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Premier Draft STX 2 June 2021

2 June 10:23 - StoneWee 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (9)
1 Defend the Campus image
1 Study Break image
1 Plumb the Forbidden image
1 Blot Out the Sky image
1 Flunk image
1 Guiding Voice image
1 Divine Gambit image
1 Crushing Disappointment image
1 Hunt for Specimens image
Creature (13)
1 Owlin Shieldmage image
1 Leonin Lightscribe image
1 Pilgrim of the Ages image
1 Reflective Golem image
1 Biblioplex Assistant image
1 Eager First-Year image
1 Leech Fanatic image
1 Spiteful Squad image
1 Killian, Ink Duelist image
1 Mage Hunter image
1 Shadewing Laureate image
1 Novice Dissector image
1 Silverquill Apprentice image
Other (1)
1 Rise of Extus image
Land (17)
8 Swamp image
9 Plains image
Sideboard
1 Retriever Phoenix image
1 Frost Trickster image
1 Vortex Runner image
1 Soothsayer Adept image
1 Oggyar Battle-Seer image
1 Rootha, Mercurial Artist image
1 Ageless Guardian image
1 Prismari Pledgemage image
1 Waterfall Aerialist image
1 Divide by Zero image
1 Plumb the Forbidden image
1 Village Rites image
1 Essence Infusion image
1 Introduction to Prophecy image
1 Expanded Anatomy image
1 Abundant Harvest image
1 Elemental Masterpiece image
1 Pest Summoning image
1 Whirlwind Denial image
1 Resculpt image
1 Exhilarating Elocution image
1 Sudden Breakthrough image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Retriever Phoenix
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.
Retriever Phoenix image 3.5 This is a pretty cool payoff for Learning. A 4-mana 2/2 with Flying and Haste that Learns already would have been a pretty good card, since it will feel like it draws you a card a significant chunk of the time. But then, any time you learn when it is in your graveyard, you have the option of getting it back. Now, you won’t always want to do that -- the Phoenix isn’t exactly large, and sometimes getting a Lesson from your sideboard or even rummaging might make more sense, but it is nice that it gives you the option.
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.
Hall Monitor image 3.5 Cheap cards that make something unable to block have a pretty good track record in Limited. Making just one thing unable to block is often enough to make your whole board capable of attacking, and, this thing is a Raging Goblin on turn one, which means it will get in for some damage early, and then in the later part of the game really make blocking difficult for your opponent. Seems like a great aggro card.
Wormhole Serpent image 3.0 This has passable stats and a pretty nice activated ability that will sometimes allow you to close out games. It is costly to be sure, but there are two Blue archetypes in this format that love mana (UG and UR), so having a mana sink like these fits pretty well into those decks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
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.
Arrogant Poet image 2.5 We have seen lots of two mana 2/1s that gain flying when they attack be pretty good, and while this is admittedly worse as a result of having to pay life to make that happen, it will still be a nice card to have in Black Aggressive decks. Gaining flying goes a long way towards making this two drop stay relevant. It slots well into the Black-Green deck, which is good at gaining life, and the +1/+1 counter deck, which likes putting counters on evasive creatures.
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.
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 1 Pick 2: Leonin Lightscribe
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.
Leonin Lightscribe image 4.5 This is a powerful Magecraft ability, basically giving prowess to your whole board is pretty silly! Especially because the floor is a two-mana 2/2. This will often make combat math a real pain for yoru opponent, and that’s always a good thing.
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Mascot Interception image 1.5 So, there are a reasonable number of tokens in this format -- that’s a product of a set with an instant and sorcery theme, so being able to use this to steal one for only a single mana is some actual real upside. Note, by the way, if you need to do 2 more damage with your own creature, you can use this on your own guy too, and if its YOUR token, it also only costs one Red. Still, these Threaten effects tend to be highly situational. That said, by being so cheap a reasonable chunk of the time, it does overcome some of that downside. I have a hard time believing in Threatens until I see them work out in a format.
Reflective Golem image 1.0 // 3.0 This will be nice with fight spells and tricks. Copying those kinds of things will feel great. It has mediocre stats and needs the right deck composition to really thrive, though.
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.
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.
Professor of Zoomancy image 4.0 This is an excellent common. You get 5/4 worth of stats for 4 mana, across two bodies, not to mention the lifegain synergy this gives you.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Essence Infusion image 2.0 This gives a pretty efficient boost of two +1/+1 Counters, and the lifelink until end of turn is likely to make it so your creature can get in. However, it is a Sorcery, and not a great card for interacting. It does work nicely in BG Lifegain and BW +1/+1 counters though, and that probably increases its playability.
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 1 Pick 3: Frost Trickster
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.
Culmination of Studies image 1.0 So, UR is all about having a bunch of mana, so pumping significant mana into X will be easier than it might first seem. So the lands give you treasure, and that will make it easier for you to cast the spells you draw for Blue cards you hit. Hitting Red cards damages the opponent, and sometimes this will just be able to close them out. If you’re a straight up UR deck, virtually every card in your deck will give you one of these effects. But the question becomes, how much mana do you need to spend to feel like this is working out for you? If you pay 6 total mana and exile 4 cards, there’s a good chance you’ll do something like get a treasure, draw a card, and do 2 to your opponent. That’s...not very good. I think the main plan with this is to really have it be a win condition in the late game when you have a ton of mana – and UR can certainly do that -- but that also means it is pretty terrible in the early game.
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.
Karok Wrangler image 3.5 This has some mediocre stats, but boy -- it has a very strong Magecraft trigger. Being able to put a counter anywhere is very strong, and if you have Instants, it can be particularly punishing.
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.
Biomathematician image 3.5 A three-mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 is generally pretty good in Limited, and this comes with significant upside between the +1/+1 counter and the additional value you can get from having other fractals. This seems like a card in the lower range of first pickable, and a really strong Common.
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.
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.
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
Promising Duskmage image 2.5 This is a solid little +1/+1 counter payoff. Sometimes when you put a counter on something it is a bummer that it gets killed, but this makes sure to give you some value no matter what!
Frost Trickster image 3.5 This is a very strong Common. It is probably Blue’s best Common, and a contender for best Common in the set. Now, I am somewhat biased here, if you’ve watched my set reviews or drafts before, you know I love tempo creatures like this -- Blue creatures with ETB abilities that either tap something down or bounce something -- but there’s a reason I love them! They’re really good in Limited. They add to your board while effectively taking something away from your opponent. You make their best creature unable to block and attack for an entire cycle, and that has a pretty massive effect on a race. Frost Lynx is already a card that you first pick sometimes, and this adds FLYING to the mix, which is a great addition.
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 1 Pick 4: Divide by Zero
Despark image 3.5 This can target a lot of stuff, and it when it can exile something it does it efficiently. Not hitting small things can be a liability sometimes, but I think this is still premium removal.
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.
Divide by Zero image 3.5 This seems quite good. It will be capable of bouncing anything that isn’t a token, and virtually all of the spells in the format, and while that isn’t exactly “removal,” it does give you some tempo and a way to interact, AND it will replace itself most of the time by giving you a Lesson, or rummaging in a fail case.
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Basic Conjuration image 1.5 // 3.0 This will be a nice thing to grab when you “Learn,” since it gives you some pretty nice card selection and gains you some life. If you end up with no “Learn” at all, it would be a somewhat passable card in your deck too. It is a bit clunky to be sure, but gaining life off of it helps offset that problem.
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.
Promising Duskmage image 2.5 This is a solid little +1/+1 counter payoff. Sometimes when you put a counter on something it is a bummer that it gets killed, but this makes sure to give you some value no matter what!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Pilgrim of the Ages
Thrill of Possibility image 2.0 Like all draw spells, Thrill of possibility gets a bit of an upgrade in this format as a result of magecraft being a big feature of this format, and that’s good news, because it is a solid card anyway. Pitching a land to draw two cards feels pretty good.
Double Major image 3.5 This is cheap enough that I think I can get behind playing it all the time in UG decks. Sure, copying your 2/2 with it won’t feel amazing, but it is perfectly fine, and if you can copy your 4 drop with it you’ll be in pretty good shape in terms of what you get in return for your mana. UG is a ramp color pair too, so having the extra mana to do this is reasonably likely. Overall, I don’t think this it is amazing -- after all, you need to pair it with something else for it to even do anything.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Star Pupil image 2.5 This is a nice one drop for the BW deck, the deck most interested in +1/+1 counters. Even if you have no other synergy, this is sort of passable since it can move its one counter elsewhere, but if you put counters on it early, you won’t feel nearly as bad when it dies – provided you have another creature. This seems like a key common for BW.
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 1 Pick 6: Introduction to Prophecy
Wormhole Serpent image 3.0 This has passable stats and a pretty nice activated ability that will sometimes allow you to close out games. It is costly to be sure, but there are two Blue archetypes in this format that love mana (UG and UR), so having a mana sink like these fits pretty well into those decks.
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.
Twinscroll Shaman image 2.0 Double strike ½ for three isn’t too bad, and makes this a good place to put counters or otherwise enhance it. That said, that doesn’t seem to be a HUGE focus for Red in this set, strange as that is.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Expanded Anatomy
Thrill of Possibility image 2.0 Like all draw spells, Thrill of possibility gets a bit of an upgrade in this format as a result of magecraft being a big feature of this format, and that’s good news, because it is a solid card anyway. Pitching a land to draw two cards feels pretty good.
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.
Clever Lumimancer image 2.5 So for the Luminancer, its Magecraft effect is basically Super Prowess. It reminds me quite a bit of Steppe Lynx, in that they are both one mana 0/1s that want you to jump through some hoops to make them really efficient creatures. Thing is, Steppe Lynx isn’t great in a format like Limited, where games tend to go long , and making the creature big enough consistently just isn’t that easy. I think this will have a similar problem. It might be great in the early going, but keeping it relevant just won’t be that easy, and it will quickly fade as the game goes on. Now, if you are an aggro deck with a bunch of tricks, the Luminancer is going to be probably be at its best.
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.
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.
Pillardrop Warden image 2.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and the ability to bring an instant or sorcery back to your hand, giving it utility pretty much all game long.
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.
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 1 Pick 8: Reflective Golem
Strategic Planning image 1.5 We just saw this card in Kaldheim and...it was pretty mediocre. Granted, Kaldheim was a weird set, and this set has more of a spell theme, but still. This was frequently a card you saw as the last card in booster packs, that’s how much people wanted it. It DOEs load your graveyard and give you decent card selection, but being a Sorcery is kind of killer.
Reflective Golem image 1.0 // 3.0 This will be nice with fight spells and tricks. Copying those kinds of things will feel great. It has mediocre stats and needs the right deck composition to really thrive, though.
Excavated Wall image 0.5 One-mana 0/4 defenders tend to not really be worth it in Limited. And this one does help you load your graveyard, which RW decks will like especially, but I still don’t really think that’s going to be enough to get me to run this most of the time.
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.
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.
Essence Infusion image 2.0 This gives a pretty efficient boost of two +1/+1 Counters, and the lifelink until end of turn is likely to make it so your creature can get in. However, it is a Sorcery, and not a great card for interacting. It does work nicely in BG Lifegain and BW +1/+1 counters though, and that probably increases its playability.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Study Break
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.
Hall Monitor image 3.5 Cheap cards that make something unable to block have a pretty good track record in Limited. Making just one thing unable to block is often enough to make your whole board capable of attacking, and, this thing is a Raging Goblin on turn one, which means it will get in for some damage early, and then in the later part of the game really make blocking difficult for your opponent. Seems like a great aggro card.
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.
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 10: Plumb the Forbidden
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.
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Mascot Interception image 1.5 So, there are a reasonable number of tokens in this format -- that’s a product of a set with an instant and sorcery theme, so being able to use this to steal one for only a single mana is some actual real upside. Note, by the way, if you need to do 2 more damage with your own creature, you can use this on your own guy too, and if its YOUR token, it also only costs one Red. Still, these Threaten effects tend to be highly situational. That said, by being so cheap a reasonable chunk of the time, it does overcome some of that downside. I have a hard time believing in Threatens until I see them work out in a format.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 11: Vortex Runner
Biomathematician image 3.5 A three-mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 is generally pretty good in Limited, and this comes with significant upside between the +1/+1 counter and the additional value you can get from having other fractals. This seems like a card in the lower range of first pickable, and a really strong Common.
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.
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
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 1 Pick 12: Plumb the Forbidden
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Promising Duskmage image 2.5 This is a solid little +1/+1 counter payoff. Sometimes when you put a counter on something it is a bummer that it gets killed, but this makes sure to give you some value no matter what!
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Soothsayer Adept
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 14: Biblioplex Assistant
Twinscroll Shaman image 2.0 Double strike ½ for three isn’t too bad, and makes this a good place to put counters or otherwise enhance it. That said, that doesn’t seem to be a HUGE focus for Red in this set, strange as that is.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 15: Oggyar Battle-Seer
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 1: Blot Out the Sky
Eliminate image 3.5 This kills a significant percentage of creatures and it does it efficiently. That’s enough for it to be premium.
Blot Out the Sky image 4.5 After you get past paying one mana for X, this card will always give you your mana’s worth. 4 mana for two 2/1 flyers is quite the deal, as is 5 mana for three, and so on. Now, they do come into play tapped, which means they can’t really save you if you’re in bind, you’re going to have to get to untap. It is also pretty cool that if you cast it for 8, you can blow up Enchantments and Artifacts and the like. This is a strong card, even if it is a little bit clunky -- not being able to block with them rights way will be a problem sometimes.
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.
Golden Ratio image 2.5 So, you’ll want this to at least be Divination, and that seems reasonably doable. However, one thing that kind of stinks there, is that you can cast Divination on an empty board and still draw 2. That’s not going to happen here. Still, it also has way more upside than Divination, and will draw you 3+ cards sometimes. It will be really painful to have this in a hand where it is your only three drop or something like that, but I think in the late game it will be powerful enough to make up for that.
Tenured Inkcaster image 3.5 This card is a potent +1/+1 counter payoff. When it comes down it immediately buffs a creature, and makes it so that creature drains the opponent for one life when it attacks. That’s not a bad deal, and that’s pretty much the fail case. If you end up with a synergistic +1/+1 counter deck, her presence on the board will make the game close to unwillable for the opponent. Now, she is super undersized for her cost, so taking her down won’t be too hard, but left unchecked she seems pretty great.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cram Session image 1.5 So yeah, BG has a lot of life gain payoffs as we’ve seen throughout the week and as we will continue to see in this video, so a card like Cram Session is a little bit better than it would normally be, I think. Although, I still don’t think it is great. It is basically a bad Revitalize – and Revitalize isn’t great to begin with!
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Rootha, Mercurial Artist
Abundant Harvest image 2.5 Unlike most of the cards in the Archive, this is a new one, so it is harder to evaluate. I think it seems pretty decent, kind of like a weird Adventurous Impulse. If you really need to hit a land drop, this will do it for you, and if you really need to stop flooding, well -- this will do that too. It is also a cheap card for triggering Magecraft
Conspiracy Theorist image 4.0 This is a pretty nice Bear. It lets you rummage when you attack which would already be a card you usually play, but what really makes it nice is the fact that you can exile the card you discard and cast it during your turn. It is unfortunate it doesn’t work with lands, but because you make the choice on what to discard, you can make sure to discard something cheap that you can play, at which point you’re no longer rummaging -- you’re just drawing two cards! Now, sometimes in the early game you’ll find yourself unable to pay the mana and cast the thing you discard, and in the late game you might find that attacking with the Theorist is unwise because he’s so small, but he still has utility all game long, since he helps you Rummage.
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.
Lorehold Apprentice image 3.5 This is a pretty weird Magecraft trigger, but it actually seems like it will work pretty well in RW, which has the ability to make Spirit tokens, in addition to just having creatures who have the Spirit type, and if you can suddenly tap all of your spirits to do 1 to your opponent, things could really get out of hand for your opponent in a hurry! Just trigger this twice with like 3 spirits in play is a ton of damage.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Frost Trickster image 3.5 This is a very strong Common. It is probably Blue’s best Common, and a contender for best Common in the set. Now, I am somewhat biased here, if you’ve watched my set reviews or drafts before, you know I love tempo creatures like this -- Blue creatures with ETB abilities that either tap something down or bounce something -- but there’s a reason I love them! They’re really good in Limited. They add to your board while effectively taking something away from your opponent. You make their best creature unable to block and attack for an entire cycle, and that has a pretty massive effect on a race. Frost Lynx is already a card that you first pick sometimes, and this adds FLYING to the mix, which is a great addition.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Rise of Extus
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.
Dueling Coach image 3.0 Four mana for a 2/2 that puts a counter somewhere is alright, but not great. This does come with a late game mana sink that will be able to give you some value most of the time, and that’s nice.
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Symmetry Sage image 2.5 So the idea here is that you can make this into a one mana 2/2 flyer if you have enough instants and sorceries lying around. For the most part, giving others of your creatures base power 2 probably won’t be an upgrade, or if it is one, it will be a very small one, and that certainly hurts this card’s case a little bit. I like that this can rumble in the air when you use spells and all that, but I’m not overly impressed here.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
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.
Cram Session image 1.5 So yeah, BG has a lot of life gain payoffs as we’ve seen throughout the week and as we will continue to see in this video, so a card like Cram Session is a little bit better than it would normally be, I think. Although, I still don’t think it is great. It is basically a bad Revitalize – and Revitalize isn’t great to begin with!
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.
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.
Rise of Extus image 3.5 This is expensive and clunky, but it also isn’t too far from being a removal spell that has “draw a card,” added to it. Now granted, most of the cards you can get with the Learn part aren’t exactly going to be worldbeaters, but they are still cards, and adding that effect to a removal spell seems pretty nice. Exiling an instant or sorcery doesn’t hurt either. This often really drastically changes the game between removing your opponents best thing and drawing you a card.
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.
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.
Arrogant Poet image 2.5 We have seen lots of two mana 2/1s that gain flying when they attack be pretty good, and while this is admittedly worse as a result of having to pay life to make that happen, it will still be a nice card to have in Black Aggressive decks. Gaining flying goes a long way towards making this two drop stay relevant. It slots well into the Black-Green deck, which is good at gaining life, and the +1/+1 counter deck, which likes putting counters on evasive creatures.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Flunk
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.
Flunk image 3.5 This is going to be a bit awkward sometimes, but from the mid-game on you’re going to have a super efficient removal spell in most cases. Your opponent drawing cards in response is going to be at hing that happens sometimes, but that’s ok. This is premium removal.
Quandrix Apprentice image 3.5 This kind of effect is always nice, especially in the early game when you really need to hit your land drops. Either way, this will draw you a card most of the time when you play a spell, and even if it is always a land, that is a pretty big bonus to add to all of your spells. As we’ve seen UG also likes having lots of lands, so this is a big enabler for those decks.
Cram Session image 1.5 So yeah, BG has a lot of life gain payoffs as we’ve seen throughout the week and as we will continue to see in this video, so a card like Cram Session is a little bit better than it would normally be, I think. Although, I still don’t think it is great. It is basically a bad Revitalize – and Revitalize isn’t great to begin with!
Burrog Befuddler image 2.5 This seems like a solid two-drop. Flash + the ability to lower a creature’s power will sometimes give you a pretty attractive blocking situation, but even if this just prevents one damage and lets you add to the board with a two-mana 2/1, that’s fine too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Promising Duskmage image 2.5 This is a solid little +1/+1 counter payoff. Sometimes when you put a counter on something it is a bummer that it gets killed, but this makes sure to give you some value no matter what!
Pack 2 Pick 5: Eager First-Year
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.
Accomplished Alchemist image 4.0 This has nice defensive stats and does a good job ramping and fixing, and sometimes you’ll be able to get even more mana out of it, provided you gained life. This format looks like it has enough life gain and enough reasons to ramp that I think this is pretty darn good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 2 Pick 6: Leech Fanatic
Opt image 2.5 Another solid draw spell that will be a bit better here as a result of Magecraft and other spell payoffs.
Divide by Zero image 3.5 This seems quite good. It will be capable of bouncing anything that isn’t a token, and virtually all of the spells in the format, and while that isn’t exactly “removal,” it does give you some tempo and a way to interact, AND it will replace itself most of the time by giving you a Lesson, or rummaging in a fail case.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Biomathematician image 3.5 A three-mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 is generally pretty good in Limited, and this comes with significant upside between the +1/+1 counter and the additional value you can get from having other fractals. This seems like a card in the lower range of first pickable, and a really strong Common.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Guiding Voice
Dark Ritual image 2.0 This is a card that people tend to hugely overrate in Limited, just because they know it was so good in Magic’s past -- but keep in mind, that format was constructed! And yes, getting a big mana boost on turn one is quite strong, but think about all the other ritual-type effects we have seen in Limited -- basically none of them were very good. This is because you basically 2-for-1 yourself to get a mana advantage, and that just won’t be worth it in Limited most of the time. Now, there’s no question that playing a 3-drop on turn one is strong, and I’m not saying that Dark RItual is straight up bad in Limited -- but I would imagine a lot of people will be snatching this up because they think its super powerful...and, it just isn’t in Limited.
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.
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!
Biomathematician image 3.5 A three-mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 is generally pretty good in Limited, and this comes with significant upside between the +1/+1 counter and the additional value you can get from having other fractals. This seems like a card in the lower range of first pickable, and a really strong Common.
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.
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.
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.
Arrogant Poet image 2.5 We have seen lots of two mana 2/1s that gain flying when they attack be pretty good, and while this is admittedly worse as a result of having to pay life to make that happen, it will still be a nice card to have in Black Aggressive decks. Gaining flying goes a long way towards making this two drop stay relevant. It slots well into the Black-Green deck, which is good at gaining life, and the +1/+1 counter deck, which likes putting counters on evasive creatures.
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 2 Pick 8: Divine Gambit
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.
Pillardrop Warden image 2.5 This has reasonable defensive stats and the ability to bring an instant or sorcery back to your hand, giving it utility pretty much all game long.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Excavated Wall image 0.5 One-mana 0/4 defenders tend to not really be worth it in Limited. And this one does help you load your graveyard, which RW decks will like especially, but I still don’t really think that’s going to be enough to get me to run this most of the time.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Crushing Disappointment
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.
Golden Ratio image 2.5 So, you’ll want this to at least be Divination, and that seems reasonably doable. However, one thing that kind of stinks there, is that you can cast Divination on an empty board and still draw 2. That’s not going to happen here. Still, it also has way more upside than Divination, and will draw you 3+ cards sometimes. It will be really painful to have this in a hand where it is your only three drop or something like that, but I think in the late game it will be powerful enough to make up for that.
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.
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.
Relic Sloth image 2.5 This isn’t THAT far from being Serra Angel, right? I mean Menace is basically flying. Okay, I’m exaggerating a little bit here, but kind of to make a point. This is a pretty good vanilla creature, and while it costs 5, I imagine it makes the cut a lot of the time.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Abundant Harvest
Abundant Harvest image 2.5 Unlike most of the cards in the Archive, this is a new one, so it is harder to evaluate. I think it seems pretty decent, kind of like a weird Adventurous Impulse. If you really need to hit a land drop, this will do it for you, and if you really need to stop flooding, well -- this will do that too. It is also a cheap card for triggering Magecraft
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Spiteful Squad
Plumb the Forbidden image 3.5 So this has a reasonable fail case, and a potentially really amazing ceiling. Two mana to pay 1 life and draw a card isn’t terrible, and if you start copying it, it gets a lot nice. It is also an Instant, so you will have a really wide window of ways to use this to get the extra copies – like after setting up blocks that will kill your creatures anyway, or in response to removal. Sacrifincg Pests to this will be particularly satisfying, because you’ll even gain the life back! Keep in mind, too, that everything with Magecraft will trigger for every single copy. Now, there will be times where you just can’t afford to make the copies, but like I said I think this has a reasonable fail case.
Symmetry Sage image 2.5 So the idea here is that you can make this into a one mana 2/2 flyer if you have enough instants and sorceries lying around. For the most part, giving others of your creatures base power 2 probably won’t be an upgrade, or if it is one, it will be a very small one, and that certainly hurts this card’s case a little bit. I like that this can rumble in the air when you use spells and all that, but I’m not overly impressed here.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Ageless Guardian
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.
Burrog Befuddler image 2.5 This seems like a solid two-drop. Flash + the ability to lower a creature’s power will sometimes give you a pretty attractive blocking situation, but even if this just prevents one damage and lets you add to the board with a two-mana 2/1, that’s fine too.
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.
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 13: Village Rites
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.
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.
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 2 Pick 14: Elemental Masterpiece
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.
Biomathematician image 3.5 A three-mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 is generally pretty good in Limited, and this comes with significant upside between the +1/+1 counter and the additional value you can get from having other fractals. This seems like a card in the lower range of first pickable, and a really strong Common.
Pack 2 Pick 15: Exhilarating Elocution
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.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Hunt for Specimens
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.
Strict Proctor image 2.5 So, a two-mana ⅓ Flyer is sort of borderline playable already, and this comes with some extra action. Taxing ETB abilities is pretty strong, as there are lots of creatures in Limited who derive a fair bit of their power from doing something when they ETB. Problem is, it is symmetrical. And sure, you can plan around that by waiting to play it until you’re done taking advantage of ETBs, but you can’t count on the fact that you won’t draw more things with ETB abilities, or that playing it late will even bother your opponent! This isn’t a bad card by any means, but I don’t think it is that great either. Sometimes it will really cause your opponent some problems, but sometimes it will do the same to you! Obviously, should you find yourself in a deck this doesn’t hurt at all, it does get better, but that’s not going to be easy.
Daemogoth Woe-Eater image 3.5 Obviously the stats are massive for the cost, but having to sacrifice a creature every turn is a little bit rough. You’ll need some expendable things around to make that worth it. Pest tokens provide that for you. The good news is, even if you end up not having something worth sacriificing and just have to play Daemogoth on an empty board or something, you’ll still get some value back when you sacrifice it to its own ability. Gaining 2 life and forcing your opponent to discard something while you gain life and draw a card isn’t incredible for the mana investment, but Daemogoth probably also deterred an attack for a turn too because of the huge body, and that’s honestly not bad for 4 mana. I think the fail case here is pretty good, and the upside of having such an early 7/6 sounds pretty nice.
Lorehold Apprentice image 3.5 This is a pretty weird Magecraft trigger, but it actually seems like it will work pretty well in RW, which has the ability to make Spirit tokens, in addition to just having creatures who have the Spirit type, and if you can suddenly tap all of your spirits to do 1 to your opponent, things could really get out of hand for your opponent in a hurry! Just trigger this twice with like 3 spirits in play is a ton of damage.
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.
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.
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.
Frost Trickster image 3.5 This is a very strong Common. It is probably Blue’s best Common, and a contender for best Common in the set. Now, I am somewhat biased here, if you’ve watched my set reviews or drafts before, you know I love tempo creatures like this -- Blue creatures with ETB abilities that either tap something down or bounce something -- but there’s a reason I love them! They’re really good in Limited. They add to your board while effectively taking something away from your opponent. You make their best creature unable to block and attack for an entire cycle, and that has a pretty massive effect on a race. Frost Lynx is already a card that you first pick sometimes, and this adds FLYING to the mix, which is a great addition.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Pack 3 Pick 2: Killian, Ink Duelist
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.
Quandrix Command image 4.0 Like most of these, it has two options you’ll choose more than the others in Limited, while the other two options are just some nice additional upside. Here, I think you’ll choose the bounce option and the +1/+1 counter option most of the time. Those two things together can really make things go awry for you opponent -- all of the sudden you’ve bounced their best attacker or blocker, AND you’ve pumped one of your creatures so it can win combat -- that’s pretty nice! Then, sometimes you’ll also get to counter and bounce, if your opponent plays the right permanent type for you to counter it. This format doesn’t have a ton of artifacts and enchantments though, so that won’t come up a ton. The shuffle effect will probably go unused when you draft this, but I guess it could occasionally be useful.
Killian, Ink Duelist image 4.0 I would have been reasonably happy with a two mana 2/2 with Lifelink and Menace, or a 2-mana 2/2 with the spell reduction ability, but obviously this has all of that stuff! It is going to give you a lot for two mana. It will attack well early, and then make your spells cheaper – this will allow you to trigger Magecraft more easily, while also pumping your creatures with combat triggers. Your removal spells will cheaper as well as your tricks, anyway. This is an excellent Uncommon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Star Pupil image 2.5 This is a nice one drop for the BW deck, the deck most interested in +1/+1 counters. Even if you have no other synergy, this is sort of passable since it can move its one counter elsewhere, but if you put counters on it early, you won’t feel nearly as bad when it dies – provided you have another creature. This seems like a key common for BW.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Mage Hunter
Whirlwind Denial image 2.5 We saw this card not too long ago in Theros Beyond Death, and it was decent enough there. Mostly, it was a 3-mana counterspell, it wasn’t often countering more than one thing -- and, it was like a C there. This set does have a few things that will make it better, though – for one thing, there is spell copying, and for another, there are magecraft triggers. With those two things going on, this will end up hitting 2 spells more often than you might think.
Prismari Command image 4.0 Most often, you’re probably going to do 2 damage to something and loot twice, and that’s a great card I would always play. The other two abilities are more narrow -- you won’t always want Treasure and your opponent won’t always have an Artifact, but that’s the beauty of modal spells! You have a solid choice when those narrow effects don’t line up well, but when they do, this will feel even better!
Prismari Apprentice image 3.5 Becoming unblockable any time a spell is cast isn’t too shabby, and would make for a solid card already -- but the fact it gains +1/+1 counters when you cast big spells really makes this into a nice signpost uncommon for UR.
Mage Hunter image 2.5 This seems solid. There are lots of instants and sorceries in this set, but there probably aren’t enough for this to be incredible or anything. It has alright stats and will punish your opponent some if it sticks around.
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!
Star Pupil image 2.5 This is a nice one drop for the BW deck, the deck most interested in +1/+1 counters. Even if you have no other synergy, this is sort of passable since it can move its one counter elsewhere, but if you put counters on it early, you won’t feel nearly as bad when it dies – provided you have another creature. This seems like a key common for BW.
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.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Burrog Befuddler image 2.5 This seems like a solid two-drop. Flash + the ability to lower a creature’s power will sometimes give you a pretty attractive blocking situation, but even if this just prevents one damage and lets you add to the board with a two-mana 2/1, that’s fine too.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Shadewing Laureate
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Prismari Pledgemage image 2.5 We have seen a lot of creatures like this over the last few years -- A two mana 3/3 with Defender that can gain the ability to attack one way or another. The initial body is actually pretty good at helping you block on the ground, and once you can get it to attack it will feel pretty good. Now, you do have to find a way to trigger Magecraft most turns for this to really be at its best, and that won’t always be easy.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Essence Infusion
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.
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.
Golden Ratio image 2.5 So, you’ll want this to at least be Divination, and that seems reasonably doable. However, one thing that kind of stinks there, is that you can cast Divination on an empty board and still draw 2. That’s not going to happen here. Still, it also has way more upside than Divination, and will draw you 3+ cards sometimes. It will be really painful to have this in a hand where it is your only three drop or something like that, but I think in the late game it will be powerful enough to make up for that.
Quintorius, Field Historian image 4.0 This guy is a great payoff for the RW deck. Now, one thing that’s kind of a bummer is that he doesn’t give you any value all on his own, but if you’re doing the stuff that RW wants you to do in this format, he is going to be a crazy good value engine. I do think the fact that he doesn’t have self-contained power all on his own holds him back some, but I still imagine I’ll be taking him early and often.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Essence Infusion image 2.0 This gives a pretty efficient boost of two +1/+1 Counters, and the lifelink until end of turn is likely to make it so your creature can get in. However, it is a Sorcery, and not a great card for interacting. It does work nicely in BG Lifegain and BW +1/+1 counters though, and that probably increases its playability.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Silverquill Apprentice
Devastating Mastery image 4.5 You’ll mostly just want to play this for the full 6 mana, as allowing your opponent to return permanents to their hand basically guarantees they will come ahead in the exchange. Like always, board sweepers are really strong and have absolutely irreplaceable effects, and that makes them cards that you can go after pretty highly. Sure, they are a little less ideal if you’re an aggro deck, but even then, you should never really be cutting a boardsweeper. There just aren’t many things that can reshape the game this way. Still, the mana cost here is pretty difficult.
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.
Mercurial Transformation image 2.5 Neither mode on this is super awesome, but making an opposing creature into a 1/1, or one of yours into a 4/4 will sometimes be a reasonable thing to do, especially because you get this kind of for free in your hand off of a “Learn” effect. Keep in mind that you can use this after combat to turn an opposing creature into a 1/1, and if that creature took at least one damage, it will just die on the spot! It is situational to be sure, but because it is a lesson, you can get it when the situation calls for it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Pest Summoning
Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy image 4.0 So, Zimone’s first ability is the kind that is often overrated in Limited. Sure, if you have the extra land she will ramp you early, and that’s nice. Thing is, you tend to run out of extra lands to play in a hurry in Limited, so she is going to do this once, and only if you get her early, really. Her draw effect is what is more intriguing to me, just being able to pay 4 for a single card is a great mana sink, and in the late game when she starts drawing you two, she’s likely to just win you the game. She is small and easy to kill, but at two mana that isn’t going to hurt too much.
Dueling Coach image 3.0 Four mana for a 2/2 that puts a counter somewhere is alright, but not great. This does come with a late game mana sink that will be able to give you some value most of the time, and that’s nice.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Twinscroll Shaman image 2.0 Double strike ½ for three isn’t too bad, and makes this a good place to put counters or otherwise enhance it. That said, that doesn’t seem to be a HUGE focus for Red in this set, strange as that is.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Owlin Shieldmage
Essence Infusion image 2.0 This gives a pretty efficient boost of two +1/+1 Counters, and the lifelink until end of turn is likely to make it so your creature can get in. However, it is a Sorcery, and not a great card for interacting. It does work nicely in BG Lifegain and BW +1/+1 counters though, and that probably increases its playability.
Frost Trickster image 3.5 This is a very strong Common. It is probably Blue’s best Common, and a contender for best Common in the set. Now, I am somewhat biased here, if you’ve watched my set reviews or drafts before, you know I love tempo creatures like this -- Blue creatures with ETB abilities that either tap something down or bounce something -- but there’s a reason I love them! They’re really good in Limited. They add to your board while effectively taking something away from your opponent. You make their best creature unable to block and attack for an entire cycle, and that has a pretty massive effect on a race. Frost Lynx is already a card that you first pick sometimes, and this adds FLYING to the mix, which is a great addition.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Burrog Befuddler image 2.5 This seems like a solid two-drop. Flash + the ability to lower a creature’s power will sometimes give you a pretty attractive blocking situation, but even if this just prevents one damage and lets you add to the board with a two-mana 2/1, that’s fine too.
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 9: Defend the Campus
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Pack 3 Pick 10: Novice Dissector
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Whirlwind Denial
Whirlwind Denial image 2.5 We saw this card not too long ago in Theros Beyond Death, and it was decent enough there. Mostly, it was a 3-mana counterspell, it wasn’t often countering more than one thing -- and, it was like a C there. This set does have a few things that will make it better, though – for one thing, there is spell copying, and for another, there are magecraft triggers. With those two things going on, this will end up hitting 2 spells more often than you might think.
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.
Blood Age General image 2.5 This is a Bear with some nice upside for the RW deck, which will have plenty of Spirits.
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.
Burrog Befuddler image 2.5 This seems like a solid two-drop. Flash + the ability to lower a creature’s power will sometimes give you a pretty attractive blocking situation, but even if this just prevents one damage and lets you add to the board with a two-mana 2/1, that’s fine too.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Prismari Pledgemage
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.
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.
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.
Prismari Pledgemage image 2.5 We have seen a lot of creatures like this over the last few years -- A two mana 3/3 with Defender that can gain the ability to attack one way or another. The initial body is actually pretty good at helping you block on the ground, and once you can get it to attack it will feel pretty good. Now, you do have to find a way to trigger Magecraft most turns for this to really be at its best, and that won’t always be easy.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Resculpt
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Waterfall Aerialist
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 15: Sudden Breakthrough
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.
Draft Pick Overview