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Quick Draft VOW 31 December 2021

31 December 11:27 - LGee 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (15)
1 Reclusive Taxidermist image
1 Dreadlight Monstrosity image
1 Stormchaser Drake image
1 Ancient Lumberknot image
1 Flourishing Hunter image
1 Patchwork Crawler image
1 Skywarp Skaab image
1 Dreadfeast Demon image
1 Old Rutstein image
1 Lantern Bearer // Lanterns' Lift image
3 Toxic Scorpion image
1 Cobbled Lancer image
1 Toxrill, the Corrosive image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (8)
2 Massive Might image
1 Alchemist's Retrieval image
1 Scattered Thoughts image
1 Ceremonial Knife image
1 Cartographer's Survey image
1 Mulch image
1 Thirst for Discovery image
Land (17)
2 Evolving Wilds image
5 Swamp image
5 Forest image
5 Island image
Sideboard
1 Hamlet Vanguard image
3 Steelclad Spirit image
3 Moldgraf Millipede image
1 Cloaked Cadet image
1 Skull Skaab image
1 Selhoff Entomber image
1 Crushing Canopy image
1 Laid to Rest image
1 Howling Moon image
2 Geistlight Snare image
1 End the Festivities image
1 Witness the Future image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Patchwork Crawler
Patchwork Crawler image 3.0 This is a pretty neat card, and not a bad late game mana sink to have around. And, even early sometimes, copying a creature’s ability who died and getting a counter can be better than playing a thing from time to time. But still, it starts out small, and asks for set up, and has a pretty costly ability. Its great late, but kind of meh the rest of the game.
Cobbled Lancer image 3.0 Obviously, casting this on turn one is close to impossible in Limited, but if you just trade your two drop and then cast this on turn three plus another spell, that seems pretty spicy. Its also big enough that its decent all game long, so even if you don’t play it until turn 4 or something it will be okay, especially if you’re double spelling. The nice thing too is that if you’re milling yourself, you can cash it in for a card from your graveyard. And, if you trade with it and use the ability from the graveyard, you get a 2-for-1!
Markov Purifier image 3.0 This is a nice signpost Uncommon that tells you BW is all about life gain, and its nice that on his own, he can gain you life thanks to lifelink, which means he can draw you cards. You won’t always be able to spend the mana of course, but once you reach a point in the game where you have the spare mana, this is going to be pretty powerful.
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
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.
Spore Crawler image 3.0 I like this. It doesn’t do anything fancy, but it has 2-for-1 written all over it, and I always like Commons that can produce those easily.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blood Petal Celebrant image 3.0 This is a nice Common. We’ve seen two mana 2/1s who have first strike when they attack before, and they are always good two-drop aggro creatures, and this one gives you some Blood when it goes down. I don’t imagine you’ll cut this in Red decks.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 2: Hamlet Vanguard
Hamlet Vanguard image 3.0 This can end up being quite large, especially in GW -- a deck that is about both Humans and +1/+1 counters. On the flip side, it can also just be a 3-mana 1/1 with Ward 2, not something you should be interested in. It also has no evasion, so it can be chump blocked for days. So yeah, even though this guy can be massive and hard to kill, the set up cost is a lot for something that doesn’t have that high of a ceiling. Not that it’s bad -- you’ll play it in pretty much every Green deck -- but I don’t think I’m interested in first picking it.
Cobbled Lancer image 3.0 Obviously, casting this on turn one is close to impossible in Limited, but if you just trade your two drop and then cast this on turn three plus another spell, that seems pretty spicy. Its also big enough that its decent all game long, so even if you don’t play it until turn 4 or something it will be okay, especially if you’re double spelling. The nice thing too is that if you’re milling yourself, you can cash it in for a card from your graveyard. And, if you trade with it and use the ability from the graveyard, you get a 2-for-1!
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.
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.
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.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Stormchaser Drake
Skull Skaab image 3.5 So yeah, Skull Skaab is all about Exploit, and so is the UB color pair! This is a two mana 2/2 who can sac something to get a 2/2 Zombie. That on its own isn’t great, but giving up a 1/1 or something you want in the yard getting a 2/2 is pretty good. Where the value really adds up, though, is when you have other cards with Exploit. With those cards, you can sacrifice a thing to get another effect as well as the 2/2 Zombie, which itself is pretty good Exploit fodder. Like most of the signposts in this set, this looks quite good!
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
Stormchaser Drake image 3.5 This starts out with a great Flying body, and the ability it has can be quite nice, especially in UW, a deck that will have a decent number of Auras, and Auras of course count for the ability. You’ll still play this in just about any Blue deck though, as the stats alone are worth it, and any Blue deck at all probably has a decent chance of having some other things that target it.
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.
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.
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.
Kindly Ancestor image 3.0 This seems like a nice Common. A 3-mana ⅔ with Lifelink would be a 2.5, so adding the Disturb upside is pretty nice! Giving lifelink to evasive creatures is especially nasty, as life gain just utterly alters races. Its nice that it will also work pretty well in GW, as putting +1/+1 counters on a lifelinker tends to feel pretty good.
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.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 4: Thirst for Discovery
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Massive Might
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Toxic Scorpion
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 7: Evolving Wilds
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skywarp Skaab image 2.5 If this always drew you a card, I’d be pretty pumped about this! It probably only ends up drawing you a card around half the time though, which is substantially worse, as a 5-mana 2/5 Flyer isn’t anything special.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Crushing Canopy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 9: Evolving Wilds
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 1 Pick 10: Cobbled Lancer
Cobbled Lancer image 3.0 Obviously, casting this on turn one is close to impossible in Limited, but if you just trade your two drop and then cast this on turn three plus another spell, that seems pretty spicy. Its also big enough that its decent all game long, so even if you don’t play it until turn 4 or something it will be okay, especially if you’re double spelling. The nice thing too is that if you’re milling yourself, you can cash it in for a card from your graveyard. And, if you trade with it and use the ability from the graveyard, you get a 2-for-1!
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Mulch
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Steelclad Spirit
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.
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.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Moldgraf Millipede
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.
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 1 Pick 14: Laid to Rest
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Howling Moon
Howling Moon image 1.0 // 3.5 You pretty much need to be in a Werewolf deck for this to be worth it, because the other pat of the card won’t produce tokens often enough. It is especially bad to get this in the later part of the game when players are struggling to find spells to cast in the first place! But yeah, if you have enough Wolves and Werewolves, this card is fairly appealing, as +2/+2 to one of them every turn is sure to make your attacks a lot better, and getting that free wolf token from time to time will just be nice extra value. I do think this needs a build around though.
Hero's Downfall image 4.0 This was a Rare last time we saw it, and that goes a long way towards explaining how removal has gone back to being really good at lower rarities lately! And yeah, this is. It is strictly better Murder coming with the occasionally useful upside of dealing with planeswalkers. The double black in the cost is something that matters, because it isn’t as splashable as some other premium removal, but its still incredibly good.
Radiant Grace image 2.5 There are lots of Auras in this format that do an excellent job of getting around the 2-for-1 risk of Auras, and this is yet another! One mana for +1/+0 and Vigilance isn’t exactly an exciting boost, and probably wouldn’t be a card you’re super interested in playing, but the fact that it comes back as a Curse is nice. Now, again, just the Curse side of this isn’t great, but when you staple the two cards together, you end up with a very playable card, especially in UW, which loves Enchantments. The Curse side is going to be nice if you’re aggressive especially, and is less good the less aggressive you are. I think this comes out as a 2.5, overall.
Vampires' Vengeance image 2.5 Doing 2 to the whole board can be pretty nice, and obviously if you’re a deck with lots of vampires, you can make this fairly one-sided. Of course, the downside is that your opponent might have vampires too, in which case this won’t feel too good, but I still think you’ll basically always play the first copy of this in a BR deck in the format. It will be able to kill enough creatures, and the fail case of making Blood isn’t too bad. I don’t think its anything special, though.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wanderlight Spirit image 2.5 This is a reasonably aggressive flyer. Not being able to block ground creatures isn’t a huge deal.
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.
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.
Flame-Blessed Bolt image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana for 2 at Instant speed always is, as you can very easily trade up. The exile clause definitely matters because of the disturb mechanic too.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
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 2: Massive Might
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blood Petal Celebrant image 3.0 This is a nice Common. We’ve seen two mana 2/1s who have first strike when they attack before, and they are always good two-drop aggro creatures, and this one gives you some Blood when it goes down. I don’t imagine you’ll cut this in Red decks.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Steelclad Spirit
Child of the Pack image 3.5 A 4-mana 2/5 that can crank out 2/2s is a nice mana sink, and it actually combos pretty well with itself, since you can just choose to use that ability rather than cast spells, and that allows you to still add to the board while getting to transform the Child into its werewolf form, which will be making that same token into a 3/2 -- and pumping your whole board in generally is pretty nice!
Vampires' Vengeance image 2.5 Doing 2 to the whole board can be pretty nice, and obviously if you’re a deck with lots of vampires, you can make this fairly one-sided. Of course, the downside is that your opponent might have vampires too, in which case this won’t feel too good, but I still think you’ll basically always play the first copy of this in a BR deck in the format. It will be able to kill enough creatures, and the fail case of making Blood isn’t too bad. I don’t think its anything special, though.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Skywarp Skaab
Retrieve image 1.5 This doesn’t look great. It won’t be easy actually getting back two cards with this. Sure, having a creature in your graveyard is a foregone conclusion, but having a noncreature permanent is not. In Limited, that means we’re talking Lands, Artifacts, and Enchantments, and those things don’t routinely end up in the graveyard! Unless, of course, you’re in a self mill deck. In a deck like that, getting a land + creature will be pretty easy, and not a bad deal. Still, this is going to only be good in some pretty specific decks, and even then it won’t be that great.
Edgar's Awakening image 3.0 We see 5 mana spells that reanimate a thing a lot, and in your typical format, they aren’t that great. In this format, I don’t see that being drastically different. The tricky thing is getting something into the yard that is worth spending the 5 mana on, and that just doesn’t happen all that often in a typical game of Limited. Now, the additional effect here definitely matters -- as if you discard this to Rummage with Blood, you get a creature back to your hand for a single Black, and that’s going to feel pretty good, so having the alternate reanimation mode is really just upside.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Skywarp Skaab image 2.5 If this always drew you a card, I’d be pretty pumped about this! It probably only ends up drawing you a card around half the time though, which is substantially worse, as a 5-mana 2/5 Flyer isn’t anything special.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 5: 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.
Ollenbock Escort image 2.5 A one mana 1/1 with Vigilance is kind of alright in this format, since there is an Aura deck and a +1/+1 counter deck, but it gets a lot better with its ability to make something gain lifelink and indestructibility. Those two keywords are huge, and this is going to have some serious impact on the board if you have a creature with a counter somewhere, as your opponent has to respect this ability or get completely wrecked.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
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.
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 6: Flourishing Hunter
Voltaic Visionary image 3.0 This has a neat design. Ideally, it will be a two mana 4/3 that can’t block that draws you a card for 2 life, and that’s something you’d always play! The problem is sometimes it’ll exile a card you can’t play, but if your curve is low enough or its late, it shouldn’t be too hard for this to net you that card. The downside is that, since it can’t block, trading won’t be super easy. Sometimes you will be able to assign it as a blocker then use the ability to transform it. In those situations, you’ll be more likely to get the 2-for-1, but yeah. This can lead to some aggressive starts or draw you a card late while adding to the board, and I like that.
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Toxic Scorpion
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.
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.
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.
Wanderlight Spirit image 2.5 This is a reasonably aggressive flyer. Not being able to block ground creatures isn’t a huge deal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Scattered Thoughts
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.
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
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
Scattered Thoughts image 2.0 It is pretty funny to compare this card to Organ Hoarder from the last set, which was the same mana cost, but put a 3/2 body into play and only let you grab one card from the top three, but yeah, way better either way. Anyway, this might not be the best Common in the whole set like the Hoarder was, but it seems like a solid playable. Looking at 4 cards is pretty nice for the cost, and loading up the graveyard is worth doing too.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Moldgraf Millipede
Radiant Grace image 2.5 There are lots of Auras in this format that do an excellent job of getting around the 2-for-1 risk of Auras, and this is yet another! One mana for +1/+0 and Vigilance isn’t exactly an exciting boost, and probably wouldn’t be a card you’re super interested in playing, but the fact that it comes back as a Curse is nice. Now, again, just the Curse side of this isn’t great, but when you staple the two cards together, you end up with a very playable card, especially in UW, which loves Enchantments. The Curse side is going to be nice if you’re aggressive especially, and is less good the less aggressive you are. I think this comes out as a 2.5, overall.
Vampires' Vengeance image 2.5 Doing 2 to the whole board can be pretty nice, and obviously if you’re a deck with lots of vampires, you can make this fairly one-sided. Of course, the downside is that your opponent might have vampires too, in which case this won’t feel too good, but I still think you’ll basically always play the first copy of this in a BR deck in the format. It will be able to kill enough creatures, and the fail case of making Blood isn’t too bad. I don’t think its anything special, though.
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.
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.
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.
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 10: Moldgraf Millipede
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Ceremonial Knife
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Steelclad Spirit
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.
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.
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.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Dreadlight Monstrosity
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.
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 2 Pick 14: End the Festivities
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.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Toxrill, the Corrosive
Toxrill, the Corrosive image 5.0 7 mana is a lot, but Toxrill does more than enough to make it worth the mana. By the end of the turn you play it, your opponent’s whole board will get -1/-1, and its reasonably likely that will kill at least one creature, which will also net you a slug. This can be particularly true if you attacked them that turn. Then, if Toxrill makes it to next end step, its pretty unlikely they will be able to win, as -2/-2 is just massive. The fact he can cash in Slugs for cards is pretty nice too, of course. He can even sacrifice himself in a pinch! Keep in mind that if Toxrill goes down, the creatures will keep those slime counters, but they won’t actually do anything unless you get Toxrill into play again. He’s an absolute bomb.
Skull Skaab image 3.5 So yeah, Skull Skaab is all about Exploit, and so is the UB color pair! This is a two mana 2/2 who can sac something to get a 2/2 Zombie. That on its own isn’t great, but giving up a 1/1 or something you want in the yard getting a 2/2 is pretty good. Where the value really adds up, though, is when you have other cards with Exploit. With those cards, you can sacrifice a thing to get another effect as well as the 2/2 Zombie, which itself is pretty good Exploit fodder. Like most of the signposts in this set, this looks quite good!
Child of the Pack image 3.5 A 4-mana 2/5 that can crank out 2/2s is a nice mana sink, and it actually combos pretty well with itself, since you can just choose to use that ability rather than cast spells, and that allows you to still add to the board while getting to transform the Child into its werewolf form, which will be making that same token into a 3/2 -- and pumping your whole board in generally is pretty nice!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Abrade image 4.0 Woo boy, this is a very powerful reprint, and its one that was UNCOMMON last time, so the downshift is pretty exciting. Two to do 3 to something is always premium, and having the other mode is nice too, even if this format isn’t exactly filled to the brim with Artifacts.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 2: Dreadfeast Demon
Dreadfeast Demon image 4.5 7 -mana for a 6/6 Flyer isn’t the most amazing rate, but that’s definitely a big creature! Especially because it cranks out copies of itself. It effectively turns a non-Demon creature into a 6/6 Flying Demon every turn, including the turn you play it, and stopping that from continuing to happen is a pretty big challenge. While I don’t love the initial rate, the fact that it gets going on your end step the turn you play it is enough for this to get into the lower bomb range.
Witness the Future image 1.5 This is interesting. It doesn’t add or subtract from the board at all, and in this day and age that is becoming more and more of a liability, but it does seem like a kind of reasonable late game play. Using it to remove graveyard stuff of your opponent’s, or to shuffle cards back in your deck that you would like to redraw, while also giving you some card selection, isn’t a terrible deal at 3 mana. It also isn’t a great one though and seems like something that will get cut a lot.
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.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 3: Reclusive Taxidermist
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.
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
Cartographer's Survey image 1.5 This is an interesting version of Explosive Vegetation! Most of the time when you cast this you will be getting two lands. The thing that makes it worse than Vegetation and other cards like it, is that this won’t reliably help you fix your mana or anything like that. It definitely improves your chances of course, but because you usually run about one land that produces splash mana, your chances aren’t great. So mostly, I’m looking at this as a ramp spell -- and it is good at that, even if it is pretty clunky. Casting this on turn four in some games just won’t be something you can do if your opponent is aggressive. Right now, I don’t see myself playing this other than in the rampiest of decks.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Belligerent Guest image 2.5 This has alright stats and is going to make you blood sometimes, both are welcome.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Cloaked Cadet
Cloaked Cadet image 3.5 This looks really strong. It has a pretty bad starting rate, but the stats it has work really well with training, because it will likely get a counter and likely become a ⅗ when you attack with it, netting you a card. Because it then has 5 toughness, it is going to be hard to take down in combat, and even if they do, you’re probably getting a 2-for-1. And that’s without taking into account having other ways to put counters on stuff.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Old Rutstein
Old Rutstein image 4.0 This has a neat design, and its also pretty good! When it ETBs you will be going of these three things, and whatever it is you get, you’re getting a pretty nice deal. The Insect will probably feel the best, but the other things are nice too! Then, every turn, he continues to give you value, while also loading your graveyard for other purposes. Left unchecked, the value that Old Rutstein gives you will be hard for your opponent overcome.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Skull Skaab
Skull Skaab image 3.5 So yeah, Skull Skaab is all about Exploit, and so is the UB color pair! This is a two mana 2/2 who can sac something to get a 2/2 Zombie. That on its own isn’t great, but giving up a 1/1 or something you want in the yard getting a 2/2 is pretty good. Where the value really adds up, though, is when you have other cards with Exploit. With those cards, you can sacrifice a thing to get another effect as well as the 2/2 Zombie, which itself is pretty good Exploit fodder. Like most of the signposts in this set, this looks quite good!
Witness the Future image 1.5 This is interesting. It doesn’t add or subtract from the board at all, and in this day and age that is becoming more and more of a liability, but it does seem like a kind of reasonable late game play. Using it to remove graveyard stuff of your opponent’s, or to shuffle cards back in your deck that you would like to redraw, while also giving you some card selection, isn’t a terrible deal at 3 mana. It also isn’t a great one though and seems like something that will get cut a lot.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 7: Toxic Scorpion
Retrieve image 1.5 This doesn’t look great. It won’t be easy actually getting back two cards with this. Sure, having a creature in your graveyard is a foregone conclusion, but having a noncreature permanent is not. In Limited, that means we’re talking Lands, Artifacts, and Enchantments, and those things don’t routinely end up in the graveyard! Unless, of course, you’re in a self mill deck. In a deck like that, getting a land + creature will be pretty easy, and not a bad deal. Still, this is going to only be good in some pretty specific decks, and even then it won’t be that great.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Pack 3 Pick 8: Ancient Lumberknot
Radiant Grace image 2.5 There are lots of Auras in this format that do an excellent job of getting around the 2-for-1 risk of Auras, and this is yet another! One mana for +1/+0 and Vigilance isn’t exactly an exciting boost, and probably wouldn’t be a card you’re super interested in playing, but the fact that it comes back as a Curse is nice. Now, again, just the Curse side of this isn’t great, but when you staple the two cards together, you end up with a very playable card, especially in UW, which loves Enchantments. The Curse side is going to be nice if you’re aggressive especially, and is less good the less aggressive you are. I think this comes out as a 2.5, overall.
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.
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.
Belligerent Guest image 2.5 This has alright stats and is going to make you blood sometimes, both are welcome.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 9: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 10: Witness the Future
Witness the Future image 1.5 This is interesting. It doesn’t add or subtract from the board at all, and in this day and age that is becoming more and more of a liability, but it does seem like a kind of reasonable late game play. Using it to remove graveyard stuff of your opponent’s, or to shuffle cards back in your deck that you would like to redraw, while also giving you some card selection, isn’t a terrible deal at 3 mana. It also isn’t a great one though and seems like something that will get cut a lot.
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.
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.
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.
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 3 Pick 11: Cartographer's Survey
Cartographer's Survey image 1.5 This is an interesting version of Explosive Vegetation! Most of the time when you cast this you will be getting two lands. The thing that makes it worse than Vegetation and other cards like it, is that this won’t reliably help you fix your mana or anything like that. It definitely improves your chances of course, but because you usually run about one land that produces splash mana, your chances aren’t great. So mostly, I’m looking at this as a ramp spell -- and it is good at that, even if it is pretty clunky. Casting this on turn four in some games just won’t be something you can do if your opponent is aggressive. Right now, I don’t see myself playing this other than in the rampiest of decks.
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Lantern Bearer
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.
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Selhoff Entomber
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.
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.
Pack 3 Pick 14: Alchemist's Retrieval
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.
Draft Pick Overview