Magic 2010 Review - Top 5 (Leaf)

Posted on July 1, 2009

Leaf The time is here for our quad-annual(?) tradition of ranking our Top 5 favorite, most interesting, and best cards in the latest set. Because this is a core set, many of these cards are reprints from 10th or other sets that were released recently. Therefore, we need to lay some ground rules about what can be included on this list. First off, I am not judging the Planeswalkers from Lorwyn. Even though Ajani Goldmane, Garruk Wildspeaker, and quite possibly Jace Beleren all would have made a list of 'top cards from 2010', that would be boring. The following is a list designed to express the five cards I am most excited about. My:

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1.Silence - From the moment I saw this card I knew I was in love. Silence does more than simply pay homage to the Dungeons & Dragons realm that inspired it. It duplicates the essence perfectly. Nearly every RPG, real-time strategy, or dungeon crawler video game I played as a youth had some form of Silence. To varying degrees of success (I'm looking directly at you Final Fantasy) the spell has become a staple of fantasy. In case you missed it, I wrote at some length regarding the virtues of Silence in a previous post. Without repeating myself overtly, I basically see this card as having two uses. Either shutting down an opponents turn or, more importantly, allowing you a turn to 'go off' unfettered by your foe's efforts. A worthy #1 to be sure.

2.Duress - Sometimes the easiest way to topple an opponents strategy is to simply pluck the key pieces from their hand. It is a strategy that worked wonders for the value of cards like Thoughtseize and Extirpate. Now, with the release of Magic2010 the original hand-altering card is back in business. Some of us may have gotten a brief taste when it was released early this year in Divine vs Demonic, but now it is here to stay. At common rarity no less. Yes, there are more drawbacks than Thoughtseize, and that may be a problem against the rash of aggro creature decks populating MTGO, FNM, and whatever the acronym is for the kitchen table. Know what? It doesn't matter. Snag that Bitterblossom or Runepost and you set your nemesis back at least one turn and maybe more. Do it twice and they will feel exactly what the title of the card suggests.

3.Ball Lightning - Not exactly an original choice at #3. Along with Lightning Bolt this card has caused message boards and internet forums to quiver with the intense joy of every Red Burn Wizard. Let me say that I was one of those wizards, in whom the my inner Storm Shaman bubbled with delight at first glimpse. Be there no mistake, WotC knew what it was doing releasing this card within it's massive and controversial rules changes article. Ball Lightning was an extended hand of peace to the loyal duelists who may have felt betrayed by the new direction. Only this extended hand promised the power of six damage for three mana! As many red wizards know, the idea behind an aggressive burn deck is to deal an average of about three damage with each card you play during a game. With enough land each turn and using this formula you should be winning no later than turn five, and often on turn four. Ball Lightning makes this strategy that much easier.

4.Master of the Wild Hunt - There are more exciting, powerful, interesting green creatures in every set than a person can properly contextualize. However, this particular green creature does something very rare for its color: direct damage to fellow creatures. Master of the Wild Hunt offers a mono-green deck the chance to take out annoyances like the Royal Assassin, or Sower of Temptation it normally wouldn't be able to. Like any other token generator the Master does not provide us with as many tokens as we would like. Especially in the face of a daunting enemy. Combine this card with it's M10 match Howl of the Night Pack and watch the fur fly as you sunder entire armies at once! A quick caveat, Master of the Wild Hunt is not a tournament card. At least not in the eyes of many gamers. However it has such potential in casual formats of all types the mind swims. For that reason my #4 card earns it's place.

5.Darksteel Colossus - The most impressive part of this mammoth creature is not its power, or toughness, or even the indestructability. In fact, we can ignore the impact this card originally had on me detailed here. The most impactful characteristic of Darksteel Colossus is the lasting relevance. This is a card that has lost none of its luster in the past five years. Even in a world when where Serra Angel has become two tiers lower in rarity than it would have been at its release, we have one creature that's power hasn't diminished. In fact, the Darksteel Colossus is one of only three creatures ever to jump up in rarity. In this case to Mythic status. There can be no higher praise than this, from both the developers and the fans like me who are equally excited about its inclusion.