MTG Top 10: The WORST Multicolored Creatures in Magic: the Gathering | Episode 608

[@Wintersmith12]

WotC in the 1990s: We're introducing a new mechanic, we better be careful and not make it too powerful at first WotC in the 2010s: We're introducing a new mechanic, we better make it so powerful it warps the entire game around itself

[@peterjessen97]

then have to do errata on the entire mechanic because whoops

[@normanbromley-xd7ls]

And in the 2020s, it becomes whatever new mechanics sell packs.

[@Mosethyoth]

@Wintersmith12 Ah, yes, Energy. That was in Kaladesh in 2016.

[@acydrayn73]

It really went from "Ah yes, let's make a new mechanic, worded as inefficiently as possible, and be super parasitic and weak, or format warping, which one? We really have no idea." to "ah yes, let's make a new mechanic, and just skip to the format warping part"

[@jennietsai1260]

For number 10, the fact that they’re hybrid mana means they’re even easier to cast than if they were mono colored, so the low power makes sense

[@devononair]

Agreed.

[@derekcline950]

It is poor timing that the #10 is hybrid after the intro on how multicolored cards are harder to cast, thus more powerful. These are unplayable even if they were 4 colorless mana frankly. The "protection" is very narrow on two separate axis (only one color and only protection in combat on offense) and they're very undersized otherwise. They are significantly worse than the baseline of 4 mana 4/4 with upside

[@Bob-nc5hz]

also works for 9 and 7, but they still have really bad rate: 3/3 for 4 (with trivial upside), 3/3 for 4, and 4/2 for 6 with flash.

[@ShaqPlaque]

I didn't play this set, but I can imagine sleeving these up as #22 or #23 in my limited deck of both colors and saying "I guess I'm playing you today." Hill Giant + upside isn't something that should appear on a Worst list. Especially as this is a set or two before common creatures really started being good. They also have relevant creature types in a set where that mattered.

[@davidschaefer9696]

@@derekcline950 When they were printed though, the baseline for a 4 drop was 3/3. Compared to the other common 4 mana creatures in Shadowmoor, they're actually pretty good.

[@holotori_senior_admin_teno]

Some of my picks: * Horned Chertah - 2GW for a 2/2 cat with lifelink, essentially. * Rackdos Ringleader - 4BR for a 3/1 first strike that can regenerate for B. * Segmented Wurm - 5/5 that gets a -1/-1 counter whenever it gets targeted.

[@ulrichs.3228]

Yeah, #1 makes me wonder if those multicolored lists could be split into hybrid and non-hybrid, because we know it's Tiger Dude from Legends. It's always Tiger Dude from Legends.

[@JuanFelipeCalle]

Back in the day, those vanilla legends were not terrible because they were cool -- great art, neat concept, big creatures. In a casual game, you play one of those, the game stops for a moment (especially if your friends started collecting after Legends), and they look at card, and ooh and ahh, and then probably kill it with Terror. But I think that moment is part of the game and part of the card. MtG is a collectible card game, not just a card game. And as someone else noted, Steel Leaf Paladin, at least in limited, was not bad. 4/4 first strike was often hard to deal with, and returning another creature with an ETB could set up your next turn too.

[@Triceratopping]

Really surprised Goblin Test Pilot didn't make the list. You have not known hell until you need to randomly determine a target on a board with 30ish potential targets. Mountain Titan: many times bigger than a house Also Mountain Titan: power and toughness 2

[@ich3730]

mountain titan straight up goes toe to toer with a pig and loses

[@Reluxthelegend]

Oh didn't expect to see you here lol

[@Triceratopping]

@@Reluxthelegend hey, I have a life outside precon reviews!

[@violetto3219]

that card is at least a fun joke

[@Reluxthelegend]

@@Triceratopping How does it feel when you see cards here that you've talked in your reviews before?

[@gakk8658]

Gonna have to disagree with Emberwilde Caliph, I personally had tournament success with it, and it was a fringe card in the Frenetic Efreet Izzet deck that was a top meta deck in the late 90s. It's definitely really, really bad today, no doubt, but so are a lot of magic's early competitively successful creatures. A 4/4 for 4 was an incredible rate back then, and then giving it flying on top of that made it one of the most efficient creatures ever printed at the time. The chances your opponent had a flyer was low, and the trample made it so it still dealt damage to the opponent even if they did have a smaller flyer to chump it, and even motivated opponents to make bad chump blocks sometimes, saving your precious burn for going face. Sure, you're taking damage as well, but what do you care? You're playing a control deck with burn options, the lowering of life totals benefits you more than the opponent. What if you draw it in a situation where you're already behind? Every deck this was in had 4 Force of Wills, and this is a blue card that you can pitch to it. It wasn't played in the pro tour versions of that deck, so everything I said may be bullshit, but I'll still defend it.

[@MordiggianMorddoth]

Mountain Titan has great artwork, but also has to be one of the most mis-matched Power/Toughness with the art. You're telling me this titan, which has hands the size of a three story house, will trade with a regular grizzly bear?

[@D2RCR]

Steel-Leaf Paladin was actually pretty decent in Invasion block Limited, which shows you just how much worse creatures were back then.

[@LadyBernkastel92]

Have you ever done a best/worst on tokens? Like which kinds of tokens have performed the best? Not sure if that would be harder to research than a normal top 10 but could be interesting. Great video as always, I love woodwraith strangler's art and creature type... I wish it had been on a better card.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

I will accept no slander of Sivitri Scarzam! She is the single greatest legend in all of existence. In fact, I am certain that she will be #1 in "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)"!

[@troythewizard9940]

23:00 (my time). Right on schedule. Always look forward to ending my day with your content, Nizza!

[@tobehonestidontknow9368]

For me its a start at work haha

[@crovax1375]

I have a Mountain Titan in my binder that I opened in a Starter pack back in the day. I recall reading the card twice and passing it by! Lol

[@JoeyDCote]

I think the Legendary creatures from the Legends set were so badly costs because at the time the Legendary rules said if there was a creature with Legendary in play, another of those creatures couldn't be cast. Which doesn't really excuse the basic problem of them being so terribly costed so that people wouldn't want to play them in the first place.

[@_z3i]

Honestly the number 1 could also have included cards like Riven Turnbull, Kei Takahashi, Gosta Dirk etc. All of those are up there as well and definitely much worse than most the cards on the list.

[@NightPhantom392]

Merfolk of the Depths sucks ao bad it appears on so many different top 10 worst lists you've done. It would be top 2 if you ever made a list of cards that appear the most on your lists

[@johngleeman8347]

It has been stinking up the place hasn't it?

[@SirZapdos]

What makes it so much worse is that Gatecrash was a super fast format, with lots of efficient 2-mana creatures with upside. A 6-mana 4/2 isn't super useful if you die on turn 5, which could happen.

[@nuclearphish8051]

For whatever reason I really like the flavor text on Petrahydrox. Imagining the sound of gravel pouring into a pond is just so pleasant and relaxing. Also, many of these have awesome art. I especially like Harbor Guardian and Emberwilde Caliph. Both really make me miss the old school art style that is so rare to see now. Illusory Demon and Sootwalkers are nice examples of the more modern art style.

[@Y2KNW]

For some reason I remember Emberwilde Caliph being played back when it was Type 1 and 2 for competitive because it was cheap beater and you were already playing burn to speed things up anyway.

[@NemisCassander]

I have the same recollection. A 4/4 Flying Trampler for 4 in Mirage was pretty busted. Especially considering you could back it up with Lightning Bolts and Counterspells.

[@cax1175]

Another week, another Top 10 Worst list Teeka's Dragon isn't on.

[@tobehonestidontknow9368]

Just goes to show how good it is

[@Sulmor85]

Teeka's Dragon deserves a "Top 10 meta decks that Teeka's Dragon could destroy single-handedly"

[@TechtonixZi]

Teeka's Dragon deserves a retrain that is legendary and cares about Lure's!

[@sonsysy4195]

Number 9 kinda works in Animar deck if you can repeatedly target it with something and the cast it for a red or blue mana with Animar having 3 +1/+1 counters and will grow larger with subsequent casting of number 9

[@ceulgai2817]

Now imagine if it was colorless and bounced on etb instead ;)

[@NemisCassander]

Petrahydrox in certain Ravnica Limited decks was rather a monster.

[@theeternallysurprised]

Steel Leaf Paladin is actually OK in IPA limited. A 4/4 with firststrike is probably the biggest thing on the board 90% of the times and the bounce was not too bad since you had a lot of cards with ETBs and kicker

[@mattstark8850]

I was there too and this thing was a beast. The whole planeshift set had plenty of of cheap creatures you wanted to replay. Once this thing hit the board you had better have a terminate. Today though it is a steaming pile no doubt.

[@NemisCassander]

I feel that several of the cards listed here were actually playable in their respective Limited formats.

[@ShaqPlaque]

Yeah, as the set that introduced Kicker, this ability in limited, though not wildly great, is more upside than downside for limited play

[@lanychabot-laroche135]

Warping Wurm is my pick for number 1. 4 mana 1/1 that you need to pay 4 more mana if you ever want to attack or block with it. Sure, it grows, but soooo slowly.

[@poiri]

I’m gonna have to disagree about Steel Leaf Paladin. While it wasn’t a bomb or anything like that it was a card you were happy to play in Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse limited due to how slow the format was and how small almost every other creature was. When every other creature is a 3 mana 2/2 or a 4 mana 2/4 then the 4/4 first striker reigns supreme, until it eats one of the many removal spells in the format.

[@brandonsheumaker2673]

As much hate as the original Legends creatures get, I remember there actually being a few good/interesting ones. Tetsuo, Gwendolyn, and Sol'Kanar come to mind. I don't know if there are enough of them to warrant a Top Ten list of their own, but at least I think it would be interesting to see.

[@darthparallax5207]

Angus Mackenzie Nicol Bolas Gwendolyn di Corci Solkanar the Swamp King Tetsuo Umezawa Dakkon Blackblade Vaevictis Asmadi Hazezon Tamar? Halfdane? There were 3 lieutenants under each Elder Dragon at the top of the color trees. Grixis was quite good. The other Shards had at least 1 interesting card each: Angus for Bant, Hazezon for Naya, and Dakkon for Esper are easy picks, and the 2nd best Elder Dragon might be the first boring design in Magic but it's still useful to have multicolored fire-breathing. Palladia Mors had trample but if you only let the Elders share 1 spot you could go down to other cards like....well not Johan or Xira Arien I don't think. Maybe Rubinia Soulsinger?

[@metroidjones122]

They should bring those legends back with the same power/toughness/casting cost but give them keyword abilities and enter the battlefield abilities that actually makes them good.

[@cjfeinberg7613]

Some of them had new cards in Dominaria United and its commander set. Not the same stat line always, and rarely competitive, but usually reminiscent. My favorite is Stangg.

[@darthparallax5207]

Compared to how bad creatures were back in the day Mountain Titan is amazing simply because everyone in 1995 would definitely have known to get a playset of Dark Ritual to help him be the best he can be. A 1995 card that doesn't require a tap and gets you +1/+1 counters faster than Sengir Vampire? Sign me up!

[@SpitefulAZ]

Steel leaf paladin was good at planeshift prerelease. Lol

[@jchadwick4918]

“Nizzahon, this is the seventh time you’ve shown Jedit Ojanen is class.”

[@Waffletigercat]

Like most weirds, Petrahyrdox sure looks cool in the art though!

[@hiimemily]

Thank you for bringing up the Shadowmoor cycle being decent in limited. They were usually still strictly a sideboard option, but that's good enough for something that'll almost always wheel.

[@michaelmorris4515]

I predict one slot to represent all the creatures in Legends. So maybe this should have been titled "worst multicolored creatures not in Legends"

[@Controlqueen31]

There are some of Legends multicolored creature cards that are ok for limited in that day and age. Jerrad of the Close Fist, if I recall It correctly, is a 6/5 for 3 generic mana, 2 Green and 1 Red

[@jerviswinter3236]

Definitely staple in any "top 10 worst cards" list

[@davidlundquist1979]

I'll admit, I'm surprised Kangee, Aerie Keeper didn't make an appearance. It's a 2/2 flyer for four mana that does potentially have some upside, but you need to pay at least seven mana when casting it before that upside starts to show up. On the other hand, Kangee probably is still better than most of the original Legends legends.

[@PapaBradford]

Another day, another day Nizza hates Merfolk of the Depths

[@redpandaplush5980]

Woodwraith Strangler is bad and all but it reminded me how long it's been since we've had a Plant Zombie and I think that's just a really cool creature type

[@bluedestiny2710]

It wont happen too often because Plants generally fights Zombies XD

[@RasmusVJS]

@@bluedestiny2710 There is the plant with "Protection from Zombies". You could almost say that they're Plants against Zombies. Or something.

[@thesadweez]

Petrahydrox would be so much better if it only had haste. Definitely not amazing, but would be at least playable in draft.

[@cax1175]

Hey Nizzahon, I have an idea of a Top 10 Worst list: Top 10 Worst Color Hate Cards.

[@lancegambit9851]

I think in the case of number 1 the legends rule may actually be a slight upside. At least it might stop you from wasting mana by trying to cast a second copy 😆

[@jamesgasik3424]

My go-to bad Legends card is still Tobias Andrion. I first saw him and I was like, wait. 5 mana in white gets you a Serra Angel. 5 mana in blue gets you a 4/4 flier. Tobias is a 4/4 with no special abilities! There are some good Legendary creatures in Legends, but most are just chaff in the card box.

[@yaboityler2617]

I'm predicting the Legends set is going to be featured

[@chocobofangirl]

Gotta love the legends rant. I'd put the silly titan a lot lower than some of these tho lol

[@jessefriend5950]

I would argue that the Emberwilde Caliph should be number 1. The number 1&2 creatures are horribly inefficient, sure. But they don't actively hurt your chance of winning in the way that the Caliph does.

[@user-fu7no1xu5b]

New video idea: Top 10 Nizzahon top 10 list cards Points are assigned based on how many top 10 lists the cards have appeared on 1 point for a top 10 2 points for a top 5

[@hungrybois5954]

At this point in my life, Nizzahon is my therapy.

[@ericpetersen6343]

Surprised warping worm didn't make this list

[@xChikyx]

#3 is great to keep only the right creature you need in the graveyard

[@christophercombs7561]

Petra hydrox was in my original Animar soul of elements commander it got bumped for palinchron though once i got one

[@rajamicitrenti1374]

The original Legend Rule made the Legendaries in Lehends set both better and worse than they look now. Originally, you could only have one copy of each Legendary in your entire deck, which makes them less appealing. But on the flip side, if both players were playing the same Legendary, it could become a race, aa if o e player had a particular Levendary in play, the other player couldn't cast their copy of that Legendary. Maybe they were pricing their mana around that second part?

[@IzzysIssues]

This makes me really want to build something to make Mountain Titan good

[@SomersBugtopia]

Here before Teekas Dragon

[@cax1175]

His speed is unmatched, check again.

[@SomersBugtopia]

@@cax1175 Nope, I was first :)

[@flobo23]

teekas dragon doesnt even need colour, but he counts as a dragon!

[@antimattered3921]

this top ten feels strangely famiiar

[@tefnutofhoney2832]

Mountain titan could be fun in conjuction with all the black rituals. By no means good but

[@GlichCentral]

Steel Leaf Paladin is better rate than you made it out to be, a 4/4 first strike makes attacking almost impossible for your opponent without something like flying.

[@basketcase4605]

Mountain Titan should not be a 2/2 when he is bigger than a town 😂

[@EddDoubleDD]

It's because pure flavor used to matter to game design not because they thought those were good

[@prestonbyrd8443]

Ill try to find an illusory demon for my brother's collection. I always try to find ones he doesn't have that aren't an arm and a leg.

[@marcoottina654]

Nice! What about top and worst mill cards / creatures? And what about "part N" of a list?

[@joedominguez8064]

I’d put that demon in my Jon irenicus deck maybe

[@bobfranklin2572]

Illusory demon? 🙅🏼‍♂️ A loosery demon ☝️

[@jairomy]

Number 10 were all solid limited cards while 2 of them were high picks. Really bad choice for this one.

[@FrankFrankly711]

I play Jedit in my Jedit Cat Commander Deck!! 😹

[@mbarker_lng]

I love the art on Sivitri Scarzam. Its such a waste that its an absolutely awful card. :( Wasting Kane's talents on Kasimir should also be a crime. It would be totally subjective, but I would love to see a top-10 "Worst cards with the best art".

[@NizzahonMagic]

I have already done such a top 10.

[@ipnorospo38]

Never trust a Mountain Titan...

[@Chorusofcryptids]

And number 1 is of course every legendary creature from legends

[@darthparallax5207]

Woodwraith Strangler is the first card you named that even belongs on the list. Complaining about being 2/2 after you just insulted like 5 cards with 4 power is a shit take. But here is why it is actually bad: a. It's Ravnica and doesn't have dredge, so "in its day" arguments it is really obviously weaker than cards in the same set. b. It is not hybrid c. It exiles cards from your graveyard instead of putting them there or returning them to your hand d. The pay off of regenerate is weak now and it was weak back then. While Spiritmonger made good use of regenerate, this card is no Spiritmonger. 4 mana for a 2/2 is Gravedigger rates and if the abilities had been good that would be acceptable but the card is too obviously outclassed in the same set by a different green black plant zombie common in the form of Shambling Shell. Woodwraith Strangler was never good at any time in history even when it was new and it wasn't really close because Golgari really obviously had really better things to do.

[@darthparallax5207]

Oh. AND in the City of Guilds set we have Watchwolf to compare to. That hurts the card even more. The Shadowmoor cycle you began your list with at least had an ability I liked as much as if not more than landwalk, which I would pay 1 mana for but Woodwraith Strangler can't keep up with Watchwolf and its actually fair to compare him to it, most of the older creatures it is not fair to compare to Watchwolf.

[@arieltkotz4877]

I remember playing merfolk of the deeps in the pre-release. I was with a deck with a lot of evolve and i still couldn't do much with it. It's the worse card i've ever played...

[@michaelstapley4878]

I appreciate the fact that for the most part, he keeps his limit on worst cards to one per set, so something like Legends doesn't just flood the top ten all by itself. The issue I'm starting to have, is definitely the repetition. I think this is the 3rd(?) Time the Legends cards have showcased on a top 10 worst list. I've definitely heard the name Jedit Ojanen more than I've ever cared to in my life, and never in a good way. It's a weird complaint. I just wish there were better checks in place for the worst list. Like maybe listing cards that simply haven't been listed in other lists. I think he does that with Teeka's Dragon, given that his disdain for the card is now a community meme.

[@sallomon2357]

I have the same with the Merfolk. I think they showed up pretty recently on the Worst Cards in Pioneer list, and even without that almost always appear on these worst lists alongside the Legends... legends. From what I noticed, here Nizza even said almost the same stuff for the Merfolk as in the Pioneer list, made particularly noticeable by the fact that I don't remember him mentioning these additional synergies with Evolve etc. before the Pioneer list.

[@benjaminberkey2920]

Yet harbor guardian can easily be abused to mill your opponent.

[@hitmangfx7162]

Haven't watched yet, but guessing 3-4 spots are dedicated to crappy Legends legends. If not more. Edit: Ha, I'm good with the end result. I actually used to play with Harbor Guardians in a Millstone deck.

[@crovax1375]

My brother had that plan for Harbor Guardian too. But I found the perfect counter with Norritt! Lol

[@martinrosschou]

You mention multicolored legend cards so often, why they are all on the #1 worst spot combined, that you may even just make a general video, and refer to it ;) Kidding of course, but I think this is at least the 3rd time I have seen the multicolored legends from Legends speak at the end of a vid of yours heheh

[@moedark4390]

omfg #2....paying 3 mana to gain an ability which comesstandard on other creatures for free and at lower cmc lol

[@seilaoquemvc2]

the most predictable number 1 ever hahah

[@ApexZer0]

You really don't like merfolk of the depths

[@darthparallax5207]

So for the first 5 cards all of them are either easy to cast or were good in their day and you ignored your rules at the beginning of the video. Mostly it's to do with the fact that you are seriously forgetting that Watchwolf was considered really good when it came out. It was hard to get stats back then. These cards have stats, can be cast easier than other multicolor cards, and interact with wide swaths of the creatures that existed at the time. You haven't named a single 3 color card and the last 5 cards should be the 4 Nephilim so you're just kind of wrong about this entire list.

[@darthparallax5207]

You're also not listing any cards from Legends. This is the worst list you've made since you didn't know what French Vanilla was.

[@darthparallax5207]

Illusory Demon is its own sac outlet and when it came out Altar of Dementia, Phyrexian Altar, and Ashnod's Altar were all known to be good cards anyway. Illusory Demon can trigger death triggers which means it gets a lot better when Morbid gets added to the game in Innistrad. It's also got higher rate of stats than Serendib Efreet and when it came out it was the best flying creature in the game. The penalty was reasonable. Even if you stopped casting it was beefy and if you were smart you'd turn the sacrifice into an advantage. It just is not deserving of "worst"

[@darthparallax5207]

Emberwild Caliph is the basis of a rebalanced version of the most broken thing to do in Magic: Channel Fireball. You pay your life to remove your opponent's life and if you can make the score 1 to 0 you win. He's just a good card that holds up today bc 4 power on a flier is always going to be good at 4 mana because of the Reserved List on Juzam Djinn. He plays a bit like a mono red card and it's a very minor inconvenience to get to play blue to play him which gives you an excuse to run Counterspell and Brainstorm

[@darthparallax5207]

The Legends cards being #1 and also being lumped in together was a good call, But you were very lazy with the other 9 slots on your list as much as the Legends design team was making legendary creatures. This is easily your worst video and I'm sad I thought I was going to learn a lot about Tarkir, Capenna, and Alara and why it's bad to cost an extra color. Since you didn't mention any of those sets I wonder if Legends isn't right after all that having more colors is upside. Hang on. Commander. Yeah you didn't manage to name a single bad card in your entire Top Worst list except for a Golgari card that did not become a Vintage staple.

[@normanbromley-xd7ls]

How about top 10 worst creatures that have gained memetic status. (Storm Crow and Colossal Dreadmaw are an example of this).