Hello folks! I hope that you are having a great Friday today. Ready for Ravnica Allegiance fun times to commence? I am!

Today I wanted to review all of the top cards that are about to get some serious play at the casual table, particularly with an eye for multiplayer and Commander. What are the best? What are the tops of the top of our latest slate of Ravnica-infused cards? Another quintet of Guilds is getting an injection of awesome. So let's take a look see!

Last week I looked at some of the top Rakdos cards in the set for Commander. Rakdos has the best suite of cards in the set, so some of the top cards in that list would be in this list as well. Instead of boring you with the same cards in back-to-back weeks, I am putting the Rakdos ones that might otherwise be in my top ten list in my Honorable Mention section instead!

Honorable Mention #1 - Macabre Mockery

This is an amazing card! A fast instant that can combine a quick one-turn Ray of Command effect with a power bump from a dead dork. You can use it to make a blocker, an attacker, or just to get some triggers from entering-the-battlefield! Whatever you need, the Mockery of the Macabre can do!

Honorable Mention #2 - Rakdos, the Showstopper

Rakdos has arrived. The best version of Rakdos, by far, is this 6/6 body that will always be smashing you. Rakdos for the win!

Honorable Mention #3 - Bedevil

I don't know if Bedevil is going to be the hot new Standard removal spell that costs a ton of money. I don't care. This is one of the best removal spells out there that you are going to love to cast. Three mana. Three potential answers. One card. That's math that any casual aficionado can do. Even me!

Honorable Mention #4 - Theater of Horrors

You can't win the game unless you draw cards. In any game where you are being outdrawn, you need to work on getting some card quality. Theater of Horrors to the rescue! It'll quietly rack up a card count you can turn to when you need and have seen damage dealt to a foe.

10. Incubation Druid

Multi- and casual-players of all sorts have long enjoyed a few things from Magic. They adore mana acceleration, Elves, and early dorks that can become later threats.

Consider, as a good example, these two popular cards from previous eras of the game:

Werebear is a fast drop that can give you a mana-bump and then grow to a 4/4 for smashing. Draw it later when you are past needing acceleration? It'll be a 4/4 for you. Priest of Titania loves Elves, and can always tap for a as she's an Elf. She also good early or late. Both of these sort of show which court this card is playing basketball in.

Now compare the Incubation Druid to these two who have a similar "tap-effect" with similar bodies and costs. The Incubation Druid is much better that these, because you can adapt it later. And when you do, this 0/2 will become a 3/5 that taps for three mana instead of one, so it's a one-time investment. This can be played later in the game and still have value, while Harvester Druid and Naga Vitalist are going to be virtually dead draws.

The Druid is also great from another angle. If you manage to put a counter on it from a non-adapt place, then you will immediately get three mana. So if you cast something on turn one that can en-counter it, then you can have six mana on the third turn. See Simic Initiate for an example of just one cool little combo that I was thinking of, I'm sure you can find more! Plus, it's an Elf so that tribe has a lot of built-in love!

9. Skarrgan Hellkite

This nasty body has a lot to offer. But at the end of the day, it's always going to have value because this is a game about creatures attacking and blocking, and this will do so very nicely, either as a 4/4 flying haste-ed one, or just a 5/5 flying that can also shoot stuff if properly en-countered (say, by putting the counter on and not immediately swinging). Either way, the flexibility of the Hellkite is quite appealing!

8. Angel of Grace

In a very similar way, checked out Angel of Grace! It's always going to be pertinent, because of its size and cost. Without any other ability in consideration, a 5/4 flying flash-er is going to be a valued commodity at the kitchen table. Having the ability to drop it in multiplayer when it seems like your shields are down is great! It can also answer any sort of damage-based killing effects from combat damage to burn, and then later on, give you a one-time life bump back to 10 life. Angel of Grace is a very good contender for your decks and projects!

7. Biogenic Ooze

Oozes don't suck now! Oozes often have a mechanical identity where they grow over time. This is probably due to the original Ooze that grew over time. We have almost 30 legal Oozes for your Oozemancer desires (The Oozemancer is a character type that I love playing in Tales of Maj'Eyal where you are slowing turning into an Ooze and you have gained the power to summon and control Oozes, cast Ooze magic and use Ooze attack abilities). You have everything from Scavenging Ooze to Acidic Slime and more. And while there are some suck-y Oozes out there, there are many more that are ready to be unleashed in your new Ooze lord. Welcome Biogenic Ooze! The long-awaited leader of your Oozes. There will be many a player who is looking forward to the Biogenic Ooze. It comes with four of dorks immediately, and then you get another 2 at the end of your turn without doing anything. You can spit out Oozes and then they'll all get bigger and bigger! This is a nice card all by itself, as it can win the game on its own. But it's also even better in pairs!

6. Spawn of Mayhem OR Sphinx of Foresight

I'm not sure which of these four-mana 4/4 flyers I enjoy more. What about you? The first is solid as a potential cheaper play that can ping everything for damage which will allow your other spectacles to work. As the life loss mounts for yourself, it gets better, which makes it a perfect body for a Suicide Black style deck. Meanwhile the Sphinx can net you a free scry at the beginning of the first upkeep, which is nasty, and then when you drop it, you'll get a scry 1 for free each turn too. Both of these have strong bodies and casting costs and powerful options too! Which do you like better?

5. Smothering Tithe

In multiplayer, no one is going to be paying this tax, at least not in the early, mid, or mid-late games either until they have a ton of mana end-game. You'll usually get that Treasure. You don't need to be running anything else, just some free mana ramping is fun! Don't forget that it's in a pro-artifact color and you can find White cards that care about, or are strengthened by, the presence of artifacts on your battlefield.

Everything from Saheeli, the Gifted's +1 to the pump of Akiri, Line-Slinger and many more! There are so many combos out there for the artifacts that you are going to be making. Treasure away my friends, treasure away!

Anyone else excited about the Orzhov treasure token?

4. Hydroid Krasis

What makes this a compelling card is that it's a cast trigger, so you cannot stop the trigger of life gain and card draw by countering the spell. You could stop it with a counter-triggered-ability effect, but those are few and far between. But that's about it! You don't have a lot of options, you just have to let this effect resolve. Why bother countering it at all at that point? That removes the likelihood of this being countered at all since it's just going to be a 4/4 or 6/6 flying trampler so it's usually going to get there. The result is a card that should play a lot better than it looks at first, especially in a multiplayer environment that is so sensitive to card advantage. If you cast this for eight mana, and are getting a 6/6 dork, three cards and three life, that's pretty solid. It ramps up (and down) fine as well.

3. Hero of Precinct One

Hero of Precinct One reminds me a lot of Quirion Dryad. Both are 2-drops that are easy to cast and that will give you threats for free as you cast things outside of its color. The Hero is a 2/2 that churns out 1/1 dorks for your gold spells while the Dryad is just a 1/1 but it gets counters as you cast stuff that's White, Blue, Black, or Red. The Dryad did get played as a threat when it was first printed in Standard to later reprints, and it made the cut in other formats like Legacy and Vintage as well. The Hero feels positioned to me to be a contender in the Quirion Dryad mold, and that means that, like the Dryad before it, the Hero will likely make the cut in many kitchen table brews and multiplayer shells. From Commander to 60 card chaos and more, this is a powerful body early with its size that can easily make an army on its own, and like Dryad, can win the game on its own.

2. Electrodominance

Yup! I think this is clearly the 2nd best card in the set. The ability to both instant-shoot someone's face (or their 'walker or dork)and to get a free casting of a card for that mana (or fewer) is an incredibly intoxicating experience. The opportunity to continue to ramp or accelerate while also doing something that impacts the battlefield or punches someone for damage is quite compelling. Lots of Commander and multiplayer decks are going to run this. Unlike normal pinpoint removal, this is card advantage that plays well early or late!

However, don't forget that this also has another knob on the dial. You can cast it for just and then cast a card with no mana cost in your hand. Examples of cards that lack a casting cost are the suspend cards like Ancestral Vision, and things like Evermind. You can also drop zero cost cards, although I doubt anyone wants to play this so they can drop their Mana Crypt or Pact of the Titan. But many of those cards are still great later. Let's suppose I haven't had any mana acceleration in my opening hand, and I'm playing commander. On my 5th turn, I have five mana available. I cast this at the end of someone's turn to shoot Amber's Planeswalker and kill it, and then I cast Ancestral Vision and draw three card. Even though that's not as early as I could have done so, it's still a money play! The same is true of cards like Restore Balance that can be timed better with this.

The result is a card with value from multiple fronts and in multiple shells, and it enables a lot of cool plays. That's a great choice for #2 in my book!

1. Domri, Chaos Bringer

Before I begin to discuss the value of Domri, I want to contextualize my reason for making Domri #1.

This is Sarkhan Vol. I love Sarkhan Vol. I named him one of the best planeswalkers for Commander, multiplayer, and other casual formats for a long time. I still believe it. His +1 is a Fires of Yavimaya that can give both haste and a bump to stuff on your turn as they swing and bring the heat. If you don't need it, then you can steal a dork and punch someone with it and you have the chance to put a game-winning number of Dragons onto the battlefield too. He's awesome!

Is New-Domri better? Let's look!

1. Both cost the same mana
2. Domri has five loyalty to Sarkhan's four - BONUS DOMRI
3. Domri's 2nd ability is likely to be more useful that Sarkhan's Threaten. BONUS DOMRI
4. Domri's Ultimate costs two more to activate, and his 2nd ability one more to activate. BONUS SARKHAN.

It comes down to that final +1 ability. Who's is better?

Haste and +1/+1?

Or making a mana rioting it if you spend it on a dork.

Let's look.

For creatures, the pure haste and +1/+1 is better. If I have a team of 2 dorks out, I am going to want both of them pumped. The more creatures that I control, the better a Gaea's Anthem is for them. Haste is merely a useful way to make those that arrived punch, but that +1/+1 isn't chump change. But haste is also something good and powerful in Commander where you can often catch a foe defenseless when you drop and swing at the same time. Sarkhan Vol can haste multiple dorks. So if you cast and dropped #7 Biogenic Ooze than both it and it's Ooze-mate will punch for hasted damage.

Now Domri can give something haste that arrives, as long as you used it's mana on it. But you don't have to. You can hold it back, and then pump it +1/+1 permanently, and you don't need to keep activating it later to retain that bonus. Domri can't riot something that was un-castable, like token creatures, nor can he work on multiple dorks. But he can reduce the cost of a dork by a turn, so the turn after dropping Domri, you can cast a bigger dork than you could with Sarkhan. Plus his mana can be used for things when you don't have any creatures out to play with, whereas Sarkhan's +1 and -2 really do require a certain creature-fueled board state, but Domri can always lean on making mana or using his 2nd ability even when there are no creatures on the battlefield.

Also note that Domri has one more special trick. You can use him to cast an Riot your Commander.

As a result, I think that Sarkhan's +1 ability is slightly better than Domri's as its more powerful and works with more and more dorks as well as those from previous turns, and I don't have to choose between haste and pump as get them both. I rate Sarkhan Vol a little better, but Domri is absolutely in the conversation. Domri, Chaos Bringer is a powerful new addition to your crew, and is the best card in the set for Commander (with riot for your leader) as well as other casual formats. Enjoy him!

And there's my list for you! I hope that you enjoyed it! So where did I go wrong? Anything I missed? Let me know!

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