What do you think it is and why? Each of you get one submission. Winner gets a Chipotle burrito.
General Best designed Magic card of all time
- Thread starter Jason Waddell
- Start date
Now I know you'd expect me to say this guy, but I promise I'm not that silly.
Now before I make my choice, let me state what 'best design' means to me. First and foremost, I expect it to be good. Really good. Like good in every game, any situation, any time you play its color. I expect it to be a progressive card that is both an answer and something that needs answering. It should never be a "bad draw" and should have a place in any deck as well as the potential to win on its own without feeling overpowered. It should also make sense as far as flavor goes andbe easy enough to understand where new players get it and old players can be creative with it. It shouldn't be a feel bad card for anyone. It isn't a draw spell, counterspell, or a spell that only removes things without giving you a way to win. So far, Acidic Slime stands out as a solid contender. Spikeshot Elder would if he weren't so lame in a vacuum. I honestly can't think of anything more at the moment, so I'm just gonna go with Acidic Slime.....for now. Banishing Light on a stick could totally be the winner if it existed .
Now before I make my choice, let me state what 'best design' means to me. First and foremost, I expect it to be good. Really good. Like good in every game, any situation, any time you play its color. I expect it to be a progressive card that is both an answer and something that needs answering. It should never be a "bad draw" and should have a place in any deck as well as the potential to win on its own without feeling overpowered. It should also make sense as far as flavor goes andbe easy enough to understand where new players get it and old players can be creative with it. It shouldn't be a feel bad card for anyone. It isn't a draw spell, counterspell, or a spell that only removes things without giving you a way to win. So far, Acidic Slime stands out as a solid contender. Spikeshot Elder would if he weren't so lame in a vacuum. I honestly can't think of anything more at the moment, so I'm just gonna go with Acidic Slime.....for now. Banishing Light on a stick could totally be the winner if it existed .
Those are interesting criteria for best designed. I wonder how other people make their choice?
I imagine if "best design" goes to any form of durdle card, they're wrong.
Molten Tail Masticore seems like a possibility. I love that guy's design.
Molten Tail Masticore seems like a possibility. I love that guy's design.
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
Decision heavy, powerful, and provides information
Okay, okay, I know that it's not the 'best designed Magic card ever' by any objective standards. But it's such an obvious Timmy build-around, and got me back into Magic after an eleven-year break, because I took one look at it and thought "holy crap, creatures are amazing now".
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I am tempted to go for
But I think my choice shall be
Even though BoP and Hierarch are better, there isn't a single green limited deck that doesn't get better by the inclusion of good old Lawnmower Elves. It's still, after all these years of creatures getting better and better, a one-of in Legacy Elves. It's also a testament to how good Garfield's first shot at green was that several of the green cards in Alpha are still playable today (even if only in limited, hi there Giant Spider) without being broken.
But I think my choice shall be
Even though BoP and Hierarch are better, there isn't a single green limited deck that doesn't get better by the inclusion of good old Lawnmower Elves. It's still, after all these years of creatures getting better and better, a one-of in Legacy Elves. It's also a testament to how good Garfield's first shot at green was that several of the green cards in Alpha are still playable today (even if only in limited, hi there Giant Spider) without being broken.
I personally think "best-designed" sidelines things like power level and mana cost since those can be scaled relatively easily and don't truly reflect the DESIGN of the card. My criteria is basically something that effects the game in a meaningful way without being overly complex- so 'elegance' is a factor but not the end-all-be-all. Something with heavy implications but doesn't bog you down in rules and technical details:
I'm going with this lady. I can't imagine a cube that doesn't want her & she's fine in any format where you can regularly live long enough to put her into play. So basically anywhere but like...legacy? She just never seems bad & I never regret having her in a deck.
The best designed card is:
And here's why.
1. The powerlevel is just right. Standard and Modern playable without being oppressive and a home-run in cube. Blade Splicer never feels unfair but it's always satisfying to cast.
2. A smooth casting cost of only a single white means you don't have to stretch your mana-base to sleeve her up. Furthermore, she goes into any archetype. Aggro, Midrange, and Control all welcome her with open arms. She packs a punch on offense but can hold the fort back at home.
3. Synergizes with other commonly played cards, many of which are on-color. Restoration Angel, Flickerwisp, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Momentary Blink, Galepowder Mage, and Champion of the Parish are just a few of the cards that reward you for playing with Blade Splicer.
4. Blade Splicer interacts interestingly with many opposing cards. The conditional first strike granted to the Golem Token can occasionally create tricky corner-case combat scenarios. Also, the fact that the Golem is an artifact grants more relevance to disenchant type effects. Additionally, the fact that the bulk of Blade Splicer's power resides in a token means bounce effects increase in potency.
5. Good flavor and it feels white. The token and first strike elements make the card feel white and the card itself provides the color with something that it commonly wants to do. Less importantly, the idea and flavor of the card make sense. The art is aesthetically pleasing.
In short, Blade Splicer is a feelgood multi-format role player that blends elegance, power, and complexity into a single card.
And here's why.
1. The powerlevel is just right. Standard and Modern playable without being oppressive and a home-run in cube. Blade Splicer never feels unfair but it's always satisfying to cast.
2. A smooth casting cost of only a single white means you don't have to stretch your mana-base to sleeve her up. Furthermore, she goes into any archetype. Aggro, Midrange, and Control all welcome her with open arms. She packs a punch on offense but can hold the fort back at home.
3. Synergizes with other commonly played cards, many of which are on-color. Restoration Angel, Flickerwisp, Sun Titan, Reveillark, Momentary Blink, Galepowder Mage, and Champion of the Parish are just a few of the cards that reward you for playing with Blade Splicer.
4. Blade Splicer interacts interestingly with many opposing cards. The conditional first strike granted to the Golem Token can occasionally create tricky corner-case combat scenarios. Also, the fact that the Golem is an artifact grants more relevance to disenchant type effects. Additionally, the fact that the bulk of Blade Splicer's power resides in a token means bounce effects increase in potency.
5. Good flavor and it feels white. The token and first strike elements make the card feel white and the card itself provides the color with something that it commonly wants to do. Less importantly, the idea and flavor of the card make sense. The art is aesthetically pleasing.
In short, Blade Splicer is a feelgood multi-format role player that blends elegance, power, and complexity into a single card.
Another vote for Vendilion Clique.
Honorable mention...
It combines (IMO anyway) properly costed burn with one of the two best mechanics in the game, Scry (Cycle being the other best mechanic in my eyes).
Honorable mention...
It combines (IMO anyway) properly costed burn with one of the two best mechanics in the game, Scry (Cycle being the other best mechanic in my eyes).
I think that if Terramorphic Expanse had been printed much earlier in Magic's history I wouldn't be so impressed by it because in hindsight it would seem like such an obvious thing to help new players get access to inexpensive fixing in Constructed as a temporary alternative to costly duals. In Limited it is often a challenging decision to pick up a Terramorphic Expanse because it requires evaluation of your deck's current state and its needs.
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Constructed:
A new player is going to eventually learn that access to a variety of colors typically yields a stronger deck that takes advantages of all the strengths each color while mitigating weaknesses. Once they realize that they will see that the duals-du-jour of the of the format/rotation is ludicrously expensive.
Terramorphic Expanse is a cheap alternative for the duals you need. It is obviously worse but local supply and/or availability of money typically prevent any person from instantaneously getting the 8-dual-fixers that are in rotation and this card can fill the gaps nicely. It presents an opportunity to play a multicolor deck when otherwise a player would be shutout if they were stuck with only basics or short a couple copies of a dual. Terramorphic Expanse inflicts a tempo hit but sometimes the deck can afford to take it and in exchange acquires some much needed consistency to function and be viable.
Limited:
In recent Magic, rock-fixing includes cards like Manalith or Keyrunes, which felt like garbage most of the time. Prophetic Prism is great and is a contender for great design but is beat out by the fact that it is almost never an option in Constructed. The common problem with these cards is that they take up a spell slot, which is an issue because unless they cycle, they don't exactly help you kill your opponent and you may waste the mana for the turn to get one out, possibly sacrificing board position. There were times in RAV where I found myself not picking or cutting Signets because there were better fixing alternatives and it was more important to pick up a threat.
Land-fixing doesn't waste a spell slot. Land-fixing isn't perfect either and cards like Rupture Spire and Shimmering Grotto are hardly playable because the former represents a brutal tempo hit and with the latter, substituing a basic of your splash color is almost always the better move because Grotto is a self-inflicted Force Spike on whatever card you're splashing.
Terramorphic Expanse is the best Limited color fixer because the worst thing it does is come into play tapped. It will not burn a spell slot. It represents any of your two primary colors as well as a copy of your 2-3 fixers for your splash. The tempo hit is still there but you can play it early unlike Rupture Spire and Grotto.
Cube:
Typically Cube has no room for this card. It's a strike against the card.
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It could be argued that City of Brass is simply better, which it is as a card. But City of Brass and its update, Mana Confluence, are not always in rotation and their price tag and rarity put it out of reach for players. Terramorphic Expanse and its functional reprint Evolving Wilds has been in Standard since Time Spiral, a sign to me that someone on the inside realizes the incredible utility Terramorphic Expanse provides to new players and occasionally experienced players who need to shore up their mana bases. Terramorphic Expanse helps the typical two-color Limited deck do what everyone wants it to do, "play my cards" and helps enable a third color splash, which supports designs such as Crimson Muckwader and opens up more opportunities in Limited by simply improving the overall playability of cards.
When I was starting out I got a lot of mileage out of this card. There are a lot of factors that lead to victory and while having untapped lands is a large contributor to that I found that having a deck that worked was just as important and Terramorphic Expanse made those top-tier decks work on a budget.
This card taught me that a control deck needs to play Magic on turn 2.
Simple and elegant (8 words), splashable, strong, early counterspell. It's value ticks down as the game goes on so you have to think seriously about countering each spell your opponent casts (all the while trying to act like you're not thinking such things). Unlike hard countermagic you can play around it too. A card with eight words on it becomes a game within a game.
I'm a huge fan of Tamiyo, she's probably my favorite Magic card. Maybe not the best design ever for Magic cards, but I think she's a total home run as far as planeswalkers are concerned.
She's everything I'd want from a planeswalker. Good enough to dominate certain games, but not to the point where she's stupid powerful and warps everything around her. You need to play and build a certain way to get the most out of her. Your opponent keeping you down with a giant threat? Lock it down. Many little dudes coming at you? Hold off a few and hopefully draw 2-3 cards into an answer. Opponent needed that Swamp for their Turn 6 play? Lock it down. And that ultimate just makes for amazing stories. I once pulled it off with a Thought Scour and Vapor Snag in hand. It was disgusting.
Fair abilities that tie into eachother perfectly, fair mana cost, and an ultimate that is just ridiculously fun to pull off. This should be the template for every walker that's released.
She's everything I'd want from a planeswalker. Good enough to dominate certain games, but not to the point where she's stupid powerful and warps everything around her. You need to play and build a certain way to get the most out of her. Your opponent keeping you down with a giant threat? Lock it down. Many little dudes coming at you? Hold off a few and hopefully draw 2-3 cards into an answer. Opponent needed that Swamp for their Turn 6 play? Lock it down. And that ultimate just makes for amazing stories. I once pulled it off with a Thought Scour and Vapor Snag in hand. It was disgusting.
Fair abilities that tie into eachother perfectly, fair mana cost, and an ultimate that is just ridiculously fun to pull off. This should be the template for every walker that's released.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I once pulled it of with Withdraw in hand and Venser, Shaper Savant in play. That too was ugly, in a good way.
I wonder why I cut Withdraw, that card is so cool...
This answer is so predictable. I like the elegance of it too, but I don't know if I agree here. Feels like a cop-out answer.
i can't say its one of my favorite cards, but i just can't find a better answer. bolt has such universal appeal, does so much despite "only doing 2 things". it is played in vintage, legacy, and modern. it has been present since the beginning of the game yet was able to be reprinted in m10/m11 without ruining standard.
perhaps the biggest strike against the card: it so heavily limits what 3 or less toughness creatures can be played. it is a bit above-curve and currently is a huge defining factor in how legacy and especially modern plays. though perhaps modern it is a bigger problem with snapcaster mage's design rather than bolt
the reason i didn't choose some of these cards is because either power level or just how they don't have as universal appeal to many players:
perhaps the biggest strike against the card: it so heavily limits what 3 or less toughness creatures can be played. it is a bit above-curve and currently is a huge defining factor in how legacy and especially modern plays. though perhaps modern it is a bigger problem with snapcaster mage's design rather than bolt
the reason i didn't choose some of these cards is because either power level or just how they don't have as universal appeal to many players:
It might not have ruined Standard, but I'd argue that it warped the environment around it for the next two years. From a burn perspective, they had to go out of their way to design cards that wouldn't be embarrassing when included side-by-side in a deck with bolt, so we were treated to other great cards like Burst Lightning, Searing Blaze, and arguably Galvanic Blast. This in turn forced the power level of the creatures to be bumped up, such that they either needed to provide immediate value, or be able to survive a bolt.
None of this is a bad thing in and of itself, but the existence of Lightning Bolt in a Standard format forces all of the subsequent sets to significantly boost the power level of just about every card in them.
My personal favorite card:
I still remember playing against this for the first time in one of the first ever magic tournaments I went to (circa 1995). I was like, "wait a second, whoah whoah...it's a land AND A CREATURE!?" It completely blew my mind. Throw in the fact that it was uncounterable, wrath-proof, could pump other Mishra's Factories, and appropriately only produced colorless mana, and I still think today that this was one of the best designed magic cards.
Here are some other candidates I'd put forth.
Versatility at a fair yet competitive cost. Since cube, this card has become a lot more interesting with so many ETB effects hanging around.
Entire archetypes in Vintage have been built around this game-warping card. Requires a lot of interesting decisions in game and opens the doors to a ton of potential synergies.
Who knew that attaching Regrowth to a stick would lead to such a fascinating card?
I still remember playing against this for the first time in one of the first ever magic tournaments I went to (circa 1995). I was like, "wait a second, whoah whoah...it's a land AND A CREATURE!?" It completely blew my mind. Throw in the fact that it was uncounterable, wrath-proof, could pump other Mishra's Factories, and appropriately only produced colorless mana, and I still think today that this was one of the best designed magic cards.
Here are some other candidates I'd put forth.
Versatility at a fair yet competitive cost. Since cube, this card has become a lot more interesting with so many ETB effects hanging around.
Entire archetypes in Vintage have been built around this game-warping card. Requires a lot of interesting decisions in game and opens the doors to a ton of potential synergies.
Who knew that attaching Regrowth to a stick would lead to such a fascinating card?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Smokestack is certainly one heck of a design and a super cool addition to my cube.
I just remembered another card that makes me withdraw my previous entry:
A blue effect and a black effect combine to create an effect that neither color should have access to, and yet, it feels so right. And it's an instant to boot! Every time I see this card I can't help but smile
I just remembered another card that makes me withdraw my previous entry:
A blue effect and a black effect combine to create an effect that neither color should have access to, and yet, it feels so right. And it's an instant to boot! Every time I see this card I can't help but smile
Grillo_Parlante
Contributor
The best part about mishra's factory was running mana through it to avoid mana burn
Onderzeeboot, i'm surprised you didn't suggest BOP originally. Everything you mentioned about elves applies to it, but I think BOP has better flavor, is a better representation of green's color pie, has been consistantly powerful in constructed throughout its existance, but always feels fair.
Onderzeeboot, i'm surprised you didn't suggest BOP originally. Everything you mentioned about elves applies to it, but I think BOP has better flavor, is a better representation of green's color pie, has been consistantly powerful in constructed throughout its existance, but always feels fair.