What are people's opinions on this card? I know it is an inherently powerful card however my experience with it in my cube has been underwhelming. I have never had anyone in my group want to make this a high pick or even main deck it. Most of my playgroup prefer aggro centric decks and dump their hands as quickly as possible. There are very few control type players. Which decks want this card the most? I'm sure we're just not seeing the value and I want this to be good because I love the card. This is one of the last proxies I am running and am now very hesitant to drop $150.00+ on a card nobody wants to use.
You play Strip Mine in your cube, right? Stone Rain is, if not actually cubable, very close. Strip Mine does that for free and taps for one. If you play Library of Alexandria turn one, rather than Stone Rain, you get Phyrexian Arena, which is a cube staple. There is a SCD for Underworld Connectionshere that discusses whether a 3-mana aura that gives a land "T: Draw a card" with a drawback is cubable, and the consensus seems to be yes.
Library of Alexandria is one of the strongest Magic cards ever printed. If you play it turn one against anything but the hyper-est of aggro decks, it steals games.
If all you play is aggro then library should be a good card still. If the aggro deck with library always draws more threats every turn than the one without it, how can the library player lose? And if you draw it late it's a colorless land, which is a pretty good WCS considering its BCS
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Library of Alexandria is definitely one of the strongest cards. I know wtwlf considers it the best card hands down. If you can play it turn one, it facilitates nearly unbeatable card advantage. Definite cube staple imo.
That considered, I'm personally more likely to pick cards like Jitte/swords over Library of Alexandria, as they are more likely to be more useful in a greater percentage of decks and games (as they are great when drawn at any stage in the game). Aggro is more my playstyle too.
It's the second-best Magic card ever printed, behind Ancestral Recall. I can't imagine a scenario where I wouldn't include this in any deck.
That said, jcircone, if your group isn't playing it because they don't think it's good, try forcing it a couple of times in a control deck, just to see if you agree with the rest of us. Certainly don't drop a ton of cash on it until you're sure you like it.
Library turn one is the strongest card in Magic. Turn two is still very good. Library late game is a blank. But at that point the disadvantage of only giving colourless is less important anyway.
Another reason why it is so good is that it doesn't take a spot in your final 23 (or whatever the number is for the pedants here).
Can you lose with turn one Library? Sure, happens quite often here. But it happens way more that you win because you drew way too many cards to make a fair game.
I will play in almost every deck. The only decks I would hesitate are the low land, super fast aggro decks with very little use for colourless mana. Or a deck where you continuously discard your own cards for graveyard fuel.
I cannot see how people think this card can be bad after they have witnessed a turn one Library. Drawing two cards every turn is pretty boss.
One of the best cards in cube. When played turn one it creates a minigame where the opponent have to race for the win or be buried in card advantage. And it's a minigame that's very hard to win for the non-library player.
If your players and you don't play than certainly don't buy it, but IMO your group has another level to reach on card evaluation. It should be 1st pick most of the time. Even in later packs it should be unless in aggro with a great card for you.
It's the one card I'm most excited to see in my pack. LoA has the ability to bury an opponent in real card advantage if drawn early. The drawback is minimal compared to this huge upside.
Suppose you are about 20% to have the card in hand within the first few turns. If you win most of those games, that 20% guaranteed win percentage is huge!
I think it's the best card in the cube. I mean, drawing two cards a turn for the rest of the game is just about the best thing you can do. Aggro has cards that are better for their decktype, and mid-range would likely prefer the tempo advantage of Sol Ring, but there's really no card I'd rather have in a control deck than Library.
To evaluate a card you only should look at the games where you see it. In a game that lasts 8 turns that would already be >50%, since you have an average of ~7.25 cards on your first turn.
Right Right. It's arguable that you really only want to see Library within the first turn or two since after that your hand size will likely drop and the benefit of holding back cards to reach seven are outweighed by need to play cards from your hand. Do you know the odds of seeing Library within turn 1 or turn 2 (regardless if it's in the opener or drawing it?)
This is the best card you can see in your opening hand in all of Magic. Even if you don't end up being able to use it the entire game, being able to get that card advantage for five or six turns gives you a huge edge in the long run.
When you're playing a "for fun" match against an opponent with a Cube deck, put Library in your opener & play it on turn 1. When you've drawn 5-6 more cards than your opponent you won't believe how much you're ahead by. This card is seriously insane.
Make sure you always draw cards on your opponents end of turn to avoid discarding as much as possible.
That depends on how you modulate things like mulligan and additional card draw/ selection and the game length.
In the most basic case it is just = (7.25* +1)/40 = 20.6%
If you are only interested in the games where you draw it, it is 8.25/(6.25+#turns you get+#additional cards drawn) = 50.8% for 8 turns and 2 extra cards
*average number of cards that you have access to on your fist Turn 1 with a typical mulligan behavior
thanks thanks. good chances to see a card that can give you monumental advantages.
*aside - the 7.25 cards, have you written about the math for this or read it somewhere? I am certain you are correct, and I want to see how it's calculated.
Whenever somebody drops a turn 1 Library, both players immediately know that player will win--but it will take forever, and it will be irritating for both players. That's a pretty good reason to not run it. Unless dealt with more or less immediately, or raced with a very fast deck, the card is basically unbeatable.
Whenever somebody drops a turn 1 Library, both players immediately know that player will win--but it will take forever, and it will be irritating for both players. That's a pretty good reason to not run it. Unless dealt with more or less immediately, or raced with a very fast deck, the card is basically unbeatable.
While often true, I think you are oversimplifying the issue, and also opening the door to cutting the many, many cards that your statement could apply to.
Additionally, a card that rewards other decks for either having flexible answers or speed is nothing but good for your cube, in my opinion.
Whenever somebody drops a turn 1 Library, both players immediately know that player will win--but it will take forever, and it will be irritating for both players. That's a pretty good reason to not run it. Unless dealt with more or less immediately, or raced with a very fast deck, the card is basically unbeatable.
This is just not true. First turn Library helps a lot, don't get me wrong, but I have seen it lose quite often. If your oponent has a god draw, he can win no matter how many cards you draw (power helps in this regard). If you have bad luck and draw no lands or only lands your opponent still has time to run you over. And aggro decks can just win by curving like a champ and winning before you can bury them with your card advantage.
Again, not saying first turn Library is not super powerfull, just that it is no autowin. Without having kept detailed statistics I would say it wins 75-85%+ of the games.
Yeah, T1 Library and T1 Sol Ring win %s are one of the reasons I don't run them. But that makes them completely busted, even moreso for LoA because it is a freaking land!
Thanks for all the responses to this. I definitely feel like I need to continue running this card and will probably have to force it into several drafts and make sure it gets run so others can see how powerful it really is. I hate to dictate to anyone what cards they should run but I don't think it will happen otherwise.
There are definitely cards I rate higher than Library and would snap pick over it (in P1P1 scenario and archetype support); however, it's a pretty short list.
The card is nuts. If you value powerful cards and interactions in your list, you'd be nuts if you didn't run it.
There are cards I may be more in the mood to play, and the mood to play those archetypes may strike me when I open packs. That can lead to something being picked over Library, but I don't think that's ever the "right" call, in terms of raw power level.
There are cards I may be more in the mood to play, and the mood to play those archetypes may strike me when I open packs. That can lead to something being picked over Library, but I don't think that's ever the "right" call, in terms of raw power level.
It really depends on the cube. I'd pick Sol Ring, Black Lotus, and Jitte over it.
What are people's opinions on this card? I know it is an inherently powerful card however my experience with it in my cube has been underwhelming. I have never had anyone in my group want to make this a high pick or even main deck it. Most of my playgroup prefer aggro centric decks and dump their hands as quickly as possible. There are very few control type players. Which decks want this card the most? I'm sure we're just not seeing the value and I want this to be good because I love the card. This is one of the last proxies I am running and am now very hesitant to drop $150.00+ on a card nobody wants to use.
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Library of Alexandria is one of the strongest Magic cards ever printed. If you play it turn one against anything but the hyper-est of aggro decks, it steals games.
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That considered, I'm personally more likely to pick cards like Jitte/swords over Library of Alexandria, as they are more likely to be more useful in a greater percentage of decks and games (as they are great when drawn at any stage in the game). Aggro is more my playstyle too.
Blasphemy, I know.
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That said, jcircone, if your group isn't playing it because they don't think it's good, try forcing it a couple of times in a control deck, just to see if you agree with the rest of us. Certainly don't drop a ton of cash on it until you're sure you like it.
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Another reason why it is so good is that it doesn't take a spot in your final 23 (or whatever the number is for the pedants here).
Can you lose with turn one Library? Sure, happens quite often here. But it happens way more that you win because you drew way too many cards to make a fair game.
I will play in almost every deck. The only decks I would hesitate are the low land, super fast aggro decks with very little use for colourless mana. Or a deck where you continuously discard your own cards for graveyard fuel.
I cannot see how people think this card can be bad after they have witnessed a turn one Library. Drawing two cards every turn is pretty boss.
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Suppose you are about 20% to have the card in hand within the first few turns. If you win most of those games, that 20% guaranteed win percentage is huge!
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Right Right. It's arguable that you really only want to see Library within the first turn or two since after that your hand size will likely drop and the benefit of holding back cards to reach seven are outweighed by need to play cards from your hand. Do you know the odds of seeing Library within turn 1 or turn 2 (regardless if it's in the opener or drawing it?)
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Make sure you always draw cards on your opponents end of turn to avoid discarding as much as possible.
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thanks thanks. good chances to see a card that can give you monumental advantages.
*aside - the 7.25 cards, have you written about the math for this or read it somewhere? I am certain you are correct, and I want to see how it's calculated.
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While often true, I think you are oversimplifying the issue, and also opening the door to cutting the many, many cards that your statement could apply to.
Additionally, a card that rewards other decks for either having flexible answers or speed is nothing but good for your cube, in my opinion.
This is just not true. First turn Library helps a lot, don't get me wrong, but I have seen it lose quite often. If your oponent has a god draw, he can win no matter how many cards you draw (power helps in this regard). If you have bad luck and draw no lands or only lands your opponent still has time to run you over. And aggro decks can just win by curving like a champ and winning before you can bury them with your card advantage.
Again, not saying first turn Library is not super powerfull, just that it is no autowin. Without having kept detailed statistics I would say it wins 75-85%+ of the games.
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The card is nuts. If you value powerful cards and interactions in your list, you'd be nuts if you didn't run it.
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It really depends on the cube. I'd pick Sol Ring, Black Lotus, and Jitte over it.
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