Hello awesome folks! Happiest of days to you and yours! Today I am looking at the best cards from DU for kitchen table formats like Commander, multiplayer, Type Four, Cube, Five Color, and loads more. This list does not include reprints like Liliana of the Veil or Phyrexian Rager. Ready?

Let's do it to it!

Honorable Mention #1 - (#13 Overall) - Tear Asunder

This two-cost instant will exile an artifact or enchantment, which is a much better rate than Naturalize. Exile is so much more reliable than destruction and needed at the kitchen table. It can be kicked for Black mana (Giving it a Golgari color identity) for four mana spent total to exile any nonland permanent making this an Utter End in Golgari, and since Utter End is in 45135 decks over at EDHREC.com, this seems like a pretty good card to have on my first Top Ten list! Good uncommon to get things kicked off with!

Honorable Mention #2 - (#12 Overall) - Timeless Lotus

Our top-scoring artifact is this mana maker. For five mana you get a tapped mana rock that you take a turn off from, then it taps for five mana, so it's the rare mana rock that taps for the same mana as that making it. It will tap for one color of each mana, and thus can really help in different places with mana smoothing. That means that it cannot be played in a Commander deck outside of Five Color ones, but other formats are more welcome and this is a Five Color (Format) essential. 5 Color is one of the most popular color combos in Commander as well. It's back here on my Honorable Mention since four- and three-color brews would love it, but it's not available there. It's best in Five Color Commander brews with Five color Commanders like Cromat.

Honorable Mention #3 (#11 Overall) - Rith, Liberated Primeval

Our first gold card on today's countdown is new Rith. Rith was one of the most beloved of the first cycle of Dragons in Invasion and was a big hit in Standard in the best deck in its era, Fires. She was also a big hit at kitchen table and in my Type Four stack. Her legendary status gives her cred in Commander and there are still 471 decks using her over at EDHREC.com which is pretty good for an old school thing. Her 5 mana 5/5 flying and ward 2 is pretty good at playing keep away and swinging for the fences. When a dork or 'walker was deal excess damage, make a flying 4/4 Dragon that can also get ward 2 from her 2nd ability. She'll love ways of dealing excess damage like Lightning Bolt and Pyroclasm. She's really strong and a key fun new take on the cooler side of life!

#10. Karn, Living Legacy

Our only colorless card that is not an artifact or land in the set is on today's list. This 4 loyalty walker is colorless and thus can be added to any brew. He can +1 to make tapped colorless artifact token makers. Nice artifact making for those that care. Then he can -1 to spend mana and dig that far and draw a card. Nice card flow over time. From artifact brews that care about his tokens to the digging card draw his -1 allows, there is a lot to adore here, right? I think so as well!

#9. Ratadrabik of Urborg

This 3/3 in Orzhov has vigilance, ward 2 and gives Zombies vigilance. It helps out a popular tribe from the Command Zone in the Orzhov colors from the Amonkhet Block. Then whenever another legendary dork you control die you make a Zombie, 2/2, Clone of that dork that is not legendary. That means that you don't need to run this with Zombies since he brings his own, and instead can be a unique Aristocrats build, or a Zombies-matter builds or just a legendary matters brews. Or a synergy of all three. All three of those are popular archetypes at the kitchen table, and he can lead them all. This fun thang also plays into a unique space for just a well-trod road and I respect that. How about you?

#8. Llanowar Loamspeaker

This two-drop 1/3 Elf Druid taps for any color of mana and then can tap to animate a land and turn it into a 3/3 Elemental with haste for the turn, but only at sorcery speed. The latter ability is fine, it can help decks that care about such things, but this is here for that first ability. This is a two mana 1/3 that can tap for any color of mana in a key Elf tribe. Two mana tappers of any color like Utopia Tree and Sylvan Caryatid normally aren't 1/3 and certainly not a key Elf tribe.

This outdoes both, and it can swing and grab some equipment later in the game after ramping is done and you are top decking. Two-drop mana rampers that tap for any color of mana regularly make big roads in formats like Standard, such as the aforementioned Caryatid. It's very strong in any deck and format looking for mana enablers. I really like it for a Fire Elves deck. Nice stuff here!

#7. Ajani, Sleeper Agent

Our highest-charting gold card is this Selesnya colored planeswalker. As you can see, this will normally be a four-drop 4 loyalty planeswalker with three abilities. The first one will +1 to draw the top card of your library if it's the right type. Nice card flow over time. It works well with things like Top. The second ability will -3 to place a trio of +1/+1 counters onto up to three dorks that will also get vigilance for the turn, which is great in multiplayer so you can swing and keep the defenses. Then you can cast it for three mana and two life and it will have just 2 counters. A third turn +1 card flow ability, combined with a first-turn Sensei's Divining Top or Guile, can be pretty good in decks with high creature and/or planeswalker counts. Nicely done, Ajani!

#6. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse

This Praetor is a 4/5 with deathtouch that is clearly on curve. As you draw cards you gain 2 life each time. As your foes draw cards they lose 2 life, so that's a win-con in the Command Zone. With the massive amount of space for self-draw in most Commander decks at the 10-15 card level for things like Opt and Serum Visions, that can really tax them.

Also note that some "Card draw" puts the card from your library to your hand, rather than counts as pure card draw, like Fact or Fiction. I love this in Rakdos Group Slug, Grixis Wheels Brews, Orzhov Life Gain, and loads more. I have already built a Commander deck around New-Sheoldred and it includes Mono-Black Group Hug like Howling Mine, mass card draw like Dark Deal, and lifegain matters cards like Vito.

#5. Jaya, Fiery Negotiator

Our highest- scoring planeswalker is this fun walker with FOUR abilities, which is usually a recipe for success at the kitchen table (Chandra, Torch of Defiance also a four-drop). Jaya's +1 can make a 1/1 Monk to block future attacks and swing, with prowess too by the by. Her -1 can exile two cards from your library and cast one, which seems stronger in 100-card formats like Commander and 300 card ones like Five Color than 60 or 40 card formats. Her -2 can shoot an opposing dork for damage equal to your future attacker count. Nice synergy with card flow, token making, and creature shooting all happening in three abilities that are not the ultimate. Love her power in loads of brews.

#4. Leaf-Crowned Visionary

This Lord pumps all other Elves by +1/+1 each and again, that is one of the most popular tribes at the kitchen table. Then as you cast Elves you draw a card. That's really strong, and note that this counts Elf spells, not creatures, so if you are casting Tribal Elf Instants or Sorceries, those will count as well as creatures. This is the third most-played tribe in Commander according to EDHREC.com and that is a really strong entry. It's quite powerful there, providing cards and pumps for a cheap two mana, that cannot be beat!

#3. The Defiler Cycle

Each of these come with an evergreen key word and an on-curve size. They each will let you cast permanents of that color with two life like phryexian mana instead of the normal color. This won't touch generic mana costs or other colors, and it only works on permanents, which was clearly done to keep them from getting broken by casting free Brainstorms, counters, Lightning Bolts, Swords to Plowshares, etc.

Permanents are getting less play these days as people pull their Phyrexian Arenas for card draw sorceries and their Ravenous Chupacabras for Murders. Even green decks are pulling mana dorks and rocks for Rampant Growths and Farseeks. Therefore, this cycle is playing against type, which is pretty cool. Also they each have a cast trigger when you cast a permanent of that color. The best is the blue one that draws you a card. This is our top hitting cycle, as it's deserved!

#2. Threats Undetected

Mono-Green has a few cards on today's countdown, and will finish with this sorcery. This is incredibly strong in many different brews. Consider, for example, that you need an answer to your foe's Conscreated Sphinx, from a creature in your Golgari deck. You can get a 1-power Big Game Hunter, a 2-power Ravenous Chupacabra, a 3-power Shriekmaw and a 4-power generic dork, and then you are assured that you are netting at least one ETB destroy effect. You can easily get a few Naturalizes on a stick. Need to counter something in your Simic deck? Mystic Snake, Frilled Mystic, Draining Whelk and Voracious Greatshark.

Don't forget you can win the game as well - Craterhoof Behemoth (5), Pathbreaker Ibex (3), End-Raze Forerunners (7), Earthshaker Giant (6). Love this power at the kitchen table loads. Love this in midrange and blink with the massive number of bodies with ETB triggers. This is also stronger the more cards you have in your deck, so 100 Commander is better than Brawl and 300 Five Color this is better than Commander since you have all five colors of options to choose from.

#1. Shivan Devastator

This Dragon Hydra is my top card from this set for kitchen table play. You spend X mana and make an X/X dork with both flying and haste. This can finish better than an X spell like Fireball since the dork can attack now for as much damage and then keep on attacking. It's a better finisher, but it cannot be used to kill a dork like your Blaze variant, but still, this is clearly going to be a better class of card. It works well in X-spell decks like Gruul's Rosheen Meanderer. This thing is also a creature-based win con for things that care about creatures like the aforementioned card or Ajani from earlier. This is pretty boring, but it's worth the price of admission.

And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed my deep dive into all things Dominaria United. What did you think of my 13 spots and what hit where? What did I miss? What's your Top Ten from the set? Just let me know and have an awesome day!