Hello folks! I hope you are having a fun day and keeping yourself safe in our modern COVID-19 world!

Today I want to do something a little different! I want to run another random top ten for you!

Here's how this thing works. I head over to Gatherer over at the Wizards of the Coast homepage. I then hit the random card ten times. I take any card that I've not hit before and that's not a basic land either. I then do them in that random order and sort them for you. I have played the vast majority of cards in the game somewhere in my career, and thus far, I've only gotten one card that I have not played in real life somewhere or other. It was Trokin High Guard, a vanilla creature from Portal: Second Age.

Want to check this thing out? Sure thing!

Let's kick this off...

10. Leonin Scimitar

Due to being published in Mirrodin, this little piece of equipment was the first published in the game along with it's fellow entries like Loxodon Warhammer, Bonesplitter, and Sword of Kaldra. Welcome to the game! It was reprinted in later sets. I like it as a fun one-drop that can push the game around a little bit. Although it's had competition like Flayer Husk and such it's never been antiquated. That's pretty cool. I've run it in equipment builds, Limited builds, and I have one in my real life Stonehewer Giant Vanguard mean to be used alongside my real life Momir Vig Basic set I have.

Here's the Avatar. You run it in a format where everyone has it and they can get a free piece of equipment for each critter they drop to their battlefield. I have a full stack of equipment we use for it. It's a lot of fun! Enjoy the randomness!

9. Samite Alchemist

This is a throwback to Samite Healer. It's not a very good one. Homelands is like that with a few of these popping up here and there. Like Sengir Bats compared to Sengir Vampire. Samite Alchemist is twice the cost of a Samite Healer, requires 2 mana to tap, and will prevent four times the damage, but only at the cost of locking down the saved creature for a turn. That's flavorful as it was about to die and now it has to take some time to convalesce. That's what this set is about - teeming with flavor and some of the best you'll find but not strong mechanically. Anyways, I've run it here and there at the time in decks. Enjoy the randomness!

8. Cellar Door

When I first saw Cellar Door in Innistrad, I thought of the "Cellar Door" scene from Donnie Darko, where the English teacher (played by Drew Barrymore) has written it on a board in chalk and says that it is the prettiest combination of words in the English language according to experts. It also gives a key clue for figuring out something in the movie later and acts as a foreshowing scene. I am an odd Abe. And Donnie Darko used to be my favorite movie before I saw Saved! on DVD or later films like Black Panther that replaced Saved!.

Anyways, enough about my favorite films. The card! It's a fun flavor filled splash of color into the horror movie feelings of the set it evokes. Putting the bottom card of the library instead of the top was new mechanically and it really sells the card's concept. It's also harder to manipulate given it's not top the library with cards like Sylvan Library or Sensei's Divining Top. I love it! I've run it in a few places in my life and there is a copy in my Chaos Cube! Enjoy the randomness!

7. Sprouting Phytohydra

Plant. Hydra. That's a cool tag team! The ability is pretty cool, and I run it in one of my Commander decks. It's built around the old school combo of Prodigal Sorcerer and Fungusaur. You tap your Sorcerer and shoot your Fungusaur for damage and it grows bigger. With the Phytohydra, you shoot it for a damage and then make another copy! You can easily have a crap ton of these bad boys infiltrating the place. Enjoy the combo potential of Sprouting Phytohydra. Enjoy the randomness!

6. Arcbound Stinger

Some random fool must love the original Mirrodin Block! Along with our first introduction to that block in the #10 above we also have the Arcbound dork here. The Arcbound idea was a solid one with the artifact creatures sharing their counters upon their death with other metallic friends. Arcbound Ravager was the big overpowered hit from this cycle, but I do like the idea and, for the most part, the casting costs of the Arcbounds. There are 12 such creatures in the set. The most commonly played at the kitchen table upon its release was the Arcbound lord Arcbound Overseer, as it'd put a counter on itself even if you didn't have any others under your control - or in your deck for that matter. Today the most played in Commander world is probably Arcbound Reclaimer with two chances to load an artifact to the top of your library a la Academy Ruins. Enjoy the flying Stinger, which I have played in multiple shells from modular matters to limited. Enjoy the randomness!

Time for our top 5!

5. Hot Soup

Get out of the way! Some Hot Soup is coming through! This is a funny lighthearted card printed as part of a series of guest designers in Magic 2015 ­and it wasn't printed in the normal way though the R&D process. No one wants to block because it's too hot, and if the wielder takes damage then the soup spills and they die. You get the joke. The idea with this series was to have different ways to interpret the Magic canon of abilities and such to match flavor and requirements. My favorite of the series was Xathrid Slyblade as I enjoyed the different take on an Assassin in the game. It's hiding behind hexproof and you lose it to head out and stab something with first strike and deathtouch, but it loses it's hiding place to do so. I enjoy Hot Soup as a fun way to make a hexproof dork unblockable as you won't have to worry about getting targeted by burn by your foes. I run it in a few places. Enjoy the randomness!

#4. Ivory Giant

Now it's time for some suspending fun! I always hated longer suspend cards as a first turn play won't arrive until long after the game is likely decided and it's either "win more" or "too little too late." I have drafted it and I have played it in a few limited decks here and there that needed bodies but I don't highly value it. I'd rather it be on curve as a 5 mana and not run suspend at all. But hey, drafters and sealed players can't always be overly choosy when they need bodies for the build, right? Right! Enjoy the randomness!

3. Merfolk of the Pearl Trident

Ah, yes. The early vanilla creatures on the first set often have very evocative names like Mons' Goblin Raiders and Pearled Unicorn. This is likely the best name of the group though. It's a fun one-drop for Fish decks that like Merfolk. I like it a lot. I've run it in Merfolk decks that became popular after the publication of Fallen Empires. That set gave enough Merfolk and Merfolk loving cards to make it sing along with the Lord of Atlantis, and Merfolk Assassin that were already in print. I played that deck a lot and ran this in other brews as well as Limited decks. Enjoy the randomness!

2. Arguel's Blood Fast

Hello, fans of drawing cards. This is cheaper to drop than Greed although the activation mana is one more, so I rate them roughly the same. You can easily draw some cards from this bad boy and then get your life total to a flippable place and then you turn this into a nice little sacrifice engine. Note that unlike a lot of these "sacrifice for life" effects it gains life equal to the sacrificing creature's toughness, not power, so it fits into a different stable of decks than your normal options. Enjoy the randomness!

1. Pause for Reflection

If you have three creatures out, this is free! You can tap out for other things and appear as if you can stop anything and then, all of the sudden, you tap some people and drop a Fog. Most of the time when you need a Fog, the extra mana off of 1 mana isn't that important when it's mid- or late-game, so costing more normally in order to get a cheaper version works well for Pause for Reflection. Enjoy the randomness!

Oh, and I have played all ten of these cards as well!

And there you have it! What did you think of my random top ten? Anything in there inspire you? Anything you forget about or never knew about? Have an awesome day!

Random Appendices

Did you like those random 1-set cards of craziness? Excellent! Here are the first eleven iterations of random fun for you to unpack!

1. Random Top Ten #1 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-03212017-top-ten-random-cards/ - My first top randomly features both hits (such as Grim Lavamancer) and 'what the?' moments, such as Narwhal. Enjoy!
2. Random Top Ten #2 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-05232017-top-ten-random-cards-round-2/ - If you like high profile spells like Gush and Fire // Ice, then you came to the right place! If you like old and obscure stuff like Silver Seraph and Infernal Darkness, then you also came to the right place.
3. Random Top Ten #3 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-07182017-return-of-top-ten-random-cards/ Sometimes in these random builds you have a lack of any sort of theme. But we did finish with a rare that I used to win my first ever Sealed tournament, so there you are!
4. Random Top Ten #4 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-10032017-top-ten-random-cards-round-4/. This was about when I realized this series had legs, so I began to codify the various articles. This Top Ten's random feature is high profile cards and a full three are commonly seen in multiplayer or kitchen table gaming.
5. Random Top Ten #5 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-12122017-top-ten-random-cards-v/ Including cards like the dreaded and the game-winning Door to Nothingness, this is a fun random blast!
6. Random Top Ten #6 - http://www.gatheringmagic.com/abesargent-05292018-random-top-ten-6/ This Random Gatherer-Inspired slate of ten includes cards such as Thallid, Forbidden Orchard, and everybody's favorite infect creature. And cards you likely forgot about (or never knew about) with Savage Firecat and Wall of Light in there as well! Check out the randomness!
7. Random Top Ten #7 - https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-07102018-random-top-ten-7/ In this Random Gatherer article, we see cards like Blessing, Coercion, the Zombie Dinosaur beasts of Putrid Raptor, and Dingus Egg. Check it out!!!!
8. Random Top Ten #8 - https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-08312018-random-top-10-the-ocho From Bad Moon to Ball Lightning, and from Armory Automaton to Power of Fire, we have a ten-set of randomly chosen cards for your enjoyment. This Random List is the list that keeps giving, as I decide to pause and create a Top Ten Ways to Abuse Power of Fire in the middle of my top ten list so you get TWO TOP TEN LISTS for the price of reading a single article. What's not to love?
9. Random Top Ten #9 - https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-04052019-random-top-ten-no-9 - Who wants Black Sun's Zenith or Muldrotha, the Gravetide? Who wants Kjeldoran Knight or Staggershock that you may not have known about? My #1 card was a Commander legal leader and I turned and was inspired enough to create a budget Commander around him the next week! https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargnet-04092019-budget-commander-47-hua-tuo-honored-physician
10. Random Top Ten #10 - Top Ten Ten Time! It's here https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-10182019-random-top-ten-x and you can see cycling lands, Eldrazi, Defenders, and Beetles. And not necessarily in that order! Enjoy!
11. Random Top Ten #11 - Lets break out of the ten-set! It's also here - https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent03272020-random-top-ten-no-11. You can see cards in here like Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Claws of Gix and a powerful #4. We even get my favorite card name of all time. What'll be? Check it out!