The last mythic rankings article I covered was The Brothers' War, which was a loving tribute to one of Magic's earliest sets and storylines. However, there was a bit more to love than just the return of characters like Urza, Mishra, Gix, Ashnod, and Tawnos. Thanks to the set's heavy artifact setting and focus on nostalgia, it also included something last seen in Strixhaven: School of Mages - a bonus sheet!

This bonus sheet included dozens of iconic artifacts from throughout Magic's long history and provided a gorgeous retro frame treatment with it. This bonus sheet provided us with 15 mythic rare artifacts with this classic look, and this week I'm going to rank every single one! It's going to be quite a journey, so let's get right to it!

15. Perilous Vault

Perilous Vault acted as a sweet board wipe for Limited and a so-so option for Commander. It was likely included here due to a minor price spike roughly two years before this set was released. By that point the card had collapsed in price again and was easily the most unexciting card in the set.

14. Phyrexian Processor

There's perhaps an argument that Phyrexian Processor deserves the bottom-most spot because it's simply nowhere close to being as good as it was in its heyday. However, I'm giving this one some extra brownie points thanks to its showing in Limited, where it taught players the world over exactly why it was such a powerful force during the Urza Block era.

13. Sundering Titan

While there's no mistaking Sundering Titan's power, the reality is that it's hard to take advantage of anywhere. The card is banned in Commander and is a fringe player in formats like Modern and Legacy at best, often showing up as a one-of for Karn, the Great Creator boards. It was nice to give these older formats this in the retro frame, but for most players it was one of the more unexciting cards in the set.

12. Mystic Forge

Over the years, Mystic Forge has seen a bit of a resurgence as it allowed players to mess with all kinds of silly colorless decks in numerous older formats. This required many players to get their hands on copies which made the inclusion quite welcome here. Unfortunately, though, it's also a very niche card in just about every format, and thus it earns a much lower ranking on this list as a result.

11. Caged Sun

Caged Sun is always a super popular card among casual Commander players and has been since it was first released in New Phyrexia. However, by this point the card had seen a handful of reprints which had granted it a modest amount of accessibility leading into this release. That put a damper on its showing, even if it was still welcome to get more copies into casual players' hands.

10. Platinum Angel

I've covered Platinum Angel several times throughout this series and seeing it here remains just as epic as it ever did. Players may be wise to the card not being quite as good as it reads, but that didn't stop even the most hardened Competitive player from cracking a smile at the sight of this classic in the retro frame.

9. Altar of Dementia

This one felt a little odd largely because of all the cards in this set, Altar of Dementia already had a retro frame version. More importantly, it features the same art as its original retro printing, making it look a bit odd against the other old cards that at least received newer art. Still, thanks to the resurgence of the card thanks to Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis in Legacy and due to the card's power in Commander, Altar of Dementia remained a welcome addition from this set.

8. Ramos, Dragon Engine

At this point, Ramos had only seen a single reprint as a rare foil-etched card players could occasionally open out of Commander Legends packs. The dragon that proved a major story element of the Weatherlight Saga was hugely popular among Commander enthusiasts everywhere. Getting this reprint put tons more copies into their hands at a much more affordable price was huge, and gave many players a chance to finally play with the famous dragon engine.

7. Staff of Domination

The reprint in Commander Legends the year before certainly made getting copies of this a bit less desirable, but it still had a modest amount of heat on it. After all, that was its only serious reprinting since Fifth Dawn and it was one many Commander players wanted to have access to. This printing truly brought its price to a modest level, making it finally accessible to many more players the world over.

6. Mind's Eye

Before getting reprinted here, the card had only seen one real reprint with Battlebond in 2018. With the passage of time came the exponential growth of Commander and with that came a higher amount of demand for this card. The reprint gave tons more players the opportunity to utilize it, though the greater access simultaneously made many people realize that maybe it wasn't quite as good as they'd heard it to be.

5. Mesmeric Orb

There's an argument to be made that Mesmeric Orb probably would've been more exciting had it not been for the Double Masters reprint the year before. This caused the card's price to drop significantly and the reprint here with The Brothers' War only made it cheaper. It's still one of the better options to have received here, though, thanks to its Constructed and casual play alike - something that's all the more apparent now as its price is creeping back up thanks to cards like The Water Crystal being printed.

4. Helm of the Host

Commander players love cloning things and Helm of the Host allows players to get up to all kinds of nonsense. Perhaps most famous is the card's interaction with Godo, Bandit Overlord, as it provides players with an infinite number of combat phases and creatures entering the battlefield to win the game with. Even without this powerful interaction, though, simply getting to clone any sweet value creature makes it extremely enticing for just about any level of Commander player. As such, its reprint here in in Standard-level booster packs was extremely welcome.

3. Aetherflux Reservoir

Players love storming off, gaining life, and perhaps most importantly taking out opponents in one fell swoop. Aetherflux Reservoir provides Commander players with a powerful artifact to go off and decimate opponents with, making it a hotly in-demand card. Even having just gotten a reprint in Mystery Booster a year or so before, it was still expensive and red hot. This became even more pronounced a year later with the printing of Amalia Benavides Aguirre, providing an easy finishing move for the powerful combo deck.

2. Wurmcoil Engine

At this point in time, Tron was on a bit of a downturn in the wake of the various Modern Horizons releases. However, it's hard to keep such a powerful archetype down for long, and players still loved going 1, 2, 7 at Modern tournaments everywhere. This meant that there was a very real demand for copies of Wurmcoil Engine, and with very few real printings before this, it was hurting for a good reprint. This one provided players everywhere with a slew of gorgeous new copies, while also offering an extremely powerful card for Limited play.

1. Mox Amber

When Dominaria first released, players were extremely mixed on Mox Amber. In fact, I had it at fifth place on my Dominaria mythic rankings article for just this reason. Simply put, the card didn't really do much of anything at the time, and so while it was cool to see a new Mox, it was unexciting at the time. By 2022, though, players weren't fooled anymore. They knew exactly how to use and abuse this powerful artifact and it had gained a price tag to match. This made the card's reprint perfectly timed to get new copies into the hands of players all across the world and made it easily the most sought after card of the set.

Paige Smith

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