MTG Top 10: Worst Artifacts | Magic: the Gathering | Episode 40

[@BigBoatDeluxe]

Top (5)(5) Worst Artifacts

[@ParadoxBassCube]

5/5 would watch again

[@boitahaki]

lmao

[@macandcheese7042]

😂😂😂😂

[@dancosta7881]

boitahaki bbbbhbbhbbhhhbbbnhhbbh7tayk jvnkb 7 y 7 8bj7nbhhh5hhh

[@bastionunitb7388]

I guess your 1 and 0 keys are broken

[@onthespoke2]

"so this card must do something really good, right?" Well, no, because I read the title of the video

[@joshbaker1864]

Mark Tedin's art was featured 4 times in this video. He's illustrated some really bad artifacts.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Mashed Potato Hahaha nice catch!

[@Nr4747]

They also used Donato Giancola's art on Juju Bubble - and Giancola is one of the greatest MtG artists of all time, imho.

[@RuralProgressive]

Josh Baker my art teacher went to college with Mark Tedin

[@Trisket]

He's drawn 195 cards dating back to Alpha so he's bound to have some duds. Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Doubling Cube, Eldrazi Monument and Nevinyrral's Disk also feature his art and are some of the greatest artifacts of all time.

[@mrtekbunny]

Cumulative upkeep was a mistake.

[@jaferalyhooda310]

So for the Talismans you claimed that they're one of, if not the worst cycle of cards ever printed. I think that would actually be a really cool pair of videos - the best and worst cycles in Magic.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Jaferaly Hooda Agreed

[@bubbabenali]

Or the most unbalanced cycles. Anyone remembering Bounty of the Hunt?

[@leftysheppey]

If you're talking unbalanced cycles, ancestral recall is considered the same cycle as healing salve. I'd say that takes the cake

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Adam Sheppard Yeah the rest of that cycle but salve is all good, too. Maybe not quite recall - but Lightning Bolt, Dark Ritual, and Giant Growth are all pretty good. Then there's the salve. Haha

[@leftysheppey]

Yep, such a shame haha

[@snakeman830]

I was amused when you mentioned during Hankyu that "they could have made it equip for 2 or 3 and just let let the equipped creature ping for 1." They did that in one of the first Equipment ever printed: Viridian Longbow from Mirrodin.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+snakeman830 Good call.Forgot about that. Was good in Limited, but def not a great card otherwise. Stupid Hankyu.

[@TheRusty]

Vibrating Sphere was designed in a time when you could "turn off" an artifact by tapping it. it was also printed in a slow-paced block that had Icy Manipulator. So, the idea was, you'd have your Icy and your sphere, and at the end of the turn, you'd tap the sphere and your creatures would never have a penalty. Since that rule change though it's lost all use.

[@weegeelinguini3704]

Debatable, you can donate it to the goblin player in multiplayer edh (make sure you have a propaganda)

[@jasonhunter2819]

That's a rule I miss...probably would make some newer artifacts completely busted, but it was a mechanic we used to make a lot of use of

[@weegeelinguini3704]

@@jasonhunter2819 they removed the "turn off" cause what about stuff that "doesn't untap" but it would be cool to see it again

[@christiansassmannshausen5495]

I too didnt remember that when watching the video, but that seems much more logical when this was printed and winter orb worked the same way. Howling Mine too.

[@woomod2445]

@@weegeelinguini3704 There were also a bunch of other cards that didn't work like the thing that would phase out your opponents stuff forever. But they really should have kept the errata on the things that DID work, and keep making artifacts that shut off while tapped.

[@OdinsHand]

Actually played Vibrating Sphere in my Zedruu Commander deck. Does a decent job handling most token strategies.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+OdinsHand Yeah definitely the kind of card you want to make your opponent have,

[@sebastiantorres76]

OdinsHand Most of these "worst card" lists are all "top 10 cards to be hand to your opponent with Zedruu"

[@OdinsHand]

Not really, because they can just not pay the cumulative upkeep and the cards are way too expensive or bounce themselves, but I get your point.

[@nartin9]

exactly what I thought when I saw the card.

[@thesaurusakasickakatheomc7688]

RE: Razor Boomerang: If you actually threw a boomerang with razor edges, and it actually came back like a regular boomerang, and you actually caught it in your hand (like an idiot) you would be lucky to have enough hand left for a second attempt. I think WotC nailed it.

[@nykal1510]

Beautiful

[@TheDoitpow]

Fixed for flavour Razor Boomerang (3) Artifact-Equipment Equip - (2) Equipped creature has (t): Unequip Razor Boomerang, Razor boomerangs deals 1 damage to target creature or player, Re-attach Razor Boomerang to the creature it was Equipped to, Razor boomerang deals 1 damage to Equipped creature, Unequip Razor Boomerang.

[@thesaurusakasickakatheomc7688]

@@TheDoitpow It should be a (-0/-1) counter since it's maiming damage.

[@Flint_Ironstagg]

i collect apocalypse chimes, i'm up to about 600 of them

[@NizzahonMagic]

Dakkon Blackblade Yeah all of the cards like it are bad

[@Fahrenheart]

Razor Boomerang goes infinite with Paradox Engine in a pretty hilarious way.

[@borrowedbraincell8992]

Renko Usami how? sorry it should be obvious but I'm interested in how it would work so I could try it out myself

[@Fahrenheart]

Have any combination of mana rocks that total 5 Have Paradox Engine Have any creature Have Razor Boomerang Tap your mana rocks, cast Boomerang, untap all your mana rocks. Tap them again to equip Boomerang to your creature. Use Boomerang to return it to hand and deal 1 damage With 7 mana up, cast Boomerang again and repeat the process. Infinite damage and infinite mana with jank cards baby.

[@borrowedbraincell8992]

Thank you that's going be fun to pull off

[@Wintermutt75]

Renko Usami You can do more (with even less mana) if you’re prepped right. ;) In my equipment EDH deck for TWO mana I’d ping for one damage AND draw up to two cards. Cast boomerang for 2 mana (3 - 1 for Danitha Capashen,) Draw up to two cards for playing an artifact using Sram and Puresteel Paladin (just watch Sram as I believe the draw is mandatory) Equip boomerang for FREE using your choice of Brass Squire, Hammer of Nazahn, Sigarda’s Aid or Puresteel Paladin Better yet, Inspiring Statuary turns any artifact into a mana rock, which is great for Paradox Engine...

[@florianw116]

@@Fahrenheart Your creature needs to be an artifact or else you can't tap it for the Boomerang's ability repeatedly.

[@shanavalkyria3438]

The malachite talisman can work decent in marwyn elfs if you have a draw engine out to keep getting more elfs but thats the only use ive ever had for any of them.

[@henryettoit897]

no Aladdin's Ring? a 8 cost artifact than needs another 8 mana and tap to do 4 damage......

[@erysecret]

It's acceptable, I used to run a deck with Mana flare, tutors, sol rings and the like, and Aladdin's ring was a nice card that was basically a 5 turn clock back in the day. Expensive as hell, I'll give you that, but definitely not the worst artifact ever made.

[@ValkyrieTiara]

I used to run a burn deck (remember when those were a thing?) with 4 mana flares, 4 disintegrates, and 4 fireballs. I killed myself with mana burn as often as I won, but MAN that was a fun deck to play lol

[@OverworkedITGuy]

Remember the timeframe we're talking about. It was also colorless damage meaning it got around Protection and Circles of Protection. It's awful by modern standards, but back then it was potentially powerful, at least in casual

[@devin5201]

Nah, that one us super op, it goes on the 10 best(yes I joking, that card sounds awful)

[@dawson8139]

I could see Vibrating Sphere being used in a Zedruu the Greathearted EDH deck, since you would easily be able to play it, benefit from the +2/+0, then promptly hand the sphere over to another player before you end your turn. And generally, Zedruu does a lot of pillowfort-ing, making an opponent's creatures have +2/+0 (whatever ones they have left) not as big of a deal as it would be for your other opponents.

[@undeadaccountant]

So, my "defense" for Hankyu. I used it in a King Macar EDH deck to tap him before my turn and with puppet strings and the like I could untap him and use his ability

[@willowdelosrios4326]

If Hankyu had equip 1, I might actually run it in a proliferate/artifact counters commander deck. It still wouldn’t be good, but with the right deck it might actually be playable jank rather than just unplayable. With things like Contagion Engine, Throne of Geth, and Voltaic Key (let alone Atraxa or doubling season), and something like Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient in play, it could potentially build up enough counters to one-shot a already-injured player. It might take two or three turns of effort, and it wouldn’t necessarily be anywhere close to efficient, but I already run Lux Cannon, Red Mana Battery, and Banshees Blade, so I wasn’t ever really efficient to begin with

[@cosmicfails2053]

The boomerang would have been a lot stronger if they kept the same costs BUT changed it so that rather than returning to hand, it would simply unequip itself That way you can still use it more powerfully And in fact Making it a 1 cost with a 1 equip would be over powered as hell because of a lot of "play an artefact" synergy

[@hoozukigetsu]

I actually found razor boomerang to be exactly what I wanted for my equipment matters deck with purest eel paladin to draw cards continuously by bouncing the boomerang back and equipping for zero. Throw in some cloud key to reduce the casting cost and you could turn razor boomerang Into "pay 1 mana draw a card" or even nothing if you feel like it. It wasn't the decks whole strategy but I wanted it in there for the potential.

[@XiaosChannel]

5:56 if you have infinite mana though, you get to tap everything... since it bounces back.

[@FortWhenTeaThyme]

It's kind of astounding how bad Aladdin's Lamp is. Most of the cards in these top 10s I'll think "Ehh, I mean I get what they were going for." but hoooly shit. 10+X mana for scry X draw one? Jesus Christ.

[@scienceviking4490]

You know, vibrating sphere could be useful alongside something like Goblin Welder. Basically, get the bonus for one turn, then feed it to something that requires you to sacrifice an artifact so you get a little more utility and remove the sphere before it destroys your creatures. It's not amazing, but it's at least playable.

[@ajh22895]

The worst part of the Boomerang is it is the Boomerang itself that does the damage.

[@keldaris8625]

Wow, I loved playing some of these back in the day sad to see them on a worst ever list :( I ran Naked Singularity, Malachite Talisman, and Juju Bubble in my elf deck. Cumulitive upkeep, and NS mana shenanigans don't mean much in the endgame when your 2+ Priests of Titania each produce 12+ mana per tap, untap with seeker of skybreak, untap SoS with MT, tap PoT again, drop a Juju gain 10-20+ life. whittle away at the opponent while they suffer under NS awesome power while gaining life each turn. With Juju, Stream of Life, and Congregate I've finished games with hundreds of hit points.

[@kingfuzzy2]

Preach it!!!

[@locustkllr]

Cyclopean Snare is a self bouncing permanent for colorless mana with an upside. There are plenty of combo applications for self bouncing cards. Back in the early days of MTG i was playing my pretty awful mostly-unlimited cards mono green deck against a guy with a ton of cards from Antiquities and Arabian Nights. He had the full urzatron lands going and was doing all kinds of wacky things with artifacts and by mid game had enough mana to play his Rakalite every turn, prevent an obscene amount of damage during my turn and bounce it back to his hand. It was an impenetrable defense. After that i traded for some Crumbles.

[@Dreznin]

I used to run a casual 5-color Zubera tribal deck that had Naked Singularity in it and that card would usually buy me the time I needed to win the game or outright shut down other decks since it doesn't make each land produce it's enemy colors, but just ONE enemy color. Pair it with Eon Hub or Hex Parasite in order to negate the Cumulative Upkeep problem.

[@VillageConMan]

Malachite talisman could theoretically be put in an EDH elf deck to let you go quasi-infinite with Gaea's Cradle and Glimpse of Nature. Granted, there are better cards out there that let you do the same thing, but it's at least functional and could theoretically be something you'd be glad to draw in certain situations.

[@alyssinwilliams4570]

So, Juju bubble. I can see it being useful in a few life-gains matters situations, like wit Bloodbond Vampire, Bloodthirsty Aerialist to stack up counters for a couple of turns. Cliffhaven Vampire and spare mana will let you ping your opponent for a few turns, same with DEfiant BLoodlord, Epicure of Blood (this is the first one I thought of). Also Ajani's Pridemate! Ok yes, there are much, much better ways to do it. But it might be fun to give this a try. Maybe I'll put together an EDH deck with it...

[@kotapainting]

Unsure if anybody has already said this, but the talismans are actually pretty sweet in the right edh deck. I use malachite in Omnath with Nykthos for a pretty big amount of mana. Basically, tap nykthos for a bunch, cast a green spell, pay 3 to untap nykthos, repeat. Narrow, but very far from useless

[@a.velderrain8849]

I have a deck that relies on equipping a Leech Bonder with Hankyu, so you can just tap, untap for blue, tap, untap for blue, tap, untap for blue... boom, 3 damage to something. An interesting combo. Not terribly good, but very fun, especially with Leech Bonder moving counters around every untap.

[@Interesting_Failure]

Recently discovered a use for Razor Boomerang/Cyclopean Snare in Teshar EDH. One of the better historic cast triggers, you can basically rez anything cheap from your graveyard for (5) repeatedly (plus the actual effect of the artifact) I mean it's no Cloudstone Curio, but it gets the job done if you need a specific creature or you've recurred Burnished Hart enough to not really care about the mana.

[@Skyblade12]

Honestly, going for Flavor, the change I’d make to Razor Boomerang is to make it an untap effect. So after you tap a creature for an ability or attack, you can untap it once, deal one damage, but then have to replay the boomerang. It’s expensive enough for an untap effect, and making it return to your hand means it’s not spammable.

[@latrodectusmactans7592]

Naked Singularity could actually be useful in commander if you had a method to continually recur it. Play the singularity at the end of your turn, leave it up the full turn cycle, sacrifice it during your upkeep, then recur it at the end of your turn. That way it only messes with mana bases on your opponents’ turns, not your own.

[@danielgehring7437]

Man, I played the hell out of Juju Bubble. It comboed very nicely with Argivian Archeologist.

[@HelimChimera]

It would also probably work very well with any cards that have to do with artifacts leaving the battlefield or being in your graveyard, like if you just needed a delirium Trigger or something

[@KefkeWren]

*Naked Singularity:* If you're playing with primarily nonbasic lands or colourless cards (be they artifact or Eldrazi) it's pure upside. In fact, this is a card that's actually gotten stronger with time, as there's now a basic land it doesn't cover in the form of Wastes, ideal for such decks. Since colourless mana is also easier than others to produce in multiples, there's also a lot more potential to keep this going for a turn or two and throw your opponents into disarray. Or if you can get Saheeli Rai out (using nonbasic lands, of course), you can just replace the singularity every couple of turns to keep the upkeep from going. Finally and meanest, though, is the fact that this card has gotten a _huge_ buff since Ice Age. At the time Naked Singularity was printed, the number of turns a card had been in play was an absolute value, and the player was expected to remember it for themselves. The rules have since been amended so that cards with Cumulative Upkeep gain "age counters" that their effect is based around. You know what's great about counters? They can be manipulated. For instance, Ferropede says that the upkeep never goes above 6, and Power Conduit can even keep it at 3...while also pumping up your other cards. *Naked Singularity bonus round:* Playing two enemy colours would actually _not_ negate this card, as no two land types simple exchange colours. In fact, three colour wouldn't work either, as there's no combination of three colours that's self-contained either. So you were just dead wrong on that point. As an aside, I'm also curious how this card would behave in the case of "Counts as X and Y" lands, or if it was hacked. *Hankyu:* Once again, you're failing to see the obvious. Hankyu is, frankly, _fantastic_ value. Put this on a creature with Vigilance or Defender and power it up at the end of the opponent's turn every time. Also, once again, it benefits from the wonderful shenanigans that we can do with counters. Skyship Plunderers to get up to five extra aim counters a turn? Clockspinning for a boost as many times as you need it? Or use Winding Constricter to double your return on investment. In the right deck, you can speed this up pretty quickly. Not to mention, the counters go on the artifact rather than the creature, so you can bounce it between several "donors" in one turn, and get a counter from each of them, and finish up with it ready to blast, as long as you have the mana. Even in the worst case, the bow demands your opponent waste removal on it, as it will inevitably become too big a threat to ignore. Not bad at all for a one-drop. *Vibrating Sphere:* How many cards do you know that make temporary token creatures? Also, how many cards can make one-turn copies of an artifact? Finally, Bad Moon plus zombie tokens. 'Nuff said. *Aladdin's Lamp:* Turn every draw into a "pick the best card out of the next X". Plus there are multiple ways to get an artifact out without paying for it. You're making yourself look dumb. *Cyclopean Snare:* This one _is_ pretty bad, but the bounce also makes it capable of evading offensive auras and removal. It's situational, but not worthless. You really should consider the possibility that someone won't use it the same time they play it, though. *Razor Boomerang:* Again, superficially bad, but gets around removal and hosing. Also, this is a good time to mention that any card that bounces is fuel for ETB and LTB effects. What's that? I can guarantee that Aid From the Crowd and Call For Unity proc every turn? Sign me up, please. *Talismans:* ...no, you're completely right about these. Costly, situational, and outperformed by other cards. I can't really even say that they were all that good in their era. *Rakalite:* The effect is fairly cheap and the delayed trigger lets you use it multiple times a turn. It can fuel ETB/LTB effects, but slow bounce means it can't dodge removal. Overall, yeah, it's pretty dang bad. *Delif's Cube:* _"Waste a blocker on my Ornithopter or your removal is useless."_ plus all the counter shenanigans I keep talking about. Also, unblockable weenies make "before declaring attack" limitation a moot point. Why would you not like wasting your opponent's resources while also giving literally _all_ of your creatures Regeneration? From a one-drop. *Juju Bubble:* There might be some combo I don't know for this one, but with my limited knowledge, I'm inclined to agree. For the sake of playing the devil's advocate, though, there is the fringe case of using it when you have a lot of mana and no cards to play anyhow. With the ways to keep cumulative upkeep in check that I mentioned earlier, you can at least get _some_ use out of it, and coupled with mechanics like Revolt it could see some niche use, but the best function I can see from it really is as something you won't mind sacrificing to fuel a better card.

[@theSkyfisher]

The Vibrating Sphere was actually probably playable when it came out cause of the rule on artifacts from back then where if they are tapped their static effect is turned off, so you just had to use something that let you tap artifacts for a reason and you get only the upside from it.

[@jasonhunter2819]

I remember my best friend back in high school had a stasis deck I think it was that he had a couple of juju bubbles in...the options at the time available to a group of high schoolers wasn't great and helped him against some of our burn decks I believe... ah man, hadn't thought of that thing in 23 years. Didn't hold up very good with time!

[@CSDragon]

while 5 Mana may be a lot for a tap effect, it is worth noting that because it goes back to your hand you can cast it again and it's untappd, meaning if you have infinite Mana you can tap down everything. Not as good as good an infinite mana sink as a fireball to the face, but still.

[@calemr]

Naked singularity is pretty nasty sometimes. If someone's running 1 or 2 colours it's crippling, and if you're running 5 or Artifacts, you can go 2 or 3 turns where they can't do anything, and you're able to drop some cheap artifacts. I can see it in use, especially if you've got rocks and affinity.

[@NTSTS0]

Really enjoyed this succinct and more informal presentation.

[@TAT4guitar]

We need an "MTG Top 10: Coasters" x)

[@WLDFLD]

also nominating Aladdin's Lamp, Apocalypse Chime, Forethought Amulet, Infinite Hourglass, Obelisk of Undoing, Pyramids, and especially North Star (cast that tricky 2BUU spell for only 9, WOW!!)

[@stevenhaisley8656]

Hear me out - Hankyu is a win condition in EDH/Commander if you pair it with Gilder Bairn. If you manage to get him equipped you win right then and there. Your opponents would -need- to remove him or the hankyu IMMEDIATELY or you could tap/untap him infinitely. Spin up enough counters to kill an opponent, rinse and repeat for every opponent.

[@derrickmelton5844]

Still costs 3 to activate, so unless you have a ton of mana you aren't getting big

[@stevenhaisley8656]

@@derrickmelton5844 Give it a paradise mantle. Now you have infinite mana and can spin up that hankyu all you please.

[@31codyskater]

@@stevenhaisley8656 you need 3 mana to untap it lol the mantle would just make it a birds of paradise.

[@stevenhaisley8656]

@@31codyskater I forgot - add a Training Grounds.

[@31codyskater]

then it just pays for the single untap and doesn't generate any new mana so you can never tap it for the counters.

[@baval5]

I used to run naked singularity in my myr deck. It makes a good stun card in decks that can produce a ton of extra mana

[@gemini7726]

You know what I think would be fun!!! taking all of your worst 10 list cards and making a draft

[@researchinbreeder]

How to fix Juju Bubble: Change the Cumulative Upkeep to Add 1 colorless mana. That way, every other turn gains increasingly more life, and has potential tomfoolery shenanigans with Leyline of Anticipation.

[@deezball6422]

him:juju bubble is the worst artifact ever made me:makes juju bubble tron

[@Deus69xxx1]

it's not efficient, but it's not the most terrible card to play before the end of turn mid game, then blow mana at the end of your opponent's turn for life, then don't pay the upkeep.

[@Clonekiller66]

juju bubble + tron + Storm Herd!!!!

[@goncaloformiga3338]

Man, I love your channel. Keep up the great work

[@nicholasiverson9784]

I used to play a fun little artifact combo deck, and I'd actively search for the worst possible artifacts to kill people with - spice it up a bit you know. I once managed to kill my table with razor boomerang on turn 3 - everyone was quite satisfied with the lengths I went to in order to make that happen.

[@FrozenLavaDragonProd]

How did you make it work?

[@mikelong2756]

Hey. If you have an unlimited mana loop and an untap effect you could technically go infinite with razor boomerang in an edh game and piss off your playgroup for about 5 mins as you repeatedly demonstrate the cow head coming off until you get kicked out of the group

[@drybrawler]

I'm tempted to put the take aim thing into my drevi deck. You give all your stuff Vig, attack in, Hit with like 10 creatures, tap the creature with the take aim counter on it 10 times, than tap it one more and deal 10 additional damage to something in combination with the damage already taken.

[@NizzahonMagic]

That is a very long list of things needing to happen for the card to work for you

[@billykann7725]

I could see the vibrating sphere seeing play in reanimator decks like meren who when they die would get counters then something that gives your field undying or even better it that betrays/lilliana's origins form ultimate get them back at the end step.

[@korybrager3628]

I have successfully played Naked Singularity in a colorless artifact deck using 4 of each, urza's mine, power plant and tower. Played 5 games, won 2. I am happy with it

[@anthonycannet1305]

Naked singularity could be just fine if you run solemnity. Solemnity stops the age counters being put on naked singularity for the cumulative upkeep and then the cost becomes 0 mana every turn because the cumulative upkeep cost gets paid for each age counter on it but now there aren’t any.

[@envysart797]

it's pretty medium but I could see the talisman cycle seeing play in Nykthos or Selvala decks in edh. They could theoretically generate mana even with the steep untap cost. only problem is casting a spell is much harder to do than the traditional broken untap options like Intruder Alarm or Unwinding Clock

[@isaoblack987]

Also add the fact that you can only activate the talisman once per spell. That limitation kills off quite a bit of the play people are thinking the cards could get.

[@TheEvilChipmunk]

I get the crux of the argument against Naked Singularity, however, I used to have a casual-play deck that involved Urza's Lands, Aeon Hub, and Naked Singularity, among other toys (I used to refer to it as my "Urza's Shit" deck). In combo with Aeon Hub, the Cumulative Upkeep was immaterial, and the pained expression on my opponents' faces was priceless. Oftentimes, they would be locked-out of at least one color, while my deck continued unabated, as all my lands produced colorless mana anyway. Against a monochromatic deck it was just unfair. Good times.

[@zefishguy3029]

The only thing that comes to mind is the red ice age talisman can untap Krenko after you play a red spell. It's definitely not optimal it seems annoying saving red spells to pay 3 more to activate a free ability, and having a 2 casting cost 3 mana per use sink seems not that great especially in mono red.

[@ScaredMotion]

Hankyu is an interesting card for the Abzan Devoted Company deck, maybe a possible win-con?

[@johnnypoker46]

Hankyu plus Vorel of the Hull Clade or Gilder Bairn to ramp up the counters and Brass Squire to attach it. Juju Bubble plus scores of green mana might help reach a win condition. But ... I was expecting Razor Boomerang. Cyclopean Snare is horrible too.

[@tonyblackwell7194]

You can use Naked Singularity without paying the upkeep cost using Paradox Haze and Bringer of the White Dawn

[@poncho9587]

Also, you can use Stifle on a Stick (imprinting Stifle onto Isochron Scepter) to get around that restriction.

[@DoubleBob]

Hankyu is awesome on Gilder Bairn or Puresight Merrow. Purseight Merrow: Every white or blue mana can be transformed into 1 point of damage AND it let's you go through your deck to find good cards. (Tapping with Hankyu and untapping with Puresight Merrow). Gilder Bairn might even be stronger: Tap via Hankyu to get an aim counter. Untap via Gilder Bairn to double those aim counters for 3 mana, then tap again to get one more.

[@Deus69xxx1]

hankyu + doubling season = time bomb P: i thought there was a spell that doubled all of a counter on a target at some point, could be dreaming though.

[@T4N7]

actually the lamp needs to tap, since its an old artifact from back when all artifacts tapped to use their activated abilities and any static or triggered abilities were turned off while they were tapped. which is still evident on howling mine, which states that it only draws players an extra card if untapped

[@FurryCombatWombat]

Cyclopean snare has some viability in high mana generating decks. For example, green devotion. Pay 5 to tap a creature as many times as you want. It going to your hand just means that it will come into play untapped.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Furry Combat Wombat I feel like there are literally hundreds of better things to do with infinite mana.

[@samb123078]

Naked singularity with sundial of the infinite might be interesting.

[@modernminded5466]

Yeah, nice combo. You just gotta hope your opponent is a mono-colored deck with the budget of a potato to pull it off, lol

[@CTimmerman]

Wouldn't that skip your turn? Eon Hub is better.

[@Coeurebene1]

I started playing Magic in 1993 as a kid and remember really trying to make Aladdin's lamp work. For 10 mana, it HAD to do something good right?

[@corydulaney1594]

I guess with the new Revolt mechanic, Juju Bubble might be usable as a permanent leaves the battlefield. I just don't see it getting play, and thus it is on this list. In one of my first deck builds, I used that boomerang to some effect (when an artifact enters the battlefield, yada, yada...), but not enough to keep using it once my fledgling noobness discovered blink mechanics.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Cory Dulaney With revolt you would rather the card leaving the battlefield actually do something - otherwise you're creating card disadvantage just to trigger revolt, which isn't worth it.

[@ethanmajor34]

i run Aladdin's lamp as a one of in a casual deck i have with the forge master and unwinding clock, the artifact lands, and prototype portal. and it works great.

[@SnancyNegative]

Instead of defending cards, here's what I think would have been acceptable, small changes to cards to make them at the very least passable. Terminology used: # or X - A number depicting a number of colorless mana when unspecified otherwise. R,G,W,B,U - Red, Green, White, Black, and Blue mana. T - Tap. R2R - Return to Ravnica's block. Bounce - Return to hand. 10 - Naked Singularity - Cumulative Upkeep 1, instead of 3. While the cost of keeping it up is still present, and dangerous if you don't get your mana supply up, it still makes for a more amusing card as a 5-drop that fucks with lands. 9 - Hankyu - Increase cost to play to 3, change text to "1, T: Put an aim counter on Hankyu" instead of sticking it onto the creature. While it defeats the purpose of the whole theme of aiming the bow, it makes it more viable by making it an aim-hoarder that you throw onto a creature for a fairly big amount of mana. 8 - Vibrating Sphere - Change text entirely to: "Attacking creatures you control get +2/+0. Blocking creatures you control get -0/-2." Gives it more of a R2R's Rakdos vibe, encouraging attacking feverishly and ignoring the damage your opponent is doing, instead of building up weenie cards only to have them die off immediately. 7 - Aladdin's Lamp - Change text to: "1: During your next draw step, instead of drawing a card, look at the top 10 cards of your library. Put one into your hand and shuffle the rest into your library.", and "5: During your next draw step, instead of drawing a card, search your library for a card and add it to your hand. Then shuffle your library." This makes it not too overpowered in the late game, where it's supposed to be played, but also not underpowered. The reference to X and the amount of cards "drawn" are really unnecessary, especially since paying 10 mana to look at the top 10 is horrific. Plus, this way, it allows the avoidance of cards that basically say "Players can't draw cards" by dancing around the rules, and basically allows a slightly more expensive Diabolic Tutor at-will. This is just keeping the theme of the card in mind; if it were me, it'd be a 7-drop that allowed three "Wishes", surrounding the 5 colors. Something like, "Put 5 1/1 white soldiers, or draw 3 cards, or deal 6 damage, or target player discards 3 cards, or search your library for up to three basic lands". Oh well. 6 - Cyclopean Snare - Lower mana cost to 1 for the purposes of activating the ability and mana cost in general. That way, it's a two-mana tap that can be used for the purposes of quickly tapping the enemy field for a big attack, or response-tapping opponents when they're going for an attack. 5 - Razor Boomerang - Change the mana cost from 3 to 2, equip cost from 2 to 1, give the creature +2/+0, and THEN give it the ability to T: Deal 2 damage to target creature or player and bounce equip to hand. This way the upside of equipping outweighs the downside of bouncing it back to hand, and makes it especially decent with cards with Vigilance. 4 - Shitty Untap Artifacts - Change them into one card, and turn the ability's mana cost down to 1 or 2. It makes it less of a mana sink, while still not making it obscenely powerful like Voltaic Key or Myr Galvanizer. 3 - Rakalite - Just... get rid of bounce effect. Once you've gotten Rakalite, you shouldn't have to bounce it back EVERY TIME you want to prevent 1 damage. Speaking of which, preventing 1 damage for 8 mana, with no way of getting it to replicate except if you've got a position where artifacts have Flash... honestly, this should be at #1 and not #3. You give it too much credit. 2 - Delif's Cube - Change first effect to "2: If target creature you control would deal combat damage to a player, prevent it. If you do, put a cube counter on Delif's Cube equal to the amount of damage prevented this way." and change second effect to "Remove cube counters equal to target creature's toughness: Regenerate that creature." This way there's still a theme of preventing damage to your opponent to keep your shit alive without becoming overtly overpowered. It's a lot more powerful in the right hands, but now it's not useless everywhere else. 1 - Juju Bubble - Get rid of the GOD DAMN sacrifice bullshit. I could see if it was maybe themed for some kind of card that couldn't be played, but all cards? Not spells, not creatures, but just... all cards. No. Get outta here. Cumulative upkeep is fine as it is, as is the 2-mana one-point life gain. This is probably the only time I would get rid of an effect outright, besides Rakalite, because it made an ordinarily normal card absolutely worthless.

[@SuperMarioMaster2100]

I was at a chaos draft and got modern masters 2017 (got griselbrand), journey into nyx (pleasantly surprised by a mana confluence) and visions (got juju bubble)

[@DonovanPresents]

#8 Could be a possible board wipe in a Zedruu Commander deck, giving this artifact to your opponents in your turn as a "harmless offering" on your second main phase.

[@thecasualnerd7380]

Let's see what I can do with these cards Naked Singularity - maybe if you ran a deck that had some insane mana production you could keep it on the board long enough to accomplish something, and it can really disrupt your opponent and render a lot of their cards and abilities unplayable until its gone, I don't think this is a good card by any means, but in certain decks it could be a finishing blow card... but you'd have to build a deck around it and that's really not worth it Hankyuu - the only thing I can think of is proliferating the aim counters enough to dish out massive damage to a player Vibrating sphere - um.... maybe if you had an effect where creatures dying on your opponent's turn did something beneficial for you? Aladdin's Lamp - useless on its own, better to just use tutors or something, but if you can't I guess this could serve to get you specific card draws... maybe... Cyclopean Snare - only possible use is maybe pairing with effects that proc when an artifact enters play... that's it Razor boomerang - there's no defending this one, save for what I said about snare, but this one does that job worse cause it takes 5 mana and a tapped creature, plus 3 to replay whereas the snare only took 5 mana to play/bounce and 2 to replay Talismans - I've got nothing >_< Racalite - I think the key here is that you can activate the effect any number of times during one turn. If you have a lot of mana this could serve as a very effective barrier to block a pesky shock or fireball or something that could ruin your plans (like one combo I know of that enables you to quickly go down to 2 life, exchange life totals with your opponent, and kill them with an unblockable 2 power creature, but a shock spell timed before you hit would end you). It costs a lot of mana for the job it does, but having that sitting on your field for an emergency isn't actually the worst thing. At the very least it's better than the other cards on this list Dels Cube - there's no defending this -_- Juju Bauble - yeah it's awful, especially since there are several artifacts that do its same job without the limitations and do it way better.

[@heath1948]

Razor boomerang is a commonly used cheap piece of equipment in various ping Decks That Mitch has designed. Mind you it’s only situational but he has use this card to great success

[@hitmangfx7162]

I made Rakalite work in a pacifist Millstone deck. Lategame, once you have out 8 mana or so, it saw some decent work.

[@AnastasiaCorvina]

Chisei, Heart of Oceans makes Naked Singularity extremely easy to play with. I run a temur mana alter deck without any problems

[@astuteanansi4935]

Hankyu can sorta combo with Untap creatures from Shadowmoor and Eventide Aladdin's Lamp, if nothing else, combos with things like Animate Artifact and Hedron Matrix due to its massive mana cost, which is not really practical but quite hilarious Delif's Cube combos with the recent Silent Skimmer and possibly other similar cards. Skimmer has 0 power and deals damage via loss of life, so Delif's effect does nothing, it also has evasion.

[@gabefarkas]

Lapis Lazuli Talisman works in Old School 93/94, as a combo piece in Time Vault decks.

[@Finngrinder]

How to make Aladdin's Lamp useable: Artifact, 10 Fateful Hour - You may pay 1B to cast the lamp if you have 5 or less life. If you do, Lamp becomes a black sorcery with "Search your library for any single card and add it to your hand. Shuffle your library. If Lamp isn't a permanent, exile it instead of putting it to your graveyard". Tap Lamp to search your library for any one card. You may play that card without paying its mana cost. You lose two life for each time you use this ability in a single turn beyond the first time.

[@calvincavagnaro4480]

I was playing commander with some friends. They were all playing Monocolor decks and I was playing 5 color chaos. I played an infinite mana combo(pili pala and grand architect) and the played naked Singularity. No counter spells, everyone conceded on the spot. One of my favorite games of commander. That is the only way, albeit a janky way, to use naked Singularity. Otherwise it's an absolute garbage pile.

[@basiliowferraro4987]

I'm pretty sure putting Hankyu in a proliferate deck would be pretty nasty, seeing as you could speed things along quite nicely...not to the point of once every few turns but still...on top of that even if it takes forever some players won't see it as a threat and may even forget about it until you tap and say "good game"

[@MoonlitRose101]

Hematite talisman is AMAZING in my Krenko deck. Sure, it's a steep cost, but getting that any gobbos is worth it

[@ericharris1499]

#2: with Swamp Mosquito? #8: i didn't see the cmc but look up the pauper deck Boros Kitty, it both goes wide and bounces/sacrifices it's own artifacts, if that card is a common it seems playable there and if not then in a similar deck.

[@derschattenpoet]

In defence of Juju Bubble: I may still be quite new to the game, ( Started just a month ago with the arena starter kit and then some packs of Zenzikars rising.) But my Black/White deck has the strategy of "Gaining life and make my opponent pay for it" with Cards that say things like 'whenever you gain lifepoints your opponent looses 1 or even that ammount I just gained' and I have multiple of them. So I could use the Jojo to finish off my opponent through tapping all my lands. (lets say I have 3 cards like mentioned and tap even just 6 lands for Jojo to gain 3x 1 Life, my Opponent will loose a total of 9 life, what nealy equals half the starting lifepoints. 8 lands and its 12lp, 10 lands and I suck 15 lifepoints off of my opponent, that would be totaly devastating!)

[@richmcgee434]

I've seen Vibrating Sphere win games semi-often. Looked at as a 4 colorless mana spell that gives your horde +2/0 for a turn makes it more appealing, but you really need to either win that turn or have some way to dispose of the sphere before your turn ends. Sacrifice-an-artifact-you-control tricks make this playable, although it still isn't great by any means.

[@Lovuschka]

Juju Bubble is a great combo card for a deck where you want to both play artifacts and kill them. So with Aether Revolt, it would be actually pretty good for some decks (it triggers revolt for 1 mana). But yes, even then there are better cards to do that (the implements let you draw an additional card but you must pay extra mana or be able to sacrifice them to put them into your graveyard - but just the Map is good enough, you can sacrifice it the next turn and get an additional basic land from it - heck, even fetch lands are better in most cases)..

[@54m0h7]

I was thinking similar too. Throw out a Pia's Revolution and you could have some fun.

[@NizzahonMagic]

+54m0h7 Then all you are doing is getting back a useless artifact over and,over again. I don't see the point.

[@Lovuschka]

Well, Juju Bubble still is not any GOOD, but it at least is borderline playable like that. Unlike the rest of the list.

[@iskiebae]

Many of these artifacts were created in an era when tapped artifacts don't function. So, you could tap them and turn off the bad effects during your turn

[@NizzahonMagic]

I'm aware of the original rules, but there aren't really any cards on this list that benefit from those rules. They are horrible even with the game's original rules.

[@ShadowWasntHere8433]

You can't even play a land with Juju

[@ipren89]

hankyu would work fine with stuff that has a "when ever this creature becomes tapped "- effect like goblin medics, night market lookout, veteran of the depths.

[@froggerpirate]

If you could infinalty untap the creature with the bow equipment and than remove all the counters to hit a stuffy doll you could kill your opponent in a extremely round about trolly way

[@shannonney3028]

froggerpirate That usually (if not always, sorry newish to magic) needs infinite mana and if you are generating infinite mana, there are better win conditions to go for, but you are correct.

[@justingomez8149]

froggerpirate a

[@Blomstermark]

I used Naked singularity in a weird control deck with 3 Braid of Fires to keep it going.. ofc there was better things to use the mana on.. but hey it was fun :D

[@libraryham]

I'd have put Apocalypse Chime on here because it targets cards only from a set that no one wanted to play, and that no one wants to play, Homelands. Homelands was so bad they had to force people to play at least 5 cards from Homelands in their decks at tournaments.

[@joshuacooke803]

I use naked singularity in my 5 color control deck. Board wipe, win condition, naked singularity to make sure they can’t play any other spells

[@sidewinderenigma]

You could use one of the talismans with Gaea's Cradle or Itimloc to go wild with green mana.

[@magetathelion75]

In defence of a few of them, specifically aladins lamp and the like. Way back when these decks could have access to tons of mana, Mana vault, sol ring, ect meant that 10 mana was tottaly doable,

[@grayscaleplaid7424]

Without excessive shenaningans, Cyclopean Snare is actually not terrible as a simple repeatable effect for when you have a ton of mana and not much else. I could see it being useful in Ravnica draft, just because between bouncelands, signets, etc. you could build up a ton of mana there. Razor boomerang, OTOH, is just a card there is no excuse for. Zen/WWK limited just moved way too goddamn fast for something that slow to be worth it, and god knows it's not more playable in any other format. And since the Boomerang itself does the damage, not the creature, the tiny bit of reach it provided didn't synergize with the next block's Infect mechanic, where it might have potentially mattered.

[@trailguidealex5010]

If im right I heard there is a combo that lets you tap and untap it for the bow that could mean a shit ton of damage

[@MistaHoward]

Any combo that lets you do a shit ton of damage with the bow would give you just as much damage with any "tap: deal 1 damage to target creature or player" effect. Why play and equip the bow for 5 mana when you can just untap a 3-mana pinger like Cinder Pyromancer.

[@natejablonski]

Aladdin's Lamp does see play in my Sydri EDH deck. The casting cost of 10 makes it pretty useful as a creature. No need to use its ability unless I'm desperate.

[@sagethegreat4680]

Well number 8 could have a great use with some ixalan cards if it was legal anywhere. Hualti plainswalker has an ability deal x damage divided between any creatures each creature that takes damage from this ability is now tapped. This could potentially tap all your opponents creatures leaving them wide open for an attack. There is also an instant also for dinosaurs that adds 1/1 to all your creatures and all dinosaurs gain trample ( used during your turn adding extra damage and trample could hurt opponent. Used during your opponent's turn the extra toughness could save your monsters from dying) even though it could have it's uses there is likely way better ways to get the same job done.

[@Lunaraia]

The Ice Age Untap artifacts actually have 2 saving graces, 1. Cabal coffers and Nykthos shrine to Nyx is a thing and 2. The artifacts do not tap to use their ability, in other words if you can produce more than 5 mana with Nykthos/Coffers, which isn't that hard, you can basically use the Ice age Artifacts and that land to gain infinite mana, sure you have to cast something first, but as long as you have enough leftover mana afterwords it's still gonna go infinite at that point

[@isaoblack987]

You can only use the ability on the talismans once per spell cast. While you might be able to use them to get a half decent ramp off of a Coffers / Nykthos / Priest of Titania/ Elvish Archdruid/ Karametra's Acolyte it is quite a bit of dancing around for what usually turns out to be a relatively small effect.

[@HelimChimera]

I watch played a green blue deck with a very small amount of forests, the strategy was to play one of the four naked singularities, and watch my opponents cry as I like to do everything I can with the green I have available now to pass cards that I most likely couldn't have before, well they can most likely do nothing

[@tobiaspause1775]

naked singularity + Solemnity = Madness might even win the game. Played it in a fundeck whith power conduit too bevore so, nope, that card is too crazy to be bad. hmm, the artefacts doesnt need to be tapped, so with tolarian academy.... by the way very cool list. 2 of the top 3 were expected from me (Juju Bouble and rakalite)

[@ericjohnson560]

Hankyu can be a powerful alt wincon in an Atraxa EDH with the amount of proliferating and doubling counters available to you in that kind of deck. Equip it to atraxa, load it with counters, tap for 21 lethal commander damage. Vibrating Sphere can be used very effectively in an aggressive Elesh Norn Deck. Cyclopean Snare + Paradox Engine, need I say more? (boomerang works with that too) And yeah, they all suck, but they're not all useless

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Eric Johnson Commander damage has to,be combat damage, unfortunately. And the rest sounds pretty Magical Christmas land to me!

[@ericjohnson560]

I actually didnt know that!!! lolol

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Eric Johnson Yeah I figured it out when trying to kill someone with Brion Stoutarm's activated ability and it not working. But it makes sense really, that would give an unfair edge to commanders who can just damage opponent with abilities.

[@ericjohnson560]

Nizzahon Magic true, it makes sense! You should make versions of your top ten vids but instead of looking at GPs and pro tours, look at EDH

[@NizzahonMagic]

+Eric Johnson I have! I have several lists on budget EDH cards.

[@reggietheanarchistrat8805]

Actually, I believe there is a worse cycle, The bending legends lands from legends do essentially nothing in all circumstance, Not just most