Average Picked At: 9.79 Total Times Picked: 315 Average Last Seen At: 8.57 Total Times Seen 2828
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: So, the Equip cost here is obviously really steep, and +2/+0 for a single Red mana would not be an awesome combat trick, but in this case we’re talking about a combat trick that has the stats boost stick around in one form or another. Even if your creature dies, you have something on the battlefield, even if it does cost a lot to Equip, and if you can help a creature win and survive combat and keep this equipped to it, it’s going ot feel pretty good. In a lot of ways, it is still a glorified combat trick, but I’ve underestimated auras and equipment with Flash in the past, dismissing them as combat tricks, so I thinkt his will defy expectations. Still, it probably isn’t much more than a solid playable.
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: GW is the color pair most interested in gaining life in this format, and this is a very nice Common payoff for that kind of deck. And, it can be pretty solid in other decks too, as it isn’t like GW is the only deck where you’ll be able to gain life. This can get big fast, and has a reasonable starting point as a 3-mana 3/2. It seems like a pretty good Common.
Average Picked At: 6.01 Total Times Picked: 322 Average Last Seen At: 5.84 Total Times Seen 1809
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: This is a fine two drop. It is a bear as a baseline, and it can get bigger if it has enough friends. That’s good enough upside for this to be a nice two-drop for Green decks.
Average Picked At: 3.06 Total Times Picked: 31 Average Last Seen At: 3.03 Total Times Seen 108
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: This costs a fair bit of life, but drawing cards is always really nice in Limited, as signifcantly outcarding your opponent usually leads to victory. The fact it draws you a card right away is nice, and then – if you have the life, time, and mana – you can use it to draw more cards later. This might be the most well-positioned in the GW deck, which has the most life gain in the format, but I think it will be pretty good in any deck
Average Picked At: 6.45 Total Times Picked: 130 Average Last Seen At: 5.28 Total Times Seen 662
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: This whole cycle of color hosers is nice, because they are all perfectly playable cards even if you don’t play against the color they hate on, and when you do play against them, the cards in this cycle will get a massive upgrade, and that’s certainly the case here. The fact this doesn’t tap the creature itself is pretty rough, as you have to wait until your opponent has a tapped creature for it to really do something. The fact it has Flash does make it easier for you to find that window, but if this card didn’t have the Red-hating upside, it would probably just be a 2.5. And, against decks with Red targets for this, it will feel premium
Average Picked At: 10.18 Total Times Picked: 226 Average Last Seen At: 8.71 Total Times Seen 2854
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: I think you’re getting pretty solid value here, between getting some ramp and venturing into a dungeon. Venture won’t always feel like drawing a card, but later on in the dungeons it will give you that kind of value, and even the early rooms in the dungeons seem decent enough.
Average Picked At: 2.49 Total Times Picked: 51 Average Last Seen At: 2.36 Total Times Seen 119
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This isn’t quite as impressive as the rest of this cycle, but it is still a creature land, and those are great! A 3/3 with Menace isn’t exactly going to command the board all game long, but just having the ability to make one of your lands into one of those is great utility, and the exile effect might actually matter sometimes
Average Picked At: 2.19 Total Times Picked: 148 Average Last Seen At: 2.24 Total Times Seen 289
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: This will be able to kill most stuff really efficiently, and will basically feel like doom blade – but mostly better. Doom Blade can’t hit a whole color of creatures, Power Word Kill can’t hit a few creature types. At Common and Uncommon, this set has 1 Angel, 0 demons, 0 devils, and 7 Dragons. And none of those Dragons are Common! There are a few more of these things at Rare and Mythic, but you get the picture – this kills almost everything incredibly efficiently. I’m sure there will be frustrating times where you can’t kill your opponent’s bomb, , but most of the time it will do the job very efficiently. This is premium removal, and one of the best non-rares in the format.
Average Picked At: 9.17 Total Times Picked: 109 Average Last Seen At: 7.04 Total Times Seen 925
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This was a predictable reprint, given the theme of this set. Last time we saw it, it was a Rare, and it was a pretty decent card. Having a card that just lets you sink mana into it to loot is itself a nice thing to have around, and the fact that you can actually eventually get the stuff back that you put on the Bag is nice upside, though it won’t come up that often. It still doesn’t have a real board presence, so it isn’t nearly as good as a creature who can loot for you
Average Picked At: 3.27 Total Times Picked: 418 Average Last Seen At: 3.50 Total Times Seen 896
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: Two mana for 3 damage is always premium removal, and this has some pretty relevant dragon upside that can make it an even better removal spell
Average Picked At: 3.98 Total Times Picked: 141 Average Last Seen At: 3.77 Total Times Seen 453
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: Even without the upside against Blue decks, Hunter’s Mark would be a very good removal spell for Green. Instant speed punch is great, especially when it comes with the additional upside of sometimes only costing a single mana! This is premium removal.
Average Picked At: 8.35 Total Times Picked: 31 Average Last Seen At: 5.39 Total Times Seen 275
Pro Rating: 3.0 Pro Comment: Getting Faithless looting for a Blue and a Red is a nice place to start here, as it will really help you find cards you want. Once you take this to level 2, things start to get more interesting, as you’re given a whole bunch of mana, and you can even use that mana to level it up to level three! Sadly, level three won’t be very impressive in Limited, as casting more than like two Instants and Sorceries consistently is a pipe dream, even in the most spell-heavy decks. Mostly, this is about Level 1 and 2 in Limited, and that seems like a fine card for most Blue-Red decks in this format. It might take a little bit of building around, but UR always has lots of spells, so I don’t see that being a big hurdle, especially because Level 1 is kind of alright all on its own
Average Picked At: 9.46 Total Times Picked: 231 Average Last Seen At: 7.78 Total Times Seen 2380
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: A creature with just the Bardic Inspiration ability is usually a solid playable, but it does come with the downside of not doing anything with a +2/+2 boost doesn’t matter -- like if you have to play defense, or don’t have another creature. Adding the “Song of Rest” option means that in those situations, you could an ability that is far more useful, and that’s pretty nice. It probably still isn’t more than a solid playable, though.
Average Picked At: 5.53 Total Times Picked: 94 Average Last Seen At: 4.84 Total Times Seen 511
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This is a very powerful life gain payoff for the GW deck. If you’ve ever played with Ajani’s Pridemate, you know what I’m talking about! And this trigger is even better than that one! Adding Scry can help you find more ways to gain life too, to keep the party going. This is going to be a high pick, even as a multi-colored card
Average Picked At: 2.05 Total Times Picked: 73 Average Last Seen At: 2.12 Total Times Seen 92
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: Well, this is really good. At worst, you pay 4 to kill your opponent’s big creature, and if your opponent has a bunch of small guys in play, you can pay more to pick them all off. This isn’t quite a bomb, but it is certainly premium removal, and will reshape many games.
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This is like Juggernaut, a card that is still pretty solid in Limited. It is a bit of a bummer that didn’t give it the “can’t be blocked by walls” thing, since there are a few of them in this set, but either way this is a nice little creature. It is sure to die in combat because it has to block and attack constantly, but it has high enough power that it will kill most stuff at least.
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: Even if you always paid 7 for this, it would be kind of alright, and it will frequently just be 5 mana. Adding Ward to a card like this really matters too, because the big downside with this kind of creature is that your opponent might be able to kill it for very little mana. Now, there’s still a pretty good chance they can kill it for less than 7, but killing it for less than 5 won’t be a common occurrence! This seems like a nice finisher for Green decks
Average Picked At: 8.76 Total Times Picked: 291 Average Last Seen At: 7.47 Total Times Seen 2380
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This has kind decent defensive stats, but the real value comes from its ability to Venture into the Dungeon, which it can do without any mana investment at all. Sure, you have to have your creature die, but that’s a common enough occurrence that this will be able to Venture for you a decent amount of the time. Playing it in the second main phase after a creature has ALREADY died will feel particularly good, because you’ll be getting that value at your End Step most of the time. This seems like a solid Common
Average Picked At: 10.14 Total Times Picked: 229 Average Last Seen At: 8.51 Total Times Seen 2723
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: We’ve seen a lot of creatures like this in the past, and they’re not usually anything amazing, though their ability to grow throughout the game is nice, and they do eventually become a problem for your opponent. Because it counts the death of any creature, you will find that this gains that counter a decent chunk of the time.
Average Picked At: 5.70 Total Times Picked: 115 Average Last Seen At: 4.64 Total Times Seen 568
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: This seems quite good for an Uncommon. It has sort of passable stats, especially because it does a whole lot more than just sit around as a 3-mana 3/2! The ETB trigger will be quite nice, as Venturing will give you some very significant value. It isn’t quite Professor of Symbology, but I think the comparison helps illustrate why this card will be good. The fact it can bounce itself back to your hand won’t always come up, but in the late game, it can help you venture through a dungeon all on its own, and that will often be a pretty big deal.