The time is here for our quad-annual(?) tradition of ranking our Top 5 favorite, most interesting, and best cards in the latest set. Because this is a core set, many of these cards are reprints from 10th or other sets that were released recently. Therefore, we need to lay some ground rules about what can be included on this list. First off, I am not judging the Planeswalkers from Lorwyn. Even though Ajani Goldmane, Garruk Wildspeaker, and quite possibly Jace Beleren all would have made a list of ‘top cards from 2010′, that would be boring. The following is a list designed to express the five cards I am most excited about. My:
1.Silence – From the moment I saw this card I knew I was in love. Silence does more than simply pay homage to the Dungeons & Dragons realm that inspired it. It duplicates the essence perfectly. Nearly every RPG, real-time strategy, or dungeon crawler video game I played as a youth had some form of Silence. To varying degrees of success (I’m looking directly at you Final Fantasy) the spell has become a staple of fantasy. In case you missed it, I wrote at some length regarding the virtues of Silence in a previous post. Without repeating myself overtly, I basically see this card as having two uses. Either shutting down an opponents turn or, more importantly, allowing you a turn to ‘go off’ unfettered by your foe’s efforts. A worthy #1 to be sure.
2.Duress - Sometimes the easiest way to topple an opponents strategy is to simply pluck the key pieces from their hand. It is a strategy that worked wonders for the value of cards like Thoughtseize and Extirpate. Now, with the release of Magic2010 the original hand-altering card is back in business. Some of us may have gotten a brief taste when it was released early this year in Divine vs Demonic, but now it is here to stay. At common rarity no less. Yes, there are more drawbacks than Thoughtseize, and that may be a problem against the rash of aggro creature decks populating MTGO, FNM, and whatever the acronym is for the kitchen table. Know what? It doesn’t matter. Snag that Bitterblossom or Runepost and you set your nemesis back at least one turn and maybe more. Do it twice and they will feel exactly what the title of the card suggests.
3.Ball Lightning – Not exactly an original choice at #3. Along with Lightning Bolt this card has caused message boards and internet forums to quiver with the intense joy of every Red Burn Wizard. Let me say that I was one of those wizards, in whom the my inner Storm Shaman bubbled with delight at first glimpse. Be there no mistake, WotC knew what it was doing releasing this card within it’s massive and controversial rules changes article. Ball Lightning was an extended hand of peace to the loyal duelists who may have felt betrayed by the new direction. Only this extended hand promised the power of six damage for three mana! As many red wizards know, the idea behind an aggressive burn deck is to deal an average of about three damage with each card you play during a game. With enough land each turn and using this formula you should be winning no later than turn five, and often on turn four. Ball Lightning makes this strategy that much easier.
4.Master of the Wild Hunt - There are more exciting, powerful, interesting green creatures in every set than a person can properly contextualize. However, this particular green creature does something very rare for its color: direct damage to fellow creatures. Master of the Wild Hunt offers a mono-green deck the chance to take out annoyances like the Royal Assassin, or Sower of Temptation it normally wouldn’t be able to. Like any other token generator the Master does not provide us with as many tokens as we would like. Especially in the face of a daunting enemy. Combine this card with it’s M10 match Howl of the Night Pack and watch the fur fly as you sunder entire armies at once! A quick caveat, Master of the Wild Hunt is not a tournament card. At least not in the eyes of many gamers. However it has such potential in casual formats of all types the mind swims. For that reason my #4 card earns it’s place.
5.Darksteel Colossus – The most impressive part of this mammoth creature is not its power, or toughness, or even the indestructability. In fact, we can ignore the impact this card originally had on me detailed here. The most impactful characteristic of Darksteel Colossus is the lasting relevance. This is a card that has lost none of its luster in the past five years. Even in a world when where Serra Angel has become two tiers lower in rarity than it would have been at its release, we have one creature that’s power hasn’t diminished. In fact, the Darksteel Colossus is one of only three creatures ever to jump up in rarity. In this case to Mythic status. There can be no higher praise than this, from both the developers and the fans like me who are equally excited about its inclusion.
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Honorable Mentions – Lightning Bolt, Baneslayer Angel, and Captain of the Watch.
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Darksteel Colossus one of the best? blah? It dies to PtE Oring and costs 11. At least Progenitus has pro everything (and costs less). You’ve missed out Illusionary Servant which is I believe a far better card than D.C – Also Duress isn’t as useful in Type 2 as extended because of the preponderence of creature decks. Finally Silence is I believe overrated since although it delays your opponent it doesn’t stop them playing lands and holding on to their cards (which they will happily play next turn) – unless control becomes much more dominant (which since we’ve lost WoG is unlikely and we still don’t have a decent cheap counter like Mana Leak, Rune Snag etc) it will see no more play than Moonhold.
Illusionary Servant is a great card. Not sure I follow the Progenitus analogy though. 11 colorless is much, MUCH, cheaper than 10 Rainbow.. and it dies to sweeps. Anyway.. I think its a card that a lot of players are anxious to get their hands on. Maybe not for tournament uses… but just for some flavor and casual fun. I also think artifacts might come back in Zendikar (“Deadly Perils… priceless treasures”) and there are a lot of great cards that pull artifacts from graveyards, libraries, hands… make them cost less etc. Unlike Progenitus where you cant target it to get it out cheaper
DC is a great card for a lot of different reasons.. maybe not for tournament turn 4 wins… but it has its place and is definetly viable in someones personal top 5.
Ill have an article on my feelings with reguards to Blue coming up soon.
I do agree with you about control though
Great write-up Leaf – I always look forward to the set reviews here on Gathering Magic. On the most part, I concur with your list and will (hopefully soon), be posting a my review on MTG Realm.
Personally, I would be exchanging Darksteel Colossus with Captain of the Watch : CotW not only provides 6 power for 6 mana but also hands the player two solid soldier abilities in a pump and vigilance.
Players : start your deckbuilding !
Thanks for the feedback. I figured Darksteel would be my most controversial choice. However, for those who have decided its mana cost makes it unplayable I have two words for you: Master Transmuter.
Master of The Wild Hunt!!! My watchwolf’s will be happy
[...] five cards. But here is my vein attempt and doing just that. If you haven’t checked out Leaf’s list, you should do so [...]
Here are three cards most people have seemed to just over look from this new core set.
Elite Vanguard, Savannah Lions greatest smack in the face. At one mana and with a perfect body, this card will become the cornerstone for the next wave of white weenie decks. It already has some wonderful weapons at it’s disposal, such as Path to Exile, Ethersworn Canonist, Knight of the White Orchid, Sigiled Paladin, Obivion Ring, Elsepth, Knight-Errant, and this next card.
Honor of the Pure, the absolutely perfect reprint of Crusade. 10 fold better then Glorious Anthem and a nice game design fit for the soon to be White Weenie.
Sign in Blood, the rarest form of draw for black. Not often is there a card printed in black that is both cheap and effective at drawing cards. It’ll make the same splash that Night’s Whisper had before it. Plus the almost unnecessary bonus of not having to target yourself.
P.S. Darksteel Colossus sucks and will never see competitive play in standard.
[...] The rest is here: Magic 2010 Review – Top 5 (Leaf) | Gathering Magic – A Magic the … [...]
[...] public on Friday. MTG fans will be tearing open boosters and looking for cards they need or are otherwise excited about. For some of us this will not be the first time we’ve held the metallic silver M10 packs [...]
I agree with Lighting Bolt and Master of the Wild hunt, great cards that I will be using a lot. I think silence is a bit overrated, useful, but if you play it early on you won’t mess up their big turn and if you play it late they’ll have more creatures out that they can still attack you with. I like it, but I don’t think it’s the best card in the set. Ball Lightning… nice, but you can play three lightning bolts for the same price. Duress, there are just so many cards that do close to the same thing; I think Distress is a better card, even though it costs ne more mana. I think the other three best cards in the set are Great Sable Stag, Baneslayer Angel, and Time Warp, but that’s just me.
@Rinehart: I think Progenitus is better than Darksteel Colossus. You actually can target Progenitus to get it out faster, it only has protection from everything when it’s in play. Rules text doesn’t apply in other zones unless specified. Also, cards that exile individual creatures are more common than cards that exile all creatures (this is the only way to deal with Progenitus, as Wrath of God will just shuffle it back into your library). Darksteel Colossus would be much easier to deal with, and isn’t all that much easier to play.
Darksteel Colossus? Are you serious? The only use I can see for this card, besides a bookmark, is an anti-mill deck sideboard card for Standard. That’s where it’s going, in case I get milled, yet again, by people with nothing better to do than prison shank my cards into the graveyard before I can play anything. Discarding is a dreadful method of defeating your opponent, but it’s never going away. #5 on your list? That’s also a messed up choice. Fix your article with a new #5 and move on.