So, now that Zendikar’s out, people will wonder what the best cards from the set are. Well, I’m here to tell you what I feel are the best cards from this new set. This list is an expansion on my top ten list, so the top ten cards are the same. However, there are twenty new cards to check out. Feel free to tell me what you think, as this list is neither official or definitive. Without further delay, here are the top thirty cards from Zendikar!

#30 Trailblazer’s Boots

Zendikar is loaded with nonbasic lands. This card gives the equipped creature nonbasic landwalk. Most decks will be running nonbasic lands so this card can give you an offensive edge.

#29 Crypt Of Agadeem

#28 Brave The Elements

This is one high-power card! It gives all your white creatures protection from any color you want, and all for just one mana. It’s a card that will win games and fit well in any offensive/defensive monowhite deck.

#27 Vampire Hexmage

This card is strong because it’s a 2/1 with first strike for two mana. However, that alone isn’t enough to make it earn a place on this list. What gives it this spot is the fact that you can sacrifice it to remove all counters on any permanent. That means that this card can kill planeswalkers, get rid of quest counters, and shrink down cards that have +1/+1 counters on them. Quite a bit of power.

#26 Vampire Nighthawk

This is just a good creature. Three mana for a card like this? Talk about a deal! It works offensively and defensively. It’s a great card for vampires and will certainly help make them into a stronger tribal theme in the future.

#25 Journey To Nowhere

This is a great card that gives Oblivion Ring a run for its money. Oblivion Ring may be able to take nonland permaments, but the fact that this card costs one less mana might make it a little better. Which is better? It’s up to you to decide. However, I can tell you that this is one of the best cards in the set.

#24 Pyromancer Ascension

This card works especially well when combined with Chandra Ablaze. It will certainly be the focal point of many monored decks in the future. Copying spells leads to a lot of potential with things like Fireball and Lightning Bolt in standard. That’s a lot of damage to sling aroud!

#23 Archive Trap

This card allows a 13 card mill for five mana. Of course, the real reason this card is on the list is because it can be played for free! Your opponent has to search their library, but that’s a very likely scenario.

#22 Iona, Shield Of Emeria

This card doesn’t really seem like it will get played in standard because of its mana cost. It stops a monocolored deck though, which is a lot of power. However, in a world where Alara is still pretty powerful this card might not be as good as it first seems. It will be the bane of casual players and the amount of fun this card produces is about that of Shahrazad.

#21 Burst Lightning

This card is great. It’s an improved version of Shock! No need to say more.

#20 Kalitas, Bloodchief Of Ghet

This card can destroy any creature and then you get a vampire that’s a power and toughness are the same as the destroyed creature’s. It creates an army of vampires while taking out your opponent’s creatures. Sounds good right? Well it is!

#19 Obsidian Fireheart

This is a great play as a 4/4 for only four mana. Not onl that though, its ability only costs three mana. You don’t have to tap it either! This card burns an opponent over time and this effect works even if Obsidian Fireheart is destroyed.

#18 Adventuring Gear

This is an amazing common. WIth landfall this card gets really ridiculous. It only costs one mana to play and to equip. This is a great equip card and will really work well in the Kor decks and green decks that focus on triggering landfall. It’ll work well in other situations too, but that’s where it should show the most strength.

#17 Nissa Revane

This card’s the first planeswalker to fit exclusively into tribal decks. It may slow down an elf deck, it may make it better. It’s not certain yet. This card is a little too weak, but it’s certainly powerful.

#16 Bloodghast

I’m not too impressed with this one, but the idea of using four and having a army of 2/1 haste creatures that keep coming back. It’s just good to have a creature that won’t die easy.

#15 Malakir Bloodwitch

This is another vampire that helps put vampires up there in the world of tribal decks. When it comes into play you hurt all your opponent and gain a bunch of life. It’s also quite a large flying creature for only five mana.

#14 Eternity Vessel

This card is great. Every time you play a land you can get your life back to where it was when you first played Eternity Vessel. This makes it so that you’re particularly hard to kill.

#13 Scute Mob

This card is a great one drop. It starts out as small little creature, but if you have five lands this thing starts to get to be quite the heavy hitter.

#12 Chandra Ablaze

I don’t really care for this card, but it is strong. I want to see how it works with Pyromancer Ascension and some of the other cards in this set. It’s final ability is incredibly powerful and the first one is amazing too. However, the second ability leaves something to be desired.

#11 Day Of Judgement

Yeah, this is the new Wrath Of God. Hurray. It gets the job done.

#10 Luminarch Ascension

This card is insane. As long as you can keep a good defense up, you’ll soon have an army of angels ready to decimate your opponent. This card is a lot easier to get going than you may think, as many of the white cards of Zendikar can deal with creatures coming at you (Journey To Nowhere, Kor Hookmaster, Pitfall Trap, and Shieldmate’s Blessing). This card, though tricky to use, will win you the game once you start using it.

#9 Goblin Guide

This is the first 2/2 with haste for one mana that has ever been printed in MTG. This will card will leave a huge impact on MTG for years to come. It’s incredible. Not only that, but this card should bring monored decks in standard to a powerful high. Think about a deck running these cards: Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Burst Lightning, Quest For Pure Flame, Pyromancer Ascension, Chandra Ablaze, Elemental Appeal, Punishing Fire, Unstable Footing, Valakut, The Molten Pinnacle, Ball Lightning, Raging Goblin, and Goblin Guide to top it all off. Ridiculous.

#8 Bloodchief Ascension

This card is the best of the ascension cards. It works well in any black deck and costs only one mana. I don’t have much more to say about this one other than it’s awesome.

#7 Warren Instigator

This is some mythic! At first, I thought it was a little silly to have this be a mythic rare. Of course, then I realized that this card is Goblin Lackey on roids. It will be great to see a card that works like Goblin Lackey in standard again. It will certainly change the game as I remember many people who played during Urza’s Saga talking about how they needed to plan on ways to deal with Goblin Lackey. Now people will be planning on how to deal with Warren Instigator.

One of the reasons why this card is mythic and not just a normal rare is because of the double strike. This card allows you to put two goblins from your hand into play if you deal combat damage to an opponent. Not only that, but you aren’t restricted to only using this ability with combat damage. It’s just regular damage! Of course, this is the same as with Goblin Lackey, but it’s great that they didn’t change that. I wonder who people will use this card in the future… Either way, this is an amazing card and one that certainly will spark a lot of discussion in the MTG community. Good to have you back Goblin Lackey!

#6 Sorin Markov

This card is the favorite of the Zendikar planeswalkers. It works strongly right away and has a really great final ability. This card has a lot of potential and will likely make an appearance in many EDH decks. Besides being good, this card is just cool. It’s just a card that begs to be played with.

#5 Explorer’s Scope

What? How’d a common get this high on the list? Well, that’s because this card is amazing. It allows you to get free lands! That means you can get double  landfall in a turn. Also, this card costs only one mana to play and one to equip. It’s out of control and I’d wager that almost no Zendikar decks will run without at least one. It’s the best common of the set.

#4 Ob Nixilis, The Fallen

This card is an amazing paly at only five mana. It grows more powerful every time you play and land and also makes your opponent lose life. It really is demonic… Sorry there’s not more to say on this card, but when a card’s just this good you can’t say much.

#3 Mindbreak Trap

This card serves two purposes. This card can get rid of cards that can’t be countered and also stops the ability storm dead in its tracks. It removes spells rather than countering them. This card may mean the end for storm’s overwhelming power in vintage.  If you don’t play vintage, this card can be traded/sold for quite a bit, so keep that in mind.

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

Fetch lands always work well. One life is a small price to pay for the land you need. Not only that, but these cards mean double landfall in a turn (or landfall on an opponent’s turn). These cards, like Mindbreak Trap, sell for a lot so if you aren’t playing competitively you may want to ditch these for some cash so you can get what you want. Either way, these are an awesome pull from a Zendikar pack.

#1 Lotus Cobra

This card is great. It accelerates your mana prodcution and comes out on the second turn. There are going to be insane combos with this card, though I won’t pretend to know any. This card is the best card of Zendikar and is also in the running for one of the best two drops ever printed. This is a card that if you pull from a pack you’ll have a good day. Oh, and just like the last two, this one sells for a lot. This card is very popular right now, but only time will tell if it has the power to reach the notoriety of cards like Tarmogoyf.

Thanks for reading!