Average Picked At: 5.47 Total Times Picked: 49 Average Last Seen At: 4.53 Total Times Seen 224
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: As I’ve said, there are lots of soldiers in this set, with UW being the color pair that is the most interested in them. This is a nice lord that will buff much of your board when you’re in the color pair.
Average Picked At: 1.05 Total Times Picked: 19 Average Last Seen At: 1.09 Total Times Seen 22
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This has a neat design. It is a super clunky mana rock that can’t be used to cast non artifact spells, but because it comes down and does something right away, it is easier to look past that problem! Now, neither option is efficient exactly – 5 mana to give something -5/-5 at Sorcery speed, or to draw 2 cards is just not a rate you’re normally into, but this does give you some additional relevant value simply by being an Artifact and being an Artifact payoff
Average Picked At: 2.92 Total Times Picked: 12 Average Last Seen At: 2.50 Total Times Seen 37
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This is a creature that can attack pretty effectively on a lot of boards, and you can get it back from the graveyard as a 4/2, which is pretty nice – especially because powerstones will help you out some there. Like I said, not being able to block can be a problem, but if this is a 4/2, you can just throw it at your opponent on many turns and they usually can’t just ignore it.
Average Picked At: 2.81 Total Times Picked: 26 Average Last Seen At: 2.89 Total Times Seen 47
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: A two mana 2/2 with Haste is probably a 2.0 taking away blocking probably knocks it down to a 2.0 – but this thing has some nice upside. When your opponent can’t do anything but trade with it, they will definitely be taking the 2 damage, otherwise you’re going to get 2-for-1’d. Once they can just block it without losing a creature, they will – but you’re going to get some pretty nice card selection and you will effectively draw a card. The real sweet thing is to find a way for it to take damage and survive – this can be accomplished if you use some tricks and stuff like that, and that’s when it will feel really great, though don’t count on always being able to do that. Basically, you can always attack with this and get something out of it, whether your opponent takes 2 or blocks it to kill it
Average Picked At: 11.07 Total Times Picked: 115 Average Last Seen At: 9.51 Total Times Seen 1263
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: This is a pretty interesting design! Three mana for +2/+2 isn’t a great rate for a trick, but you can cash it in for a card later, giving it some real 2-for-1 potential in a format that has a fair bit of Artifact synergy too.
Average Picked At: 1.73 Total Times Picked: 26 Average Last Seen At: 1.63 Total Times Seen 32
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: This is going to be great in this format, mostly because you’ll usually be able to destroy an artifact when you play it, setting up the all-important 2-for-1! A three mana 2/1 with Vigilance isn’t very exciting, but it is a body that matters a little bit at least! The card draw effect can end up being quite nice too, especially because you can use it in a way where you get to use the new card first, helping to mitigate against the downside of your opponent drawing.
Average Picked At: 12.90 Total Times Picked: 31 Average Last Seen At: 8.72 Total Times Seen 509
Pro Rating: 1.0 Pro Comment: Even in a set with a sacrifice theme going on, this doesn’t feel very good. 4 mana is a ton for something that won’t do much for at least a turn, and while the format does have a sacrifice deck, it just feels like you’re spending too much mana for minimal upside
Average Picked At: 1.75 Total Times Picked: 16 Average Last Seen At: 1.71 Total Times Seen 26
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: It starts with solid stats, and it ramps your mana! It is a little unfortunate your opponent gets a powerstone too, and they will be able to use their much sooner than you can use yours, since they get to untap it on their turn. However, I think the spider’s ability really makes up for that, since it will be able to draw you cards pretty consistently, and your Powerstones can help pay for it
Average Picked At: 10.00 Total Times Picked: 29 Average Last Seen At: 6.87 Total Times Seen 368
Pro Rating: 1.0 Pro Comment: 5 mana to reanimate something is usually a pretty disappointing card in most Limited formats, and this can’t even get back creatures if they aren’t Artifacts. While it is nice it can get both Enchantments and Artifacts, leaving creatures out is a pretty big problem, as it makes the card even more limited. If you have a lot of artifact creatures, it definitely gets better – and it can be kind of fun to use it reanimate a creature with Prototype, since they will come into play in their biggest form – and milling something like Su-Chi and reanimating with this on turn five seems pretty cool, but unfortunately I think those things will be far too challenging.
Average Picked At: 7.98 Total Times Picked: 52 Average Last Seen At: 6.72 Total Times Seen 351
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: It is a bit of a bummer that this guy doesn’t count himself, so the floor on the card is a pretty ugly 5-mana 3/2. However, the ceiling can be pretty silly, as he can really enable you to ramp into artifact stuff or sink mana into activated abilities. Generally speaking, there are lots of ways to make use of power stones in the set!
Average Picked At: 7.48 Total Times Picked: 119 Average Last Seen At: 6.55 Total Times Seen 797
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: This is a solid card that will slot nicely into the spell decks and the artifact decks – especially the ramp-oriented artifact deck. Three mana to draw two and discard one on its own on an instant is usually kind of alright, and I do think the Powerstone upside here is enough for this to be a one-of in most Blue decks in the format. Any noncreature spell that draws you cards will be welcome in Blue-Red too.
Average Picked At: 9.59 Total Times Picked: 123 Average Last Seen At: 8.32 Total Times Seen 1077
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: A three mana 3/1 is far from ideal, but this does leave behind a 1/1 when it dies, meaning it is good sacrifice fodder
Average Picked At: 5.08 Total Times Picked: 62 Average Last Seen At: 3.98 Total Times Seen 222
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This can buff itself, so it attacks as a 4/5 when a prototype, and as an 8/6 when you cast it the regular way – and it comes with the upside of offering that pump to other creatures, which is pretty great
Average Picked At: 4.18 Total Times Picked: 56 Average Last Seen At: 4.16 Total Times Seen 214
Pro Rating: 1.5 Pro Comment: This is kind of cool, as it gives you an artifact that can draw you two cards – which yeah, that’s a 2-for-1. Problem is, when you Unearth it and sacrifice it you have to pay three mana upfront, which reduces the number of things you can actually play with the card, but at least you can play lands off of it! Sometimes you’ll also be able to treat it as sacrifice fodder, which seems fine
Average Picked At: 1.25 Total Times Picked: 4 Average Last Seen At: 1.75 Total Times Seen 8
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: Mishra has some solid stats, but the card’s real power all comes from its attack trigger. Draining your opponent 1 life for every one of your attacking creatures is really strong, and you can play Mishra and take advantage of that right away, provided you can attack with some stuff. Gaining life while doing additional damage is a great way to turn a game around! You shouldn’t really count on Melding this, as the other card you need is a rare, but it will happen on rare occasions!
Average Picked At: 6.11 Total Times Picked: 18 Average Last Seen At: 4.26 Total Times Seen 85
Pro Rating: 3.5 Pro Comment: This is a very cool and flavorful design, and I think actually a pretty good card! You get to pay 4 mana to draw three at instant speed, and that is some serious business. And yeah, there’s a mini-game aspect to it, where you try and get your opponent to give you the better pile, and that will be tricky sometimes – but the fact is, you walk away with three cards and you also get to load your graveyard, which definitely matters
Average Picked At: 1.83 Total Times Picked: 6 Average Last Seen At: 1.67 Total Times Seen 15
Pro Rating: 4.0 Pro Comment: This is a strictly better Glorious Anthem, which is pretty sweet. These days, Anthem isn’t nearly as good as it once was, as we often expect a creature for a similar cost that also buffs the whole board! That said, buffing your whole board is pretty darn good, so the fact this can also be a removal spell later in the game is pretty amazing.
Average Picked At: 9.77 Total Times Picked: 126 Average Last Seen At: 8.48 Total Times Seen 1064
Pro Rating: 2.5 Pro Comment: The rate here isn’t amazing, but it is one card that adds two artifacts to the board, and ramps you. Seems solid to me
Average Picked At: 10.52 Total Times Picked: 98 Average Last Seen At: 8.99 Total Times Seen 1120
Pro Rating: 2.0 Pro Comment: If this always had death touch and life link, it would be a 3.5. That’s just a very real creature that can’t be ignored! Unfortunately, it doesn’t always have those keywords – though getting them online will be easy enough in the Blue-Black deck.
Average Picked At: 1.11 Total Times Picked: 18 Average Last Seen At: 1.13 Total Times Seen 23
Pro Rating: 4.5 Pro Comment: This is great either way you cast it! Both give you fairly efficient bodies for the cost, and both can put counters on themselves. There are a few other Assembly-Workers in the set too, of course, but most of the time you’ll just be putting the counter on the Assembler. This can get out of hand in a hurry, especially because thanks to VIgilance, it can attack, block and use its ability every turn cycle