Maelstrom Pulse

To paraphrase one of my favorite old cards from Judgment: "Vindicate was gone; Vindicate was everywhere." This is nearly as flexible and situationally even more powerful than its similarly-colored ancestor, giving you game against hordes of Saprolings and Siege-Gang Commander. And the popularity of Jund's colors in Standard right now means that if you play that format, you should expect to have this card pointed at your side of the table at least once a week.

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

Today we start our top ten of 2009 card countdown with number ten's Maelstrom Pulse. This is a solid removal card as generally Black and Green often have some sort of restriction on their removal and rarely can either destroy an Artifact at all. With the added ability to destroy any kind of token swarm or Planeswalker this is pretty much a must have for any deck that can access these opposing colors.

In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer little else can do what this does and for just three mana. Almost any non-land threat is vulnerable and this offers a great counter to tokens, Planeswalkers, or even just used for a two for one when multiples of the same target are in play.
At worst it belongs in sidedecks as an answer to the above situations.

For Limited the opposing colors would normally be an issue, but in the format three or more colors is encouraged. Multiples of anything are few and far between, but just a three mana destroy any non-land is an early pick for any Jund player. If playing in a Sealed or Booster this should be the kind of card that leans you towards the shard and drafted as often as possible.

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