Aerial Assault

This sort of sorcery speed situational removal spell is certainly not premium, but it is pretty solid. The big downside is that generally, the creature you want to kill gets to attack you once first, which means you’re losing some life or chump blocking. Now, this does make up for that fact a bit by having a minor flying payoff clause on it, and certainly gaining a 1 or 2 life when you cast this does take away that downside a bit. But it is still sorcery speed, and not particularly good when you are the aggressor, since it can’t get a blocker out of your way.

Ajani, Strength of the Pride

At first glance his +1 is the kind of +1 that you aren’t excited about, but once you see that his -2 makes an Ajani’s pridemate token, things start looking up. Any planeswalker who can come down and put a body in play to protect it tends to be pretty good, and Ajani can do that. What’s more is, he can actually make two of them if he just stays in play for 2 turns, and guess what – two ajani’s pridemates for 4 mana is not a bad deal. Then obviously his +1 can grow the Pridemates. His ultimate is kind of silly, and seems unlikely to come up in Limited, but if you can pull it off it is the kind that can win you the game.

Ancestral Blade

Equipment often has problems because it doesn’t add to the board right away, and you have to keep investing mana into it for it to do anything. In this case, it adds to the board right away – this basically gives you a 2-mana 2/2 that leaves behind a decent piece of Equipment when it dies, except it is even more flexible than that, because if you need to you can move the Equipment to something else right away, and still keep that token behind.

Angel of Vitality

Wind Drakes are always fine, and even better when they come with serious upside. Gaining extra life from stuff that gains you life is nice, and if you get enough life she can just get completely out of control. Though honestly, she doesn’t become a 4/4 very often.

Angelic Gift

Auras can be dangerous in Limited because of the risk for a 2-for-1, but when an Aura cantrips – especially one that gives a valuable keyword like Flying – it definitely crosses into solid playable territory.

Apostle of Purifying Light

This is a solid card that obviously gets way better against Black decks and graveyard strategies, but you can really maindeck this because of the solid stats. Chances are pretty good that your opponent will be playing Black as one of their colors, and it will always feel good when that’s the case.

Battalion Foot Soldier

The “collect ‘em all”-type cards are always pretty interesting. Obviously, if you just have one of these, you’re not going to play it. However, if you can get 2 or more, I think you play them. A 3-mana 2/2 that draws you another 3-mana 2/2 is some nice card advantage. Because the creature is kind of underwhelming, I think even with 3-5 of them, it is probably just still a solid playable. It isn’t amazing, but it will let you quickly fill the board and avoid mana flooding and that always feels nice.

Bishop of Wings

Well, this is interesting – this is an incredibly powerful Angel buildaround…unfortunately there aren’t really enough Angels in this set for this to do its thing very often. Good news is that it start out as a two-mana ¼, which is a decent enough body, so running it even when you only have one Angel is probably worth it for the upside.

Brought Back

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.

Cavalier of Dawn

A 5-mana 4/6 with Vigilance is a solid playable, and obviously enough there’s way more going on here! The ETB ability here is nice, giving you the ability to blow up your opponents problem permanents at times where a 3/3 Elephant is preferable, but keep in mind that it also lets you blow up your own permanents, if you really need to have a 3/3 Elephant yourself. Destroying a creature token, or a creature with Pacifism on it seems pretty sweet. The fact you get an enchantment or artifact back when it dies is nice – there are enough of those in this format that you can trigger that a decent chunk of the time – but not always. This is probably the worst of the cards in the Cavalier cycle – but its still quite good!

Dawning Angel

This card really overperforms. The statline isn’t pretty, but the ETB ability plays quite well. This set has a lifegain archetype, but adding a real threat to the board that also gains you life has a surprisingly big impact on games.

Daybreak Chaplain

This is a decent two-drop that is especially useful in the BW archetype, but its nothing special.

Devout Decree

There is a reasonable chance your opponent will have something this can target, but not really enough of one that you want to put it in your main deck, since it can pretty much be a blank card against some opponents. Excellent card out of the sideboard though!

Disenchant

This is mostly sideboard material in this format, though you can get away with it in your main deck if you’re desperate.

Eternal Isolation

This is better than most White cards we see that hate on power 4 or greater creatures, and that’s because it is way cheaper! Sure, it goes in your opponents’ deck, but it goes on the bottom, so it is pretty close to straight up removal – and against some opponents who have graveyard stuff going on, it can be even better! It is still conditional removal, but it is efficient enough that its pretty good.

Fencing Ace

In some formats, the Ace can be quite good – but this isn’t one of them. There just aren’t enough +1/+1 counters or reasonable equipment and Auras for it to be more than just kind of okay.

Gauntlets of Light

The boost this tends to give just isn’t worth the massive mana investment and the risk of getting 2-for-1’d.

Glaring Aegis

Unlike a lot of Auras, this one does something when it comes into play, meaning that it has an impact on the board even if your creature gets destroyed later, and the tap effect can play pretty nicely in an aggressive deck.

Gods Willing

This is always a solid combat trick. Protection can just do so much – from making a creature unblockable, to helping it win combat, to countering removal spells. It is a pretty good deal for one mana.

Griffin Protector

This frequently attacks as a ¾ Flyer, which feels pretty good. Sometimes it will be a 2/3, but it will also sometimes be a 5/6 if you have ways to make counters!

Griffin Sentinel

This can threaten your opponent a bit in the sky while also being a pretty effective blocker. It isn’t anything special, but you’ll play it in your White decks often enough.

Hanged Executioner

3 mana for two 1/1 flyers is already a playable card, so that’s not a bad place to start! But then, in the late game the Executioner can take down a problem creature while still leaving behind a creature token. A creature that can threaten in the air and work as removal feels pretty great!

Herald of the Sun

A 6-mana 4/4 flyer is not a great card, but this one does come with a decent payoff for Flyers. 4 mana is kind of a lot for a counter, so this is usually the kind of thing you’ll start doing once you really run out of things to do – in other words, it is a mana sink – but that’s usually a nice thing to have. The threat of activation of an effect like this is real too, so sometimes you’ll just get to damage, or your opponent won’t attack, and you don’t even have to use the ability! Still, it is a little bit clunky at everything it does.

Inspired Charge

Like always, if you’re in the token deck this will be a decent Common for you. If you’re not, don’t play it.

Inspiring Captain

There are enough tokens in this format that Inspiring Captain often comes down and has an immediate impact on the board. Now, you do need a reasonable board state in most cases to really take advantage, but this tends to be better than something like Inspired Charge, since its failed case is still something that adds to the board.

Leyline of Sanctity

A card like this is good in constructed because there are plenty of decks that are loaded up with spells that target the opponent, like burn decks – but in Limited it is hard for anyone to ever have enough spells or effects that target the player for this to be worth siding in. I think you want to see around 4 cards your opponent targets you with – and they have to be things that can only target you, because if they can still use it effectively on your creatures than it doesn’t matter. Basically, that will never happen.

Loxodon Lifechanter

This card seems kind of silly, but it is actually quite powerful! By the time you get to 6 mana, it isn’t unusual for this to be able to gain you life. After all, it has 6 toughness on its own – you don’t need a whole lot more to get yourself to 10+ life. It is amazing how often playing this helps someone stabilize. The activated ability is definitely expensive, but it also makes the Lifechanter often capable of ending the game in a single swing, so your opponent has to contribute resources to stopping this Elephant from running them over.

Loyal Pegasus

Obviously enough, you really aren’t interested in playing this in anything but the most aggressive decks. In those decks, the Pegasus can do a lot of damage in a hurry since you’re going to be curving out, but even in those decks it doesn’t always work out.

Master Splicer

This is a great Uncommon. For 4 -mana you get 5/5 worth of stats across two bodies. This is one of the most imposing and efficient ways to go wide in this format. There are also a few other playable Golems in this set (Meteor Golem, Pattern Matcher, Prismite to a lesser extent) that will get boosted by it too!

Moment of Heroism

Combat tricks are really at their best at one mana. This is because it is much easier to have the mana available to use them, and you get blown out less if your opponent has removal. This costs two, but it does give a decent bonus +2/+2 is enough to win a lot of combats, and lifelink also feels good when you’re racing. Still, this is pretty much limited to aggro decks.

Moorland Inquisitor

This is a bear with some reasonable upside, so it isn’t bad, but a lot of the time by the time you have the mana to give the Inquisitor First Strike, a 2/2 with First Strike doesn’t really matter!

Pacifism

This is always premium removal. It deals with the most important aspect of creatures very efficiently – attacking and blocking. Sometimes you’ll have to deal with a static ability, or your opponent can bounce their creature, but those are pretty rare situations overall. Most of the time, this just gets rid of a creature for two mana, and that’s great.

Planar Cleansing

This is inherently powerful, and completely changes the board. Now, as always, a board sweeper is not something every deck wants – if you’re really aggressive and you see this P2P1 or something, you may want to steer clear – but this type of effect is pretty much irreplaceable. It does cause triple White, but asking for that on turn 6 or later isn’t really insane. It has its limitations, but I think that Planar Cleansing is pretty good.

Raise the Alarm

This is a nice common every time we see it. Two mana to makes two 1/1s at Instant speed is pretty efficient, and it can be used as a pseudo-removal spell sometimes – you can use the soldiers to double block an X/2, or in a dream scenario – block an X/1 with each of them and get that 2-for-1. But it is also useful as just a way to make your board go wide, too – and that is definitely something White will be interested in here.

Rule of Law

This is a reprint that has been a nice sideboard card in the past…but for constructed. I have a hard time seeing this as something worth playing in Limited. Sure, people double spell in Limited a time or two a game, but that’s not often enough for Rule of Law to be worth it.

Sephara, Sky's Blade

A 7mana 7/7 with Flying and Lifelink is certainly nice, but the triple White and such a high mana cost does it make it a little less attractive to me. Making your other flyers indestructible could be nice, but Sephara still dies to a ton of removal in this set, and that won’t feel so good after paying 7 mana. It is also highly unlikely you’re ever going to manage to cast her for her alternate cost. Still, left unchecked she does take over games – Lifelink on such a huge creature is virtually impossible to race.

Soulmender

So, this can be an alright inclusion for the life gain deck, but there are so many cards that are just better and feature incidental life gain, that most of the time you hope you’re not playing this.

Squad Captain

A 5-mana 2/2 with Vigilance is atrocious, but if you have at least two other creatures in play you are getting a sort of ok deal. More than 2, and you’re going to be reasonably happy with it. The dream is to just curve out with this, and that will certainly happen sometimes. If your opponent has removal for even just one early creature, Squad Captain is going to start looking pretty ugly. It is also not a bad card for the extreme late game during a board stall, since it can get quite large, but overall it is really inconsistent.

Starfield Mystic

I think the fact that the Mystic only gets +1/+1 counters when Enchantments go to the graveyard is kind of a pain, because in Limited Enchantments don’t go to the graveyard real often. I think the idea is that you have other creatures you put Auras on, and if you’re doing that and they get killed, well you get a consolation prize. I think most of the Mystic’s value is going to come from reducing the cost of Enchantments, but this set really isn’t so enchantment heavy that the Mystic is great in Limited.

Steadfast Sentry

This has alright stats and an alright death trigger. Having Vigilance matters on a creature like this, because – obviously enough – you can attack and block, and using this to trade often feels pretty good because you come out ahead as a result of that +1/+1 counter.

Yoked Ox

You’re only going to play this if you’re in the slowest, most controlling deck ever. Sure, it blocks well, but that has rapidly diminishing values as the game goes on.

Aether Gust

There is a cycle of color-hosing cards like this in the set, and they are all pretty great – provided your opponent is playing one or both of the colors that it hates on. Both is deal, but I think these are all powerful enough that you side them in even again an opponent in only one of the colors. Two mana for this effect is a great deal – countering a spell and putting it back in their library, or Time Ebbing something is pretty nice. Note, though,t hat your opponent does decide whether it goes on top or bottom not you. Over the course of a draft you are pretty much guaranteed to play against someone who it is good against, and usually you’ll run into a couple of people that fit the bill there. I don’t think you want to run these mainboard, even though its true that there is something like a 40% chance opponent’s will be affected by this – just because it being a completely dead card is a real possibility, but these are incredible out of the sideboard, and become one of the best cards in your deck.

Agent of Treachery

This might cost 7 mana, but there’s a reason it does – stealing an opponent’s permanent is one of the most powerful things you can do in the entire game. It is essentially always going to give you a 3-for-1, because it is effectively a removal spell – since it takes away your opponent’s permanent – and then gives it to you. Then, you also have a 2/3 body too! We see effects like this cost 6 or 7 usually, and many of them are less permanent because they involve an Aura. Those cards are already pretty great, but Agent of Treachery makes sure you keep the creature most of the time – do note that they can still bounce the creature back to their hand. On top of all of that, Blue and White have ways to flicker or blink creatures, letting you use this ETB more than once, at which point your opponent is basically just done. The part about drawing cards if you have 3 or more of your opponent’s permanents is basically win-more, because once you have 3 of their permanents they are effectively dead. But yeah, this is a massive bomb.

Air Elemental

It isn’t exciting, but Air Elemental is always an efficient creature in Limited, and in this format the Elemental creature type matters!

Anticipate

This type of effect is very replaceable. It gives you some card selection and all that, but a lot of the time you end up cutting these for cards that are more impactful.

Atemsis, All-Seeing

A 6-mana 4/5 flyer isn’t the greatest stats around, but it is passable. However, I really like Attemsis’ activated ability to draw two cards and discard one. I see two courses of action when you play this Sphinx – one of them is that it dominates the sky and you can just kill them with your big flier. If you can’t attack though and have to hold Attemsis back? Well, then you can just use that activated ability every turn, and there’s a good chance you find a way to win the game that way too, since it gives you serious card advantage and selection. The alternate win condition thing is cute, but it is not particularly easy to pull off in Limited, so I wouldn’t put much stock in it.

Befuddle

Cards that lower a creature’s power and not do much else aren’t usually very good in Limited, and I think that’s true here. The kinds of situations where that effect is worth using are just so few and far between. This does replace itself, but that’s not really enough to salvage this card.

Bone to Ash

I’m not a huge fan of counter-magic in Limited for the most part. It basically feels like bad removal most of the time, because it is removal that only works if you have mana up at the exact right time! And normally I am really out on 4-mana counter spells, but Bone to Ash is a 2-for-1, and that really makes the risk worth it a lot more – especially because it is a hard counter that counters the most common spell-type in Limited. It just isn’t hard to get your opponent with this, though I would advise leaving mana up just to use it when you could be doing something else, and instead just wait until this is all you have left to do, or for a turn where you couldn’t use your mana.

Boreal Elemental

5-mana ¾ Flyers tend to be pretty solid in Limited, and this one comes with a useful creature type and a nice additional ability. By making removal spells cost two additional mana, your opponent won’t be able to utilize their mana more effectively than you in most situations. With 4 toughness, really cheap removal just doesn’t deal with this, so your opponent is likely paying 4+ mana to take it down, and that really isn’t too bad. This is a key common for Blue decks, and one of its best.

Brineborn Cutthroat

There’s some Flash in this set, but not really enough for this to be super impressive. It does work with Instants too, so it will grow sometimes, but not usually at a super rapid rate or anything.

Captivating Gyre

Blue virtually always gets a card like this in Limited – something that costs 6+ mana, but lets you bounce/tap down 2+ things. These cards do tend to be pretty powerful in situations where you can win the game as a result of it, but if you use this and aren’t able to take any real advantage, you likely didn’t do much, since you went down a card for tempo alone. So, it is slow AND situational, and that’s not amazing. You’ll play this at the top of your curve in Blue decks sometimes, but it is by no means a card you’re going to run all the time.

Cavalier of Gales

This is great! It has the impressive stats as a 5-mana 5/5 flyer, and it has brainstorm attached to it – that is considerably better than a 5-mana 5/5 flyer that draws you a card, which would already be excellent. I also like that it goes back into your library and lets you Scry when it dies. Basically, this Knight lets you see a ton of cards, even in a worst-case scenario, and frequently your opponent just won’t be able to kill it and it will just take them down in the sky anyway.

Cerulean Drake

Like most of this cycle, you can main deck this without it being completely terrible, since a reasonable number of opponents will have Red stuff. You can actually also use the sacrifice ability against spells of ANY color, not just Red ones, so that matters. It is still certainly better out of your sideboard, though.

Cloudkin Seer

This is potentially the best Common in the format, and certainly the best one for Blue. 3 mana for a 2/1 flyer is already passable – especially one with the elemental type in this format. The cantrip is what really pushes this over though – you can easily get 2-for-1s out of this because of that card draw, and that’s a pretty great thing to have on a creature that can also threaten your opponent in the air pretty reliably. Even if you play it late and can’t really attack, you’re still getting some use out of this card thanks to the extra card you draw, too. You jam this into pretty much every Blue deck in this format, and you want every single one of them you see.

Convolute

A three-mana counterspell that isn’t even a hard counter is a hard sell for me. This is just too situational to be worth it in most decks.

Drawn from Dreams

4 mana to get some serious card selection that always results in a 2-for-1 is pretty nice. It is a Sorcery, and sometimes you just won’t’ have time to do something like this, because you have to find a way to survive after your opponent’s aggressive start, and you just need to play creatures who can trade – but if you do manage to stabilize, this will go a long way towards helping you out. 7 cards is a ton in a Limited deck, so you have a good chance at hitting whatever card you need to save the day.

Dungeon Geists

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.

Faerie Miscreant

One mana 1/1 flyers are some of the most overrated creatures around but they usually aren’t good because of how quickly they get outclassed, so that is the base grade we’re looking at here. However, if you can draw a card off of them you’re talking about a much better card. Because this one has such an ugly baseline, you probably need 3+ Miscreants before they become worth playing, and once we’re talking about 4+ I think it becomes a solid card.

Flood of Tears

It is easy to imagine the ideal situation with this card. I mean, you get to bounce the whole board and then put something back, right? Well, it turns out having enough nonland permanents to get that additional effect is pretty darn difficult, and if you do have that many, you also just bounced a bunch of your board. And sure, you did get to put something back, but you also just paid 6 mana and your opponent is going to rebuild a lot more than you will be able to on their next turn. So, yeah, this just isn’t very good.

Fortress Crab

Here’s a super defensive creature that you will only play on very rare occasions. It just doesn’t do much.

Frilled Sea Serpent

This doesn’t have efficient stats, nor does it make itself unblockable efficiently – but it has actually proven to be kind of a reasonable finisher in this format, you know – if you didn’t get some that are significantly better.

Frost Lynx

Any time Forts Lynx shows up, it ends up being one of Blue’s best commons. It is just an amazing card for tempo, doing a pretty reasonable Man-O-War impression. Adding to the board while also making your opponent’s best creature more or less disappear from it for a couple of turns is great. The Lynx is at its best in aggressive decks – that’s because this type of effect means your opponent can’t block with that creature for two turns, and it only means they can’t attack for a single turn. It is also an Elemental!

Hard Cover

This gives a minimal boost, and the ability to make a creature loot just isn’t enough to overcome the huge downside of the 2-for-1 you could suffer.

Leyline of Anticipation

4 mana for this effect just usually isn’t worth it – it doesn’t allow you to add to the board at all. Sure, if you can get this in your opening hand it would be better, but that happening is nowhere close to a guarantee. And even then, adding Flash to cards just isn’t as big of an upgrade as it might seem.

Masterful Replication

This seems pretty powerful. Most of the time you’ll be choosing the Golem option – the other option it gives you won’t really work out most of the time in this set because there aren’t enough Artifacts. But that’s ok, because 6 mana to make 2 3/3 golems at Instant speed is pretty solid – it isn’t a stretch to think that this will give you a 2-for-1 some of the time, where you flash them in and kill three of your opponent’s creatures in combat. Other times it will just let you go after your opponent. Whenever you cast it, it is likely to have an effect one way or another, since 2 reasonably sized bodies from one card is pretty nice. Now, it is expensive and all that, and two 3/3s may not always be able to help you by the time you cast this.

Metropolis Sprite

This has reasonable starting stats and the ability to attack sometimes as a 2/1, which isn’t bad. It also isn’t good, but yeah.

Moat Piranhas

We have seen cards like this before – creatures who are very efficient but have defender, and they are always pretty alright. If you’re a defensive deck, I think you can play a couple of these and feel fine about it, and Blue can be pretty defensive. It can block really well early, and isn’t that hard to at least use to trade with something even late. However, if you’re an aggro deck, then this is terrible.

Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer

She only starts at 2 loyalty, and that means she will not be using her -3 right away – however, here +2 is a pretty good way to protect her – flyers are often a big problem for planeswalkers, and giving something -2/-0 makes it a lot harder for the creature to kill you. So if you can use her +2 ability to help keep her alive, you can then make an Elemental Bird token on the next turn – and then sort of repeat the pattern. If you get one Bird out of her, you’re already doing pretty well – after that, you’re going to just take over the entire game. I think overall, she is pretty great – but keep in mind that she isvulnerable on board states when your opponent is going wide.

Negate

This is sideboard material, like usual. Most opponents just don’t have the targets for this to matter.

Octoprophet

I like playing creatures with decent stats who let me scry, though I do think those that appear lower in the curve are better, because they allow you to keep a larger percentage of hands. A 4-drop who scries doesn’t do that.

Portal of Sanctuary

This is mostly a trap. It is really hard to set up effectively, and its only use is basically reusing ETB triggers or maybe moving Auras around, and you aren’t always going to have boards where that matters.

Renowned Weaponsmith

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.

Sage's Row Denizen

There isn’t really a mill deck in this format, and as a result the Denizen is mostly just an inefficient creature.

Scholar of the Ages

She costs 7 mana for a 3/3, which obviously enough is horrendous – but she does offer the potential for a three-for-one, since she gives you back two spells in your graveyard. You need both a deck that is interested in playing the long game, and enough instants and sorceries that you can consistently get back two with it. Luckily, that is relatively easy to pull of in controlling Blue decks in this format, where Scholar of the Ages is often a nice late play that stabilizes you. Still, you can’t really play it anywhere else.

Sleep Paralysis

This is a little clunky to be sure, as 4 mana is way more than you normally want to be paying for a removal spell that doesn’t even fully remove a creature, but it does the job well enough. It isn’t quite premium removal, but it is fine to play.

Spectral Sailor

I love this kind of card. Most of the time, a one mana 1/1 flyer isn’t anything special, because it quickly becomes outclassed by pretty much every other flyer or card with reach in the set. Spectral Sailor does have the same problem, but once it can’t attack anymore, it has a powerful mana sink ability that just takes over the game if your opponent doesn’t stop it. Basically, the Sailor can do a few damage early in the game, and it can also help you win games that go long.

Tale's End

This counters a bunch of stuff you won’t see very often in Limited, and even when you do see some of it – like the abilities, spending a card to counter them isn’t worth it 99% of the time.

Unsummon

One mana to return a creature is an awesome rate, because you’re basically always going to come out ahead in terms of tempo – since you’re going to be bouncing things that cost a heck of a lot more than one mana most of the time. Additionally, bounce effects let you blow out opponents who are overly reliant on Auras or combat tricks. Finally, in a pinch you can use it to save your own creature, which will be worth it some of the time.

Warden of Evos Isle

This has always-reasonable Wind Drake stats, and reducing the cost of your other Flyers is a nice little bonus.

Winged Words

Well, in a worst case scenario this is Divination, a card that is usually solid. It is the kind of card that helps you dig deeper into your library to hit land drops early, and helps you reload your hand late. In the best case, it draws you 2 for 2 mana, which is a significantly better deal. Blue is, of course, loaded up with flyers – especially if you pair it with white and/or Red, where there is a distinct flying theme, so making this cost 2 really isn’t that difficult.

Yarok's Wavecrasher

This has efficient stats, but it has a kind of wonky ETB ability. When you play it, you have to return a creature, it isn’t a may clause like we often see these days. This means there are plenty of board states where playing this just doesn’t make sense, because there isn’t always something that is worth bouncing. It also means that if he’s alone, the Wavecrasher has to bounce himself! Now, that ability does have upside too – like returning creatures with ETB abilities or getting a creature free from an Aura, but the situations where he is awkward to play are often enough that this isn’t anything special.

Zephyr Charge

This is really bad. It tends to not do very much until the extreme late game, where you have the mana to utilize it – and, by then, your opponent probably has a board that isn’t that intimidated by flying.

Agonizing Syphon

4 mana for 3 damage is pretty steep, but the fact you can hit any target AND you gain 3 life does enough to make this solid removal, though I wouldn’t say it is premium.

Audacious Thief

This is one of Black’s best Commons. Sure, it doesn’t do great on the vanilla test, but if you can attack with this even once on a board where the best your opponent can do is trade, I think you’ll be pretty happy. Even moreso if your opponent chooses not to block at all, because then your card advantage will snowball. Obviously if they do trade with it, you end up netting a 2-for-1. Now, there will be board states where you just can’t attack with it, and it becomes a pretty mediocre blocker in those cases, and obviously that holds it back a bit --- but there are enough ways in this format to get it evasion or pump it that the Thief is usually able to rumble a lot more often than you’d expect.

Barony Vampire

This has terrible stats and doesn’t do anything other than have those stats.

Bladebrand

So, your creature is almost always going to kill the opposing one when it gains deathtouch, so that’s nice. And it even draws you a card, so it is something of a 2-for-1! However, it is still really situational, like all tricks, so don’t value it too highly.

Blightbeetle

I like that there are a bunch of color-hating cards around in this set, but this one seems weaker than the others. Protection from Green is great, but on a two mana 1/1 is nothing special. There are Green cards in this set that do stuff with counters, and this shuts those down – but not nearly enough for this to make a major impact. Unlike most of this cycle, which I think you can main deck a decent chunk of the time, I don’t think you ever do that here, and even out of the sideboard, Blightbeetle isn’t very imposing.

Blood Burglar

This has decent stats and lifelink in a set that cares about gaining life, so it is something you play pretty often.

Blood for Bones

This does take some set up, but it is a pretty sweet card. So the obvious way to use it is by giving up some mediocre creature on the board to reanimate something impressive and get something else back to your hand. But you can also just sacrifice the same creature you want to reanimate to re-buy an ETB ability or something like that. Now, having situations where you can take full advantage of this is not guaranteed, but it does happen often enough that it is pretty solid.

Bloodsoaked Altar

This thing is just too slow and asks for way too much. It isn’t the worst finisher ever if you need one, but you’re mostly hoping you find something better.

Bloodthirsty Aerialist

A 3-mana 2/3 Flyer is something you always play. Then, if you have ways to gain life –which BW has plenty of – it is just going to get better. Even if you don’t go crazy with lifegain and only add one counter to this, you’re going to feel like you’re in business.

Bone Splinters

This is a reprint we have seen several times, and every time it is pretty solid. You have to 2-for-1 yourself, but the fact that it lets you kill anything makes that worth it in many cases, since you can take down your opponent’s bomb. Its value does go up in situations where you have creature tokens, or creatures who give you value when they die, but I still think it is just a decent removal spell, the kind you play if you don’t pick up some of the better ones that are out there.

Boneclad Necromancer

This card was an underperformer. It is harder than it might seem at first to make sure this gives you the 2/2 Zombie, and the times where you just have to cast this as a 5-mana 3/3 are rough, and what’s more is, even when you do get the Zombie token, it just doesn’t feel incredible.

Cavalier of Night

A 5-mana 4/5 with lifelink is something that makes your deck 100% of the time, and like the other Cavaliers this is a lot more than just stats and a key word! Being able to Bone Splinters something when he comes down is pretty nice value to have, though I do kind of wish he could sacrifice himself in a pinch, I don’t think I can really complain about this type of efficiency. Sure, sometimes the Bone Splinters trigger won’t be worth it, but it frequently will be. He death trigger is nice too because it synergizes well with the ETB trigger – generally you’ll be sacrificing a little guy, and when this dies it gets that little guy back from the graveyard which is pretty great. This is a bomb.

Disfigure

One mana to give something -2/-2 almost always enables you to trade up, and that is always a powerful thing to do. The other great thing about this type of effect is that unlike a Shock-type effect, you can use it to weaken your opponent’s creature AND you can block the creature and kill it – while probably keeping your blocker alive too, so in some ways it is more flexible than damage.

Dread Presence

Provided your deck has Black as a primary color, and you’re running 8 or more Swamps, I think this card will be great. If you are mono-colored in Black – if that’s possible – it will become completely absurd, but you don’t have to go that far to abuse Dread Presence. I think more often than not, you’ll go with the “Phyrexian Arena” option and draw a card when you play a Swamp, but sometimes draining your opponent or killing a creature and gaining 2 life will be great too. The one downside this has is that it is horrendous on a splash, but that’s not much of a downside, really. Even just triggering one of those abilities once feels good, and it becomes a value engine in the long run.

Duress

As usual, this is sideboard only material. Not enough things it can hit in the typical deck for it to be in your main deck.

Embodiment of Agonies

So, if you just have one card in your graveyard when you play him, you’re getting a 3-mana 1/1 with deathtouch and flying. That’s not a pretty statline, but it is evasive and can trade with anything, and I think that if that’s what this always was, it would probably be playable. Once you get 2 or more mana costs in your graveyard, he’s going to start looking pretty nice. Now, the downside is that playing this on turn three isn’t very easy. But that isn’t a huge problem because the keyword abilities mean it will be relevant all game long – provided at least one card is in your graveyard. Sometimes it ends up being absolutely massive too.

Epicure of Blood

This is a decent-but-not-great lifegain payoff. It has alright stats too.

Fathom Fleet Cutthroat

I’m not a huge fan of most versions of this card we see. Damaging an opposing creature so this does something when it ETBs just isnt’ as easy as it sounds. You often have to give up a creature or burn spell to make it happen. And sure, sometimes you get a situation where you give up nothing and this really feels like a 2-for-1, but those situations are harder to produce than it seems.

Feral Abomination

This is a big creature with Deathtouch – which always feels weird on a huge creature like this. If you’re desperate for a finisher, this can do it sometimes.

Gorging Vulture

This has Wind Drake stats while also loading your graveyard and gaining you life, two things Black decks are interested in in this format. That makes this a key Common for Black deck.

Gravedigger

This has been in Magic a long time, and it is always good. You get to add to the board while drawing the best creature in your graveyard, and that feels really good, and is a good way to make sure you outvalue your opponent in the later part of the game.

Gruesome Scourger

This has bad stats for the cost and its ETB ability just never seems to get it done. Black decks aren’t good enough at going wide.

Knight of the Ebon Legion

It seems kind of crazy to call a one drop a bomb, but that’s what we’re looking at here. It is certainly vulnerable at first, but it tends to grow rapidly, and its activated ability makes it very difficult for you to ever come out ahead against in Combat. Being so small is definitely a weakness, but the upside there is that this is a must-kill card on turn one, and if your opponent can’t do something about it, they’ll be dead in a hurry.

Legion's End

This kill small stuff fairly efficiently, and has some additional upside against tokens.

Leyline of the Void

Like most Leylines, this is bad in Limited. There aren’t enough graveyard shenanigans around to actually want to play this – it will mostly do nothing.

Mind Rot

Mind Rot is never particularly good. It does give you a 2-for-1 in ideal situations, but it is really only good in the mid-game. Early on, paying 3 for this and not adding to the board isn’t ideal, and late, your opponent likely doesn’t have cards. So in the mid-game is the sweet spot, but that’s a bit too narrow for me.

Murder

This is an Instant that kills things for three mana. That might not be exciting, but it IS premium removal.

Noxious Grasp

Against someone who is playing Green and/or White, this is pretty incredible – two mana to destroy a creature or planeswalker at instant speed is the kind of efficiency we just don’t see. Kind of silly that it has that 1 life clause attached to it, but hey – that’s additional value I guess. You can get away with maindecking this because there are enough opponents who will have stuff this can target, but you still mostly want to bring it out of your sideboard.

Rotting Regisaur

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!

Sanitarium Skeleton

You really only want to play this if you’re in a Sacrifice deck, everywhere else it is just too slow and silly to do much.

Scheming Symmetry

Tutor effects are cool and all, but letting your opponent also get the best or most useful card out of their deck? That’s not so good. Even if this let both players put the card immediately in their hand, I don’t think Scheming Symmetry would be that good – but the fact that it only puts them on top, which means that your opponent gets to use the card they grabbed first – makes this utterly unplayable.

Sorcerer of the Fang

This is a creature with mediocre stats that has a late game mana sink that can sometimes close things out, but boy is that ability expensive!

Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord

Sadly for Sorin, there just aren’t enough Vampires in this set for him to be very good, since ALL of his abilities are all about Vampires. Now, the +1 can at least give ANY creature deathtouch and lifelink, and that’s not completely horrendous. You probably need at least 5 Vampires to play Sorin, and even that isn’t really a critical mass for him to be great.

Soul Salvage

This kind of card is basically always something Black decks want one copy of in Limited. It is basically a Black Divination, but one with powerful card selection, since you know you’re going to get your two best creatures back.

Thought Distortion

6 mana is a ton, and if you’re spending that much you want to be actually accomplishing something. By that late in the game there is no guarantee your opponent will even have a hand, and only exiling noncreature nonland cards from their graveyard is not worth 6 mana. This is unplayable.

Undead Servant

Obviously, like most of this cycle, this is unplayable as one copy. You don’t want to be playing a vanilla 4-mana 3/2, there are countless cards in this set you would play before that. You have to be making a Zombie token pretty regularly with this for it to be worth it. How many copies of this do you need before it is worth playing? Probably around 3, and it gets better if you are good at loading up your graveyard and can get value out of them that way.

Unholy Indenture

This is bad. It is easy to imagine situations where you put this on an opposing creature and steal it when it dies, or put it on one of your creatures that you know will die – but it a lot harder to guarantee your creature dies than it looks, and you often end up spending 3 mana for a minimal effect. It is notable too that the creature you put it on pretty much already has to be worthwhile, and capable of trading with something, otherwise it really isn’t worth it.

Vampire of the Dire Moon

I am pretty much always happy with one mana 1/1 death touchers. They are great in more defensive decks, because they can trade for anything. Adding lifelink here is a nice touch, because sometimes you’ll have to go on the offensive with this and force your opponent choose between trading a big creature for it, or just taking it – and now, just taking it has some extra consequences, because you can potentially find yourself a repetable source of lifegain if they do. Still, while this card is efficient at what it does, like more 1/1 deathtouchers, it isn’t like it is gamebreaking – but it is a nice card.

Vengeful Warchief

It ended up being way harder to make this work than it looked initially. This often ends up just being an inefficient creature. Still, it does actually get big and imposing often enough to be a decent playable.

Vilis, Broker of Blood

Vilis costs 8, but he does what an 8-mana creature should do – he is going to win you the game, especially if you are allowed to untap. He is a huge evasive creatures – so he gives you a very good win condition, but if you’re in a situation where you can’t really attack with him, he can still help you out – if your opponent damages you, you get to draw a card for each damage – a good way to help you find a way to become the aggressor. And of course, his activated ability basically reads “Pay one Black mana and 2 life, draw 2 cards and give a creature -1/-1 until end of turn” which is a pretty absurd ability. Now, if you’re super low on life he might not help you a ton, but at least he is still a huge road block. All that said, he is still 8 mana, and not the kind of thing that you want to first pick – getting to 8 mana isn’t something a lot of Limited decks do.

Yarok's Fenlurker

I always feel alright about playing a Ravenous Rats or two in my deck, and that’s basically what this is. While it is harder to cast, it also makes the opponent exile the card, and it can pump itself late. Now, that pump effect is incredibly expensive, and I don’t think you should ever play this and count on being able to make it huge, but when it is already attached to a creature who goes after a card in the opponents’ hand, it is a decent thing to add and hey, sometimes late it can just turn into a win condition.

Act of Treason

Like usual, Act is only going to be worth it in a deck that has cheap sacrifice outlets. This type of card is just too situational otherwise, as you pretty much have to kill your opponent when you use it for it to be worth going down a card for. But, if you can sacrifice the creature you steal, you are rid of it permanently!

Cavalier of Flame

First, it is a 5-mana 6/5 which is a good deal – though keep in mind, getting three Red by turn 5 is no guarantee in a 2-color deck – but still, that’s a great rate. Then he can pump your whole team and give it haste, and that includes him by the way – so if you have 7 mana, you can play him and use the ability right away and attack with him. Then the next few lines are awesome too – any creature that lets me Rummage is nice, but this guy lets you do it as much as you want! That is a great way to increase the average power of cards in your hand. Most of the time with this type of effect you want to be discarding lands, but that’s REALLLY the case with Cavalier of Flame, because he also comes with a powerful deathtrigger that counts lands in your graveyard and damages your opponent and planeswalkers equal to that number.

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

I’m not all that impressed with Rare Chandra, at least not compared to the other 2. She only costs 3 and has 4 loyalty, so that’s nice. But her two 0 abilities aren’t amazing. Note that with the first one, she can raise her own loyalty, but yeah – that’s all it does 99.9% of the time in this format and that’s not so good. Making two 1/1s with Haste might be a nice way to do some additional damage, but I’m not in love with that ability either, though it will probably be a bit better in RG decks, which are going to be Elemental tribal. The best thing you’ll be able to do with her is her -2 ability. If your deck has enough cheap instants and sorceries, and can consistently get value out of that, you’re going to be pretty happy. If she comes down and lets you flashback two spells in your graveyard, you’re probably getting there. Still, she asks for a lot of set up for her best ability to work, and her other two aren’t so impressive.

Chandra, Awakened Inferno

This Chandra is crazy powerful. Sure, she costs 6 mana, but she definitely gives you 6 mana worth of value thanks to her suite of powerful abilities. She can wipe the board of small creatures with her -3, her -X gives her spot removal, and she can increase her loyalty by giving your opponent an emblem. One of these emblems isn’t anything special, but the fact that she raises her loyalty and can just keep sticking emblems on your opponent means that things will really snowball. In short, she can protect herself by killing creatures, and she can win you the game with her emblem. She is probably the biggest bomb in this set.

Chandra, Novice Pyromancer

I think uncommon Chandra is actually a lot better than Rare Chandra – though not nearly as good as Mythic Rare Chandra. She will play a lot like Jaya Ballard, who we just saw in War of the Spark. The comparison isn’t perfect – Chandra costs less and doesn’t have that sweet static ability Chandra had – but Chandra comes with the same ability to do 2 damage to any target, as well as actually being able to raise her loyalty and ramp you a bit. I think you’ll be pretty happy any time you can kill two things with her, and if you happen to have a bunch of elementals, she obviously gets even better. Worth noting you can also splash her. I like that she is great in the Elemental deck, but still good in any Red deck, making her a very safe and powerful early pick.

Chandra's Embercat

So, 2 mana 2/2s are always a decent baseline for a card, but this comes with some significant addition value. I think most Red decks will have 4 or 5 elementals in them without even trying, so it seems like most decks can get use out of it. Elementals are one of the best decks in this format too, and this is a key Common for that deck.

Chandra's Outrage

This is reasonably efficient removal that also damages the opponent some. That’s enough for it to get into the lower range of “premium” for me.

Chandra's Regulator

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.

Chandra's Spitfire

This is way easier to pump than it looks, as this format has lots of ways to do some incidental damage to set up the Spitfire.

Daggersail Aeronaut

This is a surprisingly good little creature. It can attack pretty hard in the air, and while having 2 toughness is definitely a liability, this is a pretty solid creature.

Destructive Digger

This has medium stats and an ability that can come in handy in the late game, but it is pretty expensive.

Dragon Mage

A 7 mana 5/5 flyer is not exactly impressive, though getting to wheel of fortune every time you hit your opponent is kind of funny. This type of effect is symmetrical, so you and your opponent will both be reloading their hands. Funnily enough, if he hits the opponent enough, you and your opponent might end up being decked! But yeah, that stuff is all wacky and fun and all, but it isn’t going to happen very often. I think you’ll only play this in a control deck desperate for a win condition.

Drakuseth, Maw of Flames

This guy is huge and hard to cast, but if you’re allowed to untap with him in play – well, you probably win. You can use the attack trigger to kill some stuff, but keep in mind you can also damage your opponent with one of them too, and that will often amount to 11 damage to their face while you kill two things. Even if your opponent does find a way to kill Drakuseth on their next turn, the damage has already been done, and you’re going to win.

Ember Hauler

This is a 2-drop that is relevant all game long because of a powerful ability. Early it is nice to play this as a 2/2 that can attack, and late it gives you a way to kill small creature and complicated combat for your opponent, and it can even go after Planeswalkers and your opponent’s face, so that’s pretty nice. The one thing not nice about it? That double Red cost means it may not always be easy to get it down on turn 2.

Fire Elemental

This would normally be pretty close to unplayable, but with the elemental deck being a very real thing in this format, you actually play this sometimes.

Flame Sweep

The wording here is kind of awkward, but basically it does 2 to all of your opponent’s creatures, and all of yours except your fliers. This is a really cool design, because for the first time maybe ever Red is a color that is interested in flyers in a Limited format (especially when paired with Blue and/or White), and this is a way to give you a payoff for that that I think still feels really Red. I think if you can kill one thing of your opponent’s with this, without you losing anything, you’re going to feel alright, and that won’t be easy to set up in all decks. It is pretty bad if you’re short on flyers, but not bad if you have a decent number.

Fry

These cards that hate on two colors are probably terrible in the mainboard, because against a lot of opponents it will just be a dead card – but if you are playing against someone who is playing both Blue and White, or even just Blue or White, it becomes one of the best cards in your whole deck once you side it in, essentially becoming Doom Blade – a two mana spell that can kill just about anything.

Glint-Horn Buccaneer

This has decent stats and an activated ability that can help you increase your card quality early, when the Buccaneer can attack a little more safely. In the late game the Buccaneer’s effect becomes more like reach, because you can attack with like 6 mana up and threaten to do three to your opponent, which is pretty nice.

Goblin Bird-Grabber

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.

Goblin Ringleader

There aren’t really enough Goblins in this set for this to ever be anything special. You need to be drawing a card with this at least half the time to play it, and that just won’t happen in most decks. If you do end up with 5+ Goblins, it probably is an alright inclusion.

Goblin Smuggler

This card really overperforms, mostly because there are so many creatures with low power in this format who do some impressive stuff – most notably at Common, Audacious Thief and Lavakin Brawler, both of whom pair incredibly well with the Goblin. And apart from those things, the Smuggler is just an okay card anyway, allowing you to push through damage late.

Infuriate

This is not a bad boost for only one mana. One mana tricks tend to be the best in Limited, since they are easier to pay for and less risky when you get 2-for-1’d.

Keldon Raider

This has decent stats and lets you rummage. It isn’t exciting, but it is a solid Common.

Lavakin Brawler

This card really overperforms. There are a ton of Elemental in this set to pump its power, and 4 toughness is enough that it can be a real problem for many decks. Combining it with Goblin Smuggler is particularly nasty.

Leyline of Combustion

Like most leylines, this is really bad for Limited. Making your opponent pay life for removal isn’t a terrible effect or anything, but over the course of the game you really won’t be getting a card’s worth of value out of this leyline, even if you play it for free.

Maniacal Rage

This gives a sizable boost, but also comes with the downside of making your creature unable to block. Notably, you can use it to make an opposing creature unable to block too, but the whole package here just isn’t worth the risk of a 2-for-1.

Marauding Raptor

This just isn’t the right format for the Raptor. Red is really about smaller creatures, and it kills most of them.

Mask of Immolation

This is a nice Equipment, since it makes a token right away and impacts the board, and the sacrifice ability this has is a great way to find additional damage to finish an opponent – or pick off a bunch of X/1s. Because it is a free sacrifice ability, it also pairs quite well with Act of Treason and the like.

Pack Mastiff

Most of this collect ‘em all cycle is pretty bad if you only have one copy – that’s not true of the Mastiff, who has decent stats and a fine activated ability. The trade off here is that the Mastiff is also the least impressive of the bunch when you end up with multiple copies, as they all have to be in play at the exact right time to really abuse the ability.

Rapacious Dragon

This has decent stats, and it gives you some of the mana back you spent on it right away! It lets you ramp on a future turn, or double spell the turn you play it, or fix for a powerful card you splashed. And it can even really pressure opponents thanks to Flying.

Reckless Air Strike

This is a sideboard card in an ideal world I think, though it is worth noting that three colors have lots of fliers in this set – White and Blue like usual, but also Red – so this may end up being more mainboardable than I expect. But yeah, I like this kind of sideboard card because it is flexible, and the kind you will side in more because it is good against two different types of cards. Still, I don’t think I recommend playing it in your main 40 cards in most scenarios.

Reduce to Ashes

5 damage from a 5 mana Sorcery is always solid removal, though not especially close to being premium.

Repeated Reverberation

Fork effects just don’t tend to cut it in Limited, because you can’t count on things lining up the way they need to. This one costs four, which makes it even harder than usual, and the additional spell copy isn’t really enough.

Ripscale Predator

A reasonable finisher if you’re in the market for one, but there’s plenty you’d rather have!

Scampering Scorcher

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!

Scorch Spitter

In a lot of formats, the Scorch Spitter would be unplayable. A one-mana 1/1, even with this ability, would quickly get outclasses. BUT it is Elemental, and also a card that combos well with Goblin Smuggler. It still isn’t good, mind you, but it is far from unplayable.

Shock

This kills a bunch of stuff and it does it cheaply, while also being able to do the last 2 damage to the opponent. This is premium removal.

Tectonic Rift

Destroying lands isn’t especially relevant in this format, but you might play this sometimes in red aggro decks as a way to finish off the opponent.

Thunderkin Awakener

This is mostly a two-mana ½ with Haste, though sometimes, if you can pump it, it can do more than that. If you have multiple copies of something like Scampering Scorcher or Risen Reef, it can get those back without any help, which makes him worth playing.

Uncaged Fury

This might cost three – which is way more than I normally want to pay for a trick, but the potential for this to just kill the opponent is there, and it will also allow most creatures to win combat, so it is pretty solid as far as tricks go.

Unchained Berserker

A two-mana 3/1 tend to already be playable in Limited, and then this has the very real upside of protection. This is the most maindeckable of this cycle because of that, and generall you’re just going to play it there. Also combos well with Goblin Smuggler.

Barkhide Troll

While this is a bit hard to consistently cast on turn two in Limited, I think it is still pretty great. A two manaa 3/3 that is difficult to remove thanks to that activated ability is some serious business. There are also a few other +1/+1 counter synergies around that make him even better.

Brightwood Tracker

This creature has an expensive ability, but it isn’t a bad late-game mana sink, as you can virtually guarantee you draw a creature once you’re using it, but it is more of an emergency activated ability than anything – like if you’re flooding out. It isn’t exactly the kind of ability that will win you the game.

Cavalier of Thorns

I think Green got the worst card in the cavalier cycle, but this card is still really good. It obviously has stats that do very well on the vanilla test, but it has an ETB trigger that is not overly exciting for Limited – loading your graveyard is alright I guess, but there’s not much synergy for that in the format, and you aren’t going to be desperate for lands or anything if you can cast this guy. His death trigger is also not incredible – putting a card on top of your library is fine and all, but it is considerably less powerful than adding a card to your hand, and I think people forget that sometimes. But yeah, while its ETB and death triggers are not impressive, the fact is that they are stapled to a creature who is already highly efficient still means this Cavalier is really good.

Centaur Courser

Vanilla 3-mana 3/3s are still perfectly fine in Limited.

Elvish Reclaimer

So, a one-mana ½ isn’t all that great in Limited, since it gets outpaced as early as turn 2. But this one does help you fix mana, and in the late game – he gets to be a ¾. Which..you know, by the late game isn’t all that impressive. Mostly, I think you run this as a source of fixing – and keep in mind it does search for any land, including non-basics.

Feral Invocation

This has proven to be pretty solid. Auras can be dangerous as a result of the 2-for-1 risk, but because the Invocation has Flash, you can normally get around that. You can do so by using it as a combat trick of sorts that allows you to kill one of your opponents’ creatures in combat, and then your creature gets to keep the buff! Now, you still have to be careful when you use it, because the 2-for-1 risk is still there, but as long as you are, this ends up being a pretty reasonable card for creature-heavy Green decks.

Ferocious Pup

3-mana for a 0/1 and a 2/2 is a decent deal. Green is interested in going wide, and this helps with that.

Gargos, Vicious Watcher

So, the Hydra reduction part isn’t going to come up much, but the rest of this card is great so it doesn’t matter! A 6-mana 8/7 with Vigilance is a good deal, and what really pushes this into bomb territory is how much of a pain Gargos is to deal with. Your opponent really can’t remove Gargos without getting 2-for-1’d, since it will fight something if it – or anything else – gets targeted. You can also use this more aggressively, by targeting your own creature with a spell, but that is a little bit harder to make happen all the time.

Gift of Paradise

This kind of ramp/fixing Aura doesn’t often feel great, since you use a bunch of mana and don’t add to the board, which is normally pretty crucial in Limited. However, gaining 3 life here is a real bonus, as you basically pay a certain amount of life by casting this instead of playing a creature. It also lets you fix for double-colored things, which isn’t bad upside.

Greenwood Sentinel

Vigilance is upside, but not crazy upside to have on a bear. This is a decent 2-drop.

Growth Cycle

Well, this is an interesting trick. Two mana for +3/+3 is already a kind of good deal, but the fact that it pumps your creature even more if you have Growth Cycles in your graveyard seems pretty cool. The kind of awkward thing here is that most of the time, you don’t want to be running too many tricks. So even with that “collect ‘em all” bonus, I’m not sure I ever want more than one of these.

Healer of the Glade

This is an Elemental, but it is one of the few in the set that you cut alot, even in most elemental decks. It just doesn’t do enough stuff to really feel like a card most of the time. It is quickly outclassed stats-wise, and gaining 3 life isn’t really a big payoff.

Howling Giant

This is certainly expensive, but it is one of the best non-rare things to ramp into in this format. It tends to really stabilize you on a whole bunch of different board states, as the three bodies do a great job of putting an end to your opponents’ aggression, and the Giant itself has Reach, even allowing you to stabilize against Flyers!

Leafkin Druid

Mana dorks are always nice in pretty much every format, and that includes Limited. 0/3 is a nice body to have on a dork, since it actually blocks reasonably well if you need it to. Most of the time, this will just be adding Green mana in the early going, and maybe in the later part of the game you can get some extra mana to pay for mana sinks and the like. It also doesn’t hurt that it happens to have the Elemental creature type, which is well-supported in this set.

Leyline of Abundance

This format would have to have a whole lot of non-land sources of mana for this to be worth it, and it doesn’t have them.

Loaming Shaman

This is a reprint, and a card I think people underrate a little bit. I want to start by saying I certainly don’t think this card is incredible, but I do think it has an ETB trigger that matters often enough that it is certainly solid, especially because it is a 3-mana 3/2. While this opponent doesn’t seem to have a lot of graveyard nonsense going on, the best thing to do with this is shuffle nonlands into your deck to increase the density of nonlands you have. This gets better if your deck has bombs, or it is particularly good at drawing cards. Sometimes the effect will impact your opponent too. Now, as I said at the beginning this isn’t particularly good, but I think it does enough to get played sometimes.

Mammoth Spider

Mammoth Spider isn’t fancy, but it is a reasonable card for most Green decks, especially those that need some defense against flyers.

Might of the Masses

I’m never a huge fan of tricks with such conditional boosts, but this does only cost one and will give +1/+1 at a minimum, and sometimes it will give a lot more than that, so you’ll find yourself playing this in decks that can go wide sometimes.

Natural End

This is decent sideboard material, there aren’t enough artifacts and enchantments to really be maindecking it, though.

Netcaster Spider

This is another decent spider for Green. It doesn’t have as high of toughness as some spiders, but it makes up for that by becoming a 4/3 when it blocks flyers, which will be enough to trade with a lot of them.

Nightpack Ambusher

So, a 4-mana 4/4 with Flash is already great. It is efficient, and can be brought in after your opponent’s attacks to just eat one of their creatures – which means you’re going to get a 2-for-1 out of it. Nightpack Ambusher has a lot more going on than that, though – while Wolves and Werewolves aren’t a HUGE theme in this set, there are a few wolves at lower rarities, so his lord ability will actually come up and pump a couple of your guys every now and then. What really pushes the Ambusher over for me though, is that any time you don’t cast a spell on your turn, it makes sure that you add to your board anyway. Flooding out? That’s ok, have a wolf token. Want to leave up some instant speed stuff? Cool, have a Wolf token. Turns where you can’t or don’t do anything come up enough in Limited that expecting this to make a wolf or two each game isn’t far-fetched – and keep in mind, those wolves will also be 3/3s.

Overcome

This is one of the key cards for the go-wide decks in this format, as it tends to just turn your board lethal in a whole lot of different situations. +2/+2 and Trample is enough to make every creature on your board into a threat in most cases. Now, pretty much no one else is going to be interested in this – it doesn’t really fit in if you’re NOT GW, so it does get a bit of a build around grade.

Overgrowth Elemental

This is a strong Elemental payoff. If you can consistently put a +1/+1 counter on another Elemental you’ll be pretty happy, but a nice thing here is that even if you can’t do that, if you have elementals die later, you can get some value out of them.

Plummet

As usual, this is better utilized as a sideboard card once you see enough targets for it.

Pulse of Murasa

This is a reprint, and one that surprised a lot of people last time we saw it. It is easy to overlook a card like this – we see effects that let us return cards to our hand on a regular basis, and most of them that cost a single mana aren’t anything special unless it is attached to creatures. However, one thing this has that most versions of that effect don’t have is that it is an instant, and it gains you life. Those two things make it significantly stronger. The six life you gain can essentially reverse any tempo you lose by not actually playing a card the turn you play this, and being instant speed means you can keep your options open until the end of your opponent’s turn and then get back your great creature they killed or whatever.

Rabid Bite

This type of effect is always premium removal for Green. It kills things really efficiently, and while you do need to have somewhat reasonably sized creatures for it to work its best, the fact it isn’t a straight “fight” effect helps make up for that.

Season of Growth

I honestly think a 2-mana Enchantment that lets you scry every time a creature ETBs would already be sort of playable. Most decks have 15 or more creatures, and Scrying is a great way to find more creatures and continue to improve your draws. This card then asks you to be interesting in casting spells on your own creatures, something that can be dangerous with combat tricks and the like – but this really incentivizes doing so – and helps you avoid 2-for-1s since you get to draw the card even if the creature you target dies. Additionally, the Bant 3-color combination seems especially interested in flickering and bouncing creatures, and you would get to draw a card for doing that too.

Sedge Scorpion

One-mana 1/1s with death touch are always solid. They aren’t ever game-breaking, but they do remain relevant all game long.

Shared Summons

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.

Shifting Ceratops

4 mana for a vanilla 5/4 is already something you almost always play, but when we add all the rest of this text, it is obviously considerably better than that. Protection from Blue means a decent chunk of opponents will struggle to interact or block this, and the ability to gain a slew of keyword ability for a small mana investment is nice. This dinosaur has a nice mix of abilities – Haste can help you close out a game out of nowhere, trample can help you in situations where your opponent might normally be able to chump block, and Reach is good if you’re trying to stabilize against a board of flyers. It is ready to play a variety of roles, and that flexibility is nice.

Silverback Shaman

This creature does well on the Vanilla test, has evasion, and replaces himself when he dies. That means he is a 2-for-1 that is really threatening – and that’s pretty nice. One thing I could see happening with him is that your 5-drop slot is just too loaded – I mean, you only want so many in most formats – but I have a hard time saying no to a 2-for-1 like this guy.

Thicket Crasher

A 4-mana 4/3 with Trample is already solid, and giving the rest of your Elementals Trample is a big deal in this format.

Thrashing Brontodon

A 3-mana ¾ does great on the vanilla test, and having the ability to blow up artifacts and enchantments in a pinch is nice too, and this is a version of that effect that you don’t feel bad about mainboarding.

Veil of Summer

Like all the cards in this cycle, this is a nice sideboard card. Sometimes you might have to cast this against an opponent just to draw a card, but doing that for one mana isn’t too terrible. The ceiling of this card is pretty high – if you cast this in response to your opponent using a Blue or Black removal spell, you net yourself a 2-for-1 for only a single Green mana, which is a pretty absurd rate. What’s nice is, at only one Green mana, you can hold this up without too much trouble and wait for that ideal opening. I think it is dangerous to mainboard this – I think it is an F if you do, there are just too many decks where it may as well be a blank card. Against Blue and/or Black opponents, it is always going to be worth bringing in, though I do think being as situational as it is makes it less incredible than most of the other cards in this cycle.

Vivien, Arkbow Ranger

While her ultimate is kind of underwhelming in most scenarios – keep in mind that her ability only means you can grab a card from your sideboard, not literally any card in sanctioned play – so yeah, that ability isn’t all that great, her other two are very strong. Permanently making creatures larger and granting them an evasive ability is great, and being able to kill stuff with that -3 is good too. I think a lot of games she will come down, help your creature kill something and clear the board for herself, while she can +1 for a while until using her -3 again when necessary. She does cost triple Green, but triple Green is usually the easiest triple cost because Green has so much fixing, so I’m not too alarmed by that. She is a planeswalker who needs creature to shine, and that keeps her from being a bomb, but she’s still great.

Voracious Hydra

You either get a very efficient creature with Trample – lets say X = 3, that means you get a 5 mana 6/6 with Trample if you choose the “Counters” part, or you get a creature that can function as a fight spell, something that can frequently secure a 2-for-1 for you. Again, lets say X = 3, and that means you get a 3/3 who comes down and eats a 2/2. In a pinch, it can also kill a 3/3, but in most scenarios you want the Hydra to survive. Those two scenarios I just described aren’t even Magical Christmas Land Scenarios, like when you pump absurd amounts of mana into it. Even at X =2, you’re getting a 4 mana 4/4 with Trample or a 4 mana 2/2 who fight something – the latter option there isn’t great, but the fact that you can do that if you have to is nice. It scales as the game goes on, has evasion, and can function as a removal spell – sounds pretty great to me!

Vorstclaw

This is a vanilla creature, but it has a useful creature type and somewhat reasonable stats, so you’ll find yourself with it a the top of your curve sometimes.

Wakeroot Elemental

A 6-mana 5/5 doesn’t do a good job on the vanilla test but this DOES have a powerful activated ability. It is expensive and color intensive for sure, but it has proven to be easier than I expected to get that ability online, and once you do, you tend to win.

Wolfkin Bond

I have a hard time getting behind auras that don’t add something to the board – but Wolfkin Bond does that. Paying 5 for +2/+2 isn’t great, but adding a 2/2 to the board makes it a lot better. It likely lets you attack with something that couldn’t before, or at the very least lets you attack harder, and it makes sure that a Wolf is around to block and then start attacking the next turn. This helps you from being completely devastated by a 2-for-1 as well, since you at least have the Wolf behind. Though, keep in mind, if your opponent has mana up, they can just blow up your target for the Bond and you don’t get anything – and that’s still a huge risk with this type of card. This is a solid playable, and I think most Green decks will be fine with one of these.

Wolfrider's Saddle

So, this is a nice design for an equipment – one that actually makes it playable more often than not, I think. The problem with equipment is often that they have no immediate impact on the board if you can’t afford to equip them right away, but this gets around that by making a Wolf token that this attaches to. Basically, this gives you a 4-mana 3/3 that can’t be blocked by more than one creature, one that leaves behind an Equipment that you can then move elsewhere. That Equip cost is definitely steep, but the fact that you are already got a body out of the card is pretty nice.

Woodland Champion

This has a very reasonable floor and a very high ceiling. There are lots of ways to make creature tokens in this format, including at lower mana costs, so the Champion can sometimes become absolutely massive.

Corpse Knight

A two mana 2/2 that makes your opponent lose one life any time a creature comes into play is nice. It is decent as an attacker in the early going, and later in the game he can slowly bleed your opponent to death, making it pretty hard for someone to stabilize.

Creeping Trailblazer

If we look at this guy in a vacuum, he is a 2-mana 2/2 that can give itself +1/+1 until end of turn for 4 mana. That card would probably already be something that would be fine. But, if you are in RG, getting more elementals probably won’t be much of a challenge, and his activated ability gets stronger the more you have, as does his static ability to pump their power.

Empyrean Eagle

I always like when UW skies gets some support, and that’s what we’re seeing here. This is nice because at its base level it is a Wind Drake, but chances are good if you’re in UW that anthem effect is really going to matter too.

Ironroot Warlord

Obviously the idea here is to be in a GW go-wide type of deck, and this really pays you off there. So let’s break this down. If this was 1GW for a 1/5 with that activated ability, how good would it be? Well – already pretty nice honestly – he would do a good job of blocking and slowly churning out Warrior tokens. That’s what he is in a worst case, but the fact that this Treefolk gets larger and larger the more creatures you have really seals the deal on this for me.

Kaalia, Zenith Seeker

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.

Kethis, the Hidden Hand

Of the cycle of Mythic Rare wedge legends in this set, Kethis is the worst one in Limited. This is because it is the hardest one to successfully build around. Apart from the Uncommon Chandra, all the legendary stuff in this set is at Rare or higher, so you really can’t count on getting legendary creatures, and you will basically never be able to use his activated ability to play Legends from your graveyard, because there is a very small chance you can get 3 legendary cards into your graveyard for it to matter. Basically, I think this is mostly a hard-to-cast 3 mana ¾, and that isn’t really something I’m interested in. Will you play it if you’re in Abzan in this set? Sure. But don’t go out of your way to play 3 colors for this alone, because it isn’t worth it.

Kykar, Wind's Fury

Kykar has decent stats all on his own, and making a spirit token every time you cast a non-creature spell is some serious business. Even if you only get one spirit with this, you’re basically in business. The fact those spirits can be sacked for mana sort of matters, but in Limited usually a squadron of Spirit tokens is better than some random mana, but the flexibility there is nice. While he is a bit of a buildaround, I think most decks – especially in those 3 colors – will have around 5 noncreature spells without trying, so he’ll be good any time you can find the mana to play him.

Lightning Stormkin

If you’re in UR I think you’ll pile as many of these as you can get into your deck, but I also don’t feel like it is the kind of card that pulls you into the color pair with an early pick.

Moldervine Reclamation

This is an interesting card. On the one hand, I think it looks like a really great engine, allowing you to make any trade profitable, and allowing you to even chump block effectively. On the other hand, it is also a 5 mana enchantment that does nothing on its own, and sometimes playing something like this instead of immediately impacting the board is just going to make you lose. If you play this, you’ll experience both of those scenarios.

Ogre Siegebreaker

A mana 4/3 does reasonably well on the vanilla test, and the activated ability here is pretty nice. It is going to make combat a nightmare for your opponent, since they have to take into account the fact that anything they block with, even if it survives combat, might just die to this ability. It also works when you’re the one blocking by the way, though BR is mostly supposed to be an aggressive color pair in this set, it being able to be used more defensively is nice too. Now, the cost of that ability is a bit high, but probably worth it.

Omnath, Locus of the Roil

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!

Risen Reef

Woo boy, this is one of the sweetest signpost uncommons we’ve ever seen! Elemental decks are really well supported in this Limited format, so Risen Reef ends up triggering a whole whole lot in most cases, and even on its own, it triggers its own ability, and that’s a good fail case to have! It gets particularly silly with cards that make multiple elementals. This is better than most of the rares and mythics in this set.

Skyknight Vanguard

This is the signpost uncommon for RW, a color pair that can focus both on fliers and on going wide, and this really does both for you. A two mana ½ with flying isn’t very good (cue the Storm Crow jokes), but making a 1/1 every time you attack does put some serious pressure on your opponent, though obviously in the later part of the game they can just block the little guy.

Tomebound Lich

If you break this card down, and take away parts of it – it is still pretty good. If it was a 3-mana 1/3 with death touch it would be an alright card. The same is true about a 3-mana 1/3 with lifelink? What about a 3-mana 1/3 that loots on ETB or when it does damage? That’s a pretty solid card. If you take all of these “fine” and “solid” cards and jam them together though, I think you end up with a great card. This gives you card selection the minute it comes down, trades with anything, and gains you life as a decent blocker. Then, the whole deathtouch thing can also be used more aggressively, to attack your opponent when they have no good choices to block it, and if they don’t block it, you get to loot again.

Yarok, the Desecrated

So, a 5-mana 3/5 with death touch and lifelink is already a very good card. It can be a really good blocker that is almost impossible to get through, or it can attack itself when the board state allows it. Either way, any time your opponent decides to go into combat when you have this thing, they’re going to be pretty frustrated that you are gaining life and always killing something of theirs. Then you add the rest of the text of this card, and I think you have something very powerful. The Sultai colors in this set have lots of ETB abilities, and this is going to make them happen twice and that’s great. Basically, this card has a nice floor and an incredible ceiling. Being Green also means that it might be easier to play than some of the other 3-colored mythics in the set.

Anvilwrought Raptor

This isn’t particularly good. Sure, first strike keeps it relevant for a while, but 1 toughness is just so bad on something you’re spending 4 mana on. You’ll play this if you could use an Artifact or a flyer.

Bag of Holding

This card will just win you games that get to mid-game or later since it lets you loot like crazy, and filter your draws to the point that you are just drawing better than your opponent. Sometimes, we really wish we didn’t have to discard when we looted, and this helps with that, because if you ever need to get back something you looted, you can always fire off that second ability to get a bunch of cards back.

Colossus Hammer

8 mana is way too much, even if you are getting this absolutely massive stats boost, you just have to use so much mana, and it doesn’t even give evasion to the thing you put it on! In fact, it takes it away if the creature flies – which obviously makes sense flavor wise, but is pretty bad gameplay wise. It is just going to sit on the table doing nothing most games, in a good chunk of other games your creature you try to equip it too will get bounced or destroyed, in still other games the creature just gets chump blocked and you die anyway, and then in a very, very, very small percentage of games it actually helps you win!

Diamond Knight

This starts as a 3-mana 1/1 with Vigilance, which is obviously horrendous -- it is also the kind of body that dies to pretty much everything, including spells that are one to 2 mana cheaper than it is. Obviously, it starts to get bigger as the game goes on – but the fact that it only counts your spells is kind of a pain. Still, it does tend to get counters often enough that it is a reasonable card in most decks.

Diviner's Lockbox

This is terrible, like even for a terrible card, its terrible. At best, what you have here is a 5-mana spell that draws you 3 cards at sorcery speed. That is above average, but not exactly amazing. And you have to jump through some crazy hoops to even make it happen! Your chances of getting anything out of this are very low, so just don’t waste your time on it.

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim

This can search up any land you need, basic or non-basic and put it on the battlefield which is quite good, and it brings decent stats to the table. And, while it isn’t super easy to use his ability, the fixing is good enough in this format that it isn’t impossible either, and when you do use that ability, this will obviously feel like a bomb.

Grafdigger's Cage

This wasn’t printed for Limited, it was printed for constructed sideboards.

Heart-Piercer Bow

This card is kind of a weird one! On its own, it is kind of horrendous – it just doesn’t do enough most of the time but if you can pair it with a bunch of other Bows and some Renowned Weaponsmiths, you suddenly have a very real deck, as getting a bunch of these in play all at once makes it very hard for your opponent to win the game. However, you pretty much need the weaponsmiths to make this strategy work, and they are mostly unplayable otherwise.

Icon of Ancestry

Mostly with this you’ll be naming Elementals, as that is the big tribal element in this set, and it will be quite good in those decks, pumping a bunch of your creatures, and even letting you draw extra Elementals as the game goes on. Luckily, Elementals make up multiple archetypes in this set (Temur), so taking this isn’t quite as risky as it sounds.

Manifold Key

There aren’t enough artifacts for this to untap, and it tends to be a blank card all game, until very late when the unblockable ability might actually matter.

Marauder's Axe

Equipment that just boosts power doesn’t tend to be amazing, though it does work well on things like tokens, since they become much more formidable.

Meteor Golem

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.

Mystic Forge

This set doesn’t have enough artifacts for this to do anything.

Pattern Matcher

A 4-mana 3/3 that draws you a card is nice, but how often will that be what this is? You need to be able to consistently do that, because a 4-mana 3/3 that does nothing is pretty terrible. Your deck needs to have a handful of 2-ofs, which is doable, but I think you frequently just won’t have the right deck composition for this. It is a little annoying that it can’t search for a copy of itself, just because that would make it much better since it could do something on an empty board, instead of just being a 4-mana 3/3. Basically, this needs a build around grade. It is near unplayable if you don’t have 2-3 duplicate creatures, but if you do have that going on, it becomes a quality card.

Prismite

You will play this if you’re desperate for a 2-drop and/or fixing, but that’s about it.

Retributive Wand

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.

Salvager of Ruin

Scuttlemutt

This is a nice reprint that can enable splashes, and is the kidn of thing you should really be going after to splash your off color removal or bombs. The fact that he changes the color of permanents does matter some in this format too, because there are a few cards with protection, and a few that hate on specific colors – and Scuttlemutt does make those cards worse/better.

Steel Overseer

So, there are some artifact creatures in the set of course, though not a ton of them. But that’s ok, because the Overseer is pretty good on its own. A 2 mana 1/1 who can tap to add a counter to itself is nice, and can quickly get out of hand. If you have even one more artifact creature in play with the Overseer, he just gets silly.

Stone Golem

I’m not sure why you would play this. Artifact synergy is not a big part of this set, it doesn’t have a useful creature type. It is just a bad creature.

Vial of Dragonfire

Like heartpiercer bow, Vial of Dragonfire can be searched up by Renowned Weaponsmith. While certainly not efficient – it takes a total of 4 mana to do 2 damage to a creature – it is the kind of card you run in enough situations – like if you are desperate for removal, or your deck has artifact synergies, especially the weaponsmith.

Bloodfell Caves

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.

Blossoming Sands

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.

Cryptic Caves

I like that you can cash this land in for a card later on in the game, but I don’t like that it produces colorless mana only. This means it is worse for your mana base than a basic land in most two color decks. Still, I think the fact that it can provide late game flood insurance means that it is going to be an ok 17th land to run, though if you are splashing or doing other crazy things with your mana, you probably should steer clear.

Dismal Backwater

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.

Evolving Wilds

This can be whatever mana you need it to be, whereas the other lands in the format just produce two colors. Evolving Wilds is even worth it in a 2-color deck because it makes your mana so much better, but obviously it is really good in decks with 3 or more colors as well. Running 1 basic land of your splash color along with the Wilds now means you have 2 copies of that land, and that’s pretty nice.

Field of the Dead

There aren’t enough different lands in this format to get this going.

Jungle Hollow

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.

Lotus Field

The cost of sacrificing two lands is pretty real, but the fact this adds 3 does make it so you sort of come out ahead from it. Ideally, you’ll add mana from those two lands before you play this and be able to use it on something, then drop the Vale and have this powerful land untap on your next turn. That said, I don’t really think you play this unless you’re interested in fixing. If you are there, it is going to be one of the better ways to do it.

Rugged Highlands

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.

Scoured Barrens

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.

Swiftwater Cliffs

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.

Temple of Epiphany

Like most rare land cycles, these are great sources of fixing, and adding scry to them is pretty nice. If you are in both colors of one of these, you should consider taking one of them if you see it mid pack or later, as it does improve your mana base significantly. If you’re trying to splash something, I think they can move up even more.

Temple of Malady

Like most rare land cycles, these are great sources of fixing, and adding scry to them is pretty nice. If you are in both colors of one of these, you should consider taking one of them if you see it mid pack or later, as it does improve your mana base significantly. If you’re trying to splash something, I think they can move up even more.

Temple of Mystery

Like most rare land cycles, these are great sources of fixing, and adding scry to them is pretty nice. If you are in both colors of one of these, you should consider taking one of them if you see it mid pack or later, as it does improve your mana base significantly. If you’re trying to splash something, I think they can move up even more.

Temple of Silence

Like most rare land cycles, these are great sources of fixing, and adding scry to them is pretty nice. If you are in both colors of one of these, you should consider taking one of them if you see it mid pack or later, as it does improve your mana base significantly. If you’re trying to splash something, I think they can move up even more.

Temple of Triumph

Like most rare land cycles, these are great sources of fixing, and adding scry to them is pretty nice. If you are in both colors of one of these, you should consider taking one of them if you see it mid pack or later, as it does improve your mana base significantly. If you’re trying to splash something, I think they can move up even more.

Thornwood Falls

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.

Tranquil Cove

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.

Wind-Scarred Crag

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.

Plains

Island

Swamp

Mountain

Forest