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Premier Draft DAR 29 August 2024

29 August 01:04 - Vorp 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (13)
1 Adeliz, the Cinder Wind image
1 Keldon Warcaller image
1 Relic Runner image
3 Ghitu Journeymage image
3 Ghitu Chronicler image
1 Keldon Raider image
1 Skittering Surveyor image
1 Ghitu Lavarunner image
1 Keldon Overseer image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (10)
2 Fiery Intervention image
1 Haphazard Bombardment image
1 Weight of Memory image
1 Radiating Lightning image
1 Warlord's Fury image
1 Divination image
1 Wizard's Lightning image
1 Shivan Fire image
1 Fight with Fire image
Land (17)
1 Sulfur Falls image
1 Memorial to Genius image
6 Island image
9 Mountain image
Sideboard
1 Fire Elemental image
1 Rampaging Cyclops image
1 Sentinel of the Pearl Trident image
1 Drudge Sentinel image
3 Run Amok image
2 Fervent Strike image
2 Powerstone Shard image
1 Forebear's Blade image
1 Karn's Temporal Sundering image
2 Seismic Shift image
1 Radiating Lightning image
1 Chainer's Torment image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Adeliz, the Cinder Wind
Daring Archaeologist image 4.0 It isn’t that hard in this format to get an Artifact from your graveyard when you cast this. If you can do that consistently, you’re going to have a 4-mana 3/3 that draws you a card, and that’s really good. Then, obviously, it gets bigger the more historic spells you play (including the Artifact you got back!), so it can get quite large.
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind image 4.0 If you end up with enough Wizards and spells (which won’t be very hard in a UR deck), this will be one of your best cards, as it will just make combat a nightmare for your opponent. Pumping your whole board is no joke, and even if Adeliz is alone, she effectively has Prowess for herself, and that’s pretty nice on a creature with Haste and Flying.
Sporecrown Thallid image 3.0 There are enough Saprolings and Fungi in this set that the Thallid ends up pumping a decent number of creatures.
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Dark Bargain image 2.0 This is basically Black Divination, and that means having one copy of it in your Black decks is usually decent.
Academy Drake image 3.0 In the early part of the game, this is a Wind Drake, which is always serviceable, and in the late game it can be significantly larger. Like most cards with Kicker, the second mode isn’t exactly efficient, but it is nice upside to have on an already reasonable card.
Unwind image 0.5 This is generally too narrow for you to really want to play. It is better out of your sideboard, as bringing it in against someone who has a lot of noncreature spells will work out okay.
Mesa Unicorn image 2.5 Two mana 2/2s with Lifelink are usually nice little cards in Limited, and that’s the case here.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Fiery Intervention
Steel Leaf Champion image 0.0 // 3.5 Like all of this cycle, the Champion is going to be hard to cast on turn three in most Limited decks. However, if you’re mono-green or close to it, it does end up being a pretty powerful card. Nice thing is, even if you play it late, it isn’t terrible, as those stats and the evasive ability still play pretty well.
Whisper, Blood Liturgist image 2.0 It isn’t that easy to set Whisper up in this format – you need to be going wide and you need to have something worth reanimating, and neither of those are guaranteed. You’ll be able to pull it off sometimes, and it is also nice that Whisper can sacrifice itself if need be.
Song of Freyalise image 4.0 This thing ends up doing way more than you might think (certainly more than I thought when first reviewing the set). If you can get just two creatures in play ahead of casting this, it ends up being an absolute beating for your opponent. Chapter I and II give you both fixing and extra mana, which will of course allow you to add more creatures to the board, and then chapter III comes along and gives you what amounts to a free attack – your whole board gets permanently larger and gain vigilance and indestructible until end of turn, which means you don’t have to worry about the crack back, or any of your creatures dying in combat. It does take that bit of set up – but if you’re playing a deck with a normal number of creatures, it is very doable.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Pegasus Courser image 3.5 This is perhaps White’s best Common. Its base stats certainly aren’t good, but being able to send other creatures to the sky is the kind of ability that can really alter a game state all game long.
Windgrace Acolyte image 2.0 The ETB trigger here is surprisingly solid. The life you gain and the cards you mill can be some really significant value on a reasonable evasive creature.
Short Sword image 2.5 It definitely isn’t exciting, but this does give an efficient boost for the cost, and this set has enough Artifact and Equipment synergy around that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
Deep Freeze image 2.5 This is typical of most Blue removal. It does the job of turning off a creature, but the downside is that creature can still block. This means this type of effect isn’t great if you’re really aggressive, but still – at least the creature can only block once! This isn’t premium, but it is solid removal.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Haphazard Bombardment
Haphazard Bombardment image 4.0 This card might look super random and inconsistent. And…well, it kind of can be, but it is usually going to give you your 6 mana’s worth. After all, you get to destroy 3 permanents in the process, and that’s a 3-for-1! You do need to choose permanents to put the counters on wisely, and keep in mind you can choose lands! Though most of the time going after nonland permanents is going to be better.
Urza's Tome image 1.5 Even in a set like this one, this seems to be a little too clunky to make your deck on a regular occasion. It will often just loot for 3 mana, and that’s really not worth it.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Gideon's Reproach image 3.0 This is situational, but it is efficient enough that it still makes it into the lower range of premium removal. Attacking and blocking does happen a fair bit, and because of that, it doesn’t feel all that situational.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Saproling Migration image 3.5 Both modes on this are quite good, and can allow you to go wide in a hurry. In BG there are some significant Saproling/go wide payoffs too, which make it even nicer.
Deep Freeze image 2.5 This is typical of most Blue removal. It does the job of turning off a creature, but the downside is that creature can still block. This means this type of effect isn’t great if you’re really aggressive, but still – at least the creature can only block once! This isn’t premium, but it is solid removal.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Academy Journeymage image 3.5 Man-O’-War effects are always good in Limited – adding to your own board and subtracting from your opponent’s at the same time is always good. Even if you can’t reduce the cost of this, it plays pretty well, and if you can lower the cost to 4 it is going to feel great.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Fiery Intervention
Verdant Force image 3.0 This is a pretty good win condition if your deck is good at ramping. Saproling tokens will accumulate incredibly quickly since they are made on every upkeep, and not just your own, and this usually also assures you’ll get some value out of the card even if your opponent finds removal for it.
Board the Weatherlight image 0.5 This is almost unplayable. Even with all of the historic stuff in this set, you’ll find yourself whiffing with this way too often for it to be worth it. And, even when it does its thing, it just draws you one card. If you end up with a deck with a ton of Historics, including some bombs, you can sometimes play it, but you mostly won’t.
Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep image 2.5 This is a pretty legitimate finisher in this format. This format is grindy enough that casting Slinn Voda with Kicker, especially in a deck like UG, is very doable, and adding an 8/8 to the board that bounces pretty much all creatures is excellent. It does get its score dinged by the massive cost, but if you do manage to resolve it with Kicker, it will often feel like a bomb.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Knight of New Benalia image 1.5 Two mana 3/1s tend to be kind of alright, and this one has a useful creature type.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Weight of Memory
Weight of Memory image 2.0 Even in this relatively slow format, Weight of Memory often feels very clunky. Still, 5 mana to draw 3 isn’t too shabby, even if the mill part of the card will have very little impact.
Soul Salvage image 2.0 As usual, most Black decks tend to end up wanting one of these most of the time, but usually not more than one. They are bad to get in the early game, when they are effectively blank cards, but in the late game it is a good way to help you pull ahead of your opponent.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Charge image 1.5 Pumping your whole board with this isn’t the best thing to be doing in a format that can be as grindy as this one, but it does do the job reasonably efficiently, and if you’re going wide enough you might end up playing it.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Tolarian Scholar image 1.5 In most formats, this would be a 1.0, but the Wizard creature type matters enough here that this 3-mana 2/3 gets a little upgrade.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Run Amok
Urgoros, the Empty One image 2.5 If this guy is left alone, he can do some serious work ripping apart your opponents’ hand. It is also nice that, unlike with most specters, Urgoros will draw you a card once your opponent runs out of things to discard. However, Urgoros is really held back in this format because there is so much cheap removal that can kill him, and you’ll often find yourself really far behind on tempo if your opponent has one of those answers – and they often will.
Amaranthine Wall image 1.0 Even with all of the artifact/historic payoffs in this format, Amaranthine Wall is pretty bad. It just blocks, and a 4 mana card that does that isn’t really something you’re going to want most of the time.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Run Amok
Hallar, the Firefletcher image 3.5 Hallar starts with a nice baseline, and then gets progressively larger as the game goes on, while also doing extra damage to your opponent. Even if you only have like 5 cards with Kicker, Hallar is going to feel pretty good.
Memorial to Folly image 3.5 I love utility lands, and this whole Memorial cycle is certainly that! It enters tapped, but most of the time the Memorial will just feel like a way better Swamp, since in the late game it can get you the best creature back out of your graveyard, that’s a very real effect on a land – something most don’t have!
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Fervent Strike
Urza's Tome image 1.5 Even in a set like this one, this seems to be a little too clunky to make your deck on a regular occasion. It will often just loot for 3 mana, and that’s really not worth it.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Aesthir Glider image 1.5 In a lot of formats this would be close to unplayable, but in this one – which features lots of Artifact/Historic payoffs, you end up playing the glider sometimes. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying isn’t bad, but the fact it can’t block is a little miserable.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Keldon Warcaller
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Unwind image 0.5 This is generally too narrow for you to really want to play. It is better out of your sideboard, as bringing it in against someone who has a lot of noncreature spells will work out okay.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Keldon Overseer
Windgrace Acolyte image 2.0 The ETB trigger here is surprisingly solid. The life you gain and the cards you mill can be some really significant value on a reasonable evasive creature.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Ghitu Journeymage
Urza's Tome image 1.5 Even in a set like this one, this seems to be a little too clunky to make your deck on a regular occasion. It will often just loot for 3 mana, and that’s really not worth it.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Fire Elemental
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Rampaging Cyclops
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Powerstone Shard
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Divination
Lich's Mastery image 0.0 This card has a cool design, but it is impossible to make it work in Limited.
Sentinel of the Pearl Trident image 1.5 This is just too expensive for what it is. Its ETB trigger won’t do anything far more often than it will. And sure, resetting a Saga or triggering an ETB ability again seems cool, but it won’t happen as often as you’d think.
Elfhame Druid image 3.5 This is some pretty nice ramp, especially for spells with Kicker. This format makes sure you usually have something to do with mana as a result of Kicker and lots of activated abilities too, so even in the late game, when a mana dork can be kind of rough to draw, it can be useful. Though it still really shines the most early.
Kwende, Pride of Femeref image 2.5 A 4-mana 2/2 with Double Strike is sort of passable, and upgrading all of your First Strikers to double strikers is pretty nice. Now, a lot of the time that part of the card won’t matter, but it does have a reasonable baseline and a nice ceiling.
Divination image 2.0 As usual, Divination is fine. It is a 3-mana 2-for-1, and while you don’t want too many cards that don’t add to the board, having one of these is fine in most Blue decks.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Dub image 2.0 This is a pretty solid Aura, mostly because the stats boost it gives will often make a creature into something your opponent has to kill, and if they can’t, you probably win. Still, it is quite swingy – if your opponent can kill your guy, that means you just got 2-for-1’d, and that’s not always easy to recover from.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Gideon's Reproach image 3.0 This is situational, but it is efficient enough that it still makes it into the lower range of premium removal. Attacking and blocking does happen a fair bit, and because of that, it doesn’t feel all that situational.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Wizard's Lightning
Jodah, Archmage Eternal image 3.0 Jodah is mostly just a fairly hard to cast 4-mana 4/3 with Flying, which isn’t bad, but the other part of the card just won’t come up in Limited because your mana won’t be good enough.
Champion of the Flame image 2.0 It is really tempting to want to go all in on this guy since he gets huge so fast, but it is definitely a risky strategy with Auras, since if the Champion dies you lose those forever too. If your main plan is putting Equipment on him, that’s far more palatable, but he still starts out with some pretty awful stats.
Wizard's Lightning image 4.0 I would always play this if it was 3-mana for 3 damage to any target, but the fact it turns into straight up Lightning Bolt if you have a Wizard makes it incredible!
Seal Away image 4.0 This is situational, but it is cheap enough that it is incredibly good removal.
Aven Sentry image 2.0 This has decent French Vanilla stats, and not much else.
Saproling Migration image 3.5 Both modes on this are quite good, and can allow you to go wide in a hurry. In BG there are some significant Saproling/go wide payoffs too, which make it even nicer.
Corrosive Ooze image 1.5 There is Equipment in this set, but not so much that this ability is amazing. Most of the time, Corrosive Ooze is just a Bear.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Benalish Honor Guard image 1.5 This is alright, but even with the large number of legendaries in this set, this will be a two mana 2/2 most of the time, and usually not much bigger than 3/2. It is also a knight, which matters.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Shivan Fire
Thallid Soothsayer image 2.5 Cashing in creatures for cards is nice on a late of board states, especially if you have a bunch of Saprolings.
Memorial to Glory image 3.0 This might come into play tapped, but it more that makes up for that with the ability to make a couple of creature tokens in the late game.
Garna, the Bloodflame image 3.0 Garna is kind of hard to get serious value out of. You have to leave up significant mana, and then set up a situation where some of your creatures die to give you value, and while that’s not impossible, it comes up less often than you might think. It is nice that she comes with Flash and gives Haste to your whole board though, as sometimes she can also just represent a ton of damage out of nowhere, between her 3/3 body and whatever other creatures you play on your own turn.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Mammoth Spider image 2.5 This creature has some very nice stats for the format, and can stonewall a lot of creatures on the ground and in the air.
Shivan Fire image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana to do 2 at instant speed already is, and adding the additional upside of being more potent with Kicker is just great.
Pegasus Courser image 3.5 This is perhaps White’s best Common. Its base stats certainly aren’t good, but being able to send other creatures to the sky is the kind of ability that can really alter a game state all game long.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Baloth Gorger image 3.5 This is a very good common, as playing it as a 4-mana 4/4 feels pretty good, and then in the late game it has the added utility of being an 8-mana 7/7, which, while not efficient – is not upside to have on an already efficient creature.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Ghitu Chronicler
Goblin Warchief image 0.5 Don’t let this card fool you. Goblins are not well-supported in this format. This will basically just be a 3-mana 2/2 with Haste most of the time, and that isn’t worth it.
Settle the Score image 3.5 The planeswalker part of this will almost never come up, but exiling a creature for 4 mana is a good deal anyway.
Dark Bargain image 2.0 This is basically Black Divination, and that means having one copy of it in your Black decks is usually decent.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Yavimaya Sapherd image 3.5 3-mana 2/2s that make a 1/1 are always really good in Limited, and this comes with the added bonus of the creature types of the creatures it makes.
Ghitu Chronicler image 3.5 This can be a two mana 1/3 early – and you need that sometimes. However, the real value of the card comes when you kick it. 6 mana for a 1/3 that returns a spell is surprisingly potent in this format, especially if you’ve got Fight With Fire, but even if you just have reasonable spells to get back, this still feels pretty good.
Eviscerate image 3.5 This is premium removal. 4 to kill something at Sorcery speed isn’t incredible, but this format is slow enough that it does the job without feeling too clunky.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Krosan Druid image 2.5 Early in the game, the Druid gives you a reasonable body, and in the late game in can gain you a ton of life, enough that it can often allow you to stabilize, and that’s some really nice upside! You won’t always get the opportunity to kick it, of course.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Keldon Raider
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate image 4.0 So, it is pretty easy to make Torgaar a 6 mana 7/6 with a pretty nice ETB ability. Just having a single creature to sacrifice is not far-fetched, especially in BG, where it is likely you have a few Saprolings lying around. The ETB ability here is an interesting one, because it can be used two different ways. If your opponent has more than 10 life, you can target them and lower them to 10 life. And, if you have less than 10 life, you can target yourself, and go up to 10 life. Sometimes the ETB will make very little difference, but because it can be used in two different ways, it will often do a little something, which is nice on a 6-mana 7/6 – and it will be cheaper than that a decent chunk of the time!
Champion of the Flame image 2.0 It is really tempting to want to go all in on this guy since he gets huge so fast, but it is definitely a risky strategy with Auras, since if the Champion dies you lose those forever too. If your main plan is putting Equipment on him, that’s far more palatable, but he still starts out with some pretty awful stats.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Unwind image 0.5 This is generally too narrow for you to really want to play. It is better out of your sideboard, as bringing it in against someone who has a lot of noncreature spells will work out okay.
Bloodtallow Candle image 2.0 This is not an efficient way to removal creatures, but this format has several payoffs for playing Artifacts/historic cards, and having a cheap one around isn’t bad, especially because some of those payoffs let you get Artifacts back from your graveyard, and recurring a removal spell – even an inefficient one, tends to feel pretty good.
Gift of Growth image 2.0 This trick will often allow your creature to win combat early, and sometimes the kicker side of things can get you lethal out of nowhere, in addition to also being the sort of boost that will allow almost any creature to take down any other creature. It is still a trick of course, and comes with the significant downside those have.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
Frenzied Rage image 2.0 +2/+1 and Menace for two mana is very aggressive, and can make many creatures into a threat. Now, it does have the same downside of all Auras – namely, the huge risk of getting 2-for-1’d, but it is worth doing in some of the more aggressive decks.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Skittering Surveyor
Zhalfirin Void image 0.5 This basically isn’t worth it unless you end up mono-colored or almost mono-colored. It tends to do some very serious damage to your mana base, and that definitely is not worth the upside of having a scry land.
Grow from the Ashes image 3.5 Fixing and ramp are big in this format as a result of kicker and various mana sinks, and Grow from the Ashes is really good at giving you both of those things, especially when you kick it. It can even allow you to splash double colored cards, which is nice upside.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Skittering Surveyor image 3.5 So, this is a 3-mana ½ that draws you any basic land, and I would be on board with that pretty much no matter the format. The fixing it provides is just that good – and in this format, it is even better! Especially because there is Artifact/historic synergy all over the place.
Caligo Skin-Witch image 3.0 This is another card with Kicker where neither option is terribly efficient, but it turns out that it doesn’t really matter – the flexibility and late game usefulness make up for that. In this format, people tend to hold on to card a fair bit, so kicking the Skin-Witch ends up hitting two cards way more in this format than in most, and can often just be the kind of thing that shifts the game in your favor.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Navigator's Compass image 0.5 This kind of card is always overrated. People look at it and they really think of it as a form of fixing, and..well, it is, but you also use up an entire card for it, and you just modify a land you already have. This does nothing but fix for the most part. It does gain you a bit of life, and it is an artifact in a set that cares about them, but you can do a lot better than this.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Fight with Fire
Sentinel of the Pearl Trident image 1.5 This is just too expensive for what it is. Its ETB trigger won’t do anything far more often than it will. And sure, resetting a Saga or triggering an ETB ability again seems cool, but it won’t happen as often as you’d think.
Fight with Fire image 4.0 If this didn’t have Kicker at all, it would be premium removal. Adding Kicker to the mix here is a significant upgrade though. There are enough ways to recur it (Ghitu Chronicler most notably) that you’ll pretty regularly find yourself playing it as removal in the early game, and then getting it back and Kicking it in the later part of the game. When you Kick it, it is usually going to win you the game, either by clearing out a couple of creatures or just doing lethal to your opponent on the spot.
Weight of Memory image 2.0 Even in this relatively slow format, Weight of Memory often feels very clunky. Still, 5 mana to draw 3 isn’t too shabby, even if the mill part of the card will have very little impact.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Ghitu Journeymage
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame image 3.0 This is a nice buildaround for Equipment/Auras, as a free Spark Elemental every turn isn’t too shabby. The downside, of course, is having to put a bunch of Auras/Equipment on a single creature is very risky, but the payoff is sometimes worth it.
Shivan Fire image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana to do 2 at instant speed already is, and adding the additional upside of being more potent with Kicker is just great.
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Gift of Growth image 2.0 This trick will often allow your creature to win combat early, and sometimes the kicker side of things can get you lethal out of nowhere, in addition to also being the sort of boost that will allow almost any creature to take down any other creature. It is still a trick of course, and comes with the significant downside those have.
Primordial Wurm image 1.5 You’re kind of hoping you get something better than this for the top of your curve, especially in a set with a ton of Kicker, which allows multiple cards to be curve toppers and early plays, but if you really need a big boi at the end of the game, the Wurm is passable.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Sentinel of the Pearl Trident
Lich's Mastery image 0.0 This card has a cool design, but it is impossible to make it work in Limited.
Sentinel of the Pearl Trident image 1.5 This is just too expensive for what it is. Its ETB trigger won’t do anything far more often than it will. And sure, resetting a Saga or triggering an ETB ability again seems cool, but it won’t happen as often as you’d think.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Ghitu Lavarunner
Champion of the Flame image 2.0 It is really tempting to want to go all in on this guy since he gets huge so fast, but it is definitely a risky strategy with Auras, since if the Champion dies you lose those forever too. If your main plan is putting Equipment on him, that’s far more palatable, but he still starts out with some pretty awful stats.
Corrosive Ooze image 1.5 There is Equipment in this set, but not so much that this ability is amazing. Most of the time, Corrosive Ooze is just a Bear.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Relic Runner
Thallid Soothsayer image 2.5 Cashing in creatures for cards is nice on a late of board states, especially if you have a bunch of Saprolings.
Garna, the Bloodflame image 3.0 Garna is kind of hard to get serious value out of. You have to leave up significant mana, and then set up a situation where some of your creatures die to give you value, and while that’s not impossible, it comes up less often than you might think. It is nice that she comes with Flash and gives Haste to your whole board though, as sometimes she can also just represent a ton of damage out of nowhere, between her 3/3 body and whatever other creatures you play on your own turn.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Fervent Strike
Goblin Warchief image 0.5 Don’t let this card fool you. Goblins are not well-supported in this format. This will basically just be a 3-mana 2/2 with Haste most of the time, and that isn’t worth it.
Dark Bargain image 2.0 This is basically Black Divination, and that means having one copy of it in your Black decks is usually decent.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Drudge Sentinel
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Powerstone Shard
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Forebear's Blade
Forebear's Blade image 3.5 When you Equip this the first time it isn’t going to feel amazingly efficient, 6 mana total to give a creature +3/+0 , Vigilance and Trample is not a card you would feel great about. That said, the boost is enough to make virtually any creature into a good attacker, though the lack of a toughness boost does mean your creature isn’t less likely to actually die in combat, but that’s okay, since the Blade just gets equipped to something else for free any time the creature wielding it dies, and that’s where the real value is.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image 2.5 So, on his own, Tetsuko is a two mana 1/3 that is unblockable. You would already play that sometimes! He comes with the additional upside of also making a few other creatures in your deck unblockable too, and that’s pretty nice.
Jhoira's Familiar image 2.0 The base-line here certainly isn’t efficient, but reducing the cost of your historic spells will come up enough that you’ll play this a decent chunk of the time.
Untamed Kavu image 3.5 This is really efficient no matter which mode you use, with the 5-mana 5/5 version obviously being the more attractive one in most scenarios.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Cabal Paladin image 2.0 This has a pretty nice Historic ability, as it can really chip in a ton of damage, but it comes on a pretty terrible body. A 4-mana 4/2 dies to a whole lot of stuff that costs 1-2 mana, and that never feels very good.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Academy Drake image 3.0 In the early part of the game, this is a Wind Drake, which is always serviceable, and in the late game it can be significantly larger. Like most cards with Kicker, the second mode isn’t exactly efficient, but it is nice upside to have on an already reasonable card.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Shivan Fire image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana to do 2 at instant speed already is, and adding the additional upside of being more potent with Kicker is just great.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Sulfur Falls
Sulfur Falls image 3.0 Like most two-color cycles of lands, these are some pretty nice fixing, and they’ll often come into play untapped.
Nature's Spiral image 1.5 This can be somewhat appealing if you have some significantly powerful permanents, but just spinning your wheels for this kind of card selection can be a bit of liability.
Spore Swarm image 3.0 Three saprolings at Instant speed for 4 isn’t too shabby, especially in a set that can pay you off significantly for them.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image 2.5 So, on his own, Tetsuko is a two mana 1/3 that is unblockable. You would already play that sometimes! He comes with the additional upside of also making a few other creatures in your deck unblockable too, and that’s pretty nice.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Aesthir Glider image 1.5 In a lot of formats this would be close to unplayable, but in this one – which features lots of Artifact/Historic payoffs, you end up playing the glider sometimes. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying isn’t bad, but the fact it can’t block is a little miserable.
Rescue image 0.5 This can do some things – like help you reset a Saga – but it is mostly too narrow to ever really want to play.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Memorial to Genius
Sage of Lat-Nam image 2.0 The effect here is pretty strong, as cashing in artifacts for cards can be a good deal, but it isn’t always easy to set up.
Memorial to Genius image 3.5 Having a land that can produce mana for you early, and then draw you a couple cards late is pretty nice!
Fungal Plots image 1.0 // 3.0 This card is a pretty sweet build around and value engine. It doesn’t work out in every deck, but being able to exile creatures to make Saprolings tends to feel pretty good – the real value, though, comes from being able to sacrifice saprolings to draw cards and gain life. Note that that ability works with ANY saprolings too, not just the ones that Fungal Plots makes, and that’s pretty nice.
Krosan Druid image 2.5 Early in the game, the Druid gives you a reasonable body, and in the late game in can gain you a ton of life, enough that it can often allow you to stabilize, and that’s some really nice upside! You won’t always get the opportunity to kick it, of course.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Mammoth Spider image 2.5 This creature has some very nice stats for the format, and can stonewall a lot of creatures on the ground and in the air.
Jousting Lance image 2.5 This is another piece of Equipment that might be a little bit clunky in most formats, but in this one, Jousting Lance tends to be pretty good. +2/+0 and first strike is enough to make many creatures very difficult to block, so most creature-based decks are pretty interested in this.
Aesthir Glider image 1.5 In a lot of formats this would be close to unplayable, but in this one – which features lots of Artifact/Historic payoffs, you end up playing the glider sometimes. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying isn’t bad, but the fact it can’t block is a little miserable.
Charge image 1.5 Pumping your whole board with this isn’t the best thing to be doing in a format that can be as grindy as this one, but it does do the job reasonably efficiently, and if you’re going wide enough you might end up playing it.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Soul Salvage image 2.0 As usual, most Black decks tend to end up wanting one of these most of the time, but usually not more than one. They are bad to get in the early game, when they are effectively blank cards, but in the late game it is a good way to help you pull ahead of your opponent.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Karn's Temporal Sundering
Karn's Temporal Sundering image 0.0 // 4.0 As with all of these Legendary Sorceries, you can’t always play them, as you need a decent number (like 3-4+) of Legendary creatures, and even in this format, that just won’t always happen. However, when you can make it happen, the effect here is very powerful. Time Walk + Bounce is a good deal for six mana, and if you do manage to cast this, it will often win you the game.
Skizzik image 2.5 This is a nice aggressive creature that can do a bunch of damage out of nowhere. A 4-mana 5/3 with Trample and Haste that has to die at the end step isn’t amazing, but it is something you would play in some aggressive decks. Adding Kicker means that you pay one more mana for it to stick around longer. Now, with only three toughness that doesn’t always mean it will actually get to stick around, as your opponent can likely block and kill it, but Trample makes sure you still get some damage.
Jhoira's Familiar image 2.0 The base-line here certainly isn’t efficient, but reducing the cost of your historic spells will come up enough that you’ll play this a decent chunk of the time.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Gift of Growth image 2.0 This trick will often allow your creature to win combat early, and sometimes the kicker side of things can get you lethal out of nowhere, in addition to also being the sort of boost that will allow almost any creature to take down any other creature. It is still a trick of course, and comes with the significant downside those have.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Ancient Animus image 2.5 Getting the counter with this won’t come up a ton, but being an instant speed fight effect is a fine baseline.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Ghitu Journeymage
Chainer's Torment image 2.0 Most of the time, paying 4 mana for this won’t feel worth it. Most of the time, you’ll do some damage and gain some life up to 12 or 14, and then make like a 6/6 that lowers your life back down to 6. It does this all really slowly too, and the fact that you played this on turn four will often mean your life is pretty low, assuming your opponent has also added to the board. Don’t get me wrong, this does win games sometimes, but it seems like it does very little even more often than that.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image 2.5 So, on his own, Tetsuko is a two mana 1/3 that is unblockable. You would already play that sometimes! He comes with the additional upside of also making a few other creatures in your deck unblockable too, and that’s pretty nice.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Short Sword image 2.5 It definitely isn’t exciting, but this does give an efficient boost for the cost, and this set has enough Artifact and Equipment synergy around that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Blessed Light image 3.0 This is kind of expensive, but the price is going to be worth it most of the time. Exiling creatures and Enchantments is nice. Sometimes exiling is especially nice, as recursion is a thing. This is also an Instant, which means you can sometimes manufacture a 2-for-1 with it. It isn’t premium removal, but it is certainly solid, and the first copy will usually make the cut.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
Ancient Animus image 2.5 Getting the counter with this won’t come up a ton, but being an instant speed fight effect is a fine baseline.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Ghitu Chronicler
Thorn Elemental image 2.0 This isn’t the worst thing to ramp into or have at the top of your curve, it is nice that you can just make the 7 damage hit your opponent no matter what, and that does really discourage little chump blocks and the like.
Grow from the Ashes image 3.5 Fixing and ramp are big in this format as a result of kicker and various mana sinks, and Grow from the Ashes is really good at giving you both of those things, especially when you kick it. It can even allow you to splash double colored cards, which is nice upside.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Ghitu Chronicler image 3.5 This can be a two mana 1/3 early – and you need that sometimes. However, the real value of the card comes when you kick it. 6 mana for a 1/3 that returns a spell is surprisingly potent in this format, especially if you’ve got Fight With Fire, but even if you just have reasonable spells to get back, this still feels pretty good.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Seismic Shift
Urza's Ruinous Blast image 0.0 // 4.0 There are a lot of legendaries in this set, but not so many that you can just count on being able to cast these Legendary Sorceries. You’ll end up with a deck about half the time where playing a legendary sorcery doesn’t work, and that means that this will have a miserable floor. You probably need 4+ legendaries before it makes sense to play one of these, but when you can they are all pretty powerful (except the Green one). Urza’s Ruinous Blast is a good example, as nuking most of the board is quite good, and since you have to have a legendary creature in play to play it, it means that you will at least hold on to one creature. Now, there are a lot of legendaries in this set, so sometimes your opponent will be able to keep a permanent alive too, and that will be annoying, but this is still pretty powerful if you can cast it.
Jhoira's Familiar image 2.0 The base-line here certainly isn’t efficient, but reducing the cost of your historic spells will come up enough that you’ll play this a decent chunk of the time.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Mammoth Spider image 2.5 This creature has some very nice stats for the format, and can stonewall a lot of creatures on the ground and in the air.
Jousting Lance image 2.5 This is another piece of Equipment that might be a little bit clunky in most formats, but in this one, Jousting Lance tends to be pretty good. +2/+0 and first strike is enough to make many creatures very difficult to block, so most creature-based decks are pretty interested in this.
Deathbloom Thallid image 3.0 This has solid base stats that makes it easy for it to trade, and then it leaves behind a Saproling – that’s a pretty good deal for three mana.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Blessed Light image 3.0 This is kind of expensive, but the price is going to be worth it most of the time. Exiling creatures and Enchantments is nice. Sometimes exiling is especially nice, as recursion is a thing. This is also an Instant, which means you can sometimes manufacture a 2-for-1 with it. It isn’t premium removal, but it is certainly solid, and the first copy will usually make the cut.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Ghitu Chronicler
Urza's Tome image 1.5 Even in a set like this one, this seems to be a little too clunky to make your deck on a regular occasion. It will often just loot for 3 mana, and that’s really not worth it.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Ghitu Chronicler image 3.5 This can be a two mana 1/3 early – and you need that sometimes. However, the real value of the card comes when you kick it. 6 mana for a 1/3 that returns a spell is surprisingly potent in this format, especially if you’ve got Fight With Fire, but even if you just have reasonable spells to get back, this still feels pretty good.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Radiating Lightning
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Radiating Lightning
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Aesthir Glider image 1.5 In a lot of formats this would be close to unplayable, but in this one – which features lots of Artifact/Historic payoffs, you end up playing the glider sometimes. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying isn’t bad, but the fact it can’t block is a little miserable.
Rescue image 0.5 This can do some things – like help you reset a Saga – but it is mostly too narrow to ever really want to play.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Warlord's Fury
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Charge image 1.5 Pumping your whole board with this isn’t the best thing to be doing in a format that can be as grindy as this one, but it does do the job reasonably efficiently, and if you’re going wide enough you might end up playing it.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Seismic Shift
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Chainer's Torment
Chainer's Torment image 2.0 Most of the time, paying 4 mana for this won’t feel worth it. Most of the time, you’ll do some damage and gain some life up to 12 or 14, and then make like a 6/6 that lowers your life back down to 6. It does this all really slowly too, and the fact that you played this on turn four will often mean your life is pretty low, assuming your opponent has also added to the board. Don’t get me wrong, this does win games sometimes, but it seems like it does very little even more often than that.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Run Amok
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Draft Pick Overview