There are just a large number of plays you can make off that turn 1 lotus that are tough to answer on 1-2 mana. Like, sure, they can get plowed, but how many plows/paths are there? How many realistic answers is my opponent going to have on that 1st-2nd turn? And when that lotus comes late, it's still often relevant unless it comes late in a deck with a super low curve. And a t1 Library isn't always foregone, as an aggressive start will hurt the library deck as they are playing a mana behind if they want to continue drawing or the small number of discard spells can turn it off. AND the more super-awesome PWers that get printed, the better Lotus gets as you have that many more plays which only a Lightning Bolt can hope to answer off one land if the loyalty is within reach.
I mean, really, IMO Sol Ring-Lotus-Library are neck-and-neck and it feels like stretching to have to put one above the other because they are such different cards that do such different things in different decks, but there are enough spots where Lotus outshines Library that it can be argued that Lotus is the better, and vice versa, and Sol Ring too.
I agree with everyone else. Library is nuts, but it's still preference. I have it in my nonpowered cube because my playgroup loves it, just like splinter twin combo. I would put Library in the "Mind Twist, Plow Under, Moat, True Name Nemesis" group of unfun/noninteractive cards.
Yeah, those cards are not remotely close to library. The only card remotely close to being better than library is sol ring IMO, with moxen and lotus being close but not defendable as "better."
I think you can absolutely defend Lotus as close/on par/sometimes better than Library of Alexandria. For as many games as Library closes out with continual card draw, Black Lotus closes out games with that burst and ahead-of-curve play that no other card can offer on turn 1. Like, dropping a planes walker or hard-to-remove creature off a black lotus on the first turn is so often game. Also if that black lotus start goes against the library start, it's not rare that the black lotus start will beat that library start. Also-also Black Lotus is a much better draw if it's not in your opener, whereas a non-opener library is often a colorless land. And, Black Lotus goes in absolutely every deck, whereas Library is still good in decks that want to empty their hand fast but not nearly as good as it could be or as lotus performs there, i.e. aggro builds, artifact flood decks, etc. I've also found that in rotisserie drafting a powered cube that, depending on the number of players, you may not have time for that Library of Alexandria deck, at least to pick it high up; like if you're doing a 4-person rotisserie than everyones decks end up so streamlined and have such quick bursts that your hands are almost never full consistently enough because of fast mana. The decks that have library will often either fall behind to an opposing board of all mana rocks if they try to library away the value, or Library turns off early and it feels bad when you spend a high pick on it.
I think they're very close and there are indeed spots where the library is the better card, but I think Sol Ring-Library-Lotus are all on the same tier with enough clear spots where Lotus is better that it is defendable as a better card, or at least I can see the arguments.
Black Lotus is certainly in the discussion. Playing 4 drops on t1 will often beat the library and many other players, especially if it's something dumb like a planes walker. You can definitely make an argument for Recall as well, as 3 cards for U any time is extremely dumb and an explosion of card advantage that can put you over the top quicker than a library.
Anyone with unpowered lists currently running Library? My cube is unpowered and I generally don't have issues running some of the older "busted" that aren't power if my group is ok with them. There are a few cards I exclude that my drafters feel are not interactive (Mind Twist, Plow Under, Moat, True Name Nemesis), but we do run bonkers cards like Mana Drain, Recurring Nightmare, Survival of the Fittest, and Jitte. My concern is that it can create the kind of unbalanced starts that fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Vault/Crypt) can create where the rest of the game is pretty much a foregone conclusion.
Your concerns are pretty legit. When you're drawing 3-10 cards off your land that comes into play untapped it's really tough for your opponents to beat you with anything but the fastest of aggressive starts, and even then that's not enough a lot of the time. It's pretty much free card draw when it's in your opening hand, something that seems pretty busted in an unpowered environment. Your drafters will be begging for those uninteractive cards when the guy who opens with Library wins every game because it's so much better than the next best card you could be running.
I mean, really, IMO Sol Ring-Lotus-Library are neck-and-neck and it feels like stretching to have to put one above the other because they are such different cards that do such different things in different decks, but there are enough spots where Lotus outshines Library that it can be argued that Lotus is the better, and vice versa, and Sol Ring too.
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I think you can absolutely defend Lotus as close/on par/sometimes better than Library of Alexandria. For as many games as Library closes out with continual card draw, Black Lotus closes out games with that burst and ahead-of-curve play that no other card can offer on turn 1. Like, dropping a planes walker or hard-to-remove creature off a black lotus on the first turn is so often game. Also if that black lotus start goes against the library start, it's not rare that the black lotus start will beat that library start. Also-also Black Lotus is a much better draw if it's not in your opener, whereas a non-opener library is often a colorless land. And, Black Lotus goes in absolutely every deck, whereas Library is still good in decks that want to empty their hand fast but not nearly as good as it could be or as lotus performs there, i.e. aggro builds, artifact flood decks, etc. I've also found that in rotisserie drafting a powered cube that, depending on the number of players, you may not have time for that Library of Alexandria deck, at least to pick it high up; like if you're doing a 4-person rotisserie than everyones decks end up so streamlined and have such quick bursts that your hands are almost never full consistently enough because of fast mana. The decks that have library will often either fall behind to an opposing board of all mana rocks if they try to library away the value, or Library turns off early and it feels bad when you spend a high pick on it.
I think they're very close and there are indeed spots where the library is the better card, but I think Sol Ring-Library-Lotus are all on the same tier with enough clear spots where Lotus is better that it is defendable as a better card, or at least I can see the arguments.
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Your concerns are pretty legit. When you're drawing 3-10 cards off your land that comes into play untapped it's really tough for your opponents to beat you with anything but the fastest of aggressive starts, and even then that's not enough a lot of the time. It's pretty much free card draw when it's in your opening hand, something that seems pretty busted in an unpowered environment. Your drafters will be begging for those uninteractive cards when the guy who opens with Library wins every game because it's so much better than the next best card you could be running.
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