Best Of 2006

[Bane of the Living]

As far as magic, and surprisingly Legacy are concerned, we got some awsome cards to add to our decks. There were new dual lands finally, something most of us scarfed up for their lower prices in comparison to old duals. You can finally play 8 Tundras! Of course loads of new players from the standard scene started dabbling in our format thanks to the ability to play their new duals.

Guildpact, Dissension, Coldsnap, and Time Spiral were released this year. Even though Ravnica was from the end of last year it can be included in this little poll. What was the best from each set? What cards actually impacted our little legacy world?

Here are my votes..

Best creature?
Dark Confidant

Best land?
Duals, duh

Best Sorcery?
Life from the Loam!

Best Instant?
Remand

Best Mechanic?
Split Second or Dredge..

Best Artifact?
Yuck, Chromatic Star?

Ok guys, lets here what you have to say.

[Cait_Sith]

Although It is a nightmare deciding since I love the entire Rav Block, I had to go with Ravnica: City of Guilds. It gave Legacy so many good toys and a number of staples that boosted the meta. In my personal opinion Ravnica opened up the meta in all the formats, especially standard. The block is probably some of R&Ds best work in quite some time. Keep it up!

[Complete_Jank]

Best creature?
Dark Confidant

Best land?
Academy Ruins

Best Sorc?
Small Pox

Best Instant?
Remand

Best Mechanic?
Dredge

Best Artifact?
Mizzium Transreliquat

[Eldariel]

Best creature:
Jotun Grunt

Best land:
Flagstones of Trokair

Best sorcery:
Smallpox

Best instant:
Krosan Grip

Best mechanic:
Dredge

Best fax:
Umm, Gauntlet of Power?

Best set:
Coldsnap (although, TS comes close behind)

[MasterBlaster]

I voted for Ravnica.

The other sets are good but I think Rav just had more quality Legacy junk.

[herbig]

Ravnica is definately the winner. The only reason Time Spiral is getting as many votes is because its so recent. Ravnica brought a lot of cards and strategies to Legacy.

[xsockmonkeyx]

Ravnica, because of Dark Confidant alone

Best creature?
(duh)

Best land?
Ughh, nothing big here. Stomping Grounds for fueling both Kird Ape and Fireblast.

Best Sorc?
Smallpox, Life from the Loam has serious upside though.

Best Instant?
Disenchant, OMG why didnt they think of this before?

Best Artifact?
Phyrexian Totem

Best Mechanic?
Dredge..but Split Second could be better in the end depending on what is printed in the next sets.

[Nightmare]

Best creature?
Jotun Grunt

Best land?
Foil Gemstone Mine

Best Sorc?
Foil Textless Wrath of God

Best Instant?
Remand

Best Mechanic?
Kicker

Best Artifact?
Foil Tormod's Crypt

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

Best creature?
Jotun Grunt

Best land?
Foil Gemstone Mine

Best Sorc?
Foil Textless Wrath of God

Best Instant?
Remand

Best Mechanic?
Kicker

Best Artifact?
Foil Tormod's Crypt

Pillow-biter.




Creature - Grunt. I have to go with the +2/+3 and the ability to stomp Thresh and GY decks over Confidant, good as he would be were it not for Fanatic.

Land - Flagstones seems quite likely. Strictly better than plains, woot?

Sorcery - Life from the Loam. There are a lot of ways to abuse this card in a healthy enviroment.

Instant - Remand. Silly David Gearhart.

Enchantment - Utopia Sprawl. Screw all you Enchantress-haters.

Artifact - Golgari Signet. Who cares?

[Nightmare]

Pillow-biter.
Whatever, dude. I've been waiting a long time for foil Mines and Crypts.


Artifact - Golgari Signet. Who cares?Exactly.

[emidln]

Best creature?
Dark Confidant

Best land?
Island

Best Sorcery?
Goblin Warrens (Flame Fusillade was my original vote...)

Best Instant?
Remand

Best Mechanic?
Storm (if I can't vote for that, Dredge)

Best Artifact?
Mizzium Transreliquat

[Jander78]

Best Creature:
Dark Confidant

Best Land:
New Duals

Best Sorcery:
Infernal Tutor

Best Instant:
Twincast

Best Mechanic:
Split Second

Best Artifact:
Phyrexian Totem

Best Set:
Timespiral

[Phantom]

Ravnica is definately the winner. The only reason Time Spiral is getting as many votes is because its so recent. Ravnica brought a lot of cards and strategies to Legacy.

While I can't really argue with the set that brought Confidant and Loam in, the poll question asks "Favorite set this year?" (which is different than the title which says best of 2006) and thus TS might be winning legitamitly.

[overlord95]

Best Instant:
Twincast

Wait a tic wasnt that from kamigawa block

[freakish777]

Best creature:
Dark Confidant

Best land:
Ghost Quarter

Best Sorcery:
Life from the Loam (honorable mentions, Rift Bolt, Search for Tomorrow, Dread Return, Smallpox, Infernal Tutor)

Best Instant:
Remand by far.

Best Mechanic:
Dredge (honorable mentions, Suspend on cards with a low suspend number, Transmute, Split Second).

Best Artifact:
Locket of Yesterdays? Mishra's Bauble? Chromatic Star? Stuffy Doll? Mizzium Transreliquent? These are all really bad as far as Artifacts go, but atleast they have "build around me" written on them as opposed to the Signets saying "What, you actually think I'm good enough for Eternal formats? You're on crack!"

Best Enchantment:
Leyline of the Void (honorable mentions, Suppression Field, Counterbalance)

[SpatulaOfTheAges]

Best Artifact:
Locket of Yesterdays? Mishra's Bauble? Chromatic Star? Stuffy Doll? Mizzium Transreliquent? These are all really bad as far as Artifacts go, but atleast they have "build around me" written on them as opposed to the Signets saying "What, you actually think I'm good enough for Eternal formats? You're on crack!"

Edit: I meant to say Izzit Signet. Mein bad.

[Jander78]

Wait a tic wasnt that from kamigawa block

Hmm.....I guess you're right. I'll just jump on the Remand bandwagon then.

[Parcher]

Assuming these cards are only being judged on their impact in Legacy:

Best creature?
Dark Confidant

Best land?
The Snow-Covered lands. They are more useful in Legacy than the Shocklands.

Best Sorcery?
Infernal Tutor

Best Instant?
Remand (Wipe Away and Krosan Grip being distant seconds)

Best Mechanic?
Dredge

Best Artifact?
Tormod's Crypt (Yes, it already exisited. But it still has had more impact in Legacy than any other artifact in these sets)

Best Enchantment?
Leyline of the Void

[JACO]

Best of Show 2006, Legacy edition
Best Set: Ravnica, then Time Spiral
Best Creature: Dark Confidant, then Jotun Grunt
Best Land: Flagstones of Trokair, then Ghost Quarter, then Academy Ruins
Best Sorcery: Life From the Loam, then Smallpox, then Infernal Tutor, then Wheel of Fate
Best Instant: Remand, then Krosan Grip, then Wipe Away
Best Mechanic: Split Second, then Dredge
Best Artifact: Chromatic Star, then Mizzium Transreliquat
Best Enchantment: Counterbalance, then Leyline of the Void

[Plank]

Best Creature: Norin the Wary

Best Land: Dark Depths

Best Sorcery: Brainspoil

Best Instant: Commandeer

Best Mechanic: Recover

Best Artifact: Voyager Staff


...Right?

[on1y0ne]

Someone actually voted for Coldsnap. Pathetic...

Best Dude: Grunt, with Bob a close second.

Best Land: Island. Not the Snow-Covered one. It has been reprinted TWICE in the mentioned sets. How else are you going to play the blue cards?!?

Best Sorcery: Loam. Since it is about Legacy. Overall, it would be Smallpox.

Best Instant: Psionic Freakin' Blast. It's about damn time this was reprinted, and reprinted correctly. All of those idiots who call this the "Blue Char" can just die! Remand is a close second.

Best Artifact: Do people play artifacts in Legacy? I would have to say Chromatic Star, I guess.

Best Mechanic: The problem here is that all of the mechanics of Magic are really just a spin-off of the greatest mechanic, which is Kicker. Threshold is Kicker, Buyback is Kicker, Entwine is Kicker, Dredge is Kicker, Hellbent is Kicker, etc. Don't give me any crap about Buyback coming before Kicker. Buyback is just a weaker variant of Kicker.

Best Set: Time Spiral. It brought back Gemstone Mine, Tormod's Crypt, Psi Blast, Squire, Kicker, Poison, etc.

Worst Folly: Though I am inclined to say "Coldsnap," I will have to say that Wizards made a huge mistake in hyping "Unlucky Man's Paradise" and then printing it in a set where they brought back Gemstone Mine, which is superior in every way. Yes, Coldsnap sucked, for the most part, but I just traded in all of my crappy Coldsnap rares for a box of Time Spiral, so it had some value.

[Eldariel]

Someone actually voted for Coldsnap. Pathetic...

I did. Coldsnap=Teh hawt. Of course, the fact that I never buy packs and thus don't know about the existence of subpar cards helps. But Counterbalance, Jotun Grunt, Scrying Sheets, etc. = fun!

[Bane of the Living]

Best Mechanic: The problem here is that all of the mechanics of Magic are really just a spin-off of the greatest mechanic, which is Kicker. Threshold is Kicker, Buyback is Kicker, Entwine is Kicker, Dredge is Kicker, Hellbent is Kicker, etc. Don't give me any crap about Buyback coming before Kicker. Buyback is just a weaker variant of Kicker.


Your obviously kidding.

There isnt a playable card with Kicker besides Orims Chant. The problem with kicker was if you didnt pay it your spell sucks royal ass. If you dont dredge something back it doesnt matter, it still did what it was suppose to on resolution. Hellbent and Thresh are no where near the same thing. Buyback spells are still good enough if not using buyback. Entwine is the closest in similarities but it still doesnt mean its the same mechanic. Do both or do better are two different things.

[Nightmare]

Your obviously kidding.

There isnt a playable card with Kicker besides Orims Chant. The problem with kicker was if you didnt pay it your spell sucks royal ass. If you dont dredge something back it doesnt matter, it still did what it was suppose to on resolution. Hellbent and Thresh are no where near the same thing. Buyback spells are still good enough if not using buyback. Entwine is the closest in similarities but it still doesnt mean its the same mechanic. Do both or do better are two different things.If he's so obviously kidding, why did you feel the need to contradict his points? Aside from +1ery, of course. If you know Rich, you'd understand his obsession with kicker. He forces us all to say "with the kicker" when we play any spell ever that has a mechanic. This includes Storm. Take it with a grain of salt.

[iOWN]

Best Set
Ravnica. Loam made a huge impact, Confidant is nearly as abusable and seeing around the same amount of play if not more. In my opinion, Time Spiral was fun but didn't have any 'massive' rares, and Coldsnap would come after that.

Creature
Either Grunt or Loxodon Hierarch. I don't know, but I've been really happy playing with Hierarch and it is just a really strong card against aggro.

Sorcery
Loam. Smallpox is good, and there were plenty of nice Sorceries in the last couple blocks, but I don't think I've seen any of them in as many decks as LftL is.

Instant
There are some decent ones, Lightning Helix, Remand, Darkblast, a lot of Split Second cards, Putrefy, and maybe Perilous Research. Remand is a nice card, but Helix is my personal favorite of these.

Artifact
Phyrexian Totem, with Sunforger behind it.

Enchantment
Counterbalance.

Land
Academy Ruins, Flagstones, and Scrying Sheets in that order.

[on1y0ne]

Your obviously kidding.

There isnt a playable card with Kicker besides Orims Chant. The problem with kicker was if you didnt pay it your spell sucks royal ass. If you dont dredge something back it doesnt matter, it still did what it was suppose to on resolution. Hellbent and Thresh are no where near the same thing. Buyback spells are still good enough if not using buyback. Entwine is the closest in similarities but it still doesnt mean its the same mechanic. Do both or do better are two different things.

Last time I checked, your little survey asked for an opinion. Who are you to question my opinion in a survey you created? If you didn't want someone's opinion, you shouldn't have asked for them. Neither did I mock your opinion nor your poor grammar and punctuation.


If he's so obviously kidding, why did you feel the need to contradict his points? Aside from +1ery, of course. If you know Rich, you'd understand his obsession with kicker. He forces us all to say "with the kicker" when we play any spell ever that has a mechanic. This includes Storm. Take it with a grain of salt.Everyone on here who knows me knows about my obsession with Kicker. It is just fun to say. And many spells just sound better if you say you played it with the Kicker. Plus with all of the different abilities out there, sometimes you have to interchange the name of a mechanic with another so that people know what you are talking about.

As a judge, I have even asked players, from time to time, if they played a spell with or without the Kicker, even in sets where there was not actually Kicker. It is all in fun.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to respond by removing my pants...



With the Kicker, of course.

[MattH]

On top of that, a surprising amount of mechanics actually ARE like kicker. Replicate, Entwine, Buyback, etc.

[Atwa]

Best Set Overall: Ravnica. It had a very cool theme, although I liked Time Spiral better flavorwise. Life from the Loam, Dark Confidant, Loxodon Hierarch are all very good cards. Ravnica brought us new Duals, Dredge, Transmute and a lot of other cool cards.

Best Set Flavorwise: Time Spiral. Everyone who started playing before Apocalypse should love this set. It is not as good as the real thing, but I guess Time Spiral is the best we will ever get.

Best Creature: Jotun Grunt. second place for Dark Confidant, thirth place for Burning Tree Shaman.

Best Instant: Lightning Helix, followed by Darkblast, Remand, Krosan Grip and Sudden Shock (in random order).

Best Sorcery: Life from the Loam, no doubt about that. There have been build a lot of good and 'cool to play' decks the last year with this card. Infernal Tutor and Smallpox are also very strong cards, but they lack the raw power of Loam.

Best Enchantment: Counterbalance and Leyline of the Void when looking to Legacy. I really liked Doubling Season for casual.

Best Artifact: that one is though, since there haven't been printed any real good artifacts the last year. I am tempted to say Tormod's Crypt, but that was a reprint, so I am not really counting that one. I guess I'll have to say Mishra's Bauble, but that is for a lack of real contenders.

Best Land: New Duals and Flagstones of Trokair.

Best Mechanic: Dredge. I mean, come on, it is even abused in Vintage. Also flavorwise it is the first mechanic that gives me a warm feeling inside since Maddnes.

Best Legacy deck: Terrageddon. By far the best new deck in our format.

And now for the hall of shame:

Worst Set: Coldsnap.

Worst Mechanic: Forcast. I still don't get what they were thinking when designing that one.

Worst Land: Dark Depths.

Worst Creature: Squire. I can't believe they've reprinted this thing. But I am probably biased against it since I've pulled 4 out of my boosterbox Time Spiral.

[on1y0ne]

And now for the hall of shame:
Worst Mechanic: Forcast. I still don't get what they were thinking when designing that one.

I looked really quickly at this and laughed hysterically since I thought that it said "Worst Mechanic: Forest."