Hello, folks!

Back in early 2013, I published a list of what I consider the Top 100 cards for multiplayer of all time here on this site in a series of four articles. Since then, we’ve had a lot of great multiplayer cards, from Commander stalwarts to Chaos buddies. But not all of them can stand up the best of the best, including cards such as Stuffy Doll, Solemn Simulacrum, and No Mercy—the cream of the collective crop.

What I’d like to do is to look at the Top 10 multiplayer cards from 2013 after that list was published—and then 2014 and 2015 lists in subsequent articles for you. We’ve now had an opportunity to play with these cards for a while and form a real sense of how they can play—the good and the bad.

Today, I want to start with the rest of 2013 and then move up from there.

In 2013, after my Top 100 was published, we had Dragon’s Maze, Theros, Magic 2014, and Commander (2013 Edition). I also reserve the right to add in cards from Gatecrash, which hadn’t been out that long at the time of the article, if any cards from there prove their mettle. (I included the Primordial cycle, like Sylvan Primordial and such in the nineties.)

So what newly printed cards comprised the class of the class from 2013?

10 — Burnished Hart

9 — Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

We’ve seen a lot of great mana accelerants in time, but very few have been as good as the classics like Cabal Coffers or Gaea's Cradle. Many have promised something great and failed to really deliver, such as Crypt of Agadeem. Nykthos is among the first major tools to really reward and push your deck. It’s also a great reason to run single-colored decks, as it rewards the player who pushes and cares about mana costs. It’s a powerful, land-based accelerant in decks that often lack other options, such as mono-white and mono-red.

8 — Prime Speaker Zegana

Drawing cards is awesome! Whoever claims to not really like drawing cards is just an odd duck. The same is true of those who claim not to like attacking with creatures. Flap your wings, little duck! When the Speaker arrives, you can toss some counters on it and then draw some cards. It works wonders with any number of effects that abuse the various enters-the-battlefield triggers that we know and love. Zegana makes Mulldrifter cry.

Speaking of Mulldrifter, check out number seven below . . . 

7 — Strionic Resonator

Casual players love cards that have enters-the-battlefield triggers. From old-school Uktabi Orangutan to new-school Conclave Naturalists, we love it. I get a powerful effect and a creature I can swing with? Where do I sign up? We get it. And if you are running Zealous Conscripts and Murderous Redcap in your decks, this is a powerful adjunct. You can copy one triggered ability. And then you can also copy triggers that go off when something happens, like a Grave Pact; there’re a lot more options than just the obvious out there.

6 — Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

I named Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts the best card from Dragon’s Maze for multiplayer prior to the set’s release. After playing around with the set, which is a little disappointing in places, you want to know something? I was dead-on right. I called this hard. Why is she so good? Combining protection from creatures and vigilance means you can swing with her through any defense for 4 consistent damage, while she remains untapped to block (and survive) anything that comes her way. That’s good. Then, she acts like a No Mercy, and that’s a very potent way to keep things back to boot. And she can make 1/1 flying Spirits, too, if someone dares to look askance in your direction. That almost never happens; people just stop attacking into her. And she’s immune to creature-based removal like Flametongue Kavu. She’s the top-of-the-line quality.

5 — Kalonian Hydra

There were a lot of great beaters printed in 2013 for your deck-building needs. You can grab a lot of stuff, turn it sideways, and swing for damage, effects, and game. All of that is wonderful of course. But the Hydra manages to do and be something a little extra. When you swing, you double its size each time. Because it has trample, you make a nasty beater on the first swing, and it just grows from there. This 4/4 becomes am 8/8 first time you hit. Then next attack, it’s a 16/16. If your opponent is still alive and hasn’t died, on the third attack, this creature is a 32/32 trampler, which is big enough to kill players in Commander. As a 5-drop, that’s very compelling. And it doubles counters on all of your creatures, so it’s a counter-loving card—and a beater as well—so it has two potent roles, not just one.

4 — Act of Authority

It’s rare that a simple removal spell like Act of Authority would become one of my favorite cards to use. Some of the older stuff, like Orim's Thunder or Dismantling Blow or Artifact Mutation, is all offering some sweet stylings and card advantage. But the Act has grown into one of my favorite Disenchant variants of all time because it does a lot. First, it’s a 3-mana sorcery that exiles an artifact or enchantment, much like Fade into Antiquity or other effects. That’s not bad at all; exiling enchantments can hit Gods, and choosing artifacts will take out Darksteel dorks. Both Mirrodin and Theros weep at your Authority. You can also exile something else of serious problemage later on, and the card’s controller gains it, all Rainbow Vale like. Now, the player won’t usually exile something back to give it back to you—the player will usually hold onto it to exile something nasty from another player. And we’ve seen it be bounced around the table a few times to exile all of the threats and engines there while leaving behind minor stuff like mana rocks, so it’s like a safer and nicer version of Purify. It plays very nicely. And that’s all! With the enters-the-battlefield trigger, it can be used and abused with stuff like Venser, the Sojourner or Glimmerpoint Stag. It can be used and brought back with enchantment-loving stuff. So it plays well in two major deck shells, and it’s just a good, solid entry for multiplayer. The Act of Authority has proven itself a major player.

3 — Prophet of Kruphix

Untapping your creatures every turn is great since you can swing and untap them or use and keep using tap abilities. That’s a powerful effect by itself, and then layering onto it untapping lands as well is pretty cool since you can tap out for a big spell or creature and then have the whole team ready to block or tap for more mana and stuff later. Then, you can flash out critters you may have, which adds to your threat level considerably. Due to the recent banning by Commander in their format, no one is going to question the presence of the Prophet on my list, although you certainly should question it if Prophet doesn’t make my list. However, my personal play experience never was similar to that mentioned by the Commander Ruling Council that it was ubiquitous, that it drove deck choice, that it was included in every deck, and that it warped the format. It’s great, but not that great. Still, it’s one of the Top 10 Multiplayer Cards from 2013, no doubt!

2 — Garruk, Caller of Beasts

DJ Beats has arrived, and he wants his Beast track back. Garruk has always been one of the class of Planeswalkers that has the best versions. In the first cycle of ’Wallkers, he was a strong 4-drop who untapped lands, made dorks, and Overrun-defeated the opposition. Ever since then, he improved, and this version is the classiest, smashiest version of Garruk of all time. Drop him, reveal the top five cards, and gain all of those creature cards for your hand. Did someone shout out, “Card advantage,” with a deep, barbaric yawp? And then, you can play a big, green, face-smashing creature of your choice for free while you spend your mana elsewhere. He turns every green creature in the game of Magic into a 6-drop. Play Garruk, drop Woodfall Primus for -3, and you still have a 1-loyalty guy with some strong future powers and your Primus out to smash and kill stuff. DJ Beats is spinning the tunes.

1 — Elspeth, Sun's Champion

I have spent a lot of time giving this Elspeth a lot of accolades, and it just continues. She’s great. She’s the best mono-white Planeswalker for kitchen-table Magic. From her initial ability to drop three creature tokens at a time to killing off all of the big stuff, she has massive amounts of utility and card advantage built into her. In multiplayer formats, her 6-mana cost is much more feasible, and she dominates tables. I’ve seen more games dominated by Elspeth than by Prophet, that’s for sure. When you drop her, if you don’t need to immediately use the Retribution of the Meek to sweep the board, you’ll have her at 5 loyalty and three Soldiers. In the best-case examples from white’s history, you would normally spend 3 mana in white to make three 1/1 tokens (Timely Reinforcements or Spectral Procession, for example), although you often spend more (Captain's Call). So making this ’Walker for 3 more mana is worth the price all day long. You are going to abuse tables.

So there you have it: the Top 10 Multiplayer Cards from 2013, all ready to rock and roll! I want to give an honorable mention to Ashen Rider, Archangel of Thune, Tempt with Immortality, Unexpectedly Absent, and Bane of Progress. All of those were in my final cuts.

These cards have serious quality and proven chops. They are all ready to rock the block. So what’s keeping you from running them at your next Magic night?

What did you think of my list? Anything you would add? And as always, thanks for reading!