Average Picked At: 6.56 Total Times Picked: 25 Average Last Seen At: 5.03 Total Times Seen 113
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: This has decent base stats and a useful creature type, and the ability isn’t bad either. You aren’t always going to be in a spot to sacrifice a goblin or an orc for one of these effects, but there are definitely times where you’d be happy to turn a creature into a card or a Treasure
Average Picked At: 1.00 Total Times Picked: 5 Average Last Seen At: 1.00 Total Times Seen 5
Pro Rating: 5.0 Pro Comment: Well, this is really good. The base stats boost honestly isn’t bad for the casting cost and equipping it, but the fact you generate two 1/1s every time you attack with something equipped with this is nuts, especially because those 1/1 flyers are then good places to stick the Equipment and keep it going! This makes any creature into a major threat, and the fact it can just move around and wreak havoc means your opponent is going to have a very hard time beating this. I think its a bomb.
Average Picked At: 4.12 Total Times Picked: 17 Average Last Seen At: 3.69 Total Times Seen 94
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: Not killing everything is a little bit of a bummer, but this will usually be able to kill the best things on the battlefield. You can build around it to some extent too, but not having a bunch of creatures who get destroyed by it, and it isn’t like that’s super hard to do in White. Getting some Food is some nice upside to have too. Overall I think this looks pretty good. IT will be a bit awkward sometimes, as sweepers often are in Limited, and there will be times where it hurts you more than your opponent. However, you will find enough board states where you come out ahead when the dust settles.
Average Picked At: 9.73 Total Times Picked: 40 Average Last Seen At: 8.55 Total Times Seen 446
Pro Rating: 1.0 Pro Comment: This is cheaper than most versions of this effect that we see, but most versions of this effect also draw you a card, and The Ring Tempts You isn’t quite as good as that. Still, this will be effective in decks that end up with enough cards with ETBs. It is a bit of a bummer it can only hit creatures, as blinking Sagas can be particularly valuable. You can of course use it to help a creature dodge removal and stuff like that too. But Still, it seems like this type of card basically never makes the cut in Limited formats these days. It isn’t a disaster in the right deck, but actually generating a card of value with it is harder than you think. We’ve seen this be the case with basically every version of this effect in countless Limited formats at this point. While the list of situations where this is good seems long, the percentage of the time they come up just isn’t enough.
Average Picked At: 12.06 Total Times Picked: 16 Average Last Seen At: 8.42 Total Times Seen 212
Pro Rating: 0.0 Pro Comment: This looks pretty bad. Sure, one mana to put a counter on a 1/1 isn’t a terrible deal, and as a mana sink you could do worse, but it will eventually be fairly expensive to put counters on things, and the fact it does it only at Sorcery speed is a pretty big problem too. This just seems too clunky
Average Picked At: 9.52 Total Times Picked: 50 Average Last Seen At: 8.99 Total Times Seen 508
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: The last time we saw a 5-mana ¾ Flyer that Scried 2 on ETB it really over-performed, and that wasn’t even in a set with a Scry deck. This is probably one of Blue’s best Commons.
Average Picked At: 8.30 Total Times Picked: 23 Average Last Seen At: 5.60 Total Times Seen 155
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: If your deck can’t make an Army, this doesn’t look especially good. Crew 3 is higher than you might think, and the payoff – while certainly a large creature, isn’t exactly amazing. Even if you do have an Army, the absolute ceiling of this card is a 4-mana 5/5 Trampler – and that’s certainly efficient, but you have to keep in mind the times where you won’t be able to crew it and you don’t have an army. And, trust me, those times will come.
Average Picked At: 9.42 Total Times Picked: 38 Average Last Seen At: 7.69 Total Times Seen 424
Pro Rating: 1.5 Pro Comment: Manalith doesn’t tend to be very good in Limited. Using up a card just for inefficient fixing and ramp can be rough, though adding “The Ring Tempts You” to the mix probably does enough for this to be fixing you turn to when you’re desperate
Average Picked At: 1.14 Total Times Picked: 7 Average Last Seen At: 1.14 Total Times Seen 7
Pro Rating: 5.0 Pro Comment: This looks like an insane bomb to me. It has good stats for a 5-mana Flyer, is difficult to kill thanks to its ability to become indestructible, and it harshly punishes your opponent for daring to damage you by tempting you with the Ring and making them lose a creature.
Average Picked At: 3.12 Total Times Picked: 8 Average Last Seen At: 2.78 Total Times Seen 24
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This does something the turn you play it, which is pretty important! Once you attack and Scry 2, you’ve got a pretty solid shot at revealing a creature that this will let you cheat into play. You’ll wiff sometimes, but in your typical 15-creature deck, you’re normally going to find what you’re looking for. Of course, the creature isn’t always going to be something that its amazing for you to have to put into play tapped and attacking, but an extra body is usually going to be welcome if you already had a good attack. I think this will do enough to be pretty good overall, even if sometimes it won’t quite pan out the way you want it to
Average Picked At: 4.50 Total Times Picked: 8 Average Last Seen At: 3.17 Total Times Seen 20
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: So, since a Ringbearer becomes Legendary, the idea here is that Chapter II will hurt you less than it hurts your opponent, and for the most part that is true. The downside is that there are lots of legendary creatures in this set, and sometimes not being able to kill those is pretty rough. Still, because of Chapter I this will usually hurt you less than your opponent, and Chapter III also makes sure that your opponent will get hurt more by this Saga than you do. Your opponent is likely to have several creatures in the graveyard between Chapter I and II! Still, the fact that this will sometimes not kill multiple creatures your opponent has is a problem, and keeps it from being a straight up bomb
Average Picked At: 10.55 Total Times Picked: 42 Average Last Seen At: 8.75 Total Times Seen 479
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: We’ve seen three mana 3/2s with Flash that Scry a lot lately, and they haven’t been that good – but in the other sets there wasn’t a Scry deck like there is in this one. That probably does enough for this to be solid
Average Picked At: 9.75 Total Times Picked: 20 Average Last Seen At: 7.68 Total Times Seen 202
Pro Rating: 0.0 Pro Comment: Three mana tutors don’t tend to be very good in Limited. After all, the average power level of the cards in your deck isn’t all that high, and you don’t end up netting any cards – you just go down a card and get one back and that doesn’t tend to be worth three mana. Because the ring tempts you, as long as you have a creature, this will tutor for something since your ringbearer becomes legendary, but this still looks really rough
Average Picked At: 2.00 Total Times Picked: 7 Average Last Seen At: 2.23 Total Times Seen 14
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: A three mana 3/3 with Vigilance is usually a playable card, and while his ability to counter free spells will basically never come up in Limited, his ability to give indestructibility to all of your creatures and have the Ring tempt you is pretty good.
Average Picked At: 7.44 Total Times Picked: 18 Average Last Seen At: 5.72 Total Times Seen 137
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: Scrying is a well-supported theme in Blue-Green, and Celeborn is another nice payoff for doing so. He will always attack as a 4/4, since he counts himself, and there are going to plenty of times where you can Scry additional times to buff him, especially because his Scry ability will theoretically allow you to find even more Scry! He will largely be a Hill Giant on your opponents turn, but some instant speed scry can also cause some problems for your opponent
Average Picked At: 1.17 Total Times Picked: 12 Average Last Seen At: 1.20 Total Times Seen 15
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: Getting tempted by the Ring repeatedly is going to generate some nice value, and this gives you the ability to also draw some extra cards in addition to upgrading a creature. Keep in mind you can keep choosing different ring-bearers if you want to, and the effects from “Tempted by the Ring” will be transferred, and when you have this around you’re going to want to switch to draw an extra card. This has the potential to generate some very real value, but it also doesn’t do a whole lot the turn it comes down, and if you can’t keep a creature around it is going to feel pretty bad
Average Picked At: 7.78 Total Times Picked: 18 Average Last Seen At: 5.17 Total Times Seen 112
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: A 4-mana 4/3 Trampler just isn’t enough these days, and while his ability will allow you to get in some extra damage, the only time it will feel significant is when you find yourself in a spot where you can attack with everything, at which point it can wreak havoc on combat. Meanwhile, Gimli dies to lots of cheap removal and that ceiling you’re hoping for just won’t happen that often.
Average Picked At: 2.33 Total Times Picked: 6 Average Last Seen At: 2.18 Total Times Seen 18
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: A one mana ½ that can fairly easily become a ⅔ with lifelink on the next turn is pretty decent. If you can make it a halfling Rogue, though, the upgrade isn’t nearly as impressive. Sure, being tempted by the ring gives you some good value, but Frodo actually getting in for damage ont he opposing player is usually going to involve you do some extra work, as a ⅔ lifelink isn’t exactly a worldbeater.
Average Picked At: 8.12 Total Times Picked: 17 Average Last Seen At: 6.44 Total Times Seen 147
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: This has a pretty high ceiling, mostly as a result of Chapter II. If you can set it up to reanimate something nice, that’s going to be great. Chapter I and III deliver some value too of course, and is value that is more easily accessible, but it is decidedly less. Making something indestructible for a couple of turns is usually going to have at least some impact on the game, whether it allows you to attack or block more effectively, and lifelink can help alter a race. However, if you aren’t able to reanimate something reasonable with Chapter II, this is going to feel pretty bad overall. I think that really limits just how good this Saga can be. Sometimes it will feel amazing, when you reanimate a bomb or something – other times it will have two medium effects that don’t really get close to being worth the mana.
Average Picked At: 2.23 Total Times Picked: 31 Average Last Seen At: 2.67 Total Times Seen 55
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: A 4-mana 2/4 with Flash and the ability to turn your sorceries into Instants isn’t too bad, but what really makes this impressive is the fact that you get to draw a card every time you choose a non-Gandalf creature as your ringbearer. That’s some massive value, and even if you only draw 1 card with Gandalf, that’s going to feel amazing.