Tracker App

Premier Draft AFR 27 July 2021

27 July 12:38 - God_Usoland 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (12)
1 Price of Loyalty image
1 Burning Hands image
2 Boots of Speed image
1 Dueling Rapier image
1 Ranger Class image
1 Improvised Weaponry image
1 Meteor Swarm image
1 Dragon's Fire image
1 Bull's Strength image
2 Find the Path image
Creature (11)
2 Gnoll Hunter image
1 Tiger-Tribe Hunter image
1 Underdark Basilisk image
1 Valor Singer image
1 Hill Giant Herdgorger image
1 Circle of the Moon Druid image
1 Owlbear image
1 Intrepid Outlander image
1 Green Dragon image
1 Hobgoblin Captain image
Land (17)
8 Mountain image
2 Evolving Wilds image
7 Forest image
Sideboard
1 Gretchen Titchwillow image
1 Hired Hexblade image
1 Pixie Guide image
1 Scion of Stygia image
1 Earth-Cult Elemental image
1 Neverwinter Dryad image
1 Scaled Herbalist image
1 Minion of the Mighty image
1 Deadly Dispute image
1 Bard Class image
1 Fates' Reversal image
1 Split the Party image
1 You Find a Cursed Idol image
1 Mordenkainen's Polymorph image
1 You Come to the Gnoll Camp image
1 Spiked Pit Trap image
1 Devour Intellect image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Ranger Class
Ranger Class image 5.0 This looks quite good. First of all, it adds to the board right away, unlike other classes -- and that makes the baseline here a two mana 2/2. Then, it starts putting a counter on an attacking creature at level two, and level three can generate serious card advantage. The whole package is amazing, and reasonably costed each step of the way. This kind of gives me Sparring Regimen vibes, between the +1/+1 counter effect and all the extra value. This is a bomb
Iron Golem image 2.5 This is like Juggernaut, a card that is still pretty solid in Limited. It is a bit of a bummer that didn’t give it the “can’t be blocked by walls” thing, since there are a few of them in this set, but either way this is a nice little creature. It is sure to die in combat because it has to block and attack constantly, but it has high enough power that it will kill most stuff at least.
You See a Pair of Goblins image 3.0 This is a pretty nice modal card. If you’re not going wide enough, make a couple of Goblins at Instant speed. If you are going wide enough, this is basically trumpet blast. Neither of those cards are amazing, but jamming them both on to the same card is good, and really helps make a go-wide deck viable.
Lurking Roper image 3.5 You would basically always end up playing a 3-mana ⅘ Wall. That might sound crazy to you, but the main reason Walls tend to not be great in Limited is because most of them can just block things and not damage them. The Roper isn’t just a wall, it is one that will kill almost everything that can attack into it in the early and mid-game. So, even if that’s all this was, I think the first copy would make the cut in most Green decks. So, when you add the bonus that it can attack, you’ve got a better card, and then you have a way to actually untap it too, and it is even better! Even if you can never untap the thing, it is going to be a pretty nice card, and if you can, it will be awesome
Contact Other Plane image 3.0 So, with a 1-9 you’re getting an Instant speed Divination that costs one extra, which isn’t great, that would probably be a 1.5 or 2.0, but isn’t the worst fail case when the 10-19 gives you a pretty great effect for the cost -- like Behold the Multiverse without Foretell, and that’s a good place to be. Obviously, rolling the 20 will be completely absurd. If that’s what this card always did, it would be like a 4.0. We have to sort of think about what’s the most likely with this, and I think the fail case is passable enough that I’m pretty happy with this over all, as 10-19 is a pretty likely outcome, and that card would probably be a B-. In the end, I think all of that makes this a 3.0.
Priest of Ancient Lore image 3.5 This is a pretty great Common. People are always complaining white doesn’t have enough card draw, so getting an ETB ability like this will make them happy. In Limited, this will be a 2-for-1 a lot of the time, and the fact it gains that 1 life is no small thing either, since GW is all about gaining life.
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Planar Ally image 3.5 We have seen a lot of 5-mana 3/3 Flyers of late that have some ability, and they’ve all been pretty nice cards for Limited, and I think that’s what we have here. Venturing with every attack is great, as the Ally, left unchecked, will be able to get you through dungeons all on its own. This format does have more large flyers than usual as a result of the heavy Dragon theme, so this may find itself unable to attack effectively more than it would in most formats, but I think this is still a pretty good Common.
Clattering Skeletons image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is fine, and this comes with a nice enough death trigger. Venturing is going to be a big part of this format -- think learn/lessons in Strixhaven -- so any card that can do it for you is going to be a little better than it looks.
Farideh's Fireball image 5.0 I think this sneaks into the lower range of premium removal. 5 mana to do 5 to something at Instant speed is perhaps not the most efficient thing ever, but it does kill most stuff, and the fac that your opponent also always takes 2 is enough to nudge this into that premium range. Sure, it will do 2 to you sometimes too, but that’s okay. This is the kind of card that will plummet in its score if the format turns out to be fast though, so keep that in mind.
Ranger's Hawk image 2.0 One mana 1/1 flyers are almost never that great in Limited unless they have something else worthwhile going on. The good news for this Hawk, is that it does! In the early game it can attack a bit in the air, but it will quickly be forced to stop attacking. Luckily, it has a late game mana sink that seems pretty good -- venturing into dungeons every turn will definitely allow you to grind out some wins late. Now, the cost of doing it isn’t small -- having to have another untapped creature isn’t a guarantee, but if you are at parity or ahead of your opponent, it won’t be that hard to make it happen. I think this is a solid playable.
Elturgard Ranger image 3.0 So, for 5 mana you get a 4/1 and a 2/2 -- in other words 6/3 worth of stats. A 5-mana 6/3 wouldn’t be good, but spread across two bodies this gets pretty interesting, plus a 4/1 with Reach has the kind of size to take down some of the dragons in the set, and that definitely matters. It feels like you’ll be able to get a 2-for-1 out of this a decent chunk of the time, and I think most Green decks will be interested in playing the first copy.
Hobgoblin Captain image 2.5 This looks like it might be a nice two drop for aggressive decks in the format. A two mana 3/1 is already playable in many formats, and because he supplies half the power necessary to make pack tactics go off, it seems likely he will have first strike a lot. For now, I have it at 2.5, but if aggro is huge in this format, it will probably move up.
Hill Giant Herdgorger image 2.5 This seems like a fine finisher for Green decks. You’re probably going to hope you have a rare or Uncommon in that slot, but this card is similar enough to Ravenous Lindwurm and Honey Mammoth to make me feel like it has a nice shot. I have a feeling it might not be quite as good as those cards, because this format looks like it is probably going to be faster than Kaldheim, but it looks pretty solid to me
Pack 1 Pick 2: Gnoll Hunter
You See a Pair of Goblins image 3.0 This is a pretty nice modal card. If you’re not going wide enough, make a couple of Goblins at Instant speed. If you are going wide enough, this is basically trumpet blast. Neither of those cards are amazing, but jamming them both on to the same card is good, and really helps make a go-wide deck viable.
Monk of the Open Hand image 2.5 This card reminds me a lot of the BW double-spell deck from Kaldheim. If you can get your curve low enough, this guy can grow relatively quickly and without you having to commit significant resources. It does look like a low-curve aggro deck is a thing in this format too, especially in RW, so I can see this being a nice fit there. This is also the Monk that the Planeswalker we saw earlier -- Grand Master of Flowers can tutor up, so it should go up in your pick order if you have the Grand Master. It takes some work to make the Monk worth playing if you don’t have the Grand Master, but if you find yourself with a low curve, this will be a nice fit.
Portable Hole image 2.0 This will feel pretty good to use on a two-drop permanent, as you will come out ahead mana wise and it will prevents death triggers and stuff like that. It can also deal with all of the Class Enchantments, which will certainly come up. However, just being able to hit two and one mana permanents is a liability in Limited. This isn’t something that will even always make the cut. It could end up being better if aggro decks are a big deal in this format.
Spiked Pit Trap image 1.5 Lots of sets lately seem to have an Artifact that is a removal spell, and it is nice that you can play them in any deck, but they tend to be pretty inefficient, and that’s kind of the case here. You pay 6 mana total for 5 damage, and you might also get a Treasure. It does have Flash, which makes it so you can sort of ambush kill things, but yeah, you probably don’t end up playing this unless you’re short on good removal
Boots of Speed image 2.0 The boost this offers for the casting cost and the equip cost is pretty reasonable, as paying one more to give something new Haste and +1/+0 will feel pretty good sometimes, especially in a set where there’s an Equipment archetype.
Sylvan Shepherd image 2.5 This looks like it has a lot going on because of the d20 stuff, but it is basically just a 3-mana ⅔ with Vigilance that gains you 1-2 life when it attacks. That’s basically a textbook solid playable, especially in a format that does have some life gain payoffs
Thieves' Tools image 2.5 This will fight nicely into UB, because that color is all about making small creatures evasive and getting value when they do combat damage, and it will fit nicely in BR because it likes treasures.
Clever Conjurer image 2.5 This ability only being Sorcery speed is a bummer, but it is still a pretty useful one to have on a 3-mana ⅔. Notably, it can untap lands for you, helping you ramp. And that’s probably the way you’ll use it the most. This seems like a solid playable.
Gnoll Hunter image 3.0 This is a fine two drop. It is a bear as a baseline, and it can get bigger if it has enough friends. That’s good enough upside for this to be a nice two-drop for Green decks.
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Shambling Ghast image 2.5 This looks like a nice little one drop to me. It can be a real pain if your opponent has two X/1s in play, since you can make a two-for-one out of your one drop, and those situations will happen. And the good news is, when the -1/-1 part isn’t useful -- and it won’t always be -- you get to make a treasure, which means this little one drop gives you fixing and ramp pretty early on in the game.
Ranger's Hawk image 2.0 One mana 1/1 flyers are almost never that great in Limited unless they have something else worthwhile going on. The good news for this Hawk, is that it does! In the early game it can attack a bit in the air, but it will quickly be forced to stop attacking. Luckily, it has a late game mana sink that seems pretty good -- venturing into dungeons every turn will definitely allow you to grind out some wins late. Now, the cost of doing it isn’t small -- having to have another untapped creature isn’t a guarantee, but if you are at parity or ahead of your opponent, it won’t be that hard to make it happen. I think this is a solid playable.
Underdark Basilisk image 2.5 It is pretty hard for small creatures with Deathtouch not to be playable, since they bring the capability of trading with anything. This makes them relevant all game long, though never super impressive. They also tend to be good with fight and punch spells
Pack 1 Pick 3: Circle of the Moon Druid
Bard Class image 1.0 This set does have a significant number of legendaries in it, but I’m not convinced there will be enough to really make this worthwhile. It is all about legendaries, and does literal nothing if you don’t have enough of them. I could give it a build around grade, but I think it will be so difficult to make this work that I don’t think I need to go there
Displacer Beast image 4.0 This seems quite good for an Uncommon. It has sort of passable stats, especially because it does a whole lot more than just sit around as a 3-mana 3/2! The ETB trigger will be quite nice, as Venturing will give you some very significant value. It isn’t quite Professor of Symbology, but I think the comparison helps illustrate why this card will be good. The fact it can bounce itself back to your hand won’t always come up, but in the late game, it can help you venture through a dungeon all on its own, and that will often be a pretty big deal.
Drider image 3.0 This doesn’t have good base stats, but it does have a good combat damage trigger. Even just getting one Spider out of this will feel great, and it feels like UB is well-equipped with enough ways to make this evasive that it will feel pretty strong when it lines up that way. It won’t always do that though, and sometimes it will just be an inefficient creature.
Shocking Grasp image 1.5 The effect here isn’t very exciting. This Blue “combat tricks” really need your board to already have something big enough to deal with an attacking creature, or to blow up a block, and that really makes them pretty unimpressive. Obviously, adding a cantrip to the card does it make it better, because it means that at worse, you’re going to be able to Cycle this, but it still isn’t something that will make the cut in your deck all that often.
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Circle of the Moon Druid image 2.5 A card that is always a 3-mana 4/2 is like a 2.0 and a card that is always a 3-mana 2/4 is a 1.0. This gives you the best of both of those, as you’d rather have the 4/2 as the attacker and the 2/4 as the blocker most of the time.
Bull's Strength image 1.5 Like most versions of this that we’ve seen, it is pretty reasonable. The boost it gives will allow you to win combat, and trample will even allow you to do some damage out of nowhere. The untap clause also gives a creature pseudo vigilance, or allows you to ambush an opposing creature, though like with most tricks, you generally prefer to use it offensively -- but the additional flexibility doesn’t hurt. It is still a trick though and comes with all those inherent risks I always talk about -- its situational, and if things go wrong you get blown out really hard.
Manticore image 3.0 These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
Soulknife Spy image 3.0 Creatures with this combat trigger tend to be pretty nice in Limited, and this one has more reasonable stats than the ones we usually see at lower rarities. Drawing a card is big, and is the kind of thing your opponent will have to account for one way or another, or the extra cards this gets you will help you win the game. It doesn’t hurt that UB has a significant number of ways to make the creature evasive, either! One particularly nasty combo that you’ll see a lot, because the two cards are Common and Uncommon two will be Fly + Soulknife spy.
Farideh's Fireball image 5.0 I think this sneaks into the lower range of premium removal. 5 mana to do 5 to something at Instant speed is perhaps not the most efficient thing ever, but it does kill most stuff, and the fac that your opponent also always takes 2 is enough to nudge this into that premium range. Sure, it will do 2 to you sometimes too, but that’s okay. This is the kind of card that will plummet in its score if the format turns out to be fast though, so keep that in mind.
Price of Loyalty image 1.0 // 2.5 Even with the Treasure upside, this probably won’t be worth it for most decks. Threaten effects aren’t amazing in most formats, since they tend to do very little except in two situations. One of these is that you’re able to kill your opponent when you do it, and the other is that you have some sacrifice outlets that make it easy to turn the effect into a removal spell that gives you some value. However, this does look like it might be worth playing in the Black-Red deck, as there is one red Sacrifice effect at Uncommon, two black sacrifice effects at Common, and one at Uncommon, so setting up the sacrifice is actually going to be doable there, making the card a solid playable in a deck that gets its hands on some of those effects.
Veteran Dungeoneer image 3.5 This seems like a pretty darn good Common. As I’ve said throughout the video, Venturing isn’t quite drawing a card most of the time, but it gives you value that isn’t that far away from drawing a card, and if this was a 4-mana ¾ that drew you a card, it would be amazing. And again, this won’t quite feel like a 2-for-1 all the time, but it does do a lot for the mana cost, and enough to be one of White’s best Commons.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Owlbear
Keen-Eared Sentry image 1.5 This doesn’t seem that good to me. Giving yourself hexproof won’t matter very often, and neither will limiting your opponent to only one venture a turn. Maybe this is here to help provide some Dungeon hate for constructed, where venturing more than once a turn will happen all the time, but in Limited, it isn’t going to happen so often that you desperately want this little two drop. It does have an okay baseline, so it isn’t terrible, but its text box won’t matter that much.
Tiger-Tribe Hunter image 3.0 This doesn’t have the most impressive stats around, but since it is a 4/4 with Pack Tactics, it doesn’t need a whole lot of help to trigger it, and when you do, it will feel pretty good -- flinging something at one of your opponent’s creatures can be a pretty good ability, though it isn’t the kind that you’ll always be able to make use of. It is especially nice that he doesn’t have to stick to only Flinging the creatures who are attacking, so you can play a new creature and use it to kill off an opposing blocker, suddenly making your attack a real problem for your opponent. Sacrificing a creature is a real cost to be sure, but when that ability does its thing, it is going to feel pretty great. The base line here is a little bit rough, and the baility won’t always work out, but I thinkt his does enough to be a pretty high quality playable.
Fates' Reversal image 2.5 So, usually Black has a common that lets you return two creatures, and it is usually a serviceable enough card that you basically always want the first copy of. They are situational, since they don’t do anything until late, but they can really help you grind out a win. This doesn’t do that exactly but I could see it offering similar value sometimes as a creature + Venture won’t feel too shabby.
You Find a Cursed Idol image 2.0 This seems like a solid card to me. The modality here is great, and most of the time if you can blow up an Artifact or Enchantment, that’s where you’re going to go, but it is great that it has a fail case of Venture + Treasure, which won’t always feel like a whol card’s worth of value, but it gets pretty close. This is sort of like a Naturalize with Cycling in that sense, and that’s always a decent card
Herald of Hadar image 1.5 This is a bit clunky as a 5-mana 4/4, but the activated ability, as expensive as it is -- is a pretty nice late game mana sink. The ability, no matter what you roll, provides some serious reach. It is probably still too slow to make the cut on a super regular basis, though.
+2 Mace image 2.0 This gives an alright boost for the mana it costs to play and equip, but it isn’t crazy efficient or anything, and it will probably be cut a decent chunk of the time.
Hoarding Ogre image 2.0 This has Hill Giant stats and a serviceable attack trigger. Because it makes treasure, you can really count this creature as fixing, and that’s typically a valuable thing to have in Limited, plus this set has some nice treasure payoffs.
Baleful Beholder image 3.0 If you’re looking for some kind of finisher in a Black deck, this Beholder isn’t a terrible place to turn. Sometimes giving menace to your whole time will just win you the game on the spot, other times it won’t do anything --- the average situation is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, it lets one of your creatures attack who couldn’t, but that’s still not bad when attached to a 6-mana 6/5. Additionally, the fact it can get rid of Enchantments in a pinch is nice too.
Soulknife Spy image 3.0 Creatures with this combat trigger tend to be pretty nice in Limited, and this one has more reasonable stats than the ones we usually see at lower rarities. Drawing a card is big, and is the kind of thing your opponent will have to account for one way or another, or the extra cards this gets you will help you win the game. It doesn’t hurt that UB has a significant number of ways to make the creature evasive, either! One particularly nasty combo that you’ll see a lot, because the two cards are Common and Uncommon two will be Fly + Soulknife spy.
Owlbear image 3.5 This is reminiscent of Sarulf’s Packmate, and that’s a good Green Common to emulate. This gives you a very real body -- a 4/4 with Trample can be relevant on many board states, but obviously the ETB draw a card effect is what really makes this great. It will be virtually impossible for you not to get a 2-for-1 out of this Bear, and the value it gives you will be great. Sure, costing 5 does mean you can only run so many, unlike the Packmate which had Foretell, making it much easier to jam a bunch of them into your deck, but you should still value that first 1-2 copies pretty highly. There’s a good chance this is Green’s best common
Bull's Strength image 1.5 Like most versions of this that we’ve seen, it is pretty reasonable. The boost it gives will allow you to win combat, and trample will even allow you to do some damage out of nowhere. The untap clause also gives a creature pseudo vigilance, or allows you to ambush an opposing creature, though like with most tricks, you generally prefer to use it offensively -- but the additional flexibility doesn’t hurt. It is still a trick though and comes with all those inherent risks I always talk about -- its situational, and if things go wrong you get blown out really hard.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Deadly Dispute
Split the Party image 2.5 This is a unique design for a bounce spell, and I think most of the time it will be pretty alright. You probably want to be bouncing two things with it to feel good about the amount of mana you spend on it, and you can do that as long as they have three creatures since it is rounded up. There will be times where it just doesn’t matter though, even when you bounce a couple of things. A decent chunk of the time, this will either simply delay the inevitable. This kind of effect does not allow you to trade card-for-card and is pure tempo, so keep that in mind. I think overall, that just makes this a 2.5
Goblin Morningstar image 3.5 This looks like some pretty good Equipment ot me. While the stats boost isn’t incredible or anything, adding Trample does mean it will be nice to put on medium to large creatures, and the fact that you get a 1/1 goblin when you play it is quite nice, really making up for the other inefficiencies. It equipping to that goblin certainly is nice too, especially as a two-drop.
You See a Guard Approach image 1.0 Individually, these effects are not worth an entire card. They’re just too situational. Sure, it feels good to give your creature hexproof in response to removal, but there will be lots of times where that effect doesn’t matter. The tap effect is even more underwhelming, and while it can allow you to stop something from attacking you, or maybe help you attack more effectively, it will also be useless a decent chunk of the time. Each of those, cards, individually -- would be almost unplayable. If you put them together, you obviously have a better card that you’ll actually be able to use sometimes, but I still don’t think it is very good.
Precipitous Drop image 3.5 I think I would play this most of the time even without the “completed dungeon” bonus. The Aura + Venture is going to be good enough for that, and then the completed dungeon bonus makes this far more potent. One nice thing about this card is that you can stick it on a creature and then get the bonus later once you complete a dungeon, at which point it slikely to just kill whatever it is. I think this gets into the lower range of premium.
Deadly Dispute image 2.0 The prevalence of treasure, especially in Black-Red, will make this better than it looks. This kind of effect often plays a lot like Tormenting Voice, which is to say – its pretty replaceable, but I think this will be better than usual thanks to the fact it is good with treasure and it produces treasure. It of course still comes with the upside of being able to sacrifice a creature in response to removal, at which point you really aren’t going down a card either.
Earth-Cult Elemental image 2.5 This offers some decent top-of-the-curve stats for Limited, and it has a pretty nice D20 ability. It won’t be awesome to roll 1-9, but the effect is at least symmetrical. It will be true that sometimes it doesn’t hurt your opponent as much as it hurts you, but the opposite will sometimes be true too. Then, the effect is one sided if you roll a 10 or more, which will be well worth the mana you spend. If you always roll 10-20 with it, it is probably one of the better Commons in the set, but unfortunately it won’t go that way, we have to think about the fail cases too! The presence of Treasure in this set also means your opponent will have more permanents than normal to sacrifice, which weakens it further.
Charmed Sleep image 3.5 I’m always hesitant to give Blue removal a “premium removal” grade, because it seems more often than not they don’t get there due to various disadvantages, but I think this gets there just barely. It did last time we saw it too. It doesn’t shut down static or activated abilities, but most creatures will become useless once this is on it.
Baleful Beholder image 3.0 If you’re looking for some kind of finisher in a Black deck, this Beholder isn’t a terrible place to turn. Sometimes giving menace to your whole time will just win you the game on the spot, other times it won’t do anything --- the average situation is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, it lets one of your creatures attack who couldn’t, but that’s still not bad when attached to a 6-mana 6/5. Additionally, the fact it can get rid of Enchantments in a pinch is nice too.
Unexpected Windfall image 2.0 This seems like a decent card for Most red decks to get one copy of. 4 mana is a lot for Tormenting Voice, but the two Treasure you get means this card also gives you some very real fixing, in addition to helping you dig deeper into your deck.
Swarming Goblins image 3.0 This seems like a pretty nice 5-drop. The worst case is 5 mana for a 4/3 and a 1/1, and that’s a pretty passable card -- if you get two tokens out of this it is going to feel well worth the investment, and obviously on the rare occasions you hit 20 you’ll feel like you’re robbing the bank.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Hired Hexblade
Demogorgon's Clutches image 1.5 They continue to print Mind Rots that are at least somewhat reasonable in Limited, and that’s a good trend I think. The problem with the discard part of this card is how much its usefulness decreases in the late game, like it is usually a god awful top deck to draw your Mind Rot late. And, early, it is often better to just add to the board. So there’s sort of a sweet spot of a few turns where you kind of hope you get the card where it will feel at its best. That’s why straight up Mind Rot is usually like a 1.0. However, by adding some additional effects to the card – especially the part where your opponent loses 2 life --- it makes it so this Mind Rot actually does something even late. It still isn’t good late, mind you, but it is better than most of its predecessors.
Improvised Weaponry image 3.0 This probably isn’t quite premium removal, given that it does 2 for three mana and is a Sorcery. However, the fact that it can hit the opponent and it is a removal spell that gives you fixing and ramp is definitely appealing, even if won’t feel that efficient.
You Come to a River image 3.0 This is a solid modal card. Usually, just a card that does the “Fight the Current” option, is something that makes the cut a decent chunk of the time. It has the flexibility of dealing, at least temporarily, with multiple permanent types, and you can even use it to actually take away a card permanently if your opponent tries to put auras or combat tricks on their creatures. The other option you’ll basically only choose when its lethal, but that is some nice upside to have on an already solid card.
Hired Hexblade image 3.0 This seems like a solid card. Worst-case, you have a grizzly bear, and best case you have a two mana 2/2 that draws you a card -- which is just a great deal. There is enough treasure in this set that casting this with it isn’t a pipe dream, but you probably shouldn’t expect to be able to do it on turn two. Still, playing this later, once you have that treasure, will be nice since it will have relevance in the late game too when you do it.
Air-Cult Elemental image 3.0 This is one big Man-O’-War! A 6-mana 2/5 Flyer is a bad rate, but because this bounces another creature, you’ll often feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. If you know me, you know I always love this kind of effect – and there’s a reason for that, it is great in Limited! Adding to your board while subtracting from your opponent’s is one of the best feelings you can have! And yeah, while the 2/5 stats aren’t exactly incredible, it is enough that the elemental can still be a little bit of a threat in the sky, or be an effective blocker. It does cost 6 mana, so you don’t really want more than one of them, but I think I’m going to value the first copy relatively highly.
Unexpected Windfall image 2.0 This seems like a decent card for Most red decks to get one copy of. 4 mana is a lot for Tormenting Voice, but the two Treasure you get means this card also gives you some very real fixing, in addition to helping you dig deeper into your deck.
Thieves' Tools image 2.5 This will fight nicely into UB, because that color is all about making small creatures evasive and getting value when they do combat damage, and it will fit nicely in BR because it likes treasures.
You See a Guard Approach image 1.0 Individually, these effects are not worth an entire card. They’re just too situational. Sure, it feels good to give your creature hexproof in response to removal, but there will be lots of times where that effect doesn’t matter. The tap effect is even more underwhelming, and while it can allow you to stop something from attacking you, or maybe help you attack more effectively, it will also be useless a decent chunk of the time. Each of those, cards, individually -- would be almost unplayable. If you put them together, you obviously have a better card that you’ll actually be able to use sometimes, but I still don’t think it is very good.
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Bull's Strength
Dueling Rapier image 2.5 So, the Equip cost here is obviously really steep, and +2/+0 for a single Red mana would not be an awesome combat trick, but in this case we’re talking about a combat trick that has the stats boost stick around in one form or another. Even if your creature dies, you have something on the battlefield, even if it does cost a lot to Equip, and if you can help a creature win and survive combat and keep this equipped to it, it’s going ot feel pretty good. In a lot of ways, it is still a glorified combat trick, but I’ve underestimated auras and equipment with Flash in the past, dismissing them as combat tricks, so I thinkt his will defy expectations. Still, it probably isn’t much more than a solid playable.
Clever Conjurer image 2.5 This ability only being Sorcery speed is a bummer, but it is still a pretty useful one to have on a 3-mana ⅔. Notably, it can untap lands for you, helping you ramp. And that’s probably the way you’ll use it the most. This seems like a solid playable.
Bull's Strength image 1.5 Like most versions of this that we’ve seen, it is pretty reasonable. The boost it gives will allow you to win combat, and trample will even allow you to do some damage out of nowhere. The untap clause also gives a creature pseudo vigilance, or allows you to ambush an opposing creature, though like with most tricks, you generally prefer to use it offensively -- but the additional flexibility doesn’t hurt. It is still a trick though and comes with all those inherent risks I always talk about -- its situational, and if things go wrong you get blown out really hard.
Delver's Torch image 2.0 The cost of playing this and Equipping it is pretty high for only a +1/+1 stat boost. Venturing every time the creature attacks is where the real value is, but as high as I am on Venture, I’m not a huge fan of this card. It doesn’t do a whole lot to help one of your creatures attack that couldn’t already attack before, and I think that’s the big thing you want Equipment to do for you, and +1/+1 isn’t going to do it that often, which won’t feel great for such a high Equip cost. If you already have Evasive creatures or a big creature it could be nice because you can get the Venture going, but yeah, I think this is clunky and overwhelming overall
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Compelled Duel image 1.0 I’m never a huge fan of this type of card. It isn’t easy to get 2-for-1’d when you cast it, and it is fairly situational. However, this is cheaper than most versions of this we’ve seen. +3/+3 is going to be enough to make just about any creature into a problem, though keep in mind that your opponent only needs to use one blocker here – it isn’t that all creatures have to block – just one does. So you need to end up in situations where the 3 damage either wins you the game or you take down an important creature, but a lot of the time their important creature will be attacking you.
Unexpected Windfall image 2.0 This seems like a decent card for Most red decks to get one copy of. 4 mana is a lot for Tormenting Voice, but the two Treasure you get means this card also gives you some very real fixing, in addition to helping you dig deeper into your deck.
Mordenkainen's Polymorph image 1.0 This kind of card always looks really cool, and that’s because it is easy to think of situations where it does something. But, even though there are several of them -- like making a creature big enough to block something it couldn’t before, or shrinking an opposing creature, or doing 4 lethal damage int he air, or saving a creature from damage-based removal -- even with all of those possibilities, you’d be surprised how infrequently a situation emerges where this will actually do something. We’ve seen a ton of cards like this over the years, and they always significantly underperform. I can’t see that changing here.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Find the Path
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
You Hear Something on Watch image 3.0 This seems like a pretty nice Common. Sure, the removal effect only works on attackers, so if you’re the beat down it won’t feel great -- but the good news is if you are the beat down, you’re probably interested in the other mode, since it pays you off pretty well for going wide. The removal is too situational to be premium, but it will kill lots of attackers, and having the board pump effect as an option is pretty nice.
Neverwinter Dryad image 2.5 This is a fine one drop. It ramps for you, and that looks to be a good strategy in this format, especially in UG. It is nice that if you play it early it might actually attack for a bit too
Delver's Torch image 2.0 The cost of playing this and Equipping it is pretty high for only a +1/+1 stat boost. Venturing every time the creature attacks is where the real value is, but as high as I am on Venture, I’m not a huge fan of this card. It doesn’t do a whole lot to help one of your creatures attack that couldn’t already attack before, and I think that’s the big thing you want Equipment to do for you, and +1/+1 isn’t going to do it that often, which won’t feel great for such a high Equip cost. If you already have Evasive creatures or a big creature it could be nice because you can get the Venture going, but yeah, I think this is clunky and overwhelming overall
Elturgard Ranger image 3.0 So, for 5 mana you get a 4/1 and a 2/2 -- in other words 6/3 worth of stats. A 5-mana 6/3 wouldn’t be good, but spread across two bodies this gets pretty interesting, plus a 4/1 with Reach has the kind of size to take down some of the dragons in the set, and that definitely matters. It feels like you’ll be able to get a 2-for-1 out of this a decent chunk of the time, and I think most Green decks will be interested in playing the first copy.
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Hobgoblin Captain
You See a Pair of Goblins image 3.0 This is a pretty nice modal card. If you’re not going wide enough, make a couple of Goblins at Instant speed. If you are going wide enough, this is basically trumpet blast. Neither of those cards are amazing, but jamming them both on to the same card is good, and really helps make a go-wide deck viable.
Contact Other Plane image 3.0 So, with a 1-9 you’re getting an Instant speed Divination that costs one extra, which isn’t great, that would probably be a 1.5 or 2.0, but isn’t the worst fail case when the 10-19 gives you a pretty great effect for the cost -- like Behold the Multiverse without Foretell, and that’s a good place to be. Obviously, rolling the 20 will be completely absurd. If that’s what this card always did, it would be like a 4.0. We have to sort of think about what’s the most likely with this, and I think the fail case is passable enough that I’m pretty happy with this over all, as 10-19 is a pretty likely outcome, and that card would probably be a B-. In the end, I think all of that makes this a 3.0.
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Planar Ally image 3.5 We have seen a lot of 5-mana 3/3 Flyers of late that have some ability, and they’ve all been pretty nice cards for Limited, and I think that’s what we have here. Venturing with every attack is great, as the Ally, left unchecked, will be able to get you through dungeons all on its own. This format does have more large flyers than usual as a result of the heavy Dragon theme, so this may find itself unable to attack effectively more than it would in most formats, but I think this is still a pretty good Common.
Farideh's Fireball image 5.0 I think this sneaks into the lower range of premium removal. 5 mana to do 5 to something at Instant speed is perhaps not the most efficient thing ever, but it does kill most stuff, and the fac that your opponent also always takes 2 is enough to nudge this into that premium range. Sure, it will do 2 to you sometimes too, but that’s okay. This is the kind of card that will plummet in its score if the format turns out to be fast though, so keep that in mind.
Hobgoblin Captain image 2.5 This looks like it might be a nice two drop for aggressive decks in the format. A two mana 3/1 is already playable in many formats, and because he supplies half the power necessary to make pack tactics go off, it seems likely he will have first strike a lot. For now, I have it at 2.5, but if aggro is huge in this format, it will probably move up.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Boots of Speed
Spiked Pit Trap image 1.5 Lots of sets lately seem to have an Artifact that is a removal spell, and it is nice that you can play them in any deck, but they tend to be pretty inefficient, and that’s kind of the case here. You pay 6 mana total for 5 damage, and you might also get a Treasure. It does have Flash, which makes it so you can sort of ambush kill things, but yeah, you probably don’t end up playing this unless you’re short on good removal
Boots of Speed image 2.0 The boost this offers for the casting cost and the equip cost is pretty reasonable, as paying one more to give something new Haste and +1/+0 will feel pretty good sometimes, especially in a set where there’s an Equipment archetype.
Thieves' Tools image 2.5 This will fight nicely into UB, because that color is all about making small creatures evasive and getting value when they do combat damage, and it will fit nicely in BR because it likes treasures.
Clever Conjurer image 2.5 This ability only being Sorcery speed is a bummer, but it is still a pretty useful one to have on a 3-mana ⅔. Notably, it can untap lands for you, helping you ramp. And that’s probably the way you’ll use it the most. This seems like a solid playable.
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Pack 1 Pick 11: Bard Class
Bard Class image 1.0 This set does have a significant number of legendaries in it, but I’m not convinced there will be enough to really make this worthwhile. It is all about legendaries, and does literal nothing if you don’t have enough of them. I could give it a build around grade, but I think it will be so difficult to make this work that I don’t think I need to go there
Shocking Grasp image 1.5 The effect here isn’t very exciting. This Blue “combat tricks” really need your board to already have something big enough to deal with an attacking creature, or to blow up a block, and that really makes them pretty unimpressive. Obviously, adding a cantrip to the card does it make it better, because it means that at worse, you’re going to be able to Cycle this, but it still isn’t something that will make the cut in your deck all that often.
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Manticore image 3.0 These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Fates' Reversal
Fates' Reversal image 2.5 So, usually Black has a common that lets you return two creatures, and it is usually a serviceable enough card that you basically always want the first copy of. They are situational, since they don’t do anything until late, but they can really help you grind out a win. This doesn’t do that exactly but I could see it offering similar value sometimes as a creature + Venture won’t feel too shabby.
Herald of Hadar image 1.5 This is a bit clunky as a 5-mana 4/4, but the activated ability, as expensive as it is -- is a pretty nice late game mana sink. The ability, no matter what you roll, provides some serious reach. It is probably still too slow to make the cut on a super regular basis, though.
+2 Mace image 2.0 This gives an alright boost for the mana it costs to play and equip, but it isn’t crazy efficient or anything, and it will probably be cut a decent chunk of the time.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Split the Party
Split the Party image 2.5 This is a unique design for a bounce spell, and I think most of the time it will be pretty alright. You probably want to be bouncing two things with it to feel good about the amount of mana you spend on it, and you can do that as long as they have three creatures since it is rounded up. There will be times where it just doesn’t matter though, even when you bounce a couple of things. A decent chunk of the time, this will either simply delay the inevitable. This kind of effect does not allow you to trade card-for-card and is pure tempo, so keep that in mind. I think overall, that just makes this a 2.5
You See a Guard Approach image 1.0 Individually, these effects are not worth an entire card. They’re just too situational. Sure, it feels good to give your creature hexproof in response to removal, but there will be lots of times where that effect doesn’t matter. The tap effect is even more underwhelming, and while it can allow you to stop something from attacking you, or maybe help you attack more effectively, it will also be useless a decent chunk of the time. Each of those, cards, individually -- would be almost unplayable. If you put them together, you obviously have a better card that you’ll actually be able to use sometimes, but I still don’t think it is very good.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Pixie Guide
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Gnoll Hunter
Grand Master of Flowers image 4.0 This is not the kind of planeswalker that will take over the game with ease, but it still seems pretty good. His first +1 is where you’ll get the most bang for your buck, as making creatures unable to attack or block can have a pretty big impact on the game, and can allow the Grand Master to protect itself. Now, he can’t stop creatures with some pretty common key-word ability, but that’s okay – he can still stop most stuff. His other +1 is only going to be useful if you have also drafted Monk of the Open Hand. We’ll see the monk later in this video. It is an Uncommon, and a pretty nice one drop, but you aren’t really guaranteed to get one in your draft, so that effect might be useless. If you can get a monk or two, though, that other +1 will feel good while you can use it, as you get a body to protect the Grand Master. Obviously the big goal here is to get the Grand Master up to 7 loyalty, at which point he becomes a huge indestructible Dragon, but making that happen won’t be easy. It will take 4 turns to get there, and while he can protect himself to some extent, he’s not so good at it that it will be easy to make that happen. Now, your opponent will want to commit significant resources to keeping his loyalty from getting that high, and that will also give you some value. All in all though, I don’t think this is a bomb planeswalker – merely a good one.
Temple of the Dragon Queen image 2.5 Even without dragons, this offers some pretty nice fixing. It is always a bit awkward with these types of lands that make you choose a color, because sometimes you have to play it earlier and name the color of something you aren’t splashing, just cause you need a different color of mana, but this still looks like the kind of fixing that will help decks splash stuff
Bag of Holding image 2.5 This was a predictable reprint, given the theme of this set. Last time we saw it, it was a Rare, and it was a pretty decent card. Having a card that just lets you sink mana into it to loot is itself a nice thing to have around, and the fact that you can actually eventually get the stuff back that you put on the Bag is nice upside, though it won’t come up that often. It still doesn’t have a real board presence, so it isn’t nearly as good as a creature who can loot for you
Green Dragon image 3.5 This whole cycle is pretty nice, and Green Dragon doesn’t really disappoint. A 6-mana 4/4 Flyer is often a borderline playable, but its ETB trigger is also going to be a huge headache for people to contend with. Now, there will be some board states where it doesn’t do much, but the card has a reasonable base line and will sometimes set up situations where your opponent just has to block to not die, which means they lose their creatures.
Precipitous Drop image 3.5 I think I would play this most of the time even without the “completed dungeon” bonus. The Aura + Venture is going to be good enough for that, and then the completed dungeon bonus makes this far more potent. One nice thing about this card is that you can stick it on a creature and then get the bonus later once you complete a dungeon, at which point it slikely to just kill whatever it is. I think this gets into the lower range of premium.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 This is always some really great fixing, as it makes it very easy to splash a secondary color while only running a single basic of that color, and that always feels great for your mana base. They also make any mana base significantly better, even if you are just straight up two colors. You should value these over most “solid” cards
Gnoll Hunter image 3.0 This is a fine two drop. It is a bear as a baseline, and it can get bigger if it has enough friends. That’s good enough upside for this to be a nice two-drop for Green decks.
Improvised Weaponry image 3.0 This probably isn’t quite premium removal, given that it does 2 for three mana and is a Sorcery. However, the fact that it can hit the opponent and it is a removal spell that gives you fixing and ramp is definitely appealing, even if won’t feel that efficient.
Djinni Windseer image 3.5 I was already pretty sold on a 4-mana 3/3 Flyer, so adding the d20 effect is just gravy. Even just Scrying 1 with this will feel like you’re getting nice value, and sometimes it will do more than that. The set also has some d20 payoffs, especially in UR, making it marginally better than that. It isn’t the most exciting card, but it is a pretty darn good Common.
Spare Dagger image 1.0 The stats boost it offers is pretty weak, and giving up a whole card to ping something isn’t really something I’m interested in. This IS an equipment, and RW cares about that, so it probably gets played more often than it would in most formats
Scaled Herbalist image 2.0 When you get this down early, it will feel pretty nice. It doesn’t have the best stats, but you are likely to have the extra lands necessary to take advantage of its ability. In the mid-to-late-game it becomes increasingly useless though, unless you’re able to draw a whole bunch of cards
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Herald of Hadar image 1.5 This is a bit clunky as a 5-mana 4/4, but the activated ability, as expensive as it is -- is a pretty nice late game mana sink. The ability, no matter what you roll, provides some serious reach. It is probably still too slow to make the cut on a super regular basis, though.
Veteran Dungeoneer image 3.5 This seems like a pretty darn good Common. As I’ve said throughout the video, Venturing isn’t quite drawing a card most of the time, but it gives you value that isn’t that far away from drawing a card, and if this was a 4-mana ¾ that drew you a card, it would be amazing. And again, this won’t quite feel like a 2-for-1 all the time, but it does do a lot for the mana cost, and enough to be one of White’s best Commons.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Meteor Swarm
Meteor Swarm image 4.0 Well, this is really good. At worst, you pay 4 to kill your opponent’s big creature, and if your opponent has a bunch of small guys in play, you can pay more to pick them all off. This isn’t quite a bomb, but it is certainly premium removal, and will reshape many games.
Ray of Frost image 3.0 This whole cycle of color hosers is nice, because they are all perfectly playable cards even if you don’t play against the color they hate on, and when you do play against them, the cards in this cycle will get a massive upgrade, and that’s certainly the case here. The fact this doesn’t tap the creature itself is pretty rough, as you have to wait until your opponent has a tapped creature for it to really do something. The fact it has Flash does make it easier for you to find that window, but if this card didn’t have the Red-hating upside, it would probably just be a 2.5. And, against decks with Red targets for this, it will feel premium
Death-Priest of Myrkul image 4.0 This card really feels like a Rare, and that’s always a good sign for an Uncommon! Sure, he has some ugly stats for the cost, but everything else going on here is great. There are enough creatures with those types in Black in this set that it will be pumping 3-5 of the creatures in your deck, and sometimes more, but the real value comes from the ability to make 1/1 Skeletons, which, if the Deathpriest is in play, will of course be 2/2 skeletons! You won’t always be able to trigger that effortlessly, but it will happen often enough for the Deathpriest to be a very real problem for your opponent, and the great thing is, after you make that first one, you’re going to be getting value even if they do find removal for it!
Gretchen Titchwillow image 3.5 That stat-line is a passable one for a defensive creature that does something else, and Gretchen definitely does, supplying you with a very powerful mana sink ability that will be a life saver in the late game. The extra land part of the card won’t always matter, since most of the time when you start using this ability you’re probably not going to be in desperate need of more lands, but it could definitely help, especially in UG, which is a ramp color pair as it often is.
Air-Cult Elemental image 3.0 This is one big Man-O’-War! A 6-mana 2/5 Flyer is a bad rate, but because this bounces another creature, you’ll often feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. If you know me, you know I always love this kind of effect – and there’s a reason for that, it is great in Limited! Adding to your board while subtracting from your opponent’s is one of the best feelings you can have! And yeah, while the 2/5 stats aren’t exactly incredible, it is enough that the elemental can still be a little bit of a threat in the sky, or be an effective blocker. It does cost 6 mana, so you don’t really want more than one of them, but I think I’m going to value the first copy relatively highly.
Precipitous Drop image 3.5 I think I would play this most of the time even without the “completed dungeon” bonus. The Aura + Venture is going to be good enough for that, and then the completed dungeon bonus makes this far more potent. One nice thing about this card is that you can stick it on a creature and then get the bonus later once you complete a dungeon, at which point it slikely to just kill whatever it is. I think this gets into the lower range of premium.
Devoted Paladin image 3.5 Pumping your whole board and giving it Vigilance almost always seems to allow for some serious attacking on your part. After all, your creatures are bigger, and you’re going to be able to leave them all back as blockers even if you’re going to attack with them! We’ve seen similar cards like Dawnfeather Eagle end up great in Limited, and this format does look like it has the means to go wide effectively, and if that’s true, the Paladin is going to be one of the cards you want the most to round out your top curve.
Hoarding Ogre image 2.0 This has Hill Giant stats and a serviceable attack trigger. Because it makes treasure, you can really count this creature as fixing, and that’s typically a valuable thing to have in Limited, plus this set has some nice treasure payoffs.
You're Ambushed on the Road image 1.5 LIke most of this cycle, this card takes two options that would not be a great card on their own and puts them together, and the product is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. White-Blue especially is interested in bouncing its own creatures to retrigger ETB abilities, so that part of the card will come up in ways other than just to save a creature from removal. The trick part is mediocre, but will find its place. Each card individually would be a 1.0 at best, but together, I think the options make this card a pretty decent playable.
Hired Hexblade image 3.0 This seems like a solid card. Worst-case, you have a grizzly bear, and best case you have a two mana 2/2 that draws you a card -- which is just a great deal. There is enough treasure in this set that casting this with it isn’t a pipe dream, but you probably shouldn’t expect to be able to do it on turn two. Still, playing this later, once you have that treasure, will be nice since it will have relevance in the late game too when you do it.
Underdark Basilisk image 2.5 It is pretty hard for small creatures with Deathtouch not to be playable, since they bring the capability of trading with anything. This makes them relevant all game long, though never super impressive. They also tend to be good with fight and punch spells
Fates' Reversal image 2.5 So, usually Black has a common that lets you return two creatures, and it is usually a serviceable enough card that you basically always want the first copy of. They are situational, since they don’t do anything until late, but they can really help you grind out a win. This doesn’t do that exactly but I could see it offering similar value sometimes as a creature + Venture won’t feel too shabby.
Valor Singer image 3.0 This type of effect tends to be a bit better than it looks. I mean, on his own he is effectively a 3-mana 3/3 in most cases, and you’ll often have other creatures on which you can use the ability that might have more of an impact. At the very least, this seems like a solid playable.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Burning Hands
Treasure Chest image 3.0 So, most of the time this will do something nice. Rolling that one will feel brutal, but it won’t happen often. Rolling 2-9 isn’t the best thing ever either, as using up a card for five treasures won’t always matter, but it is some pretty nice fixing and ramp at least. You’re really in business with 10+, though -- when you do that, this will have an insane effect, as drawing 3 life and drawing three cards will be enough to win you the game in many cases. Funnily enough, I don’t think rolling a 20 will be better than 10-19 in most Limited decks, so you will get the best effect here pretty often. This is obviously a super random card, but I think it will do what you want often enough to be worth playing
Keen-Eared Sentry image 1.5 This doesn’t seem that good to me. Giving yourself hexproof won’t matter very often, and neither will limiting your opponent to only one venture a turn. Maybe this is here to help provide some Dungeon hate for constructed, where venturing more than once a turn will happen all the time, but in Limited, it isn’t going to happen so often that you desperately want this little two drop. It does have an okay baseline, so it isn’t terrible, but its text box won’t matter that much.
Wandering Troubadour image 4.0 While this isn’t quite Landfall - Venture into a dungeon, it is a close approximation of that, and that seems pretty awesome. You have to wait to venture until the end of your turn, so if your opponent can kill the Bard after you play the land you won’t get to Venture, so keep that in mind when you play with and against this, but the fact that this can venture for you if you’re hitting land drops is pretty awesome. A 4-mana 4/2 isnt’ exactly a world beater, but it is the kind of stat-line that does trade pretty well with bigger creatures, so that’s nice too. I think this is going to be something you take pretty highly
Burning Hands image 3.5 As we’ve seen with most of this cycle, this is a pretty good card even without the color hosing effect. Normally, two mana to do 2 to something at Instant speed would probably be a 2.5. It isn’t quite premium, just because it can only kill small stuff and not that efficiently. However, I do think adding the huge upside against Green permanents in a big deal, as when you go against a Green deck this will feel like a 4.0!
Arborea Pegasus image 3.0 This is a pretty good Common. The ETB trigger will almost always enable an attack you didn’t have before, and that means that the Pegasus will have an immediate impact on the board, in addition to being a 4-mana 2/3 Flyer itself.
Soulknife Spy image 3.0 Creatures with this combat trigger tend to be pretty nice in Limited, and this one has more reasonable stats than the ones we usually see at lower rarities. Drawing a card is big, and is the kind of thing your opponent will have to account for one way or another, or the extra cards this gets you will help you win the game. It doesn’t hurt that UB has a significant number of ways to make the creature evasive, either! One particularly nasty combo that you’ll see a lot, because the two cards are Common and Uncommon two will be Fly + Soulknife spy.
Shortcut Seeker image 2.0 This has some okay defensive stats, but unfortunately it needs to do damage to a player to actually do something real, making it kind of an odd card. UB is going to be pretty good at making creatures gain evasion, but I’m not super interested in this.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Hired Hexblade image 3.0 This seems like a solid card. Worst-case, you have a grizzly bear, and best case you have a two mana 2/2 that draws you a card -- which is just a great deal. There is enough treasure in this set that casting this with it isn’t a pipe dream, but you probably shouldn’t expect to be able to do it on turn two. Still, playing this later, once you have that treasure, will be nice since it will have relevance in the late game too when you do it.
Valor Singer image 3.0 This type of effect tends to be a bit better than it looks. I mean, on his own he is effectively a 3-mana 3/3 in most cases, and you’ll often have other creatures on which you can use the ability that might have more of an impact. At the very least, this seems like a solid playable.
Plundering Barbarian image 2.5 This seems like a solid card. This format has enough artifacts that this will have something to target often enough with “Smash the Chest,” and it feel great when you do that. When you don’t, it provides some reasonable fixing for you with “Pry it Open.”
Hill Giant Herdgorger image 2.5 This seems like a fine finisher for Green decks. You’re probably going to hope you have a rare or Uncommon in that slot, but this card is similar enough to Ravenous Lindwurm and Honey Mammoth to make me feel like it has a nice shot. I have a feeling it might not be quite as good as those cards, because this format looks like it is probably going to be faster than Kaldheim, but it looks pretty solid to me
Pack 2 Pick 4: Intrepid Outlander
Wight image 3.5 A two-mana 3/2 that enters tapped would already be a decent playable, but the additional effect here is quite good. Most of the time you won’t be making more than one Zombie, but that’s fine. if you are up against this card, trading with it will feel pretty miserable because of that Zombie token. You can even triple block something huge to take it down and still get back a little bit of value. Basically, it is a nice attacker and blocker that replaces itself. It isn’t super exciting, but it is definitely pretty good.
Intrepid Outlander image 3.5 This starts out with nice base stats. Reach tends to perform pretty well in Limited, especially in colors that don’t have that much access to Green, and obviously the Pack Tactics trigger here is quite powerful. Venturing into Dungeons is going to be the source of a ton of value in this format, and Intrepid Outlander can help you do it sometimes
Rust Monster image 3.5 There are enough artifacts in this set that Rust Monster will be quite imposing on some boards. This is especially true because Red has so much treasure. Even the starting point here – a 3-mana 2/1 with First Strike – isn’t bad, but any time you attack with artifacts in play your opponent is going to have really hard decision to make. I think the Monster is well-supported enough in this set that it is probably worth a first pick in some weaker packs.
Valor Singer image 3.0 This type of effect tends to be a bit better than it looks. I mean, on his own he is effectively a 3-mana 3/3 in most cases, and you’ll often have other creatures on which you can use the ability that might have more of an impact. At the very least, this seems like a solid playable.
You Find a Cursed Idol image 2.0 This seems like a solid card to me. The modality here is great, and most of the time if you can blow up an Artifact or Enchantment, that’s where you’re going to go, but it is great that it has a fail case of Venture + Treasure, which won’t always feel like a whol card’s worth of value, but it gets pretty close. This is sort of like a Naturalize with Cycling in that sense, and that’s always a decent card
Manticore image 3.0 These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
Dwarfhold Champion image 2.5 A two mana 3/1 tends to be a reasonable baseline for aggro decks, and this comes with some decent additional upside. Gaining toughness when you equip it will feel pretty nice, as obviously a 3/1 is pretty vulnerable
Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade image 2.5 This has a powerful combat damage to a player trigger, and because it has death touch your opponent will be put in a difficult position with it sometimes. Repeatable Venturing seems pretty powerful, and UB seems the most well-positioned to help creatures like this get evasion
Ranger's Longbow image 1.5 This gives a reasonable boost and key word for the cost, though it isn’t anything special.
Eyes of the Beholder image 3.0 It is pretty difficult for a card to be premium removal when it costs 6 mana – unless of course it also draws you a card, like Rise of Extus in Strixhaven. Eye of the Beholder can definitely kill almost everything, but six mana is a whole lot! It is an Instant, which does means sometimes you’ll be able to manufacture some blowouts. I think you’ll always be reasonably happy with the first copy of this, but running more than that is pretty risky.
Zombie Ogre image 2.5 This has kind decent defensive stats, but the real value comes from its ability to Venture into the Dungeon, which it can do without any mana investment at all. Sure, you have to have your creature die, but that’s a common enough occurrence that this will be able to Venture for you a decent amount of the time. Playing it in the second main phase after a creature has ALREADY died will feel particularly good, because you’ll be getting that value at your End Step most of the time. This seems like a solid Common
Pack 2 Pick 5: Evolving Wilds
Gretchen Titchwillow image 3.5 That stat-line is a passable one for a defensive creature that does something else, and Gretchen definitely does, supplying you with a very powerful mana sink ability that will be a life saver in the late game. The extra land part of the card won’t always matter, since most of the time when you start using this ability you’re probably not going to be in desperate need of more lands, but it could definitely help, especially in UG, which is a ramp color pair as it often is.
Fifty Feet of Rope image 2.0 Well, this is interesting. “Climb Over” won’t matter very often, and “Tie Up” is perhaps a little too situational too. Because it doesn’t tap the creature as part of the effect, it will only do a thing against creatures that already tapped. The part that intrigues me the most is Venturing into the Dungeon, but even that seems a little clunky, though it is obviously a late game mana sink. The first two modes will be hard to make use of early or even late, and the Venture into the Dungeon option is pretty good late, but I can see this sitting ont he table doing very little early, and that’s kind of rough. This is definitely the kind of card it is easy to miss on, because it is both unusual and utilizes a new mechanic, but I don’t think I’m super high on it right now
Trelasarra, Moon Dancer image 3.5 This is a very powerful life gain payoff for the GW deck. If you’ve ever played with Ajani’s Pridemate, you know what I’m talking about! And this trigger is even better than that one! Adding Scry can help you find more ways to gain life too, to keep the party going. This is going to be a high pick, even as a multi-colored card
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 This is always some really great fixing, as it makes it very easy to splash a secondary color while only running a single basic of that color, and that always feels great for your mana base. They also make any mana base significantly better, even if you are just straight up two colors. You should value these over most “solid” cards
You Come to a River image 3.0 This is a solid modal card. Usually, just a card that does the “Fight the Current” option, is something that makes the cut a decent chunk of the time. It has the flexibility of dealing, at least temporarily, with multiple permanent types, and you can even use it to actually take away a card permanently if your opponent tries to put auras or combat tricks on their creatures. The other option you’ll basically only choose when its lethal, but that is some nice upside to have on an already solid card.
Elturgard Ranger image 3.0 So, for 5 mana you get a 4/1 and a 2/2 -- in other words 6/3 worth of stats. A 5-mana 6/3 wouldn’t be good, but spread across two bodies this gets pretty interesting, plus a 4/1 with Reach has the kind of size to take down some of the dragons in the set, and that definitely matters. It feels like you’ll be able to get a 2-for-1 out of this a decent chunk of the time, and I think most Green decks will be interested in playing the first copy.
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Manticore image 3.0 These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
You See a Guard Approach image 1.0 Individually, these effects are not worth an entire card. They’re just too situational. Sure, it feels good to give your creature hexproof in response to removal, but there will be lots of times where that effect doesn’t matter. The tap effect is even more underwhelming, and while it can allow you to stop something from attacking you, or maybe help you attack more effectively, it will also be useless a decent chunk of the time. Each of those, cards, individually -- would be almost unplayable. If you put them together, you obviously have a better card that you’ll actually be able to use sometimes, but I still don’t think it is very good.
Mordenkainen's Polymorph image 1.0 This kind of card always looks really cool, and that’s because it is easy to think of situations where it does something. But, even though there are several of them -- like making a creature big enough to block something it couldn’t before, or shrinking an opposing creature, or doing 4 lethal damage int he air, or saving a creature from damage-based removal -- even with all of those possibilities, you’d be surprised how infrequently a situation emerges where this will actually do something. We’ve seen a ton of cards like this over the years, and they always significantly underperform. I can’t see that changing here.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Boots of Speed
Dragon's Disciple image 2.0 This is a nice Dragon payoff, as being able to play this as a two-mana 2/4 will feel pretty great, especially on turn 2! Adding Ward 1 to all your dragons isn’t too shabby either. The fact that this has a fail case of being a two mana ⅓ gives it a not entirely terrible floor too. There are enough Dragons around in this set for you to be able to take full advantage of this a decent chunk of the time. You probably need like 3 in your deck to feel good about it, but when you get there, this will be a nice card for you.
Power of Persuasion image 3.0 Rolling 1-9 here isn’t going to feel very good, as you’re just not getting your 3 mana’s worth to bounce something at Sorcery speed, but the good news is that other rolls will give you about what you’d expect -- and that’s a pseudo Time Ebb effect for 10-19, and a temporary mind control for 20. The 10-19 effect actually lets you go 1 for 1 on cards, and obviously the mind control will feel like a 2-for-1. So, yeah the 1-9 might be a bit of a bummer, but hey, at least it interacts with the opposing board and gets something off of it, which will at least give you some tempo.
Gretchen Titchwillow image 3.5 That stat-line is a passable one for a defensive creature that does something else, and Gretchen definitely does, supplying you with a very powerful mana sink ability that will be a life saver in the late game. The extra land part of the card won’t always matter, since most of the time when you start using this ability you’re probably not going to be in desperate need of more lands, but it could definitely help, especially in UG, which is a ramp color pair as it often is.
Scion of Stygia image 3.0 If you know me, you know I’m a pretty big fan of Blue creatures with bounce or tap down effects, and this is a distinctly D & D version of it, but it seems pretty good to me. The nice thing about it is, even if you roll 1-9 with it, you’re getting reasonable value out of a 3-mana 2/1, and the tap down might prevent an attack or enable a better one for you. Then, when you hit 10-20, which is slightly more likely, you’re going to feel like you’ve got an amazing deal. Basically, 1-9 this will feel like a 2.0, and 11-20 will feel like a 3.5. I think that means it gets a 3.0
Hoard Robber image 1.0 It is nice that this can make treasure, but a 1/3 just isn’t going to be getting in very often without some significant help. I don’t think you play this most of the time.
Feign Death image 1.5 Versions of this effect that are good tend to give the stats boost up front. That’s significantly better than this because it allows a smaller creature to win combat against something bigger, but this doesn’t do that. Sometimes you’ll just have to use it on a chump block, which won’t feel great. It is nice that it basically counters most removal, and it isn’t bad, just not like Supernatural Stamina or other cards we’ve seen that have been pretty solid. This just won’t do enough to make the cut super often.
Leather Armor image 0.5 This probably isn’t worth playing. Its cool that it equips for free, but the bonus it gives is negligible enough to not be worth a card in most scenarios. If you end up with a deck with a crazy amount of Equipment payoffs, which RW might have, MAYBE you end up playing it, but that’s probably the only time you do
Boots of Speed image 2.0 The boost this offers for the casting cost and the equip cost is pretty reasonable, as paying one more to give something new Haste and +1/+0 will feel pretty good sometimes, especially in a set where there’s an Equipment archetype.
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Evolving Wilds
Critical Hit image 1.0 Two mana for double strike alone isn’t the most impressive trick. The creature you use it on generally already has to be fairly impressive for it to be worthwhile, and it won’t even always allow you to win combat if your creature isn’t big enough. It is easy to imagine using this on your 6/6 Trampler, and that will happen sometimes, but you have to think of all the situations where the effect is negligible, which will be the majority of the time. The whole “natural 20” thing is cute, but won’t happen often enough for that to factor into the grade much.
Rally Maneuver image 2.0 This is an interesting trick. You typically want to only be spending 1-2 mana on tricks, but when they start being able to target multiple creatures, I get interested in more expensive ones too, since they at least have the possibility of creating a 2-for-1. This would obviously be better if it just gave +2/+0 and First Strike to two thing, but there will be situations where this lines up pretty nicely, allowing two of your creatures to win combat while gaining you some life. It is sort of unfortunate that it requires you to target two separate creatures, but this still seems pretty solid as far as tricks go. The first copy seems like it will be pretty good in White aggressive decks.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 This is always some really great fixing, as it makes it very easy to splash a secondary color while only running a single basic of that color, and that always feels great for your mana base. They also make any mana base significantly better, even if you are just straight up two colors. You should value these over most “solid” cards
Neverwinter Dryad image 2.5 This is a fine one drop. It ramps for you, and that looks to be a good strategy in this format, especially in UG. It is nice that if you play it early it might actually attack for a bit too
Clattering Skeletons image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is fine, and this comes with a nice enough death trigger. Venturing is going to be a big part of this format -- think learn/lessons in Strixhaven -- so any card that can do it for you is going to be a little better than it looks.
Dire Wolf Prowler image 1.5 This starts off with very mediocre stats. A Gray Ogre is just abysmal, and while it has a decent activated ability that can make it a 4/4 with Haste, I don’t think this does enough to be saved from being a card you cut significantly more often than you play it.
Earth-Cult Elemental image 2.5 This offers some decent top-of-the-curve stats for Limited, and it has a pretty nice D20 ability. It won’t be awesome to roll 1-9, but the effect is at least symmetrical. It will be true that sometimes it doesn’t hurt your opponent as much as it hurts you, but the opposite will sometimes be true too. Then, the effect is one sided if you roll a 10 or more, which will be well worth the mana you spend. If you always roll 10-20 with it, it is probably one of the better Commons in the set, but unfortunately it won’t go that way, we have to think about the fail cases too! The presence of Treasure in this set also means your opponent will have more permanents than normal to sacrifice, which weakens it further.
Jaded Sell-Sword image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is passable, and the Treasure upside here is nice. It will make it a formidable attacker the turn it comes down.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Dueling Rapier
Dungeon Descent image 1.0 There are a significant number of legends in this set, but I don’t think there’s going to be enough of them to get this off the ground most of the time. Mostly, it will be a tap land that actively hurts your mana base
Iron Golem image 2.5 This is like Juggernaut, a card that is still pretty solid in Limited. It is a bit of a bummer that didn’t give it the “can’t be blocked by walls” thing, since there are a few of them in this set, but either way this is a nice little creature. It is sure to die in combat because it has to block and attack constantly, but it has high enough power that it will kill most stuff at least.
Mimic image 1.0 So, this doesn’t seem amazing to me, though the flavor is quite good. Like most treasures, it can only be used the one time to give you mana, so it isn’t even the best fixing ever. And yeah, it can turn into a creature sometimes, and that’s nice upside to have on your mana, but I’m just not sure this will feel like it is worth an entire card very often. You’ll play it if you really need fixing, or maybe you have some artifact synergies, but that’s probably about it
Soulknife Spy image 3.0 Creatures with this combat trigger tend to be pretty nice in Limited, and this one has more reasonable stats than the ones we usually see at lower rarities. Drawing a card is big, and is the kind of thing your opponent will have to account for one way or another, or the extra cards this gets you will help you win the game. It doesn’t hurt that UB has a significant number of ways to make the creature evasive, either! One particularly nasty combo that you’ll see a lot, because the two cards are Common and Uncommon two will be Fly + Soulknife spy.
Ranger's Longbow image 1.5 This gives a reasonable boost and key word for the cost, though it isn’t anything special.
Zombie Ogre image 2.5 This has kind decent defensive stats, but the real value comes from its ability to Venture into the Dungeon, which it can do without any mana investment at all. Sure, you have to have your creature die, but that’s a common enough occurrence that this will be able to Venture for you a decent amount of the time. Playing it in the second main phase after a creature has ALREADY died will feel particularly good, because you’ll be getting that value at your End Step most of the time. This seems like a solid Common
Dueling Rapier image 2.5 So, the Equip cost here is obviously really steep, and +2/+0 for a single Red mana would not be an awesome combat trick, but in this case we’re talking about a combat trick that has the stats boost stick around in one form or another. Even if your creature dies, you have something on the battlefield, even if it does cost a lot to Equip, and if you can help a creature win and survive combat and keep this equipped to it, it’s going ot feel pretty good. In a lot of ways, it is still a glorified combat trick, but I’ve underestimated auras and equipment with Flash in the past, dismissing them as combat tricks, so I thinkt his will defy expectations. Still, it probably isn’t much more than a solid playable.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Green Dragon
Bag of Holding image 2.5 This was a predictable reprint, given the theme of this set. Last time we saw it, it was a Rare, and it was a pretty decent card. Having a card that just lets you sink mana into it to loot is itself a nice thing to have around, and the fact that you can actually eventually get the stuff back that you put on the Bag is nice upside, though it won’t come up that often. It still doesn’t have a real board presence, so it isn’t nearly as good as a creature who can loot for you
Green Dragon image 3.5 This whole cycle is pretty nice, and Green Dragon doesn’t really disappoint. A 6-mana 4/4 Flyer is often a borderline playable, but its ETB trigger is also going to be a huge headache for people to contend with. Now, there will be some board states where it doesn’t do much, but the card has a reasonable base line and will sometimes set up situations where your opponent just has to block to not die, which means they lose their creatures.
Spare Dagger image 1.0 The stats boost it offers is pretty weak, and giving up a whole card to ping something isn’t really something I’m interested in. This IS an equipment, and RW cares about that, so it probably gets played more often than it would in most formats
Scaled Herbalist image 2.0 When you get this down early, it will feel pretty nice. It doesn’t have the best stats, but you are likely to have the extra lands necessary to take advantage of its ability. In the mid-to-late-game it becomes increasingly useless though, unless you’re able to draw a whole bunch of cards
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Veteran Dungeoneer image 3.5 This seems like a pretty darn good Common. As I’ve said throughout the video, Venturing isn’t quite drawing a card most of the time, but it gives you value that isn’t that far away from drawing a card, and if this was a 4-mana ¾ that drew you a card, it would be amazing. And again, this won’t quite feel like a 2-for-1 all the time, but it does do a lot for the mana cost, and enough to be one of White’s best Commons.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Gretchen Titchwillow
Ray of Frost image 3.0 This whole cycle of color hosers is nice, because they are all perfectly playable cards even if you don’t play against the color they hate on, and when you do play against them, the cards in this cycle will get a massive upgrade, and that’s certainly the case here. The fact this doesn’t tap the creature itself is pretty rough, as you have to wait until your opponent has a tapped creature for it to really do something. The fact it has Flash does make it easier for you to find that window, but if this card didn’t have the Red-hating upside, it would probably just be a 2.5. And, against decks with Red targets for this, it will feel premium
Gretchen Titchwillow image 3.5 That stat-line is a passable one for a defensive creature that does something else, and Gretchen definitely does, supplying you with a very powerful mana sink ability that will be a life saver in the late game. The extra land part of the card won’t always matter, since most of the time when you start using this ability you’re probably not going to be in desperate need of more lands, but it could definitely help, especially in UG, which is a ramp color pair as it often is.
Devoted Paladin image 3.5 Pumping your whole board and giving it Vigilance almost always seems to allow for some serious attacking on your part. After all, your creatures are bigger, and you’re going to be able to leave them all back as blockers even if you’re going to attack with them! We’ve seen similar cards like Dawnfeather Eagle end up great in Limited, and this format does look like it has the means to go wide effectively, and if that’s true, the Paladin is going to be one of the cards you want the most to round out your top curve.
You're Ambushed on the Road image 1.5 LIke most of this cycle, this card takes two options that would not be a great card on their own and puts them together, and the product is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. White-Blue especially is interested in bouncing its own creatures to retrigger ETB abilities, so that part of the card will come up in ways other than just to save a creature from removal. The trick part is mediocre, but will find its place. Each card individually would be a 1.0 at best, but together, I think the options make this card a pretty decent playable.
Fates' Reversal image 2.5 So, usually Black has a common that lets you return two creatures, and it is usually a serviceable enough card that you basically always want the first copy of. They are situational, since they don’t do anything until late, but they can really help you grind out a win. This doesn’t do that exactly but I could see it offering similar value sometimes as a creature + Venture won’t feel too shabby.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Valor Singer
Keen-Eared Sentry image 1.5 This doesn’t seem that good to me. Giving yourself hexproof won’t matter very often, and neither will limiting your opponent to only one venture a turn. Maybe this is here to help provide some Dungeon hate for constructed, where venturing more than once a turn will happen all the time, but in Limited, it isn’t going to happen so often that you desperately want this little two drop. It does have an okay baseline, so it isn’t terrible, but its text box won’t matter that much.
Shortcut Seeker image 2.0 This has some okay defensive stats, but unfortunately it needs to do damage to a player to actually do something real, making it kind of an odd card. UB is going to be pretty good at making creatures gain evasion, but I’m not super interested in this.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Valor Singer image 3.0 This type of effect tends to be a bit better than it looks. I mean, on his own he is effectively a 3-mana 3/3 in most cases, and you’ll often have other creatures on which you can use the ability that might have more of an impact. At the very least, this seems like a solid playable.
Pack 2 Pick 12: You Find a Cursed Idol
You Find a Cursed Idol image 2.0 This seems like a solid card to me. The modality here is great, and most of the time if you can blow up an Artifact or Enchantment, that’s where you’re going to go, but it is great that it has a fail case of Venture + Treasure, which won’t always feel like a whol card’s worth of value, but it gets pretty close. This is sort of like a Naturalize with Cycling in that sense, and that’s always a decent card
Manticore image 3.0 These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
Ranger's Longbow image 1.5 This gives a reasonable boost and key word for the cost, though it isn’t anything special.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Mordenkainen's Polymorph
You Come to a River image 3.0 This is a solid modal card. Usually, just a card that does the “Fight the Current” option, is something that makes the cut a decent chunk of the time. It has the flexibility of dealing, at least temporarily, with multiple permanent types, and you can even use it to actually take away a card permanently if your opponent tries to put auras or combat tricks on their creatures. The other option you’ll basically only choose when its lethal, but that is some nice upside to have on an already solid card.
Mordenkainen's Polymorph image 1.0 This kind of card always looks really cool, and that’s because it is easy to think of situations where it does something. But, even though there are several of them -- like making a creature big enough to block something it couldn’t before, or shrinking an opposing creature, or doing 4 lethal damage int he air, or saving a creature from damage-based removal -- even with all of those possibilities, you’d be surprised how infrequently a situation emerges where this will actually do something. We’ve seen a ton of cards like this over the years, and they always significantly underperform. I can’t see that changing here.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Scion of Stygia
Scion of Stygia image 3.0 If you know me, you know I’m a pretty big fan of Blue creatures with bounce or tap down effects, and this is a distinctly D & D version of it, but it seems pretty good to me. The nice thing about it is, even if you roll 1-9 with it, you’re getting reasonable value out of a 3-mana 2/1, and the tap down might prevent an attack or enable a better one for you. Then, when you hit 10-20, which is slightly more likely, you’re going to feel like you’ve got an amazing deal. Basically, 1-9 this will feel like a 2.0, and 11-20 will feel like a 3.5. I think that means it gets a 3.0
Pack 3 Pick 1: Hill Giant Herdgorger
Sphere of Annihilation image 4.0 This iis of course symmetrical, but because you get to decide the mana to pay for it, you will be able to find a way to make it feel less symmetrical most of the time. It is a big bummer that it doesn’t do anything immediately. Waiting a whole turn for it to do its thing will sometimes feel way too slow, especially if you’re behind. So, the card is a bit finicky. You need the mana value to line up well, and you have to wait an entire turn for it to do something. Even with all that in mind, I think this is a reasonably powerful card, though all of those variables don’t make it super amazing. I think I’m going to start the format valuing it fairly highly though, and playing it in pretty much any Black deck where I can get it. This type of effect just is not easily replaceable.
Demogorgon's Clutches image 1.5 They continue to print Mind Rots that are at least somewhat reasonable in Limited, and that’s a good trend I think. The problem with the discard part of this card is how much its usefulness decreases in the late game, like it is usually a god awful top deck to draw your Mind Rot late. And, early, it is often better to just add to the board. So there’s sort of a sweet spot of a few turns where you kind of hope you get the card where it will feel at its best. That’s why straight up Mind Rot is usually like a 1.0. However, by adding some additional effects to the card – especially the part where your opponent loses 2 life --- it makes it so this Mind Rot actually does something even late. It still isn’t good late, mind you, but it is better than most of its predecessors.
Tiger-Tribe Hunter image 3.0 This doesn’t have the most impressive stats around, but since it is a 4/4 with Pack Tactics, it doesn’t need a whole lot of help to trigger it, and when you do, it will feel pretty good -- flinging something at one of your opponent’s creatures can be a pretty good ability, though it isn’t the kind that you’ll always be able to make use of. It is especially nice that he doesn’t have to stick to only Flinging the creatures who are attacking, so you can play a new creature and use it to kill off an opposing blocker, suddenly making your attack a real problem for your opponent. Sacrificing a creature is a real cost to be sure, but when that ability does its thing, it is going to feel pretty great. The base line here is a little bit rough, and the baility won’t always work out, but I thinkt his does enough to be a pretty high quality playable.
Intrepid Outlander image 3.5 This starts out with nice base stats. Reach tends to perform pretty well in Limited, especially in colors that don’t have that much access to Green, and obviously the Pack Tactics trigger here is quite powerful. Venturing into Dungeons is going to be the source of a ton of value in this format, and Intrepid Outlander can help you do it sometimes
Improvised Weaponry image 3.0 This probably isn’t quite premium removal, given that it does 2 for three mana and is a Sorcery. However, the fact that it can hit the opponent and it is a removal spell that gives you fixing and ramp is definitely appealing, even if won’t feel that efficient.
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
Clattering Skeletons image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is fine, and this comes with a nice enough death trigger. Venturing is going to be a big part of this format -- think learn/lessons in Strixhaven -- so any card that can do it for you is going to be a little better than it looks.
Ranger's Hawk image 2.0 One mana 1/1 flyers are almost never that great in Limited unless they have something else worthwhile going on. The good news for this Hawk, is that it does! In the early game it can attack a bit in the air, but it will quickly be forced to stop attacking. Luckily, it has a late game mana sink that seems pretty good -- venturing into dungeons every turn will definitely allow you to grind out some wins late. Now, the cost of doing it isn’t small -- having to have another untapped creature isn’t a guarantee, but if you are at parity or ahead of your opponent, it won’t be that hard to make it happen. I think this is a solid playable.
Bar the Gate image 3.0 This seems like a pretty good counterspell. They always come with big downsides, like how situational they are, and three mana for one is normally not a card you really want to play, but when some additional value is added on to countermagic, it becomes increasingly worth it, and that’s what we have here. Sure, it doesn’t counter everything -- but creatures are the most common thing your opponent will do, so it will often have targets. Venturing into the Dungeon isn’t quite “draw a card” most of the time, but it gets close enough that I’m actually pretty interested in the first copy of this for most Blue decks.
Mimic image 1.0 So, this doesn’t seem amazing to me, though the flavor is quite good. Like most treasures, it can only be used the one time to give you mana, so it isn’t even the best fixing ever. And yeah, it can turn into a creature sometimes, and that’s nice upside to have on your mana, but I’m just not sure this will feel like it is worth an entire card very often. You’ll play it if you really need fixing, or maybe you have some artifact synergies, but that’s probably about it
You Come to a River image 3.0 This is a solid modal card. Usually, just a card that does the “Fight the Current” option, is something that makes the cut a decent chunk of the time. It has the flexibility of dealing, at least temporarily, with multiple permanent types, and you can even use it to actually take away a card permanently if your opponent tries to put auras or combat tricks on their creatures. The other option you’ll basically only choose when its lethal, but that is some nice upside to have on an already solid card.
Hill Giant Herdgorger image 2.5 This seems like a fine finisher for Green decks. You’re probably going to hope you have a rare or Uncommon in that slot, but this card is similar enough to Ravenous Lindwurm and Honey Mammoth to make me feel like it has a nice shot. I have a feeling it might not be quite as good as those cards, because this format looks like it is probably going to be faster than Kaldheim, but it looks pretty solid to me
Devoted Paladin image 3.5 Pumping your whole board and giving it Vigilance almost always seems to allow for some serious attacking on your part. After all, your creatures are bigger, and you’re going to be able to leave them all back as blockers even if you’re going to attack with them! We’ve seen similar cards like Dawnfeather Eagle end up great in Limited, and this format does look like it has the means to go wide effectively, and if that’s true, the Paladin is going to be one of the cards you want the most to round out your top curve.
Grim Bounty image 3.5 This is premium removal. It might be a somewhat expensive Sorcery, but it kills pretty much everything for 4 mana, and even gives you a treasure back, almost making it so it costs three mana with some fixing upside!
Pack 3 Pick 2: Improvised Weaponry
Minion of the Mighty image 1.0 This set has a big dragon theme, but I still think setting this up so that Pack Tactics triggers will be pretty darn hard, and will sometimes feel like a win more type effect than anything. If yo’ure attacking with 6 power worth of stuff, there’s a good chance you’re already in a good position to win the game! Sure, if you are desperate this can get you a dragon down for free, but how much of a discount will it be, really? By the time you’re attacking that hard, you’re typically going to have plenty of mana in your typical game of Limited
Drider image 3.0 This doesn’t have good base stats, but it does have a good combat damage trigger. Even just getting one Spider out of this will feel great, and it feels like UB is well-equipped with enough ways to make this evasive that it will feel pretty strong when it lines up that way. It won’t always do that though, and sometimes it will just be an inefficient creature.
Ray of Frost image 3.0 This whole cycle of color hosers is nice, because they are all perfectly playable cards even if you don’t play against the color they hate on, and when you do play against them, the cards in this cycle will get a massive upgrade, and that’s certainly the case here. The fact this doesn’t tap the creature itself is pretty rough, as you have to wait until your opponent has a tapped creature for it to really do something. The fact it has Flash does make it easier for you to find that window, but if this card didn’t have the Red-hating upside, it would probably just be a 2.5. And, against decks with Red targets for this, it will feel premium
Warlock Class image 2.5 The Level 1 of this wouldn’t be worth it on its own, as using up a whole card for a fairly mediocre “morbid” effect that will only trigger every couple of turns or so just isn’t what you want to be doing. Now, it is nice that when you take it to level two, it draws you a card, and I do think that if we looked at this as 2B for an Enchantment with the Morbid ability + the card selection effect, you’d probably play that card. Then, in the late came it can level up and get a pretty powerful effect, but it is worth noting that that effect is really only going to do something if you’re already ahead in most cases. I think the whole package is probably a solid playable.
+2 Mace image 2.0 This gives an alright boost for the mana it costs to play and equip, but it isn’t crazy efficient or anything, and it will probably be cut a decent chunk of the time.
Fates' Reversal image 2.5 So, usually Black has a common that lets you return two creatures, and it is usually a serviceable enough card that you basically always want the first copy of. They are situational, since they don’t do anything until late, but they can really help you grind out a win. This doesn’t do that exactly but I could see it offering similar value sometimes as a creature + Venture won’t feel too shabby.
Bull's Strength image 1.5 Like most versions of this that we’ve seen, it is pretty reasonable. The boost it gives will allow you to win combat, and trample will even allow you to do some damage out of nowhere. The untap clause also gives a creature pseudo vigilance, or allows you to ambush an opposing creature, though like with most tricks, you generally prefer to use it offensively -- but the additional flexibility doesn’t hurt. It is still a trick though and comes with all those inherent risks I always talk about -- its situational, and if things go wrong you get blown out really hard.
Potion of Healing image 1.5 Most of the time we see this kind of effect on a spell and it costs one fewer total mana than Potion of Healing does to draw you a card and gain you some life. This lets you pay it in installments though, and it is nice that you can just play it to draw the card and hold on to the life gain for a little bit later, especially if you’re in GW and you have some things that this can trigger for you. Still, this card seems pretty replacable, just like Revitalize and similar cards we’ve seen. You’ll probably cut it more than you play it.
Improvised Weaponry image 3.0 This probably isn’t quite premium removal, given that it does 2 for three mana and is a Sorcery. However, the fact that it can hit the opponent and it is a removal spell that gives you fixing and ramp is definitely appealing, even if won’t feel that efficient.
Shortcut Seeker image 2.0 This has some okay defensive stats, but unfortunately it needs to do damage to a player to actually do something real, making it kind of an odd card. UB is going to be pretty good at making creatures gain evasion, but I’m not super interested in this.
Sylvan Shepherd image 2.5 This looks like it has a lot going on because of the d20 stuff, but it is basically just a 3-mana ⅔ with Vigilance that gains you 1-2 life when it attacks. That’s basically a textbook solid playable, especially in a format that does have some life gain payoffs
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
You Hear Something on Watch image 3.0 This seems like a pretty nice Common. Sure, the removal effect only works on attackers, so if you’re the beat down it won’t feel great -- but the good news is if you are the beat down, you’re probably interested in the other mode, since it pays you off pretty well for going wide. The removal is too situational to be premium, but it will kill lots of attackers, and having the board pump effect as an option is pretty nice.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Dragon's Fire
You Find Some Prisoners image 2.0 I think this is a bit underwhelming compared to the other Uncommon “Choose your Adventure”-style cards. If you can hit an Artifact with it that will be nice, but the second ability is a little too random, though it will certainly be useful most of the time in the later game, as it effectively draws you a card. Still, You Find some Prisoners is likely to sit in your hand for a long time before it actually does something, and even when it does do something, it normally isn’t going to feel that powerful.
Aberrant Mind Sorcerer image 3.5 10-20 is the preferable option, and you have a slightly higher chance of getting that, and 1-9 isn’t too shabby either, as returning a removal spell to the top of your library is some powerful card selection. If you always got the 10-20 effect, it would be a 4.0, and if you always get 1-9, it would probably be a 3.0, so let’s split the difference at 3.5.
Lightfoot Rogue image 2.5 This is a solid two-drop, though not an overly impressive one for an Uncommon. What you get out of a roll 1-10 and 11-19 really isn’t that different in most scenarios, but it is nice that this gains death touch when it attacks, meaning that your opponent has to give something up to kill it. Unfortunately, the format seems to have enough 1/1 tokens lying around that that isn’t that impressive. Obviously rolling a 20 with it will make it super amazing, but it won’t do that most of the time. It also has the very real downside of not having death touch on defense. One of the nice things about death touch is how good it is both attacking and blocking, but you don’t really get that upside here.
Planar Ally image 3.5 We have seen a lot of 5-mana 3/3 Flyers of late that have some ability, and they’ve all been pretty nice cards for Limited, and I think that’s what we have here. Venturing with every attack is great, as the Ally, left unchecked, will be able to get you through dungeons all on its own. This format does have more large flyers than usual as a result of the heavy Dragon theme, so this may find itself unable to attack effectively more than it would in most formats, but I think this is still a pretty good Common.
Veteran Dungeoneer image 3.5 This seems like a pretty darn good Common. As I’ve said throughout the video, Venturing isn’t quite drawing a card most of the time, but it gives you value that isn’t that far away from drawing a card, and if this was a 4-mana ¾ that drew you a card, it would be amazing. And again, this won’t quite feel like a 2-for-1 all the time, but it does do a lot for the mana cost, and enough to be one of White’s best Commons.
Gloom Stalker image 2.5 This is pretty bad if you haven’t completed a dungeon, and if you have, it is pretty good, but still not incredible.
Feign Death image 1.5 Versions of this effect that are good tend to give the stats boost up front. That’s significantly better than this because it allows a smaller creature to win combat against something bigger, but this doesn’t do that. Sometimes you’ll just have to use it on a chump block, which won’t feel great. It is nice that it basically counters most removal, and it isn’t bad, just not like Supernatural Stamina or other cards we’ve seen that have been pretty solid. This just won’t do enough to make the cut super often.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Baleful Beholder image 3.0 If you’re looking for some kind of finisher in a Black deck, this Beholder isn’t a terrible place to turn. Sometimes giving menace to your whole time will just win you the game on the spot, other times it won’t do anything --- the average situation is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, it lets one of your creatures attack who couldn’t, but that’s still not bad when attached to a 6-mana 6/5. Additionally, the fact it can get rid of Enchantments in a pinch is nice too.
You See a Guard Approach image 1.0 Individually, these effects are not worth an entire card. They’re just too situational. Sure, it feels good to give your creature hexproof in response to removal, but there will be lots of times where that effect doesn’t matter. The tap effect is even more underwhelming, and while it can allow you to stop something from attacking you, or maybe help you attack more effectively, it will also be useless a decent chunk of the time. Each of those, cards, individually -- would be almost unplayable. If you put them together, you obviously have a better card that you’ll actually be able to use sometimes, but I still don’t think it is very good.
Hoarding Ogre image 2.0 This has Hill Giant stats and a serviceable attack trigger. Because it makes treasure, you can really count this creature as fixing, and that’s typically a valuable thing to have in Limited, plus this set has some nice treasure payoffs.
Dragon's Fire image 4.0 Two mana for 3 damage is always premium removal, and this has some pretty relevant dragon upside that can make it an even better removal spell
Pack 3 Pick 4: Price of Loyalty
Krydle of Baldur's Gate image 4.0 This seems like a really great signpost Uncommon. UB seems to be about doing combat damage to an opponent and getting triggers out of it, and Krydle definitely showcases how great that can be. His combat damage trigger is pretty awesome -- it allows him to do 2 damage at a time, while gaining you life and allowing you to improve your draws. Even if he couldn’t make himself and OTHER creatures unblockable, Krydle would be really good -- but he CAN do that, and in the late game he can just produce lethal damage out of nowhere
Loathsome Troll image 2.5 A 5-mana 6/2 is not very good, though it does make Pack Tactics get going all on its own, and that certainly is relevant int his format. Still, a 2-drop can block it and take it down! The good news is, if you have the time and the mana, it has a solid ability it can use from the graveyard. It going on top of your library is not super good, since you have to replace your draw to get it back, and there’s a reasonable chance what you were going to draw was going to be better, but when it returns to your hand it will feel pretty good, and obviously that’s true when it goes to the battlefield as well. Still, this doesn’t have the best stats ever, even accounting for Pack Tactics, and its ability is both expensive and going to feel actively mediocre when you roll a 1-9
Displacer Beast image 4.0 This seems quite good for an Uncommon. It has sort of passable stats, especially because it does a whole lot more than just sit around as a 3-mana 3/2! The ETB trigger will be quite nice, as Venturing will give you some very significant value. It isn’t quite Professor of Symbology, but I think the comparison helps illustrate why this card will be good. The fact it can bounce itself back to your hand won’t always come up, but in the late game, it can help you venture through a dungeon all on its own, and that will often be a pretty big deal.
Air-Cult Elemental image 3.0 This is one big Man-O’-War! A 6-mana 2/5 Flyer is a bad rate, but because this bounces another creature, you’ll often feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. If you know me, you know I always love this kind of effect – and there’s a reason for that, it is great in Limited! Adding to your board while subtracting from your opponent’s is one of the best feelings you can have! And yeah, while the 2/5 stats aren’t exactly incredible, it is enough that the elemental can still be a little bit of a threat in the sky, or be an effective blocker. It does cost 6 mana, so you don’t really want more than one of them, but I think I’m going to value the first copy relatively highly.
Price of Loyalty image 1.0 // 2.5 Even with the Treasure upside, this probably won’t be worth it for most decks. Threaten effects aren’t amazing in most formats, since they tend to do very little except in two situations. One of these is that you’re able to kill your opponent when you do it, and the other is that you have some sacrifice outlets that make it easy to turn the effect into a removal spell that gives you some value. However, this does look like it might be worth playing in the Black-Red deck, as there is one red Sacrifice effect at Uncommon, two black sacrifice effects at Common, and one at Uncommon, so setting up the sacrifice is actually going to be doable there, making the card a solid playable in a deck that gets its hands on some of those effects.
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Devoted Paladin image 3.5 Pumping your whole board and giving it Vigilance almost always seems to allow for some serious attacking on your part. After all, your creatures are bigger, and you’re going to be able to leave them all back as blockers even if you’re going to attack with them! We’ve seen similar cards like Dawnfeather Eagle end up great in Limited, and this format does look like it has the means to go wide effectively, and if that’s true, the Paladin is going to be one of the cards you want the most to round out your top curve.
Sepulcher Ghoul image 2.5 This has passable base stats, and on most attacks it will be able to threaten becoming a 4/3, so your opponent will have to take that into account. Free sacrifice effects like this always play pretty well since you can virtually always use the effect, though in this case, you can only do it once. It looks like the Ghoul is well-positioned for the BG deck especially, since that deck’s all about stuff dying, and it will also pair nicely in BR, where you can use the Threaten effect to steal a creature and sacrifice it. I think all of that helps makes this two mana 2/1 a card you play a significant chunk of the time in Black.
Hired Hexblade image 3.0 This seems like a solid card. Worst-case, you have a grizzly bear, and best case you have a two mana 2/2 that draws you a card -- which is just a great deal. There is enough treasure in this set that casting this with it isn’t a pipe dream, but you probably shouldn’t expect to be able to do it on turn two. Still, playing this later, once you have that treasure, will be nice since it will have relevance in the late game too when you do it.
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Underdark Basilisk
Bard Class image 1.0 This set does have a significant number of legendaries in it, but I’m not convinced there will be enough to really make this worthwhile. It is all about legendaries, and does literal nothing if you don’t have enough of them. I could give it a build around grade, but I think it will be so difficult to make this work that I don’t think I need to go there
Monk of the Open Hand image 2.5 This card reminds me a lot of the BW double-spell deck from Kaldheim. If you can get your curve low enough, this guy can grow relatively quickly and without you having to commit significant resources. It does look like a low-curve aggro deck is a thing in this format too, especially in RW, so I can see this being a nice fit there. This is also the Monk that the Planeswalker we saw earlier -- Grand Master of Flowers can tutor up, so it should go up in your pick order if you have the Grand Master. It takes some work to make the Monk worth playing if you don’t have the Grand Master, but if you find yourself with a low curve, this will be a nice fit.
Deadly Dispute image 2.0 The prevalence of treasure, especially in Black-Red, will make this better than it looks. This kind of effect often plays a lot like Tormenting Voice, which is to say – its pretty replaceable, but I think this will be better than usual thanks to the fact it is good with treasure and it produces treasure. It of course still comes with the upside of being able to sacrifice a creature in response to removal, at which point you really aren’t going down a card either.
Spiked Pit Trap image 1.5 Lots of sets lately seem to have an Artifact that is a removal spell, and it is nice that you can play them in any deck, but they tend to be pretty inefficient, and that’s kind of the case here. You pay 6 mana total for 5 damage, and you might also get a Treasure. It does have Flash, which makes it so you can sort of ambush kill things, but yeah, you probably don’t end up playing this unless you’re short on good removal
Price of Loyalty image 1.0 // 2.5 Even with the Treasure upside, this probably won’t be worth it for most decks. Threaten effects aren’t amazing in most formats, since they tend to do very little except in two situations. One of these is that you’re able to kill your opponent when you do it, and the other is that you have some sacrifice outlets that make it easy to turn the effect into a removal spell that gives you some value. However, this does look like it might be worth playing in the Black-Red deck, as there is one red Sacrifice effect at Uncommon, two black sacrifice effects at Common, and one at Uncommon, so setting up the sacrifice is actually going to be doable there, making the card a solid playable in a deck that gets its hands on some of those effects.
Underdark Basilisk image 2.5 It is pretty hard for small creatures with Deathtouch not to be playable, since they bring the capability of trading with anything. This makes them relevant all game long, though never super impressive. They also tend to be good with fight and punch spells
Baleful Beholder image 3.0 If you’re looking for some kind of finisher in a Black deck, this Beholder isn’t a terrible place to turn. Sometimes giving menace to your whole time will just win you the game on the spot, other times it won’t do anything --- the average situation is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, it lets one of your creatures attack who couldn’t, but that’s still not bad when attached to a 6-mana 6/5. Additionally, the fact it can get rid of Enchantments in a pinch is nice too.
Spare Dagger image 1.0 The stats boost it offers is pretty weak, and giving up a whole card to ping something isn’t really something I’m interested in. This IS an equipment, and RW cares about that, so it probably gets played more often than it would in most formats
Pixie Guide image 2.0 This has a reasonable floor. Two mana ⅓ flyers tend to be sort of acceptable in Limited, and the upsider here is pretty alright too. UR especially will be able to take advantage of the effect, but most decks that are at least part Blue will probably have 2-3 cards that involve a d20, so it will come up some. This isn’t especially close to good, though it isn’t bad either.
Goblin Javelineer image 1.5 This probably won’t be great in Limited. A one mana 1/1 with Haste might feel reasonable on turn one, but it is pretty terrible thereafter, and adding the ability to ping things that block it doesn’t really make up for that, though it does help some, since it means that it can at least trade with X/2s, and X/1s effectively can’t block it. If you can find a way to give this death touch, that will unlock its full potential, but overall, I think you cut this more often than you’ll play it.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Earth-Cult Elemental
Guild Thief image 2.5 It is nice that this becomes larger when it hits players, but as a two mana 1/1 it won’t be doing that a whole lot without some extra help. It can eventually become unblockable of course, but paying 4 to make your 1/1 unblockable is going to feel really bad sometimes, especially because the Thief is so darn easy to kill. Sometimes you’ll be able to get a blocker out of the way and really get going with it, though.
Eccentric Apprentice image 4.0 This is another really strong Uncommon for Blue. It starts out as a Wind Drake, and has an ETB venture effect, I think I would pretty much always be playing that card. But then, once you complete a dungeon, it has quite the powerful effect. Turning another creature into a 1/1 Flyer can either help you chip in for more damage, or severely waken an opposing creature. There really seems to be plenty of Venturing in this set, so completing dungeons isn’t going to be crazy far-fetched. You shouldn’t quite count on it just being the case, but the Apprentice will probably be fully upgraded like 20% of the time, and that’s awesome. This is a high pick, and likely one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Rimeshield Frost Giant image 3.0 Ward 3 is pretty big, and for a creature this size, it may just feel like Hexproof some games, since your opponent will need a pretty hefty removal spell to deal with it in most cases, and it will be pretty hard for your opponent to ever take it down without paying at least what you paid for the Giant.
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Earth-Cult Elemental image 2.5 This offers some decent top-of-the-curve stats for Limited, and it has a pretty nice D20 ability. It won’t be awesome to roll 1-9, but the effect is at least symmetrical. It will be true that sometimes it doesn’t hurt your opponent as much as it hurts you, but the opposite will sometimes be true too. Then, the effect is one sided if you roll a 10 or more, which will be well worth the mana you spend. If you always roll 10-20 with it, it is probably one of the better Commons in the set, but unfortunately it won’t go that way, we have to think about the fail cases too! The presence of Treasure in this set also means your opponent will have more permanents than normal to sacrifice, which weakens it further.
Dwarfhold Champion image 2.5 A two mana 3/1 tends to be a reasonable baseline for aggro decks, and this comes with some decent additional upside. Gaining toughness when you equip it will feel pretty nice, as obviously a 3/1 is pretty vulnerable
Shambling Ghast image 2.5 This looks like a nice little one drop to me. It can be a real pain if your opponent has two X/1s in play, since you can make a two-for-one out of your one drop, and those situations will happen. And the good news is, when the -1/-1 part isn’t useful -- and it won’t always be -- you get to make a treasure, which means this little one drop gives you fixing and ramp pretty early on in the game.
Vampire Spawn image 2.5 This might not quite be Siege Rhino, but it seems pretty nice. A 3-mana 2/3 isn’t where you want to be normally, but the ETB trigger here is pretty real. It is a bit odd that Black doesn’t really care about life gain this time around, but that’s okay. The drain effect here is a total net gain of 4 life – in other words, it creates a gap of 4 life between you and your opponent, and that’s pretty nice in a race. This seems like a solid playable.
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
Pack 3 Pick 7: Neverwinter Dryad
Displacer Beast image 4.0 This seems quite good for an Uncommon. It has sort of passable stats, especially because it does a whole lot more than just sit around as a 3-mana 3/2! The ETB trigger will be quite nice, as Venturing will give you some very significant value. It isn’t quite Professor of Symbology, but I think the comparison helps illustrate why this card will be good. The fact it can bounce itself back to your hand won’t always come up, but in the late game, it can help you venture through a dungeon all on its own, and that will often be a pretty big deal.
Neverwinter Dryad image 2.5 This is a fine one drop. It ramps for you, and that looks to be a good strategy in this format, especially in UG. It is nice that if you play it early it might actually attack for a bit too
Contact Other Plane image 3.0 So, with a 1-9 you’re getting an Instant speed Divination that costs one extra, which isn’t great, that would probably be a 1.5 or 2.0, but isn’t the worst fail case when the 10-19 gives you a pretty great effect for the cost -- like Behold the Multiverse without Foretell, and that’s a good place to be. Obviously, rolling the 20 will be completely absurd. If that’s what this card always did, it would be like a 4.0. We have to sort of think about what’s the most likely with this, and I think the fail case is passable enough that I’m pretty happy with this over all, as 10-19 is a pretty likely outcome, and that card would probably be a B-. In the end, I think all of that makes this a 3.0.
You Find the Villains' Lair image 2.0 Cancel is not usually a great card in Limited. Counterspells are a little too situational, and it is often just going ot be better to add to your board with three mana than count on your opponent playing something that you will counter. In a lot of ways, counter magic in Limited is just bad removal, because you have to have the mana up to use it at the exact right time, or it doesn’t do anything. Basically, a card like Cancel just ends up being a card you have left in your hand after you’ve played everything else, and it might do a thing, but it also might have cost you the game. This gets around that problem with another mode though. Sure, it doesn’t add to the board either, but it still gives you something to do with it that will be more immediate and more of a sure thing in situations where that’s a good idea. Normally, Cancel is like a 1.5, but I think this does enough to make the cut more often than that.
Brazen Dwarf image 1.0 This doesn’t look very good. A two mana ⅓ isn’t a good stat-line these days, and the fact it might damage your opponent a little bit doesn’t really make up for that for me. It just won’t do enough to feel worth the mana or the card in most decks.
Clattering Skeletons image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is fine, and this comes with a nice enough death trigger. Venturing is going to be a big part of this format -- think learn/lessons in Strixhaven -- so any card that can do it for you is going to be a little better than it looks.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Compelled Duel image 1.0 I’m never a huge fan of this type of card. It isn’t easy to get 2-for-1’d when you cast it, and it is fairly situational. However, this is cheaper than most versions of this we’ve seen. +3/+3 is going to be enough to make just about any creature into a problem, though keep in mind that your opponent only needs to use one blocker here – it isn’t that all creatures have to block – just one does. So you need to end up in situations where the 3 damage either wins you the game or you take down an important creature, but a lot of the time their important creature will be attacking you.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Scaled Herbalist
Power of Persuasion image 3.0 Rolling 1-9 here isn’t going to feel very good, as you’re just not getting your 3 mana’s worth to bounce something at Sorcery speed, but the good news is that other rolls will give you about what you’d expect -- and that’s a pseudo Time Ebb effect for 10-19, and a temporary mind control for 20. The 10-19 effect actually lets you go 1 for 1 on cards, and obviously the mind control will feel like a 2-for-1. So, yeah the 1-9 might be a bit of a bummer, but hey, at least it interacts with the opposing board and gets something off of it, which will at least give you some tempo.
Scaled Herbalist image 2.0 When you get this down early, it will feel pretty nice. It doesn’t have the best stats, but you are likely to have the extra lands necessary to take advantage of its ability. In the mid-to-late-game it becomes increasingly useless though, unless you’re able to draw a whole bunch of cards
Thieves' Tools image 2.5 This will fight nicely into UB, because that color is all about making small creatures evasive and getting value when they do combat damage, and it will fit nicely in BR because it likes treasures.
Soulknife Spy image 3.0 Creatures with this combat trigger tend to be pretty nice in Limited, and this one has more reasonable stats than the ones we usually see at lower rarities. Drawing a card is big, and is the kind of thing your opponent will have to account for one way or another, or the extra cards this gets you will help you win the game. It doesn’t hurt that UB has a significant number of ways to make the creature evasive, either! One particularly nasty combo that you’ll see a lot, because the two cards are Common and Uncommon two will be Fly + Soulknife spy.
Feign Death image 1.5 Versions of this effect that are good tend to give the stats boost up front. That’s significantly better than this because it allows a smaller creature to win combat against something bigger, but this doesn’t do that. Sometimes you’ll just have to use it on a chump block, which won’t feel great. It is nice that it basically counters most removal, and it isn’t bad, just not like Supernatural Stamina or other cards we’ve seen that have been pretty solid. This just won’t do enough to make the cut super often.
Half-Elf Monk image 3.0 Mastery Decoy effects still tend to be pretty good in Limited. Tapping down your opponent’s best creature every turn often just feels like removal, and this has the minor added bonus of being able to attack and still use the ability. I say “minor” because it is only a ¼, so that’s not exactly incredible. Still, this is a pretty nice common for White.
Shortcut Seeker image 2.0 This has some okay defensive stats, but unfortunately it needs to do damage to a player to actually do something real, making it kind of an odd card. UB is going to be pretty good at making creatures gain evasion, but I’m not super interested in this.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Tiger-Tribe Hunter
Demogorgon's Clutches image 1.5 They continue to print Mind Rots that are at least somewhat reasonable in Limited, and that’s a good trend I think. The problem with the discard part of this card is how much its usefulness decreases in the late game, like it is usually a god awful top deck to draw your Mind Rot late. And, early, it is often better to just add to the board. So there’s sort of a sweet spot of a few turns where you kind of hope you get the card where it will feel at its best. That’s why straight up Mind Rot is usually like a 1.0. However, by adding some additional effects to the card – especially the part where your opponent loses 2 life --- it makes it so this Mind Rot actually does something even late. It still isn’t good late, mind you, but it is better than most of its predecessors.
Tiger-Tribe Hunter image 3.0 This doesn’t have the most impressive stats around, but since it is a 4/4 with Pack Tactics, it doesn’t need a whole lot of help to trigger it, and when you do, it will feel pretty good -- flinging something at one of your opponent’s creatures can be a pretty good ability, though it isn’t the kind that you’ll always be able to make use of. It is especially nice that he doesn’t have to stick to only Flinging the creatures who are attacking, so you can play a new creature and use it to kill off an opposing blocker, suddenly making your attack a real problem for your opponent. Sacrificing a creature is a real cost to be sure, but when that ability does its thing, it is going to feel pretty great. The base line here is a little bit rough, and the baility won’t always work out, but I thinkt his does enough to be a pretty high quality playable.
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
Clattering Skeletons image 3.0 A 4-mana 4/3 is fine, and this comes with a nice enough death trigger. Venturing is going to be a big part of this format -- think learn/lessons in Strixhaven -- so any card that can do it for you is going to be a little better than it looks.
Bar the Gate image 3.0 This seems like a pretty good counterspell. They always come with big downsides, like how situational they are, and three mana for one is normally not a card you really want to play, but when some additional value is added on to countermagic, it becomes increasingly worth it, and that’s what we have here. Sure, it doesn’t counter everything -- but creatures are the most common thing your opponent will do, so it will often have targets. Venturing into the Dungeon isn’t quite “draw a card” most of the time, but it gets close enough that I’m actually pretty interested in the first copy of this for most Blue decks.
Mimic image 1.0 So, this doesn’t seem amazing to me, though the flavor is quite good. Like most treasures, it can only be used the one time to give you mana, so it isn’t even the best fixing ever. And yeah, it can turn into a creature sometimes, and that’s nice upside to have on your mana, but I’m just not sure this will feel like it is worth an entire card very often. You’ll play it if you really need fixing, or maybe you have some artifact synergies, but that’s probably about it
Pack 3 Pick 10: Minion of the Mighty
Minion of the Mighty image 1.0 This set has a big dragon theme, but I still think setting this up so that Pack Tactics triggers will be pretty darn hard, and will sometimes feel like a win more type effect than anything. If yo’ure attacking with 6 power worth of stuff, there’s a good chance you’re already in a good position to win the game! Sure, if you are desperate this can get you a dragon down for free, but how much of a discount will it be, really? By the time you’re attacking that hard, you’re typically going to have plenty of mana in your typical game of Limited
Bull's Strength image 1.5 Like most versions of this that we’ve seen, it is pretty reasonable. The boost it gives will allow you to win combat, and trample will even allow you to do some damage out of nowhere. The untap clause also gives a creature pseudo vigilance, or allows you to ambush an opposing creature, though like with most tricks, you generally prefer to use it offensively -- but the additional flexibility doesn’t hurt. It is still a trick though and comes with all those inherent risks I always talk about -- its situational, and if things go wrong you get blown out really hard.
Shortcut Seeker image 2.0 This has some okay defensive stats, but unfortunately it needs to do damage to a player to actually do something real, making it kind of an odd card. UB is going to be pretty good at making creatures gain evasion, but I’m not super interested in this.
Greataxe image 1.0 +4/+0 is the kind of boost that makes almost any creature capable of attacking, but an Equip Cost of 5 is way too much. This is equipment that might be nice in the later part of the game, since you can just keep sending your guys in, but it will sit on the table doing nothing the rest of the game
You Hear Something on Watch image 3.0 This seems like a pretty nice Common. Sure, the removal effect only works on attackers, so if you’re the beat down it won’t feel great -- but the good news is if you are the beat down, you’re probably interested in the other mode, since it pays you off pretty well for going wide. The removal is too situational to be premium, but it will kill lots of attackers, and having the board pump effect as an option is pretty nice.
Pack 3 Pick 11: You Come to the Gnoll Camp
Gloom Stalker image 2.5 This is pretty bad if you haven’t completed a dungeon, and if you have, it is pretty good, but still not incredible.
Feign Death image 1.5 Versions of this effect that are good tend to give the stats boost up front. That’s significantly better than this because it allows a smaller creature to win combat against something bigger, but this doesn’t do that. Sometimes you’ll just have to use it on a chump block, which won’t feel great. It is nice that it basically counters most removal, and it isn’t bad, just not like Supernatural Stamina or other cards we’ve seen that have been pretty solid. This just won’t do enough to make the cut super often.
You Come to the Gnoll Camp image 2.0 Like most of this cycle, this has two effects that are good in the right situation, but pretty narrow. Putting them together does make for a better card, and sometimes aggro decks really want a card that just blanks a couple of blockers – and they also are pretty happy with a combat trick, even if this one isn’t the greatest. The lack of significant toughness boost makes it a challenge for this to help your creature survive combats, but that’s alright. The first copy of this seems like a decent inclusion for Red aggro decks.
Baleful Beholder image 3.0 If you’re looking for some kind of finisher in a Black deck, this Beholder isn’t a terrible place to turn. Sometimes giving menace to your whole time will just win you the game on the spot, other times it won’t do anything --- the average situation is probably somewhere in the middle. Like, it lets one of your creatures attack who couldn’t, but that’s still not bad when attached to a 6-mana 6/5. Additionally, the fact it can get rid of Enchantments in a pinch is nice too.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Find the Path
Air-Cult Elemental image 3.0 This is one big Man-O’-War! A 6-mana 2/5 Flyer is a bad rate, but because this bounces another creature, you’ll often feel like you’re getting your mana’s worth. If you know me, you know I always love this kind of effect – and there’s a reason for that, it is great in Limited! Adding to your board while subtracting from your opponent’s is one of the best feelings you can have! And yeah, while the 2/5 stats aren’t exactly incredible, it is enough that the elemental can still be a little bit of a threat in the sky, or be an effective blocker. It does cost 6 mana, so you don’t really want more than one of them, but I think I’m going to value the first copy relatively highly.
Devoted Paladin image 3.5 Pumping your whole board and giving it Vigilance almost always seems to allow for some serious attacking on your part. After all, your creatures are bigger, and you’re going to be able to leave them all back as blockers even if you’re going to attack with them! We’ve seen similar cards like Dawnfeather Eagle end up great in Limited, and this format does look like it has the means to go wide effectively, and if that’s true, the Paladin is going to be one of the cards you want the most to round out your top curve.
Find the Path image 2.5 I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Spiked Pit Trap
Spiked Pit Trap image 1.5 Lots of sets lately seem to have an Artifact that is a removal spell, and it is nice that you can play them in any deck, but they tend to be pretty inefficient, and that’s kind of the case here. You pay 6 mana total for 5 damage, and you might also get a Treasure. It does have Flash, which makes it so you can sort of ambush kill things, but yeah, you probably don’t end up playing this unless you’re short on good removal
Spare Dagger image 1.0 The stats boost it offers is pretty weak, and giving up a whole card to ping something isn’t really something I’m interested in. This IS an equipment, and RW cares about that, so it probably gets played more often than it would in most formats
Pack 3 Pick 14: Devour Intellect
Devour Intellect image 0.5 // 2.5 Letting your opponent choose to discard whatever they want this is not very good, but with Treasure you can turn it into a better Thoughtseize, and that’s pretty neat. I think this really needs a build around grade, because it is pretty awful in a deck with 0 treasure, but if you are BR, you’ll probably have the Treasure you need to make this work pretty well. Still, a card like this is better in the early game, and has diminishing returns as the game goes on, and you can’t count having treasure early, so don’t expect to fire this off on turn one or two for the more effective mode
Draft Pick Overview