I really, really, really don't understand what you are doing in this thread. What about it has gotten under your skin? Did the OP once pee in your cereal or something?
Let's all relax. It's the internet, and tone of voice is tough to convey. Can we return to what was a fairly interesting discussion? And if we are going to discuss the way the thread will work, can we do it in a constructive, as opposed to an accusatory, fashion?
I didn't receive his comment as accusatory at all, actually. But, as you said, internet, tone of voice, and all that.
As for the Perimeter Captain discussion, I think its a good card, but it is just outclassed by all the other one-drops that have been discussed, and as such, only makes the cut in cubes larger than 540, and is borderline at 540.
Dont be smug, there was nothing in the second post when I started this discussion.
The smugness wasn't coming from pointing out the second post, but rather the solution to your problem was already outlined in the OP, although it hadn't been implemented yet on account of very little discussion having taken place when you started the discussion.
The smugness wasn't coming from pointing out the second post, but rather the solution to your problem was already outlined in the OP, although it hadn't been implemented yet on account of very little discussion having taken place when you started the discussion.
You Be trixy my friend...I be watching ;). I all ready think I'm losing my mind, lets not add to it.
If anyone is taking too narrow a view, it's you. I'm saying Perimeter Captain hurts aggro, I don't know how this is even a debatable point.
I'm not saying it doesn't hurt aggro, just that cutting cards that hurt aggro is not the way to promote aggro in cube. Aggro is powerful enough to not need welfare. If you think that Perimeter Captain, ignoring the balance implications, is cube worthy, then I think you should run it, and I do not think it will cripple aggro in a significant way. the beautiful part about cube is the symbiotic relationship between archetypes. If control decks start to focus on aggro, they open their flank up to other threats.
This is entirely cube dependant. If a cube needs cards to help combat aggro, then adding in anti-aggro cards is a good way to combat it. I suspect that is not the case in virtually any cube, however.
Again, I am not a believer that narrow, archetype specific answers sway the balance of a cube much, because they create weaknesses even as they are plugging them.
Secondly, it depends what you're cutting for Perimeter Captain to make that assertion.
Well I would assume I am cutting a more versatile card, else this discussion is meaningless. Clearly cutting an Aanti aggro card for an anti aggro card is not worth discussing, from a balance standpoint.
Silver bullets against archetypes are rarely good enough to see play in the cube (hence the reason Perimeter Captain is only a 1x), and are much less valuable than cards that can fit in all three (or just two) of the major archetypes.
I tend to agree. There are exceptions though, and that is what we are discussing here. If you are not playing Perimeter Captain because of power level, then we are having the wrong discussion. You expressed your feelings that he is great, however.
If any archetype needs silver bullets, however, it is aggro against mid-range and control as mid-range and control have enough support to combat aggro just by the simple fact that magic history has given us a greater redundancy of effects at higher casting costs.
For instance, there are very few 1cc 2/1s in comparison to the wide variety of 4cc draw spells or 4cc fatties capable of holding off an aggro army.
A lot of new cubes run into this problem, but it is easily countered in cube construction. There is a reason every cube runs every decent 2/x one drop, but only the "best of the best" draw spells and fatties.
That is an opinion mixed with a Straw Man argument.
Well, everything I say here is an opinion, so thanks? And giving you an example of something I think would warp the cube in the way you are talking about isn't a straw man.
Right, so why are you surprised when only a few cubes run Perimeter Captain? It hurts an archetype that often needs support instead of detriment.
I in no way expressed surprise at the number of cubes running Perimeter Captain, nor would I. I was simply expressing my disagreement with cutting him so as to not "hamper" aggro.
Sure, but that's like saying unemployment rates went from 50% to 25% in some foreign country. It's a lot better than it was, but it doesn't mean it's good now.
No. I'm saying that there is a healthy balance in cube now, that narrowish cards like Perimeter Captain will not upset. It would be more like returning unemployment rates to their optimal levels, and then continuing to enact policies to try to up employment.
This comes down to a philosophical difference. I believe the best way to improve an archetype is to get the best cards that enhance that archetype into a cube, and not to censor any hate cards. The censorship seems artificial to me, which is the opposite of what I want my cube to be.
I agree here that it's a philosophical difference as I mentioned on my analysis. On power level alone he could probably make the grade in 360, but it's up to each individual group whether or not to include cards that impact aggro negatively. Cutting good cards just because they are good against aggro seems is something some players do, but my instinct says that some should be included - control should have its own silver bullets. I would run PC over something like a more expensive finisher that could also be considered a 'control-only' card. Basically I agree with Phantizle mostly.
I'm a firm believer in the dual purpose card. An example is earthquake or rolling earthquake, it can be used in many decks for different reasons.
A card like Parimeter Captain is linier in the wrong way: prolonging a game. Its also terrible against any control deck. Wall of Omens on the other hand is a perfect example of the right kind of card.
I like Weathered wayfarer because it also lends itself to being a supporter in an agressive deck. Building a deck with Weathered Wayfarer, a Strip Mine esk card (Dust bowl, wasteland), a Horizon canopy, and any number of fetchlands is the perfect aggressive shell. Searching at instant speed in response to sacrificing your land creates huge tempo swings along with the card advantage and deck thinning. Not to mention in key situations being able to find threats (Mishra's Factory / Mutavault / and other manlands. I just cant fit him at 360
When we played the Captain, I'd see it in a pack and grew reluctant to even go into aggro, especially something involving red since your earliest removal tends to not be enough most of the time. One time I looked at that + Wall of Omens + Wall of Denial, all on the curve, and my deck just died on the spot. There is enough removal/counters/etc. in the cube that you can stop aggro without making it unfair.
Searching at instant speed in response to sacrificing your land creates huge tempo swings along with the card advantage and deck thinning.
I can't believe I hadn't thought of this use. He typically was played in control decks in our group, often alongside Ravnica Bouncelands. As the Bouncelands went, wayfarer lost value. I may give him another try in my 450ish cube.
To be honest, points like this are a lot more useful to me: little tricks that I had missed that might make a card better than it first seems.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
This thread is exactly what I have been looking for as I start making a list and collecting for a regular cube. The pauper cube card evaluation was the best thing ever for making sure I hadn't missed powerful cards when collecting cards for it.
I can't believe I hadn't thought of this use. He typically was played in control decks in our group, often alongside Ravnica Bouncelands. As the Bouncelands went, wayfarer lost value. I may give him another try in my 450ish cube.
To be honest, points like this are a lot more useful to me: little tricks that I had missed that might make a card better than it first seems.
I'm surprised, Using Wayfarer with fetchlands/Wasteland etc. Is his bread and butter. If you think he was good before this trick, wait till you try him again. (please add the Sacrifice, aka fetch/wasteland interaction to the Wayfarers discription)
When I review cards in this thread from now on I'll make sure to give some tricks with the relevant ones.
I think that pretty much wraps the discussion of CMC1 Creatures. Onto 2CMC dudes!
What I run at 450:
Porcelain Legionnaire (Not sure if I like classifying this guy as a 2CMC White Dude, but there's really no good way to classify him, so this works as well as any) - This guy is just nuts - 2CMC 3/1 First strike in ANY DECK; I'm pretty sure almost every aggro deck runs this dude, he's that good. Paying two life is hardly a drawback.
Wall of Omens - Perfect Control card, fits well in Midrange, too - A cycling 0/4 Wall is a perfectly fine thing for decks to do on Turn 2.
Stoneforge Mystic - Obviously insane, banned in a few formats for a reason, really good in Cube, too, as only the best equipment makes the cube.
Accorder Paladin - When the 3/1 Cat wasn't quite good enough, Battle Cry made this card cubeable by fitting him even better into the aggro archtype - attacks with more than three power for 1W most of the time, really good.
Kor Skyfisher - Combos with quite a lot of ETB effects, costs 1 mana if you don't have a land in a particular turn, and 1W for 2/3 Flyer is sooo efficient.
Soltari Priest - Probably the best of the WW dudes - 2/1 Shadow, protection from burn is awesome.
Knight of Meadowgrain - Really close to Priest, might be as good or better - 2/2 First Strike Lifelink for WW is really efficient and perfect for aggro decks.
Soltari Monk - Priest's pro-black brother - protection from black spot removal, 2/1 Shadow, really good.
Cloistered Youth - There's someone in my playgroup that doesn't like this card, as it doesn't race a 2/2 or something, but that's assuming no one plays anything else. You have to know not to flip this guy if he's just going to kill you (if you're behind in the board state, etc), but most of the time, the 1W 3/3 is powerful.
Soltari Trooper - Attacks as a 2/2 Shadow - the fact that he's weak on the defense barely matters on account of shadow.
Lone Missionary - This card is fairly borderline, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but 1W gain 4 life on a 2/1 body is good in aggro matchups no matter what archetype you are.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - 1W for 2/1 First Strike is OK, but she just slows down control and midrange so much while you play dude after dude and just beat face. This card has really performed for my group.
You're missing Mistral Charger and Stormfront Pegasus. Two of my favorite white 2-drops. I run both in my 360. Evasion + Splashability counts for a lot.
Type 1: Aggro Creatures Accorder Paladin - a 3/1 for 2 mana is borderline playable on its own (Blade of the Sixth Pride was included in cubes for awhile), and Battle Cry makes Accorder Paladin one of the most efficient creatures in terms of dealing damage. Its main problem is that it lacks evasion or first strike, so it rarely survives combat.
Cloistered Youth/Unholy Fiend - Not much to say, a 3/3 for 2 is fine even with the drawback of 1 life per turn. Despite its stats, Cloistered Youth is one of the least defensive 2-drops, since the turn it cant attack it is a 1/1, and after that you want to be attacking since she is draining you for 1 every turn.
Knight of Meadowgrain - Since white 2-drops are the deepest section available for cubes, most cubes can afford to be picky about which WW creatures make the cut. Fortunately, Knight of Meadowgrain is among the best. There are many 2/2 first strike creatures with some upside, but lifelink is one of the best, since it helps you in aggro mirror matches in addition to putting pressure on midrange/control decks.
Kor Skyfisher - a 2/3 flying for 2 is very efficient, and its "downside" can be abused. Bouncing ETB creatures and lands after a missed land drop are the best ways to get value out of Kor Skyfisher, but don't be afraid to drop him on turn 2 and bounce a land if you're trying to race or put pressure on your opponent.
Silver Knight - Silver Knight is the weakest and the most defensive of the 2-drops I run, but it's still useful. Protection from red means it wont die to burn spells, so your opponent wont be getting value out of Silver Knight. First Strike is also helpful in combat.
Soltari Monk/Soltari Priest - WW for a 2/1 unblockable is good enough on its own. Its a tossup as to which of these two is actually better, pro-red is more useful on a white weenie than pro-black, but the only other shadow creatures are black, so Soltari Monk is a bit more unblockable.
Soltari Trooper if WW for a 2/1 unblockable is good enough, then 1W for a 2/2 unblockable is absolutely great. The fact that it's a 1/1 most of the time is only important if you're up against red decks, and even then it's not that big of a deal.
Stormfront Pegasus/Mistral Charger - Another boring aggro creature. I would argue that it's the weakest of the 1W creatures I include, though Accorder Paladin is close.
Type 2: Utility/Other Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a difficult creature to evaluate. Stat-wise, it's not impressive. A 2/2 for 2 needs first strike and another powerful static ability to be included, and 8.5 tails has neither. Its power lies in the protection ability. 2W to counter a spell or ability that targets a permanent you control is great. It also makes combat a nightmare for your opponent, since most people leave mana open precombat anyways, and you can give any of your creatures protection from any of your opponent's non-artifact creatures for 2W at any time. This card gets more hate directed towards it than any other white 2-drop once it hits the board, which is a testament to its power.
Leonin Relic-Warder - Disenchant effects will almost always be useful when you consider the amount of powerful artifacts (and a few enchantments) that every deck will have. Relic-Warder is the most tempo-oriented of the white 2-drops. If you can, pick up Crystal Shard or Erratic Portal to go with Leonin Relic-Warder, since they can make the targeted artifact/enchantment stay exiled permanently.
Stoneforge Mystic - As oppressive as Jace 2.0 was in standard, cubers should be thankful that it enabled stone-blade, so we could see how powerful Stoneforge Mystic would be for cubes. A great p1p1 card to build around, you only need 1 piece of equipment to make this an auto-include in any white deck.
Wall of Omens - The only purely defensive 2-drop I run, Wall of Omens is great on its own, but is especially oppressive in the ever popular UW blink deck.
I personally don't run Wall of Omens because I have banned all cards with defender from my cube. I believe it makes for funner, more interactive games when you can turn creatures sideways
Kor Skyfisher - He's also really powerful with Moxen since you can drop him turn 1 and bounce and replay your Mox. That he can reduce the number of lands you have in play is relevant with Knight of the White Orchid, Land Tax, Rivalry and Weathered Wayfarer. Resetting things with counters like Planeswalkers, Tangle Wire and persist creatures is another nice perk. Then there's his ability to bounce your guy back after he's been hit with a Pacifism effect. You can choose new targets for Oblivion Ring and Control Magic effects. I like this card a lot, it's like Stormfront Pegasus with +2 toughness with an additional ETB random bonus.
I've been meaning to keep track of how many times Kor Skyfisher is better/worse than a vanilla 2/1 flyer. I get the feeling it is closer to 50/50 than I (we?) would like to admit.
I've been meaning to keep track of how many times Kor Skyfisher is better/worse than a vanilla 2/1 flyer. I get the feeling it is closer to 50/50 than I (we?) would like to admit.
I would say it is better 80% of the time, people forget that unlike most boring agro two drops it can create extremely powerful interactions for a very small cost at any point in the game.
I've used it to make a second token with elspeth, then bouce it, and make the first one fly. Same it true for Ajani Goldmane/Ajani Vengent which won me the game on its own.
I've completely dominated a game using it with Parallax Wave.
I've used it both in agro as a way to beat every 2/2 in existence while still flying over with a sword.
It allows crystal shard/Erratic Portal to do a similar trick with every single permanent in existence not just creatures
Its obviously busted with moxen and other acceleration.
I've pulled crazy tricks with it and Oblivion ring to cycle through higher casting cost permanents.
This list goes on and on, I'll take it over the two pegasus every time.
I think Kor Skyfisher is the only card that needed some info expansion. The rest are fairly cut and dry.
I'd also throw my hat in on Leonine Relic Warder: I found him to be quite solid and a great addition to the Artifact/Enchantment hate.
The Faceless Butcher trick is still very relevant in most cubes so he has the potential to generate some card advantage. (If you bounce or sacrifice Leonine Relic Warder in response to his come into play trigger, his leave play trigger will go on the stack on top of the CIP trigger. This removes the Artifact/Enchantment permanently.)
Good ones. I always thought Serra Avenger was underrated. The two drop section is filled with creatures that support aggor (edit: also aggro), but white sees just as much midrange and control play here. One of the best creatures a deck with counterspells can run.
I've done a 180 on Knight of the White Orchid, as it ramps you to four mana on turn three on the play. I wonder if there are any cool things to do with four mana in white...
Loyal Cathar would be very nice if his flipside could block.
Good ones. I always thought Serra Avenger was underrated. The two drop section is filled with creatures that support aggor (edit: also aggro), but white sees just as much midrange and control play here. One of the best creatures a deck with counterspells can run.
I've always thought the same thing. It's not really a 2 drop but it lets you leave up mana for counters/removal and it interacts well with a lot of equipment. It's nice to be able to plop it down and immediately equip it with a sword or Jitte (vigilance is really good with Jitte). Plus a 3/3 flying vigilance can be difficult to race since it eats small guys while beating for 3.
I found KotWO to be too unreliable as a ramp card and if you can't get the land he's underwhelming. He's probably awesome in cubes that support multiplayer.
Serra Avenger is decent, but she's one of the few 2-drops I wouldn't want in my opening hand. That really limits here mostly to mid-range decks, although I guess her body is decent enough for control. I've never tested her in cube so she might be better than I think.
Serra Avenger is decent, but she's one of the few 2-drops I wouldn't want in my opening hand. That really limits here mostly to mid-range decks, although I guess her body is decent enough for control. I've never tested her in cube so she might be better than I think.
She's not too bad in aggro either but you can't count her as a 2 drop when you pick her and build your deck. She's more like a 4 drop that you can still cast on turn 4 even if you haven't hit all your land drops.
I didn't receive his comment as accusatory at all, actually. But, as you said, internet, tone of voice, and all that.
As for the Perimeter Captain discussion, I think its a good card, but it is just outclassed by all the other one-drops that have been discussed, and as such, only makes the cut in cubes larger than 540, and is borderline at 540.
The smugness wasn't coming from pointing out the second post, but rather the solution to your problem was already outlined in the OP, although it hadn't been implemented yet on account of very little discussion having taken place when you started the discussion.
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I'm not saying it doesn't hurt aggro, just that cutting cards that hurt aggro is not the way to promote aggro in cube. Aggro is powerful enough to not need welfare. If you think that Perimeter Captain, ignoring the balance implications, is cube worthy, then I think you should run it, and I do not think it will cripple aggro in a significant way. the beautiful part about cube is the symbiotic relationship between archetypes. If control decks start to focus on aggro, they open their flank up to other threats.
Again, I am not a believer that narrow, archetype specific answers sway the balance of a cube much, because they create weaknesses even as they are plugging them.
Anti aggro cards, such as Perimeter Captain.
Well I would assume I am cutting a more versatile card, else this discussion is meaningless. Clearly cutting an Aanti aggro card for an anti aggro card is not worth discussing, from a balance standpoint.
I tend to agree. There are exceptions though, and that is what we are discussing here. If you are not playing Perimeter Captain because of power level, then we are having the wrong discussion. You expressed your feelings that he is great, however.
A lot of new cubes run into this problem, but it is easily countered in cube construction. There is a reason every cube runs every decent 2/x one drop, but only the "best of the best" draw spells and fatties.
Well, everything I say here is an opinion, so thanks? And giving you an example of something I think would warp the cube in the way you are talking about isn't a straw man.
I in no way expressed surprise at the number of cubes running Perimeter Captain, nor would I. I was simply expressing my disagreement with cutting him so as to not "hamper" aggro.
No. I'm saying that there is a healthy balance in cube now, that narrowish cards like Perimeter Captain will not upset. It would be more like returning unemployment rates to their optimal levels, and then continuing to enact policies to try to up employment.
Currently, I do.
This comes down to a philosophical difference. I believe the best way to improve an archetype is to get the best cards that enhance that archetype into a cube, and not to censor any hate cards. The censorship seems artificial to me, which is the opposite of what I want my cube to be.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
A card like Parimeter Captain is linier in the wrong way: prolonging a game. Its also terrible against any control deck. Wall of Omens on the other hand is a perfect example of the right kind of card.
I like Weathered wayfarer because it also lends itself to being a supporter in an agressive deck. Building a deck with Weathered Wayfarer, a Strip Mine esk card (Dust bowl, wasteland), a Horizon canopy, and any number of fetchlands is the perfect aggressive shell. Searching at instant speed in response to sacrificing your land creates huge tempo swings along with the card advantage and deck thinning. Not to mention in key situations being able to find threats (Mishra's Factory / Mutavault / and other manlands. I just cant fit him at 360
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I can't believe I hadn't thought of this use. He typically was played in control decks in our group, often alongside Ravnica Bouncelands. As the Bouncelands went, wayfarer lost value. I may give him another try in my 450ish cube.
To be honest, points like this are a lot more useful to me: little tricks that I had missed that might make a card better than it first seems.
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Yes, but just having a list of cards doesn't give you all of the context as to why said cards are played, which is where this thread comes in handy.
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I'm surprised, Using Wayfarer with fetchlands/Wasteland etc. Is his bread and butter. If you think he was good before this trick, wait till you try him again. (please add the Sacrifice, aka fetch/wasteland interaction to the Wayfarers discription)
When I review cards in this thread from now on I'll make sure to give some tricks with the relevant ones.
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http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=382498
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What I run at 450:
Porcelain Legionnaire (Not sure if I like classifying this guy as a 2CMC White Dude, but there's really no good way to classify him, so this works as well as any) - This guy is just nuts - 2CMC 3/1 First strike in ANY DECK; I'm pretty sure almost every aggro deck runs this dude, he's that good. Paying two life is hardly a drawback.
Wall of Omens - Perfect Control card, fits well in Midrange, too - A cycling 0/4 Wall is a perfectly fine thing for decks to do on Turn 2.
Stoneforge Mystic - Obviously insane, banned in a few formats for a reason, really good in Cube, too, as only the best equipment makes the cube.
Accorder Paladin - When the 3/1 Cat wasn't quite good enough, Battle Cry made this card cubeable by fitting him even better into the aggro archtype - attacks with more than three power for 1W most of the time, really good.
Kor Skyfisher - Combos with quite a lot of ETB effects, costs 1 mana if you don't have a land in a particular turn, and 1W for 2/3 Flyer is sooo efficient.
Soltari Priest - Probably the best of the WW dudes - 2/1 Shadow, protection from burn is awesome.
Knight of Meadowgrain - Really close to Priest, might be as good or better - 2/2 First Strike Lifelink for WW is really efficient and perfect for aggro decks.
Soltari Monk - Priest's pro-black brother - protection from black spot removal, 2/1 Shadow, really good.
Cloistered Youth - There's someone in my playgroup that doesn't like this card, as it doesn't race a 2/2 or something, but that's assuming no one plays anything else. You have to know not to flip this guy if he's just going to kill you (if you're behind in the board state, etc), but most of the time, the 1W 3/3 is powerful.
Soltari Trooper - Attacks as a 2/2 Shadow - the fact that he's weak on the defense barely matters on account of shadow.
Lone Missionary - This card is fairly borderline, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, but 1W gain 4 life on a 2/1 body is good in aggro matchups no matter what archetype you are.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - 1W for 2/1 First Strike is OK, but she just slows down control and midrange so much while you play dude after dude and just beat face. This card has really performed for my group.
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1 Mistral Charger
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Soltari Trooper
1 Kor Skyfisher
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1 Lone Missionary
1 Cloistered Youth
1 Soltari Monk
1 Soltari Priest
1 Porcelain Legionnaire
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Wall of Omens
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Only issue is, I may become a writhing ball of jealousy when it becomes wildly more popular than the original.
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Accorder Paladin - a 3/1 for 2 mana is borderline playable on its own (Blade of the Sixth Pride was included in cubes for awhile), and Battle Cry makes Accorder Paladin one of the most efficient creatures in terms of dealing damage. Its main problem is that it lacks evasion or first strike, so it rarely survives combat.
Cloistered Youth/Unholy Fiend - Not much to say, a 3/3 for 2 is fine even with the drawback of 1 life per turn. Despite its stats, Cloistered Youth is one of the least defensive 2-drops, since the turn it cant attack it is a 1/1, and after that you want to be attacking since she is draining you for 1 every turn.
Knight of Meadowgrain - Since white 2-drops are the deepest section available for cubes, most cubes can afford to be picky about which WW creatures make the cut. Fortunately, Knight of Meadowgrain is among the best. There are many 2/2 first strike creatures with some upside, but lifelink is one of the best, since it helps you in aggro mirror matches in addition to putting pressure on midrange/control decks.
Kor Skyfisher - a 2/3 flying for 2 is very efficient, and its "downside" can be abused. Bouncing ETB creatures and lands after a missed land drop are the best ways to get value out of Kor Skyfisher, but don't be afraid to drop him on turn 2 and bounce a land if you're trying to race or put pressure on your opponent.
Silver Knight - Silver Knight is the weakest and the most defensive of the 2-drops I run, but it's still useful. Protection from red means it wont die to burn spells, so your opponent wont be getting value out of Silver Knight. First Strike is also helpful in combat.
Soltari Monk/Soltari Priest - WW for a 2/1 unblockable is good enough on its own. Its a tossup as to which of these two is actually better, pro-red is more useful on a white weenie than pro-black, but the only other shadow creatures are black, so Soltari Monk is a bit more unblockable.
Soltari Trooper if WW for a 2/1 unblockable is good enough, then 1W for a 2/2 unblockable is absolutely great. The fact that it's a 1/1 most of the time is only important if you're up against red decks, and even then it's not that big of a deal.
Stormfront Pegasus/Mistral Charger - Another boring aggro creature. I would argue that it's the weakest of the 1W creatures I include, though Accorder Paladin is close.
Type 2: Utility/Other
Eight-and-a-Half-Tails - Eight-and-a-Half-Tails is a difficult creature to evaluate. Stat-wise, it's not impressive. A 2/2 for 2 needs first strike and another powerful static ability to be included, and 8.5 tails has neither. Its power lies in the protection ability. 2W to counter a spell or ability that targets a permanent you control is great. It also makes combat a nightmare for your opponent, since most people leave mana open precombat anyways, and you can give any of your creatures protection from any of your opponent's non-artifact creatures for 2W at any time. This card gets more hate directed towards it than any other white 2-drop once it hits the board, which is a testament to its power.
Leonin Relic-Warder - Disenchant effects will almost always be useful when you consider the amount of powerful artifacts (and a few enchantments) that every deck will have. Relic-Warder is the most tempo-oriented of the white 2-drops. If you can, pick up Crystal Shard or Erratic Portal to go with Leonin Relic-Warder, since they can make the targeted artifact/enchantment stay exiled permanently.
Stoneforge Mystic - As oppressive as Jace 2.0 was in standard, cubers should be thankful that it enabled stone-blade, so we could see how powerful Stoneforge Mystic would be for cubes. A great p1p1 card to build around, you only need 1 piece of equipment to make this an auto-include in any white deck.
Wall of Omens - The only purely defensive 2-drop I run, Wall of Omens is great on its own, but is especially oppressive in the ever popular UW blink deck.
Trade List
I would say it is better 80% of the time, people forget that unlike most boring agro two drops it can create extremely powerful interactions for a very small cost at any point in the game.
I think Kor Skyfisher is the only card that needed some info expansion. The rest are fairly cut and dry.
I'd also throw my hat in on Leonine Relic Warder: I found him to be quite solid and a great addition to the Artifact/Enchantment hate.
The Faceless Butcher trick is still very relevant in most cubes so he has the potential to generate some card advantage. (If you bounce or sacrifice Leonine Relic Warder in response to his come into play trigger, his leave play trigger will go on the stack on top of the CIP trigger. This removes the Artifact/Enchantment permanently.)
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Good ones. I always thought Serra Avenger was underrated. The two drop section is filled with creatures that support aggor (edit: also aggro), but white sees just as much midrange and control play here. One of the best creatures a deck with counterspells can run.
I've done a 180 on Knight of the White Orchid, as it ramps you to four mana on turn three on the play. I wonder if there are any cool things to do with four mana in white...
Loyal Cathar would be very nice if his flipside could block.
I've always thought the same thing. It's not really a 2 drop but it lets you leave up mana for counters/removal and it interacts well with a lot of equipment. It's nice to be able to plop it down and immediately equip it with a sword or Jitte (vigilance is really good with Jitte). Plus a 3/3 flying vigilance can be difficult to race since it eats small guys while beating for 3.
Serra Avenger is decent, but she's one of the few 2-drops I wouldn't want in my opening hand. That really limits here mostly to mid-range decks, although I guess her body is decent enough for control. I've never tested her in cube so she might be better than I think.
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She's not too bad in aggro either but you can't count her as a 2 drop when you pick her and build your deck. She's more like a 4 drop that you can still cast on turn 4 even if you haven't hit all your land drops.