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Premier Draft DAR 20 June 2021

20 June 02:54 - BlargZap 7 Wins - 1 Losses
Maindeck
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (6)
1 Song of Freyalise image
1 Goblin Barrage image
1 Shivan Fire image
1 Grow from the Ashes image
1 Wizard's Lightning image
1 Run Amok image
Creature (17)
1 Howling Golem image
1 Grunn, the Lonely King image
1 Grand Warlord Radha image
3 Llanowar Elves image
1 Valduk, Keeper of the Flame image
1 Keldon Overseer image
1 Squee, the Immortal image
2 Keldon Raider image
1 Thorn Elemental image
2 Hallar, the Firefletcher image
1 Untamed Kavu image
1 Bloodstone Goblin image
1 Krosan Druid image
Land (17)
9 Mountain image
8 Forest image
Sideboard
1 Bloodstone Goblin image
1 Pardic Wanderer image
1 Fire Elemental image
1 Homarid Explorer image
1 Aesthir Glider image
1 Llanowar Envoy image
1 Fervent Strike image
2 Pierce the Sky image
1 Sorcerer's Wand image
1 Warlord's Fury image
1 Fungal Plots image
2 Run Amok image
1 Syncopate image
1 Short Sword image
1 Shield of the Realm image
1 Healing Grace image
1 Clifftop Retreat image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Grand Warlord Radha
Grand Warlord Radha image 4.0 Radha does typically give you some serious mana, and in a format with lots of Kicker and other mana sinks, you usually have something to use it on. This is all coupled with a pretty reasonable body.
Wild Onslaught image 1.5 This isn’t especially good without kicker, but sometimes that boost will mean the difference between winning combat and losing it, and can sometimes result in lethal! Kicking it is where a ton of damage can really come out of nowhere in a hurry, though it is pretty darn expensive to do it.
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.
Grunn, the Lonely King image 3.0 Grunn is a 6-mana 5/5, and that’s not very good, but the fact that he becomes a 10/10 when he attacks is pretty nice, that’s not something to easily contend with. If you can kick him, he gets even bigger. This format does have some efficient removal that can make Grunn feel bad sometimes, but he does represent a very real threat.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary 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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Opt image 2.0 As usual, this is fine. Seeing two cards for one mana feels pretty good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Llanowar Elves
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.
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.
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.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
Urza's Ruinous Blast image 0.0 // 4.0 There are a lot of legendaries in this set, but not so many that you can just count on being able to cast these Legendary Sorceries. You’ll end up with a deck about half the time where playing a legendary sorcery doesn’t work, and that means that this will have a miserable floor. You probably need 4+ legendaries before it makes sense to play one of these, but when you can they are all pretty powerful (except the Green one). Urza’s Ruinous Blast is a good example, as nuking most of the board is quite good, and since you have to have a legendary creature in play to play it, it means that you will at least hold on to one creature. Now, there are a lot of legendaries in this set, so sometimes your opponent will be able to keep a permanent alive too, and that will be annoying, but this is still pretty powerful if you can cast it.
Serra Angel image 4.0 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.
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame image 3.0 This is a nice buildaround for Equipment/Auras, as a free Spark Elemental every turn isn’t too shabby. The downside, of course, is having to put a bunch of Auras/Equipment on a single creature is very risky, but the payoff is sometimes worth it.
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.
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.
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.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Goblin Barrage
Sorcerer's Wand image 1.0 Even with a lot of Wizards in this set, it is pretty hard to set this up, and even when you do, it isn’t really going to be great in most situations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Shivan Fire
Board the Weatherlight image 0.5 This is almost unplayable. Even with all of the historic stuff in this set, you’ll find yourself whiffing with this way too often for it to be worth it. And, even when it does its thing, it just draws you one card. If you end up with a deck with a ton of Historics, including some bombs, you can sometimes play it, but you mostly won’t.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
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.
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.
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.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
Shivan Fire image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana to do 2 at instant speed already is, and adding the additional upside of being more potent with Kicker is just great.
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.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Fervent Strike
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
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.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
Adventurous Impulse image 1.5 This can often allow you to find a creature or a land, and sometimes you really need one of those and not the other. It does wiff sometimes, but usually this costs one mana for some card selection, and while that is a fairly replaceable effect, it is something you’ll play often enough.
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.
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.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Grow from the Ashes
Sage of Lat-Nam image 2.0 The effect here is pretty strong, as cashing in artifacts for cards can be a good deal, but it isn’t always easy to set up.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Pardic Wanderer image 1.5 This is something you’ll play in decks that have ways to recur Artifacts, as a 6-mana 5/5 with Trample that you can bring back is pretty nice.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Keldon Overseer
Weight of Memory image 2.0 Even in this relatively slow format, Weight of Memory often feels very clunky. Still, 5 mana to draw 3 isn’t too shabby, even if the mill part of the card will have very little impact.
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.
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.
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.
Ancient Animus image 2.5 Getting the counter with this won’t come up a ton, but being an instant speed fight effect is a fine baseline.
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.
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 9: Keldon Raider
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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 10: Pierce the Sky
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.
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.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Krosan Druid
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.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 12: Sorcerer's Wand
Sorcerer's Wand image 1.0 Even with a lot of Wizards in this set, it is pretty hard to set this up, and even when you do, it isn’t really going to be great in most situations.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Pierce the Sky
Board the Weatherlight image 0.5 This is almost unplayable. Even with all of the historic stuff in this set, you’ll find yourself whiffing with this way too often for it to be worth it. And, even when it does its thing, it just draws you one card. If you end up with a deck with a ton of Historics, including some bombs, you can sometimes play it, but you mostly won’t.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Warlord's Fury
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 1: Thorn Elemental
Lich's Mastery image 0.0 This card has a cool design, but it is impossible to make it work in Limited.
Juggernaut image 2.0 Juggernaut isn’t nearly as good today as it was 25+ years ago, but it is still an okay card. A 4-mana 5/3 has passable stats, and while having low toughness and being forced to attack isn’t great, all the Artifact creatures in this format get some bonus points out of the fact that they are especially easy to recur in this format.
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.
Slimefoot, the Stowaway image 4.0 Draining 1 life any time a Saproling dies is pretty amazing. If you’re in BG, you’re going to have plenty of Saprolings, and even if you don’t, Slimefoot can make his own! Even if you don’t do something like pair them with sacrifice effects, just chumping with Saprolings suddenly becomes a bit of a problem for your opponent. Slimefoot is a great mana sink that can really take over games.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
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.
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.
Aven Sentry image 2.0 This has decent French Vanilla stats, and not much else.
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.
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.
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.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Hallar, the Firefletcher
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.
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.
Keldon Raider image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 that lets you rummage is perfectly fine, but not much more than that.
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.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gideon's Reproach image 3.0 This is situational, but it is efficient enough that it still makes it into the lower range of premium removal. Attacking and blocking does happen a fair bit, and because of that, it doesn’t feel all that situational.
Deep Freeze image 2.5 This is typical of most Blue removal. It does the job of turning off a creature, but the downside is that creature can still block. This means this type of effect isn’t great if you’re really aggressive, but still – at least the creature can only block once! This isn’t premium, but it is solid removal.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Untamed Kavu
Untamed Kavu image 3.5 This is really efficient no matter which mode you use, with the 5-mana 5/5 version obviously being the more attractive one in most scenarios.
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.
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.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Bloodstone Goblin
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
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.
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 5: Wizard's Lightning
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!
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Fungal Plots
Fungal Plots image 1.0 // 3.0 This card is a pretty sweet build around and value engine. It doesn’t work out in every deck, but being able to exile creatures to make Saprolings tends to feel pretty good – the real value, though, comes from being able to sacrifice saprolings to draw cards and gain life. Note that that ability works with ANY saprolings too, not just the ones that Fungal Plots makes, and that’s pretty nice.
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.
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.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Run Amok
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.
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.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Befuddle image 1.5 This type of Blue “combat trick” almost always disappoints, just because you need things to line up in very specific ways for it to actually feel like a combat trick. Other times, it just feels like Fog. However, adding a cantrip effect to this makes it substantially better, as does the fact that the UR deck likes spells. It still isn’t good exactly, but it is better than most versions of this type of card.
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.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Llanowar Envoy
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Pardic Wanderer
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.
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.
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.
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.
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 10: 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.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
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.
Navigator's Compass image 0.5 This kind of card is always overrated. People look at it and they really think of it as a form of fixing, and..well, it is, but you also use up an entire card for it, and you just modify a land you already have. This does nothing but fix for the most part. It does gain you a bit of life, and it is an artifact in a set that cares about them, but you can do a lot better than this.
Pack 2 Pick 11: 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.
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.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Fire Elemental
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.
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.
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 2 Pick 13: Syncopate
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.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Homarid Explorer
Homarid Explorer image 1.0 There isn’t enough of a payoff for milling yourself or your opponent for this to be very good.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Hallar, the Firefletcher
The Mirari Conjecture image 4.0 This isn’t that difficult to make work in this format. Sure, you do need a decent number of Instants and Sorceries, but setting that up, especially in UR, isn’t hard. If you’re able to use it to get two spells back, and then double one of them, you’re going to find yourself in incredible shape.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Short Sword image 2.5 It definitely isn’t exciting, but this does give an efficient boost for the cost, and this set has enough Artifact and Equipment synergy around that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Squee, the Immortal
Squee, the Immortal image 3.0 Most of the time, this format plays pretty slow and grindy, so a card like Squee, who really doesn’t stay dead no matter the situation, is actually pretty nice. He can block indefinitely if that’s what you need, and he can also be an obnoxious attacker. Now, as a 2/1, he isn’t going to be incredible at either of those things, but still. One note about Squee – he is especially good with Legendary Sorceries, as he can really help you make sure you control a legendary creature, as you always have access to one provided you drew him.
Sorcerer's Wand image 1.0 Even with a lot of Wizards in this set, it is pretty hard to set this up, and even when you do, it isn’t really going to be great in most situations.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Llanowar Elves
Memorial to Folly image 3.5 I love utility lands, and this whole Memorial cycle is certainly that! It enters tapped, but most of the time the Memorial will just feel like a way better Swamp, since in the late game it can get you the best creature back out of your graveyard, that’s a very real effect on a land – something most don’t have!
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.
Valduk, Keeper of the Flame image 3.0 This is a nice buildaround for Equipment/Auras, as a free Spark Elemental every turn isn’t too shabby. The downside, of course, is having to put a bunch of Auras/Equipment on a single creature is very risky, but the payoff is sometimes worth it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 4: Clifftop Retreat
Clifftop Retreat image 3.0 Like most two-color cycles of lands, these are some pretty nice fixing, and they’ll often come into play untapped.
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.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it 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.
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.
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.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Ghitu Lavarunner image 1.5 One mana creatures like this just don’t do well in Limited, especially because loading up the graveyard super quickly isn’t going to happen. This will mostly just be a one mana ½ that is a 2/2 with Haste in the mid-to-late game, but by then, it won’t really matter. The fact it is a Wizard does help make it more playable though.
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.
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.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Song of Freyalise
Sage of Lat-Nam image 2.0 The effect here is pretty strong, as cashing in artifacts for cards can be a good deal, but it isn’t always easy to set up.
Song of Freyalise image 4.0 This thing ends up doing way more than you might think (certainly more than I thought when first reviewing the set). If you can get just two creatures in play ahead of casting this, it ends up being an absolute beating for your opponent. Chapter I and II give you both fixing and extra mana, which will of course allow you to add more creatures to the board, and then chapter III comes along and gives you what amounts to a free attack – your whole board gets permanently larger and gain vigilance and indestructible until end of turn, which means you don’t have to worry about the crack back, or any of your creatures dying in combat. It does take that bit of set up – but if you’re playing a deck with a normal number of creatures, it is very doable.
Howling Golem image 1.5 Symmetrical draw isn’t amazing, but you do get to take advantage of the new card before your opponent, which is nice. Howling Golem gets extra points for being an Artifact in this format too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ancient Animus image 2.5 Getting the counter with this won’t come up a ton, but being an instant speed fight effect is a fine baseline.
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.
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 6: Llanowar Elves
Sanctum Spirit image 2.0 It is cool that this can become indestructible, but a lot of the time when you play this, you find yourself not really wanting to discard a Historic card to save it, as a 3/2 with lifelink isn’t exactly a worldbeater.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 7: Grunn, the Lonely King
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.
Grunn, the Lonely King image 3.0 Grunn is a 6-mana 5/5, and that’s not very good, but the fact that he becomes a 10/10 when he attacks is pretty nice, that’s not something to easily contend with. If you can kick him, he gets even bigger. This format does have some efficient removal that can make Grunn feel bad sometimes, but he does represent a very real threat.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Aesthir Glider
Sanctum Spirit image 2.0 It is cool that this can become indestructible, but a lot of the time when you play this, you find yourself not really wanting to discard a Historic card to save it, as a 3/2 with lifelink isn’t exactly a worldbeater.
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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 9: Short Sword
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.
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.
Rampaging Cyclops image 2.5 This is a 4-mana 4/4 with downside, which seems kind of rough, but it kind of turns out that his statline is good enough for that to be worth it. 4/4 is just very large in Limited, and while the double block clause is rough, most of the time you’ll still be trading at least with your opponent, so it isn’t the biggest disaster.
Excavation Elephant image 2.0 Like most cards with Kicker in this set, Excavation Elephant is a decent creature when you cast it regularly, and then in the later part of the game you can kick it for some extra value. There are enough Artifacts in this set that casting this with Kicker and getting something back is very doable.
Short Sword image 2.5 It definitely isn’t exciting, but this does give an efficient boost for the cost, and this set has enough Artifact and Equipment synergy around that you’ll play it a decent chunk of the time.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Run Amok
Sorcerer's Wand image 1.0 Even with a lot of Wizards in this set, it is pretty hard to set this up, and even when you do, it isn’t really going to be great in most situations.
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.
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.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Shield of the Realm
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Run Amok
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.
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.
Run Amok image 1.5 This isn’t super great in this format. There are too many ways to interact and the format is far too grindy for this trick to really shine, as we’ve seen it do in some other formats.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Howling Golem
Howling Golem image 1.5 Symmetrical draw isn’t amazing, but you do get to take advantage of the new card before your opponent, which is nice. Howling Golem gets extra points for being an Artifact in this format too.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Healing Grace
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Draft Pick Overview