Alright, it looks like this is now an annual thing! Before we get into this, let’s make this clear: these are my favourite cards of the year – these are not necessarily the best cards of the year, and the list is heavily skewed to my own experiences and deck brewing preferences. If you’re a Magic player, you’ve probably got your own list of favourites, and I’d love to hear them in the comments section.
2025 was a strange year for me with Magic. Sets were either absolute bangers, or they flopped massively. However, the real issue has to be the accessibility of the game. Several sets I wanted to play were just sold out constantly, and the cost to play is getting astronomical. In addition, the influx of Universes Beyond sets means that I straight-up did not engage with or care about entire sets.
With that in mind, I should make this clear: no Spider-man cards are on this list. Hell, I was extremely close to not including any Avatar cards either, but a couple set-agnostic singles interested me enough to be considered. That’s not because I don’t think that these sets shouldn’t exist or something. I simply do not have any interest in these IPs within the context of Magic, so had no desire to spend money on these cards or include them in my decks. Even when there are cards like Gwenom and Suki, Courageous Rescuer which legitimately would be great in my decks… I just don’t want to include them. That’s not unique to these two sets (I also didn’t really care about Doctor Who, Fallout, or Assassin’s Creed within the context of Magic), I just find a lot of the Universes Beyond sets extremely uncompelling and not something I want to spend my money on.
Anyway, between that and Aetherdrift being very disappointing, my pool of cards to pick from is largely drawn from the three “big” sets of the year. Still, that’s a lot of cards to pick from: check out my favourites that have made their way into my decks/brews…
Instant
This card is just nuts in Commander (and still pretty damn good in other formats). For one thing, “look at the top X cards” effects typically limit you to a particular card type, increasing the chances that you’ll whiff, but Consult the Star Charts lets you pick any card you want, while costing less to cast. It’s straight-up never a bad draw, and even in the late game, it gets even better since you get to dig deeper and you can pay the kicker cost if you want. Just a fantastic card draw option for any blue deck.
I love me a good modal spell, and Restoration Magic is a solid, flexible new option. Even the one mana mode is solid, protecting one of your creatures from most forms of removal for cheap. For only one more mana, you can add on some lifegain, which is probably more relevant in Limited than any other format, but at least the options there. Then, for a total of five mana, you can give all your permanents hexproof and indestructible in a pinch and get some lifegain to boot. While it’s not exactly at the same level as, say, a Heroic Intervention, the flexibility of this card makes it worth considering.
Louisoix’s Sacrifice is just super neat and unexpected. The main thing that makes it stand out to me is that it can counter activated and triggered abilities, which is a very rare effect that can leave an unexpecting opponent wide open to reprisal. It’s also a Negate counterspell when you need it, so it should be able to slot into most blue decks. In addition, the casting flexibility is nice – paying three mana for this flexibility isn’t bad, but if I’m in a pinch, I’ll gladly sacrifice my Commander to stop an opponent from winning the game. Just a very cool card that I always am excited to draw.
I’ve been experimenting with impulse draw over the last year and a bit and, I’ve got to say, it’s such a great mechanic. The use-it-or-lose-it nature of it makes it seem bad, but in practice it’s rarely an issue. In addition, this perception means that impulse draw comes at a discount, so we get awesome spells like Opera Love Song. For a measly two mana, you basically get to draw two cards. The fact that you can also use it to pump two creatures if you want to is just a pure bonus. Oh, and to top it off, it also depicts one of the coolest moments in all of Final Fantasy VI: a truly great card all around!
Commander modal spells are some of the best cards in the format, and I can see Will of the Mardu carving a place for itself amongst them. Its first mode is basically just Call the Coppercoats, which is solid enough, but if your Commander is on the field, then you also get to kill one of your opponents’ creatures for free. It’s a great value piece in a number of deck archetypes, and will surely be hitting tables with regularity for years to come.
Sorcery
Admittedly, I did not find a whole lot of interesting Sorceries this year, so we’ve got to work with what we have. Underscoring that is Sami’s Curiosity, which doesn’t seem all that impressive on first glance. However, if you look a bit closer, this card can really do some work in the right deck. It’s basically a Standard-legal Wayfarer’s Bauble (which is an all-star budget card) with potential upside (most notably, token duplication in green). It’s made its way into one of my decks, which is good enough for me to make it onto this list.
Yeah… like I said, I was thin on the grounds to find interesting Sorceries this year, so here we have a Land that just happens to have a Sorcery stapled on it. The Land kind of feels bad since it comes in tapped, and the Sorcery is over-costed compared to equivalent effects… but staple them both together and Midgar, City of Mako // Reactor Raid is a legitimately cool card and well worth throwing into any Black/Aristocrats deck. Big fan of this one!
Another seemingly unexciting card, but one that does a lot of work, especially in a Reanimator deck. Bin two cards and put one of your choice into your hand? That’s a solid effect at only two mana, and you can Flashback it in a pinch (not all that relevant in most situations, but it’s nice to have and more relevant in Limited, where this card is great). It may be a lowly common, but this card has found its way into one of my decks so far and I wouldn’t be surprised if it claws its way into a couple more eventually.
Another of Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s new “Will” cycle, Will of the Abzan is another solid Commander modal spell. While not quite as aggressively-costed as Will of the Mardu, four mana to cause any number of opponents to sacrifice their best creatures, lose at least three life (since their creatures dying may trigger your own Aristocrats effects), and then reanimate one of your own creatures is an insane deal.
This one is mostly on here for how good it was for me in the Final Fantasy limited environment. Three mana removal with a creature stapled on who pings your opponents any time you cast a noncreature spell is a pretty solid effect and helped earn me a few victories.
Enchantment
Triple Triad is just the most fun card to cast. If you get it to trigger, it’s guaranteed to do something chaotic and memorable. Hell, even you aren’t able to cast your opponents’ spells, exiling their spells is a good-enough effect anyway. It gets even better if your deck is built around the popular archetype of casting cards from exile.
I love the Summons we got in the Final Fantasy set. Of these, Summon: Primal Odin has perhaps the most pants-shitting line of text of them all, gaining the ability to instantly kill a player… However, you’re only going to be lethal for a single turn (since the Saga will sacrifice itself at the beginning of your next turn), so you need to time it precisely. It also doesn’t have any in-built evasion, so figuring out how to get it to land the killing blow is like a fun little puzzle every time you cast it.
…or you can be a bastard like me and utilize counter manipulation to add and remove lore counters, keeping Summon: Primal Odin on the field and activating his lethal hit ability early!
Another boon for the cast from exile crowd, Count on Luck is basically the red Phyrexian Arena. Red decks have really needed their own signature, reliable card draw engine, and Count on Luck should fill that role fantastically. Given all of the cast from exile payoff cards we’ve been getting, Count on Luck may even be better than Phyrexian Arena at this point.
Summon: Bahamut is just so damn cool. When you actually get the mana to cast this and just slap it onto the table, you can feel the table sit up in attention. It feels suitably powerful as well, nuking a couple pesky permanents, drawing you cards, and then likely ending the entire game on the spot if you can get four lore counters on it. Summon: Bahamut is just the personification of a “hype” moment in a good game of Commander.
This card feels absolutely busted to me. If I was in a +1/+1 counters deck, I’d already be willing to pay two mana to give all my creatures reach and trample! Trample’s an incredibly desirable keyword, worth two mana by itself. Flying creatures are the bane of Green’s existence, so giving out reach is also a fantastic bonus. What puts Sphere Grid over the top though is the fact that the card also puts +1/+1 counters onto your creatures. As a result, this goes from being “a good +1/+1 counters payoff” to “an amazing card I can just jam it into any of my decks”.
Artifact
This is such a great card. At two mana, this is already a competitively-costed mana rock. What pushes it into overdrive though is that you can also use it to give one of your creatures trample and draw you a card!? Herd Heirloom’s such a no-brainer, awesome card!
The Eternity Elevator is another one of those cards that creates “Commander hype” moments. Requiring twenty charge counters to get online, The Eternity Elevator feels like a gargantuan undertaking. However, once you do get there, the payoff is incredible, granting you at least twenty mana to use as you please! It’s a card that makes your table stand and pay attention.
Monument to Endurance is such a stupidly-good card if you have any sort of reliable discard outlet in your deck. In such cases, it’s free card draw, reliable extra mana, and some burn damage if you discard enough. At three mana, it more than pays for itself.
Black Mage’s Rod was my favourite card in Final Fantasy Limited. I built a deck around getting Black Mage’s Rods on the field and then casting a bunch of spells to drain my opponents. The best part is that Black Mage’s Rod is, in itself, a noncreature spell that creates a creature when it enters, so I can activate my Wizards’ abilities and get more on the field at the same time. This card has single-handedly made me reassess these Living Weapon-style Equipments and is something I want to explore further at some point.
The flavour of this card is just exquisite. Bringing back the “crime” mechanic from Outlaws of Thunder Junction for this one card is awesome, as Patrolling Peacemaker actively punishes your opponents for breaking the law. This thing should reliably net you a lot of proliferate triggers. I have a deck that likes to proliferate, and Patrolling Peacemaker is by far the most frequent and reliable proliferation engine in it.
Creature
Voice of Victory is great value at only two mana. Shutting down your opponents’ spells on your turn is always awesome, but the fact that it creates two 1/1 tokens when you attack makes it incredible. Whether you plan to actually fight with them, use them for sacrifice fodder, or to get death triggers, Voice of Victory facilitates a bunch of fun archetypes at a very competitive rate.
Sephiroth is a new Aristocrats all-star. He drains your opponents, he gains you life, he’s a sacrifice outlet, and he draws you cards! Oh, and if you Artistocrats enough, then you get an emblem that gives you a Blood Artist effect permanently.
Also, when you do transform Sephiroth and get that emblem, it’s always a hype moment to pull out your phone and start playing “One-Winged Angel”.
Elegy Acolyte was one of those pleasant, unexpected surprises for me. I just opened this in an Edge of Eternities pack and then, after looking over the card, realized that it was actually really good in my pet deck, Minthara, Merciless Soul. If you’re aggressive and/or getting up to Artistocrats shenanigans, then Elegy Acolyte is basically a Phyrexian Arena that creates sacrifice fodder every turn. The beefy body and Lifelink are just bonuses at that point. This definitely isn’t going to work for every deck, but I was so excited to unexpectedly find this really cool card.
You’re probably noticing that I really like Aristocrats strategies, and my favourite Creatures of the year reflect that. Here’s another new all-star of the archetype coming in strong. Umbral Collar Zealot is just stupidly good for Black decks:
- It’s a free sacrifice outlet at a low mana cost.
- In addition to creatures, it also allows you to sacrifice artifacts, which is a really useful bonus.
- It Surveils, allowing you to sculpt your draw and put reanimation targets into your graveyard… there’s no opportunity cost to this, you’re being rewarded for doing the things you wanted to be doing anyway.
So… funny story, this one. In a Final Fantasy draft, Cactuar was the bane of my existence. In a limited environment, a 3/3 for one mana is no joke, even when it gets returned to hand every other turn. I’d try to block or kill it, and it just kept finding ways to come back. I legitimately had a Cactuar deal like 15 damage to me in one game because I couldn’t keep it off the board for good. It got under my skin so much that I have a begrudging respect for the card now. That’s the sort of thing Magic is made for, and I feel it’s worth highlighting in a best of list.
Lands
Gaea’s Cradle is an absolutely busted card, so the fact that they’ve released a heavily nerfed version of it and it’s still really strong just shows you how good this effect is. Any creature/token-heavy deck can find a place for Evendo, Waking Haven, not to mention that it has additional synergy with counter manipulation and proliferation decks that can make stationing it very fast and reliable. I’ve worked this card into two of my decks already, and I imagine I’ll find more homes for it in future. It probably is a bit too slow for particularly aggressive strategies (such as my werewolf EDH deck), but in a mid-range or control deck, it’s almost a no-brainer.
The sole Avatar card to make this list! Secret Tunnel largely makes the list because it’s Rogue’s Passage with major upside. I include Rogue’s Passage in plenty of my combat-focused decks, but I almost never use it: the four (effectively five including tapping the Rogue’s Passage) mana to make a creature unblockable is typically better spent on other things. However, four mana to make two creatures unblockable? That’s more like it.
Now, arguably, this isn’t strictly better than Rogue’s Passage, because you have to have two creatures on the board for this to work at all. However, in most kindred decks, this should be a very minor downside compared to the upsides.
The fact that the land itself can’t be blocked too is just fascinating, and is what really puts this card over the top for me. The card’s good enough to not need this, but if you’re dabbling with land animation strategies, it makes this even more of an upgrade over Rogue’s Passage.
Great Arashin City is aptly-named, as this is a great card that you can easily slot into any Black deck (especially if you’re also running Green and/or White with it). Easy token generation when you need it for a low cost and basically no drawback? What’s not to love?
Susur Secundi, Void Altar is another of the station lands from Edge of Eternities. It may not have quite as flashy an ability as Evendo, Waking Haven, but the payoff can be significantly more impactful. It’s a cheap, repeatable sacrifice outlet attached to a land that draws you cards – for an Aristocrats player like me, this is mana from heaven. I immediately jammed it into my Minthara, Merciless Soul deck where it has done absolute numbers thanks to my commander buffing all my creatures’ power, meaning I can consistently draw five or more cards off of this each turn while doing Aristocrats shenanigans.
Once again, we’ve got another land that acts as a token generator, fueling all sorts of strategies, with basically no drawback. While it’s a bit more expensive to activate than Great Arashin City, you get twice as many tokens (in a colour notorious for its token doubling capabilities) that you can exploit for ETB effects, Aristocrats, or just straight-up combat damage.
Mechanic
The Saga Creatures in Final Fantasy are so unique and flavourful! They get a bunch of cool abilities, but they only stick around on the battlefield for a limited amount of time, representing their nature as short-term summons – it’s such a cool way to represent this idea within the rules of Magic!
Station is an interesting evolution of the “Crew” mechanic, where the permanent needs to be crewed multiple times in order to “come online”. When you do manage to get your station online, it feels great. I also like that these are represented with charge counters, which mean that you get all sorts of opportunities to manipulate them further. What really puts Station over the top for me though is the fact that they slapped these on a cycle of lands which all grant you a cool ability when stationed. Having access to game-changing abilities in your landbase is awesome, and they’ve made their way into multiple decks of mine as a result.
Job Select is basically a reskinning of Living Weapon, For Mirrodin!, etc: you cast an equipment and it comes in with a token creature pre-equipped. What I like so much about the mechanic is the flavour: a twist on Living Weapon is a great way to represent the Final Fantasy job system, and also allows you to represent Final Fantasy XI & XIV‘s custom heroes.
Warp is a very interesting little mechanic, allowing you to pay a lower cost to get temporary access to the creature and its abilities. You can then cast it later when you’re ready. Obviously, this is awesome if you can double-up on “enters/leaves the battlefield” abilities and big combo plays. It also triggers the related “Void” mechanic, which rewards and fuels “leaves the battlefield” strategies.
I’m always a sucker for a modular spell, so Tiered was a guaranteed smash for me. Tiered functions similarly to last year’s Spree mechanic, although you can only pick one additional cost instead of all of them. While that does mean that you can’t buy multiple “modes”, this does mean that each mode can overlap their abilities. This is actually pretty great: it means that you can spend as much or as little mana to achieve the effect you need – no wastage required!
Commander
This category is solely made up of the commanders I built this year. There may very well be better commanders from 2024, but it would be wrong of me to say that the ones I built weren’t the best, wouldn’t you agree?
2025 was the year of Final Fantasy: every one of my favourite commanders this year were from the set! First off was Lightning, Army of One, which had me brewing a literal “army of one” deck. Lightning would be the only creature in it, meaning that I would need to find creative ways to trigger her damage doubling ability. What I came up with was lots of burn spells, extra combat spells, and evasion/protection equipment. It was nasty, easily able to one-shot an opponent out of nowhere, but I ultimately decided not to make the deck because it would not be fun to be on the receiving end of it.
Of the two Final Fantasy X deck’s commanders, Yuna was easily the one that resonated with me the most. She’s already a pretty great mana dork in the command zone for a +1/+1 strategy. The fact that she also comes with an Ozolith-like ability to manipulate counters when creatures die is just a bonus. It all adds up to make Yuna, Grand Summoner a great commander, while also being innocuous enough to not be a target. There are more than enough kill on sight commanders out there, it’s nice to get ones like this which are powerful, but fair.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Celes is that she has so many potential build-paths. She’s a discard/card draw outlet with an enters the battlefield ability, that already opens up lots of potential routes (blink, panharmonicon effects, graveyard shenanigans, etc). Her static ability is also extremely useful, opening up +1/+1 counter strategies (in particular, Celes + Goblin Bombardment + a creature with Persist is a game-ending combo for a Bracket 4 deck). Hell, as a Wizard Knight, Celes can also be the basis of a deck based around the party mechanic, it’s nuts how much variety she brings to the table!
Terra, Magical Adept is interesting for a few reasons. First of all, she’s my first and only five-colour commander, which was interesting in and of itself. While she can run a normal enchantress-style deck, I wanted to try out the saga creatures and brewed a deck revolving around casting summons and manipulating their lore counters. Terra’s backside (giggity) is what really makes this commander strong though, turning her into a powerful saga creature, cloning other enchantments on the field, and producing tons of mana. It’s absolutely insane (to the point where it can be a two-card infinite mana combo if you have an enchantment cloning effect in your deck).
I’m always a sucker for interesting Uncommon-rarity commanders. Mono-white artifacts is a pretty unique niche for Ashe to fill, and her ability is really solid card draw in the command zone.
And that’s the end! I hope you enjoyed what will hopefully remain an annual dive the world of Magic: The Gathering!
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