As I mentioned many times while I was grading Mirrodin Besieged, 6-drops in Standard have become defined by Titans. Sure, they may be the best 6-drops in the format, but which Titans are the best, and what makes them so good?

1. Primeval Titan

It's only fitting that in a cycle of creatures of the same casting cost that the Green one is at the head of the class. Usually, the thing that sets Green creatures apart is their greater size, but since Wizards decided to make all of the Titans 6/6, it took something else to set it apart. Each of the Titans has a permanent ability and an enters-the-battlefield/attack effect. Primeval Titan has one of the four "good" permanent abilities: Trample. For a 6-power creature, Trample is a pretty useful ability, especially given the number of small, token creatures wondering the environment. Three of the other Titans also have solid permanent abilities, though. What really sets the Primeval Titan apart is its ETB/attack ability.

Optimus Prime (what I like to call Primeval Titan) fetches two land and puts them into play. This may sound pretty good, but what you have to understand is just how good. Getting a 6/6 Trampler for 6 mana isn't weak for a Green 6-drop (just see Alpha Tyrranax, Vastwood Gorger, and Yavimaya Wurm). So even without its big ability, it's already set to be at least an uncommon. Let's talk about the ability though. In addition to your giant monster, you get to search through your deck for two more permanents (they have to be lands, of course) of your choice and put them directly into play.

Magic has certain basic rules that Magic's R&D team has to be very cautious with:

• When one player's turn ends, a different player's turn begins.
• You draw one card per turn.
• You play one land per turn.
• Spells cost mana.

When Magic first came out, many cards broke these rules and turned out to be way too powerful: Ancestral Recall, Time Walk, Black Lotus, Fastbond, the Moxes, etc. In recent years, WotC has tried to be more careful. Certainly, 6 mana is a safe time to let a player get some extra land, right? Sort of. . . . It's pretty trivial to get to 6 mana before turn six. Imagine if you got to 6 mana on turn five and could get to 9 mana on turn six every game. That would open up some pretty interesting possibilities. Basically, my point is that Optimus could fetch two basic lands and still be a really good card.

The thing is, however, you can fetch any two land. Think about how much mana you would pay for a Sorcery that did that, and then add that number to the amount of mana you'd pay for a vanilla 6/6 Trampler. . . . What's the total—9? 10? What if it was all in one card? Did I mention that you can get two more lands if you attack?

Prime gets used in several Standard decks: Valakut ramp, R/U/G control, and Eldrazi Green. Eldrazi Green uses him to search for powerful nonbasic lands to cast/search for even bigger creatures. R/U/G control can fetch Halimar Depths or Raging Ravine. Valakut ramp seems to be the deck that Primeval Titan was made for, though. It can fetch either Valakuts or Mountains as the situation requires, to devastating effect. In my testing, the ramp deck will frequently not seem to do much before getting to 6 mana, but suddenly with the appearance of Optimus, creatures get quickly burned away and opponents can be killed in one or two turns.

2. Grave Titan

It's much tougher deciding what the second-best Titan is, but I'm going with the Zombie-maker. Yes, it's the one with the lame permanent ability, Deathtouch, but it makes up for it. Deathtouch isn't always worse than Trample, of course, but much like Trample, gets better the bigger the creature is, Deathtouch usually is better on small creatures. So, on a 6/6, Trample is usually much better than Deathtouch. One of the reasons Grave Titan is so good is just because it's Black. Some of the best cards for killing big creatures can't kill Black creatures, such as Doom Blade.

The next way lots of decks like to kill big creatures is with untargeted effects, like Gatekeeper of Malakir. Grave Titan has this covered with his ETB/attack ability, since he brings a pair of Zombie buddies into play with him. So not only is Grave Titan hard to kill, but if you do manage it, you still have to deal with the Zombies. While other Titans typically just bring 6 power into play, this one brings 10 power into play. Suffice it to say that 10 power for 6 mana is awesome. It's very telling that most Blue/Black control decks have switched from using Frost Titans to using Grave Titans.

3. Inferno Titan

This was also a tough choice. While some R/U/G decks used to use Primeval Titans, these days, they generally use Inferno Titans and Frost Titans. One of the things that influenced my choice was that I while I found a few that didn't run Frost Titan, I didn't find any without at least two or three Inferno Titans. Before you start using R/U/G decks to say Inferno Titan is better than Optimus, look at the ratio of Inferno Titans to Primes in Valakut decks.

Inferno Titan is easier to kill than Frost Titan or Grave Titan, but it has abilities that are always useful. If your opponent has creatures in play, you can burn them; if not, you can burn your opponent. In addition, unlike other Titans, it can attack for much more than 6 damage, thanks to its Firebreathing ability.

4. Frost Titan

Frost Titan is another Titan that has seen lots of play in Standard. It's been used in R/U/G control, U/B control, and sometimes in U/W control. Both of its abilities are pretty cool. The 2 mana in order to target it is actually pretty strong, especially in environments where decks use targeted removal to deal with big creatures. If you're playing with Mana Leaks, it can be extremely difficult for opponents to deal with your Frost Titan. One of the beautiful things about cards like Doom Blade is that they cost so little in comparison to the big creatures they're usually being used to destroy. If people plan to play around Mana Leak, they'll need 7 mana to Doom Blade Frosty! This ability is especially powerful against opponents trying to kill Frosty with multiple burn spells.

The ETB ability can also be pretty exciting. Among other things, Frosty's ability can be the X Factor against your opponent's Titan. If your Titan can attack and theirs can't attack or block, that can be a game-breaking difference.

5. Sun Titan

It might be the weakest of the Titans, but it still sometimes sees play in Standard, usually in B/W control. The main weakness of Sunshine is that his ETB ability is the most situational. Optimus can almost always get you more land, Inferno Titan can always target your opponent, Grave Titan can always make more Zombie buddies, and Frosty can always at least shut down a land. It's pretty easy for Sunshine's ability to do nothing. That being said, when it works, his ability can be pretty awesome. In U/W control, there are often some pretty cool targets: Wall of Omens, Jace Beleren, Sea Gate Oracle, Spreading Seas, Contagion Clasp, or Tumble Magnet.

In addition, Sunshine's permanent ability is one of the better ones: Vigilance. Being able to both attack and block can be very powerful on a 6/6. The reasons that Sun Titan has sunk to #6 is because it's easier to kill than Grave Titan or Frosty, and its main ability is the most situational.

The Sixth Titan

This discussion of the top 6-drops in Standard would be incomplete without mentioning Wurmcoil Engine. It's pretty easy to make the case that it's kind of the sixth Titan. It costs 6 mana, it's a 6/6, it has multiple abilities, and it's not the same color as any of the other Titans. The scary part is that even though it's colorless, many decks run it instead of the Titan or Titans in their color or colors. For example, many U/W control decks are running a Treasure Mage and an Engine rather than running a couple Frost Titans or Sun Titans. The Engine would probably be ranked third on this list.

Summary

These rankings are based on the current Standard environment, but they can fluctuate rapidly. If cards like Doom Blade stop being used, Grave Titan and Frosty are less impressive. If Valakut leaves the format, Optimus Prime loses some power. If swarm decks become more dominant, Wurmcoil Engine, Grave Titan and Inferno Titan get a boost. If more cards like Jace Beleren are added to the format, Sunshine may make a move up the list. In the meantime, all hail Optimus Prime!