I want to make a list of the best 20 draw spells in MTG. I was going to go with Top 10, but it just didn't seem like there was enough room for all the candidates. The main things I'm looking for are Color, Cost, Volume and Speed
Color: Colors without lots of card draw fall back on one or two anomalies, those anomalies are sometimes good because you don't need to splash blue or black to add card draw.
Cost: What turn can you play this spell at a minimum in an average deck of it's color. The faster you can play a draw spell, the better. Alternate and additional costs factor in here.
Volume: How many cards does the spell draw you? does it put any back? or do cards get discarded? The more Card Advantage the spell generates, the better.
Speed: Is it an instant, or a sorcery? is it an enchantment you can activate only under certain conditions, or maybe an equip card? When you draw your cards is often just as important as how many.
But first I think it would be best to go over the list spot by spot and/or do some discussion on what goes where, so please feel free to comment and put in your 2 cents because we're up to number 3
yeah - obviously I disagree with you, John. Spam Warning!.....Amazing - even in a forum where posts don't count, there's spam. That proves that getting rid of the post-count won't help getting rid of spam! Thans for this excellent example! - Craven
Necro is definately not 2 especially currently. Maybe back during iceage where it was the necromirror all the time maybe.... I mean if you've never seen the card chances are you haven't really played with it. As a card advantage spell its decent but I think I would rahter have a deck with 4x brainstorm than 4x Necro. Furthermore, Have you ever played with dark confidant? Not only is that draw card a win condition but it has also been ******** in every single format since its release.
EDIT WOW YOU CAN"T SAY ********. WOW.
EDIT 2: The Word is ******** how else should I explain the power of BoB other than to say its ****** strong
yeah - obviously I disagree with you, John. Spam Warning!.....Amazing - even in a forum where posts don't count, there's spam. That proves that getting rid of the post-count won't help getting rid of spam! Thans for this excellent example! - Craven
1 Contract from below
2 ancestral recall
3 Dark Confidant
4 Brainstorm
5 Thirst for knowlege
6 Fact or fiction
7 Time twister
8 Ponder
9 Necropotence
10 Skullclamp
11 Memory Jar
12 Wheel of Fortune
Contract from below is by far the single most busted card you could ever play with in magic the gathering TCG
idk about you but i would only play it if i had a sphinx of jwar isle on the field cause id rather not chance some valuable cards just for a chance to win the game...
also i would think sensei's divining top deserves a spot up there, its a ponder for 2 that you can use every turn...
and ancestral recall should be the top one seeing as it is legal is at least 1 type of tourniment
yeah - obviously I disagree with you, John. Spam Warning!.....Amazing - even in a forum where posts don't count, there's spam. That proves that getting rid of the post-count won't help getting rid of spam! Thans for this excellent example! - Craven
Contact from Below is obvious answer for best card draw spell, but if we assume only Vintage-legal cards, the list, in my opinion, goes like this:
1) Ancestral Recall
2) Necropotence
3) Skullclamp
4) Yawgmoth's Bargain
5) Gush
6) Memory Jar
7) Dark Confidant
8) Fact or Fiction
9) Library of Alexandria
10) Thirst for Knowledge
11) Timetwister
12) Wheel of Fortune
13) Sylvan Library
14) Ad Nauseam
15) Diminishing Returns
16) Night's Whisper
17) Windfall
18) Meditate
19) Stroke of Genius
20) Phyrexian Arena
The quality of the list tapers off pretty significantly. The top 6 are an entire tier above the rest. All of them are completely format-warping. Skullclamp is the only one that isn't restricted, but only because no one has found an efficient way of abusing it in Vintage yet. In every other format, it's proven to be completely busted.
Memory Jar is far and away the best draw 7 ever printed. It is 100 times better than Timetwister because it is so asymmetrical - if your opponent draws a hand full of sorceries, lands, and creatures, it's completely one-sided. In combo decks, a Memory Jar is often cracked after using Xanthid Swarm or Orim's Chant, so it doesn't matter what they draw.
Slots 7-10 represent the second tier of card draw. All of the cards are really good, versatile, and more or less fair, in my opinion. Three of the cards are restricted (Library, Fact, and Thirst) but more because of meta-game issues than their inherent power level. I would put my money on Library being unrestricted in the near future.
The non-Memory Jar draw 7 spells have to be put in a tier below these spells just because they are so much less versatile, even if they can be really explosive and powerful. You cannot really run them in a deck that can't combo off and just win right on the spot, since giving your opponent a fresh 7 is a bad idea and against certain decks, letting them draw 7 will let them win the game immediately if you pass the turn (i.e. Wheel of Fortune against Dredge).
Sylvan Library is a strange card. It's one of the objectively most powerful card draw / card sifting spells in existence, especially with all kinds of shuffle effects in eternal formats, but it's never really found a home anywhere. This is probably only because it's green. If it costs 1U instead of 1G, it would probably be restricted. Phyrexian Arena would be a lot more powerful, too, if it cost U, though I doubt it would be powerful enough to be restricted.
Edit: I excluded Ponder, Brainstorm, and Top from the list since they do not produce card advantage.
Necro is definately not 2 especially currently. Maybe back during iceage where it was the necromirror all the time maybe.... I mean if you've never seen the card chances are you haven't really played with it. As a card advantage spell its decent but I think I would rahter have a deck with 4x brainstorm than 4x Necro. Furthermore, Have you ever played with dark confidant? Not only is that draw card a win condition but it has also been ******** in every single format since its release.
EDIT WOW YOU CAN"T SAY ********. WOW.
EDIT 2: The Word is Re + Tard + ed how else should I explain the power of BoB other than to say its ****** strong
Are you joking? In Vintage, a resolved Necropotence is basically a 1 turn clock on the opponent. Brainstorm is good, but its restriction was questionable and really only a response to the dominance of the Big Blue decks and various blue combo decks.
There's a reason why Necropotence is banned in Legacy but Brainstorm is allowed as a 4-of.
Contract from below is by far the single most busted card you could ever play with in magic the gathering TCG
I would disagree, and argue that Yawgmoth's Win is more powerful than Contract. Contract is draw 7 random cards from your library (don't get me wrong, still unbelievably insane). Yawgmoth's Win is draw your graveyard, where you're much more likely to have relevant cards in there to recur. I have never seen someone lose after resolving Yawgmoth's Will.
1) ancestral recall
2)skull clamp (just because it was the basis for BOTH the top deck types in the world when it was legal)
3)necropotence
4)sensei's divining top
5)fact or fiction
6)brainstorm
7)time twister
8)thirst for knowledge
9)wheel of fortune
10) windfall
11)sylvan library
12)library of alexandria
13)magus of the library
14)ponder
15)sign in blood/ night's whisper (judged nearly the same)
16)Arcanis the omnipotent
17)Jace beleren (not technically a spell but oh well)
18)distant melody (in a tribal deck)
19) Mind spring
20) Divination/counsel of the soratami (literally the same card different name)
okay, before we get too carried away, the consensus seems to be that Skullclamp is #3, so lets move on to #4 and #5, but you can still argue against clamp if you want.
I do agree with Surging Chaos, Gush should definitely be (at least) in the top 10 or higher.
I don't think it's status in Standard has anything to do with anything though. Standard is miles away from Vintage, the only format where most of these cards are legal. You need an army of creatures or a recurring creature like Bloodghast to use it effectively. This is going to be sub-optimal.
Are you joking? In Vintage, a resolved Necropotence is basically a 1 turn clock on the opponent. Brainstorm is good, but its restriction was questionable and really only a response to the dominance of the Big Blue decks and various blue combo decks.
There's a reason why Necropotence is banned in Legacy but Brainstorm is allowed as a 4-of.
The thing is necro can only be played in a deck where winning the game with necro is the point, ie storm combo or a straight 4x necro deck. However Brainstorm can and will go into everysingle deck running blue if it is avaliable in the card selection.
Remember were talking about the best draw spell so we have to see everysingle aspect of the card. Necro is a very limited card only to be played via rituals turn 1 for the win where as brainstorm is very general to be played by island. Also Brainstorm is still better because it can protect your hand and replace useless cards in your hand via a fetch. On an actual list of all real playable cards, brainstorm should at least be 2-4.
Clamp should be like 8th.
I think stanstill should definately be on the list, not only does the card make the opponent cry when it his the board because its essentially them +3 CA but it also makes opponents do stupid things.
yeah - obviously I disagree with you, John. Spam Warning!.....Amazing - even in a forum where posts don't count, there's spam. That proves that getting rid of the post-count won't help getting rid of spam! Thans for this excellent example! - Craven
yeah - obviously I disagree with you, John. Spam Warning!.....Amazing - even in a forum where posts don't count, there's spam. That proves that getting rid of the post-count won't help getting rid of spam! Thans for this excellent example! - Craven
I don't think it's status in Standard has anything to do with anything though. Standard is miles away from Vintage, the only format where most of these cards are legal. You need an army of creatures or a recurring creature like Bloodghast to use it effectively. This is going to be sub-optimal.
its has already been said that that is only because no one has found a way to break it yet...and maybe someone has it just hasn't been known yet...think about it, after the first use its 2 mana (1 for equip the other for creature) and you draw 2, as many times as you want, and with the decks it would run in, it goes fast, plus you use it on a big creature to boost power and the draw cards when it dies...this is a sick card...
just because it isn't broken in vintage yet doesn't mean it isn't good, and that it doesn't have tons of potential
EDIT: my vote would be Sensei's top as #4 and Skull clamp at #3....
Color: Colors without lots of card draw fall back on one or two anomalies, those anomalies are sometimes good because you don't need to splash blue or black to add card draw.
Cost: What turn can you play this spell at a minimum in an average deck of it's color. The faster you can play a draw spell, the better. Alternate and additional costs factor in here.
Volume: How many cards does the spell draw you? does it put any back? or do cards get discarded? The more Card Advantage the spell generates, the better.
Speed: Is it an instant, or a sorcery? is it an enchantment you can activate only under certain conditions, or maybe an equip card? When you draw your cards is often just as important as how many.
So far I think everyone will agree that Ancestral Recall is numero uno when it comes to drawing cards, second is actually fairly debatable but Skullclamp is probably a big candidate. Other draw spells I think could fit in the first ten slots are (in no particular order): Wheel of Fortune, Harmonize, Brainstorm, Gush, Fact or Fiction, Stroke of Genius.
But first I think it would be best to go over the list spot by spot and/or do some discussion on what goes where, so please feel free to comment and put in your 2 cents because we're up to number 3
1 Ancestrall Recall
2 Necropotence
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
2 ancestral recall
3 Dark Confidant
4 Brainstorm
5 Thirst for knowlege
6 Fact or fiction
7 Time twister
8 Ponder
9 Necropotence
10 Skullclamp
11 Memory Jar
12 Wheel of Fortune
Contract from below is by far the single most busted card you could ever play with in magic the gathering TCG
I don't think a card banned in every single format really counts.
*Smacks self
I probably wouldn't have forgotten about necropotence if I had ever seen one in person
I agree that it's almost certainly #2
thanks High~Light Studios for the sig!
Haves/Wants::http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=184658
I like 4/4s for 7.
EDIT WOW YOU CAN"T SAY ********. WOW.
EDIT 2: The Word is ******** how else should I explain the power of BoB other than to say its ****** strong
Infraction for Censor Evasion.
idk about you but i would only play it if i had a sphinx of jwar isle on the field cause id rather not chance some valuable cards just for a chance to win the game...
also i would think sensei's divining top deserves a spot up there, its a ponder for 2 that you can use every turn...
and ancestral recall should be the top one seeing as it is legal is at least 1 type of tourniment
Gfast animals slow shildrenG
51-18-4 (retired as of 6-4-11)
1) Ancestral Recall
2) Necropotence
3) Skullclamp
4) Yawgmoth's Bargain
5) Gush
6) Memory Jar
7) Dark Confidant
8) Fact or Fiction
9) Library of Alexandria
10) Thirst for Knowledge
11) Timetwister
12) Wheel of Fortune
13) Sylvan Library
14) Ad Nauseam
15) Diminishing Returns
16) Night's Whisper
17) Windfall
18) Meditate
19) Stroke of Genius
20) Phyrexian Arena
The quality of the list tapers off pretty significantly. The top 6 are an entire tier above the rest. All of them are completely format-warping. Skullclamp is the only one that isn't restricted, but only because no one has found an efficient way of abusing it in Vintage yet. In every other format, it's proven to be completely busted.
Memory Jar is far and away the best draw 7 ever printed. It is 100 times better than Timetwister because it is so asymmetrical - if your opponent draws a hand full of sorceries, lands, and creatures, it's completely one-sided. In combo decks, a Memory Jar is often cracked after using Xanthid Swarm or Orim's Chant, so it doesn't matter what they draw.
Slots 7-10 represent the second tier of card draw. All of the cards are really good, versatile, and more or less fair, in my opinion. Three of the cards are restricted (Library, Fact, and Thirst) but more because of meta-game issues than their inherent power level. I would put my money on Library being unrestricted in the near future.
The non-Memory Jar draw 7 spells have to be put in a tier below these spells just because they are so much less versatile, even if they can be really explosive and powerful. You cannot really run them in a deck that can't combo off and just win right on the spot, since giving your opponent a fresh 7 is a bad idea and against certain decks, letting them draw 7 will let them win the game immediately if you pass the turn (i.e. Wheel of Fortune against Dredge).
Sylvan Library is a strange card. It's one of the objectively most powerful card draw / card sifting spells in existence, especially with all kinds of shuffle effects in eternal formats, but it's never really found a home anywhere. This is probably only because it's green. If it costs 1U instead of 1G, it would probably be restricted. Phyrexian Arena would be a lot more powerful, too, if it cost U, though I doubt it would be powerful enough to be restricted.
Edit: I excluded Ponder, Brainstorm, and Top from the list since they do not produce card advantage.
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
Are you joking? In Vintage, a resolved Necropotence is basically a 1 turn clock on the opponent. Brainstorm is good, but its restriction was questionable and really only a response to the dominance of the Big Blue decks and various blue combo decks.
There's a reason why Necropotence is banned in Legacy but Brainstorm is allowed as a 4-of.
I would disagree, and argue that Yawgmoth's Win is more powerful than Contract. Contract is draw 7 random cards from your library (don't get me wrong, still unbelievably insane). Yawgmoth's Win is draw your graveyard, where you're much more likely to have relevant cards in there to recur. I have never seen someone lose after resolving Yawgmoth's Will.
Have you ever played Vintage? It happens all the time. There's even a saying that the person to resolve Yawg Will second always wins.
Standstill
accumulated knowledge
deep analysis
careful study
braingeyser
cruel bargain
strategic planning
breakthrough(this still counts I think)
not spells, but might be worth including:
bazaar of baghdad
library
cephalid coliseum
2)skull clamp (just because it was the basis for BOTH the top deck types in the world when it was legal)
3)necropotence
4)sensei's divining top
5)fact or fiction
6)brainstorm
7)time twister
8)thirst for knowledge
9)wheel of fortune
10) windfall
11)sylvan library
12)library of alexandria
13)magus of the library
14)ponder
15)sign in blood/ night's whisper (judged nearly the same)
16)Arcanis the omnipotent
17)Jace beleren (not technically a spell but oh well)
18)distant melody (in a tribal deck)
19) Mind spring
20) Divination/counsel of the soratami (literally the same card different name)
Gfast animals slow shildrenG
51-18-4 (retired as of 6-4-11)
I do agree with Surging Chaos, Gush should definitely be (at least) in the top 10 or higher.
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
no way, Skullclamp was banned in its standard format....it was the first card to have that happen in a LONG TIME...
btw i would like to say put sensei's top in the top 5 if not top 10
Gfast animals slow shildrenG
51-18-4 (retired as of 6-4-11)
Trade Thread
Modern
RWGBurnGWR
GUInfectUG
GRTronRG
UWGifts TronWU
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RGWZooWGR
Legacy
BUWTinFinsWUB
UROmniTellRU
BURTESRUB
GElves!G
GBPSIBG
RGBelcherGR
UBRGWDredgeWGRBU
UBAffinityBU
RBurnR
Vintage
UBGDoomsdayGBU
0Martello Shops0
GElves!G
UBTPSBU
UBelcherU
0Dredge0
The thing is necro can only be played in a deck where winning the game with necro is the point, ie storm combo or a straight 4x necro deck. However Brainstorm can and will go into everysingle deck running blue if it is avaliable in the card selection.
Remember were talking about the best draw spell so we have to see everysingle aspect of the card. Necro is a very limited card only to be played via rituals turn 1 for the win where as brainstorm is very general to be played by island. Also Brainstorm is still better because it can protect your hand and replace useless cards in your hand via a fetch. On an actual list of all real playable cards, brainstorm should at least be 2-4.
Clamp should be like 8th.
I think stanstill should definately be on the list, not only does the card make the opponent cry when it his the board because its essentially them +3 CA but it also makes opponents do stupid things.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
its has already been said that that is only because no one has found a way to break it yet...and maybe someone has it just hasn't been known yet...think about it, after the first use its 2 mana (1 for equip the other for creature) and you draw 2, as many times as you want, and with the decks it would run in, it goes fast, plus you use it on a big creature to boost power and the draw cards when it dies...this is a sick card...
just because it isn't broken in vintage yet doesn't mean it isn't good, and that it doesn't have tons of potential
EDIT: my vote would be Sensei's top as #4 and Skull clamp at #3....
i support the top totally in these elections lol
Gfast animals slow shildrenG
51-18-4 (retired as of 6-4-11)