The Most Important Card from Every Year in Magic: the Gathering (MTG) 

"Nicol Bolas is responsible for creating the Reserve List"... Ahh I see his evil deeds truly reach every corner of the multiverse, even reaching our own reality. Truly one of Magic's greatest villain, together with Yagwhmoth and WoTC themselves.

Great list and video! Think I'd have picked Lurrus over Jeweled Lotus, though.

seth... im pretty sure the basic lands have to beat out black lotus for 1993. i don't think there is a more important card in the game.

Memory Jar wasn't responsible for combo winter, in fact it was notable for being banned basically as soon as it became legal. Wizards was scared because combo winter had been going on for months, they had just banned a bunch of cards (like Time Spiral) to try and stop it, and they didn't want Memory Jar to bring it back, so they banned it pre-emptively. Also Necropotence not being on this list is true insanity :D

Would love to see a video about promises WotC has made to the community, and if they've been kept or not.

Honorable mention to Umezawa's Jitte for 2004 slot.

For 2020 I would go for Lurrus. It affected a lot more formats and is representative of the companion mechanic being broken. It banned basically everywhere in paper except Vintage similar to Oko.

95: Brainstorm, 96: Force of Will if you look with hindsight. Bolas and Bloom were certainly relevant for time

Supply llama is a great choice, since it also has something to do with Wizards’ abysmal supply chain!

Blood moon in 1994 Seth? are you a little biased? Love you.

With oko I always think back to the podcast where Seth and Richard were trying to figure out how good it is. If I recall correctly: Seth thought it was maybe playable but not good. Richard called it out as the best planeswalker ever printed with a lot of hesitation.

For me, the card of 1995 has to be Necropotence. It dominated the format back then and is still played in some decks today. And for 2004 Arcbound Ravager has to be the card of the year 2004! It defined the whole standard format back then, created a whole deck type, and is still played in Modern decks.

I got into Magic in 2015. My first set I ever got was Origins. I've been watching MTGGoldfish ever since and absolutely love the team. Seth, you're my favorite. I haven't played Magic myself since 2020 due to how broken some things became, but I still love the content. Keep up the amazing work Goldfish Team!

Really liked the video, hope to see more content like this 👍🏼✨ (Necropotence, Lurrus and Smuggler's Copter are the ones for me that deserved a mention)

Pretty wild. This video just popped up on my recommended list. I played magic pretty casually with friends from around 2007-2010. The cards are so complicated now. I chuckled when he mentioned that the Mystic Rhino was an example of how power creep has made it seem weak compared to modern standards. I thought to myself that it seemed super broken!

Thing about the rarity change by "adding" mythic: they didn't really "add" mythic, they added the current conception of "rare", and rebranded old "rare" as "mythic". The probability of opening a mythic in a new pack is the same as old rares from large sets: 1/121, generally referred to as R1 because it appears once on the rare sheet. In Alara they added a new probability, 2/121, or R2 - cards of this rarity appear twice on the rare sheet, making them twice as likely to open. They didn't actually add a new more-rare rarity, they added a new less-rare rarity and shuffled the names around to make it _look_ like the "new" thing was "more rare". Fun fact: the only time fetchlands were printed at R1 ("mythic") was in Onslaught.

Well, you can really tell when I played the most, and when the mass of releases really got out of hand. I have everything on the list from 1994-2015, managed to get one Nexus from 2018, and haven't had any of the cards on the list since. Too many cards coming out to keep up, not enough events to use them or get them at. Fantastic list, and great reasoning on everything!

While Kalia and commander sets maybe was big politically, for the actual game new phyrexia and phyrexian mana with cards like birthing pod and gitaxian probe were far more impactful for the gameplay itself.

Love the inclusion of Garruk, he is so underrated these days. Just gotta love untapping 2 bounce lands with him amongst other shennanigans. He was the first walker I got back in the day in the xbox promo version which came for free with duels of the planeswalkers.

One of my favorite videos you have made. Thanks.

That was a fun watch. Good job Mr. Olive

This list will keep me up tonight, thanks. I should have watched when you released it....

Love this throwback. I still have many of the cards on this list, and it warms my soul. My favorites are my Chronicles Nicol Bolas & Oko...

Im glad cadaverous bloom is the card for 1996, one of my absolute favorite mtg cards created the year of my birth, responsible for one of the first true combo storm like decks, I play a cadaverous bloom combo in my grismold enchantment deck with cards like recycle and null profusion to win the turn its played.

Skullclamp and arcbound ravager seems to be more impactfull card than Sword of and ice. Same for artifact land and solemn simulacre

You forgot Colossal Dreadmaw!! How could you?!

This is dope. As a relatively new player it's nice to know mtg history so i can get the jokes and references online

Soon it will be 2023: Pickle Rick 2024: Kool-aid man 2025: Mark Zuckerberg's BBQ sauce 2026: Jar Jar Binks

Really well done. I enjoyed every second of this video. I really appreciate the work that went into making this. Thank you.

Great list! It was great watching and seeing some of the most busted cards, especially in recent memory haha

The joy in seth's voice when he says "Siege Rhino" is so adorable :D

Yo love the Rhystic Studies channel plug. His videos are fantastic.

Awesome video! It would be cool to see a history or list of magic cards that are a book, tome, slate or scroll/ tapestry etc..

2004 must be ravager, it was absolutely dominant back then and still is the best 2 drop ever printed in my opinion. The only reason why it could not dominate older formats back then was because pernicious deed was still around.

This is a cool video! id also like to see this list again but only give the context of the time back on each of the years. id like to see what people back in 2006 thought were the most broken cards etc.

People thought you were meeting but the "supply llama" was acrually pretty insightful.

While I agree on almost all the cards choices, I think 2003 and 2004 should have been cards like "Seat of the Synod" and "Skullclamp", for their ubiquitous presence and subsequent banning across multiple formats. Other than that, nice video, thanks :)

Thought I’d see snap caster! Awesome and fun list

Seeing that dude attack with Hazoret instead of killing him with the Incendiary Flow definitely got me saying “wtf” 😂 Good video though Saffron!

9:00 My favourite thing about this card is that I saw a GDC talk Mark Rosewater did about designing Magic and he highlighted this card as an example of failing to keep with theme because: -It was a 7/7 creature -It had an ability that cost 7 life -To let you draw 7 cards -And it cost *8* mana Even if it was for balance, he noted that it makes the whole card feel off because there's obviously a clear theme that wasn't being committed to

4:45 and 5:08 I love the subliminal background messages of leveler and blightsteel.

What an amazing thumbnail and even better video!

Should have done honorable mentions for the following Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, a really important card that is the pinnacle of being unstoppable and still sees play while the sculptor has been powercrept to not be nearly as popular. Although putting a Jason Chan card on here is something I love to see. Lightning Bolt over Lotus, this one is a bit crazy but considering that bolt is a common card that has been reprinted at least a dozen times and still fetches over 2 dollars a copy shows how crazy the card is Lurrus-being able to completely re-sculpt decks it is in should be enough to be on a list like this

Seeing Black Lotus always stings my heart, I got one and a couple Moxes stolen when I was a kid

Bloodbraid Elf and Brainstorm should have made the list. Seemed like inconsistent selection criteria, some years it was a powerful card that was good in its time like Seige Rhino or Baneslayer, sometimes it's a card that is good today but wasn't at the time like Rhystic Study.

I feel like the years of Mirrodin block might be better represented by one of the many cards that were banned there. I understand this isn't a list of "strongest cards in each year" but like...when I think Mirrodin, that was basically the height of nutty design all the way til we hit the era of no longer having themed blocks (and arguably, maybe even then too.) Honestly if you ever want to do a sequel, "the card that best represents the set or block it was from" would be a cool video concept.

Such an awesome video

Would have picked Command Tower over Kaalia, and I am beyond shocked Lurris did not make this list.

Making me relive the Hazoret punt hurt my soul

Thanks. Now I know what to look for in these 10k cards gifted to me.

Cool video, though I would have said Necro for 1995 (so much so that it was the first card I thought of for specific year before starting to watch.)

Smugglers Copter and the vehicle deck alongside Saheeli Rai and Felidar guardian also were game breaking cards

im gonna build a commander deck with ever one of these cards (yes I know a couple are banned), who do you think should be the commander? I'm thinking new Jodah, as sorta a collector of lore (wish we had a guff...), but I'm curious who you'd pick!

Force of will!!!!!! Got me into pro magic in the 99s

Please talk about Force of Will? We definitely could use more hype for the game. Would be greatly appreciated 🙏

This is a fun knowledge vid. I kinda think skullclamp should've been picked over sad/mad robot tho

I agree with most of your picks and I like the list overall, but I do have a few bones to pick (especially 2020): 1995: Nicol Bolas over Necropotence (Necro was one of the most iconic cards of all time, still sees commander play today, would see legacy play if it weren't banned, and while I get Nicol Bolas was just a platform to get to talk about the RL, that doesn't make it the most important card of 1995. Also if you're going to include Yam's punt on the Hazoret play, you definitely should have included the all time greatest gameplay commentary of Randy yelling "DON'T SAY 4!".) 2003: Solemn over Chalice of the Void (Chalice has had a major influence on the game overall, much larger than Solemn. Solemn obviously has had a larger impact on commander specifically, but that doesn't overshadow Chalice as one of the greatest hate cards of all time.) 2007: Garruk over Jace Beleren (Jace became the cornerstone of magic's planeswalker design, if you want to pick a walker for '07 instead of thoughtseize (I think you're probably right to) pick the one that became the face of magic for the next 10 years.) 2020: Jeweled Lotus over Lurrus or Negan (Lurrus is so impactful on competitive magic since 2020 it's hard to overstate. Lurrus most likely killed any chance of Companion ever returning, is the only card ever banned in vintage for power level reasons, dominated legacy and modern until its eventual banning, and is one of the most glaring design mistakes of all time. Outside of competitive magic, Negan and the idea of other pop culture IPs showing up in magic, secret lair exclusive cards, and Wizards selling cards directly to players, cutting out the LGS which had been the foundation of the game for nearly 30 years, has had a massive impact on the relationship that players have with the company that makes the game.)

I am really wondering what criteria you are using to determine important cards? I agree with some of these, and disagree with others (possibly because I have never played EDH). Although I like the inclusion of the Wallet-Slayer Angel, and Jace, the Wallet Sculptor.

As I started playing Magic when Darksteel was the current set, I was genuinely surprised to see the Swords as being the most important card that year, here. In my experience as a new player back then, it would have had to have been either Arcbound Ravager, the Artifact Lands, or ignoring them, Tooth and Nail.

I think Tibalt cosmic impostor was a way more important card for 2021. It was so powerful that WotC had to change the rules of cascade, many years after the keyword's release!

Now I’m curious to see a video of the most broken sets as a whole.

I used to do a lot of damage with cadaverous bloom, lich, and drain life. Toss my whole hand for a big drain to cadaverous bloom and draw about 20 cards then discard 19 cards for 38 black mana tap a mountain for a 38 point fireball which I anticipated drawing almost 60 cards could deck me and wasn’t sure if that would create a draw or if I would lose before damage was resolved.

love me a video looking back on magics past

great videio, im just surprised to see hazoret on here instead of chandra torch of defience

Nice job

How coukd you get the emerkul out on turn one I am so confused. He shuffles back into your deck. Do you need like dark ritual and a 2 mana instant speed reanimated spell?

This list is the most relevant from each year to modern magic.

I never liked planeswalkers, but when Jace came out I made a superfriends deck in standard with Jace's, Elspeths, Gideon's ect. House of a deck. My favorite standard deck at the time was Emrakul polymorph, though.

theese are the kind of videos that makes our day a little better :v

A note on Tarmogoyf, goyf's price drop from the all time high has less to do with the reprints (it would see a dip but then start to climb back up) and more to do with how much its meta share has dropped, it was once one of the most played cards in one of the most played decks in magic now it only sees play as a fringe card in what is now a fringe deck.

I had the opportunity once to buy a Artist proof black lotus for $1,000, but decided not to because at the time they weren't really considered worth anything. Never knew until now I had made the biggest financial mistake of my life. I instead bought another Chris Rush artist proof that he had painted a black lotus onto the back of. I paid $300 for it. Nowadays I wouldn't even know how much it would be worth.

Such a cool video idea

Kaalia's cool, but Command Tower is definitely way more important as a representation of Wizards beginning to release official Commander products.

Goldfish crew forgetting about Necropotence is becoming a norm now 🤣

Was surprised force of will wasn't included. Arguably the most important card of legacy.

Gaea's Cradle over Tolarian Academy is silly - Academy is the biggest poster child for why this era was the combo era, and part of why the next YEARS of magic development were so downpowered. Just because Cradle sees more play today isn't really a reson to promote it here. Also, Force of Will over Vampiric Tutor. Vampiric and the like are just poor stand-ins for Demonic Tutor anyway. Force is iconic, and holds an entire format together. Command Tower is also a better stand in for Kalia, as it shows true commander-centric design, and goes in every commander deck to this day. Siege Rhino should have been Treasure Cruise. Nobody outside standard ever cared about Siege Rhino.

very cool look back, i'm sure there will be tons of churn on your picks, but fun retro regardless

super sweet video

combo winter *shudder* I lost to so many tolarian academy decks it wasn't funny! I do remember getting the marit lage promo from the coldsnap pre-release though. unfortunately I was forced into retirement after the economy tanked in 2008, so been more or less out of the game and missed most of these until somewhat recently with the launch of ARENA, but didn't get back into paper magic this year! (after seeing the theme on neon kamigawa I knew I had to try and get back in the game!!)

I wouldn't call Black Lotus the most important card from Alpha because so few got to actually play with it, even at the time. I'd give the title to Sol Ring. In 1993-96 EVERY deck had a copy of Sol Ring, even cheap crummy decks. Since it was a restricted uncommon, it was easy to get (no one needed to horde 4 of them, so they could trade the extra to a buddy). It made every deck better in almost every situation. It made clear the power of even the most basic mana ramping.

Still trying to get that Lotus for the 30th anniversary. Feel free to check out the project on the channel. Nice video, great wrap up of where we’ve come from

I am actually surprised Karn the actual strongest planeswalker didn't make this list.

Me: I never understood why people though Oko was that good Mellisa: we did underestimate how strong the plus 1 is Me: wait, the second ability is a PLUS one....I see...I did not read the card properly when it came out

Started playing in 2010! The perfect year to start playing. I traded so many fetch lands away….. for total junk. I would get mad when I cracked lands.

Its Just great, we have a big star like posty playing magic. That reinforce why magic its a so special game, anyone could be a player, and thats awesome.

awesome video

You have missed Rishadan Port from 1999. Cursed Scroll, Mox Diamond, Wasteland, Masticore from 97-98. Still powerful and playable.

Nicolle Bolas must be proud of her transition

Amazing video this time

I got my Rhystic Study for 10 cents... 10 cents.. I got a playset and was like "THIS CARD IS SO GOOD"

I would've put a card like lurrus in the 2020 slot, since companion as a whole was arguably the biggest design f*** up in magic history, and resulted in an errata that literally changed the text of the card and made the reminder text on the original prints incorrect, something that they have never had to do before (arguably the wall defender change but there was never reminder text for it) and hopefully will never have to do again. Lurrus and companion as a whole is emblematic of how much more frequently magic get torn apart by massive blunders like oko, lurrus, uro, ragavan, murktide, etc.

4:23 I don't think Entomb works with Emrakul, since the graveyard is shuffled back into the library.

I think a mention to OUAT would've been neat in the Oko section

awesome to see emerakul the promised end here, legit the reason i quit playing standard 5 years ago and wont ever go back. bought a playset of smugglers copters for an insane price and a playset of her for another insane price just to play in some standard tournys coming up only for both cards to be banned. ill probably never go back to competitive paper magic after that. bans hurt the game in a lot of ways.

tough list to make but fun content!

Really appreciate this video butt I have to say I was very surprised when you said 1994 when it clearly says 1995 on 01:12 😅

Oh bans. I strongly remember the 9 banned cards from the Mirrodin artifact block standard. Good times. Miserable times. Fun fact: artifact blocks tend to lead to lots of bans it seems. I wonder how the next one will have in store for us. Arcbound Ravager would have had my vote over sword because of how it dominated standard and how resilient the deck was to hate.

well done

Great list! The only thing I may have included was the creation of sagas because they seem to be a huge part of Magic going forward! Overall, hard to argue with anything on this list really nice to see a small history of Magic!

A card I’ll never forget is squadron hawk.