The Best Spell from Every Year of Magic: the Gathering 

I'll always love the story of the guy who went all the way to top 8 of some event years ago with dragon storm and then his opponent asked him to show the dragons he was getting. He failed to find. He wasn't running any dragons. Every opponent the first day scooped before seeing any dragons. He was only playing the combo and storm pieces that get you a large storm count and bluffed his way to day 2. So glorious. Lol

Real OGs remember you used to have to ‘lightning bolt targeting you, redirecting to your planeswalker.’ You couldnt just target planeswalkers directly with damage spells.

Notably, Flash Hulk doesn't actually threaten CEDH tables since Flash is banned.

28:59 countering Approach of the Second Sun is also a bit more complex than you might think, as I learned last year. Even though the opponent has to cast the spell twice, it's irrelevant to counter the first time because the way the card is worded, the win condition doesn't care if the first spell resolved or not.

obsessed with the way seth confused rorschach test with litmus test

it took me until eldraine to realize you meant instant or sorcery, because oko is definitely the best spell of that year lmao

Invoke Despair would be my vote for 2022. Farewell is groan inducing, but you can at least sandbag cards to somewhat play around it. If you play out your cards, ID can be close to a board wipe in some cases. On an empty board, it's a 6 point fireball with Ancestral Recall stapled to it for five mana. It's almost never a dead card and typically game warping. I was so happy when it was banned.

Flash has been banned in EDH for over 3 years

9 out of the first 10 are blue. And blue still shows up quite a bit after that.

wizards should be doing everything in their power to recreate those magical slam-the-flip-on-the-table moments because they're awesome but also they're great marketing

Very surprised at Farewell over Invoke Despair. Farewell is absolutely the most powerful sweeper we've had in a long time but Invoke Despair was meta defining until it got justifiably banned.

I love these series, Seth! It's crazy how much time and research must go into finding all the history and footage. Well done as always!

How on earth you pick Approach of the Second Sun over Fatal Push is beyond me.

I think I would have picked Fatal Push over Approach of the Second Sun

Love these videos seth, keep it up my man!

I honestly think that Expressive Iteration is overall a better card than Tibalts Trickery, because Tibalt Trickery was banned for the high amount of variance/posibility of extreme brokenness, while Expressive Iteration is good in every formet where it isn't banned.

Ofc the good ol' Turn 0 Tibalt clip is here😂 Twas the greatest Saff moment of all time

I just love how Brian turned from sunny boy to a full grown wizard in a short time :D

Ancestral is actually a little better than even you gave it credit for, since you can force your opponent to draw as well

Man, so much of this is nostalgic. Just remembering back to when some of these sets came out & where I was in my life at those points - - Really nostalgic~!

Man, what a reminder of how dominant blue was back in the day! From 1993 to 2004, all the best spells were blue except Natural Order. Anyway... thanks for the video, Seth ❤ I really enjoy this sort of content. VIdeos detailing Magic's history are always bangers!

also I love how approach of the second sun is "annoying" to you but Tibalt's trickery is fun lol

Loved those cards from the Invasion block like Fact or Fiction, Fight or Flight, Death or Glory, and even sillier ones like Tahngarth's Glare. That was a really fun time to play.

I love these retrospectives.

2013 is a tough one, Heroes Downfall was in the popular Siege Rhino Abzan deck, but Boros Charm played in all formats like Standard, Modern, and still being played in Modern aswell, used in so many decks.

Don't forget, flash got banned in edh BECAUSE it was too strong in cedh

While it is true the search trick for Gifts Ungiven trick was found months after it was printed, Gifts was always played as a combo card that just happened to be good when played fairly. Before that, it was always played with cards that return cards from your graveyard, like Eternal Witness. A normal selection would be along the lines of Hana Kami, Death Denied, Soulless Revival + whatever effect you want to recur, whether an Arcane spell, like Ethereal Haze or Cranial Extraction, or a creature with a sacrifice effect, like Kagemaro or Kami of False Hope.

Rules lawyers are going to be triggered that this title uses 'spells' instead of instants and sorceries.

Bruh 1998 was the year of Yawgmoth's Will.

I feel like Demonic Consultation might give Brainstorm a run for its money for best card in Ice Age. Yes, it's not as frequently played, but that has a lot to do with being *banned* in Legacy and restricted in Vintage!

I had so much fun with Gifts Ungiven, the beginning of my competitive days (I was so bad 😅). Back then we used it the intended way: with Eternal Witness and Recollect/Reclaim.

I really appreciate this video. Ive played yugioh for over 20 years, and recently wanted to have a look at mtg. The biggest issue I'm having is the card pool, so this video is awesome.

When you cast Ancestral Recall you want to draw Time Walk

Probability should have just called this “the best blue spell of every year”

Trickery over expressive iteration is debatable.

Whats the name of the upheval video the clip at 8:45 is from?

after 30 min i finally understand that "Spells" only refer to instant's and sorcery. But isn't every card thats not a land a spell?

Weird that Seth choose an upheaval clip where no surplus mana got floated.

My man Magic Aids is in the footage of Tibalts Trickery

Two weeks from now I'll think of a card that is better for some random year but I'll be too lazy to post it. Sweet video anyway.

I'm definitely on Boros Charm for 2013.

When I saw this I thought you were going to go into the game's history and talk about the most powerful cards during the era they were played as well as today, and not just the latter. Maybe you can revisit it sometime that way? Flash is probably the first card on the list that made me realize how you were going to proceed with this list. The Wishes were more powerful than we'd think nowadays because Exile is an in-game zone - but "removed from the game" means you took it outside the game, thus the Wishes could get cards that were RFG'ed, including another copy of itself. This is especially true when combining Cunning Wish with Mirari, as you could use the copy to get back Cunning Wish and the original to get what you actually wanted. There are many cards over the years that people call one-card win conditions - Yawgmoth's Will being a great example. Approach of the Second Sun is the first card that I would consider actually legitimately so, because apart from the mana to cast it, you don't need anything other than the card itself to win the game. Compare YawgWill - historically also nicknamed YawgWin - which counted basically as a giant draw/tutor card for cheap for cards you'd already spent, but didn't actually win the game itself.

(Dis)honorable mention to 2021 for Expressive Iteration. I play that card and I hate it

Cant wait for best Battles

The one card I knew was gonna be on this list was Farewell. I think Meathook Massacre is a contender, considering how much it warped Standard, but Farewell is just so good in everything it’s played in.

If this is judging by today's standards, entomb is just a lot stronger than upheaval.

2017 should have been creativity, modern and pioneer staple :)

Half way through the video i had to check if it was " best BLUE cards of each year" :p

Windfall over Time Spiral😂

Personally I think burning wish > cunning wish, at least today. Storm still plays burning wish in legacy

Love that some of the most powerful are commons

There is an argument to be had that channel is actually better than time walk, and I think it should've replaced timetwister in the power nine, but since it's not on the reserved list, it didn't. It's probably not a stronger card, but I think it might be.

As someone who has played alittle bit of vintage, Time Walk in many cases functions similarily to a card like Explore, because a lot of the time unless you have a clear combo or win in hand, you many times play Time Walk, simply to get to draw another card and play an additional land.

I bet Modern players would love to Mental Misstep Monkey tho...

Surprised Faithless looting didn't make the cut over bonfire of the damned. Also Mental misstep over gitaxian probe ? probe is banned/restricted in more formats technically.

cultivate, a functional reprint of kodamas reach, a spell released 6 years earlier, was the best spell of 2010. That says a lot.

Seth please do a timeless video on wilderness exploration

13:30 I don't understand why gifts ungiven resolves in the first place if the caster can't find exactly 4 cards???

I remember a vintage tournament in 2003 with mind’s desire still legal in 4 copies. It was not fun 🤣🤣

Heros downfall was not the first mention of destroy target planeswalker dread bore was

I miss Randy Buehler

Lightning Helix. What a card.

How fatal push lost against atune with aether???

Had to check how old the video was cause Flash Hulk has been banned in edh for 3 years. Saw 20 min ago. Damn. Had to go double check they didnt unban it. Nah they didnt. Thank god.

I have to disagree with Bonfire for 2012. It might create a flashier, more "epic topdeck" than other cards, but Bonfire was just that--a pop and a flash. Sphinx's Revelation was a pillar of Standard and a source of dread for it's entire life in the format, and a single resolved Rev was backbreaking in Modern for years (and while it's no longer viable in the Horizons format, it would actually STILL be backbreaking if you ever resolved it for just X=3, something Bonfire can't claim in ANY format). Even in Legacy Miracles, Bonfire was your finisher and second fiddle to other Miracle spells for any other purpose.

Seth started speaking tongues during burning wish and death wish

I wouldn't say Best but rather most impactful or iconic

Still calling it Protein Hulk, eh?

Farewell over fable is a choice

Flash *was* broken when it was *printed*. WotC errated the card to make it effectively not work. It took 10 years for them to revert the functionality back to what was actually printed on the card. The card being broken had nothing to actually do with Protean Hulk.

I think you meant litmus test, not rorschach test. Lol

The best spell of earlier game, even outperforming even Ancestral Recall, was Contract from Below (ante)

For of will is an uncommon in name only. Rarity has never really mattered that much for determining how rare a card actually is, but as I'm sure you know alliances didn't have rares.

Contract from below is always overloooked for it is not a card used today. Ill argue though it is BETTER than Ancestral Recall for its time. For one black mana you get 7 cards. Not 3 but 7. If you had a dark ritual and 2 CFB for opening hand thats 21 cards your first turn. The only drawback was you had to ante one card. I remember using ante as an effect because i am old lol. After ante wasnt accepted as a way to casually play magic CFB was forgotten, but for beginning yr it was an amazing card to play with the speed black had back then.

Did thoughtseize come back in 2013? If so...

Enchantments next?🤔

1:15 Treasure cruise

Its hard to believe Fury, Solitude, Bowmasters, or the One Ring arent on this list. I do think bowmasters and one ring do beat Forth, although Forth is def an amazing card too.

Bonfire of the Damned over Faithless Looting??

they should have never gotten rid of mana burn its a cool mechanic

You skipped the entire Mercadian block....which would include Daze, Gush, Skyshroud Claim, Bribery, Snuff Out, Unmask

Why is gifts ungiven banned in commander? I don't really understand

Anyone confused why bombs like Oko and The One Ring didn't make it need to rewatch the first 5 seconds 😭

Up the beanstalk, the one ring, oko uro t3f

I think force of will, invoke despair and alrunds epiphany should have been mentioned in their respective years

What about Sunfall?

Is this his real voice?

Burning Wish caused a LOT of cards to be restricted in Type 1 magic. The Mike Long combo deck was just retarded.

Heroes Downfall was a decade ago? Damn I really am a boomer now.

No fatal push?

Seth I see you've successfully absolutely deleted Oko and Uro from your mind lol :D I can't help but feel those two were definitely the most impactful cards of their era.

That was, what .. 80% blue spells? 😂 I am not surprised tbh

People played flash rector to get bargains. Btw burning wish was better than cunning wish. Tell me which one was restricted in vintage. And even get some of its long storm friends get restricted too.

1995 is an odd year. I see what you did there.

Why are you missusing the spell term?

I don't like the ruling on gifts ungiven. I guess you name 4 cards and fail to find 2 of them. I guess you cant check but if they reveal 2 chards and there 30 cards left in their deck then there are cards left in that deck with different names than the ones found. The card does say name 4 names and find them. It says find 4 cards with different names. Go find them. They are definitely there.

MMMAAAAnaa MMAAAAnna MAAAAAna

Creature, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker, battle are also spell

I would argue brain freeze is a better card than minds desire

Flash Hulk doesn't terrorize any cedh tables, since it's been ba nned for years.