I'm now running both - they are both great. Trample and a bigger token is clutch on WW, and Blitz is randomly relevant, but Thragtusk's exit trigger is much better.
The Gargaroth/Warchief discussion is interesting. Ignoring for a second that Thragtusk exists and you might not want that redundancy with Warchief, out of all the creatures that cost a lot of mana but don't have an ETB effect or other removal protection, Gargaroth is about the best one. If it is removed you are 1-for-1 and out some tempo, but also, you have to remove it within one turn cycle; you can't attack into it, and you can't allow it to attack since it churns out so much value. It's fun to have some creatures like that which are a bit more higher risk and higher reward rather than every creature having its value strapped to ETB, and something I'm trying to move towards in my cube environment.
As it stands I'll be making room for Warchief but definitely not cutting Gargaroth.
Tainted Indulgence > Master of Death // Master is a really nice efficient threat or signpost card for blue aggro, but the issue is there are quite a few U/B/x decks that won't run it
Poppet Stitcher > Cloudkin Seer // Seer is very uninteresting. Poppet Stitcher is a creative token generator with some cool interactions with cards like Bitterblossom, and also support for spellsmatter.dec albeit making really bad tokens
Sea Gate Stormcaller > Gilded Drake // Drake would be the pick if you run all the shenanigans from constructed formats, but it's lackluster as a generic value pick I feel. I haven't run Stormcaller, but it looks decent enough for duplicating cheap cantrips or burn.
My ranking:
Fire & Ice
Light & Shadow
Body & Mind
Sinew & Steel
Feast & Famine
At 465 cards, I'm running the top 4. With the advent of Lion Sash, Eater of Virtue, and Blade of the Oni, I'm likely cutting Sinew and Steel. They are slow these days and usually not for an aggro deck. I still love them despite that because I just think the design is cool.
Cheers,
rant
I agree with this ranking, though I think Light/Shadow, Body/Mind and Sinew/Steel are all quite close. But I am only running the top one since quite a while ago - two might be the right number, but they tend to be quite slow for aggro these days.
Out of the four, I think I like Steel and Sinew the most. Removal is always good, especially when you don't waste swings on opposing PWs. Body and Mind is also very good obviously. I like Feast and Famine the least for sure. The discard is nice but most decks running the Sword and connecting with it weren't positioned to take a lot of advantage from the untap.
Actually I went down to two swords myself recently (S&S and F&I, which I think is the best one by a fair bit), I assumed everyone else was still running 4 or 5 but there is usually a glut of 3 drops in the decks running swords and they can clog up the board a bit. I feel a bit equipment light now and might end up cutting Stoneforge Mystic.
Probably Bone Shards even without reanimate support ( ) or aristocrats.
I guess Dancing Sword seems OK, kinda?
I prefer Kefnet, then Iymrith, but maybe you need a 4/5 drop in particular. I didn't run Meloku for years, it was getting too slow, but it still has its fans.
Duskwatch Recruiter was a recent cut and I liked it quite a bit, I think I may prefer it to Ranger Class but the latter was only just revealed so nobody tested it yet.
I want to add either Checklands or Painlands since I already own both cycles. Which cycle would you rather add?
Painlands, and by a lot.
Inclined to agree there. They also help enable some powerful Eldrazicolorlesspayoffs, if you're into that, but I'd run them over the checklands regardless.
Spawn > Valkyrie > Nightmare Shepherd, but none of these are so far ahead that you couldn't pick and choose to taste
History > Sigrid > Angel, unless you have a massive lifegain theme
Emberwilde Captain > Hazoret > Toralf? Unless you run a huge burn package, then Toralf probably gains some value.
EDIT: regarding another comment last page, Wilt is super good; Disenchant/Naturalize is a perfectly cubeable baseline, then adding cycling is a fantastic addition for this effect.
Probably Rimrock Knight first for me. None are great but he's a combat trick, something that is kind of rare in cube, and hence he's often card advantage. The alternate frame/art is awesome. Then Stormblood Berserker, then Chaser last. Berserker is switched on more than off, but terrible in those games where you're on the draw and your 2/1 can't get through or gets removed somehow.
Basri's Lieutenant > Warleader >> Archon, unless you have some weird enchantment matters theme. Basri is generically pretty good for his mana, but more so if you have some Persist or +1/+1 synergies. Even in a stacked white four section, I like him quite a bit.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer > Saheeli, the Gifted > Sprite Dragon. Hybrid Saheeli is a super-versatile pick for artifacts matter deck, or spells matter deck, and fits into way more of these since it's a hybrid. It's also a win-con for counterburn.
Painlands still hold up so well. ETB untapped, can produce either mana T1 (unlike filter lands), don't always damage you unless needed (unlike Canopy lands), can swap colour for you (unlike Pathways), and can tap for colorless too if you support Eldrazi (unlike most duels).
Not saying they are better than the other cycles, just that they do an awful lot right. Personally Canopy lands are my favourite.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
As it stands I'll be making room for Warchief but definitely not cutting Gargaroth.
---
Soul Shatter > Doom Blade // maybe?
Tainted Indulgence > Master of Death // Master is a really nice efficient threat or signpost card for blue aggro, but the issue is there are quite a few U/B/x decks that won't run it
Poppet Stitcher > Cloudkin Seer // Seer is very uninteresting. Poppet Stitcher is a creative token generator with some cool interactions with cards like Bitterblossom, and also support for spellsmatter.dec albeit making really bad tokens
Sea Gate Stormcaller > Gilded Drake // Drake would be the pick if you run all the shenanigans from constructed formats, but it's lackluster as a generic value pick I feel. I haven't run Stormcaller, but it looks decent enough for duplicating cheap cantrips or burn.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Light up the Night > Char > Intervention
Champion >> Oracle ≥ Seer
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
I agree with this ranking, though I think Light/Shadow, Body/Mind and Sinew/Steel are all quite close. But I am only running the top one since quite a while ago - two might be the right number, but they tend to be quite slow for aggro these days.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Actually I went down to two swords myself recently (S&S and F&I, which I think is the best one by a fair bit), I assumed everyone else was still running 4 or 5 but there is usually a glut of 3 drops in the decks running swords and they can clog up the board a bit. I feel a bit equipment light now and might end up cutting Stoneforge Mystic.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
I guess Dancing Sword seems OK, kinda?
I prefer Kefnet, then Iymrith, but maybe you need a 4/5 drop in particular. I didn't run Meloku for years, it was getting too slow, but it still has its fans.
Duskwatch Recruiter was a recent cut and I liked it quite a bit, I think I may prefer it to Ranger Class but the latter was only just revealed so nobody tested it yet.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Inclined to agree there. They also help enable some powerful Eldrazi colorless payoffs, if you're into that, but I'd run them over the checklands regardless.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Flameskull > Rampaging Ferocidon
Zariel > Sarkhan, but neither are that great
Growth Spiral > Shardless Agent
Domri, AoB > Klothys > Brawler
Woe Strider >> Liliana, HH >> Gonti
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
History > Sigrid > Angel, unless you have a massive lifegain theme
Emberwilde Captain > Hazoret > Toralf? Unless you run a huge burn package, then Toralf probably gains some value.
EDIT: regarding another comment last page, Wilt is super good; Disenchant/Naturalize is a perfectly cubeable baseline, then adding cycling is a fantastic addition for this effect.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Ramunap > Life from the Loam > Mammoth > Nissa > Visionary. I really like the top three of these.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Agree
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Basri's Lieutenant > Warleader >> Archon, unless you have some weird enchantment matters theme. Basri is generically pretty good for his mana, but more so if you have some Persist or +1/+1 synergies. Even in a stacked white four section, I like him quite a bit.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer > Saheeli, the Gifted > Sprite Dragon. Hybrid Saheeli is a super-versatile pick for artifacts matter deck, or spells matter deck, and fits into way more of these since it's a hybrid. It's also a win-con for counterburn.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Regal Behemoth > Avenger of Zendikar
Necrotic Hex > Night Incarnate
Emberwilde Captain >>>> Territorial Hellkite
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Not saying they are better than the other cycles, just that they do an awful lot right. Personally Canopy lands are my favourite.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms: