About a month ago, I went over some of my favorite Standard cards that no one was really playing at the time. While that still hasn't really changed (I don't think), I also mentioned that I had a list of my least favorite cards in Standard to play against. At the time I had Agent of Treachery on the list, but... well, we're not really playing against that guy very much in Standard now, are we?

With that being the case, I updated the list so we can talk about some of the more... unfun cards in Standard. I was originally going to only include rare and mythic cards, but there are some cards in lower rarities that I just couldn't justify excluding. Let's take a look at the oppressors!

8. Dream Trawler

The only reason Dream Trawler is in the 8th spot is because... I really like the card. Like, those who are familiar with my Twitch stream should know I will rarely-if-ever pass a Consecrated Sphinx, and this kind of feels like Consecrated Sphinx. It's six mana, it draws cards, it has increasing power, it can protect itself, and it gains you life. It basically does everything you want from a U/W finisher, including invalidate the newly minted Baneslayer Angel. In other words, any deck playing Blue has basically no reason to play Baneslayer Angel over Dream Trawler, unless you're going to be playing both.

While those are a bunch of pros for the card, it's simply miserable to play against and is nearly impossible to kill. Sure, it can be done, maybe, but it sure is an ordeal.

7. Yorion, Sky Nomad

This is another card that is as low as it is simply because of the companion rule change. Before the rules change, Yorion was pretty much everywhere, blinking things like Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast or Elspeth Conquers Death or Agent of Treachery. Yorion can no longer blink the latter of those three cards, and it's blinking a lot less of the other ones nowadays as well.

I don't think Yorion in and of itself is a broken card. I simply think it's kind of this perfect storm of it previously being free, the restriction being too low, and the synergy being pretty high in the deck it fits into. I mean, no one ever thought Brago, King Eternal was too broken, and he cost one less mana with a repeatable effect!

Thankfully, Yorion, while still popping up, is doing so much less these days.

6. Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

This card is something. It's kind of like a Primeval Titan and a Growth Spiral and a Thragtusk had a baby. I don't know if this specific card is oppressive, or if I'm simply tired of seeing so many copies of it in every deck, from Bant, to Temur, to Sultai. The card is good at three mana, but then when you're able to recur it from the graveyard one or more times, things just start to get ugly. Again, I don't think Uro in and of itself is a huge problem. I just think, in combination with the rest of the cards he fits in with, it ends up being an annoying card to consistently see across the table.

5. Nissa, Who Shakes the World

If Uro is annoyed to constantly play against, Nissa is on a whole 'nother level. This is one of the strongest planeswalkers that's been printed in quite some time, and if you need proof of that, you simply have to consider that the card sees a good amount of success in things like the Legacy and Vintage Cubes as well... and those have tons of broken cards from throughout Magic's history!

If you're behind in the game, you're usually going to lose to Nissa if she resolves. She not only generates an insane amount of mana, but she can protect herself with 3/3 vigilance creatures. I don't need to explain why this card is amazing, or many of these cards really - you've been playing against them for months - but I do want to add that Nissa was busted before, and now Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is in the format. Yikes.

4. Questing Beast

I simply have no idea why this card has so much text. To this day I will still stream with people (namely Mike) who forget all the abilities this guy has. They will often think a creature can block them that can't, or that a creature with protection from Green will still die. Sometimes I think it has reach (it doesn't). 4 toughness is also a sweet spot for this guy. Thankfully we do have quite a few ways to deal with this card in Standard, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a pain to deal with. Why does it have haste?!

3. Winota, Joiner of Forces

When people were talking about cards being banned in Standard, Winona was one of the main cards people were thinking would get the axe. The reason being that, while Agent of Treachery is a powerful card, the real problem was it being cheated into play on turn four thanks to Winota.

In a previous article I made a point to say that instead of banning the pay off cards, you should typically ban the engines. In this case, Winota, Joiner of Forces is the engine, which is why the card is still extremely powerful in Standard. Aetherworks Marvel was the engine in its format - as opposed to Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - which is why we banned Aetherworks Marvel. So, this was a weird situation where the card that did the more powerful thing was allowed to keep doing that powerful thing. I don't know if this card is going to be a problem going forward, but I do know it forces us to be careful about what humans are legal in Standard.

2. Teferi, Time Raveler

Lets face it: no one likes this card. They may say they do, but that's only because they need to in order to beat other people who are playing this card. Teferi fundamentally changes how the game is played by invalidating an entire card type for your opponent. If you don't have an answer for this guy and your deck relies on things like counterspells, or drawing cards at the end of the opponent's turn, you're just not going to have a good time. I personally can't wait for this card to rotate, and I'm quite glad that there weren't any equally unfun and format-warping Teferis in Core Set 2021... at least I don't think there are.

1. Wilderness Reclamation

You banned Fires; ban this card too! It makes no sense to me, and there's a reason Temur Reclamation is the best deck in the format right now. I just can't envision a world where this card remains legal until it rotates. It's not fun, it's oppressive, and it's difficult to combat if you don't have some sort of way to deal with enchantments in your main deck. The card should have left with Fires of Invention, but I think at the time, it wasn't a problem, because Fires was just better. Now that is clearly not the case.

Keep in mind that a lot of the cards on this list aren't seeing a ridiculous amount of play, such as Dream Trawler, but that isn't the point. This isn't necessarily a list of the most popular cards in Standard that aren't fun; it's just a list of the cards I have the least fun playing against, or the cards that feel like they box you in the most when they're on the other side of the table. But definitely let me know what you think, as I'd love to hear some of your least favorite Standard cards to face off against.

Once again, that's all I have for this week. I hope you all enjoyed this list of unfun gems, and be sure to leave me your thoughts in the comments below! You can also use promo code FRANK5 for 5% off your next CoolStuff purchase! Thank you so much for reading, I love you guys a ton, stay safe, and I'll see you next week!

Frank Lepore

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