MTG Top 10: The WORST Cards on Magic Arena

[@cax1175]

Nizzahon, please add the Top 10 Worst Black Creatures video to your worst of Playlist. I beg you.

[@seansolberg2907]

Please think of the children!

[@turgid4391]

I love how many awful black cards have cool ass artwork

[@carnegie7155]

I’ve seen this guy comment this like five times

[@ceulgai2817]

I think begging is going a bit far....

[@jacobbrown9894]

Seeing his number one for Worst Card in Standard at 9 really set the mood

[@yaboityler2617]

Thr fall of Kroog is good in Brawl since there aren't that many options to making a land destruction deck. You usually have to go Jund or even 5 color to pull it off. And you take whatever spell you can get

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Disturbed Slumber has such cool art! It’s a shame when cards with awesome art suck. Also I love the flavor of the Fire Cannon. It’s intentionally designed to be a bad card because cannons take a lot of time and effort to prime, and this one just fires random junk you have lying around, and doesn’t do it particularly well lol. Just a funny design.

[@fontainelefunk]

Yeah those mushroom torches are really great. And Canal Monitor's flavor text too, good stuff.

[@mattm7798]

Also amazing flavor text. To me, disturbed slumber felt like a ball lightning for 2 mana. If you and the opp are in top deck mode in limited, it basically reads as 2 mana deal 4 damage to target opponent.

[@lottasha]

I love how so many cards in this were from Ixalan sets

[@superbaas8822]

It's the oldest non-curated set on arena

[@thebrowningfarm]

"Rest assured, these cards are still awful." That made me chuckle

[@CleazyMane-ef2cg]

"I would rather have Scathe Zombies than a 3 mana 3/1" I laughed too hard at that

[@mattm7798]

IONO, remember the 3 mana 3/1 is colorless, so if you're color screwed....ok yeah, both terrible cards but i'd rather have a colorless 3 mana 3/1 which had the possibility of gaining menace vs a 2B 2/2.

[@mikotagayuna8494]

@@mattm7798 True. On top of that, I would rather have some potential for a three point swing and trading up with another creature than just a 2/2.

[@SerathDarklands]

I'd love to see you cover the Astral set. So few people know that it even exists, and it's a really fun, weird set that was only ever in the 1996 MTG PC game.

[@eccod]

The Astral cards were so cool in that game. I still have my oversize Aswan Jaguar promo somewhere

[@SerathDarklands]

@@eccod I really wish a game like that one got made today. Exploring Shandalar, fighting the Guild Lords to challenge a big bad, but now with modern graphics, full voice acting, heck, even divergent story paths.

[@BrotherAlpha]

#9 ... There's a new Doctor Who commander that lets you draw from the bottom of your deck. I don't think this card is worth playing even there.

[@CoL_Drake]

3 mana put ur most busted spell on the bottom then draw it play it and do that every turn ? sry but with the doctor who card this card is an auto include for me xD i mean think about it. 3 mana to every turn draw the same busted instant or sorcery or artifact use it with the boardwipe that just let 1 creature with 2 or less power standing and you do it EVERY turn xD

[@chrisvanderheiden12]

There are just versions that do the same thing but better. Cheaper activation, no target restriction

[@dismasthepenitent569]

​@@CoL_DrakeCompare it to hoverstone pilgrim Keeper is so much worse in every way

[@ich3730]

@@dismasthepenitent569 hoverstone pilgrim is literally in the newest set, no shit its gonna be powercrept xD

[@mz8258]

​@@ich3730Keeper of cadence is like a year old bro, power creep isn't THAT bad yet

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

I've seen Fall of Kroog played in some standard decks that were basically Ponza style control decks, running things like Arcane Bombardment or Chandra, Beacon of Hope. Were they good? Not particularly, but it was very funny and effective in the right match ups. I don't think Fall of Kroog deserves to be this high on the list. Maybe the #10 slot, but it's still a fun, playable card in the right deck. Sonio has a video showing this off. The title is: "THE SCARIEST COMBO IN STANDARD DESTROYS YOUR LANDS | MTG Arena | Standard | March of the Machine". I dare not post a link up because KZbin loves deleting comments with links in them. Also in this video: "LAND DESTRUCTION IS BACK | MTG Arena | Standard | Brothers' War". Again, very jank, but very funny.

[@gyrasolune5436]

It is kind of wild to think that for 1 mana more, you can trade the 1 damage to each creature for a /20/ damage to each creature through Star of Extinction.

[@adamcartrette4037]

It's mainly meant to be used with red source damage buff support. If you have Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might in play, then the damage becomes a Flame Wave.

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

@@adamcartrette4037 Well, only the player damaging part of Flame Wave. It wouldn't buff the 1 damage ping to creatures part, as Ojer A. only cares about damage done to opponents.

[@ich3730]

@@adamcartrette4037 "Just have this legendary in play so the card becomes almost playable"

[@WhipLash42o]

@@ich3730 "An almost playable version of a card that is already borderline unplayable in most use cases."

[@rafaelsousa2633]

What about a top 10 starter deck Planeswalkers?

[@altromonte15]

game ball looks like something they would have come up with before monarchy, back in 2016 weird seeing a card like that these days

[@Valerie-nm1gr]

It's designed as an homage to the ball-based sport that's been played in Mesoamerica since antiquity, and which has great religious and symbolic significance in that culture. So it makes sense as a top-down flavour based design for Ixalan.

[@altromonte15]

Sure, the flavour is good, I just think it could have easily been made stronger - something like, you also draw 1 card when you lose control of it if you are the owner.@@Valerie-nm1gr

[@hungrybois5954]

The art in Huatli's Spurring is so bad. On a technical level it's amazing, but her pose coupled with her blank expression is so odd.

[@trickster20644]

Don't forget, any card that refers to the number of opponents you control. Arena only has 1v1 matches

[@Wulfram77]

To be fair to Keeper of the cadence, it was designed for a set with a lot of artifacts with Unearth. Still bad since it's so inefficient, but there was logic to it existing

[@TwoCentReview]

I would also say the Molten Ravager is a flavor fail, because it seems to me that a 0/4 with fire-breathing sounds like a sleeping dragon or docile monster that is horribly dangerous when enraged, but peaceful until attacked.

[@thevaultwalrus]

Huatli Spurring has a very nostalgic card i got The deck when i started replaying because stopped right after OG New Phyrexia and when i saw Dino’s i was like ok im playing again

[@mightyone3737]

I almost like that 1G Green animate land spell, a 4/4 is pretty beefy, as long as your opponent is on Aggro it even comes with Reach, and if you draw it late and are desperate you have a surprise 4 damage for only 1G, which is a bit nuts, Ball Lightning effects are 3 mana for 6 damage, but they do have Trample. I'd run this in Green Control or any other slower Green deck. Still, it sucks vs stuff like Deathtouch, but technically if the opponent won't attack with their key creature (and leaves it home), if it's less than 4 toughness this can potentially kill it for you, it's bad removal that does double duty as fairly efficient Burn in a colour that sucks at Burn effects. I love the flavor on Contested Game Ball, but I wish it either didn't get sacrificed (it just made a treasure and reset, it's not like it's a busted card ANYWHERE if it did that) or made more treasure, the effect is extremely small as is, and it's still eating that 2 mana to draw 1 card. I wish they'd make some stuff like that Mythic, so it can be somewhat pushed, I'm tired of them making small Mythic creatures (I started tired of it tbh, 1 and 2 drops shouldn't be Mythic, ever).

[@chrismarlow9585]

It's worth noting it's not actually 2 mana because you need a land untapped to attack with plus it doesn't give it vigilance so that mana is gone. For 3 mana it's a bad removal spell or inefficient direct damage. Every use case requires things lining up just right. I'd much rather a 3 mana combat trick... and those aren't exactly high on the pick order.

[@WhipLash42o]

@@chrismarlow9585 Man a 3 mana combat trick would have to be pretty fucking bonkers too lmao. I struggle to even play them at 1 and 2 mana in creature based decks. The only one I remember being high on in recent memory was blossoming defense.

[@chrismarlow9585]

@@WhipLash42o Exactly!

[@DerekWood-n1f]

4 Mox Amber 4 Sisay, Weatherlight Captain 4 General Kudro of Drannith 4 Anafenza, the Foremost 4 Jodah, the Unifier 3 Aragorn, the Uniter 2 Cavern of Souls 4 City of Brass 4 Mana Confluence 3 Misty Rainforest 1 Zagoth Triome 1 Temple Garden 4 Collected Company 3 Birds of Paradise 4 Chevill, Bane of Monsters 1 Indatha Triome 1 Ketria Triome 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Breeding Pool 1 Waterlogged Grove 4 General Ferrous Rokiric 4 The One Ring 1 Shanna, Purifying Blade 1 Kethis, the Hidden Hand

[@Sauvenil]

#9 is actually some pretty good anti-mill tech IMHO. I play decks that use this kind of recursion to essentially be able to play a game forever. I'm more than happy to wipe out my library and then stack it from the graveyard. It's always fun to wipe the opponent's board with Assassin's Trophy cast every turn until they just have nothing left to find. Most opponents don't play using recursion like this, so you'll starve them out eventually.

[@mattm7798]

Haha nice...the 5 mana anti mill card you hope they don't mill :)

[@Sauvenil]

@@mattm7798 inevitably they hit one of my Gaea's Blessings too so i typically get everything back. But I usually end up putting stuff in my graveyard faster so I can use it again.

[@mattm7798]

LOL nice!@@Sauvenil

[@kanrakucheese]

Got to give Canal Monitor the tie breaker for 10: Zombie is way more supported than Lizard. There’s strictly better zombies, but I do think it breaks the tie since you *might* actually take the zombies in a draft if there’s a lot of zombie support in the draft pile (narrow, but plausible), but you’d NEVER take Canal Monitor over almost anything but a basic land.

[@elogee_yt]

I tried brewing with Fall of Kroog in an Arcane Bombardment deck in order to make the effect repeatable so it wouldn't be so bad. Had rummaging effects like Fable, Big Score, etc to get it into the yard so Bombardment could exile it and keep casting it. AND EVEN THEN it felt meaningless 😭. I'd usually find myself hoping to spin into a Play With Fire or Lightning Strike instead of the big Fall of Kroog just because the effect was so negligible by that point in the game. That was the moment I realized how truly bad Fall of Kroog was 😭

[@shaden489]

If this list wasn't arena I'd say that the spots ball is at least fun for multi-player games or with commanders like blim but since blim isn't on arenea and brawl is only 1v1 id say it definitely deserves to be on the list

[@picassodilly]

It’d be kinda’ fun to play as a wincon in a paradox engine deck, as a bit of a troll. Honestly, you could probably throw it in an emery brawl deck and not even lose a significant amount of power.

[@qou2600]

For the 1st prerelease I went to, my pool lacked so much removal that I splashed black and ran Disturbed Slumber in the main board. It was mainly a combat trick but also acted as early game removal twice. Not say it's good, just seeing it on this list made me realize how bad that pool was...

[@TheMrYadrian]

About Rank 3 card there was a nice combo with Red Cappena card enchantment that allows you to ruin land every turn by Playing spell.

[@heath1948]

I remember owning the red white Planeswalker dinosaur deck

[@catoticneutral]

I thought that Disturbed Slumber looked interesting in the previews, it's sorta like a green edict effect if you think about it. Maybe this kind of effect might see more success on a modal card. Maybe even a haste creature that forces your opponent to block it but dies at the end of turn unless it was kicked or something. Edit: Riveteers Decoy is... almost what I was describing, but it's a two cent card so I would assume that it's not very good. It is the only creature with a lure effect in standard right now so who knows, it could have some untapped potential. Slap some equipment on that guy.

[@Triceratopping]

I've been reviewing the PW decks for my channel and yeah all the "Planeswalker buddy" cards like Huatli's Spurring range from mediocre to awful.

[@irou95]

I play contested game ball in my mono white aggro sideboard in standard. It's really good vs decks that don't play creatures and trust me those exist in big numbers on arena.

[@RockmeHellsing]

Love it that keeper of the cadence isn't even usable in grenzo decks because of the color

[@BigDiff7]

Keeper of the Cadence was probably meant to combat all the Unearth and GY shenanigans in Bro but in such a fast format and being so poorly costed (cast and ability), it was quite terrible at doing its job.

[@pokclaymonmaster5286]

I argue the number 5 slot cards are incredibly useful! Heck Scale Up is the best of these effects which sees modern play in infect and in my deck, a gruul prowess deck, and a sorcery speed. These are instant speed pump effects for small creature decks. Sure it’s unconventional but pumping up a creature for a turn out of burn spells and for beating over an opponent’s smaller creatures is very good. I say the deserve more play, even if I’m a very niche deck. These cards have won me games in drafts and prereleases. My personal experience, maybe not the same for all but

[@BenInBrackets]

The number 5 doesn't target creatures. It only targets lands. That's why it's so bad.

[@phillipreed6599]

#6 is a glorified shock, but not that bad because it still is a shock. I don’t know a player who wouldn’t be able to use it as such. The +2 damage is mitigated with its unlikelyhood I agree

[@mrpinguimninja]

Funnily enough, keeper of the cadence looks like it would be good in a river song deck

[@picassodilly]

6:12 Bit of a nit-pick, here you say “all of the” planeswalker payoffs are bad, but the nissa one (forget the name, but it’s a GG sorcery, search your library for two basic forests- but if you control a nissa planeswalker, search for any 3 lands) is amazing in an Asuza brawl deck. Even without the upgrade, it’s pretty good because you’ll likely be able to play both lands the same turn you play it. And with a nissa in play, the ability to get ANY three lands is extremely powerful.

[@Triceratopping]

Nissa's Triumph isn't in one of those intro PW decks though, which is why it's actually good.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Not a planeswalker deck card. The ones from Magic Origins are another thing entirely.

[@picassodilly]

Ahh, I didn’t know they were different cycles.

[@danielzamboni3630]

As a brawl player, I can definitely say that none of this cards ever appeared in my games.

[@supertrouperJC02]

I'm very surprised the 3 mana you and target opponent draw 3 cards didn't make it.

[@kh1129]

I do remember being intrigued by Blazing Hope when it was spoiled, but never had the chance to run it in any decks. Glad to hear it's awful.

[@bobfranklin2572]

Top 10 "you may put a land from your hand onto the battlefield" list gets my vote

[@Games-il4vl]

Yes, because discarding high costed powerful spells and putting them on the bottom of your library where you opponent can't gain access to them in a format filled with mill and top of deck stealing, then later in the game tutoring them up sucks. Not to mention you can combine them with river song. BUt ya, bad card. I dont' think arena has a bottom of deck synergy. So definitely bad in rena situationally. More of a paper card.

[@ich3730]

Its still a dogshit limited common, even in paper. Nobody plays that shit in river song, you only have 99 deckslots in EDH, you cant fill them with draft chaff

[@YourAdHere4]

Even in a deck that cares about deck bottoming cards, it’s super inefficient. In the newest set there’s a colorless version with flying, no card restriction, and ward 2, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg of better versions

[@icysalvoyt2689]

The Fall of Kroog does get better with damage modifiers. though, not by much.

[@TheCommonColb01]

Did you say “on top” at first then say bottom after that? For #9

[@randy5606]

Say what you want about the fire cannon but in limited turning lands into removal was awesome. I won a tournament because of that card

[@eloidasarmi6815]

Keeper of the cadence feels like OKish card if he was a 5/5 with the same ability. As it is, it's somewhere around Legends legendaries' value 😂

[@ellitbo9863]

Hey this is kind of a weird nitpick but I like lightning axe and even think it's good sometimes (definitely saw it used in chaos draft the other week)

[@MagicYio]

He was talking about Lava Axe, which is a different card from Lightning Axe.

[@Waffletigercat]

Please say "100 card commander". The commander counts as a card in your deck. This is most important because, when you use dual commanders (such as Partner or Background), you only have 98 cards in the main deck.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Wow, I would have never imagined that there would be a card as awful as the #1 card. That's just...really terrible. In many ways, it's the exact opposite of "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)"!

[@Stretch213]

I can afford these

[@daniduc]

I don't know man, for me Kumano Faces Kakkazan is the worst card in Arena, specially when it's played in turn 1 while you're on the draw. (Because this is the internet, and I know someone WILL read this literally: this is a joke - the card is extremely good, specially in Stander bo1, which is the most popular format in Arena ,and you feel it's the worst card the opponent could play against you in turn 1 while you're on the draw.)

[@Scantronimus466]

When you’re making lists like this - or any of your lists, really - do you just ignore the Arena-only/Alchemy cards? Since most/all of your lists rely on data from MTGO, EDHrec, and paper play, it seems like it would be hard to include Alchemy.

[@CanadianBaconPwnage]

I'd never include Alchemy cards on this list. Almost all those cards were designed with Constructed in mind, so they really can't be considered for worst cards on Arena. Even if they are jank, they are still playable. Also, the Arena starter cards are all serviceable: there's nothing nearly as bad as the cards on this list.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I considered them. None of them are bad enough.

[@crimson90]

All my favorite cards about to be on this list lol

[@RelicSeeker]

I feel like Divine Gambit deserved a place on the list

[@superbaas8822]

Divine Gambit deserves a place for raw power, it's using that power irresponsibly and getting blown out that often earns the card it's reputation

[@bathsaltcircus9630]

Dis guy hittin it where it's important! Woot woot!

[@iLLiDaN30]

I actually lost and won games in draft with Disturbed Slumber. The card is far from terrible and not really compareable with the rest of the list. Sure in other formats it's garbage, but in limited it's not super terrible. By far not even the worst card in the set.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Anecdotal evidence does nothing to overcome the card's horrible win rate across 100,000+ drafts. Most Magic cards can be good in the right situation. So having stories about how the card won you a game/beat you doesn't really mean anything when you have a small sample size. What makes a card bad is narrow use cases. I laid those out fairly clearly in the video. It's win-rate makes it the ninth-worst card in the set for Limited, and the other eight are much better in other formats than it is.

[@Methylimidazol]

I am currently in a draft, playing Disturbed Slunder. And it's actually quite okay. But mostly because I'm lacking 2-drops.

[@YourAdHere4]

to be fair, it’s a 3 drop in execution. doesn’t do anything when you only have 2 untapped lands

[@Methylimidazol]

@@YourAdHere4 true, but you can use it to get rid of enemy two-drops

[@thevaultwalrus]

what are the best

[@Carubidul]

Doesn't matter. If you play Arena, you will be matched against against direct counters

[@YourAdHere4]

@@Carubiduleveryone counters everyone! 0% global winrate!

[@jackiespaceman]

Most of these are from ixalan sets lol

[@glitchygear9453]

Top 10 worst digital-only cards

[@christopherb501]

Follow-up as to the worst _exclusive_ Arena cards? Rebalances and digital-onlys?

[@noradi123]

Take out of this video: ixalan have bad card /j

[@superbaas8822]

People have a hard time with mythics that don't win the pro tours and pay the taxes on their prize winnings for them, so it's unfortunate to see the comment sectiob flooded with flavor over function mythics.

[@BobardeZanzibar]

Im honestly shocked that Rowdy Crew didn't make it onto the list.

[@NizzahonMagic]

I'm sure you can see that it is a hundred times better than everything here.

[@Carubidul]

It's a 4CMC 3/3 with trample that still nets you a card. Sure, it might completely screw over your gameplan but there are FAR worse out there.

[@Valerie-nm1gr]

One of the worst rares/mythics of this era? Probably. But being a moderately serviceable creature makes it a lot better than most of the lower rarity cards on this list.

[@NizzahonMagic]

@@Valerie-nm1gr It is underwhelming for a card of its rarity, but not nearly as bad as people act like it is. It even has a GP Top 8!

[@afonsogouveia7930]

Meeting of the five is worse than all of these. It's not the first time Nizzahon missed it, there are probably a lot of cards he doesn't look at if there isn't 17lands data due to being unplayable

[@superbaas8822]

Meeting of the five has potential for the future, so counting it out entirely is rough. I'm sorry you had to pull a playset though.

[@YourAdHere4]

Meeting of the Five probably squeezed by on account of its, uh, playability in the 5c omnath commander deck

[@psychocrusher8274]

Worst card ever printed? easy: "Minor Misstep."

[@stormling]

Wow, so many mistakes and under-valued cards - classic Nizz :P - Play Ball in any deck w sacrifice mechanics, and you'll feel like it's the best card in your deck. And if you need a top-end, even overcosted, a 4/5 flyer can close games. But can definitely agree #1 is pretty damn situational :)

[@NizzahonMagic]

There are very few cards that are just always awful. What makes a card bad is that it doesn't line up to NOT be awful often enough, and that's true of every single card on this list.

[@stormling]

@@NizzahonMagic But this is titled "MTG Top 10: The WORST Cards on Magic Arena" - not "A couple cards that I thought kinda mostly sucked". And Arena has what, fifteen sets in its bank? And the second worse card is a cheap artifact, that can get you massive value in a sacrifice deck, probably the same in a control match-up, and actually pretty good in most decks if you time the situation right? And the fifth WORST Card on Magic Arena is a trick that can get you equity while removing a threat, killing an early mana dork while it's still summoning sick, etc? I'm not saying you called this one in, but... really? :) 15 sets, maybe average 200 cards each, so at least a 3,000 card pool, and the tenth worse card is a vanilla 5/3 for five? Come on man, you're better than that.

[@superbaas8822]

​@@stormlingYou are welcome to make your own list and see how many people call it wrong

[@NizzahonMagic]

What cards would you suggest are worse across all formats? I don't think you'll find it easy.

[@stormling]

Alright, in no particular order: Curse of Silence, Curse of Shaken Faith - really a lot of the curse series, though some were cool - Cutthroat Contender, Painful Quandary - this seems chaotic, I guess I could do worse 5 per set? But I'm not a content creator so I'm not trying to compete in this arena (hah, get it?). Listen, I love that you do MTG content cause any content is still MTG content, but do you really think your choices are the Top Ten Worse? I mean, if you think 99% of the Arena cards are better than a 5/3 vanilla for 5, then what can I say. Anyway, disagreements can be cathartic, and much love your way :) @@NizzahonMagic

[@quartersskates]

Scathe Zombie is way worse

[@CleazyMane-ef2cg]

Dude are you high?? #9 bottom of the library, not the top lol

[@thebrowningfarm]

It is still bad. The error doesn't change much

[@lucasrios2089]

2:55 That's just...straight up not what the card says 7:35 No shit that a creature adds more to the board than a combat trick. That doesn't make it worse, that just makes it a different type of card that does a different thing? What a weird take

[@superbaas8822]

Go play some limited and see how much just having creatures out matters. You can play your deck with 15 tricks and I'll blow you out every time.

[@Tragic_Idiot]

So all of them? I stand by the belief that Arena is trash

[@mikenahmias7102]

I guess Alchemy cards don't qualify for this list because it's worst MAGIC cards, and Alchemy is NOT Magic.

[@Jon-od3oj]

Mtg arena is just trash anyways bc they ban stuff then use same ban cards from one format and use it in historic just bs i hate the arena

[@superbaas8822]

Tell us more about your precious one ring and how much it carried you.

[@Jon-od3oj]

So talking out ur ass is a speciality??? Nothing to do with one ring its about how they ban a card like geological appraiser or something in pioneer or whatever and they just use same combo in historic. They need ban stuff across all formats for arena

[@superbaas8822]

@@Jon-od3oj Yes, because "Play your entire deck on turn 4" is a healthy place for the metagame

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

The amount of errors in this video is painful. Please watch your own videos before you release them.

[@thebrowningfarm]

That's how you phrase it?