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Premier Draft DAR 22 June 2021

22 June 03:00 - CatatonicBlade 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (15)
1 Jhoira's Familiar image
1 Serra Disciple image
1 Baird, Steward of Argive image
2 D'Avenant Trapper image
2 Jodah, Archmage Eternal image
1 Tiana, Ship's Caretaker image
1 Guardians of Koilos image
1 Relic Runner image
2 Cold-Water Snapper image
1 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep image
1 Voltaic Servant image
1 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (7)
1 Helm of the Host image
1 Healing Grace image
1 Gilded Lotus image
1 Triumph of Gerrard image
1 Time of Ice image
1 Blackblade Reforged image
1 Gideon's Reproach image
Planeswalker (1)
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria image
Land (17)
5 Island image
4 Mountain image
7 Plains image
1 Memorial to Genius image
Sideboard
1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar image
1 Thorn Elemental image
1 Merfolk Trickster image
1 Windgrace Acolyte image
1 Lingering Phantom image
1 Feral Abomination image
1 Torgaar, Famine Incarnate image
1 Whisper, Blood Liturgist image
1 Fungal Plots image
1 Healing Grace image
2 Rescue image
1 Damping Sphere image
1 Charge image
1 Yawgmoth's Vile Offering image
1 Divest image
1 Dark Bargain image
1 Broken Bond image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar image 5.0 This is a scary creature to have to deal with. First, it comes down as a 6-mana 6/6 with Reach and Trample in most cases – that’s already a good card. In addition, Multani gets progressively larger as the game goes on and you play more lands and it can recur itself! There are very few cards in this format that outright get rid of Multani, and having a creature this huge that refuses to stay dead is a good way to win the game.
The Eldest Reborn image 4.5 This is an Uncommon bomb, and a card that always does a ton for the investment. Up front, it makes your opponent lose a creature. And sure, it is an Edict, so your opponent chooses which creature they lose – and that can be kind of a bummer, but you still have the next two chapters! Your opponent has to discard a card on their next turn, and then you get to reanimate something on the turn after that. This is certainly sort of slow, but it amounts to a 3-for-1 in the end, and you really make your opponent’s life difficult because with Chapter I and II, your opponent has to keep Chapter III in mind, as putting something in the graveyard you can make use of is a big problem.
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.
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.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Opt image 2.0 As usual, this is fine. Seeing two cards for one mana feels pretty good.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Baird, Steward of Argive
Fight with Fire image 4.0 If this didn’t have Kicker at all, it would be premium removal. Adding Kicker to the mix here is a significant upgrade though. There are enough ways to recur it (Ghitu Chronicler most notably) that you’ll pretty regularly find yourself playing it as removal in the early game, and then getting it back and Kicking it in the later part of the game. When you Kick it, it is usually going to win you the game, either by clearing out a couple of creatures or just doing lethal to your opponent on the spot.
Triumph of Gerrard image 2.0 This is one of the more underwhelming Sagas in the set. You have to have a creature to put the counters on in the first place, and often times you won’t have that on turn two. Then, it sort of puts all of your eggs in one basket, and that’s a dangerous plan. Now, it isn’t unplayable or even close to it, but it won’t do what you want it to as often as you might think.
Baird, Steward of Argive image 3.0 A 4-mana 2/4 with Vigilance wouldn’t be a very good card, but it would probably be passable, and Baird comes with a lot more upside than that! First, his “Ghostly Prison”-type effect is quite nice, as it will make your opponent have to choose between adding to the board or paying the mana to attack in the early game, and that can significantly slow them down. He is, of course, also legendary and a “historic” spell, which means he brings some extra synergy to the table. Sometimes his tax effect doesn’t do a ton – like in the extreme late game, but this does often make your opponent make difficult decisions in the early to mid-game.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
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 3: Thorn Elemental
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
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.
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.
Sparring Construct image 1.5 This is passable, mostly just because it is an Artifact.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
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.
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 1 Pick 4: Jodah, Archmage Eternal
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.
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!
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
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.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
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.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 5: 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.
Time of Ice image 3.0 This tends to play out pretty well, and this is especially true if you are the beatdown. Tapping down a single creature can have a significant impact on a race, so this does something pretty real right off the bat – then, with chapter two, it does it again! Then, Chapter III really discourages your opponent from attacking you at all, and even if they don’t, you get to bounce whatever the last creature you locked down was. This just tends to give you a ton of tempo for a reasonable cost.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Llanowar Scout image 1.5 People often really overrate this type of effect. It is easy to imagine simply always ramping with it, but the problem is that you have to have lands to put into play in the first place. That might sound like a foregone conclusion, but it really isn’t – what makes other ramp cards great is that they get you the land from your library, which effectively draws you a card – in this case, you have to have the land to ramp, and that’s a big difference.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Jodah, Archmage Eternal
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Tiana, Ship's Caretaker
The First Eruption image 1.5 This Saga isn’t a great one. Chapter I often won’t do anything, or worse – it could hurt you more than your opponent. Chapter II’s ramp isn’t too bad, and neither is Chapter III letting you sacrifice a mountain for 3 damage. Still, you won’t always have some way to make use of Chapter II, and Chapter III takes a long time if what you’re really looking for is removal.
Tiana, Ship's Caretaker image 3.0 There are a significant number of Auras and Equipment in this set, but Tiana rarely seems to work out how you want. Now, she’s a 5-mana 3/3 with Flying and First Strike, which is already passable, so it isn’t like the floor here is dismal, and yeah – if you do have any number of Equipment and Auras, she’s going to give you upside sometimes.
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.
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.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 8: D'Avenant Trapper
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 1 Pick 9: Guardians of Koilos
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.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Fire Elemental image 1.0 The stats here aren’t great, and there’s not any payoff in this set for Elementals, so you won’t play this most of the time.
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Gaea's Protector image 0.5 This is such an odd card. The idea is that you have a 4/2 that will kill your opponents X/4, but the problem is that your opponent just has to assign one blocker, and they can just stick something in front of it that trades – or worse, put a couple of Saprolings in front of it.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Healing Grace
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.
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.
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.
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Damping Sphere
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
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.
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.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Rescue
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Healing Grace
Healing Grace image 0.0 Strictly better Healing Salve is still not a playable card.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Charge
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.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria image 4.5 The +1 ability here is pretty nice, as it draws you a card and even ramps you a little bit! That tends to make sure you’ll get some immediate value out of Teferi most of the time, and that’s probably what you’re going to want to do if you’re ahead of your opponent. If you’re at parity or behind, the bounce effect is also pretty good, although it does take a significant amount of loyalty. Obviously, if you get to the ultimate, he just wins you the game.
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.
Memorial to Genius image 3.5 Having a land that can produce mana for you early, and then draw you a couple cards late is pretty nice!
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.
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.
Skittering Surveyor image 3.5 So, this is a 3-mana ½ that draws you any basic land, and I would be on board with that pretty much no matter the format. The fixing it provides is just that good – and in this format, it is even better! Especially because there is Artifact/historic synergy all over the place.
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.
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.
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.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
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.
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 2: Gilded Lotus
Gilded Lotus image 2.5 This is a particularly good format for the Lotus. First, its an Artifact in a format that has lots of payoffs for them, and it is in a format where fixing and ramp are excellent, and it provides both! You still won’t want it in all your decks, but a decent number of decks in the format will be interested.
Gaea's Blessing image 0.5 This is mostly a cantrip in Limited, and not really an efficient one.
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.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Triumph of Gerrard
Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood image 4.0 Obviously you have to BR to fully take advantage of this, but if you are, he is pretty amazing. The big downside here are the mediocre stats for the cost – he is pretty easy to kill. However, if you are allowed to untap with him in play, you usually win, as you start picking off creatures and making Karazov bigger, which will quickly allow you to win the game.
Triumph of Gerrard image 2.0 This is one of the more underwhelming Sagas in the set. You have to have a creature to put the counters on in the first place, and often times you won’t have that on turn two. Then, it sort of puts all of your eggs in one basket, and that’s a dangerous plan. Now, it isn’t unplayable or even close to it, but it won’t do what you want it to as often as you might think.
Rona, Disciple of Gix image 3.0 Rona is pretty glacial, but she does become a pretty nice source of card advantage. Even if you only ever take advantage of the one thing she exiles, you’re probably going to get a 2-for-1 out of the deal. Exiling cards from your library for 4 isn’t exactly efficient though, and the effect is also incredibly random, so you won’t always be getting something worthwhile.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Gideon's Reproach
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.
Lingering Phantom image 2.5 This has bad stats to be sure – as 6-mana 5/4 isn’t where you want to be, but the fact that you can just get it back all game long for a single B is nice. Sure, you have to have Historic spells to be triggering that consistently, but even just having a few of them around is doable. Now, this does cost 6, and sometimes you just won’t be able to keep casting it, but if that’s true, it is because you have other stuff to do. Lingering Phantom is something you can get back and then cast when you whiff on your draw step.
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!
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.
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Time of Ice
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.
Time of Ice image 3.0 This tends to play out pretty well, and this is especially true if you are the beatdown. Tapping down a single creature can have a significant impact on a race, so this does something pretty real right off the bat – then, with chapter two, it does it again! Then, Chapter III really discourages your opponent from attacking you at all, and even if they don’t, you get to bounce whatever the last creature you locked down was. This just tends to give you a ton of tempo for a reasonable cost.
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.
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 6: Relic Runner
Damping Sphere image 0.0 This pretty much does nothing in Limited. Don’t play it.
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.
Relic Runner image 2.5 This is unblockable often enough that it is a pretty nice little two-drop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Soul Salvage image 2.0 As usual, most Black decks tend to end up wanting one of these most of the time, but usually not more than one. They are bad to get in the early game, when they are effectively blank cards, but in the late game it is a good way to help you pull ahead of your opponent.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Merfolk Trickster
Merfolk Trickster image 3.0 This has a lot of utility for a two drop. A two mana 2/2 with Flash is already fairly passable, but the ETB ability here is quite good. You can use it to simply tap down an attacker you don’t want to attack you – or to tap down a blocker that you don’t want to be in your way. But, you can also use it to turn abilities of a creature off at instant speed, and this can sometimes really allow you to blow out your opponent. It won’t always come up, but when it does, it’ll feel pretty good.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 8: Cold-Water Snapper
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.
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.
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.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
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.
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.
Radiating Lightning image 1.0 This will often just feel like 4 mana to do 3 to an opponent, and that’s not worth it. Doing 1 damage to opposing creatures will sometimes actually do something, but it will be irrelevant more often than not.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Memorial to Genius
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.
Memorial to Genius image 3.5 Having a land that can produce mana for you early, and then draw you a couple cards late is pretty nice!
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.
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.
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 10: Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep
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.
Invoke the Divine image 2.0 There are enough targets for this in this format that you end up main decking it sometimes.
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.
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.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Voltaic Servant
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.
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.
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.
Skirk Prospector image 0.5 There aren’t enough Goblins in this set for this to be worth it. It can sacrifice itself to its own ability to help you ramp, but giving up a card for such minor ramp just isn’t worth doing in Limited.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Lingering Phantom
Lingering Phantom image 2.5 This has bad stats to be sure – as 6-mana 5/4 isn’t where you want to be, but the fact that you can just get it back all game long for a single B is nice. Sure, you have to have Historic spells to be triggering that consistently, but even just having a few of them around is doable. Now, this does cost 6, and sometimes you just won’t be able to keep casting it, but if that’s true, it is because you have other stuff to do. Lingering Phantom is something you can get back and then cast when you whiff on your draw step.
Thallid Omnivore image 3.0 You will end up having this on many board states where your opponent always has to block it, since it can get big so quickly and so cheaply. Saprolings pair really well with it, not only because of the life gain, but also because there are plenty of cards in this set that make multiples, and that’s just what Thallid Omnivore is after.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Feral Abomination
Feral Abomination image 1.5 This is a kind of okay finisher if you’re desperate for one.
Powerstone Shard image 0.0 // 2.5 This is hard to make work, but if you end up 3+ Powerstone Shards, you can start consider playing them, especially if you’re in a ramp deck. If you have 2 or less, it probably isn’t worth it.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Rescue
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.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Blackblade Reforged
Blackblade Reforged image 4.0 This format is slow enough that, even without any Legendaries to put this on, you’ll often be able to Equip it late, and the stats boost it gives is massive enough that it makes anything into a threat – especially if it has any evasive abilities. When you can put this on legendaries for only three mana, it will feel particularly busted.
Wizard's Retort image 2.5 Cancel usually is something like a 1.0 in Limited, it comes with all the downside that is inherent to counterspells – most notably, you better have the mana at the exact right time for it to actually do something! But, the Wizard clause here is a big deal, as this turns into straight up Counterspell, which is a significantly better card. If you’re in Blue (and uh, you are if you’re playing this), being able to cast this for UU will happen pretty often.
Spore Swarm image 3.0 Three saprolings at Instant speed for 4 isn’t too shabby, especially in a set that can pay you off significantly for them.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image 2.5 So, on his own, Tetsuko is a two mana 1/3 that is unblockable. You would already play that sometimes! He comes with the additional upside of also making a few other creatures in your deck unblockable too, and that’s pretty nice.
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.
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.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
Goblin Chainwhirler image 0.0 // 3.5 Like this whole cycle, actually playing the Chainwhirler is a bit of a challenge, but if your deck can support a triple Red card, it ends up being pretty good. A 3-mana 3/3 with First Strike is nice, and doing 1 to your opponent and all their stuff will often allow you to kill at least one thing, especially because you can wait until after combat to do some damage. Still, your average deck in this format just won’t be able to cast the Chainwhirler easily enough.
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.
Final Parting image 0.5 5 mana for a tutor effect just isn’t worth it 99% of the time. And yeah, you do get to tutor up two things, but this is still woefully inefficient, and spending a turn casting this and not adding to the board is rough.
Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive image 2.5 So, on his own, Tetsuko is a two mana 1/3 that is unblockable. You would already play that sometimes! He comes with the additional upside of also making a few other creatures in your deck unblockable too, and that’s pretty nice.
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.
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.
Vicious Offering image 3.5 Even without Kicker, this has a pretty nice baseline as a two mana instant that gives -2/-2. That’s something you would play most of the time! The kicker upside is great though, as -5/-5 can take down even more stuff. It feels especially good to give up a Saproling with it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3: Helm of the Host
Helm of the Host image 5.0 This would be wayyy too slow in many formats, the mana investment is just massive. HOWEVER, this format is slow enough that it turns out Helm of the Host is just bonkers. It will quickly add more bodies to your board, and while the Equip cost is certainly high, it will be well worth it in pretty much every combat.
Sentinel of the Pearl Trident image 1.5 This is just too expensive for what it is. Its ETB trigger won’t do anything far more often than it will. And sure, resetting a Saga or triggering an ETB ability again seems cool, but it won’t happen as often as you’d think.
Kwende, Pride of Femeref image 2.5 A 4-mana 2/2 with Double Strike is sort of passable, and upgrading all of your First Strikers to double strikers is pretty nice. Now, a lot of the time that part of the card won’t matter, but it does have a reasonable baseline and a nice ceiling.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Yawgmoth's Vile Offering
Yawgmoth's Vile Offering image 0.0 // 4.5 This is the best card in this cycle of Legendary Sorceries, but – like with all of them, actually setting it up isn’t very easy. You need a decent number of Legendary creatures to make it happen, and you won’t always have that going for you. When you do though, this ends up letting you reanimate the best creature (or planeswalker) in the graveyards AND kill your opponent’s best creature, and that is often enough to win the game.
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.
Settle the Score image 3.5 The planeswalker part of this will almost never come up, but exiling a creature for 4 mana is a good deal anyway.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Divest image 0.5 This is a sideboard card. People frequently won’t have enough targets to make it worth it.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate image 4.0 So, it is pretty easy to make Torgaar a 6 mana 7/6 with a pretty nice ETB ability. Just having a single creature to sacrifice is not far-fetched, especially in BG, where it is likely you have a few Saprolings lying around. The ETB ability here is an interesting one, because it can be used two different ways. If your opponent has more than 10 life, you can target them and lower them to 10 life. And, if you have less than 10 life, you can target yourself, and go up to 10 life. Sometimes the ETB will make very little difference, but because it can be used in two different ways, it will often do a little something, which is nice on a 6-mana 7/6 – and it will be cheaper than that a decent chunk of the time!
Jhoira's Familiar image 2.0 The base-line here certainly isn’t efficient, but reducing the cost of your historic spells will come up enough that you’ll play this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 6: Jhoira's Familiar
Jhoira's Familiar image 2.0 The base-line here certainly isn’t efficient, but reducing the cost of your historic spells will come up enough that you’ll play this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 7: Windgrace Acolyte
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.
Memorial to Genius image 3.5 Having a land that can produce mana for you early, and then draw you a couple cards late is pretty nice!
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.
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.
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.
Pierce the Sky image 0.5 This is mostly a sideboard card – it pretty much kills all the flyers in the set.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Whisper, Blood Liturgist
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Serra Disciple
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tragic Poet image 1.0 This isn’t great, even in a set with Sagas.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Cold-Water Snapper
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 11: D'Avenant Trapper
D'Avenant Trapper image 2.5 This has decent stats and an okay historic trigger. Tapping stuff down can often really enable attacks you just didn’t have before, and that’s a good place to be in an aggressive deck.
Guardians of Koilos image 1.5 The idea here is that you can bounce a Saga or other Historic thing to your hand that will give you value when you play it again, but a lot of the time this is just a 5-mana 4/4, and that’s not really something you want.
Arbor Armament image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, but it does give the counter permanently. Still, tricks that are defensive always seem super awkward. You can of course use it offensively, but Reach doesn’t matter in that situation, and +1/+1 just isn’t always going to be enough to win combat.
Blessing of Belzenlok image 1.0 This is a mediocre trick, even if you use it on a legendary creature.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Divest
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Broken Bond
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.
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 14: 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.
Draft Pick Overview