The most unused Magic card?

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Worst or most unused? There is a difference..... the pearled unicorn may not be used, since there are better cards, but it may not the worst in the set.
I vote no committee, just an informal argument..... :D
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
That is what I was after. I really do not want to put anything to a committee vote. Just wanted to discuss things. I think we should discuss the most "unused" as that is not as broad a range as "worst" could end up getting.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Well, there are a LOT more copies of the cards that went on to be reprinted in Revised than any of the other cards in A/B/U.

So a card, even if it sucks, is more likely to be used if it has been reprinted. I've seen a lot of inexperienced players build decks with crap like the Laces. And then some of the reprinted cards have seen more use in drafts. We also have the cards that were not reprinted, but are actually good, like Illusionary Mask or Word of Command. I think it's safe to say that most cards in A/B/U are going to have seen a lot more play than the few that were never reprinted AND suck.

There are also three ante cards in this set. I don't know how to handle these, because ante seems to have lost nearly all of its popularity before I even started playing. I've never played for ante, but I have used the cards with my Relentless Pony deck and I used to play with people that had played ante (and used the ante cards). Also, you get those jokers that like to put twenty ante cards into a deck and remove them before starting the game just like the cards instruct you to do. I think the least used cards in the game just might be the ante cards. If that's the case, I'd guess Darkpact is the least used of the original three. Contract from Below is basically the best card ever printed and Demonic Attorney seems like a fun way to frustrate an opponent (do you concede because I can win soon and want a free card, or do you think I'm bluffing?), so Darkpact seems the least likely to be used.

If we're ignoring ante cards, then I'd narrow it down to those cards that aren't particularly good, were never reprinted past Unlimited, and are rares (because there are fewer copies of them available and that was the case back in the day as well). I might have missed a couple, but I'd include the following in that list...

Natural Selection
Lich
False Orders
Blaze of Glory
Cyclopean Tomb
Chaos Orb

None of these cards has seen too much use, but which one has seen the least use? Well, Chaos Orb is something fun and unique, so I'd cross it off the list. All of the others are lackluster, but Blaze of Glory and False Orders provide generally useful combat effects, so I'm sure they've seen a little use. Natural Selection isn't good, but it's not terrible. Cyclopean Tomb is pretty bad, but not compared to Lich.

Lich is an expensive card that hurts you instead of helping you. It's possible to use it to your advantage, like with the TurboLich combo (Lich, Glacial Chasm, Fastbond, and Zuran Orb), but such decks are few and far between.
 

TomB

Administrator
Staff member
Chaos Orb was seeing a LOT of play back in the day when I first went to a few Friday night tourneys, and many people hated to play against that card. That's where I learned to play with a well spread out play area, and especially to not keep my mana-producing cards grouped together.

I've never seen any of the others you listed in a play deck Oversoul, so any of the others would do. I especially remember the card case at the old card shop where I used to go to play, and how it had multiple copies of both Natural Selection and False Orders in there...I used to think they must have been good cards, but when I read them and realized how limited they were I just felt like I must not be getting it or something.

Now I know it's because they really did suck, and no one else wanted them either...;)
 
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DarthFerret

Guest
Ok, as most of you here know, I started in Beta. Therefore I used the A/B/U set quite a bit. Of all the cards that Oversoul mentioned, There is only one that I never see hit play. That is the Cyclopean Tomb. I had a friend who relied on geting the Lich into play. It was a long time before he figured out that it was not working in his favor. I myself have a Blaze of Glory and a False Orders, and when building appropriately colored type 1 decks I do use them. (I target Abu Jafar with Blaze).

Chaos Orb was a lot of fun. In fact it saw a lot of tournament use. Natural Selection seems to be a big staple for your type 1 players now, and I have seen several examples (mainly in combo decks).

I personally used the ante cards a lot, because I did play for ante for about 5 months or so when the game first came out.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think the ante cards should be excluded since they're situational. I mean, if you ARE playing for ante, you'd use them and if you're not, you don't.

So I'll have to look at the card list... I came in Revised so although a lot of cards were reprinted, not all, so I'll have to make a guess...
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Budget Player Cadet said:
Do you hate control as much as me?
Saaaaaarcaaaaaasm..... sometimes gets lost on the board......

Read my signature

Well, translate my signature may be a better direction.......
 
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Budget Player Cadet

Guest
I am oblivious to following means of information transfer:
Sarcasm
hidden meanings
anything involving reading between the lines.
now i am being informed by my human owners that i must 'Bleep boop' make a sandwich for them.
 

Melkor

Well-known member
By the way, Great Wall has to be one of, if not the most unused card. When it was printed there was only one card that even had Plainswalk. Then they didn't print another one until Portal, and then the next was in Odyssey. So as it stands right now, there are only three legal creatures in all of Magic that even have Plainswalk and all Great Wall does is let you be able to block those creatures. Wonderful, now there is a useful card.
 
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BigBlue

Guest
See, you could also view this as underrated card... like a card which is good, but somehow forgotten...

I think we have to look at rares to begin with... commons would be used by all players (especially ones with limited access to cards). Most Uncommons would also be used...

I cannot speak for any set up to Revised. I didn't play then... But my guess would be the obscure color hosers - like Volcanic Eruption. I've never seen that card used. I also think they'll tend to be single use jobs - or cards with such a huge drawback they become unusable. (I'm talking about you Emberwilde Caliph).
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
I wouldn't say unused, but the most UNDERused card has to be Dwarven Pony. Seriously. It should be an automatic 4-of in every deck. You splash red for it!!!!!


Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Melkor

Well-known member
Just to finish up my Great Wall thought, up until Legends, there were no Plainswalkers, and then in that set they printed one card with plainswalk, and 2 cards that let you block creatures with plainswalk. What kind of math is that? Well, we know how overpowered Righteous Avengers is, so we need to print not just one, but TWO! silver bullets in the same set!
 
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BigBlue

Guest
Well - there were cards which allowed you to switch landwalk abilities... and the Great Wall counteracted them as well... :D

If I were to create a "Great Wall" card it would be an artifact which blocked (not prevented) all landwalking against the controller... but that's just me.
 
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Budget Player Cadet

Guest
My vote is for Brainless. ;)
Brainless 0
Instant
You may have brainless any number of times in your deck.
You lose the game.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Ransac said:
No one is inspired by the thought of the amazing Dwarven Pony?!?!?!??!?!?!?!
If only it were a blue card, then it would be the most underused/unused card in magic..... but, it's read and red players love this card.....
 
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