Draft Trainer

Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Limited Quiz

Answered: 0/20
Accuracy: 0
Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade
Average Picked At: 5.16
Total Times Picked: 318
Average Last Seen At: 4.90
Total Times Seen 1505
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: This has a powerful combat damage to a player trigger, and because it has death touch your opponent will be put in a difficult position with it sometimes. Repeatable Venturing seems pretty powerful, and UB seems the most well-positioned to help creatures like this get evasion
Manticore
Average Picked At: 8.97
Total Times Picked: 308
Average Last Seen At: 7.81
Total Times Seen 2431
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: These types of “kill something that was damaged” effects are often underwhelming, just because it takes more work than you'd think to consistently manufacture situations where that happens -- in particular, situations where you can make it happen without giving up significant resources, like an ugly block or an attack. However, when they add Flash to the mix, the card gets significantly more interesting because it means there will be a wider variety of situations where you can make that part of the card work. Plus, in a fail case this gives you a passable Flying body. Don’t count on this to feel like a Flying Ravenous Chupacabra all the time, but it will do that often enough to be a pretty nice common.
Lolth, Spider Queen
Average Picked At: 1.14
Total Times Picked: 29
Average Last Seen At: 1.59
Total Times Seen 31
Pro Rating: 5.0
Pro Comment: Well, as is often the case, this planeswalker is a stone cold bomb. The best Limited planeswalkers tend to need two of the following three: Card draw, a removal effect, and a way to protect themselves. Lolth comes away with two of those, and both her main abilities are just great. A 0 loyalty ability that draws you a card is going to be nice if you’re ahead, and if you’re behind you can use her -3, and because her Spider friends have Reach, it is going to be difficult for your opponent to go after Lolth very effectively. Those Spiders also have Menace, so they can be quite intimidating attackers sometimes too. The great thing is that her static ability will give her more loyalty counters -- and this means her -3 will feel more like a -2 in some cases. He ultimate emblem is definitely an odd one, but if you get there, it is the kind that will probably win you the game in the long run -- although her spiders and card draw might accomplish that before you get to use it.
Split the Party
Average Picked At: 10.06
Total Times Picked: 98
Average Last Seen At: 7.71
Total Times Seen 1069
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: This is a unique design for a bounce spell, and I think most of the time it will be pretty alright. You probably want to be bouncing two things with it to feel good about the amount of mana you spend on it, and you can do that as long as they have three creatures since it is rounded up. There will be times where it just doesn’t matter though, even when you bounce a couple of things. A decent chunk of the time, this will either simply delay the inevitable. This kind of effect does not allow you to trade card-for-card and is pure tempo, so keep that in mind. I think overall, that just makes this a 2.5
Goblin Javelineer
Pro Rating: 1.5
Pro Comment: This probably won’t be great in Limited. A one mana 1/1 with Haste might feel reasonable on turn one, but it is pretty terrible thereafter, and adding the ability to ping things that block it doesn’t really make up for that, though it does help some, since it means that it can at least trade with X/2s, and X/1s effectively can’t block it. If you can find a way to give this death touch, that will unlock its full potential, but overall, I think you cut this more often than you’ll play it.
Barrowin of Clan Undurr
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: The ETB trigger here is nice on a 4-mana 3/3, but the real value comes from whether or not you have completed a dungeon, as Barrowin offers you an excellent attack trigger, one that will make it pretty easy for you to get some amazing value out of this card, especially because it Ventured! BW looks pretty good at completing Dungeons too, so I imagine this is in the lower range of first pickable
Aberrant Mind Sorcerer
Average Picked At: 7.23
Total Times Picked: 106
Average Last Seen At: 5.90
Total Times Seen 703
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: 10-20 is the preferable option, and you have a slightly higher chance of getting that, and 1-9 isn’t too shabby either, as returning a removal spell to the top of your library is some powerful card selection. If you always got the 10-20 effect, it would be a 4.0, and if you always get 1-9, it would probably be a 3.0, so let’s split the difference at 3.5.
Hired Hexblade
Average Picked At: 8.24
Total Times Picked: 358
Average Last Seen At: 7.52
Total Times Seen 2427
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: This seems like a solid card. Worst-case, you have a grizzly bear, and best case you have a two mana 2/2 that draws you a card -- which is just a great deal. There is enough treasure in this set that casting this with it isn’t a pipe dream, but you probably shouldn’t expect to be able to do it on turn two. Still, playing this later, once you have that treasure, will be nice since it will have relevance in the late game too when you do it.
Guild Thief
Average Picked At: 5.86
Total Times Picked: 98
Average Last Seen At: 4.93
Total Times Seen 667
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: It is nice that this becomes larger when it hits players, but as a two mana 1/1 it won’t be doing that a whole lot without some extra help. It can eventually become unblockable of course, but paying 4 to make your 1/1 unblockable is going to feel really bad sometimes, especially because the Thief is so darn easy to kill. Sometimes you’ll be able to get a blocker out of the way and really get going with it, though.
Sylvan Shepherd
Average Picked At: 8.98
Total Times Picked: 232
Average Last Seen At: 7.59
Total Times Seen 2406
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: This looks like it has a lot going on because of the d20 stuff, but it is basically just a 3-mana ⅔ with Vigilance that gains you 1-2 life when it attacks. That’s basically a textbook solid playable, especially in a format that does have some life gain payoffs
Krydle of Baldur's Gate
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: This seems like a really great signpost Uncommon. UB seems to be about doing combat damage to an opponent and getting triggers out of it, and Krydle definitely showcases how great that can be. His combat damage trigger is pretty awesome -- it allows him to do 2 damage at a time, while gaining you life and allowing you to improve your draws. Even if he couldn’t make himself and OTHER creatures unblockable, Krydle would be really good -- but he CAN do that, and in the late game he can just produce lethal damage out of nowhere
Black Dragon
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: This is expensive, but it will have a huge impact on the board when you play it. It will virtually always be able to kill something of your opponent’s, and trust me -- playing a 4/4 Flyer and subtracting from your opponent’s side of the board is pretty game-changing. It won’t always let you take down their biggest, baddest creature, but this card will still swing games in your favor pretty effectively. It is a very impressive Uncommon. If this format ends up being really fast, it might slip a little bit, but for now I think it is pretty great.
Bar the Gate
Average Picked At: 9.74
Total Times Picked: 286
Average Last Seen At: 8.38
Total Times Seen 2684
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: This seems like a pretty good counterspell. They always come with big downsides, like how situational they are, and three mana for one is normally not a card you really want to play, but when some additional value is added on to countermagic, it becomes increasingly worth it, and that’s what we have here. Sure, it doesn’t counter everything -- but creatures are the most common thing your opponent will do, so it will often have targets. Venturing into the Dungeon isn’t quite “draw a card” most of the time, but it gets close enough that I’m actually pretty interested in the first copy of this for most Blue decks.
Grand Master of Flowers
Average Picked At: 1.50
Total Times Picked: 26
Average Last Seen At: 1.48
Total Times Seen 31
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: This is not the kind of planeswalker that will take over the game with ease, but it still seems pretty good. His first +1 is where you’ll get the most bang for your buck, as making creatures unable to attack or block can have a pretty big impact on the game, and can allow the Grand Master to protect itself. Now, he can’t stop creatures with some pretty common key-word ability, but that’s okay – he can still stop most stuff. His other +1 is only going to be useful if you have also drafted Monk of the Open Hand. We’ll see the monk later in this video. It is an Uncommon, and a pretty nice one drop, but you aren’t really guaranteed to get one in your draft, so that effect might be useless. If you can get a monk or two, though, that other +1 will feel good while you can use it, as you get a body to protect the Grand Master. Obviously the big goal here is to get the Grand Master up to 7 loyalty, at which point he becomes a huge indestructible Dragon, but making that happen won’t be easy. It will take 4 turns to get there, and while he can protect himself to some extent, he’s not so good at it that it will be easy to make that happen. Now, your opponent will want to commit significant resources to keeping his loyalty from getting that high, and that will also give you some value. All in all though, I don’t think this is a bomb planeswalker – merely a good one.
Wight
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: A two-mana 3/2 that enters tapped would already be a decent playable, but the additional effect here is quite good. Most of the time you won’t be making more than one Zombie, but that’s fine. if you are up against this card, trading with it will feel pretty miserable because of that Zombie token. You can even triple block something huge to take it down and still get back a little bit of value. Basically, it is a nice attacker and blocker that replaces itself. It isn’t super exciting, but it is definitely pretty good.
Green Dragon
Average Picked At: 6.47
Total Times Picked: 85
Average Last Seen At: 4.92
Total Times Seen 594
Pro Rating: 3.5
Pro Comment: This whole cycle is pretty nice, and Green Dragon doesn’t really disappoint. A 6-mana 4/4 Flyer is often a borderline playable, but its ETB trigger is also going to be a huge headache for people to contend with. Now, there will be some board states where it doesn’t do much, but the card has a reasonable base line and will sometimes set up situations where your opponent just has to block to not die, which means they lose their creatures.
Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
Average Picked At: 3.11
Total Times Picked: 44
Average Last Seen At: 2.85
Total Times Seen 118
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: This set has a lot of Goblins, so the Bandit Leader’s lord effect alone would make it a pretty playable card. The other ability is where things get interesting, though. Even if you can just use it to do 1 damage at a time, it is a pretty nice ability to have around, and if you play one of several cards that puts multiple Goblin bodies on the table, Shocking stuff won’t be hard to accomplish either. The ability of course won’t always be active, even in a deck with a lot of Goblins, so keep that in mind. Still, I think the reasonable floor of a 3-mana 2/3 and the very high ceiling of Goblin Lord that can act as removal or reach is a pretty nice card.
Wizard Class
Average Picked At: 4.41
Total Times Picked: 96
Average Last Seen At: 3.82
Total Times Seen 496
Pro Rating: 3.0
Pro Comment: This is much less buildaroundy than most of the other Classes, and that’s good news, because it will just be nice in any Blue deck, though it does get better the better you are at drawing cards. The level one Enchantment is pretty irrelevant, but drawing two at level two will feel nice, and obviously leveling this up all the way will feel great, as getting a counter every turn is quite nice. It is quite slow, of course, and that holds it back significantly, but I think it looks pretty nice overall.
Guardian of Faith
Average Picked At: 2.30
Total Times Picked: 47
Average Last Seen At: 2.68
Total Times Seen 94
Pro Rating: 4.0
Pro Comment: They have really been trying their hardest to stick Phasing on cards lately, and this one seems pretty good! Keep in mind, Phasing is not the same as a flicker or blink effect, in the sense that your creature stays on the battlefield, it is just treated as if it didn’t exist, and that means it can’t be targeted or damaged, but also that it can’t block or attack. Those creatures will come back and be normal on your next upkeep, though. Anyway, with that explanation out of the way, how good is this going to be in Limited? I think...probably pretty good. At worst, you have a 3-mana 3/2 with Flash, which is something that would probably make the cut more often than not, and the ETB Phasing ability can be used in a variety of effective ways. You can use it to save a creature from removal, or set up a block that would have been a chump, and then flash this in to keep the creature around. There won’t always be situations where you can actually do something with this, as sometimes the board just won’t be where it needs to be, but because it has a reasonable fail-case and a reasonably high ceiling, I think you can value this relatively highly.
Loathsome Troll
Pro Rating: 2.5
Pro Comment: A 5-mana 6/2 is not very good, though it does make Pack Tactics get going all on its own, and that certainly is relevant int his format. Still, a 2-drop can block it and take it down! The good news is, if you have the time and the mana, it has a solid ability it can use from the graveyard. It going on top of your library is not super good, since you have to replace your draw to get it back, and there’s a reasonable chance what you were going to draw was going to be better, but when it returns to your hand it will feel pretty good, and obviously that’s true when it goes to the battlefield as well. Still, this doesn’t have the best stats ever, even accounting for Pack Tactics, and its ability is both expensive and going to feel actively mediocre when you roll a 1-9
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