Theros Beyond Death Limited Set Review – Multicolored, Artifacts and Lands

Drifter: B

Acolyte of Affliction is like Gravedigger but with many added upsides if you’re Golgari, and that’s a great place to be. Worse flavour though, how is returning a permanent from the dead afflicting things? Who knows.

In Draft, you can splash this card but it’s not amazing as splashes go and I would only do so with good fixing. Early on, I’d be taking this card at more like C+ level.

Drifter: C

Playing Russian Roulette with your Bombs is fun but precarious! I think this is generally worth it but not really exciting, since cards in Limited are of a similar enough power level that your opponent is only getting good value if they get a bomb, and you always get to draw five cards (which is absurd for 5 mana) wherein you’ll probably find a removal spell or some answer to it. It’s a bit annoying that they get to immediately cast it so they get an attack in and one turn to use its abilities, and this is a truly terrible tempo play as a result, but this card will win the late game a lot of the time. I would be more inclined to play this card in decks that didn’t already have a lot of late game – you’re more likely to give your opponent something good, and the card advantage will be more necessary. I equate this to about a 5 mana draw three, all in all.

This card has enough going on that it’s weird to evaluate, and I could see having overrated it.

Drifter: S

Planeswalkers that protect themselves well and provide card advantage are always busted in Limited.

Drifter: A

Atris is usually a 3/2 Menace for 4 that draws two cards since you always have the option to take two, but can also sometimes take one if that card is great. That rate is absurd; she’s not even so understatted that you’ll fall far behind against aggro.

Drifter: A

Bronzehide Lion is efficient, hard to kill and you get value if they do kill it. It’s a high A, but I don’t think it quite makes S since it will sometimes be hard to cast on turn 2 and it isn’t a bomb in the later stages of the game (but still very good).

Drifter: A

Calix is a repeatable source of card advantage that is hard to attack. I didn’t quite give him the S, since that second ability is very vulnerable to Enchantment removal, which will be maindeckable this set, but he is still a high A.

Drifter: C

There really aren’t a lot of Artifacts in the set, and even fewer Equipment. Dalakos will mostly just be a 2/4 for 3, but Bronze Sword is at Common and he does give it a boost (though that card isn’t great by itself). A 2/4 for 3 is a good statline, but I still wouldn’t take Dalakos too highly.

Drifter: B

Devourer of Memory is a fine 2 drop with a fantastic ability, and there are quite a lot of self-mill cards in Black or Blue, with four at common. It’s hurt a bit because there are a lot of common pings in Red (and Black has a couple), but is still an incredible card that fuels your Escape and kills them by itself. It’s especially good if you can get multiple triggers with something like Sage of Mysteries, and if you’ve been luckily enough to open 2-3 of these and some Escape cards then it might well be worth playing the Sage.

Drifter: S

This is the best card in the set if you’re Azorius. It’s unbelievable and will easily win most games you play it in: it’s unkillable, unraceable and draws you two cards a turn. In order to stop it, you’ll probably need two fliers or a flier with an aura or a trick, and the format is removal heavy so I strongly doubt that will work.

At p1p1, this is lower (around a low A) since it immediately commits you heavily to two colours and that won’t always work out, but I’ll still be taking it over all but the few best single-colour uncommons as the payoff is just that ridiculous.

Drifter: F

This card is quite bad – you immediately go down a card and it costs you a ton of mana. It gets better if you have Enchantments with great ETBs and good creatures to go and get (especially bombs), but that’s really best case scenario. If some of what I said applies to your deck, go nuts and try it out! But I fear even then it won’t work out too well – paying 4 mana to tutor up a Bomb isn’t even a good deal anyway, so you really want multiples. This card will be fun, but I think it’s only like 1 in 20 or 30 decks that will be a good case for it, and I can’t rate for those. So I give this an F, but it’s an F I’m sure I’ll try out once or twice and be burnt by…

Drifter: A

Eutropia adds substantial value to every Enchantment you play, and threatens to kill your opponents very quickly if you’re at parity or ahead. This card is a low A, but merits the grade.

I would be taking this at mid B early in Draft, as it’s not a great splash.

Drifter: B

There are enough Satyrs at common and uncommon in red/green that the anthem effect will be useful, and if you can get this card through at any point with two other creatures, that’s a ton of value. I consider this a pretty low B though and would only be taking it at low C+ early.

Drifter: B

Haktos is incredibly hard for Limited decks to deal with – any of their 2, 3 or 4 drops only has a 1/3 chance of being able to remove or block it, and it will kill them very quickly. Having to attack each combat is a pretty big downside though – the card is not good when you’re behind, and is hard to cast on turn 4 in a format with next to no fixing in these colours. I consider this a high B.

Drifter: C+

The heroic mechanics of the set have not seemed particularly exciting to me, and I consider Boros one of the weaker colour combinations. That being said, this is a pretty powerful card within those colours – it allows you to go wide by itself and pays you off for doing so. It’s not amazing or anything though – it doesn’t remain as powerful in the late game, and it’s still only 3/3 worth of stats for 3, but I think it will be well worth it for the synergy. That being said, this is only a C+ if you are already Boros – I would be taking this at around mid C early on when you’re not committed to your colours, since it’s not a good splash (not that Boros will want those anyway) and it commits you to two colours.

Drifter: S

This card is absolutely absurd in Limited on every axis. The ability by itself is incredible – it turns off their Escapes and wins any races. It’ll be hard for it to ramp you, since often neither player will have lands in their graveyards, but it doesn’t really matter. Turning on Klothys in a Gruul deck won’t be hard but this ability is worth playing by itself, and I would be happy to splash this card in any heavy red or heavy green deck.

I might take the few best uncommons over it, but nothing else really (those are usually hard removal in Black).

Drifter: A

Kroxa requires you to be specifically Rakdos, and she’ll be a worse first pick on that basis. However, at any point in the game, a creature with this busted an ability on a huge body will be amazing. Kroxa’s power is entirely in her body – discarding them for 2 isn’t that great, so I’ve not quite given her an S but if you’re in Rakdos, she’s a high A. It’s worth noting that you probably won’t be able to bring Kroxa back more than once or twice in the very late game, as five cards is a lot.

Early on, she’s more like a B and there are certainly some commons and uncommons I think are better first picks.

Drifter: A

Cerberus has an assortment of very powerful abilities. He doesn’t quite make it to S, as he’s not that impactful late game and I wouldn’t splash him but he is probably the best 3 drop you can play in the entire set. Remember that his abilities can be downsides – they shut off your own Escapes too! Remember to ding this card for multicoloured early on – there are a lot of good uncommons I would take over it, as I would only be taking it early at like low B.

Drifter: B

A 2/2 flier for 2 is already a fantastic rate in Limited, this triggers your Enchantment synergies and gives you an extra damage and scry per turn if your deck synergises well with Izzet – which it’s easy to do, and the payoff is certainly there. This is a high B if you’re already in Izzet, and I would take it as a low B or high C+ early on.

Drifter: S

Polly K is an incredible bomb, well worth splashing if you’re only in green or black. The power of a 6/6 for 4 that can repeatedly remove your opponent’s creatures is incredible (though it shrinks each time it does so), and it comes back as a 12/12 with its very reasonable Escape cost. With splashable bombs, you don’t need to ding them as much and I don’t think I would be passing his departed majesty for any common or uncommon in the set early on.

Drifter: C+

This is a high C+, but it does require some work out of you. You need a decent creature and aura in the graveyard, which means we’re looking at mostly late game. In the late game, returning them both is a lot of value and you’ll usually get a lot more than 5 mana’s worth out of it. This card is an okay splash, so I would take it at about low C+ early on in your Draft.

Drifter: B

Baywatch Captain is very strong if you’re Selesnya, as you’ll want to run auras anyway for the Heroic and Constellation synergies and seven cards is a lot to look at. The ability is strong upside; spitting out 1/1s is great in general but especially with all the white Heroic stuff.

Again, ding this a bit as an early pick; you’re looking at more like C+ at that point.

Drifter: B

Rakdos has good enough sacrifice synergy and fodder spread across the two colours that I believe in this card a lot. That being said, it’s still a low B in Rakdos since it doesn’t scale that well into the late game, it’s not worth splashing, and it does require sacrifice fodder strongly.

Ding this one quite strongly as an early pick, I would take it at low C+.

Drifter: B

Staggering Insight is a fantastic aura – if you can get one hit in then it pays for itself, gains you a bunch of life, and makes any decent creature a much bigger threat. It’s weak to fast speed removal and often it will only cantrip and then cause your creature to be removed so it’s only a B and I would be only taking it at about C+ early.

Drifter: S

Uro’s power level is incredible: 3 mana Growth Spiral is okay in Draft when you gain 3 alongside it and then his Escape body is gigantic and probably wins the game if they don’t have Enchantment-based/exile removal (or regular removal and you can’t recur him for a while). You do need to be heavy Simic to Escape him, but he’s well worth taking early and I would only consider the best uncommons over him.

Drifter: C+

Warden of the Chained is strong if you’re in Gruul – there are enough 4 power creatures spread among those two colours that he’s well-supported and a 4/4 trample for 3 is great (remember that he can always block!).

He’s a bad splash; I would ding him quite a lot early, and be taking him at high C.

Drifter: D

You never really want to play this card, but it can be a necessary evil if you have good cards to splash/are low on 3 drops and high on 5s. Gaining 1 life per turn is relevant upside, but not very exciting. This is a bit better in Black, since that has the best Devotion payoffs. This is a high D, but I wouldn’t be happy.

Drifter: D

I don’t really believe in Bronze Sword – it’s just too expensive to equip, and that’s where the worth of Equipments lie.

Drifter: C+

The Lyre isn’t for aggro decks, but is good in other sorts of decks. It’s slow and a large mana investment, but it does permanently keep the creature tapped until you want to move it to something else, and threats in Limited are contextual and ever-changing. You can’t get blown out by removal on the Lyre so it’s a bit better against fast artifact removal – the creature will only untap on their next untap step. This is hurt a bit because this format has a lot of removal options, and some decks may not need this. I consider this is a low C+ since it is very inefficient, but with a powerful effect.

This is stronger in Sealed where it’s slower, so spending a lot of mana matters less; I would rate it at more like high C+ for that format.

Drifter: C

Hexproof is nice, but this doesn’t really do enough – it’s winmore in that you need to have a good creature to protect and spending an entire card to do that is not great. It is a bit better in this set, since playing this and then putting auras on the creature is an okay plan. I’ve given it a low C for now, but could see going down further.

Drifter: F

This card doesn’t fix, there aren’t many mana sinks, and it only begins to ramp you on turn 5. Now, it can ramp you for a lot but if your deck is jam-packed full of too many expensive cards, you’re going to lose a lot of games to aggro and when you don’t draw this anyway. It is really mana sinks you need.

In a format like Dominaria, things would be different but I think there are too few decks that would ever want to play this in THB to justify a D.

Drifter: A

If you’ve played with or against Loxodon Warhammer, you know what a gigantic beating that card is in Limited. This is not nearly as good, but it does a good impression. This is a very low investment for a lot of power, even if sometimes it’ll run afoul of artifact removal. I don’t think there are commons or uncommons I would take over this early, as it’s colourless.

Drifter: F

I wouldn’t maindeck this card ever. This is a fairly weak Sideboard card too – you don’t get to draw a card if you exile their graveyard, so the advantage in doing so has to be very large; your opponent has to be heavily invested in their Escape synergies. I would take it only over total trash in Draft and look to board it in against very few decks.

Drifter: D

This is too weak a statline for too much investment. Scrying 1 adds to it, but it’s still not worth it.

Drifter: C

I consider this a pretty low C – this statline is bad for 4 mana. You do at least get an immediate attack in, but these abilities other than first strike aren’t that useful – Trample isn’t good on a 3/3, and haste is whatever. DO NOT PUT AURAS ON THIS – they’ll fall off end of turn!

Drifter: C

This card is a good way to fix if you’re looking to splash stuff or have cards with heavy mana requirements, and not worth including otherwise, as it has always been. Replace a land with it if you do run it. This is a reasonable C – I would take it over low Cs, since those cards won’t add that much to my deck anyway and the potential to splash is a powerful thing.

Drifter: D

I don’t think this set is aggressive enough for this to be worth it. Even in the aggro decks of this set, I don’t really value this card that much – red has plenty of burn in the format, and white/boros are looking to go wide not have one of their tokens fly over and peck the opponent. In Green, I think you’ll usually be able to do better, just by putting reasonable creatures and other nonsituational in your deck. Return to Nature on this card will also lead to some blowouts, where they can just block the creature that was previously flying. I consider this a high D, but still a D.

Drifter: F

There won’t be enough nonbasics out there for Field of Ruin to consistently find a target, and so it won’t function as fixing. For that reason,no deck should main this card – you can board it in if they do have 4 or 5 nonbasics (which is incredibly unlikely), but you just lose a mana source for your fixing otherwise. It doesn’t do anything in this format.

Drifter: C

Utility lands are useful, but this one costs you a mana source and is only good in the late game. I would be happy to play this card in decks where I have another fixer or two and am not splashing or where I don’t have very mana intensive cards, but there really isn’t a lot of fixing outside of Green in this format – the other fixers have pretty big costs to include in your deck, like Traveler's Amulet, Unknown Shores & Altar of the Pantheon, or they’re Temples which are rare. If you’re a Green deck, you should take this higher – more like low C+.

If you didn’t understand what I meant by some of this stuff, check out my handy article on draft mana bases here!

Drifter: C+

If you are both colours, whether splashing or not, Temples are fantastic and are more like B range. Play them even if you’re just one of the colours and aren’t really aggressive – they’ll just improve your deck at a very low cost. Overall, they’re about a C+ in terms of pick order.

Drifter: D

Unknown Shores is not a good land to play, or a good fixer to rely on for your splashes. You can play it if you’re desperate and not that worried about your main sources, but should never be happy to do so.

Drifter

And that’s a wrap! Phew, that was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Thanks to Compulsion for our talks and going through the motions with me, to Terence for his continued support as always, and to all of you for tuning in! TBD looks like a fantastic Draft set, reasonably well-balanced and very fun with fantastic synergies, and I can’t wait to draft it.

My colour rankings: Black, blue/green (not sure yet!), red then white.
My pick for best commons in each colour: Blight-Breath Catoblepas, Witness of Tomorrows, Voracious Typhon, Iroas’s Blessing and Daybreak Chimera.
Best colour pair: Either Golgari or Rakdos