Mirrodin Besieged holds a special place in my heart for several reasons. It was the first paper prerelease I attended after my return to the game, and it was set to the backdrop of Mirrodin versus Phyrexia. That was like a whole ton of my childhood wrapped into one awesome set and boy did it deliver! Mirrodin Besieged was an outstanding set with one of the best suites of mythics yet seen in my "Ranking the Mythics of..." series, and it's not hard to see why. Most lists thus far have had at least some stinkers, but this one? Nope, it's all good cards all the way down. Let's get right into it and you'll see what I mean right away!

10. Hero of Oxid Ridge

You know how you can tell you're in for an outstanding set of mythics? When Hero of Oxid Ridge is at the bottom of the list. Seriously, this card absolutely rocks. It was a house in Standard and remains great in Cube. Even at certain times in Commander it can be decent if you're dealing with a lot of 1/1s in your local playgroup. The problem is that as time has gone on, the card has lost most of its charm and doesn't hold up anywhere near as well as it did back in the day, and even then it was still on the lower end of mythics. That's just how good this set was on the mythics front.

This hero might be in last place, but it's still one hell of a hero in my heart.

9. Thrun, the Last Troll

There's maybe an argument that this should be in last place, but I'd argue that's more because better cards have come since. It reads boring, but in reality Thrun is an absolute house. The card saw play in several formats including Legacy as a means to get through countermagic and to have access to a creature that's difficult to get rid of. It gets chumped forever, but it just shreds control decks like nobody's business. Thrun's stock has certainly gone down as time has gone on but he's one hell of a card and feels like a mythic's mythic - especially for the time.

8. Praetor's Counsel

If there's one card that's always surprised me that it both hasn't seen more play and isn't more than just a bulk mythic, it's Praetor's Counsel. Seriously, have you read this card? It brings back EVERYTHING from your graveyard! You don't even need to discard any of it again either! For Green decks it isn't even a challenge to hit the high mana cost needed to cast it, which made it a must-play in Commander circles at the time. Simply one of the flashiest and most unique effects I can think of, but just hasn't lingered as much in the player consciousness to warrant a higher rank.

7. Hero of Bladehold

Few creatures are going to get me to cheer as hard as Hero of Bladehold. Hero of Oxid Ridge hasn't aged quite as well mainly because the use for the evasion ability is so limited by today's standards. Hero of Bladehold instead just says "that's cute, here's an army of tokens." It's great in Cube and great in Commander, and even saw a decent amount of play during its tenure in Standard. I myself played it a ton in Tempered Steel and won tons of games off this legend's back. She's a lot more medium compared to the higher cards on this list, but it's hard to not love this all-star of a mythic.

6. Massacre Wurm

If Hero of Bladehold is out here making tokens, Massacre Wurm is here to gobble them all up. Both times this card was in Standard it saw solid amounts of play and it continues to be a great way to wrap up games of Commander and Cube as well. It's fairly simple to use and is too pricey for most competitive spaces, but if you cast it chances are that it will completely turn the tide of the game in a heartbeat. Oh yeah, and it's excellent with reanimator spells as well, making it extra juicy if you pair it with something like Hell's Caretaker.

5. Glissa, the Traitor

Glissa is such an oddball card and she reads extremely weird when you first take a look at her. Then you run into someone playing her as a Commander and she ends up absolutely wrecking your day with a nonstop value engine coming through. She's also nigh unbeatable in Limited, even if you don't have a lot of ways to repeatedly get back solid value out of the recursion ability. A seriously awesome card, if a bit underrated by today's standards.

4. Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas

These days, Tezzeret doesn't get a whole ton of love, but back in the day he was the backbone of numerous decks. Tezzeret Control - often named Tezzerator - was a unique archetype that controlled the game while spitting out lots of artifacts on the board and then killing opponents with his ultimate that you could activate just one turn after playing him. I personally played him in a decent number of Affinity lists at the time as he not only could find you all manner of key cards, but could just win the game in a flash with that dreaded quick ultimate. Even in Commander he's extremely powerful in the handful of artifact-centric decks that can play him.

3. Blightsteel Colossus

In terms of top-end creatures, Blightsteel Colossus is about as mighty as they come. There's probably several people who would opt to put this higher - perhaps at the top - due to the game ending inevitability the card brings to both Commander and to Cubes. One shot with this monster and you're almost assuredly dead, and if you're not then you're probably only a turn or two away from death. Despite being a monumental force to be reckoned with, it's not necessarily a universally powerful card that goes in a multitude of decks and so while it's powerful, it's not quite the best out there. But, boy, what a leap to get here from Darksteel Colossus, huh?

2. Consecrated Sphinx

Where Blightsteel Colossus is the best thing you could be doing but only in a handful of decks that can play it reliably, Consecrated Sphinx is far more catch-all. It slots easily into just about any Commander deck playing Blue and can completely take over any game it's dropped into. Even just one time around the table will have you drawing a minimum of six extra cards if it's not removed. Things can even get extra silly if someone decides to clone it when it hits the battlefield. It's far from the most competitive card in 60-card Constructed, but few cards have been so universally defining in casual right from the jump that remain as iconic to this day.

1. Sword of Feast and Famine

Speaking of instantly defining cards, none has been anywhere near as multifaceted as Sword of Feast and Famine. When players saw the first in the return cycle of swords in Sword of Body and Mind, the attitude was that of it feeling a bit underwhelming. It was a cool card, but didn't feel like it would live up to the power of the first two from Darksteel. That quickly changed when Mirrodin Besieged brought us this behemoth.

The card dominated Standard as a core part of the Cawblade deck and has seen tons of play in the likes of Modern, Legacy, Commander, and Cube. You get protection against the best removal color and two great effects when you connect - including untapping all your lands for extra value. This is one of the key cards that made Stoneforge Mystic so potent and to this day remains one of the greatest pieces of equipment of all time.

Paige Smith

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