One nice thing for this tread would be if guys added some commentary to some of these cards. I love hidden gems and I've found a lot of the ones I run from threads like this. But adding a little context around why the cards you listed are good and how they tend to be played (which decks or whatever is relevant). Sometimes it's obvious. Other times, you will point out really useful information that maybe isn't obvious to anyone that doesn't have experience with the card. I'll start with one.
Dread Return
This IMO is just as good as
unburial rites (and maybe even better since it doesn't require WB to get both modes). In my experience, getting three dudes to sacrifice to his ability is very easy in a lot of decks. Tokens is the obvious place where you can abuse this, but even in something like a mana elf ramp style deck the flashback is surprisingly easy to trigger. Because the flashback comes at no mana cost, it is extremely powerful (like all effects of this nature in cube - snuff out, force of will, etc.) and allows for explosive plays. One of my favorite is with
Living Death. You can sacrifice a bunch of ETB dudes to get something back (even something useless) and then follow-up with Living Death getting all three dudes you sacrificed back into play. This card is just so damn good.
It might be a little slow for really fast cubes. And it might not be consistent enough in removal heavy cubes where getting or keeping three guys in play is too difficult. So not all cubes will have the same success, but it really is very strong card in the right environment.
I know this thread is becoming a little like the card spotlight thread... but it's one of my favorite topics since threads like this always lead me to new cards I haven't seen or considered before.
, but can also be huge card advantage if not played around. None of its variants are really great (I'm sure someone will defend Shining Shoal or Carom, but I don't like them), but this one is just pushed hard enough to be a really strong and interesting card.