Want to win at multiplayer? Want to get that sweet, sweet victory? Then you need to know what it’s all about . . . 

Utility.

Like Charms or Commands (Such as Ivory Charm and Primal Command), split cards tend to be about having a bunch of options, so you have diversity and utility built into your decks. Each can do something that you might want, so there is value there. Take, as a quick example, Stand // Deliver:

Deliver is a 3 mana Boomerang, and Stand is a weaker Healing Salve. But both are playable in ways you might not normally care about. You could Stand to keep your Commander from dying to lethal damage or to retain a vital tool after a damage-based mass removal spell like Earthquake. And Deliver can bounce anything, even a land, and a three-mana bounce spell still works well. You can find uses for it. And Stand // Deliver is hardly the best out there at this either, right? If I were to craft a Top Ten Worst Split Cards of All Time List, nobody would be surprised to see Stand // Deliver near the top, right? And yet, you can still see the value here.

Because, at the end of the day, options matter. They maximize utility. You can’t predict what your foe is going to bring, or what they’re going to do to mess with your plans. So you bring countermagic, like Dromar's Charm, that can also do other stuff. Options matter.

And split cards play into that need hard, thus increasing their usefulness at kitchen table games.

So given that need, allow me to Stand and Deliver my own top ten split cards of all time for the kitchen table. Here we go!

Honorable Mention – Dead // Gone

I have probably played Dead // Gone more than anything else on this list. It’s a great card. I’ve run it in Commander Cube, Commander, Abe’s Deck of Happiness and Joy and more. Bouncing rocks in red. And Shocking a creature is a perfectly fine effect as well. Both of these are solid cards and as a result, you might not be surprised to see how many times I have cast this card. Dead? Gone? No longer!

#10. Beck // Call

Card drawing? Beck is great. Call is . . . overpriced by a lot. I mean, we all know that. But Beck? That’s an amazingly sweet card. Given that you are playing Green with its normal rampish-quality and you could be getting the four tokens and additional cards drawn, I’d argue Beck // Call might be the 3rd best split card when considering tournament pedigree after #1 below and . . . 

#9. Life // Death

Do we want to animate our lands for just a mana? Then swing away with them? On at least two occasions (that I can remember) I’ve Lifed on an empty board and won with a surprise attack. But this card is almost never played for Life and we know it. Death is a Reanimate for one more mana, but we know how good reanimate has been in tournaments, and of course, Life // Death followed that dynamic in due course after it was printed in Apocalypse. As a result of that strong impact, Life // Death is arguably one of the most common split cards to have seen at a tournament. But’s not the most powerful split card at casual or multiplayer, where it’s roles are different, and it’s sort of a team player in the a core Reanimation build. However, it works quite easily there.

#8. Wear // Tear

No one plays Shatter. No one plays Demystify. But people love Wear // Tear! Why? There’s only one reason . . .  FUSE BABY! Fuse for the win. Taking out two permanents for 1WR is cheap, powerful, and card-advantage-ingly awesome. Awesome I tells you!

#7. Spite // Malice

This is pretty much the check list for Spite // Malice:

1. Is it a land?

2. Is it both a creature and Black?

3. Is it a noncreature with uncounterability?

4. Is it a creature that you can target? Can it be killed?

If it’s not any of those things, then Spite // Malice is universally able to handle it. All non-creatures can be countered. Instants! Planeswalkers! Artifacts! All gone. And if it’s a creature, only Black status or shroud or indestructible is keeping it around. It’s a great answer to anything that can be thrown at you!

#6. Pure // Simple

Forget Pure. Don’t pay any attention to it. This card is about Simple. How often do you see equipment at the kitchen table? Right! I hear you. All the time. All of it. And Simple is basically a Shatterstorm for equipment (and auras as well, in case you care.). You can see just how powerful a card like that would be, right? I like a split card like this that can provide card advantage, and given just how many cards you’d take out, it’s strong. And it’s so easy to build around or find a home for. Now recall Pure. It’s a Vindicate against any multicolored permanent. And we see those lots at the kitchen table, including Commander where almost every deck has a multicolored leader. Pure // Simple is a powerful card that you’d best not forget any longer.

#5. Order // Chaos

When I have Order // Chaos in my hand, I reliably expect to cast Order about 90% of the time. It answers every major beater at the kitchen table that you can target from Darksteel Colossus to Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre to Akroma, Angel of Vengeance and Avacyn, Angel of Hope. If it swings, it dies. However, don’t play it just for that. Firstly, I have killed people with Chaos more than Order. Whoops, there was an Alpha Strike. Sorry! And I’ve often let one person accidentally kill another. Bill attacks Bob with a horde of 1/1 tokens, expecting many to die in combat-fueled carnage, and whoops, where did Chaos come from? Sorry Bob! And then Chaos is actually the single best Falter effect in the game. Most are expensive (Wave of Indifference), miss some creatures, (Falter) or work on you too (Bedlam). Chaos is better than It seems. Get it on!

#4. Supply // Demand

Most split cards aren’t a winning condition. They are utility tied up in a neat and simple package. Most split cards are simple variants of cards that already exist, like Assault // Battery is either a Shock or a Call of the Herd. Supply is different. It wins games. I have included Supply // Demand in decks solely due to the presence of Supply as a powerful token making threat. In fact, there are times I’ve not even been able to make Blue mana for Demand and Supply is good enough already. And that’s something most split cards aren’t. But Demand is a solid tutor too. It’s value dropped a bit for Commander after the tuck rule left (you could tutor up your leader if tucked into your library) but it’s still a strong tutor for a lot of decks and board states. The combination is a powerful token-making effect with a potential tutor if that suits the board state instead.

#3. Ready // Willing

Ready // Willing has a unique status due to the fuse ability. To this day, it remains one of the best combat tricks you can unleash. Ever. Period. Full Stop. There are three reasons. Untapping and indestructible is awesome. The untap puts all of your team out for blocking while the indestructible lets you block with impunity. That alone is sexy. Deathtouch gives you the ability to surprise kill anything you block and lifelink even lets you gain some seriously amazing life while you are at it. And you don’t have to run this as a combat trick. You can just cast Ready to untap your tappers to tap them for more effects or for indestructible after a Wrath of God is put on the stack. You get the idea. This is a very flexible tool. Bring it!

#2. Crime // Punishment

This is my all-time 2nd favorite split card for multiplayer for a few reasons. But basically, it’s because each half is powerful all on its own. You could play Crime or Punishment by itself in a deck around that theme. Consider Crime first. All by itself, Crime can toss a creature or enchantment from an opponent’s graveyard right onto the battlefield under your control. Given how often graveyards are abused in casual play, that is pretty reliably nasty. And don’t forget the enchantment part either. I like to grab a powerful Rhystic Study or Sylvan Library as much as a good creature. On the other half is the solid sweep of Punishment. Now, it’s not sweeping X or less, which is sad, but it can always sweep tokens for zero mana (unless they are copies, in which case they have the copied casting cost.). You can also often purge the board of the most precise strikes that will frustrate others without hurting yourself. Crime? Punishment? Let’s enter that era!

#1. Fire // Ice

Umm . . .  If there was another card here, what would you do? Would you revolt? Would you allow that fiery temper of yours to take over and let me have it in the comments below? “How did that Abe guy not have Fire // Ice at the top spot?” Or are you more of a slow chill sort of person. Revenge? A dish served best cold, am I right? Would you wait until that Abe guy was not expecting it and open and then take full advantage of the icy reception that you could evoke? Well nomatter, Fire // Ice is here for you!

And there we are! I hope you enjoyed our walk through all things utility! There are some great split cards that add a lot of power and options to your deck, so run them! I hope you found something in here that you liked! Did you agree with my list? If not, let me know in the comments!