Average Picked At: 6.46 Total Times Picked: 37 Average Last Seen At: 5.28 Total Times Seen 289
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This looks pretty good. A 4 mana 5/4 is already above rate, and there are enough treasures in the set that you can power it out for 2. You shouldn't expect to do it early, but playing this and a three drop on turn 5 sounds pretty good.
Average Picked At: 8.43 Total Times Picked: 61 Average Last Seen At: 6.19 Total Times Seen 426
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: Most of the tokens in this format are Citizens, especially within White and more broadly within the Cabaretti colors, and there are also a decent number of non-token citizens around. Getting this to 5 mana seems eminently doable, and while that’s not great, it is certainly passable, and sometimes you’ll cast it for a lot less. 4 mana is probably going to be a pretty common occurrence.
Average Picked At: 6.93 Total Times Picked: 15 Average Last Seen At: 5.62 Total Times Seen 114
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 4.0 Pro Comment: This has the potential to be downright absurd. The Blitz and Casualty mechanics provide you the ways to sacrifice things that are necessary to trigger this, and there are other ways to sacrifice your creatures too! I do think this probably needs a buildaround grade, because you can’t really play it in anything but a deck with 7+ ways to sacrifice creatures. If you play it in a deck with less than that, you are going to find this does nothing too often. I do think that looks very doable, though. Just getting something back the first time you sacrifice a creature on each turn is a big deal, as it really takes away the downside of sacrificing in the first place, and sometimes may even let you cheat something big into play.
Average Picked At: 13.13 Total Times Picked: 113 Average Last Seen At: 10.71 Total Times Seen 1904
Pro Rating: 1.5 Pro Comment: +1/+0 and First Strike makes for a decent trick for one mana. The power boost isn’t ultra impressive, but First Strike obviously makes combat go much more favorably for your creature. I still think Antagonize is probably the trick you’re after if you’re playing Red aggro, but this can fill the role.
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: You shouldn’t really expect to get the third part of this going, especially because you not only need to have 15 creatures – they also all have to be tapped down – and if they are all tapped, it probably means your opponent is dead anyway. That said, the first two abilities are very doable, and offer some real value. It is a bit of a bummer that the Fountain is a dud on an empty board, but as long as you have one creature around, you will start making a token on many turns. You can even attack into a trade, and once the block goes down, untap the creature. Your creature still dies of course, but you get a 1/1 that can make another 1/1 on the next turn. This all pairs quite well with the Creaturefall mechanic too. Drawing cards is even sweeter! I think this is either a bomb or very close to it, though I do think having to have creatures be tapped for it to do its thing is going to be a bit more challenging than it looks. You just can’t always tap your creatures!
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: A three mana 1/5 with Flash is actually pretty nice, even if you do have to discard a real card for that to happen. And a three mana 0/4 that lets you get rid of an excess land for a new card is pretty good too. The format has enough discard fodder that Connive is better than it looks.
Average Picked At: 2.47 Total Times Picked: 15 Average Last Seen At: 2.35 Total Times Seen 21
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: This..doesn’t seem amazing. Typically his ETB ability will make your opponent discard a single card by the time you play him. And…that’s nice, but not absolutely incredible for what you’re paying. His attack trigger can also put your opponent in real danger of getting milled out, but it will still take quite awhile, and if he attacks enough to mill them out, they are probably dead from damage anyway! His death trigger is the most exciting one, as it will actually impact the board unlike the first two, but it is also in some ways the hardest to get. So yeah, he does a lot, but he’s pretty clunky mana-wise, and while the effects are pretty powerful they are also woefully inconsistent, I don’t think they are nearly as powerful as they look. Maestros does have ways to sacrifice him, at least.
Average Picked At: 7.20 Total Times Picked: 5 Average Last Seen At: 4.18 Total Times Seen 37
Pro Rating: 1.0 Pro Comment: This is a pretty neat design, but it doesn’t feel like it will be very good in Limited. For one thing, your chances of having a planeswalker are well… Limited. For another, you need to have at least a couple of counters on your creature for the equip cost of three to really feel like you’re getting your value back. That is doable in this format, especially in Green/White, but the fact it offers no boost at all in situations where a card has no counters is brutal. And that will come up a lot. Even just +1/+1 isn’t going to feel very good.
Average Picked At: 9.59 Total Times Picked: 146 Average Last Seen At: 8.02 Total Times Seen 1379
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: This is kind of like a combat trick that offers +1/+1 and First Strike for three mana which is…pretty bad for the cost on the face of it, but it is a boost that is pretty good at helping your creature win combat, and the fact it leaves behind an Equipment that can move around pretty cheaply and offer +1/+1 to stuff is pretty nice.
Average Picked At: 5.01 Total Times Picked: 68 Average Last Seen At: 4.14 Total Times Seen 274
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: The first mode on this is a nice removal spell, even if it is a little bit situational – and also a little dangerous if you try to use it when your opponent has mana up. Its also nice that this lets you have a real card in your deck that can also hate on Enchantments, or even be an instant speed divination.
Average Picked At: 7.02 Total Times Picked: 177 Average Last Seen At: 6.41 Total Times Seen 1080
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This looks like a solid Common. Cast the normal way, it gives you a 5-mana ⅘ – which isn’t great, but that’s the fail case of the card. It can do a lot more than that! You can of course put the counters on another creature, and that can add some significant additional damage to the board immediately. And if adding as much damage to the board as quickly as possible is your thing, you can Blitz this, which lets you ad ⅘ worth of stats to the board for only 4 mana, and then you get to draw a card to replace it! You’ll often be able to get close to a card of value out of it when you do Blitz it, so that’s not a bad deal, especially because it makes sure to leave something on the board even once it sacrifices itself.
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: A six-mana 5/5 is actually kind of reasonable, and this one comes with the upside of helping you fix your mana early.
Average Picked At: 12.28 Total Times Picked: 92 Average Last Seen At: 9.69 Total Times Seen 1588
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: Black often has cards that let the opponent make a decision about something, and they pretty much always underperform, since there are too many situations where your opponent can minimize the damage. However, I think this might make your opponent make a narrow enough decision that it will be decent. Sure, you’ll have situations where your opponent hasl ike a 1/1 and some bomb creature and it isn’t going to feel too good in those scenarios – and I’m certainly not saying this is premium removal ro anything – but I do think there will be enough board states where this kills something you want dead for two mana. Don’t go into it thinking it is Doom Blade, and I think you’ll feel okay about what you’re getting.
Average Picked At: 1.75 Total Times Picked: 24 Average Last Seen At: 1.64 Total Times Seen 35
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: A two mana ⅓ Flyer is usually kind of passable, and this comes with the pretty big Connive upside. Whether you just end up looting with this and discarding a land or discarding a nonland to give it a counter, you’re ending up with a pretty good deal. It won’t trigger all of the time of course, but because it checks to see if both players have cast a second spell, it does increase the chances of you getting Connive going with it. This will give you great card selection and be a super efficient creature most of the time.
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: These all offer really great fixing for a set with three color factions, and adding Cycling to the mix is actually a pretty big deal, because it means if you’re flooding late, this is a land you can just throw away. The fact they all have three land types also provides for some additional upside.
Pro Rating: 5.0 Pro Comment: You’ll usually be able to get the first mode going on this going the turn you play this, and that’s pretty good! The Cabaretti are definitely about going wide, so getting the second mode will happen regularly as well, but the third mode is less often. This will often impact the board right away. There will of course be times where Jetmir is just a 4-mana 5/4 too, but the potential to pump your whole board, and it being relatively easy to get the first part going makes this a great card.
Pro Rating: 5.0 Pro Comment: This looks like a very good 3 mana walker. He can protect himself with Devil tokens, which always wreak havoc in Limited, and while his +1 isn’t incredible, it does pressure your opponent or pick apart their hand. And there are enough demons and devils in the set that gaining life isn’t out of the question either. His ultimate isn’t going to be super easy to get to, but if you can it might finish off your opponent or draw you a ton of cards! Adding Casualty to the mix is particularly spicy, because getting a copy of this planeswalker is pretty awesome, even if it starts with only a single loyalty. Your opponent will have a heck of a time taking down both of them.
Average Picked At: 1.25 Total Times Picked: 8 Average Last Seen At: 1.40 Total Times Seen 11
Pro Rating: 4.5 Pro Comment: This looks quite good. Obviously a 4-mana 3/3 with deathtouch can trade for anything, and that’s especially nice because it will also usually reanimate a small creature from your graveyard when it dies. The Connive upside here is pretty real too, as the bigger it gets, the easier it will be to reanimate something, and obviously you can discard the thing you want to reanimate when you DO connive.
Average Picked At: 3.11 Total Times Picked: 19 Average Last Seen At: 3.24 Total Times Seen 62
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: This type of effect is usually kind of rough since you spend some significant mana and don’t add to the board, but this type around it actually does, albeit with just a 1/1 Citizen. But that’s pretty important – not only does it add something to th eboard, but with both Citizen tribal and Alliance being a thing in the format, there is extra value placed on something like this. So, you end up getting the best creature in your top 5 and a 1/1. Don’t get me wrong, it still isn’t amazing or anything, but far more playable than this effect usually is at three mana. This looks pretty good. Its no Baleful Strix, but a two mana 1/1 flyer that loads your graveyard and gives you a card when it dies is pretty nice. And, if you get the requisite number of mana values in your graveyard, it becomes a pretty imposing aerial attacker that can trade with anything thanks to deathtouch
Average Picked At: 5.19 Total Times Picked: 170 Average Last Seen At: 5.43 Total Times Seen 864
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This is a pretty nice payoff for Sacrificing stuff, which is going to be very doable in Black-Red in this format as a result of both Alliance and Blitz, and it of course comes with its own way to sacrifice things and gain Menace. This seems like it could become a real problem for your opponent in many Black-Red decks!