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Quick Draft STX 11 May 2021

11 May 11:13 - Rick_Rackleson 7 Wins - 1 Losses
Maindeck
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (17)
1 Expressive Iteration image
1 Pigment Storm image
1 Letter of Acceptance image
1 Pop Quiz image
1 Arcane Subtraction image
4 Heated Debate image
1 Reject image
1 Academic Dispute image
1 Practical Research image
1 Creative Outburst image
2 Teach by Example image
2 Elemental Masterpiece image
Creature (6)
1 Maelstrom Muse image
1 Efreet Flamepainter image
2 Rootha, Mercurial Artist image
1 Tome Shredder image
1 Waterfall Aerialist image
Land (17)
8 Mountain image
7 Island image
2 Prismari Campus image
Sideboard
1 Brackish Trudge image
1 Novice Dissector image
1 Shadrix Silverquill image
1 Grinning Ignus image
1 Specter of the Fens image
1 Fractal Summoning image
1 Elemental Summoning image
1 Introduction to Annihilation image
1 Spirit Summoning image
1 Make Your Mark image
1 Thrilling Discovery image
1 Letter of Acceptance image
2 Enthusiastic Study image
1 First Day of Class image
1 Lorehold Excavation image
1 Dragon's Approach image
1 Agonizing Remorse image
1 Adventurous Impulse image
1 Quandrix Campus image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Maelstrom Muse
Divine Gambit image 2.0 This ended up being better than I expected in Kaldheim – that’s not to say its good, but it is a solid playable. You basically treat it as a late game removal spell, and if you look at it that way, it tends to do the job with very little downside. This format also has fewer permanents than normal, and that could matter.
Vineglimmer Snarl image 3.0 These are good fixing, and they’ll help you splash. Don’t underestimate how nice it is, even in a two-color deck, to have one land that can produce either color, it is really great for your mana base. You should never be first picking these, but I think you should value them over most medium cards in packs if you’re in one or both of the colors it produces.
Creative Outburst image 3.5 This is expensive, but because it lets you discard it to make a treasure early, part of that downside is mitigated against. Casting this will feel really good, as doing 5 damage to something and drawing a card chosen from among five is a really good deal. UR is all about big spells like this, so it fits right in, while also supporting the archetype’s ability to cast those spells since it can make treasure.
Maelstrom Muse image 3.5 It is pretty nice that this can decrease the cost of your spells by 2 mana, even on its own - - and that’s in addition to actually have nice stats for the cost. You won’t always be able to take advantage of that mana reduction, but UR is all about big spells, so it will probably come up more than you might think at first.
Solve the Equation image 0.0 Tutors that cost three are pretty bad in Limited. Generally, in Limited Magic, you want to be adding to the board with the mana you spend, and the more cards you have that don’t do that, the more trouble you’re in. Cards can overcome that by giving you card advantage or something like that, but they can’t normally overcome it with just card selection, and that’s what this is. 3 mana to get an instant or sorcery from your deck isn’t going to be worth doing. We’ve seen BETTER 3 mana tutors -- like Grim Tutor -- be bad in Limited, and this will be too.
Environmental Sciences image 3.5 All the lessons are much better than they look, and that is certainly the case for Environmental Sciences. If you can pick up one of these, it effectively makes every single card you have with “Learn” into fixing. This means you can have pretty excellent mana for a splash simply by playing one basic land of another color. The life gain doesn’t hurt either.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Spined Karok image 1.5 This has alright defensive stats for the cost. You’ll play it sometimes if that’s what you need. But mostly you hope you won’t need it.
Stonerise Spirit image 2.5 This starts out with really reasonable stats, and then in the late game it can enable your payoffs for moving stuff out of your graveyard while also giving your other creatures flying. That late game mana sink is going to end games sometimes, but keep in mind that it is pretty expensive to use the ability, so you often won’t be able to make more than one thing fly.
Witherbloom Pledgemage image 2.5 This has pretty good stats and a solid Magecraft trigger. BG likes to gain life, so it will really fit in well there.
Spectacle Mage image 3.0 This is a Wind Drake with some nice upside for UR, which is a color pair that likes big spells. This seems like a key common for that deck.
Archway Commons image 1.5 This does give you fixing, but at a pretty real cost. It enters tapped and requires another land to tap for it to come into play, effectively making it cost one mana. That’s some serious slowness, but you’ll run it if you need the fixing.
Prismari Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Hunt for Specimens image 3.0 This ends up feeling like an upgraded Elvish Visionary often enough that this card is very worth playing. A 1/1 pest and a card that is good in your situation is just great for two mana.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Pigment Storm
Eliminate image 3.5 This kills a significant percentage of creatures and it does it efficiently. That’s enough for it to be premium.
Mortality Spear image 4.0 This is excellent. Even if it was always 4 mana to destroy a nonland permanent this would be an easy B – that’s just well worth it. But, this will frequently cost only two mana, which is just absurd. This is one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Solve the Equation image 0.0 Tutors that cost three are pretty bad in Limited. Generally, in Limited Magic, you want to be adding to the board with the mana you spend, and the more cards you have that don’t do that, the more trouble you’re in. Cards can overcome that by giving you card advantage or something like that, but they can’t normally overcome it with just card selection, and that’s what this is. 3 mana to get an instant or sorcery from your deck isn’t going to be worth doing. We’ve seen BETTER 3 mana tutors -- like Grim Tutor -- be bad in Limited, and this will be too.
Access Tunnel image 2.0 This has some decent, if unexciting late game utility. It isn’t great for your mana, so you probably can’t run it if your mana is already looking a little sketchy.
Introduction to Prophecy image 2.5 When you play a card with Learn, drawing this card will feel pretty nice, since it is additional value. Then, in the later part of the game, you can cast it and get some nice card selection. Think of it sort of like you would a creature who has an expensive activated ability, but it is an ability that gives you something to do with your mana late.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Combat Professor image 3.5 This is a good Common. On its own, it is a 4-mana ⅔ with Flying that can be a 3/3 with Vigilance on your turn. That’s a pretty darn good rate for the mana investment, and you can actually put the Vigilance other places, which is just better! This is probably White’s best Common.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Arcane Subtraction image 3.0 This is another Learn card that is way better than it looks! The effect doesn’t always do something worthwhile – fogging a single creature isn’t always impactful, but when the fail case is fogging a creature and drawing a card – while also triggering some magecraft – you are in a pretty good place with this card, especially because it has the very big upside of sometimes helping you kill a creature in combat.
Crushing Disappointment image 1.5 This isn’t amazing. 4-mana to draw 2 at instant speed is alright, and it is nice the life loss is symmetrical, but I tend to have a hard time getting behind this kind of card draw in Limited. It is pretty inefficient and expensive, and by choosing to spend 4 of you r mana to cast this you probably already paid some life in a way -- since you didn’t add to your board with that mana. Then, paying more life can be surprisingly painful. Again, it is nice that it can give you some reach against some opponents, and in BG especially you’ll be able to gain enough life that you don’t need to worry about it, but I still think this is a card that gets cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Pigment Storm image 2.5 This effect at Sorcery speed is really clunky. If you have to use this to kill a smaller creature, it feels really miserable because of the tempo hit. This does try to make up for that a little, by having the damage Trample, and that is some nice additional upside, but I still think this falls well short of being premium removal.
Mage Duel image 3.5 This is a nice removal spell for Green. Even if it couldn’t reduce its cost, I would think this would be pretty good. +1/+2 is a nice boost that enables creatures to effectively fight a lot more things. Once you factor in the fact it will only cost a single Green mana sometimes, I think we’re looking at premium removal. It does have the downsides Green removal tends to have – like 2-for-1 potential – but it is definitely worth it.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Pilgrim of the Ages image 2.5 This doesn’t exactly fix for you, since it is White and can only get Plains, but it does make sure you hit your land drops, and that’s always a nice thing to do with a 3-drop creature. It also gets extra value from the fact that it isn’t interested in staying in the graveyard, and in the late game it can give you a nice mana sink creature that can block all day and continue to thin out your deck. RW is the best home for this, since it likes to leave the graveyard and has the Spirit type. I think this is a solid Common.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Letter of Acceptance
Gods Willing image 2.5 This tends to be pretty nice whenever we see it. Protection is just such a nice keyword -- you can use it to make your creature unblockable, save it from removal, or survive combat. Being a cheap spell looks pretty good in this format too because of Magecraft, and having Scry 1 in the mix is nice too.
Containment Breach image 0.0 // 1.5 This is kind of a bad lesson. This format is surprisingly low on both Enchantments and Artifacts – it has 4 Enchantments – two of them are Rare, and 13 artifacts 4 of which are rare, and less than half have a mana value of 2 or less. Because this set is so heavy on Instants and Sorceries, those card types got wittled way down. That means this isn’t as good as it would be in a normal format. Still, you can probably pick it up pretty easily, so having it as an option when you do run into those cards isn’t too bad.
Detention Vortex image 1.5 This isn’t great. It might look like an efficient removal spell, but it basically signs you up to go down a card in the future, because your opponent can just pay some mana to get rid of it. It isn’t completely horrendous in more aggressive BW decks, since no matter what it does make a creature unable to block for a turn – but that’s pretty much the only place you’ll play this, and even then it won’t always make the cut.
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Inkling Summoning image 3.5 This Lesson is nice because it isn’t a complete disaster if you don’t get any cards with Learn and play it in your main deck. A three mana 2/1 with Flying is just fine, and this also triggers all the mage craft stuff of course. Obviously, if you have Learn, it is going to usually be better in the sideboard.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Ageless Guardian image 1.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and it is a Spirit, and RW has some tribal synergy for that. You’ll play it in a deck that wants that sometimes, but I imagine you’ll cut it pretty often.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Eureka Moment image 2.5 This ramps you a little bit while drawing you cards which is fine. A lot of the time the ability to put lands into play from your hand aren’t that good in Limited because there comes a point where you just don’t have lands to put down, but this draws you card, and makes it more likely you have a land to put into play to take advantage.
Campus Guide image 2.0 This has passable stats and it can fix for you, though keep in mind just putting a land on top is substantially worse than putting one in your hand. Still, if you’re trying to do some splashing this will help you do it. If you’re not splashing at all, though, it probably isn’t worth playing.
Leech Fanatic image 3.0 We’ve seen pretty much this same card before, and it overperformed, and I think this will here too. It slots well into both Black decks too – gaining life for BG and being a good place to stick counters for BW.
Letter of Acceptance image 2.0 This gives you reasonable fixing, and once you don’t need that you can cash it in for a card. We see cards like this a lot, and the decks that need fixing will run them, but it is unlikely anyone else will.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Pop Quiz
Revitalize image 1.5 In most formats, this card is pretty underwhelming. With spellcraft being a thing in this set, it will probably be a little bit better than normal -- and that’s probably true of all cantrips, but it still isn’t something you should go after that hard, and you’ll cut it more than you’ll play it.
Umbral Juke image 3.0 This has two reasonable modes. Three mana for a 2/1 Flyer is fine, and three mana for an edict is fine too, especially because this is an instant. Modality is enough to make a card with two “fine” effects become an actually “pretty good” card.
Zephyr Boots image 3.5 This seems like a reasonable Equipment to me. Flying tends to be a pretty nice boost on just about any creature, and it gives that ability fairly efficient. And, the loot combat damage trigger is a great way to improve your draws.
Overgrown Arch image 3.0 We’ve seen walls that can cash themselves in for cards before, and they’re always kind of mediocre. However, thsi one does add life gain to the mix, which is something that can really add up -- especially because the BG deck in this format really likes repeatable sources of life gain to power all of its cards.
Inkling Summoning image 3.5 This Lesson is nice because it isn’t a complete disaster if you don’t get any cards with Learn and play it in your main deck. A three mana 2/1 with Flying is just fine, and this also triggers all the mage craft stuff of course. Obviously, if you have Learn, it is going to usually be better in the sideboard.
Cogwork Archivist image 0.5 I mostly don’t think you’ll play this. It has mediocre stats and an unexciting ability. The ability might be a little more useful in the RW deck, which likes it when things leave the graveyard, but mostly using this ability is super underwhelming. Now, if games in this format go long and you are out of cards and you can legit use this to draw the best card in your graveyard every turn, then it will be better than that -- but that won’t happen very often.
Expel image 3.0 White always gets a reasonably efficient removal spell that can hit tapped creatures, and that is what we have here. Unless you leave mana up for it, you have to take a hit first, and leaving mana up for it can be a real pain if your opponent plays around it. It also isn’t great in aggro decks, because it doesn’t remove blockers.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Thrilling Discovery image 1.5 I really want this to be good, because I am probably the most excited about Lorehold in this set -- but I just don’t think it will be that great. Early, it could be a nice way to both load up your graveyard for various synergies and improve your card quality, but there will be situations where you just can’t really make use of this, either because you don’t want to give up cards or you flat out can’t.
Pop Quiz image 3.0 This often just feels like a better Divination, since it draws you one card from your deck and one non-land card that is useful in your situation with the learn part. And its an Instant!
Owlin Shieldmage image 3.0 This is pretty good top-curve for BW aggro decks. It isn’t the most efficient flyer, but it often puts your opponent in a terrible place, where their live is low enough that they have to kill your flyer, but they have to pay 3 life to do it.
Guiding Voice image 3.0 All the cards with Learn and all the Lessons are big overperformers in this set, and this is an example of that. This effectively reads “Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature and draw a card that is pretty useful in this situation,” and that’s a great deal for one White mana. Especially in a format with a bunch of magecraft.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Fractal Summoning
Brackish Trudge image 3.5 This is a powerful life gain payoff. It begins as a 3-mana 4/2 that comes into play tapped, which is already a fairly passable card – this returning to your hand any time you gain any amount of life is going to really be a problem for your opponent in the long run, as it has the kind of size that may just let it attack every single turn, since the downside of it trading with something is so minimal. There’s enough life gain in this set that this looks like a real value engine.
Ardent Dustspeaker image 4.0 So, this helps trigger all the cards in RW that like it when things leave your graveyard, AND it will effectively draw you cards at the same time. That’s pretty powerful, so of course they had to make the creature rather inefficient, as a 5-mana ¾. Even with that limitation though, this is going to be quite good. ¾ is enough size to attack on lots of boards, and as long as the best your opponent can do is trade with this, you’re going to be in business, because the cards you get from the effect will help you come out ahead from the trade. In some situations, even if the Dustspeaker is going to die without killing anything, attacking will still be worth it for the effect. You can also get serious value by giving it evasion or stats boosts that make things harder on your opponent. If this gets to use that ability more than once, chances are you just win.
Fractal Summoning image 3.0 Another Lesson that will be nice to get when you “Learn.” It is going to be inefficient, but its a card you get for free when you “Learn”, and its one that adds to the board, so I’m on board with having one of these to wish for.
Illustrious Historian image 3.0 Nothing this card does is efficient, but that’s kind of not the point. It is a card you can play early on curve, and then trade with something, and the in the later game you get a 3/2 out of your graveyard. That could be a 2-for-1, even if it is a kind of expensive one.
Archway Commons image 1.5 This does give you fixing, but at a pretty real cost. It enters tapped and requires another land to tap for it to come into play, effectively making it cost one mana. That’s some serious slowness, but you’ll run it if you need the fixing.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Reject image 1.5 This is a narrow mana leak, and in most formats I would think it is pretty reasonable, since creatures are so plentiful. This format is an odd one though, with fewer creatures than normal and way more instants and sorceries, so this ends up being more narrow than it normally would be, and it still has the problem of having diminishing values as the game goes on, because your opponent will just be able to pay the mana eventually.
Field Trip image 2.5 So, this pretty much just ramps for you, it doesn’t provide fixing because you can only get a Forest, and that’s a pretty big bummer. Still, ramping looks like a smarter strategy in ths format It does have Learn, which will either let you rummage or get a Lesson from your sideboard, and both of those are nice additional effects.
Pilgrim of the Ages image 2.5 This doesn’t exactly fix for you, since it is White and can only get Plains, but it does make sure you hit your land drops, and that’s always a nice thing to do with a 3-drop creature. It also gets extra value from the fact that it isn’t interested in staying in the graveyard, and in the late game it can give you a nice mana sink creature that can block all day and continue to thin out your deck. RW is the best home for this, since it likes to leave the graveyard and has the Spirit type. I think this is a solid Common.
Stonebound Mentor image 2.5 This starts with solid stats, and then it has an ability that will fit nicely in RW decks. As we’ve seen, RW has ways to exile cards from the graveyard for value as well as ways to return cards from the graveyard to your hand or the battlefield. Those will all trigger the Scry here, which will be some nice incidental value.
Moldering Karok image 2.0 Even with Trample and Lifelink, a 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awesome, though it is an admittedly goose place to put things that pump its stats. Still, I think you probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, it just doesn’t feel like it will do enough.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Elemental Summoning
Snakeskin Veil image 2.5 This is a good combat trick that gives your creature a permanent boost, while also being useful against removal.
Elemental Summoning image 1.5 // 3.0 This is yet another lesson that you wouldn’t really ever want in your main deck, as a 5-mana 4/4 just isn’t good these days, but being able to draw this when you “Learn” sounds pretty good!
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Exhilarating Elocution image 2.5 This gives a nice permanent boost to one creature - +2/+2 and pumping the rest of the board is nice too. It will often enable a pretty nice attack – but it does really need a significant board state to be worthwhile.
Fuming Effigy image 2.5 This is mostly here for the RW deck, which makes cards leave the graveyard pretty often. This is likely to do a few damage in that deck, in addition to having reasonable stats to start with.
Archway Commons image 1.5 This does give you fixing, but at a pretty real cost. It enters tapped and requires another land to tap for it to come into play, effectively making it cost one mana. That’s some serious slowness, but you’ll run it if you need the fixing.
Big Play image 2.0 This is a reasonable trick -- two mana for +3/+3, and one of those +1/+1s sticks around as a counter, so you end up getting some value from it beyond the turn you play it. That’s a boost big enough to help your creature win most combat too. Aggressive Green decks will likely always run the first copy of this -- but it IS still a trick -- it is situational and risky.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Introduction to Annihilation
Secret Rendezvous image 0.0 You will always come up behind when you use this. You’re the one casting it, and using up a card and mana, your opponent gets the three cards for free -- they don’t spend a card or mana to get them. Now, if you have extra mana you will be taking advantage of the new cards first, but chances are also good your opponent will have an easier time doing that, because...again, they spent 0 mana to draw 3. Don’t play this in Limited.
Silverquill Apprentice image 3.0 So this seems pretty underwhelming to me. Sure, getting a bonus when you play spells is great but...like, +1/+0 just seems like such a spell bonus. It will matter to be sure, but it just isn’t enough for me to really get excited about. BW is all about aggressive spell stuff though, so it fits in just fine.
Introduction to Annihilation image 3.0 Giving yourself access to a removal spell any time you Learn is pretty nice. Obviously, the fact your opponent draws a card is rough, but you generally just end up breaking even, since you’ll get Introduction to Annihilation for free when you learn.
Tome Shredder image 3.0 This guy can get pretty big on his diet of instants and sorceries, and he’ll work especially well in RW, because that deck can load the graveyard reasonably well, and it also likes it when cards leave the graveyard in any way, and Tome Shredder will do that for you.
Teach by Example image 1.5 I know this format is all about spells and stuff, but I have a hard time thinking a card like this will be worthwhile very often. You have to have it line up the right way for it to do something. And sure, using it on a draw spell or something will feel pretty sweet, as will copying some of the huge wacky spells in UR, but it still seems like the set up is too much. This kind of spell isn’t good in most Limited formats, and I don’ think it will be here either.
Defend the Campus image 2.0 I see this as two separate cards in many formats, and both of them are often cards you cut, just because they are a little too narrow. HOWEVER, by putting both of these effects on a single card, you end up with a better card. The effects are still narrow of course, but between the two effects one of them is going to be useful pretty often. This might all sounds like I think this is incredible -- but I just get excited about modal cards. It is a solid card that will actually make the cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Reckless Amplimancer image 2.5 So, this is a bear with some nice late game upside, especially for decks that are either capable of producing a lot of mana or capable of putting +1/+1 counters on stuff. Or even better, both! UG is the Green color pair that will be the rampeist, and I really think it is going to want some late game manasinks, and this definitely delivers. Now, it isn’t especially efficient to pump this thing, but it is something to do with your mana. And, obviously, +1/+1 counters make it more efficient too. This is just going to be a solid two drop for pretty much all Green decks.
Hunt for Specimens image 3.0 This ends up feeling like an upgraded Elvish Visionary often enough that this card is very worth playing. A 1/1 pest and a card that is good in your situation is just great for two mana.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Spirit Summoning
Show of Confidence image 2.5 So, if you can’t make any copies of this it isn’t really going to be especially worthwhile, that boost just isn’t worth the investment. However, if you can get two copies of it or more, it will feel pretty good. It is also further augmented by the Magecraft mechanic, which will trigger off of the copies too. Getting two copies of it is definitely doable, but you’ve gotta keep in mind that it is some real set up, and it won’t always work out. Getting more than two copies will happen some, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Containment Breach image 0.0 // 1.5 This is kind of a bad lesson. This format is surprisingly low on both Enchantments and Artifacts – it has 4 Enchantments – two of them are Rare, and 13 artifacts 4 of which are rare, and less than half have a mana value of 2 or less. Because this set is so heavy on Instants and Sorceries, those card types got wittled way down. That means this isn’t as good as it would be in a normal format. Still, you can probably pick it up pretty easily, so having it as an option when you do run into those cards isn’t too bad.
Spirit Summoning image 2.5 RW has some spirit synergies, so this gets a few extra points. It is a nice lesson to have like all the other summonings, because it can pretty much always do something.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Resculpt image 1.0 People always overrate this type of card. They think of scenarios where you will exile one of your own artifacts or creatures and get a 4/4 out of the deal at Instant speed, and then you block an attacker or something. Or you use it in response to a removal spell and still get a 4/4 and all of that. But every time we see a card like this, even the one that made a 4/4 Angel, they just never line up as well as you might think at first. That situation I described just won’t happen as much as you want it to, and you’ll often find yourself in situations where this just isn’t worth casting. Now, it does have the ability to also go after opposing permanents, but giving your opponent a 4/4 in that case isn’t especially good most of the time either.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Pilgrim of the Ages image 2.5 This doesn’t exactly fix for you, since it is White and can only get Plains, but it does make sure you hit your land drops, and that’s always a nice thing to do with a 3-drop creature. It also gets extra value from the fact that it isn’t interested in staying in the graveyard, and in the late game it can give you a nice mana sink creature that can block all day and continue to thin out your deck. RW is the best home for this, since it likes to leave the graveyard and has the Spirit type. I think this is a solid Common.
Leech Fanatic image 3.0 We’ve seen pretty much this same card before, and it overperformed, and I think this will here too. It slots well into both Black decks too – gaining life for BG and being a good place to stick counters for BW.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Prismari Campus
Divine Gambit image 2.0 This ended up being better than I expected in Kaldheim – that’s not to say its good, but it is a solid playable. You basically treat it as a late game removal spell, and if you look at it that way, it tends to do the job with very little downside. This format also has fewer permanents than normal, and that could matter.
Solve the Equation image 0.0 Tutors that cost three are pretty bad in Limited. Generally, in Limited Magic, you want to be adding to the board with the mana you spend, and the more cards you have that don’t do that, the more trouble you’re in. Cards can overcome that by giving you card advantage or something like that, but they can’t normally overcome it with just card selection, and that’s what this is. 3 mana to get an instant or sorcery from your deck isn’t going to be worth doing. We’ve seen BETTER 3 mana tutors -- like Grim Tutor -- be bad in Limited, and this will be too.
Spined Karok image 1.5 This has alright defensive stats for the cost. You’ll play it sometimes if that’s what you need. But mostly you hope you won’t need it.
Stonerise Spirit image 2.5 This starts out with really reasonable stats, and then in the late game it can enable your payoffs for moving stuff out of your graveyard while also giving your other creatures flying. That late game mana sink is going to end games sometimes, but keep in mind that it is pretty expensive to use the ability, so you often won’t be able to make more than one thing fly.
Archway Commons image 1.5 This does give you fixing, but at a pretty real cost. It enters tapped and requires another land to tap for it to come into play, effectively making it cost one mana. That’s some serious slowness, but you’ll run it if you need the fixing.
Prismari Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Arcane Subtraction
Solve the Equation image 0.0 Tutors that cost three are pretty bad in Limited. Generally, in Limited Magic, you want to be adding to the board with the mana you spend, and the more cards you have that don’t do that, the more trouble you’re in. Cards can overcome that by giving you card advantage or something like that, but they can’t normally overcome it with just card selection, and that’s what this is. 3 mana to get an instant or sorcery from your deck isn’t going to be worth doing. We’ve seen BETTER 3 mana tutors -- like Grim Tutor -- be bad in Limited, and this will be too.
Introduction to Prophecy image 2.5 When you play a card with Learn, drawing this card will feel pretty nice, since it is additional value. Then, in the later part of the game, you can cast it and get some nice card selection. Think of it sort of like you would a creature who has an expensive activated ability, but it is an ability that gives you something to do with your mana late.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Arcane Subtraction image 3.0 This is another Learn card that is way better than it looks! The effect doesn’t always do something worthwhile – fogging a single creature isn’t always impactful, but when the fail case is fogging a creature and drawing a card – while also triggering some magecraft – you are in a pretty good place with this card, especially because it has the very big upside of sometimes helping you kill a creature in combat.
Crushing Disappointment image 1.5 This isn’t amazing. 4-mana to draw 2 at instant speed is alright, and it is nice the life loss is symmetrical, but I tend to have a hard time getting behind this kind of card draw in Limited. It is pretty inefficient and expensive, and by choosing to spend 4 of you r mana to cast this you probably already paid some life in a way -- since you didn’t add to your board with that mana. Then, paying more life can be surprisingly painful. Again, it is nice that it can give you some reach against some opponents, and in BG especially you’ll be able to gain enough life that you don’t need to worry about it, but I still think this is a card that gets cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Make Your Mark
Containment Breach image 0.0 // 1.5 This is kind of a bad lesson. This format is surprisingly low on both Enchantments and Artifacts – it has 4 Enchantments – two of them are Rare, and 13 artifacts 4 of which are rare, and less than half have a mana value of 2 or less. Because this set is so heavy on Instants and Sorceries, those card types got wittled way down. That means this isn’t as good as it would be in a normal format. Still, you can probably pick it up pretty easily, so having it as an option when you do run into those cards isn’t too bad.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Ageless Guardian image 1.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and it is a Spirit, and RW has some tribal synergy for that. You’ll play it in a deck that wants that sometimes, but I imagine you’ll cut it pretty often.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Leech Fanatic image 3.0 We’ve seen pretty much this same card before, and it overperformed, and I think this will here too. It slots well into both Black decks too – gaining life for BG and being a good place to stick counters for BW.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Thrilling Discovery
Revitalize image 1.5 In most formats, this card is pretty underwhelming. With spellcraft being a thing in this set, it will probably be a little bit better than normal -- and that’s probably true of all cantrips, but it still isn’t something you should go after that hard, and you’ll cut it more than you’ll play it.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Thrilling Discovery image 1.5 I really want this to be good, because I am probably the most excited about Lorehold in this set -- but I just don’t think it will be that great. Early, it could be a nice way to both load up your graveyard for various synergies and improve your card quality, but there will be situations where you just can’t really make use of this, either because you don’t want to give up cards or you flat out can’t.
Owlin Shieldmage image 3.0 This is pretty good top-curve for BW aggro decks. It isn’t the most efficient flyer, but it often puts your opponent in a terrible place, where their live is low enough that they have to kill your flyer, but they have to pay 3 life to do it.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Brackish Trudge
Brackish Trudge image 3.5 This is a powerful life gain payoff. It begins as a 3-mana 4/2 that comes into play tapped, which is already a fairly passable card – this returning to your hand any time you gain any amount of life is going to really be a problem for your opponent in the long run, as it has the kind of size that may just let it attack every single turn, since the downside of it trading with something is so minimal. There’s enough life gain in this set that this looks like a real value engine.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Moldering Karok image 2.0 Even with Trample and Lifelink, a 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awesome, though it is an admittedly goose place to put things that pump its stats. Still, I think you probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, it just doesn’t feel like it will do enough.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Enthusiastic Study
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Pack 1 Pick 15: Specter of the Fens
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Efreet Flamepainter
Cultivate image 3.0 I always like this card when we see it. It is great fixing, even helping you splash a card with two colored mana symbols. It also happens to ramp you which is great too!
Efreet Flamepainter image 4.0 If this gets through for damage, it is going to be pretty crazy. Because it has double strike, you’ll get to cast two instants or sorceries for free every time! If you can do that even once, that will win most games. Now, given that it’s just a ¼, getting through with it won’t always be a cake walk, but its worth remembering that this thing has such a scary combat damage trigger that your opponent will have to be pretty careful, and they will leave back blockers they just wouldn’t have before. Using a removal spell to get a blocker out of the way, and then attacking with the Flamepainter and casting that spell for FREE is going to come up sometimes, and that’s going to be amazing.
Returned Pastcaller image 4.0 This seems really good to me. RW in this set is about the graveyard, strange as that may seem, so this will generally have no problem returning something. It does only have two toughness so it dies to a lot, but because you returned something that still means you’re getting a 2-for-1, and if your opponent can’t deal with it, this hits pretty darn hard in the air.
Decisive Denial image 3.0 Fight cards are always nice in Limited, and while the best ones give some sort of stats boost, this one makes up for not doing that by being a modal card. So, if the Fight part on this works as removal for you, you’ll probably use it, but if a situation comes upw here you can counter your opponents thing before that, you probably choose the counter option. Neither option here is amazing, but having a choice between them is very nice.
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Pest Summoning image 3.5 So, this is a lesson that I think you don’t feel terrible about playing in your main deck, especially because it provides sacrifice fodder and life gain, which BG is interested in.. Now, if you have cards with “Learn” it will be better, as it gives you a card that does something useful on just about every board state, while some of the other lessons are more situational.
Spectacle Mage image 3.0 This is a Wind Drake with some nice upside for UR, which is a color pair that likes big spells. This seems like a key common for that deck.
Spiteful Squad image 2.5 4-mana 2/2s with Deathtouch normally arent the most exicting thing int he world. They can trade fo ranything, but doing that at 4 mana isn’t exactly exciting. I like that they compensated for that here by letting the Band put it +1/+1 counters on other stuff when it dies. This also means that it is a good place to put counters, since it will do something with them when it dies, unlike most creatures.
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Pilgrim of the Ages image 2.5 This doesn’t exactly fix for you, since it is White and can only get Plains, but it does make sure you hit your land drops, and that’s always a nice thing to do with a 3-drop creature. It also gets extra value from the fact that it isn’t interested in staying in the graveyard, and in the late game it can give you a nice mana sink creature that can block all day and continue to thin out your deck. RW is the best home for this, since it likes to leave the graveyard and has the Spirit type. I think this is a solid Common.
Waterfall Aerialist image 2.5 A 4-mana 3/1 flyer is generally a playable card, it hits pretty hard in the air for the mana cost. 1 toughness is certainly a liability though, since it can die to everything, even the cheapest removal spells! The Aerliast gets around that, though, with Ward, which means that it will be tough for your opponent to get a great deal on their removal spell. This set does have 2/1 flying tokens though, and that hurts the value of a card like this significantly.
Quandrix Pledgemage image 3.0 We see this type of card a lot, though lately it has mostly been Red. Either way, this kind of creature tends to grow rapidly in a deck with a decent number of spells. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but if your opponent doesn’t take it down when they can, it can get quite impressive.
Blood Researcher image 3.5 This seems like a nice Common payoff for gaining life. It may not be quite as cheap as Ajani’s Pridemate, but it adds Menace to the mix and I think that’s a fair trade. This will get pretty big, and that’s always nice with an evasive ability.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Heated Debate
Shock image 3.5 Shock is always premium removal. Two damage can take down a huge chunk of creature sin most formats, including several creatures with a much higher CMC than one, and it of course comes with the upside of being able to use on the opponent.
Academic Dispute image 3.0 This is another Learn card that is way better than it looks. You can often use this to help you take down a creature – either because you force an opposing creature to block, or you give one of your creatures Reach and it can suddenly take down an opposing flyer. That doesn’t always line up, but even when it doesn’t, this basically replaces itself thanks to Learn.
Rip Apart image 4.0 This is premium removal. Two mana for three damage would already be there, but adding the nice modal effect to deal with problem permanents makes it even better.
Start from Scratch image 2.5 Yet another Lesson I’m pretty excited about. There’s just something about being able to grab these cards with narrow but useful effects out of your sideboard at the ideal time. Your opponent won’t always have an Artifact, or an X/1 to kill, or be at 1 life, but when any of those things are true, grabbing Start from Scratch when you Learn will feel pretty awesome.
Spirit Summoning image 2.5 RW has some spirit synergies, so this gets a few extra points. It is a nice lesson to have like all the other summonings, because it can pretty much always do something.
Lash of Malice image 3.0 This seems quite good to me. In a lot of ways, it is like a Shock that traded in the ability to burn the opponent for the ability to be a combat trick sometimes. It can very efficiently kill an X/2, but you can also use it on your own creature to make it hit harder. This set seems like it has a TON of X/2s, so this will definitely feel like premium removal with some nice upside.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Mage Duel image 3.5 This is a nice removal spell for Green. Even if it couldn’t reduce its cost, I would think this would be pretty good. +1/+2 is a nice boost that enables creatures to effectively fight a lot more things. Once you factor in the fact it will only cost a single Green mana sometimes, I think we’re looking at premium removal. It does have the downsides Green removal tends to have – like 2-for-1 potential – but it is definitely worth it.
Heated Debate image 4.0 This is most likely Red’s best common. 3 mana for 4 damage at Instant speed is always great in Limited, and this also can’t be countered, which actually matters in this format as Blue seems to have several playable counter spells in this format.
Lorehold Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Combat Professor image 3.5 This is a good Common. On its own, it is a 4-mana ⅔ with Flying that can be a 3/3 with Vigilance on your turn. That’s a pretty darn good rate for the mana investment, and you can actually put the Vigilance other places, which is just better! This is probably White’s best Common.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Heated Debate
Village Rites image 2.0 We see this a lot, and it is always kind of medium. Cashing in a creature and this card to draw 2 doesn’t net you any cards, but it does help you find more gas , and often times you’ll have a creature worth sacrificing. You can of course also use it in response to removal and things like that. BG will make a lot of pest tokens, and in those decks it will feel pretty good.
Culling Ritual image 2.5 Most decks have a reasonable number of cards that will be able to be destroyed by this, and one cool thing here is that you get mana back – even if your permanents get destroyed by this, and that softens the blow a bit if there’s some collateral damage. But there will be board states where this either hits you more than your opponent, or doesn’t make enough of a difference, since it is so focused only on killing really low CMC things. Now, this format does have a reasonable number of creature tokens that this can hit, and that certainly matters. I think it will have enough things it can blow up that it is certainly a solid card, but this is the kind of card where I wouldn’t really be surprised if I was wrong in either direction.
Emergent Sequence image 3.5 This a lot like Rampant Growth, which is pretty solid as far as fixing and ramping go! What’s great is, it actually adds to the board in a meaningful way in addition to ramping and fixing for you, since the land will also be a 1/1 at a minimum and making it a 2/2 won’t be particularly difficult. It will feel a lot like a mana dork that comes into play tapped, and that’s pretty good! Now, that comes with some downsides, like if you search up your one land for a splash and now your opponent can kill it with a cheap burn spell, but I think its well worth it. This format has lots of payoffs for ramping too.
Spell Satchel image 1.5 So, this is a mana rock that asks you to fulfill the condition of casting spells, which isn’t going to be that hard in this set, but it does concern me a little! One nice thing about it is that in the late game, when you really don’t need the mana, you can save up book counters and start drawing cards with it. I think this format would have to be glacial for this card to be really good though.
Ardent Dustspeaker image 4.0 So, this helps trigger all the cards in RW that like it when things leave your graveyard, AND it will effectively draw you cards at the same time. That’s pretty powerful, so of course they had to make the creature rather inefficient, as a 5-mana ¾. Even with that limitation though, this is going to be quite good. ¾ is enough size to attack on lots of boards, and as long as the best your opponent can do is trade with this, you’re going to be in business, because the cards you get from the effect will help you come out ahead from the trade. In some situations, even if the Dustspeaker is going to die without killing anything, attacking will still be worth it for the effect. You can also get serious value by giving it evasion or stats boosts that make things harder on your opponent. If this gets to use that ability more than once, chances are you just win.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Heated Debate image 4.0 This is most likely Red’s best common. 3 mana for 4 damage at Instant speed is always great in Limited, and this also can’t be countered, which actually matters in this format as Blue seems to have several playable counter spells in this format.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Scurrid Colony image 2.5 This is an alright two-drop in the early game, and when the game gets late it becomes bigger. Now, a 4/4 isn’t probably going to be a huge gamechanger by the time you have eight lands, but it won’t hurt either.
Stonebound Mentor image 2.5 This starts with solid stats, and then it has an ability that will fit nicely in RW decks. As we’ve seen, RW has ways to exile cards from the graveyard for value as well as ways to return cards from the graveyard to your hand or the battlefield. Those will all trigger the Scry here, which will be some nice incidental value.
Stonerise Spirit image 2.5 This starts out with really reasonable stats, and then in the late game it can enable your payoffs for moving stuff out of your graveyard while also giving your other creatures flying. That late game mana sink is going to end games sometimes, but keep in mind that it is pretty expensive to use the ability, so you often won’t be able to make more than one thing fly.
Bury in Books image 3.0 Totally Lost is usually a kind of passable card, and this is mostly a better version of it. Sure, it can only target creatures, but Totally Lost does that 90% of the time anyway, and the fact that this gets discounted to only three mana when you hit an attacking creature is pretty good. Remember, when you put something back in your opponent’s deck, you’re actually trading 1-for-1, not just getting tempo out of the deal, and the fact they will usually have to wait a whole turn to get that card is nice. This seems like a pretty good Blue common, I think you always run the first copy.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Rootha, Mercurial Artist
Infuriate image 2.0 This is a pretty nice trick, and a cheap card in a set with lots of spell triggers. It is probably the best Red trick in this format – but it is still a trick.
Show of Confidence image 2.5 So, if you can’t make any copies of this it isn’t really going to be especially worthwhile, that boost just isn’t worth the investment. However, if you can get two copies of it or more, it will feel pretty good. It is also further augmented by the Magecraft mechanic, which will trigger off of the copies too. Getting two copies of it is definitely doable, but you’ve gotta keep in mind that it is some real set up, and it won’t always work out. Getting more than two copies will happen some, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Devouring Tendrils image 3.5 This is Rabid Bite with upside, and I’m all for that! Note that this is not a fight card, only the opposing creature gets damaged, so it is much less risky than “Fight” is. It still has some downsides of course -- casting this into open mana from your opponent is asking for trouble since a 2-for-1 is a real risk -- but that risk is worth it for the efficiency. The fact you gain life if the creature dies is nice additional upside, especially because BG likes it when you gain life, but it is pretty minor upside overall.
Rootha, Mercurial Artist image 4.0 She is way easier to copy spells with than she looks, and the tempo loss you get from that is well worth the card advantage.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
First Day of Class image 1.5 If you’re only able to make one creature benefit from this it won’t feel all that good, even if you have a Lesson to grab. After all, most of the Lessons are actually mediocre cards, but they’re worthwhile because you get them for free when you Learn. So, you kind of need your card with Learn to do something worth close to a card, and if you’re just getting one counter and giving one thing Haste, I’m not sure you’re doing it here. “Learn” is sort of like “draw a card,” and does give you some card selection, but those cards to choose from just aren’t gonna be awesome. Keep in mind you can also choose to rummage instead of getting a Lesson, and sometimes that will be best. Now, where this does start to get interesting is when you play multiple creatures in a turn, which won’t be easy if you’re just casting a regular ol’ creature spell, but if you have ways to make multiple tokens in a turn, this will start to feel pretty good. All in all, I’m not super high on this to start, just because I don’t think it will be all that easy to make it work, but I could see myself being wrong here.
Crushing Disappointment image 1.5 This isn’t amazing. 4-mana to draw 2 at instant speed is alright, and it is nice the life loss is symmetrical, but I tend to have a hard time getting behind this kind of card draw in Limited. It is pretty inefficient and expensive, and by choosing to spend 4 of you r mana to cast this you probably already paid some life in a way -- since you didn’t add to your board with that mana. Then, paying more life can be surprisingly painful. Again, it is nice that it can give you some reach against some opponents, and in BG especially you’ll be able to gain enough life that you don’t need to worry about it, but I still think this is a card that gets cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Waterfall Aerialist image 2.5 A 4-mana 3/1 flyer is generally a playable card, it hits pretty hard in the air for the mana cost. 1 toughness is certainly a liability though, since it can die to everything, even the cheapest removal spells! The Aerliast gets around that, though, with Ward, which means that it will be tough for your opponent to get a great deal on their removal spell. This set does have 2/1 flying tokens though, and that hurts the value of a card like this significantly.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Quandrix Pledgemage image 3.0 We see this type of card a lot, though lately it has mostly been Red. Either way, this kind of creature tends to grow rapidly in a deck with a decent number of spells. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but if your opponent doesn’t take it down when they can, it can get quite impressive.
Silverquill Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Study Break image 3.0 This is another card with Learn that is way better than it looks at first. This is a key card for BW or RW aggro decks, as tapping down blockers can really open the floodgates on your opponent – and you even draw a card off of it thanks to Learn! It tends to have a very real impact on games when it is cast.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Rootha, Mercurial Artist
Brackish Trudge image 3.5 This is a powerful life gain payoff. It begins as a 3-mana 4/2 that comes into play tapped, which is already a fairly passable card – this returning to your hand any time you gain any amount of life is going to really be a problem for your opponent in the long run, as it has the kind of size that may just let it attack every single turn, since the downside of it trading with something is so minimal. There’s enough life gain in this set that this looks like a real value engine.
Rootha, Mercurial Artist image 4.0 She is way easier to copy spells with than she looks, and the tempo loss you get from that is well worth the card advantage.
Introduction to Prophecy image 2.5 When you play a card with Learn, drawing this card will feel pretty nice, since it is additional value. Then, in the later part of the game, you can cast it and get some nice card selection. Think of it sort of like you would a creature who has an expensive activated ability, but it is an ability that gives you something to do with your mana late.
Square Up image 1.0 This kind of card never really comes through. You can sort of treat it like a trick, but it is just too situational to even be reliable in that capacity. The idea here I guess is to use it on Fractals, but even that isn’t worth it to me.
Quandrix Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Resculpt image 1.0 People always overrate this type of card. They think of scenarios where you will exile one of your own artifacts or creatures and get a 4/4 out of the deal at Instant speed, and then you block an attacker or something. Or you use it in response to a removal spell and still get a 4/4 and all of that. But every time we see a card like this, even the one that made a 4/4 Angel, they just never line up as well as you might think at first. That situation I described just won’t happen as much as you want it to, and you’ll often find yourself in situations where this just isn’t worth casting. Now, it does have the ability to also go after opposing permanents, but giving your opponent a 4/4 in that case isn’t especially good most of the time either.
Exhilarating Elocution image 2.5 This gives a nice permanent boost to one creature - +2/+2 and pumping the rest of the board is nice too. It will often enable a pretty nice attack – but it does really need a significant board state to be worthwhile.
Thrilling Discovery image 1.5 I really want this to be good, because I am probably the most excited about Lorehold in this set -- but I just don’t think it will be that great. Early, it could be a nice way to both load up your graveyard for various synergies and improve your card quality, but there will be situations where you just can’t really make use of this, either because you don’t want to give up cards or you flat out can’t.
Spiteful Squad image 2.5 4-mana 2/2s with Deathtouch normally arent the most exicting thing int he world. They can trade fo ranything, but doing that at 4 mana isn’t exactly exciting. I like that they compensated for that here by letting the Band put it +1/+1 counters on other stuff when it dies. This also means that it is a good place to put counters, since it will do something with them when it dies, unlike most creatures.
Leech Fanatic image 3.0 We’ve seen pretty much this same card before, and it overperformed, and I think this will here too. It slots well into both Black decks too – gaining life for BG and being a good place to stick counters for BW.
Arcane Subtraction image 3.0 This is another Learn card that is way better than it looks! The effect doesn’t always do something worthwhile – fogging a single creature isn’t always impactful, but when the fail case is fogging a creature and drawing a card – while also triggering some magecraft – you are in a pretty good place with this card, especially because it has the very big upside of sometimes helping you kill a creature in combat.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Reject
Shadewing Laureate image 3.5 BW has a lot of fliers, including the Inkling creature tokens. This will allow this Laureate to put counters on things reasonably often, and that’s to go along with Wind Drake stats. This is first pickable in some weaker packs.
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Study Break image 3.0 This is another card with Learn that is way better than it looks at first. This is a key card for BW or RW aggro decks, as tapping down blockers can really open the floodgates on your opponent – and you even draw a card off of it thanks to Learn! It tends to have a very real impact on games when it is cast.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Reject image 1.5 This is a narrow mana leak, and in most formats I would think it is pretty reasonable, since creatures are so plentiful. This format is an odd one though, with fewer creatures than normal and way more instants and sorceries, so this ends up being more narrow than it normally would be, and it still has the problem of having diminishing values as the game goes on, because your opponent will just be able to pay the mana eventually.
Guiding Voice image 3.0 All the cards with Learn and all the Lessons are big overperformers in this set, and this is an example of that. This effectively reads “Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature and draw a card that is pretty useful in this situation,” and that’s a great deal for one White mana. Especially in a format with a bunch of magecraft.
Stonerise Spirit image 2.5 This starts out with really reasonable stats, and then in the late game it can enable your payoffs for moving stuff out of your graveyard while also giving your other creatures flying. That late game mana sink is going to end games sometimes, but keep in mind that it is pretty expensive to use the ability, so you often won’t be able to make more than one thing fly.
Professor's Warning image 1.5 If this card only did one of these two things, it would be terrible. One mana just isn’t a good rate for either of those things, even if they can help you out sometimes, what it does often won’t be worth a card. Making this modal make it better of course, and so does the fact that this set loves cheap spells as a result of Magecraft and other spell payoffs.
Tangletrap image 1.5 // 3.0 Kind of funny this isn’t a lesson, I almost felt like it would be! Anyway, we see these modal “Destory artifact or flyer” type cards a lot, and they’re always alright. This one probably isn’t one you want to put in your main deck because this format doesn’t have that many artifacts. However, if you see 5 or so targets against someone – both flyers and artifacts – it can be a pretty nice sideboard card.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Tome Shredder
Duress image 1.5 // 3.0 This will be a little better in a format with more noncreature spells, but it probably is still going to be better out of your sideboard.
Dina, Soul Steeper image 4.0 This is a powerful life gain payoff. The ideal thing to do with her ability is going to be to sacrifice a pest token, at which point you start draining your opponent with Dina in play, in addition to raising her power. She can also just potentially threaten a bunch of damage when she attacks, which is always a nice thing to make your opponent contend with.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Defend the Campus image 2.0 I see this as two separate cards in many formats, and both of them are often cards you cut, just because they are a little too narrow. HOWEVER, by putting both of these effects on a single card, you end up with a better card. The effects are still narrow of course, but between the two effects one of them is going to be useful pretty often. This might all sounds like I think this is incredible -- but I just get excited about modal cards. It is a solid card that will actually make the cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Tome Shredder image 3.0 This guy can get pretty big on his diet of instants and sorceries, and he’ll work especially well in RW, because that deck can load the graveyard reasonably well, and it also likes it when cards leave the graveyard in any way, and Tome Shredder will do that for you.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Springmane Cervin image 2.5 This is a solid creature for Green decks. It has alright stats, and the fact it gains life will enable a number of synergies in this format.
Biblioplex Assistant image 2.0 This is an alright way to get back a powerful spell, and the creature you get isn’t the most disastrous thing ever – it may even be able to attack in the sky! But remember, putting a card back on top is wayyy worse than putting it into your hand.
First Day of Class image 1.5 If you’re only able to make one creature benefit from this it won’t feel all that good, even if you have a Lesson to grab. After all, most of the Lessons are actually mediocre cards, but they’re worthwhile because you get them for free when you Learn. So, you kind of need your card with Learn to do something worth close to a card, and if you’re just getting one counter and giving one thing Haste, I’m not sure you’re doing it here. “Learn” is sort of like “draw a card,” and does give you some card selection, but those cards to choose from just aren’t gonna be awesome. Keep in mind you can also choose to rummage instead of getting a Lesson, and sometimes that will be best. Now, where this does start to get interesting is when you play multiple creatures in a turn, which won’t be easy if you’re just casting a regular ol’ creature spell, but if you have ways to make multiple tokens in a turn, this will start to feel pretty good. All in all, I’m not super high on this to start, just because I don’t think it will be all that easy to make it work, but I could see myself being wrong here.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Prismari Campus
Containment Breach image 0.0 // 1.5 This is kind of a bad lesson. This format is surprisingly low on both Enchantments and Artifacts – it has 4 Enchantments – two of them are Rare, and 13 artifacts 4 of which are rare, and less than half have a mana value of 2 or less. Because this set is so heavy on Instants and Sorceries, those card types got wittled way down. That means this isn’t as good as it would be in a normal format. Still, you can probably pick it up pretty easily, so having it as an option when you do run into those cards isn’t too bad.
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Square Up image 1.0 This kind of card never really comes through. You can sort of treat it like a trick, but it is just too situational to even be reliable in that capacity. The idea here I guess is to use it on Fractals, but even that isn’t worth it to me.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Ageless Guardian image 1.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and it is a Spirit, and RW has some tribal synergy for that. You’ll play it in a deck that wants that sometimes, but I imagine you’ll cut it pretty often.
Beaming Defiance image 2.0 This is a solid trick, it gives a good enough stats boost to win most combats, and the Hexproof part makes it so that you can also use it to effectively counter removal. Like I always say, it IS still a trick, which means you will only be running it in aggro decks, and it comes with various risks – but it will be solid for those decks.
Prismari Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Waterfall Aerialist
Decisive Denial image 3.0 Fight cards are always nice in Limited, and while the best ones give some sort of stats boost, this one makes up for not doing that by being a modal card. So, if the Fight part on this works as removal for you, you’ll probably use it, but if a situation comes upw here you can counter your opponents thing before that, you probably choose the counter option. Neither option here is amazing, but having a choice between them is very nice.
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Make Your Mark image 2.5 So, the boost here isn’t going to always allow your creature to outright win combat, but that’s okay, because if your creature doesn’t win combat, you still get something back – a 3/2 Spirit. Obviously, this will feel best when you use it to help you kill a creature in combat, AND get the spirit, but even just getting the Spirit isn’t too bad.
Waterfall Aerialist image 2.5 A 4-mana 3/1 flyer is generally a playable card, it hits pretty hard in the air for the mana cost. 1 toughness is certainly a liability though, since it can die to everything, even the cheapest removal spells! The Aerliast gets around that, though, with Ward, which means that it will be tough for your opponent to get a great deal on their removal spell. This set does have 2/1 flying tokens though, and that hurts the value of a card like this significantly.
Blood Researcher image 3.5 This seems like a nice Common payoff for gaining life. It may not be quite as cheap as Ajani’s Pridemate, but it adds Menace to the mix and I think that’s a fair trade. This will get pretty big, and that’s always nice with an evasive ability.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Academic Dispute
Academic Dispute image 3.0 This is another Learn card that is way better than it looks. You can often use this to help you take down a creature – either because you force an opposing creature to block, or you give one of your creatures Reach and it can suddenly take down an opposing flyer. That doesn’t always line up, but even when it doesn’t, this basically replaces itself thanks to Learn.
Start from Scratch image 2.5 Yet another Lesson I’m pretty excited about. There’s just something about being able to grab these cards with narrow but useful effects out of your sideboard at the ideal time. Your opponent won’t always have an Artifact, or an X/1 to kill, or be at 1 life, but when any of those things are true, grabbing Start from Scratch when you Learn will feel pretty awesome.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Enthusiastic Study
Emergent Sequence image 3.5 This a lot like Rampant Growth, which is pretty solid as far as fixing and ramping go! What’s great is, it actually adds to the board in a meaningful way in addition to ramping and fixing for you, since the land will also be a 1/1 at a minimum and making it a 2/2 won’t be particularly difficult. It will feel a lot like a mana dork that comes into play tapped, and that’s pretty good! Now, that comes with some downsides, like if you search up your one land for a splash and now your opponent can kill it with a cheap burn spell, but I think its well worth it. This format has lots of payoffs for ramping too.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Infuse with Vitality image 2.5 This is a nice trick, one that virtually guarantees your creature will both kill whatever it is in combat with AND survive. Well, technically your creature can still die of course, but it will come back right away so, yeah. Incidental life gain tacked on to help out BG with its life gain synergies works for me! Now, as good of a trick as this is, it is still a trick, and still highly situational and risky and all of that.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Scurrid Colony image 2.5 This is an alright two-drop in the early game, and when the game gets late it becomes bigger. Now, a 4/4 isn’t probably going to be a huge gamechanger by the time you have eight lands, but it won’t hurt either.
Pack 2 Pick 12: First Day of Class
Oggyar Battle-Seer image 2.0 This has mediocre stats, even with Haste, and while tapping to Scry is good, I don’t think it does enough to overcome this card’s inefficiency. You won’t always play this.
First Day of Class image 1.5 If you’re only able to make one creature benefit from this it won’t feel all that good, even if you have a Lesson to grab. After all, most of the Lessons are actually mediocre cards, but they’re worthwhile because you get them for free when you Learn. So, you kind of need your card with Learn to do something worth close to a card, and if you’re just getting one counter and giving one thing Haste, I’m not sure you’re doing it here. “Learn” is sort of like “draw a card,” and does give you some card selection, but those cards to choose from just aren’t gonna be awesome. Keep in mind you can also choose to rummage instead of getting a Lesson, and sometimes that will be best. Now, where this does start to get interesting is when you play multiple creatures in a turn, which won’t be easy if you’re just casting a regular ol’ creature spell, but if you have ways to make multiple tokens in a turn, this will start to feel pretty good. All in all, I’m not super high on this to start, just because I don’t think it will be all that easy to make it work, but I could see myself being wrong here.
Crushing Disappointment image 1.5 This isn’t amazing. 4-mana to draw 2 at instant speed is alright, and it is nice the life loss is symmetrical, but I tend to have a hard time getting behind this kind of card draw in Limited. It is pretty inefficient and expensive, and by choosing to spend 4 of you r mana to cast this you probably already paid some life in a way -- since you didn’t add to your board with that mana. Then, paying more life can be surprisingly painful. Again, it is nice that it can give you some reach against some opponents, and in BG especially you’ll be able to gain enough life that you don’t need to worry about it, but I still think this is a card that gets cut a reasonable chunk of the time.
Study Break image 3.0 This is another card with Learn that is way better than it looks at first. This is a key card for BW or RW aggro decks, as tapping down blockers can really open the floodgates on your opponent – and you even draw a card off of it thanks to Learn! It tends to have a very real impact on games when it is cast.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Quandrix Campus
Resculpt image 1.0 People always overrate this type of card. They think of scenarios where you will exile one of your own artifacts or creatures and get a 4/4 out of the deal at Instant speed, and then you block an attacker or something. Or you use it in response to a removal spell and still get a 4/4 and all of that. But every time we see a card like this, even the one that made a 4/4 Angel, they just never line up as well as you might think at first. That situation I described just won’t happen as much as you want it to, and you’ll often find yourself in situations where this just isn’t worth casting. Now, it does have the ability to also go after opposing permanents, but giving your opponent a 4/4 in that case isn’t especially good most of the time either.
Leech Fanatic image 3.0 We’ve seen pretty much this same card before, and it overperformed, and I think this will here too. It slots well into both Black decks too – gaining life for BG and being a good place to stick counters for BW.
Quandrix Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Lorehold Excavation
Lorehold Excavation image 3.0 While it is a little awkward that it doesn’t impact the board immediately most of the time, it does only cost two, and at least it starts doing damage and gaining you life right away. That part of the card shouldn’t be overlooked, by the way, this will sort of feel like Ill-Gotten Inheritance with more upside. If you’re in RW, and you are if you’re playing this, this seems like the kind of glue that will keep that deck together. I’m not sure it quite does enough to pull you into the color pair itself, but if you’re there already, value it highly.
Professor's Warning image 1.5 If this card only did one of these two things, it would be terrible. One mana just isn’t a good rate for either of those things, even if they can help you out sometimes, what it does often won’t be worth a card. Making this modal make it better of course, and so does the fact that this set loves cheap spells as a result of Magecraft and other spell payoffs.
Pack 2 Pick 15: Novice Dissector
Novice Dissector image 2.5 This starts out as a Hill GIant, which is not so good, but it does have a pretty reasonable ability. Note, by the way, it lets you put the counter wherever. Lots of times when we see this effect only the creature who does the Sacrificing ends up getting the counters, but that’s not true here, and that’s good news for sure, as putting the counters on flyers and stuff sounds pretty good. This is another Black common that supports both Black archetypes well. It does +1/+1 counter stuff for BW, and it likes Pest tokens for BG.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Shadrix Silverquill
Negate image 2.0 Normally Negate isn’t very good in Limited because its so narrow -- but I think it might actually be solid here, since Strixhaven is all about spells, and it has way more than a normal set.
Shadrix Silverquill image 4.0 This is a good card, albeit a kind of weird one. A 5-mana ⅖ with Flying and Double Strike is already pretty nice -- those are just great stats on an evasive creature! Then, he gives you a powerful effect every combat...though he also gives your opponent a pretty powerful one too. Now, you are the one who gets to decide which one they get and which one you get, and you can always pick the option that most benefits you and the one that least benefits them, but no matter what you’re giving them, they’re going to be getting something reasonably nice. Most of the time, I would imagine if you’re wide enough you’ll give yourself the counters and let them draw a card, for example. Giving them the Flyer seems particularly bad since it gives them a free way to block Shadrix -- but sometimes giving them counters will be fine too, because sometimes those aren’t a big help. Shadrix will normally take over games, but there will be some times where you can’t find a good option to give your opponent, which will be rough.
Expressive Iteration image 3.0 Basically, you draw one card from your top three, and you exile another that you can cast until the end of your turn. So this is sort of a two mana Divination, albeit one that is very time sensitive. Note, by the way, that it does let you play lands from exile, so you can even cast this on like turn three, exile a land in your top 3 and put something else in your hand, and then play that land right away. Because you get to choose, there really is a reasonable chance you will get 2 cards out of it, even early.
Brackish Trudge image 3.5 This is a powerful life gain payoff. It begins as a 3-mana 4/2 that comes into play tapped, which is already a fairly passable card – this returning to your hand any time you gain any amount of life is going to really be a problem for your opponent in the long run, as it has the kind of size that may just let it attack every single turn, since the downside of it trading with something is so minimal. There’s enough life gain in this set that this looks like a real value engine.
Mortality Spear image 4.0 This is excellent. Even if it was always 4 mana to destroy a nonland permanent this would be an easy B – that’s just well worth it. But, this will frequently cost only two mana, which is just absurd. This is one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Pest Summoning image 3.5 So, this is a lesson that I think you don’t feel terrible about playing in your main deck, especially because it provides sacrifice fodder and life gain, which BG is interested in.. Now, if you have cards with “Learn” it will be better, as it gives you a card that does something useful on just about every board state, while some of the other lessons are more situational.
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Bayou Groff image 2.5 I like the upside we have here. It is either a 5-mana 5/4, a sort of passable card already, or a two mana 5/4 that you sacrifice a creature for. Doing the sacrifice thing can be a bit risky if you’re giving up a real card to cast it on turn two, since if your opponent can remove the Snagger or otherwise make it hard for it to attack, the cost will definitely not be worth it. BUT, just having the option available to you is great, and sometimes you’ll have very expendable creatures – like Pest tokens --, and you can double spell with this on like turn 5 if you give one of them up, which works for me.
Quandrix Pledgemage image 3.0 We see this type of card a lot, though lately it has mostly been Red. Either way, this kind of creature tends to grow rapidly in a deck with a decent number of spells. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but if your opponent doesn’t take it down when they can, it can get quite impressive.
Study Break image 3.0 This is another card with Learn that is way better than it looks at first. This is a key card for BW or RW aggro decks, as tapping down blockers can really open the floodgates on your opponent – and you even draw a card off of it thanks to Learn! It tends to have a very real impact on games when it is cast.
Hunt for Specimens image 3.0 This ends up feeling like an upgraded Elvish Visionary often enough that this card is very worth playing. A 1/1 pest and a card that is good in your situation is just great for two mana.
Biblioplex Assistant image 2.0 This is an alright way to get back a powerful spell, and the creature you get isn’t the most disastrous thing ever – it may even be able to attack in the sky! But remember, putting a card back on top is wayyy worse than putting it into your hand.
Dragon's Approach image 0.0 This is a neat design, but not really one that will work out in Limited. Even if you get like, six of these in your draft, the chances you have the necessary ones in your graveyard at some point aren’t great -- and that’s without even mentioning that you ALSO need a dragon for that effect do anything. Basically, this is just a Lava Axe-type effect, and those normally don’t play great in Limited, since they cost you a card and don’t affect the board.
Bury in Books image 3.0 Totally Lost is usually a kind of passable card, and this is mostly a better version of it. Sure, it can only target creatures, but Totally Lost does that 90% of the time anyway, and the fact that this gets discounted to only three mana when you hit an attacking creature is pretty good. Remember, when you put something back in your opponent’s deck, you’re actually trading 1-for-1, not just getting tempo out of the deal, and the fact they will usually have to wait a whole turn to get that card is nice. This seems like a pretty good Blue common, I think you always run the first copy.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Heated Debate
Cultivate image 3.0 I always like this card when we see it. It is great fixing, even helping you splash a card with two colored mana symbols. It also happens to ramp you which is great too!
Reconstruct History image 1.5 It is too hard to make this work. It doesn’t include creatures as a type to get back, so most of the time in this format you’re just getting an Instant and a Sorcery. And, while that isn’t terrible, it also isn’t worth a card most of the time.
Reduce to Memory image 1.0 // 2.5 So, you can kind of sort of play this in your main deck, if you feel like you really need some removal and you didn’t get any Learn. Obviously, giving your opponent a 3/2 isn’t good -- it basically sets you up to get 2-for-1’d, but it can deal with any nonland permanent and that does matter some. You can use it on your own guy in a pinch too. Being able to sort of toolbox it up is way better, because if you can choose to get it from among other choices, that’s just a way different deal, and you can grab it when you really need it.
Snow Day image 2.0 Blue always get some expensive instant or sorcery tempo card that does something to two of your opponents’ creatures, and this is Strixhaven’s version of that! I think it looks fairly reasonable. Tapping down two creatures is often better than bouncing them, since they will be out of your way for two separate attacks instead of just one, and this also replaces itself with the “Draw two, discard one” effect. Still, these effects aren’t always something all decks are after, as they are expensive and situational.
Confront the Past image 0.0 // 1.0 This card is not especially good in Limited, even if you have cards with Learn. There just aren’t enough planeswalkers for this card to matter. I mean, sure, if you see this late and you have some Learn going on, having this ready to get out of your sideboard will definitely be some upside for your Learn cards, but you’re not going to run into planeswalkers or have them very often, and that’s why I think this is a straight F as a main board card, and like a D out of your Lessonboard.
Curate image 1.0 I’m not super interested in this. It is just another Anticipate variant, and those are always replaceable. It does help you load your graveyard I guess if that’s what you want, and give you some card selection, and it will trigger magecraft, but it just has an underwhelming effect that is not often worth a card.
Elemental Masterpiece image 2.5 Late, this gives you two 4/4 bodies pretty efficiently. And, like a lot some other UR spells in this set, it can actually make you treasure early too, giving you both fixing and ramp, and making this significantly better than it would be if all you could ever do is cast it.
Charge Through image 1.0 In your typical format, this wouldn’t be close to a 0.0. It replaces itself, but the effect it has can be useless or close to it a huge chunk of the time. After all, you need blocks to go a certain way, and you need creatures of a certain size for Trample to even matter. However, in a format with lots of spells payoffs -- including in Green --, I think this will make the cut sometimes.
Reject image 1.5 This is a narrow mana leak, and in most formats I would think it is pretty reasonable, since creatures are so plentiful. This format is an odd one though, with fewer creatures than normal and way more instants and sorceries, so this ends up being more narrow than it normally would be, and it still has the problem of having diminishing values as the game goes on, because your opponent will just be able to pay the mana eventually.
Heated Debate image 4.0 This is most likely Red’s best common. 3 mana for 4 damage at Instant speed is always great in Limited, and this also can’t be countered, which actually matters in this format as Blue seems to have several playable counter spells in this format.
Moldering Karok image 2.0 Even with Trample and Lifelink, a 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awesome, though it is an admittedly goose place to put things that pump its stats. Still, I think you probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, it just doesn’t feel like it will do enough.
Eureka Moment image 2.5 This ramps you a little bit while drawing you cards which is fine. A lot of the time the ability to put lands into play from your hand aren’t that good in Limited because there comes a point where you just don’t have lands to put down, but this draws you card, and makes it more likely you have a land to put into play to take advantage.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Owlin Shieldmage image 3.0 This is pretty good top-curve for BW aggro decks. It isn’t the most efficient flyer, but it often puts your opponent in a terrible place, where their live is low enough that they have to kill your flyer, but they have to pay 3 life to do it.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Heated Debate
Strixhaven Stadium image 0.5 Alternate win condition cards do not have a good track record in Limited. You just won’t be able to end up in a deck that really effectively utilizes this card. Plus, it is sort of win more anyway, if you can get the 10 point counters, chances are your opponent is dead anyway. It is also a mana rock, and that does save it from outright being a 0.0.
Deadly Brew image 3.0 You basically take down an opposing creature, and then trade a creature in play for a permanent in your graveyard. It won’t always be easy to set it up -- edict effects are notoriously inconsistent, but most of the time you’ll probably come out ahead when you cast this. Especially if you have creature tokens and stuff like that!
Stonebinder's Familiar image 1.0 // 3.0 It is generally too difficult to really make this thing work. It mostly ends up being a one mana 1/1. You can end up in some Lorehold decks where it does more than that, but they are few and far between.
Expanded Anatomy image 3.0 This looks like it wouldn’t be especially good, but because you can choose to get it at exactly the right time (assuming you Learn), it often has a major impact on the game, allowing an attack that you just didn’t have before.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Bayou Groff image 2.5 I like the upside we have here. It is either a 5-mana 5/4, a sort of passable card already, or a two mana 5/4 that you sacrifice a creature for. Doing the sacrifice thing can be a bit risky if you’re giving up a real card to cast it on turn two, since if your opponent can remove the Snagger or otherwise make it hard for it to attack, the cost will definitely not be worth it. BUT, just having the option available to you is great, and sometimes you’ll have very expendable creatures – like Pest tokens --, and you can double spell with this on like turn 5 if you give one of them up, which works for me.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Guiding Voice image 3.0 All the cards with Learn and all the Lessons are big overperformers in this set, and this is an example of that. This effectively reads “Put a +1/+1 counter on a creature and draw a card that is pretty useful in this situation,” and that’s a great deal for one White mana. Especially in a format with a bunch of magecraft.
Heated Debate image 4.0 This is most likely Red’s best common. 3 mana for 4 damage at Instant speed is always great in Limited, and this also can’t be countered, which actually matters in this format as Blue seems to have several playable counter spells in this format.
Spectacle Mage image 3.0 This is a Wind Drake with some nice upside for UR, which is a color pair that likes big spells. This seems like a key common for that deck.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Lorehold Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Letter of Acceptance image 2.0 This gives you reasonable fixing, and once you don’t need that you can cash it in for a card. We see cards like this a lot, and the decks that need fixing will run them, but it is unlikely anyone else will.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Practical Research
Witherbloom Apprentice image 3.5 A two mana 2/2 that drains the opponent every time you play or copy an instant or sorcery is a solid deal, especially because BG can take advantage of the life gain.
Practical Research image 3.5 This is pretty close to being Rain of Revelation, and that was a pretty great draw spell. Sometimes you won’t want to discard the instant or sorcery, especially if you ended up with a couple lands you don’t need, but you still end up seeing a lot of cards for a reasonable cost, and -- importantly, at instant speed.
Team Pennant image 2.5 So, equipping this on a non-token isn’t an awesome rate, but it isn’t entirely terrible either. Vigilance + Trample is not a bad pair of keywords to gain in addition to the stats boost, and will often alter your plans and your opponents’. Putting it on tokens is obviously ideal since then it is a REALLY good deal, and this format has enough tokens to really take advantage.
Expanded Anatomy image 3.0 This looks like it wouldn’t be especially good, but because you can choose to get it at exactly the right time (assuming you Learn), it often has a major impact on the game, allowing an attack that you just didn’t have before.
Teach by Example image 1.5 I know this format is all about spells and stuff, but I have a hard time thinking a card like this will be worthwhile very often. You have to have it line up the right way for it to do something. And sure, using it on a draw spell or something will feel pretty sweet, as will copying some of the huge wacky spells in UR, but it still seems like the set up is too much. This kind of spell isn’t good in most Limited formats, and I don’ think it will be here either.
Lorehold Pledgemage image 3.0 Players will have a very difficult time ever wanting to block this, since any instant or sorcery suddenly makes things a lot harder thank to First Strike, and that’s especially true if you have a trick! This will just get through a lot for aggressive decks, and that’s kind of what you want your creatures to be doing. It also has hybrid mana, making it fit in multiple decks pretty easily.
Quandrix Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Moldering Karok image 2.0 Even with Trample and Lifelink, a 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awesome, though it is an admittedly goose place to put things that pump its stats. Still, I think you probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, it just doesn’t feel like it will do enough.
Eager First-Year image 2.5 This seems like your typical solid White two-drop. It starts out with a fine base line and has some decent upside. Could be particularly nice with combat tricks, since it will get the extra bonus. It is a solid card, but not much else.
Study Break image 3.0 This is another card with Learn that is way better than it looks at first. This is a key card for BW or RW aggro decks, as tapping down blockers can really open the floodgates on your opponent – and you even draw a card off of it thanks to Learn! It tends to have a very real impact on games when it is cast.
Soothsayer Adept image 1.5 This card has okay stats and it can loot, and that’s enough for it to be a reasonable inclusion in most decks. Looting isn’t a bad mana sink to have late, as it can really improve your draws.
Big Play image 2.0 This is a reasonable trick -- two mana for +3/+3, and one of those +1/+1s sticks around as a counter, so you end up getting some value from it beyond the turn you play it. That’s a boost big enough to help your creature win most combat too. Aggressive Green decks will likely always run the first copy of this -- but it IS still a trick -- it is situational and risky.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Creative Outburst
Duress image 1.5 // 3.0 This will be a little better in a format with more noncreature spells, but it probably is still going to be better out of your sideboard.
Creative Outburst image 3.5 This is expensive, but because it lets you discard it to make a treasure early, part of that downside is mitigated against. Casting this will feel really good, as doing 5 damage to something and drawing a card chosen from among five is a really good deal. UR is all about big spells like this, so it fits right in, while also supporting the archetype’s ability to cast those spells since it can make treasure.
Stonebinder's Familiar image 1.0 // 3.0 It is generally too difficult to really make this thing work. It mostly ends up being a one mana 1/1. You can end up in some Lorehold decks where it does more than that, but they are few and far between.
Fractal Summoning image 3.0 Another Lesson that will be nice to get when you “Learn.” It is going to be inefficient, but its a card you get for free when you “Learn”, and its one that adds to the board, so I’m on board with having one of these to wish for.
Eureka Moment image 2.5 This ramps you a little bit while drawing you cards which is fine. A lot of the time the ability to put lands into play from your hand aren’t that good in Limited because there comes a point where you just don’t have lands to put down, but this draws you card, and makes it more likely you have a land to put into play to take advantage.
Witherbloom Pledgemage image 2.5 This has pretty good stats and a solid Magecraft trigger. BG likes to gain life, so it will really fit in well there.
Dragon's Approach image 0.0 This is a neat design, but not really one that will work out in Limited. Even if you get like, six of these in your draft, the chances you have the necessary ones in your graveyard at some point aren’t great -- and that’s without even mentioning that you ALSO need a dragon for that effect do anything. Basically, this is just a Lava Axe-type effect, and those normally don’t play great in Limited, since they cost you a card and don’t affect the board.
Scurrid Colony image 2.5 This is an alright two-drop in the early game, and when the game gets late it becomes bigger. Now, a 4/4 isn’t probably going to be a huge gamechanger by the time you have eight lands, but it won’t hurt either.
Bayou Groff image 2.5 I like the upside we have here. It is either a 5-mana 5/4, a sort of passable card already, or a two mana 5/4 that you sacrifice a creature for. Doing the sacrifice thing can be a bit risky if you’re giving up a real card to cast it on turn two, since if your opponent can remove the Snagger or otherwise make it hard for it to attack, the cost will definitely not be worth it. BUT, just having the option available to you is great, and sometimes you’ll have very expendable creatures – like Pest tokens --, and you can double spell with this on like turn 5 if you give one of them up, which works for me.
Needlethorn Drake image 2.5 This can attack in the air early, and then stay back to trade with anything late. Like most cheap deathtouch creatures, this is pretty solid.
Thrilling Discovery image 1.5 I really want this to be good, because I am probably the most excited about Lorehold in this set -- but I just don’t think it will be that great. Early, it could be a nice way to both load up your graveyard for various synergies and improve your card quality, but there will be situations where you just can’t really make use of this, either because you don’t want to give up cards or you flat out can’t.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Teach by Example
Adventurous Impulse image 2.5 This is a fine card for Green decks. Its nice that if you’re flooding it can help you get out, and if you’re desperate for a mana drop it can help you there too. It is also a cheap spell which is always upside in this set.
Silverquill Apprentice image 3.0 So this seems pretty underwhelming to me. Sure, getting a bonus when you play spells is great but...like, +1/+0 just seems like such a spell bonus. It will matter to be sure, but it just isn’t enough for me to really get excited about. BW is all about aggressive spell stuff though, so it fits in just fine.
Introduction to Prophecy image 2.5 When you play a card with Learn, drawing this card will feel pretty nice, since it is additional value. Then, in the later part of the game, you can cast it and get some nice card selection. Think of it sort of like you would a creature who has an expensive activated ability, but it is an ability that gives you something to do with your mana late.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Lash of Malice image 3.0 This seems quite good to me. In a lot of ways, it is like a Shock that traded in the ability to burn the opponent for the ability to be a combat trick sometimes. It can very efficiently kill an X/2, but you can also use it on your own creature to make it hit harder. This set seems like it has a TON of X/2s, so this will definitely feel like premium removal with some nice upside.
Teach by Example image 1.5 I know this format is all about spells and stuff, but I have a hard time thinking a card like this will be worthwhile very often. You have to have it line up the right way for it to do something. And sure, using it on a draw spell or something will feel pretty sweet, as will copying some of the huge wacky spells in UR, but it still seems like the set up is too much. This kind of spell isn’t good in most Limited formats, and I don’ think it will be here either.
Blood Researcher image 3.5 This seems like a nice Common payoff for gaining life. It may not be quite as cheap as Ajani’s Pridemate, but it adds Menace to the mix and I think that’s a fair trade. This will get pretty big, and that’s always nice with an evasive ability.
Hunt for Specimens image 3.0 This ends up feeling like an upgraded Elvish Visionary often enough that this card is very worth playing. A 1/1 pest and a card that is good in your situation is just great for two mana.
Big Play image 2.0 This is a reasonable trick -- two mana for +3/+3, and one of those +1/+1s sticks around as a counter, so you end up getting some value from it beyond the turn you play it. That’s a boost big enough to help your creature win most combat too. Aggressive Green decks will likely always run the first copy of this -- but it IS still a trick -- it is situational and risky.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Elemental Masterpiece
Agonizing Remorse image 3.0 This was a good discard spell the last time we saw it, and I think it will be pretty good here too. It can disrupt the opponent pretty much all game long, and having a fail case to exile a card in their graveyard isn’t too shabby.
Charge Through image 1.0 In your typical format, this wouldn’t be close to a 0.0. It replaces itself, but the effect it has can be useless or close to it a huge chunk of the time. After all, you need blocks to go a certain way, and you need creatures of a certain size for Trample to even matter. However, in a format with lots of spells payoffs -- including in Green --, I think this will make the cut sometimes.
Exhilarating Elocution image 2.5 This gives a nice permanent boost to one creature - +2/+2 and pumping the rest of the board is nice too. It will often enable a pretty nice attack – but it does really need a significant board state to be worthwhile.
Ageless Guardian image 1.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and it is a Spirit, and RW has some tribal synergy for that. You’ll play it in a deck that wants that sometimes, but I imagine you’ll cut it pretty often.
Lash of Malice image 3.0 This seems quite good to me. In a lot of ways, it is like a Shock that traded in the ability to burn the opponent for the ability to be a combat trick sometimes. It can very efficiently kill an X/2, but you can also use it on your own creature to make it hit harder. This set seems like it has a TON of X/2s, so this will definitely feel like premium removal with some nice upside.
Beaming Defiance image 2.0 This is a solid trick, it gives a good enough stats boost to win most combats, and the Hexproof part makes it so that you can also use it to effectively counter removal. Like I always say, it IS still a trick, which means you will only be running it in aggro decks, and it comes with various risks – but it will be solid for those decks.
Fuming Effigy image 2.5 This is mostly here for the RW deck, which makes cards leave the graveyard pretty often. This is likely to do a few damage in that deck, in addition to having reasonable stats to start with.
Square Up image 1.0 This kind of card never really comes through. You can sort of treat it like a trick, but it is just too situational to even be reliable in that capacity. The idea here I guess is to use it on Fractals, but even that isn’t worth it to me.
Elemental Masterpiece image 2.5 Late, this gives you two 4/4 bodies pretty efficiently. And, like a lot some other UR spells in this set, it can actually make you treasure early too, giving you both fixing and ramp, and making this significantly better than it would be if all you could ever do is cast it.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Grinning Ignus
Grinning Ignus image 2.0 Basically, the Ignus gives you something of a ritual effect. It gives you a short-term mana boost, but when you actually look at the mana you spend -- which is 3 to play it and one to use its ability, you actually come out behind! Still, the UR deck in this format looks interested in getting a bunch of mana in single turns for big crazy spells, so it probably has a home.
Witherbloom Apprentice image 3.5 A two mana 2/2 that drains the opponent every time you play or copy an instant or sorcery is a solid deal, especially because BG can take advantage of the life gain.
Enthusiastic Study image 2.5 This is great in aggro decks, as it often helps you hit for a ton of trample damage – even saving your creature a decent chunk of the time – and ON TOP OF THAT, you get to learn, which Is just great.
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Pillardrop Rescuer image 3.0 This is a pretty nice Common. By turn 5 you’ll often have something this can bring back without really trying, so just playing this, getting something back, and having a 2/2 flyer is going to feel pretty good. I think basically every White deck in the format will want the first copy of this.
Professor's Warning image 1.5 If this card only did one of these two things, it would be terrible. One mana just isn’t a good rate for either of those things, even if they can help you out sometimes, what it does often won’t be worth a card. Making this modal make it better of course, and so does the fact that this set loves cheap spells as a result of Magecraft and other spell payoffs.
Spined Karok image 1.5 This has alright defensive stats for the cost. You’ll play it sometimes if that’s what you need. But mostly you hope you won’t need it.
Vortex Runner image 2.5 This is underwhelming as a three-drop on curve, but in the late game it can become a legitimate win condition, especially in UG decks which are particularly good at getting lots of lands in play.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Expressive Iteration
Negate image 2.0 Normally Negate isn’t very good in Limited because its so narrow -- but I think it might actually be solid here, since Strixhaven is all about spells, and it has way more than a normal set.
Expressive Iteration image 3.0 Basically, you draw one card from your top three, and you exile another that you can cast until the end of your turn. So this is sort of a two mana Divination, albeit one that is very time sensitive. Note, by the way, that it does let you play lands from exile, so you can even cast this on like turn three, exile a land in your top 3 and put something else in your hand, and then play that land right away. Because you get to choose, there really is a reasonable chance you will get 2 cards out of it, even early.
Brackish Trudge image 3.5 This is a powerful life gain payoff. It begins as a 3-mana 4/2 that comes into play tapped, which is already a fairly passable card – this returning to your hand any time you gain any amount of life is going to really be a problem for your opponent in the long run, as it has the kind of size that may just let it attack every single turn, since the downside of it trading with something is so minimal. There’s enough life gain in this set that this looks like a real value engine.
Unwilling Ingredient image 2.5 This is a solid little common. In the early game, it will chip in for a few damage, and be a good place to put +1/+1 counters. Then, in the later part of the game you can cash it in for a card, which always feels pretty good in Limited when you have the mana lying around.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Hunt for Specimens image 3.0 This ends up feeling like an upgraded Elvish Visionary often enough that this card is very worth playing. A 1/1 pest and a card that is good in your situation is just great for two mana.
Dragon's Approach image 0.0 This is a neat design, but not really one that will work out in Limited. Even if you get like, six of these in your draft, the chances you have the necessary ones in your graveyard at some point aren’t great -- and that’s without even mentioning that you ALSO need a dragon for that effect do anything. Basically, this is just a Lava Axe-type effect, and those normally don’t play great in Limited, since they cost you a card and don’t affect the board.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Elemental Masterpiece
Reconstruct History image 1.5 It is too hard to make this work. It doesn’t include creatures as a type to get back, so most of the time in this format you’re just getting an Instant and a Sorcery. And, while that isn’t terrible, it also isn’t worth a card most of the time.
Curate image 1.0 I’m not super interested in this. It is just another Anticipate variant, and those are always replaceable. It does help you load your graveyard I guess if that’s what you want, and give you some card selection, and it will trigger magecraft, but it just has an underwhelming effect that is not often worth a card.
Elemental Masterpiece image 2.5 Late, this gives you two 4/4 bodies pretty efficiently. And, like a lot some other UR spells in this set, it can actually make you treasure early too, giving you both fixing and ramp, and making this significantly better than it would be if all you could ever do is cast it.
Charge Through image 1.0 In your typical format, this wouldn’t be close to a 0.0. It replaces itself, but the effect it has can be useless or close to it a huge chunk of the time. After all, you need blocks to go a certain way, and you need creatures of a certain size for Trample to even matter. However, in a format with lots of spells payoffs -- including in Green --, I think this will make the cut sometimes.
Reject image 1.5 This is a narrow mana leak, and in most formats I would think it is pretty reasonable, since creatures are so plentiful. This format is an odd one though, with fewer creatures than normal and way more instants and sorceries, so this ends up being more narrow than it normally would be, and it still has the problem of having diminishing values as the game goes on, because your opponent will just be able to pay the mana eventually.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Letter of Acceptance
Stonebinder's Familiar image 1.0 // 3.0 It is generally too difficult to really make this thing work. It mostly ends up being a one mana 1/1. You can end up in some Lorehold decks where it does more than that, but they are few and far between.
Specter of the Fens image 2.0 This doesn’t have the greatest stats, but it has a late game mana sink ability that is serviceable, especially in decks interested in gaining life.
Sudden Breakthrough image 1.5 This is a decent trick -- it gives a boost large enough for your creature to win combat most of the time -- and it gives you a Treasure for some fixing and ramping. But you’ll probably cut it a lot, after all, it is still a trick -- and that means it is risky and highly situational.
Lorehold Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Letter of Acceptance image 2.0 This gives you reasonable fixing, and once you don’t need that you can cash it in for a card. We see cards like this a lot, and the decks that need fixing will run them, but it is unlikely anyone else will.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Teach by Example
Team Pennant image 2.5 So, equipping this on a non-token isn’t an awesome rate, but it isn’t entirely terrible either. Vigilance + Trample is not a bad pair of keywords to gain in addition to the stats boost, and will often alter your plans and your opponents’. Putting it on tokens is obviously ideal since then it is a REALLY good deal, and this format has enough tokens to really take advantage.
Teach by Example image 1.5 I know this format is all about spells and stuff, but I have a hard time thinking a card like this will be worthwhile very often. You have to have it line up the right way for it to do something. And sure, using it on a draw spell or something will feel pretty sweet, as will copying some of the huge wacky spells in UR, but it still seems like the set up is too much. This kind of spell isn’t good in most Limited formats, and I don’ think it will be here either.
Quandrix Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Moldering Karok image 2.0 Even with Trample and Lifelink, a 4-mana 3/3 isn’t awesome, though it is an admittedly goose place to put things that pump its stats. Still, I think you probably cut this a significant chunk of the time, it just doesn’t feel like it will do enough.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Dragon's Approach
Duress image 1.5 // 3.0 This will be a little better in a format with more noncreature spells, but it probably is still going to be better out of your sideboard.
Dragon's Approach image 0.0 This is a neat design, but not really one that will work out in Limited. Even if you get like, six of these in your draft, the chances you have the necessary ones in your graveyard at some point aren’t great -- and that’s without even mentioning that you ALSO need a dragon for that effect do anything. Basically, this is just a Lava Axe-type effect, and those normally don’t play great in Limited, since they cost you a card and don’t affect the board.
Scurrid Colony image 2.5 This is an alright two-drop in the early game, and when the game gets late it becomes bigger. Now, a 4/4 isn’t probably going to be a huge gamechanger by the time you have eight lands, but it won’t hurt either.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Adventurous Impulse
Adventurous Impulse image 2.5 This is a fine card for Green decks. Its nice that if you’re flooding it can help you get out, and if you’re desperate for a mana drop it can help you there too. It is also a cheap spell which is always upside in this set.
Witherbloom Campus image 3.0 These are all good fixing, and then all have a nice late-game mana sink to help improve your draws when you’re flooding out. You can take these over most medium cards, especially if you are interested in splashing or they are on color for you.
Pack 3 Pick 15: Agonizing Remorse
Agonizing Remorse image 3.0 This was a good discard spell the last time we saw it, and I think it will be pretty good here too. It can disrupt the opponent pretty much all game long, and having a fail case to exile a card in their graveyard isn’t too shabby.
Draft Pick Overview