I love hybrid mana. By my judgement, these are the best hybrid mana and split cards for cube. Any other opinions are quite welcome.
Between Shadowmoor block and three trips to Ravnica, the hybrid/split section is much more robust than it once was. It's now almost possible to fill an entire multicolor section with these cards without playing bad ones, or to have a section that is at least half split/hybrid. Poor Simic does lag behind a bit, though, and Orzhov isn't the strongest either.
I was always a huge fan of hybrid mana, and I think one of it's best qualities is how it changes evaluations during draft. To note, I left off the afterlife cards, although I like some of them (Reason // Believe is not terrible by the way). They require you to play the color of the front half, so I figured they didn't belong here.
I'm not necessarily suggesting that anybody should force themselves to fill a certain number of slots that must be hybrid, but I thought this would be useful if for reference if for nothing else. I know if I were building a new, smaller cube I'd want at least one hybrid card from each guild.
I tried to be pretty clear about what I have and haven't tried. Basically I've tried almost everything older than the new Ravnica block. I've tried some of the newer cards, but none of them extensively.
Azorius
Curse of Chains (I'm looking to cut it soon, but it's always been fine and never goes late.) Dovin, Hand of Control (I think of this as a better Minister of Impediments. Maybe that's wrong. I wanna cut curse of chains for this.) Godhead of Awe (I play this card and it's not bad. When it works it's pretty fun. What a weird and cool art and character.) Judge's Familiar (Totally fine card, but kinda boring) Depose // Deploy (I can't imagine this being particularly bad, though it's nothing to write home about.) Warrant // Warden ("removal" or a creature is a proven formula, and both halves are respectable.)
EDIT: Swans of Bryn Argoll (This is a high risk high reward card. It's also a very solid beater. Karshtakavaar was right that it belongs on this list. If you can get over the risk, this is a really cool build around with plenty of synergies. Pyroclasm is nice, but I'm all about that Pestilence lifestyle. I don't have this card, but I seem to remember it backfiring once in a friend's cube.)
Augury Adept (This is only worthwhile with a commandos archetype.) Mistmeadow Witch (Decent blink card, but it requires both U and W to be really worthwhile, so it's less for this list.) Plumeveil (This is efficient for a wall, but I don't think that's enough for very many people.) Worldpurge (Eight mana for a Jokulhaups of sorts. I've never tried this card, and it's super expensive, but a total reset is definitely not nothing)
Gruul
Boggart Ram-Gang (Boring, but efficient) Firespout (Not as flexible as it looks in my opinion, but still fine) Burning-Tree Emissary (I like this in my cube) Giant Solifuge (I was never a huge fan) Manamorphose (This got stupid expensive in real life, but it's a common, so I've got them. I like the card in cube.) Tattermunge Maniac (I don't like this guy, but a lot of people have played it.) Samut, Tyrant Smasher (One of the top ten four mana gruul planeswalkers. I jest, but I think the card is decent.) Thrash // Threat (Again, "removal or creature" is generally fine.) Armed // Dangerous (Armed is a dangerous card.) Assault // Battery (This is one of the better Shock variants, but it's hard to see playing this in a nonred deck.)
Vexing Shusher (Classic hate-bear. There's a cube for this somewhere.) Rosheen Meanderer (If Channel/Fireball becomes more of a supportable archetype, I like to think this could do a little somehting.)
Kulrath Knight (Good? No. Awesome? Yes.) Manaforge Cinder (This should probably get cut from my cube, and I wouldn't even mention it if (B/R) had more options.) Angrath, Captain of Chaos (He's one of the weaker hybrid planeswalkers, but he still seems decent to me.)
Dimir
Inkfathom Infiltrator (It's basically just a shadow creature, but that's not nothing, and it's pretty good for blue aggro.) Nightveil Specter (You can say you don't like it or have room for it, but you can't really say it's bad.) Oona, Queen of the Fae (If you're in the market for a Shivan Dragon type card, this is tops.) Connive // Concoct (I really missed out on GRN. I haven't tried these.) Discovery // Dispersal (I like this better than Connive // Concoct, but again I kinda missed that set.)
Ashiok, Dream Render (I'm really excited to try this card, but it's not for everyone. I have high hopes.) Far // Away (This is okay, but I think I cut it a while ago.)
Dominus of Fealty (If this doesn't get removed, it's game over. This is a nasty card in my cube. I remember losing to this in a blue black deck without any red sources, so that can be done.) Frostburn Weird (Decent but boring.) Fire // Ice (The original best split card is still great.)
Call the Skybreaker (This has been decent in my cube, but it's no better than decent.) Expansion // Explosion (People have mentioned this card, but it always seemed bad to me.) Nucklavee (As much as I like effects like this, I never tried this card. Maybe it's decent, but it's no Archaeomancer.) Turn // Burn (This would be a lot better if Fire // Ice never existed.)
Doomgape (This card is not amazing, but I would have expected it to warrant a cut by now. It is still putting in very good work.) Rendclaw Trow (It does just enough. It's not stellar, but persist can be useful in a few archetypes.) Slitherhead (I cut this, but it's not terrible.) Life // Death (Death is good, but life is not, making this kinda fail for this list.)
Boros
Boros Reckoner (A card so good that it's weaker cousin Spitemare is still pretty damn good.) Figure of Destiny (It's both good and iconic.) Hearthfire Hobgoblin (I play this. It's nothing earth-shattering, but efficient double strike stats like that are hard to come by. I'll note also that I find cards like this quite playable in certain nonred or nonwhite decks.) Response // Resurgence (I recently added this, but it hasn't been tested. Unlike Integrity // Intervention, you might play this in outside of RW, and I like that it's a playable Waves of Aggression effect.)
Duergar Hedge-Mage (The effect is definitely worthwhile, but you kinda need to be both red and white to get full value.) Nahiri, Storm of Stone (She's nothing to write home about, but she does her job.) Nobilis of War (I found this to be okay, but it didin't quite meet my expectations.) Rise of the Hobgoblins (I want this to be good, but XCC cards always have problems, and this is raisins if you cast it for two. Integrity // Intervention (The Intervention half is the one that's worth it, though a combat trick option is nice. You won't play this outside of RW.) Response // Resurgence (I recently added this, but it hasn't been tested. Unlike the above card, you might play this in outside of RW, and I like that it's a playable Waves of Aggression effect.) Wear // Tear (Gets the job done.)
Orzhov
Orzhov is a little lacking in its hybrid section.
Deathbringer Liege (The second best liege after Creakwood. I've had success with this card.) Debtors' Knell (If your opponent gets this going, you're toast.) Divinity of Pride (Let's just take a moment to remember how pushed Baneslayer Angel really is. This is weaker, but it's still powerful.) Stillmoon Cavalier (Double protections is no joke. I still play this and it's still good.) Unmake (Both black and white have better removal options, but this is still pretty effective.) Consecrate // Consume (Recently added. I think any black or white deck will be happy to have this in the sideboard.)
Cauldron Haze (This never worked for me, but it was a cool idea.) Gift of Orzhova (Don't knock it until you try it. This is solid.) Revival // Revenge (I can't see playing this outside of BW. I don't think anybody really needs this in their cube, but it's cool.
EDIT: Evershrike (This is unplayable without heavy archetype support, but with enough auras, this is a pretty cool and completely unique card for the archetype.)
Simic
Simic has a hard time of it as usual.
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (I'm excited to try this card. I think it'll play better for my cube than for most.) Snakeform (This is kinda filler, but it's decent for what it is.) Wistful Selkie (Filler.) Incubation // Incongruity (I wanna try this card. a nongreen deck won't play it, but I could easily see it in a nonblue deck.)
Cold-Eyed Selkie (I don't like this at all but I guess if you're into both voltron and commandos...) Gilder Bairn (No, it's not great, but it is the premier ouphe in a frog suit in the format.) Murkfiend Liege (This is a middling card for the "taps/ untaps" archetype that I enjoy in my cube. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with red pingers, and it only sorta works with mana dorks unless you have Vivien, Champion of the Wilds.) Slippery Bogle (I don't like this for cube, but if you want a Bogles archetype, you'll likely play the archetype's namesake.) Spitting Image (This card has had a damn good run in my cube. It's starting to seem like it should get cut, but it's done it's job respectably in it's time.)
RWUBG Rainbow GUWBR
Who/What/When/Where/Why (The only bad thing about this is that you can always tell when a person draws it by the way they look at it.)
Anything I missed?
What do you guys think is the best one in each guild?
I run one hybrid card per colour in my guild section, and I gotta say you are missing some real nice (read: niche) cards here.
Swans of Bryn Argoll is a... 'respectable' finisher for a white deck, a fun blocker if you support mill, but most importantly part of a couple of sweet wins if you're in Izzet, Boros or Jeskai- think Pyroclasm/Earthquake effects or my favourite; Chain of Plasma. It's been maindecked a -lot- in my cube, over cards like Meloku, Exalted Angel, Karmic Guide and once even a Restoration Angel (Though that was a mistake rectified after round one).
The other is Evershrike. It's a -lot- worse on its own and you absolutely need a density of playable auras to use it. As I run Enchantress as a control deck across Abzan, with a self-mill approach (Commune with the Gods, Kruphix's Insight, Benefaction of Rhonas), Evershrike is a really nice recursive threat. It gets nasty with a Rancor, Fallen Ideal, Spirit Loop, Glistening Oil - any of the auras that have recursion themselves.
These are definitely not for every cube, but they do what I want my gold and hybrid cards to do: Signpost that something interesting can happen in this colour combination. Having someone see a Swans in a pack and watching them start to imagine why they might want to pick it is really cool.
Even with all of the great sets we've had to give us more and more hybrid cards, I don't think there's enough really good ones to create a whole section devoted specifically to hybrid. That said, though, if I had to create such a section, I think I'd do something like this.
Dovin, Hand of Control / Judges Familiar (Do you support more UW control decks or more UW tempo decks?)
Nightveil Specter
Rakdos Cackler
Tattermunge Maniac
Kitchen Finks / Dryad Militant (Find a way to run them both.)
Stillmoon Cavalier (Both black and white have better threes, but this is a shallow hybrid section.)
Find // Finality
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (This maybe should be Snakeform, but Kiora looks like she could have some fun interactions.)
Fire // Ice
Figure of Destiny
I'm going to be adding one hybrid for each allied pair with the MH1 update. The only one I'm really not sure about is Dimir. I would add all 10, but Orzhov, Simic, Izzet, and Dimir are all lacking good hybrid options. This is what I'm thinking at the moment.
UBScarscale Ritual: I really don't know about this one. The black half seems better than the blue side with black's recursive critters, but I could also see it making it in a non-black Ux deck.
BRMurderous Redcap: Persist combo was lightly supported since adding Rhythm of the Wild during the RNA update. Now that I'm adding Good-Fortune Unicorn, having another persist dude seems good. I would like to get Rakdos Cackler back in instead, but this seems more important for archetype support than Cackler.
RGFirespout: I used to run this when I had 3 cards per guild, but cut it when going down to 2. I remember it being decent, though. My cube's power level has jumped quite a bit since then, but I think this could still be a good add.
WGKitchen Finks: Already running this, but counting it as a hybrid instead of a guild slot opens room for Good-Fortune Unicorn.
With the recent influx of new hybrid cards from War of the Spark and Modern Horizons, including the hybrid planeswalkers and Nature's Chant, my group has done much discussion on how redo the hybrid's within our (rather large) cube.
Originally we split guild sections to have X number of hybrid cards, X number of split cards, X number of mono-cards with off colour abilities and X number of 'gold' cards. This suited us as not all guilds had great hybrids or gold cards, and with the larger cube size, we could afford larger guild sections (I didn't make these rules). But over time different people want to pull the cube in different directions, and with this more regimented structure it's artifiically limiting what can be included.
As such, my group has decided to omit hybrid cards, split cards and cards with off colour abilities from guild considerations at all, placing them in colour slots as if they were mono cards. While this may give clear preference to certain colour combinations, with our larger cube size and easy to draft deck archetypes, we believe it would make the cube more fun overall, giving people more overall options in the draft. I would personally hypothesis that as more hybrid and off colour ability cards are created, many people will start to slot hybrid cards into their mono sections, with Nature's Chant commonly replacing Disenchant, cards like Dryad Militant in green for cubes with green aggro, Judge's Familiar in some blue sections, or even Turn To Mist in white sections that have blink decks.
The most notable Hybrid cards I can recommend from The Nonsense based on their use and the decks they're normally used in are:
Mercy Killing - Sac Outlet - Token decks, Warrior decks and Green overrun decks have all used this card to surprising effect, though caveats of situational use are there.
Slitherhead - Pump, Ability Trigger, Combo - Dredge, Graft and Ramp have all used this, as it can add +1 counters to an Incubation Druid if it dies turn 1 or 2 or provide sneaky boosts that are easily forgotten about by the opponent. Useless to powered, small cubes, but considerable for more unorthodox cubes.
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner - Draw Engine, Combo - She plays nice for green as ramp boost or psuedo vigilance, but blue has also enjoyed her for combo.
Does Cemetery Puca do anything cool in cube? I like Mimic Vat and Cemetery Puca reminds me a lot of Mimic Vat except Mimic Vat gets ETBs and Cemetery Puca does not. Cemetery Puca works with Wurmcoil Engine and Thragtusk, and can work with Sneak Attack -- at least if you're sneaking in something like Griselbrand, Woodfall Primus less so. Is there something really nice I missed? Otherwise, I think the lack of ETB means it's not a consideration for cube. It looks like a cool card, though.
Orzhov: Ugh. Um, Stillmoon Cavalier seems like it. Unmake isn't horrible but black and white don't really need another removal spell.
Yeah, unfortunately if you're not running Lurrus, Stillmoon looks like the next best. I don't really consider triple pip cards like Unmake in my hybrid section, since those aren't going to be run by something like Boros or Dimir.
Scarscale Ritual was fine when I ran it. Not great, but okay. I eventually replaced it with Dimir Signet. Discovery/dispersal might be the other card I consider, but I don't know.
Gruul: Firespout is OK but not what Gruul normally wants to do. Manamorphose is cool, but without storm or something how good is it? Samut, Tyrant Smasher is fine but not anything to write home about. Tattermunge Maniac serves as another aggro 1-drop.
I really like manamorphose in my cube, and don't support storm. It creates elementals with young pyromancer, triggers prowess for Monastery Swiftspear, Abbot of the Keral Keep, and Monastery Mentor. It also clears non-lands for Oracle of Mul Daya and Courser of Kruphix, and can clear off a card for Sylvan Library to look deeper. Reactive strategies are less likely to want it, but Red and Green tend to be pretty proactive, so it plays well in my experience.
Edit: I am running all 10 talismans. I also decided to run signets in my hybrid section for color pairs where I was unhappy with the options, since I feel hybrids and signets/talismans occupy a similar design space. I am admittedly running too many mana rocks, so I'm not exactly saying that's the right way to go about it, but it is what I'm doing at the moment.
I still don't think there's enough hybrids to make a hybrid section worthwhile. The appeal is there, considering how hybrids play, but I don't think we've hit that critical mass yet. That's especially true if you're avoiding the companions. It's also frustrating that some guilds have a multitude of options and others barely even have one. I still prefer just having a guild section and including all of my guild aligned cards there.
FWIW, rant, I run Dovin, Hand of Control in my peasant cube and he's been pretty sick there. It's obviously a completely different environment, but he definitely slows the the game down and helps to take pressure off against aggressive decks.
I sort of did this, but instead of trying to balance it and limiting to hybrids only, I just created a multicolor flex section where I can put any card that doesn't quite fit into any other section. I've relaxed my standards for when a card should go in a certain section, so now it just goes where it 'feels' like it should go in the context of my cube. I don't support green aggro, so Dryad Militant is white. Deathrite Shaman, Figure of Destiny, and Rakdos Cackler could be played in either of their colors not requiring both, so they go into the flex section instead of their own guild. Porcelain Legionnaire is a weird, 'colorless' 2 drop that isn't quite colorless.. so it goes into flex. I don't support a tricolor section, so Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh goes flex, as does The Ur-Dragon.
It's also a convenient place to throw any archetype defining guild cards that would otherwise be power crept out of their own sections. Venser, the Sojourner can't compete with the top UW cards these days, but cutting him would be a huge blow to the blink deck that my group loves, so I keep him alive here. I keep the flex section next to my colorless section and 'share' the card space with each other (I could swap a colorless card out to add a new flex card or vice versa). If I ever want to go up or down on the size of this section, I just cut or add 1 card from each color section, so I go up or down 5 colorless/flex slots at a time (may just start doing 1 at a time to fully embrace the idea of flexibility).
Keeping a flex section where I don't care at all about balance has been great. I can categorize the rest of the cube to my heart's content satisfy my perfectionist need to sort everything neatly away into it's own little box while still having that one wild west section to do whatever I want with. I highly recommend it.
What I think is going to happen is that each color is getting one hybrid. This is mainly to get Murderous Redcap and Safehold Elite into my cube to support Persist. The other choice is to just add these two in somewhere (likely black and white) and not worry about balance. If I have each color donate a card to hybrid it will look something like this:
That sounds like a better plan than trying to force ten hybrids in and including some subpar options. If I might recommend a Rakdos card, I'd go with Judith. She's been absolutely amazing here. We've all gotten that control opponent to just within death and had them Wrath our board and stabilize. Judith often means Wrath spells a game loss for them.
Thanks for the input, calibretto. Judith, the Scourge Diva was high on my list of possible Rakdos includes. She works like you said and is also a win condition for the persist deck. I think she's going to be a welcome new addition.
I was always a huge fan of hybrid mana, and I think one of it's best qualities is how it changes evaluations during draft. To note, I left off the afterlife cards, although I like some of them (Reason // Believe is not terrible by the way). They require you to play the color of the front half, so I figured they didn't belong here.
I'm not necessarily suggesting that anybody should force themselves to fill a certain number of slots that must be hybrid, but I thought this would be useful if for reference if for nothing else. I know if I were building a new, smaller cube I'd want at least one hybrid card from each guild.
I tried to be pretty clear about what I have and haven't tried. Basically I've tried almost everything older than the new Ravnica block. I've tried some of the newer cards, but none of them extensively.
Azorius
Dovin, Hand of Control (I think of this as a better Minister of Impediments. Maybe that's wrong. I wanna cut curse of chains for this.)
Godhead of Awe (I play this card and it's not bad. When it works it's pretty fun. What a weird and cool art and character.)
Judge's Familiar (Totally fine card, but kinda boring)
Depose // Deploy (I can't imagine this being particularly bad, though it's nothing to write home about.)
Warrant // Warden ("removal" or a creature is a proven formula, and both halves are respectable.)
EDIT: Swans of Bryn Argoll (This is a high risk high reward card. It's also a very solid beater. Karshtakavaar was right that it belongs on this list. If you can get over the risk, this is a really cool build around with plenty of synergies. Pyroclasm is nice, but I'm all about that Pestilence lifestyle. I don't have this card, but I seem to remember it backfiring once in a friend's cube.)
Mistmeadow Witch (Decent blink card, but it requires both U and W to be really worthwhile, so it's less for this list.)
Plumeveil (This is efficient for a wall, but I don't think that's enough for very many people.)
Worldpurge (Eight mana for a Jokulhaups of sorts. I've never tried this card, and it's super expensive, but a total reset is definitely not nothing)
Gruul
Firespout (Not as flexible as it looks in my opinion, but still fine)
Burning-Tree Emissary (I like this in my cube)
Giant Solifuge (I was never a huge fan)
Manamorphose (This got stupid expensive in real life, but it's a common, so I've got them. I like the card in cube.)
Tattermunge Maniac (I don't like this guy, but a lot of people have played it.)
Samut, Tyrant Smasher (One of the top ten four mana gruul planeswalkers. I jest, but I think the card is decent.)
Thrash // Threat (Again, "removal or creature" is generally fine.)
Armed // Dangerous (Armed is a dangerous card.)
Assault // Battery (This is one of the better Shock variants, but it's hard to see playing this in a nonred deck.)
Rosheen Meanderer (If Channel/Fireball becomes more of a supportable archetype, I like to think this could do a little somehting.)
Rakdos
Murderous Redcap (Good card. Lots of uses.)
Rakdos Cackler (It's fine. I don't love it though.)
Rakdos Shred-Freak (Efficient and completely brain dead.)
Manaforge Cinder (This should probably get cut from my cube, and I wouldn't even mention it if (B/R) had more options.)
Angrath, Captain of Chaos (He's one of the weaker hybrid planeswalkers, but he still seems decent to me.)
Dimir
Nightveil Specter (You can say you don't like it or have room for it, but you can't really say it's bad.)
Oona, Queen of the Fae (If you're in the market for a Shivan Dragon type card, this is tops.)
Connive // Concoct (I really missed out on GRN. I haven't tried these.)
Discovery // Dispersal (I like this better than Connive // Concoct, but again I kinda missed that set.)
Ashiok, Dream Render (I'm really excited to try this card, but it's not for everyone. I have high hopes.)
Far // Away (This is okay, but I think I cut it a while ago.)
Selesnya
Elvish Hexhunter (I play it and like it.)
Kitchen Finks (Great card.)
Oracle of Nectars (I never tried this, but it's probably fine for what it is.)
Oversoul of Dusk (This card is good in my cube. It's pretty damn resilient)
Growing Ranks (I like this as a build around.)
Huatli, The Sun's Heart (Archetype specific.)
Rhys the Redeemed (This is real world expensive or I would have tried it. I like Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter, so I'm sure I'd like this too.)
Safehold Elite and Vernadi Shieldmate (These are both damn efficient for commons.)
Sundering Growth (This may be my favorite Disenchant variant. That doesn't make it the best though.)
Izzet
Frostburn Weird (Decent but boring.)
Fire // Ice (The original best split card is still great.)
Expansion // Explosion (People have mentioned this card, but it always seemed bad to me.)
Nucklavee (As much as I like effects like this, I never tried this card. Maybe it's decent, but it's no Archaeomancer.)
Turn // Burn (This would be a lot better if Fire // Ice never existed.)
Golgari
Find // Finality (I like Wander in Death, so I bet I'll like this too.)
Sapling of Colfenor (Card draw and indestructible make this decent.)
Status // Statue (It can't be bad, but you won't play it outside of BG.)
Rendclaw Trow (It does just enough. It's not stellar, but persist can be useful in a few archetypes.)
Slitherhead (I cut this, but it's not terrible.)
Life // Death (Death is good, but life is not, making this kinda fail for this list.)
Boros
Figure of Destiny (It's both good and iconic.)
Hearthfire Hobgoblin (I play this. It's nothing earth-shattering, but efficient double strike stats like that are hard to come by. I'll note also that I find cards like this quite playable in certain nonred or nonwhite decks.)
Response // Resurgence (I recently added this, but it hasn't been tested. Unlike Integrity // Intervention, you might play this in outside of RW, and I like that it's a playable Waves of Aggression effect.)
Nahiri, Storm of Stone (She's nothing to write home about, but she does her job.)
Nobilis of War (I found this to be okay, but it didin't quite meet my expectations.)
Rise of the Hobgoblins (I want this to be good, but XCC cards always have problems, and this is raisins if you cast it for two.
Integrity // Intervention (The Intervention half is the one that's worth it, though a combat trick option is nice. You won't play this outside of RW.)
Response // Resurgence (I recently added this, but it hasn't been tested. Unlike the above card, you might play this in outside of RW, and I like that it's a playable Waves of Aggression effect.)
Wear // Tear (Gets the job done.)
Orzhov
Deathbringer Liege (The second best liege after Creakwood. I've had success with this card.)
Debtors' Knell (If your opponent gets this going, you're toast.)
Divinity of Pride (Let's just take a moment to remember how pushed Baneslayer Angel really is. This is weaker, but it's still powerful.)
Stillmoon Cavalier (Double protections is no joke. I still play this and it's still good.)
Unmake (Both black and white have better removal options, but this is still pretty effective.)
Consecrate // Consume (Recently added. I think any black or white deck will be happy to have this in the sideboard.)
Gift of Orzhova (Don't knock it until you try it. This is solid.)
Revival // Revenge (I can't see playing this outside of BW. I don't think anybody really needs this in their cube, but it's cool.
EDIT: Evershrike (This is unplayable without heavy archetype support, but with enough auras, this is a pretty cool and completely unique card for the archetype.)
Simic
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (I'm excited to try this card. I think it'll play better for my cube than for most.)
Snakeform (This is kinda filler, but it's decent for what it is.)
Wistful Selkie (Filler.)
Incubation // Incongruity (I wanna try this card. a nongreen deck won't play it, but I could easily see it in a nonblue deck.)
Gilder Bairn (No, it's not great, but it is the premier ouphe in a frog suit in the format.)
Murkfiend Liege (This is a middling card for the "taps/ untaps" archetype that I enjoy in my cube. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with red pingers, and it only sorta works with mana dorks unless you have Vivien, Champion of the Wilds.)
Slippery Bogle (I don't like this for cube, but if you want a Bogles archetype, you'll likely play the archetype's namesake.)
Spitting Image (This card has had a damn good run in my cube. It's starting to seem like it should get cut, but it's done it's job respectably in it's time.)
RWUBG Rainbow GUWBR
Anything I missed?
What do you guys think is the best one in each guild?
Manamorphose
Fulminator Mage
Discovery // Dispersal
Kitchen Finks
Fire // Ice
Creakwood Liege
Boros Reckoner
Stillmoon Cavalier
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
Edit: Added Swans of Bryn Argoll and Evershrike.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
Swans of Bryn Argoll is a... 'respectable' finisher for a white deck, a fun blocker if you support mill, but most importantly part of a couple of sweet wins if you're in Izzet, Boros or Jeskai- think Pyroclasm/Earthquake effects or my favourite; Chain of Plasma. It's been maindecked a -lot- in my cube, over cards like Meloku, Exalted Angel, Karmic Guide and once even a Restoration Angel (Though that was a mistake rectified after round one).
The other is Evershrike. It's a -lot- worse on its own and you absolutely need a density of playable auras to use it. As I run Enchantress as a control deck across Abzan, with a self-mill approach (Commune with the Gods, Kruphix's Insight, Benefaction of Rhonas), Evershrike is a really nice recursive threat. It gets nasty with a Rancor, Fallen Ideal, Spirit Loop, Glistening Oil - any of the auras that have recursion themselves.
These are definitely not for every cube, but they do what I want my gold and hybrid cards to do: Signpost that something interesting can happen in this colour combination. Having someone see a Swans in a pack and watching them start to imagine why they might want to pick it is really cool.
Dovin, Hand of Control / Judges Familiar (Do you support more UW control decks or more UW tempo decks?)
Nightveil Specter
Rakdos Cackler
Tattermunge Maniac
Kitchen Finks / Dryad Militant (Find a way to run them both.)
Stillmoon Cavalier (Both black and white have better threes, but this is a shallow hybrid section.)
Find // Finality
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (This maybe should be Snakeform, but Kiora looks like she could have some fun interactions.)
Fire // Ice
Figure of Destiny
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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Here's some cards you didn't mention which I think are worth looking at:
Bedeck - Reasonable hybrid removal spell.
Saheeli, Sublime Artificer - This is just good.
Deathrite Shaman - Niche but can be good in some cubes.
Sygg, River Cutthroat - Seems fun.
WU Curse of Chains: I used to run Judge's Familiar but was totally unimpressed by it. This seems like fine removal, though.
UB Scarscale Ritual: I really don't know about this one. The black half seems better than the blue side with black's recursive critters, but I could also see it making it in a non-black Ux deck.
BR Murderous Redcap: Persist combo was lightly supported since adding Rhythm of the Wild during the RNA update. Now that I'm adding Good-Fortune Unicorn, having another persist dude seems good. I would like to get Rakdos Cackler back in instead, but this seems more important for archetype support than Cackler.
RG Firespout: I used to run this when I had 3 cards per guild, but cut it when going down to 2. I remember it being decent, though. My cube's power level has jumped quite a bit since then, but I think this could still be a good add.
WG Kitchen Finks: Already running this, but counting it as a hybrid instead of a guild slot opens room for Good-Fortune Unicorn.
I'm also running Figure of Destiny in a guild slot.
[180 classic cube]
Originally we split guild sections to have X number of hybrid cards, X number of split cards, X number of mono-cards with off colour abilities and X number of 'gold' cards. This suited us as not all guilds had great hybrids or gold cards, and with the larger cube size, we could afford larger guild sections (I didn't make these rules). But over time different people want to pull the cube in different directions, and with this more regimented structure it's artifiically limiting what can be included.
As such, my group has decided to omit hybrid cards, split cards and cards with off colour abilities from guild considerations at all, placing them in colour slots as if they were mono cards. While this may give clear preference to certain colour combinations, with our larger cube size and easy to draft deck archetypes, we believe it would make the cube more fun overall, giving people more overall options in the draft. I would personally hypothesis that as more hybrid and off colour ability cards are created, many people will start to slot hybrid cards into their mono sections, with Nature's Chant commonly replacing Disenchant, cards like Dryad Militant in green for cubes with green aggro, Judge's Familiar in some blue sections, or even Turn To Mist in white sections that have blink decks.
The most notable Hybrid cards I can recommend from The Nonsense based on their use and the decks they're normally used in are:
Dovin, Hand of Control: General Use - Tempo, Artifact
Inkfathom Infiltrator/Deathcult Rogue - General Evasion - Black Aggro, Tempo Blue
Ashiok, Dream Render - Disruption - Control Decks
Footlight Fiend/Rakdos Cackler - Aggro 1 drop - Aggro decks using Red or Black
Mercy Killing - Sac Outlet - Token decks, Warrior decks and Green overrun decks have all used this card to surprising effect, though caveats of situational use are there.
Slitherhead - Pump, Ability Trigger, Combo - Dredge, Graft and Ramp have all used this, as it can add +1 counters to an Incubation Druid if it dies turn 1 or 2 or provide sneaky boosts that are easily forgotten about by the opponent. Useless to powered, small cubes, but considerable for more unorthodox cubes.
Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner - Draw Engine, Combo - She plays nice for green as ramp boost or psuedo vigilance, but blue has also enjoyed her for combo.
This user has language problems due to their mental health problems and sometimes may not use the best wording to explain their thoughts.
Draft the "'What Is This Nonsense?'" casual cube.
[180 classic cube]
I'm thinking of moving around some hybrids, maybe making a small hybrid section. What are the best choices (other than companions)?
My thoughts:
Azorius: Dovin, Hand of Control seems like the only good choice
Orzhov: Ugh. Um, Stillmoon Cavalier seems like it. Unmake isn't horrible but black and white don't really need another removal spell.
Boros: Figure of Destiny is the pick here.
Selesnya: With Dryad Militant, Kitchen Finks, and Nature's Chant, this guild makes out like a bandit.
Dimir: Meh. Nightveil Specter seems like the best. Inkfathom Infiltrator might be good for tempo and aggro. Not feeling Ashiok, Dream Render
Izzet: Saheeli, Sublime Artificer is a card I'd be happy to have back in my cube.
Simic: Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner is OK, I guess.
Rakdos: Rakdos Cackler is great and Murderous Redcap is key for persist shenanigans while not being useless on its own.
Golgari: Fiend Artisan vs Deathrite Shaman is the choice here.
Gruul: Firespout is OK but not what Gruul normally wants to do. Manamorphose is cool, but without storm or something how good is it? Samut, Tyrant Smasher is fine but not anything to write home about. Tattermunge Maniac serves as another aggro 1-drop.
Looking forward to others' input.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
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Yeah, unfortunately if you're not running Lurrus, Stillmoon looks like the next best. I don't really consider triple pip cards like Unmake in my hybrid section, since those aren't going to be run by something like Boros or Dimir.
Scarscale Ritual was fine when I ran it. Not great, but okay. I eventually replaced it with Dimir Signet. Discovery/dispersal might be the other card I consider, but I don't know.
I really like manamorphose in my cube, and don't support storm. It creates elementals with young pyromancer, triggers prowess for Monastery Swiftspear, Abbot of the Keral Keep, and Monastery Mentor. It also clears non-lands for Oracle of Mul Daya and Courser of Kruphix, and can clear off a card for Sylvan Library to look deeper. Reactive strategies are less likely to want it, but Red and Green tend to be pretty proactive, so it plays well in my experience.
Edit: I am running all 10 talismans. I also decided to run signets in my hybrid section for color pairs where I was unhappy with the options, since I feel hybrids and signets/talismans occupy a similar design space. I am admittedly running too many mana rocks, so I'm not exactly saying that's the right way to go about it, but it is what I'm doing at the moment.
[180 classic cube]
FWIW, rant, I run Dovin, Hand of Control in my peasant cube and he's been pretty sick there. It's obviously a completely different environment, but he definitely slows the the game down and helps to take pressure off against aggressive decks.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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It's also a convenient place to throw any archetype defining guild cards that would otherwise be power crept out of their own sections. Venser, the Sojourner can't compete with the top UW cards these days, but cutting him would be a huge blow to the blink deck that my group loves, so I keep him alive here. I keep the flex section next to my colorless section and 'share' the card space with each other (I could swap a colorless card out to add a new flex card or vice versa). If I ever want to go up or down on the size of this section, I just cut or add 1 card from each color section, so I go up or down 5 colorless/flex slots at a time (may just start doing 1 at a time to fully embrace the idea of flexibility).
Keeping a flex section where I don't care at all about balance has been great. I can categorize the rest of the cube to my heart's content satisfy my perfectionist need to sort everything neatly away into it's own little box while still having that one wild west section to do whatever I want with. I highly recommend it.
White: Safehold Elite
Blue: Saheeli, Sublime Artificer is most likely.
Black: Murderous Redcap
Red: Probably move Rakdos Cackler here and add another Rakdos card to that section.
Green: Move Kitchen Finks here so Selesnya can have Good-Fortune Unicorn
Thoughts?
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
Follow me. I tweet.
Cheers,
rant
My Cube
CubeCobra: https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/5f5d0310ed602310515d4c32
Cube Tutor: http://cubetutor.com/viewcube/1963