Top 100 Best Magic Cards Ever- The Big Poll

[Bartman]

Hello there, let’s take you into a revolutionary thread. Also, my first one here on Salvation.

Ever wondered what the best card of Magic was? I’m pretty sure you all did once, even discussed about it over and over. Also ever wondered what the top 10 best cards are of the entire game? And when you were finished deciding the final 10 you cried because there were so many other good cards that couldn’t fit in there. A top 10 is only 10 cards after all. Ever wondered what the most game-breaking, versatile, consistent and most powerfull Magic-Card Top 50 should look like? Is Skullclamp in there? Should there be room for Putrefy? Even if you did, there’s always someone that thinks your Top 10 or Top 50 stinks because of so and so or this or that.

Not anymore. We’re going to make it to the final hundred, the official Top 100 that is of Magic cards, EVER. And we are going to accomplish it with voting.

The Rules.

1) This is a best-of thread, not a “favorite card” poll. Do not vote for cards because you like them more than others, or because you think they’re cooler.

2) Do not vote for cards because you want to be different. Try to explain your choices and let others do so. It might change your mind sometimes on some occasions.

3) Please try ask yourself those questions about the card before you vote:

-Did this card see massive play in each of its formats when it was legal?
-Did it inspire an "instant include" label to it, regardless of the deck it's going into?
-Is the card still highly regarded and revered as a threat to reckon with?
-Would this card warrant instant-restriction because of a quick-kill tendency?
-Has this card spurred its own archetypes thanks to the synergy it has with other cards that are best in combination with it?
-Can it sustain itself on its own without the need for another card or combo piece?
-Is the ability unique in itself where there have been many attempts at "dumbing it down" or "weakening" the same effect?

4) While it is true Vintage and Legacy are the best formats ever, try not to stare blind on it to much. Some cards that are played in other formats than the eternal ones can also be defining or degenerate right there.

5) Also, try not to stare blind on the banned/restricted lists to often. True, most of the best cards are on there, but it is just a list made by other people’s opinions on the game, plus some of the best cards ever are not even on there (take Force of Will and Swords to Plowshares for example). So no “this card is better because it is on the restriction-list” arguments please!

6) Yes, the Top 100 EVER. Ever means that you may vote for Juzam Djinn, the house in its day but not played often anymore. This is just a rough example, but it means that this top 100-list not neccesarely has to become the Top 100 best Magic cards FOR NOW. Expect critique though if you vote for out of flavour-cards: most peolpe like the game NOW you know.


The Way it Goes

• You may vote for a group of 10 cards you think are the best.
• YOU MUST put the cards in order, so the best card at 4, second one at 5, etcetera and your least best card at 10. Don’t let ME do this, it’s important YOU do it, so choose wise.
• When the voting closes I am going to rate the cards. I have a simple solution for it right now, hope it will work out so I can tell you later.
• After that, the 10 cards with the best results are added to the Top 100, and we will continue voting like this in groups of 10 cards at the time.

Exceptions on votings.

1) Somewhere in time peolpe are going to vote for an origional (read Alpha/Beta) Mox, probably the Mox Pearl. IF YOU VOTE FOR ONE MOX, YOU VOTE FOR ALL FIVE! Having three or four different Mox-cards in the Greatest-Top 10 Ever is a waste of space. Moxen are going to take place at one position in the list, period. Same for Dual Lands, Fetch-lands, etcetera. If you wanna know what the best Mox or Dual-land is, make a thread about it and figure it out there.

2) Only vote for tournament-legal cards: no ante-card votes (sorry 5-color) and no Unglued and other Un-sets-votes are allowed.. Everyone knows by now Portal/Starter-sets are legal, right?

3) Voting ofcourse if free and it’s your choice and all, but let’s make this a good and representative list for beginners as well. So no “Sol Ring is better then Black Lotus”-bull or “Spiritmonger is the best creature in the game”-nonsense. Stay at the facts most of the time and explain your choice if you decide to go ‘different’. (also, see ''vote-criteria'' above provided by 'buster)

4) No votings for basic lands (like you ever wanted to do that, Blue-control freak!!!)


Let the voting begin and let the best win!!!! The best 100 that is, after all....


The Top 100 Best Magic the Gathering Cards EVER

1. Yawgmoth's Will
2. Ancestral Recall
3. Time Walk
4. Black Lotus
5. Mox Emerald / Mox Jet / Mox Pearl / Mox Ruby / Mox Sapphire
6. Tinker
7. Force of Will
8. Demonic Tutor
9. Tolarian Academy
10. Balance
11. Mana Drain
12. Dark Ritual
13. Mind Twist
14. Strip Mine
15. Library of Alexandria
16. Necropotence
17. Mishra's Workshop
18. Memory Jar
19. Sol Ring
20. Yawgmoth's Bargain

Vote for numbers 21 to 30, so we can complete the Top 100 best Magic the Gathering card-list ever.

[Bartman]

Well, I can vote to, so I start it off. Seems logic to me.

Vote for Yawgmoth's Will: the most broken combo-piece ever created and the most likely-to-be-banned card from Vintage.

[MultaniMan3000]

I vote Ancestral Recall.

[Soul_Grind]

Black Lotus, it's the most expensive card for a reason.

[CynicalSquirrel]

Ancestral Recall.

[Icejelly]

Yawggy's Will for me too, for without it, degenerate combos that win games in T1 cannot exist.

[Magik]

Ancestral Recall.

[WolfgangR]

Yawgmoth's Will.

Degenerate in combo, control and aggro, this card simply dominates every format it's legal in.

[xgravityx]

Voting for one place at a time seems like a bad idea to me. Not only will it take forever, it's not a very logical way of making sure the cards end up in the right position. It seems like it would be better to have everyone make a top 30 lists or some such, then assign points to each ranking and sum the points to find the total for each card voted on.

[Lorelorn]

Black Lotus


You do realise: One potential issue with the nature of your thread is that people will vote for the same card over and over, until it wins a slot?

E.g. let's say that Yawgmoth's Will wins 1st place. I expect those who voted for Ancestral Recall will do so again for 2nd place. And so on.

A possible solution to this issue (if you see it as one) is to have people vote in batches of five cards (ie top 5, then 6-10, and so on), and then announce results five cards at a time.

This might increase the complexity of vote counting, but reduce duplicate posts. Just a thought.

[Bartman]

When I started this thread yesterday I didn''t really know if the way of voting I selected is the best one, but I wanted to get this started first and see if it would work out. Like I said, any help and/or suggestions are welcome, so thanks Lorelorn and xgravityx.

Originally Posted by xgravityx

Voting for one place at a time seems like a bad idea to me. Not only will it take forever, it's not a very logical way of making sure the cards end up in the right position.

That it will take forever is not going to be an issue, at least not in the beginning, because most people are going to vote for, basicly, the same cards, though some variations may occur. Like I said, this is going to be a slow thread, I want to have as much people voting so the list is going to be as "true" as it can get. As for the positions the cards end in, I thought it may be a good idea to revote the entire list after finishing it by cards 1-5, 6-10, etcetera so see if the cards need to interchange with eachother.

By the way, you didn't vote at all! Why?

You do realise: One potential issue with the nature of your thread is that people will vote for the same card over and over, until it wins a slot?

E.g. let's say that Yawgmoth's Will wins 1st place. I expect those who voted for Ancestral Recall will do so again for 2nd place. And so on.

A possible solution to this issue (if you see it as one) is to have people vote in batches of five cards (ie top 5, then 6-10, and so on), and then announce results five cards at a time.

This might increase the complexity of vote counting, but reduce duplicate posts. Just a thought.

Voting for groups of five cards was indeed one of my first idea's: people voting for five cards at a time, give number 5 a ranking of 1 point, number 4 a ranking of 2 points, till number 1 which gets 5 points, calculate the outcome of everyone's votes and declare the ''new'' 5 with most points as the winners.

But, and here it comes, for the ultimate Top 10 we will go one step at a time and see if this works first. I know that people are voting for the same cards over and over again untill it wins, but if you really stand for your choice they will do so. The Top 10 has to be as accurate as it can get at the least, and going one by one is giving people a chance to really think something over slowly before deciding. Also, you forget that people who voted for (lets take the example) Yawgmoth''s Will and that cards wins, they must vote for another card, most likely the one that just lost the number one slot, with the ones who voted for it already.

Anyway, thanks for the support.

Current vote count:

Ancestral Recall 3
Black Lotus 2
Yawgmoth's Will 3

[Flamebuster]

with these thigns it's hard to determine; anyone can vote for anything and then there's no way to sort out what is good, unless you count each individual vote and rank the cards in that order...

Or you can implement some criteria by which to measure which cards are considered the best, such as:

-Did this card see massive play in each of its formats when it was legal?
-Did it inspire an "instant include" label to it, regardless of the deck it's going into?
-Is the card still highly regarded and revered as a threat to reckon with?
-Would the card be redesigned today had it not been as popular as it is now?
-Would this card warrant instant-restriction because of a quick-kill tendency?
-Has this card spurred its own archetypes thanks to the synergy it has with other cards that are best in combination with it?
-Can it sustain itself on its own without the need for another card or combo piece?
-Is the ability unique in itself where there have been many attempts at "dumbing it down" or "weakening" the same effect?

And stuff like that. Actually, I would use those criterion when anyone determines which cards are the best.

'buster

[Bartman]

Originally Posted by Flamebuster

with these thigns it's hard to determine; anyone can vote for anything and then there's no way to sort out what is good, unless you count each individual vote and rank the cards in that order...

...which we are going to do in time, like I said. Without being rude, why don't you stick to your own criteria (all good points that make a card powerfull/broken by the way) and just vote??? I already know you are good at it!

If we run into problems, we''ll see that later on and fix it. Just like Wizards ya know...

I will see if I am able to edit your criteria into my first post soon. Thanks!

[smackcracklepop]

I vote Masticore.

One of the best limited cards ever, a force in type2, a fan favorite, and a great flavored card! Along with Morphling, was one of the most played cards in urza's saga constructed when masticore was legal.

Also made people think of creatures in a whole new way, and was the cornerstone for creatures like Rumbling Slum, Ravenous Baloth, and Blastoderm.

[Flamebuster]

Originally Posted by Bartman

...which we are going to do in time, like I said. Without being rude, why don't you stick to your own criteria (all good points that make a card powerfull/broken by the way) and just vote??? I already know you are good at it!

If we run into problems, we''ll see that later on and fix it. Just like Wizards ya know...

It's not for me, it's for the other people. While I am fully capable of voting, some others need guide lines, thus I provided them for you

'buster