This made me wonder, now that we have discussed counters, how would all of you rank blue noncreature Card advantage draw (2+) and manipulation? I count them together in this case, because many of our card advantage draw spells also provide manipulation (e.g. Scry).
Preordain - The best 1 mana cantrap in this format. Treasure Cruise - You do need things to go to your graveyard and has anti-synergy with Gurmag Angler, but the 3 card windfall is massive. Deep Analysis - Would be the ranked higher if burn/aggro decks weren't so strong. Rush of Knowledge - If you play this right, you can win from the card advantage generated by this card. Be wary of Terminate in response. Impulse - Best 2 mana card selection spell available. Serum Visions - The power is dispersed into the next turn, rather than as upfront dig. Still if you play this early this downside is almost entirely negated. Ponder - Significantly worse than Preordain because of the lack of shuffle when you see good card-land-land. Stronger at dig which puts Ponder above its peers. Brainstorm - The value of Brainstorm card spikes if you have drafted Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanse and Ash Barrens. Shuffling away two cards is powerful. Seeing 3 cards is useful when you need to find an answer in response to a big threat, but I don't like the feeling of drawing cards I've already seen. Compulsive Research - Best 3 mana draw. Gitaxian Probe - Depending on the match up, strong or marginal. When the 2 life doesn't matter then seeing your opponents hand is a powerful move. When the life matters, you'll probability find an opportunity for cast this for 1 blue, and then you'll know how doomed you are. Depending on the types of spells you are holding depends on the value of the information. Opt - Helps slightly increase your card filtering so you can more reliably find what you are looking for when you need it. Being instant speed helps this card a lot. Portent - Drawing next upkeep would be a deal breaker, except for one important detail: you can look at the top three cards of an opponent's library. Hieroglyphic Illumination - Cycling for 1 blue makes this card quite decent. You can trade it in much sooner for a card than any of the 2 mana or more cards. I highly recommend cycling this card when possible because that's where the power is. Drawing two cards for 4 mana is way behind curve. The blue deck that runs Hieroglyphic Illumination wants to see as much of its library as soon as possible. Rain of Revelation - A strong 4 mana instant. Foresee - This is a huge play for 4 mana because you can see up to six cards. You need to tap out for it, so I'd probably want to play this in a removal heavy shell, so either Black, Red or White. I don't think a Blue heavy build has much use for a card like this. See Beyond - I really prefer cheap cards in blue decks and being able to put away an Ulamog's Crusher or a land when you don't need those cards means See Beyond generates virtual card advantage. Scour All Possibilities The flashback is ok. The regular cast is ok. I don't think I'll often have a spare 5 mana floating around, unless I'm ahead and holding countermagic mana. Omen of the Sea - Alright dig. This card feels very cuttable, but if I need a bit of glue to keep my deck together I'd run it. Winged Words - 2 mana draw two cards feels a little too good to be true. Midgame you should be able to get the discount. I think this won't be cast on turn 2. Anticipate - Instant speed chose one in three for 2 mana is so-so. Solidly middle of the pack, but I wouldn't be that inclined to play it. Shimmer of Possibility - The dig means I want to play this only if a couple of my cards are significantly stronger than the rest. Digging for Guardian of the Guildpact seems alright. Gush - Returning 2 Islands for 2 cards is too steep, because I wouldn't want to do that for any reason in the first several turns. This card is pretty broken not in a singleton common draft. The synergies to make use of Gush are few and far between. Think Twice - Cuttable even in self mill decks. Witching Well - No upfront card draw. 4 mana to draw two is bad unless there is an alternative. This is the kind of card that's worth watching because when there are enough decent cheap artifacts, the artifact matters cards really shine. Radical Idea - Drawing one for 2 mana isn't a deal I'm inclined to make. Discarding a card for an extra draw doesn't make up for the lack of mana efficiency. Divination - This is what mediocre card draw looks like. If you are looking for card advantage it almost always is worth looking elsewhere.
Bonus drawspell: Pieces of the Puzzle. Can get up to 2 relevant spells as well as fuel the graveyard. Very strong in the right deck, however you need to reach a critical mass of instants and sorceries in order for this card to function properly.
@Cobble:
Thank you for taking the time to write such a long response. Something I want to discuss though: Winged Words: Very rarely you want to cast card draw on turn 2. The only spot where you would want to do this if you kept a 2 land hand and are about to miss your 3rd land drop. Card draw is usually the last thing you want to cast from your hand, when you no longer have anything else to play, so the drawback of not casting it turn 2 seems really negligible. I didn't realise it, when the set was first released, but 16 out of my 27 blue creatures fly anyway, so this is pretty consistent.
Witching Well: I think this card is better, the more I think about it, than people (including me) have realised, when it was realeased. It's basically Inspiration/Hieroglyphic Illumination with Scry 2, for no additional cost if you play it on turn 1. The fact that the draw effect is instant speed makes this really solid. I'm not so high on Foresee nowadays, because it can be really hard to take a turn off to resolve this.
Tier 1: (Arguably the best)
Preordain - Bestbuse of a single blue
Impulse - Deep dig, instant, splashable
Foresee - While one of the deeper digs, and nets card advantage, this is the upper limit of what Splashable Card Advantage can be in a normal setting. 4cmc Sorcery is a hard sell, but this does deliver.
Deep Analysis - Also a semi-modal spell. And it functions with all those Loot-effects, and Mill types. And in the end it is 4 cards over 2 payments.
Compulsive Research - Top expensive I feel comfortable paying in faster decks. And of the other "Discard 2, or X", land is the most universal.
Tier 2 (Very good and can be useful more often than not)
Omen of The Sea - I prefer this in my mix over most because it is valid twice. Admittedly it is only card selection. But it is basically an instant, and can be activated for 3 as an instant to smooth a mid-/late-game when pulling ahead is harder.
Winged Words - Fits only certain decks or it becomes Divination
Hieroglyphic Illumination- Never dead unless you have no Blue mana. It is a modal spell that basically does what you need; maybe not as amazingly. This is where I am polar from most, I REALLY like this for 2 reasons: Never dead + Does not suit any archetype better than another. This means good for Sealed, and always a solid pick when the packs start to dry up.
Rain of Revelation- I can see this being Tier 1, but it is stopped by the fact it is only an Inspiration that digs 1 further, and can combo with Deep Analysis and other Flashback/Escape. So if there is enough graveyard usage, this goes to T1. In a vacuum it has many to fight against.
See Beyond - This is a skill tester. Great when ahead, average when behind or lower hand size. But 2cmc for 2 new cards is acceptable; even as Sorcery.
Witching Well - Also a skill tester unless in an Affinity Cube. Being cheap means it is never dead. However unlike Omen of the Sea, it is Sorcery on the front. It does not card advantage down the road. I like that it is not dead, like Hieroglyphic Illumination. I like it being a permanent for those interactions in the cube. But if we are fighting for a spot, this loses currently to Omen because of the front end. Both want 5 mana over 2 times, but 1 & 4 vs 2 & 3 feel very different in terms of "when"
Treasure Cruise - this is another skill-tester, but also a gamble. The neutral price is 4 mana, below that is advantage, but also VERY hard to trigger unless the deck comes together. I like it being splashable for those 5C "Silliness" designs. More toward Tier 1.5 if there is more trading and spellslinging.
Tier 3 or lower Secrets of the Golden City - Divination with a tougher cost, and the times it is Draw 3 prob means things are in a wierd Place
Rush of Mnowledge - 5 mana could say "Draw 5" and I would still think about it. Tapping out is dangerous and waiting too lo long needs a superior deck
Frantic Search - Free, yet card disadvantage. I still like it, but only because it can be cast on your turn if needed.
*Perilous Research - I like it. I do recognize it is more or less Bad/Tier 4
The Test
Being different an new is always appealing. But we have a clear precident for what one through 4 mana can do, at Sor dry, Instant, and Permanent with Activations. I would not pay more than 2 at instant to Card Selection, and Sorecery stops at 4 and had better Net +2, or dig real deep for +1.
I prefer Modal, but I am almost an island there (no pun intended). The real debates usually center around: Are you playing 4 of the big spelled, and what do you play beyond them.
Tier1:
Preordain obviously
Ponder 2nd best cmc1 cantrip if you dig for lands
Compulsive Research better divination usually
Gush free draw with practicall no drawback, infact often an upside. Softcomboes with Mystic Sanctuary
Rush of Knowledge can be a common draw7
Treasure Cruise well, its ancestral recall
I like the "divided payments": (explains my like of Well and Omen)
Courier Capsule
Think Twice
Font
Can Train be good? Yes. Have I seen it pull its weight w/o a Familiar? No. Sorcery kills it for me. Same reason Rush feels too much. For your cube though Humph, you curve is shallower, so the 5+ costs of surgeries is felt less.
I will add more tonight, but with the Naiad (-1 to non-turn spells), some of these can reach a saturation if backed with U/W/B familiars. Bush's combo aside, many times in an "average" Cube it is a Tier 2-3, as having the lands be islands-only can be a bit troublesome. But free is free.
lol... yeah Sorcery. But if you have lots of 1-2cmc then a 5cmc Sorcery is not as difficult because you have 6-7 mana turns where you can still make a play afterwards and you are not skipping.
In mine, it would almost always be a turn skip.
cmc 4+ are finisher in my cube and although draw 4-5 doesnt win on the spot its usually enough to close out the game.
that said, rush works best in hexproof/aura to make up for the rampcards and you dont have to protect your board
Perilous Research is similar to Altar's Reap, although the fact that the sacrifice is not a part of the cost is a downside in my eyes compared to Altar's Reap because an opponent could always Shock in response causing you to sacrifice a land. Altar's Reap is able to get rid of Recumbent Bliss in a colour which has very limited enchantment removal. I honestly think Altar's Reap is a strong card, although it's clearly not a universal Black staple. Card draw is a rare sight in Black. There isn't a shortage of card advantage in Black, but that mostly is in the form of recurring creatures. And in order to recur creatures you need them to go to the graveyard, which turns into several hoops you have to jump through, meanwhile your opponent could be doing a good play which avoids interacting with your engine ie. going for lethal.
We have been pretty lucky at common in the sense that almost every viable strategy involves going through combat. Sure, there are other win conditions (Pili-Pala) but these tend to be difficult to assemble in singleton limited and very fragile. Outside Capsize locks and the odd Burn deck, that's pretty much it for viable alt-win decks. Not quite sure what that has to do with Altar's Reap. The point is I think Altar's Reap as strong being Black and Perilous Research being Blue — which already has access to very powerful card draw — as much weaker. I don't feel that there are many ways of taking advantage of the sacrifice component of Perilous Research either. Whereas I feel there are many, many more ways Black can find value in sacrificing one of its own.
Night's Whisper - Pretty obviously the best, but I'm not running this due to arbitrary restrictions I've got in place for my cube. Sign in Blood - The mana cost is much more restrictive, although if you run enough Swamps you hardly notice. Read the Bones - 3 mana puts it behind the other two. Scry 2 is alright, although not quite worth the extra mana in my opinion.
Funeral Rites - A better version of the 4 mana ones. Mill can be stronger than scry in the right deck. Altar's Reap - In the Undying Evil category of strong cards that require interaction to extract full value, therefore not consistent enough for most people's cubes. (Still a powerful card in my opinion.) Foreboding Fruit - It's another black artifacts card. There must be enough of these to support the archetype by now. The steep colour requirement for the food is quite the downside.
Bitter Revelation - Not quite enough support to justify the 4 mana. The card selection quite good, but most of the really good graveyard effects are not in common (excluding Stinkweed Imp, Exhume and some flashback.) Dark Bargain - Not sure what R&D were thinking making this 4 mana. Presumably it was strong at 3 mana, so it got bumped up and made totally irrelevant. Instant speed doesn't do much to make up for this.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
Read the Bones is way stronger than the rest and maybe even better than most blue card draw. Looking at 4 cards for 3 mana is porbably the best quality to mana ratio we have at pauper. Also compared to e.g. Foresee each mana less at sorcery speed makes a huge difference.
Night's Whisper is probably the only other one I would really consider.
Sign in Blood in the average 2c deck can restrict you way too much. Funeral Rites and Foreboding Fruit are not worth considering, IMO, because how much black card draw do you actually want to run? Bitter Revelation is too punishing for a 4 mana sorcery. It's basically Read the Bones for cmc 4.
If Dark Bargain could look 4 deep it might be a consideration, but as it stands it's not good enough.
Black has the second best card draw in pauper next to blue, but I only consider (Death Denied) Read the Bones Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood competitive enough.
Most of the Black card draw doesn't cut it for me. I find that I would rather try to recur the creatures I've already seen than try to draw new cards. Especially because Black card draw tends to be associated with playing life and that tends not to be a commodity in high availability with the sheer number of aggro decks that tend to do well. Of course that depends on what your local meta is doing. I've got one guy who always first picks Nivix Cyclops and goes R/U based off that. I've tried to explain how that is a terrible idea, but apparently he knows Magic. It's not that the archetype isn't supported (or else why would I have Nivix Cyclops in there), just that the archetype requires certain components (Delver of Secrets, Firebolt, etc) to sing before you start committing to narrow cards. You're better off spending the first few picks on high demand staples that are either for the top strategies (ie. Hymn to Tourach) or are all round strong (Mana Leak).
Errr... Somewhere in that tangent I lost the point I was trying to make about Black card draw. Paying life to not put yourself ahead on board is not a good idea when aggro decks are tuned and often cheaper recursion is available. Sure Read the Bones is decent dig, but Unearth is plain cheaper. The creatures that are being recurred tend to accrue value each type you see them. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a classic example. If you get this back a few times with any kind of devotion you win. Most enter the battlefield effects aren't this good, but the old Phyrexian Rager and Chittering Rats will get there in the end. Another reason why Okiba-Gang Shinobi is first pick material if I'm considering going Black. This is why I am currently in favour of Ghoulcaller's Chant over Sign in Blood.
For me Altar's Reap is one of the tools I have available to cheaply kill my own creatures when they aren't dying in combat. As well as being an alright response to an opponent's removal spell. Gray Merchant of Asphodel isn't going to recur itself. Being able to pop Viridian Emissary and Perilous Myr can be quite important as people will avoid trading with those kinds of creatures when possible. Perilous Myr is a staple. I've thoroughly played it and it is amazing. I even play it in aggro decks when I'm short a 2-drop. Perilous Myr carries Bonesplitter like a champion.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
sure recurring is fine, but sometimes you want to dig out removal to kill their threats.
My black is more or less completely dedicated to control at this point, because its the only color that makes hardcontrol a thing in pauper. It needs card draw and also has a pretty high amount of lifegain now.
Black uses life as a ressource best.
I still stand by all the 1 mana blue cantraps being great. I feel that they don't directly compete with card-draw as they only put you ahead on card quality rather than putting you above parity. Gotta find Mana Leak for turn 2 and Calcite Snapper for turn 3.
I've been playing a lot of mono-blue in Standard, but I'm not quite sure how to break a blue game using card filtering without Blast Zone and Brazen Borrower. Instant speed Mist Raven too stronk. It's been a while since I've flipped Delver of Secrets or sunk mana into Flood. It's a shame Threnody Singer is uncommon as that has been my serious anti-aggro tech of late.
Blue doesn't mind playing turtles since you have enough evasion to plow over your walls. Hilariously Riptide Turtle and Calcite Snapper are both great against Man-o'-War. I'm not overly thrilled about a 0/5 for 2, but if it means I can hold my Counterspell for a turn and slow down ground assaults I'm fine with it.
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
if you want a common singer, you could try Faerie Duelist
mono blue worked best for me with a draw-go archetype into flickercombo. early game you drop someturtles or use cheap control like force spike or withdraw into midrange flashflyer into flickercombo
Plow Through Reito is about as esoteric as it gets for commons. But I can't help but think it could be a decent card considering it gives mono-white the ability to punch through for big damage seemingly out of nowhere. I'm not sure what you could do with a hand full of lands, but any card that is discard a card as a cost for +1/+1 suddenly begins to look enticing. I don't think that really answered your question at all. Oh well.
Faerie Duelist is horrible and I will not consider it while Threnody Singer exists. 3 toughness makes so much difference. As well, the minus scales quite nicely even if it will mostly be -1/-0 early game. I think I'm just really attached to Threnody Singer and any kind of similar card will seem no good through my rose coloured lenses.
Re Dream Stalker: I've seen other people play it. I'm not quite sure why I find returning my own permanents objectionable, considering other people seem to have found success in casting this and I consider Kor Skyfisher decent. Maybe I need to try it out. Wall of Runes is nice. It wall and scry and finally gives my friends a Steel Wall that isn't entirely embarrassing.
I was a bit too devious with Withdraw that I had to remove it from my cube while my last group of cube players recovered from having their creatures permanently bounced. They did not like playing against Man-o'-War which was my default strategy for a while. Flood was the true salt-maker. Fortunately they never realised that was the true nemesis when I played because I didn't see much of Flood. Ahhh I wish that there was a 1v1 format where I could play Stasis.
but singer doesnt exist (at common)
if you want to try and discuss plow, then do it (without random cardtags). bouncing a bunch of plains seems only really helpful for empyrial armor and maybe Wild mongrel
the reason i linked the wall next to stalker is because they pair quite well. 1/5 is usually big enough to carry you into lategame. it has always been excellent for me and got even better since blue got those 1-drops for it
Vedalken Mastermind and Daze is when you are getting into serious Stasis territory. Chronatog is weak stuff and not worth a true Stasis player's time. Frozen Aether is alright for establishing a lock, but isn't required. Multiple Frozen Aethers hardly do anything without your key piece. But I'm getting off topic.
Yeah, I know we shouldn't really discuss uncommons because this is common territory. Siren is just a fever dream for me.
Hmmm, Empyrial Armor and Plow Through Reito... I bearly ever had Empyrial Armor do much. I found my enchantment creature either ate removal or the buff was too small to be relevant. I know Humphreys rate Empyrial Armor, but it could be down to play styles. I knew about Wild Mongrel. I was wondering out loud if there was a white equivalent.
Anyways back onto blue card draw. See Beyond, I think it doesn't make the cut for most people. I was recently comparing it to Thrill of Possibility. Thrill makes See Beyond look bad because the discard is stronger than shuffle for us (not too much in the way of Polymorphs or Tinkers here). And Thrill of Possibility is instant speed. Admittedly the average card quality for red is very high due to an abundance of great burn. Still I am more inclined to want to ditch lands or a flaky 1 drop in red over blue. So on a retrospective I rate See Beyond a lot lower. Maybe this isn't quite true because Thrill of Possibility is weak to countermagic.
Hmm, I think it is a bit of a numbers game. It depends on what the expected pitch is. Increasing my likelihood of drawing a land after resolving See Beyond is another Strike against it. However putting a card back that I'd be happy to draw a few turns later works in See Beyond's favour because of the increased likelihood of drawing a impactful card. And don't let anyone tell you thinning (or in this case fattening (idk?)) your deck is not a relevant play, because whoever is telling you that never bothered to learn any mathematics more complicated than multiplication. I'm kind of ranting here, but I've heard some bad advice on deck thinning in the past trying to justify against the min-max. The main counter argument is small probabilities matter, but try not too spend too much brain power on insanity when you could be considering reasonable lines of play.
Back onto blue. I guess the main thing about playing blue is trying to create reasonable lines of play which result in breaking parity and not losing too much life in the process. The 1 mana Preordains are great at facilitating this but can often come at the opportunity cost of having to spend a blue mana somewhere.
I'm not sold blue's one drop creatures. They don't seem to do much of anything. Other than Cloudfin Raptor and Delver of Secrets. Those provide well beyond their 1 mana of value. Maybe other people are playing more flicker cards than me?
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There's no word in the goblin language for "strategy." Then again, there's no word in the goblin language for "word."
Im surprised Empyrial Armor didnt work for you. white easily has the tools to protect it from removal in bearers and even in fast decks starts as +3+3, then grows each turn. Its an insanely fast clock and pretty much makes the white deck.
Chronatog Stasis was tournament playable once and definitely the best way to build the deck, because you just win the game. Bouncing it every turn is slow and give the opponent too much window for interaction. Daze is fine, but you also have Force of Will. Aether definitely is needed for the lock. If you wanna be cute with bounce, run Thwart
yeah, completely offtopic lol, but i ran stasis for years in the 90s (starting in 95 with time elemental). I know its quirks
See Beyond looks just awful. Sorcery speed is enough for me to outrule it. we can do better.
In a nutshell like cubes Faerie Seer is much better (more consistent) than Delver and scry2 is relevant at almost any point of the game. Id say Seer is the best onedrop in blue by far. because blue is not about racing. Its card selection and winning the long route.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
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Preordain - Bestbuse of a single blue
Impulse - Deep dig, instant, splashable
Foresee - While one of the deeper digs, and nets card advantage, this is the upper limit of what Splashable Card Advantage can be in a normal setting. 4cmc Sorcery is a hard sell, but this does deliver.
Deep Analysis - Also a semi-modal spell. And it functions with all those Loot-effects, and Mill types. And in the end it is 4 cards over 2 payments.
Compulsive Research - Top expensive I feel comfortable paying in faster decks. And of the other "Discard 2, or X", land is the most universal.
Tier 2 (Very good and can be useful more often than not)
Omen of The Sea - I prefer this in my mix over most because it is valid twice. Admittedly it is only card selection. But it is basically an instant, and can be activated for 3 as an instant to smooth a mid-/late-game when pulling ahead is harder.
Winged Words - Fits only certain decks or it becomes Divination
Hieroglyphic Illumination- Never dead unless you have no Blue mana. It is a modal spell that basically does what you need; maybe not as amazingly. This is where I am polar from most, I REALLY like this for 2 reasons: Never dead + Does not suit any archetype better than another. This means good for Sealed, and always a solid pick when the packs start to dry up.
Rain of Revelation- I can see this being Tier 1, but it is stopped by the fact it is only an Inspiration that digs 1 further, and can combo with Deep Analysis and other Flashback/Escape. So if there is enough graveyard usage, this goes to T1. In a vacuum it has many to fight against.
See Beyond - This is a skill tester. Great when ahead, average when behind or lower hand size. But 2cmc for 2 new cards is acceptable; even as Sorcery.
Witching Well - Also a skill tester unless in an Affinity Cube. Being cheap means it is never dead. However unlike Omen of the Sea, it is Sorcery on the front. It does not card advantage down the road. I like that it is not dead, like Hieroglyphic Illumination. I like it being a permanent for those interactions in the cube. But if we are fighting for a spot, this loses currently to Omen because of the front end. Both want 5 mana over 2 times, but 1 & 4 vs 2 & 3 feel very different in terms of "when"
Treasure Cruise - this is another skill-tester, but also a gamble. The neutral price is 4 mana, below that is advantage, but also VERY hard to trigger unless the deck comes together. I like it being splashable for those 5C "Silliness" designs. More toward Tier 1.5 if there is more trading and spellslinging.
Tier 3 or lower
Secrets of the Golden City - Divination with a tougher cost, and the times it is Draw 3 prob means things are in a wierd Place
Rush of Mnowledge - 5 mana could say "Draw 5" and I would still think about it. Tapping out is dangerous and waiting too lo long needs a superior deck
Frantic Search - Free, yet card disadvantage. I still like it, but only because it can be cast on your turn if needed.
*Perilous Research - I like it. I do recognize it is more or less Bad/Tier 4
The Test
Being different an new is always appealing. But we have a clear precident for what one through 4 mana can do, at Sor dry, Instant, and Permanent with Activations. I would not pay more than 2 at instant to Card Selection, and Sorecery stops at 4 and had better Net +2, or dig real deep for +1.
I prefer Modal, but I am almost an island there (no pun intended). The real debates usually center around: Are you playing 4 of the big spelled, and what do you play beyond them.
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Tier1:
Preordain obviously
Ponder 2nd best cmc1 cantrip if you dig for lands
Compulsive Research better divination usually
Gush free draw with practicall no drawback, infact often an upside. Softcomboes with Mystic Sanctuary
Rush of Knowledge can be a common draw7
Treasure Cruise well, its ancestral recall
Tier2:
Think Twice - works with looters
Rain of Revelation - works with madness
Train of Thought - just one of the few draw 4+ spell
Witching Well - instant draw and artifact synergy
Courier's Capsule . works with Sanctum Gargoyle
Font of Fortunes - works with auramancer
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Courier Capsule
Think Twice
Font
Can Train be good? Yes. Have I seen it pull its weight w/o a Familiar? No. Sorcery kills it for me. Same reason Rush feels too much. For your cube though Humph, you curve is shallower, so the 5+ costs of surgeries is felt less.
I will add more tonight, but with the Naiad (-1 to non-turn spells), some of these can reach a saturation if backed with U/W/B familiars. Bush's combo aside, many times in an "average" Cube it is a Tier 2-3, as having the lands be islands-only can be a bit troublesome. But free is free.
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powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Autocorrect of sorceries? That's my best guess lol
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
In mine, it would almost always be a turn skip.
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that said, rush works best in hexproof/aura to make up for the rampcards and you dont have to protect your board
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
We have been pretty lucky at common in the sense that almost every viable strategy involves going through combat. Sure, there are other win conditions (Pili-Pala) but these tend to be difficult to assemble in singleton limited and very fragile. Outside Capsize locks and the odd Burn deck, that's pretty much it for viable alt-win decks. Not quite sure what that has to do with Altar's Reap. The point is I think Altar's Reap as strong being Black and Perilous Research being Blue — which already has access to very powerful card draw — as much weaker. I don't feel that there are many ways of taking advantage of the sacrifice component of Perilous Research either. Whereas I feel there are many, many more ways Black can find value in sacrificing one of its own.
Slower, and costlier
Also, Death Denied is as close to Stroke of Genius as we get. Not a perfect analogy, but X-spell with major threat.
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Pretty much agree with this. I would also add Funeral Rites and Foreboding Fruit.
How I rank them:
Death Denied - One of the best Arcane spells (ignoring Through the Breach).
Night's Whisper - Pretty obviously the best, but I'm not running this due to arbitrary restrictions I've got in place for my cube.
Sign in Blood - The mana cost is much more restrictive, although if you run enough Swamps you hardly notice.
Read the Bones - 3 mana puts it behind the other two. Scry 2 is alright, although not quite worth the extra mana in my opinion.
Funeral Rites - A better version of the 4 mana ones. Mill can be stronger than scry in the right deck.
Altar's Reap - In the Undying Evil category of strong cards that require interaction to extract full value, therefore not consistent enough for most people's cubes. (Still a powerful card in my opinion.)
Foreboding Fruit - It's another black artifacts card. There must be enough of these to support the archetype by now. The steep colour requirement for the food is quite the downside.
Bitter Revelation - Not quite enough support to justify the 4 mana. The card selection quite good, but most of the really good graveyard effects are not in common (excluding Stinkweed Imp, Exhume and some flashback.)
Dark Bargain - Not sure what R&D were thinking making this 4 mana. Presumably it was strong at 3 mana, so it got bumped up and made totally irrelevant. Instant speed doesn't do much to make up for this.
Night's Whisper is probably the only other one I would really consider.
Sign in Blood in the average 2c deck can restrict you way too much.
Funeral Rites and Foreboding Fruit are not worth considering, IMO, because how much black card draw do you actually want to run?
Bitter Revelation is too punishing for a 4 mana sorcery. It's basically Read the Bones for cmc 4.
If Dark Bargain could look 4 deep it might be a consideration, but as it stands it's not good enough.
Btw. I disagree in general with this. There are also cards like Phyrexian Rager and First-Sphere Gargantua.
Apart from that card draw is only one kind of card advantage and black has lots of it: Undertaker, Chittering Rats, Crypt Rats, Liliana's Specter, Thorn of the Black Rose, Predatory Nightstalker, Chainer's Edict, Hymn to Tourach, Ashes to Ashes, Evincar's Justice, Disturbed Burial and Pestilence just to name a few staples most people run, that haven't been mentioned in this context.
Black has by far the most options to generate card advantage in pauper in general.
Pauper Cube & Artifact Pauper Cube & Multiplayer Cube
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powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Errr... Somewhere in that tangent I lost the point I was trying to make about Black card draw. Paying life to not put yourself ahead on board is not a good idea when aggro decks are tuned and often cheaper recursion is available. Sure Read the Bones is decent dig, but Unearth is plain cheaper. The creatures that are being recurred tend to accrue value each type you see them. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a classic example. If you get this back a few times with any kind of devotion you win. Most enter the battlefield effects aren't this good, but the old Phyrexian Rager and Chittering Rats will get there in the end. Another reason why Okiba-Gang Shinobi is first pick material if I'm considering going Black. This is why I am currently in favour of Ghoulcaller's Chant over Sign in Blood.
For me Altar's Reap is one of the tools I have available to cheaply kill my own creatures when they aren't dying in combat. As well as being an alright response to an opponent's removal spell. Gray Merchant of Asphodel isn't going to recur itself. Being able to pop Viridian Emissary and Perilous Myr can be quite important as people will avoid trading with those kinds of creatures when possible. Perilous Myr is a staple. I've thoroughly played it and it is amazing. I even play it in aggro decks when I'm short a 2-drop. Perilous Myr carries Bonesplitter like a champion.
My black is more or less completely dedicated to control at this point, because its the only color that makes hardcontrol a thing in pauper. It needs card draw and also has a pretty high amount of lifegain now.
Black uses life as a ressource best.
Smitten Swordmaster
Moment of Craving
Spinning Darkness
all help me in the aggrometa
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
I've been playing a lot of mono-blue in Standard, but I'm not quite sure how to break a blue game using card filtering without Blast Zone and Brazen Borrower. Instant speed Mist Raven too stronk. It's been a while since I've flipped Delver of Secrets or sunk mana into Flood. It's a shame Threnody Singer is uncommon as that has been my serious anti-aggro tech of late.
Blue doesn't mind playing turtles since you have enough evasion to plow over your walls. Hilariously Riptide Turtle and Calcite Snapper are both great against Man-o'-War. I'm not overly thrilled about a 0/5 for 2, but if it means I can hold my Counterspell for a turn and slow down ground assaults I'm fine with it.
if you want a common singer, you could try Faerie Duelist
mono blue worked best for me with a draw-go archetype into flickercombo. early game you drop some turtles or use cheap control like force spike or withdraw into midrange flashflyer into flickercombo
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Faerie Duelist is horrible and I will not consider it while Threnody Singer exists. 3 toughness makes so much difference. As well, the minus scales quite nicely even if it will mostly be -1/-0 early game. I think I'm just really attached to Threnody Singer and any kind of similar card will seem no good through my rose coloured lenses.
Re Dream Stalker: I've seen other people play it. I'm not quite sure why I find returning my own permanents objectionable, considering other people seem to have found success in casting this and I consider Kor Skyfisher decent. Maybe I need to try it out. Wall of Runes is nice. It wall and scry and finally gives my friends a Steel Wall that isn't entirely embarrassing.
I was a bit too devious with Withdraw that I had to remove it from my cube while my last group of cube players recovered from having their creatures permanently bounced. They did not like playing against Man-o'-War which was my default strategy for a while. Flood was the true salt-maker. Fortunately they never realised that was the true nemesis when I played because I didn't see much of Flood. Ahhh I wish that there was a 1v1 format where I could play Stasis.
Also Calcite Snapper is first pick tier for me.
if you want to try and discuss plow, then do it (without random cardtags). bouncing a bunch of plains seems only really helpful for empyrial armor and maybe Wild mongrel
the reason i linked the wall next to stalker is because they pair quite well. 1/5 is usually big enough to carry you into lategame. it has always been excellent for me and got even better since blue got those 1-drops for it
can always kitchentable "legacy" with stasis/chronatog/Frozen aether/Forsaken City
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t
Yeah, I know we shouldn't really discuss uncommons because this is common territory. Siren is just a fever dream for me.
Hmmm, Empyrial Armor and Plow Through Reito... I bearly ever had Empyrial Armor do much. I found my enchantment creature either ate removal or the buff was too small to be relevant. I know Humphreys rate Empyrial Armor, but it could be down to play styles. I knew about Wild Mongrel. I was wondering out loud if there was a white equivalent.
Anyways back onto blue card draw. See Beyond, I think it doesn't make the cut for most people. I was recently comparing it to Thrill of Possibility. Thrill makes See Beyond look bad because the discard is stronger than shuffle for us (not too much in the way of Polymorphs or Tinkers here). And Thrill of Possibility is instant speed. Admittedly the average card quality for red is very high due to an abundance of great burn. Still I am more inclined to want to ditch lands or a flaky 1 drop in red over blue. So on a retrospective I rate See Beyond a lot lower. Maybe this isn't quite true because Thrill of Possibility is weak to countermagic.
Hmm, I think it is a bit of a numbers game. It depends on what the expected pitch is. Increasing my likelihood of drawing a land after resolving See Beyond is another Strike against it. However putting a card back that I'd be happy to draw a few turns later works in See Beyond's favour because of the increased likelihood of drawing a impactful card. And don't let anyone tell you thinning (or in this case fattening (idk?)) your deck is not a relevant play, because whoever is telling you that never bothered to learn any mathematics more complicated than multiplication. I'm kind of ranting here, but I've heard some bad advice on deck thinning in the past trying to justify against the min-max. The main counter argument is small probabilities matter, but try not too spend too much brain power on insanity when you could be considering reasonable lines of play.
Back onto blue. I guess the main thing about playing blue is trying to create reasonable lines of play which result in breaking parity and not losing too much life in the process. The 1 mana Preordains are great at facilitating this but can often come at the opportunity cost of having to spend a blue mana somewhere.
I'm not sold blue's one drop creatures. They don't seem to do much of anything. Other than Cloudfin Raptor and Delver of Secrets. Those provide well beyond their 1 mana of value. Maybe other people are playing more flicker cards than me?
Chronatog Stasis was tournament playable once and definitely the best way to build the deck, because you just win the game. Bouncing it every turn is slow and give the opponent too much window for interaction. Daze is fine, but you also have Force of Will. Aether definitely is needed for the lock. If you wanna be cute with bounce, run Thwart
yeah, completely offtopic lol, but i ran stasis for years in the 90s (starting in 95 with time elemental). I know its quirks
See Beyond looks just awful. Sorcery speed is enough for me to outrule it. we can do better.
In a nutshell like cubes Faerie Seer is much better (more consistent) than Delver and scry2 is relevant at almost any point of the game. Id say Seer is the best onedrop in blue by far. because blue is not about racing. Its card selection and winning the long route.
powpercube Johnny https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/37t