So, I asked for opinions on the cards, these are the results.
The only ones they didn't like at all was
coralhelm commander and
beastbreaker of bala ged.
Hada spy patrol was actually pretty popular with Timmy. He also was ok with all of the other leveler cards, thought Johnny wasn't excited by any of them ("
if you can level it up"). The 3cc level up costs tempered a lot of their excitment. They liked
transcendent master but both recognized that getting to level 6 might be an issue ("it would be epic if you did though...").
Timmy
loved hellion eruption, but they were less excited by
coat of arms than I thought they would be. I think they recognized it might be a little too choatic for the format. I think
Obelisk of urd is the card I am looking for, as it provides the loose tribal support I need, without being over-the-top. The CC and convoke also encourages creatures.
I explained to them the idea behind
ajani's pridemate, and well they thought it might be cool, they both quick to state they didn't want it in
this cube.
Johnny liked both
ion storm and
thrummingbird, but I have to keep in mind that
ion storm might be more of a midrange card.
Timmy actually
really liked
experiment one, and they liked the idea behind that whole counter-grow aggro archetype.
As an aside, I was asked this week by Johnny to break singleton on
young pyromancer (which I am doing,
plated geopede can go), so that seems to be another good inclusive aggro card.