Kokusho, Grave Titan, and Visara all sound kind of boring to me.
Keep up the good work. I hadn't thought of Mikaeus as a 6-drop but I think I will be including him.
The strongest aggro/tempo decks in cube tend to be mono-color. Especially mono-red and secondarily mono-white, but also sometimes mono-black or blue. Personally, I've often found that boros and (especially) zoo underperform against the field.
There are a number of reasons for this.
The first is that the two-power one-drop is so important, and backing it up with another threat on turn two is critical. A two-color mana base significantly cuts down on the probability that players can put a sufficient board presence together before the opponent gets to sweepers and bigger bodies.
The second is that many--most?--high-quality aggressive cards are extremely color-intensive. Geralf's Messenger, Ball Lightning, Spectral Procession, White Knight, Black Knight, Blood Knight, Knight of Meadowgrain, Bloodghast, Kargan Dragonlord....The list goes on and on.
The third is that many cube designers are emphasizing redundancy and linearity within colors, rather than in color-spanning archetypes. As colors become more redundantly designed, they become more linear. Burn gets better the more of it you have, as does land destruction, counterspells, bounce, you name it. The archetypes that need more parts to work--ramp, reanimator, planeswalker control--are decidedly not "aggro" as it's typically defined.
Can this boring tendency towards monocolor-in-aggro be resolved? If so, how?
This guy deserves his own thread - he's one of the top red cards in the cube, and an auto-include in any aggro deck that can run him. Maybe Sulfuric Vortex is a better aggro card, but I can't think of many others. I often pick him early.
Not only that--this guy deserves more than one thread. He's just that good.
This card seems murderously strong against a wide variety of archetypes. Why is nobody running it? The casting cost can be difficult, sure, but tacking an edict onto every creature that chumps, trades, or is sacrificed for any reason (Awakening Zone, Fulminator Mage, etc. etc. etc.) seems bonkers. This seems like a stellar way for aggressive and midrange decks to take over the board.
Wish it was better than it is. I do like it as a sideboard card against green on the play (taking out a land and a bird/elf is more than worthwhile), but that's pretty specific.
Moxen are good--very good. But in my opinion they're slightly overrated. In your opening hand, if you cast nothing turn 1, they're no better than a Wild Growth. Later, they're no better than a land. The versatility is indeed very good but it's not as game-breaking as some other cards. Imo, the cards that ruin games are:
I'd rank Sol Ring as the #1 card in a powered Cube and I'd draft it above pretty much everything else. It is definitly too strong for an unpowered Cube. I would not run Mana Vault either (nor Mana Crypt, if the question comes down). Grim Monolith is probably safe. I'm not a huge fan of fast mana in unpowered Cube, it quite goes against the concept of unpowered.
These posts sum it up. I'm not sure that Grim Monolith is safe either; I usually view it as an auto-first-pick, even over Swords and the like, but then I'm not particularly good at cube.
I...don't understand how it's unfair/broken to have cards like Power 9/Titans/Planeswalkers but it's okay to have Sol Ring in a Cube. I would P1P1 Sol Ring every single time without hesitation.
I basically agree with this. I run neither P9/Titans/PWalkers nor Sol Ring/Mana Vault/G Monolith. The argument "there's nothing to ramp into" seems silly; I agree that I would rather cast a titan, but I'm fine casting an early Woodfall Primus.
What I think some people are missing is that on its own it is on par with or better than Trusty Machete. The equipment-busting is a very excellent bonus.
I'm a big fan. Usually, it's not card advantage, and it will rarely be played as such. But it can contribute to serious advantages in card quality. That said, it's one of those cards whose worst case scenario in opening hand is not bad, but makes some bad hands much better.
However, it never makes a good hand into a great hand without combo enablers, and it is usually a poor topdeck. Finally, it's not exactly the kind of proactive threat that requires a response from the opponent, unless you have one of those combo pieces. It's rare to have a "dream hand" with raven's crime unless Life from the Loam (or Entomb) are also in it.
While playing this, keep in mind exactly how many lands your opponent likely has in his or her hand. In the later game, most people will keep one (sometimes two) in hand to play around this and similar effects. At this stage of the game, you'll often want to cast it twice in the same turn.
I am well aware that these cards would be the best cards in cube. I like your last sentence and that is how I would look at this kind of deck, too. Basically as I said I would add 2 PW and a few more artifacts (2-5) and thats it.
I don't have a list here (I have one from like a year ago but that was several iterations ago and has little in common with the current list). But looking at your list, if you're mostly looking for mana sources, I would consider:
The stones may be less important because you have some signets and Mind Stone already in there.
I also noticed that you do not run Phyrexian Metamorph. That can be a very helpful Copy Artifact (great on Thran Dynamo, various equipment, Wurmcoil Engine, etc.) as well as a cheap Clone. Finally, I often consider Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth fantastic artifact ramp targets because Thran Dynamo et. al. just create so much mana.
Personally, I would avoid Sol Ring and Mana Vault, but obviously that's up to you.
Thats because I want it back! If adding fast mana (Sol Ring, Grim Monolith and Mana Vault) would the archetype viable you think? The question that comes to my mind than would be. How good/bad is fast mana in an unpowered cube.
Sol Ring is often called the best card in cube--nearly always picked over Moxen if the option is available. Mana Vault is often picked over Moxen as well. Personally, I consider both of these cards "power." Grim Monolith is really, really good too, but probably not quite as good as the other two.
Basically, if your cube is unpowered, these will likely be the best cards in your cube.
Personally, I've an unpowered cube--even less powerful than most unpowered cubes, as I don't include most cards I deem "R&D mistakes". The artifact deck was drafted just the other day and it performed solidly. Basically it was a Ub control deck featuring a ton of artifacts and exploiting the synergy between them, and it worked well, losing I believe only to the table's only red drafter.
This goes best in a deck w/ plenty of powerful equipment. The point of this card is to just *always* have a guy that you can strap a sword to.
Without equipment to strap to the creatures, they are kind of expensive for what you get. But with equipment they are amazing. It's a good reason to play Steelshaper's Gift--so you always have that equipment.
Just discovered this one.
-- Keeps your own creatures alive. Obviously the big point.
-- Bad vs. burn, can be bad vs. swarm
-- Awesome flavor text
-- Untargeted
-- Hard to cast except in heavy black
-- Redundancy in black Wrath... and this one supports creature-based strategies, whereas Damnation & company do not
Killing one creature: almost anything is better.
Killing two creatures: Ashes to Ashes is better unless targeting is important. But A2A lacks versatility.
Killing 3+ creatures: Probably better than Plague Wind, just because it's so much cheaper.
So it's only super-good when killing 3+ creatures. That said, however, this is pretty darn versatile.
Edit: on second thought, it may not be "better" than Rain of Daggers--it's cheaper, but the Rain keeps your creatures and kills their creatures regardless of color. So y'all can also discuss that card too if you like.
I think Rofellos is the most actively powerful of the bunch. I think that, more than many other cards, his best case scenario happens a lot. I've cast turn 2 Rofellos into turn 3 Primeval Titan into turn 4 Eldrazi (Kozilek/Ulamog) more than once, in contrast to many other cards with good BCS but mediocre usual-case.
I agree that the most powerful cards are the consensus picks above, though for the aforementioned reasons would probably pick Rofellos over Lotus Cobra most of the time.
Keep up the good work. I hadn't thought of Mikaeus as a 6-drop but I think I will be including him.
There are a number of reasons for this.
The first is that the two-power one-drop is so important, and backing it up with another threat on turn two is critical. A two-color mana base significantly cuts down on the probability that players can put a sufficient board presence together before the opponent gets to sweepers and bigger bodies.
The second is that many--most?--high-quality aggressive cards are extremely color-intensive. Geralf's Messenger, Ball Lightning, Spectral Procession, White Knight, Black Knight, Blood Knight, Knight of Meadowgrain, Bloodghast, Kargan Dragonlord....The list goes on and on.
The third is that many cube designers are emphasizing redundancy and linearity within colors, rather than in color-spanning archetypes. As colors become more redundantly designed, they become more linear. Burn gets better the more of it you have, as does land destruction, counterspells, bounce, you name it. The archetypes that need more parts to work--ramp, reanimator, planeswalker control--are decidedly not "aggro" as it's typically defined.
Can this boring tendency towards monocolor-in-aggro be resolved? If so, how?
Not only that--this guy deserves more than one thread. He's just that good.
This card seems murderously strong against a wide variety of archetypes. Why is nobody running it? The casting cost can be difficult, sure, but tacking an edict onto every creature that chumps, trades, or is sacrificed for any reason (Awakening Zone, Fulminator Mage, etc. etc. etc.) seems bonkers. This seems like a stellar way for aggressive and midrange decks to take over the board.
Thoughts?
Library is in some ways the worst offender, because it is often an auto-win but requires 20 minutes to prove it instead of 5.
These posts sum it up. I'm not sure that Grim Monolith is safe either; I usually view it as an auto-first-pick, even over Swords and the like, but then I'm not particularly good at cube.
I basically agree with this. I run neither P9/Titans/PWalkers nor Sol Ring/Mana Vault/G Monolith. The argument "there's nothing to ramp into" seems silly; I agree that I would rather cast a titan, but I'm fine casting an early Woodfall Primus.
Well....Obviously.
This is a pretty useless quibble, don't you think?
However, it never makes a good hand into a great hand without combo enablers, and it is usually a poor topdeck. Finally, it's not exactly the kind of proactive threat that requires a response from the opponent, unless you have one of those combo pieces. It's rare to have a "dream hand" with raven's crime unless Life from the Loam (or Entomb) are also in it.
While playing this, keep in mind exactly how many lands your opponent likely has in his or her hand. In the later game, most people will keep one (sometimes two) in hand to play around this and similar effects. At this stage of the game, you'll often want to cast it twice in the same turn.
I don't have a list here (I have one from like a year ago but that was several iterations ago and has little in common with the current list). But looking at your list, if you're mostly looking for mana sources, I would consider:
Various 2-mana Stones (Fellwar Stone, Sphere of the Suns, Prismatic Lens)
The stones may be less important because you have some signets and Mind Stone already in there.
I also noticed that you do not run Phyrexian Metamorph. That can be a very helpful Copy Artifact (great on Thran Dynamo, various equipment, Wurmcoil Engine, etc.) as well as a cheap Clone. Finally, I often consider Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth fantastic artifact ramp targets because Thran Dynamo et. al. just create so much mana.
Personally, I would avoid Sol Ring and Mana Vault, but obviously that's up to you.
Sol Ring is often called the best card in cube--nearly always picked over Moxen if the option is available. Mana Vault is often picked over Moxen as well. Personally, I consider both of these cards "power." Grim Monolith is really, really good too, but probably not quite as good as the other two.
Basically, if your cube is unpowered, these will likely be the best cards in your cube.
Personally, I've an unpowered cube--even less powerful than most unpowered cubes, as I don't include most cards I deem "R&D mistakes". The artifact deck was drafted just the other day and it performed solidly. Basically it was a Ub control deck featuring a ton of artifacts and exploiting the synergy between them, and it worked well, losing I believe only to the table's only red drafter.
Without equipment to strap to the creatures, they are kind of expensive for what you get. But with equipment they are amazing. It's a good reason to play Steelshaper's Gift--so you always have that equipment.
Just discovered this one.
-- Keeps your own creatures alive. Obviously the big point.
-- Bad vs. burn, can be bad vs. swarm
-- Awesome flavor text
-- Untargeted
-- Hard to cast except in heavy black
-- Redundancy in black Wrath... and this one supports creature-based strategies, whereas Damnation & company do not
Killing one creature: almost anything is better.
Killing two creatures: Ashes to Ashes is better unless targeting is important. But A2A lacks versatility.
Killing 3+ creatures: Probably better than Plague Wind, just because it's so much cheaper.
So it's only super-good when killing 3+ creatures. That said, however, this is pretty darn versatile.
Edit: on second thought, it may not be "better" than Rain of Daggers--it's cheaper, but the Rain keeps your creatures and kills their creatures regardless of color. So y'all can also discuss that card too if you like.
I agree that the most powerful cards are the consensus picks above, though for the aforementioned reasons would probably pick Rofellos over Lotus Cobra most of the time.