The fine folks over at Untapped.gg have released data that showcases the most popular cards so far from Magic's most recent addition, M21.
The data comes from 224k matches on the Best-of-1 ladder from ranks Gold and above.
Most Popular M21 Cards
It shouldn't be much of a surprise that Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and the new Teferi, Master of Time make an appearance on this list. They both received overwhelming amounts of hype (groans included) upon announcement, rightfully so, since they are amazing cards. Ugin showing up in almost a third of tracked matches is a bit on the insane side though and we wouldn't be surprised if this is addressed should the trend continue. We'll have to see how the rotation with Zendikar Rising changes up Standard.
We've also got some serious ramp present in the top 5 through Solemn Simulacrum and Cultivate, which I've quite enjoyed the latter in premiere draft. Here are the top 5 most popular cards from M21 and the number of matches where this card appears in a deck. What do you make of this? Are you surprised?
Comments
I literally haven't seen any of these in play. Probably will more in rotation since most of the standard decks are the same from before Core 21 launched.
I've been playing a dog deck that I'm surprised by. It's been very consistent and winning a lot. Pack Leader just screws up many decks and they have no answer. He's 2 mana and stops all trades from happening when you attack except for Alpine Houndmaster. I've included some first strike instants and the sacrificial 1 mana good boi to save him and let you pump through some damage.
I've seen a lot of cultivate in historic and sprinkled in standard. Ugin is in various historic decks, but I only saw him once in a ramp Ulamog deck as an alternate win condition. I've been mostly playing Gruul or Golagri mill in standard with mixed results. Historic is starting to be over-run by various ramp Ulamog decks thanks to so much land draw and Nissa.
Just got into Arena recently. I don't play historic due to lack of cards. Still building up a standard base of cards. Investing mostly in Core 21 and the last 3 sets so I'm ready to be extremely competitive in the rotation.
Cultivate is amazing for ramp and multi decks.
If you're just recently getting into things then you're definitely investing in the right sets. Ikoria and Core 21 are so strong on their own it's insane. I hope you're having a fun time and continue to do so!
Good advice! I got into it at the beginning of Ikora's drop. A little off and on play but now I'm normally at least doing my daily. Used to play IRL a decade ago but I'm having more fun on this digital format. Also played a few rounds of their failed digital conversions.
I bought the core mastery, if I keep enjoying the game I'll probably spring for the mastery every expansion to show my support. I did something similar with HS until the whole Hong Kong thing, then I dropped Blizz completely.
I've seen Cultivate. It's a nice card for land lovers. I've also seen the Teferi with mixed results.
Thanks for the info. After seeing Pack Leader, I was really interested in a doggy Boros deck with some tricks to protect it. Now I really want to try it
Against decks without direct removal, Pack Leader can lead to unstoppable build up. Selfless Savior can be used to keep him alive against some direct damage or creature kill. It might not be meta shattering, but the deck is pretty damned strong as is. It can also be thrown together on a fairly tight budget, with the Pack Leaders being the only needed card to make a decent deck. You can put together the rest with uncommons and commons. I used a few cards from the Boros premade to fill in some holes and it does very nicely. Response/Resurgence has stolen a few games away for me. Played about 50 games with it since last week and I'm happy with it. Room for improvement but I'm thinking I'll hold off for the rotation in a few months before I add much more investment into it.