Hello awesome people! I hope that your day is going incredibly well! Way back the powers that be created real life oversized cards that represented what character in the Weatherlight Saga you would be playing. It gave you an ability you could use for the rest of the game, as well as bonus or minus life as well as cards in initial hand and hand size. It was a lot of fun for tournament play and then casual play as well. Then they moved to virtual Vanguards online like the famous Momir Vig that led to an entire format, Momir Vig Basic. Today we'll only be looking at the best Vanguard cards printed in real life, plus a few honorable mentions.

I love this in casual land where you can draft the Vanguard card from a pile to play for that multiplayer game. Or you could draft three, and then swap from one to the other and adjust your cards and life from one to the other, once each character. We did that a lot in our multiplayer games decades ago.

Ready for my Top Ten (In-Print) Vanguard Cards of all time?

Honorable Mention #1 (#13 Overall) - Squee

Our first Vanguard card is this fun Goblin. This fun thang is a Telepathy that's unanswerable, so you'll always know what your foe has in their hand to plan around, ideal for controlling the board decks. It's also good for control since you'll start with an amazing 10 cards instead of 7, so you'll have more info and more cards to use. +3 is the best hand size you can have in a Vanguard card. And you only lose 4 starting life. Most control players would willingly trade four life for +3 cards especially with a Telepathy effect giving them all of the info. The only thing that keeps this down in the honorable mention section is that the Telepathy can really give you heat in multiplayer as people don't like that player and will target them for removal.

Honorable Mention #2 (#12 Overall) - Takara

Just like Squee, Takara starts with 10 cards rather than 7 and has that as a max handsize. Those are the only two of three to do so. However, you start with 12 life, not 16. Rough. But you have a much better ability than Telepathy. Goblin Bombardment! This awesome un-answerable card lets you sacrifice creatures for damage with no mana down or other costs. Nasty! You cannot counter, bounce, or destroy it! It's half of an infinite combo without needing to run that. Even outside of that you still can sacrifice your team to kill someone low at life or before a Living Death resolves. Strong stuff for the wins tonight! Remember I suggested that you draft the cards before playing, not build your deck around it, so that you don't build a Pebbles deck to abuse this. That way you cannot rely on getting this. Also note the huge life risk in this, 12 life is the lowest starting life.

Honorable Mention #3 (#11 Overall) - Volrath

Check out our final card before the Top Ten begins! This awesome Volrath has a few key reasons he's up here. First, you start with 9 cards - sweet. Although you pay 3 life, most people would willingly make that swap all day long. Then when your dorks die, you can put them on top of your library. So he's a free Volrath's Stronghold activation when your stuff dies, as a may effect, so you don't have to reload it. One of the most popular deck archetypes in casual town is "Aristocrats" where you sacrifice a dork to a free effect like Viscera Seer, then trigger their death with Blood Artist, then bring them back with Bloodghast dropping a land. Here you can put them onto your library and draw them with a free death trigger like Harvester of Souls. Then you can replay them with the mana from an Ashnod's Altar making two rather than Viscera Seer and a two-drop like Myr Sire. Nice, right? This is great there, sure, but also pretty much any brew that you can think of. Love this thing's power loads!

#10. Tahngarth

This strong Aggro Vanguard is next. -1 card, +7 life, and your stuff has haste. Fervor! Nasty fast in the kill box. We'll see another pair hit higher, but this is less risky than #3. Also note that this works great with mana dorks that tap for mana or Looters that draw cards from you. Pretty strong stuff. This is a great way to kick off the Top Ten list!

Now let's turn to some gambles...

#9. Gerrard AND Sisay

Ah yes, the Captains! The first starts down four cards but draws you an extra card on your turn. It's a Howling Mine for just you. Nasty card advantage over time! Also note no life loss either for this. Nothing else starts at -4 cards, but in 5 turns it'll be card advantage. The second starts down two cards and three life but your lands tap for 2 mana so you'll get a 2-drop on turn one, a four-drop on turn two, and Kokusho the Broken Star on turn three. Nasty. It'll speed you up so much! The pair are definite gambles, but their reward is so much goodness! They are Group Hug classics, but for just you! Nasty pair to win the game with!

#8. Mirri AND Titania

Let's look at a pair of land matters dorks! The first lets your basics tap for any color of mana, so that's great the more colors you are running. She also doesn't cost any cards, and gives you a boosted 5 extra life to start with. The second is better with the two extra cards, but five fewer life so she's easier to kill. Then you can drop another land each turn, so she's an Exploration each turn. That's very strong in any landfall deck. Both ladies are very powerful in different brews as mana makers of different sorts love them way much.

Now let's turn to three in a row that are all pluses.

#7. Maraxus AND Serra

Each gives you an extra card, pumps your dorks and gains you life. Maraxus is a +1 to your creature's power and 2 life, and Serra is a +2 to their toughness and one life. In duals Maraxus is better, in multiplayer, Serra is better. In the Arena league tournaments in Week 1 I ran a Maraxus Mono-Black deck around Bad Moon, Fallen Askari, Nether Shadow, Ashen Ghoul, and lots more. Nice stuff!

Why is Serra better for multiplayer? Because a double pump of toughness makes it harder to crack your Wall of Blossoms, Temple Acolyte, Mulldrifter, Flametongue Kavu and Karmic Guide. It makes your 6/6 Titans survive battle with another but Maraxus doesn't. In Commander, Maraxus will give you a faster Commander kill too, by the by, in decks with an evasive Commander or Voltron, Aura, or Equipment brews where you seek to kill with your Commander.

Now let's turn to another with all positive abilities that's a bit better in multiplayer than Serra.

#6. Selenia

This one is our top scoring card outside of the Top 5 proper. She also has all pluses. 8 cards and an impressive 27 starting life. Then your stuff has vigilance. Why is this better in multiplayer? Well let's look! First of all, you get a bunch more life to play blocks with. Secondly, you get vigilance for all of your things. This lets you attack an open player over and over again in the red zone without opening yourself to counterattacks from players around the table. Imagine this with Commander Eesha in play, as one example. It cannot be blocked with protection from creatures and takes no damage in blocking. She's nasty here. Imagine this with classics like Silklash Spider or modern dorks like Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

Ready for the Top Five?

#5. Ashnod

Let's kick off our Top 5 proper with this multiplayer powerhouse. Ashnod. She gives you +1 hand size for 8 cards, but the lowest starting life at -8, so 12 normally. That's a rough ask. Then when something damages you, it's destroyed, so you'll only take that damage once. That's pretty strong! She's a No Mercy that cannot be answered! Nasty! No Mercy is one of the biggest "Rattlesnakes" out there that suggest people attack elsewhere with their previous creatures. Nasty stuff here! But it's a gamble, since your low life might suggest that people can more easily kill you to off the No Mercy effect. That's why she's at the back end of my Top 5, but makes it. She's usually worth the gamble. Enjoy Ashnod!

#4. Starke

I love Starke. He's often my default Vanguard to draft in a generic brew. Your starting handsize is 0, so nothing paid or gained there. Then you get just -2 life, so that's hardly anything issuable. In your drawstep you draw another card, so that's very strong with the card flow. But you put a card in your hand on the bottom of your library, so you could keep the two cards you just drew and put that extra land into your library. That's very strong here, since you'll see as many cards as Gerrard, but you don't pay the -4 cards in hand to do so. But you aren't drawing more, so it's card flow, but not card's drawn, if that makes sense. The result is a fun card that fits pretty much any deck, but without the gamble of Gerrard, but without the reward of him too. Starke is probably the best combo leader since you have twice the chance of drawing your combo pieces naturally, but #2 below might be better for some combos. The era of Starke has begun!

#3. Mishra

Ah yes, Mishra, King of Aggro. Nicely done Mishra, nicely done. This doesn't cost any cards lost, and just three life. Then your creature's damage is doubled. Wow. That's a Furnace of Rath for just you. Note that this doubles all damage they deal, not just combat, so that means Guttersnipe is dealing 4 to each opponent, and Prodigal Sorcerer is tapping for two. I love it in Commander with Voltron, Aura, Equipment, Evasive and Commanders that deal damage to opponents like Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos. It's one of the best to draft there in that format. It's also amazing with double strike Commanders or enablers like Atarka, World Render and Fireshrieker. Nasty there! See why it's in my third most powerful spot? I think so too! But it really requires heavy creature decks to shine. Get ready for my top two choices that are just better than Mishra.

#2. Hanna

Ah yes, Hanna. She gives you a surprising +1 card. Now she does cost you 5 starting life, so that's 15 outside of Commander. Then she drops the cost of everything by 1 generic mana, not just artifacts and enchantments which you might expect since she's an Artificer, but everything. Nasty! You can see why I also consider her in the running for best Combo piece. She'll drop 1-drop artifacts for free, like Skullclamp and Sol Ring. She'll let you drop 2-drops like Wall of Blossoms and Rampant Growth on the first turn, a three-drop on the second turn, and three 2-drops on turn three or one 4-drop. Nasty! She's basically a Pearl Medallion for every color and colorless you have, and with a boosted card, so the only issue is that life thing. See why she is my penultimate charting Vanguard card? I hope so!

But she isn't close to my #1.

#1. Tawnos

This nasty thing is my top card. It's starting handsize and max hand is a massive 10. Wow. Then you only lose 4 starting life, just like Squee above. Your artifacts, enchantments and creatures gain flash. Whew! That's s'awesome! (awesome sauce). You can flash things all day long and all night long too. That's very powerful. Everything that's not a sorcery or planeswalker is flashable. This is the first card drafted by most players since you get the max handsize of 10 while also getting flash for three key card types. Flash is great in duels since you can flash out when you are attacked to block, or kill an attacker with a Ravenous Chupacabra or Eternal Witness a key instant thing like Swords to Plowshares or Counterspell to cast it instantly in response to something. But in multiplayer? It's even better! This is the best Vanguard card ever printed to my mind. The best!

I hope that you enjoyed my look at the best of the best of this card type. If you want to, you could add in the MOTO Vanguard cards on Index cards too for real life play. I love this loads. You could also shuffle these randomly to players to see who they are and have to play around, or you could shuffle three and then they choose and can flip into another one time per character. Ready for the Vanguard Invasion? I hope so too!