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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Boros Reckoner
Image from Wizards.com

Top 10 Cards of 2013

#1 -
Boros Reckoner
- Gatecrash

Reviewed January 3, 2014

Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4.33
Limited: 4.33
Multiplayer: 4.50

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Boros Reckoner

This guy is perfectly efficient for his cost-- a 3/3 for three mana. He's also nearly impossible to attack or block around-- any combat engagement is likely to result in it killing two of its opponent's creatures-- one with combat damage and one with its first ability. The ability to gain first strike at will means that you can't even be guaranteed to kill the Reckoner without a sufficiently large creature, and 3/3 is just large enough to be the biggest thing on the board a good percentage of the time. The fact that the first strike has to be activated almost makes it even worse for opponents, since there'll always be that temptation to try a block and hope they have better plans for that one mana, or at least force them to spend the mana and hope you're keeping them off of doing something else in their hand. He can be bounced and dealt with through non-damage means, sure, but for many decks damage is the primary way to deal with creatures. If you block a Reckoner, you're handing its controller a burn spell and letting him choose what to point it at, and that's going to make it hard to keep up any sort of board presence.

Constructed- 4.5
Casual- 4.75
Limited- 4.75
Multiplayer- 4.5


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Boros Reckoner

Boros Reckoner happened to be my vote for the number one card of 2013, and as you can see he is our overall number one as well. While his prevalence in Standard - and his secondary market price - has fallen from its all-time high, it's not that long ago that he was everywhere, and the impact has already been significant. Combat is such a fundamental of Magic that it's easy to think you know everything about it, and everything has been done. That's until something comes along that changes it, even if only for a Standard season or part of one. The Reckoner's combination of low cost (almost half that of the new Ghost Council) and devastating abilities affected the way people played both aggro and control decks after Gatecrash came out, and he can even be used in a combo (by giving him both lifelink and indestructible). That alone puts his impact, at least in Standard, on par with cards we talk about in hushed whispers, like Arcbound Ravager and Dark Confidant. While Boros Reckoner is nowhere near as game-breaking as either of those creatures, and his impact on larger formats is unlikely to be quite as high, he proves that the fundamentals of Magic still matter, and is deservedly our number one card of 2013.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

The number one card of the year is Boros Reckoner which is a three mana Red or White 3/3 that deals damage to target creature or player whenever it receives damage and for one Red or White gains First Strike until end of turn. In Red/White or a mono of either of those colors this is an efficient and effective card that can easily force two for one trades, combo with mass damage, or be a general threat to an opponent's battlefield arrangement. The two effects don't often mesh well, but offer flexibility for different situations. Overall this is a very strong card in the right build, as it is not suited to decks with much in other colors, and will be a popular card for quite some time.

In Limited this is excellent for Boros as a three mana 3/3 alone, add in the effects and you have an easy first pick and automatic inclusion for Sealed. Orzhov and Gruul lose a bit of the value by needing three of the same mana sources in play to cast this, but hate drafting it is probably a good idea. The impact this can have on an opponent's offensive or defensive choices can be major and whether taking damage to deal damage or using First Strike this is a serious threat for the cost.

Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 4.5


Skid Rambo

The #1 card of 2013 is Boros Reckoner!! Raise your hand if you won a match just because of Boros Reckoner. Both of my hands are up in the air! Raise your hand if you’ve used Boros Reckoner to gain Infinite life in a match. Both of my hands are down. I dislike infinite combos! As much as I like Boros Reckoner, I’ve been destroyed by it many times. This minotaur has been responsible for 13, 26, 52, and even infinite damage. There are so many ways to manipulate this minotaur but using it to slow down agro is as easy as tapping 3 mana. Some people are probably miffed by this card being picked as the best card of 2013. Those people are probably unaware of how much Boros Reckoner changed Magic the Gathering.

Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 4
Multiplayer: 5


Paul
Had this at #1 on his Top 10 List

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