[EDH] The Top-35 cards of each color

[DalkonCledwin]

This thread is primarily to take the place of Tumultuous' [EDH] Deckbuilding Guide: Best Cards. The reason for this is because Tumultuous has said the following on his thread:

Originally Posted by tumultuous

I removed Tinker and added Rhystic Study. I've been super busy at work and planning my wedding, so I really just don't have the time to dedicate to this anymore. If someone wants to takeover and repost the list so they can do modifications, go right ahead. I don't think I'll have time to focus on it any time in the near future. My apologies.

So I thought I would fulfill his request. I have taken some of the advice that people offered in the last few pages of his thread regarding his list. Modified the lists accordingly, and updated them. If anyone has any further suggestions, please post them in this thread instead of Tumultuous' thread. Thanks.

The thread is dedicated to the top-35 cards of each color. It is sorted alphabetically.

P.S. When you make suggestions, please suggest your card, along with idea's on what could be taken off the list in favor of your card.

P.S.S. With regards to the functional reprints on the list. They do technically take up a single slot on the list. However due to the way Deck Tags work, I have had to list each one separately, in order to allow them to be readable by the deck tags. That is why you see each functional reprint on the list separate from the others of their kind. Sorry for the confusion this has caused.

Deck

White: 1 Academy Rector 2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath 3 Akroma's Vengeance 4 Archon of Justice 5 Armageddon 5 Ravages of War (functional) 6 Austere Command 7 Aven Mindcensor 8 Baneslayer Angel 9 Cataclysm 10 Catastrophe 11 Condemn 12 Elspeth, Knight-Errant 13 Enlightened Tutor 14 Eternal Dragon 15 Hallowed Burial 16 Humility 17 Idyllic Tutor 18 Karmic Guide 19 Land Tax 20 Luminarch Ascension 21 Martial Coup 22 Mirror Entity 23 Oblivion Ring 24 Path to Exile 25 Replenish 26 Return to Dust 27 Reveillark 28 Reverse the Sands 29 Rout 30 Sacred Mesa 31 Stonehewer Giant 32 Swords to Plowshares 33 Weathered Wayfarer 34 World Queller 35 Yosei, the Morning Star Blue: 1 Acquire 2 Bribery 3 Capsize 4 Cryptic Command 5 Declaration of Naught 6 Desertion 7 Draining Whelk 8 Evacuation 9 Fabricate 10 Fact or Fiction 11 Force of Will 12 Future Sight 13 Gilded Drake 14 Glen Elendra Archmage 15 Hinder 16 Intuition 17 Jace, the Mind Sculptor 18 Keiga, the Tide Star 19 Magus of the Future 20 Mana Drain 21 Merchant Scroll 22 Mind over Matter 23 Mystical Tutor 24 Rhystic Study 25 Rite of Replication 26 Spin into Myth 27 Sunder 28 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir 29 Time Stretch 30 Time Spiral 31 Timetwister 32 Treachery 33 Trinket Mage 34 Venser, Shaper Savant 35 Voidmage Husher Black: 1 Ambition's Cost 1 Ancient Craving (Functional) 2 Avatar of Woe 3 Beacon of Unrest 4 Butcher of Malakir 5 Chainer, Dementia Master 6 Consume Spirit 7 Damnation 8 Decree of Pain 9 Demonic Tutor 10 Diabolic Tutor 11 Grim Tutor 12 Imperial Seal 13 Infernal Darkness 13 Contamination (functional) 14 Ink-Eyes, Servant of the Oni 15 Insidious Dreams 16 Liliana Vess 17 Myojin of Night's Reach 18 Mind Twist 19 Necrolagia 20 Necropotence 21 Nezumi Graverobber 22 Oversold Cemetery 23 Overwhelming Forces 24 Phyrexian Arena 25 Pox 26 Profane Command 27 Promise of Power 28 Puppeteer Clique 29 Reiver Demon 30 Rend Flesh 31 Skeletal Scrying 32 Sorin Markov 33 Syphon Mind 34 Vampiric Tutor 35 Yawgmoth's Will Red: 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury 2 Anarchist 3 Anger 4 Avatar of Fury 5 Banefire 6 Blood Moon 6 Magus of the Moon (semi functional) 7 Bogardan Hellkite 8 Boom/Bust 9 Demonfire 10 Decree of Annihilation 11 Dwarven Blastminer 12 Dwarven Miner 13 Fault Line 14 Flameblast Dragon 15 Fork 16 Gamble 17 Gratuitous Violence 18 Hellkite Charger 19 Imperial Recruiter 20 Insurrection 21 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 22 Molten Disaster 23 Obliterate 24 Price of Glory 25 Price of Progress 26 Recoup 27 Reiterate 28 Ruination 29 Starstorm 30 Viashino Heretic 31 Vicious Shadows 32 Wheel of Fortune 33 Wildfire 33 Burning of Xinye (functional) 34 Wild Ricochet 35 Word of Seizing

Green: 1 Avenger of Zendikar 2 Acidic Slime 3 Berserk 4 Chord of Calling 5 Deadwood Treefolk 6 Doubling Season 7 Earthcraft 8 Eternal Witness 9 Exploration 10 Garruk Wildspeaker 11 Genesis 12 Greater Good 13 Kodama's Reach 14 Krosan Grip 15 Krosan Tusker 16 Life from the Loam 17 Mana Reflection 18 Momentous Fall 19 Multani, Maro-Sorcerer 20 Natural Order 21 Oracle of Mul Daya 22 Primal Command 23 Regrowth 24 Restock 25 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary 26 Seedborn Muse 27 Skyshroud Claim 28 Survival of the Fittest 29 Sylvan Library 30 Terastodon 31 Tooth and Nail 32 Verdant Force 33 Wild Pair 34 Worldly Tutor 35 Yavimaya Elder Multi's 1 Aura Shards 2 Angel of Despair 3 Bant Charm 4 Coiling Oracle 5 Crime(Crime/Punishment) 6 Cruel Ultimatum 7 Death Grasp 8 Debtor's Knell 9 Divinity of Pride 10 Eladamri's Call 11 Gaddock Teeg 12 Hellkite Overlord 13 Hull Breach 14 Knight of the Reliquary 15 Lim-Dul's Vault 16 Maelstrom Pulse 17 Magister Sphinx 18 Meddling Mage 19 Memory Plunder 20 Mistmeadow Witch 21 Mirari's Wake 22 Mortify 23 Mystic Snake 24 Naya Charm 25 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker 26 Pernicious Deed 27 Privileged Position 28 Putrefy 29 Sarkhan Vol 30 Simic Sky Swallower 31 Trygon Predator 32 Vengeful Rebirth 33 Vindicate 34 Voidslime 35 Wargate COLORLESS (newly renamed): 1 All is Dust 2 Coalition Relic 3 Crucible of Worlds 4 Duplicant 5 Expedition Map 6 Extraplanar Lens 7 Gauntlet of Power 8 Gilded Lotus 9 Helm of Possession 10 Lightning Greaves 11 Loxodon Warhammer 12 Mana Crypt 13 Mana Vault 14 Memnarch 15 Memory Jar 16 Mind's Eye 17 Mindslaver 18 Mirari 19 Nevinyrral's Disk 20 Oblivion Stone 21 Planar Portal 22 Pithing Needle 23 Relic of Progenitus 24 Scroll Rack 25 Sensei's Divining Top 26 Skullclamp 27 Solemn Simulacrum 28 Sol Ring 29 Sunforger 30 Sword of Fire and Ice 31 Sword of Light and Shadow 32 Sundering Titan 33 Umezawa's Jitte 34 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 35 Vedalken Orrery Lands: 1 Academy Ruins 2 Ancient Tomb 3 Boseiju, Who Shelters All 4 Cabal Coffers 5 Dust Bowl 6 Emeria, the Sky Ruin 7 Eye of Ugin 8 Gaea's Cradle 9 Gargoyle Castle 10 High Market 11 Kor Haven 12 Maze of Ith 13 Minamo, School at Water's Edge 14 Miren, the Moaning Well 15 Mishra's Factory 16 Mouth of Ronom 17 Mutavault 18 Nantuko Monastery 19 Reliquary Tower 20 Riptide Laboratory 21 Scrying Sheets 22 Serra's Sanctum 23 Strip Mine 24 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion 25 Tectonic Edge 26 Temple of the False God 27 Thawing Glaciers 28 Tolarian Academy 29 Tolaria West 30 Treetop Village 31 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 32 Vesuva 33 Volrath's Stronghold 34 Wasteland 35 Yavimaya Hollow

[Annorax]

Stuck.

[goldstandard]

Beacon of tomorrows is an awesome blue card it gets shuffled back in after use!!!

[Amadi]

Blue has Ponder but no Brainstorm, brainstorm is the superior one of the two in most cases.
Red has Wildfire but no Burning of Xinye. If wildfire deserves spot, so does burning.
Gather Specimens probably deserves a spot in the blue list.
Strip Mine needs to be higher than 16th, probably in top-5.

[Donald]

Originally Posted by Amadi

Blue has Ponder but no Brainstorm, brainstorm is the superior one of the two in most cases.

I think that depends heavily on the build, Brainstorm is usually only better if you have a lot of shuffle effects or to protect key cards from targeted discard. Most of the lists I have seen don't have enough shuffle effects and targeted discard is pretty rare outside of 1 vs. 1.

[DalkonCledwin]

Originally Posted by Amadi

Blue has Ponder but no Brainstorm, brainstorm is the superior one of the two in most cases.
Red has Wildfire but no Burning of Xinye. If wildfire deserves spot, so does burning.
Gather Specimens probably deserves a spot in the blue list.
Strip Mine needs to be higher than 16th, probably in top-5.

I took Brainstorm out due to someone in the last thread suggesting that there are not enough shuffle effects in the format to make running it worth it. I would be willing to put it back on the list if it was felt that there are enough shuffle effects (and/or someone suggested what to take off the list). Likewise with Gather Specimens, I would kind of need an idea what you felt I should replace it with.

Considering Wildfire is a functional Reprint of Burning Xineye, and from a much more widely printed series of sets than Burning Xineye was, I think I will keep Wildfire on the list but not Burning Xineye. Similar reason for why I put Ambition's Cost on the list but not Ancient Craving

In the case of Strip Mine, remember that the cards are listed Alphabetically, not based on how they are rated. So um... I don't really know, what I would rate Strip Mine out of the top-25, if I had to rate it.

Originally Posted by goldstandard

Beacon of tomorrows is an awesome blue card it gets shuffled back in after use!!!

Do you have any idea's what I could take off the list in favor of Beacon of Tomorrow's (though honestly I think Time Stretch is the better card in this case).

[Venser, Shaper Savant]

No, I beleive that Time Stretch is better, unless you need the shuffle.

[s0cratic]

I like Return to Dust in white. You're almost always going to have two worthwhile (or must-answer) targets in this format. Plus it deals with Darksteel Colossus and Darksteel Forge. It could take Elspeth, Knight Errant's spot. Ajani's -1 ability gets better the more players you have in the game, while her +1 abilities get less and less relevant.

In green there's Skyshroud Claim and Woodfall Primus. Claim could take Explosive Vegetation's slot; it puts the lands in untapped and it can search up dual lands or shocklands. Primus could replace Lifegift or Rude Awakening. I don't have much experience with those, but it seems like there are better ways to gain life, untap lands, or make lands into guys.

And for lands, Mouth of Ronom should replace Faerie Conclave. Four colorless uncounterable damage is exactly what you need sometimes when a tricky general is about to wreck the table.

[jokalhaups]

Suggestions:
Blue card drawing that nets you more cards than you started with:
Concentrate
Tidings
Opportunity
are all staples in my EDH blue decks... Ponder, storm, etc. aren't good enough. I'd have to say that Impulse isn't good enough either.

For artifacts I was VERY surprised not to see Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo! All my EDH decks run Lotus and 3/4 run Dynamo. Not only do they accelerate +3 mana, but they can be tapped the turn they come into play which means an extra drop OR counter-magic mana available.

[DalkonCledwin]

Originally Posted by jokalhaups

For artifacts I was VERY surprised not to see Gilded Lotus and Thran Dynamo! All my EDH decks run Lotus and 3/4 run Dynamo. Not only do they accelerate +3 mana, but they can be tapped the turn they come into play which means an extra drop OR counter-magic mana available.

I very much agree, though am not sure what to cut for them, any suggestions? I was thinking either Darksteel Ingot, or Coalition Relic, since those are essentially weaker versions of the cards in question...

[Donald]

Originally Posted by DalkonCledwin

I very much agree, though am not sure what to cut for them, any suggestions? I was thinking either Darksteel Ingot, or Coalition Relic, since those are essentially weaker versions of the cards in question...

I think Thousand Year Elixir should go out since it is so deck dependent. I would only add Gilded Lotus and not the Dynamo, I like the Dynamo but I think the artifact list is starting to get saturated with mana producers.

[jokalhaups]

I agree on Thran Dynamo>Darksteel Ingot. I'm really a fan of getting more out of your card like Rampant Growth sucks whereas Kodama's Reach and Explosive Vegetation are desired. If you think about it, Ingot is basically an Untamed Wilds without the shuffling effect (okay, so it produces any color mana and some 5 color decks that's relevant, but really if you're running 3 or less colors, I rarely have color mana issues). +3 mana and still being able to do something the turn you play it is SO good.

Temple of the False god>Ancient Tomb. Basically it does the same thing, but you have to wait a couple turns. Maybe I'm missing something, and I know you start at 40 life, but I use up my mana almost every turn in EDH so I'm not impressed with Tomb (2 damage a turn is a lot). I have not problem with City of Brass or Grand Coliseum in my Horde of Notions deck, but otherwise I don't run pain lands.

Extraplanar Lens and Thousand Year Elixir can go... maybe even Vedalken Shackles. I think Memnarch is a million times better than Shackles (not needing islands, keeping it even if the stealing permenant leaves play). I played Memnarch in Sharuum and Shackles in Llawan... it's really dependent on the number of islands... then again, I don't run dual lands (I'm more of a budget player). Wait a second, did Mindslaver get banned? I don't see it on the list! Has anyone else had success with Erratic Portal? I started using it in my Llawan deck, but noticed how awesome it is to pay to return a CITP effect creature to your hand (especialy with Evoke!). Getting back to my point about Lens... you have Mirari's Wake which makes sense because it's clearly better than Lens. But you don't have Mana Reflection in the green section and that's clearly better than Lens (because you don't have to be playing a mono-colored deck, it counts ALL your lands, doesn't RFG when it CITP, and DOUBLES artifact mana as well-Gilded Lotus, Thran Dynamo, even the signets are awesome). I think Lens is too restrictive, just like DMcD said about T-YE.

Just asking a question to everyone: How do you feel about Tidespout Tyrant and Arcanis the Omnipotent? Both have just won me games (usually Tyrant needs to live one turn to have a huge impact on a game and Arcanis is going to draw you cards at some point due to it's bouncing and Ancestral Recall for is pretty good, plus it's NUTZ with Lightning Greaves). Just wondering if anyone else has experienced good times with those two cards.

Card tag fix: Glen Elandra Archmage should be Glen Elendra Archmage

I'll think more later, but that's enough for now.

[DalkonCledwin]

Side note, I put Explosive Vegation back on the list in place of Skyshroud Claim due to the fact that Explosive Vegetation searches ANY two basic lands, where as Skyshroud Claim only searches for two Forests.

[jokalhaups]

Anyone like Vengeful Rebirth? I'm play testing it in Uril and it's been amazing. Usually it hits for at least 6... but I got back a Woodfall Primus after it destroyed two of their permenants and started the shennanigans again... with EIGHT damage to boot! I think the cost is justified... what do you think?

I think Mana Reflection should be in... maybe over Wild Pair which is kind of limited since there's 1 of each spell and it's good in certain decks (slivers for example), but Mana Reflection is good in most to every green deck.

More fixes:
Skull Clamp to Skullclamp
Kikki Jikki, Mirror Breaker to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Priveleged Position to Privileged Position
Mirrari's Wake to Mirari's Wake
Crime/Punishment to Crime (Crime/Punishment)

Okay, I'm really done for the night this time. Thanks for all your hard work updating!

Trying out tags...

Deck
Creatures: 1 Llanowar Elves 1 Crime (Crime/Punishment) 1 Crime 1 Punishment 1 Crime (Punishment)

So, both of them worked (either with the old link or with just the single card name). Try it out with just one of the cards names. Note Punishment doesn't work (probably because it's the second card or the card on the "right" or whatever). Just use the first card for those and then you can put the second name in parenthesis.

[DalkonCledwin]

Originally Posted by jokalhaups

Crime/Punishment to Crime (Crime/Punishment)

Okay, I'm really done for the night this time. Thanks for all your hard work updating!

I can't quite figure out how to make that one work in deck tags, I can't use URL code the way you did in a deck tag, and when I try to put things in parentheses they simply come up as non-linked text in the deck tags, while the word outside the parentheses comes up as linked.

Anyways it isn't a problem...