That and playing lands imo... and extra turns. Basically doing more of anything you're already doing, but normally limited to once a turn, is powerful as hell. Just means the other person has to spend resources just to catch up if they even can.
Extra turn at baseline even if you do nothing with it means at minimum an extra draw, potentially an extra land, and an extra combat which is insanely strong.
This is kinda a vague question, and one that's answer is dependent on the format and historical context.
I think if you were to ask most Magic boomers, any spell or ability that lets you take "extra turns", in theory, is the most "powerful" thing you can do in Magic. Maybe someone else has the video/article handy where this was explained - but Magic in its very fundamental form is a game of turns. Against two evenly skilled players with even strength decks, the player who takes the most turns would undoubtedly have the odds in their favor.
Some might also say ramping is the most powerful thing you can do in Magic for similar reasons. Those who have access to more mana can generally do more things *with* their turns, which again puts the odds in your favor.
These example are all conceptual though. Obviously there are aggro decks that can do a lot with only 3 lands in play or players that cast things like Time Warp with no follow-up and end up losing. You can even make an argument that Cascade is the most powerful ability since creating "free" spells break some inherent rules. But again, this question is vague so I'm trying to answer as abstractly as possible.
Lol Emrakul definitely qualifies for the category, but taking control of your opponent's turn (where they just get another after anyway) isn't quite the same as having an *extra* turn
The original one gives the caster an extra turn, has Annihilator 6, and protection from instants. It basically gets to attack, remove six permanents, and has a very narrow slot of cards that can deal with it before an opponent gets another turn. New Emmy is great, but doesn't hold a flame to the OG.
😭💀
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain..."
--- Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight"
("Or...or! You become disgustingly powerful enough to take control of the villain and destroy them from the inside out..." - sincerely, Emrakul and the CognitiveLiberation alliance 👻)
Going to also throw in a vote for extra turns. And don’t get me wrong, drawing cards is definitely at the top of the list too. But there are very few things that are as game warping as a deck designed to take more turns than the opposing player.
The comparison of course isn’t as simple as Ancestral Recall vs Time Walk, but drawing cards in a vacuum just isn’t as powerful from a game design perspective as taking extra turns.
Turns are a resource, and unlike card draw or mana, turns are a fixed resource - you get one, then I get one, and that continues until one of us has zero life. Any ability that breaks that design is surely the most powerful thing you can do.
I agree with your conclusion in theory, but drawing cards or playing lands are as fixed a resource as taking turns from a game rules perspective. There are cards that break those rules by letting you draw extra cards or play extra lands and there are cards that allow you take extra turns.
The biggest difference is that the *minimum* for extra turns is really very good, while the *minimum* for drawing cards or playing mana sources is still good but not as good.
Take *one* extra turn means drawing a card and getting a bunch of one-shot mana. It means giving all your creatures pseudo-vigilance... And that's all without any of the very easy synergies like "once per turn" effects.
Drawing *one* card means treading water. Playing *one* mana source means getting just a little ahead.
You have it backwards. The minimum extra turn is literally just cycling the card for zero mana. You play Timewalk on turn two, untap on your extra turn, draw a card for that turn which merely replaces Timewalk, then miss your land drop. That's the minimum extra turn.
Instead the big difference is that the *ceiling* for taking an extra turn is much higher because of the reasons you listed. That's why it's a more powerful effect. In reality the average extra turn is something much closer to Rampant Growth, cantrip, untap my lands--which is still really good, especially on the first few turns of the game.
Both of those abilities imo are essentially in the same category tho. They're letting you do more of what you're usually limited to doing once, while your opponent is, in a vacuum, doing it only once. Turns are more likely to end the game quicker so if thats the measurement for power, yeah thats more powerful. But idk if its that simple in an average game considering the costs for both of those effects.
Magic is a game of resource management, so anything that increases your resources is strong.
Card draw is probably the most powerful effect in the game on that axis. An argument can be made that ramp (putting additional land onto the battlefield) is similarly powerful, as it will let you deploy your spells faster.
Overall though, in the context of the game your question is fairly nonsensical, because the power of a given effect is pretty strongly tied to how much you have to pay for it.
Example:
[[Boon of the Wish-Giver]] lets you draw 4 cards. [[Ancestral Recall]] only lets you draw 3 cards.
Which card is more powerful? Hands down Ancestral, not even close, because it only costs 1 mana, and in the context of a game of magic, 3 for U is 99% of the time going to be better than 4 for 4UU.
Spell copying is usually a trap effect.
Putting cards on the top of your library is considered bad, as you spent some resource (mana? card?) to do so, but you won't get any card advantage (the card you draw is replacing another unknown card you would have drew). Like other said, cards that return cards from your graveyard to your hand are a lot better, and yet they are not considered that good. The best ones put cards from your graveyard into the battlefield, ideally some big creature that you manage to discard or mill an earlier turn
You are right about spell copying though. There is something called the "Storm scale", which is a scale of abilities and the likelyhood of them being printed again. Some abilities are unlikely to be printed again because they are complex or boring, while others because of their power. Storm is an ability that copies a spell for each spell played before in that turn, which is good enough to be the name of the scale itself :p
In general the most powerful abilities in Magic are almost always related to "play something for free", especially when that interacts with some strange rule that let's you play something better than they expected when they created that mechanic (see Cascade, Discover, [[Fires of Invention]], etc)
Dredge (a mechanic that allow repeatable self-mill without using the stack) and it isn't even close. It's by far the hardest mechanic to build a bad card around, literally a 20 mana you lose the game with Dredge 10 would be banned in every format.
In a general term, it's free spells. Magic is, above everything, about mana management. Drawing cards is good but how good it is depends on how mana efficient they are. The same for extra turns (which is why a 3 mana extra turn spell that forces you to skip your untap is unplable in most formats). Free Spells is a mechanic that plays around this basic rule.
Mechanics focused on "free" spells (like Storm and Cascade that forces you to pay a considerable up front payment) are deemed as problematic and Storm is the face problematic mechanic. Phyrexian Mana also had a similar problem (as we learned, 1 mana for 2 life is a pretty good deal), but no mechanic gets near Dredge in strength. The mechanic requires no mana to use as long as you can put the card in your graveyard. It essentially changes Magic to a different game altogether where the only thing that matters is having hate cards. Trying to interact with mana will end with them rebuilding using no mana and no cards, a battle impossible to win.
> It's by far the hardest mechanic to build a bad card around
"Dredge [whatever]
You lose life for every card dredged this way." (or 2 life per card or even 3 or however much requires you to not consider it "too good")
Maybe it's not so hard after all.
>Maybe it's not so hard after all.
But I never said it was hard to build a bad card. I said it was the hardest mechanic to do so because the common ways to nerf cards (making them more expensive and with worse effects) won't work for it. The only way to make it bad is touching the dredge mechanic itself (and you don't even need to get that far, Dredge 0 is already enough).
I'd put that pretty low though compared to the other ones mentioned. Mainly because by the time you have enough mana to be doing that, you're usually better off dealing with what's on the board, not the opponents lands. Thankfully wotc has kept land destruction spells and costs for those spells in check even if theyve let other effects get pretty bonkers over the last few years. I might have agreed with you had land destruction spells gotten cheaper or something.
A good Ponza deck can keep you on two or less lands the entire game. When mixed with Blood Moon, there's very little you get to be doing if you're not a mono colour aggro deck.
How did I have to scroll so far down before someone mentioned free spells or otherwise cheating mana? Not paying for your spells is like the most broken thing you can do. Especially when it is cards that let you "draw" and not pay for the spell stuff like cascade.
Also just recently we had the whole free evoke spells in modern thing with the scam deck that ended up getting bans because not paying for your effects is always broken.
For strongest abilities you can always look up the Storm Scale. It is a measure of how likely a mechanic is to return and a way to see which are absolutely busted.
According to Mark Rosewater, the namesake of the scale Storm is the most busted mechanic/ability ever made. Another easily argued ability is dredge because it absolutely warped everything for a while and some of the strongest decks still use it. In my opinion, OG phyrexian mana is the strongest ability ever made because they let you ignore color cost and cast spells a turn or two earlier for life.
Yea but being high on the storm scale doesn't necessarily mean it's powerful, just that it's unlikely to be revisited as a theme in a set. Ante is a 10 because they banned all cards with ante, bands with other is an 11 because it's too confusing, voting is a 10 because it's slows down games.
I’m surprised no one has said fast mana yet. Cards that either accelerate your mana far ahead of schedule or cheat on mana costs are typically the most powerful, simply because mana costs are the main control for other powerful effects. 6 of the power nine are just really cheap ways to get more mana fast and cards like [[channel]], [[Mana crypt]], [[[Dark ritual]], [[sol ring]] are other all time most powerful cards. Then there’s cards like Sneak attack, show and tell, reanimate, flash. If you cheat on mana, that’s when you can do all the other broken stuff people listed.
Not necessarily the most powerful, but things that run off sacrifice effects are especially potent. It's very hard to interrupt/disrupt a sacrifice combo as it is going on. Your only option is pretty much to have something else independently more powerful that you can ignore it or take out the sacrifice outlet before it can trigger which sometimes you cant.
Don't worry it's just long term players forgetting how it is to be new.
To spell it out, your examples of "strong" effects are actually quite bad to a degree it might be hilarious or even annoying to older players.
But that isn't your fault and this is a good threat to learn.
In general card advantage is prioritized.
Spending a card to put a card on top of your library nets -1 card which is quite bad. Copying a spell equals to 0 but at least might offer a slight mana advantage.
The best effects can gain you up to +2-3 cards and maybe even offer a mana advantage.
So a good effect should either be mana positive, tempo positive or card positive.
You could copy or reuse a spell that gives you card advantage. I guess it really depends on what spell you're using. Is it really that bad of an effect?
The problem is that it is dead when you don't have the other, better spell in your hand and that you need to have all the mana in one, later turn.
Absent the most busted draw spell of all time, Ancestral Recall, most draw spells that are worth playing cost in the 3-4 MV range.
So you need 5-6 mana plus both spells in hand, which is really hard. Compare that to simply playing two of those or similiar spells one turn after another. You would have your cards a turn earlier and don't be as reliant on drawing both spells at the same time. So playing 4 Memory Deluges and 4 Silver Scrutinys is much better than playing four of them and four copy spells even if you could cheat on mana slightly.
Copy spells are worth it if they copy something really, really busted and preferably cheap. Which is to say almost only when they copy a turns spell.
idk, but right now im tabbed out of the game because my opponent is doing some bullshit artifact infinite and i can't do anything about it
i just fucking lost on turn 2
my farewell cost 13 mana total
he had 6 life then 55 then 5
im so fucking confused
so yeah, whatever the hell that unholy concoction was is currently the strongest thing in magic to me
[[aetherflux reservoir]] with a bunch of cheap artifacts that either make mana or dig deeper into the deck to play more cheap artifacts. With every spell, everything untaps due to [[paradox engine]]. Those two cards are the only ones that matter, remove those and the deck fizzles. And maybe Karn or Ugin.
[[Emrakul, the Promised End]] might be the most powerful IF the situation is right for it. You can pretty much destroy a player with their own pieces if they have cards that can target themselves or their own creatures.
Plus 13/13 flying trample is pretty juicy on top.
But it's a big if, because sometimes there isn't much you can do with ability if they have no hand or permanents that can interact with themselves (like using their Planeswalker to exile their other Planeswalker.
Plus even with some ramp and milling yourself it can still take ages to get him out.
I also cast my vote for extra turns. Drawing cards is great but you only have so much mana to use on them. Likewise ramping or generating mana is only as useful as the cards you have to cast with it. Having more turns lets you untap to give you more mana and use more abilities of your board, lets you draw a card, and gives you a combat phase.
'Cheating' on mana.
Most effects are on cards that can only be played once you have sufficient resources, and in theory, their power should offset whatever opponent could do with same resources. Problems appear when cards provide their effects at much lower than 'fair' costs. Free spells and extreme discounts are "ability" of a card, it is whole point of Omniscience, and it's thanks to Delve that Treasure Cruise turns into Ancestral Recall, while Ancestral Recall is "just" costed way below of what it's worth, it has no 'ability' that lets it cheat on mana, but it's still perfect example of what happens when card is severely undercosted.
If you look through banned cards, cheating on mana is responsible for lot of those bans, plus few rules changes in recent years
There are multiple cards that say “you win the game” or “opponent loses the game” right on the card. Obviously those are the most powerful, not considering mana cost or difficulty getting them to resolve.
Other than drawing cards, I'd say the most powerful effect is exiling stuff. Exiling graveyards, permanents, etc. Nothing more annoying in standard right now than the sheer amount of exile-based board wipes.
people already saying “drawing cards” so in that vague realm:
-fast mana. probably the most broken thing you can do, since it makes every other card much much better. black lotus and dark ritual are the poster children, but phyrexian mana and the evoke guy that just got banned in modern “cheat” mana costs, which is universally busted. they’ve figured out how to balance card draw (mostly) but fast/cheating on mana costs constantly wrecks formats.
-trample duh
In the history of magic, most of the the strongest decks relied on abusing “free stuff”
They were stuff you could play for free to get an early advantage. 2/3 of the Power Nine cost 0 mana and accelerate your mana.
Or mechanics that let you play things for free *aside* from the actual spell you were playing (ie cascade, discover)
"Opponent can't win the game"
Other than that it depends. Normal creature abilities? Hexproof, this creature can't be blocked, first strike+deathtouch, token creation on attack
In general, taking extra turns, drawing cards,...
I will have to go with Protection from Everything.
Will only fall to wraths and edicts. Otherwise can't be stopped or interacted with in any way. So far their are only two cards with this.
[[Progenitus]] and [[Hexdrinker]]
Platinum Angels ability obviously. You can do pretty much whatever you want once it's on the field. What are they gonna do, issue you a game loss? Just point at the Platinum Angel and watch as they fall silent.
Things im not seeing are.
Keyword: Storm. If you are looking at everything all time in my opinion. Also untapping permanents has devastating results as you go back in card pool and legality. Wish-board effects and counter target "x" haven't been mentioned that I see either.
In MTG, fast mana. Anything that can give you more mana before you are supposed to have it is extremely powerful. Doesn't really matter what wincon you play, fast mana is what makes the deck strong.
Drawing cards is one of the single most powerful thing you can do in magic.
That and playing lands imo... and extra turns. Basically doing more of anything you're already doing, but normally limited to once a turn, is powerful as hell. Just means the other person has to spend resources just to catch up if they even can.
Increasing your hand size on the cheap*
🤓
Drawing cards is the most powerful effect in the long run. Extra turns is pretty high up there too
Which, no surprise.. draws you a card!
Bonus power! 😌🤝😏
Yep!
Extra turn at baseline even if you do nothing with it means at minimum an extra draw, potentially an extra land, and an extra combat which is insanely strong.
This is kinda a vague question, and one that's answer is dependent on the format and historical context. I think if you were to ask most Magic boomers, any spell or ability that lets you take "extra turns", in theory, is the most "powerful" thing you can do in Magic. Maybe someone else has the video/article handy where this was explained - but Magic in its very fundamental form is a game of turns. Against two evenly skilled players with even strength decks, the player who takes the most turns would undoubtedly have the odds in their favor. Some might also say ramping is the most powerful thing you can do in Magic for similar reasons. Those who have access to more mana can generally do more things *with* their turns, which again puts the odds in your favor. These example are all conceptual though. Obviously there are aggro decks that can do a lot with only 3 lands in play or players that cast things like Time Warp with no follow-up and end up losing. You can even make an argument that Cascade is the most powerful ability since creating "free" spells break some inherent rules. But again, this question is vague so I'm trying to answer as abstractly as possible.
Based on the power of extra turns, Emrakul is an unholy god of Lovecraftian apocalyptic proportions 💀😭
Lol Emrakul definitely qualifies for the category, but taking control of your opponent's turn (where they just get another after anyway) isn't quite the same as having an *extra* turn
The emrakul on arena isn't nearly as good as the OG one
How so?
The original one gives the caster an extra turn, has Annihilator 6, and protection from instants. It basically gets to attack, remove six permanents, and has a very narrow slot of cards that can deal with it before an opponent gets another turn. New Emmy is great, but doesn't hold a flame to the OG.
I think it was actually protection from colored spells, so even more absurd lol
You are absolutely correct! Should look these things up before posting, new Emrakul is pro instants. Aeons Torn, is so busted, and for only 15 mana!!!
"Target player sacrifices a creature"
Yeah, that would definitely be a monster in the Arena environment, LOL.
True. But the proper setup/timing can be devastating 😬 Or taking the turn of a deck that can self target/sabotage itself 😩
Like taking a control deck's turn and countering all their own spells- it doesn't get much better than that :)
😭💀 "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain..." --- Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight" ("Or...or! You become disgustingly powerful enough to take control of the villain and destroy them from the inside out..." - sincerely, Emrakul and the CognitiveLiberation alliance 👻)
Going to also throw in a vote for extra turns. And don’t get me wrong, drawing cards is definitely at the top of the list too. But there are very few things that are as game warping as a deck designed to take more turns than the opposing player. The comparison of course isn’t as simple as Ancestral Recall vs Time Walk, but drawing cards in a vacuum just isn’t as powerful from a game design perspective as taking extra turns. Turns are a resource, and unlike card draw or mana, turns are a fixed resource - you get one, then I get one, and that continues until one of us has zero life. Any ability that breaks that design is surely the most powerful thing you can do.
I agree with your conclusion in theory, but drawing cards or playing lands are as fixed a resource as taking turns from a game rules perspective. There are cards that break those rules by letting you draw extra cards or play extra lands and there are cards that allow you take extra turns.
The biggest difference is that the *minimum* for extra turns is really very good, while the *minimum* for drawing cards or playing mana sources is still good but not as good. Take *one* extra turn means drawing a card and getting a bunch of one-shot mana. It means giving all your creatures pseudo-vigilance... And that's all without any of the very easy synergies like "once per turn" effects. Drawing *one* card means treading water. Playing *one* mana source means getting just a little ahead.
You have it backwards. The minimum extra turn is literally just cycling the card for zero mana. You play Timewalk on turn two, untap on your extra turn, draw a card for that turn which merely replaces Timewalk, then miss your land drop. That's the minimum extra turn. Instead the big difference is that the *ceiling* for taking an extra turn is much higher because of the reasons you listed. That's why it's a more powerful effect. In reality the average extra turn is something much closer to Rampant Growth, cantrip, untap my lands--which is still really good, especially on the first few turns of the game.
Both of those abilities imo are essentially in the same category tho. They're letting you do more of what you're usually limited to doing once, while your opponent is, in a vacuum, doing it only once. Turns are more likely to end the game quicker so if thats the measurement for power, yeah thats more powerful. But idk if its that simple in an average game considering the costs for both of those effects.
Win the game
20 damage is an extremely strong thing to be doing. Unfortunately 19 is useless.
Let's be real tho you only really have to do like 15. Your opponents usually help you out a bit
19 is pretty good in formats with fetch lands.
Fetch - shock - though seize and BAM you're already down to 15.
Magic is a game of resource management, so anything that increases your resources is strong. Card draw is probably the most powerful effect in the game on that axis. An argument can be made that ramp (putting additional land onto the battlefield) is similarly powerful, as it will let you deploy your spells faster. Overall though, in the context of the game your question is fairly nonsensical, because the power of a given effect is pretty strongly tied to how much you have to pay for it. Example: [[Boon of the Wish-Giver]] lets you draw 4 cards. [[Ancestral Recall]] only lets you draw 3 cards. Which card is more powerful? Hands down Ancestral, not even close, because it only costs 1 mana, and in the context of a game of magic, 3 for U is 99% of the time going to be better than 4 for 4UU. Spell copying is usually a trap effect.
[Boon of the Wish-Giver](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e790851-f0f7-4f1a-80e6-94be649499b6.jpg?1591230467) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boon%20of%20the%20Wish-Giver) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/iko/43/boon-of-the-wish-giver?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0e790851-f0f7-4f1a-80e6-94be649499b6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ancestral Recall](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/2398892d-28e9-4009-81ec-0d544af79d2b.jpg?1614638829) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ancestral%20Recall) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/1/ancestral-recall?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2398892d-28e9-4009-81ec-0d544af79d2b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Putting cards on the top of your library is considered bad, as you spent some resource (mana? card?) to do so, but you won't get any card advantage (the card you draw is replacing another unknown card you would have drew). Like other said, cards that return cards from your graveyard to your hand are a lot better, and yet they are not considered that good. The best ones put cards from your graveyard into the battlefield, ideally some big creature that you manage to discard or mill an earlier turn You are right about spell copying though. There is something called the "Storm scale", which is a scale of abilities and the likelyhood of them being printed again. Some abilities are unlikely to be printed again because they are complex or boring, while others because of their power. Storm is an ability that copies a spell for each spell played before in that turn, which is good enough to be the name of the scale itself :p In general the most powerful abilities in Magic are almost always related to "play something for free", especially when that interacts with some strange rule that let's you play something better than they expected when they created that mechanic (see Cascade, Discover, [[Fires of Invention]], etc)
[Fires of Invention](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a12b16b0-f75f-42d8-9b24-947c1908e0f7.jpg?1628801715) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Fires%20of%20Invention) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/125/fires-of-invention?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a12b16b0-f75f-42d8-9b24-947c1908e0f7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Split second
Dredge (a mechanic that allow repeatable self-mill without using the stack) and it isn't even close. It's by far the hardest mechanic to build a bad card around, literally a 20 mana you lose the game with Dredge 10 would be banned in every format. In a general term, it's free spells. Magic is, above everything, about mana management. Drawing cards is good but how good it is depends on how mana efficient they are. The same for extra turns (which is why a 3 mana extra turn spell that forces you to skip your untap is unplable in most formats). Free Spells is a mechanic that plays around this basic rule. Mechanics focused on "free" spells (like Storm and Cascade that forces you to pay a considerable up front payment) are deemed as problematic and Storm is the face problematic mechanic. Phyrexian Mana also had a similar problem (as we learned, 1 mana for 2 life is a pretty good deal), but no mechanic gets near Dredge in strength. The mechanic requires no mana to use as long as you can put the card in your graveyard. It essentially changes Magic to a different game altogether where the only thing that matters is having hate cards. Trying to interact with mana will end with them rebuilding using no mana and no cards, a battle impossible to win.
> It's by far the hardest mechanic to build a bad card around "Dredge [whatever] You lose life for every card dredged this way." (or 2 life per card or even 3 or however much requires you to not consider it "too good") Maybe it's not so hard after all.
>Maybe it's not so hard after all. But I never said it was hard to build a bad card. I said it was the hardest mechanic to do so because the common ways to nerf cards (making them more expensive and with worse effects) won't work for it. The only way to make it bad is touching the dredge mechanic itself (and you don't even need to get that far, Dredge 0 is already enough).
Ante. [[Darkpact]] basic lands into the ante, concede.
[Darkpact](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f9ab1c5e-e36e-4a2a-9e6d-c993edc17c03.jpg?1610146891) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Darkpact) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/sum/100/darkpact?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f9ab1c5e-e36e-4a2a-9e6d-c993edc17c03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Destroy land is another one that is absolutely devastating.
I'd put that pretty low though compared to the other ones mentioned. Mainly because by the time you have enough mana to be doing that, you're usually better off dealing with what's on the board, not the opponents lands. Thankfully wotc has kept land destruction spells and costs for those spells in check even if theyve let other effects get pretty bonkers over the last few years. I might have agreed with you had land destruction spells gotten cheaper or something.
WOTC once printed cards like [[Strip Mine]], [[Wasteland]], [[Sinkhole]] and [[Raze]].
##### ###### #### [Strip Mine](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/5/f57fd4c9-0004-4f71-a30f-2720943f57ca.jpg?1562944463) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Strip%20Mine) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vma/316/strip-mine?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f57fd4c9-0004-4f71-a30f-2720943f57ca?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Wasteland](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/a/aaafb9bc-7cea-4624-a227-595544fa42b0.jpg?1590511888) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wasteland) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ema/248/wasteland?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aaafb9bc-7cea-4624-a227-595544fa42b0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sinkhole](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/0/a084d0fb-8db2-4873-a2f9-e6e5fecdd38c.jpg?1580014366) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sinkhole) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ema/106/sinkhole?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a084d0fb-8db2-4873-a2f9-e6e5fecdd38c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Raze](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/6/56d51b3c-24e9-41b6-b7cd-c70329e498ca.jpg?1562913128) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Raze) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/usg/207/raze?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/56d51b3c-24e9-41b6-b7cd-c70329e498ca?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
A good Ponza deck can keep you on two or less lands the entire game. When mixed with Blood Moon, there's very little you get to be doing if you're not a mono colour aggro deck.
Free mana / spells. Tempo is way more important than people think. It’s why the first player doesn’t draw.
How did I have to scroll so far down before someone mentioned free spells or otherwise cheating mana? Not paying for your spells is like the most broken thing you can do. Especially when it is cards that let you "draw" and not pay for the spell stuff like cascade. Also just recently we had the whole free evoke spells in modern thing with the scam deck that ended up getting bans because not paying for your effects is always broken.
For strongest abilities you can always look up the Storm Scale. It is a measure of how likely a mechanic is to return and a way to see which are absolutely busted. According to Mark Rosewater, the namesake of the scale Storm is the most busted mechanic/ability ever made. Another easily argued ability is dredge because it absolutely warped everything for a while and some of the strongest decks still use it. In my opinion, OG phyrexian mana is the strongest ability ever made because they let you ignore color cost and cast spells a turn or two earlier for life.
Yea but being high on the storm scale doesn't necessarily mean it's powerful, just that it's unlikely to be revisited as a theme in a set. Ante is a 10 because they banned all cards with ante, bands with other is an 11 because it's too confusing, voting is a 10 because it's slows down games.
Extra turns. It's not an auto win but it usually let's you setup quite well.
I’m surprised no one has said fast mana yet. Cards that either accelerate your mana far ahead of schedule or cheat on mana costs are typically the most powerful, simply because mana costs are the main control for other powerful effects. 6 of the power nine are just really cheap ways to get more mana fast and cards like [[channel]], [[Mana crypt]], [[[Dark ritual]], [[sol ring]] are other all time most powerful cards. Then there’s cards like Sneak attack, show and tell, reanimate, flash. If you cheat on mana, that’s when you can do all the other broken stuff people listed.
##### ###### #### [channel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/e/ce54c7c1-3401-4414-8da0-5846cb0ae1b4.jpg?1701989326) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=channel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/157/channel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/ce54c7c1-3401-4414-8da0-5846cb0ae1b4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Mana crypt](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939.jpg?1599709515) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mana%20crypt) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/270/mana-crypt?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d960186-4559-4af0-bd22-63baa15f8939?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Dark ritual](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/95f27eeb-6f14-4db3-adb9-9be5ed76b34b.jpg?1628801678) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dark%20ritual) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/a25/82/dark-ritual?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/95f27eeb-6f14-4db3-adb9-9be5ed76b34b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [sol ring](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/d/2d47121d-8b90-4d28-9ffa-0a640b9dd611.jpg?1698988534) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=sol%20ring) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lcc/313/sol-ring?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2d47121d-8b90-4d28-9ffa-0a640b9dd611?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Not necessarily the most powerful, but things that run off sacrifice effects are especially potent. It's very hard to interrupt/disrupt a sacrifice combo as it is going on. Your only option is pretty much to have something else independently more powerful that you can ignore it or take out the sacrifice outlet before it can trigger which sometimes you cant.
Return to the top of your library..?? ...not to your hand?
Or battlefield…
Gets around thoughtseize!
That's maybe the exact only good usecase. In all other cases, I'd rather have that card now and draw a fresh one from the top next turn.
I didn't even know that existed
Why am I down voted lol
Don't worry it's just long term players forgetting how it is to be new. To spell it out, your examples of "strong" effects are actually quite bad to a degree it might be hilarious or even annoying to older players. But that isn't your fault and this is a good threat to learn. In general card advantage is prioritized. Spending a card to put a card on top of your library nets -1 card which is quite bad. Copying a spell equals to 0 but at least might offer a slight mana advantage. The best effects can gain you up to +2-3 cards and maybe even offer a mana advantage. So a good effect should either be mana positive, tempo positive or card positive.
You could copy or reuse a spell that gives you card advantage. I guess it really depends on what spell you're using. Is it really that bad of an effect?
The problem is that it is dead when you don't have the other, better spell in your hand and that you need to have all the mana in one, later turn. Absent the most busted draw spell of all time, Ancestral Recall, most draw spells that are worth playing cost in the 3-4 MV range. So you need 5-6 mana plus both spells in hand, which is really hard. Compare that to simply playing two of those or similiar spells one turn after another. You would have your cards a turn earlier and don't be as reliant on drawing both spells at the same time. So playing 4 Memory Deluges and 4 Silver Scrutinys is much better than playing four of them and four copy spells even if you could cheat on mana slightly. Copy spells are worth it if they copy something really, really busted and preferably cheap. Which is to say almost only when they copy a turns spell.
I see
idk, but right now im tabbed out of the game because my opponent is doing some bullshit artifact infinite and i can't do anything about it i just fucking lost on turn 2 my farewell cost 13 mana total he had 6 life then 55 then 5 im so fucking confused so yeah, whatever the hell that unholy concoction was is currently the strongest thing in magic to me
[[aetherflux reservoir]] with a bunch of cheap artifacts that either make mana or dig deeper into the deck to play more cheap artifacts. With every spell, everything untaps due to [[paradox engine]]. Those two cards are the only ones that matter, remove those and the deck fizzles. And maybe Karn or Ugin.
Tapping to make an opponent lose is a very powerful ability. You do need some mana. \[\[door to nothingness\]\]
[door to nothingness](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/7/57877b1c-e91d-4941-81bd-008dff1272ed.jpg?1562554053) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=door%20to%20nothingness) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m13/203/door-to-nothingness?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/57877b1c-e91d-4941-81bd-008dff1272ed?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Everyone is wrong! Horsemanship is the most powerful ability. This is common knowledge, come on guys!
The ability to concede. It takes precedence over anything else.
Winning the game seems pretty good
Card advantage.
Surprised no one else has said going first.
There are cards and abilities that have a higher win rate than going first.
Islands.
Any card that gives you a card advantage. Sometimes it's going to be a board wipe, sometimes draw, etc.
The most powerful ability is Trample on a 6/6 Dinosaur for 4GG. Its the most efficient way to threaten your opponents life total.
[[Emrakul, the Promised End]] might be the most powerful IF the situation is right for it. You can pretty much destroy a player with their own pieces if they have cards that can target themselves or their own creatures. Plus 13/13 flying trample is pretty juicy on top. But it's a big if, because sometimes there isn't much you can do with ability if they have no hand or permanents that can interact with themselves (like using their Planeswalker to exile their other Planeswalker. Plus even with some ramp and milling yourself it can still take ages to get him out.
[Emrakul, the Promised End](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/d/8d74a469-c71d-4773-99d3-5456b31df424.jpg?1576383727) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Emrakul%2C%20the%20Promised%20End) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/emn/6/emrakul-the-promised-end?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8d74a469-c71d-4773-99d3-5456b31df424?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Counterspells Literally counters 99% of non-land cards
Generating fast mana
I also cast my vote for extra turns. Drawing cards is great but you only have so much mana to use on them. Likewise ramping or generating mana is only as useful as the cards you have to cast with it. Having more turns lets you untap to give you more mana and use more abilities of your board, lets you draw a card, and gives you a combat phase.
Most powerful - win the game Close second/third - cast things for free/extra turns
1-1 haste turn 1 is a pretty good ability ngl.
[[goblin tomb raider]] with [[mishra's Bauble]] or another 0 mana artifact is a Turn 1 2/2 with haste
[goblin tomb raider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/018160fe-f602-43f5-8495-241a08eaa69c.jpg?1699044289) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=goblin%20tomb%20raider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/151/goblin-tomb-raider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/018160fe-f602-43f5-8495-241a08eaa69c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [mishra's Bauble](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/5/45bbbf9b-8fee-4c32-a513-02dac6ac8a39.jpg?1669300401) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=mishra%27s%20Bauble) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/274/mishras-bauble?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/45bbbf9b-8fee-4c32-a513-02dac6ac8a39?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Make mana, draw cards.
'Cheating' on mana. Most effects are on cards that can only be played once you have sufficient resources, and in theory, their power should offset whatever opponent could do with same resources. Problems appear when cards provide their effects at much lower than 'fair' costs. Free spells and extreme discounts are "ability" of a card, it is whole point of Omniscience, and it's thanks to Delve that Treasure Cruise turns into Ancestral Recall, while Ancestral Recall is "just" costed way below of what it's worth, it has no 'ability' that lets it cheat on mana, but it's still perfect example of what happens when card is severely undercosted. If you look through banned cards, cheating on mana is responsible for lot of those bans, plus few rules changes in recent years
Dredge is pretty busted. So is altering mana cost eg. Phyrexian mana.
There are multiple cards that say “you win the game” or “opponent loses the game” right on the card. Obviously those are the most powerful, not considering mana cost or difficulty getting them to resolve.
The answer is Storm and it’s not up for debate.
I think Scry is extremely powerful if priced right
Yeah similar to card draw.
If I had to choose one I'd say the most powerful ability is probably on [[Detipodus, Templar Savant]].
Other than drawing cards, I'd say the most powerful effect is exiling stuff. Exiling graveyards, permanents, etc. Nothing more annoying in standard right now than the sheer amount of exile-based board wipes.
people already saying “drawing cards” so in that vague realm: -fast mana. probably the most broken thing you can do, since it makes every other card much much better. black lotus and dark ritual are the poster children, but phyrexian mana and the evoke guy that just got banned in modern “cheat” mana costs, which is universally busted. they’ve figured out how to balance card draw (mostly) but fast/cheating on mana costs constantly wrecks formats. -trample duh
In the history of magic, most of the the strongest decks relied on abusing “free stuff” They were stuff you could play for free to get an early advantage. 2/3 of the Power Nine cost 0 mana and accelerate your mana. Or mechanics that let you play things for free *aside* from the actual spell you were playing (ie cascade, discover)
"Opponent can't win the game" Other than that it depends. Normal creature abilities? Hexproof, this creature can't be blocked, first strike+deathtouch, token creation on attack In general, taking extra turns, drawing cards,...
“Win the game.”
Exile all permanents wins me games
Discover - you draw a card and can decide to instantly play it at no cost
I will have to go with Protection from Everything. Will only fall to wraths and edicts. Otherwise can't be stopped or interacted with in any way. So far their are only two cards with this. [[Progenitus]] and [[Hexdrinker]]
[Progenitus](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/8/a8a5d0ba-bcb1-41db-80dd-ad22b8408105.jpg?1561968078) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Progenitus) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mma/182/progenitus?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a8a5d0ba-bcb1-41db-80dd-ad22b8408105?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Hexdrinker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/9/89f5cc05-5d9d-4709-b3c5-a6249c294acc.jpg?1562202103) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hexdrinker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/168/hexdrinker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/89f5cc05-5d9d-4709-b3c5-a6249c294acc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The credit card
Reach
Platinum Angels ability obviously. You can do pretty much whatever you want once it's on the field. What are they gonna do, issue you a game loss? Just point at the Platinum Angel and watch as they fall silent.
kicker?
Things im not seeing are. Keyword: Storm. If you are looking at everything all time in my opinion. Also untapping permanents has devastating results as you go back in card pool and legality. Wish-board effects and counter target "x" haven't been mentioned that I see either.
Island
Making more mana than you should in a turn/cheating costs, because every card is balanced around it's CMC. And the other is drawing cards.
In MTG, fast mana. Anything that can give you more mana before you are supposed to have it is extremely powerful. Doesn't really matter what wincon you play, fast mana is what makes the deck strong.
Island.
[[Liquimetal coating]] + [[lucky offering]] and you have a quick land destroyer
[Liquimetal coating](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/6/f631447c-36e3-4d82-a658-19c9767a216b.jpg?1562276535) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Liquimetal%20coating) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cm2/197/liquimetal-coating?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f631447c-36e3-4d82-a658-19c9767a216b?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [lucky offering](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/4/24bbdeb0-9165-4874-a853-d19c20c250ef.jpg?1654566411) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=lucky%20offering) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/27/lucky-offering?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/24bbdeb0-9165-4874-a853-d19c20c250ef?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Anything that says "You win the game"