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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ธ.ค. 2024
- Magic Foundations? Bloomburrow? Thunder Junction? Duskmourn? Something else? This week we're going through 2024 to decide once and for all which set wins the title of "Set of the Year"!
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Mechanically - Foundations.
Aesthetically - Bloomburrow.
100%
This is the answer
I think bloomburrow will be a set that in 10 years players will look back on like players today think about innistrad!
Absolutely no way that'll happen. Just the sheer number of set releases, drowning out any current releases, makes that highly unlikely.
I already think about it in a similar vein I think of Innistrad. People love their creature type matters, myself included.
Until they Eldrazi Omenpath it down into the ground. The rule is not being allowed to have nice things and, IMO, avancy restored kinda killed innistrad to me already. I remember being invested into ISD/DKA.
Bloomburrow was the set I was most excited for (and it completely delivered), but man... I think Foundations ended up as my set of the year. Honestly, Bloomburrow into Duskmourn into Foundations was such a good 3-hit combo of sets that it's just made me very optimistic with Magic in 2025, extremely heavy release schedule be damned.
It probably doesn't hurt that most of us had really no expectations for Foundations.
I would bet that it's all downhill from here. Not trying to be pessimistic, just the announcements and spoilers leave little to be excited about a _racing_ set; and if you don't like any non-fantasy UB, most sets have nothing
@EDHRECast on the contrary, I think it goes to show how important core sets are.
Still mads how they almost nailed it with duskmourn:
• Perfect limited
• A lot of powerful and useful cards for standard and commander (dual lands, Valgavoth, the glimer and overlord cycle)
• A wonderful world building
And they had to put those 80's reference and cheerleaders out of nothing
I'm at a point where I don't expect anything because I know they will ruin it, like they did with Innistrad being ran over by Eldrazis, March of the Machines omenpaths and so on. I love Bloomburrow theme (Boros rats, tho), I hope they forget it exists because I'm afraid of what they would do if they remember it.
Duskmourn limited was amazingly deep, just a perfect limited set
I'm the weirdo who loved Murders at Karlov Manor. Definitely my favorite set of the year. I understand why so many people didn't enjoy it, but as a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, the set worked for me on multiple levels. A lot of those cards are severely underrated!
Hey, if you loved it that's all that matters. Glad it worked for you.
I had the opposite opinion for the same reason funnily enough, I love murder mysteries from Holmes to Benoit Blanc but felt the design was too surface level. Not to mention bonus points for the murder mystery set to have the worst mystery of any of the many times we've been to Ravnica.
I loved a lot of clue-cards from that set for my clue deck (it's innistrad-themed, but the clue cards worked flavourfully over the borders between those planes). And that set had probably my favourite Rakdos of all time and Aurelia as well. Even though I didn't think they made the theme justice. I can still see a lot of good comming from it.
Dude me too bought way too much of Markov Manor 😂😂😂
I also loved MKM, and have lots of cards from that set in my decks.
I was only excited for Bloomburrow (and it absolutely delivered) but I was not expecting to end up loving duskmourn too. It's an ascetic I don't particularly care for, but the card design and lore ended up grabbing me and I had a blast with it.
Yeah, card design in Duskmourn is top notch, no doubt about it.
Limited Duskmourn was extremely amazing and deep, best designed set of the year without a doubt in terms of limited by far.
Great analysis. I just got into MTG last month with DuskMourn because it peaked my interest at the store. I love scary/ horror stuff. Then foundations brought it through for me! I'm in love with this game and y'all aren't getting rid of me anytime soon! Love this group of people/ players I've met along the way. So much fun
My older daughter also loves the spoopy vibes of Duskmourn but still won't learn to play. You need to get her on board
Duskmourn nailed my niche.
Haunted me so bad I actually decided to collect the set's legends and mirror monster treatment cards. Built multiple commander decks from it too.
Foundations genuinely makes me excited about the future of magic card design there are so many simple, intuitive designs
Yeah, it's a really clean, concise set.
The thing I didn't like about Outlaws, was that it WASN'T actually western theme, it ended up just kind of generic magic, with a weak art directions. Duskmour actually had a theme you could feel, a vibe, Bloomburrow same. Outlaws didn't feel that way at all. It didn't draw from the American Frontier days, or the Western genre of movies. They barely even made pop-culture references in it to Western movies, just a bunch of "Un"-set cards like Holy Cow or Bovine intervention.
I've made the same comment Matt did later in the episode, feels like the design is slapping you in the arm saying ", but do you get it?!" - and, they arnt even references really, the entire joke is just there on the card, or super obvious in not an interesting or smart way.
No. 1 Bloomburrow, I built three commander decks. Flubs, the Fool, Maha, Its Feathers Night and Mabel, Heir to Cragflame.
No.2 Thurnder Junction I built two commander decks and modified one precon. Gisa, the Hellraiser, Marchesa, Dealer of Death and the Stella Lee, Wild Card proecon with Lilah, Undefeated Slickshot at the helm.
No 3 Duskmourn, I built two commander decks. Marina Vendrell and The Jolly Balloon Man.
So, for me, Bloomburrow is the set of the year based on how many decks I made form the sets that came out this year. And what a year it was! Foundations is good, but it hasn't been out long enough (as of this date) to give it a fair shake.
Repeated Challenge the stats, that Ghyrson challenge was in another video last year! I only remember because I promptly removed Chandra after watching your video!
OMG totally didn't get the nonbo of Chandra in my Ghyrson deck! Im changing that now!
I love the comments! No single set is unanimously the best. As much as “we” complain about Magic’s flavor or sets, it shows the wide variety does touch each person differently
These sets were so magical throughout the year. I found so much fun with friends from set to set. I really did not want to like outlaws and Duskmorn. But all of them were amazing. Maybe it is me though, maybe having the same cancer for over the last three years gives me perspective of drawing out every second I can when i am with friends.
On an other note I hear so much “old magic grandpa” on the porch shouting at the new “kids” in the neighborhood perspective. I do not mean to say your fun is wrong, but the most brilliant thing about magic when it came out in 93-94 for me was the multiverse. The fact that any conceivable variation can fit within this game. If we allow the crossovers to erode any aspect of this game for us then it ultimately is on our narrative. We control how magical this game is, not wizards. I cherish any aspect that may grab anyone’s heart, even if it did not originally grab mine.
Love and laughter in your lives my friends and cheers :)
Right there with you. I feel some of the old time players have tunnel vision and are not seeing how much Magic veering into a variety of themes or flavors actually helps bring new players in. And there’s plenty of fun to be had if you stop nitpicking every minor detail. I also feel that Magic Influencers tend to generate bandwagon attitudes in the community. If the influencers don’t like a set, a lot of their viewers will just assume those same stances without really giving themselves a chance to examine the set on their own.
I’ve enjoyed all of the sets this year for different reasons. I’ve included cards from each set in my commander decks and I read all of the stories. I feel like the designers are doing a decent job. Not always perfect, but I don’t see why it has to be. I have not enjoyed the game less because there are more hats, or more on the nose references and meme cards. If anything I find those things charming. I understand that may just be me, but I also think we need to stop being so negative about everything as a community and be more welcoming to a variety of styles and players. Why should old school magic be the only way that is acceptable?
Let the designers have their fun. In the end, everyone is complaining about product saturation, so maybe that’s the cue for players to say, “well, maybe this set isn’t for me, so I’ll just skip it and wait for the next set which is more in line with what I like”, and move on from that without so much negative online vitriol and a culture of shaming others that play and enjoy the game differently from them.
Foundations just makes me so damn happy. It was like seeing an old friend again.
Got into actually buying cards around OTJ and foundations is my favorite set of the year. And the reason for it is because it builds out my collection of generically useful cards around which to find inspiration.
That being said, I really enjoyed OTJ and bloomburrow as sets to introduce new mechanics and bring back kindred strategies. And i like Cowboys.
(Dana) I liked OTJ a lot more at least in terms of good cards until I realized a whole lot of the ones I liked came out of the Big Score bonus slot which felt off somehow?
@EDHRECast It really did, you're totally right. Nexus of Becoming, Fomori Vault to name a couple. At least for commander which is my main format. It was a very fun limited experience in particular though.
Why don't you have a segment called Danapoints?
(Dana) I petitioned to name the entire cast that back before we started.
The biggest surprise for me was Duskmourn, I really didnt expect to like so many cards from it but it ended up being my 2nd favorite set right after Foundations with Bloomborrow being the 3rd.
I love a good cross between fantasy and another genre. So my favorite sets are Thunder Junction, with Duskmourne as a close second.
I wanna go to bat for Karlov Manner just a bit. MKM is by no means my set of the year but, I do think that it's leaps and bounds better than some the sets this year like OTJ & Assassin's Creed. It's genuinely a set that continues to provide hidden gems every time I return to it. Cards like Illicit Masquerade, Case of the Stashed Skeleton, Barbed Servitor, Call a Surprise Witness, & Homicide Investigator. And those cards are just the ones the hidden gems. There are plenty of cards I absolutely adore. Aurelia the Law Above, the surveil lands, Archdruid's Charm, Vein Ripper, & Repulsive Mutation are some slam dunks that I've loved playing with. This set also had my favorite card of the year and just maybe one of my all time favorite cards; Doppelgang. I have put Doppelgang into genuinely every Blue-Green-X deck I own.
In addition to the main set I believe that Karlov Manner had the best selection of precons this year. The MKM Commander decks have been unbelievably fun to play both with and against. The 4 face commanders alongside the 4 back-up commanders are wonderful designs. I've personally added 2 of them to my own collection of decks and brewed around an additional 4 of them. The Kaust deck specifically has been a favorite. I've kept and upgraded the deck whilst also building a separate deck around the backup commander, Duskana the Rage Mother (Or as I call her, Mama Bear.) Even ignoring the commanders of MKM commander the new cards they created for these decks like Prisoners' Dilemma, Take the Bait, Hot Pursuit, Experiment Twelve, Final Word Phantasm, & Immortal Obligation, & Armed With Proof are cards I've been thinking about all year.
The set was far from perfect and definitely suffered on a flavor level but, I think the cards in the set have been so much fun and I think this set will ultimately age very well.
100% agreed. For me this is the most underrated set of the year. Not my set of the year either, but I really liked it, and honestly I enjoyed the dark gothic/noir vibes even if it clashes with traditional Ravnican aesthethics.
Card from mkm wins the pro tour. "There just weren't any cards in it"
This year has made it clear to me just how distinct is the split between players who care about the stories of MTG and the players who only care about the game. Obviously there have always been both, a game consists of many parts and draws different people in. But this year has been such a strong year for the game mechanics side of MTG with many great sets to play, and such a debacle for the story side with entire in-setting worlds reduced to costumes and the total victory of UB sets as they are legal everywhere and more common than mainstay sets. It feels very strange to realise that many of your regular players look at what feels to you like the end of an era and the loss of a major source of appeal to you and see it as all upside.
I liked Bloomburrow a lot, but it's harder to be happy about when it turns out what felt like the turning of the tide was just the last stand.
I love foundations! I’m so excited to play exemplar of light, homunculus horde, and high fae trickster. 😊
Bloomburrow was a great set, it made standard fun again but oddly I haven't found myself using it much in my EDH decks.
My rankings with abbreviated explanations:
1: Outlaws of Thunder Junction, every mechanic was fun, limited great, so many good cards for my EDH decks, Lilah plus Painter’s Servant naming green/black/white is by far the most fun spell slinging I’ve ever seen. High Noon in a set with Plot is my love language
2 & 3: Murders at Karlov Manor and Duskmourn, both I like for basically the same reasons and the same amount, fun limited and plenty of cool cards to play with and build around. Unfortunately, Firesong and Sunspeaker got outpaced by Judith for my Dragon’s Approach deck, RIP.
4: Modern Horizon’s 3, lots of powerful cards, and some very niche ones too. Don’t like how this series rotates Modern however, so on principle a little lower on my list.
5: Foundations, some good cards. Very scared that Llanowar Elves and that “if you don’t have a boardwipe I win or you skipped your turn” Koma card are being printed into Standard when there is already an established ramp deck in those colors.
6: Ravnica Remastered, I like this series but I think Ravnica is already so central to MTG that it is already constantly around. Would have rather many more blocks remastered before Ravnica. Imagine Alara Remastered. Not looking forward to Innistrad Remastered, I already got a Crimson Hunt cube and classic Innistrad cubes are abundant.
7: Bloomburrow, blandest Standard set I’ve seen in a while. Offspring was the only mildly interesting mechanic. Very little cards for me to run besides the deck I mention below. Genre-wise, I didn’t see anything unique or even Magic-esque. This could’ve been a UB set and not much changed with how generic it is to the genre. I empathize with Dana more now, I built a hipster Bat Typal deck in the summer of 2023. Then LCI came out. Now people are gonna ask why Zoraline is in my 99 and not in the zone, and now it isn’t a low power deck. Stirge is no longer a great draw is used to be.
8: Assassin’s Creed, Cover of Darkness reprint and the few good Freerunning cards is all. Shame that they had the opportunity to do a SECOND! Only the SECOND! Yore-Tiller commander but forced 5c on Ezio instead. Green didn’t need to be necessary for Assassin Typal.
9: Fallout. Being a fan of the series and seeing so many little things I’d change for flavor reasons is very frustrating. I’ll never let it be lived down that the leader of an extremely secretive grassroots spy organization is not at least part blue and Desdemona’s depiction is during the Institute assault rather than at HQ where any player would remember as her key image. Knowing that it will likely not be revisited means that this is it. If this is the indicator of more UB quality, I feel sad for those fans who are already in MTG. Also I’ve seen several brought in by Warhammer and Dr. Who leave. Exchange for long time fans for short term ones seems counterintuitive to me, using the boat itself for firewood ends in flames on the sea.
Special Mentions: Mystery Booster 2, didn’t interact with it, no strong opinions.
Oof, when Matt said "it feels like they believed in their own game again" it hit bittersweet. Hope wizards realizes the power of its own (pun not intended) foundations and taps into it again, without the need of a kitschey gimmicks for their sets like 'space race'
I was excited for and then absolutely loved Bloomburrow, Duskmourn totally surprised me with how much I loved it and it has me interested in playing standard for the first time ever (Azorious Enchantments looks awesome!) and Foundations is so sweet and I’m pretty excited to dive into it more
Duskmourn was the set of the year for me 🦋
There was a lot to like about it for sure.
It's a great set. I just wish it was less cheese and more true horror.
I'm not sure exactly what wanted from it, but a set that gives us a sequel card isn't it.
@@derekgarcia3069it was Garbo
@@LeonJohnson-yi3hgnah it wasn't, the limited was amazingly fun and deep, the art direction was great and it gave us a lot of commander staples and cards impactful in standard and some even modern playable
In my Opinion Bloomburrow is the best set of the year but Foundations is a strong second place
BB was really, really good. The back third of the year was an all-timer.
I really appreciate the answer keep up the great work 🎉❤
I havent added a single card to my decks from bloomburrow or duskmourn but foundations already has huge impact on my decks
Do you think there's a correlation between Foundations being the least bold/least experimental set of the year, and it being your favourite?
I think they all but said that, because it feels like a "return to the roots of MtG".
@@derekgarcia3069 To me, it feels like a cop out to say the set that challenged nothing and broke no new ground was the set of the year. It's like saying your favourite flavour of ice cream is vanilla or that your favourite food is chicken fingers. Sure they're good, but they're boring.
I would argue looking at a list of things that are currently popular in pop culture like corny 80's nostalgia and copying it is the opposite of bold or experimental.
@@DustRodg Subverting expectations isn't an inherent good. Experimenting is only good when it's good. When it is bad, then it's bad.
Honestly, no real low point other then I wish there was more story building behind Karlov Manner and OTJ. I just love playing this game, so I'm happy seeing new toys to use and add to my collection
I recently built a Runo Stromkirk deck and I have both Eagle Visions and Restart Sequence in there. So thank you, Dana, for letting me know about these options because without the challenge on Eagle Vision a while back, I would've never even known that card existed
Bloomburrow and Foundations are my top 2 for sure. I went to a Jumpstart event this past weekend and almost everyone I was playing against were either brand new people or people that just recently came back to Magic because of the recent sets. Bloomburrow both made decks and added so many cards to existing decks that I can’t not make it my top choice.
18:36 the AC set was amazing and full of flavor
I was late to this episode, but was literally trying to find the Challenge the Stats email yesterday to suggest Restart Sequence. I play it in Slimefoot and Squee, because nobody wants to block the ever-returning fungus goblin. It even has the handy aspect of costing up front the same amount as a Slimefoot and Squee activation, so it doesn't mess with your tempo when things are going poorly.
Great discussion about the pros and cons of every set. Agree that Foundations is a slam dunk/homerun/touch down of a set from almost every metric. MH3 had a lot fun and neat cards but held down by Nadu.
My set of the year was Outlaws of Thunder junction based upon what I personally like, it was the only set I bought a precon from and I just love the western genre, granted it may not be very "Magic" in a classic sense but it appealed to me.
That being said the set that had the most cards added to one of my commander decks was actually Murders at Karlov Manor because I built a clue based commander deck this year and of course that is the set that has so much support for that theme. It was also a set that when it came out that I wasn't interested in however as the year progressed I found more and more cards from that set that I genuinely liked. So that is my sleeper set win for the year.
I do have to give an honorable mention to Ravnica Remastered as I love retro bordered cards and the land cycle reprints it had!!! It has so much that I like for those things alone.
Last but not least Bloomburrow probably takes the cake for my pod in general and my Lady specifically she bought all of the precons from Bloomburrow and just loves the thematic elements of the release, definetly a home run.
When thinking about set of the year, I think, "if I could open a pack of any set which one would I want?". Despite the fact that I've opened more of them than any other set this year, Duskmourn and MH3 are the two sets that come to mind. That said, I did some Bloomburrow limited at PAX West and it was a blast, so I'd happily take part in that as well.
I loved everything about bloomburrow except for everything they did with the rat creature type (my favorite creature type) in the set. The limited environment also had some issues but that was still a ton of fun. Bloomburrow really had my hyped. I think Duskmourn was most surprising, but foundations or fallout I'd say were my favorite set of the year.
I did my first pre release event since Return to Ravnica to support Bloomburrow specifically, which was already my set-of-the-year at the start of the year. But when it came out, I was pleasantly satisfied with the mechanics. I hope there's more Gift cards in the future.
I really like the Gift mechanic. It feels like group hug, but more beneficial for you to do it in the first place.
Definitely Bloomburrow. It's the set that felt the most flavourfull, cohesive and the most like "Magic".
We'd argue Foundations felt the most like Magic, but Bloomburrow was a close second.
For me, the order was very obvious
7. Assassin's creed
6. Karlov manor
5. Fallout
4. Outlaws
3. Duskmourn
2. Bloomburrow
1. Foundation
You forgot MH3 and Ravnica Remastered?
Duskmorn definitely is my favorite, both the highs of its flavor, story, and awesome mechanics. I made 3 duskmorn decks (Rendmaw, Arabella, and a Jund Manifest Dredge deck), and lots of other cards got into other decks. I’d even say mechanically Thinderjunction is number 2, so many fun cards mechanically. However Foundations is also great! and a perfect entry point for new players and really adding some spice to Standard.
23:56 so this is much more relevant then just that commander as damage doublers or things that say source you control also would not trigger and it’s a mistake I was making often in mi burn decks
Pretty sure the Hokey Pokey line has previously been used, Dana
I got excited about assassin's creed and then I got sad that it was soo small overall as a set and for the first time in a long time I only bought a single booster box all year. I have bought packs but my priorities shifted to just shopping for singles.
But I just wanted to say thank all 3 of you for your kindness and time at magic con Vegas it was my first con and you guys made it memorable!
Every set is been pretty awesome this year imo. It's not the opinion I thought I would have since I'm fatigued on how much product comes out. Duskmourn/MKM really hit flavor wise for me. All the sets had a lot of cool stuff, Bloomburrow isn't really my thing aesthetically but it had cool cards and I get why it's loved.
Crazy how I view sets differently now that I play a lot more standard than I used to. Bloomburrow and thunder junction were top tier stuff for me. But murders had my favorite precon of the year with the dimir surviel precon, even if the set itself was a big miss. Lowest for me was assassin's creed (even though I loved the games). My #1 set is a straight tie between bloomburrow and foundations.
Bloomburrow is best aesthetics, Duskmourn was best limited play, Foundations wins best overall.
As for worst Karlov wins it. Thunder Junction is low but the limited environment was fun enough that it rises a little above.
Bloomburrow and Duskmourne are easy flavor wins for me and feel the most like "actual" Magic sets. I would have preferred the Duskmourne was a piece of an unexplored part of an existing plane because planes are feeling less like actual locations and more like Star Trek Planets of the week. That could just be the magic boomer in me talking though and remembering how unbelievably fleshed out the entire 1.5 planes that was Dominaria (with a little bit of a Rath overlay) before we started just jumping to new planes and getting a little bit of flavor of each.
Mechanically Foundations nailed it though. What a smart move. It was so good it almost tricked me into thinking I could play Standard again (until the 6 Standard legal sets a year becoming the norm has reminded me why I shouldn't)
I'm still learning the cards from Amonkhet so... I'll get back to you guys in a couple years or so with these ones. Seems pretty good though 👍🏼
thunder junction is my favorite of the year, but foundations is very close 😊
MKM was my favorite set of the year just bc of milestones. MKM was my first time in Ravnica as I started playing in 2021. And it was the theme Magic con Chicago, my first ever magic con. (Also the commander decks were pretty good and started the great trend of really good reprints in commander decks)
The set pieces in Chicago for the con were absolutely great, I'll give you that for sure
@ hahah I’ll take it! Foundations is amazing too. As a magic zoomer, it’s good to see the magic of yesteryear that I missed out on
Restart Sequence is pretty crazy and honestly even paying 4cmc in those lategame scenarios where your commanders no longer out really isnt that bad.
And 2cmc in early game when they killed your spooky creature such as an esper sentinel or something is cracked.
Ima def have to relook at the freerunning cards cuz dang they seem pretty reasonable to pickup
I would rank this year as:
1) Foundations
2) Thunder Junction (i didnt like the theme and thought it would be this year worse set but i was happily supprised and really like the mechaniacs)
2) MH3
4) Bloomborrow
5) Duskmourn
6) Karlov Manor
I'd been excited for Bloomburrow since it was announced, and Duskmourn wasn't really on my radar as someone with no interest in horror. In the end I liked Bloomburrow, but Duskmourn is firmly my favourite limited environment of all time and definitely my set of the year. (On the other hand, as a relatively "new" player, Foundations feels to me like it sounds M14/M15 does to Dana).
Not necessarily for its Commander impact, but rather in the larger MtG context: Foundations
Set with the most cards in my decks: MH3 (obviously)
Duskmourn had a surprisingly low impact for my suite of decks, BLB was medium in terms of impact
I agree overall that MKM and OTJ were low points, but I wanna shout out the highlights among those sets anyway:
From MKM, I love Archdruid's Charm and Doppelgang
From OTJ, the Spree cards are fantastic EDH staples. I play Smuggler's Surprise, Three Steps Ahead and Final Showdown in multiple decks and Getaway Glamer in a blink deck. Insatiable Avarice and Great Train Heist are also great, but I don't currently have decks that want them.
And BIG had several bangers as well (e.g. Simulacrum Synthesizer)
I love that my Herigast deck left such an impression on you Matt! Your well timed Comeppance definitely won you the game though.
Edit: Also to be fair Matt, you did make it worse by swapping creatures and giving me the Bear Umbra 😅
Most of my wounds are self inflicted so that checks out
I played a lot of limited this year and here are my thoughts on this years' sets. Duskmourne is far and away the best limited environment, probably followed by Foundations, then Thunder Junction, Bloomburrow, into MKM, and the worst limited environment this year, in my opinion, was MH3. It basically always devolved into you either making a decent Eldrazi or Energy deck, or you make a pile that will lose to those decks. Duskmourne was incredible. Honestly, if you enjoy draft, and you missed Duskmourne because of the setting, I highly recommend trying it.
My favorite was Duskmourn. Such a different style with a different take on the horror movie tropes. It's like original Innistrad doing goth horror and knocking it out of the park. Duskmourn takes all those 80's and 90's B movies and put's it's own magic spin on it. Close second being Bloomburrow. The cute, cuddly critter set should be done more than every 14 years.
I keep coming back to MKM for legendaries. I feel that set, despite it's flaws has so many fantastic Commanders.
Massacre girl, Known killer, Aurelia the Law Above, Anzrag, the Quake mole, Hull-clade, Nelly, Miriko, and of course the Dawg himself.
Foundations is super new right now, but its already looking like the set of the year. Murders at Karlov Manor was definitely the worst set of the year. Bloomburrow was my favorite aesthetically and was my personal favorite. I still think Foundations deserves set of the year though.
Bloomburrow for me. 4/5 commanders I have are bloomburrow. I also kept my faeries deck together
I haven’t had the chance to actually engage with Foundations, so I am tentatively calling the set of the year for me Bloomburrow. If I get to run some Foundations sealed, it might change my mind.
Early days but foundations is a banger, even the the Jumpstart has good stuff everywhere. Loved Duskmourn and Bloomburrow. Both solid sets but also one after the other hit both sides of the art spectrum. MH3 would've been good for me but I really dislike expensive sets, like standard sets aren't expensive enough already they gotta bump up the premium sets even more. Pretty good year overall I would say.
Not related to the topic. You guys do a great job and I appreciate you. Curious what cameras and mics you all use. Everything looks and sounds so clean.
I think MKM hate is overblown. There were a lot of good cards in that set. Surveil lands are bonkers good, Cases, Vein Ripper, Delney, Aftermath Analyst, Archdruid's Charm, Demand Answers, Warleader's Call. Those are just off the top of my head.
Bloomburrow was my no.1
For all the furry creatures that one grew up with in cartoons and so on, this made me the most nostalgic for a magic set. And I hope we return. Gift was probably my favourite mechanic from the year. And offspring was very powerfull. And the vibe of having a sett full of unintimidating creatures was very refreshing. I just hope we get a hedgehog legend next time arround. ❤
Loved foundations as well but, come on, a core set as the best set, that's setting the bar a bit low for me peronally. But I can see why. It's a good set.
I've been complaining for years that we need frog tribal support, so I'm happiest with the Bloomburrow set even though I think that mechanically it wasn't the best set.
MKM was a bad set, but Trostani, Three Whispers has been my favorite new commander this year. The ability to give an opponent's creature deathtouch or double strike has been... just so cool.
Bloomburrow rules, but I like it more as a plane than I do as a commander set. The commanders are interesting, but very few of them are ones I really want to build around/play repeatedly.
Duskmorne was so much fun! Gets my vote!
So I didn't like Karlov Manor so much but my favorite mtg product this year was the clue edition followed up by foundations jumpstart.
It's obviously not very good in limited, but Karlov Manor gave us (imo) the best new set of lands they've made in years as well as several build arounds and staples that will stand the test of time. It's not the set of the year, but in terms of long term impact imo it's the most undervalued one
I got back to playing magic after a 20 years break when Karlov Manor came out and I did enjoy it because it was just so much fun to start playing again. I got the dimir precon and its was really cool and I rebuilt it then using Marvo which is really an awesome deck that my lgs also gives props to. That said Bloomburrow and MH3 were my favorites. Thunder Junction I did not like at all because of the cowboy theme.
I personally found Fallout to be the most exciting set of the year. I think the card designs from this set were top notch. More cards from this set made it into decks of mine than any other set (besides MH3) and I ended up building three commanders from this set.
A further thought having now listened to the last of the cast - I'm really intrigued by a potential return to Thunder Junction. I feel like there's a lot of potential to open up for interesting stories and cards, much like Ixalan was.
Bloomburrow has a degree of that too. I don't think there's more they can do with Duskmourn apart from the tiresome "the moth guy want to eat the multiverse, he's the new Phyrexia" thing (one aspect that soured me even more on DM:HOH).
I have a soft spot for OTJ because it’s the set that came out right as I was getting back into MTG after being away for 10 years. But I definitely agree that these last three sets were great
I think Dana's comment about BLB-DSK-FDN being one of the best set streaks in a while is interesting. Since the end of the block era of Magic, what other streaks have struck a cord with you? As far as standard sets go I enjoyed NEO-SNC-DMU, though that was technically broken up by Battle for Baldur's Gate and Double Masters 2022 (not bad sets, just more on the premium side with Modern Horizons)
Pretty much agree with you, guys. I felt a little bit exhausted after Bloomborrow and Duskmorn, so I haven't looked into foundations that much. Bloomborrow has some great cards and mechanics, although its aesthetics does it. The only thing I didn't like were the animal planeswalkers, that didn't really fit. Duskmorn was a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. Both the Enduring and the Overlord cycle are great. Although I fear the powercreep. I also like cards like Hallcreeper and most things hit aesthetically too. 2024 was also the year, where I added UB cards to my decks the first time and I must say that I really don't like the feeling. Especially Fallout and Dr. Who seem so out of place. I hate Marvel. No matter how good these cards get, I will make a conscious effort to avoid them fo my decks as long as this is still possible.
Karlov has veinripper and trouble in pairs, as well as the best land cycle of the year. Several playables
I think my favorite set ended up being Duskmourn, which is odd because I cannot stand horror films/stories. But Spice8Rack's video plus it being the fav of several of my friends put it over the top.
And rooms. So many rooms fit neatly into so many of my decks.
I really loved MKM draft even though I didn't care for the setting or theme. Duskmourn surprised me with how much I liked it. Bloomburrow and Foundations are definitely my top picks, MH3 excluded. I'm pretty excited for what's coming next year.
What’s absolutely crazy for every fan to have to say constantly and I hear it all the time too in the uk “it feels like MAGIC” again. THATS OUT FAVOURITE THING! How can’t wizards see such a thing 😭
Mine was Foundations
I really like Karlov Manor. I think it had a lot of banger cards like Delney, the.. disquise Hawk that exchanges permanents.. the lands. Crime Novelist and Massacre Girl also come to mind.
In general I think my favorite set of the year has been Duskmorn. The enchantment creatures like Enduring Curiosity are really sweet. Also lots of graveyard stuff which is fun + splashy legends like Kona Rescue Beastie and Valgavoth.
I think Outlaws was by far my least favorite set of the year.
Duskmourn, while frustrating me with some of the themes and cards, legit made me reboot Magic Arena and play Limited and Standard which I havent done in years.
I didnt buy any cards this year in paper tbh, but that is because I dont vibe with the product overload.
So - set of the year, imo, is Duskmourn :)
I must admit this is pretty much the year where the choice was the hardest. I didn't connect to any of the sets. Was looking forward to Bloomburrow, but that was a bit disappointing. Worst were the cowboys and Duskmourn surprised me, but I just don't really like horror. Karlov manor wasn't that good either, so I guess my winner was Bloomburrow, but it easily gets beaten by other sets from previous years.
Am I the only one who LOVES how on the nose the newer magic stuff is???
You might be, but they keep doing it so I don't think you're alone.
Fav story was the jace and vraska stuff
I canr really call foundations the best set of the year. It happened so late and cramed so much togethe this season. I think of it as an early 2025 set, and it might be my favorite of 2025. But its a tie for me between MH3, Bloomburrow, and Duskmourn. If i had to pick one I'd say Duskmourn gave us the most, but we had so little time to enjoy all the new things it added it was a bit of a buz kill.
I just can’t imagine saying ‘my favourite set of the year’ is a supplemental core set. Bloomburrow and Duskmourn were incredible, and Foundations is great but it’s not a normal Magic set.
About the tropes I posit that the time from a sets creation to release is longer than a year therefore the lessons learned wouldnt be seen in these sets
Bloomburrow and duskmourne are really good but not given enough time to truly shine when spoilers for the next set is already out with weeks of their release.
I enjoy a lot of what foundations has done for the Magic community and the conversation at large (especially with previous recent events), but I gotta admit, I’m not crazy about it. I know it’s great from everyone else, but what’s so “quintessentially magic” about it doesn’t hit the same note for me. Maybe it’s me missing prereleases because of circumstances, not playing any format other than commander besides prereleases when I’m interested, and getting through magic through commander recently in LCI, but I suppose what magic is to me just isn’t what is classically felt by most. I think that’s fine, healthy difference in perspectives is good, I suppose I just feel a bit sad to not “get” what so many truly love about foundations. Still a great set, and I love a good few cards from it for my decks, but Bloomburrow takes the cake for me on aesthetics alone, because I care so much for nonhuman aligned perspectives in stories :v
The trojan horse is a part of the flavor in thunder junction, might it have failed as a cowboy set sure, but the main things is that people from all planes meet up there and therefore it has less laws and became like westerns.
So the trojan horse is probably people from Theros using one of their myths to steal from people not from Theros
MKM had dopplegang, therefore best set of the year. The timmy in me LOVES that card so much
25:00 in the same vein, if you're playing ghyrson and someone else drops a Chandra awakened inferno KILL IT IMMEDIATELY. You own those emblems and you're going to be smacking yourself for 3 per emblem for the rest of the game
For general design: Bloomburrow.
But for new commanders:
Assassin’s Creed. I’m not even the biggest fan of that series, but there were so many unique designs; Grixis Pirates/Vehicles with Edward Kenway, Alexios Voltron Aggro, Cleopatra is a sweet hug/edict commander. The alt art Sword of Light and Shadow with the Greek Island in day/night is also my favorite Sword of X and Y art ever.
Edward is legit, he’s pirating my pirate deck lol
@@LeonJohnson-yi3hgHe feels almost more flavorful for Pirates than either Admiral Brass, because adding in Pirate Ships as a subtheme is really solid flavor that goes in a different direction than pure pirates.
FINAL FANTASY is the set I'm most excited about!