Pro Rating: 5.0
Pro Comment: So, while Omnath is definitely better in a world where you have a ton of Elementals, let’s look at what he does when he is on his own. He is a 4-mana 3/3 that does 1 damage to any target, who then has a landfall ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on him – and then starts drawing you cards if you get enough lands in play. You would always play that. Then, this set is really loaded up with Elementals – conveniently enough in Omnath’s three colors – and that means that he is much better than that. While his mana cost might be sort of difficult, I think he is a straight up bomb. Sure, you’ll need some fixing to make him work consistently, but the fact that he is partly Green helps with that – plus this set has some pretty solid fixing to begin with!

Pro Rating: 1.5
Pro Comment: This is a tutor that is actually worth playing sometimes, because it gives you two cards, which means you’re getting an actual advantage. It is still really clunky, and involves spending 5 mana on something that has no immediate board impact, but at least it is an Instant, which makes up for that a little bit. I still don’t really see this as a card that makes the cut that often, though.

Pro Rating: 1.5
Pro Comment: This looks like it would be pretty good – I mean, you get TWO permanents back and for only two mana! And yeah, if this card did that no questions asked it would be great – the problem is, these situations are really hard to line up in Limited, much harder than you might think at first. But trust me, if you put this in your deck, you’re going to find yourself unable to use it effectively most of the time, and it just ends up being dead a lot of the time.

Pro Rating: 5.0
Pro Comment: 4 mana for a 3/3 flyer is usually already good enough for close to always make your deck, so when you tack on the ability to tap down your opponent’s best creature as long as the Geists stay alive, you’re getting a pretty good deal. This usually ensures that the Geists can go after your opponent, and will often just result in you having more favorable attacks even the turn you play the Geist. The one thing is that the Geist isn’t exactly huge, and it will die to lots of removal – but even when that happens immediately, you’re still getting a some value out of tapping the creature down during your turn, and that’s a decent consolation prize.

Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: She might be hard to cast, but Kaalia brings you some serious power. She has great stats and keyword abilities for the cost, but her real power comes from the triggered ability from her attack. Looking 6 deep in your library for those creature types are serious business, and this format has enough Angels, Demons, and Dragons, that it won’t be too hard to hit with her about half the time. You really only need around 3 or 4 of those to pull that off, and any time she does that she is probably just going to win you the game. I think she is a little dangerous to take with a first pick, just because she does ask for your deck to effectively play 3 colors and to pick up creatures with the right types. Still, her ceiling is absurd.

Pro Rating: 2.0
Pro Comment: This is another silly card for the Red “Flying” deck. Being able to grab on to your flyers and take to the air is nice, but not as easy to set-up as it might seem.

Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0
Pro Comment: There aren’t a ton of Artifacts in this set, but the Weaponsmith ended up being part of its own archetype here anyway. His ability to search up heart-piercer bows was surprisingly potent, as you could stack them all up on one creature and just kill opposing things every time you attacked. I know that all sounds janky, but trust me, it is a real thing in this format! Basically you only end up playing the Weaponsmith if you get the pieces for that deck to work – which, you know – means like 3+ Heart-Piercer Bows.

Pro Rating: 1.0
Pro Comment: This is an interesting one. Obviously enough, this set has 3 Chandras – one is even at Uncommon, so getting a Chandra to go with this isn’t completely a pipe dream. However, I do think to judge this card we really need to decide how good the Rummage ability it has is. Rummaging is always nice, but this rummage effect is very specific – you can also discard Mountains or Red cards, and most of the time when you rummage you just want to discard lands. And, if you are a deck that is more than just Red – and chances are you will be – you just won’t be able to use that effect. That means that this largely amounts to having two effects that are tricky to get anything out of. I think there will be too many games where the Regulator does nothing.

Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: This comes with some pretty big downside – losing a card every turn doesn’t feel so good – but it is also an impressively efficient creature, and once you’re in top-deck mode, there’s no downside at all!

Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: 7 mana is a lot, but this guy can blow up any nonland permanent when he crashes into the battlefield, and he leaves behind a reasonably-sized body as a 3/3, making it pretty easy to also trade with him. If you want a 7 drop, this is one that will really shake things up.

Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: If you need fixing, this is a decent place to get it. There are also a few cards in the set that care about lifegain, which might mean they are a little more useful than usual in some decks, but mostly they just make your mana better. Even if you’re just 2 colors, taking these over filler is sometimes a good call, since they really make your mana so much better.

Pro Rating: 0.0
Pro Comment: This set doesn’t have enough artifacts for this to do anything.

Pro Rating: 0.0
Pro Comment: This really reminds of me of Rod of Ruin – and that’s not a great place to be. You have to pay 6 mana to dole out the first one damage this does, and that’s pretty terrible. And paying 3 every time to do one damage to anything isn’t so good either. It isn’t easy to sacrifice either.

Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: 4-mana for 3/3 worth of Hasty stats usually wouldn’t be great, but between a very real Elemental deck, and a very real go-wide token deck, Scampering Scorcher has some nice applications in this format. Playing this with Risen Reef in play is one of the best feelings you’ll ever have!