I removed Jace the Living Guildpact as he just wasn't doing as much as that slot needed to do. I may end up cutting Architect of Thought in the nearish future, as well.
@Altik_0: I use a modified form of the "guild system". I would consider Coastline Chimera, Feeling of Dread, and Steel of the Godhead to be multicolor cards, as they are all significantly worse in a deck that does not run both. I'm actually OK with people taking, say, Feeling of Dread without blue in their deck, but I think with the quality of the rest of the cube, they would be hard-pressed to actually play it.
Hey y'all. I had a Pauper cube back around the time Avacyn Restored came out, but I never really updated it after that, and over the last few years it got torn apart for spare parts. I'm in the process of rebuilding it, and I would like some assistance from the tribal knowledge base as far as which cards to include or not include. Multicolor sections are going to be either 5 or 6 cards per guild, I have not decided which just yet.
Please give reasoning if you feel I should or should not include a particular card.
Below are the cards I am considering for Azorius. I am making Azorius a tempo/bounce/skies archetype.
Coastline Chimera - It flies, has a huge butt, and can block multiple creatures to gum up the board state. There aren't a ton of creatures that can get by it. That said, it's a rather unexciting card and I worry that it won't be drafted very highly.
Deputy of Acquittals - This feels like what Azorius wants to be doing. Bounce your things to protect them and leave behind a body. It's a great tempo move.
Dramatic Rescue - This one isn't very exciting, but the dollop of life gain makes me want to consider it. However, I think Deputy of Acquittals would make the cut before this would.
Ethercaste Knight - 1/3 for two mana is pretty good, and it makes a good blocker, while pumping up a single flier later. I don't think this reads very exciting, though, nor do I think it's that great.
Feeling of Dread - Flashback is great card economy. This is potentially four creatures' worth of tapping.
Momentary Blink - Depending on the cards included in the individual colors, this can be super amazing. I anticipate things like AEther Adept, Auramancer, etc. getting pretty awesome. It does require a commitment to a particular strategy to be optimal, and is rather corner case otherwise.
Offering to Asha - This is not a straight-up hard counter, but the life gain for the cost is nice, and an extra four mana is usually going to kill that spell.
Overrule - Alternatively, this card can be a hard counter, and gains you potentially more life as a mana dump late game. It's worse than Offering to Asha until you hit 7+ mana, though.
Plumes of Peace - The repeated tapping can be super useful if you are on the offensive, but because it will untap on its controller's next turn, defensive applications are limited. Pacifism is very good, though.
Silver Drake - A very efficiently costed flier, this can also return value creatures to your hand.
Steel of the Godhead - The two abilities are useful separately. They're backbreaking together, but the amount of single target removal as well as the lack of multicolored creatures, means I'm not sure this is good enough to include.
Orzhov is going to be a life drain controlling build, with strong removal. I am on the fence about Extort and whether or not a card that is otherwise one color should be considered multicolor. On the one hand, Syndic of Tithes works perfectly fine in a white deck, but it becomes better in an Orzhov deck. If I count them as multicolor, it reduces the amount of Extort available in the cube significantly. If I don't, it gives Orzhov decks an extra boost.
Blind Hunter - The life drain is significant, representing a total of 8 life points from one card, for four mana.
Pillory of the Sleepless - This is great for creatures that you don't want to be reanimated or what have you, and the life loss is going to add up. However, it's not as good as Unmake.
Boros is kind of hard to nail down. The seemingly obvious area to take it into is a token/weenie strategy, backed up by burn and Pacifism effects. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of multicolor cards that support that strategy.
Orim's Thunder - A two for one is nice, but this has very little to do with anything. How often will it be a dead card? There will be artifacts and enchantments in the cube, but with the high amount of spot removal for creatures and the relative paucity of artifacts, is this even really necessary?
Rally the Righteous - I like that this can be used offensively or defensively. Radiance is terrible and makes for feel bads, though, and it's certainly inferior to War Flare.
Squee's Embrace - A great Aura...that doesn't have anything to do with a swarm strategy.
Thundersong Trumpeter - Also has very little to do with a token based aggro deck, although it can be nice to get around blockers.
Viashino Firstblade - Comes down and deals four hasty damage. After that, though, it's just a meh body.
War Flare - An all-star that does amazing things, being defensive, offensive, etc.
Wojek Halberdiers - A well-costed creature even without any abilities, the Battalion makes it stupid good.
---------------------------
Since Boros is going wide, Selesnya is going tall. It will be about ramping up to a large creature or two that are difficult to deal with. Green and white both have ways to protect creatures from removal, including Totem Armor, protection, hexproof, etc. I mostly need help with which cards to cut, since they're all amazing.
Qasali Pridemage Never a dead card, as it's a body with Exalted or removal.
Rhox Bodyguard - Not super exiting for its cost, but Exalted tends to be stupid good, especially the more you can stack it.
Shield of the Oversoul - Indestructible is awesome, and will let the creature continue to be built up into a wrecking ball. Flying is awesome evasion, naturally.
Sigil of the Nayan Gods - While I don't expect the Selesnya deck to have crap tons of creatures out, even a three or four boost is huge, and the cycling means this will never be a dead card.
Sigiled Behemoth - A large creature with Exalted, which means it can swing on its own for 6 damage.
I use this land a lot, and it works marvelously. Some people see the 1/1 as a nice little gift. It help you to direct where attackers are going early, lets you give people sacrifice fodder, etc. Usually the 1/1 doesn't end up mattering all that much, but the fixing does.
Planar Void looks great, thank you! I will pick up a copy.
Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage work independently and while I know it's an infinite combo, the only time I would use it is if I draw into them naturally and am about to die. I'd prefer to stay away from Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth together. The Monolith doesn't do enough for me on its own. The Rings are super useful but I don't have an extra copy and I'm OK with that at this point. Oona is more of a finisher and by the time I'm ready for her I usually have a doubler out. But yes, it's super potent.
They're both fine cards. If you need or want to run both, that's a good idea. Krosan Grip is uncountable and gets around sac shenanagins. Deglamer tucks Gods, so if there are a lot of those in your meta, it's a good choice.its just going to depend on which is more consistently useful.
1 Mayael the Anima
Creatures (35)
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Archetype of Endurance
1 Artisan of Kozilek
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Dromoka, the Eternal
1 Drumhunter
1 Eternal Witness
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1 Hua Tuo, Honored Physician
1 Iroas, God of Victory
1 Keeper of Progenitus
1 Magmatic Force
1 Moldgraf Monstrosity
1 Mossbridge Troll
1 Patron of the Orochi
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Siege Behemoth
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Soul of the Harvest
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
1 Terastodon
1 Thunderfoot Baloth
1 Tyrant of Discord
1 Vigor
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Illusionist's Bracers
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sol Ring
1 Strionic Resonator
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
Enchantments (7)
1 Aura Shards
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Lurking Predators
1 Mayael's Aria
1 Song of the Dryads
1 Sylvan Library
1 Where Ancients Tread
Nonpermanents (10)
1 Cultivate
1 Decimate
1 Hull Breach
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Recross the Paths
1 Shamanic Revelation
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Titanic Ultimatum
1 Worldly Tutor
3 Plains
4 Mountain
8 Forest
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Opal Palace
1 Rith's Grove
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Temple of Abandom
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
Changelog:
04/29/2015: Out: Atarka, World Render; In: Surrak, the Hunt Caller
1 Witch-Maw Nephilim
Creatures (24)
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Bane of Progress
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Carnifex Demon
1 Champion of Lambholt
1 Chasm Skulker
1 Corpsejack Menace
1 Custodi Soulbinders
1 Fathom Mage
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
1 Godhead of Awe
1 Joiner Adept
1 Master Biomancer
1 Mindless Automaton
1 Novijen Sagea
1 Pentavus
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Realm Seekers
1 Shardless Agent
1 Tetravus
1 Triskelavus
1 Triskelion
1 Vorel of the Hull Clade
Artifacts (18)
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Contagion Engine
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Lux Cannon
1 Powder Keg
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sol Ring
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Time Bomb
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Abzan Ascendancy
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Doubling Season
1 Hardened Scales
1 Humility
1 Inexorable Tide
1 Prismatic Omen
Planeswalkers (2)
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
Nonpermanents (10)
1 Black Sun's Zenith
1 Clockspinning
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Divine Reckoning
1 Duneblast
1 Evolution Charm
1 Fuel for the Cause
1 Shield of the Oversoul
1 Tempt with Glory
1 Tezzere'ts Gambit
Lands (36)
2 Plains
2 Island
2 Swamp
3 Forest
1 Ancient Ziggurat
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacombs
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Godless Shrine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Opal Palace
1 Opulent Palace
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Sandsteppe Citadel
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery
Great comments, thank you for the feedback!
Please give reasoning if you feel I should or should not include a particular card.
Coastline Chimera - It flies, has a huge butt, and can block multiple creatures to gum up the board state. There aren't a ton of creatures that can get by it. That said, it's a rather unexciting card and I worry that it won't be drafted very highly.
Deputy of Acquittals - This feels like what Azorius wants to be doing. Bounce your things to protect them and leave behind a body. It's a great tempo move.
Dramatic Rescue - This one isn't very exciting, but the dollop of life gain makes me want to consider it. However, I think Deputy of Acquittals would make the cut before this would.
Ethercaste Knight - 1/3 for two mana is pretty good, and it makes a good blocker, while pumping up a single flier later. I don't think this reads very exciting, though, nor do I think it's that great.
Feeling of Dread - Flashback is great card economy. This is potentially four creatures' worth of tapping.
Momentary Blink - Depending on the cards included in the individual colors, this can be super amazing. I anticipate things like AEther Adept, Auramancer, etc. getting pretty awesome. It does require a commitment to a particular strategy to be optimal, and is rather corner case otherwise.
Offering to Asha - This is not a straight-up hard counter, but the life gain for the cost is nice, and an extra four mana is usually going to kill that spell.
Overrule - Alternatively, this card can be a hard counter, and gains you potentially more life as a mana dump late game. It's worse than Offering to Asha until you hit 7+ mana, though.
Plumes of Peace - The repeated tapping can be super useful if you are on the offensive, but because it will untap on its controller's next turn, defensive applications are limited. Pacifism is very good, though.
Silver Drake - A very efficiently costed flier, this can also return value creatures to your hand.
Steel of the Godhead - The two abilities are useful separately. They're backbreaking together, but the amount of single target removal as well as the lack of multicolored creatures, means I'm not sure this is good enough to include.
Orzhov is going to be a life drain controlling build, with strong removal. I am on the fence about Extort and whether or not a card that is otherwise one color should be considered multicolor. On the one hand, Syndic of Tithes works perfectly fine in a white deck, but it becomes better in an Orzhov deck. If I count them as multicolor, it reduces the amount of Extort available in the cube significantly. If I don't, it gives Orzhov decks an extra boost.
Blind Hunter - The life drain is significant, representing a total of 8 life points from one card, for four mana.
Kingpin's Pet - A flyer with Extort. Enough said.
Pillory of the Sleepless - This is great for creatures that you don't want to be reanimated or what have you, and the life loss is going to add up. However, it's not as good as Unmake.
Scholar of Athreos - Serves as a mana dump and win condition.
Soul Link - This is a powerful card, but it's sort of weird and doesn't lend itself to specific applications. How often would it be a dead card?
Tithe Drinker - Possibly the worst Extort card, it's a very fragile body, but the extra trigger will be significant.
Unmake - Super awesome removal. It's difficult to cast, but it gets the job DONE.
Basilica Guards, Basilica Screecher, Syndic of Tithes
, and Syndicate Enforcer - Not technically multicolored cards. They're all excellent (although some more than others...), and would be great to include.
-----------------------------------------
Boros is kind of hard to nail down. The seemingly obvious area to take it into is a token/weenie strategy, backed up by burn and Pacifism effects. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of multicolor cards that support that strategy.
Orim's Thunder - A two for one is nice, but this has very little to do with anything. How often will it be a dead card? There will be artifacts and enchantments in the cube, but with the high amount of spot removal for creatures and the relative paucity of artifacts, is this even really necessary?
Rally the Righteous - I like that this can be used offensively or defensively. Radiance is terrible and makes for feel bads, though, and it's certainly inferior to War Flare.
Squee's Embrace - A great Aura...that doesn't have anything to do with a swarm strategy.
Thundersong Trumpeter - Also has very little to do with a token based aggro deck, although it can be nice to get around blockers.
Viashino Firstblade - Comes down and deals four hasty damage. After that, though, it's just a meh body.
War Flare - An all-star that does amazing things, being defensive, offensive, etc.
Wojek Halberdiers - A well-costed creature even without any abilities, the Battalion makes it stupid good.
---------------------------
Since Boros is going wide, Selesnya is going tall. It will be about ramping up to a large creature or two that are difficult to deal with. Green and white both have ways to protect creatures from removal, including Totem Armor, protection, hexproof, etc. I mostly need help with which cards to cut, since they're all amazing.
Armadillo Cloak - Is amazing.
Qasali Pridemage Never a dead card, as it's a body with Exalted or removal.
Rhox Bodyguard - Not super exiting for its cost, but Exalted tends to be stupid good, especially the more you can stack it.
Shield of the Oversoul - Indestructible is awesome, and will let the creature continue to be built up into a wrecking ball. Flying is awesome evasion, naturally.
Sigil of the Nayan Gods - While I don't expect the Selesnya deck to have crap tons of creatures out, even a three or four boost is huge, and the cycling means this will never be a dead card.
Sigiled Behemoth - A large creature with Exalted, which means it can swing on its own for 6 damage.
As others have said, Sliver Queen is also a great choice. Let's you do fun things with Grave Pact, Death Cloud, etc.
Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage work independently and while I know it's an infinite combo, the only time I would use it is if I draw into them naturally and am about to die. I'd prefer to stay away from Basalt Monolith and Rings of Brighthearth together. The Monolith doesn't do enough for me on its own. The Rings are super useful but I don't have an extra copy and I'm OK with that at this point. Oona is more of a finisher and by the time I'm ready for her I usually have a doubler out. But yes, it's super potent.
1 Oona, Queen of the Fae
Creatures (21)
1 Circu, Dimir Lobotomist
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Diluvian Primordial
1 Dimir Guildmage
1 Duskmantle Guildmage
1 Geth, Lord of the Vault
1 Havengul Lich
1 Hedron Crab
1 Jace's Mindseeker
1 Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
1 Nirkana Revenant
1 Notion Thief
1 Phenax, God of Deception
1 Riddlekeeper
1 Sangromancer
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Stitcher Geralf
1 Telemin Performance
1 Trinket Mage
Artifacts (17)
1 Altar of the Brood
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Codex Shredder
1 Crumbling Sanctuary
1 Dimir Signet
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Ghoulcaller's Bell
1 Grindclock
1 Howling Mine
1 Illusionist's Bracers
1 Library of Leng
1 Meekstone
1 Mindcrank
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Jace's Erasure
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Memory Erosion
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rhystic Study
Planeswalkers (6)
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana Vess
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Nonpermanents (12)
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Chill of Foreboding
1 Countermand
1 Decree of Pain
1 Life's Finale
1 Mind Grind
1 Minds Aglow
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Psychic Strike
1 Shared Trauma
1 Silumgar's Command
1 Traumatize
Lands (38)
9 Island
10 Swamp
1 Bad River
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Dimir Aqueduct
1 Dimir Guildgate
1 Dismal Backwater
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Frost Marsh
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Jwar Isle Refuge
1 Maze of Ith
1 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Secluded Glen
1 Tainted Isle
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of the False God
1 Watery Grave
Changelog:
04/29/2015: Out: Demonic Tutor, Jace, Architect of Thought, and Mesmeric Orb; In: Silumgar's Command, Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker, and Countermand