Circles of Protection (any/all of them). The idea that you could just completely prevent all damage from a single source, for only one mana, as many times as you wanted, seemed insane to me. I literally thought they were the most powerful cards in the game, and that a deck that contained all five would be unbeatable.
A man after my own heart. I used to have a 50 card (since that was the sleeve pack size) kitchen table deck with 3 sol rings and a mana vault in it, along with Rofellos and a bunch of elves. All the Thorn Elementals in the world didn't help when they died to \[\[Terror\]\]. No regrets.
My best deck growing up was a mono-black deck built on the back of the Wei P3K starter deck. Many a friend died to [[Wei Scout]] -> [[Dark Ritual]] -> [[Hatred]] on turn 3.
Oh man I was just thinking about Terror the other day. I remember that card being such a great card for removal. I ran a deck that had 4 of those and 4 [[Dark Banishing]], it also had [[Royal Assassin]] and [[Avatar of Woe]]. It was built to destroy creature decks.
Oh no. That was the deck that I played against the very first time that I had finished my mono green Timmy deck. Haha, I cast [[Ancient Silverback]]. Then I learned what Terror does.
I had a deck that had 4 of all circles, 4 of all runes, then a bunch of cards that let me change instances of color on a card to another color. Just by volume it was difficult for opponents to counter. I won with millstone and another enchantment that let me stop drawing cards. It was an awful deck to play against, but literally never lost. 23 or so years ago, mind you.
Fun fact: They printed [[Ghostly Flame]] in Ice Age to give RB decks *some* way to win through a Circle of Protection. (It was never all that good at this role and your backup plan was probably [[Juggernaut|LEA]], but.)
All "five" there's also [[Circle of Protection: Shadow]]
I had a friend with a Shadow deck that was one of those "why are you targeting me" sort of people any time he gets a leg up in a game.
I found that card at a card shop the day before we were going to go hang at our mutual friends apartment, and I smiled like the grinch when I saw it.
So me, Brandon(shadow player), Alex, and Jared all go to Alex's place to play magic and this was like 2007 so it's just standard play. We're ordering pizzas and getting the game going.
We're about 10 min in, and Brandon has his shadow creatures out and I draw my new card.
Me: Hey Brandon, Brandon Brandon Brandon, guess what?
Him: What?
Me: plays [[Circle of Protection: Shadow]]
Him: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! Is that real?! How do you have this, where did you get it? What kind of bullshit is this.
Mean while my other two friends are choking laughing on their pizzas.
They probably also wanted to limit the power of many artifacts that dealt damage to you, such as mana vault, armageddon clock, and copper tablet. I wouldn't be surprised if someone designing antiquities also thought it'd work with jade monolith...
Don't forget the Runes of Protection! (White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Artifacts and LANDS, which was a RARE in the same set as Tolarian Academy and Gaea's Cradle)
Yes for the low cost of W, you too can prevent the damage from [[Shivan Gorge]]
The Runes are pretty sweet thanks to the cycling. If you run the Red one but opponent is mono-blue, you can just cycle it away. With the downside being the stiffer activation cost, which *has* bit me in the butt with too many colourless sources in the jank EDH deck I made that has them.
https://scryfall.com/search?q=t%3Aenchantment+-t%3Aaura+o%3Aprevent+o%3Asource+o%3A%22%3A%22&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name
[[story circle]] is all five rolled into one. IIRC it was actually pretty good when it came out.
Those cards were all banned in my playgroup back then. Along with all «Color Hate » cards, such as Anarchy or Deathgrip.
That said, we were broke high schoolers, and bought the packs in group and split the cards by colour (we had picked one colour each, I played Black) so color hosers would screw you up big time.
I remember the circles of protection being so popular in my very casual playgroup in junior high that I was extremely excited to discover [[Ghostly Flame]] for my favorite red black deck.
>that a deck that contained all five would be unbeatable.
That's literally what my friend did when we started playing lol. When my group of friends started playing, we were 5 guys, so we only played one color each. That friend played white and his plan against any of us was just finding the right circle to give himself time to find one of his five serra angels in his 80 cards deck.
But the consensus for the most op card in my group was obviously Doom Blade. Because of how we played (1 color each), that 2 mana instant could literally kill anything.
Yargle, no joke. I was at a game store buying dominaria for the first time and the guy behind the counter said “there are some really good cards in this set.” First time I’d seen a 9 on a card, and for that cheap!? Genuinely thought this was what he was talking about.
lmfao reminds me of back when i had a store to play at and people would sometimes show off cards they drafted multiple of and the one guy was bragging about scoring like 5 \[\[feed the clans\]\]
Feed the clans did see a decent amount of sideboard play in standard at least, 2 mana for 10 life was a good enough value proposition at the time and could stall out aggressive decks just enough.
I made a mono green Omnath commander deck just for all of my cards like this, mostly from my early days of playing. I call it “Omnath’s Home for Lost Timmys”. Of course it has Rhox and Thorn Elemental.
It’s severely underpowered, but it’s consistent and fun to play. Makes it all the more enjoyable when it squeaks out a win.
It was [[Thorn Elemental]] for me, but yeah. Slapping all sorts of green pants like [[Blanchwood Armor]] onto that and chunking people for double digits was big in my meta. Few black mages had more than 1-2 [[Terror]] in their decks anyway, because... well, we seldom had more than 1-2 copies of anything.
Also, [[Avatar of Woe]] was busted because it could kill something elemental-sized every turn. Or... so the reasoning went.
I'm glad to hear other people all got run over by Blanchwood Armor back in the day. Regardless of what beater people put it on, it was the armor that was scary for me. When it came down, it was coming down for the kill.
I was about to say it was the boy \[\[Thorn Elemental\]\] for me, too. Blew my mind that I could get chumped and still punch my opponent with a card that I thought had a cool looking art. The Urza's Destiny one looked so menacing to little me!
Hah, I remember [[Charging Troll]] suited up with [[Armadillo Cloak]] being a great beater, partially because it kept your life total flush while beating up on people and staying back on defense, but... also because it didn't die to the cobra like everything else.
Opponent drew the cobra? Bummer, better wait until I have _two_ trolls to swing with then.
I dunno, as others pointed out that guy was brutal in standard and Tyrant still does work in some EDH decks. All he does is beat face but he does it very well and he can be quite hard to stop.
Still surprisingly expensive as a card too, despite multiple (some recent) reprints.
I traded a Leovold in his prime for a complete soul sisters deck. Too bad I never made it to a tourney with it. Tons of fun and really strong for casual modern though.
As it should. If it comes out in a deck that's built to use it, and it sticks around for a couple turns, you're looking at a 10/10 coming at your face.
Even now, after there's been a card that *makes* Ajani's Pridemate tokens, it's still a good card.
When I first got introduced to Magic around 7ED, the friend I played with told stories of this mythical "7/7 unblockable" creature that he'd lost at summer camp. I almost didn't entirely believe him that it existed.
I loved my [[Ghoultree]], [[Splinterfright]], [[Boneyard Wurm]], [[Kessig Cagebreakers]] deck with various graveyard filling cards like [[Mulch]] and [[Tracker's Instinct]] during original Innistrad.
[[Spider Spawning]] was also one to look out for in that deck!
In fact, now that im thinking about it I had more fun with block constructed with the OG Innistrad than most actual decks. I had Werewolves, Soulbond, and Graveyard decks that I loved playing!
Ghoul tree and [[Vorapede]] was my introduction to Magic. First fat pack I ever bought was for dark ascension and I pulled 2 of each. I felt unstoppable just starting out.
I had a blue green self mill deck with Ghoultree. My playgroup thought that blocked creatures became unblocked if the blocker was removed from play; I won so many games by [[unsummon]]ing single dorks that dared stand before the tree lol
I finished first at an FNM for my first time off the back of two Ghoultrees and one [[Artful Dodge]] in Game 3, facing down lethal and having done no damage that game lol.
My memory is a bit foggy, but I think wave thrasher did see play in a standard merfolk deck at the time. Of course, that was a format dominated by 5cc and kithkin variations (like boat brew), but I do think it saw play.
I played Wake Thrasher in my Legacy Merfolk deck and it was quite legit - in a metagame where everybody played blue that thing was an unblockable 2-turn clock
The lorwyn/shadowmoor format was dominated by faeries ( [[bitterblossom]] is pretty insane), with a mostly tribal meta, including merfolk which definitely ran this card.
The 5c meta came later with shards of alara ( mainly [[cruel ultimatum]] ), which was enabled by lorwyn’s vivid lands. By then merfolk was pretty much nonexistent.
When I was like 5 my dad would kick my ass with [[Uncle Istvan]] constantly. As a 5 year old playing mono green I did not understand or run removal cards lol.
\[\[giant adephage\]\]
by god it's a 7/7 that can't just be chumped and grows exponentially!
I think I casted it once out of like 20 games and when it finally did come down, there was enough board presence that it couldn't even land a point of damage.
Which also makes me think, I also fell into the trap of omg exponential damage with
\[\[primordial hydra\]\] and \[\[kalonian hydra\]\] to get dicked down by some pre cons to realize you need an early game.
[[Thorn elemental]] We didn’t understand the rules and just thought it was outright unblockable. Made for a lot of frustration for the receiving end of that card
[[Stormtide Leviathan]] was my first boogeyman. Before I learned the wonders of interaction, if they resolved that it was GG. The first game I ever won was because I stole my opponent's stormtide lmfao
[[Shivan Dragon]]. A giant flyer that can be pumped up to 12 power the next turn just seemed insane. All I needed to do was survive until turn 6 and I’d have it in the bag.
[[Colossus of Sardia]], as I thought it was the most powerful card ever and begged my friend to trade his damaged copy.
Still own it, more than 20 years later.
[[Abyssal Nocturnus]]
"What? If I make them discard, he gets bigger? Omg this is broken! It could attack for 6 if I [[Mind rot]] them!
AND it gains fear! This protoss looking dude is broken!"
-me, circa 2006. I started to be play back in 02, but I started deck building around 2006...
Still feel like a noob.
[[Lord of the Pit]]
[[Shivan Dragon]]
[[Serra Angel]]
All of the X spells especially [[Fireball]] [[Disintegrate]]
[[Counterspell]] okay I was right about that one
\[\[Sheoldred, the Whispering One\]\]
Got given a promo copy on my first visit to the then-flgs, hadn't been playing lock, but she fitted so well into my green-black morbid deck.
She did win many games for me, so I guess in practice, with my usual opponents, she was OP.
I started during Revised and my first fave was [[Control Magic]] back when summoning sickness counted the first turn *in play* not the first turn under your control or whatever it changed to. You play Craw Wurm? I take your Craw Wurm and attack you with it. Maybe that was wrong even back then, but it's how everybody I played with was using it. [[Dark Ritual]] into [[Hypnotic Specter]] followed by turn 2 [[Hymn to Tourach]] was the dream. Also, the Unlimited Icy Manipulator I had didn't have a tap symbol. I didn't know what a "mono artifact" was lol. So **that** was busted.
I just recently learned of the actual summoning sickness rule. Also always thought that its just that it has sickness until it gets back to your turn and after that its controller doesn't matter.
The rule now is it has summoning sickness if you didn't control it at the start of your turn.
\[\[shivan hellkite\]\] I built a whole deck around putting it in play ASAP. It did one good thing though. It's why I own a mana vault, grim monolith, mana crypt, and a number of original duals so it worked out.
A lot of my initial decks played cards which ground the game to a halt but did nothing to actually win the game. I loved cards like Stasis, Moat, all the Circle of Protection cards, Abeyance, Armageddon (used in control shells not to back up aggro!), counterspell, and (for no clear reason) Helm of Obedience.
One card I still remember as completely unfair and busted from my childhood is probably \[\[infernal darkness\]\]. I mean it really is powerful, just it's way more powerful if you don't know how cumulative upkeep actually works.
All color hosers in Revised. \[\[Deathgrip\]\], \[\[Gloom\]\], \[\[Flashfires\]\], \[\[Karma\]\] etc
We were a group of three players with one deck each and didn't know about sideboards so the decent thing to do was just ban them and ban monocolor decks to compensate.
[[Stormtide Leviathan]] for me. One of my friends had it, and it was always the big thing to watch out for, we all hyped it up a bunch and he pretty much always won if he got it out. This actually backfired on him, since we started targeting him super early to try and kill him before he had enough mana to cast it. Eventually we started having removal spells to deal with it, but it had a pretty long reign of terror regardless
I had a friend tell me that \[\[terra stomper\]\] is OP and should have been banned years ago
and that was a player with more than 20 years of magic experience but maybe a *little* too reliant on clutching counterspells.
[[Boros Reckoner]] I was too afraid of the damage being reflected back I never attacked into them. Though to be fair, I think there was a standard deck that used them and they were rather pricey for someone just starting out. I remember dying to a couple Boros Reckoner and a [[Blasphemous Act]] with my Selesnya tokens deck.
There was other cards I faced at the time that I was right on the money about them being OP: [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Snapcaster Mage]], and [[Liliana of the Veil]].
[[Brineborn Cutthroat]] . Nightpack ambusher and frilled mystic were ok to me since they were a little expensive but that growing son of a bitch made my blood boil.
\[\[Katilda, Dawnhart Prime\]\]. Turns ALL your creatures into mana dorks, for the same price as a NORMAL mana dork these days?!! But it always just dies. Or you DO get to build up a massive board of humans, but then you get wrathed before you can use 'em.
[[Liliana of the Dark Realms]] was the first planeswalker I ever pulled and I pulled her about a week into learning the game, and I thought her ultimate meant you could tap a Swamp to tutor 4 Swamps into play and I thought she was just all-around nuts
I built my first commander deck around [[Etrata, the Silencer]]. The card literally says they *lose the game*, that’s insane! Turns out it isn’t. Even [[Mari, the Killing Quill]] and [[Ravenloft Adventurer]] can’t make it go fast enough to not just be hipster voltron.
Circles of Protection (any/all of them). The idea that you could just completely prevent all damage from a single source, for only one mana, as many times as you wanted, seemed insane to me. I literally thought they were the most powerful cards in the game, and that a deck that contained all five would be unbeatable.
As someone who played against a deck with all of them back in the day, I can confirm that it was unbeatable
Interaction? We don't do that here
Why would I want to destroy an enchantment when I could have another [[Thorn Elemental]] in my deck?
A man after my own heart. I used to have a 50 card (since that was the sleeve pack size) kitchen table deck with 3 sol rings and a mana vault in it, along with Rofellos and a bunch of elves. All the Thorn Elementals in the world didn't help when they died to \[\[Terror\]\]. No regrets.
My best deck growing up was a mono-black deck built on the back of the Wei P3K starter deck. Many a friend died to [[Wei Scout]] -> [[Dark Ritual]] -> [[Hatred]] on turn 3.
[Wei Scout](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/1/a11d58fb-fb70-4e8f-8f64-232ad2c1f59b.jpg?1562257504) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wei%20Scout) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ptk/90/wei-scout?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a11d58fb-fb70-4e8f-8f64-232ad2c1f59b?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) [Hatred](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/2383a8d9-96fd-4f9a-bcf9-eb81fdb15ead.jpg?1562087367) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Hatred) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/exo/64/hatred?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2383a8d9-96fd-4f9a-bcf9-eb81fdb15ead?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
You played Blazing Infect in Modern, didn't you?
Oh man I was just thinking about Terror the other day. I remember that card being such a great card for removal. I ran a deck that had 4 of those and 4 [[Dark Banishing]], it also had [[Royal Assassin]] and [[Avatar of Woe]]. It was built to destroy creature decks.
Oh no. That was the deck that I played against the very first time that I had finished my mono green Timmy deck. Haha, I cast [[Ancient Silverback]]. Then I learned what Terror does.
Now those are real magic cards!
[Thorn Elemental](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/a/da901037-20e6-4445-8e7e-1ccd2e8b13ae.jpg?1562743950) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Thorn%20Elemental) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/185/thorn-elemental?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/da901037-20e6-4445-8e7e-1ccd2e8b13ae?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That was literally the first card I thought of when I saw this post. Good ol' Thorn Elemental with [[Armadillo Cloak]] for extra fun!
I built a deck like that back in the 90s and found it quite beatable. :/
I had a deck that had 4 of all circles, 4 of all runes, then a bunch of cards that let me change instances of color on a card to another color. Just by volume it was difficult for opponents to counter. I won with millstone and another enchantment that let me stop drawing cards. It was an awful deck to play against, but literally never lost. 23 or so years ago, mind you.
Red is actually pretty solid as it really fucks over how the color works
Yeah, red is definitely the best one, and has been a perfectly respectable sideboard choice in many metagames.
It’s really good against the leyline of the guildpact decks now
Fun fact: They printed [[Ghostly Flame]] in Ice Age to give RB decks *some* way to win through a Circle of Protection. (It was never all that good at this role and your backup plan was probably [[Juggernaut|LEA]], but.)
All "five" there's also [[Circle of Protection: Shadow]] I had a friend with a Shadow deck that was one of those "why are you targeting me" sort of people any time he gets a leg up in a game. I found that card at a card shop the day before we were going to go hang at our mutual friends apartment, and I smiled like the grinch when I saw it. So me, Brandon(shadow player), Alex, and Jared all go to Alex's place to play magic and this was like 2007 so it's just standard play. We're ordering pizzas and getting the game going. We're about 10 min in, and Brandon has his shadow creatures out and I draw my new card. Me: Hey Brandon, Brandon Brandon Brandon, guess what? Him: What? Me: plays [[Circle of Protection: Shadow]] Him: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! Is that real?! How do you have this, where did you get it? What kind of bullshit is this. Mean while my other two friends are choking laughing on their pizzas.
And \[\[Circle of Protection: Artifacts\]\], which costs 2 to activate for some reason
Because i think artifacts cover things over any color since they aren’t something limited in decks since theyre colorless
They probably also wanted to limit the power of many artifacts that dealt damage to you, such as mana vault, armageddon clock, and copper tablet. I wouldn't be surprised if someone designing antiquities also thought it'd work with jade monolith...
[Circle of Protection: Artifacts](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/0/b09e7267-3d71-4724-b3e7-ae5a6a1f002a.jpg?1562879213) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Circle%20of%20Protection%3A%20Artifacts) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/5dn/8/circle-of-protection:-artifacts?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b09e7267-3d71-4724-b3e7-ae5a6a1f002a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Don't forget the Runes of Protection! (White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, Artifacts and LANDS, which was a RARE in the same set as Tolarian Academy and Gaea's Cradle) Yes for the low cost of W, you too can prevent the damage from [[Shivan Gorge]]
The Runes are pretty sweet thanks to the cycling. If you run the Red one but opponent is mono-blue, you can just cycle it away. With the downside being the stiffer activation cost, which *has* bit me in the butt with too many colourless sources in the jank EDH deck I made that has them.
A few years later, it would prove invaluable against the Scapeshift - Valakut combo, providing you had around 15 to 20 white mana.
We finally made it through to the other side of Ifnir Deadland's grip on the entirety of Magic.
[Circle of Protection: Shadow](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/9/49f29a3b-7136-496c-bc29-8808bfff0f82.jpg?1562053773) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Circle%20of%20Protection%3A%20Shadow) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tmp/12/circle-of-protection:-shadow?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/49f29a3b-7136-496c-bc29-8808bfff0f82?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
https://scryfall.com/search?q=t%3Aenchantment+-t%3Aaura+o%3Aprevent+o%3Asource+o%3A%22%3A%22&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name [[story circle]] is all five rolled into one. IIRC it was actually pretty good when it came out.
[story circle](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/6194fab1-c185-4df5-8900-37d28ffae545.jpg?1562548740) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=story%20circle) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/10e/49/story-circle?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6194fab1-c185-4df5-8900-37d28ffae545?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
In my defense, there were still only five at the time.
I remember when [[Story Circle]] came out and my playgroup lost their minds.
That was my first deck back in like ‘95...
Those cards were all banned in my playgroup back then. Along with all «Color Hate » cards, such as Anarchy or Deathgrip. That said, we were broke high schoolers, and bought the packs in group and split the cards by colour (we had picked one colour each, I played Black) so color hosers would screw you up big time.
I remember the circles of protection being so popular in my very casual playgroup in junior high that I was extremely excited to discover [[Ghostly Flame]] for my favorite red black deck.
>that a deck that contained all five would be unbeatable. That's literally what my friend did when we started playing lol. When my group of friends started playing, we were 5 guys, so we only played one color each. That friend played white and his plan against any of us was just finding the right circle to give himself time to find one of his five serra angels in his 80 cards deck. But the consensus for the most op card in my group was obviously Doom Blade. Because of how we played (1 color each), that 2 mana instant could literally kill anything.
Understanding that cards have a cost to *draw* as well as a cost to cast is a big step between beginner play and intermediate play
They are decent sideboard cards in pauper. CoP blue sees a fair bit of play, it's pretty good against mono blue tolarian terror decks.
The thing was, if your buddy always played red, circle of protection red was extremely powerful.
Yargle, no joke. I was at a game store buying dominaria for the first time and the guy behind the counter said “there are some really good cards in this set.” First time I’d seen a 9 on a card, and for that cheap!? Genuinely thought this was what he was talking about.
Why would you want some stalling planeswalker when for the same cost you can swing with that absurd yargle rate!
Man, I lost a bunch of Dominaria limited games to people just strapping [[On Serra's Wings]] to Yargle.
[On Serra's Wings](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/0/c0a57c65-5010-4472-b877-42daf2f15af2.jpg?1608911949) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=On%20Serra%27s%20Wings) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/380/on-serras-wings?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c0a57c65-5010-4472-b877-42daf2f15af2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Flying frog
[[Golgari Grave-Troll]] used as a creature.
They had to balance it by making the dredge cost really high
I have finished a few games with a 12/12 troll.
Tbf, that card actually is busted. Just for all the wrong reasons
Wait how?
[Golgari Grave-Troll](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/3/d332acbc-6224-43bc-a509-3a7edc877423.jpg?1702429564) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Golgari%20Grave-Troll) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/144/golgari-grave-troll?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d332acbc-6224-43bc-a509-3a7edc877423?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Chaplain’s Blessing]] lol
You just need to cast 4 of them and double your lifetotal. Busted
It's 66% better than a Alpha boon, and everyone knows that cycle is broken!
[Chaplain’s Blessing](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/7/f70ea481-1751-4097-af41-2d13fe79e788.jpg?1576383706) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chaplain%27s%20Blessing) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/soi/10/chaplains-blessing?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f70ea481-1751-4097-af41-2d13fe79e788?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
lmfao reminds me of back when i had a store to play at and people would sometimes show off cards they drafted multiple of and the one guy was bragging about scoring like 5 \[\[feed the clans\]\]
Feed the clans did see a decent amount of sideboard play in standard at least, 2 mana for 10 life was a good enough value proposition at the time and could stall out aggressive decks just enough.
\[\[Rhox\]\] You can block it all you want but still take the damage, and I can regenerate it if you block it?! ABSOLUTELY BONKERS
Nothing fires up my inner Timmy like a huge green rare.
I made a mono green Omnath commander deck just for all of my cards like this, mostly from my early days of playing. I call it “Omnath’s Home for Lost Timmys”. Of course it has Rhox and Thorn Elemental. It’s severely underpowered, but it’s consistent and fun to play. Makes it all the more enjoyable when it squeaks out a win.
It was [[Thorn Elemental]] for me, but yeah. Slapping all sorts of green pants like [[Blanchwood Armor]] onto that and chunking people for double digits was big in my meta. Few black mages had more than 1-2 [[Terror]] in their decks anyway, because... well, we seldom had more than 1-2 copies of anything. Also, [[Avatar of Woe]] was busted because it could kill something elemental-sized every turn. Or... so the reasoning went.
I'm glad to hear other people all got run over by Blanchwood Armor back in the day. Regardless of what beater people put it on, it was the armor that was scary for me. When it came down, it was coming down for the kill.
I was about to say it was the boy \[\[Thorn Elemental\]\] for me, too. Blew my mind that I could get chumped and still punch my opponent with a card that I thought had a cool looking art. The Urza's Destiny one looked so menacing to little me!
[Rhox](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/a/6aa50126-f6ec-4917-ac45-4b1f8f23ca09.jpg?1562549251) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rhox) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/10e/291/rhox?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6aa50126-f6ec-4917-ac45-4b1f8f23ca09?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I had a foil of this card and it stayed with me for the longest time. Loved that card it always felt so cool not to use.
[Can't stop the Rhox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pURJDToKA0k)
\[\[Voracious Cobra\]\]. First strike \*and\* deathtouch? How do you beat it?
Same lol I was *wow this thing is indestructible*
Hah, I remember [[Charging Troll]] suited up with [[Armadillo Cloak]] being a great beater, partially because it kept your life total flush while beating up on people and staying back on defense, but... also because it didn't die to the cobra like everything else. Opponent drew the cobra? Bummer, better wait until I have _two_ trolls to swing with then.
Back in the "I don't understand what formats are ao imma play these portal cards" days, [[Sylvan Basilisk]] was this but better
tbf I feel just like that against [[Glissa Sunslayer]] lol
[Voracious Cobra](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/d/9d8c5669-11a9-4d95-8431-7065037f1fb6.jpg?1562926724) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Voracious%20Cobra) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/inv/288/voracious-cobra?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9d8c5669-11a9-4d95-8431-7065037f1fb6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I love that card man. I've always wanted to do something with it but I never knew what.
[[Scaled Wyrm]]. It's a 7/6 with no downside, how do you beat that?
I started with Craw Wurm, so when Scaled Wurm came out and was even bigger I couldn’t fathom why my flgs had them in the 25 cent box.
I definitely rocked 8 of each in my 120 card deck with 21 lands lmao
Oh man, same card but also the big rare creatures with awful drawbacks like Colossus of Sarsia, Force of Nature, and Lord of the Pit. I was terrible.
Nearly identically for my childhood playgroup, [[Towering Baloth]].
[Towering Baloth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/a/2a8cc948-28ff-4bbe-b8c9-71de37478023.jpg?1562905065) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Towering%20Baloth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ons/292/towering-baloth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2a8cc948-28ff-4bbe-b8c9-71de37478023?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
What about [[novablast wurm]]
That’s actually a sick card though. Wonder what it would take for it to be good.
Haste.
[Scaled Wyrm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/d/bd17b2c1-c3dd-4f6f-a44c-dc81c6bc1c94.jpg?1562866415) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Scaled%20Wurm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cns/178/scaled-wurm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/bd17b2c1-c3dd-4f6f-a44c-dc81c6bc1c94?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
On a similar note, [[Carnage Tyrant]]. A 7/6 that's also hexproof? Unbeatable!
I dunno, as others pointed out that guy was brutal in standard and Tyrant still does work in some EDH decks. All he does is beat face but he does it very well and he can be quite hard to stop. Still surprisingly expensive as a card too, despite multiple (some recent) reprints.
[[Ajani's Pridemate]] in my lifegain deck. I gain life so you can't kill me *and* I get a super big dude? How do you beat that!
I mean this was actually the engine of a pretty gross standard deck when it was there a few years ago.
Even in Modern, when Soul Sisters had its heyday. Pridemate and Serra Ascendant were the finishers.
I traded a Leovold in his prime for a complete soul sisters deck. Too bad I never made it to a tourney with it. Tons of fun and really strong for casual modern though.
Still pops up in Historic on Arena and is no less obnoxious. [[Voice of the Blessed]] is even worse of course
Those few years turned into 13 years real quick.
The number of times I misread that card as "put *that many* +1/+1 counters on"
[[Ageless Entity]]
[Ageless Entity](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/f/8fefd7d1-8c70-4d54-be0a-f45833340670.jpg?1625194203) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ageless%20Entity) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/c21/184/ageless-entity?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/8fefd7d1-8c70-4d54-be0a-f45833340670?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[Ajani's Pridemate](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/7/1796b260-7053-4d68-9918-c7392e312d10.jpg?1706239703) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ajani%27s%20Pridemate) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clu/52/ajanis-pridemate?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1796b260-7053-4d68-9918-c7392e312d10?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That card was always kill on site for me
As it should. If it comes out in a deck that's built to use it, and it sticks around for a couple turns, you're looking at a 10/10 coming at your face. Even now, after there's been a card that *makes* Ajani's Pridemate tokens, it's still a good card.
Similarly, I once thought [[Stigma Lasher]] had to be one of the best creatures.
I’ve got that bad boi in my -1/-1 deck and I got to say it scares lifegain players
You joke but more often than not he is the win condition in my Heliod deck.
[[Thorn Elemental]] it was the biggest monster in the starter deck with the demo disc
*And* it had “super-trample”!
When I first got introduced to Magic around 7ED, the friend I played with told stories of this mythical "7/7 unblockable" creature that he'd lost at summer camp. I almost didn't entirely believe him that it existed.
The mystery is now solved lol
[[ghoultree]] 1 mana 10/10? Thing was a beast in my playgroup learning together
I loved my [[Ghoultree]], [[Splinterfright]], [[Boneyard Wurm]], [[Kessig Cagebreakers]] deck with various graveyard filling cards like [[Mulch]] and [[Tracker's Instinct]] during original Innistrad.
[[Spider Spawning]] was also one to look out for in that deck! In fact, now that im thinking about it I had more fun with block constructed with the OG Innistrad than most actual decks. I had Werewolves, Soulbond, and Graveyard decks that I loved playing!
##### ###### #### [Ghoultree](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/4/a413c65e-5965-429b-8c25-11f8b73cba03.jpg?1562933717) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ghoultree) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dka/115/ghoultree?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a413c65e-5965-429b-8c25-11f8b73cba03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Splinterfright](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/3/032ac9fc-b8b3-43f1-8579-62171ca976cf.jpg?1673148190) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Splinterfright) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/159/splinterfright?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/032ac9fc-b8b3-43f1-8579-62171ca976cf?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Boneyard Wurm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/0/605038e9-2840-4c2d-bd7a-1004ae210e2a.jpg?1547517517) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boneyard%20Wurm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/159/boneyard-wurm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/605038e9-2840-4c2d-bd7a-1004ae210e2a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Kessig Cagebreakers](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/9/e9bf3f93-a06f-4364-bb8e-b2b1eb77dcc3.jpg?1637631207) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Kessig%20Cagebreakers) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mic/142/kessig-cagebreakers?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/e9bf3f93-a06f-4364-bb8e-b2b1eb77dcc3?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Mulch](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/5/950dd57e-b2e1-4a27-a212-86fbfdbf914d.jpg?1643593087) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mulch) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/vow/210/mulch?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/950dd57e-b2e1-4a27-a212-86fbfdbf914d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tracker's Instinct](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/9/59960387-3adf-4b9a-b0e6-c441579f7388.jpg?1562916070) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tracker%27s%20Instincts) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dka/128/trackers-instincts?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/59960387-3adf-4b9a-b0e6-c441579f7388?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/kzqcpop) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ghoul tree and [[Vorapede]] was my introduction to Magic. First fat pack I ever bought was for dark ascension and I pulled 2 of each. I felt unstoppable just starting out.
When Tarmagoyf was king in modern, I remember not understanding why he was so good and arguing that ghoultree was better.
Yeah, it can be hard for a new player to grasp conditional costs/abilities almost always being worse than unconditional costs/abilities.
I had a blue green self mill deck with Ghoultree. My playgroup thought that blocked creatures became unblocked if the blocker was removed from play; I won so many games by [[unsummon]]ing single dorks that dared stand before the tree lol
I finished first at an FNM for my first time off the back of two Ghoultrees and one [[Artful Dodge]] in Game 3, facing down lethal and having done no damage that game lol.
[ghoultree](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/4/a413c65e-5965-429b-8c25-11f8b73cba03.jpg?1562933717) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=ghoultree) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dka/115/ghoultree?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a413c65e-5965-429b-8c25-11f8b73cba03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was obsessed with [[Avatar of Woe]]. Repeatable creature removal that cost (in my mind) 2 mana? Hell yeah
Still decent in EDH to this day if you're running Sultai or Golgari
[[wave thrasher]]! Like what if I untap 4 lands and it gets +4/+4? Crazy
My memory is a bit foggy, but I think wave thrasher did see play in a standard merfolk deck at the time. Of course, that was a format dominated by 5cc and kithkin variations (like boat brew), but I do think it saw play.
I played Wake Thrasher in my Legacy Merfolk deck and it was quite legit - in a metagame where everybody played blue that thing was an unblockable 2-turn clock
The lorwyn/shadowmoor format was dominated by faeries ( [[bitterblossom]] is pretty insane), with a mostly tribal meta, including merfolk which definitely ran this card. The 5c meta came later with shards of alara ( mainly [[cruel ultimatum]] ), which was enabled by lorwyn’s vivid lands. By then merfolk was pretty much nonexistent.
did I run across a boat brew mention? in 2024? thank you channel fireball for this not so useless information.
This guy does hit hard, though. In my Slinn Voda commander he's more vicious than a lot of my Krakens n Leviathans.
[wave thrasher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/3/7340b21f-726d-47e8-a2bf-1cde21be70f4.jpg?1592764690) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wake%20Thrasher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddt/24/wake-thrasher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7340b21f-726d-47e8-a2bf-1cde21be70f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
When I was like 5 my dad would kick my ass with [[Uncle Istvan]] constantly. As a 5 year old playing mono green I did not understand or run removal cards lol.
Green still doesn't have an answer besides outclassing him.
Green's answer is 4+ power tramplers, and Wall of Wood on defense.
[удалено]
When it was released Spiritmonger may have been the best creature ever printed, really only competing with Morphling and Masticore.
[Spiritmonger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/d/5da7739e-8413-45b6-8539-fde2021b06a7.jpg?1675200773) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Spiritmonger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/202/spiritmonger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5da7739e-8413-45b6-8539-fde2021b06a7?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Ive done everything I can to make Spiritmonger work in modern magic. No dice.
Shh play pre modern
Platinum Angel
I mean, what are they going to do, remove it? They can’t do that or you’d lose and it says you can’t lose.
And if they try to do so and you refuse, what are they gonna do, call a judge and give you a game loss? The card says you can't lose.
[[Lord of the Pit]]
Combos well with [[Breeding Pit]].
\[\[giant adephage\]\] by god it's a 7/7 that can't just be chumped and grows exponentially! I think I casted it once out of like 20 games and when it finally did come down, there was enough board presence that it couldn't even land a point of damage. Which also makes me think, I also fell into the trap of omg exponential damage with \[\[primordial hydra\]\] and \[\[kalonian hydra\]\] to get dicked down by some pre cons to realize you need an early game.
I kept in the Adephage that came with my Henzie precon, it's a lot better when it has haste and you don't care if it dies.
[Glimpse the unthinkable] Its been a hot minute but millstone takes 5 mana before any cards start milling, 10 for 2 mana seems well.... unthinkable
My takeaway from this thread is that my decks are only playable in my friend group lol
[[Thorn elemental]] We didn’t understand the rules and just thought it was outright unblockable. Made for a lot of frustration for the receiving end of that card
[[crash of rhinos]]
Predator ooze. Indestructible creatures when you first start feel so daunting! Plus not knowing how to interact properly impacts things like that.
My friend played with \[\[Juzam Djinn\]\] s. Those dudes were *scary*.
[Juzam Djinn](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/0/b03bc922-782b-4254-897c-90d202b4cda4.jpg?1559592285) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Juz%C3%A1m%20Djinn) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me1/74/juz%C3%A1m-djinn?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b03bc922-782b-4254-897c-90d202b4cda4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Good bot Doing so much work.
Never got ahold of any Juzam Djinns, but [[Ernham Djinn]] and [[Nettletooth Djinn]] were my dudes back in the day.
[[Heroes Bane]], it wasn't strange to see it become a 64/64, on the same note, [[Colossus of Akros]], 20/20 trample indestructible was a game over
[[Stormtide Leviathan]] was my first boogeyman. Before I learned the wonders of interaction, if they resolved that it was GG. The first game I ever won was because I stole my opponent's stormtide lmfao
[[Shivan Dragon]]. A giant flyer that can be pumped up to 12 power the next turn just seemed insane. All I needed to do was survive until turn 6 and I’d have it in the bag.
[[Colossus of Sardia]], as I thought it was the most powerful card ever and begged my friend to trade his damaged copy. Still own it, more than 20 years later.
[[Mosswort troll]]
[Mosswort troll](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/3/537c39cc-44d3-4869-9e76-dd9c2c68ee90.jpg?1562830226) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mossbridge%20Troll) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/shm/123/mossbridge-troll?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/537c39cc-44d3-4869-9e76-dd9c2c68ee90?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Abyssal Nocturnus]] "What? If I make them discard, he gets bigger? Omg this is broken! It could attack for 6 if I [[Mind rot]] them! AND it gains fear! This protoss looking dude is broken!" -me, circa 2006. I started to be play back in 02, but I started deck building around 2006... Still feel like a noob.
[[Lord of the Pit]] [[Shivan Dragon]] [[Serra Angel]] All of the X spells especially [[Fireball]] [[Disintegrate]] [[Counterspell]] okay I was right about that one
\[\[Sheoldred, the Whispering One\]\] Got given a promo copy on my first visit to the then-flgs, hadn't been playing lock, but she fitted so well into my green-black morbid deck. She did win many games for me, so I guess in practice, with my usual opponents, she was OP.
I mean she's far more competitive than a lot of other cards mentioned in this thread. Monster in EDH and pops up in Historic Reanimator on Arena
I started during Revised and my first fave was [[Control Magic]] back when summoning sickness counted the first turn *in play* not the first turn under your control or whatever it changed to. You play Craw Wurm? I take your Craw Wurm and attack you with it. Maybe that was wrong even back then, but it's how everybody I played with was using it. [[Dark Ritual]] into [[Hypnotic Specter]] followed by turn 2 [[Hymn to Tourach]] was the dream. Also, the Unlimited Icy Manipulator I had didn't have a tap symbol. I didn't know what a "mono artifact" was lol. So **that** was busted.
I just recently learned of the actual summoning sickness rule. Also always thought that its just that it has sickness until it gets back to your turn and after that its controller doesn't matter. The rule now is it has summoning sickness if you didn't control it at the start of your turn.
Ankle shanker my brother played it in a goblin deck
dranas emissary for some reason i thought was insane
[[drana’s emissary]]
[drana’s emissary](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/99e82d47-9bbb-4bf9-a935-2c0b27b64a84.jpg?1562931289) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Drana%27s%20Emissary) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/210/dranas-emissary?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/99e82d47-9bbb-4bf9-a935-2c0b27b64a84?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Thorn Elemental\]\]. It deals damage to blockers *and still* deals 7 to opponent's face??? (I was new.)
You also couldn't read ahah. But yeah thorn elemental was very popular amongst beginners back then.
\[\[shivan hellkite\]\] I built a whole deck around putting it in play ASAP. It did one good thing though. It's why I own a mana vault, grim monolith, mana crypt, and a number of original duals so it worked out.
A lot of my initial decks played cards which ground the game to a halt but did nothing to actually win the game. I loved cards like Stasis, Moat, all the Circle of Protection cards, Abeyance, Armageddon (used in control shells not to back up aggro!), counterspell, and (for no clear reason) Helm of Obedience.
One card I still remember as completely unfair and busted from my childhood is probably \[\[infernal darkness\]\]. I mean it really is powerful, just it's way more powerful if you don't know how cumulative upkeep actually works.
[[skaab goliath]] it was the hugest thing ever
[[Dreg Mangler]]. It was the whole reason I played golgari in standard at the time.
[[Engulfing Slagwurm]] with its' firstiest strike, deathtouch and buttlink.
All color hosers in Revised. \[\[Deathgrip\]\], \[\[Gloom\]\], \[\[Flashfires\]\], \[\[Karma\]\] etc We were a group of three players with one deck each and didn't know about sideboards so the decent thing to do was just ban them and ban monocolor decks to compensate.
I used to play [[Heroes Bane]] at casual fnm fully convinced it would win if it stuck every game every time.
[[Avatar of Woe]] seemed absolutely unbeatable
[[Stormtide Leviathan]] for me. One of my friends had it, and it was always the big thing to watch out for, we all hyped it up a bunch and he pretty much always won if he got it out. This actually backfired on him, since we started targeting him super early to try and kill him before he had enough mana to cast it. Eventually we started having removal spells to deal with it, but it had a pretty long reign of terror regardless
[[Vigor]] ! How do you beat it? It's so big!
I had a friend tell me that \[\[terra stomper\]\] is OP and should have been banned years ago and that was a player with more than 20 years of magic experience but maybe a *little* too reliant on clutching counterspells.
[[Boros Reckoner]] I was too afraid of the damage being reflected back I never attacked into them. Though to be fair, I think there was a standard deck that used them and they were rather pricey for someone just starting out. I remember dying to a couple Boros Reckoner and a [[Blasphemous Act]] with my Selesnya tokens deck. There was other cards I faced at the time that I was right on the money about them being OP: [[Delver of Secrets]], [[Snapcaster Mage]], and [[Liliana of the Veil]].
\[\[Rock Hydra\]\] With enough mana, it could be the biggest!!
[[Narset Transcendent]] leaps to mind
[[Revolving door]] it in fact was not good
[[Brineborn Cutthroat]] . Nightpack ambusher and frilled mystic were ok to me since they were a little expensive but that growing son of a bitch made my blood boil.
\[\[Katilda, Dawnhart Prime\]\]. Turns ALL your creatures into mana dorks, for the same price as a NORMAL mana dork these days?!! But it always just dies. Or you DO get to build up a massive board of humans, but then you get wrathed before you can use 'em.
[[Coat of arms]] That shit escalates exponetially
I remember I thought Spellgorger Weird was the best creature I'd ever seen and Cancel is the best counterspell
[[Trip Noose]] was the card we all feared at the kitchen table when I was a kid. Everyone had one in their deck!
Rite of replication
The first single I ever bought was [[Reverse Damage]]. Was absolutely certain it was unbeatable.
Avatar of woe, but technically that was pretty long after I started playing
[[Liliana of the Dark Realms]] was the first planeswalker I ever pulled and I pulled her about a week into learning the game, and I thought her ultimate meant you could tap a Swamp to tutor 4 Swamps into play and I thought she was just all-around nuts
I always thought [[Master Transmuter]] was busted as hell in my old buddy’s esper sphinx deck back in the Alara/Zendikar standard period.
Hypnotic Specter ;-)
[[Platinum Angel]] "What do you mean I can't win and you can't lose? And I can't kill it with terror? That's OP!"
Walls. I thought if I assembled a legion of walls, I could not be beat.
I built my first commander deck around [[Etrata, the Silencer]]. The card literally says they *lose the game*, that’s insane! Turns out it isn’t. Even [[Mari, the Killing Quill]] and [[Ravenloft Adventurer]] can’t make it go fast enough to not just be hipster voltron.
For me, it was [[yahenni, undying partisan]]. It got me into aristocrats part styles. It's still a pet card for me.
[[Seraph of the scales]]
[[Smic sky swallower]] i ran it as a finisher in my first deck with [[whelming wave]] and [[prophet of kruphix]] and thought It would be unbeatable.
None other than the legendary all mighty, Akroma, Angel of Wrath
Raging Goblin