Ranking Every MTG Set for Limited (2020-present)

[@cdogwat3605]

I’ve heard so much hate about Thunder Junction limited, which hurts my heart because, as a 10 year magic player, I’m not even joking when I say it’s my favorite format, and some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing magic. I’m glad you were able to see past the lazy lore and see it for the draft and sealed gem that it is!

[@Alostrabbit]

I feel like it was ultimately a let down in terms of lasting impact as both a new plane and a solid thematic. Gameplay of course matters most, and I did find it to be quite fun to play, though I do really wish it offered more as a set when it came to the worldbuilding.

[@colecortright18]

I was surprised to see LOTR so low on the rankings, I loved that set and drafted it a good number of times. The ring temp mechanic and unique decks available made up for the color imbalance in my option. I once had a deck with two creatures and three Gandalf sanctions in it that got to seven wins, and that was an experience I will never forget!

[@corbinfowler3981]

Not fully agreeing with every take but amazing video overall keep up the good work bro!

[@jameshanus3813]

I remember drafting crimson bow ALL THE TIME on arena. Especially if you did the computer draft I could get like 6 of the white cleave removal commons, but even then there were so many bombs to deal with it wasn’t always enough

[@MagusFlorren]

New Capenna!!! I appreciate you pointing out that New Capenna had potential and a great art direction. I love that place and hope we go back.

[@rohacjustrohac3581]

my only outlaws draft was terrible experience since i just watched one guy bodied everyone with a Oko and a goldvein hydra...

[@daythenite5683]

Otj one of the worst draft sets ever don't listen to this guy

[@REPHIA]

Big agree with Kamigawa being the no. 1, I love that set so much and collect those full art basic lands to this day. I also agree with Lost Caverns of Ixalan being very nice, I've yet to try out Duskmourn as I kinda stopped drafting recently and no longer play Arena. Really didn't enjoy much of those Zendikar, Eldraine and Innistrad comeback sets, but All Will Be One was strangely intriguing for me with its fast pace gameplay as well as art direction.

[@kasplachproductions6198]

literally what was I thinking giving Capenna a 7/10 flavor it deserves a 5, MAYBE 6 (but I still want to go back there)

[@piershollott339]

It's easy to hate on Karlov Manor... everyone does, and sure it wasn't the greatest limited environment, but I have never understood people complaining about a murder mystery based on Ravnica, when original Ravnica was... a murder mystery. Honestly, I hope Wizards brings back Detectives and Investigate on another plane (Bloomburrow gets my vote, because who doesn't want to windmill slam a Mouse Detective), but I feel that is unlikely because of the amount of toxicity for MKM. We made it back to Kamigawa, so I guess anything is possible.

[@gunkfire1742]

As someone who almost exclusively plays limited for the past 7 years. This is a very good list. My only gripe is bloomburrow was the most linear set ever made and had essentially no unique deck construction which made me dislike it but outlaws and march were some of the most fun I've had doing limited. Great video 👍

[@daythenite5683]

Yeah bloomburrow was ass. Id rate mkm higher, its not good but id rather play it than stuff like bloomburrow crimson vow midnight hunt or new capenna. Also otj fucking sucks

[@gunkfire1742]

@@daythenite5683 I could understand if you didn't like the theme of otj but the actual playability of the limited scene was easily one of the best, I drafted that set so many times

[@Schwooly]

Dude, this video was awesome. Upload more often please!

[@GunLut]

Great video. Love this kind of top lists for my favourite format.

[@Mississippi_Jack]

MH2 limited is a modern classic. Say what you will about its impact on constructed, but the limited environment was tailored towards rewarding skillful and creative drafting. The cards were pretty much all surface level passable, with statlines and rates being pretty average for what they were. The key difference was that nearly every card in the set had some kind of synergy angle that elevated it from pack filler to role player in its given archetype. Decent removal became premium with keywords like affinity, madness, or affinity applied to them. Creatures went from average passible statlines to great synergy pieces and payoffs with mechanics like modular, token generation, madness/discard, or delerium. The set was also pretty balanced when it came to bombs. There were standout cards like Fury, Solitude, Chitterspitter, and Serra's Emissary, but none of them felt unbeatable in the way something like a Liliana Dreadhorde General is. There were also many build around bombs like Archon of Cruelty, Nettlecyst, and Murktide Regent, which would be excellent if you took the time to draft with them in mind. MH2 is overall an amazing limited experience, and I would highly recommend trying it if you get the chance.

[@ARJalow]

If you haven't played at least half a dozen Chalk Outline and/or Insidious Roots build around drafts in MKM, you haven't really explored the format. Get out of the misery of aggro decks. Come to the world of grind decks. It's M UCH more fun.

[@josephhatter3773]

If not for duskmourn being a banger, MKM would easily been my favorite set of the year

[@SrGundisalvus]

I remember being so disoriented (betrayed and dissapointed) the moment I realized that the enchantment remmoval I was about to play didn't work on "spirits" when playing against the selesnya enchantments archetype deck in standard a few years ago u_u

[@nachogames6562]

Thunder Junction was honestly and unexpectedly my favorite set of the year, mostly because of the limited format. I also really love a lot of the cards in commander. I was very pleasantly surprised.

[@thebigsquig]

tops for me are kamigawa, strixhaven, brothers war, DMU, and foundations

[@DuraheLL]

I truly believe the KEY to magic, is having it "semi-limited" When I draft I encourage players to keep "some" cards on their keep list. If they see a commander or card they love they can keep it to future drafts. And try and make do of them. At the end of every draft we have in our group, people can save up to 10 cards, change any old ones or keep the same 10 as you entered with. This way, you draft as usual (3 packs per player) and all. And still keep SOME level of control in what you are able to play. Many times you spot a cool card and want to play with it, but you're already locked in the draft and have picked your colors.

[@bladdnun3016]

Worst of both worlds. Half of the fun of limited is figuring out what to play. If you get to keep 10 cards, probably in one or two colors, you already know what you'll play.

[@AnonymousHuman-ku5wh]

DMU THAT LOW?? like wdym “everything was 5c soup” that format was one of the few that was still unsolved by the time the next set released.

[@josephhatter3773]

DMU is goat format for me as well

[@jackvogel701]

Thank you!

[@RodrigoPRS]

I came back to mtg on phyrexia: all will be one and have to say that Lost Caverns of Ixalan was the most fun set I've ever had. Absolutely loved it.

[@josephhatter3773]

LCI was a good fun format. It got a lot of slack from people in the community for being too aggro, mainly because of the multiple one drop fliers in the format. But it wasnt the sky is falling siren call some were making it out to be…. The mid to late games were still viable if you just accounted for the early aggri, which you shouldve been doing anyway

[@charlescarter7970]

I was not Hyped, AT ALL, for Duskmourn, but I had So so so much fun at the pre-con and in a few drafts I bought way more of it than I thought I would have.

[@erosabraham3480]

This guy - MKM is nauseatingly fast, #26! Also this guy - LCI is #4! 🙄 I mean, I think the issue is that he’s boiled everything into mechanics and flavor instead of also having things like gameplay or card quality

[@kasplachproductions6198]

LCI was never too fast for me. Maybe my sampling is an outlier, but I drafted it extensively enough that I feel confident in my ranking. Also, "mechanics" does mean "gameplay" for the purposes of my list: archetypes, color balance, strategic depth, individually fun cards, and the like, not just set-specific keywords.

[@davidmacarthur705]

12:15 fun fact they acknowledged that oddness, when they did Zendikar Rising they didn’t know that they were doing the D&D yet. The D&D set went from a core set to a D&D set later in the process

[@blackfirexvii17]

For me its gotta be strix at no 1. Ive been playing since 2011 and i havent played another set thats so beautifully crafted for limited.

[@gunnareastman6477]

The older Urza books are very good! There's a podcast that serves as audiobook for them, I listened to The Brothers War and Time Streams

[@gfisch72]

I’m playing in a chaos draft this weekend, any advice for which 3 sets to bring?

[@kasplachproductions6198]

If you're bringing just the three packs for yourself, just pick your personal favorites. In a full chaos draft pretty much anything goes, and even "bad" sets are unlikely to cause problems when they have other cards to interact with.

[@czairkolmoslink5952]

All Modern Horizen sets go into F tear.

[@jkcv_ncrew]

20:08 Honesty, if companions were a draft or limited only mechanic kinda like conspiracies from conspiracy then people would probably be more warm to the idea of rule 0ing them in commander or other non-tournament events

[@IHaveTearoutProblems-pc8sv]

No matter the reason putting ONE in bottom five is a crime

[@toastertubbo]

imo Beyond Death's only wrongdoing was being printed immediately after Throne of Eldraine

[@gustavosousa5246]

the only plain that can fight ixalan in terms of art is kaladesh, and i dont know who wins

[@kasplachproductions6198]

I'll go to bat for Ixalan but both are great. Definitely excited for the race set next year.

[@pugs4life241]

Duskmourn at 2 is painful, for me at least, it’s got the same problem that Murders at karlov manor and thunder junction have.

[@FluffySpikeM]

^This.

[@estebanmn6620]

Disagree, Foundations is an awesome set to draft, Dominaria is too low and Bloomburrow is too high. So many people have problems with that set

[@jeffherman6459]

Murders was a great limited format and be in the top 10% for sure. it was more about tempo then agro but hey what do I know not having lost a match in the format. Foundations is also top 10 easy. Unfinity should be near the bottom. LOTR should be in the bottom 50% as should outlaws. Mom is ok but not top 10. Lost caverns was completely unbalanced and lost its shine after week one, definitely not in the top 50%. I did not play brothers war much but was never impressed to the point of actively avoiding drafting it. Commander masters should be in the top 3. The only bad thing about it was the price. Why are you even measuring flavor for limited? It's completely irrelevant for limited.

[@BlackFresh1]

All of them have been B or less.

[@ramchi911]

algorithm sent me here, seen a cool video format, although absolutely garbage content. Why make an entire video just bashing wizards? I know that's the meta now but it makes viewers never want to sub.

[@josephhatter3773]

Algo sent me here too. That thumb is pure clickbait.

[@deadeyewolf777]

kamigawa at number 1 is definitly a bit of cope, the samurai were boring, reconfigure is barely usable, and way to ruin the setting of kamigawa with sci-fi nonsense if a sci-fi setting was wanted it should have been a new setting.

[@FluffySpikeM]

Direct sci-fi references and cheesy tropes always stick out like sore thumbs in Magic's flavor. They look derivative and jarring because of incredibly poor writing. How you could rate NeoKamigawa and especially Duskmourn so highly on flavor is beyond me.

[@bloxoblox]

Sci-fi has been in magic since mirrodin?

[@FluffySpikeM]

@@bloxoblox "Direct sci-fi references" =/= sci-fi elements. Sci-fi elements were there in Magic way before Mirrodin, in Urza's Saga at least. The difference is between quoting from other sci-fi works and trying to weave sci-fi elements into your own world-building organically. Magic has been doing the former almost exclusively in recent years.

[@bloxoblox]

@FluffySpikeM if you are Referencing Duskmourn, yes some of the card names and art are references but the actual Duskmourn lore is completely unique and flavorful. Valgavoth as a villain is absolutely brilliant and I am so happy to have a new string villain instead of having the same 3 big bads over and over. Yes, Karlov Manor and Thunder junction are pretty bad lore wise .. However Duskmourn is it's own unique entity that yes, pays homage to it's inspirations (let's not forget that pretty much any phyrexian set has tons of Lovecraft and h.g wells references) but it also has brought lots of new characters, new settings and new possible events for the lore. And despite how Goofy it looks, Aetherdrift seems so far to also have some lore being built up that's more in depth than say Thunder Junction. And if course, not to mention, so far, even edge of eternity's as it looks currently is barely even sci Fi. Sci-fi is Science Fiction, usually taking real world science and applying it to a possible fictional event. Think Three Body Problem or Blindsight. Magics "Sci-Fi is waaaay more "Space Opera" or Scifi-Fantasy like Star Wars, or The Dark Tower, all stuff that really has no Science behind it... Just technology which debatablely runs on magical properties. Not to mention, you seem to like DnD, and have the DND set symbol and DnD IN LORE also has many Sci-Fi fantasy settings and elements such as Spelljammer or the fact that there are some monsters that are quite literally Aliens, or that extra dimensional travel is even a thing at all.

[@FluffySpikeM]

@@bloxoblox "Sci-fi is Science Fiction" Thanks, Captain Obvious. You sound condescending explaining it like I'm five. Magic's use of sci-fi elements USED to be more along the lines of Star Wars, which is indeed not strictly sci-fi, like you say. THAT WAS MY POINT. It's not the case anymore. Both sci-fi and contemporary real world technology have been repeatedly put in without re-contextualizing, renaming or reimagining. Capenna had literal tommy guns and cars, Kamigawa had "the Network", "chips", "hacking" and "mechs". Duskmourn had Ghostbuster gear, photography, windbreakers and baseball. Atherdrift will have muscle cars. These are all so pushed for recognizability that wotc forgot to make them feel part of their own unique worlds. That's poor writing.

[@bloxoblox]

@FluffySpikeM Brother, Magic The Gathering exists in a universe with the built in lore of having possibly infinite planes within, all with infinite possibilities. How is it so incomprehensible to you that one plane is more technologically advantaged than another? Also, the muscle cars come from Duskmourn which before Valgavoth came was more similar to our day. Each team in Aetherdrift has different vehicles that match the technological level of the plane they come from. No lore is being broken, nothing is unflavorful there.

[@Marshalltroll]

I was with you until you said battles are a good card type... I think it's just way too complicated of a mechanic with too much going on for just 1 card. Yes, planeswalkers do something very simular, but they feel impactful because of them being signature characters. I still think that they could do something more interesting with the battle type, just leave the sieges out. Regardless, great video and I really enjoyed revisiting these limited enviroments. So much nostalgia!

[@MoogleSan]

clickbait

[@kasplachproductions6198]

Fun fact: the tier list in the thumbnail is just my (rough) ranking of the look of the set symbols