I think a fun list for the future would be top 10 sideboard cards. Cards that don't see a ton of play in the main deck but are frequent includes in the sideboard, like Leyline of the Void or Skysovereign.
@@jeremiahperdue5518 Hirumaredx (the man behind the voice) was originally a YGO player making similar videos to the same ones here; I’d like to say he only started making MTG videos almost a year ago. He also does have a consultant that I think is a judge helping him with the Top 10s
@Fernando Banda i mean the person producing/writing the videos. Its pretty evident they havent been playing for long. That isnt meant to sound gatekeep-y or snobbish, ive a somewhat new player myself. A list on top sideboard cards requires a deep knowledge of the specific context and complex histories of many formats. Even just researching this isnt easy. How would he structure the list? Top 10 cards that showed up based on volume alone? Or impact? Or how well they can sway certain matchups? It seems the writer mostly plays standard and historic on arena with some minor interest in other formats. I just dont think they would be able to do a list like that justice and it would take MONTHS of research at least.
Maybe it's not as impactful as sets on the video, but Ravnica block was a great way to explore two color combinations, giving them a defined identity, specific traits and card design that has been used again on the sets that came after them.
Yeah, like Innistrad had a theme and such with great draft format. Ravnica draft with all 3 sets? One of the best limited environments ever up there with Innistrad and Invasion block. The dredge mechanic was a huge influence that we still feel to this day because basically any time they make some card that works in the graveyard, they need to be careful or it's just broken with dredge. See: Hogaak, risen necropolis as one example.
I really dislike Ravnica for this reason. The pure symmetry is too streamlined for me and I feel takes some of the wonder and fun out of formerly asymmetrical sets. And ever since that, so many sets they release have done the symmetrical thing. So in a way I kinda feel like Ravnica messed everything up
I mean Mirrodin should be #1 for the art change and the start of Modern and Ravnica should be #2 for so so so many extremely impactful reasons... MTG fundamentally changed in both flavor and design after Ravnica. Ravnica is the most visited plane for a reason and Mark Rosewater himself has stated many many times that the first Ravnica block was by far the most impactful... this list is just cheap ragebait.
Especially Future Sight, since almost all of the impactful cards named used the "Future-shifted" frame exclusive to the set that made them heavily stand out.
I often feel this, as I watch this channel out of nostalgia and haven't played tt magic in a decade. I'd love to see original prints of cards on the videos.
New Phyrexia and the Ravnica block definitely belong here. New Phyrexia was such a huge power creep that a lot of cards introduced there are still played today and Ravnica redefined Magic's identity. Dual color decks are still so commonly referred to with their Ravnica guild name that it's hard to overlook the impact the sets had, if not from a game play standpoint, then just the essence of what Magic is.
Ravnica definitely deserves a spot on this list. It ended up being the progenitor for modern limited design. Signpost uncommons telling players what a color pair was all about came out of this set. the shock lands that are played in every format they're legal came from this set. The set also had the "what guild are you?" marketing, that was so effective they've revisited Ravnica several times and attempted to recreate that strong identity in other sets such as Alara, Tarkir, and most recently Strixhaven. It wasn't the first set to have factions, but it was the first to tie factions so clearly into the overarching set design, theming, and card design. Investing people in not just a set of mechanics they find fun, but a whole identity for the color pairs has to be one of the most impactful developments MtG has done since the very first set. And on that note, I think it's hard to argue the most impactful set in all of MtG isn't Alpha. The legacy of the Power 9 rings strong even with people who never even touched the set, and even in the face of numerous power crept or flat out design mistakes that have been printed over the years, such as Oko or Skullclamp. Many other cards like Sol Ring, Lightning Bolt, and Dark Ritual see regular play in multiple formats to this day. And on top of that, it was the very first TCG of any kind. If hit hadn't been such a smash-hit success, not only would we maybe not have MtG be as dominant as it is, but games like Yu-Gi-Oh, the Pokemon TCG, Flesh and Blood, and dozens of other TCGs probably wouldn't even exist. It's honestly surprising how little has changed since Alpha first came out, and a clear sign of just how successful the set was that so much of what it set up has endured over the years and influenced entire other games.
Alpha deserves a honorable mention indeed, exactly because it's so obvious. Love Ravnica btw, good thing the plane was revisited early in Arena and made me stay x)
Yeah, I was perplexed to not see Alpha/beta on this list since for all intents and purposes they're the same with a few card exceptions like volcanic island and one circle of protection card. Ravnica limited was so damn good indeed, one of the best they've ever made.
Honestly those tropes were defined more by Return to Ravnica than original Ravnica. Original Ravnica had a lot more original ideas. If Chorus of the Conclave were printed today it would be Simic.
I feel like you missed one set on this list: New Phyrexia. The power creep of the phyrexian mana cards impacted every format and some still see play to this day today.
Yeah, it's crazy that War of the Spark, Eldraine, Modern Horizons (1&2 tbh, but absolutely 2), and now New Phyrexia have been so impactful on the game in just the past handful of years.
Yeah, could certainly say New Phyrexia on this list. They really weren't thinking when they allowed people to pay 2 life for a free mana and it shows. Crazy impact on modern design because it reminded them to be way more careful again in the same vein as Urza block where if they weren't careful, a combo winter could come again.
@@dstreetz91 New Phyrexia's my favorite set ever. I'd totally open another box if I could. To this day multiple phyrexian mana spells are strong enough for modern.
@@dstreetz91 Cards with exclusively non standard mana alternative costs are an enticing design space but how could Wizards design such a mechanic and still avoid it being broken by players?
I swore original Ravnica block would have made the list. It’s so impactful at every two color deck not named after a specific card or combo is likely named after one of the guilds.
Tbh ravnica as well as takir and alara were impactful about how we viewed the game by giving names and personalities to color combinations, but not impactful on the cardpool itself.
@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 I mean, Ravnica had the shock lands and the bounce lands. Dredge, as well as a host of more niche mechanics like transmute or convoke. Doubling Season and Dark Confidant were first printed in Ravnica City of Guilds. The signets are still some of the strongest mana rocks and Lightning Helix is a burn staple. Remand was printed in this set. Hybrid mana came from this set. Plus like a dozen other cards that are either more niche or have recently fallen out of favor, but had a lasting impact prior to that. In a more design sense, I'm pretty sure it also invented the signpost uncommon, which is integral in the way every set is designed now. The more I look at what originally came out of just the first Ravnica set, the more it becomes clear that it has just as much impact on modern magic as a lot of these more recent sets, and had even more impact before they outclassed a lot of staples from the set.
I think they took the whole Ravnica thing a little too far for a while, it seemed like Simic and Boros really only had one game mechanic to their name. Original Ravnica block had a lot more variety than RTR though
You definitely missed Legends. It introduced legendary creatures, the centerpiece of the most popular format in MTG, EDH. Furthermore it introduced multicolor cards, which gave players completely new options in deckbuilding and playing.
I'd put legends near number 1 for introducing legendary creatures, multicolored cards, the concept of color cycles, and 15 card packs The most popular format EDH (Elder dragon highlander) would not exist without the legendary elder dragons. The story would be more disconnected if you could not represent the characters on cards Etc.
Legends really took magic to a new level, anyone that played back then knows. First multicolored cards, first legendary cards. Not having it on this list is a failure
Color cycles were definitely a thing in Alpha. The boon cycle, the lace cycle, dual lands, mini-cycles in opposing colors like Bad Moon/Crusade and Deathgrip/Lifeforce, etc. Also those were 15 cards packs too. Only the small expansions were 8 cards.
I found you by binging your world of warcraft videos, just to find out that you also do magic the gathering which I love even more and now I'm binging all of this! Keep up the good work man you're great!
Maybe, but how many sets have introduced a completely new card type? Onslaught might have added some new tools, but Planeswalkers fundamentally changed the way the game is played
Honorable mention goes to the Un-sets, having many cards memorable just for how out they were. It was also the first set with full card layouts for basic lands. Many cards in general from the sets have unorthodox layouts. The fact that the cards frequently invent entirely new concepts that need special rulings is also notable. Having an unique card border color just to contain the craziness is the best TL;DR about it.
Ravnica: City of Guilds absolutely deserves a spot on this list (probably in the top 3-5 tbh) for the dredge mechanic alone. It completely changed not only the way people played the game, finally understanding the value of the graveyard, but the way sets were designed as well. It took 6 years for them to release another graveyard themed set, and they did so by including some of the most powerful graveyard hate in the game’s history, as well as DRASTICALLY depowering the graveyard theme/mechanic. You could also argue that Chronicles belongs here for the simple fact that it drove the creation of the reserved list.
That ravnica set I would say probably should have been uo there not only were the shocklands introduced it gave names to the two color combinations that are still used to this day
I would have for sure added New Phyrexia because of both the Infect, Proliferate and Phyrexian Mana mechanics. It may not be as straight-up powerful as other sets here, but cards Dismember, Gutshot, Gitaxian Probe and Mutagenic Growth have had a real impact on the game as a whole.
I'm surprised Onslaught was not on this list. Onslaught had many really powerful cards, many that still see play today. Cards like Exalted Angel, the fetch lands, and Goblin Piledriver were extremely powerful cards for their day. Also, don't forget about Future Sight (the card) as well as Biorhythm, a card that can win the game instantly.
Liliana of the Veil was a critical piece of how I was able to beat a Hypergenesis that allowed my opponent to put a Progenitus and Emrakul into play in an SCG Legacy tournament. Swords to Plowshares the Shardless Agent, search up Karakas with my Knight of the Reliquary for the Emrakul and then Liliana forcing my opponent to sacrifice their last creature, the Progenitus.
For me, personally, among some of the other ones you've already said, really impactful sets for me include Invasion, Ravnica, Torment, Time Spiral, and Tempest. And Prophecy, because it was the set I first started in (I had so many Rhystic Studies back in the day!).
I want to say if you ever plan on doing a episode on greatest sets of time in magic for Draft, Kamigawa Neon Dynasty is incredibly good for draft specifically. Otherwise hope your doing well.
First Friday Noght Magic after Urzas Saga was released I won with a RG echo (pouncing jaguar, shivan raptor, acidic soil). I crushed two blue academy stroke decks thanks to meltdown in the sideboard. I’m not saying academy/stroke wasn’t broken, but sometimes it couldn’t pull it off in 4 turns and you could race it. I’m not just any scrub, I was on the pro tour twice and had many many PTQ top 8s from 2000-2007.
I honestly expected the very first set to at least get an honorable mention. Since it literally started the game. Can't get much more impactful than that.
standard was made by wizards to push competitive playes away from playing with the higher powered cards from Alpha and to instead play with new cards, which was better for business
I was there for this, lol. Basically it was lack of access. Until Fallen Empires, there was only ONE print run of cards for expansions, and when they sold out that was it. Legends sold out in like 3 days and a few weeks later went from $1.49 a pack to $15 a pack. In recognition of the high price of entering tournaments due to so many staple cards from A/B/U, Arabian Nights, Antiquities and Legends having such a high price tag, constructed was separated into Type 1 (now known as Vintage) and Type 2 (now known as Standard).
And luckily it now keeps power creep in check nicely. While magic definitely has power creep, thanks to standard taking away some pressure to make high powered card it's not as crazy as in say yugioh.
@@DerekScottBland Okay, thanks for the information. I guess I had kind of assumed that there would be more then one print run and it was more of an issue with staple cards/op cards that created it since I remember a video talking about Japanese TCGs and how set rotation had a big negative impact on the game's popularity in Japan which was part of why Pokemon waited so long to do set rotation.
@@U1TR4F0RCE - yeah, it was mainly availability and price point. The next thing that happened was the dual lands not being reprinted in 4th edition. People still wanted to use their duals, but they didn't have access to the expensive cards used in Vintage, so Type 1.5 / Extended was created. It allowed any cards from The Dark and Revised forward with no rotation. It also allowed all promotional cards to be used. Then it changed in the early 2000's to the last 6-8 years of sets, rotating every 3 years. Then it changed to the last 7 years with a yearly rotation. Finally it changed to the last 4 years and was finally retired in 2013 as WotC decided Modern should replace it.
Ikoria should have mentioned here, imagine the companion mechanic was too strong, banning the cards wasnt enough, they ended up changing the companion rule. Also dont forget this is where the fetchable tri-land first introduced which seen plays for multiple formats
A great video! BUT... if you're talking about a set, why use pictures of cards from other sets? Of course. They were originally printed in the set you're talking about. But I find it really anticlimactic to talk about MIRAGE, showing a LED from Vintage masters, for example...
I would LOVE to see a Futuresight like set, as well as lots of mechanics that are completely forgotten, like Aura Swap and fortification. Also, there are almost no support in levelling creatures (or artifacts that levels up, which do not exist yet), except for proliferate
Mirage and Visions were two halves of one set called Menagerie, not designed as a block with Weatherlight. Weatherlight started the Weatherlight Saga, where they decided to create a larger storyline. The first block designed as a block was the Rath Cycle. Also, Urza's Destiny (oddly) is the most impactful because of Opalescence and Humilty and the resulting 6th Edition Rules, which effectively made Magic a different game than it was.
In every single video there is a moment where I find myself asking who this man is. What human hasn't ever heard the word "harbinger" why is there always one word that makes this man sound like a straight up alien
Think you should also consider mechanics, creature types, rule changes, etc., though that might be hard to quantify for a list like this. I know it's not the set itself, but 6th Edition was hugely impactful due to all the rule changes that came along with it. Also, a personal favorite of mine would be Tempest. It gave us cool things like: Wasteland Time Warp Grindstone (nearly $50 card) Eldamri, Lord of Leaves ($50+ card) Altar of Dementia Lotus Petal Scroll Rack Aluren ($50+ card) *Slivers in general* (1st set to introduce them) Corpse Dance Intuition ($100+ card) Cursed Scroll Earthcraft ($100+ card) The Medallion Cycle (popular in EDH) Ancient Tomb (nearly $100 card) Humility ($50+ card) Mirri's Guile (popular in EDH) Reanimate And I'm sure other cool stuff! Oh, pretty sure it gave us the Shadow mechanic too 😅
Tempest is also notable for being the first set with Richard Garfield on the design team since Arabian Nights. He also returned for Innistrad and Dominaria (I think on that one). It's not a coincidence that all of those sets were very popular and well received.
I would have nominated Onslaught just for the fetch lands, an entire format was created just to exclude those things. Though I'm also a bit biased since that's the set I have the most experience with, having really only played from around that time to Darksteel(the expansion after Mirrodin), and was my introduction to Drafts.
No set was more impactful than Limited Edition. What about the first design of pitch spells in Alliances? Force of Will is the backbone of eternal formats. Onslaught introduced Fetchlands which continues to be essential for basically any serious mana base. And Ravnica for the modern set design it brought and defining the color pairs. Let's not forget about Sixth Edition, and its total reworking of the ruleset it brought with it. If Limited Edition is the most impactful set, then Sixth Edition is the second most impactful set on how we all play Magic: the Gathering.
ABU is the start of the game so it de facto has the most impact. Without it, there's literally no game. I think that's a "we'll set this one aside" because of that; it's the Tier 0 set. But I agree with you on 6th. It needs to be #1. The introduction of the stack is so crucial for making the game coherent and able to grow. The game would not be as far without that and it was a MAJOR change to the rules that cannot be understated. One of my issues with some of the videos on this channel is that he doesn't really appreciate how bad the game was when it started in comparison to how it is now, how cards from that era need to be put in perspective.
Hmm… interesting perspective. Arabian nights is the first expansion and should be 1st because it has the 10th piece of power if you know what that is and this is also around the time of side boarding getting added into the 10th edition of scry magazine on its release. Legends probably after that. Chronicals is impactful yes… I guess but for all the wrong reasons as you describe. I’d say 3rd edition, revised is probably also a close competitor for the number 1 slot. That’s when the game blew up… they printed so many of those damn cards and so many people wanted to play. The influence of that release can’t be understated.
The lighting effect for War of the Spark made it impossible to keep watching the video- it's practically a strobe light, and I'm not even normally affected by strobe lights.
Cards are very rarely banned in vintage. However Ikoria while not the most impactful the companion mechanic and Lurus was so powerful for the format it was banned from Vintage for some time. Also notably Oko in the year of its printing was so powerful a player turned their Lotus into an Elk for the winning match . Lab man was played in the modern deck Ad Nauseam prior to War of the Spark jace and later oracle prior to the lotus bloom ban.
I think these videos are good. I would say though, I feel like you should be a bit more discerning when choosing which card images you use. It’s just weird hearing you talk about cards from one set, but showing a different printing.
Chronicles introduced the reserved list. It was an answer to complaints of not being able to get older cards, like from Legends, but the reprints freaked people out that their original copies would lose value. So, Wizards released the reserved list as a promise not to reprint high dollar cards like the Power 9.
Kinda surprised not to see Ikoria on this list. The companion mechanic alone should probably let it be on the list. Then it also introduced the first ever Tri lands
There are three sets that should have been on the list for their impact. Alpha created the game and had the power nine. If Mirage is on the list for its focus on block, how is Legends not there when it created EDH and Commander. Chronicles allowed new players access to important cards and caused the reserve List.
Wait a second, why is Legends not on this list? Legends introduced legendary permanents and multicolor to magic. Can you imagine the game without either of those concepts?
very cool vid, but i hate the fact that you are talking about cards of specific sets and show us prints from others, like when you talk about future sight and show prints of time spiral, makes it lose a lot of "importance" to the set (sorry for bad english)
How Ikoria wasn't on this list is beyond me. Lurrus was banned in Vintage, Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer. Lurrus was the first card banned in Vintage for power level reasons since 1996. The Companion mechanic had to be completely re-worked due to its power level. I don't understand the flow of this list. Impactful can be viewed through many lenses as demonstrated. Lorwyn is there for its design impact and so is Mirage, but despite the lasting design of block formats, the gap in their ranking is huge. War of the Spark imhas design impact and Dreadhorde Anarchist is banned. Everything else is for power level, but Eldraine really was really just Oko, all the other bans were standard. Just doesn't feel like there's a consistent throughline of hierarchy, does lasting impact matter more? Or does immediate impact with bans?
I feel like Kaladesh should've been on the list, and possibly Alara for similar reasons I see for Ravnica. But for Kaladesh, it introduced vehicles which have sometimes even warped standard around them, not quite as impactful as the Planeswalker type, but still very eventful
Kaladesh has had almost no impact outside that standard though. Outside of vehicles, which are a fairly fringe card type, that set has almost no legacy in the greater context of the game. It did shift artifact synergies away from what it was with Mirrodin to colored cards a bit but I don't think this is major.
I would add BFZ because it introduced the trash diamond symbol to curse MTG forever. 😂 Ikoria could have been iconic if the ability token mechanic stayed. I'd also add the second Mirrodin block for making Poison decks playable. And finally, ROE for the ridiculously powerful and satisfying Eldrazi Titans with Annihilation. Also Time Spiral brought back the Slivers, shoulndt be forgotten.
Original Magic lore was that YOU were the planeswalker. Fallen Empires deserves a spot on this list. Before Fallen Empires, Magic sets were woefully underprinted and hard to get after their first week of release. Legends sold out immediately and increased tenfold in price per pack on the secondary market within weeks of release. The Dark had many shops imposing a limit as to how many packs you could purchase per week. Fallen Empires was the first set to make cards widely available by being printed to demand rather than one arbitrary number that guessed how much product would sell. This change in availability lead to the creation of the Type 2 format, now known as standard. You can't get much more impactful on the game than that.
@@DerekScottBland I played magic when Fallen Empires came out. You can insult me, but your post is so troll I'm getting a lot of laughs from me and my friends about it. So hate me, but thank you.
@@schploink6869 - glad to see you're taking my advice and waving that idiot banner high and proud. How sad is your life that you have to attack someone for having a differing opinion about something so insignificant? Man, I doubt it when you say your friends are laughing, people like you are so miserable you don't have friends. Seriously, if you remember playing when Fallen came out, that means you have to at least be in your 40's, and for someone that old to be that pathetic still.... wow.
@@GabAssbreaker - Homelands had some great flavor and art, but not many cards that have ever made an impact on the game. I remember Autumn Willow being a thing when the set first released, Merchant Scroll got some attention, Serrated Arrows was an important sideboard card for a brief time, and of course Didgeridoo keeps getting brought up when a minotaur is printed. Now we have Leeches gaining popularity, but that will go away after the set and the poison mechanic go away again.
The last that I played and collected was from the release of fifth edition all the way up to about Erza’s destiny and I remember buying starter boxes which I mean sealed box of multiple starters. I got one of stronghold mercadian masque n booster box of legacy I called mox diamond had so many good foils from legacy had quite a few awesome saga cards like time spiral guy as cradle force of will can’t quite remember them all then on top of them had four of every dual lands except tiger and tundra three of which were unlimited and had an unlimited max pearl at the time I quit my max diamond was worth $60 and Max pearl because was not in good shape roughly 90 to 100 and the dual lands we’re going for between 15 and 30 for the revised and the unlimited I believe we’re roughly $45-$60. I ended up selling everything about two years maybe three before the big boom of collecting basically before it became popular to be a nerd, and I nearly ended myself and cried myself to sleep for weeks looking up the prices and seeing that every dual land was over $100. My max could’ve been anywhere from 500 to 1000 the diamond was worth several hundred my collection today would have probably been worth close to $20,000 and I sold it all for I believe 350 to 500
Funny enough out of the 10 companions only a select few were utterly broken, the rest was mediocre or plain bad, and afterwards and after nerfing the mechanic it just doesn't play much of a role anymore honestly. Companion is kinda awkward with commander though, with Lutri being banned because every deck fulfills its condition by default, while Yorion is literally impossible to play.
I think *Ikoria* should have taken a spot as the first set designed for an online space, Arena. It introduced Mutate which is worded real clunky in the physical game and Companion which is generally considered one of the most busted mechanics ever made. It also gave us the Triomes which have become staples in most formats and the Godzilla alts being printed in a main set.
This list seems a bit off.. what about Legends (introducing Legends), original Ravnica (shocklands), Odyssey (graveyard), Onslaught (fetch lands), Shards of Alara (mythics), Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, these sets obviously had impact to Magic as a whole
Probably this video needs to be renamed as “Most impactful EXPANSION Sets”. All 10 of these sets put together don’t add up in to the original core sets of Alpha, Beta and Unlimited.
I don't agree with this list. I think that formally Alpha should be the most impactful, because it introduced Magic: the Gathering. How can the first set that brings the game to the table not be the most impactful one? Also, I would have put Onslaught somewhere in the top10, because of the impact fetchlands had.
Yeah, this top ten is honestly a huge miss. It evaluates impact purely on the term of powerful cards and competitive play, which is honestly a big misunderstanding of what makes magic popular. The flavor is as important to magic as the gameplay (conider, for example, how the Kamigawa block is universally acknowledged as poorly-designed, and yet the popularity of the plane was enough to warrant a return). Set related to big changes in the story or lore are often as impactful as, if not more than, those with powerful cards or unique design. And, as the other comments prove, you can't really make a list of more impactful sets without mentioning Ravnica (hell, without Ravnica at first place). First of all, because it's RAVNICA, the plane which has become the most popular and beloved in all of Magic, and it isn't even close. So popular that we have returned to it several times (War of the Spark was set on Ravnica for a reason), players loved, and still love, the setting and the flavor more than anything, so much that for a time it moved the spotlight away from Dominaria, the plane that is lorewise the centre of the multiverse. But it's not just that, Ravnica has been influential even in terms of gameplay, game design and mechanica. For Ravnica is were a keyword you mentioned several times in the video came from: Dredge. The mechanic that finalized how graveyard-focused decks worked. It's also the birthplace of the famous shocklands, lands that have become integral for the manabase of all formats they are legal in, together with fetchlands. But the biggest influence of all is in the design, and how Ravnica gave magic focus on multi-color cards. It's not the set that introduced them, but it's the first set which had them not as exceptions, but as its core. Beofre Ravnica, themes in magic were either in a single color (black zombies, red goblins...) or existing in multiple colors, but with Ravnica they started giving theme a defined color identities, with multi-color cards being not cool exceptions but a staple. And you can see both the love for this set and the impact the focus on multi-colors had on design that, to this day, the two-colors combination are known and referred to (by creators and players alike) with the names of the associated guild. People who started playing years after Ravnica know what color is a Golgari deck, or a Simic. Alara and Tarkir would later introduce names for the tri-color combinations, but both owe this to trend started by Ravnica (the four-color combination don't have official names, but are usually know to fans with the names of the Nephlims, who also appeared in the original Ravnica block). It might not have an Oko (though, I would argue that staples seeing widespread play and necessary for consistency are more game-defining than finishers or cards that are banned, and hence not played), but the impact on the game is undeniable.
Why do you keep showing the most recent printing of cards? Show the actual version of the cards that was printed in that set. It feels like the editor has no idea about MTG.
Shoulda used the original set cards, with set symbols, not reprints. Also Mirage has Phyrexian Dreadnaught, and Flash, and to a lesser extent Spirit of the Night.
I think a fun list for the future would be top 10 sideboard cards. Cards that don't see a ton of play in the main deck but are frequent includes in the sideboard, like Leyline of the Void or Skysovereign.
This dude doesnt know enough about the game to make a list on that
@@bobfranklin2572 Where do you get that from
@@bobfranklin2572 If by "this dude" you mean the narrator, then it doesn't matter because the script is written by someone else.
@@jeremiahperdue5518 Hirumaredx (the man behind the voice) was originally a YGO player making similar videos to the same ones here; I’d like to say he only started making MTG videos almost a year ago. He also does have a consultant that I think is a judge helping him with the Top 10s
@Fernando Banda i mean the person producing/writing the videos. Its pretty evident they havent been playing for long. That isnt meant to sound gatekeep-y or snobbish, ive a somewhat new player myself.
A list on top sideboard cards requires a deep knowledge of the specific context and complex histories of many formats. Even just researching this isnt easy.
How would he structure the list? Top 10 cards that showed up based on volume alone? Or impact? Or how well they can sway certain matchups?
It seems the writer mostly plays standard and historic on arena with some minor interest in other formats. I just dont think they would be able to do a list like that justice and it would take MONTHS of research at least.
Maybe it's not as impactful as sets on the video, but Ravnica block was a great way to explore two color combinations, giving them a defined identity, specific traits and card design that has been used again on the sets that came after them.
One word: dredge.
Add too this that there were 3 blocks set on that plane, and you have a real impact.
Yeah, like Innistrad had a theme and such with great draft format. Ravnica draft with all 3 sets? One of the best limited environments ever up there with Innistrad and Invasion block. The dredge mechanic was a huge influence that we still feel to this day because basically any time they make some card that works in the graveyard, they need to be careful or it's just broken with dredge. See: Hogaak, risen necropolis as one example.
I really dislike Ravnica for this reason. The pure symmetry is too streamlined for me and I feel takes some of the wonder and fun out of formerly asymmetrical sets. And ever since that, so many sets they release have done the symmetrical thing. So in a way I kinda feel like Ravnica messed everything up
I mean Mirrodin should be #1 for the art change and the start of Modern and Ravnica should be #2 for so so so many extremely impactful reasons...
MTG fundamentally changed in both flavor and design after Ravnica. Ravnica is the most visited plane for a reason and Mark Rosewater himself has stated many many times that the first Ravnica block was by far the most impactful...
this list is just cheap ragebait.
it would have been cooler to see the versions of the cards as printed in those sets. just my opinion
Especially Future Sight, since almost all of the impactful cards named used the "Future-shifted" frame exclusive to the set that made them heavily stand out.
I often feel this, as I watch this channel out of nostalgia and haven't played tt magic in a decade. I'd love to see original prints of cards on the videos.
New Phyrexia and the Ravnica block definitely belong here. New Phyrexia was such a huge power creep that a lot of cards introduced there are still played today and Ravnica redefined Magic's identity. Dual color decks are still so commonly referred to with their Ravnica guild name that it's hard to overlook the impact the sets had, if not from a game play standpoint, then just the essence of what Magic is.
Ravnica definitely deserves a spot on this list. It ended up being the progenitor for modern limited design. Signpost uncommons telling players what a color pair was all about came out of this set. the shock lands that are played in every format they're legal came from this set. The set also had the "what guild are you?" marketing, that was so effective they've revisited Ravnica several times and attempted to recreate that strong identity in other sets such as Alara, Tarkir, and most recently Strixhaven. It wasn't the first set to have factions, but it was the first to tie factions so clearly into the overarching set design, theming, and card design. Investing people in not just a set of mechanics they find fun, but a whole identity for the color pairs has to be one of the most impactful developments MtG has done since the very first set.
And on that note, I think it's hard to argue the most impactful set in all of MtG isn't Alpha. The legacy of the Power 9 rings strong even with people who never even touched the set, and even in the face of numerous power crept or flat out design mistakes that have been printed over the years, such as Oko or Skullclamp. Many other cards like Sol Ring, Lightning Bolt, and Dark Ritual see regular play in multiple formats to this day. And on top of that, it was the very first TCG of any kind. If hit hadn't been such a smash-hit success, not only would we maybe not have MtG be as dominant as it is, but games like Yu-Gi-Oh, the Pokemon TCG, Flesh and Blood, and dozens of other TCGs probably wouldn't even exist. It's honestly surprising how little has changed since Alpha first came out, and a clear sign of just how successful the set was that so much of what it set up has endured over the years and influenced entire other games.
Wait people actually play Simic in limited?! I thought they were joking.
Alpha deserves a honorable mention indeed, exactly because it's so obvious.
Love Ravnica btw, good thing the plane was revisited early in Arena and made me stay x)
Yeah, I was perplexed to not see Alpha/beta on this list since for all intents and purposes they're the same with a few card exceptions like volcanic island and one circle of protection card. Ravnica limited was so damn good indeed, one of the best they've ever made.
Honestly those tropes were defined more by Return to Ravnica than original Ravnica. Original Ravnica had a lot more original ideas. If Chorus of the Conclave were printed today it would be Simic.
Honestly, Alpha should be #0 on the list. An honorable mention spot reserved for something so great, it'd eclipse the rest of the list easily.
I feel like you missed one set on this list: New Phyrexia. The power creep of the phyrexian mana cards impacted every format and some still see play to this day today.
Yeah, it's crazy that War of the Spark, Eldraine, Modern Horizons (1&2 tbh, but absolutely 2), and now New Phyrexia have been so impactful on the game in just the past handful of years.
Yeah, could certainly say New Phyrexia on this list. They really weren't thinking when they allowed people to pay 2 life for a free mana and it shows. Crazy impact on modern design because it reminded them to be way more careful again in the same vein as Urza block where if they weren't careful, a combo winter could come again.
@@dstreetz91 New Phyrexia's my favorite set ever. I'd totally open another box if I could. To this day multiple phyrexian mana spells are strong enough for modern.
@@dstreetz91 Cards with exclusively non standard mana alternative costs are an enticing design space but how could Wizards design such a mechanic and still avoid it being broken by players?
Gitaxian probe. Nuff said.
I swore original Ravnica block would have made the list. It’s so impactful at every two color deck not named after a specific card or combo is likely named after one of the guilds.
Tbh ravnica as well as takir and alara were impactful about how we viewed the game by giving names and personalities to color combinations, but not impactful on the cardpool itself.
@@nicolaistuhlmuller8718 I mean, Ravnica had the shock lands and the bounce lands. Dredge, as well as a host of more niche mechanics like transmute or convoke. Doubling Season and Dark Confidant were first printed in Ravnica City of Guilds. The signets are still some of the strongest mana rocks and Lightning Helix is a burn staple. Remand was printed in this set. Hybrid mana came from this set. Plus like a dozen other cards that are either more niche or have recently fallen out of favor, but had a lasting impact prior to that. In a more design sense, I'm pretty sure it also invented the signpost uncommon, which is integral in the way every set is designed now.
The more I look at what originally came out of just the first Ravnica set, the more it becomes clear that it has just as much impact on modern magic as a lot of these more recent sets, and had even more impact before they outclassed a lot of staples from the set.
I think they took the whole Ravnica thing a little too far for a while, it seemed like Simic and Boros really only had one game mechanic to their name. Original Ravnica block had a lot more variety than RTR though
Ravnica should be #2 behind only Mirrodin.
this list is beyond garbage lol
You definitely missed Legends. It introduced legendary creatures, the centerpiece of the most popular format in MTG, EDH. Furthermore it introduced multicolor cards, which gave players completely new options in deckbuilding and playing.
If you're highlighting cards from a specific set you should use the card art from that set.
I'd put legends near number 1 for introducing legendary creatures, multicolored cards, the concept of color cycles, and 15 card packs
The most popular format EDH (Elder dragon highlander) would not exist without the legendary elder dragons.
The story would be more disconnected if you could not represent the characters on cards
Etc.
i'd say Kamigawa has a better influence on the popularization of the format despite not being its genesis
Legends really took magic to a new level, anyone that played back then knows. First multicolored cards, first legendary cards. Not having it on this list is a failure
Color cycles were definitely a thing in Alpha. The boon cycle, the lace cycle, dual lands, mini-cycles in opposing colors like Bad Moon/Crusade and Deathgrip/Lifeforce, etc. Also those were 15 cards packs too. Only the small expansions were 8 cards.
I found you by binging your world of warcraft videos, just to find out that you also do magic the gathering which I love even more and now I'm binging all of this! Keep up the good work man you're great!
I’d take the onslaught block over lorwyn tbh. Storm as a keyword was completly broken and gave a lot of tribal decks life
Not to mention fetch lands.
Maybe, but how many sets have introduced a completely new card type? Onslaught might have added some new tools, but Planeswalkers fundamentally changed the way the game is played
Honorable mention goes to the Un-sets, having many cards memorable just for how out they were. It was also the first set with full card layouts for basic lands. Many cards in general from the sets have unorthodox layouts. The fact that the cards frequently invent entirely new concepts that need special rulings is also notable. Having an unique card border color just to contain the craziness is the best TL;DR about it.
Your content is good but i really wish you used the original old border cards insteand of reprints when talking about older sets.
Ravnica: City of Guilds absolutely deserves a spot on this list (probably in the top 3-5 tbh) for the dredge mechanic alone. It completely changed not only the way people played the game, finally understanding the value of the graveyard, but the way sets were designed as well. It took 6 years for them to release another graveyard themed set, and they did so by including some of the most powerful graveyard hate in the game’s history, as well as DRASTICALLY depowering the graveyard theme/mechanic.
You could also argue that Chronicles belongs here for the simple fact that it drove the creation of the reserved list.
Other sets worth mentioning
OG Ravnica Block
Shards of Alara
Khans ofTarkir
A/B/U
Alpha should always and forever be #1 as all TCGs owe their existence to Alpha.
Onslaught is easily in the top 5 as fetchlands are some of the most powerful cards ever printed.
5:03 - Dreadhorde Anarchist 😆
That ravnica set I would say probably should have been uo there not only were the shocklands introduced it gave names to the two color combinations that are still used to this day
I would have for sure added New Phyrexia because of both the Infect, Proliferate and Phyrexian Mana mechanics.
It may not be as straight-up powerful as other sets here, but cards Dismember, Gutshot, Gitaxian Probe and Mutagenic Growth have had a real impact on the game as a whole.
I'm surprised Onslaught was not on this list. Onslaught had many really powerful cards, many that still see play today. Cards like Exalted Angel, the fetch lands, and Goblin Piledriver were extremely powerful cards for their day. Also, don't forget about Future Sight (the card) as well as Biorhythm, a card that can win the game instantly.
I was expecting dominaria 2018 to be in this list for introducing saga and teferi, hero of dominaria, but it was a good list regardless ;).
Liliana of the Veil was a critical piece of how I was able to beat a Hypergenesis that allowed my opponent to put a Progenitus and Emrakul into play in an SCG Legacy tournament.
Swords to Plowshares the Shardless Agent, search up Karakas with my Knight of the Reliquary for the Emrakul and then Liliana forcing my opponent to sacrifice their last creature, the Progenitus.
Waiting for the second part of this topic because Ravnica citie of guilds wasn't in the list
For me, personally, among some of the other ones you've already said, really impactful sets for me include Invasion, Ravnica, Torment, Time Spiral, and Tempest. And Prophecy, because it was the set I first started in (I had so many Rhystic Studies back in the day!).
Ice Age: First set to introduce stand alone expansion play. Only one I can think of.
Top 10 MTG Creators TheManaLogs should collab with.
I want to say if you ever plan on doing a episode on greatest sets of time in magic for Draft, Kamigawa Neon Dynasty is incredibly good for draft specifically.
Otherwise hope your doing well.
First Friday Noght Magic after Urzas Saga was released I won with a RG echo (pouncing jaguar, shivan raptor, acidic soil). I crushed two blue academy stroke decks thanks to meltdown in the sideboard.
I’m not saying academy/stroke wasn’t broken, but sometimes it couldn’t pull it off in 4 turns and you could race it.
I’m not just any scrub, I was on the pro tour twice and had many many PTQ top 8s from 2000-2007.
I loved Urzas block and think that power level should be the standard.
Now THAT'S a hot take.
I honestly expected the very first set to at least get an honorable mention. Since it literally started the game. Can't get much more impactful than that.
The impact of onslaught was huge. Fetechlands
I'm curious what were the magic sets that led to set rotation being a thing in Magic the Gathering?
standard was made by wizards to push competitive playes away from playing with the higher powered cards from Alpha and to instead play with new cards, which was better for business
I was there for this, lol. Basically it was lack of access. Until Fallen Empires, there was only ONE print run of cards for expansions, and when they sold out that was it. Legends sold out in like 3 days and a few weeks later went from $1.49 a pack to $15 a pack. In recognition of the high price of entering tournaments due to so many staple cards from A/B/U, Arabian Nights, Antiquities and Legends having such a high price tag, constructed was separated into Type 1 (now known as Vintage) and Type 2 (now known as Standard).
And luckily it now keeps power creep in check nicely. While magic definitely has power creep, thanks to standard taking away some pressure to make high powered card it's not as crazy as in say yugioh.
@@DerekScottBland Okay, thanks for the information. I guess I had kind of assumed that there would be more then one print run and it was more of an issue with staple cards/op cards that created it since I remember a video talking about Japanese TCGs and how set rotation had a big negative impact on the game's popularity in Japan which was part of why Pokemon waited so long to do set rotation.
@@U1TR4F0RCE - yeah, it was mainly availability and price point. The next thing that happened was the dual lands not being reprinted in 4th edition. People still wanted to use their duals, but they didn't have access to the expensive cards used in Vintage, so Type 1.5 / Extended was created. It allowed any cards from The Dark and Revised forward with no rotation. It also allowed all promotional cards to be used. Then it changed in the early 2000's to the last 6-8 years of sets, rotating every 3 years. Then it changed to the last 7 years with a yearly rotation. Finally it changed to the last 4 years and was finally retired in 2013 as WotC decided Modern should replace it.
4:16 "Vintage does not ban cards for power concerns."
Except Lurrus of the Dream Den before the Companion rules were changed.
Ikoria should have mentioned here, imagine the companion mechanic was too strong, banning the cards wasnt enough, they ended up changing the companion rule. Also dont forget this is where the fetchable tri-land first introduced which seen plays for multiple formats
A great video!
BUT... if you're talking about a set, why use pictures of cards from other sets?
Of course. They were originally printed in the set you're talking about.
But I find it really anticlimactic to talk about MIRAGE, showing a LED from Vintage masters, for example...
“(Innistrad’s) unique theming including werewolves…”
The Dark: Am I a joke to you?
I would LOVE to see a Futuresight like set, as well as lots of mechanics that are completely forgotten, like Aura Swap and fortification.
Also, there are almost no support in levelling creatures (or artifacts that levels up, which do not exist yet), except for proliferate
We need a video like this but for Yu-Gi-Oh!
I don't play MTG, but I've watched enough of this channel that as soon as he said "Food Token", I knew Oko was coming.
Mirage and Visions were two halves of one set called Menagerie, not designed as a block with Weatherlight. Weatherlight started the Weatherlight Saga, where they decided to create a larger storyline. The first block designed as a block was the Rath Cycle.
Also, Urza's Destiny (oddly) is the most impactful because of Opalescence and Humilty and the resulting 6th Edition Rules, which effectively made Magic a different game than it was.
No Onslaught? It introduced the Fetch Lands.
Urzas Saga is also the block with the best arts in history of mtg. Besides the ban worthy cards it also added mechanics like cycling.
In every single video there is a moment where I find myself asking who this man is. What human hasn't ever heard the word "harbinger" why is there always one word that makes this man sound like a straight up alien
Think you should also consider mechanics, creature types, rule changes, etc., though that might be hard to quantify for a list like this. I know it's not the set itself, but 6th Edition was hugely impactful due to all the rule changes that came along with it.
Also, a personal favorite of mine would be Tempest. It gave us cool things like:
Wasteland
Time Warp
Grindstone (nearly $50 card)
Eldamri, Lord of Leaves ($50+ card)
Altar of Dementia
Lotus Petal
Scroll Rack
Aluren ($50+ card)
*Slivers in general* (1st set to introduce them)
Corpse Dance
Intuition ($100+ card)
Cursed Scroll
Earthcraft ($100+ card)
The Medallion Cycle (popular in EDH)
Ancient Tomb (nearly $100 card)
Humility ($50+ card)
Mirri's Guile (popular in EDH)
Reanimate
And I'm sure other cool stuff! Oh, pretty sure it gave us the Shadow mechanic too 😅
Tempest is also notable for being the first set with Richard Garfield on the design team since Arabian Nights. He also returned for Innistrad and Dominaria (I think on that one). It's not a coincidence that all of those sets were very popular and well received.
That's it I don't watch videos from you anymore. You chose modern versions of every card even when they are originally old frame. It's outrageous.
I would have nominated Onslaught just for the fetch lands, an entire format was created just to exclude those things. Though I'm also a bit biased since that's the set I have the most experience with, having really only played from around that time to Darksteel(the expansion after Mirrodin), and was my introduction to Drafts.
No set was more impactful than Limited Edition. What about the first design of pitch spells in Alliances? Force of Will is the backbone of eternal formats. Onslaught introduced Fetchlands which continues to be essential for basically any serious mana base. And Ravnica for the modern set design it brought and defining the color pairs.
Let's not forget about Sixth Edition, and its total reworking of the ruleset it brought with it. If Limited Edition is the most impactful set, then Sixth Edition is the second most impactful set on how we all play Magic: the Gathering.
ABU is the start of the game so it de facto has the most impact. Without it, there's literally no game. I think that's a "we'll set this one aside" because of that; it's the Tier 0 set.
But I agree with you on 6th. It needs to be #1. The introduction of the stack is so crucial for making the game coherent and able to grow. The game would not be as far without that and it was a MAJOR change to the rules that cannot be understated. One of my issues with some of the videos on this channel is that he doesn't really appreciate how bad the game was when it started in comparison to how it is now, how cards from that era need to be put in perspective.
I think Zendikar rising deserve a honorable mention, the double face land change when it comes to deck building.
Hmm… interesting perspective. Arabian nights is the first expansion and should be 1st because it has the 10th piece of power if you know what that is and this is also around the time of side boarding getting added into the 10th edition of scry magazine on its release. Legends probably after that. Chronicals is impactful yes… I guess but for all the wrong reasons as you describe. I’d say 3rd edition, revised is probably also a close competitor for the number 1 slot. That’s when the game blew up… they printed so many of those damn cards and so many people wanted to play. The influence of that release can’t be understated.
The lighting effect for War of the Spark made it impossible to keep watching the video- it's practically a strobe light, and I'm not even normally affected by strobe lights.
Cards are very rarely banned in vintage.
However Ikoria while not the most impactful the companion mechanic and Lurus was so powerful for the format it was banned from Vintage for some time.
Also notably Oko in the year of its printing was so powerful a player turned their Lotus into an Elk for the winning match .
Lab man was played in the modern deck Ad Nauseam prior to War of the Spark jace and later oracle prior to the lotus bloom ban.
Yep… that’s FIRES design for ya..
thou they did tone down the power level a bit on recent sets
Alpha: So spaketh he, let there be Magic.
I would have noted that Eldraine was also when Showcase cards were introduced, at least insofar as a normalcy to be cracked in packs.
I think these videos are good. I would say though, I feel like you should be a bit more discerning when choosing which card images you use. It’s just weird hearing you talk about cards from one set, but showing a different printing.
Great video but the only annoying thing are the shining crazy backgrounds. It's more distracting than the cards.
Kinda expected Ikoria to be on this list, especially with the whole companion debacle.
Chronicles introduced the reserved list. It was an answer to complaints of not being able to get older cards, like from Legends, but the reprints freaked people out that their original copies would lose value. So, Wizards released the reserved list as a promise not to reprint high dollar cards like the Power 9.
Dragon’s Rage Channeler not being mentioned in MH2 is criminal. Card is almost as good as Ragavan.
Kinda surprised not to see Ikoria on this list. The companion mechanic alone should probably let it be on the list. Then it also introduced the first ever Tri lands
There are three sets that should have been on the list for their impact. Alpha created the game and had the power nine. If Mirage is on the list for its focus on block, how is Legends not there when it created EDH and Commander. Chronicles allowed new players access to important cards and caused the reserve List.
urzas saga didnt bring the ban hammer, it brought the entire ban hardware store
Wish you would show the original arts
Ahhh, good old Bogart Harbringer.
Wait a second, why is Legends not on this list? Legends introduced legendary permanents and multicolor to magic. Can you imagine the game without either of those concepts?
I find it curious that you did not mention the equipment mechanic/artifact type that was introduced in Mirrodin.
im missing zéndikar rising: alternate art spam and booster changes
very cool vid, but i hate the fact that you are talking about cards of specific sets and show us prints from others, like when you talk about future sight and show prints of time spiral, makes it lose a lot of "importance" to the set (sorry for bad english)
I think tempest really deserves a spot
How Ikoria wasn't on this list is beyond me.
Lurrus was banned in Vintage, Legacy, Modern, and Pioneer. Lurrus was the first card banned in Vintage for power level reasons since 1996.
The Companion mechanic had to be completely re-worked due to its power level.
I don't understand the flow of this list. Impactful can be viewed through many lenses as demonstrated. Lorwyn is there for its design impact and so is Mirage, but despite the lasting design of block formats, the gap in their ranking is huge. War of the Spark imhas design impact and Dreadhorde Anarchist is banned. Everything else is for power level, but Eldraine really was really just Oko, all the other bans were standard. Just doesn't feel like there's a consistent throughline of hierarchy, does lasting impact matter more? Or does immediate impact with bans?
I feel like Kaladesh should've been on the list, and possibly Alara for similar reasons I see for Ravnica. But for Kaladesh, it introduced vehicles which have sometimes even warped standard around them, not quite as impactful as the Planeswalker type, but still very eventful
Kaladesh has had almost no impact outside that standard though. Outside of vehicles, which are a fairly fringe card type, that set has almost no legacy in the greater context of the game. It did shift artifact synergies away from what it was with Mirrodin to colored cards a bit but I don't think this is major.
I would add BFZ because it introduced the trash diamond symbol to curse MTG forever. 😂 Ikoria could have been iconic if the ability token mechanic stayed. I'd also add the second Mirrodin block for making Poison decks playable. And finally, ROE for the ridiculously powerful and satisfying Eldrazi Titans with Annihilation. Also Time Spiral brought back the Slivers, shoulndt be forgotten.
Original Magic lore was that YOU were the planeswalker.
Fallen Empires deserves a spot on this list. Before Fallen Empires, Magic sets were woefully underprinted and hard to get after their first week of release. Legends sold out immediately and increased tenfold in price per pack on the secondary market within weeks of release. The Dark had many shops imposing a limit as to how many packs you could purchase per week. Fallen Empires was the first set to make cards widely available by being printed to demand rather than one arbitrary number that guessed how much product would sell. This change in availability lead to the creation of the Type 2 format, now known as standard. You can't get much more impactful on the game than that.
Troll post, lol
@@schploink6869 - wave that "I'm an idiot" banner high and free, my friend.
@@DerekScottBland I played magic when Fallen Empires came out. You can insult me, but your post is so troll I'm getting a lot of laughs from me and my friends about it. So hate me, but thank you.
@@schploink6869 - glad to see you're taking my advice and waving that idiot banner high and proud. How sad is your life that you have to attack someone for having a differing opinion about something so insignificant? Man, I doubt it when you say your friends are laughing, people like you are so miserable you don't have friends. Seriously, if you remember playing when Fallen came out, that means you have to at least be in your 40's, and for someone that old to be that pathetic still.... wow.
@@DerekScottBland Im 38, and lollllllllll
I absolutely love inniatrad.
Mirrodin also introduced equipment
I wanna see the top ten _least_ impactful magic sets tbh
#1 would be Homelands. Whatever set was all creatures, I know that was pretty despised.
@@DerekScottBland Homelands make Legends and The Dark look like Urza´s Saga. I still like the art of some on the Homelands cards tho.
@@GabAssbreaker - Homelands had some great flavor and art, but not many cards that have ever made an impact on the game. I remember Autumn Willow being a thing when the set first released, Merchant Scroll got some attention, Serrated Arrows was an important sideboard card for a brief time, and of course Didgeridoo keeps getting brought up when a minotaur is printed. Now we have Leeches gaining popularity, but that will go away after the set and the poison mechanic go away again.
Good content, but could you please tone down the flashing, noisy backgrounds?
The last that I played and collected was from the release of fifth edition all the way up to about Erza’s destiny and I remember buying starter boxes which I mean sealed box of multiple starters. I got one of stronghold mercadian masque n booster box of legacy I called mox diamond had so many good foils from legacy had quite a few awesome saga cards like time spiral guy as cradle force of will can’t quite remember them all then on top of them had four of every dual lands except tiger and tundra three of which were unlimited and had an unlimited max pearl at the time I quit my max diamond was worth $60 and Max pearl because was not in good shape roughly 90 to 100 and the dual lands we’re going for between 15 and 30 for the revised and the unlimited I believe we’re roughly $45-$60. I ended up selling everything about two years maybe three before the big boom of collecting basically before it became popular to be a nerd, and I nearly ended myself and cried myself to sleep for weeks looking up the prices and seeing that every dual land was over $100. My max could’ve been anywhere from 500 to 1000 the diamond was worth several hundred my collection today would have probably been worth close to $20,000 and I sold it all for I believe 350 to 500
Masques block suffered for Saga's sins.
No Ikoria? I would think that the introduction of the Companion ability would be enough to get it a spot.
Funny enough out of the 10 companions only a select few were utterly broken, the rest was mediocre or plain bad, and afterwards and after nerfing the mechanic it just doesn't play much of a role anymore honestly.
Companion is kinda awkward with commander though, with Lutri being banned because every deck fulfills its condition by default, while Yorion is literally impossible to play.
I actually expected Alpha to be #1
Laboratory maniac saw play in both doomsday and cephalid breakfast
I think *Ikoria* should have taken a spot as the first set designed for an online space, Arena. It introduced Mutate which is worded real clunky in the physical game and Companion which is generally considered one of the most busted mechanics ever made. It also gave us the Triomes which have become staples in most formats and the Godzilla alts being printed in a main set.
This list seems a bit off.. what about Legends (introducing Legends), original Ravnica (shocklands), Odyssey (graveyard), Onslaught (fetch lands), Shards of Alara (mythics), Alpha/Beta/Unlimited, these sets obviously had impact to Magic as a whole
Thought Ravnica was gonna be on the list.
Probably this video needs to be renamed as “Most impactful EXPANSION Sets”. All 10 of these sets put together don’t add up in to the original core sets of Alpha, Beta and Unlimited.
loved uraza saga was a great time for blue players
10:36 "Necrobeeba"
Homelands- for providing a voluminous reference on how to NOT design MTG sets.
Wait, Mirage is the “earliest” set? LEGENDS??? The introduction of multi-colored cards and legendary creatures?
Bruh, not using the original art per set is killing me D:.
5:25 fairy tails? Like snow?
Surprised ravnica didn't appear 🙃
Amazing!
I don't agree with this list. I think that formally Alpha should be the most impactful, because it introduced Magic: the Gathering. How can the first set that brings the game to the table not be the most impactful one?
Also, I would have put Onslaught somewhere in the top10, because of the impact fetchlands had.
Yeah, this top ten is honestly a huge miss. It evaluates impact purely on the term of powerful cards and competitive play, which is honestly a big misunderstanding of what makes magic popular. The flavor is as important to magic as the gameplay (conider, for example, how the Kamigawa block is universally acknowledged as poorly-designed, and yet the popularity of the plane was enough to warrant a return). Set related to big changes in the story or lore are often as impactful as, if not more than, those with powerful cards or unique design.
And, as the other comments prove, you can't really make a list of more impactful sets without mentioning Ravnica (hell, without Ravnica at first place). First of all, because it's RAVNICA, the plane which has become the most popular and beloved in all of Magic, and it isn't even close. So popular that we have returned to it several times (War of the Spark was set on Ravnica for a reason), players loved, and still love, the setting and the flavor more than anything, so much that for a time it moved the spotlight away from Dominaria, the plane that is lorewise the centre of the multiverse.
But it's not just that, Ravnica has been influential even in terms of gameplay, game design and mechanica. For Ravnica is were a keyword you mentioned several times in the video came from: Dredge. The mechanic that finalized how graveyard-focused decks worked. It's also the birthplace of the famous shocklands, lands that have become integral for the manabase of all formats they are legal in, together with fetchlands. But the biggest influence of all is in the design, and how Ravnica gave magic focus on multi-color cards. It's not the set that introduced them, but it's the first set which had them not as exceptions, but as its core. Beofre Ravnica, themes in magic were either in a single color (black zombies, red goblins...) or existing in multiple colors, but with Ravnica they started giving theme a defined color identities, with multi-color cards being not cool exceptions but a staple. And you can see both the love for this set and the impact the focus on multi-colors had on design that, to this day, the two-colors combination are known and referred to (by creators and players alike) with the names of the associated guild. People who started playing years after Ravnica know what color is a Golgari deck, or a Simic. Alara and Tarkir would later introduce names for the tri-color combinations, but both owe this to trend started by Ravnica (the four-color combination don't have official names, but are usually know to fans with the names of the Nephlims, who also appeared in the original Ravnica block). It might not have an Oko (though, I would argue that staples seeing widespread play and necessary for consistency are more game-defining than finishers or cards that are banned, and hence not played), but the impact on the game is undeniable.
I mean... Underworld Breach is arguably better than YWill which is crazy to even think about.
Why do you keep showing the most recent printing of cards? Show the actual version of the cards that was printed in that set. It feels like the editor has no idea about MTG.
Shoulda used the original set cards, with set symbols, not reprints.
Also Mirage has Phyrexian Dreadnaught, and Flash, and to a lesser extent Spirit of the Night.