Another new set means another look at the cards from the set. Here’s the top 20 rares of Zendikar! Of course, the this is an expansion of my top 10 rares of zendikar list, so if you’ve read that one you really only need to look at 11-20. The rest are the same. Remember, these cards are ranked by me and this is not any kind of official ranking. Just opinion. Hope you like it!

#20 Armament Master

Kors may be the strongest tribal type in Zendikar. This card boosts all of them for each equipment attached to it. There are plenty of one drop equipments from Zendikar that make this card a big threat. Be careful though, as this card will become a big target for spells. Make sure to use thet M10 Whispersilk Cloak on this guy!

#19 Terra Stomper

I’d heard nothing about this card until I saw one at the prerelease, and that I can’t explain. This card is bigger and badder than almost every other card in Zendikar and it has trample! Not only that, it costs only six mana. This card is a giant and can cause some serious damage. It’s just a big brute of a card, but when it’s so strong it doesn’t even matter.

#18 Roil Elemental

This card is incredibly powerful with its landfall ability. Using Explorer’s Scope alongside this card can lead to some serious fun (for you). Make sure to protect this card though, as it has a really low tougness. That’s why it couldn’t make it any higher on the list. However, it is a great card all the same.

#17 Oracle Of Mul Daya

This card accelerates landfall and also allows you to plan for the future. The downside is that it’s a little expensive for a 2/2 and it also ruins any surprise cards you may draw into. However, the power that it provides through mana and landfall makes up for any weaknesses the card may have.

#16 Beastmaster Ascension

Here’s a card for Naya decks. You get a counter on it whenever a creature attacks. That means if you have two counters on it and then attack with five creatures your creatures will all have +5/+5. It’s affordable and doesn’t take too much effort to build up. It’s for those decks that do nothing but attack. It’s not the most creative card ever, but certainly fits happily into the “my creatures are bigger than yours” niche of MTG.

#15 Blade Of The Bloodchief

This is an equipment version of Sadistic Glee, except that it works doubly well for vampires. It’s nice becuase you can put it on creatures you really want to boost once you play them. It only costs one mana to equip and one mana to play, so it’s good to go in any deck. A very nice piece of equipment.

#14 Emeria Angel

This card is great at one thing: making 1/1 flying chump blockers. Of course, it’s nothing too terribly powerful, but the tokens it generates can really save your butt. Also, they work great at defending you while you build your forces (or Luminarch Ascension). You can use the birds offensively since they have flying, but I feel that defense is what this card’s all about.

#13 Oran-Rief, The Vastwood

This card with elf decks should be a lot of fun. Even outside elf decks, it will be nice to be able to put a lot of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control. Also, I can’t help but feel that there will be some interesting combos with this card and cards with persist. We’ll see how that works out though.

#12 Emeria, The Sky Ruin

This card is sweet. I can see it being incredibly powerful in certain decks. Of course, the downside is that you’ll need eight lands (that’s seven plains and this card) to get any use out of it besides mana. However, bringing back any creature you want is very powerful. It’s only from your graveyard, but it’s still pretty nice. I feel it may have a nice place in monowhite EDH decks, though I could be wrong.

#11 Crypt Of Agadeem

Much like Cabal Coffers, this card accelerates black mana for the price of two mana of any color. I don’t like that you have to put cards in your graveyard to useit effectively, but then again, many decks run on such a strategy. It’s a card that has strength in this standard but might really shine in vintage decks. Once again, time will tell.

#10 Pyromancer Ascension

Here’s the an  ascension card everyone is talking about. If you get it out early on in the game you can be copying Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Fireball, or whatever else you may want. It also works particularly well with Chandra Ablaze. Red decks focusing on direct damage will certainly be powerful in standard.

#9 Archive Trap

This card remind me of Glimpse The Unthinkable. You can mill 13 cards for no mana at all! Of course, you’ll need your opponent to search their library, but that’s a very common thing in most MTG decks. Especially with the fetchlands and panoramas that are in standard now. It’s a great card that allows a free mill of nearly 1/4 of most decks.

#8 Bloodghast

This card is pretty popular, though I feel it’s a little over-hyped. It’s a creature that comes back from the graveyard to play when you play a land. It also has haste if an opponent has ten or less life. Running four of these would be pretty powerful, but at the same time it’s uncertain how powerful these will be in the future. Certainly a great card though, and also it’s certainly a descendant of Nehter Shadow.

#7 Malakir Bloodwitch

This card works well because it has a low cost relative to its power and also has a great effect. It will be a good card for tribal decks featuring vampires. What makes this card so powerful is that when it comes into play each opponent loses life equal to the number of vampires you control. Yep, each opponent. In multiplayer this card will secure you a victory, but even in single player it should provide at least four or five life.

#6 Scute Mob

These little bugs start to get pretty huge if you have at least five lands. You can put them out in the beginning of the game as chump blockers and then use them as powerful beasts later in the game. Not only that, but they can be decoys for the real cards you want to play. Waste your kill spells and then save the big creatures for later. Or use these as your primary means for assault.

#5 Day Of Judgement

Yep, quite a boring card here. It’s the same sort of Wrath Of God knock-off card that appears in every block somewhere along the line. Nothing to talk about here.

#4 Luminarch Ascension

This is the my favorite ascension card, though I realize there is another that’s stronger. As long as you can keep from taking any damage for four turns you’ll be alright. You can afford to lose all your creatures, all your spells, everything. As soon as you have four counters on this card you can start pumping out 4/4 angels and destroying any opponent. It’s incredibly powerful and shouldn’t be underestimated.

#3 Goblin Guide

Now here’s a piece of history. It’s the first creature to ever be printed as a 2/2 with haste for only one mana. It does have the negative effect of giving an opponent a land if the top card of their library is one, but the pay off is well worth it. This card will revolutionize many decks and will be around for a very long time.

#2 Bloodchief Ascension

Here’s the ascension everyone is talking about. It gets counters whenever an opponent loses two or more life in a turn. It only needs three counters to activate its final ability. This ability works well in black decks that focus on destroying creatures or forcing an opponent to discard cards. You could even mill them! This card has a lot of power in it once you have those three counters on it. And at one mana, this card can begin a game the in a very good way.

#1 Arid Mesa, Marsh Flats, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn, & Verdant Catacombs

Well, did you expect anything else? Fetch-lands are always powerful. They also sell for a good chunk of change. My advice is this: sell them as long as you aren’t competitively playing MTG. The money will be well worth losing these lands. These cards are very powerful in Zendikar right now though, because they allow for two instances of landfall in one turn. It costs one life, but it’s incredibly worth it. It’s a little disappointing to have rare lands like this that aren’t really anything new, but the money and power they can provide is quite powerful. I don’t particularly like them, but they’re the best of the rares in Zendikar.

Thanks for reading!