Top 10 Cards that Changed How People Play Magic 

Necropotence redefined how both the players and the designer thought about card draw and life costs. I'm a little surprised it's not on the list.

I'm surprised that you didn't mention Karn the Great Creator as a recent example of Burning Wish's impact on accessing the sideboard

Dredge vs Mill is always the funniest matchup to me. Either the dredge runs out of cards or gets lethal. Either way it's gonna happen FAST.

Force of Will is so influential it also inspired another card game.

I’m surprised you didn’t mention the fact that the original Nicol Bolas was partly responsible for the reserved list, due to collectors being mad about their expensive cards being worthless now.

I got into MTG Arena just as you started this channel- and it's great to learn from these kinds of videos. MTG has such a rich history.

Back in the day, I'd put four Millstone in a deck just to bait out artifact destruction. For some reason, psychologically, my opponents would usually move heaven and earth to destroy the thing before I got a chance to activate it.

Tarmogoyf (Future Sight) changed everything for years.

I’d be interested in a list of multi-format all stars that suddenly stopped seeing competitive play

Fun fact about the cards from the original wish cycle worked differently when they came out than how they work now. Before the exile zone existed cards would be removed from the game instead. This meant that when they were released in Judgement they could be used to grab cards from your sideboard as well as cards that were removed from the game, most likely from flashback or being a wish. Cunning Wish or Burning Wish would be used with Mirari to copy your wish spell and you use one of the copies to grab a wish so you can keep looping.

As someone who's played WoW for 18 years and Magic for 16 years, It was funny finding your MTG channel after watching your WoW stuff for so long.

I find it funny how planeswalkers are referred to as a relatively recent addition to the game, but MTG has existed with them longer now than it did without.

I dig your content! But I must recommend. If we are insisting on talking about a card’s origins & influence to magics’ meta game. Consider showing us the original printings of the cards instead of a double masters or other reprint. It’s a small nitpick, but adds a good extra polish that could help get the point across better and is more pleasing to the eye!

Birthing pod and phyrexian mana are both influential and created whole new things for sure.

A better card than to represent what point you were trying to make is Morphling... Aetherling came after Jace and I don't believe it saw as much play compared to Morphling. Morphling was a scary card back in the day

I’m surprised Rampant Growth didn’t make the list for the term “ramp.” I would’ve at least thought it would be mentioned in the Millstone spot.

Gaea's Cradle, cursed scroll, masticore, brainstorm, rishadan port - lots of old extended/standard staples that put RnDs lack of attention to detail on notice. I think newer players have no idea how powerful something like cursed scroll was bc of the inherent power creep of the game. How about the ridiculously long extended games bc of morphling or the sheer terror of oath of druids or smokestack?

Glad to see you covering more games, great work!

Interesting note on wishes: at the time they came out, they were worded "get a card you own from outside the game" Exile used to be worded "remove from game" You could definitely get exiled cards at the time. Also surprised no acknowledgement on cunning wish's combo history.

A few ideas: * Decks created/destroyed by rules changes (Sunforger and split cards come to mind) * Worst "Draw 3 cards" cards * Best "Group Hug" cards * Cards you want to give to your opponent * Best token generators (not token doublers like Doubling Season) * Best/Worst X spells * Best/Worst "Choose a creature type" effects * Cards that say "The player to your left/right" * Overly-specific counter cards * Tokens that are made by the fewest number of cards (excluding emblems) * Best/Worst emblems * Best Aura enchantments * Best cards that say "As an additional cost to cast this spell, ..." * Best cards with the Trap subtype * Best cards with the Tribal type

Talking about fetch lands without talking about the original dual lands, or deck manipulation (brainstorm) into shuffling. I really enjoyed the video. Keep it up!

The entire Alliances pitch spell cycle was incredibly impactful in its day. Even Bounty of the Hunt (which really sucks by today's standards) saw high level play. Contagion was an all-star in Necropotence decks, where the downside of losing a card was zero. If you've had the misfortune of being blown out by Pyrokinesis (Modern's Fury is close but not quite the same due to not being instant-speed), you know how game-breaking that card is. Even Scars of the Veteran saw play. Highlighting just Force of Will and talking about its role in formats some 26 years later is selling the video concept short--free spells DID change how the game was played, you are right, but it was far more than Force of Will. We'd see this whole mechanic given even more life in Masques block, although in tuned-down form.

planeswalkers aren't a somewhat new card type any more the where introduced in late 2007, ~15 YEARS ago, they have now been in the game for HALF its existence. It isn't even the most recent card type anymore that goes to dungeons

It was driving me nuts where I knew your voice from… WoW top 10s… so glad that clicked

A couple other things about stoneforge: -it was the first card banned in standard in 6 years (along with jace) since they had to ban artifact lands (which are still banned in modern) -the card was on the initial ban list for modern, as it was deemed that it would probably be too strong

Honestly, I might have put Ironclaw orcs on this list for it's part in pioneering the mana curve in Sligh.

Thank you so much for using the Terese Neilsen version of force of will, Wizards did her so dirty

I still remember opening my first pack that had Millstone, the options .. wow.. love milldecks

Neat analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

Millstone being controversial and bad actually reminds me of a card minigame from an old PS2 game. Xenocard committed 1.5 of the 7 sins of TCGs with life decking and making cards cost "life" to play. The single strongest deck was a MILL/burn deck. It basically made all cards cost more, instituted a beginning of turn tax on both players and increased your start of turn draw from 1 to 4 cards...out of 40 card decks. Some of the bigger unit cards cost 5+ to play (5 cards were taken off the top of the deck and discarded to the "Lost" pile) and could still be destroyed by dumping 0 cost units against them so they'd be sent to the salvage pile.

I didn't catch an honorable mention to the Storm mechanic. Great video regardless.

I'd say Entomb, Entomb redefined reanimator decks back in the day, playing and interacting with graveyard cards wasn't really popular until Entomb came out.

Obviously there's a bunch more cards you could've put but it's your video so no problem there... But I am sad you didn't mention Solemn Simulacrum... Sad robot noises

I love lists like these where you can't really predict what's gonna be on them. Lovely video!

Who did the voiceover for this video? I recognise his voice from somewhere but can’t work out which channel it’s from?

My vote is for Embercleave - I remember someone stating that in all the magic games ever played, this card is probably single handedly responsible for the most wins ever, based on MTG arena, how many games were being played, and the fact that I don't think they banned the damn card, they just let it continue merrily slaughtering away Also scuteswarm, aka SCOOPswarm, is on my personal list for how many times I've lost to it...

Necropotence, Force of Will, Black Vise, Stasis, Strip Mine, Dockside Extortionist, Donate, Oath of Druids, Ironclaw Orcs, Balance

Excellent video 👍 only issues are when you talked about jace you missed how rare it actually was for a card to be banned in standard. Planeswalkers were always powerful but Jace the mind sculptor broke the mold still. Also probably the biggest boon to fetch lands is definitely brainstorm, the combination is used in every format it’s legal in. Also you mentioned Emrakul and I definitely think it should have had a spot. To this day it’s still the number 1 boss monster. Also craterhoof behemoth

Honorable mentions to Blood Artist and Falkenrath Aristocrat. Sacrifice strategies have been around for a while but these two cards made a powerhouse deck in standard and created the archetype called "Aristocrats."

Also, bolas is the most popular villan in magics history, with multiple sets revolving around him as their star.

Great video! Love it

Considering this video came out a couple weeks ago, I would have thought it would have some of the major changes that have occurred in the past decade. Every card listed here is at least 10 years old. I get that some older cards are iconic and the first to do something, but there have been tons of recent changes that are very controversial, at least to me.

Surprised we didn't see either half of Channel Fireball, the first true combo deck ever made. And Felidar Guardian represents the shift of philosophy about card bannings in recent years

Fun fact, the first printing of millstone read pay 2 and mill 2 cards. Wizards later changed the flavor text to make you tap it, then the reprints had pay 2 and tap.

I remember watching you videos on evaluating magic card on the YuGiOh channel, and how inexperienced you were. Now I am amazed by the quality and understanding of magic in these videos. I was genuinely surprised to hear your voice. Actually, at first, I though someone just copied the name theme.

There’s massive mistakes made in leaving some cards off. Namely the Companions and Oko, which warped the entirety of Magic around them faster and more drastically than any cards before them or since. Oko is the most-banned card in the game and Companions were such an immediate fundamental issue to the health of the game that the entire mechanic had to be errata’ed. AND some of the companions still had to be banned even after that.

Survival was the precursor to wishes and helped redefine how to build. Narcomoeba made dredge playable. Before that it was mainly just a mechanic. Affinity would have been a good theme to represent. Maybe goblin lackey too.

Lurrus of the dream den has had a pretty big impact on all the formats it's been legal in, with Yorion, sky nomad following close behind.

Golgari Grave-Troll does enter the battlefield in my 55 creatures Sidisi Brood Tyrant EDH Deck. Frequently appearing with Phenax. Mill 45 cards bro.

That Dragon seems like the ultimate turn 1 target for Sneak Attack. Cut your opponent's life by a third and discard their hand, that might as well be an instakill.

Fetch lands could find original dual lands long before they could find shock lands

TIL that the shock lands got reprinted to have basic land types which allows them to be searched. Never knew that fetch lands could search for any non-basic other than the original dual lands.

Nicol bolas reads when he deals damage. Pretty meaningful difference.

This is just a prediction, but I think fetch lands will be number 1. Eta: Well I was pretty close, I think an argument could be made to say they should be number one but the actual number in the video is a great choice IMO.

Amazing!

Bolas doesnt need to deal combat dmg, he just need to make dmg.

Necropotence is a glaring omission. Until then, people really didn't build a deck around one card. Force of Will deserves #1, it literally changed the playing field. I was playing then, and so many decks had to change or were just made irrelevant by a spell that could counter a first turn combo. Jace's impact is even funnier considering everyone thought the card sucked when it was spoiled.

I was expecting uro or lurrus, but I get why you chose what you chose

Benalish Hero deserves to be on this list. Before Benalish Hero was printed in Alpha, there was no M:tG to play.

For griselbrand it should have been necropotence Griselbrand was another attempt at making necro a card and failed as after the third attempt they realized that life for cards, especially for 1 life is too powerful

Force of Will was so impactful when it was released from Alliances, that I and a lot of other people quit the game for a time... You see back then, there was no ultra-powered cards like today - a card or creature usually had 1 or 2 at most abilities... it was very burn and stomp type plays... and 'Counterspell' and its derivatives was a huge pain to play against and the meta was a lot of card counting, mana left untapped etc.... so when Force came out where you needed no mana, and realistically nothing you could do against it, then a lot of people flipped out and quit... I came back at Invasion when I was blown away by, you'll laugh, 'Armadillo Cloak' when I saw how much of a power creep MTG had got - a 3 CMC aura with creature gets +2/+2, Trample and Lifelink!!... unheard of in the early days.... and Force lost a bit of it's scariness and brokenness.

Coming into this I expect the very first 0 mana counter spell to be high up on the list. Edit: wow I called it so hard. Kinda shocked prim titan isn't on the list but other than that it I agree with this list as the 10 biggest.

Awesome that number one isn't a broken combo piece but a good card that increases interaction between two players. Thank you force of will!

This is a good list. I'd say Thoughtseize/Duals/Fetches and #1 is obviously force Force. "Force pitiching Force" has to be the most used term ever.

Appreciate the ambient music

I'm not sure if Force of Will and the other red mana card with " sacrifice two mountains instead of pay cots = deal 4 to any target " card are the only zero mana cost.

Chaos Orb literally changed how people played magic. The correct counter play was to keep your cards spaced out so it couldn't hit too many.

Stoneforge, cauldra and shadow spear are ridiculous in modern. Tbh most of hammer times cards are

The fact that Giselbrand doesn't cost seven is a crime against design. He'd be known as "7up" or "the Seven Deadly Sins" or something if only all his numbers matched.

I think Lightning Bolt and Birds of Paradise/Llanowar Elves are quite deserving of a spot on this list.

I know it's not important but I remember when my mind was blown when I went to the origins card opening at my local and got the Chandra creature that turns into the planeswalker with the gold signature on it I thought it was game changing with its ability

Skullclamp, disciple of the vault, and oko have entered the chat.

:0 this is a cool topic to speak about

Channel and Fireball. THE OG killer combo. Especially with 4 of each (pre April/May 1994). Another one (back before April/May 1994) was Dark Ritual (and or Black Lotus) Mox, Mindtwist. Followed by another Mindtwist. Another was Icy Manipulator, Winter Orb and Stasis. Ahhh, those were the days. The days that taught us how BROKEN those early cards were.

I thought a mana dork like birds or llanowar elves might make the list. A fundamental starting point for new players often includes playing decks that use mana acceleration.

Planeswalkers came out in 2008. “Somewhat new” shouldn’t be used for something almost 15 years old lol.

I am surprised that Lurrus was omitted. It was so good, it got banned in Vintage due to power level reasons.

I remember a world enchantment Who counter every spell already in the grave yard. With the mill it was crazy it was wonder bazar if my memory was ok (20y ago)

I have 4 Prismatic Vistas and two black fetch lands in my mono black deck to bring Bloodghast back from the graveyard.

what is the one land cards that might be better than fetches?

I think you forgot to mention that Force of Will, was part of a cycle. the other four lost to time as they were, uh, quite bad.

Dual Lands already existed since Alpha... Fetchlands didn't need to wait for Shocklands to be good.

Aren't the original Planeswalker cards from Lorwyn in 2007? By that logic planeswalker cards are not a "somewhat new card type". MtG was 13 years old when planeswalker cards have been introduced and 16 years passed since then.

7:17 lol you don't reanimate Emrakul dude Edit: 13:01 the original 3 color lands didn't come from khans. That's an Abzan land. The original 5 were from Shards of Alara Despite the errors, good video.

I am still just so in shock that they printed Kaldra Compleat knowing stoneforge mystic exists lol

8:48 that card is basically stronger graceful charity, isn't it?

Why is there a picture of a reprint of Bazaar of Baghdad that apparently doesn't exist?

When you talk about the history of MTG like in this video it would be very helpful if you let us know in which expansion the card first appeared.

Titania song wih mishra factory and wrath of god. You kill your opponent in one turn because all your artefact become créature Winter orb make your llanowar elves mvp. Of course the Last one is still iconic in ramp and midrange deck

I hate Fetch lands so much. I was looking at Modern and really was turned away because of the price tag attached to it simply because of the land you 'have' to run. When Pioneer first started with the Fetch lands banned it actually was a fantastic idea, it really opened up the format to new ideas.

Mental Misstep should be on the list. It forced all decks to run 4 copies

The best thing to change how we play is if a blue player passes the turn with untapped blue mana

Stoneforge was pretty big at the time. Like, I went up against some caw blade WU deck the night before they were banned. Let me tell you, if you didn't stop them right as their pieces hit the board (all of them, every single one of them) you got screwed quickly. Jace? Yeah, once he got involved, you weren't drawing good cards anymore. Honestly, it was shocking that they standard band Jace and Stoneforge at the time. Which is hard to remember if you weren't there, as at the time, it was like admitting a huge failure from WotC. Now it's all, "Whoops, banned lol"

Control never ever played atherling I think he means morphling, atherling came out after planeswalkers did much after it’s from dragons maze, morphling is the first from that cycle from urzas saga and was considered the best control win condition for awhile I use to play a UB control/reanimator list for a longtime my first versions best reanimator target was verdant force just a 7/7 that made 1/1 tokens on each upkeep hey that was good back in 2002 especially with recurring nightmare sac s token get back morphling or another force, also had Akroma angel of wrath too she was great she replaced force pretty quickly but that’s when creature power creep really started, once the original ravnica block came out UB reanimator become really good with tidespout tyrant ,blazing archon, and simic sky swallower you had 3 targets all big no downsides and all did great things vs different decks you could go with tyrant and bounce their board with cheap spells, drop archon against aggro decks and swallower was hard to block with flying and trample plus it had shroud so you can’t remove it, that was one of my favorite decks that one and my version with Iona by that time morphling was king gone

I was shocked not to see the companion mechanic in the top three, if not number one. Literally changed how people built decks just to meet the requirements and is the only mechanic in history to be completely changed because it was too good. Another one that I feel disserved a spot was cascade since it also spawned an entire high tier archetype and has lead to rules changes to nerf how powerful it is.

The fetchlands become good not because of the shock lands..it's because of the original dual lands. So the fetchlands were considered very good EVEN BEFORE the printing of the shocklands

I thought rampant growth would be number 1 haha, isnt that where the term “Ramp” comes from?

Fyi Nicol bolas doesn't have to deal combat damage. It's deals damage. If you enchant him with a tap deal 1damage to any target you can make a player discard their hand

10:00 I feel attacked as I keep trying to make mill work in every set. 🤣

I was expecting to see storm spells here.