Feature image credit: Brash Taunter Artist – Svetlin Velinov.

Core Set 2021 has given longtime Magic: The Gathering players some fun new toys to play with. This set has introduced plenty of new build around enchantments for standard players to get excited about, chunky creatures, with recurring value, effects, and synergies. But not everyone wants to cast the most broken spells in the format.

Some players want to build silly goldfish decks, decks around creature types, decks that flood the board with winged terrors, or decks that put a million counters on creatures. Core Set 2021, like many favorite Magic sets, has done a great job at appealing to all the different types of players. Here are some of the jankiest cards in Core Set 2021.

10 Conclave Mentor

Conclave Mentor can lead to powerful early-game plays. It doesn’t take much to make it the biggest threat on a board. It’s one Selesnya for a 2/2 Elf Druid that adds an additional +1+1 counter whenever a creature would get a +1+1 counter.

It works wonderfully with new cards like Invigorating Surge, a green instant with three CMC, that adds a +1/+1 counter to a creature, then doubles its counters. If targeted, Conclave Mentor can attack as a 6/6 on turn three! With Hydras and Adapt creatures still living in the format, it is sure to see some play.

9 Terror of the Peaks

Terror of the Peaks is a 5/4 flying dragon and it’s a pain to remove, literally, because it will cost the opponent three life to kill. If it sticks on the battlefield, any creature entering the battlefield will trigger it to dome the opponent, or scorch a creature equal to the entering creature’s power.

It’s an excellent Timmy card that encourages players to jam Nessian Boar into their decks — just casting it blasts any target for ten. Can’t get much more fun than that.

8 Animal Sanctuary

There’s finally a reason to cram all the best Dogs, Cats, Goats, Oxes, Birds, and Snake creature cards into one deck: Animal Sanctuary. It’s a rare land that taps for one colorless mana, with a two-mana tap ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on animal creatures.

As a land, its opportunity cost is low. While it’s no powerhouse, it does have utility: Growing a creature for cheap when the game grinds to a halt is good. Kaheera, the Orphanguard, Feline Sovereign, and Pack Leader are sure to play nicely with it.

7 Double Vision

For spell slingers that can’t get enough of fork effects, Double Vision is perfect. Requiring less setup than Thousand-Year Storm, it copies the first instant or sorcery spell the player controlling it casts each turn. Flinging two Scorching Dragonfires or Lava Coils every turn is good value.

A card like this encourages wacky deckbuilding; for example, Lutri, the Spellchaser’s ability can copy a spell three times now. Ral, Storm Conduit is best friends with this card, and any red or Izzet mage that wants to blow things up will be too.

6 Fiery Emancipation

What’s better than doubling? Tripling. Fiery Emancipation is a red enchantment that costs six mana, which makes any source that would deal damage to a permanent or player deal three times that amount.

At six mana, it’s very steep, but it will turn every Shock into an Inescapable Blaze! With this out, creatures hit harder than ever before. 1/1/’s hit as 3/3 Elks and 2/2’s hit like Colossal Dreadmaws…yikes. Just remember: Torbran, Thane of Red Fell adds two additional damage only after damage is multiplied with Emancipation.

5 Nine Lives

Nine Lives is a white enchantment that makes death by burn impossible…sort of. Whenever a source would deal damage to the player controlling it, this is stopped and an incarnation counter is put on Nine Lives. But if nine or more incarnation counters are put on it, it gets exiled and the player controlling it loses the game.

Despite how hard it might be to execute, players will try to use cards like Role Reversal to switch control of Nine Lives, with their opponent and steal a win. That’s just what Janklords do.

4 Brash Taunter

Image by Svetlin Velinov.

Brash Taunter is like Core Set 2021’s official Janklord mascot. It’s a 5 mana 1/1 Goblin, which already sounds like a meme card. It has indestructible and directs all damage that would be inflicted upon it back at the opponent’s face. It also has a tap ability to fight target creature.

Effectively, Brash Taunter is a creature that wants to fight everyone and everything and kill the opponent because of its belligerence. There are many massive creatures that Brash Taunter can fight, like Nessian Boar, and to win a game of Magic, he’ll need to fight all of them.

3 Shrines

The shrines are a cycle of codependent enchantments. One shrine is weak, but as the number of shrines in play (the x value) increases, so does their power level. The black shrine drains the opponent for X, the green adds mana equal to X, the blue draws cards equal to X, the red pings the opponent equal to X, and the white taps permanents for six but gets reduced by X.

When all five are in play with the rare shrine, Sanctum of All, each shrine’s ability triggers a second time. The mana requirements of this enchantment are heinous, and the win condition is convoluted. Perfect for standard jank.

2 Chromatic Orrery

Chromatic Orrery is a welcome sight for Niv Mizzet, Reborn lovers. It’s a seven mana Artifact that taps for five, making it effectively cost two. It works like Chromatic Lantern, making mana become any color when it is spent. With cards like Palladium Myr entering the format, colorless mana fixing from Artifacts seems more viable.

Ultimatums become a breeze to cast and Golos activations are criminally easy to pull off. It even draws cards for each color among permanents that a player controls. As an enabler for goofy win conditions, it will be a staple in WUBRG decks for a long time.

1 Garruk’s Uprising

Since Season of Growth saw a fair bit of play, there’s no reason why Garruk’s Uprising won’t either. For most green ramp decks, it will draw the player a card when it enters the battlefield. Then it rewards the player for casting big creatures by drawing them more cards.

It’s almost like a mini Great Henge without the mana ability, and it works great with the Henge by doubling up the card draw as more biggies come into play. It’ll be showing up in many many budget standard decks and is yet another toy for mono-green stompy to play with.

NEXT: Magic: The Gathering: 10 Best Budget Commanders For Mono-Green