Images courtesy of Wizards of the Coast
Let’s face it: Magic: The Gathering has only grown sweeter with time. Much like a fine, fine rosé wine, Magic‘s sets have grown more advanced, more nuanced, and perhaps more entertaining, over the past half-decade.
We all have our favorites in every aspect of our lives. For this reason, I’ve compiled a personal list of the top ten sets for the game since the beginning of the Roaring (20)20s. Are you ready? Let’s jump, jive, and wail at my picks!
Magic: The Gathering Top 10 2020s Sets
Caveats & Omissions
First, I’d like to include a few caveats to this list of best sets:
- We’re omitting sets purely comprised of reprinted cards. Masters sets tend to be pretty impactful when it comes to player accessibility. However, for the scope of this list, they’re often full of pre-2020 reprints and that to me renders them ineligible to be a “best of 2020” pick.
- We’re omitting silver-bordered sets. No acorns here, my friends. Even though Unfinity gave us wonderful reprints of the Shocklands and the new and usable Comet, Stellar Pup, most of these cards are anything but serious contenders. For that reason, Unfinity wouldn’t make the Top 10 anyway.
- We’ll also disregard any release that isn’t a set. Commander decks, Secret Lair drops, and other such products will not hold weight here. For this reason, we only count Commander Masters as a reprint set, so don’t expect to see that one on here, either.
With those guidelines out of the way, here are my picks:
#10: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (2020)
Released in 2020, Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths told an excellent story of a world trying to survive adversity. It featured human characters struggling to vie for dominance within the literal shadows of many colossal creatures, all gigantic, and many quite ravenous.
This set is my #10 pick partly for its tie-in with Toho’s Godzilla franchise. As a massive kaiju fan, this collaboration stirred me in a big way. But beyond that collab, the cards, while not quite fitting for the top spot or even really all-that-close to it, were still a fun environment during the COVID-19 lockdown due to the popularity of Magic: The Gathering Arena. As lockdown ended, so too did my desire to not play paper Magic, so Arena fell off a bit for me. However, I still remember Ikoria very fondly.
#9: Streets of New Capenna (2022)
I am a proud citizen of New York. I was raised in New York City and now live in a different part of the state. When I first learned about Streets of New Capenna, my heart soared to all-new heights. I largely attribute this pick to my homesickness. However, the plotline surrounding the five rival crime families also perversely appeals to me. The art deco aesthetic, the overarching story about the failed Phyrexian invasion… It’s all amazing!
#8: Kaldheim (2021)
Around the time that Kaldheim came out, I was wondering about a lot of minute details within the Magic story. We knew that Tibalt the Fiend-Blooded was a laughingstock of a character, but I was a fan of his origin story. This was mainly because of his stunning debut art by fantasy illustrator Peter Mohrbacher. So, imagine my surprise when not only do we get a new card for Tibalt, but that he’s actually a competent card now? Glorious!
Granted, many other aspects of the set are appealing in different ways. For one, snow lands returning was a highlight. Our first look at a new iteration of a Phyrexian Praetor was another plus. The story was riveting, the other cards were quite strong, the list goes on.
#7: Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (2022)
2022’s Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was a brilliant experiment on the part of Wizards of the Coast. It brought back all the nostalgia of an otherwise-forsaken Magic setting and imbued it with new life. All the while, it remained true to itself and didn’t devolve into tropes derived from cultural stereotypes. For a setting that thrived on cultural mythology, this seemed unlikely to occur, and yet, here we are.
My favorite aspect of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has to stem from the game’s use of the setting as a place of identity crises. A mesh of new, cyber-industrial innovations and the traditions of times gone by, Kamigawa really embraced both at once without looking like it forced anything. That organic development is a hallmark of good worldbuilding.
#6: The Lost Caverns of Ixalan (2023)
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, released in late 2023, was a fun return to the titular planar setting of Ixalan. Rather than keeping to the surface of what we as players knew, we got to, quite literally, explore the underlying world beneath Ixalan. I really appreciated the reprints in the set, namely Cavern of Souls among others. However, once again, the story was what gripped me the most.
#5: Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms (2021)
2021’s Dungeons & Dragons: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was, simply put, a really fun set. The set was full of nostalgic and interesting Magic: The Gathering takes on Dungeons & Dragons ideas. Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was a great way to bridge the divide for many players who weren’t already entrenched in both properties.
#4: Modern Horizons 3 (2024)
I played around a lot with Modern Horizons 3, a set that came out just last year. I thoroughly enjoyed most of the cards in the set as well as some of the callbacks those cards provided. If not for a certain little birdy, I think MH3 would rank as high as #2 on this list.
#3: Jumpstart (2020)
I’ll admit, I didn’t get as much of an opportunity to play with Jumpstart when its first version came out in 2020. Many players were clamoring for the set. For that reason, Jumpstart provided a fertile ground for scalpers to be just that much more disrespectful to the game. To that end, such a cool innovation as Jumpstart unfortunately can’t be higher on this list than a #3 pick for me.
However, I won’t soon forget how cool it was to see cards like Allosaurus Shepherd make waves in competitive Commander games. Likewise, how legendary creatures like Emiel the Blessed or Tinybones, Trinket Thief became fabled figures in the game for one reason or another.
#2: Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (2023)
2023’s Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth was a homerun for Magic: The Gathering. With at least a handful of chase cards and stunning visual treatments, the set caught the attention of Tolkein fans, Magic fans, and even the mainstream news media. The fact that people like Post Malone were prepared to purchase the iconic 1-of-1 copy of The One Ring for a staggering $2 million still astounds me to this day. And that’s to say absolutely nothing of the great Limited environment that the set provides. We can only hope that future Universes Beyond sets like Final Fantasy can live up to that appeal and hype.
And Our #1 Pick Is…
…Magic: The Gathering Foundations! Honestly, I wouldn’t have done this list any differently when it comes to placing Foundations at #1. The set has so much to offer both new and old players alike. It has not one, but two great introductory products for new players, it has its main set which is jam-packed with amazing cards (reprints and new), and it even has its own Jumpstart product! What is there to dislike about Foundations, really? I couldn’t possibly tell you.
The Rest of the Roaring ’20s Awaits
That’s the list, folks! There were a couple of duds in this decade thus far (looking at you, March of the Machine: Aftermath!) – after all, we’re only halfway through. However, overall, the 2020s have been pretty generous to us Magic: The Gathering players. What are your top picks of the decade?
Want more Magic content? Check out our five predictions for the upcoming Final Fantasy set.
