For as long as there has been Limited Magic, there have been discussions about the best bombs. When I started playing seriously, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief was the bogeyman of the format. Then people told me it was nothing compared to Umezawa's Jitte (which, in retrospect, is totally fair). A few years later we had Pack Rat, but it was always hearsay. Nowadays, we have the data to back up similar claims. We know that Oko, Thief of Crowns was the best card in its format (but not, just barely, on this list). So what are the winningest cards of the Arena era? Here are six of them, from merely "broken" to the "what were they thinking."

5th - Ethereal Absolution & Starnheim Unleashed (70.50%)

Starting strong with a couple of token makers. Absolution might not be the best card on this list, but it's the one I remember feeling most helpless about. It offers so much inevitability, shrinking your opponents' creatures so that they die more easily, then turning those dead creatures into 2/2 fliers on your side of the board.

Starnheim Unleashed is almost the exact opposite, in a sense. Your opponent cast it for X = 3 or more and the game was basically over on the spot. It was inevitable, sure, but it was fast. There was no grinding involved, no ekeing out leads one 2/2 at a time: either you had a sweeper or a lethal attack on your turn or the game ended. Even the fail case of a four-mana Serra Angel was an acceptable floor, but the ceiling on this card was basically "you win the game."

4th - Liliana, Dreadhorde General (70.80%)

The card that inspired this article. Like many of the cards on this list, Liliana pumps out disposable tokens, but she also turns them into cards when they die. What I find interesting about Big Lilly is how context-dependent she is. When she returned in Foundations, she was merely excellent - not even in the top three cards in the set. Turns out, in a set designed to highlight planeswalkers (War of the Spark), having the biggest, baddest one of the lot was a great way to win games. Card advantage, removal, board presence and with the usual life total buffering every planeswalker provides - Liliana did it all.

3rd - Orcish Bowmasters (71.20%)

I never drafted LOTR, but I have played a lot of Timeless. Granted, being a Constructed all-star doesn't necessarily equate to being a Limited bomb, but clearly this one did. Bowmasters has a lot of Jitte and Pack Rat DNA in its blood. It's cheap, it accrues value simply by playing the game, and it snowballs out of control very quickly. In a format where removal is at a premium - when the Bowmaster itself can't immediately get hit by a Fatal Push - the token grows out of "manageable" range in short order. Oh, and it being a flash-speed creature that can ruin combat for your opponent is just the icing on the cake.

2nd - Skysovereign, Consul Flagship (73.50%)

All right, here's an interesting one. This is from Kaladesh Remastered, since regular Kaladesh just slightly predated Arena. Skysovereign did make a comeback on the Aetherdrift bonus sheet - where it ended up being the 2nd best card in the format - but its win rate there wouldn't put it on this list. There's no denying the power level of this colourless bomb, though. Repeatable removal on an evasive threat is not a combination that many players can overcome; ending the game quickly while also making it less likely that your opponent can race or set-up blockers. And it goes in any deck.

1st - Ashiok, Nightmare Muse (74.40%)

Before I started researching this article, I wouldn't have even thought this card was the best in its format. Not that I thought it was bad, but, for context, Theros Beyond Death had both Dream Trawler and Kiora Bests the Sea God. That's two cards that are often mentioned in the same breath as Umezawa's Jitte and its ilk. Apparently Ashiok bests Kiora Bests the Sea God.

It makes sense, though, when you consider how powerful mill can be in Limited. Not only that, but you're doing double duty in protecting Ashiok whenever you tick their loyalty up - providing you with more loyalty and a blocker. On top of all that, Ashiok has an ultimate that actually matters. You only need them to survive a couple of turns before you get to activate the potentially game-ending ability. If you haven't been able to attack with the Nightmare tokens, though? Don't worry about it. Keep making more of them and increasing the pressure on your opponent. It's not unreasonable to make an otherwise-suicidal attack with three of four tokens that ends the game by miling out your opponent. If you have been attacking with them, you get to cast some of your opponent's best spells - the ultimate two for one. Except you do it three times, so the potential value of an Ashoik ultimate is only Limited by the quality of your opponent's deck. If you are even remotely still in the game when you resolve Ashiok, it becomes almost impossible to lose - and the numbers back that up.