Happy Holidays, everyone! We are definitely in the throes of the holiday season, staring down the barrel of 2024. It’s an exciting and stressful time, but the holiday season has so much to offer: awful Hallmark movies, great meals, stressful family interactions, and, of course, the Happy Holidays cards from Wizards of the Coast (WotC).
Holiday cards are special silver-bordered (or they were, because they now feature the acorn holo stamp) Magic cards given to stores, employees, and partners of WotC. They feature iconic Magic history, but with a satirical holiday twist. In short, they are holiday joke cards… and I am obsessed with them.
Ever since I got my first one in 2020, I have fallen in love with the Happy Holiday cards. I remember feverishly looking at them on Scryfall, desperate to get my hands on one. Now, I am looking to possibly brew a deck around them, but this begs the question: out of all the Happy Holidays cards, which are the best? Well, I wanted to explore them this week and share with y’all some of my holiday favorites!
Yule Ooze
Let’s start with one of the cutest Magic puns to date. Yule Ooze is a Gruul Ooze that destroys random nonland permanents at the beginning of your upkeep. It definitely reminds me of the nasty dessert your aunt would bring to dinner that no one wanted to touch. If it somehow gets destroyed, simply eat some food (not Food tokens) to regenerate it.
I love the flavor of this card and the art even more. It feels like a distant cousin of the card Necroplasm. Both are Oozes, but Necroplasm is definitely a bit tamer and more measured than the randomness of Yule Ooze. Back in the day, I could see why this was a silver-bordered holiday card, but in the year of 2023, this card seems like a fair and playable (minus the regenerate eat ability) black-bordered spell. I hope to get my hands on this bad boy in the future, but I have to wait a bit, since it costs a whopping $72. Maybe after Christmas…
Naughty // Nice
Naughty // Nice is among the holiday cards living at the top of my wishlist. Whenever I think of a WotC holiday card, this one immediately comes to mind. It features the iconic grinning weirdo from Diabolic Tutor, first seen in Tenth Edition. In Naughty, we see him take a step further into terror with a blood-covered grin…only to find out it was cherry pie in Nice. Awww, poor misunderstood creepy Tutor guy!
Naughty // Nice’s ability also references Diabolic Tutor because, well, it’s a tutor. If you’re Naughty, you tutor for a card in an opponent’s deck and steal it for yourself. In Nice, you tutor for a card in your library and put it into the hand of an opponent.
I love this card for many reasons. I love the art, I love the formatting, and I love the abilities. Another reason why I find it enjoyable is to see how it compares to cards printed later down the line. Cards like this were unheard of…until Battlebond. While we don’t see theft of your opponent’s cards in the set, we do see a lot of team spells that help your partner. One of my favorites is Victory Chimes, which is a mana rock and not a tutor. That being said, Naughty // Nice has a special place in my heart for many reasons and will also eventually be mine (I am literally feral for this card).
Chaos Wrap
As a commander player, I love Chaos Warp. It’s a random red “removal” spell that some say is bad, but I personally say is amazing (maybe it’s because I was able to get a Blightsteel Colossus off the one cast on my stuff). With such an iconic and popular red spell, it makes sense that WotC would make a holiday card inspired by it. Presenting… (pun intended) Chaos Wrap. It’s amazing how switching two letters could make a difference.
Wrap starts out the same as Warp! Shuffle target nonland permanent into the library. However, it starts to deviate here. Instead of revealing the top card, you look at it and then wrap it. If it’s a permanent card, you put it onto the battlefield. If it isn’t, then it is a facedown 4/4 red Present creature. How stinking cute is that?! Design-wise, we are no stranger to facedown creatures (morph, manifest). This card is absolutely adorable and you can see how much love went into this card, from the art down to the design.
Stocking Tiger
Stocking Tiger is definitely one of the more iconic cards out of the Happy Holidays line. Ignoring the art completely (trans rights ❤️), the ability is adorable and, again, flavorful. The stocking comes with a booster pack tucked underneath it, and when it deals combat damage to a player, you crack the pack and put all the cards from it into your hand. As a Magic player, many family members have given me a booster pack for the holidays, so the excitement you feel when this creature makes contact is apt. I adore this card and will snag it one day, but there are others I’m a bit more enamored with.
Thopter Pie Network
I think we all know what this holiday card is paying homage to. Thopter Pie Network is one of the funnier holiday cards, as it requires you to eat in order to generate Thopter tokens. What’s even funnier is that you have to use food to represent those tokens. In all honesty, I’m just thankful that the Thopter Spy Network doesn’t make you eat those cardboard tokens. The art features a handful of cute Kaladesh Thopters delivering pies to the citizens of the plane.
I used to have this art on a playmat. I regret lending it to a friend, because I haven’t seen it since. This was the first holiday card I ever saw, making it deeply nostalgic for me. Ever since then, I’ve adored the cards and became desperate to get my hands on one.
Mishra’s Toy Workshop
Speaking of weird representations of tokens, our next holiday card is Mishra’s Toy Workshop. Y’know, I’m glad Mishra was able to take a break in between war crimes in order to make some toys for the holiday season. A true bleeding heart.
This card is an obvious reference to Mishra’s Workshop from Antiquities. Both lands tap for three colorless mana; however, the key difference is that the Toy Workshop says you can only spend this mana to cast spells or activate abilities that put tokens on the battlefield. And the kicker is that those tokens have to be represented by toys! Honestly, thank god, because this card will finally make the five Sonny Angels I bought have a purpose (other than looking cute on my shelf). This card was released in 2014 and is a favorite of mine not only for the cute ability, but for the festive art as well.
Decorated Knight
2019 was the year of Throne of Eldraine and the year of Adventures! Back then, Adventures were exciting and new and weird! In order to reflect this shift in Magic, Decorated Knight was the holiday card. This card features a decked-out (pun intended) Yuletide Knight riding on the back of an equally decorated unicorn.
The art on this card is probably within my top five of all holiday cards. However, the abilities make this card stand out. Decorated Knight’s Adventure allows you to exchange your library for another deck you own outside of the game. Its other ability, stapled onto the creature, allows you to draw cards from your original deck if it’s outside the game whenever it attacks.
This card feels like a snapshot of a turning point in Magic’s history. I also love this card because it’s one of the only ways to win with a Battle of Wits (but that’s for another article).
Topdeck the Halls
Topdeck the Halls was the first holiday card I ever received, so this card is extremely sentimental to me. This Boros enchantment uniquely focuses on decorated cards (giving them miracle) and serves as an alternative win condition if you control twelve or more decorated permanents.
As someone who is a sucker for premium cards, promos, and alternate art treatments, this card was a perfect fit for me. What can I say? I love the bling. This holiday card is a reference to the iconic blue enchantment, Dream Halls. While Topdeck doesn’t really match Dream Halls’s ability, the art is an exact copy of the original, except Topdeck features ornaments and a gingerbread Volrath. Topdeck the Halls is a fun Magic reference and lives proudly on my shelf (until it gets moved to a deck).
Seasonal Sequels
Seasonal Sequels is 2023’s holiday card and just so happens to the be the first holiday X-spell. It features iconic Magic characters such as Fblthp, Aurelia, Rakdos, and Kaito to name a few. But that’s not what makes this my second-favorite holiday card. What has it sitting at #2 is the fact that this card requires you to pitch punny, Magic-themed holiday movie titles. The more titles you pitch, the more copies of the targeted spell you get.
The flavor text and art feature a bunch of gold ones such as Llanowar Elf, Sword of Hearth and Home Alone, and Phyrexian Gremlins. However, what makes this holiday card a true gem is that it settles the ultimate debate: is Die Hard(ened Scales) a holiday movie? WotC says it is, and we love them for that.
Snow Mercy
The holiday card of 2010 is the best ever, its flavor blowing the rest out of the water. Snow Mercy is a friggin’ snow globe. Literally. You tap it, untap it, tap it, untap it, and finally tap it again to tap all creatures with globe counters on them.
Creatures get globe counters when they deal damage to you. You shake the snow globe to stun the creatures. This simple yet elegant design sits at a crisp $200 and, in my opinion, is worth every penny.
A Cardboard Christmas
Holiday cards are just one of the unique and fun quirks from WotC that tickle Magic players every holiday season. They capture the true essence of Un-sets, humorous cards that feature meta Magic references. When it comes to the Un-sets of old (pre-2017) and holiday cards, Magic players are in on the joke, and that is the greatest gift of all. Happy holidays, deckbuilders!
