On the Stack 2: My 20 Favorite Magic Cards

This topic was suggested by my sister Sophie, whose writing can be found here.

There are about twenty thousand cards in the game of Magic: the Gathering. I can't even pretend I know them all off the top of my head. But I will endeavor to name my favorite percent of a percent of them here, and explain all the different reasons I like them best.

In alphabetical order:

• Archangel Avacyn / Avacyn the Purifier: Shadows Over Innistrad, the set this card was a big part of the advertising for, was the first time I really paid attention to Magic story as it was happening. I got really into the riddle-solving events that led up to the major card reveals, and was inspired by Christine Sprankle's amazing Avacyn cosplay. I also had plans to make a red/white Angels and Clerics Commander deck if I ever got a copy of this card. (I never did.)
• Behemoth Sledge: I play this card in my Elf tribal Commander deck. It's an Equipment that gives the equipped creature +2/+2 and trample, and giving creatures trample (especially big ones like Elvish Aberration and Realm Seekers) feels good.
• Curious Homunculus / Voracious Reader: If I had to describe myself using a single Magic card, it would be this one. I get interested in things the way Hazel Grace Lancaster fell in love with Augustus Waters: slowly, then all at once.
• Gishath, Sun's Avatar: This is the Commander of my new Dinosaur Commander deck. He's a big powerful legendary dinosaur with a lot of abilities. I can't wait to play him.
• Ground Pounder: This is one of the creatures I had a lot of fun with in Unstable draft. I love being able to roll a die in the middle of combat and turn a lost battle into a victory.
• Imposing Visage: This card probably has my favorite Phil Foglio art. Granted, I partly base my assessment of Phil Foglio's art on how closely it reminds me of Girl Genius, the comic he and his wife write. (She also used to draw Magic card art.)
• Jace, Cunning Castaway: Also known as Stupid Sexy Jace. This card was created right after a change to the Planeswalker uniqueness rule which allows him to make copies of himself. Which he does. It also represents a major positive change in his personality and outlook that happened during Ixalan block.
• Llanowar Elves represents the core philosophy of my Elf Commander deck, the first deck I ever built. Cast elves to make mana to cast elves, and attack with six or seven creatures at once.
• Meandering Towershell: There is just so much flavor in this card. It's a giant turtle with a city on its back, and it's so slow that when you tell it to attack, it doesn't get there until next turn. This was also the first card I associated with LoadingReadyRun, who are 90% of the reason I started playing Magic in the first place.
• Mirari's Wake: I always get warm fuzzies when I cast this in Commander. It makes my creatures bigger and doubles my mana. As a bonus, it makes my opponents nervous.
• Narset Transcendent: Narset is the Planeswalker I think I would get along with the best. She's coded as autistic, and she's always hungry for knowledge.
• Presence of the Master: More Phil Foglio art, of Albert Einstein this time.
• Pore Over the Pages: I nicknamed this one "Jace's Porn Collection." The Geek tells me it's the best card nickname I've ever come up with.
• Realm Seekers: This might be the most powerful card in my elf deck. Its power and toughness is equal to the number of cards in everyone's hand. Since Commander is a multiplayer format, this is a big deal. Combine it with Behemoth Sledge, and I might actually win with it someday.
• Spike, Tournament Grinder: The third card representing one of Magic's three player profiles (the others are Timmy and Johnny), Spike is the kind of player who has something to prove and plays to win. She's also the only one of the profiles represented by a woman in the card art, which feels pretty damn good. And her flavor is spot-on: you can pay life instead of mana to cast her and use her ability, which lets you play cards that have been banned for being too powerful.
• The Locust God: This card makes me feel especially powerful. It represents one of the three old gods of the ancient-Egypt-like plane of Amonkhet, corrupted by the evil Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas and brought back to destroy the plane and help create an undead army. And he brings his own plague of locusts with him--one more every time I draw a card.
• Tolsimir Wolfblood: The Commander of my elf deck. He's an elf knight who rides a wolf. And that's just awesome. I got a custom-made wolf token for him.
• Tranquility: This particular version of the art is beautiful, and it perfectly illustrates the end of the story in the set it comes from.
• Wasitora, Nekoru Queen: Cats and dragons are two of my favorite things. Wasitora is both of them. And her kittens are adorable.
• Westvale Abbey: When this was in Standard, it was the star of my favorite deck. It's a land that can transform into an almost unstoppable demon. As you may have noticed, I like cards that make me feel powerful.

Tolsimir Wolfblood comes with a legendary
wolf. Here's the sparkly token I use.

To those of my readers who play Magic: what are some of your favorite cards? Got any recommendations?