Blade Instructor

This can pretty frequently attack and put a counter on something, and because of its 3 power your opponent often can’t do anything but trade with it. Which…if they have a 1/1 token doesn’t feel great, but you still get a counter out of the deal.

Bounty Agent

You’re mostly just getting a two mana 2/2 with Vigilance here, and that’s a decent card, especially in a format with lots of ways to put counters on it.

Candlelight Vigil

The boost this gives is significant, but the risk of a 2-for-1 is very real, and it generally isn’t worth the risk.

Citywide Bust

This is mostly a more complicated version of the usual “Destroy big creature” card. There aren’t a lot of board states where this will hit more than one thing, but it is nice that it has the upside of doing that. Problem is, there are also plenty of board states where it hurts you more or doesn’t do anything!

Collar the Culprit

This is clunky for how situational it is. Being an instant is nice, though.

Conclave Tribunal

This answer pretty much anything and it does it very efficiently. Your opponent can get their permanent back of course, but most of the time they don’t, and even if they eventually do you usually come out ahead.

Crush Contraband

This is sideboard material. There aren’t enough artifacts and enchantments that do stuff to main deck this. When you do get to blow up one of each it feels pretty awesome, though!

Dawn of Hope

This card can power itself, which is great! Cranking out lifelink tokens that can draw you cards is pretty nice, even with the significant mana investment, and if your deck has some additional ways to gain life, Dawn of Hope gets even better.

Demotion

RW decks in this format can be really aggressive, and this tends to be a solid inclusion in those decks, as turning off blocking and activated abilities is usually enough for you to keep on attacking, and the fact it costs one mana probably also means you still have mana to play another creature or use a combat trick. Outside of that deck, it isn’t nearly as good.

Divine Visitation

It is possible to end up with a deck in this format that can really abuse this, but it isn’t the easiest thing to make happen. If you have 7+ ways to make tokens in your deck, it starts to get interesting, and even feels like a bomb, but it definitely is a buildaround card because getting it going isn’t something that will happen in most drafts.

Flight of Equenauts

This underperforms a little bit. The format can be somewhat fast, and while you can definitely power this out for 5 or 6 mana, sometimes that’s just a little too late. It is still a pretty nice finisher, especially in GW, but not as incredible as it looks at first glance.

Gird for Battle

This can really help power aggressive decks in the format, suddenly enabling two attacks you didn’t have before, and helping your creatures Mentor others.

Haazda Marshal

This does some pretty nice work if you play it early, especially if you do it alongside creatures who can Mentor it, so that it can attack more effectively. If it attacks and trades while giving you a 1/1 token, you’re doing a pretty good job!

Healer's Hawk

This is a really nice one-drop, especially in Boros, since it is such a great creature to Mentor. Putting counters on this can quickly put the game out of reach for your opponent.

Hunted Witness

One mana 1/1s that leave behind 1/1s tend to be pretty decent in Limited, and that’s certainly the case here, especially with White aggro decks being so real in the format.

Inspiring Unicorn

This doesn’t have the most impressive stats, and that often means it ends up eating a cheap removal spell before you ever attack with it, but if you’re allowed to untap with it, it helps make most boards pretty formidable.

Intrusive Packbeast

Having one of these in aggressive decks isn’t too bad, as it can often allow you to swing for lethal if you’re curving out, but it is also a card you end up cutting pretty often, and certainly not something you need in those decks.

Ledev Guardian

This isn’t that great whether you cast it or power it out with Convoke.

Light of the Legion

This is a bomb. It has great Flying stats, comes with the powerful Mentor mechanic, and even if your opponent does kill it right away, it still gives you a ton of value. So on most boards it is a darned if you do darned if you don’t situation for your opponent, and that always feels like a bomb.

Loxodon Restorer

This is a decent way to stabilize against aggro decks, as the life gain and the body do a pretty good job of helping you hold on. If you’re a slower White deck, the first of these is usually going to make your deck. While, if you’re more aggressive you’re not going to have any reason to play it.

Luminous Bonds

As it is most of the time, this is premium removal. Turning off attacking and blocking is pretty good for the cost.

Parhelion Patrol

Flying and Mentor go pretty well together, since it becomes easier for it to attack and survive. It can of course only Mentor 1 power creatures – at least at first – but that’s fine, and you can often end up training it too, in which case it can become a real monster.

Righteous Blow

This kills things fairly efficiently, but it is too situational to be anything special. You’ll run it if you’re desperate for removal.

Roc Charger

Creatures with Flying that can give other creatures Flying when they attack tend to always be pretty good in Limited, but it gets especially spicy alongside Mentor creatures, because if you are sending them into the air with the Roc, the Roc is probably also getting Mentored, which can result in a ton of evasive damage in a hurry.

Skyline Scout

Its nice that this can start going to sky once it can’t get in on the ground, but it isn’t exactly efficient as a creature, and paying two mana to make it Fly isn’t always something you’ll have the mana for.

Sunhome Stalwart

A two mana 2/2 with First Strike is a 3.5 in most formats, and this one tacks on Mentor, which is awesome! Its good at Mentoring things and it is also a good thing to Mentor thanks to its keyword abilities. This is an excellent two drop.

Sworn Companions

If you’re interested in going wide, this does a decent job of it. You’re more likely to want to do that in GW.

Take Heart

This trick is fine. One mana for +2/+2 tends to be solid in Limited, and the life gain tacked on is nice.

Tenth District Guard

This has okay starting stats, but its ETB ability is irrelevant about 90% of the time, and that means this isn’t that much better than a vanilla two mana 2/2.

Venerated Loxodon

This thing is silly, because it allows you to pump several creatures while also adding a 4/4 to the board! And oftentimes it feels like you aren’t paying any mana for something that powerful. The downside, of course, is that you have to tap down a bunch of stuff to make that happen, and sometimes you just don’t have the time to do that, but most of the time it is worth doing, since it upgrades your board an incredible amount for a pretty low investment.

Capture Sphere

This is pretty nice, as far as Blue removal spells go. Locking down a creature for 4, and being able to do it at Instant speed is fine. Of course, not turning off activated abilities and stuff like that is a bummer, but this does a decent job.

Chemister's Insight

4 mana to draw two isn’t great, but adding Jump-Start is a big deal! The UR deck in this format is all about spells, so the fact that Jump-Start cards give you two of those triggers is really nice, and getting to draw 4 off of this in the process is pretty nice.

Citywatch Sphinx

This card is a disappointment. I think in a lot of formats it would be quite good, but the aggro decks in this format really punish your plan of paying a 6-mana 5/4 Flyer. By the time you play this they can usually just swing into it with no real problem, and the fact you Surviel just doesn’t matter! It definitely isn’t bad, but at first glance it looks like a great Uncommon, and in reality its just a solid card.

Dazzling Lights

This kind of effect is pretty underwhelming, as it just doesn’t accomplish enough most of the time. However, the fact that this format has a spell deck definitely upgrades it a bit, and Surveil isn’t too bad either.

Devious Cover-Up

This is a pretty bad counterspell in most decks in the format. Four mana to counter something tends to be way too clunky, and shuffling cards into your deck isn’t that big of a deal. However, the UW decks in this format can sometimes end up in very real controlling builds where Devious Cover-Up is actually a quality card, especially if you have two of them to loop. You can just lock down the board and outvalue your opponent until their dead! So, this gets a build around grade. In the right deck, it is pretty legit – but don’t try to play it in any old Blue deck.

Dimir Informant

This has decent defensive stats, and Surveil 2 is some pretty nice card selection, even independent of the various payoffs in the format.

Disdainful Stroke

This is mostly a sideboard card, though it isn’t a complete disaster to have one in your main deck, as most decks in this format have enough targets for it. The real problem is running into a RW deck, which doesn’t tend to have many targets.

Dream Eater

This gives you so much for the investment. While a 4/3 isn’t the best creature for Ambush-blocking something, you can certainly do it sometimes, which feels really nasty since this thing also bounces a nonland permanent and you get to Surveil 4, which will drastically improve the quality of your draws. So yeah, you add a big threat to the board that also removes something from your opponent’s board, and you get to make sure you are drawing gas over your next few turns.

Drowned Secrets

You can try to build around this for the memes, but it is mostly a bad idea, especially in a format that has lots of graveyard value between Jump-Start and Surveil.

Enhanced Surveillance

Surveiling is pretty nice, but using a whole card to slightly improve all of your decks surveil effects isn’t a great plan, since that’s a pretty minor effect. Shuffling your graveyard into your library might be nice if your deck is the most insane Surveil deck ever, but most of the time it is best to steer clear of this.

Guild Summit

Guildgate decks are pretty legit in this format, and Guild Summit can be a powerhouse in the right deck, as turning your land drops into cantrips is pretty sweet. However, you need a lot of gates to make this work, and you can’t really play it otherwise.

Leapfrog

Maximize Altitude

This is a nice tool for aggressive Izzet decks, as it can trigger your spell payoffs while also allowing you to attack pretty hard with one of your creatures in the air.

Mission Briefing

Your deck will need a lot of instants and sorceries for this to be consistently worth playing, but that’s pretty doable in both Izzet and Dimir. You also generally want those spells to be kind of cheap, since you do still have to pay the mana for whatever it is you choose to cast, but it gives you some decent value when you can pull it off.

Murmuring Mystic

This is a very powerful build around for both Dimir and the slower versions of Izzet. Cranking out a 1/1 Flying token for every spell is enough to quickly overpower most opponents.

Muse Drake

A 4-mana 1/3 with Flying isn’t the most impressive stat-line, but because it replaces itself right away it actually tends to be feel like a pretty decent card.

Narcomoeba

Even with Surveil in the set, it is pretty challenging to end up in a deck that can actually make use of the Narcomoeba. You have to be good at getting it out of your graveyard for free to be worth it, because a two mana 1/1 Flyer just isn’t very good.

Nightveil Sprite

Decent evasive stats go pretty well with a Surveil attack trigger, and this can get particularly silly alongside any of the cards that give you some sort of value every time you Surveil, as it is a very repeatable way to get those going.

Omnispell Adept

This has bad stats and a really expensive and situational ability. Basically, the ability gives you a discount on spells, and you can also sort of look at it as fixing for spells, but I wouldn’t rely on it as your only source of fixing for an off-color spell. You should probably have some lands that help you out too, but if you’re splashing a couple of spells it does get a little bit of extra value.

Passwall Adept

The Adept’s ability can definitely lead you to victory late in the right situation, but in the early game it is not a very impressive card.

Quasiduplicate

Making a copy of your best creature is usually worth three mana or more, so being able to do it twice is pretty nice. There are times where you don’t have a thing to copy and that can feel miserable, but the upside here is real.

Radical Idea

This is pretty nice in UR decks because of the spell-triggers, and it isn’t bad in UW control decks either.

Selective Snare

It is pretty tricky to get decent value out of this. Bouncing is already an effect where you’re usually going down a card and your opponent isn’t. You do get the tempo advantage of course, but it is tough for this to be worth it, especially because the creature type thing doesn’t line up nearly as much as you’d like.

Sinister Sabotage

Thoughtbound Phantasm

A one mana 2/2 with Defender is kind of an okay blocker in the early game that can at least trade, and then this is a pretty powerful Surveil payoff that can just get massive. Obviously, its at its best in UB, but it isn’t too bad in UW either.

Unexplained Disappearance

Two mana instant bounce spells are always decent enough, especially when you can use them in response to a combat trick or something like that, and tacking on Surveil is pretty nice.

Vedalken Mesmerist

It isn’t a complete disaster if you play this as your two drop, but it isn’t something you should be happy about either. Its attack trigger rarely does enough.

Wall of Mist

This is passable in the Blue control decks in the format, but you’re probably hoping for defensive creatures that are more impactful than this.

Watcher in the Mist

This has pretty nice Flying stats and Surveil 2 on ETB is pretty powerful. This is Blue’s best Common in the set.

Wishcoin Crab

This is passable if you need a defensive creature in your Blue decks, and blocks surprisingly well, even in the later part of the game.

Barrier of Bones

0-mana 0/3s with Defender are rarely very good in Limited, and that doesn’t really change here, even with Surveil 1.

Bartizan Bats

3 power on a flyer for 4 mana is a decent deal…but the one toughness is pretty rough, as it means your opponent can often trade up for this thing with cheap removal or 1/1 flying tokens.

Blood Operative

A 3-mana 3/1 with Lifelink that exiles an opposing card from a graveyard is probably a 2.5 in this format, as graveyard stuff is pretty real, and those stats aren’t too bad. So, the fact that it is also a Surveil payoff that can just keep coming back is pretty nice. Your opponent can’t just ignore this 3/1 Lifelinker attacking them every turn, and you can be pretty aggressive with it because it can come back – and it gives you the life to bring it back too! If you’re in a more defensive situation, it is also pretty effective.

Burglar Rat

We see two mana 1/1s that make an opponent discard reasonably often, and they are always decent, though your opponent discarding a Jump-Start card to this can be a little painful.

Child of Night

This has decent stats and lifelink. Not much more to say about it!

Creeping Chill

Even with surveil, there isn’t a way to build around this enough for it to be worth it – unless you end up with 3+ copies, in which case things start to get interesting. However, ending up with enough Surveil and other self-mill to power it and 3+ copies of this just won’t happen.

Dead Weight

This kills a whole lot of stuff in this format for only one mana – including significantly more expensive creatures, and that makes it pretty great.

Deadly Visit

This answers pretty much anything, and getting to Surveil on top of that is pretty sweet.

Doom Whisperer

A 5-mana 6/6 with Flying and Trample is an easy 4.0, so adding a repeatable Surveil effect that costs ZERO mana is certainly enough to make this card a bomb. Even if your opponent can kill it right away, it can stock your graveyard/make sure you’re drawing gas before it dies, and that’s pretty nice.

Douser of Lights

This might look like the usually mediocre vanilla creature that you’ll just never play…but it turns out that a 5-mana 4/5 is very reasonable in this format’s more controlling decks. It blocks a whole lot of stuff and even attacks surprisingly well.

Gruesome Menagerie

This might look like the usually mediocre vanilla creature that you’ll just never play…but it turns out that a 5-mana 4/5 is very reasonable in this format’s more controlling decks. It blocks a whole lot of stuff and even attacks surprisingly well.

Hired Poisoner

One mana 1/1s with Deathtouch are pretty much always a 2.5. They are cheap and they can trade for anything, which is nice.

Kraul Swarm

The Swarm has high power for 5-mana Flyer – that’s enough that it can’t just be ignored, and the fact that it can keep coming back can really present a problem for your opponent.

Lotleth Giant

This is decent top-curve to have in any deck with lots of creatures and graveyard stuff going on, as if it can do 3+ damage you don’t feel terrible about your investment, and it can often do far more than that. It is unfortunately pretty clunky in a format where there are very real aggro decks, and the Golgari decks come together the least consistently.

Mausoleum Secrets

As usual, Tutor effects aren’t very good in Limited. You are basically just paying two to draw a card and not add to the board, and this one make you jump through hoops for it to do anything in the first place.

Mephitic Vapors

This isn’t a bad card for countering the aggressive decks in the format, as it can often do some significant damage to their board, and getting to Surveil can help you find what you need.

Midnight Reaper

At worst, this is a 3-mana 3/2 that draws you a card and does 1 damage to you when it dies, and the upside is that you keep it around and you manage to do it when lots of other creatures die too, which is pretty sweet! One downside is that it is not a “may” clause, but its still great.

Moodmark Painter

This Common is a big part of why Golgari decks in this format struggle, because it just isn’t very good, and its supposed to be a key Common for that deck! It has bad stats, and while the boost it offers can be nice, it usually isn’t enough for this card to be very good.

Necrotic Wound

This can kill things for only one mana, but part of what would normally make a one mana removal spell great is you can cast it early. And…you can’t do that here, since you need to set it up before it actually does something. It is definitely potent in the mid to late game, but the early game downside is a real problem.

Never Happened

Coercion is very rarely good in Limited, but this format having some graveyard stuff does mean you often have something to go after in their graveyard too, in which case this can feel a bit like a 2-for-1.

Pilfering Imp

If you play this early it does a good job of chipping in for some damage, and then it has a decent disruptive effect for later in the game.

Plaguecrafter

Creatures with Edicts stapled to them always tend to be solid, and I think that’s the case here. The addition of the discard effect is nice, since sometimes having an edict creature is a bummer if your opponent doesn’t play anything, and this makes sure you get a card one way or another.

Price of Fame

This is excellent removal. You won’t have many legendary creatures to target, but that’s fine, because 4 mana to kill any creature at Instant speed and Surveil 2 is absolutely premium.

Ritual of Soot

This can really devastate the more aggressive decks in the format, and if you’re a controlling deck, getting one copy of this tends to feel pretty nice.

Severed Strands

Making Bone Splinters cost an additional mana is a bummer, and one that isn’t solved by the life gain effect. Still, it can kill stuff pretty efficiently, and if you have expendable creatures it feels pretty good.

Spinal Centipede

This has decent stats, and it leaves some value behind as long as you have another creature – and usually you do!

Undercity Necrolisk

A 4-mana 3/3 feels kinda rough in this format, but this has a pretty nice ability – gobbling up other creatures to make this evasive and bigger feels good, especially if you have some good fodder.

Veiled Shade

A Gray Ogre isn’t very good, but this being able to pump its stats does make it into a pretty interesting attacker.

Vicious Rumors

This does a bunch of small stuff, but all of it is pretty irrelevant most of the time.

Whispering Snitch

This is the best Surveil payoff around, as draining life is a huge deal, and helps a grindy Surveil deck stay alive while also helping you win the game.

Arclight Phoenix

A 4-mana 3/2 with Flying and Haste is already a good Limited card, and it is actually possible to bring this thing back – largely as a result of the Jump-Start mechanic.

Barging Sergeant

This can add a ton of damage to the board in a hurry, as it is capable of Mentoring most creatures. Its usually going to die during the attack, but the value it gives you is incredibly good.

Book Devourer

This has bad stats, and its combat damage trigger is only useful in very narrow situations.

Command the Storm

This has bad stats, and its combat damage trigger is only useful in very narrow situations.

Cosmotronic Wave

This is a really nice card for aggressive Izzet and Boros decks, as it often wins you the game. It is a key card in those decks, but also not something you want to go after super early, since it is pretty much only good in those decks – where you’ll always want 1-2 copies of it.

Direct Current

This is a really nice card for aggressive Izzet and Boros decks, as it often wins you the game. It is a key card in those decks, but also not something you want to go after super early, since it is pretty much only good in those decks – where you’ll always want 1-2 copies of it.

Electrostatic Field

This is nice in the more controlling Izzet decks, where you can play this defensive creature and chip away at your opponent.

Erratic Cyclops

If you have a lot of spells, this thing can be a pretty big problem for your opponent. If you attack with it, they really can be put in a bind, wondering what exactly you have in your hand and how big the Cyclops will get. Because it has 8 toughness, it isn’t exactly easy to take down in combat, and it has trample, making the whole decision pretty miserable for your opponent.

Experimental Frenzy

If you have a lot of spells, this thing can be a pretty big problem for your opponent. If you attack with it, they really can be put in a bind, wondering what exactly you have in your hand and how big the Cyclops will get. Because it has 8 toughness, it isn’t exactly easy to take down in combat, and it has trample, making the whole decision pretty miserable for your opponent.

Fearless Halberdier

If you are short on creatures, you’ll play this. Otherwise, not so much.

Fire Urchin

Not too bad of a payoff if you’re in the aggressive Izzet deck, but certainly not one you go after very aggressively.

Goblin Banneret

Because this can pump its power, it can end up Mentoring a whole lot of stuff. And sure, it only has one toughness, but like with a lot of the Mentors, you feel pretty good if the best your opponent can do is trade with the Mentor, because that means you get a +1/+1 counter worth of value – and if they can’t take down your Mentor, things really get out of hand in your favor.

Goblin Cratermaker

This is a bear with great upside – being able to Shock a creature or destroy an Artifact is very nice utility.

Goblin Locksmith

This isn’t that far from just being Goblin Piker, a card you really hope you don’t play in Limited.

Gravitic Punch

This is pretty much only playable in more aggressive Izzet decks that have various creatures whose power goes up when you cast spells. In those situations, this isn’t a bad way to do the last damage to your opponent. In all the other decks though, its unplayable. Cards that just do damage to an opponent usually aren’t great, and that’s still mostly true here.

Hellkite Whelp

This is definitely an underperformer. Basically any creature in this format that lags behind in stats for its cost is, and that’s what we have here with a 5-mana 3/3 Flyer. It is nice that it can pick off smaller creatures, and it isn’t bad, it just also isn’t good.

Inescapable Blaze

This is pretty clunky in this format – 6 mana is just a ton, and doing 6 for that big investment isn’t amazing, though it is enough to kill most creatures. The fact you can go after the opponent is also pretty sweet.

Lava Coil

This is great. Two mana for 4 damage is a great rate, and the exile upside actually matters sometimes.

Legion Warboss

This is great. Two mana for 4 damage is a great rate, and the exile upside actually matters sometimes.

Maniacal Rage

This is a big boost for the cost, and it has the upside of being able to turn off an opposing blocker, but its still an Aura that can really result in you getting blown out, and it doesn’t quite do enough to overcome that.

Maximize Velocity

This is a nice card in the aggressive Izzet decks, as you usually get some value out of just casting spells, so cheap ones like this are nice, especially because it can help you do more damage out of nowhere.

Ornery Goblin

This is a surprisingly pesky two-drop that is pretty difficult to attack through or block profitably in the early game, and that’s pretty nice.

Risk Factor

Without Jump-Start, this is a pretty bad card since your opponent can usually make a decision that won’t hurt them very much – and that’s usually the damage. However, with Jump-Start, you end up really putting the screws to your opponent in terms of damage, and the second time you cast this your opponent can often be in a bind, so this is surprisingly solid.

Rubblebelt Boar

Without Jump-Start, this is a pretty bad card since your opponent can usually make a decision that won’t hurt them very much – and that’s usually the damage. However, with Jump-Start, you end up really putting the screws to your opponent in terms of damage, and the second time you cast this your opponent can often be in a bind, so this is surprisingly solid.

Runaway Steam-Kin

Your deck does need to be pretty Red to take full advantage of this, but that’s not hard, even in a two-color deck. This gets most of its value out of just getting large in a hurry, though the mana upside doesn’t hurt.

Smelt-Ward Minotaur

This is pretty nice in either of the Red aggressive decks (Izzet and Boros), as turning off a blocker is a big deal! Izzet will have more spells to enable it than Boros, but it has decent stats and solid upside, so its definitely nice in both.

Street Riot

This is really bad. It is a 5-mana Enchantment that doesn’t add to the board very effectively. Sure, it makes your attacks better, but you need a pretty nice board state for this to enable anything special, and that’s some very real set up. It is a real bummer it doesn’t offer any boost at all on your opponent’s turn.

Sure Strike

As usual with this card that has been reprinted a ton, it is a reasonable trick that can help almost any creature win combat.

Torch Courier

This is a pretty mediocre one drop. A one mana 1/1 with Haste just doesn’t do enough these days – there are many boards where this is immediately irrelevant. The upside of giving Haste to something else is nice, but still not very impressive.

Wojek Bodyguard

This needs friends to attack with, but that’s okay, because that’s usually what you’re going to be doing in a Boros deck that likes mentoring stuff, and this can train pretty much all the creatures that are one and two drops, making it a pretty nice Common.

Affectionate Indrik

This can usually come down and kill something, while sticking around, and that’s a great way to stabilize after you’ve been behind early, making this a 6-drop that is definitely worth playing.

Arboretum Elemental

This is big and it has hexproof, but the cost is very real even with Convoke, and it isn’t like 5 toughness is impossible to take down in combat.

Beast Whisperer

If your deck has a lot of creatures (and most Limited decks do) and you are allowed to untap with this, things get pretty silly, as you start ripping through your deck. The only downside here is how easily the Whisperer can be killed – along with the fact that you don’t get anything out of him immediately in most cases.

Bounty of Might

Tricks usually aren’t that impressive in Limited, but this is a pretty insane trick. Distributing +9/+9 worth of stats amongst your creatures is massive, as it can generate huge blowouts where you help three creatures win combat – or it can lead to lethal damage out of nowhere! It doesn’t have the usual downside of tricks most of the time, because if your opponent kills one creature you use this on, you still have the other two, and it has way more upside than most tricks too!

Circuitous Route

If you need to ramp and you have an interest in gates, this is a pretty decent inclusion, but be careful using a card that doesn’t add to the board at all!

Crushing Canopy

This is mostly sideboard material.

Devkarin Dissident

This is a bear with some mediocre late-game upside, which means it is decent enough.

District Guide

Being able to get a Gate with this is big, because you can play gates that are really great at fixing your mana – it is just way better than grabbing a basic most of the time, though even if this could only grab basics it would still be a nice card.

Generous Stray

This isn’t a bad thing to sacrifice to various effects, but its stats are pretty disappointing.

Golgari Raiders

This card’s a big disappointment, as it is surprisingly hard getting it to be large enough to be worth the mana you spend on it. It basically only gets there in the extreme late game, at which point it isn’t nearly as impressive.

Grappling Sundew

This is mostly a sideboard card. Its activated ability is insanely expensive and really not that impressive, but it isn’t bad to side in against a deck with lots of fliers.

Hatchery Spider

This is a pretty nice Undergrowth payoff, and because it costs 7 mana – meaning you’ll be playing it late – it will be able to get something for you about half the time. It is a bummer the card has to be Green – since in Limited you’re very unlikely to only have Green creatures – but the upside is enough that this is worth playing in grindier Green decks.

Hitchclaw Recluse

We see this card a lot, and its always pretty decent. Green can’t always deal with flyers very effectively, and this can help in that regard.

Ironshell Beetle

This kind of card is always pretty nice. Early, it can just be the two mana 2/2 you need, and late it can come down and put the counter on something better.

Kraul Foragers

This isn’t a terrible Undergrowth payoff. As long as you are gaining 2+ life with it, it feels pretty good, and it is often enough to help you stabilize against more aggressive decks.

Kraul Harpooner

A two mana 3/2 with Reach is already a pretty darn good rate, so having the upside of just killing an opposing flyer right away is great – although keep in mind, as long as the creature it fights has 2 or more power, the Harpooner is going down too! But that’s okay – this is sort of like a card that is either an efficient creature or Plummet, and that’s a pretty nice modal card to have. If you get to kill something with 1 power and it sticks around, it feels really absurd.

Might of the Masses

This can give a pretty real boost for the cost, but the fact it is so reliant on the rest of your board is a problem.

Pack's Favor

This is a decent trick, and it is sweet that sometimes you can cast it when you seemingly have no mana.

Pause for Reflection

As usual, Fog isn’t really worth playing in Limited.

Pelt Collector

If you play this on turn one, it can get silly in a hurry. It is a little less impressive late, but the fact you can play it and then offer some trades to your opponent in combat is pretty nice, giving it late-game usefulness too!

Portcullis Vine

Its nice that you can throw this away for a card when it isn’t useful. Problem is, it usually isn’t useful, and paying 3 mana to draw a card isn’t exactly a deal.

Prey Upon

As usual, Green has plenty of beefy creatures around that can really take advantage of this. Just pick your spots with it carefully so you don’t get blown out.

Siege Wurm

This is pretty powerful if you can power it out on turn 5 and really, it is big enough to be relevant all game long. You definitely need to be good at going a little wide to take full advantage, but its well worth it.

Sprouting Renewal

Neither mode here is exactly exciting, but they are both fine, and this is a nice way to have some artifact/enchantment hate in your main deck that doesn’t cost you a whole lot.

Urban Utopia

This fixes decently and replaces itself, but you just don’t really need it in this format, as Gates are pretty easy to come by.

Vigorspore Wurm

This is a passable Undergrowth payoff, as it usually gives a relevant stats boost. The fact it can’t be double blocked is pretty real too, and this creature is surprisingly difficult to stop in combat.

Vivid Revival

You won’t always end up in a deck that can make use of this, but you will do it often enough that this is a pretty powerful card, and one that you can take pretty early. Getting three cards back will just win you the game in many situations. It is Sorcery speed and certainly pretty clunky, but the upside is often worth it.

Wary Okapi

This is a decent French Vanilla creature, but not much else!

Wild Ceratok

This stat-line is passable if you’re desperate for a four drop.

Artful Takedown

The -2/-4 part of the card is almost always a removal spell, so the additional upside of also tapping something can be pretty nice. Basically, this can give you some great tempo – getting two blockers out of the way – or you can just use it as a decent removal spell.

Assassin's Trophy

This is very risky to use early, as ramping your opponent probably isn’t worth killing their two drop! However, by the late game, the downside of the card becomes increasingly irrelevant, and overall this is a great removal spell.

Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice

This is a bomb that is pretty unbeatable left unchecked. She can target herself with her buffing abilities, and because she is both Red and White, she can be a 4-mana 4/5 with Vigilance, Flying, Trample, and Mentor. That’s pretty darn good, and she gets even sillier when she can enable your other stuff to attack too. And if you have a board, playing her before combat on your turn is pretty sweet, because the buffs she gives to other creatures are no joke! And of course, she’s great for mentoring creatures too.

Beacon Bolt

This can be some nice removal in grindier decks, as it can often do significant amounts of damage for the cost, and being able to do it a second time is pretty sweet!

Beamsplitter Mage

There aren’t really enough good ways to abuse the Mage’s ability, though there are a few, and at worse it is a two mana 2/2.

Boros Challenger

This obviously has great stats, and coming with Mentor is pretty sweet! You can even sink mana into it in the later game for it to stay relevant.

Camaraderie

So, you need at least three creatures in play for this to feel good, but that isn’t that hard to pull off – and if you have 4+ creatures in play, it will be pretty hard for you to lose if you cast this. It is a little clunky for sure, but the life you gain and the boost to your creatures is going to often help you get to untap – since your opponent is less likely to be in a position where they can win the race.

Centaur Peacemaker

While it isn’t great giving your opponent life, the fact that you both get it does mean you are coming out ahead from this card since..you know, you’re also getting this creature, so it isn’t as bad as it might seem.

Chance for Glory

While it isn’t great giving your opponent life, the fact that you both get it does mean you are coming out ahead from this card since..you know, you’re also getting this creature, so it isn’t as bad as it might seem.

Charnel Troll

This is a pretty good payoff for doing Golgari things, as this gives you an efficient and evasive creature that can end the game pretty quickly! Stocking your graveyard is doable in the format, but not so easy you really want to take this card super early.

Conclave Cavalier

This whole cycle is very strong, and Conclave Cavalier is no exception! I mean, when all is said and done you pay 4 mana for 8/8 worth of stats across three bodies! This can very realistically generate a 3-for-1. The one downside is the mana cost, but the mana in this format is good enough that it isn’t that hard ot manage.

Conclave Guildmage

The trample ability needs some significant support to matter, but at least its cheap! Plus, the creature token ability is a nice place to sink your mana in the late game.

Crackling Drake

Another great card in this cycle. Izzet is of course all about spells, so this tends to have some significant power, and its great that it comes with a cantrip.

Darkblade Agent

This isn’t a bad surveil payoff, as it can be really obnoxious as an attacker. Your opponent basically never wants to give you a free card, so they often have to block, and the best they’ll be able to do is trade.

Deafening Clarion

This being a modal sweeper is pretty nice. The problem with doing 3 to the whole board is that sometimes that effect just doesn’t do enough, or hurts you more than your opponent. So, the fact that you can choose to use this to just give life link is those situations is pretty sweet.

Dimir Spybug

This is a great Surveil payoff that can grow quite rapidly. Flying and Menace are a nice combination, and it means the Spybug is incredibly difficult to block.

Disinformation Campaign

This is a great Surveil payoff that can grow quite rapidly. Flying and Menace are a nice combination, and it means the Spybug is incredibly difficult to block.

Emmara, Soul of the Accord

If you combine this with convoke, you can pretty easily get multiple tokens out of her, and even without any of that to support her, she’s a two mana 2/2 that makes a 1/1 token when she attacks, which is plenty good.

Erstwhile Trooper

This only letting you discard creatures is a huge problem. The idea is to set up Undergrowth, but you’d much rather get a real effect out of your creatures before they go to the graveyard, and buffing this +2/+2 doesn’t really qualify as a “real” effect.

Etrata, the Silencer

So you shouldn’t really count on ever getting the alternate win condition out of this in Limited, but its still a pretty good card. She’s basically 4 mana for a Suspend 1 removal spell that also does 3 damage to the opponent – and that’s pretty good.

Firemind's Research

Even with all the spells in this format, it is pretty tricky to make this work. It is just too hungry for change counters.

Garrison Sergeant

In a deck with a lot of Gates this is a decent playable, though a 5-mana 3/3 with Double Strike isn’t exactly amazing either.

Glowspore Shaman

This is one of the best enablers for the Golgari deck, as it often stocks your graveyard to get undergrowth and other value stuff going.

Goblin Electromancer

Reducing the cost of spells is a pretty big deal, so its nice that it comes in a two mana 2/2 package.

Golgari Findbroker

This is really strong, giving you a very real ¾ body while also getting you back a permanent. That’s a great 2-for-1.

Hammer Dropper

This statline is pretty ugly, but the high power does mean it can Mentor pretty easily, and your opponent also kind of has to block it or things can get out of hand.

House Guildmage

Both options here can be pretty nice. Freezing down a creature can really help you slow your opponent down and/or help you win a race. The repeatable Surveil is great card selection too, and goes especially well with the Surveil payoffs in the format.

Hypothesizzle

5 mana for 4 damage isn’t an amazing rate, but you also effectively get to loot. Now, you do have to discard a non-land which tends to mean you lose a very real card, but if you combine it with Jump-Start it doesn’t feel too bad.

Ionize

Three mana counterspells are usually pretty mediocre in Limited, and this doing 2 damage to your opponent doesn’t do enough to make up for that.

Izoni, Thousand-Eyed

Three mana counterspells are usually pretty mediocre in Limited, and this doing 2 damage to your opponent doesn’t do enough to make up for that.

Join Shields

This is way too expensive to be very useful. It can be a more complicated fog effect, or save a creature from removal, but that’s just not what you want for 5 mana. Siding it in against someone with sweepers is worth doing, though.

Justice Strike

This ends up not being able to kill stuff a little too often, but it can still kill enough stuff for only two mana that it is certainly a quality card.

Knight of Autumn

This is quite good because of its modality. If you have an artifact or Enchantment to blow up with it, you’re basically casting Reclamation Sage. The other two options have somewhat lower ceilings than that one, but a 3-mana 4/3 or a 3-mana 2/1 that gains you 4 life are both cards you’d play – and you have a choice between 3 different cards here!

Lazav, the Multifarious

A two mana 1/3 with Surveil 1 when it enters the battlefield is already pretty playable, so its nice that Lazav can also copy creature cards in your graveyard.

League Guildmage

Drawing cards with this is where most of the value comes from, but sometimes you have a bunch of extra mana, and copying one of your spells – especially removal or card draw – is a good way to get an advantage.

Ledev Champion

Tapping down a bunch of your stuff seems like it would be pretty bad – and, it is a downside, but it also means that this creature can often attack when your others can’t anyway. It is sort of like all of your creatures having exalted. That, coupled with the ability to make tokens, makes this a pretty nice card.

Legion Guildmage

This can tap things down for a reasonable cost – an effect that is always nice! And in the late game it can also do 3 damage at a time to your opponent, which is something that is a very real late game win condition.

Mnemonic Betrayal

This has a neat, splashy effect, but it is pretty tricky to use effectively. If you cast this and only get one spell out of your opponents graveyard, you aren’t really doing anything very impressive, and doing more than that is pretty hard, since this costs 3 in the first place. There are some times in the extreme late game where you might have a bunch of mana, in which case you can really abuse this, but it is a pretty bad card except for in those situations, and that means that this isn’t very good overall.

Molderhulk

This isn’t a bad Undergrowth payoff, and casting it for 5 or 6 is fairly doable. The land part of the card is mostly irrelevant though, so you’re basically just playing a big vanilla creature.

Nightveil Predator

This thing is incredibly difficult to deal with profitably. Hexproof means it can’t be removed for the most part, and Flying and Deathtouch make it a real pain to block. This can frequently just represent an inevitable clock on your opponent.

Niv-Mizzet, Parun

Don’t be put off by the somewhat challenging mana cost here – Niv-Mizzet is a bomb. You do need to have basically all of the lands in your deck produce either Blue or Red, but that’s pretty doable and well worth it, since you get a massive Flyer who gives you all kinds of value. Pinging something every time you draw is pretty powerful, and you get to draw extra any time a player cast an instant or sorcery. This means that if your opponent kills Niv right away, you get a card and a damage out of it, and that’s a pretty good fail case!

Notion Rain

This is a pretty powerful Divination variant, as Surveil 2 really helps you see a lot of cards. The damage is well worth it, and you pretty much always want the first copy of this in your UB decks.

Ochran Assassin

This can create some nasty situations, since it draws the attention of all opposing blockers, which means you can get a pretty nice attack through. Because it has death touch, it also lets you kill at least one blocking creature. Still, this has horrible stats and can be dealt with very cheaply by your opponent.

Ral, Izzet Viceroy

Ral is strong, but he isn’t quite a bomb. His +1 lets you draw cards and load the graveyard, and loading the graveyard is pretty nice because of his -3, which is a removal spell that is dependent on instants and sorceries ending up in the graveyard or in exile. The awkward thing is sometimes you play him and his -3 just doesn’t do enough damage, even in an Izzet deck! Still, he gives you tons of value, and sometimes he can even get to his ultimate, which pretty much means he wins you the game.

Rhizome Lurcher

This is another pretty disappointing Common Undergrowth card. It isn’t bad, but the upside here usually isn’t all that great by turn 4 – getting a 3/3 or a 4/4 is what you can expect.

Rosemane Centaur

This isn’t terrible if you just cast it normally, so the Convoke upside makes it a pretty nice Common.

Skyknight Legionnaire

This can do a lot of damage in the air in a hurry! And…that’s about all there is to say.

Sonic Assault

This is a key card in aggressive Izzet decks, as it represents a ton of damage. Obviously there’s the two damage that it does, but because you also tap down a creature, you make it easier for your creatures to get in for damage – and because its an Instant, you often get some additional bonuses to trigger with the cards you have in play. So, casting this and Jump-Starting it in the same turn often means game over!

Sumala Woodshaper

This will usually draw you a card, and that means it typically represents a 2-for-1, which goes a long way towards making up for its bad stats. You do want to make sure you have like 18 cards in your deck it can hit, but that’s not a big challenge.

Swarm Guildmage

Giving Menace to your whole board can often close out a game, and in the early portion of the game it is just an efficient creature who might gain you a bit of life.

Swathcutter Giant

This card just isn’t really what Boros decks are doing in this format. It is reasonably efficient and can kill some small creatures, but Boros decks aren’t typically running six drops.

Swiftblade Vindicator

Two mana for a 1/1 with all of this action is pretty sweet, and that’s without taking into account how great it is to Mentor!

Tajic, Legion's Edge

Tajic comes down and adds a ton of damage to the board, especially if your opponent’s shields are down. He of course brings his own stats, but he will also typically have something to Mentor. Meanwhile, he can keep attacking later in games thanks to his ability to gain first strike, and he even makes it so your opponent can’t do non-combat damage to your other creatures. Now, that last part isn’t that exciting, because Tajic can still die to non-combat damage, and he’s probably what they want to kill anyway – but either way, Tajic is a bomb.

Thief of Sanity

A 3-mana 2/2 Flyer is already a playable card, and this has an absolutely ludicrous effect when it hits your opponent, since you get to look at your opponent’s top three cards, keep the best one for yourself, and mill the other two. Keep in mind, even if the Thief dies, you maintain access to the cards it exiled for you. The only downside here is that this doesn’t do anything immediately, so you get nothing if your opponent immediately kills it – and it’s a 2/2, so that’s going to happen a decent chunk of the time – but this is still a bomb.

Thought Erasure

This is pretty efficient disruption – we usually see this effect for three mana - and adding Surveil 1 to the mix is pretty sweet.

Thousand-Year Storm

Yeah, no. You just won’t be able to use this in Limited. You won’t end up with enough multiples of your instants and sorceries to make it worth running a 6 mana Enchantment that has no impact on the board.

Trostani Discordant

On its own, the Discordant gives you 5/8 worth of stats, across three bodies, and 4/4 of that has lifelink! And…that’s on its own. If you have more of a board than that, they usually represent even more damage, and the anthem effect can allow you to attack pretty well with whatever you already had in play.

Truefire Captain

This is a nice mentor creature, and doing damage to players any time it gets damaged is sweet too, because it means just trading for this in combat will also hurt your opponent – as will burn spells they point at it.

Undercity Uprising

This is a pretty big underperformer. Deathtouch + Fight seems like a good idea, and your whole board even gets Deathtouch! But it turns out there are many board states where you can’t really do anything profitable with this. Sure, your creature you fight with can kill anything, but you’re frequently 2-for-1ing yourself when you do it, and death touch on your board isn’t a big help, though it does help you attack better sometimes. This being clunky and sorcery speed also sets you up to get blown out.

Underrealm Lich

This gives you some pretty nice card selection, while also loading up your graveyard, which is something you want to be doing in BG. He’s also hard to kill! The downside here is that he can pretty quickly mill you out if you aren’t careful. His draw replacement ability is not optional, so when you play him, keep in mind how much time you have and play accordingly. The good news is, the card selection he gives you drastically increases the chances of you winning the game before he mills you out.

Unmoored Ego

This type of card is never good in Limited. They print these to counter combo decks in constructed, and that’s not a thing in Limited.

Vraska, Golgari Queen

Vraska’s -3 can kill a lot of stuff in this format, and her +2 also gives you some pretty awesome value. While she doesn’t exactly protect herself, the fact you can give up lands or other permanents to find a creature who can protect her certainly matters. Getting to her ultimate isn’t always easy, but it is one that can do a good job of winning you the game.

Wee Dragonauts

This is a great signpost Uncommon. It hits hard in the air pretty often in the Izzet decks in the format, doing a ton of damage in only a few swings.

Worldsoul Colossus

This can be pretty big…but it is still just a big vanilla creature, and the massive investment doesn’t always feel worth it.

Fresh-Faced Recruit

This is a nice creature for aggressive decks who is a bit of a pain to block all game long, especially if you’re putting counters on him.

Piston-Fist Cyclops

This is able to rumble pretty often in Izzet decks, so much so that it sort of feels like it doesn’t have Defender!

Pitiless Gorgon

Deathtouchers can trade with anything which is sweet – but the more they cost, the less impressive that becomes, since you won’t be getting a mana advantage out of a trade nearly as often.

Vernadi Shieldmate

This has fine stats for a two drop and slots nicely into many decks in the format.

Whisper Agent

This can Flash in to ambush something – though that usually means you’re just getting a trade since it only has two toughness. But, that’s an okay deal, especially because you get Surveil 1. When you can Flash it in and kill an attacker and it survives, you feel pretty good!

Assure

Split cards tend to be pretty nice in Limited, especially when you put two narrow but powerful effects on them, and that’s what we’ve got here. Assure is a combat trick that can blank removal, and Assemble gives you three 2/2 bodies at instant speed in the later part of the game.

Connive

If you can target something with Connive, it is pretty dang powerful – even though the thing you steal has to be pretty small, you’re getting a big advantage! In a situation where you have something to reanimate though, Concoct can be pretty good too, and the Surveil helps you set that up sometimes.

Discovery

The Discovery half of this is generally the better one, since it can be used in so many situations and it gives you some pretty good card selection. Dispersal can be pretty sweet though, especially if your opponent has an empty hand when you cast it.

Expansion

The Expansion half of this isn’t great, Fork effects rarely are in Limited. But there are situations where it can do something good! Generally, though – you’re counting on Explosion, which by the late game may as well read “You win the game” since you typically kill an opposing creature and draw a bunch of cards. Having both modes really makes the card better, since it isn’t an entirely dead card in the early game.

Find

Both halves of this would be cards you’d always play. Find gives you two creatures back for only two mana, and Finality is a board sweeper that you have some control over. You can usually find a way to use the counters to make something you control bigger than a 4/4, and this often feels like Duneblast when you can pull that off.

Flower

The Flower half isn’t too bad, as making sure you hit a land drop early is pretty nice. Its actually kind of neat that it costs hybrid mana, so you can actually use it to help you splash either Green or White in a deck that doesn’t have the other Selesnya color. Meanwhile, if you draw this late ona stalled out board, Flourish has a good chance of shifting the game in your favor.

Integrity

One side is a decent combat trick, and the other is Lightning Helix for twice the mana. The options here are pretty nice, with the Intervention half usually the more powerful one – but if the opportunity arises for you to use the trick effectively, don’t hesitate!

Invert

Most of the split cards in this format are pretty nice in Limited…but not this one. Invert’s effect is way too situational and hard to make matter, while Invent is a super expensive tutor for spells. And sure, you do get two spells, which means you’re netting cards, but I’m still not impressed.

Response

Response is a pretty efficient, if conditional, removal spell, and that’s what you’re going to use on this one the vast majority of the time. But having the upside of giving your whole board key word abilities and an extra combat phase late is no joke, and can win the game in some situations.

Status

Statue is the far more powerful side here, and would be a great removal spell on its own, so the fact that this comes with the upside of also being a trick is nice.

Boros Locket

These are all fine. They can help you splash a color, they ramp you a bit, and you can cash them in for cards in the late game, which is good – because drawing mana rocks great is pretty bad.

Chamber Sentry

This is surprisingly powerful. Casting this as a two mana 2/2is actually already a pretty good card, since it can double as Shock when that’s the case. This format has pretty good mana too, so casting it larger isn’t that hard, and even getting it back from your graveyard is very realistic, and when you can keep bringing this back and casting it, your opponent is just going to lose.

Chromatic Lantern

This can ramp and fix for you pretty effectively, but it is still a 3-mana artifact that doesn’t do anything to the board, which is a bit of a liability.

Dimir Locket

These are all fine. They can help you splash a color, they ramp you a bit, and you can cash them in for cards in the late game, which is good – because drawing mana rocks great is pretty bad.

Gatekeeper Gargoyle

This is a decent payoff for decks with lots of gates in them.

Glaive of the Guildpact

This is a surprisingly effective Equipment. It is a bit clunky to Equip, but if your deck has some Gates in it, the boost it gives is well worth it, especially since it is combined with Menace, which makes the creature into a pretty formidable attacker.

Golgari Locket

These are all fine. They can help you splash a color, they ramp you a bit, and you can cash them in for cards in the late game, which is good – because drawing mana rocks great is pretty bad.

Izzet Locket

These are all fine. They can help you splash a color, they ramp you a bit, and you can cash them in for cards in the late game, which is good – because drawing mana rocks great is pretty bad.

Rampaging Monument

This ends up growing a ton in this format, as you will just have a lot of multicolored cards, and this quickly turns into a threat with Trample in most decks.

Selesnya Locket

These are all fine. They can help you splash a color, they ramp you a bit, and you can cash them in for cards in the late game, which is good – because drawing mana rocks great is pretty bad.

Silent Dart

If you need removal, this can do it – though it isn’t exactly efficient.

Wand of Vertebrae

This is sideboard material to be brought in against really graveyard-heavy decks.

Boros Guildgate

These are good fixing, but they get bonus points because there are several cards in the set that pay you off for playing Gates.

Dimir Guildgate

These are good fixing, but they get bonus points because there are several cards in the set that pay you off for playing Gates.

Gateway Plaza

This is nice fixing that happens to be a Gate, though having to effectively pay one mana for it is a bit of a bummer.

Golgari Guildgate

These are good fixing, but they get bonus points because there are several cards in the set that pay you off for playing Gates.

Guildmages' Forum

Filter lands are not normally very good, but this one comes with the nice payoff of making your multicolored creatures bigger if you use the mana from it to cast them, and that’s a pretty big deal.

Izzet Guildgate

These are good fixing, but they get bonus points because there are several cards in the set that pay you off for playing Gates.

Overgrown Tomb

These are good fixing.

Sacred Foundry

These are good fixing.

Selesnya Guildgate

These are good fixing, but they get bonus points because there are several cards in the set that pay you off for playing Gates.

Steam Vents

These are good fixing.

Temple Garden

These are good fixing.

Watery Grave

These are good fixing.