MTG Top 10: Alliances | The BEST Cards From one of Magic's Early Sets | Episode 491
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2022
- #MTG #Magicthegathering #MTGArena
This video is sponsored by Card Kingdom! Check out their awesome store here: www.cardkingdom.com/nizzahon/?...
Direct Card Kingdom links for each card in this video (SPOILERS)
Note: Prices may have changed
Thawing Glaciers - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Kjelodran Outpost - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Arcane Denial - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Dystopia - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Elvish Spirit Guide - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Pillage - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Helm of Obedience - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Gorilla Shaman - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Contagion - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Force of Will - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
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The reason why gorilla shaman plays so well in pauper is because he can blow up the artifact lands for one mana
MOOOOOX MONKEY, go monkey chunky!
MOOOOOX MONKEY! It’s funky monkey!
Before they printed that cycle of indestructible artifact lands, mix monkey pretty much single-handedly kept affinity under control in pauper. Since then, well…
@@tomscud I’ve been using the Monkey in my Commander decks for years. He does SOOOOO much work. Once I even blew up one of the indestructible artifact lands, because there was a Blood Moon on the battlefield (Blood Moon does not remove any card types - it becomes an artifact land mountain).
And it was a staple in RG hate bears in vintage up to...2011 that the deck kinda die. It was even better than Kataki to shoot down decks
Yep, these days, you have to use Dust to Dust.
Ah yes. Top 9 cards that will be placed behind Force of Will
Force of Will always costs 75 Likes.....er $
My favorite joke about FoW is that, when people actually pay its mana cost, they’re paying its “alternate cost.”
Ha, very true. Like Phyrexian mana cards that have a kicker to save yourself life.
Hard-casting is what we used to call it.
Mostly because it was hard to have 5 mana available to cast it.
@@nobodyshome6792 That’s a great pun.
@@crawdaddy2004 thank you. It was a group creation, back then everyone said it, for when this was hardcast... er cast for its actual mana cost instead of for free. (We didn't call either alternate cost, it was free or hardcast.)
Things change in 20+ years though.
@@nobodyshome6792 my play groups called it “hard casting” too. I still use that term for any card with an alternate cost
7:10 Shout out to Richard Kane Ferguson. Some of the best images in MTG history..... Pillage, Dakkon Blackblade, Sol'kanar the Swamp King, etc....
Seriously, one of the best ever. Unique style and colors with tons of movement. His work on Vampire the Eternal Struggle was top notch as well, particularly Selma the Repugnant and Sylvester Simms.
When people talk about classic MTG art, RKF is what comes to mind.
@@StarkMaximum Ron Spencer is another guy in this conversation as well.....
Curiously, Balduvian Horde was easily the most hyped card when this set was released. A 5/5 for 4 mana was considered very strong. Until everyone realized that the random card discard was a terrible drawback.
Yes, i remember the time when the Hordes was hyped. I bought a playset of it and ran it in my red burn
... and realized this card is almost always a dead card in my hand bec of how rapidly i empty my hand... also... when it does die through a plethora of kill spells like Terror, its a 2 for 1 :(
Worse, without trample, my opponent could chump block it for days... esp of my opponent had a Kjeldoran Outpost (which wouldnt be a surprise considering how popular this was back in the day)
I want my money back TAT
Balduvian Horde is no doubt Tibalt's favourite creature.
Surely there is no chance that Force of Will *isn't* the perfect way to segue into "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)", a lot of people have even suggested it would be #1! It has to be done!
Contagion spoiling who is number one, but number is fine, well done black cat!
Arcane Denial's classic art is amazing, so much going on, so cool.
I was playing some legacy last week, and I got my entomb hit by a force of will, so I cast veil of summer... and the absolute mad lad force of willed that, too.
What about a top ten for cards that give your opponents something?
Like arcane denial, exotic orchard, hunter horror, clackbridge troll, etc…
Arcane Denial is a beast of a counterspell. Change my mind.
Hunted Wumpas?
@@Paulthored the Wumpuss might not make the list bec it technically doesnt give your opponent anything directly. Ive been in situations where the Wumpuss was a 4 mana 6/6 vanilla creature bec my opponent didnt have anything to summon with him
Swords to Plowshares gives life lol
@@Sauvenil What makes Arcane Denial great is that both of you draw at the start of your turn, so you can use the extra card right now, while you opponent likely has to wait until his next turn. It also has some flexibility, because you can use it as a draw spell by countering your own spell.
Alliances was one of my favorite sets back in the day. Just something about that time of my life, the art, lotsa RKF stuff (my fav!) and variations of certain cards, the spring-like warmth of the style was a nice contrast from the cold of Ice Age. Its all just so nostalgic for me.
Agreed.
After an horrible day, your video is the best thing immaginable ❤
That's high praise, thank you!
I love thawing glaciers. It'll slowly fix your colors in a five color deck or help you power up your cabal coffers.
And then there's the Outpost, I've yet to get one but I want it so bad. Black white board wipes and manlands, Gg.
The only problem with Thawing Glaciers is that its slow as a geriatric snail... which is made worse by today's meta game. Still, a repeatable way to grab ANY basic land without much restriction is a big deal!
How i wish those lands come in untapped
There's something about saying that I have been playing since the Ice Age that makes me feel ancient. It's like I've been shuffling cards with mammoths or something.
I can top that. When I started, the current core set was Revised, and the most recent expansion was The Dark. We might as well have been playing against mammoths. The internet was a brand new thing that was mainly used for sharing silly animated GIF images, and kids like us didn't have cell phones. Which were actually just phones back then. It was a different world.
Lol, probably the easiest number 1 guess I've ever had. Great video though, I definitely appreciate these types of lists. It is a really neat way to peek into the history of set releases.
I kind of need these lists for anything from Ravnica to current.
I occasionally play some "house rules" and commander, but not much now. (I was a tournament regular from before DCI through Mirrodin...)
But during Mirrodin block, before than banning of Disciple of the Vault and Skullclamp, my affinity-freeze deck caused too many people to just refuse to play, so I ended up drifting away from the game entirely. (Its boring to go to FNM or a weekend tournament and just sit there with no-one willing to face a deck you invested time, effort and money into.) Even when I switched over to Tooth&Nail or random jank decks, folks just wouldn't play me.
Gorilla Shaman was recently reprinted in Modern Horizons 2. I wonder if it will ever gain any traction in that format 🤔
Before watching the video, I'm guessing #1 is Force of Will
then I would guess the following cards would be in the top 10:
Pyrokinesis
Contagion
Thawing Glaciers
Kjeldoran Outpost
Arcane Denial (thumbnail XD )
Lake of the Dead
Edit: Welp, Pyro and Lake wasnt there... and I forgot Spirit Guide and the Mox Monkey originated here. As for Helm... I didn't know its still being used O.O
Back in the day Force of Will was an awesome skill testing cards. Opponents would look to multi-spell in one turn, baiting out your counters with weak spells in hopes of landing their big one once you were tapped out. Force of Will could then step in counter their "important" spell.
Force of Will is so good that even the first time we discovered that card in our boosters, we instantly knew it was a killer card!
Sometimes it takes time to understand how good a card is, but not in this case. The art is awesome too.
Yes. Definitely the most predictable number one ever.
Awesom video as always!
Glad you think so!
What makes Arcane Denial so good is your opponent can likely not use the extra cards right now, but you can. You both draw at the start of your turn, and by then, the opponent's turn is over. Or maybe you use it to protect your winning combo. Arcane Denial is easier to cast than Counterspell and does not come with a condition like Manaleak; if you win, the card draw does not matter.
Arcane Denial also has some flexibility, because you can use it as a draw spell by countering your own spell.
You are absolutely not the only person who thinks land destruction is a necessity.
I am firmly in that boat with you, the number of times that I have had the need to destroy a land is unbelievable.
Wow, the memories! This was the first big new set that came out when I was playing. And yes, we thought Force of Will wasn’t good lol.
Hahah true, we all wanted a Balduvian Horde, not this expensive counter spell 😝
Love Land Destruction decks. Who remembers ernageddon? I know that deck wasn't LD but... you should do that history video. Jund LD was fun too.
The article about Coldsnap was a great one!
Back in 96 I traded 4 force of wills when they were 3 bucks a piece for a hammer of bogardan which was like 15-20 back then, now it is a bulk rare.
ugh dont remind me! i traded original duals for some mirage block djinns lol
@@User-jo7jp ughhhhhhhh
This has to be the MOST obvious number 1 in the history of your top 10s. Not a bad thing! And I haven’t even begun watching yet LOL
Yep, it is definitely obvious! I think the other 9 are far less obvious, though.
@@NizzahonMagic contaigion was an obvious inclusion considering its overall versatility.
And MoxMonkey was also an obvious inclusion, considering the frequency of Mox, Sol Ring and Mana Vaults back then.
There were also quite a few decks running other 1 and 2 mana artifacts at the time, which made him useful.
I started magic around Alliances and Ice Age and I loved the Alliances cards.
"Landless decks are well... Landless."
Zendikar: "Hold my beer."
Entry 5: pillage also stops regeneration which sometimes comes in handy.
Fun Fact: you can Arcane Denial your own Arcane Denial to draw 3 cards.
True, but it is probably more efficient to play Concentrate xD
It requires two Arcane Denials however, as a spell can't target itself, even if it is on the stack and a redirection effect happens.
You just arcane denial any of your spells. Spend 2 cards to draw 3.
The lack of Storm Crow is surprising... It's an obvious number 1!
It's the best creature in Alliances hands down. It can pitched to force of will. It puts opponents on a 20-turn clock, and of course it untaps for free!
But it is originally from Sixth Edition.
I remember the day this set came out. Everyone was hyped over Balduvian Horde...and it's not even on this list.
Heck, Balduvian Horde had a $30 price tag, in an era before foils or mythics. We wouldn't see a regular, in-print rare top $20 again until Arcbound Ravager came along. The difference is, Ravager deserved it.
I feel that humidity. I'm in NC & the heat hasn't been as bad as I was expecting, but the humidity is swimmable.
I love how number 2 has 37 points and then number 1 has 381 points
Finding 10 good cards in Alliances (and Homelands)is a challenge indeed.
Wow, I think everyone knew Number 1 right away but I was not expecting that point total.
YAY Alliances. So much good stuff in Ice Age block altogether.
Force of will is also super good because it protects you from turn one combos when your opponent goes first
For your 500th list you could do best cards of all time. The top ten cards with the most points. It would be awesome to see. Also amazing content as always.
Don’t worry. You are not the only one to love to hate on opponents. I miss my mana burn deck from back in the day…
Did you play the barbs-surge-flare variant? Or the Drain power variants?
Love land destruction . now I play a commander 31 land destruction spells elves and soul of Windgrace for the commander
Arcane denial is also very strong in EDH, where the caster is one of only 2 players to benefit from it
No lake of the dead? Loved that card.
If the Contagion counters were reversed to -1/-2, or maybe three -1/-1, it would probably be Legacy staple today.
I for one, am completely on your side with Pillage.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew which multiformat staple is number 1
STORM CROW!
I got Force of Will right because... of course it was going to be FoW, but I expected Balduvian Horde to make an appearance.
"It is the best counterspell in the game, and maybe even best counterspell, period". Idk, Solemn Judgment is quite good. In hand of Abjuration Wizard or high level bard, 5th edition regular counterspell is also quite broken. If we count Epic Spell Reflection as counterspell, it is wort considering among strongest ones too.
I hope you have something big planned for video #500. That is a big number and not too far away.
Great video!
Come on people!! Best mtg channel hands down.
Thanks!
@@NizzahonMagic no problem!!! Been watchin 4 awhile and all the others just add there opinion. Where's yours are facts and stats. Oh merfolks are my favorite!!
I was pretty surprised lake of the dead wasn't on here
Now I just want to build a Helm of Obedience Deck!!!!
Alliances always struck me as an interesting set. Many of the bad cards are very bad, and the good cards are amazing! There are many more of the former. It has a severe dichotomy in power! I remember a LOT of terrible cards in Alliances! Oddly, many of the “Worst sets” are thought of that way by the badness of the bad cards (masques, Kamigawa), and Alliances has the same issue, but it doesn’t get that moniker.
Because of the sheer grandness of the "good stuff".
Alliances was way, way better than Ice Age. (And Coldsnap, for that matter.) Plus, many of the cards that seem terrible today were just kind of average when the set was new. That's in contrast to a set like Legends, where the awful cards were bad even in 1994.
@@davidlundquist1979 some of the cards from Alliances that are considered bad today, were actually good back then as well.
What was the deck for The legacy point #2.Contagion has?
How many points did Lim-Dûl's Vault get using your system? (That's my favorite Alliances card, BTW.)
I can’t find your article about Homelands.
Just played ya online... that's a sweet BW deck. Never felt better being crushed.
So, FoW is "pretty close to" but not an actual staple in Legacy and Vintage? Please tell us what constitutes a format staple for you.
Well, it is a staple in Blue decks to be sure. I didn't want to say full-on staple, because there are lots of decks in those formats that don't run it. But yeah, probably just better to remove the "pretty close to."
Lake of the Dead
We're coming up fast on #500.
I hadn't realized that That Artist started as far back as Alliances, oof.
Alliances is also the first set with my favorite artist, Rebecca Guay.
1:35 You're trapped in Oklahoma?? You poor dear.
... couldn't you use a cheap 0/1 spell to target yourself with Arcane Denial, and thus draw three cards? You go only +1, because you dump two cards to get three, but it sounds like fun!
Yeah, but that is so slow and you are wasting a counter spell to do what other spells do better. But if you need to draw three that badly, it is not bad.
You could, but why ? You actually would have to wait your entire opponents turn to get the draw, whereas using it during your opponents turn, when they are unlikely to be able to use the cards they draw from it.
It is a possibility, but it was probably used more that way whenever the opponent went to counter a spell that you really didn't care much about. The spell is still countered, but now you draw 3 while their counter does nothing.
@@stevenglowacki8576 I've seen someone denial their own spell to block an opponents denial....
Not exactly a common occurance though.
I really wonder what card could ever be at #1... XD
There is no way to know which card will be number 1! I am using all of my Will to Force myself to think of the set and guess which card is number 1! There is no way to guess. I cannot think of anything!
Thawing Glaciers was able to search up your real dual lands, like Underground Sea and Tundra.......
Very important for deck versatility.
Arcane Denial was, like Counterspell and Force of Will was a staple for control and combo decks back in the day. Now there are some other alternatives to the card.
Pillage was a staple in all red decks, because of its versatility. (And I am like you, I miss LD decks, and realize that they will never make a real return.)
Helm of Obediance wasn't really used, as when Alliances was released, the decks that had creatures, those creatures weren't really worth stealing.
MOX-MONKEY!!!!!!!!
Contaigion was basically a staple removal spell for all black decks. (Even showed a lot of usability in Suicide decks.)
Not going to say anything about the most utilized cards in the entire bloody game. It also happens to be basically the best card in the entire history of MtG. Hands down.
It was a staple in any deck that had blue.
Thawing Glaciers has to be way better these days with untapping lands, since the return to hand is at EOT.
Can you link the article?
Please... couldn't find it
Alliances feels like a set that overall, had a lot of crap but the cards that hit were devastatingly strong and when the sets before it are shit like ice age and homelands, I imagine that’s why alliance has so many old school magic fans praise it.
I think this is it. I started playing when Alliances came out, and at the time it had the reputation of being "the good set" among my friends, but that was probably just because the other packs in stores were Homelands and Fallen Empires.
Its July 2022 and I recently accumulated 4 FOW's (condition of excellent to nm) off of Ebay this year at an average price of $95 (USD) a piece. Will they rise in value in the future? 🤑 Who knows but we shall see..🤨
🤞🤞🤞
They always rise in value, but always get reprinted eventually as well. For such a format staple, that's just as well. If FoW was on the Reserved List, it would be over $1,000 by now.
I was just like Force of Will and what else?
my favorite cards from this set are ashnods cylix and gargantuan gorilla :>
oh and duhhh thawing glacier, every commander deck has it :>
Mine was actually Lord of Tresserhorn.
It is a bad card, but so damn powerful.
I actually played tricolor in shop tournaments just to use his dumb ass...
Fun thing, I typically only used him as a blocker, and rarely used him for offensive purposes.
@@nobodyshome6792 heh I love ashnod's I used it so evily with vision charm, make him chose wich ard he wants to keep, then vision charm the card he wanted to keep away.
Funny how people losy their minds over Baldivian Horde and Martyrdom back in the day and were initially unimpressed by FoW
hmmm I wonder what could be number 1....
Strom crow easy # 1
is this the biggest points gap between number 2 and number 1 that a top 10 has ever had?
Anyone ever Pillage a Treetop Village?
No Pyrokinesis! Huh.
uff. So glad I dont live in Oklahoma
How long before of top 10 Legends cards? Xdd
I’m hoping it will be soon since Legends are back in the news
Early sets 😂😂😂
Man, the art was rough for this series...
#1 card in alliance... balduvian horde. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA