Hello folks and welcome back to my review of all sets. Before Hour of Devastation hits the streets, there are 78 Expansion sets that introduce new cards fully. We’ve always had a sort of intuitive feel as a community as to where sets ranked, and which were the best and worst. But I wanted to add an objective element to the ratings. I came up with five categories that sets are ranked on, from 1-10 in each category, and then tabulated the results.

I went back over each set’s ratings multiple times, reviewed every card from that set, and more to make sure that they had the best score I could give. It took me more than 20 hours to put the whole thing together, and then each article clocks in at a mega-5000+ word novella. But if I was going to take on this challenge, I wanted to do it right.

And some sets score higher than some people might think (such as Fallen Empires) and others score less than expected. And sets that I personally love aren’t as high as I’d like them to be. (Visions, The Dark). But I can’t cheat the numbers. I have to be consistent and fair to all sets, even ones I don’t like. That’s just how it is.

The categories that are used to rank them?

The categories:

• Innovation — Innovation considers a few aspects of the set. Is it trying to do something new? Explore unexplored space? How different is it? This considers both the central conceit of the set as well as the various mechanics and more.
• Flavor — How flavorful is the set? Does it have a good story line? Are there great names and art that resonate? And most importantly, do the mechanics matchup with the central concept of the set?
• Power — Here you go Spikes! How powerful are the cards in the set? How impactful are they at a kitchen table or tournament? Do they have a useful pedigree?
• Design — How well designed is the set? Are there interesting layers? How good is playing it in limited? Are there good mechanics that work well or are they overly insular?
• Tilt — This is my catchall category for a variety of factors. How fun was the set? Did the set do anything extra? Did it set any trends? Did all of the pieces come together in flavor, design, innovation and power?

In the Top 20, we have just three small sets, including the #3 set of all time. The scale of innovation rewards the first set in the block more than those that come later.

So today we are looking at the cream of the crop. The best of the best. We begin at 34 points, just a point better than the best scoring average sets, and finish a whole lot higher. All of these sets are great, quality sets. Ready to see the best that Magic has to offer?

At the end, we’ll give you a real treat. The score and ranking of every one of these 78 sets!

20. Legends, 34 Points

Legends is the highest scoring of the first expansion sets. And frankly, it’s odd because it comes before modern card design, evokes a D&D game, and yet has a lot of innovation to offer, like gold cards and legendary stuff. I also recall modern developers praising it for its ability to do something really cool but not take up a lot of the design space. We have some vanilla, or French vanilla, creatures, such as The Lady of the Mountain. But there are a ton of great designs here, such as the original Elder Dragon legends, and stuff like Sol'Kanar the Swamp King and Gwendlyn di Corci. But we also have a lot of cards that you can Roll Call with me, as Moat, The Abyss, Nether Void, Mana Drain, and The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. It was also the first major set to print variants of cards that already existed, such as Chain Lightning for Lightning Bolt, Remove Soul for Counterspell, Boomerang for Unsummon, and Divine Offering for Disenchant. It was deeper than people often realize, because many of those best cards were reprinted heavily, like Blood Lust, Killer Bees, and Divine Transformation. Kobolds! Karakas! Land Tax! Sylvan Library! Force Spike! It introduced land searching spells to Green with Untamed Wilds. But still, the set languished with a lot of bad stuff, because it wasn’t anything dominating or good. You cannot deny it’s influence. You cannot deny it’s cachet. But you also cannot deny a missed opportunity as well.

19. Future Sight, 34 Points

Future Sight is arguably the most exotic and bizarre set that exists. Printing cards of futures untold, the set tries to peer into the future of the game, but poorly at times. It has a ton of mechanics and introduces things like delve, among others. The set is bizarre, and thus scored well on innovation, where I gave it a 9. It’s a set that was often bought out regularly for people searching for Tarmogoyfs. But there are bunches more of these crazy cards in here, like Glittering Wish, Akroma's Memorial, Narcomoeba, the Pact cycle (including Pact of Negation and Summoner's Pact), Pyromancer's Swath, Rites of Flourishing, the Magus cycle (including Magus of the Moon), Sliver Legion, Sprout Swarm, Street Wraith, and Venser, Shaper Savant are all here and rocking the block. From supporting popular casual themes with Slivers and Thallids & Saprolings, to slapping some sick Spike beats for everyone to dance to, it is a bizarre set with a bunch of intriguing stuff to proffer. Zoetic Cavern for the win!

18. Scars of Mirrodin, 34 Points

This is a very cool set, for two major reasons.

1. Proliferate — Good cards include Contagion Clasp, Contagion Engine, Inexorable Tide, and Thrummingbird
2. Infect — Good examples include Hand of the Praetors, Grafted Exoskeleton, Plague Stinger, Putrefax, and of course, Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon!

And of course, that’s not it. We get a ton of artifact loving cards, such as Grand Architect, Kuldotha Forgemaster, Mox Opal, and such. Kemba, Kha Regent highlights the returning equipment loving.

Nim Deathmantle! Sword of Body and Mind! Steel Hellkite! Skinrender! Ratchet Bomb! Geth, Lord of the Vault! And the draft format wasn’t too shabby either, so you’ve got a nice thing going here Scars!

17. Theros, 34 Points

I know Theros might be a little too high to fly at #17 for some folks out there who want to trash the first set for the latter two. But this set certainly had a lot going for it, not the least of which is the second enchantment flavored Block, and this time, you’ll remember it! (The first was Urza’s Block. Do you remember that?) It gave us Gods, which were really cool, and their weapons that are still in heavy rotation in my decks. There’s a heavy Greek thing going on, and the heavy usage of auras, particularly aura creatures with bestow, such as Boon Satyr, and then a ton of creatures to target with things for various effects, like Akroan Crusader and Agent of the Fates. There is a lot to mine here, and the set is loaded with Greek tropes, such as the Akroan Horse, Curse of the Swine, and Chained to the Rocks. And we have a ton of useful tools, from scry (Dissolve) to things like Destructive Revelry, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Burnished Hart. This set is better than you think.

And yay for Elspeth, Sun's Champion!

16. Amonkhet, 35 Points

It’s harder to assess a set that has only been out for a while. In some ways, I actually like Theros better than Amonkhet. But Amonkhet gets some major points. Its score is 7, 8, 7, 8, 5. Innovative, but not overly so. Flavorful, but not the most flavorful set we’ve seen. Powerful, but not the most powerful out there. Designed well, but with an average tilt. It’s hard to rate some of the stuff tilt looks for. The set has a ton of stuff you know, and cool mechanics like embalm as well as the welcome return of cycling. New Gods! Cards that care about Egyptian myth! You get the idea. Amonkhet stacks up well against history.

15. Mirage, 35 Points

Looking back at Mirage, I am surprised that it hasn’t gotten more play in Best-Of lists. It really had a lot going for it, as Magic ’s first block. It also was the first draftable experience, and had very playable commons that you could draft and build a deck around. It introduced fetchlands with cards such as Bad River, as well as the hits of the instant Tutor cycle such as Mystical Tutor, and then cards that are evocative like Spirit of the Night or Phyrexian Dreadnought, a rare cycle of Dragons (including Teeka's Dragon, Catacomb Dragon, and their friend Zirilan of the Claw), powerful cards like Lion's Eye Diamond, Dwarven Miner, Flash or utilities like Dream Cache, Hammer of Bogardan or Dissipate, Commons like the first set of Charms that would inspire all of the others to follow (such as Sapphire Charm), Guildmages (such as Granger Guildmage), Quirion Elves, and the introduction of Pacifism, Rampant Growth, and so much more!

Now I adore the African resonance of the set as well, and it gives the set a great quality to the art and concepts. But there is a bit of a flavor dissonance. In reinforces this idea that Africa is sort of one thing on its own, rather than separate distinct cultures. Consider this, as one example:

We have sets that evoke:

Asia:

• Japan (Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa, Saviors of Kamigawa)
• China (Portal: Three Kingdoms)
• India (Kaladesh, Aether Revolt)
• Middle East (Arabian Nights)
• Central Asia (Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir).

Europe:

• Scandinavia (Ice Age, Alliances)
• Eastern Europe (Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, Dissension, Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon’s Maze, Innistrad, Dark Ascension, Avacyn Restored, Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon)
• Greece (Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx)
• British Isles (Lorwyn, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Eventide)

Africa:

• Africa (Mirage, Visions, Prophecy)
• Egypt (Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation)

Now, it’s important to note that traditionally, Egypt is covered as the token African representative for World History or something else in Western cultures, and that is it, with a minor review of other history. Rarely are things like the Aksumite Empire discussed, or the great Nubian Nations that held against the Mamluks, or the Kingdom of Kongo that converted to Catholicism willingly after encountering it, and then was declared Defender of the Faith by the Papacy twice as they warred east against local tribes, and then defeated the Portuguese in two separate wars.

But Africa is more than Egypt. No one probably thinks a Pan-Asian Block would be good with all of the Asian tropes in there and then we move on, so why Pan-African?

I would love to see us delve more into separate African cultures.

14. New Phyrexia, 35 Points

Another small set falls, leaving just one left. Again, I am not a fan of what New Phyrexia is doing. But you cannot deny its power or majesty here. It deserves this spot. It was intentionally designed to feel off, and Spike-ish, and violating the rules of Magic for “flavor” purpose, because that is how Phyrexians roll. Although it never has before. Phyrexian mana is a bad mechanic, and one of the truly Spikiest mechanics ever made. And that is how this set will always be judged, high power, but low good stuff for kitchen tables. Even their expensive fun Timmy cards are instead Spike Wolves in Timmy Sheep Clothes, like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur. This is the set of Batterskull and Beast Within, of Caged Sun and Deceiver Exarch, of Dismember and Gitaxian Probe, of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Hex Parasite, of Karn Liberated and Phyrexian Metamorph, of Sword of War and Peace and Spellskite, of Puresteel Paladin and Blade Splicer. You get the idea.

It’s painful, but it’s intended to be that way, and you get a clever design, with cards like Geth's Verdict adding a little life loss to demonstrate that perfectly.

13. Khans of Tarkir, 35 Points

I thought this would hit higher, but it fell outside of the Top Ten, which was a little bit of a surprise. This is an extremely well-designed set, with an 8 rating for design, 6 for innovation, and then 7s for everything else (flavor, tilt, and power). It’s a good set, with a great draft environment to knock out as well. What makes it work? You have a lot of interesting knobs with Sultai’s self-milling or Abzan’s +1/+1 countering that really work together. Take Abzan, with its’ many counter lords that give all of the creatures with +1/+1 counters various abilities. The clan is fleshed out well with support for its central mechanic. Delve is back and brings a powerful board presence, while normal support cards like Bitter Revelation have useful additions to them that improve their level of value in various shells. Treasure Cruise and the return of fetchlands and morph are all here. Hardened Scales! Frankly it would take too long to name all of the awesome cards in here, so let’s take our hat off to Khans of Tarkir!

12. Onslaught, 36 Points

I adore Onslaught. It followed Fallen Empires as the next tribal set, and was the first big set to really focus on tribes, and then build that focus across a block. It introduces the most bizarre mechanic ever, morph. To understand how off this was, we had to change the rules for face down cards. They had their given values, you just didn’t know what they were, and Camouflage and Illusionary Mask played into that space wonderfully from the first set. We changed the rules to make morph work, and wow did it ever. Morph was one of the great ways to ensure that you were playing cards, and it enhanced the value of other cards tremendously, like Elvish Warrior. So many morphs had great power like Grinning Demon, Hystrodon, and Exalted Angel vs strong utilities like Snapping Thragg. The set also saw the reintroduction of cycling along with Lightning Rift and Astral Slide, and gave you a lot of great cycling options, including cycling cards with cycling triggers like Krosan Tusker and Solar Blast. Fun cards like the gladiators (Arcanis the Omnipotent, Rorix Bladewing, et all) or powerful cards like Rotlung Reanimator and some of the best tribal aids of all time from Soulless One to Wellwisher. This is a very, very deep set, that plays well in draft as well.

11. Champions of Kamigawa, 36 Points

Much like Theros above, Champions as a set is often tainted by the two sets that followed, but the first set did something incredibly different. Champions is akin to Arabian Nights, Portal: Three Kingdoms, and Theros, and heavily inspired by a certain culture’s legends. Every card plays on that theme. The result is a thick, dense set of awesome cards. Now the concepts of Spirits and Arcane spells can be a little insular. But there is a lot here to unpack. From the Dragon cycle where every non-Green entry is a winner (Kokusho, the Evening Star certainly qualifies) to a number of cards that dominated their era and are still strong like Meloku the Clouded Mirror and Isamaru, Hound of Konda, we have a lot here. What about the five set of rare lands that tap for some ability to help a legendary creature, like Minamo, School at Water's Edge? Azami, Lady of Scrolls? Azusa, Lost but Seeking? Kodama's Reach? Cranial Extraction? Eight-and-a-Half-Tails? Ghostly Prison? Gifts Ungiven? Glimpse of Nature? Godo, Bandit Warlord? Heartbeat of Spring? Keiga, the Tide Star? Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker? Nezumi Graverobber? Sakura-Tribe Elder? Samurai of the Pale Curtain? Sensei's Divining Top? Through the Breach? Time Stop? Yosei, the Morning Star?

Does that sound like a bad set to you? Because it doesn’t to me!

10. Lorwyn, 36 Points

Now it’s top ten time, and I suspect that none of the sets we are about to see here will surprise anyone. All but one of these sets are large sets that are doing something fun and innovative. Lorwyn is the first example of that, with the introduction of Planeswalkers. You cannot overemphasize how big of a deal that was to the game. This game changed considerably as a result of Planeswalkers. The set was also fun in flavor, and had bad guys stealing pies and goats. And with the tribal set here, we had a variety of great tribes to consider, from Goblins to Giants to the return of . . .  MERFOLK! Tribal cards came out that are still played like Imperious Perfect. We also saw the introduction of Faeries as a supported tribe, and man, did they come to party. Sower of Temptation was only the beginning. And let’s not forget the changeling mechanic and the introduction of Tribal which altered how these cards played together. Thoughtseize! Cryptic Command and the other cycle. Evoke with Mulldrifter and Shriekmaw. The Incarnation cycle of Dread and friends. So much synergy!

9. Zendikar, 37 Points

Zendikar was once voted one of the best sets of all time by polling at WotC, and I get why. It’s certainly up there. But there are a lot of sets that are rated higher. Although, to be fair, multiple of these sets came post-Z. Adventure World resonated with me too! Quests! Traps! Landfall! I love it lots. Shoot, the only thing that drags it down a bit is Limited which let’s say, it a little on the faster side of life. Enemy fetch lands are cool too! Everything from Iona, Shield of Emeria to Goblin Guide is here. Allies! Oracle of Mul Daya! Rite of Replication! Sorin Markov! Spell Pierce! Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede! Vampire Hexmage! Vampire Nighthawk! I think Summoning Trap flies under the radar at casual tables. Anyways, you’ve got this!

Of course, Zendikar is interesting because it has a different antagonistic Nissa, the Green and Black one who would release the Eldrazi intentionally in order to free them and send them to other planes and leave hers be. They rewrote her background and story in Magic Origins. But you can still see those haughty only-elves-matter aspects here in Nissa's Chosen — “Nissa will save the elves, but only the ones who have proved their worth."They changed Nissa’s background when they made her a feature player, which I think was a missed opportunity. You could easily have done a heel-face turn as part of her background, and realize how selfish she was and abandon that. That would be true, proper, character development, rather than just buzzsaw her background and replace it.

8. Tempest, 37 Points

When thinking about the best sets of all time, like Zendikar above or popular choices below like #7 and #6, don’t forget this one either. Tempest was set on the plane of Rath, and continued the major Weatherlight Saga that began in the previous set and would continue through Apocalypse. Tempest gave us three very different mechanical concepts. Shadow, an alternate flank to attack, was very outside-the-box. The other two were buyback, which has been one of the most powerful mechanics for spells, and Slivers. That’s right, SLIVERS! Slivers are a huge hit forever, and gave us powerful ones like Muscle Sliver and Winged Sliver. Then we had great buyback spells such as Capsize, Whispers of the Muse, or Disturbed Burial. Great stuff! And Tempest rocked a bunch of great cards too, like Living Death, Wasteland, Aluren, Cursed Scroll, Scroll Rack, Sarcomancy, Tradewind Rider, Propaganda, the Medallion cycle (like Sapphire Medallion), Mirri's Guile, Time Warp, Jackal Pup, Mogg Fanatic, Lotus Petal, Goblin Bombardment, Intuition, Humility, Grindstone, Reanimate, and fun cards like Bottle Gnomes, Rolling Thunder, Verdant Force, Blood Pet, the first Edict effect with Diabolic Edict, the first “Strip-them-all-out” card with Lobotomy and a lot more. Tempest gave you a lot of powerful cards for your deck-building, and we didn’t even begin to touch on them all. Check out Helm of Possession, Puppet Strings, Root Maze, Eladamri's Vineyard, or Vhati il-Dal for more ideas.

7. Innistrad, 37 Points

All right, it’s time. Here you go Magic fans! I know a lot of folks out there who think this is the best set of all time, and I hear you. The numbers back up that claim, Innistrad is one of the best sets of all time. But it’s not in the top 5, sorry. (Although, when you see the sets that clocked above it, I think you’ll be fine). By evoking the horror tropes hard, this set hits a lot of high notes in terms of flavor. And it adds in a great Limited format as well, and triple Innistrad is loved by draft enthusiasts the world around. It’s a good set. I’m sure you could name the good stuff from this set with me, like Snapcaster Mage, Liliana of the Veil, Geist of Saint Traft, Delver of Secrets, Champion of the Parish and fun cards like Endless Ranks of the Dead, Geist-Honored Monk, Laboratory Maniac, Invisible Stalker, Mentor of the Meek, Parallel Lives, Unburial Rites, and Mikaeus, the Lunarch. Good set!

6. Ravnica: City of Guilds, 37 Points

I know a few fans well be sad to see Ravnica:City of Guilds just miss out on this side of the Top Five, but it’s score was a full two points away from the top 5 sets, and it was hard to argue it’s set scores: 8, 8, 8, 6, 7. Even if you wanted to add a point somewhere in design or tilt, you’d still have the #6 score. Ravnica does a whole lot right to earn this spot. It introduces a brand-new plane that’s pretty popular with everyone. Ravnica the Plane is arguably the most popular plane-setting out there. The set also has a gold theme that introduces hybrid, and the Guild concept as a way to flesh out the ten color combinations, and that led to an identity they have through today. It’s hard for Green and Black to live outside of the Golgari Life and Death framework, or for Izzet’s influence on Red and Blue as the crazy sorcery/instant matter stuff to ever be undone. That all began here, as well as the new shock duel lands as well. The introduction of power cards like Doubling Season, Dark Confidant, and the introduction of the dredge mechanic all had major impacts on various tournaments. The pedigree of cards here at the kitchen table is strong. Putrefy, Privileged Position, Loxodon Hierarch, Stinkweed Imp and a lot more. I think the mana-making in this set is the best ever for casual aficionados, Selesnya Sanctuary, Selesnya Signet, and Temple Garden are all three cards you see get heavy play in later formats like Commander. It’s influential, deep, and fun!

5. Mirrodin, 39 Points

When people mention their favorite set of all time, or the ones we think are the best, I think we regularly see #4, #3, as well as Zendikar, Innistrad, and Ravnica, all clocking in right above. But imagine the game of Magic without Mirrodin. No modern card faces. No equipment. No artifact lands. No heavy use of artifacts. Long before Ravnica, Mirrodin was successful enough to spend another Block in. This set is more fun to draft than naked Ravnica. It certainly has more power. Now we know today just how powerful affinity for artifacts can be, but at its worst, it’s still a lot more fair than dredge at its worst. I can remember my Standard Mono-White Control decks just blazing through Standard Affinity decks at the time (check out cards like Wing Shards and Akroma's Vengeance for reasons why). Imagine a game without Mindslaver, Chrome Mox, Bonesplitter, Chalice of the Void, the Mana Myr cycle like Silver Myr, the Shard cycle like Crystal Shard, Duplicant, the Replica cycle like Elf Replica, Empyrial Plate, Extraplanar Lens, Gilded Lotus, Frogmite, and Myr Enforcer, Fireshrieker, Loxodon Warhammer, Goblin Charbelcher, Isochron Scepter, Lightning Greaves, Mind's Eye, Myr Incubator, Oblivion Stone, Platinum Angel, Proteus Staff, Sculpting Steel, Solemn Simulacrum, Soul Foundry, Sun Droplet, Steel Wall, Sword of Kaldra, and more. And those are just artifacts. It ignores cards like Trash for Treasure, Glimmervoid, Tooth and Nail, Viridian Shaman, Troll Ascetic, and more. Don’t sleep on this set. It’s worthy of the #5 spot!

4. Invasion, 39 Points

All right folks, raise your hand if you are surprised to see Invasion up here. Now look around the room and note the decided lack of hands. But just because everyone can predict Invasion doesn’t mean they are wrong. Clearly, there is something here. What is it?? Three themes for sets seem the be the most common and popular. Tribal, gold, and artifacts. Ever since Expansion #2, with Antiquities, we’ve had artifact heavy and friendly sets and blocks, and we still do. Ever since Expansion #6 with Fallen Empires, and the rumors from Ixalan are that we are about to have even more. Even sets without a heavy artifact or tribal theme will have pro-artifact and pro-tribal elements, such as Magic Origins Red and Blue draft deck around artifacts or the Elf draft of Green and Black in the same set. Gold is the final super-popular mechanic, and we have a lot of cards that either play directly into that theme (Dragon Arch, Glittering Wish) or to a lesser one (Civic Saber).

You don’t think this love of gold is real? How many sets have pushed gold cards, either as a core theme, or a sidenote:

• Legends
• Invasion
• Planeshift
• Apocalypse
• Ravnica
• Guildpact
• Dissension
• Shadowmoor
• Eventide
• Shards of Alara
• Conflux
• Alara Reborn
• Return to Ravnica
• Gatecrash
• Dragon’s Maze
• Khans of Tarkir
• Fate Reforged
• Dragons of Tarkir

Those are a lot of sets. While Legends introduced the concept, there was no mechanical tie-in, that came later with Invasion, who brought in the idea of kicker to push each color’s identity (Kavu Titan, Urza's Rage) as well as to give you off-color kicker activations to push this concept, such as Dismantling Blow and Shivan Emissary. We had great cards that pushed Standard without being overbearing for kitchen tables, the first time that had ever happened. This was the first “clean block” with a fun slate of decks but no overly dominate set of decks that were broken by cards way too powerful to see print as-s (Examples include Rec/Sur from Rath Block, everything from Urza’s, the lack of fun from Masques, and cards overly powerful from Mirage Block that includes Mystical Tutor and such.) Here the best deck was generally seen as Fires of Yavimaya, a deck that ran Fires and fun creatures like Flametongue Kavu, Rith, the Awakener, Blastoderm, and Saproling Burst. Doesn’t that sound like fun? It was the era when creatures and such really began to matter.

Anyways, you had cards like the new Dragon cycle, gold-matters themes, Void, Skizzik, Undermine, Absorb, Teferi's Moat, Verdeloth the Ancient and such all hitting the blocks. From adding split cards, gold matters stuff, and kicker to giving a bunch of fun cards to everyone, this set was the true standard of quality and fun for years and years to come.

3. Rise of the Eldrazi, 40 Points

Speaking of setting the standard for years to come, next is Rise of the Eldrazi, another set precisely no one is surprised to see here. Now, all credit where credit is due. I started this countdown off with two really bad sets that Brian Tinsman deigned, but he did Rise too, and this is such a powerful, innovative, and outside-the-box design that I wonder at the awesome. Rise just does something too you. Bringing to play the Eldrazi was great, and they are a major force in the story, as well as the kitchen table. You cannot deny the power of Rise, nor its design (It scored 9, 8, 8, 7, and 8 for its 40-point total from innovation, flavor, power, design, and tilt). This is a set knocked out the park, from a solid Limited environment to a crazy load of awesome creatures. Now I think leveling up is its major miss, which makes sense conceptually with flavor, but mechanically is rough and not designed well. Hence the design of 7. But it’s good.

Our Eldrazi Overlords have arrived.

• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
• Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• All is Dust
• Artisan of Kozilek
• Eldrazi Conscription
• Eldrazi Temple
• It that Betrays
• Spawnsire of Ulamog

Fun cards like:

• Consuming Vortex
• Awakening Zone
• Conquering Manticore
• Gideon Jura
• Kargan Dragonlord
• Kor Spiritdancer
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• Realms Uncharted
• Splinter Twin
• Umbra Mystic
• Vengevine
• Wall of Omens

And more! So much awesome. So little time. Rise of the Eldrazi. For you!

2. Kaladesh, 42 Points

Now Kaladesh may get a few upraised eyebrows at charting this highly. But why? I mean, here is its score:

10 Innovation — Every set that introduced a new card type got a 10 for innovation, those are Mirrodin, Lorwyn, Kaladesh, and #1 below. Legends got a high score for the supertype it added. And, not only did Kaladesh introduce a brand-new card type with Vehicles, but also energy as well. That’s massive innovation on a Mirrodin level.

8 Flavor — Like a lot of recent sets, Kaladesh scored a high flavor for story line relevance, and much like Theros, Amonkhet, Champions of Kamigawa or Innistrad, we see a lot of cards from its genre hitting print, such as Inventor’s Goggles that demonstrate the steampunk look.

8 Power — This is identical to Mirrodin’s score. This is the first set in a long time to see cards banned in Standard due to its presence with cards like Aetherworks Marvel and Smuggler's Copter. Its power is undeniable for Spikes and others to appreciate. When I opened my box, I knew something special was here, as I added more cards from Kaladesh to Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy, a multiplayer Highlander deck with more than 3000 cards, than from any other set in the history of the game. Consider the Gearhulk cycle of Noxious Gearhulk and friends and a good example.

8 Design —The design here is spot on as well. Limited is great. The mechanics are modular but better than a normally limited insular design would be. You can add their cards to lots of decks as well as build decks around them. We have some clever deigns with energy as well that show it’s more than just a way to pump a Longtusk Cub.

8 Tilt — Unlike those oppressive sets that came before with bans, Kaladesh is more fun to play. The introduction of a new card type makes mistakes, sure. But isn’t the era of Smuggler's Copter and Heart of Kiran so much better than the era of Skullclamp, Cranial Plating and Lightning Greaves? The most oppressive deck during this era is a lot more fun to play against than Affinity. And Kaladesh is more fun and interesting than Scars of Mirrodin took and bites off a lot more.

(Note that if you drop Tilt to 7, it’s still at #2, and if you dropped that score another, which is hard to argue and be consistent with other sets, you’d still break the ties above and be #2).

There is nothing about Kaladesh that’s not worthy of a high-hit. Fun, powerful, innovative, good at the kitchen tables and will have an impact long after the set stops being made. That is a #2 set all the way . . . 

But it’s not number 1 . . . 

1. Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, 43 Points

If you see this at #1, and then walk away and disagree with me, I don’t know what game you are playing. But we play Magic here. No set was more innovative, more impactful, and long lasting as the first. Not just because it was the first one, but it was well designed, and loaded with power. Literally. Here was its score:

10, 8, 7, 8, 10

The only 10 in tilt that I scored, and one of only four innovation 10s.

This set gave us everything. Tribal leaders for Zombies, Goblins, and Merfolk. Dragons, Angels, and Demons. Pump and counterspells, burn and removal of all sorts. The many trends of this ABU set the standard for what would follow, and are still having a huge impact today. Discard is still tethered to Black. Burn to Red, Giant Growths to Green and mana making to Green too, and you get the idea. Wrath of God! Swords to Plowshares! Terror! Shatter! Lightning Bolt! Twiddle! Unsummon! These effects are all great, and still heavily played as well. No set was more influential than this one.

And there we have it! All Top 20 sets today, and then the previous ones, for a total of 78 ranked sets. So what did you think of my ratings? Did you find them to be a little off? Anything you felt scored too highly or not highly enough? I hope to hear from you, and check out the other ratings as well!

P.S. — Here is the uploaded list for you, all up on Google and ready for your perusal. I ordered it by release date for sets, except for Coldsnap, which I put after Alliances, which is the block it is a part of.