Following the disastrous releases of Iconic Masters and Masters 25, as well as the negative reception to multiple Masters releases annually, Wizards decided to axe the line entirely (for the moment at least). This led to the reworking of one final Masters release meant to be a sort of "Graveyard Masters" set and turned it into one heck of a juiced up release. Wizards attempted to shove as many powerful and in-demand cards into this single release as they could, resulting in the biggest number of mythic rares yet. Today, I'm going to rank them all!

The Mythic Rares of Ultimate Masters Ranked

20. Lord of Extinction

Lord of Extinction is the kind of card that wows new players because of just how out of control it gets. For everyone else, though, it's little more than a glorified vanilla beater with no evasion. That makes it hard to square up against any of the other inclusions on this list, and so it falls flat at the very bottom.

19. Leovold, Emissary of Trest

This was a really awkward spot for Leovold to get reprinted. If this was reprinted a year prior, maybe it would've been way higher on the list. As is, though, it was banned in Commander in 2017 and then effectively axed in Legacy when Deathrite Shaman was banned earlier this year (2018). That ban caused the death of the notorious Four-Color Czech Pile which featured Leovold quite prominently. Leovold still had an occasional place in Legacy, but without this crucial card in the format, its stock was down drastically, making this a bit of a bummer of a reprint.

18. Sigarda, Host of Herons

Sigarda was seeing some respectable competitive play at the time, being a rock solid inclusion to play against decks that forced you to sacrifice tons of permanents. Not only did this make it a good competitive card against someone cheating in an eldrazi titan, but it also proved a great inclusion in Commander as well. The problem, though, is that its effect is still somewhat niche, and as such it was seen as one of the lesser mythics of the era.

17. Karakas

Eternal Masters brought the first true printing of Karakas since Legends and it was a huge deal there thanks to the high relevance of the card to Legacy. Unfortunately, though, most decks only needed a single copy, if any. Couple that with Legacy's ever-growing cost and there simply weren't that many people who really needed that extra injection of copies. As such, it lands squarely on the lower end of this list, though make no mistake: it's still awesome to see here.

16. Platinum Emperion

As Ultimate Masters was coming out, Platinum Emperion surprised a number of players by seeing quite a bit of play in Modern and Legacy decks alike. It turns out the simply preventing your life total to change is good enough for certain decks despite vulnerability to removal like Path to Exile, board wipes, and artifact removal. As such, the card had jumped up a considerable amount, and while it was far more niche than most other options, it was still a very welcome inclusion here.

15. Balefire Dragon

I ranked Balefire Dragon somewhat middling before in my Innistrad rankings and I'll do it here again. In truth, I think several of the lower end of this list is better than this, however the appeal of Commander cannot be ignored. Casual players love this card and a single well placed strike can wipe out an opponent's entire board. This had this dragon's price soaring to the point that it was screaming for a reprint, and thus was quite welcome here.

14. Bitterblossom

Getting a fresh reprint of Bitterblossom was a big deal. Prior to this, it only had one real reprint in Modern Masters 2015 shortly after it was unbanned. As a result, the price on the card was quite high, so getting more copies into players' hands was huge. The only problem was that by this point, it was clear that Bitterblossom wasn't actually that good in Modern, meaning its usefulness outside of Commander and Cube was low. Still a good get here, but less so than other cards more dearly in need of a reprint.

13. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

There was a good period of time where Mikaeus, the Unhallowed was just another cool card to play in your Commander decks. Then players realized just how busted and easy it is to combo with and it became an absolute staple of all kinds of creature-based Black decks. This shot the card's price incredibly high, making it a perfect inclusion here for casual players of all kinds.

12. Dark Depths

The reprinting of Dark Depths here was huge. The card had become a mainstay of Legacy decks over the years, with various builds of Depths-Loam decks making up a sizable chunk of the metagame. Unfortunately, the card had only had one reprint in a From the Vault release, making it a serious chase card. Giving it a proper reprint here put lots of additional copies into players' hands, allowing more to get up to Marit Lage nonsense not just in Legacy, but Commander and Cube more affordably as well.

11. Temporal Manipulation

I'd argue that strictly from a Commander perspective, the reprinting of Temporal Manipulation was one of the most important inclusions of the set. Yes, more Commander-focused cards are higher on this list, but that's because of how evergreen they are. Not every deck wants Temporal Manipulation, but the decks that do want it struggled to have access to it for some time as it only really showed up in Portal: Second Age - a notoriously small print run set from two decades prior. This made it hard to acquire outside of an additional - also expensive - judge foil and so Ultimate Masters finally provided Commander players everywhere the means to obtain copies affordably.

10. Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre

I remember for a long time Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre was the gold standard of top-end plays in Commander. Not only did it shuffle your whole graveyard back into your deck if it was put into there, but it provided an indestructible threat that blew up a problematic permanent when you cast it. Then in Battle for Zendikar, Wizards printed Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. This provided a cheaper version of this mighty creature that hit not one but two cards and also devoured whole libraries for breakfast. This lessened the original's appeal but make no mistake: it was still a Commander all-star and was yet another very welcome reprint here.

9. Vengevine

Vengevine has always gotten up to some real nonsense when it comes to Magic. At this point in the game's life, Modern Dredge was seeing a huge uptick in popularity following the release of Creeping Chill in Guilds of Ravnica, which sent Vengevine's price sky high. Not only that, but the card would soon prove to be a major player in Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis decks when Modern Horizons released. As such, the reprint inclusion here couldn't be more timely, and helped stymie the cost of these popular decks in this era.

8. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth

For a long period, Kozilek was treated as the third wheel among the eldrazi titans in the wake of Emrakul, the Aeons Torn's competitive dominance and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre's casual appeal. As noted above, though, following the printing of Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger in Battle for Zendikar, players began preferring the new option over the old one. This in turn made players look to Kozilek a bit more, enjoying the massive amount of card draw it provided. This made Kozilek one of the most expensive Modern cards playable in Commander and it very much needed this reprint here as a result.

7. Tarmogoyf

Back in my rankings article for Modern Masters 2017, Tarmogoyf notably took its first tumble in the rankings thanks to multiple printings and the recent printing of Fatal Push. Now a year later, this trend has really bore out, showing Tarmogoyf trending down in the Modern power rankings. Despite the undeniable power of Fatal Push, Tarmogoyf still remained a very strong card in both that format and Legacy, so demand was still there, making this additional printing quite welcome. The only difference is that now it was closer to a $40 mythic as opposed to a $150-200 one.

6. Mana Vault

By this point, Mana Vault hadn't quite reached the levels of Mana Crypt's high price tag that made that card's printing so big in Eternal Masters a few years prior. Despite this, the mighty mana rock had been seeing a noticeable trend upwards in price as Commander continued to grow in popularity and Mana Vault not having a proper reprint in over 20 years. As a result, what you have is an extremely welcome reprint, though not quite to the degree it would be in later printings down the line.

5. Karn Liberated

Mono-Green Tron continued to be a huge player for Modern metas everywhere. As we were still a few months away from War of the Spark debuting Karn, the Great Creator, anyone looking to pick up the deck absolutely needed four copies of this iteration of the silver golem to compete. This made Karn Liberated highly desirable and expensive, making it a slam dunk inclusion towards the top of this list. It's a little more narrow in its uses compared to some others, but nevertheless proved to be very much needed at the time.

4. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Emrakul continues to dominate! Long since banned in Commander by this point, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn was continuing to see tons of play in both Modern and Legacy alike. Despite its ban in Commander, it still also remained a casual favorite. Despite having a good reprint a few years prior in Modern Masters 2015, this meant Emrakul was still dying for another printing, and thankfully Ultimate Masters delivered to competitive players everywhere.

3. Cavern of Souls

As Commander grew in popularity, so did players' desire for this powerful land. Not only was it a big player in virtually any kind of casual typal deck, but this proved simultaneously important for growing competitive decks of the time too. Right around this time came the rise of Five-Color Humans in Modern thanks to the printing of Unclaimed Territory in Ixalan. Because of this, demand for Cavern of Souls was greater than ever, and this reprint was a huge deal as a result, making it one of the biggest mythics of the release.

2. Snapcaster Mage

Snapcaster Mage wasn't pushed out of Modern just yet at this point in Magic's life. We'd yet to reach the wildly impactful 2019-2020 era of design, and as such Snapcaster was one of the most played cards of the time. This being the card's third real printing ever made it a hot commodity at the time, and its special box topper version in particular was one of the most expensive cards around at the time. This reprint couldn't have come at a better time, and players everywhere were thrilled to have more access to it as a result.

1. Liliana of the Veil

One year after Modern Masters 2017 and Liliana of the Veil still proved to be one of the most in-demand chase cards around. Prior to the yet-to-be-released War of the Spark, Modern Horizons, and Throne of Eldraine, Liliana still retained her status as one of the greatest planeswalkers of all time. Her Modern and Legacy play was still quite high and as a result, demand for the card was also strong, leading to her being very expensive despite the previous reprint. As a result, she was the number one chase card of this set, and for damn good reason.

Paige Smith

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