Cube is my favorite format by far, but sometimes I forget how daunting it can be for a new player. With the Legacy Cube returning to MTGO this Wednesday, this seems like a perfect time to go through some of the top cards in each color. A large part of drafting is recognizing what colors one should be in, and nobody wants to embarrass themselves by passing something nuts. So, without further ado:

Blue

Blue is indisputably the best and deepest color in Cube. As a result, lots of players draft it, but because it's so deep, it can usually support a good number of drafters. This being the case, I'm going to mention more blue cards than any other color.

This is the best card in the Legacy Cube, and you should never pass it. The end. (Yes, arguments for passing it late in the draft can be made. They're wrong, and you should never pass this.)

Control Magic effects give you a creature and takes one away from your opponent—a built-in two-for-one. These two cards are the best of the best when it comes to this type of effect, and any deck that can support UU wants them.

Grave Upheaval isn't at its best in Legacy Cube, but if you get to pick it early and build around it, it can still be dominating. Check out my primer for drafting it in this format here.

Like Grave Upheaval (and conveniently fitting in the same Simic decks), this card doesn't seem all that special at first glance, but once you've experienced locking down all your opponent's lands during each of his upkeeps, you'll understand.

With Aetherling not making the cut, this is the control finisher of choice in this format.

These are slightly embarrassing first picks, but if you've been forcing Splinter Twin combo like I have, you won't hesitate to snap these up when given the chance.

Finally, I would be remiss not to mention these two cards. They are so blue-intensive that they are essentially like picking gold cards (because they're narrow and go in fewer decks). However, they're so powerful that they warrant early picks and building around, especially if you lean toward blue.

Green

Green is my pick for the second-best color in Legacy Cube.

Part of the reason green is so good is because this is an unpowered environment, meaning green gets all the best ramp. It's hard to stress enough how important a handful of one-cost mana producers is. Pick them early and pick them often.

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You need something to do with all that mana, of course, and green has plenty of fatties to choose from. These are some of the best, but there are more, and they're all basically redundant.

This is one of the most broken things mono-green can be doing, and if you have been following along so far, you have plenty of mana dorks and fatties to combo this with. Nice job. It should be noted that this is not a card for decks merely splashing green.

And neither is this. Garruk, Primal Hunter, in particular, is one of my favorite planeswalkers in archetypes from aggro to control, but only if you can support the GGG in the casting cost.

Red(?)

I'm pretty confident in saying blue and green are the two best colors in the Legacy Cube, but with so many changes to black and red, I'm not sure how the last three colors line up. Red has lost some its traditional best picks, like Sulfuric Vortex and Shrine of Burning Rage, but some powerhouses still remain.

These are the two heavy-hitters that should be pushing you into red aggro. One- and two-drops and lots of burn is important in these decks, but also fairly interchangeable. As far as strong individual signals go, these are your best bet in this brave new world.

These are much less embarrassing first-picks than Pestermite and Deceiver Exarch, as they can do a bunch of cool stuff without infinite combos. Note that Zealous Conscripts allows for these to provide a combo finish in a mono-red deck.

Red got nerfed pretty hard with this update, and though there's lots of playable burn and redundant creatures, there's nothing that really sticks out  past these cards that should dictate a draft direction.

Check in tomorrow for a continuation of this exercise. Feel like I left a must-mention blue, green, or red out of this list? Let me know below!