I think the overrall problem
is running too great of a density of value midrange creatures. In small douses they are reasonable, as the combination of getting a body and spell to recoup lost tempo either from an aggro rush or control's removal, can help midrange stabilize. However, in large douses it just warps the format because that effect is just so strong. Aggro decks have to become faster, more focused, and unfun, while control has to run cheaper and more efficent removal (that wizard's isn't printing anymore) to try to keep pace with decks that get spells attached to their creatures.
Drafting around midrange value cards becomes a strategy in its own right, because it lets you run effectively twice as much action as everyone else, since you are simultaneously getting spells and threats.
Besides policing the number of value ETB guys, the other big break through for me was running a bunch of temporary protection, hexproof effects, growth, or evasion effects.
They added a fishesque feel to my aggro decks, which could now operate by presenting threats and than protecting them, using colors other than just cheap blue counters. It also gave them the ability to leverage hidden information by picking off enemy creatures, and helped balance out strategies built around board stalling (midrange or tokens).
I think this is why its not really so important for me to have a huge density of heroic triggers, because its less you are running a heroic deck, and more you are running a fish deck. I don't think every cube should be running those exact cards, but I do think its helpful to think in terms of "what kind of disruption" can I give my aggro decks or "how can I support fish in my environment."
Those types of effects also mean I don't have to make compromises on the quality or density of my removal, since its not really possible for removal to smother out parts of the environment (though I do think reasonable conditions on removal is fun). Moving away from the topic of fun wonky board states, you're giving aggro decks tools to both build and to maintain an impactful board presence to compete with midrange, but at the same time control isn't having their answers neutered.
I also really like sources of burst damage for aggro decks, as perceived pressure is both a valuable tool for them to leverage, and provides them a means to comeback from behind. This is also why more fun than giving them
fireblast.
Since I evidently did a terrible job in the last thread explaining what perceived pressure is in regards to
this card, what you are doing is forcing your opponent to play around something, which can become disruption in its own right. Holding back blockers because they are afraid of a potential
goblin bushwhacker hit, casting removal at sub-optimal times because you don't want to die to a
fabled hero on the attack step, directing removal at
ninja of the deep hours rather than
delver of secrets because ninja's card draw could shut them out of the game, or making bad blocks to prevent you from growing a
creature to the point it becomes a midrange contender.
I don't think you have to necessarly not run big creatures though, and I really like a lot of the delve fatties. It just helps to give aggro decks tools to outpace, outgrow, go around, or go through the midrange decks. Traditionally, people have just focused on outpacing, which they had to do because power max (whether signet ramp or value ETB) just suffocates so many aggro strategies.
It doesn't mean no burn, but having high toughness creatures shouldn't shut down an aggro deck completely. You just need to give it the tools to compete. Maybe also worth thinking about removal too. Should we be playing more
