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Quick Draft VOW 4 December 2021

4 December 03:47 - Tryph79 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (18)
1 Undead Butler image
1 Unhallowed Phalanx image
2 Fell Stinger image
1 Archghoul of Thraben image
1 Stitched Assistant image
3 Wretched Throng image
1 Diregraf Scavenger image
1 Falkenrath Forebear image
1 Catapult Fodder // Catapult Captain image
1 Diver Skaab image
1 Rot-Tide Gargantua image
1 Gluttonous Guest image
1 Doomed Dissenter image
1 Ancient Lumberknot image
1 Bloodcrazed Socialite image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (9)
1 Necroduality image
1 Blood Fountain image
1 Dollhouse of Horrors image
2 Bleed Dry image
1 Geistlight Snare image
1 Ceremonial Knife image
1 Alchemist's Retrieval image
1 Parasitic Grasp image
Land (17)
9 Swamp image
8 Island image
Sideboard
1 Whispering Wizard image
1 Wretched Throng image
1 Ancient Lumberknot image
2 Ragged Recluse image
1 Unhallowed Phalanx image
1 Repository Skaab image
1 Persistent Specimen image
1 Estwald Shieldbasher image
1 Mindleech Ghoul image
1 Heron-Blessed Geist image
1 Geistlight Snare image
1 Ceremonial Knife image
1 Syphon Essence image
1 Alchemist's Retrieval image
2 Undying Malice image
1 Chill of the Grave image
1 Aim for the Head image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Dollhouse of Horrors
Dollhouse of Horrors image 4.0 This looks pretty good to me. You probably just want to wait to play it until turn 6, because on that turn you can play it and use that ability right away, which means you’re adding to the board instead of just playing this expensive Artifact. The creatures will likely be undersized at first, but as use this every turn, things will start to snowball. It gets especially potent with creatures who have ETB abilities or death triggers. Because it takes awhile to set up, I don’t think it quite deserves a bomb grade, though it will certainly take over games sometimes if you are given the time.
Arm the Cathars image 3.0 +6/+6 worth of stats spread across three creatures and Vigilance is going to be enough to enable attacks on a whole lot of boards, between the stats and the fact that you can still have the creatures hang back to block, which really matters in a race. Sure, you need a board state for this to do its thing, and you have to be a little cautious about when you use it, but it seems like this can bust a game wide open early, and break through a stalled board late, and that seems like a pretty nice overall.
Resistance Squad image 3.5 GW has the most humans, but every White deck in this format will have enough Humans for you to play this, and when you get to draw that card, you’re getting quite the 2-for-1, as this 3/2 can really effectively trade for stuff or attack.
Biolume Egg image 3.5 So, a 3-mana 0/4 that Scries 2 is something that you would already play in mid-range or control decks. Scry 2 has a very real impact on the quality of cards you draw! So, the upside that sacrificing this gives you a 4/4 that is unblockable is pretty spicy. And, given that Explot is a mechanic in this set, it means that sacrificing this won’t really be difficult to come by. In fact, the Scry might help you find something!
Sheltering Boughs image 1.0 This Aura replaces itself, which definitely upgrades it, but the stats boost isn’t pretty. I think you’ll cut this more than you play it.
Gift of Fangs image 3.0 So, this is basically Dead Weight that has both Vampire upside, and downside, depending on what you’re trying to do. If you really need to kill an opposing vampire, it will be pretty frustrating that this can’t do it – but +2/+2 on one of your vampires for only one mana is pretty nice upside on Dead Weight. Dead Weight is normally a 3.0, and I think this will still end up there. It kills a whole lot of things efficiently, after all.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Sporeback Wolf image 2.5 We’ve seen two mana 2/2s with this box of text before, and its fine. Being a 2/4 is decent enough upside on a bear.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Ceremonial Knife image 1.5 This gives a very small boost, especially for an Equip cost of 2, and the fact you get Blood out of it isn’t really enough to make me excited about this.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Fell Stinger
Dig Up image 2.0 So, even without the Cleave upside, this is a card you’ll play in any Green deck where you’re splashing. One mana to tutor up a land is something we’ve seen in the past be perfectly fine, so the additional upside of this tutoring up ANYTHING late definitely matters. Funny thing is, if this was only the Cleave effect, it wouldn’t be very good in Limited, so keep that in mind -- 4 mana is a lot to tutor something up, and we’ve never seen a card that did that alone be particularly good, but the card is bailed out by having the base effect in this particular case.
Fell Stinger image 4.0 This looks like a great uncommon to me. This is basically the Black Mulldrifter! Without Exploit, this is a card that always makes the cut. It has decent stats and the ability to trade with anything. With Exploit, it becomes a pretty high pick, as adding draw two to this is pretty massive. Giving up one creature for that still has you come out ahead, and that is even more true if you sacrifice something ideal. It can even sacrifice itself, and sometimes that will be worth doing. I think this is one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Panicked Bystander image 3.5 You would always play a two mana 2/2 that gains you life every time a creature you control dies, especially in a deck with a life gain archetype! I always loved Limited cards that help you do the thing and then pay off for the thing, because that means they can fuel themselves, and that’s certainly what we have here. Gaining 3 life and transforming this is a very doable thing once you add a little more life gain to the mix, and this thing is a pretty tough customer once its a ⅗ that can gain death touch.
Lacerate Flesh image 1.5 This is some pretty mediocre removal. 5 for 4 damage just isn’t much, and you’ll often be trading drown with it. Getting some Blood doesn’t really save it from mediocrity. It is still removal and brings some Blood and Spell synergy, so it’s something you’ll play sometimes.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Stitched Assistant image 3.0 The exploit trigger lets you see two cards, and makes sure that the creature you sacrifice is instantly replaced. You won’t always want to sacrifice a thing, but the fact that you can is pretty nice, and there are enough decent sacrifice fodder type cards that this seems like a 3.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Syphon Essence image 1.5 This not being able to counter noncreature nonplaneswalkers definitely matters, but it does counter the card type people tend to have the most of, and getting that Blood is nice upside. Still, it’s a narrow enough counterspell that you’ll cut it a lot.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Bleed Dry
Packsong Pup image 3.0 This is the kind of Werewolf payoff that Midnight Hunt really needed! In a deck with Wolves and Werewolves, this will become quite large, and then give you pretty nice value if it dies. Now, it does take some set up, and it starts super fragile, so I’m not sure I want to be first picking it, but it is certainly a quality card for RG decks in the format.
Lunar Rejection image 2.5 We’ve seen this card before without the werewolf hate side of things, and it was pretty solid. Bouncing a thing doesn’t usually give you a 1-or-1 trade, but because you draw a card, that’s what this amounts to, and you’re usually coming out ahead on tempo. Obviously, the Werewolf hosing upside will feel insane.
Foreboding Statue image 3.5 This is basically a way better version of Mystic Skull from the last set. Both are cards that fix your mana and then turn into creatures, but the Statue is way, way better on the front! For one thing its a creature, and for another it doesn’t just filter your mana -- it actually ramps you too. Then, once it transforms, it becomes a pretty imposing creature that still fixes your mana. This looks like a nice card that all but the most aggressive of decks would play and take fairly highly.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Alchemist's Retrieval image 2.0 We see this card a lot, and its always kind of alright. This one is nice because if you want to bounce your own thing you can pay less, and paying two to bounce a nonland permanent either player controls is kind of what we expect. Its never anything special, but the first copy often makes the cut in Blue decks.
Vampire's Kiss image 1.0 I don’t like cards like this. Sure, it alters the race a little bit and gives you those blood tokens, which the BR deck is certainly interested in, but it just won’t feel like this is giving you a full card of value very often. It doesn’t impact the board meaningfully, and I can’t see myself wanting to jam something like it into my deck.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Witch's Web image 1.5 We see this trick a lot, and its always passable in aggressive decks. It gives enough of a boost that the creature usually wins combat, and it can even be used to ambush an attacking flyer, though typically you’d rather use this aggressively than defensively.
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Bleed Dry image 4.0 This is pretty much unconditional, and exiling the thing you kill is a nice bonus. This is premium removal for sure, and maybe Black’s best Common.
Snarling Wolf image 1.5 This is another reprint from Midnight Hunt. It was solid there, as it could come down early and help set up Pack Tactics. It will probably be about the same here, except it will help set up Training. Still nothing special though, and not something you even always run. There are a lot of two drops that are just way better.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Whispering Wizard
Splendid Reclamation image 0.0 This is a reprint from Eldritch Moon, and it was a useless card last time -- and it will be again!
Oakshade Stalker image 3.0 So, if its day time, this is either a 3-mana 3/3 or a 5-mana 3/3 with Flash. If its night time, things get more interesting, because you still can choose to spend the extra mana for Flash, but the creature will come down as a 6/3, so it becomes a 5-mana 6/3 with Flash. That’s a creature that will take down most things it blocks, which is nice.
Whispering Wizard image 4.0 The trigger here is quite strong, even if you only get it going once a turn, as those Spirits can really cause a lot of problems to your opponent. Stapling them to every non-creature spell is really nice. I can see this being good in UR spells or UW Auras, as both of those decks will be casting a significant number of non-creature spells.
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Cruel Witness image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 Flyer always feels pretty good, and this lets you surveil every time you play a noncreature spell. That’s not the most exciting payoff ever, but it does improve your draws over time while also loading the graveyard, and the fact it starts out with such a good baseline is pretty nice.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Militia Rallier image 2.5 This has efficient stats, even if it can’t attack alone. The good news is it can block alone, and it does a good job of that! And as long as he has some friends, he can rumble too, while untapping a creature, so it has pseudo-vigilance. On top of that, its a nice size for training other creatures.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Archghoul of Thraben
Boarded Window image 2.5 This kind of effect always plays much better than you’d think. Decreasing the power of attacking creatures really results in a big downgrade for your opponent, and does have a pretty real impact on the board. It is a bit of a bummer -- albeit a flavrful bummer -- that it goes away if your opponent does 4 or more damage to you -- but it will be surprisingly hard for your opponent to find a way to do that, since their creatures will be significantly less potent attackers, something that is even more of a problem if you have blockers. Now you don’t really want this if you’re in the beat down, but if you’re in a more grindy control deck, this is going to be something that does a nice job for you.
Archghoul of Thraben image 3.5 This looks nice enough. At worst, it is a 3-mana 3/2 that Surveils 1 when it dies. That’s not great, but is perfectly playable. And, obviously, if you have a bunch of other Zombies, it triggers even more. Black decks will basically always have a few zombies, and UB decks will have more than a few, and in those decks it can turn into a real card advantage engine.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Traveling Minister image 1.5 This common gains life, which BW likes, and it can set up training a little better, which GW likes. But it doesn’t do either thing that well, and as a one mana 1/1 it isn’t exactly impactful. The Sorcery speed only thing is killer!
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Wolf Strike image 3.5 This is quite good. Even if it isn’t night time, this will be good in your Green decks, as the creature doesn’t fight, it just does damage equal to its power, so its one-sided! If it is night-time, it gets wayyy better, as it can make your creature take down a wider variety of creatures, and even offer you the opportunity to attack more effectively with the creature after it kills something else. You do have to be careful with this kind of card since you can get blown out if you don’t pick your spot carefully, but because its an Instant, you can pick your spot pretty effectively. Its definitely premium removal.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Stitched Assistant
Soulcipher Board image 1.0 // 3.0 This seems like it might be a little slow. It doesn’t add to the board in a meaningful way until it transforms, and it will usually take a few turns for you to get there. Sure, any creature being milled or dying will remove a counter, so if you have a deck that is good at self-milling you could get it going pretty fast, but you probably can’t really count on this being good enough all on its own. I mean, if you don’t see a creature with the ability, it won’t remove a counter, and do you really want to not draw a creature? I mean, sometimes you won’t want to, but you frequently would rather have the creature than mill it. Once it does transform, its pretty impressive as an aerial threat with a very good mana sink ability, but I think it will be too slow in most decks.
Screaming Swarm image 2.5 6 mana for a 4/4 Flyer isn’t a great rate, but this does do some other stuff. Generally, you’ll probably be milling yourself with the attack trigger, since this format does have graveyard stuff -- especially in Blue. But in a pinch, it can mill the opponent if that matters, and on rare occasions it will. This is expensive and slow, but it does load up your graveyard and it can make sure it keeps coming back, although that’s not that exciting. Remember, it will be replacing a card, not giving you card advantage when you use its ability to put it back into your deck.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Wedding Invitation image 1.5 This replaces itself, and that’s good, because the effect it has wouldn’t be worth anywhere close to worth an entire card. But yeah, since it replaces itself, the effect is pretty decent, especially on a vampire, as lifelink can really alter races. Still isn’t a great card, though. It will be pretty easy to cut since it is so low impact.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Grisly Ritual image 2.5 A 6 mana sorcery that kills something is certainly not premium. You almost always spend more mana, and having to tap all of your mana on your own turn is pretty brutal. Still, it is unconditional and gives you a couple of Blood tokens, so it isn’t bad. It just isn’t good either.
Stitched Assistant image 3.0 The exploit trigger lets you see two cards, and makes sure that the creature you sacrifice is instantly replaced. You won’t always want to sacrifice a thing, but the fact that you can is pretty nice, and there are enough decent sacrifice fodder type cards that this seems like a 3.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Wretched Throng
Wretched Throng image 0.0 // 3.5 I always really like collect ‘em all cards in Limited, they make for interesting picks, and this is a fun take on that. The main idea here is that you can keep getting Exploit fodder if you have multiple copies, but just the fact that it can block and trade and get you another Throng is actually pretty good too. A card like this always needs a range of grades. If you have one of these, you’re never going to play it, but as soon as you have two, you’re looking at a 2.5, if you have 3, it is 3.0, if you have 4 or more, it’s a 3.5.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Binding Geist image 2.0 So, the attack trigger here won’t usually make it so the Geist won’t die in combat, but it does let you force your opponent into situations where the best they can do is trade, and that’s not too bad… though it isn’t great either. 1 toughness is a just a big hurdle on a 3-mana creature. Having that ability in Aura form isn’t exactly exciting either when you disturb it.
Adamant Will image 1.5 We’ve seen this card a few times now, it’s a pretty reasonable trick. The boost it gives is enough to win just about any combat, and the indestructibility means you can even use it to save a creature from removal. It is still a trick and comes with all the inherent downsides those come with – like being situational and sometimes risky.
Ancestral Anger image 1.0 I like collect ‘em all cards, but just pumping power at Sorcery speed just isn’t that great, even with Trample. Now, I do think it has a little bit of value in the UR deck, since it is a spell that cantrips, but I’m still not very impressed.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Geistlight Snare
Geistlight Snare image 1.5 I’m always a bit skeptical of counter magic in Limited. This is a bad mana leak a big chunk of the time, and sometimes it will cost two or one, which will obviously feel much better, but you still have to hold it up at the right time for it to do its thing, and it has waning value as the game goes on and players have more mana.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Mulch image 1.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and one that stands a good chance at impacting constructed! In Limited, it is probably only worth it in a deck that is interesting in loading the graveyard, which mostly seems to be UG this time around. It does give you a good shot at hitting a land drop or two, which is fine. Still, I think most decks won’t play this apart from UG.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Wanderlight Spirit image 2.5 This is a reasonably aggressive flyer. Not being able to block ground creatures isn’t a huge deal.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Ceremonial Knife
Sheltering Boughs image 1.0 This Aura replaces itself, which definitely upgrades it, but the stats boost isn’t pretty. I think you’ll cut this more than you play it.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Ceremonial Knife image 1.5 This gives a very small boost, especially for an Equip cost of 2, and the fact you get Blood out of it isn’t really enough to make me excited about this.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Syphon Essence
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Syphon Essence image 1.5 This not being able to counter noncreature nonplaneswalkers definitely matters, but it does counter the card type people tend to have the most of, and getting that Blood is nice upside. Still, it’s a narrow enough counterspell that you’ll cut it a lot.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Alchemist's Retrieval
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Alchemist's Retrieval image 2.0 We see this card a lot, and its always kind of alright. This one is nice because if you want to bounce your own thing you can pay less, and paying two to bounce a nonland permanent either player controls is kind of what we expect. Its never anything special, but the first copy often makes the cut in Blue decks.
Vampire's Kiss image 1.0 I don’t like cards like this. Sure, it alters the race a little bit and gives you those blood tokens, which the BR deck is certainly interested in, but it just won’t feel like this is giving you a full card of value very often. It doesn’t impact the board meaningfully, and I can’t see myself wanting to jam something like it into my deck.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Aim for the Head
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Estwald Shieldbasher
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Undying Malice
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Bloodcrazed Socialite
Torens, Fist of the Angels image 4.5 This card is great. This type of Young Pyromancer type effect that just churns out free tokens always plays amazingly in Limited, and these tokens are no joke, as training often means they’ll be getting bigger on the attack. Torrens himself can also get larger, but most of the time you won’t be attacking with him unless you’re certain the coast is clear, since he is such an absurd value engine and you’ll want to get as many of those tokens as you can, so being reckless with him not a great idea. Most Limited decks will easily have enough creature spells to power Torrens. I think he does enough to be a bomb -- the one downside he has is being pretty fragile, but the upside is absolutely game-breaking, and I can’t imagine passing this very often.
Magma Pummeler image 3.0 This is a pretty neat design. It will never really be an efficient creature due to how its costed, but even if you just put this on the table as a 4-mana 2/2, your opponent will find themself in a situation where attacking is very difficult because of the 2-for-1 potential. It just scales up from there, and in the late game will be a huge problem, since it can also damage players. Now, it can still just straight up die to lots of removal, but damage-based removal will pretty much be off the table, so that helps. I can really see situations where this will be incredible, but it would be silly not to also think about the time’s where it just doesn’t matter, because its not big enough, or your opponent has too much life.
Bloodtithe Harvester image 3.5 This is a very nice signpost Uncommon, that tells you BR is all about Blood tokens. This is a super efficient creature that brings one of those Blood tokens along with it -- and if that’s where this card ended -- a two mana 3/2 that gives you a Blood -- you would be pretty happy to play that! But it also comes with the ability to become a removal spell once you amass enough Blood. So yeah, gives you Blood, good Blood payoff, good stats. This is a signpost that you should be willing to go after pretty aggressively
Lambholt Raconteur image 3.0 This is a pretty nice payoff for the spell deck, especially when it transforms! You’ll always play this in UR, and it will probably make the cut in pretty much any deck with 5 or so spells.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Dawnhart Disciple image 2.5 This is a nice two drop, one that will often be a 3/3 when you’re just curving out.
Bloodcrazed Socialite image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 with Menace isn’t amazing -- it is probably a 2.0 at best -- however -- this brings a blood token along with it, and I think I’d already be playing that card a reasonable chunk of the time, but it also has the impressive upside of making itself into a 5/5 when it attacks, provided you have blood. Because the Socialite brings a Blood token with it, you’ll get to do it at least once, and if you have other blood lying around, this will be a beating.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Rot-Tide Gargantua image 2.5 Sometimes, the Edict effect here won’t actually do a whole lot, and when that’s the case, its just a 5-mana 5/4, which isn’t really worth it. The upside is definitely real, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see this being super impressive in most situations.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Steelclad Spirit image 2.0 Two mana 3/3s with Defender are surprisingly not completely terrible. This is because they block pretty impressively early, and have enough size that your opponent is usually just going to have to trade. This has the nice upside of being an attacker sometimes.
Hookhand Mariner image 3.0 This is a nice Common werewolf, something they could have used in the last set! A 4-mana 4/4 is pretty close to a C, and when this transforms it is hard to block.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Falkenrath Forebear
Falkenrath Forebear image 3.5 This is very good. A 3-mana 3/1 with Flying that makes a blood token when it hits the opponent is already really good, so adding the reanimation to this is awesome. And sure, not being able to Block definitely downgrades it -- it means you can’t really use it to keep yourself alive -- but it can still continually pressure your opponent all game long.
Thirst for Discovery image 3.0 3 mana to draw 3 at instant speed and discard a land is a pretty good deal, and in some decks in this format, discarding nonlands will also be beneficial. It doesn’t impact the board of course, and you don’t want to jam too many cards like that into your deck, but I think this looks pretty good overall, and would value the first copy fairly high.
Reclusive Taxidermist image 3.5 Look, you would always play a two mana ½ that can add mana of any color -- that’s just great fixing and nice ramp, especially early! So the fact it gets bigger in the later part of the game is just upside on something that is already quite nice.
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Falkenrath Celebrants image 2.5 This is a decent 5-drop. A 5-mana 4/4 with Menace is A 2.0 at best, but the two blood tokens it gives you can fuel some stuff or improve your hand.
Doomed Dissenter image 3.0 This is a reprint, and a nice one to have in a set with Exploit. This is a great thing to sacrifice, and even apart from that, it can be a really obnoxious creature that just makes all X/1s really sad, since it just trades and gives you a 2/2. You get 3/3 of stats out of this for only two mana in the end, and that’s pretty nice.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Cruel Witness image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 Flyer always feels pretty good, and this lets you surveil every time you play a noncreature spell. That’s not the most exciting payoff ever, but it does improve your draws over time while also loading the graveyard, and the fact it starts out with such a good baseline is pretty nice.
Hungry Ridgewolf image 2.5 This isn’t the most exciting payoff ever, but it has decent base stats and will sometimes be a 3/2 with Trample, which is especially nice.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Heron of Hope image 2.5 This doesn’t have the best base stats, but it is a nice little life gain enhancer, and the fact it can gain life gain itself means it does stuff even if its your only life gain card -- and generally, it won’t be.
Weaver of Blossoms image 2.5 This is a nice source of fixing and ramp with decent stats, and sometimes those stats are more than decent and it ramps even more!
Pack 2 Pick 3: Catapult Fodder
Catapult Fodder image 3.0 A 3-mana ⅕ is a pretty reasonable defensive creature, and defensive creatures are especially welcome in the BG color pair, which has all kinds of toughness payoffs -- including this card, which will transform once you have enough creatures with higher toughness than power, and once it does, it can start loading their bodies into catapults and launching them at your opponents face. The ⅕ helps you find time to get there, too. Outside of the BG deck this won’t be very good though.
Ancient Lumberknot image 2.5 This is effectively a 4-mana 4/4 when its in combat, and it buffs all of your other high toughness creatures, which is neat, and you’ll have a decent number of those in BG. Still, this doens’t seem like the kind of signpost that you go after aggressively, it just doesn’t seem like it does quite enough on its own for that to be the case.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Wretched Throng image 0.0 // 3.5 I always really like collect ‘em all cards in Limited, they make for interesting picks, and this is a fun take on that. The main idea here is that you can keep getting Exploit fodder if you have multiple copies, but just the fact that it can block and trade and get you another Throng is actually pretty good too. A card like this always needs a range of grades. If you have one of these, you’re never going to play it, but as soon as you have two, you’re looking at a 2.5, if you have 3, it is 3.0, if you have 4 or more, it’s a 3.5.
Rural Recruit image 3.0 This is a pretty good Common. 4/2 worth of stats spread across two bodies isn’t too bad for 4 mana, and it comes with the means to train itself right away. This turning into a 2/2 isn’t exactly amazing, but it will definitely make your attacks on the turn after you play it feel pretty good.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Ceremonial Knife image 1.5 This gives a very small boost, especially for an Equip cost of 2, and the fact you get Blood out of it isn’t really enough to make me excited about this.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Supernatural Rescue image 1.0 This has a neat design, and is obviously really geared toward the UW deck, which is about Auras and Spirits. This having Flash will be particularly attractive, as you can use it to prevent one round of attacks and blocks when you do, and you can also get the stats boost at Instant speed, which isn’t too shabby. When it doesn’t have Flash, it is pretty clunky, though tapping down a couple of things can often make some more attacks possible. Still, the mana cost is pretty high here, and you won’t have much reason to run Auras like this when you can just run creatures with Disturb who are far more useful up front. Even with the Spirit upside, I don’t see myself playing this very often.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Diver Skaab
Vilespawn Spider image 4.0 This is an excellent signpost Uncommon, it has great vanilla stats, loads up the graveyard, and has a powerful graveyard-payoff effect. It does everything you want in UG.
Diver Skaab image 3.5 This has a nice Exploit trigger, as it lets you trade whatever you Sacrifice for a full card, while still adding a 5-mana ⅗ body to the board, and that’s going to do a whole lot to stabilize you or pull you ahead.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Wedding Invitation image 1.5 This replaces itself, and that’s good, because the effect it has wouldn’t be worth anywhere close to worth an entire card. But yeah, since it replaces itself, the effect is pretty decent, especially on a vampire, as lifelink can really alter races. Still isn’t a great card, though. It will be pretty easy to cut since it is so low impact.
Falkenrath Celebrants image 2.5 This is a decent 5-drop. A 5-mana 4/4 with Menace is A 2.0 at best, but the two blood tokens it gives you can fuel some stuff or improve your hand.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Parasitic Grasp
Parasitic Grasp image 4.0 This is really good. There are lots of Humans who you can kill with this, but in situations where you want to kill a non Human, paying an additional mana is perfectly fine.
Gutter Skulker image 3.5 This looks quite good to me. An unblockable 4-mana 3/3 is nice, and that’s what this will usually be! Then, once it goes down, it can lend that powerful unblockability to one of your other creatures, essentially giving you two creatures that are must-kills over the course of a game. Now, ideally, the creature is big enough to really be a problem, and you won’t always be able to pull that off. It does get some bonus points too from being a great place to put Disturb Auras since...you know, it can’t be blocked a lot of the time.
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Sporeback Wolf image 2.5 We’ve seen two mana 2/2s with this box of text before, and its fine. Being a 2/4 is decent enough upside on a bear.
Falkenrath Celebrants image 2.5 This is a decent 5-drop. A 5-mana 4/4 with Menace is A 2.0 at best, but the two blood tokens it gives you can fuel some stuff or improve your hand.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Syncopate image 2.5 This is a reprint, and actually a pretty reasonable counterspell. XU counterspells are nicely customizable, and you’ll find yourself able to counter a spell much more frequently without going out of your way to leave some amount of mana up as a result. Exiling the thing you counters certainly matters in this format too. Now, it is still a counterspell, and having to have the mana up at the exact right time just for this to trade 1-for-1 still isn’t awesome, but unlike a lot of counterspells, this one is worth it in Limited.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Moldgraf Millipede image 2.0 This is a decent payoff for the UG deck in the format, which likes milling. It is hard to overlook how bad this will feel if you only end up with one or two creatures, but I think if its at least a 4/4 you feel okay about it, and sometimes it will be much bigger. It is still just a big vanilla creature, though.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Fell Stinger
Fell Stinger image 4.0 This looks like a great uncommon to me. This is basically the Black Mulldrifter! Without Exploit, this is a card that always makes the cut. It has decent stats and the ability to trade with anything. With Exploit, it becomes a pretty high pick, as adding draw two to this is pretty massive. Giving up one creature for that still has you come out ahead, and that is even more true if you sacrifice something ideal. It can even sacrifice itself, and sometimes that will be worth doing. I think this is one of the best Uncommons in the set.
Soulcipher Board image 1.0 // 3.0 This seems like it might be a little slow. It doesn’t add to the board in a meaningful way until it transforms, and it will usually take a few turns for you to get there. Sure, any creature being milled or dying will remove a counter, so if you have a deck that is good at self-milling you could get it going pretty fast, but you probably can’t really count on this being good enough all on its own. I mean, if you don’t see a creature with the ability, it won’t remove a counter, and do you really want to not draw a creature? I mean, sometimes you won’t want to, but you frequently would rather have the creature than mill it. Once it does transform, its pretty impressive as an aerial threat with a very good mana sink ability, but I think it will be too slow in most decks.
Skulking Killer image 2.5 The design here is pretty cool, and if you were able to trigger that ETB ability consistently, it would be an incredible card. Problem is, in games of Limited your opponent will frequently have more than a single creature. Even if you play this as early as possible, on turn 4, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to get value out of the ability, in which case you’re talking about a 4-mana 4/2, which is pretty horrendous. It basically gets better the more removal you have, since it will be easier for you to control the board, but that’s a lot of set up.
Nurturing Presence image 1.5 This gives you a 1/1 Flyer no matter what, and that helps mitigate the risk of playing it. It’s too bad the rest of the card isn’t very good. The stats boost is situational and unimpressive. The turn you play it will giving +1/+1 to the thing, but still – you’re not really doing a great job with that.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Steelclad Spirit image 2.0 Two mana 3/3s with Defender are surprisingly not completely terrible. This is because they block pretty impressively early, and have enough size that your opponent is usually just going to have to trade. This has the nice upside of being an attacker sometimes.
End the Festivities image 0.5 Yeah. No thanks. This is a sideboard card, there aren’t enough X/1s in this format that you want to be doing this.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Bleed Dry
Sanguine Statuette image 2.0 On its own, you’ll be able to activate this once -- and while that’s not amazing, it is nice that it can do a thing without any other help, unlike some payoffs. Plus, you can play this and sac the token for an additional mana, and rumble right away with it which will certainly come up. You do probably need a critical mass of Blood to really get it going, but I think most Red decks will have like 5 ways to make blood without trying super hard.
Innocent Traveler image 3.0 You start out with a creature that is terrible on the vanilla test, but it can transform into a creature that does quite well on the vanilla test. The only way it won’t transform is if your opponent is willing to give up creatures, and that’s a pretty real cost. Sure, the first couple of times they may have some expendable stuff, but it will ultimately become a pretty real problem. Now, the downside is that your opponent may be able to hold off it off long enough so that a 3/3 Flyer isn’t a big deal or something, but the fact is that it still whittled away the opponent’s board a bit, and that’s not bad value to have on your 4-mana 3/3 Flyer. It is definitely kind of rough the turn you play it, since it’s such a terrible blocker, but by your upkeep I think you’ll be reasonably happy with its performance.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Bleed Dry image 4.0 This is pretty much unconditional, and exiling the thing you kill is a nice bonus. This is premium removal for sure, and maybe Black’s best Common.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Rot-Tide Gargantua
Bride's Gown image 1.5 Two to play and two to equip for +2/+0 is a sort of decent rate. It enables attacks you didn’t have before, although not raising toughness isn’t something I love, since it generally means your creature won’t have a better chance of surviving combat. We’ve seen Equipment with the same cost and boost before, and they are usually not that good. However, with Training a pretty big mechanic in White, I do think you end up playing this as your 23rd or 24th card a decent chunk of the time. And yeah, I know, it gets better if you pair it with Groom’s Finery, but they are both Uncommon so getting more than one copy of each isn’t ultra likely, and getting them both in play at the same time won’t happen a ton, though when it does it will be nice.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Sanctify image 0.5 This is good at destroying Artifacts and Enchantments, and I think there are enough of them that this might make your main deck sometimes. While there are lots of Auras, keep in mind, blowing up the disturbed side of a card isn’t really going to be a one-for-one and won’t feel that great, and I think that limits how good this is in your main deck. You mostly want this out of your sideboard.
Rot-Tide Gargantua image 2.5 Sometimes, the Edict effect here won’t actually do a whole lot, and when that’s the case, its just a 5-mana 5/4, which isn’t really worth it. The upside is definitely real, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see this being super impressive in most situations.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Syphon Essence image 1.5 This not being able to counter noncreature nonplaneswalkers definitely matters, but it does counter the card type people tend to have the most of, and getting that Blood is nice upside. Still, it’s a narrow enough counterspell that you’ll cut it a lot.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Gluttonous Guest
Magma Pummeler image 3.0 This is a pretty neat design. It will never really be an efficient creature due to how its costed, but even if you just put this on the table as a 4-mana 2/2, your opponent will find themself in a situation where attacking is very difficult because of the 2-for-1 potential. It just scales up from there, and in the late game will be a huge problem, since it can also damage players. Now, it can still just straight up die to lots of removal, but damage-based removal will pretty much be off the table, so that helps. I can really see situations where this will be incredible, but it would be silly not to also think about the time’s where it just doesn’t matter, because its not big enough, or your opponent has too much life.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Rot-Tide Gargantua image 2.5 Sometimes, the Edict effect here won’t actually do a whole lot, and when that’s the case, its just a 5-mana 5/4, which isn’t really worth it. The upside is definitely real, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see this being super impressive in most situations.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Steelclad Spirit image 2.0 Two mana 3/3s with Defender are surprisingly not completely terrible. This is because they block pretty impressively early, and have enough size that your opponent is usually just going to have to trade. This has the nice upside of being an attacker sometimes.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Doomed Dissenter
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Doomed Dissenter image 3.0 This is a reprint, and a nice one to have in a set with Exploit. This is a great thing to sacrifice, and even apart from that, it can be a really obnoxious creature that just makes all X/1s really sad, since it just trades and gives you a 2/2. You get 3/3 of stats out of this for only two mana in the end, and that’s pretty nice.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Ancient Lumberknot
Ancient Lumberknot image 2.5 This is effectively a 4-mana 4/4 when its in combat, and it buffs all of your other high toughness creatures, which is neat, and you’ll have a decent number of those in BG. Still, this doens’t seem like the kind of signpost that you go after aggressively, it just doesn’t seem like it does quite enough on its own for that to be the case.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Ragged Recluse
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Unhallowed Phalanx
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Mindleech Ghoul
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Necroduality
Necroduality image 0.0 // 4.0 So, obviously, you need a bunch of Zombies for this card to be anywhere close to worth it. Otherwise, it is a 4 mana Enchantment that basically does nothing! If you do have lots of Zombies, which probably means the UB color pair, it is probably worth playing -- but you probably need around 10 before you get there, and even then, the turn you place this it will do stone nothing! But if you get to untap, you’re probably going to be fine.
Gryffwing Cavalry image 3.5 A 4-mana 2/2 Flyer isn’t that impressive, but the fact it can bring a creature to the sky with it increases your chances of being able to trigger Training, and this thing will just keep getting bigger, while bringing other creatures into the sky, which sounds pretty good.
Gutter Skulker image 3.5 This looks quite good to me. An unblockable 4-mana 3/3 is nice, and that’s what this will usually be! Then, once it goes down, it can lend that powerful unblockability to one of your other creatures, essentially giving you two creatures that are must-kills over the course of a game. Now, ideally, the creature is big enough to really be a problem, and you won’t always be able to pull that off. It does get some bonus points too from being a great place to put Disturb Auras since...you know, it can’t be blocked a lot of the time.
Diver Skaab image 3.5 This has a nice Exploit trigger, as it lets you trade whatever you Sacrifice for a full card, while still adding a 5-mana ⅗ body to the board, and that’s going to do a whole lot to stabilize you or pull you ahead.
Mulch image 1.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and one that stands a good chance at impacting constructed! In Limited, it is probably only worth it in a deck that is interesting in loading the graveyard, which mostly seems to be UG this time around. It does give you a good shot at hitting a land drop or two, which is fine. Still, I think most decks won’t play this apart from UG.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Hungry Ridgewolf image 2.5 This isn’t the most exciting payoff ever, but it has decent base stats and will sometimes be a 3/2 with Trample, which is especially nice.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Desperate Farmer image 2.5 This starts out with a pretty ugly stat-line – a Gray Ogre with life link just isn’t worth three mana, but it has the ability to turn into a 4/3 with Lifelink, which is obviously pretty good for three mana! And transforming it isn’t’ super hard, something just has to die, so you can just play this and offer a trade for example. You can also exploit something to transform it.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Repository Skaab image 3.0 A Hill Giant that sometimes rebuys you an Instant or Sorcery is decent. Obviously, you don’t really want to give up a real creature for the effect all the time, otherwise it is a roundabout way of rummaging, but recurring removal spells is especially potent, and giving up a creature for that is often going to be worth it, especially if you sacrifice a card that brings you some value when it dies.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Chill of the Grave
Sawblade Slinger image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 is a 1.0 or 1.5- these days, and the Slinger has a couple of narrow abilities that will sometimes give you a 2-for-1. The Fight part is the most exciting, but he won’t always have a Zombie to fight. The same is true for Artifacts. There’s a few nice ones around, but not really enough that this will always have a thing to hit. That said, I don’t think this is a sideboard card. It has a reasonable baseline already and will be able to do a thing often enough with the ETB trigger that you’ll definitely play the first of these in most Green decks.
Distracting Geist image 3.5 This kind of creature always overperforms. Tapping down a defending creature is a huge deal, and really alters how your opponent plays the game. Being a 2/1 is a bit of a bummer, but the fact that you can disturb this later in the game to give a more formidable creature that ability is pretty appealing. I think you can take this pretty early.
Circle of Confinement image 3.0 The vampire part of the card mostly won’t matter in Limited -- you have to be exiling something your opponent has multiple copies of, after all. Mostly, this is a two mana removal spell that gets rid of mana value 3 or less things for two mana. That’s probably just enough to be premium removal, especially in a set with Disturb creatures, most of which are small enough that this can exile.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Sigarda's Imprisonment image 3.0 This is White’s usual aura-based premium removal. Now, there’s a very real chance this is worse than normal, since Exploit is in the format, but I still think the efficiency of the card is worth it -- 3 mana completely removes the card from combat, allowing you to attack and take advantage right away, and its nice that in the late game you can get rid of the creature entirely and get a Blood token out of the deal.
Lacerate Flesh image 1.5 This is some pretty mediocre removal. 5 for 4 damage just isn’t much, and you’ll often be trading drown with it. Getting some Blood doesn’t really save it from mediocrity. It is still removal and brings some Blood and Spell synergy, so it’s something you’ll play sometimes.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Sporeback Wolf image 2.5 We’ve seen two mana 2/2s with this box of text before, and its fine. Being a 2/4 is decent enough upside on a bear.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Hookhand Mariner image 3.0 This is a nice Common werewolf, something they could have used in the last set! A 4-mana 4/4 is pretty close to a C, and when this transforms it is hard to block.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Wretched Throng
Groom's Finery image 1.5 If you don’t also have Bride’s Gown, the boost from this card isn’t really going to be worth it. Two to play and two to equip for +2/+0 is basically never a worthwhile Equipment when we see it. Sure, it can enable an attack that wasn’t there before, but the lack of a toughness boost really matters.
Frenzied Devils image 2.0 This card’s a bit awkward. It costs 5, so most of the time you’re not going to be able to buff it the first turn you play it, so having Haste, while certainly better than not having it, won’t be that great. And it starts out so small that it dies to a ton of stuff, and that’s not something I love for 5 mana. Now, the upside here is that this thing is incredibly hard to block if you have cards in hand and mana available, and your opponent will find themselves just taking it when that’s the case -- or blocking because they might die lethal, and playing that “threat of activation” game can be pretty nice. But the baseline here is still pretty unexciting to me.
Mischievous Catgeist image 2.5 Getting in with the 1/1 side of this won’t be super easy, but if you are on the play and play it on turn two, it has a chance. The idea is that you can put Auras on it to really start to get value, and obviously as we’ve seen, there are lots of Auras that would make this into a formidable attacker. Then, when it goes down, it of course becomes an Aura, and one that grants the same ability to another creature. That’s pretty nice, because any time you find a situation where you have an advantageous attack, you can Disturb this and stand a good chance of getting that card.
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Sheltering Boughs image 1.0 This Aura replaces itself, which definitely upgrades it, but the stats boost isn’t pretty. I think you’ll cut this more than you play it.
Hungry Ridgewolf image 2.5 This isn’t the most exciting payoff ever, but it has decent base stats and will sometimes be a 3/2 with Trample, which is especially nice.
Lantern Bearer image 3.5 This looks like a pretty good Common. A one mana 1/1 Flyer isn’t something that is worth it in a lot of formats all on its own, but it is a pretty decent play on turn one, as it can chip in for some real damage. Unlike most one mana 1/1 flyers though, once this become outclassed, you can just chump block with it and then Disturb it to get a pretty nice Aura! +1/+1 and Flying can turn almost any creature into a very real threat, and sure, 3 mana for that isn’t amazing, but remember that you also got a one mana 1/1 Flyer earlier in the game, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Wretched Throng image 0.0 // 3.5 I always really like collect ‘em all cards in Limited, they make for interesting picks, and this is a fun take on that. The main idea here is that you can keep getting Exploit fodder if you have multiple copies, but just the fact that it can block and trade and get you another Throng is actually pretty good too. A card like this always needs a range of grades. If you have one of these, you’re never going to play it, but as soon as you have two, you’re looking at a 2.5, if you have 3, it is 3.0, if you have 4 or more, it’s a 3.5.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Wretched Throng
Vilespawn Spider image 4.0 This is an excellent signpost Uncommon, it has great vanilla stats, loads up the graveyard, and has a powerful graveyard-payoff effect. It does everything you want in UG.
Bloodtithe Harvester image 3.5 This is a very nice signpost Uncommon, that tells you BR is all about Blood tokens. This is a super efficient creature that brings one of those Blood tokens along with it -- and if that’s where this card ended -- a two mana 3/2 that gives you a Blood -- you would be pretty happy to play that! But it also comes with the ability to become a removal spell once you amass enough Blood. So yeah, gives you Blood, good Blood payoff, good stats. This is a signpost that you should be willing to go after pretty aggressively
Brine Comber image 3.5 This looks amazing, and kind of resembles Lingering Souls. Three mana a 1/1 and a 1/1 flyer isn’t bad, and you get at least one 1/1 flyer back from your graveyard, all from a single card! And that’s without taking into account the Aura upside. This is a great signpost Uncommon.
Ancestral Anger image 1.0 I like collect ‘em all cards, but just pumping power at Sorcery speed just isn’t that great, even with Trample. Now, I do think it has a little bit of value in the UR deck, since it is a spell that cantrips, but I’m still not very impressed.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Wretched Throng image 0.0 // 3.5 I always really like collect ‘em all cards in Limited, they make for interesting picks, and this is a fun take on that. The main idea here is that you can keep getting Exploit fodder if you have multiple copies, but just the fact that it can block and trade and get you another Throng is actually pretty good too. A card like this always needs a range of grades. If you have one of these, you’re never going to play it, but as soon as you have two, you’re looking at a 2.5, if you have 3, it is 3.0, if you have 4 or more, it’s a 3.5.
Sigarda's Imprisonment image 3.0 This is White’s usual aura-based premium removal. Now, there’s a very real chance this is worse than normal, since Exploit is in the format, but I still think the efficiency of the card is worth it -- 3 mana completely removes the card from combat, allowing you to attack and take advantage right away, and its nice that in the late game you can get rid of the creature entirely and get a Blood token out of the deal.
Fear of Death image 2.5 This kind of removal is nowhere close to being premium. Only reducing a creature’s power just doesn’t do enough. The thing can still block with its full toughness and use abilities, so you don’t even get rid of a whole card with it on some creatures. That, combined with the necessary set up, makes this a fairly unimpressive card. It does mill you, which is important, but it isn’t anything more than a decent playable.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Unhallowed Phalanx
Into the Night image 1.0 This doesn’t look very good to me. Sure, your werewolves get more impressive, but we saw in the last format that doing that isn’t that great, and 4 mana for that effect definitely is not worth it. I know it is accompanied by a rummage effect, but having enough cards in your hand to make that really worth it doesn’t seem very likely to me. It does replace itself effectively, but a 4 mana sorcery is still pretty ugly.
Panicked Bystander image 3.5 You would always play a two mana 2/2 that gains you life every time a creature you control dies, especially in a deck with a life gain archetype! I always loved Limited cards that help you do the thing and then pay off for the thing, because that means they can fuel themselves, and that’s certainly what we have here. Gaining 3 life and transforming this is a very doable thing once you add a little more life gain to the mix, and this thing is a pretty tough customer once its a ⅗ that can gain death touch.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Toxic Scorpion image 3.0 This looks nice. A two mana 1/1 with Deathtouch is probably already a 2.0 or 2.5, since it can trade for anything and really represent a problem all game long. So, being able to give death touch to another creature on the ETB is nice, and gives it even more utility in the later game.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Wretched Throng
Lantern of the Lost image 1.5 This does a real good job hating on the graveyard, and it also replaces itself with its activated ability. While this format feels a little less graveyard centric than Midnight Hunt -- after all, there’s no Flashback here -- graveyards are still a big enough deal in this format that I think you’ll main deck this sometimes. Because it replaces itself, the cost of doing so isn’t massive. I still think in an ideal world, you’re not playing it in your main deck though, as you’d rather have some other cards that have incidental graveyard hate than a card that only hates on graveyards. It will be the best in the UR deck, as it will trigger all your non-creature stuff and replace itself, which is exactly what that deck wants.
Lunar Rejection image 2.5 We’ve seen this card before without the werewolf hate side of things, and it was pretty solid. Bouncing a thing doesn’t usually give you a 1-or-1 trade, but because you draw a card, that’s what this amounts to, and you’re usually coming out ahead on tempo. Obviously, the Werewolf hosing upside will feel insane.
Grisly Ritual image 2.5 A 6 mana sorcery that kills something is certainly not premium. You almost always spend more mana, and having to tap all of your mana on your own turn is pretty brutal. Still, it is unconditional and gives you a couple of Blood tokens, so it isn’t bad. It just isn’t good either.
Apprentice Sharpshooter image 2.0 This seems decent. 3-mana 1/4s with Reach are always kind of alright, and this one’s Training upside is pretty real! If you end up playing this on turn three, you’ll often find that it isn’t that important you have a blocker, but attacking with a ¼ just isn’t worth it either, but now if you attack with almost anything else, it will become a ⅖, which is definitely more formidable.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Lantern Bearer image 3.5 This looks like a pretty good Common. A one mana 1/1 Flyer isn’t something that is worth it in a lot of formats all on its own, but it is a pretty decent play on turn one, as it can chip in for some real damage. Unlike most one mana 1/1 flyers though, once this become outclassed, you can just chump block with it and then Disturb it to get a pretty nice Aura! +1/+1 and Flying can turn almost any creature into a very real threat, and sure, 3 mana for that isn’t amazing, but remember that you also got a one mana 1/1 Flyer earlier in the game, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Wretched Throng image 0.0 // 3.5 I always really like collect ‘em all cards in Limited, they make for interesting picks, and this is a fun take on that. The main idea here is that you can keep getting Exploit fodder if you have multiple copies, but just the fact that it can block and trade and get you another Throng is actually pretty good too. A card like this always needs a range of grades. If you have one of these, you’re never going to play it, but as soon as you have two, you’re looking at a 2.5, if you have 3, it is 3.0, if you have 4 or more, it’s a 3.5.
Wedding Invitation image 1.5 This replaces itself, and that’s good, because the effect it has wouldn’t be worth anywhere close to worth an entire card. But yeah, since it replaces itself, the effect is pretty decent, especially on a vampire, as lifelink can really alter races. Still isn’t a great card, though. It will be pretty easy to cut since it is so low impact.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Diregraf Scavenger
Archghoul of Thraben image 3.5 This looks nice enough. At worst, it is a 3-mana 3/2 that Surveils 1 when it dies. That’s not great, but is perfectly playable. And, obviously, if you have a bunch of other Zombies, it triggers even more. Black decks will basically always have a few zombies, and UB decks will have more than a few, and in those decks it can turn into a real card advantage engine.
Arm the Cathars image 3.0 +6/+6 worth of stats spread across three creatures and Vigilance is going to be enough to enable attacks on a whole lot of boards, between the stats and the fact that you can still have the creatures hang back to block, which really matters in a race. Sure, you need a board state for this to do its thing, and you have to be a little cautious about when you use it, but it seems like this can bust a game wide open early, and break through a stalled board late, and that seems like a pretty nice overall.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Diregraf Scavenger image 2.5 This looks decent. Death touchers do tend to get a little less impressive the more mana you spend on them, because the fact they can trade with anything is less attractive when they are trading down, but the ETB ability here definitely does enough to make up for that. Draining your opponent 2 life with this will be fairly commonplace, and that means you get to hate on the opposing graveyard while also triggering your life gain stuff, and you are adding a pretty obnoxious creature to the board at the same time.
Syphon Essence image 1.5 This not being able to counter noncreature nonplaneswalkers definitely matters, but it does counter the card type people tend to have the most of, and getting that Blood is nice upside. Still, it’s a narrow enough counterspell that you’ll cut it a lot.
Fear of Death image 2.5 This kind of removal is nowhere close to being premium. Only reducing a creature’s power just doesn’t do enough. The thing can still block with its full toughness and use abilities, so you don’t even get rid of a whole card with it on some creatures. That, combined with the necessary set up, makes this a fairly unimpressive card. It does mill you, which is important, but it isn’t anything more than a decent playable.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Militia Rallier image 2.5 This has efficient stats, even if it can’t attack alone. The good news is it can block alone, and it does a good job of that! And as long as he has some friends, he can rumble too, while untapping a creature, so it has pseudo-vigilance. On top of that, its a nice size for training other creatures.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Undead Butler
Undead Butler image 3.0 This is pretty nice at setting stuff up in your graveyard, and also a great creature to sacrifice to Exploit. Its pretty interesting, because it is pretty close to being a better Gravedigger for half the mana -- and Gravedigger is usually a pretty nice limited card. But there are a few things that I actually don’t think make it better than the digger. First, only having one power is a big deal, because creating a 2-for-1 this becomes much harder. Second, it exiles itself, so you can’t loop them together. I still think this is pretty good, especially in a set with Exploit, but I don’t quite think it is first pickable.
Supernatural Rescue image 1.0 This has a neat design, and is obviously really geared toward the UW deck, which is about Auras and Spirits. This having Flash will be particularly attractive, as you can use it to prevent one round of attacks and blocks when you do, and you can also get the stats boost at Instant speed, which isn’t too shabby. When it doesn’t have Flash, it is pretty clunky, though tapping down a couple of things can often make some more attacks possible. Still, the mana cost is pretty high here, and you won’t have much reason to run Auras like this when you can just run creatures with Disturb who are far more useful up front. Even with the Spirit upside, I don’t see myself playing this very often.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Courier Bat image 3.0 This is a very nice Common. Early, its a Wind Drake, which is passable -- and then from the mid-game on, you’re going to be able to get a creature back reasonably often. Obviously, you’re going to want some life gain stuff going on, and that’s really a thing in BW, but there’s enough life gain around that I think this will be pretty much an auto-include in most Black decks, especially because it has such a good floor.
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Repository Skaab
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Repository Skaab image 3.0 A Hill Giant that sometimes rebuys you an Instant or Sorcery is decent. Obviously, you don’t really want to give up a real creature for the effect all the time, otherwise it is a roundabout way of rummaging, but recurring removal spells is especially potent, and giving up a creature for that is often going to be worth it, especially if you sacrifice a card that brings you some value when it dies.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Pack 3 Pick 10: Heron-Blessed Geist
Sigarda's Imprisonment image 3.0 This is White’s usual aura-based premium removal. Now, there’s a very real chance this is worse than normal, since Exploit is in the format, but I still think the efficiency of the card is worth it -- 3 mana completely removes the card from combat, allowing you to attack and take advantage right away, and its nice that in the late game you can get rid of the creature entirely and get a Blood token out of the deal.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Sporeback Wolf image 2.5 We’ve seen two mana 2/2s with this box of text before, and its fine. Being a 2/4 is decent enough upside on a bear.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Blood Fountain
Frenzied Devils image 2.0 This card’s a bit awkward. It costs 5, so most of the time you’re not going to be able to buff it the first turn you play it, so having Haste, while certainly better than not having it, won’t be that great. And it starts out so small that it dies to a ton of stuff, and that’s not something I love for 5 mana. Now, the upside here is that this thing is incredibly hard to block if you have cards in hand and mana available, and your opponent will find themselves just taking it when that’s the case -- or blocking because they might die lethal, and playing that “threat of activation” game can be pretty nice. But the baseline here is still pretty unexciting to me.
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Ragged Recluse
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Fear of Death image 2.5 This kind of removal is nowhere close to being premium. Only reducing a creature’s power just doesn’t do enough. The thing can still block with its full toughness and use abilities, so you don’t even get rid of a whole card with it on some creatures. That, combined with the necessary set up, makes this a fairly unimpressive card. It does mill you, which is important, but it isn’t anything more than a decent playable.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Undying Malice
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Undying Malice image 1.5 It seems like they give Black an Instant like this in every set these days, and they are always a little too situational and mediocre, especially if they don’t provide a stats boost up front to help the creature win combat. Supernatural Stamina, this is not. However, it does have some interesting applications in this set, especially alongside Exploit. You can use it to rebuy a creature you were sacrificing to Exploit, or to rebuy an Exploit trigger in the first place, and that seems like it might be worth doing. If you just have this in your deck as a way to save a creature from dying in combat or as way to counter removal, it probably won’t be worth it, but yeah – if ETBs and Exploit abound in your deck, it seems serviceable.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Persistent Specimen
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Draft Pick Overview