Board 8 > Plums 52 favorite Magic cards

(+) Yeah! (+)

The Yugioh topic inspired me to put together a list. Because why not.

52.Coalition Relic



All 52 cards fall into one of 3 categories.

1. Cards that are just well designed and interesting
2. Cards that I have nostalgia over
3. Cards that I have enjoyed playing

Coalition relic is one of the weakest of category 3. Cube is my favorite format, and coalition relic is one of the better cube cards you can draft. Being able to double accelerate you in any color is a big deal when you are trying to play your 6 mana bombs on turn 4. Just an overall solid card.

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Tag

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Love a Coalition Relic in cube and Commander.

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Speak of the devil

51. Inferno Titan


The titan cycle was pretty pushed for 2011, and while they dont really hold up as well 10 years later outside of dedicated combo decks, inferno titan still makes it into some cube lists. While its not the best titan, I do think its the most fun to play. Plus the art is sweet.

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Too many red cards on this list

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before the top 50, lets get some honorable mentions out of the way

Honorable mention: Old cards too good to be really interesting



These cards are fun to draft, but honestly pretty miserable to play against. Time walk loops especially. Time walk, regrowth time walk, Snapcaster mage Time Walk. Its completely plausible for some vintage cube decks to cast time walk 3 turns in a row.

Which is thoroughly enjoyable for one of the players

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The Mana Sword posted...

Too many red cards on this list

You made me count

Assuming I didnt count wrong heres the tally

White 6
Blue 7
Black 6
Red 4
Green 4
Gold 11
Colorless 11
Lands 3

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That's a solid distribution, more colorless cards and fewer golds than I'd have expected.

Of course, if I was doing it, my mono black bias would be far too obvious.

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Cool cards. with some interesting effects. Since I haven't played Magic in a decade, I don't know what the *Cube Format* refers to though.

One red card I liked was Pulse of the Forge. Not super strong [4 damage dealt], but, it returned to the players hand if your Life Points were less than your opponents after the damage was dealt.

Mana cost: 1 colorless + 2 red, and the card is an Instant.

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Dark Silvergun posted...

Cool cards. with some interesting effects. Since I haven't played Magic in a decade, I don't know what the *Cube Format* refers to though.

One red card I liked was Pulse of the Forge. Not super strong [4 damage dealt], but, it returned to the players hand if your Life Points were less than your opponents after the damage was dealt.

Mana cost: 1 colorless + 2 red, and the card is an Instant.

Cube is a draft format where instead of drafting certain sets, you pick 540 specific cards and randomly put 360 of them in 15 card piles. You then draft those cards.

Its usually considered the best non constructed format because you can play a wide variety of decks and strategies and because its singleton you get to play with a lot of different cards


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I've always liked the art on coalition relic. Neat design too. (tag)

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First non cube card up

50. Roost of Drakes

Roost of drakes is one of the best uncommon build around limited cards in recent memory and it was just so much fun playing kicker cards that dont do much just to make tons of drakes. One of the running themes in the top 52 is I really like cards that just demoralize your opponent and this is the first one that fits the bill. You land a turn 4 Roost of drakes and your opponent is already thinking the game is pretty much over but they will still die slowly.



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And back to cube

49. Field of the Dead



Amusingly this card might be higher if it was weaker. If it was legendary it probably wouldnt have been banned in standard and it being too strong for standard is one of the reasons it has a little bitterness attached to it. In cube, especially lower powered arena cubes this card is both awesome to play with and interesting to play against. Its usually fairly obvious after a few turns if your opponent is playing a field of the dead deck which means you have an opportunity to craft a game plan against it. Drafting field of the dead is also fun because there are plenty of cards that get better (or worse) when trying to draft a field of the dead deck.

I think any player who has drafted cube enough is going to eventually make the mistake of putting cultivate (Which searches your deck for two basic lands and puts one into play) in a field deck only to realize that when your deck is playing 5 basic lands cultivate is a huge trap.

Field of the deads best friend is higher up on the list

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48. Sword of body and mind (But really all the swords)



Swords are sweet. I picked body and mind because it for a long time was the best one in limited (Though with all the graveyard mechanics recently I dont know if that is actually true any more) Swords are extremely demoralizing to opponents that cant deal with them. They are invitations to slow inevitable deaths.

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47. Wurmcoil Engine



The very first constructed deck I built was a Modern R/G Tron deck, and Wurmcoil engine is one of the payoffs. 5 years ago a turn 3 Wurmcoil against creature decks was pretty much game over, and Wurmcoil was pretty much your only out against burn decks. Nowadays its just too slow and too vulnerable to exile and bounce effects, but in 2016 it was great

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tag

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Oh man I love Roost of Drakes in ZFR limited. The kicker deck with waves is so fun and roost is so busted

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Oh, a streak of cards I'm not a fan of. Never really came to like kicker, and the swords and Wurmcoil feel like victims of progress, just a bit clunky.

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If you also rate based on "Interesting Art" one of my favorite cards is an old "Abbey Matron."

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46. Time Vault


Once a vintage cube all star, time vault has been removed from most cubes because its too good, which I reluctantly agree with. Nevertheless, one of my favorite vintage cube drafts ever was a hyper efficient time vault deck that was pretty much nothing but tutors, ways to untap artifacts, and time vault.

Time vault hits all the high notes of being a build around card with a fun payoff that dramatically changes the value of other traditionally mediocre cards like Kioras Follower (UG 2/2 tap to untap a permanent) but unfortunately because its an artifact that can be activated immediately as opposed to a creature combo its just too strong for most cubes.

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Isquen posted...

If you also rate based on "Interesting Art" one of my favorite cards is an old "Abbey Matron."

that cards absurd haha.

While I dislike bad art, art doesnt really factor into my rankings too much. My rankings are pretty much entirely based on playing the card and how interesting of a design the card has

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45. Lava Axe

We would like to give a warm welcome to our first objectively bad card!



I used the portal art for the picture because this is the version of Lava Axe that made the list. Lava Axe is bad, but when you are 7 years old lava axe is awesome. Its 1/4 of your opponents life! Thats so much! While this is the lowest ranked nostalgia card on this list, it isnt the worst one. At least Lava axe is arguably playable in some aggressive limited decks. Some upcoming nostalgia cards are even worse! which in a way bumps Lava axe down a bit. Its bad, but isnt so objectively bad to be funny looking back.

Honorable mention also to volcanic Hammer which is 1R to do 3 damage to anything which also was awesome in my portal starter deck. You both get objectively terrible red card nostalgia kudos.

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Just kidding real 45



I forgot how goofy the art on this card is. Yeah I think I have to give the nod to volcanic hammer as a tiebreaker.

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44. Smiting Helix



I think this is the only card on the list that I have actually never played. I just love the design.

So the joke here is that there was this card


Which was a pretty powerful card against aggressive decks. Killing a creature and gaining 3 life is pretty backbreaking against aggressive. The funny thing is that doing damage while gaining life is very Red/White. But its also very mono black. There are tons of black cards like drain life



that do that. So technically you could have the cost be RW or black, and thats what smiting helix is.

If it was an instant it would probably be in all sorts of cubes, but unfortunately it being a sorcery means it isnt good enough so I probably wont ever play it.

Amazing design though

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Aww yeah Lava Axe! My favorite deck as a ~10 year old was all about lava axes, fireballs, lavabursts, searing winds, and losing.

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Tag for Phage

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masterplum posted...

Just kidding real 45



I forgot how goofy the art on this card is. Yeah I think I have to give the nod to volcanic hammer as a tiebreaker.

Hey, Volcanic hammer is perfectly fine, especially for its time! I know Incinerate is better (and of course Bolt, but we're not counting Bolt) but when it was current, I'd never be embarrassed to rock some.

Lava axe, is, in fact, terrible, but damn is it fun.

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The fact that lava axe is bad shows how power creep is. I haven't played magic since around 2000 and I remember liking Lava Axe. (Isn't it basically the equivalent of a 5 damage fireball? 5 damage for 5 mana was acceptable back then. )

I like homelands cards because they tried to fight power creep with that set because people complained all the good cards cost money (like most of the Alpha power cards they dropped.) Then people complained it was too weak. I like close long drawn out games. Not games that rely on one combo to win in two turns.

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The problem with Lava Axe isn't really the rate, it's that it doesn't do anything except direct damage. The 5 mana for 5 damage ratio is still reasonable in Limited, but it's often got the ability to hit creatures too, or does something else. Arrow Storm is a good example.

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Alanna82 posted...

The fact that lava axe is bad shows how power creep is. I haven't played magic since around 2000 and I remember liking Lava Axe. (Isn't it basically the equivalent of a 5 damage fireball? 5 damage for 5 mana was acceptable back then. )

I like homelands cards because they tried to fight power creep with that set because people complained all the good cards cost money (like most of the Alpha power cards they dropped.) Then people complained it was too weak. I like close long drawn out games. Not games that rely on one combo to win in two turns.

You would like limited then, lots of creatures and creature removal.

Honestly it wouldnt surprise me if lava axe was bad in 2000. Not being able to kill creatures is just too big of a detriment

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43. Griselbrand


Another card the victim of being too good. Griselbrand is THE reanimation target as getting Griselbrand lets you draw into all of your other action.

The second modern deck I ever built was Grishoal Brand where the combo was to reanimate Griselbrand and use


To gain enough life to draw your deck.

The deck wasnt good. After dropping $600 on it I took it to one tournament, proceeded to go 0-3, and felt kind of dumb.

Nevertheless Griselbrand is still a cool card.

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Alanna82 posted...

The fact that lava axe is bad shows how power creep is.

Lava axe was bad when it was first printed. We just didn't know it because we were all bad, too.

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42. Hypnotic Siren



A weird case of modern Nostalgia, about 6 moths after I picked up magic again after having not played since being a kid I entered a 9 man GPT. It was sealed with a cut to top 8 where I had a horrendous pool and went 0-2 then got the bye which automatically made me make the cut to top 8 (I have to imagine the person who missed the cut had to have quit magic in shame)

In the top 8 I drafted two hypnotic sirens and beat a try hard who raged he lost to someone playing two hypnotic sirens. (I should clarify hypnotic siren is really not a good card. But it seemed sweet to me!)

Because I won I won a double bye to GP Atlanta, so I drove 6 hours slept in my car and proceeded to 1-2 drop. It was my first ever serious tournament which is cool. I also imagine my ex-wife probably enjoyed the alone time with her boyfriend.

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masterplum posted...

about 6 moths after I picked up magic again after having not played since being a kid

I don't think I've ever met a Magic player who didn't used to be into Magic as a kid, usually sell/trade all their cards away, then get back into it years later.

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41. Really epic punch

The background is there was a set with this card


and then an alternate future set with this card



So as part of one of the not legal joke sets they created this card



So you might be thinking, Oh, so the reason this card is 41 is because its a funny joke. No, the reason this card is 41 is they screwed up the rules text and then shrugged and decided it was fine because it was a joke set.

Notice the first two cards say until end of turn. Thats how magic works. This isnt digital. Under no circumstance would modern day magic change the stats of a creature without some form of counter or marker indicating they changed, but this card does that.

So when this card came out it was an unintended bomb because

1. The card was unintentionally way better than if it was just until end of turn
2. You didnt have to ever tell your opponents the stats of your creature changed so you could bamboozle them.

Like this is horrendous gameplay experience to get gotten by this card, but because it was a silver bordered joke set they left it in and it was hilarious. I had a lot of fun playing it when I went to the release of this set.

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masterplum posted...

So you might be thinking, Oh, so the reason this card is 41 is because its a funny joke. No, the reason this card is 41 is they screwed up the rules text and then shrugged and decided it was fine because it was a joke set.

Notice the first two cards say until end of turn.

This is why I love Riding the Dilu the horse. And it IS legal!



I actually never knew about that Really Epic Punch. I've seen the card, but completley missed the subtly of the 'error'.

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TomNook posted...

This is why I love Riding the Dilu the horse. And it IS legal!



I actually never knew about that Really Epic Punch. I've seen the card, but completley missed the subtly of the 'error'.

Funny enough I changed my sentence from They would never do that in magic to They would never do that in modern day magic because I figured there was probably some ancient card that did that. At least with that card there isnt any reason to gloss over there isnt an end of turn on it, unlike flight cards where there are a million of them that always say until end of turn.

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masterplum posted...

At least with that card there isnt any reason to gloss over there isnt an end of turn on it, unlike flight cards where there are a million of them that always say until end of turn.

Its definitely easier to gloss over the fight card because of all the extra text. But I wouldn't say it's not easy to miss Dilu Horse either! Most people seem to fill it in in their mind or just assume its erratad like other old tutor cards that have you search your library but forgot to print "shuffle your library" on the card at the end.

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I wonder if Griselbrand used to have a converted mana cost of 7 before they decided they couldn't do that. The rest of the card is covered in 7s but the converted mana cost is 8.
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Tag. Some good cards so far.

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40. Kaldra Compleat

This is the most recent card on this list, and its sweet in both design and function. So years ago there were these cards



And in mtg lore there were pherexians who won the war against the side that had Kaldra. So what happened to the armor of Kaldra?


This is one of the strongest cards on the list, both the equipment being indestructible and the creature getting indestructible are huge. Exile and bounce are still a pain, but if your opponent doesnt have either of those to answer this they are going to lose quickly. (If you dont know, living weapon means when it hits the battlefield it automatically is attached to a 0/0 creature token so you are slamming immediately)

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magic is so great and has such a history.

i feel like every mtg player on the board could make their own top 50 list and there would be practically zero overlap

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39. High Alert



High alert is very similar to roost of drakes. Its a build around uncommon in a fairly recent set. The reason its higher is it is a much more skill intensive card. Unlike roost of drakes which is extremely pushed where absolute worst case scenario is a 2UU 2/2 flier, high alert could technically make your deck worse if you didnt skillfully draft around it. If you had enough of the 1U 1/4 fliers though you would just dominate.

Building high alert decks were super fun, and super satisfying when you suddenly were attacking for 20 with all of your crappy defensive creatures

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38. Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

Back to cube cards! I alluded to Golos in my field of the dead write up, as golos is the best non land to have in a field deck as it can fetch field or any other land you might have drafted. It also can win the game on its own in a field deck, as if you can activate its ability turn 6 you are probably going to win.

At the same time, because its 5 mana and the deck construction costs are so high, Ive never felt Golos was too unfair. One of the best cube cards to have come out in the last couple years.


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Tag, I havent played physical MTG for 20 years but Ive played all the digital ones since and have been playing a ton of Arena this year.

Even so, Ive missed A LOT of cards, and I love watching more knowledgeable players glow over cool cards.

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banananor posted...

i feel like every mtg player on the board could make their own top 50 list and there would be practically zero overlap

Seeing this list I had the thought I wanted to make one-- and so far and the answer to this for me is a resounding "true" as I think my favorite card listed here so far is Lava Axe. (Aside from Riding the Dilu Horse but that's not technically on the list)

No actual obnoxious cards though yet so that's good. Tag.

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Lopen posted...

Seeing this list I had the thought I wanted to make one-- and so far and the answer to this for me is a resounding "true" as I think my favorite card listed here so far is Lava Axe. (Aside from Riding the Dilu Horse but that's not technically on the list)

No actual obnoxious cards though yet so that's good. Tag.

I think there are 2 cards on my list other people actively dont like. Well see what the response is!

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Lopen posted...

Seeing this list I had the thought I wanted to make one

Same. When I saw the YuGiOh topic, it made me think of Magic. I'm glad someone else made one instead, because now I can be lazy and read theirs! I always like reading about Magic's past and other people's perspectives and love of it.

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37. Pelakka Wurm



When conspiracy came out, I did two drafts. In the first draft I had an amazing Brago deck


The deck was sweet. It blinked stuff, it created value, it was snazzy, and the other 3 players in the pod immediately saw it was sweet and they all attacked me and I came in 4th

The second deck had two pelakka wurms in it. It didnt really do anything until it hit 7 mana then it started just dropping wurms and ways to recur wurms. I obliterated the pod.

It was a good lesson. In multiplayer games, looking like you dont have a strong deck is just as important as having a strong deck.

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masterplum posted...

43. Griselbrand


Another card the victim of being too good. Griselbrand is THE reanimation target as getting Griselbrand lets you draw into all of your other action.

The second modern deck I ever built was Grishoal Brand where the combo was to reanimate Griselbrand and use


To gain enough life to draw your deck.

The deck wasnt good. After dropping $600 on it I took it to one tournament, proceeded to go 0-3, and felt kind of dumb.

Nevertheless Griselbrand is still a cool card.

excuse me, I went 12-3 with that deck at a GP once (granted it was the neoform version which was way better than the original goryos vengeance version)


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