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Premier Draft VOW 17 December 2021

17 December 10:29 - Silver_Sackbut 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (18)
2 Fearful Villager // Fearsome Werewolf image
1 Traveling Minister image
1 Apprentice Sharpshooter image
2 Voldaren Epicure image
1 Lambholt Raconteur // Lambholt Ravager image
1 Odric, Blood-Cursed image
1 Drogskol Infantry // Drogskol Armaments image
1 Resistance Squad image
2 Angelic Quartermaster image
1 Creepy Puppeteer image
1 Pyre Spawn image
1 Ill-Tempered Loner // Howlpack Avenger image
1 Falkenrath Celebrants image
1 Runebound Wolf image
1 Heron of Hope image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (6)
1 Lantern Flare image
1 Circle of Confinement image
1 Abrade image
1 Arm the Cathars image
2 Sure Strike image
Land (17)
9 Mountain image
8 Plains image
Sideboard
1 Lambholt Raconteur image
2 Heron-Blessed Geist image
1 Blood Hypnotist image
1 Fearful Villager image
1 Parish-Blade Trainee image
1 Apprentice Sharpshooter image
1 Blood Petal Celebrant image
1 Wanderlight Spirit image
1 Unholy Officiant image
1 Blood Servitor image
1 Piercing Light image
1 Sure Strike image
1 Honeymoon Hearse image
1 Bride's Gown image
1 Edgar's Awakening image
1 Hallowed Haunting image
1 Dread Fugue image
1 End the Festivities image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Angelic Quartermaster
Grolnok, the Omnivore image 4.5 This card is really cool, and also seems amazing! All on its own, a single attack can give you a ton of value. It does need to stay alive for you to get value out of the cards, but the good news is that there are other ways to mill yourself in UG, and turning every permanent you mill into a card effectively in your hand is just absurd. It might take a little bit of work to really get it going, but this is an insane value engine, and that makes it a bomb.
Angelic Quartermaster image 4.0 This 5 mana to add 5/5 to the board, and at least 3/3 of that has an evasive key word ability. The Quartermaster will pretty regularly find a way to create attacks that just weren’t there before, and she gives you value even if she dies right away. It does need the two creatures to already be in play to get the full value but making that happen before you cast it shouldn’t be too challenging. Also, +1/+1 counters are a big theme in this set, especially in GW.
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Supernatural Rescue image 1.0 This has a neat design, and is obviously really geared toward the UW deck, which is about Auras and Spirits. This having Flash will be particularly attractive, as you can use it to prevent one round of attacks and blocks when you do, and you can also get the stats boost at Instant speed, which isn’t too shabby. When it doesn’t have Flash, it is pretty clunky, though tapping down a couple of things can often make some more attacks possible. Still, the mana cost is pretty high here, and you won’t have much reason to run Auras like this when you can just run creatures with Disturb who are far more useful up front. Even with the Spirit upside, I don’t see myself playing this very often.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Skywarp Skaab image 2.5 If this always drew you a card, I’d be pretty pumped about this! It probably only ends up drawing you a card around half the time though, which is substantially worse, as a 5-mana 2/5 Flyer isn’t anything special.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Spore Crawler image 3.0 I like this. It doesn’t do anything fancy, but it has 2-for-1 written all over it, and I always like Commons that can produce those easily.
Pack 1 Pick 2: Lambholt Raconteur
Sawblade Slinger image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 is a 1.0 or 1.5- these days, and the Slinger has a couple of narrow abilities that will sometimes give you a 2-for-1. The Fight part is the most exciting, but he won’t always have a Zombie to fight. The same is true for Artifacts. There’s a few nice ones around, but not really enough that this will always have a thing to hit. That said, I don’t think this is a sideboard card. It has a reasonable baseline already and will be able to do a thing often enough with the ETB trigger that you’ll definitely play the first of these in most Green decks.
Lambholt Raconteur image 3.0 This is a pretty nice payoff for the spell deck, especially when it transforms! You’ll always play this in UR, and it will probably make the cut in pretty much any deck with 5 or so spells.
Into the Night image 1.0 This doesn’t look very good to me. Sure, your werewolves get more impressive, but we saw in the last format that doing that isn’t that great, and 4 mana for that effect definitely is not worth it. I know it is accompanied by a rummage effect, but having enough cards in your hand to make that really worth it doesn’t seem very likely to me. It does replace itself effectively, but a 4 mana sorcery is still pretty ugly.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Vampire's Kiss image 1.0 I don’t like cards like this. Sure, it alters the race a little bit and gives you those blood tokens, which the BR deck is certainly interested in, but it just won’t feel like this is giving you a full card of value very often. It doesn’t impact the board meaningfully, and I can’t see myself wanting to jam something like it into my deck.
Gryff Rider image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common. Because it has Flying, it will often be able to attack with other creatures that are bigger than it, so it can grow throughout the game, and even just getting one counter on it will feel pretty good. This seems like the kind of Common that will be the bread and butter of aggressive decks in this format.
Wolf Strike image 3.5 This is quite good. Even if it isn’t night time, this will be good in your Green decks, as the creature doesn’t fight, it just does damage equal to its power, so its one-sided! If it is night-time, it gets wayyy better, as it can make your creature take down a wider variety of creatures, and even offer you the opportunity to attack more effectively with the creature after it kills something else. You do have to be careful with this kind of card since you can get blown out if you don’t pick your spot carefully, but because its an Instant, you can pick your spot pretty effectively. Its definitely premium removal.
Lacerate Flesh image 1.5 This is some pretty mediocre removal. 5 for 4 damage just isn’t much, and you’ll often be trading drown with it. Getting some Blood doesn’t really save it from mediocrity. It is still removal and brings some Blood and Spell synergy, so it’s something you’ll play sometimes.
Militia Rallier image 2.5 This has efficient stats, even if it can’t attack alone. The good news is it can block alone, and it does a good job of that! And as long as he has some friends, he can rumble too, while untapping a creature, so it has pseudo-vigilance. On top of that, its a nice size for training other creatures.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Pack 1 Pick 3: Heron-Blessed Geist
Lunar Rejection image 2.5 We’ve seen this card before without the werewolf hate side of things, and it was pretty solid. Bouncing a thing doesn’t usually give you a 1-or-1 trade, but because you draw a card, that’s what this amounts to, and you’re usually coming out ahead on tempo. Obviously, the Werewolf hosing upside will feel insane.
Wandering Mind image 3.5 This will almost always be drawing you a card -- six cards is a ton, and as long as you have like 5 noncreature nonlands in your deck, your chances are decent. And, normally, you’ll have many more than that! So this is a 2-for-1 with a relevant flying body, and I love that.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Courier Bat image 3.0 This is a very nice Common. Early, its a Wind Drake, which is passable -- and then from the mid-game on, you’re going to be able to get a creature back reasonably often. Obviously, you’re going to want some life gain stuff going on, and that’s really a thing in BW, but there’s enough life gain around that I think this will be pretty much an auto-include in most Black decks, especially because it has such a good floor.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Arm the Cathars
Boarded Window image 2.5 This kind of effect always plays much better than you’d think. Decreasing the power of attacking creatures really results in a big downgrade for your opponent, and does have a pretty real impact on the board. It is a bit of a bummer -- albeit a flavrful bummer -- that it goes away if your opponent does 4 or more damage to you -- but it will be surprisingly hard for your opponent to find a way to do that, since their creatures will be significantly less potent attackers, something that is even more of a problem if you have blockers. Now you don’t really want this if you’re in the beat down, but if you’re in a more grindy control deck, this is going to be something that does a nice job for you.
Arm the Cathars image 3.0 +6/+6 worth of stats spread across three creatures and Vigilance is going to be enough to enable attacks on a whole lot of boards, between the stats and the fact that you can still have the creatures hang back to block, which really matters in a race. Sure, you need a board state for this to do its thing, and you have to be a little cautious about when you use it, but it seems like this can bust a game wide open early, and break through a stalled board late, and that seems like a pretty nice overall.
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Hookhand Mariner image 3.0 This is a nice Common werewolf, something they could have used in the last set! A 4-mana 4/4 is pretty close to a C, and when this transforms it is hard to block.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Repository Skaab image 3.0 A Hill Giant that sometimes rebuys you an Instant or Sorcery is decent. Obviously, you don’t really want to give up a real creature for the effect all the time, otherwise it is a roundabout way of rummaging, but recurring removal spells is especially potent, and giving up a creature for that is often going to be worth it, especially if you sacrifice a card that brings you some value when it dies.
Aim for the Head image 1.5 It seems like we get a new take on Mind Rot every set, and this one is a bit interesting. 3 mana to get rid of two of your opponent’s cards is of course a 2-for-1 – but not impacting the board can be a pretty real cost, and an effect like this definitely has diminishing returns as the game goes on. It is a big deal that this exiles the cards though, because of the graveyard stuff in the format, and the alternate mode where it is a Zombie removal spell is nice too. That’s not to say this card is GOOD or anything, but it IS good as far as Mind Rots go.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Pack 1 Pick 5: Blood Hypnotist
Old Rutstein image 4.0 This has a neat design, and its also pretty good! When it ETBs you will be going of these three things, and whatever it is you get, you’re getting a pretty nice deal. The Insect will probably feel the best, but the other things are nice too! Then, every turn, he continues to give you value, while also loading your graveyard for other purposes. Left unchecked, the value that Old Rutstein gives you will be hard for your opponent overcome.
Edgar's Awakening image 3.0 We see 5 mana spells that reanimate a thing a lot, and in your typical format, they aren’t that great. In this format, I don’t see that being drastically different. The tricky thing is getting something into the yard that is worth spending the 5 mana on, and that just doesn’t happen all that often in a typical game of Limited. Now, the additional effect here definitely matters -- as if you discard this to Rummage with Blood, you get a creature back to your hand for a single Black, and that’s going to feel pretty good, so having the alternate reanimation mode is really just upside.
Blood Hypnotist image 3.0 This looks pretty good to me. Sure, it can’t Block, but the fact it can make opposing things unable to block when you sacrifice Treasure is pretty big for aggressive decks. This can really be part of a pretty devastating curve out. Obviously, you need Blood, but if you’re in Red, you’ll have access to enough that this will be worth playing.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Repository Skaab image 3.0 A Hill Giant that sometimes rebuys you an Instant or Sorcery is decent. Obviously, you don’t really want to give up a real creature for the effect all the time, otherwise it is a roundabout way of rummaging, but recurring removal spells is especially potent, and giving up a creature for that is often going to be worth it, especially if you sacrifice a card that brings you some value when it dies.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Lantern Bearer image 3.5 This looks like a pretty good Common. A one mana 1/1 Flyer isn’t something that is worth it in a lot of formats all on its own, but it is a pretty decent play on turn one, as it can chip in for some real damage. Unlike most one mana 1/1 flyers though, once this become outclassed, you can just chump block with it and then Disturb it to get a pretty nice Aura! +1/+1 and Flying can turn almost any creature into a very real threat, and sure, 3 mana for that isn’t amazing, but remember that you also got a one mana 1/1 Flyer earlier in the game, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
Pack 1 Pick 6: Bride's Gown
Bride's Gown image 1.5 Two to play and two to equip for +2/+0 is a sort of decent rate. It enables attacks you didn’t have before, although not raising toughness isn’t something I love, since it generally means your creature won’t have a better chance of surviving combat. We’ve seen Equipment with the same cost and boost before, and they are usually not that good. However, with Training a pretty big mechanic in White, I do think you end up playing this as your 23rd or 24th card a decent chunk of the time. And yeah, I know, it gets better if you pair it with Groom’s Finery, but they are both Uncommon so getting more than one copy of each isn’t ultra likely, and getting them both in play at the same time won’t happen a ton, though when it does it will be nice.
Catapult Fodder image 3.0 A 3-mana ⅕ is a pretty reasonable defensive creature, and defensive creatures are especially welcome in the BG color pair, which has all kinds of toughness payoffs -- including this card, which will transform once you have enough creatures with higher toughness than power, and once it does, it can start loading their bodies into catapults and launching them at your opponents face. The ⅕ helps you find time to get there, too. Outside of the BG deck this won’t be very good though.
Cruel Witness image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 Flyer always feels pretty good, and this lets you surveil every time you play a noncreature spell. That’s not the most exciting payoff ever, but it does improve your draws over time while also loading the graveyard, and the fact it starts out with such a good baseline is pretty nice.
Sheltering Boughs image 1.0 This Aura replaces itself, which definitely upgrades it, but the stats boost isn’t pretty. I think you’ll cut this more than you play it.
Ceremonial Knife image 1.5 This gives a very small boost, especially for an Equip cost of 2, and the fact you get Blood out of it isn’t really enough to make me excited about this.
Wanderlight Spirit image 2.5 This is a reasonably aggressive flyer. Not being able to block ground creatures isn’t a huge deal.
Grisly Ritual image 2.5 A 6 mana sorcery that kills something is certainly not premium. You almost always spend more mana, and having to tap all of your mana on your own turn is pretty brutal. Still, it is unconditional and gives you a couple of Blood tokens, so it isn’t bad. It just isn’t good either.
Sanctify image 0.5 This is good at destroying Artifacts and Enchantments, and I think there are enough of them that this might make your main deck sometimes. While there are lots of Auras, keep in mind, blowing up the disturbed side of a card isn’t really going to be a one-for-one and won’t feel that great, and I think that limits how good this is in your main deck. You mostly want this out of your sideboard.
Rot-Tide Gargantua image 2.5 Sometimes, the Edict effect here won’t actually do a whole lot, and when that’s the case, its just a 5-mana 5/4, which isn’t really worth it. The upside is definitely real, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see this being super impressive in most situations.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Fearful Villager
Howling Moon image 1.0 // 3.5 You pretty much need to be in a Werewolf deck for this to be worth it, because the other pat of the card won’t produce tokens often enough. It is especially bad to get this in the later part of the game when players are struggling to find spells to cast in the first place! But yeah, if you have enough Wolves and Werewolves, this card is fairly appealing, as +2/+2 to one of them every turn is sure to make your attacks a lot better, and getting that free wolf token from time to time will just be nice extra value. I do think this needs a build around though.
Alchemist's Retrieval image 2.0 We see this card a lot, and its always kind of alright. This one is nice because if you want to bounce your own thing you can pay less, and paying two to bounce a nonland permanent either player controls is kind of what we expect. Its never anything special, but the first copy often makes the cut in Blue decks.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Dreadlight Monstrosity image 1.5 This doesn’t seem very good. A 6-mana 5/5 is an ugly rate, even with Ward 2, and yeah – it can become unblockable, but only for a huge chunk of mana, and only if you have a card in exile. Now, by the time you can use the ability it is reasonably likely you have something in exile because of Disturb, but there will be times where that just isn’t the case, and without that ability, this card is really not good. You’ll play it if you’re desperate for a finisher I guess, but you’re hoping for something better.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Witch's Web image 1.5 We see this trick a lot, and its always passable in aggressive decks. It gives enough of a boost that the creature usually wins combat, and it can even be used to ambush an attacking flyer, though typically you’d rather use this aggressively than defensively.
Pack 1 Pick 8: Piercing Light
Magma Pummeler image 3.0 This is a pretty neat design. It will never really be an efficient creature due to how its costed, but even if you just put this on the table as a 4-mana 2/2, your opponent will find themself in a situation where attacking is very difficult because of the 2-for-1 potential. It just scales up from there, and in the late game will be a huge problem, since it can also damage players. Now, it can still just straight up die to lots of removal, but damage-based removal will pretty much be off the table, so that helps. I can really see situations where this will be incredible, but it would be silly not to also think about the time’s where it just doesn’t matter, because its not big enough, or your opponent has too much life.
Blood Fountain image 2.5 I always like to have one copy of the the Black card that gets you two creatures back from the graveyard, and that’s what we have here. For 5 mana you get those two creatures and a blood token, and that’s a pretty reasonable rate, especially because you’re paying it in two installments, and can pay the larger part at instant speed! You don’t normally want to overdo it with copies of this kind of card because they tend to not be great early, but this offsets that a bit since it does give you Blood before the other part of the card becomes useful. But yeah, getting two creatures back late can often give you what you need to win the game. I think the first copy of this is a 2.5, with diminishing returns after that.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Piercing Light image 2.5 This kills X/2s pretty efficiently, but its situational in two different ways, and I don’t love that. The creature has to be small and attacking or blocking. Scry is some minor additional value, but yeah, this falls well short of being premium removal. Its just a solid playable. I’m giving it 2.5.
Steelclad Spirit image 2.0 Two mana 3/3s with Defender are surprisingly not completely terrible. This is because they block pretty impressively early, and have enough size that your opponent is usually just going to have to trade. This has the nice upside of being an attacker sometimes.
Moldgraf Millipede image 2.0 This is a decent payoff for the UG deck in the format, which likes milling. It is hard to overlook how bad this will feel if you only end up with one or two creatures, but I think if its at least a 4/4 you feel okay about it, and sometimes it will be much bigger. It is still just a big vanilla creature, though.
Desperate Farmer image 2.5 This starts out with a pretty ugly stat-line – a Gray Ogre with life link just isn’t worth three mana, but it has the ability to turn into a 4/3 with Lifelink, which is obviously pretty good for three mana! And transforming it isn’t’ super hard, something just has to die, so you can just play this and offer a trade for example. You can also exploit something to transform it.
Pack 1 Pick 9: Sure Strike
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Skywarp Skaab image 2.5 If this always drew you a card, I’d be pretty pumped about this! It probably only ends up drawing you a card around half the time though, which is substantially worse, as a 5-mana 2/5 Flyer isn’t anything special.
Daybreak Combatants image 2.5 This adds a pretty significant amount of power to the board out of nowhere, thanks to Haste. The boost is going to be enough to enable some attacks you may just not have had before, and the fact it can get in there too seems pretty nice. In a pinch, you can also make this into a 4/2 the turn it comes down, a 4/2 with Haste for three isn’t too shabby.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Pack 1 Pick 10: Fearful Villager
Sawblade Slinger image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 is a 1.0 or 1.5- these days, and the Slinger has a couple of narrow abilities that will sometimes give you a 2-for-1. The Fight part is the most exciting, but he won’t always have a Zombie to fight. The same is true for Artifacts. There’s a few nice ones around, but not really enough that this will always have a thing to hit. That said, I don’t think this is a sideboard card. It has a reasonable baseline already and will be able to do a thing often enough with the ETB trigger that you’ll definitely play the first of these in most Green decks.
Into the Night image 1.0 This doesn’t look very good to me. Sure, your werewolves get more impressive, but we saw in the last format that doing that isn’t that great, and 4 mana for that effect definitely is not worth it. I know it is accompanied by a rummage effect, but having enough cards in your hand to make that really worth it doesn’t seem very likely to me. It does replace itself effectively, but a 4 mana sorcery is still pretty ugly.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Pack 1 Pick 11: Fearful Villager
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Courier Bat image 3.0 This is a very nice Common. Early, its a Wind Drake, which is passable -- and then from the mid-game on, you’re going to be able to get a creature back reasonably often. Obviously, you’re going to want some life gain stuff going on, and that’s really a thing in BW, but there’s enough life gain around that I think this will be pretty much an auto-include in most Black decks, especially because it has such a good floor.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Voldaren Epicure
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Pack 1 Pick 13: Edgar's Awakening
Edgar's Awakening image 3.0 We see 5 mana spells that reanimate a thing a lot, and in your typical format, they aren’t that great. In this format, I don’t see that being drastically different. The tricky thing is getting something into the yard that is worth spending the 5 mana on, and that just doesn’t happen all that often in a typical game of Limited. Now, the additional effect here definitely matters -- as if you discard this to Rummage with Blood, you get a creature back to your hand for a single Black, and that’s going to feel pretty good, so having the alternate reanimation mode is really just upside.
Mindleech Ghoul image 2.0 This is a bear with some pretty nice upside, as sometimes taking away a card from your opponent’s hand will be worth losing the creature. Its nice that the card is exiled too, because you know, graveyard stuff.
Pack 1 Pick 14: Wanderlight Spirit
Wanderlight Spirit image 2.5 This is a reasonably aggressive flyer. Not being able to block ground creatures isn’t a huge deal.
Pack 2 Pick 1: Angelic Quartermaster
Howling Moon image 1.0 // 3.5 You pretty much need to be in a Werewolf deck for this to be worth it, because the other pat of the card won’t produce tokens often enough. It is especially bad to get this in the later part of the game when players are struggling to find spells to cast in the first place! But yeah, if you have enough Wolves and Werewolves, this card is fairly appealing, as +2/+2 to one of them every turn is sure to make your attacks a lot better, and getting that free wolf token from time to time will just be nice extra value. I do think this needs a build around though.
Angelic Quartermaster image 4.0 This 5 mana to add 5/5 to the board, and at least 3/3 of that has an evasive key word ability. The Quartermaster will pretty regularly find a way to create attacks that just weren’t there before, and she gives you value even if she dies right away. It does need the two creatures to already be in play to get the full value but making that happen before you cast it shouldn’t be too challenging. Also, +1/+1 counters are a big theme in this set, especially in GW.
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
Markov Purifier image 3.0 This is a nice signpost Uncommon that tells you BW is all about life gain, and its nice that on his own, he can gain you life thanks to lifelink, which means he can draw you cards. You won’t always be able to spend the mana of course, but once you reach a point in the game where you have the spare mana, this is going to be pretty powerful.
Dawnhart Disciple image 2.5 This is a nice two drop, one that will often be a 3/3 when you’re just curving out.
Lacerate Flesh image 1.5 This is some pretty mediocre removal. 5 for 4 damage just isn’t much, and you’ll often be trading drown with it. Getting some Blood doesn’t really save it from mediocrity. It is still removal and brings some Blood and Spell synergy, so it’s something you’ll play sometimes.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Kessig Flamebreather image 2.0 Every time we’ve seen a noncreature spell payoff that pings the opponent, it has ended up being better than it looks. It will tend to do enough incidental damage throughout the game that it ends up being a pretty nice payoff.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Skywarp Skaab image 2.5 If this always drew you a card, I’d be pretty pumped about this! It probably only ends up drawing you a card around half the time though, which is substantially worse, as a 5-mana 2/5 Flyer isn’t anything special.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Heron of Hope image 2.5 This doesn’t have the best base stats, but it is a nice little life gain enhancer, and the fact it can gain life gain itself means it does stuff even if its your only life gain card -- and generally, it won’t be.
Stitched Assistant image 3.0 The exploit trigger lets you see two cards, and makes sure that the creature you sacrifice is instantly replaced. You won’t always want to sacrifice a thing, but the fact that you can is pretty nice, and there are enough decent sacrifice fodder type cards that this seems like a 3.
Lantern Bearer image 3.5 This looks like a pretty good Common. A one mana 1/1 Flyer isn’t something that is worth it in a lot of formats all on its own, but it is a pretty decent play on turn one, as it can chip in for some real damage. Unlike most one mana 1/1 flyers though, once this become outclassed, you can just chump block with it and then Disturb it to get a pretty nice Aura! +1/+1 and Flying can turn almost any creature into a very real threat, and sure, 3 mana for that isn’t amazing, but remember that you also got a one mana 1/1 Flyer earlier in the game, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Pack 2 Pick 2: Runebound Wolf
Catapult Fodder image 3.0 A 3-mana ⅕ is a pretty reasonable defensive creature, and defensive creatures are especially welcome in the BG color pair, which has all kinds of toughness payoffs -- including this card, which will transform once you have enough creatures with higher toughness than power, and once it does, it can start loading their bodies into catapults and launching them at your opponents face. The ⅕ helps you find time to get there, too. Outside of the BG deck this won’t be very good though.
Runebound Wolf image 3.0 This looks pretty nice as a bear with pretty relevant upside. Even on its own, its ability does 1 damage to your opponent, and while that isn’t remotely efficient, it is nice that it does a thing even if its all alone. As long as you are doing 2 or more with this, the damage will become a huge factor in the later part of the game. This looks to me like it has a very real upside and a pretty reasonable floor. You’ll almost always play this in Red decks, and in some of them it will be one of your best cards.
Thirst for Discovery image 3.0 3 mana to draw 3 at instant speed and discard a land is a pretty good deal, and in some decks in this format, discarding nonlands will also be beneficial. It doesn’t impact the board of course, and you don’t want to jam too many cards like that into your deck, but I think this looks pretty good overall, and would value the first copy fairly high.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Doomed Dissenter image 3.0 This is a reprint, and a nice one to have in a set with Exploit. This is a great thing to sacrifice, and even apart from that, it can be a really obnoxious creature that just makes all X/1s really sad, since it just trades and gives you a 2/2. You get 3/3 of stats out of this for only two mana in the end, and that’s pretty nice.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Ancestral Anger image 1.0 I like collect ‘em all cards, but just pumping power at Sorcery speed just isn’t that great, even with Trample. Now, I do think it has a little bit of value in the UR deck, since it is a spell that cantrips, but I’m still not very impressed.
Flame-Blessed Bolt image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana for 2 at Instant speed always is, as you can very easily trade up. The exile clause definitely matters because of the disturb mechanic too.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Militia Rallier image 2.5 This has efficient stats, even if it can’t attack alone. The good news is it can block alone, and it does a good job of that! And as long as he has some friends, he can rumble too, while untapping a creature, so it has pseudo-vigilance. On top of that, its a nice size for training other creatures.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Pack 2 Pick 3: Resistance Squad
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
Sigardian Paladin image 3.5 This is another great signpost Uncommon. It has a baseline of being a 4-mana 4/4, and brings all kinds of amazing additional value. The one bummer about the card is it doesn’t also bring a +1/+1 counter along with it, but there are so many of them in this format that it will really do some serious work.
Resistance Squad image 3.5 GW has the most humans, but every White deck in this format will have enough Humans for you to play this, and when you get to draw that card, you’re getting quite the 2-for-1, as this 3/2 can really effectively trade for stuff or attack.
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Fierce Retribution image 3.0 This is a nice Common. Two mana to kill an attacking creature is often a card that makes the cut. You don’t love it if you’re aggressive because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but it is efficient enough to be fine. Adding the Cleave upside means that in the late game it can deal with anything, and that’s nice.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Mulch image 1.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and one that stands a good chance at impacting constructed! In Limited, it is probably only worth it in a deck that is interesting in loading the graveyard, which mostly seems to be UG this time around. It does give you a good shot at hitting a land drop or two, which is fine. Still, I think most decks won’t play this apart from UG.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Pack 2 Pick 4: Lambholt Raconteur
Lambholt Raconteur image 3.0 This is a pretty nice payoff for the spell deck, especially when it transforms! You’ll always play this in UR, and it will probably make the cut in pretty much any deck with 5 or so spells.
Sawblade Slinger image 2.5 A 4-mana 4/3 is a 1.0 or 1.5- these days, and the Slinger has a couple of narrow abilities that will sometimes give you a 2-for-1. The Fight part is the most exciting, but he won’t always have a Zombie to fight. The same is true for Artifacts. There’s a few nice ones around, but not really enough that this will always have a thing to hit. That said, I don’t think this is a sideboard card. It has a reasonable baseline already and will be able to do a thing often enough with the ETB trigger that you’ll definitely play the first of these in most Green decks.
Gryff Rider image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common. Because it has Flying, it will often be able to attack with other creatures that are bigger than it, so it can grow throughout the game, and even just getting one counter on it will feel pretty good. This seems like the kind of Common that will be the bread and butter of aggressive decks in this format.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Hungry Ridgewolf image 2.5 This isn’t the most exciting payoff ever, but it has decent base stats and will sometimes be a 3/2 with Trample, which is especially nice.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Dawnhart Disciple image 2.5 This is a nice two drop, one that will often be a 3/3 when you’re just curving out.
Belligerent Guest image 2.5 This has alright stats and is going to make you blood sometimes, both are welcome.
Pack 2 Pick 5: Sure Strike
Arm the Cathars image 3.0 +6/+6 worth of stats spread across three creatures and Vigilance is going to be enough to enable attacks on a whole lot of boards, between the stats and the fact that you can still have the creatures hang back to block, which really matters in a race. Sure, you need a board state for this to do its thing, and you have to be a little cautious about when you use it, but it seems like this can bust a game wide open early, and break through a stalled board late, and that seems like a pretty nice overall.
Hookhand Mariner image 3.0 This is a nice Common werewolf, something they could have used in the last set! A 4-mana 4/4 is pretty close to a C, and when this transforms it is hard to block.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Hungry Ridgewolf image 2.5 This isn’t the most exciting payoff ever, but it has decent base stats and will sometimes be a 3/2 with Trample, which is especially nice.
Mulch image 1.0 // 2.5 This is a reprint, and one that stands a good chance at impacting constructed! In Limited, it is probably only worth it in a deck that is interesting in loading the graveyard, which mostly seems to be UG this time around. It does give you a good shot at hitting a land drop or two, which is fine. Still, I think most decks won’t play this apart from UG.
Rot-Tide Gargantua image 2.5 Sometimes, the Edict effect here won’t actually do a whole lot, and when that’s the case, its just a 5-mana 5/4, which isn’t really worth it. The upside is definitely real, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see this being super impressive in most situations.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Pack 2 Pick 6: Unholy Officiant
Lunar Rejection image 2.5 We’ve seen this card before without the werewolf hate side of things, and it was pretty solid. Bouncing a thing doesn’t usually give you a 1-or-1 trade, but because you draw a card, that’s what this amounts to, and you’re usually coming out ahead on tempo. Obviously, the Werewolf hosing upside will feel insane.
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Fearful Villager image 2.0 This has alright base stats and some decent upside, but its nothing special.
Massive Might image 2.0 It feels like the last few sets have had some pretty legit tricks, and this is definitely another one. One mana tricks tend to be pretty nice in aggressive decks, as you get some serious tempo when you use them to win combat, and this one definitely gives you enough of a boost to be worth running in those decks. Now, it IS still a track, and those always come with significant risks, but I think this is one you’ll play the first copy of reasonably often, provided you’re aggro.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Lightning Wolf image 1.5 This is pretty underwhelming. A 4-mana 4/3 isn’t a great place to start these days, and while its ability will make it harder to block, its also really frustrating its only Sorcery speed.
Nurturing Presence image 1.5 This gives you a 1/1 Flyer no matter what, and that helps mitigate the risk of playing it. It’s too bad the rest of the card isn’t very good. The stats boost is situational and unimpressive. The turn you play it will giving +1/+1 to the thing, but still – you’re not really doing a great job with that.
Fear of Death image 2.5 This kind of removal is nowhere close to being premium. Only reducing a creature’s power just doesn’t do enough. The thing can still block with its full toughness and use abilities, so you don’t even get rid of a whole card with it on some creatures. That, combined with the necessary set up, makes this a fairly unimpressive card. It does mill you, which is important, but it isn’t anything more than a decent playable.
Pack 2 Pick 7: Pyre Spawn
Groom's Finery image 1.5 If you don’t also have Bride’s Gown, the boost from this card isn’t really going to be worth it. Two to play and two to equip for +2/+0 is basically never a worthwhile Equipment when we see it. Sure, it can enable an attack that wasn’t there before, but the lack of a toughness boost really matters.
Sigardian Paladin image 3.5 This is another great signpost Uncommon. It has a baseline of being a 4-mana 4/4, and brings all kinds of amazing additional value. The one bummer about the card is it doesn’t also bring a +1/+1 counter along with it, but there are so many of them in this format that it will really do some serious work.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Ancestral Anger image 1.0 I like collect ‘em all cards, but just pumping power at Sorcery speed just isn’t that great, even with Trample. Now, I do think it has a little bit of value in the UR deck, since it is a spell that cantrips, but I’m still not very impressed.
Bloodcrazed Socialite image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 with Menace isn’t amazing -- it is probably a 2.0 at best -- however -- this brings a blood token along with it, and I think I’d already be playing that card a reasonable chunk of the time, but it also has the impressive upside of making itself into a 5/5 when it attacks, provided you have blood. Because the Socialite brings a Blood token with it, you’ll get to do it at least once, and if you have other blood lying around, this will be a beating.
Fear of Death image 2.5 This kind of removal is nowhere close to being premium. Only reducing a creature’s power just doesn’t do enough. The thing can still block with its full toughness and use abilities, so you don’t even get rid of a whole card with it on some creatures. That, combined with the necessary set up, makes this a fairly unimpressive card. It does mill you, which is important, but it isn’t anything more than a decent playable.
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Binding Geist image 2.0 So, the attack trigger here won’t usually make it so the Geist won’t die in combat, but it does let you force your opponent into situations where the best they can do is trade, and that’s not too bad… though it isn’t great either. 1 toughness is a just a big hurdle on a 3-mana creature. Having that ability in Aura form isn’t exactly exciting either when you disturb it.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Lantern Flare
Lantern Flare image 4.0 This looks pretty good, though I think you basically always want to at least be splashing Red to get the full value out of it. Two mana to do one for each creature you control and gain that much life is a card you’d play in most aggro decks anyway. It definitely takes some set up, but as long as you have two creatures, you’re getting an okay deal. Of course, it gets way more flexible if you can Cleave it, and being an X damage spell at instant speed that gains you life is pretty serious. Overall, this thing looks quite nice. Its effectively a split card with two pretty nice options.
Diregraf Scavenger image 2.5 This looks decent. Death touchers do tend to get a little less impressive the more mana you spend on them, because the fact they can trade with anything is less attractive when they are trading down, but the ETB ability here definitely does enough to make up for that. Draining your opponent 2 life with this will be fairly commonplace, and that means you get to hate on the opposing graveyard while also triggering your life gain stuff, and you are adding a pretty obnoxious creature to the board at the same time.
Toxic Scorpion image 3.0 This looks nice. A two mana 1/1 with Deathtouch is probably already a 2.0 or 2.5, since it can trade for anything and really represent a problem all game long. So, being able to give death touch to another creature on the ETB is nice, and gives it even more utility in the later game.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Ragged Recluse image 2.5 This format has enough ways to discard – Blood tokens in particular – that transforming this thing into a witch is very doable, and once you do you have a pretty nice creature., although it isn’t exactly a world breaker.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Heron of Hope
Bloodsworn Squire image 2.5 So, the front side of this would be a kind of playable card already, as being able to threaten indestructibility is a pretty big deal, and makes it hard for your opponent to interact with it. Mana AND a card is pretty real cost, though. Transforming this won’t be the easiest thing in the world, especially because a lot of the time, holding on to a creature in your hand will be worth way more than using this thing’s ability and trying to transform it. However, by the late game, it is likely to transform and be a pretty decent size, while still having that indestructible ability.
Markov Purifier image 3.0 This is a nice signpost Uncommon that tells you BW is all about life gain, and its nice that on his own, he can gain you life thanks to lifelink, which means he can draw you cards. You won’t always be able to spend the mana of course, but once you reach a point in the game where you have the spare mana, this is going to be pretty powerful.
Lacerate Flesh image 1.5 This is some pretty mediocre removal. 5 for 4 damage just isn’t much, and you’ll often be trading drown with it. Getting some Blood doesn’t really save it from mediocrity. It is still removal and brings some Blood and Spell synergy, so it’s something you’ll play sometimes.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Heron of Hope image 2.5 This doesn’t have the best base stats, but it is a nice little life gain enhancer, and the fact it can gain life gain itself means it does stuff even if its your only life gain card -- and generally, it won’t be.
Pack 2 Pick 10: Voldaren Epicure
Catapult Fodder image 3.0 A 3-mana ⅕ is a pretty reasonable defensive creature, and defensive creatures are especially welcome in the BG color pair, which has all kinds of toughness payoffs -- including this card, which will transform once you have enough creatures with higher toughness than power, and once it does, it can start loading their bodies into catapults and launching them at your opponents face. The ⅕ helps you find time to get there, too. Outside of the BG deck this won’t be very good though.
Ancestral Anger image 1.0 I like collect ‘em all cards, but just pumping power at Sorcery speed just isn’t that great, even with Trample. Now, I do think it has a little bit of value in the UR deck, since it is a spell that cantrips, but I’m still not very impressed.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Cradle of Safety image 2.0 This is functionally identical to Starlit Mantle, a card we saw fairly recently that overperformed. This Aura doesn’t give the most amazing boost for the cost, but hexproof can be used to counter spells and it will feel really swingy when you can do that. It will be especially nice in the UW deck, which pays you off for Auras. I think this will be a fine playable, just like the mantle was.
Pack 2 Pick 11: Heron-Blessed Geist
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Heron-Blessed Geist image 2.5 A 5-mana 3/3 Flyer isn’t very good, but the fact it can make 1/1 flyers from the graveyard is big, and will often feel like you’re getting a 2-for-1. You do need to have an Enchantment in play to use that ability, which is a little annoying, but seems doable enough.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Pack 2 Pick 12: Sure Strike
Sure Strike image 1.5 This is a trick we see a lot. It can make almost any creature win combat which is nice, but because it doesn’t raise toughness it doesn’t have the additional value of helping you save a creature from removal – but the main purpose of tricks is using them in combat anyway. You’ll play this in aggro decks for sure, but probably not anywhere else.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Dawnhart Disciple image 2.5 This is a nice two drop, one that will often be a 3/3 when you’re just curving out.
Pack 2 Pick 13: Parish-Blade Trainee
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Pack 2 Pick 14: Blood Servitor
Blood Servitor image 1.0 If you’re really interested in Blood, you might play this, but there are plenty of other cards in the set that make blood that are more efficient.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Creepy Puppeteer
Creepy Puppeteer image 3.5 A 4-mana 4/3 with Haste would be making the cut already, and the fact this can make its friend bigger is really nice. If you’re buffing a token or something, this is going to add a ton of power to the board out of nowhere!
Undead Butler image 3.0 This is pretty nice at setting stuff up in your graveyard, and also a great creature to sacrifice to Exploit. Its pretty interesting, because it is pretty close to being a better Gravedigger for half the mana -- and Gravedigger is usually a pretty nice limited card. But there are a few things that I actually don’t think make it better than the digger. First, only having one power is a big deal, because creating a 2-for-1 this becomes much harder. Second, it exiles itself, so you can’t loop them together. I still think this is pretty good, especially in a set with Exploit, but I don’t quite think it is first pickable.
Resistance Squad image 3.5 GW has the most humans, but every White deck in this format will have enough Humans for you to play this, and when you get to draw that card, you’re getting quite the 2-for-1, as this 3/2 can really effectively trade for stuff or attack.
Foreboding Statue image 3.5 This is basically a way better version of Mystic Skull from the last set. Both are cards that fix your mana and then turn into creatures, but the Statue is way, way better on the front! For one thing its a creature, and for another it doesn’t just filter your mana -- it actually ramps you too. Then, once it transforms, it becomes a pretty imposing creature that still fixes your mana. This looks like a nice card that all but the most aggressive of decks would play and take fairly highly.
Chill of the Grave image 2.5 This sort of effect is always pretty decent when paired with a draw. If you can pay two for this consistently, it will feel especially good. It looks reasonably well suited for both the UB and UR decks, which are Zombies and spells respectively. You generally want to use this type of effect aggressively to alter the race, but it isn’t the worst thing defensively.
End the Festivities image 0.5 Yeah. No thanks. This is a sideboard card, there aren’t enough X/1s in this format that you want to be doing this.
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Diregraf Scavenger image 2.5 This looks decent. Death touchers do tend to get a little less impressive the more mana you spend on them, because the fact they can trade with anything is less attractive when they are trading down, but the ETB ability here definitely does enough to make up for that. Draining your opponent 2 life with this will be fairly commonplace, and that means you get to hate on the opposing graveyard while also triggering your life gain stuff, and you are adding a pretty obnoxious creature to the board at the same time.
Sanctify image 0.5 This is good at destroying Artifacts and Enchantments, and I think there are enough of them that this might make your main deck sometimes. While there are lots of Auras, keep in mind, blowing up the disturbed side of a card isn’t really going to be a one-for-one and won’t feel that great, and I think that limits how good this is in your main deck. You mostly want this out of your sideboard.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Apprentice Sharpshooter image 2.0 This seems decent. 3-mana 1/4s with Reach are always kind of alright, and this one’s Training upside is pretty real! If you end up playing this on turn three, you’ll often find that it isn’t that important you have a blocker, but attacking with a ¼ just isn’t worth it either, but now if you attack with almost anything else, it will become a ⅖, which is definitely more formidable.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Stitched Assistant image 3.0 The exploit trigger lets you see two cards, and makes sure that the creature you sacrifice is instantly replaced. You won’t always want to sacrifice a thing, but the fact that you can is pretty nice, and there are enough decent sacrifice fodder type cards that this seems like a 3.
Flame-Blessed Bolt image 3.5 This is premium removal. One mana for 2 at Instant speed always is, as you can very easily trade up. The exile clause definitely matters because of the disturb mechanic too.
Pack 3 Pick 2: Abrade
Falkenrath Forebear image 3.5 This is very good. A 3-mana 3/1 with Flying that makes a blood token when it hits the opponent is already really good, so adding the reanimation to this is awesome. And sure, not being able to Block definitely downgrades it -- it means you can’t really use it to keep yourself alive -- but it can still continually pressure your opponent all game long.
Voltaic Visionary image 3.0 This has a neat design. Ideally, it will be a two mana 4/3 that can’t block that draws you a card for 2 life, and that’s something you’d always play! The problem is sometimes it’ll exile a card you can’t play, but if your curve is low enough or its late, it shouldn’t be too hard for this to net you that card. The downside is that, since it can’t block, trading won’t be super easy. Sometimes you will be able to assign it as a blocker then use the ability to transform it. In those situations, you’ll be more likely to get the 2-for-1, but yeah. This can lead to some aggressive starts or draw you a card late while adding to the board, and I like that.
Arm the Cathars image 3.0 +6/+6 worth of stats spread across three creatures and Vigilance is going to be enough to enable attacks on a whole lot of boards, between the stats and the fact that you can still have the creatures hang back to block, which really matters in a race. Sure, you need a board state for this to do its thing, and you have to be a little cautious about when you use it, but it seems like this can bust a game wide open early, and break through a stalled board late, and that seems like a pretty nice overall.
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
Blood Petal Celebrant image 3.0 This is a nice Common. We’ve seen two mana 2/1s who have first strike when they attack before, and they are always good two-drop aggro creatures, and this one gives you some Blood when it goes down. I don’t imagine you’ll cut this in Red decks.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Abrade image 4.0 Woo boy, this is a very powerful reprint, and its one that was UNCOMMON last time, so the downshift is pretty exciting. Two to do 3 to something is always premium, and having the other mode is nice too, even if this format isn’t exactly filled to the brim with Artifacts.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Alchemist's Retrieval image 2.0 We see this card a lot, and its always kind of alright. This one is nice because if you want to bounce your own thing you can pay less, and paying two to bounce a nonland permanent either player controls is kind of what we expect. Its never anything special, but the first copy often makes the cut in Blue decks.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Ill-Tempered Loner
Ill-Tempered Loner image 4.5 This looks really good. The front side is hard to interact with and not get 2-for-1’d, although removal that doesn’t do damage can do it. Its great it can pump its power too, increasing the chances of getting that 2-for-1. It will be tough to block this, but the threat of activation will sometimes force people to do it. Obviously, once it transforms it becomes even scarier, and if it is already night when you play it, it will immediately impact the board in a pretty big way. I think this is a bomb.
Honeymoon Hearse image 2.5 This Vehicle doesn’t need to be crewed exactly -- though tapping down two creatures isn’t that far off from crewing. For three mana, it brings some pretty nice stats and an evasive keyword ability, and it will definitely be nice to tap a couple of small creatures who couldn’t attack anyway to put this thing into action. You won’t always have those creatures, though, and sometimes you’ll just have some larger creatures where attacking with them just makes more sense.
Bloodtithe Harvester image 3.5 This is a very nice signpost Uncommon, that tells you BR is all about Blood tokens. This is a super efficient creature that brings one of those Blood tokens along with it -- and if that’s where this card ended -- a two mana 3/2 that gives you a Blood -- you would be pretty happy to play that! But it also comes with the ability to become a removal spell once you amass enough Blood. So yeah, gives you Blood, good Blood payoff, good stats. This is a signpost that you should be willing to go after pretty aggressively
Wandering Mind image 3.5 This will almost always be drawing you a card -- six cards is a ton, and as long as you have like 5 noncreature nonlands in your deck, your chances are decent. And, normally, you’ll have many more than that! So this is a 2-for-1 with a relevant flying body, and I love that.
Cruel Witness image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 Flyer always feels pretty good, and this lets you surveil every time you play a noncreature spell. That’s not the most exciting payoff ever, but it does improve your draws over time while also loading the graveyard, and the fact it starts out with such a good baseline is pretty nice.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Belligerent Guest image 2.5 This has alright stats and is going to make you blood sometimes, both are welcome.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Parish-Blade Trainee image 2.5 This will get bigger relatively easy since it starts with one power. One kind of awkward thing about it, though, is the fact that if you play this as your two drop, it almost definitely won’t be growing on turn three. It is nice that it pays you off for counter stuff more generally too, but this seems pretty awkward to curve out with, and I think that hurts its grade a little.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Persistent Specimen image 1.0 // 2.5 Like many Skeletons who came before it, the idea here is to recur this so that you can keep sacrificing it to exploit triggers and other stuff. I think that really makes this a build around, as you don’t want to play it at all in a deck that doesn’t really take advantage of its recursion, as getting back a 1/1 over and over again just isn’t very good for most decks.
Toxic Scorpion image 3.0 This looks nice. A two mana 1/1 with Deathtouch is probably already a 2.0 or 2.5, since it can trade for anything and really represent a problem all game long. So, being able to give death touch to another creature on the ETB is nice, and gives it even more utility in the later game.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Circle of Confinement
Circle of Confinement image 3.0 The vampire part of the card mostly won’t matter in Limited -- you have to be exiling something your opponent has multiple copies of, after all. Mostly, this is a two mana removal spell that gets rid of mana value 3 or less things for two mana. That’s probably just enough to be premium removal, especially in a set with Disturb creatures, most of which are small enough that this can exile.
Geistlight Snare image 1.5 I’m always a bit skeptical of counter magic in Limited. This is a bad mana leak a big chunk of the time, and sometimes it will cost two or one, which will obviously feel much better, but you still have to hold it up at the right time for it to do its thing, and it has waning value as the game goes on and players have more mana.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Flourishing Hunter image 2.5 It is pretty likely that this gains you 3 or more life, and that will feel pretty good if you’re trying to stabilize against an aggressive deck. . Seems like a solid card to have in the Colossal Dreadmaw/Honey Mammoth.
Doomed Dissenter image 3.0 This is a reprint, and a nice one to have in a set with Exploit. This is a great thing to sacrifice, and even apart from that, it can be a really obnoxious creature that just makes all X/1s really sad, since it just trades and gives you a 2/2. You get 3/3 of stats out of this for only two mana in the end, and that’s pretty nice.
Traveling Minister image 1.5 This common gains life, which BW likes, and it can set up training a little better, which GW likes. But it doesn’t do either thing that well, and as a one mana 1/1 it isn’t exactly impactful. The Sorcery speed only thing is killer!
Selhoff Entomber image 1.5 Forcing you to discard a specific card type really devalues the effectiveness of a rummage or loot effect. The idea here is to discard something you want in the graveyard, like if it has disturb, but a lot of the time you’d rather just cast both halves of the card.
Blood Petal Celebrant image 3.0 This is a nice Common. We’ve seen two mana 2/1s who have first strike when they attack before, and they are always good two-drop aggro creatures, and this one gives you some Blood when it goes down. I don’t imagine you’ll cut this in Red decks.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Kindly Ancestor image 3.0 This seems like a nice Common. A 3-mana ⅔ with Lifelink would be a 2.5, so adding the Disturb upside is pretty nice! Giving lifelink to evasive creatures is especially nasty, as life gain just utterly alters races. Its nice that it will also work pretty well in GW, as putting +1/+1 counters on a lifelinker tends to feel pretty good.
Pack 3 Pick 5: Hallowed Haunting
Hallowed Haunting image 0.0 // 4.0 So, obviously, you need a decent number of Enchantments or this is pretty useless -- and you probably shouldn’t really expect to get the flying and Vigilance part going. However, just the ability to make creature tokens can be worth it in the right deck -- and in particular, that deck will be the UW one, which will be able to run a bunch of enchantments in the form of disturb creatures, and that’s also the color pair that will have the most spirits. So ending up with like 7 Enchantments in that deck won’t be as hard as it normally would be, though I still don’t really think it will be easy exactly, especially because you need a mix of Spirits and Enchantments. And, while some cards are both of those, they are only those on one side or the other, so you won’t get the value of having both. Obviously, this is a build around, because I think it will be an F or close to it in just about every White deck, but it definitely has an impressive ceiling -- cranking out tokens is no joke. I think a realistic ceiling for it in a good UW deck is probably a 4.
Dread Fugue image 0.0 // 1.0 Neither side of this card is very good in Limited. If you just cast it normally, there’s a good chance you hit nothing, and the 3-mana effect is just Coercion, a card that generally isn’t playable in Limited. You’ve got to be adding to the board meaningfully in most Limited formats, and this doesn’t do that, and it will often do nothing. It gets a little better as a sideboard card, but its probably still just a 1 there.
Bloodcrazed Socialite image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 with Menace isn’t amazing -- it is probably a 2.0 at best -- however -- this brings a blood token along with it, and I think I’d already be playing that card a reasonable chunk of the time, but it also has the impressive upside of making itself into a 5/5 when it attacks, provided you have blood. Because the Socialite brings a Blood token with it, you’ll get to do it at least once, and if you have other blood lying around, this will be a beating.
Unholy Officiant image 2.0 A one mana ½ with Vigilance is not a very good card. Its the kind of card people often overrate, because they think “One mana is only enough to get a 1/1 most of the time!” and while that’s sort of true, the problem in Limited is that this kind of card will get outclassed pretty quickly. That said, it comes with an ability that actually does something in the late game, even if 5 is a lot for a single counter. Its also a decent place to put counters thanks to its keyword ability. So, yeah. This is an alright one drop that you’ll play in your most aggressive GW decks, but it doesn’t look that great anywhere else.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Bramble Armor image 1.0 We just saw this in the last set. It wasn’t very good last time around, even with the free Equip, and really kind of underperformed. While this format has Training, which this can help with, the last format had Coven, which this could have helped with, and it still wasn’t a card you ran very often.
Serpentine Ambush image 0.0 This kind of card is always awful in Limited. It is easy to imagine scenarios where it does what you want – like when you use it as a combat trick to ambush something, but situations where you actually get to trade this for a card are few and far between, and this is something we’ve seen repeatedly.
Stitched Assistant image 3.0 The exploit trigger lets you see two cards, and makes sure that the creature you sacrifice is instantly replaced. You won’t always want to sacrifice a thing, but the fact that you can is pretty nice, and there are enough decent sacrifice fodder type cards that this seems like a 3.
Binding Geist image 2.0 So, the attack trigger here won’t usually make it so the Geist won’t die in combat, but it does let you force your opponent into situations where the best they can do is trade, and that’s not too bad… though it isn’t great either. 1 toughness is a just a big hurdle on a 3-mana creature. Having that ability in Aura form isn’t exactly exciting either when you disturb it.
Sanctify image 0.5 This is good at destroying Artifacts and Enchantments, and I think there are enough of them that this might make your main deck sometimes. While there are lots of Auras, keep in mind, blowing up the disturbed side of a card isn’t really going to be a one-for-one and won’t feel that great, and I think that limits how good this is in your main deck. You mostly want this out of your sideboard.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Falkenrath Celebrants
Wash Away image 1.5 So, without Cleaving this, you will be able to counter things like Disturb, but that’s way too narrow and not worth a card. Even with Cleave, this is just Cancel, and that’s usually a card that’s not worth it in Limited. The Double Blue can be kind of rough, as it decreases the frequency with which you’ll be able to leave mana up to counter a thing, and that’s incredibly frustrating, as well as inefficient.
Blood Hypnotist image 3.0 This looks pretty good to me. Sure, it can’t Block, but the fact it can make opposing things unable to block when you sacrifice Treasure is pretty big for aggressive decks. This can really be part of a pretty devastating curve out. Obviously, you need Blood, but if you’re in Red, you’ll have access to enough that this will be worth playing.
Estwald Shieldbasher image 2.5 This doesn’t have great stats for the cost, but the ability to become indestructible when it attacks makes up for that. It’s a nice place to put +1/+1 counters and Auras, and those are very real things in this format.
Moldgraf Millipede image 2.0 This is a decent payoff for the UG deck in the format, which likes milling. It is hard to overlook how bad this will feel if you only end up with one or two creatures, but I think if its at least a 4/4 you feel okay about it, and sometimes it will be much bigger. It is still just a big vanilla creature, though.
Crushing Canopy image 0.5 There are flyers and Enchantments in this set of course, but not really enough of either to main deck this in most cases. Even blowing up a disturb Aura isn’t great, as most of the time you’re trading a whole card for half of one.
End the Festivities image 0.5 Yeah. No thanks. This is a sideboard card, there aren’t enough X/1s in this format that you want to be doing this.
Falkenrath Celebrants image 2.5 This is a decent 5-drop. A 5-mana 4/4 with Menace is A 2.0 at best, but the two blood tokens it gives you can fuel some stuff or improve your hand.
Lantern Bearer image 3.5 This looks like a pretty good Common. A one mana 1/1 Flyer isn’t something that is worth it in a lot of formats all on its own, but it is a pretty decent play on turn one, as it can chip in for some real damage. Unlike most one mana 1/1 flyers though, once this become outclassed, you can just chump block with it and then Disturb it to get a pretty nice Aura! +1/+1 and Flying can turn almost any creature into a very real threat, and sure, 3 mana for that isn’t amazing, but remember that you also got a one mana 1/1 Flyer earlier in the game, and that sounds pretty good to me.
Vampire Slayer image 1.5 This set has a lot of vampires, but not so many that a two mana 2/2 that kills Vampires in combat is that great. This is especially true because many vampires are already kind of small and this can trade with them.
Pack 3 Pick 7: Odric, Blood-Cursed
Odric, Blood-Cursed image 3.0 It is kind of sad how underwhelming this Odric is. Now, he isn’t bad of course, but he’s going to be a vanilla 3-mana 3/3 a decent chunk of the time. And yeah, there will be times where you get a bunch of blood and it feels great, but you’re going to get 0 way too often! That said, as long as he’s making at least one, you’ll feel fine about the situation.
Markov Purifier image 3.0 This is a nice signpost Uncommon that tells you BW is all about life gain, and its nice that on his own, he can gain you life thanks to lifelink, which means he can draw you cards. You won’t always be able to spend the mana of course, but once you reach a point in the game where you have the spare mana, this is going to be pretty powerful.
Nebelgast Beguiler image 2.0 Master Decoy-type effects tend to play pretty well in Limited, sort of becoming like removal in the late part of the game. The creature here is very clunky and unimpressive, though. Having a defensive creature who has to tap to use its ability is a bit annoying, and I think you’ll cut this a decent chunk of the time.
Bloodcrazed Socialite image 3.5 A 4-mana 3/3 with Menace isn’t amazing -- it is probably a 2.0 at best -- however -- this brings a blood token along with it, and I think I’d already be playing that card a reasonable chunk of the time, but it also has the impressive upside of making itself into a 5/5 when it attacks, provided you have blood. Because the Socialite brings a Blood token with it, you’ll get to do it at least once, and if you have other blood lying around, this will be a beating.
Apprentice Sharpshooter image 2.0 This seems decent. 3-mana 1/4s with Reach are always kind of alright, and this one’s Training upside is pretty real! If you end up playing this on turn three, you’ll often find that it isn’t that important you have a blocker, but attacking with a ¼ just isn’t worth it either, but now if you attack with almost anything else, it will become a ⅖, which is definitely more formidable.
Supernatural Rescue image 1.0 This has a neat design, and is obviously really geared toward the UW deck, which is about Auras and Spirits. This having Flash will be particularly attractive, as you can use it to prevent one round of attacks and blocks when you do, and you can also get the stats boost at Instant speed, which isn’t too shabby. When it doesn’t have Flash, it is pretty clunky, though tapping down a couple of things can often make some more attacks possible. Still, the mana cost is pretty high here, and you won’t have much reason to run Auras like this when you can just run creatures with Disturb who are far more useful up front. Even with the Spirit upside, I don’t see myself playing this very often.
Honored Heirloom image 1.5 3 mana mana rocks are very rarely good in Limited, even if they add mana of any color. This one luckily comes with some additional value, as exiling stuff from graveyards does legitimately matter in this format. Still, you probably don’t play this unless you’re splashing a third color, as it is still very low impact.
Moldgraf Millipede image 2.0 This is a decent payoff for the UG deck in the format, which likes milling. It is hard to overlook how bad this will feel if you only end up with one or two creatures, but I think if its at least a 4/4 you feel okay about it, and sometimes it will be much bigger. It is still just a big vanilla creature, though.
Pack 3 Pick 8: Drogskol Infantry
Lantern of the Lost image 1.5 This does a real good job hating on the graveyard, and it also replaces itself with its activated ability. While this format feels a little less graveyard centric than Midnight Hunt -- after all, there’s no Flashback here -- graveyards are still a big enough deal in this format that I think you’ll main deck this sometimes. Because it replaces itself, the cost of doing so isn’t massive. I still think in an ideal world, you’re not playing it in your main deck though, as you’d rather have some other cards that have incidental graveyard hate than a card that only hates on graveyards. It will be the best in the UR deck, as it will trigger all your non-creature stuff and replace itself, which is exactly what that deck wants.
Laid to Rest image 1.0 // 4.0 This is mostly here for the GW deck, which is all about Humans and +1/+1 counters, and in that deck, this is going to be a pretty serious value engine. Drawing cards and gaining life is really going to enable you to grind out wins. Sure, costing 4 and not adding to the board is kind of a big deal, but the good news is that while it may not actually add something to the board, it does alter the board, in the sense that your opponent now has to deal with the fact that if they attack you, you can threaten to gain life and draw cards. This is definitely a build around, but I think its one that has a high enough ceiling that you may want to consider taking it early.
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Drogskol Infantry image 3.0 This looks like a nice Common to me! It is a bear on one side, and then can come back as a pretty nice Aura late. Look at it as a creature who can trade and leave an Aura behind, and that sounds pretty good.
Voldaren Epicure image 2.0 This does a bunch of little things, and I think they add up enough to make this a decent card. I don’t think you’ll always play it, but chances are good you’ll be interested in the Blood if yo’ure in Red, and especially Black/Red, and getting it on turn one seems like it will fuel some stuff.
Nurturing Presence image 1.5 This gives you a 1/1 Flyer no matter what, and that helps mitigate the risk of playing it. It’s too bad the rest of the card isn’t very good. The stats boost is situational and unimpressive. The turn you play it will giving +1/+1 to the thing, but still – you’re not really doing a great job with that.
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Pack 3 Pick 9: Apprentice Sharpshooter
End the Festivities image 0.5 Yeah. No thanks. This is a sideboard card, there aren’t enough X/1s in this format that you want to be doing this.
Bloody Betrayal image 1.0 It takes a special format for Threaten effects to be good – and I don’t really foresee that in this format. You either need a legit sacrifice deck in Red or an incredibly aggressive format for it to work out, since it is the kind of effect that doesn’t give you anything permanently, the Blood token notwithstanding. You could maybe combine it with Exploit if you’re in Black or Blue, and that could be spicy, but you’ll need a significant amount of mana to make that happen most of the time.
Sanctify image 0.5 This is good at destroying Artifacts and Enchantments, and I think there are enough of them that this might make your main deck sometimes. While there are lots of Auras, keep in mind, blowing up the disturbed side of a card isn’t really going to be a one-for-one and won’t feel that great, and I think that limits how good this is in your main deck. You mostly want this out of your sideboard.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Apprentice Sharpshooter image 2.0 This seems decent. 3-mana 1/4s with Reach are always kind of alright, and this one’s Training upside is pretty real! If you end up playing this on turn three, you’ll often find that it isn’t that important you have a blocker, but attacking with a ¼ just isn’t worth it either, but now if you attack with almost anything else, it will become a ⅖, which is definitely more formidable.
Pointed Discussion image 1.5 Black always gets a draw spell like this, and the vast majority of them are pretty mediocre. Two cards for three mana and two life will be something worth paying in grindier decks, and the blood is nice upside. You won’t ever play it in more aggressive decks, though
Pack 3 Pick 10: Blood Petal Celebrant
Nature's Embrace image 1.5 This has a pretty interesting design. Its either a mediocre aura or a mediocre way to fix and ramp. Each card individually is probably a 1.0 at best – and you probably won’t play this at all if you don’t need fixing, so I think it’s a 1.5.
Gluttonous Guest image 2.5 This is a decent Common that slots in well into multiple Black decks. It has high toughness, which BG likes, it gains you life, which BW likes, and it makes Blood tokens, which BR likes! Now, it doesn’t exactly blow you away with what it does in any of those decks, but it is a solid card in all of them.
Blood Petal Celebrant image 3.0 This is a nice Common. We’ve seen two mana 2/1s who have first strike when they attack before, and they are always good two-drop aggro creatures, and this one gives you some Blood when it goes down. I don’t imagine you’ll cut this in Red decks.
Evolving Wilds image 3.0 We see this all the time, and its always a pretty nice land. It does an excellent job of fixing for you. If you’re splashing something, just a single Wilds and a basic land in that splash color is enough, and that’s pretty great! Its at pretty much the same level as the Rare dual lands we just saw.
Weary Prisoner image 1.5 This reminds me a whole lot of Tavern Brawler, a card that ended up being super underwhelming in Midnight Hunt. On one side it is a defensive creature, and on the other it is an aggressively costed big creature. Those two things are a bit awkward together, and if you played Midnight Hunt you know that completely controlling day and night how you want it isn’t always easy. This might end up being better than the Brawler -- Midnight Hunt did have an unusual amount of good common removal that made big vanilla creatures bad -- but for now I’m pretty skeptical.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Honeymoon Hearse
Honeymoon Hearse image 2.5 This Vehicle doesn’t need to be crewed exactly -- though tapping down two creatures isn’t that far off from crewing. For three mana, it brings some pretty nice stats and an evasive keyword ability, and it will definitely be nice to tap a couple of small creatures who couldn’t attack anyway to put this thing into action. You won’t always have those creatures, though, and sometimes you’ll just have some larger creatures where attacking with them just makes more sense.
Bloodtithe Harvester image 3.5 This is a very nice signpost Uncommon, that tells you BR is all about Blood tokens. This is a super efficient creature that brings one of those Blood tokens along with it -- and if that’s where this card ended -- a two mana 3/2 that gives you a Blood -- you would be pretty happy to play that! But it also comes with the ability to become a removal spell once you amass enough Blood. So yeah, gives you Blood, good Blood payoff, good stats. This is a signpost that you should be willing to go after pretty aggressively
Belligerent Guest image 2.5 This has alright stats and is going to make you blood sometimes, both are welcome.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Traveling Minister
Reckless Impulse image 2.5 I like that we’re seeing more of these so-called “impulsive draw” effects, seeing one at Common is neat! Anyway, this can sometimes feel like two mana to draw 2, which is quite good. Other times, you’ll hit two lands, and that won’t feel so good, but I think most of the time getting two cards of value out of this is going to happen, especially if you don’t play a land before you play it -- and you pretty much never should.
Traveling Minister image 1.5 This common gains life, which BW likes, and it can set up training a little better, which GW likes. But it doesn’t do either thing that well, and as a one mana 1/1 it isn’t exactly impactful. The Sorcery speed only thing is killer!
Pyre Spawn image 2.0 This doesn’t have good stats, but the fact it bolts a thing when it dies does usually mean you can get a 2-for-1, and if your opponent’s life is low they are going to be sweating this a ton. I think this is a decent top curve card.
Pack 3 Pick 13: Dread Fugue
Dread Fugue image 0.0 // 1.0 Neither side of this card is very good in Limited. If you just cast it normally, there’s a good chance you hit nothing, and the 3-mana effect is just Coercion, a card that generally isn’t playable in Limited. You’ve got to be adding to the board meaningfully in most Limited formats, and this doesn’t do that, and it will often do nothing. It gets a little better as a sideboard card, but its probably still just a 1 there.
Unhallowed Phalanx image 1.0 // 2.5 The idea here is that you play this in the toughness matters deck, and I think you’ll play this reasonably often there, but you won’t really be playing it anywhere else. Sure, it can block well, but a 1/13 just isn’t that exciting -- it won’t be able to kill anything in combat, and the fact it can’t block right away is pretty brutal. There are some sweet combos to pull off with this in BG, like sacrificing this to the flipped Catapult creature.
Pack 3 Pick 14: End the Festivities
End the Festivities image 0.5 Yeah. No thanks. This is a sideboard card, there aren’t enough X/1s in this format that you want to be doing this.
Draft Pick Overview