The very first Magic deck I ever played that was even remotely competitive was a deck. At this point in my Magic playing career, I didn't have a very good grasp on things like the rules or deck-building, and the main deck I would play against my friend Richard - who was one of the few friends I had who even played the game - was a 100+ card monstrosity comprised of nearly every card I owned. I didn't know how to make mana bases. I didn't know how to evaluate good cards from bad. I just tossed all of my cards into a stack that I would draw from.

Eventually I found out another friend from school also played Magic. One day as we were hanging out at his house, he took my entire stack of cards and tweaked it into a significantly more efficient deck. This was something of a revelation in my Magic playing career. This was a deck that would go on to trounce most of my other Magic-playing friends, as they lamented the fact that I had help building it from Chris. "Of course, you keep winning; Chris basically built your deck for you!" It was true. He did. And you could tell they were slightly peeved and felt outclassed by this.

How the deck came into being aside, this was one of my first experiences with not only what you could do, but what you should do when it came to deck-building. This deck, simply composed of cards I owned, had a huge effect on my evolution as a Magic player. This experience, combined with the recent Christmas season, made me want to focus on some of my favorite Red and Green cards throughout Magic's history.

Let's take a look!

Most Nostalgic Card - Stormbind

Stormbind was a card that was in the deck I mentioned earlier, and it was one of the most impressive cards I had seen from Ice Age. Being able to deal any target two damage simply by discarding a card seemed so strong to me back then. While nowadays, turning every card in your hand into a two-mana Shock isn't the most ideal thing to do, 20 year ago this was extremely impressive to an amateur Frank.

Back in the day, when they weren't nearly as prominent as they are now, gold cards also had a very alluring quality to them. They always did really obscure things and seemed really powerful due to how much harder some of their abilities were to evaluate. Mirage and Visions were two of the first sets I really tried to build decks from, and cards like Emberwilde Caliph, Phyrexian Purge, and Purgatory just seemed so unique. The effects on these cards weren't actually that good, but somehow the art and the gold border really made me feel like something special was going on. It's hard to explain properly, but needless to say, Stormbind also fell into this category for me.

Most Cards Drawn - Escape to the Wilds

Oh boy, this is the second most recent card on the list, but also the only card on the list currently banned. I know I've talked about Escape to the Wilds before, and I remember loving it in Standard before it became a broken spectacle of a card thanks to things like Genesis Ultimatum and Fires of Invention. All that aside, Escape to the Wilds is still a great card that just ended up being a little too good. So much so that I even have a copy in my Vintage Cube!

Green can always use more card drawing and when it's also combined with an extra land play, well, that's just the combination we're looking for. Typically, the Venn diagram of broken cards and cards I love doesn't have a tremendous amount of overlap. I like big, splashy cards like Ethersworn Adjudicator and Drogskul Reaver. When people were trying to reanimate Griselbrand in Standard, I was also trying to reanimate Griselbrand, but I was also trying to exploit Flayer of the Hatebound as well. The point I'm trying to make is that when I love a card like Escape to the Wilds, it usually doesn't have to do with power level; if a card I love ends up being a little more broken than it should be, that's usually just coincidence.

Most Broken Card - Manamorphose

In all honesty, this isn't one of my favorite cards. I just think it's such a ubiquitous card that it deserves a place on the list, similar to something like Bloodbraid Elf. It's super weird that a card like this is so powerful, but here we are. Manamorphose has been fixing mana, netting mana, being copied, and drawing cards since it was first printed. It's seen play in numerous combo decks that want to increase their storm count, or simply do any of the things mentioned above. It's a really innocuous card that's had a ton of effect on the metagames of older formats.

I don't love this card, and when I talk about cards that "do nothing," like Gitaxian Probe or Mishra's Bauble, this will usually fall into that category as well. It does nothing, and clears the path for cards that do something. All that aside, it has a heckuva pedigree and has earned my respect.

Most Well-Rounded - Huntmaster of the Fells

When it comes to four-mana Red and Green creatures, this is actually one of my favorites. I know the spot is usually taken by the coveted Bloodbraid Elf, but for my mana I really appreciate the consistency and versatility of Huntermaster of the Fells. He is a mythic, after all, while Bloodbraid is a simple uncommon!

In all seriousness, 4 mana for 4 power worth of creatures, two life, and the potential to become a 4/4 that shoots players, planeswalkers, and creatures give the Huntermaster a real planeswalker feel himself, similar to something like Deathrite Shaman. This is a strong card that still has a home in my Cube, and is a card I just drafted in the Magic Online Vintage Cube earlier tonight!

Best God - Klothys, God of Destiny

These are several cool gods available to us, but Klothys, God of Destiny has really won a place in my heart, especially in formats that have fetch lands. While it's been rare for me to have Klothys be a creature, both of her static abilities are great. Well, okay, she only has one static ability to be fair, but it does two drastically different things depending on what you exile.

If you're passively draining four life each turn from an indestructible source, it can be extremely hard for a lot of decks to keep up with. I do think this is the stronger of the two abilities, but being able to ramp your mana is also nothing to sneeze at. The fact that you can choose which ability you want to use each turn, given that you have the appropriate card type in the graveyard, is just great. Klothys costing 3 mana and being one of the cheaper of the new gods is great, and being able to potentially get her down on turn two can be very game-defining.

One of my honorable mentions has to be Vengeful Rebirth. It's never seen a ton of play in any Constructed format, but it's still a great card that both gets any card you may need back from your graveyard, and also kills something or deals a good amount of damage to the opponent's dome. A solid combination that has always impressed me in the formats I've played it.

That's all we have for this week! Next week I'm looking forward to talking more about the Kaldheim previews that have dropped between last week and then, but in the meantime, let me know what some of your favorite cards are and if I left anything out that you think deserves my attention.

I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday, and I hope you have a similarly great New Years! Have a great New Year and I'll catch you in it! As always, thanks so much for reading, stay safe, I love you guys, and I'll catch you next week!

Frank Lepore

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