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Premier Draft DAR 20 June 2021

20 June 04:46 - Erik9129 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (15)
1 Drudge Sentinel image
1 Bloodstone Goblin image
1 Two-Headed Giant image
3 Deathbloom Thallid image
3 Stronghold Confessor image
2 Keldon Raider image
1 Windgrace Acolyte image
1 Knight of Malice image
1 Ghitu Chronicler image
1 Caligo Skin-Witch image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (8)
1 Wizard's Lightning image
1 Cast Down image
1 Goblin Barrage image
2 Eviscerate image
1 Fiery Intervention image
1 Frenzied Rage image
1 Run Amok image
Land (17)
8 Swamp image
9 Mountain image
Sideboard
2 Keldon Raider image
2 Cabal Evangel image
1 Caligo Skin-Witch image
1 Sparring Construct image
1 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep image
1 Feral Abomination image
1 Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage image
1 Vodalian Arcanist image
1 Warlord's Fury image
2 Seismic Shift image
1 Fervent Strike image
1 Divest image
2 Healing Grace image
1 Dark Bargain image
1 Memorial to War image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Wizard's Lightning
Josu Vess, Lich Knight image 4.5 Kicking Josu Vess isn’t easy, but since he starts out as a 4-mana 4/5 with Menace, that’s perfectly fine. That’s an excellent creature you always play, so the fact that you can pay 10 in the late game to make 8 2/2 Zombies is great, especially because when Kicked he basically reads You win the game.
Memorial to Unity image 3.0 This is a land that will draw you the best creature in the top 5 of your library late, and that’s some nice utility!
Wizard's Lightning image 4.0 I would always play this if it was 3-mana for 3 damage to any target, but the fact it turns into straight up Lightning Bolt if you have a Wizard makes it incredible!
Adeliz, the Cinder Wind image 4.0 If you end up with enough Wizards and spells (which won’t be very hard in a UR deck), this will be one of your best cards, as it will just make combat a nightmare for your opponent. Pumping your whole board is no joke, and even if Adeliz is alone, she effectively has Prowess for herself, and that’s pretty nice on a creature with Haste and Flying.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Baloth Gorger image 3.5 This is a very good common, as playing it as a 4-mana 4/4 feels pretty good, and then in the late game it has the added utility of being an 8-mana 7/7, which, while not efficient – is not upside to have on an already efficient creature.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Voltaic Servant image 1.5 There are a few pretty sweet combos you can pull off with Voltaic Servant in this format, with Traxos being the sweetest one around, but it is also just a two mana 1/3 that will be giving an artifact creature pseudo-Vigilance, and that’s not the worst thing ever.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Gift of Growth image 2.0 This trick will often allow your creature to win combat early, and sometimes the kicker side of things can get you lethal out of nowhere, in addition to also being the sort of boost that will allow almost any creature to take down any other creature. It is still a trick of course, and comes with the significant downside those have.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Arcane Flight image 1.5 This gives a nice boost for the cost, especially with Flying in the mix. It is especially nice on the hexproof turtle, but its efficiency makes it worthwhile in some other Blue decks too.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Two-Headed Giant
Two-Headed Giant image 3.5 This has some random stuff going on of course, but whatever the coin lands on, you’re looking at an efficient creature. A 4-mana 4/4 is a great baseline, and it will be attacking with Menace or Double Strike a reasonable chunk of the time. Now, sometimes you’ll really be crossing your fingers for a flip to go a certain way, and when it doesn’t it won’t feel so good, but most of the time you’ll feel like you got your mana’s worth out of this.
Goblin Warchief image 0.5 Don’t let this card fool you. Goblins are not well-supported in this format. This will basically just be a 3-mana 2/2 with Haste most of the time, and that isn’t worth it.
Yargle, Glutton of Urborg image 1.5 This 5-mana 9/3 is pretty silly! And, actually fairly playable too. It is a historic spell, which definitely matters, and also a funny place to put something like Arcane Flight.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Divination image 2.0 As usual, Divination is fine. It is a 3-mana 2-for-1, and while you don’t want too many cards that don’t add to the board, having one of these is fine in most Blue decks.
Grow from the Ashes image 3.5 Fixing and ramp are big in this format as a result of kicker and various mana sinks, and Grow from the Ashes is really good at giving you both of those things, especially when you kick it. It can even allow you to splash double colored cards, which is nice upside.
Yavimaya Sapherd image 3.5 3-mana 2/2s that make a 1/1 are always really good in Limited, and this comes with the added bonus of the creature types of the creatures it makes.
Jousting Lance image 2.5 This is another piece of Equipment that might be a little bit clunky in most formats, but in this one, Jousting Lance tends to be pretty good. +2/+0 and first strike is enough to make many creatures very difficult to block, so most creature-based decks are pretty interested in this.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Knight of New Benalia image 1.5 Two mana 3/1s tend to be kind of alright, and this one has a useful creature type.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Deathbloom Thallid
Thorn Elemental image 2.0 This isn’t the worst thing to ramp into or have at the top of your curve, it is nice that you can just make the 7 damage hit your opponent no matter what, and that does really discourage little chump blocks and the like.
Sporecrown Thallid image 3.0 There are enough Saprolings and Fungi in this set that the Thallid ends up pumping a decent number of creatures.
Whisper, Blood Liturgist image 2.0 It isn’t that easy to set Whisper up in this format – you need to be going wide and you need to have something worth reanimating, and neither of those are guaranteed. You’ll be able to pull it off sometimes, and it is also nice that Whisper can sacrifice itself if need be.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Adamant Will image 1.5 This is a decent trick, which will frequently allow your creature to win combat. The indestructibility also gives it an additional use as a way to save a creature from removal. This format is pretty grindy, so tricks aren’t as good as they are in some formats, but if you’re an aggressive deck and you need a trick, this is a solid one.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Charge image 1.5 Pumping your whole board with this isn’t the best thing to be doing in a format that can be as grindy as this one, but it does do the job reasonably efficiently, and if you’re going wide enough you might end up playing it.
Caligo Skin-Witch image 3.0 This is another card with Kicker where neither option is terribly efficient, but it turns out that it doesn’t really matter – the flexibility and late game usefulness make up for that. In this format, people tend to hold on to card a fair bit, so kicking the Skin-Witch ends up hitting two cards way more in this format than in most, and can often just be the kind of thing that shifts the game in your favor.
Jousting Lance image 2.5 This is another piece of Equipment that might be a little bit clunky in most formats, but in this one, Jousting Lance tends to be pretty good. +2/+0 and first strike is enough to make many creatures very difficult to block, so most creature-based decks are pretty interested in this.
Deathbloom Thallid image 3.0 This has solid base stats that makes it easy for it to trade, and then it leaves behind a Saproling – that’s a pretty good deal for three mana.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Stronghold Confessor
Champion of the Flame image 2.0 It is really tempting to want to go all in on this guy since he gets huge so fast, but it is definitely a risky strategy with Auras, since if the Champion dies you lose those forever too. If your main plan is putting Equipment on him, that’s far more palatable, but he still starts out with some pretty awful stats.
Diligent Excavator image 0.5 There just isn’t a viable mill deck in this format, so this mostly doesn’t do anything.
Memorial to War image 2.5 This Memorial is kind of a dud compared the others, blowing up lands just isn’t a big deal in Limited – though, it is nice that it can blow opposing Memorials, and people will be fixing enough in this format that sometimes it has a real effect. Still, it pales in comparison to the others, but it is still a land with some very utility in the late game.
Keldon Overseer image 2.5 Another card with Kicker where neither the unkicked OR kicked version seems very efficient, but the upside offered by that flexibility is very real. Kicking this late and Threatening an opponents creature will add a lot of damage to the board in most cases, and will often really allow you to attack in a situation where it didn’t look like a good idea.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Soul Salvage image 2.0 As usual, most Black decks tend to end up wanting one of these most of the time, but usually not more than one. They are bad to get in the early game, when they are effectively blank cards, but in the late game it is a good way to help you pull ahead of your opponent.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Aven Sentry image 2.0 This has decent French Vanilla stats, and not much else.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Stronghold Confessor
Thorn Elemental image 2.0 This isn’t the worst thing to ramp into or have at the top of your curve, it is nice that you can just make the 7 damage hit your opponent no matter what, and that does really discourage little chump blocks and the like.
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy image 3.0 Shanna is often just a large vanilla creature which gets a little bit of upside against creature abilities, but you know, two mana for a creature that can potentially get larger is quite good. Of course, the flipside is that she can also shrink at an inopportune time.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Deathbloom Thallid
Shield of the Realm image 1.5 This doesn’t give any real stats boost, but the effect it grants can often really tamper with combat. Of course, the problem is, you generally have to put it on a creature that is already good, because if your creature is just a 2/2 or something, adding this effect won’t make much of difference.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Deathbloom Thallid image 3.0 This has solid base stats that makes it easy for it to trade, and then it leaves behind a Saproling – that’s a pretty good deal for three mana.
Rescue image 0.5 This can do some things – like help you reset a Saga – but it is mostly too narrow to ever really want to play.
Primordial Wurm image 1.5 You’re kind of hoping you get something better than this for the top of your curve, especially in a set with a ton of Kicker, which allows multiple cards to be curve toppers and early plays, but if you really need a big boi at the end of the game, the Wurm is passable.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Deathbloom Thallid
Opt image 2.0 As usual, this is fine. Seeing two cards for one mana feels pretty good.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Bloodtallow Candle image 2.0 This is not an efficient way to removal creatures, but this format has several payoffs for playing Artifacts/historic cards, and having a cheap one around isn’t bad, especially because some of those payoffs let you get Artifacts back from your graveyard, and recurring a removal spell – even an inefficient one, tends to feel pretty good.
Krosan Druid image 2.5 Early in the game, the Druid gives you a reasonable body, and in the late game in can gain you a ton of life, enough that it can often allow you to stabilize, and that’s some really nice upside! You won’t always get the opportunity to kick it, of course.
Cabal Paladin image 2.0 This has a pretty nice Historic ability, as it can really chip in a ton of damage, but it comes on a pretty terrible body. A 4-mana 4/2 dies to a whole lot of stuff that costs 1-2 mana, and that never feels very good.
Deathbloom Thallid image 3.0 This has solid base stats that makes it easy for it to trade, and then it leaves behind a Saproling – that’s a pretty good deal for three mana.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Keldon Raider
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Unwind image 0.5 This is generally too narrow for you to really want to play. It is better out of your sideboard, as bringing it in against someone who has a lot of noncreature spells will work out okay.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Adamant Will image 1.5 This is a decent trick, which will frequently allow your creature to win combat. The indestructibility also gives it an additional use as a way to save a creature from removal. This format is pretty grindy, so tricks aren’t as good as they are in some formats, but if you’re an aggressive deck and you need a trick, this is a solid one.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Keldon Raider
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Arcane Flight image 1.5 This gives a nice boost for the cost, especially with Flying in the mix. It is especially nice on the hexproof turtle, but its efficiency makes it worthwhile in some other Blue decks too.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Stronghold Confessor
Goblin Warchief image 0.5 Don’t let this card fool you. Goblins are not well-supported in this format. This will basically just be a 3-mana 2/2 with Haste most of the time, and that isn’t worth it.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Stronghold Confessor image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Menace and a 4-mana 3/3 with Menace are both kind of okay, and having the flexibility to be either is quite nice.
Knight of New Benalia image 1.5 Two mana 3/1s tend to be kind of alright, and this one has a useful creature type.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Warlord's Fury
Adamant Will image 1.5 This is a decent trick, which will frequently allow your creature to win combat. The indestructibility also gives it an additional use as a way to save a creature from removal. This format is pretty grindy, so tricks aren’t as good as they are in some formats, but if you’re an aggressive deck and you need a trick, this is a solid one.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Charge image 1.5 Pumping your whole board with this isn’t the best thing to be doing in a format that can be as grindy as this one, but it does do the job reasonably efficiently, and if you’re going wide enough you might end up playing it.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Seismic Shift
Memorial to War image 2.5 This Memorial is kind of a dud compared the others, blowing up lands just isn’t a big deal in Limited – though, it is nice that it can blow opposing Memorials, and people will be fixing enough in this format that sometimes it has a real effect. Still, it pales in comparison to the others, but it is still a land with some very utility in the late game.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Fervent Strike
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Healing Grace
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Cast Down
Jodah, Archmage Eternal image 3.0 Jodah is mostly just a fairly hard to cast 4-mana 4/3 with Flying, which isn’t bad, but the other part of the card just won’t come up in Limited because your mana won’t be good enough.
Orcish Vandal image 1.5 If you have Artifacts, being able to hurl them at your opponent’s dome and creatures feels pretty good, but this format doesn’t have so many that doing that is really easy.
Memorial to Glory image 3.0 This might come into play tapped, but it more that makes up for that with the ability to make a couple of creature tokens in the late game.
Cast Down image 4.0 There are a lot of legendary creatures in this format, but this is still excellent removal that will kill almost everything in the set for two mana.
Frenzied Rage image 2.0 +2/+1 and Menace for two mana is very aggressive, and can make many creatures into a threat. Now, it does have the same downside of all Auras – namely, the huge risk of getting 2-for-1’d, but it is worth doing in some of the more aggressive decks.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
Llanowar Elves image 3.0 Magic’s classic mana dork is back, and it is once again pretty good. If you play it on turn one, the boost it gives you will often be game-winning. That is of course balanced by the fact that if you draw it light, it is a pretty big dud, but still – that early game upside makes it pretty good.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Demonic Vigor image 1.5 People always overrate this type of card, as it is easy to imagine putting it on a really good creature and making sure you get it back. However, more often than not, you won’t have an amazing creature to put it on, and you’ll often get back something that isn’t super relevant.
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Yavimaya Sapherd image 3.5 3-mana 2/2s that make a 1/1 are always really good in Limited, and this comes with the added bonus of the creature types of the creatures it makes.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Eviscerate
Evra, Halcyon Witness image 2.5 This is a pretty wacky card. A 6-mana 4/4 with lifelink isn’t very good, but the “exchange life total” effect can sometimes be crazy good. Even if your opponent can block and kill Evra, if you’re able to make its power like 12 or 13, you’re going to end up with a pretty nice net-gain of life. Now, there’s a lot of stuff that’s not so good here. It dies to a ton of removal in this format that costs less than it does, which is rough. Its ability is also quite clunky. In the end, the whole package here is pretty medium. There will be games where it gets dealt with easily and you aren’t in good shape, but you’ll also sometimes take over games with it.
Goblin Barrage image 2.5 This certainly isn’t premium removal, 4 mana for 4 damage at Sorcery speed really never is. The Kicker here is nice, and you’ll sometimes pull that off, at which point it certainly will feel better. Doing 4 to the opponent too is pretty nice! You’ll find yourself unwilling or unable to kick it a decent chunk of the time, though.
Skizzik image 2.5 This is a nice aggressive creature that can do a bunch of damage out of nowhere. A 4-mana 5/3 with Trample and Haste that has to die at the end step isn’t amazing, but it is something you would play in some aggressive decks. Adding Kicker means that you pay one more mana for it to stick around longer. Now, with only three toughness that doesn’t always mean it will actually get to stick around, as your opponent can likely block and kill it, but Trample makes sure you still get some damage.
Yavimaya Sapherd image 3.5 3-mana 2/2s that make a 1/1 are always really good in Limited, and this comes with the added bonus of the creature types of the creatures it makes.
Academy Journeymage image 3.5 Man-O’-War effects are always good in Limited – adding to your own board and subtracting from your opponent’s at the same time is always good. Even if you can’t reduce the cost of this, it plays pretty well, and if you can lower the cost to 4 it is going to feel great.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Frenzied Rage image 2.0 +2/+1 and Menace for two mana is very aggressive, and can make many creatures into a threat. Now, it does have the same downside of all Auras – namely, the huge risk of getting 2-for-1’d, but it is worth doing in some of the more aggressive decks.
Eviscerate image 3.5 This is premium removal. 4 to kill something at Sorcery speed isn’t incredible, but this format is slow enough that it does the job without feeling too clunky.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Tolarian Scholar image 1.5 In most formats, this would be a 1.0, but the Wizard creature type matters enough here that this 3-mana 2/3 gets a little upgrade.
Dub image 2.0 This is a pretty solid Aura, mostly because the stats boost it gives will often make a creature into something your opponent has to kill, and if they can’t, you probably win. Still, it is quite swingy – if your opponent can kill your guy, that means you just got 2-for-1’d, and that’s not always easy to recover from.
Call the Cavalry image 2.5 This makes creatures reasonably efficiently, and they even have a useful creature type. It isn’t exciting, but it does a decent job of making your board presence bigger.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Cabal Evangel
Shield of the Realm image 1.5 This doesn’t give any real stats boost, but the effect it grants can often really tamper with combat. Of course, the problem is, you generally have to put it on a creature that is already good, because if your creature is just a 2/2 or something, adding this effect won’t make much of difference.
Knight of Grace image 3.5 This has really good base stats and a useful creature type, and if you are lucky enough to go up against someone who is playing Black, it gets even better.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Navigator's Compass image 0.5 This kind of card is always overrated. People look at it and they really think of it as a form of fixing, and..well, it is, but you also use up an entire card for it, and you just modify a land you already have. This does nothing but fix for the most part. It does gain you a bit of life, and it is an artifact in a set that cares about them, but you can do a lot better than this.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Yavimaya Sapherd image 3.5 3-mana 2/2s that make a 1/1 are always really good in Limited, and this comes with the added bonus of the creature types of the creatures it makes.
Blink of an Eye image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this would be a playable card. Adding kicker to the mix is great, because it keeps you from going down a card for tempo. Instead, you get to bounce their thing and draw a card, which tends to feel pretty good for 4 mana.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Pegasus Courser image 3.5 This is perhaps White’s best Common. Its base stats certainly aren’t good, but being able to send other creatures to the sky is the kind of ability that can really alter a game state all game long.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Caligo Skin-Witch
Kamahl's Druidic Vow image 0.5 Most of this cycle is pretty good, but that’s not really the case here. Needing to have a legendary creature in play is a pretty big requirement, but even if you do manage to fulfill it, there’s no guarantee this will do anything, since you also need a significant amount of mana to make it do its thing, and you’re still at the mercy of variance. Getting a few lands won’t usually be worth it, you really need to be getting a creature, or you aren’t really getting there, and there aren’t so many legendary creatures that that is super easy.
Yargle, Glutton of Urborg image 1.5 This 5-mana 9/3 is pretty silly! And, actually fairly playable too. It is a historic spell, which definitely matters, and also a funny place to put something like Arcane Flight.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Voltaic Servant image 1.5 There are a few pretty sweet combos you can pull off with Voltaic Servant in this format, with Traxos being the sweetest one around, but it is also just a two mana 1/3 that will be giving an artifact creature pseudo-Vigilance, and that’s not the worst thing ever.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Windgrace Acolyte image 2.0 The ETB trigger here is surprisingly solid. The life you gain and the cards you mill can be some really significant value on a reasonable evasive creature.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Jousting Lance image 2.5 This is another piece of Equipment that might be a little bit clunky in most formats, but in this one, Jousting Lance tends to be pretty good. +2/+0 and first strike is enough to make many creatures very difficult to block, so most creature-based decks are pretty interested in this.
Caligo Skin-Witch image 3.0 This is another card with Kicker where neither option is terribly efficient, but it turns out that it doesn’t really matter – the flexibility and late game usefulness make up for that. In this format, people tend to hold on to card a fair bit, so kicking the Skin-Witch ends up hitting two cards way more in this format than in most, and can often just be the kind of thing that shifts the game in your favor.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Windgrace Acolyte
The Flame of Keld image 1.5 This isn’t as good in Limited as it is in constructed, mostly because you have to wait until the pretty late game to play this, as discarding your hand won’t be worth it until you’re out of or almost out of cards. It is kind of nice to play late because it does give you some extra fuel. Then, Chapter III will only be really good if you’re mono-red, and that’s unlikely.
Nature's Spiral image 1.5 This can be somewhat appealing if you have some significantly powerful permanents, but just spinning your wheels for this kind of card selection can be a bit of liability.
Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep image 2.5 This is a pretty legitimate finisher in this format. This format is grindy enough that casting Slinn Voda with Kicker, especially in a deck like UG, is very doable, and adding an 8/8 to the board that bounces pretty much all creatures is excellent. It does get its score dinged by the massive cost, but if you do manage to resolve it with Kicker, it will often feel like a bomb.
Voltaic Servant image 1.5 There are a few pretty sweet combos you can pull off with Voltaic Servant in this format, with Traxos being the sweetest one around, but it is also just a two mana 1/3 that will be giving an artifact creature pseudo-Vigilance, and that’s not the worst thing ever.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Bloodtallow Candle image 2.0 This is not an efficient way to removal creatures, but this format has several payoffs for playing Artifacts/historic cards, and having a cheap one around isn’t bad, especially because some of those payoffs let you get Artifacts back from your graveyard, and recurring a removal spell – even an inefficient one, tends to feel pretty good.
Rescue image 0.5 This can do some things – like help you reset a Saga – but it is mostly too narrow to ever really want to play.
Windgrace Acolyte image 2.0 The ETB trigger here is surprisingly solid. The life you gain and the cards you mill can be some really significant value on a reasonable evasive creature.
Fungal Infection image 2.5 This ends up lining up surprisingly well. Sometimes you can use this to just kill an X/2, other times you can use it to kill two X/1s, and still other times you can use it help a creature win combat while also getting a Saproling. Sure, sometimes a Saproling and -1/-1 won’t do a ton, but even in those fail cases you can at least get a blocker.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Fiery Intervention
Champion of the Flame image 2.0 It is really tempting to want to go all in on this guy since he gets huge so fast, but it is definitely a risky strategy with Auras, since if the Champion dies you lose those forever too. If your main plan is putting Equipment on him, that’s far more palatable, but he still starts out with some pretty awful stats.
Diligent Excavator image 0.5 There just isn’t a viable mill deck in this format, so this mostly doesn’t do anything.
Memorial to War image 2.5 This Memorial is kind of a dud compared the others, blowing up lands just isn’t a big deal in Limited – though, it is nice that it can blow opposing Memorials, and people will be fixing enough in this format that sometimes it has a real effect. Still, it pales in comparison to the others, but it is still a land with some very utility in the late game.
Syncopate image 2.0 This is a Counterspell that can sort of stay relevant all game since you can pay X, but there will still be times where you just can’t use it to effectively counter something because your opponent has too much mana. Like a lot of counterspells, it has some significant downside as a result of being so situational, but this one is good enough that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Call the Cavalry image 2.5 This makes creatures reasonably efficiently, and they even have a useful creature type. It isn’t exciting, but it does a decent job of making your board presence bigger.
Dark Bargain image 2.0 This is basically Black Divination, and that means having one copy of it in your Black decks is usually decent.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Cabal Evangel
Memorial to Unity image 3.0 This is a land that will draw you the best creature in the top 5 of your library late, and that’s some nice utility!
Short Sword image 2.5 It definitely isn’t exciting, but this does give an efficient boost for the cost, and this set has enough Artifact and Equipment synergy around that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
Cabal Evangel image 1.0 A two mana 2/2 with no other text tends to not be worth playing unless you’re desperate for a two drop.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Pegasus Courser image 3.5 This is perhaps White’s best Common. Its base stats certainly aren’t good, but being able to send other creatures to the sky is the kind of ability that can really alter a game state all game long.
Academy Drake image 3.0 In the early part of the game, this is a Wind Drake, which is always serviceable, and in the late game it can be significantly larger. Like most cards with Kicker, the second mode isn’t exactly efficient, but it is nice upside to have on an already reasonable card.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
Adamant Will image 1.5 This is a decent trick, which will frequently allow your creature to win combat. The indestructibility also gives it an additional use as a way to save a creature from removal. This format is pretty grindy, so tricks aren’t as good as they are in some formats, but if you’re an aggressive deck and you need a trick, this is a solid one.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Dark Bargain
Dark Bargain image 2.0 This is basically Black Divination, and that means having one copy of it in your Black decks is usually decent.
Serra Disciple image 1.5 This has been a great card for 25+ years at this point, and it is still great in Limited. That stat-line and those keywords just aren’t something we see very often for only 5 mana.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Fervent Strike image 1.5 This is a one-mana trick that can help a creature win a decent number of combats. That’s what makes it a decent enough trick for aggressive decks.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Sparring Construct
Jodah, Archmage Eternal image 3.0 Jodah is mostly just a fairly hard to cast 4-mana 4/3 with Flying, which isn’t bad, but the other part of the card just won’t come up in Limited because your mana won’t be good enough.
Orcish Vandal image 1.5 If you have Artifacts, being able to hurl them at your opponent’s dome and creatures feels pretty good, but this format doesn’t have so many that doing that is really easy.
Memorial to Glory image 3.0 This might come into play tapped, but it more that makes up for that with the ability to make a couple of creature tokens in the late game.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Frenzied Rage
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Ghitu Journeymage image 2.5 In a Red deck, especially a UR deck, this will be a 3-mana 3/2 that does 2 damage to the opponent a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a decent enough card.
Frenzied Rage image 2.0 +2/+1 and Menace for two mana is very aggressive, and can make many creatures into a threat. Now, it does have the same downside of all Auras – namely, the huge risk of getting 2-for-1’d, but it is worth doing in some of the more aggressive decks.
Llanowar Envoy image 1.5 This offers a mediocre body and mediocre fixing. You’ll play it sometimes if you need both of those things.
Tolarian Scholar image 1.5 In most formats, this would be a 1.0, but the Wizard creature type matters enough here that this 3-mana 2/3 gets a little upgrade.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Seismic Shift
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Navigator's Compass image 0.5 This kind of card is always overrated. People look at it and they really think of it as a form of fixing, and..well, it is, but you also use up an entire card for it, and you just modify a land you already have. This does nothing but fix for the most part. It does gain you a bit of life, and it is an artifact in a set that cares about them, but you can do a lot better than this.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Cold-Water Snapper image 1.5 Yep, there’s a common with hexproof in this set! This is a great place to put Auras like Arcane Flight, and is sort of passable as top curve in other Blue decks too.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Keldon Raider
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
Nature's Spiral image 1.5 This can be somewhat appealing if you have some significantly powerful permanents, but just spinning your wheels for this kind of card selection can be a bit of liability.
Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep image 2.5 This is a pretty legitimate finisher in this format. This format is grindy enough that casting Slinn Voda with Kicker, especially in a deck like UG, is very doable, and adding an 8/8 to the board that bounces pretty much all creatures is excellent. It does get its score dinged by the massive cost, but if you do manage to resolve it with Kicker, it will often feel like a bomb.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Memorial to War
Memorial to War image 2.5 This Memorial is kind of a dud compared the others, blowing up lands just isn’t a big deal in Limited – though, it is nice that it can blow opposing Memorials, and people will be fixing enough in this format that sometimes it has a real effect. Still, it pales in comparison to the others, but it is still a land with some very utility in the late game.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Eviscerate
Oath of Teferi image 0.0 5 mana for a blink/flicker effect is just not going to be worth it, and you’re not likely to have a planeswalker to take advantage of the other part.
Thallid Soothsayer image 2.5 Cashing in creatures for cards is nice on a late of board states, especially if you have a bunch of Saprolings.
Gaea's Blessing image 0.5 This is mostly a cantrip in Limited, and not really an efficient one.
Whisper, Blood Liturgist image 2.0 It isn’t that easy to set Whisper up in this format – you need to be going wide and you need to have something worth reanimating, and neither of those are guaranteed. You’ll be able to pull it off sometimes, and it is also nice that Whisper can sacrifice itself if need be.
Eviscerate image 3.5 This is premium removal. 4 to kill something at Sorcery speed isn’t incredible, but this format is slow enough that it does the job without feeling too clunky.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Aven Sentry image 2.0 This has decent French Vanilla stats, and not much else.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Serra Disciple image 1.5 This has been a great card for 25+ years at this point, and it is still great in Limited. That stat-line and those keywords just aren’t something we see very often for only 5 mana.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Saproling Migration image 3.5 Both modes on this are quite good, and can allow you to go wide in a hurry. In BG there are some significant Saproling/go wide payoffs too, which make it even nicer.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Mammoth Spider image 2.5 This creature has some very nice stats for the format, and can stonewall a lot of creatures on the ground and in the air.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Run Amok
Marwyn, the Nurturer image 3.5 There are enough Elves in this format that Marwyn tends to feel pretty good. Even on her own, she is a 3-mana 1/1 that taps for G, and while that isn’t awesome, it is a nice fail case on a creature that will often do significantly more than that.
Zhalfirin Void image 0.5 This basically isn’t worth it unless you end up mono-colored or almost mono-colored. It tends to do some very serious damage to your mana base, and that definitely is not worth the upside of having a scry land.
Hallar, the Firefletcher image 3.5 Hallar starts with a nice baseline, and then gets progressively larger as the game goes on, while also doing extra damage to your opponent. Even if you only have like 5 cards with Kicker, Hallar is going to feel pretty good.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Pegasus Courser image 3.5 This is perhaps White’s best Common. Its base stats certainly aren’t good, but being able to send other creatures to the sky is the kind of ability that can really alter a game state all game long.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Aesthir Glider image 1.5 In a lot of formats this would be close to unplayable, but in this one – which features lots of Artifact/Historic payoffs, you end up playing the glider sometimes. A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying isn’t bad, but the fact it can’t block is a little miserable.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Cloudreader Sphinx image 3.5 This card really overperforms. 5-mana ¾ Flyers are usually somewhat passable, but in this format that statline is especially good. Additionally, Scry 2 is a nice thing to add to an already solid creature.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Corrosive Ooze image 1.5 There is Equipment in this set, but not so much that this ability is amazing. Most of the time, Corrosive Ooze is just a Bear.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Knight of Malice
Jaya Ballard image 3.0 This planeswalker doesn’t remove creatures, net you cards, or protect herself very effectively, and that’s not a great place to be in Limited. Her first +1 does help you ramp with spells, and her other +1 lets you rummage, which isn’t too bad. Her emblem, while strong, also needs significant set up to really shine. Overall, Jaya just isn’t the greatest planeswalker for Limited, her abilities are too narrow and she will die pretty easily. She’s still a very playable card, don’t get me wrong, but she’s nowhere close to being a bomb.
Knight of Malice image 3.5 This is already a good card as a two mana 2/2 with First Strike, and it gets a big upgrade against an opponent who is playing White.
Garna, the Bloodflame image 3.0 Garna is kind of hard to get serious value out of. You have to leave up significant mana, and then set up a situation where some of your creatures die to give you value, and while that’s not impossible, it comes up less often than you might think. It is nice that she comes with Flash and gives Haste to your whole board though, as sometimes she can also just represent a ton of damage out of nowhere, between her 3/3 body and whatever other creatures you play on your own turn.
Bloodstone Goblin image 2.0 A two-mana 2/2 isn’t a bad baseline, but this often isn’t much more than that. That’s because, by the part of the game where you can pay kicker costs, a 3/3 with Menace usually isn’t going to be the most…well…menacing creature around.
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Blessed Light image 3.0 This is kind of expensive, but the price is going to be worth it most of the time. Exiling creatures and Enchantments is nice. Sometimes exiling is especially nice, as recursion is a thing. This is also an Instant, which means you can sometimes manufacture a 2-for-1 with it. It isn’t premium removal, but it is certainly solid, and the first copy will usually make the cut.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Arcane Flight image 1.5 This gives a nice boost for the cost, especially with Flying in the mix. It is especially nice on the hexproof turtle, but its efficiency makes it worthwhile in some other Blue decks too.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Bloodtallow Candle image 2.0 This is not an efficient way to removal creatures, but this format has several payoffs for playing Artifacts/historic cards, and having a cheap one around isn’t bad, especially because some of those payoffs let you get Artifacts back from your graveyard, and recurring a removal spell – even an inefficient one, tends to feel pretty good.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Ghitu Chronicler
Curator's Ward image 0.5 It is really hard to ever set this up effectively. Giving one permanent Hexproof might sound appealing, but you need to have a permanent that is worth giving hexproof too, otherwise this just feels like wasting a card. And, even then, you have no way of knowing whether adding hexproof to a thing will actually accomplish anything. It is neat that there’s some Historic upside, but I still think you should almost never play this.
Amaranthine Wall image 1.0 Even with all of the artifact/historic payoffs in this format, Amaranthine Wall is pretty bad. It just blocks, and a 4 mana card that does that isn’t really something you’re going to want most of the time.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Blink of an Eye image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this would be a playable card. Adding kicker to the mix is great, because it keeps you from going down a card for tempo. Instead, you get to bounce their thing and draw a card, which tends to feel pretty good for 4 mana.
Divination image 2.0 As usual, Divination is fine. It is a 3-mana 2-for-1, and while you don’t want too many cards that don’t add to the board, having one of these is fine in most Blue decks.
Sergeant-at-Arms image 2.5 This is another card with Kicker where both options don’t exactly seem efficient, but having the choice between them is great. You either get a 3-mana 2/3 or a 6-mana 2/3 that makes two 1/1 tokens. When you kick it, it can really allow you to stabilize in situations even when you are pretty far behind.
Krosan Druid image 2.5 Early in the game, the Druid gives you a reasonable body, and in the late game in can gain you a ton of life, enough that it can often allow you to stabilize, and that’s some really nice upside! You won’t always get the opportunity to kick it, of course.
Cloudreader Sphinx image 3.5 This card really overperforms. 5-mana ¾ Flyers are usually somewhat passable, but in this format that statline is especially good. Additionally, Scry 2 is a nice thing to add to an already solid creature.
Ghitu Chronicler image 3.5 This can be a two mana 1/3 early – and you need that sometimes. However, the real value of the card comes when you kick it. 6 mana for a 1/3 that returns a spell is surprisingly potent in this format, especially if you’ve got Fight With Fire, but even if you just have reasonable spells to get back, this still feels pretty good.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Bloodstone Goblin
Chainer's Torment image 2.0 Most of the time, paying 4 mana for this won’t feel worth it. Most of the time, you’ll do some damage and gain some life up to 12 or 14, and then make like a 6/6 that lowers your life back down to 6. It does this all really slowly too, and the fact that you played this on turn four will often mean your life is pretty low, assuming your opponent has also added to the board. Don’t get me wrong, this does win games sometimes, but it seems like it does very little even more often than that.
Arvad the Cursed image 3.5 Even if Arvad didn’t pump legendary creatures at all, he would be a card you’d usually run. He can trade with anything and gain you life in the process, and he’s a good creature to pump. There are enough other legendary creatures in this set, too, that Arvad does often end up pumping a few other creatures in your deck too.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Bloodstone Goblin image 2.0 A two-mana 2/2 isn’t a bad baseline, but this often isn’t much more than that. That’s because, by the part of the game where you can pay kicker costs, a 3/3 with Menace usually isn’t going to be the most…well…menacing creature around.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Benalish Honor Guard image 1.5 This is alright, but even with the large number of legendaries in this set, this will be a two mana 2/2 most of the time, and usually not much bigger than 3/2. It is also a knight, which matters.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Artificer's Assistant image 1.5 This has decent base stats, but the Scry trigger here just doesn’t happen often enough for this to be very good.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Caligo Skin-Witch
Jodah, Archmage Eternal image 3.0 Jodah is mostly just a fairly hard to cast 4-mana 4/3 with Flying, which isn’t bad, but the other part of the card just won’t come up in Limited because your mana won’t be good enough.
Gaea's Blessing image 0.5 This is mostly a cantrip in Limited, and not really an efficient one.
Divination image 2.0 As usual, Divination is fine. It is a 3-mana 2-for-1, and while you don’t want too many cards that don’t add to the board, having one of these is fine in most Blue decks.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Caligo Skin-Witch image 3.0 This is another card with Kicker where neither option is terribly efficient, but it turns out that it doesn’t really matter – the flexibility and late game usefulness make up for that. In this format, people tend to hold on to card a fair bit, so kicking the Skin-Witch ends up hitting two cards way more in this format than in most, and can often just be the kind of thing that shifts the game in your favor.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Serra Disciple image 1.5 This has been a great card for 25+ years at this point, and it is still great in Limited. That stat-line and those keywords just aren’t something we see very often for only 5 mana.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage
Curator's Ward image 0.5 It is really hard to ever set this up effectively. Giving one permanent Hexproof might sound appealing, but you need to have a permanent that is worth giving hexproof too, otherwise this just feels like wasting a card. And, even then, you have no way of knowing whether adding hexproof to a thing will actually accomplish anything. It is neat that there’s some Historic upside, but I still think you should almost never play this.
Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage image 4.0 Even if you never manage to make a historic spell have Flash with this, a 4-mana 3/3 Flyer with Flash is a good card, and any time you leave mana up and pass the turn, your opponent really has to ponder whether they might be getting blown out by something being played at instant speed that normally wouldn’t be castable. It just opens up so many options, and there are enough historic spells around that you’ll be able to take advantage.
Rescue image 0.5 This can do some things – like help you reset a Saga – but it is mostly too narrow to ever really want to play.
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Goblin Barrage
Goblin Barrage image 2.5 This certainly isn’t premium removal, 4 mana for 4 damage at Sorcery speed really never is. The Kicker here is nice, and you’ll sometimes pull that off, at which point it certainly will feel better. Doing 4 to the opponent too is pretty nice! You’ll find yourself unwilling or unable to kick it a decent chunk of the time, though.
Unwind image 0.5 This is generally too narrow for you to really want to play. It is better out of your sideboard, as bringing it in against someone who has a lot of noncreature spells will work out okay.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Warlord's Fury image 1.5 There is a bit of a spell theme in this set, but not really enough of one that Warlord’s Fury feels amazing here. It does replace itself, so it isn’t terrible.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Feral Abomination
Oath of Teferi image 0.0 5 mana for a blink/flicker effect is just not going to be worth it, and you’re not likely to have a planeswalker to take advantage of the other part.
Gaea's Blessing image 0.5 This is mostly a cantrip in Limited, and not really an efficient one.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Fiery Intervention image 2.5 This isn’t premium since it is a Sorcery and 5 mana, but it does kill a lot of stuff in this format, and having the addition upside of blowing up a problem artifact sometimes is nice.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Drudge Sentinel
Zhalfirin Void image 0.5 This basically isn’t worth it unless you end up mono-colored or almost mono-colored. It tends to do some very serious damage to your mana base, and that definitely is not worth the upside of having a scry land.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Seismic Shift image 0.5 This isn’t very good. Sometimes Red decks will end up playing a card that makes an opponent’s stuff unable to block, but only targeting two creatures with this is a big bummer for 4 mana. And yeah, I know it blows up a land too, but that effect is pretty much never good in Limited.
Drudge Sentinel image 1.0 A 3-mana 2/1 that can become indestructible for three mana isn’t very good. Both parts of that are pretty inefficient. The Sentinel isn’t an especially good attacker or blocker, so you mostly just won’t play it.
Corrosive Ooze image 1.5 There is Equipment in this set, but not so much that this ability is amazing. Most of the time, Corrosive Ooze is just a Bear.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Keldon Raider
Keldon Warcaller image 1.5 This just doesn’t line up very often to really make your Sagas better. It is mostly just a bear.
Arcane Flight image 1.5 This gives a nice boost for the cost, especially with Flying in the mix. It is especially nice on the hexproof turtle, but its efficiency makes it worthwhile in some other Blue decks too.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
Rat Colony image 1.5 So, I wouldn’t advise jamming a bunch of these into your deck in most cases (though, if you have Tetsuko Umezawa, things might get interesting). Still, it is a kind of okay two drop, and they do get better in multiples.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Divest
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Broken Bond image 1.5 There’s enough Artifacts and Enchantments in this set that you can play this in the main deck some, and sometimes it will even ramp you a bit.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Healing Grace
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Vodalian Arcanist
Vodalian Arcanist image 2.0 This has decent stats and allows you to make some extra mana for Instants and Sorceries, something that is a pretty nice effect to have, albeit not one that will come up all the time.
Draft Pick Overview