If you just take the cards with the most comments (maybe with an additional damping factor that takes the time into account to reduce the impact of the first spoiled cards) you will get a very similar list.
We get to 3-5 full cycles (number of cards drafted=number of cards in the cube) a week and it still takes me about 2 months before I have a rough estimation about a cards powerlevel in my own cube. Even if you can increase your testing efficiency through seeding, you are not able to test too many cards this way without decreasing the validity of your results because those cards might interact with each other.
You also have to find a way to find a consensus based on conflicting feedback from different members of your testing team.
What existing cards have to be reevaluated with the addition of a card?
Do you even have to re-balance some sections?
So when someone someone posts a review shortly after the set is spoiled and make it sound as if it is not about the expected performance in their own particular list, but the cards overall performance, I am truly skeptical, especially when the only information given to a card is rephrasing its oracle text.
I agree with you, but it seems like most people are just making good stuff cubes and throwing in whatever the highly hyped cards on -- some of which are clearly powerful and some of which are just getting the biggest buzz. Some cards definitely slip through the cracks of these reviews -- Thragtusk in m13? Ajani and a bunch of other roleplayer cards in front of him..really? Even when the set came out that was obviously wrong.
Those set reviews are close to useless anyway, since the players who write them have close to no experience with the cards at that point. (This is not directed at any person in particular or restricted to the reviews for cube cards.)
If you compare the predictions from the last review here with what actually sees play, you get an average error off 4 ranks, compared to an average error of 6 ranks by arranging the top 20 completely at random.
I agree, I think the reviews are just a fun recap of the cards that got everyone excited during spoiler season.
I think ranking is due soon and is pretty important service that Cubers provide to the larger community.
I agree with you, but it seems like most people are just making good stuff cubes and throwing in whatever the highly hyped cards on -- some of which are clearly powerful and some of which are just getting the biggest buzz. Some cards definitely slip through the cracks of these reviews -- Thragtusk in m13? Ajani and a bunch of other roleplayer cards in front of him..really? Even when the set came out that was obviously wrong.
I agree, I think the reviews are just a fun recap of the cards that got everyone excited during spoiler season.
Well, he does give low cost creatures a bad name by endorsing junk like Poucing Jaguar