I think it is important to take into account the fact that you put this back into the pack after using it, hence letting other people revel in the two-picking greatness as well. So this card will most likely get drafted multiple times in just a single draft. I think that adds a lot of the value to it from a cube designer's perspective. Usually, you want the people drafting your cube to have fun, and this will allow multiple people in multiple instances to take advantage of an effect that is really satisfying. It will perpetually be a relatively high pick, and after doing its job, it will always eventually end up being a 15th pick at the end of pack 3.
If you don't booster draft your cube, then obviously this guy is not for you. But I certainly think this is a strong and fun inclusion that warrants testing to see how your playgroup responds to such an effect. It will always get drafted relatively high since its power is based on the other cards in your cube.
Also, arguing about whether this would see play in your final 40 is ridiculous; the person who gets stuck with this card will have it on P3P15; how often does P3P15 make it into your final 40?
I also vouch for Rafiq of the Many. When played right, he impacts the board the turn he comes down by boosting someone else, and he is a relatively large threat on his own (4/4 Double strike is pretty scary...). Not a 360 staple or anything, but certainly more interesting in a shard slot than any other bant card (unless you classify Noble Hierarch as bant... which is kind of cheating).
Often the decks he's in have various forms of ramp and/or frequently have some broken equipment in play *cough Stoneforge cough* making him insane. Just one attack with a Sword, a Jitte, or even a Batterskull is usually game. Also has obvious synergy with fatties -- Kalonian Hydra, Aetherling, Chameleon Colossus, Wild Mongrel (for the lols) -- and on hit activations -- Edric, Ohran Viper, etc... He really seems to be a bit of a build around me card which is kind of what you want in a shard slot IMO.
Look, do you believe CFCs in the upper layers of the atmosphere are almost entirely due to man-made processes or not? If they are, in the interest of academic honesty, you should edit your first post which clearly suggests otherwise. If you believe there is a significant amount of naturally occurring CFCs in the upper layer of the atmosphere, where is a reputable publication that backs up this claim?
I don't know what CRISTA-SPAS is, I had to google Ad-Hom, I'm getting a PhD in math, not environmental science, and I'm not interested in reading a book published in 1968 or a random forum thread from 2002 which gives no sources in the opening post and seems highly political (as well as critical of scientists despite the OP in that thread providing no evidence of his scientific training).
You made an incredulous statement that is misleading and have not replied at all to my argument otherwise. If you really are interested in 'the truth,' then please let me know your reply to the first paragraph in this post. Thanks.
Interesting, attack the guy for sourcing data while he also paid attention to the Crista-Spas Project. That's a new level of Ad-Hom for this site. Very articulate.
Perhaps you should try and put your bias aside and dig deeper There is a reason that the argument on Ozone Depletion doesn't make the news anymore.
The discussion involves the subject of that book, and the work done by the Crista-Spas Project, as well as universities.
Additionally, you are correct there is no debate, and that is the problem. If there were a debate then I wouldn't be here posting that it's BS, because we would already know that it is.
First, this website 'geologist-1011.net' is authored by a person who has only completed a BS in geology and works in the petroleum industry (from his CV on his website). Hence, one should be at least slightly suspicious of his claims.
Second, and more importantly, his claims are extremely misleading. Here is just one simple, relevant example of where he completely bends the truth. One of his major arguments is that CFCs do occur naturally, as a result of volcanic eruptions. He then cites the following
Jordan, A., 2003, "Volcanic Formation of Halogenated Organic Compounds", The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 3, Part P, pp. 121-139.
as main evidence of his claim. In the abstract of this paper, it states "The range of compounds detected [in volcanic emissions] includes chlorofluorocarbons..." [ie. Yes, CFCs do occur naturally!]. However, the main conclusion of this paper, which is stated 2 sentences later in the abstract, is never mentioned on his website:
"Emission rate estimates [from volcanoes] for halocarbons [the larger family which CFCs are a member of] result in very low global fluxes that are unlikely to have any significance for the global atmospheric budgets of relevant halogenated trace gases."
TLDR: CFCs do occur naturally, but in levels so low that they have no significance in global measurements of such gases -- something this website conveniently omits.
So while he makes valid claims (CFCs do occur naturally!) he insinuates invalid conclusions (manmade CFCs don't have a big impact on ozone depletion since CFCs are also naturally occuring).
This masking of the truth is used almost nonstop in environmental issues (as well as other scientific topics that have entered political debate). It creates an illusion that there is some sort of real debate in the scientific community on hot issues such as "ozone depletion," "climate change/global warming," "carbon dioxide emissions effect on the atmosphere," etc.... These issues are extremely complex, and simplified statements such as "CFCs are only manmade" become widespread. Although they are not 100% correct, they are true for all intents and purposes. If you put in the effort, you can also easily see that he does this over and over again on his website.
I don't know the song (although the first couple of seconds of the link does sound very familiar -- I'm terrible at remembering songs though). However, since I am terrible at remembering songs (or catching any lyrics correctly), I have run into your problem several times. What I did (and I almost always found the song I wanted this way after about an hour or so) was check the Billboard 100 for a relevant timespan. Most songs you will be able to rule out immediately -- eg. country songs, rock songs, etc... -- and the ones you can't, you can listen to on youtube and see if it's what you're looking for. Hope this helps.
EDIT: The beat reminds me of http://youtu.be/znlFu_lemsU and I could imagine hearing "hercules".... Is that it?
If you are on the play, and opponent hits their 1 drop, 2 drop, and 3 drop, Vise does 6 damage. If you are on the draw, and they also hit their 1 drop, 2 drop, Vise does 3 damage. So you expect it to do at least 4.5 damage each time it is in your opening hand, and it has upside. This is insane for a colorless 1 drop. Moreover, it really dominates certain matchups -- eg. control usually misses one drops (or plays 1 drops that draw them cards), doesn't want to play proactively, and wants to draw more cards; all of these scenarios Vise absolutely crushes.
It was drafted and maindecked in each draft for my first 4, and it sucked. It dealt a total of less than 10 damage in all 4 drafts, combined, and was usually a completely dead card.
While possible, stastically speaking, this type of performance is REALLY rare.
In 4 drafts, 4 matches each, 2.5 games per match, you play around 40 games. It's in your opening hand 7.5/40 of the time, and does on average 4.5 damage each time = 33.75 damage expected over 4 drafts. The standard deviation is also quite small, so less than 10 damage over 4 drafts is very unlikely.
The more interesting question about Vise is whether or not you want such a swingy, powerful card in your cube since it does so much T1 on the play and so little otherwise. If you want the strongest cards ever in your cube, Vise is a no brainer.
Also, The Rack is not cubeworthy. It has absolutely no presence early game, and late game, wouldn't you rather just have a real finisher?
This card suffers from a similar drawback to Geist of Saint Traft. I think the mentality of the RB color pair (or UW) only making 1 type of deck is rather narrow. Although this would be the prototypical function, unless you're only doing 2-3 person drafts, it isn't uncommon to not be able to hit that 'critical mass' of aggro cards (or control cards) that you need. Hence, these atypical, high power level, mid-rangey cards become a lot stronger. I'd rank Olivia #2 in RB (behind Redcap), and Geist #1 in UW based on pure power level, and I recommend anyone doing 4-8 person drafts to give them a try.
Even though he thinks Goblin Patrol is better than Reckless Waif in cube (unlike LSV), I will go on record as agreeing with wtwlf for once: this seems pretty good...
Mayor of Avabruck - Pros: Extremely powerful 2 drop with enormous upside. Cons: High variance compared to other two drops.
Geist of Saint Traft - Pros: Way over power level for a 3 drop. Cons: Most cubers have a theory of what a color pair should run, and if a card doesn't match what that color pair does in their theory, they don't run it.
Reckless Waif - Pros: 3 power on a 1 drop. Cons: Again, high power level for the trade off of high variance.
Huntmaster of the Fells - Pros: Again, see above. Also won the pro tour? Also, not as variance dependent as the other werewolves since the front side is on curve.
Cons: Again, while being way above average power level, this card has the same problem Geist has, so see that category. Most cubers associate green-red with strict face-punching and de-value card advantage, life gain, etc...
Shelldock Isle - Pros/Cons: I don't really remember what people said about this card, so someone else who beat this horse should probably speak up. This card seems solid to me, so I don't know much about its downsides. A land that casts a card at instant speed for 1 mana seems pretty legit...
Absorb - Pros: Counter + life gain is usually what control wants.
Cons: Awkward casting cost, slightly lower than average power level.
Sarkhan Vol - Pros: His -2 has a strong surprise factor immediately and can often deal a decent amount of damage. His +1 has a strong surprise factor down the line. His ultimate is reasonably costed and can win the game.
Cons: His usual strength is entirely dependent on the board state, and he can often be a dead planeswalker that is slowly powering up for his ultimate. he can't win on an empty board unlike most other planeswalkers.
The playgroup that I play with that has a powered cube has recently been discussing taking out some of these unfun elements. Things like T1 Lotus, Sol Ring, Black Vise create swingy situations that don't usually lead to a very interesting game. There are a couple of other super powerful unfun cards (here's looking at you Mind Twist, Moat, Tinker) that are also being tossed around as possible cuts. Power is fun to play with for awhile (novelty goes a long way), but I think people that cube frequently can relate to your feelings.
If you don't booster draft your cube, then obviously this guy is not for you. But I certainly think this is a strong and fun inclusion that warrants testing to see how your playgroup responds to such an effect. It will always get drafted relatively high since its power is based on the other cards in your cube.
Also, arguing about whether this would see play in your final 40 is ridiculous; the person who gets stuck with this card will have it on P3P15; how often does P3P15 make it into your final 40?
If he cost B, I'd play him without bestow!
And I don't know how people are debating him in limited. His bestow side is good reach and value in that environment.
I don't like him for cube though. Four is too much for bestow, as usual.
Often the decks he's in have various forms of ramp and/or frequently have some broken equipment in play *cough Stoneforge cough* making him insane. Just one attack with a Sword, a Jitte, or even a Batterskull is usually game. Also has obvious synergy with fatties -- Kalonian Hydra, Aetherling, Chameleon Colossus, Wild Mongrel (for the lols) -- and on hit activations -- Edric, Ohran Viper, etc... He really seems to be a bit of a build around me card which is kind of what you want in a shard slot IMO.
I don't know what CRISTA-SPAS is, I had to google Ad-Hom, I'm getting a PhD in math, not environmental science, and I'm not interested in reading a book published in 1968 or a random forum thread from 2002 which gives no sources in the opening post and seems highly political (as well as critical of scientists despite the OP in that thread providing no evidence of his scientific training).
You made an incredulous statement that is misleading and have not replied at all to my argument otherwise. If you really are interested in 'the truth,' then please let me know your reply to the first paragraph in this post. Thanks.
First, this website 'geologist-1011.net' is authored by a person who has only completed a BS in geology and works in the petroleum industry (from his CV on his website). Hence, one should be at least slightly suspicious of his claims.
Second, and more importantly, his claims are extremely misleading. Here is just one simple, relevant example of where he completely bends the truth. One of his major arguments is that CFCs do occur naturally, as a result of volcanic eruptions. He then cites the following
Jordan, A., 2003, "Volcanic Formation of Halogenated Organic Compounds", The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 3, Part P, pp. 121-139.
"Emission rate estimates [from volcanoes] for halocarbons [the larger family which CFCs are a member of] result in very low global fluxes that are unlikely to have any significance for the global atmospheric budgets of relevant halogenated trace gases."
TLDR: CFCs do occur naturally, but in levels so low that they have no significance in global measurements of such gases -- something this website conveniently omits.
So while he makes valid claims (CFCs do occur naturally!) he insinuates invalid conclusions (manmade CFCs don't have a big impact on ozone depletion since CFCs are also naturally occuring).
This masking of the truth is used almost nonstop in environmental issues (as well as other scientific topics that have entered political debate). It creates an illusion that there is some sort of real debate in the scientific community on hot issues such as "ozone depletion," "climate change/global warming," "carbon dioxide emissions effect on the atmosphere," etc.... These issues are extremely complex, and simplified statements such as "CFCs are only manmade" become widespread. Although they are not 100% correct, they are true for all intents and purposes. If you put in the effort, you can also easily see that he does this over and over again on his website.
You could always just Proxy farm Singed and avoid laning altogether!
http://www.twitch.tv/tsm_dyrus/b/409026360?t=6h7m30s
and here is his AMA
http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1epw32/iama_proxy_at_level_1_singed_that_just_reached/
EDIT: The beat reminds me of http://youtu.be/znlFu_lemsU and I could imagine hearing "hercules".... Is that it?
If you are on the play, and opponent hits their 1 drop, 2 drop, and 3 drop, Vise does 6 damage. If you are on the draw, and they also hit their 1 drop, 2 drop, Vise does 3 damage. So you expect it to do at least 4.5 damage each time it is in your opening hand, and it has upside. This is insane for a colorless 1 drop. Moreover, it really dominates certain matchups -- eg. control usually misses one drops (or plays 1 drops that draw them cards), doesn't want to play proactively, and wants to draw more cards; all of these scenarios Vise absolutely crushes.
While possible, stastically speaking, this type of performance is REALLY rare.
In 4 drafts, 4 matches each, 2.5 games per match, you play around 40 games. It's in your opening hand 7.5/40 of the time, and does on average 4.5 damage each time = 33.75 damage expected over 4 drafts. The standard deviation is also quite small, so less than 10 damage over 4 drafts is very unlikely.
The more interesting question about Vise is whether or not you want such a swingy, powerful card in your cube since it does so much T1 on the play and so little otherwise. If you want the strongest cards ever in your cube, Vise is a no brainer.
Also, The Rack is not cubeworthy. It has absolutely no presence early game, and late game, wouldn't you rather just have a real finisher?
Second, I'd just like to say that the word "Brony" cracks me up.
Third, I googled Bro-hoof and I now have even more lols. Many, many thanks to the OP.
On another note, I regret that I have yet to see grown men dressed as colorful ponies in real life, but there is still time...
Mayor of Avabruck - Pros: Extremely powerful 2 drop with enormous upside. Cons: High variance compared to other two drops.
Geist of Saint Traft - Pros: Way over power level for a 3 drop. Cons: Most cubers have a theory of what a color pair should run, and if a card doesn't match what that color pair does in their theory, they don't run it.
Reckless Waif - Pros: 3 power on a 1 drop. Cons: Again, high power level for the trade off of high variance.
Daybreak Ranger - Pros: See above. Cons: See above.
Huntmaster of the Fells - Pros: Again, see above. Also won the pro tour? Also, not as variance dependent as the other werewolves since the front side is on curve.
Cons: Again, while being way above average power level, this card has the same problem Geist has, so see that category. Most cubers associate green-red with strict face-punching and de-value card advantage, life gain, etc...
Shelldock Isle - Pros/Cons: I don't really remember what people said about this card, so someone else who beat this horse should probably speak up. This card seems solid to me, so I don't know much about its downsides. A land that casts a card at instant speed for 1 mana seems pretty legit...
Absorb - Pros: Counter + life gain is usually what control wants.
Cons: Awkward casting cost, slightly lower than average power level.
Sarkhan Vol - Pros: His -2 has a strong surprise factor immediately and can often deal a decent amount of damage. His +1 has a strong surprise factor down the line. His ultimate is reasonably costed and can win the game.
Cons: His usual strength is entirely dependent on the board state, and he can often be a dead planeswalker that is slowly powering up for his ultimate. he can't win on an empty board unlike most other planeswalkers.
2 Sylvan Library
3 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
5 Garruk Primal Hunter
6 Lotus Cobra
7 Thrun, the Last Troll
8 Noble Hierarch
9 Eternal Witness
10 Vengevine
11 Regrowth
12 Tarmogoyf
13 Skinshifter
14 Phantom Centaur
15 Troll Ascetic
16 Yavimaya Elder
17 Deranged Hermit
18 Plow Under
19 Rancor
20 Genesis