White
Phizzled: I can’t decide which part of the card people like most. If it was a 2/2 flyer for 2W, we’d have plenty of choices. If the win case is getting the 1/1 flyer and a card, Inspiring Overseer
remains the gold standard and the only unconditional version. But, even in cube, hitting a plains or a small creature from mill 3 doesn’t seem that likely. I think this is interesting, but the pessimist in me thinks I’m likely overpay for a 2/2 evasive creature while milling my removal. Consider me a pass.
Neveron: While this card is interesting in being one of the very few ways for White to fill its own graveyard, in our cube white has so little in the way of graveyard payoffs that this is likely just worse than all the other three-drop draw-a-card creatures we’ve been getting recently. I think this card definitely has a home in some pauper cubes, perhaps ones also playing Late to Dinner
, but that’s not this cube.
Omniczech: This is a miss for me. I am not stoked with the fail case being a Wind Drake
, and I’m not super impressed by the actual “success” case here of a very so so body and drawing a card. If this could pick from anything in the bin, maybe we’d be talking, but as is I’m out.
Usman: I don’t really like this compared to other Wind Drakes in white and even those, I’m mostly eh on aside from Inspiring Overseer. I just don’t think this helps decks win
Phizzled: The Arrest
with trinket text of the set actually has two advantages over two of the auras we have, but is a creature aura. If this said “enchant permanent” instead I’d take that scry in a heartbeat. As is, I think we’re a touch shy.
Neveron: In terms of what this is competing with, I suppose it’s Faith's Fetters
, which is fantastic for stabilizing against more aggressive decks, Minimus Containment
, which is a good answer to almost anything in the cube, and Bound in Gold
, which notably is one of the very few cards to shut down Desert
. Prison Sentence definitely has a big upside with the scry, but I wonder if it’s big enough to justify not hitting Pestilence
and friends?
Solset: Let’s be honest. In actual gameplay, Prison Sentence is going to be slightly better than a lot of the removal we have in the cube the majority of the time. But we don’t build the cube for individual game play, but for a curated limited environment. I feel quite strongly that White’s removal package needs to hit more than just creatures. Being sorcery speed and vulnerable to board interaction is already a huge negative compared to how effectively black and red get to remove creatures. Yet, there are clear times that hitting a Pristine Talisman
with white’s enchantment removal is a game changer on turn 3. If we needed more removal, this is a great option, but I just don’t see it making a better format by replacing our current options.
Omniczech: I’m in agreement here. White removal either needs to be less mana or handle more permanent types. I think that seeing arrest be totally obviated for pauper cubes is a nice thing, but I don’t know if it’s where we want to be at this point.
Usman: I guess the question is, are Arrest effects getting long in the tooth? They certainly do feel… lacking when compared to good black/red removal, but maybe that’s just part of our format?
Omniczech: As one of the world’s top Unearth enjoyers, this one makes me happy. I don’t know how much better this potentially is but in the abstract I really like the idea of rebuying an earlier threat in a white aggro deck but bigger this time. Very much a fan fave and I’d be shocked if we can’t make some room.
Phizzled: Get my ETB on a three drop for two mana? And it comes back bigger? I love it, and I don’t care who knows.
Neveron: Speaking of graveyard payoffs for white, this card is mostly just going to be a one-turn-later Otherworldly Journey
. Three mana creatures in white are getting stronger ETBs these days so it’s probably still worth it. Don’t expect this to hit artifacts too often, though.
Solset: There are diminishing returns for this type of effect so I think we need to be careful with other flickerish cards. However, I don’t think we are quite there yet in our white. For the average white deck, even hitting a 1 drop is going to create a creature that is worth about 2 mana, and obviously things just get better from there. Excited to try it, but I think its inclusion is probational if it is stuck in hand too often.
Usman: It’s weird just how good cycling is on the original Unearth, since it let you dump it when it wasn’t useful. This may just be one of those cards that has a home in certain decks, like ones with a lot of cheap 187s. I’m sure 2010 Usman would be giddy getting back a Civic Wayfinder
with this. Getting artifacts back is a nice bonus but probably mostly flavor text, but that may change if we end up getting Chromatic Star
/Chromatic Sphere
in here (although I don’t think I’ve heard people clamoring for either.)
Solset: Warlord's Elite is part of a trend in recent limited formats, where white gets a common payoff that converts their go-wide board into a go big threat. While I can see us trying to get one of these in or back in at some point, I think it will need some other protection or synergy like the counter’s on Martyr's Soul
.
Usman: I don’t think we have the payoffs to make this work (cheap things like baubles, etc); things like 1-drops can let you ramp this out as a 4/4 on turn 3, helped with things like Bonesplitter
, but I don’t think the payoff is there for us.
Phizzled: I think we determined the average cube experience is four players, which likely means this still works any time someone isn’t actively off grabbing snacks. I like it, and maybe more than Prison Sentence above, since all activated abilities is better than “abilities that aren’t mana abilities.” I assume the community will let us know if this style of acorn card bothers them, since some Un-set cards have triggered people’s fight or flight before.
Neveron: While this is currently polling incredibly badly on the Pauper Cube Polling app, I feel like its silver-bordered mechanic is probably still much less disruptive than that of Carnivorous Death-Parrot
, which remains in the cube because of its unbeaten statline. Note that not only is Gobsmacked a strictly better Arrest in the most common cubing scenarios, it’s a strictly better Pacifism
!
Solset: The old grizzled tournament player in me shivers at the slivers. Can you imagine picking your buddy during the draft and then she goes to use the bathroom. All of a sudden and completely out of your power, this pacifism is turned off. I know, I know, I’m crazy, but based on the NPS, I don’t think I am the only one. Plus, with our monthly online drafts, how does this work? These are the things that keep me up at night.
Usman: Can I choose a cat for this instead of a person? Actually, a cat will probably just walk off and do cat things. Cats, I tell ya. :chrono:
Omniczech: I see weird un-set mechanics and I’m out, enough folks complain about the mostly black-bordered ones as is.
Blue
Phizzled: The second in the cycle. I guess the 1/4 failing to find case is a little more interesting, but hitting non-creature in cube is usually harder than hitting a creature, and folks have complained about missing with Augur of Bolas
and the like. This is bigger than the Augur, but only when you miss.
Neveron: This cycle feels a bit like Explore, in a way, in how you never really “miss” – and being able to opt for the 1/4 even if there’s a hit means a world against aggro decks. Also, unlike the Augur “noncreature, nonland” is a fair bit broader than “instant or sorcery” and milling the cards is much more attractive than putting them on the bottom of your library. Is this good enough for the cube, though?
Solset: I’m a big fan of Augur in my mutation, and the x/3 statline for blue’s two drops is an important pinch point for its game plan. Blue needs to survive against an aggressive start to get its draw spells off and flying on the board. The Pauper Cube has tended to go with safer inclusions that have higher floors which is why Augur and Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration
are out. This is an Augur with a much better floor. Seems a good fit to me.
Omniczech: I don’t know about this one. I don’t love this being a “almost draw a card”, but the body is a nice road bump early game. I wish it had at least one point of power to actually remove X/1s but I could see us trying this out.
Usman: I like this more than Augur, even if it doesn’t have *that* many extra hits in our format, since missing is just awful on Augur. Still, a River Kaijin failcase body isn’t the worst and milling yourself can be nice with graveyard cards like… Emergency Weld!
Phizzled: This is a crisp, clean modal counterspell. I like this more than You Find the Villains' Lair
, which doesn’t mean it’s the right answer. But this is a way better late game top deck than that was, especially when you’re facing a creature rush.
Solset: In our cube, I feel we need counters that hit on turn 2 or have tremendous upside perhaps like being a 5/7 with ward late game, Mirrorshell Crab
. I don’t see this modality offering enough to make me want to include it over other counters that are not yet in the cube like Exclude
.
Omniczech: I’m once bitten, twice shy on modal 3 drop counters. I especially don’t love a one turn tap down as the alternate mode here.
Usman: I think our existing counter suite is better, and I don’t think we’re necessarily in need of 3-mana counters as a hole to plug in blue decks. I do like that it at least has some board impact which is unique but I’m just not a fan.
Phizzled: This is a better version of two Blue removal spells we currently have in the Cube. This feels like a snap include.
Solset: Wow! Thanks wizards for giving Blue endless playable 1 drop removal while we don’t have a single good one in white yet. It is pretty much strictly better than Bubble Snare
, which is a card that I’ve been quite happy with. Expect to pick this one up either as a replacement for something or growing that section.
Omniczech: as others here have mentioned, this is just pure gas. I’ll echo Solset’s grumbling about white apparently not getting this level of efficiency but this is almost assuredly getting a slot in my eyes.
Usman: This supplements Bubble Snare pretty well. I like that it doesn’t lock in using 4 mana when cast, which may be relevant if the opponent has countermagic or protection.
Phizzled: This is a functional duplicate of a creature in the Cube. It happens to be a creature I quite like. That’s fine.
Neveron: While it’s irrelevant for the official cube, people running tribal mutations should note that this is a Human Soldier rather than Mistral Singer
’s clearly well-supported Siren type.
Solset: Bonds of Faith
is still in a bunch of maybe boxes /binders as it eyes the recent inclusion of Deftblade Elite
with a lover’s longing. War Falcon
is so close to being good enough. With our current list there is no reason for the switch, but with enough cards that have incidental support for humans over the years, I’d pick it up for a potential future update if you are putting in a buylist.
Omniczech: Typing concerns aside, I don’t know if we need copy number 2 of this effect.
Black
Phizzled: A 1/1 gravedigger is nothing to sneeze at. I’m not even sure what to say about this card beyond that it is cool and I hope it is fun.
Neveron: The one drawback here is that this is a sorcery rather than a creature, but perhaps that’s even an upside in some decks. Being able to bring back artifacts is probably not terribly relevant for our cube, but there are a handful of targets.
Solset:Between other recursion like Unearth
and my plans for Gray Merchant of Asphodel
, I don’t know if I can forgive this card for not being a creature.
Omniczech: I love that this is a strictly different form of gravedigger. I really wish we’d gotten that classic ETB effect on a 3 mana 2/1 or something, but I’m very interested in this as a way to recur and replay in the same turn thanks to the tiny mana cost.
Usman: I think this is the cheapest that we’ve seen a Gravedigger
, with the cheapest other one being Cadaver Imp
. It’s a nombo with other gravediggers and Raise Dead
effects but I’m a fan of this.
Phizzled: I don’t know what number of sacrifice outlets you need in a cube for this to be good, but we’ve got quite a few. I think this only has to grow twice before it feels better than the various two mana creatures we have. If this were a “dies” trigger instead of a “sacrifice” trigger it’d be an easier call, I think.
Neveron: Triggering on treasure and fetchlands feels pretty important, I think.
Solset: Does Wizards read our discord for ideas? I doubt it, but I am really happy to see my hopes answered with this Mortician Beetle
update. A Piker stat line means it is fine in most decks where the beetle wasn’t, and switching to permanent instead of creature gives this a lot more life and interesting lines of play. Done with Serrated Arrows
, grow your Infiltrator. Cycle your Mind Stone
, grow your infiltrator. When we eventually add in Haunted Fengraf
…well you get it.
Omniczech: I’ve been down on these types of effects in the past, but this one being a passable body and having the nice wording where any permanent triggers it has my attention.
Phizzled: As grow creatures go, this has a pretty readily hit condition. I’m not sure if I am very excited about it, but I think it can be solid without being flashy.
Neveron: It’s not going to grow quickly, but if it triggers even once then it’s out of bolt range.
Solset: Without more self mill support this is pretty terrible before turn 6 most of the time. If we eventually push green black harder into this identity, this might be an interesting payoff but there are lots of cards in this category we would need to evaluate… but not now.
Omniczech: I think this is either going to start triggering too late or be cast too late for it to trigger. If this was a 3/2 I’d be more interested, but this feels like a miss to me.
Usman: I do like that once it triggers, it’s just going to keep growing unless the graveyard gets messed with. Still, I’m just not sure what deck wants this.
Omniczech: Card good, card boring, not much more to say here.
Phizzled: I like when you don’t have to say much about the cards because they are basically known.
Solset: Terror
would honestly still be good enough for the cube, but it is not currently included nor isDoom Blade
. Why not? Because we have favored diversity of effects over pure efficiency. As a clear upgrade to Terror and Doomblade, how do people feel about great but boring cards being redundant in the cube?
Phizzled: I will never feel good about paying full mana value for this, but you only need two creatures in your graveyard for this to rival Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
as a kill spell that shouldn’t be thrilling but absolutely is.
Neveron: If you have three creatures in your yard and Gixian Skullflayer is active, then this is a two-mana exile. It seems pretty good.
Solset: After playing this often in Brother’s limited, which has a lot of graveyard enabling, I’m just not convinced. If we want to signal graveyard matters in black I could see it for that purpose alone, but black already has so many cheap effective removal spells that it doesn’t make it in for me on merit alone.
Omniczech: Late game this rules, but I truly think folks have missed how many creatures you tend to have in the bin early game. If we supported self mill a bit more heavily I could see this having a home, but as is I feel like this likely costs more than you’d want in most situations.
Usman: Man, this feels like the worst Murderous Cut ever. Just gimme like, any Terror effect.
Phizzled: I don’t know what the correct number of Rager type creatures is in a cube, so I’m not sure if we’re hit it yet.
Neveron: I’m still not sure if these cards should be read as colored or colorless. For this one I’m probably leaning black?
Solset: If this is a black card, I’m not sure it is good enough. . Maybe I’d pick it over Blade Juggler
especially if I have something like Ransack the Lab
already. I might think “Hey, it’s two bodies for aristocrats with red, and it plays nice with blue or white flicker” but then I’d see its cost and know it is really inefficient on mana. As a colorless card though I can see picking this up over some other colorless options, even unsure about having black for the unearth,.
Omniczech: I love seeing black get more riffs on rager, especially with white now just getting better ragers every other set, that said, this one feels a touch too expensive for me to be really happy about it.
Usman: It’s weird because Phyrexian Rager
is one of those cards that fits perfectly in the world of pauper cube by being a good little value body, but pumping the mana to 4 mana is just too much, even with Unearth.
Red
Phizzled: I really like this. I think both versions of what this does are pretty good. I have no idea what you replace with this.
Neveron: I’ve always liked running various Tormenting Voice
-like cards in Red Deck Wins to replace lands with gas, so having one that lets you later speed up your token-makers or big dumbos looks like it would be really fun. We currently aren’t running any tormenting voices, however, so who knows what would need to leave for this to enter.
Solset: It is an interesting card and a shoe in if you have a mutation that cares about enchantments. For us though, I think I’d rather just have a cheaper front side in Faithless Looting
. Getting the draw first before discarding, and getting to do it a second time later makes up for going down 2 cards. I guess it is the classic floor vs ceiling question. Curious how the community feels about how Reunion faces against the “banned in modern” looting.
Omniczech: I like that this is the version of Tormenting Voice where you don’t get absolutely wrecked by a counterspell. The everything gets haste is also interesting, I might want to include this just to see how it plays out.
Usman: I do like that this has actual impact on the board once it resolves, since it can threaten burst damage if need be, and even if not, it’s still just a Tormenting Voice. This seems not bad out of 10.
Phizzled: I still struggle with Ward at times, but this is a pretty appealing use of it. If I had to stretch to find something bad to say, it would be that we haven’t bothered putting a red prowess creature in aside from cube all-star Monastery Swiftspear
.
Neveron: This is a cheap enough prowess creature that it’s probably worth it, I think, especially with the Ward.
Solset: There are a lot of options now for 2 drops in red that convert spells to damage. If want one more over the current inclusion of Firebrand Archer
, I’d want to lay out the options for the community and hear some discussion.
Omniczech: I like this more than the past versions without ward, but I still wish they’d just put more aggressive bodies on this archetype of creature.
Usman: I like how ward helps this to act as a damage source, even as a last hurrah, in the face of removal; I’m just not a fan of base 1-power on creatures for 2 mana whose primary job is to beat face.
Phizzled: I think the turns you want this to turn on are early in the game, when Red has a harder time finding sacrifice outlets. 3/2 menace is nothing to sneeze at, and that’s maybe worth enabling, but I really don’t know how to make it consistent in our cube without warping the environment to do so.
Neveron: This is going to be a completely disgusting card in constructed goblin decks, but in our cube it’s perhaps harder to turn on. Red aggro probably doesn’t want Evolving Wilds, for instance. Note also that this goblin is also only ever a 3/2 – it’s a static ability rather than a triggered one, so you can’t go wild with sacrificing stuff.
Solset: I love cheap payoffs for archetypes. It is why I still like Delver as an option. I also love aristocrats as a really fun archetype to play. I don’t like this card.
Omniczech: I mentioned in the discord that this is a really powerful card… in environments with real fetches. I think this is a very cool card but lacks density of effects that both advance your board AND benefit this at the same time.
Usman: Objectively, this is one of the best pound-for-pound beaters available to us, but the critical mass of sacrifice effects (7+) for this to be a reliable beater likely isn’t there. Maybe this is stealthily a Rakdos card? The potential is definitely *there*, but it’s more a question of whether it slots into sacrifice decks well enough. Maybe it does. Threat of activation is sweet too, especially with other sac outlets that pump. Similar to Gixian Infiltrator but a much better overall rate, but in a color that wants it less.
Phizzled: The fact that the draw is optional is surprisingly nice, honestly. The worst case is this is a piker that happens to come back. The best case is it digs for gas when you need it. I’m a fan.
Neveron: My only problem with this card is where to put it. It probably belongs in a colorless slot, since even without Unearth it’s still a Fissure Wizard
and there’s plenty of non-red aggro decks that would be perfectly fine with that.
Solset: This card has been great in Brother’s and seems like a perfect fit for us. Piker with upside for any aggressive deck is really interesting. Unlike the Phyrexian Mana cards which are often played cheaply even in their colors, I see this more like an off color flashback with Rally the Peasants
or Momentary Blink
. They can be played for only the front half, however there is a significant advantage to having the “flashback mana.” Because of this, color identity in our cube considers flashback cost for where to slot it in. Putting this colorless gives us more options for cuts, but the purist in me knows that really we are helping out red.
Omniczech: I like the ETB rummage pikers and while we’ve cut them in the past, this having a colorless front end and the ability to rebuy it later feels like a massive improvement over past versions.
Usman: I’ve always wanted cards like Immersturm Raider
and Fissure Wizard to get there, but their overall impact was always just eh. I think Unearth certainly helps to align with red aggro gameplans of squeezing every bit of value of things to kill the opponent (like Scorched Rusalka
) too and is probably fine even in more midrangey red decks.
Green
Solset: I think this is a really great riff on Satyr Wayfinder
for us. It mills ones less, but we are not pushing self mill that hard. The benefit though is that the return is a “may” clause so if you get this mid to late game, you can always pick to have this as a grizzly bear. Giving the player that choice means any green deck can just consistently run this as on rate card that also happens to help our Green/White counters deck.
Omniczech: I’m not the biggest fan here, but this is pretty solid. I wish this was more than just a bear or had some minimal keyword tossed in there, but it’s far from the worst wayfinder variant
Phizzled: This is a lot of keywords. Any two of them should help your creature win combat and survive. As ever, I don’t know where to cut, but this does a lot of work.
Neveron: This is a remarkable modal card. It stops creature removal, it wins combats, it allows for surprise reachy blocks. It even gives trample!
Solset: Is keyword soup worth double the mana? I’m torn.
Omniczech: 2 mana feels like a lot for something that’s mostly a protective spell. Maybe the application here is best as an aggressive “haha, I win combat” with the protection mode as a backup. I just really don’t know where this would get happily left up as a trick without something else as an alternative
Phizzled: I’m not sure when this gets cast, but so far I really like prototype. A 3/5 with reach and trample at 5 mana is about where you want to be, and if you happen to be very late game or have ramped a bunch, this should end the game in two swings. I don’t mind it. Maybe the classic Nessian Asp
is finally showing its age?
Neveron: There was some minor grumbling recently about how us cutting Eldrazi Devastator
has led to us being light on true ramp payoffs. This is an even larger and more absurd payoff, and it has the added benefit of still being somewhat playable when you don’t have a billion mana. Also, fun fact: Ephemerate
and Prototype interact in exactly the way you’d want them to.
Solset: Does your mutation have Rush of Knowledge
? This card is hilarious there. For us, as cute as it is, I know Asp is better most of the time. Having 4 power is crucial for late game ground control and flooding out with ramp to 7 mana is a lot sooner than 10. I could see it being good enough still, but the cut is going to have to come from another overcrowded spot, perhaps an underperforming fight or buff spell. At that point though, do we look back at Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection for a modal spell that helps ramp?
Omniczech: I get the appeal here, but 10 mana is clown amounts of mana and I can definitely see folks holding this way too long in the hopes of casting it. While I definitely look at this and see something better than Eldrazi Devastator, I don’t know if that’s enough for us to consider it.
Land
Omniczech: This is an out and out banger. The campuses are pretty rad on their own for late game utility and this helps with filtering a turn earlier, as well as being untapped. I can’t see this not making its way in.
Phizzled: An untapped utility land? Card filtering? Yes, I can get on board for this.
Neveron: The question isn’t whether this gets in, it’s whether this leads to a bunch of other colorless utility lands getting in. Tocasia should be proud of her dig site, because it is very good.
Solset: Our recent update has made fixing really good, so I’m glad we can start looking at some utility lands. Not quite desert-level, but I expect to use Faith's Fetters or Bound in Gold on this at some point in a control mirror.