General What are the hallmarks of a "riptide-style" cube to you?

[shamizy]

is ragavan considered pretty powerful? He seemed cool and I was going to add him in a pretty big update im making to my cube. But I am super bad at judging the overall power or cards so would prefer not to include it if it’s going to be game breaking.

also does “rate” just mean “power” in this context?

Ragavan's power is contextual. If it's left uncontested early in the game backed by a ton of efficient removal it can run away with it like it did in Modern for a while, but if you have enough early blockers or ways to gum up the board then it quickly gets bottled up. In a vacuum it's a pretty powerful card, but it doesn't have the raw power of other cards higher in the curve that can completely dominate boards. At the end of the day it's still just a 2/1 and creatures are bigger way earlier nowadays. I've had it straight up stopped on the draw by a classic Wall of Omens gumming up the board.

Creatures are more common in cube than Constructed so I don't feel like it's anywhere near as powerful or game-warping as it has been in Constructed. Ragavan has a more finite window where it can be very powerful before getting outclassed.

 

[wahoopride]

Ragavan's power is contextual. If it's left uncontested early in the game backed by a ton of efficient removal it can run away with it like it did in Modern for a while, but if you have enough early blockers or ways to gum up the board then it quickly gets bottled up. In a vacuum it's a pretty powerful card, but it doesn't have the raw power of other cards higher in the curve that can completely dominate boards. At the end of the day it's still just a 2/1 and creatures are bigger way earlier nowadays. I've had it straight up stopped on the draw by a classic Wall of Omens gumming up the board.

Creatures are more common in cube than Constructed so I don't feel like it's anywhere near as powerful or game-warping as it has been in Constructed. Ragavan has a more finite window where it can be very powerful before getting outclassed.

Thanks. This makes me think its worth giving it a try.

 

[ravnic]

Ragavan's problem is how snowbally it is. I think it's often fine when the monkey player is on the draw, but on the play, there is really only a tiny window. And a 1-drop that can run away with the game so easily, without any support, is a red flag for many cube designers (at least it is one for me).