VOTE for best standalone card in MTGA

[Argstein]

vote here and i'll try to keep totals updated on a list

my vote is doomskar

current votes/nominations --
Doomskar - 1
Revenge of Ravens - 1
Settle the Wreckage - 1
Oracle of the Alpha - 1
Craterhoof Behemoth - 1

[DontMisunderstand]

Revenge of Ravens.

It's deceptively strong. Go wide decks can't beat it, noobs will kill themselves on it, and it performs BETTER against more experienced players who view life as a resource. And that's all by itself. Stack multiple copies and it gets even worse, and it synergizes extremely well with a lot of different strategies.

[Berserkr]

Settle the Wreckage
Not the best but I can't count the amount of times I've had 2 white and 4+ open and they just swing with the whole board lol

[Corey Trevor]

Doomskar is a lot of work for a board wipe and it doesn't have any secondary effect like putting a planeswalker into hand, creating an artifact creature or food tokens, incubating etc. Revenge of Ravens is not going to stand up to any decent green or white multi color (removal).

Settle the wreckage is decent but if you are board wiping you probably need more than land to get anywhere, seems a little too specific i.e holding back a lot of cards. Usually if I am board wiping its because I really don't have much in my hand. When I do have good cards to play after a board wipe they usually have good effects or triggers that don't require a bunch of mana.

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by Trevor Lahey:

Doomskar is a lot of work for a board wipe and it doesn't have any secondary effect like putting a planeswalker into hand, creating an artifact creature or food tokens, incubating etc. Revenge of Ravens is not going to stand up to any decent green or white multi color (removal).

Settle the wreckage is decent but if you are board wiping you probably need more than land to get anywhere, seems a little too specific i.e holding back a lot of cards. Usually if I am board wiping its because I really don't have much in my hand. When I do have good cards to play after a board wipe they usually have good effects or triggers that don't require a bunch of mana.

All fair points, but I'd consider being a removal magnet a sign of it being a good card. Just as a general rule, anything worth hitting with removal is inherently better than the removal that hits it, otherwise you wouldn't be wasting the removal on it.

[Corey Trevor]

Originally posted by DontMisunderstand:

Originally posted by Trevor Lahey:

Doomskar is a lot of work for a board wipe and it doesn't have any secondary effect like putting a planeswalker into hand, creating an artifact creature or food tokens, incubating etc. Revenge of Ravens is not going to stand up to any decent green or white multi color (removal).

Settle the wreckage is decent but if you are board wiping you probably need more than land to get anywhere, seems a little too specific i.e holding back a lot of cards. Usually if I am board wiping its because I really don't have much in my hand. When I do have good cards to play after a board wipe they usually have good effects or triggers that don't require a bunch of mana.

All fair points, but I'd consider being a removal magnet a sign of it being a good card. Just as a general rule, anything worth hitting with removal is inherently better than the removal that hits it, otherwise you wouldn't be wasting the removal on it.

But in Arena a 120 card deck can have a lotttt of removal lol. With the shuffler you don't get punished for deck size unless its 130+. A lot of games I gotta remove stuff just to make room in my hand. In a paper game for sure I agree 100%.

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by Trevor Lahey:

But in Arena a 120 card deck can have a lotttt of removal lol. With the shuffler you don't get punished for deck size unless its 130+. A lot of games I gotta remove stuff just to make room in my hand. In a paper game for sure I agree 100%.

That's an entirely different point. Just for funsies I made two versions of the same deck with similar proportions, one at 60 and one at 250. The 250 card deck was actually more consistent in outcomes than the 60 card deck. That is to say, I was more likely to have the correct mana/non-mana balance, I was more likely to have both synergy pieces and answers to my opponent strategies in the same match, and I was more likely to develop threatening board states as well. Across the board, the 250 card version of the same deck was superior to the 60 card version. There are other factors at play to be sure, but it was an interesting test nonetheless. I'm sure you could get different results simply by taking a different deck as the basis. This does somewhat imply that the proper deck size is a function of your strategy rather than the basic math of the game, though. Very interesting.

Again though, that's straying quite a bit from the original topic.

[Corey Trevor]

Originally posted by DontMisunderstand:

Originally posted by Trevor Lahey:

But in Arena a 120 card deck can have a lotttt of removal lol. With the shuffler you don't get punished for deck size unless its 130+. A lot of games I gotta remove stuff just to make room in my hand. In a paper game for sure I agree 100%.

That's an entirely different point. Just for funsies I made two versions of the same deck with similar proportions, one at 60 and one at 250. The 250 card deck was actually more consistent in outcomes than the 60 card deck. That is to say, I was more likely to have the correct mana/non-mana balance, I was more likely to have both synergy pieces and answers to my opponent strategies in the same match, and I was more likely to develop threatening board states as well. Across the board, the 250 card version of the same deck was superior to the 60 card version. There are other factors at play to be sure, but it was an interesting test nonetheless. I'm sure you could get different results simply by taking a different deck as the basis. This does somewhat imply that the proper deck size is a function of your strategy rather than the basic math of the game, though. Very interesting.

Again though, that's straying quite a bit from the original topic.

Yea this game is weird with its mathematics, my 250 card decks for sure are wildly more consistent. He said in Arena so its not too off topic, this is all opinion based anyway. For me a truly good card has to serve multiple functions and have features that make the opponent work harder or spend more to get rid of it.

Uzra's skylex for example, not only do you board wipe but you get a planeswalker for 2 more mana that you most likely can play next turn. Expel the interlopers has even more uses imo than the two previous board wipes mentioned because if they put out or buffed a bunch of creatures you can save your weak creatures and maul them after.

[MΛRCUS HΞLIUS]

The One Ring is busted. It's MTG 'get out of jail free' card.

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by MΛRCUS HΞLIUS:

The One Ring is busted. It's MTG 'get out of jail free' card.

Teferi's Protection has a stronger effect for less mana, but The One Ring has card draw with drawbacks added to the similar enough effect. It is worth noting, the vast majority of the time, both are just Fog, which is a 1 mana spell. The One Ring's card draw effect tends to lose its owner the match just as often as it helps. I cut the card from my decks because it's just not good enough at any of the things it does.

[Ezra]

Oracle of the Alpha, It's 10 cards for 3 Mana. Before you go blinking
the living daylights out of it.

[Winter Wolf]

Originally posted by Ezra:

Oracle of the Alpha, It's 10 cards for 3 Mana. Before you go blinking
the living daylights out of it.

Yeah I have been refraining from saying that because it feels wrong. Like Settle is a great card too but getting to play p9 in whatever and then multiples on top of that because of blink (which is something I love doing anyway) that just takes the cake.

[Berserkr]

I had one guy load up his deck with Oracle and all he drew was moxes for like a gazillion turns lol, he conceded pretty fast, guess his good cards got buried by them
I didn't feel bad

[Winter Wolf]

Originally posted by Berserkr:

I had one guy load up his deck with Oracle and all he drew was moxes for like a gazillion turns lol, he conceded pretty fast, guess his good cards got buried by them
I didn't feel bad

It is definitely not something you just toss in any deck. But knowing when and how to use it is part of the fun of the game.

[JayTheLesser]

I hate playing against it as it is pure cheese but Craterhoof Behemoth is pretty much instawin regardless of what is on the board - yes it's expensive but if you are playing any kind of green deck, you'll have the ramp creatures out that suddenly becoming unstoppable

[DontMisunderstand]

Originally posted by Berserkr:

I had one guy load up his deck with Oracle and all he drew was moxes for like a gazillion turns lol, he conceded pretty fast, guess his good cards got buried by them
I didn't feel bad

I like the card specifically because it takes some set-up to utilize without just getting insane luck. It's almost like a pseudo-finisher instead of a value piece. You need a value engine already set up to capitalize on what it gives you. In that sense though, I guess it is kinda a win-more card. If you're in a position to benefit from the effect consistently, you should probably just be winning the game instead.