Ten years is a really long time. Considering that I am 32 years old, that makes the decade a third of my life. That is a huge chunk!

What makes this article so difficult to write is that while it was fairly easy to grade each card against its own set, it gets really difficult to judge a card against another card when those cards were played in entirely different eras. For example, the first set winner was Tangle Wire and the last set winner was Day of Judgment. Those cards will never even see Extended together let alone Standard.

For that reason, I decided to rank the cards based on what I feel makes them better or worse than the cards above and below them. Obviously, there are some amazing cards on this list and there are some above average cards on this list due to the manner by which I picked the list in the first place. With that in mind, I ran through the list of cards and decided who I thought was the best card in the bunch and the worst card in the bunch. From there I gaged the rest by moving them up and down relative to each other until I felt that each card, again... my opinion here... was better than the cards above it, but not better than the ones below it. The ranking list you are about to see is from worst to best for the added drama.

DON'T CHEAT!!! Read them as you go, it's more fun (I promise).

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Best of the Best - #33 ~ Maga, Traitor to Mortals

I thought this card was the best of its set, but only because the rest of the cards were awful. I would love to have included Autumn Willow, Baron Sengir, or Eron the Relentless since at least Homelands had a few good cards. Heck, Memory Lapse and Merchant Scroll are better than Maga here. Alas...

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Banefire is really good at what it does, and that is to point an X at someone's forehead, crank that X into the stratosphere and stick your tongue out at them. Some people like to offset that with a middle finger, but I don't know that that is really all necessary. The point is taken.

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See Banefire above. This is only slightly better than Banefire and only because you don't HAVE to pump over five to become uncounterable (because Red doesn't run around with no hand as it is...). The added exiling of the creature can be very beneficial in some situations as well.

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Edict was a groaner back in the day. You'd go out of your way to cast a very fine little creature and the opponent would respond with, "Edict". They didn't even announce targets and I knew it was me. Sure sure, if I have multiple guys in play I could choose which one I wanted to sacrifice, but let's be realistic. Edict just happens to be be Black, not Green. I was not going to have additional creatures in play, so it was going to kill the one that he wanted to die. Oh yea, it had flashback too if that wasn't good enough.

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I remember first reading this card and thought, "Yea, I guess that is pretty good." Then I had someone abusing Reveillark on me with it, and I changed my mind fast. "Must kill Valkyrie..."

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Yea, even though it happens to be in a terrible set, the fact that this counter gets used in Vintage should be enough to convince you of its strength. Let me tell you what it really says, "You can discard a Volcanic Island and Worldgorger Dragon instead of paying the casting cost of this spell. Counter target Trinisphere."

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Do you really need a comment for these lands? The fact that they beat out cards like Exalted Angel, Blistering Firecat, and Arcanis the Omnipotent should tell you something. For the record, this is where it really started to get hard. The last few were fairly easy to slot, but now I am getting to the meat and potatoes of the list. The middle 75% probably could have been slid around a little and I would not have minded much. The top and bottom are solid in my mind.

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Best of the Best - #26 ~ Ajani Vengeant

Let's see, he either puts your best permanent in a state of Stasis, Lightning Helix's you whenever he feels like it, or he gets angry and blows up only your lands. NICE!

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What a beast! While he starts off small, he can get big and meaty quickly. For the record, I never saw this guy in his final state, if that tells you anything at all about how fast he needed to be killed.

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So they try to kill Wrath of God off by giving it Nev's disease. Whatever! Just keep giving me board sweepers.

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Now you give me back that 'no-regeneration' thing and a new paint job? Sure thing Boss. Sign me up for four of these too!

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This is the first point in the list where I get to explain why I slotted a lot of the cards as I did. I am a 'learn by experience' kinda guy. I will admit, there are a lot of times where I look at something and absolutely miss the boat on it. In those cases, I need to be shown how it works or doesn't work. It didn't take me too many showings to understand how brrrrr-oken! the Scepter was. Hindsight is a beauty man. I mean, its not like there are too many awesome instant cards at 2 CC right? I mean, Counterspell, Boomerang, Remand, Lightning Helix, Memory Lapse, Orim's Chant, etc.

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The next installment of the 'Show Me' series is Regrowth with legs. I mean... who doesn't think of Astral Slide or Momentary Blink when they read this card right? "I'll cycle this Decree of Justice (making a bunch of guys), Sliding out my Eternal Witness. At the end of the turn I will grab this here Vindicate from my graveyard..."

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What a bitch this card was. If I only had a nickel for every time someone began their second turn by putting a land and then this damn thing into play. Too good.

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Hey Eternal Witness! Can't a girl get a little love here?!

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Nothing is right about this card. I wanted to say 'damn card' but I love this thing and I was a happy abuser of it. Certain cards in Magic have a silly way of providing a virtual Time Walk effect. Those cards have a special place in my heart as they keep me alive one more turn so that I can kill you.

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Mighty Meaty Man. Not only does it have haste as a flier, but it continually reinforces the board every time it returns. This guy is a tough out. You've got to Demonfire him...

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Yea, whatever. Why would they even do this? What a mess. Where do I even begin? Do you need me to begin? The guy turbo-charged an already dominant deck archtype (Affinity) into orbit. He even made one of the top priced cards in Mirroden (Broodstar)plummet in value over night. I mean... what more can I say? He brutalizes people.

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This is my boy. While I was a Wake player during this time period, I always had a soft spot for a critter who goes nuts eatting everything in sight then crapping on an opponent when he can do nothing about it -- all with a smile I might add. How about being the only 1/2 creature to ever attack and a 5/5 will shyly side step and let him walk past. That's respect.

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My original thought when reading this card makes me laugh to this day. "Protection from Demons and Dragons"? Don't they mean Red and Black? Then I disregarded the card!!! I didn't even bother looking -- looking -- at the card for what it was. I was too stuck on the 'watered down Akroma' thing that I didn't even see what was in front of me. Uh... Serra Angel v Baneslayer Angel... are you kidding me? I understand that it is a mythic rare, but you do realize that when tournament time rolls around, rarity means nothing right? If I am in a major tournament, I will have four of any mythic rare at my disposal. Who am I kidding? Make more please.

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Ting! I love Akroma. I don't care what Josh Elliott says. You were not abused by Akroma like I was. She is simply not right! From Reanimator to UW Control to even Big White, she was everywhere. If she was not being Zombified to get here into play (ironic that a Black spell can bring her from the grave by the way...) she was getting into play via Temple of the False God. The problem is that once she is in play, she is everywhere. You can't block her. You can't attack. You can't kill her. What the hell can you do? (Here comes that guy, "Cancel her!" - For the record, Maga is better than Cancel...)

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We are getting to the big boys now. There is no stopping the train at this point. If you were to argue that any of the previous cards could be replaced by something else, you have no argument about these. From here out, the cards are dominant. I mean... Teferi? He single-handedly wins games.

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"You can't cast spells this turn." Oh, ok. I guess I'll just go ahead and imprint this on a Scepter and see how the game turns out. Thanks for nothing Wizards. For the record, before we had a Scepter, we would just recur it from the graveyard and hard cast it every turn via something like Scrivener.

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Dismiss was widely used during its time due to the self replacement effect. This, however, is an upgrade as it is a programmable 'NO!'. Very, very nice. Also, you can always judge the strength of a card by the fact that it is given three designated of a certain color and then people still splash that color for that card.

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"That's not better than Cryptic Command!" Yes, yes it is. The first time you start your game off by getting Remanded on the second and third turn, you will realize that it is better. At that point, you are playing Aggro with zero non-land permanents in play going into turn four and your opponent still has a full hand. Cryptic Command dreams of that. By the way, you lose that game.

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Going all the way back to the Sylvan Library days, re-working the top of your library has always been super beneficial to setting up your late game. The Top, however, lets you reach in and get that card that you desperately need without paying four life to do so. It also protects itself from a nasty Disenchant by hiding on top of your library.

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This is my official middle finger to Aggro players everywhere. Listen up guys:

Stop telling me that a creature with zero evasion is the best card of the decade. HE can't do A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g-! If I have a creature with protection from Green in play, 'Goyf is a useless card. It dies to everything. The only thing going for it is that he doesn't have Skulky disease.

What I will say about 'Goyf is that if your argument is that he is a top flight game closer, then I will not only listen to it, but I will champion that argument. But don't tell me that he is the best card of the decade. He needs a heck of a lot of support to be a top flight closer, let alone the be the best card.

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Remember how I was saying that I am notorious for not seeing the best of cards when they are first released. Count this one in that list. Maybe I am stuck in old school mentality where things that attach to creatures suck (Aura), but I didn't see how a card that relied on first getting attached to something, then needing to hit something was ever going to get counters. Well, I am man enough to say when I am wrong. It doesn't happen all that often mind you...

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Why is this card so high on the list? Because of what it is or becomes. It becomes whatever horrible Sorcery that you want. Timetwister, Vindicate, Mind's Desire, Wrath of God, etc.

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Kill target thing in play. It combines all the elements of all removal into one card, making it by default better than all of its ilk. The only thing it could have been to be better is to "Exile target permanent". I trust that that card is coming in the near future.

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Vindicate was good, but this is better. While it surrenders the ability to kill a land, it picks up by removing all copies of the target. So the next time you are holding a Vindicate and your opponent is going to attack you with 15 squirrel tokens, thank Wizards for making Maelstrom Pulse.

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The only reason that Fact or Fiction is not number one is because of the number one card. I am not being silly here with word play. Obviously if the winning card had not been printed, this would have been number one, but what I am saying is that this is head and shoulders over number three and below.

Fact or Fiction could possibly be the best card advantage card ever made. Not only because it gives your hand a boost, but because of the mental game that the card provides. I am a huge believer in that if I make you think, you will lose. I have been proven right time and time again in this regard. With that said, Fact or Fiction makes you decide what your fate is going to be; during your turn.

Add in that during its Standard run, you had to be scared about what I discarded as much as I pocketed, as Tog was fueled by the graveyard as well as the hand. The combinations and synergies that Fact or Fiction provided with a multitude of cards is amazing.

It is exactly why I have such a strong aversion to Tarmogoyf being termed the best card of the decade. Fact or Fiction makes every card in your deck better. Tarmogoyf only attacks or blocks. Fact or Fiction gets you the much needed answer to a lethal threat, Tarmogoyf hopes that I have enough different card types in my and your graveyards. The argument is actually quite laughable if you really stop and look at it. Let's also not forget that FoF is an instant. I can get those cards during your turn.

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Finally, there is Tangle Wire. I said this in my previous article, but if you have never experienced Tangle Wire, you are blessed. Let me see if I can quantify for you why Tangle Wire is so ruthless.

First, understand that you remove the fading counter before you resolve the tiggered activation. Meaning that you are going to tap less cards than your opponent will. Further, you can also tap Tangle Wire to satisfy itself, so you are essentially tapping two less permanents than your opponent a turn. Talk about advantage!

So lets walk through this:

Turn 1 ~ Play a land (end turn)
Turn 2 ~ Play a land, 2 CC mana artifact (end turn)
Turn 3 ~ Play a land, Tangle Wire. (end turn) **On your opponent's turn, he is going to tap four permanents. How many could he possibly have out after his second turn?**
Turn 4 ~ Upkeep: I remove a counter and tap three permanents, one being Tangle Wire, leaving me with a potential of three mana available. Play a land, play a four CC spell. (end turn) ** Your opponent will untap and immediately tap three permanents, which is most likely 75% of his board. **
Turn 5 ~ Upkeep: Remove a counter, tap one permanent and Tangle Wire. Play another Tangle Wire. (end turn) ** Your opponent now must tap six permanents **
Turn 6 ~ Begin to close the game out as your opponent has no viable threats and you have sufficient mana available to do almost anything you want without resistance.

Fact or Fiction can't do that. Tarmogoyf can't do that. Orim's Chant can slow that. For the most part, you need to be playing counter magic and Instant speed artifact hate or Tangle Wire makes you lose. It really is a one-sided Stasis that does not require Kismet to freeze the board.

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This concludes my romp through the decade that was. I really enjoyed this article - I was not bogged down by the countless bad cards and really only had to focus on the best cards of this decade. All of these cards are game shakers. No matter how good or bad a review I gave them. So here is your love 'Goyf. Every single card mentioned is worth their weight in gold (especially Tarmagoyf and Baneslayer Angel). They all are going to win you games by simple meeting their casting cost at the appropriate times.

With that said, I look forward to your comments. Please take a moment to let me know what you think. Or better yet, give me your top ten list. I am interested to see how many of you agree or disagree with me on The Best of the Best!

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