MTG Top 10: BAD Cards That Used to be Good | Magic: the Gathering | Episode 402

#MTG #Magicthegathering #MTGArena
This video is sponsored by Card Kingdom! Check out their awesome store here: www.cardkingdom.com/?...
Want to support the channel? You can on Patreon!: / nizzahon_magic
(SPOILERS!) Direct Card Kingdom links for the cards in this video (SPOILERS!)
Note: Prices may have changed
Uthden Troll - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/alpha...
Yotian Soldier - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/antiq...
Ihsan's Shade - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/homel...
Orgg - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/falle...
Talruum Minotaur - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/mirag...
Storm Shaman - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Goblin Elite Infantry - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/allia...
Icatian Town - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/falle...
Erhnam Djinn - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/arabi...
Jade Leech - www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/invas...
Check out my History KZbin Channel: / @nizzahonhistory
Want to see me draft live? You can on Twitch! / nizzahon
Follow me on Twitter for channel updates and other Magic musings: / nizzahonmagic
Animations by Mike from Mythic Tales. Find his channel filled with awesome MTG animation here: / radiocommand
I Can Feel it Coming Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com )
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@blacklancejeo6625]

Remember, Dark Ritual was staple in black decks back in the day, hence Ishan's Shade going down earlier than usual.

[@michaelmorris4515]

Very much so, meaning Ilsan's Shade might as well have cost 3, discard a card. That's not as bad a deal for a pro-white 5/5. A lot of black creatures and spells were intentionally over costed because of Dark Ritual, not just the shade.

[@youtubetrollking1880]

The pro white made it good too since swords was so prevalent at the time.

[@AnsticePalo]

@@youtubetrollking1880 There was also no other kill spells in T2 that could deal with the Shade either. You had to either double bolt it, double incinerate, or fireball, or throw multiple creatures at it.. if they survived your terrors/dark banishings. I was a geddon player so I had whirling dervishes to block the shade. Pro Black, bay bay.

[@The_Zilli]

It wasnt uncommon for me by 2nd turn to have a sol ring out, two dark rituals played, a hymm used and a juggernaut on the board attacking. Ah those were the days.

[@davidpepin3017]

@@dirty_mac Or it could be 2 mana discard 2 cards :P

[@calemr]

I love the flavor of Orgg. "It's bigger than it thinks." It's too scared to attack big things, despite being one.

[@francogonz]

Damn. That's cute

[@herbertsmagon5777]

he's gonna fuck that chihuahua up though! xD

[@MrLeaff]

@@herbertsmagon5777 hhh&h&hh&hhjjjhjjjjhjjjjhjjhjjjjhjjjh

[@DerekLippold]

I would 100% buy the Orgg now at that price as I remember it being featured in a TV commercial.

[@EldritchDoe]

3:12 I'm not sure about the pronunciation either, but fun fact during playtesting it's name was "toy soldier" and when it came to finalizing the names for the printrun the devs weren't sure that to name it, so they just wrote 'toy' backward and added the 'ian'.

[@jeremyphillips3087]

That was fun, thank you.

[@TheThirdGenQ]

He was actually pronouncing it correctly as a child!

[@brandontankersley8107]

@TheThirdGenQ it's funny that he started out saying Yo-Tee-an but then shortly after he calls it Yo-Shee-an without even noticing lol.

[@OrbGoblin]

Anyone who's interested in experiencing what he's talking about, I recommend playing Shandalar, the Microprose late 90's MTG game.

[@PaulDodd]

Recommended for anyone

[@PokeBattlerJaze]

God I want a modern version of that

[@dayel11]

gotta love Shandalar, with its ante like mox pearl vs unsummon

[@Misiooo]

Ahah remember that game. Was no restrictions so could make a deck 29 black lotuses, 29 Timetwisters and 2 fireballs. Always win first round :D

[@georgeerniej]

Great game, might replay this week

[@Beaudunk]

I liked the quick slide by comparisons to cards from the more recent time.

[@supercard9418]

Same, i like how it shows the power creep in the more recent cards

[@irou95]

@@supercard9418 Funny thing is that most of the new cards are trash by 2021 standards, Like ixalan dinosaurs

[@GraemeGunn]

I think you mean "side-by-side" comparisons. "Slide by" comparisons doesn't mean anything.

[@Beaudunk]

@@GraemeGunn cause they slid by

[@bluedestiny2710]

Some cards that used to be good but are terrible or at the very least inefficient now are probably the following: 1) Balduvian Horde: RR2 , 5/5, Barbarian When this card comes in to play, discard 1 random card from your hand. If you don't, sacrifice this card Used to be a good aggro choice as a 5/5 for 4 is a fast creature then. Nowadays, while people can still take advantage of that discard due to a plethora of graveyard and discard payoffs (disturb and flashback come in to mind), its much harder because its random. Plus, a vanilla 5/5 probably isnt going to impact the board as much now as it did back then 2) Ivory Gargoyle W4, 2/2, Gargoyle Flying When this creature is sent from play to the graveyard, return this card to play at end of turn (im not sure when it comes back), then, skip your next draw phase W4: Remove Ivory Gargoyle from the game Back then, this was a win condition from some Blue White stall decks that use Moat or Island Sanctuary + Howling Mine combo,as a 2/2 that just wont die will eventually whittle people down. Nowdays, I think that "skip draw phase" upon ressurection is something many opponents can exploit 3) Blinking Spirit W3, 2/2 0: Return this card to your hand While a 2/2 that can dodge removal is good, recasting what is essentially a 2/2 vanilla over and over again might not be useful any more. Then, because the "stack" concept is no longer being used, you can't even get +1 with this any more. Back then, you could block with it, put the damage on stack, and then bounce it to your hand, which CAN lead to a +1 bec you may have killed a creature and keep yours 4) Necrosavant BBB3 5/5 BB3: Sacrifice a creature: Return NEcrosavant from your graveyard in to the battlefield Ok, this one, you can argue wasn't that good to begin with. I have, however, seen some black decks actually use this since it IS pretty hard to kill. 5/5 back then could take down some monsters, and its ability to come back for more is too much for some players... especially some control decks who rely heavily on countermagic to control the game. 5) Lhyurgoyff GG2, */* This creature's power is the number of creatures in all players graveyard, and toughness is the number of creatures in all player's graveyards +1 This used to be a way to recover from a board sweeper for Green after going wide... the highest I've seen this drop in a 1v1 game was a 10 / 11 ... still, nowdays, with cards like Voice of Resurgence, Caller of the Claw and a plethora of other "recovery" creatures that does things much more efficiently, this is bad. It doesnt even have ANY form of protection, so if your opponent kept a spot removal card, this thing is going down. It doesnt even have the decency to have trample, so your opponent can chump block it for days! It IS funny to play this in multiplayer, tho, I've seen this go up to a whopping 25 / 26 before 6) Derelor B3, 4/4 Black spells you play costs an additional B to play Same argument as said with Jade Leech: but worse due to lower stats. Back then, a mono-black aggro deck running Hymn to Tourach, Order of Ebon Hand / Knights of Stromgald, Black Knight, Bad Moon etc can use this as their top curve. 7) Dwarven Soldier R1, 2/1 When this creature blocks or becomes blocked by Orcs, this creature gets +0/+2 until end of turn Red aggro decks use to run this a LOT as well. It was among the few early creatures that were aggro enough for red decks to keep the pressure on the opponent while burning their best creatures. Nowadays, same argument as Goblin Elite Infantry: laughably bad since newer R1 2/1s or 2/2s come with upsides. Those are some creatures I could think of that were used back then that looks downright pathetic by now... Ill add others as soon as I remember more haha

[@gregames4843]

Comments MVP right here ^

[@TheWeepingSeraph]

I had a 22/23 Lurgy playing in a standard side tournament vs Goblins. Basically he kept chumping me until I drew Overrun.

[@bluedestiny2710]

@@gregames4843 haha i actually love the game.. the only real barrier for me is the cost. Its expensive to play, and with a good chunk of my vintage cards stolen (i.e a set of Force of Will), i kinda lost all motivation to play again But yea... I tend to get lost when discussing the game. I really like the thought put in to the game's design

[@bluedestiny2710]

@@TheWeepingSeraph yep. There was a time Lhurgoyf was a good way to recover. In tournaments then, ive seen control decks scoop after they used their WoG and then this thing drops as a 7/8 next turn. But yea, if it at least had trample or some protection or evasion, it would have been more valuable.

[@nobodyimportant72]

I wonder how Mogg Fanatic would look on this list. When it came to missed cards the Balduvian Horde was one I thought of as well.

[@BrandNewMorning]

I'm likely the only person who still uses Ihsan's Shade. It's a staple of every black deck I build on MTG: Forge. I can't say it's the greatest thing ever, but I still like it nonetheless. And the art alone is quite epic IMO. One of my favorites by Christopher Rush.

[@Jizzy696]

You forgot Morphling. In Type 1 and 1.5 Morphling was King. Then the rules of how stacking damage changed.

[@llongone2]

LOL at Goblin Elite Infantry's flavor text.

[@GrendelNin]

ah, the memories. I remember just wreaking havoc with a first turn Ishan's Shade back in the day. They really need to make a "Return to Homelands" set.

[@agentofashcroft]

Innestrad feels similar flavor-wise to Homelands

[@terryprentice9657]

@@agentofashcroft Innistrad is as close as we will get to that. When designing what would become the "gothic horror" set, they made a decision that Ulgrotha had too much negative baggage and it was better to start with a new plane. It's currently a 9 on the Rabiah Scale.

[@TeensierPython]

Yuck. Homelands.

[@ericwollam5532]

"because you wanna make a cube of intentionally bad cards" Now I unironically wanna make a commander cube for intentionally bad cards and intentionally bad commanders. It sounds like a lot of fun to try and make commander decks without using format staples of today like sol ring or rhystic study or etc etc and force everyone to come up with a bit more creativity in deck building. Perhaps it would give people creative ideas for future commander decks.

[@nzephier]

I wanna play that cube lol

[@chaotica-game985]

I actually have a bad stuff cube I made in paper. Its got some fun things like chillarpillar and cacoon, quench and unquenchable thirst. Mazes end and all the gate tutors.

[@matthewgagnon9426]

@@chaotica-game985 Spiny Starfish is a card that should be in there. I love that bad card.

[@ClexYoshi]

I'm kinda shocked at how many decks on edhrec use Mogg Fanatic, because I feel like THAT card is a wonderful example of a card that used to be crazy good but has the interesting story of a rules change making it toilet more than power creep.

[@NizzahonMagic]

It is still a nice card even with the "damage on the stack" nerf.

[@SmartAlec1]

He’s an ok one drop in aristocrat/combo strategies. One mana is easy to passively return every turn so pinging something over and over with a hard to interact with body bouncing between zones, it’s kind of like a more convoluted cat oven.

[@Arethusa01]

How about "Top 10 Standard All-star" (Cards that have (almost) all of it's points from Standard format)

[@yaboi5954]

I can guess siege rhino, SFM.

[@SpitefulAZ]

im surprised that hasn't been done.

[@FiboSai]

This is a good idea, but I suspect that most of the cards on the list would be from between 2015 - 2018, the years with by far the most standard events. Old cards won't have a chance to make the list solely due to the lack of events back in the day.

[@StefanWB]

​@@yaboi5954 People were using Siege Rhino in Modern when it was printed - if I remember, it was even one of the cards Wizards used to justify their decision to ban Birthing Pod in the format. Stoneforge Mystic is a Legacy staple. Death and Taxes plays it, and Stoneblade has been a popular archetype over the years.

[@M2Brad]

@@StefanWB I could see SFM not counting, but the rhino definitely had a majority of it's point in standard, right? Maybe it depends on what percentage is chosen.

[@chernoalpha3445]

Haven't even watched the video yet, but I stubbornly played Ishans Shade long after it was in any way viable. Homelands man, woof, but that art, my gawd, this thumbnail had me immediately Edit: I also pronounced it Yoshan soldier, and played it in a kobold artifact deck when I was young and exceptionally stupid

[@terryprentice9657]

That's how we pronounced it also, back in the day.

[@MrZer093]

Honestly, while any landwalk was generally a very mediocre skill (as it was highly dependent on what the opponent was playing to be effective or not), the use of it as a penalty such as with Ernham Djinn intrigues me. It’s a way to always make it live...unless you can somehow get out the creature without resorting to the proper basic land of its color (or certain nonbasic lands but whatevs). That’s some interesting card design there.

[@terryprentice9657]

The idea behind this and the other djinns and efreets in Arabian Nights was they were under-costed (for the time), but had some kind of drawback.

[@BCWasbrough]

Also, back then it was much harder to find non-basic lands that could reliably produce colored mana. City of Brass and Ice Age's pain lands were pretty much it until Invasion block.

[@alainkaizer7769]

@@BCWasbrough and the most powerful nonbasics that time, the dual lands, have basic land types.

[@eriktyrrell424]

Phantasmal terrain and similar stuff was often used to provide a route for landwalkers (and sea serpents)

[@tomscud]

How about Underworld Dreams? A card that was at one point restricted in Vintage (when it was called Type 1), got reprinted at uncommon in THB and never saw competitive play there. You could probably make a list of cards that were once restricted, particularly from the early years, that now are hardly worth playing (Ali from Cairo, for instance).

[@DarklordZagarna]

Dingus Egg and Sword of the Ages certainly come to mind.

[@johnlowe1255]

underworld dreams is not a bad card, i dunno what you're smoking

[@pakeshde7518]

my howling mine/underworld dreams/black vice would like to talk to you in this nice dark alleyway ;). OH my friends HATE that combo.. specially turn 1 slamming down 3 vices thanks to a dark ritual. Ahh the tears are SO refreshing.

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Dude I didn’t see the 3 at first on Erhnam Djinn and thought it was a 1 mana 4/5 and I was like “WHAT THE HELL”

[@bluedestiny2710]

That would have been an AMAZING card, even in today's standards XD But yea, same issue with Juzam Djinn. I didnt see the 2 in its mana cost, so all the while I thought it was a BB 5/5 that does 1 damage to you per turn Until I saw the actual card. While its still efficient, its not the insane card i thought it once was XD

[@nekrataali]

TBH you could probably print both Djinns today with the lower mana costs and they'd barely be playable because they don't come with a free Ancestral Recall.

[@thrillhouse4151]

Ooh there could probably be a top 100 for this one!!!

[@johngleeman8347]

Yo, it's Orgg! I love that card. Odd it's not a legendary creature. I guess there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of those creatures living their best orgg lives somewhere. XD

[@joshuaking7470]

And not for nothing he's featured in one of the old school Magic the Gathering commercials. Same with Rhox.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

They all got eaten by Thrulls.

[@Ryokamen]

My personal honorable mentions would be hypnotic spector, and serra angel

[@Josh-99]

I think that Hyppie would still be good. Maybe even too good. 2/2 flying with a RANDOM discard for 3 mana would still be amazingly strong in the right decks. Random discard is incredibly disruptive. Not as good as when you could play Swamp > Dark Ritual > Hypnotic Specter and watch your opponent's soul leave his body (if they didn't have a Lightning Bolt or Swords to Plowshares ready).

[@dayel11]

And here I am, playin Old-school 93/94 with my friends even today, cherishing my cheap Chronicles Ernham Djinn

[@ghostofkrows]

You should have mentioned Phyrexian Negator. Other than that solid list. Top-Notch work as ususal Nizzahon. Years of watching you and you have only ever improved as a content Creator. I'm glad you still make so much Content.

[@bluedestiny2710]

Im not 100% sure, but I think Negator is still used by some Black Aggros today. B2 for a 5/5 trample, while risky to use, is still a great deal

[@ghostofkrows]

@@bluedestiny2710 It's not used in anything. too much liability. It has been Homaged a few times though. First with Phyrexian Totem in Time Spiral. Then in Scars block as Phyrexian Oblitarator. the Card did work in Sucicide Black decks for awhile.

[@brandonsheumaker2673]

Thank you for this video, Niz! Brought me some needed nostalgia. The other thing to remember about Ihsan's Shade was that not only did it dodge StP, but the other cheap removal cards out there couldn't target Black creatures (I'm talking about Terror and Dark Banishing). That meant that Ihsan's Shade was very difficult to kill. And as for the mana cost, it was actually balanced for the time. Remember that back then WotC used a general formula to determine a generic creature's casting cost: (Power+Touhgness)/2 + 1 = CC So, to be "balanced" a 5/5 creature should cost 6. Added abilities meant the CC would go up; a lower CC would mean a drawback would be added, etc. That is all out the window now.

[@agentofashcroft]

I called Yotian Soldier "Yo-shin soldier" as a kid as well

[@MisterTotality]

Lot of nostalgia in this video. I always played with 4 Erhnam Djinns if my deck was even half green. I never felt like giving your opponent's creatures forestwalk was much of a drawback. You could frequently deal with those creatures if they became a problem. Quite often, your opponents would be forced to use their smaller creatures which were assigned forestwalk by the Djinn to block the Djinn. Erhnam Djinn's "downside" was almost always irrelevant.

[@markcahalan5698]

I remember playing Ishan Shade. It was so cool looking and a 5/5 for six. And now that you point it out, yeah, it was immune to ALL of the spot removal of that era. You had to use red, and either more than 1 card or fireball it for 5

[@ozfan6]

I think the funniest one was when Patrick Chapin was talking about seige rhino and said "this thing is absurd to anyone who ever cast erhnam djinn and was happy about it."

[@skillganon606]

The two earliest magic items I was gifted were the Garfield v. Finkel and Beatdown duel decks. It makes me smile that cards from both are on this list.

[@herbertsmagon5777]

RIP Ihsans Shade, i'll never forget your glory on the high school lunch table.

[@89qwyg9yqa34t]

Invasion was also a really big multi-color block, so the idea is that you can minimize its downside by simply not ever caring about green beyond this one creature. Honestly Juzam Djinn should have been above this. That was the epitome of god hand when it came to creatures in those days, which is why it was so expensive for so long. $160-$200 is what it sold for from basically the beginning until card prices exploded. There's no reason for it to be worth so much today except because it was once worth so much.

[@Dunsie]

Man Aggro Decks playing 5 Mana creatures without haste. What a strange and wonderful era early magic must have been

[@mikotagayuna8494]

I would be interested to see a list about creatures with large mana cost to power/toughness disparities but are actually competitive during their time.

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

Just look over a fallen empires rare list most of them are on there.

[@brandonsheumaker2673]

Remember that Icatian Town was a ridiculous top end card for White Weenie decks. Usually a Serra Angel or two was your finisher, but in the mirror match casting the town with two or three Crusades on the board was just too much to handle.

[@KabukiKid]

Ah! I see Wingspan back there. The first time I played Wingspan, I actually thought of you because I remember how much of a bird fan you are. :-) Excellent game!

[@gregoryyeager4675]

First game of Magic I played, I got wrecked by a Meekstone Vigilance deck that ran Yotian Soldier, Tempest Drake, and Serra Angel with Winter Orb, Icy Manipulator, and Kismet. My creatures got tapped down by the manipulators and never untapped, while my opponent beat me down with creatures that didn't tap. Yotian Soldier was solid, and it dodged popular removal too, like Terror and Lightning Bolt. You could Disenchant it, but you probably wanted that Disenchant for the Winter Orb or one of the Icy Manipulators or the Meekstone or anything else.

[@LordMyriddin]

"Even if there was a meta-game in standard these days where literally every deck played white..." Uh...(mono)white-something life-gain on arena would like a word...

[@natenathan2654]

What about Jackal Pup? I remember when that card absolutely dominated

[@Meowvela]

I kind of want to make, like, a cube of stuff from this era. Just to see how it would play. Proxies would probably be a must, or doing it digital, but it seems like it could be a neat little time capsule.

[@johnlowe1255]

bro you could buy all these cards for dirt cheap, i don't think proxies are needed

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Damn, sorry I'm late, as it turns out I'm on this list at #5 and needed to escape the mass amount of people looking to purchase me. But hey, on the plus side, I've managed to build myself an army made out of these cards that is going to stage a march outside of Nizzahon's house with the aim of getting "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)", although I'm a bit worried they're all too old for the job.

[@zipper4146]

I've always loved Yotian Soldier. I've tried to use him effectively in Modern, but he's simply outclassed.

[@WLDFLD]

Ihsan's Shade is funny because it's one of the few cards to be good in its standard but bad in its block. It dodged the best 3 standard removal spells (StP, Terror, Bolt) but was vulnerable to the most common block removal (Roots).

[@Aoi84]

I think I played all these. The "upside" to the Goblin Elite was its type and 2-slot. Turn 1, Mon's Raiders, Turn 2, Elite, Turn 3 the Warrens, or the Goblin King... it wasn't ideal, but you were probably popping it for the Warrens any ways to go wide. I think Tempest, with Moggs was the first like "maybe I should update this".

[@qbertq1]

Also the Ernham-Bun 'em decks which was a great foil to Necro.

[@MARIOGARCIA-dg4rn]

Not so inefficient creatures if you black lotus mox sol ring basalt monolith into them. If I came into a modern tournament and could stick a 5/5 pro white t3 consistently I would in a good spot even today. No bolt no push no solitude no prismatic no path xD Creatures were so overcostly back than because ramp was way out of healthiness standards. Perspective plays a huge roll in mtg.

[@RafaelAAMerlo]

Ihsan had an amazing art enough for me to do a tabletop RPG character based on him

[@zonimi]

Old School format will keep Erhnan Djinn a very playable card as it is one of the best creatures in that format. Even Uthdin Troll will see play in Disco Troll decks.

[@wolfwing1]

not on the list but I can think of a few cards that became shitty because of better versions. Aspect of wolf -> blanchwood armor web -> spiderclimb I remember er back in the day they were cards everyone loved if you were green heh

[@larrychatfield]

love the wingspan in the background :)

[@jeroenvaneekeren]

Ah, brings back the memories of filling my decks with Erhnam Djinns, Juggernauts, Serra Angels, Sengir Vampires, Mahamoti Djinns and Shivan Dragons. Also, I remember being surprised after getting back into the game well after my teenage years and finding out all of these cards downgraded to being unplayable and worth pennies 😅

[@FakeSchrodingersCat]

Yes pennies um do you still have the originals, no real reason but I will be happy to take them off your hands.

[@roblister3729]

At the time a big consideration was the lightning bolt test. 4 toughness went a long way there.

[@Josh-99]

Anything with 4 toughness was a strong contender for consideration in any deck as long as the cost was reasonable. It survived Lightning Bolt and Incinerate, and a lot of white weenies couldn't kill it until the SECOND Crusade hit the table. Remember how anyone playing green auto-included Wall of Vines, a 0/4 Wall cantrip?

[@dangerpieren2045]

I used to play with a guy who thought Jade Leech's text increased the devotion for his Xenagos deck.

[@raymyers700]

Man...I played from 94 to 01...and then dabbled with Arena here the last 6 months. I felt this list...especially Ernham D. When you talked about the troll, I had to laugh. My buddy back in the day used to like making weird decks to just be funny and he made a 3 mana 2/2 with NO special abilities deck...5 color with nothings but the creatures in it.. We put duals and pain lands in it as a final tribute to lunacy. :D

[@Ouja]

A lot of younger players don't understand the older cards because they are unable to filter out those newer more efficient cards. At the time they were dominant because they were the best available cards. Yes, they've been outpaced, but at the time they were game breakers. Case in point: Craw Wurm. 4GG for a 6/4 vanilla. My nephew asked why anyone would ever play it. His eyes goggled when I explained an optimum green aggro opening hand. 3 Forests, 2 Llanowar Elves, 1 Wild Growth, 1 Craw Wurm (very doable in a 40 card deck with 4 of each card). This resulted in dropping a 6/4 on turn 3. And with more Craw Wurms and Giant Growths guaranteed in short order, the game was pretty well over.

[@tonythepokemonguy751]

8 year old me is building a red deck back in the day with all of these

[@avatar2xl]

I almost always play a 3/3 haste for 4 in limited aggro decks And storm shaman was a BEAST in its heyday even in the deckmasters special product it got put in at max by both Garfield and Finkel

[@haikumagician4363]

what card is framed on the shelf in the back

[@warpdrivefueledbyinsomnia8165]

On Ihsan's Shade - if I'm not mistaken, the early ruling on protection prevented any kind of destruction, including from sweepers like Wrath of God. Even if that was the case today, it'd still be a tough sell, but back then it could be a black control deck's end-game battering ram.

[@Melvinvanharn]

"Protection from" has NEVER worked like that.

[@superbaas8822]

It's worth noting that almost all of the card comparisons are against a modern day mythic or rare, which has been where power creep has been the most extreme. They can't think of exciting cards to make rares now a days, so now, they just give them better stats than everything else. Mythics are even worse about it.

[@nobodyshome6792]

Except for Storm Shaman. Which was made irrelevant when mana burn was removed.

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

When I got my box of Fallen Empires I loved Icatian Town. damn that card was awesome back in the day. And when I first started playing Uthden Troll was gamebreaking I can testify.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

I've seen multiple people in comments talk about various other bad creatures as being good back when combat damage used the stack, and in every occurrence, the card was printed originally *before* 6th edition, and thus before the many years of "damage on the stack" shenanigans. Mogg Fanatic was heavily played before 6th edition, which came out a little over a year later - it became absolutely amazing with the new rules. 6th edition came out right before Urza's Destiny (spring 1999), and the rules went into effect the Monday after the Destiny Prerelease. That was a very confusing tournament with respect to rules. Everything through Tempest block, and the first two sets of Urza's block, were all pre-6th edition.

[@stevenglowacki8576]

The way that pre-6th edition rules got around the "double block problem" (ie, how do I know where my opponent's damage is going when playing my Healing Salve?) was that there was a specific window in which you could play damage prevention spells after damage had been assigned. 6th edition rules just didn't have different timing windows, so everything was allowed then. When they finally got rid of "damage on the stack" they just said you had to assign an order to blockers with respect to assigning damage, and you had to do lethal to the first creature without considering outside effects before applying damage to the next creature. This doesn't quite have the same flexibility of damage prevention after knowing damage assignment, but it's close enough in practically every case.

[@Diego-yh7xc]

The only series that keeps me up on Monday

[@SirGrimLockSmithVIII]

Were there any mana filtering artifacts back in the day like Chromatic Sphere? If so, you could easily run a deck with that Green Djinn creature without any forests so long as you were using the filterer.

[@DerekLippold]

I started playing MtG around Ice Age/Mirage and I remember not understanding how Phasing worked so I traded Sandbar Crocodile for land - only to be hosed by it repeatedly. I also remember my "friends" trying to convince me that Goblin Elite Infantry was a good card.

[@guitarist5754726]

I feel like Morphling got forgotten here

[@norwegianblue2017]

Creatures in general are not as desirable as they used to be. While maybe the game was a bit slow back in the day, it is definitely too fast today. I think somewhere around the original Ravnica set they had the speed about right.

[@KingToll]

Not gonna lie, Yotian Soldier has pretty badass artwork.

[@RaynmanPlays]

With so many ways to produce green mana not coming from forests, I feel like Erhnam Djinn isn't as bad as it seems in a deck made for it. You could have a deck with no forests capable of casting him, so the downside essentially does nothing. Obviously, there are better creatures out there than even a vanilla 4 mana 4/5 that you don't have to limit your manabase for, but it's worth noting that, in the right deck, Erhnam Djinn _could_ be a vanilla 4 mana 4/5. Without having to cast Armageddon.

[@BCWasbrough]

Yes. In the last ten to fifteen years, I would agree. However, back then, there weren't a lot of good options to do this with.

[@AnsticePalo]

@@BCWasbrough Brushland, Karplusan forest, city of brass, felwar stone, birds of paradise, llanowar elves, and fyndhorn elves were all legal when Ernham Djinn was wrecking shit with GW Geddon.

[@johnlowe1255]

@@AnsticePalo you don't want to take damage every time you want to tap for green dude, if you're playing a green deck without forests, and you want to kill yourself, go ahead. don't count on your mana dorks to not get bolted back then. nobody used that just for ernham djinn for a reason

[@0whatman]

I could see jade leech being reprinted as a common in some set where green is in a "big costed spels matter" like, not the mana cost of the spell but what you pay to cast em (so X spells only trigger stuff past a certain point, cheating spells doesnt work, and so on) it could be pretty cool!

[@hi-i-am-atan]

does modifying the casting cost of a card actually change its cost as a property in mtg? that sounds like one of those mechanics where it could go either way, and it really just comes down to whatever the official rulings are

[@0whatman]

@@hi-i-am-atan it doesnt, the idea would be that triggers check for what was spent and not what the converted mana cost is tho I dunno if X spells change it depending on what X is

[@marciodemeo4731]

Actually Yotian Soldier used to be a sideboard card against Turbo Stasis prison decks. Because necro decks did not have ways to destroy enchantments except for Nevinyrral’s Disk which was useless against Stasis.

[@Earthboundmike]

I'd go with pronunciation 2 for Yotian Soldier.

[@andyspendlove1019]

It’s so interesting that early Magic creatures were so bad while early Magic non-creatures tended to be amazing. That’s has definitely switched in today’s Magic.

[@BCWasbrough]

Efficient removal paired with (relatively) inefficient creatures made for slow tournaments, and Combo or Control heavy formats. With early Necro decks being the exception.

[@bushido8077]

Back in the old days Ihsan's shade considered strong because of dark ritual. I played white deck so it's a nightmare when it was cast. To remove it only wrath of God or balance spell available that time. Balduvian Horde also strong 💪 in the old days but no one plays it anymore 😢 today

[@nekrataali]

Talruum Minotaur and Goblin Elite Infantry were my jam since I started with Portal/Mirage. Getting good, low CMC creatures in red was rare. Raging Goblin -> Elite Infantry -> Goblin King was the nuts lol

[@therighttobearspeechandthe5584]

Man I wish magic would go back to the old school ways. Call it barebones or something. Everything is just op and over the top

[@AidanWR]

Just waiting for you to do enough of these lists to make a "Nizzahon bad card tribal" commander deck

[@dralock1]

I feel like this is more a super nostalgia than anything else. Psychatog is my pick to be the king of no longer relevant creature cards.

[@Feril1]

Does anyone remember a 12/12 Forest monster? I think it was a wurm or something similar, would be a very old card at least 15 years old.

[@riffbw]

Am I seeing Ishan's Shade correctly as an uncommon? You straight up compared it to a mythic rare. A 5/5 uncommon should cost more to cast or have fewer abilities. I would also say this speaks volumes to the style of deck construction in the modern game. When routinely see competitive decks costing multiple thousands of dollars that can include all the mythic rares you desire. Back in the 90s when these cards were run, what was the cost of the average top 8 deck? Also what was the strongest creature in the the game at that time? 7/7? 5/5 is pretty beefy regardless of the era.

[@Neelo5000]

Illusions of Grandeur is worth a mention. It was the linchpin of the Trix deck.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I didn't really have a card like that in mine. It was a key combo piece, and one can see how it is good without too much effort. That's not the case with these.

[@TheRusty]

Uthden Troll: Red was a REALLY bad color for a very long time in early magic (and this video certainly demonstrates that). Until Mirage brought out Wildfire Emissaries, you know what some of the best red creatures were? Uthden Troll. Ironclaw orcs. Goblin Balloon Brigade. If you expanded to 1.5 / extended formats, you could add Sedge Troll and Kird ape to the mix, though they were only good if you had badlands or Taiga on the table, respectively. Uthden wasn't bad, considering the options available. Ihsan's Shade: was honestly never good. It made the 1996 pro tour simply because the rules required the use of 5 homelands cards per deck, and if you're running monoblack, those cards were going to be Serrated Arrows and the Shade. Buddy's clearly designed for a time when Dark Ritual was an expected part of the game, and even then he's underwhelming. Black didn't really have a "beefy creature" game at any point where Ihsan was legal for tournament play, it was mostly weenie and suicide black decks. he falls in with Baron Sengir, Aku Djinn, and Lord of the Pit as impressive-looking creatures that never found a good home. Also, while Swords to Plowshares was very prevalent, no one really used Serra Angel that much; much as with the big black creatures, big white creatures were kind of homeless for a long time too. Orgg: Pretty much the same story as Uthden Troll. only showed up because you needed 5 Fallen Empires cards in the 1996 pro tour. he ended up being 1-of in a few Sligh decks until Fallen Empires rotated out. Much like the Shade, Orgg was never regarded as "good," and like Uthden its role was created more by a lack of options in Red. As you note the metagame was also important; White weenie, necro / suicide black, and sligh decks were the main "creature" decks, and all of them relied on 2-power creatures for their engines. Only Ernham/Willowgeddon really had the beef needed. The problem was, the decks running Orgg should have already been winning by the time you could cast the doofus anyway. Talruum Minotaur: Again we bump into the terribleness of old Red, and the needs of the Sligh deck. What do you run in your 4-mana slots? At the time you either went with Talruum for hyper-aggro, or Wildfire Emissary if you wanted to play more defense and be safe from Swords to Plowshares. It's bland, but I wouldn't call it a "bad card," even today - it's a boring little common that served a function. Storm Shaman: I'm not gonna lie, until this video I had no idea this card had ever featured in pro play. I cannot fathom why. it would have had no role in a sligh deck, and it's too mana-intnesive for the numerous splash decks that M-V-W created in the latter portion of the period. Who ran this thing? Why? Goblin Elite Infantry: Once again, we're confronted with "red was terrible" and "sligh decks were a thing." Know what creatures you had on the table for a 2-drop? Ironclaw orcs, Varchild's War-Riders, Goblin Tinkerer, and this. You already had four Orcs, the War Riders' upkeep was anathema to sligh's objective, and the tinkerer was extremely niche. So you ran the Elite infantry and you liked it. Icatian Town: Here we are, back at the 1996 pro tour and its mandate of "five cards from each active set." As you say, there weren't any massive token-generators at the time so Icatian Town was fairly okay card advantage. It mostly got run in Winter orb-based decks, which had a lot of ramp, so its cost wasn't that prohibitive. Even so, it was never particularly popular and only became a 'thing" becuase of that PT's rules, sort of like Ihsan's Shade did. Ernham Djinn: ...Does not hold a candle to modern green beef, that's absolutely true. And sadly he actually got supplanted by Maro when Mirage came out, so his reign as "top green beatface" was actually kind of short. Still, a 4/5 for four mana with a disadvantage that absolutely did not matter ("I give your manabirds forestwalk") was absolutely top-tier for the time and even the Chronicles reprint retained a $8 value for a long time. Jadwe Leech: ...Is after my time by quite a bit. So I got nothin'.

[@BCWasbrough]

I honestly don't remember Jade Leech being a thing back then. The best type two deck of the time that it would have fit into was using Blastoderm and Flametounge Kavu instead.

[@nobodyshome6792]

Uthden showed up in RG decks as well. A second cheap beater in a land destruction deck in a field of land destruction and destroy effects was fairly helpful.

[@nobodyshome6792]

As for Storm Shaman. Mana burn was a thing. This card evaded mana burn in surge decks. (Power Surge/Mana Flare based decks.)

[@jsum33]

Not too long until we get spooky themed videos with an awesome intro.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Fact.

[@brianwebb27]

I still run a copy of ihsan's shade in a mono black devotion deck. Only through pure stubborness and nostalgia

[@EvilDMMk3]

Got to love the difference between the Djin’s original and reprint prices! I

[@BCWasbrough]

It really shows how the Reserve List is BS. Having newer printings of the card hasn't adversely effected the collectability and price of the Arabian Knights version.

[@charlessmith2963]

You also forget the deck. Ernham Burn 'em. Which used orcish lumberjack to sack forests.

[@PantomimeHorse]

I misread the mana cost of Ernham Djinn (boy, those old frames...) and was going crazy at the idea of a 1 mana 4/5

[@Josh-99]

People used to try to cheat with it against new or young players at tournaments all the time. I used to judge tournaments and knew one local player who would ROUTINELY play Ernham for 3 mana and then Armageddon on their next turn.

[@angelojohnson9441]

Congratulations! I had actually never heard of Storm Shaman in my life!

[@nobodyshome6792]

What he failed to mention is that was used very heavily in surge decks. It is entirely irrelevant now because of the removal of 'mana burn'.

[@Asrugan]

The key to Yotian Soldier and Storm Shaman wasn’t that they could block well, it’s that they were unboltable.

[@alphapolimeris]

I miss my white / blue deck with circles of protections for every colour.

[@Bluex12345]

Nizzahon, your uploads every day are amazing! keep up the good work!

[@duhsbo]

Always a good day when nizza uploads a top 10 video

[@petrirautiala3038]

I would have put the fall of Mogg Fanatic on this list.

[@NizzahonMagic]

In the future, I'm going to a Top 10 on "Top 10 Nerfed Creatures," and talk about cards like that. Additionally, Mogg Fanatic would still be a decent card if it were printed, even without damage on the stack. I think Fanatical Firebrand shows us that.

[@petrirautiala3038]

@@NizzahonMagic fair enough :) thanks for the best mtg content on youtube!

[@GabAssbreaker]

Erhnam Djinn is still a staple in Old School Magic, Erhnamggedon is a very popular deck for a reason.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yep, of course in that context it is a great card.

[@LadyBernkastel92]

Boy red aggro sure has benefited a lot from the push to make creatures better. I mean it makes sense of course, but wow it's weird to remember some of these cards seeing play.

[@certaingloom3797]

How about a Top 10 video on just Tokens. Both creature and non-creature.

[@stigmaoftherose]

That sounds insanely hard to research but I could be wrong, if I had to guess tho... 1/1 spirit, treasure, 1/1 eldrazi, 1/1 goblin, 2/2 zombie, 3/3 beast, 1/1 human, 2/2 swan, clue, and food.

[@brezyacres]

Love the old school art

[@eriktyrrell424]

My vote goes to Jayemdae tome. In the day it went in almost every deck because how else could you get card control? Now, even arcane library which has lower casting cost and lower activation cost for the same effect isn't frequently played.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yeah it is played enough in EDH that I decided to exclude it, but yeah, it is a good candidate

[@TheGerrok]

I'm not sure how close power sink is to being on the list. Because it use to be an interrupt speed spell it would almost always cap the stack. Since they removed interrupt, it seems like a mediocre counterspell.

[@vorpal120]

I got lots of thoughts. But can you make a list of cards that are better today than when they were released but will never be in the standard meta because of their age? I think Lord of Tresserhorn might be more balanced today than when it was released. Homelands and Fallen Empires cards on this list did take a while to be good. I would say Autumn Willow is a bad card that was good. I saw in comments Balduvian Horde. But the jade leech was trying to be Juzam Djinn. Arabian Nights had a ton of overpowered cards. One thing about starting to play magic during unlimited and revised was I liked the card pictures and flavor texts. I played Scarwood Goblins and an older friend said just play grizzly bears. Duh, I want to have fun... But, Uthden troll should be compared to Sedge Troll. But, I can't remember if they both went in the land destruction bolt deck with stone rain, sink hole, pillage, icequake, fork, lightning bolt, chain lightning, etc (even the jund version with ice storm, Sylvain library, kird ape, Urham Djinn-the Arabian Nights version, not Chronicles, Tinder Wall, Wheel of fortune, natural selection & BoP). Pretty annoying to play against. The cards on this list were absolutely of their time because there were different formats than today. Type I and Type II. Limited was only for top 8 tourneys. Like you would play your constructed sealed deck or constructed type I/II, and then draft top 8 of the current set or "cycle" (back when sets would be printed in 3s). I like top 8 drafts because these days top 8 is a bunch on uninteresting mirror matches. What do you think? Bring back draft top 8?

[@condrecomics]

Back then we basically had only two efficient removal spells: Terror and StP, so destroying the Shade was an headache

[@NizzahonMagic]

Sounds like you paraphrased the video. Haha.

[@Calintares]

how does Sengir Vampire and Serra Angel look in this lens? what about stuff like Jackal Pup and Savannah Lions?

[@NizzahonMagic]

All four of those cards are still pretty good. The Vampire and Angel are very impressive Limited cards when we see them, and Savannah Lions and Jackal Pup would make it into Standard aggro if they were reprinted.

[@0Impeesa]

@@NizzahonMagic My first thought after watching was that Jackal Pup is still worth mentioning with comparison to Ragavan, but maybe that's a Ragavan problem.

[@NizzahonMagic]

@@0Impeesa If Jackal Pup were reprinted in Standard, it would probably still see some play, just because mono-red loves one mana 2/1s.