I'm glad this video seems to be doing pretty well! Thanks for enjoying it! Lots of people are asking if I'll do the opposite of this video - Top 10 BAD Cards in GOOD Cycles. I have good news for you -- that's going to be next Monday's video! The research and script were already done the day this went up.
do you have one about cycles where one card is leagues better then the rest ? The alpha boons come to mind where one card is a P9 card and white got shafted as is tradition. I mean I guess it will be in the bad cards in good cycles.
I'm still laughing. I was so ready to hear lightning bolt,it totally got me by surprise. And with a dead pan delivery, worthy of Leslie Nielsen to boot!
Poor Healing Salve, I actually feel sorry for the card. Even Giant Growth is a dependable worker. Healing Salve is like the cousin that never gets invited to family get togethers.
The best joke was Wizarfs development trying to backpedal and say "They intended for Ancestral Recall to be a rare and the rest of the cycle commons" and them also saying "We knew we were printing a broken card, but expected players to self police. Broken cards make the game exciting."
@@superbaas8822 Well it is true that they had no idea Magic would become as big as it did. They figured a few people would buy some cards and so the super rare busted ones would be just that. Also, they didn't anticipate the cards become so valuable that playing for Ante (which was intended as a way to keep cards circulating so nobody could hog the rares forever) would be equated with gambling. Some of the games they were emulating during design, like Cosmic Encounter, deliberately have broken combos because finding them was fun- and most people who played and saw that sort of thing were quick to be like "ok, let's not do that again".
I believe those 5 cards were: Blue: Force of Will Red: Pyrokinesis Black: Contagion Green: Bounty of the Hunt White: Scars of the Veteran And you're right! IMO only Scars of the Veteran was the one that can be considered terrible even for its time. I saw several decks back then running both Contagion and Pyrokinesis, and Bounty of the Hunt actually had SOME shining moments (it's either a big boost for 1 creature, or can go wide to support up to 3 creatures) albeit more in the casual scene. White got the short end of the stick again XD
@@bluedestiny2710 Bounty of the Hunt slotted into vintage 10-land Stompy, so yeah, while not a top contender or anything it had its own little corner of that old metagame :)
@@eliaswolter2955 Or do it separately because yeah, Fetches, duals and shocklands will probably be top 3 in that order by far. (not counting basics, which technically like he said, are a cycle, xD).
Ah, yes. Avatar of Woe. I once owned one. Traded it with a friend for an Avatar of Might because I used to strictly play Mono Green. I lost so many games against his Mono Black deck...
I will say, I prefer this name to the original "Unbalanced Cycles" posted on the Discord. Took me a moment to comprehend that the Artifact lands wouldn't be on here. Or maybe I just can't read. In my opinion, the sole determining factor of whether or not a card is good, especially if it's in a cycle, is if it makes it onto "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)" so therefore all of these cards are actually bad. This is my objective and correct system, and I accept no criticism.
Back in the middle ages (Alliances), I also remember a cycle of paired color hosers... or "double hosers"... the 5 cards in this set are: Royal Decree (W) Tidal Control (U) Dystopia (B) Omen of Fire (R) Nature's Wrath (G) Each card has something to do with punishing players using their enemy color (i.e Dystopia forces a player to sacrifice a green or white permanent during their turn), and I know Dystopia was the only one that EVER saw play in that set. The rest were just way too expensive (i.e Omen of fire cost RR3 to bounce all islands and force players to sac a plains or white permanent for each white permanent they control, or Nature's Wrath which costs a whopping GG4), difficult to maintain (i.e Royal Decree, Tidal Control and even Dystopia have Cumulative Upkeeps, although Decree has a CU of W while Tidal Control has a CU of 2 mana) or flat out useless if you've fallen behind (Nature's Wrath forces players to sacrifice an island or blue permanent whenever they play a new one, the same applies with black permanents and swamps) Im not sure if Dystopia can be considered "good"... tho, but I HAVE seen it get a LOT of play during the Necropotence era
Pro Tours were full of weird formats back then, and Grands Prix were rare. The result is that Dystopia has zero points. But you are right, it was played back in the 90s.
Dystopia was played mainly because black had no other way to answer enchantments, and also worked to get rid of protection creatures that were often its bane. It really isn't that good in a vacuum - it was played mainly because of the metagame that featured some green and white hate cards that black had no other way of dealing with. Like, when you compare it to Anarchy, which was mostly played because it also deals with White enchantments, it's pretty slow.
The reason Healing Salve doesn't make the Power 9 is because it's such a blatantly overpowered card that it makes the rest of the Power 9 look awful in comparison, putting it in the Power 9 as a Power 10 would only diminish Healing Salve's glory. That's why no one plays it, because it's such an easy win that even the most tryhard of tryhards recognise that it's such a free win that all the fun of Magic would be sapped out if people actually played Healing Salve.
I like how each color in the cost for the atog cycle corresponds to one each of the 5 pump abilities white - sac an enchantment blue - discard a card black - exile 2 cards from your gy red - sac an artifact green - sac a land
Or Mongrel turn 2, block a 2/2, discard Basking Rootwalla to pump Mongrel, Pay Baskings Madness cost which is ZERO, keep your Mongrel and get a Roowalla.
BIG UPS to Odyssey, that's when I picked up playing MTG, in 6th grade! Hells to the yeah, Odyssey block was FULL of cycles, it was awesome! And yes, I would say, without counting, it probably had more "cycles" than your average set.
Looking at that eventide common untap cycle I cant help but think of nettle drone which (a) untaps when you play a colorless spell and (b) has nettle in its name like nettle sentinel
I could swear there was a high tier deck during Masques/Invasion standard that used Avatar of Fury in a U/R control deck. Wanna say it was called Chicken Run? But I can’t find any details on it.
We've actually had a Commander game get hilarious when the Enchantment player cast Enduring Ideals... with a Hive Mind in play. Suddenly EVERYONE went Epic that game XD Got funnier when the Enchantment player's wincon ended up being drawn into hand for turn afterwards XD
Its always weird to me that trample is called an evasive keyword. I know why it is like that, like flying or unblockable it helps you "evade" the opponents blockers and deal direct damage to them. But its still amusing that huge dumb dinosaur charging at you and over you is "evading".
I wonder if some of the top cards in the cycles get played more in EDH because they're famous cards, whereas the other cards in the cycle are just treated as bulk filler and rarely even looked at or thought about by EDH players.
And do remember - my boy Mongrel was able to get black for all those 'non-black creature' removals back in the days. Cought offguard soooo many people trying to cast all that doomblades on my doggo...
Also Rancor became the best Aura to ever exist by accident, so the story goes. It WAS scheduled/planned to cost either 1 or 2 colorless and a green, putting it in line with the other cards in the cycle. But somehow the original 1 green cost is what got sent to the printer and well Rancor then becomes the best Aura ever printed in magic.
You forgot about how islands are better than any of the others in the lands cycle. 60 island land deck could make opponents concede upon seeing that you were playing blue
Very minor nitpick, but does Number 6 really count as a cycle? Cathartic Adept is Grixis aligned instead of Esper aligned. Every other card is associated with the central color in their shard.
man, I really wish Slave of Bolas was actually costed more agressively to be competitive with other Threaten effects, because the one deck that could wanted (Obeka, Brute Chronologist) is probably better off running mind control for the sort of hoop you'd have to jump through to steal your opponent's creature and then end the turn with the sacrifice trigger on the stack.
I don't think you can really cost Slave of Bolas any less. It's a creature destruction spell (that gets around indestructible and regeneration) that also tacks on Threaten. How can that possibly cost less than 5 mana, when creature kill spells generally cost 2 minimum and Threatens 3? You really want to give it a discount for "Maybe I only want half of this effect" with these two effects? While Threaten I'll grant is somewhat situational, killing creatures really isn't.
I'm proud to say I knew all but rancor were part of cycles. And suprsingly I've played quite a few cards of the cycles in edh. Don't sleep on stealth suit. Keep 2 blue mana up in something rafiq and people have no idea what to do. Do you try remove it? But then they could protect. What about a board whipe? Could be a counter.
To qualify for the list, a card had to have some success at Magic's highest level of competition. If I did a video on EDH alone, you're right, it would be here.
@@NizzahonMagic Do you have any evidence of this? MTG Wiki calling it a cycle is not real evidence. That there happens to be a 1/1 for 1 in each color isn't much evidence either, and they mechanically don't have anything in common. At least the Hound cycle was all Hounds, and that particular one is a bit loose otherwise.
I can't find a direct quote anywhere about the card being designed as a cycle, though it is mentioned as a cycle many more places than just MTGWiki (Scryfall and MythicSpoiler for example). There is some circumstantial evidence though. It is quite literally the only set that has 5 one mana 1/1s at Common in five different colors. So, while that might seem like it isn't enough to tie them together, it is more unusual than it seems. I may try to reach out to someone at WotC to confirm this one. It looks like that's what will be necessary to confirm it for sure. The Hound cycle is 100% a cycle, it isn't even that loose between the mana cost, creature type, and Power/Toughness. You have an argument in saying that the Nacatl cycle isn't especially cohesive, but the Hound cycle absolutely is. Otherwise your definition of cycle is crazy. This one is also backed up by Wizards in this 2002 article: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/sets-five-2002-12-25-0
@@NizzahonMagic I'm not saying the Hound cycle isn't a cycle, and hasn't been conclusively said to be one, but it's a far looser cycle than something like the Psychatog cycle which is quite blatant. I'd say that if they weren't all given the creature type Hound, they would fall into the same category as the 1/1s in Alara. And as for those, I'm not saying you're wrong, I just want more evidence than the fact that some 3rd party websites that compile cycles say it's a cycle. The fact that the Hounds are connected by creature type shows the common stat line was intended as a cycle. There is literally no connection between the 5 hounds as a whole other than stat line and creature type, just as there is no connection between the Alara 1/1s besides the stat line. I played a lot of Alara block limited and not for once ever even considered that Wild Nacatl was part of a cycle, in the same way that I knew Rancor was from playing a lot of Urza's Limited. The connection between the cards is just incredibly loose.
If we did the opposite, with bad cards in good cycles, I bet Shivan Gorge tops the list. What happened? Also, pretty sure I'm playing at least one card from each of the bad parts of these cycles in one of my edh decks.
Bad cards in good cycles will show up on that list, but Shivan Gorge won't be showing up. It is definitely worse than the other cards in the cycle, but is a pretty decent utility land that has been played over the years.
No, Arsenal Thresher is part of a cycle of gold Hybrid Commons (Crystallization, Sewn-Eye Drake, Sangrite Backlash, Trace of Abundance.). Thopter Foundry IS part of a cycle of gold hybrid Uncommons, like I said in the video.
@@NizzahonMagic well, yeah I know the power 9 + healing salve would dominate a legit top 10. But it wouldn't be the first time you've clustered things together on a list to make it more interesting. I may be wrong.
I don't just mean that. I mean the degree to which it is better than the other cards in the cycle is the greatest. Every card on this list is the best card in its cycle. That's why I chose to go with "most better."
I get there’s 2 really good cards and 3 meh ones so it’s not eligible but I’m still baffled by the Gap between eldraines embercleave/Henge and the rest of its legendary artifact cycle You have Circle of loyalty demanding very specific conditions (knights) but its rewards are laughably mediocre even if you commit to the build around compared to the Red/green ones giving WAAAAAAAAY more value, don’t require build arounds,, and the costs are what’s laughably easy. And then the blue/black just exist, neither being that good but not that offensively tasking and even niche enough for certain commander decks. Eldraine is the poster child of the F.I.R.E ridden hellscape that we live in today’s, but someone didn’t pass the memo to cards like circle of loyalty. That card got to live in older magic days
All Circle of Loyalty needed was for it's discount to care about Legendary Creatures, it already cares about them with one of it's Knight token generating triggers, it's so sad it could have been a cute card for Legendary Matters EDH decks like GW Sisay or Kethis.
Goblin Mountaineer is lazy card design. My alternative. Goblin Mountaineer 1/1 R Goblin When Goblin Mountaineer enters play, you may search your library for a basic Mountain, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. Goblin Mountaineer deals 1 damage to you Filthy Cur is also lazy design. My alternative Filthy Cur 2/2 1B Hound When Filthy Cur dies, it deals 2 damage to any target of your choice, then 2 damage to any target of each opponent's choice.
Sorry but some of the cycles you've mentioned can barely be called cycles... 1 cost 1/1s is a stretch and 2 cost enchantments doesn't really makes a cycle in 90+% of cases there's some sort of naming convention to "bind" the cycle (e.g: swords, titans, oaths, wishes, atogs, and so goes on)
@@ShirBrass The Rancor cycle is very obviously a cycle since there's an ability in common on all of the cards. The 1 mana 1/1s I agree with you as being a stretch, and I can't find anything official that calls them a cycle.
I never understood why Psychatog is considered a good card. Sure, you can make it a 20/21 by removing 38 cards from your graveyard. But who has 38 cards in their graveyard? Even control decks will usually have better ways of finishing the opponent.
I see you didn't have the joy of playing against Psychatog. It was legit at the time, trust me. I did a whole video on the history of the deck if you're curious.
@@Methylimidazol Blue decks play a lot of cantrips, which put cards in your graveyard at no cost of cards. There also was Upheaval, which forced you bin a lot of cards that normally would be in play late game.
Premodern threats are extremely weak. Treetops village is a legitimate threat because it was bigger then most defenders, for instance. By those standards Psychatog was a wrecking machine.
You could discard 2 cards to get +2/+2 then remove those same two cards from the graveyard to get another +1/+1, just by default. Not counting if you built your deck around discarding or filling your graveyard. And around the time madness and threshold were in standard
I'm glad this video seems to be doing pretty well! Thanks for enjoying it!
Lots of people are asking if I'll do the opposite of this video - Top 10 BAD Cards in GOOD Cycles. I have good news for you -- that's going to be next Monday's video! The research and script were already done the day this went up.
Can't wait :)
do you have one about cycles where one card is leagues better then the rest ? The alpha boons come to mind where one card is a P9 card and white got shafted as is tradition. I mean I guess it will be in the bad cards in good cycles.
Good cycle: praetors, bad card: the red one nobody ever remembers
"And of course, Healing Salve". Probably the best Magic joke I've ever heard
I'm still laughing. I was so ready to hear lightning bolt,it totally got me by surprise.
And with a dead pan delivery, worthy of Leslie Nielsen to boot!
😆
Poor Healing Salve, I actually feel sorry for the card. Even Giant Growth is a dependable worker. Healing Salve is like the cousin that never gets invited to family get togethers.
The best joke was Wizarfs development trying to backpedal and say "They intended for Ancestral Recall to be a rare and the rest of the cycle commons" and them also saying "We knew we were printing a broken card, but expected players to self police. Broken cards make the game exciting."
@@superbaas8822 Well it is true that they had no idea Magic would become as big as it did. They figured a few people would buy some cards and so the super rare busted ones would be just that. Also, they didn't anticipate the cards become so valuable that playing for Ante (which was intended as a way to keep cards circulating so nobody could hog the rares forever) would be equated with gambling. Some of the games they were emulating during design, like Cosmic Encounter, deliberately have broken combos because finding them was fun- and most people who played and saw that sort of thing were quick to be like "ok, let's not do that again".
For anyone wondering where Force of Will is, Pyrokinesis and Contagion are both good cards from that cycle.
There in my Force of Will Binder.
I absolutely love pyrokinesis🔥
I believe those 5 cards were:
Blue: Force of Will
Red: Pyrokinesis
Black: Contagion
Green: Bounty of the Hunt
White: Scars of the Veteran
And you're right! IMO only Scars of the Veteran was the one that can be considered terrible even for its time. I saw several decks back then running both Contagion and Pyrokinesis, and Bounty of the Hunt actually had SOME shining moments (it's either a big boost for 1 creature, or can go wide to support up to 3 creatures) albeit more in the casual scene. White got the short end of the stick again XD
Force of Will also sees a lot of EDH play, which is also why it isn’t on here.
@@bluedestiny2710 Bounty of the Hunt slotted into vintage 10-land Stompy, so yeah, while not a top contender or anything it had its own little corner of that old metagame :)
Why not 10 best cycles? The cycles that have collectively given the most points. I'd expect to see the Titan cycle on there.
Grave titan would like a word with you
The alpha 1 mana 3 effect cycle wins at a shock to no one.
Probably Fetch lands… maybe even need to exclude land cycles.
@@eliaswolter2955 Or do it separately because yeah, Fetches, duals and shocklands will probably be top 3 in that order by far. (not counting basics, which technically like he said, are a cycle, xD).
@@stigmaoftherose or a shock to everyone from now on, now that lightning bolt is gone :( lol
Ah, yes. Avatar of Woe. I once owned one. Traded it with a friend for an Avatar of Might because I used to strictly play Mono Green. I lost so many games against his Mono Black deck...
I will say, I prefer this name to the original "Unbalanced Cycles" posted on the Discord. Took me a moment to comprehend that the Artifact lands wouldn't be on here. Or maybe I just can't read. In my opinion, the sole determining factor of whether or not a card is good, especially if it's in a cycle, is if it makes it onto "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)" so therefore all of these cards are actually bad. This is my objective and correct system, and I accept no criticism.
So is that to say that the power nine aren’t good cards because they can’t possibly make it on to the “Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power Nine)” list?
it's almost insulting that other dogs in that cycle had downsides while wild mongrel has 2 abilities
The fact that you said healing salve so casually and in stride would make any new/non-magic player believe that haha
I never realized a lot of these cards were part of cycles
Ah, poor Healing Salve 😂
Best thing during the Lunchroom brawls at school. I was surprised how much that 3 life save yourself or creature.
#1 worst card in a good cycle: Healing Salve.
Wild Mongrel - Wonder deck was my first good deck as a beginner at the time of odyssey block
Back in the middle ages (Alliances), I also remember a cycle of paired color hosers... or "double hosers"... the 5 cards in this set are:
Royal Decree (W)
Tidal Control (U)
Dystopia (B)
Omen of Fire (R)
Nature's Wrath (G)
Each card has something to do with punishing players using their enemy color (i.e Dystopia forces a player to sacrifice a green or white permanent during their turn), and I know Dystopia was the only one that EVER saw play in that set. The rest were just way too expensive (i.e Omen of fire cost RR3 to bounce all islands and force players to sac a plains or white permanent for each white permanent they control, or Nature's Wrath which costs a whopping GG4), difficult to maintain (i.e Royal Decree, Tidal Control and even Dystopia have Cumulative Upkeeps, although Decree has a CU of W while Tidal Control has a CU of 2 mana) or flat out useless if you've fallen behind (Nature's Wrath forces players to sacrifice an island or blue permanent whenever they play a new one, the same applies with black permanents and swamps)
Im not sure if Dystopia can be considered "good"... tho, but I HAVE seen it get a LOT of play during the Necropotence era
Pro Tours were full of weird formats back then, and Grands Prix were rare. The result is that Dystopia has zero points. But you are right, it was played back in the 90s.
Dystopia was played mainly because black had no other way to answer enchantments, and also worked to get rid of protection creatures that were often its bane. It really isn't that good in a vacuum - it was played mainly because of the metagame that featured some green and white hate cards that black had no other way of dealing with. Like, when you compare it to Anarchy, which was mostly played because it also deals with White enchantments, it's pretty slow.
A cool detail about the Odyssey Atogs is that the abilities loop around. Psychatog shares its abilities with its WU and BR neighbors.
With Dune coming out, perhaps we could see a video related to thopters?
I like this idea. Not sure if there are enough of them for a top 10
I've actually already done it!
Ah yes the power 10
-Black Lotus
-The 5 Moxes
-Ancestral Recall
-Timetwister
-Time Walk
-Healing Salve
The reason Healing Salve doesn't make the Power 9 is because it's such a blatantly overpowered card that it makes the rest of the Power 9 look awful in comparison, putting it in the Power 9 as a Power 10 would only diminish Healing Salve's glory. That's why no one plays it, because it's such an easy win that even the most tryhard of tryhards recognise that it's such a free win that all the fun of Magic would be sapped out if people actually played Healing Salve.
@@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor couldn’t have said it better myself
I run four Healing Salves in my mono black deck. It's that good.
Bolt
@@swy334 Healing Salve nullifies it
I like how each color in the cost for the atog cycle corresponds to one each of the 5 pump abilities
white - sac an enchantment
blue - discard a card
black - exile 2 cards from your gy
red - sac an artifact
green - sac a land
I remember running ug madness decks. Play a mongrel, holding another one. Yes spend that removal spell opp yess
Oh yes.... And the moment you drop the flying worms, so good.
Its so weird that the change color part has so important at the time duo to allowing it to escape black removal by becoming black
Or Mongrel turn 2, block a 2/2, discard Basking Rootwalla to pump Mongrel, Pay Baskings Madness cost which is ZERO, keep your Mongrel and get a Roowalla.
I'm glad to see an appearance of Wuv Muffin in one of these videos :)
7:25 Oath of lieges looks interesting!
Rancor also gets bonus points from its all time great flavor text.
A very interesting list
Thanks!
What an awesome video! I love all of the research that went into this.
I'd love to see the opposite of this. "Bad cards in GOOD Cycles"
Example: Inspired Ultimatum
It will happen next week.
Inspired Ultimatum won't make it though.
@@NizzahonMagic dope
@@MrDamojak I would guess healing salve is number one on that list
In case you still had doubts about Green being very powerful.
true story: a foil avatar of will is the only magic card i still own
back in the day I used to play oath of scholars in conjunction with wild mongrel. It wasn't crazy, but it was nice value
I would have thought Rhystic Study would be on this list.
i dont think it has any top 8s. jade leech would probably sooner be on this list!
rhystic study has only been played in commander as far as I know
To be on the list, a card needed to be successful outside of EDH too.
BIG UPS to Odyssey, that's when I picked up playing MTG, in 6th grade! Hells to the yeah, Odyssey block was FULL of cycles, it was awesome! And yes, I would say, without counting, it probably had more "cycles" than your average set.
Looking at that eventide common untap cycle I cant help but think of nettle drone which (a) untaps when you play a colorless spell and (b) has nettle in its name like nettle sentinel
I could swear there was a high tier deck during Masques/Invasion standard that used Avatar of Fury in a U/R control deck. Wanna say it was called Chicken Run? But I can’t find any details on it.
We've actually had a Commander game get hilarious when the Enchantment player cast Enduring Ideals... with a Hive Mind in play.
Suddenly EVERYONE went Epic that game XD Got funnier when the Enchantment player's wincon ended up being drawn into hand for turn afterwards XD
I remember playing Eternal Domination in MTGO way back in the day!
Can't wait for the mirrored Pair list or the vertical cycle
and enduring ideal iv pretty good on decks with a lot of enchantment creatures
Slave of Bolas wasn't extensively played, but it was a good sideboard card for Jund against the Green Eldrazi deck in standard.
I always thought Brilliant Halo was part of the Rancor cycle (but apparently they aren't even in the Urza's set).
Its always weird to me that trample is called an evasive keyword. I know why it is like that, like flying or unblockable it helps you "evade" the opponents blockers and deal direct damage to them. But its still amusing that huge dumb dinosaur charging at you and over you is "evading".
In Magic, "Evasion" just means that it is harder than normal to stop its damage.
@@NizzahonMagic I know, i just think its thematically funny with trample.
Love the Halloween birds!
Thanks!
10:32 I did it guys, I found a dog with a huge upside, the mythical up-dog!
I wonder if some of the top cards in the cycles get played more in EDH because they're famous cards, whereas the other cards in the cycle are just treated as bulk filler and rarely even looked at or thought about by EDH players.
And do remember - my boy Mongrel was able to get black for all those 'non-black creature' removals back in the days. Cought offguard soooo many people trying to cast all that doomblades on my doggo...
I wonder do you also looked at multi sets cycles like the swords or flavor cycle like Liliana's demons?
Psychatog was the first one that came to mind for me
Surprised to not see the rhystic cycle get pooped on. Although if I recall even study wasn't used much in 1v1 play so I guess it makes sense.
My favorite good card from a bad cycle the Island, a card from a rather obscure cycle that I'd forgive you for not having heard of.
Really like the scoring system :)
Avatar of fury and might are good in commander, especially with how fast people ramp
Eternal Dominion is one of my all time favorite cards! It's such a cool spell! :D I can say from experience it sucks in EDH but man I love it anyways!
Also Rancor became the best Aura to ever exist by accident, so the story goes. It WAS scheduled/planned to cost either 1 or 2 colorless and a green, putting it in line with the other cards in the cycle. But somehow the original 1 green cost is what got sent to the printer and well Rancor then becomes the best Aura ever printed in magic.
Indeed. I've discussed that in many a video. Kind of interesting I didn't in this one.
I was watching this with a blue-block screen overlay, and for a second it looked like you weren't wearing a shirt. Haha
You forgot about how islands are better than any of the others in the lands cycle. 60 island land deck could make opponents concede upon seeing that you were playing blue
Karakas is a fun one. Pendlehaven might be too good for it to make the list though.
what about the Spike creatures
What about them?
can we get a top 5 basic lands video for april 1st?
Very minor nitpick, but does Number 6 really count as a cycle? Cathartic Adept is Grixis aligned instead of Esper aligned. Every other card is associated with the central color in their shard.
Both Deathgreeter and the goblin are flavoured as creatures from Jund.
Wizards designed it as a cycle, so yes.
man, I really wish Slave of Bolas was actually costed more agressively to be competitive with other Threaten effects, because the one deck that could wanted (Obeka, Brute Chronologist) is probably better off running mind control for the sort of hoop you'd have to jump through to steal your opponent's creature and then end the turn with the sacrifice trigger on the stack.
I don't think you can really cost Slave of Bolas any less. It's a creature destruction spell (that gets around indestructible and regeneration) that also tacks on Threaten. How can that possibly cost less than 5 mana, when creature kill spells generally cost 2 minimum and Threatens 3? You really want to give it a discount for "Maybe I only want half of this effect" with these two effects? While Threaten I'll grant is somewhat situational, killing creatures really isn't.
Naive question, where is the "
I've seen many commander decks that build around the Epic cycle. They usually use the white and blue but they're pretty "Epic" decks lol
Hey I'm Nizzahon, and here's me bloody face!
Before the video starts, Ristyc study (or however you spell it) Will be on here
Nope! No competitive top 8s. If this video was on EDH alone, yeah, it would be here, but the requirements included also having success outside of EDH.
I'm proud to say I knew all but rancor were part of cycles. And suprsingly I've played quite a few cards of the cycles in edh.
Don't sleep on stealth suit. Keep 2 blue mana up in something rafiq and people have no idea what to do. Do you try remove it? But then they could protect. What about a board whipe? Could be a counter.
Rafiq of the Many?
@@Ceracio dats the boi
Yes yes of course Healing Sa- WAIT A SECOND
#1 also legendary for its flavor text.
I was almost sure Rhystic study would be on this list
It's just a great Commander card; it never did anything at a remotely professional level.
To qualify for the list, a card had to have some success at Magic's highest level of competition. If I did a video on EDH alone, you're right, it would be here.
Black Lotus should also be considered the artifact component of the Alpha Boon Cycle
Compared to dark ritual though
Rhystic Study?
Edit:
Ahhhh Rancor
Cards had to be successful outside of EDH to be on this list.
@@NizzahonMagic Fair fair.
Huh, I was expecting to see the green lich in this list
#6 - Huh. I thought Goblin Mountaineer was specifically part of a common reprint cycle.
nope, the OG was mountain goat
@@javiertalay First printed in Portal Second Age, and recently reprinted in 9th. Nope.
The wild nacatl "cycle" seems pretty loosely connected. Did someone confirm it was a cycle?
Yes, Wizards designed them as a cycle.
@@NizzahonMagic Do you have any evidence of this? MTG Wiki calling it a cycle is not real evidence. That there happens to be a 1/1 for 1 in each color isn't much evidence either, and they mechanically don't have anything in common. At least the Hound cycle was all Hounds, and that particular one is a bit loose otherwise.
I can't find a direct quote anywhere about the card being designed as a cycle, though it is mentioned as a cycle many more places than just MTGWiki (Scryfall and MythicSpoiler for example).
There is some circumstantial evidence though. It is quite literally the only set that has 5 one mana 1/1s at Common in five different colors. So, while that might seem like it isn't enough to tie them together, it is more unusual than it seems. I may try to reach out to someone at WotC to confirm this one. It looks like that's what will be necessary to confirm it for sure.
The Hound cycle is 100% a cycle, it isn't even that loose between the mana cost, creature type, and Power/Toughness. You have an argument in saying that the Nacatl cycle isn't especially cohesive, but the Hound cycle absolutely is. Otherwise your definition of cycle is crazy. This one is also backed up by Wizards in this 2002 article: magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/sets-five-2002-12-25-0
@@NizzahonMagic I'm not saying the Hound cycle isn't a cycle, and hasn't been conclusively said to be one, but it's a far looser cycle than something like the Psychatog cycle which is quite blatant. I'd say that if they weren't all given the creature type Hound, they would fall into the same category as the 1/1s in Alara. And as for those, I'm not saying you're wrong, I just want more evidence than the fact that some 3rd party websites that compile cycles say it's a cycle.
The fact that the Hounds are connected by creature type shows the common stat line was intended as a cycle. There is literally no connection between the 5 hounds as a whole other than stat line and creature type, just as there is no connection between the Alara 1/1s besides the stat line. I played a lot of Alara block limited and not for once ever even considered that Wild Nacatl was part of a cycle, in the same way that I knew Rancor was from playing a lot of Urza's Limited. The connection between the cards is just incredibly loose.
I know slow motion kinda sucks but i love it
Honourable mention Shivan Gorge.
Shivan Gorge is in a really good cycle.
@@NizzahonMagic It was an ironic joke. Ofc the cycle is busted :)
Rancor is from Urza's Legacy, not Urza's Destiny, Legacy is the hammer Destiny is the beaker
Grind the Saga Gears.
how about a 2-card combo top 10 video?
I have always kind of dug avatar of woe. not the best card for it's "niche", but has some great art and flavor... lol
I love Oath of Lieges; it's useful as a political/group-hug tool, and ensures the Green player doesn't run away with the game too easily
I like this video a lot
Thanks!
Will you ever make "top 10 cycles?
Probably.
No Rhystic Study? I'm a little surprised. I'm sure if more weight on scoring was placed on EDH, it likely would have cracked top 10
If I was looking at just EDH, you would be right. But it had no success at premiere events at all.
I have Eternal D in my Ocean deck. I just use it against amateur players for fun.
i f with nizzahon and post malone
Can you do the opposite bad cycle of cards in good sets I'm pretty sure they are at least 10 lol
If we did the opposite, with bad cards in good cycles, I bet Shivan Gorge tops the list. What happened?
Also, pretty sure I'm playing at least one card from each of the bad parts of these cycles in one of my edh decks.
Bad cards in good cycles will show up on that list, but Shivan Gorge won't be showing up. It is definitely worse than the other cards in the cycle, but is a pretty decent utility land that has been played over the years.
@@NizzahonMagic Admittedly, it would look like a perfectly serviceable card if it wasn't compared to it's peers.
Boon cycle, best cards in game, quotes "Ancestral, Dark Rit, and of course, Healing Salve" wtf dude, Bolt was right there and you robbed it 😂
Nice try, but we all know people play Lightning Helix for the salve half of the effect.
Need a “Worst Card in a great cycle” top 10
See pinned comment.
Number 9 is supposed to be arsenal thresher. Thopter foundry wasn't apart of that cycle.
No, Arsenal Thresher is part of a cycle of gold Hybrid Commons (Crystallization, Sewn-Eye Drake, Sangrite Backlash, Trace of Abundance.). Thopter Foundry IS part of a cycle of gold hybrid Uncommons, like I said in the video.
I'm genuinely interested in a "Top 10 Cards from Alpha"
I know you did Alpha creatures
It would just be the Power 9.
@@NizzahonMagic well, yeah I know the power 9 + healing salve would dominate a legit top 10. But it wouldn't be the first time you've clustered things together on a list to make it more interesting. I may be wrong.
it must have taken you a while to find all the shitty cycles and pick out the good cards. good job!
Bro I thought you where shirtless at first lol
Cool carrot-coloured t-shirt
12:25 “most better….” ???? You mean best card of the cycle?
I don't just mean that. I mean the degree to which it is better than the other cards in the cycle is the greatest. Every card on this list is the best card in its cycle. That's why I chose to go with "most better."
Blue artifact land in that cycle
hatred outlives the hateful babeeee
You were right: I didn't realize Cranial Plating was part of a cycle. Or Psychatog, for that matter.
WILD MONGRELS MUH BOI!
BLUE GREEN MADNESS !!!! 4EVA
So 50% of the broken cards in the cycles are all Green. Good to know, thanks for the consistent balancing of Green all these years Wizards 😆🤣
Yeah, noticed that too.
Some say blue have the best cards, but it's not that clear when you look at cycles.
@@quint3ssent1a Ancestral Recall! Need I say more.
@@quint3ssent1a cycles are only a part of magic, the majority of cards aren't even part of cycles
I get there’s 2 really good cards and 3 meh ones so it’s not eligible but I’m still baffled by the Gap between eldraines embercleave/Henge and the rest of its legendary artifact cycle
You have Circle of loyalty demanding very specific conditions (knights) but its rewards are laughably mediocre even if you commit to the build around compared to the Red/green ones giving WAAAAAAAAY more value, don’t require build arounds,, and the costs are what’s laughably easy. And then the blue/black just exist, neither being that good but not that offensively tasking and even niche enough for certain commander decks.
Eldraine is the poster child of the F.I.R.E ridden hellscape that we live in today’s, but someone didn’t pass the memo to cards like circle of loyalty. That card got to live in older magic days
All Circle of Loyalty needed was for it's discount to care about Legendary Creatures, it already cares about them with one of it's Knight token generating triggers, it's so sad it could have been a cute card for Legendary Matters EDH decks like GW Sisay or Kethis.
Yeah, it was one I considered including, but The Great Henge saw way too much play.
Goblin Mountaineer is lazy card design. My alternative.
Goblin Mountaineer
1/1 R Goblin
When Goblin Mountaineer enters play, you may search your library for a basic Mountain, reveal it, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. Goblin Mountaineer deals 1 damage to you
Filthy Cur is also lazy design. My alternative
Filthy Cur
2/2 1B Hound
When Filthy Cur dies, it deals 2 damage to any target of your choice, then 2 damage to any target of each opponent's choice.
Sorry but some of the cycles you've mentioned can barely be called cycles...
1 cost 1/1s is a stretch and 2 cost enchantments doesn't really makes a cycle
in 90+% of cases there's some sort of naming convention to "bind" the cycle (e.g: swords, titans, oaths, wishes, atogs, and so goes on)
These are cycles according to Wizards. Sounds legit to me.
Also, what two mana enchantments are you talking about?
@@NizzahonMagic I was referring to the auras
And if wizards defines them as cycles, who am I to complain 🤷🏻
@@ShirBrass Those Auras have more in common than just being Auras.
@@ShirBrass The Rancor cycle is very obviously a cycle since there's an ability in common on all of the cards. The 1 mana 1/1s I agree with you as being a stretch, and I can't find anything official that calls them a cycle.
I just miss the way they used to design cards… 😔
I never understood why Psychatog is considered a good card. Sure, you can make it a 20/21 by removing 38 cards from your graveyard. But who has 38 cards in their graveyard? Even control decks will usually have better ways of finishing the opponent.
I see you didn't have the joy of playing against Psychatog. It was legit at the time, trust me. I did a whole video on the history of the deck if you're curious.
@@NizzahonMagic I saw the video, but I've never seen the card in action.
@@Methylimidazol Blue decks play a lot of cantrips, which put cards in your graveyard at no cost of cards. There also was Upheaval, which forced you bin a lot of cards that normally would be in play late game.
Premodern threats are extremely weak. Treetops village is a legitimate threat because it was bigger then most defenders, for instance. By those standards Psychatog was a wrecking machine.
You could discard 2 cards to get +2/+2 then remove those same two cards from the graveyard to get another +1/+1, just by default. Not counting if you built your deck around discarding or filling your graveyard. And around the time madness and threshold were in standard