Argivian Cavalier
The Good: I've ran Attended Knight fairly happily for awhile and this trades the largely defensive First Strike keyword with DMU's more offensive Enlist keyword. Considering there are way more ways in pauper cube to stall out the board than to push damage through, that's a change I'm all for.
The Bad: Attended Knight has actually been getting pushed out for me since I have such a tight list at 240, the Inspiring Overseers of the world are powercreeping it out. That being said, if you're even a step above my cube size, I don't see this failing to make the cut.
The Verdict: I only run 2 white 3-drops and I'm not cutting Inspiring Overseer so it's either this or Priest of Ancient Lore. I honestly think I'll go with this just because it's a little more interesting.
Airlift Chaplain
The Good: Wind Drake use to be a classic creature in pauper cube so you could certainly do worse when you miss with this. When you do get a card off of this it's well worth it. White really has just been getting Phyrexian Rager after Phyrexian Rager and they're almost always going to be playable.
The Bad: 3 cards is not a lot to look at when you're looking for a or a couple specific card types. I really don't know if you want to be casting a card where you don't know if you're getting a Phyrexian Rager or a Wind Drake.
The Verdict: This card certainly has play to it, I think it's a little too inconsistent for my cube but I'd totally draft it if I see it elsewhere.
Loran's Escape
The Good: So in pauper cubes, protection spells see a lot more play than they do in unrestricted ones. God's Willing is my 1-mana protection spell of choice and this is essentially just as good.
The Bad: Really nothing bad to say about this, it does what it does well.
The Verdict: If you're in the market for a 1-mana protection spell this would be my first pick tied with God's Willing.
Recommission
The Good: Pauper cube can be a very grindy format and is often filled with creatures that have good ETB abilities. Reanimating any of these creatures with a stat boost on the cheap is going to feel very good. Unearth plays really well in my cube and even at double the mana this is probably good enough.
The Bad: It is double the mana of what we're use to spending when playing this effect. Even with the stat boost to the creature, it is possible this just doesn't play as well as one would think although I find it unlikely.
The Verdict: I'm so down for this card in my cube, I'm hoping it feels as good to play with as Unearth does.
Shore Up
The Good: This is a nice little protection spell and combat trick, certainly nice to have up your sleeve. I think this is the best blue protection spell variant and you'll definitely get people with that surprise blocker.
The Bad: In smaller environments this may be a bit redundant and unneeded considering blue has actual counter spells to protect their creatures.
The Verdict: I think this should play great and if you're playing anything akin to Dive Down, this will just be a better version.
Talas Lookout
The Good: A 3/2 flier is a nice body to have on your 4-drop that draws you a card. 3 power in the air means your opponent will have to kill this and you'll make out with a nice 3 for 2. Of course the selection and graveyard fueling aspect is always going to be nice.
The Bad: Less splashable than something like Organ Hoarder and doesn't work well with the popular blink theme in a lot of pauper cubes.
The Verdict: Certainly playable, but there are a lot of blue 4-drops I'd run before it.
Tolarian Terror
The Good: If you've played any amount of DMU limited you know how great this card is in a limited environment. In most environments this will quickly become a 1-mana 5/5.
The Bad: I have found Ward to be a lot less impressive in cube than it is in retail limited, games often advance a lot quicker to the point where the Ward doesn't matter anymore.
The Verdict: Despite it tearing it up for me in my DMU drafts, I'm probably going to pass on this one for my twobert, I really would rather pay a little more and get a big creature that's a 2 for 1 or has actual hexproof. That being said I'd probably run it at a larger cube size.
Fallaji Archaeologist
The Good: A 2-mana 1/4 is crazy annoying if you at all support aggro. An 0/3 that draws you a card and fuels the graveyard is very good at 2-mana as well.
The Bad: Alright, I might be a bit jaded since I don't think I've ever hit off Augur of Bolas ever, but wow does Augur Bolas suck. I literally think I have a 0% success rate off Augur of Bolas, 3 looks is just not a lot to try to hit off of. Upgrading to noncreature in a pauper environment doesn't actually help that much as there are generally no planeswalkers and few artifacts, the biggest thing it will hit is actually enchantments but those are generally replacing the good instants/sorceries you get in unrestricted environments so it's not really increasing the hit rate.
The Verdict: I'm not a fan of this card and I won't be running it. If you want to make your aggro drafters angry though, this one's for you.
Weakstone's Subjugation
The Good: I'm a huge fan of Bubble Snare in my cube and this to me is just better in every conceivable way. It's easier to splash and you don't waste 3 mana if it gets countered. It can even hit an artifact if that comes up.
The Bad: Nothing to say here.
The Verdict: I'm a huge fan and will be running this alongside Bubble Snare. I'd be happy to pick one of these up in most pauper environments.
Shadow Prophecy
The Good: Now I'm not usually too excited about these black Divination spells with the set mechanic, but wow has this proved to be more of a Dig Through Time in DMU draft. Fueling the graveyard is always great too.
The Bad: This one is going to be all about how easily supported domain is in your cube. If this is just an instant speed Divination (that's sometimes just a cantrip), then this is likely not good enough.
The Verdict: This would not be worthy of consideration in the past, but as of DMU we have 20 dual lands with land types. If your manabase can support it, I'd love to see it in some pauper cubes.
Urborg Repossession
The Good: Good Raise Dead effects are often more than good in pauper cubes and this one is good. I'm very down for Divination if I know I'm getting 2 threats.
The Bad: Maybe you want something more exciting for what's essentially a multicolored card, but I'm grasping here. The only thing holding this back from my tight list is that I have a lot of good Raise Dead cards already.
The Verdict: I expect this will play great in most pauper cubes, I'd almost always be looking to draft it if I was in the colors.
Emergency Weld
The Good: Remember what I said about good Raise Dead effects? A 2-mana gravedigger is great, even while losing out on the upsides of actually being a creature.
The Bad: I can't imagine this being a bad card in just about any environment.
The Verdict: Card's great, I'll have to find room for it.
Overwhelming Remorse
The Good: Ob Nixilis's Cruelty is the best unconditional removal spell in my cube and this is that if you have 2 creatures in your graveyard. If it's at all consistently that or better I'm interested.
The Bad: You don't feel good when you spend 5 mana on this and you feel even worse when it's stuck in your hand because you don't have 5-mana to spend.
The Verdict: I think this has to be good enough in larger environments and in mine I'm just going to have to test it.
Viashino Branchrider
The Good: Low to the ground red aggro decks have always been a little sad to me just because Raging Goblins are just really bad. This however, is probably the best I've seen of them at common. Doubling as a 4-mana 3/3 haste is nice but what really makes it for me is the pump ability. This will be able to actually threaten finishing off your opponent later in the game.
The Bad: I think this is exactly what you want if you're trying to support a typical low to the ground red aggro deck so I don't have much bad to say about it in that role.
The Verdict: My particular environment really doesn't lend itself to a monored aggro deck so I don't think I'm going for this one. It's a great option for your red 1-drop though.
Bitter Reunion
The Good: Thrill of Possibility getting countered has always sucked, paying 2-mana to 2-for-1 yourself is not a good feeling and I'll gladly trade that away for a sorcery speed version. From the turn you cast it, any creature in your hand can gain kicker 1 to add haste which is really awesome.
The Bad: Nothing particularly bad about this one.
The Verdict: I think this card is a great roleplayer, I'll be happy to find room for it and I imagine others will be too.
Dwarven Forge-Chanter
The Good: Burning Prophet has played very well for me and while the scry is really nice, guaranteeing damage with Ward and getting the toughness boost to push through damage is pretty sweet.
The Bad: If your cube tends more towards midrange and control battles like mine, this could get outclassed pretty quick and you'd probably rather have a scry engine.
The Verdict: This is a cool option to have and worth considering if you're pushing aggro.
Scrapwork Mutt
The Good: I've never been particularly impressed by Fissure Wizard but it's okay and this is a colorless Fissure Wizard that has unearth if you're in red.
The Bad: It's nothing exciting, just kind of filler in most pauper environments.
The Verdict: I was looking to cut Fissure Wizard, I suppose I can just make the swap.
Sunbathing Rootwalla
The Good: As mentioned earlier, we now have pretty good domain support if we want it and this thing is a bear that can threaten to become a really big stats monster.
The Bad: Definitely not for everyone, I'm unsure just how many decks of various colors this will make it into.
The Verdict: I loved playing with this in retail draft and I've always had a sweet spot for rootwallas, this is a nice option to have.
Gaea's Gift
The Good: If there's a place for blowout tricks it's got to be pauper cube. This card is every trick in one and needless to say that makes it very flexible. It's also nice that a counter sticks around.
The Bad: Generally, whichever situation you're choosing to cast this spell in, it's a little over-costed for the effect.
The Verdict: This card is hilarious to me so I want to run it, they can't play around everything right? I also think the flexibility probably makes it good, this will likely just need to be tested to see if it's actually good.
Rust Goliath
The Good: Eldrazi Devastator is a very playable card in pauper cube and is one of the only finishers that can just plow through a gummed up board. This is 2 more mana, but you do get 2 more power and another toughness for the trouble. The main thing though is that this doubles as a 5-mana green stats monster and that mode is nothing to scoff at either. 5 toughness is really great in my cube and combined with reach it blocks a lot of things.
The Bad: The 3-power on the 5-mana mode in a little underwhelming, but if you're fine defensively and are looking for a way to end the game you could just hold this.
The Verdict: I think this card is just straight up good enough with it's giant 10-mana mode. It will generally slot into the green deck anyway because it really wants to be ramped into.
Common Typed Duals
The Good: With these and the snow ones from Kaldheim, we have 20 typed duals at common rarity now. Aside from the obvious domain support, there are also a few cards such as Farseek and Nature's Lore that get better with these in your deck.
The Bad: If you don't care about the typing, these are just tapped duals.
The Verdict: Great options to have if you want to keep your lands at common.
Tocasia's Dig Site
The Good: This seems like a great utility land if you want one. I've been loving the campuses from strixhaven and have had multiple instances of people running an off-color one just for the scry ability.
The Bad: Nothing bad here.
The Verdict: Card seems great, it's pretty free to draft in most decks.
And that's a wrap for Dominaria United and Brothers' War for pauper cube! These sets had less to offer than others mostly due to some set mechanics such as domain and powerstones not quite working sufficiently outside their own limited environments. I ended up combining these two sets into one post just because I've been really busy with my new job, but it actually worked out nice since there was less to cover. I may do this again as there are sometimes few cards and little to say about them, commons can be rather simple. As always let me know if you think I missed anything! Thanks for reading and happy cubing!
