Favorite Flavor Text

Best Text

These passages are self-contained and very well written. Though some of them reference Magic’s broader world, no additional context is necessary to appreciate these quotes.

1. Final Judgment

   The clashing warriors turned to face O-Kagachi, the greatest kami, and their sigh of awe was their last breath.

   

2. Archangel of Thune

   Even the wicked have nightmares.

   

3. Death’s Shadow

   The shadow of the candle looms tall even as its light grows dim.

   

4. Alloy Myr

   With or without witnesses, the suns continued their prismatic dance.

   

5. Gilded Lotus

   Over such beauty, wars are fought. With such power, wars are won.

   

6. Last Word

   Someday, someone will best me. But it won’t be today, and it won’t be you.

   

7. Phyrexian Hulk (Ninth Edition)

   It doesn’t think. It doesn’t feel. It doesn’t laugh or cry. All it does from dusk till dawn Is make the soldiers die. —Onean children’s rhyme

   

8. Near Death Experience

   Lands ravaged, cities in ruins, so many lives sacrificed, and yet there was no other word for it but victory.

   

9. Blazing Archon

   Through the haze of battle I saw the glint of sun on golden mane, the sheen of glory clad in mail, and I dropped my sword and wept at the idiocy of war. —Dravin, Gruul deserter

   

10. Squandered Resources

    He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand. —Afari, Tales

    

11. Nova Cleric

    Our noblest thoughts are our very first and our very last.

    

12. Selfless Savior

    She raised him from an orphaned pup and gave him a life of love. With his last act, he thanked her.

    

13. Zombify

    The first birth celebrates life. The second birth mocks it. —Mystic Elder

    

14. Duskmantle, House of Shadow

    In a space where there is no room, in a structure that was never built, meets the guild that doesn’t exist.

    

15. Blood of the Martyr

    The willow knows what the storm does not: that the power to endure harm outlives the power to inflict it.

    

16. Rancor

    Hatred outlives the hateful.

    

17. Fractured Sanity

    The body grows stronger under stress. The mind does not.

    

18. Hovermyr

    Originally created to harvest blinkmoths, the hovermyr are now the silent observers of a dying world.

    

19. Monastery Mentor (Fate Reforged)

    Speak little. Do much.

    

20. Descent into Madness

    The stairs lead down in both directions.

    

21. Extinguish the Light

    Jaya did not want to die, but of all the things to die for, Dominaria felt right.

    

22. Abyssal Horror

    I dreamt of it once. Now I fear it dreams of me. —Tolarian scholar

    

23. Fraying Sanity (Hour of Devastation)

    Those wound tightest are first to unravel.

    

24. Phyrexian Hulk (M13)

    An invasion weapon of ages past, the glistening oil contained the blueprints of countless atrocities.

    

25. Royal Assassin (M12)

    An assassin is a king’s most trusted courier, ensuring his messages are heard by even the most unwilling recipients.

    

Best Flavor

This kind of flavor text is also great, but is harder to appreciate out of the context of the card title, art, effect, or Magic’s worldbuilding.

1. Phyrexian Rebirth

   As long as one drop of the oil exists, the joyous work continues.

   

2. Killing Wave

   I come looking for demons and I find a plane full of angels. I hate angels. —Liliana Vess

   

3. Feldon of the Third Path

   She will come back to me.

   

4. Nemesis of Reason (Alara Reborn)

   Words describing it fail. Pages relating it shrivel. Tales recounting it end.

   

5. Traumatize

   He was left with just enough memory to understand what was lost.

   

6. Hand of Emrakul

   I believed in a beautiful god. But this is the true face of the divine. —Ayli, Kamsa cleric

   

Funniest Flavor Text

1. Goblin Offensive

   They certainly are.

   

2. Goblin Balloon Brigade (9th Edition)

   They patched the holes, loaded their sharpest rocks, spanked their children one last time, and lurched off into the sunset.

   

3. Ancient Grudge (Secret Lair Drop)

   Shelby locked eyes with the ferocious creature as the glass began to crack. With one more lunge, she would break through and confront her nemesis at last.