Hello awesome people! And your awesome family! And your awesome pets! And your awesome significant others, or as I like to call them, "sig-os." Today we are doing our third looksee at the best cards from Battle for Baldur's Gate that was just released. Since it's not legal in formats that the company cares about like Modern or Standard, this is a deep set with loads of powerful cards, and we'll be looking at my top ten, plus two honorable mentions. As a reminder, in order to make my list, this article looks at kitchen table formats like Commander, Five Color, Type Four, Cube, Pauper, Highlander and multiplayer generally.

Our first top ten has two planeswalkers, an artifact at #2, two vehicles, a counter sorta and a powerhouse new broken card at #1. Our next list features three adventures, a broken cycle in the top three, and a common card at the top spot!

Ready?

Honorable Mention #1 (#36 Overall) The Common Gate Cycle

These are a great slate of five cards in each color that are better than the Guildgates. Since they arrive tapped and are common, they'll never be that pricey on the secondary market. Additionally, in a two-color deck they are better than an always tapped land like Coastal Tower since they can choose the other color they tap for. 95% of the time you'll just use that other color, so in a Dimir deck you'll just choose Blue for Black Dragon Gate. But...what if you cast Bribery and the best card in their deck had an activation cost in White, Red, or Green, which you don't normally have? If you controlled just a Black/Blue tapping land instead of this, you wouldn't be able to activate that ability, but now you can! What if your foe control's Norn's Annex, and you need to pay White or two life, but you are low in life, just drop a Gate and name White, and swing next turn. Getting the ability to make mana outside of your color identity is great since it lets you get access to doing things to interact with the board, so don't sleep on this cycle. They are also Gates and play into the Gates-Matter theme.

Honorable Mention #2 (#35 Overall) - Rescuer Chwinga

Hitting here at the back of my third list is this Whitemane Lion reprint. Two mana? Check! 2/2? Check! Flash? Check! When it arrives you bounce a dork? Sorta...that's where this is mentionable. With this Spirit you can bounce any permanent not just dorks. Something targeted for removal by a Vandalblast or a Strip Mine. A planeswalker just attacked and about to die. Loads of fun things and Whitemane Lion is played in 9,996 decks and this could replace many of those. Note that the bounce is a may effect, so you can just flash, block and trade with an attacking X/2 dork without bouncing anything. Good Spirit!

#10. (#34 Overall) - Pact Weapon

This 4-drop zero mana to equip powerhouse is really strong. Note that it requires a discard to equip so you can do so over and over again and discard that creature for reanimation or madness or getting hellbent and loads more. You also won't lose the game for having 0 or less life as long as it's equipped, and that works nicely here, although you will still lose to things like Thassa's Oracle and Laboratory Maniac and poison counters and such. When your dork swings you get a boost for no mana investment equal to the casting cost of the top card in your library and then you lose that life and draw the card. It's basically a life-loss matters, Voltron or top of library matters option that can do some damage, so it's quite flexible!

#9. (#33 Overall) - Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss

This fun Gruul leader opens up a new archetype in Commander: mana dorks matter. This is a 4/4 for four mana, so it's on curve. Then it gives your mana ability dorks like Birds of Paradise a double Anthem boost (+2/+2) and then you can untap them after they swing, so you can kill and make mana. Seven mana or highest spells you cast with mana will untap and +7/+7 a trample and there you are good to go. Good stuff, for the win-tuff.

#8. (#32 Overall) - Contraband Livestock

Our highest-scoring uncommon in this list is this two-cost instant. There are a number of cheap White exiling target dork that give an advantage to the targeted player. Path to Exile ramps them, Swords to Plowshares will give them life, and even Crib Swap will give them a 1/1 with changeling. This is cheaper than Crib Swap by a mana, so it leaves something better than a 1/1. You could leave a 4/4 or 2/2 quite easily. Toss a die! A bigger dork is worth the cheaper cost in a 40 life format like Commander in a metagame that needs exiling removal to permanently answer an issue. Love it loads there! It's pretty bad in Type Four though.

#7. (#31 Overall) - Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar

This rare 3/4 with the ability to choose a background hits in at essentially our 31st spot just outside of my top 30. This can tap two, itself, and then sacrifice another dork. A sacrifice in the Command Zone suggests Aristocrats and Reanimation and other sacrifice stuff. The sacrificed dork draws you a bunch of cards equal to its power. I really like this in my Ziatora Ball Lightning deck I just built since you can draw a ton of cards to refill your hand instead of dealing more damage with the sacrifice, and it also works well with the red Threaten effects here. Rakdos Steal and Sac, Golgari Reanimation and Orhzov Aristocrats all seem nice places to wind up!

#6. (#30 Overall - Jaheira, Friend of the Forest

This is another fun mono-colored rare leader with the ability to add any other color; I like Red with her. You can tap your tokens for green mana! Note that doesn't say..."creatures" before that word. That's strong in Selesnya Tokens and Simic Clues and Gruul Treasures and even Golgari Food. Since Treasures are made in bunches, I feel that's the best home. She's also strong in the 99 of a token brew in those archetypes. She's very token synergetic!!!

Top Five Time!

#5. (#29 Overall) - Wand of Wonder

Arguably the most fun card in the set is this crazy thing! And fun is why we play this thing called a game, right? Four mana artifact, four to activate. Roll a d20. Then you can force your foes to exile cards until they exile an instant and/or sorcery - then you can cast 1, 2, or 3 for free. It's very strong in loads of places. I'm sure you'll always get a card draw as one option in a three-way game like Brainstorm or Bitter Revelation, something that's deck specific like a Cloudshift in a blink deck, and then something removal-ish like counters or Swords to Plowshares. This can really change the game in your favor or be a huge swing and a miss, and that's the fun!!!!!

#4. (#28 Overall) - Myrkul, Lord of Bones

We have three new Gods entering the fray from Faerun. This is the best of the lot, and the first hitting God, is a bit pricey 7 mana for a 7/5 sometimes indestructible that turns your dying non-token dorks into exiled copies that are enchantments of said dorks. Since it exiles them, it's not as strong as recursive over and over like Aristocrats and Recursion, but I do like it with recursive copies like midrange and blink that would love a free copy each time a precious dork died. It's pretty strong at the kitchen table, and note that the death trigger is a may effect and costs no additional resources.

#3. (#27 Overall) - Font of Magic

One of the most beloved archetypes at the kitchen table is Spellslingers where you cast instants and sorceries to trigger Guttersnipes to win. (It's the seventh most common archetype registered over at EDHREC.com with 24,336 decks) This can be slotted right into that archetype. As you cast your Commanders over time, you drop the cost to cast sorceries and instants by a generic mana each time, so this scales up over time. It really likes partner Commanders where you are casting each as well as backgrounds from this set.

#2. (#26 Overall) - Blood Money

This is a 7-drop mass sweeping removal that nets you a tapped Treasure for each dork killed. Many black/white sweepers that hit creatures only and give you an advantage (Phyrexian Rebirth, Kirtar's Wrath, Life's Finale) cost 6, and this costs another mana, which isn't that good. With them tapped it might better be six mana as well, hence it hits here at the third list. Many are pulling their pricier sweeping removal spells for cheaper options like Damnation and Wrath of God for better versions for like this and the aforementioned powerhouse. Please note that the massively powerful game changing Plague Wind and In Garruk's Wake cost 9 mana each and seem much better than this since this that hits you as well for just two fewer mana. Outside of Treasure decks? Hence my third list. It's really strong as yet another mass removal spell in Type Four, with infinite mana but just one spell cast per turn.

#1. (#25 Overall) - Bramble Sovereign

This Mirari for creatures is my top scoring card at #25 overall. I have this in my Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes deck this week. Whenever another non-token dork (under anyone's control if you want to play politics) you can spend two mana and then that player makes a copy of that dork that just arrived to the party. It's very powerful here, since it can punch above it's weight as a 4/4 for four mana (on curve) with just a two cost to copy said dork. From Solemn Simulacrum to Eternal Witness to getting another Burnished Hart to sacrifice, you can do a lot with this, and it works in pretty much every green heavy creature build, but I really like it a lot in ramp with big dorks to copy, blink with a bunch of ETB triggers, midrange with a bunch of ETB triggers as well, as well as aggro looking to get copies of its key dorks. Note that the copied dork is still legendary, unlike many other options, and lacks haste and sticks around permanently. I love this in Type Four especially on the first turn, just like Mirari, and then you can bait out counters or removal, and if not answered, then you get two of each spell moving forward. It's very strong!

And there we go! So, what did you think of my list? Anything in here that I missed or that you are excited to play with? Just let me know!