After a nice long stretch of paternity leave (we recently welcomed twins to the family!), I’m glad to be back, and writing about cube to boot. Today, I want to take a fresh look at cards people take too high or too low, since there’s always good fruit for discussion. I’m mostly referring to the standard MTGO Cube, but I’ve been been playing more PowerMack myself, which is the Vintage Cube with even more busted stuff. Either way, let’s take a look at some cards!

Let’s start at the top, with overrated cards - these are cards people tend to take way too highly, and aren’t nearly worth the premium people put on them. That isn’t to say these cards are bad, and some of them are cards I often take early, but they are all cards where the perception in general is too positive. 

Overrated

Grief gets a bump from being a great card in Modern/Legacy, even though I don’t think it’s amazing in Cube. It definitely has its moments, like with Reanimate or Animate Dead, but past that it really is underwhelming. You’re either 2 for 1ing yourself to make them discard a card (a card they never even had to spend mana on) or you’re paying four mana for it. Neither option is incredible, and most of the time this should be a 6-8th pick card, not a 1st-4th pick, which is where it seems to go.

There are a number of cards on this list that I’ve bumped downwards on my pick order because of how narrow they are, with Entomb among them. Entomb is only good in dedicated Reanimator decks, and I find that those decks don’t work out as often as I’d like. If you can get Entomb, some Animates, some monsters, and some tutors, sure, it’ll be pretty strong, but that’s a tall order these days. If you’re missing any of those pieces, this is a dead card to draw, and I don’t like starting drafts with such narrow options.

As much as I like swinging for 15, Emmy has lost some luster too. It’s great with Sneak Attack and Through the Breach, and can be good with Shallow Grave/Corpse Dance, but past that it isn’t the piece you want. It doesn’t work with Flash, which is the best of all the “cheat a big thing into play” cards, and Channel is too green and too risky to be good in Cube these days. Show and Tell is also not a road you typically want to go down, which makes Emrakul another card that I wouldn’t advise picking early.

I’m getting whiplash from Library of Alexandria here - it keeps going from underrated to overrated and back, though at this point I think it’s a good but not great card. I would usually not want to pick it in the first couple picks, which I think is lower than the general populace, mainly because of how fast Cube is these days. If you want to maximize Library, lean hard on early interaction, free spells, and powerful acceleration, which is basically what you want anyways (and therefore is something everyone is competing for). If I see LoA pack two and my UB deck has Thoughtseize, Spell Pierce, and Force of Will, I’m definitely in, but early in pack 1 I’d rather not take it over action cards. It’s a whole article by itself, but to summarize, I believe Cube decks need acceleration, free spells, or cheap powerful combos (like Flash) to win, especially when going second, and Library doesn’t help with that. If you do have enough of the above things, I like it, but in the average deck I think Library isn’t the kind of card I want to 1st-3rd pick.

This probably isn’t news to some of you, but Jitte is beyond washed. I view this as a sideboard card against aggro decks, and only if you have enough creatures yourself. Don’t take it highly, and generally don’t start it.

It pains me, but my favorite companion (sorry to my dog Julie) is no longer a card you should take early and build around. There are times when Lurrus is strong, but Cube has gotten faster and more and more busted 3+ mana cards get printed. The days of me first-picking Lurrus are over, I’m afraid.

Hullbreacher used to be a strong start to a draft, and you rarely see it past third pick these days, but I don’t think it’s quite at that level. Unless you get a draw 7, it doesn’t do THAT much, and is fairly vulnerable as a 2-toughness creature. Additionally, Timetwister and Wheel of Fortune are the two cards you want most with it, and those also tend to get picked fairly early (though Echo of Eons plus Lion’s Eye Diamond plays too). Time Spiral and Memory Jar are expensive, and a lot less good than they used to be, which makes Hullbreacher fairly narrow. A good card in the right deck, but worse than it was.

I’m also a lot lower on combo pieces that HAVE to have multiple specific other cards to work. Brain Freeze and Underworld Breach are almost straight-up unplayable without the other half, and you still need Lion’s Eye Diamond, Lotus Petal, or Black Lotus to go with them. A good Breach/Freeze/LED deck is still broken, but the odds you assemble the whole thing are low enough that I wouldn’t go after them as aggressively as I used to.

Now we are getting to some hot takes. Strip Mine is just not a card I want to take early anymore, since combining it with recursion is almost always too slow/weak, and by itself it’s just OK. I’m not saying I wouldn’t play it - it’s a totally fine card, but I think this is close to a 5th-6th pick card, and the vast majority of the field takes it in the first couple picks. As such, I basically never play with it anymore, which is fine by me.

The Monke is another card that is way too high on people’s lists. A turn one Ragavan is indeed awesome, and when it works, it can win the game by itself. That said, it commits you to going heavy red, the worst color, and at any point in the game past the first few turns it’s quite weak. That’s not a first-pick quality card, and it’s not only acceptable but good to pass Ragavan at this point.

Underrated

People are way higher on Parallax Wave than they used to be, but they still don’t take it as early as it deserves. PWave effectively kills all their creatures for long enough to win, protects yours, and combos with tons of cards (like Containment Priest, Flickerwisp, Samwise, Solitude, and the list goes on). Parallax Wave is one of the top white cards, and one of the best cards in the Cube besides power.

Bombardiers is another great card that people are starting to catch on to, but I still see it 4th and later too often. This card is WAY better than it looks, as it ends up being a super fast clock plus a great removal spell for just three mana. Throwing tokens still kills small creatures, and throwing something like a Fury just ends the game on the spot. Bomba is not a card I advise passing.

I group these together because they are both similar - free spells that kill creatures. To be clear, Snuff Out is way better, but both are great at stealing games and creating tempo, and both seem to end up in packs longer than they should. Snuff Out plays more like Force of Will than a removal spell, and you can often use it to swing games out of nowhere. Pyrokinesis is a bit more restrictive, but combining it with Lutri for a free pitch can be awesome.

The secret is mostly out on Lorien (and the other landcyclers), but I still see these floating round pretty late. They are like 5-color taplands that also can be cast as spells, and they even pitch to cards like Force of Will, Fury, and Force of Negation. I really like all of these, and take them highly.

So here’s the thing - in the right deck, Library is also fantastic, and that makes it both overrated and underrated in my book. If you have a lot of good acceleration and/or interaction, it’s a very high pick, and should be treated accordingly. It’s a confusing card, but context is everything, and there are places where this is one of the best cards you could open.

Adding flying and lifelink to Tidehollow Sculler does indeed do the trick, and I even like Sculler plenty. The bat is a premium discard spell, and fights over Monarch and Initiative nicely. I am happy taking this early, and will continue to do so.

The new Goyfs are all really pushed, and Barrowgoyf is no exception. This hits for a ton, is hard to kill in combat, punishes double-blocks, and even gains you a bunch of life. They can’t even just take the hit, since you get value if they do. Barrowgoyf is great, and fits into any black deck well.

I’m revealing a nice secret here - Tishana’s Tidebinder is actually a GREAT card. This goes way later than it should, and I am always happy to play it. It stops so many different cards, sometimes with devastating effects, and fits into control, tempo, or even combo decks well. Don’t sleep on the Tidebinder - everyone else certainly is.

I say this every time I see it in my videos - Once Upon a Time is excellent, and criminally underrated. A 0-mana Impulse for 5 is absurd, and while it doesn’t always play out that way, it makes your deck so much more consistent. If you have green mana, you should be taking this much higher than you do.

Hopefully this look at some hits (and misses) helps - go out, and enjoy cubing!

LSV