Lurker > trdl23

• Fetchlands
• Black Lotus
• Trample
• Kamigawa
• This combo that deals infinite damage only if the twin prime conjecture is true
• Future Sight Borders
• Chains of Mephistopheles
• Shandalar (video game) -- It's absolute jank, the story's phoned in, it operates on old, broken mechanics, and it's so much fun. The tutorial video is the stuff of legends.
• Yawgmoth's Will -- Another test to see how experienced / good a player is. A "normal" player will see a mediocre value piece. A dedicated player sees how broken this card is. Underworld Breach has taken some of its real estate now, but it's extremely rare to see a Yawg Will resolve and have that player not win the game if they know what they're doing, but they DO have to know what they're doing.

• Shard Phoenix
• Timmy, Johnny and Spike archetypes
• Azorius
• Artist alters -- Changing the name of this since the other got clarified.
• Rancor
• Ixalan (the setting) -- It's solid, mostly because the vampire conquistadors are fascinating villains. The storyline was shockingly good, too. I wish Jace stayed as great as he was in OG Ixalan. I wish the Merfolk had gotten some development.
• Oracle of the Alpha -- Is it good? Not really. Does it tilt people when you rip your Time Walk off the top. Yes. Should you pick it in Arena cube? Absolutely.
• Slivers -- I'm not a slivers player, but I'm glad they exist. They're extremely fun in 60-card formats or Limited when you have to plot out how many of which type you need for redundancy against opposing interaction. They're more boring in Commander, as most things are, especially the obnoxious guy who plays Overlord and tutors for combos.

• Splitskin Doll
• Universes Beyond
• 3-mana 4/3s
• Beebles
• Authority of the Consuls
• Mystic Remora
• Exodia
• Ponies: The Galloping -- It's a cute silver-border thing for Hasbro to pretend this IP still matters. I have no problem with silly crossovers / memes if they're silver border. Making them officially playable is a problem.
• Stax -- I actually like Stax in competitive formats; it has a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling, and it's often fun to try and wiggle out of their restrictions. I'm sick of people calling any kind of tax effect "stax" because it isn't.
• Vivi -- On one hand, I love that they made my son so good. On the other hand... come on, that's a bit much.
• How cards' visuals have changed -- I've just adjusted to it. There's a nice hit of nostalgia and artistry to the old border / layout, as evidenced by them bringing it back every so often, but it's fine as is.

• Every crossover ever
• Nicol Bolas
• -1/-1 counters
• Sacrificeable artifact tokens
• Little Girl (card) -- It's unfunny and mechanically boring.
• Mirrodin -- Broke the game twice. Boring as a setting. Led to two waves of bans back before bans in Standard were normal. Karn sucks. Did give us some neat, creative designs, which rescues it from the bottom tier. I'm not counting New Phyrexia as part of it since it's too different.

• Damage on the stack
• How quickly sets come out now

• Every crossover ever -- I guess this means we're including Arabian Nights, P3K, and whatever other nonsense I'm forgetting? If it's just the concept of crossovers, I dislike it fundamentally; the execution of UB raised it a tier, but I'd still rather Magic be Magic.
• Nicol Bolas -- He used to be cool, you know? He was a foundational part of Magic lore going back to 1995. His original printing's art is one of the most iconic pieces of the era. His return in Time Spiral was hype. Problem is, WotC wanted a "big bad" to ape the Marvel trend, but they couldn't figure out how to actually write a diabolic genius dragon with a properly diabolic plan. Amonkhet was cool short-term, but the culmination of War of the Spark was an awful look all around. They stuck him in baby jail, and now he's back out because they need a villain again. Sigh.
• -1/-1 counters -- Conceptually, they're fine, even cool in flavor. In practice, they're ripe for abuse ever since +1/+1 counters canceled them out. It says a lot that Undying, which gives a +1/+1 counter on death, was actually a nerfed version of Persist because removing -1/-1 counters was so trivial that it's birthed a thousand annoying combos. Being tied to Infect doesn't help.
• Sacrificeable artifact tokens -- Clues are great. However, these are obnoxious to track anymore since we have so many of them, no matter what format you're playing. This also catches splash damage from the overproliferation of treasure tokens making many formats actively worse.

• Damage on the stack -- this can step on a tetanus-infused rake. It feels fun the first time you do something tricky with it and miserable every time afterward. It led to far fewer meaningful decisions in gameplay and some interactions that were common yet horribly unintuitive (looking at you, Mogg Fanatic blocking a 2/2). Good riddance.
• the ability to make Sonic pregnant - I'm erasing this from my next post. Cease.
• How quickly sets come out now -- Please let me breathe, WotC. Please let Standard breathe. Please let me enjoy the good sets you make before shoving Marvel slop down our throat.

• Fetchlands -- The best way to measure a Magic player's knowledge is to ask them how good Brainstorm is. The second-best way is to ask them how good fetchlands are. On the surface, they're mediocre mana fixing. A little deeper, and you realize they're actually phenomenal mana fixing. Then you dig deeper still, and you see all the wild synergies and interactions they enable: Crucible lines, Landfall triggers, Brainstorm upgrades, and then you can even use overreliance on them against your opponents by Stifling them or spinning cards with the fetch on the stack. The only problems they cause are lots of shuffling slowing the game and increased mana base expense, which are very valid criticisms. Still, they add so much that I'm happy to put them on top.
• Black Lotus -- There is no feeling in the world like playing with Black Lotus for the first time. What a rush. It's every bit as thrilling and unfair as it looks, and it only gets moreso as more cards get printed. Plus, it's THE iconic Magic card, with absolutely gorgeous art from Christopher Rush (RIP) befitting the poster child of the game.
• Trample -- Simple. Flavorful. Easy to grok. A prime example of what a keyword should be.
• Kamigawa -- Yes, yes, the mechanics of the original block were laughably bad, but this is the second-best world they've ever made. I even put it over Innistrad since Neon Dynasty showed it could adapt fantastically to a totally different aesthetic (and come up with good mechanics while they were at it). Toshi Umezawa is my favorite protagonist in all of Magic's story, and he's among my top fantasy protagonists ever.
• This combo that deals infinite damage only if the twin prime conjecture is true -- This bullshit is what no other game can do. I adore it. A massive rules headache as a judge, but whatever, its very existence is beautiful.
• Future Sight Borders -- This could easily be overdone, but so far they've balanced it just right. It was a welcome comeback in Mystery Booster 2. Even when the art piece is the same as a normal card, the new border makes it feel fresh.
• Chains of Mephistopheles -- It's really not that hard, guys. If you would draw a bonus card, discard a card before you do so; otherwise you mill instead. The ridiculous wording is actually a show of Magic's robust rules. It's tough to get your head around, but once it works, it works. I also have personal fond memories of stuffing Brainstorm players with this bad boy in Legacy.

• Shard Phoenix -- Hey, I remember this guy from my Boy Scout days! Overcosted interaction that had strange inevitability just like good ol' Hammer of Bogardan, but this time a sweeper. I have no idea if it was ever relevant competitively, but I can tell you it got a few groans at the 3v3 Emperor table during Summer Camp, so I have to respect it.
• Timmy, Johnny and Spike archetypes -- They apply to damn near everything in gaming. There's a reason you might hear them used by people who've never even heard of Magic. What keeps them from the top tier is the tendency for people to define themselves as a player by the archetype name. They're meant to be descriptive, NOT prescriptive.
• Azorius -- I'm assuming this is the guild itself and not just the color pair. They make for fantastic villains and annoying obstacles, and they're a necessity to make the Ravnica setting work the way it does. Sometimes they even have a point! Sometimes.
• Changing the art design of the cards' front face -- Do you mean having artists alter cards? Sure thing, I love seeing unique takes on stuff. I love my Counterspell in my Cube altered to be Phoenix Wright yelling "OBJECTION!" The dangerous part is when people either go full gooner or use thicker cards to get an advantage, and that's when a judge needs to get called.
• Rancor -- It's so annoying, but you can't help but respect the hustle. It's rare for an aura to have some bite to it, but this has enabled plenty of otherwise vulnerable decks to punch above their weight, and it also leads to neat play patterns about when to hold mana up to stuff it on the stack versus the Rancor player "going for it." All of that being said? This can never make the top tier because fuck Bogles.

• Splitskin Doll -- Snake5s coming in with a very Snake5s start! Anyway yeah this card's fine. Duskmourn is a pretty trash setting as a glorified "hat set," but this art is cool and properly creepy without going full camp. It worked pretty well in the Limited environment too.
• Universes Beyond -- I knew this one was going to be early. Universes Beyond is polarizing, even to my own brain. When UB hits, it hits. Lord of the Rings was great, and Final Fantasy is one of the best designed sets ever, even if it weren't a crossover. A ton of love and care got put into these sets from people who adore the core IP, and those IPs "feel" properly MTG. Love and care also went into UBs that don't fit well; Doctor Who is a terrible fit for the game, but I still have to admit the card design slapped. On the other hand, it's an obvious show that Hasbro has no faith in its own IP anymore (which makes sense, given how they've murdered the writing room). You also have the Secret Lair slop that's just... why? IPs that are stale and culturally irrelevant (Walking Dead, Assassin's Creed, Marvel), IPs that are annoying memes (Spongebob), Sonic. It's here to stay, though. I really hope Spider-man craters, the set looks like slop.
• 3-mana 4/3s -- They make for better Limited environments than 3-mana 3/4s.
• Beebles -- They're silly and inoffensive. I'm glad we rarely see them, since it'd be easy for them to overstay their welcome.
• Authority of the Consuls -- a neat sideboard card that has been overblown as a "huge problem" because of the Commanderization of Magic. If you lose to an Authority of the Consuls, it's because you deserve it, or at least someone at your table does.
• Mystic Remora -- See above. Definitely more powerful than Authority, and it used to be a cheeky Legacy card, but that upkeep adds up. Of course, there's always the one dumbfuck at the table who plays into it, but that's Commander's fault, not Remora.
• Exodia -- OBLITERATE!

no one even cares that he killed Haru's dad

and I guess Sumire, but let's not talk about her)

• Armor: Light Armor
• Weapons: Simple Weapons
• Tools: Disguise Kit, Guitar (Spanish-style)
• Languages: Common, Elvish, Celestial

• Darkvision: You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.
• Fey Ancestry: You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cant put you to sleep.
• Skill Versatility: You gain proficiency in two skills of your choice (Persuasion and Animal Handling).

• Otherworldly Patron (The Celestial): Your pact is with a being of the Upper Planes, granting you divine power.
• Pact Magic: You have one 1st-level spell slot which you regain after completing a short or long rest.
• Healing Light: You have a pool of 2d6s (1 + Warlock level). As a bonus action, you can heal one creature you see within 60 feet by spending these dice. You can spend a maximum of 3 dice (equal to your CHA modifier) at once. This pool refills on a long rest.

• By Popular Demand: You can always find a place to perform in an inn or tavern. You receive free lodging and food of a modest standard as long as you perform each night.

• Spellcasting Ability: Charisma
• Spell Save DC: 13
• Spell Attack Bonus: +5
• Cantrips Known:
• Eldritch Blast
• Mage Hand
• Light (from Celestial Patron)
• Sacred Flame (from Celestial Patron)
• 1st-Level Spells Known (1 Slot):
• Cure Wounds
• Protection from Evil and Good

• Trait 1: "As long as we keep our spirits up, everything will be okay in the end."
• Trait 2: "Some people call me a ditz; I just think of myself as 'living in the moment.'"
• Ideal: "Family is everything."
• Bond: "My brother left home long ago, and I will bring him back to us."
• Flaw: "I always try to see the good in people. This can often be a problem."

• Vocabulary: Simple, positive, and encouraging. She uses words like "we," "us," and "together" frequently. Her stories and songs (from her entertainer background) are her primary way of relating to the world. She might use folksy sayings or simple metaphors related to music and family.
• Tone: Consistently upbeat, warm, and earnest. Even when discussing her lost brother, her tone would be one of determined hope rather than sad longing. Her high Persuasion and Performance skills mean she is an eloquent and captivating speaker when she wants to be, especially when performing.
• Conversational Focus: She will almost always try to steer conversations toward positive outcomes. She is interested in people's families, their hopes, and what makes them happy. She likely avoids deep philosophical debates (low Wisdom, average Intelligence) in favor of talking about practical, immediate feelings and goals. She will be the first to suggest a song to lift the mood or a story to calm fears.
• Sentence Structure: Mostly simple and direct. Reflecting her "living in the moment" trait, she speaks in a way that is easy to follow, without complex clauses or hidden meanings. What you see is what you get.

• The Optimist: She should physically embody her outlook. Smile often, even in grim situations. Find small wonders to point outthe beauty of a sunrise after a long night's watch, the kindness of a stranger.
• The Performer: Use your hands when you talk, gesturing to emphasize points as if conducting a silent orchestra. When idle, you might be humming a tune or strumming your fingers on a tabletop. You are comfortable being the center of attention, but you use it to include others, not to exclude them.
• Naive Trust: This is your key roleplaying challenge. Your low Wisdom (-1 modifier) and flaw mean you are terrible at reading people's true intentions (a -1 to Insight checks). Lean into this. Take people at their word. Be the last one to suspect betrayal. This will create genuine moments of tension and character development when your trust is inevitably broken.
• Protective Healer: Your Healing Light is a finite, personal resource. When you use it, make it meaningful. Describe the warm, celestial light that flows from you. Show concern for your wounded allies not just as tactical assets, but as friends you are desperate to keep safe.

Why is that?

Trump

I hate this answer too thanks for asking

Even Eiko has her moments.

But I can't overlook the battle system problems and Amarant's existence