For cube designers looking to stay up to date with the latest cards, new sets can cause a financial strain. Wanting to test out the newest value spell, bomb creature, or Planeswalker in your cube can be quite expensive when the card is concurrently in standard. No one enjoys buying an expensive card just to find out it isn’t what they expected in their cube.
With the release of Zendikar Rising, cards from Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, and Core Set 2020 rotated out of standard. With the exception of those playable in eternal formats, many cards from these sets can be picked up for cheap. In addition, we’ve now had over a year to test and discuss these sets.
Part one of this article series covered high-powered cubes. Part two covered medium-powered cubes. This article will cover peasant and pauper cubes, concluding the series. Of note, Cloudkin Seer, Narset, Parter of Veils, Burning Prophet, Goblin Cratermaker, Paradise Druid, and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer are not mentioned in this article because they were covered in one of the first two articles.
Peasant Upgrade ModuleThis article picks the best budget-friendly upgrades rotating out of standard for your peasant cube. At the time that I write this, the 23 cards suggested below can be purchased for $5.10 (TCG market).
An Oblivion Ring which only hits Creatures and Planeswalkers. While missing on enchantments and artifacts is certainly a downside, I will happily include more three-mana permanent removal in white. Prison Realm gives you a scry on ETB, which is sorely-needed card advantage in white.
Conclave Tribunal ($0.09)Our second Oblivion Ring effect, Conclave Tribunal’s convoke is excellent when you have even one or two creatures on board. If you’re in a position where you’re forced to cast it without convoke, the extra mana is hardly a downside.
Ancestral Blade is flexible equipment that creates a token. At its base, it is a two-mana 2/2. However, if you have a threat like Seraph of Dawn on the board, you can pay 
to give it +1/+1, leaving behind a 1/1 token. I like Blade for its cheap casting cost and even cheaper equip cost.
Blue’s one drops – and one drops in general – typically suffer in the late-game. Pteramander defies this stereotype, scaling into a sizable threat. Blue decks cast lots of instants and sorceries, so Adapt can often be activated for 5 or less. Adapt is instant-speed, which leads to some interesting attacks, bluffs, and lines.
Another great one-drop in blue. Spectral Sailor is a card advantage engine – efficient, instant-speed, and repeatable. I’ve certainly paid a lot more than four mana to draw a card before.
Murmuring Mystic ($0.15)Murmuring Mystic is a much-needed spells-matter payoff for rarity-restricted cubes, joining the ranks of Young Pyromancer and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer. At four mana, Mystic is the most expensive of the bunch, but its 1/5 body and creation of flyers makes it well worth the cost.
Sinister Sabotage is the latest in a long list of Cancels, most directly comparable to Dissolve. Surveil can synergize with graveyard-matters cards like Treasure Cruise and Think Twice, so I’m inclined to give Sabotage the edge.
Chemister's Insight ($0.10)Divination at instant speed for an extra mana, with the upside of being able to flash it back by discarding a card. Excellent in any blue deck.
This one might be a bit fringe, but I’ve enjoyed the recursion that Taskmaster provides. A 2/3 body is solid in aggro and midrange, and the Gravedigger effect is good value. Order of Midnight this is not, I still enjoy Eternal Taskmaster quite a bit.
Orzhov Enforcer ($0.13)Typhoid Rats that has a backside of a 1/1 spirit. The extra point of toughness is nice for blocking random tokens, too. Not the flashiest card, but is excellent in making combat difficult and leaves behind a body.
Not only does Plaguecrafter have an extra point of toughness over Fleshbag Marauder, it also hits Planeswalkers – something that rarity-restricted cubes now have to worry about.
Goblin Banneret ($0.12)New permutations on red one-drops are always welcome. Goblin Banneret’s pump improves his odds in combat, leads to interesting decisions, and if timed correctly, synergizes with Mentor to give another attacker a +1/+1 counter. About all I can ask from a one-drop.
Tibalt’s tokens make combat a nightmare. The ping can be the final point of damage to tilt combat in your favor, pick off an X/1 bystander, or just jam damage to the face. His lifegain denial makes this an excellent toolkit planeswalker for red aggro decks.
Lava Coil ($0.19)Not much to say about this one – at sorcery speed, I’m still happy to cast this efficient removal spell.
Red’s identity is built around attacking and burn, meaning Light Up the Stage is frequently a one-mana draw-two. Perfect in aggro decks, where Light Up can draw into your top-end Bolt Hound or Stoke the Flames. To no surprise, card draw in red is highly-coveted.
Kraul Harpooner ($0.05)Harpooner has lots of flexibility. In cubes which support green aggro, it is a 3/2 with a keyword that occasionally removes a spirit token or Kitesail Freebooter. Elsewhere, it can easily trade up with Serra Angels and other big threats.
Comparable to Reclamation Sage, Brontodon has a more restrictive casting cost and requires an additional to activate. However, Brontodon’s 3/4 body is no joke. Brontodon is never a bad top-deck – a utility creature or a beater when you need it.
I’ve always been a proponent of jamming as many Duresses as you can into a list – even at two mana. Excellent in any blue-black list, Thought Erasure combines Agonizing Remorse with a Surveil trigger.
Rhythm greatly improves the odds of midrange against control decks by making creatures uncounterable. Riot triggers are always relevant, which give you a choice between going on the beatdown or sitting back and building up a board presence. The biggest downside to Rhythm is that it doesn’t do anything the turn it comes into play.
Fireblade Artist ($0.11)Fireblade Artist is a sacrifice outlet for Artistocrats and an attacker and damage-generator for aggro. While it has limited use outside of these two decks, Artist can be a powerful piece in quickly finishing off opponents.
Menace is one of the best types of evasion for red and black – particularly decks trying to end the game. On stalled board states, Angrath flips combat in your advantage while pumping out a 2/2 token that scales into a 4/4 if it survives.
Cruel Celebrant ($0.45)A multicolored Zulaport Cutthroat, Celebrant provides rarity-restricted cubers with another iteration of this powerful effect. Celebrant takes advantage of your creatures dying during combat, sacrifice, or elsewhere. Triggering on Planeswalkers is relevant in fringe scenarios.
For the four-power-matters decks – or more generally, midrange – Kiora is a Kavu Lair with additional utility stapled on. Kiora can untap lands to ramp, untap post-attack creatures to give them pseudo-vigilance, or untap utility permanents like Gideon's Lawkeeper.
Pauper Upgrade ModuleThis article picks the best budget-friendly upgrades rotating out of standard for your pauper cube. At the time that I write this, the 12 cards suggested below can be purchased for $1.32 (TCG market).
Two bodies for three mana is a great rate, especially when one has flying. Great midrange or tempo attacker.
Disdainful Stroke ($0.06)Disdainful Stroke is an efficient counterspell to your opponent’s mid- and late-game threats. At just 
, it’s easy to hold up Disdainful Stroke while also developing your own board state.
A downgrade to Mana Leak, but a powerful counterspell nonetheless. After casting it just once, your opponent will mentally add two mana to any spell they want to resolve.
Blade Juggler ($0.04)Blade Juggler replaces itself on ETB by drawing a card, and can frequently be cast for its cheaper cost. I’m happy to cast this for five, and even happier casting it for three.
A fixed Dismember of sorts, -5/-5 kills almost everything, gets around indestructible and regenerate, and can be useful as a combat trick.
Heartfire ($0.07)Four damage to any target can be quite powerful, especially when you need the last few points of burn to finish off your opponent or to clear a large blocker. Sacrificing a creature is a big downside, but worth the low cost of this flexible burn.
Much like Prison Realm, Jaya’s Greeting takes a classic effect (Lightning Strike), gives it a restriction, and staples on a Scry trigger. As it turns out, removal with card advantage is still excellent.
Skewer the Critics ($0.38)I’m not the biggest fan of Skewer, but it deserves mention. Another Lightning Bolt for your arsenal – albeit a more expensive and sorcery-speed one. Worth considering in pauper cubes.
Pollenbright Druid actually has three modes – put a counter on itself, put a counter on another creature, or Proliferate. I enjoy the flexibility, and this card gets even better if you’re able to flicker or recur it.
Silverback Shaman ($0.03)Rarity-restricted cubes, especially common-only cubes, have very limited options in the five-mana green creature slot. Silverback Shaman has noteworthy value as a large beater with trample and a residual card draw.
A strict upgrade over Naturalize, which can also hit a card in graveyard. Marginally less of a dead draw. A fine utility spell if you’re in the market for Naturalize effects.
Growth Spiral ($0.45)A ramp spell and cantrip, Growth Spiral’s biggest strength is being instant speed – meaning you can hold up a combat trick, removal, or counterspell before playing this value spell on your opponent’s end step.
ConclusionsThat wraps up this three-part article series on maximizing your post-rotation budget. Part one gave high-powered cubes 15 new cards for just 41.58. Finally, this article gave peasant cubes 23 new cards to try out for 1.32 on the 10 best cards rotating out of standard for pauper cubes.
We’ll revisit this series in one-year’s time when Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Ikoria, and Core Set 2021 rotate out of standard. Thanks for reading!
@thesidestepkids | thesidestepkids#7403 | /u/thesidestepkids
I thought about that when writing!
I keep my color and guild sections even. For me, it's easy to keep the guilds equally represented and relatively balanced. However, the impact on draft and gameplay of going +1 or -1 card in a guild is marginal - even less so going +3 or -3 in a mono color. You could make a strong design / choice argument for doing or not doing this.
I do cheat with some cards, especially in mono-color. If I want to slot another land or colorless card in, I might see Phyrexian Metamorph in my colorless section and go "hm...you're a blue card now."