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Premier Draft NEO 19 April 2022

19 April 09:36 - theslipster 7 Wins - 2 Losses
Maindeck
Creature (13)
1 Thousand-Faced Shadow image
1 Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos image
1 Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars image
1 Gravelighter image
1 Armguard Familiar image
1 Saiba Trespassers image
2 Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image
1 Searchlight Companion image
1 Mirrorshell Crab image
2 Acquisition Octopus image
1 Virus Beetle image
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (16)
3 Okiba Reckoner Raid // Nezumi Road Captain image
1 Okiba Salvage image
1 Seismic Wave image
1 Tamiyo's Compleation image
1 Moonsnare Prototype image
1 Assassin's Ink image
1 Twisted Embrace image
1 Boseiju Reaches Skyward // Branch of Boseiju image
1 Life of Toshiro Umezawa // Memory of Toshiro image
1 Mukotai Soulripper image
1 The Modern Age // Vector Glider image
1 Ecologist's Terrarium image
2 Lethal Exploit image
Land (17)
8 Swamp image
8 Island image
1 Mountain image
Sideboard
1 Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars image
4 Saiba Trespassers image
1 Kami of Restless Shadows image
1 Okiba Salvage image
1 Seismic Wave image
1 Moonsnare Prototype image
1 Malicious Malfunction image
1 Boseiju Reaches Skyward image
1 Mobilizer Mech image
1 Boon of Boseiju image
1 Tales of Master Seshiro image
2 Futurist Sentinel image
2 Discover the Impossible image
1 Gift of Wrath image

Pack 1 Pick 1: Thousand-Faced Shadow
Thousand-Faced Shadow image 4.0 Well, this is very nice. You can play it early as a one mana 1/1 Flyer that helps you set up your other cards with ninjutsu, and then in the later part of the game it can come in with its ninjutsu ability and make a copy of one of your other attacking creatures, something that will virtually always be worth that 4 mana. You do need another attacker of course, but that doesn’t seem like a big ask. Things get really wacky when you return it to your hand via another creature’s ninjutsu, and then you can get its powerful trigger all over again!
Selfless Samurai image 4.0 This looks like a very nice Uncommon. A two mana 2/2 with Lifelink would be a solid card, a two mana 2/2 that can sacrifice itself to make something indestructible would be solid too – and this does both of those things plus in most ways it is better than just being a two mana 2/2 with Lifelink, since it can let larger creatures attack on their own and gain that useful keyword. The whole package here is just great: Solid stats, and two nice abilities. I think you can first pick this pretty happily.
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Imperial Recovery Unit image 2.5 In terms of cost and what it takes to crew it it isn’t the most efficient vehicle ever, but it has the ability to return cards to your hand, and there seem to be enough relevant one and two drops around that you’ll pull that often a reasonable chunk of the time. Even just doing it once is plenty.
Harmonious Emergence image 1.5 Animating a land is always less powerful than it might seem, and even adding the indestructible angle here isn’t that exciting. It does give you a reasonably efficient creature, but its also one that effectively makes you give up mana if you want to be attacking with it. I do think it’s a little better than the Red one, because this one is going to be more formidable in the later stages of the game, and it snice that they are such a pain in combat thanks to the indestructibility.
Return to Action image 2.0 Black often gets this kind of trick that returns a creature to the battlefield when it dies these days, and then tend to be alright, although I prefer it when they cost a single Black mana. Still, this one does actually increase your creature’s power, which means you can use it to help you take down the other creature in combat a little more effectively, and it will even gain you some life! Its useful against removal too, of course. But, its still situational enough that I’m not super high on it.
The Shattered States Era image 1.5 I like most of these creature-sagas a reasonable amount. Most of them are at least a 2.5…but not this one. 5 mana for a Threaten is costly. That type of effect is always so situational. Sometimes it will let you attack in ways you couldn’t before – and unlike a lot of Threatens you do eventually actually add to the board with this one – but I still don’t love it. Chapter II will only be meaningful on like half of your board states. You do ultimately get a 3/3 with Trample and Haste, but that’s not exactly a big deal by turn 7, and Chapters I and II are highly situational.
Mothrider Patrol image 2.0 So, this has a couple of nice synergy things going on. First, it is a Warrior with Flying, so it will frequently be able to attack alone and trigger those sorts of effects. Second, the fact it has Flying means it pairs nicely with Ninjutsu. And yeah, White has only one Ninja, but you’re not going to be playing Monowhite, so it could come up! Those things definitely help the card – it is a decent early game attacker that can then Master Decoy things in the late game. The cost of 4 mana is pretty steep for the effect, but it is still a nice on to have around in the late game.
Akki Ember-Keeper image 3.0 This is a nice little two drop. It has passable stats and a nice ability that makes sure your board stays populated when your modified creatures die. There are a plethora of ways to modify them, so getting a creature token or two out of this isn’t far-fetched at all, and that’s some pretty great value.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Armguard Familiar image 2.5 This is a very solid playable. A two mana 2/1 with Ward 2 is already pretty close to passable, so adding the Reconfigure upside is really nice. It is a nice little creature early, and in the late game it can lend a much-needed stats boost, as well as a little bit of protection, for a more relevant creature.
Dramatist's Puppet image 1.5 There’s a lot of counters in this set, so taking them away from your opponent or adding them to your own things is definitely relevant, but it still won’t always actually be able to do a thing, and when it can’t it will still be a 4-mana 2/4, which is pretty bad.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Mountain image
Pack 1 Pick 2: Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos
Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos image 4.5 This new Hidetsugu is a pretty big improvement on the original card! It has a pretty solid statline and two great activated abilities. Giving up creatures to scry is sometimes something you really need – but the other ability is the one that really pushes things over the edge. Not only do you get the chance to play the card he reveals, he also damages any target equal to the mana value of the card you exile! And, in an ideal world, you can set things up with the Scry so that it does something really significant. Now, it isn’t all good. Paying three mana for the effect will mean that you won’t really be able to play the card a significant chunk of the time, and while you can use the ability at Instant speed, you won’t be able to play the thing you reveal on your opponent’s turn unless its an Instant. Still, the fact that it lets you repeatedly damage things is big, and will allow Hidetsugu to take over games. Then, when you can actually play the thing that you reveal, it will feel truly busted! Keep in mind, you can play a land off of it, it just won’t do any damage.
When We Were Young image 1.5 This trick has the potential to create some 2-for-1 blow outs, but its also pretty expensive, and we’ve seen similar tricks that always grant key words like lifelink not be all that impressive. I think running one of these in your aggressive White decks with a decent number of artifacts and enchantments is fine, but I can see it getting cut a decent percentage of the time too.
Reito Sentinel image 1.0 Milling doesn’t seem to be a major component of this format for the most part, whether you’re miling yourself or someone else. BG definitely has some graveyard stuff going on, and that’s probably where this will be at its best, but I’m still not overly impressed with a 3-mana 3/3 Defender. The cool thing you can do with it in the extreme late game is start using its ability to draw whatever you want to every single turn, but I’m always skeptical that type of strategy will end up working out in Limited. It doesn’t very often!
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Kami of Terrible Secrets image 1.5 // 3.0 A 4-mana ¾ is not a great stat-line these days, so you are going to want to be drawing a card off of this around half the time for it to be worth it. And…that’s not going to be automatic in every Black deck in the format, since this asks you to have both an Artifact and Enchantment. That’s certainly easier to do in this format than it is in most, but if you’re in say, UB Ninjas or the BG graveyard deck – that’s not something you’re going to be focused on. In a lot of ways, this is a BW gold card, because that’s the deck that has a whole bunch of reasons to get both an Artifact and an Enchantment in play.
Befriending the Moths image 3.0 Chapter I and II will very likely enable attacks you didn’t have before, and that’s a pretty big deal. Especially because this eventually adds meaningfully to the board by giving you a 2/4 Flyer. It will be a bit of a bummer to play on a completely empty board, but that won’t be happening that often. This looks like a good Common to me, one you can first pick sometimes.
Kami's Flare image 3.5 Two mana to do 3 is always premium, so also doing 2 to the opponent sometimes is pretty nice. This is one of Red’s best Commons.
Ninja's Kunai image 2.5 You pay a total of 3 mana for Lightning, and that’s not a bad rate in Limited. What’s more is, it also lets you get some synergy – and not only the obvious artifact and Equipment synergy – but also some sacrifice synergy for the RB deck
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Short Circuit image 1.5 This is fairly mediocre. It doesn’t stop enough of what a card can do for it to be that effective as removal. Sure, it has less power and it can’t fly – but it still lets the creature block, it can still have a death trigger, it can still have an activated ability, it can still have a static ability, and heck – it can even still attack, just less effectively! It having Flash does mean sometimes you can set this up so that you can kill an attacking creature with a double block, and when you can do that it will feel alright, but you just won’t always be able to make that happen.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
Iron Apprentice image 2.0 This format has plenty of counters, so putting more on this thing isn’t a huge stretch. It also gives you a creature that enters the battlefield modified, which powers up a bunch of cards in this format.
Bamboo Grove Archer image 2.5 This is a very nice defensive creature. A two mana 3/3 with Reach will slow the board to a grinding halt in the early game, and the fact that you can use it as a Plummet sometimes is nice upside. It isn’t exactly the kind of card all decks will want, but grinder Green decks will probably be happy to play a few of these – while aggro decks probably aren’t playing it at all.
Swamp image
Pack 1 Pick 3: Okiba Reckoner Raid
Runaway Trash-Bot image 1.5 // 3.0 Obviously enough, you need to really get there on a graveyard-centric artifact/enchantment deck or this is going to be a pretty disappointing card. If you do get there, this looks like a pretty reasonable payoff. As long as it is like, a 2/4 you’re going to feel alright, especially because its likely to grow from there.
Boon of Boseiju image 2.0 This looks like a solid trick. It will often give a significant buff for the cost, and untapping your attacking creature can matter sometimes too, since it enables it to hang back and block. The untap part also means you can try to use it to ambush an opposing attacker, but that’s generally a riskier way to use this sort of thing, since your opponent is more likely to have mana up.
You Are Already Dead image 2.5 This has a really interesting design. I’m normally not big on this type of effect, as actually doing some damage to something often takes up some resources, so spells that can only remove damaged creatures are often not all that playable. However, in this case they lowered the mana cost to ONE, and they added a cantrip. At that point, we’re talking about a card that is certainly playable. Keep in mind that it does need a damaged creature to target, so it isn’t really the kind of cantrip you can cycle whenever you want. You won’t usually generate a 2-for-1 with this, because of the resources you gave up to damage the creature in the first place, but the cantrip pretty much makes up for that, and on occasions where you can get a 2-for-1, this will feel downright amazing. It is still a super situational removal spell, but it is priced to move, and I think you’ll end up playing the first copy in most Black decks. Playing more than that is probably asking for trouble due to its situational nature.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Careful Cultivation image 2.5 In a lot of formats, a two mana 1/1 that can tap for Green mana is very playable, and this is better than that in a lot of ways, since you can stick it out there at Instant speed. Meanwhile, the Aura side of things does a pretty good of ramping you too, and offers a solid stat boost. I do sort of feel like you’re going to be more interesting in Channeling this the most of the time, as I think that’s the best deal you can get here.
Jukai Trainee image 2.0 They decided to give this samurai the old Bushido mechanic. It’s a two mana 2/2 that is harder than most two mana 2/2s to block or attack through, and that’s probably enough of an upside for you to play it a decent chunk of the time.
Seven-Tail Mentor image 2.5 This will immediately add a counter to the board, which can really alter the way your turn goes in your favor, and you get another counter out of it when it dies. Sure, it would be nice if it was like the Armorer from a few sets back and you got both counters right away – but I still think this is a quality card. Having a useful creature type and also “Modifying” creatures gets some extra points too.
Ambitious Assault image 2.0 Adding a conditional cantrip to Trumpet Blast is definitely interesting. This effect is really situational, but because it replaces itself, you end up with a card that – at worst – cycles for three mana, and you can also find more useful situations to use it in, since the card does replace itself.
Eiganjo Exemplar image 3.0 It counts itself of course, so even without any other samurais around it attacks as a 3/2. One really nice thing is that you can play this, and then on the same turn attack with another Samurai, and +1/+1 is likely to help it attack more effectively.
Skyswimmer Koi image 3.0 This has pretty nice stats as a 4-mana 3/3 Flyer, and while its artifact pay off ability isn’t amazing, adding a loot effect to all of your artifacts is definitely relevant upside.
Jukai Preserver image 3.0 At worst, this is a 4-mana 4/4, and its much better than that because it allows you to put counters wherever you want. The Channel part of the card is nice too, because sometimes utilizing this more like a trick, or spreading around the modifications is just better anyway. It slots nicely into the RG Modification deck, as well as Green-White Enchantments.
Okiba Reckoner Raid image 2.5 Giving us a one mana saga like this is pretty interesting! You obviously get insane value for the investment of one mana, as you drain 2 life and get a 2/2 with Menace that gives vehicles Menace! This is going to feel like a pretty good turn one play, and even in the late game this can do some work. The life drain helps you survive until it becomes a creature, and its great that as soon as it transforms you can send in a vehicle in that is hard to block. Having to wait for the body a couple of turns is going to be a little frustrating, though.
Thornwood Falls image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 1 Pick 4: Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
Essence Capture image 2.0 This is a card we’ve seen printed a few times now, and its always decent. Once you get down to two mana, Counterspells get pretty interesting, and while it is unfortunate this one costs double blue, it is still fairly easy to get value out of it, as most decks will have 15+ targets, and the +1/+1 counter is a great thing to tack on.
Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars image 3.5 A 3-mana 2/2 with First Strike is already pretty playable, especially in a format with lots of ways to modify creatures, and the fact you get to do some additional damage to the opponent or (more rarely) a planeswalker if you have spare mana lying around is pretty nice. Obviously it gets spicier if you have more Shrines around.
Prodigy's Prototype image 3.5 It isn’t that hard to crew, and it spits out creature tokens that can crew it when it attacks – just in case you were going to have a problem crewing it in the first place. Obviously it synergizes well with other vehicles too.
Clawing Torment image 2.0 This can outright kill X/1s, and takes away the ability of all creatures to block – while also slowly bleeding the opponent out. If you’re in a really aggressive Black deck, I can see playing this, but in situations where you aren’t the beatdown, it isn’t going to be very good. Your opponent just won’t always care about their creature getting a little smaller and being unable to block. It is notable that it is an Enchantment you can keep around on the table for awhile, and you kind of want to because it hurts your opponent – and that goes well in the Black-White deck, which wants an Artifact and Enchantment to be around for its various effects This is probably mostly an aggro deck special.
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
Ancestral Katana image 3.0 This reminds me a bit of Pirate’s Cutlass, a card that really overperformed in its Limited format. Now, this isn’t colorless, and it doesn’t equip for free – and it equipping at a discount is also more conditional for sure – but I think this will still be a really nice Common. If you’re just Equipping this the old fashioned way it won’t be great, but if you have Warriors and Samurai around, the fact that this can just keep moving on to your best attacker for only one mana is going to feel pretty good, and it doesn’t hurt that it can still be Equipped the normal way when that works out for you. Plus, Equipment have some additional upside in this format.
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
Suit Up image 1.5 These types of effects are almost always not worth it – they keep pushing them on us, though! What makes them bad is the fact that you only resize a creature. Making one into a 4/5 for 3 mana is not normally going to be a very good rate, and that’s even if you’re including the ability to turn Vehicles on like this can. You’re going to get a small stats boost in most cases, and that just isn’t worth the risk of getting blown out by removal. They did do one thing here that’s pretty interesting though: They added a cantrip. That certainly makes this better, as at worst you can sort of cycle this for three mana, and if you do manage to resize a creature and win combat you’ll actually feel like you’re doing something – but it still isn’t very good for the same reasons these effects never are: They don’t do enough for their cost and they are also very risky!
Voltage Surge image 3.0 One mana to do two to a creature is usually pretty close to premium removal – you will be able to pay one mana to kill many creatures that cost more! This having the additional “sacrifice an artifact” option to upgrade it to doing 4 damage is definitely enough for it to be premium, as doing 4 for one mana is a really good deal, though you may not always have an expendable artifact to give up.
Bearer of Memory image 1.5 This doesn’t have great base stats, and its ability is incredibly costly, and even not that impressive in the extreme late game. This isn’t something you’ll play most of the time.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Plains image
Pack 1 Pick 5: Okiba Salvage
Bronze Cudgels image 1.5 This has a unique design, but the lack of a boost to toughness and the requirement to pump mana into it is pretty hefty. I can sort of see late game situations where you just have all the mana in the world to use on this, and at that stage of the game its going to be pretty nice, as you can just put in on anything and that creature will have to be blocked. But what about the rest of the game? In the early going, it is pretty close to useless, because you just won’t have enough mana to make it do anything significant. So I have a hard time getting behind this with any enthusiasm. There’s an equipment and an artifact theme in this set that definitely give it some bonus points.
Okiba Salvage image 2.0 We see 5 mana reanimation spells a lot, and they tend to be kind of mediocre. This is because you don’t often have something in your graveyard that is worth paying 5 mana to reanimate. In other words, you not only need a large enough creature, it also needs to be in the graveyard. When you add +1/+1 counters to the mix, like this does, it does become easier to feel like you’re getting your 5 mana’s worth out of the card. However, you do need to have an Artifact and Enchantment to get those. I would be much happier with this card if it gave you one +1/+1 counter if you had an artifact, and another if you had an Enchantment, but it is all or nothing – and that certainly hurts it a little bit, even in a format where it seems getting one of each of those is fairly doable. If you have a couple of crazy good bombs, it does get better than that.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Season of Renewal image 1.0 // 2.5 You need to be getting both a creature and an enchantment back when you use this, or you aren’t going to be getting enough for your investment. While Enchantments are pretty plentiful in this set, especially in Green, I do think this needs a build around.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Dragonfly Suit image 2.5 This isn’t the best rate for a vehicle, but it is easy to crew and evasive, so I can see plenty of board states where its getting in through the air.
Ninja's Kunai image 2.5 You pay a total of 3 mana for Lightning, and that’s not a bad rate in Limited. What’s more is, it also lets you get some synergy – and not only the obvious artifact and Equipment synergy – but also some sacrifice synergy for the RB deck
Kami of Industry image 1.5 There will be too many situations where you either have no Artifact to reanimate, or you have one that you can bring back but it doesn’t really do anything on the board at the stage of the game yo’ure in. A five mana 3/6 as a baseline doesn’t help the card out either, even though that isn’t disastrous. I think the idea is that in the BR deck, you can easily sacrifice whatever it is you bring back, but I still have a hard time seeing this work out often enough.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
Plains image
Pack 1 Pick 6: Seismic Wave
Essence Capture image 2.0 This is a card we’ve seen printed a few times now, and its always decent. Once you get down to two mana, Counterspells get pretty interesting, and while it is unfortunate this one costs double blue, it is still fairly easy to get value out of it, as most decks will have 15+ targets, and the +1/+1 counter is a great thing to tack on.
Seismic Wave image 3.5 mana to do 2 to anything isn’t incredible, but the one damage it does to all non-artifact creatures is quite nice. There are lots of things this card can end up doing. For example, if you do the 2 damage to a non-artifact creature, this will actually end up doing 3 total. You can also use it kill an X/2 and then pick off an X/1 or two. This card will occasionally cause big blowouts against X/1s, and it probably makes non-artifact X/1s in this format a little bit worse than normal. I think in the end, this is premium removal.
Clawing Torment image 2.0 This can outright kill X/1s, and takes away the ability of all creatures to block – while also slowly bleeding the opponent out. If you’re in a really aggressive Black deck, I can see playing this, but in situations where you aren’t the beatdown, it isn’t going to be very good. Your opponent just won’t always care about their creature getting a little smaller and being unable to block. It is notable that it is an Enchantment you can keep around on the table for awhile, and you kind of want to because it hurts your opponent – and that goes well in the Black-White deck, which wants an Artifact and Enchantment to be around for its various effects This is probably mostly an aggro deck special.
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
Seven-Tail Mentor image 2.5 This will immediately add a counter to the board, which can really alter the way your turn goes in your favor, and you get another counter out of it when it dies. Sure, it would be nice if it was like the Armorer from a few sets back and you got both counters right away – but I still think this is a quality card. Having a useful creature type and also “Modifying” creatures gets some extra points too.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Planar Incision image 1.0 This kind of card always seems to underperform. Sure, you can reuse an ETB ability, or save a creature from removal, but those situations aren’t exactly a dime a dozen, and you have to have the mana up at precisely the right time! There are a few cards in the set – like Circuit Mender – that have abilities that trigger when they leave play, and I guess if you end up with a few of those, this starts to get a little more interesting, since you rebuy the leaves play ability as well as the enters the battlefield ability, but I’m still not really convinced.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Dismal Backwater image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 1 Pick 7: Gravelighter
Gravelighter image 4.0 This is a Wind Drake with some excellent upside. Most of the time, I think you would want to draw a card with it, as a Wind Drake that cantrips is pretty awesome. But, you won’t always be able to set up situations where it does that, and having a symmetrical edict effect as af all back isn’t too bad – and in fact in the earlier part of the game – like when your opponent has one creature – the edict on Gravelighter is probably better than drawing a card anyway. And that’s kind of how this will shake out. It is harder to make something die early to trigger its card draw effect, but that’s okay because the Edict will probably be pretty good in that situation! Whereas, in the mid-to-late game, things are a little more likely to die, and an edict effect is also probably a lot worse, so yeah.
Covert Technician image 2.5 The combat trigger that the Technician has is unfortunately quite narrow. If you aren’t augmenting it in some way, you’ll only be able to put 2 mana or less Artifacts into play with it, and while you’ll probably have some of those in Blue, there aren’t so many that you will consistently be able to actually put something into play with it. Especially if you aren’t drawing extra cards. It is still a 3-mana 2/4 with upside, and being an Artifact And a Ninja is useful too.
Mobilizer Mech image 3.0 This is cheap to cast and has a fairly reasonable Crew cost, especially because it will essentially crew a second Vehicle, should you have one around. And..you won’t always, in fact about half the time you probably won’t have more than one vehicle, but the times you do this is going to do some pretty silly stuff.
Chainflail Centipede image 2.0 This is a Gray Ogre who attacks as a 4/2, with some reconfigure upside. I’m not ultra impressed with this as a creature or Equipment you put on something else. I mean, its fine, but I think you end up cutting it more than you’ll play it. It just isn’t very efficient no matter how you use it, and the stats boost is only useful if you’re the attacker.
Ambitious Assault image 2.0 Adding a conditional cantrip to Trumpet Blast is definitely interesting. This effect is really situational, but because it replaces itself, you end up with a card that – at worst – cycles for three mana, and you can also find more useful situations to use it in, since the card does replace itself.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Kitsune Ace image 3.0 I like that this gives you some vehicle payoffs even if it isn’t the card that is doing the crewing. Lending first strike makes a lot of vehicles hard to block, and you can untap it with its ability so that even if it crewed a vehicle it can be a blocker on your opponents turn. That’s all some pretty good upside on a two drop.
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Pack 1 Pick 8: Tamiyo's Compleation
Imperial Recovery Unit image 2.5 In terms of cost and what it takes to crew it it isn’t the most efficient vehicle ever, but it has the ability to return cards to your hand, and there seem to be enough relevant one and two drops around that you’ll pull that often a reasonable chunk of the time. Even just doing it once is plenty.
Undercity Scrounger image 1.5 This gives Black some access to fixing and ramp, which is nice, but the stats are underwhelming and the death requirement won’t always line up for you.
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
Seven-Tail Mentor image 2.5 This will immediately add a counter to the board, which can really alter the way your turn goes in your favor, and you get another counter out of it when it dies. Sure, it would be nice if it was like the Armorer from a few sets back and you got both counters right away – but I still think this is a quality card. Having a useful creature type and also “Modifying” creatures gets some extra points too.
Tamiyo's Compleation image 3.5 This is a more powerful take on this type of removal than we usually get. Usually, the bummer with this type of Blue removal spell is that you simply lock down a creature and it doesn’t untap – you don’t stap activated abilities and static abilities – but you actually do with this, and that’s a massive upgrade. Its nice that it can even turn off Equipment – as sometimes that will be worth doing.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
The Shattered States Era image 1.5 I like most of these creature-sagas a reasonable amount. Most of them are at least a 2.5…but not this one. 5 mana for a Threaten is costly. That type of effect is always so situational. Sometimes it will let you attack in ways you couldn’t before – and unlike a lot of Threatens you do eventually actually add to the board with this one – but I still don’t love it. Chapter II will only be meaningful on like half of your board states. You do ultimately get a 3/3 with Trample and Haste, but that’s not exactly a big deal by turn 7, and Chapters I and II are highly situational.
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Pack 1 Pick 9: Armguard Familiar
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Return to Action image 2.0 Black often gets this kind of trick that returns a creature to the battlefield when it dies these days, and then tend to be alright, although I prefer it when they cost a single Black mana. Still, this one does actually increase your creature’s power, which means you can use it to help you take down the other creature in combat a little more effectively, and it will even gain you some life! Its useful against removal too, of course. But, its still situational enough that I’m not super high on it.
The Shattered States Era image 1.5 I like most of these creature-sagas a reasonable amount. Most of them are at least a 2.5…but not this one. 5 mana for a Threaten is costly. That type of effect is always so situational. Sometimes it will let you attack in ways you couldn’t before – and unlike a lot of Threatens you do eventually actually add to the board with this one – but I still don’t love it. Chapter II will only be meaningful on like half of your board states. You do ultimately get a 3/3 with Trample and Haste, but that’s not exactly a big deal by turn 7, and Chapters I and II are highly situational.
Armguard Familiar image 2.5 This is a very solid playable. A two mana 2/1 with Ward 2 is already pretty close to passable, so adding the Reconfigure upside is really nice. It is a nice little creature early, and in the late game it can lend a much-needed stats boost, as well as a little bit of protection, for a more relevant creature.
Dramatist's Puppet image 1.5 There’s a lot of counters in this set, so taking them away from your opponent or adding them to your own things is definitely relevant, but it still won’t always actually be able to do a thing, and when it can’t it will still be a 4-mana 2/4, which is pretty bad.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
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Pack 1 Pick 10: Saiba Trespassers
When We Were Young image 1.5 This trick has the potential to create some 2-for-1 blow outs, but its also pretty expensive, and we’ve seen similar tricks that always grant key words like lifelink not be all that impressive. I think running one of these in your aggressive White decks with a decent number of artifacts and enchantments is fine, but I can see it getting cut a decent percentage of the time too.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Short Circuit image 1.5 This is fairly mediocre. It doesn’t stop enough of what a card can do for it to be that effective as removal. Sure, it has less power and it can’t fly – but it still lets the creature block, it can still have a death trigger, it can still have an activated ability, it can still have a static ability, and heck – it can even still attack, just less effectively! It having Flash does mean sometimes you can set this up so that you can kill an attacking creature with a double block, and when you can do that it will feel alright, but you just won’t always be able to make that happen.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
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Pack 1 Pick 11: Boon of Boseiju
Boon of Boseiju image 2.0 This looks like a solid trick. It will often give a significant buff for the cost, and untapping your attacking creature can matter sometimes too, since it enables it to hang back and block. The untap part also means you can try to use it to ambush an opposing attacker, but that’s generally a riskier way to use this sort of thing, since your opponent is more likely to have mana up.
Seven-Tail Mentor image 2.5 This will immediately add a counter to the board, which can really alter the way your turn goes in your favor, and you get another counter out of it when it dies. Sure, it would be nice if it was like the Armorer from a few sets back and you got both counters right away – but I still think this is a quality card. Having a useful creature type and also “Modifying” creatures gets some extra points too.
Ambitious Assault image 2.0 Adding a conditional cantrip to Trumpet Blast is definitely interesting. This effect is really situational, but because it replaces itself, you end up with a card that – at worst – cycles for three mana, and you can also find more useful situations to use it in, since the card does replace itself.
Eiganjo Exemplar image 3.0 It counts itself of course, so even without any other samurais around it attacks as a 3/2. One really nice thing is that you can play this, and then on the same turn attack with another Samurai, and +1/+1 is likely to help it attack more effectively.
Jukai Preserver image 3.0 At worst, this is a 4-mana 4/4, and its much better than that because it allows you to put counters wherever you want. The Channel part of the card is nice too, because sometimes utilizing this more like a trick, or spreading around the modifications is just better anyway. It slots nicely into the RG Modification deck, as well as Green-White Enchantments.
Pack 1 Pick 12: Moonfolk Puzzlemaker
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
Ancestral Katana image 3.0 This reminds me a bit of Pirate’s Cutlass, a card that really overperformed in its Limited format. Now, this isn’t colorless, and it doesn’t equip for free – and it equipping at a discount is also more conditional for sure – but I think this will still be a really nice Common. If you’re just Equipping this the old fashioned way it won’t be great, but if you have Warriors and Samurai around, the fact that this can just keep moving on to your best attacker for only one mana is going to feel pretty good, and it doesn’t hurt that it can still be Equipped the normal way when that works out for you. Plus, Equipment have some additional upside in this format.
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
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Pack 1 Pick 13: Saiba Trespassers
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
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Pack 1 Pick 14: Moonsnare Prototype
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Pack 1 Pick 15: Mountain
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Pack 2 Pick 1: Assassin's Ink
Kura, the Boundless Sky image 5.0 Like its brethren, this legendary dragon is a bomb, although I think it might have the worst stat-line of the bunch – but that’s only compared to completely absurd Dragons! A 5-mana 5/5 with Flying and Deathtouch is obviously a great rate, and can end the game on its own – and if your opponent ever kills Kura, you’re going to get some sweet value. It will probably make the most sense to make the creature token, as this gives you an immediate board presence that will also be a headache for your opponent. Basically, you are paying 5 mana here for two 5/5s at least, and the token might be even bigger! The land ability is something you will only do on very rare occasions, where maybe getting the right land lets you cast another bomb or something.
Assassin's Ink image 4.0 This is premium removal. Even if you always had to pay 4 mana for it, it would be premium – so the fact that it lets you decrease the cost all the way down to only 2 mana is really nice. It isn’t going to be easily splashable which is a little sad, but its still a great card.
Towashi Guide-Bot image 3.0 This looks pretty nice. A 4-mana 2/1 that puts a counter on a creature is quite good, and obviously there is a fair bit of synergy in this format for artifacts and modifications – including this card, which comes with the pretty nice ability to draw you a card. It is very likely it will only cost you 3 because of the counter it puts somewhere, and I can get behind that cost pretty happily – anything less than that and this will really generate some serious card advantage.
Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom image 2.5 This is the least impressive of all the Shrines. Milling is a tough win condition to do consistently in most formats, and that certainly looks to be the case here, and it also isn’t that easy to take advantage of it yourself in this format. So, unless you really get there on Shrines, this won’t do a whole lot for you. The others in this cycle are all pretty nice even if you have 0 other shrines, and that can’t really be said here. That said, it does have some things going for it – namely, that it is a two mana Flyer, which can help you set up Ninjutsu, and it also isn’t a bad place to put Equipment or countrers.
Tales of Master Seshiro image 3.5 Chapter I and II actually give a fairly significant buff. +1/+1 counter + Vigilance for a turn is pretty sweet, because it not only enables a better attack, it allows you to alter how a race is going. Now, sometimes paying 5 for chapter one is going to feel pretty rough – like if getting the counter and vigilance doesn’t do much for you, but at the stage in the game that you play this, it is pretty likely to be useful. Then, you end up with a pretty nice creature – with haste and Vigilance – which will mean it can swing right away, unlike most of these saga-creatures. I think this might be Green’s best Common. It gives you a ton of very real value up front, and then a very nice creature.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Brute Suit image 2.5 This is a nice little Vehicle at Common. 1 to crew is super easy, and its no joke as an attacker. As we’ve seen, there’s lots of Vehicle stuff going on this set too.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Unstoppable Ogre image 2.0 The enter the battlefield trigger on the card won’t always do something for you, but there will be a decent number of situations where it allows you to attack more effectively with your board. It can also crew everything which is nice.
Bamboo Grove Archer image 2.5 This is a very nice defensive creature. A two mana 3/3 with Reach will slow the board to a grinding halt in the early game, and the fact that you can use it as a Plummet sometimes is nice upside. It isn’t exactly the kind of card all decks will want, but grinder Green decks will probably be happy to play a few of these – while aggro decks probably aren’t playing it at all.
Guardians of Oboro image 2.0 A 3-mana ¾ with Defender is kind of okay in a more controlling deck, and if you modify this one – or other creatures with Defender – they can attack. That’s kind of cool, though not exactly an incredible payoff. This seems fine.
Greater Tanuki image 3.0 This seems pretty nice. In the early game you can use it to fix and ramp your mana, and in the late game it can be a big beater that helps you close things out. It isn’t super incredible at doing either thing, but effectively being a split card with a worse Rampant Growth on one side and a worse Colossal Dreadmaw on the other gives you a decent option all game long.
Lucky Offering image 1.5 This is actually passable in your main deck in this format, since there are so many artifacts, and many of them can be blown up by this. It is still narrow enough that I don’t love putting in the main deck.
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Pack 2 Pick 2: Twisted Embrace
Gloomshrieker image 3.5 This is pretty good. It will set you up for a 2-for-1 most of the time, and the fact it has Menace even means it can be a little bit of a problem as an attacker. The one downside here is that sometimes you won’t really want to play this on turn three, because you don’t have a permanent in your graveyard. It is costed as more of an aggressive creature, but most of the time you probably won’t want to play this if you aren’t taking advantage of the ETB. The good news is, most of the time you’ll be able to.
Towashi Guide-Bot image 3.0 This looks pretty nice. A 4-mana 2/1 that puts a counter on a creature is quite good, and obviously there is a fair bit of synergy in this format for artifacts and modifications – including this card, which comes with the pretty nice ability to draw you a card. It is very likely it will only cost you 3 because of the counter it puts somewhere, and I can get behind that cost pretty happily – anything less than that and this will really generate some serious card advantage.
Dragonspark Reactor image 1.5 // 4.0 The total mana investment here won’t always feel great, and it does sit around on the table for awhile before it does its thing, but accumulating counters on this seems very doable in Red in this format, and it seems like a nice removal spell that can sometimes double as a win condition. I do think that it probably needs a build around grade, as some of the Red decks in the format aren’t going to be great abusing this – UR and BR are both very interested in artifacts, but the other color pairs not so much.
Dragonfly Suit image 2.5 This isn’t the best rate for a vehicle, but it is easy to crew and evasive, so I can see plenty of board states where its getting in through the air.
Imperial Oath image 1.5 Three bodies + Scry 3 for six isn’t the worst thing ever, but it also isn’t quite as impactful as I’d like a six mana spell to be. Those three bodies can help, but there are also plenty of board states where they don’t do a whole lot for you.
Automated Artificer image 2.0 There are enough artifacts in this set that this will actually be able to ramp your mana reasonably well, and it has some decent stats.
Gift of Wrath image 2.0 This is the kind of Aura I feel alright about playing. +2/+2 and Menace is a very real stats boost, and the fact that this leaves behind a creature token when the enchanted creature dies is quite nice – and helps mitigate against the risk of getting 2-for-1’d. Now, it is still an Aura, and probably only one that you run in very aggressive decks, but it will be solid there.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Grafted Growth image 1.5 We have seen similar cards before, and the fact they fix and ramp for you while adding a little something to the board always makes them pretty reasonable, especially if you’re in the market for mana of any color. You probably don’t play it in a two-color deck, though.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Iron Apprentice image 2.0 This format has plenty of counters, so putting more on this thing isn’t a huge stretch. It also gives you a creature that enters the battlefield modified, which powers up a bunch of cards in this format.
Befriending the Moths image 3.0 Chapter I and II will very likely enable attacks you didn’t have before, and that’s a pretty big deal. Especially because this eventually adds meaningfully to the board by giving you a 2/4 Flyer. It will be a bit of a bummer to play on a completely empty board, but that won’t be happening that often. This looks like a good Common to me, one you can first pick sometimes.
Twisted Embrace image 3.5 Wow, this is really good for a Common! 4 mana to kill a creature and give +1/+1 to one of your creature’s is a great deal. Now, the downside here is that your opponent could blow up whatever you target in response, which will be backbreaking, so it is sort of like a Black Fight spell, in the sense that you need to pick your spot carefully – when you do though, it will feel amazing. If you’re worried your opponent will kill your creature, you can also stick it on an artifact. Its also an Enchantment, which this format cares a lot about – this will be premium removal for any deck, but the BW deck can get even more mileage out of it.
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Pack 2 Pick 3: Okiba Reckoner Raid
Flame Discharge image 4.0 If you have no modifications, this is a Blaze that can’t hit players – that’s not the most efficient cost ever, but it is removal that can remain relevant all game long. If you throw a modification in, you end up with a much more efficient card, as it can Shock creatures for a single Red, do 3 for two mana, and so forth – so it, still scales, but it becomes more efficient. You’ll have modifications often enough that this definitely ends up as premium removal, especially because the floor is so reasonable.
Prosperous Thief image 3.5 This looks pretty nice. A 3-mana 3/2 that made Treasure when it hit the opponent would already be playable, so adding the Ninjutsu angle, and the fact that it is more generally a Ninja/Rogue payoff, and you have something even nicer!
Okiba Reckoner Raid image 2.5 Giving us a one mana saga like this is pretty interesting! You obviously get insane value for the investment of one mana, as you drain 2 life and get a 2/2 with Menace that gives vehicles Menace! This is going to feel like a pretty good turn one play, and even in the late game this can do some work. The life drain helps you survive until it becomes a creature, and its great that as soon as it transforms you can send in a vehicle in that is hard to block. Having to wait for the body a couple of turns is going to be a little frustrating, though.
Ecologist's Terrarium image 2.5 Having colorless fixing at Common is pretty nice, and could definitely help decks splash a third color, and the fact this can only give you a counter once its done its job in fetching you a land is pretty solid.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Brute Suit image 2.5 This is a nice little Vehicle at Common. 1 to crew is super easy, and its no joke as an attacker. As we’ve seen, there’s lots of Vehicle stuff going on this set too.
You Are Already Dead image 2.5 This has a really interesting design. I’m normally not big on this type of effect, as actually doing some damage to something often takes up some resources, so spells that can only remove damaged creatures are often not all that playable. However, in this case they lowered the mana cost to ONE, and they added a cantrip. At that point, we’re talking about a card that is certainly playable. Keep in mind that it does need a damaged creature to target, so it isn’t really the kind of cantrip you can cycle whenever you want. You won’t usually generate a 2-for-1 with this, because of the resources you gave up to damage the creature in the first place, but the cantrip pretty much makes up for that, and on occasions where you can get a 2-for-1, this will feel downright amazing. It is still a super situational removal spell, but it is priced to move, and I think you’ll end up playing the first copy in most Black decks. Playing more than that is probably asking for trouble due to its situational nature.
Crackling Emergence image 1.5 This is a neat take on a land animation spell – making it so the land doesn’t die when the creature does is definitely a nice little upgrade, but these types of spells basically always underperform. They are the most impressive in the early game in a lot of ways – but you also don’t want to be hindering the way you develop your board, and by turning a land into a creature, you might be doing just that. It is kind of exciting to think about your opponent trading a real creature for this, but it isn’t as good of a deal as it seems – you’re still just trading 1-for-1.
Unstoppable Ogre image 2.0 The enter the battlefield trigger on the card won’t always do something for you, but there will be a decent number of situations where it allows you to attack more effectively with your board. It can also crew everything which is nice.
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
Geothermal Kami image 2.0 It is a fine 4-mana 4/3 in a worst-case, but it comes with an effect that can be pretty sweet in some situations. Returning something like a Saga you want to go back to chapter one on, or an Aura you wanted to move anyway – will be particularly nice, and the fact this tacks on 3 life is nice too.
Intercessor's Arrest image 3.5 This is premium removal. The fact it shuts down blocking, attacking, crewing vehicles, and activated abilities is great. This format does have more ways to blow up Enchantments than normal, but it also has more payoffs for Enchantments than normal, so its probably a wash.
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Pack 2 Pick 4: Malicious Malfunction
Mech Hangar image 3.0 This looks like a nice utility land. It will mostly only tap for colorless, but the ability to crew a Vehicle for three mana is quite nice in a format that has a ton of Vehicles. I can accept the fact that this might hurt my mana base a little bit for that kind of upside. And hey, sometimes it may even help you splash a Vehicle or something.
Malicious Malfunction image 1.5 // 3.0 These cheap board sweepers are frequently pretty awkward in Limited. Most decks have a decent number of creatures who will die to it, so finding an opening to cast it where it is purely beneficial can be hard. Still, it is one of the best possible ways to deal with an aggressive opponent, and casting it in those situations can be completely game ending. A card like that mostly feels like a sideboard card to me.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Commune with Spirits image 1.0 This is cheap and gives you some decent card selection. But…it also doesn’t really do a whole lot, and cards like that seem to be getting worse and worse in Limited these days. It seems like it will be easy to cut this.
Spirited Companion image 2.5 Well, it looks like White got an Elvish Visionary! That’s always a pretty nice card in Limited – as adding something to the board and getting a card out of it feels pretty good.
Kami of Restless Shadows image 1.0 // 3.0 If you aren’t returning a Ninja or Rogue to your hand consistently with this, it is going to be much worse. Putting your best graveyard creature on top of your library is nice, but not nearly as good, because you aren’t actually gaining a card, you’re just doing some card selection, and that’s just a massive step down. Returning a creature to your hand is likely to give you a 2-for-1, while that’s not possible if you’re putting something on top. Obviously, if the creature you put back is a bomb or something you’ll still be pretty happy, but if that’s all this is doing, it probably isn’t worth it, as a 5-mana 3/3 is a pretty bad statline.
Kami of Industry image 1.5 There will be too many situations where you either have no Artifact to reanimate, or you have one that you can bring back but it doesn’t really do anything on the board at the stage of the game yo’ure in. A five mana 3/6 as a baseline doesn’t help the card out either, even though that isn’t disastrous. I think the idea is that in the BR deck, you can easily sacrifice whatever it is you bring back, but I still have a hard time seeing this work out often enough.
Armguard Familiar image 2.5 This is a very solid playable. A two mana 2/1 with Ward 2 is already pretty close to passable, so adding the Reconfigure upside is really nice. It is a nice little creature early, and in the late game it can lend a much-needed stats boost, as well as a little bit of protection, for a more relevant creature.
Automated Artificer image 2.0 There are enough artifacts in this set that this will actually be able to ramp your mana reasonably well, and it has some decent stats.
Scrapyard Steelbreaker image 2.0 This will slot pretty well into the Black-Red deck, which is mosty about sacrificing artifacts. With enough mana and artifacts in play, this creature becomes a real pain to block.
Inkrise Infiltrator image 2.0 If this format didn’t have Ninjutsu, this would be a lot worse. It doesn’t have the best starting stats, and the ability to buff it, while sometimes useful late, certainly isn’t especially efficient. However, in a world where you want to play an early evasive creature that you can use to get in with a Ninja, well – its a solid playable.
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Pack 2 Pick 5: Boseiju Reaches Skyward
Secluded Courtyard image 1.0 // 2.5 So, this set does have a bit of a tribal element, but I think it will still be a bit difficult to make this actually produce mana of any color consistently enough that I don’t love this card in most Limited decks in this format. If it is producing colorless almost all the time, it isn’t worth it, because that makes your mana base way worse. You need a critical mass of creatures with the same type – and that’s doable – but it isn’t a forgone conclusion.
Spinning Wheel Kick image 3.0 This is a neat take on this type of Green removal. It has a way higher ceiling than most cards like it, but it also has a pretty disappointing floor. You have to pay 4 mana to do the damage to one thing – and at Sorcery speed. That’s something we have gotten pretty regularly for about 3 mana of late and at Instant speed. It not being an Instant matters for sure too, because with this type of spell you have to pick your spots carefully, as a removal spell will utterly blow you out. So yeah, the floor here…not great. However, if you pay 6 for this, and it lets you take down TWO creatures, you’re going to feel pretty awesome, and in the extreme late game it can do even more work than that. I don’t quite think it is premium, though. The baseline is too inefficient and clunky, and the requirements that a card like this already asks you for – that is, having a creature with high power, and your opponent not being able to interact in response – those things it asks for you are already a big enough hurdle.
Boseiju Reaches Skyward image 3.0 I’m always pretty concerned about a 4-mana card that doesn’t immediately add to the board in any way – and that’s certainly what we have going on here. Searching up a couple of Forests will be nice, but it isn’t that impactful in the immediate future. Chapter II may be something you don’t even want to do because you may not want to draw another land. Ultimately it will add to the board though, and usually with quite the formidable creature, but like with a lot of these – it taking a couple of turns can be a bit brutal in games where you need something that does something more immediately. Still, if you are able to draw the two lands, and then transform this a couple turns later, it will be a real presence on the board.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Dramatist's Puppet image 1.5 There’s a lot of counters in this set, so taking them away from your opponent or adding them to your own things is definitely relevant, but it still won’t always actually be able to do a thing, and when it can’t it will still be a 4-mana 2/4, which is pretty bad.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Greater Tanuki image 3.0 This seems pretty nice. In the early game you can use it to fix and ramp your mana, and in the late game it can be a big beater that helps you close things out. It isn’t super incredible at doing either thing, but effectively being a split card with a worse Rampant Growth on one side and a worse Colossal Dreadmaw on the other gives you a decent option all game long.
Kitsune Ace image 3.0 I like that this gives you some vehicle payoffs even if it isn’t the card that is doing the crewing. Lending first strike makes a lot of vehicles hard to block, and you can untap it with its ability so that even if it crewed a vehicle it can be a blocker on your opponents turn. That’s all some pretty good upside on a two drop.
Eiganjo Exemplar image 3.0 It counts itself of course, so even without any other samurais around it attacks as a 3/2. One really nice thing is that you can play this, and then on the same turn attack with another Samurai, and +1/+1 is likely to help it attack more effectively.
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Pack 2 Pick 6: Mobilizer Mech
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Mobilizer Mech image 3.0 This is cheap to cast and has a fairly reasonable Crew cost, especially because it will essentially crew a second Vehicle, should you have one around. And..you won’t always, in fact about half the time you probably won’t have more than one vehicle, but the times you do this is going to do some pretty silly stuff.
Ambitious Assault image 2.0 Adding a conditional cantrip to Trumpet Blast is definitely interesting. This effect is really situational, but because it replaces itself, you end up with a card that – at worst – cycles for three mana, and you can also find more useful situations to use it in, since the card does replace itself.
Unstoppable Ogre image 2.0 The enter the battlefield trigger on the card won’t always do something for you, but there will be a decent number of situations where it allows you to attack more effectively with your board. It can also crew everything which is nice.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Kami of Terrible Secrets image 1.5 // 3.0 A 4-mana ¾ is not a great stat-line these days, so you are going to want to be drawing a card off of this around half the time for it to be worth it. And…that’s not going to be automatic in every Black deck in the format, since this asks you to have both an Artifact and Enchantment. That’s certainly easier to do in this format than it is in most, but if you’re in say, UB Ninjas or the BG graveyard deck – that’s not something you’re going to be focused on. In a lot of ways, this is a BW gold card, because that’s the deck that has a whole bunch of reasons to get both an Artifact and an Enchantment in play.
Repel the Vile image 2.5 This is much better in this format than it would be in your typical one. There are so many Enchantments around that that mode might actually be the one that is available to you the most often, and the fact it can take down large creatures is no small thing either. It isn’t quite premium, giving the restrictions and the cost, but it seems like a fine Common.
Grafted Growth image 1.5 We have seen similar cards before, and the fact they fix and ramp for you while adding a little something to the board always makes them pretty reasonable, especially if you’re in the market for mana of any color. You probably don’t play it in a two-color deck, though.
Return to Action image 2.0 Black often gets this kind of trick that returns a creature to the battlefield when it dies these days, and then tend to be alright, although I prefer it when they cost a single Black mana. Still, this one does actually increase your creature’s power, which means you can use it to help you take down the other creature in combat a little more effectively, and it will even gain you some life! Its useful against removal too, of course. But, its still situational enough that I’m not super high on it.
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Pack 2 Pick 7: Mirrorshell Crab
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Okiba Salvage image 2.0 We see 5 mana reanimation spells a lot, and they tend to be kind of mediocre. This is because you don’t often have something in your graveyard that is worth paying 5 mana to reanimate. In other words, you not only need a large enough creature, it also needs to be in the graveyard. When you add +1/+1 counters to the mix, like this does, it does become easier to feel like you’re getting your 5 mana’s worth out of the card. However, you do need to have an Artifact and Enchantment to get those. I would be much happier with this card if it gave you one +1/+1 counter if you had an artifact, and another if you had an Enchantment, but it is all or nothing – and that certainly hurts it a little bit, even in a format where it seems getting one of each of those is fairly doable. If you have a couple of crazy good bombs, it does get better than that.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Reckoner's Bargain image 2.0 This type of effect tends to do alright, especially in decks with a sacrifice theme – which in this format will mostly mean Black-Red. It is sort of an Instant speed Tormenting Voice, in the sense that you give up two cards to draw two cards – its just that one of them is an artifact or creature in play. Using this in response to a removal spell, or to get rid of something expendable will always feel nice, but there are also situations where you can’t find a spot to use this because you just don’t have the resources to make it worth it. The life gain is a nice addition, but doesn’t power it up a ton.
Dragonfly Suit image 2.5 This isn’t the best rate for a vehicle, but it is easy to crew and evasive, so I can see plenty of board states where its getting in through the air.
Grafted Growth image 1.5 We have seen similar cards before, and the fact they fix and ramp for you while adding a little something to the board always makes them pretty reasonable, especially if you’re in the market for mana of any color. You probably don’t play it in a two-color deck, though.
Mirrorshell Crab image 1.5 This is either an overcosted 5/7 or an overcosted Mana Leak. As is usually the case with these Channel cards, though, having the option between those things is much better than those things are individually! In this case, I do think both of the options are pretty underwhelming, though.
Ambitious Assault image 2.0 Adding a conditional cantrip to Trumpet Blast is definitely interesting. This effect is really situational, but because it replaces itself, you end up with a card that – at worst – cycles for three mana, and you can also find more useful situations to use it in, since the card does replace itself.
Swiftwater Cliffs image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 2 Pick 8: Acquisition Octopus
Acquisition Octopus image 2.5 3-mana 2/2s that draw you a card when they hit the opponent are always kind of alright. If you can get a blocker out of the way, or give them evasion, they can do some work. The nice thing with this verison of it, is that if the Octopus can’t get it done on its own, it can give that ability to another creature that is more capable of getting in there.
Boon of Boseiju image 2.0 This looks like a solid trick. It will often give a significant buff for the cost, and untapping your attacking creature can matter sometimes too, since it enables it to hang back and block. The untap part also means you can try to use it to ambush an opposing attacker, but that’s generally a riskier way to use this sort of thing, since your opponent is more likely to have mana up.
Geothermal Kami image 2.0 It is a fine 4-mana 4/3 in a worst-case, but it comes with an effect that can be pretty sweet in some situations. Returning something like a Saga you want to go back to chapter one on, or an Aura you wanted to move anyway – will be particularly nice, and the fact this tacks on 3 life is nice too.
Jukai Preserver image 3.0 At worst, this is a 4-mana 4/4, and its much better than that because it allows you to put counters wherever you want. The Channel part of the card is nice too, because sometimes utilizing this more like a trick, or spreading around the modifications is just better anyway. It slots nicely into the RG Modification deck, as well as Green-White Enchantments.
Clawing Torment image 2.0 This can outright kill X/1s, and takes away the ability of all creatures to block – while also slowly bleeding the opponent out. If you’re in a really aggressive Black deck, I can see playing this, but in situations where you aren’t the beatdown, it isn’t going to be very good. Your opponent just won’t always care about their creature getting a little smaller and being unable to block. It is notable that it is an Enchantment you can keep around on the table for awhile, and you kind of want to because it hurts your opponent – and that goes well in the Black-White deck, which wants an Artifact and Enchantment to be around for its various effects This is probably mostly an aggro deck special.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Kami of Terrible Secrets image 1.5 // 3.0 A 4-mana ¾ is not a great stat-line these days, so you are going to want to be drawing a card off of this around half the time for it to be worth it. And…that’s not going to be automatic in every Black deck in the format, since this asks you to have both an Artifact and Enchantment. That’s certainly easier to do in this format than it is in most, but if you’re in say, UB Ninjas or the BG graveyard deck – that’s not something you’re going to be focused on. In a lot of ways, this is a BW gold card, because that’s the deck that has a whole bunch of reasons to get both an Artifact and an Enchantment in play.
Akki War Paint image 1.0 Getting an Enchanted creature destroyed is a pretty good way to lose a game because you get 2-for-1’d. Nice Auras tend to do something to offset that risk, and this doesn’t. This does give a pretty nice boost for the cost, and the set has payoffs for "modified" things, but I still have a hard time getting behind this.
Pack 2 Pick 9: Tales of Master Seshiro
Tales of Master Seshiro image 3.5 Chapter I and II actually give a fairly significant buff. +1/+1 counter + Vigilance for a turn is pretty sweet, because it not only enables a better attack, it allows you to alter how a race is going. Now, sometimes paying 5 for chapter one is going to feel pretty rough – like if getting the counter and vigilance doesn’t do much for you, but at the stage in the game that you play this, it is pretty likely to be useful. Then, you end up with a pretty nice creature – with haste and Vigilance – which will mean it can swing right away, unlike most of these saga-creatures. I think this might be Green’s best Common. It gives you a ton of very real value up front, and then a very nice creature.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Bamboo Grove Archer image 2.5 This is a very nice defensive creature. A two mana 3/3 with Reach will slow the board to a grinding halt in the early game, and the fact that you can use it as a Plummet sometimes is nice upside. It isn’t exactly the kind of card all decks will want, but grinder Green decks will probably be happy to play a few of these – while aggro decks probably aren’t playing it at all.
Guardians of Oboro image 2.0 A 3-mana ¾ with Defender is kind of okay in a more controlling deck, and if you modify this one – or other creatures with Defender – they can attack. That’s kind of cool, though not exactly an incredible payoff. This seems fine.
Lucky Offering image 1.5 This is actually passable in your main deck in this format, since there are so many artifacts, and many of them can be blown up by this. It is still narrow enough that I don’t love putting in the main deck.
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Pack 2 Pick 10: Futurist Sentinel
Gift of Wrath image 2.0 This is the kind of Aura I feel alright about playing. +2/+2 and Menace is a very real stats boost, and the fact that this leaves behind a creature token when the enchanted creature dies is quite nice – and helps mitigate against the risk of getting 2-for-1’d. Now, it is still an Aura, and probably only one that you run in very aggressive decks, but it will be solid there.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Grafted Growth image 1.5 We have seen similar cards before, and the fact they fix and ramp for you while adding a little something to the board always makes them pretty reasonable, especially if you’re in the market for mana of any color. You probably don’t play it in a two-color deck, though.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Iron Apprentice image 2.0 This format has plenty of counters, so putting more on this thing isn’t a huge stretch. It also gives you a creature that enters the battlefield modified, which powers up a bunch of cards in this format.
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Pack 2 Pick 11: Moonfolk Puzzlemaker
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Brute Suit image 2.5 This is a nice little Vehicle at Common. 1 to crew is super easy, and its no joke as an attacker. As we’ve seen, there’s lots of Vehicle stuff going on this set too.
You Are Already Dead image 2.5 This has a really interesting design. I’m normally not big on this type of effect, as actually doing some damage to something often takes up some resources, so spells that can only remove damaged creatures are often not all that playable. However, in this case they lowered the mana cost to ONE, and they added a cantrip. At that point, we’re talking about a card that is certainly playable. Keep in mind that it does need a damaged creature to target, so it isn’t really the kind of cantrip you can cycle whenever you want. You won’t usually generate a 2-for-1 with this, because of the resources you gave up to damage the creature in the first place, but the cantrip pretty much makes up for that, and on occasions where you can get a 2-for-1, this will feel downright amazing. It is still a super situational removal spell, but it is priced to move, and I think you’ll end up playing the first copy in most Black decks. Playing more than that is probably asking for trouble due to its situational nature.
Moonfolk Puzzlemaker image 2.0 This has decent stats and repeatedly Scrying does make your draws better. Its also an artifact for the decks that care about that, and a relatively cheap flyer for Ninjutsu.
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Pack 2 Pick 12: Kami of Restless Shadows
Mech Hangar image 3.0 This looks like a nice utility land. It will mostly only tap for colorless, but the ability to crew a Vehicle for three mana is quite nice in a format that has a ton of Vehicles. I can accept the fact that this might hurt my mana base a little bit for that kind of upside. And hey, sometimes it may even help you splash a Vehicle or something.
Kami of Restless Shadows image 1.0 // 3.0 If you aren’t returning a Ninja or Rogue to your hand consistently with this, it is going to be much worse. Putting your best graveyard creature on top of your library is nice, but not nearly as good, because you aren’t actually gaining a card, you’re just doing some card selection, and that’s just a massive step down. Returning a creature to your hand is likely to give you a 2-for-1, while that’s not possible if you’re putting something on top. Obviously, if the creature you put back is a bomb or something you’ll still be pretty happy, but if that’s all this is doing, it probably isn’t worth it, as a 5-mana 3/3 is a pretty bad statline.
Kami of Industry image 1.5 There will be too many situations where you either have no Artifact to reanimate, or you have one that you can bring back but it doesn’t really do anything on the board at the stage of the game yo’ure in. A five mana 3/6 as a baseline doesn’t help the card out either, even though that isn’t disastrous. I think the idea is that in the BR deck, you can easily sacrifice whatever it is you bring back, but I still have a hard time seeing this work out often enough.
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Pack 2 Pick 13: Saiba Trespassers
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
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Pack 2 Pick 14: Moonsnare Prototype
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
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Pack 2 Pick 15: Discover the Impossible
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Pack 3 Pick 1: Life of Toshiro Umezawa
Greasefang, Okiba Boss image 4.0 This looks pretty darn good, between the great stats and the Vehicle recursion. Obviously, you need some Vehicles in the graveyard to really get there with this, but there are enough of them in this set, that I can see Greasefang doing the job a significant chunk of the time. Even just doing it once is immensely powerful, since you not only get a quick swing in, you also get it back in your hand.
Malicious Malfunction image 1.5 // 3.0 These cheap board sweepers are frequently pretty awkward in Limited. Most decks have a decent number of creatures who will die to it, so finding an opening to cast it where it is purely beneficial can be hard. Still, it is one of the best possible ways to deal with an aggressive opponent, and casting it in those situations can be completely game ending. A card like that mostly feels like a sideboard card to me.
Colossal Skyturtle image 3.5 This has three pretty nice modes! If you get it late and cast it as a creature, its big enough that it can close out a game, and Ward 2 provides it a bit of protection. UG is the color pair that has the most channel in it, and the Skyturtle does a pretty good of making tha clear with its two channel abilities – and they are both abilities that do a thing that might let you get back a card with Channel. Even absent that channel synergy, the fact that you can use this to get back any card from your graveyard, or to bounce a permanent is pretty nice. For most stuff with channel, if you chopped the card up, each card individually wouldn’t be that impressive, but because this card basically has three very different modes, the flexibility is well worth it.
Reito Sentinel image 1.0 Milling doesn’t seem to be a major component of this format for the most part, whether you’re miling yourself or someone else. BG definitely has some graveyard stuff going on, and that’s probably where this will be at its best, but I’m still not overly impressed with a 3-mana 3/3 Defender. The cool thing you can do with it in the extreme late game is start using its ability to draw whatever you want to every single turn, but I’m always skeptical that type of strategy will end up working out in Limited. It doesn’t very often!
Life of Toshiro Umezawa image 4.0 Now, this is a Saga that turns into a creature! Chapters I and II are nice references to Umezawa’s Jitte, and once it transforms into a creature, it is a nice reference to Toshiro Umezawa. But even apart from the fun references, this card seems quite good. Chapters I and II give you options between the different modal Jitte effects, and they are pretty spicy. On some boards this will allow you to outright kill two creatures with the first two chapters – on boards where you can’t do that, this will often allow you to attack with a creature who couldn’t before – and on eboards where you can’t do either, gaining a few life isn’t a bad consolation prize, especially because it turns into a reasonable creature in the end.
Kami's Flare image 3.5 Two mana to do 3 is always premium, so also doing 2 to the opponent sometimes is pretty nice. This is one of Red’s best Commons.
Jukai Trainee image 2.0 They decided to give this samurai the old Bushido mechanic. It’s a two mana 2/2 that is harder than most two mana 2/2s to block or attack through, and that’s probably enough of an upside for you to play it a decent chunk of the time.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Lucky Offering image 1.5 This is actually passable in your main deck in this format, since there are so many artifacts, and many of them can be blown up by this. It is still narrow enough that I don’t love putting in the main deck.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Moonsnare Specialist image 3.5 This is a very good common. We have seen 4-mana 2/2s that Bounce a creature be very good in the past, and that’s what we have here as a base line. The Ninjutsu upside being tacked on means it can feel a little more like a Man-O’-War since you’re paying three mana, and being able to do it at instant speed may also enable you to break up an opposing block or something, which is pretty spicy.
Wanderer's Intervention image 2.5 This is restrictive about what it can kill – both because of the 4 damage and the “attacking or blocking” restriction, but it will often feel reasonably efficient. I don’t quite consider something like this premium because of how restrictive it is, but I think you end up playing the first copy pretty often in your White decks
Kami of Terrible Secrets image 1.5 // 3.0 A 4-mana ¾ is not a great stat-line these days, so you are going to want to be drawing a card off of this around half the time for it to be worth it. And…that’s not going to be automatic in every Black deck in the format, since this asks you to have both an Artifact and Enchantment. That’s certainly easier to do in this format than it is in most, but if you’re in say, UB Ninjas or the BG graveyard deck – that’s not something you’re going to be focused on. In a lot of ways, this is a BW gold card, because that’s the deck that has a whole bunch of reasons to get both an Artifact and an Enchantment in play.
Thundersteel Colossus image 2.0 This is a pretty neat design for an Equipment. It isn’t nearly as discounted as most of them are, but it is also massive and very easy to crew – coming with Trample and Haste generally means it is going to wreck face pretty significantly the turn it comes down, and it’s a big enough threat that your opponent will usually need to find a way to deal with it. I don’t think the most aggressive decks will be remotely interested in this, but as a top-curve win condition for grindier or controlling decks, I could see this pulling some weight.
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Pack 3 Pick 2: Mukotai Soulripper
Mukotai Soulripper image 3.5 The mana and crew cost here is pretty reasonable, especially because sometimes you can give up a creature or artifact to make it bigger and harder to block. The bigger it gets, the crew will feel even better!
Assassin's Ink image 4.0 This is premium removal. Even if you always had to pay 4 mana for it, it would be premium – so the fact that it lets you decrease the cost all the way down to only 2 mana is really nice. It isn’t going to be easily splashable which is a little sad, but its still a great card.
Enthusiastic Mechanaut image 3.5 This has good stats and a nice keyword for the cost, and reduces the cost of Artifacts. Obviously, that’s what UR is all about in this set, so this will set you up nicely in that deck.
Era of Enlightenment image 2.0 Like most of these saga-creatures, it is slow at adding to the board – so getting in the late game will sometimes be a bummer, but at least this one has some use right away, even late, as Scry 2 can help you dry what you really need to draw. The life gain can also help you survive the fact that you couldn’t add to the board right away too. Then, it becomes a 2/2 with First Strike, and that’s a creature is relevant all game long in most cases. While its a bit slow, the value this generates will feel nice – its spread out, but ultimately you get a 2/2 with First Strike that scries 2 and gains you 2 life, and that’s a pretty nice investment.
Bearer of Memory image 1.5 This doesn’t have great base stats, and its ability is incredibly costly, and even not that impressive in the extreme late game. This isn’t something you’ll play most of the time.
Kami of Industry image 1.5 There will be too many situations where you either have no Artifact to reanimate, or you have one that you can bring back but it doesn’t really do anything on the board at the stage of the game yo’ure in. A five mana 3/6 as a baseline doesn’t help the card out either, even though that isn’t disastrous. I think the idea is that in the BR deck, you can easily sacrifice whatever it is you bring back, but I still have a hard time seeing this work out often enough.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Uncharted Haven image 2.5 Coming into play tapped is definitely a downside, but the ability to name a color is great. I do think the dual lands are slightly better, as they always tap for two colors you probably need, and this will only ever tap for one, but if you need fixing, this is fine.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Lethal Exploit image 3.0 Two mana for -2/-2 at Instant speed isn’t exactly premium, though it can kill a lot of stuff. And you can even use it combined with a block to take something down – though that’s always a little risky. That said, I think you’ll be able to do -3/-3 with this often enough that it sneaks into the lower B range. If it was always -3/-3 it would be a 3.5. And sometimes this will be even more than -3/-3 – though I think we have to accept the wide range of outcomes with this, and the fact that -2/-2 is probably going to happen a lot.
Moon-Circuit Hacker image 3.0 Ninjutsu for one is quite the deal, especially because it will be drawing you a card if you ninjutsu it in. After that, you’ll only get to loot when it hits the opponent, but that’s okay – the initial use of the card will allow you to set up a 2-for-1, and that’s pretty nice. It is sort of a more convoluted Elvish Visionary that comes with an additional power.
Jukai Preserver image 3.0 At worst, this is a 4-mana 4/4, and its much better than that because it allows you to put counters wherever you want. The Channel part of the card is nice too, because sometimes utilizing this more like a trick, or spreading around the modifications is just better anyway. It slots nicely into the RG Modification deck, as well as Green-White Enchantments.
Repel the Vile image 2.5 This is much better in this format than it would be in your typical one. There are so many Enchantments around that that mode might actually be the one that is available to you the most often, and the fact it can take down large creatures is no small thing either. It isn’t quite premium, giving the restrictions and the cost, but it seems like a fine Common.
Blossoming Sands image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 3 Pick 3: Virus Beetle
March of Reckless Joy image 3.5 This looks pretty good. Even if you only pay 3, you are basically getting an Instant speed divination, which is a pretty darn good deal, and the more mana you pump into it, the more card selection you get. You won’t ever get more than 2 cards though, so it almost seems like paying 3 is going to give you the most value. I like that you don’t need to invest a ton of mana into this to make it really do something nice – but you still have the option to pump a bunch of mana into it if you’re desperate to find a particular card.
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Runaway Trash-Bot image 1.5 // 3.0 Obviously enough, you need to really get there on a graveyard-centric artifact/enchantment deck or this is going to be a pretty disappointing card. If you do get there, this looks like a pretty reasonable payoff. As long as it is like, a 2/4 you’re going to feel alright, especially because its likely to grow from there.
Heiko Yamazaki, the General image 3.0 A 4-mana 3/3 Trampler isn’t a very good rate, but this comes with a nice enough “lone attacker” Samurai/Warrior pay off, as this format has a lot of artifacts. You’ll be able to make use of it often enough for this to make the cut in most Red decks. If you have some other lone attacker payoffs, the fact it has trample will feel pretty good!
Mukotai Ambusher image 2.0 This seems like a solid little Ninja if you’re in the market for those. The Ninjutsu is very nicely costed, though keeping in mind that you have to return a thing to your hand does make it seem a bit less efficient. And really, neither casting this the normal way nor Ninjutsuing it is going to make you feel like you’re doing a great job. Its solid, and Lifelink makes it a good creature to Modify.
Virus Beetle image 1.5 Adding to the board and taking something away from your opponents’ hand isn’t a bad play in the early to mid game, though it does get less impressive late. It comes with the Artifact type too, which is a useful thing.
Armguard Familiar image 2.5 This is a very solid playable. A two mana 2/1 with Ward 2 is already pretty close to passable, so adding the Reconfigure upside is really nice. It is a nice little creature early, and in the late game it can lend a much-needed stats boost, as well as a little bit of protection, for a more relevant creature.
Voltage Surge image 3.0 One mana to do two to a creature is usually pretty close to premium removal – you will be able to pay one mana to kill many creatures that cost more! This having the additional “sacrifice an artifact” option to upgrade it to doing 4 damage is definitely enough for it to be premium, as doing 4 for one mana is a really good deal, though you may not always have an expendable artifact to give up.
Regent's Authority image 1.5 A 3-mana 3/2 with Vigilance is usually reasonable playable, and this one comes with a very nice ability. You won’t always have an Enchantment in your graveyard of course, but there are enough Enchantments in this set that you’ll have them reasonably often, and obviously casting one off of this ability is like drawing a card, and that’s pretty darn powerful. Like with all of these, its great that they designed them so that they can trigger the ability on their own – but you can also use other Samurais/Warriors to trigger the ability if you’ve got them around. 32 – Regent’s Authority – 1.5 This is a solid trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to be a good rate in general, and the additional enchantment/legendary creature upside is something you’ll be able to take advantage often enough.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Chainflail Centipede image 2.0 This is a Gray Ogre who attacks as a 4/2, with some reconfigure upside. I’m not ultra impressed with this as a creature or Equipment you put on something else. I mean, its fine, but I think you end up cutting it more than you’ll play it. It just isn’t very efficient no matter how you use it, and the stats boost is only useful if you’re the attacker.
The Shattered States Era image 1.5 I like most of these creature-sagas a reasonable amount. Most of them are at least a 2.5…but not this one. 5 mana for a Threaten is costly. That type of effect is always so situational. Sometimes it will let you attack in ways you couldn’t before – and unlike a lot of Threatens you do eventually actually add to the board with this one – but I still don’t love it. Chapter II will only be meaningful on like half of your board states. You do ultimately get a 3/3 with Trample and Haste, but that’s not exactly a big deal by turn 7, and Chapters I and II are highly situational.
Wind-Scarred Crag image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 3 Pick 4: Acquisition Octopus
Acquisition Octopus image 2.5 3-mana 2/2s that draw you a card when they hit the opponent are always kind of alright. If you can get a blocker out of the way, or give them evasion, they can do some work. The nice thing with this verison of it, is that if the Octopus can’t get it done on its own, it can give that ability to another creature that is more capable of getting in there.
Tempered in Solitude image 3.0 This is a great payoff for attacking with a creature alone, something that will of course be well-supported within the RW color pair. Attacking alone basically draws you a card here, so even if you offer up an attack that will be a trade at best, you’re probably still coming out ahead. While it is definitely going to make the most sense in RW, it gives you a pretty good reason to only attack with one creature a turn in most of the Red decks.
Kaito's Pursuit image 2.0 This trend of them giving us Mind rots that have some other small effect continues! Paying three to make your opponent discard two is usually about a 1.5 It gives you a 2-for-1, but you also don’t add to the board, and it can be a pretty bad top deck in the late game. But, if you’re in a Ninja deck – which will usually mean Blue-Black – the fact this will give Menace to some of your creatures is pretty nice. If you’re in Black in general, you’ll be hard pressed not to end up without at least a few ninjas, so I think you end up playing this a reasonable chunk of the time.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Kindled Fury image 1.5 We’ve seen this many times before, and its always a passable trick. +1/+0 and First Strike for one mana isn’t a bad deal since it allows many creatures to win combat – first strike just does a great job of turning a trade into something much better for you.
Regent's Authority image 1.5 A 3-mana 3/2 with Vigilance is usually reasonable playable, and this one comes with a very nice ability. You won’t always have an Enchantment in your graveyard of course, but there are enough Enchantments in this set that you’ll have them reasonably often, and obviously casting one off of this ability is like drawing a card, and that’s pretty darn powerful. Like with all of these, its great that they designed them so that they can trigger the ability on their own – but you can also use other Samurais/Warriors to trigger the ability if you’ve got them around. 32 – Regent’s Authority – 1.5 This is a solid trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to be a good rate in general, and the additional enchantment/legendary creature upside is something you’ll be able to take advantage often enough.
Akki Ronin image 1.5 If you need a two drop Samurai it is certainly that, though adding rummage to an attack isn’t super exciting in this format, it does allow you to sift through your library a bit.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Tales of Master Seshiro image 3.5 Chapter I and II actually give a fairly significant buff. +1/+1 counter + Vigilance for a turn is pretty sweet, because it not only enables a better attack, it allows you to alter how a race is going. Now, sometimes paying 5 for chapter one is going to feel pretty rough – like if getting the counter and vigilance doesn’t do much for you, but at the stage in the game that you play this, it is pretty likely to be useful. Then, you end up with a pretty nice creature – with haste and Vigilance – which will mean it can swing right away, unlike most of these saga-creatures. I think this might be Green’s best Common. It gives you a ton of very real value up front, and then a very nice creature.
Automated Artificer image 2.0 There are enough artifacts in this set that this will actually be able to ramp your mana reasonably well, and it has some decent stats.
Forest image
Pack 3 Pick 5: The Modern Age
Mobilizer Mech image 3.0 This is cheap to cast and has a fairly reasonable Crew cost, especially because it will essentially crew a second Vehicle, should you have one around. And..you won’t always, in fact about half the time you probably won’t have more than one vehicle, but the times you do this is going to do some pretty silly stuff.
Awakened Awareness image 1.0 This is pretty flexible – although it isn’t that good at either thing it does. If you’re looking for removal, you can just pay UU to make an opposing creature into a 1/1. It still keeps all of its abilities, though. If you want to pay more mana, you can use it to make one of your creatures big…but not really that much bigger if your creature is of a reasonable size at all. Yeah, overall, this is either a bad removal spell or an overcosted Aura to pump one of your creatures, and while I value flexibility – neither option here is very appealing.
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Network Disruptor image 3.0 This does enough to be a nice little one drop. Tapping a permanent won’t always matter, but there will be turns where doing that allows you to get a much better attack in. Meanwhile, being a one mana 1/1 Flyer in this set is better than normal anyway – both because of Ninjutsu and the plethora of ways that there are to modify creatures. Its also an artifact, and that’s a nice thing to have too. This seems like a Common that overlaps into tons of different Blue archetypes, and that’s great.
Voltage Surge image 3.0 One mana to do two to a creature is usually pretty close to premium removal – you will be able to pay one mana to kill many creatures that cost more! This having the additional “sacrifice an artifact” option to upgrade it to doing 4 damage is definitely enough for it to be premium, as doing 4 for one mana is a really good deal, though you may not always have an expendable artifact to give up.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Seven-Tail Mentor image 2.5 This will immediately add a counter to the board, which can really alter the way your turn goes in your favor, and you get another counter out of it when it dies. Sure, it would be nice if it was like the Armorer from a few sets back and you got both counters right away – but I still think this is a quality card. Having a useful creature type and also “Modifying” creatures gets some extra points too.
Repel the Vile image 2.5 This is much better in this format than it would be in your typical one. There are so many Enchantments around that that mode might actually be the one that is available to you the most often, and the fact it can take down large creatures is no small thing either. It isn’t quite premium, giving the restrictions and the cost, but it seems like a fine Common.
The Modern Age image 3.0 So, looting a couple of times is decent card selection, though like with a lot of these, you’re going to kind of wish you were adding to the board right away, instead of having to wait a couple of turns. As is this case with most of these creature-sagas, you get great value for your mana – in this case, a two mana ⅔ Flyer that loots twice – but the trade off is that you have to really wait for it. Still, Chapter I and II are the kinds of things that are at least useful all game long, so this isn’t one where you really need to play it early or you’re going to be disappointed.
Scoured Barrens image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 3 Pick 6: Okiba Reckoner Raid
High-Speed Hoverbike image 3.5 This looks quite nice. It is easy to Crew, has good evasive stats, and it even has Flash and the ability to tap a thing down when it ETBs. It doesn’t do any of those things super impressively, but it does a whole lot for the mana investment.
Anchor to Reality image 0.0 // 2.5 Your typical Tutor tends to not be great in Limited…and I think that’s mostly the case here. You pay four mana, use up the Anchor and an artifact or creature in play to search up an Equipment or Vehicle and put it on to the battlefield. In other words, you are 2-for-1ing yourself. Now, there are some scenarios where maybe you run this – like if you have an absurd bomb this either an Equipment or Vehicle – but that’s pretty much it. So, if you have some really high costed card that has either of those types, this starts to get pretty interesting, but that’s a very narrow use, and this shouldn’t really be played in your typical Limited deck.
Ancestral Katana image 3.0 This reminds me a bit of Pirate’s Cutlass, a card that really overperformed in its Limited format. Now, this isn’t colorless, and it doesn’t equip for free – and it equipping at a discount is also more conditional for sure – but I think this will still be a really nice Common. If you’re just Equipping this the old fashioned way it won’t be great, but if you have Warriors and Samurai around, the fact that this can just keep moving on to your best attacker for only one mana is going to feel pretty good, and it doesn’t hurt that it can still be Equipped the normal way when that works out for you. Plus, Equipment have some additional upside in this format.
Network Terminal image 2.0 3 mana manarocks, even those that tap for any color, are sometimes a bit clunky in Limited – but the ability that is tacked on here isn’t an irrelevant one – it gives you some very real card selection in the late game, and it does it fairly cheaply. You do of course need another artifact around, but that’s not asking that much. Having this around will sort of feel like you are playing the RB Blood deck from Crimson Vow, and it also fixes your mana, so I think this will make the cut reasonably often – though probably only if you’re splashing a third color.
Moonsnare Prototype image 2.0 Without channel, this would be pretty close to unplayable. A one mana mana-rock is kind of exciting, but having to tap both the Prototype and something else to make a colorless mana just isn’t going to be that great in Limited most of the time. It might do something really early, but it is just a dud late. But, this card helps mitigate against that because in the late game you can turn it into a Time Ebb-type effect. Paying 5 for that effect isn’t amazing – and like with a lot of Channel cards neither card individually would be very good, but together? I think this ends up being a reasonable enough playable, albeit one you end up cutting a decent chunk of the time. Modality really improves the card, though.
Ironhoof Boar image 2.5 This really reminds me of the Bloodrush Mechanic, which allowed you to pay some mana and discard a creature card for a trick – so, yeah. This isn’t the greatest as a creature or a trick – the small toughness boost does limit the number of combats you can win with the boar’s channel, but it also has the upside of really letting you run over a creature and do a ton of damage. I like the flexibility here.
Simian Sling image 3.0 This compares really favorably with Tormentor’s Helm for Kaldheim. It gives the same stats boost and the same ability that punishes blocking. The difference is this is a bit more expensive to Equip – or in this case Reconfigure, but the fact you can just play t his as a creature is a huge upgrade. They’ve given us a lot of nice one drops of late, and this looks like one to me. It can attack effectively early, and then when it can no longer do that, you can suit up another creature who can take advantage of the ability more effectively.
Okiba Reckoner Raid image 2.5 Giving us a one mana saga like this is pretty interesting! You obviously get insane value for the investment of one mana, as you drain 2 life and get a 2/2 with Menace that gives vehicles Menace! This is going to feel like a pretty good turn one play, and even in the late game this can do some work. The life drain helps you survive until it becomes a creature, and its great that as soon as it transforms you can send in a vehicle in that is hard to block. Having to wait for the body a couple of turns is going to be a little frustrating, though.
Gift of Wrath image 2.0 This is the kind of Aura I feel alright about playing. +2/+2 and Menace is a very real stats boost, and the fact that this leaves behind a creature token when the enchanted creature dies is quite nice – and helps mitigate against the risk of getting 2-for-1’d. Now, it is still an Aura, and probably only one that you run in very aggressive decks, but it will be solid there.
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Pack 3 Pick 7: Ecologist's Terrarium
Invoke Calamity image 2.5 You’ll get the most value out of this if you’re casting stuff from your graveyard, so it does require at least a little bit of set-up. If you are just casting things from your hand, you aren’t actually gaining cards, you’re getting a discount – and while a discount is nice, getting two whole cards of value out of this will pretty much always be better. Of course, it costs quadruple Red, and by the time you have that kind of mana, your graveyard is pretty likely to be stocked. As with all of these cycles, though, that mana is also a hefty downside in Limited, as getting quadruple of a single color can be tough in your typical 2-color Limited deck. The payoff here is good for sure, but I think the other cards in this cycle give you more for the difficult mana cost. If this was easy to cast, I would probably give it a 3.5, but I think the challenge of casting it makes it a 2.5.
Oni-Cult Anvil image 3.5 Because it can sacrifice itself, it is – at worst, this is a two mana 1/1 token that drains the opponent one life. That’s not exactly exciting, but that’s pretty much the fail case here. This can also be a pretty sweet engine, since you can just keep giving up the same 1/1 every turn to drain the opponent one life, since it allows you to sacrifice tokens, and that’s pretty spicy – it will feel al little bit like getting Cauldron Familiar and Witch’s Oven together – and you have it all on one card! It is obviously a bit slow at what it does, but the engine aspect seems pretty sweet to me.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Ecologist's Terrarium image 2.5 Having colorless fixing at Common is pretty nice, and could definitely help decks splash a third color, and the fact this can only give you a counter once its done its job in fetching you a land is pretty solid.
Peerless Samurai image 3.0 This is a nice little Common. A 3-mana ⅔ with Menace is a decent starting point, and adding an “attack alone” payoff to the card is nice, and the one you get here is going to be pretty relevant, especially if you play the Samurai on turn 3. It is likely to help you either double spell or play a 4-drop on turn 4, and either of those are pretty appealing.
Reckoner's Bargain image 2.0 This type of effect tends to do alright, especially in decks with a sacrifice theme – which in this format will mostly mean Black-Red. It is sort of an Instant speed Tormenting Voice, in the sense that you give up two cards to draw two cards – its just that one of them is an artifact or creature in play. Using this in response to a removal spell, or to get rid of something expendable will always feel nice, but there are also situations where you can’t find a spot to use this because you just don’t have the resources to make it worth it. The life gain is a nice addition, but doesn’t power it up a ton.
Disruption Protocol image 2.0 If you have enough Artifacts around and consistent access to Blue mana, this seems reasonable. If you are paying 1UU for it, then you’re not getting a very good deal – Cancel is just so much worse than Counterspell! There are enough Artifacts in this set, though, that I think this will be Counterspell often enough that I just want to give it a C. Counterspells have their problems in Limited – namely that you have to have the mana up at the right time – which in a way makes them very conditional removal – but when the mana you need to leave up is two or less, we see the Counterspells end up being fairly playable, and I think that’s what we have here.
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Pack 3 Pick 8: Lethal Exploit
Anchor to Reality image 0.0 // 2.5 Your typical Tutor tends to not be great in Limited…and I think that’s mostly the case here. You pay four mana, use up the Anchor and an artifact or creature in play to search up an Equipment or Vehicle and put it on to the battlefield. In other words, you are 2-for-1ing yourself. Now, there are some scenarios where maybe you run this – like if you have an absurd bomb this either an Equipment or Vehicle – but that’s pretty much it. So, if you have some really high costed card that has either of those types, this starts to get pretty interesting, but that’s a very narrow use, and this shouldn’t really be played in your typical Limited deck.
Explosive Entry image 3.0 This is better in this format than it is in most, because there are artifacts everywhere. I think you can count on most opponents having at least 5 targets for this, and many will have more. Adding the +1/+1 counter to the mix is pretty nice. Against the most artifact-centric of decks it is just going to feel like one of your best cards, and against an opponent only playing a few artifacts, it will feel a bit like Plummet – but I think that range is still enough to play the first copy in the main deck of most Red decks.
Ironhoof Boar image 2.5 This really reminds me of the Bloodrush Mechanic, which allowed you to pay some mana and discard a creature card for a trick – so, yeah. This isn’t the greatest as a creature or a trick – the small toughness boost does limit the number of combats you can win with the boar’s channel, but it also has the upside of really letting you run over a creature and do a ton of damage. I like the flexibility here.
Mnemonic Sphere image 2.5 This is basically an Artifact-based version of Hieroglyphic Illumination, which was an Instant you could pay 4 for to draw two cards, and it had cycling for one Blue mana. Hard for a card like this to ever be bad, since at worst it replaces itself really efficiently. Then there’s this format artifact synergy and so forth!
Akki Ronin image 1.5 If you need a two drop Samurai it is certainly that, though adding rummage to an attack isn’t super exciting in this format, it does allow you to sift through your library a bit.
Ninja's Kunai image 2.5 You pay a total of 3 mana for Lightning, and that’s not a bad rate in Limited. What’s more is, it also lets you get some synergy – and not only the obvious artifact and Equipment synergy – but also some sacrifice synergy for the RB deck
Lethal Exploit image 3.0 Two mana for -2/-2 at Instant speed isn’t exactly premium, though it can kill a lot of stuff. And you can even use it combined with a block to take something down – though that’s always a little risky. That said, I think you’ll be able to do -3/-3 with this often enough that it sneaks into the lower B range. If it was always -3/-3 it would be a 3.5. And sometimes this will be even more than -3/-3 – though I think we have to accept the wide range of outcomes with this, and the fact that -2/-2 is probably going to happen a lot.
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Pack 3 Pick 9: Searchlight Companion
Reito Sentinel image 1.0 Milling doesn’t seem to be a major component of this format for the most part, whether you’re miling yourself or someone else. BG definitely has some graveyard stuff going on, and that’s probably where this will be at its best, but I’m still not overly impressed with a 3-mana 3/3 Defender. The cool thing you can do with it in the extreme late game is start using its ability to draw whatever you want to every single turn, but I’m always skeptical that type of strategy will end up working out in Limited. It doesn’t very often!
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
Lucky Offering image 1.5 This is actually passable in your main deck in this format, since there are so many artifacts, and many of them can be blown up by this. It is still narrow enough that I don’t love putting in the main deck.
Searchlight Companion image 3.0 This gives you some reasonable value for the cost, and its also a great card to combine with Ninjas, since it is not only evasive, but it also has an ETB ability, so recasting it will give you another token, and that’s some nice value to get on top of whatever it is you did with Ninjutsu.
Kami of Terrible Secrets image 1.5 // 3.0 A 4-mana ¾ is not a great stat-line these days, so you are going to want to be drawing a card off of this around half the time for it to be worth it. And…that’s not going to be automatic in every Black deck in the format, since this asks you to have both an Artifact and Enchantment. That’s certainly easier to do in this format than it is in most, but if you’re in say, UB Ninjas or the BG graveyard deck – that’s not something you’re going to be focused on. In a lot of ways, this is a BW gold card, because that’s the deck that has a whole bunch of reasons to get both an Artifact and an Enchantment in play.
Thundersteel Colossus image 2.0 This is a pretty neat design for an Equipment. It isn’t nearly as discounted as most of them are, but it is also massive and very easy to crew – coming with Trample and Haste generally means it is going to wreck face pretty significantly the turn it comes down, and it’s a big enough threat that your opponent will usually need to find a way to deal with it. I don’t think the most aggressive decks will be remotely interested in this, but as a top-curve win condition for grindier or controlling decks, I could see this pulling some weight.
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Pack 3 Pick 10: Lethal Exploit
Enthusiastic Mechanaut image 3.5 This has good stats and a nice keyword for the cost, and reduces the cost of Artifacts. Obviously, that’s what UR is all about in this set, so this will set you up nicely in that deck.
Shrine Steward image 1.0 // 2.5 This has some ugly stats, but if your deck has even 2 Shrines and/or Auras, it is probably worth running. While this set does have plenty of Enchantments, it doesn’t have so many Auras and Shrines that you’ll always end up with enough of them to run the Steward.
Uncharted Haven image 2.5 Coming into play tapped is definitely a downside, but the ability to name a color is great. I do think the dual lands are slightly better, as they always tap for two colors you probably need, and this will only ever tap for one, but if you need fixing, this is fine.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Lethal Exploit image 3.0 Two mana for -2/-2 at Instant speed isn’t exactly premium, though it can kill a lot of stuff. And you can even use it combined with a block to take something down – though that’s always a little risky. That said, I think you’ll be able to do -3/-3 with this often enough that it sneaks into the lower B range. If it was always -3/-3 it would be a 3.5. And sometimes this will be even more than -3/-3 – though I think we have to accept the wide range of outcomes with this, and the fact that -2/-2 is probably going to happen a lot.
Jukai Preserver image 3.0 At worst, this is a 4-mana 4/4, and its much better than that because it allows you to put counters wherever you want. The Channel part of the card is nice too, because sometimes utilizing this more like a trick, or spreading around the modifications is just better anyway. It slots nicely into the RG Modification deck, as well as Green-White Enchantments.
Pack 3 Pick 11: Discover the Impossible
Discover the Impossible image 1.5 This gives you some nice card selection, but most of the time you’re going to just be spinning your wheels – getting one card from casting it for three mana – and most of the time its just going to feel worse than Divination. If you’re not adding to the board, you’ve got to be getting something pretty significant out of this. The upside on cheap spells is nice, and will make it feel a little more efficient, but its still just one card. I think you’ll find yourself cutting this card more than you’ll play it.
Armguard Familiar image 2.5 This is a very solid playable. A two mana 2/1 with Ward 2 is already pretty close to passable, so adding the Reconfigure upside is really nice. It is a nice little creature early, and in the late game it can lend a much-needed stats boost, as well as a little bit of protection, for a more relevant creature.
Voltage Surge image 3.0 One mana to do two to a creature is usually pretty close to premium removal – you will be able to pay one mana to kill many creatures that cost more! This having the additional “sacrifice an artifact” option to upgrade it to doing 4 damage is definitely enough for it to be premium, as doing 4 for one mana is a really good deal, though you may not always have an expendable artifact to give up.
Regent's Authority image 1.5 A 3-mana 3/2 with Vigilance is usually reasonable playable, and this one comes with a very nice ability. You won’t always have an Enchantment in your graveyard of course, but there are enough Enchantments in this set that you’ll have them reasonably often, and obviously casting one off of this ability is like drawing a card, and that’s pretty darn powerful. Like with all of these, its great that they designed them so that they can trigger the ability on their own – but you can also use other Samurais/Warriors to trigger the ability if you’ve got them around. 32 – Regent’s Authority – 1.5 This is a solid trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to be a good rate in general, and the additional enchantment/legendary creature upside is something you’ll be able to take advantage often enough.
Wind-Scarred Crag image 2.5 Like always, these provide some very nice fixing, and its nice to see them at Common, as it will make splashing a third color pretty simple. Fixing is great, even if you aren’t going three colors – a dual land really helps your mana base in a two color deck.
Pack 3 Pick 12: Saiba Trespassers
Regent's Authority image 1.5 A 3-mana 3/2 with Vigilance is usually reasonable playable, and this one comes with a very nice ability. You won’t always have an Enchantment in your graveyard of course, but there are enough Enchantments in this set that you’ll have them reasonably often, and obviously casting one off of this ability is like drawing a card, and that’s pretty darn powerful. Like with all of these, its great that they designed them so that they can trigger the ability on their own – but you can also use other Samurais/Warriors to trigger the ability if you’ve got them around. 32 – Regent’s Authority – 1.5 This is a solid trick. One mana for +2/+2 tends to be a good rate in general, and the additional enchantment/legendary creature upside is something you’ll be able to take advantage often enough.
Saiba Trespassers image 2.0 This is a mediocre creature if you cast it that way, but it has the upside of freezing down two opposing creatures, and that’s something that can be pretty nice in the right situation, such as those where your opponent is dead as a result of not being able to block for a couple of turns. That mode is certainly the more powerful one, but it is pretty situational, so the fact it can be a creature if that’s what you really need isn’t too bad.
Favor of Jukai image 2.0 Channeling this will be the better deal most of the time, as the tricks we see that offer that same boost and reach always tend to be pretty playable, but it is nice that you can also use this as a more permanent boost in situations where that’s better.
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Pack 3 Pick 13: Futurist Sentinel
Reckoner Shakedown image 1.5 This is a pretty neat take on a Coercion Effect, as it is effectively a modal card that takes away your opponents best card, or it gives you a look at your opponents hand and puts two +1/+1 counters on one of your creatures or vehicles. Individually, those two effects are probably about a D. The discard effect only allows for a one-for-one trade and doesn’t change your board at all, while putting two +1/+1 counters on a thing for this much mana at Sorcery speed is really clunky. The discard effect is also pretty close to a dead card in the really late game, so having the other option will really matter there.
Experimental Synthesizer image 2.0 So, up front it effectively draws you a card, and because this only costs one mana, it won’t usually be hard for you to play that card – and, it very nicely allows you to play lands. Now, this does mean playing it really early isn’t going to feel great, because you are less likely to be able to utilize whatever you hit, but starting around turn 4 it starts to be a nice play, and it effectively ends up as a 2-for-1, because you can also get a Samurai out of it. I do think the awkwardness of playing this early definitely hinders it, but I think you’ll end up playing this often enough in Red decks, perhaps the most in RB, which likes sacrificing them. But it also overlaps a bit into other archetypes – UR likes artifacts in general and RW like Samurai, for example.
Futurist Sentinel image 2.0 We have seen a Colorless version of this in the past – I think it was called Irontread Crusher or something – and it was alright, but nothing special. It is pretty reasonably costed both to cast and to crew – it lets you rumble with a much larger creature than you would normally be able to on turn 5!
Pack 3 Pick 14: Gift of Wrath
Gift of Wrath image 2.0 This is the kind of Aura I feel alright about playing. +2/+2 and Menace is a very real stats boost, and the fact that this leaves behind a creature token when the enchanted creature dies is quite nice – and helps mitigate against the risk of getting 2-for-1’d. Now, it is still an Aura, and probably only one that you run in very aggressive decks, but it will be solid there.
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Pack 3 Pick 15: Forest
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Draft Pick Overview