Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm using my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
**Consulate Crackdown - It's similar to Vandalblast in that it hits all artifacts except yours. Comparable to many other artifact sweepers in general as well, such as Creeping Corrosion. Of course this has its ups and downs; exiling is useful as many artifact decks have graveyard recursion, but the artifacts all come back once this is removed.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Exquisite Archangel - Similar to Resolute Archangel, where they're 7-mana angels that alter your life total in a noticeable way. Personally this doesn't impress me, as most of the time you lose because of an infinite combo which doesn't care about something that lets you restart your life total.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Felidar Guardian - Similar to Restoration Angel, but blinking any permanent you control (other than itself) instead of non-angel creature can lead to some hilarious things (e.g. he goes infinite with Saheeli Rai so we get splinter twin combo T4 kills in standard lulz). The lack of flash and the lower stats (lower power, no flying) are notable drawbacks, but there are nice interactions with being able to blink the things that restoration angel can't get (e.g. blink a mana rock), and being a little easier on the wallet is nice too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Derevi
****Restoration Specialist - For essentially 1WW you recur an artifact plus enchantment, which actually is quite strong. Most creatures only do one or the other. As an extra bonus you get to decide when to pull the "trigger".
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Various white decks, preferably with creature recursion
***Sram, Senior Edificer - Vehicles are still not that playable in EDH, so it's just drawing cards off your aura and equipment spells, which is still not bad for voltron decks. It's a similar card to Kor Spiritdancer and Puresteel Paladin - 2-mana dudes that help draw cards in your voltron decks. It should slot in decently in said voltron decks or possibly be a monowhite voltron general.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sram's Expertise - Making a bunch of 1/1s is whatever at 4-mana, so you really want to be cheating in something cool, and you still have to care about the tokens.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLUE
*Aethertide Whale - Generates a lot of energy upon ETB but does nothing much besides that.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Baral, Chief of Compliance - Goblin Electromancer with upside and only one color will be quite sick. Obviously for spellslinger decks, but it will be an automatic include in them. The second ability might make it also playable in a control/counterspell control deck as the loot ability is nice too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Baral's Expertise - One of the best in the cycle, as it affects the board in a meaningful and flexible way while also giving a free spell, which helps make this slot into a lot of different blue decks as a decent value/tempo card. Being able to bounce artifacts is also very relevant. Bounce three threats and cheat in a Rhystic Study or Jace isn't too bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Disallow - Voidslime for 1UU instead of GUU will see good amounts of play. Having flexible counterspells is always nice to have. It won't be a broken card but it will be solid.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: most blue decks
*Efficient Construction - It's unfortunate this isn't an artifact itself, but regardless it's a slow but fair way to slowly pump out artifacts. Most artifact combos are just looping from the graveyard over and over again though and not hardcasting much of anything so this likely won't see much play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Illusionist's Stratagem - +1 mana over Displace for a cantrip. The cantrip probably isn't worth it at this point, as 4-mana starts to get quite pricy.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Mechanized Production - Way too slow and vulnerable for EDH. I wouldn't play this even if Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel didn't exist, but the fact that those two cards do exist means this card is straight unplayable. It will be funny if you ever win the game with this (note that your 8+ copies of the artifact do not have to be whatever you enchanted, all the card cares about is if you have 8+ copies of any artifact) but shigs and tiggles don't make you more playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Metallic Rebuke - Mana Leak is not bad if you're in a tight meta where mana curves are lower and people often won't have 3 open to pay for their spell. However, you need to improvise for at least 1 before it becomes mana leak and only for 2 does it actually become better, meaning this is not a great early play, and being a great early play is the exact reason why mana leak was so good.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Quicksmith Spy - Maybe it has an infinite combo with something?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Reverse Engineer - If you improvise for 1 it becomes Concentrate, though you really want to improvise for 3 before you really want to consider playing this. Improvising for only two means it's still generally worse than Thirst for Knowledge, the standard 3-mana draw-three spell for artifact decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Skyship Bandit - Literally Thrummingbird except it's a 2/1 instead of a 1/1. The extra point of power has some uses, mostly in being able to trade with 2 toughness creatures, but if your deck doesn't want Thrummingbird, it very likely doesn't want this either.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Trophy Mage - Obvious brother (or sister in this case) to Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage, two cards that see massive amounts of play. There are tons of 3-mana artifacts to get, such as Ashnod's Altar, Mimic Vat, Sword of X and Y, many mana rocks, Cloudstone Curio, and the list goes on. 3-mana is always the fair spot for tutors, especially when it comes with a body. Pick up your foils fast because this will be a staple. Like many of these 3-mana dudes that tutor for something, Trophy mage won't be broken, but it will become a staple.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Any blue deck with 2+ critical 3-mana artifacts
*****Whir of Invention - It's obviously a Chord of Calling for artifacts. Chord is a 5-star card and this will easily be another 5-star card as well. With Chord, you don't even need to convoke, just tutoring up a creature at instant speed is strong, and the convoke just made it ridiculous. This will be the same thing; you don't need to abuse the improvise part of the card, it's still going to be very good. The only difference is that Chord's convoke cost allowed you to tap green creatures to pay for the triple green, whereas there aren't many blue artifacts you can improvise, meaning you'll often have to pay at least the triple blue. Still, it's going to be strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Any blue deck with critical artifacts
BLACK
*Battle at the Bridge - Ho-hum removal spell, sorcery speed kills it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Fatal Push - Wizards obviously wanted to name it "THIS IS SPARTA" but they couldn't because something. Regardless, this is actually playable in the right meta (and is very good in modern). If you have a hypercompetitive meta where many of the key creatures are 4 or less mana (Brago, Zur, Arcum, Hermit Druid, etc.), this is basically a 1-mana kill spell. With fetchlands around you can trigger the revolt easily. You may want to have more cards that can leave the battlefield on command so you can get the revolt trigger more reliably, but regardless, any 1-mana kill spell should be on your radar. Pick up your foils because modern is going to love this card and it will cause this to be expensive for a long time.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Gonti's Machinations - The sac ability is terrible, but it seems like an okay energy generator. Crack a fetchland on a turn you're not damaged to get a free energy, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Herald of Anguish - The discard ability seems kind of tacked on but is good, since it triggers at your endstep which helps it generate value faster than if it triggered at your upkeep. The sac ability is a bit hefty as you need 1B and you only get a Disfigure out of it, but artifact decks have a slew of artifacts to toss away. What's more interesting is that black gets a card that loves artifacts, since it's usually white/blue/red that get the artifact love. Not sure if it'll be good enough for artifact decks since they can combo so quickly though, but it sounds good on paper.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Midnight Entourage - Not sure if there are enough playable Aetherborns.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Perilous Predicament - Almost everyone will have a noncreature artifact, but not everyone will have an artifact creature.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sly Requisitioner - Depending on how many artifacts you have that sacrifice themselves and/or how many artifact sac outlets you have, this might be a decent value card. Most of the time if you're saccing artifacts you're going for an infinite loop though so this won't really do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Vengeful Rebel - Similar to Fatal Push; decent to good in the right meta, and you need to trigger the revolt reliably.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Yahenni, Undying Partisan - Sac outlets that require no mana investment are always something to be aware of. He can't sac himself but whatever. It can also grow fairly quickly, although you're going to play this more as a sac outlet than anything else. While most sac outlets can't compare to the really good ones like Viscera Seer or Phyrexian Altar, this will still be fine.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Yahenni's Expertise - A mini-sweeper is not always relevant in EDH, but being able to cast a spell for free is always dangerous and worth watching out for. Play this and use the free spell on a removal spell to kill a big threat that the mini-sweeper doesn't catch. You really do want to play this card in a meta where the mini-sweeper matters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
RED
**Indomitable Creativity - Really huge polymorph-variant must be interesting, right? Well this one seems like it'll be very difficult to abuse. While you can target artifacts or creatures, revealing either one will satisfy the card. For example, if you wanted to kill 4 of your dumb creature tokens, you might end up revealing underwhelming artifacts instead of these huge creatures you wanted to flip over, and vice versa. If you played something like Divergent Transformations instead, which only cares about creatures, you will instead keep flipping until you hit creatures, making it easier to cheat in bombs. This means this card seems more like a multi-kill spell that gives the controller something in return at random, rather than something you can build around and be able to cheat in a fattie with the proper deckbuilding. Given that monored has problems killing large creatures this might still see play, but it's not going to be as good as your normal Polymorph-type card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - She's a lower CMC Geist of Saint Traft who doesn't hit as hard and can be killed with spot removal, but is a little harder to kill in actual combat. She'll be interesting in standard, but it doesn't seem like she'll be enough for EDH as a voltron. She comes down early and is hard to block, but she needs serious equipment/aura to boost her power and she can still be killed with removal spells.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Kari Zev's Expertise - This might be the most interesting of the cycle not because the Threaten effect is bonkers, but the fact that it's the lowest CMC of the cycle, meaning if you want to go out of your way to abuse Ancestral Vision or the like, this is the best of the cycle to do so.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Lightning Runner - Extra attack steps can be strong in the right build, but because you need so much energy for it, there's not many places that can use this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Pia's Revolution - Punisher mechanics are not good in EDH, but this is at a low enough CMC and is repeatable where either choice the opponent makes is generally acceptable. It's similar to Combustible Gearhulk in that you get to target the opponent who has to make the choice, so you can target the guy at a low life total if you want to recur an artifact.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Quicksmith Rebel - Granting an artifact an ability while this guy is in play is cool design, although just poking something for 2 damage isn't that useful in EDH.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Release the Gremlins - There are a bunch of cards that destroy multiple artifacts, and I feel like there are enough of them that are more efficient than this card. It's a nice mana sink late in the game, but it is very inefficient early-midgame, so I would rather play Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
GREEN
**Aetherwind Basker - If you want to make an energy deck, you can play a token deck and have this in here to create a bunch of energy quickly. outside of that this card doesn't really do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Aid from the Cowl - This triggers at your end step so you are more likely to get at least one trigger when it resolves (as opposed to triggering at your upkeep), which helps the playability of the card. 5-mana is pretty hefty so you want to be almost all permanents or have some library manipulation.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Maelstrom Wanderer
****Heroic Intervention - Basically it's a super Boros Charm/Simic Charm. If you're blue, you should just play a counterspell instead of this so you can counter whatever would be troubling you, but if you're not blue and you're in green this might be your next best option. It stops most traditional removal spells and sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Hidden Herbalists - Most creatures that produced mana upon ETB were red or black or made eldrazi tokens, so I guess it's interesting that monogreen finally gets one that does it, albeit with the revolt restriction. Regardless, the types of decks that cared about Priest of Urabrask and similar cards would care about this, and everything else probably won't.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Maulfist Revolutionary - It proliferates only one target, and since it does target it can't get around shroud/protection/etc. for whatever that's worth.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Monstrous Onslaught - If you have a large creature (e.g. Terastodon) this can pick off multiple creatures. Since it checks the value of X as you cast it, you don't get blown out by a removal spell either. Sorcery speed and 5-mana sucks, but if you can kill 2-3 creatures it could be fine.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Peema Aether-Seer - It can generate a lot of energy on its own if you have recursion/blink.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Ridgescale Tusker - Anthems the rest of your team for 5-mana. Sounds fine but you really want to have a +1/+1 counter theme.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Rishkar, Peema Renegade - He's subtle but I see a lot of utility. Basically he makes two of your creatures slightly bigger and into Llanowar Elves, meaning he's fine early on in a creature-heavy deck to help you mana ramp (especially if the two creatures getting the counters can immediately tap), and he's fine later in the game when you want extra power/toughness on the board. In addition, anything with +1/+1 counter synergies like Doubling Season will be good. On top of that, your creatures can produce mana if they have ANY counters on them, including -1/-1 counters, and any counters that were on them before Rishkar ETB'd. You do want to build around him, and play cards that can put +1/+1 counters on a lot of things quickly (e.g. Oath of Ajani, Cathars' Crusade, etc.) but when built around properly he provides a lot of utility for just 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Prossh with some changes
***Rishkar's Expertise - One of the most interesting cards in the cycle because it lets you cast a larger variety of spells for free. Consider that Garruk, Primal Hunter was a 5-mana planeswalker who let you draw cards (and would kill himself immediately). 6-mana is a lot, but you get what you pay for, and since you draw a bunch of cards before you cast your free spell, you can certainly end up casting something very sweet.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
MULTICOLOR
**Ajani Unyielding - His abilities are nice, but at 6-mana it's hard to justify. His + ability is similar to Garruk, Caller of Beasts except you pick up all nonland permanent types instead of just creatures, but you only dig 3 cards instead of 5. The -2 is obviously Swords to Plowshares which is an EDH staple but the reason why swords is so good is that it's a 1-mana instant speed card, not a clunky 6-mana walker card. He also doesn't pass the doubling season test. He just seems very ho-hum.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Ajani, Valiant Protector - Intro-level planeswalker is at an intro-level power level.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dark Intimations - Mini Cruel Ultimatum but this hits each opponent so it actually might be better than Cruel Ultimatum in EDH and that's before considering this is 2UBR instead of UUBBBRR. You do want a Nicol Bolas walker(s) in your deck so this card gives a little extra punch though; if you want to play a card that combines edicts + discard, pay 1 more mana for Capital Punishment instead.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Maverick Thopterist - This guy will be quite fun in draft, as the thopters you make can help cast additional maverick thopterists, assuming you draft multiples. In any case, he's like an easier to cast Breya, Etherium Shaper albeit without any extra abilities. If you can improvise for 2-3 he's certainly not bad, and will likely be good in budget artifact decks. He may be good enough in normal artifact decks but it seems unlikely since he himself is not an artifact.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
???Oath of Ajani - This is a weird card. It wants a lot of creatures in play, but you benefit from having more planeswalkers in the deck for you to cast and get the cost reduction on. I can't think of a deck that wants both. I guess playing the card for just one side of the effect isn't too bad as it's only 2 mana, but if a deck can take advantage of both sides greatly that will help the ceiling of the card. If you play the card primarily for only one side of its effects in a given deck, I'd say it's a 3-4/5ish card, whereas if you can find a deck that wants both effects it's a 4-5/5ish card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Renegade Rallier - Mini-Sun Titan, even with a restriction, is still solid at just 3-mana. The color restriction is a bit annoying but whatever. Just getting a fetchland back makes it like a Wood Elves type of card, and of course getting back Saffi Eriksdotter or something equally dumb makes this strong value for just 3 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Rogue Refiner - Beefy Elvish Visionary for 1 mana and making it blue-green is okay, but it's not something that I would play over a regular Elvish Visionary. If you're an energy deck then go ahead and play it, but outside of that I probably wouldn't bother.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Spire Patrol - Mini-Frost Titan looks underwhelming. Despite being 2 less mana and with flying, it is 2 colors, and it only taps when it ETBs, and it only affects creatures, and it doesn't have any sort of protection (albeit you probably don't care if a 4-drop with an ETB effect has protection, but still).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tezzeret the Schemer - The +1 creates a lotus petal, the -2 is a ho-hum removal spell, and the ultimate is whatever although it does occur fairly quickly. Blue/black does have some trouble ramping if you aren't using dark ritual/high tide so maybe it's not terrible, but he doesn't really impress me.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tezzeret's Touch - Essentially it's adding black on Ensoul Artifact and gives your artifact back to your hand after it gets blown up. Seems playable because of the recursion but uninspiring.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Tezzeret, Master of Metal - This is only marginally better than Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and that's not even considering it's 6-mana and not 4. Though unlike the Ajanis in this set, this does pass the Doubling Season test.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Winding Constrictor - Similar to Hardened Scales except for 1 more mana, you get a similar ability on a 2/3 body and it affects counters that you would get too, though right now it's just energy counters, experience counters (from some of the Commander 2015 generals, and given the colors it's probably just for Meren of Clan nel Toth) and poison counters. Still, this should have a home in the right build of creatures with +1/+1 counters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
ARTIFACT
***Cogwork Assembler - 7-mana for its activation is very hefty, so I imagine it'll be used for infinite combos or something as the ability doesn't require tapping. For example, Krark-Clan ironworks + Myr Battlesphere + this card = infinite colorless mana. Of course artifact decks generally don't have problems generating mana (unless they get hit with a sweeper) and so maybe this being a mana dump will make it good, I don't know.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Crackdown Construct - With any ability that requires no cost to activate and isn't a mana ability, you can get an infinite power and toughness artifact creature, and I'm sure there's a lot of things you can do with that. In standard we get Wandering Fumarole for lulz which is funny as hell, and I know there are other things you can do.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Gonti's Aether Heart - Seems not bad if you're focused on generating energy. If you want to play this card with the idea of taking an extra turn, you'll probably be disappointed, as you would be better off just playing Time Warp effects or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Heart of Kiran - Simple beatsticks in EDH don't cut it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Hope of Ghirapur - Legendary version of Xantid Swarm. You need to have this actually connect while Xantid Swarm just needs to attack, and while this does have flying and is only a 1-drop, it's going to be hard for a 1/1 to force through damage, and you need to sacrifice this for the effect, and it only stops noncreature spells. Granted, this does last for a full turn cycle while Xantid Swarm was more like a Grand Abolisher placed on one player for just the rest of the turn. I guess being legendary maybe you can make colorless voltron or something, but I don't know. Xantid Swarm is better when you attack a player with counterspells to help resolve a combo, whereas this is more like a stax piece on the control/storm player, but this is fairly clunky unless you can play it really early and continuously recur it. It is a relatively unique effect so it isn't unplayable, but I wouldn't be excited to test this out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Inspiring Statuary - Most artifact decks don't have a problem generating mana, especially if this card only helps power out nonartifact spells which an artifact deck won't have a ton of (especially those that cost a lot of mana). Still, it is something to keep your eye on.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Lifecrafter's Bestiary - Essentially it's a bad Glimpse of Nature, but Glimpse of Nature was more like a deck that enabled storm decks/combo and that kind of thing, whereas this is more of a card that just gives all your creature spells "Kicker G, draw a card". Still should be playable in any case. You obviously want a high number of creatures, maybe 30-40 or more, before you should even consider this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Merchant's Dockhand - It's a hefty mana cost per turn and tapping some artifacts can be annoying, but it is only 1-mana. Doesn't sound exciting but I imagine there are worse things you can play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Metallic Mimic - If you have a tribal theme this should be fine for just 2-mana, though it's more for weenie decks as I don't think something like Dragon tribal really needs +1/+1 counters on them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BANNEDParadox Engine - I'm not even going to spend much time talking about this card. It's going to get banned really fast. I would be shocked if the RC doesn't ban it. Prophet of Kruphix got hammered and it isn't nearly as insane as this. It combos with way too many things, namely a bunch of mana rocks and/or mana dorks + some dumb enabler. Buyback cards like Capsize becomes bounce everything you want. Put something stupid like Think twice under an Isochron Scepter and it draws your deck. There are tons of combos, and none of them are good for the game. Play the crap out of this card and have fun with it until it gets banned.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Probably everything pending budget
*Peacekeeper Colossus - Most vehicles are still not particularly playable as many of them don't do much except beat face. I guess it might be nice in Depala in case you can't use her to crew vehicles for whatever reason.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Planar Bridge - Obvious parallel to Planar Portal right down to the name. Both are artifacts that cost 6 to hardcast, and this one is 8 mana instead of 6 to find your card and only for permanents but you do put it into play immediately (e.g. sneak in Blightsteel Colossus end of turn). These types of cards are fine in big mana decks that need mana sinks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Scrap Trawler - Artifact recursion for no additional costs at just 3 mana upfront is not bad. There are some restrictions but it is repeatable, and it should do some nice work.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Servo Schematic - Similar to Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring in that they're 2-mana artifacts that do the same thing upon ETB or hitting the graveyard. Here though I think making a 1/1 flier is worse than drawing a card or fetching a basic land to ensure your next land drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Treasure Keeper - Similar to Matter Reshaper except you add one mana, remove the colorless requirement, and there are fewer restrictions on the free card you get when it dies (any nonland card that is CMC 3 or less can be cast for free). Seems decent.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Universal Solvent - Decks get another way to deal with problematic permanents that their colors won't allow them to (e.g. black/red vs enchantments), and it's another tool for Trinket Mage, and is another object that can be recurred with Salvaging Station. Unassuming card that most decks won't play because it is overcosted, but if your deck/colors are desperate it should be good, and artifact decks don't really have problems generating the necessary mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Walking Ballista - Functions similarly to Triskelion. Interestingly enough if you pay 6 it ETBs with three +1/+1 counters which is the same as Triskelion. The difference is obviously that Triskelion is better for infinite combos as it always ETBs with the counters while cheating this into play doesn't do anything. It's kind of more like Hangarback walker as they are playable artifact creatures with XX costs.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
LAND
***Spire of Industry - Glimmervoid that requires you to pay 1 life to get the colored mana, but it doesn't disappear if you have zero artifacts in play. It's usually worse than Glimmervoid; 1 life isn't much, but they can add up, and it's not that hard to have at least 1 artifact in play if you are the kind of deck that actually wants to play Glimmervoid. Still, artifact decks likely want to play this anyway, and this could be passable in non-artifact decks although there are usually going to be better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm using my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Angel of Sanctions - Banishing Light is not a terrible card in EDH, but one issue with these kinds of cards (with the updated wording, note that we wouldn't have this problem if this effect was Oblivion Ring due to wording and trigger stacking) when they're stapled to creatures is that blinking them (one reason to play ETB creatures) is generally a nonbo. They're still decent cards to reanimate, cheat into play, power up with Panharmonicon and so on, but being a nonbo with blink effects is kind of annoying. With that said, the embalm ability will make populate effects (e.g. Trostani) more interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Anointed Procession - White now gets to join in on the fun of doubling tokens. Considering white is probably the 2nd best color at making tokens behind green, this will be nice to have. Not much to say beyond staple-status in white token decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Cast Out - Adding +1 mana to Banishing Light to give it flash and a cheap cycling effect will make this interesting. Still, 4-mana for a 1-for-1 removal spell is not where you want to be, and unless you really want the cycling effect, this isn't that strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Gideon of the Trials - As funny as that last ability is (essentially it's Worship that wants any Gideon out instead of any old creature), this is virtually unplayable. The +1 can hinder a voltron general if it doesn't have shroud/hexproof/etc., but like all Gideons, its ability to turn into a creature is simply not exciting in EDH, and it is too hard to keep planeswalkers out on the field for very long, which means its emblem does almost nothing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Gideon's Intervention - It has the Meddling Mage/Nevermore plus Runed Halo effects stapled together. 4-mana is a lot just to shut down one specific card though. It's a "unique" effect as nothing like it has been printed which means it might do something, but it just seems too narrow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Oketra the True - It shouldn't be hard to turn this online, so how does it fare? Well, spending 4 mana to make a 1/1 vigilance token dude is fairly underwhelming, it's similar to Heliod, God of the Sun. This card will be fighting Heliod for the same slot in the same decks you'd put Heliod in; token generator and mana sink.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Protection of the Hekma - Orbs of Warding except it doesn't give you hexproof, but it shields you from noncreature damage, which is a losing trade. Outside of enchantress this won't see any play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Regal Caracal - Interesting take on Cloudgoat Ranger. It's actually probably worse than Cloudgoat as it creates 1 fewer token and you almost always play these cards because of how many tokens they make. Still, maybe if you're a cat tribal or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLUE
****As Foretold - Play this and immediately cast a spell with 0 CMC such as Ancestral Vision or Living End. Wait a turn and then you can cast a 1-mana spell for free on everyone's turn. And so on. Once you reach 2 CMC you unlock many counterspells and removal spells which is when it starts getting disgusting. This will push you far ahead in tempo as long as you can keep the flow of cards coming. Remember that it is "X or less", meaning if there are 3 counters on it, you can still cast 2 CMC or lower cards if needed. You do want to try and abuse the ability to cast a 0 CMC card for free to maximize the value, but because it's only 3-mana it's not the end of the world to play this and simply pass the turn. This is best in draw-go decks that pack a lot of instants.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Oloro, Talrand?
***Curator of Mysteries - This effect is certainly powerful, especially on a 4-mana 4/4 flier in blue (seriously wth, this creature is efficiently costed in blue of all colors?). It remains to be seen if you can build around cycling or self discard, but if you do, this isn't bad. If nothing else, cycling for U makes it playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Drake Heaven - Similar to Curator of Mysteries except quite a bit worse. It's 1 mana less and making 2/2 fliers isn't terrible, but it's not a 4/4 flier, and you need to pay mana to get its effect which does add up. Still, it could slot in as a low-end card in a cycling theme deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kefnet the Mindful - It'll be difficult to make this ever attack or block, but it does give you a monoblue infinite mana sink as a general if that's going to be your gameplan. If you're not going to use it solely for that, you do want to be bouncing lands that have useful effects (Bojuka Bog).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***New Perspectives - Similar to kefnet, staying at 7+ cards in hand can be difficult and sometimes overkill, but it does get you 3 cards, and once you do, you can start cycling to your heart's content. Cycle Decree of Annihilation for 0 mana sounds hilarious. Still, you need to build around cycling, so we'll see how that works out. This card will either be a nice cornerstone for cycling decks or do absolutely nothing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Pull from Tomorrow - The newest take on X-draw spells may be one of the most exciting of that class for decks that don't plan on generating infinite mana (this only lets you draw, whereas something like Stroke of Genius lets you point it at an opponent when you generate infinite mana for an instant kill). For 1 less mana in the cost you have to discard a card, which is not a big deal unless X is like 1-3 or something, but even then you're basically just "breaking even" compared to other X-spells. For example, if X=2, you would draw 2 and discard 1, while other instant speed X-draw spells would just draw 1. So whatever. The reason here is that this essentially lets you draw an additional card, because you will almost always hvae something to discard that you don't care about or sometimes want to discard (extra land, get a fatty into your graveyard, etc.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand, Zedruu, Oloro
*Sacred Excavation - If there are enough playable cycling cards out there, this could have been interesting. However it's 4-mana, sorcery, and only gets two cycling cards. Too expensive.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Scribe of the Mindful - I'm not really sure what decks I would run this over Archaeomancer, as the latter costs 1 more mana but gets my card immediately. Still, it's graveyard recursion, so it isn't a steaming pile of garbage, but it looks kind of unplayable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Vizier of Many Faces - 4-mana clones are always the baseline, and it gives an upside where it basically has flashback for 5 mana. There are plenty of cool clones, and I'm not sure how this stacks to the proven clone staples of the format (Phyrexian Metamorph, Phantasmal Image, etc.) but this should be a mid or upper mid tier clone.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
***Archfiend of Ifnir - Similar to Curator, this effect is definitely powerful. Cycling once will kill most tokens/weenies, and 2-3 times will definitely keep most boards clean.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Bontu the Glorified - Sac outlets are always nice in EDH, but you have to pay 2 mana which is not as nice. He can technically attack for a bit and is hard to kill, but I would probably play other sac outlets that don't cost mana (e.g. Viscera seer, even 3-CMC ones like Yahenni, Undying Partisan).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Cruel Reality - It's only fitting that this card is cruely unplayable, considering the story behind the card makes no sense (so Gideon could go toe to toe with Eldrazi titans, but he's getting restrained by 2 normal guys in Amonkhet?). It's 7-mana, it affects only one player, it's only one trigger per turn, and they can sac a creature OR planeswalker. Being unable to do so, they lose 5 life. This card was likely badly overcosted because of limited, as well as the fact that Wizards was probably aware that Kaladesh block was a bit too high in power level (wut is Smuggler's Coptor), but seriously, I'm not sure if I would play this card if it was 4 mana. If it was a 7-mana non-aura enchantment and it affected each opponent, I still would almost never play it outside of black enchantress decks, since I would rather play Sheoldred, Whispering One which makes each opponent sac a creature every turn AND I get a free creature in my graveyard on my turn AND it's a 6/6 swampwalker.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Liliana, Death's Majesty - 5-mana is the norm for graveyard reanimation, so she's fair there. Still it's hard to say it's better or worse than other 5-mana reanimation spells, as she only gets you something from your graveyard (compare her to Beacon of Unrest, etc.) and is harder to loop or cheat on casts (e.g. Karmic Guide, etc.). The +1 is okay, at least it makes a blocker and self-mill is not bad, and the ultimate is okay and at least it comes fairly quickly especially with proliferate. Still, it seems like you'd be playing her mostly for her reanimation ability, and I think there are better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Liliana's Expertise - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nest of Scarabs - Putting -1/-1 counters on creatures is kind of specific, but it can make a lot of tokens quickly. For example, Black Sun's Zenith for a ton, and even if you "overkill" creatures (e.g. a creature has only 2 toughness but you put 5 -1/-1 counters on it in one go), you'll still get the max tokens I believe. You will need to build around it (ironically enough I think token decks will have trouble fitting this in, since you need to build around -1/-1 counters), but it can payoff decently.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Plague Belcher - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Shadow of the Grave - In stax decks, or even wheel decks this could be interesting (Nekusar wheels/waste not combo, etc.), as this can get back a ton of cards in one swoop. You obviously have to build around it, and it's highly likely this is just winmore, but this is certainly a cool effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**By Force - Similar to Shattering Spree, where By Force is easier on the mana, but Shattering spree gets an extra artifact and is harder to counter. This may be decent in 3-color red decks where generating a ton of red mana can be a problem.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Combat Celebrant - You can have this attack, exert it and it untaps, and then not attack with it so it stays untapped, which is kind of funny. Most cards that grant extra combat steps are not 3 mana so there's something interesting going on here, but it only has 1 toughness so it'll die to a stiff breeze. Still it's worth exploring, especially if you put evasion/protection equipment on it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Glorious End - Final Fortune and the like are played only in competitive circles where you plan on instantly winning the game on your extra turn. This seems like it'll be in the same decks with a few extra nuances. Obviously it costs 1 more mana, but it just ends the turn (instead of literally giving you another turn) which has its ups and downs. It can act as a kind of counterspell or stop an opponent's lethal attack, which is cool. However it only ends that turn, so any other opponent that takes their turn before yours comes up will still happen. Now you can obviously build around the drawback without going hypercompetitive, but if you're not going to just win the game on your next turn, it begs the question why not just play something else?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Glorybringer - Being able to Flame Slash something every other turn is not a terrible card, and if you find ways to untap it, you could do it every turn. Sounds interesting to say the least.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Harsh Mentor - This guy should do work, and because of its ability to affect lands (like fetchlands) and equipments' equip abilities means this guy will be relevant at almost all points in the game. Doing a little damage may not be much, but taking 3 off your fetchland instead of only 1 does add up.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret the Fervent - The discard outlet is a lot of mana and the damage effect sucks, which is unfortunate.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret's Favor - Personally I'm not sure what kind of deck wants this. If you want to give creatures haste, you can simply play Anger, or even Fervor or something. Sacrificing the creature is a big cost unless you are okay with binning them for some reason, and the +2/+0 doesn't seem to be worth it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Heart-Piercer Manticore - Similar to Flametongue Kavu and Murderous Redcap, 4-mana creatures with an ETB effect that can nuke something for a bit of damage. This one requires you to sacrifice a fairly good creature (the nuke does damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power) which is generally not a good thing especially if it's sorcery speed sacrifice, but it does have embalm. I would probably rather play FTK, but this is okay.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Soul-Scar Mage - It basically gives noncombat damage sources you control wither, and at 1-mana that's interesting, although you obviously want to build around it, with noncombat damage sources plus -1/-1 counter theme. For example, Staff of nin becomes a bit better if the 1-damage ping became a "permanent" -1/-1 counter. Blasphemous Act handles indestructible creatures handily. etc. It's not super powerful, but if you need this effect, it's nice to have around.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Sweltering Suns - In some games a mini-sweeper is nice to have, and it can be replaced with a fresh card (albeit 3 for just a single card is a bit high) in a pinch. This could be the best of the 3-mana sweepers red has because of the cycling, although that's not saying much.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Warfire Javelineer - Another variant of Flametongue Kavu and the like, this can nuke a creature for some damage, but you obviously need to build around it by having enough sorceries and/or instants in the graveyard. However, decks that tend to have a good number of those cards aren't creature-centric and are probably not that interested in a creature with a removal ETB effect, since I imagine they would rather just use a lower-CMC removal spell for the same effect. Still, the cost is fair, so it remains to be seen if it sees play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
*Champion of Rhonas - I think I would rather play Elvish Piper, as I won't need to attack and I can flash in the creature at any time, even if it costs G to do so.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Channeler Initiate - It's a "bad" Birds of Paradise, but what's interesting is that you can choose which of your creatures to put the -1/-1 counters on (say you want to kill your own Academy Rector, if your opponents put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, this can slowly remove them and produce mana for you, and of course it can be a bad birds of paradise.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Harvest Season - This certainly can ramp you hard, so it's worth considering how to use it optimally. You want to have at least two tapped creatures early on, as if you only have one you have bad Rampant Growth. Sometimes attacking with dudes can be difficult, so things that can tap freely (e.g. mana dorks) greatly add to this card's power. Token decks can have a bunch of dudes to turn sideways and get tapped too and since you have disposable creatures you don't care as much if a couple tokens get thrown under the bus. Cards that can tap untapped creatures (e.g. Earthcraft) will also combo nicely. However if your curve is low to the point where you can get at least 2 guys out early reliably, I question if you need this much mana anyway. Still, this is definitely worth keeping in mind as a card that can ramp you hard.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks?
*****Manglehorn - The million dollar question - do you play manglehorn or Reclamation Sage? Personally I think it would be fine to play both simultaneously; Sage is very flexible, but this card seems bananas. Manglehorn looks quite silly in competitive circles where everyone and their mother plays broken mana rocks and this will always have a target to munch on no matter what point in the game you're at. This card also totally laughs at Mana Vault and Grim Monolith. It slows down certain stax pieces like Winter Orb that need to be untapped to do their broken stuff. Even in casual circles, making Gilded Lotus ETB tapped can be a nice tempo play. It's weird that this is an uncommon because this effect feels like a rare, but that's okay because this will be an EDH staple, so you don't have to rush for your foils.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Every green deck
**Prowling Serpopard - The effect sounds insane, but when Cavern of Souls is a card, is this worth it? In casual circles not many people play counterspells, and in competitive circles this might be too slow. Still, the fact that it sounds strong means it shouldn't be straight up unplayable, but I feel like this card will not be as good as it looks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Rhonas the Indomitable - It's the 2nd easiest of the cycle to turn into a creature (behind Bontu the Glorified) and giving things trample is always relevant. It's extremely similar to Nylea, God of the Hunt and which green god is superior is hard to tell - Rhonas costs less mana but Nylea is slightly stronger when she's actually in play. He's fairly mana intensive though which is difficult.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Sandwurm Convergence - Stopping creatures with flying from attacking you is nifty, and so is making 5/5s, but it's 8 mana and relatively slow. Might be a passable finisher in green enchantress decks, but I imagine at 8-mana you should be able to find a better finisher.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Shefet Monitor - Parallel to Krosan Tusker in that they're creatures with cycling and go fetch you a basic land. This one is +1 mana over tusker, but the land goes straight into play untapped, which is nice. However, how it actually compares to the plethora of 3-4 mana ramp options like Tusker, Solemn Simulacrum, or Explosive Vegetation, or Cultivate and so on is hard to measure. Right now they all feel fairly equal in raw power level. It is a nice option especially for primal surge builds though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Maelstrom Wanderer
***Vizier of the Menagerie - It helps provide card advantage and "color fixes" your creature spells (not just the creature card off the top of your library). With standard library manipulation like brainstorm, this will be even better. Still, you do need to play a lot of creatures for this to be worth it. I'd say you should have at least 30 creatures in the deck (preferably more) and a couple pieces of library manipulation.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks?
MULTICOLOR
**Ahn-Crop Champion - Untapping all your other creatures has obvious uses, if you have creatures with tap abilities or something like Earthcraft. Still, it's 4 mana and needs to get an attack in, which is clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Aven Wind Guide - It gives a special anthem effect to creature tokens you control, which is handy. However blue is not really the color that's good at making creature tokens, which will make it difficult to play this. If there are azorius-based token decks though, this can do good work.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Bounty of the Luxa - This card is slow and unreliable. It gives you nothing the turn you play it, then gives you 1GU, then a card, and alternates as such. Obviously one of the issues with ramp spells is that they're fairly bad topdecks, so this potentially giving you cards lategame sounds cool. However, it is really slow, and it is difficult to control when you get the ramp or draw. Personally, I would rather play a traditional ramp spell (most mana rocks will give me a bit of mana the turn I play it, and land-ramp spells like Skyshroud Claim give me something that's harder to interact with) because there are usually mana sinks available anyway (recasting your general after it's died a few times, for example) and it's more important to get that mana ASAP.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - This is an interesting general and I'm not 100% sure how to build it. You want to make it voltron-ish because it needs to deal combat damage to trigger its first ability, but you want to have some kind of -1/-1 counter theme and/or token theme to create tokens. At just 2 mana though, this sounds strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
*Khenra Charioteer - Giving your team trample at 3-mana is not that bad, but there are other cards (e.g. Archetype of Aggression, Brawn) that probably give you the same effect at a better rate or with upside.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nissa, Steward of Elements - It was only a matter of time until an X-mana walker came out, and she has some interesting things going on. One weakness of X-cards is that they tend to be fairly weak when played early, but I think Nissa isn't the worst 3-drop you can play. She can come down at 3 mana if needed, and if you know you got a 0 or 1 CMC land/creature on top you can get it into play, in essence acting like a Wood Elves type of card. Alternately you can +2 to get her to 3 loyalty which can help protect her from a critter or two, or start flipping over 3 CMC dudes. And of course she's not bad when you topdeck her late. It is important that she only flips over lands or creatures so you need to be heavy on creatures and you want some library manipulation for backup, because it would really suck to 0 her and whiff. Overall a decent value PWer that won't be broken.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Neheb, the Worthy - Minotaur tribal let's MFing go. Maybe RB minotaur tribal and stax, however the fact that its combat damage trigger makes everyone discard a card is a blessing and a curse. People will be more inclined to kill this, because no matter who gets smacked, everyone's binning a card. Because of that, this card is difficult to rate. Being "heckbent" (1 card or fewer in hand, as opposed to "hellbent" which is 0 cards in hand) kind of sucks as well. Still, don't be surprised if someone tries to play it, so keep him in mind.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Samut, Voice of Dissent - Well, we got a hotpot of keywords slapped onto a legendary creature. Global haste is nice, and untapping another creature has some uses. It has flash so that 5-mana cost is okay to stomach, but it's not that flashy, but it seems playable. Combine with Odric, Lunarch Marshal and similar cards for fun times.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun - You obviously need creature tokens, but because this isn't green, it'll be very difficult to make tokens to begin with. Even when you do, just a small buff and making it unblockable doesn't sound that cool. This card as a general will depend on how many creature token type cards are available in azorius.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wayward Servant - Zombie tribal, but being part white is a bit of a restriction.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
AFTERMATH
*Dusk to Dawn - This will be funny in the Doran deck I have (which I don't currently have a primer for, but I do have one at hand), but the decks that want this are very specific.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Never to Return - One of the worst "destroy target creature or planeswalker" variant outside of Ruinous Path. It's sorcery speed compared to Hero's Downfall and costs 1 more mana over Dreadbore (albeit monocolor). The aftermath side is horrendously overcosted (Shamble Back wut). Wizards is scared of printing good removal spells for standard.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Insult to Injury - Insult can be a nice surprise finisher for aggro decks. Injury is whatever
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Mouth to Feed - Making a 3/3 is ho hum, but its aftermath side isn't too bad. However you want at least three 3-power creatures in play for it to just become Harmonize, so it's fair to question how many big creatures you'll have out. If you have like 7 3-power creatures out, you do draw 7 cards, but why aren't you just winning the game with that kind of board at that point?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Prepare to Fight - Prepare can be a nice combat trick, and fight can certainly kill something (albeit overcosted), so it can be a decent 2-for-1, albeit for a lot of mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Failure to Comply - People have compared this to Reflector Mage, and they are similar in the sense that they have a Meddling Mage-type of effect on a card, but Reflector mage is generally stronger. This temporarily halts a spell on the stack which is interesting, but Reflector Mage is solid because it's an ETB creature meaning it's abusable with many other synergies and the 2/3 blocker is relevant too. Still, this appears to be playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Rags to Riches - The idea is that Rags wipes out the weenies and Riches then forces opponents to give you something half-decent (since presumably anything bad would have died to Rags). But Rags is 4 mana and Riches is 7, so it's unrealistic to cast both halves on the same turn, and Riches at 7 mana is too much anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Cut to Ribbons - It's a decent removal spell and then a possible finisher on the other half, which is not bad at all. Cut will be better early in the game but isn't a terrible topdeck, then the aftermath effect can be cast late in the game when you've got Cabal Coffers going. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Rakdos decks to replace Exsanguinate with this card, since the lifegain on Exsanguinate is usually not a big deal, but the ability to use this early in the game (whereas Exsanguinate is kind of terrible early on) is interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Heaven to Earth - Unfortunate that you can't cast Earth and then Heaven in that order, but these types of "sculpt your own sweeper" effects tend to be underrated, since they're powerful when the right time appears but are difficult to fit in decks because of their limited scope. However, not damaging players is usually a drawback even in defensive decks, because being able to redirect damage to planeswalkers is a real thing. Still, it can be hard to squeeze in a Hurricane or Earthquake because they hit limited creature types, so this can technically be sculpted to what you want. If nothing else, you can cast Heaven for something low mana and then cast Earth for whatever you need, or discard this and then just aftermath it later.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
The Monument Cycle in general - Cost reduction effects are always solid when built around. Note that the cycle will reduce the cost of creature spells of a certain color, but its second ability will trigger with any creature spell you cast, not just that specific color, which helps them quite a bit. You probably want at least 30 creatures before you consider playing the momument of the color you need, and probably at least 15-20 that are of the color of the monument you want to play.
***Bontu's Monument - I imagine this will go into food chain Prossh decks as this helps cast Prossh and is also a wincon when you cast Prossh 9001 times with Food Chain.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Hazoret's Monument - I'm not too familiar with Krenko, Mob Boss or [card/Purphoros, God of the Forge[/card], but if you play a lot of creatures that generate other creatures, looting is always useful, especially in monored where that color is always strapped for card draw.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Kefnet's Monument - The effect is nice (tap down opponents' generals over and over), but I have trouble thinking of a blue deck that can fully take advantage of this card, since blue decks tend to play the fewest creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Oketra's Monument - This card is weird, because you likely want to play a token deck to take advantage of the token generation aspect of the card, but you need to be playing creatures when a good number of token generators are noncreatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Rhonas's Monument - Probably the most relevant of the cycle because green tends to have the most creatures, but it also has the best second trigger (+2/+2 and trample) of the cycle.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Oracle's Vault - Its ability with three brick counters on it is powerful, but you need to pay 6 mana before you get your first card, and you have to cast it that turn and spend mana on it. It seems too slow and gimmicky outside of like Atraxa.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Pyramid of the Pantheon - So with three brick counters on it, it becomes Gilded Lotus, which sounds cool. But you need to essentially spend 1 mana and a card, and then "lose" 1 mana for three turns before it becomes that. It again seems too slow and gimmicky outside of Atraxa.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Throne of the God-Pharaoh - Drain effects are ho hum. Doesn't even give you the life lost.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
LAND
Full art basics. Full art basics.
Full.
Art.
Basics.
***Canyon Slough, Fetid Pools, Irrigated Farmland, Scattered Groves, Sheltered Thicket - Budget duals similar to the tango lands from battle for zendikar (e.g. Prairie Stream), where it loses the ability to ever ETB untapped for the option to cycle for 2 mana. It's hard to say which is better, but if you're strapped for money and the ABU duals or even the shocklands are out of budget (and for some reason you have fetchlands or something?) then you might want to play both. And of course if you build around cycling then play these.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Grasping Dunes - You lose a land and it "costs" two mana, but it is a bit of removal on a land which isn't bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear ce in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
*Angel of Condemnation - Too slow. If I wanted a stream of flicker effects I would play Eldrazi Displacer. If I wanted to have its Oblivion-Ring effect I would just play ETB creatures with that kind of effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Crested Sunmare - Only lifegain and/or token decks will want this, but this can generate solid value. Note that it triggers at each end step, so you can generate a steady stream of 5/5 tokens.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Oloro
***Djeru, with Open Eyes - Another card for superfriends. Finding Ugin or Karn is cool even outside of superfriends. Most walkers aren't really good as "silver bullets" however, unlike casting your Idyllic Tutor to go find Humility, for example. Still, for +2 mana over Call the Gatewatch you get a body and a mini Urza's Armor effect for your walkers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hour of Revelation - Strictly better than Planar Cleansing, a card that is solid but at 6-mana with triple white is a bit restrictive. This one costs triple white as well which means 3+ color decks may still not play this, but will generally cost only 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some white decks
*Oketra's last Mercy - It can potentially gain you a lot of life, but pure lifegain is not what you want, especially in a format like EDH, and especially with this drawback.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Overwhelming Splendor - This card reminds me of an even more limited version of Iona, Shield of Emeria. You basically lock one guy out of the game, but you have no effect on the other opponents on the table (similarly, iona usually only locks one guy out of the game and somewhat limits the other opponents, sometimes). At 8-mana, that's not exciting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Solemnity - This is a unique effect. There have been cards that stopped certain counters on certain permanents (e.g. Melira), but this essentially stops all counters being given to anything except planeswalkers. This means you don't get poison counters or energy counters, but it also stops things like age counters on Mystic Remora to stopping Smokestack from getting more counters, to stopping -1/-1 counters or +1/+1 counters from being placed on creatures (for example it incidentally stops Triskelion infinites, and also can function as a "second" Melira in case you're trying to go infinite with persist creatures). This means Dark Depths immediately ETBs with 0 counters. This means Decree of Silence counters everything as it can't have depletion counters placed on it. The way to play this is to use it where this fuels any kind of infinite combo you may gear your deck towards (for example the aforemetnioned "Melira" combo) while also having it function as a weird stax piece. There is plenty of potential in this card, however.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Zedruu?, Oloro?
BLUE
***Champion of Wits - Any creature with a solid ETB effect at an affordable mana price is always worth looking into. It tries to be mulldrifter, and it's usually worse, but it can be better in some scenarios (e.g. you have anthem effects in play).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Fraying Sanity - Note that it says "each end step", so it does keep milling often. Presumably you're enchanting yourself since milling opponents is stupidly bad. I'm not sure how many self-mill cards are viable in EDH, but this can mill yourself quickly to whatever you need, assuming you're not going to just give the middle finger to everyone and play Hermit Druid to speed things up.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Hour of Eternity - People are harping on this card as unplayable but it'll be okay in the right deck. At its baseline it's 5-mana to get 1 creature back, which is in line with many other creature recursion cards (Karmic Guide, Beacon of unrest, etc.) Now I am obviously not saying that this card is as good as KG, but just saying that 5-mana is the baseline. Now you obviously want to put this in a deck where you can gain bonuses through synergy. FOr example if you're a blue-based token deck (such as the UG Ezuri) you could play things that double tokens (e.g. Doubling Season) and you'll get additional copies of the card. It's not an excellent card, yes, but you can't just immediately write this off as useless. An unplayable card rated as a 1/5 would go into zero EDH decks. This could see play in a few decks and will be fine in them, which would make it more like a 2/5.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kefnet's Last Word - It might not be bad in blue decks as you basically get the best permanent on the board, and since blue decks tend to rely on mana rocks for their mana ramp, you can still produce some mana on your next turn. Being unable to steal planeswalkers does kind of suck though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nimble Obstructionist - Cards that stop certain cards at instant speed and are extremely hard to deal with are always interesting. This card is most similar to Trickbind, where for +1 mana you get a cantrip effect, but Trickbind is technically harder to answer (due to split second). The 3/1 body isn't that relevant as you need to cycle to get the effect, but sometimes flashing in a blocker can catch people off guard too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Strategic Planning - Reprint from a card that was only in portals, it's nice to have this blue cantrip kind of card that's not ridiculously expensive. Still it's questionable if you want to play this over Impulse as it digs one card deeper and is instant speed. The cards you pitch go to the graveyard though which is usually a bonus.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Supreme Will - Bad Mana Leak or Impulse is still solid. If you're interested in one of those two cards, chances are you're interested in this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand
**Swarm Intelligence - Winmore card, but resolving it should easily let you win the game. Since you want to cast something immediately after throwing it down, however, you often need more than its 7 mana upfront to actually gain value out of it, as this will get blown up ASAP. Will likely be similar to Mind's Dilation as these huge CMC blue enchantments with ridiculous effects but are hard to get into play due to their cost.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Tragic Lesson - It can be a usually worse Thirst for Knowledge but if you need to bounce a land, particularly at instant speed, it can be pure upside, and you get to choose if you want to discard or bounce a land.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand
****Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign - Very cool card, and may replace Sphinx of uthuun as a huge blue ETB creature at the top end. This is a funny sphinx general (although you do lose out on cool sphinxes like Magister Sphinx). The mana reduction is nice as sphinxes do cost a lot of mana, but its biggest draw is its ETB effect on all of your sphinxes including itself. You get a 4-card fact or fiction (compared to 5), but it is 1 mana less than Uthuun which is definitely worth looking at, and if you have other sphinxes (e.g. Consecrated Sphinx) that's excellent collateral. Also since it's any sphinx, tokens made from something like Hour of Need also count.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some blue decks, or new deck with this as the general
*Vizier of the Anointed - It's an entomb for specific effects and then it's a bad version of River Kelpie/Secrets of the Dead. Without remembering what was spoiled in this block, my first impression is that there won't be enough cards with Eternalize or Embalm worth playing EDH to make this do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
**Apocalypse Demon - Similar to Lord of Extinction/Consuming Aberration, creatures that are just huge bodies and you're mostly playing them for their huge power and toughness. It is monoblack so it's easier to fit into self-mill decks and the flying means it can connect for damage, but it's +1 mana and the drawback can be annoying as it's a little harder to have this attack and do damage. I'd say Lord > Demon > Aberration for the roles you want to use them for. Lord is the largest of the three, and while aberration helps fuel its own P/T, milling opponents is often very dangerous and can easily backfire, which puts it at the end.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Banewhip Punisher - It helps fuel its own ability which is handy, or can pick off small/weakened creatures and then blow up something later - provided you build around -1/-1 counters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Bontu's Last Reckoning - 3-mana wraths are definitely powerful, but this downside is pretty significant. If you have ways to untap your lands or your mana sources mainly come from nonland permanents, you can work around the downside. But you need to build around this effect significantly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Dreamstealer - Hypnotic Specter type of cards are tough to play in EDH because discarding only 1 card on one opponent is not worth the trouble. However this does have built-in evasion and can make opponents discard a ton of cards with a little pump in power. It can be slow but very punishing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Razaketh, the Foulblooded - It will definitely draw comparisons to Griselbrand, and while griselfather is stronger because he doesn't require fodder to sac and thus is better to reanimate on turn 1 or 2, Razaketh will still be extremely good in his own right. 2 life is a pitiful amount and sacrificing a creature is often an upside (again outside of reanimating this turn 1 or 2), and in return you get a Demonic Tutor which everyone knows is absurdly good, especially in singleton formats. Even if you're not swimming in disposable creatures, just saccing 1-2 creatures will often pay for itself. This is an excellent top end for a lot of black decks. I would be shocked if the RC doesn't even remotely consider banning this card in the near future.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Basically every black deck
*Razaketh's Rite - On the other hand, this card is terrible. Please don't play a bad Diabolic Tutor which is a card that shouldn't be in your deck anyway. It might be passable in cycling decks in case you need more playables, but this is certainly one you will cut early.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Torment of Hailfire - Punisher effects are not good. It may replace Exsanguinate as the infinite mana kill spell in black, but outside of that this is mediocre at best.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**Abrade - Modal spells are always worth considering. Shatter is always useful in EDH, and the 3 damage can pick off a lot of earlygame creatures and a few generals. However it's still only a 1-for-1, so it might be more useful to play more efficient cards (e.g. play cards that can blow up multiple artifacts or cheap, or can burn a creature for more damage, etc.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Chaos Maw - If you want a red creature that damages other creatures upon ETB, I think I'd rather play Crater Hellion. Despite the echo, it costs 6 mana and does 4 damage. Caldera Hellion is similar, although it is notably smaller and it does damage itself, but it costs only 5 mana and you can potentially make it larger than a 3/3 (or a 6/6 for that matter) via devour.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Firebrand Archer - Mini Guttersnipe, 1 less mana and triggers off planeswalker/artifact/enchantment spells in addition to instants and sorceries, but it does do 1 less damage per trigger. Most decks that want this effect will typically chain instants and sorceries together though. Still, if you want Guttersnipe, you probably want this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret's Undying Fury - So best case scenario is you cast four spells with CMC 5 and you miss out most of the next turn. A more likely scenario though is that you reveal 1-2 lands, 1-2 cards with CMC 1-2 or so, and then if you're lucky you hit a 4ish CMC. Now most good decks do have a lot of 5 CMC or less cards, but you can't get lands, and this is 6-mana and you're basically just rolling dice. It has a very awful floor which is not something you want from your 6-drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Hour of Devastation - Blasphemous Act will generally be better; it won't get around indestructible, but it does 13 damage instead of 5 and will often cost only 1 mana. This does hit (most) planeswalkers though, but planeswalkers aren't that hard to kill as long as you can play some politics. Still, red doesn't get a lot of sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Imminent Doom - This card can kill a bunch of small creatures, but it will require a lot of work. Since the CMC of your spell has to be exactly equal to the number of doom counters, you may want to have ways to more easily manipulate the counters on it (e.g. Proliferate effects). Note that you can chain multiple spells quickly and each one will trigger Doom. For example if it's on one counter and you cast three 1-CMC spells before any of the Doom triggers resolves, each spell will add a counter to Doom and deal the damage for each counter on it. The payoff is there, but you need to build around it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Neheb, the Eternal - It's very similar to Rakdos, Lord of Riots where they care about how much life your opponents lost this turn and gain you mana advantage when that happens. This one is monored which is usually worse than red+black, and costing 1 extra mana does matter (it's far less color intensive, but 2-color decks shouldn't have that much of a problem getting BBRR), and since Rakdos' mana reduction affects all of your creature spells you can get a lot of discounts if you chain multiple creatures together. However, what this one does is be easier to get into play (you literally cannot cast Rakdos at all until an opponent loses life) and you can spend the mana on noncreature things and Rakdos only discounts you on colorless mana. Perhaps the best use of this card is part of the 99 helmed by Rakdos, but you could make this work as your general with burn spells that affects all creatures and players (e.g. Volcanic Fallout).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wildfire Eternal - The afflict ability is 99% irrelevant in EDH, so you're only looking at that second line of text. You need to give this some kind of evasion because everyone will block a 1/4 for days. You do get a solid payoff, but without any help this card is borderline worthless.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
***Hope Tender - You generally will need to exert this to make this generate mana (there aren't that many lands that tap for 2+ mana). However, if you exert it, and have ways to untap it, and you are untapping lands that generate extra mana, it shouldn't be that hard to go infinite (e.g. Freed from the Real). If you can't untap it, it's really bad though, so be wary.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Derevi
***Hour of Promise - For +1 mana over Explosive vegetation you are now able to find ANY two lands, not just basics. At 5-mana you are enchroaching fairly high mana costs, so you really need multiple important lands to find. Personally I would rather play the lower CMC "find any land" cards such as Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying, as 5-mana is a fair amount at that point. Still, if the lands are really important (Gaea's Cradle, Urborg + Cabal Coffers, etc), it might be worth playing this just as an additional way to get them out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Majestic Myriarch - It can get huge, but since it doesn't buff the rest of your team, it feels much worse than other anthem effects like Odric, Lunarch marshal. note that its two abilities are kind of a nonbo. If you want this to be huge you mostly have to play a token deck, but token creatures are often just vanilla creatures with no abilities. So you either get a large creature with no evasion, or a normal sized one with a bunch of abilities. It's mediocre either way.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Nissa, Genesis Mage - Please don't play this card. You can do so much better at 7 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Pride Sovereign - It's not a bad token generator, as most 3-mana dudes that make tokens only create one at a time, while this essentially "frontloads" your token production. You need to play untap effects to really abuse it though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Ramunap Excavator - Literally the creature version of Crucible of Worlds, this will see tons and tons of play. Being a creature makes it easier to kill, but it also is in a color that is great at tutoring up creatures. If you want Crucible of Worlds, you want this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
*Rhonas's Last Stand - I wouldn't even play this in Trostani. Not untapping is so bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Uncage the Menagerie - This is a weird X-spell where the amount of X is very important and often you aren't just dumping all your mana into it. Note that the creatures MUST have exactly X CMC. So at 3-mana you tutor up one 1-CMC dude, 4-mana you get two 2-CMC dudes, 5-mana you get three 3-CMC dudes, etc. Since most well-constructed decks don't have a lot of things at the 5+ slot, you're often only paying 3-6 mana in this. Still, this can definitely get you a good number of creatures out of a single card at a fair mana cost, but you need to seriously build your deck around this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks
MULTICOLOR
***Bloodwater Entity - 3-mana, has evasion, can become bigger than 2/2, and its ETB effect isn't shabby. If you're more interested in the recursion effect you are probably better off with Archaeomancer as for +1 mana the card goes straight back to your hand, but if you are some kind of aggressive deck this could be worth playing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Locust God - Very similar to both Niv Mizzet forms where they care about drawing cards. This one doesn't form a 2-card combo with Curiosity so perhaps it will draw less hate than Niv Mizzet.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
***Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Wizards is introducing more and more walkers with 4 abilities after the ****show that was jace the mind sculptor, which is nice. At 7-mana you are obviously comparing him to Karn Liberated, and while being grixis makes it more restrictive and harder to play and thus not show up nearly as often (and thus not score a 4/5 or 5/5), it is comparable to Karn in the decks that can actually play Nicol Bolas. Karn has a much more powerful removal ability (Karn essentially gets everything while Nicol Bolas basically only gets creatures and walkers and he can't even get some of the ones that Karn can remove), but Nicol Bolas has much better plus abilities. Basically, Karn is better as a removal spell (and sometimes a double removal spell) while Nicol bolas is more of a card advantage/engine dude that can kill most creatures and planeswalkers in a pinch. Ultimately though, Nicol Bolas is just another reason why Atraxa is not the best superfriends general as she's lacking red.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None (right now)
Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver - I guess he adds value to Dark Intimations, but as cool as Nicol Bolas is, please don't play this card. His plus ability is terrible and his minus is not worth 8-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Obelisk Spider - For just 3-mana it blocks a lot of fliers decently, shrinking them is relevant, and the drain effect does add up. Again, it's only 3-mana. You do have to build around it though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Samut, the tested - She can give a voltron double strike, but her -2 is so weak ([card]Forked bolt[card]) for her cost that you're basically only using her for the +1. Generally speaking voltrons need evasion and protection more than they need double strike anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Scarab God - Very similar to Chainer, Dementia Master as they are 5-CMC legendary creatures with a powerful reanimation ability. I think this guy will replace Chainer as your reanimation-centric general. There are some intricacies between their reanimation abilities (Scarab is 1 more mana but less color intensive and doesn't require life payment which does add up, exiling the creature card is good or bad compared to Chainer just putting the dude directly into play, you don't lose your reanimated creature if Scarab dies, the creature always being a 4/4 is sometimes good or bad) but ultimately the main reason is this guy opens you to blue, which is almost always a bonus. Also, this guy is a bit harder to deal with and being a bit larger body is nifty too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****The Scorpion god - Another -1/-1 matters card, this one is cool because it's built around card advantage and grinding the game. Its removal ability is fairly pricy but he's ultimately an excellent mana sink. But its third ability makes it interesting to use as when it gets returned to your hand, it won't be affected by commander tax.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
AFTERMATH
**Reason to Believe - Believe is a tad bit more than I would like (you really want to be cheating out a 7+ dude to make it worth it). Reason obviously helps, but again you want a high CMC dude on top for believe to be worth its mana cost, and you don't have a ton of those in your decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Grind to Dust - I can't imagine there are many white cards or white decks that play around -1/-1 counters, which is unfortunate (in the Amonkhet block most of the -1/-1 counters matters cards are in jund).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Leave to Chance - Paradoxical Outcome sees play in storm-type decks. This doesn't cantrip, but it does cost 2 less mana, and the Chance side is passable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Driven to Despair - Anthem effects that make it easier for your creatures to force through damage and give you upside. As one-shot effects it remains to be seen how good these really are, but they are cool.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
**Abandoned Sarcophagus - More fuel for Astral Slide decks. Although it remains to be seen if this is worth it as a lot of cards with cycling aren't really that exciting to actually play, and this doesn't let you play cycling lands from your graveyard, which is a shame.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Crook of Condomnation - I would rather just play Relic of Progenitus as it costs less mana and cantrips. The only advantage this has over Relic is that its first ability actually targets the card, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***God-Pharaoh's Gift - Expensive, but does give nice creature graveyard recursion for decks that don't normally get it (like blue). It triggers during combat, and you don't actually target the creature, so these factors help increase the card's floor. You ideally want to be recurring higher CMC creatures, but usually that means the creature comes out smaller as these tokens are fixed at 4/4 and your high CMC dudes tend to be larger than that. Still, if it's got a relevant ETB effect and/or attack effect, it's probably in your deck and you won't mind reanimating it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Mirage Mirror - While this will likely not be meta warping, this is an extremely powerful and flexible ability. At baseline it copies whatever the best permanent on the field is for the turn. At it's best there are lots of funny and/or jank things you can do with this, like copying Dark Depths (sac because it has no counters and make a Marit Lage token). I would wager that its best combos would require at least two activations, where you copy it into something where you can quickly put a ton of charge counters on it (e.g. Black market) and then something where the charge counters allow powerful things (e.g. Magistrate's Scepter). Note that you can't reactivate its copy ability once it transforms into something else, so if you want it to be multiple permanents in a single turn you will need to pay its 2-mana cost consecutively. Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg for this card and is definitely something worth looking into.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Most decks
*Sunset Pyramid - A bit slow (you essentially need to invest 8 mana to get 3 cards).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
LAND Dunes of the Dead - Similar to Flagstones of Trokair where the land does something when it is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, making a 2/2 is usually worse than getting a land though, and it doesn't produce a color.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Endless Sands - These types of cards are always difficult to use. They tend to be mana intensive and slow, and if they get destroyed before you're able to return your exiled stuff back they're lost forever and you just screwed yourself hard.
The 2 main uses I see for these kinds of cards are to reuse creature ETB effects and to save your creatures from removal. For the former you are simply better off just straight running flicker effects or reanimation effects, and for the latter your are simply better off running faster and cheaper sac outlets. This particular card could see play because it's on a land, and maybe if you're monocolor or 2-color you could squeeze it in. Once you're at 3+ colors though I find it very hard to ever fit this into your colorless land suite.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Ifnir Deadlands - Out of the cycle of 5 colored deserts that let you sac a desert for some kind of effect, the black one is the only one that's any good. It's expensive and requires deserts, but it is removal. If you're monoblack or two colors, and if you are a -1/-1 counter theme deck (e.g. Hapatra), it should be decent.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Scavenger Grounds - Depends on how many deserts are playable, but you can sac this to itself for its ability. It's comparable to Bojuka Bog which is a black staple, and this is colorless and ETBs untapped, but it does put you back a land, cost more mana overall, and exiling all graveyards is both good and bad depending on how much your deck cares about graveyard interaction too. I do not think it will be as good as Bog, but this is not that bad for nonblack decks. I do believe you can sac changelings to this effect in a pinch (e.g. Chameleon Colossus) which is funny too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
Curse of Vitality, Curse of Verbosity, Curse of Disturbance, Curse of Opulence, Curse of Bounty - I like how it's the same dude getting owned in every picture. He's not having a good day at all. In any case, the white one is unplayable, and the others range from somewhat unplayable to borderline playable, but the fact that your opponents (that aren't the enchanted player) gain the same bonuses really hurts this cycle. I don't have anything else to say, I just wanted to group them all together because the fact that it's the same dude in every picture made me laugh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
TRIBAL GENERALS - The new tribal generals like Arahbo and The Ur-Dragon are very powerful in a vacuum, but obviously they are only good in tribal, and thus it depends on how much support the tribe has to make a build competitive. For example if there aren't enough playable cats, Arahbo is not going to be a very strong card. The ratings I have are made assuming that there is enough support available for the tribe. Remember that even if a tribal general isn't playable now, keep an eye out for any cards Wizards releases in the future that can buffer said tribes.
WHITE
***Alms Collector - Generally worse than Notion Thief, but since they're completely different cards, it would be a better comparison to match this up against something like Spirit of the Labyrinth. You do get flash and the effect doesn't harm you, but you have to pay 1 more mana and its effect is usually less restrictive than Spirit's. Alms Collector lets players draw 1 card at a time (e.g. Rhystic Study) while Spirit tells everyone to sit down. It's still a somewhat unique effect and if your meta is full of mass card drawing and durdling you can find use.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Balan, Wandering Knight - Plays somewhat similarly to Bruna, Light of Alabaster where you try to bide your time until you can one shot someone, but Bruna gives you access to blue and you could slam down millions of auras from your hand or graveyard and not have to actually cast them. For Balan, bypassing equip costs is always interesting, but you still need the equipment in play. Most of the good equipment have fairly low equip costs anyway. At 4-mana you can play him early for sure, but he just simply doesn't feel that strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Fortunate Few - Basically it's 1-less mana over Planar Cleansing but the junkest permanents are left on the board, albeit some politics can be played. So it will likely be played over Planar Cleansing but still doesnt seem that exciting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kindred Boon - Certainly sounds like a powerful effect, but you need 6 mana for your first divinity counter, which is roughly the same amount as the other Kindred cycle takes to get into play, and this doesn't win the game on the spot, and this can be removed to stop the effect (at least I believe so). Still playable in tribal but it's the weakest of the cycle.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Scalelord Reckoner - Can be used in dragon tribal as a rattlesnake-type card, ala Karmic Justice. It stops targeted removal but not things like sacrificing and sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Stalking Leonin - Has an interesting political aspect, where you can bluff players out on who you actually chose, although most of the time your hand will be forced and you'll have to pick the voltron general. It still needs to target, and the creature needs to be attacking, so there are still some big restrictions. I think I would rather just play Fiend Hunter and call it a day. Or play Soul Snare which has a very similar effect but because you can choose ANY player and not the one you secretly chose it's good when you need to change plans quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Teferi's Protection - There are some dumb combos floating around where you basically play this and then find a way to never take another turn ever again, which would technically stop any infinite damage combos and such, and will be hard to work around without having some kind of alternate win con in your deck. I think the more traditional thing to do is have a crapton of mana, cast this while floating mana, and then playing Obliterate or similar effect so everybody's stuff dies except yours, but you could do similar things by casting Boros Charm first or whatever. I feel like just playing Angel's Grace or something is just generally better. It's certainly an interesting card though, but doesn't jump out as immediately broken.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLUE
***Galecaster Colossus - Similar to Azami, Lady of Scrolls as a mass wizards payoff card, where for +2 mana you get a bigger body and a (usually) stronger effect. Generally speaking Azami will be more important as she comes down earlier, but if you want another mass wizards payoff card you could consider this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Kindred Discovery - Literally just goes infinite with The Locust God, seriously wth. Granted, the draw is mandatory so you will deck yourself if you don't build around it, but it shouldn't even be that hard to do that. It's really easy to break this in tribal decks, or maybe not even tribal, just find a way to go infinite (like Locust God). The fact that it counts token creatures as well is what makes this really scary. You have to semi-build around it, but a good Kindred Discovery will end the game in short order.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Magus of the Mind - Much like the other Maguses, I'd rather play Mind's Desire as this guy needs haste or a turn to pass to crack him. But if you need a second copy this could be ok. The biggest bonus is that you technically don't have to shuffle after every Desire spell which saves time (although most people don't really bother if it's like Mind's Desire for 20 or something, people typically just scoop immediately).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Portal Mage - Won't help you against a huge alpha strike, but can be interesting against voltrons where you can redirect the general to something else, but since it requires targeting that can sometimes fail.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
*Boneyard Scourge - Not interested in simple beaters that require mana for their graveyard recursion effect. Unless I'm short in my dragon tribal deck, I wouldn't play it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Bloodline Necromancer - So for vampires or wizards it's a Phyrexian Delver that doesn't nuke your life total. It's not bad, but doesn't feel like it does anything special. When you can play Reanimate, Animate Dead, Beacon of Unrest, etc. in place of this, you really need to abuse the fact that it's a creature, so you have to be fairly tribal-specific and need to have flicker/reanimation effects and such. It's certainly no Karmic Guide unless the tribal aspects are relevant.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Kheru Mind-Eater - Certainly one of the most interesting Ophidian/Abyssal Specter effects I can think of, where you exile the card AND it generates card advantage. Built-in evasion certainly helps too, and it's an affordable 3-mana. Perhaps it won't be good in competitive circles where most games aren't decided by poking opponents for 1 damage, but I think this is pretty flexible and can go into a lot of black decks that have some equipment (you don't even necessarily have to be voltron).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
***Kindred Dominance - In tribal decks it's Plague Wind for 2 less mana, which is certainly good. Still seems somewhat underwhelming relative to the other Kindred cycle as those generally win the game on the spot.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***New Blood - Interesting card because a lot of mind control effects are 5+ mana, so a nonblue card gaining such an effect for less than 5 is worth looking into. Note that while it's best in vampire tribal (you'll always have a vampire at hand to tap, and the changing all creature type text to vampire might be useful in some instances), it might be playable as long as you have "enough" vampires in the deck (especially if your commander just so happens to be a vampire), since you only need to tap one vampire.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Patron of the Vein - Joining the ranks of Duplicant and Noxious Gearhulk of creature removal stapled to a creature ETB for 6-mana, this is probably better than Gearhulk and comparable to duplicant. Instead of gaining life, you get that Anafenza the Foremost exiling effect, which is almost as good as just straight up exiling it ala Duplicant, and you get that effect even if you aren't vampire tribal (if you are vampire tribal then this can be quite good). In non-vampire tribal it's a solid floor card, and in vampire tribal it can get a decent ceiling as well.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some black decks?
***Vindictive Lich - Very interesting non-tribal themed dude. 4-mana is a fair bit, the third ability is not that useful, and there is competition for slots. For example Mindslicer or Fleshbag Marauder type of cards that nuke creatures or cards in hand. Obviously you want plenty of reanimation so you can keep saccing this guy over and over, just like with Fleshbag and such.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**Bloodsworn Steward - Compared to other haste-granting effects, this is a bit more restrictive in that it only gives your commander(s) haste. Even though it's usually your general that you'd be swinging with the most often, you might be better served with cheaper haste enablers like Anger or just strapping lightning greaves to your commander.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Crimson Honor Guard - First off, nobody cares about 4 damage a turn on a 5-mana creature that players can work around, so it's unplayable. Now the idea of punishing players who don't have their commander out is interesting, given that this set also revolves around commanders that do stuff even when they're not in play and thus punishes players who think letting their commander chill in the command zone to generate value is funny. However in most cases people do like jamming their commanders in, because often their commander is central to their deck's goals and win conditions. So even if this card had a more relevant punishment for not having your commander, it would have to be a REALLY good one to make this playable (like draw a card or something).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Disrupt Decorum - It's hard to say how useful this card will be. In some ways it's a cheap Insurrection in that basically every creature has to attack (whereas with insurrection you're basically attacking with every creature too). In other ways it might not really do anything. There may be an opponent that has no creatures (or they had to go first and had to attack and thus had almost no untapped creatures to block with) so everyone just swings into that player and nobody makes any trades in combat to thin out the creatures on the battlefield. It has a dangerously low floor which makes me wary to play it. However it could be interesting in board stalls, and it's a somewhat unique effect. There are cards that make creatures attack, but this one makes them unable to attack you, which has its bonuses.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Izzet Chemister - Exiling your own things from your graveyard can be annoying as they're probably spells you'd want to recur, but it's not a huge mana investment. If you're a deck with a lot of instants and sorceries you can find the time to squeeze in some mana to this guy before your turn and then you can get a solid payout at the end. The haste increases this guy's floor and he can come down fairly early. However you do have to be careful about what you exile as this guy can get killed before you get the payoff, but you can exile the spells at any time and you can actually cast the spells at any time too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kindred Charge - 6 mana sorcery is approaching high costs, and you do need to be tribal, and it can be win more because it doesn't do much if you're only copying a few creatures, and ideally the creatures you're copying are good too. But a good Kindred Charge will end the game, especially if you've got a lot of relevant ETB effects and such. The low floor makes me wary though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Shifting Shadow - It's basically a slow but repeatable Polymorph, but granting the haste is actually nifty. Still if you want to bother to cheat out a fatty, you'd probably not want to have the creature keep dying, and since you have to wait until your upkeep it's trickier to get your first fatty into play. It will probably take more work than it's worth, but the potential is there.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Territorial hellkite - Simple beaters are not interesting, although it is low-CMC and has evasion and haste for 6-power. There are some cards that care about power of your own creatures (e.g. Prime Speaker Zegana), but past that, I'd pass.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
**Hungry Lynx - Certainly a cute card, but giving your opponents deathtouch blockers is not really ideal. You need to be cat tribal to ignore the rats, and even then they're still getting disposable and good blockers. I guess you can play politics by giving certain players the rats, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Kindred Summons - It certainly does not have a great floor, but in tribal decks, it's basically instant-speed Tooth and nail your entire library of creatures. The fact that it counts your token creatures means you can have, say, a bunch of elf tokens out, play this calling Elf, and then dump a million elves from your library into play. Still, since the creatures you cheat into play need to share a type with whatever you call, you still have to build around it a bit, but a good Kindred Summons should end the game in very short order.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Qasali Slingers - more expensive version of Harmonic Sliver and the like. Usually worse than Aura Shards because of the higher CMC but is definitely playable in cat tribal just because this repeatable effect is so powerful. Even outside of cat tribal if there are a lot of fliers, the reach this thing has is not the worst thing to have, although it will still generally be worse than something like Reclamation Sage.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Traverse the Outlands - We just recently got Hour of Promise which gets you any two lands unconditionally (the zombie part with the deserts is almost completely irrelevant). Then consider Explosive vegetation is 4-mana for 2 basics, and you consider that you need at least a 3-power creature out to make this even remotely worth it. That doesn't sound hard, but consider that you want to try and cast your ramp spells on curve, so this means you need a 3-power creature out before you hit 5-mana. There aren't a slew of good low CMC creatures that can meet that requirement but are also good in EDH on their own (no, please do not play Tarmogoyf just to make this better). You definitely need to build around it. Off the top of my head, green decks that either WANT huge fatties (e.g. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds) or are green generals that come with huge power and are low CMC (e.g. Anafenza, the Foremost). Past that, you can have difficulty getting this card to reliably get you 4+ basics by turn 5 or so which would make it difficult to justify a spot. It has a high ceiling, but a really awful floor, and requires strict deckbuilding.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
MULTICOLOR
****Arahbo, Roar of the World - As Oloro showcased, having an effect while in the command zone is some nice value. Giving you a free giant growth on each of your combat steps is very interesting. There are a decent number of low-CMC cats that you can slap down and start grinding out that value with stax effects, ETB effects, etc.; Leonin Arbiter, Qasali Pridemage, etc. Start attacking for 4-5 power or more by turn 3 all the while sporting a relevant effect (or for 5 infect with Lost Leonin yoooooo). The 1GW ability when it's in play is cool, but you really want to abuse that giant growth effect. Throw in some of the cat tribal effects from Amonkhet like Regal Caracal and the deck doesn't sound that bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Edgar Markov - It's pretty solid value from your commander, note that you get the token upon casting your vampire spells and you don't need to pay any mana. Combine this with sac outlets or things that care about stuff dying (Grave Pact) and basically all of your vampires become 2-for-1s automatically at minimum. You have to be vampire tribal, but he does make a vampire-based token deck interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
**Fractured Identity - The first thing that comes to mind with this card is to play it on your own thing so each of your opponents gets a copy of it. For example exile your own Phage the Untouchable. Being sorcery speed really kills the card though. I'm sure there are other lulzy combos, but it's not a very strong card on its own. Shoutout to this card in 1v1 though, since you can point it at the opponent's stuff and you're the only one who gets the copy, so it's basically Utter End plus Mind Control stapled together. 5-mana sorceries are hard to use in 1v1, but that effect is really strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Zedruu
*****Inalla, Archmage Ritualist - Best tribal commander in the set. Just ignore the fact that wizards has so much support (wtf Riptide Laboratory) or that plenty of great cards are wizards (Venser, Shaper Savant, Snapcaster Mage, Trinket Mage, etc.). You get clones of your wizards all the time for just +1 mana while Inalla is chilling in your command zone. Other Eminence generals in this set give free giant growth, or 1/1 tokens, or whatnot. This basically doubles all of your wizards for +1 mana per wizard. You'll be drowning in value before you know it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
***Licia, Sanguine Tribute - Lifegain can be done in large chunks so it should often cost only 3 mana. For example Serra Ascendant getting you 6 life on its own will make this very cheap for most of the game. However while it's in play, it's an okay ability but it doesn't have any evasion or protection. First strike isn't really relevant because with its pump ability it'll be the biggest creature on the table often anyway (guess it gets around deathtouch). It's a beefy creature that you can cast for cheap, so you can certainly put opponents on a fast clock if you couple this with evasion equipment. Still, it's no Oloro when it comes to dorky life gain.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Kess, Dissident mage - Best overall commander in the set (srsly wtf wizards). Hey bro, how would you like a snapcaster mage-type of effect every turn? I imagine this will become the de facto storm combo general for cutthroat, but even in casual, this is insane value. Just flashing back a ponder or brainstorm is already solid. Flash back demonic tutor, or a kill spell. Once you cast your first time warp and it hits the graveyard, if Kess is already in play and survives the turn, the game is literally over >95% of the time, you can start flash backing the time warps from your graveyard, cast more from your hand, then flash those back, etc. Note that there's no dumb "upkeep" trigger or anything, you can play her and if you have extra mana up you can immediately cast something to generate value. Now it's not a great interaction with counterspells, but note that you don't have to target the spell you want to cast, so you can sandbag your chosen spell until someone runs into your counterspell in your graveyard. On top of that, it has a relevant body with evasion, and 4-mana is certainly reasonable. IMO this could be as powerful as Leovold and could get banned.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Mairsil, the Pretender - So you can exile the card from your graveyard so it's not really card disadvantage, you can nuke a card from your hand in emergencies, and this guy keeps track of everything you exiled with this guy (meaning flicker effects can allow you to stack up multiple cards). Ideally you want activated abilities that don't require tapping and don't require a lot of mana so you can chain them together, but I'm sure you can put together quick infinite combos just off the back of this guy and some flicker effects. Put in a lightning greaves or something that grants haste for free and you can go off pretty easily.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
**Mathas, Fiend Seeker - Political card where you probably will be putting the bounty counters on problematic creatures to try and coerce your opponents into killing those creatures instead. Still, the fact that everyone (except the creature's controller) gains the benefits makes it less appealing. I think political cards where you can more sculpt who gets the bonuses are better.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist - When she attacks she imposes a Dueling Grounds effect, but you can still attack with multiple creatures if you want. She can be hard to kill in combat so it shouldn't be hard to get her in. Then when she's tapped she grants you a superior Crawlspace effect. She certainly sounds very interesting and could maybe helm some kind of voltron or perhaps hatebears (or hatecats?) deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith - So assuming the hammer isn't in your hand or graveyard, this card is basically 6 mana, 7/4 indestructible general with a relevant attacking ability. That can be quite scary. If you can't tutor up hammer then you still generate card advantage anyway. There are plenty of voltron decks, but he can generate some card advantage while being a voltron.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*O-Kagachi, Vengeful kami - Not a fan of this card. It's beefy, but its combat damage trigger is a punisher mechanic, and you can only potentially catch someone off guard if you can give it haste or find a way to flash it out. If this guy is out, people are not going to attack you unless they can one shot you or kill this guy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe his ability also does not work if the opponent attacks a planeswalker you control, so he's not even that good as a superfriends general. At best I see him as a 5-color pillow fort deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Taigam, Ojutai Master - Simple to build around, however since Taigam himself can be countered it's a bit awkward. Still, if he can survive, you get a nice payoff. He's better in blue-heavy metas where counterspells are everywhere though. If he survives though, it shouldn't be hard to win with rebounded Time Warps and such.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Taigam, Sidisi's Hand - Since you're skipping your draw step this isn't really card advantage, it's card selection and graveyard filling, and the removal ability is nice although needing to tap is annoying. However at 5-mana it feels fairly underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Ur-Dragon - Another card where he has an effect while in the command zone, this one is really good. -1 mana to all your other dragon spells adds up nicely. Yosei, the Morning Star for 5-mana? Yes please. There are a good number of playable dragons, and reducing their mana cost by 1 is certainly nice. You generally will not cast him because 9-mana at baseline is really tough, but whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wasitora, nekoru Queen - Flying and trample makes it difficult to stop, and it has a relevant effect when it connects, albeit somewhat slow. I'd say as a cat tribal general you have better options, and as a Jund stax general you are probably better with Shattergang Brothers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
*Bloodforged Battle-Axe - Equipment that just deal damage and buff P/T are not exciting. now this can clone itself, which is kind of funny, but personally it's not exciting unless you can sacrifice that artifact for an effect, and at that point there are better ways to generate artifacts (e.g. make clue tokens or something).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hammer of Nazahn - It not only automatically equips itself to whatever creature you want, but it gives the free equip on all your future equipment, basically another Sigarda's Aid. When equipped it also gives a solid effect, especially if the equip effect is "free". Obviously way better with Nazahn as the general, but sounds solid for many voltron decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Herald's Horn - Another solid tribal card. It's a decent mana acceleration stapled to a card that can draw you a card now and then (probably looking at around ~1/4 to 1/3rd hit rate). Note that it only finds creature cards, not those that make tokens of said creature type, so you'll have to be fair.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Heirloom Blade - It's similar to Evolutionary Leap where a creature death lets you "draw" what should be a good card, and this is colorless so it can go into more decks than Leap. The fact that the creature card you reveal has to share a type with the creature that died has its benefits and drawbacks. If you build around it properly, you could theoretically do something like let your general die, send it to the graveyard to trigger Blade, and then you only have one creature in your deck that shares a creature type with your general so it will always go into your hand. That seems kind of convoluted though and if you want to do that, you'd probably be better off just running a tutor to go find that dude. In a normal deck it's a somewhat harder to use Evolutionary Leap, and is certainly no Skullclamp.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Mirror of the Forebears - Similar to Mirage Mirror except cheaper to activate, but only copies your things and only really playable in tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Ramos, Dragon Engine - A general that you really need to build around by playing a lot of multicolored spells, preferably as many colors as possible. 6-mana for a 4/4 flier is hard to swallow, but he can get crazy quickly. For example, resolving Conflux when he's out should end the game in short order. You can just slam +1/+1 counters on it with Increasing Savagery if you want or something too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
LAND
***Path of Ancenstry - ETBing tapped is annoying, but it is Command Tower with the scry 1 upside. Because of that, I would not play it outside of tribal because ETBing tapped is such a large drawback.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Ashes of the Abhorrent - There's not a lot off the top of my head that this actually stops. Compare this to Ground Seal or Grafdigger's Cage, this really only stops flashback, or casting for free from Torrential Gearhulk or the aftermath cards, etc. You can still loop with Karmic Guide stuff, etc. The lifegain part doesn't really matter either outside of super dedicated lifegain but even I feel like it just doesn't do enough.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Axis of Mortality - Funny against lifegain decks, but too slow and can't actually really kill players.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Kinjalli's Sunwing - The flying is not the worst, but if you want creatures to ETB tapped there are several other more efficient cards, such as Imposing Sovereign or Thalia, Heretic Cathar, let alone noncreature variants like Kismet and such. These are annoying effects to play against, but there are more efficient versions of this guy.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort - The front side is half the cost and half the dudes of Raise the Alarm and the flip side is a Kjeldoran outpost that nets you a land instead of costing you one. In a token deck it can flip fairly early, ramps you, and in the lategame do something other than provide you mana. It's not high impact, but at 1-mana it's not a bad card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle - Note that no matter how many vampires you control attack, you only create one token. So he's just meh even in vampire tribal. If you're completely out of playable vampires then maybe use him, but he's going to be underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Priest of the Wakening Sun - The tutor effect is expensive, and nobody really cares about lifegain, so unless there are some toolbox-ish dinosaur cards that you will be willing to spend an effective 3WWW to fetch out, I don't even think he'll be good in dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Sanguine Sacrament - Ew. srsly
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Settle the Wreckage - Path to exile is a powerful magic card. However casting path to exile on everything that's attacking can easily backfire, if they're attacking with a bunch of dumb dorks along with a super powerful creature, exiling their weenies and letting them get like 5+ lands is not a good deal. Because of that, this card seems very risky. If they attack with, say, four very powerful creatures and this exiles them all, giving them four basics may be worth it; just like with Path, you'll trade a card and giving them a basic land for exiling their biggest threat. But there's a huge risk to the card and I imagine there will be plenty of times this won't do what you want. I guess you can attack with your own weenies and exile them to ramp, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Tocatli honor Guard - Torpor orb shuts down a good number of creature decks, and this is Torpor Orb dude. Now creatures are easier to kill than artifacts, but they tend to be easier to tutor out and recur, and white weenies/death and taxes decks are interested in warm bodies to wear equipments and such too. Basically, if you're interested in Torpor Orb, you will be interested in him.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Zedruu, Oloro (with some tweaks)
***Wakening Sun's Avatar - 7-8 mana creatures that blow up a bunch of creatures (sometimes with restrictions) is the norm, although I don't really see them very often as they're not good creatures to cheat out since generally the effect only happens when you hardcast it. Regardless, it should be playable since I believe this is the first monowhite variant so maybe there will be a home for it. If you have dinosaur tribal then it should be solid in them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
BLUE
****Arcane Adaptation - Literally Conspiracy but colorshifted into blue and 2 less mana. I don't have much experience with tribal cards, and I feel like if you want to build tribal it's probably better to just play creatures in that tribe than try to stick this card and then play off-tribe cards, but the effect is very powerful when built around. I rated it high because it's a very unique effect, but I honestly am not sure how good this will be.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deadeye Quartermaster - Creatures that tutor for something upon ETB can be useful. However they typically are 3-mana. This one at 4-mana is a bit slow. Now blue gets artifact tutoring but doesn't get a lot of equipment tutoring, but depending on the equipment you want you can play Trinket Mage or Trophy Mage. In addition, decks that normally want to tutor for an equipment are generally voltron/aggressive decks, but there aren't that many blue voltrons, so it's hard to say how many want this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deeproot Waters - Merfolk tribal card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Dreamcaller Siren - The body is not bad as is the flash, but the ETB effect is rather ho-hum. Cards like Deceiver Exarch can untap if needed and cost 1 less mana. Cards like Dungeon Geist cost the same or more mana and don't have flash, but keep the creature tapped down until the dude gets removed. They also don't require another pirate in play to get the effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Entrancing Melody - There actually aren't that many sorceries that let you "permanently" steal a creature, but this will be fairly expensive to steal big things. Unless you plan on stealing a lot of 1 or 2 drops, or you're playing a deck where sorceries/instants matter, it might be better to go with Treachery or even regular Mind Control for mana efficiency.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Fleet Swallower - I still don't like mill even though this literally casts Traumatize whenever it attacks, and it'll be a fun combo with Fraying Sanity while both are in standard. But it's often a bad thing to mill opponents as decks often have graveyard shenanigans. And players often play original Kozilek or Ulamog which will let them automatically shuffle their graveyard back in. The huge mana cost also hurts it; it's a 7-mana creature that doesn't even do anything until it attacks and its attack doesn't even affect the board in a large number of cases. However, the fact that you can target yourself with the trigger makes this slightly better. There are better ways to mill yourself, but this still gets a chunk of cards quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Herald of Secret Streams - If you're a blue deck with some kind of +1/+1 counter theme, this should help you end the game quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Jace, Cunning Castaway - The +1 is a conditional looting effect and the -2 makes a 2/2 bear with a drawback. The ultimate comes quickly and is kind of funny, but it just makes more Jaces and the effects are still mediocre. I guess for 3-mana it's hard to ask for more, but this just feels underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Kopala, warden of Waves - Merfolk tribal general. There are a bunch of legendary merfolk but none of them are really tribal, and not many are actually monoblue. Making your merfolk harder to kill is certainly very strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - New deck with this as the general
Overflowing Insight - I saw sorcery speed, huge mana cost, and an effect that is almost always going to be worse than something like Recurring Insight and I just ignored it. I had to do a double take when I realized it was a mythic. I'm going to be very salty opening this garbage card as my mythic.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Prosperous Pirates - Monoblue ramp on a dude. You want flicker and graveyard recursion to make a lot of treasures, and you want to make use of a lot of disposable artifacts.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Derevi
*River's Rebuke - Only affecting one player kills this card's usability. Also being a sorcery.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin - The front half is a pretty weak effect, but the flip side is not bad. It casts a "neutered" Impulse. However because the front side is so weak, it'll be a question of how quickly can you get this to flip; at the very least flipping it will get you a land, and blue decks love their mana. You'll want to play cards that can incidentally dump stuff into your library and there are some good ones (Fact or Fiction).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Talrand?
**Siren Stormtamer - 1-mana creatures that can counterspell, even conditionally, can be played in the right deck (e.g. Edric).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Spell Swindle - I'm not a big fan of the big mana counterspells since they're clunky and unless you're targeting certain spells you're not getting your mana's worth. With this card, for example, if you're not creating a lot of treasures it's going to be hard to justify playing this card over the many other big mana counters that have a higher ceiling or are more flexible, such as Mystic Confluence or Desertion. It's not terrible, but it is almost strictly a casual card where people will regularly be slinging around 6+ CMC cards.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Tempest Caller - This can let you alpha strike one player, or flashing it in somehow can stop an attack step. While it does not compare well against Cryptic Command, not many cards do, and there aren't really that many creatures with good "tap a bunch of creatures" effects upon ETB. You do want to find ways to flash this in to help make it better though as otherwise it's kind of a win-more card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
BLACK
***Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz - One of the better legendary flip enchantments because the front side is not that bad. It's literally Greed with a lower upfront cost but more mana to draw cards. When compared to Greed, they only break even when you've drawn two cards off of them (both costing 3BBB) and only past that does Greed become more economical. Now you generally don't want to play this card until mid-lategame anyway and it actually doesn't flip to the backside very often, and the backside is not even that good anyway (by the time you reach 5 life you probably don't need another land). Still, I would probably play it over Erebos, God of the Dead despite all of Erebos' upside because just costing 2 less mana upfront is so important, so this can function as a second Greed if you need to.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Oloro
**Bishop of the Bloodstained - Vampire tribal. And still not super exciting in it without ETB abusing effects or flicker or reanimation, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Bloodcrazed Paladin - Not usually a big fan of these types of cards that do something when a bunch of creatures die quickly, but being 2 mana can catch people offguard. Normally when a bunch of creatures die in one turn it's because of a sweeper and usually nobody has a creature out afterwards, meaning it's possible to get this to be, say, a 10/10 or bigger, and swing in at someone with no blockers. If you can sneak this guy in after a big sweeper you can get in some decent damage and get a big body, and while I'm not a fan of simple beatsticks, at 2-mana there's worse things you can do. These types of cards tend to not have a very good floor though and are often extremely bad earlygame.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Boneyard Parley - A fun variant on Fact or Fiction, this will generally get you 2-3 of the best creature cards in any graveyard, which is solid, but at 7-mana sorcery you get what you pay for. You also generally want enough graveyards to be stocked where you're pulling creatures that are like 5+ CMC just to get your mana's worth too, so there are times when this won't pay for itself.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Costly Plunder - High floor, low ceiling sac outlet that nets you some cards. SInce you can sac artifacts you can bin something like Ichor Wellspring or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deadeye Tracker - Fairly mana intensive and needing to tap can make it a bit slow, but it comes down very early and it is graveyard hate that also either draws you a land card or gets bigger (and dumps cards into the graveyard if necessary).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Dire Fleet Ravager - Group slug will love this. Aggro decks that don't rely on general damage will be interested too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Fathomfleet Captain - It needs to attack, needs mana, and preferably needs to survive (menace does help with that though), and your payout is a slow stream of 2/2s. Meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Kitesail Freebooter - Brainmaggot with a better body but can't snatch creature cards, which is probably a losing trade. Dipping into white gives you Tidehollow Sculler which is often better because of that "Oblivion Ring" wording of keeping the exiled card gone forever if abused properly. Duress effects and such are just not that powerful in multiplayer formats.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Raiders' Wake - The raid trigger is nice but you're paying +1 mana over Megrim for that effect, a card which was already outclassed by Liliana's Caress and even that card was outclassed by Waste Not. And even at 4-mana I would rather play Geth's Grimoire - I'd rather draw cards than have the opponent lose 2 life.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Revel in Riches - New take on Black market. It doesn't trigger off of your creatures dying, but you get the mana "immediately" and there's the bonus of being an alternate win condition. Having 4-5 creatures die or so will help cover the initial cost (compare to Gilded Lotus) and anything beyond that is a bonus. Getting 10 treasures probably shouldn't be that hard either. What holds this card back is how it will definitely draw hate and will get blown up ASAP, so you need to protect it (Greater Auramancy or something). It also technically does nothing on its own immediately either, so there is a low floor, but it will quickly demand an answer in most casual metas that have lots of creatures running around.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Oloro?
*Ruin Raider - The Dark Confidant effect is not super exciting in EDH unless you're super cutthroat because mana costs are higher, and while life payments can be easily stomached, it does suck if you hit your 5+ drops and you end up losing like 10 life just to net 3-4 cards or whatever. It is technically faster than Phyrexian Arena since you can potentially start drawing cards at your end step and not your upkeep, but it's easier to kill and there are restrictions and having a 1/1 suicide into an enemy or whatever doesn't really help. This generally feels worse than Arena, and even Arena I have a hard time putting into my decks these days.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Sanctum Seeker - In vampire tribal it's Hellrider with lifegain but no haste. The no haste is a bummer but otherwise...
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Sword-Point Diplomacy - The fact that any opponent can pay the 3 life means this card is literal garbage.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Vraska's Contempt - For +1 mana over Hero's Downfall you gain an exile effect, which is the normal trade, but 4-mana is still a bit much. If I was BW I would rather play Utter End since that also hits artifacts and enchantments, but if you're a black deck without white then you may consider playing this. Still, 4-mana for a 1-for-1 is a bit hard to stomach.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
RED
*Angrath's Marauders - If you're white it's essentially strictly worse than Gisela, Blade of Goldknight. If you're not white and you're interested in doubling damage, I'd rather just take Furnace of Rath despite it also affecting you, because it's just so much cheaper. 7-mana is a lot, but it comes down so late and it's not that good if you're behind.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Burning Sun's Avatar - Unless you're dinosaur tribal I'd usually rather play Inferno Titan, unless you're really lacking huge dorky dudes (you probably aren't).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Captain Lannery Storm - Fun gimmicky treasure-based card but if there aren't enough playable treasure cards in red then she'll be a terrible general. The haste is nice but she dies pretty easily in combat.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Captivating Crew - For +1 CMC and +1 activation cost over Yasova Dragonclaw you can steal multiple creatures and there aren't any restrictions on who to steal, which can actually be scary, especially with a sac outlet present. It's a very severe mana sink though, but being able to just steal the biggest creature, even if it's temporary, will make the entire table wary. For example your opponent may have a tough time playing out their Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite if you can steal her. It basically demands an answer against any deck that's creature heavy, and at 4-mana it's not THAT bad if it dies immediately (since it technically doesn't impact the board immediately).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Makeshift Munitions - You can sac artifacts to this, but I would rather just play Goblin Bombardment. Not needing the 1 mana for each sac is so much more useful overall. If you really want to sac artifacts, play cards that can do that without needing mana (e.g. Krark-Clan ironworks).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Otepec Huntmaster - Perfect card for dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Rampaging Ferocidon - While most players don't play a lot of lifegain, stopping it is nice, but more importantly the damaging effect from creature ETBs adds up quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Rowdy Crew - Yet another card that I glossed over not caring about it, until I realized it was mythic. Literally nothing about this card gives off a mythic vibe.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Star of Extinction - The spell gets countered if the land it's targeting becomes an illegal target before it resolves, which is kind of funny. A giant fireball of death from the sky vaporizes if your Sylvan Safekeeper sacrifices the targeted land. Also, "20 damage to each creature and each planeswalker" is a pretty funny line of text. It's not really playable as Blasphemous Act gets the job done and colorless options like Oblivion Stone are generally more efficient. I don't give bonus points for flavor, but this card is sure cool, and these are the kinds of mythics I can get behind even if they're not that playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Sunbird's Invocation - So why exactly is this not mythic but Rowdy Crew is? In any case, it's another dorky big mana red enchantment that does interesting stuff, but it's slow and kind of win more as you need to resolve a 6-mana card that does nothing immediately, then it only really generates big value when you're casting more big spells.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Vance's Blasting Cannons // Spitfire Bastion - The front side is a worse version of Outpost Siege (at least the half of Siege that is played most often), which is not a particularly good card but one that mono red is sometimes interested in. The back side is a nice repeatable bolt effect, but that kind of effect is generally not superb in EDH when creatures and life totals are fairly large. Basically is this card's backside more useful than Outpost Siege's ability to play lands and sometimes choose its second mode? Personally neither card impresses me that much, but monored is bereft of good card advantage so it might be playable on the back of that.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Wily Goblin - 2-drop that provides a lotus petal upon ETB is interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
GREEN
***Commune with Dinosaurs - Dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Deathgorge Scavenger - Loaming Shaman can nuke multiple cards in a single graveyard upon ETB, but it didn't have the attack trigger, and shuffling cards back into the library is usually worse than just exiling them (although with 99-card singletone it's often not that bad unless the opponent has a tutor). I think I would rather just play Scavenging Ooze but if you want graveyard hate on creature ETBs then you can line it up against Loaming Shaman.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Deeproot Champion - Green doesn't get prowess effects often, and the main reason why is that green is more focused on creatures. It's only a beatstick at the end of the day, and personally I would just play +1 mana to get Managorger Hydra which gets huge much faster and has trample.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Emperor's Vanguard - Needing to deal combat damage to a player makes this meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*****Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun - The modern day Gaea's Cradle (nice callback to Gaea's Cradle btw wizards, literally calling it "Cradle of the Sun")? Not quite, but I do think it's a very good card (if you consider that Cradle would receive like a 7/5 rating). You need to be creature-centric, which is not hard to do in green, but you need enough saturation to be able to hit the front reliably. It's not hard to flip it either. Once it's flipped, we all know how ridiculous Gaea's Cradle is.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Bunch of green ones
***Savage Stomp - Dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Shapers' Sanctuary - It's the weaker half of Leovold, Emissary of Trest, but for 1-mana you can't ask for more. Whether it does enough is hard to say. If your creatures are really important, I'd say finding ways to keep them protected for sure is probably better (e.g. Sylvan Safekeeper).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Verdant Sun's Avatar - Holy cow this card sucks. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is laughing at this dinosaur, and Trostani is only good because they have the populate ability. Simply gaining life is so useless, and you're spending 7-mana to do that. If he was a 4-mana 5/5 with this ability I still would have to think about actually putting this guy in my deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Waker of the Wilds - Fairly mana intensive and turning your lands into creatures often backfires because a sweeper nukes those lands too. It's a 4-drop but you really want to treat it as a super lategame card where you really only want to start turning your lands into creatures if you have nothing else to do. There are other cards like various Nissa versions that turn lands into creatures (even if some are only temporary) but are more mana efficient, and often can do other things if necessary too. This isn't the worst thing ever but you should be able to find better things to do with your mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
MULTICOLOR
**admiral Beckett Brass - Pretty awesome pirate general in flavor, but how good it actually is obviously depends on how many pirates are playable. Getting three pirates to land hits on the same player can be difficult to do as well and probably is win-more. You can play him for flavor reasons, but he doesn't seem very strong even if there are enough pirates to make a deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - New deck with this as the general
Belligerent Brontodon - For 7-mana I would want more than a marginally bigger Doran, the Siege Tower. Oddly enough the 4-power is so useless on this card. It only affects your creatures, but considering if you're playing a toughness-matters card you're building around it while most people don't (most creatures are tiny or care more about power). So basically you're paying +4 mana to get 1 additional toughness over Doran. If you really want this effect and you don't have access to black, just go play Assault Formation unless you absolutely need more than one card with this kind of effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Call to the Feast - If you're vampire tribal this makes a fair number of warm bodies in a hurry. However much like your traditional token deck, you really want to care about the quantity of dudes out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Deadeye Plunderer - Unless you care about treasures this is too slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Gishath, Sun's Avatar - 7/6 for 8-mana is pretty small for what's supposed to be a dinosaur, but the effect is certainly powerful. But it depends on how many playable dinosaurs there are, and to be frank most of the dinosaurs in this set are rather underwhelming, so unless some good old cards get errata'd into dinosaur, he won't be playable as a general. Even if there are enough dinosaurs, 8-mana is still a lot and it will take awhile to get out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Hostage Taker - Interesting take on Sower of Temptation and Fiend Hunter type of cards. Most creatures that gain control of something upon ETB only give you control until it leaves the battlefield, so killing the dude lets the opponent take his stuff back. Creatures that remove something upon ETB also typically return the thing when it leaves. With this though, if you want to really steal something for good you can just "cast" the stolen spell. The gold standard for a creature ETB that steals something is still Gilded Drake but this can be an interesting budget option.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Huatli, Warrior Poet - Gaining life is whatever (especially RW which is traditionally supposed to be aggro) and making 3/3s gets outclassed fairly quickly once you reach 5-mana (note that while Garruk, Primal Hunter made 3/3s, that one was on a +1, and more often that Garruk was used to draw cards anyway). At that point you're paying 5-mana for a Flames of the Firebrand albeit with a slight upgrade of stopping blockers. Still, the +2 is just so underwhelming I can't imagine it will do much if you're just pumping out 3/3s.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Raging Swordtooth - There are several cards that damage each creature (or each "other" creature) upon ETB, so how does this stack? Frankly, I don't really see a good use for it. 1 damage is really not a lot. You wipe out the tiniest tokens and mana dorks, which actually can be decent in certain metas, but for example Caldera Hellion is probably more useful. At 5-mana I think I'd try to look for something better. The only real application for this is in dinosaur tribal that specifically have enrage abilities where this can trigger them all, but how many dinosaurs will you realistically have out when you play this guy?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Regisaur Alpha - 7/7 across two bodies and granting haste to all your other dinosaurs for 5-mana is not that bad (Broodmate Dragon for example made 8/8 across two flying bodies with no anthem effect for 6-mana). It could be usable outside of dinosaur tribal, and if you are dinosaur tribal then this is actually one of the best dinosaurs in the set (which is not saying much, but w/e).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Shapers of Nature - Seems generally worse than Zameck Guildmage. You can put counters on anything and not just on dudes that are entering the battlefield and you can dump counters on the same creature if you want, but you're paying +1 mana for the body and +2 mana for the counter ability and +1 mana for the draw ability. Considering that Zameck Guildmage isn't really turning any heads, I can't imagine this guy being that good outside of very specific UG +1/+1 counter themed decks and even then it's just going to be a passable value card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Tishana, Voice of Thunder - Yes, this is exactly what I, as a super durdly UG player who loves dumb value ETB creatures, needs for his decks. It's basically strictly better than Regal Force - you get a spellbook effect, AND it counts all creatures you control and not just green ones. It also gives a nice alternative to Prime Speaker Zegana in that this one rewards you for going wide while Zegana rewards you for going big (the mana costs and small bonuses also change things too but those are not as large). I like this card so much that I am strongly considering tweaking all of my existing UG decks to better accommodate this card (play extra creatures, or cards that make extra dudes, etc.). Even outside of my own little bubble, I do think this will be an excellent top end value card for UG decks, because those decks already play a good number of creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Every UG deck (to varying degrees)
***Vona, Butcher of Magan - Life is a plentiful resource in EDH, but 7 life is actually pretty hefty, and only being able to activate it on your turn is annoying, and it's 5 mana and needs to tap, so it is a bit slow too. Even in heavy lifegain decks like Oloro, 7 life per pop will hit you very hard. The vigilance+lifelink is nice but a 4/4 for 5-mana with no evasion will die pretty often in combat, so you'll need sword of fire and ice or lightning greaves or whatever to make it better. It might see some play in WB voltron decks where this guy can pick up equipment if your general isn't in play (or this guy is your general). Otherwise you can't just stick him into any old orzhov deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - maybe Oloro?
***Vraska, Relic Seeker - For 6 mana, the +2 is very underwhelming, but the -3 is nice. Compare to Karn liberated for example, this can't hit lands or planeswalkers and it doesn't exile, but you do get the lotus petal and it is 1 mana cheaper. Her first form Vraska the Unseen has a -3 that can blow up walkers and is 1 mana cheaper, but she can only activate it once without a proliferate or whatever. Ultimately, it's 6-mana, blow up two things and make two lotus petals, stretched out over two turns, which is not that bad. The ultimate of course is funny but not that good; ultimates should often let you end the game in short order, especially on those that cost 6 mana, and hers doesn't. In addition, the +2 is so weak that the ultimate will almost never happen anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
ARTIFACT
**Conqueror's Galleon // Conqueror's Foothold - It's a very weak creature on the front, but the flip side is interesting. It's very slow, but there aren't many colorless options that give unconditional graveyard recursion.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale - Cool flavor, and a nice callback to Lotus Vale. You do choose which opponent gets the tokens, and this transforms after hitting any opponent so you can go after someone else. Generally speaking you're going to have a 3-drop or 2-drop in play, throw this down at 4 mana to play+equip and swing, transform and use the mana. So it's similar to Gilded Lotus in that it will cost less mana and is harder to kill, but can be difficult to transform if the board is cluttered. If your general has evasion to more reliably sneak a hit in and get this transformed, I'd say you should consider this card. Otherwise you may have reliability issues.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Pillar of Origins - Tribal decks, and you really need to be heavy tribal, as it's not gonna help you cast your off-tribal cards.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Pirate's Cutlass - Pirate tribal. Even then you only get one free equip; past that you still need to pay 2 for the ability, which is meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring - It's +2 mana over something like Goblin Electromancer and while it has the upside of turning into a land that basically forks the sorcery or instant it helps cast, most spellslinging decks want mana efficiency. Still, it's going into spellslinger decks, but not much else.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Sentinel Totem - I think I still would rather play Relic of Progenitus; the wide-nuke ability takes 1 mana, but it at least replaces itself (albeit this card at least has a scry 1), but you can keep one player's graveyard empty by using its normal tap ability which has some uses. So I'd only play this card if I needed a second Relic effect and it's still competing with something like Tormod's Crypt for that slot. It's still efficient graveyard removal so it's not unplayable, but I think there are enough budget options available that you don't really need this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Thaumatic Compass // Spires of Orazca - Basically strictly better than Journeyer's Kite although that card wasn't that special to begin with, as white already has enough cards that fetch out lands, and blue/green/black have better options, and monored is a joke so whatever. Still, it does transform into a decent land (basically Maze of Ith that can tap for colorless but cannot target your own creatures). It feels too slow, but in a super casual meta it's not the worst.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Treasure Map // Treasure Cove - Similar to those "brick" cards in Amonkhet where you needed to use its first underwhelming ability several times before you got to the payoff. Its front side is comparable to Crystal Ball which is an underwhelming card, and after several turns turns into a land that can draw cards, but saccing a treasure plus tapping the land essentially means you're spending 2 mana for the card which is like comparable to cracking clue tokens. I like the flavor and it is playable but it's too slow for me.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Vanquisher's Banner - 5-mana for the small anthem effect is whatever, so you're paying this for the draw ability. There actually aren't many (if any) colorless cards that have this effect, but depending on the color of your deck you can find more efficient options. For example green gives Primordial Sage where for +1 mana you get a body and it's not relegated for tribal decks. For example blue gives Kindred Discovery which is bonkers. You should look for lower CMC options for your tribal deck before going to this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
LAND
**Field of Ruin - Probably worse than Tectonic Edge, which isn't necessarily bad, but since Tec Edge is already strictly worse than wasteland (which in turn is strictly worse than strip mine), you need to ask yourself how many of these kinds of cards you want.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Unclaimed Territory - Bad Cavern of Souls but you can never have enough lands, especially considering how expensive Cavern is right now. This color fixes any tribal deck, and it at least provides colorless for your non-tribal cards too.
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Bishop of Binding - Only for vampire decks and even there I'd consider it fairly fringe. It's +1 mana over your standard Fiend Hunter kind of card, less power and toughness, and it needs to attack before you get any benefit. Now you often spend your removal-type cards on generals, and so if your opponent puts the general back into the command zone, that does help you a bit because then having this guy die doesn't bring the commander back, but then you don't get any P/T boost when it attacks and then it's literally just +1 mana Fiend Hunter. It's not unplayable but it's certainly not exciting at all.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Famished Paladin - There might be some kind of combo with being able to tap a creature (in this case, this guy) to gain life, which will trigger this guy to untap and you loop it again, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Paladin of Atonement - Cracking fetchlands at opportune times can trigger this guy, but all he really does is get a little bigger and gain you life when it dies, neither of which are exciting even for a 2-drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Radiant Destiny - Interesting option for tribal decks. It doesn't take long to get ascend online in which case this is a nice option for tribal decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Slaughter the Strong - This is a nice way to clear out big creatures, but most of the time players have a bunch of tiny ones out (that have some kind of utility) and then 1-2 big dudes on the board at any given time. Since everyone chooses which to keep, this often won't kill the utility creatures (or in bad cases, small generals), which makes this very volatile. Its poor floor makes me wary of playing this despite being just 3 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sphinx's Decree - Interesting take on Silence, but because it only stops instant and sorceries, it's pretty unreliable unless you're up against control/non-creature combo decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tmple Altisaur - Dinosaur tribal. However, the thing about dinosaurs is that they're often supposed to be the biggest creatures on the table, so you shouldn't be caring if they're taking damage because presumably they're from smaller creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Trapjaw Tyran - Dinosaur tribal. This is a slow but repeatable Fiend Hunter type of card for the deck. But it takes a fair bit of work, and the creatures come back after this dies, so meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Zetalpa, primal Dawn - Dinosaur version of Akroma, lots of keywords and mainly a beater. Honestly not that exciting in EDH for 8 mana, but it's cool looking.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLUE
**Admiral's Order - So without raid it's cancel (which is Counterspell for +1 mana), and with raid it's Counterspell for -1 mana. Eh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Aquatic Incursion - Merfolk tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Crafty Cutpurse - If opponents love their tokens, this is a funny way to rip the carpet from under them, but that seems fairly specific.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Flood of Recollection - Recollect for -1 mana but exiles itself. Since most decks that want to use Recollect-type cards probably want to loop time warps over and over, this could be difficult to play, but the -1 mana discount at least gives you options if you need them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Induced Amnesia - If you can find a way to sac it, this can essentially just double the number of cards in your hand. Worst case scenario this thing at least just loots alot too, so its floor isn't terrible. Still you need to build around it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Kumena's Awakening - So it's not very useful without ascend unless you're group hug, but when you do ascend it's not great for group hug. At 4-mana though there are permanents that mimic this effect, even if they aren't quite as reliable (Coercive Portal), and even once you ascend it's basically just Phyrexian Arena for +1 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Nezahal, Primal Tide - Can't be countered, draws you cards, and can protect itself. It's what you want in a fatty. Now how it stacks up to other fatties that remains to be seen, but this is definitely an interesting top end.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Talrand
**Release to the Wind - I'm not really sure what's the point of this card, since the owner can cast the card again for free, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't just play Boomerang or something. I'll rate it 2/5 just because of skepticism, but I don't see any real value in this right now.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Riverwise Augur - It brainstorms upon ETB which is cool, but the power of brainstorm was not just being 1-mana (when it really should've cost at least 2 mana) but being instant speed. Still, if you have fetchlands, and you have ETB-matters theme, it's worth playing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Derevi
***Seafloor Oracle - Merfolk tribal, and an interesting one at that as it gives you the Coastal Piracy effect on a body.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Timestream Navigator - It's a creature that lets you take extra turns, and it doesn't get exiled afterwards. Certainly has potential, but you really want to find a way to get the bottom card of your library back out (Grenzo or something but that's offcolor), and it needs to tap so it needs haste.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Warkite Marauder - This basically shrinks one of their blockers which is cool, but it's not quite removal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLACK
***Champion of Dusk - Vampire tribal, and it's nice if you have like 5-6 vampires out, but if you have like 15 1/1 vampires, this draws you a ton of cards but could sometimes kill you if you're not careful. Still, you play it in your vampire tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dead Man's Chest - Cool flavor, but it's mostly just a weird way of "drawing" cards and is a bit slow and unreliable (if they have a sac outlet they can dodge your aura).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Golden Demise - Playable enough early sweeper if your meta has alot of tiny creatures. Ascend isn't hard to reach but it is usually towards the latter part of midgame when you do reach it, and then this just wipes out all of the enemy tiny creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Mastermind's Acquisition - Tutors are powerful, as are the Wish effects (albeit you'll have to make sure your playgroup allows said Wish effects beforehand), but 4-mana is tough to swallow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Ravenous Chupacabra - It took awhile, but we finally have Murder on a creature ETB, and 4-mana is reasonable. Sorry Nekrataal, we have a new creature ETB king. Heck, this works with Reveilark. Fun times.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Tetzimoc, Primal Death - A bit slow and basically does nothing as a general, but the effect is certainly good. Compare to something like Noxious Gearhulk, this requires a bit more mana and doesn't gain you life, but you get a slightly bigger body and you can knock out multiple creatures if you have the mana, which is probably a better trade overall.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Twilight Prophet - Reverse Dark Confidant. The fact that it basically does nothing without ascend means that while this is a 4-drop, you need to treat it like something you'd play on like turn 5 or 6 or so, making it more like a mid-lategame bomb. Now if you're a bombs-away type of deck with huge CMC cards, the life drain effect becomes even better too. Still, it is slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Vona's Hunger - At baseline it's a perfectly acceptble Fleshbag Marauder type of card, at instant speed no less, it would be a decent card even without ascend. Once you get ascend, it's very good for just 3-mana instant. This is an excellent card with a more than accceptable floor and a great ceiling for just 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Most decks with black
RED
****Blood Sun - Just want to point out that the cantripping on this card is super huge, making it have a passable floor and not a totally dead card in bad matchups. Past that, this thing shuts off a fair number of things, such as Maze of Ith, Glacial Chasm, and so on, and in your more broken metas shuts off Tabernacle and Bazaar. Worth noting that there are a lot of cards in Ixalan that flip into lands that have non-mana abilities too. Note that it also shuts off certain lands, such as the karoo lands from Ravnica (Boros Garrison), and shuts off the drawback from Lotus Vale and the like too. It won't get things like Gaea's Cradle or Mishra's Workshop, but them's the breaks. It's obviously very similar to Blood Moon, even sharing a very similar name, and some people may think that you have to use one or the other, but I'd say just use both. Get all the damn land hate.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Not sure for now
***Brass's Bounty - For the most part this is worse than Boundless Realms although obviously a different color. It's moreso going to be used for the fact that it just plops a bunch of artifacts into play, meaning you want to build around it with cards that care about such things. For example with Krark Clan Ironworks this gets you a lot more mana. With Revel in Riches this should easily turn on Revel's "wincon" ability if it survives. And so on.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dire Fleet Daredevil - Not a terrible effect, but it is unreliable at times. it's not very good early on, and is susceptible to graveyard hate. It's basically a weird version of Snapcaster Mage, but without the flash it's not as powerful (which is a good thing for balance, not a good thing for this card.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Etali, primal Storm - Very similar to Narset. It's monocolor, larger, and allows you to cast creature cards that Narset couldn't, but Narset's protection meant that it would be a lot easier to trigger, and Narset is a more broken general to build around because you know what you're getting with Narset's top 4 cards most of the time (since it's your library) while this guy is more just for value. It's not bad, but it's a bit slow and frail. It's worse as a general too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Form of the Dinosaur - 15 damage to one creature is a funny line of text (it literally can kill Emrakul, although this card's drawback would mean Emrakul would also kill you in return), but setting your life total to 15 can be a drawback at times, it's a bit slow, and this can eventually get you killed because the opposing creature damages you. It's funny but doesn't seem very playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Needletooth Raptor - It's only a 2/2 so you need to be careful, but if you can reliably trigger the enrage it can pick off a fair number of creatures. Dinosaur tribal will generally have ways to trigger enrage (since a lot of dinosaurs have enrage), but even outside of that, if you have cards like Staff of nin or whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Rekindling Phoenix - Meh, mostly just a beater that slowly recurs itself.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Silverclad Ferocidons - 7 mana is a lot, and the effect is honestly not that powerful at this point in the game since players will have a slew of useless things to sac.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Tilonalli's Summoner - Too slow and unreliable and frail. It is only 2-mana, but without ascend the effect is meh, and being a 1/1 it will die to basically anything in combat. If I needed to make tokens in red, there are better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
GREEN
***Cherished Hatchling - If you can kill this on demand you can certainly catch people offguard. However most dinosaurs are pretty hefty in CMC, meaning it can be tough to flash in more than 1-2 dinosaurs. So basically for 2-mana you can maybe flash in 1-2 creatures, have them fight things, and since they're dinosaurs they will usually trigger enrage. That's still not bad though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Deeproot Elite - Merfolk tribal. Making dudes larger is not super relevant, but it's only 2-mana and in merfolk tribal should be triggering reliably and often.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Enter the Unknown - In some cases it's a literal Explore for -1 mana, but it is less exciting if you hit a nonland and get a +1/+1 counter, since it'll be more difficult to utilize that extra land drop effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Ghalta, primal Hunger - Not interested in dumb beaters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Jadelight Ranger - Nice if you hit two lands in a row. Awkward if your first explore hits a nonland creature you really need, then this just becomes a dumb beater which is meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Path of Discovery - There aren't many cards that pay off when you explore, and the explore mechanic itself is "okay" for EDH.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Polyraptor - More a combo card. For example this plus Aether Flash makes infinite dudes. Not sure if there are other cards that can make infinite copies, but can be funny even outside of dinosaur tribal, albeit at 8-mana is very slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Swift Warden - Merfolk tribal. 3-mana is a bit much for a combat trick, but it's a merfolk.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Tendershoot Dryad - Verdant Force is litearlly crying in its grave. For 3 LESS mana you get the same token generation, with all the upside of ascend (granted, Verdant Force has literally never been relevant in EDH ever). Since it spews out tokens, it also makes it really easy to trigger the ascend. It only boosts saprolings but you don't even need to be saproling tribal to enjoy this effect. Now it does take a little more time to generate tokens compared to something like Hermit Druid but it's certainly a good card to use.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: green-based token decks
**Thrashing Brontodon - dinosaur tribal Qasali Pridemage for +1 mana. If you really need more dinosaurs play this, otherwise it's a bit slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Wayward Swordtooth - It's Exploration for +2 mana on a dude, but you don't really reap the benefits of the dude until you get ascend.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****World Shaper - Creature version of Splendid Reclamation with upside, but does need to die to get the big payoff. So you do need a sac outlet ready, but whatever. If you care about your graveyard, and/or you can get a bunch of lands into your graveyard quickly, this is good.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Bunch of green decks
MULTICOLOR
*Angrath, the Flame-Chained - The +1 is kind of meh. The -3 is similar to Sarkhan Vol with a little more upside, but still, this is 5-mana, it's just not very exciting. It's not great at protecting itself. Sarkhan Vol wasn't really playable, I can't imagine +1 mana version of it will be much better.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Atzocan Seer - Not a great mana dork, so it's a 3-mana regrowth for a dinosaur card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Azor, the Lawbringer - It's pretty cool that when it attacks it basically casts Sphinx's Revelation. Nost removal spells are instants and sorceries, so they can't use sorceries to kill this for one round, but they can use instants when it's not their turn though. It also requires mana to really use its ability, and the power of Sphinx's Revelation was its instant speed, and just tapping out to fire off a huge rev. With this, you have to spend the mana on your turn.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Elenda, the Dusk Rose - Gets large fairly quickly, and can make a ton of 1/1 dudes as a result. If you can get this to 4+ power reliably it'll be worth it, and it can get larger than that. I'd probably still play it only in vampire tribal (WB decks that care about tokens are probably vampire tribal to begin with), but should be a nice addition.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Hadana's Climb /// Winged Temple of Orazca - The front side is meh, and the back side is funny but UG is not really the aggressive color combination. The effect on the backside is powerful but I'm not sure what UG decks really want this effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Huatli, Radiant Champion - It's similar to Gideon, Champion of Justice where the +1 just puts a bunch of loyalty counters on it and the middle ability was kind of whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Journey to eternity /// Atzal, Cave of eternity - The front side is not too shabby - most cards with this effect are around 3 mana or so (albeit they can enchant opposing creatures while this one can only enchant yours, but that's not that bad). With a sac outlet you can flip this easily, and its backside is very powerful.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Prossh, other BG decks
***Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca - Nice merfolk tribal general for UG. Since its first ability is easy to trigger for merfolk tribal, you may build this as more of a voltron deck, but its other two tap abilities can make for a decent grind. At 3-mana it comes down quickly too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: New deck with this as the general
*Path of Mettle /// Metzali, Tower of Triumph - The front side is really weird and I feel like wizards was running out of ideas for the dual color flip cards. Also whacking creatures for 1 damage is hilariously bad against enrage dinosaur decks. Either way, the front side is kind of meh, and the back side is okay, but the red ability is meh and the white ability can sometimes not kill the creature you want that attacked.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Profane Procession /// Tomb of the Dusk Rose - Repeatable removal is nice, but it is very mana intensive. The backside is strong too, but the front side is so slow it kind of drags the whole card down.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Protean Raider - Clone effects are nice, especially those at 3-mana, but you need to trigger raid, so it can't go into every UR deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Storm the Vault /// Vault of Catlacan - It's obviously no Tolarian Academy, but note that it doesn't need treasure artifacts to flip, just any artifacts. Artifact decks should easily reach 5 artifacts, so it should often flip the turn you play it or 1 turn after, and once there this will make tons of mana. If you've got a UR artifact deck, this is an auto include.
**Zacama, primal Calamity - 9 mana is obviously a lot, but it untaps your lands (if you cast it) which helps you generate some value. Still, at 9-mana I'd rather try to end the game than still try to grind the game out. If there are ways to try and cast it with some kind of mana reduction then you have your own Great Whale or something, but that is clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
ARTIFACT
*Awakened Amalgam - Not interested in beaters even though it can be decently sized in multicolor decks that rely on a lot of nonbasics.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Azor's Gateway /// Sanctum of the Sun - The front side is passable but not super exciting. It also takes a long time to transform, despite it coming down early. Since the cards get exiled, it is a problem if this gets killed before it transforms too. The back side is certainly hilarious though, but its slow speed means you're spending too much of the game on its mediocre front side. If there's a good way to flip it quickly though, watch out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Golden Guardian /// Gold-Forge Garrison - The front side is meh, and you have to have it fight something you control AND die the same turn to flip. The backside is good, but it just seems too clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Immortal Sun - 6 mana is a lot for a lot of small effects. It's just a value card, but I imagine a lot of people will play this (more than they should). I feel like it'll be similar to a card like Solemn Simulacrum which has the notion of "go into every deck" even though it shouldn't, but either way this is a decent value card. At the very least, anyone who bothered to play Staff of nin will play this in its place.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Silent Gravestone - Could this replace Relic of Progenitus? Its exile ability costs a lot more mana, but it still only costs 1 to drop down, and more important it has a solid static effect while it's in play. While Relic would often get baited, this one still shuts off a good number of graveyard shenanigans because they often need to target anyway. It's similar to Ground Seal, but the problem with Ground Seal was when someone had a card that could affect the graveyard without targeting (e.g. Replenish), and this one lets you get around that as long as you can sniff it out. It's a very simple card, but I do think it will be the premium graveyard hate card of the format.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Most that need graveyard hate and don't use graveyards
LAND
**Arch of Orazca - Its draw ability is too mana intensive for me, although it is unique enough to warrant attention.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
+ Bayou
+ Blood Crypt
+ Finest Hour
+ Fracturing Gust
+ Reap
+ Faerie Artisans
- 1 Island
- 1 Swamp
- Umezawa's Jitte
- Bane of Progress
- Emeria Shepherd
- Carpet of Flowers
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Restoration Specialist
Baral, Chief of Compliance
Baral's Expertise
Disallow
Trophy Mage
Whir of Invention
Heroic Intervention
Rishkar, Peema Renegade
Paradox Engine (will likely get banned)
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Restoration Specialist
Trophy Mage
Whir of Invention
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm using my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
*Call for Unity - Play Cathars' Crusade instead.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Consulate Crackdown - It's similar to Vandalblast in that it hits all artifacts except yours. Comparable to many other artifact sweepers in general as well, such as Creeping Corrosion. Of course this has its ups and downs; exiling is useful as many artifact decks have graveyard recursion, but the artifacts all come back once this is removed.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Exquisite Archangel - Similar to Resolute Archangel, where they're 7-mana angels that alter your life total in a noticeable way. Personally this doesn't impress me, as most of the time you lose because of an infinite combo which doesn't care about something that lets you restart your life total.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Felidar Guardian - Similar to Restoration Angel, but blinking any permanent you control (other than itself) instead of non-angel creature can lead to some hilarious things (e.g. he goes infinite with Saheeli Rai so we get splinter twin combo T4 kills in standard lulz). The lack of flash and the lower stats (lower power, no flying) are notable drawbacks, but there are nice interactions with being able to blink the things that restoration angel can't get (e.g. blink a mana rock), and being a little easier on the wallet is nice too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Derevi
****Restoration Specialist - For essentially 1WW you recur an artifact plus enchantment, which actually is quite strong. Most creatures only do one or the other. As an extra bonus you get to decide when to pull the "trigger".
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Various white decks, preferably with creature recursion
***Sram, Senior Edificer - Vehicles are still not that playable in EDH, so it's just drawing cards off your aura and equipment spells, which is still not bad for voltron decks. It's a similar card to Kor Spiritdancer and Puresteel Paladin - 2-mana dudes that help draw cards in your voltron decks. It should slot in decently in said voltron decks or possibly be a monowhite voltron general.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sram's Expertise - Making a bunch of 1/1s is whatever at 4-mana, so you really want to be cheating in something cool, and you still have to care about the tokens.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLUE
*Aethertide Whale - Generates a lot of energy upon ETB but does nothing much besides that.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Baral, Chief of Compliance - Goblin Electromancer with upside and only one color will be quite sick. Obviously for spellslinger decks, but it will be an automatic include in them. The second ability might make it also playable in a control/counterspell control deck as the loot ability is nice too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Baral's Expertise - One of the best in the cycle, as it affects the board in a meaningful and flexible way while also giving a free spell, which helps make this slot into a lot of different blue decks as a decent value/tempo card. Being able to bounce artifacts is also very relevant. Bounce three threats and cheat in a Rhystic Study or Jace isn't too bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Disallow - Voidslime for 1UU instead of GUU will see good amounts of play. Having flexible counterspells is always nice to have. It won't be a broken card but it will be solid.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: most blue decks
*Efficient Construction - It's unfortunate this isn't an artifact itself, but regardless it's a slow but fair way to slowly pump out artifacts. Most artifact combos are just looping from the graveyard over and over again though and not hardcasting much of anything so this likely won't see much play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Illusionist's Stratagem - +1 mana over Displace for a cantrip. The cantrip probably isn't worth it at this point, as 4-mana starts to get quite pricy.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Mechanized Production - Way too slow and vulnerable for EDH. I wouldn't play this even if Phyrexian Metamorph or Sculpting Steel didn't exist, but the fact that those two cards do exist means this card is straight unplayable. It will be funny if you ever win the game with this (note that your 8+ copies of the artifact do not have to be whatever you enchanted, all the card cares about is if you have 8+ copies of any artifact) but shigs and tiggles don't make you more playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Metallic Rebuke - Mana Leak is not bad if you're in a tight meta where mana curves are lower and people often won't have 3 open to pay for their spell. However, you need to improvise for at least 1 before it becomes mana leak and only for 2 does it actually become better, meaning this is not a great early play, and being a great early play is the exact reason why mana leak was so good.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Quicksmith Spy - Maybe it has an infinite combo with something?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Reverse Engineer - If you improvise for 1 it becomes Concentrate, though you really want to improvise for 3 before you really want to consider playing this. Improvising for only two means it's still generally worse than Thirst for Knowledge, the standard 3-mana draw-three spell for artifact decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Skyship Bandit - Literally Thrummingbird except it's a 2/1 instead of a 1/1. The extra point of power has some uses, mostly in being able to trade with 2 toughness creatures, but if your deck doesn't want Thrummingbird, it very likely doesn't want this either.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Trophy Mage - Obvious brother (or sister in this case) to Trinket Mage and Treasure Mage, two cards that see massive amounts of play. There are tons of 3-mana artifacts to get, such as Ashnod's Altar, Mimic Vat, Sword of X and Y, many mana rocks, Cloudstone Curio, and the list goes on. 3-mana is always the fair spot for tutors, especially when it comes with a body. Pick up your foils fast because this will be a staple. Like many of these 3-mana dudes that tutor for something, Trophy mage won't be broken, but it will become a staple.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Any blue deck with 2+ critical 3-mana artifacts
*****Whir of Invention - It's obviously a Chord of Calling for artifacts. Chord is a 5-star card and this will easily be another 5-star card as well. With Chord, you don't even need to convoke, just tutoring up a creature at instant speed is strong, and the convoke just made it ridiculous. This will be the same thing; you don't need to abuse the improvise part of the card, it's still going to be very good. The only difference is that Chord's convoke cost allowed you to tap green creatures to pay for the triple green, whereas there aren't many blue artifacts you can improvise, meaning you'll often have to pay at least the triple blue. Still, it's going to be strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Any blue deck with critical artifacts
BLACK
*Battle at the Bridge - Ho-hum removal spell, sorcery speed kills it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Fatal Push - Wizards obviously wanted to name it "THIS IS SPARTA" but they couldn't because something. Regardless, this is actually playable in the right meta (and is very good in modern). If you have a hypercompetitive meta where many of the key creatures are 4 or less mana (Brago, Zur, Arcum, Hermit Druid, etc.), this is basically a 1-mana kill spell. With fetchlands around you can trigger the revolt easily. You may want to have more cards that can leave the battlefield on command so you can get the revolt trigger more reliably, but regardless, any 1-mana kill spell should be on your radar. Pick up your foils because modern is going to love this card and it will cause this to be expensive for a long time.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Gonti's Machinations - The sac ability is terrible, but it seems like an okay energy generator. Crack a fetchland on a turn you're not damaged to get a free energy, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Herald of Anguish - The discard ability seems kind of tacked on but is good, since it triggers at your endstep which helps it generate value faster than if it triggered at your upkeep. The sac ability is a bit hefty as you need 1B and you only get a Disfigure out of it, but artifact decks have a slew of artifacts to toss away. What's more interesting is that black gets a card that loves artifacts, since it's usually white/blue/red that get the artifact love. Not sure if it'll be good enough for artifact decks since they can combo so quickly though, but it sounds good on paper.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Midnight Entourage - Not sure if there are enough playable Aetherborns.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Perilous Predicament - Almost everyone will have a noncreature artifact, but not everyone will have an artifact creature.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sly Requisitioner - Depending on how many artifacts you have that sacrifice themselves and/or how many artifact sac outlets you have, this might be a decent value card. Most of the time if you're saccing artifacts you're going for an infinite loop though so this won't really do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Vengeful Rebel - Similar to Fatal Push; decent to good in the right meta, and you need to trigger the revolt reliably.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Yahenni, Undying Partisan - Sac outlets that require no mana investment are always something to be aware of. He can't sac himself but whatever. It can also grow fairly quickly, although you're going to play this more as a sac outlet than anything else. While most sac outlets can't compare to the really good ones like Viscera Seer or Phyrexian Altar, this will still be fine.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Yahenni's Expertise - A mini-sweeper is not always relevant in EDH, but being able to cast a spell for free is always dangerous and worth watching out for. Play this and use the free spell on a removal spell to kill a big threat that the mini-sweeper doesn't catch. You really do want to play this card in a meta where the mini-sweeper matters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
RED
**Indomitable Creativity - Really huge polymorph-variant must be interesting, right? Well this one seems like it'll be very difficult to abuse. While you can target artifacts or creatures, revealing either one will satisfy the card. For example, if you wanted to kill 4 of your dumb creature tokens, you might end up revealing underwhelming artifacts instead of these huge creatures you wanted to flip over, and vice versa. If you played something like Divergent Transformations instead, which only cares about creatures, you will instead keep flipping until you hit creatures, making it easier to cheat in bombs. This means this card seems more like a multi-kill spell that gives the controller something in return at random, rather than something you can build around and be able to cheat in a fattie with the proper deckbuilding. Given that monored has problems killing large creatures this might still see play, but it's not going to be as good as your normal Polymorph-type card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - She's a lower CMC Geist of Saint Traft who doesn't hit as hard and can be killed with spot removal, but is a little harder to kill in actual combat. She'll be interesting in standard, but it doesn't seem like she'll be enough for EDH as a voltron. She comes down early and is hard to block, but she needs serious equipment/aura to boost her power and she can still be killed with removal spells.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Kari Zev's Expertise - This might be the most interesting of the cycle not because the Threaten effect is bonkers, but the fact that it's the lowest CMC of the cycle, meaning if you want to go out of your way to abuse Ancestral Vision or the like, this is the best of the cycle to do so.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Lightning Runner - Extra attack steps can be strong in the right build, but because you need so much energy for it, there's not many places that can use this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Pia's Revolution - Punisher mechanics are not good in EDH, but this is at a low enough CMC and is repeatable where either choice the opponent makes is generally acceptable. It's similar to Combustible Gearhulk in that you get to target the opponent who has to make the choice, so you can target the guy at a low life total if you want to recur an artifact.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Quicksmith Rebel - Granting an artifact an ability while this guy is in play is cool design, although just poking something for 2 damage isn't that useful in EDH.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Release the Gremlins - There are a bunch of cards that destroy multiple artifacts, and I feel like there are enough of them that are more efficient than this card. It's a nice mana sink late in the game, but it is very inefficient early-midgame, so I would rather play Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
GREEN
**Aetherwind Basker - If you want to make an energy deck, you can play a token deck and have this in here to create a bunch of energy quickly. outside of that this card doesn't really do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Aid from the Cowl - This triggers at your end step so you are more likely to get at least one trigger when it resolves (as opposed to triggering at your upkeep), which helps the playability of the card. 5-mana is pretty hefty so you want to be almost all permanents or have some library manipulation.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Maelstrom Wanderer
****Heroic Intervention - Basically it's a super Boros Charm/Simic Charm. If you're blue, you should just play a counterspell instead of this so you can counter whatever would be troubling you, but if you're not blue and you're in green this might be your next best option. It stops most traditional removal spells and sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Hidden Herbalists - Most creatures that produced mana upon ETB were red or black or made eldrazi tokens, so I guess it's interesting that monogreen finally gets one that does it, albeit with the revolt restriction. Regardless, the types of decks that cared about Priest of Urabrask and similar cards would care about this, and everything else probably won't.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Maulfist Revolutionary - It proliferates only one target, and since it does target it can't get around shroud/protection/etc. for whatever that's worth.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Monstrous Onslaught - If you have a large creature (e.g. Terastodon) this can pick off multiple creatures. Since it checks the value of X as you cast it, you don't get blown out by a removal spell either. Sorcery speed and 5-mana sucks, but if you can kill 2-3 creatures it could be fine.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Peema Aether-Seer - It can generate a lot of energy on its own if you have recursion/blink.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Ridgescale Tusker - Anthems the rest of your team for 5-mana. Sounds fine but you really want to have a +1/+1 counter theme.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Rishkar, Peema Renegade - He's subtle but I see a lot of utility. Basically he makes two of your creatures slightly bigger and into Llanowar Elves, meaning he's fine early on in a creature-heavy deck to help you mana ramp (especially if the two creatures getting the counters can immediately tap), and he's fine later in the game when you want extra power/toughness on the board. In addition, anything with +1/+1 counter synergies like Doubling Season will be good. On top of that, your creatures can produce mana if they have ANY counters on them, including -1/-1 counters, and any counters that were on them before Rishkar ETB'd. You do want to build around him, and play cards that can put +1/+1 counters on a lot of things quickly (e.g. Oath of Ajani, Cathars' Crusade, etc.) but when built around properly he provides a lot of utility for just 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Prossh with some changes
***Rishkar's Expertise - One of the most interesting cards in the cycle because it lets you cast a larger variety of spells for free. Consider that Garruk, Primal Hunter was a 5-mana planeswalker who let you draw cards (and would kill himself immediately). 6-mana is a lot, but you get what you pay for, and since you draw a bunch of cards before you cast your free spell, you can certainly end up casting something very sweet.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
MULTICOLOR
**Ajani Unyielding - His abilities are nice, but at 6-mana it's hard to justify. His + ability is similar to Garruk, Caller of Beasts except you pick up all nonland permanent types instead of just creatures, but you only dig 3 cards instead of 5. The -2 is obviously Swords to Plowshares which is an EDH staple but the reason why swords is so good is that it's a 1-mana instant speed card, not a clunky 6-mana walker card. He also doesn't pass the doubling season test. He just seems very ho-hum.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Ajani, Valiant Protector - Intro-level planeswalker is at an intro-level power level.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dark Intimations - Mini Cruel Ultimatum but this hits each opponent so it actually might be better than Cruel Ultimatum in EDH and that's before considering this is 2UBR instead of UUBBBRR. You do want a Nicol Bolas walker(s) in your deck so this card gives a little extra punch though; if you want to play a card that combines edicts + discard, pay 1 more mana for Capital Punishment instead.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Maverick Thopterist - This guy will be quite fun in draft, as the thopters you make can help cast additional maverick thopterists, assuming you draft multiples. In any case, he's like an easier to cast Breya, Etherium Shaper albeit without any extra abilities. If you can improvise for 2-3 he's certainly not bad, and will likely be good in budget artifact decks. He may be good enough in normal artifact decks but it seems unlikely since he himself is not an artifact.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
???Oath of Ajani - This is a weird card. It wants a lot of creatures in play, but you benefit from having more planeswalkers in the deck for you to cast and get the cost reduction on. I can't think of a deck that wants both. I guess playing the card for just one side of the effect isn't too bad as it's only 2 mana, but if a deck can take advantage of both sides greatly that will help the ceiling of the card. If you play the card primarily for only one side of its effects in a given deck, I'd say it's a 3-4/5ish card, whereas if you can find a deck that wants both effects it's a 4-5/5ish card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Renegade Rallier - Mini-Sun Titan, even with a restriction, is still solid at just 3-mana. The color restriction is a bit annoying but whatever. Just getting a fetchland back makes it like a Wood Elves type of card, and of course getting back Saffi Eriksdotter or something equally dumb makes this strong value for just 3 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Rogue Refiner - Beefy Elvish Visionary for 1 mana and making it blue-green is okay, but it's not something that I would play over a regular Elvish Visionary. If you're an energy deck then go ahead and play it, but outside of that I probably wouldn't bother.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Spire Patrol - Mini-Frost Titan looks underwhelming. Despite being 2 less mana and with flying, it is 2 colors, and it only taps when it ETBs, and it only affects creatures, and it doesn't have any sort of protection (albeit you probably don't care if a 4-drop with an ETB effect has protection, but still).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tezzeret the Schemer - The +1 creates a lotus petal, the -2 is a ho-hum removal spell, and the ultimate is whatever although it does occur fairly quickly. Blue/black does have some trouble ramping if you aren't using dark ritual/high tide so maybe it's not terrible, but he doesn't really impress me.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tezzeret's Touch - Essentially it's adding black on Ensoul Artifact and gives your artifact back to your hand after it gets blown up. Seems playable because of the recursion but uninspiring.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Tezzeret, Master of Metal - This is only marginally better than Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas and that's not even considering it's 6-mana and not 4. Though unlike the Ajanis in this set, this does pass the Doubling Season test.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Winding Constrictor - Similar to Hardened Scales except for 1 more mana, you get a similar ability on a 2/3 body and it affects counters that you would get too, though right now it's just energy counters, experience counters (from some of the Commander 2015 generals, and given the colors it's probably just for Meren of Clan nel Toth) and poison counters. Still, this should have a home in the right build of creatures with +1/+1 counters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
ARTIFACT
***Cogwork Assembler - 7-mana for its activation is very hefty, so I imagine it'll be used for infinite combos or something as the ability doesn't require tapping. For example, Krark-Clan ironworks + Myr Battlesphere + this card = infinite colorless mana. Of course artifact decks generally don't have problems generating mana (unless they get hit with a sweeper) and so maybe this being a mana dump will make it good, I don't know.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Crackdown Construct - With any ability that requires no cost to activate and isn't a mana ability, you can get an infinite power and toughness artifact creature, and I'm sure there's a lot of things you can do with that. In standard we get Wandering Fumarole for lulz which is funny as hell, and I know there are other things you can do.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Gonti's Aether Heart - Seems not bad if you're focused on generating energy. If you want to play this card with the idea of taking an extra turn, you'll probably be disappointed, as you would be better off just playing Time Warp effects or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Heart of Kiran - Simple beatsticks in EDH don't cut it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Hope of Ghirapur - Legendary version of Xantid Swarm. You need to have this actually connect while Xantid Swarm just needs to attack, and while this does have flying and is only a 1-drop, it's going to be hard for a 1/1 to force through damage, and you need to sacrifice this for the effect, and it only stops noncreature spells. Granted, this does last for a full turn cycle while Xantid Swarm was more like a Grand Abolisher placed on one player for just the rest of the turn. I guess being legendary maybe you can make colorless voltron or something, but I don't know. Xantid Swarm is better when you attack a player with counterspells to help resolve a combo, whereas this is more like a stax piece on the control/storm player, but this is fairly clunky unless you can play it really early and continuously recur it. It is a relatively unique effect so it isn't unplayable, but I wouldn't be excited to test this out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Inspiring Statuary - Most artifact decks don't have a problem generating mana, especially if this card only helps power out nonartifact spells which an artifact deck won't have a ton of (especially those that cost a lot of mana). Still, it is something to keep your eye on.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Lifecrafter's Bestiary - Essentially it's a bad Glimpse of Nature, but Glimpse of Nature was more like a deck that enabled storm decks/combo and that kind of thing, whereas this is more of a card that just gives all your creature spells "Kicker G, draw a card". Still should be playable in any case. You obviously want a high number of creatures, maybe 30-40 or more, before you should even consider this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Merchant's Dockhand - It's a hefty mana cost per turn and tapping some artifacts can be annoying, but it is only 1-mana. Doesn't sound exciting but I imagine there are worse things you can play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Metallic Mimic - If you have a tribal theme this should be fine for just 2-mana, though it's more for weenie decks as I don't think something like Dragon tribal really needs +1/+1 counters on them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BANNEDParadox Engine - I'm not even going to spend much time talking about this card. It's going to get banned really fast. I would be shocked if the RC doesn't ban it. Prophet of Kruphix got hammered and it isn't nearly as insane as this. It combos with way too many things, namely a bunch of mana rocks and/or mana dorks + some dumb enabler. Buyback cards like Capsize becomes bounce everything you want. Put something stupid like Think twice under an Isochron Scepter and it draws your deck. There are tons of combos, and none of them are good for the game. Play the crap out of this card and have fun with it until it gets banned.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Probably everything pending budget
*Peacekeeper Colossus - Most vehicles are still not particularly playable as many of them don't do much except beat face. I guess it might be nice in Depala in case you can't use her to crew vehicles for whatever reason.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Planar Bridge - Obvious parallel to Planar Portal right down to the name. Both are artifacts that cost 6 to hardcast, and this one is 8 mana instead of 6 to find your card and only for permanents but you do put it into play immediately (e.g. sneak in Blightsteel Colossus end of turn). These types of cards are fine in big mana decks that need mana sinks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Renegade Map - I'd rather play Wanderer's Twig or Mycosynth Wellspring if I wanted these cheap artifacts that got me basic lands.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Scrap Trawler - Artifact recursion for no additional costs at just 3 mana upfront is not bad. There are some restrictions but it is repeatable, and it should do some nice work.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Servo Schematic - Similar to Ichor Wellspring and Mycosynth Wellspring in that they're 2-mana artifacts that do the same thing upon ETB or hitting the graveyard. Here though I think making a 1/1 flier is worse than drawing a card or fetching a basic land to ensure your next land drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Treasure Keeper - Similar to Matter Reshaper except you add one mana, remove the colorless requirement, and there are fewer restrictions on the free card you get when it dies (any nonland card that is CMC 3 or less can be cast for free). Seems decent.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Universal Solvent - Decks get another way to deal with problematic permanents that their colors won't allow them to (e.g. black/red vs enchantments), and it's another tool for Trinket Mage, and is another object that can be recurred with Salvaging Station. Unassuming card that most decks won't play because it is overcosted, but if your deck/colors are desperate it should be good, and artifact decks don't really have problems generating the necessary mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Walking Ballista - Functions similarly to Triskelion. Interestingly enough if you pay 6 it ETBs with three +1/+1 counters which is the same as Triskelion. The difference is obviously that Triskelion is better for infinite combos as it always ETBs with the counters while cheating this into play doesn't do anything. It's kind of more like Hangarback walker as they are playable artifact creatures with XX costs.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
LAND
***Spire of Industry - Glimmervoid that requires you to pay 1 life to get the colored mana, but it doesn't disappear if you have zero artifacts in play. It's usually worse than Glimmervoid; 1 life isn't much, but they can add up, and it's not that hard to have at least 1 artifact in play if you are the kind of deck that actually wants to play Glimmervoid. Still, artifact decks likely want to play this anyway, and this could be passable in non-artifact decks although there are usually going to be better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Anointed Procession
As Foretold
Pull from Tomorrow
Shadow of the Grave
Harsh Mentor
Harvest Season
Manglehorn
Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Manglehorn
Vizier of the Menagerie
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm using my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Angel of Sanctions - Banishing Light is not a terrible card in EDH, but one issue with these kinds of cards (with the updated wording, note that we wouldn't have this problem if this effect was Oblivion Ring due to wording and trigger stacking) when they're stapled to creatures is that blinking them (one reason to play ETB creatures) is generally a nonbo. They're still decent cards to reanimate, cheat into play, power up with Panharmonicon and so on, but being a nonbo with blink effects is kind of annoying. With that said, the embalm ability will make populate effects (e.g. Trostani) more interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Anointed Procession - White now gets to join in on the fun of doubling tokens. Considering white is probably the 2nd best color at making tokens behind green, this will be nice to have. Not much to say beyond staple-status in white token decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Cast Out - Adding +1 mana to Banishing Light to give it flash and a cheap cycling effect will make this interesting. Still, 4-mana for a 1-for-1 removal spell is not where you want to be, and unless you really want the cycling effect, this isn't that strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Gideon of the Trials - As funny as that last ability is (essentially it's Worship that wants any Gideon out instead of any old creature), this is virtually unplayable. The +1 can hinder a voltron general if it doesn't have shroud/hexproof/etc., but like all Gideons, its ability to turn into a creature is simply not exciting in EDH, and it is too hard to keep planeswalkers out on the field for very long, which means its emblem does almost nothing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Gideon's Intervention - It has the Meddling Mage/Nevermore plus Runed Halo effects stapled together. 4-mana is a lot just to shut down one specific card though. It's a "unique" effect as nothing like it has been printed which means it might do something, but it just seems too narrow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Oketra the True - It shouldn't be hard to turn this online, so how does it fare? Well, spending 4 mana to make a 1/1 vigilance token dude is fairly underwhelming, it's similar to Heliod, God of the Sun. This card will be fighting Heliod for the same slot in the same decks you'd put Heliod in; token generator and mana sink.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Protection of the Hekma - Orbs of Warding except it doesn't give you hexproof, but it shields you from noncreature damage, which is a losing trade. Outside of enchantress this won't see any play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Regal Caracal - Interesting take on Cloudgoat Ranger. It's actually probably worse than Cloudgoat as it creates 1 fewer token and you almost always play these cards because of how many tokens they make. Still, maybe if you're a cat tribal or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLUE
****As Foretold - Play this and immediately cast a spell with 0 CMC such as Ancestral Vision or Living End. Wait a turn and then you can cast a 1-mana spell for free on everyone's turn. And so on. Once you reach 2 CMC you unlock many counterspells and removal spells which is when it starts getting disgusting. This will push you far ahead in tempo as long as you can keep the flow of cards coming. Remember that it is "X or less", meaning if there are 3 counters on it, you can still cast 2 CMC or lower cards if needed. You do want to try and abuse the ability to cast a 0 CMC card for free to maximize the value, but because it's only 3-mana it's not the end of the world to play this and simply pass the turn. This is best in draw-go decks that pack a lot of instants.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Oloro, Talrand?
***Curator of Mysteries - This effect is certainly powerful, especially on a 4-mana 4/4 flier in blue (seriously wth, this creature is efficiently costed in blue of all colors?). It remains to be seen if you can build around cycling or self discard, but if you do, this isn't bad. If nothing else, cycling for U makes it playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Drake Heaven - Similar to Curator of Mysteries except quite a bit worse. It's 1 mana less and making 2/2 fliers isn't terrible, but it's not a 4/4 flier, and you need to pay mana to get its effect which does add up. Still, it could slot in as a low-end card in a cycling theme deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kefnet the Mindful - It'll be difficult to make this ever attack or block, but it does give you a monoblue infinite mana sink as a general if that's going to be your gameplan. If you're not going to use it solely for that, you do want to be bouncing lands that have useful effects (Bojuka Bog).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***New Perspectives - Similar to kefnet, staying at 7+ cards in hand can be difficult and sometimes overkill, but it does get you 3 cards, and once you do, you can start cycling to your heart's content. Cycle Decree of Annihilation for 0 mana sounds hilarious. Still, you need to build around cycling, so we'll see how that works out. This card will either be a nice cornerstone for cycling decks or do absolutely nothing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Pull from Tomorrow - The newest take on X-draw spells may be one of the most exciting of that class for decks that don't plan on generating infinite mana (this only lets you draw, whereas something like Stroke of Genius lets you point it at an opponent when you generate infinite mana for an instant kill). For 1 less mana in the cost you have to discard a card, which is not a big deal unless X is like 1-3 or something, but even then you're basically just "breaking even" compared to other X-spells. For example, if X=2, you would draw 2 and discard 1, while other instant speed X-draw spells would just draw 1. So whatever. The reason here is that this essentially lets you draw an additional card, because you will almost always hvae something to discard that you don't care about or sometimes want to discard (extra land, get a fatty into your graveyard, etc.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand, Zedruu, Oloro
*Sacred Excavation - If there are enough playable cycling cards out there, this could have been interesting. However it's 4-mana, sorcery, and only gets two cycling cards. Too expensive.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Scribe of the Mindful - I'm not really sure what decks I would run this over Archaeomancer, as the latter costs 1 more mana but gets my card immediately. Still, it's graveyard recursion, so it isn't a steaming pile of garbage, but it looks kind of unplayable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Vizier of Many Faces - 4-mana clones are always the baseline, and it gives an upside where it basically has flashback for 5 mana. There are plenty of cool clones, and I'm not sure how this stacks to the proven clone staples of the format (Phyrexian Metamorph, Phantasmal Image, etc.) but this should be a mid or upper mid tier clone.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
***Archfiend of Ifnir - Similar to Curator, this effect is definitely powerful. Cycling once will kill most tokens/weenies, and 2-3 times will definitely keep most boards clean.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Bontu the Glorified - Sac outlets are always nice in EDH, but you have to pay 2 mana which is not as nice. He can technically attack for a bit and is hard to kill, but I would probably play other sac outlets that don't cost mana (e.g. Viscera seer, even 3-CMC ones like Yahenni, Undying Partisan).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Cruel Reality - It's only fitting that this card is cruely unplayable, considering the story behind the card makes no sense (so Gideon could go toe to toe with Eldrazi titans, but he's getting restrained by 2 normal guys in Amonkhet?). It's 7-mana, it affects only one player, it's only one trigger per turn, and they can sac a creature OR planeswalker. Being unable to do so, they lose 5 life. This card was likely badly overcosted because of limited, as well as the fact that Wizards was probably aware that Kaladesh block was a bit too high in power level (wut is Smuggler's Coptor), but seriously, I'm not sure if I would play this card if it was 4 mana. If it was a 7-mana non-aura enchantment and it affected each opponent, I still would almost never play it outside of black enchantress decks, since I would rather play Sheoldred, Whispering One which makes each opponent sac a creature every turn AND I get a free creature in my graveyard on my turn AND it's a 6/6 swampwalker.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Liliana, Death's Majesty - 5-mana is the norm for graveyard reanimation, so she's fair there. Still it's hard to say it's better or worse than other 5-mana reanimation spells, as she only gets you something from your graveyard (compare her to Beacon of Unrest, etc.) and is harder to loop or cheat on casts (e.g. Karmic Guide, etc.). The +1 is okay, at least it makes a blocker and self-mill is not bad, and the ultimate is okay and at least it comes fairly quickly especially with proliferate. Still, it seems like you'd be playing her mostly for her reanimation ability, and I think there are better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Liliana's Expertise - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Lord of the Accursed - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nest of Scarabs - Putting -1/-1 counters on creatures is kind of specific, but it can make a lot of tokens quickly. For example, Black Sun's Zenith for a ton, and even if you "overkill" creatures (e.g. a creature has only 2 toughness but you put 5 -1/-1 counters on it in one go), you'll still get the max tokens I believe. You will need to build around it (ironically enough I think token decks will have trouble fitting this in, since you need to build around -1/-1 counters), but it can payoff decently.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Plague Belcher - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Shadow of the Grave - In stax decks, or even wheel decks this could be interesting (Nekusar wheels/waste not combo, etc.), as this can get back a ton of cards in one swoop. You obviously have to build around it, and it's highly likely this is just winmore, but this is certainly a cool effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**By Force - Similar to Shattering Spree, where By Force is easier on the mana, but Shattering spree gets an extra artifact and is harder to counter. This may be decent in 3-color red decks where generating a ton of red mana can be a problem.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Combat Celebrant - You can have this attack, exert it and it untaps, and then not attack with it so it stays untapped, which is kind of funny. Most cards that grant extra combat steps are not 3 mana so there's something interesting going on here, but it only has 1 toughness so it'll die to a stiff breeze. Still it's worth exploring, especially if you put evasion/protection equipment on it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Glorious End - Final Fortune and the like are played only in competitive circles where you plan on instantly winning the game on your extra turn. This seems like it'll be in the same decks with a few extra nuances. Obviously it costs 1 more mana, but it just ends the turn (instead of literally giving you another turn) which has its ups and downs. It can act as a kind of counterspell or stop an opponent's lethal attack, which is cool. However it only ends that turn, so any other opponent that takes their turn before yours comes up will still happen. Now you can obviously build around the drawback without going hypercompetitive, but if you're not going to just win the game on your next turn, it begs the question why not just play something else?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Glorybringer - Being able to Flame Slash something every other turn is not a terrible card, and if you find ways to untap it, you could do it every turn. Sounds interesting to say the least.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Harsh Mentor - This guy should do work, and because of its ability to affect lands (like fetchlands) and equipments' equip abilities means this guy will be relevant at almost all points in the game. Doing a little damage may not be much, but taking 3 off your fetchland instead of only 1 does add up.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret the Fervent - The discard outlet is a lot of mana and the damage effect sucks, which is unfortunate.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret's Favor - Personally I'm not sure what kind of deck wants this. If you want to give creatures haste, you can simply play Anger, or even Fervor or something. Sacrificing the creature is a big cost unless you are okay with binning them for some reason, and the +2/+0 doesn't seem to be worth it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Heart-Piercer Manticore - Similar to Flametongue Kavu and Murderous Redcap, 4-mana creatures with an ETB effect that can nuke something for a bit of damage. This one requires you to sacrifice a fairly good creature (the nuke does damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power) which is generally not a good thing especially if it's sorcery speed sacrifice, but it does have embalm. I would probably rather play FTK, but this is okay.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Soul-Scar Mage - It basically gives noncombat damage sources you control wither, and at 1-mana that's interesting, although you obviously want to build around it, with noncombat damage sources plus -1/-1 counter theme. For example, Staff of nin becomes a bit better if the 1-damage ping became a "permanent" -1/-1 counter. Blasphemous Act handles indestructible creatures handily. etc. It's not super powerful, but if you need this effect, it's nice to have around.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Sweltering Suns - In some games a mini-sweeper is nice to have, and it can be replaced with a fresh card (albeit 3 for just a single card is a bit high) in a pinch. This could be the best of the 3-mana sweepers red has because of the cycling, although that's not saying much.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Warfire Javelineer - Another variant of Flametongue Kavu and the like, this can nuke a creature for some damage, but you obviously need to build around it by having enough sorceries and/or instants in the graveyard. However, decks that tend to have a good number of those cards aren't creature-centric and are probably not that interested in a creature with a removal ETB effect, since I imagine they would rather just use a lower-CMC removal spell for the same effect. Still, the cost is fair, so it remains to be seen if it sees play.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
*Champion of Rhonas - I think I would rather play Elvish Piper, as I won't need to attack and I can flash in the creature at any time, even if it costs G to do so.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Channeler Initiate - It's a "bad" Birds of Paradise, but what's interesting is that you can choose which of your creatures to put the -1/-1 counters on (say you want to kill your own Academy Rector, if your opponents put -1/-1 counters on your creatures, this can slowly remove them and produce mana for you, and of course it can be a bad birds of paradise.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Harvest Season - This certainly can ramp you hard, so it's worth considering how to use it optimally. You want to have at least two tapped creatures early on, as if you only have one you have bad Rampant Growth. Sometimes attacking with dudes can be difficult, so things that can tap freely (e.g. mana dorks) greatly add to this card's power. Token decks can have a bunch of dudes to turn sideways and get tapped too and since you have disposable creatures you don't care as much if a couple tokens get thrown under the bus. Cards that can tap untapped creatures (e.g. Earthcraft) will also combo nicely. However if your curve is low to the point where you can get at least 2 guys out early reliably, I question if you need this much mana anyway. Still, this is definitely worth keeping in mind as a card that can ramp you hard.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks?
*****Manglehorn - The million dollar question - do you play manglehorn or Reclamation Sage? Personally I think it would be fine to play both simultaneously; Sage is very flexible, but this card seems bananas. Manglehorn looks quite silly in competitive circles where everyone and their mother plays broken mana rocks and this will always have a target to munch on no matter what point in the game you're at. This card also totally laughs at Mana Vault and Grim Monolith. It slows down certain stax pieces like Winter Orb that need to be untapped to do their broken stuff. Even in casual circles, making Gilded Lotus ETB tapped can be a nice tempo play. It's weird that this is an uncommon because this effect feels like a rare, but that's okay because this will be an EDH staple, so you don't have to rush for your foils.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Every green deck
**Prowling Serpopard - The effect sounds insane, but when Cavern of Souls is a card, is this worth it? In casual circles not many people play counterspells, and in competitive circles this might be too slow. Still, the fact that it sounds strong means it shouldn't be straight up unplayable, but I feel like this card will not be as good as it looks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Rhonas the Indomitable - It's the 2nd easiest of the cycle to turn into a creature (behind Bontu the Glorified) and giving things trample is always relevant. It's extremely similar to Nylea, God of the Hunt and which green god is superior is hard to tell - Rhonas costs less mana but Nylea is slightly stronger when she's actually in play. He's fairly mana intensive though which is difficult.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Sandwurm Convergence - Stopping creatures with flying from attacking you is nifty, and so is making 5/5s, but it's 8 mana and relatively slow. Might be a passable finisher in green enchantress decks, but I imagine at 8-mana you should be able to find a better finisher.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Shefet Monitor - Parallel to Krosan Tusker in that they're creatures with cycling and go fetch you a basic land. This one is +1 mana over tusker, but the land goes straight into play untapped, which is nice. However, how it actually compares to the plethora of 3-4 mana ramp options like Tusker, Solemn Simulacrum, or Explosive Vegetation, or Cultivate and so on is hard to measure. Right now they all feel fairly equal in raw power level. It is a nice option especially for primal surge builds though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Maelstrom Wanderer
***Vizier of the Menagerie - It helps provide card advantage and "color fixes" your creature spells (not just the creature card off the top of your library). With standard library manipulation like brainstorm, this will be even better. Still, you do need to play a lot of creatures for this to be worth it. I'd say you should have at least 30 creatures in the deck (preferably more) and a couple pieces of library manipulation.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks?
MULTICOLOR
**Ahn-Crop Champion - Untapping all your other creatures has obvious uses, if you have creatures with tap abilities or something like Earthcraft. Still, it's 4 mana and needs to get an attack in, which is clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Aven Wind Guide - It gives a special anthem effect to creature tokens you control, which is handy. However blue is not really the color that's good at making creature tokens, which will make it difficult to play this. If there are azorius-based token decks though, this can do good work.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Bounty of the Luxa - This card is slow and unreliable. It gives you nothing the turn you play it, then gives you 1GU, then a card, and alternates as such. Obviously one of the issues with ramp spells is that they're fairly bad topdecks, so this potentially giving you cards lategame sounds cool. However, it is really slow, and it is difficult to control when you get the ramp or draw. Personally, I would rather play a traditional ramp spell (most mana rocks will give me a bit of mana the turn I play it, and land-ramp spells like Skyshroud Claim give me something that's harder to interact with) because there are usually mana sinks available anyway (recasting your general after it's died a few times, for example) and it's more important to get that mana ASAP.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons - This is an interesting general and I'm not 100% sure how to build it. You want to make it voltron-ish because it needs to deal combat damage to trigger its first ability, but you want to have some kind of -1/-1 counter theme and/or token theme to create tokens. At just 2 mana though, this sounds strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
*Khenra Charioteer - Giving your team trample at 3-mana is not that bad, but there are other cards (e.g. Archetype of Aggression, Brawn) that probably give you the same effect at a better rate or with upside.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nissa, Steward of Elements - It was only a matter of time until an X-mana walker came out, and she has some interesting things going on. One weakness of X-cards is that they tend to be fairly weak when played early, but I think Nissa isn't the worst 3-drop you can play. She can come down at 3 mana if needed, and if you know you got a 0 or 1 CMC land/creature on top you can get it into play, in essence acting like a Wood Elves type of card. Alternately you can +2 to get her to 3 loyalty which can help protect her from a critter or two, or start flipping over 3 CMC dudes. And of course she's not bad when you topdeck her late. It is important that she only flips over lands or creatures so you need to be heavy on creatures and you want some library manipulation for backup, because it would really suck to 0 her and whiff. Overall a decent value PWer that won't be broken.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Neheb, the Worthy - Minotaur tribal let's MFing go. Maybe RB minotaur tribal and stax, however the fact that its combat damage trigger makes everyone discard a card is a blessing and a curse. People will be more inclined to kill this, because no matter who gets smacked, everyone's binning a card. Because of that, this card is difficult to rate. Being "heckbent" (1 card or fewer in hand, as opposed to "hellbent" which is 0 cards in hand) kind of sucks as well. Still, don't be surprised if someone tries to play it, so keep him in mind.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Samut, Voice of Dissent - Well, we got a hotpot of keywords slapped onto a legendary creature. Global haste is nice, and untapping another creature has some uses. It has flash so that 5-mana cost is okay to stomach, but it's not that flashy, but it seems playable. Combine with Odric, Lunarch Marshal and similar cards for fun times.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun - You obviously need creature tokens, but because this isn't green, it'll be very difficult to make tokens to begin with. Even when you do, just a small buff and making it unblockable doesn't sound that cool. This card as a general will depend on how many creature token type cards are available in azorius.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wayward Servant - Zombie tribal, but being part white is a bit of a restriction.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
AFTERMATH
*Dusk to Dawn - This will be funny in the Doran deck I have (which I don't currently have a primer for, but I do have one at hand), but the decks that want this are very specific.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Never to Return - One of the worst "destroy target creature or planeswalker" variant outside of Ruinous Path. It's sorcery speed compared to Hero's Downfall and costs 1 more mana over Dreadbore (albeit monocolor). The aftermath side is horrendously overcosted (Shamble Back wut). Wizards is scared of printing good removal spells for standard.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Insult to Injury - Insult can be a nice surprise finisher for aggro decks. Injury is whatever
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Mouth to Feed - Making a 3/3 is ho hum, but its aftermath side isn't too bad. However you want at least three 3-power creatures in play for it to just become Harmonize, so it's fair to question how many big creatures you'll have out. If you have like 7 3-power creatures out, you do draw 7 cards, but why aren't you just winning the game with that kind of board at that point?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Prepare to Fight - Prepare can be a nice combat trick, and fight can certainly kill something (albeit overcosted), so it can be a decent 2-for-1, albeit for a lot of mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Failure to Comply - People have compared this to Reflector Mage, and they are similar in the sense that they have a Meddling Mage-type of effect on a card, but Reflector mage is generally stronger. This temporarily halts a spell on the stack which is interesting, but Reflector Mage is solid because it's an ETB creature meaning it's abusable with many other synergies and the 2/3 blocker is relevant too. Still, this appears to be playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Rags to Riches - The idea is that Rags wipes out the weenies and Riches then forces opponents to give you something half-decent (since presumably anything bad would have died to Rags). But Rags is 4 mana and Riches is 7, so it's unrealistic to cast both halves on the same turn, and Riches at 7 mana is too much anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Cut to Ribbons - It's a decent removal spell and then a possible finisher on the other half, which is not bad at all. Cut will be better early in the game but isn't a terrible topdeck, then the aftermath effect can be cast late in the game when you've got Cabal Coffers going. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Rakdos decks to replace Exsanguinate with this card, since the lifegain on Exsanguinate is usually not a big deal, but the ability to use this early in the game (whereas Exsanguinate is kind of terrible early on) is interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Heaven to Earth - Unfortunate that you can't cast Earth and then Heaven in that order, but these types of "sculpt your own sweeper" effects tend to be underrated, since they're powerful when the right time appears but are difficult to fit in decks because of their limited scope. However, not damaging players is usually a drawback even in defensive decks, because being able to redirect damage to planeswalkers is a real thing. Still, it can be hard to squeeze in a Hurricane or Earthquake because they hit limited creature types, so this can technically be sculpted to what you want. If nothing else, you can cast Heaven for something low mana and then cast Earth for whatever you need, or discard this and then just aftermath it later.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
The Monument Cycle in general - Cost reduction effects are always solid when built around. Note that the cycle will reduce the cost of creature spells of a certain color, but its second ability will trigger with any creature spell you cast, not just that specific color, which helps them quite a bit. You probably want at least 30 creatures before you consider playing the momument of the color you need, and probably at least 15-20 that are of the color of the monument you want to play.
***Bontu's Monument - I imagine this will go into food chain Prossh decks as this helps cast Prossh and is also a wincon when you cast Prossh 9001 times with Food Chain.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Hazoret's Monument - I'm not too familiar with Krenko, Mob Boss or [card/Purphoros, God of the Forge[/card], but if you play a lot of creatures that generate other creatures, looting is always useful, especially in monored where that color is always strapped for card draw.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Kefnet's Monument - The effect is nice (tap down opponents' generals over and over), but I have trouble thinking of a blue deck that can fully take advantage of this card, since blue decks tend to play the fewest creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Oketra's Monument - This card is weird, because you likely want to play a token deck to take advantage of the token generation aspect of the card, but you need to be playing creatures when a good number of token generators are noncreatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Rhonas's Monument - Probably the most relevant of the cycle because green tends to have the most creatures, but it also has the best second trigger (+2/+2 and trample) of the cycle.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Oracle's Vault - Its ability with three brick counters on it is powerful, but you need to pay 6 mana before you get your first card, and you have to cast it that turn and spend mana on it. It seems too slow and gimmicky outside of like Atraxa.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Pyramid of the Pantheon - So with three brick counters on it, it becomes Gilded Lotus, which sounds cool. But you need to essentially spend 1 mana and a card, and then "lose" 1 mana for three turns before it becomes that. It again seems too slow and gimmicky outside of Atraxa.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Throne of the God-Pharaoh - Drain effects are ho hum. Doesn't even give you the life lost.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
LAND
Full art basics. Full art basics.
Full.
Art.
Basics.
***Canyon Slough, Fetid Pools, Irrigated Farmland, Scattered Groves, Sheltered Thicket - Budget duals similar to the tango lands from battle for zendikar (e.g. Prairie Stream), where it loses the ability to ever ETB untapped for the option to cycle for 2 mana. It's hard to say which is better, but if you're strapped for money and the ABU duals or even the shocklands are out of budget (and for some reason you have fetchlands or something?) then you might want to play both. And of course if you build around cycling then play these.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Cradle of the Accursed - Zombie tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Grasping Dunes - You lose a land and it "costs" two mana, but it is a bit of removal on a land which isn't bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Hour of Revelation
Solemnity
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Ramunap Excavator
The Locust God
The Scarab God
The Scorpion god
Mirage Mirror
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign
Razaketh, the Foulblooded
Ramunap Excavator (this will be in 100% sure)
Mirage Mirror
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear ce in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
*Angel of Condemnation - Too slow. If I wanted a stream of flicker effects I would play Eldrazi Displacer. If I wanted to have its Oblivion-Ring effect I would just play ETB creatures with that kind of effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Crested Sunmare - Only lifegain and/or token decks will want this, but this can generate solid value. Note that it triggers at each end step, so you can generate a steady stream of 5/5 tokens.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Oloro
***Djeru, with Open Eyes - Another card for superfriends. Finding Ugin or Karn is cool even outside of superfriends. Most walkers aren't really good as "silver bullets" however, unlike casting your Idyllic Tutor to go find Humility, for example. Still, for +2 mana over Call the Gatewatch you get a body and a mini Urza's Armor effect for your walkers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hour of Revelation - Strictly better than Planar Cleansing, a card that is solid but at 6-mana with triple white is a bit restrictive. This one costs triple white as well which means 3+ color decks may still not play this, but will generally cost only 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some white decks
*Oketra's last Mercy - It can potentially gain you a lot of life, but pure lifegain is not what you want, especially in a format like EDH, and especially with this drawback.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Overwhelming Splendor - This card reminds me of an even more limited version of Iona, Shield of Emeria. You basically lock one guy out of the game, but you have no effect on the other opponents on the table (similarly, iona usually only locks one guy out of the game and somewhat limits the other opponents, sometimes). At 8-mana, that's not exciting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Solemnity - This is a unique effect. There have been cards that stopped certain counters on certain permanents (e.g. Melira), but this essentially stops all counters being given to anything except planeswalkers. This means you don't get poison counters or energy counters, but it also stops things like age counters on Mystic Remora to stopping Smokestack from getting more counters, to stopping -1/-1 counters or +1/+1 counters from being placed on creatures (for example it incidentally stops Triskelion infinites, and also can function as a "second" Melira in case you're trying to go infinite with persist creatures). This means Dark Depths immediately ETBs with 0 counters. This means Decree of Silence counters everything as it can't have depletion counters placed on it. The way to play this is to use it where this fuels any kind of infinite combo you may gear your deck towards (for example the aforemetnioned "Melira" combo) while also having it function as a weird stax piece. There is plenty of potential in this card, however.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Zedruu?, Oloro?
BLUE
***Champion of Wits - Any creature with a solid ETB effect at an affordable mana price is always worth looking into. It tries to be mulldrifter, and it's usually worse, but it can be better in some scenarios (e.g. you have anthem effects in play).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Fraying Sanity - Note that it says "each end step", so it does keep milling often. Presumably you're enchanting yourself since milling opponents is stupidly bad. I'm not sure how many self-mill cards are viable in EDH, but this can mill yourself quickly to whatever you need, assuming you're not going to just give the middle finger to everyone and play Hermit Druid to speed things up.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Hour of Eternity - People are harping on this card as unplayable but it'll be okay in the right deck. At its baseline it's 5-mana to get 1 creature back, which is in line with many other creature recursion cards (Karmic Guide, Beacon of unrest, etc.) Now I am obviously not saying that this card is as good as KG, but just saying that 5-mana is the baseline. Now you obviously want to put this in a deck where you can gain bonuses through synergy. FOr example if you're a blue-based token deck (such as the UG Ezuri) you could play things that double tokens (e.g. Doubling Season) and you'll get additional copies of the card. It's not an excellent card, yes, but you can't just immediately write this off as useless. An unplayable card rated as a 1/5 would go into zero EDH decks. This could see play in a few decks and will be fine in them, which would make it more like a 2/5.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kefnet's Last Word - It might not be bad in blue decks as you basically get the best permanent on the board, and since blue decks tend to rely on mana rocks for their mana ramp, you can still produce some mana on your next turn. Being unable to steal planeswalkers does kind of suck though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Nimble Obstructionist - Cards that stop certain cards at instant speed and are extremely hard to deal with are always interesting. This card is most similar to Trickbind, where for +1 mana you get a cantrip effect, but Trickbind is technically harder to answer (due to split second). The 3/1 body isn't that relevant as you need to cycle to get the effect, but sometimes flashing in a blocker can catch people off guard too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Strategic Planning - Reprint from a card that was only in portals, it's nice to have this blue cantrip kind of card that's not ridiculously expensive. Still it's questionable if you want to play this over Impulse as it digs one card deeper and is instant speed. The cards you pitch go to the graveyard though which is usually a bonus.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Supreme Will - Bad Mana Leak or Impulse is still solid. If you're interested in one of those two cards, chances are you're interested in this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand
**Swarm Intelligence - Winmore card, but resolving it should easily let you win the game. Since you want to cast something immediately after throwing it down, however, you often need more than its 7 mana upfront to actually gain value out of it, as this will get blown up ASAP. Will likely be similar to Mind's Dilation as these huge CMC blue enchantments with ridiculous effects but are hard to get into play due to their cost.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Tragic Lesson - It can be a usually worse Thirst for Knowledge but if you need to bounce a land, particularly at instant speed, it can be pure upside, and you get to choose if you want to discard or bounce a land.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Talrand
****Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign - Very cool card, and may replace Sphinx of uthuun as a huge blue ETB creature at the top end. This is a funny sphinx general (although you do lose out on cool sphinxes like Magister Sphinx). The mana reduction is nice as sphinxes do cost a lot of mana, but its biggest draw is its ETB effect on all of your sphinxes including itself. You get a 4-card fact or fiction (compared to 5), but it is 1 mana less than Uthuun which is definitely worth looking at, and if you have other sphinxes (e.g. Consecrated Sphinx) that's excellent collateral. Also since it's any sphinx, tokens made from something like Hour of Need also count.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some blue decks, or new deck with this as the general
*Vizier of the Anointed - It's an entomb for specific effects and then it's a bad version of River Kelpie/Secrets of the Dead. Without remembering what was spoiled in this block, my first impression is that there won't be enough cards with Eternalize or Embalm worth playing EDH to make this do anything.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
**Apocalypse Demon - Similar to Lord of Extinction/Consuming Aberration, creatures that are just huge bodies and you're mostly playing them for their huge power and toughness. It is monoblack so it's easier to fit into self-mill decks and the flying means it can connect for damage, but it's +1 mana and the drawback can be annoying as it's a little harder to have this attack and do damage. I'd say Lord > Demon > Aberration for the roles you want to use them for. Lord is the largest of the three, and while aberration helps fuel its own P/T, milling opponents is often very dangerous and can easily backfire, which puts it at the end.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Banewhip Punisher - It helps fuel its own ability which is handy, or can pick off small/weakened creatures and then blow up something later - provided you build around -1/-1 counters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Bontu's Last Reckoning - 3-mana wraths are definitely powerful, but this downside is pretty significant. If you have ways to untap your lands or your mana sources mainly come from nonland permanents, you can work around the downside. But you need to build around this effect significantly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Dreamstealer - Hypnotic Specter type of cards are tough to play in EDH because discarding only 1 card on one opponent is not worth the trouble. However this does have built-in evasion and can make opponents discard a ton of cards with a little pump in power. It can be slow but very punishing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Razaketh, the Foulblooded - It will definitely draw comparisons to Griselbrand, and while griselfather is stronger because he doesn't require fodder to sac and thus is better to reanimate on turn 1 or 2, Razaketh will still be extremely good in his own right. 2 life is a pitiful amount and sacrificing a creature is often an upside (again outside of reanimating this turn 1 or 2), and in return you get a Demonic Tutor which everyone knows is absurdly good, especially in singleton formats. Even if you're not swimming in disposable creatures, just saccing 1-2 creatures will often pay for itself. This is an excellent top end for a lot of black decks. I would be shocked if the RC doesn't even remotely consider banning this card in the near future.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Basically every black deck
*Razaketh's Rite - On the other hand, this card is terrible. Please don't play a bad Diabolic Tutor which is a card that shouldn't be in your deck anyway. It might be passable in cycling decks in case you need more playables, but this is certainly one you will cut early.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Torment of Hailfire - Punisher effects are not good. It may replace Exsanguinate as the infinite mana kill spell in black, but outside of that this is mediocre at best.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**Abrade - Modal spells are always worth considering. Shatter is always useful in EDH, and the 3 damage can pick off a lot of earlygame creatures and a few generals. However it's still only a 1-for-1, so it might be more useful to play more efficient cards (e.g. play cards that can blow up multiple artifacts or cheap, or can burn a creature for more damage, etc.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Chaos Maw - If you want a red creature that damages other creatures upon ETB, I think I'd rather play Crater Hellion. Despite the echo, it costs 6 mana and does 4 damage. Caldera Hellion is similar, although it is notably smaller and it does damage itself, but it costs only 5 mana and you can potentially make it larger than a 3/3 (or a 6/6 for that matter) via devour.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Firebrand Archer - Mini Guttersnipe, 1 less mana and triggers off planeswalker/artifact/enchantment spells in addition to instants and sorceries, but it does do 1 less damage per trigger. Most decks that want this effect will typically chain instants and sorceries together though. Still, if you want Guttersnipe, you probably want this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Hazoret's Undying Fury - So best case scenario is you cast four spells with CMC 5 and you miss out most of the next turn. A more likely scenario though is that you reveal 1-2 lands, 1-2 cards with CMC 1-2 or so, and then if you're lucky you hit a 4ish CMC. Now most good decks do have a lot of 5 CMC or less cards, but you can't get lands, and this is 6-mana and you're basically just rolling dice. It has a very awful floor which is not something you want from your 6-drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Hour of Devastation - Blasphemous Act will generally be better; it won't get around indestructible, but it does 13 damage instead of 5 and will often cost only 1 mana. This does hit (most) planeswalkers though, but planeswalkers aren't that hard to kill as long as you can play some politics. Still, red doesn't get a lot of sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Imminent Doom - This card can kill a bunch of small creatures, but it will require a lot of work. Since the CMC of your spell has to be exactly equal to the number of doom counters, you may want to have ways to more easily manipulate the counters on it (e.g. Proliferate effects). Note that you can chain multiple spells quickly and each one will trigger Doom. For example if it's on one counter and you cast three 1-CMC spells before any of the Doom triggers resolves, each spell will add a counter to Doom and deal the damage for each counter on it. The payoff is there, but you need to build around it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Neheb, the Eternal - It's very similar to Rakdos, Lord of Riots where they care about how much life your opponents lost this turn and gain you mana advantage when that happens. This one is monored which is usually worse than red+black, and costing 1 extra mana does matter (it's far less color intensive, but 2-color decks shouldn't have that much of a problem getting BBRR), and since Rakdos' mana reduction affects all of your creature spells you can get a lot of discounts if you chain multiple creatures together. However, what this one does is be easier to get into play (you literally cannot cast Rakdos at all until an opponent loses life) and you can spend the mana on noncreature things and Rakdos only discounts you on colorless mana. Perhaps the best use of this card is part of the 99 helmed by Rakdos, but you could make this work as your general with burn spells that affects all creatures and players (e.g. Volcanic Fallout).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wildfire Eternal - The afflict ability is 99% irrelevant in EDH, so you're only looking at that second line of text. You need to give this some kind of evasion because everyone will block a 1/4 for days. You do get a solid payoff, but without any help this card is borderline worthless.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
***Hope Tender - You generally will need to exert this to make this generate mana (there aren't that many lands that tap for 2+ mana). However, if you exert it, and have ways to untap it, and you are untapping lands that generate extra mana, it shouldn't be that hard to go infinite (e.g. Freed from the Real). If you can't untap it, it's really bad though, so be wary.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Derevi
***Hour of Promise - For +1 mana over Explosive vegetation you are now able to find ANY two lands, not just basics. At 5-mana you are enchroaching fairly high mana costs, so you really need multiple important lands to find. Personally I would rather play the lower CMC "find any land" cards such as Crop Rotation and Sylvan Scrying, as 5-mana is a fair amount at that point. Still, if the lands are really important (Gaea's Cradle, Urborg + Cabal Coffers, etc), it might be worth playing this just as an additional way to get them out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Majestic Myriarch - It can get huge, but since it doesn't buff the rest of your team, it feels much worse than other anthem effects like Odric, Lunarch marshal. note that its two abilities are kind of a nonbo. If you want this to be huge you mostly have to play a token deck, but token creatures are often just vanilla creatures with no abilities. So you either get a large creature with no evasion, or a normal sized one with a bunch of abilities. It's mediocre either way.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Nissa, Genesis Mage - Please don't play this card. You can do so much better at 7 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Pride Sovereign - It's not a bad token generator, as most 3-mana dudes that make tokens only create one at a time, while this essentially "frontloads" your token production. You need to play untap effects to really abuse it though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Ramunap Excavator - Literally the creature version of Crucible of Worlds, this will see tons and tons of play. Being a creature makes it easier to kill, but it also is in a color that is great at tutoring up creatures. If you want Crucible of Worlds, you want this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
*Rhonas's Last Stand - I wouldn't even play this in Trostani. Not untapping is so bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Uncage the Menagerie - This is a weird X-spell where the amount of X is very important and often you aren't just dumping all your mana into it. Note that the creatures MUST have exactly X CMC. So at 3-mana you tutor up one 1-CMC dude, 4-mana you get two 2-CMC dudes, 5-mana you get three 3-CMC dudes, etc. Since most well-constructed decks don't have a lot of things at the 5+ slot, you're often only paying 3-6 mana in this. Still, this can definitely get you a good number of creatures out of a single card at a fair mana cost, but you need to seriously build your deck around this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some green decks
MULTICOLOR
***Bloodwater Entity - 3-mana, has evasion, can become bigger than 2/2, and its ETB effect isn't shabby. If you're more interested in the recursion effect you are probably better off with Archaeomancer as for +1 mana the card goes straight back to your hand, but if you are some kind of aggressive deck this could be worth playing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Locust God - Very similar to both Niv Mizzet forms where they care about drawing cards. This one doesn't form a 2-card combo with Curiosity so perhaps it will draw less hate than Niv Mizzet.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
***Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh - Wizards is introducing more and more walkers with 4 abilities after the ****show that was jace the mind sculptor, which is nice. At 7-mana you are obviously comparing him to Karn Liberated, and while being grixis makes it more restrictive and harder to play and thus not show up nearly as often (and thus not score a 4/5 or 5/5), it is comparable to Karn in the decks that can actually play Nicol Bolas. Karn has a much more powerful removal ability (Karn essentially gets everything while Nicol Bolas basically only gets creatures and walkers and he can't even get some of the ones that Karn can remove), but Nicol Bolas has much better plus abilities. Basically, Karn is better as a removal spell (and sometimes a double removal spell) while Nicol bolas is more of a card advantage/engine dude that can kill most creatures and planeswalkers in a pinch. Ultimately though, Nicol Bolas is just another reason why Atraxa is not the best superfriends general as she's lacking red.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None (right now)
Nicol Bolas, the Deceiver - I guess he adds value to Dark Intimations, but as cool as Nicol Bolas is, please don't play this card. His plus ability is terrible and his minus is not worth 8-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Obelisk Spider - For just 3-mana it blocks a lot of fliers decently, shrinking them is relevant, and the drain effect does add up. Again, it's only 3-mana. You do have to build around it though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*River Hoopoe - Generally worse than Thrasios, Triton Hero which is unfortunate.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Samut, the tested - She can give a voltron double strike, but her -2 is so weak ([card]Forked bolt[card]) for her cost that you're basically only using her for the +1. Generally speaking voltrons need evasion and protection more than they need double strike anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Scarab God - Very similar to Chainer, Dementia Master as they are 5-CMC legendary creatures with a powerful reanimation ability. I think this guy will replace Chainer as your reanimation-centric general. There are some intricacies between their reanimation abilities (Scarab is 1 more mana but less color intensive and doesn't require life payment which does add up, exiling the creature card is good or bad compared to Chainer just putting the dude directly into play, you don't lose your reanimated creature if Scarab dies, the creature always being a 4/4 is sometimes good or bad) but ultimately the main reason is this guy opens you to blue, which is almost always a bonus. Also, this guy is a bit harder to deal with and being a bit larger body is nifty too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****The Scorpion god - Another -1/-1 matters card, this one is cool because it's built around card advantage and grinding the game. Its removal ability is fairly pricy but he's ultimately an excellent mana sink. But its third ability makes it interesting to use as when it gets returned to your hand, it won't be affected by commander tax.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
AFTERMATH
**Reason to Believe - Believe is a tad bit more than I would like (you really want to be cheating out a 7+ dude to make it worth it). Reason obviously helps, but again you want a high CMC dude on top for believe to be worth its mana cost, and you don't have a ton of those in your decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Grind to Dust - I can't imagine there are many white cards or white decks that play around -1/-1 counters, which is unfortunate (in the Amonkhet block most of the -1/-1 counters matters cards are in jund).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Leave to Chance - Paradoxical Outcome sees play in storm-type decks. This doesn't cantrip, but it does cost 2 less mana, and the Chance side is passable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Driven to Despair - Anthem effects that make it easier for your creatures to force through damage and give you upside. As one-shot effects it remains to be seen how good these really are, but they are cool.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
**Abandoned Sarcophagus - More fuel for Astral Slide decks. Although it remains to be seen if this is worth it as a lot of cards with cycling aren't really that exciting to actually play, and this doesn't let you play cycling lands from your graveyard, which is a shame.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Crook of Condomnation - I would rather just play Relic of Progenitus as it costs less mana and cantrips. The only advantage this has over Relic is that its first ability actually targets the card, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***God-Pharaoh's Gift - Expensive, but does give nice creature graveyard recursion for decks that don't normally get it (like blue). It triggers during combat, and you don't actually target the creature, so these factors help increase the card's floor. You ideally want to be recurring higher CMC creatures, but usually that means the creature comes out smaller as these tokens are fixed at 4/4 and your high CMC dudes tend to be larger than that. Still, if it's got a relevant ETB effect and/or attack effect, it's probably in your deck and you won't mind reanimating it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Mirage Mirror - While this will likely not be meta warping, this is an extremely powerful and flexible ability. At baseline it copies whatever the best permanent on the field is for the turn. At it's best there are lots of funny and/or jank things you can do with this, like copying Dark Depths (sac because it has no counters and make a Marit Lage token). I would wager that its best combos would require at least two activations, where you copy it into something where you can quickly put a ton of charge counters on it (e.g. Black market) and then something where the charge counters allow powerful things (e.g. Magistrate's Scepter). Note that you can't reactivate its copy ability once it transforms into something else, so if you want it to be multiple permanents in a single turn you will need to pay its 2-mana cost consecutively. Still, this is only the tip of the iceberg for this card and is definitely something worth looking into.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Most decks
*Sunset Pyramid - A bit slow (you essentially need to invest 8 mana to get 3 cards).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
LAND
Dunes of the Dead - Similar to Flagstones of Trokair where the land does something when it is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, making a 2/2 is usually worse than getting a land though, and it doesn't produce a color.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*Endless Sands - These types of cards are always difficult to use. They tend to be mana intensive and slow, and if they get destroyed before you're able to return your exiled stuff back they're lost forever and you just screwed yourself hard.
The 2 main uses I see for these kinds of cards are to reuse creature ETB effects and to save your creatures from removal. For the former you are simply better off just straight running flicker effects or reanimation effects, and for the latter your are simply better off running faster and cheaper sac outlets. This particular card could see play because it's on a land, and maybe if you're monocolor or 2-color you could squeeze it in. Once you're at 3+ colors though I find it very hard to ever fit this into your colorless land suite.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Ifnir Deadlands - Out of the cycle of 5 colored deserts that let you sac a desert for some kind of effect, the black one is the only one that's any good. It's expensive and requires deserts, but it is removal. If you're monoblack or two colors, and if you are a -1/-1 counter theme deck (e.g. Hapatra), it should be decent.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Scavenger Grounds - Depends on how many deserts are playable, but you can sac this to itself for its ability. It's comparable to Bojuka Bog which is a black staple, and this is colorless and ETBs untapped, but it does put you back a land, cost more mana overall, and exiling all graveyards is both good and bad depending on how much your deck cares about graveyard interaction too. I do not think it will be as good as Bog, but this is not that bad for nonblack decks. I do believe you can sac changelings to this effect in a pinch (e.g. Chameleon Colossus) which is funny too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Kindred Discovery
Kheru Mind-Eater
Patron of the Vein
Izzet Chemister
Kindred Summons
Arahbo, Roar of the World
Edgar Markov
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist
Kess, Dissident mage
Mairsil, the Pretender
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
The Ur-Dragon
Hammer of Nazahn
Ramos, Dragon Engine
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Ramos, Dragon Engine
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
Curse of Vitality, Curse of Verbosity, Curse of Disturbance, Curse of Opulence, Curse of Bounty - I like how it's the same dude getting owned in every picture. He's not having a good day at all. In any case, the white one is unplayable, and the others range from somewhat unplayable to borderline playable, but the fact that your opponents (that aren't the enchanted player) gain the same bonuses really hurts this cycle. I don't have anything else to say, I just wanted to group them all together because the fact that it's the same dude in every picture made me laugh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
TRIBAL GENERALS - The new tribal generals like Arahbo and The Ur-Dragon are very powerful in a vacuum, but obviously they are only good in tribal, and thus it depends on how much support the tribe has to make a build competitive. For example if there aren't enough playable cats, Arahbo is not going to be a very strong card. The ratings I have are made assuming that there is enough support available for the tribe. Remember that even if a tribal general isn't playable now, keep an eye out for any cards Wizards releases in the future that can buffer said tribes.
WHITE
***Alms Collector - Generally worse than Notion Thief, but since they're completely different cards, it would be a better comparison to match this up against something like Spirit of the Labyrinth. You do get flash and the effect doesn't harm you, but you have to pay 1 more mana and its effect is usually less restrictive than Spirit's. Alms Collector lets players draw 1 card at a time (e.g. Rhystic Study) while Spirit tells everyone to sit down. It's still a somewhat unique effect and if your meta is full of mass card drawing and durdling you can find use.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Balan, Wandering Knight - Plays somewhat similarly to Bruna, Light of Alabaster where you try to bide your time until you can one shot someone, but Bruna gives you access to blue and you could slam down millions of auras from your hand or graveyard and not have to actually cast them. For Balan, bypassing equip costs is always interesting, but you still need the equipment in play. Most of the good equipment have fairly low equip costs anyway. At 4-mana you can play him early for sure, but he just simply doesn't feel that strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Fortunate Few - Basically it's 1-less mana over Planar Cleansing but the junkest permanents are left on the board, albeit some politics can be played. So it will likely be played over Planar Cleansing but still doesnt seem that exciting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kindred Boon - Certainly sounds like a powerful effect, but you need 6 mana for your first divinity counter, which is roughly the same amount as the other Kindred cycle takes to get into play, and this doesn't win the game on the spot, and this can be removed to stop the effect (at least I believe so). Still playable in tribal but it's the weakest of the cycle.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Scalelord Reckoner - Can be used in dragon tribal as a rattlesnake-type card, ala Karmic Justice. It stops targeted removal but not things like sacrificing and sweepers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Stalking Leonin - Has an interesting political aspect, where you can bluff players out on who you actually chose, although most of the time your hand will be forced and you'll have to pick the voltron general. It still needs to target, and the creature needs to be attacking, so there are still some big restrictions. I think I would rather just play Fiend Hunter and call it a day. Or play Soul Snare which has a very similar effect but because you can choose ANY player and not the one you secretly chose it's good when you need to change plans quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Teferi's Protection - There are some dumb combos floating around where you basically play this and then find a way to never take another turn ever again, which would technically stop any infinite damage combos and such, and will be hard to work around without having some kind of alternate win con in your deck. I think the more traditional thing to do is have a crapton of mana, cast this while floating mana, and then playing Obliterate or similar effect so everybody's stuff dies except yours, but you could do similar things by casting Boros Charm first or whatever. I feel like just playing Angel's Grace or something is just generally better. It's certainly an interesting card though, but doesn't jump out as immediately broken.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLUE
***Galecaster Colossus - Similar to Azami, Lady of Scrolls as a mass wizards payoff card, where for +2 mana you get a bigger body and a (usually) stronger effect. Generally speaking Azami will be more important as she comes down earlier, but if you want another mass wizards payoff card you could consider this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Kindred Discovery - Literally just goes infinite with The Locust God, seriously wth. Granted, the draw is mandatory so you will deck yourself if you don't build around it, but it shouldn't even be that hard to do that. It's really easy to break this in tribal decks, or maybe not even tribal, just find a way to go infinite (like Locust God). The fact that it counts token creatures as well is what makes this really scary. You have to semi-build around it, but a good Kindred Discovery will end the game in short order.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Magus of the Mind - Much like the other Maguses, I'd rather play Mind's Desire as this guy needs haste or a turn to pass to crack him. But if you need a second copy this could be ok. The biggest bonus is that you technically don't have to shuffle after every Desire spell which saves time (although most people don't really bother if it's like Mind's Desire for 20 or something, people typically just scoop immediately).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Portal Mage - Won't help you against a huge alpha strike, but can be interesting against voltrons where you can redirect the general to something else, but since it requires targeting that can sometimes fail.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
BLACK
*Boneyard Scourge - Not interested in simple beaters that require mana for their graveyard recursion effect. Unless I'm short in my dragon tribal deck, I wouldn't play it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Bloodline Necromancer - So for vampires or wizards it's a Phyrexian Delver that doesn't nuke your life total. It's not bad, but doesn't feel like it does anything special. When you can play Reanimate, Animate Dead, Beacon of Unrest, etc. in place of this, you really need to abuse the fact that it's a creature, so you have to be fairly tribal-specific and need to have flicker/reanimation effects and such. It's certainly no Karmic Guide unless the tribal aspects are relevant.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Kheru Mind-Eater - Certainly one of the most interesting Ophidian/Abyssal Specter effects I can think of, where you exile the card AND it generates card advantage. Built-in evasion certainly helps too, and it's an affordable 3-mana. Perhaps it won't be good in competitive circles where most games aren't decided by poking opponents for 1 damage, but I think this is pretty flexible and can go into a lot of black decks that have some equipment (you don't even necessarily have to be voltron).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
***Kindred Dominance - In tribal decks it's Plague Wind for 2 less mana, which is certainly good. Still seems somewhat underwhelming relative to the other Kindred cycle as those generally win the game on the spot.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***New Blood - Interesting card because a lot of mind control effects are 5+ mana, so a nonblue card gaining such an effect for less than 5 is worth looking into. Note that while it's best in vampire tribal (you'll always have a vampire at hand to tap, and the changing all creature type text to vampire might be useful in some instances), it might be playable as long as you have "enough" vampires in the deck (especially if your commander just so happens to be a vampire), since you only need to tap one vampire.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Patron of the Vein - Joining the ranks of Duplicant and Noxious Gearhulk of creature removal stapled to a creature ETB for 6-mana, this is probably better than Gearhulk and comparable to duplicant. Instead of gaining life, you get that Anafenza the Foremost exiling effect, which is almost as good as just straight up exiling it ala Duplicant, and you get that effect even if you aren't vampire tribal (if you are vampire tribal then this can be quite good). In non-vampire tribal it's a solid floor card, and in vampire tribal it can get a decent ceiling as well.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Some black decks?
***Vindictive Lich - Very interesting non-tribal themed dude. 4-mana is a fair bit, the third ability is not that useful, and there is competition for slots. For example Mindslicer or Fleshbag Marauder type of cards that nuke creatures or cards in hand. Obviously you want plenty of reanimation so you can keep saccing this guy over and over, just like with Fleshbag and such.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
RED
**Bloodsworn Steward - Compared to other haste-granting effects, this is a bit more restrictive in that it only gives your commander(s) haste. Even though it's usually your general that you'd be swinging with the most often, you might be better served with cheaper haste enablers like Anger or just strapping lightning greaves to your commander.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
Crimson Honor Guard - First off, nobody cares about 4 damage a turn on a 5-mana creature that players can work around, so it's unplayable. Now the idea of punishing players who don't have their commander out is interesting, given that this set also revolves around commanders that do stuff even when they're not in play and thus punishes players who think letting their commander chill in the command zone to generate value is funny. However in most cases people do like jamming their commanders in, because often their commander is central to their deck's goals and win conditions. So even if this card had a more relevant punishment for not having your commander, it would have to be a REALLY good one to make this playable (like draw a card or something).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Disrupt Decorum - It's hard to say how useful this card will be. In some ways it's a cheap Insurrection in that basically every creature has to attack (whereas with insurrection you're basically attacking with every creature too). In other ways it might not really do anything. There may be an opponent that has no creatures (or they had to go first and had to attack and thus had almost no untapped creatures to block with) so everyone just swings into that player and nobody makes any trades in combat to thin out the creatures on the battlefield. It has a dangerously low floor which makes me wary to play it. However it could be interesting in board stalls, and it's a somewhat unique effect. There are cards that make creatures attack, but this one makes them unable to attack you, which has its bonuses.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Izzet Chemister - Exiling your own things from your graveyard can be annoying as they're probably spells you'd want to recur, but it's not a huge mana investment. If you're a deck with a lot of instants and sorceries you can find the time to squeeze in some mana to this guy before your turn and then you can get a solid payout at the end. The haste increases this guy's floor and he can come down fairly early. However you do have to be careful about what you exile as this guy can get killed before you get the payoff, but you can exile the spells at any time and you can actually cast the spells at any time too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Kindred Charge - 6 mana sorcery is approaching high costs, and you do need to be tribal, and it can be win more because it doesn't do much if you're only copying a few creatures, and ideally the creatures you're copying are good too. But a good Kindred Charge will end the game, especially if you've got a lot of relevant ETB effects and such. The low floor makes me wary though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Shifting Shadow - It's basically a slow but repeatable Polymorph, but granting the haste is actually nifty. Still if you want to bother to cheat out a fatty, you'd probably not want to have the creature keep dying, and since you have to wait until your upkeep it's trickier to get your first fatty into play. It will probably take more work than it's worth, but the potential is there.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Territorial hellkite - Simple beaters are not interesting, although it is low-CMC and has evasion and haste for 6-power. There are some cards that care about power of your own creatures (e.g. Prime Speaker Zegana), but past that, I'd pass.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
GREEN
**Hungry Lynx - Certainly a cute card, but giving your opponents deathtouch blockers is not really ideal. You need to be cat tribal to ignore the rats, and even then they're still getting disposable and good blockers. I guess you can play politics by giving certain players the rats, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Kindred Summons - It certainly does not have a great floor, but in tribal decks, it's basically instant-speed Tooth and nail your entire library of creatures. The fact that it counts your token creatures means you can have, say, a bunch of elf tokens out, play this calling Elf, and then dump a million elves from your library into play. Still, since the creatures you cheat into play need to share a type with whatever you call, you still have to build around it a bit, but a good Kindred Summons should end the game in very short order.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Qasali Slingers - more expensive version of Harmonic Sliver and the like. Usually worse than Aura Shards because of the higher CMC but is definitely playable in cat tribal just because this repeatable effect is so powerful. Even outside of cat tribal if there are a lot of fliers, the reach this thing has is not the worst thing to have, although it will still generally be worse than something like Reclamation Sage.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Traverse the Outlands - We just recently got Hour of Promise which gets you any two lands unconditionally (the zombie part with the deserts is almost completely irrelevant). Then consider Explosive vegetation is 4-mana for 2 basics, and you consider that you need at least a 3-power creature out to make this even remotely worth it. That doesn't sound hard, but consider that you want to try and cast your ramp spells on curve, so this means you need a 3-power creature out before you hit 5-mana. There aren't a slew of good low CMC creatures that can meet that requirement but are also good in EDH on their own (no, please do not play Tarmogoyf just to make this better). You definitely need to build around it. Off the top of my head, green decks that either WANT huge fatties (e.g. Selvala, Heart of the Wilds) or are green generals that come with huge power and are low CMC (e.g. Anafenza, the Foremost). Past that, you can have difficulty getting this card to reliably get you 4+ basics by turn 5 or so which would make it difficult to justify a spot. It has a high ceiling, but a really awful floor, and requires strict deckbuilding.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
MULTICOLOR
****Arahbo, Roar of the World - As Oloro showcased, having an effect while in the command zone is some nice value. Giving you a free giant growth on each of your combat steps is very interesting. There are a decent number of low-CMC cats that you can slap down and start grinding out that value with stax effects, ETB effects, etc.; Leonin Arbiter, Qasali Pridemage, etc. Start attacking for 4-5 power or more by turn 3 all the while sporting a relevant effect (or for 5 infect with Lost Leonin yoooooo). The 1GW ability when it's in play is cool, but you really want to abuse that giant growth effect. Throw in some of the cat tribal effects from Amonkhet like Regal Caracal and the deck doesn't sound that bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Edgar Markov - It's pretty solid value from your commander, note that you get the token upon casting your vampire spells and you don't need to pay any mana. Combine this with sac outlets or things that care about stuff dying (Grave Pact) and basically all of your vampires become 2-for-1s automatically at minimum. You have to be vampire tribal, but he does make a vampire-based token deck interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
**Fractured Identity - The first thing that comes to mind with this card is to play it on your own thing so each of your opponents gets a copy of it. For example exile your own Phage the Untouchable. Being sorcery speed really kills the card though. I'm sure there are other lulzy combos, but it's not a very strong card on its own. Shoutout to this card in 1v1 though, since you can point it at the opponent's stuff and you're the only one who gets the copy, so it's basically Utter End plus Mind Control stapled together. 5-mana sorceries are hard to use in 1v1, but that effect is really strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Zedruu
*****Inalla, Archmage Ritualist - Best tribal commander in the set. Just ignore the fact that wizards has so much support (wtf Riptide Laboratory) or that plenty of great cards are wizards (Venser, Shaper Savant, Snapcaster Mage, Trinket Mage, etc.). You get clones of your wizards all the time for just +1 mana while Inalla is chilling in your command zone. Other Eminence generals in this set give free giant growth, or 1/1 tokens, or whatnot. This basically doubles all of your wizards for +1 mana per wizard. You'll be drowning in value before you know it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
***Licia, Sanguine Tribute - Lifegain can be done in large chunks so it should often cost only 3 mana. For example Serra Ascendant getting you 6 life on its own will make this very cheap for most of the game. However while it's in play, it's an okay ability but it doesn't have any evasion or protection. First strike isn't really relevant because with its pump ability it'll be the biggest creature on the table often anyway (guess it gets around deathtouch). It's a beefy creature that you can cast for cheap, so you can certainly put opponents on a fast clock if you couple this with evasion equipment. Still, it's no Oloro when it comes to dorky life gain.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*****Kess, Dissident mage - Best overall commander in the set (srsly wtf wizards). Hey bro, how would you like a snapcaster mage-type of effect every turn? I imagine this will become the de facto storm combo general for cutthroat, but even in casual, this is insane value. Just flashing back a ponder or brainstorm is already solid. Flash back demonic tutor, or a kill spell. Once you cast your first time warp and it hits the graveyard, if Kess is already in play and survives the turn, the game is literally over >95% of the time, you can start flash backing the time warps from your graveyard, cast more from your hand, then flash those back, etc. Note that there's no dumb "upkeep" trigger or anything, you can play her and if you have extra mana up you can immediately cast something to generate value. Now it's not a great interaction with counterspells, but note that you don't have to target the spell you want to cast, so you can sandbag your chosen spell until someone runs into your counterspell in your graveyard. On top of that, it has a relevant body with evasion, and 4-mana is certainly reasonable. IMO this could be as powerful as Leovold and could get banned.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Mairsil, the Pretender - So you can exile the card from your graveyard so it's not really card disadvantage, you can nuke a card from your hand in emergencies, and this guy keeps track of everything you exiled with this guy (meaning flicker effects can allow you to stack up multiple cards). Ideally you want activated abilities that don't require tapping and don't require a lot of mana so you can chain them together, but I'm sure you can put together quick infinite combos just off the back of this guy and some flicker effects. Put in a lightning greaves or something that grants haste for free and you can go off pretty easily.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
**Mathas, Fiend Seeker - Political card where you probably will be putting the bounty counters on problematic creatures to try and coerce your opponents into killing those creatures instead. Still, the fact that everyone (except the creature's controller) gains the benefits makes it less appealing. I think political cards where you can more sculpt who gets the bonuses are better.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist - When she attacks she imposes a Dueling Grounds effect, but you can still attack with multiple creatures if you want. She can be hard to kill in combat so it shouldn't be hard to get her in. Then when she's tapped she grants you a superior Crawlspace effect. She certainly sounds very interesting and could maybe helm some kind of voltron or perhaps hatebears (or hatecats?) deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - New deck with this as the general
****Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith - So assuming the hammer isn't in your hand or graveyard, this card is basically 6 mana, 7/4 indestructible general with a relevant attacking ability. That can be quite scary. If you can't tutor up hammer then you still generate card advantage anyway. There are plenty of voltron decks, but he can generate some card advantage while being a voltron.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
*O-Kagachi, Vengeful kami - Not a fan of this card. It's beefy, but its combat damage trigger is a punisher mechanic, and you can only potentially catch someone off guard if you can give it haste or find a way to flash it out. If this guy is out, people are not going to attack you unless they can one shot you or kill this guy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe his ability also does not work if the opponent attacks a planeswalker you control, so he's not even that good as a superfriends general. At best I see him as a 5-color pillow fort deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Taigam, Ojutai Master - Simple to build around, however since Taigam himself can be countered it's a bit awkward. Still, if he can survive, you get a nice payoff. He's better in blue-heavy metas where counterspells are everywhere though. If he survives though, it shouldn't be hard to win with rebounded Time Warps and such.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Taigam, Sidisi's Hand - Since you're skipping your draw step this isn't really card advantage, it's card selection and graveyard filling, and the removal ability is nice although needing to tap is annoying. However at 5-mana it feels fairly underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****The Ur-Dragon - Another card where he has an effect while in the command zone, this one is really good. -1 mana to all your other dragon spells adds up nicely. Yosei, the Morning Star for 5-mana? Yes please. There are a good number of playable dragons, and reducing their mana cost by 1 is certainly nice. You generally will not cast him because 9-mana at baseline is really tough, but whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Wasitora, nekoru Queen - Flying and trample makes it difficult to stop, and it has a relevant effect when it connects, albeit somewhat slow. I'd say as a cat tribal general you have better options, and as a Jund stax general you are probably better with Shattergang Brothers.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
ARTIFACT
*Bloodforged Battle-Axe - Equipment that just deal damage and buff P/T are not exciting. now this can clone itself, which is kind of funny, but personally it's not exciting unless you can sacrifice that artifact for an effect, and at that point there are better ways to generate artifacts (e.g. make clue tokens or something).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Hammer of Nazahn - It not only automatically equips itself to whatever creature you want, but it gives the free equip on all your future equipment, basically another Sigarda's Aid. When equipped it also gives a solid effect, especially if the equip effect is "free". Obviously way better with Nazahn as the general, but sounds solid for many voltron decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
***Herald's Horn - Another solid tribal card. It's a decent mana acceleration stapled to a card that can draw you a card now and then (probably looking at around ~1/4 to 1/3rd hit rate). Note that it only finds creature cards, not those that make tokens of said creature type, so you'll have to be fair.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Heirloom Blade - It's similar to Evolutionary Leap where a creature death lets you "draw" what should be a good card, and this is colorless so it can go into more decks than Leap. The fact that the creature card you reveal has to share a type with the creature that died has its benefits and drawbacks. If you build around it properly, you could theoretically do something like let your general die, send it to the graveyard to trigger Blade, and then you only have one creature in your deck that shares a creature type with your general so it will always go into your hand. That seems kind of convoluted though and if you want to do that, you'd probably be better off just running a tutor to go find that dude. In a normal deck it's a somewhat harder to use Evolutionary Leap, and is certainly no Skullclamp.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
**Mirror of the Forebears - Similar to Mirage Mirror except cheaper to activate, but only copies your things and only really playable in tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
****Ramos, Dragon Engine - A general that you really need to build around by playing a lot of multicolored spells, preferably as many colors as possible. 6-mana for a 4/4 flier is hard to swallow, but he can get crazy quickly. For example, resolving Conflux when he's out should end the game in short order. You can just slam +1/+1 counters on it with Increasing Savagery if you want or something too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - Progenitus
LAND
***Path of Ancenstry - ETBing tapped is annoying, but it is Command Tower with the scry 1 upside. Because of that, I would not play it outside of tribal because ETBing tapped is such a large drawback.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN - None
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Tocatli honor Guard
Arcane Adaptation
Revel in Riches
Captivating Crew
Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun
Hostage Taker
Tishana, Voice of Thunder
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Ashes of the Abhorrent - There's not a lot off the top of my head that this actually stops. Compare this to Ground Seal or Grafdigger's Cage, this really only stops flashback, or casting for free from Torrential Gearhulk or the aftermath cards, etc. You can still loop with Karmic Guide stuff, etc. The lifegain part doesn't really matter either outside of super dedicated lifegain but even I feel like it just doesn't do enough.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Axis of Mortality - Funny against lifegain decks, but too slow and can't actually really kill players.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Bishop of Rebirth - Sun Titan never looked so bad.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Kinjalli's Sunwing - The flying is not the worst, but if you want creatures to ETB tapped there are several other more efficient cards, such as Imposing Sovereign or Thalia, Heretic Cathar, let alone noncreature variants like Kismet and such. These are annoying effects to play against, but there are more efficient versions of this guy.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort - The front side is half the cost and half the dudes of Raise the Alarm and the flip side is a Kjeldoran outpost that nets you a land instead of costing you one. In a token deck it can flip fairly early, ramps you, and in the lategame do something other than provide you mana. It's not high impact, but at 1-mana it's not a bad card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle - Note that no matter how many vampires you control attack, you only create one token. So he's just meh even in vampire tribal. If you're completely out of playable vampires then maybe use him, but he's going to be underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Priest of the Wakening Sun - The tutor effect is expensive, and nobody really cares about lifegain, so unless there are some toolbox-ish dinosaur cards that you will be willing to spend an effective 3WWW to fetch out, I don't even think he'll be good in dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Sanguine Sacrament - Ew. srsly
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Settle the Wreckage - Path to exile is a powerful magic card. However casting path to exile on everything that's attacking can easily backfire, if they're attacking with a bunch of dumb dorks along with a super powerful creature, exiling their weenies and letting them get like 5+ lands is not a good deal. Because of that, this card seems very risky. If they attack with, say, four very powerful creatures and this exiles them all, giving them four basics may be worth it; just like with Path, you'll trade a card and giving them a basic land for exiling their biggest threat. But there's a huge risk to the card and I imagine there will be plenty of times this won't do what you want. I guess you can attack with your own weenies and exile them to ramp, but meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Tocatli honor Guard - Torpor orb shuts down a good number of creature decks, and this is Torpor Orb dude. Now creatures are easier to kill than artifacts, but they tend to be easier to tutor out and recur, and white weenies/death and taxes decks are interested in warm bodies to wear equipments and such too. Basically, if you're interested in Torpor Orb, you will be interested in him.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Zedruu, Oloro (with some tweaks)
***Wakening Sun's Avatar - 7-8 mana creatures that blow up a bunch of creatures (sometimes with restrictions) is the norm, although I don't really see them very often as they're not good creatures to cheat out since generally the effect only happens when you hardcast it. Regardless, it should be playable since I believe this is the first monowhite variant so maybe there will be a home for it. If you have dinosaur tribal then it should be solid in them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
BLUE
****Arcane Adaptation - Literally Conspiracy but colorshifted into blue and 2 less mana. I don't have much experience with tribal cards, and I feel like if you want to build tribal it's probably better to just play creatures in that tribe than try to stick this card and then play off-tribe cards, but the effect is very powerful when built around. I rated it high because it's a very unique effect, but I honestly am not sure how good this will be.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deadeye Quartermaster - Creatures that tutor for something upon ETB can be useful. However they typically are 3-mana. This one at 4-mana is a bit slow. Now blue gets artifact tutoring but doesn't get a lot of equipment tutoring, but depending on the equipment you want you can play Trinket Mage or Trophy Mage. In addition, decks that normally want to tutor for an equipment are generally voltron/aggressive decks, but there aren't that many blue voltrons, so it's hard to say how many want this card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deeproot Waters - Merfolk tribal card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Dreamcaller Siren - The body is not bad as is the flash, but the ETB effect is rather ho-hum. Cards like Deceiver Exarch can untap if needed and cost 1 less mana. Cards like Dungeon Geist cost the same or more mana and don't have flash, but keep the creature tapped down until the dude gets removed. They also don't require another pirate in play to get the effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Entrancing Melody - There actually aren't that many sorceries that let you "permanently" steal a creature, but this will be fairly expensive to steal big things. Unless you plan on stealing a lot of 1 or 2 drops, or you're playing a deck where sorceries/instants matter, it might be better to go with Treachery or even regular Mind Control for mana efficiency.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Fleet Swallower - I still don't like mill even though this literally casts Traumatize whenever it attacks, and it'll be a fun combo with Fraying Sanity while both are in standard. But it's often a bad thing to mill opponents as decks often have graveyard shenanigans. And players often play original Kozilek or Ulamog which will let them automatically shuffle their graveyard back in. The huge mana cost also hurts it; it's a 7-mana creature that doesn't even do anything until it attacks and its attack doesn't even affect the board in a large number of cases. However, the fact that you can target yourself with the trigger makes this slightly better. There are better ways to mill yourself, but this still gets a chunk of cards quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Herald of Secret Streams - If you're a blue deck with some kind of +1/+1 counter theme, this should help you end the game quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Jace, Cunning Castaway - The +1 is a conditional looting effect and the -2 makes a 2/2 bear with a drawback. The ultimate comes quickly and is kind of funny, but it just makes more Jaces and the effects are still mediocre. I guess for 3-mana it's hard to ask for more, but this just feels underwhelming.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Kopala, warden of Waves - Merfolk tribal general. There are a bunch of legendary merfolk but none of them are really tribal, and not many are actually monoblue. Making your merfolk harder to kill is certainly very strong.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - New deck with this as the general
Overflowing Insight - I saw sorcery speed, huge mana cost, and an effect that is almost always going to be worse than something like Recurring Insight and I just ignored it. I had to do a double take when I realized it was a mythic. I'm going to be very salty opening this garbage card as my mythic.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Prosperous Pirates - Monoblue ramp on a dude. You want flicker and graveyard recursion to make a lot of treasures, and you want to make use of a lot of disposable artifacts.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Derevi
*River's Rebuke - Only affecting one player kills this card's usability. Also being a sorcery.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Search for Azcanta // Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin - The front half is a pretty weak effect, but the flip side is not bad. It casts a "neutered" Impulse. However because the front side is so weak, it'll be a question of how quickly can you get this to flip; at the very least flipping it will get you a land, and blue decks love their mana. You'll want to play cards that can incidentally dump stuff into your library and there are some good ones (Fact or Fiction).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Talrand?
**Siren Stormtamer - 1-mana creatures that can counterspell, even conditionally, can be played in the right deck (e.g. Edric).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Spell Swindle - I'm not a big fan of the big mana counterspells since they're clunky and unless you're targeting certain spells you're not getting your mana's worth. With this card, for example, if you're not creating a lot of treasures it's going to be hard to justify playing this card over the many other big mana counters that have a higher ceiling or are more flexible, such as Mystic Confluence or Desertion. It's not terrible, but it is almost strictly a casual card where people will regularly be slinging around 6+ CMC cards.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Tempest Caller - This can let you alpha strike one player, or flashing it in somehow can stop an attack step. While it does not compare well against Cryptic Command, not many cards do, and there aren't really that many creatures with good "tap a bunch of creatures" effects upon ETB. You do want to find ways to flash this in to help make it better though as otherwise it's kind of a win-more card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
BLACK
***Arguel's Blood Fast // Temple of Aclazotz - One of the better legendary flip enchantments because the front side is not that bad. It's literally Greed with a lower upfront cost but more mana to draw cards. When compared to Greed, they only break even when you've drawn two cards off of them (both costing 3BBB) and only past that does Greed become more economical. Now you generally don't want to play this card until mid-lategame anyway and it actually doesn't flip to the backside very often, and the backside is not even that good anyway (by the time you reach 5 life you probably don't need another land). Still, I would probably play it over Erebos, God of the Dead despite all of Erebos' upside because just costing 2 less mana upfront is so important, so this can function as a second Greed if you need to.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Oloro
**Bishop of the Bloodstained - Vampire tribal. And still not super exciting in it without ETB abusing effects or flicker or reanimation, etc.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Bloodcrazed Paladin - Not usually a big fan of these types of cards that do something when a bunch of creatures die quickly, but being 2 mana can catch people offguard. Normally when a bunch of creatures die in one turn it's because of a sweeper and usually nobody has a creature out afterwards, meaning it's possible to get this to be, say, a 10/10 or bigger, and swing in at someone with no blockers. If you can sneak this guy in after a big sweeper you can get in some decent damage and get a big body, and while I'm not a fan of simple beatsticks, at 2-mana there's worse things you can do. These types of cards tend to not have a very good floor though and are often extremely bad earlygame.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Boneyard Parley - A fun variant on Fact or Fiction, this will generally get you 2-3 of the best creature cards in any graveyard, which is solid, but at 7-mana sorcery you get what you pay for. You also generally want enough graveyards to be stocked where you're pulling creatures that are like 5+ CMC just to get your mana's worth too, so there are times when this won't pay for itself.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Costly Plunder - High floor, low ceiling sac outlet that nets you some cards. SInce you can sac artifacts you can bin something like Ichor Wellspring or something.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Deadeye Tracker - Fairly mana intensive and needing to tap can make it a bit slow, but it comes down very early and it is graveyard hate that also either draws you a land card or gets bigger (and dumps cards into the graveyard if necessary).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Dire Fleet Ravager - Group slug will love this. Aggro decks that don't rely on general damage will be interested too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Fathomfleet Captain - It needs to attack, needs mana, and preferably needs to survive (menace does help with that though), and your payout is a slow stream of 2/2s. Meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Kitesail Freebooter - Brainmaggot with a better body but can't snatch creature cards, which is probably a losing trade. Dipping into white gives you Tidehollow Sculler which is often better because of that "Oblivion Ring" wording of keeping the exiled card gone forever if abused properly. Duress effects and such are just not that powerful in multiplayer formats.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Raiders' Wake - The raid trigger is nice but you're paying +1 mana over Megrim for that effect, a card which was already outclassed by Liliana's Caress and even that card was outclassed by Waste Not. And even at 4-mana I would rather play Geth's Grimoire - I'd rather draw cards than have the opponent lose 2 life.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Revel in Riches - New take on Black market. It doesn't trigger off of your creatures dying, but you get the mana "immediately" and there's the bonus of being an alternate win condition. Having 4-5 creatures die or so will help cover the initial cost (compare to Gilded Lotus) and anything beyond that is a bonus. Getting 10 treasures probably shouldn't be that hard either. What holds this card back is how it will definitely draw hate and will get blown up ASAP, so you need to protect it (Greater Auramancy or something). It also technically does nothing on its own immediately either, so there is a low floor, but it will quickly demand an answer in most casual metas that have lots of creatures running around.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Oloro?
*Ruin Raider - The Dark Confidant effect is not super exciting in EDH unless you're super cutthroat because mana costs are higher, and while life payments can be easily stomached, it does suck if you hit your 5+ drops and you end up losing like 10 life just to net 3-4 cards or whatever. It is technically faster than Phyrexian Arena since you can potentially start drawing cards at your end step and not your upkeep, but it's easier to kill and there are restrictions and having a 1/1 suicide into an enemy or whatever doesn't really help. This generally feels worse than Arena, and even Arena I have a hard time putting into my decks these days.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Sanctum Seeker - In vampire tribal it's Hellrider with lifegain but no haste. The no haste is a bummer but otherwise...
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Sword-Point Diplomacy - The fact that any opponent can pay the 3 life means this card is literal garbage.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Vraska's Contempt - For +1 mana over Hero's Downfall you gain an exile effect, which is the normal trade, but 4-mana is still a bit much. If I was BW I would rather play Utter End since that also hits artifacts and enchantments, but if you're a black deck without white then you may consider playing this. Still, 4-mana for a 1-for-1 is a bit hard to stomach.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
RED
*Angrath's Marauders - If you're white it's essentially strictly worse than Gisela, Blade of Goldknight. If you're not white and you're interested in doubling damage, I'd rather just take Furnace of Rath despite it also affecting you, because it's just so much cheaper. 7-mana is a lot, but it comes down so late and it's not that good if you're behind.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Burning Sun's Avatar - Unless you're dinosaur tribal I'd usually rather play Inferno Titan, unless you're really lacking huge dorky dudes (you probably aren't).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Captain Lannery Storm - Fun gimmicky treasure-based card but if there aren't enough playable treasure cards in red then she'll be a terrible general. The haste is nice but she dies pretty easily in combat.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Captivating Crew - For +1 CMC and +1 activation cost over Yasova Dragonclaw you can steal multiple creatures and there aren't any restrictions on who to steal, which can actually be scary, especially with a sac outlet present. It's a very severe mana sink though, but being able to just steal the biggest creature, even if it's temporary, will make the entire table wary. For example your opponent may have a tough time playing out their Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite if you can steal her. It basically demands an answer against any deck that's creature heavy, and at 4-mana it's not THAT bad if it dies immediately (since it technically doesn't impact the board immediately).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Makeshift Munitions - You can sac artifacts to this, but I would rather just play Goblin Bombardment. Not needing the 1 mana for each sac is so much more useful overall. If you really want to sac artifacts, play cards that can do that without needing mana (e.g. Krark-Clan ironworks).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Otepec Huntmaster - Perfect card for dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Rampaging Ferocidon - While most players don't play a lot of lifegain, stopping it is nice, but more importantly the damaging effect from creature ETBs adds up quickly.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Rowdy Crew - Yet another card that I glossed over not caring about it, until I realized it was mythic. Literally nothing about this card gives off a mythic vibe.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Star of Extinction - The spell gets countered if the land it's targeting becomes an illegal target before it resolves, which is kind of funny. A giant fireball of death from the sky vaporizes if your Sylvan Safekeeper sacrifices the targeted land. Also, "20 damage to each creature and each planeswalker" is a pretty funny line of text. It's not really playable as Blasphemous Act gets the job done and colorless options like Oblivion Stone are generally more efficient. I don't give bonus points for flavor, but this card is sure cool, and these are the kinds of mythics I can get behind even if they're not that playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Sunbird's Invocation - So why exactly is this not mythic but Rowdy Crew is? In any case, it's another dorky big mana red enchantment that does interesting stuff, but it's slow and kind of win more as you need to resolve a 6-mana card that does nothing immediately, then it only really generates big value when you're casting more big spells.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Vance's Blasting Cannons // Spitfire Bastion - The front side is a worse version of Outpost Siege (at least the half of Siege that is played most often), which is not a particularly good card but one that mono red is sometimes interested in. The back side is a nice repeatable bolt effect, but that kind of effect is generally not superb in EDH when creatures and life totals are fairly large. Basically is this card's backside more useful than Outpost Siege's ability to play lands and sometimes choose its second mode? Personally neither card impresses me that much, but monored is bereft of good card advantage so it might be playable on the back of that.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Wily Goblin - 2-drop that provides a lotus petal upon ETB is interesting.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
GREEN
***Commune with Dinosaurs - Dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Deathgorge Scavenger - Loaming Shaman can nuke multiple cards in a single graveyard upon ETB, but it didn't have the attack trigger, and shuffling cards back into the library is usually worse than just exiling them (although with 99-card singletone it's often not that bad unless the opponent has a tutor). I think I would rather just play Scavenging Ooze but if you want graveyard hate on creature ETBs then you can line it up against Loaming Shaman.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Deeproot Champion - Green doesn't get prowess effects often, and the main reason why is that green is more focused on creatures. It's only a beatstick at the end of the day, and personally I would just play +1 mana to get Managorger Hydra which gets huge much faster and has trample.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Emperor's Vanguard - Needing to deal combat damage to a player makes this meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*****Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun - The modern day Gaea's Cradle (nice callback to Gaea's Cradle btw wizards, literally calling it "Cradle of the Sun")? Not quite, but I do think it's a very good card (if you consider that Cradle would receive like a 7/5 rating). You need to be creature-centric, which is not hard to do in green, but you need enough saturation to be able to hit the front reliably. It's not hard to flip it either. Once it's flipped, we all know how ridiculous Gaea's Cradle is.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Bunch of green ones
***Savage Stomp - Dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Shapers' Sanctuary - It's the weaker half of Leovold, Emissary of Trest, but for 1-mana you can't ask for more. Whether it does enough is hard to say. If your creatures are really important, I'd say finding ways to keep them protected for sure is probably better (e.g. Sylvan Safekeeper).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
Verdant Sun's Avatar - Holy cow this card sucks. Trostani, Selesnya's Voice is laughing at this dinosaur, and Trostani is only good because they have the populate ability. Simply gaining life is so useless, and you're spending 7-mana to do that. If he was a 4-mana 5/5 with this ability I still would have to think about actually putting this guy in my deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Waker of the Wilds - Fairly mana intensive and turning your lands into creatures often backfires because a sweeper nukes those lands too. It's a 4-drop but you really want to treat it as a super lategame card where you really only want to start turning your lands into creatures if you have nothing else to do. There are other cards like various Nissa versions that turn lands into creatures (even if some are only temporary) but are more mana efficient, and often can do other things if necessary too. This isn't the worst thing ever but you should be able to find better things to do with your mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
MULTICOLOR
**admiral Beckett Brass - Pretty awesome pirate general in flavor, but how good it actually is obviously depends on how many pirates are playable. Getting three pirates to land hits on the same player can be difficult to do as well and probably is win-more. You can play him for flavor reasons, but he doesn't seem very strong even if there are enough pirates to make a deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - New deck with this as the general
Belligerent Brontodon - For 7-mana I would want more than a marginally bigger Doran, the Siege Tower. Oddly enough the 4-power is so useless on this card. It only affects your creatures, but considering if you're playing a toughness-matters card you're building around it while most people don't (most creatures are tiny or care more about power). So basically you're paying +4 mana to get 1 additional toughness over Doran. If you really want this effect and you don't have access to black, just go play Assault Formation unless you absolutely need more than one card with this kind of effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Call to the Feast - If you're vampire tribal this makes a fair number of warm bodies in a hurry. However much like your traditional token deck, you really want to care about the quantity of dudes out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Deadeye Plunderer - Unless you care about treasures this is too slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Gishath, Sun's Avatar - 7/6 for 8-mana is pretty small for what's supposed to be a dinosaur, but the effect is certainly powerful. But it depends on how many playable dinosaurs there are, and to be frank most of the dinosaurs in this set are rather underwhelming, so unless some good old cards get errata'd into dinosaur, he won't be playable as a general. Even if there are enough dinosaurs, 8-mana is still a lot and it will take awhile to get out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Hostage Taker - Interesting take on Sower of Temptation and Fiend Hunter type of cards. Most creatures that gain control of something upon ETB only give you control until it leaves the battlefield, so killing the dude lets the opponent take his stuff back. Creatures that remove something upon ETB also typically return the thing when it leaves. With this though, if you want to really steal something for good you can just "cast" the stolen spell. The gold standard for a creature ETB that steals something is still Gilded Drake but this can be an interesting budget option.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Huatli, Warrior Poet - Gaining life is whatever (especially RW which is traditionally supposed to be aggro) and making 3/3s gets outclassed fairly quickly once you reach 5-mana (note that while Garruk, Primal Hunter made 3/3s, that one was on a +1, and more often that Garruk was used to draw cards anyway). At that point you're paying 5-mana for a Flames of the Firebrand albeit with a slight upgrade of stopping blockers. Still, the +2 is just so underwhelming I can't imagine it will do much if you're just pumping out 3/3s.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Raging Swordtooth - There are several cards that damage each creature (or each "other" creature) upon ETB, so how does this stack? Frankly, I don't really see a good use for it. 1 damage is really not a lot. You wipe out the tiniest tokens and mana dorks, which actually can be decent in certain metas, but for example Caldera Hellion is probably more useful. At 5-mana I think I'd try to look for something better. The only real application for this is in dinosaur tribal that specifically have enrage abilities where this can trigger them all, but how many dinosaurs will you realistically have out when you play this guy?
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Regisaur Alpha - 7/7 across two bodies and granting haste to all your other dinosaurs for 5-mana is not that bad (Broodmate Dragon for example made 8/8 across two flying bodies with no anthem effect for 6-mana). It could be usable outside of dinosaur tribal, and if you are dinosaur tribal then this is actually one of the best dinosaurs in the set (which is not saying much, but w/e).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Shapers of Nature - Seems generally worse than Zameck Guildmage. You can put counters on anything and not just on dudes that are entering the battlefield and you can dump counters on the same creature if you want, but you're paying +1 mana for the body and +2 mana for the counter ability and +1 mana for the draw ability. Considering that Zameck Guildmage isn't really turning any heads, I can't imagine this guy being that good outside of very specific UG +1/+1 counter themed decks and even then it's just going to be a passable value card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
****Tishana, Voice of Thunder - Yes, this is exactly what I, as a super durdly UG player who loves dumb value ETB creatures, needs for his decks. It's basically strictly better than Regal Force - you get a spellbook effect, AND it counts all creatures you control and not just green ones. It also gives a nice alternative to Prime Speaker Zegana in that this one rewards you for going wide while Zegana rewards you for going big (the mana costs and small bonuses also change things too but those are not as large). I like this card so much that I am strongly considering tweaking all of my existing UG decks to better accommodate this card (play extra creatures, or cards that make extra dudes, etc.). Even outside of my own little bubble, I do think this will be an excellent top end value card for UG decks, because those decks already play a good number of creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - Every UG deck (to varying degrees)
***Vona, Butcher of Magan - Life is a plentiful resource in EDH, but 7 life is actually pretty hefty, and only being able to activate it on your turn is annoying, and it's 5 mana and needs to tap, so it is a bit slow too. Even in heavy lifegain decks like Oloro, 7 life per pop will hit you very hard. The vigilance+lifelink is nice but a 4/4 for 5-mana with no evasion will die pretty often in combat, so you'll need sword of fire and ice or lightning greaves or whatever to make it better. It might see some play in WB voltron decks where this guy can pick up equipment if your general isn't in play (or this guy is your general). Otherwise you can't just stick him into any old orzhov deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - maybe Oloro?
***Vraska, Relic Seeker - For 6 mana, the +2 is very underwhelming, but the -3 is nice. Compare to Karn liberated for example, this can't hit lands or planeswalkers and it doesn't exile, but you do get the lotus petal and it is 1 mana cheaper. Her first form Vraska the Unseen has a -3 that can blow up walkers and is 1 mana cheaper, but she can only activate it once without a proliferate or whatever. Ultimately, it's 6-mana, blow up two things and make two lotus petals, stretched out over two turns, which is not that bad. The ultimate of course is funny but not that good; ultimates should often let you end the game in short order, especially on those that cost 6 mana, and hers doesn't. In addition, the +2 is so weak that the ultimate will almost never happen anyway.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
ARTIFACT
**Conqueror's Galleon // Conqueror's Foothold - It's a very weak creature on the front, but the flip side is interesting. It's very slow, but there aren't many colorless options that give unconditional graveyard recursion.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale - Cool flavor, and a nice callback to Lotus Vale. You do choose which opponent gets the tokens, and this transforms after hitting any opponent so you can go after someone else. Generally speaking you're going to have a 3-drop or 2-drop in play, throw this down at 4 mana to play+equip and swing, transform and use the mana. So it's similar to Gilded Lotus in that it will cost less mana and is harder to kill, but can be difficult to transform if the board is cluttered. If your general has evasion to more reliably sneak a hit in and get this transformed, I'd say you should consider this card. Otherwise you may have reliability issues.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Pillar of Origins - Tribal decks, and you really need to be heavy tribal, as it's not gonna help you cast your off-tribal cards.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
*Pirate's Cutlass - Pirate tribal. Even then you only get one free equip; past that you still need to pay 2 for the ability, which is meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring - It's +2 mana over something like Goblin Electromancer and while it has the upside of turning into a land that basically forks the sorcery or instant it helps cast, most spellslinging decks want mana efficiency. Still, it's going into spellslinger decks, but not much else.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Sentinel Totem - I think I still would rather play Relic of Progenitus; the wide-nuke ability takes 1 mana, but it at least replaces itself (albeit this card at least has a scry 1), but you can keep one player's graveyard empty by using its normal tap ability which has some uses. So I'd only play this card if I needed a second Relic effect and it's still competing with something like Tormod's Crypt for that slot. It's still efficient graveyard removal so it's not unplayable, but I think there are enough budget options available that you don't really need this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Thaumatic Compass // Spires of Orazca - Basically strictly better than Journeyer's Kite although that card wasn't that special to begin with, as white already has enough cards that fetch out lands, and blue/green/black have better options, and monored is a joke so whatever. Still, it does transform into a decent land (basically Maze of Ith that can tap for colorless but cannot target your own creatures). It feels too slow, but in a super casual meta it's not the worst.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
**Treasure Map // Treasure Cove - Similar to those "brick" cards in Amonkhet where you needed to use its first underwhelming ability several times before you got to the payoff. Its front side is comparable to Crystal Ball which is an underwhelming card, and after several turns turns into a land that can draw cards, but saccing a treasure plus tapping the land essentially means you're spending 2 mana for the card which is like comparable to cracking clue tokens. I like the flavor and it is playable but it's too slow for me.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Vanquisher's Banner - 5-mana for the small anthem effect is whatever, so you're paying this for the draw ability. There actually aren't many (if any) colorless cards that have this effect, but depending on the color of your deck you can find more efficient options. For example green gives Primordial Sage where for +1 mana you get a body and it's not relegated for tribal decks. For example blue gives Kindred Discovery which is bonkers. You should look for lower CMC options for your tribal deck before going to this.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
LAND
**Field of Ruin - Probably worse than Tectonic Edge, which isn't necessarily bad, but since Tec Edge is already strictly worse than wasteland (which in turn is strictly worse than strip mine), you need to ask yourself how many of these kinds of cards you want.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY THIS IN - None
***Unclaimed Territory - Bad Cavern of Souls but you can never have enough lands, especially considering how expensive Cavern is right now. This color fixes any tribal deck, and it at least provides colorless for your non-tribal cards too.
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)
TLDR
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS OVERALL (no particular build or deck)
Ravenous Chupacabra
Vona's Hunger
Blood Sun
Tendershoot Dryad
World Shaper
Journey to eternity
Storm the Vault /// Vault of Catlacan
Immortal Sun
Silent Gravestone
MOST EXCITING/INTERESTING/RELEVANT CARDS FOR THIS DECK
Ravenous Chupacabra
Vona's Hunger
Blood Sun
World Shaper
Immortal Sun
Silent Gravestone
Here is my review for this set. I will go over any card that has any sort of interest, or could draw unwarranted interest (e.g. the card looks powerful but has some costs that are too difficult to overcome that people may try to work around and be disappointed with).
* = I don't think this card will be played outside of very fringe/budget decks
** = Will appear once in awhile but is generally outclassed, or is for very specific decks.
*** = Keep an eye out on this card. Appears highly volatile in terms of playability.
**** = New staple in EDH. Either a flexible card for many decks, or extremely potent for specific decks.
***** = Will have a massive impact on EDH. If you're in these colors you're likely playing it.
If I don't talk about a card that is in the set that's because either it's a reprint or I think it's not going to do anything at all.
(I'm usin my Progenitus topic to go over all the cards that pique my interest for various builds, and then largely copying/pasting it into my other topics, so if it seems like I'm spending an inordinate amount of time talking about cards that have no potential in a particular build, it's because of that)
WHITE
**Bishop of Binding - Only for vampire decks and even there I'd consider it fairly fringe. It's +1 mana over your standard Fiend Hunter kind of card, less power and toughness, and it needs to attack before you get any benefit. Now you often spend your removal-type cards on generals, and so if your opponent puts the general back into the command zone, that does help you a bit because then having this guy die doesn't bring the commander back, but then you don't get any P/T boost when it attacks and then it's literally just +1 mana Fiend Hunter. It's not unplayable but it's certainly not exciting at all.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Famished Paladin - There might be some kind of combo with being able to tap a creature (in this case, this guy) to gain life, which will trigger this guy to untap and you loop it again, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Paladin of Atonement - Cracking fetchlands at opportune times can trigger this guy, but all he really does is get a little bigger and gain you life when it dies, neither of which are exciting even for a 2-drop.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Radiant Destiny - Interesting option for tribal decks. It doesn't take long to get ascend online in which case this is a nice option for tribal decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Slaughter the Strong - This is a nice way to clear out big creatures, but most of the time players have a bunch of tiny ones out (that have some kind of utility) and then 1-2 big dudes on the board at any given time. Since everyone chooses which to keep, this often won't kill the utility creatures (or in bad cases, small generals), which makes this very volatile. Its poor floor makes me wary of playing this despite being just 3 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Sphinx's Decree - Interesting take on Silence, but because it only stops instant and sorceries, it's pretty unreliable unless you're up against control/non-creature combo decks.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Tmple Altisaur - Dinosaur tribal. However, the thing about dinosaurs is that they're often supposed to be the biggest creatures on the table, so you shouldn't be caring if they're taking damage because presumably they're from smaller creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Trapjaw Tyran - Dinosaur tribal. This is a slow but repeatable Fiend Hunter type of card for the deck. But it takes a fair bit of work, and the creatures come back after this dies, so meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Zetalpa, primal Dawn - Dinosaur version of Akroma, lots of keywords and mainly a beater. Honestly not that exciting in EDH for 8 mana, but it's cool looking.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLUE
**Admiral's Order - So without raid it's cancel (which is Counterspell for +1 mana), and with raid it's Counterspell for -1 mana. Eh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Aquatic Incursion - Merfolk tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Crafty Cutpurse - If opponents love their tokens, this is a funny way to rip the carpet from under them, but that seems fairly specific.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Flood of Recollection - Recollect for -1 mana but exiles itself. Since most decks that want to use Recollect-type cards probably want to loop time warps over and over, this could be difficult to play, but the -1 mana discount at least gives you options if you need them.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Induced Amnesia - If you can find a way to sac it, this can essentially just double the number of cards in your hand. Worst case scenario this thing at least just loots alot too, so its floor isn't terrible. Still you need to build around it.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Kumena's Awakening - So it's not very useful without ascend unless you're group hug, but when you do ascend it's not great for group hug. At 4-mana though there are permanents that mimic this effect, even if they aren't quite as reliable (Coercive Portal), and even once you ascend it's basically just Phyrexian Arena for +1 mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Nezahal, Primal Tide - Can't be countered, draws you cards, and can protect itself. It's what you want in a fatty. Now how it stacks up to other fatties that remains to be seen, but this is definitely an interesting top end.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Talrand
**Release to the Wind - I'm not really sure what's the point of this card, since the owner can cast the card again for free, so I'm not sure why you wouldn't just play Boomerang or something. I'll rate it 2/5 just because of skepticism, but I don't see any real value in this right now.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Riverwise Augur - It brainstorms upon ETB which is cool, but the power of brainstorm was not just being 1-mana (when it really should've cost at least 2 mana) but being instant speed. Still, if you have fetchlands, and you have ETB-matters theme, it's worth playing.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Derevi
***Seafloor Oracle - Merfolk tribal, and an interesting one at that as it gives you the Coastal Piracy effect on a body.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Timestream Navigator - It's a creature that lets you take extra turns, and it doesn't get exiled afterwards. Certainly has potential, but you really want to find a way to get the bottom card of your library back out (Grenzo or something but that's offcolor), and it needs to tap so it needs haste.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Warkite Marauder - This basically shrinks one of their blockers which is cool, but it's not quite removal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
BLACK
***Champion of Dusk - Vampire tribal, and it's nice if you have like 5-6 vampires out, but if you have like 15 1/1 vampires, this draws you a ton of cards but could sometimes kill you if you're not careful. Still, you play it in your vampire tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dead Man's Chest - Cool flavor, but it's mostly just a weird way of "drawing" cards and is a bit slow and unreliable (if they have a sac outlet they can dodge your aura).
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Golden Demise - Playable enough early sweeper if your meta has alot of tiny creatures. Ascend isn't hard to reach but it is usually towards the latter part of midgame when you do reach it, and then this just wipes out all of the enemy tiny creatures.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Mastermind's Acquisition - Tutors are powerful, as are the Wish effects (albeit you'll have to make sure your playgroup allows said Wish effects beforehand), but 4-mana is tough to swallow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Ravenous Chupacabra - It took awhile, but we finally have Murder on a creature ETB, and 4-mana is reasonable. Sorry Nekrataal, we have a new creature ETB king. Heck, this works with Reveilark. Fun times.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Tetzimoc, Primal Death - A bit slow and basically does nothing as a general, but the effect is certainly good. Compare to something like Noxious Gearhulk, this requires a bit more mana and doesn't gain you life, but you get a slightly bigger body and you can knock out multiple creatures if you have the mana, which is probably a better trade overall.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Twilight Prophet - Reverse Dark Confidant. The fact that it basically does nothing without ascend means that while this is a 4-drop, you need to treat it like something you'd play on like turn 5 or 6 or so, making it more like a mid-lategame bomb. Now if you're a bombs-away type of deck with huge CMC cards, the life drain effect becomes even better too. Still, it is slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Vona's Hunger - At baseline it's a perfectly acceptble Fleshbag Marauder type of card, at instant speed no less, it would be a decent card even without ascend. Once you get ascend, it's very good for just 3-mana instant. This is an excellent card with a more than accceptable floor and a great ceiling for just 3-mana.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Most decks with black
RED
****Blood Sun - Just want to point out that the cantripping on this card is super huge, making it have a passable floor and not a totally dead card in bad matchups. Past that, this thing shuts off a fair number of things, such as Maze of Ith, Glacial Chasm, and so on, and in your more broken metas shuts off Tabernacle and Bazaar. Worth noting that there are a lot of cards in Ixalan that flip into lands that have non-mana abilities too. Note that it also shuts off certain lands, such as the karoo lands from Ravnica (Boros Garrison), and shuts off the drawback from Lotus Vale and the like too. It won't get things like Gaea's Cradle or Mishra's Workshop, but them's the breaks. It's obviously very similar to Blood Moon, even sharing a very similar name, and some people may think that you have to use one or the other, but I'd say just use both. Get all the damn land hate.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Not sure for now
***Brass's Bounty - For the most part this is worse than Boundless Realms although obviously a different color. It's moreso going to be used for the fact that it just plops a bunch of artifacts into play, meaning you want to build around it with cards that care about such things. For example with Krark Clan Ironworks this gets you a lot more mana. With Revel in Riches this should easily turn on Revel's "wincon" ability if it survives. And so on.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Dire Fleet Daredevil - Not a terrible effect, but it is unreliable at times. it's not very good early on, and is susceptible to graveyard hate. It's basically a weird version of Snapcaster Mage, but without the flash it's not as powerful (which is a good thing for balance, not a good thing for this card.)
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Etali, primal Storm - Very similar to Narset. It's monocolor, larger, and allows you to cast creature cards that Narset couldn't, but Narset's protection meant that it would be a lot easier to trigger, and Narset is a more broken general to build around because you know what you're getting with Narset's top 4 cards most of the time (since it's your library) while this guy is more just for value. It's not bad, but it's a bit slow and frail. It's worse as a general too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Form of the Dinosaur - 15 damage to one creature is a funny line of text (it literally can kill Emrakul, although this card's drawback would mean Emrakul would also kill you in return), but setting your life total to 15 can be a drawback at times, it's a bit slow, and this can eventually get you killed because the opposing creature damages you. It's funny but doesn't seem very playable.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Needletooth Raptor - It's only a 2/2 so you need to be careful, but if you can reliably trigger the enrage it can pick off a fair number of creatures. Dinosaur tribal will generally have ways to trigger enrage (since a lot of dinosaurs have enrage), but even outside of that, if you have cards like Staff of nin or whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Rekindling Phoenix - Meh, mostly just a beater that slowly recurs itself.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Silverclad Ferocidons - 7 mana is a lot, and the effect is honestly not that powerful at this point in the game since players will have a slew of useless things to sac.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Tilonalli's Summoner - Too slow and unreliable and frail. It is only 2-mana, but without ascend the effect is meh, and being a 1/1 it will die to basically anything in combat. If I needed to make tokens in red, there are better options.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
GREEN
***Cherished Hatchling - If you can kill this on demand you can certainly catch people offguard. However most dinosaurs are pretty hefty in CMC, meaning it can be tough to flash in more than 1-2 dinosaurs. So basically for 2-mana you can maybe flash in 1-2 creatures, have them fight things, and since they're dinosaurs they will usually trigger enrage. That's still not bad though.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Deeproot Elite - Merfolk tribal. Making dudes larger is not super relevant, but it's only 2-mana and in merfolk tribal should be triggering reliably and often.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Enter the Unknown - In some cases it's a literal Explore for -1 mana, but it is less exciting if you hit a nonland and get a +1/+1 counter, since it'll be more difficult to utilize that extra land drop effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Ghalta, primal Hunger - Not interested in dumb beaters.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Jadelight Ranger - Nice if you hit two lands in a row. Awkward if your first explore hits a nonland creature you really need, then this just becomes a dumb beater which is meh.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Knight of the Stampede - Dinosaur tribal.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Path of Discovery - There aren't many cards that pay off when you explore, and the explore mechanic itself is "okay" for EDH.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Polyraptor - More a combo card. For example this plus Aether Flash makes infinite dudes. Not sure if there are other cards that can make infinite copies, but can be funny even outside of dinosaur tribal, albeit at 8-mana is very slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Swift Warden - Merfolk tribal. 3-mana is a bit much for a combat trick, but it's a merfolk.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Tendershoot Dryad - Verdant Force is litearlly crying in its grave. For 3 LESS mana you get the same token generation, with all the upside of ascend (granted, Verdant Force has literally never been relevant in EDH ever). Since it spews out tokens, it also makes it really easy to trigger the ascend. It only boosts saprolings but you don't even need to be saproling tribal to enjoy this effect. Now it does take a little more time to generate tokens compared to something like Hermit Druid but it's certainly a good card to use.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: green-based token decks
**Thrashing Brontodon - dinosaur tribal Qasali Pridemage for +1 mana. If you really need more dinosaurs play this, otherwise it's a bit slow.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Wayward Swordtooth - It's Exploration for +2 mana on a dude, but you don't really reap the benefits of the dude until you get ascend.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****World Shaper - Creature version of Splendid Reclamation with upside, but does need to die to get the big payoff. So you do need a sac outlet ready, but whatever. If you care about your graveyard, and/or you can get a bunch of lands into your graveyard quickly, this is good.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Bunch of green decks
MULTICOLOR
*Angrath, the Flame-Chained - The +1 is kind of meh. The -3 is similar to Sarkhan Vol with a little more upside, but still, this is 5-mana, it's just not very exciting. It's not great at protecting itself. Sarkhan Vol wasn't really playable, I can't imagine +1 mana version of it will be much better.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Atzocan Seer - Not a great mana dork, so it's a 3-mana regrowth for a dinosaur card.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Azor, the Lawbringer - It's pretty cool that when it attacks it basically casts Sphinx's Revelation. Nost removal spells are instants and sorceries, so they can't use sorceries to kill this for one round, but they can use instants when it's not their turn though. It also requires mana to really use its ability, and the power of Sphinx's Revelation was its instant speed, and just tapping out to fire off a huge rev. With this, you have to spend the mana on your turn.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Elenda, the Dusk Rose - Gets large fairly quickly, and can make a ton of 1/1 dudes as a result. If you can get this to 4+ power reliably it'll be worth it, and it can get larger than that. I'd probably still play it only in vampire tribal (WB decks that care about tokens are probably vampire tribal to begin with), but should be a nice addition.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Hadana's Climb /// Winged Temple of Orazca - The front side is meh, and the back side is funny but UG is not really the aggressive color combination. The effect on the backside is powerful but I'm not sure what UG decks really want this effect.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*Huatli, Radiant Champion - It's similar to Gideon, Champion of Justice where the +1 just puts a bunch of loyalty counters on it and the middle ability was kind of whatever.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Journey to eternity /// Atzal, Cave of eternity - The front side is not too shabby - most cards with this effect are around 3 mana or so (albeit they can enchant opposing creatures while this one can only enchant yours, but that's not that bad). With a sac outlet you can flip this easily, and its backside is very powerful.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Prossh, other BG decks
***Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca - Nice merfolk tribal general for UG. Since its first ability is easy to trigger for merfolk tribal, you may build this as more of a voltron deck, but its other two tap abilities can make for a decent grind. At 3-mana it comes down quickly too.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: New deck with this as the general
*Path of Mettle /// Metzali, Tower of Triumph - The front side is really weird and I feel like wizards was running out of ideas for the dual color flip cards. Also whacking creatures for 1 damage is hilariously bad against enrage dinosaur decks. Either way, the front side is kind of meh, and the back side is okay, but the red ability is meh and the white ability can sometimes not kill the creature you want that attacked.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Profane Procession /// Tomb of the Dusk Rose - Repeatable removal is nice, but it is very mana intensive. The backside is strong too, but the front side is so slow it kind of drags the whole card down.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Protean Raider - Clone effects are nice, especially those at 3-mana, but you need to trigger raid, so it can't go into every UR deck.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
*****Storm the Vault /// Vault of Catlacan - It's obviously no Tolarian Academy, but note that it doesn't need treasure artifacts to flip, just any artifacts. Artifact decks should easily reach 5 artifacts, so it should often flip the turn you play it or 1 turn after, and once there this will make tons of mana. If you've got a UR artifact deck, this is an auto include.
**Zacama, primal Calamity - 9 mana is obviously a lot, but it untaps your lands (if you cast it) which helps you generate some value. Still, at 9-mana I'd rather try to end the game than still try to grind the game out. If there are ways to try and cast it with some kind of mana reduction then you have your own Great Whale or something, but that is clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
ARTIFACT
*Awakened Amalgam - Not interested in beaters even though it can be decently sized in multicolor decks that rely on a lot of nonbasics.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Azor's Gateway /// Sanctum of the Sun - The front side is passable but not super exciting. It also takes a long time to transform, despite it coming down early. Since the cards get exiled, it is a problem if this gets killed before it transforms too. The back side is certainly hilarious though, but its slow speed means you're spending too much of the game on its mediocre front side. If there's a good way to flip it quickly though, watch out.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
**Golden Guardian /// Gold-Forge Garrison - The front side is meh, and you have to have it fight something you control AND die the same turn to flip. The backside is good, but it just seems too clunky.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
***Immortal Sun - 6 mana is a lot for a lot of small effects. It's just a value card, but I imagine a lot of people will play this (more than they should). I feel like it'll be similar to a card like Solemn Simulacrum which has the notion of "go into every deck" even though it shouldn't, but either way this is a decent value card. At the very least, anyone who bothered to play Staff of nin will play this in its place.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
****Silent Gravestone - Could this replace Relic of Progenitus? Its exile ability costs a lot more mana, but it still only costs 1 to drop down, and more important it has a solid static effect while it's in play. While Relic would often get baited, this one still shuts off a good number of graveyard shenanigans because they often need to target anyway. It's similar to Ground Seal, but the problem with Ground Seal was when someone had a card that could affect the graveyard without targeting (e.g. Replenish), and this one lets you get around that as long as you can sniff it out. It's a very simple card, but I do think it will be the premium graveyard hate card of the format.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: Most that need graveyard hate and don't use graveyards
LAND
**Arch of Orazca - Its draw ability is too mana intensive for me, although it is unique enough to warrant attention.
MY DECKS THAT I WOULD PLAY IT IN: None
WUBRGProgenitus
URGMaelstrom Wanderer
WUBOloro, Ageless Ascetic
WURZedruu, the Greathearted
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher ($100)
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Tactician ($100)
UGKruphix, God of Horizons ($100)(retired)UTalrand, Sky Summoner (French 1v1, $100)