Introductions and Explanations
Greetings fellow multiplayer enthusiasts! My name is Prid3 and at the time of writing this I'm a 15+ year veteran of the game who's been playing and following it at a competitive level (across all relevant formats) for well over a decade. That being said I'm not exactly your typical player and have a relatively unique perspective on the game as a whole. Whereas most players spend the majority of their recreational time dueling the bulk of my personal playtime has been spent at kitchen tables duking it out in large multiplayer matches. Be it Cube, Constructed or EDH I've played tens of thousands of hours of multiplayer Magic in my life and consider myself to be an expert on the global multiplayer sphere as a whole. As such this set review is solely focused towards the multiplayer crowd with an emphasis on budget-minded, fair Magic that adheres to a Legacy-esque banned/restricted list. While I'll still touch on degenerate combos and unfair applications I understand that not everyone takes the game as seriously as my own circles and as such I try to balance my reviews to ensure that they're applicable to players of all levels. From turn 1 kills to turn 20 slugfests I'll do my best to keep these relevant for anyone and everyone who routinely sits down at a multiplayer table.
Before moving on I'll quickly touch on some important book-keeping notes that you should be made aware of before delving deeper into this set review. First, know that I never evaluate every single card in a new set. There's absolutely no reason to repeat "this card was designed for duel formats/Limited" hundreds of times so don't expect me to touch on chaff. I'll hit on what I consider to be the key multiplayer cards with an emphasis on the ones that you should make a concerted effort to acquire. Moreover, bear in mind that all ratings discussed in this evaluation should be taken with a grain of salt. It's virtually impossible to give a card a grade that accurately reflects its worth in Cube, Constructed and EDH and so for the purposes of this guide I slant it mostly towards Constructed. I'll touch on Cube and EDH whenever I feel that it's especially applicable but otherwise my primary emphasis will be on a card's 60-card Constructed applications. Finally, I'm not looking to pin down the perfect letter grade for every single card. I'm merely trying to provide you with a rough estimation of its overall worth.
Grading Scale: A: Oppressive cards that completely warp the game around them. These are format definers that typically dominate games in which they're left unchecked and usually crush adversaries who aren't employing similarly powered strategies. This makes them must-have competitive staples with limitless potential. Think Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Humility, Consecrated Sphinx, Sylvan Primordial, Repercussion. B: Extremely formidable cards that will enable you to pull ahead of the pack. Winning decks should be clamoring to field them as they figure to significantly improve your overall win %. This makes them top-priority acquisition targets for players of all skill-levels. Think Syphon Mind, Earthquake, Wrath of God, Rite of Replication, Ulvenwald Hydra. C: Powerful cards that winning decks will want to play. A list full of C's won't crush a table but a solid foundation of them should be good enough to keep you competitive. Think Wight of Precinct Six, Clever Impersonator, Taurean Mauler, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel. D: Marginal playables with which to flesh out your lists in the absence of reasonable alternatives. I strongly encourage that you enlist substitutes if it's a realistic option since they're unlikely to yield impressive win %s. F: Weak cards that wouldn't be played in an ideal world. Niche: Immensely powerful-yet-narrow cards that are Bs/As in decks that actively want them and Ds/Fs everywhere else. Sideboard: Stupendously powerful cards that you wouldn't maindeck against unknown adversaries but that have competitive applications in known metagames with defined threats. +/-: Used to denote a better or worse N. That is, a B+ represents a strong B whereas C- implies a weak C.
Energy: Energy is back and as unexciting as ever. The only noteworthy energy cards from the previous sets were Aether Hub and Aetherworks Marvel and the former doesn't even need to be played in an energy deck to be worthwhile. AER has nothing to offer players seeking to build energy-based shells which ostensibly spells its death-knell until the mechanic is revisited at some point in the future.
Improvise: I'm extremely underwhelmed by Improvise largely due to the fact that the strongest (cheap) artifacts tend to be ramp spells such as Fellwar Stone. Improvise is literally worthless when you're jamming things like Sol Ring and Worn Powerstone early on and since "Affinity" isn't much of a multiplayer strategy this isn't a mechanic that I expect to see much play. That being said the most interesting application of Improvise is with "Orbs" such as Winter Orb, Trinisphere and Static Orb since assuming that you improvise a spell at EOT you can untap with all of your mana and still be able to disrupt your adversaries. I still don't expect Improvise to see much play but this is easily its most compelling MP application.
Vehicles: The Vehicle mechanic is extremely weak in multiplayer given that it's ostensible Exalted that still forces you to tap your blockers. Getting in for damage is trivial if it leaves you vulnerable in turn which is why I wouldn't expect to see any of them played in competitive spheres. They might seem like reasonable blockers but remember that you still have to tap something to activate them which makes them heinous if you find yourself behind and/or against removal. This is a very much a Duel/Limited mechanic that I wouldn't expect to make waves in any multiplayer format.
Consulate Crackdown: As much as I love one-sided board clears this one is a touch too slow and conditional for my tastes. It's obviously an utterly absurd sideboard card for artifact-heavy metas but it's not something that I'd recommend maindecking in the dark. One thing worth noting is that mass exile is almost always great since it prevents recursion such as Open the Vaults from allowing players to recover from dedicated hate. Obviously players can simply remove Consulate Crackdown to regain control of their permanents but that can often be easier said than done for colors such as Red and Black.
Exquisite Archangel: As someone who's never seen a Platinum Angel strategy actually win a game of Magic I want to stress that these kinds of cards are significantly weaker than they otherwise seem. Even if you (somehow) make them untargetable and indestructible they still die to extremely common forms of mass removal (such as Cyclonic Rift and Toxic Deluge) which means that they basically never accomplish their intended function. As such I would never slot this kind of card into a deck for "value" because I can guarantee you that this isn't where you want to be in MP.
What I will say is that this effect does have some potential combo applications given the existence of oppressive draw spells such as Ad Nauseam that literally enable you to draw your entire deck only to pop straight back to 20/40 HP. Remember, she won't trigger until Ad Naus completely finishes resolving and that yes, you can continue to lose life straight into the negatives if you so choose. Given the existence of cheap recursion such as Reanimate, Exhume and Animate Dead I could somewhat envision a world where you recur one of these, draw your deck with Ad Naus and win using a combo kill with Silence backup and whatnot. That still seem like a stretch (why you wouldn't field Angel's Grace or Phyrexian Unlife is beyond me) but given that I've personally played Lich's Mirror in extremely competitive EDH decks I know firsthand that you can never discount anything that combos with Ad Nauseam to win the game.
Combo Grade D-
Felidar Guardian: Since I expect this card to see play both in and outside of combo decks I'll break its review into two distinct sections to make this easier. With that in mind let's start with the obvious and address its unfair combo applications. Unlike most other blink spells/effects this one targets any other permanent and immediately returns it to play which is significantly more powerful than what we normally see. The "Splinter Twin" Cat Trick combo that has everyone talking involves pairing one with Saheeli Rai to create an unbounded army of hasty 1/4 attackers to immediately maul your adversaries to death. Since that's an easy turn 4 kill against any number of players we're clearly looking at an extremely competitive combo enabler. Moving on to Birthing PodFelidar Guardian enables an easy skill of Pod into Felidar Guardian -> Pod into Karmic Guide + recur the Guardian -> Pod Guardian into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, use Kiki-Jiki create a copy of Karmic Guide to recur Guardian, blink Kiki-Jiki with Guardian and use the Kiki-Jiki + Guardian loop to create an enormous army of hasted beaters. While there's plenty of alternative variations that one's quick, clean and doesn't require any dead cards nor a sacrifice outlet (unlike most Melira, Sylvok Outcast combos). Beyond that it can easily go infinite blinking itself and/or a Restoration Angel in order to ping everyone to death using cards like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge and/or gain infinite life/mill infinite cards in much the same way. I'm obviously not going to sit here and discuss every possible way to abuse this interaction but you probably get the idea by now. No matter how you slice it these are some messed-up interactions which is why Felidar Guardian will always be (at worst) a solid Tier 2 combo enabler.
Combo Grade B
With respect to Felidar Guardian's fair applications this isn't a card that anyone should sleep on. The fact that it immediately flickers any permanent is huge game and makes it one of the premier blink threats in existence. As much as people swoon over supposed "bombs" such as Restoration AngelFelidar Guardian is easily a cut above and should largely supplant the alternatives. While I could obviously sit here all day and list cards like Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Parallax Wave, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Sun Titan and Luminate Primordial to pair with it that's what my multiplayer guides are for and so those are what you should consult if you're looking for good ways to abuse these kinds of blink effects. That being said as long as you pair it with some solid ETB triggers and maybe some Panharmonicons then you should be good to go.
Generic Grade C
Restoration Specialist: While Restoration Specialist isn't going to be the next Eternal Witness its cheap cost and low power tick a couple of important boxes for White. After all, they make it incredibly easy to recur with staples such as Reveillark and Sun Titan which is relevant given that Restoration Specialist can recur multiple permanents itself. Moreover, given the existence of artifact-basedhatebears and bombyEnchantments it's not a stretch to have both card types in your brews regardless of what you're trying to accomplish. The icing on the proverbial cake is that since Sun Titan decks already love seeing Serenity you don't exactly have to go out of your way to play cards that you wouldn't otherwise field. In that sense nothing changes except for the quantity of spells that you can recur in the mid-to-lategame. What this means is that while I wouldn't expect it to see it supplant the likes of Replenish and/or Open the Vaults in dedicated artifact/enchantment decks it strikes me a reasonable value engine for recursion-heavy builds that lean on things like Emeria, the Sky Ruin in order to create big value chains along the lines of Emeria Shepherd -> Sun Titan -> Flickerwisp on Sun Titan -> Serenity etc. to ensure lategame inevitability.
Grade D+
Sram, Senior Edificer: While Sram clearly makes nice with Kor Spiritdancer, Puresteel Paladin and Stone Haven Outfitter in Constructed his most exciting application is as an EDH general. Not only is he extremely cheap to cast but his effect is completely busted and he's without a doubt the most fun, interesting and competitive monowhite Commander that we've ever seen. The ability to staple "your spells cantrip" on a 2 drop that you always have on hand is bonkers and so he's definitely going to be a contender even at reasonably high levels of play. The idea here is clearly to fill your deck with 0 CMC/cheap Equipment, draw most of it on turns 2-4 and proceed to combo off with something like Aetherflux Reservoir to finish everyone off. Remember that said Reservoir is trivially easy to cast using mana rocks such as Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, etc. so it's possible to win on turn 1-2 even if you don't have any mana floating.
Beyond that he's also going to be a house in Constructed as a combo enabler in "Cheerios" style Equipment builds with 4x Puresteel Paladin, 4x Sram, Senior Edificer, 4x Retract and a ton of 0 CMC equipment such as Accorder's Shield, Bone Saw and Paradise Mantle. That deck will greatly appreciate having access to another playset of Puresteel Paladins to all-but ensure its ability to draw its entire deck by turns 3-4 (with turn 1-2 kills being possible but unlikely) only to win using Aetherflux Reservoir, Storm finishers, infinite combo, etc. For what it's worth the deck strongly benefits from persistent forms of protection such as Defense Grid, Steely Resolve, City of Solitude, Dense Foliage, etc. that offset the deck's overall weakness to spot removal. Clearly monowhite has access to protection such as Silence, Apostle's Blessing, Brave the Elements and more but the archetype still struggles against removal/permission. One thing that I'll note from my own testing is that while Defense Grid seems like it would be perfect for enabling clean turn 3 kills that it's actually a terrible nonbo with Retract. The problem with "Steely Resolves" is obviously the Green mana and while Silence is great it still loses to permission spell + removal spell. You should still feel free to jam 4x Silence and go for turn 3-4 kills though.
As much as I'd like to discuss his "fair" applications in more details bluntly put I haven't seen a "fair" Puresteel Paladin deck since the card was Standard legal. Every variation nowadays seems to be a broken combo deck and since Sram will only bolster its consistency I don't expect that to change. Obviously you could start a deck with things like Relic Seeker, Sram, Senior Edificer, Stoneforge Mystic, toss in some Equipment and call it a day but at the same time I wouldn't expect that deck that bolster a reasonable win % in a MP meta. Sram is a degenerate combo card for degenerate combo decks and so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on trying to play a fair game of Magic with him.
Combo Grade B+
Sram's Expertise: While this isn't going to make the cut in generic monowhite token decks the ability to combo it with Beck // Call is far too enticing to overlook. Unfortunately this sequence isn't as busted as we'd like it to be given that Sram's Expertise puts the tokens into play before Beck // Call resolves but it's still fantastic value at basically any stage of the game. After all, paying 4 mana to draw 4 cards and put 7 tokens into play is a steal and there's no two ways about it. Moreover, worst-case scenario you simply hardcast Call off of a light Blue splash which is still a fine place to be coming off of a turn 5 Cathars' Crusade. It's clearly not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but that's a ton of flying power to try and slog through. Beyond that you can even consider adding a couple of copies of Brain in a Jar to bolster the overall consistency, especially since that card is bonkers if you can cheat a Beck // Call into play on the same turn that you cast a big token producing spell such as Sylvan Offering or Lingering Souls + Flashback.
Grade C+
Blue
Baral, Chief of Compliance: Baral suffers from what I like to call "Guttersnipe syndrome" which is an issue for most spell-based decks. The problem with having a small number of creatures that "really matter" in an otherwise spell-based deck is that any reasonable group of adversaries with heads on their shoulders will simply kill your key creatures and leave you with a gutted list. Baral is clearly a step above a card such as Guttersnipe given that he's cheap enough that you can combo-off immediately after casting him but he'll always suffer from the "I die to removal" weakness that cards such as Jace's Sanctum and Metallurgic Summonings circumvent. With that in mind I really like Baral in spell-based decks operating in removal-light metas and that's true even if your deck has no permission whatsoever. He obviously gets a boost if it does but Goblin Electromancer is already a competitive Magic card and so a "strictly better" alternative is nothing to scoff at. I use that term loosely since being Legendary is actually a severe drawback in some instances but if worse comes to worst just field him as a 1-of next to some Jace's Sanctums or Electromancers and call it a day. That unfortunately makes him extremely niche but make no mistake about his power-level in the right context. In any deck with 20 or more spells this is exactly where you want to be on turn 2 regardless of what you're trying to accomplish. As long as he figures to dodge some dedicated hate then this is an easy way to secure some fast wins.
With respect to EDH I'd expect Baral to be a tier 2 High Tide combo Commander and a powerful addition to the 99 for Generals such as Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Mizzix of the Izmagus, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy (JVP), etc. JVP/Teferi, Temporal Archmage are still better options to put at the helm of your High Tide brews but Baral would be a reasonable alternative for any permission-heavy build. Clearly you can't play a true draw-go deck in MP EDH (you'll lose miserably if you try and 1-for-1 the table with permission) but a deck full of permission and combos is a great place to be and Baral is reasonably good at supporting that.
Grade Niche B
Baral's Expertise: As tempting as it sounds to chain "Evacuation" into a draw spell on turn 5 the reality is that only hitting 3 target artifacts/creatures isn't nearly powerful enough to justify fielding this thing. While I could see it being decent in team-based formats (such as 2HG) I still wouldn't field it over Crush of Tentacles and so ultimately I don't think that there's a great home for it. The fact that it doesn't hit any permanent is a huge drag and only bouncing 3 things won't always get there. The fact that it's more-or-less free is "fine" but ultimately this isn't a card that interests me in the slightest.
Grade D
Disallow: Voidslime has always been a reasonable permission spell and so a strictly better alternative should see a fair amount of play. While it's impossible to pinpoint any specific activated/triggered ability that you'll need to counter on a routine basis in practice it's almost always a relevant upside which is why you can sometimes justify fielding Disallow over alternatives such as Counterspell and Forbid. It's still a full tier below the best permission spells, 3 is a lot of mana to hold up, but I wouldn't fault anyone for opting to employ it. What I will say is that "less is more" and that I'd rather see 1-2 of these and some Counterspells than the full 4x Disallow because the extra mana does matter so I wouldn't go too deep on acquiring them in large quantities.
With respect to "when and where do I play permission?" the TL;DR summary that I use is "anytime people are casting spells that you couldn't otherwise beat and/or to counter opposing permission." If people are slinging generic creatures and removal spells then I'd take a pass on the effect but the second that people start jamming game-enders such as combos, Exsanguinate, Sylvan Primordial, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, etc. then it can be tough to win "the fair way" which is when you'll probably have to start jamming some Counterspells. Still, I want to stress that Counterspelling a Trygon Predator [insert any generic threat here] is a losing line so please don't employ permission as your go-to answer for normal creatures and spells. Trading 1-for-1 while pissing someone off is a terrible way to try and win a MP game of Magic so you want to avoid it if at all possible.
Grade C-
Illusionist's Stratagem: Blue has no shortage of powerful ETB effects and assuming that you're bouncing multiple value creatures then this is ostensibly a 3-for-1. It's no Fact or Fiction given its conditional nature but damn does it ever feel good to blink Mulldrifter + Diluvian Primordial (or whatever) with these kinds of effects only to net ~8 cards in the process. That being said Illusionist's Stratagem's primary role will be as a infinite combo enabler for decks with "Archaeomancers" and "Peregrine Drakes." Any recursive threat + any land untapper enables you to generate infinite mana and draw your deck at which point you can Blue Sun's Zenith any number of adversaries to death. It's a fantastic finisher in that sense and also extremely budget friendly given that all of your combo pieces are commons/uncommons. You're also not playing with any "bad" cards so you can still play Magic even if you fail to assemble a true combo kill in some % of your games. After all, you're ostensible playing a deck full of "goodstuffs" but you also have the random out of drawing the right combo of 3 cards in order to win the game on the spot. All things being equal that's a fantastic place to be which is why I value this card higher than most.
Noncombo Grade D
Combo Grade C
Mechanized Production: This is my most played/tested card of AER thusfar because I'm convinced that it's completely and utterly broken. They literally took Followed Footsteps, shaved a mana from its cost and tacked "you win the game" on it for no good reason. What the Hell is that? Before anyone jumps down my throat screaming "win more" I want anyone to show me an easier way to win the game against any number of adversaries with nothing but a Sphere of Resistance, Tangle Wire or Lodestone Golem in play. The card is freaking busted in Stax decks to the point where I'm splashing/switching over to Blue even if I wasn't playing the color before. Want to know what I've been using until now? Darksteel Reactor and/or cheesy Scepter of the Magistrate infinite combos using things like Contagion Engine. Now you're telling me that I get to cut all of the bad cards, add something that plops a Tangle Wire into play every turn and even wins the game for me? Are you kidding me? The card is moronic.
Not good enough? Don't worry, I'm only getting started. See, the thing about Artifact-based decks is that they frequently play cheap mana ramp and/or good sacrifice fodder in order to fuel things like Goblin Welder, Trading Post and Daretti, Scrap Savant. As such you'll often see things like Izzet Signet and Ichor Wellspring at the 2 CMC slot both are which are perfectly fine to put into production as it were. Just think about this for a second; how many of you would already play a 4 CMC Phyrexian Arena that doesn't cost life? Jamming one of these on an Ichor Wellspring is already significantly better than that even if you never plan on hitting the full 8 Wellsprings. After all, not only are you drawing a card every turn but you're also accruing fodder for your Trading Post effects which, in turn, will virtually enable you to draw another ~2 cards every turn. That's bonkers! Still not good enough? Let me remind you about those 4x Darksteel Citadels (or even Seat of the Synods) in your list and how easy it can be to sit back and copy them until you win. The truly busted aspect of Mechanized Production is that it literally doesn't ask anything of you but it also just hands you a ton of free wins. You don't have to play a single "bad" card to support it and it'll either provide absurd value or just straight win the game. Some of you probably think that I'm being hyperbolic but there's nothing stopping you from playing 4x Sphere of Resistance and 4x Mechanized Production and seeing just how broken this card can feel in practice.
Before moving on I'll throw out the obvious caveat that the card sucks in removal-heavy metas outside of Stax builds. It's no different that Followed Footsteps in the sense that it excels in removal-light metas and flounders in removal-heavy ones where it's prone to being 2-for-1d. As such I wouldn't advocate touching it if you're worried about your permanents being interacted with but otherwise this is a stupidly free way to go about winning games or generating obscene value. Moreover, while I mostly covered the "scariest" things to jam it on there's nothing stopping you from going deep on Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere, Darksteel Colossus, anything. Sitting back on an army of bombs is an easy way to secure wins in removal-light metas so by no means do you have to focus on noncreature alternatives like I've been doing. I'm personally too afraid of removal to try and jam these on critters as my go-to but as long as you build your deck with your own meta in mind then you should be fine.
Grade B+
Negate: Negate is one of the most competitive permission spells in the entire game and every Blue Mage worth their salt should own multiple playsets. It's cheap, easy to cast, hits plenty of relevant targets (including other permission) and is virtually impossible to play around. As I previously discussed in my Disallow review I want to stress that permission is terrible unless you're using it to counter opposing permission and/or game-winning spells and that Negate is no exception to that rule. That is to say that you shouldn't play with it if everyone is jamming "fair" creatures + removal as opposed to combos and/or game-ending threats. Still, in any combo/permission-heavy meta it's an utterly absurd Magic card that only loses out to a handful of other alternatives.
Grade B
Skyship Plunderer: Thrummingbird is one of the most criminally underplayed Blue creatures and I'll give any proxy a good hard look. Unfortunately the plunderer trades scalability for power which isn't an exchange that I'm willing to make in a MP setting. Don't get me wrong, I understand that 2/1 fliers with upsides are great in duel formats, but my interest lies solely in MP Magic where I'm not exactly interested in trying to aggro anyone down early on. While I don't expect this card to see any play I do want to champion the fact that Thrummingbird is a messed-up Magic card that deserves way more respect and recognition.
Grade D
Trophy Mage: Much like Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage this is going to be an instant staple given its inherent power and flexibility. From Cloudstone Curio/Crystal Shard to Entraplanar Lens to Ensnaring Bridge to Mimic Vat she can fetch a throng of generically powerful utility spells that can set you up to seize control of the game. If creatures are more your speed then think of her as Stoneforge Mystic for powerful Equipment such as Sword of Fire and Ice that will give you the edge in creature-on-creature wars. Moreover, if you're looking for something a little more broken let's not forget that she can nab either component of the (EDH staple) Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth and/or Staff of Dominance + Metalworker. What's more is that you can even grab a simple Crystal Shard which you can obviously then use to bounce her to generate even more value and/or simple use her to fully assemble one of the aforementioned combos. Moreover, while I'm primarily focusing on her unfair uses the reality is that she has plenty of fair ones as well. You can simply grab a Worn Powerstone and ramp straight to 7 mana on turn 5 to set up for a Diluvian Primordial or whatever and that would be perfectly fine too. She's an utterly absurd threat for players of all shapes of sizes and I highly recommend acquiring some asap. Even if you merely jam her alongside Mimic Vats and Worn Powerstones that's still fantastic value.
Fatal Push: While cheap spot removal can be essential for disrupting combos and/or must-kill threats (think Consecrated Sphinx) I can't get behind something as conditional as Fatal Push in vacuum. After all, triggering Revolt is no small feat in your list isn't full of Fetchlands which tends to be the case for ~95% of the multiplayer fanbase from what I've seen. Now, if you're routinely facing exactly Hermit Druid combo decks then sure, go nuts, but otherwise I'd recommend sticking to things like Go for the Throat, Dismember, Snuff Out, Murderous Cut, etc. that reliably kill key 5+ drops when needed. One thing that I'll state is that it's extremely difficult for me to give these kinds of cards meaningful grades because I have no way of knowing what the power-level of the average multiplayer metagame is like. Fatal Push is absolutely bonkers for competitive tables given that it's ostensibly a Swords to Plowshares with respect to disrupting most creature-based combo kills and/or hatebears but it can be nigh worthless for casual players who need to actively worry about triggering Revolt and/or dealing with a ton of game-ending 5+ drops in the later stages of the game. In that sense it runs the gamut from D to A depending on your meta's speed, power-level and tendencies. For someone like me the card is an A and believe me when I say that I'm going to be slotting it into most of my competitive EDH/Constructed decks. Still, again, I could also see it being nigh worthless for the vast majority of players who aren't worried about dying on turn 4.
Grade C?
Gifted Aetherborn: This card ticks all of the right boxes for Bloodchief Ascension, Pestilence and/or Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks as the 2 power, 3 toughness, BB manacost and lifelink are all much needed stats in said brews. It's rather unexciting otherwise but could obviously foot the bill as a marginal blocker in extremely aggressive metas (possibly alongside Vampire Nighthawk). What I will say is that most players overrate "Deadly Recluse" style blockers since Walls just plain don't win games of MP Magic. I get that "not dying" is sweet and all but you're never going to draw 3-4 of these and accomplish anything relevant with them. Still, if your meta is absurdly aggressive then having these kinds of cards at 2-3 can do a ton of work, especially when supported with recursion such as Phyrexian Reclamation and/or drain such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel that can convert scary blockers into legitimate win conditions. Otherwise try to pair these kinds of critters with powerful Equipment such as Lashwrithe and Bonehoard in order to further abuse their Lifelink. After all, an easy way to win games is to gain a ton of life, jam a Necrologia and draw a ton of cards to grind the table out.
Herald of Anguish: This card has some potential in Stax decks given that it's a free-roll to tap artifacts such as Ensnaring Bridge, Darksteel Reactor and Smokestack and that the effect is quite powerful assuming that you treat this as a ~5 CMC spell. After all, mass discard is fantastic in denial-heavy archetypes, especially when you're trying to soft-lock the table with cards like Descent into Madness and Possessed Portal. My primary concern is that it competes unfavorably with Tangle Wire and that it's a total nonbo with most Orbs and Trinisphere. It's not exactly best buds with most Sphere effects either given that you're merely breaking-even in the exchange (although Thorn of Amethyst still works however). It strikes me as being almost impossibly niche in that sense but it's conceivable that it could one day find a home in very specific artifact-based Stax builds. Stax brews aside I'd happily jam Herald of Anguish in any build that could reliably cast it as a 5 drop so that's what I recommend aiming for if you do decide to field him. The card that had me most interested was Jet Medallion because it's basically a 2 mana Sol Ring when you're pairing it with Improvise which seems quite busted to me. Obviously if you can manage to cast him for less than 5 then you're golden but at 7 mana he's simply too slow and condition to be played unless you're working hard to reduce his cost. Oh, and just for the record I assign very little worth to his activated ability and whatever value that you manage to extract from it should be considered a bonus. Still, hey it's not bad with things like Ichor Wellsrping and Mycosynth Wellspring so there's always that.
Grade C
Secret Salvage: While I would never play this as a generic value engine it has combo applications with cards such as Shadowborn Apostle, Hedron Alignment and Relentless Rats. I wouldn't recommend buying or playing said decks but I'll never discount any "game winning" 2-card combo and this might qualify at some point down the road.
Grade Niche D
Yahenni, Undying Partisan: The historic problem with Scavenger Drakes has always been that MP is defined by mass removal as opposed to spot removal which defeats their purpose entirely. After all, if you cast mass removal with one in play then it simply dies alongside everything else. Yahenni somewhat offsets that weakness with his activated ability but suffers from being an extremely anemic lategame draw whereas Mortivores are almost always backbreaking. In the same way that Shrieking Affliction obsoletes alternatives such as Megrim because it can be cast after you've locked everyone at 0 cards Yahennii will virtually always to lose out to win conditions that can be cast post-Wrath and still offer value. He's still a reasonable 1-of for creature/token-heavy builds but suffice it to say that he's not a priority acquisition.
Grade D
Yahenni's Expertise: I've been championing Massacre for over a decade and for the life of me I still don't understand why nobody else plays with it. Free board clears are completely absurd in MP even if they're conditional in nature and basically every Black deck should field 1-2 copies as a result. Yahenni's Expertise seems bonkers and I cannot wait to curve turn 2 mana rock into turn 3 Expertise + Ancestral Vision, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Trade Secrets, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, etc. The card obviously struggles in the later stages of the game given that it's a far cry from a Damnation but that still shouldn't preclude you from running a couple of copies in your control decks with plenty of powerful draw spells and/or engines. After all, it's critically important to be able to meaningfully effect the board early on and when you can magically cast your draw spell for free alongside it then any Control/Stax/Combo deck should be sitting pretty. The key take-away is that, much like Massacre, this card is going to be a 1-2-of as opposed to a 4-of because it plainly sucks in the later stages of the game where it'll routinely fail to control the board.
Grade C+
Red
Indomitable Creativity: As we've recently seen with Divergent Transformations this is an oppressive combo finisher that enables you to curve turn 2 Dragon Fodder into turn 3 Seething Song + Indomitable Creativity for any 2-creature combokill in order to instantly win the game against any number of adversaries. The deck is now significantly more consistent given that it can run the full 8 copies of the effect without having to turn to more expensive + Blue-based alternatives such as Mass Polymorph and Synthetic Destiny. That being said the fact that it hits any creature or artifact imposes further deckbuilding limitations on the archetype and precludes you from running artifact/creature-based ramp such as Lotus Petal, Simian Spirit Guide and Treasonous Ogre for additional speed. That's not a deal-breaker by any means but it's something important to keep in mind. With respect to its "fair" applications as a generic removal it's far too slow and unreliable to be employed with or against anything "unfair" but it's certainly a serviceable 1-of for slower control decks seeking some additional creature-based interaction. It's not a card that you'd ever want to jam in large quantities but the first gives you outs to game ending bombs such as Sheoldred, Whispering One which is a reasonable place to be.
Combo Grade B+
Removal Grade D
Kari Zev's Expertise: While the base card is worthless it's another cheap enabler for Living Death/Hypergenesis/Breaking // Entering style combo decks and so that's the only place where it'll see play. You could argue that it might have a home in decks with cards such as Lotus Bloom and Ancestral Vision as a "value" 3 drop but I wouldn't recommend trying to assemble such a weak multicard combo if you goal is to win games of Magic. With respect to Hypergenesis/Living Death archetypes it's a far cry from something like Demonic Dread that automatically casts the card from your library which means that you're probably only going to run 1 (tops) as a fail-safe in case you draw too many of your key payoff cards. The only place where I expect the card to shine is in the Breaking // Entering style decks that need it to cheat a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur (or whatever) into play on turn 3. Remember, you get to mill yourself for 8 and then immediately revive something without giving your opponents any opportunity to respond with hate such as Nihil Spellbomb or Scavenging Ooze. You can literally cats Kari Zev's Expertise on an empty board with an empty graveyard, mill over a Griselbrand in your next 8 cards and jam it into play with haste for 3 mana and 1 card.
Combo Grade Niche B
Pia's Revolution: While we can all envision scenarios where it'd be nice to have this card in play the reality is that it's never going to make the final cut in artifact-based shells given that it's both a punisher card and not an artifact itself. Trust me, I love jamming Trash for Treasure, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Scrap Mastery in Red-based artifact brews as much as the next person but those decks desperately need a critical-mass of artifact-based action and this card (unfortunately) doesn't even come close to qualifying. While you could conceivably run it as a 1-of and "hope to get there" you realistically can't start a deck with 3-4 of these and still fit in everything that you'll need. All things being equal I would love to have this text box on an actual artifact to jam as a spicy singleton but unfortunately it's not going to pass muster in its current iteration.
Grade Niche D
Release the Gremlins: This is another card that isn't quite going to get there. Look, if I could elect to fire this off at X=10 in my Cloudpost lists then sure, I'd clearly play it as a 1-of in my big mana lists. The problem is obviously that you're always gated by the number of artifacts in play and even as someone who routinely plays in Cube/EDH 8 player FFAs I know that it's easier said that done to find relevant targets to hit past a certain point. Mass removal often hits hard and fast and I'd be hesitant to field this over something like Vandalblast that always does what I need when I need it. Again, if this were an actual mana sink then we might have had something worth considering but you can't just pour a bunch of mana into this to jam army of gremlins into play. In that sense I'm going to have to take a total pass on it and bluntly put I couldn't envision myself ever sleeving it up.
Grade D
Green
Aid from the Cowl: The most powerful aspect of this card is that it triggers from things like Fetchlands, clues, STEve, Greater Good and Birthing Pod which makes it significantly easier to trigger than it might otherwise seem. Otherwise the fact that it puts the card directly into play is massive since it's easily possible to build competitive decks where it'll hit 100% of the time (or close to it). Once you start to think of this card as a Phyrexian Arena that Black Lotuses every turn it starts to look pretty freaking sweet, especially in a deck full of fatties and other cheat effects. You can also support it with deck manipulation such as Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Sylvan Library and/or Cream of the Crop if desired but obviously those kinds of effects reduce your overall threat density and weaken cards like Lurking Predators. I personally tend to exclude them from my own Lurking Predators-based brews and now that the deck has access to another playset of the effect I doubt that I'll even field more than a single Sylvan Library or whatever. Anyways, the key take-away here is that the card, while powerful, still needs proper support to get rolling and that you will have to jam things like Tireless Tracker and Greater Good to ensure consistent triggers.
Grade C-
Heroic Intervention: Personally I think that most "defense" spells are unplayable trash since almost none of them effect the most commonly played forms of mass removal such as Toxic Deluge and Cyclonic Rift. That being said it's still a solid answer to Wrath of Gods and any creature-based shell could easily consider fielding it in order to neutralize them. It's a pure meta call in that sense since the card is literally worthless against some forms of mass removal but utterly back-breaking against others. As such I can't assign it a generic/average grade because it's entirely hit-or-miss and the onus is on you to decided whether or not it's right for you and your meta. Again, I'm personally unexcited by it given that it offers no remorse from things like Innocent Blood, Cyclonic Rift, Balance, Smallpox, Toxic Deluge, Fleshbag Marauder, Grave Pact, Massacre on and on and on but if your meta is nothing but Damnations and Day of Judgments then it's a stellar counter by any metric.
Natural Obsolescence: As with Deglamer this is a reasonable out to things like Blightsteel Colossus and Darksteel Forge that might otherwise lock you out of the game. That's obviously an ultra-niche sideboard application but if someone Tinkers one out on turn 2 then you need an answer or you lose and this is one of the better ones. For what it's worth the bottom of the library is typically going to be the worst place to put the thing because in a perfect world you'd rather have your opponent draw it and have it rot in their hand for the rest of the game. It's basically strictly worse than Deglamer in that sense which is why I don't expect Natural Obsolescence to actually see any play. Clearly this card wasn't designed purely to beat BSC but I'm obviously only interested in its MP applications and since it's a weaker version of an ultra-niche sideboard card there's not much else to say about it.
Grade Sideboard D
Rishkar, Peema Renegade: This is an extremely exciting card for counter-based archetypes and it's one that I fully expect to significantly alter the way in which we go about building them. Previously we had to choose between casting ramp spells such as Elvish Mystic and Sakura-Tribe Elder vs scaling threats such as Mold Adder and Scavenging Ooze but with the addition of Rishkar we now have access to the best of both worlds at no opportunity cost. Now you can happily curve out with your threats "that matter" as opposed to generic ramp but still have access to 5-6 mana early on in order to jam things like Kalonian Hydra, Doubling Season and Vigor in order to "go over the top" of everyone else. In that sense I fully expect Rishkar to be a 3-or-4-of in counter-based shells moving forward and I highly recommend that players start building with him in mind.
Outside of token decks the card loses most of its appeal gives its weakness to removal and general inconsistency. Obviously he can always jam a counter on himself and so you only need a single threat to extract full value from him but he's still not on the same level as things like Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Elvish Archdruid, Overgrowth and Courser of Kruphix that have higher floors and/or ceilings. He's obviously still going to be a passable threat in any deck curving out with nonmana threats but since he's actively bad in lists seeking to start their game with 1 and 2 CMC ramp I don't expect to see him outside of dedicated counter builds.
Grade Niche B
Rishkar's Expertise: While Green has no shortage of awesome 6 drops this is going to be an extremely powerful Magic card for players operating in removal-light metas. In pairs naturally well with resilient + large beaters such as Titania, Protector of Argoth, Thragtusk and Vorapede and it's nice that you don't have to feel bad about jamming 6-8 of them in a list knowing that you'll always have an opportunity to cast them while still being able to accrue card advantage in the process.
Grade C+
Multicolor
Dark Intimations: Assuming a 4 player FFA this thing is inherently an 8-for-1 which is an utterly absurd Magic card even if your deck doesn't contain any Bolas-based Planeswalkers whatsoever. Even at 2 opponents it's still a 6-for-1 which is eminently reasonable in formats such as 2HG so there's literally no excuse to omit purchasing these. In general I'm a huge fan of 5+ drops that actively want to chain into additional copies of itself and this is basically the perfect card to curve into as far as I'm concerned. It does a little bit of everything and pairs well with removal-based/recursive threats such as Abyssal Gatekeeper, Baleful Strix, Fleshbag Marauder and Archaeomancer which tend to be staples in Grixis Control shells. Future copies build on previous ones insanely well and so you can happily jam 4 of these and never look back. It's especially powerful in creature-based shells that build large boards of their own at which point you can pair it with a card like Capital Punishment in order to clear everyone's field + hand while keeping your own intact. As such I recommend building decks that have relevant early game plays to gum-up the board whenever possible because this is the type of spell that's easiest to cast when even/ahead rather than way behind because if you can string a few them together over multiple turns you can effectively neuter your opposition. It's a stellar Control/Midrange Control card in that sense and one that I expect to see play for many years to come.
For what it's worth Dark Intimations wouldn't entice me to put a Nicol Bolas in my deck even though it enables you to curve his +3 directly into his ultimate (or even an immediate ult if you can somehow assemble all 4 in your graveyard). After all, "target player loses the game" doesn't really interest me when it's attached to a conditional 8 drop and I'd rather field something that would more reliably close games out. Still, I wouldn't blame anyone for electing to field him as a 1-2 of, especially since Dark Intimations can always recur him should he bite the dust.
Grade B
Oath of Ajani: I've had a lot of time to think about this card (it was spoiled quite early after all) and while I was initially fairly high on it my excitement level has since tapered-off. Unlike mana rocks (or even a ramp spell) this won't fix colored mana, won't significantly help you post-Armageddon and does nothing to help cast the other spells in your deck. It obviously outshines a rock in scenarios where you're casting multiple Planeswlakers a turn but realistically that's not something that you see very often. As such it's really riding on that +1/+1 trigger which has obvious synergy with all of the various token producing Planeswalkers (and/or Doubling Season) but that's not really where you want to be in a MP setting. I'd wager dollars to donuts that a simple Utopia Sprawl or Nature's Lore for Temple Garden would outperform it the vast majority of the time even taking into account the fact that Oath of Ajani is a significantly better lategame draw. At this point I'm not even planning on acquiring this card myself because it's far too narrow (it's only relevant for Planeswalker-heavy GW decks) and even then I'll probably end up playing Utopia Sprawl over it 95% of the time.
Grade Niche D
Renegade Rallier: Wood Elves et al. have always been reasonably competitive playables and this thing can offer the same functionality with significantly more versatility. The fact that you can crack a Fetchland or Sakura-Tribe Elder to trigger it (which you can then recur) gives you immense control over the timing and lategame it has the option of nabbing cheap + relevant threats such as Gaddock Teeg, Scavenging Ooze, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Stoneforge Mystic on and on and on. It even has some nice beefy stats which is always relevant for protecting your life total early on. Otherwise it boasts decent synergy with Sun Titan since recursion chains are one of the easiest ways to generate massive boards in the later stages of the game. Triggering Revolt might be easier said than done at that stage but hopefully you'll be able to chump attack attack something or crack a Fetch that you've been sandbagging. The dream is obviously to curve a turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into one of these but, again, even a Fetchland is perfectly fine.
Grade B
Winding Constrictor: Hardened Scales is back and this time it's scalier than ever. Between this and Corpsejack Menace Golgai has some powerful +1/+1 enablers and so it wouldn't surprise me to start seeing more of those brews popping up. As always I love seeing this effect placed on a cheap spell as opposed to an expensive one because I want the damned thing to already be in play when I curve out with my Managorger Hydra and Forgotten Ancient so that I can start smashing people for 20 on turn 5. As a 2/3 for 2 it's a solid (snake) early-game blocker that even survives mass removal such as Pyroclasm and Massacre which isn't too shabby all things considered. Beyond that there's not much to analyze because it's clearly an extremely niche card but it'll always have a home in GBx +1/+1 counter decks. Still, I suppose that it's worth noting that Winding Constrictor also works with artifacts which could certainly be relevant for Stax builds fielding things like Tangle Wire, Smokestack and Darksteel Reactor. I personally wouldn't recommend fielding it in said brews but far be from me to try and stop others from trying.
Grade Niche B
Artifact
Cogwork Assembler: The only reason why I'm reviewing this card is because it received a fair amount of attention in a "what AER cards interest you" multiplayer thread. Bluntly put I think that it's a do-nothing pile of trash that should never make the cut. I get that unlike most value engines this one's a 2/3 for 3 which technically provides board presence early-on but there's still no compelling reason to field it over things like Mimic Vat, Prototype Portal, Planar Bridge, etc. as a lategame value engine. If this were a real card on turn 3 then sure, we might have something worth discussing, but a 2/3 for 3 that eventually enables you to sink 7 mana in order to Sneak Attack an Artifact that's already in play isn't going to pass muster.
Grade D
Crackdown Construct: This card goes "infinite" with any card that's free to activate and since there's no shortage of those in Magic this will serve as an immense beater/blocker for any deck that's naturally running them. Having played both with and against Lord of Extinction countless times I can assure you that gargantuan + evasionless beaters are far from oppressive, especially if you have to jump through some hoops to get there. Again, the idea here is that I wouldn't add Crackdown Construct to a deck and expect it reliably carry you to victory but assuming that you were already playing a whack of Chimeric Idols (or whatever) then it'd be eminently reasonable to jam a set of these in order to bash/block for literal millions. This is especially true for builds with Equipment/evasion enablers that can naturally push it through because, let's face it, killing a player each turn is still one Hell of a clock. Still, again, I do not recommend trying to build around Crackdown Construct as a reliable finisher in of itself because I can guarantee you that it'll almost always get killed/chumped/denied/whatever. In that sense you should think of it as a passable plan B/C but never a plan A.
Combo Grade C
Hope of Ghirapur: A cheap, colorless answer to permission/removal is always a welcome sight but the fact that it has to both deal combat damage and sac itself makes it a rather anemic solution at best. I would only advocate playing this little bugger in decks that can reliably recur it with things like Phyrexian Reclamation or Sun Titan at which it becomes a reasonable disruption engine against Control mages. As a generic Silence effect it's far too weak and so you have to be abusing the body to get your money's worth and even then it's a middling solution at best. The only place I expect this card to truly shine is in Edric, Spymaster of Trest EDH/constructed decks that happily play any 1 CMC fliers with reasonable upsides regardless. The fact that it can stymie mass removal and whatnot is a big game and, again, those decks are actively happy to jam 1/1 fliers for 1 to begin with making it the perfect fit.
Grade Niche D
Inspiring Statuary: While I thought long and hard about this card (especially in the context of Stax decks that could manipulate their own Winter Orbs and such in order to break their parity) I ultimately I couldn't conjure up a single compelling reason to jam it over a card like Worn Powerstone or Basalt Monolith. Believe me, I wanted this to be an "overpowered free mana mechanic" that would legitimately amount to something but nothing that I tested or read from others offered more value on average than a simple Worn Powerstone. This is especially true in the myriad of games in which you draw multiples because whereas Inspiring Statuary is nigh worthless (a conditional + colorless Manalith is not a real Magic card) Worn Powerstone is always great. I want to stress the fact that the "nonartifact" clause is a very serious downside when it comes to ramp because you're often using it to chain into more expensive ramp later on. This is especially true in formats such as Cube and EDH where you'll often see people curving Sol Rings and Dimir Signets into Thran Dynamos, Gilded Lotuses and Caged Suns. Again, far more often than not this thing will be a colorless Manalith that can't be used on artifacts and that's just such a silly place to be when you could elect to field a card like Coalition Relic or Basalt Monolith instead.
Grade C-
Lifecrafter's Bestiary: I've been testing this card a fair amount and have been pleasantly surprised with its performance. Scry 1 ensures that it's still providing value even when you're curving out and giving your creatures "kicker G: draw a card" comes up big in the mid-to-late stages of the game. Obviously the card is quite slow and extremely weak in multiples early on but past a certain point it ensures that you're hitting gas each and every turn which is exactly where most Green decks want to be. This isn't a "jam 4 in all of your creature-based decks" card or anything but fielding 1-2 in any creature-heavy ramp deck is right where you want to be. Just be sure to overload on the creature count and opt for things like Elvish Mystic over Wild Growth whenever possible to ensure the maximum number of hits possible. Think of it like a smaller, weaker version of Lurking Predators in that sense and you should be good to go.
Grade C+
Metallic Mimic: I'll start by saying that I don't consider this to be a relevant tribal card since it doesn't the address the primary weakness of "mass removal = game loss." It's no different than any other snow-balling 2 drop that's eminently reasonable when you're playing against goldfish but the second that someone whips out a Wrath of God you basically lose on the spot. That isn't to say that you can't jam this in your tribal decks, simply that I don't consider that be a "winning" tactic in a multiplayer setting.
Do I expect those kinds of decks to start popping up in droves? Not really no. The combos are flimsy, easily disrupted, require too many cards and are too inconsistent when you lose access to Green's creature tutors. In that sense I don't actually expect this card to change anything but it's still interesting to think about its potential fair and/or combo applications given that most colors struggle to field relevant 2 drops to begin with and so anything that can support a degenerate combo kill is worth taking a hard look at. In that sense I still expect the best versions of the deck to employ Melira et al. but I also wouldn't fault anyone for making slight tweaks to their monored Goblin deck in order to support a combo kill. After all, you're already playing Skirk Prospector 100% of the time and Metallic Mimic is a reasonable 2 drop when you're curving out with Mogg War Marshals, Krenko, Mob Bosss, Siege-Gang Commanders, etc. Since the only piece left is Murderous Redcap (which is a reasonable Magic card to begin with) you're not exactly bending over backwards to slot it in.
Combo Grade C
Paradox Engine: I'm going to cut straight to the chase and say that this card is broken. So far the only thing that I've read about it are things along the lines of "this card seems good but I don't know how to build around it" which is a statement that makes absolutely no sense to me. This card is ridiculously easy to build around because it tells you exactly what to play; ramp and card draw.
First and foremost Paradox Engine transforms all of your nonland ramp into "Urza's Incubators" that effect each and every one of your spells. Since that's obviously going to be stupidly problematic when you're playing with cards like Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Fellwar Stone, Signets, Worn Powerstone, Basalt Monolith, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, etc. you can probably see why I think this card is going to be an auto-include in ramp-heavy decks and formats (such as Cube and EDH). These cards are already oppressive staples in the vast majority of multiplayer formats and so anything that further enhances their power is going to ruin games like it's going out of style. It's just way too easy to curve out with a card like Basalt Monolith on turn 2-3 only to jam this and suddenly have every future spell cost 3 less to cast. If that sounds ridiculous broken to you that's probably because it is and bear in mind we still haven't even started to cover all the other oppressive aspects of Paradox Engine.
Moving on it's clear that the best way to abuse a deck that generates nigh infinite mana to cast a ton of spells. As such you'll want to pair Paradox Engine with copious amounts of card draw whenever possible to extract maximum value from its cost reduction capabilities. Remember, assuming that you have a card like Basalt Monolith in play then suddenly your Syphon Minds and Fact or Fiction are only costing you a single mana. Heck, toss in a Dimir Signet and now they're free! Clearly every spell benefits immensely from having its cost reduced but it's this combination of ramp + card draw that makes a card like Paradox Engine completely unbeatable for people trying to have a fun, fair game of Magic. This highlights precisely why I expect this card to be problematic because, quite frankly, the best decks are always going to be filled with ramp and card draw and anything that enhances both is not be trifled with. Still, we've barely scratched the surface of why this card is so nutty.
Paradox Engine, much like Intruder Alarm, is a card so bloody powerful that it'll "accidentally" go infinite all the damned time. At some point a Green mage is going to curve out with things like Elvish Mystic, Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid into powerful card draw engines such as Lifecraft's Bestiary and Soul of the Forest only to realize that all of their spells now produce mana instead of costing it while drawing multiple cards in the process. Oops! Needless to say that tacking "kicker 0: Dark Ritual + Divination" on to your spells is really freaking overpowered and these types of sequences are ridiculously easy to enable in colors such as Blue and Green. After all, the same principle holds true for Blue cantrips + manarocks and so you can see how it can be trivially easily to go "infinite" and mow through your entire deck at will.
Now, some of you are probably thinking "yeah but those are all 3 card combos." Doesn't matter. The "problem" (let's just call it that for now) with playing a combo like Hive Mind + Pact of the Titan is that your combo pieces are worthless on their own and your deck is a steaming pile of trash without them. You don't get to play Magic; you either combo and win or fail to combo and lose. Paradox Engine breaks that mold by allowing you to play "overpowered combo decks" that use nothing but "real" Magic cards. Let's go back to my Green deck for example, the one with mana Elves and fatties. That's a normal deck filled with normal Magic cards. You get to sit down and play Magic every game because you're not forced to run bad cards that don't have any standalone value. That being said instead of playing things like Lurking Predators to extract value in the mid-to-lategame you can elect to slam a Paradox Engine, cast a spell, draw your deck, produce hundreds of mana and kill everyone with a Craterhoof Behemoth or whatever. This becomes your new go-to "value" card except 50% of the time that "value" is straight up "you win the game." The same concept also holds true for the Blue deck. Starting your list with 4x Preordain, 4x Sky Diamond and generic cantrips/draw spells such as Ponder, Impulse, Accumulated Knowledge, Trade Secrets, Fact or Fiction, etc. doesn't cost you anything (all your decks could start that way) but at some point you'll be able to go-off and draw as much as you want. That's what makes Paradox Engine so freaking scary and why it should become the de facto finisher for any build with a heavy amount of card draw and ramp. I also don't want to make it sound like it'll only see play in Green/Blue/Black because believe me when I say that there's plenty of ways to abuse it in White and Red too.
Anyways, it's probably time to move on right? Ha! Yeah no, sorry, this card is way too good to leave it at that. See, in addition to everything that we've already talked about there's still a ton of additional things that Paradox Engine does for you. It's a Serra's Blessing that gives your entire team vigilance. It's a Thousand-Year Elixir that allows you to use your Merfolk Looters and Bloodline Keepers 2-3 times per circuit. It's a Voltaic Key for Grim Monolith/Basal Monolith. Untapping all of your nonland permanents every time you play a spell has countless positive applications and I can't even begin to start listing them all. This is what truly breaks the card in my mind because, again, it's not even about purposely trying to go infinite and end the game when it comes to breaking this card in two. It simply does way too much for way too little and rest assured that will become apparently almost immediately once you start playing with it.
Still, I want to provide my readers with a small caveat to keep in mind when analyzing this card for themselves. Remember that this is a multiplayer set review designed with multiplayer decklists in mind. I understand that for many people "multiplayer" is a code word for "extended duels" in which players slam duel decks full of aggressive threats and spot removal at each other. Personally I don't even consider aggro/aggro-midrange to be viable archetypes because things like Massacre, Innocent Blood, Planar Collapse, Anger of the Gods, turn 2 Azorius Signet turn 3 Wrath of God, etc. have pushed them out of my own meta once and for all. It's literally impossible to win with aggro decks when those kinds of cards are on the table and so I don't build or test with them in mind. That being said I understand that plenty of players out there choose not to field mass removal, cheap ramp, oppressive card draw, etc. and while that's perfectly fine just bear in mind that you're not my target audience. Paradox Engine isn't a duel card. If everyone is playing aggro and spot removal then your build full of do-nothing ramp and card draw will lose miserably and there's no two ways about it. In that sense while I fully expect Paradox Engine to be utterly oppressive in true multiplayer metas (i.e. ones featuring actual multiplayer decks) I'm not going to kid myself into thinking that it'll work for every player in every meta.
Grade A
Planar Bridge: While slow and expensive this is one of the most powerful + colorless finishers that we've seen for some time and I wouldn't fault anyone for jamming one in their midrange/ramp/control deck as a lategame finisher. I couldn't imagine jamming more than 1 given its prohibitive cost but past a certain point you want to draw your 6+ drops every turn of the game and that's where these "Eye of Ugins" shine. Beyond that I don't recommend trying to use this card to cheat overly expensive bombs into play (think Omniscience and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) because that's simply too slow to be effective. It's not going to have any relevant combo applications in that sense but, again, it's a fine singleton for slow decks in slow metas.
Grade C
Scrap Trawler: As someone who's cut both Myr Retriever and Junk Diver from countless shells I'm largely unimpressed by this card. I understand that it can potentially recur multiple cards whereas they can only nab one but the CMC restriction is a very real drawback and the body isn't relevant as far as I'm concerned. The reaon why these effects tend to suck in practice is because not only do you need to have a value engine + a recursion spell in play but you typically need to have 2 "goodhits" in your graveyard since your value engine is almost always going to recur one of them. As such they tend to feel extremely win-more as they typically only become relevant in the lategame at which point you've already won or lost. Far be it from me to try and stop you from adding it to your Goblin Welder/Trading Post/Daretti, Scrap Savant brews if you still want to but I'd personally recommend focusing your attention elsewhere.
Grade Niche D
Treasure Keeper: While I fully expect this analysis to be controversial this is another card that I consider to be hot garbage. Not because it's the worst card of all time or anything, simply because I fully expect the vast majority of players to massively overrate it. Now, as someone who's played both Standard and Modern during the Bloodbraid Elf eras I understand why people would be drawn to Treasure Keeper but this is where I'm forced to remind everyone that "multiplayer Magic differs immensely from duel Magic." While a 3/3 is a very real card in a duel setting it's essentially worthless in multiplayer which means that it's nearly impossible to extract meaningful value from this type of threat. Even if you Brainstorm an Ancestral Vision to top of your library that's still just a Concentrate in my books because, again, I don't assign any value to the 3/3. Clearly these types of sequences aren't abysmal and I wouldn't fault anyone for employing them but the point that I'm trying to make is that the 3/3 is insignificant and should be treated as such. That is, this isn't an insane value engine that will win games nor secure the midgame for you. It's marginal filler at best.
The only scenario where this card's stock rises is in decks that can actually abuse the body with things like Viscera Seer, Oversold Cemetery, Eldritch Evolution, Recurring Nightmare, Birthing Pod, etc. that transform it into something above and beyond an insignificant Bloodbraid Elf. Even then it's still a middling value enable at best but at least I could actually envision myself sleeving this up in a dedicated bounce deck. Again, the idea here isn't that "this card is Mudhole levels of bad" but where people have it vs where it's actually ranked is likely a massive gap that needs some addressing. I promise you that if you start a deck with 4 of these because "they always generate value" they won't do nearly enough to secure victories for you.
Otherwise the only bookkeeping notes that I have are that these kinds of cards are terrible in decks with permission, X spells, cheap ramp, etc. and so you really do have to be careful about when and where you field them. That "ramp" qualifier might seem strange to some people but it really shouldn't. No one should ever feel happy to play an Ondu Giant or whatever which is why I hate seeing smallball ramp in decks with threats such these. Cascading into Worn Powerstone or whatever is fine, that's not a problem, but if you hit a Wild Growth then congrats on your 4 mana Rampant Growth.
Grade D+
Walking Ballista: This is an amazing finisher for basically any infinite mana deck and I expect it to see a ton of play as a generic kill condition. Throngs of artifact-based shells win by pairing things like Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth and/or Metalworker + Staff of Domination (especially in formats such as EDH) at which point you simply need some sort of mana sink in order to seal the deal. Given that Walking Ballista is both an artifact and a creature, has a CMC of 0 and doesn't force you to jump through any additional hoops you can bet your boots that he'll be a go-to kill condition in a ton of lists. After all, from Trinket Mage to Fabricate virtually every artifact and/or creature-based tutor will be able to nab it and Black's recursion will always be able to recur it which is clearly ideal when you're going for a combo kill. Again, the idea here isn't that the card enables any specific combos in-of-itself but the fact that it's colorless, 0 CMC, an artifact and a creature make it the ideal finisher for infinite mana combos.
Outside of combo decks the card is reasonable but unexciting. Triskelion has never been a MP powerhouse and even though I consider this card to be strictly better (yes, I do realize that Trisk has a base P/T) it's still too slow and marginal to make the cut in any serious list. That being said much like Hangarback Walker this is a reasonable colorless value critter that can be jammed into any list in order to provide you with a scaling threat that brings removal to any build that includes them. I'm generally a fan of any 2 drop that's still relevant on turn 10 and believe me when I say that Walking Ballista definitely qualifies. It won't turn heads or anything but it'll hold its own and that's more than you can say about 99% of the other cards in the game. The fact it's playable in any deck of of any color, that it pairs well with ramp, that it's good on turn 2, 4, 8, 10, etc. are all small advantages that add-up to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Combo Grade A
Noncombo Grade C+
Land
Spire of Industry: I hate reviewing these kinds of lands because there's nothing interesting to say about them. It's a cross between Glimmervoid and Mana Confluence and could reasonably see play in colored artifact-based decks. Unlike Glimmervoid it never gets blown-out by mass removal and unlike Mana Confluence it won't nug you for the entire game but the tradeoff is obviously that it has a lower power-ceiling than either in the best/worst case scenarios. That makes it a reasonable playable but hardly something worth writing home about.
Long-time readers of my articles are probably wondering why I only posted 8 "best in set" cards as opposed to my usual 10. Bluntly put there's nothing else even worth listing and that should give you a rough idea about how I feel bout the set as a whole. To make matters worse Indomitable Creativity is only relevant as a 5 mana "I win the game" spell when paired with 2-card creaturecombos and token producers which means that huge swaths of players will refuse to touch it. The same also holds true for Sram, Senior Edificer who's little more than a degenerate combo card himself. AER was a huge letdown for me in that sense and it'll definitely go down as one of the worst MP sets in my books. Its only saving grace is Paradox Engine as far as I'm concerned because that's one of the most blatantly pushed colorless cards that we've ever seen. I fully expect it to have a dramatic + lasting impact not only in formats such as Cube and EDH but also in Constructed assuming that players aren't slinging duel decks at one another. Any deck filled with ramp and card draw is going to want at least 1 and that describes something like 90% of the lists that I personally build. Otherwise the only cards that'll actually change the way in which we build our decks are Mechanized Production and Dark Intimations which ostensibly makes this a a 3-card set overall. Again, I'm grateful for the small number of cards that us MP fans did receive but from a purely objective standpoint this wasn't Wizard's strongest showing.
Improvise: I'm extremely underwhelmed by Improvise. ...the most interesting application of Improvise is with "Orbs" such as Winter Orb, Trinisphere and Static Orb...this is easily its most compelling MP application.
I have identified one more I'd really like to try out.
Still reading..probably more to say over the weekend. Thanks for doing this, always appreciated.
I agree with practically all you say.
I wanted to say that it wasn't that bad but looking at what I bought and play, it was.
(Great hopes for Amonkhet though, I like graveyard magics and expect a lot of them. And a realm in which an evil immortal dragon is the boss can't be bad.)
I do wonder whether you overrate Sram.
And this week I got slaughtered by unmentioned Solemn Recruits.
But you'll probably rate those at D+ or C- or something.
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In magic there's Harry Dresden, Fizban, Sethra Lavode, Dorotea Senjak and me...
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
Solemn Recruit isn't unplayable by any means but there's nothing about it that screams "multiplayer." You cast it, put pants on it and hope to connect with someone's head.
He can kill extremely consistently on turns 3-4 with backup and can literally kill on turn 1-2 against goldfish given the right draw. The ability to draw your deck, jam an Aetherflux Reservoir and drain the table out (be it EDH or Constructed) should not be trifled with. The fact that he can win with 0 mana floating using fast mana makes him very busted, especially in Constructed where you can almost always win with a simple Grapeshot + Noxious Revival chain on turn 3-4 with Silence backup.
Ward's stock has been significantlyrising lately (at least in my mind). Seems pretty clear they feel it's too good to ever reprint in Standard so I probably wouldn't wait forever to pick some up if you were thinking about it.
Ward's stock has been significantlyrising lately (at least in my mind). Seems pretty clear they feel it's too good to ever reprint in Standard so I probably wouldn't wait forever to pick some up if you were thinking about it.
Agreed. It's an "oppressive" combo enabler that we'll never see again and that has one printing in one old set. Its price is certainly never going to decline unless it gets reprinted in a Commander product or something.
I think it's worth noting that all the expertise cards can not only cheat in the costless suspend cards, they can cast the Fused form or expensive side of split cards if either side fulfills the CMC requirement. Beck // Call, Breaking // Entering, and Boom // Bust are the most relevant.
I think it's worth noting that all the expertise cards can not only cheat in the costless suspend cards, they can cast the Fused form or expensive side of split cards if either side fulfills the CMC requirement. Beck // Call, Breaking // Entering, and Boom // Bust are the most relevant.
Hmmm, I actually missed the Boom // Bust interaction especially since Goblin Dark-Dwellers already wants to be played in a deck full of 3 CMC Sorceries and Boom // Bust. That makes the Red Expertise spell slightly better than I was previously thinking. The Fuse cards aren't especially relevant as far as I'm concerned but I love me some Armageddons in multiplayer.
Moreover, maybe playing Beck // Call with Sram's Expertise is better than I'm giving it credit for since both modes are legitimately solid for token decks. The reason why I didn't discussing it is because hoping to draw both cards seems ambitious at best so I didn't even bother testing it. Still, hey, maybe I'm just wrong.
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider I could see myself playing this card in some red deck. It could either deal some damages in the first turns or just defend with 3 armor, after that it could create sacrifice fodder or ETB-trigger every turn. That deck would most likely have goblin bombardment and/or Impact Tremors. I wouldn't play it over Goblin War-Marshal, but maybe they could work in the same deck. Would it be good enough or just cute? I don't even know.
The only thing that Kari has going for her is Red's general lack of solid early-game plays. That being said while I wouldn't fault anyone for fielding her as a random value 1-of there's nothing about the card that scales especially well into multiplayer. Even in decks with Impact Tremors/Goblin Bombardment/Purphoros, God of the Forge she's still only marginal filler at best and outside of that you're better off fielding mana rocks (or whatever) that significantly advance your gameplan. After all, the card isn't an especially relevant blocker and it's not as though you'll be able to aggro the table down so she really doesn't accomplish anything relevant.
The card that I personally field in this slot tends to be Veteran Brawlers. It's utterly massive which dissuades attacks from most 1-4 drops and survives mass removal such as Anger of the Gods and Earthquake without breaking a sweat. I'll still only field him in extremely aggressive metas because Walls don't win games of Magic but if you're simply in the market for a blocker there's better alternatives.
Metallic Mimic is another card that has gotten no attention from you. Some day Shaman Tribal deck becomes the ultimate meta deck and you will regret that you didn't notice this card! Or what I was actually thinking is that this card is a combo piece with a card that has persist and any only-sac-to-activate sac outlet. Alternative to Melira, Sylvok Outcast.
You actually raise a very valid point with the whole Persist thing. I can't believe that I completely overlooked that tbh. I'll be amending the review shortly.
As for your top 10 list: I think Planar Bridge deserves a spot in there. I can't really say anything more about it than what you already said and what you said should be enough to put it in top 10.
How does a Sram Commander deck win? You can have ALL THE BONE SAWS... but then what?
Good question! First, let me say that I only have a few days of testing the deck under my belt so it's not perfect yet but turn 2-3 kills are possible and turn 4+ are common.
Next the deck has mana rocks + Paradox Engine + Sram which, again, is ostensibly a game win. Far more often than not this enables you to generate jillions of mana, draw your deck and win.
Moving on the deck has a value game using either Flickering Ward and/or Conviction (+ Cloud Key, Helm of Awakening, etc.) that give it grindy midgame value in case things have gone awry. Clearly paying 2 mana to draw a card isn't oppressive or anything but it's certainly relevant. Obviously with Paradox Engine this is just straight game win assuming that you have a couple of rocks in play and remember that you have Enlightened Tutor to help find it.
Now, bear in kind that I've only had a few days to build and test this deck so by no means do I have a perfect 99 just yet. It's way too early to have everything optimized. The point is that I'm playing a monowhite deck that can legitimately clear the table on turn 2 (I've done that) and that can routinely win on turn 4-6 (again, that's the average use-case).
If you're just using it to counter counterspells, isn't Negate "strictly" worse than Dispel and Swan Song?
First, I will clarify that I have Swan Song in the "God tier" of multiplayer counterspells so there's no shame in losing out to it. It's right up there with Mana Drain and Force of Will so clearly it's going to beat out most of the other competition.
Second, you're never "just" countering other permission. While you're "often" using it to win counter wars you're also going to commonly cast it on game-ending sorceries/artifacts/etc. that Dispel cannot interact with. Clearly if you only cared about permission then Dispel would be stellar but since multiplayer is (virtually) never that simple having cards like Swan Song and Negate that cover multiple bases goes a long way.
W.r.t to actual Counterspell I'll say that A) the card is easily an S-tier permission spell (i.e. worse than Swan Song, Drain, FoW but still very good) and that B) Negate is easier to splash which is very relevant. In a heavy Blue deck you'll clearly almost always use Counterspell but assuming that you don't have a ton of Blue sources then Negate starts to look a lot more appealing.
You mention that Walking Ballista combos with black recursion but it just comes back as a 0/0. It still functions in the Mike & Trike combo, though.
Poor wording on my part I suppose. When I said "recursion" I meant things like Phyrexian Reclamation and Oversold Cemetery that enable you to recur the card to your hand at which point it scales as the game progresses. I'm fully aware that you can't Animate Dead it for value (or whatever).
Thanks for taking the time to put together this review. It's a bummer that so many cards only seem exciting in the context of a stax or oppressive combo deck (which wouldn't make for a lot of smiles in my play group.) I am happy though about the addition of Trophy Mage as a way to grant more consistency to whatever decks I try to build around agoofyartifact.
Metallic Mimic's value is that it enables some fringe tribal decks. Aside from the already mentioned shaman deck, it has a home in my "cheap dragons" deck with Slumbering Dragon/Dragon Tempest which was exactly missing a good 2-drop.
Edit: I'd also like to point out that you strayed pretty far from "As such this set review is solely focused towards the multiplayer crowd with an emphasis on budget-minded, fair Magic" in your review
Metallic Mimic's value is that it enables some fringe tribal decks. Aside from the already mentioned shaman deck, it has a home in my "cheap dragons" deck with Slumbering Dragon/Dragon Tempest which was exactly missing a good 2-drop.
I don't think that Shamans et al. became any more playable. You still lose to mass removal and Metallic Mimic does absolutely nothing to mitigate that weakness. Clearly if no one plays with removal then any critical-mass deck can work just fine but it's not as though Mimic makes decks significantly better or worse.
Dragon decks have always had ramp at 2 CMC which tends to be more valuable than making giant dragons slightly larger.
Edit: I'd also like to point out that you strayed pretty far from "As such this set review is solely focused towards the multiplayer crowd with an emphasis on budget-minded, fair Magic" in your review
Now, bear in kind that I've only had a few days to build and test this deck so by no means do I have a perfect 99 just yet. It's way too early to have everything optimized. The point is that I'm playing a monowhite deck that can legitimately clear the table on turn 2 (I've done that) and that can routinely win on turn 4-6 (again, that's the average use-case).
That sounds pretty damn good! Please show me a list once you feel you've fine-tuned it. Sounds like something I'd enjoy goldfishing.
I'm surprised you don't mention Mechanized Production's ability to win off of other Artifacts with the same name. If you can crap out 8 Myr tokens or 8 Clues, that's game.
It doesn't check to see if you get 8 of the copied artifacts, it checks to see if there are 8 Artifacts with the same name in play. As an EDH player, it's made serious waves in Riku of Two Reflections decks.
So, was trying to figure out a way to get cute with Improvise mechanic in multiplayer.
I've been considering pairing thesetwo. (alongside Mesmeric Orb misery..) Since you can also easily work in Howling Mine and abuse it's 'untapped' clause, it may figure in. Anyone tried anything like this yet?
I'm not overly impressed with the mechanic so far, to be honest. This was the best thing I could come up with. I've tried about a dozen different bad Dimir mill decks. This is the latest idea.
You poor, poor soul . The card is passable in small ~4 player games but is utterly bonkers in big 6-8 player games. Even at X=3 it can sometimes put upwards of 20 power into play which kinda makes Army of the Damned look like a joke. In smaller games the card becomes quite powerful as the game progresses because once you hit X=4/5 it doesn't take much for it to be a 12/12 that mills everyone for 5 (and that's on the low-end).
Well, for what it's worth, I think I stumbled across the bestcatalyst for that improvise deck I'm working on, and maybe ANY improvise deck I'm working on.
I mean...YEAH? It's even easily tutorable? Hooo-BOY.
Greetings fellow multiplayer enthusiasts! My name is Prid3 and at the time of writing this I'm a 15+ year veteran of the game who's been playing and following it at a competitive level (across all relevant formats) for well over a decade. That being said I'm not exactly your typical player and have a relatively unique perspective on the game as a whole. Whereas most players spend the majority of their recreational time dueling the bulk of my personal playtime has been spent at kitchen tables duking it out in large multiplayer matches. Be it Cube, Constructed or EDH I've played tens of thousands of hours of multiplayer Magic in my life and consider myself to be an expert on the global multiplayer sphere as a whole. As such this set review is solely focused towards the multiplayer crowd with an emphasis on budget-minded, fair Magic that adheres to a Legacy-esque banned/restricted list. While I'll still touch on degenerate combos and unfair applications I understand that not everyone takes the game as seriously as my own circles and as such I try to balance my reviews to ensure that they're applicable to players of all levels. From turn 1 kills to turn 20 slugfests I'll do my best to keep these relevant for anyone and everyone who routinely sits down at a multiplayer table.
Before moving on I'll quickly touch on some important book-keeping notes that you should be made aware of before delving deeper into this set review. First, know that I never evaluate every single card in a new set. There's absolutely no reason to repeat "this card was designed for duel formats/Limited" hundreds of times so don't expect me to touch on chaff. I'll hit on what I consider to be the key multiplayer cards with an emphasis on the ones that you should make a concerted effort to acquire. Moreover, bear in mind that all ratings discussed in this evaluation should be taken with a grain of salt. It's virtually impossible to give a card a grade that accurately reflects its worth in Cube, Constructed and EDH and so for the purposes of this guide I slant it mostly towards Constructed. I'll touch on Cube and EDH whenever I feel that it's especially applicable but otherwise my primary emphasis will be on a card's 60-card Constructed applications. Finally, I'm not looking to pin down the perfect letter grade for every single card. I'm merely trying to provide you with a rough estimation of its overall worth.
Grading Scale:
A: Oppressive cards that completely warp the game around them. These are format definers that typically dominate games in which they're left unchecked and usually crush adversaries who aren't employing similarly powered strategies. This makes them must-have competitive staples with limitless potential. Think Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Humility, Consecrated Sphinx, Sylvan Primordial, Repercussion.
B: Extremely formidable cards that will enable you to pull ahead of the pack. Winning decks should be clamoring to field them as they figure to significantly improve your overall win %. This makes them top-priority acquisition targets for players of all skill-levels. Think Syphon Mind, Earthquake, Wrath of God, Rite of Replication, Ulvenwald Hydra.
C: Powerful cards that winning decks will want to play. A list full of C's won't crush a table but a solid foundation of them should be good enough to keep you competitive. Think Wight of Precinct Six, Clever Impersonator, Taurean Mauler, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel.
D: Marginal playables with which to flesh out your lists in the absence of reasonable alternatives. I strongly encourage that you enlist substitutes if it's a realistic option since they're unlikely to yield impressive win %s.
F: Weak cards that wouldn't be played in an ideal world.
Niche: Immensely powerful-yet-narrow cards that are Bs/As in decks that actively want them and Ds/Fs everywhere else.
Sideboard: Stupendously powerful cards that you wouldn't maindeck against unknown adversaries but that have competitive applications in known metagames with defined threats.
+/-: Used to denote a better or worse N. That is, a B+ represents a strong B whereas C- implies a weak C.
Mechanics and Themes
Revolt: The only comment that I'll make pertaining to Revolt is that Fetchlands make it a significantly more consistent mechanic than it otherwise might be. Clearly every color has access to powerful enablers such as Viscera Seer, Diabolic Intent, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Tireless Tracker, Recurring Nightmare and Birthing Pod but it's the addition of Fetchlands that will push Revolt to the next level.
Energy: Energy is back and as unexciting as ever. The only noteworthy energy cards from the previous sets were Aether Hub and Aetherworks Marvel and the former doesn't even need to be played in an energy deck to be worthwhile. AER has nothing to offer players seeking to build energy-based shells which ostensibly spells its death-knell until the mechanic is revisited at some point in the future.
Improvise: I'm extremely underwhelmed by Improvise largely due to the fact that the strongest (cheap) artifacts tend to be ramp spells such as Fellwar Stone. Improvise is literally worthless when you're jamming things like Sol Ring and Worn Powerstone early on and since "Affinity" isn't much of a multiplayer strategy this isn't a mechanic that I expect to see much play. That being said the most interesting application of Improvise is with "Orbs" such as Winter Orb, Trinisphere and Static Orb since assuming that you improvise a spell at EOT you can untap with all of your mana and still be able to disrupt your adversaries. I still don't expect Improvise to see much play but this is easily its most compelling MP application.
Vehicles: The Vehicle mechanic is extremely weak in multiplayer given that it's ostensible Exalted that still forces you to tap your blockers. Getting in for damage is trivial if it leaves you vulnerable in turn which is why I wouldn't expect to see any of them played in competitive spheres. They might seem like reasonable blockers but remember that you still have to tap something to activate them which makes them heinous if you find yourself behind and/or against removal. This is a very much a Duel/Limited mechanic that I wouldn't expect to make waves in any multiplayer format.
Call for Unity: I briefly tested this card in White-based token decks but it quickly proved to be completely unplayable compared to things like Beastmaster Ascension, Crescendo of War, Cathars' Crusade, Shamanic Revelation, True Conviction and Craterhoof Behemoth. It's so bad that it's not even worth discussing.
Grade F
Consulate Crackdown: As much as I love one-sided board clears this one is a touch too slow and conditional for my tastes. It's obviously an utterly absurd sideboard card for artifact-heavy metas but it's not something that I'd recommend maindecking in the dark. One thing worth noting is that mass exile is almost always great since it prevents recursion such as Open the Vaults from allowing players to recover from dedicated hate. Obviously players can simply remove Consulate Crackdown to regain control of their permanents but that can often be easier said than done for colors such as Red and Black.
Grade Sideboard B
Conviction: While it'll never supplant Flickering Ward in Enchantress style decks it's the next-best monowhite alternative which could be relevant for builds that have 4x Serra's Sanctum or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or whatever.
Grade Niche D
Exquisite Archangel: As someone who's never seen a Platinum Angel strategy actually win a game of Magic I want to stress that these kinds of cards are significantly weaker than they otherwise seem. Even if you (somehow) make them untargetable and indestructible they still die to extremely common forms of mass removal (such as Cyclonic Rift and Toxic Deluge) which means that they basically never accomplish their intended function. As such I would never slot this kind of card into a deck for "value" because I can guarantee you that this isn't where you want to be in MP.
What I will say is that this effect does have some potential combo applications given the existence of oppressive draw spells such as Ad Nauseam that literally enable you to draw your entire deck only to pop straight back to 20/40 HP. Remember, she won't trigger until Ad Naus completely finishes resolving and that yes, you can continue to lose life straight into the negatives if you so choose. Given the existence of cheap recursion such as Reanimate, Exhume and Animate Dead I could somewhat envision a world where you recur one of these, draw your deck with Ad Naus and win using a combo kill with Silence backup and whatnot. That still seem like a stretch (why you wouldn't field Angel's Grace or Phyrexian Unlife is beyond me) but given that I've personally played Lich's Mirror in extremely competitive EDH decks I know firsthand that you can never discount anything that combos with Ad Nauseam to win the game.
Combo Grade D-
Felidar Guardian: Since I expect this card to see play both in and outside of combo decks I'll break its review into two distinct sections to make this easier. With that in mind let's start with the obvious and address its unfair combo applications. Unlike most other blink spells/effects this one targets any other permanent and immediately returns it to play which is significantly more powerful than what we normally see. The "Splinter Twin" Cat Trick combo that has everyone talking involves pairing one with Saheeli Rai to create an unbounded army of hasty 1/4 attackers to immediately maul your adversaries to death. Since that's an easy turn 4 kill against any number of players we're clearly looking at an extremely competitive combo enabler. Moving on to Birthing Pod Felidar Guardian enables an easy skill of Pod into Felidar Guardian -> Pod into Karmic Guide + recur the Guardian -> Pod Guardian into Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, use Kiki-Jiki create a copy of Karmic Guide to recur Guardian, blink Kiki-Jiki with Guardian and use the Kiki-Jiki + Guardian loop to create an enormous army of hasted beaters. While there's plenty of alternative variations that one's quick, clean and doesn't require any dead cards nor a sacrifice outlet (unlike most Melira, Sylvok Outcast combos). Beyond that it can easily go infinite blinking itself and/or a Restoration Angel in order to ping everyone to death using cards like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge and/or gain infinite life/mill infinite cards in much the same way. I'm obviously not going to sit here and discuss every possible way to abuse this interaction but you probably get the idea by now. No matter how you slice it these are some messed-up interactions which is why Felidar Guardian will always be (at worst) a solid Tier 2 combo enabler.
Combo Grade B
With respect to Felidar Guardian's fair applications this isn't a card that anyone should sleep on. The fact that it immediately flickers any permanent is huge game and makes it one of the premier blink threats in existence. As much as people swoon over supposed "bombs" such as Restoration Angel Felidar Guardian is easily a cut above and should largely supplant the alternatives. While I could obviously sit here all day and list cards like Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Parallax Wave, Cataclysmic Gearhulk, Sun Titan and Luminate Primordial to pair with it that's what my multiplayer guides are for and so those are what you should consult if you're looking for good ways to abuse these kinds of blink effects. That being said as long as you pair it with some solid ETB triggers and maybe some Panharmonicons then you should be good to go.
Generic Grade C
Restoration Specialist: While Restoration Specialist isn't going to be the next Eternal Witness its cheap cost and low power tick a couple of important boxes for White. After all, they make it incredibly easy to recur with staples such as Reveillark and Sun Titan which is relevant given that Restoration Specialist can recur multiple permanents itself. Moreover, given the existence of artifact-based hatebears and bomby Enchantments it's not a stretch to have both card types in your brews regardless of what you're trying to accomplish. The icing on the proverbial cake is that since Sun Titan decks already love seeing Serenity you don't exactly have to go out of your way to play cards that you wouldn't otherwise field. In that sense nothing changes except for the quantity of spells that you can recur in the mid-to-lategame. What this means is that while I wouldn't expect it to see it supplant the likes of Replenish and/or Open the Vaults in dedicated artifact/enchantment decks it strikes me a reasonable value engine for recursion-heavy builds that lean on things like Emeria, the Sky Ruin in order to create big value chains along the lines of Emeria Shepherd -> Sun Titan -> Flickerwisp on Sun Titan -> Serenity etc. to ensure lategame inevitability.
Grade D+
Sram, Senior Edificer: While Sram clearly makes nice with Kor Spiritdancer, Puresteel Paladin and Stone Haven Outfitter in Constructed his most exciting application is as an EDH general. Not only is he extremely cheap to cast but his effect is completely busted and he's without a doubt the most fun, interesting and competitive monowhite Commander that we've ever seen. The ability to staple "your spells cantrip" on a 2 drop that you always have on hand is bonkers and so he's definitely going to be a contender even at reasonably high levels of play. The idea here is clearly to fill your deck with 0 CMC/cheap Equipment, draw most of it on turns 2-4 and proceed to combo off with something like Aetherflux Reservoir to finish everyone off. Remember that said Reservoir is trivially easy to cast using mana rocks such as Mox Opal, Lotus Petal, Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt, etc. so it's possible to win on turn 1-2 even if you don't have any mana floating.
Beyond that he's also going to be a house in Constructed as a combo enabler in "Cheerios" style Equipment builds with 4x Puresteel Paladin, 4x Sram, Senior Edificer, 4x Retract and a ton of 0 CMC equipment such as Accorder's Shield, Bone Saw and Paradise Mantle. That deck will greatly appreciate having access to another playset of Puresteel Paladins to all-but ensure its ability to draw its entire deck by turns 3-4 (with turn 1-2 kills being possible but unlikely) only to win using Aetherflux Reservoir, Storm finishers, infinite combo, etc. For what it's worth the deck strongly benefits from persistent forms of protection such as Defense Grid, Steely Resolve, City of Solitude, Dense Foliage, etc. that offset the deck's overall weakness to spot removal. Clearly monowhite has access to protection such as Silence, Apostle's Blessing, Brave the Elements and more but the archetype still struggles against removal/permission. One thing that I'll note from my own testing is that while Defense Grid seems like it would be perfect for enabling clean turn 3 kills that it's actually a terrible nonbo with Retract. The problem with "Steely Resolves" is obviously the Green mana and while Silence is great it still loses to permission spell + removal spell. You should still feel free to jam 4x Silence and go for turn 3-4 kills though.
As much as I'd like to discuss his "fair" applications in more details bluntly put I haven't seen a "fair" Puresteel Paladin deck since the card was Standard legal. Every variation nowadays seems to be a broken combo deck and since Sram will only bolster its consistency I don't expect that to change. Obviously you could start a deck with things like Relic Seeker, Sram, Senior Edificer, Stoneforge Mystic, toss in some Equipment and call it a day but at the same time I wouldn't expect that deck that bolster a reasonable win % in a MP meta. Sram is a degenerate combo card for degenerate combo decks and so I wouldn't put too much emphasis on trying to play a fair game of Magic with him.
Combo Grade B+
Sram's Expertise: While this isn't going to make the cut in generic monowhite token decks the ability to combo it with Beck // Call is far too enticing to overlook. Unfortunately this sequence isn't as busted as we'd like it to be given that Sram's Expertise puts the tokens into play before Beck // Call resolves but it's still fantastic value at basically any stage of the game. After all, paying 4 mana to draw 4 cards and put 7 tokens into play is a steal and there's no two ways about it. Moreover, worst-case scenario you simply hardcast Call off of a light Blue splash which is still a fine place to be coming off of a turn 5 Cathars' Crusade. It's clearly not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but that's a ton of flying power to try and slog through. Beyond that you can even consider adding a couple of copies of Brain in a Jar to bolster the overall consistency, especially since that card is bonkers if you can cheat a Beck // Call into play on the same turn that you cast a big token producing spell such as Sylvan Offering or Lingering Souls + Flashback.
Grade C+
Baral, Chief of Compliance: Baral suffers from what I like to call "Guttersnipe syndrome" which is an issue for most spell-based decks. The problem with having a small number of creatures that "really matter" in an otherwise spell-based deck is that any reasonable group of adversaries with heads on their shoulders will simply kill your key creatures and leave you with a gutted list. Baral is clearly a step above a card such as Guttersnipe given that he's cheap enough that you can combo-off immediately after casting him but he'll always suffer from the "I die to removal" weakness that cards such as Jace's Sanctum and Metallurgic Summonings circumvent. With that in mind I really like Baral in spell-based decks operating in removal-light metas and that's true even if your deck has no permission whatsoever. He obviously gets a boost if it does but Goblin Electromancer is already a competitive Magic card and so a "strictly better" alternative is nothing to scoff at. I use that term loosely since being Legendary is actually a severe drawback in some instances but if worse comes to worst just field him as a 1-of next to some Jace's Sanctums or Electromancers and call it a day. That unfortunately makes him extremely niche but make no mistake about his power-level in the right context. In any deck with 20 or more spells this is exactly where you want to be on turn 2 regardless of what you're trying to accomplish. As long as he figures to dodge some dedicated hate then this is an easy way to secure some fast wins.
With respect to EDH I'd expect Baral to be a tier 2 High Tide combo Commander and a powerful addition to the 99 for Generals such as Azami, Lady of Scrolls, Mizzix of the Izmagus, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy (JVP), etc. JVP/Teferi, Temporal Archmage are still better options to put at the helm of your High Tide brews but Baral would be a reasonable alternative for any permission-heavy build. Clearly you can't play a true draw-go deck in MP EDH (you'll lose miserably if you try and 1-for-1 the table with permission) but a deck full of permission and combos is a great place to be and Baral is reasonably good at supporting that.
Grade Niche B
Baral's Expertise: As tempting as it sounds to chain "Evacuation" into a draw spell on turn 5 the reality is that only hitting 3 target artifacts/creatures isn't nearly powerful enough to justify fielding this thing. While I could see it being decent in team-based formats (such as 2HG) I still wouldn't field it over Crush of Tentacles and so ultimately I don't think that there's a great home for it. The fact that it doesn't hit any permanent is a huge drag and only bouncing 3 things won't always get there. The fact that it's more-or-less free is "fine" but ultimately this isn't a card that interests me in the slightest.
Grade D
Disallow: Voidslime has always been a reasonable permission spell and so a strictly better alternative should see a fair amount of play. While it's impossible to pinpoint any specific activated/triggered ability that you'll need to counter on a routine basis in practice it's almost always a relevant upside which is why you can sometimes justify fielding Disallow over alternatives such as Counterspell and Forbid. It's still a full tier below the best permission spells, 3 is a lot of mana to hold up, but I wouldn't fault anyone for opting to employ it. What I will say is that "less is more" and that I'd rather see 1-2 of these and some Counterspells than the full 4x Disallow because the extra mana does matter so I wouldn't go too deep on acquiring them in large quantities.
With respect to "when and where do I play permission?" the TL;DR summary that I use is "anytime people are casting spells that you couldn't otherwise beat and/or to counter opposing permission." If people are slinging generic creatures and removal spells then I'd take a pass on the effect but the second that people start jamming game-enders such as combos, Exsanguinate, Sylvan Primordial, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, etc. then it can be tough to win "the fair way" which is when you'll probably have to start jamming some Counterspells. Still, I want to stress that Counterspelling a Trygon Predator [insert any generic threat here] is a losing line so please don't employ permission as your go-to answer for normal creatures and spells. Trading 1-for-1 while pissing someone off is a terrible way to try and win a MP game of Magic so you want to avoid it if at all possible.
Grade C-
Illusionist's Stratagem: Blue has no shortage of powerful ETB effects and assuming that you're bouncing multiple value creatures then this is ostensibly a 3-for-1. It's no Fact or Fiction given its conditional nature but damn does it ever feel good to blink Mulldrifter + Diluvian Primordial (or whatever) with these kinds of effects only to net ~8 cards in the process. That being said Illusionist's Stratagem's primary role will be as a infinite combo enabler for decks with "Archaeomancers" and "Peregrine Drakes." Any recursive threat + any land untapper enables you to generate infinite mana and draw your deck at which point you can Blue Sun's Zenith any number of adversaries to death. It's a fantastic finisher in that sense and also extremely budget friendly given that all of your combo pieces are commons/uncommons. You're also not playing with any "bad" cards so you can still play Magic even if you fail to assemble a true combo kill in some % of your games. After all, you're ostensible playing a deck full of "goodstuffs" but you also have the random out of drawing the right combo of 3 cards in order to win the game on the spot. All things being equal that's a fantastic place to be which is why I value this card higher than most.
Noncombo Grade D
Combo Grade C
Mechanized Production: This is my most played/tested card of AER thusfar because I'm convinced that it's completely and utterly broken. They literally took Followed Footsteps, shaved a mana from its cost and tacked "you win the game" on it for no good reason. What the Hell is that? Before anyone jumps down my throat screaming "win more" I want anyone to show me an easier way to win the game against any number of adversaries with nothing but a Sphere of Resistance, Tangle Wire or Lodestone Golem in play. The card is freaking busted in Stax decks to the point where I'm splashing/switching over to Blue even if I wasn't playing the color before. Want to know what I've been using until now? Darksteel Reactor and/or cheesy Scepter of the Magistrate infinite combos using things like Contagion Engine. Now you're telling me that I get to cut all of the bad cards, add something that plops a Tangle Wire into play every turn and even wins the game for me? Are you kidding me? The card is moronic.
Not good enough? Don't worry, I'm only getting started. See, the thing about Artifact-based decks is that they frequently play cheap mana ramp and/or good sacrifice fodder in order to fuel things like Goblin Welder, Trading Post and Daretti, Scrap Savant. As such you'll often see things like Izzet Signet and Ichor Wellspring at the 2 CMC slot both are which are perfectly fine to put into production as it were. Just think about this for a second; how many of you would already play a 4 CMC Phyrexian Arena that doesn't cost life? Jamming one of these on an Ichor Wellspring is already significantly better than that even if you never plan on hitting the full 8 Wellsprings. After all, not only are you drawing a card every turn but you're also accruing fodder for your Trading Post effects which, in turn, will virtually enable you to draw another ~2 cards every turn. That's bonkers! Still not good enough? Let me remind you about those 4x Darksteel Citadels (or even Seat of the Synods) in your list and how easy it can be to sit back and copy them until you win. The truly busted aspect of Mechanized Production is that it literally doesn't ask anything of you but it also just hands you a ton of free wins. You don't have to play a single "bad" card to support it and it'll either provide absurd value or just straight win the game. Some of you probably think that I'm being hyperbolic but there's nothing stopping you from playing 4x Sphere of Resistance and 4x Mechanized Production and seeing just how broken this card can feel in practice.
Before moving on I'll throw out the obvious caveat that the card sucks in removal-heavy metas outside of Stax builds. It's no different that Followed Footsteps in the sense that it excels in removal-light metas and flounders in removal-heavy ones where it's prone to being 2-for-1d. As such I wouldn't advocate touching it if you're worried about your permanents being interacted with but otherwise this is a stupidly free way to go about winning games or generating obscene value. Moreover, while I mostly covered the "scariest" things to jam it on there's nothing stopping you from going deep on Wurmcoil Engine, Myr Battlesphere, Darksteel Colossus, anything. Sitting back on an army of bombs is an easy way to secure wins in removal-light metas so by no means do you have to focus on noncreature alternatives like I've been doing. I'm personally too afraid of removal to try and jam these on critters as my go-to but as long as you build your deck with your own meta in mind then you should be fine.
Grade B+
Negate: Negate is one of the most competitive permission spells in the entire game and every Blue Mage worth their salt should own multiple playsets. It's cheap, easy to cast, hits plenty of relevant targets (including other permission) and is virtually impossible to play around. As I previously discussed in my Disallow review I want to stress that permission is terrible unless you're using it to counter opposing permission and/or game-winning spells and that Negate is no exception to that rule. That is to say that you shouldn't play with it if everyone is jamming "fair" creatures + removal as opposed to combos and/or game-ending threats. Still, in any combo/permission-heavy meta it's an utterly absurd Magic card that only loses out to a handful of other alternatives.
Grade B
Skyship Plunderer: Thrummingbird is one of the most criminally underplayed Blue creatures and I'll give any proxy a good hard look. Unfortunately the plunderer trades scalability for power which isn't an exchange that I'm willing to make in a MP setting. Don't get me wrong, I understand that 2/1 fliers with upsides are great in duel formats, but my interest lies solely in MP Magic where I'm not exactly interested in trying to aggro anyone down early on. While I don't expect this card to see any play I do want to champion the fact that Thrummingbird is a messed-up Magic card that deserves way more respect and recognition.
Grade D
Trophy Mage: Much like Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage this is going to be an instant staple given its inherent power and flexibility. From Cloudstone Curio/Crystal Shard to Entraplanar Lens to Ensnaring Bridge to Mimic Vat she can fetch a throng of generically powerful utility spells that can set you up to seize control of the game. If creatures are more your speed then think of her as Stoneforge Mystic for powerful Equipment such as Sword of Fire and Ice that will give you the edge in creature-on-creature wars. Moreover, if you're looking for something a little more broken let's not forget that she can nab either component of the (EDH staple) Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth and/or Staff of Dominance + Metalworker. What's more is that you can even grab a simple Crystal Shard which you can obviously then use to bounce her to generate even more value and/or simple use her to fully assemble one of the aforementioned combos. Moreover, while I'm primarily focusing on her unfair uses the reality is that she has plenty of fair ones as well. You can simply grab a Worn Powerstone and ramp straight to 7 mana on turn 5 to set up for a Diluvian Primordial or whatever and that would be perfectly fine too. She's an utterly absurd threat for players of all shapes of sizes and I highly recommend acquiring some asap. Even if you merely jam her alongside Mimic Vats and Worn Powerstones that's still fantastic value.
Grade C
Whir of Invention: This card is fantastic and should be considered a staple for any Ux artifact-based shell. Not only can it tutor for oppressive engines (such as Paradox Engine) at EOT but it can also enable sneaky combos such as "EOT Whir for Basalt Monolith, untap, cast Rings of Brighthearth" for infinite mana. Beyond that it's an absurd ramp spell given the existence of Lotus Bloom especially since you can cheat it out at EOT. This enables you to immediately untap with ~7 mana which is perfect for something along the lines of "turn 4 Consecrated Sphinx with Swan Song and Foil/Misdirection backup." The reality is that basically any instant-speed "to play" tutor is going to be relatively insane and Whir of Invention is no exception. From Metalworker + Staff of Domination to Thopter Foundry + Sword of the Meek to Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith to Lotus Bloom to Paradox Engine there's no shortage of busted thing to fetch making this a must-have staple for artifact-based archetypes.
Grade B
Fatal Push: While cheap spot removal can be essential for disrupting combos and/or must-kill threats (think Consecrated Sphinx) I can't get behind something as conditional as Fatal Push in vacuum. After all, triggering Revolt is no small feat in your list isn't full of Fetchlands which tends to be the case for ~95% of the multiplayer fanbase from what I've seen. Now, if you're routinely facing exactly Hermit Druid combo decks then sure, go nuts, but otherwise I'd recommend sticking to things like Go for the Throat, Dismember, Snuff Out, Murderous Cut, etc. that reliably kill key 5+ drops when needed. One thing that I'll state is that it's extremely difficult for me to give these kinds of cards meaningful grades because I have no way of knowing what the power-level of the average multiplayer metagame is like. Fatal Push is absolutely bonkers for competitive tables given that it's ostensibly a Swords to Plowshares with respect to disrupting most creature-based combo kills and/or hatebears but it can be nigh worthless for casual players who need to actively worry about triggering Revolt and/or dealing with a ton of game-ending 5+ drops in the later stages of the game. In that sense it runs the gamut from D to A depending on your meta's speed, power-level and tendencies. For someone like me the card is an A and believe me when I say that I'm going to be slotting it into most of my competitive EDH/Constructed decks. Still, again, I could also see it being nigh worthless for the vast majority of players who aren't worried about dying on turn 4.
Grade C?
Gifted Aetherborn: This card ticks all of the right boxes for Bloodchief Ascension, Pestilence and/or Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks as the 2 power, 3 toughness, BB manacost and lifelink are all much needed stats in said brews. It's rather unexciting otherwise but could obviously foot the bill as a marginal blocker in extremely aggressive metas (possibly alongside Vampire Nighthawk). What I will say is that most players overrate "Deadly Recluse" style blockers since Walls just plain don't win games of MP Magic. I get that "not dying" is sweet and all but you're never going to draw 3-4 of these and accomplish anything relevant with them. Still, if your meta is absurdly aggressive then having these kinds of cards at 2-3 can do a ton of work, especially when supported with recursion such as Phyrexian Reclamation and/or drain such as Gray Merchant of Asphodel that can convert scary blockers into legitimate win conditions. Otherwise try to pair these kinds of critters with powerful Equipment such as Lashwrithe and Bonehoard in order to further abuse their Lifelink. After all, an easy way to win games is to gain a ton of life, jam a Necrologia and draw a ton of cards to grind the table out.
Grade D
Gonti's Machinations: 1 mana and 1 card for Sorin's Vengeance? Sign me up! This is another perfect fit for Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks which are sorely lacking relevant 1 drops outside of Thrull Parasite, Bloodchief Ascension and possibly a singleton Phyrexian Reclamation. The idea here is that you can sandbag the activation until post-Gary for additional devotion drain which is obviously something that spell-based alternatives (such as Blood Tithe) don't permit. Given that Gonti's Machinations costs substantially less mana and deals more damage than alternatives such as Syphon Soul and Blood Tithe (assuming extra Gary drain obviously) it's a no-brainer addition to budget-minded drain decks. Oh, for those of you worried about getting your 2 Energy my generic advice is "don't be" but I will highlight the fact that Aether Hub, Fetchlands, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, Necropotence, Pestilence and a whole lot more make it trivially easy to support.
Grade D
Herald of Anguish: This card has some potential in Stax decks given that it's a free-roll to tap artifacts such as Ensnaring Bridge, Darksteel Reactor and Smokestack and that the effect is quite powerful assuming that you treat this as a ~5 CMC spell. After all, mass discard is fantastic in denial-heavy archetypes, especially when you're trying to soft-lock the table with cards like Descent into Madness and Possessed Portal. My primary concern is that it competes unfavorably with Tangle Wire and that it's a total nonbo with most Orbs and Trinisphere. It's not exactly best buds with most Sphere effects either given that you're merely breaking-even in the exchange (although Thorn of Amethyst still works however). It strikes me as being almost impossibly niche in that sense but it's conceivable that it could one day find a home in very specific artifact-based Stax builds. Stax brews aside I'd happily jam Herald of Anguish in any build that could reliably cast it as a 5 drop so that's what I recommend aiming for if you do decide to field him. The card that had me most interested was Jet Medallion because it's basically a 2 mana Sol Ring when you're pairing it with Improvise which seems quite busted to me. Obviously if you can manage to cast him for less than 5 then you're golden but at 7 mana he's simply too slow and condition to be played unless you're working hard to reduce his cost. Oh, and just for the record I assign very little worth to his activated ability and whatever value that you manage to extract from it should be considered a bonus. Still, hey it's not bad with things like Ichor Wellsrping and Mycosynth Wellspring so there's always that.
Grade C
Secret Salvage: While I would never play this as a generic value engine it has combo applications with cards such as Shadowborn Apostle, Hedron Alignment and Relentless Rats. I wouldn't recommend buying or playing said decks but I'll never discount any "game winning" 2-card combo and this might qualify at some point down the road.
Grade Niche D
Yahenni, Undying Partisan: The historic problem with Scavenger Drakes has always been that MP is defined by mass removal as opposed to spot removal which defeats their purpose entirely. After all, if you cast mass removal with one in play then it simply dies alongside everything else. Yahenni somewhat offsets that weakness with his activated ability but suffers from being an extremely anemic lategame draw whereas Mortivores are almost always backbreaking. In the same way that Shrieking Affliction obsoletes alternatives such as Megrim because it can be cast after you've locked everyone at 0 cards Yahennii will virtually always to lose out to win conditions that can be cast post-Wrath and still offer value. He's still a reasonable 1-of for creature/token-heavy builds but suffice it to say that he's not a priority acquisition.
Grade D
Yahenni's Expertise: I've been championing Massacre for over a decade and for the life of me I still don't understand why nobody else plays with it. Free board clears are completely absurd in MP even if they're conditional in nature and basically every Black deck should field 1-2 copies as a result. Yahenni's Expertise seems bonkers and I cannot wait to curve turn 2 mana rock into turn 3 Expertise + Ancestral Vision, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Trade Secrets, Phyrexian Arena, Underworld Connections, etc. The card obviously struggles in the later stages of the game given that it's a far cry from a Damnation but that still shouldn't preclude you from running a couple of copies in your control decks with plenty of powerful draw spells and/or engines. After all, it's critically important to be able to meaningfully effect the board early on and when you can magically cast your draw spell for free alongside it then any Control/Stax/Combo deck should be sitting pretty. The key take-away is that, much like Massacre, this card is going to be a 1-2-of as opposed to a 4-of because it plainly sucks in the later stages of the game where it'll routinely fail to control the board.
Grade C+
Indomitable Creativity: As we've recently seen with Divergent Transformations this is an oppressive combo finisher that enables you to curve turn 2 Dragon Fodder into turn 3 Seething Song + Indomitable Creativity for any 2-creature combo kill in order to instantly win the game against any number of adversaries. The deck is now significantly more consistent given that it can run the full 8 copies of the effect without having to turn to more expensive + Blue-based alternatives such as Mass Polymorph and Synthetic Destiny. That being said the fact that it hits any creature or artifact imposes further deckbuilding limitations on the archetype and precludes you from running artifact/creature-based ramp such as Lotus Petal, Simian Spirit Guide and Treasonous Ogre for additional speed. That's not a deal-breaker by any means but it's something important to keep in mind. With respect to its "fair" applications as a generic removal it's far too slow and unreliable to be employed with or against anything "unfair" but it's certainly a serviceable 1-of for slower control decks seeking some additional creature-based interaction. It's not a card that you'd ever want to jam in large quantities but the first gives you outs to game ending bombs such as Sheoldred, Whispering One which is a reasonable place to be.
Combo Grade B+
Removal Grade D
Kari Zev's Expertise: While the base card is worthless it's another cheap enabler for Living Death/Hypergenesis/Breaking // Entering style combo decks and so that's the only place where it'll see play. You could argue that it might have a home in decks with cards such as Lotus Bloom and Ancestral Vision as a "value" 3 drop but I wouldn't recommend trying to assemble such a weak multicard combo if you goal is to win games of Magic. With respect to Hypergenesis/Living Death archetypes it's a far cry from something like Demonic Dread that automatically casts the card from your library which means that you're probably only going to run 1 (tops) as a fail-safe in case you draw too many of your key payoff cards. The only place where I expect the card to shine is in the Breaking // Entering style decks that need it to cheat a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur (or whatever) into play on turn 3. Remember, you get to mill yourself for 8 and then immediately revive something without giving your opponents any opportunity to respond with hate such as Nihil Spellbomb or Scavenging Ooze. You can literally cats Kari Zev's Expertise on an empty board with an empty graveyard, mill over a Griselbrand in your next 8 cards and jam it into play with haste for 3 mana and 1 card.
Combo Grade Niche B
Pia's Revolution: While we can all envision scenarios where it'd be nice to have this card in play the reality is that it's never going to make the final cut in artifact-based shells given that it's both a punisher card and not an artifact itself. Trust me, I love jamming Trash for Treasure, Daretti, Scrap Savant and Scrap Mastery in Red-based artifact brews as much as the next person but those decks desperately need a critical-mass of artifact-based action and this card (unfortunately) doesn't even come close to qualifying. While you could conceivably run it as a 1-of and "hope to get there" you realistically can't start a deck with 3-4 of these and still fit in everything that you'll need. All things being equal I would love to have this text box on an actual artifact to jam as a spicy singleton but unfortunately it's not going to pass muster in its current iteration.
Grade Niche D
Release the Gremlins: This is another card that isn't quite going to get there. Look, if I could elect to fire this off at X=10 in my Cloudpost lists then sure, I'd clearly play it as a 1-of in my big mana lists. The problem is obviously that you're always gated by the number of artifacts in play and even as someone who routinely plays in Cube/EDH 8 player FFAs I know that it's easier said that done to find relevant targets to hit past a certain point. Mass removal often hits hard and fast and I'd be hesitant to field this over something like Vandalblast that always does what I need when I need it. Again, if this were an actual mana sink then we might have had something worth considering but you can't just pour a bunch of mana into this to jam army of gremlins into play. In that sense I'm going to have to take a total pass on it and bluntly put I couldn't envision myself ever sleeving it up.
Grade D
Aid from the Cowl: The most powerful aspect of this card is that it triggers from things like Fetchlands, clues, STEve, Greater Good and Birthing Pod which makes it significantly easier to trigger than it might otherwise seem. Otherwise the fact that it puts the card directly into play is massive since it's easily possible to build competitive decks where it'll hit 100% of the time (or close to it). Once you start to think of this card as a Phyrexian Arena that Black Lotuses every turn it starts to look pretty freaking sweet, especially in a deck full of fatties and other cheat effects. You can also support it with deck manipulation such as Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack, Sylvan Library and/or Cream of the Crop if desired but obviously those kinds of effects reduce your overall threat density and weaken cards like Lurking Predators. I personally tend to exclude them from my own Lurking Predators-based brews and now that the deck has access to another playset of the effect I doubt that I'll even field more than a single Sylvan Library or whatever. Anyways, the key take-away here is that the card, while powerful, still needs proper support to get rolling and that you will have to jam things like Tireless Tracker and Greater Good to ensure consistent triggers.
Grade C-
Heroic Intervention: Personally I think that most "defense" spells are unplayable trash since almost none of them effect the most commonly played forms of mass removal such as Toxic Deluge and Cyclonic Rift. That being said it's still a solid answer to Wrath of Gods and any creature-based shell could easily consider fielding it in order to neutralize them. It's a pure meta call in that sense since the card is literally worthless against some forms of mass removal but utterly back-breaking against others. As such I can't assign it a generic/average grade because it's entirely hit-or-miss and the onus is on you to decided whether or not it's right for you and your meta. Again, I'm personally unexcited by it given that it offers no remorse from things like Innocent Blood, Cyclonic Rift, Balance, Smallpox, Toxic Deluge, Fleshbag Marauder, Grave Pact, Massacre on and on and on but if your meta is nothing but Damnations and Day of Judgments then it's a stellar counter by any metric.
Grade Sideboard C
Hidden Herbalists: This card has no fair applications but, much like Burning-Tree Emissary, can do silly things with cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and/or combos such as Angel of Glory's Rise + Fiend Hunter + Undercity Informer.
Grade Niche D
Natural Obsolescence: As with Deglamer this is a reasonable out to things like Blightsteel Colossus and Darksteel Forge that might otherwise lock you out of the game. That's obviously an ultra-niche sideboard application but if someone Tinkers one out on turn 2 then you need an answer or you lose and this is one of the better ones. For what it's worth the bottom of the library is typically going to be the worst place to put the thing because in a perfect world you'd rather have your opponent draw it and have it rot in their hand for the rest of the game. It's basically strictly worse than Deglamer in that sense which is why I don't expect Natural Obsolescence to actually see any play. Clearly this card wasn't designed purely to beat BSC but I'm obviously only interested in its MP applications and since it's a weaker version of an ultra-niche sideboard card there's not much else to say about it.
Grade Sideboard D
Rishkar, Peema Renegade: This is an extremely exciting card for counter-based archetypes and it's one that I fully expect to significantly alter the way in which we go about building them. Previously we had to choose between casting ramp spells such as Elvish Mystic and Sakura-Tribe Elder vs scaling threats such as Mold Adder and Scavenging Ooze but with the addition of Rishkar we now have access to the best of both worlds at no opportunity cost. Now you can happily curve out with your threats "that matter" as opposed to generic ramp but still have access to 5-6 mana early on in order to jam things like Kalonian Hydra, Doubling Season and Vigor in order to "go over the top" of everyone else. In that sense I fully expect Rishkar to be a 3-or-4-of in counter-based shells moving forward and I highly recommend that players start building with him in mind.
Outside of token decks the card loses most of its appeal gives its weakness to removal and general inconsistency. Obviously he can always jam a counter on himself and so you only need a single threat to extract full value from him but he's still not on the same level as things like Shaman of Forgotten Ways, Elvish Archdruid, Overgrowth and Courser of Kruphix that have higher floors and/or ceilings. He's obviously still going to be a passable threat in any deck curving out with nonmana threats but since he's actively bad in lists seeking to start their game with 1 and 2 CMC ramp I don't expect to see him outside of dedicated counter builds.
Grade Niche B
Rishkar's Expertise: While Green has no shortage of awesome 6 drops this is going to be an extremely powerful Magic card for players operating in removal-light metas. In pairs naturally well with resilient + large beaters such as Titania, Protector of Argoth, Thragtusk and Vorapede and it's nice that you don't have to feel bad about jamming 6-8 of them in a list knowing that you'll always have an opportunity to cast them while still being able to accrue card advantage in the process.
Grade C+
Dark Intimations: Assuming a 4 player FFA this thing is inherently an 8-for-1 which is an utterly absurd Magic card even if your deck doesn't contain any Bolas-based Planeswalkers whatsoever. Even at 2 opponents it's still a 6-for-1 which is eminently reasonable in formats such as 2HG so there's literally no excuse to omit purchasing these. In general I'm a huge fan of 5+ drops that actively want to chain into additional copies of itself and this is basically the perfect card to curve into as far as I'm concerned. It does a little bit of everything and pairs well with removal-based/recursive threats such as Abyssal Gatekeeper, Baleful Strix, Fleshbag Marauder and Archaeomancer which tend to be staples in Grixis Control shells. Future copies build on previous ones insanely well and so you can happily jam 4 of these and never look back. It's especially powerful in creature-based shells that build large boards of their own at which point you can pair it with a card like Capital Punishment in order to clear everyone's field + hand while keeping your own intact. As such I recommend building decks that have relevant early game plays to gum-up the board whenever possible because this is the type of spell that's easiest to cast when even/ahead rather than way behind because if you can string a few them together over multiple turns you can effectively neuter your opposition. It's a stellar Control/Midrange Control card in that sense and one that I expect to see play for many years to come.
For what it's worth Dark Intimations wouldn't entice me to put a Nicol Bolas in my deck even though it enables you to curve his +3 directly into his ultimate (or even an immediate ult if you can somehow assemble all 4 in your graveyard). After all, "target player loses the game" doesn't really interest me when it's attached to a conditional 8 drop and I'd rather field something that would more reliably close games out. Still, I wouldn't blame anyone for electing to field him as a 1-2 of, especially since Dark Intimations can always recur him should he bite the dust.
Grade B
Oath of Ajani: I've had a lot of time to think about this card (it was spoiled quite early after all) and while I was initially fairly high on it my excitement level has since tapered-off. Unlike mana rocks (or even a ramp spell) this won't fix colored mana, won't significantly help you post-Armageddon and does nothing to help cast the other spells in your deck. It obviously outshines a rock in scenarios where you're casting multiple Planeswlakers a turn but realistically that's not something that you see very often. As such it's really riding on that +1/+1 trigger which has obvious synergy with all of the various token producing Planeswalkers (and/or Doubling Season) but that's not really where you want to be in a MP setting. I'd wager dollars to donuts that a simple Utopia Sprawl or Nature's Lore for Temple Garden would outperform it the vast majority of the time even taking into account the fact that Oath of Ajani is a significantly better lategame draw. At this point I'm not even planning on acquiring this card myself because it's far too narrow (it's only relevant for Planeswalker-heavy GW decks) and even then I'll probably end up playing Utopia Sprawl over it 95% of the time.
Grade Niche D
Renegade Rallier: Wood Elves et al. have always been reasonably competitive playables and this thing can offer the same functionality with significantly more versatility. The fact that you can crack a Fetchland or Sakura-Tribe Elder to trigger it (which you can then recur) gives you immense control over the timing and lategame it has the option of nabbing cheap + relevant threats such as Gaddock Teeg, Scavenging Ooze, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Stoneforge Mystic on and on and on. It even has some nice beefy stats which is always relevant for protecting your life total early on. Otherwise it boasts decent synergy with Sun Titan since recursion chains are one of the easiest ways to generate massive boards in the later stages of the game. Triggering Revolt might be easier said than done at that stage but hopefully you'll be able to chump attack attack something or crack a Fetch that you've been sandbagging. The dream is obviously to curve a turn 2 Sakura-Tribe Elder into one of these but, again, even a Fetchland is perfectly fine.
Grade B
Winding Constrictor: Hardened Scales is back and this time it's scalier than ever. Between this and Corpsejack Menace Golgai has some powerful +1/+1 enablers and so it wouldn't surprise me to start seeing more of those brews popping up. As always I love seeing this effect placed on a cheap spell as opposed to an expensive one because I want the damned thing to already be in play when I curve out with my Managorger Hydra and Forgotten Ancient so that I can start smashing people for 20 on turn 5. As a 2/3 for 2 it's a solid (snake) early-game blocker that even survives mass removal such as Pyroclasm and Massacre which isn't too shabby all things considered. Beyond that there's not much to analyze because it's clearly an extremely niche card but it'll always have a home in GBx +1/+1 counter decks. Still, I suppose that it's worth noting that Winding Constrictor also works with artifacts which could certainly be relevant for Stax builds fielding things like Tangle Wire, Smokestack and Darksteel Reactor. I personally wouldn't recommend fielding it in said brews but far be from me to try and stop others from trying.
Grade Niche B
Cogwork Assembler: The only reason why I'm reviewing this card is because it received a fair amount of attention in a "what AER cards interest you" multiplayer thread. Bluntly put I think that it's a do-nothing pile of trash that should never make the cut. I get that unlike most value engines this one's a 2/3 for 3 which technically provides board presence early-on but there's still no compelling reason to field it over things like Mimic Vat, Prototype Portal, Planar Bridge, etc. as a lategame value engine. If this were a real card on turn 3 then sure, we might have something worth discussing, but a 2/3 for 3 that eventually enables you to sink 7 mana in order to Sneak Attack an Artifact that's already in play isn't going to pass muster.
Grade D
Crackdown Construct: This card goes "infinite" with any card that's free to activate and since there's no shortage of those in Magic this will serve as an immense beater/blocker for any deck that's naturally running them. Having played both with and against Lord of Extinction countless times I can assure you that gargantuan + evasionless beaters are far from oppressive, especially if you have to jump through some hoops to get there. Again, the idea here is that I wouldn't add Crackdown Construct to a deck and expect it reliably carry you to victory but assuming that you were already playing a whack of Chimeric Idols (or whatever) then it'd be eminently reasonable to jam a set of these in order to bash/block for literal millions. This is especially true for builds with Equipment/evasion enablers that can naturally push it through because, let's face it, killing a player each turn is still one Hell of a clock. Still, again, I do not recommend trying to build around Crackdown Construct as a reliable finisher in of itself because I can guarantee you that it'll almost always get killed/chumped/denied/whatever. In that sense you should think of it as a passable plan B/C but never a plan A.
Combo Grade C
Hope of Ghirapur: A cheap, colorless answer to permission/removal is always a welcome sight but the fact that it has to both deal combat damage and sac itself makes it a rather anemic solution at best. I would only advocate playing this little bugger in decks that can reliably recur it with things like Phyrexian Reclamation or Sun Titan at which it becomes a reasonable disruption engine against Control mages. As a generic Silence effect it's far too weak and so you have to be abusing the body to get your money's worth and even then it's a middling solution at best. The only place I expect this card to truly shine is in Edric, Spymaster of Trest EDH/constructed decks that happily play any 1 CMC fliers with reasonable upsides regardless. The fact that it can stymie mass removal and whatnot is a big game and, again, those decks are actively happy to jam 1/1 fliers for 1 to begin with making it the perfect fit.
Grade Niche D
Inspiring Statuary: While I thought long and hard about this card (especially in the context of Stax decks that could manipulate their own Winter Orbs and such in order to break their parity) I ultimately I couldn't conjure up a single compelling reason to jam it over a card like Worn Powerstone or Basalt Monolith. Believe me, I wanted this to be an "overpowered free mana mechanic" that would legitimately amount to something but nothing that I tested or read from others offered more value on average than a simple Worn Powerstone. This is especially true in the myriad of games in which you draw multiples because whereas Inspiring Statuary is nigh worthless (a conditional + colorless Manalith is not a real Magic card) Worn Powerstone is always great. I want to stress the fact that the "nonartifact" clause is a very serious downside when it comes to ramp because you're often using it to chain into more expensive ramp later on. This is especially true in formats such as Cube and EDH where you'll often see people curving Sol Rings and Dimir Signets into Thran Dynamos, Gilded Lotuses and Caged Suns. Again, far more often than not this thing will be a colorless Manalith that can't be used on artifacts and that's just such a silly place to be when you could elect to field a card like Coalition Relic or Basalt Monolith instead.
Grade C-
Lifecrafter's Bestiary: I've been testing this card a fair amount and have been pleasantly surprised with its performance. Scry 1 ensures that it's still providing value even when you're curving out and giving your creatures "kicker G: draw a card" comes up big in the mid-to-late stages of the game. Obviously the card is quite slow and extremely weak in multiples early on but past a certain point it ensures that you're hitting gas each and every turn which is exactly where most Green decks want to be. This isn't a "jam 4 in all of your creature-based decks" card or anything but fielding 1-2 in any creature-heavy ramp deck is right where you want to be. Just be sure to overload on the creature count and opt for things like Elvish Mystic over Wild Growth whenever possible to ensure the maximum number of hits possible. Think of it like a smaller, weaker version of Lurking Predators in that sense and you should be good to go.
Grade C+
Metallic Mimic: I'll start by saying that I don't consider this to be a relevant tribal card since it doesn't the address the primary weakness of "mass removal = game loss." It's no different than any other snow-balling 2 drop that's eminently reasonable when you're playing against goldfish but the second that someone whips out a Wrath of God you basically lose on the spot. That isn't to say that you can't jam this in your tribal decks, simply that I don't consider that be a "winning" tactic in a multiplayer setting.
Otherwise this card has some potential as a combo enabler since it pairs with any Persist creature and any sac outlet to go infinite. While Melira, Sylvok Outcast and/or Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit will always be the go-tos for Green/White versions of the archetype Metallic Mimic opens the door for you to play monoblack/monored and still have access to the effect. For example, you can play a stock monored Goblins deck with Metallic Mimic at 2 and Murderous Redcap at 4 and easily give yourself the out to Goblin Matron/Goblin Ringleader for a Skirk Prospector to seal the deal. Similarly a monoblack deck can pair Viscera Seer with Metallic Mimic and Murderous Redcap to ping the table down without having to splash fora card like Melira, Sylvok Outcast.
Do I expect those kinds of decks to start popping up in droves? Not really no. The combos are flimsy, easily disrupted, require too many cards and are too inconsistent when you lose access to Green's creature tutors. In that sense I don't actually expect this card to change anything but it's still interesting to think about its potential fair and/or combo applications given that most colors struggle to field relevant 2 drops to begin with and so anything that can support a degenerate combo kill is worth taking a hard look at. In that sense I still expect the best versions of the deck to employ Melira et al. but I also wouldn't fault anyone for making slight tweaks to their monored Goblin deck in order to support a combo kill. After all, you're already playing Skirk Prospector 100% of the time and Metallic Mimic is a reasonable 2 drop when you're curving out with Mogg War Marshals, Krenko, Mob Bosss, Siege-Gang Commanders, etc. Since the only piece left is Murderous Redcap (which is a reasonable Magic card to begin with) you're not exactly bending over backwards to slot it in.
Combo Grade C
Paradox Engine: I'm going to cut straight to the chase and say that this card is broken. So far the only thing that I've read about it are things along the lines of "this card seems good but I don't know how to build around it" which is a statement that makes absolutely no sense to me. This card is ridiculously easy to build around because it tells you exactly what to play; ramp and card draw.
First and foremost Paradox Engine transforms all of your nonland ramp into "Urza's Incubators" that effect each and every one of your spells. Since that's obviously going to be stupidly problematic when you're playing with cards like Mana Crypt, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Grim Monolith, Fellwar Stone, Signets, Worn Powerstone, Basalt Monolith, Thran Dynamo, Gilded Lotus, etc. you can probably see why I think this card is going to be an auto-include in ramp-heavy decks and formats (such as Cube and EDH). These cards are already oppressive staples in the vast majority of multiplayer formats and so anything that further enhances their power is going to ruin games like it's going out of style. It's just way too easy to curve out with a card like Basalt Monolith on turn 2-3 only to jam this and suddenly have every future spell cost 3 less to cast. If that sounds ridiculous broken to you that's probably because it is and bear in mind we still haven't even started to cover all the other oppressive aspects of Paradox Engine.
Moving on it's clear that the best way to abuse a deck that generates nigh infinite mana to cast a ton of spells. As such you'll want to pair Paradox Engine with copious amounts of card draw whenever possible to extract maximum value from its cost reduction capabilities. Remember, assuming that you have a card like Basalt Monolith in play then suddenly your Syphon Minds and Fact or Fiction are only costing you a single mana. Heck, toss in a Dimir Signet and now they're free! Clearly every spell benefits immensely from having its cost reduced but it's this combination of ramp + card draw that makes a card like Paradox Engine completely unbeatable for people trying to have a fun, fair game of Magic. This highlights precisely why I expect this card to be problematic because, quite frankly, the best decks are always going to be filled with ramp and card draw and anything that enhances both is not be trifled with. Still, we've barely scratched the surface of why this card is so nutty.
Paradox Engine, much like Intruder Alarm, is a card so bloody powerful that it'll "accidentally" go infinite all the damned time. At some point a Green mage is going to curve out with things like Elvish Mystic, Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid into powerful card draw engines such as Lifecraft's Bestiary and Soul of the Forest only to realize that all of their spells now produce mana instead of costing it while drawing multiple cards in the process. Oops! Needless to say that tacking "kicker 0: Dark Ritual + Divination" on to your spells is really freaking overpowered and these types of sequences are ridiculously easy to enable in colors such as Blue and Green. After all, the same principle holds true for Blue cantrips + manarocks and so you can see how it can be trivially easily to go "infinite" and mow through your entire deck at will.
Now, some of you are probably thinking "yeah but those are all 3 card combos." Doesn't matter. The "problem" (let's just call it that for now) with playing a combo like Hive Mind + Pact of the Titan is that your combo pieces are worthless on their own and your deck is a steaming pile of trash without them. You don't get to play Magic; you either combo and win or fail to combo and lose. Paradox Engine breaks that mold by allowing you to play "overpowered combo decks" that use nothing but "real" Magic cards. Let's go back to my Green deck for example, the one with mana Elves and fatties. That's a normal deck filled with normal Magic cards. You get to sit down and play Magic every game because you're not forced to run bad cards that don't have any standalone value. That being said instead of playing things like Lurking Predators to extract value in the mid-to-lategame you can elect to slam a Paradox Engine, cast a spell, draw your deck, produce hundreds of mana and kill everyone with a Craterhoof Behemoth or whatever. This becomes your new go-to "value" card except 50% of the time that "value" is straight up "you win the game." The same concept also holds true for the Blue deck. Starting your list with 4x Preordain, 4x Sky Diamond and generic cantrips/draw spells such as Ponder, Impulse, Accumulated Knowledge, Trade Secrets, Fact or Fiction, etc. doesn't cost you anything (all your decks could start that way) but at some point you'll be able to go-off and draw as much as you want. That's what makes Paradox Engine so freaking scary and why it should become the de facto finisher for any build with a heavy amount of card draw and ramp. I also don't want to make it sound like it'll only see play in Green/Blue/Black because believe me when I say that there's plenty of ways to abuse it in White and Red too.
Anyways, it's probably time to move on right? Ha! Yeah no, sorry, this card is way too good to leave it at that. See, in addition to everything that we've already talked about there's still a ton of additional things that Paradox Engine does for you. It's a Serra's Blessing that gives your entire team vigilance. It's a Thousand-Year Elixir that allows you to use your Merfolk Looters and Bloodline Keepers 2-3 times per circuit. It's a Voltaic Key for Grim Monolith/Basal Monolith. Untapping all of your nonland permanents every time you play a spell has countless positive applications and I can't even begin to start listing them all. This is what truly breaks the card in my mind because, again, it's not even about purposely trying to go infinite and end the game when it comes to breaking this card in two. It simply does way too much for way too little and rest assured that will become apparently almost immediately once you start playing with it.
Still, I want to provide my readers with a small caveat to keep in mind when analyzing this card for themselves. Remember that this is a multiplayer set review designed with multiplayer decklists in mind. I understand that for many people "multiplayer" is a code word for "extended duels" in which players slam duel decks full of aggressive threats and spot removal at each other. Personally I don't even consider aggro/aggro-midrange to be viable archetypes because things like Massacre, Innocent Blood, Planar Collapse, Anger of the Gods, turn 2 Azorius Signet turn 3 Wrath of God, etc. have pushed them out of my own meta once and for all. It's literally impossible to win with aggro decks when those kinds of cards are on the table and so I don't build or test with them in mind. That being said I understand that plenty of players out there choose not to field mass removal, cheap ramp, oppressive card draw, etc. and while that's perfectly fine just bear in mind that you're not my target audience. Paradox Engine isn't a duel card. If everyone is playing aggro and spot removal then your build full of do-nothing ramp and card draw will lose miserably and there's no two ways about it. In that sense while I fully expect Paradox Engine to be utterly oppressive in true multiplayer metas (i.e. ones featuring actual multiplayer decks) I'm not going to kid myself into thinking that it'll work for every player in every meta.
Grade A
Planar Bridge: While slow and expensive this is one of the most powerful + colorless finishers that we've seen for some time and I wouldn't fault anyone for jamming one in their midrange/ramp/control deck as a lategame finisher. I couldn't imagine jamming more than 1 given its prohibitive cost but past a certain point you want to draw your 6+ drops every turn of the game and that's where these "Eye of Ugins" shine. Beyond that I don't recommend trying to use this card to cheat overly expensive bombs into play (think Omniscience and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) because that's simply too slow to be effective. It's not going to have any relevant combo applications in that sense but, again, it's a fine singleton for slow decks in slow metas.
Grade C
Scrap Trawler: As someone who's cut both Myr Retriever and Junk Diver from countless shells I'm largely unimpressed by this card. I understand that it can potentially recur multiple cards whereas they can only nab one but the CMC restriction is a very real drawback and the body isn't relevant as far as I'm concerned. The reaon why these effects tend to suck in practice is because not only do you need to have a value engine + a recursion spell in play but you typically need to have 2 "good hits" in your graveyard since your value engine is almost always going to recur one of them. As such they tend to feel extremely win-more as they typically only become relevant in the lategame at which point you've already won or lost. Far be it from me to try and stop you from adding it to your Goblin Welder/Trading Post/Daretti, Scrap Savant brews if you still want to but I'd personally recommend focusing your attention elsewhere.
Grade Niche D
Treasure Keeper: While I fully expect this analysis to be controversial this is another card that I consider to be hot garbage. Not because it's the worst card of all time or anything, simply because I fully expect the vast majority of players to massively overrate it. Now, as someone who's played both Standard and Modern during the Bloodbraid Elf eras I understand why people would be drawn to Treasure Keeper but this is where I'm forced to remind everyone that "multiplayer Magic differs immensely from duel Magic." While a 3/3 is a very real card in a duel setting it's essentially worthless in multiplayer which means that it's nearly impossible to extract meaningful value from this type of threat. Even if you Brainstorm an Ancestral Vision to top of your library that's still just a Concentrate in my books because, again, I don't assign any value to the 3/3. Clearly these types of sequences aren't abysmal and I wouldn't fault anyone for employing them but the point that I'm trying to make is that the 3/3 is insignificant and should be treated as such. That is, this isn't an insane value engine that will win games nor secure the midgame for you. It's marginal filler at best.
The only scenario where this card's stock rises is in decks that can actually abuse the body with things like Viscera Seer, Oversold Cemetery, Eldritch Evolution, Recurring Nightmare, Birthing Pod, etc. that transform it into something above and beyond an insignificant Bloodbraid Elf. Even then it's still a middling value enable at best but at least I could actually envision myself sleeving this up in a dedicated bounce deck. Again, the idea here isn't that "this card is Mudhole levels of bad" but where people have it vs where it's actually ranked is likely a massive gap that needs some addressing. I promise you that if you start a deck with 4 of these because "they always generate value" they won't do nearly enough to secure victories for you.
Otherwise the only bookkeeping notes that I have are that these kinds of cards are terrible in decks with permission, X spells, cheap ramp, etc. and so you really do have to be careful about when and where you field them. That "ramp" qualifier might seem strange to some people but it really shouldn't. No one should ever feel happy to play an Ondu Giant or whatever which is why I hate seeing smallball ramp in decks with threats such these. Cascading into Worn Powerstone or whatever is fine, that's not a problem, but if you hit a Wild Growth then congrats on your 4 mana Rampant Growth.
Grade D+
Walking Ballista: This is an amazing finisher for basically any infinite mana deck and I expect it to see a ton of play as a generic kill condition. Throngs of artifact-based shells win by pairing things like Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth and/or Metalworker + Staff of Domination (especially in formats such as EDH) at which point you simply need some sort of mana sink in order to seal the deal. Given that Walking Ballista is both an artifact and a creature, has a CMC of 0 and doesn't force you to jump through any additional hoops you can bet your boots that he'll be a go-to kill condition in a ton of lists. After all, from Trinket Mage to Fabricate virtually every artifact and/or creature-based tutor will be able to nab it and Black's recursion will always be able to recur it which is clearly ideal when you're going for a combo kill. Again, the idea here isn't that the card enables any specific combos in-of-itself but the fact that it's colorless, 0 CMC, an artifact and a creature make it the ideal finisher for infinite mana combos.
Outside of combo decks the card is reasonable but unexciting. Triskelion has never been a MP powerhouse and even though I consider this card to be strictly better (yes, I do realize that Trisk has a base P/T) it's still too slow and marginal to make the cut in any serious list. That being said much like Hangarback Walker this is a reasonable colorless value critter that can be jammed into any list in order to provide you with a scaling threat that brings removal to any build that includes them. I'm generally a fan of any 2 drop that's still relevant on turn 10 and believe me when I say that Walking Ballista definitely qualifies. It won't turn heads or anything but it'll hold its own and that's more than you can say about 99% of the other cards in the game. The fact it's playable in any deck of of any color, that it pairs well with ramp, that it's good on turn 2, 4, 8, 10, etc. are all small advantages that add-up to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Combo Grade A
Noncombo Grade C+
Spire of Industry: I hate reviewing these kinds of lands because there's nothing interesting to say about them. It's a cross between Glimmervoid and Mana Confluence and could reasonably see play in colored artifact-based decks. Unlike Glimmervoid it never gets blown-out by mass removal and unlike Mana Confluence it won't nug you for the entire game but the tradeoff is obviously that it has a lower power-ceiling than either in the best/worst case scenarios. That makes it a reasonable playable but hardly something worth writing home about.
Grade Niche C
Top 8 Cards in the Set:
8. Yahenni's Expertise
7. Felidar Guardian
6. Whir of Invention
5. Sram, Senior Edificer
4. Mechanized Production
3. Indomitable Creativity
2. Dark Intimations
1. Paradox Engine
Long-time readers of my articles are probably wondering why I only posted 8 "best in set" cards as opposed to my usual 10. Bluntly put there's nothing else even worth listing and that should give you a rough idea about how I feel bout the set as a whole. To make matters worse Indomitable Creativity is only relevant as a 5 mana "I win the game" spell when paired with 2-card creature combos and token producers which means that huge swaths of players will refuse to touch it. The same also holds true for Sram, Senior Edificer who's little more than a degenerate combo card himself. AER was a huge letdown for me in that sense and it'll definitely go down as one of the worst MP sets in my books. Its only saving grace is Paradox Engine as far as I'm concerned because that's one of the most blatantly pushed colorless cards that we've ever seen. I fully expect it to have a dramatic + lasting impact not only in formats such as Cube and EDH but also in Constructed assuming that players aren't slinging duel decks at one another. Any deck filled with ramp and card draw is going to want at least 1 and that describes something like 90% of the lists that I personally build. Otherwise the only cards that'll actually change the way in which we build our decks are Mechanized Production and Dark Intimations which ostensibly makes this a a 3-card set overall. Again, I'm grateful for the small number of cards that us MP fans did receive but from a purely objective standpoint this wasn't Wizard's strongest showing.
Overall Set Grade: D+
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I have identified one more I'd really like to try out.
Still reading..probably more to say over the weekend. Thanks for doing this, always appreciated.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
I wanted to say that it wasn't that bad but looking at what I bought and play, it was.
(Great hopes for Amonkhet though, I like graveyard magics and expect a lot of them. And a realm in which an evil immortal dragon is the boss can't be bad.)
I do wonder whether you overrate Sram.
And this week I got slaughtered by unmentioned Solemn Recruits.
But you'll probably rate those at D+ or C- or something.
My meta: 3 or 4 player free for all, anything goes but boring games or broken decks cause a vote to end that game.
He can kill extremely consistently on turns 3-4 with backup and can literally kill on turn 1-2 against goldfish given the right draw. The ability to draw your deck, jam an Aetherflux Reservoir and drain the table out (be it EDH or Constructed) should not be trifled with. The fact that he can win with 0 mana floating using fast mana makes him very busted, especially in Constructed where you can almost always win with a simple Grapeshot + Noxious Revival chain on turn 3-4 with Silence backup.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Ward's stock has been significantly rising lately (at least in my mind). Seems pretty clear they feel it's too good to ever reprint in Standard so I probably wouldn't wait forever to pick some up if you were thinking about it.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
Agreed. It's an "oppressive" combo enabler that we'll never see again and that has one printing in one old set. Its price is certainly never going to decline unless it gets reprinted in a Commander product or something.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Hmmm, I actually missed the Boom // Bust interaction especially since Goblin Dark-Dwellers already wants to be played in a deck full of 3 CMC Sorceries and Boom // Bust. That makes the Red Expertise spell slightly better than I was previously thinking. The Fuse cards aren't especially relevant as far as I'm concerned but I love me some Armageddons in multiplayer.
Moreover, maybe playing Beck // Call with Sram's Expertise is better than I'm giving it credit for since both modes are legitimately solid for token decks. The reason why I didn't discussing it is because hoping to draw both cards seems ambitious at best so I didn't even bother testing it. Still, hey, maybe I'm just wrong.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
The only thing that Kari has going for her is Red's general lack of solid early-game plays. That being said while I wouldn't fault anyone for fielding her as a random value 1-of there's nothing about the card that scales especially well into multiplayer. Even in decks with Impact Tremors/Goblin Bombardment/Purphoros, God of the Forge she's still only marginal filler at best and outside of that you're better off fielding mana rocks (or whatever) that significantly advance your gameplan. After all, the card isn't an especially relevant blocker and it's not as though you'll be able to aggro the table down so she really doesn't accomplish anything relevant.
The card that I personally field in this slot tends to be Veteran Brawlers. It's utterly massive which dissuades attacks from most 1-4 drops and survives mass removal such as Anger of the Gods and Earthquake without breaking a sweat. I'll still only field him in extremely aggressive metas because Walls don't win games of Magic but if you're simply in the market for a blocker there's better alternatives.
You actually raise a very valid point with the whole Persist thing. I can't believe that I completely overlooked that tbh. I'll be amending the review shortly.
I could arguably add both Trophy Mage and Planar Bridge to it.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
My Powered 630 card Vintage Multiplayer Cube
cEDH: WUBR Blue Farm WUBR, UG Kinnan Flips UG, U Urza Scepter U
8x Island
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Mishra's Factory
4x Darksteel Citadel
3x Polluted Delta
2x Seat of the Synod
1x Academy Ruins
1x Trophy Mage
1x Phyrexian Metamorph
Spells (32)
2x Mox Opal
2x Mox Diamond
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Sphere of Resistance
4x Propaganda
4x Tangle Wire
4x Rhystic Study
2x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Crucible of Worlds
1x Mimic Vat
4x Smokestack
3x Mechanized Production
This is my current version of the build but I also enjoy playing a Thrummingbird variant that uses 4x Chalice of the Void, 4x Tangle Wire and 4x Smokestack.
For what it's worth Rhystic Study could be Thirst for Knowledge or Trade Secrets or literally any broken draw spell.
Trophy Mage has been a total house and I kind of want to make room for more.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Good question! First, let me say that I only have a few days of testing the deck under my belt so it's not perfect yet but turn 2-3 kills are possible and turn 4+ are common.
First of all the deck has Cloud Key, Helm of Awakening and Krark-Clan Ironworks to combo with things like Second Sunrise, Faith's Reward and Skullclamp + Monastery Mentor. A common sequence involves drawing your deck, casting Aetherflux Reservoir and giving everyone at the table the Death Star beam.
Moreover, the deck can field infinite mana combos such as Lion's Eye Diamond + Auriok Salvagers and Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith that you can pair with things like Sunbeam Spellbomb and Cogwork Assembler in order to win. The Spellbomb obviously just draws your deck and enables the Aetherflux Reservoir kill whereas Cogwork Assembler just creates a billion hasted copies of itself.
Next the deck has mana rocks + Paradox Engine + Sram which, again, is ostensibly a game win. Far more often than not this enables you to generate jillions of mana, draw your deck and win.
Moving on the deck has a value game using either Flickering Ward and/or Conviction (+ Cloud Key, Helm of Awakening, etc.) that give it grindy midgame value in case things have gone awry. Clearly paying 2 mana to draw a card isn't oppressive or anything but it's certainly relevant. Obviously with Paradox Engine this is just straight game win assuming that you have a couple of rocks in play and remember that you have Enlightened Tutor to help find it.
Now, bear in kind that I've only had a few days to build and test this deck so by no means do I have a perfect 99 just yet. It's way too early to have everything optimized. The point is that I'm playing a monowhite deck that can legitimately clear the table on turn 2 (I've done that) and that can routinely win on turn 4-6 (again, that's the average use-case).
First, I will clarify that I have Swan Song in the "God tier" of multiplayer counterspells so there's no shame in losing out to it. It's right up there with Mana Drain and Force of Will so clearly it's going to beat out most of the other competition.
Second, you're never "just" countering other permission. While you're "often" using it to win counter wars you're also going to commonly cast it on game-ending sorceries/artifacts/etc. that Dispel cannot interact with. Clearly if you only cared about permission then Dispel would be stellar but since multiplayer is (virtually) never that simple having cards like Swan Song and Negate that cover multiple bases goes a long way.
W.r.t to actual Counterspell I'll say that A) the card is easily an S-tier permission spell (i.e. worse than Swan Song, Drain, FoW but still very good) and that B) Negate is easier to splash which is very relevant. In a heavy Blue deck you'll clearly almost always use Counterspell but assuming that you don't have a ton of Blue sources then Negate starts to look a lot more appealing.
Poor wording on my part I suppose. When I said "recursion" I meant things like Phyrexian Reclamation and Oversold Cemetery that enable you to recur the card to your hand at which point it scales as the game progresses. I'm fully aware that you can't Animate Dead it for value (or whatever).
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Edit: I'd also like to point out that you strayed pretty far from "As such this set review is solely focused towards the multiplayer crowd with an emphasis on budget-minded, fair Magic" in your review
I don't think that Shamans et al. became any more playable. You still lose to mass removal and Metallic Mimic does absolutely nothing to mitigate that weakness. Clearly if no one plays with removal then any critical-mass deck can work just fine but it's not as though Mimic makes decks significantly better or worse.
Dragon decks have always had ramp at 2 CMC which tends to be more valuable than making giant dragons slightly larger.
What do you mean?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
The deck goldfishes decently but the problem is that monowhite will always be monowhite so it's hard to build something that you're completely satisfied with. Moreover, unlike Sidisi, Undead Vizier Ad Nauseam, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy High Tide, Teferi Temporal Archmage The Chain Veil, Green Elfball decks, etc. your kills aren't nearly as clean and require a lot of components.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
It doesn't check to see if you get 8 of the copied artifacts, it checks to see if there are 8 Artifacts with the same name in play. As an EDH player, it's made serious waves in Riku of Two Reflections decks.
Mid-Tier: Marchesa Aggro Rose Asmadi Get Dire Tymna Ikra Woke Women Tiana Aura Angel Ruric Thar SMASH Smasher Kraum Mana Positivity Zur Slides
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG Gahiji Vigilant Vengeance Ezuri Mysterious Morphs
I've been considering pairing these two. (alongside Mesmeric Orb misery..) Since you can also easily work in Howling Mine and abuse it's 'untapped' clause, it may figure in. Anyone tried anything like this yet?
I'm not overly impressed with the mechanic so far, to be honest. This was the best thing I could come up with. I've tried about a dozen different bad Dimir mill decks. This is the latest idea.
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One of the first decks that I tested was just 4x Battle at the Bridge, 4x Jet Medallion and 4x Whatever the Demon is Called because Jet Medallion is ostensibly Sol Ring when you're using it to cast Improvise spells. Never got anywhere with it but that might help with your idea since the card is solid when you're playing a deck with Dread Summons, Mind Grind, etc.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Medallions are cute.
Holy ***** @ Dread Summons I've never seen THAT card before. WOW. Picking up some...
I thought about truly heinous stuff like Winter Orb too but this deck is pretty unfun as-is. Maybe..
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
Mein Gott..
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
You poor, poor soul . The card is passable in small ~4 player games but is utterly bonkers in big 6-8 player games. Even at X=3 it can sometimes put upwards of 20 power into play which kinda makes Army of the Damned look like a joke. In smaller games the card becomes quite powerful as the game progresses because once you hit X=4/5 it doesn't take much for it to be a 12/12 that mills everyone for 5 (and that's on the low-end).
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
I mean...YEAH? It's even easily tutorable? Hooo-BOY.
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!