Adaptive Shimmerer

The idea here is that you mutate on top of this, giving +3/+3 to whatever stats your mutated creature has. It also has Flash, and there are a few cards that care about that. Still, as far as payoffs and enablers go, this is pretty darn inefficient.

Farfinder

We have seen cards like Skittering Surveyor and Pilgrim’s Eye be really nice sources of fixing in the past. And this set is a wedge set, where splashing a third color and even straight up playing a third color will happen a decent chunk of the time. On top of that, this is not the worst thing to Mutate on top of, since it at least gives your new monster the Vigilance keyword.

Mysterious Egg

The flavor is cool and all, but I feel like you’d rather have a more exciting ability for Mutate, and a more exciting fail case than one mana 0/2.

Blade Banish

This is situational for sure, but this format has a whole lot of big bois, so it is a little better than usual. It is also an Instant, which means you can sometimes really get a blow out.

Checkpoint Officer

This isn’t QUITE Master Decoy -- they are identical other than that this costs an additional mana to tap stuff down -- but that’s close enough to Master Decoy to still be a pretty high quality common. Tap effects tend to be great, and it is a kind of pseudo-removal that is good all game long. It is better than usual in this format that is loaded up with huge monsters and Mutate, where tapping down one guy is bigger than it normally would.

Coordinated Charge

All the cards with Cycling in this set are way better than they look. They are functionally split cards that you can just cycle when what they do doesn’t matter. Plus, if you’re in RW you’re really looking for a critical mass of these and will just jam all of them into your deck. And..yeah, sometimes this effect doesn’t matter, since you need to be going wide. But you can just cycle it away! Then, when it does matter, it will feel pretty great.

Cubwarden

This can just be a 4-mana ⅗ with lifelink, a pretty attractive card already.It also holds on to the Mutate upside even if you just cast it normally, so that if mutating ever happens in the future, you still get those Cat tokens. You can also cast it for the mutate cost, and either put it on top of or under another non-Human creature you control. If the creature is bigger than 3/5 you probably want to put the warden underneath it, effectively giving a big creature lifelink and making a couple of tokens. If it is smaller, you probably want to put it on top, making whatever it is into a ⅗ with lifelink, plus whatever abilities it had, and you also get those two 1/1 tokens. Either way, you’re getting a great deal.

Daysquad Marshal

This gives you two bodies with one card, and 4/4 worth of stats. In most sets that a solid card, and that’s what it is here.

Divine Arrow

This is certainly situational, but also fairly efficient. You’re going to be spending only two mana to kill something, which will usually be less than your opponent paid for their creature. It might fall a little short of premium, but it is a nice removal spell.

Drannith Healer

Another Cycling card that is better than it looks! This one is a bear with a Cycling payoff, in addition to having the great 1 mana Cycling effect.

Drannith Magistrate

So, this is the kind of card really printed with constructed in mind. In most Limited games in this format, this Hatebear isn’t going to have anything to hate on, so he is effectively just a two mana ⅓. That can be a passable two-drop if you’re desperate.

Fight as One

I start to be very interested in tricks once they have the possibility of allowing you to 2-for-1 your opponent for very little mana, and that’s definitely what we have here. In addition to that, because indestructibility is granted, you can use it to blank most removal spells too -- and generally at a price much cheaper than what your opponent is paying. This has a fine floor of +1/+1 and indestructibility, and a very impressive ceieling when you can give two things the boost -- and yeah, sometimes that will blow out the opponent.

Flourishing Fox

This is one of the premier cycling payoffs, since if you play it on turn one it can huge quite rapidly. It also has Cycling itself, so if you draw it late and you have another Cycling payoff you’re trying to win with, you can just cycle it away!

Garrison Cat

This is a one drop that replaces itself, which isn’t too bad. It is also something you can mutate on to very early, and still getting a 1/1 when your mutated creature dies is okay upside. You still won’t play this most of the time, but it can be passable.

Helica Glider

Most of the time you’re going to go with the Flying option -- but sometimes First Strike will be better. It is nice on turn three, and then later in the game a nice thing to mutate on top of thanks to the keyword ability it brings with it.

Huntmaster Liger

A 4-mana ¾ with some Mutate upside is what this is in its most basic form, and that’s fine -- especially because the Mutate upside is pretty powerful, pumping your whole team. Now, it is sort of an awkward card in that Mutate expressly asks you not to go wide, so you’re not always going to be able to get a huge boost out of Mutate here, but it still does enough to make the cut most of the time.

Imposing Vantasaur

Like all one-mana cyclers, this is a pretty high pick, and way better than it looks! It can be a big defensive creature if that’s what you need, but you can also just throw it away to look for something better – while also triggering all of your cycling payoffs.

Keensight Mentor

Vigilance isn’t the most amazing keyword ability -- it doesn’t make a creature Evasive or anything, but its fine. And, at worst, this like all the Mentors just gives one thing Vigilance, and then in the later game you can pay mana to make that creature progressively larger. That’s a nice late-game mana sink, and if you have more creatures with Vigilance it can become a legitimate problem for your opponent.

Lavabrink Venturer

A 3-mana 3/3 is usually is something you play most of the time, but this has a ton of upside. Because you get to choose Odd or Even, you can always choose whatever choice gives you the best advantage on the board. Sure, sometimes your opponent will have a mix of creatures off Odd and Even, and that will be annoying, but your fail case is still an efficient creature. Making it so you can indefinitely block cards of odd or even mana costs, attack through creatures of certain mana costs, and blank removal spells of certain mana costs is some real power.

Light of Hope

This is modal, but none of the effects on it are especially good.

Luminous Broodmoth

A 4-mana ¾ flyer is already a great rate for Limited. Then, this has a super powerful ability. Making all of your non-flying creatures come back from the graveyard with flying is insane. The Broodmoth will frequently destabilize the board. I mean, think about it -- you play your Moth, and suddenly you can attack with a bunch of creatures you may not have wanted to attack with before. This puts your opponent in a nasty situation, where they have to decide whether to just take damage, or block them and let them come back as Flyers. In many ways, this means the Broodmoth has an immediate impact on the board, since it will in most cases at least make combat hard for your opponent, even if they untap and kill the moth right away.

Majestic Auricorn

A 5-mana 4/4 with Vigilance isn’t great, but it would make the cut sometimes. If you’re playing this for its Mutate cost on turn 4, you’re probably upgrading one of your creatures to a 4/4 vigilance and gaining 4 life. Other times, you’ll be paying 4 to give something bigger vigilance and gain 4 life. While that’s decent, the reward you get for the risk here isn’t amazing.

Maned Serval

This is a reasonably efficient French Vanilla creature that it is okay to mutate on top of.

Mythos of Snapdax

This Mythos has a Cataclysm effect -- an effect that often underwhelms in Limited. It is very dependent on the board state. Because, if your opponent has an advantage over you because they have the best creature on the board well -- that advantage isn’t going to change because you cast this -- at least if you are paying all White for it. If your opponent has an advantage over you because their board is huge, then it will help. And both of those situations will happen -- I’m just saying there will be times where this card is pretty bad. However, if you pay Mardu mana for this thing, you get around that problem, since you make choices for your opponent! And that is truly devastating. I think of the cycle of Mythos, this is the one that gets the most sizable upgrade by paying all three colors -- the others have a better floor than this, but I think this might have the highest ceiling.

Pacifism

Pacifism is a great card every time we see it in Limited -- which is a lot! Two mana to take away what are normally the two most important things creatures can do Limited -- attacking and blocking -- is just amazing efficiency, and it makes Pacifism a premium removal spell.

Patagia Tiger

A 5-mana ¾ Flyer is usually a serviceable card in Limited.. This brings some pretty real additional upside, in that it can pump humans. White and Black especially have a lot of humans, and in those decks this will be a nice common because it will frequently give one of your Humans an attack that wouldn’t have worked before the Tiger came down.

Perimeter Sergeant

This is a decent payoff for going wide with Humans, but don’t expect it to survive that first swing!

Sanctuary Lockdown

That can be truly devastating in some situations, where you have say 4 humans in play, and can just tap down both of your opponent’s blockers at the end of their turn. This means that this card is useful in multiple scenarios, whether being aggressive or defensive. Still, the Human deck is one that doesn’t always come together well in this format, and I think that hurts this card a little bit.

Savai Sabertooth

Two mana 3/1s tend to be fine two drops for aggressive decks.

Snare Tactician

A premium Cycling payoff, this one allows you to make the game go long by tapping down opposing things on the opponent’s turn, or it allows your Tactician and other friends to get in for a bunch of damage by tapping down blockers on your turn.

Solid Footing

This is an interesting Vigilance payoff, and you’ll play it sometimes if you have enough Vigilance, because in those scenarios it gives a big boost for only one mana. You’ll cut this a lot, though.

Splendor Mare

A three mana 3/3 with lifelink is probably already a nice card in Limited, then you add the Cycling upside here and you have something really nice. Paying 1W to draw a card and permanently give something life link is a nice option to have in addition to just having an efficient creature.

Spontaneous Flight

The best tricks cost very little mana, and this doesn’t really deliver there. Still, it does give a pretty nice boost and permanently gives your creature Flying. That last part means that it can help you get in for lethal, or really alter a race in a hurry. Still, it has all the risks that tricks have – it is situational and you risk getting 2-for-1’d.

Stormwild Capridor

The Capridor is immune to damaging spells, and even gets bigger from them, which is kind of cool. That type of effect is a little situational, but you can actually take advantage of it yourself – sometimes it is right to turn your Divine Arrow into a combat tricks, especially because it turns this into a 5/7 that can end the game in a hurry. It is also a great creature to have at the bottom of a mutate pile, because Flying + that ability are pretty sweet.

Swallow Whole

One White mana to exile a tapped creature is pretty good. It might be situational, but it is crazy efficient. Obviously, this isn’t quite that -- it makes you tap one of your creatures to pay for the cost, and that won’t always be a cost you can easily pay. The upside is that the creature you tap also gets a +1/+1 counter, though -- so you get to kill something and make one of your creature’s permanently bigger, and that feels really good. You upgrade your board while significantly downgrading your opponents’, all for one mana!

Valiant Rescuer

This is a premium Cycling payoff, as it can rapidly flood the board with tokens to overwhelm your opponent. And, it has Cycling too, which means if you are trying to win the game with other Cycling payoffs, you can just cycle it away!

Vulpikeet

This starts out with some pretty unimpressive stats, but the real value here comes from the Mutate, which will often give a pretty nice boost to one of your creatures – Flying AND a +1/+1 counter. Now, Mutate is inherently risky, and this isn’t the kind of mutate card that gives you some sort of value that sticks around no matter what – this will just die, and that will suck sometimes, but this can also be a pretty nice card for aggro decks trying to win in a hurry.

Will of the All-Hunter

This isn’t an amazing trick, two for +2/+2 is nice, but not something that would even make the cut all that often. The defensive side of things is kind of interesting, in that the boost is permanent if you use it when you’re blocking. The thing that really saves Will of the all-Hunter from being terrible, though, is Cycling! It is a big deal in this set, and that makes this a solid playable for sure.

Aegis Turtle

Purely defensive creatures like this just aren’t worth it these days. Sure, it is an early non-Human you can Mutate on to in a hurry, but you’d much rather be Mutating on to something that gives you some sort of ability, instead of just being a vehicle on which to mutate.

Anticipate

This is always fine, but never much more than that. It is a very replaceable effect, gives you some reasonable card selection.

Archipelagore

The ideal thing you want to do is play this for the Mutate cost, since it gives you a discount on the card and gives you the powerful Mutate trigger -- tapping down one of your opponent’s creatures for a turn is no joke, especially because if you put the Archipelagore on to something that was on the battlefield the previous turn (which is likely) it can get in there and rumble right away! Obviously, the more it mutates, the more tapping you get to do, and that’s awesome. And yeah, doesn’t hurt that if you have this and no creatures, you can at least pay 7 mana for a 7/7 with some Mutate upside.

Avian Oddity

If you cast this normally, it has reasonable stats, and being able to Cycle it away and give something Flying is a great option too.

Boon of the Wish-Giver

If the Boon was just a 6-mana draw 4 it wouldn’t be great -- it would mean the only thing the card can do is tap you out for a turn, and while drawing 4 is awesome, not adding to the board is sometimes not an option. Basically this is a split card. The 6-mana sorcery, and a one-mana Instant that draws you a card. Both options will be nice sometimes – and of course, Cycling is extra good in this set because of all the payoffs.

Capture Sphere

This is usually not quite premium removal since it is kind of expensive and doesn’t take away static abilities. However, in a set loaded up with Mutate, it gets a lot better, as sometimes your opponent will be taking the risk of mutating, but suddenly that means Capture Sphere can effectively give you a 2-for-1.

Convolute

We see this a lot, and it is never that good. Leaving mana up for a counterspell is a big cost, and this one isn’t even a hard counter.

Crystacean

This is supposed to be here for the UB flash deck, but that deck just doesn’t come together that often, and this has a pretty mediocre floor.

Dreamtail Heron

I love herons in real life, and I’m glad this one seems pretty sweet in Limited. A 5-mana ¾ Flyer, which this is on a base level, is somewhat passable. It can serve as a finisher in decks that are really lacking one. But this does more than that, of course, thanks to the Mutate mechanic. If you play it first, it is a ¾ Flyer that might draw you a card later if you mutate on it. If you play it second, you can use it to give a beefier creature Flying and draw a card, or make a smaller creature into a ¾ flyer that draws you a card. That drawn card really helps avoid the 2-for-1 that you are potentially going to be dealing with here.

Escape Protocol

You need to do way too much to make this work. It just won’t happen.

Essence Scatter

Two mana counterspells offset the risks of your opponent playing around it, and even though it can only counter creatures, that’s going to be just fine in this set. This format has more creatures in than normal, too!

Facet Reader

In a set with Cycling, this type of ability is much less impressive, since a lot of your cards will already be able to do this. It is still fine and will make the cut some, but less often than usual.

Frost Lynx

This type of tempo creature is always great for Blue. You get to add a 2/2 to your board while significantly impacting the board state. Tapping something down could mean that you suddenly have really good attacks. It could also mean that you buy yourself some time against an aggro deck.

Frostveil Ambush

Like all one-mana cyclers, this is much better than it looks! It has a very situational effect when you cast it as a spell – but the thing is, when you can take advantage of that effect it feels really good. When you can’t, you can just Cycle it away!

Glimmerbell

This is here to be something sweet to Mutate on to, especially early. The Flying and Untap ability on a much larger creature can feel pretty good! It has a decent fail case too.

Gust of Wind

Even if this always cost 4, it would be a decent card. Bouncing something and drawing a card feels pretty great tempo-wise! But the great news is, this will often cost 2, and you don’t even have to try that hard to make that happen, since you’re playing blue.

Hampering Snare

Like all one-mana cyclers, this is much better than it looks! It has a very situational effect when you cast it as a spell – but the thing is, when you can take advantage of that effect it feels really good. When you can’t, you can just Cycle it away!

Keep Safe

There will be times where this feel amazing -- you counter the spell that targets one of your creatures and draw a card -- that’s a 2-for-1! But unfortunately, that actually lining up is far from guaranteed. Still, in this format with mutate creatures, you’re a little more interested in this than you would be in other formats, since you are often taking a big risk to mutate, and this can help protect your creature. Still, you won’t play this most of the time.

Mystic Subdual

This doesn’t get a rid of a blocker entirely, but it does completely shut off an opposing creature, even hosing Mutate! That’s a pretty good deal for two mana.

Mythos of Illuna

If you can’t pay Temur mana for this, it is basically Clone, and that’s not a terrible thing. The Mythos makes you a copy of whatever the best permanent on the table is – whether you get a second copy of one of your creatures, or a copy of your opponents. This gets really silly though when you can pay the RG as well as the Blue, since now the token will fight something. This means you can basically use this to kill your opponents best creature. It will be especially devastating when you use it to copy your best creature, and kill your opponents best creature without losing anything!

Neutralize

Counterspells have some very real downside over a lot of removal, in that you have to be able to cast it whenever what you want to remove is cast. That’s not the case for other removal -- this makes counter-magic situational, and if it is hard to create that situation -- and leaving up three mana isn’t always possible -- that makes a lot of counter magic subpar in Limited. However! This is a good illustration of how Cycling can really change a card. By adding Cycling, you end up with a card that is much less situational -- in fact, you can pretty much always do something with it, even if that thing is just Cycling it.

Of One Mind

I am usually interested in running one Divination in most Limited formats, and this is a strictly better one since its cost can be reduced. If you are consistently casting this for one, it will be absolutely silly -- but the requirement it asks for, while doable, isn’t the kind of thing that will just always be the case.

Ominous Seas

This is a solid Cycling payoff, as the 8/8 it can give you can really end games. In general, it is much easier to get this going than it looks! It also gets a big upgrade because if you draw it late, you’re not likely to ever be able to make that creature token, and that would make it a pretty terrible draw, but Cycling gets around that downside.

Phase Dolphin

This is a decent creature early since it can help others get in, and it can be particularly nice to mutate on to.

Pollywog Symbiote

A two mana ⅓ that reduces the cost of cards with Mutate would probably be a nice payoff to have in Mutate-heavy decks. It gets even better since the Symbiote lets you loot whenever it mutates, which is pretty great.

Pouncing Shoreshark

So, by giving a Mutate creature Flash, you open up some very interesting options. For one thing, the mutate trigger here is excellent -- bouncing something at instant speed is huge, especially in this format with Mutate all over the place. You can also Flash it in to make a creature suddenly larger so that it can win combat, in addition to bouncing something else. Then, like all of these, you can potentially trigger the Mutate effect multiple times, and then things will be really silly!

Reconnaissance Mission

Now, this is certainly reliant on creatures having evasive abilities -- but this set is loaded up with that, with keyword tribal being a real theme here. Creatures with Flying will be especially powerful with it. However, that does mean this can be super situational. There will be times when you draw it and you have no board state to speak of -- that’s going to feel bad -- EXCEPT -- that this has Cycling, so when you end up in that bad situation, you can still just pitch it to dig deeper.

Sea-Dasher Octopus

For only two mana you can add a powerful damage trigger to your creature at Instant speed. The fact that the mutate is so low means that putting this on your one or two drop and drawing a card isn’t a crazy thing to do. Obviously, because the ability is the best thing about the creature here, you will probably generally want to be mutating it on to the bottom.

Shark Typhoon

You have two options here. One of these is that you can pay 6 mana for an Enchantment that probably won’t actually add to the board until your next turn -- and sometimes it won’t even add to the board then. The other is that you can cycle this and pay like 6 mana -- which results in you getting a 4/4 flying Shark at instant speed while also drawing you a card. So, the latter option here is the one that I think you choose most often, and the fact that that is an option at all is great, because sometimes you just won’t end up with enough noncreature spells to really abuse the Enchantment itself -- but the fail case you’re getting out of the deal is still quite powerful, and could easily result in 2-for-1s and even 3-for-1s.

Startling Development

Another highly situational card with one mana cycling, Startling Development is much better than it looks. The 4/4 part will come up sometimes, and when it does it will be nice! But yeah, the real power here comes from being able to Cycle away for one mana.

Thieving Otter

A 3-mana 2/2 that draws you a card when it hits the opponent would probably normally be kind of alright. It has a great ability, but actually getting in to draw you that card is difficult pretty much all game. But, this isn’t an ordinary format. There are keyword counters all over the place, and of course there is mutate. Playing this on turn 3, and then mutating something on to it later that has more size and/or abilities is going to feel pretty good. You still are dealing with a kind of ugly fail case on this little guy, but I think the upside is real enough that you end up playing this in most of your Blue decks, and it may even be better than that if you have enough Mutate going on. One combo with a couple of Commons is to play Otter turn 3, and then mutate the Heron onto it on turn 4 -- suddenly you have a ¾ flyer that draws you a card when it mutates and when it hits the opponent. This will happen a lot in this format.

Voracious Greatshark

This seems pretty great to me -- with the caveat that I always love creatures who can counter spells. They set themselves up to be nice 2-for-1s, and it is hard to say no to that. Nice thing here is, even if your opponent does not play something you can counter, you can still find a 2-for-1 by having it flash in and eat something smaller so that it survives. Then you have a 5/4 who can easily trade with something else, while also threatening some pretty hard attacks. And sure, it can’t counter everything -- but the vast majority of the spells in Limited decks are creatures, so it will be able to counter the majority of most decks, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Especially because if your opponent plays around it you still have the fail-case of just Flashing it in.

Wingfold Pteron

A 6-mana 3/6 with Hexproof, or a 6 mana 3/6 with Flying would be a kind of playable card already, at least in slower decks. But, the fact that this gives you flexibility is great. It can be especially nice t to name Hexproof with this, so that I have an excellent place to put a bunch of other keyword counters and/or Auras. Just going full Voltron on the Pteron with Mutate seems fun too.

Wingspan Mentor

A 3-mana 1/3 that gives something permanent Flying is alright nice, and this comes with the added upside of being able to put counters on all your Flyers! This can really take over games, even if you just have one creature to put the counter on.

Bastion of Remembrance

3-mana for a 1/1 with the powerful “aristocrat” effect is not bad, and this can be especially good in Humans decks that are going wide, or in decks with lots of sacrifice effects, where this type of drain effect can really make it impossible for your opponent to find a good way to block.

Blitz Leech

This has an ugly stat-line, but by adding Flash and a nice ETB trigger to the mix, it really overcomes that. You can flash this into kill an X/2, and then use the 5/2 body to block something bigger, and that’s a 2-for-1! Sure, it is kind of an expensive one, but that’s real upside. Now, it won’t always be able to do that for you, and it is a little situational, but still -- I basically always like the first copy of this in my Black decks. Going beyond that is a bit much because of the high mana cost though.

Blood Curdle

This is a great common. 4 mana for instant speed kill anything is something you always play and this permanently gives something lifelink. Sure, sometimes that upside won’t mean much, but sometimes it will really matter -- and when it is stapled to an already premium removal spell, I’m pretty happy about it.

Boot Nipper

This is a very nice two drop that gives you a couple of nice options. You would always play a two mana 2/1 with death touch, and you would frequently play a two mana 2/1 with lifelink. The power of having a choice between those two things is very real. If yo’ure behind, you probably go with death touch, but if you are the beatdown, you probably go with lifelink. This is a nice cheap creature to mutate on to as well, and those keyword counters will be nice on your mutated creature.

Bushmeat Poacher

This is a very nice activated ability. Cashing in creatures for cards is always a nice thing to have in Limited, because it isn’t unusual for some of your early creatures to become kind of useless as the game wears on, and this gives you something really nice to do with them -- gaining life and drawing a card is great. Any time those two are put together I’m pretty happy, because the life you gain makes it more likely you’ll be able to use that extra card you drew before you die. You can also use it in response to removal, or on a creature who has been shut down by an Aura. This can also be used to sacrifice creatures who are blocking and would die anyway. A 4-mana 2/4 isn’t even the worst stats ever, and overall this is pretty nice in slower Black decks.

Call of the Death-Dweller

This takes some significant set up, and it is kind of difficult to actually load up your graveyard the way it wants you to. Sure, paying 3 to get back a 3/3 and give it those counters is nice, but it will be challenging to really make anything more than that happen, and even that is far from guaranteed. This format does have a reanimator deck, but it really prefers the cards that can reanimate big bois.

Cavern Whisperer

So, a 5-mana 4/4 with Menace would make the cut a significant amount of the time. This also has a solid Mutate trigger, albeit one of the less exciting ones around, especially because its efficacy decreases as the game goes on. But hey, it can also lend Menace to a creature it Mutates on to! Or you can use it as the creature on top to make a 4/4 menace out of one of your creatures’. Still, costing 5 to mutate for an underwhelming trigger isn’t great, even if you’re upgrading a creature at the same time.

Chittering Harvester

So, Edict effects may be extra good in a format with Mutate, since people will more frequently not be going wide as a result. But Edict effects can really let you down by the later part of the game -- like turn 5 when you play this. It can also have a nice effect -- but I mean, is making a creature into a 4/6 for 5 mana, while making your opponent sac something really that great? I don’t think it is. Making your opponent lose their worst creature is pretty close to irrelevant on many boards by that point. Sure, if you stack Mutating it gets sillier, but I’m still not in love with this one.

Corpse Churn

This is mostly here to enable the BG reanimator deck, and it does a decent job of that.

Dark Bargain

We see this kind of card a lot, and it is always pretty medium. Even in a set with a graveyard deck, I’m not super pumped about this because of the cost.

Dead Weight

This is always premium removal when we see it! You’ll usually be able to spend one mana to kill a 2-4 mana creature, and that’s always good.

Dirge Bat

I think in an ideal world, you hang on to this until you can pay the Mutate cost. It is kind of like a 6-mana 3/3 Flying Ravenous Chupacabra -- but one that requires you to have a non-human creature in play. I’m willing to jump through that hoop though, and it won’t be that hard. In a pinch, you also have a 4-mana 3/3 flyer, which is a nice rate anyway. Basically this has a very efficient body and it can kill stuff. That makes it a bomb.

Durable Coilbug

This has decent Bear stats, and isn’t a bad mana sink in the late game.

Duskfang Mentor

Granting keywords to creatures who don’t have them -- especially big creatures -- is going to feel good, and this whole cycle also has the ability to pump up creatures with that keyword, including the one the counter was put on. That means these have an immediate impact on the board in most cases, and they also have late game value in their mana sink ability.

Easy Prey

This is a somewhat narrow removal spell – but it is still a removal spell. It certainly isn’t premium, but by adding Cycling to this card, which you would play one of in a lot of formats anyway, you end up with a pretty nice card.

Extinction Event

It is nice that you get to make the choice here -- because you can choose whatever is best for you. Most of the time that will let you come out ahead, but board states where the impact is negligible won’t be that uncommon, and it isn’t like you will always have even permanents and your opponent will have odd ones -- in those cases it will be amazing! But it has a pretty random nature to it overall, in the sense that you can’t really determine what CMC creature son the board will have. Still, I think in the end, the fact that you get to make the choice means you will come out ahead most of the time.

Gloom Pangolin

A ⅕ for 3 might be something you play in slower more controlling decks sometimes -- it can block pretty effectively, but I think most of the time you won’t REALLY want this, and you’ll play it when you’re desperate for creatures, and that’s about it.

Grimdancer

We have seen plenty of 3-mana 3/3s with just one of these keyword abilities be good, getting a combination of two of them is great -- Menace and Deathtouch together are typically a Nightmare for opponent’s to deal with. This thing will be getting in for lots of damage. Menace and Lifelink are pretty nice too -- basically all the combinations are, though I think Menace + Deathtouch will be the best way to go more often than not.

Heartless Act

I get it, this set has lots of counters, so this won’t actually be able to kill everything -- but it will still be able to kill a majority of creatures for only two mana, and that’s a pretty good Doom Blade impression. On top of that, even if you end up in a situation where all your opponent’s stuff has counters, it comes with another option that lets you take away those counters. Depending on the counters, that could sometimes act as a removal spell anyway, because if something attacks you and you take away some keyword abilities or +1/+1 counters, an advantageous block may emerge.

Hunted Nightmare

Three mana for a 4/5 with Menace is crazy good, and while giving your opponent a deathtouch counter isn’t awesome, there are lots of situations where that just doesn’t matter! Like if you play this one turn 3 and your opponent has nothing. Or, you play this on turn three, and then kill whatever you put the counter on next turn. Even when those optimal situations don’t emerge, the fact this is so big means that your opponent will frequently have to double-block anyway. And hey, even if you just end up trading 1-for-1 with this thing, that’s not too bad of a deal.

Insatiable Hemophage

Three mana for a 4/5 with Menace is crazy good, and while giving your opponent a deathtouch counter isn’t awesome, there are lots of situations where that just doesn’t matter! Like if you play this one turn 3 and your opponent has nothing. Or, you play this on turn three, and then kill whatever you put the counter on next turn. Even when those optimal situations don’t emerge, the fact this is so big means that your opponent will frequently have to double-block anyway. And hey, even if you just end up trading 1-for-1 with this thing, that’s not too bad of a deal.

Lurking Deadeye

These kinds of creatures are not normally something I am very impressed with – that is, creatures who kill something that has been dealt damage. This is because often-times making sure you damage something is difficult, and sometimes even when you do you have to give up a card to do it, so the window where this does something is not as high as you would like. However, this one has Flash, and that means that you will be able to find situations where it does its things more often than not. And even if you aren’t managing to kill something with the ability, sometimes flashing in a 4/2 to kill their X/4 is just fine too.

Memory Leak

This is a situational discard effect that becomes useless in the late game. However! It has Cycling 1, and that gives everything a big upgrade in this format – you can cycle it away when it doesn’t do a thing, and when it can do a thing it isn’t too shabby.

Mutual Destruction

So, this is Bone Splinters that has flash on occasion. Bone Splinters is never great, but it is passable when you need removal, especially in a deck with lots of expendable bodies. If you can give this Flash it does get significantly better, because then you can do it in response to removal and stuff like that. Still, it isn’t that easy to set that up.

Mythos of Nethroi

So, 2B to destroy a creature at Instant speed is a very good card, and certainly premium removal. This comes with the additional upside of, if you are going straight up Abzan, you can turn this into almost Vindicate, and destroy any nonland permanent -- not just creatures! Still, most of the time you’ll just be killing a creature with this really efficiently, and that’s kind of nice. Most of the other Mythos really need you to be in the right wedge to get their full value, but this one only gets a minor upgrade, which means it is very splashable.

Nightsquad Commando

So, if this was a 3-mana 2/3 who always gave you that 1/1 would be quite nice. However, you have to fulfill the “Raid” trigger here to get that 1/1. And while that’s not the craziest hoop to jump through, it won’t always be worth it.

Serrated Scorpion

As a ½, it can block the human tokens in this set, and with the death ability it has, it creates a 4 point swing in life. That’s not insignificant. This is not a bad thing to sacrifice to various effects, nor is it a bad thing to mutate on to. But it isn’t exactly amazing in either of those cases either.

Suffocating Fumes

Another card upgraded considerably by cycling. Giving your opponent’s team -1/-1 until end of turn will sometimes have a big impact, either cause it kills their X/1s outright, or you can use it to really mess up combat for your opponent. But about half the time, and maybe more, it doesn’t do anything significant, and that’s when you can Cycle it.

Unbreakable Bond

This format has a very real reanimator deck in the BG color pair, and that makes Unbreakable Bond significantly better in this format than in most. You can cycle away a big ol’ creature, and then use this to reanimate it and give it lifelink! That can be a play that ends games. In short, this just will have far more attractive targets than it does in most formats, and that makes it a pretty nice card.

Unexpected Fangs

As a trick, it gives a pretty mediocre stats boost, even if the counter is permanent. The best tricks drastically increase the chance of your creature winning in combat, and this just won’t line up that way often enough. Lifelink permanently is something I can get behind, but I feel like this trick has all the usual risks tricks have, without really being worth it.

Unlikely Aid

While the boost it gives is not permanent, 2 power + indestructible is going to make a wider variety of creatures win combat in a wider variety of situations. Because of indestructible, you can use it in response to removal and things like that too if it comes up. Now, this is STILL a trick, and I have a hard time ever really loving them because they are situational and somewhat risky, but this is a trick you’ll play a significant amount of the time.

Void Beckoner

So, an 8-mana 8/8 Deathtouch would not normally be something I want to play -- that’s because it is just so hard to get to 8 mana! But by adding cycling to this, it becomes much more intriguing. Cycling really lets you get away with playing stupid expensive cards, since if you can’t cast them, you can always turn them in for a card. It is especially nice that this Beckoner also has a trigger with Cycling -- giving something Deathtouch at Instant speed and drawing card is pretty nice. Even if your creature still dies in combat, you end up netting a card out of this, so that fact is offset, especially if you are trading a little guy who could previously only chump block for something scary on the opponent’s side of the table. This also gets an upgrade because BG decks can reanimate him pretty easily.

Whisper Squad

This is unplayable with only one copy, but it gradually becomes more playable the more copies you get. Sure, paying two to get a 1/1 out of your deck doesn’t seem great, but it is actually some very real value, and an effective way to help you go wide. If you end up with 4 copies of this, it will become a pretty nice card.

Zagoth Mamba

The fail case of being a one mana 1/1 is pretty ugly, so you definitely need to be able to do some Mutating to make it worth while. The good news is, there is plenty of Mutate in this set, and when you do get this trigger -- which will frequently let you pick off small creatures, or even larger ones if you do it after combat -- when you do get that trigger it will be pretty nice, and offset some of the risks of Mutating.

Blazing Volley

This is a sideboard card. There just aren’t enough things this kills for it to be a main deck card in this format.

Blisterspit Gremlin

This can ping stuff repeatedly, but having to use mana to do it does downgrade it significantly from similar cards we have seen.

Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor

So, you probably need at least two instants and sorceries in your graveyard for this to feel like it is worth it, and once you get 3 or more you will really be in business. The fact it exiles stuff isn’t going to be HUGE in this format, but it will matter sometimes. So, the problem with a card like this is usually that it is effectively blank, or almost blank for much of the early game, and that can be a pretty big problem! I also think you really need to be a spell-heavy deck to really take advantage of it, because those decks will make it stop being a blank card more consistently and earlier in most cases. I don’t think it is a foregone conclusion that Red decks will have the necessary 7+ Instants and Sorceries to make Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor make sense, and I think that your average deck that probably has 3-5 instants and sorceries will probably not be getting the best out of it.

Cathartic Reunion

This is a reprint, and one that would be better in a set that has more of a graveyard theme. In this set, it is mostly just a fine 23rd card, like Tormenting Voice effects often are. It is a nice way to dig deeper into your deck, even if you do have some considerable set up costs in discarding two cards.

Clash of Titans

It is tempting to look at this and think about the 2-for-1 situations, but it turns out is much harder to effectively line this up than it looks. Your opponents creatures have to be just the right size to kill eachother, and if you’re using one of your creatures do to do the fighting, you better hope it is big enough to survive the combat, otherwise you are getting 2-for-1’d yourself! It isn’t bad, just don’t expect it to always do the big thing it can sometimes do.

Cloudpiercer

5-mana for a 5/4 Reach is fairly passable, and adding a rummage mutate effect is fine.

Drannith Stinger

5-mana for a 5/4 Reach is fairly passable, and adding a rummage mutate effect is fine.

Everquill Phoenix

A 4-mana 4/4 with Flying on its own is really good. That’s your fail case here, really. The upside is that you can mutate it and make sure you can get your Phoenix back most of the time, in addition to changing a creature on the board into into a 4/4 flyer.

Ferocious Tigorilla

You’re usually going to be choosing Menace with this, as it just tends to be the better evasive ability. A 4-mana 4/3 with Menace is something you’d always play the first copy of, and having the Trample options isn’t bad.

Fire Prophecy

Two mana for three damage to a creature at instant speed is already premium, because it tends to be efficient enough to trade up pretty often. But, adding this card selection ability is a nice upgrade It will play much like rummaging would, except that you don’t get the card in the graveyard, so sometimes it will be weaker that rummage, but most of the time you wouldn’t know the difference. This is definitely premium removal -- kills something and then helps you find more gas, and I always like that.

Flame Spill

3 mana for 4 damage at Instant speed is already premium and the additional value this gives you is nice, as you can use it to do some damage to your opponent too. And sometimes, killing their X/1 and doing 3 to them will just be game over. Don’t get me wrong, most of the time you should kill something bigger, but if the spillover damage here is going to be lethal for your opponent well -- obviously, you should do that.

Footfall Crater

Another card with one mana Cycling that makes it way better! The Enchant Land part of the card can sometimes do a thing, but this is one you’re going to be Cycling a lot.

Forbidden Friendship

This is a reasonable deal for two bodies, and will help decks that want to go wide. It is a mostly better Krenko’s Command, since the dinosaur gets to have Haste, and that card is always just fine.

Frenzied Raptor

Vanilla 3-mana 4/2s will make the cut sometimes, but you kind of hope they don’t.

Frillscare Mentor

This has reasonable stats and grants a nice keyword to one of your creatures. Then, you can use its ability as a mana sink in the late game to grow some of the creatures on your board.

Go for Blood

Two mana for Instant speed Fight is already a card that would make the cut, and adding Cycling 1 to this makes it way better!

Heightened Reflexes

When tricks cost one mana, I start to get interested, as the pain of getting 2-for-1’s is no longer accompanied with a big tempo hit, and it is just easier to have the spare mana around. Still, this boost isn’t amazing -- +1/+0 and First Strike will win a fair number of combats, but it isn’t really a boost that makes it happen enough.

Lava Serpent

A 6-mana 5/5 with Haste would make the cut some of the time, and this has Cycling, giving it a huge upgrade in a format that really cares about Cycling. You can just throw it away if you get it early, and then in the late game it can be a problem for your opponent.

Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast

His +1 grants you card advantage, and in a way also help you find ways to protect him. Granted, the turn you play him, you most likely won’t be able to cast one of the cards you exiled that turn, since he costs 5 mana. But, the potential card advantage he can grant you, even in a typical Limited deck with 15 or so creatures, is pretty awesome, and can definitely take over games. His -2 is nice too, and theoretically you could use it when he comes down in an effort to find a bigger creature who can do a better job of keeping him alive. His -7 isn’t super exciting or interesting, but it definitely can end games. Basicaly, if you play Lukka and get to untap, and then use his +1 a second time -- you are going to be in business. He will have a moment of vulnerability the turn you play him most of the time, but after that it is going to be hard for your opponent to take him down.

Momentum Rumbler

This is a Hill Giant that gains First Strike permanently when it attacks, which isn’t a terrible card to start with. The fact it can then gain double strike on the next attack is nice additional upside! Now, this format has a surprising number of large creatures, and getting through with the Rumbler that first time isn’t always the easiest, but it is a solid card.

Mythos of Vadrok

So, a 4-mana Sorcery that divides 5 damage is already something I am very much in on. Sure, it can’t hit players, but I don’t care, that is an effect that isn’t too hard to get a 2-for-1 out of, and sometimes you can do even better than that! Then, if you’re Jeskai, you get a nice additional effect -- one that will probably lead to you using the card differently. Instead of killing stuff, you’ll probably just make it so 5 things can’t attack or block, since that is often just going to be lethal depending on the board state. So, either mode of this card is really powerful, and it is very good even if you don’t go the Jeskai wrote.

Porcuparrot

Mutating this on to your two drop and turning it into a pinger sounds pretty nice. And yeah, this is part of the cycle of mutate creatures that really pays you off for going tall with Mutate, but that seems pretty dangerous here -- though the idea of being able to do 2+ damage to things with this ability is pretty awesome. Still though, I have a hard time being super high on any of the Mutate creatures who don’t mitigate against the 2-for-1 for you -- this can sort of do it, if you pick off some 1/1s, but that still won’t feel amazing or anything.

Prickly Marmoset

This is another very good Cycling payoff who can make life a nightmare for your opponent. Every single time you attack with this your opponent has to make a choice between potentially taking a ton of damage to the face, or throwing a creature in front of it that will probably just die, since First Strike and even just one +2/+0 is enough to make the Marmoset win combat most of the time.

Pyroceratops

This is a nice spell payoff that can big in a hurry, which feels good when you have Trample along for the ride.

Raking Claws

Another situational card with Cycling, Raking Claws can sometimes do a whole lot as a trick, but when it can’t? Well, just Cycle it away and look for something else.

Reptilian Reflection

Most of the Red and White Cycling payoffs are really crazy good, but Reptilian Reflection is a bit worse than the others, mostly because it is so bad when you don’t have Cycling around. The other Cycling payoffs still do stuff when you can’t cycle, but this just sits on the table doing nothing! It also doesn’t pay you off for Cycling multiple times in a turn like the others. Still, it isn’t bad, just merely a solid Cycling payoff instead of a crazy good one. When it can really get going, it can put your opponent in a horrible situation.

Rooting Moloch

Another very nice Cycling payoff, the Moloch can rebuy a card with Cycling – either to Cycle it again or because you actually want to cast it. Either way, getting a 2-for-1 here is very easy. Then, it has Cycling itself, and that is a really key thing in this format that makes Cycling so darn good – almost all the payoffs have Cycling too, which makes for a very cohesive deck.

Rumbling Rockslide

This is pretty clunky as a 4-mana Sorcery, but it does scale as the game goes on, and can deal with virtually any creature, provided you get some lands in play.

Sanctuary Smasher

A 6-mana 6/4 First Strike is already a pretty nice creature in Limited -- it is hard for opponent’s to set up advantageous blocks on this, and even if you’re behind, First Strike allows this thing to block pretty effectiely too! Then you add the Cycling ability -- which even if it did nothing else would be a nice thing to add to this creature, since you could get rid of it if you were desperate for a land drop and nowhere near the six mana -- but this Cycling ability actually does something, and it is something that can completely alter combat. Giving First Strike to something at Instant speed is nice, especially when it is attached to a creature who can be a scary attacker in the late game. So yeah, I think this is pretty awesome, and definitely worth a first pick.

Shredded Sails

I like the modality this has. It has two very sideboardy effects -- you won’t always have an artifact of a creature with Flying to hit with it, but between both being on this card you have a decentish chance of your opponent having a few targets. On top of that, it has Cycling -- so if you end up with some sweet Cycling payoffs, it is even more likely to be useful for your deck.

Spelleater Wolverine

This is a nice little aggressive creature in this format, and it slots quite nicely into UR spells, but also into RW Cycling decks, since they tend to throw all kinds of cards with Cycling into the graveyard, including a bunch of instants and sorceries! Basically, it is way easier to get double strike online here than it looks.

Tentative Connection

There are a couple of things going on here that make this a little better than most Threaten effects. First, when you can discount this because you have a Menace creature, it will feel pretty good – especially because Menace creatures already pair well with a Threaten effect. The other thing is, there are some efficient ways to sacrifice creatures in this format, and that means stealing an opposing creature and sacrificing it is pretty doable.

Unpredictable Cyclone

This card is…well, its unpredictable, but it is still pretty powerful. Instead of drawing a card with Cycling, you instead get to cast a spell with the same type for free! Most of the time, that’s an upgrade. Awkwardly, it won’t always be an upgrade in the RW cycling decks, which frequently would just like to keep Cycling rather than cast a spell. Still, this does come with Cycling itself for those decks, so overall this thing is pretty good.

Weaponize the Monsters

This is a surprisingly good way to cash in expendable bodies, including those you steal from your opponents! It also really lets you find lethal out of nowhere.

Yidaro, Wandering Monster

So, one thing that is kind of sad when you cycle away a big creature you can’t play early, is that sometimes you get to the late game and that creature sure would be nice to have in your deck! Well, Yidaro fixes that for you. You can cycle it away early to hit a land drop or whatever, and then you have a chance to draw him again later. Sometimes you’ll just be want to cast him at that point since he haste, Trample, and a massive body -- but other times you still won’t have the mana, but you can cycle him again! Cycling him the 4 times probably won’t come up again in Limited, but hey, it isn’t impossible.

Adventurous Impulse

This is always a fine, very replacable card. If you need a land, it can usually find you one, and if you need a creature, it can do that too.

Almighty Brushwagg

This card is a real overperformer. A one-mana 1/1 with Trample is pretty laughable, but the ability is surprisingly effective, and you end up in situations where you can use it twice more often than you’d think! The Brushwagg is also great for mutating on to, since Trample and that ability are much better served on a larger creature.

Auspicious Starrix

This is pretty silly for an Uncommon. It definitely feels like it could have been a Rare as a result of how complex and powerful it is. So, let’s break this down. At worst, you have a 5-mana 6/6. But this gives you SO much more! If you pay its Mutate cost, or mutate something else on to it, it has a very powerful Mutate trigger that lets you put permanents on to the battlefield for free! You can also make sure it Mutates that first time by paying the Mutate cost for it and putting it on one of your creatures. The first time it Mutates, you get the top permanent from your library -- and sure, good chance it is a land, but a free land isn’t a bad thing. You also have a reasonable chance of hitting something real. Then, if you really stack the Mutate high here, things will get really silly. The free permanents really offset the risk of going all in one mutate creature -- and this is really what the Starrix wants you to be doing.

Barrier Breach

This is another situational card that would normally be unplayable, but Cycling means that you’ll play it a decent amount of the time.

Bristling Boar

Making it so the only way it dies in combat is if your opponent has one creature that can do 3 damage is surprisingly effective, and grants it an evasive ability -- albeit a weak one. A 4-mana 4/3 is usually playable-ish anyway, and the upside here is real.

Charge of the Forever-Beast

When this works, it feels pretty good – but there are a lot of times where this doesn’t do anything – like if you don’t have a creature in your hand of a large enough size for the spell to actually matter, and that happens more often than you might think.

Colossification

I have a hard time getting behind Auras that don’t give you some sort of value to offset the colossal risk of getting 2-for-1’d -- and this doesn’t do that. Which is even worse because it costs 7 mana, so you will take a huge tempo hit too. Still, it is the kind of card where, if you get to untap, you have a good chance at winning. It is a very swingy card, but if you are good at making mana and have several evasive creatures, it will probably make the cut.

Essence Symbiote

This is a Grizzly Bears with some nice upside. Making mutate creatures bigger and gaining you a bit of life is a very real bonus. And, I think your average Green deck will probably have 3-5 cards with Mutate, so it will be triggering regularly in most decks in this format. Something to keep in mind too, is that if you Mutate ON to this, it will start putting counters on the new Mutate creature, something that might be the ideal path to take sometimes

Excavation Mole

This is a Grizzly Bears with some nice upside. Making mutate creatures bigger and gaining you a bit of life is a very real bonus. And, I think your average Green deck will probably have 3-5 cards with Mutate, so it will be triggering regularly in most decks in this format. Something to keep in mind too, is that if you Mutate ON to this, it will start putting counters on the new Mutate creature, something that might be the ideal path to take sometimes.

Exuberant Wolfbear

The fail case is a highly efficient 4-mana 4/4, and if you have a few Humans lying around, it is likely that he will be making one of your other creatures considerably larger too. Between the efficient fail-case and nice upside, I think this is in the lower rnage of first pickable.

Fertilid

A three mana 2/2 isn’t especially good, but the fixing Fertilid provides for you is quite nice. Green usually gets nice commons for Splashing or going three colors, and that’s what this is. It has the ability to grab a couple of land over a few turns, and that is nice -- helps mitigate against mana screw, helps you find your colors, etc., If you don’t really need to fix when you play it, it also makes a good creature to mutate on to.

Flycatcher Giraffid

Neither option here is great, but neither is bad, either.

Fully Grown

I have a hard time liking 3-mana combat tricks in most situations. It makes the risk of a blowout even more painful because of the extra mana you’re paying. And sure, +3/+3 will frequently be enough to win combat, and it is nice that the creature permanently gets Trample, instead of just temporarily, but tricks are just so situational, that I really only like the idea of them at lower mana costs in most cases.

Gemrazer

A 4-mana 4/4 with Reach and Trample is great. Mutate Naturalize is nice too, as is being able to put this on to something to make it a 4/4 and give some extra keyword abilities. I always like being able to run mainboard Artifact and Enchantment hate, and this makes that really easy.

Glowstone Recluse

A three-mana ⅔ with Reach is usually playable, and this has good mutate upside. You can use it to lend reach to a creature who really needs it, if you are mutating it and putting it underneath a big creature, but the more valuable option will usually be to Mutate with this on top, since it will be a ⅘ who also gains the abilities of whatever is underneath it.

Greater Sandwurm

This is an imposing presence if you can play it as a creature – but it is super expensive! The good news is that it has Cycling, so you can just throw it away early. This especially potent in the BG reanimator deck, as this is something you can throw away on turn two, and then reanimate on turn 4 or 5, which is often enough to win the game.

Honey Mammoth

It isn’t exciting, but a 6-mana 6/6 that gains you 4 life can go a long way towards helping you stabilize against more aggressive decks.

Hornbash Mentor

A 3-mana 3/3 is already playable, and this does more than that! Giving one of your other creatures a trample counter is nice, and the mana sink ability here, that will at least be putting +1/+1 counters on the creature you put the trample counter on, is some nice additional upside that makes the Mentor pretty relevant all game long, especially if you have even more Trample in your deck.

Humble Naturalist

This is a mana creature with okay stats, and those always tend to be nice inclusions in Limited Green decks.

Ivy Elemental

This will never be efficient – you’ll pretty much always feel like you are paying one too much mana for it. Still, it is flexible, it can be a large creature late, and a smaller one early. It also isn’t the worst thing to mutate on to because of those counters.

Kogla, the Titan Ape

A 6-mana 7/6 that fights something when it comes into play is already a bomb, and there’s a lot more text than that here! It can blow up artifacts or enchantments, and bounce a Human to make himself indestructible. Sure, those two things won’t always come up, but because the baseline is so good, I don’t really care. Kogla does ask for triple Green, but that’s not the biggest ask by turn 6 in a two-color deck.

Lead the Stampede

Most of the time, this will just be Green Divination, which is fine, but not amazing. Sometimes it will draw you more – but sometimes it will also draw you less.

Migration Path

I really like the places they chose to put Cycling in this set -- and this is a great example of that. When you need to ramp or find mana of a specific color, this does the job really well. In fact, if you have a couple of these, it even potentially enables you splashing a double colored card. But one of the downsides of ramp spells like this, is that if you already have all the mana you need, casting it might not be the optimal thing to do. Instead, you can just Cycle it away and try to find something else. As I’ve been saying a lot -- this makes cards that have effects that have diminishing returns, or that have narrow effects, a lot better than they would be otherwise.

Migratory Greathorn

This is another decent peace of fixing and ramp for Green. Paying 3 mana to put this under something bigger, or on top of something smaller, while also searching up a land is a nice deal to me. It helps you splash while also giving you some Mutate synergy.

Monstrous Step

This is another situational card with Cycling. When this works, it can devastate your opponent. When it is useless (and it will be more often than not) you can Cycle it.

Mosscoat Goriak

This is some decent stats for three mana, especially because with Vigilance, he will often be able to attack on boards where he also happens to be a good blocker, and Vigilance lets him do both.

Mythos of Brokkos

Four mana to get two permanents back from your graveyard is pretty nice on its own. The Sultai upside also lets you tutor up a card with it, and that’s pretty nice.

Plummet

This is a sideboard card, like usual.

Ram Through

This is a great removal spell for Green. First, it is NOT a fight card, but a “punch” card – that is, your creature damages the opposing creature, but it doesn’t get damaged itself! That makes it much less risky, even if you do need to be a little careful, since if your creature that is Ramming Through gets killed in response, you get 2-for-1’d. But the upside here is well worth that! As an Instant, you will more easily find situations that aren’t risky, AND it has the Trample upside that will sometimes be crazy. This is premium removal.

Sudden Spinnerets

This doesn’t give a big enough boost to help your creature win combat often enough, and a Reach counter isn’t very exciting.

Survivors' Bond

If you can set this up reliably to get two cards back from your graveyard, it is a decent thing to have a singleton copy of, since in the late game it can really pull you ahead.

Thwart the Enemy

Fogs are bad in Limited. Next!

Titanoth Rex

A 9-mana 11/11 trampler just wouldn’t be playable in most formats – but in this one, it is significantly better than just “playable”! That’s partly because it has Cycling, which means when you can’t cast it – which will most of the time – you can just cycle it away. This format also has a very real BG reanimator deck, and you don’t need me to tell you that getting this back for 5 or 6 mana is absolutely silly.

Vivien, Monsters' Advocate

Well, this is a bomb. Her static ability means that a decent chunk of the time, you effectively have an additional card in your hand. And it is even possible to rip through more than one card if you have enough mana and creatures on top of your library. Additionally, her +1 is very effective at protecting her, and that’s usually something you want with your Planeswalkers in Limited. Getting a 3/3 is nice, especially because it can have Reach if you want it to. Sometimes you play a walker and yeah, you can make a creature token -- but your opponent has flyers so your Walker isn’t staying around. This Beast does a good job of locking things down even in the air. Her -2 is also quite powerful, especially because it synergizes so well with her static ability, which will make it more likely you can cast a creature on a given turn. Vivien’s one weakness is her relatively low Loyalty, and the fact that she doesn’t exactly raise it quickly -- but that’s nitpicking, especially because she will frequently do a good job of protecting herself with the Beast token.

Wilt

Another situational cycler means another solid playable

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There is so much you can do here. Let’s start with the ideal case. Because this is an Instant, you can do something nasty like bring back a big boy who blocks one of their creatures, and also have that creature fight one of their small creatures. If your creature is big enough to take all that damage, you end up with an amazing deal. So yeah, that won’t line up all the time -- but even if your creature dies from the damage, you still take down 2 things of your opponent’s. And then, there’s also the case where all you can do is kill a single creature with the fight effect -- but that’s fine too. So what’s the downside here? Well, you have to have a creature in your graveyard that is worth fighting with, but that’s not hard to do in this format. This is just great.

Boneyard Lurker

Yet another Mutate payoff that helps you get around the potential for a 2-for-1. Like all the Mutate cards, you can kind of look at it as a split card -- it can be a 4-mana 4/4 if that’s what you need -- which is usually a good rate in Limited anyway -- or it make a creature into a 4/4 that gets you a card from the ‘yard. You can also put it UNDER the creature to get the card in a situation where you have a creature bigger than 4/4, but that does seem less ideal mana-wise most of the time. But yeah, Getting any permanet back from your graveyard when this mutates is great. It also has Hybrid mana, so you don’t have to be locked into BG to play it.

Brokkos, Apex of Forever

This guy doesn’t stay dead, and I always like that, especially in Limited where that type of resilience is crazy. And sure, you have to have something for it to Mutate with, but that isnt’ a big ask. Usually, it will lead to a heavily upgraded creature -- normally you’ll be putting Brokkos on top to get the 6/6 trample, and then you will of course have any abilities of the cards underneath it, which is pretty sweet. The whole graveyard thing means that you will always be able to drasticaly upgrade a creature, even from your graveyard. All the Apex creatures have hybrid mana in their cost too, which means it is easier to paly this than it might seem at first glance, as you don’t even necessarily have to splash anything, since two-color decks can pay for the Mutate cost.

Channeled Force

This is not especially easy to make work. It lets you rummage and then damage stuff, but the set up of having to have a bunch of cards in your hand just isn’t going to be worth that a lot of the time.

Chevill, Bane of Monsters

A two mana ⅓ with deathtouch, albeit kind of hard to cast since it is two colors, would be a decent card, but he does a lot more than that. He really makes your opponent’s life a challenge, since you start bountying their creatures and they have to then think about whether or not it is worth attacking you with a bountied creature, since you gain such an advantage out of the deal. And, because Chevill has deathtouch, even if you bounty your opponent’s best creature, you can probably take it down. Sure, it might not be as much fun to just trade Chevill right away for their best creature, and draw a card and gain some life, but I think frequently that will be the correct play. Turning the whole board into bounties and really torturing your opponent is probably more fun, but it won’t work out that way as often. But yeah, making your opponent make those tough decisions will be fun. Chevill also is fairly fragile, but the fact that he only costs two mana means it won’t kill you for him to die to a removal spell either.

Death's Oasis

You won’t end up in a deck where you can make this work.

Dire Tactics

Well, exiling a creature for two mana is pretty awesome, especially at Instant speed. And sure, you might lose some life from it -- but if your deck has Humans in it -- and BW is one of the Humans color pairs -- you might not even have to deal with that downside!

Eerie Ultimatum

The ultimatums are all way easier to cast in this format than they would be in most. The fixing here is just great. This means that there is a very real strategy of drafting an ultimatum as a win condition in a controlling deck, and Eerie Ultimatum is one of the ones that just wins you the game if you cast it. It does require some set up, since you’re going to need permanents in your graveyard, but that’s pretty likely by the time you cast it.

Emergent Ultimatum

Like the other Ultimatums, this is easier to cast than it looks. This is maybe the weakest of the cycle for Limited, since the others are powerful cards all on their own, and Emergent Ultimatum asks you to have some other sweet stuff going on to really excel, but it is still great.

Frondland Felidar

Wow, this is real good, even on its own. A 4-mana ⅗ with Vigilance would probably be nice, and then this counts itself with its ability, so it can tap stuff down on its own. Being able to attack with this AND use that ability is seriously nice. Plus your other Vigilance creatures get that upgrade too, and it synergizes with them as well as it does the Felidar.

General Kudro of Drannith

A three mana 3/3 human lord that hates on graveyards is pretty decent -- this set doesn’t have a ton of Humans in it, but the ones that are are mostly concentrated into BW, so the lord ability will usually have some impact. The fact he can help you take down big boys is nice too. Keep in mind he can sacrifice himself with that ability, as that could definitely come up.

General's Enforcer

So, a two mana ⅔ who can make 1/1 tokens out of stuff in graveyards is pretty nice, but don’t expect the legendary upside to come up.

Genesis Ultimatum

Like all the ultimatums, this is easier to cast than it looks. If you can cast this, you are very likely to win, so building a control deck that can go the Ultimatum route is very real. Now, most of the other ultimatums just do something inherently powerful, but unfortunately genesis ultimatum does have a little randomness to it that can be pretty painful. You generally need to be putting creatures into play when you tap out for this, and sometimes this might only get you one and a couple of lands. And sure, you get to draw some cards too, but the fact that this can sometimes wiff makes it a little disappointing. Still good, but it stops just short of a bomb.

Illuna, Apex of Wishes

So, if you don’t mutate this, it is a 5-mana 6/6 with Flying and Trample -- that’s a pretty good deal, even if it does ask you for three different colors of mana. However, the real power of this card will come from you either casting it for its Mutate cost, or Mutating other stuff with it, because then it will grab a nonland permanent from your deck and put it into play for free, which is pretty absurd. Mutate does have the danger of devastating you with spot removal when you stack creatures on top of eachother, but this Mutate trigger helps offset that. Soemthing to note here too -- while you have to be three colors if you want to hardcast Iluna, you don’t necessarily have to be if your plan is Mutating -- because it has RG Hybrid mana as part of the Mutate cost, you can Mutate this in a UG or RG deck too -- and like I said, the real value will come from doing that an way. Between impressive stats and the amazing Mutate trigger, it is hard to imagine Iluna not being incredible -- especially because it is playable in two color decks!

Inspired Ultimatum

This is an Ultimatum that will win you the game when you cast it 99% of the time. Your opponent just can’t come back from this kind of value. And like all of them, it is far easier to cast than it looks.

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

So, the static ability will come up sometimes in this format, but it won’t be a regular occurence, so I think looking at Kinnan independent of that is the thing to do. Without that, he is a Grizzly bear with an expensive, albeit powerful, activated ability. It is a great mana sink for late in the game, and yeah -- if you have some mana sources that can get doubled, you’ll get there even faster.

Labyrinth Raptor

This is a powerful little two-drop. A two mana 2/2 Menace is already a solid playable, probably at least a C -- but this brings far more to the table! Making your opponent sacrifice one of the creatures blocking it means that your opponent has to have a way to do lethal damage to the Raptor with just one of the blocking creatures. In short, that makes it a lot harder to set up the necessary double-block -- especially because the Raptor can pump its power and the power of other Menace creatures.

Lore Drakkis

So, getting an instant or sorcery back from the yard is a pretty nice mutate trigger, but the actual creature here is nothing very impressive. However, spending two Hybrid Red/Blue mana to get an instant or sorcery back from the graveyard is a nice rate, and of course it means that the more you mutate in one stack, the more times you get to do it. So yeah, the real draw here is the trigger, which means you will mutate this under stuff most of the time -- and in a fail case it is a 3-mana 2/2 that can give you some mutate value later on in the game.

Narset of the Ancient Way

So, Narset does not do a great job of protecting herself. She helps you ramp and gain life with that +1, which often won’t be the most exciting thing, but it isn’t bad either. Although the limitation to non-creature spells is a bit of a bummer. I think most of her value in Limited will come from her -2, which lets you Loot and then do damage to a creature or planeswalker. Sure, you have to discard a non-land card to get that value, but it will usually be worth it. Just think of it as you are using that card to cast a removal spell. Her ultimate is actually not the most game-breaking one, as in Limited you usually won’t have a ton of non-creature spells. So yeah, I think if you can play her and user her -2 twice, you’re probably doing a pretty good job. Keeping her around longer would be nice too, I’m just saying she can do that -2 twice provided you can protect her for a single turn, and that seems fine.

Necropanther

Lots of times in the early game, you won’t be able to do anything with that Mutate ability, and in those cases just played it as a 3-mana 3/3 is probably wise, since it means if you Mutate on to it in the later game, you’ll still get that trigger. And yeah, in the later game, when you can get something out of Mutating it, it will feel pretty good to do, becuase it also makes sure you don’t get 2-for-1’d. This is another one with Hybrid mana too, so you can conceivably play it in a wide variety of color combinations.

Nethroi, Apex of Death

This guy has a huge mutate cost, but it is super powerful, so that’s probably wise. Most of the time you mutate this you’ll get 2-3 permanents back from your graveyard, which is insane. At that high of a mana cost, this is the only one of the cycle where I think you will sometimes want to put this on the bottom -- becuase you might have a creature who can take advantage of those two powerful keywords more effectively than a 5/5. Playing this will be an unbelievable swing! And of course, you can just play it as a 5-mana 5/5 with Deathtouch and Lifelink.

Offspring's Revenge

You won’t be able to make this work.

Parcelbeast

So, a 4-mana 2/4 with this ability would probably already be good. The ability only asks for a single mana and it draws you a card every turn, more or less -- whether it is putting a land on the table or actually drawing you that card. That’s just the kind of creature who can take a game over with the hand advantage it gives you. Then, of course, you can also Mutate with it, and it has a very low Mutate cost. Most of the time the 2/4 body won’t be all that desirable, but in the early game putting this on top for Mutate will probably be attractive. Later on, just putting this under a big boy will be more ideal. But I think that a significant chunk of the time, you’re just wanting to go ahead and hardcast this thing. 4-mana for a 2/4 with this ability will frequently be better than paying 2 mana to give some other creature the ability and no additional bonuses. Obviously there are Mutate payoffs, which would make that more attractive. But yeah, even withou all the Mutate stuff, Parcelbeast is a good card, and I think the added flexibility makes it even better than that. I think this is a great uncommon, one that you shouldn’t hesitate to snatch up in many first pick scenarios.

Primal Empathy

That draw you a card every turn are very powerful, it is the kind of card advantage that just becomes insurmountable for your opponent. And sure, you DO have to meet a requirement to draw that card, but even if you can’t draw a card, a +1/+1 counter every turn is nice too -- and obviously it also means that you will be able to get your creature big enough to start drawing cards with it eventually.

Quartzwood Crasher

Even on its own, it is pretty likely that the Crusher will make a dinosaur when it attacks. As a 5-mana 6/6 with Trample, it has the kind of size that is a real problem. And, if you happen to have something with trample in play the turn you play it, it can actually impact the board right away when that creature attacks! This thing will just snowball as more dinosaurs with Trample get made, and it will take over the game.

Regal Leosaur

So the mutate trigger here doesn’t technically help you avoid a 2-for-1 most of the time, but it is powerful. Still, it is kind of an awkward card, since Mutate by its very nature does not help you go wide, so board pump on Mutate definitely feels weird. Still, it will frequently have a very real impact on the board state.

Rielle, the Everwise

Even if your deck doesn’t have a ton of spells, there’s a chance that Rielle could really shine in your deck, and that’s because of her second ability. Keep in mind, when you Cycle, part of the cast of doing so is “Discard a card:” that means that the first time you Cycle each turn with her, you end up drawing two cards. So basically, she is both a spell and Cycling build around -- and the most powerful thing to do would be to be able to take advantage of both of those things, but that won’t always be super easy. However, I do think ending up with a little bit of support for both things is enough too.

Ruinous Ultimatum

This is easier to cast than it looks, and it will win you the game 99% of the time when you cast it. A one-sided board wipe is just crazy.

Savai Thundermane

Wow, talk about a Cycling payoff. Sure, you have to have the mana to spend, but Cycling in this set usually costs 1-2 mana, so it isn’t a stretch to be able to pay the 2, and when you do, you get to start killing smaller stuff and gaining life, which is pretty awesome. It is nice you get something out of the trigger even if you don’t actually kill their creature -- getting some life no matter what is not too bad. On top of that, it is just a nice aggressive body as a 2-mana 3/2.

Skull Prophet

Wow, talk about a Cycling payoff. Sure, you have to have the mana to spend, but Cycling in this set usually costs 1-2 mana, so it isn’t a stretch to be able to pay the 2, and when you do, you get to start killing smaller stuff and gaining life, which is pretty awesome. It is nice you get something out of the trigger even if you don’t actually kill their creature -- getting some life no matter what is not too bad. On top of that, it is just a nice aggressive body as a 2-mana 3/2.

Skycat Sovereign

Well, two mana for a 1/1 flyer obviously isn’t so good, but this won’t usually be a 1/1 flyer for long, and sometimes it will never be one, assuming you have other flyers in play. The thing that really makes this strong is the activated ability. Every time you use it, you’re adding two additional flying power to the board, and that is definitely the kind of thing that can snowball on your opponent.

Slitherwisp

Making every card with flash draw you a card and do 1 to your opponent is just a crazy good trigger. A 3 -mana 3/2 with Flash is usually a C or so too, so you have a reasonable floor here. You can Flash it in to eat smaller creatures or just to trade -- although that latter option doesn’t sound super attractive given this guy’s ability.

Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt

A 4-mana ⅗ double strike as a fail case is really good -- even if it DOES ask for three colors of mana, which is by no means easy to pull off in most formats. However, like all the apexes, he has an easier-to-cast Mutate thanks to Hybrid mana, and his Mutate trigger lets you do 4 to something and gain 4 life, which certainly offsets the risk of mutating. Plus, putting this on top of a Mutation, and holding on to the Double Strike while it gains additional abilities is pretty tempting.

Song of Creation

Drawing extra cards is super powerful, and this thing will get silly in a hurry. Sure, you won’t always want to play it right away since you have other stuff going on in your hand, but once it makes sense to cast this, you will, and you will take over the game -- no question about it. Drawing extra cards, playing extra lands, it all goes well together, because it makes it more likely you can cast the extra cards you are drawing in the first place!

Sprite Dragon

This seems like a pretty sweet buildaround for a spell deck, and obviously that is UR’s thing in this set, so getting a counter or two on this won’t be a challenge. It is also made interesting by the fact that it is great to mutate on to. The +1/+1 counters will stick around on the newly mutated creature, and the other abilities of Flying and Haste will become part of the creature too. Most of the power of this card is in its textbox, and that’s just going to go well with Mutate every single time.

Titans' Nest

This is too tricky to ever make work in Limited.

Trumpeting Gnarr

A 3-mana 3/3 is a nice baseline, and then this has a Mutate ability that offsets the risk of getting 2-for-1’d since it makes you a token every time. That mutate ability definitely isn’t efficient, but you’ll be surprised at how good it feels despite that

Vadrok, Apex of Thunder

A fail case of a 3-mana 3/3 with Flying and First Strike is nice, even if it is a somewhat challenging mana cost. But, like all of the Apexes, Vadrok has hybrid mana in his Mutate cost, which means to play it, you don’t necessarily NEED to be playing all thre ecolors. In this case, he works in RW or UR, too. His mutate trigger is very powerful too, bringing back small creatures from the graveyard, which also offsets any issues you might have with getting 2-for-1’d by removal on your Mutate creature.

Whirlwind of Thought

Four mana for an Enchantment that has no immediate impact on the board is always kind of painful. Especially because this will continue to not have a big impact on the board unless your deck is loaded up with non-creature spells. And, while that is certainly doable, that is a pretty big deckbuilding requirement. This will be quite good when you get there on non-creatures, but it will often be unplayable.

Winota, Joiner of Forces

So, for this to be at its best, you have to have a nice mix of Humans and non-Humans in your deck. The good news is, that just happens most of the time in this format, without really forcing anything -- especially in RW. And because you have a 40 card deck and you’re looking at the top 6, it isn’t even like you have to have a ton of Humans -- just 4 or 5 will be nice in a deck loaded up with non-Humans that can trigger this. On top of that, this is a 4-mana 4/4 -- one that will sometimes just come down on turn 4, and allow a non-Human to attack and get you an extra creature on the table that is attacking and indestructible! And that’s not really a far-fetched scenario at all -- that’s just assuming you have a 2 or 3 drop that isn’t a Human. You could potentially curve out with this and really do something silly!

Zenith Flare

Here is the Holy Grail of Cycling payoffs, and arguably the best card in the whole set. Even if you do have to build around the Flare, it really isn’t that hard to do in a set loaded up with Cycling, and you can even take off color cards as long as they have colorless cycling costs, which is pretty much everything in this set. It just isn’t hard to rip through your whole deck, find the Flare, and win the game with it.

Alert Heedbonder

A three mana 2/4 with Vigilance is fine, and so is gaining 1 life every end step -- which is what it is when it is alone. The fact you gain more life the more Vigilance creatures you have is nice additional upside, but still not something amazing. I think this is just decent, and not much else.

Cunning Nightbonder

So I would feel fine about playing a two mana 2/2 with Flash anyway -- can occasionally ambush a more expensive creature with 2 toughness, or a creature with less than two power, and it has fine stats. But, reducing the cost of spells with Flash is nice too, especially because there seems to be a decent amount of it in this set.

Fiend Artisan

This guy is interesting. Obviously he isn’t so good in the early game, since you are unlikely to have creatures in your graveyard, but by the time you can get even one in there, he is still not a bad play as a two mana 2/2, especially because in the late game he can help you tutor up the best creatures in your deck -- assuming you’re willing to lose a creature in the process. And hey, the creature you lose will actually make the Artisan even bigger! And in theory, the Artisan will just get bigger and bigger as the game goes on anyway.

Gyruda, Doom of Depths

Making this a Companion is doable, though not something that will always work out. When you can do it, effectively having Gyruda in your opening hand every game for an additional cost of three mana is pretty insane. But, Gyruda is a crazy bomb even if you just put him in your deck, since he’s a 6-mana 6/6 that basically always gives you another nice creature.

Jegantha, the Wellspring

This is one of the easier companions to make into a Companion, as sometimes your deck will just fulfill the requirement without even trying! And like all of these, when you meet their requirement, they effectively are built-in card advantage, even if you do pay a little extra to put it into your hand. Jegantha gives you a 5-mana 5/5, which is nice, and even fixes for you. Since it generally isn’t a big cost to companion it, it is pretty appealing.

Jubilant Skybonder

This has wind drake stats and makes your flyers – including itself – harder to kill. That’s not a bad deal.

Kaheera, the Orphanguard

Making this work as a companion is a very significant cost, BUT like all of the companions, if you fulfill the requirement, Kaheera becomes awesome with pretty much your whole deck, since it now will pump all of your creatures. Still, even if you don’t quite want to go the Companion route, this pumps a lot of creatures in the set, and that makes it really good anyway.

Keruga, the Macrosage

Making Keruga a companion might look a little risky, because it means you’re not doing anything on your first couple of turns – but it is actually easier than it looks. First, this format isn’t crazy fast, so it has that going for it. Second, there is a lot of Cycling int his set, so even if you technically are meeting the Companion requirement, you can still cycle on early turns before getting to three mana. Generally, Keruga will be like a 5-mana 5/4 that draws you two cards – and sometimes way more than that! Sure, you have to pay 3 to get it into your hand and all that, but it is well worth it. It is also a companion that still feels like a bomb even if you don’t mean the companion requirement.

Lurrus of the Dream-Den

Making Lurrus your companion is not generally a super great idea, since this format tends to be slow and other decks will start doing way more powerful things than you can. The good news is, a 3-mana 3/2 with lifelink that lets you cast cheap stuff from your graveyard is stupid good even if it isn’t your companion!

Lutri, the Spellchaser

Lutri is the easiest of the companions to make into your companion, as sometimes your deck will just meet the requirement without you even trying. The ability to copy a single spell pales in comparison to most of the other companions abilities, but the fact it is so easy to have it as a Companion really makes up for that.

Obosh, the Preypiercer

Obosh is all about doing a ton of damage, and if you’ve built around it so that you can have it as your companion, it is pretty insane! Sure, the cost of not playing 2 and 4 drops is real, but if you have enough 1s and 3s, and other stuff to do with your mana, it isn’t too difficult. The turn Obosh comes down, it tends to double the damage you can do, and that is an immediate impact. Even if Obosh isn’t your companion, as long as you have mostly damage sources with mana values that are odd, it will still feel like a bomb.

Proud Wildbonder

A 4-mana 4/3 with Trample is fine, and the fact that he can do 4 no matter how he gets block is a nice upgrade -- especially because he does it for all of your tramplers!

Sonorous Howlbonder

So on its own, this has Super Menace -- and that’s a pretty good evasive ability. Three creatures being able to block this just won’t be the case a decent chunk of the time, and iti s nice that it also grants the same awesome bonus to other Menace creatures. Like all of these, it will definitely be making some creatures with that keyword ability better, but it won’t be something that happens all the time or anything.

Umori, the Collector

Umori takes some work to make into your companion, but it isn’t impossible. Generally, you’re going to want to go the all creature route, and getting a 4-mana 4/5 that reduces the cost of every spell in your deck is nice. However, Umori isn’t so powerful that it is always right to make him your companion. If you have to cut one or two cards for it to happen, its worth it, but most of the time you’re going to need removal. Still, Umori is a great card in your deck too.

Yorion, Sky Nomad

Yorion is generally not going to be worth going the companion route with, since you have to go with sub-par cards to get there. Kind of a funny thing is that BEFORE companion got nerfed, it was actually worth doing, but having to pay 3 mana at some point to grab Yorion downgrades things enough that I’m less inclined to want to go all in on companion. But the good news is, Yorion is still a bomb in your deck! The efficient stats and the flicker effect are just great.

Zirda, the Dawnwaker

It is virtually impossible for Zirda to be your companion, but a 3-mana 3/3 that reduces the cost of activated abilities (which includes Cycling), and can make creatures unable to block is still quite good.

Crystalline Giant

A 3 mana 3/3 that gains a random keyword ability or +1/+1 counter each combat is pretty nice. I also like that it makes sure it doesn’t ever give you double of the key word counters, which would obviously be useless. So, if left out long enough the Giant becomes a 4/4 with all those keyword abilities -- that isn’t ultra likely or anything, but just getting more and more powerful every turn seems is great! And it is colorless, so you know you’ll get to play this 100% of the time.

Indatha Crystal

The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card.

Ketria Crystal

The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card.

The Ozolith

You can't really play this unless you have a ton of counters, and that is very far from a foregone conclusion in this format. Still, if you do end up with a lot, having somewhere to save them is pretty powerful.

Raugrin Crystal

The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card.

Savai Crystal

The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card.

Sleeper Dart

This isn’t great, and is basically only the kind of card you run when you don’t have enough playables. It replaces itself, but the effect it has is really negligible.

Springjaw Trap

You’ll play this if you end up with enough flash in UB, or if you’re desperate for removal, OR if you have Lurrus. But that’s pretty much it.

Zagoth Crystal

The crystals all provide good fixing – something you want a lot of the time in this format – and they all have Cycling, which means when you draw one and don’t really need the fixing, you can just throw it away to draw another card.

Bloodfell Caves

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Blossoming Sands

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Bonders' Enclave

I often think of lands like this as turning into something completely different in the late game. Early, it produces mana for you -- something you certainly need, but later it can turn into a card advantage engine. Sure, you do need to have a creature with high enough power to take advantage of that, but I think enough decks in this format will be able to draw with that ability in the later part of the game that this is going to be pretty darn good. It doesn’t take up a spell slot in your deck, and yet it can be a card that will win you longer games. It can also be played in any color deck, which is nice. The one hit you take from playing this is that it isn’t so great for your mana, so you may not want to run it in a 3-color deck that doesn’t have good fixing.

Dismal Backwater

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Evolving Wilds

As always, this provides excellent fixing. It lets you splash a card off of only a single basic land, and that’s great consistency. Even in a two color deck, the impact it has on your mana is substantial.

Indatha Triome

Triomes are really nice, giving you three colors of mana AND being cyclable.

Jungle Hollow

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Ketria Triome

Triomes are really nice, giving you three colors of mana AND being cyclable.

Raugrin Triome

Triomes are really nice, giving you three colors of mana AND being cyclable.

Rugged Highlands

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Savai Triome

Triomes are really nice, giving you three colors of mana AND being cyclable.

Scoured Barrens

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Swiftwater Cliffs

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Thornwood Falls

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Tranquil Cove

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Wind-Scarred Crag

As always, these provide nice fixing, and the 1 life is a solid bonus.

Zagoth Triome

Triomes are really nice, giving you three colors of mana AND being cyclable.

Plains

Island

Swamp

Mountain

Forest