DGM Multiplayer Set Review (166/166)

The purpose of this blog entry is to share my thoughts and opinions on the value of DGM's overall role in casual, multiplayer games. Be it Cube, Commander or Chaos I hope to broaden your understanding of the set as it pertains to the casual playerbase. As a quick disclaimer, I generally consider multiplayer games to have 4 or more players and 3 or more teams. That is, if you're playing formats such as 2HG, Emperor and even 3 player FFAs then this information may not be particularly relevant to you.

Since the cards don't link properly yet, I post my entries as they appear on the spoiler. I hope that this makes it easier to "follow along at home." Note that I'm not going to review every card since some of them are clearly Limited filler or designed for duels and I'm not going to waste time discussing those.

Monocolored
Renounce the Guilds: It may say "each player" on it and the drawback is easily avoidable if you construct your deck with the card in mind but I still don't think that it has much value. It's a lackluster creature removal spell and the strongest non-creature permanents tend to be older, mono-colored monstrosities that couldn't be printed in modern day Magic. It's certainly no Tariff either and isn't likely to provide you with much defense early on. Ultimately it just seems like a very marginal, niche card. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that it'll work in some metas, but I certainly wouldn't run it "in the dark" as it were.

Riot Control: This is a card that I'd never play myself but that I know will see tons of casual, kitchen table play. Fog may not be the best card when you're dealing with 4+ combat phases per circuit but people still seem to love them and if you can also gain a whack of life from them then who's going to complain? This is pure casual goodness and I'm sure that I'll be seeing them in decks for years to come. I can't really offer a deck to showcase it because it's not the kind of card that you usually build around. I mean, I guess you could jam it in your Soul Warden decks and whatnot to fuel Serra Ascendants and such but there are better cards for that in my opinion. Again, you should probably just expect to see it every now and then from a newer player playing some W/x deck.

Scion of Vitu-Ghazi: Geist-Honored Monk has always been a decent 5 drop in my eyes and this card is comparable in dedicated Token decks. I am a sucker for vigilance and I would miss being able to attack and block but I mean getting extra 3/3 Centaurs or 5/5s Wurms is a pretty sweet prospect. It's not "just better" or anything but the difference seems marginal at best and I wouldn't fault you for going either way. Or, hey, maybe you can just run both! That's definitely going to be the case in EDH and whatnot after all.

Aetherling: Huh. This thing is interesting. On the one hand it requires tons of Blue mana so you can't just jam it in Cloudpost decks and go hog wild like I'd want to. Still, it does seem like a cool finisher for your Vedalken Shackles decks. It's very hard to kill and I mean it does hit for 8 unblockable damage so that's virtually a 2-hit KO assuming no lifegain. I mean yes, you basically have to treat him like a 7-8 drop (no one should ever tap out to cast him IMO) and he's no Insurrection or Sepulchral Primordial but we are talking about Blue here. Blue has awesome utility creatures such as Consecrated Sphinx but it's not the best color at killing people. This card, when played properly, is nigh impossible to remove and pressures people insanely hard. I kind of like him in that sense. Again, I do wish that I could play him in Cloudpost decks, but I mean Vedalken Shackles is insane too so I'm not that disappointed about it.

Blood Scrivener: It's a cheap Black creature that says "draw" and "cards" on it so I really want to like it. That being said it just comes up way too short. On turn 2 it's a nothing and if you're just dumping your hand then I'd rather cast Phyrexian Arena, Syphon Mind or even Bloodgift Demon on a later turn than waste my time with an X/1. I fully expect it to get axed by random mass burn/removal before it becomes relevant and that just doesn't sit well with me. While it's a decent late game topdeck in theory it's still just a 2/1 and that's useless if you're behind on board. Again, I want to like this card, I just don't see it being actively good on average.

Pontiff of Blight: "Meh" sums up my overall feelings for this card. I think that its significantly weaker than Crypt Ghast although I could definitely see myself playing a deck that employs both. That being said, it's still a 6 drop who offers no immediate value and who doesn't threaten much with its body. I mean yeah, it blocks well, but I don't need a 6 mana wall. It obviously offers reach in other ways but this is the kind of card that feels so win-more to me. If you already have a strong board position then any 6 drop is likely going to tide you over. When you're behind, however, this thing really doesn't do a whole heck of a lot. It's not horrible or anything but I mean I couldn't see myself reaching for them on a consistent basis. I'd much rather get in there with Massacre Wurm, Grave Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, etc. and ensure that I'll always get some value out of my expensive spell. If I were going to build around this thing I would likely get in there with Bloodghast and Reassembling Skeleton and whatnot in order to ensure that I always have a whack of bodies around to abuse it. I would support it with revival such as Phyrexian Reclamation and/or Oversold Cemetery and grind people out with Extort triggers over time.

Possibility Storm: Just wanted to note that these cards aren't my cup of tea so I'm not going to give them much of a formal review. They're not cards that people play to win games after all. Rather, they're played for their "fun," chaotic nature. There's clearly some % of the player base who enjoys playing with them and I'm sure that this one will appeal to them.

Pyrewild Shaman: This card reminds me a lot of Squee, Goblin Nabob except that it's a much more relevant blocker early on. It's obviously much less powerful with respect to being an enabler for cards such as Survival of the Fittest but it's significantly more versatile with respect to filling additional roles for your brews. Granted, paying 5 mana to dome someone for an extra 3 or to push an attacker through isn't great, but I mean if nothing else you can use it to blank an opposing threat or strap an equipment to it and hope for the best. I like it's interaction with Kessig Wolf Run as both a means to recur it and as a strategy to abuse the body. Given that it's cheap (CMC wise), synergistic and a way to create incremental card advantage (in a color that sorely needs it!) I could actually see this card being a "something." It still feels a little too slow, small, conditional and underpowered to be a Boros Reckoner or whatever, but hey, it's a step in the right direction. I find that the hardest part of building MP decks is finding relevant things to do on turns 1-3 and I could see myself wanting to cast this kind of card on turn 3 in a fair number of shells. I've always had a soft spot for Stinkweed Imp as a cheap, defensive enabler and this card isn't too far from being just that. I don't have a deck ready-and-waiting for this thing just yet but I'm surprisingly hopeful that it could end up being a relevant player in something.

Renegade Krasis: This card legitimately caught my eye and I briefly considered its possibilities. That's when I realized that every card that I wanted to pair with it couldn't actually Evolve it. Scute Mob, Strangleroot Geist, Predator Ooze, Forgotten Ancient, Spike Weaver, etc. It's 3 power for 3 mana, it sort of scales and it has a decent ability so I mean it's not garbage but ultimately I don't think that it's anything other than a win-more card. When it's good it's because you're already winning and when you're behind then it's quite bad.

Multicolor
Advent of the Wurm: This is the card that pushes all of those Token decks over-the-top. It's standalone value is fairly high in my opinion but the fact that you can abuse it with Populate and such is what makes it a legitimately scary card. I think that Token decks playing these, Call of the Conclave and Intangible Virtue are going to increase in popularity since the shell has been in the market for a solid 4 drop for quite some time. Lingering Souls and Blade Splicer are strong at 3 and there are plenty of cards that cost 5 or more (looking at you Doubling Season) but the big hole has always been the 4 drop slot. I have high hopes for this card and I expect it to have a fair amount of casual appeal.

Blood Baron of Vizkopa: If this card is anything like Divinity of Pride it will be a chase rare in the casual scene. Triggering it is incredibly easy in a world of Exsanguinates and attacks and I mean the card is still a 5 mana 4/4 lifelinker with 2 relevant protections even when it's "turned off." I think that this card is much better than say Obzedat and Deathpact Angel in multiplayer and I fully expect it to find its way into a host of BW drain decks. On a personal level I dislike mass protection cards because they tend to create uninteractive games in which you crush someone who cannot possibly reciprocate but I mean I'm probably in the minority in that respect. From a purely "I want to win" perspective the card is a savage beating since there's probably going to be someone at the table who won't be able to block it and I mean if you can get a couple of hits off you'll suddenly be living large with a 10/10 lifelinked flier with solid protections. Toss in Phyrexian Reclamation and other revival engines and pair it with Serra Ascendant and Divinity of Pride and you should have solid game against most brews.

Boros Battleshaper: 7 drop that provides no immediate value, has terrible evasion and that can't even kill most opposing 6 drops (Titans and such). Bullwhip is cute and all, especially when it happens at each combat, but I'm not going to pay 7 mana for it. I like the concept but it's just too expensive to ever be anything other than a junk rare that may get played out of pity.

Bred for the Hunt: I actually kind of want to like this card but I mean at the end of the day I have to compare it to Rhystic Study and those are impossibly big shoes to fill. If it read "deals combat damage" instead of "deals combat damage to a player" it would have been awesome but I suppose that would break Limited and so they can't really print that at Uncommon. Heck, that might even be too powerful for Constructed. It feels very Skullclamp-esque at that point. Still, I don't see much of a home for this card as it stands. Close though.

Deadbridge Chant: 6 mana is a lot and Debtors' Knell this is not. Maybe that comparison isn't totally fair since DK is a 7 mana BW card but that's what this thing reminds me of. The pros of this card is that it's one card win condition in the sense that it enables itself and that's obviously worth something. That being said, I don't like how it's a 6 mana spell that has 0 immediate impact on the board and I mean if you "miss" and hit lands/spells a few too many times I could easily see you losing as a result. I also don't like how it's a 6 mana enabler since it likely costs more mana than the cards that you'll try and and abuse with it. Sure, it's a decent graveyard enabler and it's certainly a source of continuous card advantage but I'm still not in love with it. I hate "at random" cards in general and this is especially true when the graveyard is involved. Cards such as Krovikan Horror require that you maintain your graveyard order and so you can't just shuffle it up and deal a random card to yourself every upkeep. Rather, you have to use some combination of dice or whatever to pick one at random and that's just annoying (especially if you have to constantly count it out for others). I dunno, maybe I'm being too nitpicky and it's possible that I'm underestimating this thing, I'm just not feeling it as my big finisher. I don't think that it offers Lurking Predators level of inevitability and I'm worried that it's a bit too slow and unreliable to snag you wins on average. Yes, it can and will recur Sepulchral Primordials and whatnot, but I'm also worried that you'll hit lands 2-3 turns in a row and lose to people who played 6 drops that did something.

Debt to the Deathless: :O! Exsanguinate 2.0 O.O! I think that this card is actually a bit worse overall since it's harder to abuse it with Cabal Coffers and Caged Sun and such but I do think that it's superior in an average Orzhov drain deck. You kinda need 8 or more mana to really get people with it but that's pretty realistic in my games. I don't have much to say about it except "expect to see it" because it's clearly obnoxiously powerful and you'd be foolish to exclude them from your drain decks if you had them lying around. I like that it's a simple uncommon which means that it'll always be affordable and I hope that plenty of new players will have an opportunity to pick some up and give them a whirl. Even if you remove them for power reasons it's still a good introduction to multiplayer Magic. Anyways, again, there's not much insight that I can offer about this card that I haven't said a hundred million times already. Pair it with Phyrexian Reclamation, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, Slaughter, etc. and go to town crushing people. Any card that says "pay X life" may as well say "0" after one of these is cast after all. If that's not inevitability then I don't know what is lol.

Emmara Tandris: Umm... what? The word "disappointed" doesn't quite cover it. This 7 mana POS is one of the biggest throwaway legendaries that I've ever seen. Token decks typically mass gigantic armies of enormous proportions and so damage is rarely is a concern for them. Rather, they need answers to Wraths, mass bounce, etc. that would otherwise destroy them. You know, Eldrazi Monument effects and whatnot. The fact that this costs 7 mana, has no protection, no abilities, etc. is just extremely saddening in my opinion. It wasn't pushed at all. Oh well, let's just move on :(...

Gaze of Granite: Pernicious Deed this is not but it's still a reasonable card. Casting it at X=4 or 5 is going to have a significant impact on the game after all. It kinda sucks that you can't pay the cost over 2 turns like you can with similar spells but I mean I've cast enough Death Clouds to know that ramping out a 3X spell is perfectly reasonable. Turn 2 Sakura Tribe-Elder into turn 3 Explosive Vegetation is a pretty big game after all. It's important to note that this card, unlike Death Cloud, pairs decently well with indestructibles and regenerators. You know, Predator Oozes and Mortivores and whatnot. That's obviously an ambitious plan but I mean Deed + Spiritmonger has always been a thing and there's no reason why it couldn't be re-visited. One thing I will say is that I don't assign much value to this card's ability to hit Planeswalkers. I've never struggled to handle them in multiplayer myself since people are usually on the same page with respect to what has to happen when one hits play.

Hunter of Nightveil: Yeah, that says each opponent, but the card is still pretty horrible in my opinion. It's a weak 5 drop who hates on early drops which means that it probably won't help you deal with most meaningful threats. Also, if you do happen to hose a token player or something, well, guess where his removal be heading? I'm always happy to see multiplayer love but this is just a very unexciting card in my mind. I don't really recommend playing it over Consuming Aberration or Bloodgift Demon or whatever. 5 mana is just way too much to pay for this type of effect.

Korozda Gorgon: Deathtouchers with big butts are swell and the recursive removal aspect is neat but ultimately the card is just a bit too slow and expensive to ever be amazing. If you want to pair it with Predator Ooze, Forgotten Ancient, Dirtcowl Wurm, etc. then have fun by all means, I just don't think that it's a very competitive card in the end. It's fine for an uncommon and I wouldn't surprise me to see it played in budgetish decks or as filler for some EDH concoction but I'm not expecting it to draw much of a following or anything.

Lavinia of the Tenth: Question: Is this card good enough for the millions of UW Blink decks out there? Answer: Probably as a 1-2 of. I've seen Stonehorn Dignitary played enough to know that some % of the player base will be happy enough to field this card in theirs but ultimately I'm not thrilled about the prospect of doing that myself. The body on this thing isn't horrible but I mean it's not good either and while the effect can shut things like mana rocks and Planeswalkers off I'm still not overly excited about it. She's an expensive durdle that doesn't interact favorably with other 5+ CMC bombs and I don't want to be playing with expensive drops that are used primarily to counter things that cost 4 or less. Again, while I'm confident that she'll appear in many UW Blink decks as a 1-2 of (she is legendary after all) I personally wouldn't consider her to be a staple in them or anything. If you pick some up and want to give her a whirl, by all means, just don't expect to steal games on the back of a durdly 4/4.

Legion's Initiative: I've seen enough Balefire Liege decks to know that this will see some play and it's actually fairly reasonable in those. Ghostway gets worse when it's trying to hide in plain sight but I mean this card is still a 2 mana Glorious Anthem with an upside in RW Liege decks. Besides, what's the alternative, never Wrath? Sandbag them until the RW player taps out and die in the process? Not happening. I dislike Ghostway effects in general since they're so difficult to hold mana up for but at 2 mana this card isn't nearly bad as some others. It's actually quite reasonable as a matter of fact. I suppose it's worth noting that "next combat" in awkward in multiplayer but I mean you're probably using this to blank a Wrath and so the timing is probably fairly irrelevant. I guess this makes it easier to use this card as a vigilance enabler but I mean that seems like a narrow, niche application that won't arise with any frequency.

Master of Cruelties: I don't really know what to make of this card. It reminds me a lot of Malignus in the sense that it stabilizes you on turn 5 (good luck swinging into him!) and if you can connect with someone they're probably going to lose. That's a decently big "if" but I mean Rogue's Passage is a card and you will be facing it down in EDH. While your adversary will not (usually) die on the spot, for all intents and purposes they're probably not going to come back from the hit. Leechridden Swamp and Shivan Gorge will see to that. He seems like a solid answer to mass lifegain in that sense which has become a fairly common strategy in my experience. I can see a him finding a home in those hundreds of Kaalia of the Vast decks since putting him into play attacking is a huge game. That's a 1 hit KO right there. EDH is likely his best home since he's also a great answer to Generals given that he can take most things in combat. Furthermore, the nice thing about these kinds of cards is that they don't require immediate action. If you have instant speed spot removal you can leave him around until he decides to mess with you. I don't expect it to "just die" in that sense. If you see an opening you can virtually ensure someone's demise without too much trouble. I'm not scrambling to play this card in Cube or in regular Chaos games but it definitely seems like it's something to keep an eye out for. For what it's worth Malignus has always been fine in my experience and so I assume that this card would be fine as well.

Melek, Izzet Paragon: While I could sit here and list every Rite of Replication and Mass Mutiny effect worth doubling at the end of that day that's not going to do people much good. Finding cards to pair with this thing is easy. Figuring out whether or not it's playable period is what actually matters. Personally I don't think that it is. This card is the opposite of Master of Cruelties in the sense that it's basically going to force removal out of someone. You can't just ignore it until it becomes a relevant threat to you because it's always a relevant threat to you. I don't have a high opinion of cards that will force people to remove it simply because "it has to die." Bear in mind that while the effect is certainly powerful, it's not on Consecrated Sphinx's level or anything. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's not automatically absurd. If you hit lands and creatures for a few turns you could easily be paying for a 6 mana 2/4 and that's just miserable. Yes, Sensei's Divining Top, Preordain and Ponder are cards, but I don't think that you can rely on them (especially in EDH). Given that its stats are miserable for a 6 drop and that it's not going to provide much immediate value on average I don't have a high opinion of this card. I mean yes, it seems like a fun EDH card in theory (possibly even as a General) but it just seems a bit too slow and vulnerable for a typical multiplayer game. I like the effect a lot but again I fully expect this card to be a 6 mana removal magnet and that's just not where I personally want to be. All-in-all I think that this card is a miss. I do expect it to catch the eye of various Izzet mages but I don't expect it to take many games over unless I'm grossly overestimating the speed and removal quotient of an average multiplayer game.

Notion Thief: My biggest problem with this card is that I'd rather play Rhystic Study and/or Syphon Mind rather than trying to live the dream in magical Christmas land. If it were a Red card or something, sure, but as it stands I don't really want to play with a creature version of Plagiarize in colors that already have absurdly powerful and consistent draw spells/engines. Re-visiting what I just explained about Melek, I want to stress that there's a big difference between cards that can be removed and cards that actively force removal. This card actively forces removal in the sense that your opponents often can't even play the game until its axed. Everything dies to removal, I get that, but most creatures won't force someone to immediately use instant speed removal on it like this one will. Like, you can ignore a Phyrexian Obliterator until it attacks you, but you can't ignore the fact that you can't draw extra cards as long as Notion Thief is in play. Your options become "kill it now" or "never draw extra cards." As someone who is generally perceived to be a big threat, I have a low opinion of creatures that actively force removal. As such, I'm not overly excited to play with this card. Yes, it's a cool answer to all of those powerful draw spells, but really, wouldn't you rather play them yourself than pray for the perfect storm? I know that I would.

Obzedat's Aid: This card is quite a bit better than it looks when you realize that it can jam things like Debtor's Knell and Omniscience back into play. I've always valued recursion highly and I'm happy to see something that affects cards other than creatures and artifacts for a change. Beacon of Unrest is solid, that much is clear, but it's never going to dunk that Grave Betrayal back onto the table for you. I wouldn't build around this card or anything but I do think that it has a home in most grindy BW and/or Esper decks. Maybe not as a 4-of but I'd certainly run 1-2 in many brews. I want to stress that the fact that it can nab Enchantments is key since many of them are stupidly expensive and ridiculously powerful and most colors have traditionally struggled to recur them at a decent price. If you're in the market to get creatures back, you obviously have way better options, but I mean you know who to call if you're looking to cheat an Omniscience out.

Plasm Capture: Even as someone who dislikes counterspells (in multiplayer) in general, I've seen Mana Drain played enough times to know that this is going to crush some nerds. It's a no-brainer in EDH and I mean it's certainly good enough for my kitchen table Cube/Chaos games as well. Being able to counter a 5+ drop and follow it up with an Eldrazi, an Upheaval, an Omniscience, a kicked Rite of Replication, a Praetor's Counsel, etc. is going to end games outright. As long as you can create some sort of board presence early on you'll eventually get a juicy target for it and the game is probably within your grasp from there. The mana cost is a bit steep, I'll admit that, but Green decks usually aren't struggling to get their colors. Again, I'm not normally one to play counters, but this is is a counter that takes the game over when it's cast. Even I can't overlook that aspect of it. If you want to do stupidly powerful things in a UG Ramp deck with Primeval Titan or whatever, well, this is your Show and Tell that won't cost you $60.00. I fully expect this card to be a casual bomb and I do highly recommend playing them in your UG Ramp decks

Progenitor Mimic: This card is much more powerful than Stolen Identity in my opinion although I suppose that's to be expected given its color requirements. 6 mana Clones aren't fantastic in my experience but I've never seen a Clone be bad so I can't exactly knock it either. As long as someone, anyone, is playing a powerful threat you should be able to ride their coat-tails. Still, the real point of discussion that want to address is the replication aspect of the card. How good is it? Well, there's no one right answer, but for what it's worth I'm skeptical. This has been a recurring theme in DGM but I dislike how it actively forces removal out of players. Like, people cannot sit back and wait to see what you do with it. It has to die before you untap with it or else you'll start to get an insane amount of value out of it. If people have spot removal they basically become priced in to killing it (even if you weren't going to attack them) simply because it will be an impossible threat to deal with down the road otherwise. As a player who is typically considered to be a big threat, again, I dislike playing creatures that actively induce removal. Even if a card such as Clone is "worse," in practice it's likely going to do more work for me on average. What does this all mean? If you need to get lucky to win (i.e. if your deck lacks power) or if you're a low-priority threat then you could easily consider running this type of threat. Otherwise, you may want to consider something a little less "in your face." Obviously you should ignore this if your meta is extremely light on removal, I'm just personally used to seeing a lot of it.

Rot Farm Skeleton: This is a fairly straightforward graveyard enabler and I could easily see him doing a lot of work in decks with Ashnod's Altar or Altar of Dementia to tear through your library at a reasonable clip. It seems perfect in those Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Birthing Pod, Genesis, Demigod of Revenge, Lord of Extinction, etc. decks in addition to ones looking to Dredge Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp to fuel Life from the Loam, Splinterfright, Gigapede, Worm Harvest, Ghoultree, etc. It's possible that it's slightly too slow and durdly to actually make the cut in the most competitive versions of the decks but I mean I think that it's good enough (tm) to run in them on average. I'm certainly not blown away by the card in that sense but it's a cute little uncommon with tons of synergy potential that won't hurt your wallet.

Ruric Thar, the Unbowed: I love this card. I love vigilance, I love reach, I don't care about having to attack the weakest player and I love the fact that you get to dome whoever kills him for 6. I don't think that this is the best card to play if you want to win games but I do think that it's a fantastic way to make Control players miserable. If people want to sit back and play spot removal punish their ass as hard as possible.

Savageborn Hydra: He's worse than Primordial Hydra and comparable to Apocalypse Hydra but ultimately he probably has a home in the hydra deck. I like his interaction with Kessig Wolf Run even though it somewhat clashes with your ability to pump him. I've always struggled to play with X creatures since my Green decks tend to play Lurking Predators but I mean this is a certainly a reasonable way to top your decks off. I'm a little underwhelmed since it doesn't feel very pushed compared to Hydras printed in older sets but I mean I guess they can't all be homeruns. I'm not scrambling to pick these up and I doubt that many other people are either but I mean it's clearly a sizable threat who scales well as the game progresses and that's always going to be something in multiplayer.

Sire of Insanity: I don't think that this is particularly good card but I do think that it could be a fun card to Exhume on turn 2 or whatever. I've never experienced much success winning games while in topdeck mode in multiplayer since it only takes a few bad rips to fall impossibly far behind and a 6/4 probably isn't going to change that. I can see why this card costs 6 mana but I mean at that point I'd rather slam a Wurmcoil Engine or Grave Titan into play and forget trying to dodge bullets every turn for the rest of the game. It's cute and it seems like an awesome way to have fun and piss people off but I don't think that it's a great way to try and win games. If you just want to try and screw over the the players sitting back with a hand full of cards, good on you, but unfortunately they'll probably have an answer for it. Again, the card reads "kill this or discard your removal" so you're not exactly giving people much of a choice. 6 drops with no protection that actively force removal aren't big in my book.

Tajic, Blade of the Legion: This card is good on both O and D and I'm always a fan of those. Battalion isn't my favorite keyword by any means but I mean 3 creatures isn't an unreasonable amount. I like that this creature is a human which means that it works well with Angel of Glory's Rise and that's probably where I'd be looking to play it (alongside Frontline Medic and such). 2/2s for 4 clearly aren't back-breaking by any means but I'm a sucker for anything that's indestructible especially if it on a cheapish card. I'm horribly biased in that that sense and I do plan on playing this card for that reason alone. I dunno, it's just such an powerful keyword in my experience. It's not an amazing card by any means and I'm not trying to imply otherwise but I mean I'm happy to finally see a cheapish card with some resilience in this set.

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts: This card is right up my alley! It costs a million mana and it has that "No Mercy effect" on the board. She's a defensive powerhouse who also gets to beat in for 4 every turn making her a solid win condition as well. She feels a lot like Dread in that sense except that she doesn't force you to play with a ton of lifegain to fully abuse her (it doesn't hurt though!). I like how she puts equipment to good use since most of my decks tend to play a small number of them and I'm always looking for more ways to extract value from their inclusion. Both her vigilant body and the flying spirits that she creates are perfectly fine options in my mind. While she clearly isn't the most oppressive creature to reanimate early on (if you do opt for that route), she's not going to ruin the game for everyone else and she will make your life much easier. I like her a lot in that sense since I do want everyone to enjoy the game. Something worth noting is that she, unlike many of the cards that I've reviewed so far, doesn't actively force removal. You can ignore her until she attacks you and I mean even if you take 4 it's no big deal so you're not forced to O-Ring her or whatever at Sorcery speed. Her clock is relatively slow for a 7 drop and she doesn't really threaten anything unless you try and mess with her so she's the kind of 7 drop that you can reasonably expect to stick around for a bit unless you pick the wrong people to attack. If you just cast her and do nothing people don't have much of a reason to kill her but they also can't really attack you. This, again, is exactly where I want to be in big Chaos games.

Tithe Drinker: This is an exciting card. Any deck can win once it starts slamming 6+ CMC spells but the tricky part is getting there. As such, I'm always in the market for cards that have value at every stage of the game that I can use to protect myself early on. This cards fits the bill to a T. A 2/1 for 2 can still threaten to trade with most other 1-2 drops and the fact that it has both Extort and lifelink means that there's a good chance this this thing will buy you enough time to hit the later stages of the game. It pairs well with equipment such as Grafted Wargear but I mean even if you just cast spells and Extort people it's still a fairly big game. I like its interaction with Phyrexian Reclamation since it's extremely difficult not to gain the 2 life back (at the very least) and that's always a good place to be. It's even a cheap vampire and, when paired with Blood Baron of Vizkopa, actually opens the door for cool BW vampire decks. You know, ones with Pulse Tracker, Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble, Malakir Bloodwitch, etc. Seems good to me!

Trostani's Summoner: Reveillark has a new friend. It's not going to win the game on the spot like Body Double can but that's usually a good thing in my mind (for the overall health of the meta) and I could see people trying to abuse that interaction in a Greater Good deck or something. I suppose that you could just try to cast the Summoner normally but 7 mana is pretty steep. That's Primordial mana lol. The card is obviously fine in Token decks, I'd rather play her than that stupid Selesnya Maze Runner Champion thing, but I mean I don't think that you'd want to play her in decks that don't have Intangible Virtue or Reveillark in them. Even in EDH that seems a bit ambitious.

Unflinching Courage: I don't like Auras because I don't like getting 2-for-1'd. That being said, I'm not an idiot. Casual players LOVE Armadillo Cloak and I fully expect this to be a "chase Common." Whether I like it or not is irrelevant because I fully expect to see it played a ton in any GW deck built in the near future. Don't get me wrong, the effect is powerful and I can see why people would want to play with it, I just don't like getting destroyed by removal. Since I'm a big threat to begin with I don't need to make my life any harder than it already is lol. So yeah, not my cup of tea, but that doesn't change the fact that (virtually) everyone should expect to see this card heavily played in the casual scene for the foreseeable future.

Varolz, the Scar-Striped: This is my (current) pick for the best overall card in the set. First of all, it's 3 mana. I like cheap, powerful cards that I can use to fill my curves to ensure that I have relevant action early on as needed. Moreover, he can do unfair things. Death's Shadow and Phyrexian Drednought are going to have a field-day with him. Additionally, even if you're not doing unfair things with him, he still does fair things really well. Free sacrifice outlets are always awesome because everyone and their mother wants to play with O-Ring, StP, PtE, etc. Ensuring that you can still recur your forces is a huge game against those kinds of spells. This is especially true in EDH which means that his guy is actually an awesome General and an amazing support player and I fully expect to see him make waves in that format. And like, let's get real, having a global Scavenge enabler is just fine. Green has tons of value dorks such as Sakura Tribe-Elder, Dawntreader Elk, Yavimaya Elder, etc. who would love to provide you with a cheap +2/+2. Now your 2/2 is a 4/4 who can regenerate which makes the prospect of attacking you fairly grim. It also makes hitting people for 21 General damage fairly easy in EDH (given enough time obviously). This card is bonkers in any creature-based deck and I can't praise him enough if you're looking for something cool to run in the 3 CMC slot. No, you don't need 4, but 2ish could never be a poor decision in my mind. This is certainly the Boros Reckoner of the set, at least from a casual perspective, since it does so much in so many shells for so little mana.

Voice of Resurgence: Erhm, what do I say about this card? It's already preselling for $20.00 and it could even go up from there if it turns out that most decks need it as a 4-of. It's clearly bonkers in Constructed which means that casual players probably won't get to play with it for a loooooooong time. I mean yeah, it seems fine, but who's going to shell out $80.00 to play with them in a casual deck lol? Not many people I don't think. So yeah, I don't know what to say really. It seems like an awesome 2 drop for those Intangible Virtue Token decks but realistically speaking no one will have access to them XD.

Vorel of the Hull Clade: An X/4 for 3 is a legitimate blocker and this card is certainly going to do some work in "counter" decks with Fathom Mage and Forgotten Ancient and whatnot. Truth be told this kind of card isn't my cup of tea since I usually find that they're win-more at best but I mean I really like that this thing is a 3 drop who offers some decent protection instead of being another dumb 4 drop that doesn't. It seems a bit too mana intensive and conditional to ever make a ton of waves but I mean it's a fine synergy card and it's obviously going to see some play. I want to stress that I'm biased in the sense that I dislike these kinds of cards in general since they tend to actively induce removal in additional to being win-more spells but it's entirely possible that I'm not giving it enough credit. It is a 3 drop and it does have a decent amount of toughness so I mean what am I realistically expecting to see?

Zhur-Taa Ancient: Even though this is a 7/5 for 5 it's still nothing more than a "for fun" card in my mind and so I'm not going to give it a formal review. Your opponents all gain access to the mana before you do and I mean if you're playing it on turn 5 then they can each burn through 12 mana before you can untap with it. Oh, by the way, it will already be dead. Maybe that's the overly competitive side of me coming through but I just can't see this card being actively good. I just fully expect people to use their 10-12 mana to do something powerful and win themselves or kill it before anyone else can. Again, not a fan of cards that actively induce removal. Yeah, I know, I sound like a broken record by now >.<.

Zhur-Taa Druid: This card is cute but I basically can't see myself playing it over Sakura Tribe-Elder since I hate playing mana dorks in general. They all get Wrathed away eventually in my meta. A ramper that pings is solid and you should strongly consider him if your meta is light on mass removal but I wouldn't give him much of a second thought otherwise. You're spewing way too much value that a simple Rampant Growth wouldn't. I do think that most decks should be playing with some number of ramp spells though so this is definitely something to keep on your radar if you're building an aggressive Gruul deck. He feels a lot like a Deathrite Shaman in the sense that you get ramp and a global clock in addition to a body that can chump, pick up an equipment, etc. Again, I don't actually see myself ever playing him, but I do think that he has potential if people aren't actively clearing the field every couple of turns.

Splitcard
Help me out here guys. Am I the only one who absolutely despises Fuse? Like every single card other than Ready // Willing seems like completely crap to me. Breaking // Entering is crap since I don't want to pay 6 mana (2 colors too!) for a Beacon of Unrest. That's just horrible. Catch // Release? Why would I pay 6 mana (again, 2 colors too!) for Cataclysm? Profit // Loss? Zealous Persecution is 2 ****ing mana lol. These cards are trash... right? Am I missing something? I'm sure that they'll all be awesome in Limited and some of them will be fine on Constructed but most of them seem like garbage for casual, multiplayer games. Feel free to throw something about them in the comments. Anyways...

Ready // Willing: The only cool Fuse card : /. Both modes are solid and I like how it plays in Junk Token decks. It acts as a Eldrazi Monument and Vault of the Archangel and those are cards that I'm always happy to happen in my Token brews. It's definitely the archetype that's benefited the most from DGM so I expect to see a significant increase in their popularity. Hopefully it doesn't become a big player in Standard and drive the prices of these kinds of cards sky high. Well, that obviously won't happen for Ready // Willing, but it would be nice if casuals could acquire Advent of the Wurm for a reasonable price for example. I don't have much more to add since the card is fairly straightforward. You'll cast it for 6 and completely destroy someone and there's probably not much that he/she will be able to do about it.

Wear // Tear: Instead speed 2-for-1s for 3 mana are never going to be that bad. If you're playing a Boros deck I don't see why you'd ever play a Disenchant effect over this card. It's not stellar or anything but I mean you can't possibly call it a bad card either.

Artifact
My official stance on the Cluestones is that they're trash. For 3 mana you should be getting 2 mana in my opinion (see Worn Powerstone and Coalition Relic). Otherwise I'd much rather cast a Signet (see Dimir Signet) on turn 2 and instantly have access to 4 mana for turn 3. That's better than having access to 5 mana on turn 4 in my opinion. Why? The jump in power-level from 3 to 4 mana spells is typically much more significant that the jump from 4 to 5 in my experience. 4 mana gets you things such as Wrath of God, Syphon Mind, Defense of the Heart, etc. which tend to be significantly more powerful than 3 mana spells. Clearly there are some exceptions (Recurring Nightmare, Rhystic Study) but in general you can get a lot more for an extra mana. Conversely, most 5 mana spells aren't significantly stronger than the best 4 mana spells (and in many instances they're much weaker) so I value that jump much less. Drawing a card is obviously "fine," but really, is it better than being able to effectively use an otherwise wasted turn (turn 2)? I don't think so. So yeah, I have a very low opinion of these cards. I think that there are significantly more powerful options at everyone's disposal.

Land
Guildgates are all fine. Go nuts playing them in your 2 color decks. I hope that DGM will drop the value of Shocks since I'd like it if more players could have access to them. With any luck we'll get fetches again to drive those prices down as well. Building a solid mana base sucks on a budget and I do hope that more players gain access to strong mana because of their inclusion in DGM. Even as a die-hard mono-Black mage I still want people to be able to build their dream decks.

Maze's End: Go nuts with Amulet of Vigor and Scapeshift. I know that most metas frown on instant wins but I mean if you can pull this off then they deserve to lose in my mind XD. It's not an uber competitive card or anything but if you were going to build around Crackling Perimeter anyways then you can't really go wrong with adding one of these. Scapeshift + multiple Amulet of Vigors + Crackling Perimeter is even a decent secondary combo since you can tap the lands in response to each Amulet trigger in order to blast people for boatloads of damage. Again, not the strongest deck ever, but hey, it could be fun :P.
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Prid3

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