There are good cards. Gruul Spellbreaker - that is a good card. Bedevil - that is also a good card.

However, there are cards which aren't just supplying powerful options or upgrades to what we play, but that shift what is possible in a more fundamental way. When Lyra Dawnbringer was printed, it wasn't just a wildly powerful creature for White, it was a potential threat to any aggressive deck that thought it was going to end the game quickly. Lyra is a big part of the reason that Red decks would end up with Fight with Fire in their sideboard and that most every review of Red cards from Ravnica Allegiance includes a mention of Collision from Collision // Colossus.

Powerful cards have an impact on games; game-changers have an impact on formats. Flametongue Kavu is one of the most historically powerful examples of that - a card which, when it was printed, made the choice of playing nearly any creature ludicrous. Vraska, Golgari Queen is a great card, but it isn't a world-shattering card. From Ravnica Allegiance, a great example of this is Domri, Chaos Bringer: it is absolutely powerful and will likely see some play, but it won't shift the Standard Magic universe.

Without further ado, here are the Top 15 Game-Changing Ravnica Allegiance Cards

Honorable Mention - Skewer the Critics

I talked about Skewer the Critics in both my Ravnica Allegiance Red Review and in my Burn overview. Out of context, this card wouldn't be a game-changer, but with the sheer volume of burn spells out there, we might actually be at the point in Standard where we have a Modern-like critical mass of direct damage. That's a pretty by deal. I give this card an honorable mention because, unlike the other cards that are great from Ravnica Allegiance that aren't on this list, the structural advantage of taking advantage of a limited resource like "life" puts it on a different axis of analysis (the Philsophy of Fire) in a way that no other good card we might talk about can touch.

15. Warrant // Warden

This is not about Warden. This is about Warrant. The Warrant in Warrant // Warden is an important game-changer because of the Blue's general problem with several cards, notably Adanto Vanguard and Rekindling Phoenix. Without access to Black, it can be notoriously difficult for Blue to take care of those cards. In my own builds of the "Curious George" Curious Obsession decks, I've taken to using Deep Freeze to solve problem creatures like that.

Warrant isn't as clean as Azorius Charm in its versatility, but it accomplishes the same purposes, and it doesn't even demand that its user play White. Warden is a fine add-on, and if you're playing White, you'll be sure to use it sometimes, but the creature-management of Warrant will be a huge boon to all Blue decks, even if you never make a Sphinx.

14. Prime Speaker Vannifar

Prime Speaker Vannifar might not be Birthing Pod, but even if you begin doing a Birthing Pod impression, you start doing some absurd things. The fact is, the Swiss-army Knife decklists, be they Survival of the Fittest or Fauna Shaman or Birthing Pod, all have the ability to be wildly more powerful than you might imagine simply because they continuously are bringing forth relevant cards to play.

Facing down a Prime Speaker Vannifar, most decks will only be able to survive a few turns before something horrible happens to them, especially after sideboarding. Coming from an entirely different angle than we currently have in Standard, Vannifar is a huge game changer.

13. Gates Ablaze

Are Gates "real" in Standard? If they are, it will be entirely due to this card, which gives to Red-based Gate decks an actual powerful sweeping spell, but for a historically powerful mana rate. Deafening Clarion is an important card because it will often be nearly a Wrath effect, killing all creatures. As a two-color spell, it is hampered. Gates Ablaze is likely to be an even more effective mass removal spell, and without the need to be specifically .

But, are Gates "real"? That feels hard to say, yet. But there certainly look like there may be enough cards for them to be real in a way that they never were before.

12. Growth Spiral

This card is an absolute game-changer for controlling decks. If they don't mind the cost of playing Green, the ability to ramp up mana without putting a vulnerable creature into play or casting a sorcery-speed card to get that mana means that it is possible for a Blue-based control deck to never put the shields down. Usually, one of the major things holding back a control deck is that they can't get to the late-game state where their more powerful spells start coming into play, but with Growth Spiral, it is all the more likely that they can.

Remember, at this point, if you want it, your three-color control deck can run sixteen Green sources.

11. Light Up the Stage

Okay, Seth Burn. Okay, everyone else. You're right. This was the best Red card from Ravnica Allegiance. Prior to writing the most recent Red Review, I'd only played with or against this card a handful of times, and I hadn't reckoned with its true power.

Aside from playing quite nicely with Experimental Frenzy in ways that other card draw does not, it also provides enough extra card draw that splashing into a second color for Red feels quite trivial. Eight sources are more than enough for a gentle splash for powerful off-color cards when you're adding in Light Up the Stage for that extra bit of card draw.

In addition, for the combo-rific builds of Red decks out there, here is yet another weapon to get things going so that you can do dramatic things that are absurd, as Jeff Hoogland shows us:

Yeah, this card is great.

I apologize for calling it "good".

10. Rhythm of the Wild

The second-coming of Fires of Yavimaya would be on this list if it only gave creatures Riot. The effect of a card like this creates cascading damage from creatures that is uniquely resilient against mass removal because you can just keep the damage going on subsequent turns due to haste.

But, then it has that other sentence. "Can't be countered" is a hell of a phrase to put on a Magic card. Niv-Mizzet, Parun and Carnage Tyrant are the powerhouses they are because of that text. Put any powerful creature together with that text, and things get downright hostile for control decks.

It's going to be a rough time to be control unless you can answer this card.

9. Mortify

If only there were some way to answer Rhythm of the Wild that is also just a powerful removal spell in its own right.

Oh, right!

Mortify is going to be huge. As a removal spell that has the versatility to take out scary, non-creature permanents, Mortify might be the argument for Esper as the control deck of choice. If it was just enchantment removal, Mortify might be a decent sideboard card, but because it is so efficient and can take out any old creature, it elevates the card. Additionally, letting your countermagic stay alive in the face of Rhythm of the Wild is going to be important for any deck hoping to employ that plan.

8. Spawn of Mayhem

This card is basically a 5/5 flying, trampler for 3.

Sure, it won't be that every game, but it will be that in enough games that it will make us look back on Phyrexian Negator with a bit of amused fondness.

When you hit this hard, you can start making decks that live in that powerful "midrange aggro" category, where you can afford to have a bit more interaction if only because you know that you will be ending the game so quickly, it is okay to dedicate a few more cards that are interactive, rather than having to really wait to take a game down.

This card is scary.

7. Wilderness Reclamation

Perhaps the most fear-inducing card of the set, we're already getting reports of at least four different Wilderness Reclamation decks that might be worth being worried about. Whether they are casting Nexus of Fate, Explosion from Expansion // Explosion, or other shenanigans, without any help, it is simply the case that turn five can be a time of 10 mana for a deck playing this card.

Any time there is a one-sided Mana Flare, one should take note. Remember Mirari's Wake?

Expect this card to be a cornerstone of the upcoming Pro Tour - erm, Mythic Championship.

6. Growth-Chamber Guardian

Article after article has already been written about how good this card is. Is it any surprise to see it up so high in the list? Not just a good beatdown card, but also a card that provides resilience - having both of these traits is rare. This card isn't Tarmogoyf, in that it won't hit as hard as fast, but it is going to be as ubiquitous as Tarmogoyf because of how much it can affect a game by just continuously sticking pressure to the board.

Get yours now.

1st through 5th - The Shock Lands

There is nothing more impactful than the ability of numerous decks to have this increase in value to their mana pool.

If you remember my complaints about my Jeskai Niv Mizzet deck, you might recall that I was looking for the arrival of Hallowed Fountain because it would mean I could cast everything I needed to with nearly perfect mana. Now, we're living in a time where any three-color deck that you could want to build will have great mana. If you have a powerful idea, you can have the mana to support building it.

Now that is a game-changer.

It might not seem like lands is as exciting as spells, but these building blocks make the entire world different.

I'll be in New Jersey this weekend for the Grand Prix - err, MagicFest. I hope I see you there! Please feel free to come up and say a hello!

- Adrian Sullivan

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