I’m always looking at second tier counters as potential overperformers. For example, Force Spike has always been awesome for us, and it’s nowhere near getting cut, but I see it in very few Cubes. At some point you wonder if the community love for Mana Tithe will translate to more Cubes trying Force Spike.
The sweet play with jeweled amulet is obviously getting to drop a 3 drop on turn 2.
It doesnt fix your mana but getting to play a CC 3 drop is nice. tinkers as fast as a mox.
Kind of like a lotus petal that can recharge. There are lots of times where the curve isnt perfect and there is one mana hanging out.
You get insurance that you can't get 2 for 1'd like you do with chrome mox and mox diamond, for the price of needing to reinvest in it.
probably other things i am missing but its pretty nifty.
I'm going to give Jeweled Amulet a try - I was skeptical, but after how well Gilded Goose performed, I'm considering this + Deathrite Shaman. 1 CMC ramp is always good. The drawback for me is the artwork + long explanation text which might be a bit hard for first time drafters ...
Pieces of the Puzzle - any cube supporting reanimator as an archetype should use this card. Solid ±1 card advantage and easily splashable
This is one of my favorite cards in UR gifts storm. The problem is you need around 18 instants/ sorceries to hit the required density for a 76% success rate. This is card I would love to play ...
Collected Company can get away with 15 creatures for the required 75% success rate.
I had to double check to make sure, but the Pieces of the Puzzle quote actually wasn’t from me!
I love this thread topic. Spending time on this forum has given me amazing ideas for my Cube, and my perspectives have improved tremendously from my time here. That said, I sometimes second guess my own experiences because of the hivemind, and when I remove certain non-stock cards I have regretted it. Here are a few cards that overperform for my group:
Champion is a much higher pick that Savannah Lions in our group. You're usually not missing on the 2/2, and the ceiling is tremendous for the W investment. The risk/reward ratio on this 1-drop is fantastic.
I do not like SB-only cards in Cube, so when I first added Containment Priest as an experiment I assumed I would be disappointed by the narrowness. As it turned out, Containment Priest became a premium 2-drop pick for our group. Some of this might be because we have more fatty cheating support than some Cubes, but in general it's the acceptable floor meets sky-high ceiling that makes this card great, and it's not only maindeckable but more highly sought after than many Cube staple 2-drops. While it's obviously solid in traditional aggressive/fair RW and GW decks, it is worth nothing that it is the perfect card for UW tempo which has become a popular draft strategy in the last couple years.
This card is better than expected for two reasons. One is that the overcosted aspect of the 4cc mode is mitigated by the fact that the extra mana often isn't wasted - I believe 4cc ORing is not as bad as people think because you are often wanting to answer other 4cc or more expensive cards. It is rare that I look at Quarantine Field in my hand and feel like not being 3cc is causing me to lose the game. Most importantly this card is cast for 6 or 8 more than initially anticipated, and double (or triple) ORing is fantastic, as answering 2-3 non-creature permanents with one card is unexpected by the opponent and causes huge lategame swings. This card is respected by everyone in our Cube group and consistently picked higher than a lot of Cube staples.
If I were to rank all cards in my list, this one might be the biggest over-performer when you consider low community expectation. It kills SO fast, and all you have to do is play it and continue doing what control decks like to do. There are also enough combos to 1-shot your opponent that you can make some interesting combo kill decks with Tutelage. It's best in UR, Jeskai, or Grixis.
It looks like a lot of people agree with me on this card, but mainstream consensus still seems to be that it is worse than most stock 1cc options. In our group this is the 2nd best black 1-drop behind Gravecrawler. Like Champion of the Parish, it has a high ceiling for a low investment of B, and it flat-out wins games in the right deck. When I draft black-based aggro I am always thinking, "I hope I see the Carrion Feeder in this draft..."
I'm not saying this card is insane, and I'm not sure I would play it in a smaller Cube, but the effect is good enough to win the game by itself in certain matchups. You ideally want this card as a curve topper in black aggro decks and want to be casting it against control and combo. Mindbender often hits your opponent at just the right time where you would otherwise begin to lose the game if you have nothing disruptive to do at that point in the midgame. It tested much better than its blue counterpart, Elder Deep-Fiend.
Dark Salvation is another example of a card whose over-cost for flexibility ended up being less than it initially seemed. The Fire Imp mode is respectable, and the scalable 3-or-more-for-1 can swing the game.
Enchantments are notoriously the most difficult permanents to interact with in Cube which makes cards like Bitterblossom and Sulfuric Vortex total bombs. While Rivalry isn't anywhere near those cards, it can still win the game by itself and punish control opponents for not drafting enough enchantment hate. It's great when you can curve 1-drop and 2-drop creatures into Rivalry, because the different angles of attack give your opponent a headache that can be difficult to solve in time. This card has been in and out of my Cube, but I only ever remove it because I'm convinced by forum advice. It has always seemed to perform well for my players when I add it back to the Cube.
Not sure if Karakas is underrated anymore... But with the printing of a lot of 2-3cc legendary creatures the last couple years, there are now many ways to abuse Karakas defensively. Also for very little downside you can deal with a lot of problematic fatties. It's a nonbasic plains that can sometimes win the game from a single activation, and not only will I always play it in a white deck, but I will often pick it over solid spells even when I have no synergies in my own deck.
I’m always looking at second tier counters as potential overperformers. For example, Force Spike has always been awesome for us, and it’s nowhere near getting cut, but I see it in very few Cubes. At some point you wonder if the community love for Mana Tithe will translate to more Cubes trying Force Spike.
I had to double check to make sure, but the Pieces of the Puzzle quote actually wasn’t from me!
Champion of the Parish
Champion is a much higher pick that Savannah Lions in our group. You're usually not missing on the 2/2, and the ceiling is tremendous for the W investment. The risk/reward ratio on this 1-drop is fantastic.
Containment Priest
I do not like SB-only cards in Cube, so when I first added Containment Priest as an experiment I assumed I would be disappointed by the narrowness. As it turned out, Containment Priest became a premium 2-drop pick for our group. Some of this might be because we have more fatty cheating support than some Cubes, but in general it's the acceptable floor meets sky-high ceiling that makes this card great, and it's not only maindeckable but more highly sought after than many Cube staple 2-drops. While it's obviously solid in traditional aggressive/fair RW and GW decks, it is worth nothing that it is the perfect card for UW tempo which has become a popular draft strategy in the last couple years.
Quarantine Field
This card is better than expected for two reasons. One is that the overcosted aspect of the 4cc mode is mitigated by the fact that the extra mana often isn't wasted - I believe 4cc ORing is not as bad as people think because you are often wanting to answer other 4cc or more expensive cards. It is rare that I look at Quarantine Field in my hand and feel like not being 3cc is causing me to lose the game. Most importantly this card is cast for 6 or 8 more than initially anticipated, and double (or triple) ORing is fantastic, as answering 2-3 non-creature permanents with one card is unexpected by the opponent and causes huge lategame swings. This card is respected by everyone in our Cube group and consistently picked higher than a lot of Cube staples.
Sphinx's Tutelage
If I were to rank all cards in my list, this one might be the biggest over-performer when you consider low community expectation. It kills SO fast, and all you have to do is play it and continue doing what control decks like to do. There are also enough combos to 1-shot your opponent that you can make some interesting combo kill decks with Tutelage. It's best in UR, Jeskai, or Grixis.
Carrion Feeder
It looks like a lot of people agree with me on this card, but mainstream consensus still seems to be that it is worse than most stock 1cc options. In our group this is the 2nd best black 1-drop behind Gravecrawler. Like Champion of the Parish, it has a high ceiling for a low investment of B, and it flat-out wins games in the right deck. When I draft black-based aggro I am always thinking, "I hope I see the Carrion Feeder in this draft..."
Distended Mindbender
I'm not saying this card is insane, and I'm not sure I would play it in a smaller Cube, but the effect is good enough to win the game by itself in certain matchups. You ideally want this card as a curve topper in black aggro decks and want to be casting it against control and combo. Mindbender often hits your opponent at just the right time where you would otherwise begin to lose the game if you have nothing disruptive to do at that point in the midgame. It tested much better than its blue counterpart, Elder Deep-Fiend.
Dark Salvation
Dark Salvation is another example of a card whose over-cost for flexibility ended up being less than it initially seemed. The Fire Imp mode is respectable, and the scalable 3-or-more-for-1 can swing the game.
Rivalry
Enchantments are notoriously the most difficult permanents to interact with in Cube which makes cards like Bitterblossom and Sulfuric Vortex total bombs. While Rivalry isn't anywhere near those cards, it can still win the game by itself and punish control opponents for not drafting enough enchantment hate. It's great when you can curve 1-drop and 2-drop creatures into Rivalry, because the different angles of attack give your opponent a headache that can be difficult to solve in time. This card has been in and out of my Cube, but I only ever remove it because I'm convinced by forum advice. It has always seemed to perform well for my players when I add it back to the Cube.
Karakas
Not sure if Karakas is underrated anymore... But with the printing of a lot of 2-3cc legendary creatures the last couple years, there are now many ways to abuse Karakas defensively. Also for very little downside you can deal with a lot of problematic fatties. It's a nonbasic plains that can sometimes win the game from a single activation, and not only will I always play it in a white deck, but I will often pick it over solid spells even when I have no synergies in my own deck.