When I think of awesome core sets in Magic's history, my mind immediately jumps to one in particular: Magic 2013. It was so awesome to play with at the time of its release with a rather rich Limited environment as far as core sets go and in how it introduced us to many powerful cards we know and love today. The five rare legends all ruled - particularly Krenko and Talrand - and so did that one Thragtusk card that completely dominated the game for a good while. It had no shortage of awesome mythics as well, and today I want to rank them all from worst to best! What'll be number one? Let's find out!

Number Fifteen

We're starting off with a real thud in this set. It's honestly hard for me to really find anything to say about Chandra, the Firebrand. The plus ability is super weak and the Fork effect is really dull to use her for. You're usually getting a four-mana Fork and maybe prevent a damage or two coming at you, which is really not great when you have Reverberate in the exact same set. The card was absolutely lambasted in its time and hasn't really gotten better since.

Number Fourteen

You might not think it so much now, but at the time the reprinting of Serra Avatar here was a pretty big deal. Up until this time it had only ever been printed in Urza's Saga and as a promo, which caused it to command a fairly decent price tag at the time due to casual play. There were some - like me - who thought it was on the reserved list when it wasn't, making it that much more surprising when it showed up here. Players quickly realized, though, that despite being a cool old card coming back, it wasn't all that great in practice - even in casual settings - and the price tanked to match the sentiment.

Number Thirteen

Elderscale Wurm has some really cool utility in being able to keep you alive...but that's really about it. The whole thing about it was how it was sevens all the way down, like how it's 7 mana, has seven 7's on the card, has seven lines of text in its text box, and so on. Beyond its unique ability, though, it's largely just a big French vanilla-style creature. It dies easily - way more than something like Worship would otherwise - so it's easy to shut off, and you can also get around the effect with life loss a la something like Exsanguinate. It's neat, but among all the other cards on this list, it feels pretty bland and forgettable.

Number Twelve

If you were a Commander player when this card dropped, you absolutely knew anyone running it was getting up to some serious shenanigans. There was no doubt it was going to eat a ban and most people at the time just found it miserable to play against. It never really saw competitive play either, which meant it only had one home and one where many weren't thrilled to play against it. It did come off the ban list somewhat recently, but even then, players questioned the why of it, and while it's certainly powerful, it's low on this list for being both narrow in its uses and a card very few people actually enjoy.

Number Eleven

You know what players do like though? Big, dumb hydras! Primordial Hydra was a great example of a hydra done right, something I highlighted in my Magic 2012 rankings as well. Not only does it continue to get bigger, but it also rewards you for getting it to reach a certain size by getting trample and becoming difficult to chump block. It still more or less functions as a big French vanilla creature for all intents and purposes, but it's really hard to deny the appeal of this one in particular.

Number Ten

With Magic 2012, this version of Jace had some solid hype behind him which netted him a decent placing on the list. This time around, though, the jig was up. Jace, Memory Adept just is not a good card in general. However, thanks to various control decks being popular in the era, Jace did actually see some modest play on his second time around. That would be it, though, and he's since been largely relegated to low-end mythic status since.

Number Nine

Garruk ranked so high last time, why is he all the way down here this time? It just so happens that this time around there were a lot of really strong mythics both in terms of new cards and needed reprints, so Garruk doesn't stand out quite as much. He's still an excellent card, though, and saw plenty of love in Commander and Standard, but his appeal and value took quite a substantial dip here. That only got worse with each subsequent reprint - usually in Commander products - and so you could see this as the start of his decline, in a way.

Number Eight

Ajani was extremely good for his time. He commanded a high price point and was seen as extremely useful by being another three-mana planeswalker in an era where those weren't commonplace. Unfortunately, in practice his uses were fairly one-note, being only really useful for aggro decks as a way to launch big killing blows. That was often enough for the games where he was utilized, but wasn't enough to have long-lasting appeal compared to many of the other cards on this list.

Number Seven

Vampire Nocturnus was a bit of an odd duck when it came around the first time. Back then, there were very few vampires in the game, and despite vampires showing up more in Zendikar, the card's impact proved minimal. With Innistrad, however, came a whole host of decent vampires people wanted to play with, which drove demand for this card fairly high at the time. As such, Nocturnus was a tremendously welcome reprint to help match the growing popularity of Commander with the rising popularity of vampires as a creature type within that format.

Number Six

Talk about your sleeper picks! Liliana of the Dark Realms was a fringe player due to the allure of being able to hit her ultimate and get ridiculous amounts of mana. As it happens, though, both of her other abilities are excellent as well. Her -3 is great for both removal and delivering killing blows (Korlash, Heir to Blackblade for example), but the real gem is her ability to keep getting you Swamps to fuel your strategy. That's not normally something you find on a mono-Black card, and so just being able to get what you need and then sometimes you get a really savage ultimate is huge. She's grown tremendously in popularity over the years and now commands a solid ~$20 price tag.

Number Five

Players like Exalted more than you probably think they do. I've seen Commander decks and Pauper decks dedicated to the mechanic, and it still to this day gets a lot of love on the back of both Noble Hierarch and Ignoble Hierarch. Giving all of your creatures Exalted though? Now that's a house! She saw some decent Standard play but was an immediate Commander all-star as an outstanding way for White decks to close out games and for a good long while her price tag reflected that mighty utility.

Number Four

I'm not sure that I've ever seen a Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker cast in a game of competitive Magic, and despite the cool factor he always seems a bit mediocre in Commander. Yet in spite of this, his card was and still is an absolutely iconic one among the game's long history. It looks awesome, reads great, and plays brutally well - provided you can stick him onto the battlefield. Even if he's not actually that great in many cases, everyone loves Bolas, and no card showcases that better than this one.

Number Three

If Serra Avatar seemed like an oddball choice for a big core set reprint, there's no doubt that Akroma's Memorial fits that bill super well also. The card was seen as a huge get for Commander players, since it's such a major tool for that format and had previously only been printed in Future Sight. It didn't fit any sort of theme that was happening in the set, which made it stand out a little, but players wouldn't complain. The card is big, bombastic, and both was and is an outstanding card for casual players the world over.

Number Two

Thundermaw Hellkite looks somewhat innocuous now, as it's basically just a big hasty dork that might take out a creature or two if you're lucky. It looks almost questionable at mythic now that we've since received Glorybringer at rare just a few years later. In its era, though, Thundermaw Hellkite was an absolute house, picking off lots of little tokens floating around from Lingering Souls and the like to make way for a brutal finishing blow. It's even still a reasonably popular Cube card as well, so even though it may not look like much today, it was the best thing you could be doing in its era.

Number One

When Omniscience first showed up, players didn't know what to make of it. Getting to cast all of your spells free rocks, but needing to spend 10 mana for the privilege to do so? That was a really tall ask even for the boldest of Commander players. Turns out, though, that there were more than enough ways to cheat out Omniscience, and as such it's become a staple of numerous old formats. Even now you'll see it in Pioneer Lotus Field lists as well as Legacy and now Timeless Show and Tell decks. Turns out it was better than everyone expected and then some, earning it the top spot on this list!

Paige Smith

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