Top 10 Classic Cards That No Longer See Play

[@kennydarmawan13]

A reminder that Serra Angel got power-crept by Baneslayer Angel. A keyword soup of a creature that swaps vigilance for first strike.

[@LordDarcia]

Serra Angel got crept out so hard, there’s cards that just make tokens of it.

[@troydenbrum2979]

mabey we will get a Serra planeswalker one day.@@LordDarcia

[@pogeman2345]

​@@troydenbrum2979There already is one.

[@schrottinator]

@@troydenbrum2979 Serra exists since 2019 with Modern Horizons.

[@frankcastle9691]

Serra angel was never a good card.

[@fgzgeimv8u]

Morphing was a lot better when combat damage used the stack. He could always hit for five and survive combat, was basically impossible to kill in combat.

[@dark_rit]

Yeah eventually they printed torchling, but that was red and red 5 drops have to do all the things to see play and the shroud was change the target of a spell. Thornling entered the picture and it just sucked, was unplayable in the context of shards of alara standard. Then aetherling just firmly powercrept morphling since it's a mana more for a 4/5 at base and blinking itself is far better protection than shroud and at least saw play with sphinx's revelation control decks.

[@fernandob2275]

💯 it would still be powerful today if it weren’t for damage leaving the stack :(

[@TopPigg]

I feel like Titania's song will come back around. Green is slowly getting incorporated into artifacts, and could work like a green March of Machines for beat down

[@Terrabyte13]

Yeah but theres lots of ways to animate artifacts without removing their abilities

[@TopPigg]

@@Terrabyte13 in green?

[@rhotonj1]

Honestly, I think it'd be a lot of fun in a "Living Weapon" deck.

[@trevorstandley1791]

Titania’s Song + Pitiless Plunderer give you infinite ETB and LTB triggers. Excellent combo if you combine it with blood artist like effects

[@MrSchwad]

Morphling's just the best y'all, it's not just "flying and hard to kill," it was the Big Blue Boy Scout. It did everything - stabilized you against aggro, flew over their blockers, exploited combat damage rules and abundant mana to brawl as a 5/5, and protected itself - all at the same time It's a much more fair card now thanks to damage rules, creatures getting better, and the significant mana investment you need to protect it, but at the time it was the platonic ideal of a control finisher because of how little your opponent could do to stop it, shy of wrathing the board or outclocking you

[@Metallicity]

I think Treetop Village (along with its fellow cycle members like Faerie Conclave and Ghitu Encampment) deserves a shoutout for staying relevant well into the start of Modern, before finally getting outclassed by too many other creature lands. Certainly more so than the second card from "The Deck" that players eventually decided wasn't worth running.

[@luciaphenn]

Psionic Blast sees play nowadays in Duel Commander. Dur to the rules, if you play a mono-blue commander like Octavia, it is a correct removal option

[@thepiratedoggo1996]

Serra Angel, Shivan Dragon, Terra Stomper and Nightmare are so engraved into my skull because they have been reprinted so many times in core sets and decks if you don't own at least 1 copy of each, your not a real magic player XD

[@Bubben246]

What about Mahamoti Djinn?

[@watchm4ker]

Terra Stomper's from Zendikar, so it's not "Classic" (Urza's Legacy and older)

[@LawrenceMiles1972]

A key thing to note about the Sedge Troll: in early Magic, you couldn't get a vanilla 3/3 creature for three mana. So three mana for a 3/3 *if* you were playing black-red seemed like a good deal, even without the regeneration. (Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous *now*...)

[@Merlewhitefire]

Titania's Song hoses artifact tokens something fierce, so that's fun. Especially given the popularity of treasure tokens.

[@Merlewhitefire]

Well, that's what I get for commenting while the entry is still playing, he said the same thing. Whoops.

[@jmiproductions8965]

I feel like Psionic Blast saw a little standard play when it was Time Shifted in Time Spiral, but I could be mistaken, it was a long time ago.

[@stigmaoftherose]

I knew specter would be on the list i just didn't expect it so soon.

[@Revyatheworldeater]

If you think about it... 2/2 with a fairly positive ability and evasion is on rate/good for 3 mana; but since it is random discard and on player damage it is just a bit too slow and not consistant enough. If you updated it to include the random discard as an ETB including the original effect or change the discard to attack instead of player damage it'd put it in a better spot (both might be broken).

[@Welverin]

@@Revyatheworldeater WotC realizing that Dark Ritual was broken and not printing that anymore really hurt hippy.

[@JO11190]

Hypnotic specter would see play in standard tbh

[@Necrotog82]

Power creep is a hell of a drug.

[@quantum_beeb]

Also note that Morphling was best/only good when damage went on the stack. Could pump the power to 5, put damage on the stack, then pump the toughness. It killed everything in the meta.

[@domenikhayek4426]

Damage on the stack was changed with the release of Magic2010. So Mogg Fanatic was nerfed than.

[@Atmapalazzo]

Good old magic 2010, complete with the "prophecy is an even worse set" rule update

[@syctheofsymphogear4290]

Well, we got the Enigma Juwell in the new Ixalan Set, so you can use it in ability Maters Deck like Tazrin or Super friends Decks, and you can prevent Opponents from killing it for just 1 mana per Opponent, so Superman could come back

[@AqueleGamer]

Tought Distortion DID see competitive play in Pioneer! It was a sideboard for combo decks against control decks to completely destroy their hand so you combo off the following turn. Back-breaking card

[@martinrosschou]

I expected Power Surge to be on this list. Back then I made a deck that used Mishra's factories to dump mana in to, to not die my self. It also had candelabra of tawnos, to beef up the factories. Even had Circle of Protection red and Earth Quake as synergy. Once the Power Surge hit the table, if the game wasn't already locked up, it quickly became locked up. Super janky deck, if we had the internet back then to hivemind it, perhaps it would have become a real strategy hehe. Got me through to top 8 in a local tournament, but power 9 and Juzam Djinn was just too fast and powerful for my janky deck, which also had Rukh Eggs in it lol, but only a heavy played Mox Sapphire as power.

[@SpitefulAZ]

Thanks for explaining what flying does.

[@wackywong]

I used to be able to kill my merfolk opponent with a turn one Eladamri's Vineyard. Every turn two mana burn.

[@wingdinggaster6737]

1:50 Hear me out Liquid metal coating/Torque Titanias song Instantly destroy enemy lands, much like with Karn

[@etiennepasini5548]

And lose friends if you are playing with them lol

[@wingdinggaster6737]

@@etiennepasini5548 friends? Who needs those when you have sworn mortal enemies?

[@emilackroyd1698]

Wouldn’t really work because Titania’s song works on your own artifacts, turning them into creatures with no abilities.

[@wingdinggaster6737]

@@emilackroyd1698 ah. Karn it is then

[@Morte_n]

Target nonland permanent - You should reread Torque. ;)

[@Mando0Melkor]

When morphling was a threat damage used the stack, só with enough mama he was basically a 5/6 creature.

[@HazmatSam]

There was another thing about older magic that made Drain Life really good in Necropotence decks: you didn't die immediately if you had less than one life; you only lost at the end of a phase where your life was below one. Meaning that you could use Necropotence and go to zero to dig for Drain Life and not die so long as you cast it in the same end phase. So even if Wizards went insane and reprinted Necropotence into contemporary formats, Drain Life and similar effects wouldn't be as good as they were in before 6th edition.

[@TheHive616]

Yay, you learned how to pronounce Necropotence! Officially the best MTG list channel as of today.

[@georgeneuman488]

No he didn't. NO ONE gets this right! It's ne-CRO-po-tence, like om-NI-po-tence. You don't say a god is omniPOtent, you say it's omNIpotent. Hence, neCROpotence. Jesus Christ, 30 years of this game and I'm the only person I've ever known who pronounces the stupid card correctly.

[@TheHive616]

@@georgeneuman488 sir, I hate to tell you... If you're the only person who pronounces it that way... You're not pronouncing it correctly. Just cause you wanna argue for the way you decided to pronounce it, doesn't mean you're right. The fact that you just admitted you're the only person who seems to feel that way kinda ruins the argument.

[@jameshonaker585]

Part of what made Hypnotic Specter so obnoxious was Dark Ritual, a card that defined a lot of black's early play patterns until it left Standard. A turn 1 Specter could turn a game into complete chaos if not instantly removed.

[@nickbianchini3967]

Hey Manalogs! Can you do a video relating to premodern?

[@TelvanniGuard]

Why was Serra Angel used over Mahamoti Djinn in "The Deck"? I'm guessing because the need to keep up mana to counter threats meant that you needed at least 8 mana and the vigilance was helpful if they got a threat on board?

[@MrSchwad]

1 less mana and Vigilance was way more relevant than coming with a Holy Strength stapled to it; they resisted and died to the same removal as each other, but Serra lets you stabilize against aggro a turn earlier and keep cracking for damage while still being a huge blocker. You don't need the extra power on Mahamoti when getting an extra turn out of Serra makes it as fast a clock (it starts attacking on turn 6, dealing 4 a turn, vs Mahamoti starts on turn 7 dealing 5 a turn, they both kill your opponent from 20 by turn 10)

[@deeterful]

Because the Djinn dies to Red Elemental Blast and Serra does not. REB was a major sideboard constituent back then.

[@GabAssbreaker]

​​@@MrSchwad Serra Angel + Moat is brutal if you dont have a quick response to any of them. Ive seen newer versions of "The Deck" playing that combo in OS 93/94.

[@jonbrewer297]

Psionic Blast is still played in EDH as a playable blue removal spell. Not the best, but there are so few blue removals (not counterspells) that it can be useful.

[@zonk61]

Serra Angel "attacks without blocking"? :O Please explain how that mechanic works xD

[@Alikaakui808]

Titania’s song still sees fringe cEDH play. Stax is not in a good place right now tho, so the archetype may just fall off entirely

[@chrisoprescu1411]

'vigilance allows for Serra Angel to attack without blocking' That doesn't make any sense. I think they meant to say that it can attack without tapping.

[@samb123078]

Hypnotic Spector would still be great if dark ritual was still legal in more formats. It basically forces you to play one mana removal.

[@MageSkeleton]

Titania's Song is an amazing enchantment in commander. Black Knight is a good addition for K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth commander decks, as it's a creature you can cast for literally four life. And it helps as a blocker. Mogg Fanatic is a combo piece.

[@doc1739]

Maybe this is my nostalgia speaking, but I feel like some of these could be downshifted to common for pauper and I would be completely ok with it.

[@gabbathehut3235]

None of these cards are good enough for pauper...

[@doc1739]

I didn't say they would be good. I said I would be ok if they were downshifted. Pay attention.@@gabbathehut3235

[@slowtrigger]

Most of these cards are still playable and even great on Premodern :)

[@qbertq1]

I thought Kird Ape might make the list.

[@deeterful]

For real.

[@thomaswood8405]

Good old blue justifying literally every mechanic in the game as long as you could frame it as a wizard doing it.

[@awesauce1]

Can you do cards that seem good on paper but suck in practice?

[@luizrafael7939]

Hey man, I know you probably won't read it but I have a suggestion to a video! How about making a video about creatures power level in MTG ? I mean trying to understand what a 1 power creature be - normal humans? 2 power creatures - skilled fighters and novice mages? 4 power creature - large beasts? Anyway, thanks if you read it and thanks even more if anyday this idea come out being a video!

[@dickdeoreo]

Huh?

[@luizrafael7939]

@@dickdeoreo I mean, is there a logic behind 1 power creatures? Is possible to sort all 1 power creatures in some kind of group? I always tend to think like this: 1 power creature = common folks, non skilled humanoids, simple creatures... As power increases, creatures tend to be more "magical" => simple lion = 2 power, questing beast = 4 power, Demons = 6 power. Oh man I am really trying to put in words what my though really is ... hahahhaa Thanks anyway

[@Grimlock1979]

I just played against a Hypnotic Specter yesterday.

[@Morte_n]

I love how you can see everyone explaining that certain cards are "still good!" but in a niche non-tournament format. Sorry but Commander is a format, yes and sees a lot of play but if it is a niche/fringe card there, doesn't mean it is still seeing play. It is like explaining that a friend plays it as a 1-off in a kitchen table round, wouldn't count that, would you? ;)

[@RaeBaeGamez]

So if I Mycosynth Lattice and then Titania's Song would that nuke everyone's lands since their lands are artifacts turned creatures but since they don't have CMC they'd be 0/0 and die? I'm well aware id be nuking myself too but that's fine if I run a lot of affinity for artifacts and improvise cards

[@stevengrimes371]

it was called type 2 back then not standard

[@TheMinskyTerrorist]

It's not really fair to compare any card to Orcish Bowmasters including most contemporary cards

[@fernandobanda5734]

They never compared any card to Bowmasters.

[@TheMinskyTerrorist]

@@fernandobanda5734 Hypnotic Specter

[@7Alberto7]

Amazing!!!!🎉❤

[@SpitefulAZ]

Which one is the shapeshifter? (Left or right in the art of morphling)

[@chazzanschutz6096]

Believe it or not rk Post answered that in an old issue of Inquest. (It's the one on the right.).

[@SpitefulAZ]

@@chazzanschutz6096 I always heard it was the one of the left because the left one has a tail‽

[@Morte_n]

Okay kids - Storytime! I'm going to give you some more information about those cards in a post-classic MtG and into Legacy back in the days off 00s-10s. ;) Hypnotic Specter saw some play during the early 00-10s in Mono Black Sui decks (sui is short for selfharmed d*h but KZbin censor and stuff). As stated a first round Hypnotic could end games easily and removal wasn't as strong as it is nowadays, Lightning Bolt saw play but mostly only in Burn decks (not even in Goblins) since red wasn't that much else played. Removal options were bad... Smother was premium removal to explain it. And since Specter was black most removal wouldn't be able to target it. So if you followed up a 1st turn Specter with a Hymn to Tourach most opponents had to concede because they had was useless. Morphling was a beast during combat on the stack and had a small resurgence during the Mono-U control decks phase as a finisher thanks to shroud/flying beeing really solid. I played it myself and got an alter by R.K. Post, maybe my favorite artist in MtG. Nothing else to add. Psionic Blast had a Blast during its reprint in Time Spiral. A mono-blue damage spell was just sooo weird but it gave blue removal. Mono blue creature decks (Delver) tried it a bit but didn't stick. White/Black Knight saw both play in mono W or B decks as beatdown stick and having the best removal protection in the game. Removal was either smother/terror or Swords to Plowshare/Path to Exile. As stated, Lightning Bolt as removal was niche, red was considered to be maybe the worst color! If you managed to give them a Jitte or Sword of Light/Shadow you had a nearly unbeatable creature (damage on the stack for first strike, counter on Jitte and then give the opposing creature -2/-2 before their damage). Last but not least: Most creatures were either white or black at that time until Tarmogoyf rang in an extinction event (you can't call it anything else really). Mogg Fanatic is a victim of damage on the stack beeing outruled. He else could block as a 2/1 and get rid of a LOT of stuff in the early game in Legacy at that time. You could block something and then throw the Mogg at for example Dark Confidant (a staple after its release in Legacy).

[@ricklawrence2515]

Power Sink used to be far more powerful when it could only be responded to by interrupts

[@ronaldwayne7092]

A note on The Deck: the opponent's creature removal should have been in the graveyard by the time Serra Angel hit as The Deck used Disrupting Scepter to make the opponent discard everything first.

[@deeterful]

This^^^

[@rlbarney2]

Have to disagree with Black Knight and White Knight. Both have a place in my Esper Knight deck. No reason to replace them with Malice and Grace as they too are in that deck.

[@Mirvana]

"Fanatical Firebrand is a powercrept version of Mog Fanatic" Yeah.... not even quite. Not having to tap Fanatic still makes it far far superior to being able to get in a turn1 attack from Haste. It's also funny to put it so high on "Cards that no longer see play" when it still sees play in Modern Goblin combo decks.

[@arsenicide3375]

Would mogg fanatic be playable if it had first strike?

[@JO11190]

Hypnotic specter would see play in standard right now if it was legal imho

[@ragerfrager]

Thought Distorsion was good in standard as a control mirror sideboard. Cannot be countered made it very good.

[@laytonjr6601]

Morfling is so much worse with combat damage not going on the stack. If you had the mana you could deal damage as a 5/1 and take damage as a 0/6 (even -1/7 or lower)

[@Aiviymatoc]

we arent even far off of a 5/5 flying vigilance shroud creature for 5 mana. so morphling is just terrible

[@Mischievous_Moth]

This makes me wonder if there is anyone who has a... deck of theseus. Like just taking the same deck from the very beginning of magic and swapping cards out as they rotate or become irrelevant while keeping the same general strategy throughout the years.

[@MrTrellheim]

As far as I know, Brian Weissman is still updating The Deck.

[@UraniumChef]

They must have Amnesia, they forgot that I’m him

[@7ItalianStallion]

Awesome video! Very informative. Classic magic was the best! New Serra Angel is a perfect example of how woke and agenda driven wizards of the coast has become.

[@TheCartajay]

Masticore used to be king RIP

[@mystereave314]

After so many videos of him pronouncing Necropotence wrong, it's now weird to hear him pronounce it correctly.

[@ClockworkEngineer]

White/Black Knight and Serra Angel would be staples in Standard.

[@hastat7322]

If you mean current standard (2024 MID/VOW to MKM) then I'd argue against it. The knights die to almost every popular removal spell in the format including Play with Fire. They'd be "kind of" neat in the Knights kindred deck from MOM, but that's a tier 2 deck at best. As for Serra Angel. 5 CMC is a lot of commitment for a creature without innate protection or ETB of any kind on current standard - her statline isn't that fire to justify it either. For 5 CMC you have Zurgo and Ojutai as a vastly superior payoff for control decks and we have Aurelia, the Law Above for Angel kindred decks. If you insist on playing a 5 drop on some mono-white midrange deck, then Ao, the Dawn Sky has the same keywords on top of a better statline AND extra abilities on top - and it's not like that's a great card on standard currently, by turn 5 or 6 your RDW / boros convoke opponents have already killed you twice or thrice, your dimir opponents are comboing off Conspiracy Unraveler, esper legends has a massive raffine hitting you for 7 in the air with ward AND plaza protecting it, domain already has Atraxa the Grand Unifier on the field, and azorius control is just using that turn to cast Memory Deluge with flashback and gaining massive card advantage since your angel represents such little danger; they're probably not even removing it next turn, maybe 3 turns later so their Incubator token gets an extra counter.

[@brucescott7016]

When did the Wiseman deck become "the deck"?

[@deeterful]

I have a book copy-writ in ‘96 that refers to his deck as “The Deck”.

[@Conan_the_Based]

I really hate the Amnesia artwork. Mark Poole did some real Hellraiser stuff there.

[@henlohenlo689]

gorilla shaman deathgrip gloom exorcist dread of night meltdown lightning mare vexing shusher stony silence sudden demise perish pacifism fanning the flames invulnerability story circle shattering pulse evincar's justice pyroclasm wall of earth helldozer wake of destruction dwarven miner dwarven blastminer orcish settlers evangelize ragavan, nimble pilferer i have a black/red/white deck that utilizes these cards out of them: wall of earth pyroclasm evincar's justice invulnerability wake of destruction helldozer evangelize fanning the flames shattering pulse sideboard is: exorcist deathgrip meltdown stony silence however i've considered using vexing shusher and lightning mare and ragavan in the sideboard to face against blue. but most blue good decks use powerful artifacts so my sideboard of artifact hate can suffice. but those other cards can turn the deck aggro on a whim. but we can only use 15 sideboard cards can't counter everything, have to pick.

[@henlohenlo689]

as dual lands i used rugged prairie, graven cairns, fetid heath, painted bluffs, and savage lands. 4 mountains for 24 total lands. this ensured i can always cast wake of destruction and helldozer and his abilities when i reach six or more mana. in my opinion black/red/ white is some of the best color hoser colors to use, and to use these colors well is good to capitalize on their strengths of color hosing. using all 3 colors opens the door wide of types of decks you can counter play against.

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

Can Psionic Blast deal 6 damage to you?

[@henke37]

Reminder that Greater Morphling is a card.

[@prestonandcats9745]

i want a mogg fanatic with first strike

[@ARtheDork]

Why don’t u show the original prints wtf?? Specter was in alpha why not show the alfpha print… very bad

[@fernandobanda5734]

Because the original prints are notoriously hard to read.

[@forgottenvalues3293]

Drain life has safed my ass too many times lol, cabal coffers as a combo it would kill opponents

[@ReederMG]

Top 10 Elves

[@hulud]

Why did you say Regenerate is complicated? It's not complicated in the slightest. If the the creature would die, it doesn't and becomes tapped. Easy.

[@matthewgallaway3675]

It doesn’t protect from sacrifice and it doesn’t protect from having 0 toughness but it’s not mentioned in the reminder text of Regenerate

[@deeterful]

Regenerate is an easy ability to understand in practice but the actual comp rule is a giant nightmare of complication. Just simpler to move on from it from a design perspective.

[@hulud]

@@deeterful Valid point, but having used Wrap in Vigor (Regenerate each creature you control) to save my board many times I personally enjoy Regenerate. And yes, I know many board wipes specifically say "Cannot be regenerated", but that's fine with me.

[@fernandobanda5734]

If the creature would be *destroyed*, it doesn't and it becomes tapped, *and you remove all damage from it and you remove it from combat*. If you couldn't accurately mention everything it did, then, yes, it has too much going on.

[@carneyartglass9099]

Why do people go on and on over mog fanatic being so good at first when ication javeliners is obviously better and similar from the same era

[@gabbathehut3235]

It's much worse cause it needs to tap...

[@carneyartglass9099]

@@gabbathehut3235 thanks sounds right!

[@PassengerOnTheMenu]

Mogg can attack and then sac for 1, doesn't need to tap, is a Goblin and is in the same color as burn. Javelineers were only used in some decks to handle specific 1 toughness threats and couldn't 2-for-1 as often as a Fanatic could with damage going on the stack.

[@gabbathehut3235]

Kird ape

[@MrCenturion13]

Jesus. Do you still play Magic? Titania's Song is the perfect answer in EDH for treasures and other tokens, as well as 0-casting cost artifact ramp. It should not be on this list at all. Go fish.

[@fernandobanda5734]

Literally mentioned in the video...

[@MrCenturion13]

@fernandobanda5734 : so why the hell is it still on a list of cards that no longer see play? Jesus, pay attention!

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@MrCenturion13 Maybe if you saw the video you'd find out 🤷‍♀️ Spoilers: It's because Commander is not a good measure of anything, but that justification is also why it's only #10.

[@corrymuth2997]

20 seconds in and 0 likes? You’ve fallen off

[@MrCenturion13]

"Attack without blocking " Really? Get a proofreader.