Much like how Core Set 2019 represented the five original elder dragons and Nicol Bolas in particular, Core Set 2020 was marketed with a focus on Chandra. Despite this, Chandra had very little to do with the greater overall set outside of three planeswalkers and a small handful of named cards. Instead, the focus was much more heavily on elementals and a wide variety of cycles. In fact, outside of the buy-a-box promo, every mythic rare in this set is part of a cycle in some way or another. We're going to rank every one today!
16. Kaalia, Zenith Seeker
Players had some high hopes when they found out we were getting a new Kaalia card. After all, the original Kaalia of the Vast was one of the wildest commanders ever in terms of raw power, so it made sense for players to expect big things here. What we got instead was a reasonable card that let you pull one of several creatures from the top of your deck, but this proved really mediocre in the command zone as a result. She was okay in exactly Kaalia of the Vast decks in the 99, but pretty underwhelming just about everywhere else, making her an unfortunate disappointment.
15. Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer
In some ways, I think Mu Yanling is a bit of a lesser card to Kaalia. Kaalia is at least a decent rate for its stats and finds you lots of cards. Mu Yanling often just gets you a very small amount of value and then promptly gets taken out before you can make good use of her. Still, she's a decent Limited card and saw some Standard play as well, making her a bit more well-rounded in the grand scheme of things.
14. Rienne, Angel of Rebirth
I was quite surprised to discover that Rienne was quite unpopular as a commander. I'd have thought some players would gravitate to using her as a means of building a multicolor-centric deck, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Despite this, she does still rank highly among Commander cards for this set, suggesting that while players don't enjoy her in the command zone, she's well loved when it comes to the 99.
13. Cavalier of Dawn
Of the five Cavalier cards in this set, Cavalier of Dawn is arguably the weakest of the bunch. Each of the other four saw prominent Standard play, as well as play in other formats. By contrast, Cavalier of Dawn only ever saw marginal Standard play, but is arguably one of the most played options in Commander. This is because it deals with any nonland permanent, making it a great solution to deal with any problematic card on the battlefield. It's still among the lower end of the list, but that's more a testament to the overall quality of mythics in this set more than it is a knock against this card in particular.
12. Ajani, Strength of the Pride
Funnily enough, this latest rendition of everyone's favorite leonin planeswalker has one of the highest generic rankings of mythics throughout the set. So why is it rated so low? The reason is that simply put, most of the other cards on the list saw strong Standard play, have multi-format appeal, or else are just that much bigger in Commander. But, players love gaining large amounts of life, and this has made this version of Ajani especially strong. Not only does it encourage you to bring your life as high as you can, but it also provides you with big creatures and then causes a board wipe that sets you up to take out all your opponents afterwards.
11. Omnath, Locus of the Roil
Omnath had proven quite popular among Magic players of all kinds, so naturally we'd get more interactions on the beloved legend. While this one was memed on quite a bit early on ("it gets Blue in its colors just for standing in water!"), it proved to be a rock solid card in Standard thanks to the Temur Elementals decks of the era. As you might imagine, it's also proved to be a standout in Commander, though interestingly enough remains the lowest rated of all five Omnath cards from throughout the years.
10. Cavalier of Night
Cavalier of Night provided a good amount of reach for the Rakdos Sacrifice lists that were in Standard thanks to Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark, and Throne of Eldraine. This provided both a sacrifice outlet to set off the relevant cards on that front as well as removal to deal with your opponent's most problematic creature. This has also made it a fairly respectable card in Commander too ever since, sealing it as a solid choice for years to come.
9. Chandra, Awakened Inferno
This Chandra provided a continuing run of great iterations of the classic planeswalker. Once the brunt of jokes over how useless she was, this version proved to be decent in Standard and even saw some amount of play in Pioneer and Modern over the years. These days, she's probably best known for her strength in Commander where she slowly takes down multiple opponents as well as wipes out creatures and planeswalkers with ease.
8. Kethis, the Hidden Hand
What's funny about Kethis is that if you look up raw numbers in performance, it actually hasn't shown up that much. In truth, that's partially because Wizards identified his namesake combo deck as being problematic enough in Pioneer that they banned Kethis before it could truly dominate and put up the numbers it deserved. Kethis was not only a powerhouse in Pioneer, but also made waves in Standard and even Modern - including recaently following the unbanning of Green Sun's Zenith - both with their own combo-focused decks.
7. Yarok, the Desecrated
Spoiler alert: Kykar is quite a bit higher on this list, but Yarok is actually just slightly more popular according to ranking websites. Players love Panharmonicon-style effects, and getting that on a creature you can stuff into your command zone is extremely exciting. This one only gets ranked lower because it's harder to put into a deck in the 99 compared to Kykar and tends to get overlooked in favor of easier-to-cast Panharmonicon options...like Panharmonicon, for example.
6. Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
Vivien made a huge splash in Standard with a wide variety of Green-based aggro and midrange decks, both benefiting creatures already on the board as well as pulling more from your sideboard. Not only was it great in Standard, but it also proved extremely powerful in Pioneer as well. Following the banning of Leyline of Abundance and Oath of Nissa, Vivien was a staple of Mono-Green Devotion decks alongside Karn, the Great Creator to provide a powerful toolbox strategy until the deck eventually went all-in on the Karn combo game plan.
5. Cavalier of Gales
These days, you probably don't see or think of Cavalier of Gales that much. That's because it doesn't really show up anywhere, but it's worth including highly here thanks to its extended tenure in Standard with the various Fires of Invention decks. Casting these for free and then getting a Brainstorm is incredibly strong, and sets you up for your next draws, making it an excellent option for those kinds of decks.
4. Cavalier of Flame
Cavalier of Flame fills the same role as Cavalier of Gales. If you saw it played, it was likely that you were seeing it in Fires of Invention decks. This one gets the higher placement because it showed up more frequently, providing more potential card filtration, an outlet for your unused mana, and finally a nasty killing blow to close out the game.
3. Kykar, Wind's Fury
It didn't take long for Commander players to realize how absurd Kykar got when built around as a spellslinger deck. Not only could you make lots of creatures, but you could generate so much mana that you could even storm off with it, killing people with spells like Grapeshot, Empty the Warrens, or Ignite Memories. The versatility with how you could build it has made Kykar one of the most popular commanders out there and still remains in the top 100 commanders on EDHREC.com to this day as a result.
2. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
Cheating on mana is often a problem in Magic and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord was quickly discovered to do this in spades.
While there wasn't much for him to do in formats like Standard, it quickly became apparent that he had some solid play in Pioneer once that format was announced at the end of the year. Vampires was a rock solid deck, though arguably not a particularly dominant one. This would change in 2024 with the release of Vein Ripper in Murders at Karlov Manor, eventually leading to Sorin's banning in the format. It would take some time for him to truly shine, but it was more an extension of his earlier limelight, and a clear indicator of his power over multiple years of play.
1. Cavalier of Thorns
I initially gave the top spot to Sorin because he proved so powerful he needed to be banned for problematic gameplay. However, I think Cavalier of Thorns is the true winner of the set. These days, most players know it for how powerful it is in Pioneer Mono-Green Devotion decks, but it's easy to forget just how good it was in Standard as well. Everything from control decks to Temur Elementals took full advantage of the card's strength, and it even saw play in the earliest iterations of Pioneer thanks to how good Mono-Green proved right out of the gate. That wider breadth of uses gives it the edge for me, and so it takes home the gold on this list.
Paige Smith
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