Baffling End

This is excellent removal. This format has no shortage of powerful small creatures, and Baffling End gives you a great answer for them. It is also pretty nice it gets rid of the creature entirely, as most of the time by the time they can maybe deal with Baffling End, a 3/3 Trampler isn’t that relevant.

Bishop of Binding

These creatures with Oblivion Ring effects are always good, and this one has the upside of actually getting buffed by whatever it exiles. That said, much of the time you’re going to be too scared to attack with it since they get their thing back if it dies. Still, this is premium removal stapled to a creature, and that’s pretty good!

Blazing Hope

This is way too hard to make work in Limited. It is far too conditional.

Cleansing Ray

This is mostly sideboard material to bring in against decks with some decent number of vampires and enchantments.

Divine Verdict

Like most removal that destroys an attacking or blocking creature, this is way too conditional to be premium. Its also not super impressive when it comes to efficiency. However, its perfectly solid to have one of.

Everdawn Champion

This text box is nice, but not nearly as powerful as it seems! It basically eliminates the ability of your opponent to trade with the Champion. Their larger creatures can still effortlessly block it. It is a nice place to stick auras and other enhancements, but yeah – its just a solid card and not much else.

Exultant Skymarcher

This has nice French Vanilla stats and a useful creature type.

Famished Paladin

This offers some nice size for the cost, and there are enough ways to gain life in this format that untapping him isn’t impossible. But still, the upside on this isn’t exactly incredible. It will mostly feel like a two mana 3/3 with Defender that can attack on occasion.

Forerunner of the Legion

Putting a card on top of your library is a far cry from putting it into your hand, but its still nice that you can make sure you’re going to draw your best vampire on your next turn. The +1/+1 boost each vampire gives to one of your creatures is a nice way to turn on attacks you just didn’t have before, too.

Imperial Ceratops

Legion Conquistador

Luminous Bonds

Majestic Heliopterus

Martyr of Dusk

Moment of Triumph

Paladin of Atonement

Pride of Conquerors

Radiant Destiny

Raptor Companion

This has decent aggressive stats and a nice creature type. Its fine. Not much more to say!

Sanguine Glorifier

This is a pretty nice payoff for the Vampire decks, as the counter often enables some nice attacks right away. Keep in mind, though, that it can’t put a counter on itself.

Skymarcher Aspirant

This is such a nice one drop. If you actually get it down early it can chip in some damage, and then once you have the city’s blessing, it can even pressure your opponent in the air.

Slaughter the Strong

This card is just far too inconsistent at what it does. There will be many situations where it does stone nothing, and many other situations where it helps your opponent more than it helps you.

Snubhorn Sentry

This is much better than it looks. Getting the city’s blessing going quickly is quite easy, so this is often a 3/3 by the mid-game.

Sphinx's Decree

This isn’t really here for Limited. Sometimes it might be a nice sideboard card, but the effect it has is meaningless far too often.

Squire's Devotion

This Aura provides you with some surprising value. Because it gives you a 1/1 token, it helps you get around the riskiness of Auras, and the boost it offers on top of that is pretty great thanks to Lifelink. You basically always want one of these in your typical White deck in the format, and sometimes more.

Sun Sentinel

This has alright stats and Vigilance. Its unfortunate it doesn’t have a useful creature type, though, as a card this medium has a harder time making the cut when you could be playing more creatures that are Dinosaurs or Vampires.

Sun-Crested Pterodon

This is a nice creature to have around in your Dinosaur decks. It is a very real attacker in the sky in the late game. Once it has vigilance, it can be a real problem for this format’s small creatures to attack through.

Temple Altisaur

This is pretty overcosted when it comes to stats, but on a lot of boards it can come down and really alter combat that turn, allowing you to attack with some Dinosaurs right away. It is unfortunate that it doesn’t count itself, though.

Trapjaw Tyrant

This has great base stats and its Enrage trigger is very powerful. It really puts your opponent in a bind in many situations. If they can’t take it down in combat, they are put in a situation where they just have to stop attacking or they have to take 5 damage a turn. That said, it isn’t that hard to deal with by the time it comes down. If you have some ways to damage the Tyrant yourself it gets pretty spicy.

Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

If you cast Zetalpa, you’re probably going to win. Problem is, getting that 8 mana is far from a cake walk in this format, even if you’ve got some ramp going on.

Admiral's Order

This is mostly just Cancel. Sure, the Raid can discount it for you, but you want to cast counterspells during your opponent’s turn more often than not, and this is just Cancel during their turn – and that’s a card that is always mediocre.

Aquatic Incursion

Most of the merfolk payoffs in this format are great. This one..not so much. The two bodies it gives you for the cost isn’t great, and the cost of making a merfolk unblockable is also pretty costly. It is definitely a fine card for your Merfolk decks, but not something you should go after very aggressively.

Crafty Cutpurse

This is mostly just a 4-mana 2/2 with Flash. Even with a useful creature type, that’s not near good enough. It does have some uses, as tokens are around in the format, but the situations where you can actually utilize the Cutpurse to steal a token are few and far between. It could be worth siding in in a situation where your opponent has a ton of tokens, but that’s about it.

Crashing Tide

Even without Flash, this is a pretty solid card. Adding a cantrip to bounce is great, because it means you are trading 1-for-1, which many bounce spells don’t actually do. When you do get Flash going, it ends up being really good.

Curious Obsession

This is quite powerful, and can quickly lead to you getting a massive lead. The cost is very reasonable, and if you can just put this on a creature that is guaranteed to get in the turn you play it, you’re going to feel pretty good. And the good news is, Blue has lots of creatures where that will be the case! If you get in with this more than once, it is going to be pretty hard for you to lose.

Deadeye Rig-Hauler

Making it so this can only bounce stuff if you have Raided that turn is a bit of a bummer, because that means you have to wait until your second main phase. Part of what’s nice about bounce creatures is you can use them in your first main phase to allow for an attack! Still, this is pretty reasonably costed and has a useful creature type, so its still a pretty nice Blue common.

Expel from Orazca

Without the city’s blessing, this card gets you some tempo at the cost of a card. That’s fine, but that type of card is usually a 1.5 or a 2.0. The upside of the Blessing is no joke though, because this basically becomes a Blue Doom Blade at that point. And yeah, they are going to redraw what you bounce, but you’re still removing a creature and trading 1-for-1 for only two mana! If it always put the creature on top, it would probably be a 3.5. The City’s Blessing is something that can be obtained, but the fact this will only be great in the mid-to-late game definitely hurts it a little bit.

Flood of Recollection

This isn’t great. Usually a card that just lets you get something back from your graveyard as a 1-for-1 just isn’t worth it, and that’s mostly the case here. If you have some really bomby spells maybe you play it, but that’s about it.

Hornswoggle

This is a decent counter spell. Three mana is a touch more expensive than I would like, but the fact you get a treasure back softens the blow.

Induced Amnesia

This isn’t worth playing. You don’t often have a bunch of cards in your hand you want to refresh in Limited, and that’s kind of what you need for this to do its thing. It would get a bit more interesting if you could find a way to get rid of it yourself and get your other cards back, but yeah, that’s just not happening.

Kitesail Corsair

This is perhaps Blue’s best Common. This is a great two drop that attacks well all game long, and it’s a great place to put Equipment or Auras like Curious Obsession.

Kumena's Awakening

If you have the City’s Blessing going this is excellent. If you don’t, it is mediocre, as allowing your opponent the opportunity to draw extra cards isn’t great. Still, getting the Blessing going is quite doable, and by the time you usually play something like this, you’re pretty likely to have it.

Mist-Cloaked Herald

This is a very nice and evasive creature. It’s a great place to put +1/+1 counters, which Merfolk love, and its another great target for Curious Obsession and Equipment.

Negate

As usual, this is just sideboard material.

Nezahal, Primal Tide

This is a bomb. It mostly gets there because no matter what your opponent does, the best they are going to get out of it is a 2-for-1. This is because you get to draw a card any time they play a non-creature spell, which means if they use removal on Nezahal you’ll at least get a card out of the deal. It can also protect itself further by flickering, in addition to the fact that it just provides a massive and difficult-to-deal-with body.

Release to the Wind

This has some flexibility for sure, as you can use it on your own thing to save it from removal, or you can use it on your opponent’s thing to get something out of the way temporarily. But situations where either of those are worth giving up a card are pretty rare.

River Darter

This has a useful creature type and a bit of evasion to go along with mediocre stats, but that’s definitely enough to make the cut in your Merfolk decks a decent chunk of the time.

Riverwise Augur

So, you get a 4-mana 2/2 here that Brainstorms. That’s not bad, as the card selection is great, and you’ll be getting a 2-for-1 a lot of the time. It is a little worse than it looks, since this format is a fairly aggressive one, and having a creature with this bad of stats on turn 4 is a bit of a liability, but it still gives you some pretty nice value.

Sailor of Means

This is one of Blue’s best Commons. It has decent defensive stats, but its ability to make Treasure is what is so great. You actually get a ton for your mana investment! The Treasure lets you ramp and fix your mana, and with enough of it, you can definitely splash some off-color bombs.

Sea Legs

This is pretty mediocre, like most Blue combat trick type effects are. Yes, you can use it to weaken an opposing creature or make a pirate better, but neither thing is very impressive.

Seafloor Oracle

This is a very powerful payoff for Merfolk. You usually can play this and attack your opponent with the Merfolk you already have, which feels great, and if it sticks around any longer than that, you’re going to get so much card advantage that you’ll be unbeatable.

Secrets of the Golden City

This is a very good Common. Sure, 3-mana to draw 2 isn’t anything special, but three mana to draw three is actually pretty insane in Limited, and by the mid-game it isn’t that hard to have the Blessing going. It has a decent floor and an amazing ceiling.

Silvergill Adept

Even in a deck with 0 merfolk, a 5-mana 2/1 that draws you a card is sort of passable. So, the fact that you can play this as a two mana 2/1 that draws you a card in Merfolk decks is pretty great.

Siren Reaver

This has decent evasive stats without Raid, and if you do manage to Raid you end up with a great deal.

Slippery Scoundrel

This is pretty bad in the early game, as it is just a Gray Ogre. However, once you have the Blessing, it turns into a nightmare for your opponent. Not only can they not block it, but it has hexproof! So it represents some very real inevitability.

Soul of the Rapids

This might have Hexproof, but it is still a pretty dang inefficient card as a 5-mana 3/2 with Flying. There are lots of cheaper flyers in the set that can easily trade for it. It is worth playing if you have some ways to enhance your creatures of course, but if you don’t have any way to do that at all, this doesn’t end up being very good.

Spire Winder

A 4-mana 2/3 with Flying isn’t very good, but its amazing how much better this card gets with +1/+1! A ¾ Flyer can really do some work in the air.

Sworn Guardian

If you’re in a Merfolk deck, but short on cheap Merfolk, this can do the job, but for the most part you hope you get all the better Merfolk in the set!

Timestream Navigator

This definitely has some impressive upside, as taking an extra turn is very powerful. However, the creature that does it is incredibly fragile, and you also need the City’s Blessing, and those two things together really limit your chances of actually pulling things off with this card. It dies to everything in the set and is really miserable in your opening hand.

Warkite Marauder

This is a nice aggressive two drop. A two mana 2/1 Flyer is already a 2.5 at the very worst, and this has a great attack trigger. If its on its own, it will usually be able to get in by shutting down an opposing flyer. It can get even more potent when attacking with other creatures, since you can pick and choose which blocking creature you want to make into a 0/1.

Waterknot

This is some nice removal for Blue. It doesn’t shut down activated or static abilities, but keeping it from attacking or blocking is a pretty good deal for three mana.

Arterial Flow

It is nice that, unlike a lot of Mind Rots, you get an effect here even if your opponent’s hand is empty, but it still isn’t very impressive.

Canal Monitor

This has pretty bad stats, and even if you’re desperate for a 5 drop, this doesn’t do a great job. Playing almost any other Black card in the set is probably better.

Champion of Dusk

At worst, this is a 5-mana 4/4 that draws you a card and makes you lose one life. That would probably be a 4.0, and this has the additional upside of being able to draw you far more cards than that! Now, there’s also a bit of downside there, in that you end up losing more life, but its worth it 99% of the time. This is a bomb.

Dark Inquiry

Coercion is very rarely a playable Limited card, and it really isn’t one here. 3 mana to get a 1-for-1, while you don’t add to the board at all, just isn’t worth it. You can side it in in some more unique match ups.

Dead Man's Chest

This is a pretty bag Mythic. It is easy to get excited over the number of cards you might get out of this, but there’s way too much left up to chance here. First, you can only put it on an opposing creature. Second, the creature has to die. Third, the creature needs to have high enough power for this to be worth it. Plus, you start out behind with the card, since when you play it, it doesn’t actually do anything! Then, since you need the opposing creature to die, you’re generally starting out with a 2-for-1. So..yeah, this has an impressive ceiling to be sure, but it takes way too much work and is too inconsistent to be worth it.

Dinosaur Hunter

Adding the pseudo-death touch here is actually pretty nice, as most dinos are too big for a 2/2 to take down. That, plus the Pirate creature type, are enough to make this a very solid card.

Dire Fleet Poisoner

This is really good. A two mana 2/2 with deathtouch and Flash is a nice starting point, as it gives you a creature that can show up out of nowhere and trade with anything. You get the most value here by flashing it in and buffing another Pirate. Especially if your opponent was blocking that pirate in the first place. Basically, you have a great 2/2 with a nice trick stapled to it, and you get it all for two mana.

Dusk Charger

This is pretty bad ahead of the City’s Blessing, but pretty nice after it.

Dusk Legion Zealot

Elvish Visionary is also a pretty nice card, and this Vampire version is no slouch. Adding to the board while drawing a card is just a great thing.

Fathom Fleet Boarder

This is mostly a vanilla 3-mana 3/3 in the pirate deck, and a 3-mana 3/3 with a sizable downside outside of that.

Forerunner of the Coalition

Remember that tutoring something up and putting it on top is way worse than putting it in your hand. However, tacking that on to a Gray Ogre, along with the Pirate payoff this gives you is pretty nice.

Golden Demise

This wrecks most decks in this format, which have lots of X/2s. So, the fact that it becomes one-sided after you get the City’s Blessing is pretty incredible. And, sometimes in the early game you can just let your opponent curve out and fire it off anyway. Either way, this ends up shifting the game significantly in your favor. You probably don’t really want more than one in most decks, but that first copy is something you really want in every Black deck.

Grasping Scoundrel

This is an aggressive little one drop, and sometimes you’re in the market for that. Most of the time, though, this one drop isn’t something you’re pumped about.

Gruesome Fate

This doesn’t do anything but damage the opponent, and cards that only do that are very rarely worth it in Limited. And this one is also incredibly situational. 99% of the time, this won’t do enough damage to your opponent to be worth the investment.

Impale

This is premium removal. It kills pretty much anything, no question asked. It is a little clunkier in this format, which is filled with good cheap creatures, but its still pretty great.

Mastermind's Acquisition

Tutor effects are almost never worth it in Limited, and that’s especially true on one that costs 4!

Mausoleum Harpy

This has mediocre starting stats, though it does have the capacity to get larger once you have the Blessing. You don’t feel bad about including it in your deck, but you’re going to find yourself cutting it a lot too.

Moment of Craving

This is extra good in this format because this kills a huge percentage of the creatures very efficiently, because they are mostly small. Tacking on the life gain is pretty nice too!

Oathsworn Vampire

This is a very nice life gain payoff, as a two mana 2/2 that won’t stay dead really presents a problem for your opponent, whether you are able to constantly attack or block with it. The fact it’s a vampire is very real additional upside too.

Pitiless Plunderer

This is a nice source of treasure, but the cost of the card and the starting stats really hold this card back.

Ravenous Chupacabra

This is a famously powerful Limited Uncommon. Adding a 2/2 to the board while killing your opponent’s best creature is incredibly powerful. As always, adding to the board and subtracting from your opponent’s is excellent, and this does it with impressive efficiency.

Reaver Ambush

This kills a massive percentage of the creatures in the format quite efficiently, and it exiles them too! It is definitely premium removal.

Recover

This is an alright thing to have one of in your Black decks. It is sort of like a Black Divination, in that it costs three to give you two cards. One of them comes from your graveyard, of course – but it will feel pretty similar.

Sadistic Skymarcher

Even if you always pay 4 to cast this it is quite good, and it will often cost three, which is excellent.

Tetzimoc, Primal Death

This is one of the biggest Limited bombs of all time! Your opponent will feel absolutely helpless as you put counters on their creatures ahead of casting this, because once you do, it tends to just blow up everything of interest on their board. And…since it’s a 6/6, it will then be able to close out the game for you.

Tomb Robber

The starting stats here aren’t great, but the ability to turn cards you don’t want into Explore triggers is quite powerful. It will feel sort of similar to looting, except that it often also impacts your board.

Vampire Revenant

These aren’t great stats, but it does have evasion and a useful creature type, so you could do worse.

Vona's Hunger

Edict effects are pretty nice in the early game, when your opponent frequently has fewer expendable things to give up. Then, they get pretty bad in the late game, when your opponent often has a lot of fodder. This card solves that problem though, since once it’s the mid-to-late game and you have the City’s Blessing, this can significantly diminish your opponent’s board state. Now, your opponent is still going to get to hold on to their best creatures, so keep that in mind, but this still has a pretty big impact late.

Voracious Vampire

This is a surprisingly strong Common, and really the key Common for Vampire decks in this format. +1/+1 and Menace is a very strong boost, and the fact you also get to add this menace creature to the board at the same time is a big deal.

Blood Sun

This is just here for constructed formats. There aren’t enough nonbasics in this format for it to matter, and the fact it cycles at worst still doesn’t make it worth it.

Bombard

This kills most creatures in this format at Instant speed, and is Red’s best Common.

Brass's Bounty

This isn’t something you want in Limited. It is very challenging to actually have the cards to take use of the massive number of treasure that this makes you. Sure, you have 14 mana…but your hand is almost certainly empty and you probably had enough mana to cast everything in your deck anyway.

Brazen Freebooter

A Hill Giant that makes a Treasure token is pretty solid in this format. Getting fixing in Red is quite nice!

Buccaneer's Bravado

This is a powerful card that you really want at least one of in all of your Pirate decks. It is a decent trick on the face of it, and it turns into a very real win condition in Pirate decks thanks to the massive amount of damage this card can help your Pirates do.

Charging Tuskodon

This doesn’t have great stats, but if it is allowed to get through, it hits your opponent really hard. Most of the time, when you play this your opponent will just have to double block it to take it down – and they usually can, but that’s not a bad fail case.

Daring Buccaneer

This does feel pretty good when you play it on turn one, but obviously it has quickly diminishing values, as a 2/2 becomes increasingly less impressive as the game goes on.

Dire Fleet Daredevil

You do have to pick your spots with this, but if you do, it ends up being absurdly powerful. Stealing your opponent’s best removal spell from their graveyard and using it to off their creature is amazing. And, you get a two mana 2/1 with First Strike at the same time! Sometimes you do just have to play it to have a two drop, so its nice that it is pretty reasonable when you go that route.

Fanatical Firebrand

This format has an unusual number of X/1s, so the Firebrand tends to stay relevant all game long. It tends to attack in the early game, and then become a removal spell in the late game. The fact it can ping your opponent is pretty sweet, too!

Forerunner of the Empire

The idea here is that you’ll get to trigger Enrage with the Forerunner’s ability. And yeah, it will let you do that, but the unfortunate thing with this Forerunner is that the ability is such a specific narrow one. It isn’t like every card in your deck is going to have Enrage, or more than one toughness, and for that reason you will often find yourself in super awkward situations where you don’t actually want to play a dinosaur now, because you don’t get any benefit out of doing 1 damage to the whole board! Now, when you do have Enrage triggers to reap the benefits of, it feels great – but you must be ready for both sides of the spectrum.

Form of the Dinosaur

This is pretty darn strong, and a nice callback to Form of the Dragon! It is especially nice if you play this when you are under 15 life, as the life gain there is pretty real. Then, if you can get to your upkeep, you basically get to “fight” a creature every turn. And sure, that creature damages you, but you really only need to pick off 1-2 creatures for this to feel absolutely absurd. It really takes the game over. Now, it is pretty slow – and you’re going to find times where it is really hard to play this because you need to add to the board immediately, but the life gain side of things helps offset that some.

Frilled Deathspitter

This is a decent aggressive creature. It tends to damage your opponent no matter what they do, and that’s always nice in an aggro deck.

Goblin Trailblazer

This is a nice little two drop that is tough to block effectively in the early game. It is pretty nice with Pirate payoffs too!

Mutiny

This is decent removal, but I don’t like how reliant you are on your opponent having creatures who line up just the right way for this to kill what you want.

Needletooth Raptor

The Enrage trigger here is very powerful, as it effectively lets you kill an opposing creature. This is a rough card to have to attack through, and a rough card to be attacked by, since you know that trading with it is a disaster, and even without a trade it can probably destroy your best creature. It gets especially nasty if you find ways to trigger Enrage in other ways, like with the Dinosaur Forerunner.

Orazca Raptor

This has almost passable stats and a useful creature type. You’ll play it some of the time.

Pirate's Pillage

This is pretty expensive for Tormenting voice, but it turns out the two treasure this gives you back are pretty nice. Oftentimes, you’ll be able to cast one of the things you draw as a result. And, like all treasure cards, providing fixing is some nice upside.

Reckless Rage

The idea here is to use this and do the 2 damage to one of your dinosaurs with Enrage. And, when you can do that, it feels incredibly powerful, since you’re generally going to kill an opposing creature and get a nice trigger. Outside of Enrage creatures, this also tends to work decently if you have enough creatures with 3 or more Toughness, because it still end sup being one mana to do 4 to an opposing thing and that’s great. There are some downsides that keep this card in check though. Like the fast that you can’t cast it at all if you don’t have a creature in play, and even if you do have a creature in play, if it has 2 or fewer toughness casting this really doesn’t feel good.

Rekindling Phoenix

This is a HUGE bomb. A 4-mana 4/3 Flyer is already a 3.5 or a 4.0, and this refuses to stay dead, constantly coming back on your upkeep. Your opponent can only really take it down if they kill the Phoenix and the Elemental it makes, and that means the best your opponent can do is get 2-for-1’d, and that often will still mean they lose!

See Red

Like most Auras, this can be pretty risky since you open yourself up to a 2-for-1, but the stats boost and first strike is great for two mana, and that means this ends up being a pretty solid card for most aggro decks.

Shake the Foundations

This is mostly a sideboard card to bring in against decks with lots of X/1s. However, if you end up with 4+ creatures with Enrage, and very few of your own X/1s, you can definitely main board this and feel alright about it.

Shatter

Not enough Artifacts in this set to main deck this.

Silverclad Ferocidons

This might seem like it has a really nice Enrage trigger, but by the time you play this your opponent has so many permanents that it really isn’t going to do that much. It does offer some alright stats for the cost on top of the trigger, and it attacking is not something the other player can ignore. It does get better if you have some ways to trigger Enrage.

Stampeding Horncrest

A 5-mana 4/4 without Haste is pretty bad, and one with Haste isn’t that great. This will make the cut in some of your Dino decks, but you won’t feel bad about cutting it either.

Storm Fleet Swashbuckler

At worst this is a Bear with a useful creature type, and in the late game it becomes quite the formidable attacker, especially if you have other ways of buffing it.

Sun-Collared Raptor

This is a cheap Dinosaur, and sometimes you need those, but overall this isn’t great. Sure, you can pump its power and stuff, but the amount of mana you sink into that is massively inefficient, since the Raptor is almost assuredly dying in combat too. It feels especially terrible if a 2 power creature blocks it. So, you get a trade, but pay way more mana than your opponent does for it.

Swaggering Corsair

This ends up a 3-mana 3/3 often enough that its decent, though it does feel bad when it comes down as a Gray Ogre.

Tilonalli's Crown

You’re only going to end up playing this if you have a ton of creatures with Enrage. Otherwise, its pretty much unplayable. +3/+0 and Trample is a nice boost, but it isn’t the kind that allows your creature to survive combat any better than it already could.

Tilonalli's Summoner

If you get to untap with this, it does some very real work. It will be pretty hard for you not to get the City’s Blessing as a result of the Elemental tokens this makes for you, and that means they’re going to be sticking around. The Summoner is probably going to die when it attacks of course, but all the extra bodies it gives you makes up for that.

Aggressive Urge

This is actually a pretty solid trick. The boost for the cost isn’t great, but by making it a cantrip you open up the potential for a 2-for-1, and at worst you can cycle it away.

Cacophodon

This has some pretty good defensive stats, but the Enrage trigger is fairly underwhelming.

Cherished Hatchling

It seems like this would do something sweet on a regular basis – but it is actually hard to set it up to do its thing than it looks. There’s no doubt, when you can cast a Dino at Instant speed and fight something, it feels amazing – but the Hatchling has to die when you have the mana to cast the thing and so forth, and that just doesn’t happen enough for this to be great.

Colossal Dreadmaw

This is not a bad finisher if you need one in your Green decks.

Crested Herdcaller

This is one of the best Uncommons in the set. 5 mana for two 3/3s with Trample is absolutely excellent, and it is great at all stages of the game. If you’re behind it, it can get you back to parity. If you’re at parity, it will pull you ahead, and if you’re ahead, it will solidify your lead.

Deeproot Elite

This is something of a build around, but ending up in a Merfolk deck is a common enough occurrence that I don’t really think we need to give it more than one grade. Obviously, this is excellent in that deck, as you just put counters all over the place, and the advantage those give you is pretty massive.

Enter the Unknown

Explore (the mechanic) + Explore (the card) is kind of a funny design, and this card is fine if you’re looking for a last playable. But you’ll cut it a lot too.

Forerunner of the Heralds

This is the best card in this cycle for Limited. It helps that the Merfolk deck is probably also the strongest one in the format – but the Merfolk payoff here is really good, as +1/+1 any time you have one enter the battlefield is a big deal, especially when you are putting more than one in play at a time, which a few cards int his format are capable of doing. Tutoring up one of your more potent Merfolk payoffs is not shabby either.

Ghalta, Primal Hunger

He’s absolutely massive, but getting his cost down to something reasonable is a pretty real hurdle. If you’re in a dinosaur deck this is going to be the most doable, especially because there is ramp and cost reductio in that color pair.

Giltgrove Stalker

This is an excellent two drop that is unblockable on a surprising number of board states, and it is also a great place to put +1/+1 counters, which the Merfolk deck is great at.

Hardy Veteran

This has decent stats, but in a format loaded up with tribal payoffs, it is a bit awkward that it doesn’t have a creature type that lines up with any of the Green decks.

Hunt the Weak

This is a nice removal spell, as the +1/+1 counter will enable many creatures to take down an opposing one in a fight. You do need to be very careful about when you cast it, since if your opponent has removal and they use it in response, you probably just lost the game. But if you pick your spot wisely, this has a big impact in your favor.

Jade Bearer

This is a lot better than it looks. There are lots of good evasive merfolk to put a counter on with this.

Jadecraft Artisan

This can come down and give you an attack you just didn’t have before, and that tends to be pretty nice. It does have Hill Giant stats though, which isn’t great.

Jadelight Ranger

This gives you a lot of value no matter what happens. Any of the following can happen: You get a 3-mana 4/3 that gives you some card selection. You get a 3-mana 3/2 that draws you a card. Or, you get a 3-mana 2/1 that draws you two cards. Yeah, I’d sign up for any of those.

Jungleborn Pioneer

This gives you two very useful bodies for a great cost, especially in a format with great Merfolk payoffs.

Knight of the Stampede

This does a good job of decreasing the cost of Dinosaurs if that’s what you’re in the need for, but it isn’t going to always make the cut, even in all Dinosaur decks.

Naturalize

There aren’t enough Enchantments or Artifacts in this format to put this in your main deck.

Orazca Frillback

This has alright stats and a useful creature type, so it makes the cut sometimes.

Overgrown Armasaur

This has a pretty nice Enrage trigger, but it does sometimes feel a little too clunky and awkward in a format with tons of small evasive creatures.

Path of Discovery

Giving all of your creatures Explore is pretty darn good, and this will generate all sorts of value for you. You of course need a very high creature count, and the more creatures that make more than one body the better (like Jungleborn Pioneer), but that isn’t super difficult in this format. The biggest downside here is simply the fact that you pay 4 mana for something that has no immediate impact on the board, and sometimes that’s a liability, but the upside is certainly worth it.

Plummet

There aren’t enough flyers in this format for you to main deck this reliably.

Polyraptor

This has a really sweet Enrage trigger, but it also costs a wopping 8 mana! If your deck is good at getting to that amount of mana, and some of the Dino decks are, then this is a decent inclusion. Notably, you can also combo it with the Red Forerunner for a devastating and game-winning effect, so picking up that Uncommon when you have the Polyraptor is usually a good call. You just won’t always be able to include it in such an aggressive format.

Strength of the Pack

On a decent number of board states this will do enough to win you the game, but one has to consider all of the other scenarios with the card too. If you aren’t already at parity or ahead of your opponent, it doesn’t do much for you.

Swift Warden

A 3-mana 3/3 with Flash is always playable, so the Hexproof upside here is nice. You will find you don’t always get to use it, because you just need to be playing this 3/3 – and sometimes flashing it in to block a 2/2 is just what you need to do. However, when you do get to take advantage of the Hexproof, it feels pretty nasty.

Tendershoot Dryad

So, even if it didn’t have Ascend this would probably be a 4.0. A 5-mana 2/2 that cranks out a Saproling every upkeep is actually a pretty big deal. Note that every upkeep includes your opponent’s! This means that you will usually at least get one Saproling out of this card before it dies, and that’s pretty much a worst case scenario. If it is allowed to stick around for a couple of turns, things will get really silly, especially because it helps you get to the City’s Blessing. This is an absolute bomb, and its only downside is that it dies to a ton of removal.

Thrashing Brontodon

This has great stats and its also a pretty nice utility creature to have in your main deck, as sometimes you run into problem Artifacts and Enchantments in game one, and this actually gives you an answer to them.

Thunderherd Migration

So this is either Rampant Growth or a better Rampant Growth. This is pretty good at ramping and fixing for you, and if you’re in a version of the Dino deck that’s in the market for that, this is pretty nice. It does have the downside of becoming irrelevant in the late game, though.

Wayward Swordtooth

This is a pretty big liability in the early game, especially in a format that can really punish you for playing a card that is effectively blank. And, the ability to play additional lands isn’t really a huge deal, though it is better in this format thanks to explore, which will result in you having extra lands around more often than not. Still, it has an excellent stat-line and a 5/5 body that is very relevant, even if you take awhile to get the Blessing, so its pretty solid.

World Shaper

This has an ability that doesn’t do a whole lot in this format, so most of the time it just feels like it’s a Hill Giant, and that’s not usually where you want to be. There isn’t enough of a reason to mill yourself. It does help you ramp in a roundabout way, which is sometimes useful though, and being a Merfolk helps it avoid being terrible.

Atzocan Seer

This is great ramp for Dinosaur decks, and being able to get back your fallen Dinos is some nice additional upside.

Azor, the Lawbringer

A 6-mana 6/6 Flyer is a pretty powerful thing, so the additional upside here is big. Basically getting to cast Sphinx’s Revelation when Azor attacks is a pretty big deal! Even if you’re only drawing a single card it feels good, and more than that feels great! This is a bomb where your opponent does have to let you untap with it still in play for you to truly reap the rewards. Azor’s ETB ability doesn’t really do much to protect him, though it does mean your opponent has to use their removal on him during their own turn, and that matters sometimes. But yeah, this is definitely a bomb.

Deadeye Brawler

A 4-mana 2/4 with Deathtouch is already kind of a decent card, and when you get the City’s Blessing going, this feels pretty close to Shadowmage Infiltrator. Your opponent is going to be unable to interact with this in any way where they really come out ahead.

Dire Fleet Neckbreaker

If you’re in an aggressive Pirate deck, this can be a pretty nasty thing to play on turn 4, assuming you played pirates turn 1-3. In that type of situation, it immediately changes the board state in a very real way. On its own, it does attack as a 5/2 attacker too, which isn’t the worst.

Hadana's Climb

This is a bomb. Getting a +1/+1 counter on a creature every turn is always a big deal in Limited, and this comes with the incredible upside of eventually transforming into a land that turns one of your creatures into an even bigger threat. There are definitely board states where you just won’t ever let this transform and it will do plenty, and you can pretty much hold off on transforming it until it gives you lethal. Keep in mind, when it transforms, it will be untapped!

Huatli, Radiant Champion

This isn’t a great planeswalker for Limited. She does have the capacity to raise her loyalty in a hurry, but her ultimate – while pretty good – isn’t exactly game-breaking. Meanwhile, her -1 is also fairly unimpressive. In general, she demands that you already have a pretty good board state to thrive, and that can be a problem.

Journey to Eternity

If you put this on one of your creatures, your opponent gets put in a pretty nasty bind. They won’t really be able to attack into or block that creature, otherwise you end up getting it back – and you get a land that can reanimate your creatures! This card is held in check a little bit, because you don’t often have that much control over your creature dying, and your opponent can simply make choices that don’t let this transform into a powerful land. It happens more often than you’d think that your opponent can still keep you under pressure without giving you this land with enough time to actually use it. Its still a powerful card, but don’t expect it to transform easily.

Jungle Creeper

Its nice that this 3-mana 3/3 can keep coming back from the graveyard – but its not so nice that it costs you 5 mana to return it and then 3 mana to play it again every single time. Still, it has solid stats and if you are flooding out in the late game, it does give you something to do with your mana!

Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca

UG is virtually always a Merfolk deck in this format, so Kumena doesn’t really need a build around grade. He is a pretty impressive card in those decks, because he has a whole slew of abilities that are quite powerful. The most exciting ones, though, do cost three and five merfolk to do, and while that’s certainly doable, there will be times he comes down and can’t immediately use those abilities. That said, the baseline here is great, and in the mid-to-late game he’ll take things over. I think he does just enough to be a bomb.

Legion Lieutenant

A vampire lord is just what you want in BW, and this will end up buffing most of the creatures in your deck, so that’s great.

Merfolk Mistbinder

A merfolk lord is just what you want in UG, and this will end up buffing most of the creatures in your deck, so that’s great. Also helps that there are several merfolk that produce more than one body.

Path of Mettle

This has a neat design, but its also an overly quirky card that is tough to make work consistently. Your deck is going to have creatures who don’t have those keyword abilities, but if you’re playing this, you really need to hope that your deck doesn’t have too many of those that are X/1s, or this can be a real problem. It is nice that it can trigger Enrage – but the flip side is that it can do it for your opponent too! If you can transform this it turns into a pretty incredible land, since it lets you Shock your opponent and steal creatures that have attacked you. However, the mediocre initial effect it gives you and the requirement to transform it are pretty big downsides.

Profane Procession

This is a pretty insane bomb. It might look at first like this is a really inefficient way to destroy creatures, but the fact remains that it lets you remove three creatures with a single card, and then it transforms and starts giving you control of those creatures. This is a very hard card to beat.

Protean Raider

Clones are pretty nice in Limited, since they will always be whatever the best creature on the table is. This Clone demands Raid to do its thing, and that’s a real requirement, but its still a pretty nice card overall.

Raging Regisaur

This has really good stats, plus it can pick off opposing X/1s, or you can use it to damage your own creatures for Enrage shenanigans, and that’s pretty sweet.

Relentless Raptor

This obviously has some incredible stats as a two mana 3/3 with Vigilance. The requirement to attack or block every combat does mean its usually going to die in a hurry, though.

Resplendent Griffin

This isn’t the most impressive signpost Uncommon. It starts out as a hard-to-cast Wind Drake, and – while it does get a City’s Blessing upgrade, it isn’t enough for this to be anything special. This frequently has a hard time attacking by the time you get the Blessing, and it has to attack to make the upgrade matter. Don’t get me wrong, this is still really nice in UW decks, it just pales in comparison to the other signposts.

Siegehorn Ceratops

Because this is a 2/2, it isn’t that easy to really abuse this card, since 2 damage will just kill it. Now, if you do find a way to do 1 damage to it to upgrade it to a 3/3, it certainly becomes more of a problem, and that’s certainly doable – but this frequently just feels like a Bear.

Storm Fleet Sprinter

Unblockable and Haste combine here to do inevitable damage in a hurry, and this also helps you set up your cards with Raid very consistently.

Storm the Vault

This isn’t that good in Limited. The treasure the front side can give you can be nice, but playing a 3 mana Enchantment that make you jump through hoops to get that treasure isn’t so nice. Then, once it transforms, you probably have access to a bunch of mana, but you’re just not going to find anything to do with it often enough.

Awakened Amalgam

This doesn’t do anything in this format, there just aren’t enough lands around to make it efficient.

Azor's Gateway

This is mostly just an Artifact that lets you loot in Limited – and it isn’t even the best kind of looting, since you have to exile what you discard. That’s a passable thing if you’re desperate for a playable, but don’t expect to transform this consistently. Funnily enough, even if you do manage to transform it, you don’t get a whole lot out of the land side, since you just won’t have anything to spend that mana on.

Captain's Hook

This gives a pretty powerful boost for the Equip cost, as +2/+0 and Menace makes virtually anything into a threat. The downside is real of course – you can’t really move it around how you want to without losing your creatures, and your opponent gets a 2-for-1 if they blow up the Hook while its Equipped, but the upside is worth it.

Gleaming Barrier

If you’re a really defensive deck looking to ramp, this does those things, but there are a surprising number of early creatures it just can’t block, and that’s a problem.

Golden Guardian

A 4-mana 4/4 with Defender is probably a 1.5. It blocks really well and has good stats for the cast – this has some real upside, though, since it can transform into a Golem factory. Transforming it, though, isn’t all that easy. Basically, you have to have the Guardian fight a creature that is bigger than it is, so that it dies. There are other ways to do it too – like you block with the Guardian and fight something smaller, but that also means you’re starting things off with the Guardian with a 2-for-1. And, yeah, the Golems you make will help make up for that eventually, but it will take a little while. If you do transform this, it feels great, but the requirements to do that are very real.

Orazca Relic

This is a pretty bad mana rock since it only produces colorless and costs 3 mana. Its nice that it gains some extra utility once you have the City’s Blessing, instead of just being a useless hunk of metal like most mana rocks, but still not something impressive.

Silent Gravestone

This isn’t even that great as a sideboard card, as graveyard stuff in this format isn’t a major theme.

Strider Harness

This does not give a great boost for the total investment you put into it, though once its in play and you can pay one extra to give +1/+1 and Haste to every new creature.

Traveler's Amulet

This is an excellent source of fixing, and it can even let you reduce the number of land you play in your deck, both of which are pretty nice things to get out of a common Artifact.

Arch of Orazca

This has massive upside once you get the blessing going. Sure, it costs 5 to draw that card, but having one of your lands actually produce cards for you is a pretty big deal, and a great thing to have around in the late game.

Evolving Wilds

Like always, this provides some pretty nice fixing – even better than the format’s tap lands. Even if you’re a two color deck, it improves your mana significantly.

Forsaken Sanctuary

These provide you with good fixing. If they are in your two colors or they help you splash, you are pretty interested in them.

Foul Orchard

These provide you with good fixing. If they are in your two colors or they help you splash, you are pretty interested in them.

Highland Lake

These provide you with good fixing. If they are in your two colors or they help you splash, you are pretty interested in them.

Stone Quarry

These provide you with good fixing. If they are in your two colors or they help you splash, you are pretty interested in them.

Woodland Stream

These provide you with good fixing. If they are in your two colors or they help you splash, you are pretty interested in them.