Heroic abilities trigger when a creature is targeted by a spell or ability that explicitly uses the word “target” or is an Aura spell. Auras only target as they are cast, and cheating an Aura into play can result in triggering heroic abilities.
A Heroic creature’s ability triggers whenever you cast any spell that targets the heroic creature, including a spell that also targets another creature. If a spell targets multiple creatures with heroic abilities, all of them trigger. Activated abilities, such as equip, do not cause heroic abilities to trigger.
Spells that target all creatures you control do not activate their heroic abilities. The sorcery or instant card must specifically say that it targets a creature to trigger Heroic effects. In either case, abilities are not spells, so even if you target a heroic creature with an ability, it will not trigger heroic.
The “Whenever you cast A spell” clause means that you can’t trigger heroic twice by targeting a creature. Heroic abilities don’t try to go onto the stack until the spell that targeted your creature has been fully cast and Aura spells always target something. Casting Boon Satyr for its Bestow cost targeting a creature triggers Heroic.
Aura spells always target something, so casting Boon Satyr for its Bestow cost targeting a creature triggers Heroic. Heroic abilities won’t trigger when a copy of a spell is created on the stack or when a spell’s targets are changed to include a creature with a heroic ability.
📹 The Best Creature During Every Year of Magic: the Gathering (MTG)
Today we explore the evolution and power creep of creatures in Magic: the Gathering, from underpowered afterthoughts during …
Does heroic aura stack?
It should be noted that Heroic Aura does not accumulate when cast by multiple mages within the same party. The defense bonus is indicated as +8, rounded.
Does copying a spell trigger storm?
Storm copies are not cast, meaning they are not counted by other storm spells cast later in the turn. Effects like Twincast or Beamsplitter Mage can copy a spell with storm, but only create one new spell. Each storm spell with a target allows you to change the target for each copy individually. When counting spells cast in a turn, you count spells cast face down, from zones other than a hand, and those that were countered. A copy of a spell can be countered, but each copy must be countered individually.
Exiling a card using suspend doesn’t count as casting a spell; you only cast a suspended card when the last time counter is removed and that ability resolves. Grapeshot Sorcery deals 1 damage to any target when cast, and it copies for each spell cast before it this turn.
Do creature spells count as spells?
In the context of Magic, creatures are regarded as spells when they are cast and remain on the stack. Upon resolution and subsequent entry into the battlefield, these objects become what is referred to as “permanents,” as opposed to “spells.” The term “spell” may prove confusing for novice players, as it may not be immediately apparent that it does not simply refer to instant or sorcery. Nevertheless, the input of a Level 1 judge can assist in elucidating the concept.
Can a spell target itself?
A spell or ability on the stack is an illegal target for itself, so you cannot cast Imp’s Mischief targeting itself. However, you can cast Imp’s Mischief targeting Cancel, then change Cancel’s target to Imp’s Mischief. Cancel will fizzle because it has an illegal target by the time it resolves. To avoid this, change Cancel’s target to Imp’s Mischief, as Cancel will fizzle due to its illegal target.
Do auras target a creature?
Auras are enchantments that cannot be cast without a legal target, such as a creature, another object, or a player. If the object the aura is enchanting is destroyed, exiled, or removed from play, it goes to the graveyard. If the enchanted object is no longer a legal target, it goes to the graveyard. If the aura is not cast but placed on the battlefield through other means, it can attach to a legal object, allowing for hexproof enchantment. If there is no object on the battlefield, the aura returns to the graveyard.
How do triggered abilities work?
A triggered ability is an ability that automatically performs a specific action when a certain event occurs or a set of conditions is met. It can be identified by the words “when”, “whenever”, or “at” and is usually found at the start of the ability. The phrase that contains one of these words lists the conditions where the ability will trigger. When the ability triggers, it goes on the stack (unless it’s a mana ability) and responses can be played. This type of ability is called a state-triggered ability.
Can you cast bone shards without a target?
In order to cast this spell, it is necessary to either sacrifice one creature or discard one card. Neither of these actions can be performed without the other, and it is not possible to discard additional creatures or cards.
Do copies of spells trigger heroic?
The text explains that a heroic ability triggers only when the creature’s controller casts a spell that targets it, not when any other player does. It also states that activated abilities, such as equip, do not cause heroic abilities to trigger. Instant or sorcery spells have a target if they include the word “target” in their rules text. Aura spells also have a target, indicated by their enchant ability. Creature spells and non-aura permanent spells never have targets.
Heroic abilities resolve before the spell that caused them to trigger. They trigger only once per spell, even if that spell targets the creature with the heroic ability multiple times. Heroic abilities won’t trigger when a copy of a spell is created on the stack or when a spell’s targets are changed to include a creature with a heroic ability. If the spell that caused the heroic to be triggered is countered, heroic will still resolve.
An example of a heroic ability is the Favored Hoplite Creature, which is a Human Soldier 1/2 Heroic. When casting a spell that targets Favored Hoplite, a +1/+1 counter is placed on it and prevents all damage dealt to it this turn.
Do auras trigger heroic?
Heroic triggers when a spell targets a permanent you control with heroic abilities. Aura spells target, while artifact spells do not. Equip cards are placed on the battlefield and require a cost to attach to a creature. Heroic only triggers when a spell targeting it targets it. Aura spells like Ethereal Armor trigger heroic, while equipment like Fleetfeather Sandals do not. The spell attaches and targets the equipment, not the equipment itself.
Do creature spells have targets?
A target is a recipient of the effects of a spell or ability chosen by its controller. It can be objects or players. Specific rules apply when a spell has one or more targets, which is one of the earliest tasks for players who have learned card types and basic flow of the game. Targeting is always signified by the word “target” or a keyword defined to use targets. If a targeted keyword ability is not used, the word target will always appear in the rules text.
Targeted keywords often have “target” in their reminder text, but not always. A card does not target a creature or thing just because it damages or destroys one or more of them, or a thing just because it allows a player to choose a thing.
Do triggered abilities count as spells?
Activated and triggered abilities on the stack are not spells and cannot be countered by effects that specifically counter abilities. They fall into four categories: spell abilities, activated abilities, triggered abilities, and static abilities. Some activated or triggered abilities are also mana abilities, while some static abilities are evasion abilities or characteristic-defining abilities. Some abilities may be indicated by a keyword, and certain card types grant intrinsic abilities.
Each separate ability of a card is listed on a different line, functioning independently of each other. Removing abilities is not common, but removing creature abilities falls under White and Blue’s color pie.
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I feel like Lurrus was made by some designer at wizards to win a bet over whether a modern card could get banned in vintage. In a format with Black Lotus, it casts off of lotus, recasts lotus every turn, it provides a life buffer early that kneecaps fast combo that needs to count to 20, it comes down fast in a format where creature removal is less prevalent, and it was restricted in the format from day 1
Man, I can’t keep perusal this article repeatedly, but it’s just so great! One of my favorite articles on this website (also a big fan of that Pretty Deece article, but theres way more of these vids and theyre all awesome). Okay, I wills top spamming the comments, I’m just so happy someone else remembers the 90’s and all that good stuff. Beautiful.
1994 got to go to Serra Angel over Ornithopter. The blue/white control at the time with a lot of Fellwar stones, Jayemdae tomes, Swords, Wrath of god, a lot of counter magic and control magic was incredible hard to beat at the time and when Serra came down that could both attack and block… it was hard. And if they had to wipe the board with a balance or wrath they always had a few Mishra’s Factories that would survive the wipe out.
I feel like balance was in the best place in the 10 years between 2005-2015, where you start to see cards with both viable statlines and one or teo positive abilities, which allow for versatile utility and combo potential, but still doesnt turn a single card into a complicated interaction engine by itself. I think the game is in the best place when the goal isnt just cheating a singly bodey out, but constructing a synergy from multiple parts over multiple turns with enough internal redundancy ro survive some interference from the opponent. Conversely, most creatures up till about mirrodin had either weak spell effects and a borderline useless body, a just about acceptable statline with no useful effect for small drops, or a useless statline way over cost for big ones, or an actually respectable statline, but some crippling downside effect you rarely had a way of negating, making creatures basically not worth playing.
Sad to see you name the Horde for 1996 as Frenetic Efreet and Blinking Spirit were high end tournament staples for the control style decks that dominated. Also I do see the Birds nomination, but I actually saw far more Juggernauts back then during tournament play although BoP were extremely popular, but they all paled in comparison to Serra Angels and Hypnotic Specters. The avian manadorks did see their popularity grow in the following years since it stayed in print for a very long time and 3+ color decks became much more prevalent. Also I probably would have maybe cheated a bit and given Mishra’s Factory a nod even though it’s a land.
Love seeing Bob and Snappy on here! Excellent and delightful cards to play with. I agree with Sheoldred for 2022. There aren’t any creatures from this year that have broken formats right in half like the three years before it, and Sheoldred is a powerhouse. I put a copy straight into Yawgmoth in Modern when it dropped and it has proved to be an excellent choice, it’s a refreshing card, seeing that it doesn’t require an ETB to be powerful. I want to see more designs like Sheoldred, and Yawgmoth, for that matter.
its actually depressing to see how ridiculously quickly the modern format was ruined post-2019. i feel like modern used to be the ideal format that was fast and exciting but also possible to build some unique decks that could do some fun things. now it’s just all nuts-to-butts all the time. MH2 is such a stupid, stupid set and I would really like there to be a sister format created where only the sets released for standard are allowed.
Started during Onslaught block. I have distinct memories of Goyf and Baneslayer being cards outside my wallets reach as a college student…wild to see them plummeted in price and to think I wouldn’t even have a deck for baneslayer today in any format…it was a truly stunning creature in 2009 that was just everywhere in Standard tournaments
I mean… questing beast, yes it has infinite text and it was strong but it really didn’t pass the test of real play, I’d argue bonecrusher and brazen borrower have been as impactful on standard at the time and are clearly more impactful on modern though not really seeing much play anymore. The 2019 spot should have gone to Hogaak, how many creatures can claim they broke modern completely on their own? to the point that banning cards in his deck didn’t help stopping it. I honestly don’t think any creature in magic history has been so format defining as hogaak, power creep so far above the head of the questing beast that it just makes every other creature look bad. Also… while I agree on 2020, I feel our friend Uro should have gotten at least a tiny mention
I’m honestly pretty surprised that Goldspan Dragon or Luminarch Aspirant didn’t make the honorable mention list at minimum. Those cards were EVERYWHERE and basically an auto-include in those colors. Aspirant allowed white weenie to not get out-scaled and the mana produced by targeting goldspan dragon made it extremely easy to protect and even if you didnt protect it, it still gave you benefits.
I think this list has a lot of problems and is overweighted toward Commander. If you’re going by tournaments for what was best in it’s day: 2005 Definitely Dark Confidant (Bob) over Watchwolf. They saw similar play in standard and extended, but Bob saw play in Type 1 and 1.5 (Vintage/Legacy) 2009 Should Definitely be Bloodbraid Elf over Baneslayer. 2003 should be Solemn Simulacrum not Platinum Angel 2010 Emrakul is reasonable, but I’d probably go Primeval Titan with an Honorable Mention to Stoneforge Mystic 2011 I think Snapcaster is right, but Delver of secrets deserves a mention. 2012 Has to be Deathrite Shaman over Griselbrand, this card got banned in Legacy and Modern, and many would argue is the strongest constructed creature ever printed.
Psychatog was good in odyssey & standard for its time. But spirit monger was used for far longer in type 1, 1.5, and extended. I’d have to disagree on several of your choices but it was good to relive the last 26 years of magic that I’ve played. The cards that are legacy / vintage for you were standard for me.
To be honest I’ll take 2013 for “Fight-Hydra” as it was my favorite card and was a fun threat. IF the hydra is left for the following turn in a standard with thoughtsieze, hero’s downfall and Elspeth sun’s champion, I felt it was only fair you get your board pushed in. Though I will recognize TNN was quite the problematic card as well… Like I said, just happy that Fight-Hyrda was even mentioned.
I think something to be mentioned is the existence of “block limited” and such things. Nowadays you got only Standard and that’s it but back in the day you had other ways to play Standard than well… Just Standard. 😀 I think some cards that should haven been at least mentioned are: Bloodbraid Elves, Noble Hierarch, Delver himself, Stoneforge Mystic, Erayo (for the extinct Extended), Isamaru (WW staple!). Also I think the list is fun and I see it like it but kinda weird what are the criteria for a card to be mentioned? 🙂
1997 Mogg Fanatic from Tempest and 1998 Mogg Flunkies from Stronghold made Sligh one of the most dominant decks in MTG while they were legal. Morphling only becamea thing AFTER Tempest block rotated out and the insanely weak Prophecy block rotated in. While Tempest block was in, Morphling was to slow to matter in the format costing 6 mana not 5 as you had to hold up 1 blue always when casting it. Also, Psychatog was good and dominated for a few months until Judgement came out. After that Wild Mongrel was the best creature from Odyssey as it made U/G Madness viable and Psychatog decks fell by the wayside. U/G Madness lastet a lot longer in Standard than Psychatog decks.
Nice list! The comment about Fable makes me wonder about an Artifact/Enchantment list (since noncreature permanant would just be lands and PWs mostly) would look like. Also, Ragavan was targeted at Modern. I’m afraid to think what it would look like if it were intended to only be legal in Legacy/Vintage…
I remember Rainbow Efreet being a control staple during visions. And then there was wildfire emissary being super meta for a while because it was the only good 4-drop at the time that could be neither bolted or plowed, which meant it blanked the removal spells of the other best decks at the time and also gave you a mana sink with the pump ability.
Serra Angel is the best creature from 1993 when looking at it rather from a “today” standard to a “then” standard. It was bigger than most creatures, had evasion, and vigilance to always be back on blocks. Birds of Paradise saw no play in tournaments the first year so if youre going off tournament creatures specifcally then Juggernaut or Kird Ape would have been the best creature. At the time, there just wasnt a whole lot you could do with birds of paradise.
As someone who started playing magic with Ice Age, I was definitely one of the people who lost my mind when Watchwolves was released. My friend group had all kind of agreed that the formula was that X mana would get you a 2X creature (3 mana could get you a 3/3 or a 5/1 for example). If a creature had more than 2X, then it had some kind of drawback like requiring a sacrifice or discard. If it had less than 2X, it would have some kind of ability. So to see a 3/3 for two that had no drawbacks, wasn’t even legendary even, that was just massive.
random ass list where you can’t decide whether a creature is good in its time or now (despite saying with arcbound ravager it’s about it’s time), becoming a menace in a format that isn’t type 2 or standard for a bunch of picks seems random af. some big snubs due to commander/cube bias, i don’t need to list them all the comments are filled with blunders but yeah. i came to see strictly the power creep in action so mission sorta accomplished but would have been better to see how standard has progressed rather than modern/legacy staples *at the time* that literally never saw play in standard.
1995 Was the worst year probably, I maybe would have gone with Knight of Stromgald or Tinder Wall and Orcish Lumberjack, there was also Lhurgoyf and Blinking Spirit. Spectral bears wasn’t bad though, there was a mono-green stompy deck that got top 4 at a PT T2 event that I think ran at least one spectral bears in main, or side.
To be fair, if you include Alchemy and Rebalanced cards, buffed Symmetry Sage is the best creature of 2022; That thing is Legacy Delver levels of busted and i am curious of what impact it might have on Eternal formats as its buffed version. One could also argue for Pre-Nerf Diviner of Fates but I think Sage edges it in Eternal Formats where spells decks are more dominant.
Damn, this brought up a lot of memories… It also changed my perspective of my personal magic history. I didn’t engage with the game pre ’95, from 01 to 04 and 07 to 2010 (just estimated that from the article) and used to think of myself as an “on and off” kind of player. Each return to the game felt like i missed an eternity because nothing i knew was relevant anymore – all format staples changed. In type2/standard thats obvious, but also in extended/legacy/canadian highlander. This made me realize that those gaps were much much smaller than they felt and also how long my current “on-streak” allready is.
Questing Beast was a mistake to pick, Agent Of Treachery was a billion times worse and was rightly banned. I was happy to see an opponent play a Questing Beast it meant they didnt have a deck full of teferi, agent of treachery and the card that gives extra turn and makes 2 birds that was also banned….
I run basilisk collar alongside my ballistas, can snipe anything down. I also played a Golos gates deck in throne block that had every broken card you can think of, it was insanely good. Had tonnes of mana, turned everyone to an elk token, cheated spells left and right. But yes, questing beast was unbearably annoying.
Savanna Lions was totaly OK. Uncle ISTVAN MEANS BUSINESS. 7:30 I CAN SMEELLLL WHAT THE SPIRITMONGER IS COOKING GOOOd lord…WHAT is ELDER GARGAROTH. IT IS A GREEN PLAYERS WET DREAM. What happend to MTG? -Mirrodin Block was broken and HEartless. DISENCHANT ON THE ANGEL 24:27 EPIC LOLZZZ 25:55 Baludvian HORDE any time of the day over that beast. 4 Mana 5/5 thats what a red player does. The Questing Beast is just Silly. Haste? The creature isn’t even red!
Being around when the game started the front of this list looks so accurate and really can take one back to those “great” creature decks of the day where they actually battled things out. Broke the addiction for a time before Planeswalkers came out only to start looking at cards again a year after the WotC started coming out with the Challenger decks which were nothing like the previous precon decks I’d seen. Then quickly saw how EVERY SINGLE CREATURE in my old decks was completely power creeped while the spells in them were often fine IF they were still legal.
The hornyhopter and Denise from the dark plus Atog “the card that represents M:tG early days of crack cards” were my favorites…. BoP came in at 4, and Juggernaut at 5… my top 5 from the early years of playing at home before WotC build a game space on the Ave. “Seattle”… I did try M:tG the RPG board game “tested it at the WofC headquarters” wasn’t that good…. ahhh, the early-mid 90’s….
I lived Magic from Unlimited until around the year 2000. The best creatures in Alpha were Hypnotic Spector, Sedge Troll, Nightmare, Sengir Vampire, Sarah Angel, Birds of Paradise, Llanawar Elves, Scryb Sprites, Juggernaut, and Shivan Dragon. If I had to say what was best single creature I’m going with Hypnotic Spector. Can’t beat for 1BB 2/2 flyer that also gives card advantage. Now Birds of Paradise is clearly most versatile creature but what creature was the best in 1993 it was Hypnotic Specter.
2023: Atraxa, Grand Unifier -Did not dominate standard as the best deck, but singlehandedly warped the format and made control unplayable which had profound effects on the overall meta. Has also shocked many by appearing in successful lists in every other competitive formats, even cEDH and vintage. The value proposition is just that strong. It does not have the aggressive top-end potential of immediately drawing 14 or 21 off of Griselbrand, but it is 1cmc cheaper and is far better when trying to stabilize from behind, which is exactly where a combo/ramp deck is going to be finding itself. 2023 Honorable Mention: Faerie Mastermind 2023 Honorable Mention: Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines 2023 Honorable Mention: Mosswood Dreadknight 2023 Honorable Mention: Inti, Seneschal of the Sun In a sign that they maybe took their foot off the gas on the creature power creep a bit, the dominant creatures in the best 2023 standard decks were not from 2023 sets: Sheoldred, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Adeline, Dennick, Harbin, Topiary Stomper were all from previous years. Thalia was a major player still in 2023 standard as a reprint, and you could argue that Atraxa is what your mom has at home when she tells you “No. We have a Griselbrand at home.”
Honorable mentions from my heyday: 2013: Pack Rat. The only 2-drop that completely takes over a game, almost worse than Ragavan 🙄 2014: Courser of Kruphix. Eidolon of the great revel has held up longer as a perfect fit in Burn but at the time the solid body, incidental life gain and steady card advantage of Courser absolutely defined Standard during it’s existence.
Great article and I hate to jump on with a “you-missed-x-card” comment, but Balduvian Horde over Order of Ebon Hand/Knight of Stromgald is just super wrong. Knight Necro was the ultimate deck in 96/97 and the pump knights were absolutely integral to that. I also think Ritual Specter was better than anything anyone did with an Ornithopter and Serra Angel in The Deck was more relevant than Spectral Bear or whatever you picked for their times, but the most egregious miss in this super fun list is definitely pump knights.
If you make Masticore the best creature of 1999 on the grounds that even though it doesn’t see play today, it was stronger in its own format and time… then I feel like the correct creature for 1993 is not Birds of Paradise but actually either Shivan Dragon or Serra Angel. When I first started playing Magic (Unlimited), Shivan Dragon was the most valuable card you could open in a new booster pack believe it or not, in a set that had BOP, Sol Ring, Control Magic, and all the original dual lands. Other standouts from that year include Savannah Lions, Sengir Vampire, Juggernaut, and Royal Assassin. Not great by today’s standards but they were amazing back then.
I was around playing MTG in 96 and whilst I agree the Horde was much hyped, I never remember it seeing serious play. It was quickly realized the drawback basically made it a really poor card, inviting you to a 2 for 1. You can’t even play it on an empty hand. A better creature from Alliances that saw some play was Ivory Gargoyle, or, since Mirage is also from 1996 Maro and Wildfire Emissary could be contenders. Maro was played as in Marogeddon (having a nice synergy with land destruction) and WE was great as neither bolt nor plow, the choice removal of the day, could kill it.
1996 – Balduvian Horde. This is incorrect. The Horde was VERY hyped prior to its release, but it did absolutely nothing once it was out. The card died to every major removal spell in the game, and forced you to discard a card so you were always 2 for 1ing yourself. The ACTUAL best creature of 1996 was Wildfire Emissary, which had protection from white, enough toughness to avoid most burn spells, and could pump it’s power. Frenetic Efreet was also a contended for the title.
Lots of creatures saw play back in the day – Serra angel, serendib efreet (my favorite beater), white knight, black knight, savannah lions, pump knights, llanowar elves, fyndhorn elves, mahamoti djinn, whirling dervish, lhurgoyf, (juzam, erhnam, and BOP you mentioned), ironclaw orcs, elvish archers, hypnotic specter was a must kill, sengir vampire and shivan dragon did actually see some play, juggernaut was decent, orgg was ok. IIRC you had to play some homelands cards so spectral bears was just a decent sideboard card that allowed you to meet that requirement, especially after necropotence. Nobody played ornithopter back then. It was a meme before artifact synergies. This has a to a troll.
Stopped perusal about half way through due to some disagreements and some inaccuracies. Protean Hulk broke “Type 1” and “Extended”, or Type 1.5. Legacy was not a thing yet. And the better combo with it was to just get Disciple of the Vault and a bunch of X cost artifact creatures that died when they ETB’d.
I played MtG in the mid-90s, on a low amateur level (no pro competions, just local ones in the game store and in school) and whenever I see these movies I just get amazed by how stupid some of the rules have gotten. And how dumb some of the card designers must be to create silly rules for a competetive game. I only got so far as the morphling and read on why it was so good (because you could essentially make +1/-1 and -1/+1 into effectively +1/+1 because you counted one before the other but only when it suited you?) Rules lawyering at it’s very worst. If it had happened back in my day, it would have resulted in you getting your head shoved down a toilet (granted, I was still in high school back then).
Morphing was nerffed by wotc because I made a deck that crippled the burning bridge decks. Wotc wanted the bridge deck type to go forward. Ensnaring bridge was to be reprinted and morphing was rotated out of standard. Bridge decks would have been dead in extended so wotc nerffed Morphing to keep a red deck competitive in the format. I had the head of the European DCI office perusal my matches all day. When I got to final table without losing a game that day, he decided that the card had to go. It wasn’t good because of some weird rules back then. It was erratted out of the tournament scene. You can still check dates of all card erratta can you not. You’ll see Morphing was changed outside the normal periodic rules updates.
I remember back in Mirrodin/Onslaught Standard I played in a PTQ where we had like 120 players, about 100 playing Ravager and the rest trying to play anti artifact stuff. My team went the route of anti artifact and I played two teammates and a mirror in the first three matches. I genuinely quit magic for a while after that. Good times.
This list is unarguably garbage. It looks at creatures as a “what were the best creatures printed then that we still use (when its conveneint)” instead of an actual “what was the best card printed then”. Serra Angel was better in 1993 than birds of paradise, Juzam Djinn easily were better than ornithopter in 1994 (its a 1994, not 1993 as the article states) as well as Serra Angel. Whirling Dervish then and now is better than Spectral bears having seen play in the world championships in 1995 as well as still seeing play in tournaments to this day (old school magic)… I could go on, but it seems like the person who made this list doesn’t actually know much about the history of magic or what cards are actually good then or now.
Watchwolf, I have to say, was not stronger than Dark Confidant, who would compete for the title of best creature in the game until the printing of Innistrad. Griselbrand is also not even in the same ballpark as Deathrite Shaman. They are as far removed from each-other in powerlevel as Tarmogoyf and Wood Elemental. Not because Griselbrand is bad, but because deathrite is just that much better. Griselbrand was barely even legacy playable while Deathrite was legal, basically only seeing play in Sneak n’ Show.
Woah woah woah, came back to drop this edit before my long comment about long games cuz u r wrong about Lurrus. Even if u excluded cards like Un-sets n other silver bordered promos, the ante cards, n the 2 dexterity cards, there’s still 1 card other than Lurrus that has been banned in Vintage for power level n always will be banned, Shaharazad; the best stall card in the game. If it wasn’t banned they’d have had to deal with issues when they added the exile zone to the game cuz words as written has no difference between cards in exile, cards in my sideboard, cards in my binders, cards from a pack i just bought while playing in the LGS, n cards put aside from Shaharazad. It is probably my favourite card n 1 of the most flavourful ways to emulate abilities that aren’t direct translations to gane mechanics (flying for example is at the opposite end of the spectrum as it probably needs the least explanation in all of MTG’s mechanics) Ya, when i found out an ex of mine had magic cards i was looking thru them with her n built myself a deck out of the .ostly mirrodin cards she had. I think she had bought some prebuilt artifact deck but had only taken the Platinum Angel out to add to her deck. I love artifacts n made an affinity deck. We played n with the except of her summoning the angel i beat down everything else she had but once the angel was there she just let me swing away over n over. I brought her to -300 just in case there was life gain cards i her deck i hadn’t seen yet n the waited cuz i was sure i had a Doom Blade to go along side all the Go For The Throats n Terrors I had piling up in my hand.
Great content! Keep up the good work! Just, i dont agree with 2012 Griselbrand over Deathrite Shaman. The most powerful 1 drop of magic at his time, with hybrid casting cost, he was decent in standard and outrageous in other formats. Differently from Griselbrand he was a standalone card and not a piece in a archetype that needs to work in a certain way to pull thing off. He’s been banned too soon, otherwise he would be a staple in legacy and modern, like griselbrand is, of course. I understand your choice, im just on a different opinion. Sorry for my english though ‘^^
It isn’t power creep. It’s just that creatures (and planeswalkers) now do what spells used to do. Many spells from the older years are still broken by today’s standards, and banned or restricted in most formats. The spells were always meant to support the creatures summoned by a commander, instead of creatures being an afterthought. Yes, they do keep stacking abilities on creatures to where they are their own combo pieces. But this is because for 20 years of MtG’s history, creatures were often only a setback: you play it, it dies before it gets to do anything, control player wins all the value for 2 mana at a time and basically Time Walks you. Now even control strategies have been formulated around creatures instead of spells (thankfully). A card like Baneslayer Angel went largely unnoticed her second time around not because creatures were better than her – she still could win all the fights on the battlefield. It’s that the Standard format had lost popularity (due to an extreme lack of design focus for it as Commander and Modern had eaten up every set), and was wrapped around strategies where she didn’t really fit in. Classic U/W control of all counter spells, board wipes, and card drawing just didn’t exist anymore, and there weren’t any cheat-a-big-creature-into-play strategies in Standard either. Also, her value had dropped upon rotating out of Standard the first time anyway, as she didn’t fit into older formats. The way creatures are designed now makes the game more interactive.
Heh…didn’t show any of the other options over Baneslayer Angel. Bloodbraid Elf was cheated….was soooo much better and much more relevant in standard. BBE into blightning (killer your walker toss 2 plz and..oh…attack for 3) was just silly and ended the game on turn 4 so often. Pretty sure Deathrite was the choice for that year too, but at least Grisselbrand is a real card against it. A 1 drop that is a mana dork…has 2 toughness…is graveyard hate, easily castable on t1 even in 3+ color deck, and a win condition. Best creature ever. Oh and it can gain some life to get out of burn range, if that is the game you are playing.
Funny that one of; if not the worse block, Mercadian masques; was still able to produce meta relevant cards like the rebels decks that made people want to throw rocks at the same people who previous broke standard with Urza block and thus had to make the “correction that was Mercadian masques, Nemesis and the King of Kings of shit design: prophecy.
I think Siege Rhino would be the correct pick for 2014 honestly. It was a cornerstone of standard for its entire time in the format. If a removal spell couldn’t kill Rhino, it was not playable, if a creature couldn’t either come earlier, or match up well with it, it wasn’t playable. By itself it made Ultimate Price a much worse card.
Questing beast has a lot of text and its great to compare it to early creatures to see the evolution of creature design, but what is even weirder is it definitely was not the best creature of 2019. IMO its Hogaak edging out Urza (or brazen borrower edging out bonecrusher giant if you only want to count standard legal releases). Questing beast saw somewhat limited play before TBD was printed, and hasn’t seen much play in anything since then. In standard it just ended up down with too many other creatures (bonecrusher giant, anax, knight of the ebon legion, pelt collector) or getting outclassed by too many other creatures (Uro, hydroid krasis). The only text that really mattered on it was haste, and it turns out most formats can do better than a 4 mana 4/4 with haste.
Magic was so much better in its first 10 years than its been in the past 10 years. So many downsides to spells you play, so no one was so massively overpowered. It put 2 players (2 planeswalkers) on so much more equal footing. Life Waa good, the game was fun and the lore was so much more well written
The only one I disagree with is Questing Beast. That year should have been Hogaak. It basically broke Modern even after band-aid bans couldn’t stop it, and virtually the same deck was ported over to Legacy and still sees some play. It is fun to point out the ridiculous text on Questing Beast is though. 😀
i started in 1993 and remember my 1st pack of mtg where i got the birds of paradise and threw it away since i was a naive 2nd grader who was looking for creatures with the highest power and toughness. realized my mistake a few years later. Also visions box set was my first serious investment into mtg as a kid where i sucked up eating packed noodles and did weekend child work to save up for a whole box of boosters. nekrataal and hammer of bogardan were my prized cards back then. perusal this article made me walk back my memory lane as each card had a memory with me growing up. thank you for that. i miss the hours going thru cards without internet to help you in order to make a deck that syncs or becomes an archetype, testing it out at your shop then repeating it all over again. that is something og mtg players will never forget and will always cherish. nowadays everything is served to you very easy on what combos well. worse, everything has to be politically correct even for a FANTASY game. rip white/black knight imo,my favorite will always be the ball lightning + bloodlust combo
Basically every card selected is wrong bar like two up to throne, (as that is where I stopped playing the game and sponsoring this horrible company). That takes quite some skill. But I get it, calling the article a creature every year I picked for no paricular reason wouldn’t generate as many clicks I guess.
Funny story, during the Eldraine reveal season, somebody posted questing beast as a joke on the magic meme subreddit, formatting the post as if It was a bad custom card from the custom card subreddit. I laughed and brushed it off because I thought it was fake. A few weeks later, somebody drafted it in the pre-release and didn’t lose a single game the entire night. Which is funny cuz I hear it’s not even the best bomb in that format of limited
As someone new to magic I’ve seen a lot of people say “look how different the game was in the 90s, power creep is out of control” and it really sounds stupid, because of course it’s massively different it’s been 3 decades for gods sake. Saying “cards that are powerful but take time and presence to generate value are preferable to cards that are powerful and generate value instantly” is at least understandable.
Hard to pick from 2001 forward as wizards officially changed their stance on creature design. So there was a massive rush of multiple playable creatures in every set, constantly beating the last best one out of its slot as each new set came out. I do appreciate that this list is from the perspective of the year itself. Lots of creatures are better or worse now than during the year itself.
Good list overall. I will say though, I don’t buy Watchwolf > Dark Confidant. Yes, Watchwolf “sent a message” and saw a little play, but Confidant was relevant in Standard and many other formats for a long time – sometimes he was pretty much the only way to vaguely make control work. (Platinum Angel > Goblin Warchief is also a little sus, but since you mentioned Goblin Piledriver as the previous year’s winner, I can see the argument for mixing it up.)
Dude… 1993: Kurd Ape, Hyppie, Serra I was there. Trust me. Nobody played erhnam until type 2 was invented in 1995 and it was reprinted in chronicles. And no one played birds either until type 2 1994: thunder spirit and order of the ebon hand. 1995 I never saw baulduvian hordes cast in a real tournament. Maybe Maro was best.
How goddamn dare you make me remember how old I am. XD Really though, I’m pretty glad that my life synced up with Magic in a way that meant my high school and college years were the absolute uncontestable golden age of Magic. Darksteel block, the original Ravnica and Innistrad blocks,and Llorwyn block (my personal favorite)… we got it all.