Dominaria Top 20

As usual, I’ll give you my top 20 Dominaria cards to include in your Battle Boxes. Don’t take any of these as gospel. I often turn out to be wrong about cards after playing with them a few times. And that’s good. If I could solve Magic just by looking at the cards, it would be no fun at all. That said, these are the cards that stood out for me:

20. Shalai, Voice of Plenty

I think this will be a powerful card in Commander, because giving your team hexproof is a handy ability. For Battle Box, it is equally powerful, but because in Battle Box Shalai will be much harder to protect I think it will be acceptable. I think this will work best in a more powerful Box like the Commander Box.

19. Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy

This girl can grow! The fact that she is very cheap to play and that every subsequent creature makes her bigger creates some fun tension at the table. Nothing too powerful, so she’ll work in any box.

18. Rite of Belzenlok

Over the course of three turns you’ll produce some cannon fodder, followed by a slightly deflated Lord of the Pit. I think this is an OK power level, and the fact that you can see the demon coming from a mile away will create some great tension.

17. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

I think it is great they made this power 1 or toughness 1. This means it can work in more aggressive boxes (with lots of Hasty Elemental tokens and the like). And even if there are no other creatures on the board, a 1/3 unblockable creature is not bad for 2 mana.

16. Warcry Phoenix

Here is a card that loves crashing into the red zone. Encouraging attacks is generally good for Battle Box design, and I think the Phoenix allows for enough subtlety that it will be a great hit.

15. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

I’ll be honest. I’m a sucker for any card that lets you manipulate the top cards of the communal library, because it allows for such fun shenanigans (if you play Battle Box that way). I think the -3 and -8 abilities on Teferi are fine in most Battle Boxes, but it may just be that the +1 ability turns out to be too strong. Definitely a card for high powered boxes, in any case.

14. Yawgmoth’s Vile Offering

Basically a Rise from the Grave with a doom blade stuck to it. That’s nice enough, but I would really only consider playing this in the Commander Battle Box, as Commander is the only format where you can reliably cast a legendary sorcery.

13. In Bolas’s Clutches

There are not that many cards that let you permanently take control of any permanent. And the downside on this is negligible in a format like Battle Box (where every card is singleton).

12. Helm of the Host

The possibilities with this card are seemingly endless. Great in a format like Commander, because it can copy legendary creatures. The only reason it’s not higher up this list is the high equip cost, which smells a bit like a trap.

11. Haphazard Bombardment

Over the course of three turns (starting the turn you play it), you’ll get to destroy a troublesome permanent. The catch is that one of the four permanents you select will survive the bombardment. I think the randomness on this will be fun for all players, especially in a multiplayer box, and this may be better than it looks at first glance. Be aware that this can target lands, so it would be good to agree to not target lands if you include this in your Box (getting rid of three lands is way too powerful and not fun).

10. Grand Warlord Radha

Ramping your mana by attacking gives you a great incentive to crash into the red zone. Unless you like stalled board states, that is a good thing for most battle boxes. I think her stats are nothing to be ashamed of, and haste is another nice combat enabler.

9. Whisper, Blood Liturgist

The immediate comparison here is Hell’s Caretaker. You have to sacrifice two creatures instead of one, which makes this more at home in decks that churn out creature tokens somehow. On the other hand, Whisper is a little less fragile, and you get to pull this trick outside of your upkeep which means he can pull of some mean combat shenanigans. For the Battle Box, I like him in theory, but we’ll have to see whether the extra sacrifice makes him too situational.

8. Verix Bladewing

I already liked Broodmate Dragon, but if both dragons are legendary brothers, I can’t resist. The fact that you have both options makes this a better card than broodmate. And it gives me an excuse to add another nice token to the box.

7. The Eldest Reborn

Obviously a card that will do best in multiplayer boxes, but boy, does it perform there. All your opponents will suffer twice (and depending on your timing, the impact can be big) and as a cherry on the cake you get a freebie from one of their graveyards. It will almost feel dirty to play this.

6. Fungal Infection

A tiny tactical strike and a free token. At instant speed. For 1 black mana. I know this card seems underwhelming and I wouldn’t play it in a high-powered box, but in the right box this has combat fun written all over it.

5. Forebear’s Blade

A sword that gives some relevant Knighty bonuses and gets handed down when a creature dies? I know it doesn’t sound like much, but skipping that equip 3 makes a big difference. Obviously, most swords will grant more powerful abilities, but vigilance and trample are nothing to sneeze at. I think this card will give many opponents a serious headache.

4. Josu Vess, Lich Knight

A 4/5 Menace for 4 mana is not a great rate, but it’s not a dead draw most of the time either. And then, when you hit the full 10 mana, he suddenly becomes a big army in a can. I think most people will hold on to him until turn 10, which may in the end prove too boring, but it’s worth giving him a shot.

3. Triumph of Gerrard

I’m not really sure why the “with the highest power” qualifier was necessary but likely there was some Standard interaction that would be too powerful. Anyway, the reason this is up so high is its low cost. You can play this on an early turn to really boost one of your early creatures or play it later to push through a bigger one. Obviously, people will see it coming, but even if this just draws a Lightning Bolt or some other premium removal spell, it will probably be worth it.

2. Fight with Fire

Five damage to a creature for 3 mana is not great, but it will often be relevant enough. And the kicked spell can blow out most boards, especially in 2 player boxes.

1. Dauntless Bodyguard

You may have noticed that the top of these lists are rarely splashy spells or big ability creatures. This is because as a Battle Box designer, you should be more concerned with the little things. Filling up a Box with splashy 6 mana cards is easy. Getting a Box to be fun from turn 1 until the end of the game is more tricky and required cards that are versatile. A 2/1 for 1 mana is always useful, and I would not be ashamed to play this on turn 1 (or even on turn 5 if the board was empty enough or I had some removal). But being able to protect an important creature makes this powerful at any stage of the game. As a Battle Box designer, that’s exactly what you want. A card that people would be happy to draw at any time, but that could also be a decent tempo play when players draw this in their opening hand.

That’s it for Dominaria. These are the cards I like in a vacuum. Of course, Battle Boxes are not a vacuum, and the cards I have actually decided to include in my boxes are:

Battle Box:

Dauntless Bodyguard

Fight with Fire

Forebear’s Blade

Josu Vess, Lich Knight

Rite of Belzenlok

Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy

Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive

Triumph of Gerrard

Verix Bladewing

Commander Box:

Grand Warlord Radha (Commander Pool)

Helm of the Host

Shalai, Voice of Plenty

The Eldest Reborn

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

Yawgmoth’s Vile Offering

That’s more than I would add from most sets, which is a testament to the quality of the individual cards in Dominaria. That’s all for now. As always, I would appreciate it if you leave your thoughts. Which cards did I miss, which cards did I overestimate? What do you think about the new site?