The new set isn’t really looking to rock any established foundation. We’ve got about 50% reprints, 50% new cards, and no new mechanics. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be bad by any means, in fact it may be a better set because the designers are working with far less unknowns than usual. Either way, I have been feeding and watering my J2SJosh in my basement, and I feel like he’s thriving. Let’s take a look at blue.
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)
Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
It may be hard to grow this card, especially on the draw, but a lot of it’s power is from the raid trigger, making cards like Burglar Rat quite problematic.
Anthem of Champions
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
In a perfect world, this nets you a ton of power and toughness. In the real world, this can fall pretty flat, only pumping your 1-2 creatures in play at a time.
Ashroot Animist
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This can easily take over a game if it’s able to attack repeatedly.
Balmor, Battlemage Captain
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
I’m a big fan of Balmor decks, and they can be quite explosive. Pairing it with cards like Goblin Surprise, and Faebloom Trick are key for the deck to shine.
Consuming Aberration
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
There will be games when this is a tiny creature for 5 mana as well as games where it becomes gigantic. The floor is pretty low for 5 mana, but it should still be a fine card to include in your deck.
Dreadwing Scavenger
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
This card is a bit more overpowered than one would assume. It loots on ETB, and every turn there after (while flying for 2 points), and eventually grows into a 3/3 deathtouch. If you picture this card reading: “T: Loot and opponent loses 2 life.” it changes your perspective a bit.
Elenda, Saint of Dusk
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
This is a large lifelink creature that’s hard to kill.
Empyrean Eagle
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
Classic Azorius flying lord. There are plenty of solid flyers in the colors, so it’s not hard for this to
Fiendish Panda
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
With no keywords, this creature isn’t too threatening. Returning a small-medium creature to the battlefield is a decent reward if the bear demon dies.
Good-Fortune Unicorn
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
The stats are mediocre, but the effect can be strong at times, especially with token generation.
Heroic Reinforcements
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
A great Boros card in general, but also can splash nicely in other white go-wide builds.
Koma, World-Eater
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
Ward 4 isn’t hexproof, but it does narrow down the removal that can kill this by a large margin. With the 8/12 trampling body, it’s pretty hard to stop this thing from generating the 4 3/3 tokens when it attacks.
Kykar, Zephyr Awakener
Rating: 3.0 // 5.0
A fine flyer on it’s own, but it can really pop off with some ETB creatures like Guarded Heir, if not, pumping out 1/1 flyers is also acceptable.
Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
The window for when this will be good is pretty narrow. Attacking on turn 5 with a 2/3 menace isn’t all that threatening, but if you can connect with and/or pump up its power, the payoff is solid.
Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
A decent body to get involved in combat with when needed, and the passive ability can start taking over the game pretty quickly. Evolving Wilds is very nice to pair with this to start thinning out your deck.
Niv-Mizzet, Visionary
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
There aren’t many noncreature sources of damage that are worth playing in the first place. Nowadays a 5/5 flyer for 6 is nothing special.
Perforating Artist
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
While the raid trigger does give opponents choices, all of those choices are pretty rough. This card can add up value throughout the game, and can be diabolical in multiples.
Progenitus
Rating: 0.0 // 5.0
Nah
Ruby, Daring Tracker
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
Ruby is a well-designed card, acting as a mana dork early and decent haste attacker later in the game.
Swiftblade Vindicator
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
This card isn’t great by itself, but if your deck has lots of support it can shine. There are a good amount of cheap equipment to pair this with, and a fair amount of +1/+1 counters as well.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
If Tatyova hits the battlefield in any kind of stalemate, the player with her will likely win if unchecked. She is pretty weak on defense, but in all other scenarios she accrues tons of value.
Thousand-Year Storm
Rating: 0.0 // 5.0
I can think of one thousand ways this card does nothing.
Wardens of the Cycle
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
Triggering morbid shouldn’t be hard between these two colors, and the payoffs are strong.
Zimone, Paradox Sculptor
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
If you have two other creatures in play, this takes over the game in short order.
Adventuring Gear
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is for hyper aggressive decks, but it’s still quite unreliable. It works well with Terramorphic Expanse or Burnished Hart.
Banner of Kinship
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a cool design for sure, but not a great limited card. It’s awesome in a deck full of creatures and tokens, but still hast the potential to fall flat.
Burnished Hart
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is pretty slow, but it does mana fix/ramp pretty well. Most often you will use this as a chump blocker, sacrificing it before damage goes through.
Campus Guide
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
Another underwhelming mana fixer. You can play this in decks with potential mana issues, and no where else.
Fishing Pole
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is a weird one, but it does have some utility. It can be good at providing a sea of fish to go wide during stalemates, provide sacrifice fodder, or produce never ending chump blockers. But it’s pretty bad outside of those scenarios.
Gleaming Barrier
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
The only instance I could see putting this in a deck is in a very slow 4-5 color control deck, where the treasure could be helpful. You could also play this out of the sideboard against hyper aggro decks, but it still feels like a weak option.
Goldvein Pick
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
There are a good amount of cheap flyers in this set to enable this piece of equipment. If you played during Kaldheim, you are familiar with the potential power of the innocuous equipment.
Heraldic Banner
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
The biggest benefit of this card is the +1/+0 aspect. This works well in aggressive, token based decks that go wide.
Juggernaut
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
It’s pretty easy for this to trade down with a 2 or 3 drop in modern day limited.
Leyline Axe
Rating: 3.5 // 5.0
If you get to play this for free, it warps the game entirely. If you have to hard cast this, it’s a bit slow, but still very powerful.
Meteor Golem
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
If your deck doesn’t have a problem getting to 7, this is an easy inclusion.
Quick-Draw Katana
Rating: 1.5 // 5.0
This is designed for aggro decks, and while it does help you attack with smaller creatures, the mana/equip costs are pretty clunky. I think if this had a free attach when it entered the battlefield, it would feel a bit better, and fit more in line with the flavor of the card.
Ravenous Amulet
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
The first ability is decent for generating value off of irrelevant creatures, and the second ability has the potential to be threatening the longer the game goes on. This is for a very specific type of deck that can generate fodder.
Scrawling Crawler
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
The fact that each player draws an additional card on your upkeep, is a benefit to you (the active player). The incidental life loss can add up throughout the game.
Sire of Seven Deaths
Rating: 4.0 // 5.0
This thing is a total beating, and has a ton of keywords. Even if your opponent is able to deal with this, they still lose 7 life along the way.
Swiftfoot Boots
Rating: 0.5 // 5.0
I can’t think of any reason to put this in a limited deck, but I’m sure there’s something out there.
Gainlands
Rating: 2.0 // 5.0
These work well with the lifegain synergies sprinkled throughout the set.
Evolving Wilds
Rating 2.0 // 5.0
This does a few extra things this set, aside from mana fixing. It helps enable landfall triggers, as well as threshold.
Rogue’s Passage
Rating 2.0 // 5.0
This can be decent in streamlined two-color decks that have no perceived mana issues.
Secluded Courtyard
Rating: 1.0 // 5.0
Most of the time, a basic land will be better than this.
Soulstone Sanctuary
Rating: 2.5 // 5.0
Colorless manlands are often undervalued, but this ability comes up a good amount of the time.
That’s it for the individual card reviews. Draft guide coming soon!
Lose and Learn, Learn and Win!
