First, my deck. Upon opening my pool, I was sad at the level of rares I got. I had two playable rares among 7. Got plenty of crap, like the white 1-drop that gain you life by showing a dino, a dual land in unplayable colors, that stupid not-even-close-to-magpie blue looter that need to hit to loot, stuff like that.
Those are totally fine rares. The dino searching 1-drop is pretty solid (2 life per turn counters 2 power hitting you in the face every turn, and tutor is a nice boost in the late game - it almost certainly should have been in your deck if you were committed to running white, though I'm not convinced you should have) and the "worse than a magpie" guy is quite strong, both as a goblin piker when necessary early, and a card filterer, inevitability-generator, and raid enabler late-game. It's even a pirate to boot(y). Sure, magpie is a solid card, but it's blockable, costs twice as much, and fails hard on the vanilla test. It also hasn't been printed in ten years.
There are plenty of much less playable rares in this set. Both of those cards are very playable in the decks that want them - B-level cards if ever there were any. Lsv gave priest a 3.5 and saboteur a 3.0, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Both quite good, though not at the level of raptor or blasting cannons. Your pool sounds quite strong.
I played the dino searching priest in my pre-release where I ran a fast RW deck with ~10 dinos. It's extremely good if you can play it early. You basically can't lose a race if you play it turn one and have a dino in hand. I once had 36 life in one of my games because of it.
Bontu actually became more compelling to me today as a character. Echoing above thoughts, it's sort of a tragic story of thinking you're placing yourself in the best position for survival, only for the walls to come crumbling down when you're betrayed. By the end, though, she did her best to make something right by freeing Hazoret from the tar. She gave the plane a chance, which shows a level of remorse and fear in her character that adds some context to her actions. Betrayal is what she'll be associated with, but in her mind, it was the best chance for her own survival. But Bolas is Bolas. Which surprised me a bit then that he didn't just end Hazoret too. But I guess she was too weak in his mind to worry about, nor did she affect his plans.
Bontu laughed, a rasping, grating sound. To the mortals who heard, it sounded cruel and confident, but to Hazoret, she heard the desperation tinged with sadness. "Have you forgotten who I am, sister? I am ambition incarnate. Bolas destroyed all who resisted. I chose to join with his power instead. I chose survival."
From the story, it's fairly clear Bontu choose to serve Bolas because that's the only chance at survival she saw.
I played the dino searching priest in my pre-release where I ran a fast RW deck with ~10 dinos. It's extremely good if you can play it early. You basically can't lose a race if you play it turn one and have a dino in hand. I once had 36 life in one of my games because of it.
More generally, a dino deck can be so fast. Good drops all along the 2 to 6cc range. If you can curve out, you can put insane pressure on the opponent. I once won on turn 5 curving out with Adanto Vanguard, Frenzied Raptor, Thrash of Raptors and Charging Monstrosaur.
Delaying Shield also combos well with Monarch.
From the story, it's fairly clear Bontu choose to serve Bolas because that's the only chance at survival she saw.
Coincidentally, also depicts Bolas.
Kefnet died in today's story.
Samut and Djeru at Naktamun.
Naktamun, when the gods fell.
Djeru, with his eyes opened.
I'd want one in my Atraxa superfriends deck, but that's about it.