Butcher's Cleaver
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.
Avacyn's Judgment
4.0 Even if you have no discard outlets, this is a nice removal spell. It can take down one X/2 or a couple of X/1s. If you have discard outlets this gets really crazy, as it becomes an instant speed version of Blaze that lets you divide damage however you want, which is amazing.
Graf Rats
1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Topplegeist
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.
Mercurial Geists
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.
Haunted Dead
3.5 4-mana for a 2/2 and a 1/1 Flyer is decent, and this can keep coming back from your graveyard! Discarding two cards might sound steep, but in this format, you can get a ton of upside out of discarding cards.
Fiend Binder
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Drag Under
2.5 Bouncing something at Sorcery speed and going down a card normally isn’t worth it. However, this replaces itself, which makes a really big difference! It means you still get the tempo but don’t go down a card, and there’s a spell deck in this format, so any spell that draws you a card already gets more value.
Fogwalker
2.5 This does not tap down a creature – keep that in mind! It only keeps it from untapping, so if the creature isn’t already tapped, its ETB ability doesn’t do anything. A two man ⅓ with Skulk is definitely difficult to block, though, and this even has a useful creature type.
Puncturing Light
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.
Bloodmad Vampire
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.
Dead Weight
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Uncaged Fury
Cryptolith Rite
1.0 This format has some interesting things to ramp into, but this still isn’t worth using in Limited. You often don’t have anything to use the mana on, and when you do, it usually isn’t worth using up this card to help you cast it.
Conduit of Storms
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.
Uncaged Fury
2.5 This is a very nice trick. It is a little expensive, but it makes most creatures win combat, and it has the potential to allow an unblocked creature to just finish off your opponent. The first copy should be valued fairly highly.
Advanced Stitchwing
3.5 This has decent base stats, and it is big enough that its ability to keep coming back from the graveyard is pretty great.
Choked Estuary
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Moonlight Hunt
2.5 This is a fairly effective removal spell, as you can often use it effectively even with just a single Wolf or Werewolf. Your deck does need to be loaded up with them for this to be at its best, though – as if you don’t have a wolf or werewolf in play, this does stone nothing.
Fogwalker
2.5 This does not tap down a creature – keep that in mind! It only keeps it from untapping, so if the creature isn’t already tapped, its ETB ability doesn’t do anything. A two man ⅓ with Skulk is definitely difficult to block, though, and this even has a useful creature type.
Insatiable Gorgers
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.
Steadfast Cathar
2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Certain Death
2.5 This is certainly clunky, but it deals with anything and drains 2 life, which helps offset how expensive it is.
Drag Under
2.5 Bouncing something at Sorcery speed and going down a card normally isn’t worth it. However, this replaces itself, which makes a really big difference! It means you still get the tempo but don’t go down a card, and there’s a spell deck in this format, so any spell that draws you a card already gets more value.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Drownyard Explorers
2.0 This has decent defensive stats, and eventually draws you a card. It is a fine card for the grindy Clue decks, though most other decks aren’t that interested.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Bloodmad Vampire
Harvest Hand
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.
Highland Lake
2.5 These always enter tapped, which is a little bit of a bummer, but they still provide some quality fixing.
Hope Against Hope
1.0 This Aura isn’t really worth the downside. Sure, it can offer a massive boost – but there are times where it doesn’t offer a big enough one to off-set how dangerous playing this card is. Your board already has to be good in most scenarios, too. Getting 2-for-1’d is a big enough risk that you need your Auras to do more than this.
Brain in a Jar
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.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Gavony Unhallowed
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.
Convolute
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.
Devilthorn Fox
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.
Borrowed Hostility
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.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Rush of Adrenaline
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Bloodmad Vampire
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.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Drownyard Behemoth
Ghoulraiser
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.
Manic Scribe
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.
Drownyard Behemoth
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.
Ride Down
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.
Imprisoned in the Moon
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.
Insolent Neonate
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
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.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Merciless Resolve
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.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Ember-Eye Wolf
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.
Stormrider Spirit
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 1 Pick 5: Hinterland Logger
Elder Cathar
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.
Hinterland Logger
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.
Mournwillow
3.0 This is not the most exciting signpost Uncommon ever, its Delirium ETB ability isn’t always relevant, so it is kind of a pain that you have to jump through hoops to even get it to do its thing. Still, hard to go wrong when the card’s baseline is a three mana 3/2 with Haste.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Aim High
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.
Morkrut Necropod
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.
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Drag Under
2.5 Bouncing something at Sorcery speed and going down a card normally isn’t worth it. However, this replaces itself, which makes a really big difference! It means you still get the tempo but don’t go down a card, and there’s a spell deck in this format, so any spell that draws you a card already gets more value.
Wild-Field Scarecrow
3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Magmatic Chasm
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.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Deranged Whelp
Sigarda's Aid
0.0 This is here for Historic and Explorer, not Limited. There aren’t any Equipment in this set that you can abuse with this.
Gatstaf Arsonists
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.
Reaper of Flight Moonsilver
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.
Rise from the Tides
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Liliana's Elite
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.
Deranged Whelp
2.5 This is a solid little two-drop and it has a useful creature type.
Epitaph Golem
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.
Geist of the Archives
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 1 Pick 7: Deny Existence
Elder Cathar
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.
Cryptolith Fragment
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.
Wolfkin Bond
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.
Grotesque Mutation
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.
Devilthorn Fox
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.
Epitaph Golem
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.
Thraben Foulbloods
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.
Deny Existence
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.
Lunarch Mantle
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.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Avacyn's Collar
Avacyn's Collar
2.5 The boost this offers isn’t really worth it, unless you have a lot of Humans, because then you can turn trades into an advantage.
Fortified Village
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Fiend Binder
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.
Tattered Haunter
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
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!
Stormrider Spirit
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.
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Drag Under
Butcher's Cleaver
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.
Fiend Binder
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Drag Under
2.5 Bouncing something at Sorcery speed and going down a card normally isn’t worth it. However, this replaces itself, which makes a really big difference! It means you still get the tempo but don’t go down a card, and there’s a spell deck in this format, so any spell that draws you a card already gets more value.
Puncturing Light
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Drag Under
Choked Estuary
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Steadfast Cathar
2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Drag Under
2.5 Bouncing something at Sorcery speed and going down a card normally isn’t worth it. However, this replaces itself, which makes a really big difference! It means you still get the tempo but don’t go down a card, and there’s a spell deck in this format, so any spell that draws you a card already gets more value.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Drownyard Explorers
2.0 This has decent defensive stats, and eventually draws you a card. It is a fine card for the grindy Clue decks, though most other decks aren’t that interested.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Convolute
Hope Against Hope
1.0 This Aura isn’t really worth the downside. Sure, it can offer a massive boost – but there are times where it doesn’t offer a big enough one to off-set how dangerous playing this card is. Your board already has to be good in most scenarios, too. Getting 2-for-1’d is a big enough risk that you need your Auras to do more than this.
Brain in a Jar
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.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Convolute
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Insolent Neonate
Ghoulraiser
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.
Manic Scribe
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.
Insolent Neonate
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.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Mournwillow
Mournwillow
3.0 This is not the most exciting signpost Uncommon ever, its Delirium ETB ability isn’t always relevant, so it is kind of a pain that you have to jump through hoops to even get it to do its thing. Still, hard to go wrong when the card’s baseline is a three mana 3/2 with Haste.
Aim High
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.
Morkrut Necropod
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 1 Pick 14: Geist of the Archives
Epitaph Golem
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.
Geist of the Archives
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 1 Pick 15: Epitaph Golem
Epitaph Golem
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 2 Pick 1: Lightning Axe
Heron's Grace Champion
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!
Daring Sleuth
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.
Lightning Axe
3.5 There’s lots of stuff in this format that you want to be discarding, and you will often find yourself able to cast this for only a single mana and cast whatever you discard. At that point, you’re really negating the downside of the Axe, and it just becomes an incredibly efficient removal spell with major upside. You won’t always be able to do that of course, but it happens often enough that this is premium removal.
Graf Mole
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.
Game Trail
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Jace's Scrutiny
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.
Ember-Eye Wolf
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.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Spontaneous Mutation
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.
Strength of Arms
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.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Convolute
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.
Exultant Cultist
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.
Wretched Gryff
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.
Haunted Fengraf
1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Goldnight Castigator
Avacyn's Collar
2.5 The boost this offers isn’t really worth it, unless you have a lot of Humans, because then you can turn trades into an advantage.
Goldnight Castigator
2.0 This is better than it looks! That’s not to say it is good, but I think most people will look at this and think it is unplayable, but it isn’t. A 4-mana 4/9 with Haste can very quickly close out a game and is incredibly difficult to kill. The downside is massive of course, but the upside is worth the risk in some decks.
Mercurial Geists
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.
Rise from the Tides
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.
Soul Separator
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.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Make Mischief
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.
Tattered Haunter
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.
Deranged Whelp
2.5 This is a solid little two-drop and it has a useful creature type.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
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.
Imprisoned in the Moon
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Dawn Gryff
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
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.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Lightning Axe
Graf Rats
1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Lightning Axe
3.5 There’s lots of stuff in this format that you want to be discarding, and you will often find yourself able to cast this for only a single mana and cast whatever you discard. At that point, you’re really negating the downside of the Axe, and it just becomes an incredibly efficient removal spell with major upside. You won’t always be able to do that of course, but it happens often enough that this is premium removal.
Nearheath Chaplain
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.
Drownyard Behemoth
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.
Rabid Bite
3.5 This is premium removal. You have to be careful about when you use it, because your opponent can interact in response and blow you out. But when you get the chance to use it, it ends up dealing with most creatures very efficiently.
Convolute
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.
Wretched Gryff
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.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Dead Weight
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.
Swift Spinner
1.5 This is a passable creature that can ambush block some stuff, but it doesn’t always make the cut.
Borrowed Grace
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 2 Pick 4: Advanced Stitchwing
Hinterland Logger
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.
Advanced Stitchwing
3.5 This has decent base stats, and it is big enough that its ability to keep coming back from the graveyard is pretty great.
Spectral Shepherd
3.0 UW is all about spirits, and it has a sub-theme of abusing ETB abilities. The Shepherd’s activated abilities can help you trigger them, while also allowing you to save your Spirits from removal.
Foul Orchard
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Moonlight Hunt
2.5 This is a fairly effective removal spell, as you can often use it effectively even with just a single Wolf or Werewolf. Your deck does need to be loaded up with them for this to be at its best, though – as if you don’t have a wolf or werewolf in play, this does stone nothing.
Lunarch Mantle
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.
Olivia's Dragoon
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.
Borrowed Hostility
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.
Convolute
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.
Briarbridge Patrol
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.
Wretched Gryff
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Tattered Haunter
Duskwatch Recruiter
4.5 This is a very strong Uncommon. It has good base stats, and on the front side it has a very powerful activated ability that will allow you to outcard your opponent in the later stages of the game. The front side is kind of the one you want the most, but the Werewolf side isn’t too shabby either.
Call the Bloodline
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.
Noose Constrictor
3.5 This is a great two-drop that has nice stats, can threaten to become quite large, and helps you do things with Madness and Delirium.
Compelling Deterrence
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!
Wolfkin Bond
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.
Obsessive Skinner
3.5 Without Delirium, this is a two drop that usually makes the cut. When you get Delirium going, it becomes an impressive value engine, giving you a +1/+1 counter every turn.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Morkrut Necropod
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.
Guardian of Pilgrims
2.0 This has medium base stats, and has a medium ETB ability. So basically, it's medium.
Drownyard Explorers
2.0 This has decent defensive stats, and eventually draws you a card. It is a fine card for the grindy Clue decks, though most other decks aren’t that interested.
Tattered Haunter
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.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Mercurial Geists
Graf Rats
1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Woodland Stream
2.5 These always enter tapped, which is a little bit of a bummer, but they still provide some quality fixing.
Mercurial Geists
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.
Groundskeeper
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.
Insatiable Gorgers
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.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Stormrider Spirit
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.
Devilthorn Fox
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.
Drogskol Shieldmate
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Curious Homunculus
Curious Homunculus
3.5 This can help you ramp into some nice spells, and once it transforms it becomes a really problematic threat. Spell and graveyard decks are very real in the format, so transforming it is very doable.
Rise from the Tides
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.
Woodland Stream
2.5 These always enter tapped, which is a little bit of a bummer, but they still provide some quality fixing.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Alms of the Vein
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
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Obsessive Skinner
3.5 Without Delirium, this is a two drop that usually makes the cut. When you get Delirium going, it becomes an impressive value engine, giving you a +1/+1 counter every turn.
Ravenous Bloodseeker
2.5 This is a nice discard outlet that can be pretty obnoxious to block in the early game.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Deny Existence
Ulvenwald Mysteries
4.0 This is a very powerful value engine, especially in Blue-Green, where you have lots of Clues anyway. Making it so sacrificing a clue generates a 1/1 is a huge upgrade, as it allows you to add to the board while digging deeper into your deck. This is less good if you’re entirely reliant on it to generate your Clues, but even then it can be pretty good.
Rise from the Grave
2.0 Most decks will have loaded graveyards in this format, so this card overperforms a bit. It still doesn’t always have a good target, though.
Deny Existence
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.
Borrowed Hostility
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.
Ravenous Bloodseeker
2.5 This is a nice discard outlet that can be pretty obnoxious to block in the early game.
Intrepid Provisioner
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.
Magmatic Chasm
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.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
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.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Haunted Fengraf
Graf Mole
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.
Game Trail
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Spontaneous Mutation
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.
Strength of Arms
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.
Convolute
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.
Haunted Fengraf
1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Mercurial Geists
Avacyn's Collar
2.5 The boost this offers isn’t really worth it, unless you have a lot of Humans, because then you can turn trades into an advantage.
Mercurial Geists
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.
Soul Separator
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.
Make Mischief
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Swift Spinner
Graf Rats
1.0 You don’t play this unless you’re very desperate for a two drop or you have Midnight Scavengers.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Swift Spinner
1.5 This is a passable creature that can ambush block some stuff, but it doesn’t always make the cut.
Borrowed Grace
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 2 Pick 12: Wretched Gryff
Moonlight Hunt
2.5 This is a fairly effective removal spell, as you can often use it effectively even with just a single Wolf or Werewolf. Your deck does need to be loaded up with them for this to be at its best, though – as if you don’t have a wolf or werewolf in play, this does stone nothing.
Borrowed Hostility
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.
Briarbridge Patrol
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.
Wretched Gryff
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.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Noose Constrictor
Noose Constrictor
3.5 This is a great two-drop that has nice stats, can threaten to become quite large, and helps you do things with Madness and Delirium.
Wolfkin Bond
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Bloodbriar
Devilthorn Fox
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.
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 2 Pick 15: Bloodbriar
Bloodbriar
2.5 This is a pretty real payoff for sacrifice decks, and it has passable base stats.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Hanweir Garrison
Traveler's Amulet
2.5 This nicely fixes your mana, while also giving you an Artifact in the graveyard for Delirium.
Hanweir Garrison
3.5 If this can attack even once, it ends up giving you pretty absurd value! It isn’t always able to attack, since its only a ⅔, but it can do it often enough that its pretty great.
Kindly Stranger
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.
Blood Mist
0.0 This is bad. It isn’t worth the mana or the card. Double strike on one creature can sometimes be pretty sweet, but the fact it only works on one creature and only on your turn is rough. You basically already need a really good creature or this is irrelevant.
Crawling Sensation
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.
Forsaken Sanctuary
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Geist of the Archives
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Tattered Haunter
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.
True-Faith Censer
3.0 This is a very efficient Equipment, especially if you’re in Green-White and have lots of humans. +2/+1 and Vigilance is enough to make just about any creature into a problem.
Liliana's Elite
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.
Gnarlwood Dryad
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.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Altered Ego
Altered Ego
4.0 You can pay 0 for X, so at worst this is an uncounterable 4-mana Clone, which is perfectly fine! It is awesome that it scales as the game continues too, since it can come into play with better, and better stats. If you can pay at least 1 for X, t you’re always going to have the best creature on the battlefield when you cast it.
Lone Rider
3.0 In the right format, this would be bonkers! Unfortunately, this format doesn’t have a dedicated life gain archetype, so gaining 3 or more life with it and transforming it into It That Rides as One isn’t as easy you might think. It is certainly doable, but not something that happens with regularity.
Fleeting Memories
1.0 Clues are good and all, but this isn’t a great format to try and mill your opponent out in. Several decks in this format want cards in their graveyard. Turning on their delirium and Flashback cards isn’t really something you want to be doing. There are some clue-heavy control decks where this can work out as a win condition, but you’re really playing with fire.
Murderer's Axe
1.0 This mostly isn’t worth it. Sure, you want to be discarding in this format to set up Delirium and cast things for their Madness cost, but there are lots of better ways to do that. The fact there isn’t any other Equip cost on this at all is rough, because even in this format there are situations where you just can’t move this.
Choked Estuary
2.5 Playing these untapped is fairly easy, and they do a good job of fixing your mana.
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
Grotesque Mutation
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.
Faithbearer Paladin
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.
Tattered Haunter
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.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Alms of the Vein
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
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.
Haunted Fengraf
1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Accursed Witch
Permeating Mass
1.0 This card is fun, but not particularly good. Turning everything into permeating masses does really alter the game, but not usually in a super meaningful way.
Accursed Witch
3.5 This hits hard, can trade for many things, and when it dies it becomes a serious problem for your opponent. As a curse, it drains your opponent 1 life every upkeep, which really snowballs. It is especially nasty to sacrifice this to cast something with Emerge!
Manic Scribe
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.
Groundskeeper
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.
Pick the Brain
0.5 Yeah, Coercion is never worth it in Limited, and the Delirium upside here may as well be flavor text.
Insolent Neonate
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.
Steadfast Cathar
2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Laboratory Brute
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.
Wild-Field Scarecrow
3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
True-Faith Censer
3.0 This is a very efficient Equipment, especially if you’re in Green-White and have lots of humans. +2/+1 and Vigilance is enough to make just about any creature into a problem.
Macabre Waltz
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!
Byway Courier
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.
Fiend Binder
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 3 Pick 4: Neglected Heirloom
Ghoulraiser
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.
Neglected Heirloom
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.
Ruthless Disposal
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.
Humble the Brute
2.5 Between Werewolves and Eldrazi, this has enough targets against most opponents to be worth playing. It offers a very real 2-for-1 when it has a target. But still, there are plenty of times where your opponent doesn’t have anything you can kill with it, and that’s pretty rough.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Tattered Haunter
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.
Make Mischief
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.
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
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.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Wild-Field Scarecrow
3.0 This is a passable defensive creature that is great at fixing your mana and helping you get Delirium.
Liliana's Elite
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.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Confirm Suspicions
Stromkirk Captain
3.5 This offers an impressive boost to your Vampires, which will be the bulk of your creatures in Black/Red.
Confirm Suspicions
1.5 Counter magic that is this expensive usually isn’t worth playing in Limited. The three clues are enough upside for this to make a cut in the most controlling decks, but you won’t play it most of the time.
Drunau Corpse Trawler
3.5 Four mana for a 2/2 and a 1/1 isn’t a great rate – but the ability to give deathtouch to zombies is pretty nice. This gets a big upgrade from the fact that it is great to sacrifice to Emerge creatures, too.
Mad Prophet
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.
Aim High
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.
Terrarion
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.
Strength of Arms
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.
Gavony Unhallowed
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.
Rush of Adrenaline
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.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Spontaneous Mutation
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.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Conduit of Storms
Vampiric Fury
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.
Sigarda's Aid
0.0 This is here for Historic and Explorer, not Limited. There aren’t any Equipment in this set that you can abuse with this.
Conduit of Storms
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.
Ember-Eye Wolf
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.
Gavony Unhallowed
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.
Morkrut Necropod
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.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Jace's Scrutiny
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.
Certain Death
2.5 This is certainly clunky, but it deals with anything and drains 2 life, which helps offset how expensive it is.
Stormrider Spirit
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 3 Pick 7: Wretched Gryff
Vampiric Fury
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.
Biting Rain
2.5 If you’re going to end up in a control deck, Biting Rain is a nice inclusion, as it does a great job of keeping aggro decks in check. Obviously, if you’re an aggro deck, you don’t want this.
Explosive Apparatus
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.
Tormenting Voice
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.
Gavony Unhallowed
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.
Steadfast Cathar
2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Field Creeper
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.
Laboratory Brute
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.
Wretched Gryff
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.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Highland Lake
Nahiri's Wrath
2.0 You aren’t usually going to come out ahead when you use this – since you end up using the Wrath, and you have to discard a card for each creature or planeswalker you kill. That’s definitely card disadvantage. However, there are cards in this format that like to be discarded, which certainly makes this better - and there are definitely times where this can utterly reshape the board. There will also be times when it doesn’t do anything, though – and unfortunately those will be more common.
Fleeting Memories
1.0 Clues are good and all, but this isn’t a great format to try and mill your opponent out in. Several decks in this format want cards in their graveyard. Turning on their delirium and Flashback cards isn’t really something you want to be doing. There are some clue-heavy control decks where this can work out as a win condition, but you’re really playing with fire.
Highland Lake
2.5 These always enter tapped, which is a little bit of a bummer, but they still provide some quality fixing.
Crow of Dark Tidings
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!
Ghoulcaller's Accomplice
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.
Confront the Unknown
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.
Steadfast Cathar
2.5 This is a solid two drop, as attacking as a ⅔ in the early game is pretty nice.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Traveler's Amulet
Traveler's Amulet
2.5 This nicely fixes your mana, while also giving you an Artifact in the graveyard for Delirium.
Crawling Sensation
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.
Howlpack Wolf
2.0 This has decent stats, and if you're in Red/Green it basically has no downside.
True-Faith Censer
3.0 This is a very efficient Equipment, especially if you’re in Green-White and have lots of humans. +2/+1 and Vigilance is enough to make just about any creature into a problem.
Liliana's Elite
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.
Magnifying Glass
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.
Dawn Gryff
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.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Tattered Haunter
Borrowed Malevolence
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.
Grotesque Mutation
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.
Tattered Haunter
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.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Alms of the Vein
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.
Haunted Fengraf
1.0 This is bad for your mana base, and the fact it is random is a pretty big problem.
Pack 3 Pick 11: True-Faith Censer
Manic Scribe
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.
Groundskeeper
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.
Pick the Brain
0.5 Yeah, Coercion is never worth it in Limited, and the Delirium upside here may as well be flavor text.
Laboratory Brute
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.
True-Faith Censer
3.0 This is a very efficient Equipment, especially if you’re in Green-White and have lots of humans. +2/+1 and Vigilance is enough to make just about any creature into a problem.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Weirding Wood
Ghoulraiser
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.
Weirded Vampire
1.5 This is bad if you don’t cast it with Madness, and mediocre when you do.
Weirding Wood
2.0 This fixes your mana and generates a Clue, and some decks are definitely in the market for that.
Liliana's Elite
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 3 Pick 13: Aim High
Aim High
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.
Gavony Unhallowed
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.
Grapple with the Past
2.5 You usually want one of these in Green. It helps you get delirium and helps you get value out of the graveyard.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Stormrider Spirit
Morkrut Necropod
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.
Stormrider Spirit
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 3 Pick 15: Field Creeper
Field Creeper
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.