Top 10 Best Coin Flip Cards in MTG

When building their deck, players will usually try to make things as consistent as possible, and leave as little up to luck as they can. So, mechanics like flipping coins will be avoided at all costs. Despite this, some coin flip cards have actually seen a bit of competitive play, and they see tons of casual play. So today, we’re going over the best coin flipping cards in Magic.
Script by Pumkinswift
Editing by Lily
├ The List
Intro: (0:00)
10: Odds // Ends: (0:18)
9: Molten Birth: (2:05)
8: Boompile: (3:38)
7: Okaun and Zndrsplt: (5:07)
6: Yusri, Fortune’s Flame: (7:05)
5: Frenetic Efreet: (8:12)
4: Tavern Scoundrel: (9:38)
3: Krark’s Thumb: (10:57)
2: Ral Zarek: (12:32)
1: Krark, the Thumbless: (14:22)
#mtg #tcg #magicthegathering
(Just a note, we have people who actually know the game very well making the scripts for this channel. As the owner of the channel (Theduellogs/hirumaredx) is a total newbie to the game.)

[@CilantroGamer]

If I'm reading it correctly, Odds also should just function as a way to get around countermagic - if an opponent counters your spell, you can just Odds their counter. You either counter it, or copy their counter, which you can then use to counter it.

[@fernandobanda5734]

You're correct.

[@demonkingt]

He mentions that by saying there are some situations you get good use either way but aren't as common. But yes you are reading that correctly yay reverberate

[@Atmapalazzo]

Yeah that's what I mostly remember people doing with odds and ends.

[@thomasfplm]

I was going to say the same thing.

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

Yes, this was mainly how it was used, as Ends isn’t a good effect given that your opponent is the one who chooses the sacrificed creatures and that suck more than was represented here. Basically, a counterspell counterspell with flexibility. Used to be decent in the sideboard.

[@kennydarmawan13]

Regarding Krark, the Thumbless, his ability (alongside flavor text) actually references the flavor text of his Other Thumb seen in Unstable, the third un-set: Krark was the kind of goblin who’d lose his thumb in a wager and come right back with “Double or nothing!” Considering the ability is either a win more or lose more ability, you can tell he's just THAT daring.

[@Hanmacx]

I want a Krark that won the bet and now has 4+ thumbs xD

[@korrafey1044]

I want a legal version of the other thumb

[@hatredlord]

@@korrafey1044 We kinda have it. Pixie Guide. It's +1 die rather than twice the dice, so if you're doing copy shenanigans it's worse. But Krark's Other Thumb is legendary, so it would be harder to clone. It's "ignore the lowest" rather than "ignore any", though i don't think there are that many dice cards where you will WANT lower rolls. Mostly the Attractions, and maybe one or two more, right?

[@kennydarmawan13]

8:15 Fun fact about the Efreet, there's another card called Frenetic Sliver, which grants all Slivers a variation of the Efreet's ability. However, it's nerfed and worded to prevent infinite coin flip shenanigans.

[@lorenzotanzi9851]

Worth mentioning that Krark is ofter paired with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces, who etbs as a copy of krark without legend rule and doubles its payoff.

[@dyne313]

Thats my current favorite Commander deck.

[@szylaj]

krakr + sakashima + thumb + reverberate - cast spell - - bucket of coins materializes upon enemy -

[@abderianagelast7868]

As an avid fan of the Krark cEDH deck, I wanted to add a bit more context to the deck and why he's so powerful. Several older spells had a mechanic called Buyback that let you pay additional mana to return the spell to your hand after it resolved. A couple of the most popular ones are Capsize, which returns any permanent to its owner's hand including lands, and Reiterate, which copies any spell you want. If you can make enough mana to recur these, you're going to have some pretty powerful effects, though at 6 mana after paying the buyback cost they're both pretty steep. Players will often use Mizzix or other cost reducers to make this cost cheaper though. But what if you could get it for free? That's where Krark comes in. With two Krark triggers on the battlefield, you have a 50% chance of casting a spell and getting Buyback 0 stapled onto it. With three Krark triggers, that becomes a 75% chance, and with four Krark triggers you're looking at an 87.5% chance. And all of this is without factoring in Krark's Thumb, which just makes it far more likely that you'll be able to get both a Heads and Tails in the same set of flips. Generating mana for this deck is also very easy to do. Red has several rituals that generate more mana than they cost, so as long as you get both coin results you have infinite mana. Tavern Scoundrel averages out to one treasure per coin flip, and Storm-Kiln Artisan gives you a treasure on both casting and copying the spell. Even just casting Twiddle can net you mana with enough Krarks on the battlefield. You do still have to do the flips though, since it's nondeterministic and you could technically whiff, but there's an actual app that can handle most of the triggers for you.

[@devante81]

Could you toss the name of the app please? I’ve been dying to make a coin deck and it’d be a lifesaver.

[@abderianagelast7868]

@@devante81 Yeah, it's called Krarkulator. While it's mainly tuned for Krark flips and resolving the stack that way, you can always just ignore that part.

[@SomeGuy712x]

(6:41) Actually, Okaun will reach 24 power after winning just 3 coin flips. (A fourth coin flip win would bring it up to 48 power.)

[@Neo_Way]

Also the toughness will be increased at the same rate, making attacks that much safer.

[@7Alberto7]

Some AMAZING Ron Spencer cards in this video,so happy!!!!

[@TheChayxxx]

What a thing to show up in my feed just after i built Okaun and Zndrsplt

[@Evil_Chronic]

I like Fiery Gambit myself. Built a Seismic Assault deck in the early 2000s. Was mostly lands with cards like Breaking Point, Browbeat (targeting myself ofc), Fiery Gambit, Dingus Egg, and Burning Sands. Fiery Gambit with Krark’s Thumb was one of the biggest win conditions. Drawing 9 cards and untapping usually meant the opponent was dead. Especially if you drew 9 lands. I used to play the deck with 4 or more players and used to wipe everyone really fast, lol. Breaking Point was a really evil card. The most standout moment for that card was in a 6 player game. We were on like turn 6 or 7, and everyone had a huge board. I cast Breaking Point, my friend was like “I’ll take the 6 damage”. “Ok, I cast Breaking Point again”. Everyone was at 6 or less at this point. I had Dingus and Burning Sands out. Everyone but me died, lol. Was so great.

[@thecheaterkid]

The whole video I was thinking Mana Crypt would be #1

[@Hunted0LessShirt]

Me too, thank goodness it was mentioned at the end. Understandably not included since yes, it's so broken in the least interesting way but I'd push back against not really feeling like a coin-flip card. The most I've seen it has been in the Vintage Cube on mtgo where plenty of games are won and lost based on the side of the coin.

[@ladygeneveve3805]

Odds is also really good against counterspells since you can either counter the counterspell or copy the counterspell to counter the counterspell, at least as long as it's not bones to ashes.

[@kennydarmawan13]

14:19 Gotta love the tone change there.

[@jesterking42]

My favorite coin flip card is Rakdos, The Showstopper. He too inconsistent to make the list, but a super fun commander nonetheless. Krark's Thumb puts in work! It's my most tutored card. Great vid as always.

[@fwg1994]

Krark is also just kind of good at base in commander. On average, he essentially doubles the cost and effect of all your spells. While doubling the cost of a spell can be a real cost in high efficiency formats, commander is a format that tends to favor raw power over efficiency.

[@Nurriek]

Odds is best used targeting a counter of some variety. Either you counter their counter, or you copy their counter and choose a target for it.

[@superbaas8822]

The actual best case of odds is when a person is casting a counterspell. Either result is effectively identical, as copying a counterspell allows you to aim it at the original (assuming the original can counter instants and sorceries, which most can.)

[@darianleyer5777]

For alternative options to number eight, you forgot Nevinyrral's Disk.

[@dyne313]

My favorite Commander deck is Krark partnered with Sakashima. Copying a kicked Rite of Replication, creating an endless army of Krarks is just fun!

[@user-ii8tu5vv2n]

Interesting theme, but mana crypt is broken I think, at least in commander. Yusri is great, never saw that card before, but I love it. I love randomness! P.S. I would like to request a video about d20 roll cards! Thank you for your videos!

[@Tazer430641]

I'd recommend looking into Mr. House, President and CEO as a commander and just laughing hysterically as what was a functionally weak mechanic now nets you a treasure and a 3/3 token with every spell! :)

[@aegisofhonor]

Odds will always counter a hard counterspell as you can either counter it outright or copy the counter to target the counterspell.

[@munchrai6396]

At first, I thought Krark was reciprocal, which would've been absolutely insane. Imagine if both players had to flip coins to do anything in a game. It would be super cool. The coin flipping support in Magic feels a lot stronger than in Yugioh, but also way more consistent than Pokemon. I don't know why the reflippers in Pokemon only work on attacks but seeing this much facilitation for such a unique mechanic is really fun. Having an alternate win condition is even better

[@pacoestevez8780]

Odds works against counterspells. You either cancel or copy them.

[@Neo_Way]

While the Eyes do work really well in commander, I think it's safe to say they were meant for Battlebond draft first and commander second. Yes, the partner mechanic does work in commander as you'd expect, but both being 5 mana means you're not likely to cast both yourself during the same turn. It does mean, however, that if either you or your teammate managed to play their creature on curve, the other would be guaranteed to find theirs as well, making the most of the combat step triggers (especially if either one already has a haste enabler on board).

[@MajraMangetsu]

I love Yusri, he's hella cool.

[@47Mortuus]

Regarding Odds: It counters other counterspells regardless of the outcome.

[@kennydarmawan13]

Do Top 10 Universes Beyond Cards next soon. Or a commentary regarding it.

[@themissocki6687]

Surprised mirror March isn’t on here. Only because it’s absolutely ridiculous if you get lucky.

[@kennydarmawan13]

9:40 Fun fact: Tavern Scoundrel was based on Tavern Swindler, which is just for life gain. Not as impressive.

[@Alex-xk5xt]

cool video! but how is mana crypt not #1?

[@lunar1157]

The risk/reward for winning or losing a flip is greater on the other cards. For mana crypt, winning or losing the flip won’t really matter much (especially in commander).

[@fernandobanda5734]

This was addressed at the end of the video...

[@breawycker]

It doesn't fit into the spirit of coin flip cards because the coin flip doesn't really matter

[@richardsimmons6785]

I love getting mana clash in my Torbran deck every time they get tails they take 3 damage but when ever I get tails it's only one damage it's easy to do 9 or more damage for one red mana

[@DieFrauAmHerd]

Correction: Okaun and Zndrsplit were designed for Two-Headed Giant. Thats why the partner with mechanic states : Target player may put the other card into their hand. You were supposed to play the one card while the other played the other one.

[@simianurchin7630]

Actually odds is a great counter spell because if you use it to counter another spell either Odds will straight up counter it or it’ll copy their counter spell which then you can use to counter their spell so either way it wins in counter war. It’s a counter wars counterspell

[@enmanuelperez7564]

Yes

[@grantskolos4128]

during ravnica standard I had a Greater Gargadon suspended and my opponent was tapped out when I cast Stitch in Time getting an extra turn so I could sac most of my permanents to get the greater gargadon and swing for 12 with it and another creature twice to win

[@conkyjoe8932]

Mannnnn...reading your comment REALLY took me back, friend. I started PLAYING playing MTG (like actually playing, and not just buying the random pack here n' there to look at the cards' artworks lol) RIGHT before Ravnica was announced. My first pre-release WAS Ravnica (pulled a Dark Confidant...traded it because I, "thought he sucked, why is this a RARE???...smdh lol). Ravnica - Time Spiral - Lorwyn will always hold special memories for me, especially Time Spiral (loved TSP Block Constructed). I long for the days when Magic was still THAT game...and not THIS game, that we have today. It's still "good", but Magic back then was EXCEPTIONALLY good.

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

Mana crypt is #1

[@stevenrhodes8338]

Yea you find that out If you watch the video not read your post

[@jacobyspurnger8488]

@@stevenrhodes8338 it was a guess before even watching the video.

[@masterargus7858]

Didn't even make the list. Major oversight there.

[@jeezuhskriste5759]

@@masterargus7858 Not an oversight, it was a conscious decision. He brings it up at the end, giving the reasoning that “it doesn’t really feel like a coin flip card.”

[@williamdrum9899]

Only technically.

[@KaiMacros]

What would you say would be the best cards that use the D20?

[@melvinshine9841]

I know jack about Magic, but I'll suggest a Top 10 Dice Roll cards. If Magic doesn't have a ton of dice roll cards, I'll be shocked.

[@connorhamilton5707]

Dice-rolling wasn't a mechanic in eternal Magic until the D&D: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set, which released in July 2021. Since then, there have been over 75 cards that roll dice themselves, and then there are also cards that care about dice being rolled or manipulate dice rolls, plus there are the cards that open attractions which are a mechanic that inherently rolls a six-sided die. If you include acorn cards, there are over 125 cards that roll dice themselves. So there are enough for a top 10, but I don't think most saw competitive play outside of draft and standard. The most notable is probably Delina, Wild Mage, which could go effectively infinite with Pixie Guide. If you made enough copies of Pixie Guide, your chance of not rolling high enough to make another Pixie Guide would get so low that you could get stuck in the declare attackers step constantly rolling more and more dice and taking the highest each time (since it's a random event, you can't shortcut it). This led to Delina getting an errata to say "15-20 | Create one of those tokens. You may roll again" so that you could manually stop the loop and continue combat.

[@ninjatoaster924]

Cant Odds be used to copy a counter spell, and then redirected at a counter spell if it copys it?

[@dariusrobotson6872]

I ran an Izzet deck that ran Eye of the Storm and Stitch in Time. Getting to flip like 3 or 4 times a turn for Stitch pretty much made it unstoppable. Plus all the other spells under Eye of the Storm.

[@drgan4568]

Couldn’t you use odds to copy itself if it lands on copy, so you can garentee you get a counterspell?

[@shadewrecker9683]

poor mirror march, i like that one

[@Bongus_Bubogus]

Slap lifelink on Yusri (*glances at Basilisk Collar*) and there is no costs to gamble for the Omniscience.

[@OneOfThePetes]

Mirrormarch!

[@yeahboi3550]

You didn't mention Krarks interaction with cards like cascade and possibility storm allowing him to control out games

[@phyrexian_dude4645]

I remember a commander game i played where this guy managed to pillowfort his way to have Raz Zarek ultimate... and failed every throw... it was the most hilarious tragedy of the day.

[@carter3329]

Why is Izzet the coin flip color pair? I feel like Rakdos is a better fit

[@jaykorner1391]

Btw for Odds, it’s a free counterspell. You just copy their counterspell

[@randomguy6680]

You can give Krark back his thumb but not his other thumb as it is illegal Poor Krark.

[@ethanhopper2467]

9:23 I don’t think “small amounts of play” is really accurate. Frenetic Efreet was considered the best creature in the game at the time, since any removal you tried to use on it had a 50% chance of doing nothing. Probably deserves to be higher on the list imo.

[@Xenagos]

Wild to not put mana crypt on here

[@Bad_Gazpacho]

Mana Crypt got snubbed hard.

[@MajraMangetsu]

I have a commander deck with Okaun and Zndrslpt.

[@sacdesable7971]

Secret lair's one ?

[@MajraMangetsu]

@@sacdesable7971 No. I don't have that much money lmao.

[@sacdesable7971]

@@MajraMangetsu how shit xD Yours is that much budget ? X)

[@JayceAndMarco]

YEAH KRARK AT THE TOP BABY LFG

[@PipebombMTG]

what about mana crypt?

[@Interesting_Failure]

Ah, Frenetic Efreet, the "This effect is not once per turn" of Magic.

[@Nick-jz9yz]

Has anyone ever told you that you sound like the WoW KZbinr hiru

[@casabaixo]

Honorable mention: Frenetic Sliver

[@sacdesable7971]

Is this a special video for the secret lair that just start arriving?

[@faustobondt6231]

You already have it?? They said they would start shipping the 14th

[@sacdesable7971]

@@faustobondt6231 no still waiting TT But i've saw a screenshot of a mail saying they start shipping one 24th last month :/ So I don't even fuckin know what is going one TT

[@faustobondt6231]

@@sacdesable7971 they send a new one again saying they would ship the 14th of this month

[@dood5426]

Mirror March?

[@ofskittlez]

Wait, you can't cast both halves of a split card?

[@Neo_Way]

Only if the card has the Fuse keyword underneath it. If it doesn't, that means you have to choose either side to cast.

[@ofskittlez]

@@Neo_Way Ah good to know.

[@majordakka5743]

So do coin flip cards suck in MTG like they do in Yugioh?

[@TheyCallHimPogo]

Aside from Mana Crypt, yes. It's a popular EDH theme though.

[@shnorkeythefourth4572]

Only if you’re not skilled enough to rig it

[@TheyCallHimPogo]

@@shnorkeythefourth4572 i wish KZbin had a laugh react for comments like this!!

[@mwamaw8125]

I think you forgot mana crypt ;)

[@benjamingrove47]

Gotta make a 10 Best Coin Flip Cards for Pokemon too - there are tons of them lol

[@antonsackley5514]

Umm.... Mana Crypt?

[@kingofcubes]

Where Mirror March?

[@jeffbrownstain]

It's so weird how old mtg has the best AND worst cards ever printed.

[@lordsnom5287]

First

[@EvGamerBETA]

Ral zarek: doesn't really flips coins. A flip coin card Mana Crypt: flips coins every upkeep. Not a flip coin card

[@marcm-r6200]

Pokemon cards are meant for this, MTG was trolling Nintendo

[@lloydlineske2642]

You left out the turn 1 win damage coin flip card! Lol it's trash I know

[@ChaosFonja]

how could you of not even mention game of chaos? 3 red chose a player flip a coin loser losses 1 life loser can pick go again double or nothing. possibly turn the game into nothing but a coin toss. hysterical, especially if you copy it for each opponent at the table

[@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy]

Yeah, I call BS on Mana Crypt "not counting". It literally sees play in every format that it's legal in. Hell, your own logic doesn't even make sense because you included Ral Zarek despite you specifically noting that you can't pull off his Ult consistently, so plenty of games won't even see him causing a single coin flip. Meanwhile, Mana Crypt's coin flip is mandatory, so unless there's some shenanigans... coin flip WILL happen. Totally inconsistent.

[@TheyCallHimPogo]

This is the same person that said Dredge was a triggered ability.

[@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy]

@@TheyCallHimPogo True. The exclusion really feels like an, "I don't know why this is good so I'm not going to include it" sort of situation. I would think for anyone that knows even a small amount about MTG would understand why Mana Crypt is so good, but... like you said, they also weren't aware that Dredge is a static replacement ability.

[@lazargodragonborn5058]

@@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy you missed the statement of "and it would be boring to talk about". I have to say though I agree with it counting as 1 the coin flip hardly ever matters and 2 the card's just another rock that provides colorless mana so what is there to talk about? You can say everything about the card in a couple sentences and it's not a fun card to talk about.

[@TheyCallHimPogo]

@@The1AndOnlyGoldenboy I feel that way too. Almost like they google Top 10 (Insert Subject) in MTG and then just rank them according to preference. Nothing wrong with that in the long run but veteran players will notice staple exclusions and awkward inclusions.

[@nickybeingnicky]

Is a coin flip a dice roll? As it is essentially a D2????