Hello Nation! I hope your week has been filled with love and snow—maybe even snow days from school or work! I don't know if it's a Scandinavian heritage or what, but I absolutely love snow. I am fascinated by things falling from the sky. I adore rain. I can't help but go out in hail. Last summer, during work, we had a mega-rainstorm. I dashed out, taking off my shoes and socks, and played in the rain for fifteen minutes. Then I had to change my clothes and get back to work, but it was awesome fun. Have you ever wondered why so many people have suppressed their childlike desires? How many children loved playing in the rain, but now hate it? What about snow? It passes on to other things too. What was once a wonder has become a bother. The passing of youth seems too often to lack a sense of grandeur and awe at the world around us. I remember crying when watching Planet Earth, because of how gorgeous the world is. If you find yourself getting upset at that which you once couldn't wait for, then maybe you should take a moment to enjoy another rain storm, or make a snow angel. Smile again at life.

Anyway, I was writing the article on Top Ten Magic Variants, and I came up with another cool Top Ten article. Now, that doesn't mean that this column is going to devolve into Top Ten lists in a Lettermanesque way to gain pertinence. It just means I thought it was good enough to revisit. Perhaps I'll revisit it a few more times. It's a good way to write an article, because people are always disagreeing or agreeing with you.

Ever since equipment was introduced, it has had a major impact on the game in many different ways. I wanted to create a casual list of my opinion of the best equipment when playing against multiple people. Whether it's Two-Headed Giant or Commander or chaos with sixty-card decks or Emperor, the rules start to change. Equipment that dominated tournaments may have difficulty charting here. What would be the three most powerful pieces of equipment for tournaments of all time? Probably Umezawa's Jitte, Skullclamp, and Cranial Plating. Don't expect to see them 1-2-3 here. In fact, don't even expect to see them all here. (At least one will be, though; power is power. It may be altered, but a mega-powerful card isn't likely to lose all sense of itself. It may be outclassed by other cards, though.)

Equipment can be a game-changer. Kill the creature it is on, and another gets the same abilities. In my opinion, it is the single best addition to the game since Legends. It makes total sense in this game, and it made me yearn for cards of old to have been made as equipment from Aegis of the Meek, Power Matrix, Zelyon Sword, Celestial Sword, and Spirit Shield, perhaps even enchantments like Flaming Sword.

This article was written before Mirrodin Besieged came out. Who knows where Bonehoard will eventually rank? Another piece of equipment will be featured, however. Which one?

Ready for us to begin?

Honorable Mentions

Heartseeker – I wanted to give a shout-out to a few pieces that I think are close, but no cigar. Heartseeker is an absolute house when you have the mana to run it. And that is the rub: when you have the mana to run it. Heartseeker guzzles mana like a person in the desert guzzles water. While its power and toughness boost to the creature is acceptable, it's not super-great or anything for the cost. Obviously, you are playing it to throw it and kill someone. I always think of Farslayer from the Complete Book of Swords when I see the card. “For thy heart, for thy heart, who hast wronged me!” Farslayer is one of twelve swords made by the gods, and this one can be thrown and will slay anyone without any means of protection and across any distance, but the sword stays there, ready to be claimed by someone. Well, Heartseeker reminds me of Farslayer. It can be a house at the table, and unlike Farslayer, you keep control and can keep equipping it and throwing it at people.

Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang – If I had run this list six months ago, Tatsumasa would have made the cut. We've had a few good pieces of equipment from M11 and Scars, and thus the Dragon's Fang has fallen out of my top ten. A lot of pieces of equipment give massive boosts to power and toughness. They have a role to play as a way to make every creature into a threat. Whether it's Sword of Kaldra or Empyrial Plate or Argentum Armor, these items can turn even a Birds of Paradise into a death machine. While they have value, in order to be one of the best, you have to have something else you bring to the table. Of all of the big pumpers, the one that gives the most is Tatsumasa. Prior to Living Weapon, no other piece of equipment brings a creature to the table. It doesn't matter how lethal your equipment is; if you are sitting at a table post-Wrath, it's doing nothing. Tatsumasa will bring out a sizeable 5/5 flyer. Then, when the flyer is killed, you get the sword back. You make another dragon, or spend 3 mana and hop the Fang to another creature to make it huge. The combination of big beating sword and big beating flyer is very powerful.

Manriki-Gusari – Considering how powerful equipment is, Manriki-Gusari is very powerful as a tool to stop it. Tapping to destroy an annoying equipment over and over again is great. Then you get, cheaply, a quick Holy Strength-sized bonus. For a quick mana each time, you can move it to the right creature, and let's not underestimate a small bonus like this gives. Also, the cheap cost allows you to move it to a creature, tap it to kill an equipment, and then hop again for another tap. Indeed, you can machine-gun a whole slew of equipment the very turn you play it, because everything is so cheap. It's a very tight package.

All right, let's move to the top ten!

10. Shield of Kaldra Darksteel Plate – There are a few ways to make something indestructible, and thus a major headache for people. Most are not, themselves, indestructible. Who wants to play Indestructibility? Even the useful That Which Was Taken is, itself, vulnerable to a simple Disenchant. Do you want to know what's not? This thing. Because it is indestructible itself, it can make any creature you have a real headache. It can block forever, attack without fear of dying, and survive even the wrath of the gods themselves. What it will not survive is a small subset of cards in Magic-dom, but then you can just hop the Shield to something else. It does cost some serious mana to play and use, and that drops it a bit. Despite that, this is an absolute classic of multiplayer. (You can see my changes from the original version of this article, and why the Shield hit here. Darksteel Plate is clearly a better card, but it's hard to know exactly how high up the list it will go, because it is cheaper than the Shield. It will certainly break through one rank, but how many more? Only playing with it will tell.

9. Loxodon Warhammer/Behemoth Sledge – While these cards are not truly identical, they are close enough to each other to chart similarly. There are a few creature abilities that are great in casual play, and Trample and Lifelink are two of them. Adding that to a nice power boost (and a toughness boost for the Sledge) is great, and doing it for a 3-mana-to-play and 3-mana-to-equip is also nice. In terms of ability, I prefer the Sledge's 1-less-power-for-2-more-toughness swap, but the gold mana needed is obviously a drawback. Thus, they are rated evenly to my mind. Swinging with a beefy pumped creature and gaining life to survive a counterattack is always a great plan.

8. Deathrender – The last of the expensive pieces of equipment. Once it is out, it only costs 2 to equip, so that's nice. All of the other pieces of equipment give more abilities and are easily worth the price of admission. Deathrender's +2/+2 boost for a 2-mana equip is right at Vulshok Morningstar level. The ability to turn a dying creature into a free play of a creature, which also immediately is equipped by the Deathrender, is simply outstanding. You won't lose tempo when an opponent clears the board. You'll have a beater ready to swing on your turn. You can also abuse Deathrender by sacrificing a creature to bring out a big, expensive, dumb creature for free. Not only does it slide into many decks, but it is also stupid easy to build a deck around. Anything from Akroma (either one) to a Colossus (either one) will be easy to put down. I think you'll find Deathrender easily worth its price tag of $3.00 to $3.50.

7. Nim Deathmantle – Debuting at #7 and climbing is my newest favorite card from Scars of Mirrodin. Nim Deathmantle is dynamic in new and exciting ways. It makes a creature Black (no Terror for you!), it gives it Fear/Intimidate (easier to swing through a defense), and it gives it a +2/+2 bump, which is not inconsiderate. All of this is good, and if this was all it did, it would be okay. But wait—there's more! Whenever a creature you control dies, even if it's not equipped to the Deathmantle, you can spend 4 mana to bring it back and hop the Deathmantle to it. That turns this little number into a machine of removal-surviving madness. Survive attacks by big, dumb creatures, survive bolts of lightning and balls of fire, survive the rending of your flesh, and survive even Damnation itself. This is a major player for the table, and it changes the game as soon as it hits.

6. Sword of Vengeance – For what it does, Sword of Vengeance is perfect. It is the highest-charting card that simply gives keyword abilities and power/toughness boosts. It's better than any other equipment that does that, because what it gives, and how much it costs to do it, is perfect. What are the best evergreen keyword abilities in multiplayer? Indestructible, Lifelink, Shroud, Flying, Haste, Vigilance, Trample, First Strike. Probably in that order. What does this blade give? Haste, Vigilance, Trample, and First Strike, plus a +2 boost to power, for 3 mana to play and 3 to equip. You equip it, and you give four useful abilities and double bonus to power. That's an incredible package for 3 mana! This is a house at multiplayer, because it turns anything into amazing. Creatures played for abilities like Flametongue Kavu become a carver of bodies. Imagine this on a Flametongue Kavu. Do you even need the toughness boost with First Strike? (Yes, but it's not as valuable). This is a deadly Cuisinart of death.

5. Whispersilk Cloak – There are a few things that you really, really want at the multiplayer table. One is to kill your foes. The other is to keep your stuff from dying. This bad boy does both. It forces your foe to keep away from your things, and it sends any creature of your choice straight at someone's throat for damage. You can even spend a couple of mana to hop it after you attack, to protect a better creature, and then to hop it again to swing for big damage. When you have this out, any creature can kill a player. You can easily use this to eviscerate a player. Because it is so obvious how powerful it is, and what it does, it's hard to even talk about it. Use it and enjoy it.

4. Skullclamp – As I mentioned near the top of the article, some cards are great in both tournament and casual settings. This is the only card of the tournament three to chart. Plating is just high power, which is fine but underwhelming. The Jitte is good, and I play one frequently, but the life gain isn't as useful, the -X/-X is not as powerful in a format where the creatures are bigger and the creature pump is similarly limited. It's still good; I'm not saying the Jitte sucks, I'm just saying it's significantly depowered. Skullclamp is not. In fact, it's probably more powerful here. The ability to draw cards when a creature dies is awesome, because as you can probably infer from my previous points, creatures are always dying! Between everyone's Lightning Bolts, Terrors and Wing Shards, and then their Pyroclasms and Infests and Routs, and then their Disfigures and Barter in Bloods and Plummets—well, there are a ton of creatures dying. Cards like Fecundity suck because your opponents gain cards too—that's just stupid. What's not stupid is drawing two cards every time a Clamped creature bites it. I always put Clamp on my biggest threat, and laugh as people kill an Avatar of Fury or a Yosei, the Morning Star. You can put it on any creature you intend to sacrifice, or you can put in on some stupid little creature and send it into the maw of someone's awful defense, only to see it die and you gain two cards. I like doing it with creatures that I've already gotten a use from—such as Mulldrifter or Vithian Renegades. You can draw more cards from this one-drop than any other one-drop card in Magic (including Ancestral Recall and Contract from Below). Use it and abuse it.

3. Sword of Fire and Ice – Well, it's time to get serious and look at our top three pieces of equipment of all time. This is a handy little number because it draws you cards and kills things, and for the creature, protects it, can swing through roughly 40% of creatures, cannot be targeted by roughly 40% of spells, is immune to most forms of direct damage, cannot be stolen or bounced by most effects, and gets bigger in the front and back. Isn't that a lot of stuff? It sure is! Far and away the clear winner of the “Swords of Blank and Blank” contest, and the third-most-powerful piece of equipment ever. Period. Everything I just mentioned is why you should run these now. They are powertastic.

2. Sunforger – It takes a lot of power in order to chart #2 today, and this classic manages to satisfy. Why is Sunforger not #1? It really requires a Red/White deck to function, and that's it. Can you imagine how mega-deadly it would be if you could get any instant, and cost colorless mana? Still, the ability to get a Red or White instant in the 4-and-under range includes the following mega-awesome useful abilities: destroy enchantments and artifacts, destroy all enchantments, destroy creatures, burn an opponent or creature, burn all creatures for 2 damage, counter a spell (Absorb, Suffocating Blast), deflect a target, Fork a spell, find Plains, search for an instant or enchantment, pump a creature's attack, defense, or both, give a creature (or all creatures) protection of a color until the end of the turn, prevent all damage, Silence or Abeyance, gain a ton of life (Congregate), Argivian Find, take control of a creature and untap it with haste until the end of the turn, untap all of your creatures, blink something, draw cards, prevent creatures from blocking, make token creatures, and that doesn't include weird things like Chaoslace and Into the Fray and Master Warcraft and Reinforcements. Considering the vast number of abilities you can fit into a Sunforger's ability, that's very powerful. Then there is another thing. It also turns the equipped creature into an angry house with a 4-power upgrade. That's a mega-power punch of damage right to something's dome. Three to play it is cheap. Three to equip it on some dude for severe beatings is also priced right. Just 2 mana to remove it for a free spell is brokenly awesometastic. Sunforger—the second-best equipment of all time.

1. Lightning Greaves – Do you know what is a great piece of equipment? Lightning Greaves! Do you know what is a game-changer? Lightning Greaves! You can play it before counter magic comes online. Any creature you play can be given a shroud-and-haste blanket for free. That's what makes the Greaves so ueber. I love Sword of Vengeance, because I can play a creature, equip it, and swing with its haste. And that costs me 3 mana, but I still do it. I like Helm of Kaldra because it allows me to swing with a newly played creature for 2 extra mana. The Greaves don't do that. For no loss in tempo or mana, you can get a free hit in now. Considering how many turns your foes have to your one, getting in an extra hit is very important to winning. In a duel, you get one turn for every turn others take. In a four-player Commander match, you get a 1:3 ratio—which means there is a lot of time for someone to build a defense, kill your creature, steal your creature, sweep the board... you get the idea. Haste allows you to skip past all of that. If all the Greaves did was simply grant haste to your creature for free, à la something more expansive and Red such as Fires of Yavimaya, then it would be worth it. But it does something else that is absolutely fantastic. Shroud is a great way to protect your creature. Drop it, equip it for free, then it is saved from any targeted removal. You can help a key creature survive. Sometimes I'll put it on a creature that already has haste, just to help keep it alive (see: Akroma, Angel of Wrath). You know how highly I value Shroud in multiplayer (see my discussions above where I posit Shroud as the third-best evergreen keyword for playing against more than one foe). This card wins games. This card is the King of All Equipment in Casual Land.

Anyway, I hope you had a pot of fun today! Join me next time for a major project of mine. It took a while to do, and now I will share it with you in article form.

See you next week!

Abe Sargent