Sea Gate Oracle--Clearly good. Replaces itself and blocks 2/1 all day.
Pestermite--Can go in pretty much any blue deck and will never be dead. That's a good thing.
Neurok Invisimancer--A more specific role filler for the color, but it's so good at what it does, that it's worth running. For some real nastiness, combine with Ninja of the Deep Hours.
Calcite Snapper--Total bomb. The 4 tougness is huge, but the shroud is even more annoying--it being able to landfall and go for beats is nice as well. If you're in U, snatch this up; if you're not hate draft it.
Aether Adept--Almost as good as Man-O'-War, which is still good enough.
Spiketail Drakeling--Should be good in theory, but being a counterspell that is both visible and dies to removal is an awkward place to be. I plan on cutting it soon.
Scroll Thief--It's no Ninja. I don't agree that this was worth it if it only connects once. I know, in theory, that means it replaced itself, but you want more than that from a 3cc U creature that doesn't do anything when it enters the battlefield. I don't run it and I don't really plan on it.
Prodigal Sorcerer--It's ok. Every other pinger is worse than Fireslinger and this is no exception. It's never terribly exciting, but the effect can be quite useful.
Man-o'-War--The best creature in this section. It's the one referred to for every creature with a remotely similar ability because it's the most efficient version ever printed so far.
Shaper Parasite--Totally nuts. This card can single-handedly blow out a aggro player's board if they are silly enough to attack into it. The -2/+2 can be nice to save a guy from removal or make a blocker a little tougher and the +2/-2 can be used to both kill a creature or squeeze through a little more damage in a race.
Wizard Replica--Don't like it. This card takes my problems with Spiketail Drakeling and makes them worse, essentially.
Fathom Seer--Should be good, in theory, but just won't be in practice too often. Card draw at instant speed with a body attached sounds like a good deal, but it's not like you can use it early or anything. It's pretty much a 3cc card with suspend 4, because you'll hopefully still have some cards to play and want plenty of mana to curve into fliers + bounce and counterspells.
Echo Tracer--Slow. Being able to flip it during an opponent's turn is nice and all, but costing 6 or taking two turns to bounce a guy is not.
Trinket Mage--Too narrow. For it to be "good" your cube has to be running way too many targets(read: bad cards), plus you actually have to draft them in addition to Trinket Mage. The times when it will fetch Bonesplitter won't be enough to make up for the times when it's going around in a draft and other people have snatched up the only viable targets.
Thalakos Mistfolk--It's ok, but it's hardly going to be worth wanting to spend your draw to play again.
Teferi's Drake-- I don't like it. It's not sure what role it wants to fill; it's aggressively costed, but it only attacks every other turn...no thanks.
Rishadan Airship--It's certainly not a bad card, but I just don't think the color wants this card. I seriously thought about running Cloud Elemental over this guy and decided that wasn't good enough.
Illusionary Forces--It's certainly a beast in combat, but it doesn't have a very wide window to block, which is what I look at many U creatures for. Good at what it does, but very awkward if your opponent has Pacifism, a tapper, or some similar effect.
Windrider Eel--Fills the same role as Illusionary Forces as a big blue flyer that puts games away quickly. It's possibly slightly lower ranked on defense than IF, but it's consistent and very fun with Panoramas or green ramp cards.
Shimmering Glasskite-- Glasskite is a card that both aggro and control decks like; it's a sizeable beater that not only takes at least two removal spells to kill, but has a 3rd toughness so it already dodges a decent chunk of it anyway. This is all without considering that you might have a counterspell of your own to totally hose the opponent flinging removal so that they can swing with their bears. The best U 4 drop, imo.
Wayward Soul--It's a powerful, efficiently costed beater with only an upside. The extra power and toughness means it's deceptively better than Thalakos Mistfolk. As in, you won't mind skipping your draw to save this guy.
Stinging Barrier--Definitely my least favorite card in this section and my least favorite pinger. I'll pass.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--It's fine. It's got the same size body as Glasskite and with a relevant ability, but I doubt most cubes need this card.
Ghost Ship--Not my favorite card. 2/4 flyer for 4 is fine for U, but having to keep triple blue up to regenerate it when it would die(not that often, actually) makes it unworthy, imo. It's just too demanding on your mana for the cc and mostly irrelevant ability.
Fencer Clique--Exactly as good as Wayward Soul, but the card looks better. That's fine for me, but I don't think a cube needs two of these.
Crookclaw Transmuter--Do not want. The ability is going to be irrelevant to weak 90% of the time. The body is not amazing either.
Azure Drake--Has been surprisingly good since it's inclusion. It's easy to cast and blocks like a champ. Strange that such a simple, ho-hum card could gain a ringing endorsement, but it has. I think that most games, being relatively tight on mana and focusing on tempo, this will be better than Ghost Ship.
Illusionary Forces--Gets the job done in the air. Should end the game quickly after resolving, so I don't think its cumulative upkeep is very big a factor.
Windrider Eel--Agreed, it's worse on defense which tends to be annoying for blue control decks, but it's still good. Tends to hit for 4 a lot.
Shimmering Glasskite-- "The best U 4 drop, imo." Agreed. Due to to the lack of mass-removal, it almost always requires 2-for-1 removal. Size is solid too and it's really annoying to see. Especially when the opponent has counterspells.
Wayward Soul--I haven't seen it much, but it's got promise. Essentially Snapping Drake with an ability at the cost of having a harder cost.
Stinging Barrier--I'd probably like it a lot more if its activation was free. Inefficient pinger + activation cost = boo.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--Definitely a fan. Flash is great for control decks (attack with a 2/2? Dies to Sentinels!)
Ghost Ship--Meh - its activation is so clunky and its size isn't that amazing nowadays.
Crookclaw Transmuter--Not as good as Sentinels, but flash + control decks are a good combo.
Azure Drake--Not bad. Better than Giant Spider, for sure! But, I personally like the other flying creatures, like Sentinels better.
[in other news, I think that Aven Liberator [3CMC white creature... or 4, depending on where you place it] is probably worth a shot. I'm going to see how it is, but it seems decent. I remember my friend's common cube ran it for some time but I can't remember how well it performed. I'm already unimpressed with Festercreep as well, after running for a short period of time.]
Illusionary Forces--It's very good. Sure, the upkeep cost is large, but not nearly as large as the cost they have to pay if it sticks. Plus, there's almost nothing that wins the game this quickly in blue, and it's desperately needed.
Windrider Eel-- I don't like it because it's so bad when it's turned off, and that happens way too often on turn 5+. I'd much rather have a consistent big blue flier than a swingy one. Still, on the cusp of playability because it is very efficient quite often, but I won't play it.
Shimmering Glasskite-- I must have looked over it previously, this card seems really rather good.
Wayward Soul-- Good. Possibly good enough to run two of them, if you've got no qualms about functional reprints, but I might hesitate to put both in the same deck. Almost a good enough body, plus the ability to turn any draw into a 3/2 flier is good, I hear. Shouldn't be played like a Blinking Spirit all the time, mind you. Oh, and it stops you getting milled in control mirrors, that happens much too often here.
Stinging Barrier-- No, it's not bad at all. I think that it's probably better than Tim, as it really often works like multiple removal spells. The wall body is rather inefficient for a card, but adding a pinging ability means that against aggro shutting down two creatures in an attack and more as the game gets later is quite probable. However, it's not quite good enough for me to run it at the moment.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--Ok, I guess. Often gets in card advantage, but then again, so does Ashcoat Bears. Better than Azure Drake+Ghost Ship, in my opinion, though.
Ghost Ship--I'd probably run this over Azure Drake, but I really don't know. Unlike Drake, it can be control's "get there" card, but it's awfully slow and colour+mana intensive to do so.
Crookclaw Transmuter-- Would be very good if they always had an X/1 that's attacking you. Oftentimes they don't and this guys a pretty inneficient flier.
Azure Drake--Maybe good enough? It's pretty straightforward, if you need a flier that can block all day, run this. Doesn't seem amazing, but the cards here are pretty close in power level
Phantom Monster is pretty clearly quite good, but a lot of us don't run master's edition.
Possible inclusions:
Soratami Mirror-Guard: Don't laugh. If you're looking for blue aggro support, this could possibly be the guy. It doesn't seem far fetched at all that he could win an aggro vs aggro standoff.
Wu Elite Cavalry If you want to include this over some of the other similar cards, I wouldn't blame you at all.
Labyrinth Minotaur is a pretty interesting card, but probably low on power level in reality.
Overall: Run Illusionary Forces and Shimmering Glasskite, the rest of the cards are almost identical in power level, IMO.
Aven Liberator: I have no idea how to rank this. It's got an okay body, and morphing it for card advantage/unblockableness doesn't seem far fetched at all. I'm keen to see testing results.
Mulldrifter--This is the best creature in this section and it's not even close. At its worst it's a Divination and at its best, the interactions with Waterfront Bouncer, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Disturbed Burial etc push it way over the top. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't played with it why you don't feel bad tapping out for a 2/2 that draws you cards, but it's that good.
Mnemonic Wall--A card that I initially dismissed, and upon further examination, is quite good and will be going in my cube. Getting back a counterspell is okay, but getting back Capsize, Foresee or even a Doomblade should make it much easier to win. All this plus a big butt, and we all know how much we love those.
Aethersnipe--Man-O'-War's bigger brother. You get the option to pay three for a really bad Disperse, but that's fine given the versatility that you get with evoke creatures. At full retail value, you get a creature than can not only tangle with, but kill most other creatures in the cube and live to tell the tale. At full cost, it's often a nail in the coffin type card to compliment the blue game plan of counters and tempo and it can put games away in a hurry.
Tidewater Minion--I don't like this guy. It's big and that's nice for a U deck, but tapping 4 mana on your own turn just to attack is not. I can't even think of that many times that you would benefit from untapping something else with this. I guess instead of attacking with your 4/4, you could use it to milk out another mana or two with the bounceland. Is that the dream with this card? I mean, it's not like there are too many creatures that are bigger than a 4/4 that you would want to untap and block with. Untapping a Pinger, or Ulamog's Crusher to block? Help me out here. All this said, the card is fine and will perform so, just because he's a big, blue dude, but this guy isn't actually all that good outside of those facts, imo.
Spire Golem--It's going to be the same cost to cheaper than Azure Drake most of the time, which is fine, but the trade-off is that it dies to a fair bit more removal.
Vedalken Dismisser--Do not want. This won't actually be the worst thing a lot of the time, since the tempo gain is pretty huge, but U is still tight enough that you don't really need a card like this.
Sky-Eel School--No interest whatsoever. It's a decently sized flyer, but I just don't think it stacks up against all the awesome small dudes or any of the other "finishers" the color has access to.
Shoreline Ranger--I kind of like this guy, actually. It's a pretty huge flyer and it's really never dead. Not sure if U has the room, but I don't think I'd blame someone for running this.
Helium Squirter--This card is so annoying to play against. First of all, it's a 3/3 flyer for 5. That's not the most amazing thing in the world, but this guy starts to get tricky pretty much as soon as you play another creature. The +1/+1 counters are particularly relevant if you are playing U creatures and the flying is more relevant if you're not. Ever given your 3/3 Ninja flying? It's pretty sick. What about making a relevant protection guy a better blocker or faster clock? I think anyone who fancies supporting U aggro should give this card a shot, but it's not limited to that at all.
Frostwind Invoker--I'm the only one running this and for good reason: it sucks. Ok, ok, it doesn't suck, but it's none too exciting either. The problem with it is that it's 8 mana ability is often irrelevant to the decks that would like a 5 mana 3/3 evasion creature. These are usually the decks that already have plenty of evasion or not too many creatures at all and would rather just ride a finisher or two for the game. Having this guy on board when the rest of your board is also flyers is a little depressing, but you'll probably win anyway, since you have 3+ flyers and all. I'll be cutting this for the Wall.
Double Header--I don't run Un cards, but this one is veerrry good. It doesn't just bounce creatures like some people probably think. It's versatile, in a sense, and has a decent body. I mean, it bounces 7 other cards from this section alone.
Mulldrifter - one of the best cards in the cube, insane
Mneumonic Wall - A very good card. Not necessary in every deck, but returning something as simple as a removal spell can win you the game against too many decks. Also funny with Momentary Blink
Aethersnipe: I had no idea that so many people were running it, it makes me think about considering it. Not sure yet.
Tidewater Minion: Doesn't seem better than a blue 5 mana 4/4, and that is total jank.
Spire Golem: Good. Very good, actually, it's almost never more expensive than Azure Drake and oftentimes it can come out with counter mana up around turn 5. Control's best friend.
Vedalken Dismisser: Was great in Rav draft, but here it just costs waaaay too much and the body is irrelevant at that stage of the game.
Sky Ruin Drake: Even worse than Sky-Eel, even Azure Drake beats it out.
Shoreline Ranger: Good. Blue likes islands, so don't feel guilty about cycling it, and it likes large fliers even better. Can be added in the 19th land slot or something in a dedicated control deck, seems pretty good/
Helium Squirter Better than the bad fliers, but seems extremely fragile and I don't want to include more blue aggro support.
Mulldrifter is just, the best blue card ever. Seriously. Mnemonic Wall is very good. Card advantage + big butt = nice control speedbump. Aethersnipe it's not bad, but it's a bit bulky for no evasion as a finisher. Might get cut some time soon. Tidewater Minion is my pet card. I may or may not cut him soon. Spire Golem is very good. Can be hella cheap and is just a solid flyer. Vedalken Dismisser is ridiculously overcosted for the effect. Sky-Eel School is a mediocre flyer. That's about it. Sky Ruin Drake has a big butt, but just play Azure Drake if you're into that sort of thing. Shoreline Ranger is interesting. Obviously not as good as Noble Templar, but it's an interesting finisher for blue. Helium Squirter is a nice large curve-topper for blue aggro decks. I'll probably be running it. Frostwind Invoker is a mediocre flyer with an overcosted ability. Just play Helium Squirter. Double Header is god-awesome for the people playing Un. Which I think is just me.
Brainstorm--This card is so dumb. Digging three deep for one mana is huge. It gives you tons of information and "reach" for being practically free. Pair up with a shuffle effect, however rare they may be, for the true power.
Ponder--Pretty much the same as Brainstorm, but obviously less powerful. However, in exchange for actually drawing three cards, you get the choice to shuffle, which is deceptively good if you're digging for something specific.
Preordain--The third best card of this type. It's not as good as Brainstorm or Ponder, and it's really not even close, but it's still good enough.
Serum Visions--Not worth the slot, imo. It can obviously be fine, but it's just not as good as the other options and U has a lot of choices to squeeze in.
Daze--I didn't know everyone was running this, but I'm glad I don't have to defend its worthiness. Countering something when you are tapped out is so huge, because that's when an opponent will play their most important spells. The tempo loss is negligible if you can snatch something good with this.
Force Spike--Pretty much on par with Daze, imo. It's used to destroy an opponent trying to curve out and use every mana they have available.
Flood--This card is silly. It's only useful in heavy U decks, but if you get it active for at least 2 creatures, it can allow you tons of time to draw into more permanent answers or beaters of your own.
Gush--Not worth it, imo. Free spells are good and all, but two lands is pretty steep for something that doesn't affect the board. Powered cubes with bombier cards, more mana acceleration, and more landfall effects don't run this card. Why should we?
Portent--Worse than Brainstorm, Ponder, or Preordain, but better than Serum Visions imo. I don't think it's worth the flexibility of messing up your opponent's draw for you to have to wait until their turn to draw the card. Most times you should probably target yourself anyhow.
Hi all - I stopped by this forum after Lanxal encouraged me to check it out and I'm glad I did. This is a really cool project. I'm pretty new to cube, so I hope you don't mind me adding some comments.
First, I never knew Flood was common! This card is amazing and I feel like it is the kind of card you can open and build around. I'm going to add it to my cube ASAP.
Obviously Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain are blue staples - I'd run Brainstorm in my cube if I had it!
I completely agree with Drahcir on Careful Study. This card isn't particularly great early game and is a facepalm if you draw it when in topdeck mode. Portent is interesting, but I'm not sure if it really has much of a meaningful impact in most situations.
I noticed the list of cards is either counters or drawing. I feel like there are some other good cards in the 1 drop slot worth considering for other archetypes besides blue control. Distortion Strike is a great aggro card that gives you the potential to get two big swings in, particularly in G/U and R/U builds that might not have a lot of evasion. It also helps aggro decks sneak in those last few points of damage in games where control has begun to stabilize. Unsummon is also a classic which I think fits in nicely with aggro builds for keeping the team in the red zone. It seems to always be undervalued in draft, but I've defenitely won a few games with it. Lastly, I think Diminish is worth considering as a surprise blue combat trick. I think Snakeform is in many people's cubes because it is an amazing trick and this is right on par. Pros: costs 2 less; cons: harder to splash, doesn't replace itself.
Thanks Shuffler! The more voices, the more sophisticated our conclusions. Hope you can stick with us for this.
My thoughts after reading other people's views:
Ponder, Brainstorm, Preordain are the holy trinity of library manipulation. Seriouosly, not much room after this. Force Spike is a lovely tempo card for control and aggro. Rocking it T2 when they tap out is hilarious. Flood is godly good. If you're playing heavy blue and this comes knocking, pick it. Daze is a very good card, really. The tempo loss is made up for catching the opponent off guard. Serum Visions is not worth it. I'll be cutting it soon, for another card or completely out. Gush is card advantage, but it's ridiculously slow and a realy example of "Constructed does not translate to Cube". Careful Study is, on second thoughts, bad. Portent is good, but it's just that there are too many better cards out there. It's close to the border, but gets pushed out by the competition.
On the cards you suggested:
Distortion Strike - Undoubtedly, it's a good card, but it gets neutered slightly with the conversion from Constructed to Cube. Unsummon - There are just, better choices out there. It's not bad, but even in normal Limited it's nothing exciting. Diminish - Not replacing itself + 1 power makes it way worse than Snakeform. It needs another card to even come close as removal, so it's not very good. Of course, I may be wrong; personally, I think Diminish is one I am least sure about, so maybe it really is worth it.
The real problem is, cards may be good, but it's about which ones are the best. And these get kicked out by the combination. I run a fairly large cube - larger than most other people - and even I can't fit them in.
Brainstorm: Damn insane, not a contest.
Force Spike: Cool because you don't look like you've got counter mana, but limited obviously.
Flood: Really cool, great in control, requires a load of islands though.
Daze: Hardcasting is okay, catching them off guard is okay to good. Like it.
Ponder: Very good library manipulation
Preordain: Ditto
Serum Visions: Why are people saying this is bad? It's not, at all, just slightly below Ponder and Preordain and that's still damn good. I like running the four, you can do whatever though.
Gush: Good in decks that my cube (and cubers) makes, I'll leave it at that. There's almost always a Gush deck at the table, it gets the gush and that's that. I like it that way, you might not, so then don't run it.
Careful Study: Wow, jaaank
Portent: The fact that they only cost U, give you a card then and there and do extra stuff is why the others are good. This means your card can't be a sorcery speed thing you cast after that, which makes the card rather bad, really. Fifth best library manipulation, maybe?
Distortion Strike: Support blue aggro to the death, and run this. Watch blue aggro never be drafted. Good card that's bad here, IMO
Unsummon: Play Word of Undoing. No, don't, but it's still better.
Diminish: Snakeform's Cycling and fogging ability made it mediocre when you didn't have a blocker, or when your blocker got nerfed. This is too conditional for removal of any cost, IMO.
Also: Opt: Seems like a decent card, but control decks rarely care about instant speed on their 1 mana spells here, I dunno. Disrupt: Found it good here, just needed to make room for other things. Might go back in because it can really be a blowout. Shadow Rift: Yeah, unexciting. But it makes one of their guys not able to block or gives one of your guys evasion, and cantrips. Obviously an aggro card, so I probably won't run it.
Ponder, Brainstorm, Preordain are the holy trinity of library manipulation. Seriously, not much room after this.
Force Spike is a lovely tempo card for control and aggro. Rocking it T2 when they tap out is hilarious.
Flood is godly good. If you're playing heavy blue and this comes knocking, pick it.
Daze is a very good card, really. The tempo loss is made up for catching the opponent off guard.
QFT. A really nice thing about Flood is that it deals with multiple creatures. Granted, it's not free, but few cards are able to deal with multiple threats as well as Flood.
Serum Visions is not worth it. I'll be cutting it soon, for another card or completely out.
Agreed. A card selection card whose role has been outclassed by Preordain and Ponder.
Gush is card advantage, but it's ridiculously slow and a realy example of "Constructed does not translate to Cube".
Agreed. It costs way too much and in a color like blue which typically needs its mana, the alt cost (of bouncing lands) is really steep.
Careful Study is, on second thoughts, bad.
Yeah, definitely lower-tier card selection.
Portent is good, but it's just that there are too many better cards out there. It's close to the border, but gets pushed out by the competition.
Yeah, I think that the thing about Portent is that it's not really bad, but like with Serum Visions, the competition's much better.
Distortion Strike is a good card, but its strength ultimately relies on how good aggressive blue strategies are, since it has a powerful effect (2 turns of unblockability is pretty strong and the +1/+0 each time doesn't hurt either.) Most blue creatures tend to have evasion, however. I may try it out some time, but I'm not in a huge hurry to do so.
Serum Visions: Why are people saying this is bad? It's not, at all, just slightly below Ponder and Preordain and that's still damn good. I like running the four, you can do whatever though.
Nobody said the card is bad. They said it's not worth the slot. I don't know what size everyones' cubes are, but at 360, I don't think you need so many 1 mana filtering spells that Serum Visions should make the cut. Besides it's not just slightly below those two--it's a lot worse, but still fine. Just another example of a playable card being the casualty of limited space.
What do people think of annul? I know its very situational but many people play artifact and enchantments, i have not tried it out yet but i will be. Note that i will not be surprised if it is aweful, i just want to try it out.
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You always hear about the games armageddon wins 100% of the time. You never hear about the game that it rots in your hand and you get beatdown.
What do people think of annul? I know its very situational but many people play artifact and enchantments, i have not tried it out yet but i will be. Note that i will not be surprised if it is aweful, i just want to try it out.
It's a very situational answer to artifacts, enchantments are a pretty small deal in pauper. I don't play it because there are plenty of answers in White/Red/Green and blue really doesn't have that much trouble against problem cards as it has plenty of countermagic. That being said, it's likely enough to have a target and is a hardcounter (though, of course, situational) for U, so it's hardly bad.
On Serum Visions: I've never had too much manipulation at four cards, that's only two cards in two decks, and blue is often the most fought over colour. Of course, it's worse than the others, but I think it's better than Portent
I won't say that I didn't consider that card, but I ultimately decided against it because it's still too narrow for a counterspell and it's not really better than a bounce spell or probably any creatures.
You could find room for it, and I don't think anyone would fault you for it, but I don't think it's worth the slot.
I think the main thing about the blue 1CMC Noncreature section is logic. First, we find all the definite cubeworthy cards and put them in, and then we realise that if I add any more, we might screw up with the curve. I think like that, for example.
On Turn Aside, it probably is a good card, but I'm not sure. Sometimes you hold it in your hand and nothing happens; sometimes you catch your opponent off guard tapping six for Capsize. It's not bad, but it might not be good enough.
Dispel is far and away better than Turn Aside. Turn Aside doesn't target Oblivion Ring style effects (though it does target Pacifisms, etc), and most removal is instant speed. The additional targets make Dispel much better, and it still doesn't make the cut IMO. The countermagic we have access too is just too good for such conditional cards.
I think if you really want a Turn Aside effect, then you should just pay an additional mana and get Confound, which replaces itself and has additional applications, like countering their creature enchantment. Of course it doesn't save your other permanents, but you will typically be saving a creature anyway, so...
Rubin8or: Dispel won't stop Oblivion Ring or Journey to Nowhere either. I think Turn Aside trumps Dispel because it also snags the occasional sorcery speed removal and enchantments.
J-Max: I'd never seen Confound before. This might be better than Turn Aside for the replacement effect.
Ultimately, Turn Aside probably isn't better than the cards Lanxal started this discussion with, I just wanted to add some cards that I've found to be useful in drafts and think have the potential to be cubeable to the discussion.
Rubin8or: Dispel won't stop Oblivion Ring or Journey to Nowhere either. I think Turn Aside trumps Dispel because it also snags the occasional sorcery speed removal and enchantments.
Of course it won't, but there are very few cards that aren't instant speed removal that Turn Aside deals with, and there are quite a few cards that Dispel deals with that Turn Aside can't, (counters especially, burn to the face, instant speed ramp, draw spells, Dark Ritual, pump, Shelter). I can probably work out numbers, but there are many more targets for Dispel and they are probably, on average, better and more likely to be countered by such a conditional counter.
But yes, thank you for bringing it up, it's really a decent card but blue spells, especially counterspells, are extremely tight.
On Confound: It's not in this section, but it's the kind of card that if it works you get a large swing your way. And it's really not far fetched at all.
Sea Gate Oracle--Clearly good. Replaces itself and blocks 2/1 all day.
Pestermite--Can go in pretty much any blue deck and will never be dead. That's a good thing.
Neurok Invisimancer--A more specific role filler for the color, but it's so good at what it does, that it's worth running. For some real nastiness, combine with Ninja of the Deep Hours.
Calcite Snapper--Total bomb. The 4 tougness is huge, but the shroud is even more annoying--it being able to landfall and go for beats is nice as well. If you're in U, snatch this up; if you're not hate draft it.
Aether Adept--Almost as good as Man-O'-War, which is still good enough.
Spiketail Drakeling--Should be good in theory, but being a counterspell that is both visible and dies to removal is an awkward place to be. I plan on cutting it soon.
Scroll Thief--It's no Ninja. I don't agree that this was worth it if it only connects once. I know, in theory, that means it replaced itself, but you want more than that from a 3cc U creature that doesn't do anything when it enters the battlefield. I don't run it and I don't really plan on it.
Prodigal Sorcerer--It's ok. Every other pinger is worse than Fireslinger and this is no exception. It's never terribly exciting, but the effect can be quite useful.
Man-o'-War--The best creature in this section. It's the one referred to for every creature with a remotely similar ability because it's the most efficient version ever printed so far.
Shaper Parasite--Totally nuts. This card can single-handedly blow out a aggro player's board if they are silly enough to attack into it. The -2/+2 can be nice to save a guy from removal or make a blocker a little tougher and the +2/-2 can be used to both kill a creature or squeeze through a little more damage in a race.
Wizard Replica--Don't like it. This card takes my problems with Spiketail Drakeling and makes them worse, essentially.
Fathom Seer--Should be good, in theory, but just won't be in practice too often. Card draw at instant speed with a body attached sounds like a good deal, but it's not like you can use it early or anything. It's pretty much a 3cc card with suspend 4, because you'll hopefully still have some cards to play and want plenty of mana to curve into fliers + bounce and counterspells.
Echo Tracer--Slow. Being able to flip it during an opponent's turn is nice and all, but costing 6 or taking two turns to bounce a guy is not.
Trinket Mage--Too narrow. For it to be "good" your cube has to be running way too many targets(read: bad cards), plus you actually have to draft them in addition to Trinket Mage. The times when it will fetch Bonesplitter won't be enough to make up for the times when it's going around in a draft and other people have snatched up the only viable targets.
Thalakos Mistfolk--It's ok, but it's hardly going to be worth wanting to spend your draw to play again.
Teferi's Drake-- I don't like it. It's not sure what role it wants to fill; it's aggressively costed, but it only attacks every other turn...no thanks.
Rishadan Airship--It's certainly not a bad card, but I just don't think the color wants this card. I seriously thought about running Cloud Elemental over this guy and decided that wasn't good enough.
Illusionary Forces--It's certainly a beast in combat, but it doesn't have a very wide window to block, which is what I look at many U creatures for. Good at what it does, but very awkward if your opponent has Pacifism, a tapper, or some similar effect.
Windrider Eel--Fills the same role as Illusionary Forces as a big blue flyer that puts games away quickly. It's possibly slightly lower ranked on defense than IF, but it's consistent and very fun with Panoramas or green ramp cards.
Shimmering Glasskite-- Glasskite is a card that both aggro and control decks like; it's a sizeable beater that not only takes at least two removal spells to kill, but has a 3rd toughness so it already dodges a decent chunk of it anyway. This is all without considering that you might have a counterspell of your own to totally hose the opponent flinging removal so that they can swing with their bears. The best U 4 drop, imo.
Wayward Soul--It's a powerful, efficiently costed beater with only an upside. The extra power and toughness means it's deceptively better than Thalakos Mistfolk. As in, you won't mind skipping your draw to save this guy.
Stinging Barrier--Definitely my least favorite card in this section and my least favorite pinger. I'll pass.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--It's fine. It's got the same size body as Glasskite and with a relevant ability, but I doubt most cubes need this card.
Ghost Ship--Not my favorite card. 2/4 flyer for 4 is fine for U, but having to keep triple blue up to regenerate it when it would die(not that often, actually) makes it unworthy, imo. It's just too demanding on your mana for the cc and mostly irrelevant ability.
Fencer Clique--Exactly as good as Wayward Soul, but the card looks better. That's fine for me, but I don't think a cube needs two of these.
Crookclaw Transmuter--Do not want. The ability is going to be irrelevant to weak 90% of the time. The body is not amazing either.
Azure Drake--Has been surprisingly good since it's inclusion. It's easy to cast and blocks like a champ. Strange that such a simple, ho-hum card could gain a ringing endorsement, but it has. I think that most games, being relatively tight on mana and focusing on tempo, this will be better than Ghost Ship.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Windrider Eel--Agreed, it's worse on defense which tends to be annoying for blue control decks, but it's still good. Tends to hit for 4 a lot.
Shimmering Glasskite-- "The best U 4 drop, imo." Agreed. Due to to the lack of mass-removal, it almost always requires 2-for-1 removal. Size is solid too and it's really annoying to see. Especially when the opponent has counterspells.
Wayward Soul--I haven't seen it much, but it's got promise. Essentially Snapping Drake with an ability at the cost of having a harder cost.
Stinging Barrier--I'd probably like it a lot more if its activation was free. Inefficient pinger + activation cost = boo.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--Definitely a fan. Flash is great for control decks (attack with a 2/2? Dies to Sentinels!)
Ghost Ship--Meh - its activation is so clunky and its size isn't that amazing nowadays.
Crookclaw Transmuter--Not as good as Sentinels, but flash + control decks are a good combo.
Azure Drake--Not bad. Better than Giant Spider, for sure! But, I personally like the other flying creatures, like Sentinels better.
[in other news, I think that Aven Liberator [3CMC white creature... or 4, depending on where you place it] is probably worth a shot. I'm going to see how it is, but it seems decent. I remember my friend's common cube ran it for some time but I can't remember how well it performed. I'm already unimpressed with Festercreep as well, after running for a short period of time.]
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Windrider Eel-- I don't like it because it's so bad when it's turned off, and that happens way too often on turn 5+. I'd much rather have a consistent big blue flier than a swingy one. Still, on the cusp of playability because it is very efficient quite often, but I won't play it.
Shimmering Glasskite-- I must have looked over it previously, this card seems really rather good.
Wayward Soul-- Good. Possibly good enough to run two of them, if you've got no qualms about functional reprints, but I might hesitate to put both in the same deck. Almost a good enough body, plus the ability to turn any draw into a 3/2 flier is good, I hear. Shouldn't be played like a Blinking Spirit all the time, mind you. Oh, and it stops you getting milled in control mirrors, that happens much too often here.
Stinging Barrier-- No, it's not bad at all. I think that it's probably better than Tim, as it really often works like multiple removal spells. The wall body is rather inefficient for a card, but adding a pinging ability means that against aggro shutting down two creatures in an attack and more as the game gets later is quite probable. However, it's not quite good enough for me to run it at the moment.
Sentinels of Glen Elendra--Ok, I guess. Often gets in card advantage, but then again, so does Ashcoat Bears. Better than Azure Drake+Ghost Ship, in my opinion, though.
Ghost Ship--I'd probably run this over Azure Drake, but I really don't know. Unlike Drake, it can be control's "get there" card, but it's awfully slow and colour+mana intensive to do so.
Fencer Clique-- Wayward Soul, but way less cool.
Crookclaw Transmuter-- Would be very good if they always had an X/1 that's attacking you. Oftentimes they don't and this guys a pretty inneficient flier.
Azure Drake--Maybe good enough? It's pretty straightforward, if you need a flier that can block all day, run this. Doesn't seem amazing, but the cards here are pretty close in power level
Phantom Monster is pretty clearly quite good, but a lot of us don't run master's edition.
Possible inclusions:
Soratami Mirror-Guard: Don't laugh. If you're looking for blue aggro support, this could possibly be the guy. It doesn't seem far fetched at all that he could win an aggro vs aggro standoff.
Wu Elite Cavalry If you want to include this over some of the other similar cards, I wouldn't blame you at all.
Labyrinth Minotaur is a pretty interesting card, but probably low on power level in reality.
Breezekeeper I have no idea how good this is.
Overall: Run Illusionary Forces and Shimmering Glasskite, the rest of the cards are almost identical in power level, IMO.
Aven Liberator: I have no idea how to rank this. It's got an okay body, and morphing it for card advantage/unblockableness doesn't seem far fetched at all. I'm keen to see testing results.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
5 Mulldrifter
5 Mnemonic Wall
5 Aethersnipe
3 Tidewater Minion
3 Spire Golem
1 Vedalken Dismisser
1 Sky-Eel School
1 Sky Ruin Drake
1 Shoreline Ranger
1 Helium Squirter
1 Frostwind Invoker
1 Double Header
killem's lack of Mulldrifter makes my stomach roil.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Mulldrifter--This is the best creature in this section and it's not even close. At its worst it's a Divination and at its best, the interactions with Waterfront Bouncer, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Disturbed Burial etc push it way over the top. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't played with it why you don't feel bad tapping out for a 2/2 that draws you cards, but it's that good.
Mnemonic Wall--A card that I initially dismissed, and upon further examination, is quite good and will be going in my cube. Getting back a counterspell is okay, but getting back Capsize, Foresee or even a Doomblade should make it much easier to win. All this plus a big butt, and we all know how much we love those.
Aethersnipe--Man-O'-War's bigger brother. You get the option to pay three for a really bad Disperse, but that's fine given the versatility that you get with evoke creatures. At full retail value, you get a creature than can not only tangle with, but kill most other creatures in the cube and live to tell the tale. At full cost, it's often a nail in the coffin type card to compliment the blue game plan of counters and tempo and it can put games away in a hurry.
Tidewater Minion--I don't like this guy. It's big and that's nice for a U deck, but tapping 4 mana on your own turn just to attack is not. I can't even think of that many times that you would benefit from untapping something else with this. I guess instead of attacking with your 4/4, you could use it to milk out another mana or two with the bounceland. Is that the dream with this card? I mean, it's not like there are too many creatures that are bigger than a 4/4 that you would want to untap and block with. Untapping a Pinger, or Ulamog's Crusher to block? Help me out here. All this said, the card is fine and will perform so, just because he's a big, blue dude, but this guy isn't actually all that good outside of those facts, imo.
Spire Golem--It's going to be the same cost to cheaper than Azure Drake most of the time, which is fine, but the trade-off is that it dies to a fair bit more removal.
Vedalken Dismisser--Do not want. This won't actually be the worst thing a lot of the time, since the tempo gain is pretty huge, but U is still tight enough that you don't really need a card like this.
Sky-Eel School--No interest whatsoever. It's a decently sized flyer, but I just don't think it stacks up against all the awesome small dudes or any of the other "finishers" the color has access to.
Sky Ruin Drake--I think this is a lot worse than Azure Drake most of the time. One more mana to block Wickerbough Elder? I'll pass.
Shoreline Ranger--I kind of like this guy, actually. It's a pretty huge flyer and it's really never dead. Not sure if U has the room, but I don't think I'd blame someone for running this.
Helium Squirter--This card is so annoying to play against. First of all, it's a 3/3 flyer for 5. That's not the most amazing thing in the world, but this guy starts to get tricky pretty much as soon as you play another creature. The +1/+1 counters are particularly relevant if you are playing U creatures and the flying is more relevant if you're not. Ever given your 3/3 Ninja flying? It's pretty sick. What about making a relevant protection guy a better blocker or faster clock? I think anyone who fancies supporting U aggro should give this card a shot, but it's not limited to that at all.
Frostwind Invoker--I'm the only one running this and for good reason: it sucks. Ok, ok, it doesn't suck, but it's none too exciting either. The problem with it is that it's 8 mana ability is often irrelevant to the decks that would like a 5 mana 3/3 evasion creature. These are usually the decks that already have plenty of evasion or not too many creatures at all and would rather just ride a finisher or two for the game. Having this guy on board when the rest of your board is also flyers is a little depressing, but you'll probably win anyway, since you have 3+ flyers and all. I'll be cutting this for the Wall.
Double Header--I don't run Un cards, but this one is veerrry good. It doesn't just bounce creatures like some people probably think. It's versatile, in a sense, and has a decent body. I mean, it bounces 7 other cards from this section alone.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
Mneumonic Wall - A very good card. Not necessary in every deck, but returning something as simple as a removal spell can win you the game against too many decks. Also funny with Momentary Blink
Aethersnipe: I had no idea that so many people were running it, it makes me think about considering it. Not sure yet.
Tidewater Minion: Doesn't seem better than a blue 5 mana 4/4, and that is total jank.
Spire Golem: Good. Very good, actually, it's almost never more expensive than Azure Drake and oftentimes it can come out with counter mana up around turn 5. Control's best friend.
Vedalken Dismisser: Was great in Rav draft, but here it just costs waaaay too much and the body is irrelevant at that stage of the game.
Sky-Eel School: Bad flier. Eh
Sky Ruin Drake: Even worse than Sky-Eel, even Azure Drake beats it out.
Shoreline Ranger: Good. Blue likes islands, so don't feel guilty about cycling it, and it likes large fliers even better. Can be added in the 19th land slot or something in a dedicated control deck, seems pretty good/
Helium Squirter Better than the bad fliers, but seems extremely fragile and I don't want to include more blue aggro support.
Frostwind Invoker: Squirter does what he does better.
Double Header: Fantastic, but un.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
Mnemonic Wall is very good. Card advantage + big butt = nice control speedbump.
Aethersnipe it's not bad, but it's a bit bulky for no evasion as a finisher. Might get cut some time soon.
Tidewater Minion is my pet card. I may or may not cut him soon.
Spire Golem is very good. Can be hella cheap and is just a solid flyer.
Vedalken Dismisser is ridiculously overcosted for the effect.
Sky-Eel School is a mediocre flyer. That's about it.
Sky Ruin Drake has a big butt, but just play Azure Drake if you're into that sort of thing.
Shoreline Ranger is interesting. Obviously not as good as Noble Templar, but it's an interesting finisher for blue.
Helium Squirter is a nice large curve-topper for blue aggro decks. I'll probably be running it.
Frostwind Invoker is a mediocre flyer with an overcosted ability. Just play Helium Squirter.
Double Header is god-awesome for the people playing Un. Which I think is just me.
BLUE SPELLS 0/1 CMC
6 Ponder
6 Force Spike
6 Flood
6 Daze
6 Brainstorm
4 Preordain
2 Serum Visions
2 Gush
Really a no-brainer section. I'm probably going to cut Serum Visions some time soon.
The real question is: Gush, worth it or not?
Interesting cards include Careful Study and Portent. Although I think I may have too many 1 mana library fixers.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Brainstorm--This card is so dumb. Digging three deep for one mana is huge. It gives you tons of information and "reach" for being practically free. Pair up with a shuffle effect, however rare they may be, for the true power.
Ponder--Pretty much the same as Brainstorm, but obviously less powerful. However, in exchange for actually drawing three cards, you get the choice to shuffle, which is deceptively good if you're digging for something specific.
Preordain--The third best card of this type. It's not as good as Brainstorm or Ponder, and it's really not even close, but it's still good enough.
Serum Visions--Not worth the slot, imo. It can obviously be fine, but it's just not as good as the other options and U has a lot of choices to squeeze in.
Daze--I didn't know everyone was running this, but I'm glad I don't have to defend its worthiness. Countering something when you are tapped out is so huge, because that's when an opponent will play their most important spells. The tempo loss is negligible if you can snatch something good with this.
Force Spike--Pretty much on par with Daze, imo. It's used to destroy an opponent trying to curve out and use every mana they have available.
Flood--This card is silly. It's only useful in heavy U decks, but if you get it active for at least 2 creatures, it can allow you tons of time to draw into more permanent answers or beaters of your own.
Gush--Not worth it, imo. Free spells are good and all, but two lands is pretty steep for something that doesn't affect the board. Powered cubes with bombier cards, more mana acceleration, and more landfall effects don't run this card. Why should we?
Careful Study--Digging is not so important that we should play cards that are card disadvantage unless they are free. No thanks.
Portent--Worse than Brainstorm, Ponder, or Preordain, but better than Serum Visions imo. I don't think it's worth the flexibility of messing up your opponent's draw for you to have to wait until their turn to draw the card. Most times you should probably target yourself anyhow.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
First, I never knew Flood was common! This card is amazing and I feel like it is the kind of card you can open and build around. I'm going to add it to my cube ASAP.
Obviously Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain are blue staples - I'd run Brainstorm in my cube if I had it!
I completely agree with Drahcir on Careful Study. This card isn't particularly great early game and is a facepalm if you draw it when in topdeck mode. Portent is interesting, but I'm not sure if it really has much of a meaningful impact in most situations.
I noticed the list of cards is either counters or drawing. I feel like there are some other good cards in the 1 drop slot worth considering for other archetypes besides blue control. Distortion Strike is a great aggro card that gives you the potential to get two big swings in, particularly in G/U and R/U builds that might not have a lot of evasion. It also helps aggro decks sneak in those last few points of damage in games where control has begun to stabilize. Unsummon is also a classic which I think fits in nicely with aggro builds for keeping the team in the red zone. It seems to always be undervalued in draft, but I've defenitely won a few games with it. Lastly, I think Diminish is worth considering as a surprise blue combat trick. I think Snakeform is in many people's cubes because it is an amazing trick and this is right on par. Pros: costs 2 less; cons: harder to splash, doesn't replace itself.
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My Cubes:
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 360 Card Pauper Cube - updated 1/4/2014
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 270 Card One-Drop Cube - updated 1/4/2014
My thoughts after reading other people's views:
Ponder, Brainstorm, Preordain are the holy trinity of library manipulation. Seriouosly, not much room after this.
Force Spike is a lovely tempo card for control and aggro. Rocking it T2 when they tap out is hilarious.
Flood is godly good. If you're playing heavy blue and this comes knocking, pick it.
Daze is a very good card, really. The tempo loss is made up for catching the opponent off guard.
Serum Visions is not worth it. I'll be cutting it soon, for another card or completely out.
Gush is card advantage, but it's ridiculously slow and a realy example of "Constructed does not translate to Cube".
Careful Study is, on second thoughts, bad.
Portent is good, but it's just that there are too many better cards out there. It's close to the border, but gets pushed out by the competition.
On the cards you suggested:
Distortion Strike - Undoubtedly, it's a good card, but it gets neutered slightly with the conversion from Constructed to Cube.
Unsummon - There are just, better choices out there. It's not bad, but even in normal Limited it's nothing exciting.
Diminish - Not replacing itself + 1 power makes it way worse than Snakeform. It needs another card to even come close as removal, so it's not very good. Of course, I may be wrong; personally, I think Diminish is one I am least sure about, so maybe it really is worth it.
The real problem is, cards may be good, but it's about which ones are the best. And these get kicked out by the combination. I run a fairly large cube - larger than most other people - and even I can't fit them in.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Force Spike: Cool because you don't look like you've got counter mana, but limited obviously.
Flood: Really cool, great in control, requires a load of islands though.
Daze: Hardcasting is okay, catching them off guard is okay to good. Like it.
Ponder: Very good library manipulation
Preordain: Ditto
Serum Visions: Why are people saying this is bad? It's not, at all, just slightly below Ponder and Preordain and that's still damn good. I like running the four, you can do whatever though.
Gush: Good in decks that my cube (and cubers) makes, I'll leave it at that. There's almost always a Gush deck at the table, it gets the gush and that's that. I like it that way, you might not, so then don't run it.
Careful Study: Wow, jaaank
Portent: The fact that they only cost U, give you a card then and there and do extra stuff is why the others are good. This means your card can't be a sorcery speed thing you cast after that, which makes the card rather bad, really. Fifth best library manipulation, maybe?
Distortion Strike: Support blue aggro to the death, and run this. Watch blue aggro never be drafted. Good card that's bad here, IMO
Unsummon: Play Word of Undoing. No, don't, but it's still better.
Diminish: Snakeform's Cycling and fogging ability made it mediocre when you didn't have a blocker, or when your blocker got nerfed. This is too conditional for removal of any cost, IMO.
Also: Opt: Seems like a decent card, but control decks rarely care about instant speed on their 1 mana spells here, I dunno.
Disrupt: Found it good here, just needed to make room for other things. Might go back in because it can really be a blowout.
Shadow Rift: Yeah, unexciting. But it makes one of their guys not able to block or gives one of your guys evasion, and cantrips. Obviously an aggro card, so I probably won't run it.
Draft it on Cubetutor!
QFT. A really nice thing about Flood is that it deals with multiple creatures. Granted, it's not free, but few cards are able to deal with multiple threats as well as Flood.
Agreed. A card selection card whose role has been outclassed by Preordain and Ponder.
Agreed. It costs way too much and in a color like blue which typically needs its mana, the alt cost (of bouncing lands) is really steep.
Yeah, definitely lower-tier card selection.
Yeah, I think that the thing about Portent is that it's not really bad, but like with Serum Visions, the competition's much better.
Distortion Strike is a good card, but its strength ultimately relies on how good aggressive blue strategies are, since it has a powerful effect (2 turns of unblockability is pretty strong and the +1/+0 each time doesn't hurt either.) Most blue creatures tend to have evasion, however. I may try it out some time, but I'm not in a huge hurry to do so.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Nobody said the card is bad. They said it's not worth the slot. I don't know what size everyones' cubes are, but at 360, I don't think you need so many 1 mana filtering spells that Serum Visions should make the cut. Besides it's not just slightly below those two--it's a lot worse, but still fine. Just another example of a playable card being the casualty of limited space.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
It's a very situational answer to artifacts, enchantments are a pretty small deal in pauper. I don't play it because there are plenty of answers in White/Red/Green and blue really doesn't have that much trouble against problem cards as it has plenty of countermagic. That being said, it's likely enough to have a target and is a hardcounter (though, of course, situational) for U, so it's hardly bad.
On Serum Visions: I've never had too much manipulation at four cards, that's only two cards in two decks, and blue is often the most fought over colour. Of course, it's worse than the others, but I think it's better than Portent
Draft it on Cubetutor!
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My Cubes:
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 360 Card Pauper Cube - updated 1/4/2014
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 270 Card One-Drop Cube - updated 1/4/2014
You could find room for it, and I don't think anyone would fault you for it, but I don't think it's worth the slot.
Pauper Cube
I cube, I play EDH, and I can't afford Legacy. The other formats can suck it.
On Turn Aside, it probably is a good card, but I'm not sure. Sometimes you hold it in your hand and nothing happens; sometimes you catch your opponent off guard tapping six for Capsize. It's not bad, but it might not be good enough.
My Pauper Cube ♤ The Pauper Cube Thread Common Knowledge — 1 2
Draft it on Cubetutor!
J-Max: I'd never seen Confound before. This might be better than Turn Aside for the replacement effect.
Ultimately, Turn Aside probably isn't better than the cards Lanxal started this discussion with, I just wanted to add some cards that I've found to be useful in drafts and think have the potential to be cubeable to the discussion.
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My Cubes:
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 360 Card Pauper Cube - updated 1/4/2014
Goblin Pile Shuffler's 270 Card One-Drop Cube - updated 1/4/2014
Of course it won't, but there are very few cards that aren't instant speed removal that Turn Aside deals with, and there are quite a few cards that Dispel deals with that Turn Aside can't, (counters especially, burn to the face, instant speed ramp, draw spells, Dark Ritual, pump, Shelter). I can probably work out numbers, but there are many more targets for Dispel and they are probably, on average, better and more likely to be countered by such a conditional counter.
But yes, thank you for bringing it up, it's really a decent card but blue spells, especially counterspells, are extremely tight.
On Confound: It's not in this section, but it's the kind of card that if it works you get a large swing your way. And it's really not far fetched at all.
Draft it on Cubetutor!