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By: Sabi0, Kyle Lewis
Jul 12 2016 12:00pm
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Magic is a difficult game. Even the most seemingly mundane cards can lead to very difficult choices. Part of what makes Magic such a great game is that even cards from Starter or Portal can make for amazing matches. That said, the level of strategic complexity soars as more challenging mechanics are introduced to a game. Every once and awhile, a card comes along that is a game unto itself, a card whose power level fluctuates wildly depending on the player casting it. This article is a love letter to cards like those.

To quote The Dude, this list is just, like, my opinion, man. I’m ranking these cards primarily on being highly skill testing, but also being powerful and elegantly designed cards. It worth saying that I had to make some tough cuts for this list; it certainly could have gone a lot of different ways, and I welcome dissenting opinions. Also note that, to prevent redundancy some cards have been grouped together.

 

10 - Vendilion Clique

Clique is one of the best creatures ever printed and one of the few creatures to make the list. It remains an MVP in faeries and is a popular inclusion in modern control decks. Clique also makes occasional appearances in Vintage and was in two of the top eight Legacy decks at GP Columbus this year. What makes Clique so interesting is the tension between the card's various functionalities. You can flash it in as a surprise blocker or a very quick clock. Its ETB ability is where things get really interesting. The effect has functionally three modes: pseudo-cycle a card in your hand, Probe your opponent, or make them put a card on the bottom of their deck and draw one. The choice between improving your hand or possibly disrupting your opponent is one that requires a lot of finesse, as does choosing to pay the huge cost of giving your opponent a card in exchange for their (again perceived) biggest threat.

 

9- Doomsday

Leading the pack for toolboxes (a term which this card is admittedly stretching) is Doomsday. The Doomsday deck enjoys the reputation of being arguably the most complex deck in Legacy. Making proper Doomsday piles is something of an art form. The card gets some snubs for being a linear ‘win the game.' Other times, however, like when you have to play around disruption or risk going to a very precarious life total against unknown threats, Doomsday is a major challenge. Doomsday gets bonus points for great flavor and super innovative card design.

 

8 - Force of Will

Counterspells have always been a staple of competitive Magic. Counters are loved by experienced players everywhere, and often much maligned by the more casual crowd. Artfully navigating a control game, where you really need to consider what needs to be countered and what can be permitted, is one of the most satisfying feelings in all of Magic. Force of Will stands in for all counters here. Its ability to be cast for free is what makes it extra spiky, as it always allows you the option to say ‘no.’ Having to choose what blue card to pitch and knowing when it’s worth it to two-for-one yourself add extra layers of complexity. Bonus points go to Force for functionally allowing an entire format to exist.

 

7 - The Fetchlands

One of the nice things about MODO is you never need to shuffle. Don’t get me wrong, I like to shuffle--much the same way some people take small pleasure in cracking their knuckles or popping bubble wrap, I like to shuffle cards. That said, shuffling takes time. When you need to crack fetch lands every turn, it can take a lot of time. Fetchlands slow the game down. Players continue to play them, of course, because they are very powerful. Fortunately, they are also terribly interesting. Playing Modern Grixis Delver last year, I was struck by how impactful my choices of what to fetch ended up being. How you crack your fetches, especially in modern where shocks make the stakes even higher, can absolutely win or blow games. Fetchlands are unique in demanding that you not only get the mana you need, but that you do so at the expense of other lands that might never come. It adds nuance to mana that normal land sequencing can’t compete with. Add onto this the interactions with deck stacking effects like Top, Ponder, and Brainstorm and Fetchlands secure their place on the list in a landslide.

 

6 - Cunning Wish / Burning Wish

The good wishes stand out as exemplars for tutor effects. Tutors represent the great burden that powerful effects put on a player. It sounds great to instantly get access to whatever you want, but knowing what you want is a difficult thing. The Wishes add an extra layer of complexity by requiring you to build your sideboard in such a way that it allows you a versatile suite of effects, while still allowing you to actually sideboard well between games. Snubs for sometimes being simple combo enablers; bonus points for great flavor, design, and gameplay.

 

5 - Jace Beleren / Jace, the Mind Sculptor / Jace, Vryn's Prodigy

These Jaces are all interesting and different enough to merit their own spots, but I’m grouping them together to avoid being too derivative. These three iterations well represent the highest levels of planeswalker complexity.

Jace Beleren is one of my all time favorite Magic cards because he creates such a unique mini-game for the player. When do you let both players draw in exchange for loyalty, and when do you draw? Jace has been playing around Lightning Bolt for most of his life, which has both nerfed his power level and made the risk / reward of drawing cards more interesting.

Jace, the Mind Sculptor merits inclusion by functionally being a separate hand of cards. Not only does Jace give you the choice of four abilities, but each of those abilities could be cards on this list--Brainstorm foremost among them. If you add up all the possible things Jace allows you to do in a turn--Fateseal your opponent to the top or bottom, Brainstorm putting back 2 of X cards, unsummoning any of X creatures, or going for the win, it’s easy to see why this card make the list. Snubs for being banned.

Merfolk Looter is a super interesting card in its own right, which, despite being a limited bomb, hasn’t made the cut in constructed too recently (amazingly, Looter was in 4 GP top 8 decks in 2012--all time, Looter also has three Pro Tour top 8s, and 6 Worlds top 8s!). When you add to Merfolk Looter the ability to transform into a planeswalker (and control when that happens by manipulating when you discard and by using delve effects) things get a little nuts. Moreover, Jace has the ability to act as a Snapcaster Mage, another card that just missed the cut on this list. Jace has been carrying blue for a few years now, but at least he does so well. Jace’s best incarnations exemplify the best parts of playing blue.

 

4 - Gitaxian Probe

Probe is another one of my all time favorite Magic cards. Drawing one for zero mana is a strong effect, but you don’t see Street Wraith finding such ubiquitous play across formats. The challenge Probe puts to the player, therefore, is how much value can you gain from knowing what is in your opponent's hand. Even for medium-level players the answer to this question is, ‘a lot.’ For the best players in the world, perfect information is a massive advantage. What makes this card so sweet is that it doesn’t give you a concrete effect, it just gives you information. True, this card is great at helping you draw cards you scry with Serum Visions or Ponder, but other things do this effect as well. A card that is a tournament staple for giving you an abstract edge is simply awesome.

 

3 - Ponder

When deciding between similar cantrips, Ponder seemed the right choice for such a prominent spot on the list. To a newer player, it might seem absurd that such a seemingly small effect warrants a vintage restriction and bans in multiple formats. Ponder is the cantrip that requires the most planning ahead; it also leaves you open to the most interaction with additional Ponders or Fetchlands. The option to choose between a known quantity or shuffle and draw anything in the deck is super deep. When you add in the ability to sculpt your future turns, you're left with one of the most complex cards ever printed. Bonus points for an excellent example of lenticular design; jamming this much skill and complexity into such a simple effect is clinic in good game design.

 

2- Fact or Fiction

Fact is one of the best designed Magic cards of all time. It is a card that is so interesting and requires so much thought on behalf of both players that it’s a shame it doesn’t see wider play. When I first started playing tournament Magic, Fact was a Type 2 (standard) staple. I’m sure my early piles were pretty terrible and cost me a lot of value, but that’s what makes the card so great. For any player, but especially newer players, Fact or Fiction is a crash course in card evaluation: how good are each of these cards, what can I discern about my opponent's hand, what do I think they need, how much can I afford to give them if I’m wrong, how much is an extra land worth to them? Fact or Fiction has so much going on for both sides that it easily earns I high spot on this list. I very nearly had it at number one. It may be controversial, but for me, the top spot goes to...

 

1- Cabal Therapy

With perfect play, Therapy might be the most powerful card on the list. Therapy makes some of the best and most skill testing cards in magic (i.e. Duress and Thoughtseize) look like child’s play. At a Grand Prix, I once heard Pat Chapin call Cabal Therapy, to paraphrase: the best discard spell ever printed, but only for about a hundred people. A common line with Therapy, is to cast the spell once to look, then flash it back to hit. Even better is to Probe first then cast Therapy. The great players, however, are the ones who hit blind. The ones who are able to discern what to call with Therapy, not just by knowing common cards in the opposing archetypes, but by understanding the relationship of how their opponent plays and what cards they have. At that same Grand Prix, I watched Pat Chapin and Drew Levin, an excellent player in his own right, play six pickup games of Legacy. Chapin's Therapies in these games were inspired. He cast at least one every game, all of them blind, and they never missed. Therapy is one of those cards that asks a lot of you, but offers so much in exchange; for that reason, it makes the top of my list.

 

1 Comments

Blue is the color of my true by Claw at Wed, 07/13/2016 - 12:00
Claw's picture

Blue is the color of my true spike's hair.