To kick off the two block paradigm shift, Wizards decided to take us back to one of the most popular planes of all time: Zendikar. There was much to be excited about with the return of a favorite plane, new Eldrazi, and the return of full art basic lands. Unfortunately, the set landed with a tremendous thud and has been considered one of the worst sets of the modern era. Given that, are there any good mythics from such a middling release? I'm here to go through all of them and rank them in this week's Mythic Ranking article!

Number Fifteen

Another set, another dull phoenix in the era. The stats aren't that great, even if it can be a solid Limited player, and to make matters worse the recursion effect is far too expensive to be worthwhile. It's hard being a worse mythic than this:

Number Fourteen

A lot of players had high hopes for a new Kiora given how well the first one went over. When it was finally previewed, players had no idea what to make of it. Then they played it and it did a big old nothing burger. It's definitely not the absolute worst as it actually does stuff, Kiora just does none of it well.

Number Thirteen

When Battle for Zendikar was still being previewed, there was a tremendous amount of hype surrounding this card. The theory was that even though it was largely a vanilla bearer, it could grow so powerful just by playing a couple of lands that it would be worth it because it would be simply that difficult to deal with. As it turns out, that wasn't the case at all and the card proved too easy to deal with to be actually viable. As such, it ends up being a classic example in a card being overhyped.

Number Twelve

A double Eternal Witness for twice the cost seemed decent, but could it really be worth it? After all, Commander decks were already sometimes playing Deadwood Treefolk which did much the same thing. As you might expect, Greenwarden landed with a resounding "it's fine." Players didn't particularly take to it, but it does still show up from time to time, namely in lower powered Commander decks.

Number Eleven

On paper, Sire of Stagnation seemed like an extremely potent card. Play a land and sap your opponents of resources while improving your own. The question remained though: was it worth it at six mana? Perhaps a control finisher? The answer was no, and it saw very little play on the Constructed side of things. Despite that, it worked great as a minor Commander player, and had some utility behind it in the end.

Number Ten

In a surprising shift, Wizards started doing direct reprints utilizing previously used artwork. Up to this point, the precedent was that all reprints must use new artwork, but this card bucked that trend and brought us an excellent reprint. While it may not have been quite as hot the second time around because it lacked freshness, it was still a great reprint for players to gain access to.

Number Nine

If there's one thing players love, it's an extra turn spell, and this one even gave you the option of getting a creature to swing with during that extra turn as well. The card was seen as being far too overpriced to be worthwhile, and the continued addition of the exile on resolution made it that much less desireable. Still, for extra turn decks - particularly in Commander - you need as much of a density as you can get, which made players want to utilize it all the same. It's had a minor resurgence in recent years, but for most of its life, it's been rather mediocre:

Number Eight

Oblivion Sower was yet another mythic that saw an early printing in a supplemental set. Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Eldrazi featured Oblivion Sower as the face card and it blew peoples' minds at first for the possibilities. As it happened, it didn't generate quite as much value as players thought it might, and so it largely ended up being just fine. It still shows up in a decent amount of Eldrazi and ramp Commander decks, as well as the rare inclusion in Modern, but largely it's just a decent option.

Number Seven

We've had one Oblivion Ring, yes, but what about five Oblivion Rings? That's the power of Quarantine Field. Provided you have the mana to make it pay off to max out its exile effect, you could take out several prime targets making it harder for your opponents to deal with you. It saw some modest Standard play and continued being reasonable - even if it wasn't great - in other formats as well.

Number Six

After many years of build up, Ob Nixilis finally got his spark back in one finally "screw you" to the plane of Zendikar. It just so happens that this planeswalker was a rock solid option all around. It both drew you cards and picked off opponents' creatures - what's not to love there? Unfortunately, it proved a little easy to deal with as the removal wasn't quite self-protection, but it was still a great card that saw a respectable amount of Standard play and continues being a staple of lower power casual Commander.

Number Five

The first Omnath card in the original Zendikar block was a massive hit, so it wasn't surprising to see it make a second copy. They wouldn't go quite all-in on it at this point, and so they his second one had a tremendous reception among the casual player base. Not only was this version big and rewarded you for playing lots of ramp effects, the creatures it made were large and could push damage through even if they died. Even now, it continues to be an outstanding casual staple.

Number Four

Drana was an utter bomb in Limited back in Rise of the Eldrazi and that proved just as true this time around as well. Drana comes down early, hits hard, and supercharges your whole board in the process. She was a major Standard staple of the era and continues being extremely playable in Commander where it's easy to get damage in on a player. The vampire synergies help also, making it an excellent card for a set like this.

Number Three

"Yes, your opponent can't even. We know."

Void Winnower isn't a great card in a lot of spaces, both in Constructed and even Commander. Thankfully, it had an incredible amount of novelty behind it that made players fall in love with it. Given that, players continue making use of it even if the card wasn't all that useful in most practical scenarios, making it one of the most memorable and fun cards in an otherwise thoroughly underwhelming set.

Number Two

Ulamog was the first of the three Eldrazi titans to get a second version, and this one was quite a doozy. It immediately slotted into just about any deck in all formats already utilizing the original Ulamog (Modern Tron, for example) and became a Commander staple overnight. Moreover, it even made a respectable showing in Standard briefly thanks to the Aetherworks Marvel deck that enabled players to cheat it out. The card has only continued to get better and better over the years and would easily be number one if it wasn't for one other card...

Number One

While Ulamog might've had the longer tail and sees more play today, the big ol' boogieman of Battle for Zendikar in its time was unquestionably Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. The card absolutely dominated Standard during the entire period when it was legal and was far and away seen as the best card the set had to offer in an otherwise largely uninspired pool of cards. Gideon was the champion for a reason, and he deserves to be recognized as such here.

Paige Smith

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