MTG Salvation

This is the second poll for voting on which card is the 'MVP' from each Magic Set with regards to the Commander format.

Link to Poll 1

The definition of MVP for the purposes of this thread is really up to each person voting, but in general it should be the card you feel is either the best card power-wise, or a card you feel has the most influence on the format, or the card you feel leads to the best games, or your favorite card from the set, or the one you see the most in your playgroup. Just like voting for sports MVP's, the definition of "MVP" is deliberately left open to interpretation to allow for each voter to bring their personal experiences and/or thoughts to the table.

This week, Ice Age Block and Mirage Block... even though Ice Age/Homelands/Alliances wasn't technically a block when it was printed, its fine to retroactively refer to them collectively as a block.

Ice Age - Brainstorm is very a good card, but an EDH deck will have less (proportionally) shuffle effects than legacy, so this isn't the best format for it (still worth running though). Nature's Lore is a fine piece of ramp that most green decks will run, but nothing special. So that leaves us with Necropotence. Which is probably the best all round card draw spell in the format (Ad Nauseam is stronger if built around). The triple black is harsh, but even if you're not casting this until turn 5, it's still insane in a 40 life format.

Homelands - Not a lot of choice here, Homelands was a god awful set. But when you have access to almost every blue instant ever printed, Merchant Scroll is a darn good card.

Alliances - Some strong cards here, Arcane Denial and Lim-Dul's Vault get honourable mentions, but ultimately, when you're potentially staring down almost every threat printed in Magic, you need answers. And here we have the best: Force of WIll

Mirage - Rampant Growth is a fine card, Cursed Totem is very strong and rather underplayed, and LED is a bit too niche despite it's incredible power. But ultimately, the tutors are just so good. Whether you're using them to get wincons, answers or utility, they add so much to a deck.

Visions - Between Natural Order and Vampiric Tutor, both are very strong, but I went for the latter for the sheer flexibility it offers. The only reason I don't have one in every deck with black in it is the cost.

Weatherlight - Probably the hardest here, with several solid options. Aura of Silence and Null Rod are excellent pieces of disruption that target things commonly played in the format, but I felt that Buried Alive just edges it thanks to the interaction with the wide variety of reanimation options we can use to really abuse the graveyard.

ice age - necro, not close. Brainstorm is a fine card, but most decks wouldn't get significantly worse without it. Necro is core to a lot of decks. Also it's stupid and BS. Haups deserves some love too, though.

homelands - merchant's scroll, mostly because of no competition.

Alliances - Phelddagrif, no question. You will all learn! Outside of the true ruler of the format, though, arcane denial might get my vote over force. Force is a fine card, but I think 2 mana is a fair price for a nearly-CA-neutral counter, instead of one that puts you deep in a hole. Save the force of will worship for 1v1, it's just an OK counter here unless you're playing in a combo hellhole.

mirage - tutors, not close

visions - vamp, although natural order is pretty strong too.

Weatherlight - how am I the only one to vote for doomsday? buried alive? Are you serious? What is wrong with you people? I mean, I think doomsday is a horribly designed card that I would never actually play, but it's undeniably super powerful. Voting for anything else just seems ridiculous.

This is fun. MVps to me my personal criteria is that they need to be powerfull, versatile and aforadable for the general public.



Ice Age - Necropotence : Strongest draw effect in the format(that isn't banend ofcourse) in my opinion. So ridiculous powerfull.Some others are solid cards but Necro's power its too mutch. Its also very quite cheap for its power so alot of people can aford it. Been tripple black might be an issue in decks with alot of colors but its so worth it and most decks.

Homelands - Merchant Scroll : LOl don't need say mutch here. Its a solid tutor for blue decks and wins here by default

Aliances - Arcane Denial : Yes i know Force of Will is stronger, BUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTT not by mutch concerning its price tag. Arcane Denial is a easier to cast Counterspell and Counterspell goes in any deck with blue and an easier to cast one itts even better in non mono blue decks. Force of Will its amazing but not that amazing to justfie its price tag wich is important for the general playerbase that can't aford it. Rather use Arcane instead of paying so mutch personally. Pheldagriff is a funny commander but i don't consider niche cards for MVP unless by default like in Homelands's case XD.

Mirage - The Tutors : Boring choice but tutors are some of the strongest things in a format with singleton cards. Can't deny their power. Also they aren't that absurdly expensive so thats also a plus.

Visions - vampiric Tutor : Meh another boring choice but it was abit harder to recommend this due to its current price. Its still one of the strongest tutors in the game tough so can't deny its pwoer and versatility wich are enough to be my pick for MVP compared to the other cards in the set. Natural order is one my favourites but it isn't versatile compared to VT.

Weatehrlight - Mind Stone : OK this was a tough, but im confident with my choice tbh.Ii have a Mind Stone in every non-green deck, while i have Buried Alive and Aura Silence only 1 deck each.... Null Rod is the most pwerfull of them but its also quite expensive and very stax related, where the general public aren't found of so i never see this card be played. How can it be an MVP if it doesn't get played unless in cEDh?

Quote from DirkGently »

Weatherlight - how am I the only one to vote for doomsday? buried alive? Are you serious? What is wrong with you people? I mean, I think doomsday is a horribly designed card that I would never actually play, but it's undeniably super powerful. Voting for anything else just seems ridiculous.

I think Doomsday is the most powerful card in the set without much competition, but I don't think it's the best EDH card in the set. My take is that Aura of Silence, Buried Alive, and Mind Stone all contribute more to the format in a positive way than Doomsday does, so I didn't vote for it.

Quote from Weebo »

I think Doomsday is the most powerful card in the set without much competition, but I don't think it's the best EDH card in the set. My take is that Aura of Silence, Buried Alive, and Mind Stone all contribute more to the format in a positive way than Doomsday does, so I didn't vote for it.

This is why I don't like the vagueness of the poll. We should all be voting for the same thing. I think we're probably in 100% agreement about doomsday - it's the most powerful, but it's antithetical to the format, not fun, rarely played, and contributes nothing. Mind stone, buried alive, aura of silence - I've used all of those fairly frequently (especially mind stone). But I'm voting on pure power level and you're voting on "biggest contribution to the format", so we have different answers.

So...I think OP should just pick a thing and make the poll about that thing. Although I think he's worried if he goes with something specific, it's going to be less a poll and more a fact. Doomsday is the most powerful - that's not exactly a fact, but it's pretty close. Mind stone is the most played, ergo most influence on the format - that's essentially a fact, verified by EDHrec. But as long as the question is vague then there's no clear answer, for better or worse.

Phelddagrif is tied for second! Wooooooooooo

This poll is somewhat disappointing. I didn't realize how little I use from those sets. So, my votes above evaluated power level a little more rather than just what I considered to be the best for my use (though my use of cards still influenced the choices):

Ice Age
Brainstorm - It is not as powerful in EDH as it is in Legacy but fetches still exist and it still digs 3 deep. It is still a very good card in the right decks. Necropotence is also an obvious choice, but I generally prefer not running it. I do think Necro is probably the right vote based solely on power level.

Homelands
Merchant Scroll - Not a lot of options here and I do like Koskun Falls just for being a black Propaganda. But, Blue is littered with powerful Instants and a tutor to get to them is powerful in its own right.

Alliances
Arcane Denial - This is one that is less about power level as I think Force of Will probably wins on that front. But I prefer Arcane Denial due to it being easier to cast than most counterspells and being able to draw cards. Thawing Glaciers probably gets an honorable mention here too.

Mirage
Mirage Tutors (Specifically Mystical Tutor) - Tutors are super powerful in EDH and blue is overpowered in Eternal formats so Mystical Tutor gets my vote here.

Visions
Vampiric Tutor - Teferi's Puzzle Box can be good in the right decks, but tutors are pretty good in almost everything and Vampiric gets everything. I dislike tutors in general so I limit my use of them but Vampiric, being an Instant, often finds its way into my decks.

Weatherlight
Winding Canyons - The cards here are somewhat interesting in that I don't think anything stands out as being the "best". Instead, every card here is the best in different situations. I think that is a good thing but it makes an evaluation like this a little more difficult. I find Winding Canyons to be the best card here as a lot of my decks are built around creatures and it is common for EDH deck in general. Having a land that can help make them able to be flashed in is worthwhile since it also makes it tough to destroy compared to something like Vedalken Orrery. It is limited of course, but it has won me a number of games (or, at least, prevented me from losing in certain situations).

Ice Age: Well, Jokulhaups [sic] is a good wipe, Nature's Lore is a great t2 play if you didn't get a Sol Ring or mana dork on t1, but who am I kidding? It would be easier to list black decks where Necropotence doesn't belong than list all the decks where it does. (Mostly it doesn't belong in decks focused on graveyard shenanigans or decks where that BBB can hurt.)

Homelands is interesting. There are more good Homelands cards than people think: Memory Lapse, Mystic Decree, Sengir Autocrat, and Primal Order come to mind, but the real winner is Merchant Scroll.

Alliances: Force of Will. Again, Thawing Glaciers, Elvish Spirit Guide, Kjeldoran Outpost, and Storm Cauldron all made this tough, but most of them are only good in a few decks, or require another card or class of cards to make them great. Force of Will may as well be called Combo Player's Tear-Stained Cards.

Mirage: Now we're getting into actually pretty high powerlevel for this pre-Urza's time. Foreshadowing Tempest and Urza's, mayhap? But Cadaverous Bloom requires exiling your own cards, Wall of Roots is good but a tad overrated IMO, Early Harvest depends on your board state, Sacred Mesa is basically only useful if you're playing Anointed Procession and friends, Rampant Growth has too many betters, and Lion's Eye Diamond and Final Fortune require a very specific deck. But you know what's always useful? Tutoring. So, the prize is shared by Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, and Worldly Tutor. You can even use them in response to your own Counterbalance trigger or a clash or something like that.

Visions: Vampiric Tutor. Yeah, this is second only to Necro on Team Not Even Close.

Weatherlight: Doomsday suffers from the same problem as Final Fortune and Lion's Eye Diamond: It's too specific to a couple decks. (Recently, it's replaced Hermit Druid as Laboratory Maniac's favorite partner.) Null Rod is powerful, and can grind a game to a halt with Mycosynth Lattice (Nolo contendere.), but it suffers from the specific deck issue again. Buried Alive is also specific, less so, though. Actually, Aura of Silence is probably best.

Quote from DirkGently »

Quote from Weebo »

I think Doomsday is the most powerful card in the set without much competition, but I don't think it's the best EDH card in the set. My take is that Aura of Silence, Buried Alive, and Mind Stone all contribute more to the format in a positive way than Doomsday does, so I didn't vote for it.

This is why I don't like the vagueness of the poll. We should all be voting for the same thing. I think we're probably in 100% agreement about doomsday - it's the most powerful, but it's antithetical to the format, not fun, rarely played, and contributes nothing. Mind stone, buried alive, aura of silence - I've used all of those fairly frequently (especially mind stone). But I'm voting on pure power level and you're voting on "biggest contribution to the format", so we have different answers.

So...I think OP should just pick a thing and make the poll about that thing. Although I think he's worried if he goes with something specific, it's going to be less a poll and more a fact. Doomsday is the most powerful - that's not exactly a fact, but it's pretty close. Mind stone is the most played, ergo most influence on the format - that's essentially a fact, verified by EDHrec. But as long as the question is vague then there's no clear answer, for better or worse.

I want people to vote for what card they think is "best". The definition of "best" is a lot about power, but its also about personal experience, how often you use/see a particular card, or how much a card influences the environment you play in. The fact that you get different answers is okay; that makes the poll about not only the cards but also about how people view the format and how they build their decks. In the example of Doomsday, I think its to safe to say that it is objectively the "best" card from Weatherlight when judged in a vacuum and based purely on power level, but a lot of players have never played a Doomsday nor have they ever played against a Doomsday so its not something that they really care about other than it has a notorious reputation and some people talk about "Doomsday piles"...

The question here is intentionally "vague" to try and be as inclusive as possible to whatever criteria you want to bring to the table. I didn't want the threads to devolve into a lengthy semantics discussion on what my definition of MVP was for the purposes of this poll. I also didn't want to differentiate between cEDH vs. Casual vs. Everything-in-between, or Multiplayer vs. 1v1, or Brawl vs. Traditional vs. Pauper vs. Tiny Leaders, etc. I think that given the numerous ways that people play Commander, there would be lots of different ways to rate even things like power level. Force of Will is a prime example; its the glue the holds Vintage and Legacy together and it is indispensable for cEDH 1v1 play, but almost nobody plays it in more casual multiplayer circles.

In general, what I'm hoping people do is that they not just choose 1 criteria and just vote based on that. I'm hoping that they look at several different criteria and weight them all against one another and come to a decision that way. Just like voting for a baseball MVP isn't just about who has the most home Runs, or the best Batting Average, OPS, WAR, or RBI. You weigh all of those stats slightly different than another voter and you might come to a different MVP conclusion than the next voter even using the exact same data. For Magic cards, perhaps you are looking at Raw Power Level, Ubiquity, Personal Experience in a 50%/30%/20% ratio, maybe voting slightly higher for a card that would go into many decks versus just a specific one. Just like it is up to each sportswriter to come up with a way they want to weigh criteria (and which criteria they care about), I leave it up to each voter here to do the same.

Quote from "DirkGently" »

Phelddagrif is tied for second! Wooooooooooo

And with a tinge of irony, note that if we were doing a poll based purely on power then Phelddagrif would not have even made the ballot... but as it stands, it is a rather iconic card that will garner a lot of votes based on people having a lot of positive experiences with it.

Keep up the voting everyone! I am very pleased with the reception of these threads and the voter turnout. And I also appreciate the feedback on the poll structure and criteria for voting. In the end, its all good stuff and I'm hoping people have fun with these little trips down Nostalgia Lane, and maybe someone might discover a hidden gem or card they've never considered before.

If there was some formula for "best" along the lines of the 50/30/20 split, I'd be cool with that. But some people are definitely voting more like 0/0/100. Tithe over vamp tutor? riiiiight. I just think it's lame that two people with presumably almost the exact same opinion about the cards can have different results. If the poll was just "favorite cards" or even "biggest impact on the format" then you can bet I wouldn't have voted for doomsday.

Quote from Forgotten One »

And with a tinge of irony, note that if we were doing a poll based purely on power then Phelddagrif would not have even made the ballot... but as it stands, it is a rather iconic card that will garner a lot of votes based on people having a lot of positive experiences with it.

I'm not voting on it because I've had "positive experiences with it". I'm voting on it because it wins games. Pretty sure my Phelddagrif deck has a higher win rate than any other of my decks, at least compared to ones I've played a decent amount of. The card is amazing.

I get that not everyone is aware of how strong it is, because it's not powerful in an obvious way and requires good play to be effective. But the card definitely earns a spot on the list regardless of what criteria you're using, imo (although it's not particularly ubiquitous, thankfully - arcane denial has by far the most decklists on EDHrec of the 3).

Yay, more fun looking at questionably bad cards that made me fall in love with this game so many years ago.

Ice Age
MVP: Necropotence - It's gotta be Necro, right? Mystic Remorais also a fantastic draw engine, although more dependent on your opponent. I love me some Brainstorm, but it just doesn't feel impactful in this format.
Balls-to-the-wall award: Demonic Consultation - to the 900+ people running this gem in a singleton format, we salute you!
Under appreciated Gem: Energy Storm - Narrow, but what a powerful effect blanking so many cards
Fun Stick: Baton of Morale - The ability to break so many people's understanding of the way combat works is delightful
Under used theme of the set: Mana denial without land destruction - Infernal Darkness, Ritual of Subdual, even Naked Singularity.

Homelands:
Boo!
MVP: Merchant Scroll is the most powerful card. I'd probably be the best dodgeball player if I showed up at the local elementary school while the 3rd graders have recess. That's not saying much.
Card that's gotten better recently: Didgeridoo - I mean, not better enough to play, but they have printed more minotaurs in recent years.
Trying to talk about this set makes me sad. Let's try to Forget this set exists

Alliances:
MVP: Force of Will - Such an important safety valve. Because sometimes, you just have to prevent stupid stuff from happening, without saving your mana.
Honorable mention: Thawing Glaciers - Meticulously grinding out advantage for 20+ years
Card I hate: Arcane Denial - I mean, I get it. And my distaste for this card has definitely crossed into being irrational. But this card is garbage and if you disagree, you are wrong and I hate you.
People are clearly trolling: Storm Crow. 222 of you. Delightful

Mirage:
MVP: Rampant Growth - Yeah, I see the tutors. But the 'go bigger, sooner' is what I always see when playing this format, and this card is the first and still on of the best ways that happens.
Overplayed: Dissipate - The card is fine. It's not embarrassing or anything. But if I'm playing 3 mana, I want a bigger effect from my counterspell.
Protect the Rutabagas! Dwarven Miner - Card is spicy, although I am partial to some Political Trickery
Best Card in the Set: Unfulfilled Desires - Revisiting the old Inquest Top 10 lists from back and they day are always good for a laugh

Visions:
MVP: Vampiric Tutor - Overused, but still insane
You could, but you probably shouldn't: Prosperity - It has it's place, but it's place isn't everywhere. See also: Anvil of Bogardan
If you haven't, you probably should: Tithe - So good
Somehow not an aura : Righteous Aura

Weatherlight:
MVP: Null Rod - No disrespect to Mind Stone, which is a workhorse of the highest order. And on pure powerlevel, Doomsday stands tall. But sometimes you have to throw a monkey wrench and nothing does nothing like Null Rod
Please Don't: Scorched Ruins - Lotus Vale too, really. You should also avoid carrying a large antenna and going for a run in a lightning storm.
Might I recommend: Teferi's Veil - It belongs in a specific type of deck, but it can really shine. Get your hits in and then be gone for when the bad stuff happens.
Surprised I don't see more: Bubble Matrix - Not that this card should be everywhere, but man can it turn a game on its head
Surprised I see so much: Veteran Explorer - In Legacy, the benefit is so often one sided, it makes sense. Here it's not. While I understand still playing it (although I wouldn't), I didn't realize so many would.

Brainstorm - too often yawl players is looking for the sledgehammer when the scalpel will do the job...stop under valuing the importance of these cogs.

Merchant Scroll - not like there's any real competition here as the majority of Homelands might as well instruct you to repeatedly place your finger in a pencil sharpener. I would have liked to have seen Serrated Arrows here, though.

Force of Will - As the biggest advocate for Thawing Glaciers ever I tried, I really, really tried to up nod my Glaciers and give another look to Lake, but at the end of the day being able to stop a game from abruptly ending for no mana is just too good.

Rampant Growth - sometimes the most welcomed effects are the most pedestrian.

Vampiric Tutour - on the other hand, you can't pass up the ability to turn a card into anything else you want at instant speed for 1 mana.

Buried Alive - I gave some serious looks at Gemstone Mine, Aura of Silence, and Mind Stone all three. But at the end of the day, look how many board states are enabled and set up with this card? My own decks too.

Quote from Sharpened »

Balls-to-the-wall award: Demonic Consultation - to the 900+ people running this gem in a singleton format, we salute you!

Hey, that's me!

Loving these threads:

A word on my decision-making factor: I heavily value versatility and prevalence in the format. A card that defines and breaks one specific archetype or deck style will often lose to a solid workhorse that gets played in most decks of that color. I'm not EDHRecing these things as I vote, but going with my gut of what probably has the most EDHRec usage. I also value personal experience and historical significance. I look at power, and power ought to correlate to these things, but not always (which is why last thread I ranked City of Brass over Bazaar of Baghdad, for instance).


Ice Age: Brainstorm was my pick. I feel like folks get so tunnel-visioned on not being able to play to this card's ceiling in the format compared to Legacy that they assume the worst, but even the floor on this makes it a fine effect that belongs in 90% of blue lists. Full disclosure - I don't own a Necro and have never played it, but my deciding factor was that while Necro is stupid-strong in all heavy black decks the triple skull can be a bit much in multicolor lists, while Brainstorm has a home in the majority of decks running islands.

Homelands: I was going to say this is an awful set, leaving Merchant Scroll as the default winner, but I do like a few of the hidden gems you mentioned especially Koskun Falls which is high on my list of "stuff to acquire". Memory Lapse is also like 10th on my list of counterspells but is fine.

Alliances: I selected Arcane Denial as an efficient counter that tends to not leave too bad a taste in the victim's mouth thanks to the bonus cards. I honestly think Force of Will is overrated in this format, but it probably depends on the competitiveness of your playgroup. In my casual, aggressive, and high-tempo playgroup the idea of losing two cards to answer one is untenable, and spending five mana to answer one card is outright unacceptable. It is an important safety valve if you are in metas that are more combo-oriented and competitive, but even then is likely going to be overkill. Perhaps all this is spoken like a man who doesn't own this fine $80 piece of cardboard, but I would wager I'd still run this only in "5th" on my list of counterspells in a typical blue deck.

Mirage: I have to respect the tutors even though I personally find them distateful, so they got my vote. There's lots of workhorses here, but many of them have been power-creeped. For instance, I don't run Rampant Growth all that often since Sakura-Tribe Elder is near-strictly better while Nature's Lore and Farseek are often better and rare is the deck that needs four such effects. A lot of other stuff here is obviously very powerful, but also very niche; there are decks where Lion's Eye Diamond or Cadaverous Bloom are the best part of your 99 but they're wildly unplayable in the average deck.


Visions: I gave it to Nekrataal by a nose. The original "187 creatures" like Nekrataal and its bros Uktabi Orangutan and Man-o'-War have all been power-crept to some degree; Nekrataal in particular faces competition from Shriekmaw and Ravenous Chupacrabra. But the impact they have on Magic is undeniable. It is because of them that we tend to demand all creatures CMC 4+ have immediate board impact. Vampiric Tutor seems obvious, especially given my vote for the Mirage tutors, but the difference is that Vampiric just gave black another option - it had already had an arguably better tutor in Demonic Tutor, and gained many more over the decades. Enlightened and Worldly, meanwhile, were the first and some of the only tutors in those colors. I also think Nekrataal is a fine playable to this day.

Weatherlight: I gave it to Buried Alive. This was another "by a nose", as by my usual criteria it ought to be Mind Stone as one of the most handy and ubiquitous mana rocks in MtG history. But Buried Alive is just one of my absolute favorite cards, and it is frequently better than you'd think it should be. It also was revolutionary in getting us to see our graveyard as a resource, and not just "the place dead cards go"; it found its true home in Odyssey block and is so powerful at what it does. More decks ought to run it.

It's really hard to know whether I should be voting for strongest picks or most versatile picks. Sometimes those are the same card, sometimes they're not. Either way, this is definitely a more difficult choice than poll 1.

Homelands is a better set than Fallen Empires now. Hymn is the best card out of the two sets, followed by high tide, but then I think Merchant Scroll is genuinely strong, Koskun Falls, Primal Order, and Memory Lapse are are solid, I've gotten good work out of Sengir Autocrat in the past though it's been outclassed of late, and An Zerrin ruins (spelling?) is ok tribal hate in red.

The Results are all in and the polls are closed.

Ice Age
1) Necropotence - 47.2%
2) Brainstorm - 18.1%
3) Mystic Remora - 13.9%

I voted for Necro as it is clearly the most powerful card and the card I probably like and use the most from Ice Age. Its edged out Nature's Lore for me as it is also a card I really like and use a lot, but it is obviously nowhere near as powerful.

Homelands
1) Merchant Scroll - 67.6%
2) Memory Lapse - 15.5%

I voted for Memory Lapse, but I can't fault people for choosing Merchant Scroll. Scroll is obviously not as powerful in a format where it can't find Ancestral Recall, but it is still the likely best card in a set that really doesn't have much going for it from a Commander perspective.

Alliances
1) Force of Will - 53.5%
2) Arcane Denial - 26.8

I voted for Arcane Denial as I am usually trying to find ways to increase the amount of cheap counters in a deck that needs them, but Force of Will is just so good in any deck that supports it that it makes sense that it won.

Mirage
1) Mirage Tutors Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Worldly Tutor - 78.3%
2) Rampant Growth - 11/.6%

I voted for Rampant Growth as I put that card in every green deck I run, but the tutors are indeed the most powerful cards in the set and it make sense that they won. In retrospect, I made a mistake by grouping them together (a mistake I'm trying to not repeat in future polls).

Visions
1) Vampiric Tutor - 65.2%
2) Natural Order - 10/1%

Again, I voted for the second place card in Natural Order, but Vamp Tutor wins on pure power. Natural Order is such a good card in my opinion though and its one that I should probably consider playing more often.

Weatherlight
1) Buried Alive - 27.5%
2) Mind Stone - 23.2%
3) Aura of Silence - 18.8%
4) Doomsday - 13.0%

Weatherlight was a strong set and a good one for Commander. I voted for Mind Stone as I felt it was one of the more useful cards in the set, but Buried Alive does enable a ton of graveyard shenanigans and I totally get why it won. I just remember when the original Buried Alive decks hit with people returning Ashen Ghouls and Nether Shadows over and over... Overall, I'm happy that several cards here got a lot of votes and this ended up being one of the closer races.

Quote from 3drinks »

Quote from Sharpened »

Balls-to-the-wall award: Demonic Consultation - to the 900+ people running this gem in a singleton format, we salute you!

Hey, that's me!

The real question is, do you play it as intended, or as a Laboratory Maniac enabler?

Usually, I see Demonic Consultation used to tutor for Food Chain while having a good chance to also get (via exiling) one of the cards that combo with it. 1 mana to get both halves of one of the best combos in the format is pretty disgusting....