Our Top 10 Cards for Dominaria Remastered
While Magic set releases for 2022 may have come to an end, Dominaria Remastered (DMR) is already on the horizon. This remastered set pulls cards from 27 different sets that took place on the plane of Dominaria—along with a few cards from other sets that relate to Dominaria—with the goal of creating a unique draft environment and offering reprints of many iconic cards. It goes without saying that Magic players had very high expectations for this set because of the large pool of potential reprints on offer.
With sets like this one, there are opportunities for both successes and failures when it comes to individual reprints. There are always going to be cards that don’t make the cut, whether due to being on the Reserved List, not being a good fit for the draft environment, or any number of other reasons. With these factors in mind, how did DMR turn out? Well, that’s going to be up to the individual to decide. In this article, we (Chief, Always Excited to See Lyra Dawnbringer and Exxaxl, Frantically Searching for His Fact or Fiction) will go over our personal favorite reprints from this set. Let’s dive right in!
Authors’ note: It’s very exciting that all of the classic tutors got reprinted! That said, we decided that we didn’t want to dilute our selections with these cards because they might have taken up too many slots.
Chief
Force of Will
I will never complain about this card getting reprints, because this is probably the strongest counterspell of all time and one of the most iconic cards to come out of early 1990s Magic. While untapped blue mana is often regarded with suspicion, Force of Will allowing you to cast it without any mana at all has left an indelible mark on the game. While it seems unlikely that another printing at Mythic Rare will do much to put a dent in the hefty price tag that comes with this card, I’m very satisfied with the amazing new artwork by the inimitable Richard Kane Ferguson.
Exxaxl: I got a Force of Will from a pack of Double Masters and immediately traded it away. The power levels that I play in mostly don’t require responses like this.
Chief: I don’t even have any blue decks! I just think that it’s a good reprint.
Last Chance
Extra turns can be frustrating to play against if your opponent is unable to piece together a win. Red extra turns are different, because you typically need to win the game during your extra turn or else! I have fond memories of playing with Last Chance during the days of Portal and I’ve continued to enjoy cards in this vein to this day. It’s been over 20 years since this card was reprinted, outside of a single appearance in a Secret Lair. I also have to give a shout-out to the flavor text on each version of the card, offering different takes on the way that this spell tends to play out when cast.
Lyra Dawnbringer
You may remember that I praised the reprint that this card received in Jumpstart 2022. Everything that I said at the time still applies. I think that Lyra Dawnbringer is such a great card design and it’s always great to see reprints of popular Commander cards. While I do like the new artwork by Donato Giancola, I’m not sure that anything can beat the look of the original Chris Rahn artwork in the classic card frame. I expect the price of this card to go down sharply in the face of multiple successive reprints, which is always a positive.
Exxaxl: I’m still upset that Celestine, the Living Saint isn’t an angel.
Chief: Me too. I understand why she isn’t, but it doesn’t help. 😢
Sylvan Library
I’m going to be up-front and admit that this card made my list because of the new borderless artwork by Mark Poole. This is my favorite new artwork in the entire set, so the fact that it appears on a very popular card guarantees an appearance on my list. I’m sure that Commander players are excited about the opportunity to pick up a copy of one of the most popular green staples in the format with such an incredible new look. Just make sure to keep the cards that you draw separate from the rest of your hand until after you resolve the upkeep trigger!
Wrath of God
When the borderless Damnation was reprinted in Double Masters 2022, I expected that it wouldn’t be long before we saw a borderless version of the board wipe that started it all. It turns out that I was right. What I didn’t expect was a reprint of Kev Walker’s iconic artwork in the classic border, which creates an interesting dilemma for me about which version of the card I like best among these reprints. It may come down to the incredible flavor text that appears on the borderless version, which truly breathes new life into one of Magic’s oldest and most classic cards.
Exxaxl
Fact or Fiction
If you’ve spent some time on our Discord server, you’ll know I’ve been hoping for an alternative to the current available Fact or Fiction printings. I’m likely going to replace all of the current ones I have, which are way more than I originally anticipated. Close to every deck I have with access to blue will run it—clearly it’s one of my pet cards, which is hard to admit being someone who regularly writes about how EDH is homogenizing and how we should push back against that. I really dislike Jace as a character and I’m more than happy to look at Jhoira and Slimefoot while my opponent is making Fact or Fiction piles.
Chief: I hope that Jhoira isn’t too hard on Slimefoot. It’s just trying to help.
Exxaxl: Anna Christenson really conveyed ‘Slimefoot is confused and shocked at what’s wrong’ well.
Frantic Search
This card always manages to hover around a dollar, despite being reprinted in so many supplemental products such as Commander decks and even Mystery Booster. This feels like a lot for a common with so many reprints. Granted, it is one of the most played blue cards in EDH, but it still feels like it gets reprinted every few years and it almost never impacts the price. I’m hoping DMR will change that somewhat.
Mystic Remora
It’s weird that outside of Secret Lair, we’ve never seen a reprint of this card. While the old art is quite iconic at this point, the merfolk surrounded by several remoras’is a very pretty art piece by Jesper Ejsing. I do have a Kumena deck, so I’ll have to make a slot for it there. I wonder if we’re ever going to get another set with the cumulative upkeep mechanic. The last time we saw this mechanic return to a regular set was Coldsnap in 2006. I do wonder if the heavy emphasis on treasure generation in the last few years have made cumulative upkeep not enough of a downside when considering a card for draft and sealed.
Chief: The dude in the borderless version just looks completely done with this fish. He clearly wants you to stop paying the cumulative upkeep cost.
Exxaxl: To me he looks more like ‘How did I end up in this situation? Why did I agree to babysit even more remora when I couldn’t handle the previous batch! What am I going to do now?!’
Oversold Cemetery
While it’s a bit unusual to see a rare that has been absent since Onslaught in 2002 to find its way into two supplemental products back to back—Jumpstart 2022 and now DMR. I remember this being one of the few singles I bought as a teenager, back when traveling to the nearest game store involved printing out the address with a map because we didn’t have smartphones in our pockets. I had a mono-black deck with Oversold Cemetery, Dawn of the Dead, and Patriarch’s Bidding. It wasn’t very good and it almost never worked because teenage me was quite terrible at making decks.
No Mercy
Another one we haven’t seen in forever—from Urza’s Legacy this time. ‘Don’t attack me or you’ll lose your board’ seems like a viable threat that can be played in more decks. With the recent increase of goad and related mechanics in current sets and Commander products, it might be smart to find a space for this card in your next brew—especially if you know your go to pod of players run swingy decks and you’re on the slower, engine-building game plan. Shout-out to Crawlspace, which was also reprinted in this set.
Chief: I appreciate that the borderless version maintains the classic Phyrexian theming that made the original card so memorable.
Exxaxl: The borderless printing is very busy with its art. I struggled a bit figuring out exactly what was going on at first. I feel that one works better full size over the small form factor a Magic card allows.
Bonus Round
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. We actually wanted to give you a little bonus for making it this far! We’d like to each talk about a card that we’d have liked to see appear in this set as a reprint.
Chief: My card is Goblin Recruiter. This card has always been one of my favorites. With the advent of powerful goblins such as Dockside Extortionist and Conspicuous Snoop, this card has become a popular inclusion in Commander. It would be nice to see a reprint of this card with new artwork and the opportunity for people to pick up foils for their favorite Commander decks. Goblin Matron made it into this set, so hopefully Goblin Recruiter won’t keep people waiting for too much longer.
Exxaxl: We’ve yet to see our first ever mono-white goblin appear in the game, so I was quite surprised you chose this one.
Chief: It’s only a matter of time! We even have mono-white orcs now!
Exxaxl: The last few years we saw a lot of playable nonbasics getting printed. Pathways, Triomes, Slow Lands, etc. Balancing out how fast your opponents get to play the game has always appealed to me, and I feel if you end up putting zero basic lands in your deck then that’s absolutely something I should be able to punish you for. Counting specialty products, Blood Moon has been printed 12 times and Back to Basics has only been printed twice. I certainly would prefer pulling it from a pack over Nantuko Shade, Siege-Gang Commander, or Urza’s Blueprints.
Chief: One of my earliest articles was about cards like this one and why they can sometimes feel necessary in Commander. I’d have really liked to see a reprint of this card.
This concludes our top 10 cards for Dominaria Remastered. This set is slated for release on January 13! What do you think of the reprints on offer in this set? Were there any cards that you were hoping to see? You can let us know on Twitter! We’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to check out more PlayEDH content, you can find more articles here or tune into the PlayEDH Radio 903.1 podcast here.
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