War of the Spark Limited Ratings

The AI ratings are gathered with from the MTGA Assistant deck tracker. Pro ratings are provided by Nizzahon Magic. The Pro ratings and comments are made before the set officially releases while the AI ratings are dynamically updated with new data all the time.

  • 5.0 The absolute best you can get.
  • 4.5 Incredible bomb, but not unbeatable.
  • 4.0 Good rare or top-tier uncommon.
  • 3.5 Top-tier common or solid uncommon.
  • 3.0 Good playable that always make the cut.
  • 2.5 A solid playable that rarely gets cut.
  • 2.0 A good playable, but is sometimes cut.
  • 1.5 Filler card but sometimes gets cut.
  • 1.0 Not good filler and often gets gut.
  • 0.5 Almost Unplayable and mostly sideboard material.
  • 0.0 Not playable at all.
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Karn, the Great Creator

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 0.0

This Karn is unplayable in this Limited format. This set just does not have enough artifacts in it to make this artifact build around planeswalker worthwhile. I think he was printed more with constructed formats in mind, because his ability to make your opponent’s artifacts unable to use activated abilities, and the ability to do what Karn does – that is, animate an artifact – or to let you grab an Artifact from your sideboard – just doesn’t seem worth the payoff here.

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Ugin, the Ineffable

AI Rating: 5
Pro Rating: 4.5

Colorless bombs are a wonderful thing, and that’s what we have here. While his static ability won’t do much, the fact that he makes 2/2s that can block him that ALSO draw you a card when they die is great, as is the ability to destroy pretty much any permanent in the format. And you’ll always be able to play him, so he is one of the best Pack One Pick Ones you could hope for.

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Ugin's Conjurant

AI Rating: 4.2
Pro Rating: 3.0

X-costed creatures are nice because you can play them anywhere on your curve and they will be reasonably efficient. Now, this X-costed creature does shrink when it is damaged, but with all the Proliferate in this set, it is still a pretty good creature to have.

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Ajani's Pridemate

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 3.5

This is good every time we’ve seen it. A 2-mana 2/2 as a fail case makes it so that it has a very reasonable floor, and this format has enough life gain to make sure that the Pridemate won’t normally stay a 2/2 for very long.

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Battlefield Promotion

AI Rating: 1.3
Pro Rating: 1.0

Even though this set has a long of payoffs for +1/+1 counters, and a few for gaining life, I’m normally not interested in this. This is a relatively grindy format, and combat tricks like this just don’t work like you’d hope they would in other formats. You should mostly avoid this.

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Bond of Discipline

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 1.5

It is easy to imagine the ideal scenario here, where you cast the Bond and swing for lethal, but it just doesn’t line up that way very easily. Sure, you don’t even need lethal because of lifelink, but you still end up using a whole card just to damage your opponent and mess up the race a little. While it is more effective than a Fog, in a lot of ways this card feels like a glorified one.

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Bulwark Giant

AI Rating: 0.5
Pro Rating: 1.5

Well, this is the kind of card that really stabilize you against an aggressive deck. 5 life is huge against decks intent on ending the game quickly, and a 3/6 is no small roadblock. Obviously, this is primarily a defensive card, and not something every White deck is after.

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Charmed Stray

AI Rating: 0.7
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 2.5

This is only going to be worth it if you end up with 3+ of them, as a one -mana 1/1 with lifelink just doesn’t do enough to be worth a card. If you do have multiple copies, they do get better – but I’d advise not going after them hard, and just picking them up late in packs.

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Defiant Strike

AI Rating: 1.1
Pro Rating: 1.0

Last time we saw this card, it was surprisingly good because it was in Khans of Tarkir, and the Prowess mechanic was all over the place, including on White cards. Not the case here though. +1/+0 is the kind of stat boost that will have very little impact on combat the majority of the time, and normally you want your combat tricks to make it more likely your creature wins combat against larger creatures-- and sure, this cycles itself, and that's what keeps it from being unplayable, but it still isn't very good.

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Divine Arrow

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is a removal spell that is situational, but it does the job pretty efficiently. You’ll never really cut the first copy of this, but being situational does hold it back from being premium.

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Enforcer Griffin

AI Rating: 1.4
Pro Rating: 2.5

A 5-mana ¾ with Flying might not seem great, but it has just the right size in this format, outclassing most of the non-rare Flyers in the set. It isn’t anything special, but it is better than it looks.

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Finale of Glory

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 4.0

This is always going to be reasonably efficient and give you a bunch of bodies with one card. 4 mana for two 2/2s is usually pretty solid, and it gets more impressive the more mana you spend on it really, until of course making Angel tokens instead! That part won’t happen a ton, but hey, it is nice knowing that in the extreme late game this basically is an autowin.

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Gideon Blackblade

AI Rating: 5
Pro Rating: 4.0

Gideon is basically a 3-mana 4/4 with a whole bunch of upside, and that’s a nice place to be. His +1 will make one of your other creature’s better, he’s immune to damage, and if you get his loyalty high enough, he can take down permanents. If you play him on turn three he is going to win you the game most of the time, but he does have diminishing values as the game goes on, as a 3-mana 4/4 is less and less impressive. It is not always easy to move his loyalty up enough to take down nonland permanents, but he’s still pretty great.

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Gideon's Sacrifice

AI Rating: 0.4
Pro Rating: 0.0

This card is way too finnicky to be worth it in Limited. It is basically a fog that kills one of your creatures – it has a little more upside than Fog, but it just won’t be worth it very often. You have to 2-for-1 or 2-for-none yourself to use it, and I’m gonna pass on that.

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Gideon's Triumph

AI Rating: 2.7
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is situational, but efficient. Keep in mind, by the way, that you can wait to use this until after combat is over – like if your opponent double blocks and you can only kill one of their creatures in combat, if you use this after the one creature died in combat, you can also get the second creature. Generally, your opponent will be attacking with and blocking with their largest creature, so I think overall this will do what you need it to.

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God-Eternal Oketra

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 5.0

A 6-mana 3/6 with double strike is a card you always play, so that’s the baseline here. Then Oketra just churns out 4/4 zombies every time you play a creature spell – which by the way the typical limited deck usually has at least 15 of, so this isn’t really a build around. And then of course there is the “god” clause for this cycle that means even if your opponent kills it, its coming back in a few turns. This is pretty tough to beat.

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Grateful Apparition

AI Rating: 3.4
Pro Rating: 3.0

With all the planeswalkers and +1/+1 counters in this set proliferating a lot gives you a ton of value, and that’s what this can do for you thanks to being evasive. You can even put counters on it to help it get in!

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Ignite the Beacon

AI Rating: 2
Pro Rating: 1.5

Even in a set with 36 planeswalkers in it, I don’t like this card a whole lot. It is basically 5 mana to draw two planeswalkers, and while that would be crazy in most sets, the planeswalkers in this set on average aren’t as powerful as you might be used to. If you have 4 walkers you probably play this, but it isn’t even that impressive there.

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Ironclad Krovod

AI Rating: 0.1
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a vanilla creature with okayish stats. You hope you aren’t playing it.

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Law-Rune Enforcer

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 4.0

Any time we have seen master decoy around, it has been great – and in some ways, this is even better. For one thing, it is one fewer mana to cast for the same stats, and it only asks for colorless mana to tap things. Of course, the original Master Decoy can tap any creature – but tapping things with CMC 2 or greater is what you do with this kind of card any way, so that isn’t a huge downgrade. Being able to lock down your opponent’s best creature, or get problem blockers out of the way is huge, and in a lot of ways a card like Law-Rune Enforcer becomes a removal spell. This is an absolutely excellent common.

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Loxodon Sergeant

AI Rating: 0.5
Pro Rating: 2.0

This starts out with reasonablish stats, and it also has a useful ability. Obviously, Vigilance for your whole team when this comes down is decent, but it is the kind of ETB ability that I would guess won't matter about 50% of the time. Don't get me wrong, it makes a difference, but I don't feel like enough of one. I think this is a card that you don't feel bad about having in your deck, but you probably don't want more than one.

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Makeshift Battalion

AI Rating: 1.5
Pro Rating: 2.5

You’ll play this in an aggressive deck, but for the most part that type of deck isn’t great in this format. It just won’t always be easy to send in two additional creatures into combat, and it won’t be worth risking trades so much either since the payoff is just a +1/+1 counter. I’m not saying this is bad, just not something you should be excited about.

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Martyr for the Cause

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 3.0

This guy adds proliferate to a Grizzly Bear body, which means that he has some late-game relevance, even if he can just block and add a couple counters to your permanents that’s going to do something.

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Parhelion II

AI Rating: 4.4
Pro Rating: 2.0

8 mana is a ton in Limited, and the vast majority of games are over before either player has 8 mana in most formats. As a result, as cool as this card is, and as powerful as it is after it comes into play, you just won’t always be able to make that happen, and it will get stuck in your hand more frequently than it will come into play. That said, 13 damage in the air is a nightmare for your opponent, and it is kind of cool that the angels have vigilance, so you can still crew to block during your opponent’s turn if you want to. Still, 8 mana AND crew 4 means there will be times when you get this and you just can’t crew it.

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Pouncing Lynx

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 3.0

Two mana 2/1 first strike is pretty darn good, and yeah – this can only do it when it attacks, but that’s still pretty great. This is a difficult creature to deal with in the early game, and first strike can even pose problems later in games for your opponent. This can be especially good in conjunction with combat tricks.

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Prison Realm

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 4.0

This is excellent removal, taking down any creature or planeswalker no questions asked. Adding Scry to the equation is nice too. And yeah, if it gets blown up your opponent gets their thing back, but the efficiency, power, and flexibility it offers makes that a worthwhile risk.

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Rally of Wings

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 2.5

Obviously you need a ton of flyers for this to work out, but I think the UW will be pretty flier filled. You probably need at least 7 flyers for this to be worth it, and more would probably be better. It is flexible, in that you can use it to do lethal, but you can also use it to get larger flyers out of your way and keep your creatures alive. You can also use it to untap all your flyers to eat your opponent’s creatures. Most of the time, going aggressive with it will be best, but having the other options doesn’t hurt.

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Ravnica at War

AI Rating: 2.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

This is a very inconsistent card that it is challenging to make work more in your favor. You kind of just have to hope your opponent has the right board for this to work, and that you don’t have too many multi-colored things in play. And yeah, that last part can be accomplished somewhat in the draft, but you can’t control your opponent, and there are plenty of times when this isn’t worth casting, and you don’t really want to have that sort of thing in Limited. It does have a high ceiling, but it is wildly inconsistent.

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Rising Populace

AI Rating: 2
Pro Rating: 1.5

This sort of creature always seems to disappoint. 3-mana 2/2 is not a stat line you want to have, but it does slowly get bigger the longer the game goes on.

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Single Combat

AI Rating: 3.4
Pro Rating: 3.5

Board sweepers that let your opponent make decisions can be pretty frustrating. I mean this is still a boardsweeper, but the fact your opponent will always hold on to their best creature is a problem, because it means that if you cast this and your opponent has the best creature on the table, you can't do anything about it. Still, I think it has enough power behind it that it is a good card, but be ready to be disappointed sometimes.

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Sunblade Angel

AI Rating: 3.4
Pro Rating: 2.5

This is like a mini-Akroma. Packed full of keyword abilities that all work well together – Flying and First Strike make it hard to block, meaning it will get in for damage frequently and gain you life with lifelink which makes it incredibly difficult for your opponent to race you. Meanwhile, Vigilance make sure that she can hang back to block, and as a 3 power hexproof creature she will be pretty good at that. The one thing she doesn’t have going for her is her low toughness, meaning lots of cheap removal spells can take her down.

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Teyo, the Shieldmage

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 2.0

Basically, you are paying 3 for a 0/3 wall, and maybe he makes you a second one too. With most of these walkers, if you get to use their ability the second time, they sound pretty good. In this case? Not so much. 3 mana for two 0/3s is something, but not anything special. It isn’t like 0/3s are even that hard to bust through in the long run.

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Teyo's Lightshield

AI Rating: 1.6
Pro Rating: 2.5

A 3-mana ¼ is an ok deal, and a 3-mana 0/3 that puts a counter on something a little more meaningful is even better.

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Tomik, Distinguished Advokist

AI Rating: 3.5
Pro Rating: 2.5

I mean, a 2-mana 2/3 flyer is good and all, but the mana cost here isn’t the easiest, and your chances of actually playing it on turn 2 in Limited are not so good because of that. The rest of the textbox on this card is irrelevant in Limited.

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Topple the Statue

AI Rating: 0.3
Pro Rating: 1.5

So, when we see 3 mana to tap something and draw a card at instant speed isn’t all that great. It does replace itself, and have a somewhat flexible effect, so that does save it from being completely terrible.

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Trusted Pegasus

AI Rating: 2.7
Pro Rating: 3.5

This is a nice aggressive card. It has good base stats, and then can bring another creature to the sky with it, which can really lead to you doing a ton of damage.

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The Wanderer

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 3.5

Most decks have enough targets in this format that The Wanderer is basically a really good removal spell. The static ability even matters a little bit, thought not a ton.

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Wanderer's Strike

AI Rating: 2.5
Pro Rating: 3.5

5 mana is a lot, but killing something no question asked is a pretty good return at that investment. Being at Sorcery speed hurts a little, but adding Populate in a set that seems to have a plethora of reasons to Populate is nice.

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War Screecher

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

2-mana 1/3 flyers are usually alright, and this can pump your whole team in the late game. It is decent filler.

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Ashiok's Skulker

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 1.5

2-mana 1/3 flyers are usually alright, and this can pump your whole team in the late game. It is decent filler.

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Augur of Bolas

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.0

You need to be drawing a card with this like half the time for it to be worth. In other words, you need way more instants and sorceries than most decks are gonna have – which is like, 4 or 5. Now, it isn’t like the fail case for this card is abysmal, since it is still a two-mana 1/3, so it is passable even if you don’t get there, but obviously it is way better in a deck with lots of spells.

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Aven Eternal

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 3.5

3-mana 2/2 flyers tend to be playable if that’s all they are. Adding Amass here is great, and will give you a great deal whether you put a counter on an Army already in play or you make a token.

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Bond of Insight

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 0.0 // 2.5

This isn’t as good as it looks. This is because you will need a decent number of instants and sorceries for this card to actually do anything. Milling yourself and your opponent 4 cards just isn’t worth it if you aren’t also returning two instants and sorceries – even just returning one is pretty bad for 4 mana. If you have enough spells it does improve, though.

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Callous Dismissal

AI Rating: 3.1
Pro Rating: 3.5

So, most of the time this is a two mana 1/1 that bounces an opposing creature. That’s great. Any time you can add to your board and subtract from your opponents’ with a single card, you’re going to be pretty happy about, and this does it pretty often.

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Commence the Endgame

AI Rating: 4.5
Pro Rating: 3.5

At 6-mana you draw 2 and create a 2/2 token (or put two counters on an Army). Especially at Instant speed, that can really be a 3-for-1. That 3-for-1 is basically the ceiling, but it becomes increasingly likely the more cards you have in hand. It might be bit expensive, but I can’t imagine not wanting to play one of these in any Blue deck in the format.

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Contentious Plan

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 2.0

A cantrip with Proliferate is nice in this format. You’ll just almost always have something to put more counters on, and that will feel great since this just replaces itself.

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Crush Dissent

AI Rating: 1.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

As good as Amass is in this format, I don’t like this card a whole lot. Counters that let your opponent pay mana to ignore them have to be really efficient in Limited, since they will become weaker and weaker as the game goes on. Now, the fail case here is that you still get to Amass, and that keeps it from being unplayable.

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Erratic Visionary

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 1.5

This has a decent body and it loots. Looting can improve your draws in the late game, and that’s nice.

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Eternal Skylord

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 4.0

So, you pay 5 mana here to always get 5/5 worth of stats, and 2/2 of that will have flying. If you already have an Army in play, it getting flying and +2/+2 right away is great. You can play this and have it be great in a deck with 0 other ways to make Armies, too, because it is just efficient on its own. Because of all that, this is one of the better uncommons in the set.

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Fblthp, the Lost

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

A two mana 1/1 who draws you a card is just nice value, and sometimes can even get you a 2-for-1. That’s probably what will happen here most of the time. However, you can use effects like Vivien’s Arkbow to put it into play and draw more cards. You can also shuffle it back into your library …if you want, by targeting him with a spell, but I don’t think that comes up a whole lot. Sometimes your opponent will get an advantage out of that effect too, because if Fblthp is your blocker for example, and they have lethal if they get him out of the way – they will have even more cards than usual to enable that.

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Finale of Revelation

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 3.0

The efficiency here doesn’t get interesting until X is pretty high. I mean, paying 5 to draw 3 at Sorcery speed is solid. And yeah, if X = 10 you’re going to win thanks to insane card advantage, and obviously once X is 4 or more I think the card starts to give you a pretty incredible rate. But it is definitely pretty awkward and clunky.

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Flux Channeler

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.5

A 3-mana 2/2, which is a horrendous statline, and it doesn’t get to help you proliferate right away or anything, at least not most of the time. That said, as soon as you play noncreatures – including planeswalkers, being able to add counters to stuff as a repeatable effect seems pretty nice. This is sort of a double build around – you need lots of counters and lots of non-creature spells to make it work, but when you can, it is a pretty great engine.

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God-Eternal Kefnet

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 4.0

In a lot of decks all Kefnet will be is a 4-mana 4/5 flyer that it is difficult to make stay dead, which is already pretty good. Unfortunately, Kefnet’s main ability is very reliant on instants and sorceries, and not hitting those types of cards with it is pretty darn likely. Still, if you can even copy one spell with Kefnet you’re getting a pretty good deal, and because it doesn’t usually stay dead, you’ll get more cracks at it.

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Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 3.0

So, in Limited, this Jace is mostly just a way to draw cards. It doesn’t protect itself and its static ability is hard to make work. So yeah, you’re usually just going to be using his +1 as long as he can stay alive, but that’s not too shabby.

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Jace's Triumph

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 2.0

This is mostly just Divination. Having a Jace is possible, but not super likely. Divination is always a pretty decent card, and that’s what this is.

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Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor

AI Rating: 4.5
Pro Rating: 4.0

This is one of the best uncommon walkers in the set. 4 mana for a 2/2 that loots would already be kind of a passable card. I mean it wouldn’t be great, probably a D, but the point is that’s what this card is at its worse, and it obviously can do way more. I think getting two 2/2s and looting twice is a great deal for 4 mana, and adding the static ability is sort of just an extra bonus.

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Kasmina's Transmutation

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 2.5

Removal that doesn’t really remove is always pretty underwhelming. I mean, sure, you do at least take away all of the creature’s abilities and make it a 1/1, but it can still block, and that’s a pretty big deal. This is still decent removal, just don’t treat it like one of the best common removal spells in the set.

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Kiora's Dambreaker

AI Rating: 2.2
Pro Rating: 2.0

A 6-mana 5/6 isn’t great, but it is passable stats, especially in Blue. Add Proliferate to that and it certainly gets better – especially in a set whose cup runneth over with various types of counters.

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Lazotep Plating

AI Rating: 3
Pro Rating: 1.5

There are a few cards in this set that seem to have been printed with the intent of taking away the downside Amass has -- that is, that you can put at on of resources into one of those tokens and have it get bounced or destroyed and really not feel so good about the situation. Overall, I think this is actually a pretty nice card. Sometimes we see these hexproof effects and they are hard to want to actually play, but since this one coems with Amass, it does more than just blank a removal spell. I also think the special synergy with Amass will make this pretty solid. Still, it is highly situational -- against some opponents it wont' really matter -- but hey, at least you can Amass 1 in those matches, I guess?

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Naga Eternal

AI Rating: 0.3
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a vanilla creature with mediocre stats. That’s all.

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Narset, Parter of Veils

AI Rating: 3.8
Pro Rating: 2.0

Her static ability will occasionally matter, but mostly what you’re getting out of Narset is the ability to draw a couple of extra cards. So she’s mostly a kind of convoluted Divination with planeswalker upside.

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Narset's Reversal

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is too situational to be worth it most of the time.

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No Escape

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is a pretty good counterspell. Creatures and planeswalkers together are going to make up three quarters or more of most decks, so this has plenty of targets. And it’s a hard counter! And it exiles the things it counters. All of that makes me want to play the first copy of this in most Blue decks.

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Relentless Advance

AI Rating: 1.6
Pro Rating: 1.5

You have two possibilities here: one is that you just paid 4 to put 3 +1/+1 counters onto a Zombie Army token you already have, the other is that you paid 4 mana for a 3/3 – in other words, a Hill Giant. Sure, it has some synergy with populate and other cards with Amass, but neither of those deals would be a particularly attractive card in Limited.

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Rescuer Sphinx

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 3.5

4-mana 3/2 with Flying isn’t a terrible place to start, and this does more than that! Returning one of your permanents to your hand can give you some value – either by making an Aura-based removal spell fall off, or by taking advantage of an ETB ability. In this set, you can also add Planeswalkers to the list, who you can bounce when they are low on loyalty. Plus, the Sphinx gets a +1/+1 counter out of the deal if it does that.

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Silent Submersible

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

This thing is pretty disappointing. It isn’t good at getting in for damage at all between its small size and lack of evasion. Sometimes you can get it going, and that will feel pretty nice, but most of the time it will just sit on the table doing nothing.

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Sky Theater Strix

AI Rating: 2
Pro Rating: 1.5

This is a two mana ½ Flyer that will sometimes attack for two. Not great, but not bad either.

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Spark Double

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 4.0

Clones are always nice, and this is one of the better ones we’ve seen. While it is Limited only to your side of the table, it is still pretty flexible, since it can copy a creature or planeswalker, and what’s more is, it comes into play with additional counters! In short, this will be your best creature or planewalker but better, and that means it isn’t too hard to get 4 mana worth of value out of it.

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Spellkeeper Weird

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 2.0

A 3-mana ¼ has some not entirely horrendous defensive stats, and this one comes with the ability to get back key spells – with removal spells being the most interesting. While I think this will probably be best in a UR spells deck, I think most Blue decks in this format will probably run enough instants and sorceries for the Weird to be a solid inclusion in the deck.

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Stealth Mission

AI Rating: 1.3
Pro Rating: 1.0

I don’t like most versions of this card we see. Sure, you get a free swing in, and sometimes that will win you the game. But a lot of the time it just doesn’t matter. And it is super risky because it opens you up to the dreaded 2-for-1 in many situations if you aren’t careful.

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Tamiyo's Epiphany

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 3.0

This lets you see up to SIX cards in your deck for only 4 mana. That’s some pretty serious card selection, and not usually the kind we see at Common. Now, it is a Sorcery, which will sometimes make it really awkward. Like, you know, if you are getting beat down you don’t really want to be drawing the Epiphany. Still, I think the upside makes it worth playing one copy of in virtually every Blue deck. Going beyond one copy is probably a little dangerous.

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Teferi's Time Twist

AI Rating: 1.4
Pro Rating: 1.0

This can do a variety of things, but most of the time they won’t be worth doing. Because this is an Instant, if your opponent tries to take down a planeswalker, you can use the Time Twist, both saving it and setting its loyalty back to what it was when it came into play. On top of that, Teferi’s Time Twist is also good with ETB creatures, can help your creature dodge a removal spell, and so on. I still am not very interested in playing it.

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Thunder Drake

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 2.5

You generally want to be able to consistently get this up to ¾ for it to be worth it, and that’s fairly doable. Sometimes you will get the Drake late and be in top deck mode and that’s not so good, but it seems solid enough to me.

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Totally Lost

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

We've seen this card a lot, and it is always kind of ok. Putting something on top of your library is better than just bouncing something, because it means you are replacing your opponent's draw, meaning you are trading one card for one card -- which is not the guess with regular bounce spells. Still, at 5 mana this is a bit clunky, though it can enable some nice blowouts in response to combat tricks and will be nice against Amass tokens.

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Wall of Runes

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 1.5

If you’re a defensive deck, you’ll play this and it will be passable. If you’re not defensive, don’t play it.

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Aid the Fallen

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 2.0

To play this, you want to be consistently getting back both a creature and a planeswalker. The good news is, that isn’t super hard to do in this format. This is the kind of card that is terrible early but really good late, and most Black decks want one copy of this to help them have that nice late game.

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Banehound

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is the kind of card new players will overrate because on the surface it seems like a pretty great deal. I mean, a one mana 1/1 with two keyword abilities is somewhat tempting, right? Well, not really. That’s because these two particular keyword abilities, lifelink and haste, aren’t particularly useful on a 1/1. For both of those to be at their best, you want a bit more power, so the returns on having those two keyword abilities really doesn’t make this all that much better than having a vanilla 1-mana 1/1.

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Bleeding Edge

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 4.0

This will frequently feel like a 3-mana 2/2 that destroys a creature when it enters the battlefield – and that’s a great card. It definitely will feel a bit less good to put counters on an Army already in play, but it is still a reasonable deal. The -2/-2 can’t kill everything of course, but it does enough for me to want to value this really highly.

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Bolas's Citadel

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 2.0

This is difficult to make work in Limited. There is a sacrifice deck in this format and all, but having the permanents to sacrifice and the life to pay to play cards off the top of your deck is far from guaranteed.

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Bond of Revival

AI Rating: 1.6
Pro Rating: 2.0

These types of effects tend to underperform, at least 5 mana. It is nice that this one gives Haste to your creature, so maybe you get in for some damage right away. But frequently you’ll have this and all you can do is bring back a 2-drop or a 3-drop that doesn’t make a huge impact. Or worse you will draw it early when it isn’t really going to be worth it. Of course, the upside can be massive, and it certainly gets better in decks with a couple really powerful creatures – something this set has no shortage of.

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Charity Extractor

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 1.5

This is a pretty good defensive card, and not a bad place to counters thanks to lifelink. But you’ll cut it a lot. It just doesn’t do enough.

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Command the Dreadhorde

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 3.5

While you might end up paying a ton of life for this, the impact it has on the game is absolutely massive. You can frequently drop yourself all the way to 1 with this because of all the stuff you’re getting back from the graveyards. Once your board is improved you won’t have to worry about much! Now, it is reliant on graveyards and the pay life part can be pretty serious, but it is still a great card.

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Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 2.5

So, if I could pay 3 mana and make my opponent discard 3 upfront, that would be a great card. But how about an Enchantment that makes my opponent discard (potentially at least) one time each turn for 3 turns? And that punishes the opponent for now having cards in their hand? I think that’s a pretty decent card. The fact that on the face of it, Davriel can function as a 3-for-1 makes me interested in him from the start. He does have low loyalty, and if you can’t protect him at all that might be annoying – but at worst, he is going to give you a 1-for-1. Sometiems in the late game the discard part won’t do anything, and that’s something that hurts most discard spells – but in Davriel’s case, he punishes people for not having cards, so he still does something in those cases.

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Davriel's Shadowfugue

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 1.0

4 mana to make the opponent discard 2 and lose 2 life just isn’t a good deal. Mind Rot, which makes the opponent discard 2 for 3 mana is often not good enough for Limited, and this costs one more and adds a negligible effect.

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Deliver Unto Evil

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 2.0

3 mana to get two cards back from the graveyard will normally be what you get with this. That’s not bad, but the fact your opponent gets to choose will sometimes be pretty rough. It will get better the later the game goes and the more powerful options you have in your graveyard.

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Dreadhorde Invasion

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.0

With how Amass works, you can’t go wide here. Not really. But I think it is still pretty good. In situations where you’re behind, the 1/1 that can chump every turn doesn’t hurt, and if the board is at parity or you’re ahead, you’re going ot have a progressively larger Army that will eventually start gaining back the life it took from you. If you can sacrifice the token for value every turn that’s good too. If this is played on turn two it is difficult to beat, and it has value all game long.

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Dreadmalkin

AI Rating: 2.9
Pro Rating: 2.0

This can get pretty big, which is pretty nice with Menace. Even just attacking with it with some mana up will sometimes give your opponent a headache. The sacrifice effect is pretty steep, but the goods is with Amass it will have plenty of tokens to gobble up if it wants them. Still, this kind of “eggs in one basket” strategy can easily backfire in Limited.

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Duskmantle Operative

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

This is a bear with some reasonable but unexciting upside.

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The Elderspell

AI Rating: 3.8
Pro Rating: 1.5

This set has enough planeswalkers that you can actually main deck this, and it is actually super awesome if you do it when YOU have a planeswalker. That said, most opponents will have around 3 targets for it, so it won’t feel amazing, but the upset does make it worth playing sometimes.

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Eternal Taskmaster

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 3.0

Two mana for a 2/3 is a nice deal, even coming into play tapped, and the fact that this guy can bring creatures back to your hand from your graveyard is really nice too, and something that gives him usefulness all game long.

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Finale of Eternity

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 4.5

This is very strong. Just paying 5 mana for this often feels great, as when you cast it on turn 5 or so, you’ll often be able to wipe your opponents’ board. Then, it can scale as the game goes on, until it absurdly lets you reanimate all the creatures you killed too! This is a bomb.

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God-Eternal Bontu

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.5

This starts with great stats as a 5-mana 5/6 Menace, and then it has an ETB trigger that lets you cash in unwanted permanents for new cards. You won’t always have something to sacrifice, but generally you’ll be able to find 1-2 things you can get rid of for new cards. Then, the god trigger means he will keep coming back and doing that all over again!

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Herald of the Dreadhorde

AI Rating: 2.8
Pro Rating: 2.0

A 4-mana 3/2 isn’t great, but hey – it can trade with plenty of 4 drops, and if you’re trading with this your’e probably going to come out ahead, because it comes with Amass 2. Whether this makes you a 2/2 creature or makes your Army a bigger, it is a good deal, since it is coming in addition to a trade.

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Kaya's Ghostform

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 1.0

This just isn’t useful. It is nice that it counts being exiled, because it seems like there is a lot of that going around in this set, but still. You open yourself up to a 2-for-1 when you cast it in the first place, and then when it sticks you do get something pretty nice – the creature comes back. But for that to really be worth it you probably need something awesome, or something with a death trigger or ETB trigger. If you can do that, maybe you play it, but mostly I think you should steer clear of this.

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Lazotep Behemoth

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 1.0

A 5-mana 5/4 is some ok stats. Better than some vanilla stat lines. But you still mostly wont play this.

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Lazotep Reaver

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is a nice two drop. Two mana for 2/3 of stats divided across two bodies is a great deal, and it stays relevant all game long.

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Liliana, Dreadhorde General

AI Rating: 5
Pro Rating: 5.0

Well, if you pay 6 for a planeswalker you’re usually counting on the card being a bomb – and that’s what we have here. The best planeswalkers usually can protect themselves in one way or another – either by thinning out the opponent’s board or making creature tokens to block – Liliana can do both. If your opponent is going a little too wide, her -4 might be what you have to do immediately, but on a lot of boards, just using her +1 is some serious business. Even if that 2/2 is just chump blocking, her static ability means that it replaces itself with a card in your hand, which in turn can help you do a better job of protecting Liliana and having her be a win condition, because you’re more likely to find more creatures to block or removal spell. Her ultimate is going to be game breaking most of the time, and she really stands a chance of getting there.

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Liliana's Triumph

AI Rating: 2.7
Pro Rating: 2.5

Most edict effects we see are kind of lame in Limited. This is because your opponent always gets to make the choice on something like this, and frequently it won’t’ be very impactful, especially in the late game. But when you make it Instant speed and only two mana, you’re getting into some attractive territory. Being an Instant can make it so that you can cast it in response to a creature coming into play, and sometimes that’s the best thing to do, so that you have a better chance of making your opponent lose their best creature. Liliana is a Mythic Rare, so you won’t often be getting that part of the card to work.

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Massacre Girl

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 5.0

Up front, worth saying a 5-mana 4/4 menace on its own is usually at least a C, maybe a C+ in some formats. But she does wayyy more than that. As her name implies, she comes down and massacres stuff. How much stuff? Well, it depends. Basically, if there is the right distribution of toughness on the table, she can wipe the entire board, as she just keeps triggering her “Whenever a creature dies this turn” effect every time one thing dies, so if a 1/1 dies, it happens again, and now all X/2s die, and then it happens again, and so forth. Also worth noting, that the things don’t have to be killed by her ETB ability, if you have the mana to also play a removal spell, and you were just short of being able to wipe all your opponent’s creatures, you can still make it happen. In general, I think she is amazing – she isn’t THAT far from being a 5-mana 4/4 with Menace that wipes the whole board. I think in plenty of situations she will take down a couple of small creatures, but even if that’s all, you’re looking at a really strong card. The solid stats attached to that ability are what really sells me on her.

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Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted

AI Rating: 4.1
Pro Rating: 2.5

The static ability here gives you some nice inevitably, and his loyalty ability isn’t ENTIRELY terrible either. Destroying any creature is great – though allowing your opponent to draw two cards definitely isn’t. But hey, at least he does 2 damage to them in the process, right?

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Ob Nixilis's Cruelty

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 4.0

This is is Black’s obligatory premium common removal spell. 3 mana for -5/-5 is a great deal, especially at instant speed, and especially with the exile clause attached to it. The great thing about this kind of card too, is that it doesn’t have to outright kill a creature to give you value, sometimes, you can set up a block and use it to make your opponent’s creature smaller so yours survives in combat. Granted, -5/-5 is going to do the job on its own most of the time, but -X/-X Black removal spells always come with that bit of upside. This is probably the best Common in the set.

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Price of Betrayal

AI Rating: 0.5
Pro Rating: 0.5

Even in a set that has a ton of counters, it is pretty hard to consistently use Price of Betrayal to get rid of an opponents’ card. You’ll find yourself downgrading or weakening a card more often, and that just isn’t worth it.

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Shriekdiver

AI Rating: 1.3
Pro Rating: 1.5

A 3-mana 2/1 with Flying is kind of ok, and you can make this one into a 4-mana 2/1 with Flying and Haste which is…also ok.

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Sorin's Thirst

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 2.5

These types of removal spells are always nice. Killing small creatures at Instant speed and gaining some life is a pretty good deal. It isn’t quite premium, but its close.

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Spark Harvest

AI Rating: 3.5
Pro Rating: 3.5

This kills a bunch of cards in this format, and it can only cost one mana if you are willing to sacrifice something. Obviously killing walkers matters more in this format than in any other we have ever seen, and the ability to sacrifice a walker matters more too. A lot of the uncommon walkers eventually tick down to 1 loyalty, so turning them into fodder for this seems nice. It is made a lot better by the fact that you can also straight up pay 5 to destroy a creature or planeswalker.

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Spark Reaper

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 2.5

A 3-mana 2/3 has somewhat passable stats, and this has a pretty nice activated ability. The fact that you can use it at Instant speed – which we don’t always get with effects like this is what really makes it worthwhile, since you can use it in response to removal or declare a block and then use it, getting some serious value. This is a decent late-game mana sink.

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Tithebearer Giant

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 3.0

Because this is fairly expensive and has mediocre stats you don’t normally want more than one of these, but the first copy is pretty nice. Because it draws you a card and has a reasonable body, you’re virtually always going to get a 2-for-1 out of this, and 2-for-1s go a long way towards helping you win.

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Toll of the Invasion

AI Rating: 2.7
Pro Rating: 3.5

This card is an overperformer. Most discard spells in Limited aren’t super impressive, but you have to look at this one as a 3-mana 1/1 that lets you get rid of your opponents best non land card. This format has lots of powerful expensive cards, which means people have cards in hand even late, and the disruption this offers – while also adding to the board – is pretty nice.

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Unlikely Aid

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 2.0

This is a solid trick. The stats boost and indestructibility is going to be enough for your creature to win most combats, and you can even use it in response to (most) removal to save your creature. Now, it IS still a trick, which is something only aggro decks are really interested in, and it is a bit risky since your opponent interacting in response to it is really bad.

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Vampire Opportunist

AI Rating: 1.1
Pro Rating: 1.5

This starts with some mediocre stats, and it has a late game ability that is pretty expensive. That said, it isn’t the worst mana sink to have, as it can really close out a game in tight situations.

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Vizier of the Scorpion

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 3.0

So, this will typically be a 3-mana 1/1 that makes a 1/1 with Deathtouch, and that’s pretty good. Sometimes it will make your Army already in play gain +1/+1 and give it deathtouch, and I’m reasonably happy with that too.

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Vraska's Finisher

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 3.0

This type of card does not normally impress me, but Vraska’s Finisher really does well in this format. With all the planeswalkers around, Vraska’s ability to destroy the ones that have been damaged on your turn is pretty great, especially because people often let through damage on a planeswalker if it doesn’t kill it. When you do that, you don’t end up using up a card to kill the walker. Generally, if you are using this to kill a creature, you do use up another card to make it get damaged, but still, sometimes that’s worth doing.

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Ahn-Crop Invader

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is a nice aggressive creature. Because it has First Strike, your opponent will often just not be willing to block it when you attack with it when you have mana up, since it is likely to win most combat even if you just sacrifice one thing to it. It pairs particularly well with Amass tokens.

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Blindblast

AI Rating: 0.5
Pro Rating: 1.5

Adding a card-draw effect to a card always makes it way more attractive, and I think that is certainly the case here. This can kill some small creatures, in which case you get a straight-up two-for-one, but my guess is that you'll usually just use this to make your opponent's best creature unable to block. That kind of effect is quite strong in aggressive Red decks, as sometimes you go from not being able to attack at all, to being able to attack with everything after a problem creature is removed from the equation. It still isn’t something you probably ever want more than one of, and you don’t want it all if you aren’t aggressive.

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Bolt Bend

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 0.0

Too situational to ever do anything consistently enough to be worth putting in your deck.

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Bond of Passion

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 1.5

So, this is expensive and clunky, but I don’t think you’ll hate yourself if you run one in your Red decks. In a lot of situations, it will result in a huge damage turn for you. Between killing a small creature and stealing your opponent’s best creature, this should do a lot of work. But it is pretty expensive and doesn’t always do as much as you’d like.

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Burning Prophet

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 2.0

I love scrying, and I always love the UR spell deck, and this does both! Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t incredible at all – but this is pretty close to Prowess, and a 2-mana 1/3 with Prowess is usually a solid, if unexciting, card.

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Chainwhip Cyclops

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

This guy is decent. There are tons of board states where an ability like that really opens the flood gates – get that one problem blocker out of the way, and now the best your opponent can do is chump or trade! It does cost a lot of mana here, at 4, and it comes on an inefficient creature as a 5-mana 4/4, but that effect can be a good mana sink.

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Chandra, Fire Artisan

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.0

Her +1 ability is a nice way to draw an extra card every turn, and if your opponent can’t pressure her at all, you’re just going to kill them with your planeswalker version of Outpost siege. On top of that, even if things don’t go so well, she makes sure to punish your opponent a bit. She ticks up to 5 loyalty right away, and that means that your opponent has to take 5 damage to kill her, in addition to having to commit an attack to doing it. Obviously that’s not incredible, but as a fail case that’s not too bad. Her ultimate is obviously crazy as well, as it will do 7 damage to your opponent and let you dig deep into your deck.

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Chandra's Pyrohelix

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 3.5

We’ve seen this exact card and others like it a few times, and it is always good. Being able to kill an X/2 is nice, being able to go to your opponent’s face is nice too when it will finish them off. Most formats also have enough X/1s in them that you can get a 2-for-1 with this a decent chunk of the time. I think that for me, this gets into the lower range of “premium removal,” and is first pickable in some weaker packs.

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Chandra's Triumph

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 4.0

Two mana to do 3 to something at Instant speed is always a good removal spell. This isn’t quite lightning strike, because it doesn’t hit players, but it is still pretty good. The upside on it will happen on occasion, since Chandra is at Rare instead of Mythic Rare, but it still won’t be happening with any sort of regularity, so mostly – this is just a Lightning Strike that can’t hit players…which is still a really good card.

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Cyclops Electromancer

AI Rating: 3.1
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.5

So, I think this is the kind of card that needs two grades. If you are playing a deck that has a fairly standard 2-4 instants or sorceries in it, this is going to be almost unplayable. Basically, I think you want to have at least 2 instants and sorceries in your graveyard when you play this, as that gives you a good chance to kill a creature -- it needs to be doing that, because 5 for a 4/2 is obviously not so good. If you end up in a spell-heavy deck, which it looks like UR wants to be in this format, though, this will be one of the best cards in your deck, and will do an impressive Flame-Tongue Kavu impression.

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Demolish

AI Rating: 0
Pro Rating: 0.0

I always try to give this a sideboard grade, but the reality is – you will never side this in in this set. There aren’t enough artifacts or problem lands, so most of the time this reads “Pay 4 mana, discard this and do almost nothing.”

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Devouring Hellion

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 2.0

This has a pretty abysmal floor, as a 3-mana 2/2, but with just one sacrificed creature or planeswalker, it is a 4/4, and it scales up from there. The ideal thing is to sacrifice something that isn’t worth having around anymore – like an uncommon Planeswalker with only 1 loyalty left, or a creature with a death trigger, or a creature token, or a creature with an aura-based removal spell on it. Problem is, you just won’t always be able to set that up, even in the most synergistic of decks there will be times where this just isn’t worth doing, and because of that I have a hard time thinking of it as anything more than a solid playable.

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Dreadhorde Arcanist

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 1.0

It is difficult to make this consistently do anything other than be a bad creature in Limited. Sometimes you’ll end up with the right build that has enough cheap spells, but not usually.

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Dreadhorde Twins

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

4 mana for 4/4 worth of stats, and a at least a 2/2 that has Trample is a pretty decent deal. Plus, in the event you have an even larger Army in play, this giving it Trample is some pretty great upside, especially because it can take advantage of it right away.

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Finale of Promise

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 0.0 // 3.0

Paying 5 mana to copy two 3 mana or less spells in your graveyard sounds like a good deal to me, for example – and that’s not some crazy scenario. That said, it IS a bit of a buildaround, because you have to have enough reasonably costed instants and sorceries in your deck to make it work. It might be tempting to first pick because it is such a sweet card, and I think doing it in a weak pack might be ok because it does have a high ceiling.

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Goblin Assailant

AI Rating: 0.5
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a vanilla creature with mediocre stats. You’ll only play it if you’re desperate for a two drop.

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Goblin Assault Team

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 1.5

So, a 4-mana 4/1 with Haste would normally not be so good -- maybe it can get in for 4 once or something, but then it dies to literally everything. However, because this also leaves a +1/+1 counter behind, it helps you get around that downside. There is also additional upside here in the fact that it can trade for a ton of stuff with 4 power -- any time you can trade for something decently sized with this and get the counter, you're going to feel ok about things. I'm not sure you'll ever want more than one of these, but the first of these seems like a reasonable inclusion in most Red decks.

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Grim Initiate

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 3.0

Like all these cards with Amass, you have to look at this as having one of two possibilities. One is that, when this dies, it makes a 1/1 token that has synergy with Amass payoffs and Proliferate. The other is that it makes your Army bigger. I think both of those options are pretty nice when attached to a one-drop with First Strike, and means that it has at least some usefulness all game long, even if that usefulness is never going to be earthshattering. It is also great if you are interested in sacrificing stuff, since it gives you two bodies.

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Heartfire

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 1.5

Two mana to do 4 to anything at Instant speed would be premium removal. This asks you to do a little more work than that though, wanting you to sacrifice a creature or planeswalker to use it. Now, it looks like the RB deck is going to be interested in doing some sacrificing, and will also have creatures that are good to sacrifice, so maybe that's the best place for it. But either way, I think this is an alright card -- what saves it from being outright bad is the fact that it is an Instant, and the fact it can go to your opponent' face. As an Instant, it can be used in situations where losing the creature isn't as much of a downside -- like after you block something first, then sacrifice the creature to kill something else. The most attractive time to use this is in response to your opponent's removal of course. But still, even in those "ideal" situations, you're not really getting a 2-for-1. To do that you'll need to be giving up tokens.

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Honor the God-Pharaoh

AI Rating: 2
Pro Rating: 2.0

Tormenting Voice + Amass isn’t too bad. You get to add to the board while improving card quality, and that seems fine.

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Ilharg, the Raze-Boar

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.5

A 5-mana 6/6 with Trample would already be a good card, though not anything exciting – but the rest of that text is pretty silly! Getting to put a creature onto the battlefield tapped and attacking every time he attacks is nice, especially if that creature is evasive or has an ETB ability – but either way, if you’re already attacking with a 6/6 trample, dropping another creature on to the table is not going to be fun for your opponent to deal with. Now, I do think there will be times where you just don’t have any creature to put down, but you still have a massive creature doing work for you. Plus, when he dies, he gets tucked back into your library – even if he is exiled, which is some nice additional upside. So, yeah, I think this is a bomb.

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Invading Manticore

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 2.5

Whether or not you already have an army, you are paying 6 mana to add 6/7 to the battlefield, and that's not a bad thing to have at the top of your curve.

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Jaya, Venerated Firemage

AI Rating: 4.1
Pro Rating: 4.0

For 5 mana you get to do 3 to something – not the greatest rate ever, but it allows for some impact on the board immediately. Then, if she can make it to your next turn with at least 2 loyalty, she can do it again.5 mana to do 3 to two target creatures would be a great card. And while this isn’t quite that since she can be attacked and taken off of the board that way, it seems like doing 3 to something and then drawing a bunch of attacks is some decent value. On top of all that, if your deck has more red sources of damage – and it almost assuredly will – she brings you even more value. Even if she just makes one combat more difficult for your opponent, she’s doing her job.

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Jaya's Greeting

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 4.0

Two mana to do 3 to something at Instant speed is already premium, so adding Scry is just icing on the cake.

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Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 4.0

A 3-mana 1/2 is pretty bad, but as soon as this attacks the first time it becomes a 2/3, and spawns TWO goblin tokens. If your opponent can't kill Krenko on that first swing, they are going to be in a world of trouble, because he's going to keep attacking and keep making more tokens. If you end up with Krenko, combat tricks are going to be your best friend, since keeping him alive for any extra turns is going to be backbreaking for your opponent. He obviously also has a bit of synergy with +1/+1 counter synergies in the format.

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Mizzium Tank

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0

This is not going to be especially good in your typical Limited deck in the format, because a 3-mana 3/2 vehicle with trample and Crew 1 isnt’ anything to get excited about. However, if you have enough spells, this is a nice Rare payoff for you, as it makes the Tank come to life – meaning it doesn’t need to get crewed, and it gets bigger.

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Nahiri's Stoneblades

AI Rating: 0.3
Pro Rating: 0.0

I don't like tricks that don't help my creature survive combat. Only bumping power with no keyword added just isn’t worth it, even if you can pump two creatures.

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Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 4.0

Ok so, on vanilla test alone, this is good. But obviously Neheb comes with a huge block of text after that. When it hits a player or planeswalker, you get to get rid of any cards in your hand that you don’t need – like excess basic lands – and you get Red mana and get to reload your hand. This works nicely together too, because if you are drawing new cards, it doesn’t hurt to have mana to play them! The Trample here makes it so people can’t just chump block Neheb so you don’t get that combat damage trigger.

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Raging Kronch

AI Rating: 2
Pro Rating: 1.5

Usually when we see creatures who can’t attack alone they have more impressive stats than this. That said, usually creatures who can’t attack alone can’t block alone either – but this Kronch can. Obviously a fine card in an aggressive deck, and it cheaply triggers all the “ferocious” pay offs in the set.

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Samut's Sprint

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 1.5

This is just red’s obligatory solid combat trick that will be nice in aggro decks. +2/+1 is enough of a boost for a creature to win a lot of combats, and the additional Haste upside doesn’t hurt. Still, it IS a combat trick and it comes with all the inherent risks that combat tricks have they are inherently situational and come with the risk of a 2-for-1 that blows you out.

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Sarkhan the Masterless

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.5

This Sarkhan is great. He can come down and make a Dragon to protect him right away, which will also make attacking more difficult for your opponent because of the static ability. Then on the next few turns you send Sarkhan and your other planeswalkers to the sky, doing huge amounts of damage. If you get to make another Dragon token the game is over for your opponent. He does a good job of protecting himself and makes tokens that are win conditions, so sign me up!

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Sarkhan's Catharsis

AI Rating: 1.1
Pro Rating: 1.0

Even in a set with this many Planeswalkers I’m not very interested in a Lava Axe variant.

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Spellgorger Weird

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.5

I do think this needs two grades, as you need a critical mass of instants and sorceries to really get there. Sure, if you get it to 3/3 you’re doing alright, but obviously you want a deck with 7+ instants and sorceries to fully take advantage of this thing. Doesn’t hurt that it has synergy with proliferate either!

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Tibalt, Rakish Instigator

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 3.5

The whole “Your opponents can’t gain life” thing is unlikely to come up in Limited very often, but the ability to make a devil the turn he comes down, and another on the next turn – assuming he’s still around, isn’t too shabby. They can effectively protect him, while also having the threat of taking down two X/1s, and anything with 2 toughness. I mean, he isn’t great by any stretch – but he seems decent.

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Tibalt's Rager

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 3.0

This is a two-mana ½ that can pump its power and – more importantly, do 1 to something when it dies. It can attack hard if your opponent lets it, and if they have an X/1 in play it isn’t too hard for you to get a 2-for-1, so it can really put your opponent in a bad spot sometimes.

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Turret Ogre

AI Rating: 2.2
Pro Rating: 2.5

This has decent stats + Reach, and an ETB ability that will trigger a good chunk of the time. That is a solid playable.

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Arboreal Grazer

AI Rating: 0.7
Pro Rating: 1.0

This kind of card tends to be pretty terrible in Limited. Getting to put a land in play will feel pretty good in the early game, but you aren’t actually netting a card there. It might get you ahead in the short-term, but it isn’t nearly as good as having a creature that is a mana dork, or one that searches up a land, its way worse. Then, in the late game, it is entirely useless! Mostly, don’t play this.

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Arlinn, Voice of the Pack

AI Rating: 4.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

For 6-mana, she gives immediately makes a 2/2 wolf token – with a counter, so basically a 3/3. That definitely protects her a bit, and may even make it so that she can make 3 of these 3/3s. But in general, I feel like if you manage to make 2 with her, you’re probably feeling alright about your situation, and she of course also has some synergy with other wolves – you know, like the one we just talked about – and she also has some synergy with proliferate because of the +1/+1 counters.

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Arlinn's Wolf

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 2.0

A 3-mana 3/2 that can’t be blocked by smaller creatures is nice. Sometimes your 3/2 gets in trouble against a couple of 1/3s or something, and this prevents that. It isn’t anything special, but it is definitely a 3-drop you’ll play without feeling bad about.

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Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi

AI Rating: 4.5
Pro Rating: 3.5

5 mana for a 9/9 with haste is a good deal, right? Though you basically need 6 mana for it to attack right away. It is a big dumb vanilla creature to be sure, but this efficiency makes that ok. It does have the additional downside over a regular 5 mana 9/9 that if your opponent can kill it, they also make you lose a land, but I think that’s fine. Being an Instant also means that you can make a land into a 9/9 after your opponent declares attacks, and eat their best creature. If you get to do that and then swing back at your opponent, you’re going to be in great position.

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Band Together

AI Rating: 2.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

Just up front: note this does not let you target two different creatures of your opponent's. Instead, you target two of your creatures, who then do damage equal to their power to one creature your opponent controls. Now that that's clear -- this is still an excellent common for Green. We have seen instant speed versions of this effect before, and they all only allowed you to target one creature on your side to do the damage -- this lets you do even more damage, allowing your two smallish creatures to take down one of your opponent's much larger creatures.

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Bloom Hulk

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

This has good stats and it proliferates. You’ll usually feel like you’re getting more than 4 mana’s worth of value out of this. This is one of Green’s best commons.

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Bond of Flourishing

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 1.0

This reminds me a lot of cards like Adventurous Impulse and Anticipate – which means it is a fine card to include, can help dig you into whatever you really need, but it isn’t anything amazing. I do like that it gains you 3 life, so that if doing this means you are going behind on board a bit to dig, you at least gain some life to helps often that blow. And yeah, it can only hit permanents, but that’s MOST of your deck, so I think that’s fine.

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Centaur Nurturer

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 3.0

Decent stats, vanilla test wise, gains you life when it comes down and blocks reasonably – and it provides fixing and ramp? I’m all over that for my Green decks.

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Challenger Troll

AI Rating: 3.8
Pro Rating: 4.0

On its own it is a 5-mana 6/5 that can’t be blocked by more than one creature. That’s already a very good card, because it is not easy to take down a 6/5 in combat if you can’t double block him. But adding this effect to all your big boys? I’m in for that.

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Courage in Crisis

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 2.0

If this was just 3-mana to put a counter on something at Sorcery speed, it would be an F or close to it. But you add proliferate to the mix and things get more interesting. Basically, at its worse, this gives you two +1/+1 counters at sorcery speed, and there will be plenty of times where it will add counters some other places too. That said, it does come with some pretty huge risk in that it can open you up to a 2-for-1 if you're not careful.

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Evolution Sage

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 4.0

So, a 3-mana 3/2 is usually not that great, and something you only include when desperate – but this obviously brings more than that to the table. Landfall for Proliferate seems pretty nice, especially because Green seems interested in +1/+1 counters, and obviously all decks will have planeswalkers. This becomes a serious value engine if it isn’t dealt with, at least in a deck that takes advantage by having lots of counters to proliferate.

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Finale of Devastation

AI Rating: 4.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

So, a 3-mana 3/2 is usually not that great, and something you only include when desperate – but this obviously brings more than that to the table. Landfall for Proliferate seems pretty nice, especially because Green seems interested in +1/+1 counters, and obviously all decks will have planeswalkers. This becomes a serious value engine if it isn’t dealt with, at least in a deck that takes advantage by having lots of counters to proliferate.

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Forced Landing

AI Rating: 0.1
Pro Rating: 0.5

This is an interesting version of the Green flyer hate sideboard card that every set has. Instead of just straight Plummet, this lets you put the creature on the bottom of their library – which is sometimes better, like if the creature has a death trigger or your opponent has ways to get stuff back from their graveyard. Still, this is mostly likely a sideboard card.

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Giant Growth

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 2.0

We don’t see combat tricks like this very often anymore. A single mana giving such a massive P/T boost is great, and will make a creature capable of winning almost any combat. The opportunity cost of leaving up one Green mana is really low, and the upside here is very high. It is still a combat trick, so it has some issues of being situational and easy to get blown out on.

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God-Eternal Rhonas

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 4.5

Deathtouch on a 5/5 is kind of underwhelming, but Rhonas makes up for that with a powerful ETB ability that doubles the Power of all your creatures! That’s often going to be enough to enable attacks you just didn’t have before. Like all the gods, if he does get killed he can just come back and use that ETB Ability again! There are times where you don’t have enough of a board to feel great about this, but most of the time it is just as powerful as it sounds.

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Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

His static ability will be pretty nice in decks that get their on the counters, and the fact that he can make creatures get counters all on his own is nice. He has low starting loyalty, and he asks that a creature already be in play, but having a card that fixes for you while making your creatures better is pretty god.

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Kraul Stinger

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 1.5

This can trade with anything, but being a 3-mana 2/2 isn’t so good. One mana 1/1 death touchers are way better, because you can always trade up.

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Kronch Wrangler

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 2.5

So a 2-mana 2/1 with trample is not very good. Add this other text to it, though and it obviously gets a good deal better. Obviously best suited to RG, where there are the most “ferocious” pay offs, but the fact that this gets bigger in the late game is nice when coupled with the fact that it can do some damage or trade early.

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Mowu, Loyal Companion

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.5

Like his owner, Mowu is a +1/+1 counter build around. He gets silly when you can put counters on him, and is super underwhelming when you can’t.

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New Horizons

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 2.5

This type of mana-fixing/ramping Auras always feels good when it also does something to impact the board. Making one of your creatures a little better isn’t too shabby. This can help you splash double-colored cards too, which I like!

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Nissa, Who Shakes the World

AI Rating: 5
Pro Rating: 4.5

She is definitely going to be shaking the world when she come down. Her static ability giving you a bunch of extra mana might not always matter by the time you play her, but I feel like there are enough activated abilities and big fatties around that it could. But she is powerful because she can really effectively protect herself by animating your lands – even giving them Vigilance means they can play both offense and defense. Her ultimate making all your animated lands indestructible – and all your other lands too I guess, but the ones who are creatures are who really matters at that point – seems pretty great. She’s the kind of walker who can protect herself, and then snowball advantage for you as more and more creatures – or larger and larger ones, join your side of the table and she ticks up in loyalty.

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Nissa's Triumph

AI Rating: 0.6
Pro Rating: 1.5

So, paying two mana to draw 2 cards is pretty alright, even when both those lands are forests. It helps make sure you hit your land drops, and that can be nice. That said, it costs double Green, and only gets more Green mana. Which isn’t a bad thing, it just means that it isn’t super flexible. I see no reason you wouldn’t play this in a deck that is heavy Green, like 10+ more Forests, but you probably don’t play it otherwise.

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Paradise Druid

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 4.0

One of the annoying things about mana dorks can be that you play them, and they have horrible stats, so your opponent can take it down with literally any removal spell, and then you don’t have the mana that you were eagerly planning on heaving for your next turn to ramp out something awesome. Paradise Druid doesn’t let that happen, since she has hexproof, she almost guarnatees you’ll get to make some mana your next turn. On top of that, she has reasonable stats that you can send into combat if you desperately have to, and she produces mana of any color.

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Planewide Celebration

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 3.5

This is expensive, but it has nice effects and you can customize it whatever way is optimal for you, so you usually get some pretty reasonable action for the 7 mana.

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Pollenbright Druid

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

A 2-mana 1/1 that puts a counter anywhere – including on itself, is usually a pretty decent card already. At worst it is going to be a Grizzly Bears, and there are other times where putting the counter elsewhere makes a big deal, like on an evasive creature. But this has the additional ability to also just Proliferate, which you will be doing if you already have other counters in play. Either way, you’re going to get some value out of your 2 drop in the late game, and that’s not always easy to come by.

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Primordial Wurm

AI Rating: 1.1
Pro Rating: 1.5

A 6-mana 7/6 is some pretty decent vanilla stats. I still would rather have Colossal Dreadmaw because Trample.

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Return to Nature

AI Rating: 0.3
Pro Rating: 1.5

This hates on enough things that it is worth playing in your main deck sometimes, though this format does not have a ton of Artifacts.

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Snarespinner

AI Rating: 2.1
Pro Rating: 1.5

This blocks fliers really well for a two-drop, but it isn’t that great at anything else.

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Steady Aim

AI Rating: 0.2
Pro Rating: 1.0

This will make your creature survive combat frequently, and can be used in response to damage-based removal. What I don’t love is that it isn’t that exciting offensively, and generally you want your combat tricks to produce blowouts on the attack, like blowing up double blocks – which this won’t do as often. I think it is an ok trick, but I don’t want more than one in an ideal world.

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Storm the Citadel

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 1.0

I am not a big fan of this in Limited. 5 for +2/+2 at sorcery speed for your whole team is nothing special – an evasive ability like trample, or something like vigilance added to it would make it a lot better. As it is, I don’t see the combat damage trigger on this card mattering in most games. Yeah, I’m just not impressed, even if your deck can go wide, you hopefully have some better ways to take advantage of it than this.

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Thundering Ceratok

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 2.0

So a 5-mana 4/5 with Trample is already passable, it is a body big enough that trample really means something. Making it so this also gives trample to your whole team is nice, though it is worth noting that I would guess that around 50% of the time you play this, that won’t matter. There will also be plenty of times when it does, just don’t expect it to be a huge play all the time, and don’t value it that way, because it won’t.

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Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 3.0

The static ability here can be nice, for sure, as putting Flash on big Green creatures can often result in those creatures being better than removal spells. Your opponent will have to think twice about attacking you or Vivien if you have untapped mana and even one card in hand – so probably a good time to hold on to basics. Her +1 isn’t the most exciting thing – though it does kind of help protect her, since Vigilance means you can attack without worrying about the crack back so much, and Reach means that flyers will be held in check too. That said, you do need to have creatures in play already for it to work out. Her -2 doesn’t impress me a ton either, to be honest – she can only play creature cards off of the ability, and yeah most of the time that means that you will basically draw 1 card off of it – and yeah, you will also be able to play that creature at Instant speed – but it just doesn’t seem like enough. Especially since whiffing on looking at the top 3 is a very real thing.

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Vivien's Arkbow

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 2.5

This is the kind of card that can give you some pretty absurd lategame value – like if you’re flooding out, the Arkbow will give you something to do– and its something pretty powerful! The problem, though, is you’re not going to really be able to use this at all early, but I think that’s ok – it is still good at parity or when you’re ahead.

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Vivien's Grizzly

AI Rating: 1.7
Pro Rating: 2.0

Like her Arkbow, her Grizzly also is a nice manasink, though less reliable than the legendary artifacts. But still, this is basically a really bad Duskwatch Recruiter – but the Recruiter was an absurd limited card, so being a bad version of it doesn’t mean the card itself is bad. It has alright stats and the ability to draw you cards sometimes in the late game.

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Wardscale Crocodile

AI Rating: 1.5
Pro Rating: 2.0

Hexproof on a common is pretty nice. I mean sure, it can die in combat pretty easily, but because it has hexproof you can make sure that it only dies in combat when it is beneficial for you—like killing a creature with 5 toughness. Then, there is the usual upside that Hexproof creatures bring – risky spells, like Fight cards, or auras and the like become a lot better, because you know your opponent won’t be able to easily 2-for-1 you.

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Ajani, the Greathearted

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 3.5

Giving your whole team Vigilance is a nice way to provide a bit of protection for himself – if your creatures can hang back and block and attack, he will be staying in play a lot longer. His +1 isn’t anything special, but can certainly help dig you out of a difficult situation provided that you have a board state. His -2 is where the real power is, since he can pump up your entire board. Imagine a 4-mana spell that gave +1/+1 counters to your whole team and gave them vigilance until end of turn. Would that be great? Probably not, but it would probably be like a D+ or C-, and Ajani is obviously a lot more than that. Using the ability a second time will really feel great, and yeah – he can also tick up and gain you life when he needs to.

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Angrath's Rampage

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 2.5

It is nice that this is flexible, because an edict effect like it can sometimes be pretty underwhelming. This will feel the most effective when you name planeswalker and your opponent only has one! Naming creatures or artifacts won’t feel nearly as good, as your opponent probably has a lot of fodder.

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Bioessence Hydra

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 4.0

On its own this is a 5-mana 4/4 trampler, which is okayish. I think it is safe to say that most decks will have 3+ planeswalkers in this format too, so it will frequently be larger! And it synergizes really well with Proliferate, allowing to even more impressively grow in size.

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Casualties of War

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 4.0

So, 6 mana to destroy 5 permanents is a pretty awesome deal. Obviously, that’s not always what this will do. I would guess on average, you probably get to destroy somewhere between 2 and 3 permanents with it, and yeah – if you’re just getting a creature and a land you’re not exactly pumped about it, but that’s not the worst deal for 6 mana. Once you add a third permanent you’re feeling pretty good, and if you do 4 or more? Well, you’re really in business.

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Cruel Celebrant

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

We have seen a lot of creatures that drain the opponent for 1 every time something dies, and they’re always pretty nice. Having one at 2 mana will probably be pretty similar to Zulaport Cutthroat, which was a pretty good card in its format.

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Deathsprout

AI Rating: 3.5
Pro Rating: 4.0

Killing a creature for 4 mana at instant speed AND fixing your mana is great. This is one of the best uncommons in the set.

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Domri, Anarch of Bolas

AI Rating: 4.4
Pro Rating: 3.0

His static ability is obviously pretty good, but his +1 is only good if he makes it to the next turn. The ideal line of play with him is probably to play him, use his -2 to kill an opponent’s creature, and then just keep him alive for the static ability and the mana, while intermittently using the fight effect. The problem with that plan is how easily he can be taken down on that first or second turn, but I think for 3 mana he’s still giving you some decent value.

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Domri's Ambush

AI Rating: 3.3
Pro Rating: 3.5

This is pretty great! Any time there are spells that let a creature deal damage equal to its power to another creature, they tend to be pretty darn good. Keep in mind that this isn’t a “fight,” your opponent’s creature does not do damage to yours. RG for this effect would already be a pretty solid card, but adding a +1/+1 counter to the mix, along with the ability to talk planesawlkers, and we are definitely in the realm of premium removal. Sure, it is somewhat situational in that you have to have a creature, and you have to be careful when you cast it so you don’t get blown out – and the fact that it is a Sorcery does make it a little harder to find an ideal opening, but it is still pretty good.

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Dovin's Veto

AI Rating: 1.8
Pro Rating: 0.5

This is definitely a card that was printed with constructed in mind. Negate is usually pretty nice in constructed, it is not nearly as nice in Limited. Your typical Limited deck will only have about 5 cards that this can counter, and that’s not nearly enough for you to ever want to play this in your main 40 cards.

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Dreadhorde Butcher

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 3.5

So, at worst, this is a 2 mana 1/1 that does 1 damage to something when it dies. So, a worse Footlight Fiend is what it will be on some board states, and while that’s nothing special. But obviously, this has far more upside than that. The haste it comes with means getting in for 1 with it won’t be super difficult, at which point you have a 2-drop that can now Shock something when it dies, and if you get there, you’re in pretty awesome shape. Clearing the way for him with removal spells and combat tricks isn’t anything crazy in this color pair either. Then it has huge upside with proliferate too. So this is a card that has a pretty attainable and powerful ceiling, where just a 2/2 is great and if you can go bigger it is even better.

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Elite Guardmage

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

This gives you a reasonable Flying body while also drawing you a card and gaining you life. This makes it easy for it to get you a glorious 2-for-1, while also giving you a reasonable threat.

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Enter the God-Eternals

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 4.5

This is really, really strong. Like most cards with Amass, we can kind of look at it as a creature with an ETB ability. In this case, you are playing a 5-mana 4/4 that kills something and gains you 4 life, while also milling 4 cards. That’s an insanely good play in Limited, as adding to your board while also subtracting from your opponents can really turn a game around.

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Feather, the Redeemed

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 3.5

She has a difficult mana cost like this whole cycle of legends does, but she does some cool stuff. A 3-mana ¾ with flying is great for Limited, and the rest of her text might require a little building around – but I don’t think it will be that much, since there seem to be several RW cards in this set that incentivize playing combat tricks, so it isn’t like you are playing them just to abuse with Feather, there will be other ways to take advantage too. I think she is worth first picking, but probably only in some weaker packs. I’m taking premium removal over her.

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Gleaming Overseer

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 3.0

So, here’s a card to pay you off for amassing a massive Army on your side of the battlefield. One of the big weaknesses of this Army tokens has to be that they can be removed or bounced relatively easily, at which point dumping a bunch of resources into making one huge creature can feel pretty bad. The other problem they have is they aren’t evasive at all, just big dumb huge creatures. Well, Gleaming Overseer takes care of that, turning your Army into a very difficult to kill creature with Menace! And it helps add to the fun too, either giving you a 1/1 token or making your Army bigger. If we just look at this in a vacuum – as a 3-mana ¼ that makes a 1/1 with hexproof and menace, I’m already in on this being a pretty good card.

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Heartwarming Redemption

AI Rating: 0.7
Pro Rating: 1.0

Sometimes an effect like this can be a nice way to reload your hand, but it is also super awkward. Any time I look at a card and see that it is completely useless if you’re in top deck mode, it makes me really uninterested in playing it, especially because even in an ideal situation where you’re flooding and you use this to get out of that flood, it still isn’t going to feel like it is doing something that impressive.

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Huatli's Raptor

AI Rating: 2.3
Pro Rating: 3.0

A two mana 2/3 with Vigilance is nice, especially one that proliferates for you. That said, this isn’t the kind of gold card that is going to really actively pull you into a color pair, it is the kind you happily run if you’re already looking at GW +1/+1 counters as a deck.

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Leyline Prowler

AI Rating: 3.8
Pro Rating: 4.0

A 3-mana 2/3 with Lifelink and Deathtouch is something I'd already be in on. Those are two great keyword abilities -- being able to trade with anything and gain you life is a good deal, and obviously it stonewalls smaller creatures. Then, they made it so that this not only ramps but also fixes your mana! This is a really great uncommon.

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Mayhem Devil

AI Rating: 2.6
Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.5

This is very much a buildaround, but the good news is that it has reasonable stats even if you can't quite build around it. When you do manage to have ways to sacrifice stuff in your deck, it is an incredible payoff, as doing 1 to anything can really make effects far more powerful! Worth noting too, that if your opponent sacrifices something, you get to take advantage of the trigger then, too -- so edict effects go up in value a little bit if you have Mayhem Devil.

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Merfolk Skydiver

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 3.5

This can be a two-mana 2/2 flyer, or you can put the counter somewhere else if that’s more impactful – but either way, that’s a good deal, much like Pollenbright Druid. What pushes this past the Druid is that it can Proliferate repeatedly, which even in a worst case scenario will mean you are Proliferating the +1/+1 counter of this thing over and over, and in most scenarios you will have +1/+1 counters or Loyalty counters elsewhere too. It is a great late game manasink.

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Neoform

AI Rating: 0.8
Pro Rating: 0.0

This “Birthing Pod” effect is hard to make work in Limited, just because your deck can’t really be constructed around it effectively. It is just difficult to make it actually worth trading one card for another in most scenarios, and in this case – you actually have to 2-for-1 yourself by using Neoform, so I think it is worse. I don’t think adding the counter to the creature makes it much better.

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Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 5.0

This has a difficult mana cost, but if you can cast it you probably win. His static ability won’t always be coming up, but when it does it is great. But just being a 5 mana planeswalker – difficult mana cost or not – with this powerful of loyalty abilities is amazing. He can kill creatures or walkers right away, while also giving you a 2-for-1 every time you use the +1 ability. Then the ultimate might just end the game on the spot. To play this, you obviously need to be pretty heavy black and get lots of fixing – and there will undoubtedly be a time where you pick this up and you just can’t make it work mana-wise. With that said, this is strong enough that you should try your hardest to make it work.

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Niv-Mizzet Reborn

AI Rating: 4.2
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a super cool card, and seems like a pretty wacky commander for EDH, but in Limited? It looks pretty difficult to produce 5 different colors of mana in a single deck in this set. On top of that, you then have to make sure you have enough gold cards that he can draw you some, which yeah – he looks at top 10 so you don’t need that many – but you want a few at least. I just don’t think the mana cost is doable often enough for this to be very good.

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Oath of Kaya

AI Rating: 4.2
Pro Rating: 3.5

An enchantment that costs 3 that does 3 to anything and gains you 3 is already a very good card, but this has planeswalker synergy too! Every other time we’ve seen an Oath in a Limited format, the Planeswalkers were all at rare, so the planeswalker part of the card never really came up. But in this set? Well, it is safe to say that you’ll be able to trigger the planeswalker clause on this card at least 1-2 times a draft, giving you some nice additional value.

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Pledge of Unity

AI Rating: 3
Pro Rating: 3.5

So, this is a nice signpost uncommon for GW, where you want to be both going wide and making +1/+1 counters, and obviously this helps on both fronts! This, plus Proliferate is pretty crazy!

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Ral, Storm Conduit

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 3.0

I am a little underwhelmed here. Scry 1 to increase loyalty is fine, but not great. More than anything, Ral – as he often is – is a spell buildaround. His static effect doing damage to your opponent when you can instants and sorceries and his ability to make copies of instants and sorceries push you in that direction, and his -2 is probably where the most power is. Since 4 mana to copy two spells is great. But you know what? A lot of decks – even Blue-Red ones, won’t be able to take full advantage of him, and that makes me not want to take him early in a draft.

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Ral's Outburst

AI Rating: 3.4
Pro Rating: 3.5

4 mana to do 3 at Instant speed is already playable, but the fact that this not only draws you a card, but even gives you a bit of card selection makes this great. It will always be a 2-for-1, and if you can’t kill a creature with it, you can still hit your opponent and try to dig for something.

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Roalesk, Apex Hybrid

AI Rating: 4.9
Pro Rating: 4.5

For 5 mana you get a 4/5 with trample and flying, which would already be a pretty good card, even if the mana requirements aren’t the easiest thing ever. Add to that, though, the rest of the card and you have an outright bomb. Putting two counters on another creature means that you pay 5 for 6/7 worth of stats. Then, if your opponent does manage to take him down before he takes them down, he will add extra counters to your stuff – and since he put a couple counters on a creature when he came down, chances are good he is going to add at least 2 counters to one card. Having value immediately when he enters and when he dies means it is hard for your opponent to ever come out ahead with him. Even if they kill him before he ever attacks, you are getting some serious value out of this guy.

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Role Reversal

AI Rating: 3.2
Pro Rating: 2.5

We have seen a few other cards that had an effect like this over the years, such as Switcheroo which costs 2 more mana and only allows the exchange of creatures, and Shifting Loyalties which has the same textbox but cost twice as much mana. These cards have never been amazing, though they are somewhat polarizing – you may hear some say that these cards are great. And yeah, sometimes you can set up situations where these play pretty well, but there are also plenty of situations where the exchange isn’t in your favor or just isn’t worth it, limiting just how good of a card it can be. Still, knocking the mana cost all the way down to 3 this time does make this card significantly better.

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Rubblebelt Rioters

AI Rating: 1.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

This can often attack pretty hard right away, but it also becomes less relevant as the game goes long as a result of not really having any evasion.

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Solar Blaze

AI Rating: 3.1
Pro Rating: 3.0

This kind of card is always weird, because how good it depends very specifically on how P/T are distributed in a format. What percentage of creatures can this kill? Is there a way you can build around it by taking creatuers who don’t die to it? I mean, I think the answer to those, respectively, is “most creatures” and “yes, you can build around it.” But it is going to be inconsistent.

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Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord

AI Rating: 4.8
Pro Rating: 3.5

Sorin seems nice, but not great to me. The fact he gives lifelink to your stuff is obviously great, as that keyword ability often makes it impossible for your opponent to race you. It is also nice that he gives lifelink to himself, so his +2 effect actually drains the opponent too. His -X effect is the only way he really has to protect himself, so generally, he is asking for a little help to really excel, he won't dominate the game on his own.

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Soul Diviner

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 3.5

This set is absolutely loaded with +1/+1 counters and loyalty counters, as well as proliferate, meaning even more counters. Being able to turn counters into cards is a great deal -- +1/+1 counters are nice, sure – but not usually worth a whole card, same with Loyalty counters in most cases – so being able to turn them into that is very strong. On top of all that, the Diviner is a 2-mana 2/3, which obviously holds up pretty well on the vanilla test. I think your average UB deck in this format probably has 4-5 cards that put a counter somewhere, and even if this only draws you the one card, you’re going to feel pretty good.

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Storrev, Devkarin Lich

AI Rating: 4.4
Pro Rating: 4.0

Well, this guy kills it on the vanilla test and has a powerful ability. Even if you just attack with this once, your opponent trades a 4/4 for it or something, and you still get in for 1 -- the fact you also get a creature back thanks to that Trample is just great, and means you are getting a 2-for-1. There will be other board states where your opponent just can't stop it, and the game will snowball out of control for your opponent.

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Tamiyo, Collector of Tales

AI Rating: 4.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

This Tamiyo is not especially good for Limited. For one thing, actually drawing cards with her +1 is hard. So mostly in Limited, you’ll be +1ing and hoping to draw something while you load the graveyard, and then hoping you can take advantage of the graveyard with her -3 and some other cards. That’s…not great.

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Teferi, Time Raveler

AI Rating: 4.6
Pro Rating: 4.0

His static ability will probably hurt your opponent a little bit, and his +1 isn’t the most exciting, but I’m pretty interested in that -3. If this were 1WU for a sorcery that bounced an artifact, creature, or enchantment and drew you a card, it would probably be pretty good because that’s a great deal – it has flexibility and replaces itself, so you don’t only get tempo, you get a new card.

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Tenth District Legionnaire

AI Rating: 1.6
Pro Rating: 3.0

A two mana 2/2 with Haste does some work already, but the fact this also has Heroic -- more or less -- and such a good trigger for when you target it makes it very interesting. Combat tricks will be even more powerful than usual on this guy, since he gets extra big and does so permanently. Same with auras! And Scry on top of all of that is very nice.

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Time Wipe

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 4.5

So, frequently the problem with a Wrath is that you have to lose all of your creatures too. However, when you can keep your creature alive – like we’ve seen before with Duneblast – you are given something really powerful. This isn’t exactly Duneblast, because you do still have to return your creature, and frequently your opponent will get the first chance to repopulate the board, but the fact that you save your best creature who at worst can come down again next turn is pretty good.

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Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 4.5

5 mana for 6/6 worth of stats, plus you gain 3 life, plus your wolf can kill something with 3 or less toughness, and in an ideal scenario, kills something small enough that it survives. There are also some other wolves running around in this set, so getting some additional value out of that doesn’t seem impossible.

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Tyrant's Scorn

AI Rating: 3.5
Pro Rating: 3.0

This has nice flexibility – it can kill smaller creatures, and it can bounce the ones it can’t kill. That’s a pretty good deal, and allows it to have at least some impact on virtually every creature in the set.

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Widespread Brutality

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 3.5

Sometimes, this will let you pay 4 to put a 2/2 on the battlefield and kill all the small creatures on the board – and sometimes that will be plenty good. Other times, though, you’ll already have an Army in play, and you can do even more damage to the board. If you can get this up to 3 or 4, you’ll be in some serious business. Especially because if the creature was already in play that got amassed, you can bash in with it after all the other creatutres on the board die. Even on its own, 4 mana for a 2/2 that does 2 to the whole board is kind of attractive, though somewhat situational.

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Angrath, Captain of Chaos

AI Rating: 4.5
Pro Rating: 2.5

Menace to your whole team for 4 mana isn’t awesome, but I feel like you’ll feel alright if you can use the loyalty ability twice to get a 4/4 or two 2/2s out of the deal as well.

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Ashiok, Dream Render

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 4.0

This planeswalker can be a win condition for control decks, pretty much all on its own. If you get other ways to mill your opponents, it becomes even easier! Mill cards normally just aren’t great in Limited, but there is enough support in this set and Ashiok is powerful enough that it is a very really way to win games in this format.

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Dovin, Hand of Control

AI Rating: 3.7
Pro Rating: 2.0

The static ability here looks kind of nice, making your opponent pay more for stuff. Unfortunately, there are lots of games where that effect won’t make much of a difference, since most decks don’t run THAT many cards in those three categories – wish they had included planeswalkers too at least! His loyalty ability might be a nice way to slow down the game for control decks, and can help you find answers, but mostly he seems like he is a mediocre fog effect to me. Sometimes that’s something you want, but it isn’t anything special.

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Huatli, the Sun's Heart

AI Rating: 2.2
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a high toughness build around in a set that doesn’t really have anything else pushing you in that direction. Gaining life with the loyalty ability isn’t that great, and the static ability normally won’t be upgrading your board.

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Kaya, Bane of the Dead

AI Rating: 4.7
Pro Rating: 3.5

She doesn’t do anything fancy – and her static ability will often be irrelevant, but at worse you pay 6 mana to permanently kill any creature. That’s obviously not a great card in terms of how much mana you pay. BUT - a good chunk of the time Kaya will take down two creatures, an excellent deal for 6 mana. If you can add counters to her even once, she can do it 3 times potentially.

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Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 2.5

That is a lot of starting loyalty! Kiora seems to be all about playing big dudes. Her static ability pays you off for doing so, and her -1 ability can help you ramp. Worth noting, also, that her -1 may help you protect her because it can let you untap a creature to block. I think the additional value she can give you by untapping permanents, especially lands, makes her pretty solid in just about any deck, though nothing special.

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Nahiri, Storm of Stone

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 3.0

Her static ability is nice, since it can enable so many attacks that weren't possible otherwise -- first strike can be a real game changer. But her value comes from the fact that she's also a reasonable removal spell. For 4 mana, she can take down tapped creatures with up to SIX toughness. And sure, killing something that is tapped usually means it hit you first, and that's never great, but when it comes with the additional upside of perhaps being able to kill 2 or 3 creatures, and First Strike for your team, that’s not too bad.

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Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

AI Rating: 3.8
Pro Rating: 2.0 // 4.0

This is one of the better spell payoffs in the whole set! Saheeli is one of the few walkers in this set where most of the value actually comes from her static ability, and not her loyalty ability. Making a 1/1 Servo every time you play a noncreature spell is really good, as it suddenly makes all those spells add to the board in addition to doing whatever else they are doing. Obviously she is a build around, but she is a really powerful one.

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Samut, Tyrant Smasher

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 2.5

Samut really likes to make your creatures do as much damage as possible! And, between Haste and the stats boosts she can offer, she does deliver there. She isn’t going to give you crazy value like some of these planeswalkers, but she’s perfectly well-suited for aggro decks.

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Firemind Vessel

AI Rating: 2.5
Pro Rating: 2.0

This set is not overflowing with fixing for non-Green decks, and this can really help fill that role. That said, I think you only pick it up if you’re interested in fixing or ramping. Playing this on turn 4 and doing nothing else can spell disaster for you, but if you can get past that, the advantage of it will be pretty nice.

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God-Pharaoh's Statue

AI Rating: 2.2
Pro Rating: 0.0

You should pass on this one. I By the time you're at 6 mana, making your opponent pay 2 extra mana for spells will have a pretty negligible effect. And sure, I guess it can function as a win condition in a super controlling deck, but it is basically a super bad version of Ill-Gotten Inheritance.

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Guild Globe

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

This replaces itself and gives you some fixing. If you’re interested in splashing something this can help you do it.

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Iron Bully

AI Rating: 1.5
Pro Rating: 2.5

This card really overperforms thanks to all the Proliferate in the set. Even if it just puts its counter on itself, it doesn’t tend to only be a 2/2 with Menace for very long!

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Mana Geode

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 1.5

If you need fixing you could do worse than playing this.

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Prismite

AI Rating: 1
Pro Rating: 1.0

This is a creature with bad stats that also doesn’t filter mana very well. If your deck is desperately in need of a two drop AND some mana fixing, it can do those things, but again – it doesn’t do either of them well.

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Saheeli's Silverwing

AI Rating: 1.1
Pro Rating: 1.5

There isn’t enough of an artifact sub-theme in the set that you want to play sub-par cards just because they are artifacts, and that’s what this is. 4 mana for a 2/3 flyer is not a good rate, and the ETB ability it has is not the most relevant. It gives you some minor information, and that’s not enough to overcome these bad stats.

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Emergence Zone

AI Rating: 0.9
Pro Rating: 0.0

Don’t play this. It damages your mana base and it doesn’t have an ability that makes that worthwhile.

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Gateway Plaza

AI Rating: 2.5
Pro Rating: 2.0

This is pretty good fixing, even if it does make you basically pay a mana for it.

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Interplanar Beacon

AI Rating: 2.4
Pro Rating: 1.0

Filter lands are always only worth playing if you’re utterly desperate to splash something. And this one only lets you do it for planeswalkers! If you are splashing a planeswalker or two you might play it, but you mostly shouldn’t.

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Karn's Bastion

AI Rating: 4.2
Pro Rating: 4.0

This is a powerful land. Proliferate is great in this set, and most decks will be able to take advantage of it, so, having a land that can produce mana for you early and then in the late game can start making your creatures bigger and giving your planeswalkers loyalty is really really good.

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Mobilized District

AI Rating: 3.6
Pro Rating: 3.5

Creature lands are nice. They can catch an opponent offguard, dodge all sorcery speed removal, and – you know, go from just being a land, which is always useful for mana – to being part of your actual board. It is a good place to put mana when you’re flooding out too. Sure, the cost of 4 is a lot to turn in into a 3/3 with Vigilance, but even if this always costed 4, I think it would probably still be fine. The one thing to keep an eye on is your mana situation, because this set looks to have some considerable mana requirements, and this obviously makes your mana worse, and that does hold it back a little bit. Still, I think this is a nice land that you’ll play in just about every deck, except maybe the most mana-starved.

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Despark

AI Rating: 2.5
Pro Rating: 3.0

When it can kill things, it does it really efficiently. It can’t always though, and it being as situational as it is can be a bummer.

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Invade the City

AI Rating: 1.5
Pro Rating: 0.0 // 2.5

Obviously enough, this is a buildaround. Like spell payoffs in most formats, your’e not always going to get enough spells together to make playing this work out for you. Basically, you’re not going to feel like this is worth it unless you can get 3+ instants and sorceries in your graveyard, and doing that by turn 3 isn’t going to happen much in Limited, even in decks with lots of instants and sorceries. Sure, it scales as the game goes on, and sometimes will make a huge Army, but hey – an Army is still just a huge vanilla creature – though I’m sure we’re going to see some cards that can enhance your army before spoiler season is over. Either way, this is definitely a build around, and not one that I’m SUPER excited about

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Living Twister

AI Rating: 4
Pro Rating: 4.0

I’m always a sucker for Seismic Assault type effects – cashing in lands late to do damage to stuff can be pretty nice in Limited. People used to combine Seismic Assault and Trade Routes to do what this does on its own – bounce lands back to your hand and then chuck them at your opponent or their creatures. Sure, it was cheaper to do with trade winds, but being a one-man wrecking crew is pretty insane here. In the early game it might be hard to cast, but if you do get it down, it has nice defensive stats that pair well with the late-game plan of turning all your lands into Shocks, which is often just enough to win the game.

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Vraska, Swarm's Eminence

AI Rating: 4.3
Pro Rating: 3.5

So, obviously, a 4-mana 1/1 with deathtouch isn’t incredible in any way – but hey, it does serve to protect her quite well, since it can kill anything that tries to get to her, so on board states lacking evasive creatures, she’ll probably get a chance to make that second deathtoucher too. Her static ability might actually come up sometimes, and it gives Vraska a way to be really annoying on offense too, since you will be faced with the decision of letting the creature hit you and get bigger, or just trade one of your creatures for it. I think that many boardstates involving Vraska will result in her getting you a 2-for-1 because of the pesky deathtouch creatures she makes.

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Blast Zone

AI Rating: 3.9
Pro Rating: 3.5

This is slow, and your opponent can kind of see it coming, but I’m not sure that matters. Having a land that can go right along producing you much-needed mana in the early game, that in the late game can be used to take a targeted strike against cards with a specific mana cost seems pretty good to me. I think that this is such a good land that even running it as an 18th land so that your mana isn’t compromised at all probably isn’t a bad idea, since obviously unlike your other 17 lands, this one turns into a removal spell in the late game. I don’t see why anyone would ever not run this.

Card Pro Rating AI Rating APA Picked ALSA Seen
ss-rare||Legendary Planeswalker — Karn
0.0 4.3 2.63 8 2.58 34
ss-rare||Legendary Planeswalker — Ugin
4.5 5 1.00 24 1.00 24
ss-uncommon||Creature — Spirit Monk
3.0 4.2 3.05 44 3.10 113
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Cat Soldier
3.5 2.1 8.09 11 5.01 165
ss-common|White|Instant
1.0 1.3 9.93 56 8.00 635
ss-uncommon|White|Sorcery
1.5 1.7 9.11 19 6.66 224
ss-common|White|Creature — Giant Soldier
1.5 0.5 11.81 93 10.01 832
ss-common|White|Creature — Cat
1.0 // 2.5 0.7 11.43 46 8.84 736
ss-common|White|Instant
1.0 1.1 10.57 75 9.70 790
ss-common|White|Instant
3.0 2.4 7.33 85 6.45 490
ss-common|White|Creature — Griffin
2.5 1.4 9.71 58 7.68 664
ss-mythic|White|Sorcery
4.0 4.8 1.40 10 1.43 14
ss-mythic|White|Legendary Planeswalker — Gideon
4.0 5 1.00 7 1.00 8
ss-common|White|Instant
0.0 0.4 12.13 60 10.22 854
ss-uncommon|White|Instant
3.0 2.7 6.66 38 5.62 203
ss-mythic|White|Legendary Creature — Zombie God
5.0 4.7 1.67 9 1.64 11
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Spirit
3.0 3.4 4.89 28 3.78 108
ss-rare|White|Instant
1.5 2 8.20 10 5.75 77
ss-common|White|Creature — Beast
1.0 0.1 12.77 75 10.32 897
ss-common|White|Creature — Human Soldier
4.0 2.6 6.81 108 6.29 521
ss-common|White|Creature — Elephant Soldier
2.0 0.5 11.84 56 9.75 815
ss-common|White|Creature — Human Soldier
2.5 1.5 9.57 58 8.19 668
ss-common|White|Creature — Human Soldier
3.0 1.7 9.05 74 7.95 659
ss-rare|White|Legendary Artifact — Vehicle
2.0 4.4 2.50 8 2.58 28
ss-common|White|Creature — Cat
3.0 1 10.64 67 9.10 770
ss-uncommon|White|Enchantment
4.0 4 3.37 41 2.90 90
ss-uncommon|White|Instant
1.0 // 2.5 1.8 8.80 20 7.13 236
ss-rare|White|Sorcery
1.5 2.9 6.09 11 4.54 69
ss-common|White|Creature — Human
1.5 2 8.30 81 7.69 600
ss-rare|White|Sorcery
3.5 3.4 4.86 7 3.77 61
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Angel
2.5 3.4 4.77 39 3.85 149
ss-uncommon|White|Legendary Planeswalker — Teyo
2.0 2.3 7.55 22 5.73 194
ss-common|White|Creature — Illusion
2.5 1.6 9.30 89 8.75 758
ss-rare|White|Legendary Creature — Human Advisor
2.5 3.5 4.75 16 3.69 60
ss-common|White|Instant
1.5 0.3 12.48 63 10.06 835
ss-common|White|Creature — Pegasus
3.5 2.7 6.61 92 6.26 517
ss-uncommon|White|Legendary Planeswalker
3.5 4 3.50 32 2.96 113
ss-common|White|Sorcery
3.5 2.5 7.05 88 6.01 514
ss-common|White|Creature — Bird
1.5 1.9 8.47 74 7.82 647
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Nightmare
1.5 1 10.79 71 8.78 830
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Merfolk Wizard
1.5 // 3.0 2.4 7.34 29 5.16 183
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Zombie Bird Warrior
3.5 3.7 4.26 100 3.62 313
ss-uncommon|Blue|Sorcery
0.0 // 2.5 2.3 7.61 33 5.81 212
ss-common|Blue|Sorcery
3.5 3.1 5.50 101 4.79 366
ss-rare|Blue|Instant
3.5 4.5 2.18 17 2.33 21
ss-common|Blue|Sorcery
2.0 2.6 6.88 96 6.68 560
ss-common|Blue|Instant
1.5 1.4 9.69 64 7.94 704
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
1.5 1.7 9.05 75 7.67 646
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Zombie Wizard
4.0 4.3 2.73 37 2.97 83
ss-rare|Blue|Legendary Creature — Homunculus
3.0 3.9 3.64 14 3.05 47
ss-mythic|Blue|Sorcery
3.0 4.6 2.00 9 2.07 14
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
1.5 // 3.5 3.6 4.44 27 3.59 125
ss-mythic|Blue|Legendary Creature — Zombie God
4.0 4.7 1.83 6 1.71 7
ss-rare|Blue|Legendary Planeswalker — Jace
3.0 4.3 3.00 1 6.00 2
ss-uncommon|Blue|Sorcery
2.0 3.3 5.24 29 4.48 121
ss-uncommon|Blue|Legendary Planeswalker — Kasmina
4.0 4.5 2.26 42 2.26 75
ss-common|Blue|Enchantment — Aura
2.5 2.1 7.93 61 7.00 569
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Leviathan
2.0 2.2 7.83 76 6.83 578
ss-uncommon|Blue|Instant
1.5 3 5.87 23 4.77 154
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Zombie Naga
1.0 0.3 12.37 65 9.95 878
ss-uncommon|Blue|Legendary Planeswalker — Narset
2.0 3.8 3.84 37 3.34 122
ss-rare|Blue|Instant
1.0 3.9 3.56 9 4.33 69
ss-common|Blue|Instant
3.0 1.8 8.69 80 7.31 602
ss-common|Blue|Sorcery
1.5 1.6 9.30 69 7.96 678
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Sphinx
3.5 3.6 4.33 24 3.20 110
ss-rare|Blue|Artifact — Vehicle
1.5 2.4 7.42 12 4.51 60
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Bird
1.5 2 8.23 57 6.93 587
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Illusion
4.0 4.7 1.75 12 1.87 23
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Weird
2.0 2.1 8.15 81 7.19 655
ss-common|Blue|Sorcery
1.0 1.3 10.07 54 8.45 687
ss-common|Blue|Sorcery
3.0 3.3 5.03 97 5.36 424
ss-common|Blue|Instant
1.0 1.4 9.70 53 8.09 656
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Elemental Drake
2.5 3.3 5.04 93 4.96 348
ss-common|Blue|Instant
1.5 0.9 10.86 72 9.41 852
ss-common|Blue|Creature — Wall
1.5 0.8 11.28 64 9.09 752
ss-common|Black|Sorcery
2.0 1.8 8.73 71 7.57 663
ss-common|Black|Creature — Nightmare Hound
1.0 0.8 11.23 57 8.74 734
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
4.0 4.3 2.80 41 2.62 107
ss-rare|Black|Legendary Artifact
2.0 3.7 4.27 11 3.75 32
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
2.0 1.6 9.33 24 6.51 207
ss-common|Black|Creature — Human Knight
1.5 0.8 11.27 55 8.91 750
ss-rare|Black|Sorcery
3.5 4.3 2.82 11 3.03 38
ss-uncommon|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Davriel
2.5 4 3.53 30 3.00 102
ss-common|Black|Sorcery
1.0 0.8 11.18 60 9.31 798
ss-rare|Black|Sorcery
2.0 3.7 4.15 13 3.79 61
ss-rare|Black|Enchantment
4.0 4.9 1.17 12 1.29 16
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Zombie Cat
2.0 2.9 6.00 32 4.38 146
ss-common|Black|Creature — Human Rogue
1.5 0.9 10.85 52 9.08 721
ss-rare|Black|Sorcery
1.5 3.8 4.00 10 3.65 51
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Zombie
3.0 3.7 4.23 39 3.94 120
ss-mythic|Black|Sorcery
4.5 4.7 1.63 8 1.64 11
ss-mythic|Black|Legendary Creature — Zombie God
4.5 4.9 1.29 7 1.25 8
ss-common|Black|Creature — Zombie Warrior
2.0 2.8 6.35 94 5.77 460
ss-common|Black|Enchantment — Aura
1.0 1 10.62 58 8.46 684
ss-common|Black|Creature — Zombie Hippo
1.0 0.9 11.04 67 9.01 801
ss-common|Black|Creature — Zombie Beast
3.0 3.2 5.27 118 5.09 442
ss-mythic|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Liliana
5.0 5 1.00 6 1.00 7
ss-uncommon|Black|Instant
2.5 2.7 6.70 20 5.26 145
ss-rare|Black|Legendary Creature — Human Assassin
5.0 4.8 1.50 20 1.48 27
ss-uncommon|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Nixilis
2.5 4.1 3.07 29 3.07 88
ss-common|Black|Instant
4.0 3.9 3.73 85 3.68 240
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
0.5 0.5 11.82 17 7.42 279
ss-common|Black|Creature — Zombie Bird Warrior
1.5 1.3 10.08 64 8.37 698
ss-common|Black|Instant
2.5 1.7 8.98 80 7.65 612
ss-common|Black|Sorcery
3.5 3.5 4.53 104 4.26 346
ss-common|Black|Creature — Zombie
2.5 2.3 7.62 71 6.46 555
ss-common|Black|Creature — Giant Warrior
3.0 2.1 8.15 82 7.33 623
ss-common|Black|Sorcery
3.5 2.7 6.49 93 6.01 505
ss-common|Black|Instant
2.0 0.8 11.16 56 9.11 789
ss-common|Black|Creature — Vampire
1.5 1.1 10.57 58 8.46 679
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Zombie Wizard
3.0 3.3 5.05 21 3.32 100
ss-common|Black|Creature — Gorgon Assassin
3.0 2.1 8.01 67 7.09 612
ss-common|Red|Creature — Zombie Minotaur Warrior
3.0 1.8 8.74 101 8.04 675
ss-common|Red|Instant
1.5 0.5 11.90 60 9.54 811
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
0.0 1.9 8.64 42 6.91 263
ss-uncommon|Red|Sorcery
1.5 1.7 8.96 23 6.62 238
ss-common|Red|Creature — Human Wizard
2.0 2.6 6.76 93 6.39 504
ss-common|Red|Creature — Cyclops Warrior
1.5 0.9 10.84 76 9.23 766
ss-rare|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Chandra
4.0 4.9 1.23 13 1.21 16
ss-common|Red|Instant
3.5 2.6 6.83 92 6.53 553
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
4.0 3.9 3.72 29 2.90 98
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Cyclops Wizard
1.0 // 3.5 3.1 5.51 45 4.84 157
ss-common|Red|Sorcery
0.0 0 13.13 67 10.96 960
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Hellion
2.0 2.6 6.78 41 5.93 191
ss-rare|Red|Creature — Zombie Wizard
1.0 4 3.47 15 3.76 42
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Zombie Jackal Warrior
3.5 3.2 5.34 32 4.02 148
ss-mythic|Red|Sorcery
0.0 // 3.0 4.7 1.75 4 1.75 13
ss-common|Red|Creature — Goblin Warrior
1.0 0.5 12.03 68 10.12 840
ss-common|Red|Creature — Goblin Warrior
1.5 1 10.65 52 8.54 704
ss-common|Red|Creature — Zombie Warrior
3.0 2.1 7.95 88 7.81 665
ss-common|Red|Instant
1.5 1.9 8.61 97 7.85 677
ss-common|Red|Sorcery
2.0 2 8.33 83 7.44 659
ss-mythic|Red|Legendary Creature — Boar God
4.5 4.9 1.22 9 1.22 9
ss-common|Red|Creature — Zombie Manticore
2.5 1.9 8.43 88 7.58 654
ss-uncommon|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Jaya
4.0 4.1 3.24 37 2.82 92
ss-common|Red|Instant
4.0 3.9 3.62 133 3.66 334
ss-rare|Red|Legendary Creature — Goblin
4.0 4.7 1.82 11 2.64 15
ss-rare|Red|Artifact — Vehicle
1.0 // 3.0 3.9 3.57 7 3.32 39
ss-common|Red|Instant
0.0 0.3 12.30 66 10.12 846
ss-rare|Red|Legendary Creature — Zombie Minotaur Warrior
4.0 4.8 1.56 18 1.63 26
ss-common|Red|Creature — Beast
1.5 2 8.40 115 7.72 616
ss-common|Red|Instant
1.5 0.8 11.30 64 9.55 803
ss-rare|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Sarkhan
4.5 4.9 1.26 19 1.25 20
ss-common|Red|Instant
1.0 1.1 10.57 67 9.26 798
ss-common|Red|Creature — Weird
1.0 // 3.5 3.3 5.06 99 4.71 379
ss-uncommon|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Tibalt
3.5 4 3.43 35 3.10 101
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Devil
3.0 3.3 5.06 34 4.38 145
ss-common|Red|Creature — Ogre Warrior
2.5 2.2 7.84 98 7.29 643
ss-common|Green|Creature — Beast
1.0 0.7 11.41 37 8.62 678
ss-uncommon|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Arlinn
3.5 4.2 2.97 33 2.66 80
ss-common|Green|Creature — Wolf
2.0 1.7 8.90 48 7.30 624
ss-rare|Green|Instant
3.5 4.5 2.23 13 2.50 23
ss-common|Green|Instant
3.0 2.9 6.01 91 5.30 442
ss-common|Green|Creature — Plant Elemental
3.5 3.2 5.36 73 4.71 363
ss-uncommon|Green|Sorcery
1.0 1.9 8.46 28 5.84 208
ss-common|Green|Creature — Centaur Druid
3.0 2.4 7.29 59 6.20 496
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Troll
4.0 3.8 3.84 31 3.15 105
ss-common|Green|Sorcery
2.0 1.9 8.61 88 7.87 648
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
1.5 // 4.0 4 3.37 27 2.75 85
ss-mythic|Green|Sorcery
1.5 4.4 2.43 7 2.41 18
ss-common|Green|Instant
0.5 0.1 12.91 56 10.40 888
ss-common|Green|Instant
2.0 1 10.64 56 8.51 720
ss-mythic|Green|Legendary Creature — Zombie God
4.5 4.8 1.38 8 1.38 8
ss-uncommon|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Yanggu
3.0 3.9 3.71 14 2.67 81
ss-common|Green|Creature — Insect Assassin
1.5 1.7 8.94 47 7.53 625
ss-common|Green|Creature — Human Warrior
2.5 2.3 7.54 65 6.43 583
ss-uncommon|Green|Legendary Creature — Hound
1.5 // 3.5 3.9 3.68 28 3.16 115
ss-common|Green|Enchantment — Aura
2.5 2.1 8.12 69 6.73 568
ss-rare|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Nissa
4.5 5 1.07 14 1.33 18
ss-uncommon|Green|Sorcery
1.5 0.6 11.63 16 7.81 267
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
4.0 4 3.43 35 2.88 94
ss-rare|Green|Sorcery
3.5 4.3 2.73 15 2.66 33
ss-common|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
3.5 3.2 5.49 80 5.19 384
ss-common|Green|Creature — Wurm
1.5 1.1 10.52 63 8.48 737
ss-common|Green|Instant
1.5 0.3 12.49 57 9.72 850
ss-common|Green|Creature — Spider
1.5 2.1 8.10 73 7.75 652
ss-common|Green|Instant
1.0 0.2 12.64 67 10.56 935
ss-uncommon|Green|Sorcery
1.0 0.9 10.91 23 7.64 290
ss-common|Green|Creature — Rhino
2.0 1.8 8.70 66 7.61 632
ss-rare|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Vivien
3.0 4.6 2.00 7 2.25 12
ss-rare|Green|Legendary Artifact
2.5 3.9 3.64 11 2.95 47
ss-common|Green|Creature — Bear Spirit
2.0 1.7 9.02 57 7.72 670
ss-common|Green|Creature — Crocodile
2.0 1.5 9.53 38 7.62 644
ss-rare|White|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Ajani
3.5 4.8 1.40 15 2.04 23
ss-uncommon|Black|Red|Sorcery
2.5 2.3 7.50 22 5.16 165
ss-rare|Blue|Green|Creature — Hydra Mutant
4.0 4.8 1.38 8 2.35 34
ss-rare|Black|Green|Sorcery
4.0 4.6 1.93 15 2.35 33
ss-uncommon|White|Black|Creature — Vampire
3.0 1.9 8.47 17 6.23 191
ss-uncommon|Black|Green|Instant
4.0 3.5 4.60 30 4.05 120
ss-rare|Red|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Domri
3.0 4.4 2.57 7 2.41 17
ss-uncommon|Red|Green|Sorcery
3.5 3.3 5.18 40 5.03 160
ss-uncommon|White|Blue|Instant
0.5 1.8 8.76 38 7.56 272
ss-rare|Black|Red|Creature — Zombie Warrior
3.5 4.3 2.80 15 2.55 35
ss-uncommon|White|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
3.5 3.2 5.27 37 4.38 158
ss-rare|Blue|Black|Sorcery
4.5 4.6 2.09 11 1.93 16
ss-rare|White|Red|Legendary Creature — Angel
3.5 4.6 2.07 15 3.09 36
ss-uncommon|Blue|Black|Creature — Zombie Wizard
3.0 4 3.48 31 3.24 112
ss-uncommon|White|Red|Instant
1.0 0.7 11.42 36 8.80 347
ss-uncommon|White|Green|Creature — Dinosaur
3.0 2.3 7.57 30 4.86 187
ss-uncommon|Black|Green|Creature — Nightmare Beast
4.0 3.8 4.03 30 3.66 140
ss-uncommon|Black|Red|Creature — Devil
1.5 // 3.5 2.6 6.76 38 5.80 187
ss-uncommon|Blue|Green|Creature — Merfolk Mutant
3.5 3.6 4.31 32 4.29 145
ss-uncommon|Blue|Green|Sorcery
0.0 0.8 11.21 19 7.63 253
ss-mythic|Blue|Black|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Bolas
5.0 4.9 1.33 3 1.17 6
ss-mythic|White|Blue|Black|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Dragon Avatar
1.0 4.2 3.00 3 2.67 13
ss-rare|White|Black|Legendary Enchantment
3.5 4.2 2.87 15 3.06 39
ss-uncommon|White|Green|Instant
3.5 3 5.96 26 5.12 164
ss-rare|Blue|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Ral
3.0 4.6 2.07 15 3.18 24
ss-uncommon|Blue|Red|Instant
3.5 3.4 4.94 36 4.26 126
ss-mythic|Blue|Green|Legendary Creature — Human Mutant
4.5 4.9 1.13 8 2.47 16
ss-rare|Blue|Red|Sorcery
2.5 3.2 5.41 17 4.87 60
ss-uncommon|Red|Green|Creature — Human Berserker
3.0 1.9 8.55 29 6.42 246
ss-rare|White|Red|Sorcery
3.0 3.1 5.54 13 4.70 44
ss-rare|White|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Sorin
3.5 4.8 1.53 15 1.55 23
ss-rare|Blue|Black|Creature — Zombie Wizard
3.5 3.9 3.69 16 3.51 40
ss-rare|Black|Green|Legendary Creature — Zombie Elf Wizard
4.0 4.4 2.44 16 2.23 33
ss-rare|Blue|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Tamiyo
1.5 4.4 2.43 14 2.28 25
ss-rare|White|Blue|Legendary Planeswalker — Teferi
4.0 4.6 2.00 14 2.44 28
ss-uncommon|White|Red|Creature — Human Soldier
3.0 1.6 9.35 26 6.37 227
ss-rare|White|Blue|Sorcery
4.5 4.3 2.76 17 2.82 38
ss-rare|White|Green|Legendary Creature — Elf Scout
4.5 4.7 1.74 19 1.76 32
ss-uncommon|Blue|Black|Instant
3.0 3.5 4.71 21 4.12 142
ss-rare|Black|Red|Sorcery
3.5 3.7 4.16 19 3.71 44
ss-uncommon|Black|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Angrath
2.5 4.5 2.22 37 2.49 61
ss-uncommon|Blue|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Ashiok
4.0 4 3.45 20 2.75 78
ss-uncommon|White|Blue|Legendary Planeswalker — Dovin
2.0 3.7 4.27 37 3.90 131
ss-uncommon|White|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Huatli
1.0 2.2 7.84 19 5.16 160
ss-uncommon|White|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Kaya
3.5 4.7 1.69 36 2.31 73
ss-uncommon|Blue|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Kiora
2.5 3.6 4.31 26 3.53 120
ss-uncommon|White|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Nahiri
3.0 3.9 3.56 41 3.19 111
ss-uncommon|Blue|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Saheeli
2.0 // 4.0 3.8 3.88 24 3.56 77
ss-uncommon|Red|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Samut
2.5 3.6 4.38 16 3.93 128
ss-uncommon||Artifact
2.0 2.5 6.97 31 5.12 186
ss-uncommon||Legendary Artifact
0.0 2.2 7.88 26 5.51 189
ss-common||Artifact
1.5 2.4 7.22 85 6.74 565
ss-common||Artifact Creature — Golem
2.5 1.5 9.42 71 7.83 676
ss-common||Artifact
1.5 2.4 7.42 77 5.99 464
ss-common||Artifact Creature — Golem
1.0 1 10.79 52 9.04 775
ss-common||Artifact Creature — Drake
1.5 1.1 10.50 70 8.89 764
ss-uncommon||Land
0.0 0.9 10.92 24 8.85 311
ss-common||Land — Gate
2.0 2.5 7.07 86 6.11 563
ss-uncommon||Land
1.0 2.4 7.42 31 5.99 241
ss-rare||Land
4.0 4.2 2.85 20 2.68 34
ss-rare||Land
3.5 3.6 4.35 17 3.28 39
ss-uncommon|White|Black|Instant
3.0 2.5 7.18 28 5.09 178
ss-uncommon|Blue|Red|Sorcery
0.0 // 2.5 1.5 9.40 30 6.46 221
ss-rare|Red|Green|Creature — Elemental
4.0 4 3.50 8 3.67 49
ss-uncommon|Black|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Vraska
3.5 4.3 2.77 35 2.68 76
ss-rare||Land
3.5 3.9 3.60 10 3.49 37
Pro - Ratings by Nizzahon Magic AI - A.I. ratings APA - AvgPickedAt ALSA - AvgLastSeenAt
Color Rating Breakdown
Cards over 3 rating

Enter The Battlefield Prepared

With the MTGA Assistant deck tracker MTGA Assistant
Izzet 307 matches 37 decks
12.94%
of Metagame
Dimir 272 matches 32 decks
11.19%
of Metagame
Rakdos 253 matches 30 decks
10.49%
of Metagame
Gruul 212 matches 25 decks
8.74%
of Metagame
Selesnya 173 matches 20 decks
6.99%
of Metagame
Azorius 158 matches 19 decks
6.64%
of Metagame
Esper 151 matches 17 decks
5.94%
of Metagame
Golgari 136 matches 16 decks
5.59%
of Metagame
Simic 118 matches 14 decks
4.90%
of Metagame
Boros 100 matches 12 decks
4.20%
of Metagame
Orzhov 95 matches 11 decks
3.85%
of Metagame
Sultai 57 matches 7 decks
2.45%
of Metagame
Grixis 58 matches 7 decks
2.45%
of Metagame
Abzan 51 matches 6 decks
2.10%
of Metagame
Jund 49 matches 6 decks
2.10%
of Metagame
Naya 44 matches 5 decks
1.75%
of Metagame
Mardu 42 matches 5 decks
1.75%
of Metagame
Temur 43 matches 5 decks
1.75%
of Metagame
Four Color 24 matches 3 decks
1.05%
of Metagame
Jeskai 26 matches 3 decks
1.05%
of Metagame
Bant 25 matches 3 decks
1.05%
of Metagame
Four Color 9 matches 1 decks
0.35%
of Metagame
Four Color 7 matches 1 decks
0.35%
of Metagame
Mono White 8 matches 1 decks
0.35%
of Metagame