The best cards of 2024

summary

• Three Tree City is a great 2024 land for Commander, providing mana advantage for creature-centric decks.

• Enter Servile lands tapped and offer a card selection for each color pair.

• Nadu, Winged Wisdom dominates modern and legacy formats with powerful abilities.

Magic: The Gathering had several sets released throughout 2024. From the first set of Ravnica Remastered in January to Foundation in November, there has been a huge influx of cards into the game. There were remastered sets, standard sets, commander deck drops, and much more.

2024 saw the release of many powerful cards throughout the year, and many of these cards found a home in many formats, such as new Pioneer staples and meta shifters in the high-powered Legacy format. No matter what format you play, there was a new card that entered its meta that was released in 2024.

10

Three Tree City

Typical Payoff

While Three Tree City doesn't see much play in Constructed formats, it's a great 2024 land for Commander. If you're playing any deck that focuses on one creature type, you'll want room for Three Tree City.

Three Tree City has the potential to generate a ton of mana, only needing three of the same creature type to be mana positive. Most of the best utility lands are tapped, but Three Tree City isn't, and even if you don't have the right creature types, you can still tap it for colorless mana so it never sits idle.

9

Survey lands

Staple one-offs

While not the most exciting cards, it's undeniable that Survey Lands is the best land cycle of 2024. There's one for each color pair, all tap-to-enter and let you survey for one when entering the battlefield.

The most notable part of the cards is that they have basic land types. This means you can search for them from your library with Fetchlands. As such, they often A one or two-of (more often a one-of) card is played to bring some control over what you draw next turn to bring it to the end.

8

The Slickshot Show-Off

For Spellslingers

Slickshot Show-Off quickly became a staple of any red-based aggro deck, as soon as it was released in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern. Slickshot Show-Off The amount of damage the correct combination of cards can do can win the game in three turns.

The ability to plot Slickshot Show-Off helps keep it safe from removal as well as free casting a ton of spells on the turn it enters. A monstrous fury used in slickshot show-offs is one of the scariest things you'll ever see if you can't pull it off, and often goes on to win the game.

7

Vein Ripper

Become a pioneer

Venn Ripper was responsible for what was widely considered a poor Pioneer format, being outwitted in three by Soarin, the Imperious Bloodlord. This combo won the Pro Tour kills at Karlov Manor and ran widely in the subsequent RCQ season.

Ward ability, great stats, and great trigger ability all contributed to how powerful Vein Ripper became. The card was responsible for banning Soarin, and still has a home in dedicated vampire midrange decks as a game-ender because the deck can easily cast it.

6

Heartfire Hero

Small mouse, big power

Heartfire Hero is the heart and soul of Mice-based decks in Standard, and a key player in Pioneer's Rakdos Prowess. The card can deal a surprising amount of damage, and if it has a high power it won't be effective at interrupting as it will deal damage equal to its power as soon as the opponent dies. It is often paired with a fling spell that allows its power to deal with the opponent twice, often winning the game in turn two.

Heartfire Hero increases in stats when it is targeted with a spell or ability you control. Decks that play Heartfire Hero have no shortage of ways to do that, and if not removed early, can often win you the game.

5

Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

Card draw and burn

One of the best room cards for Constructed formats, Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber has redefined the black-based midrange deck in both Standard and Pioneer. While the 6/6 monster is useful in the ritual chamber aspect, the main attraction is the unholy annex. If you have multiple copies of Unholy Annex on the battlefield, each one will trigger your opponent to potentially burn for a ton of life.

There are plenty of monsters with powerful effects that you can easily rotate so you don't burn yourself out of the game. It's often paired with Aclazotz's Demons Bloodletter and Archfiend of the Drss, two cards that damage your opponent feeling even more irritation from Unholy Annex.

4

Ocelot proud

Token for Lifegain

Ocelot Pride is a major player in Boros energy decks in Modern, and it was so strong that it had to be nerfed in the historical format (by spending two mana instead of one). This is often paired with Guide of Souls which gains life when a creature enters the battlefield which in turn ensures Ocelot Pride triggers and gives you more energy counters.

In some modes, Ocelot Pride can translate into a ton of cat tokens on the battlefield, especially once you've established the city's blessing. First Strike makes it a strong attacker even in the early stages of the game, making it great in combat and ensuring that you'll get Lifelink to lifegain trigger.

3

The Abominable Oculus

New tempo player in town

Abhorrent Oculus is one of the best new tempo cards of 2024, playing in Standard, Pioneer, Modern, and even some Legacy decks. It's often played in decks that are casting a ton of spells so you can always get it by banishing six cards from your graveyard, or that are reviving it directly from the graveyard.

Unless your opponent is ready for it, you will always be able to manifest fear at least once as it happens at the beginning of your repair. Even if it gets removed, since it's played in a deck that often respawns, it probably doesn't matter since you can bring it back from the graveyard.

2

The mental frog

A little bit of everything

Psychic Frog is a fantastic two-drop that draws you cards, sets up your graveyard, and acts as an excellent attacker and blocker. Since all of its abilities can be used at instant speed, Psychic Frog can suddenly become very strong or gain flight for defensive purposes, or to tempt blockers into suddenly strengthening.

Psychic Frog is a staple of Dimir and Esper-based decks, and has also seen play in the highest power formats of Modern, Legacy, and Vintage. It's often used in graveyard-based decks, especially Reanimators where Psychic Frog can put a creature directly into the graveyard.

1

Nadu, the winged wisdom

Best of 2024

The best magic card of 2024 is impossible to give other than Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Responsible for the modern “Nadu Summer,” Nadu, Winged Wisdom decks were about as far as you could play. While it was banned only two months later (and Commander only one month later), it is still a top deck in Legacy.

Targeting a creature with an ability was common, and with Springheart Nantuko supporting Nadu, you had a constant source of new creatures to target with abilities that cost you zero mana to essentially draw your entire library. The amount of benefits Nadu gives you is huge, and why it's the best card of 2024.