Top 10 Rotating Cards That Should Have Been Great (and why they weren't) | Mtg

Bloomburrow previews start in just a few days, but before we get there, it's time to cast one more spotlight on a batch of rotating cards! Today, we're eulogizing 10 cards that could have had a shot in standard, but never quite got there, and along the way, we'll talk about why.
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Top 10 Cards We'll Miss w/ PowrDragn: • Top 10 Rotating Cards ...
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[@SBMTG]

My wife loves my hair, so hush up and remember that it's weird to make comments about other people's appearance, especially considering this is a video about Magic: the Gathering

[@OneHandDan]

Scruffy wife guy solidarity - my wife loves my look as well

[@TheSmartestManonEarth]

I really appreciate this comment. I like how you look. You could tan, especially now that it's summer. That's what you need. But I'm a peice of s as far as taking care of myself yet somehow I look great. And my sweat tastes like strawberries. Ya know

[@bsmith8166]

I was totally gonna say something. You have preempted me and I will acknowledge that.

[@DamienRowley]

I have almost the exact same hair lol. My wife likes it, too.

[@TraphouseTCG]

Solidarity

[@notdylan561]

Junji being on the thumbnail breaks my heart. You were the chosen one!

[@jmbw4271]

in my experience Junji worked well enough as a sideboard piece for Dimir Tempo (as a pivot into midrange when facing aggro in Bo3) and i also love to see Junji in my Cormela, Glamour Thief brawl deck.

[@Platinum_Imp]

Storm the Festival was the main wincon in the deck I first hit mythic with, in Crimson Vow standard. Ill miss it

[@loremaster6828]

It's still played in mono green devotion in explorer/pioneer

[@aetherllama8398]

For me it was Broker's Ascendancy. Could have been great in a different standard.

[@AutkastKain]

Card is so cracked, how was it also so unplayable? I may never understand

[@Arvensa]

so many great sweepers and a wide selection of pinpoint removal to pick apart your board as you tried to play it out, especially if your 3-drop is not itself a body, or any Planeswalker you played and didn't immediately make a token with. Liliana could also snipe something out of your hand that you wanted to follow up your Ascendency with to have something for it after your early stuff got killed, if you weren't careful. And Ravenous Rats-like effects from the Beetle to the Curtains to Freebooter and Bats have been around to dismantle the most effective combinations. Also relevant that plenty of Wx creature decks want to play Thalia and fewer than three colours.

[@thefrizmeister3666]

I'm so glad you've added more of your rap song back to the beginning of the vid. I can't help but sing it every time I hear it. I luv it

[@lucafallon2789]

I wanna point out that it's like. Not Sheoldred's fault at all that Henrika is a four drop that dies to cut down and any 3 damage red spell. A 1/3 was never ever *ever* gonna do it

[@robotdeniro-csgo5986]

As someone that actually plays henrika, she neeever gets cut down or bolted. It's one of those things where people dont give her a shot because in theory she dies too easily, but in practice she comes into play on turn 4 the earliest, where all bolts and cut downs are already used on your earlier plays. The bigger problem is that she requires something to sac if you want to get her full value and well...a sac deck hasnt been playable in standard in ages. Thanks sunfall.

[@llongone2]

But, in the end, you can play Henrika if you wanna lose, or you can play Sheoldred if you wanna win.

[@Journeyman2585]

She saw a decent amount of play before Sheoldred came to standard.

[@bcw1nc865]

Sheoldred sympathizer detected.

[@nathanb7733]

Brilliant resto was held down by Farewell. I made several fun artifact/enchantment decks that worked, unless they had farewell. None of the banned cards this standard made games less fun than Farewell. Edit: Anvil also suffered from Farewell existing 😂. Played a vampire anvil deck that I loved, but Farewell would ruin too

[@boomerskoomers2]

I felt like oni cult anvil caught a major stray once meathook got banned. That extra damage and lifegain were pretty important

[@wafflebroz]

I loved anvil. I have a “week of anvil” series on my channel that looked at some anvil ideas in different colors. I would be interested if you like anything I made

[@liamallan5828]

Brilliant restoration got me to mythic so regularly, during its lifespan, faithful looting kept the health up and filled the yard, restoration of eiganjo ramped me as much as possible along with goldhound, and bitter reunion kept my hand relevant. Turn 5/6 I'd bring back portals, one with the multiverse, leveller, fleshgorger, mightstones, nahiris resolve and metamorphs and win.

[@worldwiderelaxation3928]

I played an anvil deck during RCQ season. Lost Caverns gave it some cool pieces such as Tarrians Journal and Red Ojer, but it struggled with the next 2 sets. Still a lot of fun though. I'll miss it.

[@Remdog44]

Love fleshtaker in edh. Gain life, gain scry, cheap sac outlet (kind of a backup sac outlet but good to have), cheap cost. It’s a lot of fun

[@Lilskeevs]

Love ya dev❤ thanks for constantly supplying amazing content my dudeski! This rotation is going to be SUCH a breath of fresh air, 3 years is truly longer than 2 isn’t it 😅😅

[@KinzuNight]

I played several decks with the Anvil during Standard. All of them were pretty decent to good. No deck right now is immune to having a bad matchup.

[@mealythenoob3940]

Sheolly made so many cards unplayable

[@iancavalari7286]

You’re by far my favorite MTG creator. Your content is dope and you are a genuine, cool ass dude.

[@TrophyGuide101]

I loved storm the festival. I played it in a g/b deck that ran the enchantment that created skeletons each turn that were X/1 where X is number of skeletons. Combined that with mana dorks and the artifact (nexus or something?) that made all creatures have changling. Also played Lolith so you could have a few dorks and skeletons, play storm, hit the nexus and Lolith, create 2 spiders and suddenly all my little dorks were 7/1 with trample. Won so many games out of nowhere with that deck.

[@Arvensa]

I love this and I probably would have tried to play that had I come back for a second go at Arena before Lolth was literally rotating in a few days (I would have really liked getting to play Lolth + Wandering Emperor midrange decks as well)

[@TrophyGuide101]

@@Arvensa yeah I really miss Lolith in standard, such a great planeswalker and those menace spiders were a nightmare to deal with so as much as I loved it I hated going up against her lol. I remember the changling effect backfired on me once, I had lethal next turn and plenty of blockers to survive until then but they swung at me with a creature that had text saying it couldn't be blocked by certain creatures (maybe walls?). Because my creatures were every creature type I couldn't block and died lol.

[@TrophyGuide101]

@@Arvensa was actually Baneslayer Angel that had protection from demons and dragons that stomped my changling deck. Fun times.

[@simonetozzi7912]

I would have liked to see Gloomshrieker along with Nowhere to Run in Standard. Gift of Fangs is an option too.

[@mjhenkel1984]

i love oni-cult anvil. so from the same set there was sokenzan smelter and dragonspark reactor, which go brrr with it.

[@justinspice3599]

Oh man Gloomshrieker saw so much play for me, ninjutsu to bounce it back, it was a cornerstone for my Abzan midrange that got me to mythic, the only thing that stopped me from playing it was when Kaya rotated

[@zeusalternative1270]

Ziatora's envoy seems like a good value card, can get at least one hit if you blitz it and if it keeps conecting you get more and more value. Sadly jund wasn't a very popular midrange deck and he was just expensive enough to see no play

[@skotosman]

I really enjoyed Jugan, man. I played it a lot immediately.

[@B__C__]

Oni-Cult Anvil was one of the very first cards that I put in my Commander Cube. Fleshtaker eventually made the cut too.

[@natahliazaring5291]

Anvil did pop off for a while. While I wouldn't say it was ever best deck, there was a definite period where it was tier 1 and probably only not more popular because of the aforementioned clicking on arena + the learning curve. And then the meathook ban happened and anvil was never the same. Both it and Storm are sorta weird mentions because both of them did see reasonable play in standard (though only for brief windows), and both of them have been big parts of the meta for larger formats as well. So both of them have gotten time in the sun, even if that time has faded.

[@dr.zoidberg8666]

Great video idea! I'm commenting before watching so maybe you say this one, but Tatsunari Toad Rider is the one I regret most not having its day in the sun.

[@AndreaDoesYoga]

Great insights, I expected more from these cards too! 🤔🃏

[@karolstopinski8350]

Anvil actually got a second life with ixalan and the value artifacts (tithing blade, mepthic draught) - won me a FNM. Rakdos control. I played it in a Jund shell with Vat of Rebirth. That was definitely a good card. If it ever gets a downshift to pauper... oh boy... that will be something :)

[@nooneofconsequence1251]

My cousin had a great Standard deck on Arena that revolved around Brilliant Restoration that worked very well for a while, but then people started playing a lot more graveyard hate. But it worked for a while. And Oni-Cult Anvil was ALL OVER THE PLACE on Arena when I was playing... but... that was mostly in Alchemy. It was very dominant. I know some alchemy cards made monored aggro and monoblack aggro even more omnipresent on Arena than they were in paper, maybe that's why, I dunno never play Standard in paper...

[@danielwilson8495]

Ash has so many very well performing anvil decks. You and her share a sacrifice muse. Check her decks out for the anvil solutions.

[@Sw0rDf1sH]

Yeah, have seen Ash put up great results with anvil. I think you need the right pilot for anvil decks to work really well.

[@calebscott148]

Anvil, gala greeters, and professional face breaker is the jund deck of my dreams that never was

[@icomment2226]

Oni-Cult Anvil is a 2nd tier deck in Standard. The key card for the Anvil is *Ojer Axonil Deepest Might* Oni-Cult Anvil is a fantastic deck.

[@Arrwmkr]

I use the battle Invasion of Tolvada to return to battlefield but the mono Dragon you show is also good as you can discard opponent's hand or return card to hand. I really like it and use it but as you say, it never gained popularity.

[@obadijahparks]

Anvil got played..... trust me. Some really loved it.

[@Ryuksgelus]

Storm the Festival!!! My issue with it, besides the whiffs, is that when there were plenty of great 5 drops in Golgari, there were no 3 drop. Then when I got 3 drops Binding and my 5 drops left standard. Then no 5 slot duos dropped that could end the game got printed set after set. The Gix Saga, Rhino, 5 mana Sheo, and Vorinclex have not been it.😂 The whiffs are just painful. I've got it off 4x before where my deck is thinned down to 19 cards and still hit no 4 or 5 drops I loaded the deck with. Blame arena on that. Forever.

[@rojogrande82]

I'm still riding Fleetfoot Dancer to mythic in a 'fair magic' Invasion of Alara pile. I'll be very sad at rotation

[@jackpalmer5067]

Great info ty for your time and imput. i'm an EHD player

[@Journeyman2585]

I'm curious ,why sk people still call it EDH? I don't play the format, but from what I've been told Commander was derived from EDH, but has different rules like number of cards and life total. Is that wrong?

[@Philly_Cheesesteak]

I'm so ready for rotation. Lately all I'm getting are decks with cards that are going to rotate. Bye Felicia!

[@iamfade8784]

Glad to see fleshtaker here, i used him and eventually made a bad 4+card infinite but he still had no evasion to win

[@jackpabich763]

I remember Storm of Festival being great in the mono green Wrenn+Cat car deck before last rotation. Anvil was also pretty solid. I remmber having a Naya deck with Angelfire Ignition & Fleetfoot Dancer but that didn't last too long unfortunately (It was in the SB)

[@justinbeck2899]

Storm just needed to reveal top 10 cards to be playable

[@51gunner]

I had the chance to play a really close game in paper against an Oni-Cult Anvil deck - the deck was sweet. Plenty of little trinkety plays like sacrificing blood tokens off Voldaren Epicure and so on. I can't remember his decklist but it was a heck of a close match; came down to me channeling a Sokenzan to push two more little geeks across the finish line. The deck was there. Was it good? Maybe? Was it super cool? Bet your deckbox it was cool.

[@kosmonaut5]

Love the explanations. Definitely helps understand why cards are considered good

[@CB-ke7eq]

The trick with Storm the Festival is to use green sorceries for ramp rather than mana dorks.

[@derekmccoy2799]

Icons on your desktop, cringe. Lol just kidding bud. Love your content keep up the good work!

[@AzazelReborn81]

I would have expected Hinata to be in the list. It was only “good” as long as we had magma opus in standard. I’ve always waited for something alone those lines to come up and be playable with Hinata at that level, but WotC decided to disappoint me once more. Anyway… I’m gonna miss Hinata.

[@ryanedwards7487]

Honestly, I have a Timeless / Modern Horizons 3 Oni Cult Anvil deck. 4 Drossclaw, 4 Oni Cult, 4 Cranial Ram, 4 Transmogrants, 4 Pteramanders, 4 Bloodtithe Harvesters with a few black return spells for good measure. The idea is that you can sacrifice Pteramanders early, and bring them back when you have mana to Adapt them. Then you can also sacrifice the Transmogrants over and over and over while using them as a 3/3 blocker if needed. Harvesters to kill big threats, bringing them back over and over to gain more and more blood tokens. To deal with 5/5s that are just a nightmare, I have black exile and Scorching Shot (Because Sheoldred needs to be banned forever next September).

[@denisskenderovic3707]

Oni Cult Anvil will forever have a special place in my heart because that's the first deck I ever played.

[@gregnoble4035]

I think it was the meat hook massacre ban that killed oni cult anvil. It was a sweeper and it gave the deck that last bit of reach it needed to end games.

[@forloveofthepage2361]

Uvenwald Oddity was a card I really wanted to work in a ramp deck. It buffs the mana dorks when it flips and hastes the big bois at the top of the curve. Problem was that it competed with reckless stormseeker for haste generation and then Shelly came out with 5 toughness and put the final nail in. Glorious Sunrise is a 1 of in so many of my green decks. Sometimes it's a super dead card or not worth 5 mana, but it is exactly the card you need when the Mexican standoff begins. Can you tell I'm a green mage?

[@danielstein8769]

Junji might not have been popular but he was an all star 2 or 3 for 1 everytime i put him in a deck on top of being a great must answer clock

[@thebarbecube317]

WADDUP DEV ITS WIZARDS! I'm hype for the bloomburrow critters

[@Hanmacx]

Junji the Midnight Sky I used it for Infinite Combos

[@michaelgriffith7033]

Fleshtaker is a scary looking card. Speaking of looks, you could rock a beard, sir.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Junji in my EDH Henzie deck does some heavy lifting. I love Blitzing Junji and than when it dies I draw a card and get something back #Love :P

[@simplydoz]

I tried so hard to get oni cult anvil to work. It was so close when map tokens and clue tokens became more popular. I made a grixis oni cult deck that would've take pro tour in 2007. But your right, it just doesn't work now.

[@Rodrigo-ly3pg]

Love your Intro

[@bsmith8166]

2:24 please dont take my flesh.

[@samsprague3158]

I’ve got a Oni Cult Anvil / Devilish Valet deck that’s still one of my fav decks I’ve ever brewed. Its not competitive but I’m 100% sure the card was.

[@jdeaconl]

When will we get Dev on with the Prof? 🤔

[@00110000]

My choice would be Spirit-Sister's Call. Such an abusable card, but I think it required too much setup and cost one too many mana to be competitive. Really fun in Brawl though.

[@StrykerLee]

Extended intro!

[@B__C__]

John Lennon once told me to not be a name-dropper.

[@Vonderbraffle]

Progress Tyrant plus High Noon is brutal though.

[@TheRusty]

Takeaway: Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a badly-designed card that not only stagnates a match in play but also the options in the metagame

[@DronVol]

Me and my friends playing paper brawl multiplayer were so tired to see Junji, this card shines when you have 3 players at the table.

[@JDPetersonFLA]

Man I really tried with jugan lol

[@Chaoslorden]

A Lot of cards never got out there properly just because they printed a bazillion new cards a week that was just better. Plus the three year standard that makes the best cards stick around later. I got a trove of cards in my binders that rotates now, that never got sleeved up and played even though they seemed good.

[@born2getbizy]

anvil was a legit deck pre meathook masacre ban. Losing that card killed the whole deck

[@leonfriedemann9151]

I was quite sad seeing 2 downsides to eternal witness on gloomshrieker. It has such a cool artwork but is just not good enough kinda😢

[@llongone2]

"Small-ball" cards life aristocats cards and Oni-Cult Anvil were useless because ramp was/has been so strong. "Oh, you ping me for one? I cast Atraxa (and you scoop. G.G.!)"

[@HubsiCube]

✅Stephen King mentioned

[@llongone2]

Sheoldred rendered a lot of 4/5-drops irrelevant. Oh...and it doesn't rotate, so more irrelevant cards will be released.

[@icomment2226]

Agree. Sheoldred the Apocalypse is too strong for Standard.

[@robnotwicz7002]

It always bothers me when there are a handful of cards in standard that pretty much block a wider of variety of decks from being viable just by virtue of their existence.

[@skotosman]

I always hated the brilliant restoration deck rofl.

[@AutkastKain]

I found it fun, but it was definitely repetitive, much like living end is in modern

[@leovalenzuela8368]

I will die by Kodama.

[@torbenschleichmann2602]

Anvil took me to mythic 🎉

[@DeathsjesterKMNP]

Dancer isn't a bad card. It just got overshadowed by cards that are more efficient or more powerful than they should be. Cards you mentioned like Sheoldred should not have been printed, and definitely should have been banned in Standard.

[@bobconway5958]

Dev, Henrika is a shadow of Rankle. Rankle has haste, is a 3/3 not 1/3 and can do all three, not choose one

[@icomment2226]

Henrika is not that bad in Standard. Of course, there are much better options for mono-black, but she is playable. *Henrika shines if you play VAMPIRES*

[@adamspencer5142]

If Jin was like a 7/7 with Trample it would have been good, just a 5/5 that duplicates and negates, it can't win the game alone, and you sort of need to build around it.

[@simonetozzi7912]

Concerning cards I think should have been great, I would have liked Chandra, Dressed to Kill to be more competitive in a mono red aggro/burn deck.

[@araaraaura1887]

Cards that should have been great: Many cards with MV 4+ Why they weren’t: WotC's obsession with having every game decided by turn 3

[@JetNAmplify]

Gloomshrieker is so sad. Why wont they let us get any card!

[@xXSamir44Xx]

This video just ignored pretty much everything about standard pre Dominaria United. Jin-Gitaxias was unplayable since he released. That had nothing to do with Atraxa or Etali. The main reason the NEO dragons barely saw play, at first, was Vanishing Verse. That's why Atsushi and Ao actually saw good results after rotation. And Anvil as number 1 is just weird. I remember it seeing play and success for months.

[@traplordhentaimaster1633]

Bruh right this list is fucking weird like a lot of these cards so heavy play back in the day and still see some ppl play them still.

[@SBMTG]

Anvil was never a real, tournament-level deck in the meta

[@TheSmartestManonEarth]

Oh yeah. That archeology metaohir is perfect cobsidering that designers make these perfect decks just wajting tk be found. Its crazy and sad ehen the perfect deck just isnt fouhnd

[@jackiespaceman]

Should have called this “ten cards that nobody bothered to make the deck”

[@skunkybudtoker9092]

19:00 Wizards Playtest? That's crazy talk.

[@philbuttler3427]

Wtf is the point of four same color pips if three color decks can play it

[@ES_DCSAVIOR101]

Sunfall needs banned.

[@skotosman]

Jin gitaxis should of been playable. Silly how it wasnt the best 7 drop.

[@xXSamir44Xx]

It was already unplayable as soon as it released. Way too slow and low impact for a 7 drop.

[@icomment2226]

Disagree. I have won many games with Junji the Midnight Sky by taking my opponent’s Atraxa (forcing it) from their graveyard. Junji is good. *Never disrespect a dragon* except for Young Red Dragon...that one is just bad 3/2 for 4-mana? *B-A-D*

[@Arrwmkr]

Mono red must die, it's too quick and therefore limited the creativity of other colours.

[@Kleshumara]

If they don’t ban Sunfall in Standard, it will continue to deform the meta around itself.

[@michaelmaniloff9297]

It's a fair card. Just don't overload the board...

[@JacobSmith-rh2sr]

Fleshtaker has been rotated for a year already

[@loremaster6828]

Nah midnight hunt is still standard legal

[@SBMTG]

The Innistrad sets are still standard legal. Wizards extended rotation by a year