The best books of 2024

Summary

• Three Tree City is the best land in 2024 for Commander, providing mana advantage for creature-focused decks.

• Surveil Lands goes Tapped and offers card selection for each suit pair.

• Nadu, Winged Wisdom dominated Modern and Legacy formats with strong abilities.

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

In 2024, many powerful cards were released throughout the year, and many of these cards found a home in multiple formats, such as the new Pioneer staples and even 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

The city with three trees

Typical repayment

Although Three Tree City doesn't see any play in constructed formats, it is the best land of 2024 for Commander. If you're playing any deck that focuses on one creature type, you'll want to make room for Three Tree City.

Three Tree City has the potential to generate a ton of mana, only requiring three of the same creature type to have positive mana. Most of the best utility lands go tapped, but not Three Tree City, 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

Land Supervision

Staple One-Ofs

While they aren't the most exciting cards, there's no denying that Surveil lands are the best land cycle of 2024. There's one for each color pair, all of which tap and allow you to scout for one when it enters 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 are often played as a one or two of (more often one of) as a card to take on an end turn to have some control over what you draw next turn.

8

Slickshot Show-Off

For Spellslingers

Slickshot Show-Off immediately became a staple of any red-based aggro deck, playing in Standard, Pioneer, and Modern as soon as it was released. The amount of damage Slickshot Show-Off can do with the right combination of cards can lead to game wins as early as turn three.

Being able to cast a Slickshot Show-Off helps protect it from being removed as well as giving it a free cast to cast a lot of spells on its turn. A monstrous rage used in the Slickshot Show-Off is one of the scariest things you can see if you don't have removal, and it often leads to winning the game.

7

Vein Ripper

Bane of Pioneer

Vein Ripper was responsible for what was widely considered to be a weak Pioneer format, getting cheated on turn three by Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord. This combination won the Pro Tour Murders At Karlov Manor and took place in the RCQ season that followed.

Gym ability, great stats, and fantastic trigger ability all contributed to how powerful Vein Ripper has become. The card was responsible for Sorin's ban, and it still has a home in dedicated Vampire mid-decks as an endgame, as the deck can easily cast it.

6

Heart fire hero

Small mouse, big power

Heartfire Hero is the heart and soul of mouse-based decks in Standard and a key player in Rakdos Prowess in Pioneer. The card can deal a surprising amount of damage and makes blocking it ineffective if it has high power, as it will only deal damage equal to its power whenever it dies to an opponent. It is often paired with a cast spell that will cause its power to be dealt to an opponent twice, often winning the game as early as turn two.

Heartfire Hero increases in stats whenever it is targeted by a spell or ability you control. There's no shortage of ways to do this in decks that play Heartfire Hero, and if not taken out early, they can often win you the game.

5

Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

Shoot and burn cards

One of the best Room cards for constructed formats, Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber redefined black-based mid decks in both Standard and Pioneer. While the 6/6 Demon is useful on the ritual room side, the main attraction is the Holy Annex. If you have multiple copies of Holy Annex on the battlefield, each one will potentially trigger your opponent's burn for a ton of life.

There are many Demons with powerful effects that you can easily warp into so you don't burn yourself out of the game. It is often paired with Demons Bloodtter of Aclazotz and Archfiend of the Dross, two cards that will make the burn damage your opponent takes from Unholy Annex even higher.

4

Ocelot's pride

Tokens for Lifegain

Ocelot Pride is a major player in the Boros Energy deck in Modern, and was so strong that it had to be nerfed in the Historic format (making it cost two mana instead of one). It's often paired with Guide of Souls, which will gain life when a creature enters the battlefield, which in turn will ensure Ocelot Pride triggers and give you plenty of energy counters.

In just a few turns, Ocelot Pride can turn into a ton of Cat tokens on the battlefield, especially once you establish the city's blessing. The first hit makes him a solid attacker in the early stages of the game as well, making him great in combat and ensuring you get a life gain trigger thanks to lifelink.

3

Horrible oculus

The new tempo player in town

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

If your opponent isn't ready for it, you'll always be able to cast your fear at least once since it happens at the start of upkeep. Even if it is removed because it is played in decks that are often reanimated, it doesn't matter because you can bring it back from the graveyard.

2

The psychic frog

A Little Of Everything

Psychic Frog is a fantastic two-drop that draws your cards, sets up your graveyard, and acts as a great attacker and blocker. Since all of her abilities can be used at instant speed, Psychic Frog can suddenly become much stronger or gain flight for defensive purposes or bait blockers to make her suddenly stronger.

Psychic Frog is a staple of Dimir and Esper based decks and has seen play in Modern, Legacy and even the highest powered format in Vintage. It's often used in graveyard-based decks, especially reanimation ones, with how easily Psychic Frog can put a creature directly into the graveyard.

1

Nadu, Winged Wisdom

The best of 2024

It's impossible to give the best Magic card of 2024 other than Nadu, Winged Wisdom. Responsible for Modern's “Nadu Summer”, the Nadu, Winged Wisdom decks were by far the best you could play. Although it was banned in Modern after only two months (and Commander only a month later), it's still a top deck in Legacy.

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