The Most Important Magic Set of All Time

In 1998 Exodus introduced the color-coded expansion symbol so players could see the rarity of their cards right away. "Gold" is not only the name of a great song by Spandau Ballet but also the color of the highest rarity level this expansion symbol would show until mythics arrived ten years later. But when it comes to the traits of Magic cards, gold is not just about the rarity …

When discussing the most notable inventions in Magic outside of Alpha, which layed the foundation, one has to mention sets like Alliances (pitch spells like ), Onslaught (fetch lands), Mirrodin (Equipment), Ravnica: City of Guilds (shock lands, dredge), Lorwyn (planeswalkers), and Zendikar (landfall). But even though these sets introduced important and beloved types and mechanics, which shape the Magic landscape to this day, none of these sets birthed an entire mode of play.

Gold Magic

Going back to 1994, gold was connected to another innovation within the Magic timeline. It was then that the game's third expansion Legends introduced multicolored, gold Magic cards. This initial list of gold cards consists of the very first legendary creatures.

Why is this significant? Well, the most important and most common way to play Magic today is called "Commander." In this singleton format you pick a legendary creature that is supposed to lead and support your army. I guess you know it by now.

However, in the beginning—the format reaches back to the year 1996—it was known as "Elder Dragon Highlander" or more commonly EDH. The Highlander part references the tag line of the eponymous movie franchise ("There can be only one.") and thus the format's one-of rule. But why Elder Dragon?

Elder Dragons & Friends

Legends included five Elder Dragons, all of them belonging to that aforementioned list of legendary, gold creature cards. They are: , , , , and of course Magic's greatest villain, the one and only .

Remember that impressive War of the Spark trailer from 2019? Yep, that's prime Bolas. He changed quite a bit. His first card appearance 25 years earlier had pictured him as more of a reclusive, geriatric bookworm (with, for some reason, mammary glands).

The original Elder Dragons always stood out more for their undeniable cool than their power. Insofar as they were more powerful than alternatives, it was the fault of their contemporaries. None of the legendary creatures of Legends reach the level of modern commanders like or . They are true icons and pioneers nevertheless. A Mercedes Benz 300 SL might not outrun a Bugatti Veyron, but can it compete with its beauty? You decide!

Although the set as a whole is as awesome as it gets, we must be completely honest. Some of these legends are not only not standing a chance against their younger rivals, they are truly among the worst creatures ever. , a character that in Dominaria United, is a first striking 4/3 Pirate that costs six mana …

While I wouldn't waste time building a Ramirez EDH deck, I still want to encourage you Commander afficionados to come out of the power gaming bubble. Choose a quirky, mediocre commander with flavor and grind a little harder! Commander is the right format for it.

Mister "two-million-dollar ring" Post Malone himself is a great example. He is known to be obsessed with his deck, which is not a particular powerful commander by any means.

Blast from the Past: Legends of Legends

I don't want to leave you with encouragement alone, though. Here is a shortlist of some of the most iconic, quirky, or iconically quirky legendary creatures from Legends:

: Old man Angus is a famous defender of the legendary Dominarian city . As a decent playable commander option from the past, your game plan is to protect your fellows by wrapping them in deep layers of old-school . Again and again.

: Dakkon is a violent, short-tempered, masterful blacksmith and warrior, an expert in combat and also the forger of the legendary Blackblade. Unfortunately it's a relatively unspectacular creature that doesn't do justice to the character and the spectacular artwork by RKF.

: Actually a creature with a decent power level. A four-mana 3/5 creature was great in the past and is still good today. The mind-twisting tap effect is as strong as it is nervewrecking. Random discard is always a pain you know where. Since the random discard effect can also hit lands, you might become the enemy number one, but I guess you don't expect anything different playing with this provocative card. If you don't like friends, you could even pair this lady with other notorious random discarders like , , and as well as the full palette of land destruction spells black and red have to offer.

: If you hate , his father, who appeared in Dominaria United Commander as , is the guy to blame. Who on the other hand is to blame for this guy's triple red upkeep cost? The card is way too cool and too hilarious to have such a drowning effect. Definition of quirky.

: Once a powerful nature spirit, Sol'kanar was turned into a minion by . He fought against Dakkon as her champion and was defeated. In the aftermath he became a self-proclaimed god and king of the land and tribe of Khone, which he later ruled. Again a weak legendary creature with an awesome RKF artwork.

: Like Gwendlyn, Tetsuo was illustrated by the great Julie Baroh and is a creature with decent stats and ability for its age. As a professionally trained martial artist, Tetsuo knows how to take out tapped creatures. A decklist with many tap and untap effects could make reasonable use of the ability.

The Lands of Legend(s)

While Legends layed the framework for Commander, it also contained two of the most anti-Commander cards imaginable: and . Luckily landed on the relatively short list of banned cards early on—for obvious reasons: I mean, you have to keep in check those overpowered legendary creatures like and …

The Tabernacle taxes the existence of creatures too, all of them, forcing everyone at the table to "pay the one" over and over. For this reason, although it is not banned, it is frowned upon. I still wonder if and would have had the legendary supertype if it existed at the time …

In the End …

Legends single-handedly gave us Commander. Funnily, though, most of its legendary creatures are unplayable in Commander these days while the two most powerful legendary lands are either banned or commonly hated because of their oppressive effects.

Besides introducing legendary cards, Legends also expanded and added nuance to Magic's color pie by premiering multicolored cards, which still shapes the perception of modern mana bases. Considering today's significance of the Commander format, one cannot deny that the development of the multicolored, legendary creature was one of the most important additions or even the most important addition to the game yet.

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Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of Cardmarket.