This is a strange event. While my natural and excited dedication to my Pauper Cube borders on mad zeal (on the side over the line, admittedly), I’ve never written one of my “set consideration” reviews for GatheringMagic. I mean, really, the whole reason I started my Cube blog was to have just such a specific and narrow content outlet.

But this is the post–Community Cube world. I have a great reason to share and open discussion on the latest commons in Magic—because today, you have the chance to vote on what should be considered for the Magic 2012 Community Cube Update! Any card that picks up a 51% or higher proportion of the vote will be matched up to potential cuts in the final update vote to come soon.

Whether you hit up a prerelease or don’t, this is your chance to weigh in on the new commons. Let’s get started!

White

There are several cards in White that lend themselves to consideration. Most of them support an aggressive theme, with one powerful exception.

Benalish Veteran

The problem with Benalish Veteran is that, like Windrider Eel and other Landfall creatures from Zendikar, it isn’t a 3/3. A 2/2 on the defense is fairly mediocre, and the lack of a keyword ability compounds the issue. Ultimately, he’s a fine Soldier for any Pauper Cube pushing that theme, but somewhat underwhelming in the big picture.

Gideon's Lawkeeper

One of the undervalued features of creatures like Lawkeeper is that it draws out removal that would otherwise be pointed at your attackers. Since the Lawkeeper functions as pseudoremoval for yourself, opponents are usually happy to get the Lawkeeper off the table. However, it can be dangerous to tie up your mana if you otherwise don’t need to. Playing a bigger, stronger dude to attack with can be correct over tapping something for a turn, even in the face of an opponent destroying it.

Stave Off

• Enchantments/artifacts (equipment) fall off.
• Spells (removal) get countered.
• Creature that shouldn’t live do, and creatures that should live die.

The “colorless” capability of Apostle's Blessing is neat, though you can’t target opponent’s things with it. Stave Off can, and that makes guys like Seth Burn and Alex Ullman happy. Getting another efficient version of this effect into the Cube seems strong.

Stonehorn Dignitary

He does.

Stopping combat has been limited to one-shot spells or more expensive, rarer creatures. Now it’s come to common. Stonehorn Dignitary isn’t Fog or Safe Passage, but a literal time-skip over a combat step. I found it highly relevant when facing something like Inferno Titan or Frost Titan, but any deck that wants to dig deeper, play another land, or generally slow the game down can count on this to do it.

The Dignitary doesn’t support aggro, obviously. But for slower decks, like Blue/White flying, he’s stellar. He even sits at the magical “4 toughness” mark, making him a solid blocker and very burn-resistant. Once you add in Momentary Blink and bounce effects, slower decks start to sculpt a reliable way to lock out combat long enough to take control.

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Blue

I love updating the Blue section of my Cube, and Magic 2012 did not disappoint. Blue received some interesting options for both aggressive and defensive ends.

Chasm Drake

Our new Drake is a fine addition to the Blue/White flying deck. It’s on the curve, lifts annoying things like Porcelain Legionnaire, and doesn’t have any real drawback (as you can always just target itself at worst, as it’s not a “may” trigger). However, I found something quite delicious with it: Green. Flying dinosaurs and Green fatties are not only incongruently hilarious, but also deadly powerful. Getting a Drake online with big, dumb stuff is the equivalent to flying big, dumb stuff.

I want to make that happen.

Frost Breath

Dropping some Breath can be done in two ways:

• To stop creatures from attacking for the next two turns by casting it before your opponent’s combat
• To open a stalemate or defense up for two turns by casting it before your combat

I’m not running Undo, but Undo isn’t an instant. I was modestly impressed by Frost Breath during the prerelease events. While it doesn’t buy tempo through committing your opponent to recasting things as though you had bounced them, it does truly lock things down.

I can see this being a flexible tool for either aggro or control decks, but it is better than other options available?

Phantasmal Bear

With the Community Cube, as well as my own, being relatively light on tap-to-target activated abilities on creatures (like Gideon's Lawkeeper), the odds are that if the Bear is being targeted, it was dying anyway. Since we can’t stack multiple Bears in Cube Draft, and there won’t be a Lord of the Unreal to pair with it, what does Phantasmal Bear do?

It blocks, both early and often. It’s slower and slightly awkward, but it will trade with almost any on-the-ground 1- or 2-drop creature presented. Is this valuable? Well, does it help things that it’s one of the few Blue 1-drops that can actually deal respectable damage if an opponent is coming out slower?

That’s your call.

Skywinder Drake

I’m a fan of the idea of helping Blue “fight back” and attack in Cubes. For Pauper Cubes, this is relatively important; in regular Limited, Blue has ways to crack in for good damage thanks to uncommon creatures with Flying. As Pauper pulls from the core essentials of Limited, commons, I’ve pushed to ensure Blue has tools to bring to fight despite the lack of these uncommons.

Cloud Spirit and Rishadan Airship are two of the flagship choices here, and Skywinder Drake is the third to fit the 3-power-with-flying-for-3-mana model of Blue aggression. While they can’t block anything nonflying, they fulfill the unique spot of being sufficiently powerful for their cost. I plan to run all three in my Cube, and I’d recommend including this in the Community Cube as well.

[poll id="61"]

Black

There are two new cards in Black that have some potential, but this section and the two remaining are fairly light. The end is in sight!

Tormented Soul

However, Tormented Soul is a 1-drop. If Prickly Boggart is something that excites you, the Soul is likely better suited. I don’t have the Boggart in my Cube, and it isn’t in the Community Cube either, but it’s been eclipsed by Tormented Soul. Losing the ability to block in gaining “is unblockable” is fine with any hyperaggressive deck, such as Suicide Red/Black.

If we wanted to add the current, best unblockable 1-drop to Black, this would be it.

Wring Flesh