As the final few Zendikar spoilers trickle into view and the preview dust settles we ready ourselves for the real action. Actually playing Magic with these 249 cards. Duelists have high hopes for the newest MTG expansion. And why wouldn't they? Its jam packed with goodies from every color and card type. New planeswalkers have fans drooling as does the latest WotC invention: Landfall. And vampires are cool again, imagine that! All aspects of the game are seeing more-than-solid additions in these cards, but what are the cards we really care about? Each set brings with it a select few, the creamiest of the creme, that are so outstanding it insults them to be coupled with the chafe. These are the wheat, and we must honor them! How will we pay such honor? By numerically ranking the five best cards in all of Zendikar. The criteria are simple, these are the most desirable, the most popular and the most effective spells in the set.

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Lotus Cobra - Unless you have been trapped in an ice cave for the past week chances are you've seen this card mentioned a few times. If you happen to peruse MTG forums and message boards then, well. . . you can probably name ten different turn four win combos involving this slithery mana ramper. In fact, not since the days of Fastbond has mana been ramped with so much zest as it will be when Lotus Cobra hits standard play. Of course, not only are you accelerating your mana but you're fixing it as well. Lotus Cobra's landfall allows any color mana, meaning crazy spells from every slice of the color-pie. Aside from it's status as the best creature in Zendikar, LC brings with it two equally important aspects. First, this could herald the return of the competitive combo deck. Since Lorwyn landed in 2007 only Seismic Swans (later Cascade Swans) made any real tournament noise. Not any more. Turn three Violent Ultimatum decks will start sprouting up across the MTG landscape like mushrooms. Second, WotC made the bold choice of basically throwing the mana curve out the window. All of Magic is dependent on that curve and it has now been drastically altered. I am not judging here, merely stating fact.

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Enemy Fetch Lands - One could argue that a complete set of five cards can't simply take up one spot on this list. We wouldn't. Instead we focus on the sheer synergy created when combining our number one choice with our number twos. Lotus Cobra gains so much of it's steam from the ability of these lands to generate two or even three landfalls in a single turn. For many, these lands are hardly new as Onslaught contained the compete cycle of allied color fetch lands. And those lands have been popular for some time (anyone else feel like fetching a Ravnica dual land post-zendikar?), so there's no reason to think the enemy versions won't get equal face time. With so many instances of landfall in Zendikar, getting maximum output will be very important, even in limited events. Mana fixing, and landfall triggering not withstanding these lands serve a smaller service: thinning your deck of excess land cards exactly the same way Terramorphic Expanse does. It may not sound like much, but top-decking land in a crucial situation can cost you the game. And while not exactly 'dual' lands, this cycle will see play in every game environment from the super-casual to the Grand Prix.

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Day of Judgment - Unlike the previous two cards Day of Judgment's importance is almost exclusive to standard formats. That is not to say that this importance does not easily validate DoJ's ranking at number three on our list. For three months standard has had no absolute sweep and creature heavy aggro decks have ruled tournaments everywhere. Merfolk and elf rush strategies became relevant and Alara-themed stomp decks crushed. Some of that had to do with the lords from M10 mixing so effectively with the Lorwyn uncommon lords, but most of it had to do with Wrath of God becoming out-dated. For players that fail to see any real difference from a card like Planar Cleansing allow a quick explanation. The two extra mana are not the problem here, it is the two (or more) extra turns you must take before being able to play it. Playing sweepers, even on turn five, is too late for almost any serious anti-rush strategy. In other words, if you don't sweep by turn four you're dead anyway. Sorry. One final silver lining, if you like extended formats you can cram that control deck with eight Wrath effects now! If you try not to stray into extended territory still take heart, at least your elf troubles are over. (Ed note: the ability of creatures to regenerate out of DoJ has been noted and since beaten into the ground. However, Zendikar doesn't contain enough regeneration to make this a big issue in our minds.)

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Mindbreak Trap - Recently Jay-Z released a song titled D.O.A. or Death of Auto-Tune (the musical device that makes T-Pain sound like a robot). Not long after, WotC released Mindbreak Trap the first mythic counterspell in Magic history. How are these events related you may be asking? Simple, when Wizards announced Mindbreak they might as well have called it D.O.S. or Death of Storm because that is what this card means. In fact MT reaches further back than that, to the days of Channel/Fireball on the first turn. The three-or-more-spells in one turn combo has been killed. And killed hard! It won't matter if the spells can't be countered (they're exiled instead) and it won't matter if you're tapped out (you can always pay zero). And did we mention that unlike Pact of Negation, this zero cost can be played with any mana base. Because of these far-reaching effects if was difficult to judge Mindbreak. We decided that due to the lack of impact on Zendikar itself, MBT couldn't rank any higher. However it still gets credit for seriously nerfing any cascade heavy deck and being at the very least a four cost Counterspell instead of a dead card. It's also able to counter popular uncounterables such as Volcanic Fallout and Great Sable Stag.

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Conqueror' Pledge - Token generation in standard was about to take a giant hit with the rotation of Lorwyn. Duelists were concerned they might not need all four Ajani Goldmanes any more, and maybe Honor of the Pure was over-rated. Nope, not even close. While not a truly equal replacement of Spectral Procession, Pledge does come close enough to matter even without the kicker. And if you happen to have 11 mana, perhaps thanks to Lotus Cobra, then you just stocked your battlefield enough to win just about any game. Realistically, this card will rarely be played for more that it's five mana cost. But six soldier tokens are more than enough to turn the tide in your favor. In concert with the buffers mentioned above Conqueror's Pledge will be a foundation deck are built around for a long time. Together with a Day of Judgment you can play a Martial Coup effect well before you could even play the actual card.

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