CUBE?

Don't know what Pauper & Peasant Cubes are? Click here.

You can check out my personal Pauper Cube and Peasant Cube, though as I'm writing this I haven't yet sat down and made cuts in my peasant list for potential Theros additions. Right now that one's a bloated mess.

GRADING SYSTEM

Terrible. Never play with these awful cards. I was going to say that these cards are only good for kindling, but turns out that they're not even good for that.

Bad. Either they are bad cards, or they are good cards that require a specific cube that can support them so that they become good.

Borderline. Worth at least considering adding to your cube. Decent cards that sometimes make the cut.

Cubeable. The nuts and bolts of any good cube. I highly recommend them.

Staple. The cream of the crop. These cards will be featured in just about any cube.

Alright, let's look at some cards!

WHITE COMMONS

Battlewise Valor - White has much better combat tricks. Zealous Strike isn’t very exciting and neither is this.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Cavalry Pegasus - The little brother of the very powerful Stormfront Pegasus. This one tries to stand out by giving your Humans flying, but the loss of power for inconsistent tribal support is not worth it.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.





Chosen by Heliod - I can appreciate the cantrip effect if you manage to resolve this aura. Unfortunately, giving a creature +0/+2 isn’t worth the mana investment or the card slot.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Divine Verdict - White does not lack in targeted removal. Cards like Celestial Flare, Righteous Blow, Journey to Nowhere are not “strictly better,” since they do different things... but they’re still better.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Ephara's Warden - Natalie Portman deserved to be featured on a better card rather than an overpriced Kor Line-Slinger. If you want good defensive tappers, go with (Gideon’s Lawkeeper) and/or Goldmeadow Harrier.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.







God Willing - Now this is a card I can get behind. Gods Willing has been nothing short of fantastic in my Theros limited experiences so far. You can't target your opponent's stuff like you can with Stave Off, but it's very rare that you'd want to, so exchanging that option with Scry 1 is a great deal. Gods Willing fits at a similar power level as Shelter, which has always been a top white trick in my cube. Downgrading from draw to scry 1 is okay if you're halving the mana cost.

Pauper: Staple. I love 1cmc instants, and this one is a nice fit in my white alongside Cloudshift and Swift Justice.

Peasant: Cubeable. The 1cmc instant slots get more crowded with Harm's Way as another amazing trick/removal, not to mention Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares. I still plan on making room for it though.

Hopeful Eidolon - I initially thought this card was garbage. It turns out that it’s quite good in Theros limited, as a slightly worse Mark of the Vampire is still fine on a 5power monstrous creature that has little chance of being killed by removal, and a 1/1 lifelink on turn one is a strong play if you’re going to be dropping Ordeal of Heliod on it turn 2. Unlike Theros limited, however, most cube lists are running removal that doesn’t suck and far fewer auras to make a 1/1 lifelink worthwhile, making both versions of this card very unappealing.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Lagonna-Band Elder - If white in your cube is packing a very high amount of enchantments to consistently turn on this guy’s ETB trigger, then you almost have a mono-color Centaur Healer, which is very good. Otherwise, white has better 3cmc creatures to choose from.

Pauper & Peasant: Borderline.

Last Breath - This card basically sums up removal in Theros: it’s terrible. Welcome to Avacyn Restored 2.0

Pauper & Peasant: Terrible.

Leonin Snarecaster - A worse Azorius Arrester. Just like the Arrester, it’s usually just a crummy 2/1 creature if played on turn 2 with a bit more value if it comes out later when the tap down is a bit more relevant, and it has some potential for bounce/blink to abuse the ETB trigger. If you want another Arrester, you could do worse than this.

Pauper: Borderline. Arrester pops up here, so a worse one is okay.

Pauper: Bad. Arrester and his kind are replaced by an abundance of sweet aggro 2drops, including Accorder Paladin, Cloistered Youth, and Mistral Charger.

Observant Alseid - I'm a big fan of bestow creatures, and this one isn't too shabby. A 2/2 vigilance for 3cmc is rather weak, and I’d usually rather have Knightly Valor over the bestow cost, but the option of either one is tasty. It helps you curve out and both options are reasonable.

Pauper: Cubeable. Both options are a little under the bar but the option of both is a big power boost to the card, as curving out is valuable. Personally, my white list is lacking a little in 3cmc creatures, so adding another one that can be played for extra value is perfectly acceptable.

Peasant: Borderline. There are more solid 3cmc creature options available, such as Banisher Priest, Fiend Hunter, and Flickerwisp. And at 5cmc, we’ve got bombs like Serra Angel. Observant Alseid is still okay but there’s far more stuff around that outclasses her.

Ray of Dissolution - It’s strictly a sideboard card, and on the expensive side for what it does. I’m fine with enchantment destruction in cubes, but much prefer them on more flexible bodies like Kor Sanctifiers.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Setessan Battle Priest - Not very good even in Theros limited, decent body and decent trigger, that's it. Much worse in a typical Cube list that doesn’t target have many ways to target your own creatures.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Silent Artisan - The artwork looks like an Auriok to me. Wonder what’s up with that. Wonder not about the card itself -- it's indeed bad. Hard to kill and a decent threat but white has much better things going on at 5cmc. Moving along.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Traveling Philosopher - No need to debate this one.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Wingsteed Rider - Unfortunately, the Heroic mechanic just doesn’t work very well in most cubes. This Theros limited staple is just a meh Wind Drake in most cubes. If it’s in a cube where it can consistently grow into a 3/3 then it becomes quite good.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad. Is it in a cube where it’ll consistently be 3/3? If yes, then run it. Otherwise I’d pass.

Yoked Ox - Do you like Kraken Hatchling? Now you’ve got a white version. It’s a fine card, if a bit specific to control decks, but considering how many staple cube cards are specific to aggro then some control ones should be fine. Chump block all day.

Pauper: Borderline. I prefer 1cmc removal such as Righteous Blow and Sunlance, stuff that kills whatever Ox could chump anyway. Others may want the Ox instead or in addition to these.

Peasant: Bad. With the addition of sweet 1cmc removal like (Harm’s Way) and Swords to Plowshares, I can’t see any reason to run a durdly 0/4.

Dauntless Onslaught - Amazing in heroic-heavy Theros. Not worth it in cube.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

WHITE UNCOMMONS

Decorated Griffin - 5cmc is where some of the very best white cards can be found: Cloudgoat Ranger, Belfry Spirit, and Serra Angel. This griffin cannot compete.

Peasant: Bad.

Evangel of Heliod - By itself, assuming it isn’t killed before its ability resolves, it’s 3 dudes. I’d say Evangel is worth it once you make 5 dudes, which should be doable. Any higher and it’s a certified bomb. Certainly no Spectral Procession or Battle Screech, but what it lacks in consistency and flying it sort of makes up with sometimes being a blowout to end locked board states and potential ETB abuse. I might test it.

Peasant: Borderline

Favored Hoplite - A miserable card without consistent heroic triggers.

Peasant: Bad.

Glare of Heresy - Far too narrow to be worth considering in cube.

Peasant: Terrible.

Heliod’s Emissary - (Master of Diversions) has proven to be a strong card in my Pauper Cube. For one more mana you get a body upgrade and also the option to Bestow, the latter option being highly likely to close out games in a hurry if you reach that point. 3/3 is acceptable for a white 4drop, beaten out in size by Calciderm but not much else. The utility of offensive tapping is comparable to the other sweet 4drops and that’s not even considering the bestow option. I think that’s plenty reason to try this card out.

Peasant: Cubeable.

Ordeal of Heliod - Auras must have an immediate, enormous effect for them to be good in cube. Think Armadillo Cloak. The threat of 2for1’s from a removal spell is too high in most cubes. Very few cards can make this exclusive list, and none of the Ordeals can.

Peasant: Bad.

Phalanx Leader - If this was 2/2, then maybe, maaaybe.

Peasant: Bad.

Vanquish the Foul - Bad removal is bad.

Peasant: Bad.

BLUE COMMONS

Annul - Too narrow.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Aqueous Form - Sweet in a format without any good removal, but not in cube.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Benthic Giant - With Pauper and Peasant Cubes having such a high density of amazing undercosted removal, hexproof is a premium keyword. Cards like Primal Huntbeast and (Rubblehulk Rhino) are great simply because they don’t fold to all the removal everywhere, no need to enchant them or anything. So you can imagine how awesome Benthic Giant, a fine upgrade to the Rhino, can be in cube. In blue, no less! Very few creatures in this format can handle a 4/5, and with this giant you can’t even use removal to answer it. It’s pretty much game right on the spot if you suit it up with a powerful aura.

Pauper: Staple. There’s not much competing with this giant’s card slot. Aethersnipe, I guess? Blue was seriously lacking in control finishers, so Benthic Giant is an easy auto-include.

Peasant: Cubeable. There is one 6cmc creature here that I’d consider superior, and that’s Jetting Glasskite. Its protection isn’t as good as hexproof, but slimming down its toughness to 4 so it can take to the air is a great trade. Honestly though, I’d run both.

Breaching Hippocamp - This flashy horse fish certainly grabbed my attention. It’s not the best at ambushing and surviving, but has the option of allowing a bigger creature of yours to do the ambushing. I think the closest comparison would be something like Crookclaw Transmuter, which I run in my Pauper Cube. I find the Transmuter to be a more interesting creature overall, its ETB effect being more situational but also more creative. Combat trick aside, Transmuter is the better creature as well. So, where does that leave Breaching Hippocamp? Still decent, but not for everyone.

Pauper: Borderline. A good decent combat trick and okay body. If your blue list focuses heavily on draw-go, it’s another strong flash creature to compliment that archetype, otherwise it’s simply fine.

Peasant: Bad. Doesn’t cut it in Peasant.

Coastline Chimera - A 1/5 flyer for 4cmc is not exciting in the least, especially if you’re comparing it to other UW options.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Crackling Triton - About as good as Coastline Chimera

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Fate Foretold - Blue has far better methods of drawing cards.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Griptide - I really do like Griptide. Unlike regular bounce, where bouncing an opposing creature is generally trading a card for tempo, this one is both a tempo play AND a 1for1 as you’ve denied your opponent’s next draw in a sense. It’s currently a house in Theros limited and I think people will be picking up on its power soon enough. Is that strong enough in a typical cube? Well, it depends. I’ve noticed that most P&P cube lists feature tons of creatures with ETB effects. Letting your opponents recast ETB creatures isn’t usually good.

Pauper & Peasant: Borderline. It really depends how many creatures in your cube actually benefit from being bounced. The more bounce-happy creatures in there, the less useful offensive bounce spells are.

Lost in a Labyrinth - Fleeting Distraction isn’t that great, and neither is this.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Mnemonic Wall - A solid blocker that gets back an instant or sorcery for delicious value.

Pauper: Cubeable. Not quite a staple, but shows up in most pauper lists and is a solid inclusion for any blue control deck.

Peasant: Borderline. There’s sterner competition for high cmc blue creatures, such as Murder of Crows joining the ranks. It’s still awesome and no uncommon does its specific job any better, but not every Peasant Cube list will want it.

Nimbus Naiad - Wind Drake is a little under the bar but fine. The bestow option is essentially an overcosted Griffin Guide that is safe from instant removal 2for1’s, bounce, and exile effects that would otherwise deny you the 2/2 flyer. Put both options on the same card and you’ve got something good.

Pauper: Cubeable. Nimbus Naiad is one of the most interesting creatures available and the flexible cost helps out the curve.

Peasant: Borderline. The competition is a little tougher with a few cards such as Serendib Efreet and Fettergeist, though Nimbus is probably still fine.

Omenspeaker - No, it’s not card draw, but Scry 2 is still solid at making sure you’re either getting lands or spells when you need them. Any opening hand with at least two lands and Omenspeaker is the easiest keep in the world. Control decks will love this.

Pauper: Staple. Comparable to Augury Owl. Scry X gets exponentially better as you increase its numerical value since not only do you get to potentially tuck more unwanted cards, but also Scry allows you to rearrange the ones you keep on top in any order, so that land you need three cards deep can be placed right on top. So Augury Owl’s Scry 3 is much better than Omenspeaker’s Scry 2. However, Omenspeaker has a far superior body, allowing the decks that want these cards – control – to reasonably block an opponent’s early drop. Augury Owl can only chump once and that’s it. Because of the superior defensive body, I think Omenspeaker is a strong inclusion. It gives control decks exactly what they want from a 2drop; some library manipulation and a strong early blocker.

Pauper: Cubeable. Augur of Bolas is generally better, though it does need a very specific drafted deck to support it. With that in mind, Omenspeaker is far more consistent and fits in more decks, so it’s not as far behind in cubes as you’d think. Outside of Blue, it’s pretty much outclassed by Wall of Omens and Wall of Blossoms. Still quite good, however.

Prescient Chimera - A 3/4 flyer for 5cmc by itself is pretty much standard. Wind Drake at 3cmc, Phantom Monster at 4cmc, and we’re missing 1 point of power at 5cmc. Keep in mind that the jump from 3 to 4 toughness is bigger than you’d think. This boost keeps it out of k kill range for many removal spells, especially Red’s, which is usually packing Lightning Bolt and all iterations of Incinerate. So without looking at its textbox, we’ve got a card that is borderline playable. Then it’s got the Scry trigger. Considering the color you need to be in to play Prescient Chimera, it’s highly likely that you already have a decent amount of instants and sorceries in your deck. I’d assume that the Chimera will let you scry at least once, and hopefully multiple times. That shifts the card from borderline to amazing.

Pauper: Staple. Nothing can really compare to it in the 5cmc range. A great and much needed finisher for Blue.

Peasant: Cubeable. There’s a competitor here with Murder of Crows. The crows have that sweet power boost and probably a better trigger, though I would think that Prescient Chimera’s trigger would happen more often overall. I think Murder of Crows is a little better, but I don’t see why there can’t be room for both.

Stymied Hopes - Don’t get your hopes up. Force Spike is only playable because it offers countermagic in the rare 1cmc slot. Bringing it up to the 2cmc slot puts it at odds with far superior countermagic such as Mana Leak, and offering Scry 1 isn’t enough.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Thassa's Bounty - Deep Analysis. Tidings. There are so many better card draw options in blue, this doesn’t come close.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Triton Shorethief - I don’t understand why Wizards insists on wasting space with these type of cards. It’s like a crappy inside joke that Wizards insists on telling people that aren’t in on it.

Pauper & Peasant: Terrible.





Vaporkin - A functional reprint of Welkin Tern. It’s still one of the best aggressive options for blue at 2cmc.

Pauper & Peasant: Cubeable. Essentially there’s just this and Welkin Tern for quality aggressive 2drops for both pauper and peasant blue lists. If you want to make your blue more aggressive, you’ll want this.







Voyage’s End - Adding Scry 1 to Unsummon isn’t worth doubling the cmc.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad.

Wavecrash Triton - Like most heroic creatures, if you can consistently trigger its heroic ability just one time, it becomes are really sweet card. Unfortunately, most cube lists simply cannot guarantee that.

Pauper & Peasant: Bad. Horned Turtle with bonus is exactly what control decks want. If your cube list can consistently trigger heroic, this card is sweet. Otherwise I’d probably avoid it.



BLUE UNCOMMONS



Dissolve - I think Wizards has finally hit the sweet spot with unconditional countermagic for Standard. Cancel is too weak, Counterspell is too strong, but Dissolve feels just right. In cube, however, we get to play with all the broken countermagic. Mana Leak, Counterspell, Exclude, Dismiss, there’s too much countermagic out there that I’d play before this. Dissolve is not bad, but I’m not in a rush to include it in my cube for testing.

Peasant: Borderline.

Gainsay - Sideboard card.

Peasant: Bad.

Horizon Scholar - Theros has made sure that blue isn’t lacking finishers. Horizon Scholar is huge, and while Scry 2 isn’t as good as drawing a card, it’s still a very nice bonus. I still prefer the main competitor, Jetting Glasskite, over this new sphinx, since resiliency to removal will often dictate whether or not you immediately lose to aggro or stabilize and win. I’d probably run both, however.

Peasant: Cubeable.

Ordeal of Thassa - Auras must have an immediate, enormous effect for them to be good in cube. Think Armadillo Cloak. The threat of 2for1’s from a removal spell is too high in most cubes. Very few cards can make this exclusive list, and none of the Ordeals can.

Peasant: Bad.

Sea God’s Revenge - I appreciate the blowout potential of this card. It fits the scheme of Into the Void, trading the ability to bounce your own creatures for Scry 1. Still, I never really considered Into the Void for my cube, and this card doesn’t impress enough either.

Peasant: Borderline.

Sealock Monster - Well, that’s an impressively large creature for blue. It locks down your opponent’s ground assault when you cast it, and then becomes a lategame finisher when you’ve reached seven mana. Unfortunately, it takes a while to get going, no reach, no evasion, and no resiliency to removal. This octopus is interesting, but unlikely to be good enough.

Peasant: Bad.

Thassa’s Emissary - Like (Heliod’s Emissary), I think Thassa’s Emissary is a fine creature by itself that gets significantly better when you factor the option to get more lategame value out of it. This is going straight into my cube and is going to make my opponents feel crabby when I swing in with it.

Peasant: Cubeable.

Triton Fortune Hunter - Like most heroic creatures, if you can consistently trigger its heroic ability just one time, it becomes are really sweet card. Unfortunately, most cube lists simply cannot guarantee that.

Peasant: Bad.

Triton Tactics - This could be a great tool for aggro decks looking to race other aggro decks. At best, you’re either killing two creatures or casting a pseudo Frost Breath for the low cost of 1cmc. It’s hard to go wrong with 1cmc tricks. However, this is a bit too situational for my tastes, and I can see it being fairly miserable in any non-racing situation.

Peasant: Borderline.

WHITE'S TOP PAUPER CARDS:

Gods Willing, Observant Alseid

Not a great haul for white, but Gods Willing is a sweet one.

WHITE'S TOP PEASANT CARDS:

Gods Willing, Heliod's Emissary

Two more cards going into the cube.

BLUE'S TOP PAUPER CARDS:

Benthic Giant, Nimbus Naiad, Omenspeaker, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin

Blue picked up some new staples and great cards. A huge boost.

BLUE'S TOP PEASANT CARDS:

Benthic Giant, Omenspeaker, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin, Horizon Scholar

The new pauper cards are strong enough to hang in peasant as well. Horizon Scholar is also picked up at uncommon.

Hope you guys enjoyed this in-depth review. I think for the next article I'll ditch reviewing every single card and instead focus only on the cubeables and staples, since it saves time and that way I can probably wrap up all the remaining cards in a single article. Lemme know what you think about that!