Back on Monday, I mentioned that I had a personal list of cards that caused one-sided routs to occur. A guessing game then ensued for the two unrestricted cards on my list. Only one person managed to guess both cards (Mana Drain and Chalice of the Void), though many got one correct and other named cards were just below the top 10 on my list. As a result, I felt I should give the top 15 cards of my list with some reasoning behind each choice.
(Before we begin I’d like to note the top 10 is mostly preference, so the order I number the cards in aren’t set in stone or anything.)
15: Mind Twist
Mind Twist was the first of the two unbanned cards in Vintage, but nowadays it’s barely clinging to the bottom of this list. Despite Twist seeing little to no play, the ability to simply destroy an opponent’s hand for four mana or so is still very good. Though it’s lost much of its luster over the years due to Vintage speeding up, it can still ruin unsuspecting opponents. On a side-note I would hate to see more than one of these being played against me.
14: Channel
And here we are at the second of the unbanned cards! Channel’s mana producing abilities are obscene and one of the most powerful ever printed. Pay GG for 19 mana? Sign me up! Much like Mind Twist, much of the respect Channel once commanded is gone now. It only sees play in Belcher currently, but it’s just waiting to be played in a good combo deck again. Any card capable of making this much mana can easily produce a one-sided game. See the long time legend of Channel -> Fireball or it’s use in Belcher for examples.
13: Goblin Welder
A creature? A creature? On the most one-sided cards of all time list?! Blasphemy! The simple fact is that Goblin Welder is one of the best creatures ever. He brings back gigantic beat sticks like Sundering Titan and Pentavus, the ultimate “I win” card in Mindslaver and recurs artifact lock pieces! The cost? One Red mana and a single artifact that you’re willing to trade in. Oh and you get to use Goblin Welder more than once. Kind of makes Trash for Treasure look like… trash, by comparison.
Tinker and Control Slaver decks have abused this guy for years and you need only turn to them to see why this little goblin is placed this high.
12: Gifts Ungiven
It’s a Blue tutor that costs 3U and nets only the worst two cards out of any four you pick. How can that possibly be broken? Apparently R&D didn’t think anyone would be bright enough to include recursion effects in the piles. Whoops. In Vintage, all you have to do is include Recoup and three broken sorceries and suddenly you can play all three of them no matter what they give you. And that’s only assuming you want to go broken on someone. The massive flexibility allowed by this card by tutoring for any 4 cards puts Fact or Fiction to shame.
11: Crucible of Worlds
It undoes all the damage land destruction causes while it allows resources like the fetches to be reused. Add to that it also creates a never-ending bombardment of Wasteland and Strip Mine to be thrown at opponents. Lock decks like MWS Aggro and Stax have been using this to make mockeries out of games for a while now. It’s one of the epitomes of a one-sided card, all it does it help you and cause pain for your opponent.
10: Demonic Tutor
I know it seems really weird to have a tutor on here, but consider this. The card finds any other broken card you want in the deck in any situation for 1B. I’d say that’s thoroughly dirty and mocks your opponent for running garbage like “multiples”.
9: Balance
Fall behind resource wise and then cast Balance. You just dropped a mini-‘Geddon on the opponent. Playing against control? Go nuts with throwing out spells with minimal protection. Follow up with a Balance and suddenly a Mind Twist just hit them anyway. It’s one of the easiest ways to ruin an opponent with a single card ever. With proper play, it creates a massive advantage for the caster, making Balance’s name a true irony.
8: Chalice of the Void
I almost want to say, “See my first daily article for an explanation,” but I’ll help you out if your lazy. This card basically turns your opponents Mox-heavy hands into forced mulligans to five. Many decks can easily set the counters to one, while Workshop decks can jump it up to two without many problems. Chalice can easily cripple opponents by invalidating up to 1/6th or more of an opponent’s deck. It’s a very versatile and powerful card that can hurt just about any deck between the settings of 0-2.
Well that’s all for today, but I’ll be back tomorrow with the rest of my list of one-sided cards.
-Joshua Silvestri
Team Reflection
Email me at: joshDOTsilvestriATgmailDOTcom