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Premier Draft SIR 26 March 2023

26 March 03:54 - TtheP 7 Wins - 0 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (17)
1 Falkenrath Gorger image
1 Stromkirk Captain image
1 Olivia's Bloodsworn image
2 Bloodmad Vampire image
3 Insolent Neonate image
2 Insatiable Gorgers image
1 Geier Reach Bandit // Vildin-Pack Alpha image
2 Ravenous Bloodseeker image
2 Indulgent Aristocrat image
1 Scourge Wolf image
1 Furyblade Vampire image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (7)
1 Galvanic Bombardment image
1 Macabre Waltz image
1 Gisa's Bidding image
1 Dead Weight image
1 Vampiric Fury image
1 Alchemist's Greeting image
1 Borrowed Malevolence image
Land (17)
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium image
9 Mountain image
7 Swamp image
Sideboard
1 Crow of Dark Tidings image
1 Mockery of Nature image
1 Morkrut Necropod image
1 Graf Rats image
1 Ongoing Investigation image
1 Grotesque Mutation image
3 Rush of Adrenaline image
1 Cryptolith Fragment image
1 Magmatic Chasm image
1 Butcher's Cleaver image
2 Tormenting Voice image
2 Alms of the Vein image
1 Pore Over the Pages image
1 Certain Death image
1 Borrowed Hostility image
1 Make Mischief image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Falkenrath Gorger
Falkenrath Gorger image 2.5 Black/Red is already loaded up with Vampires and discard outlets, so the Gorger giving all of your Vampires Madness actually comes up. That said, many vampires in the set already have Madness, so it isn’t always going to do something. Still, it is a one mana 2/1 with upside – hard to go wrong there.
Village Messenger image 2.5 This is great on turn one, especially if you’re on the play. You get to play this and get in for a damage, and if your opponent doesn’t have a one drop, this turns into a 2/2 Menace – and it's going to stay that way for quite some time. If you get it later in the game, it is significantly less impressive, but a 2/2 Menace can at least be relevant on most board states.
Pore Over the Pages image 3.0 Paying 5 to draw 3 and discard a card isn’t amazing, but the fact this untapped two lands shouldn’t be overlooked. Most of the time, this allows you to add to the board thanks to the new cards you drew, making it much different than your typical sorcery speed draw spell.
Reaper of Flight Moonsilver image 2.5 The base stats here aren’t good – but if you have Delirium going, the Reaper can represent lethal on a lot of board states.
Foul Orchard image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Olivia's Dragoon image 3.0 This card would be solid in any format, but in this one it is even better! It has a useful creature type and can help you get Delirium and Madness cards going.
Liliana's Elite image 1.5 Even in this graveyard-centric format, Liliana’s Elite often isn’t worth it. The upside here is that it is a large vanilla creature, and the downside is that it is awful in the early game, and mediocre in the mid-game.
Guardian of Pilgrims image 2.0 This has medium base stats, and has a medium ETB ability. So basically, it's medium.
Confront the Unknown image 1.5 This only gives +1/+1 a little too often to be anything special. Some really clue-heavy decks can get some good use out of this, but it isn’t exactly the payoff you’re hoping for.
Imprisoned in the Moon image 2.5 This was Rare last time, downshifting it to Common will have a pretty significant impact on the format. That said, it isn’t amazing removal in Limited. Giving your opponent extra mana isn’t great, but it is usually better than whatever their best creature is. Still, you don’t really feel like you get a full card of value when you play this.
Howlpack Wolf image 2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Dead Weight image 3.5 This is premium removal, kills many things for only one mana. It is also a little better than normal in this format because of Delirium.
Gnarlwood Dryad image 3.0 A one mana 1/1 with deathtouch is always playable, and this has the upside of becoming much more relevant in the mid to late game.
Haunted Fengraf image 1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Ongoing Investigation
Moonmist image 0.5 Even with all this additional upside, this is still a fog, and those are rarely worth it in Limited.
Conduit of Storms image 3.0 A three mana ⅔ that gives you a mana every time it attacks isn’t too bad, and this can transform into a fairly impressive Eldrazi Werewolf.
Blessed Alliance image 3.5 The most useful mode on this is usually making your opponent sacrifice an opposing creature. Paying 2 mana for that isn’t amazing, especially when your opponent attacks with multiple creatures. However, the fact you can pump some extra mana into this for some extra effects is great.
Soul Separator image 1.0 You need a nicely stocked graveyard and lots of spare mana to fully utilize this. So, basically, this is a little bit too clunky, and asks too much of you at the same time.
Ongoing Investigation image 4.0 This is an amazing engine. Generating clues is great, and this gives you two separate ways to do that. If your graveyard is loaded up, you can get clues that way, and if you have a good board state, attacking will get you those clues. Pretty hard not to extract massive amounts of value out of this.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Gisa's Bidding image 3.5 This is great, it was an Uncommon last time, so downshifting it to Common is pretty spicy. Without Madness, it is a passable rate. With Madness it is downright nasty. Three mana for two 2/2s at Instant speed is a great rate. Casting this for its Madness cost is very doable, too.
Bloodbriar image 2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice image 3.0 This has solid base stats, and the fact you can get a Zombie out of it from the graveyard is great! Obviously, the rate on that second body isn’t amazing, but card advantage is card advantage. It also means you can discard or mill this and still get some nice value out of it.
Exultant Cultist image 2.5 This is good sacrifice fodder, and can be especially spicy with Emerge. Even in the absence of those things, the fact you can trade this off for a 2-for-1 feels pretty good.
Grotesque Mutation image 2.0 This is a decent trick. While the small toughness boost isn’t going to always keep your creature alive, the lifelink can really alter a race in your favor.
Epitaph Golem image 0.0 // 2.5 This is better than it looks! This is a format where you can actually end up milling yourself out, especially in Black-Green. Once your library is out of cards, the Golem not only helps you avoid losing because you’re out of cards – it also effectively lets you draw whatever card you want every single turn. It takes a fairly particular deck for this to make the cut, though.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Stromkirk Captain
Stromkirk Captain image 3.5 This offers an impressive boost to your Vampires, which will be the bulk of your creatures in Black/Red.
Kindly Stranger image 4.0 If Delirium is online, this is basically a 6-mana 4/3 that destroys a creature when it enters the battlefield. That’s insanely strong! Now, it does take some set up, and sometimes you don’t have six mana to do it all at once, but either way, the Stranger is very powerful.
Graf Mole image 3.0 This is a nice Clue payoff with solid stats. The life it gains you can really help you buy yourself the time to draw all of your extra cards.
Mad Prophet image 2.0 This is a nice repeatable way to get Madness going, but the stat-line means it dies to several one mana removal spells in the format, and that downside hurts.
Dawn Gryff image 2.0 A three mana 2/2 Flyer was a lot better back in 2016, and I think this format is similar enough for this to be solid.
Galvanic Bombardment image 2.5 // 4.0 You’ll always play this even if you only have one copy, and it becomes far better the more copies you have. If you have 4+, it becomes one of the best cards in your deck.
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Byway Courier image 3.5 This is good at trading off for things, and the Clue it gives you means you’re going to get a 2-for-1.
Sigardian Priest image 2.5 This format has a ton of humans in it, so you often can’t tap creatures that you desperately want to tap. That makes this a lot worse than something like Master Decoy, but its still solid.
Spontaneous Mutation image 1.5 Like most -X/-0 Auras, this isn’t very good – even with Flash! It doesn’t get close enough to removing an entire card to feel like its worth it. It does get a small boost because of all the Prowess in the set, but you’re still hoping to play something better.
Tattered Haunter image 2.0 This is a reasonable two-drop, though it does suffer from the fact that it is awful against the format’s flying tokens.
Dauntless Cathar image 3.5 Trading this off for something and then getting a flying token out of your graveyard feels great. Also works well if you want to sacrifice it or you end up milling it.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Pack 1 Pick 4: Olivia's Bloodsworn
Elder Cathar image 3.0 This is a pretty nice payoff for Humans. Paying 3 mana for 4/4 worth of stats feels pretty good, and also makes the Cathar good sacrifice fodder.
Shrill Howler image 3.5 This might only have one toughness, but because it can’t be blocked by creatures with lower power, you don’t need to worry too much about your opponent trading up. Once transformed it becomes an absolute monster, drastically increasing its toughness and generating a body when it hits your opponent.
Call the Bloodline image 0.0 // 3.0 In the right deck, this can be very powerful! There is a lot of Madness in this set, especially in Black-Red, and this is one of the best ways to get Madness going, since it also lets you add a very real body to the board.
Olivia's Bloodsworn image 3.5 On its own, this is a two mana 2/1 Flyer that can give itself Haste, but if you’re in Black-Red you’re going to have plenty of other Vampires around.
Briarbridge Patrol image 3.0 This isn’t quite as good as it looks, which is partly why they downshifted it from Uncommon. A 4-mana 3/3 isn’t very good, and while this has a big text box, it doesn’t do anything that good. It does generate Clues for you whether it blocks or gets blocked, which means you do ultimately get a 2-for-1 out of it pretty often. I wouldn’t count on being able to effectively utilize the card’s other ability, though. These sorts of effects always underperform in Limited, partly because you can’t really build a deck with enough monsters to cheat into play. So, you don’t often have something worth putting into play with the effect – oftentimes, it is better to just hold on to all of your clues.
Magmatic Chasm image 0.0 // 2.0 You’re not going to play this unless you’re an all-in aggro deck, and even then it is sometimes a real problem that flyers can still block.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Jace's Scrutiny image 2.0 This is a little better than it might look at first, largely because the format has both a Spell deck and an Investigate deck. This ultimately replaces itself thanks to the Clue, and the -4/-0 can end up blanking an attack at worst, and sometimes you can even set up a really advantageous combat situation where your opponent actually loses a card.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Aim High image 1.5 This type of trick is rarely good. The stats boost is medium for two mana, and Reach and untapping are mostly only relevant on defense, which is the worst possible time to use a trick.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Angelic Purge image 2.5 2-for-1ing yourself to destroy something isn’t great, but there is enough sacrifice fodder in this format that the first copy of Angelic Purge usually makes the cut.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Galvanic Bombardment
Cryptolith Fragment image 2.5 This is a source of fixing that can become a very real threat. The situation won’t always allow you to transform it, but if your opponent has 10 or less life and you’ve got the Aurora of Emrakul attacking them, they are going to be in some serious trouble.
Brain in a Jar image 0.0 Not worth it in Limited, even with a spell deck around. It is too slow and doesn’t really do anything to impact the game most of the time.
Pieces of the Puzzle image 2.5 If your deck is spell heavy enough (so, mostly UR) this ends up being better than divination, especially because it loads your graveyard too! Outside of Blue-Red it becomes more questionable, though.
Dusk Feaster image 2.5 This is pretty bad if you can’t get delirium going. The good news is, by the time you’re going to want to cast this, you’re pretty likely to have it in a deck like Black-Green. At that point, it is a 5-mana ⅘ Flyer – which is pretty nice!
Weirding Wood image 2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Apothecary Geist image 3.0 This was a big overperformer last time around. Its stats line up reasonably well in the format, and it gains you that 3 life pretty often.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Liliana's Elite image 1.5 Even in this graveyard-centric format, Liliana’s Elite often isn’t worth it. The upside here is that it is a large vanilla creature, and the downside is that it is awful in the early game, and mediocre in the mid-game.
Galvanic Bombardment image 2.5 // 4.0 You’ll always play this even if you only have one copy, and it becomes far better the more copies you have. If you have 4+, it becomes one of the best cards in your deck.
Wretched Gryff image 4.0 This is one of the best Commons in the set. Casting it for the full 7 mana is totally passable, and if you can sacrifice something that gives you value and cast the Gryff for three or four mana – which happens all the time – it feels particularly amazing.
Ember-Eye Wolf image 2.5 This overperformed last time. A lot of the time, this sort of creature that can buff its power for mana isn’t very impressive, because you end up having to spend a lot of mana just to make it trade. However, adding Haste to the mix, along with a useful creature type, makes a significant difference. This even has a bit of Fireball potential in the late game.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Bloodmad Vampire
Rise from the Tides image 0.0 // 3.5 This is a legit buildaround in the format. Milling yourself is a very real theme, as are Instants and Sorceries, so it isn’t uncommon for Rise from the Tides to work as a nice win condition in a Blue control deck. Obviously it is horrible in any deck that isn’t actually good at both of those things, but the ceiling here is very high.
Groundskeeper image 1.0 You do mill yourself a lot in Green, so the idea here is that if you milled a land you need, you can get it back. Mostly, though, that isn’t worth doing.
Macabre Waltz image 2.5 You want one of these in virtually every Black deck. It is great at bringing back your best creatures, and it can even help you load the graveyard!
Intrepid Provisioner image 3.0 This is a solid Human payoff. The +2/+2 it offers often gives you a much better situation to attack with, and the 3/3 Trample body isn’t the worst thing.
Dawn Gryff image 2.0 A three mana 2/2 Flyer was a lot better back in 2016, and I think this format is similar enough for this to be solid.
Magmatic Chasm image 0.0 // 2.0 You’re not going to play this unless you’re an all-in aggro deck, and even then it is sometimes a real problem that flyers can still block.
Morkrut Necropod image 2.5 This is a pretty scary creature. A 7/7 with Menace is a real pain to block! It does come with a pretty big downside, but giving up expendable creatures or lands to swing with this thing isn’t too shabby.
Bloodmad Vampire image 2.5 A three-mana 4/1 isn’t a terrible rate for an aggro deck, and this has big upside! Sometimes you can cast it for two, and it gets bigger when it gets in for a hit. Madness increases your chance of making that happen, too, since you can effectively flash it in at the end of your opponent’s turn sometimes.
Fiend Binder image 2.5 The stat-line is ugly for the cost, but tapping down an opposing creature every time it attacks can allow you to do tons of damage.
Merciless Resolve image 1.5 There are some expendable bodies in this format for sure, and the fact you can sacrifice a land is nice. But this is still fairly clunky for the effect, which often amounts to you breaking even on cards. That’s not especially exciting.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Bloodmad Vampire
Traveler's Amulet image 2.5 This nicely fixes your mana, while also giving you an Artifact in the graveyard for Delirium.
Neglected Heirloom image 3.5 The base form of the Heirloom is a solid piece of Equipment, and once it transforms it can make any creature into a major threat. Transforming it isn’t always easy of course, and works best in Red-Green, but because it has such a good baseline, it is worth valuing fairly highly.
Brain in a Jar image 0.0 Not worth it in Limited, even with a spell deck around. It is too slow and doesn’t really do anything to impact the game most of the time.
Insatiable Gorgers image 2.5 A 4-mana 5/3 isn’t too bad, even if it has to always attack, and the Madness upside is nice to have.
Olivia's Dragoon image 3.0 This card would be solid in any format, but in this one it is even better! It has a useful creature type and can help you get Delirium and Madness cards going.
Bloodmad Vampire image 2.5 A three-mana 4/1 isn’t a terrible rate for an aggro deck, and this has big upside! Sometimes you can cast it for two, and it gets bigger when it gets in for a hit. Madness increases your chance of making that happen, too, since you can effectively flash it in at the end of your opponent’s turn sometimes.
Wretched Gryff image 4.0 This is one of the best Commons in the set. Casting it for the full 7 mana is totally passable, and if you can sacrifice something that gives you value and cast the Gryff for three or four mana – which happens all the time – it feels particularly amazing.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Angelic Purge image 2.5 2-for-1ing yourself to destroy something isn’t great, but there is enough sacrifice fodder in this format that the first copy of Angelic Purge usually makes the cut.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Macabre Waltz
Ulvenwald Captive image 3.0 As is true in most formats, ramping your mana is pretty good! Even when it is attached to a two mana ½ with Defender. Its transformation isn’t the most impressive, but it does let you ramp mana even more, it gets bigger, and it loses defender.
Wretched Gryff image 4.0 This is one of the best Commons in the set. Casting it for the full 7 mana is totally passable, and if you can sacrifice something that gives you value and cast the Gryff for three or four mana – which happens all the time – it feels particularly amazing.
Jace's Scrutiny image 2.0 This is a little better than it might look at first, largely because the format has both a Spell deck and an Investigate deck. This ultimately replaces itself thanks to the Clue, and the -4/-0 can end up blanking an attack at worst, and sometimes you can even set up a really advantageous combat situation where your opponent actually loses a card.
Macabre Waltz image 2.5 You want one of these in virtually every Black deck. It is great at bringing back your best creatures, and it can even help you load the graveyard!
Strength of Arms image 2.5 This is a nice trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to play pretty well, and the times you can get a 1/1 token out of this feel really insane, and its very doable, especially in GW.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Terrarion image 1.5 This does a solid job of fixing your mana, and it helps you get delirium early by putting an Artifact in the graveyard.
Pyre Hound image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a buildaround, but it is also an incredibly important and powerful Common for the Blue-Red deck. It gets massive in that deck, and the Trample is a real problem for your opponent.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Insolent Neonate
Pore Over the Pages image 3.0 Paying 5 to draw 3 and discard a card isn’t amazing, but the fact this untapped two lands shouldn’t be overlooked. Most of the time, this allows you to add to the board thanks to the new cards you drew, making it much different than your typical sorcery speed draw spell.
Reaper of Flight Moonsilver image 2.5 The base stats here aren’t good – but if you have Delirium going, the Reaper can represent lethal on a lot of board states.
Foul Orchard image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Liliana's Elite image 1.5 Even in this graveyard-centric format, Liliana’s Elite often isn’t worth it. The upside here is that it is a large vanilla creature, and the downside is that it is awful in the early game, and mediocre in the mid-game.
Howlpack Wolf image 2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Haunted Fengraf image 1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Grotesque Mutation
Conduit of Storms image 3.0 A three mana ⅔ that gives you a mana every time it attacks isn’t too bad, and this can transform into a fairly impressive Eldrazi Werewolf.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Exultant Cultist image 2.5 This is good sacrifice fodder, and can be especially spicy with Emerge. Even in the absence of those things, the fact you can trade this off for a 2-for-1 feels pretty good.
Grotesque Mutation image 2.0 This is a decent trick. While the small toughness boost isn’t going to always keep your creature alive, the lifelink can really alter a race in your favor.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Crow of Dark Tidings
Dawn Gryff image 2.0 A three mana 2/2 Flyer was a lot better back in 2016, and I think this format is similar enough for this to be solid.
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Byway Courier image 3.5 This is good at trading off for things, and the Clue it gives you means you’re going to get a 2-for-1.
Tattered Haunter image 2.0 This is a reasonable two-drop, though it does suffer from the fact that it is awful against the format’s flying tokens.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Pack 1 Pick 12: Rush of Adrenaline
Magmatic Chasm image 0.0 // 2.0 You’re not going to play this unless you’re an all-in aggro deck, and even then it is sometimes a real problem that flyers can still block.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Aim High image 1.5 This type of trick is rarely good. The stats boost is medium for two mana, and Reach and untapping are mostly only relevant on defense, which is the worst possible time to use a trick.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Cryptolith Fragment
Cryptolith Fragment image 2.5 This is a source of fixing that can become a very real threat. The situation won’t always allow you to transform it, but if your opponent has 10 or less life and you’ve got the Aurora of Emrakul attacking them, they are going to be in some serious trouble.
Brain in a Jar image 0.0 Not worth it in Limited, even with a spell deck around. It is too slow and doesn’t really do anything to impact the game most of the time.
Liliana's Elite image 1.5 Even in this graveyard-centric format, Liliana’s Elite often isn’t worth it. The upside here is that it is a large vanilla creature, and the downside is that it is awful in the early game, and mediocre in the mid-game.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Magmatic Chasm
Magmatic Chasm image 0.0 // 2.0 You’re not going to play this unless you’re an all-in aggro deck, and even then it is sometimes a real problem that flyers can still block.
Merciless Resolve image 1.5 There are some expendable bodies in this format for sure, and the fact you can sacrifice a land is nice. But this is still fairly clunky for the effect, which often amounts to you breaking even on cards. That’s not especially exciting.
Pack 1 Pick 15: Insatiable Gorgers
Insatiable Gorgers image 2.5 A 4-mana 5/3 isn’t too bad, even if it has to always attack, and the Madness upside is nice to have.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Insolent Neonate
Vampiric Fury image 1.0 // 2.5 This is cheaper than most Trumpet-Blast type effects, but only buffing Vampires is enough of a restriction that I’m not that thrilled about it. If you really got their on vampires, it isn’t a bad inclusion, but there are lots of Red decks that won’t play this.
Bruna, the Fading Light image 4.0 By the time you cast her, Bruna will usually have something to reanimate, and she brings some pretty nice stats to the board too. Her stat-line isn’t too shabby either.
Ulvenwald Captive image 3.0 As is true in most formats, ramping your mana is pretty good! Even when it is attached to a two mana ½ with Defender. Its transformation isn’t the most impressive, but it does let you ramp mana even more, it gets bigger, and it loses defender.
Choked Estuary image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Drownyard Behemoth image 2.5 The main thing you want to do with this is Flash it in and ambush block a smaller creature, and that’s most creatures! If you do that, you’re going to get a 2-for-1. Sometimes that situation doesn’t present itself, and you just find yourself casting this as a 5/7, and it doesn’t feel nearly as good in those cases, but Blue has enough good sacrifice fodder that this will still feel pretty decent.
Fortified Village image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Guardian of Pilgrims image 2.0 This has medium base stats, and has a medium ETB ability. So basically, it's medium.
Take Inventory image 1.0 // 3.5 This card can get really silly, especially in Blue-Red decks that can generate awesome value from spells that draw cards. Obviously, you want to get multiples of these, so that they can scale as the game goes on. Even if you only have two, you probably play them – and if you end up with 4+, it feels amazing.
Wild-Field Scarecrow image 3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Gisa's Bidding
Ghoulraiser image 3.0 Gravedigger for three mana is a nice card, even if you can only get back Zombies and it is entirely random! This delivers a nice 2-for-1 in most Black decks.
Hinterland Logger image 3.0 This is a nice two drop. If you’re on the play and your opponent doesn’t have their own two drop, it can easily become a 4/2 Trampler in the early game, which is terrifying! That size is relevant all game long, too.
Compelling Deterrence image 2.5 Two mana to bounce a non-land permanent is usually playable, especially in a format with a spell deck! The Zombie upside is nice too, especially in situations when your opponent has an empty hand, when this basically feels like Doom Blade!
Ruthless Disposal image 2.5 This can definitely kill some stuff, but because it asks for so much, the end result is often still a 3-for-2, which isn’t exactly amazing. Now, if you have good sacrifice fodder and cards you want to discard anyway, you can offset the downside. This has a high ceiling, but also a miserable floor.
Graf Harvest image 2.0 Menace to Zombies upgrades a decent number of board states, and this isn’t a bad mana sink either.
Weirding Wood image 2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Drogskol Shieldmate image 2.0 This isn’t as impressive as it looks. +0/+1 to your whole board is not impactful in most situations. Still, it is a three mana ⅔ with Flash and upside, so it is super solid.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Wild-Field Scarecrow image 3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
Gisa's Bidding image 3.5 This is great, it was an Uncommon last time, so downshifting it to Common is pretty spicy. Without Madness, it is a passable rate. With Madness it is downright nasty. Three mana for two 2/2s at Instant speed is a great rate. Casting this for its Madness cost is very doable, too.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Puncturing Light image 2.5 This can kill a decent number of creatures in the format, and it does it fairly efficiently. Obviously, it is a little too narrow to be premium, but its fine.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Geist of the Archives image 3.0 This is surprisingly good. It can block lots of creatures in the format, and a free Scry every upkeep does a great job of improving the quality of your cards.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Geier Reach Bandit
Vampiric Fury image 1.0 // 2.5 This is cheaper than most Trumpet-Blast type effects, but only buffing Vampires is enough of a restriction that I’m not that thrilled about it. If you really got their on vampires, it isn’t a bad inclusion, but there are lots of Red decks that won’t play this.
Geier Reach Bandit image 4.0 A three mana 3/2 with Haste is a great starting point, and when this transforms it not only gets +1/+1 – it also makes it so all of your werewolves immediately transform when they enter the battlefield, which is a pretty big upgrade.
Mockery of Nature image 2.5 This format has a decent number of Artifacts and Enchantments, and if you have a target, the Mockery will feel amazing. However, there aren’t so many of them in the set that this will consistently give you that sweet 2-for-1.
Shreds of Sanity image 2.0 If you’re in Red there’s a good chance you have a nice mix of Instants and Sorceries, and if you do, this is a pretty nice way to get back some removal spells.
Gnarlwood Dryad image 3.0 A one mana 1/1 with deathtouch is always playable, and this has the upside of becoming much more relevant in the mid to late game.
Take Inventory image 1.0 // 3.5 This card can get really silly, especially in Blue-Red decks that can generate awesome value from spells that draw cards. Obviously, you want to get multiples of these, so that they can scale as the game goes on. Even if you only have two, you probably play them – and if you end up with 4+, it feels amazing.
Intrepid Provisioner image 3.0 This is a solid Human payoff. The +2/+2 it offers often gives you a much better situation to attack with, and the 3/3 Trample body isn’t the worst thing.
Bloodbriar image 2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Essence Flux image 0.0 // 2.5 The Blue-White Spirit deck has a blink/flicker sub-theme, as Essence Flux tells you. If you have enough Spirits with ETB abilities, this is playable. But there are many decks it doesn’t work out in, even Blue/White ones!
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Strength of Arms image 2.5 This is a nice trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to play pretty well, and the times you can get a 1/1 token out of this feel really insane, and its very doable, especially in GW.
Thraben Foulbloods image 2.5 A three mana 3/2 isn’t very good, but a three mana 4/3 with Menace is! Delirium is very accessible too, though you won’t usually have it when you’re playing this on turn three.
Morkrut Necropod image 2.5 This is a pretty scary creature. A 7/7 with Menace is a real pain to block! It does come with a pretty big downside, but giving up expendable creatures or lands to swing with this thing isn’t too shabby.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Insolent Neonate
Ulvenwald Captive image 3.0 As is true in most formats, ramping your mana is pretty good! Even when it is attached to a two mana ½ with Defender. Its transformation isn’t the most impressive, but it does let you ramp mana even more, it gets bigger, and it loses defender.
Manic Scribe image 2.0 This is another really awkward mill card. Milling can benefit your opponent enough in this format that going this route is highly questionable. That said, the Scribe is capable of milling the opponent out all on its own.
Crawling Sensation image 0.0 // 4.0 This is an amazing buildaround. It quickly gets you Delirium, and it adds to the board while loading up your graveyard with all that sweet, sweet value. That said, it doesn’t work in just any deck – it is mostly here for Black/Green.
Aim High image 1.5 This type of trick is rarely good. The stats boost is medium for two mana, and Reach and untapping are mostly only relevant on defense, which is the worst possible time to use a trick.
Macabre Waltz image 2.5 You want one of these in virtually every Black deck. It is great at bringing back your best creatures, and it can even help you load the graveyard!
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Ingenious Skaab image 3.5 This is an amazing common. If you took away its ability to change its stats OR Prowess, it would still be pretty high quality – but it has both! This is incredibly difficult to block, and it can hit really hard so that’s kind of a problem for your opponent.
Ravenous Bloodseeker image 2.5 This is a nice discard outlet that can be pretty obnoxious to block in the early game.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Explosive Apparatus image 1.5 This is by no means efficient, but if you’re hurting for Artifacts to get Delirium going more consistently, it can do the job.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Ravenous Bloodseeker
Gatstaf Arsonists image 2.5 This is a solid finisher. A 5-mana 5/4 is obviously not great, but a 5-mana 6/5 with Menace? Yeah, that closes out a lot of games.
Brain in a Jar image 0.0 Not worth it in Limited, even with a spell deck around. It is too slow and doesn’t really do anything to impact the game most of the time.
Pore Over the Pages image 3.0 Paying 5 to draw 3 and discard a card isn’t amazing, but the fact this untapped two lands shouldn’t be overlooked. Most of the time, this allows you to add to the board thanks to the new cards you drew, making it much different than your typical sorcery speed draw spell.
Bloodbriar image 2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Ravenous Bloodseeker image 2.5 This is a nice discard outlet that can be pretty obnoxious to block in the early game.
Sigardian Priest image 2.5 This format has a ton of humans in it, so you often can’t tap creatures that you desperately want to tap. That makes this a lot worse than something like Master Decoy, but its still solid.
Imprisoned in the Moon image 2.5 This was Rare last time, downshifting it to Common will have a pretty significant impact on the format. That said, it isn’t amazing removal in Limited. Giving your opponent extra mana isn’t great, but it is usually better than whatever their best creature is. Still, you don’t really feel like you get a full card of value when you play this.
Merciless Resolve image 1.5 There are some expendable bodies in this format for sure, and the fact you can sacrifice a land is nice. But this is still fairly clunky for the effect, which often amounts to you breaking even on cards. That’s not especially exciting.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Gavony Unhallowed image 2.0 This starts with some pretty bad stats, but it can definitely grow in this format, especially in a deck like Black-White, which has a substantial amount of Sacrifice stuff.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Geier Reach Sanitarium
Geier Reach Sanitarium image 2.5 This is a nice mana sink ability to have in any format, but in a format with a heavy graveyard angle it is even better. The downside is you also risk helping your opponent.
Nearheath Chaplain image 4.0 A 4-mana 3/1 with lifelink definitely isn’t good, but you can exile this from your graveyard to make two 1/1 tokens! This feels like a 2-for-1 most of the time, it feels great to trade it off – and it can even be a really pesky attacker.
Ingenious Skaab image 3.5 This is an amazing common. If you took away its ability to change its stats OR Prowess, it would still be pretty high quality – but it has both! This is incredibly difficult to block, and it can hit really hard so that’s kind of a problem for your opponent.
Dauntless Cathar image 3.5 Trading this off for something and then getting a flying token out of your graveyard feels great. Also works well if you want to sacrifice it or you end up milling it.
Morkrut Necropod image 2.5 This is a pretty scary creature. A 7/7 with Menace is a real pain to block! It does come with a pretty big downside, but giving up expendable creatures or lands to swing with this thing isn’t too shabby.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice image 3.0 This has solid base stats, and the fact you can get a Zombie out of it from the graveyard is great! Obviously, the rate on that second body isn’t amazing, but card advantage is card advantage. It also means you can discard or mill this and still get some nice value out of it.
Angelic Purge image 2.5 2-for-1ing yourself to destroy something isn’t great, but there is enough sacrifice fodder in this format that the first copy of Angelic Purge usually makes the cut.
Devilthorn Fox image 1.5 A vanilla two mana 3/1 was better back in 2016, and this will be far more playable in this format than it is in more recent ones.
Fiend Binder image 2.5 The stat-line is ugly for the cost, but tapping down an opposing creature every time it attacks can allow you to do tons of damage.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Dead Weight
Stone Quarry image 2.5 These always enter tapped, which is a little bit of a bummer, but they still provide some quality fixing.
Dawn Gryff image 2.0 A three mana 2/2 Flyer was a lot better back in 2016, and I think this format is similar enough for this to be solid.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Wolfkin Bond image 3.0 This is a surprisingly good Aura, and one you’re usually going to want one of in your Green decks. 5 mana is a lot, but the fact this gives you a 2/2 means that you do a good job of mitigating against the risk of getting 2-for-1’d.
Ember-Eye Wolf image 2.5 This overperformed last time. A lot of the time, this sort of creature that can buff its power for mana isn’t very impressive, because you end up having to spend a lot of mana just to make it trade. However, adding Haste to the mix, along with a useful creature type, makes a significant difference. This even has a bit of Fireball potential in the late game.
Dead Weight image 3.5 This is premium removal, kills many things for only one mana. It is also a little better than normal in this format because of Delirium.
Insolent Neonate image 2.5 This is a solid one drop that can chip in for some nice damage early, and then cash itself in for a card later in the game.
Geist of the Archives image 3.0 This is surprisingly good. It can block lots of creatures in the format, and a free Scry every upkeep does a great job of improving the quality of your cards.
Sanitarium Skeleton image 1.0 // 2.5 If you need sacrifice fodder, this is pretty nice. If you don’t, you aren’t playing it.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Butcher's Cleaver
Butcher's Cleaver image 1.5 In original Innistrad, this was a nasty combo with Invisible Stalker. Sadly, the Stalker and the Cleaver won’t be in the format at the same time, and that definitely hurts this card’s stock. It costs a lot to cast and to Equip. While lifelink is nice, this is often just too clunky.
Drownyard Behemoth image 2.5 The main thing you want to do with this is Flash it in and ambush block a smaller creature, and that’s most creatures! If you do that, you’re going to get a 2-for-1. Sometimes that situation doesn’t present itself, and you just find yourself casting this as a 5/7, and it doesn’t feel nearly as good in those cases, but Blue has enough good sacrifice fodder that this will still feel pretty decent.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Insatiable Gorgers image 2.5 A 4-mana 5/3 isn’t too bad, even if it has to always attack, and the Madness upside is nice to have.
Wretched Gryff image 4.0 This is one of the best Commons in the set. Casting it for the full 7 mana is totally passable, and if you can sacrifice something that gives you value and cast the Gryff for three or four mana – which happens all the time – it feels particularly amazing.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Faithbearer Paladin image 2.0 This is better than it looks. A ¾ with lifelink is pretty beefy in this format, and represents a very real road block for aggro decks.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Vampiric Fury
Vampiric Fury image 1.0 // 2.5 This is cheaper than most Trumpet-Blast type effects, but only buffing Vampires is enough of a restriction that I’m not that thrilled about it. If you really got their on vampires, it isn’t a bad inclusion, but there are lots of Red decks that won’t play this.
Drownyard Behemoth image 2.5 The main thing you want to do with this is Flash it in and ambush block a smaller creature, and that’s most creatures! If you do that, you’re going to get a 2-for-1. Sometimes that situation doesn’t present itself, and you just find yourself casting this as a 5/7, and it doesn’t feel nearly as good in those cases, but Blue has enough good sacrifice fodder that this will still feel pretty decent.
Fortified Village image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Tormenting Voice
Ruthless Disposal image 2.5 This can definitely kill some stuff, but because it asks for so much, the end result is often still a 3-for-2, which isn’t exactly amazing. Now, if you have good sacrifice fodder and cards you want to discard anyway, you can offset the downside. This has a high ceiling, but also a miserable floor.
Graf Harvest image 2.0 Menace to Zombies upgrades a decent number of board states, and this isn’t a bad mana sink either.
Lunarch Mantle image 1.5 This offers a reasonable boost for the cost, but the downside of getting 2-for-1’d is still very real. This can work alright in really aggressive decks, but won’t always make the cut.
Wild-Field Scarecrow image 3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Geist of the Archives image 3.0 This is surprisingly good. It can block lots of creatures in the format, and a free Scry every upkeep does a great job of improving the quality of your cards.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Mockery of Nature
Vampiric Fury image 1.0 // 2.5 This is cheaper than most Trumpet-Blast type effects, but only buffing Vampires is enough of a restriction that I’m not that thrilled about it. If you really got their on vampires, it isn’t a bad inclusion, but there are lots of Red decks that won’t play this.
Mockery of Nature image 2.5 This format has a decent number of Artifacts and Enchantments, and if you have a target, the Mockery will feel amazing. However, there aren’t so many of them in the set that this will consistently give you that sweet 2-for-1.
Bloodbriar image 2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Essence Flux image 0.0 // 2.5 The Blue-White Spirit deck has a blink/flicker sub-theme, as Essence Flux tells you. If you have enough Spirits with ETB abilities, this is playable. But there are many decks it doesn’t work out in, even Blue/White ones!
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Alms of the Vein
Manic Scribe image 2.0 This is another really awkward mill card. Milling can benefit your opponent enough in this format that going this route is highly questionable. That said, the Scribe is capable of milling the opponent out all on its own.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Explosive Apparatus image 1.5 This is by no means efficient, but if you’re hurting for Artifacts to get Delirium going more consistently, it can do the job.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Pore Over the Pages
Brain in a Jar image 0.0 Not worth it in Limited, even with a spell deck around. It is too slow and doesn’t really do anything to impact the game most of the time.
Pore Over the Pages image 3.0 Paying 5 to draw 3 and discard a card isn’t amazing, but the fact this untapped two lands shouldn’t be overlooked. Most of the time, this allows you to add to the board thanks to the new cards you drew, making it much different than your typical sorcery speed draw spell.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Morkrut Necropod
Morkrut Necropod image 2.5 This is a pretty scary creature. A 7/7 with Menace is a real pain to block! It does come with a pretty big downside, but giving up expendable creatures or lands to swing with this thing isn’t too shabby.
Fiend Binder image 2.5 The stat-line is ugly for the cost, but tapping down an opposing creature every time it attacks can allow you to do tons of damage.
Pack 2 Pick 15: Rush of Adrenaline
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Indulgent Aristocrat
Heron's Grace Champion image 4.5 If you’re in Green-White, you’re going to have a lot of Humans. Even on its own, as a 4-mana 3/3 with lifelink and flash, it is kind of passable — but on most board states it will at least buff 1-2 other things, and do it at instant speed!
Conduit of Storms image 3.0 A three mana ⅔ that gives you a mana every time it attacks isn’t too bad, and this can transform into a fairly impressive Eldrazi Werewolf.
Graf Mole image 3.0 This is a nice Clue payoff with solid stats. The life it gains you can really help you buy yourself the time to draw all of your extra cards.
Indulgent Aristocrat image 3.5 This is a great Vampire payoff. It is a bit awkward sometimes that you have to sacrifice something to put the counters on your creatures, but if you’ve got enough Vampires in play that is well worth the price.
Groundskeeper image 1.0 You do mill yourself a lot in Green, so the idea here is that if you milled a land you need, you can get it back. Mostly, though, that isn’t worth doing.
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Devilthorn Fox image 1.5 A vanilla two mana 3/1 was better back in 2016, and this will be far more playable in this format than it is in more recent ones.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Tattered Haunter image 2.0 This is a reasonable two-drop, though it does suffer from the fact that it is awful against the format’s flying tokens.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice image 3.0 This has solid base stats, and the fact you can get a Zombie out of it from the graveyard is great! Obviously, the rate on that second body isn’t amazing, but card advantage is card advantage. It also means you can discard or mill this and still get some nice value out of it.
Borrowed Hostility image 0.0 This is bad. It is a build-your-own Sure Strike, except it costs twice the mana – and it isn’t like Sure Strike is that impressive to begin with.
Explosive Apparatus image 1.5 This is by no means efficient, but if you’re hurting for Artifacts to get Delirium going more consistently, it can do the job.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Haunted Fengraf image 1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Scourge Wolf
Battleground Geist image 2.5 There are lots of Spirits in this set, and this will be doubly true while Battleground Geist is in the format. It has passable stats and impacts the board right away.
Descend upon the Sinful image 4.5 If you can consistently get Delirium going, this is an amazing boardsweeper, because you’re always going to come out ahead thanks to the Angel. If you aren’t great at getting Delirium going – and White isn’t always going to get there – the card is obviously much worse, because you pay a ton of mana to wipe the board and then give your opponent a chance to rebuild first.
Graf Rats image 1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Scourge Wolf image 4.0 A two mana 2/2 with First Strike is something you always play, so the fact this can gain double strike in the mid-game is a great upgrade.
Topplegeist image 3.5 Without Delirium, Topplegeist is already a playable card. Then, if you can get Delirium online, this becomes absolutely insane, as tapping down a creature every turn can really shift the game in your favor.
Howlpack Wolf image 2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Imprisoned in the Moon image 2.5 This was Rare last time, downshifting it to Common will have a pretty significant impact on the format. That said, it isn’t amazing removal in Limited. Giving your opponent extra mana isn’t great, but it is usually better than whatever their best creature is. Still, you don’t really feel like you get a full card of value when you play this.
Aim High image 1.5 This type of trick is rarely good. The stats boost is medium for two mana, and Reach and untapping are mostly only relevant on defense, which is the worst possible time to use a trick.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Angelic Purge image 2.5 2-for-1ing yourself to destroy something isn’t great, but there is enough sacrifice fodder in this format that the first copy of Angelic Purge usually makes the cut.
Pyre Hound image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a buildaround, but it is also an incredibly important and powerful Common for the Blue-Red deck. It gets massive in that deck, and the Trample is a real problem for your opponent.
Essence Flux image 0.0 // 2.5 The Blue-White Spirit deck has a blink/flicker sub-theme, as Essence Flux tells you. If you have enough Spirits with ETB abilities, this is playable. But there are many decks it doesn’t work out in, even Blue/White ones!
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Ravenous Bloodseeker
Elder Cathar image 3.0 This is a pretty nice payoff for Humans. Paying 3 mana for 4/4 worth of stats feels pretty good, and also makes the Cathar good sacrifice fodder.
Spell Queller image 4.0 Even if you don’t have a target for this, we’re talking about a a three mana ⅔ with Flying and Flash – a card that is already very good! When you do have a target for this, it gets way better, as getting rid of a spell off of the stack is a powerful thing. Your opponent does eventually get the spell back sometimes, but they will no longer have the ideal situation they had when they cast the spell originally, and a lot of the time they never get it back!
Daring Sleuth image 3.5 This starts with passable base stats, and transforming it is pretty easy in Blue. Once transformed, it is a creature your opponent really has to account for, since it can generate a ton of clues.
Mercurial Geists image 3.5 If you have enough cheap spells, the Geists hit incredibly hard. If you’re playing Blue-Red, your deck will have enough spells in it without even trying.
Anguished Unmaking image 3.5 Hitting any type of permanent is great, and well worth paying 3 life for. That said, playing more than 1 or 2 of this can get a little sketchy because of the life payment. You can offset it by gaining some life, of course.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Magnifying Glass image 1.0 This is a very clunky mana rock. It is nice that it can produce Clues, but it doesn’t exactly do that efficiently either.
Make Mischief image 2.0 In a roundabout way, this does give you three damage for three mana. If you look at this as a three mana 1/1 devil that does 1 to something on ETB it sounds a lot better, as you get to add to the board while picking something off. If you can’t kill something with the 1 damage it does get a lot worse.
Strength of Arms image 2.5 This is a nice trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to play pretty well, and the times you can get a 1/1 token out of this feel really insane, and its very doable, especially in GW.
Steadfast Cathar image 2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Ravenous Bloodseeker image 2.5 This is a nice discard outlet that can be pretty obnoxious to block in the early game.
Byway Courier image 3.5 This is good at trading off for things, and the Clue it gives you means you’re going to get a 2-for-1.
Pyre Hound image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a buildaround, but it is also an incredibly important and powerful Common for the Blue-Red deck. It gets massive in that deck, and the Trample is a real problem for your opponent.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Indulgent Aristocrat
Cryptolith Fragment image 2.5 This is a source of fixing that can become a very real threat. The situation won’t always allow you to transform it, but if your opponent has 10 or less life and you’ve got the Aurora of Emrakul attacking them, they are going to be in some serious trouble.
Indulgent Aristocrat image 3.5 This is a great Vampire payoff. It is a bit awkward sometimes that you have to sacrifice something to put the counters on your creatures, but if you’ve got enough Vampires in play that is well worth the price.
Gryff's Boon image 3.5 This offers an incredibly efficient boost up front, as +1/+0 and Flying is enough to massively upgrade most creatures! What really makes it a quality Aura is the fact that you can constantly bring it back from the graveyard.
Nearheath Chaplain image 4.0 A 4-mana 3/1 with lifelink definitely isn’t good, but you can exile this from your graveyard to make two 1/1 tokens! This feels like a 2-for-1 most of the time, it feels great to trade it off – and it can even be a really pesky attacker.
Bound by Moonsilver image 4.0 This is amazing removal, and it was at Uncommon last time around. Downshifting it is pretty surprising, because it deals with most things in the format quite effectively! Its great you can move it around when you need to, too.
Ember-Eye Wolf image 2.5 This overperformed last time. A lot of the time, this sort of creature that can buff its power for mana isn’t very impressive, because you end up having to spend a lot of mana just to make it trade. However, adding Haste to the mix, along with a useful creature type, makes a significant difference. This even has a bit of Fireball potential in the late game.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Steadfast Cathar image 2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Laboratory Brute image 1.5 You want to be milling yourself in this format, but there are lots of better cards out there that can do the job.
Crow of Dark Tidings image 3.0 This is a great card for getting Delirium going, and that’s definitely something you want to be doing – especially in Black/Green and Black/White. It even attacks in the air quite effectively!
Pack 3 Pick 5: Alchemist's Greeting
Harvest Hand image 4.0 A three mana 2/2 isn’t a great starting point, but trading this off or sacrificing it to something with Emerge is pretty amazing, because it comes back as a very real Equipment that has some Human upside. You end up getting a pretty amazing deal for only three mana.
Ruthless Disposal image 2.5 This can definitely kill some stuff, but because it asks for so much, the end result is often still a 3-for-2, which isn’t exactly amazing. Now, if you have good sacrifice fodder and cards you want to discard anyway, you can offset the downside. This has a high ceiling, but also a miserable floor.
Graf Harvest image 2.0 Menace to Zombies upgrades a decent number of board states, and this isn’t a bad mana sink either.
Aim High image 1.5 This type of trick is rarely good. The stats boost is medium for two mana, and Reach and untapping are mostly only relevant on defense, which is the worst possible time to use a trick.
Sigardian Priest image 2.5 This format has a ton of humans in it, so you often can’t tap creatures that you desperately want to tap. That makes this a lot worse than something like Master Decoy, but its still solid.
Dead Weight image 3.5 This is premium removal, kills many things for only one mana. It is also a little better than normal in this format because of Delirium.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Convolute image 1.5 This is passable counter magic, and performs especially well in the early game, but the fact it gets worse the longer the game goes on is rough.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Insatiable Gorgers image 2.5 A 4-mana 5/3 isn’t too bad, even if it has to always attack, and the Madness upside is nice to have.
Alchemist's Greeting image 3.0 If you’re only casting this normally, it is clunky as heck. If you have enough discard outlets though, it becomes a premium removal spell.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Furyblade Vampire
Traveler's Amulet image 2.5 This nicely fixes your mana, while also giving you an Artifact in the graveyard for Delirium.
Lupine Prototype image 0.0 A 2-mana 5/5 is great, but this is effectively a blank card for most of the game, and by the time it can attack and block, a 5/5 is no longer the most impressive thing.
Furyblade Vampire image 2.5 It is a bit of a bummer that you have to discard the card at the beginning of combat in this case, because it makes it harder to pull off Madness shenanigans, but this is often a two mana 4/2 with Trample that helps you cast things for their reduced Madness costs.
Mercurial Geists image 3.5 If you have enough cheap spells, the Geists hit incredibly hard. If you’re playing Blue-Red, your deck will have enough spells in it without even trying.
Sanitarium Skeleton image 1.0 // 2.5 If you need sacrifice fodder, this is pretty nice. If you don’t, you aren’t playing it.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Dead Weight image 3.5 This is premium removal, kills many things for only one mana. It is also a little better than normal in this format because of Delirium.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Convolute image 1.5 This is passable counter magic, and performs especially well in the early game, but the fact it gets worse the longer the game goes on is rough.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Borrowed Malevolence
Moonmist image 0.5 Even with all this additional upside, this is still a fog, and those are rarely worth it in Limited.
Summary Dismissal image 1.5 The stack doesn’t usually get very large in Limited, so this is mostly just a 4-mana counterspell that can go after abilities as well as spells. That’s not great.
Lupine Prototype image 0.0 A 2-mana 5/5 is great, but this is effectively a blank card for most of the game, and by the time it can attack and block, a 5/5 is no longer the most impressive thing.
Ride Down image 3.0 Red-White is all about aggro, and Ride Down fits really well into a deck that is all about attacking. It is basically impossible for your opponent to set up a good block when you have this in your hand, and that’s exactly what you want.
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Dawn Gryff image 2.0 A three mana 2/2 Flyer was a lot better back in 2016, and I think this format is similar enough for this to be solid.
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Tattered Haunter image 2.0 This is a reasonable two-drop, though it does suffer from the fact that it is awful against the format’s flying tokens.
Sanitarium Skeleton image 1.0 // 2.5 If you need sacrifice fodder, this is pretty nice. If you don’t, you aren’t playing it.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Certain Death
Forsaken Sanctuary image 2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Ironclad Slayer image 2.5 This format has some quality Auras and Equipment, especially in Green-White, so this is able to return a quality card a decent chunk of the time, and the fail case isn’t too terrible.
Explosive Apparatus image 1.5 This is by no means efficient, but if you’re hurting for Artifacts to get Delirium going more consistently, it can do the job.
Magmatic Chasm image 0.0 // 2.0 You’re not going to play this unless you’re an all-in aggro deck, and even then it is sometimes a real problem that flyers can still block.
Thraben Foulbloods image 2.5 A three mana 3/2 isn’t very good, but a three mana 4/3 with Menace is! Delirium is very accessible too, though you won’t usually have it when you’re playing this on turn three.
Apothecary Geist image 3.0 This was a big overperformer last time around. Its stats line up reasonably well in the format, and it gains you that 3 life pretty often.
Certain Death image 2.5 This is certainly clunky, but it deals with anything and drains 2 life, which helps offset how expensive it is.
Deny Existence image 2.0 Most decks have enough creatures for this to be playable, though it is always rough to try to use one of these when your opponent casts a noncreature spell.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Borrowed Hostility
Borrowed Malevolence image 2.0 This doesn’t feel amazing no matter how you cast it. If you can Escalate it, the boost it offers your creature and the -1/-1 it gives an opponent’s can be pretty nice, but three mana is steep enough that I don’t love this.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Borrowed Hostility image 0.0 This is bad. It is a build-your-own Sure Strike, except it costs twice the mana – and it isn’t like Sure Strike is that impressive to begin with.
Explosive Apparatus image 1.5 This is by no means efficient, but if you’re hurting for Artifacts to get Delirium going more consistently, it can do the job.
Field Creeper image 1.5 This is a little better than it looks. It is both an Artifact and a Creature, which means it gets you halfway to Delirium all on its own.
Grapple with the Past image 2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Haunted Fengraf image 1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Graf Rats
Battleground Geist image 2.5 There are lots of Spirits in this set, and this will be doubly true while Battleground Geist is in the format. It has passable stats and impacts the board right away.
Graf Rats image 1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Howlpack Wolf image 2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Pyre Hound image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a buildaround, but it is also an incredibly important and powerful Common for the Blue-Red deck. It gets massive in that deck, and the Trample is a real problem for your opponent.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Make Mischief
Mercurial Geists image 3.5 If you have enough cheap spells, the Geists hit incredibly hard. If you’re playing Blue-Red, your deck will have enough spells in it without even trying.
Magnifying Glass image 1.0 This is a very clunky mana rock. It is nice that it can produce Clues, but it doesn’t exactly do that efficiently either.
Make Mischief image 2.0 In a roundabout way, this does give you three damage for three mana. If you look at this as a three mana 1/1 devil that does 1 to something on ETB it sounds a lot better, as you get to add to the board while picking something off. If you can’t kill something with the 1 damage it does get a lot worse.
Strength of Arms image 2.5 This is a nice trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to play pretty well, and the times you can get a 1/1 token out of this feel really insane, and its very doable, especially in GW.
Pyre Hound image 1.0 // 3.5 This is a buildaround, but it is also an incredibly important and powerful Common for the Blue-Red deck. It gets massive in that deck, and the Trample is a real problem for your opponent.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Alms of the Vein
Nearheath Chaplain image 4.0 A 4-mana 3/1 with lifelink definitely isn’t good, but you can exile this from your graveyard to make two 1/1 tokens! This feels like a 2-for-1 most of the time, it feels great to trade it off – and it can even be a really pesky attacker.
Borrowed Grace image 1.5 So you can pay for +2/+2 to the whole board, or three mana for just one of these effects. Neither is very exciting.
Alms of the Vein image 1.0 Even if you can consistently cast this for its Madness cost, Alms of the Vein is fairly disappointing. The six point life swing is nice, but doesn’t feel worth a card most of the time.
Thornhide Wolves image 2.0 Last time around, this vanilla 4-mana ⅘ played surprisingly well. It is quite large for the format, and has a useful creature type.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Insatiable Gorgers
Ruthless Disposal image 2.5 This can definitely kill some stuff, but because it asks for so much, the end result is often still a 3-for-2, which isn’t exactly amazing. Now, if you have good sacrifice fodder and cards you want to discard anyway, you can offset the downside. This has a high ceiling, but also a miserable floor.
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Insatiable Gorgers image 2.5 A 4-mana 5/3 isn’t too bad, even if it has to always attack, and the Madness upside is nice to have.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Tormenting Voice
Stormrider Spirit image 2.0 The Spirit decks in this format have lots of cards that let them operate at instant speed, so this having Flash works pretty well. You can leave up counter magic and removal, and if you don’t need it, add a very real body to the board. You can of course also Flash it in and ambush block stuff, which can feel pretty great.
Tormenting Voice image 2.5 This is better in this format than it is in pretty much any other! It helps you get Delirium and discard things with Madness, on top of also being a nice card for the Blue-Red spell deck since it triggers all of your payoffs.
Pack 3 Pick 15: Rush of Adrenaline
Rush of Adrenaline image 2.0 This is a decent trick. The toughness boost of only 1 does mean your creature will die more often with this than you might like, but +2 power and trample for one mana can also result in huge blowouts.
Draft Pick Overview