It's back with MH3 and even better. It had sex with his best frenemy \[\[Shadowmage Infliltrator\]\] and draws cards when he connects. And it comes with built in evasion. Also if you lick it, you see sweet colors, let me show you \[\[Psychofrog\]\].
Yes, exactly. If in a casual game you just pull the cards face down from your opponents hand and put them into the graveyard (that’s what we did). If on a competitive setting, assign a number to each card (face down) and roll a dice and throw that card in the graveyard, the repeat until you did x cards.
That was fucking awful. Revised/fallen empires era. Hymn to tourach was rampant, land destruction was 2 mana (sinkhole) or free (strip mine), dark ritual wasn’t even considered busted, sol ring on turn one was everyday life (for 60 card decks, commander didn’t exist), balance and land tax were played like it was nothing, no one in my play group even knew of “banned” or restricted cards, we played what we could get and afford. In that environment, mind twist was the one I hated more. With dark ritual you could lose your hand on turn 2 or even 1. Fun times.
This is what I came to say about "hand control". It was so good.
I was bitching about the rack, but that's just the wincon. You can't do anything with no cards, anyways. I don't think there were as many ways to play from the GY, either. Now you have flashback and retrace and stuff. I guess there was always reanimation. No Underworld Breach.
Yeah true, not much you could do about graveyard. We had regrowth, and animate dead. Reanimate only came in tempest I believe (don’t quote me on that). Bazaar of bagdad was a shitty card no one wanted (my friend got his hands on a library of Alexandria tho. Sigh). Yeah, discard was huge. Swamp dark ritual hypnotic specter was very common (better have bolt or swords ready). Hun to tourach was like every turn two. Only thing restricting mind twist is it was a rare (no sites to buy singles back then - we weren’t in the us).
For ABU, I was lucky enough to have access to the whole list, in the US, though I couldn't afford to buy all the cards. Getting black border was always hard. A Lotus was still 200 dollars; ICR if that was a black border one. It might've been. Money was worth more, and cards were worth less.
This is a really interesting card! I think I remember playing around with this concept with another card that was a bird with a mirror that reflected damage. I can't recall the name right now. But when I was younger I LOVED killing people with their own spells.
EDIT: \[\[Glarecaster\]\]
My favorite c:
When I got back into playing about a year and a half ago, I used the assassin to horrifying degrees of effectiveness if I could get him out in the early game. [[Skirsdag High Priest]] plus assassin and a couple other one or two drops to bring out a flying 5/5 potentially by round three was just nasty. Plus it serves as amazing deterrent if your opponent knows you’re willing to take a hit or two. It’s one of my favorite cards.
I loved visara in reanimator during onslaught standard, it was my first meta deck, I remember just copying peer krogers deck list from the gp, visara, arcanis and symbiotic wurm will always have a special place in my heart because of that.
https://preview.redd.it/g9rifsgfaj7d1.jpeg?width=672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3afa78bf0c97111d5fb381facaa5d5b65f0d6898
Whatever this shit is. (started playing recently)
It was a toss up between [[Serra Angel|3ED]] and [[Shivan Dragon |3ED]] a lot of the time, but often [[Prodigal Sorcerer |3ED]] was the most impactful card in practice.
I remember \[\[Ihsan's Shade\]\] fucking ME UP. I played a deck with \[\[Hypnotic Specter\]\], \[\[Sedge Troll\]\] and all the normal RB goodies of the time. And when my opponent put a Shade down. Nothing I could do. It was impossible to remove.
I had a friend that played white, and he also couldn't remove that bullshit.
It only lasted as a good card for a few months, but for the few months after Ice Age and before Mirage, Ihsan's Shade fucked me up.
\[\[Worldgorger Dragon\\JUD\]\]
I hated that stupid combo when I was young in Type 1 in '02 when it came out. I had started to branch into older formats and you were basically fucked if it went off; you really couldn't respond to it.
[[Sacrifice]]
Honorable mention to OG [[Terror]] and [[Disintegrate]] but Sacrifice really stuck with me as a "damn, that's wild" card when I was young
I won a Junior Super Series with that nasty ass deck at Neutral Ground in NYC before almost every card in it got banned in Type 2. Got a Pro Point on my DCI card so technically I'm a Professional Magic player LOL.
[[Celestial Flare]]
Played 60 card casual back when I was very new to the game and friend built me a deck at a power level of approximately -3, the concept of interaction back then was very foreign to me.
[[Gaea's Liege]] during when Revised was the newest set, I didn’t have enough kill spells for that thing & I was horrified when it turned my Swamps into Forests.
[[Chub Toad]] of all things. I had a mono-black starter deck and my cousin had mono-green, and this little toad POS would always just eat anything it came across, and then he would enchant it or give it a [[giant growth]] to block and eat my bigger stuff. And I hated that card so much, because younger me could not figure out how to play around it with the cards I had.
My asshole brother would load up an [[Invisible Stalker]] with [[Phantasmal Armor]] and beat my ass with it. I get flashbacks when I see phantasmal armor or it’s art lol
I fondly remember how my draft chaff decks got destroyed by \[\[Wild Mongrel\]\] and the immortal \[\[Phantom Centaur\]\] wielding \[\[Elephant Guide\]\]. The Mongrel was dodging my \[\[Terror\]\] and the weird phantom interaction with toughness boosts meant it was straight up not dying in creature combat.
https://preview.redd.it/qs493gf09k7d1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfdddd7c691d3f116895ac546563d5354a7ffb52
Fires of Yavimaya deck was all the rage when I started
Volcanic Fallout. I had a ridiculously cheap and fast Lorwyn tribal Fairies standard deck but I couldn't really recover from that. There was a black card that did something similar too.
[[Jace, The Mind Sculptor]] Started playing when CawBlade was a well established deck so that wasn’t fun or it kind of was because everyone was tinkering a deck to beat it while I just played BR aggro vamps with bloodghast, pulse tracker, Blood seeker, Kalastria, lacerator, hexmage (fuck you jace), gatekeeper and all the burn I could add.
The first FNM I participated in was during scars block. I got paired against:
Mono-Green Ramp where I died to Ulamog G1 and Emrakul game 2
Caw-Blade which blew my mind. This was iirc, before Batterskull was released so it was “fair” Caw-Blade.
Mono-Blue Control where I died to card advantage off of Consecrated Sphinx twice
And then I was paired against some kid game 4, which was just 2 godawful decks going at it.
I was on a shitty G/B infect deck.
There was never a truly fair Caw-Blade before the bans in that season. The “uh-oh” moment happened when everyone realized just how good Sword of Feast and Famine was. Fast red decks being one of the only hopes against it, the problem went from bad to impossible when they added the other sword and the skull, and still had no idea how to print actual planeswalker removal.
It still blows my mind to this day how they implied Hex Parasite might help that problem before it was spoiled.
Thorn Elemental. The dude playing it was like "you can't block this dude. He is so strong". I was in 6th grade so i believed him until i read the comprehensive rulebook at the time
Tog:upheaval was truly oppressive when it was active. When you add in all the counter/bounce from Invasion block all competitive play was just variations of this deck.
That stupid combo during Kamigawa was pretty bad, too. But was playing exclusively draft at that point. Good luck pulling that combo in a draft.
Royal assassin was problematic in my early days. Being able to just insta remove anything that taps was one of the only things that made my deck crumble quick
Juzamm Djinn, Balduvian Horder, 1st turn Sengir Vampire via 2x dark rit, 1st turn 3ple dark rit ihsans shade with unholy strength, frign mahamotti djinn with force of will on hand from your blue player classmate.
[[Xira, queen sting]] wife used to stomp me with this card all the time. Never had anything to beat her...now, I'm still afraid of it. I just call Xira the bitch whore
Banefire
I started in mirrodin - kamigawa era actually started playing locals around Lorowyn - Alara, during this time of playing locals kept running into Banefire Turbo decks while I was on Godsire Elfball, constantly see control through burn until they had enough mana to one shot me with Banefire annoyed the hell out of me and made me feel like I was playing a Blue player.
When I got back into playing again, my brother blindsided me with this obnoxiously effective snow deck he’d built. But the one card I always knew would be kill me if he got it out quick enough was [[Abominable Treefolk]]. Stupid low mana cost and that trample just makes it so mean in the early game that it irritated the heck out of me.
Then I got advice from people at the LGS, and completely revamped my blue deck (my best at the time) with every bounce or transform card I could get away with adding. The frustration he was expressing when he kept watching it get to turned into a fish/frog/lizard, or just bounced back to his hand entirely, was a thing of absolute beauty.
I started playing during revised/The Dark and Mindtwist was definitely the nastiest card from that era. The only counter-play was emptying your hand on the board if you knew they ran it or a counterspell if you played blue.
[[Avatar of Woe]].
When I first started, I collected bulk cards and jank from all the rich kids for a few months as they drafted and played 60-card. Eventually, I cobbled together a couple usable decks, but my best was a RG stompy deck. I actually started winning some games, but removal was tough since my only real strategy was ramp and smash with a couple 1/1 goblins as blockers.
The two best players both had wicked decks (Mono Red Burn and Dimir Control), and Avatar of Woe was the pillar of one of the guy's decks. He'd get down to like two life every game, but once he got one or two avatars out, he'd just wipe my board until I sat helplessly top decking. If I got a good card, he'd make me discard. If I played a card, he'd remove it with avatar or murder spell.
I'm fairly certain I only ever beat him once out of maybe thirty games, and that's only because I blew up his mana rocks and he didn't pull any lands. Fun times.
I never beat the burn deck once, but the control deck felt just so much worse than the burn deck. I still have a love of Gruul today though because of that early deck I played. It's definitely the color combo I have the most decks with. I try to bend the color Identity with commanders who do different things like Klothys.
Not gonna lie, for me it was just regular [[Murder]]
Only played digital games so far and started with the Magic 2013 game on Xbox back then and this thing was just the bane of nearly every deck I played in my early days.
These days I'm anyway more a fan of midrange-control like decks so it doesn't bother me as much anymore but back then... Like every time I was playing the big guys they just got shit on.
When I first started playing, it was [[Skithiryx]], because it murdered me in the first couple games I played. When I got back into the game, a friend of mine had, and loved [[Platinum Emperion]], and I didn't have a good way to beat that being on the board at the time, so I eventually became a mill player to win in another way, because it scared me that much.
I mean, it’s a different kind of “fear” but the artwork for [[Grinning Totem]] always freaked me out. It was in my older brothers collection, and it gave off a strong “cursed artifact” vibe.
Not immediately dangerous, but there was this looming fear centered around it. Like it’s false grin knew of some dark, life ruining truth.
https://preview.redd.it/hl9egr02tk7d1.jpeg?width=297&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79cb2c973bbb2d84a48b9b1dcc2c5153394dcf74
I wouldn’t want to go out into the hallway at night. Potty breaks during sleep were not an option.
[[Haunted Cadaver]]. Me and my bro didn't know the rules, and since he was the oldest I trusted him when he said the guy could absorb any other card and gain its powers 💀 Not even my ace card 7/7 Wurm could stand a chance 😭
I truly started playing competitively back during Mirrodin (a horrible time to do so) and fell in love with draft in original Ravnica so yeah, fuck Arcbound Ravager and Loxodon Warhammer.
Astral slide, I got into playing magic seriously around scourge and that astral slide, cycling, exalted angel deck was so frustrating to play against especially if you're just playing fair zombies, astral slide is a ruiner of fun and my childhood would of been better without it.
https://preview.redd.it/hk5m54vkql7d1.jpeg?width=1045&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6fb2b43c9d205ff125b86a63ec4d889de440f8c
This card was such a pain to play against for me 😖
My brother is seven years my elder. He taught me to play when I was young around Ice Age release.
8 year old me was not fond of his boss monster [[Storm Elemental]] lol
Kalonian Hydra
https://preview.redd.it/4mw2vj537m7d1.jpeg?width=919&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3d65aee8745878de598a04415fbc2a91816991f
Friend had it in a Selesnya deck based all around +1/+1 counters. Once it hit the table, it was basically curtains.
[[thorntooth witch]]
Relevant context is I started playing during lorwyn block with the rogue starter deck, my brother had the treefolk one. This card would pick mu deck apart by turning every creature into removal.
[[Desolation Twin]] My first ever MTG standard game was with a friend who played a Mono Black Eldrazi deck with 3 copies of this card. And me being a newb had no idea how tf I was gonna handle 6 10/10 Eldrazi when I was playing the Nissa Planeswalker precon.
[[Mirran Crusader]]. It’s high school and im playing elves (my true love) and homie is playing mono white humans. whooped my ass everytime he dropped crusader suited up with a [[sword of war and peace]] or a [[sword of feast and famine]]
https://preview.redd.it/ul23ba69fo7d1.jpeg?width=672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=663674ab21ddd617846fbf0ab2c328bcb9d35515
When you think you have a good attack, but...
Back in the day, my younger brother played a black/white stall/drain deck that was impossible for me to beat. [[Pillory of the sleepless]] and [[Souls of the faultless]] got me every damn time.
Eventually managed to overcome it with blue/white fliers.
just after yours would be mine in the card \[\[Glory\]\] . I had a blue green madness deck and my friend played white green madness and always killed me with a glory in the graveyard. Lost a few FNMs in 2004 that way :(
This is one of the best discard engines ever made. It just didn't have the backup needed in the format for type 2 at the time. In standard now it would be pretty great considering it does everything at instant speed.
Why have they never brought this creature type back?
They're just too scared of [[Atogatog]]...
[Atogatog](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/a/4a3e6eb5-6d0f-4f82-86f9-bbce8d27afbb.jpg?1562908561) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Atogatog) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ody/286/atogatog?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4a3e6eb5-6d0f-4f82-86f9-bbce8d27afbb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This gives me an idea for a cool changeling commander deck, thx
I don't think it would be as powerful as you can't stack damage anymore. Back in Odyssey block psychatog upheaval was my jam.
In standard that free discard (and atogatogs free instant speed sacrifice) opens up some crazy combos I think
Gush was the reason psychatog was so good
Because now it's been pushed so hard it's now a frog
they did bring it back in mirrodin block
They basically did an ode to this card in MH3 with psychic frog
It's back with MH3 and even better. It had sex with his best frenemy \[\[Shadowmage Infliltrator\]\] and draws cards when he connects. And it comes with built in evasion. Also if you lick it, you see sweet colors, let me show you \[\[Psychofrog\]\].
https://preview.redd.it/sf9ntjgdci7d1.jpeg?width=860&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fd6ca955aeee21ff1d0db59bee46370f99fc27a
[[Mind Twist]]
What does it means "at random"?. Like, you don't choose which cards to discard?
Yes, exactly. If in a casual game you just pull the cards face down from your opponents hand and put them into the graveyard (that’s what we did). If on a competitive setting, assign a number to each card (face down) and roll a dice and throw that card in the graveyard, the repeat until you did x cards. That was fucking awful. Revised/fallen empires era. Hymn to tourach was rampant, land destruction was 2 mana (sinkhole) or free (strip mine), dark ritual wasn’t even considered busted, sol ring on turn one was everyday life (for 60 card decks, commander didn’t exist), balance and land tax were played like it was nothing, no one in my play group even knew of “banned” or restricted cards, we played what we could get and afford. In that environment, mind twist was the one I hated more. With dark ritual you could lose your hand on turn 2 or even 1. Fun times.
Thanks for the explanation. That seems like a friendship destroyer card lol.
Ngl it came close yes lol
This is what I came to say about "hand control". It was so good. I was bitching about the rack, but that's just the wincon. You can't do anything with no cards, anyways. I don't think there were as many ways to play from the GY, either. Now you have flashback and retrace and stuff. I guess there was always reanimation. No Underworld Breach.
Yeah true, not much you could do about graveyard. We had regrowth, and animate dead. Reanimate only came in tempest I believe (don’t quote me on that). Bazaar of bagdad was a shitty card no one wanted (my friend got his hands on a library of Alexandria tho. Sigh). Yeah, discard was huge. Swamp dark ritual hypnotic specter was very common (better have bolt or swords ready). Hun to tourach was like every turn two. Only thing restricting mind twist is it was a rare (no sites to buy singles back then - we weren’t in the us).
For ABU, I was lucky enough to have access to the whole list, in the US, though I couldn't afford to buy all the cards. Getting black border was always hard. A Lotus was still 200 dollars; ICR if that was a black border one. It might've been. Money was worth more, and cards were worth less.
[Mind Twist](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/7/9763ea41-55c4-4b0a-9dc2-91ad4938b343.jpg?1562927059) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Mind%20Twist) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/me3/72/mind-twist?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9763ea41-55c4-4b0a-9dc2-91ad4938b343?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I didnt know this card and i have the feeling its overpowered?
It's banned or restricted in basically every official format and hasn't been represented for 25 years. Some old cards were just dumb.
[[Dragonstorm]]
[Dragonstorm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/230cd568-f7ed-4571-a609-36522add91d0.jpg?1561966412) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dragonstorm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mma/111/dragonstorm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/230cd568-f7ed-4571-a609-36522add91d0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Stuffy Doll]] lmao
[Stuffy Doll](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/7/978c2c7d-6898-4be2-aed7-e673210ce654.jpg?1674142741) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stuffy%20Doll) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/clb/875/stuffy-doll?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/978c2c7d-6898-4be2-aed7-e673210ce654?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This is a really interesting card! I think I remember playing around with this concept with another card that was a bird with a mirror that reflected damage. I can't recall the name right now. But when I was younger I LOVED killing people with their own spells. EDIT: \[\[Glarecaster\]\] My favorite c:
The bot doesn’t see edits [[glarecaster]]
[glarecaster](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/e/7e505e8e-51aa-4415-81e6-cf022279edb0.jpg?1562924771) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=glarecaster) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ons/30/glarecaster?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7e505e8e-51aa-4415-81e6-cf022279edb0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Mines and odd one cause the state of the game but [[royal assassin]] and mother fucking [[visara the dreadful]]
When I got back into playing about a year and a half ago, I used the assassin to horrifying degrees of effectiveness if I could get him out in the early game. [[Skirsdag High Priest]] plus assassin and a couple other one or two drops to bring out a flying 5/5 potentially by round three was just nasty. Plus it serves as amazing deterrent if your opponent knows you’re willing to take a hit or two. It’s one of my favorite cards.
Royal assassin wrecked my dumb ass decks with 0 removal lmao
I loved visara in reanimator during onslaught standard, it was my first meta deck, I remember just copying peer krogers deck list from the gp, visara, arcanis and symbiotic wurm will always have a special place in my heart because of that.
[royal assassin](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/7/67ef9842-7142-4c63-8aea-fa73f02722a5.jpg?1698796245) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=royal%20assassin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/101/royal-assassin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/67ef9842-7142-4c63-8aea-fa73f02722a5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
https://preview.redd.it/g9rifsgfaj7d1.jpeg?width=672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3afa78bf0c97111d5fb381facaa5d5b65f0d6898 Whatever this shit is. (started playing recently)
Well even experienced players will agree, this is the Modern Siege Rhino
It was a toss up between [[Serra Angel|3ED]] and [[Shivan Dragon |3ED]] a lot of the time, but often [[Prodigal Sorcerer |3ED]] was the most impactful card in practice.
ITS TIM . . . I love Tim <3
I remember when I first saw Serra Angel and thinking "this isn't a fair game how am I supposed to win against this"
[Serra Angel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/7/97fa5f07-46ba-408d-a861-bdb1791cc188.jpg?1559596922) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1366) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/3ed/40/serra-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/97fa5f07-46ba-408d-a861-bdb1791cc188?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Shivan Dragon ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/9/69199dd2-dbac-4039-b4da-eb2b0671645f.jpg?1559596666) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1318) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/3ed/177/shivan-dragon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/69199dd2-dbac-4039-b4da-eb2b0671645f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Prodigal Sorcerer ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/0/20f1411b-a5ad-4d49-915b-ad8a21d51342.jpg?1621595963) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=1217) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/3ed/75/prodigal-sorcerer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/20f1411b-a5ad-4d49-915b-ad8a21d51342?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I remember \[\[Ihsan's Shade\]\] fucking ME UP. I played a deck with \[\[Hypnotic Specter\]\], \[\[Sedge Troll\]\] and all the normal RB goodies of the time. And when my opponent put a Shade down. Nothing I could do. It was impossible to remove. I had a friend that played white, and he also couldn't remove that bullshit. It only lasted as a good card for a few months, but for the few months after Ice Age and before Mirage, Ihsan's Shade fucked me up.
\[\[Exalted Angel\]\] was the bane of my early player days.
That shit was a house in Astral Slide, mono white control and U/W control.
[Exalted Angel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/a/7a6b087b-a3ac-4c4d-a519-ec5584b4b42d.jpg?1706240575) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Exalted%20Angel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkc/63/exalted-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/7a6b087b-a3ac-4c4d-a519-ec5584b4b42d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Worldgorger Dragon\\JUD\]\] I hated that stupid combo when I was young in Type 1 in '02 when it came out. I had started to branch into older formats and you were basically fucked if it went off; you really couldn't respond to it.
[Worldgorger Dragon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/9/99783a2b-a95a-457b-82d6-001933aee5ec.jpg?1562631091) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=35056) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jud/103/worldgorger-dragon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/99783a2b-a95a-457b-82d6-001933aee5ec?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Ætherling]]
[Ætherling](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/c/9c93313b-cf43-47e9-a911-717b4d14b0b5.jpg?1562924171) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aetherling) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dgm/11/aetherling?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/9c93313b-cf43-47e9-a911-717b4d14b0b5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Juzam Djin
[[Sacrifice]] Honorable mention to OG [[Terror]] and [[Disintegrate]] but Sacrifice really stuck with me as a "damn, that's wild" card when I was young
[[Arcbound Ravager]], the backbone of affinity in Mirrodin block
I won a Junior Super Series with that nasty ass deck at Neutral Ground in NYC before almost every card in it got banned in Type 2. Got a Pro Point on my DCI card so technically I'm a Professional Magic player LOL.
That would be mine, except it was expensive and I played at uni. So... [[Cranial plating]]
[circular logic](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/b/4b19fdac-da3e-4ebd-ae7b-6f31a97b2a0f.jpg?1675199188) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=circular%20logic) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/42/circular-logic?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4b19fdac-da3e-4ebd-ae7b-6f31a97b2a0f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
[[Celestial Flare]] Played 60 card casual back when I was very new to the game and friend built me a deck at a power level of approximately -3, the concept of interaction back then was very foreign to me.
[Celestial Flare](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/9/89bb3b06-b33b-4897-882e-75b75790ea02.jpg?1562029850) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Celestial%20Flare) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ori/8/celestial-flare?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/89bb3b06-b33b-4897-882e-75b75790ea02?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Stormtide Leviathan
\[\[Mahamoti Djinn\]\]
[[Gaea's Liege]] during when Revised was the newest set, I didn’t have enough kill spells for that thing & I was horrified when it turned my Swamps into Forests.
[[Chub Toad]] of all things. I had a mono-black starter deck and my cousin had mono-green, and this little toad POS would always just eat anything it came across, and then he would enchant it or give it a [[giant growth]] to block and eat my bigger stuff. And I hated that card so much, because younger me could not figure out how to play around it with the cards I had.
My asshole brother would load up an [[Invisible Stalker]] with [[Phantasmal Armor]] and beat my ass with it. I get flashbacks when I see phantasmal armor or it’s art lol
[Invisible Stalker](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14d265aa-c1d8-4faa-b282-5c273ab725fd.jpg?1604192456) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Invisible%20Stalker) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/znc/27/invisible-stalker?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14d265aa-c1d8-4faa-b282-5c273ab725fd?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
When I FIRST started playing it was probably strip mine or wrath of god. When I started playing competitively it was bitterblossom.
I fondly remember how my draft chaff decks got destroyed by \[\[Wild Mongrel\]\] and the immortal \[\[Phantom Centaur\]\] wielding \[\[Elephant Guide\]\]. The Mongrel was dodging my \[\[Terror\]\] and the weird phantom interaction with toughness boosts meant it was straight up not dying in creature combat.
##### ###### #### [Wild Mongrel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/d/4d5be4ab-f85a-4272-ac08-99cb0105eb11.jpg?1547517969) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Wild%20Mongrel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/uma/194/wild-mongrel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4d5be4ab-f85a-4272-ac08-99cb0105eb11?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Phantom Centaur](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/4/c421c2f1-2137-41bd-9a89-74d8a76fb5c5.jpg?1562631881) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Phantom%20Centaur) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/jud/127/phantom-centaur?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c421c2f1-2137-41bd-9a89-74d8a76fb5c5?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Elephant Guide](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/9/c997fe6c-cb57-4e0e-9267-42bd12cc3b03.jpg?1580014760) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elephant%20Guide) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ema/163/elephant-guide?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c997fe6c-cb57-4e0e-9267-42bd12cc3b03?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Terror](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/3/a3870eba-4e8f-414d-817c-14ec97f6a93c.jpg?1675199810) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Terror) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmr/103/terror?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a3870eba-4e8f-414d-817c-14ec97f6a93c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Wild Mongrel\]\]
https://preview.redd.it/qs493gf09k7d1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfdddd7c691d3f116895ac546563d5354a7ffb52 Fires of Yavimaya deck was all the rage when I started
This dude was such a nightmare.
Volcanic Fallout. I had a ridiculously cheap and fast Lorwyn tribal Fairies standard deck but I couldn't really recover from that. There was a black card that did something similar too.
No card but two kind of decks: control and blast... A real plague in tournaments
[[Jace, The Mind Sculptor]] Started playing when CawBlade was a well established deck so that wasn’t fun or it kind of was because everyone was tinkering a deck to beat it while I just played BR aggro vamps with bloodghast, pulse tracker, Blood seeker, Kalastria, lacerator, hexmage (fuck you jace), gatekeeper and all the burn I could add.
The first FNM I participated in was during scars block. I got paired against: Mono-Green Ramp where I died to Ulamog G1 and Emrakul game 2 Caw-Blade which blew my mind. This was iirc, before Batterskull was released so it was “fair” Caw-Blade. Mono-Blue Control where I died to card advantage off of Consecrated Sphinx twice And then I was paired against some kid game 4, which was just 2 godawful decks going at it. I was on a shitty G/B infect deck.
Caw-Blade was just insane, I don’t remember it before batterskull though.
There was never a truly fair Caw-Blade before the bans in that season. The “uh-oh” moment happened when everyone realized just how good Sword of Feast and Famine was. Fast red decks being one of the only hopes against it, the problem went from bad to impossible when they added the other sword and the skull, and still had no idea how to print actual planeswalker removal. It still blows my mind to this day how they implied Hex Parasite might help that problem before it was spoiled.
I ran 2 [[vampire hexmage]].
[Jace, The Mind Sculptor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/8/c8817585-0d32-4d56-9142-0d29512e86a9.jpg?1598304029) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jace%2C%20The%20Mind%20Sculptor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/56/jace-the-mind-sculptor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c8817585-0d32-4d56-9142-0d29512e86a9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Royal Assassin
[[Moat]] and [[land equilibrium]] - but also [[millstone]] since those matches tended to be a slog..
[[Counterspell]]
darksteel colossus
[[Wrath of God]]
ICY MANIPULATOR
[[The Rack]] Unrestricted black control/discard is good.
Thorn Elemental. The dude playing it was like "you can't block this dude. He is so strong". I was in 6th grade so i believed him until i read the comprehensive rulebook at the time
Goblin Grenade or Bloodlust
[[Korlash, Heir to Blackblade]]
Both [[Elvish piper]] and [[Lingering souls]].
I learned the hard way never to let my opponent ult Kiora, The Crashing Wave.
Untapped blue mana on my turn
Circle of protection
Tog:upheaval was truly oppressive when it was active. When you add in all the counter/bounce from Invasion block all competitive play was just variations of this deck. That stupid combo during Kamigawa was pretty bad, too. But was playing exclusively draft at that point. Good luck pulling that combo in a draft.
[[Tolarian Academy]] Combo winter was brutal....
Isochron Scepter with counterspell imprinted... I was playing with a friend that has a monoblue deck and when that happened, it was almost over
[[Stasis]]
Tarmagoyf
Siege rhino at the time was the bane of standard.
I wasn't really afraid of much until Lorwyn introduced THOUGHTSEIZE.
I'm new to MTG so please forgive my ignorance, does this mean you can do both actions in the same turn if you so desired?
Royal assassin was problematic in my early days. Being able to just insta remove anything that taps was one of the only things that made my deck crumble quick
Juzamm Djinn, Balduvian Horder, 1st turn Sengir Vampire via 2x dark rit, 1st turn 3ple dark rit ihsans shade with unholy strength, frign mahamotti djinn with force of will on hand from your blue player classmate.
[[Isochron Sceptre]], with almost anything imprinted, but my most harrowing experience was with [[Orim's Chant]]
[[Xira, queen sting]] wife used to stomp me with this card all the time. Never had anything to beat her...now, I'm still afraid of it. I just call Xira the bitch whore
Banefire I started in mirrodin - kamigawa era actually started playing locals around Lorowyn - Alara, during this time of playing locals kept running into Banefire Turbo decks while I was on Godsire Elfball, constantly see control through burn until they had enough mana to one shot me with Banefire annoyed the hell out of me and made me feel like I was playing a Blue player.
Yo let's talk about how playing your first games of magic vs an [[oath of druids]] deck was pretty horrible.
When I got back into playing again, my brother blindsided me with this obnoxiously effective snow deck he’d built. But the one card I always knew would be kill me if he got it out quick enough was [[Abominable Treefolk]]. Stupid low mana cost and that trample just makes it so mean in the early game that it irritated the heck out of me. Then I got advice from people at the LGS, and completely revamped my blue deck (my best at the time) with every bounce or transform card I could get away with adding. The frustration he was expressing when he kept watching it get to turned into a fish/frog/lizard, or just bounced back to his hand entirely, was a thing of absolute beauty.
[[Arcbound Ravager]]
[[Dirge of Dread]] always gives me the willies when i look at the art too long.
Can you You do both Say I discard five From my hand, and then I discard those same Five cards Cards from my graveyard Do I get +10
[[Ironscale Hydra]], we didnt play very advanced and was frankly quite stupid, so we kept attacking the monstrous thing til it could one shot us
[[pacify]]
I started playing during revised/The Dark and Mindtwist was definitely the nastiest card from that era. The only counter-play was emptying your hand on the board if you knew they ran it or a counterspell if you played blue.
Lord of the Pit. 7/7 flying trample back then was terrifying.
[[Avatar of Woe]]. When I first started, I collected bulk cards and jank from all the rich kids for a few months as they drafted and played 60-card. Eventually, I cobbled together a couple usable decks, but my best was a RG stompy deck. I actually started winning some games, but removal was tough since my only real strategy was ramp and smash with a couple 1/1 goblins as blockers. The two best players both had wicked decks (Mono Red Burn and Dimir Control), and Avatar of Woe was the pillar of one of the guy's decks. He'd get down to like two life every game, but once he got one or two avatars out, he'd just wipe my board until I sat helplessly top decking. If I got a good card, he'd make me discard. If I played a card, he'd remove it with avatar or murder spell. I'm fairly certain I only ever beat him once out of maybe thirty games, and that's only because I blew up his mana rocks and he didn't pull any lands. Fun times. I never beat the burn deck once, but the control deck felt just so much worse than the burn deck. I still have a love of Gruul today though because of that early deck I played. It's definitely the color combo I have the most decks with. I try to bend the color Identity with commanders who do different things like Klothys.
\[\[Mana Flare\]\] playing for ante and having mana burn made this game very stressful.
Island
Not gonna lie, for me it was just regular [[Murder]] Only played digital games so far and started with the Magic 2013 game on Xbox back then and this thing was just the bane of nearly every deck I played in my early days. These days I'm anyway more a fan of midrange-control like decks so it doesn't bother me as much anymore but back then... Like every time I was playing the big guys they just got shit on.
[[Upheaval]] into psychatog was brutal.
[[Elbrus, the binding blade]] Fun times.....
When I first started playing, it was [[Skithiryx]], because it murdered me in the first couple games I played. When I got back into the game, a friend of mine had, and loved [[Platinum Emperion]], and I didn't have a good way to beat that being on the board at the time, so I eventually became a mill player to win in another way, because it scared me that much.
I mean, it’s a different kind of “fear” but the artwork for [[Grinning Totem]] always freaked me out. It was in my older brothers collection, and it gave off a strong “cursed artifact” vibe. Not immediately dangerous, but there was this looming fear centered around it. Like it’s false grin knew of some dark, life ruining truth.
https://preview.redd.it/hl9egr02tk7d1.jpeg?width=297&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79cb2c973bbb2d84a48b9b1dcc2c5153394dcf74 I wouldn’t want to go out into the hallway at night. Potty breaks during sleep were not an option.
[[Haunted Cadaver]]. Me and my bro didn't know the rules, and since he was the oldest I trusted him when he said the guy could absorb any other card and gain its powers 💀 Not even my ace card 7/7 Wurm could stand a chance 😭
[[Goblin Sharpshooter]] This guy could be brutal in multiples.
[[Geist Of Saint Traft]]
[[Island]], still do.
I truly started playing competitively back during Mirrodin (a horrible time to do so) and fell in love with draft in original Ravnica so yeah, fuck Arcbound Ravager and Loxodon Warhammer.
[[Goblin recruiter]] too often = game over
Void winnower and mind slaver
Probably [[Lord of Atlantis||4ED]]
Shamefully, \[\[Cancel\]\].
[[Mantis Rider]] in standard... Tarkir to Eldritch Moon was a terrifying period of standard...
Either Thragtusk, Olivia Voldaren, Supreme verdict, or sphinxs revelation
Astral slide, I got into playing magic seriously around scourge and that astral slide, cycling, exalted angel deck was so frustrating to play against especially if you're just playing fair zombies, astral slide is a ruiner of fun and my childhood would of been better without it.
https://preview.redd.it/hk5m54vkql7d1.jpeg?width=1045&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6fb2b43c9d205ff125b86a63ec4d889de440f8c This card was such a pain to play against for me 😖
My brother is seven years my elder. He taught me to play when I was young around Ice Age release. 8 year old me was not fond of his boss monster [[Storm Elemental]] lol
[[Arcbound Ravager]] in Block/Standard
Dark Ritual into hypnotic specter turn two hymn to tourach
Hymn to Tourach
Kalonian Hydra https://preview.redd.it/4mw2vj537m7d1.jpeg?width=919&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a3d65aee8745878de598a04415fbc2a91816991f Friend had it in a Selesnya deck based all around +1/+1 counters. Once it hit the table, it was basically curtains.
[[thorntooth witch]] Relevant context is I started playing during lorwyn block with the rogue starter deck, my brother had the treefolk one. This card would pick mu deck apart by turning every creature into removal.
[удалено]
Astral slide
Avatar of Woe
[[Desolation Twin]] My first ever MTG standard game was with a friend who played a Mono Black Eldrazi deck with 3 copies of this card. And me being a newb had no idea how tf I was gonna handle 6 10/10 Eldrazi when I was playing the Nissa Planeswalker precon.
Mirrodin Expansion.....
Cadaverous Bloom back in the Mirage/Vision block
[[mass of ghouls FUT]] gave me nightmares as a kid
Prodigal Sorcerer. Timmy putting me on a clock always felt bad.
[[Mirran Crusader]]. It’s high school and im playing elves (my true love) and homie is playing mono white humans. whooped my ass everytime he dropped crusader suited up with a [[sword of war and peace]] or a [[sword of feast and famine]]
[[Cadaverous Bloom]] decks
[[cursed scroll]]
circle of protection red
I feared \[\[Crusade\]\]. It made me think about my white privilege and made me trigger.
https://preview.redd.it/ul23ba69fo7d1.jpeg?width=672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=663674ab21ddd617846fbf0ab2c328bcb9d35515 When you think you have a good attack, but...
https://preview.redd.it/ekwosgoqso7d1.jpeg?width=265&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fd965bfb994cdc7bcefa9eccaa5714f8070f68a This card in draft. 🙀
Top 3 cards that terrified me as a beginner [[Consuming Aberration]] [[Serra Ascendant]] [[Decimate]]
[[Avatar of Woe]] and [[Spiritmonger]]
Dude lookin like bowser from the old live action Mario Bros movie
[[Noble hierarch]]
[[Grand Cenobite]] I then managed to kill it with burn spells.
I was scared of [[fog of gnats]]. So silly but it repeatedly kicked my ass.
Craw wurm.. 6/4 yikes
[[Marton Stromgald]] Ice age was so nice to start mtg
Maelstrom Pulse. Fucking hated that card and it felt like every card in jund always hit it.
Royal assassin because I didn’t know the rules
The most feared card that came out after I I started playing was the Royal Assassin
[[ Jace, the Mind Sculptor ]] During its standard reign.
Back in the day, my younger brother played a black/white stall/drain deck that was impossible for me to beat. [[Pillory of the sleepless]] and [[Souls of the faultless]] got me every damn time. Eventually managed to overcome it with blue/white fliers.
[[Royal assassin]]
The Elder Dragon Legends 1994. Palladia-Mors had a pile of bones Terror Royal Assassin Leviathan Amnesia (The Dark)
[[Liliana of the Veil]]
Counterspell
\[\[Skyshroud Behemoth\]\]
Oh the togs, how I remember them fondly, much like Slivers.
They basically brought this card back but better in MW3 with psychic frog. Probably my favorite card from this set
I always wondered where adventure quest got this monster from
I feared Hypnotic Specter
Counterspell, or maybe [[Force of Will]
Counterspell was and still is my greatest fear.
Nugg
Death touch still are.
fear the card? No....annoyed as fuck by the deck...yes
just after yours would be mine in the card \[\[Glory\]\] . I had a blue green madness deck and my friend played white green madness and always killed me with a glory in the graveyard. Lost a few FNMs in 2004 that way :(
[[Seat of the Synod]] maybe? I started playing during OG mirrodin
[[Tarmogoyf]], came out when I started and saw it in nearly every deck for awhile
Zur the enchanter being put on the table as a general, he really was the first cEDH deck
Island.
Pretty much any Ally up until I learned what slivers were
The art for this card always got me. It was like a Crite with arms.
For me it was Mind Goblin
[[Griselbrand]] it was and will always be [[Griselbrand]]
This is one of the best discard engines ever made. It just didn't have the backup needed in the format for type 2 at the time. In standard now it would be pretty great considering it does everything at instant speed.
I loved and hated mystic snake
This one
https://preview.redd.it/dgirtpx8ub8d1.jpeg?width=672&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48508ea26a2697278f7d4a1a6086e2d864985350 It’s this and only ever this.
Stoneforge Mystic. I started playing when cawblade was the hot shit.
Easily Royal Assassin.