But Origins feels like the “core set” with the fewest reprints ever. Because of the “origin” concept, the set has very little in the way of a normal vibe, and instead, it is very different.

Are you looking forward to all of the new awesome cards from the set? It’s packed full of goodies and juices for all of us.

For casual play, what are the best cards from the set? Whether it’s Commander or sixty-card formats, more games are played at the kitchen table than at the tournament venue. For these folks, what is laden with potential?

10 — Nissa's Pilgrimage

Without spell mastery, the Pilgrimage is the worse than the Cultivate/Kodama's Reach duology that the Pilgrimage evokes. Note that it only finds a basic Forest. That means you can’t fetch something like Sapseep Forest or Breeding Pool. It doesn’t fix your mana, unlike Cultivate or Reach, by fetching any basic land, and that drops it on this list to the 10 spot. But what the Pilgrimage offers is a spell mastery mechanic that finds you three lands for one spell. That’s an Ancestral Recall level of card advantage. Because of that potential, the Pilgrimage should begin to make the cut as the primary land-fetching spell of choice in mono-green (or heavily green) builds.

9 — Kothophed, Soul Hoarder

As a 6/6 flyer for 6 mana, the Hoarder of Souls will suffice in the red zone—you can swing, block, and do whatever your desire without worrying about anything. In addition, you can draw a card (and lose 1 life) every time a permanent goes to an opponent’s graveyard (from the battlefield). Whether a creature dies or a player cracks and uses a Terramorphic Expanse or other fetch land, you draw and lose 1 life. Now, if you have a 20-life starting total, you’ll want to pair this with some life-gain and generate strong value from this guy. But in a 40-life format, like Commander, he won’t survive long enough to be a threat to your life total. (And if he’s out for that long, the sheer number of cards you will have drawn will be worth it—trust me.).

8 — Animist's Awakening

Yay for mana! Who doesn’t like mana, right? In fact, three of the Top 10 cards from Magic Origins are green cards that find you at least one land—because mana is awesome. In order to play the fun cards we want to, we need to be able to use mana. If you don’t pay attention to your mana needs, you won’t have the full opportunities to play your happy cards. So play a card like Animist's Awakening to drop a bunch of lands from your deck right onto the battlefield. Why not help make it to the good stuff? It’ll even work on nonbasic lands, too!

7 — Managorger Hydra

It’s sort of boring to have these great creatures that keep being placed in sets, like Sunscorch Regent. And just like Sunscorch Regent and Forgotten Ancient and Taurean Mauler and more, we already know that Managorger Hydra is going to be really strong—first of all, it has trample, so it can’t be blocked (unlike the others). Second of all, it’s among the cheapest cards that have this ability, which gives you a lot more +1/+1 counters in the third, fourth, and fifth turns, when you would be waiting for other bodies to come online. Trample and a cheap cost is a known quantity here, and the result is a card we already know will be good. So, nothing to see here. Next card!

6 — Pyromancer's Goggles

Because they remind me a bit of Red Mana Battery, I definitely like them. You can tap the Goggles for 1 red mana, so they have a minor ability as a spell adjunct, and then, you gain a free Fork of something as well tacked on. If you look at a card like Mirari, you’ll know that you usually have to pay mana for duplicating a spell. But not so with the Goggles! The only thing that keeps this card from making the Top 5 is that it only works with red stuff. So you can get a free duplicate of something like Urza's Rage, Fissure, or Chaos Warp.

Top 5 Time!

5 — Pia and Kiran Nalaar

What makes the parents sad is that they are way better than lil’ baby Chandra, who is once again the worst of her cycle (something she has been used to from the past). A 4-mana investment buys you a 2/2 dork as well as two 1/1 flyers—and that’s 4 power. We’ve seen a lot of creatures like that do well, such as Cloudgoat Ranger, Siege-Gang Commander, and Blade Splicer. Pia and Kiran certainly qualify. And then we have a useful ability tied onto Mommy and Daddy Nalaar. They can sacrifice an artifact to shoot someone or something for 2 damage each iteration. Since the token creatures are also artifacts, they can sacrifice their tokens, and you can sacrifice mana rocks, artifacts, or Solemn Simulacrums all day long. They offer a lot of flexibility for a lot of shells. Hello, Nalaars!

4 — Woodland Bellower

So let's take a look at why the Bellower really resonates with me. First of all, it's a green, 6-mana creature, so you can drop it early off mana rocks or mana-makers around turn four or five pretty reliably. And if not, you can still bring an adequate 6/5 body out. It's not exactly the best red-zone threat we've seen in green for 6 mana, but it's serviceable. Meanwhile, you are able to tutor up a green, cheap, nonlegendary creature and toss it right onto the battlefield. That gives you a lot of flexibility to find the right answer. As you might have seen in a deck I built last week, I paired that with Troll Ascetic for 9 power from one card. We've seen a lot of cards be printed that toss onto the board some token creatures to give you a lot of power for your investment. (Examples include Armada Wurm and Marsh Flitter.) But where this shines is in that you are bringing out an actual creature card, not a mere token or something. If your extra creature is bounced or flickered, if it dies, or whatever, it's still a part of the game—you can replay it, and it adds to your threshold, and so on. Plus, instead of mere power, you can grab a creature that has a useful ability, from fetching up lands and tapping mana to drawing cards and destroying another permanent. That gives you a sheer amount of flexibility in the Bellower that is hard to touch, and for that reason, I rate it highly.

3 — Liliana, Heretical Healer

I know that a lot of fellow authors have been down on Liliana, but frankly, I think that she’s the second-best of the pre-Planeswalker cycle of legendary creatures for a few reasons. First of all, her trigger to transform is probably the easiest to fulfill. In a casual black deck, a simple creature that self-sacrifices, like Phyrexian Plaguelord, Blood Pet, or Bile Urchin, can transform Liliana. Plus, you can easily swing suicidally into someone to force him or her to block and kill your guy or take damage. And when Liliana transforms, she makes a 2/2 Zombie token for free, and that’s a great bonus. Extra creatures are always useful. Then, post-transformation, Liliana can force everyone to discard (playing strongly into graveyard-based strategies for you) or bring back dead stuff. She’s extremely useful and flexible for a variety of roles. I think she’s great, but there’s one more I think is a bit better . . . 

2 — Nissa, Vastwood Seer

Despite how good Liliana might be, Nissa is just a little bit better. A 3-mana land-fetcher is right on curve for a lot of effects. And then later, when you have some creatures, if she’s still out, she’ll transform into a useful Planeswalker. Her +1 either draws you a card or tosses a land onto the battlefield. She can make a 4/4 dork, and if you decide to ultimate her later on, you won’t be embarrassed. Every green ramp deck in Casual Land can use her, and she’s powerful early on or later. She’ll never embarrass you. Remember that if you draw her later in the game, you can play her, grab the land, play the land, and immediately transform her without needing any other help. None of the others has that ability—all need help from other cards (or a turn, in Jace’s case) to transform if drawn later in the game. Nissa is strong.

1 — Tragic Arrogance

And there you are!

Frankly, I think a few cards from this set have been a little overhyped for the kitchen table (Day's Undoing, Alhammarret's Archive), which are fine additions to your cardstock, but they aren’t as flexible or as useful as Pia and Kiran Nalaar or Nissa, Vastwood Seer. But the set is packed with a lot of great cards for your next deck.

So, what did you think of my list? What’s missing? What are the cards you are most looking forward to crack?