It has almost been 20 years since the original Lorwyn release, and I can still remember playing that prerelease! Crazy how time flies when you’re playing Magic! There’s some fun new mechanics, as well as a return to some well-supported Typal (Tribal) archetypes. Let’s jump right on in!
5.0: Disgustingly powerful and basically unbeatable. Either answer it the turn it comes down or just pack up your cards. (Gruff Triplets, Virtue of Persistence, The Eternal Wanderer)
4.5: Incredible bomb that still gives your opponent a slim chance. (Virtue of Loyalty, Imodane's Recruiter, Realm-Scorcher Hellkite)
4.0: Great rare or the absolute best uncommons and removal. (Faunsbane Troll, Gumdrop Poisoner, Talion’s Messenger)
3.5: Great role filler or removal that you never cut. (Candy Grapple, Hearth Elemental, Torch the Tower)
3.0: Good playable that I’m basically never cutting. (Shrouded Shepherd, Spellscorn Coven, Sharae of Numbing Depths)
2.5: Decent playable and the bar I hope nearly every card in my deck to reach. (Evolving Wilds, Archon's Glory, Flick a Coin)
2.0: Mediocre filler that normally is your 20-23rd card(s). (Mintstrosity, Ice Out, Grabby Giant)
1.5: Replaceable, overall bad filler. Could also be decent sideboard cards. (Titanic Growth, Scarecrow Guide, Territorial Witchstalker)
1.0: Bad filler. Gets cut most of the time. (Dark Tutelage, Kindled Heroism, Impact Tremors)
0.5: Very unhappy to main deck this, but maybe it has fringe sideboard applications. Cards that “could” be situationally decent, but bad in most situations. (Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study, Mana Flare)
0.0: Unplayable in every possible situation. They rarely print cards this bad these days. (Hew the Entwood, One with Nothing)
Auntie’s Sentence
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is a decent removal spell. You really want to cast this on turn 2, as it gets worse the longer the game goes. It’s replaceable, but can be a nice placeholder for decks with a low amount of 2 drops.
Barbed Bloodletter
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is an interesting trick, and really hard to evaluate before playing the set. The leftover equipment seems cheap enough to equip so I think it’s fine as of now.
Bile-Vial Boggart
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
I’m not really sold on this guy, although there are some cool interactions within the set.
Bitterbloom Bearer
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
This Bitterblossom effect having flash makes it much stronger, despite being easier to kill. It will allow you to at least get 1 free faerie out of the deal before it can get dealt with.
Blighted Blackthorn
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is really slow, but it can net you some cards if you have blight fodder laying around.
Blight Rot
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This should be able to deal with most creatures.
Bloodline Bidding
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This can be pretty good, or completely awful. There isn’t very many self mill cards this set, with 2 black commons a 1 green common. But it you are very heavy on one creature type/shapeshifter and you have some self mill, you could convince me to play this.
Boggart Mischief
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
The 2.5 rating is assuming you have a heavy goblin count in your deck, otherwise this should probably be avoided. They work well in multiples, and it’s easy to blight your goblin tokens away in Rakdos.
Boggart Prankster
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
A decent 2 drop for aggressive black decks, working particularly well in Rakdos.
Bogslither’s Embrace
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
A very solid removal option, despite the sorcery speed.
Champion of the Weird
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
The activated ability on this guy can be pretty absurd, sometimes being able wo wipe out your opponents creatures entirely. The more Goblin fodder you have in your deck, the better this looks to be.
Creakwood Safewright
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This has a solid floor, and become gigantic by the mid-game.
Darkness Descends
Rating: SB // 5.0
This seems like a sideboard card you can bring in against more aggressive decks.
Dawnhand Dissident
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This does require you to have other creatures in play that you can put counters on. It also only reanimates exiled cards you own, meaning stuff from your graveyard. It’s still a good card, it just takes a bit of set-up to get going.
Dawnhand Eulogist
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
This is one of the few self-mill cards in the set. If you’re deck is into that, and has elves, this seems decent enough.
Dose of Dawnglow
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
The instant speed makes this a bit cheeky, but as with all of the 5 mana reanimate uncommons we’ve seen, you need to have both self-mill (or a way to discard), and expensive/bomb creatures to play it.
Dream Seizer
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
I like this card, maybe more than I should. Discard effects on turn 4 are often meaningful, due to the smaller hand size by then, and hopefully you have something else to stick the blight on.
Gloom Ripper
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This can be incredibly powerful with a surprisingly low amount of elves. If you can get X=3 or greater, this is a bomb – and it’s not hard to get that amount of Elves/shapeshifters in play/battlefield.
Gnarlbark Elm
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
While this comes in as a 1/2, picking off a 2/3 drop the following turn seems like solid value. It also works well with Blight 2 cards, allowing you to repeat the -2/-2 effect.
Graveshifter
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
The fact that Gravedigger is now a shapeshifter, has huge implications/synergies this set.
Grub, Storied Matriarch // Grub, Notorious Auntie
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is one of the transform rares that seems weak in comparison. The front side is solid, but the back side is a bit sketchy, considering you have to attack with it to get the trigger.
Gutsplitter Gang
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This is stronger in more aggressive decks, and can really put a clock on your opponent. This card does have a silver bullet, in Blossombind, which won’t even let it kill itself.
Heirloom Auntie
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
While I’m not a huge fan of the stats on this creature, the repeatable Surveil 1 triggers can really add up in a longer game.
Iron-Shield Elf
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This is an incredibly difficult card to play against, and you know that if you’ve every played against Seasoned.
Moonglove Extractor
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
Yeah, this ain’t it. There will be situations when this can get more than 1 attack in, but there will also be plenty of games where this can get 0 attacks in without throwing the creature away for the card.
Moonshadow
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
Assuming you get to play this on turn 1, this is a must kill threat. It might stay small until the mid-game, but it’s really not that difficult to get this to a 7/7 menace.
Mornsong Aria
Rating: SB? // 5.0
I could see putting this in against a late-game deck, that also has multiple draw spells. If you have an early curve and get your opponent to a reasonable life total, this could threaten to kill them quicker than it will kill you.
Mudbutton Cursetosser
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This seems solid enough, though it can’t block – you can always put Blight counters on it
Nameless Inversion
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
A solid piece of removal, with some random bonus text.
Nightmare Sower
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This really depends on the amount of cards you will be able to play during your opponents turns. If you have very little, a 2/3 flying lifelink for 4, isn’t terribly exciting.
Perfect Intimidation
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
I’m not a huge fan of this card, as the second mode has very low practical utility.
Requiting Hex
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
While nice to trade 1 mana for a 2 drop, it’s scope is very limited, and the blight option seems pretty irrelevant.
Retched Wretch
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This seems like a fine 3 drop, that works well in Rakdos as a blight target.
Scarblade Scout
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
A very solid 2 drop.
Scarblade’s Malice
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This could end up being better than I think, but as of now, it seems not great.
Shimmercreep
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
While not either Gray, nor Grasping Thrull, it’s somewhat similar – but different. I think if you can get x=3 or greater, this card seems solid, but if it’s most likely to be x=2, that might be the breakpoint for it being good.
Taster of Wares
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This card is a beating. Especially because if your opponent does have a removal spell, you can just yoink it, so you can cast it later.
Twilight Diviner
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
There aren’t a ton of practical ways to trigger this, though some do exist, with Wretched Wretch being one of the more practical options. 3/3 for 3 + Surveil 2, is a really solid 3 drop on it’s own, though.
Unbury
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This card is really easy to get 2-for-1 value with, thanks to the shapeshifters. Instant speed is a nice boost to this as well.
Top 3 Black Commons:
Bogslither's Embrace BBlight Rot Dream Seizer
Black looks pretty mid to me. It has a high amount of underwhelming creatures, and removal seems a little sub-par for what you’d expect. It does have some fun Blight enablers/payoffs, which seems like a fun archetype to me. I’ll be breaking down Red next, stay tuned!
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
