Top 10 Worst Cards From The Earliest Sets of Magic

[@raptorwithwings]

I know TheManaLogs loves video suggestions, and usually unique and weird ones to talk about new things. Here’s a few i think are strange enough to be interesting. Top 10 Worst Spells that use Phyrexian Mana as a Cast or Ability cost Top 10 Best/Worst Cards that give your other cards keyword abilities (like your Sorceries have Flash or Your Goblins have Haste) Top 10 Best Group Hug cards Top 10 Best Spells with X in its cost Top 10 Worst Cards that let you cast spells or summon your creatures without paying for them

[@braveherogreenleaf6256]

10 worst cards from lord of the rings, but it's just the ones people won't shut the hell up about and the ones no one who actually plays the game can afford to play. #1, the one ring, no one will ever have it, and if you meet someone that does, they either don't play at all, or have a legendary jodah whale deck with that in it.

[@mazder360]

Animate Wall's art is hilarious. Looks like a realistic Thwomp

[@bigpappasmoggie]

"Even if you want to play a weird blue burn deck" I feel called out.

[@hggfhh4449]

What if you used flashfire which is a sourcery that destroys all plains with magical hack? Then you can destroy whatever land types you want? Would be 5 manna tho.

[@noahhobson4521]

I do remember there was a creature that had the ability; This creature can not be blocked by creatures with flying. If you gave it flying, trivial even back then, it was unblockable unless you had a creature with reach. And there weren't many of them.

[@Griever49]

I would love to see a top 10 best/worst tribal lords considering how often tribal strategies are relevant there's just so many lords out there

[@jeremyh4015]

tell me you never played magic in the nineties without telling me you never played magic in the nineties

[@marcellachine5718]

Yep, my thoughts too.

[@thetimebinder]

Exactly.

[@PaulHerbig]

Same....he's comparing the cards to ones that came 20 years later to say how bad they are. Also, why is he not using the Alpha card versions. Such an odd video.

[@teagledabeagle]

I love how people complain that the cards aren't "the alpha version." My brother its the sane card it just looks a little different. The video is still valid💀

[@PaulHerbig]

@@teagledabeagle It gives the impression that the cards are contemporaries. It's like showing a flintlock crafted in the fashion of a glock and wondering why anyone would have ever chosen the flintlock.

[@michaellee4276]

Magical Hack as the worst card in Alpha-Unlimited is insane. It doesn't belong in the worst ten. The video literally shows game-changing two-card combos better than anything most of the other cards can do. The sets Hack was used with were full of land specific effects and landwalk, so there was a decent chance of it being useful even without your combos (kill a Nightmare or Pirate ship, or if your opponent plays Tsunami, they just gave you your game-winning combo) More narrow than Laces? What?! They aren't Sleight of Mind.

[@muddlewait8844]

This!!!

[@Nidair]

As you can see from the comparisons to newer options, these terrible cards aren't judged on how they used to play, but how they function today. If we would grade on 1995 standards, Celestial Prism would be an alright card since good mana fixing was rare and exclusive to green. Nowadays nobody plays Nightmare or Tsunami because of the numerous better alternatives that aren't dependent on your opponent's strategy.

[@michaellee4276]

@@Nidair Celestial Prism was never "alright". Magical Hack is no longer good as a verstile almost-a-counter spell or anti-creature magic, which it once was. But there are plenty of combos with your own cards in constructed decks. Hacking Lord of Atlantis (or Goblin King) to make your entire tribe unblockable (and +1/+1) makes it a not bad card, in itself. And Lord of Atlantis Top Eighted in Vintage as recent as 2021. Land based keywords aren't frequent anymore, but they do exist. Making them virtually universal is powerful. If your criteria is that no one would use it in a current Vintage or Legacy tournament, you are ruling-out 99.9% of all magic cards and almost all of Alpha and this list would be a 260 way tie.

[@Nidair]

@@michaellee4276 Nobody used Magical Hack in 2021 because it's garbage. And you don't seem to get what this channel is about. Hack isn't a viable card in any format, not even Commander.

[@michaellee4276]

@@Nidair That applies to 90% of Alpha at least and 90% of all Magic cards.

[@aegisofhonor]

the lace cards are not always bad. Deathlace is even today part of a combo deck in legacy and vintage, and famously at a Pro Tour back in 1999, a player used Lifelace to prevent his creature to dying to Anarchy, to then be issued a game lose the next game for drawing 4 cards off of brainstorm to due fatigue.

[@Utubesuxmycock]

Hahahaha thats great. I love old school stories

[@rubyseverinwhitworth9066]

The face on Animate Wall though

[@CapRock9900]

7:10 Absolutely Iconic art.

[@LopsidedMoz]

@@SwagLord420Pi Rouse is my favourite bad art card

[@kennydarmawan13]

Now do worst cards from Arabian Nights to Fallen Empires.

[@dasgepunktet2426]

Wouldn't that just turn into a card by card break down of Fallen Empires?

[@Prince_Eva_Huepow]

Sharahzad

[@Utubesuxmycock]

​@@dasgepunktet2426 hahahaha

[@Chidon0]

@@dasgepunktet2426 theres 3 good cards in the whole set

[@McD_James]

Ancestral Mask sees regular play in Pauper Bogles and is fairly expensive for a card that's been printed at common.

[@pizzaspy]

If you played during the early sets, magical hack was one of the cards that really sparked the imagination. The idea of messing with a word on a card using another card was very novel and fun at the time, and the mindset was having fun making weird things work and not min maxing

[@rogerfew2493]

It also made Lifeforce into a complete BOMB in green, especially if your opponent was playing a mono color deck.

[@thetimebinder]

"Worse cards in Alpha" promptly lists multiple staples of early Magic. You simply can't compare bad Alpha cards with 2023 strictly better versions. You have to compare Alpha cards to Alpha cards. Aspect of the Wolf got dropped on Wolley Mammoth a lot. The only good direct kill cards in Alpha were Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares and Terror. "Dies to removal" wasn't a thing in 1994.

[@lissythearchitect]

Fireball and Disintegrate were pretty good, too, though Lightning Bolt, Terror, and Swords to Plowshares were the top 3.

[@dadrising6464]

Which os why +0/+2 for all untapped crearures wasnt all that bad.

[@Ukobarrywawa]

Magical Hack is a staple in Dandan/Forgetful Fish. It's a niche format, but still a useful card because of it

[@deathbean1]

6:49 Prophetic Prism 100% has seen play a lot of play actually it's banned in Pauper along with a bunch of other cards because of how busted Affinity was

[@Calico365]

I was surprised to see Magical Hack on here! Obviously it's super narrow but i remember pulling out these Fifth Edition pre-made decks that my parents once had, and I played a game against them with it. I had some white and red deck, and i was versing a blue and black deck. I played Karma, the one that damages each player at their upkeep for each swamp they have, but then they used Magical Hack to change the land type into Plains instead! What a weird game compared to how commander and modern plays nowadays!

[@devononair]

This was a strange watch because you showed 7th/8th edition versions of the cards. It kind of sucked me out of the world of Alpha/Beta.

[@greenchainlumper]

I also watch top 10 lists for the immersion

[@mediocrepixels9095]

The world of driving to work is a particular favorite of mine. The lore is just so good

[@apoena-allnitemusic7203]

He does it always. He hates old frame I guess. So annoying

[@fernandobanda5734]

Alpha cards have notorious problems with readability and outdated text. Picking a more recent version is completely understandable.

[@SalmiakkiAficionado]

I agree. I like TheManaLogs videos, but sometimes he chooses questionable card versions to present the cards.

[@metalblizzard6024]

Hard as it would be, can you make a "most pushed" list with cards that show power creep in their hostoric context?

[@Galactis]

When it comes to Alpha, you have to keep an Alpha mindset…you can’t say it’s a bad card by comparing it to a newer card because overall power level of the cards in the game have risen to crazy levels compared to Alpha. Take Aspect of Wolf for example…yeah there are better enchantments now, but back in Alpha all there were was basic lands..

[@Evertide05]

Point is agreed with, but I think he did a decent job of keeping "hindsight is always 20/20" in mind and explaining how these cards weren't good even by the standards of the time, not that it might have been as obvious back then as it is now. I speak as not a professional player, just a fan of the channel.

[@svenornitier]

Hey Manalogs! Have you considered exploring the lore aspect of MTG? Like "top 10 MTG protagonists" or something along those lines? I want to know what you think about its lore aspects.

[@nharviala]

I feel like Gaea's Leige has a cute place in Commander, at least, interrupting multi-colored mana bases. It has great potential in the format where land removal is generally frowned upon.

[@Neelo5000]

True, but then again a lot of bad cards are able to find their way into Commander decks.

[@GarmrKiDar]

How can Animate Wall be on a 'worst cards' list, when its art is that good?

[@danielporten8687]

Magical Hack is a Dandân all-star, at least.

[@jameswinslow8540]

I love the art for these old cards, I wish they could buff the stats to do the art justice.

[@newsuperstevebros]

Gaea's Liege was my main win con while playing the green deck in Shandalar, the magic PC game from the 90s lmao

[@jettblade]

I have never caught this before but in Animate Wall the wall has a little face, hands, and feet. Seriously have seen this art for a few years and never caught it. I like those little details.

[@casabaixo]

>video about >only< alpha cards >refuses to use original printings

[@N12015]

To hear a 2 mana +2|+2 is terrible really puts into perspective how easy it is to remove creatures in Magic. That spell in LoR is considered the white equivalent's best feature alongside their hability of attacking multiple times, and it only lasts 1 turn; is instant though which means it cannot be interrupted, BUT STILL.

[@TheCubicalGuy]

Prophetic Prism is banned in pauper btw.

[@Guru4hire]

In commander there will almost always be something you can hose with magical hack. Fetchlands, green cards that care about forests, walk types, sword of whatever cards and anything else with protection from colors, black removal spells. Something will come up.

[@mischacarlberg6631]

I would argue that Magical Hack is a lot better than most cards on these list simply because it synergizes with Orvar, the All-Form. Copying a permanent for one blue is basically what the deck revolves around

[@dark_rit]

Yeah, like in no universe can farmstead be useful. I remember when I first saw the card and thought wow, this is so bad. I like the art, but it's so bad.

[@davidlundquist1979]

I'm surprised Personal Incarnation didn't make an appearance. Yeah, a 6/6 for six was a good rate back then, but the down side of losing half your life (rounded up!) when it died is just ridiculous. Every color had a big rare creature with a significant drawback, but Personal Incarnation was the worst by a long shot. Then again, white got the best uncommon creature in Serra Angel, so maybe that was supposed to balance it out.

[@Shoyro]

Will have to point out, cards like Web and Castle have a small niche in Commander. Like mentioned, there is Arcades the Strategist, a card which has an ability for you dealing damage to the opponent based on the creature's Toughness instead of Power. This list is accurate for other formats, as Arcades is not really seen in them.

[@Yoshi348]

Missed opportunity on not including Conservator, which is Celestial Prism but 1 more to cast, 1 more to activate, for the way worse effect of preventing 2 damage to yourself and yourself alone.

[@stonewallkotdm]

I've really been enjoying the videos on this channel since I found it a few weeks ago. I was wondering, it might be kind of a big project, but would you ever be interested in doing a list of the best and worst card in each MTG expansion? Keep up the great work!

[@johnwaldrop8237]

Back in the day I had a buddy that had a gaea’s liege deck. It was a good deck. If he got a couple gaeas lieges on the table, he could shut down your mana if you weren’t playing green. You gotta remember that magic decks were much less powerful than they are now. For the time it came out, Gaeas Liege was a good card. This was also in a time before ordering cards online. So every week my buddy would go to the card store and see if they were selling a gaeas liege (he was trying to get 4 for his deck). I remember going with him and secretly hoping it wouldn’t be there, cuz that card kicked my ass. Good times.

[@InOzWeTrust]

Magical Hack worked even within Alpha to make Lord of Atlantis viable against non-blue decks, no way it's rated above Farmstead.

[@hggfhh4449]

Question. Could you use magical hack with your own cards? Like Flashfire which is a sourcery for 3 and one red that destroys all plains?

[@jefftherayls4637]

"Wizards seemed to be under the false impression that having access to both mana ramp and colour fixing at the same time would be far too strong." Birds of Paradise was in Alpha. Yes, it's a green card, but you had Llanowar Elves and Wild Growth on the screen as examples as well.

[@odioalospoopers]

yeah, and alpha ABSOLUTELY doesn't feature better mana artifacts, like in a set or something about flowers and rings...

[@lissythearchitect]

@@odioalospoopers As a note, in Alpha, relatively few people had access to all the rares. There just weren't that many Alpha cards printed (2.6 million) in a card game few had even heard of before. They were sold out in about 2 months, and there was a gap before Beta was printed.

[@squidgyxombie]

You're gonna put Hack in #1? Blue aggro merfolk was a thing... so the card basically says "if you have your Lord of Atlantis in play, and your opponent controls a basic land, your merfolk are unblockable."

[@gravity1537]

Do you know the name of the song you used at 3:00 for background music?

[@movezig5]

A couple of things: 1. "Aspect of Wolf" doesn't have the word "the" in its name. 2. Celestial Prism saw a lot of play in Pauper, until it got banned. 3. "Walls matter," or at least "defender matters," has absolutely been a thing, at least in limited and Commander. You even mention payoffs for the archetype, so I'm not sure why you spoke as if it wasn't a good enough strategy to see play. 4. I'd argue that Magical Hack is less narrow than the lace spells, since it can be used with any basic land types. Plus, as the card itself states, it can be used to modify landwalk abilities, which does have some use cases. Sleight of Mind is probably more broadly useful though.

[@Dracomandriuthus]

"never sees play" prophetic prism literally banned in pauper because of the play it was seeing

[@DieFrauAmHerd]

Ancestral Mask killed us in the commander game yesterday. Equipped to Sythis, Harvest's Hand, the commander, vs one goaded deck and everybody having at least 1 or 2 enchantments on the field... Note: The Sythis also had the aura which gives it PRO of the color of users choosing.

[@hamishfox]

Man, I loved aspect of the wolf when I was a kid. I played it in my RG fireball ramp deck. Way to get me right in the feels.

[@sagacious03]

Okay analysis video! Thanks for uploading!

[@Jeff32479]

It's easy to see that he never played in the early days. Removal was swords, terror, lightning bolt and NO ONE used swords because it gave an opponent LIFE. Gaea's Liege clogged the ground game and changing a land to a forest was HUGE in a game that played for 20 turns. Many cards have gotten weaker due to power creep. You Animate Wall on Wall of Swords? Your opponent wasn't playing black or white, that was basically GAME.

[@fernandobanda5734]

Are you really saying that Gaea's Liege was anywhere near playable?

[@Jeff32479]

@Fernando Banda Back in the day, 6 drops weren't uncommon to see at all. No one played dual lands, the concept of a mana base wasn't thought up. Was it as good as Shivan? No, but it was extremely playable. When Legends came out, Sol'Kanar the Swamp King was ridiculous. It couldn't be blocked if you played swamps. You either bolted it twice, or it was pretty much over. So much has changed in 30 years.

[@fernandobanda5734]

@@Jeff32479 I'm not saying "it's bad because it's a 6 drop". It's a 6 drop that can't attack. Maybe it attacks for 1 or 2 after a couple turns, or if your opponent happens to play green, maybe 4? Craw Wurm and Obsianus Golem are commons/uncommons that are infinitely more playable. Even good old Sea Serpent only asks your opponent to have *one* island and then swings as a 5/5. Even if your card availability was very low, any plain old War Mammoth, Hill Giant or Ironroot Treefolk was a million times more playable. I can't underestimate how completely unusable Gaea's Liege is, except by saying it takes 3-5 turns to turn it into these common creatures that are much cheaper.

[@josephdurgan7030]

Hey, so overall, a good video. I do take some issue with saying Prophetic prism has never been played. It’s actually banned in pauper because it made train too good.

[@eulefranz944]

What about the white aura that gives protection from white, falling of instantly?

[@fernandobanda5734]

It doesn't fall off. It specifically has text to prevent that.

[@jacksonwilliamson256]

Its so funny that in 93-96 (i think its an old old blog post from ye old internet) but gaes liege was one of the top 10 green creatures of the time

[@chrischew5143]

While I agree with most, I had seen magical hack has a much higher usage in edh.

[@muddlewait8844]

It was niche but fine in certain periods and environments, and often great fun in pre-EDH multiplayer (which once actually existed). Basically pair it with Flashfires, Acid Rain, or Kormus Bell. People forget that non-instantly-game-ending combos that cost 4-7 mana were a thing once.

[@WCMRFILY]

"[Prophetic Prism] has basically never seen play" It is banned in Pauper because of how good it was in Tron decks...

[@MrSupurdave]

back in the day magical hack on a karma would kill off your opponent in short order. Can't agree with it being the worst. you just need to build around it which is true of many solid cards. there are newer better options but there was also a lot of worse garbage in ABU.

[@jshtng78]

How viable was it to build around those cards in competitive ABU? You'd think we'd have an iconic Magical Hack deck by now if it had actually done anything.

[@Jeff32479]

​@@jshtng78 You didn't build around those cards, but they weren't as bad as this guy is making them out to be. As I said in my post, this guy never played in the early days.

[@MrSupurdave]

@@jshtng78 still better than homestead and probably a bunch of others. I'm not saying it's good, just not the worst. I don't know if it saw competitive play but casually it was played and with the vicious land hate that was in ABU it could be effective.

[@ShaqPlaque]

I used to have a deck that combo'd Merfolk Assassin, Ernham Djinn, and Magical Hack to whittle away my opponent's creatures. It wasn't a good deck. But it did a thing. Magical Hack asked you to find creative ways to use it and took up a lot less rare slot real estate than the laces

[@GellyVelly]

TBH I wouldn't even put Magical Hack on the list. It is super niche and I wouldn't say it was a "great" card. But I've def used it to some decent effect in commander decks where I was running stuff like Boil and Choke. On the rare occasion someone ISNT playing blue, its a cute and decent trick to blow up all their whatever else lands. So for sure, it's def niche as fuck and kinda goofy. The deck I do run it in is kinda novelty. But when it DOES do something, it can be a WAY bigger effect than like a lace, castle, or one of the crappy auras. Nevertheless, always enjoy the lists and the discussion they bring out.

[@NSG0079]

Personally, I would use it to break things like an opponent's Nightmare or Gaea's Liege, but outside of vintage I can't think of any time it might come up. Almost every standard card that cares about basic land types usually asks how many DIFFERENT basics you currently control, not a specific named type.

[@GellyVelly]

@@NSG0079 Oh for sure, I def couldn't imagine it in standard. But in the most popular format, Commander I think it at least has SOME amount of fringe use.

[@justinmathis8078]

If there was a 1 mana white sorcery that says “you gain 10 life”, how good would that card be? Life gain would probably be better if life gain effects gain more life. The card I just made up would be like taking a mulligan to 6 to start the game at 30 life. How strong would some like that be?

[@wolvie1973]

Judging cards from the first edition without the context of the first edition leads to wrong impression. I tottally agree that now it does not make sense to play a card like Web but in Alpha when you played Magic the only reasonnable way to beat your opponent was to take his 20 life points before he took yours. Creatures were the principal way to achieve this goal and creatures with flying were a tremendous advantage because there were only a couple of such cards in each colour. The green ones were Scryb sprite (1/1) and Bird of paradise, so believe me when I say that if you played green in Alpha you HAD to play Web and Giant Spider to deal with the likes of Serra Angel, Shivan dragon or Sengir Vampire.

[@Conan_the_Based]

I feel like Gaea's Liege is being undersold. Turning the opponent's lands into Forests can be game breaking for them. Not just messing his mana supply; if he drops Tabernacle or Bazaar, Liege can turn them into mostly-useless Forests in his hopefully non-Green deck. I wouldn't call it a good card, but I don't think it's a contender for top 10 worst.

[@meatshield_]

If you really REALLY wanna run web, just use an actual spider instead. Less vulnerable than an aura, and they tend to have more power than 0.

[@jonbrewer297]

Gaea's Liege had some value with creatures with forestwalk. It's still bad, but it has some value. Re: Animate Wall, Richard really loved the flavor of walls. Though why only one was white is beyond me.

[@nathaeladalyah9681]

Sure, Castle used to be almost worthless. However, in today's MtG, Castle gives effectively +2/+2 for 3W with Doran the Seige Tower as Commander. That's double the Glorious Anthem for only 1 extra mana

[@braveherogreenleaf6256]

Let's just errata Web to say "Target creature is now thran spider, but no one gets a powerstone."

[@mikenahmias7102]

I use Magical Hack and similar cards in part of my Commander deck with Landwalkers.

[@detheros44]

Would love a few vids on Un-set/shitpost sets.

[@craigstuckey319]

Animate Wall Sunweb was nasty back in the day. Also Aspect Of The Wolf was playable in mono green.

[@craigstuckey319]

And Magical Hack was a combo enabler.

[@marcellachine5718]

Or iceage s illusionary wall.

[@marcellachine5718]

Or iceage s illusionary wall.

[@Fangs-jo4bq]

Top ten best vehicle commanders. Would be a fun video.

[@Pfisiar22]

I'm really surprised you didn't mention the lucky charms, aka Crystal Rod and its ilk.

[@hggfhh4449]

Could you use magical hack with flash fire on the same turn. Interupting your sourcery?

[@deeterful]

You cannot, and should not, judge Alpha cards through a lens of hindsight. Even comparing Alpha cards to cards in other sets is folly. One must judge Alpha against itself, as those were the only options for gameplay at the time. And it was a very different game scape.

[@stigmaoftherose]

Aspect of wolf got buffed a bit by yavimaya cradle of growth. And for 2 mana it isn't that bad in a limited format but definitely unplayable outside a limited format.

[@fernandobanda5734]

These cards weren't played in any Limited format, so judging it like that is completely arbitrary. I can think of plenty Limited formats with very different power levels. That said, it's very very very bad. Even in monocolor, you need 6 Forests to be above rate, and even then a +3/+3 Aura is really terrible.

[@N4chtigall]

What I find interesting is that how hard Wizards tried to push the "number of forests" mechanic. There are like 3-4 cards which are the worst cards in the history of MTG with those words on it.

[@lorenzoc.5136]

Well, the combo magical hack + Karma in a white/blue deck did work.

[@platurt9595]

Magical Hack doesn't seem that bad to me. A 2 card "destroy all lands of a chosen type"? Definitely better than Farmstead.

[@SlimThrull]

Yeah... Compared to today's cards, these cards are pretty awful. I do, however, feel the need to at least partially defend a few of the cards on this list. Aspect of the Wolf and Gaea's Liege were not as bad as this list would have you believe. Aspect of the Wolf was used in mono-green decks as a way to finish the game. Remember, back then creatures didn't tend to do a whole lot except for attack and block. Games would almost always take many more turns than they do today. Get ten Forests in play? That's +5/+5. This card could act as a finisher against some decks. It wasn't fantastic by any means. But it did see a bit of play. Gaea's Liege was capable of locking your opponent out of the game. If they aren't playing green, you didn't have to wait terribly long before being able to limit them to a single spell a turn (if they happened to have one that cost a single non-green color AND they had kept the appropriate land in their hand). It was no Demonic Hordes, but it had it's uses.

[@SalmiakkiAficionado]

Some of these cards see play in Old School Magic. I know that's it's not an official format, but still, some of these cards are a lot better than others, such as Gray Ogre. Magical Hack is definitely not the worst card in ABU! It sees some play in Forgetful Fish/Dandân, where it acts as an excellent piece of removal. It also sees a bit of play in Old School in Merfolk decks. It can change Lord of Atlantis's ability, or act as a semi-land destruction kind of spell. It also combos well with Karma. Again, both of these formats aren't official, but this top 10 list isn't really that accurate and could definitely be improved :)

[@Metallicity]

I'd probably not consider Dandan specifically, since it's custom designed to not only make basic land changing playable, but also is a shared deck which sort of ignores the whole idea of a "playable" card. Any card is playable in a format like that, if someone decides to include it in the list. But there are other cards that were completely missed that are even more universally terrible, Word of Command probably being the most famous. I'd probably also throw in Glasses of Urza, since going down a card for hand knowledge has never really been worth it, while a variable +2/+2-ish aura could definitely steal some games for a green deck in an alpha/old school limited environment.

[@JervisGermane]

You do know there are combos involving most of these, right? Magical Hack + Donate + Celestial Dawn is an infamous lockout combo, for example.

[@Andulvar]

Did he play Magic in 1993? Making the Wall of Swords able to attack was quite good. He also talks about early Magic like there was more than just Richard Garfield designing the game originally.

[@lissythearchitect]

As a note, he had a development team, though their pay was mostly playing the game. Charlie Cateeno, Skaff Elias, Don Felice, Tom Fontaine, Jim Lin, Joel Mick, Chris Page, Dave Pettey, Barry Reich, Bill Rose, and Elliott Segal are all credited, though my understanding is that some of them were more useful than others.

[@Kratosauron0]

The Dandan format would like to have a word with you

[@nathanwilliams9158]

I run magical hack, thoughtlace, and feedback in my Orvar the All-form EDH deck!

[@nhailstone]

Wards cycle should be on here, especially white ward, which would just fall off the creature. Lucky charms are also worse than much of the list. Lace cycle is absolute worst, followed by farmstead.

[@muddlewait8844]

Yeah, this comment is basically dead on.

[@fernandobanda5734]

White Ward doesn't fall off the creature. It has text to prevent that.

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

About Castle, you used to have to tap the respective creature to block a creature; making Castle even worse.

[@SomeGuy712x]

Has that ever been true? I don't think you've ever had to tap simply to block, even in the oldest days of Magic.

[@fernandobanda5734]

You've never had to tap blockers.

[@lissythearchitect]

I do not think this is accurate. I had a Castle from the Beta set and never recall that being a drawback. It's just a card that is only useful in improving your creature's defenses, which means that you need a way of converting your creature's improved survivability into your opponent's death. The way I recall being able to do this was through Army of Allah (Arabian Knights set), but obviously 1) that's post-Alpha and 2) many decks using that or a similar effect are stronger /without/ Castle.

[@lissythearchitect]

I'm not clear how you missed Twiddle, arguable the worst alpha/beta card. Castle is hard to use, but it makes some otherwise unviable decks viable. A problem is those required post-alpha material. Obviously, in most cases a +1/+1 enchantment is better. Web is weak, but if you have no other way to handle flyers, it is better than nothing. I'd consider adding the cost 3 mana 2/2s with no special abilities to your list. They are only worthwhile in a case where you have a /very/ limited selection of cards. Gaea's liege is dubious, though it might be useful for a sideboard in preparation for a mostly green deck versus a mostly green deck. Bone Wall and Living Wall were usable, but the rest of the early walls were typically not better than a cost 1 1/1 creature. And yes, a wall-specific enchantment was never worthwhile. Might as well just bring out a useful creature or two instead.

[@OMEGA-362]

Magical hack can turn a basic into any other basic or any og dual into a bunch of others on account of replacing the basic land type, also lord of Atlantis was in this set so its the older spreading seas, it's also a permenent effect that can't be removed

[@restionSerpentine]

The rare mountain from Arabian Nights was pretty bad

[@JLH111176]

Animate Wall even the wall looks sad. I play Magical hack in sideboard way back so if Tsunami was played if it was in my hand I could change it don't think that it ever happened

[@kolaeiToDvD]

web is a limited card for sideboarding after u lose the first match to random UW flyers

[@bushido8077]

Back in 4th ed. Till 5th ed i had a white weenie deck (still have). Im using Castle to prevent my creature hit by lightning bolt and incinerate by my opponent, yup bad cards that's why my opponent is pissed off so all the spells target me instead, but sad to say i have zuran orb😊

[@cerebralisk]

gaea's liege is buffed from 'entirely unplayable' to 'still bad' now that yavimaya, cradle of growth exists to make all lands forests but lol still godawful

[@TheDuckofLaw]

"Web basically never makes since to play" should be "sense."

[@nathanaelmcmahan872]

Gaea's Liege is bad until you untap it infinitely and change all the opponent's lands. Sure, there's better, but it's fun.

[@johnnyreaper9714]

you can use castle in assigns damage by toughness decks. There are several of them that are actually insanely good. Just because your opinion says that toughness doesn't matter doesn't mean that it does.

[@lissythearchitect]

I am not recalling any cards which made this viable in Alpha, though I'd agree that this is a way to try to make Castle more useful. That said, you still have the issue that tapped cards loose the Castle effect.

[@johnnyreaper9714]

@@lissythearchitect I completely misread the card. The second you attack they would lose that damage so this is actually pretty bad.

[@lissythearchitect]

@@johnnyreaper9714 I've used Castle in some decks. Basically, it's somewhat useful on defense, and more useful protecting your toughness 1 creatures from effects doing 1 point of damage (examples: Pirate Ship, Prodigal Sorcerer, A particularly effective use of fireball, Rod of Ruin, Orcish Artillery (does 2)). It /is/ possible to use on offense, but you can't tap your creature, or at minimum need to untap it to get the effect. You might be able to use it on defense by using an effect to switch power and toughness, though I am dubious it would work often enough. The main use I found for it was to protect my weaker toughness creatures, some. I only recall using it effectively in a Thallid deck (to prevent all the Saporlings from dying to a single Prodigal Sorcerer). That said, my Thallid deck was not one of my stronger decks, and its strength relied more on Army of Allah (+2/0 to all creatures instant) and Lure than Castle. I am not claiming Castle is a strong card. I have found more and better uses for it, than, say, Black Vise or Copper Tablet - the former of which I'm not clear these is a useful way to use. The later of which I pretty certain is usable (with a card from Antiquities preventing the damage), but 1 point of damage/turn to my opponent from a 2-card combo is... not something I'd put in a deck, for that reason alone. There are far stronger options.

[@StarlightRoad]

Top ten best cards and top ten worst cards from the Time Spiral block, please.

[@stephentrever1769]

I guess you don’t consider pauper a legitimate format. Prophetic Prism saw plenty of play in pauper torn decks. So much that even had to be banned.

[@Dyllon2012]

Battles are probably the most uncommon type right now just given their newness.

[@leonardochiaravalli1861]

I think the hive should deserve a spot too

[@tdimensional6733]

I wish someone thought about me the same way alpha thought about walls

[@charliescourbys1340]

All these card have better art than anything from recent sets and aren't merged with other franchises.

[@SoloFalcon1138]

This list was a lot less "worst cards from Alpha" and more "in 31 years, these cards became irrelevant with better versions"

[@Tzimisce00]

weird decision to not use the original art onany of them honestly.

[@metal--babble346]

original MTG was not "underpowered". This card game turned into a popular video game, got bought out by Hasbro, who turned the suttle power creep into full fledged Yu-Gi-Oh battles.