I think Sylvan Library is very overvalued in general, but especially on these forums.
It's a good card and I'm happy to play it in any base green deck I have, but I don't think it's a top 10 green card by any stretch.
It nets you an average of one card and works well with shuffle effects and has a few interesting interactions, but you do give up the cost of having another card in it's place in your hand (or topdeck) for that turn as well as paying 1G which is often better spent in the early game for green.
Unless you're playing a deck with a lot of lifelink, it will usually get you 0-1 cards and is basically a Sensei's Divining Top that doesn't cost mana but that can't get you a card immediately. In a plurality of games, it's an overcosted Mirri's Guile.
I would play the card in every cube of every size, but I end up passing this card far more than most people for other green bombs and that has been a strategy I'm very happy with.
This is my current evaluation. I cut it and then readded it as it's just lubricant for every deck type and gets played all the time, but it's pretty bland and unexciting. It's a nice effect for any green deck but it's not something I would overly miss if it had never been printed or I were forced to include something in its place.
Not to pick on old thread but the Library can do some really amazing things as mentioned above. One other none obvious use is to protect a card from hand disruption.
This is my current evaluation. I cut it and then readded it as it's just lubricant for every deck type and gets played all the time, but it's pretty bland and unexciting. It's a nice effect for any green deck but it's not something I would overly miss if it had never been printed or I were forced to include something in its place.
The problem I think is that there's not any particular way to "break" it. Its sort of like Land Tax (silly combos aside) in that regard although Land Tax can be really strong if your deck doesn't mind stopping at 2 mana.
(edit: got Fa'adiyah right first try but the Seer belongs after this fiendish concoction of a word, trolololo)
No I meant greenseeker. I like drop creatures with reusable abilities. He is the whip when you are low on lands (I always play one less when I draft him), shuffle effect turns sylvan library into ponder every turn. He rocks in reanimator, and does a great deck thinning job late in the game.
I don't think Greeseeker is worthy of being cubed - I'd prefere to play a basic land in its place, actualy, as it doesn't hinders my early turn with its activation costs, and anyway, the creature pictured is female, even if the Time Spiral elves were malnutrished as part of the storyline and as such lack the distinctive feminine curves.
Funny I always thought of art like that as making hte elves more willowy tree-like than anything specific.
And to be honest I don't think of greenseeker as a staple or anything just a useful one mana elframper as a placeholder in my cube for noble hierarch which I don't own and hope wizards reprints in Modern Masters since they missed a great oppurtunity with M13.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
This is my current evaluation. I cut it and then readded it as it's just lubricant for every deck type and gets played all the time, but it's pretty bland and unexciting. It's a nice effect for any green deck but it's not something I would overly miss if it had never been printed or I were forced to include something in its place.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Greenseeker, Mul Daya Channelers and the Oracle of Mul Daya combo so hard with thid that it is insane.
The problem I think is that there's not any particular way to "break" it. Its sort of like Land Tax (silly combos aside) in that regard although Land Tax can be really strong if your deck doesn't mind stopping at 2 mana.
But the cube doesn't play the cards that break Sylvan like Abundance and the Words.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Do you have Knight of the White Orchid? It seems like the white aggro deck can basically stop at 2 mana anyway so his ability would activate often.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
I wish there was a viable 1 mana double strike guy. That would be such a great addition for the weenie deck. Fencing Ace can't really fill that role.
No I meant greenseeker. I like drop creatures with reusable abilities. He is the whip when you are low on lands (I always play one less when I draft him), shuffle effect turns sylvan library into ponder every turn. He rocks in reanimator, and does a great deck thinning job late in the game.
Funny I always thought of art like that as making hte elves more willowy tree-like than anything specific.
And to be honest I don't think of greenseeker as a staple or anything just a useful one mana elframper as a placeholder in my cube for noble hierarch which I don't own and hope wizards reprints in Modern Masters since they missed a great oppurtunity with M13.