We ought to be able to discuss peasant cube in powered and un-powered terms, although a few of the implications don't translate directly. There is tier of technically-uncommon cards that are usually excluded from even powered peasant lists like Sol Ring and Skullclamp and such.
At higher rarities, 'powered' also implies the availability of combo pieces that bend or break the rules of magic in some way, like trading life for mana or card draw.
There's a lot less of this at uncommon and common, and without planeswalkers, the focus is on creatures. Specifically, it ends up being on etb sticks like these familiar faces:
Any peasant list with a critical mass of these will see ETB value generation become the main axis that players compete on. Since casting natural and reliable two-for-ones in the form of creatures is the best thing you can be doing in such a format, we can make a few more assumptions and lay out what the best support for such a strategy is:
The talisman cycle, for allied colors, has the balance point of colored mana costing 1 life each time, but should serve the same role of skipping the early turns whenever possible. The MTGO Uncommon cube had this kind of meta, where ramping on two outperformed and punished decks that were playing filler attackers on turns two and three.
Not that I would consider these power, but in that cube you could get pretty far with repeatable ways to recur your ETB triggers. Mistmeadow witch, Diabolic servitude, Haunted Crossroads, even Temur Sabertooth.
You would also sometimes pick the following BS over a good etb stick:
What are these lists missing? What else makes up the pantheon of busted uncommon and common candy, in the context of a Ravenous Cloud Drifter meta? And for those of us trying to build a different peasant experience, which pieces of power and nearly-power do you like to spice drafts up with?
At higher rarities, 'powered' also implies the availability of combo pieces that bend or break the rules of magic in some way, like trading life for mana or card draw.
There's a lot less of this at uncommon and common, and without planeswalkers, the focus is on creatures. Specifically, it ends up being on etb sticks like these familiar faces:
Uncommon ETB doofuses
etc etc etc ad nauseum
Any peasant list with a critical mass of these will see ETB value generation become the main axis that players compete on. Since casting natural and reliable two-for-ones in the form of creatures is the best thing you can be doing in such a format, we can make a few more assumptions and lay out what the best support for such a strategy is:
Colorless ramp/fixing (you know, Signets!)
The talisman cycle, for allied colors, has the balance point of colored mana costing 1 life each time, but should serve the same role of skipping the early turns whenever possible. The MTGO Uncommon cube had this kind of meta, where ramping on two outperformed and punished decks that were playing filler attackers on turns two and three.
Not that I would consider these power, but in that cube you could get pretty far with repeatable ways to recur your ETB triggers. Mistmeadow witch, Diabolic servitude, Haunted Crossroads, even Temur Sabertooth.
You would also sometimes pick the following BS over a good etb stick:
Frustrating and or Broken Stuff
What are these lists missing? What else makes up the pantheon of busted uncommon and common candy, in the context of a Ravenous Cloud Drifter meta? And for those of us trying to build a different peasant experience, which pieces of power and nearly-power do you like to spice drafts up with?
