“We can play against my Vintage deck! It’s Dredge, with 4 Bazaar of Baghdad and 4 Serum Powders…to mulligan into a Bazaar of Baghdad” -Paul, Friday Nights
@@alysaere Clanmanders, James digs out his old Orc typal deck and adds some new Khans cards to is, and claims it’s a “Vintage Orc Deck”. He then quickly loses to Paul’s Vintage Dredge deck. That episode is also the origin of Graham’s iconic “Surrak punch all the bears”
Fun fact about Panglaicial Wurm, there was a bug on MTGO for a while where if you cast it from your library it would functionally turn your deck upside down for the rest of the game. You would actually draw face-down cards.
@@MagnustheMage No, because the deck isn't physically represented anywhere. But I suppose if you had a 'see top card of library' effect it'd show an upside down card again.
I like that he mentioned it but it makes the fact that he didn't talk about the Combo/nonbo of Selvala and panglacial worm all the more jarring. That is a rules nightmare for judges and way more of a thing to bring up than Trinisphere's rules.
Spellweaver Volute is my favorite card in the game because it's so ridiculous and silly. "Enchant instant in a graveyard" is a banger line to start with.
my favorite part of trinisphere is how an entire step of casting a spell had to be authored into the rules called the "trinisphere step" where the spell being cast has to check if there's a trinisphere in play
@@alfchavalactually it's part of rule 601.2f: 'Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes "locked in." If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.' That's specifically Trinisphere.
@elleeVee I didn't argue about the order, but about the existence of a step explicit to trinisphere. If it was a replacement effect, of course it would apply after you follow all steps to calculate the total cost, because that was Trinisphere cares about. But re-reading the text, it's actually not a replacement effect, just a continuos effect (which would be an important distinction if another similiar effect is printed), so yes, you are right, that part of the rule isn't being redundant (which is something that sometimes happens in the comprehensive rules), but exists explicit for Trinisphere to work.
I love how the Professor kept pointing to the nothing and the links and transitions were in other places. Lots of fun little things in the video. Thanks for sharing!
Gavin Verhey: "You're going to be so excited for our next set mechanic folks, it's built around something you're all familiar with but is only referenced one *1* card ever created! That card might be Serum Powder and the mechanic might be built around mulligans, who knows!"
Raging River is my favorite pet card that didn't make the list. Such a fun, unique mechanic and never fails to confuse newer players at the Commander table.
My favorite unique card is Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. It's so fun that it inspired me to build various 60 card with no format decks with my favorite Magic cards just so I could play with them.
The original Timespiral block are my most favorite sets of all time. So many insane card design choices. My favorite three from the block have to be Mesmeric Sliver with Fateseal 1, Bitter Ordeal with Gravestorm, and the black counterspell, Dash Hopes.
Timespiral is my favorite block determined by mechanics. (OG theros is my favorite based on flavor.) I love the weird unique cards; a blue land ramp spellshaper, a red bouncing flying wall, an enchantment that can only enchant an Enchanted creature, auras that tap, and wizardcycling are just a few of the cards from that set that I love!
@@saylorwa I run it in Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief. Whichever one they fail to block is getting Colossification as a combat trick and no one ever sees it coming
I'm surprised Lightning Storm didn't get mentioned, as it's the only instant card that has an activated ability that can be used while it's on the stack. And I believe it's also the only card to put counters on a stack object, as well!
Technically there's a Golgari commander that keeps his +1/+1 counters through zone changes, so also has counters while on the stack, but otherwise agree.
@@Bennici skulbriar is a thing as well but lightning storm was for some time win condition in modern storm lists. and the activated ability available for all players to activate while on the stack... it's wild.
That. I was so confused as a kid (obviously not knowing what the stack is). I just gave up trying to comprehend what the card does. I still kept it though xD
The "Draft Only" cards from sets like conspiracy are among the most unique and fun cards. The most unique among them, and also a favorite card in my cube is "Worldknit". Every cube owner should consider it, and the other conspiracy cards!
I think out of these, Panglacial Wurm is notable for being able to put the game into a state where you have unwillingly cheated. (With Selvala, Explorer Returned)
Last I’d read, there seemed to be some confusion regarding whether you could “legally cheat” with selvala & the wurm. If you *need* to get 4 from selvala to pay the wurm’s cost, but know you have a land on top because you’re currently searching your deck, are you allowed to try casting the Wurm or not?
@@chrayezif I had to guess, maybe it’s allowed because the card on top of your deck isn’t public knowledge, and the game can’t restrict you from taking an action unless all players can see that it would be illegal. Kinda the inverse logic of how tutors for specific card types require you to reveal the card. Now if you’re playing with the top card revealed, I have no idea lol. I’m gonna read on it
I was going to comment this too. It's so damn goofy that you can end up taking an illegal action by accident. That's why we have rule 728! 😂 (Well, that and honest mistakes. You CAN propose to cast a spell without having the mana to pay and it'll pass 601.2e, but 601.2h is where it becomes an illegal action, and your local judge will probably have something to say if you admit you did it on purpose)
Skill Borrower is one of my favorite unique cards, I try to include it in any deck I can to show it off. It's something special to have an innocuous creature out for a turn, then get a surprise Sol Ring, Chromatic Orrery, Contagion Engine, or Mindslaver activation from it. Lots of good activated abilities of artifacts and creatures out there folks.
I love this channel so much. I literally can and actually watch so much of the content on here on a daily basis and always feel the best vibes. Prof is a gentleman a scholar and a legend.
Time Spiral block is my favorite block in MTG history, mainly because of Future Sight. That block just introduced some of the strangest and most fun cards to play. I'd really love it if they did a Future Sight 2 sometime soon or similar.
I wish all the mechanics they introduced didn't die as one-offs forever, even the ones that are harder to integrate into a set (which could be done as future one-off releases). I get that it's hard to design interesting cards for effects like fateseal or fortify, but the design space isn't completely empty, so I wish there were new ones someday.
@@therealax6 they brought Fateseal back with Jace the Mind Sculptor I don’t think they’re gonna do fortify again, I suspect they’ll just make equipment that can equip lands
I really do enjoy this type of video content. Getting to discover new cards, seeing unique mechanics and how to play with it, and exploring a bit of Magics history! Thank you for this! ❤
Many years ago when my friend first introduced me to Magic, I pulled a foil copy of Pain's Reward and it's probably my most cherished card. It's still here in my binder that I keep for myself :)
A card which is basically useless in any other deck, but one of my favourite unique cards is the “Tel-Jilad Stylus” in my “Grenzo, Dungeon Warden” Commander Deck. Using it to prevent my commander from being exiled or destroyed by activating his ability and then putting himself under my deck with the stylus is one of my favourite things to do!
I can see how that would have been useful back in the days. But now that you can have your commander just go back into the command zone when it gets destroyed, sticking it under the library seems rather worse, doesn't it?. It does get around evil little enchantments like Song of the Dryads or Darksteel Mutation, but then again, the decks that would require such a detour on account of not being able to deal with enchantments are also bad at tutoring, which means you'll end up without access to your commander either way.
@@Volkbrecht Nah, because Grenzo's ability is still on the stack. So once the Stylus resolves, Grenzo's ability resolves, replaying himself from the bottom of the deck. Then the removal fizzles because it's a new instance of Grenzo on the field.
I use that card in my Zirilan of the claw deck! He's a 5 drop in red, and you can tap him for 3 mana to tutor out a dragon from your deck and give them haste but they're exiled at the end of turn. I use the stylus to tuck the dragons back in the deck so I can reuse them ❤
I love Bridge from Below so much! It's an amazing enabler for Manaless Dredge in Legacy, which is at least my second favourite deck ever. All odd cards are a joy for me. Manaless Dredge actually sverved me to play the Tortured Existence archetype in Pauper, and I'd say TortEx is one of the most unique commons out there. Honestly, graveyard shennanigans are just a joy.
An honestly excellent list, and a lot of cards I had forgotten about. You did remind me of another from Futuresight that had a mechanic I would LOVE to see come up again... Fortify, the ability similar to equipment, but for lands, and only ever was on one card, Darksteel Garrison. It is such a niche thing, but I would love if we got more of that kind of effect... build a deck of Fortifications and Equipment, a true kind of army/war deck would be so flavorful and fun!
The answer I've seen to this is that they're not that different to Auras that enchant lands, due to lands almost never being removed. This is true, but they are different enough for there to be some design space there - a fortification that gives a land a sacrifice effect, for instance, does something that an Aura cannot easily do. I wish they'd make some new ones eventually. (Plus, they are artifacts.)
Also, if your opponent happens to have more cards left in their deck than you do, the orc flumph combo does leave you with a pretty big army of orcs, and a bunch of cards in your hand, so that isn't bad either.
You also put yourself on a one-turn clock (given your empty library) and your Army is probably summoning sick. Against a full grip of cards. You might be able to get out of that (you _also_ have a gigantic grip of cards), but it's not that great of a position to be in!
@@therealax6 A big creature on the field and a ton of cards in your hand is a pretty easy position to win from, just cast Fling or Essence Harvest or something. Of course you'll probably also want to run a few cheap counterspells to protect yourself from the inevitable 3-4 Forces of Will that you'll occasionally run into. Or I guess you could also avoid all of that and just mill your opponent prior to starting the combo.
I love Spellweaver Volute. I also absolutely adore Possibility Storm, and can't quite think of any other card in the game that does what that one does.
I was really expecting Arbor Dryad to show up, but I guess there are so many effects that turn lands into creatures that it's not really that weird now
It's still unique in that it's a creature and a land right there on the type line. The closest they've come to that since is the backside of Invasion of Zendikar, but since the back has to be cast, they couldn't make it a land on the type line. So the effect that makes it a land is in its text box instead.
I was also expecting Dryad Arbor, since while there are many "lands that become creatures", there's only one "This land is a creature", full stop. The whole video could basically be Future Sight cards.
Yep! I was super surprised that did not show up. I really thought it would be number one as a result. Yes there are many effects that turn a land into a creature but not one that is both naturally. However, I can give it the benefit of the doubt since Grist also coexists with it as being a unique double-typed card when it is not on the battlefield and not influenced by other card effects.
That's why Ashaya, Soul of the Wild is a favorite of mine in green decks. It pumps itself, ramps (even with just itself,) and flips the script on turning the creatures into man-lands. There's a few other green cards that make man-lands in that sense (I think Greensleeves?) but Ashaya is such a powerful card just for the ramp alone.
Fun fact! There's a modern deck right now that uses Flumph, a white spell that gives it indestructible, and Orcish Bowmasters to make each player draw their own deck. Luckily, this modern deck runs 63 cards, which is usually more than your opponent. Edit: Fun fact! I did not watch far enough.
It's not necessarily "unique" in that its effect is very straightforward, but Yurlok of Scorch Thrash is one of my favorite modern designs, and is especially punishing with War's Toll. Past that, another "category" of cards that I love (again, not necessarily "unique" in the full sense of this video) is 2-mana mono-white Hate Bears. Things like Hushbringer, Archivist of Oghma, Containment Priest, Grand Abolisher and Leonin Arbiter are a testament to how creative the game designers are in making a suite of diverse and narrow effects that are still extremely powerful in their ideal circumstances
I wasn't excited for the Dr. Who cards, but... River Song making you draw cards from the bottom of your library instead of the top is really interesting to me. It's a small unique change to play that can have huge implications
You sure found some weird ones, my personal weird favorite is Battle of Wits. Sure you could generalize it to be just another weird win-condition but it's so unique you're able to tell someone's playing a battle of wits deck from the other side of the room.
I've always had a soft spot for Guardian of the Gateless since I discovered it. It combines two relatively rare abilities of being able to block any number of creatures and also getting a pump of +1/+1 for each creature it blocks. It basically will blank any alpha strike your opponents could attempt if the bulk of those forces are the many versions of 1/1 tokens that are often in token strategies. You might even be able to foil bigger attacks with some of the more effective combat tricks like Unleash Fury and Temur Battle Rage.
I played a standard deck with nivmagus ele during theros where I encoded cipher spells onto aqueous formed attackers and consumed the cipher generated copies. Got many judge calls.
Nivmagus Elemental combos *spectacularly* with Ink-Treader Nephilim, since technically the copies it creates are *yours* regardless of who casts the original spell. You can use it to prune which creatures get targeted by the copies Ink-Treader makes, disincentivize your opponents from abusing Ink-Treader's ability, and get Nivmagus Elemental absolutely *massive* in the process. Also, I too think that Panglacial Wurm is neat. I put it in my Godzilla commander deck.
Even just the simple use of Nivmagus Elemental as "insurance" against counterspells can be helpful. Not enough to really run the card for that specific reason, of course, but it's nice to be able to pump your creature every time one of your spells gets targeted by a counter.
@@christopherb501Absolutely, plus Mirrorwing Dragon to an extent. Their effects are more limited than Ink-Treader's, but are more commonly used due to color requirements.
17:05 Wrong! You can use counterspells with spellweaver volute to cast opponent's spells when using a range of specific sorceries that gain flash/instant speed casting with a set condition (e.g. Crashing Tide has flash IF you control a Merfolk). Quicken also works, or any quicken-like effect.
Love Lightning Storm: not only is it one of only 5 eternal legal cards that reference the stack in its ruletext but it as an instant GAINS an activated ability while on the stack which is pretty wild
You should make a snakes trible EDH deck for a future Tolarian Community College Edh deck! I would be honored to show my Emerald Tree Boa's off in the video! I am pretty sure the art of snakes from Neon Dynasty is based off of the species of Emerald Tree Boa. I think i live in the same area as you are so let me know if you would be interested!
I love goblin game, i know that you can just note a number instead of "hidding objects" and if you compare it to un cards isn't as weird, but is really cool and i love it
12:22 I used to have a modern deck which was Nivmagus Elemental and Pyrexian spells. You would pay the life instead of mana and you would be able to exile them to the Elemental. Supplementing the low life was a playset of Deaths Shadow. It was funky.
I called the top two of this list. I knew that it had to be Bridge and Volute for playable unique cards. Future Sight was WILD and I loved that set like no other. It's what saved Magic for me.
10:43 Nivmagus Elemental is a great sideboard card for plenty of red/blue decks. It's use case is niche, but if you're playing against, specifically, a control deck that likes to counter you multiple times, you're effectively countering every counterspell they can by converting their counterspell targets into buffs that can't be targeted, instead. All their buying time for the finisher fizzles while simultaneously making your threats more threatening.
As someone who built a commander deck based off Izzet Gizmometry, the idea of making potentially every instant I've cast work again from the graveyard is absolutely incredible. Need me that Spellweaver enchantment!
Panglacial Wurm is forever my favorite magic card. When I was just getting into the game, maybe like 11 years old, my friend mysteriously got one when someone at summer camp stole a Spined Wurm out of his deck and replaced it with Panglacial Worm. We were young and lacked reading comprehension though, so we both thought you could play the card for free if you searched your library, no cost required. Of my first twenty games of MTG, I lost like nineteen of them to my friend doing turn 2 rampant growth --> 9/5 with trample, and somehow still ended up loving the game. I have my own copy now which I love and put in way more decks than I should, it's such a nostalgic card to me.
Niv-Magus Elemental is one of my favorite weird cards. I use it in my weird Mizzix EDH deck to stop myself from dying when I make too many copies of spells. It's also very fun to eat any spell anyone tries to counter or redirect.
For me, the most unique MtG card is Soldier of Fortune because it allows me to force a player to shuffle their deck at a whim. Combine it with untap effects and you can actually make an opponent concede through actual physical pain.
My favorite unique cards are the ones that have entire paragraphs explaining their rules. Possibility Storm, Scrambleverse, Yet Another Aether Vortex, Warp World, etc.
My favorite unique card is Bosium Strip!! It's an artifact that lets you cast the top card of your graveyard if it's an instant or sorcery. It's not very efficient and you have to keep your yard ordered, but it's a fun bit of recursion in commander decks that like to manipulate cards in their yard!
My pick for unique card is: Bitter Ordeal - 2B Sorcery - Rare (Future Sight) "Search target player’s library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles. Gravestorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)" Have played in my Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Ghoulcaller Gisa EDH decks as an alt wincon along with Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + another zombie in play. Doesn't care about life totals or shuffle Titans.
A really interesting option could be using Heliod, The Radiant Dawn (or more specifically, the flip to Heliod, the Warped Eclipse). Being able to flash in any sorcery (and for very cheap) means you can often multi-proc Spellweaver Volute (So the counterspells become even more juicy)
I’ve got a soft spot for Shared Fate myself. I love the idea of just swapping decks with your opponent and leaving them with a goofy deck without any win condition.
I played a ridiculous 4 player game ages ago with a Shared Fate/Leveler deck. Got Shared Fate out and they all started pulling from my deck. Several turns later, everyone but me has played a Leveler. I boomerang Shared Fate to my hand and pass.
Thanks a lot for the great video! For me, willbender Haß always been a great an unique one. This is partly due to the fact we used to play it a lot when split second was still a thing and morph doesn't use the stack. Always enjoyed it a lot.
Tree of Perdition is a fun oddball of a card. "Exchange an opponent's life total with Tree's toughness" becomes a lot more meaningful when opponents start with 40 life, and unlike Sorin or similar effects that just set an opponent to 10 life, Tree retains that 40 as toughness (and can be leveraged later to give that toughness/life total away). Also, Exchange of Words from Unfinity (weirdly non-acorn) has a lot of potential. It's a combo kill with Archfiend of the Dross (give Archfiend's text box to an opponent's creature so they die on upkeep when they can't remove an oil counter), and can be used for shenanigans in general.
Bridge from below was played in the fringes of the tournament scene since it was printed. Hell it was played in Extended and even Standard. The only reason why it didn't dominate in that standard format is dragonstorm was about 1/2 a turn faster.
Thanks to Factor75 for sponsoring today's video. Go to strms.net/factor75_tolariancommunity and use code POGTOLARAUG50 for 50% off your first box!
that is the most complicated promo code I've ever heard, lol
Isn’t panglacial worm a play and not cast?
@@justinmckean2022h
1:00 "This video will cover 7 of my favorite cards" Puts up 6 fingers
Is this a joke I dont understand? lmao
Can u make more content lol I love it
“We can play against my Vintage deck! It’s Dredge, with 4 Bazaar of Baghdad and 4 Serum Powders…to mulligan into a Bazaar of Baghdad” -Paul, Friday Nights
God, I loved that.
what vid is that in?
Time to rewatch Friday Nights again!
@@alysaereClanmanders I believe.
@@alysaere Clanmanders, James digs out his old Orc typal deck and adds some new Khans cards to is, and claims it’s a “Vintage Orc Deck”. He then quickly loses to Paul’s Vintage Dredge deck.
That episode is also the origin of Graham’s iconic “Surrak punch all the bears”
Fun fact about Panglaicial Wurm, there was a bug on MTGO for a while where if you cast it from your library it would functionally turn your deck upside down for the rest of the game. You would actually draw face-down cards.
Wait, were you able to see the cards in your deck?
@@MagnustheMage No, because the deck isn't physically represented anywhere. But I suppose if you had a 'see top card of library' effect it'd show an upside down card again.
That Flumph/Bowmasters combo is hilarious.
Mtggoldfish has a video playing them in a deck if you’re interested
I got killed by that combo in Arena, it's really hilarious.
I like that he mentioned it but it makes the fact that he didn't talk about the Combo/nonbo of Selvala and panglacial worm all the more jarring. That is a rules nightmare for judges and way more of a thing to bring up than Trinisphere's rules.
I built a historic deck with that and rosie cotton/scurry oak in a coco shell. It's pretty good.
So that's the reason Bowmaster is like $50 right now?
Spellweaver Volute is my favorite card in the game because it's so ridiculous and silly. "Enchant instant in a graveyard" is a banger line to start with.
I snuck it into an Octavia, Living Thesis deck that loves self-mill. Top notch wackiness.
Would love to see this card programmed in Arena lol
It says in "a" graveyard. Does that mean you could also enchant your opponent's graveyard cards?
@@qwerty11111122 yes
You bet it does! Which means I don't have to lose Octavia's discount if there's something spicy to steal. @@qwerty11111122
my favorite part of trinisphere is how an entire step of casting a spell had to be authored into the rules called the "trinisphere step" where the spell being cast has to check if there's a trinisphere in play
There isn't such step, Trinisphere is just a replacement effect that applies in the step of determining the total cost.
@@alfchavalactually it's part of rule 601.2f: 'Once the total cost is determined, any effects that directly affect the total cost are applied. Then the resulting total cost becomes "locked in." If effects would change the total cost after this time, they have no effect.'
That's specifically Trinisphere.
@@alfchaval trinisphere explicitly applies after ALL other cost reducing effects in the game are applied, its written in the rule that it comes last
@@alfchaval Isn't it cool when you try to correct someone and end up being wrong? I think it's cool.
@elleeVee I didn't argue about the order, but about the existence of a step explicit to trinisphere.
If it was a replacement effect, of course it would apply after you follow all steps to calculate the total cost, because that was Trinisphere cares about.
But re-reading the text, it's actually not a replacement effect, just a continuos effect (which would be an important distinction if another similiar effect is printed), so yes, you are right, that part of the rule isn't being redundant (which is something that sometimes happens in the comprehensive rules), but exists explicit for Trinisphere to work.
"At least these five." while holding six.
😂🤣😅😆
6 are at least 5.
He's an english major not a math one
"This video will cover 7", holds up 6 fingers.
I caught that too. Haha
I love how the Professor kept pointing to the nothing and the links and transitions were in other places. Lots of fun little things in the video. Thanks for sharing!
Gavin Verhey: "You're going to be so excited for our next set mechanic folks, it's built around something you're all familiar with but is only referenced one *1* card ever created! That card might be Serum Powder and the mechanic might be built around mulligans, who knows!"
I think if Gavin announces that, it's time for us to take him out to pasture and let him enjoy his retirement with the other old MTG Bovines.
Raging River is my favorite pet card that didn't make the list. Such a fun, unique mechanic and never fails to confuse newer players at the Commander table.
Came here to mention this! I love thematic awesomeness like this one!!
My favorite unique card is Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. It's so fun that it inspired me to build various 60 card with no format decks with my favorite Magic cards just so I could play with them.
Haakon rules!
*Flump* is not only an incredibly unique card. It's insanely fun to say and now I just want to find ways to incorporate it into my every day speech.
The original Timespiral block are my most favorite sets of all time. So many insane card design choices. My favorite three from the block have to be Mesmeric Sliver with Fateseal 1, Bitter Ordeal with Gravestorm, and the black counterspell, Dash Hopes.
Withering Boon is also a great black counterspell
100% agree. Best MTG block
Arcanum Wings is wholly unique. I actually run in it a super spicy homebrew 🤣
Timespiral is my favorite block determined by mechanics. (OG theros is my favorite based on flavor.) I love the weird unique cards; a blue land ramp spellshaper, a red bouncing flying wall, an enchantment that can only enchant an Enchanted creature, auras that tap, and wizardcycling are just a few of the cards from that set that I love!
@@saylorwa I run it in Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief. Whichever one they fail to block is getting Colossification as a combat trick and no one ever sees it coming
I'm surprised Lightning Storm didn't get mentioned, as it's the only instant card that has an activated ability that can be used while it's on the stack. And I believe it's also the only card to put counters on a stack object, as well!
Technically there's a Golgari commander that keeps his +1/+1 counters through zone changes, so also has counters while on the stack, but otherwise agree.
@@Bennici skulbriar is a thing as well but lightning storm was for some time win condition in modern storm lists. and the activated ability available for all players to activate while on the stack... it's wild.
Chain lightning too
@@mememaster9703 Chain Lightning does not have an activated ability.
That. I was so confused as a kid (obviously not knowing what the stack is). I just gave up trying to comprehend what the card does. I still kept it though xD
The "Draft Only" cards from sets like conspiracy are among the most unique and fun cards. The most unique among them, and also a favorite card in my cube is "Worldknit". Every cube owner should consider it, and the other conspiracy cards!
I think out of these, Panglacial Wurm is notable for being able to put the game into a state where you have unwillingly cheated. (With Selvala, Explorer Returned)
Last I’d read, there seemed to be some confusion regarding whether you could “legally cheat” with selvala & the wurm. If you *need* to get 4 from selvala to pay the wurm’s cost, but know you have a land on top because you’re currently searching your deck, are you allowed to try casting the Wurm or not?
my favorite and least favorite interaction in all of magic
@@chrayezif I had to guess, maybe it’s allowed because the card on top of your deck isn’t public knowledge, and the game can’t restrict you from taking an action unless all players can see that it would be illegal. Kinda the inverse logic of how tutors for specific card types require you to reveal the card.
Now if you’re playing with the top card revealed, I have no idea lol. I’m gonna read on it
It also lets you deck yourself with 1 card left in your deck!
I was going to comment this too. It's so damn goofy that you can end up taking an illegal action by accident. That's why we have rule 728! 😂 (Well, that and honest mistakes. You CAN propose to cast a spell without having the mana to pay and it'll pass 601.2e, but 601.2h is where it becomes an illegal action, and your local judge will probably have something to say if you admit you did it on purpose)
Skill Borrower is one of my favorite unique cards, I try to include it in any deck I can to show it off. It's something special to have an innocuous creature out for a turn, then get a surprise Sol Ring, Chromatic Orrery, Contagion Engine, or Mindslaver activation from it. Lots of good activated abilities of artifacts and creatures out there folks.
I love this channel so much. I literally can and actually watch so much of the content on here on a daily basis and always feel the best vibes. Prof is a gentleman a scholar and a legend.
Time Spiral block is my favorite block in MTG history, mainly because of Future Sight. That block just introduced some of the strangest and most fun cards to play. I'd really love it if they did a Future Sight 2 sometime soon or similar.
The Modern Horizons sets are basically Time Spiral 2 and 3
Amen!
I wish all the mechanics they introduced didn't die as one-offs forever, even the ones that are harder to integrate into a set (which could be done as future one-off releases). I get that it's hard to design interesting cards for effects like fateseal or fortify, but the design space isn't completely empty, so I wish there were new ones someday.
@@therealax6 agree. I also hope they revisit and expand on Energy counters someday
@@therealax6 they brought Fateseal back with Jace the Mind Sculptor
I don’t think they’re gonna do fortify again, I suspect they’ll just make equipment that can equip lands
I really do enjoy this type of video content. Getting to discover new cards, seeing unique mechanics and how to play with it, and exploring a bit of Magics history!
Thank you for this! ❤
Many years ago when my friend first introduced me to Magic, I pulled a foil copy of Pain's Reward and it's probably my most cherished card. It's still here in my binder that I keep for myself :)
'Upwelling' and 'Rune of Protection: Lands' are my two favorites. They're answers to mechanics limitations that don't really see much of these days.
4:49 if they have more cards then you, that "amass orcs" trigger will have you walloping them in the face with a massive 20+ dmg
A card which is basically useless in any other deck, but one of my favourite unique cards is the “Tel-Jilad Stylus” in my “Grenzo, Dungeon Warden” Commander Deck. Using it to prevent my commander from being exiled or destroyed by activating his ability and then putting himself under my deck with the stylus is one of my favourite things to do!
I can see how that would have been useful back in the days. But now that you can have your commander just go back into the command zone when it gets destroyed, sticking it under the library seems rather worse, doesn't it?. It does get around evil little enchantments like Song of the Dryads or Darksteel Mutation, but then again, the decks that would require such a detour on account of not being able to deal with enchantments are also bad at tutoring, which means you'll end up without access to your commander either way.
@@Volkbrecht Nah, because Grenzo's ability is still on the stack. So once the Stylus resolves, Grenzo's ability resolves, replaying himself from the bottom of the deck. Then the removal fizzles because it's a new instance of Grenzo on the field.
I use that card in my Zirilan of the claw deck! He's a 5 drop in red, and you can tap him for 3 mana to tutor out a dragon from your deck and give them haste but they're exiled at the end of turn. I use the stylus to tuck the dragons back in the deck so I can reuse them ❤
Wow Spellweaver Volute is actually crazy. I'm definitely adding that to my Kykar deck
I love Bridge from Below so much! It's an amazing enabler for Manaless Dredge in Legacy, which is at least my second favourite deck ever. All odd cards are a joy for me. Manaless Dredge actually sverved me to play the Tortured Existence archetype in Pauper, and I'd say TortEx is one of the most unique commons out there. Honestly, graveyard shennanigans are just a joy.
An honestly excellent list, and a lot of cards I had forgotten about. You did remind me of another from Futuresight that had a mechanic I would LOVE to see come up again... Fortify, the ability similar to equipment, but for lands, and only ever was on one card, Darksteel Garrison. It is such a niche thing, but I would love if we got more of that kind of effect... build a deck of Fortifications and Equipment, a true kind of army/war deck would be so flavorful and fun!
The answer I've seen to this is that they're not that different to Auras that enchant lands, due to lands almost never being removed. This is true, but they are different enough for there to be some design space there - a fortification that gives a land a sacrifice effect, for instance, does something that an Aura cannot easily do. I wish they'd make some new ones eventually.
(Plus, they are artifacts.)
Also, if your opponent happens to have more cards left in their deck than you do, the orc flumph combo does leave you with a pretty big army of orcs, and a bunch of cards in your hand, so that isn't bad either.
You also put yourself on a one-turn clock (given your empty library) and your Army is probably summoning sick. Against a full grip of cards. You might be able to get out of that (you _also_ have a gigantic grip of cards), but it's not that great of a position to be in!
@@therealax6 A big creature on the field and a ton of cards in your hand is a pretty easy position to win from, just cast Fling or Essence Harvest or something. Of course you'll probably also want to run a few cheap counterspells to protect yourself from the inevitable 3-4 Forces of Will that you'll occasionally run into.
Or I guess you could also avoid all of that and just mill your opponent prior to starting the combo.
@@catoticneutral If you're going for that plan, you can also just run Thassa's Oracle, I guess.
One with nothing is a beautiful card. Rhystic Studies did a wonderful job highlighting it.
I love Spellweaver Volute.
I also absolutely adore Possibility Storm, and can't quite think of any other card in the game that does what that one does.
I love Futuresight for a lot of reasons, but at the very top- that beautifully unique card frame
I was really expecting Arbor Dryad to show up, but I guess there are so many effects that turn lands into creatures that it's not really that weird now
It's still unique in that it's a creature and a land right there on the type line.
The closest they've come to that since is the backside of Invasion of Zendikar, but since the back has to be cast, they couldn't make it a land on the type line. So the effect that makes it a land is in its text box instead.
I was also expecting Dryad Arbor, since while there are many "lands that become creatures", there's only one "This land is a creature", full stop. The whole video could basically be Future Sight cards.
Yep! I was super surprised that did not show up. I really thought it would be number one as a result. Yes there are many effects that turn a land into a creature but not one that is both naturally.
However, I can give it the benefit of the doubt since Grist also coexists with it as being a unique double-typed card when it is not on the battlefield and not influenced by other card effects.
That's why Ashaya, Soul of the Wild is a favorite of mine in green decks. It pumps itself, ramps (even with just itself,) and flips the script on turning the creatures into man-lands.
There's a few other green cards that make man-lands in that sense (I think Greensleeves?) but Ashaya is such a powerful card just for the ramp alone.
We do have a spell that creates X Dryad Arbors now in Awaken the Woods.
The professor holding 6 cards in the intro and telling us there are at least these 5 in MTG is very true.
Fun fact! There's a modern deck right now that uses Flumph, a white spell that gives it indestructible, and Orcish Bowmasters to make each player draw their own deck. Luckily, this modern deck runs 63 cards, which is usually more than your opponent.
Edit: Fun fact! I did not watch far enough.
I absolutely love Spellweaver Veloute! This was a key card in my old Talrand, The Sky Summiner deck!
It's not necessarily "unique" in that its effect is very straightforward, but Yurlok of Scorch Thrash is one of my favorite modern designs, and is especially punishing with War's Toll. Past that, another "category" of cards that I love (again, not necessarily "unique" in the full sense of this video) is 2-mana mono-white Hate Bears. Things like Hushbringer, Archivist of Oghma, Containment Priest, Grand Abolisher and Leonin Arbiter are a testament to how creative the game designers are in making a suite of diverse and narrow effects that are still extremely powerful in their ideal circumstances
"... at least these 5"
I've NEVER put Serum Power in any of my EDH decks, but the temptation to add it to my decks is so real 😂
Anyone else notice the professor held up six fingers when he said he would be revealing 7 cards? 😂
I wasn't excited for the Dr. Who cards, but... River Song making you draw cards from the bottom of your library instead of the top is really interesting to me. It's a small unique change to play that can have huge implications
Yeah, that was my thinking as well.
It's a cool mechanic that's also super flavorful. Hating on various types of library manipulation is just a bonus.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is the closest card I can think of to compare.
This is a great video, Professor. It inspires deck building. More unique "build around me" card videos, please.
1:01 Seven fin6ers!
You sure found some weird ones, my personal weird favorite is Battle of Wits. Sure you could generalize it to be just another weird win-condition but it's so unique you're able to tell someone's playing a battle of wits deck from the other side of the room.
I think Endless Horizons from Eventide would be a fit for this list. Definitely a unique card I am fond of!
I've always had a soft spot for Guardian of the Gateless since I discovered it. It combines two relatively rare abilities of being able to block any number of creatures and also getting a pump of +1/+1 for each creature it blocks. It basically will blank any alpha strike your opponents could attempt if the bulk of those forces are the many versions of 1/1 tokens that are often in token strategies. You might even be able to foil bigger attacks with some of the more effective combat tricks like Unleash Fury and Temur Battle Rage.
3:23 to skip the sponsor
I like Enduring Renewal. milling any creatures you draw and putting anything that dies back into your hand is such an interesting effect
spellweaver volute is an ALL STAR in my neera EDH deck! it gets REALLY funny so fast
I played a standard deck with nivmagus ele during theros where I encoded cipher spells onto aqueous formed attackers and consumed the cipher generated copies. Got many judge calls.
Nivmagus Elemental combos *spectacularly* with Ink-Treader Nephilim, since technically the copies it creates are *yours* regardless of who casts the original spell. You can use it to prune which creatures get targeted by the copies Ink-Treader makes, disincentivize your opponents from abusing Ink-Treader's ability, and get Nivmagus Elemental absolutely *massive* in the process.
Also, I too think that Panglacial Wurm is neat. I put it in my Godzilla commander deck.
It also works well with storm or replicate.
Edit: he talked about that. The pacts are cool too as you don't need to pay if they don't resolve.
Ditto Zada and Precursor Golem.
Even just the simple use of Nivmagus Elemental as "insurance" against counterspells can be helpful. Not enough to really run the card for that specific reason, of course, but it's nice to be able to pump your creature every time one of your spells gets targeted by a counter.
@@christopherb501Absolutely, plus Mirrorwing Dragon to an extent. Their effects are more limited than Ink-Treader's, but are more commonly used due to color requirements.
17:05 Wrong! You can use counterspells with spellweaver volute to cast opponent's spells when using a range of specific sorceries that gain flash/instant speed casting with a set condition (e.g. Crashing Tide has flash IF you control a Merfolk). Quicken also works, or any quicken-like effect.
Norin the Wary is my favourite unique Magic card.
He's just a scared little guy!
I knew a guy who ran a Norin Commander deck, and every card in it was cheese
I was in a mystery booster draft recently and had the pleasure of drafting Goblin Game, boy did that get a good laugh out of everyone
Riptide Mangler is pretty unique with its permanent power-changing ability.
Surprised ro not see sudden substitution on this list!
I'd say i would love to see more Foretell stuff.
There is that one demon that gives all your cards foretell. It would be neat to have a legendary version that could be your commander
@@mangomoe7347 There is one from a recent Secret Lair called Edgin, Larcenous Lutenist.
I appreciate the joy and excitement in the profs face durning this video.
I'm surprised that "Goblin Game" wasn't mentioned, although I guess it belongs in the "chaotic red spell" category.
I was very much expecting that to be #1, but it is a very annoying card, so that might have given it the boot right there.
Also it's just a generic red burn spell in it's core
I have Spellweaver Volute in my Sevinne, the Chronoclasm deck! It’s the mvp!
Love Lightning Storm: not only is it one of only 5 eternal legal cards that reference the stack in its ruletext but it as an instant GAINS an activated ability while on the stack which is pretty wild
What are the other four?
You should make a snakes trible EDH deck for a future Tolarian Community College Edh deck! I would be honored to show my Emerald Tree Boa's off in the video! I am pretty sure the art of snakes from Neon Dynasty is based off of the species of Emerald Tree Boa. I think i live in the same area as you are so let me know if you would be interested!
One of my favorite (recent) magic cards is River Song. Drawing cards backwards is wild and wacky and kind of reminiscent of old magic imo
Most unique? They’re the uniquest!
Save the cheerleader
I love goblin game, i know that you can just note a number instead of "hidding objects" and if you compare it to un cards isn't as weird, but is really cool and i love it
12:22 I used to have a modern deck which was Nivmagus Elemental and Pyrexian spells. You would pay the life instead of mana and you would be able to exile them to the Elemental. Supplementing the low life was a playset of Deaths Shadow.
It was funky.
Lol. Flump is just silly and I'm kinda happy it gets to see some fringe play. The concept is cool. . .and the little jellyfish is just too cute.
"Most unique" - I clicked on this for the nonsensical title, but the Professor usually manages to rope me in. Always a pleasure.
Lol, i run Spellweaver Volute in my Dragon's Approach deck. Finally have a deck that will reliably cast sorceries, so in it goes!
I called the top two of this list. I knew that it had to be Bridge and Volute for playable unique cards.
Future Sight was WILD and I loved that set like no other.
It's what saved Magic for me.
Great vid, I find this kind of content really interesting
10:43
Nivmagus Elemental is a great sideboard card for plenty of red/blue decks. It's use case is niche, but if you're playing against, specifically, a control deck that likes to counter you multiple times, you're effectively countering every counterspell they can by converting their counterspell targets into buffs that can't be targeted, instead. All their buying time for the finisher fizzles while simultaneously making your threats more threatening.
flumph may not be the best card in my arcades deck, but he sure has secured his spot in there forever. love that little guy
"7!"
proceeds to hold up 6 fingers
As someone who built a commander deck based off Izzet Gizmometry, the idea of making potentially every instant I've cast work again from the graveyard is absolutely incredible. Need me that Spellweaver enchantment!
Panglacial Wurm is forever my favorite magic card. When I was just getting into the game, maybe like 11 years old, my friend mysteriously got one when someone at summer camp stole a Spined Wurm out of his deck and replaced it with Panglacial Worm. We were young and lacked reading comprehension though, so we both thought you could play the card for free if you searched your library, no cost required. Of my first twenty games of MTG, I lost like nineteen of them to my friend doing turn 2 rampant growth --> 9/5 with trample, and somehow still ended up loving the game. I have my own copy now which I love and put in way more decks than I should, it's such a nostalgic card to me.
Niv-Magus Elemental is one of my favorite weird cards. I use it in my weird Mizzix EDH deck to stop myself from dying when I make too many copies of spells. It's also very fun to eat any spell anyone tries to counter or redirect.
I was really expecting to see Bounty Hunter on this list
Thanks for this.
Off the top of my head: "Pay X life"; "at your upkeep gain Red"; Jester Scepter.
For me, the most unique MtG card is Soldier of Fortune because it allows me to force a player to shuffle their deck at a whim. Combine it with untap effects and you can actually make an opponent concede through actual physical pain.
Boggart Forager
@@FearOgre Good catch but it requires being sacrificed. Soldier can do the repeatedly by its own.
This was a really fun video! Thank you for the hard work you put into it!
Loving the flumph content! Keep up the good work 👍🏼
I love the future sight frames
My favorite unique cards are the ones that have entire paragraphs explaining their rules. Possibility Storm, Scrambleverse, Yet Another Aether Vortex, Warp World, etc.
My favorite unique card is Bosium Strip!! It's an artifact that lets you cast the top card of your graveyard if it's an instant or sorcery. It's not very efficient and you have to keep your yard ordered, but it's a fun bit of recursion in commander decks that like to manipulate cards in their yard!
Spellweaver Volute is just a bunch of instants in a trenchcoat.
Lightning storm is definitely one of a kind. Also, future sight is one of my favorite sets
My pick for unique card is:
Bitter Ordeal - 2B Sorcery - Rare (Future Sight)
"Search target player’s library for a card and exile it. Then that player shuffles.
Gravestorm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)"
Have played in my Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Ghoulcaller Gisa EDH decks as an alt wincon along with Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + another zombie in play. Doesn't care about life totals or shuffle Titans.
If you have an effect that lets you cast sorceries at instant speed, then it unlocks using counterspells to counter other players spells
A really interesting option could be using Heliod, The Radiant Dawn (or more specifically, the flip to Heliod, the Warped Eclipse). Being able to flash in any sorcery (and for very cheap) means you can often multi-proc Spellweaver Volute (So the counterspells become even more juicy)
I love videos like this, really encourages me to try and branch out in what I build
I’ve got a soft spot for Shared Fate myself. I love the idea of just swapping decks with your opponent and leaving them with a goofy deck without any win condition.
I played a ridiculous 4 player game ages ago with a Shared Fate/Leveler deck. Got Shared Fate out and they all started pulling from my deck. Several turns later, everyone but me has played a Leveler. I boomerang Shared Fate to my hand and pass.
I'm a big fan of Shared Fate, myself.
(opponent shuffles pre-game) "What are you playing?"
"I don't know yet."
Thanks a lot for the great video! For me, willbender Haß always been a great an unique one. This is partly due to the fact we used to play it a lot when split second was still a thing and morph doesn't use the stack. Always enjoyed it a lot.
9:15 I was hoping that Panglacial Wurm would show up! Such a fun card!
Tree of Perdition is a fun oddball of a card. "Exchange an opponent's life total with Tree's toughness" becomes a lot more meaningful when opponents start with 40 life, and unlike Sorin or similar effects that just set an opponent to 10 life, Tree retains that 40 as toughness (and can be leveraged later to give that toughness/life total away).
Also, Exchange of Words from Unfinity (weirdly non-acorn) has a lot of potential. It's a combo kill with Archfiend of the Dross (give Archfiend's text box to an opponent's creature so they die on upkeep when they can't remove an oil counter), and can be used for shenanigans in general.
Bridge from below was played in the fringes of the tournament scene since it was printed. Hell it was played in Extended and even Standard. The only reason why it didn't dominate in that standard format is dragonstorm was about 1/2 a turn faster.
This is important content for my next game of 'Kicker Or Horsemanship?'
i would have put Warp World into this list, such a unique effect!
Might be my favorite TA video to date
I pulled a Panglacial Wurm from The List a couple years ago, and it went right into my Volo "anti-tribal" deck. Double Wurm.
u r one of my favourite RUclipsrs ever, keep up the great work.