Board 8 > Plums 52 favorite Magic cards

(+) Yeah! (+)

36. Blaze



The very first game of magic I ever played, I had half of my cousins 400 card collection and he had the other half. I was dead on board but he kept playing. Eventually I was excited because I was able to cast blaze for lethal.

He played


But still its the only card I remember from my first game of magic. Has to be worth something

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35. Progenitor Mimic



This card creates such dumb board states. Its one of my favorite cube cards. Unfortunately a 6 mana clone is just way too expensive and removal is too good these days.
.

Ill probably still try to splash it.


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34. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident


I think this is the worst card on the entire list. When I got my first starter deck and convinced my mom to play with me. I remember her mockingly summon this card.

It stands out to me both as a fond memory and holy crap this card is terrible.

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33. Bolt



I was going to stop after the last one, but I thought it was funny back to back the worst card on the list with arguably the best card on the list. I dont like burn decks, but bolt was always such a great pickup in UR cube decks. You really feel like you shore up your early game by having a bolt.

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masterplum posted...

35. Progenitor Mimic



This card creates such dumb board states. Its one of my favorite cube cards. Unfortunately a 6 mana clone is just way too expensive and removal is too good these days.
.

Ill probably still try to splash it.

Love Progenitor Mimic, played it in my Bant flicker EDH list. My favorite is the interaction where if you blink it and have it enter as a copy of one of the tokens it makes, it gains the additional instance of the clone clause. Because you know, it wasn't stupid enough already.

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masterplum posted...

I think this is the worst card on the entire list. When I got my first starter deck and convinced my mom to play with me. I remember her mockingly summon this card.

It stands out to me both as a fond memory and holy crap this card is terrible.

Nice

When I got into Magic, two of the most recent sets were Urza's block (fun times!) and Starter. Did you happen to have any Starter cards? Because let me tell you, it was very confusing to see the overpowered rares in Urza's block and at the same time see Mon's Goblin Raiders marked as a rare (they say it's a misprint, but I didn't know that back then).


With your ironic love of that Merfolk, I bet you'd have loved him too if he happened to land in your decks at the time.

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Ah, wurmcoil engine was one of my first exposures to magic as the friend who got me into it had a blue artifact deck with it, and worldspine wurm was my jam as I always used quicksilver amulet to bring it out. Good times.

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32. Time bomb



When I was a kid, I wildly misunderstood what this card did. I thought I could put any number of time counters on it during my upkeep, and thus forcing draws by putting 100 counters on it. During one game in middle school I tried to do that and my opponent told me thats not how it works and I was really sad.

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Time Bomb as a 32nd fav card is the kind of shit I love about MTG rankings! I have no attachment to this card, but I love seeing someone else love it!

It's also cool to see the Time Walk skeletons in different poses.

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Back to back ice age rares!

31. Glacial Chasm


I think there is one booster pack I remember actually opening as a kid, and it was the one where I opened this card. This was still in the play all my cards I own as a deck stage of magic and I stopped and looked at this card and went WTF. I knew there was probably some reason I would want this card, but I could not think of a single way I could ever win the game realistically without attacking.


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I forgot all about Glacial Chasm. There was a period in the...uh...2012-2015 era where all my friends used that card. But I haven't seen it in years! Very cool card though! Super unique effect.

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30. Grizzly Bears


Ive always thought it was kind of hilarious that magic decided to just have normal old bears in their game. Future sets tried to remedy this by making the bears magical by making them runeclaw bears or whatnot, but the original grizzlies still exist.

A few years ago I had some work friends who were very casually into magic so I tried to lower the chance of me winning against them by building a

commander deck with every bear in magic history. It was funny.

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I havent played in forever, but its fun to read these

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masterplum posted...

32. Time Bomb

First card that would probably be on my list somewhere (this of all cards right)

I always loved this card as a kid, so much that I made a deck centered around Time Bomb as a win condition about 10 year ago. Like young masterplum I saw the power if it had 100 counters. Unlike young masterplum I tried to do it legitimately.

I had lots of proliferate as well as paradox haze to take extra upkeeps. There was more to it that really made it tick but I'm forgetting how the deck worked exactly since it wasn't one of my most used decks or anything and I haven't used it in over 5 years. Fun card though. Solid mid tier rep.

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29. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn


I thought this card was so cool. As I mentioned earlier the first real constructed deck I built was R/G Tron, and honestly part of the reason is Im kind of a Timmy at heart. When I was a kid I loved huge creatures, so being able to play a tier 1 modern deck built around casting the most powerful biggest creature ever printed was awesome.

Its sad modern is too fast now for Tron. I still have most of the deck in a drawer somewhere.

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**** eldrazi
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As someone who started Magic by maining green, I fucking love Eldrazi.

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28. Draco


I was so stoked when I was in middle school opening up a planeshift booster and opening the character on the booster pack. At the time I thought that meant I won the lottery. As I mentioned before in my previous post I was a Timmy, so I was just stunned by how huge this thing was, and it fit right into my 5 color all my cards deck.

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27. Teferi, Time Raveler



So I suspect this is going to be the first card in my list that is actively hated by a lot of people, but honestly playing WU control with Teferi might be the only time in my life I have actively enjoyed playing standard. I've always been more of a W based conrol player rather than a U based control player so being able to not have to worry about other counter spells or instants while you wrath the board over and over again was so gratifying.

The card is obviously too good for standard, but I really like it and still love playing it in WU or Esper cube decks.

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I love control more than anything and I actively hate that Teferi exists

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Basically anything Teferi is near the top of the I wanna rage quit rankings in Arena

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The Mana Sword posted...

I love control more than anything and I actively hate that Teferi exists

My guess is a lot of people who like Counterspell control hate teferi. My guess is I don't really like counterspell control so I like the card that shuts down counterspells

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26. Basilica Bell-Haunt



Back to good ol fashioned limited uncommons. While I wasn't a big fan of the Return to Return to Ravnica sets, there were a few things I really did like, and the AABB costed uncommons were one of them. I really liked the idea of powerful uncommons that rewarded you for having good mana and were completely unsplashable.

Orzhov has always been my favorite guild so this was my favorite of the cycle. Doesn't hurt that it was good, but not obnoxiously good (Looking at you )

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masterplum posted...

My guess is a lot of people who like Counterspell control hate teferi. My guess is I don't really like counterspell control so I like the card that shuts down counterspells

Seems accurate. I don't see anything super annoying about him and I'm in the same boat

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25. Damn



Tied with Kaldra Compleat as most recent card on this list. I love everything about this card. This card is extremely similar to smiting helix in that it plays around with what colors can do. Black traditionally kills single targets, but white as the color of equality traditionally has the best destroy all creature effects.



This card plays with the keyword overload, by effectively using it to turn a black card into a white card.

The name also is great as its a play on the slightly color pie bendy card


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24. BitterBlossom



In line with the theme of loving cards that are harbringers of slow inevitable defeat comes bitterblossom. Unfortunately the card just isn't good enough for most decks. It doesn't do anything until the next turn, if you are losing then the life loss is going to hurt too much, 1/1 fliers just aren't impactful enough against many strategies etc.

But the games when you play a bitterblossom on turn 2 and your opponent is playing a deck that can't deal with it well or you have ninja synergies like

it just feels so good.

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Was going to stop there for now but I have a lot to say about

23. Brazen Borrower



I know this is going to be another controversial one.

I wish this card came out in a modern horizons set because it is 100% too good for standard. It and its buddy
have undoubtably made standard worse for the last 2 years and that's pretty disappointing, because as a cube or modern card it's amazing.

a 1U bounce spell is bad.
a 1UU 3/1 flash flier that can't block non-fliers is bad.

And somehow the combination is.... excellent? I think Brazen Borrower is an easily first pickable card in lower powered cubes, and a solid 3rd pick or so in higher powered cubes. It works extremely well with counter spells as it bounces anything. It disrupts combos by bouncing your opponents reanimation or splinter twin target, and it attacks planeswalkers so well.

Whenever I see a bunch of bad cards stapled together into something that is excellent I have to give credit. Brazen Borrower is just a fun card versatile card that makes you feel secure against a host of potential upcoming problems.

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masterplum posted...

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.

I had a friend who ran a 160 card deck just to play casually with friends and I think this card was partially the reason behind why he wanted a deck so big

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masterplum posted...

23. Brazen Borrower

Huh, hadn't seen this mechanic. Are these just instant/creature split cards or are there any other associated rules not explicitly stated on the card?

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It's cards where you can play the creature first or play the instant/sorcery and then play the creature at a later time. There are some other "going on adventures matter" mechanics in that set too.

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22. Chub Toad



At work a couple years ago I was talking to someone who played magic 20 years prior and had quit 19 years prior. The only thing both of us remembered from that time was chub toad. He actually found one in his pile of old cards and gave it to me. Its currently on my desk.

The card is horrible

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BlackDra90n posted...

It's cards where you can play the creature first or play the instant/sorcery and then play the creature at a later time. There are some other "going on adventures matter" mechanics in that set too.

Ahh okay, that would make them a lot better!

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How much does flavor text and art factor into your love of a card? Chub toad has nice of both.

I see you said:

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

I can't help but think a lot of these bad cards getting ranked high for nostalgia had to have been loved at the time because of the art or flavor text.

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TomNook posted...

How much does flavor text and art factor into your love of a card? Chub toad has nice of both.

Flavor text practically zero. I pretty much gloss over it unless someone points it out.

Art not much unless its particularly memorable. All the random dragons meld together, but some stuff like chub toad or volcanic hammer stands out.

Magic has some particularly ridiculous cards in terms of art but none of them made my list. Not really the thing I care about.

In terms of why these bad cards made it, I suppose the art could have impacted me remembering them, but anything that sparked the memory could do that. Blaze for instance the only thing I remembered before looking it up was it was the X damage spell from portal.

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I mean, some cards hold nostalgia value for me for other reasons, so I definitely appreciate this list a lot. See: Abbey Matron earlier. Now also see: Chub Toad. See next: like a lot of the early elemental walls that had people hiding within them.. including the grossness of Living Wall.

Edit: such as Leshrac's Rite. The card itself sucked, but Leshrac himself getting turned into a Dota hero as a result was hugely cool.

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Honorable mention: Shard Volley
10. Isochron Sceptor
9. Delver of Secrets
8. Lightning Helix
7. Kiln Fiend
6. Bloodbraid Elf
5. Figure of Destiny
4. Preordain
3. Goblin Guide
2. Pyromancer Ascension
1. Lightning Bolt

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MajinZidane posted...

7. Kiln Fiend

Funny you should mention that!

21. Nivix Cyclops



The very first deck I built when I got back into magic was a UR instants deck with 4 nivix cyclops. I don't remember a single other card in the entire deck but crushing my ex-wife with a pair of 13/4 cyclops will always be a fond memory

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MajinZidane posted...

Honorable mention: Shard Volley
10. Isochron Sceptor
9. Delver of Secrets
8. Lightning Helix
7. Kiln Fiend
6. Bloodbraid Elf
5. Figure of Destiny
4. Preordain
3. Goblin Guide
2. Pyromancer Ascension
1. Lightning Bolt

Someone likes red deck wins

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Yeah, I was a big fan. RDW took me to the pro tour.

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The top 20 turned out to be an unintentional dividing line, where (barring nostalgia cards) everything in it becomes actively exciting, Everything from this point on are cards Im stoked to put into a cube/draft/constructed deck

20. Dack Fayden



This card is so busted in vintage cube (or really any heavy artifact cube) When all of your opponents are playing signets or moxen or whatever this card basically is a 3 mana artifact mind control that leaves a frantic search every turn.

In vintage cube, Jace the mind sculptor, Oko thief of crowns and Dack all compete for the title of best planeswalker, and while Dack probably doesnt win that fight any more it certainly is the most fun to play. Solid first pickable cube card if there isnt any power 9 card etc. in the pack.

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Dack Fayden has always bugged me because his name sounds like some Star Wars EU character reject. I have no problem with any other Planeswalker/Legend name in this way

He seems like an interesting enough play and I know I've seen him used from time to time but he's never really left a bigger impression on me than that

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Dack is great.

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big dack energy

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Dack Fayden is 100% a Star Wars name

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Last potentially controversial one. Hooray

19. Ugin the Spirit Dragon



Emberassing fact. I -10'd Ugin once while playing R/G tron and shouted out my actions like I was in the Yugioh anime I DRAW 7 CARDS AND PROCEED TO PUT 7 PERMANENTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD

I then put a karn and a ulamog onto the battlefield or something and my opponent immediately scooped, but it was hillarious and emberessing

Ugin's - ability is at times the only thing that can possibly get you out of a jam in some cube situations, which makes it potentially extremely strong, but at the same time it isn't like other busted cards such as oko, Jace, or Dack, in that the deck that would theoretically have the easiest time casting it, a green ramp strategy, would also be a terrible deck for ugin as it would immedietly disentigrate all of your mana dorks. That confines Ugin to artificat ramp decks or maybe some weird channel decks without elves (Though that deck sounds horrible)

Ugin is defintely a card I play too often in cube decks that shouldn't be playing it.

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love ugin

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18. Spike, Tournament Grinder



This card is the highest card on the list that scores entirerly on how much I love the design. I had this in one deck once and proceeded to never draw it (after I spent $40 on banned cards just in case) which means my play experience is actually a detracting factor from this card. But I'm going all in that this is the best designed magic card ever printed. (And printing it in a joke set is what let them do it)

To understand why this card is so great I want to point out that this is the third in a cycle of cards that came out in Un-sets. The cycle is types of magic players that Wizards of the Coast keeps in mind when designing cards. They try to make sure they print cards that appeal to different audiences. You have



Which represents Timmy who likes playing his giant monsters or playing spells with giant cool effects.

You have

Who represents players who want to build cool decks and pull off cool combos that aren't necessarly viable.

And then you have Spikes: Players who want to win more than anything else. I'm definitely a spike, (But enough of a Timmy that tie always goes to the deck that does cool stuff over combo decks)

Here are all the ways Spike Tournament Grinder is amazingly designed

1. The card is insanely pushed. If it was legal it would be vintage playable. This is completely in line with the idea that Spikes play the absolute best cards to win
2. Spikes are the reason banned cards get banned because they gravitate to only the best cards, so spike tourmant grinder letting you play banned cards is so flavorfully on point
3. Pherexian Mana is one of 3 or 4 most broken mechanics of all time (It hangs out with Storm, Dredge and Delve) so of course spike would be entirely built on it
4. Of course Spike is a black card, the color of power at the cost of life. Spike is literally paying life grinding tournaments in persuit of being more powerful.
5. Spikes shirt of "Nope" with a blue symbol is just so incredibly on point of spikes playing cards that don't care about your feelings.
6. The fact that spike is a girl because spike is an androgynous name is a really insightful interesting touch.

I would go all in that Spike Tournament Grinder is the most flavorful and best designed card of all time.

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masterplum posted...

Last potentially controversial one. Hooray

Well, this list doesnt have any Walking Dead cards, so how controversial could it be?


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Ugin is great. In my Dragon's of Tarkir prerelease I managed to open Ugin, Sarkhan Unbroken, and a Wooded Foothills.

That was a fun prerelease. The number of times I had my opponent remove Sarkhan just for me to drop an Ugin the next turn was amazing.

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