifact often enough
Nekrataal - In the past I had more black removal in the cube and I wasn't happy with the effect that having such a high volume of removal had on games. This guy is a casualty of that.
Justice - I think I prefer Pestilence. 7 mana to buyback is a lot
Demonic Tutor - Excluded by choice
Barter in Blood - Another one that I feel isn't needed
Doom Blade - I've been happy with the edicts + gfft for my 2 drop black removal. What changes would you make to get this in?
Incremental Blight - Had a few too many games where there were not 3 targets
Necromancy - Have preferred my current reanimation suite. Thoughts?
Vampire Lacerator - Is in my list.
Arc Lightning/Flames - I've been trying to find room for one of these.
Keldon Champion - Been considering putting him into the Dragon Whelp spot. Its nice to give red a flyer though and the whelp does a lot of damage as well.
Pyroclasm - How many red sweeper effects do you think I should run?
Arc Trail/Firebolt - No room!
Fireblast - Haven't been able to find room for this either
Slice and Dice - I just don't like this one.
Chain Lightning - In my stack to try to find a spot for.
Cone of Flame - Prefer Pyrotechnics (or maybe Shower of Coals if I add that)
Sprout Swarm - Underperformed, but I would like to get it back in.
Phantom Centaur - Protection
Sylvan Library - Excluded by choice
Centaur Glade - I don't own one!
Deadwood Treefolk - Might make it into the wurms slot
Regrowth - Excluded by choice
Kodama's Reach - Don't want a second cultivate
Briarpack Alpha - Also redundant
Maze of Ith - Excluded by choice
Strip Mine - Don't own one somehow
Skullclamp - Excluded by choice
Mishra's Factory - I have been meaning to add this, but I can't find mine
Wasteland - Will add Strip Mine instead
Sol Ring - Excluded by choice
Ancient Tomb - Been wanting to try this out
Crystal Ball - Excluded by choice
Chimeric Idol - In my list that I've been considering. So far I've been happy with Angel's Tomb
Juggernaut - Could add in the Pierce Strider slot, but I like his reach
Perilous Myr - Anther one that might need a spot
Artisan of Kozilek - 9 mana is so much. As it is the crusher doesn't get played a lot and I think another mana on top of that will get played even less.
Darksteel Sentinel - Planning to add
Beefy
Where are you around Seattle?
Stonecloaker - Thinking of making this swap now!
Riftwatcher - Too short term for my liking. If I swap out the Skyguard it will be for the Geist that Leelue suggested I think
Assault Griffin - This seems like maybe a good change.
Stave Off - I talked about this above. I do want 1 give protection spell in white, but the only other one I would consider is the cantripping one.
Soul Tithe - Tithe took Isolation's spot, to test. Very possible I will switch back.
Neck Snap - Not sure I want double white in my removal, but convoke is nice. I will consider this one for sure.
Pestermite - I like the mite much, much better. The flying body is just so much more relevant.
Anatomist - Anatomist is expensive to use, and I always think about taking him out, but then every time he gets played he threatens to take over the game.
Magpie - Functions on his own, which is why he is here. Lookout is too fragile
Encrust - I like that Encrust turns off artifacts as well.
Binding Grasp - I've been testing this over Mind Control, but I've only had 1 draft with it in so far. I'm not sure if the cheaper mana cost is worth the upkeep.
Salvager - Salvager is there to lock up games for Dimir decks. A solid body that feeds you cards is really tough to beat once it starts connecting. Bandit is more of an aggressive card.
Mind Rot - I forgot about Stupor, if I have/get one I will make this swap
Slavering Nulls - This is probably a good switch.
Keldon Vandals - I feel like 3 mana is better than 4 for this effect and I like the 4 power. I just recently added the Vandals, if they don't seem to be working out I will probably put Manic Vandal back in.
Punishing Fire - Testing the Fire right now, with the amount of lifegain that there is I think it may turn out well.
Pyrotechnics - I don't have a Shower of Coals righ now, but I think I want to pick one up to try out.
Guildgates - These will go in once Gatecrash brings the other 5
Again, thanks for the feedback everyone. I don't get to talk about my cube choices enough with the people around here, but I love doing it. For any suggestions I turned down, I'm always willing to have people try to convince me!
My Trade Thread
Brainstorm is unplayable. However much better you think Ponder is, it is probably 10 times or more better.
Sprout Swarm is the best green card. The card is bonkers, how did it underperform?
I don't really agree with the no random protections, no slow/powerful cards, or no functional reprints policies either. Pro-color is kinda like 4 toughness, just a random upside that occasionally hoses some decks hard. Are you going to exclude X/4s because they can rock red sometimes? I know some people ban Clamp/Ring for power reasons, I don't get why. Excluding functional (or near functional reprints) only makes your cube weaker but the real problem is what decks and colors become weaker is very skewed. Aggro and ramp hurt the most.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
I've played a lot with both cards, so I feel comfortable with my previous statement. I know that without a shuffle effect Brainstorm loses a lot of it's power, but the shuffle effect on Ponder is not the most amazing thing either. Sometimes the shuffle from Ponder is good, sometimes you use Brainstorm to hide something from a discard spell. At the end of the day, Brainstorm gets played a lot in my cube and it does it's job so I don't feel pressed to make this change.
1/1s are not always relevant. I was surprised as well. As I said above, I know its very strong and I'm looking to put it back in.
Protection is something that was simply never fun and that's why I no longer include those cards. Excluding cards like clamp/ring is just my personal preference. I understand that they are not broken beyond use, but I prefer a limited environment without them.
I know the reprints thing is weird to people, and I understand that. This is part of the design philosophy I have for my cube, so until I have a good reason to change it I don't plan to. I have not had a problem with any archetypes being underdrafted or underperforming, so I don't feel compelled to change. Both agro and ramp do well in my drafts, so I'm not sure where the hurting is. If I ever feel like my cube's health is suffering because of the lack of these cards, I will definitely change.
With that said, I'm open to talking about specific ones I'm missing, and what I'm using instead. Maybe you can convince me of the error of my ways. That's why I put my list here, to talk about it!
My Trade Thread
Out > In
Kemba's Skyguard > Chapel Geist - I think the extra toughness will be better than the life gain
Griffin Guide > Flickerwisp - I was going to replace Stonecloaker with the wisp until I realized it doesn't have flash. Luckily, I've been wanting to get rid of guide for a while
Spire Monitor > Jetting Glasskite - Trading flash for a bigger, tougher threat
Mind Rot > Stupor - Either I forgot about Stupor or I thought it was a rare.
Pillage > Chain Lightning - Finally picked up a Chain Lightning. Pillage was mostly there for agro decks, as a second Stone Rain. I think the cheap burn will help them more
Fiery Fall > Arc Lightning - Should be an overall more useful card that goes into more decks
Gravetiller Wurm > Jungle Weaver - I was trying out the wurm, but it has never been very exciting. Time to try another fatty
Leeching Bite > Sprout Swarm - Been meaning to put swarm back in for a while. Bite is fine but not amazing
Rakdos Shredfreak > Rakdos Guildmage - Shredfreak has not been as good as I expected. Trying the old guildmage, and probably will swap it to try the new one at a later date.
Branching Bolt > Kird Ape - Branching Bolt in practice is seldom the 2 for 1 I had hoped
Traveler's Amulet > Spined Thopter - Amulet has turned out to not be needed as cheap fixing. Been wanting to try the Thopter as a flexible agro card
Geistcatcher's Rig > Darksteel Sentinel - Rig has been fine, but I want to give the Sentinel a try
Skarrg, the Rage Pits > Gemstone Mine - Skarrg gets put into decks, but usually only because no one takes it so someone going r/g gets it late. Never does much.
Haunted Fengraf > Mirrodin's Core - Recursion in a land slot seemed decent, but its pretty underwhelming.
There are a few more cards I'd like to try out, but I simply don't have (Mishra's Factory, Deadwood Treefolk, Shower of Coals, Ancient Tomb). I'll be looking for them and adding them later.
My Trade Thread
I cube Brainstorm. I like it.
I feel that way about bandit a lot too, but he is a 3/3 which is fairly beefy. I'm playing 10 U/B cards over both, but I think both are fine choices.
I love anatomist, probably more than I should. I wouldn't fault anyone for playing him.
Yeah, I like Chapel Geist better than them both as well.
I never noticed that about Stave Off. If Emerge Unscathed wasn't already on the way out I would make the switch right now
I think spice > power is a good policy. We're not building decks (as in, to win), we're building formats (as in, to have fun). I'm cutting my color protection creatures as well. I like all the new changes you've made.
If your cube is too fast for crusher I would cut him. If not, I would play Artisan soooo fast. Artisan gets cast, wins games. He's a peasant Emrakul
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I really don't get this mentality maybe it is a function of 1v1 cubing a lot. Protections almost never come up for me.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
This is basically how I feel. The other thing is that whenever I draft, I always have way more than enough playable cards, so to me there is plenty of room for more situational cards to be in the cube. Sure there won't always be a deck that wants them, but they will be there when someone drafts that deck.
I wouldn't say the cube is too fast overall. Crusher generally gets played when someone drafts a ramp deck and occasionally in 4-5 color control deck as a finisher. Now that you've gotten me thinking about it, I can see that perhaps the extra mana won't matter that much for the decks that actually want one of these guys. I guess I need to track down a promo Artisan
I certainly wouldn't fault anyone for for running protection guys. Their powerlevel is fine. I think its down to the preference of the designer/playgroup.
I'm actually a bit torn right now. I really want to try out Scryb Ranger, except for the pro blue. Maybe I'll break my rule and see. Blue isn't really a removal color and the body is small, so maybe it won't be as obnoxious.
My Trade Thread
Exactly
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
(Excluding cards I consider unplayable, even then there are only like 3-4 total)
Hand disruption cards in your cube:7 (1.94%)
Shuffle effects in your cube:8 (2.22%)
Bottoming effects in your cube:2 (.56%)
So for brainstorm to be good you need to draft it and at least 1 of the 10 shuffling/bottoming effects (all of which are Blue, Green, or Colorless), play both, and draw both or your opponent needs to draft 1 of the 7 hand disruption effects (6 of which are Black, 1 of which is Red), draw it, and cast it on you when you have U open and brainstorm in hand.
So brainstorm is only actually going to reliably be good in UG ramp decks or against B decks with a discard theme. Not good enough at 360 and certainly nowhere near as good as Ponder/Preordain by a large margin.
This isn't just me either. The power ranking blue vote had 12 people vote for a total of 74 cards. Ponder and Preordain both got 5 votes and were ranked 23rd and 15th. Brainstorm received 0 votes.
-----
I can sorta grok why people dislike protection on beefy creatures (kinda like how I dislike hexproof/split second). It is just a personal opinion thing and my opinion is all the protection cards printed so far are fine.
-----
Another big thing - I 100% disagree with the 'spice' over power design philosophy. Like Dragon Whelp may be 'spicer' than Keldon Champion but the Champion is leagues better. My earlier list of cuts/adds can basically just be summed up with, ''overall increase in powerlevel.'' Some cards on that list I don't run myself (Soltari 2drops, Necromancy) but are still very good. If you don't care about powerlevel then feel free to run Card X over Card Y or not run functional reprints.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Since when is Dragon Whelp spicier than Keldon Champion? Keldon Champion is spicier and better. Playing fun cards over strong cards doesn't mean ignoring power level (In fact, we still care a great deal about power level). It means choosing cards that do exciting things, and make the format better, over cards whose only merits are strength. Just because we like fun and unique cards doesn't mean we are going to start jamming Dragon Appeasement or something. I bet that decks from all three of our cubes could compete on a relatively equal level, regardless of what our personal design philosophies happen to be.
Brainstorm may be strictly better cycling at worst, yes. But it performs at its worst the overwhelming majority of the time. Would you run a card that basically only cycles for U with some tiny upside? Seems awful.
Braindrain
U
Instant
Draw a card. Target player gives you a high five.
Cycling with an upside that is irrelevant most of the time.
-----
I really dunno what is spicier, Whelp or Champion, I guess that is personal taste but Champion is leagues better. I'm not accusing spicy cards of being bad cards but if spice matters to you at some point you sacrifice power even if only a little. Then those little sacrifices add up to a much weaker overall environment. I find power fun so I just like the best cards.
I don't think a cube that makes choices based on anything other than powerlevel (like spiciness, flavor, pet cards, art, fun, ect.) would produce decks that could compete with those coming from a cube that is designed only caring about power (I don't only care about power, I care about balance too so I am in the not-just-powerlevel camp but am probably closer than anybody since cards like Sol Ring and Library excite me >.>).
Take for example 2 360cubes that are identical except doesn't run walkers and one cut the weakest 2-4 cards in each color for walkers. I would bet that over time if you accounted for play skill/variance the walker cube would win a statistically significant higher percentage of the time.
----------
Even if you want to run spicy cards I still think there are some clear cuts.
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power
Assault Griffin
Boring vanilla, below the curve on power
Totem-Guide Hartebeast
I really dislike 2-card-combo type cards like this and creature auras tend to be rarer in cubes
Steelshaper's Gift
You don't have enough equipment to make this reliably do anything
Disenchant
I like the Ronom Unicorn brothers even if they can't kill artifacts. Disenchant is just too narrow/sideboardy in my opinion.
Soul Tithe
Awful card, the only good thing it has is it is a way to screw their walkers over and those don't exist at Peasant.
Neck Snap
Just horrible. 4 mana for conditional removal is just worlds away from being cubeable.
Vedalken Anatomist
Just too slow. 3 mana is a whole turn.
Phantasmal Dragon
Dies to literally everything. Doesn't generate CA/Tempo. Costs 4.
Carrion Feeder
This is basically a combo card without combos in cube in large numbers. As a 1drop beater it is sketchy, late it does nothing since it can't even chump. What purpose does it serves? Giving you value VS removal - if that is going to be an issue that game your opponent will just kill the Feeder.
Blood Artist
Again, a combo card in a world without sufficient numbers of the other combo pieces. Also a 0/1 does 0 work on its own.
Mad Prophet
This would be a lot better in blue or black but this just isn't really what red wants to be doing at Peasant.
Stone Rain
Pure LD isn't my cup of tea. Cubing this over Pillage and Molten Rain is also crazy.
Pouncing Jaguar
Green aggro is really hard to support, if you want to support it you need to actually support it. Run all the aggro cards, or don't run them at all - basically anything else just leaves you with eternal 15th picks like a random Jungle Lion or Pouncing Jaguar. Also echo is a *****.
Cradle Guard
Vanilla, Echo, not really above the curve by a lot
Sporecap Spider
Vanilla and below the curve
Pale Recluse
Selesnya is stacked beyond reason. Running this just makes me so sad.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Pouncing jag Is garbage though.
I suggested chapel geist over kembas skyguard, just because its better than skyguard at the very least. It's hard to make suggestions for this cube because of the restrictions, too.
My red has no problem goin control so a card like mad prophet isnt unthinkable. That particular card didn't pan out for me, though. Just a comment on the concept.
Keldon champion is insano
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I dislike green aggro 1s that aren't mana elves. My green aggro creatures (besides elves) start at 2cmc. I would rather go T1-Elf, T2-3drop over playing a Jungle Lion. Green 2s are so good and the aggro 1s are so bad. Not every color has to have everything and I just decided to have green aggro play elves and rely on another color for better 1s. Even if you do want to support green agro Jaguar is still crappy. Echo on 1s is unreal painful.
peasantcube.blogspot.com
Pouncing Jaguar is something I've been meaning to cut and just haven't decided what to put in his place yet. I might go with another elf (Arbor Elf maybe), another 1 drop agro like Jungle Lion, or just with another 2 drop (maybe this will be the home of Scryb Ranger). A few low curve green agro guys are nice for x/g agro decks. Elves are better yes, but also tend to be fairly high picks so you don't always get a shot at them.
Some of these cards (like the Skyguard and Assault Griffin) have been in my cube since my first draft of it or close, when card availability was a factor. I am gradually working my way to cutting them for better cards. Many of them are simply fine cards, so they get drafted and played even if they could be something better. That makes them get less noticed as "need to go" then the cards that simply don't get played. This thread has definitely been helpful for me in identifying cards that I want to replace/upgrade.
My Trade Thread
Vedalken Anatomist reminds me of Imperious Perfect - fragile, slow, but powerful if left untouched. I am liking the Perfect less and less every time I draft it. If your cube tends towards grindy games I bet it crushes games left and right. I am just a sucker for upfront value.
Winning the game if unkilled is something basically any 4+ mana flier will do. So why not play one that wins the game if unkilled that also has some resiliency or citp ability? I like the bear because it is a 2/2 for 1 and you never plan on riding you 1drops all the way, 4drops are kinda different.
I can see Blood Artist being good in aggro mirrors and I do want more good-in-aggro-mirrors cards in black. Let me know if he continues to perform.
I like the job Mad Prophet does (giving reach/digging to aggro and midrange decks) I just think there are better options. My big 3 in red are: Faithless Looting, Flame Jab, and Genju.
Pillage/Molten could cost RRR for all I care really most of the time. My red aggo decks tend to be either all-red or splashing 1-2 cards (BBE, Helix, ect.). The 2R vs 1RR is a very small difference in most cubes I think. Molten Rain it is a bigger deal I think because that is often *just* Stone Rain. Pillage is actually a lot better because of the flexibility, I can't count the number of times I've sided it in to kill a Hammer in a Grixis control deck.
I would rather have any of the 0/4 walls over the spider. Wall of Blossoms, Overgrown Battlement, Vine Trellis. They may not block fliers or attack but they get value or ramp you and all cost 1 less.
I like the idea of rotating cards in guild sections to mix it up. I do love cycling too. The spider would probably be an auto-include for me if it was mono-green but being a guild card just makes the competition for spots go way up since there are less spots to go around. I would love a card like:
Basics Giant
4
Artifact Creature - Golem
Basic Landcycling 2
3/3
----------
I know I probably won't ever change your mind on Brainstorm. I know Ponder has some really awkward 3 card piles where you love 1 and hate 2. I think 'Brainstorm is good' is just this very classic trap we all fall into when building Peasant cubes for the first time, I know I did. If you aren't assuming you are going to have a shuffle effect/your opponent is going to have a discard effect...what do you expect it to do in a cube? Cycle and kinda speed you up a draw step at the cost of a draw step later?
peasantcube.blogspot.com
I got to do a cube draft today (actually 3; 1 with mine, 1 with another peasant cube and 1 with a normal cube). I played Brainstorm in a blue/red tempo deck. Another thing I like about Brainstorm is because it's instant, you can save it until you know what you need and then spend mana on their turn. In at least two games I was able to wait and use it to dig into a counter or bounce in response to something my opponent was doing.
One guy drafted a junk midrange/reanimator deck. He won several games on the back of stuff like Blood Artist/Mortarpod. He pretty much always performs. Besides being good in agro mirrors, he's good in grindy control or midrange as long as you have a decent supply of other gas, because it's hard for people to prioritize killing him, and he gives you a really nice life buffer for all the trading you want to do.
The undefeated deck out of my cube today was a heavy blue/light black deck that used the Anatomist to good effect. It also ran the Shoreline Salvager and he seemed very happy with it.
I don't see a lot of mono/very heavy red agro in my cube, though it is very good when it comes together. Maybe that is why I value the easier cost on Stone Rain more highly. Part of that I think is that the people I tend to draft with love to play or splash red, especially burn, so it's hard to get a big pile of good red card with enough reach.
I really like the reach on Sporecap Spider. Often times in G/x decks the worst feeling is when the opponent is just stalling you on the ground and killing you with a flyer or two. Being able to put out something with a big butt to block flyers can really help you stabilize and take over with some big green monster.
Thanks again for your input!
My Trade Thread
peasantcube.blogspot.com