#50: Sterling Grove
Sterling Grove has never quite lived up to its potential as the improved better-half of Enlightened Tutor, but it has seen play in many W/G combo decks. Enchantress decks in particular thrive on drawing a card off of the Grove, leaving it on the board to protect other enchantments, and then using it to get a key enchantment to go for the win. Two of the five cards from this Invasion cycle made the list, so there's something to be said for enchantments that have one effect when on the board, and another once sacrificed.
#49: Dromar's Charm
Invasion Block Constructed (or IBC, named after my favorite brand of Root Beer) was probably the most diverse block format ever in Magic's history (give or take Ravnica Block Constructed stay tuned for Pro Tour--Charleston!). One of the most revered (or reviled, depending on which side of the table you were on) decks was Dromar-Go. This W/U/B deck played a heavy control element, and one of its key cards was Dromar's Charm. All three abilities make Dromar's Charm the most powerful three-modal spell ever printed. Most players would use the Charm to counter a spell or kill a creature, but in a pinch it could be used to gain five life. Even though it was hard to make the color commitments to the Charm, a mage with all three colors untapped was a mage prepared to deal with virtually any threat
#48: Artifact Mutation
Artifact Mutation is a quirky little number which didn't see much play until long after it was printed. Once Mishra's Workshop-based decks began emerging as powerhouses in the Vintage metagame, answers needed to be found. Some players opted for old standbys like Gorilla Shaman or Rack and Ruin. Others thought outside the box and began running Artifact Mutation. Why kill an opponent's Smokestack with Shattering Pulse when you could kill it plus get four 1/1 creatures? The bigger the artifact, the harder the fall - players who Tinkered out Darksteel Colossus suddenly found themselves on the losing end of a race, as their opponents could make eleven 1/1 creatures and swing before the 11/11 trampler could get moving on the board.
#47: Sliver Queen
Sliver Queen is the only five-color card to make the list, and that's a shame you'd think that if a card needed all five colors of mana to cast, it would be an extraordinarily powerful card. In this case, will get you a 7/7 Legendary sliver which has the ability to make a plethora of other slivers. Sliver Queen was played in a few Sliver decks, but was more famous as a creature to be tutored for by Natural Order in the Secret Force deck, brought back into play through reanimation spells, or popped in for free via Oath of Druids.
#46: Simoon
There was a time when one-toughness utility creatures roamed the earth a time of Granger Guildmage, Quirion Ranger, Llanowar Elves, and Birds of Paradise. During that time, Simoon was a key card to winning the mirror match if your opponent got out too many critters, you could hit them with an instant-speed Wrath of God. Reprinted in Invasion, Simoon enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as a way to fight utility creatures, but has not seen a lot of play since.
#45: Grave-Shell Scarab
Woo doggy! Grave-Shell Scarab was heralded as the second-coming of Spiritmonger when it first saw print slightly smaller, slightly more vulnerable to being taken off the board temporarily, but infinitely harder to stop in the long run thanks to its low Dredge cost and ability to replace itself with itself. The Scarab has seen some play in the past year, but not nearly the level that would be needed to call this a tournament staple yet. Still, it has two very powerful abilities at an affordable cost.
#44: Goblin Legionnaire
Plateau was the worst of the original ten dual lands, Battlefield Forge was the worst of the ten pain lands, and Goblin Legionnaire was a forgotten relic from Apocalypse. Gee, people would say, This guy looks really good on paper. If only there were other cards to play with him! Well, the Boros guild solved that problem, and suddenly Goblin Legionnaire was everywhere in Extended, and rising in popularity in Legacy. I guess paying two for a 2/2 Shock-on-wheels isn't that bad a deal now, is it?
#43: Hull Breach
Hull Breach isn't quite as good as Naturalize or Disenchant in many cases, since it can't be cast at instant speed. What it loses in speed, it makes up for in potential card advantage the not-quite-mythical two-for-one. What red-blooded mage didn't dream of taking out Fires of Yavimaya and Chimeric Idol (or Oath of Druids and Platinum Angel) at the same time? I know I did.
#42: Castigate
Is Castigate the best one-for-one discard spell ever printed? No, that title belongs to either Cabal Therapy or Duress. Does Castigate rank in the top three? Arguably, yes. Unlike Distress (which requires just as strict a mana commitment, except in one color), Castigate removes a card from the game. This can make a huge difference, especially in a world of recursion and reanimation. Quick quiz time: Is it better to Distress Golgari Grave-Troll, or to Castigate it? Answer: Ichorid don't like Castigate, fool!
#41: Rumbling Slum
Back in the good ol' days, you had a whole bunch of Red and Green creatures that were, well, unspectacular. Two mana might buy you a Grizzly Bears, three a Gray Ogre, and four, your choice between Roc of Kher Ridges, War Mammoth, Dragon Whelp, Fungusaur, Giant Spider, Hill Giant, Stone Giant, or Keldon Warlord. If you were feeling extra saucy, you might even splurge for a Wood Elemental. You know why they called those the good ol' days? Because games lasted fifty turns, grandma used to shoot pigeons by the tin shed, and Green/Red creatures were smaller than Black, Blue and White creatures of the same cost. Juzam Djinn, Serendib Djinn, and Wall of Swords, anyone?
In the good new days, four mana will buy you a 5/5 bloodthirst-enabling, six-damage dealing beatstick with a mad-on for your opponent's life total. When Rumbling Slum hits the table, he rules the roost, and often you'll have the moving city on the table on the third turn of the game. Pure beatdown creatures don't get much better than this.
#40: Sol'kanar the Swamp King
Remember those good ol' days I was talking about? Sol'kanar was one of those guys who actually was good in the good ol' days. Five mana bought you a 5/5 Swampwalker with a built in life-gaining mechanism that was useful in conjunction with the normal pace of the game. If Sol'kanar had one problem, it was that he was printed at the same time as four blasts Red Elemental Blast, Blue Elemental Blast, Pyroblast and Hydroblast. If he wasn't getting it from one side, he was getting it from another, since virtually every deck in those days had one of those four cards in the sideboard and many Vintage decks ran Red Elemental Blast main as a way to combat Force of Will and Ancestral Recall.
#39: Lobotomy
Lobotomy was a twist on Jester's Cap, and in turn spawned a full cycle of cards (Eradicate, Scour, Sowing Salt, Splinter and Quash), which in turn respawned Lobotomy, which in turn influenced, to some degree, Haunting Echoes and Cranial Extraction. The benefit to Lobotomy was immense some decks could be outright crippled by losing a key card for the entire match. Lobotomy was played regularly when legal, and prominent in Evil Eye of Orms-By-Gore decks. The drawback to Lobotomy was that it might not get a significant card out of an opponent's hand, or worse, might miss a card entirely if an opponent's hand was all basic land. Lobotomy has mostly been supplanted by Cranial Extraction (which can always get the exact card you want, even if it's just out of the deck), but ruled the roost as the backbreaker of choice for a long time.
#38: Cavern Harpy
There are three harpies in Magic: Molting Harpy, Screeching Harpy, and Cavern Harpy. What do they all have in common? None of them are creature-type Harpy they are either Mercenaries (Molting) or Beasts (Cavern and Screeching). It's this fact that made Cavern Harpy so powerful. You see, there was an Aluren deck that was missing a little bit of oomph to become a tier-one force. Along came a card called Wirewood Savage, and suddenly Cavern Harpy became a reusable engine for ridiculous amounts of card drawing. Simply play the Harpy for free with Aluren in play, let it bounce itself, and draw a card thanks to the Savage. Aluren decks quickly rose to tier-one status on the back of Cavern Harpy, and because an Extended staple until the Tempest/Urza's/Masques blocks rotated out of the format.
#37: Mystic Snake
Many players love 187 creatures creatures that have a comes-into-play ability that affects other cards because those creatures have built-in card or tempo advantage. Witness Mystic Snake, which was printed in the time of Flametongue Kavu and, well, Flametongue Kavu. Mystic Snake found a home in Opposition decks, serving the dual purposes of Counterspell and Icy Manipulator. These days, four mana will get you a Counterspell plus untapping four lands. Back when Countermagic ruled Dominaria, four mana would get you a 2/2 creature at instant speed, plus a frustrated look from your opponent.
#36: Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Niv-Mizzet is a card which I fully expect to be higher up on this list, except that we haven't seen a competitive Extended season since Guildpact was released. In Standard, Niv-Mizzet is beginning to make waves in R/U control decks. It thrives not only off of the draw step, but from otherwise heavily played cards such as Compulsive Research and Tidings. Niv-Mizzet truly gets scary once enchanted by Curiosity. Suddenly, each draw fuels a point of damage, and each point of damage fuels a draw. As long as you have more cards in your library than your opponent has life points, Niv-Mizzet plus Curiosity equals a surprisingly easy-to-pull-off two-card win.
#35: Pillory of the Sleepless
What did it take to get Pacifism played in Constructed Magic? It took that old Black Mana, it did! Unlike other passive auras that neutralize creatures, Pillory of the Sleepless acts as a clock unto itself. While it likely won't kill an opponent in-and-of-itself, the extra damage a turn it inflicts adds up over time. In addition, the Pillory was made extremely popular by the Ghost Dad deck, as it can be tutored for using Tallowisp.
#34: Shadowmage Infiltrator
Jon Finkel won the Magic Invitational at Sydney in 2000, and immediately designed Wrath of LekniF, a sorcery which destroyed all creatures in play and allowed you to untap up to four lands. After R&D advised Jon to get off whatever meds he was on, Jon submitted Shadowmage Infiltrator, which was unchanged from its original proposal. More powerful, yet paradoxically less-played, than Ophidian, Shadowmage Infiltrator was forced to compete with another card in the three-drop slot of B/U control decks. Can you name that creature? I know I can
and will, later on in this list.
#33: Frenetic Efreet
The most famous Frenetic Efreet was the one played by Dave Mills at Pro Tour: Chicago in 1997 (where eagle-eyed readers might spot a certain columnist's not-quite-money finish). Dave won something like twenty-million Frenetic Efreet coin flips in a row over the course of the weekend, and went on to a second-place finish at the event, finishing behind one Mr. Randy Buehler.
#32: Recoil
Back in the days of Invasion block, Black/Blue decks had no dearth of choices to run in the three-drop spell slot Repulse, Probe, Exclude, Undermine, and Rushing River fought for playing time against Recoil. Still, Recoil was used as often as any of these, as it was the mirror-image of Repulse tempo advantage without card disadvantage. Recoil was Boomerang with benefits a bounce spell that could hit any permanent (including land), and make your opponent lose a card in the process. If your opponent had no cards in hand, Recoil was the multi-purpose Desert Twister.
#31: Rith, the Awakener
"My dream is to make these kids' [motioning to the crowd] dreams come true - they want to see Rith with Armadillo Cloak smashing you from the red zone." so spoke Brian Kibler during the quarterfinals of Pro Tour: Chicago 2000. If Sol'kanar was the old-school definition of efficiency, the Elder Dragon cycle from Invasion was the new-school definition six mana for a 6/6 flyer with an added ability. With that match, Brian Kibler immortalized himself as the Dragonmaster, and immortalized Rith as king of the Timmy cards.
#30: Electrolyze
Fire // Ice wasn't eligible for this list, but the card known as Fire and Ice clocks in at number thirty. It wouldn't be entirely accurate to call Electrolyze a merger of that split card, but it does combine the two-damage distribution of Fire with the cantrip part of Ice. Simoon is good at killing a couple of one-toughness creatures early in the game. Electrolyze is even better, since it replaces itself.
#29: Phantom Nishoba
Phantom Nishoba is a staple in Reanimator decks. It confounds direct damage, and ends the game in a minimal number of swings. There are few decks that can handle a fourteen-life-a-turn swing, and fewer still that can entirely neutralize Phantom Nishoba once it hits the board.
#28: Eladamri's Call
Eladamri's Call became a fixture in the Life deck that became popular in Extended during the 2005 season. Eladamri's Call is a two-mana instant-speed tutor for creatures think of Worldly Tutor, except the card goes directly to your hand instead of to the top of your deck, all for the low cost of one extra White mana. Popular in toolbox-style of decks, Eladamri's Call could be seen running alongside (or sometimes, in place of) Living Wish.
#27: Firemane Angel
Paying six mana for a 4/3 first-striking flyer isn't a horrible deal in-and-of itself, though those stats would not turn any heads on their own. It's the Angel's other two abilities that propel it to fame life gain and reanimation. If the Angel is alive or dead, it's still giving you one life a turn life that adds up over the course of the game. Once you hit eight mana, the Angel comes back to play (or comes into play for the first time), and continues expounding the virtues of a higher life total.
#26: Anurid Brushhopper
What's better than getting a 3/4 creature for three mana? How about getting a nigh-unkillable 3/4 creature for the same three mana! Anurid Brushhopper became a staple in Standard and Block. It wasn't just a large body the Brushhopper was a madness and threshold enabler, and was often paired with Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, or the next guy on this list. It's also seen play in Extended recently as part of the Balancing Tings strategy.
#25: Mystic Enforcer
Mystic Enforcer saw some play when it was first released, mostly as a way to combat mono-Black control decks that were showing up in Torment-era Standard and Block play. Mystic Enforcer saw a bit of a renaissance come the advent of the Legacy format, and became a powerhouse finisher in the Threshold deck. Few decks are prepared to deal with a third-turn flying 6/6 protection from Black creature.
#24: Galina's Knight
Red was everywhere during the time Invasion ruled Standard you couldn't look to your left or right without seeing Flametongue Kavu, Urza's Rage, Terminate, Raging Kavu, Ghitu Fire, or any other myriad of red creatures and burn spells. Enter Galina's Knight. Zvi Mowshowitz decimated the opposition in Tokyo in 2001 by playing a heavily anti-Red deck, headlined by an innocent-looking 2/2 for two. Galina's Knight was the most efficient aggro/control choice for battling against a red-heavy metagame until the advent of Silver Knight, and therefore found a home in many U/W control decks of its time.
#23: Glare of Subdual
Opposition was deemed to be too powerful of a card, as it could completely lock an opponent out of the game. The fixed version is Glare of Subdual, still a great card in its own right. Glare affords a player multiple options. You can lock down their opponent's board both offensively and defensively, or you can use your worse creatures to neutralize your opponent's best. No matter how you use it, Glare of Subdual ensures that no board will ever be stalemated, and that you will be able to swing for the win in any creature-heavy mirror match.
#22: Stormbind
Stormbind was hailed as the first great hope against Necropotence decks. A turn 2 Stormbind (powered out by Llanowar Elves or Fyndhorn Elves) could shut down an entire army of Hypnotic Specters, Sengir Vampires, Mishra's Factories, and assorted Black and pump-knights. Stormbind did turn out to be an extremely effective removal and finishing spell, but it grew obsolete over time as creatures became more and more aggressively costed. Spending four mana and two cards is great for killing an opponent's five-drop (Serra Angel, for instance), but it is not as good against regenerating creatures (River Boa), protection from Red guys (Soltari Priest), or untargetable creatures (Morphling). Various attempts to update Stormbind have not been entirely successful (Words of War, which trades a card and a mana for two damage), but Stormbind was a card to fear back when Magic was young.
#21: Ghost Council of Orzhova
White virtually never gets a 4/4 body for four mana, and Black's 4/4 for four guys normally have harsh drawbacks see Scourge of Numai, Derelor, or Reclusive Wight for examples. When you put Black and White together, you don't get gray you get a huge-bodied spirit with a definite advantage a point of life drain and the ability to dodge removal spells. This is a top-end-of-the-mana-curve finisher that came busting out of the gates and has not looked back unlike Grave-Shell Scarab, which sort of fizzled and sputtered. There are not many players who look forward towards finding a way to deal with an active Ghost Council.
#20: Terminate
Is Terminate the most efficient pure-creature kill spell ever printed? It's hard to argue with the simplicity of the card: One black, one red, kill a creature, it can't be regenerated. There is only one major factor which has kept Terminate from being one of the top ten gold cards on this list B/R has never been a popular combination due to shared weaknesses between the colors. Both colors have great difficulty in removing protection from creatures, enchantments, or untargetable guys. What good is Terminate if you're dying to a Kodama of the North Tree or Hand of Honor? Has Dissension finally provided the tools that B/R needs to become a long-lasting contender? If so, expect Terminate to shoot way up in status.
#19: Watchwolf
Watchwolf is spectacularly uninteresting, except in that it is a huge body for the mana cost. Most other colors are getting half the total power and toughness of Watchwolf at two mana. What Watchwolf lacks in excitement it makes up in smashability other 3/3's for two are heavily conditional or have major drawbacks (Drekavac, Scab-Clan Mauler, Raving Oni-Slave), whereas the hybrid of Forests and Plains just hits the board and starts swinging.
#18: Absorb
What's better for a control deck than running Counterspell? Running four more copies of Counterspell that have a built-in Healing Salve attached. Absorb was a staple of Standard and Block for two years, frustrating aggressive decks all the while. There is little more demoralizing than trying to cast a game-winning Ghitu Fire, only to have it Absorbed, pushing the control player three more points out of burn range. Compare Absorb to Overrule it would cost to get the same effect out of Overrule, and you might not even be assured of countering the spell. Absorb just says no and may I have some more?
#17: Armadillo Cloak
Brian Kibler did not stop at making a star of Rith, the Awakener. He also propelled the stock of this Aura to the stratosphere. If one had to make a list of the top enchant creatures of all time, Armadillo Cloak would be in the top ten. Few cards have ever combined so many complementary abilities into one package, much less allowing for a make-your-own monster scenario. Even to this day, Extended decks can be seen throwing Armadillo Cloak on Troll Ascetic for the win.
#16: Burning-Tree Shaman
Pro Tour--Honolulu 2006 winner Mark Herberholz harnessed the power of this 3/4 for three centaur. Much like Anurid Brushhopper before it, Burning-Tree Shaman fills an important role in its deck's curve. Unlike the Brushhopper, the Shaman affects the board directly the entire flow of the game changes thanks to Manabarbs-on-activated abilities that comes built-in with the Shaman. Sensei's Divining Top becomes a painful Peek, and Umezawa's Jitte comes at much more of a price. Gruul is naturally trying to beat down, and it's a bonus that an efficient creature in the curve is capable of wrecking so much havoc without ever attacking.
#14: Cadaverous Bloom
The Cadaverous Bloom-combo deck was the first modern combo deck that worked, and the deck wouldn't have been successful without its eponymous enchantment. However, Cadaverous Bloom was not the most important card to this deck that honor goes to another gold enchantment further down (or up, depending on your point of view) on this list. I'll talk more about Cadaverous Bloom then.
#13: Undermine
The flavor text says it all: Which would you like first, the insult or the injury? You can't really divorce Undermine from Absorb, since they are both two sides of the same coin. Both are of roughly equal power levels, though Undermine is more aggressive, while Absorb is more defensive. Why is Undermine ranked higher? It ended up seeing a lot more play than Absorb, thanks to a very special deck.
#12: Crystalline Sliver
There was a time when Sliver decks were an integral part of the Extended metagame, and Crystalline Sliver was the most important creature in the deck. Once it hit the board, there was little on this side of Wrath of God an opponent could do to take out your army. Crystalline Sliver played full shield for an army of flying, 3/3, Shock-on-a-stick pests. Even outside the confines of a Sliver deck, Crystalline Sliver passed the test in its time though these days, Humble Budoka isn't exactly tearing up the tournament scene. Still, in its time and its place, Crystalline Sliver was the real queen and overlord of the sliver army.
#11: Fires of Yavimaya
Fires of Yavimaya and Rebels decks dominated Standard for a full year, and the entire metagame revolved around these two decks. Fires was helped out mightily by the existence of Saproling Burst, which allowed for multiple 5/5 or 4/4 haste creatures to appear out of nowhere for a near-fatal strike. Fires combined the best of Fervor and Seal of Strength two cards which were marginal on their own but combined made for an all-encompassing haste-giver that had a use after your creatures already attacked. Fires-mania reached a fever pitch at U.S. Nationals in 2001, when it took four of the Top 8 and two of the Top 3 slots.
#10: Mortify
If Absorb and Undermine are destined to be put in a state of perpetual comparison, so will Mortify and Putrefy. Putrefy kills artifacts, while Mortify kills enchantments. Each has a distinct use, so why is Mortify higher? Simply put, there are more B/W decks being played than B/G. Ghost Dad, Husk decks, B/W control all find room for Mortify. Many B/G decks have found room for White for Mortify, Watchwolf, and one other creature of note. Mortify has become an instant staple, and a reason to play this color combination.
#9: Spiritmonger
Spiritmonger lived in a world of Repulse, Recoil, Seal of Removal, Waterfront Bouncer, and other bounce/burn spells. Even through all the adversity, it became one of the most played fatties of all time, serving as a finisher in The Rock deck. Spiritmonger almost had it all a body larger than its cost (6/6 for five), Regeneration, and the ability to dodge color-hosing spells (important against Story Circle and Perish). It also grew bigger each time it got into a fight. If only Spiritmonger had trample, it would be one of the top ten creatures of all time. As it stands, it'll have to settle for being one of the Top 10 Gold cards of all time.
#8: Lightning Helix
How good is Lightning Helix? If Lightning Helix was a black card, it would cost . That's what it takes for Black to deal three damage and gain three life... and that's at sorcery speed! Lightning Helix is arguably the second-most efficient non-X burn spell ever printed, behind Lightning Bolt the only other card I could think that might challenge this position is Fireblast. Craig Jones has tied the legend of Lightning Helix to the greatest top-deck ever, but even without that play, Lightning Helix would be right where it is. Terminate kills creatures. Lightning Helix kills creatures and opponents, all the while swinging the life race in your favor.
#7: Vindicate
Vindicate is the fixed version of Chaos Orb.
Whozzis?
No, I'm serious. For those of you who are new to the game, let me explain the problem that was Chaos Orb. People used to play with Chaos Orb, which caused their opponents to do all sorts of silly things like thumb-tack their cards (in sleeves) to a pegboard, so that an opponent couldn't hit multiple (or any) cards with a Chaos Orb flip. Other players would spread their board out across multiple tables. Eventually, Chaos Orb became too much of a problem, and organizers took matters into their own hands. (This was before the advent of the DCI). In New York City, for instance, Chaos Orb was changed to be able to hit only one card of your choice that it touched.
Thus was born Vindicate 3 mana to kill any one permanent of your choice.
Except without the flipping.
(Official accounts from R&D may vary from this one, but I'm sticking to my story).
#6: Mirari's Wake
While it first appeared during Odyssey Block Constructed, with the release of Scourge, Mirari's Wake decks began to utterly dominate the tournament scene. Capitalizing upon the interaction between Decree of Justice and Mirari's Wake, the deck allowed a Wake player to power out over twenty-power of 2/2 soldiers in a single turn
plus draw a card. Daniel Zink won the 2003 World Championships with his Wake deck while Marco Blume rode the deck to a Grand Prix win in Atlanta, and numerous others used the deck to either win a trip to Nationals or a spot on the National team itself. It wasn't until the rise of Affinity a few months later that another deck took so many convincing tournament wins in Standard.
#5: Squandered Resources
Squandered Resources is the only Gold card ever on the restricted/banned list (*NOTE: When the banned/restricted list was first made, all Legendary creatures were listed as restricted. This wasn't for power reasons, but instead for flavor reasons since you could only have one in play at a time, you should only be able to have one in your deck at a time, the reasoning went. This was done away with after some time, and I shudder to think that Pavel Maliki and Tobias Andrion were restricted at a time when Mind Twist and Balance were not.). It was the backbone of the ProspBloom deck the mana engine that kept the others running. Without Squandered Resources, there could be no Natural Balance, no third-turn kills, and no bite to the first real combo-deck ever.
Later Squandered Resources was revived for a truly soul-crushing version of Stasis. I say soul-crushing because it's bad enough waiting for a Stasis to run out having an enchantment in play that lets the lock become permanent is just demoralizing and wrong.
#4: Loxodon Hierarch
Decks that run Green go out of their way to splash white for Loxodon Hierarch and decks that run White go out of their way to splash green for Loxodon Hierarch. Hierarch is like Ravenous Baloth with benefits you get your life payment up front, and he can take one for the team, if need be. Loxodon Hierarch is one of the most efficient battle-oriented creatures ever printed it has a huge body, a tempo-swinging life change, and the ability to save the rest of the team from Wildfire or Pyroclasm. Loxodon Hierarch is what Staunch Defenders dreamed it could be, and it has emerged as one of the most played creatures in Magic.
#3: Meddling Mage
Chris Pikula's Invitational card has become a staple in every format it's been played in (Block, Standard, Legacy, Vintage, Extended). It is quite simple a 2/2 that prevents your opponent from playing their business spell. Meddling Mage is the reverse side of Lobotomy it costs half the mana, and it can swing. The effect looks deceptively weak, but only because it is simplicity itself. Time has proven the Mage to be one of the most formidable impediments known to Magic so powerful that Pro Tour--Columbus 2004 winner Pierre Canali found a way to run the Meddling one in his Affinity deck!
#2: Pernicious Deed
Pernicious Deed is simply one of the greatest mass-removal spells ever printed. It can hit with pinpoint accuracy, leaving your side of the board unscathed while taking out your opponent's entire army. It can come down and immediately take out artifact lands and/or token creatures, or it can stick around on the board as a deterrent from future aggressions. Pernicious Deed is the card that keeps The Rock competitive year-in and year-out, and is the secret to the success of most B/G builds.
#1: Psychatog
When I was approached about writing this article, I said to Ted, So, what are cards #2 through #50?. Ted asked how I could have already decided #1, but when I told him my answer, he immediately agreed. The absolute best gold card of all time is Mr. Teeth himself, Psychatog.
What can I say about Psychatog that hasn't already been said? Psychatog has defined or influenced literally every format he's been legal in, including Vintage, Legacy, Extended, Standard, and Block. I can't think of another creatures which has had more pull for as many years as the Tog.
If I were to list all of the Top 8 decklists which involved Psychatog from Grand Prix and Pro Tours, this article would triple in length. It's not just back in the day Dredge-based Psychatog decks wowed at the last Extended Pro Tour, and then Dredge-based Tog decks of an entirely different build dominated the last Extended Grand Prix. Psychatog decks have been known by many names: Grow-A-Tog (GAT), Hulk Smash!, Tog, Burning Tog, Dredge-A-Tog, Friggerid Tog, Madness Tog the list goes on and on.
You cannot test for a format in which Psychatog is legal without testing both with and against the deck, and there is no more of compliment that can be paid to the power level of a card than this. I'm paraphrasing here, but a well-known Pro Player said that if Wizards had printed a 5/6 for , it would have been considerably more fair than Tog.
So from Psychatog to Sterling Grove, there you have it The Top 50 Gold Cards! As always, feel free to drop me a line, either in the forums or via e-mail, to let me know what you think.
