Jadelight Ranger #8- Top 11 MTG Cards of 2018

This card was 6th on my Top 11 list.

Jadelight Ranger was tabbed as powerful when Rivals of Ixalan was coming out, and it’s mostly held up since then. A 3-mana creature that helps filter out your next draws (either by adding land or discarding away cards you don’t want or need) offers power at any point in the game, and being a potential 4/3 body makes for a lot of early pressure. Particularly since we now have a Standard where Jadelight Ranger can reliably hit on turn 2, thanks to the return of Llanowar Elves. Like History of Benalia, it is not the flashiest card, but it’s a powerful weapon for green-adjacent decks to keep the gears turning and power out more threats turn after turn. The synergy with Return to Ravnica cards is also nice, like Narcomoeba.

Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 4

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

This card was unranked on my top 11 list.

Where was this card when Fires of Yavimaya was the top deck? Actually, it probably would have made Fires even more insane than it already was. The fact that the effect you get is fairly random might be somewhat off-putting to some players. It will kind of suck when you need a 4/3 creature and she shows you two lands, but the fact is that Jadelight Ranger will always give you something beneficial. There is also some nuance, considering that you have a little control over the trigger in conjunction with scry effects, and that you can put a non-land card back to get the second +1/+1 counter if you want to. I also really like that some of the Ixalan block’s most powerful and interesting merfolk cards are green – it adds a new dimension to a longstanding tribal strategy that was at risk of getting a little stale.

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