Rate most overpowered sets

[malcolmbw]

Wow conflux seems op
id say this is the power level of different sets:

1 Mirrodin
2 Urza Sets
3 Darksteel
4 Conflux
5 lorwyn

[DraconisMarch]

Hello, Timmy.

[yuench]

LOLLLLLLLLL

classy Dracon

[dragon1299]

Conflux does not seem that groundbreakingly strong at all. It just has a few really strong cards, but I don't think its stronger than Lorwyn.

[DraconisMarch]

I'd have to say the entire Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block has a ton of the best cards printed.

Lorwyn: Cryptic Command, Garruk Wildspeaker, Thoughtseize, Cloudthresher (there's a ton here)...
Morningtide: Mutavault, Chameleon Colossus, Bitterblossom...
Shadowmoor: Demigod of Revenge, Reflecting Pool, Kitchen Finks...
Eventide: Stillmoon Cavalier, Unmake, Figure of Destiny, Stigma Lasher...

(FYI Yuench, Draconis is one word :)

[kwonzo]

spoken like a true type 2 player :p

[DarkDamon]

besides neo-birds, fallout and possibly PtE, what is actually playable in this set? I know half of it is unspoiled...but still.

[GoblinToken]

Wizards is clearly starting to go the other way towards weaker cards after they messed up with untap combo stuff and too-cheap hybrid cards in the previous set.

It seems now they are tending to favor "overpowered" cards that are too hard to cast and are just as susceptible to O-rings as the cheaper game-winning cards are from Lorwyn block.

Face it. The high powered cards in SoA that cost :3::w::u::b: (or equivalent) are on par or worse than the cards from the previous block that cost :br::br::br::br::br: (aka :5: in a black-red deck).

SoA and its ilk will at best provide a few cards to sprinkle in amongst Lorwyn-heavy standard decks until the next rotation.

P.S. - Congrats to Nicol Bolas for being Magic's new number 1 suckiest Planeswalker. If anyone successfully wins against me with him I will officially retire from Magic.

[Card Slinger J]

Yeah that would explain why there's a lack of good combo cards in Shards of Alara, Wizards are too afraid to print Johnny cards these days due to that.

To be honest Shards of Alara is one of the worst expansions in Magic history since well Betrayers of Kamigawa or Coldsnap? More likely Betrayers or Saviors cause one of those were really crappy.

[peeps_champ]

1) Urza's Saga
2) Mirrodin
3) Beta (based off... well, the Power 9)
4) Apocalypse
5) Ravnica (based off the new-wave duel lands)

Honorable mention: Future Sight

[DraconisMarch]

Mirrodin is only good when coupled with Darksteel, since Mirrodin had hardly ANY good cards (at face value, anyway), like Platinum Angel and Isochron Scepter. Until Affinity was made possible by Darksteel, Mirrodin was just a bunch of cool artifacts - nothing particularly worth playing in standard.

[biofeedback1]

The most crazy set is Alpha. I mean, get real... The game was still in its dipers... The best and most broken cards come from that set... Really.. stop talking about a crazy set.

[DraconisMarch]

Yeah. Some of those cards were pretty rediculous...

[Dyne]

Well, seeing as the answer is obviously Beta, I'm going to rate expansions.

1) Urza's
2) Darksteel
3) Invasion
4) Visions
5) Tempest

[heathro1281]

Well, seeing as the answer is obviously Beta, I'm going to rate expansions.

1) Urza's
2) Darksteel
3) Invasion
4) Visions
5) Tempest

Visions is just above homelands and chronicles. You want boken:
1. Urza'a Saga (made wizards ban cards when they said they would never have to ban/restrict standard cards ever again)
2. Tempest
3. Lorwyn

[SlighDog]

I don't know if you guys meant to include the entire Rath cycle when you said "Tempest", but let's not overlook Exodus when it comes to expansions. In 140 cards this set gave you both Recurring Nightmare and Survival of the Fittest, Mind Over Matter, Forbid, Hatred, Merfolk Looter, Oaths, Raging Goblin, Seismic Assault, and City of Traitors.

Stronghold had Ensnaring Bridge, Volrath's Stronghold, and Mox Diamond, and doesn't belong in the same conversation as the other two sets. As for Tempest itself I'll just nod my head in agreement, because there are far too many cards to list. Earthcraft, Intuition, Reflecting Pool, and Wasteland are just the tip of the iceberg. In hindsight, the fundamental mechanics of Buyback and Shadow are staggering in and of themselves.

edit: I should add that Exodus may represent the low point in MTG design, as most of the cards (especially rares) were either absurdly overpowered (MOMa/Rec/Sur) or comically useless.

[David88]

P.S. - Congrats to Nicol Bolas for being Magic's new number 1 suckiest Planeswalker. If anyone successfully wins against me with him I will officially retire from Magic.

That's a brave thing to say about an extremely powerful (possibly win more) card because I can tell you for sure if it drops on an even board an O ring effect is the only answer. You might expect to be in a winning position every time it comes down and win in the next turn or two or else have a cryptic every time but how can you deny the power.

[rincewind32]

When talking about the single most powerful set(not including anything below Mirage and not talking about Mirrodin because that needed Darksteel to be good)

Apoclypse
Tempest.
Destiny(Masticore, Bargain, Opposition & Donate)
Saga
Visions


by the way, Mercadian Masques had Rishaden and Techtonic Break i'm not sure if it had dustbowl though.

[SlighDog]

I don't really get what is so great about Visions. It had some good cards (River Boa, Tithe, Nekrataal) but the only true juggernauts were Fireblast, Vampiric Tutor, and Squandered Resources. It was very useful in its time, but I don't see it as anywhere near the Tempest/Urza/Mercadian level. I mean, come on... phasing?

[Dyne]

I don't really get what is so great about Visions. It had some good cards (River Boa, Tithe, Nekrataal) but the only true juggernauts were Fireblast, Vampiric Tutor, and Squandered Resources. It was very useful in its time, but I don't see it as anywhere near the Tempest/Urza/Mercadian level. I mean, come on... phasing?

True, it's mechanic sucked.

But it did offer use ALL the tutors, and Natural Order, and Impulse, and Necromancy, and Quirion Ranger.....

Ya, Exodus completely didn't cross my mind when thinking of my list. I change my decision, Exodus in place of Visions.

Tempest though, c'mon, you guys have to admit it was a powerful set.

[Rakavolver]

OMG, did someone attack Phasing? 'Scuse me whilst I take out my Draw-Go deck from 11 years ago and commence the savage beatdown with Rainbow Efreet (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/magic_single_card.asp?cn=Rainbow%20Efreet)!

OK, Phasing wasn't the best ability of all time, but it was far from the worst.

Visions is the V in MirV, Mirage-Visions. It was a special time. I had several friends who had quit Magic at the time come back to the game over their excitement of the set: Visions. Indeed, your posts remind me of something that I'd completely forgotten, that Visions may have been THE set responsible for the great expansion of Magic, more than any other. Either that, or word-of-mouth about our great game coincided with the release of Visions.

In any event, how good would the set Future Sight be had it not included Tarmogoyf?

(That should keep them busy).

Sincerely,

Planar "Damnation" Chaos

[Rakavolver]

Mirrodin is only good when coupled with Darksteel, since Mirrodin had hardly ANY good cards (at face value, anyway), like Platinum Angel and Isochron Scepter. Until Affinity was made possible by Darksteel, Mirrodin was just a bunch of cool artifacts - nothing particularly worth playing in standard.

One question and one question only:

Did you lose ... a lot ... to Mirrodin UW and Rift/Slide back in Mirrodin Standard season?

[Galvatron]

Wizards is clearly starting to go the other way towards weaker cards after they messed up with untap combo stuff and too-cheap hybrid cards in the previous set.

It seems now they are tending to favor "overpowered" cards that are too hard to cast and are just as susceptible to O-rings as the cheaper game-winning cards are from Lorwyn block.

Face it. The high powered cards in SoA that cost :3::w::u::b: (or equivalent) are on par or worse than the cards from the previous block that cost :br::br::br::br::br: (aka :5: in a black-red deck).

SoA and its ilk will at best provide a few cards to sprinkle in amongst Lorwyn-heavy standard decks until the next rotation.

P.S. - Congrats to Nicol Bolas for being Magic's new number 1 suckiest Planeswalker. If anyone successfully wins against me with him I will officially retire from Magic.
don't worry ill figure out a way lol just for you tronic nobody bringu tempast block or aliences for power sets
tempest: counterspell dark ritual cursed scroll, lotus petal ,mog fanatic, eldamri, living death. scroll rack, lobotomy origanl slivers, shadow cretures ,tradewind ride, reflecting pool ,capsize wispers of the muee
stroghold: mox diamond reins of power ensnaring bridge megrim crovax the curesed wall of blossoms awakening sliver queen DREAM HALLS,raging goblin,shard pheonix
exedous
OATH OF DRUIDS, RECCURING NIGHMARE pali envec HATRED

alienes had force of will and browse heck at this point in tim lod of tressherhorn woul be great for grixias lol
alas conflux is a timmy set al but 2-3 cards have been spoiled and' at this point it looks more draft heavy very few OK cards for constructed and't i don't mind writing reviews on this one

[DraconisMarch]

One question and one question only:

Did you lose ... a lot ... to Mirrodin UW and Rift/Slide back in Mirrodin Standard season?

No. I haven't been playing long enough. Why? Are there some decklists you can show me to change my mind?

[mtglordtom24]

1. Mirrodin Block
2. Urza's Block
3. Lorwyn/Morningtide Mini-block
4. Odyssey Block
5. Uh... ABU? Power 9 seem okay...

[Venser734]

I think Conflux is considerably better than Shards, and I don't think that it is necessarily a bad set. I mean, remaking StP is great, and the new birds is cool too.
Cloudthresher is only good because the Fae stick around...

[DraconisMarch]

Cloudthresher - even without Fae - is still a big, fat blocker that can swat flyers... and even angels.

And until someone shows me otherwise, Mirrodin sucked until Darksteel came out. Fifth Dawn had a few good ones (i.e. Engineered Explosives and Vedalken Shackles), but the rest... well, you know. Darksteel made the block.

[mtglordtom24]

@Galvatron- I feel like you're missing at least one extremely important card from Exodus... Survival of the Fittest. Just FYI.

[Galvatron]

@Galvatron- I feel like you're missing at least one extremely important card from Exodus... Survival of the Fittest. Just FYI.

ah yes that one slipped me made recuring nightmare an verdent force so broken lol recuring surviaval rath block with mireage block gave you the broken oath deck

urzablock was pretty redonkulous an still is especially by todays standards imaging if faries was playing with cloudsprites an thormwind faries

heck remeber the wildfire decks an bargain decks that had playsets of voltaic keys an grim monoliths? oh man grixis an nicol bolas would be fritening right now ah the days of yore

[Oraymw]

1. Homelands
2. Mercadian Masques
3. Fallen Empires
4. Coldsnap
5. The Dark

[tony28]

GoblinToken the mythic rares in Shards are fantastic Reanimator targets if anything. They're amongst some of the most powerful beaters printed for that archetype.

And of everything you listed DracMarch the only cards seeing prominent play outside of Type 2 are Thoughtseize and Figure the rest are... well... powerful relative to standard only.

[DraconisMarch]

ah yes that one slipped me made recuring nightmare an verdent force so broken lol recuring surviaval rath block with mireage block gave you the broken oath deck

urzablock was pretty redonkulous an still is especially by todays standards imaging if faries was playing with cloudsprites an thormwind faries

heck remeber the wildfire decks an bargain decks that had playsets of voltaic keys an grim monoliths? oh man grixis an nicol bolas would be fritening right now ah the days of yore

*Falls out of chair laughing*

WTF does "redonkulous" mean?:D

[Rakavolver]

And until someone shows me otherwise, Mirrodin sucked until Darksteel came out.

Mirrodin was awesome. It's problem (in your mind) is that it was the set preceding Darksteel, which had the most broken cards percentage-wise of any set ever made (Urza's Saga had the most, by number). NO SET would look good in comparison to Darksteel.

Show you otherwise? OK then, here you go:

1) Mirrodin UW. Key cards in bold (this list is by Twin at MiseTings back in late Oct. of 2003):

3 Exalted Angel
3 Eternal Dragon
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

3 Decree of Justice
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
4 Concentrate
4 Wrath of God
3 Akroma's Vengeance
4 Culling Scales
1 Scrabbling Claws

8 Plains
8 Island
4 Coastal Tower
3 Temple of the False God
3 Flooded Strand

SB:: 4 Stifle
SB:: 4 Silver Knight
SB:: 3 Wing Shards
SB:: 2 Ivory Mask
SB:: 2 Scrabbling Claws

That was a VERY difficult deck to beat. It was also unique amongst UW decks.

2) Rift/Slide

From this Wizards article on 3/22/04 by Gabe Walls (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/201)

4 Forgotten Cave
8 Mountain
9 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
2 Temple of the False God
27 lands

3 Eternal Dragon
3 Exalted Angel
6 creatures

2 Akroma's Vengeance
3 Astral Slide
4 Damping Matrix
4 Lightning Rift
3 Renewed Faith
2 Slice and Dice
4 Spark Spray
2 Starstorm
3 Wrath of God
27 other spells

[Dyne]

1. Homelands
2. Mercadian Masques
3. Fallen Empires
4. Coldsnap
5. The Dark

Don't be funny, lol.

[Rakavolver]

He's Dyslexic. He saw "most" but thought "least".

[biofeedback1]

I still stand by what i said; Alpha, Beta were the best sets. Without the restricted list, nothing beat turn one Lotus, land, Channel, Fireball. Nothing. The duel lands, recall, Moxen, Armageddon, Balance, W and B knights, Counterspell, Fastbond, Dark ritual, Bolt, Wall of wood, Hyppo, Sol ring, Demonic Tutor, Birds, etc...

Now thats a set.

@Raka
That movie was really good. The two Irish bad boys, the "mission", and even the acting...Nice.

[Rakavolver]

@Raka
That movie was really good. The two Irish bad boys, the "mission", and even the acting...Nice.

Yup, a sequel is in post-production now for a 2009 release. The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Will be released with Good Will Hunting III: Where There's a Will There's a Hunting.

Maybe 0.2 % of the people here remember Channel/Fireball. I'd like to forget it.

CF=:rg:==>:eek::b::X::s:

[SlighDog]

I still stand by what i said; Alpha, Beta were the best sets. Without the restricted list, nothing beat turn one Lotus, land, Channel, Fireball. Nothing. The duel lands, recall, Moxen, Armageddon, Balance, W and B knights, Counterspell, Fastbond, Dark ritual, Bolt, Wall of wood, Hyppo, Sol ring, Demonic Tutor, Birds, etc...

Now thats a set.


Did you really put Wall of Wood on that list?

[GoblinToken]

Black Vise and Strip Mine was my favorite opening hand.

[Dyne]

I still stand by what i said; Alpha, Beta were the best sets. Without the restricted list, nothing beat turn one Lotus, land, Channel, Fireball. Nothing. The duel lands, recall, Moxen, Armageddon, Balance, W and B knights, Counterspell, Fastbond, Dark ritual, Bolt, Wall of wood, Hyppo, Sol ring, Demonic Tutor, Birds, etc...

Now thats a set.

@Raka
That movie was really good. The two Irish bad boys, the "mission", and even the acting...Nice.

I know the OP said set, but it's much more constructive to discuss expansions, so why don't we just assume that from now on.

No one will contest that A/B is the strongest.

[biofeedback1]

Did you really put Wall of Wood on that list?


Sure did. That was the one /only way to "slow" down the game. For 1 you got a "creature" that stopped the kird. You could always sac him to thegoodies, but this card gave me so many wins...

@Raka
The saints are comming? Wow! Will the distribution be the same? Loved the movie. When i am down, and feeling kinda soggy, i watch this thing and "tatooes" grow on my arms...

[SlighDog]

Why not just time walk or bolt it? I mean, seriously, wall of wood....

[biofeedback1]

It was the times i guess. It was cheap and if you didn't play blue or red, then that was what you played. Remember, at that time you did not have the color fixing we have today.

[Oraymw]

Well, that is awesome, because no we have a white reprint of Wall of Wood coming in Conflux, so this is going to be a really powerful set. Good to know. ;)

[mtglordtom24]

The white creature is spoiled as actually not having defender. It isn't a wall, per se.

[SovereignZechs]

1) Ravnica
2) TimeSpiral- umm... Borgadon Hellkite? Dragonstorm... YES..
3) Shadowmoor
4) Lorwyn
5) Skourge

Y'all who think Mirrodin is overpowered are ridiculous... Against a Burn deck, or any other deck with any kind of speed... It's screwed!

[Demonbunny]

What is the benchmark to consider a sets power level? In my opinion a set needs to be assessed on much more than its mere impact on the Standard environment as the format's metagame can easily distort a sets powerlevel quite considerably. I'd say a sets impact on the older formats starting with extended and ending with vintage is where the power level is truelly revealed.

From there I'd say we have the following as the top 5 sets since Invasion. Don't feel can have a true messure of the sets before that considering they are pretty much considered the vintage/legacy format we are measuring the impact of the newer sets such as Mirrodin etc against.

Top 5 sets in no order and based mostly on impact on extended with taking legacy and vintage into account on 2nd level during time of set being standard legal i.e. their impact upon their release and the next year or so thereafter:

Apocolypse
First enemy colour 'duels' for a long long time with Perniscious deed etc
Mirrodin
It was sure madness the impact a block deck made on Extended and Legacy.
Ravnica
Kinda cheating considering pretty much counting the block as a set when talking the dual lands but do we even need more? The same set brought us Lightning Helix and other goodies
Kamigawa
Yes, Kamigawa. Gifts Rock and Tron are a very good example of what this set introduced to extended and how it helped raise the bar.
Onslaught
Fetchlands have proven a core of extended since they were printed. And let's not forget the impact of Goblins, sure cheating a little considering the block as a whole contributed in the end.

Its needs mentioning that although many sets may appear to have far greater impact then some sets mentioned above, its needs to be realised that what happens in extended is very much based around dealing with or interacting with the cards from the above sets.

Why I say can't use a sets impact on standard is based upon the fact that we have very little to go with considering we only ever have 2 blocks competing with eachother and often power isn't the issue but rather the mere absence of any cards in one block to deal with major mechanics or themes in the other.
Its also unfair to count the alpha and beta sets as they were printed long before people truelly understood what was powerful and what was not. Heck, just the fact that cards like Wall of Wood make a list of good cards from back then is a good example. The game was very quickly taken to new levels by people like Jon Finkel who showed the world the true power of things like Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus and Necropotence (a card that considered terribly weak when first released and which joined from a later set) amongst other cards.

[DraconisMarch]

Mirrodin was awesome. It's problem (in your mind) is that it was the set preceding Darksteel, which had the most broken cards percentage-wise of any set ever made (Urza's Saga had the most, by number). NO SET would look good in comparison to Darksteel.

Show you otherwise? OK then, here you go:

1) Mirrodin UW. Key cards in bold (this list is by Twin at MiseTings back in late Oct. of 2003):

3 Exalted Angel
3 Eternal Dragon
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

3 Decree of Justice
4 Mana Leak
4 Rewind
4 Concentrate
4 Wrath of God
3 Akroma's Vengeance
4 Culling Scales
1 Scrabbling Claws

8 Plains
8 Island
4 Coastal Tower
3 Temple of the False God
3 Flooded Strand

SB:: 4 Stifle
SB:: 4 Silver Knight
SB:: 3 Wing Shards
SB:: 2 Ivory Mask
SB:: 2 Scrabbling Claws

That was a VERY difficult deck to beat. It was also unique amongst UW decks.

2) Rift/Slide

From this Wizards article on 3/22/04 by Gabe Walls (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/201)

4 Forgotten Cave
8 Mountain
9 Plains
4 Secluded Steppe
2 Temple of the False God
27 lands

3 Eternal Dragon
3 Exalted Angel
6 creatures

2 Akroma's Vengeance
3 Astral Slide
4 Damping Matrix
4 Lightning Rift
3 Renewed Faith
2 Slice and Dice
4 Spark Spray
2 Starstorm
3 Wrath of God
27 other spells

In the first deck, the only Mirrodin cards listed were Culling Scales and Scrabbling Claws. In the second, there's only Damping Matrix. That hardly qualifies Mirrodin as even close to possibly being confused with half-decency.

[DraconisMarch]

And don't get me wrong, I love Mirrodin. Some hella-fun artifacts in there. But on its own... it just sucks.

[Dyne]

Apocolypse
First enemy colour 'duels' for a long long time with Perniscious deed etc
Mirrodin
It was sure madness the impact a block deck made on Extended and Legacy.
Ravnica
Kinda cheating considering pretty much counting the block as a set when talking the dual lands but do we even need more? The same set brought us Lightning Helix and other goodies
Kamigawa
Yes, Kamigawa. Gifts Rock and Tron are a very good example of what this set introduced to extended and how it helped raise the bar.
Onslaught
Fetchlands have proven a core of extended since they were printed. And let's not forget the impact of Goblins, sure cheating a little considering the block as a whole contributed in the end.


While agree there needs to be more to look at then Standard, your list is, well, above Invasion, which is probably where you started playing Standard.

There's also more to look at then a few cards. I mean, Odyssey had a few good cards, but it introduced Flashback, Threshold & Madness which are some of the most used abilities in Magic.

I will agree Ravnica & Onslaught gave us good lands, and Ravnica is chalked full of good cards.(Bob & Lightning Helix to give off a few) and gave us Dredge.

But Goblins were being played well before Onslaught, there only more powerful now, but I don't see them a lot in the older formats anyways. And coming from the same block (not set) was Storm, which I think is far more defining on the Extended, Legacy & Vintage formats.

Kamigawa has Gifts, yes. That's 1 card. How can you judge the impact of an entire set on 1 card? I also don't see it being played in Legacy and Vintage.

Mirrodin did give us the artifact lands. Darksteel, on the other hand, gave us Ravager, Skullclamp, Aether Vial, Darksteel Colussus (spawing the Tinker deck)

[Demonbunny]

Actually been playing since 1994.
If you read my post properly you would have seen why I chose to go from Invasion onwards instead of talking all sets in magic ever which, in all honesty is a waste of time considering sets like Alpha, Beta and even up to Urza's Block etc are the sets the others get compared to when discussing their powerlevel so why talk about those sets as being the most powerful? Not gonna be much of a conversation or debate now is it? Its also very well known that the first sets of Magic have cards that were never intended to be so powerful but at such a young time in Magic's life R&D and players didn't have a fair grasp of what constituted powerful and what was crap. Case in point with Wall of Wood and Trap Door spider not only seeing play in the old days, but achieving ProTour success in the process.
Oh, and not sure what format you played in, but Tinker and Colossus were never legal together in extended with Tinker having been a powerful deck for years, long before Darksteel was even a twinkle in R&D's eye. Oh... and yes darksteel gave us tools for affinity but without Darksteel as is evident by the decks success with the cards from Darksteel being banned. The only card is Ravager and Affinity was a powerful archtype before that card appeared. You can play Affinity without Ravager and Darksteel set, but you can't play Affinity without the Mirrodin cards no matter how hard you try.
Also, you cannot judge a sets impact by the number of good cards in the set but the way it changes a format. What do you reckon is stronger? A set with 20 strong cards but doesn't affect the format in any way other than splash cards for a settled format. Or a set with 5 strong cards, but which completely changes the format introducing a good 2 or 3 new decks into extended? My vote is on the set that changes the format rather than the one that just adds a few new flavours to the decks and nothing new.

[Oraymw]

We see this argument Pop up every 4 months, but the fact of the matter is that even sets like Mercadian Masques, and Nemesis had a warping effect on constructed. For example, Mercadian Masques brought Rebels which was a great WW deck in standard at the time. Also, it brought Rishadan Port, which was almost as ubiquitous as Jitte. In Nemesis you got Blastoderm, Saproling Burst, and the Parallax cards, which helped define decks during the Invasion block. Namely, Fires of Yavimaya. And those sets were not very good.

[Dyne]

Actually been playing since 1994.
If you read my post properly you would have seen why I chose to go from Invasion onwards instead of talking all sets in magic ever which, in all honesty is a waste of time considering sets like Alpha, Beta and even up to Urza's Block etc are the sets the others get compared to when discussing their powerlevel so why talk about those sets as being the most powerful? Not gonna be much of a conversation or debate now is it? Its also very well known that the first sets of Magic have cards that were never intended to be so powerful but at such a young time in Magic's life R&D and players didn't have a fair grasp of what constituted powerful and what was crap. Case in point with Wall of Wood and Trap Door spider not only seeing play in the old days, but achieving ProTour success in the process.
Oh, and not sure what format you played in, but Tinker and Colossus were never legal together in extended with Tinker having been a powerful deck for years, long before Darksteel was even a twinkle in R&D's eye. Oh... and yes darksteel gave us tools for affinity but without Darksteel as is evident by the decks success with the cards from Darksteel being banned. The only card is Ravager and Affinity was a powerful archtype before that card appeared. You can play Affinity without Ravager and Darksteel set, but you can't play Affinity without the Mirrodin cards no matter how hard you try.
Also, you cannot judge a sets impact by the number of good cards in the set but the way it changes a format. What do you reckon is stronger? A set with 20 strong cards but doesn't affect the format in any way other than splash cards for a settled format. Or a set with 5 strong cards, but which completely changes the format introducing a good 2 or 3 new decks into extended? My vote is on the set that changes the format rather than the one that just adds a few new flavours to the decks and nothing new.

Well, first off, if you bothered to read the thread up to this point, you would've realized that I said discussing Alpha/Beta was pointless, and we should discuss expansions from that. And as you pointed out, a lot of those sets are pretty powerful, but a lot of them, are not, so cutting them from the discussion is kind of irrelevant.

And your right, Affinity can still play Affinity without Ravager, and without Darkksteel.

But why do you think Goblins got so good, or Elves, or any tribe played in Legacy.

2 cards, Skullclamp, and Aethervial, both from Darksteel. Seems to me they both got banned, did they not? I think that would be a pretty big warp in the meta of any current enviornment, being banned from Block, Extended, and Skullclamp in Standard and Legacy.

And, if you read my post your rebutling against, you would realize that I clearly said we should not judge a set by how many powerful cards it had in it, and Odyssey seemed like the perfect example.

Wild Mongrel
Psychatog
Entomb
Standstill

See, good cards, but when you think about the keywords it gave us.

Threshold
Flashback

These are 2 of the top 5 keywords in magic, coming from one set. I'de say that's a huge impact as well, but I already stated this, so you should've known it by now.