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Premier Draft BRO 2 December 2022

2 December 08:21 - jnrtfg 7 Wins - 1 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (16)
1 Teething Wurmlet image
3 Argothian Opportunist image
1 Power Plant Worker image
1 Boulderbranch Golem image
1 Tower Worker image
1 Blitz Automaton image
1 Tyrant of Kher Ridges image
1 Mishra, Excavation Prodigy image
1 Perennial Behemoth image
1 Mine Worker image
2 Rust Goliath image
1 Sarinth Steelseeker image
1 Obstinate Baloth image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (7)
1 Gaea's Gift image
1 Unleash Shell image
1 Brotherhood's End image
1 Energy Refractor image
1 Raze to the Ground image
1 Journeyer's Kite image
1 Whirling Strike image
Land (17)
9 Mountain image
8 Forest image
Sideboard
1 Heavyweight Demolisher image
1 Clay Revenant image
2 Swiftgear Drake image
1 Blitz Automaton image
1 Retrieval Agent image
2 Penregon Strongbull image
1 Spotter Thopter image
1 Blanchwood Armor image
2 Disenchant image
1 Thran Vigil image
1 Unleash Shell image
1 Giant Growth image
1 One with the Multiverse image
1 Fallaji Excavation image
1 The Stasis Coffin image
1 Fog of War image
1 Wasteful Harvest image
1 Brushland image
1 Battlefield Forge image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Teething Wurmlet
Swiftfoot Boots image 3.0 The Boots are pretty nice on the right creature, though the downside they always have is that the creature you put it on already has to be pretty impressive, otherwise it makes very little difference! That said, once you have a creature worth protecting, the Boots are a nightmare for your opponent! It doesn’t hurt that they can also give haste, something that can really change your attacks.
Teething Wurmlet image 4.0 This is quite the one drop! Gaining one life every single time an artifact enters under your control is nice, but the fact you can get a counter on this once a turn is great, especially because it counts things like powerstones entering the battlefield
Su-Chi Cave Guard image 4.0 This is a quality thing to ramp into with your Powerstones. It is huge, hard to kill, and can play offense and defense! Plus, if it dies, it gives you a whole bunch of mana, and this format has a decent number of mana sinks around since they wanted you to have stuff to do with your power stones
Yotian Dissident image 3.5 This counts artifacts that come into play in any way at all, and that includes making powerstone tokens. This looks like it will be capable of stacking up a whole lot of counters! It does start very small and vulnerable, though.
Lay Down Arms image 3.0 This is at its best if you go mono-white, and at the very least you do need to be pretty heavy into White – like 10+ Plains – but as long as you can use this to consistently hit things with a mana value of three or less, it is going to be a very good removal spell, and I think that is certainly something most decks can achieve. It gets better if you go harder into White, of course.
Citanul Stalwart image 2.0 Even with powerstones, it can be a little tricky finding a way to consistently use this to fix and ramp your mana. There will be times where you just can’t do it, and its an ability that isn’t that great in the late game. That said, this format does have many payoffs for doing such a thing, and the powerstones certainly make this better.
Power Plant Worker image 2.0 This is a fun cycle, since they all reference the original Urza lands. I think the card seems pretty decent too. The stats aren’t great, but +2/+2 for three mana isn’t the worst rate in a set with power stones everywhere. I wouldn’t count on getting all three of these in play, but you might achieve it on occasion.
Curate image 2.5 This lets you see up to three cards and can let you put advantageous cards in the graveyard, and that’s pretty nice – especially in a format with a spell deck and a card draw deck!
Prison Sentence image 3.5 Arrest is always nice, and this comes with Scry 2 upside, so it is certainly premium. The format does have a sacrifice deck, which weakens a card like this, but it still looks pretty darn good.
Mishra's Onslaught image 1.5 You are overpaying for both modes on this card – usually each of these effects costs three. You do get some modality here, but the token effect is generally underpowered while the mass pump effect is narrow, so I think this will get cut a fair bit
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Tower Worker image 2.0 Ramp is a real thing in this format, so this will certainly be seeing some play. Getting the other two Assembly-Workers in play at the same time is a fun goal, but don’t count on it
Trench Stalker image 2.0 If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Air Marshal image 2.5 Three mana is kind of a lot for giving Flying only to creatures with a particular type, but the good news is that it is easier than normal to produce mana to pay for abilities in this set thanks to powerstones and there are lots of soldiers. It can also target itself.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Brushland
Millstone image 1.0 Now we’ve got the original mill card, which is where the mechanic gets its name! And…it also isn’t great in Limited, though the fact that you actually can control who this hurts more makes it better than something like the Orb. This can actually win you some games if you’re a control deck, but most of the time you’d rather just have something that actually adds to the board.
Brushland image 2.5 These do a good job of fixing your mana for you. They will probably be a little better here than in Dominaria United, because this format doesn’t have Domain and a cycle of common dual lands that are better!
Repair and Recharge image 1.0 5 mana to reanimate something is usually a pretty disappointing card in most Limited formats, and this can’t even get back creatures if they aren’t Artifacts. While it is nice it can get both Enchantments and Artifacts, leaving creatures out is a pretty big problem, as it makes the card even more limited. If you have a lot of artifact creatures, it definitely gets better – and it can be kind of fun to use it reanimate a creature with Prototype, since they will come into play in their biggest form – and milling something like Su-Chi and reanimating with this on turn five seems pretty cool, but unfortunately I think those things will be far too challenging.
Fallaji Dragon Engine image 3.0 So, a three mana ⅓ with Flying that can raise its power is probably a 2.5, and an 8 mana 5/5 Flyer with that ability is probably a 1.5. However, a card that can be either of those things is significantly better, especially in a set with an Artifact theme!
Thran Power Suit image 1.5 On its own, this is a two mana to play and two to equip equipment that grants +1/+1 and Ward 2. The Ward 2 is a pretty nice thing to have, as it makes your investment in equipping it feel a little less painful.
Veteran's Powerblade image 1.5 One mana to equip this is pretty nice, but three to cast is always going to feel pretty ugly. Still, it makes your solder tokens into 3/1s, which means they can swing in most cases! Obviously works with other soldiers too, but I don’t really feel like this is the soldier payoff you’re really hoping for when you draft the UW deck.
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Wing Commando image 3.5 We have seen a three mana 2/2 Flyer with Prowess before, and it was really good, and I think this will be too. This will be a 3/3 a significant chunk of the time, and any time you attack your opponent with it they have to consider the threat of activation, often making it very hard to block this.
Penregon Strongbull image 3.0 This looks pretty sweet. There are plenty of artifacts to sacrifice, including the powerstones that can help pay for the ability, which effectively makes this say “Sacrifice a powerstone: It gets +1/+1 and deals 1 damage to an opponent.” The ability is just very affordable, and this creature attacking with a few artifacts in play is going to be a pretty sizable problem. Love that it also damages the opponent, giving it the capability of doing some very significant damage if it goes unblocked
Scrapwork Rager image 3.0 This is a fun reference to Phyrexian Rager. When you cast it, it is a little bit worse, since you pay one more mana for the same effect – but the Unearth side of things means this bad boy gives you a 2-for-1, and that’s pretty nice.
Airlift Chaplain image 3.0 Chances are decent you’ll hit something you can get back with the mill trigger, and if you don’t or choose not to get something back, you get a three mana 2/2 with Flying that loaded your graveyard some, which is pretty nice.
Deadly Riposte image 2.5 This is a solid removal spell for non-aggressive decks, as removing something and gaining life goes a long way towards helping you stabilize. Meanwhile, it is pretty bad in a deck that wants to be aggressive, as you’d rather have removal that can deal with blockers, and this just doesn’t! It demands a tapped creature and the creature has to be small for this to do its job, so it certainly isn’t premium.
Gaea's Gift image 2.0 This is a nice trick. In addition to doing a good job of helping a creature win combat, the slew of keywords it gets makes it so you can blank most removal when you cast it. We’ve seen a lot o tricks like this of late, and they’ve all ended up being a card you always want one or two of in aggressive decks, and I think that’s what we have here
Blanchwood Prowler image 3.0 This is either a two mana 1/1 that draws you a land and loads your graveyard, or a two mana 2/2 that loads your graveyard. Both of those options are solid, and you can get some extra value out of milling yourself in Green, as the Green-Black deck is all about it
Pack 1 Pick 3: Argothian Opportunist
Mishra's Bauble image 1.5 This is a free artifact that replaces itself, though it does take a whole turn to actually replace itself, so the UR deck won’t be quite as excited about this one
Meticulous Excavation image 0.0 I don’t think this is very good. It does give you ways to rebuy ETB abilities and the like, but it asks for a ton of mana that you’re only going to have available in the extreme late game. And yes, with powerstones around this will be easier to use, but I don’t think that makes enough of a difference. The whole Unearth part of the card is kind of silly too, because to take advantage of it, you’re going to need to pay to Unearth a creature and then pay three more to return it to your hand so you get to keep it around. That’s just not a reasonable expectation.
Dreams of Steel and Oil image 2.5 This is a very efficient way to disrupt the opponent, and it can hit a whole lot of cards in the format. I’m usually not super high on discard, but when it gets down to a single mana and allows you to hit the majority of cards in the format, I’m on board. It is nice that you even get to exile something, which will often at least take away something with Unearth or something like that. That isn’t quite a 2-for-1, but if you hit a card in hand and a card they could use in their graveyard, you’re getting a good deal. Don’t get me wrong – it still isn’t great. The fail case on the card – where you don’t hit anything - is still pretty ugly and will feel like you’re mulliganing
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Aeronaut Cavalry image 3.0 You often end up paying 5 mana for 4/5 worth of stats here, and ¾ of it has flying! That’s a pretty good deal, and the format has plenty of soldiers for this to do its thing, especially in Blue-White.
Clay Revenant image 1.5 This kind of creature almost always seems to underperform, and I think this version is worse than most cheap creatures who make you pay mana to get them back from the graveyard. The idea here is that this is something you can sacrifice over and over again, or that you can get value out of if you discard or mill it, but it is just so clunky. You have to pay 4 mana every time to get it back in play, and that’s pretty dismal, even with powerstones. What’s more is, a one mana ½ isn’t that relevant for that long anyway
Airlift Chaplain image 3.0 Chances are decent you’ll hit something you can get back with the mill trigger, and if you don’t or choose not to get something back, you get a three mana 2/2 with Flying that loaded your graveyard some, which is pretty nice.
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Goblin Firebomb image 1.5 We’ve seen cards like this before, and they are always pretty mediocre. It isn’t efficient, even for destroying any permanent type. Now, the format does have an artifact theme, and if you can find ways to recur this, it can get interesting! You’ll run it if you’re really desperate for removal
Koilos Roc image 3.0 A 5-mana 3/3 with Flash and Flying is usually playable, as it not only allows you to leave mana up for other stuff, you can flash it in to ambush something – so I’m pretty happy that this also adds a powerstone to the mix. Because of Flash, you’ll also be able to use that powerstone most of the time when you untap.
Argothian Opportunist image 3.0 This seems like a bread-and-butter Common for Green decks. It has passable stats and gets you some power stone ramp going.
Scrapwork Rager image 3.0 This is a fun reference to Phyrexian Rager. When you cast it, it is a little bit worse, since you pay one more mana for the same effect – but the Unearth side of things means this bad boy gives you a 2-for-1, and that’s pretty nice.
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Pack 1 Pick 4: Blanchwood Armor
Blanchwood Armor image 0.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and it is not especially good in Limited. It can offer a huge boost, especially if you’re heavy Green, but it doesn’t do enough to mitigate against the downside of getting 2-for-1’d. There are some good targets for it in the format for sure, but having one of those targets in play is additional set up in addition to needing a bunch of Forests!
Symmetry Matrix image 0.0 // 3.0 This is a build around that can definitely work sometimes, but this format doesn’t actually have a heavy symmetry theme going on. The one place where it might work most often is in a deck that has lots of creature tokens, as those are all symmetrical in the format. But yeah, you need 7+ creatures/cards that can trigger the Matrix for it to be worth it, and the fact you pay 4 and don’t add to the board at first is always pretty rough
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Gixian Infiltrator image 2.0 This is a solid, if unexciting sacrifice payoff that will work especially well in the Black/Red deck. It starts with decent stats and a few counters are enough to make it a threat
Conscripted Infantry image 2.5 A three mana 3/1 is far from ideal, but this does leave behind a 1/1 when it dies, meaning it is good sacrifice fodder
Penregon Strongbull image 3.0 This looks pretty sweet. There are plenty of artifacts to sacrifice, including the powerstones that can help pay for the ability, which effectively makes this say “Sacrifice a powerstone: It gets +1/+1 and deals 1 damage to an opponent.” The ability is just very affordable, and this creature attacking with a few artifacts in play is going to be a pretty sizable problem. Love that it also damages the opponent, giving it the capability of doing some very significant damage if it goes unblocked
Blitz Automaton image 3.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is right around a 2.5, so adding the more expensive upside of this being a 6/4 with Haste sometimes is nice. Yes, 7 mana for a 6/4 with Haste is an awful rate, but the modality of all of these prototype cards is great in Limited!
Wasteful Harvest image 1.5 This format does have a deck that really wants to mill cards, but I’m still not super into this. Three mana to get a single permanent back from the graveyard is pretty underwhelming, even with mill attached. I’d much rather impact the board and mill myself at the same time, and there are ways to do that in the format
Swiftgear Drake image 1.5 5-mana for a 2/4 with Flying and Haste isn’t amazing, but it isn’t a completely terrible rate either – probably something like a D+, so the ETB upside here is kind of nice. You can get rid of some graveyard action your opponent is utilizing, or you can put a card back on the bottom of your library that you want to draw later
Moment of Defiance image 2.0 This is a bit expensive for a trick that only boosts toughness by 1, which means that oftentimes your creature will also die, but it definitely makes up for that by drawing you a card. In situations where you creature does survive, you get a 2-for-1, and in situations where it doesn’t, you break even while gaining some life. It also draws you a card, checking the box for the Blue-Black deck. That seems fine to me
Supply Drop image 2.0 This is a pretty interesting design! Three mana for +2/+2 isn’t a great rate for a trick, but you can cash it in for a card later, giving it some real 2-for-1 potential in a format that has a fair bit of Artifact synergy too.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Heavyweight Demolisher
Self-Assembler image 0.0 // 3.0 Last time we saw this, it was the only Assembly-Worker in the set, so you needed multiple copies of it to get it going – and that was actually fairly doable. And a 5-mana 4/4 that draws you another 5-mana 4/4 is pretty nice in Limited. Efficiency matters in Limited, but outcarding your opponent matters a lot too, so the inefficiency didn’t matter! In this set, there are plenty of other assembly-workers for you to search up, so it is probably even better! It does need a build around grade, as you don’t want to play this if you have 0 Assembly-Workers to search up, and even just having one other assembly-worker can be a little sketchy, as once you draw them both you’re kind of in trouble. So, you really need 2+ assembly-workers to get this going – but the good news is, that’s doable
Heavyweight Demolisher image 2.0 A 7-mana 8/6 with Menace is no joke..but it isn’t so good that I like the fact that it punishes you by making you pay three mana just to untap it. The Unearth upside is sweet of course, as your opponent has to account for it or end up dying in the late game, but the untap tax is enough for me to really feel like I won’t always be happy about playing this
Koilos Roc image 3.0 A 5-mana 3/3 with Flash and Flying is usually playable, as it not only allows you to leave mana up for other stuff, you can flash it in to ambush something – so I’m pretty happy that this also adds a powerstone to the mix. Because of Flash, you’ll also be able to use that powerstone most of the time when you untap.
Blitz Automaton image 3.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is right around a 2.5, so adding the more expensive upside of this being a 6/4 with Haste sometimes is nice. Yes, 7 mana for a 6/4 with Haste is an awful rate, but the modality of all of these prototype cards is great in Limited!
Scatter Ray image 2.5 This looks like a very nice counterspell for the format, as creatures and artifacts are going to make up the bulk of spells in most decks. It isn’t a hard counter, but 4 mana is enough that it will be relevant all game long. One downside in this format: powerstones can be used to help pay for costs like this.
Moment of Defiance image 2.0 This is a bit expensive for a trick that only boosts toughness by 1, which means that oftentimes your creature will also die, but it definitely makes up for that by drawing you a card. In situations where you creature does survive, you get a 2-for-1, and in situations where it doesn’t, you break even while gaining some life. It also draws you a card, checking the box for the Blue-Black deck. That seems fine to me
Roc Hunter image 1.5 This has stats that tend to play reasonably well in aggro decks, although the plentiful 1/1 tokens in the set may hold this back a bit. Adding Reach to the mix is nice, as it means this does a decent job of trading with Flyers once it can no longer attack
Trench Stalker image 2.0 If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Ambush Paratrooper image 2.5 This has passable Flying stats, and in the late game it can buff the whole board. Keep in mind, too, that activated abilities in this format are all going to be easier than normal to activate thanks to power stones.
Bitter Reunion image 1.5 This is a neat take on a Tormented Voice-type effect. While the UR deck in this format cares about spells, it actually cares about all non-creature spells, so this will still trigger them like Tormented Voice would. The ability to give haste to your whole board will come up sometimes too. I think you probably cut this most of the time in any deck that doesn’t care about spells, and even in the spell deck it probably isn’t the card you’re happily shoving in your deck
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Pack 1 Pick 6: Disenchant
Ivory Tower image 0.0 This isn’t good in Limited. You need to be a draw go style control deck to really make this gain you life that matters, and that just doesn’t happen in Limited. This will frequently do nothing or close to nothing.
Thran Vigil image 1.0 // 3.0 This will mostly trigger off of Unearth in this format, but there are other ways to get it going in Black, as we’ve seen in this video. Obviously, this is a build around, because not all decks – even Black decks – will reach the critical mass of synergy needed to make this thing do its job.
Gnarlroot Pallbearer image 2.0 This doesn’t have a great stat-line – but a 5/5 trampler is passable -- and the ETB trigger will be pretty effective in most Green decks, allowing you to attack with something that just couldn’t before. Still, it is rather expensive and dependent on your graveyard
Ravenous Gigamole image 2.5 This loads your graveyard, and will frequently also get you something back – when it doesn’t, it is a 4-mana ¾ -- which isn’t great, but because you’re interested in graveyard stuff, putting those cards in the graveyard definitely matters.
Roc Hunter image 1.5 This has stats that tend to play reasonably well in aggro decks, although the plentiful 1/1 tokens in the set may hold this back a bit. Adding Reach to the mix is nice, as it means this does a decent job of trading with Flyers once it can no longer attack
Urza's Rebuff image 1.5 Adding a second mode to Cancel is definitely an upgrade, but Cancel is usually a D+. Three mana counter spells that cost two blue ask a little too much of you – that’s a lot of mana to leave up - but its nice you can use this to tap some stuff down too.
Thraxodemon image 2.0 This is a bear with some decent upside – giving up a creature or artifact to draw a card is nice, though I don’t love paying three mana for the effect – but powerstones will soften the blow some
Dredging Claw image 1.5 +1/+0 and Menace is a decent – but not great – boost for a two mana Equipment that costs two to equip. The cool thing here is that if you have Unearth creatures, it equips for free, drastically increasing the chance that creature can crack in for some damage. While Unearth is definitely prevalent in the format, I don’t really feel like it is so prevalent that I’ll regularly be running this in my Black decks
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Power Plant Worker
Cloud Key image 1.0 Using up a card to reduce the cost of one card type just isn’t worth it most of the time in Limited. You really want to add to the board in some way and get this effect, and that isn’t an option here. Even in a world where you ramp a lot, using up a card and mana to play this thing doesn’t feel very good.
The Stone Brain image 0.0 As usual, this kind of card is unplayable in Limited. You generally don’t have the necessary knowledge of your opponent’s deck to take full advantage of a card like this, and even when you do it still isn’t very good most of the time, especially because this version lets your opponent draw a card if you hit a card in their hand! Even if you do hit a card in your opponent’s deck, you are basically going to feel like you have mulliganed, since hitting one card in your opponent’s deck just doesn’t do enough in Limited. Basically, you go down a card for no real effect on the game, and you never want that in Limited. This is a card that makes sense in constructed, where it can rip apart a combo deck – but that’s just not a thing here
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Moment of Defiance image 2.0 This is a bit expensive for a trick that only boosts toughness by 1, which means that oftentimes your creature will also die, but it definitely makes up for that by drawing you a card. In situations where you creature does survive, you get a 2-for-1, and in situations where it doesn’t, you break even while gaining some life. It also draws you a card, checking the box for the Blue-Black deck. That seems fine to me
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Union of the Third Path image 1.0 Three mana to draw one card is abysmal. Adding life gain to the mix certainly improves things, although the fact this format doesn’t have a life gain deck makes that matter a lot less. I think you’ll cut this more than you play it, it just doesn’t seem impactful enough overall
Machine Over Matter image 2.0 This seems pretty solid, as it will often only cost a single Blue mana, and the fact it can hit any nonland permanent makes it nicely flexible. Even if you pay 2 for this, we’ve seen that card be fine in the past. The downside about bounce, of course, is you use up a card and generally you don’t deal with one of your opponent’s – you just make them cast it again. But, if you can time this right, you can sometimes get a 1-for-1 in addition to the tempo – like if you use it in response to a trick or something.
Power Plant Worker image 2.0 This is a fun cycle, since they all reference the original Urza lands. I think the card seems pretty decent too. The stats aren’t great, but +2/+2 for three mana isn’t the worst rate in a set with power stones everywhere. I wouldn’t count on getting all three of these in play, but you might achieve it on occasion.
Kill-Zone Acrobat image 2.0 There are plenty of expendable things to give up to give this flying when it needs it to get in for damage – whether you’re giving up powerstones or creatures with unearth
Pack 1 Pick 8: Boulderbranch Golem
Levitating Statue image 2.5 We’ve seen some spell payoffs like this in the past, and they have always been kind of underwhelming. This is because for much of the game, casting this seems like it didn’t accomplish much. After all, it is just a hunk of metal on the battlefield until you pay mana to animate it, and that’s a pretty big bummer, even in a world of powerstones. Then you jump through hoops to make it grow too. It is nice that it can sort of sit around and accumulate counters before starting to threaten your opponent, and there are certainly games where things will work out that way, but I think there will enough situations where it really lets you down
Boulderbranch Golem image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 that gains you 3 life when it enters is a 2.5, and the upside here is going to be the kind of card that really allows you to stabilize, as a 6/5 that gains you 6 is going to make any opponent having a fast start very sad. This is one of Green’s best Commons
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Weakstone's Subjugation image 3.0 I really like this design, and think it actually makes for a really good Blue removal spell. Only paying one mana when the creature is tapped is perfectly reasonable, and sort of “kicking it” to tap the creature down for 4 mana is fine too. The creature can still do all kinds of stuff, unfortunately – like use abilities, be sacrificed, and so on – so it isn’t really premium.
Hoarding Recluse image 2.0 This can trade for anything, and while that’s not the most exciting at 4 mana, a 2/3 Reach can also block lots of small stuff in addition to making your opponent hesitant to attack with big stuff. The death ability here actually matters a bit too, as Green-Black decks will be milling themselves a significant chunk of the time, and sometimes you end up milling things you didn’t really want to mill, and this can help you get that card back
Dredging Claw image 1.5 +1/+0 and Menace is a decent – but not great – boost for a two mana Equipment that costs two to equip. The cool thing here is that if you have Unearth creatures, it equips for free, drastically increasing the chance that creature can crack in for some damage. While Unearth is definitely prevalent in the format, I don’t really feel like it is so prevalent that I’ll regularly be running this in my Black decks
Dwarven Forge-Chanter image 3.0 Back in Khans of Tarkir there was a White two mana 1/3 with Prowess and it was a really nice common – so, adding Ward – Pay 2 life to that also makes for a pretty sweet common! A creature with Prowess is always really obnoxious to block or attack into, since you never know what your opponent might be able to do. The threat of activation is very real! This is a great two drop for Blue-Red decks, and lots of other Red decks will have enough non-creature spells to have a pretty good time with this
Tocasia's Dig Site image 1.5 This isn’t great for your mana, but having a repeatable source of Surveil is going to be worth it in some decks, because it can both laid your graveyard and improve your card quality. Three mana is a lot for sure, and that’s an ability you’ll only be using when you have nothing better to do – but hey, it will find you something to do eventually!
Pack 1 Pick 9: Tower Worker
Citanul Stalwart image 2.0 Even with powerstones, it can be a little tricky finding a way to consistently use this to fix and ramp your mana. There will be times where you just can’t do it, and its an ability that isn’t that great in the late game. That said, this format does have many payoffs for doing such a thing, and the powerstones certainly make this better.
Power Plant Worker image 2.0 This is a fun cycle, since they all reference the original Urza lands. I think the card seems pretty decent too. The stats aren’t great, but +2/+2 for three mana isn’t the worst rate in a set with power stones everywhere. I wouldn’t count on getting all three of these in play, but you might achieve it on occasion.
Curate image 2.5 This lets you see up to three cards and can let you put advantageous cards in the graveyard, and that’s pretty nice – especially in a format with a spell deck and a card draw deck!
Mishra's Onslaught image 1.5 You are overpaying for both modes on this card – usually each of these effects costs three. You do get some modality here, but the token effect is generally underpowered while the mass pump effect is narrow, so I think this will get cut a fair bit
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Tower Worker image 2.0 Ramp is a real thing in this format, so this will certainly be seeing some play. Getting the other two Assembly-Workers in play at the same time is a fun goal, but don’t count on it
Trench Stalker image 2.0 If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Gaea's Gift
Millstone image 1.0 Now we’ve got the original mill card, which is where the mechanic gets its name! And…it also isn’t great in Limited, though the fact that you actually can control who this hurts more makes it better than something like the Orb. This can actually win you some games if you’re a control deck, but most of the time you’d rather just have something that actually adds to the board.
Thran Power Suit image 1.5 On its own, this is a two mana to play and two to equip equipment that grants +1/+1 and Ward 2. The Ward 2 is a pretty nice thing to have, as it makes your investment in equipping it feel a little less painful.
Veteran's Powerblade image 1.5 One mana to equip this is pretty nice, but three to cast is always going to feel pretty ugly. Still, it makes your solder tokens into 3/1s, which means they can swing in most cases! Obviously works with other soldiers too, but I don’t really feel like this is the soldier payoff you’re really hoping for when you draft the UW deck.
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Gaea's Gift image 2.0 This is a nice trick. In addition to doing a good job of helping a creature win combat, the slew of keywords it gets makes it so you can blank most removal when you cast it. We’ve seen a lot o tricks like this of late, and they’ve all ended up being a card you always want one or two of in aggressive decks, and I think that’s what we have here
Blanchwood Prowler image 3.0 This is either a two mana 1/1 that draws you a land and loads your graveyard, or a two mana 2/2 that loads your graveyard. Both of those options are solid, and you can get some extra value out of milling yourself in Green, as the Green-Black deck is all about it
Pack 1 Pick 11: Clay Revenant
Meticulous Excavation image 0.0 I don’t think this is very good. It does give you ways to rebuy ETB abilities and the like, but it asks for a ton of mana that you’re only going to have available in the extreme late game. And yes, with powerstones around this will be easier to use, but I don’t think that makes enough of a difference. The whole Unearth part of the card is kind of silly too, because to take advantage of it, you’re going to need to pay to Unearth a creature and then pay three more to return it to your hand so you get to keep it around. That’s just not a reasonable expectation.
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Clay Revenant image 1.5 This kind of creature almost always seems to underperform, and I think this version is worse than most cheap creatures who make you pay mana to get them back from the graveyard. The idea here is that this is something you can sacrifice over and over again, or that you can get value out of if you discard or mill it, but it is just so clunky. You have to pay 4 mana every time to get it back in play, and that’s pretty dismal, even with powerstones. What’s more is, a one mana ½ isn’t that relevant for that long anyway
Goblin Firebomb image 1.5 We’ve seen cards like this before, and they are always pretty mediocre. It isn’t efficient, even for destroying any permanent type. Now, the format does have an artifact theme, and if you can find ways to recur this, it can get interesting! You’ll run it if you’re really desperate for removal
Koilos Roc image 3.0 A 5-mana 3/3 with Flash and Flying is usually playable, as it not only allows you to leave mana up for other stuff, you can flash it in to ambush something – so I’m pretty happy that this also adds a powerstone to the mix. Because of Flash, you’ll also be able to use that powerstone most of the time when you untap.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Swiftgear Drake
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Wasteful Harvest image 1.5 This format does have a deck that really wants to mill cards, but I’m still not super into this. Three mana to get a single permanent back from the graveyard is pretty underwhelming, even with mill attached. I’d much rather impact the board and mill myself at the same time, and there are ways to do that in the format
Swiftgear Drake image 1.5 5-mana for a 2/4 with Flying and Haste isn’t amazing, but it isn’t a completely terrible rate either – probably something like a D+, so the ETB upside here is kind of nice. You can get rid of some graveyard action your opponent is utilizing, or you can put a card back on the bottom of your library that you want to draw later
Pack 1 Pick 13: Blitz Automaton
Koilos Roc image 3.0 A 5-mana 3/3 with Flash and Flying is usually playable, as it not only allows you to leave mana up for other stuff, you can flash it in to ambush something – so I’m pretty happy that this also adds a powerstone to the mix. Because of Flash, you’ll also be able to use that powerstone most of the time when you untap.
Blitz Automaton image 3.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is right around a 2.5, so adding the more expensive upside of this being a 6/4 with Haste sometimes is nice. Yes, 7 mana for a 6/4 with Haste is an awful rate, but the modality of all of these prototype cards is great in Limited!
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Pack 1 Pick 14: Thran Vigil
Thran Vigil image 1.0 // 3.0 This will mostly trigger off of Unearth in this format, but there are other ways to get it going in Black, as we’ve seen in this video. Obviously, this is a build around, because not all decks – even Black decks – will reach the critical mass of synergy needed to make this thing do its job.
Dredging Claw image 1.5 +1/+0 and Menace is a decent – but not great – boost for a two mana Equipment that costs two to equip. The cool thing here is that if you have Unearth creatures, it equips for free, drastically increasing the chance that creature can crack in for some damage. While Unearth is definitely prevalent in the format, I don’t really feel like it is so prevalent that I’ll regularly be running this in my Black decks
Pack 1 Pick 15: Retrieval Agent
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Tyrant of Kher Ridges
Elsewhere Flask image 1.5 This replaces itself, and that is enough in this format for it to be decent enough, since the UR deck likes casting nocnreature spells and several decks like artifacts. It can also fix your mana a bit, but that’s a small part of what this card does.
Tyrant of Kher Ridges image 5.0 Take away the enter the Battlefield ability, and the card is a B. Decent flying stats and firebreathing make it a formidable finisher. That ETB is an incredible one though. It will either kill a creature or finish off the opponent, and both are awesome options! This is a 2-for-1 that has a massive impact on the board right away, and then can easily close out games
Blanchwood Armor image 0.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and it is not especially good in Limited. It can offer a huge boost, especially if you’re heavy Green, but it doesn’t do enough to mitigate against the downside of getting 2-for-1’d. There are some good targets for it in the format for sure, but having one of those targets in play is additional set up in addition to needing a bunch of Forests!
Yotian Dissident image 3.5 This counts artifacts that come into play in any way at all, and that includes making powerstone tokens. This looks like it will be capable of stacking up a whole lot of counters! It does start very small and vulnerable, though.
Recruitment Officer image 3.0 This has nice base stats that can allow it to do some significant damage early, and a mana sink ability that can do some pretty serious work in the late game. It is definitely the least useful in the middle part of the game, when it isn’t big enough to matter and you don’t really have the mana to spend on the ability.
Tocasia's Onulet image 2.0 A 5-mana 4/4 that gains you 2 life when it dies is probably a 1.5. This has a pretty reasonable Unearth cost too, though, and you get to gain 2 more life!
Recommission image 1.5 If you can consistently get back a 3 mana creature with this, it is going to feel pretty dang good, as your creature will easily be worth more than 2 mana. The problem is that you have to set this up and have the right deck make up. And while those things are doable, there will certainly be times where this is stuck in your hand.
Thraxodemon image 2.0 This is a bear with some decent upside – giving up a creature or artifact to draw a card is nice, though I don’t love paying three mana for the effect – but powerstones will soften the blow some
Mishra's Onslaught image 1.5 You are overpaying for both modes on this card – usually each of these effects costs three. You do get some modality here, but the token effect is generally underpowered while the mass pump effect is narrow, so I think this will get cut a fair bit
Argothian Opportunist image 3.0 This seems like a bread-and-butter Common for Green decks. It has passable stats and gets you some power stone ramp going.
Curate image 2.5 This lets you see up to three cards and can let you put advantageous cards in the graveyard, and that’s pretty nice – especially in a format with a spell deck and a card draw deck!
Prison Sentence image 3.5 Arrest is always nice, and this comes with Scry 2 upside, so it is certainly premium. The format does have a sacrifice deck, which weakens a card like this, but it still looks pretty darn good.
Energy Refractor image 1.5 It is a good thing this replaces itself, because it is pretty bad at filtering mana! Two mana for one mana of any color just isn’t a very good rate, though it can do it multiple times a turn because it doesn’t tap. The format does care about artifacts and noncreature spells, and one that replaces itself has some inhererent value, with the filtering part just some minor upside. It does let you make your powerstones produce colored mana, but still not efficient at all.
Aeronaut Cavalry image 3.0 You often end up paying 5 mana for 4/5 worth of stats here, and ¾ of it has flying! That’s a pretty good deal, and the format has plenty of soldiers for this to do its thing, especially in Blue-White.
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Pack 2 Pick 2: Mishra, Excavation Prodigy
Soul-Guide Lantern image 2.0 This is another artifact that replaces itself, making it useful in the format. It also hates on the graveyard – something else of value in a format with Unearth and a couple of graveyard decks. You can main deck this pretty happily
Battlefield Forge image 2.5 These do a good job of fixing your mana for you. They will probably be a little better here than in Dominaria United, because this format doesn’t have Domain and a cycle of common dual lands that are better!
Mishra, Excavation Prodigy image 3.0 This looks like a pretty nice Uncommon. Looting is a great ability to have around in Limited, as it improves the quality of your draws – and Mishra here pays you off a little bit for discarding artifacts, since he can give you mana back. I’m not sure how often it is going to be optimal to do that, but it is nice to have the option. The stat-line is a little rough, as he can die to pretty much anything, including spells that cost 1/3rd what he does, but at least having Haste means you can usually do something with him right away
Evangel of Synthesis image 3.5 A two mana ⅔ that loots on ETB is a nice card. It is also nice that this is both an enabler and a payoff for the draw extra cards deck, though it is a little sad that it will technically trigger the turn you play it, it just won’t matter
Phalanx Vanguard image 2.5 A two mana 2/2 with Vigilance is right around a 2.0, so the fact that the power on this thing will go up pretty often makes it a solid two drop.
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Powerstone Engineer image 2.0 Trading this off and getting a powerstone in the process seems fine.
Scrapwork Rager image 3.0 This is a fun reference to Phyrexian Rager. When you cast it, it is a little bit worse, since you pay one more mana for the same effect – but the Unearth side of things means this bad boy gives you a 2-for-1, and that’s pretty nice.
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Hoarding Recluse image 2.0 This can trade for anything, and while that’s not the most exciting at 4 mana, a 2/3 Reach can also block lots of small stuff in addition to making your opponent hesitant to attack with big stuff. The death ability here actually matters a bit too, as Green-Black decks will be milling themselves a significant chunk of the time, and sometimes you end up milling things you didn’t really want to mill, and this can help you get that card back
Warlord's Elite image 1.5 A three mana 4/4 is nice and all, but not incredible, and this makes you jump through some significant hoops to actually get it into play. Tapping lands or creatures to play this feels like it will be a pretty big pain most of the time, and overall it feels like this will effectively be a 5-mana 4/4 pretty often
Emergency Weld image 3.0 Gravedigger is always a nice card in Limited, this costs half as much for a creature half the size, and still returns something from your graveyard to your hand. Getting a 2-for-1 is harder with a 1/1, but a two mana 1/1 with this effect seems pretty nice
Machine Over Matter image 2.0 This seems pretty solid, as it will often only cost a single Blue mana, and the fact it can hit any nonland permanent makes it nicely flexible. Even if you pay 2 for this, we’ve seen that card be fine in the past. The downside about bounce, of course, is you use up a card and generally you don’t deal with one of your opponent’s – you just make them cast it again. But, if you can time this right, you can sometimes get a 1-for-1 in addition to the tempo – like if you use it in response to a trick or something.
Powerstone Fracture image 2.5 In case you didn’t get it from the card’s name, the ideal thing to do here is going to be to sacrifice a powerstone. In that case, you aren’t using up a real card – and that’s good, because giving up a real card to cast this is pretty bad. It is basically a wore bone splinters, and it isn’t like bone splinters is an incredible card. I still think this falls below premium removal because of the set up needed to make it decent
Pack 2 Pick 3: Perennial Behemoth
Ichor Wellspring image 2.5 This is another 2 mana artifact that replaces itself, and that’s nice – especially because you can also sacrifice it and turn it into a 2-for-1, something that feels pretty doable, especially in Black-Red
Perennial Behemoth image 2.5 Green decks in the format will certainly be milling themselves, and Evolving Wilds is at Common in the set, and that’s always a sweet combo with this type of effect. This also has some passable defensive stats, and the ability to come back from the yard is some nice additional upside – sometimes you’ll be able to Unearth it and play a land!
Loran, Disciple of History image 3.0 This will usually be a 4-mana 3/3 that gets an artifact back from the graveyard, and that’s pretty good! White is unusually good at loading the graveyard, especially if you’re going with the Black-White deck, and the format has lots of artifacts, so it seems very doable. There aren’t a lot of legendary creatures in the set, so triggering it more than once isn’t going to happen very often.
Junkyard Genius image 3.5 As usual, Black-Red has a sacrifice theme – one that feels a lot like what we saw in Forgotten Realms, a few sets back. It can sacrifice creatures, but can also sacrifice a plentiful artifact token resource in the set – in this case, Powerstones. This comes with one of those stones, so you can use this ability without any extra help, and it is a pretty strong one! +1/+0 and Menace makes a board a heck of a lot more imposing, and there is plenty of other sacrifice support in the set. The one thing this doesn’t have going for it is the awful stat-line, but it largely overcomes that to be a pretty powerful signpost Uncommon
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Warlord's Elite image 1.5 A three mana 4/4 is nice and all, but not incredible, and this makes you jump through some significant hoops to actually get it into play. Tapping lands or creatures to play this feels like it will be a pretty big pain most of the time, and overall it feels like this will effectively be a 5-mana 4/4 pretty often
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Giant Growth image 2.0 Giant Growth is back! As always, it is a very nice trick. One mana for this stats boost lets your creature win a whole lot of combats, and you can do it for a very, very low investment, giving you a nice advantage
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Powerstone Fracture image 2.5 In case you didn’t get it from the card’s name, the ideal thing to do here is going to be to sacrifice a powerstone. In that case, you aren’t using up a real card – and that’s good, because giving up a real card to cast this is pretty bad. It is basically a wore bone splinters, and it isn’t like bone splinters is an incredible card. I still think this falls below premium removal because of the set up needed to make it decent
Tomakul Scrapsmith image 2.5 You either get a three mana 3/2, or a three mana 2/1 that draws you an Artifact. Obviously the latter option is the better one, and this would be at least a 3.5 if that’s what it was – but it will only do that half the time, and the 3/2 option is less exciting. It also takes a bit of a hti because Red is not very interested in the graveyard in this set, so loading it up a little bit is unlikely to give you any extra value
Desynchronize image 2.0 5 mana is a lot, and while this does let you trade 1-for-1, since it doesn’t just bounce the permanent – it puts it on top or bottom of your opponent’s library – it also doesn’t do a great job of dealing with some really problematic permanents, which your opponent can just draw again.
Phalanx Vanguard image 2.5 A two mana 2/2 with Vigilance is right around a 2.0, so the fact that the power on this thing will go up pretty often makes it a solid two drop.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Unleash Shell
Sigil of Valor image 1.5 This seems like it will be kind of alright. It is definitely rough that sometimes it offers no bonus at all, but there are enough boards in the mid-to-late game where equipping this does some work,. Only attacking with one thing is definitely a big restriction, but this can also make just about any creature into a threat on a lot of board states. The set up and restriction are pretty real, though – and it definitely underperformed last time we saw it
Go for the Throat image 4.0 As usual, this is a premium removal spell. Yes, the set has lots of Artifact creatures – but that was true last time we saw this card too. It still kills 80+% of the creatures in the set at a very efficient rate
Yotian Frontliner image 2.0 This will be pretty sweet to play on turn one, because it is likely to get in and buff other creatures in the process. However, even with Unearth, it has diminishing turns as the game goes on, because it just won’t survive attacking on very many boards. Basically, you end up paying a couple of mana to buff a creature twice, and I’m not super impressed by that. It is both an artifact and a soldier, which this format cares about, and that helps some.
Unleash Shell image 3.0 5 mana is a lot, but at least its an Instant! It can deal with most creatures in the format too, and Shocking your opponent in the face when you use it is definitely some decent additional upside. The problem with paying 5 for this effect is you’’ll often have to use it on a creature that costs less, and you’re losing some serious tempo when you do that – and sometimes you just can’t get the mana to deal with a cheap creature and that’s a problem too. You don’t really want more than one of these most of the time, because they are so expensive, but I do think the first copy should be valued reasonably highly
Ambush Paratrooper image 2.5 This has passable Flying stats, and in the late game it can buff the whole board. Keep in mind, too, that activated abilities in this format are all going to be easier than normal to activate thanks to power stones.
Swiftgear Drake image 1.5 5-mana for a 2/4 with Flying and Haste isn’t amazing, but it isn’t a completely terrible rate either – probably something like a D+, so the ETB upside here is kind of nice. You can get rid of some graveyard action your opponent is utilizing, or you can put a card back on the bottom of your library that you want to draw later
Powerstone Fracture image 2.5 In case you didn’t get it from the card’s name, the ideal thing to do here is going to be to sacrifice a powerstone. In that case, you aren’t using up a real card – and that’s good, because giving up a real card to cast this is pretty bad. It is basically a wore bone splinters, and it isn’t like bone splinters is an incredible card. I still think this falls below premium removal because of the set up needed to make it decent
Air Marshal image 2.5 Three mana is kind of a lot for giving Flying only to creatures with a particular type, but the good news is that it is easier than normal to produce mana to pay for abilities in this set thanks to powerstones and there are lots of soldiers. It can also target itself.
Powerstone Engineer image 2.0 Trading this off and getting a powerstone in the process seems fine.
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Conscripted Infantry image 2.5 A three mana 3/1 is far from ideal, but this does leave behind a 1/1 when it dies, meaning it is good sacrifice fodder
Gnarlroot Pallbearer image 2.0 This doesn’t have a great stat-line – but a 5/5 trampler is passable -- and the ETB trigger will be pretty effective in most Green decks, allowing you to attack with something that just couldn’t before. Still, it is rather expensive and dependent on your graveyard
Pack 2 Pick 5: Brotherhood's End
Brotherhood's End image 3.5 This looks pretty good, as each of the modes can really decimate a decent chunk of decks in the format. Clearing out a bunch of soldiers or other small creature is going to feel really good, and blowing up cheap artifacts – including power stones – is going to be nice too! Obviously you want this more in a deck where you can always choose a mode that is fairly one-sided, but both of those modes are powerful enough and flexible enough that I’m taking this pretty highly
Defabricate image 0.5 This set might have a lot of artifacts and enchantments in it, but I’m still thinking this is a bit too narrow to be good in your main deck. It can counter activated or triggered abilities, which gives it some additional uses – but it is often hard to get a full card back when you counter one of those. Yeah, this still feels like sideboard material.
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Gaea's Gift image 2.0 This is a nice trick. In addition to doing a good job of helping a creature win combat, the slew of keywords it gets makes it so you can blank most removal when you cast it. We’ve seen a lot o tricks like this of late, and they’ve all ended up being a card you always want one or two of in aggressive decks, and I think that’s what we have here
Coastal Bulwark image 2.0 Obviously, if you’re playing Blue, this is going to be a 3/3 – and a wall that can Surveil 1 is going to be a solid thing to have in more defensive decks.
Ravenous Gigamole image 2.5 This loads your graveyard, and will frequently also get you something back – when it doesn’t, it is a 4-mana ¾ -- which isn’t great, but because you’re interested in graveyard stuff, putting those cards in the graveyard definitely matters.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Desynchronize image 2.0 5 mana is a lot, and while this does let you trade 1-for-1, since it doesn’t just bounce the permanent – it puts it on top or bottom of your opponent’s library – it also doesn’t do a great job of dealing with some really problematic permanents, which your opponent can just draw again.
Citanul Stalwart image 2.0 Even with powerstones, it can be a little tricky finding a way to consistently use this to fix and ramp your mana. There will be times where you just can’t do it, and its an ability that isn’t that great in the late game. That said, this format does have many payoffs for doing such a thing, and the powerstones certainly make this better.
Trench Stalker image 2.0 If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Raze to the Ground image 2.5 This format does have a ton of Artifacts, so this will usually have a target, many of which will be creatures. And its also nice that it can draw you a card when it hits a cheap artifact. In a pinch you could even go after your own powerstone! However…it is a little overcosted and clunky to be that good. Three mana to kill only one permanent type, even one that is relatively plentiful in the set, just isn’t a great rate. The uncounterable clause only matters a tiny bit here too. I mean, I don’t think this is bad at all – but I think some people will see this and think it is premium, but it just won’t be
Pack 2 Pick 6: Mine Worker
Mishra's Research Desk image 1.5 This is kind of cool, as it gives you an artifact that can draw you two cards – which yeah, that’s a 2-for-1. Problem is, when you Unearth it and sacrifice it you have to pay three mana upfront, which reduces the number of things you can actually play with the card, but at least you can play lands off of it! Sometimes you’ll also be able to treat it as sacrifice fodder, which seems fine
Prison Sentence image 3.5 Arrest is always nice, and this comes with Scry 2 upside, so it is certainly premium. The format does have a sacrifice deck, which weakens a card like this, but it still looks pretty darn good.
Unleash Shell image 3.0 5 mana is a lot, but at least its an Instant! It can deal with most creatures in the format too, and Shocking your opponent in the face when you use it is definitely some decent additional upside. The problem with paying 5 for this effect is you’’ll often have to use it on a creature that costs less, and you’re losing some serious tempo when you do that – and sometimes you just can’t get the mana to deal with a cheap creature and that’s a problem too. You don’t really want more than one of these most of the time, because they are so expensive, but I do think the first copy should be valued reasonably highly
Gix's Caress image 1.5 Coercion is basically never good in Limited, and that’s what the first part of this card is. Paying three to trade one-for-one and not do anything on the board is a real problem, even if you do get to disrupt your opponent. This gives you a little thing back in the form of a powerstone, which certainly makes it better – but I still don’t like this.
Mightstone's Animation image 3.0 In most formats this kind of effect is overwhelming, but THIS format has a ton of Powerstones running around, and paying 4 to make one into a 4/4 is definitely something you can do, especially because this can replace itself. In a pinch, you can even put it on something that is already a creature, but generally for full value you’ll want to stick this on a powerstone or other noncreature artifact, as that is far more of an upgrade. The card draw effect will also trigger the draw 2 payoffs for the Blue-Black deck.
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Depth Charge Colossus image 1.0 I don’t love this. Both modes are pretty inefficient for a creature you have to pay extra mana for to untap. Even with powerstones I don’t think I’m playing this.
Energy Refractor image 1.5 It is a good thing this replaces itself, because it is pretty bad at filtering mana! Two mana for one mana of any color just isn’t a very good rate, though it can do it multiple times a turn because it doesn’t tap. The format does care about artifacts and noncreature spells, and one that replaces itself has some inhererent value, with the filtering part just some minor upside. It does let you make your powerstones produce colored mana, but still not efficient at all.
Mine Worker image 1.5 If this format had a life gain deck, it would be way better. As is, it is fairly mediocre, as it has poor stats and an ability that doesn’t really do enough. Obviously if you can get the Tron going here you’re going to be happier, but even with all three at Common, I wouldn’t count on that
Clay Revenant image 1.5 This kind of creature almost always seems to underperform, and I think this version is worse than most cheap creatures who make you pay mana to get them back from the graveyard. The idea here is that this is something you can sacrifice over and over again, or that you can get value out of if you discard or mill it, but it is just so clunky. You have to pay 4 mana every time to get it back in play, and that’s pretty dismal, even with powerstones. What’s more is, a one mana ½ isn’t that relevant for that long anyway
Pack 2 Pick 7: Rust Goliath
Thorn of Amethyst image 0.5 If you are a super heavy creature deck, the tax this puts on your opponent can be interesting, but ending up in such a deck is tough in Limited – and this is still something that doesn’t add to the board in a meaningful way
Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor image 4.0 A 4-mana 4/3 that gives all of your creatures Vigilance and Surveil 1 is a really great card, even if you have to spend three different colors of mana! Her graveyard ability is also pretty absurd, but I wouldn’t count on being able to fully utilize it and have the mana to cast it all that often. Mostly, you’re just looking to keep her in play so you can dig deep in your library and load your graveyard.
Giant Growth image 2.0 Giant Growth is back! As always, it is a very nice trick. One mana for this stats boost lets your creature win a whole lot of combats, and you can do it for a very, very low investment, giving you a nice advantage
Goblin Blast-Runner image 2.0 This seems like a pretty nice sacrifice payoff at Common. A 3/2 with Menace can swing effectively for a long time, and sometimes it will be bigger! At the same time, it will also be a ½ a decent chunk of the time, and that’s not so good
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Gnarlroot Pallbearer image 2.0 This doesn’t have a great stat-line – but a 5/5 trampler is passable -- and the ETB trigger will be pretty effective in most Green decks, allowing you to attack with something that just couldn’t before. Still, it is rather expensive and dependent on your graveyard
Thraxodemon image 2.0 This is a bear with some decent upside – giving up a creature or artifact to draw a card is nice, though I don’t love paying three mana for the effect – but powerstones will soften the blow some
Rust Goliath image 3.0 A 5-mana ⅗ with Reach and Trample isn’t great, neither is a 10-mana 10/10 with Reach and Trample. However, the fact you can cast this as an okayish creature for five or cast it in the late game as a big monster is pretty nice, and I feel like powerstone decks will love this card, since it can become a pretty real win condition for them
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Penregon Strongbull
Splitting the Powerstone image 1.0 I don’t love this. It is super clunky as a Sorcery, especially because the Powerstones you get back enter tapped. And sure, sometimes you get to draw a card – but that won’t happen often enough. They mostly went for a cool flavor win here with the “legendary” clause on the card, and this is certainly flavorful – but pretty bad for Limited. Giving up an Artifact for two Powerstones just doesn’t seem like what I want to be doing most of the time. You can combine it with Unearth, or even sacrifice a powerstone to it, but I’m still not seeing this be very effective.
Survivor of Korlis image 2.5 Soldier is a creature type that matters here, and that’s nice. This is also a good place to put counters and the like thanks to First Strike! And getting a bit of value out of the graveyard is nice too. This seems like it might be one of those one mana 1/1s we’ve seen lately that does lots of little things and the whole package turns out to be a pretty nice card
Fallaji Chaindancer image 2.0 This is going to be tough to block on a lot of boards, as a 2/4 double strike can deal with a whole lot of creatures without going down itself. The threat of activation will let this get in for 2 a decent chunk of the time, and if you have other ways to augment it – it can get even sillier! Powerstones will make this ability easier to activate than you might think, too
Bitter Reunion image 1.5 This is a neat take on a Tormented Voice-type effect. While the UR deck in this format cares about spells, it actually cares about all non-creature spells, so this will still trigger them like Tormented Voice would. The ability to give haste to your whole board will come up sometimes too. I think you probably cut this most of the time in any deck that doesn’t care about spells, and even in the spell deck it probably isn’t the card you’re happily shoving in your deck
Penregon Strongbull image 3.0 This looks pretty sweet. There are plenty of artifacts to sacrifice, including the powerstones that can help pay for the ability, which effectively makes this say “Sacrifice a powerstone: It gets +1/+1 and deals 1 damage to an opponent.” The ability is just very affordable, and this creature attacking with a few artifacts in play is going to be a pretty sizable problem. Love that it also damages the opponent, giving it the capability of doing some very significant damage if it goes unblocked
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Energy Refractor
Blanchwood Armor image 0.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and it is not especially good in Limited. It can offer a huge boost, especially if you’re heavy Green, but it doesn’t do enough to mitigate against the downside of getting 2-for-1’d. There are some good targets for it in the format for sure, but having one of those targets in play is additional set up in addition to needing a bunch of Forests!
Tocasia's Onulet image 2.0 A 5-mana 4/4 that gains you 2 life when it dies is probably a 1.5. This has a pretty reasonable Unearth cost too, though, and you get to gain 2 more life!
Recommission image 1.5 If you can consistently get back a 3 mana creature with this, it is going to feel pretty dang good, as your creature will easily be worth more than 2 mana. The problem is that you have to set this up and have the right deck make up. And while those things are doable, there will certainly be times where this is stuck in your hand.
Prison Sentence image 3.5 Arrest is always nice, and this comes with Scry 2 upside, so it is certainly premium. The format does have a sacrifice deck, which weakens a card like this, but it still looks pretty darn good.
Energy Refractor image 1.5 It is a good thing this replaces itself, because it is pretty bad at filtering mana! Two mana for one mana of any color just isn’t a very good rate, though it can do it multiple times a turn because it doesn’t tap. The format does care about artifacts and noncreature spells, and one that replaces itself has some inhererent value, with the filtering part just some minor upside. It does let you make your powerstones produce colored mana, but still not efficient at all.
Aeronaut Cavalry image 3.0 You often end up paying 5 mana for 4/5 worth of stats here, and ¾ of it has flying! That’s a pretty good deal, and the format has plenty of soldiers for this to do its thing, especially in Blue-White.
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Pack 2 Pick 10: Battlefield Forge
Soul-Guide Lantern image 2.0 This is another artifact that replaces itself, making it useful in the format. It also hates on the graveyard – something else of value in a format with Unearth and a couple of graveyard decks. You can main deck this pretty happily
Battlefield Forge image 2.5 These do a good job of fixing your mana for you. They will probably be a little better here than in Dominaria United, because this format doesn’t have Domain and a cycle of common dual lands that are better!
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Hoarding Recluse image 2.0 This can trade for anything, and while that’s not the most exciting at 4 mana, a 2/3 Reach can also block lots of small stuff in addition to making your opponent hesitant to attack with big stuff. The death ability here actually matters a bit too, as Green-Black decks will be milling themselves a significant chunk of the time, and sometimes you end up milling things you didn’t really want to mill, and this can help you get that card back
Warlord's Elite image 1.5 A three mana 4/4 is nice and all, but not incredible, and this makes you jump through some significant hoops to actually get it into play. Tapping lands or creatures to play this feels like it will be a pretty big pain most of the time, and overall it feels like this will effectively be a 5-mana 4/4 pretty often
Machine Over Matter image 2.0 This seems pretty solid, as it will often only cost a single Blue mana, and the fact it can hit any nonland permanent makes it nicely flexible. Even if you pay 2 for this, we’ve seen that card be fine in the past. The downside about bounce, of course, is you use up a card and generally you don’t deal with one of your opponent’s – you just make them cast it again. But, if you can time this right, you can sometimes get a 1-for-1 in addition to the tempo – like if you use it in response to a trick or something.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Giant Growth
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Warlord's Elite image 1.5 A three mana 4/4 is nice and all, but not incredible, and this makes you jump through some significant hoops to actually get it into play. Tapping lands or creatures to play this feels like it will be a pretty big pain most of the time, and overall it feels like this will effectively be a 5-mana 4/4 pretty often
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Giant Growth image 2.0 Giant Growth is back! As always, it is a very nice trick. One mana for this stats boost lets your creature win a whole lot of combats, and you can do it for a very, very low investment, giving you a nice advantage
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Pack 2 Pick 12: Swiftgear Drake
Ambush Paratrooper image 2.5 This has passable Flying stats, and in the late game it can buff the whole board. Keep in mind, too, that activated abilities in this format are all going to be easier than normal to activate thanks to power stones.
Swiftgear Drake image 1.5 5-mana for a 2/4 with Flying and Haste isn’t amazing, but it isn’t a completely terrible rate either – probably something like a D+, so the ETB upside here is kind of nice. You can get rid of some graveyard action your opponent is utilizing, or you can put a card back on the bottom of your library that you want to draw later
Air Marshal image 2.5 Three mana is kind of a lot for giving Flying only to creatures with a particular type, but the good news is that it is easier than normal to produce mana to pay for abilities in this set thanks to powerstones and there are lots of soldiers. It can also target itself.
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Raze to the Ground
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Desynchronize image 2.0 5 mana is a lot, and while this does let you trade 1-for-1, since it doesn’t just bounce the permanent – it puts it on top or bottom of your opponent’s library – it also doesn’t do a great job of dealing with some really problematic permanents, which your opponent can just draw again.
Raze to the Ground image 2.5 This format does have a ton of Artifacts, so this will usually have a target, many of which will be creatures. And its also nice that it can draw you a card when it hits a cheap artifact. In a pinch you could even go after your own powerstone! However…it is a little overcosted and clunky to be that good. Three mana to kill only one permanent type, even one that is relatively plentiful in the set, just isn’t a great rate. The uncounterable clause only matters a tiny bit here too. I mean, I don’t think this is bad at all – but I think some people will see this and think it is premium, but it just won’t be
Pack 2 Pick 14: Unleash Shell
Unleash Shell image 3.0 5 mana is a lot, but at least its an Instant! It can deal with most creatures in the format too, and Shocking your opponent in the face when you use it is definitely some decent additional upside. The problem with paying 5 for this effect is you’’ll often have to use it on a creature that costs less, and you’re losing some serious tempo when you do that – and sometimes you just can’t get the mana to deal with a cheap creature and that’s a problem too. You don’t really want more than one of these most of the time, because they are so expensive, but I do think the first copy should be valued reasonably highly
Depth Charge Colossus image 1.0 I don’t love this. Both modes are pretty inefficient for a creature you have to pay extra mana for to untap. Even with powerstones I don’t think I’m playing this.
Pack 2 Pick 15: Disenchant
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Argothian Opportunist
Sword of the Meek image 2.0 Two to play and two to equip for this bonus is probably a 1.5, but this format actually has some stuff going on that makes this interesting. While you can’t go full on Thopter-Sword combo, the format does have a lot of 1/1 creature tokens. So, sacrificing this to something in the Black-Red deck, and then making a creature token one way or another means you get it back and at that point you’ve gotten some nice value – and you can even sacrifice it again if you have the means.
Tocasia's Welcome image 3.0 This is a pretty nice engine if you have a bunch of cards that can trigger it. Luckily, it counts creature tokens as well as creature cards with a low mana value, so building around it seems pretty doable. The turn you play it will be kind of miserable sometimes, and it never actually adds to the board, and those are both problems – and even drawing like 2 cards of it won’t feel insane, since it is basically Divination at that point
Hero of the Dunes image 4.0 This looks like a pretty impressive signpost Uncommon! The stat-line is bad, but everything beyond that is quite impressive. It directly reanimates a small creature to the battlefield, that on its own already has me pretty interested, so the fact it also buffs all of your low CMC creatures – including the one it brings back – really has me excited. This feels like a signpost uncommon that pulls you into its color pair
Sardian Cliffstomper image 1.0 // 2.5 This isn’t especially impressive to me, even if you end up in mono-red – and it is pretty much unplayable if you’re not in mono-red. Sure, it can get some high power, but without evasion to take advantage of it, I’m not that excited about it. And yeah, it only costs two mana, but the fact it only starts doing its thing once you have four mountains is a pretty big hurdle
Defabricate image 0.5 This set might have a lot of artifacts and enchantments in it, but I’m still thinking this is a bit too narrow to be good in your main deck. It can counter activated or triggered abilities, which gives it some additional uses – but it is often hard to get a full card back when you counter one of those. Yeah, this still feels like sideboard material.
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Disfigure image 3.5 As usual, this is premium removal. It can kill a pretty wide spectrum of things for only one mana, giving you a great deal
Ashnod's Intervention image 1.0 Returning the creature to your hand instead of to the battlefield is obviously a big downgrade from other versions of this effect we have seen before, but it does mean that you can use this to trade one-for-one for something while holding on to your creature. It can be especially nice if your creature has an ETB ability or something, but I kind of feel like the tempo hit you take in casting this to win combat is a little bit too much. This seems like it is efficient, but it really isn’t when you consider having to recast your creature. You can also use this with an Unearthed creature of course, but I still don’t feel like that’s enough upside.
Argothian Opportunist image 3.0 This seems like a bread-and-butter Common for Green decks. It has passable stats and gets you some power stone ramp going.
Rust Goliath image 3.0 A 5-mana ⅗ with Reach and Trample isn’t great, neither is a 10-mana 10/10 with Reach and Trample. However, the fact you can cast this as an okayish creature for five or cast it in the late game as a big monster is pretty nice, and I feel like powerstone decks will love this card, since it can become a pretty real win condition for them
Overwhelming Remorse image 3.5 A card that was always 5 for this effect is probably a 3.0, and this will often cost significantly less, especially in graveyard decks. Just getting it down to 4 is pretty much getting you to the premium level, and it will often be even cheaper
Air Marshal image 2.5 Three mana is kind of a lot for giving Flying only to creatures with a particular type, but the good news is that it is easier than normal to produce mana to pay for abilities in this set thanks to powerstones and there are lots of soldiers. It can also target itself.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Phalanx Vanguard image 2.5 A two mana 2/2 with Vigilance is right around a 2.0, so the fact that the power on this thing will go up pretty often makes it a solid two drop.
Tocasia's Dig Site image 1.5 This isn’t great for your mana, but having a repeatable source of Surveil is going to be worth it in some decks, because it can both laid your graveyard and improve your card quality. Three mana is a lot for sure, and that’s an ability you’ll only be using when you have nothing better to do – but hey, it will find you something to do eventually!
Pack 3 Pick 2: Sarinth Steelseeker
Chromatic Star image 2.0 Because this is a noncreature spell and an artifact that replaces itself, it is going to be very playable, as multiple decks in this format care about that stuff. It also fixes your mana of course, though it is a bit clunky if you’re just using it for those purposes
Sarinth Steelseeker image 4.0 This looks really good. Format has a ton of artifacts, and this even counts power stones. The trigger also isn’t limited to once per turn, unlike lots of these effects! Basically, every time you put an artifact in play you either draw a card or Surveil 1, and that’s a trigger that will generate some pretty amazing value. This looks like quite the engine
Levitating Statue image 2.5 We’ve seen some spell payoffs like this in the past, and they have always been kind of underwhelming. This is because for much of the game, casting this seems like it didn’t accomplish much. After all, it is just a hunk of metal on the battlefield until you pay mana to animate it, and that’s a pretty big bummer, even in a world of powerstones. Then you jump through hoops to make it grow too. It is nice that it can sort of sit around and accumulate counters before starting to threaten your opponent, and there are certainly games where things will work out that way, but I think there will enough situations where it really lets you down
Corrupt image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a pretty sweet reprint, and it gives you a very good reason to go really hard into Black, especially if you get multiples! This can be a very real win condition or an excellent removal spell. While it is costly and a Sorcery, all the life it can gain you is enough to outweigh that. You probably need to be doing 4 with this for it to feel decent, and 5+ to feel like you’re really getting there. Now, if you aren’t a deck running 13+ Swamps it is going to get significantly worse, so keep that in mind
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Penregon Strongbull image 3.0 This looks pretty sweet. There are plenty of artifacts to sacrifice, including the powerstones that can help pay for the ability, which effectively makes this say “Sacrifice a powerstone: It gets +1/+1 and deals 1 damage to an opponent.” The ability is just very affordable, and this creature attacking with a few artifacts in play is going to be a pretty sizable problem. Love that it also damages the opponent, giving it the capability of doing some very significant damage if it goes unblocked
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Bitter Reunion image 1.5 This is a neat take on a Tormented Voice-type effect. While the UR deck in this format cares about spells, it actually cares about all non-creature spells, so this will still trigger them like Tormented Voice would. The ability to give haste to your whole board will come up sometimes too. I think you probably cut this most of the time in any deck that doesn’t care about spells, and even in the spell deck it probably isn’t the card you’re happily shoving in your deck
Stern Lesson image 2.5 This is a solid card that will slot nicely into the spell decks and the artifact decks – especially the ramp-oriented artifact deck. Three mana to draw two and discard one on its own on an instant is usually kind of alright, and I do think the Powerstone upside here is enough for this to be a one-of in most Blue decks in the format. Any noncreature spell that draws you cards will be welcome in Blue-Red too.
Supply Drop image 2.0 This is a pretty interesting design! Three mana for +2/+2 isn’t a great rate for a trick, but you can cash it in for a card later, giving it some real 2-for-1 potential in a format that has a fair bit of Artifact synergy too.
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Recommission image 1.5 If you can consistently get back a 3 mana creature with this, it is going to feel pretty dang good, as your creature will easily be worth more than 2 mana. The problem is that you have to set this up and have the right deck make up. And while those things are doable, there will certainly be times where this is stuck in your hand.
Survivor of Korlis image 2.5 Soldier is a creature type that matters here, and that’s nice. This is also a good place to put counters and the like thanks to First Strike! And getting a bit of value out of the graveyard is nice too. This seems like it might be one of those one mana 1/1s we’ve seen lately that does lots of little things and the whole package turns out to be a pretty nice card
Pack 3 Pick 3: Argothian Opportunist
Liquimetal Coating image 0.0 You don’t want to be doing this. For the most part, this effect is meaningless! There are of course some cornercases – like if you have a card that destroys artifacts you can make it destroy any permanent – or if you need another artifact in play for some effect it can do that, but there’s a reason I said “corner cases.” This just doesn’t do enough.
The Stasis Coffin image 0.0 It is pretty cool that we have the words “protection from everything” on another card, but this doesn’t feel particularly good for Limited. It is basically a glorified Fog effect, and Fogs are basically never good in Limited. You spend a card to have no real impact on the board, only delaying the inevitable in most cases. You’d much rather just have a creature! In some ways it is even worse than a Fog, because you can’t even get it going as a surprise – your opponent will know it is coming. Now, it is also better than Fogs in some ways – like it can stop effects that target you. But I don’t feel like that’s enough
Ashnod's Harvester image 3.0 A two mana 3/1 that hates on the graveyard will pretty much always make the cut, especially one that’s an artifact! Unearth and other graveyard action is a very real presence in the format, and being able to take one of those away from your opponent will feel pretty nice! It can even Unearth on its own to take a card out of it has to, and a 3/1 is an effective attacker on many boards
Great Desert Prospector image 3.5 It is a bit of a bummer that this guy doesn’t count himself, so the floor on the card is a pretty ugly 5-mana 3/2. However, the ceiling can be pretty silly, as he can really enable you to ramp into artifact stuff or sink mana into activated abilities. Generally speaking, there are lots of ways to make use of power stones in the set!
Argothian Opportunist image 3.0 This seems like a bread-and-butter Common for Green decks. It has passable stats and gets you some power stone ramp going.
Gixian Infiltrator image 2.0 This is a solid, if unexciting sacrifice payoff that will work especially well in the Black/Red deck. It starts with decent stats and a few counters are enough to make it a threat
Powerstone Fracture image 2.5 In case you didn’t get it from the card’s name, the ideal thing to do here is going to be to sacrifice a powerstone. In that case, you aren’t using up a real card – and that’s good, because giving up a real card to cast this is pretty bad. It is basically a wore bone splinters, and it isn’t like bone splinters is an incredible card. I still think this falls below premium removal because of the set up needed to make it decent
Bitter Reunion image 1.5 This is a neat take on a Tormented Voice-type effect. While the UR deck in this format cares about spells, it actually cares about all non-creature spells, so this will still trigger them like Tormented Voice would. The ability to give haste to your whole board will come up sometimes too. I think you probably cut this most of the time in any deck that doesn’t care about spells, and even in the spell deck it probably isn’t the card you’re happily shoving in your deck
Military Discipline image 1.5 The turn you cast this, it will definitely help your creature win combat, and then you get a permanent +1/+0 effect to stick around. This will definitely generate some serious tempo sometimes, allowing your creature to survive against something that costs a lot more mana! It does have the inherent risks auras have, and you have to be careful about playing this, but I think this seems solid.
Moment of Defiance image 2.0 This is a bit expensive for a trick that only boosts toughness by 1, which means that oftentimes your creature will also die, but it definitely makes up for that by drawing you a card. In situations where you creature does survive, you get a 2-for-1, and in situations where it doesn’t, you break even while gaining some life. It also draws you a card, checking the box for the Blue-Black deck. That seems fine to me
Scrapwork Mutt image 2.5 A three mana 2/1 that rummages when it ETBS is probably a 1.5, and I think adding Unearth to the mix is some real upside, since you get the ETB all over again. This looks like it can nicely set up graveyard and artifact payoffs.
Weakstone's Subjugation image 3.0 I really like this design, and think it actually makes for a really good Blue removal spell. Only paying one mana when the creature is tapped is perfectly reasonable, and sort of “kicking it” to tap the creature down for 4 mana is fine too. The creature can still do all kinds of stuff, unfortunately – like use abilities, be sacrificed, and so on – so it isn’t really premium.
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Pack 3 Pick 4: Obstinate Baloth
Foundry Inspector image 3.5 This looks amazing in this format, because most decks are going to have 7+ artifacts, and some will have even more! This makes your artifacts easy to cast while adding a very real body to the board – that makes it a heck of a lot better than something like Cloud Key.
Su-Chi Cave Guard image 4.0 This is a quality thing to ramp into with your Powerstones. It is huge, hard to kill, and can play offense and defense! Plus, if it dies, it gives you a whole bunch of mana, and this format has a decent number of mana sinks around since they wanted you to have stuff to do with your power stones
Obstinate Baloth image 4.0 A 4-mana 4/4 that gains you 4 when it enters is just a great card in Limited. It gives you an efficient creature and a very relevant body to help you pull ahead if your opponent was having an aggressive start
Fallaji Dragon Engine image 3.0 So, a three mana ⅓ with Flying that can raise its power is probably a 2.5, and an 8 mana 5/5 Flyer with that ability is probably a 1.5. However, a card that can be either of those things is significantly better, especially in a set with an Artifact theme!
Airlift Chaplain image 3.0 Chances are decent you’ll hit something you can get back with the mill trigger, and if you don’t or choose not to get something back, you get a three mana 2/2 with Flying that loaded your graveyard some, which is pretty nice.
Citanul Stalwart image 2.0 Even with powerstones, it can be a little tricky finding a way to consistently use this to fix and ramp your mana. There will be times where you just can’t do it, and its an ability that isn’t that great in the late game. That said, this format does have many payoffs for doing such a thing, and the powerstones certainly make this better.
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Tomakul Honor Guard image 2.0 This has solid stats, and cheap removal will cost extra to destroy it! The format does have a bunch of 1/1 tokens, though, and that always makes a 3/1 sad
Machine Over Matter image 2.0 This seems pretty solid, as it will often only cost a single Blue mana, and the fact it can hit any nonland permanent makes it nicely flexible. Even if you pay 2 for this, we’ve seen that card be fine in the past. The downside about bounce, of course, is you use up a card and generally you don’t deal with one of your opponent’s – you just make them cast it again. But, if you can time this right, you can sometimes get a 1-for-1 in addition to the tempo – like if you use it in response to a trick or something.
Clay Revenant image 1.5 This kind of creature almost always seems to underperform, and I think this version is worse than most cheap creatures who make you pay mana to get them back from the graveyard. The idea here is that this is something you can sacrifice over and over again, or that you can get value out of if you discard or mill it, but it is just so clunky. You have to pay 4 mana every time to get it back in play, and that’s pretty dismal, even with powerstones. What’s more is, a one mana ½ isn’t that relevant for that long anyway
Loran's Escape image 2.0 These effects have been playing pretty well lately, and I think that’s probably the case here too. Blanking removal and various other effects while also improving a creature’s ability to win combat is pretty solid.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Spotter Thopter
Bone Saw image 0.0 0 mana artifacts are exciting for constructed, but they aren’t nearly as good in Limited because what you get is usually a card that isn’t worth an entire card – and that’s definitely what Bone Saw is. Especially in a set without any real equipment theme. Playing this will feel like you took a mulligan
Calamity's Wake image 0.0 This isn’t here for Limited. You don’t really want to use up a card to hate on the graveyard and stop noncreature spells for the turn most of the time. It is kind of reasonable as a sideboard card in situations where your opponent has lots of graveyard action I guess, but even then I’m not ultra impressed with such a narrow hate effect that doesn’t really give you a card back.
Spotter Thopter image 3.0 A 4-mana ⅔ that scries 2 is a 2.5 at very worst. Scrying 2 isn’t that far off from drawing a card! So, the fact it has late-game upside as an 8-mana ⅘ that Scries 4 is pretty nice.
Dwarven Forge-Chanter image 3.0 Back in Khans of Tarkir there was a White two mana 1/3 with Prowess and it was a really nice common – so, adding Ward – Pay 2 life to that also makes for a pretty sweet common! A creature with Prowess is always really obnoxious to block or attack into, since you never know what your opponent might be able to do. The threat of activation is very real! This is a great two drop for Blue-Red decks, and lots of other Red decks will have enough non-creature spells to have a pretty good time with this
Blitz Automaton image 3.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is right around a 2.5, so adding the more expensive upside of this being a 6/4 with Haste sometimes is nice. Yes, 7 mana for a 6/4 with Haste is an awful rate, but the modality of all of these prototype cards is great in Limited!
Goblin Blast-Runner image 2.0 This seems like a pretty nice sacrifice payoff at Common. A 3/2 with Menace can swing effectively for a long time, and sometimes it will be bigger! At the same time, it will also be a ½ a decent chunk of the time, and that’s not so good
Goblin Firebomb image 1.5 We’ve seen cards like this before, and they are always pretty mediocre. It isn’t efficient, even for destroying any permanent type. Now, the format does have an artifact theme, and if you can find ways to recur this, it can get interesting! You’ll run it if you’re really desperate for removal
Tawnos's Tinkering image 1.0 I feel like actually generating a card of value with this is going to be a little bit challenging, and it is a pretty big investment for a card that won’t always be able to do enough
Blanchwood Prowler image 3.0 This is either a two mana 1/1 that draws you a land and loads your graveyard, or a two mana 2/2 that loads your graveyard. Both of those options are solid, and you can get some extra value out of milling yourself in Green, as the Green-Black deck is all about it
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Trench Stalker image 2.0 If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Pack 3 Pick 6: One with the Multiverse
One with the Multiverse image 2.5 This is incredibly powerful, since it will just let you rip through your library and grant you absurd card advantage. It does cost 8 though, and you can’t use Powerstones to cast it, so it doesn’t get the boost that some other expensive cards get in this format. How good this is will come down to how possible it is to build a non-artifact focused ramp deck, and it will also depend on how slow the format is. My guess is that it is a mistake to think of this as something that will be easy to cast in most games, which really limits how good it can be. It is the kind of card I am going to take with a high pick early in the format to give it a try, but if I were being responsible, I think I would take it significantly lower than that since it seems pretty iffy.
Spectrum Sentinel image 1.0 This looks pretty bad for Limited. Multicolored isn’t a huge theme in the format, and neither are nonbasic lands. Mostly, you’re going to be getting a one mana ½. It is both an artifact and a soldier, so in decks that care about those things it isn’t the biggest disaster ever, but it still isn’t very good
Thran Power Suit image 1.5 On its own, this is a two mana to play and two to equip equipment that grants +1/+1 and Ward 2. The Ward 2 is a pretty nice thing to have, as it makes your investment in equipping it feel a little less painful.
Hoarding Recluse image 2.0 This can trade for anything, and while that’s not the most exciting at 4 mana, a 2/3 Reach can also block lots of small stuff in addition to making your opponent hesitant to attack with big stuff. The death ability here actually matters a bit too, as Green-Black decks will be milling themselves a significant chunk of the time, and sometimes you end up milling things you didn’t really want to mill, and this can help you get that card back
Kill-Zone Acrobat image 2.0 There are plenty of expendable things to give up to give this flying when it needs it to get in for damage – whether you’re giving up powerstones or creatures with unearth
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Deadly Riposte image 2.5 This is a solid removal spell for non-aggressive decks, as removing something and gaining life goes a long way towards helping you stabilize. Meanwhile, it is pretty bad in a deck that wants to be aggressive, as you’d rather have removal that can deal with blockers, and this just doesn’t! It demands a tapped creature and the creature has to be small for this to do its job, so it certainly isn’t premium.
Fog of War image 0.0 Fogs are unplayable in Limited. You spend a card to delay the inevitable in most cases.
Roc Hunter image 1.5 This has stats that tend to play reasonably well in aggro decks, although the plentiful 1/1 tokens in the set may hold this back a bit. Adding Reach to the mix is nice, as it means this does a decent job of trading with Flyers once it can no longer attack
Tower Worker image 2.0 Ramp is a real thing in this format, so this will certainly be seeing some play. Getting the other two Assembly-Workers in play at the same time is a fun goal, but don’t count on it
Pack 3 Pick 7: Journeyer's Kite
Journeyer's Kite image 1.0 This does basically let you draw a card for three mana, even if that card is always a land. Still, that does give you card advantage and even thins out your deck and helps you fix your mana. Powerstones make it more likely you can use this too, but there will still be a whole lot of times where you just don’t have the time or mana to use it.
Splitting the Powerstone image 1.0 I don’t love this. It is super clunky as a Sorcery, especially because the Powerstones you get back enter tapped. And sure, sometimes you get to draw a card – but that won’t happen often enough. They mostly went for a cool flavor win here with the “legendary” clause on the card, and this is certainly flavorful – but pretty bad for Limited. Giving up an Artifact for two Powerstones just doesn’t seem like what I want to be doing most of the time. You can combine it with Unearth, or even sacrifice a powerstone to it, but I’m still not seeing this be very effective.
Depth Charge Colossus image 1.0 I don’t love this. Both modes are pretty inefficient for a creature you have to pay extra mana for to untap. Even with powerstones I don’t think I’m playing this.
Yotian Medic image 2.0 This is a solid little defensive creature. It can block for a lot of the game while giving you back some life, which is certainly going to be a pain for aggro decks
Fallaji Archaeologist image 2.5 This is a cool design. It will either be a two mana ¼ – which is passable – or a two mana 0/3 that gets you something from the graveyard. Now, keep in mind you only get the card back if it is among those that are milled – and this only hits noncreature nonlands, so you may wiff sometimes. But if you’re a spell heavy deck in the format – which generally means UR – it seems like this will do what you want it to do most of the time, and at least you get a consolation prize if you do wiff.
Wasteful Harvest image 1.5 This format does have a deck that really wants to mill cards, but I’m still not super into this. Three mana to get a single permanent back from the graveyard is pretty underwhelming, even with mill attached. I’d much rather impact the board and mill myself at the same time, and there are ways to do that in the format
Tomakul Scrapsmith image 2.5 You either get a three mana 3/2, or a three mana 2/1 that draws you an Artifact. Obviously the latter option is the better one, and this would be at least a 3.5 if that’s what it was – but it will only do that half the time, and the 3/2 option is less exciting. It also takes a bit of a hti because Red is not very interested in the graveyard in this set, so loading it up a little bit is unlikely to give you any extra value
Tocasia's Onulet image 2.0 A 5-mana 4/4 that gains you 2 life when it dies is probably a 1.5. This has a pretty reasonable Unearth cost too, though, and you get to gain 2 more life!
Airlift Chaplain image 3.0 Chances are decent you’ll hit something you can get back with the mill trigger, and if you don’t or choose not to get something back, you get a three mana 2/2 with Flying that loaded your graveyard some, which is pretty nice.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Fallaji Excavation
Springleaf Drum image 1.0 It is surprisingly hard to set up this kind of mana ramp in Limited. This can get your mana going incredibly fast provided you have some early creatures, but that’s far from guaranteed, and then by the mid-to-late game it has waning usefulness
Fallaji Excavation image 3.0 As there are plenty of sweet artifacts to ramp into in the format, so this will often precede you slamming a scary 8 drop on to the battlefield! Of course, it doesn’t really impact the board immediately, and that can be a problem – but gaining 3 life when you cast this makes it more likely you can endure a hard hit on your opponent’s turn, which makes it more likely you untap and slam an 8/8 on the table.
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Ravenous Gigamole image 2.5 This loads your graveyard, and will frequently also get you something back – when it doesn’t, it is a 4-mana ¾ -- which isn’t great, but because you’re interested in graveyard stuff, putting those cards in the graveyard definitely matters.
Disenchant image 2.5 This is a solid main deck card in this format. There are lots of artifacts and a decent number of Enchantments. It is efficient and Instant speed too, which is always nice.
Warlord's Elite image 1.5 A three mana 4/4 is nice and all, but not incredible, and this makes you jump through some significant hoops to actually get it into play. Tapping lands or creatures to play this feels like it will be a pretty big pain most of the time, and overall it feels like this will effectively be a 5-mana 4/4 pretty often
Goblin Blast-Runner image 2.0 This seems like a pretty nice sacrifice payoff at Common. A 3/2 with Menace can swing effectively for a long time, and sometimes it will be bigger! At the same time, it will also be a ½ a decent chunk of the time, and that’s not so good
Mightstone's Animation image 3.0 In most formats this kind of effect is overwhelming, but THIS format has a ton of Powerstones running around, and paying 4 to make one into a 4/4 is definitely something you can do, especially because this can replace itself. In a pinch, you can even put it on something that is already a creature, but generally for full value you’ll want to stick this on a powerstone or other noncreature artifact, as that is far more of an upgrade. The card draw effect will also trigger the draw 2 payoffs for the Blue-Black deck.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Rust Goliath
Sword of the Meek image 2.0 Two to play and two to equip for this bonus is probably a 1.5, but this format actually has some stuff going on that makes this interesting. While you can’t go full on Thopter-Sword combo, the format does have a lot of 1/1 creature tokens. So, sacrificing this to something in the Black-Red deck, and then making a creature token one way or another means you get it back and at that point you’ve gotten some nice value – and you can even sacrifice it again if you have the means.
Defabricate image 0.5 This set might have a lot of artifacts and enchantments in it, but I’m still thinking this is a bit too narrow to be good in your main deck. It can counter activated or triggered abilities, which gives it some additional uses – but it is often hard to get a full card back when you counter one of those. Yeah, this still feels like sideboard material.
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Ashnod's Intervention image 1.0 Returning the creature to your hand instead of to the battlefield is obviously a big downgrade from other versions of this effect we have seen before, but it does mean that you can use this to trade one-for-one for something while holding on to your creature. It can be especially nice if your creature has an ETB ability or something, but I kind of feel like the tempo hit you take in casting this to win combat is a little bit too much. This seems like it is efficient, but it really isn’t when you consider having to recast your creature. You can also use this with an Unearthed creature of course, but I still don’t feel like that’s enough upside.
Rust Goliath image 3.0 A 5-mana ⅗ with Reach and Trample isn’t great, neither is a 10-mana 10/10 with Reach and Trample. However, the fact you can cast this as an okayish creature for five or cast it in the late game as a big monster is pretty nice, and I feel like powerstone decks will love this card, since it can become a pretty real win condition for them
Air Marshal image 2.5 Three mana is kind of a lot for giving Flying only to creatures with a particular type, but the good news is that it is easier than normal to produce mana to pay for abilities in this set thanks to powerstones and there are lots of soldiers. It can also target itself.
Tocasia's Dig Site image 1.5 This isn’t great for your mana, but having a repeatable source of Surveil is going to be worth it in some decks, because it can both laid your graveyard and improve your card quality. Three mana is a lot for sure, and that’s an ability you’ll only be using when you have nothing better to do – but hey, it will find you something to do eventually!
Pack 3 Pick 10: Penregon Strongbull
Levitating Statue image 2.5 We’ve seen some spell payoffs like this in the past, and they have always been kind of underwhelming. This is because for much of the game, casting this seems like it didn’t accomplish much. After all, it is just a hunk of metal on the battlefield until you pay mana to animate it, and that’s a pretty big bummer, even in a world of powerstones. Then you jump through hoops to make it grow too. It is nice that it can sort of sit around and accumulate counters before starting to threaten your opponent, and there are certainly games where things will work out that way, but I think there will enough situations where it really lets you down
Combat Courier image 2.0 It is nice that you can cash this in for a card – twice, thanks to Unearth – and that does give you a 2-for-1, albeit an expensive one. But if you can get some extra value out of this being around, it is definitely worth it.
Penregon Strongbull image 3.0 This looks pretty sweet. There are plenty of artifacts to sacrifice, including the powerstones that can help pay for the ability, which effectively makes this say “Sacrifice a powerstone: It gets +1/+1 and deals 1 damage to an opponent.” The ability is just very affordable, and this creature attacking with a few artifacts in play is going to be a pretty sizable problem. Love that it also damages the opponent, giving it the capability of doing some very significant damage if it goes unblocked
Gixian Skullflayer image 2.0 This is a nice little payoff for getting creatures in your graveyard, a strategy that looks to be well supported in the format. I do wish this enabled itself a little bit, like by milling a single card or something – but it will be able to grow with relative ease in Black/Green decks especially
Supply Drop image 2.0 This is a pretty interesting design! Three mana for +2/+2 isn’t a great rate for a trick, but you can cash it in for a card later, giving it some real 2-for-1 potential in a format that has a fair bit of Artifact synergy too.
Burrowing Razormaw image 2.0 This has some reasonable stats and does a good job of loading your graveyard
Pack 3 Pick 11: The Stasis Coffin
Liquimetal Coating image 0.0 You don’t want to be doing this. For the most part, this effect is meaningless! There are of course some cornercases – like if you have a card that destroys artifacts you can make it destroy any permanent – or if you need another artifact in play for some effect it can do that, but there’s a reason I said “corner cases.” This just doesn’t do enough.
The Stasis Coffin image 0.0 It is pretty cool that we have the words “protection from everything” on another card, but this doesn’t feel particularly good for Limited. It is basically a glorified Fog effect, and Fogs are basically never good in Limited. You spend a card to have no real impact on the board, only delaying the inevitable in most cases. You’d much rather just have a creature! In some ways it is even worse than a Fog, because you can’t even get it going as a surprise – your opponent will know it is coming. Now, it is also better than Fogs in some ways – like it can stop effects that target you. But I don’t feel like that’s enough
Bitter Reunion image 1.5 This is a neat take on a Tormented Voice-type effect. While the UR deck in this format cares about spells, it actually cares about all non-creature spells, so this will still trigger them like Tormented Voice would. The ability to give haste to your whole board will come up sometimes too. I think you probably cut this most of the time in any deck that doesn’t care about spells, and even in the spell deck it probably isn’t the card you’re happily shoving in your deck
Moment of Defiance image 2.0 This is a bit expensive for a trick that only boosts toughness by 1, which means that oftentimes your creature will also die, but it definitely makes up for that by drawing you a card. In situations where you creature does survive, you get a 2-for-1, and in situations where it doesn’t, you break even while gaining some life. It also draws you a card, checking the box for the Blue-Black deck. That seems fine to me
Sibling Rivalry image 0.5 // 3.0 This format has a very real Sacrifice deck in it, meaning that Sibling Rivalry is going to be pretty well-positioned, as the best thing to do with these is to steal an opposing creature or artifact and sacrifice it to one of your sacrifice outlets – like the Minotaur we saw earlier. This also gives you a powerstone, which gives you something else to sacrifice in many cases! This is definitely a build around, as it isn’t very good in just any deck in the format
Pack 3 Pick 12: Whirling Strike
Airlift Chaplain image 3.0 Chances are decent you’ll hit something you can get back with the mill trigger, and if you don’t or choose not to get something back, you get a three mana 2/2 with Flying that loaded your graveyard some, which is pretty nice.
Citanul Stalwart image 2.0 Even with powerstones, it can be a little tricky finding a way to consistently use this to fix and ramp your mana. There will be times where you just can’t do it, and its an ability that isn’t that great in the late game. That said, this format does have many payoffs for doing such a thing, and the powerstones certainly make this better.
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Loran's Escape image 2.0 These effects have been playing pretty well lately, and I think that’s probably the case here too. Blanking removal and various other effects while also improving a creature’s ability to win combat is pretty solid.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Blitz Automaton
Blitz Automaton image 3.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is right around a 2.5, so adding the more expensive upside of this being a 6/4 with Haste sometimes is nice. Yes, 7 mana for a 6/4 with Haste is an awful rate, but the modality of all of these prototype cards is great in Limited!
Tawnos's Tinkering image 1.0 I feel like actually generating a card of value with this is going to be a little bit challenging, and it is a pretty big investment for a card that won’t always be able to do enough
Whirling Strike image 1.5 This is a solid trick, as it will usually keep your creature alive, kill the opposing creature, and even do some trample damage! It gets better in a set with Prowess and other spell payoffs
Pack 3 Pick 14: Fog of War
Retrieval Agent image 1.5 This has somewhat passable defensive stats and a nice creature type, but the ability is expensive and underwhelming – even with powerstones around.
Fog of War image 0.0 Fogs are unplayable in Limited. You spend a card to delay the inevitable in most cases.
Pack 3 Pick 15: Wasteful Harvest
Wasteful Harvest image 1.5 This format does have a deck that really wants to mill cards, but I’m still not super into this. Three mana to get a single permanent back from the graveyard is pretty underwhelming, even with mill attached. I’d much rather impact the board and mill myself at the same time, and there are ways to do that in the format
Draft Pick Overview