Dominaria United Limited Ratings
Karn, Living Legacy
AI Rating: 4.5Pro Rating: 1.5
This Karn doesn’t seem very good – in any format, really. He can ramp your mana and draw cards, which is nice – but he doesn’t really add or subtract from the board in any really meaningful way. You can’t even use the mana he makes you the turn he comes out! He can’t protect himself, he can’t remove creatures, and to draw cards he even demands some mana! That’s not how Planeswalkers are supposed to work! And yeah, he can make his own mana, but still. I think if you play him on a board where there is parity or your’e ahead, you can definitely get some value out of him, but he’s just so slow at doing something meaningful that he is not very good if you’re behind – and even when you are at parity or ahead, he is just sort of a useful thing to have around – not the card that shifts the game in your favor.
Anointed Peacekeeper
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 3.5
It is pretty cool they are giving White this type of effect on creatures of late, because playing a three mana 3/3 with Vigilance that significantly disrupts your opponent is a pretty nice deal! Slowing down whatever spell you are the most concerned about by two full turns is a very real thing. The information you get can be useful too.
Archangel of Wrath
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 5.0
We’re going to see a lot of Kicker costs that aren’t the same color as the card – a returning feature that they really went hard on in the original Invasion Block, so it makes sense! The thing to keep in mind with cards like this is that in an ideal world, you’re at least splashing the kicker mana, and that will be reasonably easy to accomplish in the format. You won’t always be able to kick them, but you will be able to pretty often – and obviously that’s even more true if you’re just all in on all the colors. And, even if you don’t pay the Kicker here, you have a great card in a 4-mana ¾ with Flying and Lifelink. If you do pay the kicker you get to cast Shock twice – you can do it on two separate targets, or to one if you want. And because of lifelink, it is going to feel like Lightning Helix stapled to a nice Flyer. Obviously, you need to at least be splashing one or both of the colors of the Kicker effect to get full value, but that’s very doable.
Argivian Cavalier
AI Rating: 3.3Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks like a very nice Common. We see three mana 2/2s that spit out a 1/1 a lot, and they are always solid at worst. This one comes with Enlist upside, and it can even use its token! This is probably one of White’s best Commons.
Argivian Phalanx
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 3.0
If you can consistently cast this for 4 or less, I think you’ll be reasonably happy with the card, and that does seem like a pretty reasonable outcome. White has plenty of ways to go wide too, so I think you can pretty consistently cast this for a reasonable cost, and sometimes even play it above curve. It will feel kind of disastrous to have this if your opponent is managing to interfere with your development, though.
Artillery Blast
AI Rating: 1.4Pro Rating: 1.5
I don’t think this looks very good. Sure, Domain is something you can get going in this format without a ton of trouble, but the fact this already limits itself to destroying tapped creatures and requires some significant help to do more than two damage means that I will only run this card in a deck that is really good at getting Domain and even only then if I am desperate for removal. There are just tons of better options.
Benalish Faithbonder
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.0
A two mana 1/3 with Vigilance is probably a 1.5 -- adding Enlist is pretty nice on a Vigilance creature too, because Enlist naturally has you tap something extra down when you attack, but at least your enlist creature doesn’t get tapped!
Benalish Sleeper
AI Rating: 1.9Pro Rating: 2.0
Two mana for a 3/1 is usually passable in Limited, so the Edict upside is nice! There are plenty of times where kicking this is better for you than your opponent, and when that’s true, this will feel like a great Common. Now, there will also be times where kicking it doesn’t really do much, or hurts you more than your opponent, so temper your expectations.
Captain's Call
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 2.5
This is definitely not the most efficient token generator we’ve ever seen, but White does have a pretty big go-wide theme going on, and as a result I think this will play a little better than it looks.
Charismatic Vanguard
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.0
This has mediocre stats, but an ability that can do some work in the late game with an ability that is a bit overcosted.
Citizen's Arrest
AI Rating: 3.7Pro Rating: 3.0
This seems like it is in the lower range of “premium” removal. These sorts of cards seem to be getting worse these days, since so many creatures have ETB abilities. Still, it can deal with any creature or planeswalker, and that’s nice! The double White is a bit of a downer too, as you can’t splash it. But yeah, sounds like I’m super down on it - and I guess I am, at least with how good these type of effects used to be. But this is still one of White’s best Commons!
Cleaving Skyrider
AI Rating: 3.3Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a very good Uncommon. I’m already in on a 3-mana 2/2 Flyer with Flash, so adding the big upside of the Kicker is really nice. You can Flash it in when you’re the one attacking to killa blocker or something – or help you do lethal to your opponent – but it is pretty sweet that you can also use it when your opponent is attacking you, in which cases it will usually account for two bodies, between killing one and blocking out. Paying 6 for this is just going to do a ton of work in many situations. Now, there will be times where you just have to run this out as a Wind Drake, but that’s a pretty decent fail case.
Clockwork Drawbridge
AI Rating: 1Pro Rating: 1.0
This doesn’t seem very good to me, even in the Defender deck in the format. It has mediocre stats and it costs a little too much to tap stuff down. That effect is nice, but three mana is just asking a lot. I think you’ll end up playing this if you really need more defenders to get to your critical mass in that type of deck – but yeah, even in that deck you probably hope you don’t play this.
Coalition Skyknight
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 3.0
As soon as I saw Enlist, I knew slapping it on a flyer would be pretty sweet – and that’s what we have here! This will be able to attack pretty hard in the air if it has a friend around. The downside is that it has some pretty mediocre base-stats, and is the kind of 4 drop that dies to Common one and two mana removal, and that tempo hit can be brutal. With only two toughness, it doesn’t take much with Reach or Flying to take it down, either.
Danitha, Benalia's Hope
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 4.0
So, even if she didn’t do the Aura stuff, a 5-mana 4/4 with all these keywords is probably a B. to get full value out of her ETB ability, you probably want to be getting something back from the graveyard, that way you’re actually getting a card back, instead of just getting a discount on one in your hand. Either way though, she’s going to be really good. There aren’t quite enough good Auras and Equipment in this set for her to get a bomb grade, though.
Defiler of Faith
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.5
A 5-mana 5/5 with VIgilance is already a 3.5 at the very worst, and then the two abilities are of course quite good. Making your spells cheaper and generating tokens is a good way to win games. Like with all of these, the more mono-colored and permanent-heavy you can go the better, but even if they only make about half of your permanent spells way better, that’s plenty.
Destroy Evil
AI Rating: 3.1Pro Rating: 2.5
This has two modes that are somewhat narrow, but putting them both together does mean most opponents will have enough combined targets for this to do a decent job.
Griffin Protector
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a reprint and it overperformed a bit when we last saw it. I think it will be pretty nice here too, as the Go-wide theme in White is fairly pronounced, as we’ve seen already in this video.
Guardian of New Benalia
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This looks quite good. A two mana 2/2 with Enlist is already something you’d always play, because it is a creature that can really hit hard, meaning it can attack on a wider variety of board states. So, adding the Scry and Indestructible upside makes this a really good card, because it can grow its power and be a relevant attacker every turn, and when you can back it up with an effect that allows it to become indestructible, that’s a big deal! Note, by the way, the tap here is not part of the cost, it is part of the effect – so it can become indestructible even when attacking – and that’s kind of the whole point.
Heroic Charge
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0
So, they added some pretty real Kicker upside to Inspired Charge – and the Charge is already a card that you end up playing one of in decks that are good at going wide. I love the ability to add trample here later in the game, as it will make it even easier for you to get lethal to go through. I do sort of feel like this sort of card needs a build around grade, because you really need to be very adept at going wide for it to be worth it – if your deck is just decent at it, you can’t really play it.
Join Forces
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 2.0
I’m not usually a huge fan of three mana tricks, but once you add in the 2-for-1 potential, it starts to get a little more interesting. It also adds pseudo-vigilance if you use it on the attack because of the untap, which of course also means that you can ambush block the opponent – but it is almost always better to use this offensively, since your opponent is less likely to have mana on your turn. It DOES still cost three, which is a very real amount of mana for a temporary boost, but this will generate a 2-for-1 often enough that I think the first copy is pretty appealing in aggressive White deck
Juniper Order Rootweaver
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a very nice Common. It can just be a bear, or it can be a 3-mana 2/2 that puts a counter somewhere. The counter effect is the sort of thing that tends to be useful all game long, since in the later stages you can find somewhere to put it that makes a difference. In the early game, you may just want to make this a three mana 3/3, which is solid.
Knight of Dawn's Light
AI Rating: 4.3Pro Rating: 4.0
This is real good. Two mana 2/2 with a First Strike tends to be a B- – maybe a C+ at the very worst. That’s just a stat-line that is great all game long – and this has two additional abilities – augmenting your life gain isn’t a huge deal, but being able to pump itself is! This means it is a great two drop, and in the late game you can attack with it with a bunch of mana untapped, and your opponent really can’t block it very effectively.
Leyline Binding
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 4.0
This looks like premium removal to me. You’ll cast it for 5 at the very most, and while that’s not ideal, a 5-mana Oblivion Ring with Flash is a pretty good baseline. You’ll often be able to cast it for 4, and casting it for three is also quite doable. Adding Flash is no small thing either, as it really opens up blow-up potential that most versions of this type of effect aren’t capable up.
Love Song of Night and Day
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.0
I think you’ll frequently want to skip Chapter I here, since it does benefit your opponent as well as you, and really they come out ahead in most ways, since you spent mana and a card and they just got to draw 2 cards for 0 mana! Sometimes you’ll do chapter I, like if you’re desperate for a specific card or really need some gas – but the good news is, just getting chapter II and chapter III is plenty fo value for the investment.
Mesa Cavalier
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 1.5
This has mediocre stats, and it does a small thing when it enters the battlefield. Not a card you really hope to play, but fine when you do.
Phyrexian Missionary
AI Rating: 4.2Pro Rating: 4.0
This looks really good to me. A two mana ⅔ with Lifelink is probably a 3.0, and the kicker upside here is massive, as it sets up a 2-for-1, while getting you back something useful from the graveyard.
Prayer of Binding
AI Rating: 4.4Pro Rating: 4.0
Kind of weird how many Oblivion Ring effects there are in this format – but yeah, this is another good White removal spell. It might cost one more than Citizen’s Arrest does, but it can remove all nonland pemernants types, is easier to splash with only one White mana required, and having Flash also enables the card to generate some blowouts that aren’t possible with Sorcery-speed versions of the effect. The incidental life gain is pretty nice too!
Resolute Reinforcements
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.0
So, this is basically a creature-based version of Raise the Alarm – and Raise the Alarm is always pretty solid. Making it a creature is better in most ways, because it means you can abuse its enter the battlefield ability, and your opponent also can’t just bounce it and make it disappear. Two mana for 2/2 of stats at instant speed is a nice deal!
Runic Shot
AI Rating: 3.5Pro Rating: 3.5
This is a very low cost for this effect. I normally don’t love this type of removal spell, since it isn’t especially good if you’re the aggressor – because it doesn’t get blockers out of the way, but we usually see this sort of spell cost two or three mana, so dropping it to one is a big deal, and the Scry upside really matters too! You do generally have to get attacked by something once before you can use this too of course, which is also kind of a bummer, but I actually think the efficiency here is enough for me to start this in the lower range of “premium” removal.
Samite Herbalist
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 2.0
The idea here is to tap this for Enlist effects, and it is certainly nice to get that extra value when you do. Obviously it can also just give you this trigger when it attacks, and any time you can at least trad with it, that will feel fine. It also works with crewing vehicles!
Serra Paragon
AI Rating: 5Pro Rating: 5.0
This is really good! A 4-mana ¾ Flyer is pretty close to a B, and the upside here is massive. Playing something from your graveyard every turn is pretty sweet! The downside, I suppose, is that you won’t always have something – especially on like turn 4, but you can sort of plan for the Paragon by trading more aggressively and things like that. The life gain tacked on to the things you cast is great too. If you only get one card back before the Paragon dies, you’re getting a 2-for-1 – and that seems quite easy to accomplish — in addition to the fact that if it sticks around much longer, it will simply take over the game.
Shalai's Acolyte
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
This is the kind of Kicker creature that is sneaky good in Limited. Neither mode of the card is that impressive a – a 5-mana ¾ Flyer or a 7 mana ⅚ Flyer – but the modality is a big deal, and neither mode is terrible either. If you need to play it early, you won’t be ashamed to, and when you cast it late it might be a bit inefficient, but it is pretty likely to be the beefiest flyer on the board.
Stall for Time
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 2.5
This is sort of passable when you don’t kick it, since it replaces itself and its an Instant, so you can shut down an entire round of attacking and blocking by those two creatures. Kicking it is the real dream though, since those stun counters will really give you some amazing tempo.
Take Up the Shield
AI Rating: 2.5Pro Rating: 1.5
This sort of trick is always passable. It has the flexibility of protecting the creature from removal and being useful in combat, but the usual downsides most tricks have – they are situational, and they open you up to a 2-for-1 when you’re not careful.
Temporary Lockdown
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 0.5
This card mostly isn’t meant for Limited. It hates on a pretty narrow thing, which is awkwardly also a thing you’ll probably have on your side of the table. It is hard to manufacture situations where this helps you more than your opponent. It is definitely a powerful sideboard option in Best of Three, because sometimes you do go up against some deck that gets completely wrecked by this, but it isn’t often enough for you to run it in your main deck.
Urza Assembles the Titans
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 0.0
This is unplayable in Limited. Planeswalkers are only at Mythic Rare in this set, so the various effects this has are almost always meaningless. Paying 5 to Scry 4 is not what you want to be doing! Even if you have 2 Planeswalkers by some stroke of luck, this is still bad.
Valiant Veteran
AI Rating: 4Pro Rating: 4.0
This lord has some decent starting stats – which isn’t really true of the rest of this cycle! It really benefits from the fact that there are several cards that make soldier tokens, and more soldiers in general than there are of the other creature types in this set that got Rare lords. Getting value out of it even after it dies is great.
Wingmantle Chaplain
AI Rating: 4.3Pro Rating: 1.0 // 4.0
This is a powerful build around for Defender decks! At worst, it is a 4-mana 0/3 that makes a 1/1 Flyer – which is pretty bad – but it is the baseline for the card, as it will often do much more than that! It is great that it has an ETB ability for itself, and then adds them to your other defenders too, so if you draw it after you’ve played your other defenders, it isn’t a complete disaster.
Academy Loremaster
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 2.5
In the later stages of the game, you’re going to be especially interested in drawing extra cards – and so is your opponent. Because at that point you have enough mana to not worry about the extra cost, but you really need gas. The fact that this is symmetrical makes it sort of weird to evaluate – but overall, I think it ends up being kind of a wash. You and your opponent can both benefit from it, and you get a 2/3 out of the deal. Bad news is, your opponent can take advantage of the effect first, since their draw step is imminent – and if they draw removal after drawing their extra and kill the Loremaster, you’re going to feel pretty awful!
Academy Wall
AI Rating: 1.1Pro Rating: 2.0
This isn’t the most exciting spell payoff ever, especially because it is stapled to such a mediocre creature, but hey – it can block and stuff, and then give you some nice Looting. It has Defender too, and that matters some. It seems like it definitely has a role to play in both UR and UB spell decks – and less of one in UW, since that deck would prefer creatures that can attack.
Aether Channeler
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 4.5
This is pretty much the best Man-O’-War ever, and it makes Bird tokens – so you know I love it! Whichever option you choose when you cast the channeler, you’re getting a great deal. Each mode, individually, would probably be a 4.0, so I think having the modality of all three options is enough for this to get a 4.5.
Battlewing Mystic
AI Rating: 3.5Pro Rating: 4.0
This is really nice. A two mana 2/1 Flyer is actually a pretty good rate, and I love that in the later game you can kick this for some serious card advantage too. Basically, this is great on turn two, and great as a late game top deck – and fine in the mid-game – so I really like it.
Combat Research
AI Rating: 1Pro Rating: 2.0
Putting this on a legendary creature will feel pretty darn good, as it the stats boost is likely to allow you to more easily draw a card, and Ward 1 means it is harder for you to get blown out. This isn’t quite Curious Obsession – but it does a pretty good impression, which means it will be great to put on evasive creatures, who can suddenly start drawing you extra cards. There are also lots of situations where it isn’t very good, though. There just isn’t always a board state where you can force a creature through.
Coral Colony
AI Rating: 2.2Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.0
This is a decent two drop for slower decks, and not a bad Defender payoff in the format’s Defender deck. I definitely prefer the Black Blight Pile or the White Wingmantle Champion as the primary win condition for those decks, since those cards can win the game more quickly. Problem with milling is that it can really backfire, and it is typically going to be slower than making your opponent lose life. But yeah, if you have enough Defenders, this can also end the game in a hurry. It is kind of alright in any Blue deck too, as a two mana ¼ is actually a pretty decent blocker, but it gets way better in a Defender deck.
Defiler of Dreams
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 5.0
This seems great. A 5-mana 4/3 Flyer is right around a B-, and the upside here is very real, since it sorts of lets you pay Blue Phyrexian mana for your Blue permanents! It is great that it is entirely optional. What really makes it crazy good for Limited, though, is that you draw cards when you cast Blue permanents, so this is a crazy value engine that makes your Blue permanents easier to cast, so you’re going to be pressuring your opponent in the air while also drawing a bunch of extra cards.
Djinn of the Fountain
AI Rating: 2.2Pro Rating: 3.0
This has some kind of mediocre base stats, but its modal Prowess-like ability is pretty sweet, even if all of the options are kind of small. You’ll always have an option that is relevant though, since Scrying is something you can always do and get an advantage from. It benefits from the fact that there are three Blue archetypes in the format that are into instants and sorceries too!
Ertai's Scorn
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 1.5
So, this is Cancel that will cost one less if your opponent is playing more spells. Cancel is usually a 1.5 in Limited these days – three mana is a ton to leave up to counter something when you could just be adding to the board with that mana – and while the upside to make this cheaper is there, I don’t think it is that much better than Cancel.
Essence Scatter
AI Rating: 3.1Pro Rating: 2.5
This reprint is actually a counterspell I will play! It can only counter creature spells, but it does it at two mana, and you only need one Blue! Most decks will have 15+ creatures, and that’s plenty of targets for the first of these to be a solid inclusion in your Blue decks. One thing to keep in mind, don’t fall into the trap of thinking of counter magic as straight up removal. It is substantially worse in most ways, especially in Limited! The problem is – it is like removal that only works if you have the mana up at the right time, and that’s what keeps this from receiving a grade that is remotely close to a “premium removal” grade.
Founding the Third Path
AI Rating: 1.1Pro Rating: 3.0
This looks pretty good to me. Chapter I and II definitely aren’t exciting, and the real value will ome from chapter three – but the first two chapters can set it up! And, if you already have something you can cast from the graveyard and copy, you can just start at chapter three to begin with! The first two chapters aren’t great because you just won’t have things to cast with Chapter I that often. It also doesn’t net you any cards, it just gives you a discount, and those sorts of effects are all way worse than they look in Limited. Chapter II is basically there to enable Chapter III, so yeah. I could see playing this on Chapter II happening a decent chunk of the time, because that way you can get more options for Chapter III, and you have all your mana available for Chapter III on your next turn. OBviously you need a lot of Instants and Sorceries, but both UW and UR seem very into those card types, so I don’t think it will be hard to find a home for this.
Frostfist Strider
AI Rating: 3.5Pro Rating: 4.0
I always love creatures who ETB and freeze something down, and now we have “stun” counters that pretty much do the same thing! It is a great tempo play to add to the board while significantly downgrading your opponents for a whole turn cycle, and it usually enables you get to the upper hand if you didn’t already have it – and if you were already head, you often win on the spot. This is a great Uncommon. It is pretty fascinating to compare to Berg STrider from Kaldheim, which was similar – it was easier to cast, but it also demanded you spend snow mana ot get that to happen, and it didn’t have Ward 2. Now, Giants were also a tribal thing in Kaldheim, but I still think the Strider comes out ahead – and that’s probably why it is at Uncommon. I think this is likely Blue’s best Uncommon.
Haughty Djinn
AI Rating: 4.5Pro Rating: 4.5
There are three Blue decks in this format that are into spells - UW, UB, and UR – so a card like this doesn’t really need a buildaround in this format, as it will be right at home in all of those decks. That means it is very good, since reducing spells and being an effective Flying attacker are nice things to have.
Haunting Figment
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.0
It is a little weird to see a mono-Blue card with Vigilance…but anyway, this seems like a fine two drop. Blue really likes spells, so it will be unblockable a substantial chunk of the time, and even when it isn’t, it is decent on the Vanilla test.
Impede Momentum
AI Rating: 0.7Pro Rating: 1.5
So, this is temporary removal that doesn’t even fully get rid of the thing it only temporarily removes. I don’t love that. The creature can still use abilities and its static effects still stick around even if they are stunned. Basically, this is a longer-term version of the “tap target creature, it doesn’t untap during your opponent’s next turn” effect, but even those effects are only good when they come with something else meaningful – like as a creature’s Enter the Battlefield ability, or with a cantrip attached. Scry 1 doesn’t quite do it.
Impulse
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 2.0
This old school reprint is basically a better Anticipate, and any sort of Instant-speed card selection card tends to be pretty solid in formats that have a Spell deck – and this format has multiple! It still doesn’t add to the board, and there are only so many slots in a deck for that type of card – but I think the first copy of this is fine.
Joint Exploration
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 3.0
The base card is pretty solid. Two mana to get a look at up to three cards is a reasonable deal, and if you can kick it the ramp is pretty real! I like that you get to Scry two before your draw, because that means you can increase your chances of hitting a land you need to get the ramp effect to matter. It doesn’t always add to the board, even when you kick it, but it is cheap enough and Instant speed, so that makes that less of a problem.
Micromancer
AI Rating: 4Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0
If your deck has three spells this can search it up, it is going to be pretty powerful! If your deck has 0 spells this can search up, you shouldn’t be playing it. Sounds like a pretty classic build around! It is unplayable with 0 spells, and gets slightly better with one, and then significantly better with two and three.
Negate
AI Rating: 0.6Pro Rating: 0.5
We see this card all the time, and generally it is more of a sideboard card. Most decks only have 4 or so things this can actually target, and that just isn’t enough for it to be a main deck card. When you know your opponent has plenty of targets for it, though, it becomes a pretty nice sideboard card.
The Phasing of Zhalfir
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 3.5
So, this has a cool design. You can use the first two chapters to phase out things that you want to save, and then the last chapter wipes the board. Well..sort of. It does give everyone 2/2 Phyrexians for each creature they lost, and that is a big downgrade from a pure sweeper – but still, you can save your best creatures whil downgrading your opponents entire board. The Read Ahead mechanic is sweet here too, because if you have the time to set up Chapter III, you can take that time — whether you want to use one or two turns to do it – but if the board is in such a state you need to blow everything up right away, it can do that too. This seems fairly strong, though not a bomb – the fact it just replaces creatures instead of entirely removing them is a problem.
Phyrexian Espionage
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 2.0
This is potentially a 5-mana three-for-one, which is pretty attractive! On a base level, it is just Divination – which is usually a C- level card these days. This is one of those effects that never adds to the board, and that can be a real problem, but I think I having one or two effects in your deck like that is reasonable, and this is the kind of thing I wouldn’t feel bad about putting in that slot. When you can really get it going, it can actually be pretty devastating, and at worst, you have Divination.
Pixie Illusionist
AI Rating: 1.1Pro Rating: 3.0
A one mana 1/1 Flyer is passable, so the upside this has of becoming a 5 mana 3/3 Flyer in the late game and fixing your mana and helping with domain makes this a pretty nice Common!
Protect the Negotiators
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 2.0
So, if you kick this, it is a 3-mana Force Spike that gives you a 1/1 at worse. That’s…not great. The upside is that it can be a lot harder to pay the cost sometimes, but the idea that this is essentially a blank card if your board is empty and you don’t kick it is pretty rough, and there will be lots of situations where you just can’t make your opponent pay enough mana. The other issue is that counter spells aren’t often that useful in creature-heavy decks, since you would rather be adding to the board. The UW theme in this format DOES seem to be about both spells and going wide, which is pretty interesting – and could mean this overperforms.
Rona's Vortex
AI Rating: 4Pro Rating: 3.0
This looks pretty good. We don’t often get one mana instant speed bounce spells, and the upside here turns into a time ebb effect – which is one-for-one removal! Seems like it will be easy to blow out a variety of situations with it too, as leaving up one Blue is pretty easy. Like with most of these, it is playable even if you don’t have any Black at all, but ideally you can splash Black at least.
Shore Up
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 2.0
At one mana, this is pretty impressive for a trick! It only offers +1/+1, which isn’t always enough to win combat, but the untap effect and the hexproof also means it has some additional utility. Any time a trick gives a real boost and only costs one, it tends to be solid in Limited, and I think that’s what this will be.
Silver Scrutiny
AI Rating: 4.3Pro Rating: 3.5
This is a neat design. So, if you pay 5 or less mana total, you get to do it at instant speed, and 5 mana draw three at instant speed tends to be pretty nice. It doesn’t add to the board of course, but the fact its an Instant keeps that from feeling too clunky. I think most of the time you will prefer to play this at Instant speed for that reason, although the upside of it being able to draw way more cards is good. You don’t want to jam too many spells into your deck that don’t actually do something on the board, but this is certainly worth one of those few slots.
Soaring Drake
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 2.5
This shows you how much power creep there is with creatures! Wind Drake, a 3 mana 2/2 Flyer, used to be a quality card in Limited – but now we get a three mana ⅔ Flyer in Limited and that’s pretty much the bar for “solid Common.”
Sphinx of Clear Skies
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 4.0
A 5-mana 5/5 with Flying and Ward 2 is excellent. If you stopped there, you’re talking about at least a 4. So, the Domain upside here is pretty darn sweet, since you get to a domain-based Fact or Fiction thing with it, and you’re going to net at least one card most of the time. This hits hard, has evasion, is hard to kill, and draws you cards. Yep, that’s a bomb.
Talas Lookout
AI Rating: 3Pro Rating: 3.0
This has passable stats for a Flyer, and a pretty nice death trigger that means you’ll usually get a 2-for-1 out of it.
Tidepool Turtle
AI Rating: 0.1Pro Rating: 1.5
It is kind of sad this doesn’t have Defender, because then at least it would slot in nicely to the defender deck! Obviously not having Defender does mean it can attack, but how often do you rumble with your ⅖ anyway? So, yeah..this has alright stats for a defensive creature, and a useful – albeit very expansive – mana sink ability. Seems like the kind of creature you end up cutting more than you play.
Timely Interference
AI Rating: 1.6Pro Rating: 2.5
These sorts of effect aren’t always useful, but the fact that this replaces itself is pretty important. It seems to me that you’ll find enough situations where the -1/-0 and/or the “must block” part of the card that this is going to be pretty solid. When you can trade it for a full card, you get a 2-for-1! Cycling it will probably be more common, but the upside is pretty real.
Tolarian Geyser
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.0
This seems pretty nice. Even when you don’t kick t it, a 3-mana bounce spell that draws you a card is usually about a C. You replace the card and get some tempo. The 3 life is some nice upside to tack on, but you would probably even place this in a deck that can’t produce White mana at all.
Tolarian Terror
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.0
Seems like a solid enough spell payoff. If you can pay 5 for this, you’ll be happy, and that seems like a pretty reasonable occurrence in a Blue-Red deck. Ward 2 means that it won’t be easy for your opponent to kill this without significantly overpaying, and that definitely matters.
Vesuvan Duplimancy
AI Rating: 3.6Pro Rating: 1.0
This looks pretty cool! I don’t think it is great in Limited though. Obviously if you’re using combat tricks or Auras you can end up getting some serious value out of this, but there aren’t that many other spells that work with this in Limited, and Auras and combat tricks aren’t exactly known as cards you want to jam a bunch of into your deck
Voda Sea Scavenger
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 1.5
This doesn’t seem very good to me. It has what are definitely mediocre stats these days, and the ability just gives you pseudo-scry, but how good it is is highly dependent on your lands – and it also isn’t nearly as good as Scry, because you have far less control over the cards.
Vodalian Hexcatcher
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 1.0
Dang, as if Merfolks didn’t already have enough lords! As sweet as this card will be for Merfolk decks in multiple constructed formats, it doesn’t seem particularly good here. There just aren’t enough Merfolks in this set to make it worth it. On its own it is a two mana 1/1 with Flash that can sacrifice itself to counter a noncreature spell. So it can sort of be a really narrow Force Spike type effect for two mana…and that’s just not what you want. There may be the occasional deck that manages to get the 6+ Merfolk you need to play this thing, but it will be pretty hard to accomplish.
Vodalian Mindsinger
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 5.0
This is really good – maybe the best in the cycle! If you can pay the full mana, you get a 7-mana 6/6 that can steal pretty much any of your opponent’s creatures. That is a bomb – and the card is far mroe flexible than that, since you can also steal some stuff without kicking it, or only kicking it once. You do need three colors to unlock its full power, but that doesn’t seem like a big ask.
Volshe Tideturner
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 2.0
We see two mana 1/3s who can tap for mana to be spent on instants and sorceries all the time, and they pretty much always disappoint. They aren’t terrible, but they also aren’t anywhere near as good as a legitimate mana dork, even with the addition of paying for kicker spells in this case. You just don’t end up being able to use the mana enough, and the stat line isn’t very good.
Aggressive Sabotage
AI Rating: 0.7Pro Rating: 2.0
This is sort of a build your own Blightning. I’m not usually a very big fan of Mind Rot effects, and that’s because they occupy a really awkward place. They are sort of at their best in the early to mid-game, because you’re more likely to hit 2 cards – but you also would probably rather just add to the board than play Mind Rot on turn 3. Then, in the late game, they are really bad top decks when both players have basically nothing in their hand. A card like Aggressive Sabotage does help shore up some of that, since in the late game you can still use it to Bolt your opponent. And, adding any effect – even one that small – makes a difference.
Balduvian Atrocity
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 3.0
A 3-mana ⅔ with Menace is a 2.0 at worst, and you get a fair bit of value out of paying the Kicker cost here. You won’t always have something to get back with that effect – at least, not something meaningful – but it also doesn’t seem like it will be a huge challenge to get some value there.
Battle-Rage Blessing
AI Rating: 0.8Pro Rating: 2.0
This format feels like it has some of the best tricks we’ve seen in a while – at least on average – as this is yet another solid trick. Two mana isn’t the amount I love to pay for tricks – I would much rather pay 1 – but deathtouch + indestructible does allow virtually any creature to win combat, and this comes with the upside of also blanking most removal. As usual, tricks are situational and risky, so even most good tricks aren’t amazing. But this is one I will play the first copy of in most creature-heavy Black decks.
Battlefly Swarm
AI Rating: 1.6Pro Rating: 2.5
I would rather have a one mana 1/1 that always has death touch and doesn’t have Flying, but hey – this is still a pretty nice one mana death toucher. Flying does undoubtedly give it some decent upside that allows it to be a reasonable attacker in the very early game, and after it is no longer useful on that front, it can hang back and threaten to trade for anything. And yeah, one bummer about most of the one mana death touchers we see is that they can only look on helplessly at flyers, and this can actually block them! Seems like a solid card.
Blight Pile
AI Rating: 3Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.0
This looks like a very real win condition for the Defender deck. And, even outside of the defender deck, a two mana 3/3 with Defender is actually a solid thing to have around if you’re a control deck. It shuts down a lot of early attackers. It can also always make your opponent lose 1 life at a time, even outside of the defender deck. Like the other Defender payoffs in the format, I think I have to give this a regular grade and a Defender deck grade.
Bone Splinters
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 2.0
We have seen this card many a time, and its always fine. Obviously one mana to kill something is really nice, but the requirement to sacrifice a creature is enough to keep it from being anywhere close to premium. Obviously, there are black decks in the format that are going to be able to make really good use of this – especially BW and BR, both of which like it when things die. It is pretty dangerous to run more than one copy of this too, since it is as situational as it is.
Braids, Arisen Nightmare
AI Rating: 4.5Pro Rating: 4.0
This new Braids looks pretty sweet. A 3-mana 3/3 is a nice starting point, and making your opponent choose between letting you draw and losing life or sacrificing their own permanent is pretty sweet. You won’t want to do that every turn of course, especially if you play this on turn three, but luckily it is a “may” and not a “must” trigger. There will be lots of times where making your opponent make that choice is hugely powerful, and you can even choose a card type they just don’t have if you’re more interested in drawing cards and lowering your opponent’s life.
Braids's Frightful Return
AI Rating: 3Pro Rating: 3.0
So, with Read Ahead on this one, I think you’ll pretty frequently start on chapter II. Unless you have a bunch of expendable stuff, or you’re really worried about what your opponent has in their hand, giving up a creature for a card in your opponent’s hand just isn’t worth it, even if you get the creature back with chapter II. Getting a creature back with Chapter II is pretty nice in general, and the Edict or let you draw effect on Chapter III is also good – and sometimes you’ll want to start there, especially if your opponent has like one permanent it can hit, because that situation won’t last very long! In the late game, Chapter III does get significantly weaker, though. If you do manage to get a full card out of Chapter II and III, this ends up being a three mana 2-for-1!
Choking Miasma
AI Rating: 2.5Pro Rating: 2.0
This is an interesting take on this type of sweeper that Black gets in most formats. Normally, this sort of thing feels better suited to the sideboard, because there aren’t enough situations where this will be great. You either end up hurting your own board more than your opponent’s, or it just doesn’t do enough because creatures are too big. However, adding Kicker is a pretty big deal! It helps offset the chances that this hurts you more than your opponent, and really does increase how often casting this will be beneficial for you.
The Cruelty of Gix
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This looks pretty sweet. Chapter I gives you some nice disruption – but it is great that you can skip it if when you play this making your opponent discard doesn’t accomplish much. Chapter II’s tutor effect is very real too – though one thing to keep in mind is that Chapter II isn’t a may effect, so if you’re at 3 – you lose! But that downside is certainly worth it. Then finally Chapter III lets you straight up reanimate something! If you made your opponent discard a great card with Chapter I, this can be particularly awesome. I think you will pretty frequently start this at Chapter II, so you can more quickly get to the two more powerful chapters, and there will also be times where you just start it on Chapter III – like in situations where you really need another body on the board right away, otherwise you’re dead. So yeah, this can actually give you a three-for-one if you manage to get full value out of all three chapters, and that’s pretty powerful – and I love the option to start it on chapter II and Chapter III when necessary.
Cult Conscript
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.5
Notably, this thing can block. Not the turn it comes into play or comes back from the graveyard, but still – the ability to block on a 2-power recursive creature definitely matters! Bringing a 2/1 back over and over against is a decent thing to be doing in a game of Limited, especially because you can play this on turn one and it can do some work. This will be especially nice in any deck that can get extra value out of bringing it back over and over again – like decks utilizing Sacrifice effects, where it can be pretty interesting.
Cut Down
AI Rating: 4.2Pro Rating: 4.0
This seems like premium removal. It can kill a whole lot of things that cost more than one mana, and sometimes it will really trade up. It can kill most one, two, and three drops – and a fair bit of cards higher up on the curve too! It can get blanked by a pump spell or something, but that’s true of a lot of really cheap removal – look at Lightning Bolt. The fact this is an Instant is pretty sweet too.
Defiler of Flesh
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 4.5
A 4-mana 4/4 with Menace is a great place to start, and this comes with the same upside as the other Defilers – it can make your Black permanent spells easier to cast at the cost of life. Casting Black permanents is pretty awesome too, as you get to give mance and a stats boost to something, and that will usually mean you can attack with two Menace creatures, which can be hard to deal with all game long.
Drag to the Bottom
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 3.5
This has potential to completely reshape the game in your favor, but it does have a few problems. Like all board sweepers, it can be a bit awkward in Limited, since almost all decks want to have some sort of board presence these days, so you’re likely to sweep away some of your own stuff. That’s always something to keep in mind. This particular sweeper also asks you to get domain going to unlock its full power – though it is worth noting that you can sort of customize it to some extent, so maybe it wrecks smaller creatures and doesn’t hurt your bigger ones. So basically, this asks for set up, and board states where you’re sure a sweeper will help you more than it helps your opponent aren’t always going to manifest themselves. But still, sweepers have an ability to turn the tide of a game in ways that almost nothing else can. I generally don’t give them bomb grades because of their awkwardness in Limited – to be a bomb a sweeper has to do something like save one of your creatures while destroying everything else, and while that CAN happen with this, it isn’t going to be easy to set up.
Eerie Soultender
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 2.0
There is a lot of graveyard stuff in this set, and this is both a self-mill payoff and an enabler, which is pretty nice. That graveyard effect can be particularly good, because sometimes if you’re doing the self-mill thing, you mill something you didn’t really want to lose – and this can provide some insurance on that front. It does have some pretty bad stats, but I think the graveyard decks in the format will feel fine about running one of these.
Evolved Sleeper
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 4.5
This is really good. The stats aren’t super impressive. Paying 4 mana for a 3/3 with Death touch isn’t amazing, but you do pay it in installments – and what really makes the card good is that last ability which is a pretty insane mana sink! Your Sleeper gets bigger, and you draw a bunch of extra cards. That’s going to close out a lot of games! The downside for the card is its fragility and relative inefficiency in the earlier part of the game, but I still think it does enough to get into the lower bomb range. Left unchecked, that last ability will win you games.
Extinguish the Light
AI Rating: 4Pro Rating: 3.5
I think a 4 mana instant that can destroy any creature is already in the lower range of “premium” removal, so adding the upside of life gain is pretty real! It always stinks to spend 4 mana to kill something that your opponent paid less mana for, so the consolation prize is nice! They made sure to make it cost double black so you can’t splash it really, but I still think this is a 3.5
Gibbering Barricade
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 2.5
This slots in nicely in the Defender deck, as well as in the Sacrifice and graveyard decks – and on top of that, it is just a decent card in any Black deck. A 3-mana 2/4 Defender can really lock down the ground for awhile, and the ability to cash stuff in is pretty sweet.
Knight of Dusk's Shadow
AI Rating: 3.9Pro Rating: 3.5
Like its White counterpart, this is a very strong Uncommon. While I do think First Strike is a bit better than Menace, the fact that this can buff its stats is still a big deal, and makes it difficult to interact with in combat. Nerfing Life gain certainly matters too!
Liliana of the Veil
AI Rating: 5Pro Rating: 4.0
Liliana might be one of the strongest planeswalkers ever printed when it comes to constructed, but in Limited she’s merely…really good. The symmetrical discard isn’t always going to be attractive in Limited, and sometimes her -2 won’t be that impressive either. That said, if you play her on turn three and your opponent has one creature and you make them sacrifice it, they will have a pretty hard time catching back up before you rip apart their hand and use that ultimate. But if you play her when it isn’t turn three, and your opponent has a built out board, she is useful but not going to drastically alter the game in your favor. You’ll just resort to using her +1, which might hurt you more than help you, and you’ll try to get to her ultimate – which definitely is impressive, but getting there isn’t easy if you don’t play her early. But yeah, play her on turn three and she’ll feel like a 5.0. The rest of the time? She’ll feel more like a 3.5. I think that makes her a 4.0.
Monstrous War-Leech
AI Rating: 1.9Pro Rating: 2.0
The ceiling for this card is just that it is a really efficient vanilla creature. That’s not super impressive to me. You’re going to need to have some other reasons to mill yourself to really want to play this, since it can enable other self-mill payoffs – and you’re going to need them, since this isn’t a great one. It also feels like mana values are a little lower than usual in this set as a result of all the Kicker, so this really may not be well-positioned for the format.
Phyrexian Rager
AI Rating: 3.6Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a nice reprint from the original Invasion Block! The Rager is often a 2-for-1, since it is big enough to trade and draws you cards.
Phyrexian Vivisector
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 2.5
While not the most exciting death payoff ever, this does have solid stats, and Scrying can really add up!
Phyrexian Warhorse
AI Rating: 1.6Pro Rating: 2.0
I’m not ultra impressed with either mode here. You’re either getting a Hill Giant, or paying 5 mana for a 3/3 and a 1/1. That’s not a great rate. And yeah, the Warhorse can sacrifice stuff to get bigger, and the threat to do that is pretty legitimate – but I don’t feel like this is efficient or powerful enough to be a card that always makes the cut.
Pilfer
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 2.0
A two mana Coercion is a pretty big upgrade from three mana versions of the effect. It gives you decent information and can really disrupt your opponent. You still pay two mana for a one-for-one that doesn’t add to the board at all, but I think one copy of this is going to see some play in Black decks.
The Raven Man
AI Rating: 4.5Pro Rating: 3.5
He is a nice discard payoff, and while there isn’t going to be a ton of that in this set, he luckily comes with the ability to make your opponent discard! So, if you get to untap with him, and your opponent has at least one card in hand, paying 4 and tapping him to get rid of that card and make a 1/1 Flyer is pretty nice, even if the flyer doesn’t block. Now, he is definitely kind of clunky, but he definitely has a ceiling of a pretty insane value engine.
Sengir Connoisseur
AI Rating: 3.2Pro Rating: 3.0
Every time we see one of these 5-mana 3/3 Flyer that grows when something happens, they tend to underperform. The big problem is the high cost and the fact it can easily die to two or three mana removal, which is a real hit to the tempo. One nice thing here, is that you can play her in your first main phase when you have trades to offer, and then your opponent is put in kind of an ugly place, but I still envision this being harder to get going than it looks. I’m not saying it is bad, mind you – just not a super high quality Uncommon.
Shadow Prophecy
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 2.5
Black usually gets a draw spell like this at Common, and this seems a bit better than most versions of it we see. Usually, we pay three, draw two, and lose two life. That's sort of the baseline here, as you can dig significantly deeper into your deck with this, and even load up your graveyard! The first copy looks pretty solid for most Black decks.
Shadow-Rite Priest
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 3.0
This format doesn’t have a ton of Clerics, but there are three at Common and two at Uncommon, and that’s certainly enough to imagine this having a few friends – especially in most Black-White decks. It is really nice that at worst it is a two mana 2/2 too, so playing it in a deck that even only has two or so clerics is a reasonable thing to do! Obviously, if your deck has a big beefy guy in it, being able to cheat it into play could be fun too!
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
AI Rating: 5Pro Rating: 4.5
Unsurprisingly, this Phyrexian Praetor is quite strong! A 4-mana ⅘ with Deathtoutch is already at least a B-, so adding in the life loss and life gain effects is sweet. It is nice that it punishes those extra draws from your opponent, while rewarding you for yours! She can quickly shift a game in your favor, as every turn cycle she creates a gap of 4 life in your favor.
Sheoldred's Restoration
AI Rating: 1.4Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a pretty nice reanimation spell. They usually cost 5 these days, so spending one mana less for the effect is nice, even if you lose life – and when you kick it you even gain life, which is pretty nice! Now, it still has the problem these always have – it isn’t always easy having something worth reanimating, but graveyard decks in this format look fairly legit, and this card does too.
Splatter Goblin
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a quality two drop. It can attack and block quite effectively on many boards, since it can frequently generate a 2-for-1
Stronghold Arena
AI Rating: 3.2Pro Rating: 4.5
This is a weird combination of Phyrexian Arena and Bident of Thassa – and it seems pretty good! If you have a creature who can crack in, you’re going to end up drawing an extra card. You do have to pay life, but that’s usually worth it – and the fact you can Kick this helps soften that blow too. This looks like a great value engine, especially if you have some evasive creatures.
Tattered Apparition
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 1.5
This has pretty bad base stats, but the fact you can pump mana into it to pumps those stats definitely matters, as this can be a real problem in the later stages of the game. It is pretty mediocre early though, and the mana it asks for can be a ton, even in the late game
Toxic Abomination
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 1.5
I feel like this mostly isn’t worth it. Sure, the base stats are good, but these days a vanilla two mana 3/2 isn’t that amazing in Limited. Even without the loss of two life, this would probably just end up as a 2.0. It can trade up for sure, but yeah. It is a fine two drop if you’re in a really aggressive Black deck, but apart from that I’m not that impressed
Tribute to Urborg
AI Rating: 3.2Pro Rating: 3.5
The base of two mana for -2/-2 is usually about a 2.5, and while the Kicker upside does let it kill more things, it also makes it cost twice as much and is dependent on having things in your graveyard. That said, UB is very into spells, and all Black decks are into the graveyard, so I think kicking this will usually make it much more potent
Urborg Repossession
AI Rating: 3.1Pro Rating: 3.0
We see a Common Black card in virtually every set lets you return two creatures from your hand to your graveyard – and this is one of the best versions of that we have seen. The fact it gains you life helps make up for how slow this effect can be, and when you KICK this, it is actually a pretty powerful spell. You get back a creature, one other permanent, and gain that 2 life for three mana. If this was ALWAYS just a Black-Green card, it would be pretty good, but the fact you can cast it as a different spell without the Kicker is pretty nice
Writhing Necromass
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 2.0
Casting this for 5 seems pretty doable, and in some decks you can cast it even more easily! Of course, the flipside is that sometimes it will be challenging to get a good deal on this card.
Balduvian Berserker
AI Rating: 3.1Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a little bit clunky, but I think pretty solid overall.. Without enlist, a 3-mana ⅓ that does 1 to something when it dies is…kind of alright. Probably a C- at the very best. But, this has Enlist upside that is pretty significant! Even attacking with it as a ⅔ is a pretty big pain for your opponent. Obviously, if you can make it really big it can be really sweet
Chaotic Transformation
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 0.0
It seems like Red always gets some wacky chaotic Rare that does cool stuff, but is unplayable in Limited..and I think that’s probably the case here. Obviously, this can result in you getting a bunch of upgraded permanents, but it can also result in you downgrading your permanents. Sure, the ideal thing is to exile tokens or cheap things, and then upgrade them all, but actually creating a board state where that works out isn’t that easy. If you really like gambling, this card might be for you – but for every time it lets you cheat your best permanent into play, it will also effectively lose you the game. You can also exile your opponents stuff, and if they have something insane on their side, obviously you know you can downgrade it – but the situation is equally hard to manipulate in your favor when it comes to your opponent. So yeah, you can choose your opponents best permanents and your worst permanents when you cast this, and that’s cool – but the effect this actually has on the outcome of the game is usually not going to be in your favor, especially because you’ll end up spending a turn just sort of switching things around.
Coalition Warbrute
AI Rating: 1.4Pro Rating: 2.5
An Enlist creature with Trample is pretty sweet! Even making this into a 5/4 or 6/4 – both of which are fairly realistic things – is pretty nice! Of course, Enlist does make you tap a thing, and that’s a real cost – but this definitely looks like it can become a very real problem. It seems solid enough.
Defiler of Instinct
AI Rating: 4.4Pro Rating: 4.5
A 4-mana 4/4 with First Strike is a B, and this has some nice upside. Like the others in the cycle, it allows you to sort of pay Phyrexian Mana for one mana of your Red permanents, and it also pays you off for playing Red permanents – in this case, you get to do 1 damage to something. That ability always does something, whether you are picking off something small or hitting your opponent.
Dragon Whelp
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
This is a reprint, and it is a pretty good Limited card! 4-mana for a ⅔ Flyer isn’t amazing, but Firebreathing does some serious work here. You’re not normally going to be buffing it so much that it gets sacrificed anyway – unless it is going to kill your opponent, and you can still do that!
The Elder Dragon War
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 4.5
This looks really good. At worst, you can treat this as a 4-mana 4/4 Flyer – and at best, you can generate some pretty real value out of the first two chapters first! Chapter I is pretty situational, and I think will often be skipped – except in situations where it hurts your opponent more than you, and when that is true it will feel pretty awesome. Chapter II is a good way to reload your hand in the late game. I think if you play this turn 4, the best thing to do may just be to start on Chapter III – unless, again, that Chapter I really messes your opponent up.
Electrostatic Infantry
AI Rating: 3.8Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks like one of the premiere payoffs for spell decks in this format. We’ve seen tramplers that get counters from spells in the past, but never one that is this efficient as a base. Obviously this is something of a build around, but it slots in so easily into UR decks that I don’t really think a build around grade is necessary. What’s nice is, even in your typical Red deck in the format that has 4 or 5 spells, it is passable.
Fires of Victory
AI Rating: 3.7Pro Rating: 2.5
This is interesting. Obviously it can be a really efficient removal spell, but there will also be times where you draw this and you just don’t have the cards for it to matter. Even if you do Kick it, there’s a chance you’re paying 5 to draw one and do 1 damage, and that just isn’t going to be very good. In the early game it can kill lots of stuff, and if you’re a control deck that often has a full grip of cards, it can be potent – but that just doesn’t work out that often in Limited. This will have a pretty wild range overall. The ceiling is nice, the floor is awful. There may be a UR deck in this format that can really take full advantage of this, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Flowstone Infusion
AI Rating: 2.5Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a pretty nice card, because it can function as a solid removal spell, and you can also use it as a trick! As we usually see with this type of card, you’ll use it as removal about 90% of the time. It is also nice that it is a cheap Instant for spell decks.
Flowstone Kavu
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 3.0
A three mana 2/3 with Menace is already a solid card, so the fact that this can buff its power is quite nice. This will be able to attack effectively on a whole lot of boards, since it can always threaten to be a 4/1, and it has to be blocked by two creatures – and that makes it pretty hard for your opponent to block it without losing at least one creature. I think this is going to be sneaky good.
Furious Bellow
AI Rating: 1Pro Rating: 1.5
Sure Strike is always a decent trick, and this is strictly better because it tacks on Scry 1. +3/+0 and First Strike will allow most creatures to win combat, which is definitely quite nice. It has the usual problems tricks have of course – because they are both risky and situational. You’ll run one of these in some of your aggressive Red decks.
Ghitu Amplifier
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 3.0
This is pretty neat. So, if you don’t kick it, the card is a slightly weaker Kiln Fiend – which means that it can really thrive off of cheap spells and hit hard in the early game. Then, in the late game, you can kick this thing and bounce a creature, which you know is an effect I always love – adding to the board and subtracting from your opponent’s is quite good! I really want to give this a 3.5 but I think I’m letting my own affinity for this type of card push me in that direction – it is probably more like a 3.0.
Goblin Picker
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.0
This has solid base stats and rummaging can certainly improve the quality of your draws, though Rummaging is markedly worse than looting. Red also doesn’t have a ton of graveyard stuff going on in this format, and that certainly hurts this card’s stock a bit.
Hammerhand
AI Rating: -0Pro Rating: 2.0
This is a reprint, and it’s a pretty nice Aura in aggressive decks. One mana to make something unable to block, while also granting Haste and +1/+1 is a pretty great rate, and will often make whatever attack you make on your turn far more powerful than your opponent expects! And even after that initial turn where it really does some work, the +1/+1 sticks around, which is pretty nice
Hurler Cyclops
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a great removal spell that you can turn into Wardleader’s Helix when you kick it, and that’s pretty awesome!
Hurloon Battle Hymn
AI Rating: 4.3Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a great removal spell that you can turn into Wardleader’s Helix when you kick it, and that’s pretty awesome!
In Thrall to the Pit
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.0
There is definitely enough sacrifice stuff around in this format that this can work out, but I do think you need a buildaround grade. As usual, this sort of Effect isn’t usually going to be worth it unless you have ways to sacrifice the creature. And yes, you can Kick this to make it do that all on your own, but 7 mana is ton of mana, and while that makes this have a better late-game effect, I don’t think it has a drastic effect on how good the card is. In a regular Red deck, this is probably a 1.5 – if you’re really aggressive, this can work out sometimes, but the temporary nature of this card makes its impact Limited. But, it is probably a 3.0 in a deck that has good sacrifice outlets.
Jaya, Fiery Negotiator
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 5.0
She can make bodies to protect her with her +1, draw you cards with her -1, and she can remove creatures with her -2. Obviously, only that first ability will raise her loyalty, but that’s okay – all three of those abilities are pretty amazing! The -2 is maybe a bit situational as far as removal goes, and it is a little awkward that you probably want to be protecting her and the -2 wants you to attack with a bunch of stuff – but I still feel like those first three abilities will all be good in many situations. Obviously, her ultimate is really strong, but it isn’t ultra realistic you get there, since she starts at 4 and only gains 4 loyalty at a time.
Jaya's Firenado
AI Rating: 1.1Pro Rating: 2.0
This is a very clunky removal spell. 5 damage for 5 mana at Sorcery speed is never very impressive, and the upside here is pretty limited, with Scry 1 all you get. Even when we see this card at Instant speed these days it isn’t great, so a Sorcery is kind of rough. This is very far from premium removal, and is the kind of thing you’ll run one of in your red decks, but most of the time you’re hoping you find some better removal.
Keldon Flamesage
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks good. Obviously you need some instants or sorceries in your deck, but that’s not going to be a huge ask. Enlisting with this will feel particularly powerful, because not only is it getting a good attack going, it probably also lets you cast a spell for free! You won’t always hit something of course, but I think once you’re looking at top 4 or so, you’re going to have some pretty good chances! And the fail case is a 3-mana 2/3 with Enlist, which is fine.
Keldon Strike Team
AI Rating: 2.2Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks really good to me. If you don’t kick it, it is a 3-mana 3/1 with Haste that gives Haste to your whole board the turn it comes down. Then, when you kick it, you pay 5 mana for 5/3 worth of stats spread across three bodies. This gets an extra bonus from the fact that RW especially really wants to go wide. Also keep in mind, because it has Haste it can actually be Enlisted the turn it comes down, unlike most creatures. So yeah, seems like a really good Common to me.
Lightning Strike
AI Rating: 4.2Pro Rating: 4.0
This is always great. Two mana to do 3 to anything at instant speed is very powerful. It can trade up when killing creatures, and the fact it can close out a game by going to your opponents face is nice.
Meria's Outrider
AI Rating: 2.5Pro Rating: 2.0
A 5-mana 4/4 with Reach isn’t something I’m in for. The fact this does some damage when it enters the battlefield is a definite upgrade, and it will at least shock your opponent with regularity, and bolt them pretty often too. Still, it seems super clunky to me.
Molten Monstrosity
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.5
This is going to feel pretty miserable if you have an empty board, and you kind of need at least a three power creature for this to feel like you’re doing okay. But it is hard to imagine curve outs where this comes down super early, unless you manage to have a 4 power creature as a two or three drop. You probably mostly play this on turn 5 when you’re curving out, and while that’s good, it isn’t amazing.
Phoenix Chick
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
A one mana 1/1 with Flying and Haste that can’t block is probably a 2.0 at worst. Overall it is a decent rate, and a great place to put equipment/auras/counters, and so on. But what really makes the card good is its ability to return from the dead as a 2/2.
Radha's Firebrand
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a pretty spicy two drop! In the early game it will be capable of shutting down the ability of most creatures to block, and even in the later part of the game that attack trigger is no joke! That’s especially true because the activated ability can buff it in the later part of the game, making it tougher to block and better at making it so things can’t block.
Rundvelt Hordemaster
AI Rating: 1.6Pro Rating: 0.0
This set really doesn’t have enough Goblins to make this worth playing most of the time. There is one common Goblin in Red and one common Goblin in Black – two Uncommon Goblins, and one Rare Goblin. That’s just not enough for you to end up with the critical mass this requires. If it just had decent stats, then it would be worth playing in a deck that just had like two Goblins, but as is? It really isn’t. The lord effect won’t buff enough things, and the death trigger won’t allow you to cast enough of your cards. You would need 7 or so Goblins to make this worth it, and you’re not going to get there.
Shivan Devastator
AI Rating: 5Pro Rating: 4.5
Paying 4 mana for a 3/3 with Flying and Haste is definitely a nice card, and its great that it also scales all game long. You can also pick the exact right spot with it to get in for lethal – it will feel like Fireball in a lot of situations!
Smash to Dust
AI Rating: 0.6Pro Rating: 1.5
Paying 4 mana for a 3/3 with Flying and Haste is definitely a nice card, and its great that it also scales all game long. You can also pick the exact right spot with it to get in for lethal – it will feel like Fireball in a lot of situations!
Sprouting Goblin
AI Rating: 3.7Pro Rating: 3.5
This is pretty nice! You can play it on turn two if you need to, but kicking it makes sure you hit your 4th land drop and even fix your mana. It is also nice that it has some late game utility, since it lets you give up lands to draw cards. That’s nice, because drawing this late can be pretty underwhelming – you don’t really need the land! But it can fetch you one that you can sacrifice.
Squee, Dubious Monarch
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 3.5
Always fun to see Squee return, and this one is quite good! A 3-mana 2/2 Haste that makes an attacking 1/1 token is something you’d always play – probably something like a C+ – so the fact that he can just keep coming back from the graveyard, as all Squee’s can, is great. Now, he can be a bit tricky to bring back, since he basically has Escape – and you have to have some other crds to exile, but just bringing him back once seems fairly doable
Temporal Firestorm
AI Rating: 4.2Pro Rating: 5.0
Well, this is pretty insane. In most situations, if you pay 7 mana for this, you’re going to get destroy the entire board except for your creature that you phase out. Basically, it will feel like dune blast. Obviously, for this to be at its best you do need to be able to pay one of the kickers, and if you can pay both it gets even better – although 9 mana is asking a lot! Even if you don’t kick it, this is a powerful sweeper for a lot of decks. A Wrath that keeps your best creature alive is just nuts.
Thrill of Possibility
AI Rating: 0.6Pro Rating: 1.5
This is a reprint we’ve seen before, and it tends to be pretty solid in formats that have spell decks – and this is one of those! It triggers your spell payoffs while helping you find even more spells!
Twinferno
AI Rating: 1.9Pro Rating: 2.0
This is a pretty neat modal spell. Both halves of it can be really good in the right situation, but you often find yourself unable to manufacture that situation consistently. Jamming both modes together definitely helps, though.
Viashino Branchrider
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 2.0
Like many cards with Kicker, neither mode of this card is super impressive. You either get a Raging Goblin or a 4-mana Hill Giant with Haste. It does have the upside of bumping up its power, but it is very expensive – and any time we see it cost three, I get pretty skeptical. When this is a 1/1, it dies to anything blocking it. And sure, you can pump a bunch of mana into it to make whatever is blocking it die, but you end up spending some insane mana to kill like…a two drop, and that tempo matters! Once you kick it, it does become more formidable, as you no longer need to buff it for it to actually have a relevant body in combat.
Warhost's Frenzy
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 2.5
This is nice for a Trumpet Blast-type effect. The kicker upside is pretty real, because sometimes buffing your whole board isn’t worth it if too much of your stuff dies. This makes sure they all get replaced! At the same time, it is sort of awwkard, because you often don’t use a card like this unless you can do lethal on the spot. But I guess you’ll be willing to cast this more often when you don’t have lethal thanks to that upside. It does give it some upside as sort of a weird defensive spell too, since you can use it in response to removal or something if you’re desperate. I think this has the potential for a pretty insane ceiling, but it still has a pretty mediocre floor.
Yavimaya Steelcrusher
AI Rating: 1.4Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a bear with some pretty significant upside! Enlist means it will be able to attack reasonably hard all game long, and the fact it can destroy artifacts means it has utility all game long too.
Yotia Declares War
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 2.0
This doesn’t seem amazing, mostly because this format has a serious shortage of Artifacts. This really takes away the modality of this particular Read Ahead Saga, because you basically always need to start with Chapter I, because you’re not ultra likely to have an artifact in play to trigger the other stuff. I think you can really only count on this making a 0/2 Thopter, pinging something, and letting that Thopter attack as a 4/4. That’s pretty good for two mana, even if you have to wait – and obviously if you do manage to get some decent Artifacts to support this it gets a lot better. Your opponent can of course kill the Thopter before chapter II or III, but at least you’re trading 1-for-1…so it isn’t a disaster
Barkweave Crusher
AI Rating: 0.1Pro Rating: 2.0
Giving an Enlist creature high toughness is interesting, because a lot of them can buff their power but still die pretty easily in combat, so you’re often hoping you can just attack with those creatures in situations where your opponent doesn’t have an option other than a mediocre trade. So, this is more likely to survive after getting buffed by Enlist, but it also takes some more work to make it hit hard.
Bite Down
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
Man, there was a day where the sorcery speed version of this was super good removal – and now we are getting it at Instant speed! And its premium removal for sure. This type of effect is always far better than a fight effect, because your creature only needs to be as big as the creature it damages, instead of bigger. There’s always risk with these Green removal spells of course, largely because your opponent removing your creature is a huge blow out, so you do have to pick your spots. Because its an Instant, you can find more windows where it is safe to use. This is one of the best Green commons.
Bog Badger
AI Rating: 0.8Pro Rating: 2.5
Three mana for a 3/3 is still a pretty good rate these days, so the fact you can kick this to give your board menace is certainly nice. It isn’t the kind of thing that always matters, but it matters often enough to be legitimate upside.
Broken Wings
AI Rating: 0.7Pro Rating: 1.5
As usual, this is passable if you have to main deck it, because it can target enough different things – but you’re kind of hoping you have enough other interaction in your deck that you don’t have to throw this in there.
Colossal Growth
AI Rating: 0.9Pro Rating: 2.5
This looks like a very good trick to me. Two for +3/+3 is a great boost that wins most combats, and the kicker makes this absolutely devastating in many situations. It IS still a trick, with all the problems they have, but one that is of this high of quality is going to be something you basically never cut the first copy of in aggressive decks.
Deathbloom Gardener
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 1.5
This card seems super awkward to me. A three mana 1/1 is a horrendous stat-line – dying to any 1 damage or -1/-1 effect is brutal when you’re paying three mana! And uh..yeah, it does have death touch and can tap for mana of any color, but those two abilities together is super weird. Because if you’re tapping it for mana it isn’t going to be available to block and trade for stuff with its Deathtouch. This just seems overcosted on all fronts – but it does provide fixing in a format where you’re often going to be playing a 3rd color so you can pay for off-color kicker. Still, I think you’re hoping for some of the more impactful fixing out there than this thing.
Defiler of Vigor
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 5.0
This has great base stats and a powerful payoff for casting spells of a particular color and can effectively let you turn one mana in your permanents casting costs into Phyrexian mana! Then, casting Green permanents gives you a pretty insane trigger, putting +1/+1 counters on the whole board.
Elfhame Wurm
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a solid French Vanilla creature. It will be a pretty beefy presence on most board states. One of these probably makes the cut in a lot of Green decks, but there are certainly better things you could be doing with 5 mana.
Elvish Hydromancer
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.5
This is pretty mediocre when you don’t kick it, but the Kicker upside makes it well worth running in any deck that makes both Green and Blue mana. Copying a creature late is sweet, and in a pinch it can even copy itself – in which case you’re paying 7 mana for two 3/2s – which isn’t great, but that’s kind of the floor of this thing. Ramp is definitely around in the format, but this might still be a little too slow to be amazing.
Floriferous Vinewall
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 1.5
This is a Defender, and that does matter a bit in this format, but this card seems pretty mediocre. Basically it is a two drop that makes sure you hit a land drop – but a 0/2 is pretty awful for that investment, and it also doesn’t quite fix your mana for you, at least not all the time, since you only get to look at the top 6.
Gaea's Might
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 2.0
This is a reprint from the last time the Phyrexian invaded, and it makes for a pretty reasonable combat trick. Getting +2/+2 out of it is easy, and it will often be Giant Growth – and sometimes even better! The set up is real, though.
Herd Migration
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 3.5
I really like this kind of card. In the early game, it provides you some nice fixing – and some life gain to make up for the fact that you may have spent your turn two not adding to the board. Then, if you get it late, it can power out 3 tokens pretty easily, maybe even more. Now, neither side is that impressive, but it is basically a big spell with Cycling, and the flexibility make this a fairly attractive card.
Hexbane Tortoise
AI Rating: 0.4Pro Rating: 2.0
Thanks to Ward, this is a bit harder to kill with removal, but still pretty easy to trade with. Adding Enlist to the mix is nice, but this is definitely an Enlist creature that can easily be traded with by virtually any two drop, and that certainly lessens its impact.
Leaf-Crowned Visionary
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.5
There are a good number of Elves in this format, and obviously enough, if you can pair this with some of them, this is super powerful, between buffing them and letting you draw extra cards. I think there are enough Elves that your typical Green deck in the format will probably have 2 or 3 of them. Unfortunately, the baseline here is awful as a two mana 1/1. So, I think it is doable to make this card work, but it won’t just happen organically either.
Linebreaker Baloth
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks pretty good! It brings reasonable stats to the table, especially because it can’t be blocked by smaller creatures, so adding Enlist to the mix is pretty sweet – it will be hard to block and able to swing really hard.
Llanowar Greenwidow
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This looks quite good! Its base stats are excellent, and it can come back from the graveyard once. Now, the cost for bringing back is pretty hefty – even if you have three land types you’re still paying five, but you’re still generating a 2-for-1, and both times this thing is around it is problematic enough that your opponent has to take it into account.
Llanowar Loamspeaker
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 3.5
I am already sold on a two mana ⅓ that can tap for mana of any color – that’s a card you just always play! It does come with the ability to animate lands too, which adds an ability to pressure the opponent with in the mid to late game. Those sorts of abilities are never that impressive. In the early game you don’t use the ability because you want to be ramping, and in the late game making a 3/3 isn’t going to be super impressive, though there will be some boards where you can just send that land in every turn and the best your opponent can do is trade, but more often than not that second ability will be negligible.
Llanowar Stalker
AI Rating: 0.1Pro Rating: 1.0
My first instinct with a card like this is that it is just awful. I mean, it is a one mana 1/1 that will be a 2/1 on some turns, and if you really get things going – a 3/1 or 4/1 – but it can still just be traded with by a 1/1 Soldier token, so it really isn’t that impressive. Enlist makes this card a little more interesting, because if this can tap and buff your other creatures by 2 on most turns, that’s pretty good value. Still…the fail case of the card is pretty dang bad, and I’m not sure the Enlist upside does enough to change my mind.
Magnigoth Sentry
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 2.5
Nothing fancy here, but this has solid stats and it can block Flyers! Definitely an upgrade over Giant Spider!
Mossbeard Ancient
AI Rating: 3.6Pro Rating: 3.5
Every format needs a big green Tramply boi that gains you a bunch of life, and this certainly does that, allowing ramp deck to stabilize against faster decks. You’ll want one of these in that type of deck most of the time, and it also provides a pretty decent reanimation target for Black-Green.
Nishoba Brawler
AI Rating: 4.1Pro Rating: 3.0
So, this is going to be a two mana ⅔ with Trample a decent chunk of the time, and that’s a nice creature to have around. It will occasionally only be a ⅓, and in the mid-to-late game it might be a 3/3 or 4/3, and that growth does matter, as it makes it stay relevant all game long.
Quirion Beastcaller
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.5
This is obviously very good. Starts as a bear, and grows throughout the game whenever you cast the most common type of spell in Limited! That would already be pretty close to a solid B, so the fact that it lets you distribute its counters if it dies is enough to push this into the lower bomb range for me. It is certainly fragile at first, and that keeps it from being a completely insane bomb, but as long as you can get a single counter on it before it dies, you’re going to feel good about the investment.
Scout the Wilderness
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 3.0
This looks pretty good. A three mana Rampant Growth isn’t amazing, but it does fix your mana and ramp you, and I think the Kicked version of the card really makes up for that. Five mana for two 1/1s and a land isn’t a bad deal! And I think this sort of card will be extra good here, between Domain and all of the off-color kicker costs.
Silverback Elder
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 4.5
It offers above-rate stats and a strong modal trigger every time you cast a creature spell. None of the modes are amazing, exactly – but gaining life can help you stablizie, finding lands can help you get domain, and if your opponent has some problem Enchantments or Artifacts, well you staple Naturalize to all your creature spells! Triple Green definitely matters, and you won’t always be able to get it down on curve because of it, but this is strong enough that it doesn’t bother me. I think this sneaks into the lower range of “bomb.” It just seems like the massive stats and its value engine potential is too good for it not to get there. You do have to untap and cast a creature to feel like you’ve gotten enough value out of the Elder, which holds it back a bit.
Slimefoot's Survey
AI Rating: 1.5Pro Rating: 2.0
This is a pretty sweet ramp spell. Most of the time, casting this is likely to give you Domain of 3 – so you end up paying 5 to ramp significantly and fix, and then get some pretty good card selection. With Domain being a thing, this is both an enabler and a payoff too! Now, the downside here is real – and that is that this is really clunky. Paying 5 on your turn and not adding to the board has been a really bad plan in most Limited formats of late. I love this card, but I’m a bit skeptical it will work out. If the format ends up being as slow as 2018’s Dominaria, it is going to be great – but if it is the speed of your average format? It might be a disaster.
Snarespinner
AI Rating: 0.5Pro Rating: 1.5
This can block early game Flyers incredibly well, and it has passable base stats.
Strength of the Coalition
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a nice trick, the base level of the card is a trick that Green aggro decks play one of most of the time. +2/+2 for one mana is great, because it gives enough of a boost to win most combat, while also being cheap enough that using it doesn’t hamper your board development.
Sunbathing Rootwalla
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 2.0
This has a baseline as a bear, and obviously has some upside that can really matter later in the game. Even if you’re just a two-color deck, the ability will be pretty solid – though certainly overcosted
Tail Swipe
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks premium to me, and one of the best fight spells we’ve ever seen! One mana for +1/+1 and fight during your Main Phase is a pretty big deal, and it will allow your creatures to fight pretty effectively, and then it also has the upside of being an Instant speed Fight effect – and sure, you don’t get the boost – but this card basically gives you the best of both worlds. If your creatures are already pretty beefy, you can cast this as an Instant so you can wreck your opponent out of nowhere, but if your creatures need a little help, you’ll cast it during one of your main phases. It always feels good ot kill their only blocker and attack with a buffed creature too! It does suffer from the dangers of all fight spells – so make sure to pick your spot wisely, and at a time where you don’t have a big risk of getting blown out – but I still think this looks pretty amazing.
Tear Asunder
AI Rating: 3.9Pro Rating: 4.0
This seems pretty strong. The base form of the card lets you take out some permanent types that are definitely around in this format, and once you kick it it will generally feel like premium removal, since it is 4 mana to exile any nonland permanent. It feels weird to me this is Green, but I guess the Black kicker sort of makes it a Black-Green card.
Territorial Maro
AI Rating: 3.9Pro Rating: 1.5
This references an old card that itself referenced Mark Rosewater, so that’s funny! The card doesn’t seem great to me though. It will be a 5-mana 4/4 reasonably often, and even when you do manage to set up Domain pretty well, it is still a huge vanilla creature at best, and that often isn’t enough to get the job done. There are better domain payoffs out there than this.
Threats Undetected
AI Rating: 3Pro Rating: 2.0
This is kind of a fun Green take on Fact or Fiction! For three mana, you get to draw two creature cards – so it is sort of a roundabout Divination. While you’re obviously only going to get the two worst creatures of the four, making sure you’re drawing things that can add to the board when you cast this can be pretty nice in the mid-to-late game. You do need to make sure you have enough variety in powers to search up 4 consistently.
Urborg Lhurgoyf
AI Rating: 4.1Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a fun callback to the original Lhurgoyf! If you can play this and kick it twice on turn 4, there’s a good chance it will be pretty big! But..it is still just a big vanilla creature that requires set up to even be remotely efficient. This seems like it has a shot in constructed formats, but just like Tarmogoyf and the original Lhurgoyf – this is a lot of work for something that really isn’t all that impactful in Limited even when the stars align. It does get better in a deck that is interested in milling itself for other reasons.
Vineshaper Prodigy
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 3.5
This seems like a strong common! If you need a bear on turn two, it has you covered – and kicking it means that you get a 2-for-1 with some pretty impressive card selection.
The Weatherseed Treaty
AI Rating: 4.2Pro Rating: 3.0
This looks pretty nice! If you choose to get all three of the chapters, you’re going to end up with a land, a 1/1 Saproling, and a strong boost + trample, and that’s a pretty good deal for the investment! Obviously, you have to take your time to get the full value, but I love that in the late game, when the ramp doesn’t matter – you can just skip chapter I so you can really get things going. But yeah, this provides really good ramp and fixing, a body that actually effects the board, and chapter III will almost always give you at least one good attack.
The World Spell
AI Rating: 3.3Pro Rating: 0.0
I don’t think this looks very good for Limited. These sorts of effects that treat creatures into play are never that impressive in Limited, because it is hard for you to have things worth cheating into play – and that is doubly true for a SEVEN mana card. Sure, Chapters one and two can set you up to do something silly, but if you could already cast The World Spell, then you can probably just cast the things that it draws you. This will mostly feel like a 7-mana draw two with some card selection…and that just doesn’t get the job done..at all. Even with Read Ahead, you’re not really going to feel like you’re doing it.
Yavimaya Iconoclast
AI Rating: 3.6Pro Rating: 3.5
This is going to be such a beating when your opponent can kick it on turn three! A 3-mana 4/3 Trampler with Haste is no joke, and the fail case here is still a creature that is above rate.
Yavimaya Sojourner
AI Rating: 1.2Pro Rating: 1.5
This can be a pretty efficient vanilla creature – but even in this format, playing it super early as an efficient creature won’t exactly be easy, so I’m not sure the fact it can be discounted is that big of a deal, because by the time you can cast it for like four mana, the game will be pretty well-developed anyway, and a vanilla 4/6 isn’t going to change the game or anything. This asks for significant set up and the payoff doesn’t really seem worth it to me.
Ajani, Sleeper Agent
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 3.5
This completed Planeswalker doesn’t seem like a bomb. Drawing cards with his +1 is nice, and if you already have a board state his -3 is really powerful, as it will really buff up the board. His ultimate is kind of a silly one that is certainly too slow to really win you the game. If you compleat him, you do get to cast him for three, but he can only use the +1 in that situation. He definitely isn’t bad, but he’s nowhere close to the “bomb planeswalker” category. He needs to come down when you’re already in a pretty good situation, or he isn’t going to help a ton. Buffing up a couple of creatures with the -3 might protect him a bit, but it isn’t enough for him to feel amazing.
Aron, Benalia's Ruin
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 4.0
Overall, this is a pretty good card – but it does have kind of an awkward ability. Pumping your whole board is great – and an ability you want to be going wide for – but you have to sacrifice a creature..which means your board will have one less creature. There are definitely expendable bodies around, but the ability still feels a little weird. Still a good card overall, though. I mean, it is a 3-mana 3/3 with Menace with pretty big upside.
Astor, Bearer of Blades
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 4.0
This card seems really good. You don’t even need a ton of Vehicles and Equipment to make him do his thing. He looks at the top seven, so just having 2-3 vehicles or Equipment is going to be enough to get a hit with this pretty often in Limited, and then he offers a pretty nice upgrade to all of those cards! And, that all comes in addition to some solid stats. I don’t really think this needs a buildaround – most Red-White decks will slot him in no problem.
Baird, Argivian Recruiter
AI Rating: 3.3Pro Rating: 3.0
This is quite good. RW this time around is about having augmented power, something that can be accomplished with Enlist, as well as other affects. Baird will be able to crank out tokens pretty easily, and looks like a great engine.
Balmor, Battlemage Captain
AI Rating: 3.4Pro Rating: 3.5
This is another nice spell payoff! That trigger is super strong, even if you only have a couple of creatures, and it is the kind of thing your opponent has to respect – the threat of activation is very real. The question is how easy it will be to go wide enough to really take advantage of this, but my feeling is you don’t have to go that wide to make this impressive.
Bortuk Bonerattle
AI Rating: 3.9Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks like a very nice signpost Uncommon. A 6-mana 4/4 that gets back a creature from the graveyard is already pretty decent, but the upside of straight-up reanimating things is pretty incredible! You’ll usually be able to reanimate a 2 drop, and reanimating something that costs 3 or 4 isn’t out of the question in this format either.
Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
AI Rating: 3.9Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a two mana 2/2 that can trade for anything, while also really impacting the game while you gain life and your opponent loses life from its two triggers.
Ertai Resurrected
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 3.5
Obviously, letting your opponent draw a card isn’t amazing, but the fact that Ertai can flash in an destroy pretty much any creature or counter pretty much any spell makes up for that, especially because you’re also adding a 3/2 to the board. In terms of cards, this means you and your opponent are breaking even, and you’re usually going to get a great advantage when it comes to tempo. Giving them that card is definitely not ideal, but what this card does – and how flexible it is at doing it – is powerful enough, that it would be pretty busted if they didn’t get to draw!
Garna, Bloodfist of Keld
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 4.0
Unsurprisingly, this signpost Uncommon is great! It has passable stats and a very powerful ability. It makes your opponent’s life super difficult if you’re attacking them, because trades are suddenly awful for them, all turning into 2-for-1s. Even if you aren’t the aggressor, pinging the opponent every time something dies is good too. In a set filled with powerful signpost Uncommons, Garna seems like one of the best.
Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
AI Rating: 3Pro Rating: 3.0
This has nice starting stats, and an interesting ability that lets you double your combo tricks and Auras, while also getting yourself an extra copy of any Aura or combat trick your opponent plays.
Jhoira, Ageless Innovator
AI Rating: 1.7Pro Rating: 1.0 // 3.0
This seems like a buildaround. There are artifacts in the set, but not enough to make an Artifact payoffs super easy to use. She does have a decent baseline as a two mana ⅔, but if her ability is irrelevant in your deck, you probably don’t really want to player, as actuallyc asting her on turn two can be a bit rough with her mana requirements. Obviously paying 0 mana for a two mana artifact is great, but it just won’t line up enough.
Jodah, the Unifier
AI Rating: 3.8Pro Rating: 1.0
This format does have 5 color potential, but I don’t really feel like Jodah will be worth the trouble. While this particular video might make you feel like the set has a ton of legendaries, we’re seeing almost all of them in this very video, and there just aren’t enough for a legendary deck to be regularly supported. Obviously, if you get like 5+ legendary creatures Jodah starts to get interesting, but I wouldn’t count on that happening. Because of the mana and deckbuilding requirements are so high, I don’t think he’ll be very good.
King Darien XLVIII
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 4.5
I’m already sold on a three mana ⅔ that buffs the whole board – that’s like a B, and he comes with all kinds of other stuff! Including an ability that generates tokens while making him larger, and the ability to make tokens hexproof and indestructible, though he does have to give himself up for that one. GW is very into tokens in this format, so he slots in perfectly – and he would be strong in any deck anyway.
Lagomos, Hand of Hatred
AI Rating: 2.9Pro Rating: 3.5
This seems really good. I mean, you’re almost never going to get the tutor effect going, but that’s fine – generating a 2/1 with Haste and Trample every turn gives you a free attack every turn, as well as a body for various other sacrifice effects in the format. When you do get to tutor up any card in your deck it is going to feel good, though most of the time when that happens it will mean something didn’t go so well. But at least it helps you rebuild!
Meria, Scholar of Antiquity
AI Rating: 2Pro Rating: 2.5
There is definitely an artifact sub-theme in this format, and if you can get enough of them Meria will be pretty darn strong, between producing mana and effectively drawing you extra cards. But I think it is hard enough to get her going in this format that she’s just a solid card.
Nael, Avizoa Aeronaut
AI Rating: 3.8Pro Rating: 3.0
This might be the signpost Uncommon I’m the most disappointed in – don’t get me wrong, it is still pretty nice. After all, its a 4-mana 2/4 with Flying that has some real upside! But I do think the upside is underpowered compared to the rest of these signposts. If you don’t have a full five land types, it just gives you a bit of card selection. And that’s nice, for sure, but certainly not that strong, especially because he has to get in for damage. If you do have a full five land types he gets to be pretty crazy, though.
Najal, the Storm Runner
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 3.0
This offers a couple of pretty nice payoffs for spells! Obviously, you need to be stocked up on them to take full advantage, and even when you are – there will be times where you can’t make use of either ability. Still, hte upside is very real, and obviously UR is going to have a ton of other spell payoffs, so this will have a home.
Nemata, Primeval Warden
AI Rating: 4.8Pro Rating: 3.5
Exiling opposing creatures when they die is always surprisingly good, as it not only turns off recursion, but death triggers! But the real value here is getting a saproling every time that happens, and then also having ways to cash in those Saprolings for very real value! And it all comes attached to a very real 4-mana ¾ Reach body.
Queen Allenal of Ruadach
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.5
Looks like another very nice signpost Uncommon. It will often be big enough to be reasonably efficient, and the extra tokens it can generate will be nice. There’s lots of support for tokens in the format!
Radha, Coalition Warlord
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 3.0
This might be the weakest of all the signpost Uncommons, but it is still pretty good. The problem is that Radha can’t buff herself, so she is quite vulnerable when attacking. Because the ability triggers when she taps, you can use her with Enlist or with Vehicles – and that’s probably the best way to take advantage, since then she isn’t vulnerable, she just offers a big stats boost to something.
Raff, Weatherlight Stalwart
AI Rating: 3.6Pro Rating: 3.5
This looks like a strong signpost Uncommon. Tapping things to draw extra cards sounds good to me, and then he comes with a nice ability for buffing the whole board. Basically, both of his effects are about going wide as possible and reaping the benefits.
Ratadrabik of Urborg
AI Rating: 3.7Pro Rating: 3.0
A 4-mana 3/3 with Vigilance and Ward 2 is probably..a 2.0 at the very best? This format has both Zombies and Legendary creatures, but not so many of both of them that this is going to be super impressive. Still, making 2/2 Zombie token copies of your legendary creatures is pretty sweet!
Rith, Liberated Primeval
AI Rating: 4.9Pro Rating: 5.0
I’m already all in on a 5-mana 5/5 with Flying and Ward, so the other upside is nice! It also makes things really hard on your opponent – even the turn he comes down, because now if they decide to chump block the stuff you already have in play, or if they wanted to trade their 3/2 for your 3/3, things suddenly get really ugly for them. They just have to start taking hits, or they give you Dragons, which is even more of a problem! Really a pick your poison situation. Things won’t always line up so you can threaten to do excess damage the turn he comes down, but because he’s a hard to kill efficient flyer that really changes the game in your favor, I think this new Rith is a bomb.
Rivaz of the Claw
AI Rating: 2.5Pro Rating: 3.0
It doesn’t look like there’s enough Dragons in this set for most of the text on this to matter, but it has a baseline as a 3-mana 3/3 with Menace, which is something you always play. So, even if you only have 1 other Dragon in your deck, you’re dealing with a really efficient creature that will sometimes do super powerful stuff, like let you cast a Dragon from the graveyard, or ramp into a big scary dragon.
Rona, Sheoldred's Faithful
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 3.5
Making your opponent’s life total go down just by casting spells is pretty nice – as is the fact that you can bring Rona back from the graveyard. It is a bit costly of course, and isn’t the kind of thing you should just always do when she dies, but in the late game if you’re flooding out, it does give you something fine to do with your mana.
Rulik Mons, Warren Chief
AI Rating: 2.1Pro Rating: 3.0
This is a nice attack trigger! Whether you get a land on the table or a 1/1 goblin, you’ll be pretty happy. Note, by the way, that even if it IS a land, you don’t have to put it on the table if you’d rather have a 1/1 – although most of the time, getting that land will be better, since it digs you one card deeper into your deck. It has Menace too, so it will be hard for you to attack with this in a situation where your opponent can just kill it – they’ll usually have to give something up.
Shanna, Purifying Blade
AI Rating: 4.6Pro Rating: 4.0
A 3-mana 3/3 with Lifelink is pretty nice, even if it is a little challenging to cast – so the big life gain payoff she brings along for the ride is awesome! On her own, she can threaten to draw you three cards at a time. Obviously, making that happen all the time is a pipe dream, because she can die in combat fairly easily – but there will be occasions where your opponent just can’t take her down, and you just get to draw 3 cards at the end of your turn, at which point you win! And if you have other lifelink around, she gets really silly. She is definitely something of a build around, but it does feel like there’s enough other life gain in the set that you don’t have to go that hard to make her worth playing. You do need to have good enough mana to play her, but I think that will be pretty doable.
Sol'Kanar the Tainted
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a fun callback to an old mediocre Legends card! Obviously eh sports some solid stats and some powerful effects! But the downside is that your opponent eventually gets to gain control of Sol’Kanar and use those effects too. The good news is, the value you get from drawing a card, draining 2 life, and lightning bolting a creature – combined with your 5-mana 5/5 – is often going to be enough to win you the game before that matters. Obviously, that is still some very real downside, because you won’t always find a situation where you can get the job done in time. But, playing this alongside some sacrifice effects might be a good way to get around that. I think this looks quite powerful, even with that downside.
Soul of Windgrace
AI Rating: 4.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This seems really good. A bit hard to cast perhaps, but his multiple abilities, combined with his ability to bring back the lands you discard for them is pretty great. Gaining life can really stabilize you, drawing cards can help you find an answer, and making him indestructible means you can attack with this 5/4 for free. You do have to discard lands for the effects, and you won’t always have them, but you’ll be able to reap the benefits often enough that I think he looks really good
Stenn, Paranoid Partisan
AI Rating: 2.4Pro Rating: 3.0
Reducing the cost of an entire card type is nice, even if this does limit what you can choose – and in Limited, creature is usually the best thing to choose. The good news is, the UW deck is also into instants and sorceries! It is also pretty neat he can flicker himself, which is good for avoiding removal, or even just blocking with it every turn – but it also lets you change what you name, which you’ll want to do sometimes. Still, there are going to be a lot of games where this 2/2 just isn’t very impactful, and it isn’t an especially good late game card
Tatyova, Steward of Tides
AI Rating: 4.1Pro Rating: 3.5
While I think I prefer the Tatyova we saw on the last visit to Dominaria, they did give her another strong signpost Uncommon here! Animating your lands when they enter the battlefield is quite strong, especially because they’ll fly! Obviously enough, UG is about ramping and lands, and she fits in quite nicely there. It looks like the color pair has a good amount of support overall. The downside is, she is basically just going to be a vanilla 3-mana 3/3 until you get that 7th land, and that definitely limits her.
Tori D'Avenant, Fury Rider
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.5
Attacking with this is going to be pretty awesome on most boards, as the buffs it offers yoru creature are enough to really make them great attackers. The downside is you have a Gray Ogre that can die relatively easy in combat, but chances are good that attacking with it will be worth it. As long as it trades while buffing your whole board, you’re going to feel good about it.
Tura Kennerüd, Skyknight
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 4.0
This is strong. It has stats that are ALMOST passable, and has a huge payoff for casting instant and sorcery spells. The color pair is about spells AND going wide, and this nicely checks both of those boxes for you.
Uurg, Spawn of Turg
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
Like all the signpost Uncommons in this set, this is quite good. It starts out a bit small, but the card selection/graveyard-loading ability it brings is actually pretty nice, especially because it synergizes with graveyard stuff to begin with. The ability to give up lands for life will come up some too, though most of the value here is from the upkeep trigger.
Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.5
A two mana ½ that loots is a card you usually play, so the upside of draining the opponent sometimes and letting you cast spells out of your graveyard is really nice. It is pretty neat that they made UB a spell deck this time around too – it is sort of a spells/graveyard deck.
Zar Ojanen, Scion of Efrava
AI Rating: 3.1Pro Rating: 3.5
This is another very sweet signpost Uncommon. Its ability will trigger when you attack – or if you Enlist – and that’s great. Now, actually buffing Zar himself isn’t going ot be easy, since you would need a full 5 basic land types, but the ability will be able to buff a huge chunk of your board in a lot of situations. Obviously you can’t do it over and over b because the creatures will get too big, but buffing all of yoru 2/2s and smaller seems like it will go down a decent chunk of the time, and that’s going to be plenty strong.
Zur, Eternal Schemer
AI Rating: 4.1Pro Rating: 1.5 // 4.0
have any Enchantment creatures in it, so the fact he gives them deathtouch, lifelink, and hexproof really only applies to the non-Aura Enchantments that he can animate. This is definitely a buildaround, as Enchantments just aren’t a major theme in this format. They’re around for sure, but your typical deck won’t both have the necessary fixing to play Zur, and enough Enchantments to make him worth playing.
Automatic Librarian
AI Rating: 0.9Pro Rating: 1.5
This is functional reprint of Chrome Cat, a card that usually didn’t make the cut in Streets of New Capenna. That’s probably true here too. This format does have some Artifact stuff going on, so it will probably be a little better than the cat – but unless you’re a deck desperate for Artifacts or a three drop, you probably won’t run this. It just doesn’t do enough.
Golden Argosy
AI Rating: 4.3Pro Rating: 2.0
This has a neat design! 3/6 is some decent size, especially for Crew 1 – although I don’t love paying 4 mana for it. The idea is that you get to rebuy ETB abilities and stuff when you crew it, and that will be nice, but most of the time this is just going to be a vanilla creature.
Hero's Heirloom
AI Rating: 0.8Pro Rating: 2.5
This is a decentish piece of Equipment even without the Legendary upside. 2 to play and 2 to equip for this boost is probably a C- at worst So, the legendary upside is pretty nice! You won’t end up with a ton of legendaries, it should be noted, but there are a decent number of Uncommon, so you’ll end up with more than you would in most formats. Your typical deck will probably have like 2 legendaries, but when you do play them and equip this, they are going to be scary!
Inscribed Tablet
AI Rating: 0.6Pro Rating: 1.0
I don’t love this. Yeah, it is an Artifact that just replaces itself, and there are some artifact payoffs in the set, but the effect just seems underwhelming. You can’t really count it as a source of fixing, since even in Limited looking at the top 5 is no guarantee to find the color you need. It is definitely good at making sure you hit your third land drop or whatever, and that matters sometimes – and I like that you get a card even if you whiff, but I’m still not very impressed here. It doesn’t do enough.
Jodah's Codex
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 1.0
This is kind of a fun reference to old Magic Tomes – like Jayemdae Tome – that cost a ton of mana to draw you cards! Now, luckily you can lower the cost here and I guess once you get it down to about two you won’t feel too bad about it. But, you do still pay a whopping 5 mana up front to not add a real thing to the board, and the advantage this can build for you is pretty slow. I don’t love any of that. This seems too clunky, even in a deck that can get its domain to 5 consistently!
Karn's Sylex
AI Rating: 4.4Pro Rating: 4.0
This is a bit slow, but obviously super powerful. It is a wrath effect that you can customize, which means you can set it up in a way that it hurts your opponent more than it hurts you in a lot of situations. The fact it enters tapped is a bit of a bummer, because it means you won’t be able ot get your opponent to add more permanents to the board for a turn, and they can prepare themselves for the eventual cracking of the Sylex. Being a Sorcery also means they know they are safe on their own turn. So yes, this is incredibly powerful – but I do think the clunkiness of it all makes it fall a little bit short of being a bomb. Taking a whole turn to get online is a pretty big problem!
Meteorite
AI Rating: 0.3Pro Rating: 1.0
This reprint is a super clunky way to fix your mana, and adding a Shock to the mix doesn’t make a huge difference for me. This set does have an artifact subtheme, so maybe sometimes it makes the cut?
Relic of Legends
AI Rating: 1.4Pro Rating: 2.0
Most three mana mana rocks, even those that tap for any color, aren’t great in Limited. This could end up being better if the format is slow enough, but playing something like this on turn three can put you in really bad shape. This does come with the additional upside of producing a ton of extra mana, though – provided you have legendary creatures to tap. It feels like there is probably a legendary heavy ramp deck out there that can really use this to ramp, but I think you cut it a lot.
Salvaged Manaworker
AI Rating: 0.9Pro Rating: 2.5
We see artifact creatures who can filter mana all the time, and if that’s all they really do – along with mediocre stats – they see very little play. However, the filtering usually costs more than one. This actually looks like some nice fixing.
Shield-Wall Sentinel
AI Rating: 1.9Pro Rating: 0.0 // 2.5
Like all of these Defender matters cards, this is a build around. If you can use it to tutor something up – especially one of the powerful win conditions the deck has – it is going to feel really good. If you don’t have a decent Defender to tutor up, you’ll never play this, because its stats are awful.
Timeless Lotus
AI Rating: 3.2Pro Rating: 1.0
This gives you a big mana boost and fixes your mana perfectly! Which is cool, but even in this format I don’t envision giving this much of a bump to your mana is going to be worth it in Limited. It is hard to find something to do with a bunch mana in most Limited formats, even in one with a bunch of kicker, so it is often better to spend 5 mana on like..a creature, or a removal spell, then it is on something that won’t do anything for you for an entire turn, and even when it does do the thing for you, you might not be able ot take advantage. I could see this working out in some pretty crazy ramp or 5-color decks in the format, but I think it is something you won’t play most of the time
Vanquisher's Axe
AI Rating: 0.1Pro Rating: 1.5
This isn’t the most efficient Equipment ever, but it isn’t a complete disaster either. It may be particularly good in RW, where you want higher attack than toughness – and it also helps the Equipment and Artifact sub-themes in the set. Still, it probably gets cut from many decks.
Walking Bulwark
AI Rating: 2.4Pro Rating: 1.5 // 3.5
This is pretty interesting! On its own, it is sort of like a one mana 0/3 that loses defender and gets +3/+0 and Haste if you pay 2 mana. That’s not completely terrible, and obviously it gets better the more Defenders you have, and there is a Defender deck in this format. Seems like a decent enough one drop for a variety of decks that will also have a more synergistic home in the format.
Weatherlight Compleated
AI Rating: 4.4Pro Rating: 0.0
As cool as it is to see the Weatherlight Phyrexianized, this card looks awful for Limited. It begins as a two mana Artifact that lets you Scry 1 any time one of your creatures dies and that..is not good. It does eventually become a creature, and then start drawing you cards when stuff dies, but it is going to be very slow. It just needs too many counters. It is also a miserable top deck. The ideal plan is to play it on turn two – but you also aren’t really adding to the board on turn two if you do that, so uh..yeah
Adarkar Wastes
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
Caves of Koilos
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
Contaminated Aquifer
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Crystal Grotto
AI Rating: 1.8Pro Rating: 1.0
Even in a set with a multicolor theme, I’m not super into this. Filter lands are almost always not worth the trouble – and I think that will be especially true in this set, which has a ton of fixing! Filtering mana does fix for you, but at the cost of making everything of that color cost one extra, and that’s a big deal. Adding Scry 1 to the mix doesn’t make enough of a difference. I think you’ll play this if you’re really desperate for fixing – but that’s about it
Geothermal Bog
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Haunted Mire
AI Rating: 2.9Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Idyllic Beachfront
AI Rating: 2.9Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Karplusan Forest
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
Molten Tributary
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Plaza of Heroes
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 0.0
This format has a lot of legendaries in it, but I don’t feel like it has enough to run this in 99% of decks. Sure, it has a fail case of adding colorless, but that can do some significant damage to your mana base. You need this to be adding some sort of colored mana, or you’re going to be in trouble, even with the additional legendary upside
Radiant Grove
AI Rating: 2.9Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Sacred Peaks
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Shivan Reef
AI Rating: 2.6Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
Sulfurous Springs
AI Rating: 3.2Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
Sunlit Marsh
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Tangled Islet
AI Rating: 2.8Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Thran Portal
AI Rating: 2.3Pro Rating: 2.5
The Gate type doesn’t actually matter in this format, but this is a nice land anyway. It enters untapped early, so if you have lots of one and two drops you don’t have to worry about that, and obviously it also helps you fix your mana a ton. It is about as good as the painlands, overall, though it has the benefit of being a card you can grab for fixing of any kind. That upside is negated by the fact that it can only tap for mana of a single color, unlike the painlands
Wooded Ridgeline
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 3.0
The fact that these have land types is a big deal, because it will really make Domain decks in the format far more functional. I also think that means that, even though these come into play tapped, they are going to be a little bit higher on your pick order than the pain lands are – at least once it is clear you’re going with one of the domain decks, because just jamming these lands into your deck is going to be a big deal. I think these will be valued similarly to how we valued snow lands in Kaldheim – which means they are pretty darn important! They are also useful of course in decks without a Domain theme because of the fixing they provide, and lots of decks in this format will be looking to splash at least a third color, because there are lots of cards in the set that have off-color Kicker costs
Yavimaya Coast
AI Rating: 2.7Pro Rating: 2.5
These offer good fixing and always come into play untapped. It is nice that you can produce colorless all the time, so having to damage yourself for the colored mana isn’t a huge deal.
| Card | Pro Rating | AI Rating | APA | Picked | ALSA | Seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ss-mythic||Legendary Planeswalker — Karn
|
1.5 | 4.5 | 2.19 | 69 | 2.01 | 143 |
|
ss-rare|White|Creature — Human Cleric
|
3.5 | 4.6 | 1.86 | 28 | 1.81 | 39 |
|
ss-rare|White|Creature — Angel
|
5.0 | 4.9 | 1.22 | 41 | 1.23 | 45 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Orc Knight
|
3.5 | 3.3 | 5.02 | 212 | 4.81 | 718 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Human Kor Soldier
|
3.0 | 2.3 | 7.48 | 147 | 6.81 | 972 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Instant
|
1.5 | 1.4 | 9.52 | 128 | 7.66 | 1186 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Human Cleric
|
2.0 | 1.2 | 10.09 | 107 | 8.82 | 1258 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Phyrexian Human Soldier
|
2.0 | 1.9 | 8.31 | 162 | 7.26 | 1104 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Sorcery
|
2.5 | 2.6 | 6.66 | 158 | 5.83 | 922 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Dwarf Soldier
|
2.0 | 1.2 | 10.02 | 143 | 8.52 | 1251 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Enchantment
|
3.0 | 3.7 | 4.03 | 191 | 4.29 | 614 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Human Warrior
|
4.0 | 3.3 | 5.03 | 65 | 4.16 | 230 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Artifact Creature — Wall
|
1.0 | 1 | 10.41 | 113 | 9.09 | 1441 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Human Knight
|
3.0 | 2 | 8.19 | 48 | 6.48 | 391 |
|
ss-rare|White|Legendary Creature — Human Knight
|
4.0 | 4.9 | 1.27 | 26 | 1.23 | 31 |
|
ss-rare|White|Creature — Phyrexian Human
|
4.5 | 4.7 | 1.65 | 17 | 1.56 | 28 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Instant
|
2.5 | 3.1 | 5.48 | 133 | 5.26 | 792 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Griffin
|
3.0 | 2.1 | 7.92 | 164 | 7.27 | 1095 |
|
ss-rare|White|Creature — Human Soldier
|
4.0 | 4.7 | 1.73 | 26 | 1.52 | 44 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Instant
|
1.0 // 3.0 | 1.5 | 9.40 | 147 | 8.42 | 1192 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Instant
|
2.0 | 1.7 | 8.74 | 42 | 6.74 | 444 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Human Druid
|
3.0 | 1.2 | 9.97 | 152 | 8.91 | 1378 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Human Knight
|
4.0 | 4.3 | 2.58 | 78 | 2.67 | 159 |
|
ss-rare|White|Enchantment
|
4.0 | 4.9 | 1.33 | 21 | 1.44 | 27 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Enchantment — Saga
|
3.0 | 2.8 | 6.25 | 59 | 4.94 | 262 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Human Knight
|
1.5 | 1.5 | 9.31 | 103 | 7.38 | 1093 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Phyrexian Human Cleric
|
4.0 | 4.2 | 2.79 | 70 | 2.50 | 138 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Enchantment
|
4.0 | 4.4 | 2.50 | 82 | 2.34 | 143 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Human Soldier
|
3.0 | 3.4 | 4.89 | 56 | 3.80 | 223 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Sorcery
|
3.5 | 3.5 | 4.57 | 61 | 3.88 | 211 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Creature — Human Cleric
|
2.0 | 1.5 | 9.20 | 144 | 8.06 | 1193 |
|
ss-mythic|White|Creature — Angel
|
5.0 | 5 | 1.14 | 123 | 1.15 | 137 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Angel
|
3.5 | 2.7 | 6.56 | 54 | 5.52 | 340 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Instant
|
2.5 | 1.5 | 9.41 | 128 | 8.22 | 1261 |
|
ss-common text-light|White|Instant
|
1.5 | 2.5 | 7.00 | 142 | 6.30 | 922 |
|
ss-rare|White|Enchantment
|
0.5 | 2 | 8.20 | 10 | 4.82 | 102 |
|
ss-rare|White|Enchantment — Saga
|
0.0 | 2 | 8.08 | 13 | 5.79 | 143 |
|
ss-rare|White|Creature — Kor Soldier
|
4.0 | 4 | 3.28 | 29 | 2.96 | 59 |
|
ss-uncommon|White|Creature — Human Cleric
|
1.0 // 4.0 | 4.3 | 2.75 | 80 | 3.28 | 169 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
|
2.5 | 2 | 8.00 | 11 | 5.17 | 112 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Wall
|
2.0 | 1.1 | 10.28 | 130 | 8.58 | 1337 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
|
4.5 | 4.6 | 1.95 | 19 | 1.70 | 35 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Bird Wizard
|
4.0 | 3.5 | 4.59 | 71 | 4.29 | 244 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Enchantment — Aura
|
2.0 | 1 | 10.48 | 21 | 6.95 | 368 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Wall
|
1.5 // 3.0 | 2.2 | 7.60 | 47 | 6.42 | 374 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Phyrexian Sphinx
|
5.0 | 4.7 | 1.74 | 23 | 1.67 | 33 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Djinn
|
3.0 | 2.2 | 7.72 | 53 | 5.91 | 320 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
1.5 | 1.2 | 10.05 | 40 | 6.93 | 463 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
2.5 | 3.1 | 5.62 | 160 | 5.44 | 806 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Enchantment — Saga
|
3.0 | 1.1 | 10.31 | 39 | 7.46 | 479 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Elemental Giant
|
4.0 | 3.5 | 4.61 | 51 | 3.76 | 179 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Djinn
|
4.5 | 4.5 | 2.19 | 27 | 2.07 | 46 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Illusion
|
2.0 | 1.2 | 9.96 | 113 | 8.64 | 1282 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Sorcery
|
1.5 | 0.7 | 11.21 | 103 | 9.01 | 1394 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
2.0 | 2 | 8.23 | 133 | 7.35 | 1119 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Instant
|
3.0 | 1.7 | 8.86 | 44 | 6.51 | 395 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Creature — Human Wizard
|
1.0 // 3.0 | 4 | 3.49 | 68 | 3.36 | 208 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
0.5 | 0.6 | 11.45 | 111 | 9.12 | 1506 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Enchantment — Saga
|
3.5 | 2 | 8.07 | 14 | 5.26 | 104 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 2 | 8.02 | 129 | 7.03 | 1000 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Faerie Wizard
|
3.0 | 1.1 | 10.33 | 110 | 8.43 | 1294 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
2.0 | 2.1 | 7.93 | 41 | 5.87 | 346 |
|
ss-uncommon|Blue|Instant
|
3.0 | 4 | 3.37 | 60 | 3.10 | 187 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
2.0 | 1.7 | 8.91 | 122 | 7.28 | 1081 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Sorcery
|
3.5 | 4.3 | 2.71 | 21 | 2.28 | 58 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Drake
|
2.5 | 1.8 | 8.61 | 105 | 7.34 | 1065 |
|
ss-mythic|Blue|Creature — Sphinx
|
4.0 | 4.9 | 1.30 | 118 | 1.34 | 137 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Human Pirate
|
3.0 | 3 | 5.80 | 174 | 5.43 | 792 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Turtle
|
1.5 | 0.1 | 12.62 | 91 | 10.28 | 1654 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Instant
|
2.5 | 1.6 | 9.15 | 144 | 7.77 | 1197 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Sorcery
|
3.0 | 3.4 | 4.86 | 179 | 4.68 | 680 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Serpent
|
3.0 | 3.4 | 4.73 | 153 | 4.62 | 641 |
|
ss-mythic|Blue|Enchantment
|
1.0 | 3.6 | 4.40 | 10 | 3.62 | 36 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Merfolk Wizard
|
1.5 | 0.4 | 11.79 | 97 | 9.25 | 1405 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Merfolk Wizard
|
1.0 | 1.7 | 8.83 | 18 | 5.76 | 134 |
|
ss-rare|Blue|Creature — Merfolk Wizard
|
5.0 | 4.6 | 1.95 | 19 | 2.42 | 27 |
|
ss-common text-light|Blue|Creature — Merfolk Wizard
|
2.0 | 0.4 | 11.92 | 108 | 10.05 | 1599 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 0.7 | 11.10 | 130 | 9.42 | 1474 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Berserker
|
3.0 | 2 | 8.21 | 58 | 6.44 | 400 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Instant
|
2.0 | 0.8 | 11.06 | 111 | 9.11 | 1399 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Insect
|
2.5 | 1.6 | 9.06 | 109 | 8.01 | 1206 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Phyrexian
|
1.5 // 3.0 | 3 | 5.72 | 53 | 4.83 | 286 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 2.1 | 7.96 | 106 | 6.90 | 1102 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Legendary Creature — Nightmare
|
4.0 | 4.5 | 2.21 | 24 | 2.14 | 44 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Enchantment — Saga
|
3.0 | 3 | 5.82 | 56 | 4.79 | 287 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 2.5 | 6.91 | 70 | 5.24 | 343 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Enchantment — Saga
|
4.0 | 4.7 | 1.69 | 26 | 1.66 | 35 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Skeleton Warrior
|
3.5 | 3.4 | 4.68 | 47 | 3.99 | 233 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Instant
|
4.0 | 4.2 | 3.01 | 77 | 2.86 | 198 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Horror
|
4.5 | 4.8 | 1.38 | 26 | 2.02 | 48 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Sorcery
|
3.5 | 4.9 | 1.35 | 26 | 1.85 | 44 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Spirit Cleric
|
2.0 | 1.7 | 8.86 | 174 | 7.49 | 1119 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Creature — Human
|
4.5 | 4.8 | 1.46 | 24 | 1.63 | 35 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Instant
|
3.5 | 4 | 3.37 | 186 | 3.34 | 479 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Nightmare Wall
|
2.5 | 1.8 | 8.60 | 139 | 7.53 | 1157 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Human Knight
|
3.5 | 3.9 | 3.56 | 64 | 2.98 | 158 |
|
ss-mythic|Black|Legendary Planeswalker — Liliana
|
4.0 | 5 | 1.22 | 95 | 1.33 | 123 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Leech Horror
|
2.0 | 1.9 | 8.28 | 43 | 6.22 | 372 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Horror
|
3.0 | 3.6 | 4.34 | 169 | 4.24 | 612 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Human
|
2.5 | 1.8 | 8.59 | 139 | 7.38 | 1133 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Horse
|
2.0 | 1.6 | 9.08 | 131 | 7.91 | 1249 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 1.5 | 9.32 | 53 | 6.66 | 399 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
|
3.5 | 4.5 | 2.18 | 22 | 2.58 | 47 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Creature — Vampire
|
3.0 | 3.2 | 5.37 | 41 | 4.53 | 271 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Instant
|
2.5 | 1.7 | 8.90 | 136 | 8.06 | 1195 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Human Cleric
|
3.0 | 2.3 | 7.46 | 13 | 4.94 | 95 |
|
ss-mythic|Black|Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor
|
4.5 | 5 | 1.11 | 166 | 1.12 | 176 |
|
ss-uncommon|Black|Sorcery
|
2.5 | 1.4 | 9.47 | 34 | 6.83 | 401 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Goblin
|
2.5 | 1.8 | 8.58 | 139 | 7.66 | 1109 |
|
ss-rare|Black|Enchantment
|
4.5 | 3.2 | 5.24 | 21 | 4.73 | 92 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Shade
|
1.5 | 0.4 | 11.81 | 108 | 9.68 | 1579 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Phyrexian Zombie
|
1.5 | 0.4 | 11.96 | 121 | 10.17 | 1607 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Instant
|
3.5 | 3.2 | 5.19 | 186 | 5.01 | 758 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Sorcery
|
3.0 | 3.1 | 5.48 | 146 | 5.18 | 763 |
|
ss-common text-light|Black|Creature — Zombie Giant
|
2.0 | 2.1 | 7.83 | 115 | 6.90 | 996 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Kor Berserker
|
2.5 | 3.1 | 5.40 | 42 | 4.87 | 287 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Sorcery
|
0.0 | 1.2 | 10.08 | 13 | 6.63 | 169 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Minotaur Berserker
|
2.5 | 1.4 | 9.57 | 136 | 8.44 | 1241 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Creature — Phyrexian Kavu
|
4.5 | 4.4 | 2.40 | 15 | 2.14 | 23 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Dragon
|
3.5 | 2.7 | 6.50 | 62 | 5.56 | 317 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Enchantment — Saga
|
4.5 | 4.8 | 1.52 | 23 | 1.66 | 29 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Dwarf Wizard
|
3.5 | 3.8 | 3.75 | 67 | 3.30 | 217 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
|
2.5 | 3.7 | 4.16 | 62 | 3.45 | 224 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Instant
|
3.0 | 2.5 | 6.91 | 186 | 6.60 | 1018 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Kavu
|
3.0 | 1.7 | 8.88 | 164 | 8.05 | 1250 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Instant
|
1.5 | 1 | 10.59 | 112 | 8.91 | 1393 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Human Wizard
|
3.0 | 1.8 | 8.60 | 164 | 7.90 | 1170 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Goblin
|
2.0 | 1.2 | 10.07 | 137 | 8.93 | 1361 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Enchantment — Aura
|
2.0 | -0 | 12.86 | 121 | 10.64 | 1620 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Cyclops
|
4.0 | 2 | 8.08 | 53 | 6.48 | 424 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
|
4.0 | 4.3 | 2.64 | 73 | 2.52 | 147 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Sorcery
|
1.5 // 3.0 | 0.4 | 11.80 | 105 | 9.72 | 1488 |
|
ss-mythic|Red|Legendary Planeswalker — Jaya
|
5.0 | 4.9 | 1.25 | 122 | 1.24 | 140 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 1.1 | 10.19 | 122 | 8.55 | 1329 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Creature — Human Shaman
|
3.5 | 4.6 | 1.93 | 15 | 2.51 | 36 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Human Warrior
|
3.5 | 2.2 | 7.67 | 198 | 7.31 | 1111 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Instant
|
4.0 | 4.2 | 3.01 | 158 | 3.06 | 402 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Elf Archer
|
2.0 | 2.5 | 6.95 | 115 | 5.76 | 796 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Hellion
|
2.5 | 1.2 | 10.03 | 140 | 8.52 | 1312 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Phoenix
|
3.5 | 2.7 | 6.51 | 61 | 5.67 | 357 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Creature — Human Warrior
|
4.0 | 4.8 | 1.59 | 34 | 2.41 | 49 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Creature — Goblin Warrior
|
0.0 | 1.6 | 9.00 | 17 | 6.50 | 184 |
|
ss-mythic|Red|Creature — Dragon Hydra
|
4.5 | 5 | 1.16 | 128 | 1.17 | 133 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Sorcery
|
1.5 | 0.6 | 11.52 | 112 | 9.24 | 1428 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Creature — Goblin Druid
|
3.5 | 3.7 | 4.12 | 51 | 3.65 | 233 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Legendary Creature — Goblin Noble
|
3.5 | 4.7 | 1.64 | 25 | 1.66 | 36 |
|
ss-rare|Red|Sorcery
|
5.0 | 4.2 | 2.82 | 22 | 2.42 | 40 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Instant
|
1.5 | 0.6 | 11.55 | 109 | 9.70 | 1530 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
|
2.0 | 1.9 | 8.30 | 30 | 5.92 | 396 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Viashino Warrior
|
2.0 | 0.4 | 11.81 | 96 | 9.40 | 1532 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Instant
|
2.5 | 1.5 | 9.30 | 37 | 7.02 | 453 |
|
ss-common text-light|Red|Creature — Ape Warrior
|
2.5 | 1.4 | 9.63 | 138 | 8.46 | 1301 |
|
ss-uncommon|Red|Enchantment — Saga
|
2.0 | 0.4 | 11.82 | 45 | 8.80 | 572 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Elemental Warrior
|
2.0 | 0.1 | 12.58 | 114 | 10.26 | 1662 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Instant
|
3.5 | 2.7 | 6.36 | 148 | 5.61 | 858 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Badger
|
2.5 | 0.8 | 11.04 | 115 | 8.91 | 1376 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Instant
|
1.5 | 0.7 | 11.11 | 132 | 9.36 | 1500 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Instant
|
2.5 | 0.9 | 10.71 | 118 | 9.01 | 1348 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
|
1.5 | 1.7 | 8.73 | 104 | 7.47 | 1047 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Creature — Phyrexian Wurm
|
5.0 | 4.7 | 1.83 | 23 | 1.77 | 28 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Wurm
|
2.5 | 1.2 | 9.98 | 131 | 8.36 | 1229 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Elf Wizard
|
3.5 | 2.8 | 6.20 | 50 | 5.43 | 340 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Plant Wall
|
1.5 | 2.3 | 7.41 | 123 | 6.64 | 984 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Instant
|
2.0 | 1.2 | 10.12 | 112 | 8.36 | 1294 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Sorcery
|
3.5 | 4.8 | 1.57 | 28 | 1.69 | 33 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Turtle
|
2.0 | 0.4 | 11.96 | 113 | 9.93 | 1539 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
|
1.5 // 3.5 | 2.7 | 6.46 | 13 | 5.27 | 117 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Beast
|
3.5 | 2.7 | 6.35 | 43 | 4.91 | 289 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Creature — Spider
|
4.0 | 4.7 | 1.79 | 19 | 1.65 | 27 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
|
3.5 | 4.8 | 1.41 | 27 | 1.49 | 44 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Elf Warrior
|
1.0 | 0.1 | 12.74 | 88 | 10.54 | 1619 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Treefolk
|
2.5 | 2.1 | 7.96 | 137 | 6.85 | 1041 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Treefolk
|
3.5 | 3.6 | 4.32 | 63 | 3.86 | 217 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Cat Warrior
|
3.0 | 4.1 | 3.08 | 50 | 2.62 | 153 |
|
ss-rare|Green|Creature — Dryad Warrior
|
4.5 | 4.7 | 1.70 | 20 | 1.59 | 29 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Sorcery
|
3.0 | 1.5 | 9.21 | 123 | 8.03 | 1229 |
|
ss-mythic|Green|Creature — Ape Shaman
|
4.5 | 4.9 | 1.34 | 99 | 1.52 | 131 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 1.5 | 9.40 | 35 | 7.27 | 491 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Spider
|
1.5 | 0.5 | 11.63 | 99 | 9.54 | 1450 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Instant
|
2.5 | 2.8 | 6.29 | 62 | 5.62 | 377 |
|
ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Lizard
|
2.0 | 2.8 | 6.19 | 154 | 5.85 | 950 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Instant
|
3.5 | 3.4 | 4.75 | 67 | 3.77 | 214 |
|
ss-uncommon|Green|Instant
|
4.0 | 3.9 | 3.52 | 58 | 3.15 | 157 |
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ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Elemental
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1.5 | 3.9 | 3.67 | 54 | 3.33 | 200 |
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ss-rare|Green|Sorcery
|
2.0 | 3 | 5.82 | 11 | 3.77 | 85 |
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ss-rare|Green|Creature — Lhurgoyf
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2.5 | 4.1 | 3.10 | 20 | 3.16 | 63 |
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ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Elf Druid
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3.5 | 2.1 | 7.86 | 172 | 7.04 | 1090 |
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ss-uncommon|Green|Enchantment — Saga
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3.0 | 4.2 | 2.89 | 62 | 2.81 | 162 |
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ss-mythic|Green|Enchantment — Saga
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0.0 | 3.3 | 5.00 | 8 | 4.08 | 53 |
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ss-uncommon|Green|Creature — Elf
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3.5 | 3.6 | 4.43 | 68 | 4.02 | 247 |
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ss-common text-light|Green|Creature — Treefolk
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1.5 | 1.2 | 9.91 | 116 | 8.01 | 1197 |
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ss-mythic|White|Green|Legendary Planeswalker — Ajani
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3.5 | 4.9 | 1.31 | 78 | 1.51 | 97 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Black|Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Human
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4.0 | 3.4 | 4.90 | 42 | 3.95 | 250 |
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ss-rare|White|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
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4.0 | 2.1 | 7.96 | 28 | 6.03 | 138 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
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3.0 | 3.3 | 5.05 | 65 | 4.50 | 259 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Red|Legendary Creature — Bird Wizard
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3.5 | 3.4 | 4.76 | 55 | 4.23 | 239 |
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ss-uncommon|Black|Green|Legendary Creature — Troll Shaman
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3.5 | 3.9 | 3.57 | 53 | 3.01 | 167 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Black|Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Kor Cleric
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3.0 | 3.9 | 3.52 | 54 | 3.35 | 190 |
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ss-rare|Blue|Black|Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Human Wizard
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3.5 | 4.6 | 2.00 | 15 | 2.27 | 34 |
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ss-uncommon|Black|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Berserker
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4.0 | 2.8 | 6.25 | 57 | 5.01 | 307 |
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ss-rare|Blue|Green|Legendary Creature — Faerie Rogue
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3.0 | 3 | 5.69 | 16 | 4.23 | 91 |
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ss-rare|Blue|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Artificer
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1.0 // 3.0 | 1.7 | 8.76 | 17 | 6.43 | 165 |
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ss-mythic|White|Blue|Black|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
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1.0 | 3.8 | 3.80 | 5 | 3.39 | 38 |
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ss-rare|White|Green|Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
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4.5 | 4.6 | 1.96 | 25 | 1.85 | 34 |
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ss-uncommon|Black|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Shaman
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3.5 | 2.9 | 5.87 | 47 | 4.63 | 283 |
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ss-rare|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Elf Artificer
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2.5 | 2 | 8.00 | 18 | 6.26 | 173 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Green|Legendary Creature — Elf Scout
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3.0 | 3.8 | 3.84 | 55 | 3.50 | 208 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Red|Legendary Creature — Efreet Wizard
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3.0 | 2.3 | 7.49 | 57 | 5.60 | 361 |
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ss-rare|Black|Green|Legendary Creature — Treefolk
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3.5 | 4.8 | 1.48 | 21 | 1.45 | 34 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Green|Legendary Creature — Elf Noble
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3.5 | 2.8 | 6.11 | 55 | 5.15 | 315 |
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ss-uncommon|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Elf Warrior
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3.0 | 2.6 | 6.71 | 41 | 4.69 | 321 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Blue|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
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3.5 | 3.6 | 4.39 | 64 | 3.86 | 223 |
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ss-rare|White|Black|Legendary Creature — Zombie Wizard
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3.0 | 3.7 | 4.15 | 13 | 3.80 | 75 |
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ss-mythic|White|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Dragon
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5.0 | 4.9 | 1.37 | 123 | 1.44 | 151 |
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ss-rare|Black|Red|Legendary Creature — Viashino Warlock
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3.0 | 2.5 | 6.85 | 13 | 5.30 | 101 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Black|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
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3.5 | 2.1 | 7.79 | 42 | 6.22 | 393 |
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ss-uncommon|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Goblin
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3.0 | 2.1 | 7.91 | 35 | 5.28 | 336 |
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ss-mythic|White|Blue|Green|Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
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4.0 | 4.6 | 2.07 | 112 | 2.26 | 183 |
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ss-mythic|Blue|Black|Red|Legendary Creature — Elemental Demon
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4.0 | 4.7 | 1.77 | 94 | 1.86 | 169 |
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ss-mythic|Black|Red|Green|Legendary Creature — Cat Avatar
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4.0 | 4.7 | 1.69 | 98 | 1.85 | 157 |
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ss-rare|White|Blue|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
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3.0 | 2.4 | 7.20 | 15 | 4.70 | 116 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Green|Legendary Creature — Merfolk Druid
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3.5 | 4.1 | 3.16 | 57 | 2.94 | 176 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Red|Legendary Creature — Human Knight
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3.5 | 2.8 | 6.14 | 57 | 5.01 | 320 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Blue|Legendary Creature — Human Knight
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4.0 | 2.7 | 6.53 | 55 | 5.42 | 361 |
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ss-uncommon|Black|Green|Legendary Creature — Frog Beast
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3.5 | 2.7 | 6.44 | 68 | 5.68 | 367 |
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ss-uncommon|Blue|Black|Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Merfolk Wizard
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3.5 | 2.7 | 6.44 | 63 | 5.08 | 328 |
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ss-uncommon|White|Green|Legendary Creature — Cat Warrior
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3.5 | 3.1 | 5.39 | 67 | 4.30 | 274 |
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ss-mythic|White|Blue|Black|Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
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1.5 // 4.0 | 4.1 | 3.17 | 6 | 4.07 | 48 |
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ss-common text-light||Artifact Creature — Construct
|
1.5 | 0.9 | 10.62 | 108 | 8.73 | 1306 |
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ss-rare||Legendary Artifact — Vehicle
|
2.0 | 4.3 | 2.67 | 18 | 2.70 | 53 |
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ss-uncommon||Artifact — Equipment
|
2.5 | 0.8 | 11.03 | 35 | 7.71 | 469 |
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ss-uncommon||Artifact
|
1.0 | 0.6 | 11.39 | 44 | 8.24 | 610 |
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ss-uncommon||Artifact
|
1.0 | 2.3 | 7.35 | 34 | 5.26 | 288 |
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ss-mythic||Legendary Artifact
|
4.0 | 4.4 | 2.43 | 14 | 2.12 | 25 |
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ss-common text-light||Artifact
|
1.0 | 0.3 | 12.25 | 138 | 10.25 | 1605 |
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ss-uncommon||Artifact
|
2.0 | 1.4 | 9.50 | 44 | 6.79 | 426 |
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ss-rare||Artifact Creature — Construct
|
2.5 | 0.9 | 10.61 | 147 | 9.06 | 1372 |
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ss-common text-light||Artifact Creature — Golem
|
0.0 // 2.5 | 1.9 | 8.47 | 167 | 8.07 | 1246 |
|
ss-mythic||Legendary Artifact
|
1.0 | 3.2 | 5.25 | 4 | 3.48 | 33 |
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ss-common text-light||Artifact — Equipment
|
1.5 | 0.1 | 12.56 | 119 | 10.76 | 1729 |
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ss-uncommon||Artifact Creature — Golem
|
1.5 // 3.5 | 2.4 | 7.25 | 65 | 6.00 | 389 |
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ss-mythic||Legendary Artifact — Vehicle
|
0.0 | 4.4 | 2.47 | 68 | 2.23 | 184 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 2.7 | 6.52 | 27 | 4.74 | 128 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 2.3 | 7.48 | 23 | 4.78 | 122 |
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ss-common text-light||Land — Island Swamp
|
3.0 | 2.8 | 6.13 | 126 | 5.47 | 780 |
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ss-common text-light||Land
|
1.0 | 1.8 | 8.70 | 125 | 7.47 | 1234 |
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ss-common text-light||Land — Swamp Mountain
|
3.0 | 2.6 | 6.58 | 137 | 5.94 | 885 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Swamp Forest
|
3.0 | 2.9 | 5.91 | 150 | 5.16 | 789 |
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ss-common text-light||Land — Plains Island
|
3.0 | 2.9 | 6.05 | 160 | 5.60 | 867 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 2.3 | 7.30 | 20 | 5.11 | 100 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Island Mountain
|
3.0 | 2.6 | 6.58 | 141 | 5.90 | 918 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
0.0 | 2.6 | 6.80 | 5 | 5.13 | 141 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Forest Plains
|
3.0 | 2.9 | 5.94 | 155 | 5.56 | 862 |
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ss-common text-light||Land — Mountain Plains
|
3.0 | 2.6 | 6.67 | 163 | 5.88 | 946 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 2.6 | 6.75 | 20 | 4.87 | 111 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 3.2 | 5.23 | 13 | 4.14 | 115 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Plains Swamp
|
3.0 | 2.8 | 6.17 | 158 | 5.52 | 863 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Forest Island
|
3.0 | 2.8 | 6.21 | 170 | 5.48 | 864 |
|
ss-rare||Land — Gate
|
2.5 | 2.3 | 7.40 | 15 | 4.65 | 105 |
|
ss-common text-light||Land — Mountain Forest
|
3.0 | 2.7 | 6.46 | 149 | 5.81 | 887 |
|
ss-rare||Land
|
2.5 | 2.7 | 6.48 | 21 | 5.01 | 102 |
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About Limited Ratings
- 5.0 The absolute best you can get.
- 4.5 Incredible bomb, but not unbeatable.
- 4.0 Good rare or top-tier uncommon.
- 3.5 Top-tier common or solid uncommon.
- 3.0 Good playable that always make the cut.
- 2.5 A solid playable that rarely gets cut.
- 2.0 A good playable, but is sometimes cut.
- 1.5 Filler card but sometimes gets cut.
- 1.0 Not good filler and often gets gut.
- 0.5 Almost Unplayable and mostly sideboard material.
- 0.0 Not playable at all.
AI Limited ratings are gathered with data from MTGA Assistant, while Nizzahon Magic provides the Pro ratings. The key difference is that the Pro ratings and comments are made before the set officially releases, while the AI ratings dynamically update with new data. It would be best to use the Pro ratings as guidance as sets are released and the AI Ratings a couple of weeks after release. Here is an explanation of how we score the cards: