Enchantments are an important part of MTG. They offer a continuos effect that instants and sorceries really can’t provide. Some work offensively and some work defensively. Some do things that don’t fit into either category. This list is all about those enchantments you can drop on the first turn that really pay off later on (or right away!).

#20 Helix Pinnacle

This card is hard to destroy and hard to use. It’s a card for those decks that can draw out a game forever. I’ve never seen it used to win a game without an infinite mana combo. It’s not popular for a win with infinite mana combos because it’s more fun to just use a Fireball, but it is still a possibility and an interesting card.

#19 Darkest Hour

This card can be used a few interesting ways. I like to combo this with Light Of Day. It makes all creatures useless for combat. This means you can build a deck around using a ton of cards that tap for cool abilities. Your opponent will have a bunch of useless creatures while you can tap to do this and that. It’s a card that on it’s own doesn’t do a lot, but can be used in ways you might not think of.

#18 Flood

This card is a good way to tie down some creatures that give you trouble. It’s really only useful in a mono blue deck, but can have limited use outside of one. It’s a cool card that’s underestimated. I’ve lost to this card several times.

#17 Onslaught

This card is for those decks that swarm an opponent. It’s all abotu speed. Is there a connection to the set Onslaught and this card? Perhaps, but I can’t confirm or deny that. I can confirm that this card works well when you play a deck with a lot of low cost creatures with haste.

#16 Exploration

An extra land a turn? That’s power. In MTG, how much land you have is almost equal to how much power you have. This card is perfect to use with all those green cards that allow you to search your library for a land card and put it into your hand. It’s a nice card, but you’ll see there are a few better ones a little later on our list.

#15 High Ground

If you can block two creatures with one, then you have a much more solid defense. This card is strong and to the point. You can’t say much more about it.

#14 Mass Hysteria

So, giving your opponent’s creatures haste is definetly not good. However, this is a card you base a deck off of. You get to have a speed battle with this card in play. It’s risky, but sometimes you have to take risks if you want a big pay off in the end!

#13 Soothsaying

This card allows you to change your future draws around a bit. What’s really nice about this card is that you can shuffle your library with it too. This allows you to save yourself from drawing three useless cards in a row or something like that. It makes much more sense to shuffle your library and then rearrange the cards anew. It’s a cool card and one of those very powerful uncommons from Mercadian Masques.

#12 Telepathy

Talk about control! This card is sweet. It allows you to see your opponets’ hands at all times. This means you know what their moves are going to be and how to react to them appropriately. There are no surprises with this card in play. You know if you should counter somthing, or save the spell for something bigger. It’s a great card and allows you to really up the power of a control deck.

#11 War Dance

This is a card you play on your first turn that wins you the game. Just keep it around until you can attack with enough creatures that one is unblocked. Then sacrifice this card and deal some massive damage! It builds up to be one heck of a powerful card.

#10 Aegis Of Honor

This card puts an end to Fireball and other cards like it that can deal lethal damage to you. It’s a little specific, but the pay off makes this card totally worth it.

#9 Tortured Existence

This card is a lot cooler than people give it credit for. You can use something like Entomb and get a creature card you really want and put it into your hand with this then! Also, you can play cards with madness a lot easier with this card. It’s a card you could build a deck around and one that not a lot of people know about.

#8 Seal Of Fire

This card is a Shock that you can hold onto for whenever you need it. It’s a strong card to be able to sling two damage around at whatever you want, but that’s about it. You can only say so much about a Shock clone.

#7 Mirri’s Guile

What makes this card so good isn’t what it does, but what color it is. This is a green card that does something that is traditionally a blue effect. There are also a lot of cards that can combo with this (like Call Of The Wild). It presents some interesting opportunities and helps you control your deck so you draw into what you want. It’s definetly a card you wouldn’t expect to be green.

#6 Burgeoning

This card allows you to stay ahead of your opponent in the land game. It works similar to Exploration, but I find it to be a little more interesting. This can also have some interesting combos. It’s a cool card, but you better have land in your hand or else it isn’t of much use.

#5 Limited Resources

This card is amazing. It restricts the amount of mana players can have and can really end the game for some of those who play with decks with a high mana curve. It’s a card for those decks that focus on cheap, low cost creatures that swarm or have big effects. You can build a deck off of this card very easily.

#4 Drop Of Honey & Porphyry Nodes

Here are two identical cards that slowly wipe out all the little creatures, turning the game into a battle of giants. The green one makes sense, but the white one leaves me scratching my head. Most white creatures are little, so my only thought is that maybe it’s meant for those red and white giant decks. Anyway, these are strong cards that really start to have an interesting effect on a game.

#3 Eladamri’s Vineyard

Two mana on each player’s main phase? Sounds awesome. It stinks to give your opponent mana, but it’s not too big a deal. This card was better back when mana burn existed so that sometimes your opponent wouldn’t be able to use the two green mana. However, this card is still amazing. It’s one of those cards that accelerates mana production only like green decks can.

#2 Land Tax

This card is great because no matter what. Just don’t play lands for a few turns (if you can spare it) and soon you’ll have six or more land in your hand! This is good because you’ll be able to play a land every turn and because you won’t draw into a land card when you’re looking for something specific. It’s one of those cards that won’t see print ever again, but it’s a great one. What’s also cool about this card is that it works for any basic land rather than only Plains cards.

#1 Fastbond

This is another card that will never be printed again. It’s so powerful! It’s use for many first turn win combos. You can get any amount of land in play with this card! It costs one life per extra land, but that hardly matters why you’re playing the extra land to win on your first turn! It’s one of those wacky old cards that wasn’t really properly evaluated when made. It’s amazing and definetly the best one drop enchantment of all time.