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Quick Draft MID 14 October 2022

14 October 09:37 - MaxScoreMTG 7 Wins - 0 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (15)
1 Graveyard Trespasser // Graveyard Glutton image
1 Ambitious Farmhand // Seasoned Cathar image
1 Candlegrove Witch image
1 Hobbling Zombie image
1 Soul-Guide Gryff image
2 Novice Occultist image
1 Siege Zombie image
1 Bereaved Survivor // Dauntless Avenger image
1 Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom image
1 Clarion Cathars image
1 Ritual Guardian image
1 Search Party Captain image
1 Fleshtaker image
1 Cathar Commando image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (8)
1 Eaten Alive image
2 Borrowed Time image
1 Flare of Faith image
1 Mask of Griselbrand image
1 Rite of Oblivion image
1 Ghoulish Procession image
1 Rotten Reunion image
Land (17)
9 Plains image
8 Swamp image
Sideboard
3 Arrogant Outlaw image
1 Component Collector image
1 Bat Whisperer image
2 Homestead Courage image
1 Blessed Defiance image
2 Duress image
2 Thraben Exorcism image
1 Tapping at the Window image
1 Startle image
1 Silver Bolt image
1 Stuffed Bear image
1 Rotten Reunion image
1 Plummet image
1 Moonsilver Key image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Graveyard Trespasser
Graveyard Trespasser image 4.0 Adding Ward “Discard a card” means that your opponent can’t really use removal on this without 2-for-1ing themselves, and that’s nice, especially because it has reasonable stats and a fairly useful ability that will trigger when it ETBs and when it attacks! Graveyards are going to be important resources for many decks in this format, so going after them is nice, especially because you can drain life in the process! And, of course, if it is night time, it becomes even stronger!
Odric's Outrider image 3.5 This is pretty good. First, it counts itself dying, so most of the time the Outrider will give you some value, even if he isn’t long for this world. The BW deck is all about sacrificing and the GW deck is all about going wide, partially with tokens, and it is a good fit in either of those decks since creatures will be dying a whole lot. And really, creatures just die all the time in Magic anyway! So yeah, I think the whole package here looks pretty strong, like the kind of engine that can really win you a game, and the floor is pretty reasonable.
Duelcraft Trainer image 3.0 A 4-mana 3/3 with First Strike is decent, so the Coven upside is nice to have. Double strike to any one of your creatures is undoubtedly quite powerful. You won’t always be able to pull it off of course, but the floor here is pretty reasonable.
Thermo-Alchemist image 3.5 Looks who’s back! He was around for our last trip to Innistrad, and he was a COMMON, if you can believe that. He was an excellent spell build around, and did a ton of damage. The great thing about him too, is a two mana 0/3 that can tap to do 1 to your opponent is already kind of a passable card, so the fact that sometimes it will be doing 2 or 3 damage a turn is amazing. I don’t think one really has to give this a build around grade, because the floor is so reasonable.
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Ecstatic Awakener image 2.5 One mana 1/1s are pretty bad, they just lose relevance quickly. The Awakener gets around that to some extent as a result of its ability to transform into Awoken Demon. Transforming it is a little bit steep at 3 mana and sacrificing something, but there is going to be some significant sacrifice fodder in both Black/White and Blue/Black, so it won’t hurt quite as much as it might look at first. Still, you aren’t really doing incredible when you transform this into a 4/4.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Lambholt Harrier image 2.0 This is a Bear that stays relevant all game long thanks to its ability. Now, that ability is pretty pricey, and you’ll normally only be able to make one thing unable to block, but it is an ability your opponent has to account for in the late game, as making one thing unable to block can really help someone find lethal out of nowhere.
Vampire Interloper image 2.5 This has nice aggressive stats, and looks like a decent enabler for all the Black-Red cards that care about your opponent losing life.
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Devious Cover-Up image 1.0 This is a hard counter, but four mana is a ton to have to have available at the right time, and the additional value this gives you just isn’t going to make up for that.
Candlelit Cavalry image 2.5 On a base level, this is a 5-mana 5/5, something that makes the cut in some Green decks anyway, and it will gain trample sometimes. Seems decent enough.
Unblinking Observer image 2.5 This will help you cast enough stuff that it seems like a solid Common. It fits nicely in the UR spells deck and the UW deck, which will be the most disturb heavy deck in the format. I’m giving it a 2.5.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Eaten Alive
Bereaved Survivor image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/1 is pretty ugly. Transforming this is fairly doable, though, and once it transforms it is a pretty nice little card, though it won’t always have things worth reanimating.
Skaab Wrangler image 2.5 This is a two mana 2/1 with some reasonable upside. In the later part of the game that ability can actually do some work, though you won’t always be in a position to activate it.
Moonsilver Key image 2.5 This gives you fixing, and one is often in the market for that in Limited, since splashing bombs is usually a good idea. You won’t have many artifacts to get with the Key, though there are a few of them.
Candletrap image 3.0 This is pretty cheap removal. Before you get Coven online, it definitely isn’t great removal, because allowing the creature to still block is usually not what you want to be doing. It can’t do damage at least, but it still a presence on the board, and that means you aren’t trading a full 1-for-1. But its nice than in the later game, you can just get rid of that creature entirely. Still, it is probably a little too slow and clunky to be premium.
Shipwreck Sifters image 1.5 A two mana ½ who loots is fine, and this one can get bigger. I don’t think you’ll want to discard a spirit or a card with Disturb to it all that often, since the power of those cards is often in the fact that you get the two bodies, but you’ll discard those things sometimes and it’ll get bigger.
Eaten Alive image 3.5 There is a lot of sacrifice fodder int his format, so casting this for only one Black is very real, and the fail case is that you pay 5, which is perfectly fine. Exiling stuff has extra value in the format too.
Novice Occultist image 2.5 It won’t always be easy to trade with this and get a 2-for-1 since it’s a ½, so ideally you will sacrifice this to something for value, in which case you don’t really go down a card at all! I could see this ending up as a key common for both BW and UB.
Path to the Festival image 2.0 This is pretty clunky since it doesn't add to the board at all. It can do it again from the graveyard though, which can potentially really turbo your mana. It is also reasonable fixing, and if you're splashing a third color, that Scry will be nice.
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Flare of Faith image 2.0 This seems like a decent trick if you’re a White aggro deck with lots of Humans in it. It gives a decent stats boost that will often allow your creature to win combat. Two mana for just +2/+2 is pretty mediocre for a trick, but the Human upside will make it worth running often enough
Burn the Accursed image 2.5 This isn’t exactly premium, but is an instant that kills most stuff, damages your opponent, and even exiles creatures, which certainly matters here.
Harvesttide Sentry image 2.5 This has decent base stats and if you can get coven going, it becomes a lot harder to easily block this thing.
Harvesttide Infiltrator image 2.5 This has a decent fail case as a 3-mana 3/2 with Trample, and sometimes it will be bigger.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Ambitious Farmhand
Ritual of Hope image 1.0 // 3.0 This is a nice payoff for going wide, especially if you can get Coven going, since it becomes Inspired Charge for half the cost! The good news is, by the time a card like this tends to be useful, you’re reasonably likely to have Coven online, since you’ll have to have a board with several different creatures on it, and those several different creatures are likely to have 3 or more powers among them. Obviously, you won’t be playing this other than in fairly aggressive decks, but it seems like a nice pump spell for them.
Ambitious Farmhand image 3.0 This seems pretty nice! A two mana 1/1 that draws you a card is always playable in Limited, and this one makes sure you hit your next land drop. And, because he can transform into a 3/3 with Lifelink, that means he can stay relevant all game long. Now, you do have to jump through a few hoops to get him to transform, and assembling a coven won’t always be a walk in the park, but it is also reasonably doable. Note, by the way, that he can transform at Instant speed.
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Homestead Courage image 1.0 This gives a nice, efficient boost twice. It isn’t a boost that always makes a difference, though, and even when it does, I’m not sure it will always feel like you’re getting a full card worth of value. Being cheap to flashback is good for flashback payoffs, and also makes it easy to turn it back into day, and that matters.
Lambholt Harrier image 2.0 This is a Bear that stays relevant all game long thanks to its ability. Now, that ability is pretty pricey, and you’ll normally only be able to make one thing unable to block, but it is an ability your opponent has to account for in the late game, as making one thing unable to block can really help someone find lethal out of nowhere.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Might of the Old Ways image 2.0 This looks like a decent enough trick. Two mana for +2/+2 isn’t incredible, but when you can make the Coven thing happen, it turns into a draw spell, which will often mean a 2-for-1. You’ll end up playing this in aggressive Green decks.
Vampire Interloper image 2.5 This has nice aggressive stats, and looks like a decent enabler for all the Black-Red cards that care about your opponent losing life.
Mourning Patrol image 2.5 A 3-mana 2/3 with Vigilance is fine, so the fact that this can come back as a 2/1 with Flying and Vigilance is pretty nice! Both halves in this case very capable of trading, too.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Borrowed Time
Delver of Secrets image 1.0 // 3.0 Obviously, this is a multi-format all star in constructed and one of the best creatures ever printed. This is because in constructed, you can make a deck where it is trivially easy to flip this, effectively making it a one mana 3/2 with Flying. In Limited that’s...not going to be quite as easy. Even a spell deck that really gets there probably has 10 Instants and Sorceries, so yeah. It will usually take a few triggers to flip. The good news is, a 3/2 Flyer is relevant pretty much all game long, so even if you play this on turn one and it doesn’t flip until turn 4, you’re going to feel okay about it. Thing is, though, if you’ve just got like 3-5 spells, this is unplayable. I think this needs a buildaround grade as a result. It is probably going to be a D or worse in your typical Blue deck, but if you 10+ Instants and Sorceries, it is a quality card.
Bloodtithe Collector image 3.5 If this always made your opponent discard, it would be an easy 4.0 Only doing it some of the time obviously downgrades it significantly, but it is still a decent flying body as a fail case.
Borrowed Time image 4.0 This is premium removal. It hits any nonland permanent, no questions asked. Like other Oblivion Ringish cards, your opponent can get the thing back if they destroy Respite, but that’s worth the risk -- you’re still trading 1-for-1 in that scenario anyway!
Homestead Courage image 1.0 This gives a nice, efficient boost twice. It isn’t a boost that always makes a difference, though, and even when it does, I’m not sure it will always feel like you’re getting a full card worth of value. Being cheap to flashback is good for flashback payoffs, and also makes it easy to turn it back into day, and that matters.
Bird Admirer image 2.5 A 3 mana ¼ with Reach makes the cut reasonably often in most Limited formats, and this will sometimes be a much larger creature. Seems like a solid Common to me! I’m giving it a 2.5.
Clarion Cathars image 2.5 We see this basic card a lot, and its always solid. Two bodies for four mana is nice, and the reasonable stats distributed across them is pretty good.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Blood Pact image 2.0 Its nice this is an Instant, it makes it a lot more palatable that it is. Instant speed Divination for three mana is pretty nice, and most Black decks will play the first copy of this. In a pinch, you can also use it to do 2 to your opponent, either to finish them off or trigger a bunch of your pseudo-bloodthirst effects, but mostly you’ll want to be drawing the cards.
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Stormrider Spirit image 1.5 This is a reprint from our last trip to Innistrad, where it was mediocre. You can flash it in to ambush block a small thing, and then it is a decent threat in the air, but it isn’t especially efficient.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Borrowed Time
Ritual of Hope image 1.0 // 3.0 This is a nice payoff for going wide, especially if you can get Coven going, since it becomes Inspired Charge for half the cost! The good news is, by the time a card like this tends to be useful, you’re reasonably likely to have Coven online, since you’ll have to have a board with several different creatures on it, and those several different creatures are likely to have 3 or more powers among them. Obviously, you won’t be playing this other than in fairly aggressive decks, but it seems like a nice pump spell for them.
Borrowed Time image 4.0 This is premium removal. It hits any nonland permanent, no questions asked. Like other Oblivion Ringish cards, your opponent can get the thing back if they destroy Respite, but that’s worth the risk -- you’re still trading 1-for-1 in that scenario anyway!
Turn the Earth image 0.5 This is mostly here to hate on graveyards. And, even in a format with lots of graveyard stuff going on, I don’t love it. It has one pretty narrow purpose that just isn’t worth using up a card for in a Limited deck. This is for the sideboard. It will be an F in your main deck, and maybe a C- against an opponent who has lots of graveyard shenanigans, but even then I’m not super interested in this.
Unblinking Observer image 2.5 This will help you cast enough stuff that it seems like a solid Common. It fits nicely in the UR spells deck and the UW deck, which will be the most disturb heavy deck in the format. I’m giving it a 2.5.
Return to Nature image 0.5 Its nice that this does three different things, making it a more reasonable main deck card, but I’m still pretty skeptical about main decking it on a regular basis. This format has artifacts and enchantments, but not a ton of them, and while exiling something from a graveyard is nice, yo’ure often only getting half a card of value when you do it, since your opponent already cast their spell with flashback or their creature with disturb. I think this should probably still start in your sideboard.
Clarion Cathars image 2.5 We see this basic card a lot, and its always solid. Two bodies for four mana is nice, and the reasonable stats distributed across them is pretty good.
Shady Traveler image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/3 with Menace is a card you’ll play sometimes – probably a 2.5, and it will come into play as or transform into Stalking Predator pretty regularly, in which case you’re getting an amazing deal!
Morkrut Behemoth image 2.5 The idea here is to sacrifice something to it that isn’t a big deal, like a Zombie token, and if you do that then yeah – a 7/6 with Menace on turn 5 is pretty imposing. You can also just straight up pay 7 for it, which isn’t great but its not a disaster either. This seems like some decent top curve for some Black decks in the format – especially UB and BW – but I think you’ll find you cut it a pretty significant chunk of the time for cards that are just better.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Candlegrove Witch
Shady Traveler image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/3 with Menace is a card you’ll play sometimes – probably a 2.5, and it will come into play as or transform into Stalking Predator pretty regularly, in which case you’re getting an amazing deal!
Larder Zombie image 1.5 So, a one mana ⅓ isn’t amazing, especially with Defender! But at least it can block and kill X/1s. Its ability asks for several creatures in play, and I guess the idea is that you’ll be making Zombie tokens so doing that might not be too hard! The ability itself isn’t bad -- as it can give you card selection and/or help you load up the graveyard. Still, I don’t see this being especially good overall.
Candlegrove Witch image 2.5 This is a Bear that will often, though not always, have flying in the late game. Flying helps it stay relevant throughout the game, which is nice. Seems like a solid two drop.
Siege Zombie image 2.0 This seems passable, as in the early game it has alright stats, and in the late game it can be a real source of reach. It can also help you activate cards that give you a bonus if an opponent has lost life. Still, it does ask for a lot to make the opponent lose that 1 life, and it just won’t always be doable.
Howl of the Hunt image 2.5 This kind of card pretty much always performs. Combat tricks and Auras both have some pretty serious problems. The chief one is that you can get totally blown out if you’re not careful. However, Auras with Flash tend to play reasonably well every time we see them, provided they are reasonably costed, and I think this one is. You have to be careful about when you play it of course, but if your opponent has no way to interact, this is basically a combat trick that takes something down, and then the Aura itself sticks around. The fact it works this way helps you mitigate the potential card disadvantage, since you’ll use the Aura to help you kill something up front. The werewolf upside here matters too. You usually want to be the aggressor with a trick, but giving your Wolf or Werewolf pseudo-vigilance is pretty nice, and having the option to ambush block is okay too.
Hedgewitch's Mask image 1.5 This is a decent, albeit unimpressive, piece of Equipment. One to play and two to equip is kind of alright, and the upside of being unblockable by bigger stuff doesn’t hurt. It can help you get Coven. Still, this format doesn’t seem to have a huge equipment theme, and that probably means this gets cut a lot.
Crawl from the Cellar image 2.0 This is an interesting take on the usual Sorcery that lets you return two creatures to your hand. The first time you cast this, the value is going to be pretty nice, provided you have a zombie, as it effectively replaces itself while making a creature bigger. The second time is less efficient, but in the you pay 5 mana for a 2-for-1 and two +1/+1 counters, which actually isn’t too bad. Now, you really would prefer to be putting these counters on zombies that don’t have decay to get full value out of them, but a significant chunk of the time that’s probably where the counter goes, and you may also just not have anywhere to put the counter in the first place.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Raze the Effigy image 1.5 This format doesn’t have a ton of artifacts, but having the option to destroy an artifact on a decent combat trick certainly makes it more flexible.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Hobbling Zombie
Field of Ruin image 0.0 We see this a lot, and it’s a card they print mostly to be used in constructed to hate on powerful lands. This format doesn’t really have those, so it isn’t worth playing. And yeah, it fixes for you, but you know what else does that doesn’t also fix for your opponent? Just playing a land that can produce mana that is in one of your colors!
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Hobbling Zombie image 3.0 We often see 3-mana 2/2s with Deathtouch, and they are usually like a C. The ability to trade for anything is nice, after all! But this can do that and make a Zombie token. Obviously, it is a big down grade from a regular 2/2 zombie, but it is still enough additional upside for this to move up to 3.0.
Candlelit Cavalry image 2.5 On a base level, this is a 5-mana 5/5, something that makes the cut in some Green decks anyway, and it will gain trample sometimes. Seems decent enough.
Bladebrand image 1.5 This is a reprint, and it is one that is pretty mediocre. Giving death touch + a cantrip is pretty nice in combat, but it is a very narrow card overall because it is only useful in combat. Sure, I guess you can cast it just to cycle it, but that’s pretty rough! There are some silly things you can do with it sometimes, like give death touch to something that is being triple blocked, but a lot of the time you just use this and trade a creature on the table for one in your library. And, while that’s fine, it is certainly not a great card, and not one that makes the cut more than half the time.
Path to the Festival image 2.0 This is pretty clunky since it doesn't add to the board at all. It can do it again from the graveyard though, which can potentially really turbo your mana. It is also reasonable fixing, and if you're splashing a third color, that Scry will be nice.
Rotten Reunion image 1.5 Hating on a couple graveyard cards and getting a couple of Zombies that can either pressure your opponent or act as sacrifice fodder seems alright for a three mana investment.
Stormrider Spirit image 1.5 This is a reprint from our last trip to Innistrad, where it was mediocre. You can flash it in to ambush block a small thing, and then it is a decent threat in the air, but it isn’t especially efficient.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Bat Whisperer
Arcane Infusion image 2.0 This is UR’s signpost uncommon, and it tells you that you want to jam a ton of instants and sorceries into your deck. If you can do that, you end up with something pretty nice. If you can’t do that, this will be pretty ugly, because you can’t really afford to wiff with it on either activation. Still, getting 10ish spells is pretty doable, especially in UR. Over the course of a game, you can end up getting a 2-for-1 thanks to the Flashback too! I could give it a build around grade, but I think that UR decks will naturally find themselves with the right composition often enough that we don’t need to go there. That said, it also isn’t a signpost uncommon that pulls you into the color pair, either.
Return to Nature image 0.5 Its nice that this does three different things, making it a more reasonable main deck card, but I’m still pretty skeptical about main decking it on a regular basis. This format has artifacts and enchantments, but not a ton of them, and while exiling something from a graveyard is nice, yo’ure often only getting half a card of value when you do it, since your opponent already cast their spell with flashback or their creature with disturb. I think this should probably still start in your sideboard.
Larder Zombie image 1.5 So, a one mana ⅓ isn’t amazing, especially with Defender! But at least it can block and kill X/1s. Its ability asks for several creatures in play, and I guess the idea is that you’ll be making Zombie tokens so doing that might not be too hard! The ability itself isn’t bad -- as it can give you card selection and/or help you load up the graveyard. Still, I don’t see this being especially good overall.
Bat Whisperer image 2.5 If this always gave you a bat, it would be at least a 3.5. One nice thing about the bat too is that it might help you enable future cards that give you a bonus if your opponent has lost life on a particular turn. Sometimes it will be a 4-mana 4/2 though, and that’s pretty bad.
Shipwreck Sifters image 1.5 A two mana ½ who loots is fine, and this one can get bigger. I don’t think you’ll want to discard a spirit or a card with Disturb to it all that often, since the power of those cards is often in the fact that you get the two bodies, but you’ll discard those things sometimes and it’ll get bigger.
Lambholt Harrier image 2.0 This is a Bear that stays relevant all game long thanks to its ability. Now, that ability is pretty pricey, and you’ll normally only be able to make one thing unable to block, but it is an ability your opponent has to account for in the late game, as making one thing unable to block can really help someone find lethal out of nowhere.
Tavern Ruffian image 3.0 In most formats, a 4-mana ⅖ isn’t something that Red is interested in, though those are fairly reasonable defensive stats. However, this is a werewolf, and that means that if its already night time you get a 4-mana 6/5, and it also means that it can become one at some point in the game. That’s a pretty nice deal. And yeah, it isn’t always super easy to control what time of day it is, but this still seems like a solid Red Common to me.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Arrogant Outlaw
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Devious Cover-Up image 1.0 This is a hard counter, but four mana is a ton to have to have available at the right time, and the additional value this gives you just isn’t going to make up for that.
Candlelit Cavalry image 2.5 On a base level, this is a 5-mana 5/5, something that makes the cut in some Green decks anyway, and it will gain trample sometimes. Seems decent enough.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Flare of Faith
Moonsilver Key image 2.5 This gives you fixing, and one is often in the market for that in Limited, since splashing bombs is usually a good idea. You won’t have many artifacts to get with the Key, though there are a few of them.
Candletrap image 3.0 This is pretty cheap removal. Before you get Coven online, it definitely isn’t great removal, because allowing the creature to still block is usually not what you want to be doing. It can’t do damage at least, but it still a presence on the board, and that means you aren’t trading a full 1-for-1. But its nice than in the later game, you can just get rid of that creature entirely. Still, it is probably a little too slow and clunky to be premium.
Shipwreck Sifters image 1.5 A two mana ½ who loots is fine, and this one can get bigger. I don’t think you’ll want to discard a spirit or a card with Disturb to it all that often, since the power of those cards is often in the fact that you get the two bodies, but you’ll discard those things sometimes and it’ll get bigger.
Path to the Festival image 2.0 This is pretty clunky since it doesn't add to the board at all. It can do it again from the graveyard though, which can potentially really turbo your mana. It is also reasonable fixing, and if you're splashing a third color, that Scry will be nice.
Flare of Faith image 2.0 This seems like a decent trick if you’re a White aggro deck with lots of Humans in it. It gives a decent stats boost that will often allow your creature to win combat. Two mana for just +2/+2 is pretty mediocre for a trick, but the Human upside will make it worth running often enough
Pack 1 Pick 11: Homestead Courage
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Homestead Courage image 1.0 This gives a nice, efficient boost twice. It isn’t a boost that always makes a difference, though, and even when it does, I’m not sure it will always feel like you’re getting a full card worth of value. Being cheap to flashback is good for flashback payoffs, and also makes it easy to turn it back into day, and that matters.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Blessed Defiance
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Stormrider Spirit image 1.5 This is a reprint from our last trip to Innistrad, where it was mediocre. You can flash it in to ambush block a small thing, and then it is a decent threat in the air, but it isn’t especially efficient.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Component Collector
Return to Nature image 0.5 Its nice that this does three different things, making it a more reasonable main deck card, but I’m still pretty skeptical about main decking it on a regular basis. This format has artifacts and enchantments, but not a ton of them, and while exiling something from a graveyard is nice, yo’ure often only getting half a card of value when you do it, since your opponent already cast their spell with flashback or their creature with disturb. I think this should probably still start in your sideboard.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Pack 1 Pick 14: Duress
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Pack 2 Pick 1: Mask of Griselbrand
Mask of Griselbrand image 4.0 Three to play and three to equip is pretty steep, and flying and lifelink, while nice, are only going to really be worth it on a creature with decent stats anyway. Sure, it is a real upgrade on any creature, but not exactly a meaningful one on a 2/2 in a lot of situations. Still, medium-sized creatures on up will really flourish with the Mask, and the idea is that you’ll damage your opponent and gain life enough with it that if the creature does die, you draw a ton of cards and paying the life is no big deal. Overall, I do think this is quite good -- the cost is steep for a reason! And its nice that, if you manage to get it equipped, it will be hard for your opponent to come out ahead against that creature. Even just chumping and gaining life and paying life to draw cards isn’t terrible. I think the clunkiness of the card does keep it from being a bomb, but this sticking around on the table and getting attached to creature after creature is going to be really bad news for your opponent.
Brood Weaver image 2.5 A 4-man 2/4 with Reach is often a fine playable -- something like a 1.5 or a 2.0, and making another Reach spider when it dies is solid enough.
Bladestitched Skaab image 3.0 This is an efficient Zombie lord, and this set has lots of Zombies! This will be great in UB decks.
Village Watch image 2.5 A 5-mana 4/3 with Haste isn’t great, but the fact this can be a 5/4 sometimes is pretty nice. It would be most ideal for it to already be night when it comes down -- if that’s true, you’ll feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. Though, to be honest, a 5-mana 5/4 with Haste while certainly a nice card isn’t great either, and you have to jump through some serious hoops to keep it that way. It does also give Haste to other werewolves, but still.
Harvesttide Infiltrator image 2.5 This has a decent fail case as a 3-mana 3/2 with Trample, and sometimes it will be bigger.
Clarion Cathars image 2.5 We see this basic card a lot, and its always solid. Two bodies for four mana is nice, and the reasonable stats distributed across them is pretty good.
Gavony Trapper image 3.0 Master Decoys are always pretty nice in Limited. They can act as removal of sorts and stay relevant all game long. This has the additional upside of being a 0 power creature – which might not sound like upside, but in Coven decks having a creature with 0 power can really matter.
Devious Cover-Up image 1.0 This is a hard counter, but four mana is a ton to have to have available at the right time, and the additional value this gives you just isn’t going to make up for that.
Otherworldly Gaze image 0.5 Loading the graveyard is important in this format, its true, but a card that pretty much only does that, while giving you some card selection, isn’t something I’m interested in. You never get the card back. There are so many cards that load the graveyard while doing actual other things!
Bounding Wolf image 2.0 Reach is extra good in this format because there are a ton of flyers as a result that everything that has disturb comes back as a Flyer. So if you’re in Green, you’re going to need a way to stop that. Bounding Wolf can do it, and it even ambush block thanks to flash!
Revenge of the Drowned image 2.5 4 mana to Time Ebb a creature isn’t amazing. It does let you trade 1-for-1 with what you target, since your opponent has to redraw that card again, and that’s nice. The 2/2 Zombie of course can’t block, so you can’t really manufacture a huge blowout most of the time. It is a body that will be relevant when you untap though.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Falkenrath Perforator image 2.5 In a set where this had no synergy at all, this would probably be a 1.5. The stats aren’t good, and the 1 damage just isn’t enough to make up for that. However, this set’s BR archetype has a lot of cards that give you extra effects if your opponent lost life, and this is one way you can make that happen. Plus, its a vampire, and while the tribal themes for vampires aren’t massive int his set, they are still there! I think all of that is enough to bump this up to a solid playable.
Larder Zombie image 1.5 So, a one mana ⅓ isn’t amazing, especially with Defender! But at least it can block and kill X/1s. Its ability asks for several creatures in play, and I guess the idea is that you’ll be making Zombie tokens so doing that might not be too hard! The ability itself isn’t bad -- as it can give you card selection and/or help you load up the graveyard. Still, I don’t see this being especially good overall.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Soul-Guide Gryff
Galvanic Iteration image 3.0 This starts with great stats. A 3-mana 3/3 with First STrike is relevant pretty much all game long, and Florian does one better by also being a source of card advantage, provided you can cause your opponent to lose life on your turn. And, yeah, a 3-mana 3/3 with First Strike is going to be pretty capable at getting in all on its own, especially if you play it on turn three! BR also has lots of ways of doing 1 or 2 damage to the opponent that will also make the ability work.
Join the Dance image 3.0 Don’t underestimate the Flashback here. Like a lot of Flashback cards, neither the original cost nor the flashback cost is efficient, but the fact remains that over the course of a normal game of Limited, this will give you 4 tokens for only one card, and that’s pretty nice. Just having the Flashback cost to do in the later part of the game is a nice mana sink too. Obviously, GW is all about going wide too, so it will be extra useful there.
Spellrune Painter image 3.5 A 3-mana ⅔ that gets +1/+1 when you cast an instant or sorcery is a pretty solid little card to begin with. It has the kind of stats that make it kind of a pain to block or attack into against an opponent who has mana up and cards in hand. It would probably be a C if that’s all this card was. But, of course, its a werewolf, and if its night time, you get a bigger creature that gets even bigger when you cast an Instant or Sorcery! This thing looks like it will be a real beating.
Thermo-Alchemist image 3.5 Looks who’s back! He was around for our last trip to Innistrad, and he was a COMMON, if you can believe that. He was an excellent spell build around, and did a ton of damage. The great thing about him too, is a two mana 0/3 that can tap to do 1 to your opponent is already kind of a passable card, so the fact that sometimes it will be doing 2 or 3 damage a turn is amazing. I don’t think one really has to give this a build around grade, because the floor is so reasonable.
Howl of the Hunt image 2.5 This kind of card pretty much always performs. Combat tricks and Auras both have some pretty serious problems. The chief one is that you can get totally blown out if you’re not careful. However, Auras with Flash tend to play reasonably well every time we see them, provided they are reasonably costed, and I think this one is. You have to be careful about when you play it of course, but if your opponent has no way to interact, this is basically a combat trick that takes something down, and then the Aura itself sticks around. The fact it works this way helps you mitigate the potential card disadvantage, since you’ll use the Aura to help you kill something up front. The werewolf upside here matters too. You usually want to be the aggressor with a trick, but giving your Wolf or Werewolf pseudo-vigilance is pretty nice, and having the option to ambush block is okay too.
Shady Traveler image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/3 with Menace is a card you’ll play sometimes – probably a 2.5, and it will come into play as or transform into Stalking Predator pretty regularly, in which case you’re getting an amazing deal!
Abandon the Post image 0.0 // 2.5 I’m not a huge fan of this type of card, mostly because it basically does nothing unless you win the game with it. That said, if you have six mana available to cast it both times in a single turn, it does stand a pretty good chance of stealing a win out of nowhere. A card like this is soo all-in on aggro though that I think we do need to give it a buildaround grade If you are an aggro deck, you’ll probably play one copy of this and feel alright about it. Otherwise you pretty much can’t play it.
Ardent Elementalist image 3.0 This will get you a pretty nice 2-for-1 most of the time, especially since as a 2/1, it stands a pretty good chance of trading with something in addition to getting you back a key instant or sorcery.
Silver Bolt image 1.5 If you need removal really badly, you’ll play this in your main deck where it can be kind of passable. Especially because when you end up against werewolves, it will actually be a pretty good deal.
Startle image 2.0 I don’t normally play most Blue “combat tricks” that shrink the power of a creature, but this tacks on enough additional stuff that it seems like it will be pretty solid. The problem with this kind of card is it isn’t always possible for you to trade card-for-card with it, since your creature has to already be big enough to kill the other creature. However, this lets you draw a card and makes you a Decay Zombie, and that’s quite a bit for only two mana! The times where you are able to use this card to help you kill an opposing creature it will feel insane!
Festival Crasher image 0.5 // 2.5 This has a very mediocre baseline. A two mana ⅓ these days is probably a D-. It does have some real upside though, and the threat of activation is pretty real! If your opponent just has a 2/2, and you attack with this and leave mana up, they just can’t afford to block it! Chaining multiple spells together is obviously the dream, but don’t count on doing that a ton in Limited. This will make the cut in decks with a decent number of spells, and probably be something you pass on in any other deck.
Soul-Guide Gryff image 2.5 This has decent Flying stats, and exiling a card with Flashback or Disturb is pretty relevant in the format.
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Novice Occultist
Ominous Roost image 0.0 // 3.5 Obviously, if you don’t have enough Flashback going on, you can’t really play this. It is going to be an F in many, many decks. 3 mana for a 1/1 flyer that can’t block is abysmal! However, if you can get 3 or more tokens with this, and some decks will be able to do it, it is going to be a pretty real win condition in grindy decks with lots of flashback.
Mysterious Tome image 3.0 This has a really neat design, since it will constantly go back and forth. Both sides of the card have a relatively efficient ability. 2 to draw a card, or 1 to tap down a nonland permanent, is pretty nice! Now, you do pay 3 mana up front for something that often won’t impact the board right away -- and keep in mind even when it transforms it stays tapped, so you can never use both abilities in one turn. You’ll use one or the other, and there will definitely be times where you wish you could just stick on one side of the card. But still, this looks like it will grind out value over the course of a long game, both drawing you cards and either slowing down your opponent or allowing you to pressure them thanks to the tap ability. If this format is really fast, this might nto be great -- but with Flashback and Disturbed, it seems kind of unlikely this format will be super fast.
Harvesttide Infiltrator image 2.5 This has a decent fail case as a 3-mana 3/2 with Trample, and sometimes it will be bigger.
Novice Occultist image 2.5 It won’t always be easy to trade with this and get a 2-for-1 since it’s a ½, so ideally you will sacrifice this to something for value, in which case you don’t really go down a card at all! I could see this ending up as a key common for both BW and UB.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Famished Foragers image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is sort of passable already, and this will often be able to come down and give you some mana, which -- if nothing else, you can use to rummage using its ability. Sometimes, it will enable a pretty impressive double spell turn too, which will feel amazing. You won’t always be making that happen, but the card has a very reasonable baseline and a pretty nice ceiling.
Stolen Vitality image 1.5 This is a decent trick that give you lethal out of nowhere on an attacking creature, and one that can also be used defensive quite effectly thanks to the First Strike. Now, using this kind of card defensively is definitely not optimal, but it is upside for sure. I don’t love that it only bumps toughness by 1, since if you’re the one attacking, there’s still a good chance your creature will die.
Consider image 1.5 This format has a spells matter deck in UR and it has various graveyard synergies, so this seems like a decent inclusion. It is a lot like Opt, and that’s not a bad comparison! That said, it is also pretty darn replaceable, especially if you’re not in a deck that cares about the graveyard or spells, and it will often be an easy card to cut in those situations.
Search Party Captain image 3.5 A 4-mana 2/2 that draws you a card is like a 2.0, and decreasing that cost even by 1 is a huge upgrade. So, the fact that sometimes you can play this for two or one mana and then cast what you draw seems really good. This is one of White’s better Commons.
Brimstone Vandal image 2.5 A 3-mana ⅔ with Menace is already something you play a decent chunk of the time, so the addition Night and Day value here is pretty great! On its own, it is a 3-mana ⅔ with Menace, and will do a a bit of damage over the course of the game. This is a quality common.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Shadowbeast Sighting image 3.0 This is decently efficient when you first cast it, and when you cast it the second time you’re going to be getting a 2-for-1.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Siege Zombie
Storm Skreelix image 3.0 This is a pretty nice signpost for Blue Red, as it is simultaneously a cost reduction effect for spells and a win condition for those spell decks. It will often be a 4/4, especially in a set with flashback! It seems strong enough to me that it can pull you into its colors and is worth a first pick sometimes.
Delver of Secrets image 1.0 // 3.0 Obviously, this is a multi-format all star in constructed and one of the best creatures ever printed. This is because in constructed, you can make a deck where it is trivially easy to flip this, effectively making it a one mana 3/2 with Flying. In Limited that’s...not going to be quite as easy. Even a spell deck that really gets there probably has 10 Instants and Sorceries, so yeah. It will usually take a few triggers to flip. The good news is, a 3/2 Flyer is relevant pretty much all game long, so even if you play this on turn one and it doesn’t flip until turn 4, you’re going to feel okay about it. Thing is, though, if you’ve just got like 3-5 spells, this is unplayable. I think this needs a buildaround grade as a result. It is probably going to be a D or worse in your typical Blue deck, but if you 10+ Instants and Sorceries, it is a quality card.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Siege Zombie image 2.0 This seems passable, as in the early game it has alright stats, and in the late game it can be a real source of reach. It can also help you activate cards that give you a bonus if an opponent has lost life. Still, it does ask for a lot to make the opponent lose that 1 life, and it just won’t always be doable.
Soul-Guide Gryff image 2.5 This has decent Flying stats, and exiling a card with Flashback or Disturb is pretty relevant in the format.
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Startle image 2.0 I don’t normally play most Blue “combat tricks” that shrink the power of a creature, but this tacks on enough additional stuff that it seems like it will be pretty solid. The problem with this kind of card is it isn’t always possible for you to trade card-for-card with it, since your creature has to already be big enough to kill the other creature. However, this lets you draw a card and makes you a Decay Zombie, and that’s quite a bit for only two mana! The times where you are able to use this card to help you kill an opposing creature it will feel insane!
Shady Traveler image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/3 with Menace is a card you’ll play sometimes – probably a 2.5, and it will come into play as or transform into Stalking Predator pretty regularly, in which case you’re getting an amazing deal!
Silver Bolt image 1.5 If you need removal really badly, you’ll play this in your main deck where it can be kind of passable. Especially because when you end up against werewolves, it will actually be a pretty good deal.
Raze the Effigy image 1.5 This format doesn’t have a ton of artifacts, but having the option to destroy an artifact on a decent combat trick certainly makes it more flexible.
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Bereaved Survivor
Bereaved Survivor image 3.0 A 3-mana 2/1 is pretty ugly. Transforming this is fairly doable, though, and once it transforms it is a pretty nice little card, though it won’t always have things worth reanimating.
Dawnhart Wardens image 3.0 A 3-mana 3/3 is a great baseline, and this will pump the power of your whole board some of the time. Seems like a singpost Uncommon that will put you into its colors reasonably often.
Soul-Guide Gryff image 2.5 This has decent Flying stats, and exiling a card with Flashback or Disturb is pretty relevant in the format.
Famished Foragers image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is sort of passable already, and this will often be able to come down and give you some mana, which -- if nothing else, you can use to rummage using its ability. Sometimes, it will enable a pretty impressive double spell turn too, which will feel amazing. You won’t always be making that happen, but the card has a very reasonable baseline and a pretty nice ceiling.
Return to Nature image 0.5 Its nice that this does three different things, making it a more reasonable main deck card, but I’m still pretty skeptical about main decking it on a regular basis. This format has artifacts and enchantments, but not a ton of them, and while exiling something from a graveyard is nice, yo’ure often only getting half a card of value when you do it, since your opponent already cast their spell with flashback or their creature with disturb. I think this should probably still start in your sideboard.
Brimstone Vandal image 2.5 A 3-mana ⅔ with Menace is already something you play a decent chunk of the time, so the addition Night and Day value here is pretty great! On its own, it is a 3-mana ⅔ with Menace, and will do a a bit of damage over the course of the game. This is a quality common.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Crawl from the Cellar image 2.0 This is an interesting take on the usual Sorcery that lets you return two creatures to your hand. The first time you cast this, the value is going to be pretty nice, provided you have a zombie, as it effectively replaces itself while making a creature bigger. The second time is less efficient, but in the you pay 5 mana for a 2-for-1 and two +1/+1 counters, which actually isn’t too bad. Now, you really would prefer to be putting these counters on zombies that don’t have decay to get full value out of them, but a significant chunk of the time that’s probably where the counter goes, and you may also just not have anywhere to put the counter in the first place.
Harvesttide Sentry image 2.5 This has decent base stats and if you can get coven going, it becomes a lot harder to easily block this thing.
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Lunarch Veteran
Duelcraft Trainer image 3.0 A 4-mana 3/3 with First Strike is decent, so the Coven upside is nice to have. Double strike to any one of your creatures is undoubtedly quite powerful. You won’t always be able to pull it off of course, but the floor here is pretty reasonable.
Consider image 1.5 This format has a spells matter deck in UR and it has various graveyard synergies, so this seems like a decent inclusion. It is a lot like Opt, and that’s not a bad comparison! That said, it is also pretty darn replaceable, especially if you’re not in a deck that cares about the graveyard or spells, and it will often be an easy card to cut in those situations.
Festival Crasher image 0.5 // 2.5 This has a very mediocre baseline. A two mana ⅓ these days is probably a D-. It does have some real upside though, and the threat of activation is pretty real! If your opponent just has a 2/2, and you attack with this and leave mana up, they just can’t afford to block it! Chaining multiple spells together is obviously the dream, but don’t count on doing that a ton in Limited. This will make the cut in decks with a decent number of spells, and probably be something you pass on in any other deck.
Lunarch Veteran image 2.5 A two mana 1/1 with the life gain effect certainly isn’t impressive. The Disturb effect really matters though, as getting back a flyer that can also gain you some life. Neither half of this card is going to be letting you trade very often because they are so small, but this still seems like a solid Common.
Candlelit Cavalry image 2.5 On a base level, this is a 5-mana 5/5, something that makes the cut in some Green decks anyway, and it will gain trample sometimes. Seems decent enough.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Gavony Trapper image 3.0 Master Decoys are always pretty nice in Limited. They can act as removal of sorts and stay relevant all game long. This has the additional upside of being a 0 power creature – which might not sound like upside, but in Coven decks having a creature with 0 power can really matter.
Sungold Barrage image 2.5 This is far from premium removal, as cards with 4 toughness aren’t incredibly common to see on the table. They will be a little more common in this set thanks to DFC creatures, who tend to be larger on one side. It can kill a lot of scary things for sure, but it is too situational to be anything more than solid.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Clarion Cathars
Firmament Sage image 3.0 This has some very ugly stats, but it has an ability that is a card-drawing engine. If it manages to stick around, it is definitely going to net you a few cards, and that’s pretty nice.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Electric Revelation image 1.5 This is an expensive Tormenting Voice, buts it’s an instant and it has flashback. This format does have a graveyard theme for sure, so discarding cards to cast this isn’t a huge deal. Still, it doesn’t impact the board in any way, and is replaceable overall.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Stolen Vitality image 1.5 This is a decent trick that give you lethal out of nowhere on an attacking creature, and one that can also be used defensive quite effectly thanks to the First Strike. Now, using this kind of card defensively is definitely not optimal, but it is upside for sure. I don’t love that it only bumps toughness by 1, since if you’re the one attacking, there’s still a good chance your creature will die.
Larder Zombie image 1.5 So, a one mana ⅓ isn’t amazing, especially with Defender! But at least it can block and kill X/1s. Its ability asks for several creatures in play, and I guess the idea is that you’ll be making Zombie tokens so doing that might not be too hard! The ability itself isn’t bad -- as it can give you card selection and/or help you load up the graveyard. Still, I don’t see this being especially good overall.
Clarion Cathars image 2.5 We see this basic card a lot, and its always solid. Two bodies for four mana is nice, and the reasonable stats distributed across them is pretty good.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Thraben Exorcism
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Hedgewitch's Mask image 1.5 This is a decent, albeit unimpressive, piece of Equipment. One to play and two to equip is kind of alright, and the upside of being unblockable by bigger stuff doesn’t hurt. It can help you get Coven. Still, this format doesn’t seem to have a huge equipment theme, and that probably means this gets cut a lot.
Stormrider Spirit image 1.5 This is a reprint from our last trip to Innistrad, where it was mediocre. You can flash it in to ambush block a small thing, and then it is a decent threat in the air, but it isn’t especially efficient.
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Bird Admirer image 2.5 A 3 mana ¼ with Reach makes the cut reasonably often in most Limited formats, and this will sometimes be a much larger creature. Seems like a solid Common to me! I’m giving it a 2.5.
Immolation image 2.5 This is like Red “Dead Weight.” It isn’t quite as good as Dead Weight is, at least as removal, because you don’t really want to pumping the power of a creature -- you want to be outright killing it. But it does have the additional upside of pumping your larger evasive creature so that you can do lethal or something. I do think the ability to kill X/2s for a single mana is pretty nice, but this definitely isn’t premium removal.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Arrogant Outlaw
Village Watch image 2.5 A 5-mana 4/3 with Haste isn’t great, but the fact this can be a 5/4 sometimes is pretty nice. It would be most ideal for it to already be night when it comes down -- if that’s true, you’ll feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. Though, to be honest, a 5-mana 5/4 with Haste while certainly a nice card isn’t great either, and you have to jump through some serious hoops to keep it that way. It does also give Haste to other werewolves, but still.
Devious Cover-Up image 1.0 This is a hard counter, but four mana is a ton to have to have available at the right time, and the additional value this gives you just isn’t going to make up for that.
Otherworldly Gaze image 0.5 Loading the graveyard is important in this format, its true, but a card that pretty much only does that, while giving you some card selection, isn’t something I’m interested in. You never get the card back. There are so many cards that load the graveyard while doing actual other things!
Bounding Wolf image 2.0 Reach is extra good in this format because there are a ton of flyers as a result that everything that has disturb comes back as a Flyer. So if you’re in Green, you’re going to need a way to stop that. Bounding Wolf can do it, and it even ambush block thanks to flash!
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Larder Zombie image 1.5 So, a one mana ⅓ isn’t amazing, especially with Defender! But at least it can block and kill X/1s. Its ability asks for several creatures in play, and I guess the idea is that you’ll be making Zombie tokens so doing that might not be too hard! The ability itself isn’t bad -- as it can give you card selection and/or help you load up the graveyard. Still, I don’t see this being especially good overall.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Silver Bolt
Spellrune Painter image 3.5 A 3-mana ⅔ that gets +1/+1 when you cast an instant or sorcery is a pretty solid little card to begin with. It has the kind of stats that make it kind of a pain to block or attack into against an opponent who has mana up and cards in hand. It would probably be a C if that’s all this card was. But, of course, its a werewolf, and if its night time, you get a bigger creature that gets even bigger when you cast an Instant or Sorcery! This thing looks like it will be a real beating.
Howl of the Hunt image 2.5 This kind of card pretty much always performs. Combat tricks and Auras both have some pretty serious problems. The chief one is that you can get totally blown out if you’re not careful. However, Auras with Flash tend to play reasonably well every time we see them, provided they are reasonably costed, and I think this one is. You have to be careful about when you play it of course, but if your opponent has no way to interact, this is basically a combat trick that takes something down, and then the Aura itself sticks around. The fact it works this way helps you mitigate the potential card disadvantage, since you’ll use the Aura to help you kill something up front. The werewolf upside here matters too. You usually want to be the aggressor with a trick, but giving your Wolf or Werewolf pseudo-vigilance is pretty nice, and having the option to ambush block is okay too.
Abandon the Post image 0.0 // 2.5 I’m not a huge fan of this type of card, mostly because it basically does nothing unless you win the game with it. That said, if you have six mana available to cast it both times in a single turn, it does stand a pretty good chance of stealing a win out of nowhere. A card like this is soo all-in on aggro though that I think we do need to give it a buildaround grade If you are an aggro deck, you’ll probably play one copy of this and feel alright about it. Otherwise you pretty much can’t play it.
Silver Bolt image 1.5 If you need removal really badly, you’ll play this in your main deck where it can be kind of passable. Especially because when you end up against werewolves, it will actually be a pretty good deal.
Festival Crasher image 0.5 // 2.5 This has a very mediocre baseline. A two mana ⅓ these days is probably a D-. It does have some real upside though, and the threat of activation is pretty real! If your opponent just has a 2/2, and you attack with this and leave mana up, they just can’t afford to block it! Chaining multiple spells together is obviously the dream, but don’t count on doing that a ton in Limited. This will make the cut in decks with a decent number of spells, and probably be something you pass on in any other deck.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Duress
Harvesttide Infiltrator image 2.5 This has a decent fail case as a 3-mana 3/2 with Trample, and sometimes it will be bigger.
Stolen Vitality image 1.5 This is a decent trick that give you lethal out of nowhere on an attacking creature, and one that can also be used defensive quite effectly thanks to the First Strike. Now, using this kind of card defensively is definitely not optimal, but it is upside for sure. I don’t love that it only bumps toughness by 1, since if you’re the one attacking, there’s still a good chance your creature will die.
Brimstone Vandal image 2.5 A 3-mana ⅔ with Menace is already something you play a decent chunk of the time, so the addition Night and Day value here is pretty great! On its own, it is a 3-mana ⅔ with Menace, and will do a a bit of damage over the course of the game. This is a quality common.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Pack 2 Pick 12: Startle
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Startle image 2.0 I don’t normally play most Blue “combat tricks” that shrink the power of a creature, but this tacks on enough additional stuff that it seems like it will be pretty solid. The problem with this kind of card is it isn’t always possible for you to trade card-for-card with it, since your creature has to already be big enough to kill the other creature. However, this lets you draw a card and makes you a Decay Zombie, and that’s quite a bit for only two mana! The times where you are able to use this card to help you kill an opposing creature it will feel insane!
Raze the Effigy image 1.5 This format doesn’t have a ton of artifacts, but having the option to destroy an artifact on a decent combat trick certainly makes it more flexible.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Ritual Guardian
Return to Nature image 0.5 Its nice that this does three different things, making it a more reasonable main deck card, but I’m still pretty skeptical about main decking it on a regular basis. This format has artifacts and enchantments, but not a ton of them, and while exiling something from a graveyard is nice, yo’ure often only getting half a card of value when you do it, since your opponent already cast their spell with flashback or their creature with disturb. I think this should probably still start in your sideboard.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Tapping at the Window
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Pack 3 Pick 1: Rite of Oblivion
Siphon Insight image 2.5 While stealing your opponent’s stuff feels extra good, this is basically just a card selection spell. And, that’s not a bad thing, especially when it has Flashback, but it also isn’t incredible either! It gets a bit of a downgrade too from the fact that Flashback and Disturb are both things in this format, and if you choose to go with a card with either of those, you’re basically giving your opponent some very real value. Still, it can hit lands, and hitting land drops early is pretty nice, and of course sometimes you’ll end up stealing some stupid bomb. But, again, its basically just a glorified card selection spell – one that nets you a 2-for-1 after you flash it back, though.
Rite of Oblivion image 3.0 Its nice this can exile any nonland permanent, and even nicer that it has flashback! However, the cost of giving up your own nonland permanent is very real. Now, if you have some Clues and/or Zombie tokens, it won’t hurt too badly, but a lot of the time you’ll be straight up 2-for-1ing yourself. And, that’s something that it is worth doing sometimes. Giving up your worst permanent for their best is reasonable, but going down the full card is still pretty rough. I think the first copy of this looks like an auto-include in BW decks, but beyond that first one, I’d be skeptical.
Faithful Mending image 3.0 Looting twice and gaining some life isn’t a bad deal for two mana, and being able to do it again from the graveyard is pretty nice. This will let you see a ton of cards in your deck, while simultaneously helping you put things in your graveyard. It does have the downside of, you know, not doing a whole lot immediately, but the life gain does help out a tiny bit on that front. I think the first copy looks appealing in most UW decks, but you don’t want to stock up on too many cards that don’t affect the board.
Mysterious Tome image 3.0 This has a really neat design, since it will constantly go back and forth. Both sides of the card have a relatively efficient ability. 2 to draw a card, or 1 to tap down a nonland permanent, is pretty nice! Now, you do pay 3 mana up front for something that often won’t impact the board right away -- and keep in mind even when it transforms it stays tapped, so you can never use both abilities in one turn. You’ll use one or the other, and there will definitely be times where you wish you could just stick on one side of the card. But still, this looks like it will grind out value over the course of a long game, both drawing you cards and either slowing down your opponent or allowing you to pressure them thanks to the tap ability. If this format is really fast, this might nto be great -- but with Flashback and Disturbed, it seems kind of unlikely this format will be super fast.
Clarion Cathars image 2.5 We see this basic card a lot, and its always solid. Two bodies for four mana is nice, and the reasonable stats distributed across them is pretty good.
Ecstatic Awakener image 2.5 One mana 1/1s are pretty bad, they just lose relevance quickly. The Awakener gets around that to some extent as a result of its ability to transform into Awoken Demon. Transforming it is a little bit steep at 3 mana and sacrificing something, but there is going to be some significant sacrifice fodder in both Black/White and Blue/Black, so it won’t hurt quite as much as it might look at first. Still, you aren’t really doing incredible when you transform this into a 4/4.
Gavony Trapper image 3.0 Master Decoys are always pretty nice in Limited. They can act as removal of sorts and stay relevant all game long. This has the additional upside of being a 0 power creature – which might not sound like upside, but in Coven decks having a creature with 0 power can really matter.
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Shipwreck Sifters image 1.5 A two mana ½ who loots is fine, and this one can get bigger. I don’t think you’ll want to discard a spirit or a card with Disturb to it all that often, since the power of those cards is often in the fact that you get the two bodies, but you’ll discard those things sometimes and it’ll get bigger.
Snarling Wolf image 2.0 Rootwalla is back, albeit in Wolf form! This kind of card tends to feel pretty good early, as your opponent just can’t block it because of the threat of activation, and then the fact it can become a 3/3 keeps it relevant in the later game too. Seems like a solid playable for aggressive Green decks.
Homestead Courage image 1.0 This gives a nice, efficient boost twice. It isn’t a boost that always makes a difference, though, and even when it does, I’m not sure it will always feel like you’re getting a full card worth of value. Being cheap to flashback is good for flashback payoffs, and also makes it easy to turn it back into day, and that matters.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Pestilent Wolf image 2.5 That’s a lot of mana to give a bear Deathtouch! Still, it starts out as a two mana 2/2, and has the ability to trade with anything later in the game. Wolf is also a somewhat useful creature type. I think the whole package is probably a 2.5
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Search Party Captain
Suspicious Stowaway image 4.0 So, I would pretty much always play this card even if it was only ever Suspicious Stowaway. An unblockable creature that loots for you every turn is a pretty nice thing to have around, and would be at least a 3.0. Then you add the Nighttime version of the Stowaway to the mix and it gets even crazier, since it hits harder and now just straight up draws you cards. He is small and fragile on both sides, dying to almost every removal spell in the format but he will run away with the game in a hurry if your opponent doesn’t have it.
Defend the Celestus image 2.0 4 mana combat tricks are normally something I steer away from. That’s a ton of mana for an effect that might help you win combat but is also quite risky. But this card does a few things that make this a solid combat trick. First, the boost is permanent because of the counters, and second, because you can distribute the counters, this will sometimes get you a 2-for-1, and even more rarely get you a 3-for-1, and that is definitely worth the mana! It also helps you get Coven. Don’t get me wrong -- it is still a trick -- and a clunky one, but I think the first copy of this seems reasonable in aggressive Green decks.
Purifying Dragon image 3.5 This has great stats to start with -- a 5-mana 4/3 Flyer is pretty frightening in Limited! But it also comes with the ability to kill small stuff when it attacks. Oh, and the 2 damage to a zombie part isn’t minor upside in this set either, there are a ton of zombies wandering around, and 2 damage is enough to kill most of them.
Bird Admirer image 2.5 A 3 mana ¼ with Reach makes the cut reasonably often in most Limited formats, and this will sometimes be a much larger creature. Seems like a solid Common to me! I’m giving it a 2.5.
Blood Pact image 2.0 Its nice this is an Instant, it makes it a lot more palatable that it is. Instant speed Divination for three mana is pretty nice, and most Black decks will play the first copy of this. In a pinch, you can also use it to do 2 to your opponent, either to finish them off or trigger a bunch of your pseudo-bloodthirst effects, but mostly you’ll want to be drawing the cards.
Search Party Captain image 3.5 A 4-mana 2/2 that draws you a card is like a 2.0, and decreasing that cost even by 1 is a huge upgrade. So, the fact that sometimes you can play this for two or one mana and then cast what you draw seems really good. This is one of White’s better Commons.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Stuffed Bear image 1.0 This set doesn’t have much of an Artifact theme. If it did, the BEar would be a little more interesting. As it is, it is a creature that you have to pay mana for every turn to actually make into a creature. And, while that activation isn’t so bad the first time around, you eventually end up having to pay a ton of mana for this to actually be a card on the board that matters, and I don’t really think you want to be doing that.
Festival Crasher image 0.5 // 2.5 This has a very mediocre baseline. A two mana ⅓ these days is probably a D-. It does have some real upside though, and the threat of activation is pretty real! If your opponent just has a 2/2, and you attack with this and leave mana up, they just can’t afford to block it! Chaining multiple spells together is obviously the dream, but don’t count on doing that a ton in Limited. This will make the cut in decks with a decent number of spells, and probably be something you pass on in any other deck.
Sungold Barrage image 2.5 This is far from premium removal, as cards with 4 toughness aren’t incredibly common to see on the table. They will be a little more common in this set thanks to DFC creatures, who tend to be larger on one side. It can kill a lot of scary things for sure, but it is too situational to be anything more than solid.
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Fleshtaker
Fleshtaker image 4.0 This looks like a pretty strong signpost Uncommon. It starts with solid base stats, and every time it attacks your opponent really has to take stock of just how big it might become! On top of that, it is a more general sacrifice payoff, which works with itself as well as other cards, and gaining life and scrying is pretty nice additional value to add to sacrifices.
Outland Liberator image 3.0 A two mana 2/2 that can sac to blow up an artifact or enchantment would make the cut in pretty much every Limited format. It is nice having a reasonably-statted creature that can deal with permanents that can be quite hard to deal with in Limited! And once night rolls around, this one gets even scarier, not only becoming larger, but also just decimating the artifacts and enchantments your opponent has, since it can blow them up with each attack. Artifacts and Enchantments aren’t massive themes in this set, and that does hold it back some, but it will still be nice card to have in Green decks
Mourning Patrol image 2.5 A 3-mana 2/3 with Vigilance is fine, so the fact that this can come back as a 2/1 with Flying and Vigilance is pretty nice! Both halves in this case very capable of trading, too.
Immolation image 2.5 This is like Red “Dead Weight.” It isn’t quite as good as Dead Weight is, at least as removal, because you don’t really want to pumping the power of a creature -- you want to be outright killing it. But it does have the additional upside of pumping your larger evasive creature so that you can do lethal or something. I do think the ability to kill X/2s for a single mana is pretty nice, but this definitely isn’t premium removal.
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Bounding Wolf image 2.0 Reach is extra good in this format because there are a ton of flyers as a result that everything that has disturb comes back as a Flyer. So if you’re in Green, you’re going to need a way to stop that. Bounding Wolf can do it, and it even ambush block thanks to flash!
Hobbling Zombie image 3.0 We often see 3-mana 2/2s with Deathtouch, and they are usually like a C. The ability to trade for anything is nice, after all! But this can do that and make a Zombie token. Obviously, it is a big down grade from a regular 2/2 zombie, but it is still enough additional upside for this to move up to 3.0.
Revenge of the Drowned image 2.5 4 mana to Time Ebb a creature isn’t amazing. It does let you trade 1-for-1 with what you target, since your opponent has to redraw that card again, and that’s nice. The 2/2 Zombie of course can’t block, so you can’t really manufacture a huge blowout most of the time. It is a body that will be relevant when you untap though.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 This is always really nice fixing, and I tend to like it even more than the rare dual lands here, especially because it throws itself in the graveyard and that definitely matters in this set.
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Unblinking Observer image 2.5 This will help you cast enough stuff that it seems like a solid Common. It fits nicely in the UR spells deck and the UW deck, which will be the most disturb heavy deck in the format. I’m giving it a 2.5.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Cathar Commando
Heirloom Mirror image 4.0 So, this is not a flip card that does anything with “nightbound” or “daybound,” so it will always be Heirloom Mirror when you first play it. That part of the card isn’t amazing. It lets you rummage and stock your graveyard, and both of those things matter in this format, but if that’s all this was, I have my doubts that it would be worth a slot in your deck. However, what’s nice here, is that you can use the Mirror to help improve your draws and stock your graveyard for a while, and then it can just turn into a straight up win condition! A 4/4 Flyer that can get bigger by exiling things from graveyards is very, very real, and you actually pay a pretty reasonable rate overall -- between casting the MIrror and using the ability three times, and you get a pretty scary threat. I think its really nice that this has an early game mode that can be decently useful, and then turns into a demon.
Join the Dance image 3.0 Don’t underestimate the Flashback here. Like a lot of Flashback cards, neither the original cost nor the flashback cost is efficient, but the fact remains that over the course of a normal game of Limited, this will give you 4 tokens for only one card, and that’s pretty nice. Just having the Flashback cost to do in the later part of the game is a nice mana sink too. Obviously, GW is all about going wide too, so it will be extra useful there.
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Lambholt Harrier image 2.0 This is a Bear that stays relevant all game long thanks to its ability. Now, that ability is pretty pricey, and you’ll normally only be able to make one thing unable to block, but it is an ability your opponent has to account for in the late game, as making one thing unable to block can really help someone find lethal out of nowhere.
Silver Bolt image 1.5 If you need removal really badly, you’ll play this in your main deck where it can be kind of passable. Especially because when you end up against werewolves, it will actually be a pretty good deal.
Cathar Commando image 2.5 You can flash this in to ambush block an X/3, and most X/3s will cost more than the Commando, so that’s nice! The additional utility of blowing up artifacts and enchantments doesn’t hurt either. This is a solid Common.
Ecstatic Awakener image 2.5 One mana 1/1s are pretty bad, they just lose relevance quickly. The Awakener gets around that to some extent as a result of its ability to transform into Awoken Demon. Transforming it is a little bit steep at 3 mana and sacrificing something, but there is going to be some significant sacrifice fodder in both Black/White and Blue/Black, so it won’t hurt quite as much as it might look at first. Still, you aren’t really doing incredible when you transform this into a 4/4.
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Unruly Mob image 2.0 This is a reprint from our other two visits to Innistrad, and it wasn’t very good either time -- a 1.5 at best! It does grow as the game goes on, but it starts really small and grows pretty slowly. Only growing when your creatures die is tricky too. However, this will probably be better in this format than we’ve seen in the past, mostly because BW is a sacrifice deck this time around, and that combos pretty well with the Mob. The GW deck has lots of tokens too, so yeah, I think maybe this ends up being a solid playable this time around.
Rotten Reunion image 1.5 Hating on a couple graveyard cards and getting a couple of Zombies that can either pressure your opponent or act as sacrifice fodder seems alright for a three mana investment.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Novice Occultist
Nebelgast Intruder image 3.5 Lately, we’ve seen a lot of Blue creatures with Flash that reduce the power of something when they come down. Some of them have been pretty good -- like Faerie Duelist. Others have been pretty mediocre, like Burrog Befuddler. I think this one ends up being pretty good though. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flash and Flying is already pretty playable, so adding an ability that, at the very least, makes you take less damage, isn’t too shabby. Especially because sometimes reducing a creature’s power will give you a whole card worth of value on its own! This is a very good Uncommon.
Turn the Earth image 0.5 This is mostly here to hate on graveyards. And, even in a format with lots of graveyard stuff going on, I don’t love it. It has one pretty narrow purpose that just isn’t worth using up a card for in a Limited deck. This is for the sideboard. It will be an F in your main deck, and maybe a C- against an opponent who has lots of graveyard shenanigans, but even then I’m not super interested in this.
Pestilent Wolf image 2.5 That’s a lot of mana to give a bear Deathtouch! Still, it starts out as a two mana 2/2, and has the ability to trade with anything later in the game. Wolf is also a somewhat useful creature type. I think the whole package is probably a 2.5
Lambholt Harrier image 2.0 This is a Bear that stays relevant all game long thanks to its ability. Now, that ability is pretty pricey, and you’ll normally only be able to make one thing unable to block, but it is an ability your opponent has to account for in the late game, as making one thing unable to block can really help someone find lethal out of nowhere.
Soul-Guide Gryff image 2.5 This has decent Flying stats, and exiling a card with Flashback or Disturb is pretty relevant in the format.
Novice Occultist image 2.5 It won’t always be easy to trade with this and get a 2-for-1 since it’s a ½, so ideally you will sacrifice this to something for value, in which case you don’t really go down a card at all! I could see this ending up as a key common for both BW and UB.
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Pack's Betrayal image 1.0 Rummaging a few times a came with this seems fine, but not exactly game breaking. It does have decent stats to go along with that ability.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Baithook Angler image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common. A two mana 2/1 can trade with lots of stuff, and then the fact that you can get another reasonably costed body out of your graveyard is pretty amazing. I mean, that’s 4 mana for a 2/1 and a ½ Flyer. And sure, you don’t get the bodies at the same time, but that’s still a pretty nice card.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Ghoulish Procession
Ghoulish Procession image 3.0 If your deck has a decent number of non-token creatures and/or lots of way to take down opposing creatures, this looks pretty nice. And doing either of those things in Black doesn’t look crazy difficult! Sure, the tokens are temporary, but paying two mana for a token factory like this seems very nice, even if they are decaying.
Rite of Oblivion image 3.0 Its nice this can exile any nonland permanent, and even nicer that it has flashback! However, the cost of giving up your own nonland permanent is very real. Now, if you have some Clues and/or Zombie tokens, it won’t hurt too badly, but a lot of the time you’ll be straight up 2-for-1ing yourself. And, that’s something that it is worth doing sometimes. Giving up your worst permanent for their best is reasonable, but going down the full card is still pretty rough. I think the first copy of this looks like an auto-include in BW decks, but beyond that first one, I’d be skeptical.
Unruly Mob image 2.0 This is a reprint from our other two visits to Innistrad, and it wasn’t very good either time -- a 1.5 at best! It does grow as the game goes on, but it starts really small and grows pretty slowly. Only growing when your creatures die is tricky too. However, this will probably be better in this format than we’ve seen in the past, mostly because BW is a sacrifice deck this time around, and that combos pretty well with the Mob. The GW deck has lots of tokens too, so yeah, I think maybe this ends up being a solid playable this time around.
Tavern Ruffian image 3.0 In most formats, a 4-mana ⅖ isn’t something that Red is interested in, though those are fairly reasonable defensive stats. However, this is a werewolf, and that means that if its already night time you get a 4-mana 6/5, and it also means that it can become one at some point in the game. That’s a pretty nice deal. And yeah, it isn’t always super easy to control what time of day it is, but this still seems like a solid Red Common to me.
Path to the Festival image 2.0 This is pretty clunky since it doesn't add to the board at all. It can do it again from the graveyard though, which can potentially really turbo your mana. It is also reasonable fixing, and if you're splashing a third color, that Scry will be nice.
Otherworldly Gaze image 0.5 Loading the graveyard is important in this format, its true, but a card that pretty much only does that, while giving you some card selection, isn’t something I’m interested in. You never get the card back. There are so many cards that load the graveyard while doing actual other things!
Consider image 1.5 This format has a spells matter deck in UR and it has various graveyard synergies, so this seems like a decent inclusion. It is a lot like Opt, and that’s not a bad comparison! That said, it is also pretty darn replaceable, especially if you’re not in a deck that cares about the graveyard or spells, and it will often be an easy card to cut in those situations.
Bramble Armor image 2.5 This is a pretty decent boost when it equips for free, and it will also help you get coven online if that’s what you need. Equipping it after that first time is a little rough for sure, but if it keeps giving you coven or making creature sin to threats, that is reasonable.
Plummet image 0.5 This format has lots of flyers as a result of Disturb, so Plummet might be a bit better here in the main deck than it is in most formats, but I think you’d still prefer to bring it in out of your sideboard. It is hard to guarantee it will have enough targets against some of the color pairs.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Rotten Reunion
Ghoulish Procession image 3.0 If your deck has a decent number of non-token creatures and/or lots of way to take down opposing creatures, this looks pretty nice. And doing either of those things in Black doesn’t look crazy difficult! Sure, the tokens are temporary, but paying two mana for a token factory like this seems very nice, even if they are decaying.
Pestilent Wolf image 2.5 That’s a lot of mana to give a bear Deathtouch! Still, it starts out as a two mana 2/2, and has the ability to trade with anything later in the game. Wolf is also a somewhat useful creature type. I think the whole package is probably a 2.5
Unblinking Observer image 2.5 This will help you cast enough stuff that it seems like a solid Common. It fits nicely in the UR spells deck and the UW deck, which will be the most disturb heavy deck in the format. I’m giving it a 2.5.
Tavern Ruffian image 3.0 In most formats, a 4-mana ⅖ isn’t something that Red is interested in, though those are fairly reasonable defensive stats. However, this is a werewolf, and that means that if its already night time you get a 4-mana 6/5, and it also means that it can become one at some point in the game. That’s a pretty nice deal. And yeah, it isn’t always super easy to control what time of day it is, but this still seems like a solid Red Common to me.
Electric Revelation image 1.5 This is an expensive Tormenting Voice, buts it’s an instant and it has flashback. This format does have a graveyard theme for sure, so discarding cards to cast this isn’t a huge deal. Still, it doesn’t impact the board in any way, and is replaceable overall.
Rotten Reunion image 1.5 Hating on a couple graveyard cards and getting a couple of Zombies that can either pressure your opponent or act as sacrifice fodder seems alright for a three mana investment.
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Eccentric Farmer image 1.5 Lands will end up in your graveyard more often than normal in this format because of self-mill, and the Farmer brings some of that mill with him! You’ll get a land out of this reasonably often, and making sure you hit your next land drop and loading your graveyard has decent value.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Moonsilver Key
Moonsilver Key image 2.5 This gives you fixing, and one is often in the market for that in Limited, since splashing bombs is usually a good idea. You won’t have many artifacts to get with the Key, though there are a few of them.
Electric Revelation image 1.5 This is an expensive Tormenting Voice, buts it’s an instant and it has flashback. This format does have a graveyard theme for sure, so discarding cards to cast this isn’t a huge deal. Still, it doesn’t impact the board in any way, and is replaceable overall.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Duress image 0.5 As always, this is a sideboard card. It misses too often to be worth it in your main deck. Even when you can hit stuff with it, it might have Flashback!
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Startle image 2.0 I don’t normally play most Blue “combat tricks” that shrink the power of a creature, but this tacks on enough additional stuff that it seems like it will be pretty solid. The problem with this kind of card is it isn’t always possible for you to trade card-for-card with it, since your creature has to already be big enough to kill the other creature. However, this lets you draw a card and makes you a Decay Zombie, and that’s quite a bit for only two mana! The times where you are able to use this card to help you kill an opposing creature it will feel insane!
Pack 3 Pick 9: Homestead Courage
Ritual Guardian image 2.0 If this was a 3-mana 3/2 that always had Lifelink, it would probably be a 2.5 or 3.0. The fact this won’t always have it, and in fact probably won’t have it a decent chunk of the time, makes this significanlty worse than that, because a 3-mana 3/2 is just an ugly stat line these days.
Shipwreck Sifters image 1.5 A two mana ½ who loots is fine, and this one can get bigger. I don’t think you’ll want to discard a spirit or a card with Disturb to it all that often, since the power of those cards is often in the fact that you get the two bodies, but you’ll discard those things sometimes and it’ll get bigger.
Homestead Courage image 1.0 This gives a nice, efficient boost twice. It isn’t a boost that always makes a difference, though, and even when it does, I’m not sure it will always feel like you’re getting a full card worth of value. Being cheap to flashback is good for flashback payoffs, and also makes it easy to turn it back into day, and that matters.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Pestilent Wolf image 2.5 That’s a lot of mana to give a bear Deathtouch! Still, it starts out as a two mana 2/2, and has the ability to trade with anything later in the game. Wolf is also a somewhat useful creature type. I think the whole package is probably a 2.5
Mounted Dreadknight image 2.0 This has a decent baseline, and sometimes it will be especially big. Not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Stuffed Bear
Bird Admirer image 2.5 A 3 mana ¼ with Reach makes the cut reasonably often in most Limited formats, and this will sometimes be a much larger creature. Seems like a solid Common to me! I’m giving it a 2.5.
Blood Pact image 2.0 Its nice this is an Instant, it makes it a lot more palatable that it is. Instant speed Divination for three mana is pretty nice, and most Black decks will play the first copy of this. In a pinch, you can also use it to do 2 to your opponent, either to finish them off or trigger a bunch of your pseudo-bloodthirst effects, but mostly you’ll want to be drawing the cards.
Component Collector image 1.5 This has decent stats and an ability that will give you a bit of value, though it certainly isn’t exciting
Secrets of the Key image 3.0 Paying one Blue to investigate isn’t great, even to me, and I love Clue tokens! However, the additional flashback on it is very real, and means that in the end, this card end sup being a 3-for-1, even if it does it kind of slowly. You end up paying 5 mana for three Clues, and that’s not too shabby. Between Flashback, Investigate, and Disturb, this format looks to be kind of slow and grindy, and if that’s true, Secrets of the Key will be something you want one of in virtually all of your Blue decks, as the card advantage is very real. I thinkt he first copy will be a 3.0, though they do have diminishing returns after that because it doesn’t really impact the board.
Stuffed Bear image 1.0 This set doesn’t have much of an Artifact theme. If it did, the BEar would be a little more interesting. As it is, it is a creature that you have to pay mana for every turn to actually make into a creature. And, while that activation isn’t so bad the first time around, you eventually end up having to pay a ton of mana for this to actually be a card on the board that matters, and I don’t really think you want to be doing that.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Arrogant Outlaw
Arrogant Outlaw image 2.0 When this is just a 3-mana 3/2, it won’t feel great. But sometimes, it will drain the opponent two life, which will feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. You’ll probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, but playing it isn’t a disaster.
Bounding Wolf image 2.0 Reach is extra good in this format because there are a ton of flyers as a result that everything that has disturb comes back as a Flyer. So if you’re in Green, you’re going to need a way to stop that. Bounding Wolf can do it, and it even ambush block thanks to flash!
Geistwave image 2.5 This is a neat design for a bounce spell.. Bouncing an opposing nonland permanent for two mana is usually a decent card. It doesn’t give you the value of a whole card unless you use it in response to a trick or something, but it gives you some reasonable tempo and has that blow out upside. Using this to bounce your own thing is actually pretty interesting, since you do net a card, and if what you’re bouncing gives you some value from bouncing it, that’s going to feel pretty good! Especially if you do it in response to removal or something like that. Its probably just a C, but the “bounce your own stuff” upside is very real.
Unblinking Observer image 2.5 This will help you cast enough stuff that it seems like a solid Common. It fits nicely in the UR spells deck and the UW deck, which will be the most disturb heavy deck in the format. I’m giving it a 2.5.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Rotten Reunion
Jack-o'-Lantern image 1.5 Well, if this set wasn’t screaming “Halloween!” at you already, it is now! This card looks kind of alright for Limited. Exiling a problem card in a graveyard and drawing a card for a total investment of two mana really isn’t that bad, and then it is fixing from your graveyard too, which seems fine. I definitely don’t think you always run this, but it seems like it will be your 23rd card sometimes, especially if you’re interested in the fixing.
Tapping at the Window image 2.5 This gives some decent card selection while also loading your graveyard, and you end up with a 2-for-1 after you cast it the second time – and you’ve also seen a ton of cards!
Rotten Reunion image 1.5 Hating on a couple graveyard cards and getting a couple of Zombies that can either pressure your opponent or act as sacrifice fodder seems alright for a three mana investment.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Thraben Exorcism
Thraben Exorcism image 0.5 Against some opponents this will feel really good -- namely, against UW -- but against other decks it just won’t have targets often enough to be worth it.
Blessed Defiance image 1.0 This doesn’t seem like a great trick to me. Only increasing power means there’s a good chance your creature will be dying, and while the life that you gain and the 1/1 flyer you get in exchange for that makes a difference, it will still usually feel like you’re getting 2-for-1’d when you use this.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Plummet
Plummet image 0.5 This format has lots of flyers as a result of Disturb, so Plummet might be a bit better here in the main deck than it is in most formats, but I think you’d still prefer to bring it in out of your sideboard. It is hard to guarantee it will have enough targets against some of the color pairs.
Draft Pick Overview