Introductions and Explanations
This review is ordered as the cards appear on the MTGS visual spoiler (aka alphabetically). This is to make things easier for you to follow along at home. If you're looking for a specific card (one that was recently spoiled for example) good old Ctrl + F is just as handy as it's ever been. You don't have to scour the entire review to find it. I never evaluate every card because there's absolutely no reason to repeat "this card was designed for Limited" 100 times every set. I'll hit on what I consider to be the key multiplayer cards with an emphasis on the ones that you should make a concerted effort to acquire all things being equal. Bear in mind that all ratings discussed in this evaluation should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm not looking to pin down the perfect letter grade for every single card. I'm merely trying to provide you with a rough estimation of its overall worth.
Grading Scale: A: Oppressive cards with a relatively unique effects that figure to routinely dominate games in which they're left unchecked. Most of them are going to be insanely powerful "build-around-mes" that'll dramatically increase the overall power-level of any deck that they're slotted in to. These are format definers that can completely warp fledgling metas. Think Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Humility, Consecrated Sphinx, Primeval Titan, Repercussion. B: Formidable cards that don't offer anything truly unique and that aren't oppressive. People shouldn't have to bend over backwards in order to beat them but decks full of these won't just roll over to any old brew. Think Syphon Mind, Earthquake, Wrath of God, Fact or Fiction, Lurking Predators. C: Powerful cards that winning decks will want to play. They're not going to blow you away but you'll rarely be disappointed with their performance. A deck full of these won't crush a table but a solid foundation of Cs should be good enough to keep you competitive. Think Vampire Nighthawk, Clever Impersonator, Taurean Mauler, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel. D: Marginal playables that're unexciting to field. It's not that you can't or shouldn't play them, just don't expect them to yield impressive win %s. Most fun, cool, niche, build-around-me, etc. cards will fall into this category alongside the ones that you'll unhappily field given a lack of alternatives. I don't recommend playing Ds if you can avoid it and I strongly advise that you look for suitable alternatives if it's a realistic option. F: Weak cards that're unlikely to boast respectable win %s that probably shouldn't be played. +/-: Used to denote a better or worse N. That is, a B+ represents a strong B whereas C- implies a weak C. Cubeworthy: simple "yes" or "no" of whether or not I'd Cube with the card myself. That is, would I both put this card in one of Cubes and actively draft it a reasonably high % of the time with plans to maindeck it in a relatively "normal" Cube.
White
Archangel of Tithes: A 3/5 flier for 4 with two very real upsides is a solid playable in most MP settings. While her sizable booty will naturally keep most 1-4 drops at bay her defensive utility still figures to be relevant at most stages of the game. When it comes to attacking in multiplayer (MP) there's usually a lot of "all things being equal" logic floating around so when things stop being equal it's amazing how much of an impact it can have. I can't offer hard data but I'd be willing to wager dollars to donuts that someone with a 3/3 staring down two opponents with empty boards and a third with an 0/1 is significantly less likely to tangle with the latter. Otherwise she has obvious utility against token/swarm/combo strategies and the effect stacks amazingly well (Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety). At 3 power she's not exactly going to race a table down but if you can jam a piece of Equipment on her then she'll get the job done eventually. White decks typically benefit from fielding some in the first place and cheap + powerful creatures are great at showcasing their value.
Getting back to her defensively ability, I for one love to build "Armageddon" style Prison/Stax/mana denial decks every now and then and she seems like a natural fit in the archetypes. I recognize that most 'Geddon decks don't really want 4+ drops in general, you'd rather cap out at something like Brimaz, King of Oreskos, but a 3/5 flier + "Moat" for 4 is enough to get me excited. Still, even if you ignore extremely unfun + degenerate decks there's still plenty of value in having a generic Ghostly Prison that also adds to your board. I've always hated Ghostly Prison as a standalone defensive measure because it's just plain never done anything for me nor the people in my circles. People just pay the mana. What I like about this card is that it's not some weak defensive measure with a built-in counter. It forces payment and comes with a powerful 3/5 flying body.
While the "can't block" offensive clause may seem lackluster I'm rather excited about that aspect of the card as well. I'm a sucker for token strategies but the historic problem with them is that it's really freaking hard to clear a MP table with a bunch of small critters. Even if you have ten 2/2s it's still legitimately difficult to kill as few as 2 opposing players with blockers. This is one of the primary reasons why I've never understood the love for finishers such as Mobilization over Sacred Mesa or Luminarch Ascension. Even in situations where I've found myself producing numerous "free" 1/1s a turn I've never been able to convert it into a win. The ability to EOT Secure the Wastes/White Sun's Zenith with an Archangel in play allows you to mercilessly hammer anyone without having to worry about running your small dudes into bigger blockers. This concept applies to generic creature-based decks too obviously but the effect is compounded in token decks.
With respect to the EDH/Cube/Constructed spectrum, I expect her to be at her best in formats such as Constructed and EDH where you can guarantee a theme and gameplan. That being said she's a touch weak in EDH where people tend to ramp out card draw and bombs but even then you can play her in Token and/or Armageddon decks and reasonably expect her to carry her weight. I probably wouldn't jam her as a generic playable but even then she can only ever be so bad. In Cube, meh, it's going to depend on your build and your supported archetypes. If GW Tokens is a thing then she's awesome, if your Cube has Wildfires then she's amazing, if you have all of the Armageddons she's a house, etc. She's an easy C-B but I'll just a just a assume a generic "good stuffs" Cube that won't feature much synergy and call it a "C." After all, 1WWW is rough to achieve on turn 4 and she's probably never going to win you a game outright.
Constructed Rating B
EDH Rating C+
Cube Rating C Cubeworthy
Auramancer: For a card that does a decent Eternal Witness impersonation it always surprises me how unplayable she actually is. In brews where she's "good" Replenish and/or Open the Vaults are usually "insane" which is why you just plain don't see her in competitive lists. For all the blinking and recurring that White can pull off there's just better things to do with your time and mana.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Blessed Spirits: I'm all for scaling threats but this isn't on the same level as a Scavenging Ooze nor a Taurean Mauler. Flying is nice and all but the effect is too narrow and the card is too weak when it's drawn in the mid-to-lategame.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Enlightened Ascetic: A bad version of War Priest of Thune (with worse creature types I might add) isn't going to make the cut in anything midway competitive. The reality is that cards like Reclamation Sage are many orders of magnitude more powerful than alternatives that can only nail Enchantments. I've never been impressed with War Priest of Thune and have routinely cut it from all of my decks/Cubes and as such I don't think that this is playable Magic card.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Gideon's Phalanx: A White Sun's Zenith at X=4 (no more, no less) is an extremely narrow effect that most decks simply won't want. After all, four 2/2s isn't an especially reliable win condition in a multiplayer setting. Even a 3/3 blocker is going to trump that to say nothing of the collected bodies/removal of an entire table. Obviously pump spells (Cathars' Crusade, Dictate of Heliod) help but as a standalone card I wouldn't expect much from it. What this means is that if you're going to play this card it's only because you place a high value on the Spell Mastery aspect of it. What bothers me about that tactic is that it's virtually impossible to hold 7 mana up as far as I'm concerned. If you're sitting there with 7 untapped mana in play and this thing sitting in hand I don't see how you can possibly afford to "run it again" and not cast it at EOT. I know that the prospect of countering a Wrath of God or ambushing someone in combat seems sweet but is that a realistic gameplan? The notion that you could just sit there passing the turn and doing nothing with 7+ mana at your disposal seems absurd to me. As such I wouldn't advocate playing with this card even if you do like the indestructible aspect of it. For every occasion that it "gets" someone's Wrath/attack I imagine that that there'll be 7-8 other occasions where it simply produces some 2/2s.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Hallowed Moonlight: Containment Priest is an amazingly powerful card that you really should be playing in EDH almost 100% of the time. Depending on your personal meta she can be a Constructed all-star as well and there are definitely Cubes out there that are going to want to play her. While a random card may seem better than a 2/2 body (in a vacuum it would be) the reason why Hallowed Moonlight isn't nearly as good is because it's short-lived and significantly harder to tutor for, recur, etc. Disruptive creatures buy more time and force actual answers out of players, answers that they don't always want to use/play/have. Yes, Containment Priest dies to removal, but someone has to draw and cast it before they can resume their unfair gameplan. People like to trivialize these requirements whenever possible but in a competitive setting anything that you can do to disrupt your opponents and force a reaction out of them is a significant benefit. This is especially true in formats such as Constructed and EDH where players often attempt to play completely non-interactive decks that simply race to achieve a combo kill.
That being said this still basically reads "Counter target spell. Draw a card." to me and for 2 mana you realistically can't ask for much more than that. This card gets better the more unfair your meta is because it shines when people are trying to Tinker for Blightsteel Colossuses or Entomb and Animate Dead some Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augurs. Most White EDH decks are probably going to want this thing because worst-case scenario you just cycle it away if needed. Still, for this card to be actively bad your opponents have to be playing extremely fair strategies which is just now what I've come to expect from EDH. This card will hold its won nearly 100% of the time in my mind so you it's definitely worth acquiring.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Hixus, Prison Warden: One of my favorite combinations of cards to employ in a multiplayer setting is No Mercy + Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I simply love the strategy of gaining trillions of life (Exsanguinate always helps on that front) and using it to obsolete fair, creature-based decks. When you're at 140 life and everything is a Lava Axe at best it's not hard to lock a fair few of your opponents out of the game. While Aurification has never quite done it for me in White I've always wished that it too could convert mass lifegain into a lock of sorts. I realize that cards such as Test of Endurance exist but real-world Magic isn't always as simple as tournament Magic and you can't always play the cards that win games on the spot. Unfortunately Hixus is too slow, too narrow and too vulnerable to actually convert mass lifegain into a dominant board state but at least he has an interesting design. Still, Angel of the Dire Hour has never impressed me in MP (she rears her head in EDH every now and then) but then again I tend to shy away from decks that need to attack in order to win. I have seen her blank things like Insurrection and Rite of Replication but "not losing" isn't the same thing as "winning." All-in-all I'd rather play the 5+ drops that can win the game as opposed to the ones that can sometimes prevent another player from immediately doing so. While I recognize that Hixus can act as "Flametongue Kavu" by jumping in front of a ~3/3 (or whatever) that still doesn't justify his inclusion in my mind. He strikes me as a below-average 5 drop that may make for a cool story every now and then but ultimately he's a fair card that's slow and vulnerable to removal.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Knight of the White Orchid: White has no shortage of solid 3 drops (let's get real; this isn't a 2 drop) but hard ramp is not something that you generally see in the color. A free 2-for-1 that ramps your mana and expands your board is about the best you can hope for at that stage of the game making this one of the single best options available to you. Now, clearly you wouldn't field these kinds of cards in a Vintage-esque setting but in terms of generic, casual, kitchen table play it doesn't get much better than this. It dissuades attacks, it generates card advantage, it generates a mana advantage, it's everything that you're looking for. Besides, fetching things like Mistveil Plains is sweet in Squadron Hawk decks and even basic Plains is still a useful Magic card if you're building up to 6+ drops and/or are relying on something like Emeria, the Sky Ruin to shore-up your lategame. It's hard to go wrong with this little guy if you're playing some Sun Titan, Angel of Serenity style deck because not only is he fine to blink/bounce/recur but he even powers you into the higher mana counts that you'll need to cast your bombs. On that note he loves flicker effects such as Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel because who doesn't want more lands? This is just a solid 3 drop in any format and I highly recommend acquiring your playset.
Global Grade B Cubeworthy
Gideon, Battle-Forged + Kytheon, Hero of Akros: Never in my life have I wanted to cast a 2/1 for W and start attacking with it in an MP setting. People may look at his indestructibility as a worthwhile asset but, again, I have absolutely no idea how 3 mana "regeneration" is enticing anyone. Holding that much mana up is a ludicrous investment for basically no return and I would gladly have my opponents elect to spin their wheels doing so in our games. Moving on, Gideon himself is equally unimpressive. His +2 is a passable form of removal but that's not something that I'd ever want to rely on myself. His +0 is worthless as far as I'm concerned because, again, I've never sat down and built decks that actively wanted to turn tons of small dudes sideways and somehow expect to ever beat a Wrath of God. While I don't mind his +1 defensive ability you're never building up to anything with it and that effect isn't worth the time, effort, mana and card. Gideon isn't designed for MP and I wouldn't recommend fielding him in any setting.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Kytheon's Irregulars: Renown is a decent MP mechanic in the sense that you only need a single "open" opponent to extract value from it and that's usually not asking for very much. YMMV obviously but when you play with 6+ people like I do someone is going to have a ~bottom 25% draw and that usually makes these kinds of requirements "free." As for the card itself, meh, it's not great. Tapping is at its worst in MP (in my opinion obviously) because I personally find that it's extremely difficult to properly utilize. I understand that you can use "politics" (i.e. manipulation) to reduce the risk but I personally try to avoid that as much as possible when I play. Still, the effect is moderately powerful and a 5/4 for 4 is no joke. I don't expect it to win a game of Magic but I do expect it to keep most early ground-pounders at bay. Ultimately I'm never going to purchase and/or play with this card myself, it's just not what I personally want to be doing in MP, but I don't think that it's completely unplayable. I mostly just wanted to briefly discuss the Renown mechanic and acknowledge that a big body + efficient, repeatable effect for 4 mana is probably a decent Magic card.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Relic Seeker: This is a card that I have to play with before I can form a realistic opinion of it. White sucks at drawing cards in general and so a free 2-for-1 with a decent body is always going to be a good way to start a game. The obvious comparison is Stoneforge Mystic and while we all recognize that she's no SFM she still shows promise. In my large 6+ player MP games there's always someone "free" to attack on turns 3-4 so I'm not altogether worried about triggering her early on. I recognize that she can't plop a Batterskull into play the following turn but any solid piece of equipment is still fine and there're plenty of amazing ones out there.
What troubles me with this card then? First of all this card is just the nut-low when it gets swept-up by a sweeper before it manages to trigger. I'm not saying that that's her average use-case or anything but this is nothing close to an ETB trigger. A non-trivial % of the time she's going to die as an "unknown" and those games are probably going to suck. Moreover, as good as she is on turn 2 I can't imagine what I'd ever do with one on say turn 6. I never have and never will want to draw a Grizzly Bears in any MP setting and the reality is that you don't always draw your ideal 2 drop for turn 2. Triggering her early seems easy but after that, meh, I have no idea. While I'm not exactly worried about people killing her (even on turn 2) a 2/2 isn't going to do me any good come turn 8 so I'm quite skeptical about how powerful this card will prove to be. The best argument that I can make for her is that MP is a "go big or go home format" that also happens to have a free mulligan so sometimes it does make sense to play for your ~35% "nut draw" given that your chances of winning are roughly 1/N to begin with. If drawing this card for turn 2 plays out like something close to a SFM, hey, that's not so bad!
If I had to pick a "best format" for this card it would be EDH mostly because you don't actually want to fetch Batterskull to begin with. Rather, you're almost always going to nab a Sword of X and Y because of how stellar they are in the format (to push Commander damage mostly). She lands early enough to hit someone and tutor one out since most players should still be jamming mana rocks and draw spells when she hits the Red Zone. She's obviously powerful in other formats as well but the reality is that equipment such as Batterskull and Umezawa's Jitte won't magically defeat a table of opponents but Swords are nuts when you only need to land a couple of hits to pick someone off.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Sentinel of the Eternal Watch: I'm only listing this card as an example of a classic MP trap card. This 6 mana do-nothing has weak stats and a marginal ability and I'd never touch it with a 10-foot pole. In a world of Sun Titans, Martyr's Bonds and True Convictions you need cards that "do something" and random 4/6s that somewhat interact with creatures don't even come close to qualifying. Just because a card says "each opponent" on it that doesn't mean it's a solid MP option.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Sigil of the Empty Throne: Other than Luminarch Ascension this has always been my de facto win condition for Enchantress decks. When every single card in your deck cantrips and puts a 4/4 flier into play it doesn't take very long to win. Removal, Wraths, Moats, none of them actually stop this from winning the game which is why it's still the tried, tested and true method to seal the deal. It doesn't get much better than this if your deck is just a pile of defensive/disruptive Enchantments. Obviously the card is virtually unplayable in Cube unless you really support the archetype but that's neither here nor there.
Constructed + EDH Rating B
Cube Rating F Not Cubeworthy
Starfield of Nyx: When this card was first spoiled I was immediately taken back to the days of Attunement + Replenish + Opalescence. Suffice it say that Attunement + Starfield of Nyx is already looking sweet and nowadays we even have Open the Vaults as a budget version of Replenish. Beyond that I can also see myself playing this in good old Enchantress decks that're loaded with Wild Growths, Utopia Sprawls, Sterling Groves, Enchantress's Presences, Eidolon of Blossoms, etc. Recurrable Sterling Groves? Count me in! People killing your Eidolon of Blossoms? Let them! We can't all afford Argothian Enchantress but with this new form of recursion that's potentially much less of a big deal. While I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of opening my Enchantments up to creature-based removal it does allow for some explosive kills in much the same way that a Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace can provide. One turn you're alive, the next you're dead. I probably wouldn't play 4 of them in a generic Enchantress deck but a singleton seems fine and I mean I would play a whack of them in any Attunement-based shell. Now, these kinds of cards tend to be at their worst in Cube because they typically have very little inherent value and so unless you're supporting a small subset of very linear, niche archetypes then it's probably not for you. I do expect to see it a fair amount in EDH and Constructed though as this is a perfect example of a powerful build-around-me that contains both a "grindy" element and a "combo finish" aspect which makes it a solid MP playable in my mind.
EDH + Constructed Rating C
Cube Rating F Not Cubeworthy
Totem-Guide Hartebeest: 2-for-1s are nice and all but the body sucks, the CMC is way too high and Auras tend to be crappy Magic cards. You might play this in your Control Magic/Angelic Destiny deck or something but even that's stretching it quite a bit. This just isn't a very powerful magic card and it realistically shouldn't be played.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Tragic Arrogance: It took me about 5 re-reads of this thing before I realized that it didn't affect lands. Boo-urns. In my defense it was early in the morning coupled with the fact that I'm a very dumb man. Either way we're not looking at Cataclysm 2.0 which is probably better for Magic on the whole but from a selfish perspective I'm a little disappointed. Embarrassing anecdote aside when you remove lands from the equation then you're no longer dealing with some S-tier bomb. We're back in the realm of Planar Cleansing which is just a powerful-yet-fair card. Now, the cool thing about this card is that you choose to leave yourself with your best stuff while leaving your opponents with their worst. It's also worth noting that if they have a card like Courser of Kruphix that you can select it for their Creature and Enchantment to put them in an even deeper hole. Beyond that it's also only a 5 mana spell and even though it doesn't clear the entire board it's cheap enough and powerful enough to have a dramatic impact on the game. As long as you can nail "most things" that's usually good enough to stabilize until you can enact your own powerful gameplan. Furthermore, cards like these allow for political play in the sense that you can conspire with one or more players to take others out. By leaving one or two with their best cards and the others with their worst it becomes realistic for people with weaker decks/worse skills to defeat stronger adversaries.
The biggest weakness of this card is that it's very bad at removing key threats because there's no guarantee that people will have multiple of that permanent type in play. If someone goes turn 2 Luminarch Ascension/Survival of the Fittest and just never plays another Enchantment then you're screwed. This is a very real concern and it's why this card will never be a top-tier staple (at least not in my mind). Again, Cataclysm gets a pass because it's also a Armageddon whereas Tragic Arrogance isn't. As to how this card compares with something like End Hostilities, I don't really know, but I'm inclined to believe that it has a higher power-ceiling and only a slightly lower power-floor. As such I'm hoping that that it'll be the next Austere Command in the sense that you can just blindly jam it in any deck and be reasonably happy with the results. Having never played with the "choose 1" effect outside of Cataclysm it's tough to know one way or another but the fact that you choose is a big deal and makes it significantly less risky than it otherwise would have been. I also think that the "political aspect" is a very real thing that will make the card more competitive than it may otherwise appear to be.
Global Grade C+ Cubeworthy
Vryn Wingmare: For starters I never have and probably never will see Glowrider in Cube so let's just go ahead and assume that this little Brony won't marefare any better. With that out of the way we can move on to Constructed and EDH where this thing figures to be a S-tier staple in Prison/Stax/Mana Denial strategies. The arguably most powerful multiplayer EDH deck is Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Prison/Stax/Mana Denial and that deck already plays Glowrider so this is automatically a shoe-in for ultra-competitive EDH. If it's good enough for the best deck in the format then you can't ask for anything else. Brago, King Eternal and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV are other examples of A/S-tier Commanders (they're both Prison/Mana Denial/Stax Generals as well) and those decks also play Glowrider so it's clear to me that this card figures to see a lot of competitive EDH play. The simple fact of the matter is that you can very easily Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Winter Orb, Static Orb, Tangle Wire, Rising Waters, etc. an entire table out of the game as early as turn 3 and this is a perfect card for that archetype.
Moving to Constructed I'm very much looking forward to playing this thing in all of my Limited Resources and Armageddon shells. The gist of my favorite Limited Resources shells is to mulligan/Serum Powder/Enlightened Tutor into a Limited Resources and proceed to win the game with durdles such as Mother of Runes, Student of Warfare, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Serra Avenger and Vryn Wingmare. Æther Vial helps cheat them into play and various Thorn of Amethyst effects can be employed to completely shut spells out. Since your 1-3 drops are better than everyone else's winning the game is trivial from there. Yeah baby! The deck is as obnoxious as it looks and I've been anxiously awaiting an excuse to play it again. I obviously don't expect the Flying to actually matter, I'm mostly looking for some justification to be a dick, but who are you to judge me? Armageddon decks will play out similarly but you lose those "turn 1 wins" which is why I prefer LR. It doesn't matter much either way though.
While I think that the card is basically unplayable trash outside of "Armageddon" style Prison/Denial/MLD decks if your gameplan involves sucking the very fiber of life from the entire room then this is where you want to be. Cards don't have to be good in every deck, or even most decks, to still have a home in a competitive MTG sphere. This is an extremely powerful Prison card and fans of the archetype would do well to acquire some.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: B Closing Thoughts: Between Relic Seeker, Hallowed Moonlight and Archangel of Tithes White picked up some decent playables that can realistically be jammed into most lists. Otherwise Knight of the White Orchid and Sigil of the Empty Throne are sweet reprints that have a ton of competitive value. The overall most competitive card is probably Vryn Wingmare but I know that most people frown against Prison strategies so not I'm expecting it to generate a ton of hype. Otherwise I like Tragic Arrogance and Starfield of Nyx and could easily foresee myself playing either in any multiplayer format. Since I've just rattled-off a half-dozen or so cards Magic Origins is a big success as far as White is concerned. These are not cool-but-bad cards; they're legitimate playables in highly-competitive fields. 2 big thumbs-up!
You're still reading this? Why? No, seriously though, I can't be the only person who rolls his/her eyes whenever he/she reads those kinds of comments about these unplayable pieces of garbage. For similar amounts of mana I could be casting a kicked Cyclonic Rift/Rite of Replication, Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron, Diluvian Primordial, Sphinx of Uthuun, on and on and on. The prospect of jamming a big doofus with an irrelevant line of text seems laughable to me. Give this guy Hexproof and let him name Commanders and maybe then you've got something worth discussing (even then it's still one Hell of a maybe). Pay no heed to the people calling this an EDH playable.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Artificer's Epiphany: I'm still waiting for an instant-speed Divination just to see how good it actually is. I know that we'll never have an instant-speed draw 2 for 2 (without some drawback) but I don't see why we can't have it for 3. Until then I'm not desperate enough to test a conditional one because it just doesn't seem worthwhile to jump through hoops for a 2-for-1. This card is many orders of magnitude worse than something like Thirst for Knowledge even if you assume that you always have an Artifact out. I wouldn't even play it over Compulsive Research let alone "good" draw spells such as Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Trade Secrets, Fact or Fiction, etc. The reality is that some % of the time you won't have an Artifact out and the upside of having one is hardly spectacular which makes me think that this card won't see any play.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Bone to Ash: I'm fine with Dismiss as a budget alternative to Cryptic Command but Bone to Ash doesn't quite cut it for me. Paying 4 mana for a conditional Counterspell is asking way too much and the "free card" doesn't change that.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Day's Undoing: It's difficult to evaluate just how powerful this card will prove to be until we get an opportunity to play with it but I for one remain hopeful. I know that Time Reversal was a total dud but 3 is significantly less than 5 and I can envision plenty of legitimate ways to abuse this thing. The most basic example involves playing a whack of mana rocks and draw7s in addition to some degenerate combo. A large % of the time you can start the game by jamming a couple of mana rocks before resolving a draw7 to refill your hand in preparation to combo-off. You're basically just restarting the game on turn 2-3 except you'll have some fast mana in play whereas other players might not. Otherwise things like EOT Notion Thief into this + Counterspell backup on turn ~4-5 is looking sweet and I can't think of many 2 card combo combo decks that wouldn't want to have access to some additional draw7s. I personally like to play Hive Mind decks for example and I'm perfectly happy to cast this on turn 3 to set up for a turn 4 Hive Mind + Pact of the Titan. While it's generally not advisable to enable your opponents to draw cards in the context of combo decks card disadvantage isn't significant. If you win, you win, and it doesn't matter if you were "down" 30 cards in the interim. Beyond that cards like Quicken and Leyline of Anticipation exist for a reason and it's not exactly hard for Blue decks to locate them. Quicken's opportunity cost isn't exactly staggering given that it innately cantrips but I mean people seem to love playing with the Leyline anyways from what I've seen.
Now, I will stress that that this card is atrocious in fair decks. If your primary gameplan involves casting creatures, counters, bounce spells, etc. then you do not want to be playing with global draw7s. I'll also stress that it's not going to be easy to make it work in Underworld Dreams style brews because ending the turn is a pain the rear when you're dealing with triggers. Notion Thief still works because it's a replacement effect, trust me on that one, but triggers won't. Still, if your deck wins by pairing card A with card B then a 3 mana draw 7 is probably something that you should be in the market for. With respect to Cube, I'd wager that it's mostly unplayable unless yours is extremely degenerate and combo-centric. Even then I don't know how good it'd be and I wouldn't want to the guy that'd have to find out. My rating will reflect that but remember to take it with a grain of salt. It could easily be busted but it just doesn't strike me as a playable Magic card in most Cube decks/archetypes.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Disciple of the Rings: Another "close but no cigar" 5 drop for Blue. It's too small and too conditional to see any amount of serious play as far as I'm concerned. The double-whammy of "requiring mana" and "requiring spells to exile" makes the activated ability way too clunky. I recognize that Blue can Ponder into Preordain into Brainstorm for days but if your payoff is this as opposed to something like Ancestral Recall then you're probably not going to win very many games. If it could counter any spell, creatures and all, then we'd probably be talking about something that could see play across all 3 formats. As it stands these kinds of cards just aren't any good in the current era of "all creatures all the time." That goes doubly so for EDH where she can't even counter the (arguably) most important card in everyone's deck. The final nail in the coffin, at least for me, is that it can only untap creatures which means there's just plain no room for abuse if you wanted to play things like mana rocks and Winter Orb effects. At least then you could untap your Basalt Monoliths or whatever but as it stands he can't even do that. The only competitive EDH deck that might want this card is Azami, Lady of Scrolls since she can technically untap your dudes to draw more cards but even then I'd be surprised if the best versions of the deck actually played her.
Global Grade C- Not Cubeworthy
Displacement Wave: Unless your meta is riddled with token decks to the point of oppression this card is significantly worse than any number of vastly superior alternatives. Cyclonic Rift, Evacuation, Devastation Tide, Upheaval and more are all stark upgrades.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Harbinger of the Tides: This little guy has a lot going for him. Merfolk and Wizard are the two most competitive Blue tribes (I don't count Human) and anyone who's ever faced Azami, Lady of Scrolls in EDH knows that that deck is no joke. I also actively like the UU mana cost for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx even though it does make this card slightly worse in Cube. Venser, Shaper Savant has been a staple in basically every Blue deck since it's been printed and while this card is obviously worse a bad Venser is still a potentially powerful card. Riptide Laboratory has always been a staple in the Wizard decks and so they're always in the market for more ETB triggers. Blanking a big attacker each combat can be very relevant in formats such as EDH (nailing Commanders is sweet) but even in Cube and Constructed the effect is still relevant. The fact that he only bounces tapped creatures means that you can't do much offensively with the guy but even if he's mostly on sitting back on D that's fine with me.
I want to stress that he's not the next Venser or anything, he can't bounce spells/untapped creatures and that's a real drawback, but at the same time it's not enough to get me to count this guy out. I don't expect much from my 2-3 drops in general; just something with a solid ETB trigger and decent stats. He comes with both of those things and 2 relevant creature types. While this isn't the 2 drop of my dreams it's flexible and scales decently well into the midgame which leads me to believe that he's at least playable in most formats.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy + Jace, Telepath Unbound: At some point I was trying to rate the flip-Walkers from best-to-worst until it occurred to me that I was so indifferent that I couldn't be bothered to figure it out. Regardless I had Jace at or near the top for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost he has the best "creature form" as far as I'm concerned because all of their bodies are equally useless past turn ~4 but a looter is potentially a real card at every stage of the game. I for one love me a graveyard-based deck and I don't need much incentive to jam something like this in The Mimeoplasm EDH or UBx Reanimator (Constructed) as an example. Looters are decent in Cube as they can help you dig into your colors and bombs but I will concede that their efficacy is greatly diminished when all of your cards are awesome and mana flood isn't a serious concern. Either way it doesn't take a genius to see that between cards like Animate Dead, Necromancy, Yawgmoth's WillWonder, Living Death, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, etc. you can do some extremely overpowered crap with a well-stocked GY whereas having a couple of 2/2s on your board is almost always going to be trivial. Moreover, I like the 'Walker version of Jace because he has a legitimately useful mode. Casting an Instant/Sorcery, even if it's just a humble cantrip/draw spell, is immediate and significant impact and some % of the time you'll be able to loot away and later recur something silly like Decree of Pain, Army of the Damned or Rise of the Dark Realms (I realize that you have to pay the mana). The additional aspects of the card don't impress me but even if they're relevant ~5% of the time then that's still value.
Now that the "worthwhile" discussion is out of the way it's time for a small (see: large) rant. For the love of God stop talking about how you can "protect him from removal" by looting and flipping him. That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. First, your opponents would have to be a brain-dead morons to actually fall for that. Moreover, you don't actually win the stand-off when the base threat is an 0/2. If you decide to never loot with him to "beat removal," congrats, you played a 2 mana 0/2 with no text. You somehow managed to justify maindecking Mudhole in multiplayer. No, you're going to loot with him every turn because doing nothing is a ridiculous proposition. Your 0/2 isn't doing jack squat so if people want to kill your 2 drop then they're going to "get you." Also, have we lost sight of the fact that people are using removal on a Merfolk Looter? Is that supposed to be a victory for someone? There is a 0% chance of me or anyone I respect using a precious targeted removal spell on a freaking Merfolk Looter when we could just easily be facing down an Animate Deaded Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur the following turn. If you want to loot, flip and get your "Snapcaster Mage" effect then God bless.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Jace's Sanctum: Arcane Melee was a steaming pile of garbage that auto-lost the game so I'm glad that Wizards finally decided to print a reasonable alternative. I can't say that I'm thrilled at the prospect of paying 4 mana for a 2 mana effect but the Scry takes some of the edge off and I won't overlook the fact that this reduced spells of any color. I still don't see a hyper-competitive card that'll see play in the best Constructed/EDH decks but what I do see is a relatively powerful, cool, unique and durable effect that players will surely enjoy playing with. I know some Talrand, Sky Summoner and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV lists that will excited to jam this in their 99 and I'm sure that some casual Storm decks will run it over Goblin Electromancer to blank opposing removal. Again, I don't expect every card printed to compete with the likes of Mana Drain and Rhystic Study so I'm not going to cry fowl just because Wizards isn't printing incredibly degenerate spells and effects. While eminently fair there's still enough power here to justify fielding this type spell in EDH and Constructed insofar as you're playing a spell-based shell. The card is completely unplayable in Cube, don't even consider adding it to yours, but otherwise it seems fine to me.
Constructed + EDH Grade D+
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Jhessian Thief: While Ophidians are often reasonable turn 2-3 plays they're usually mulligans when topdecked in the mid-to-lategame which is why you rarely see them played competitively. For every game that you run one out on turn 3, clear all blockers and draw 2 cards a turn there's many more games where they sit around and do nothing. Moreover, mutiplayer has significantly more blocking than attacking (trading hits is suicide, racing a table down is nigh impossible) which means that you have even less incentive to field purely aggressive creatures. They're too slow, too aggressive, too unreliable and/or too weak to field in any midway competitive environment.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Mizzium Meddler: Riptide Laboratory is still a card and so any Wizard with a solid ETB trigger is a potential playable as far as I'm concerned. This thing can soak a ton of spot removal using the blink + bounce tactic in addition to catching people off-guard by stealing buffs and Auras. Even if you ignore Dexter's Lab it's still a solid defensive threat with a potentially relevant ETB trigger and any Flash creature can allow for some surprise combat shenanigans. As such the floor on this thing can only ever go so low. Your 1-3 drops aren't going to win you very many games to begin with so it's not the end of the world if they're not all 10/10s. Lastly, Azami, Lady of Scrolls is one Hell of an overpowered EDH general (Mind Over Matter.... *shudders*) and having another way to protect her that cantrips seems pretty absurd to me. As a result I personally expect to see this card in EDH more than any other format but, again, Riptide Lab + Wizards is a real thing and I could easily see any Wizard decks playing 1-2 of these to blank removal. In Cube the card is extremely unexciting but I suppose you could consider drafting it to block for you and/or protect your bombs or something. /shrug
EDH Grade C
Constructed + Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Sigiled Starfish: I've played this card in low-powered environments to see how much value I could extract from a defensive 2 drop with a reasonable + free activated ability. Some of the deck were a bit silly (think Quest for Ula's Temple) but most were still reasonable. Anyways, what I found while playing the card is that the power-level just isn't there. Even on turn 2 I still felt like I was wasting my time/mana/cards and it always sucked drawing them in the mid and lategame. Waiting a full turn to Scry 1 is way worse than immediately drawing a card which is why you never see something like this played over Augur of Bolas or Sea Gate Oracle.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Soulblade Djinn: As much as I underestimated Jeskai Ascendancy I don't think that this is a playable Magic card. There's some merit in trying to make him work in decks with Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor and/or Talrand, Sky Summoner type threats but ultimately he's too clunky and unreliable in my mind. Blue just isn't a very good color at churning out tokens in general and even lists that can still probably want something more consistent. You kinda have to build an army, cast this guy, untap and then go off with a ton of spells just to get your value's worth. That's a few too many hoops for my tastes. I want to stress that I have an immense amount of respect for this effect in general, this card is close to being a legitimate playable, it's just slightly too unrealistic to think that his average use-case will be worthwhile even if your deck does have Ponders, Preordains, Impulses, etc.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Sphinx's Tutelage: If it's one thing that never ceases to amaze me it's the sheer volume of Jace's Erasure decks that get posted on casual, kitchen table forums across the world. It's a card that kills over 93, 136, 792 turns (I counted twice just to make sure) yet for some reason people flock to it like it's an Ætherling. I don't get the appeal, I never have and never will, but what I do know is that casual players LOVE these kinds of cards. As such I highly recommend hanging on to these because they make perfect gifts for newer players. They seem to love working with these kinds of engines and far be it from me to stop someone from having fun. I'm not going to review the competitive merits of this card (hint: there are none) but at the same time I'm a casual, kitchen table player first and so I have to tip to hat to wizards for printing cards like these that appeal to the masses.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Talent of the Telepath: I dislike this card for many of the same reasons that I dislike Stolen Goods. For all the cool stories where you nab things like Insurrection or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn there's going to be a throng of scenarios where you hit something marginal. Multiplayer, to me, is all about enacting a consistently powerful gameplan that's capable of defeating multiple opponents. What this means is that you generally need powerful and reliable cards capable of thriving in the harshest of environments. Now, let me make something clear. Memory Plunder is a very powerful card that I routinely play because I can consistency copy a powerful spell with it. Even though the card doesn't reliably do anything specific you can count on it to pull its weight. This cannot be said for cards like Talent of the Telepath because you're literally just hoping and praying that you picked the right person at the right time. When the stars align these cards are bonkers overpowered but their average use-case tends to be lackluster at best. Hitting 2 worthwhile spells in someone's top 7 isn't easy and you will legitimately whiff a non-trivial % of the time.
Global Grade D+ Not Cubeworthy
Thopter Spy Network: I'm just going to state the obvious and express my annoyance for the "one or more" line of text on the card. A 4 mana conditional Phyrexian Arena + Bitterblossom hybrid probably sounds powerful but I'm not expecting much from this thing. The last time that I saw Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa played was in an EDH game against an Edric, Spymaster of Trest deck filled with mana dorks and cheap, evasive beaters. It very easily won the game but at the same time Piracy/Bident wasn't what made the deck powerful and I wouldn't expect the best version of the list to play either. Since TSN has a significantly lower power-ceiling I'm not expecting to see much of it in any format although I'm sure that some people will try and make it work in various Esper artifact shells. Even if it's not the best card in the world I'd expect Bitterblossom + Phyrexian Arena lovechild to appeal to a large % of the casual playerbase so good or bad I think this will see a fair amount of play. As long as your deck has artifacts it's probably a reasonable inclusion but not one that you'd ever write home about. It takes a long time for this to generate enough 1/1s to be relevant and in terms of draw engines this isn't going to outperform Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Mind's Eye, etc. It can certainly co-exist alongside them but we're not talking about an overpowered card advantage engine or anything.
Global Grade C- Not Cubeworthy
Tower Geist: As much as I love cantripping threats I'm not about to play a 2/2 flier for 4. In many ways it feels like that mana is only being used to "draw 2 loot 1." While the flying body would be a legitimate threat in a duel environment it's irrelevant in the context of a large multiplayer game, especially in formats such as EDH.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Whirler Rogue: I wasn't expecting to see a creature like this in Blue and it's refreshing to see something powerful at the Uncommon level. A 2/2 and two 1/1 fliers is significantly more powerful than a 4/4 and "can't be blocked" is a relevant effect in every MP setting. It's especially good in EDH with its Commander damage but even in Cube and Constructed you still have to kill people and blockers are a ubiquitous concern. While I wouldn't be excited to play with this thing in EDH, the power-level just isn't there, I could see myself playing it in low-powered Cube and Constructed environments. It "beats removal" in a big way which is important if people are mostly playing duel decks. It's also a trump when/if board stalls occur which is another common problem in casual multiplayer formats. Otherwise the 2 flying power is a clock in-of-itself, especially if you're playing with Equipment. Beyond that it's important to stress that this is ostensibly a 4/4 for 4 which is a legitimately meaty blocker for a color that doesn't normally get those. Being able to trade with big Green idiots isn't something that most Blue creatures can threaten to do. Lastly it's somewhat relevant to note that generating multiple 1/1 Artifacts makes cards like Skullclamp, Steel Overseer, Master of Etherium and Thoughtcast that much more powerful. This won't matter for every deck but it will affect some of them. While this isn't some bomb that you'll play in every Blue deck it strikes me as being "just good enough" to see a fair amount of casual play.
Constructed + Cube Grade C-
EDH Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Willbreaker: From Beguiler of Wills to Roil Elemental to Memnarch there's no shortage of big Blue idiots with their sights set on global domination. On paper they're some of the scariest baddies but in practice they rarely live up to their hype. Ultimately Willbreaker is just another 5 drop that dies to removal at no benefit and who doesn't accomplish anything on her own. The fact that the creatures are returned when she bites the dust is another strike against her and the 2/3 body isn't doing her any favors either. Furthermore, she suffers from what I like to call "best case scenario mentality" where your opponents, especially weaker players, can only ever envision her best possible outcome. The prospect of having all of your creatures stolen is enough an incentive to justify killing her which is why these kinds of cards tend to draw more hate than they may have otherwise warranted. People can and will kill these kinds of cards long before they actually do something relevant out of fear of "what's to come." Otherwise I want to stress that she's actually somewhat hard to abuse in the sense that you still need something that targets but that doesn't kill/bounce/exile/etc. Disciple of the Ring is one example but the fact of the matter is that targeting is hardly a given unless you're building your deck in a specific fashion. One EDH Commander that comes to mind is Nin, the Pain Artist but in general I think that she's actually quite difficult to support unless you purposely add weak cards to your deck. Like, I get that Sea Kings' Blessing is a card, it's just not one that I want to add to any of my decks. Even if I could magically draw it and Willbreaker every game that 2 card combo still loses to Doom Blade (or whatever) so I'm not thrilled about the idea of actively trying to abuse her. Curse of the Swine might be the overall best option but there isn't much else that I'd be excited to play in most MP settings.
Global Grade D+ Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D Closing Thoughts: I'm reluctantly giving Blue a D even though I strongly considered giving it an F. Day's Undoing has some potential in extremely unfair combo decks and Harbinger of the Tides is a powerful 2 drop that still has relevance in the mid and lategame. I could still easily live without them, they don't jump out at me as being top-tier playables, but there's definitely something going on with them. Otherwise I'm sure that Jace, Vryn's Prodigy will see a bit of play alongside fan-favorites such as Jace's Sanctum, Sphinx's Tutelage, Thopter Spy Network and Willbreaker. I want to stress that none of these strike me as being competitive Magic cards but they do come across as ones that will appeal to a large % of the playerbase.
Black
Blightcaster: Doomwake Giant this is not. "Cast" is significantly worse than "enters the battlefield" (see Pharika, God of Affliction) and a global -1/-1 is almost always going to outperform a targeted -2/-2. Doomwake also gets a free shot when he ETB whereas Blightcaster accomplishes nothing without adequate support. While you could arguably play both in your Enchantment-based shells the reality is that Blightcaster doesn't have the required power-level to pull its weight in a multiplayer setting.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Cruel Revival: Wight of Precinct Six, Fleshbag Marauder, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and more are all fantastic Zombies that you could happily play in most Black shells. Unfortunately this will never change the fact that Cruel Revival is basically unplayable. Paying 5 to Murder and Raise Dead is just too clunky for any midway serious multiplayer setting. 2-for-1s are nice and all but card advantage isn't difficult for Black mages to obtain so you're better off playing with better removal, better revival and generating your card advantage elsewhere.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Dark Petition: It may not be Demonic Tutor but I don't understand why this card is taking so much flak. Last time I checked Necropotence, Doomsday, Yawgmoth's Will and many more are all cards that you can legally play in EDH and I don't need much of an incentive to tutor them out. With respect to Constructed there's a million Storm-based Dark Ritual decks out there most of them need to hit at least 6 mana before they can win anyways so I don't see why having to hit 5 is such a big deal. You almost always need some sort of Past in Flames/Ill-Gotten Gains/Pyromancer Ascension/Syphon Mind/Yawgmoth's Will chain/sequence to Exsanguinate/Tendrils of Agony a MP table down and those are not cheap (mana wise). I recognize that this thing can't tutor up a Sol Ring on turn 2 but if every card is held up to Demonic Tutor's standard then we may as well label 2490 of the 2500 Black cards unplayable pieces of trash. The reality is that Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual are very real cards in Constructed formats and multiplayer EDH isn't exactly known for being a format dominated by aggressive, creature-based decks. This isn't the be-all-end-all of tutors but it's still a powerful Magic card in the right shells and that's more than good enough in my books. If you're playing with a degenerate spell-based deck I have a hard imagining that this thing could be actively bad. When properly supported this is an extremely powerful Magic card and even though I agree that it's very bad in generic creature-based decks and Cube I could easily see myself sleeving this badboy up in relatively competitive EDH and Constructed decks (as in consistent turn 4-8 kills in EDH and consistent turn 4-5 kills in Constructed).
EDH + Constructed Rating B
Cube Rating F Not Cubeworthy
Demonic Pact: I'm kind of at a loss about what to say about this steaming pile of crap. Part of me thinks that I should just treat it like a fun, casual card that can be sacrificed, flickered or even Donated for lulz. Another part thinks that some people might mistake this for a playable Magic card which means I should do a more formal review on it. The last part of me just wants to sink in my chair as Black receives yet another unplayable Mythic. Either way I'll try and salvage this review with at least some educational content. The reason why these kinds of cards are so bad are almost too numerous to count. First and foremost even if we were to assume that Donate + Pact was a decent combo (hint: it's not) it still only kills one person... maybe. People will still have an opportunity to destroy the thing and it's not like it's going to catch people off-guard. You get to see it coming for 4 turns aka eternity. This means that your combo deck realistically can't win a game of Magic unless your opponents are literally goldfish. More importantly it's slow, vulnerable to removal, it's slow, if people counter your Donate then you're screwed, it's slow, if you pair this with blink effects and they get answered you lose, it's slow, if you draw part of the combo but not the other you lose and did I mention that it's slow? Yes? 7 times? Guess what, there's still 2 more upkeeps until the person dies. Yeah, sure, some % of the time you'll get someone. Whoopieee! You still lose the game because your combo deck kills exactly one player every full moon. The card is just awful.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Despoiler of Souls: So you're saying that this thing can't block and that it costs 2 mana and 2 creatures to recur? Thanks but no thanks Wizards. This isn't going to replace cards like Bloodghast or Reassembling Skeleton anytime soon... or ever for that matter. I'm all for playing and supporting Skullclamp in formats such as EDH but this is not what I want to be pairing it with.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Erebos's Titan: I'm truly at a loss for how to evaluate these kinds of cards. On the one hand you'll never see them in truly competitive/degenerate decks because they just plain don't accomplish anything worthwhile. When compared to cards like Crypt Ghast you realize that having a big body is irrelevant when similarly costed cards can threaten to end games on the spot. A random 5/5 beater isn't going to magically defeat a table of competent opponents and a few trivial upsides isn't going to change that. That being said it's hard to label these cards as "bad" because they block well, they have multiple upsides and you can always feel good about casting them on curve (unlike say Disciple of Bolas). Now, I don't think that Erebos's Titan is better than Disciple of Bolas in formats like EDH but if you're playing Constructed and you just plain need a 4 drop that can actually protect you then this isn't your worst option. That being said he's far from your best because both of his abilities are extremely unreliable. The fact of the matter is that it's hard to find 4 drops that both ignore removal and that have relevance at every stage of the game so in many ways you have to compromise by picking and choosing your battles. Only a small subset of 4 drops are legitimately amazing "most of the time" in multiplayer so sometimes you have to make due with marginal options such as these. With respect to abusing him, meh, I wouldn't put much stock in it. Cards like Bojuka Bog, Withered Wretch and Scavenging Ooze are all fine and even things like Nezumi Graverobber are passable. That being said you're still going to have to work if you want to recur him and given that he's just a vanilla 5/5 I can't say that it's worth the time and effort to do so. If I were going to play with this guy it would be in generic Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks that sometimes need big, cheap blockers. You could try and abuse him in some weird Tortured Existence/Necromancer's Stockpile/Recurring Nightmare/Stinkweed Imp/Krovikan Horror/Veilborn Ghoul deck but I really don't think that it's worth the effort.
Global Grade D+ Not Cubeworthy
Eyeblight Massacre: Elves are the most competitive Tribe in Magic which means that there's a floor on how bad this card can actually be. You'd obviously never play it over things like Drown in Sorrow and Massacre in generic Control decks (even in EDH and Cube) but there's clearly merit to jamming it in GB Elves. Even then this card doesn't seem great given that it costs 4 mana and that it's not a creature (i.e. you can't Survival of the Fitttest/Green Sun's Zenith/Chord of Calling/Birthing Pod/etc. for it) but at the same time it's hard to call a one-sided Infest bad. I still think that it's mostly unplayable but a "good" mass removal spell for the "best" tribe is probably worth acquiring. I just don't see myself/others playing it in the best versions of the best Elf decks though.
Constructed + EDH Rating D
Cube Rating F Not Cubeworthy
Fetid Imp: People like Deadly Recluse a fair amount but having to Sinkhole yourself to threaten trades doesn't sit well with me. Moreover, "Walls" are never going to be especially powerful/competitive cards because best-case scenario they prevent you from losing in the short-run. That's it. This card will never win a game of Magic, kill a player, cement your victory, etc. At best it's a blocker that trades. Those kinds of cards can only take you so far and so I personally wouldn't advocate acquiring and/or playing with this this little bugger. Still, I do expect to see it fielded as a defensive blocker a fair amount in casual decks.
Fleshbag Marauder: On the surface this thing may appear to be a variation of Innocent Blood "for everyone else" but in practice it's so much more. Unholy Grotto and Volrath's Stronghold are almost free to run so having creature-based removal is virtually always better than playing with spells when applicable. Moreover, cards like Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos double-dip the effect and you can even sac the dude to things like Attrition and/or Infernal Tribute with the trigger on the stack for more value. Obviously if you had other creatures out you'd still have to sac one but otherwise you'd be sitting pretty. "Creature-spells" also trigger things like Dark Prophecy and they're much easier to tutor for and recur with things like Survival of the Fittest and Genesis. For all these reasons and more this card is significantly more powerful than it probably seems and I personally consider it to be a top-tier playable in any format. While the most overpowered versions of the most overpowered decks won't want to play it the overwhelming majority of fair decks that compete in fair metas will definitely want to give this guy a go. I've curved a lot of Wight of Precinct Sixes into a lot Fleshbag Marauders and let me tell you right now that it never gets old. This is a "must have."
Global Grade B Cubeworthy
Gilt-Leaf Winnower: In Constructed there's just no possible way for this to be your best option so I'm not really considering her for that format. Paying 5 mana for conditional removal and a marginal body just isn't where you want to be. After all, Bone Shredder, Nekrataal, Shriekmaw and more can all accomplish the same thing for less mana. Moving on, I'm fine playing the one Shriekmaw in EDH but it's not a card that I want to field a ton of. I don't like marginal 2-for-1s in general so I'm willing to play the best variation of the effect but not much else beyond that. As such I'm not loving this card in that format either. With respect to Cube, again, she's just too slow and conditional to make the cut in my mind. The only aspect that I'm attracted to is her evasion given the existence of things like Nighthowler, Lashwrithe and Bonehoard. I love making huge + unblockable creatures in MP so evasion is always a bonus in my books. Regardless she's still not up to par with the rest of Black's minions so I don't expect to see much of her in any multiplayer setting.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Gnarlroot Trapper: A BLACK MANA DO... oh... nevermind. I've never seen an Elf deck that's A) not played spells B) had an easier time producing B than G on turn 1 and C) couldn't use Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Arbor Elf (you get the idea) instead so I don't think that this card is even playable in Elves. I'm willing to be proven wrong and it's possible that this will see play in EDH as an additional mana dork but I'd be legitimately surprised if that proved to be the case. I'll probably pick one up just in case but I'm not holding my breath on that front.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Graveblade Marauder: Unlike Guiltfeeder this card is a legitimately decent blocker at every stage of the game and much like it he can put a serious hurt on people in the later stages of the game. You obviously can't just play this guy in any old deck, you need to pair him with cards such as Entomb, Satyr Wayfinder, Stinkweed Imp, Buried Alive, etc, but at some point he becomes a legitimate threat. Now, where would I play him myself? Nowhere. The fact is that you need to work really hard for a very long time to extract any semblance of value out of this guy. Something like 85% of the time you're just going to trade him off or have him die to a sweeper. 10% of the time he'll probably deal a decent amount of damage and 5% of the time he might actually connect twice and kill someone. Nothing that I've said should strike anyone as amazing because what I've just described is a terrible Mortivore that doesn't benefit from lifelink nor the increased number of players. I've basically just listed a bad card that trades slightly better early on. As such I'm going to have a take a pass on this guy and discourage people from playing him if possible.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder: I'll take a 6/6 flier over a 5/5 Deathtouch any day of the week and triggering off any any permanent, even fetchlands, has me intrigued. The lifeloss is a bit disconcerting though and will probably be enough of a deterrent that most people won't risk playing him. If anything I'd play him in EDH where you get that extra cushion to play with under the pretext that I never expect creatures to live for very long to begin with. Still, my problem with this card, the same problem that I have with Harvester of Souls, is that I don't want my 6 drops to just be drawing me cards. See, even in EDH I can still field Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, Syphon Mind, Disciple of Bolas, Graveborn Muse, Necrologia on and on and on to ensure smooth, consistent draws filled with gas for most of the game. That's easy. What's not so easy is developing a mid and lategame plan to actually win the game. What I will say is that I don't want to wait until I stick a 6 drop before I start drawing cards and if I've already been doing that all game then I want my 6 drops to actually do stuff. That's when you want to be jamming things like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Massacre Wurm, Grave Titan, Rune-Scarred Demon, Sepulchral Primordial, etc. and proceed to Living Death and Wake the Dead them all back as needed. Now, while I do think that these kinds of cards are playable in basically every MP setting it's basically only as budget alternatives. If Harvester of Souls is in your deck it's probably because it's 3-4x cheaper than Grave Titan and not because the card is inherently better. If you're especially worried about the lifeloss on Kothoped, try to remember that cards such as Exsanguinate, Crypt Ghast, Gray Merchant of Asphodel all exist for a reason so don't feel too afraid to give him a go if you need a cheap finisher and you can't/don't want to use Sepulchral Primordial. The point is that powerful + inexpensive lifegain options exist! In Cube the card is mostly garbage because you can't really guarantee a deck full of mass removal and/or lifegain which does make the auto lifeloss trigger a bit sketchy.
Constructed + EDH Grade C
Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Languish: This is a "middling" sweeper like Barter in Blood that's neither good nor bad; just average. I put almost no stock in the "you can build around it Wildfire style" but it's obviously going to be relevant some % of the time. After all, it's not going to sweep your Abyssal Persecutors and/or Grave Titans away. The reason why this doesn't interest me is because the reality of MP is that you're usually behind on board, often in a big way, and allowing everyone to keep their large threats is a serious drawback. This card is certainly playable but it's not a Damnation or even a Crux of Fate and no 26+ Swamp deck should play it over Mutilate I don't think. It's going to kill cheap dorks but anything that costs 5 or more is going to be iffy and its inability to remove game-ending fatties doesn't sit well with me. At least Barter in Blood can still nail that Sheoldred, Whispering One who was Animate Deaded on turn 2 wheres this card isn't good against unfair starts. If it's good enough to see ultra-competitive play it's going to be by the skin of its teeth.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer + Liliana, Heretical Healer: Of all the cards in this set this is the one that I'm the least sure of. In my heart of hearts I think that she's over-hyped as Hell but I'd like nothing more than for Black to have another powerful "Planeswalker" at its disposal. Her "creature mode" is horrendous (only Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh is worse) and people need to stop acting like a 2/3 lifelink for 3 is even remotely playable. It's not. Beyond that flipping her requires actual effort and additional cards because simply having a creature is by no means a guarantee that you'll be able to trigger her. Obviously if you have a creature + sac outlet then she's good to go but that's easier said than done. Now, once flipped she becomes a significantly more attractive card because all 3 of her modes seem actively powerful to me. Her "Unearth mode" is probably going to be over-valued in multiplayer but I'm loving her +2 and if you can reach her ultimate then it's also insane. I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't especially hyped about playing Liliana of the Veil in multiplayer but I've since come around on the card in a big way. Waste Not certainly helped on that front but even things like Syphon Mind make the discard much more taxing than it may otherwise appear to be. I also grossly underestimated the value of having "Cruel Edict" because even in multiplayer it's nice to have quick answers to overpowered creatures. As much as I'd like to provide more insight this is just a card that I'll have to play with and against before I can make an informed opinion of it. I just don't know if the "good flipped mode" can offset the "outrageously bad creature mode." I'm leaning towards "no" but I've been wrong about these kinds of cards in the past so who knows?
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Malakir Cullblade: Unless you're playing Vampire Tribal and need another marginal 2 drop with a relevant creature type just stick to Wight of Precinct Six. The problem with "Scavenger Drakes" is that Mortivores tend to be infinitely better because you can cuve [mass removal spell] into [jillion/jillion threat on an empty board] whereas with "Scavengers" you're forced to draw them first, cast them first, have them survive and wait long enough for many creatures to die but not so long that mass removal sweeps them away. They're extremely clunky and inconsistent in that sense which is why you rarely see them.
Necromantic Summons: To give you an idea I don't even think that Beacon of Unrest is remotely playable which should tell you everything that you need to know about this card. It's just way too slow and weak to compete in any sort of remotely competitive MP environment. "Any creature" from "any graveyard" might seem like a steal for 5 mana but the reality is that you can get it for one, two, three... you get the idea lol.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Priest of the Blood Rite: I'm just going to cut to the chase and state that never in a million years would I play with this card. I understand that you're supposed to sac the human and keep the Demon but that doesn't interest me in the slightest. That's way too fair given that the payoff is just a dumb beater that puts out a slow clock and that dies to removal at no benefit. Now, let me be clear; I can think of dozens of ways to "abuse" this card. Viscera Seer, Skirsdag High Priest, Fleshbag Marauder, Infernal Tribute, Dark Prophecy, Attrition, Rotlung Reanimator, Xathrid Necromancer, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, the list goes on and on. I can envision all of these scenarios and more; I just don't care. Bloodgift Demon is a 5 power flier for 5 that acts as a Phyrexian Arena. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a powerful form of drain. At 6 mana you get things like Grave Titan which put these kinds of beaters to shame. I just don't feel like working for a big dumb flier in the hopes that I'll be able to attack with it 16 times to win the game. That doesn't appeal to me on any level.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Rabid Bloodsucker: I have 4 words for you: Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Welcome to a world where every Black 5 drop has to (virtually) win the game on its own just to compete with a 50 cent common from a recent set. Hyperbole aside this card is just objectively weak and shouldn't be played if at all possible. Bloodgift Demon, Shriekmaw, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and more are all many orders of magnitude more powerful.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Read the Bones: While it's too marginal for Constructed (Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, etc. are all superior alternatives) I'm pretty sure that it's always made the cut for me in EDH and I've happily played in Cube as well. Even if it's not the most powerful draw spell in existence it's currently still good enough to earn its slot in the "one and done" formats which is more than I can say about most cards. Read the Bones will never blow you away nor completely lock a game up but you get to see a lot of cards for 3 mana and make no mistake that the Scry 2 puts it head-and-shoulders above a simple Divination.
EDH + Cube Grade B
Constructed Grade C- Cubeworthy
Shadows of the Past: I'll start with stating the obvious and highlight the fact that you only gain 2 life regardless of the number of opponents. Think Palace Siege, not Syphon Soul. With that in mind I assign very little value to the activated ability although I will concede that it doesn't hurt to have it. From what I can tell it was basically tacked-on for free so I'm not going to complain. With that in mind I'm extremely interested in this card, particularly for formats such as EDH and Cube. The fact of the matter is that 2 mana is only going to net you twocards so this card doesn't have to bottom many cards in order for you to get your money's worth. People typically assign a 0.5 card value to "Scry 1" but even on a conservative estimate of 0.3 I have a hard imaging games where I wouldn't derive sufficient value from this thing. I will concede that in the mid-to-lategame it's harder to justify waiting 4-5 turns to get your ROI but it's not as though this card has to played on turn 2 to do work. Much like Blood Artist it's just plain going to be relevant at most stages of the game, especially in a list that has access to reasonable amounts of mass removal. With respect to Constructed, I'm not the type to overlook durable forms of Devotion given my love for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I'm also extremely fond on 8-12 Wrath decks filled with Damnations, Mutilates, Crux of Fates, etc. and those decks can never get enough card draw/filtering. For 2 mana I'm more than willing to stick my neck out and give this thing a whirl because this could easily be a multiplayer staples across every format in the same way that Blood Artist is.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Tainted Remedy: Many years ago Wizards, in their infinite wisdom, decided to print a card called Rain of Gore. While a cursory glance of it suggests that it has relevant text a deeper investigation proves that no such relevance can be located. Anything and everything that you think the card does, it doesn't actually do. If you're one of the many poor souls who believes that it any way, shape or form interacts with lifegain, ho ho, you're in for a rude awakening my friend. To say that this card does nothing is an insult to One With Nothing because at least that card is a hard counter to Ebony Owl Netsuke. Damn right yo! Moving on to the actual card in question, how the Hell has it taken Wizards 20 years to print this thing? People have been waiting for the Enchantment version of False Cure since Onslaught and it's about damned time that we got it. I'm extremely happy that they didn't wuss out and make it some 5 mana pile of trash because we realistically couldn't have asked for more than this. I love that it's asymmetrical and I'm glad that it works with all of the usual suspects (Beacon of Immortality, Pack Hunt + Skyshroud Cutter) to kill players outright. Now, lifegain is by no means the most oppressive form of resource but this effect is still loved by the masses so it doesn't matter if you won't see this card in the best versions of the best decks because that's not what the average person cares about. Unfortunately this effect is just too narrow for Cube, some hosers are fine but this one just isn't consistently powerful enough, but you can bet your boots that you'll see this in Constructed alongside Congregate and Beacon of Immortality and I fully expect to see it used against me in EDH as well. If those dirty, dirty Black mages *cough*ME*cough* are going to jam Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Exsanguinate into 100% of their decks then someone has to punish them. I'll end the review by saying that I love seeing these "unique name" reprints not only for formats such as EDH and Cube but also because tier 1.5-2 combo decks get that much more consistent when they can elect to play as few at 4 or as many as 8 of a given component. Whereas it's hard to make the deck work when you must draw False Cure, Pack Hunt and Skyshroud Cutter it's not so bad when you can start to double up on some of the pieces if needed.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Thornbow Archer: Pulse Tracker and Mardu Shadowspear have acquired a new brother-in-arms. While I wouldn't exactly call "Black Sligh" competitive it's an extremely funny archetype that can pick up a few wins every now and then. The versions that I play tend to dump their hand with the 1 drop critters and Bloodchief Ascension at which point it can use things like Syphon Mind to refill its hand at which point it can abuse Gray Merchant of Asphodel to clear everyone out. The reason why this strategy sometimes works is because you only need one "open" opponent to get in for global damage which quickly adds up over 2-3 turns. Furthermore, I also play with Extorters such as Thrull Parasite and even Leechridden Swamp to offset the risk of mana-flood so the damage can really pile on even in the mid stages of the game. The deck is obviously silly, I'm not pitching a top-tier archetype or anything, but I do love dumping my hand on turn 3 and nailing everyone for 10 before losing the game to mass removal. If nothing else it makes for fast, exciting games even though you'll rarely clinch victory for yourself.
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F Not cubeworthy
Undead Servant: Given the existence of cards such as Necromancer's Stockpile, Oversold Cemetery, Buried Alive, Stinkweed Imp, etc. I always give these kinds of cards a few reads just to make sure that I'm not missing anything obvious. As it stands I don't expect to see this card played in a "serious" deck but it never hurts to consider your options.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D Closing Thoughts: I'm a mono-Black mage at heart and so I care way more about this section than I do the others. When I say that I'm excited about a Black card you can take that on face value and assume that I probably know what I'm talking about. If I don't advocate buying a card then it probably means that you can live without it. What, then, am I looking to acquire from this set? 4x Dark Petition, 1x Languish, 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder and something like ~5x Shadows of the Past. Tainted Remedy just doesn't do it for me because I'd rather play Erebos, God of the Dead (one of my favorite EDH Generals btw) because that card is more durable, it's a draw engine, it can attack/block, etc. I'm also not interested in building combo decks that abuse it so I see very little reason to acquire them. Languish I can easily live without but I'm going to grab one for my Cube and maybe one for EDH. I see no reason to play it in Constructed because it's just not that good. I already own more than 4x Fleshbag Marauder and some Read the Bones but make sure to grab those if you don't already have them. Thornbow Archer is cute and I'll steal some from friends for my janky Pulse Tracker, Mardu Shadowspear deck but I'd never actually purchase them. Liliana, Defiant Necromancer is a wild-card but I'm secretly hoping that she fails to live up to her hype so that I can acquire some on the cheap. It'll suck if she turns out to be awesome but that's a risk that I'm willing to take. The only cards that seem legitimately busted to me are Dark Petition and Shadows of the Past which is why I plan on snagging them in large quantities. I can't state definitively that they'll both be awesome but tutors/utility/card draw tend to be much more valuable than generic threats/answers in multiplayer in my experience so I'm willing to invest in cards that have a higher chance of being unfair. Things like Graveblade Marauder and Priest of the Blood Rite can never be broken Magic cards in my mind; there's just a 0% chance that I'll regret not having them in my collection. Still, there could easily come a day where I want to build some busted Constructed/EDH deck that Dark Petitions into a Necropotence or Doomsday or a Control deck that casts a million mass removal spells until it can find some insanely strong win condition/combo kill. Shadows of the Past can enable you to see a lot of cards throughout a game and I'm willing to give them a go in every format.
Red
Abbot of Keral Keep: I wouldn't play a 2/1 Prowess for 2 and the prospect of a free card isn't enough to change that. These kinds of cards are too unreliable and have too little impact to see any amount of serious play.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Avaricious Dragon: Anything that states "discard your hand" on it better be freaking amazing and a creature version of Phyrexian Arena doesn't even come close to qualifying. You basically need an empty hand before you can comfortably cast this thing which is a scary prospect in a multiplayer setting. After all, people are probably going to pounce on the opportunity to mess you up if you just run this out on turn 4 because watching a player lose their strongest threat and their entire hand is almost equivalent to a game loss. Besides, it's not as though a 4/4 flier isn't a realistic win condition by any standards, especially when you need a deck that's low-to-the-ground to support him. Given that you still have to pitch your hand every turn you don't want to draw spells that you can't cast which somewhat rules out bombs such as Insurrection. At the same time cheap burn + creatures are terrible when you're facing multiple adversaries so the "best decks" for this thing aren't exactly good to begin with. I'm always happy to see Red card draw but the drawback here is far too outrageous which makes me think that this thing is unplayable in every format. It's just too hard to discard the discard mechanic when you're pitching your entire hand and even in the best-case scenarios it's hardly game-winning synergy.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh + Chandra, Roaring Flame: Chandra herself can only ping players and given that she's just a 2/2 for 3 there's nothing positive to say about her first form. She has the weakest "creature mode" by far and it's not particularly close. For her to do anything you need to stick something like Curiosity on her but unless you're playing with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind or Guttersnipe that's probably not going to happen. Regardless she's worthless without support which is why I dislike her first form so much. Flipping her doesn't seem especially hard (attack, cast a spell, ping that person) but even then you're faced with the problem of being stuck with a 'Walker with two trivial activated abilities and powerful ultimate (yes, that's generally going to be a drawback). As much as I like the idea of igniting the entire table the card will surely suffer from the Liliana of the Veil problem of "my opponents would have to be brain-dead idiots to allow me to reach this." The only time that I've ever ulted Liliana was in spots where I'd already won the game by casting giant Death Clouds or whatever at which point anything could have finished the job. No one in any of our circles has reached it in a normal, competitive game where people were still jockeying for position. While I could see an argument for playing her in RG decks with Doubling Season (instant ult) that still seems loose given how bad the card naturally is. All-in-all I just can't think of a compelling reason to play her in any format.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Chandra's Ignition: As much as I'm trying to like some of the new Red cards it's hard to get excited when they're unwilling to push anything the right way. A 5 mana Sorcery speed, unreliable and conditional Duneblast is uninspiring to say the least. As such you need some seriously attractive "best-case scenarios" before you should strongly consider running this thing. Sequences that come to mind include big + inexpensive creatures such as Taurean Mauler and/or Malignus, lifelinkers such as Brion Stoutarm (the creature deals the damage), deathtouchers, infecters, things of that nature. The card still seems awkward and marginal even when you have some of those but least they provide you with some additional incentive. The tragedy with this card is that it's just awful against removal and since your opponents are all-but priced into using it that's a worrisome proposition. I don't think that it's particularly good or bad in any one format, not enough to warrant a discussion anyways, so I'll probably just leave it at that.
Global Grade D Cubeworthy
Dragon Fodder: Any token maker is arguably playable in Purphoros, God of the Forge decks (both EDH and Constructed) and things like Shared Animosity/Impact Tremors can also put them to good use. Otherwise I don't think that these "Raise the Alarm" type spells are especially playable, a couple of 1/1s just isn't going to accomplish much, but at some point synergy trumps power at which point these are fine to run. With respect to actual Goblin decks Mogg War Marshal is vastly superior so unless you're desperate for 2 drops, again, don't bother running this. The fact that Goblin Ringleader doesn't nab it is just too much of a disadvantage.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Embermaw Hellion: A 5 mana 4/5 trampler with "Power +1, Spellpower +1" makes for a decent but unexciting midrange beater. At 4 CMC I could've gotten behind it but at 5 there's just not enough going on to get me excited. Ultimately it's just another marginal 5 drop that dies to removal, that has a marginal effect, that doesn't benefit from being copied/cloned/Sneak Attacked/etc. and that doesn't have much relevance at any stage of the game. I have to imagine that you're just plain going to struggle to get any significant value out of this thing in an average game. The best use for it, in my mind, is token/swarm decks since the body is efficient and the global +1/+0 is a welcome addition when you have 10 critters on your side of the field. It stales pales in comparison to something like Eldrazi Monument or Coat of Arms but at least that doesn't sound terrible. While it's not particularly good or bad in any one format I also couldn't name one where I'd expect it to shine. I'd just take a pass on this one if I were you; just stick to things like Siege-Gang Commander and Zealous Conscripts.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Flameshadow Conjuring: Finally we've hit a worthwhile Magic card. Holy Hannah that took a long time! I've always loved Mimic Vat style cards in multiplayer and while Minion Reflector has always proved to be a touch too slow when you slash 1 off of both costs you're suddenly talking about an extremely powerful effect. The vast majority of the most commonly played multiplayer critters (especially ones that're likely to hit play at 4+ mana) have solid ETB and/or combat triggers which means this thing figures to generate obscene amounts of value over the course of a typical match. Solemn Simulacrum, Siege-Gang Commander, Zealous Conscripts, Inferno Titan, Scourge of the Throne, Molten Primordial, Dragon Mage, the list goes on and on of critters that you can pair with it. Paying a single Red mana to nearly double their value an absurd rate which is why I wouldn't be surprised to see this thing played in any Red deck that I see for the next 4-5 years. As long as your deck plays a fair number of "good" creatures it's probably going to want this thing in a big way. It's a no-brainer, must have that you could happily play in any multiplayer format.
Global Grade B Cubeworthy
Ghirapur Æther Grid: As much as I like repeatable sources of removal and inevitability this isn't what I have in mind when I think of multiplayer win conditions. It's far too unreliable for Cube and the power-level isn't present for EDH but this might be a marginal playable in Constructed I guess. Artifact lands make this slightly more palatable, especially if you have some Unwinding Clocks on your side of the field. That still seems loose, you should probably just run a Lux Cannon or whatever, but eh, maybe as 1-of it would be fine...
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Goblin Piledriver: Ignore Cube and let's assume that we're talking about an EDH/Constructed Goblin deck. How good is this guy under the ideal conditions? In my opinion; not very. Cheap, purely aggressive beaters are fairly miserable in multiplayer because mass removal and/or blockers will ruin you but it's not like you can keep him back on D and expect it to accomplish anything. These kinds of cards make decent king-makers in the sense that you'll take someone out before losing but that shouldn't exactly tempt you to field him. Rather, it makes much more sense (in my mind) to field all of the Mogg War Marshals, Goblin Matrons, Goblin Ringleaders, Krenko, Mob Bosses, Siege-Gang Commanders, etc. before sealing the deal with effects such as Shared Animosity, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Coat of Arms, Eldrazi Monument, etc.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Magmatic Insight: A lot of people are telling me that I should like this card but I don't really understand why. Tormenting Voice has never blown me away and I don't see what's so exciting about a cheaper version with more restrictions. Unless you're playing a RG Life from the Loam deck discarding a land isn't going to lead to any turn 2 Animate Deaded Griselbrands so I fail to see why people think that this will be an overpowered Magic card. Hell, I don't even think that it's better than Faithless Looting. If your deck has Loam, ok, sure, I can get behind that. Otherwise, meh, I don't build Red decks that can't put lands number 7 and 8 to use.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Molten Vortex: Speaking of Life from the Loam, it looks like it just found itself another friend. In a perfect world this card is significantly worse than Seismic Assault but for budget-minded players not needing RRR could be a big deal. It's also a new version of the effect which is always relevant for Cube and EDH. My biggest concern with this card is that it feels way too fair to me. While it "only" costs 1 mana to cast it's not free to activate which will seriously dampen your ability to fire it off ~40 times come the lategame. Even if you treat Seismic Assault as a 5-6 mana card I still prefer it because it has a significantly higher power-ceiling once you reach a stage of the game where you're cycling Tranquil Thickets and Forgotten Caves into multiple Dredged Life from the Loams. Beyond that a big strike against both cards is that they're fairly low-impact. While they can grind people out in theory in practice they're slow and unreliable. It's extremely difficult to completely cement a gave in your favor because anything remotely unfair will probably trounce your gameplan. Rather, I like to think of these kinds of cards as strong pieces of removal that have the added benefit of sometimes being win conditions. "Plan A" isn't to ping 200 life down 2 at a time but some % of the time it'll work and that's a sweet bonus.
I still have a hard time liking Molten Vortex in general though. I don't even think that the "good" Seismic Assault decks are noteworthy and this card feels significantly weaker to me. It's better than nothing since it'll give people something to play around with in EDH/Cube if they're so inclined but I have very tempered expectations with respect to its performance.
Constructed Grade C-
Cube + EDH Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Pia and Kiran Nalaar: Mini-Siege-Gang Commander has my interests piqued. Playing 4+ CMC creatures that die to removal at no benefit is rarely where you want to be in a multiplayer setting which makes a card like this an instant playable in my mind. For starters 1/1 fliers are way better than generic 1/1s so please don't be fooled into thinking that this is just a glorified Beetleback Chief. Any evasive beater can become a game-ender eventually, especially if you're packing some solid equipment. A flying Bonehoard is many orders of magnitude more threatening than a Mortivore so don't go discounting those thopters. Moving on, the sac ability is unexciting but given that it's virtually "free" I'm not going to complain. Multiplayer is still filled with small-yet-powerful creatures such as Goblin Welder, Hermit Druid, Crypt Ghast, Master Transmuter and many more that can all take complete control of the game if left unchecked. Shock isn't always going to be great but it can definitely be a necessary evil at times. I do realize that if Shock is bad that a 3 CMC version of the spell that requires a sacrifice is horrendous but if the alternative is to lose to Crypt Ghast then you don't have much of a choice now do you? Otherwise it's a creature with an ETB trigger meaning that it works with Mimic Vat, Sneak Attack, Flameshadow Conjuring, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and all of the other usual suspects. Those aren't overpowered synergies/interactions by any means but it's still potential value. What I like most about this couple is that it's an "every person" card. It may not have a home in the absolute top tier degenerate strategies but for kitchen table players who just want durable threats that don't lose to removal then they're perfect for the job.
Global Grade C Cubeworthy
Ravaging Blaze: I don't mind Clan Defiance but I generally hate 2X burn spells because they're ridiculously slow and awkward to use in my experience. The Spell Mastery bonus is nice and all but you still need 7 mana to kill a 5/5 and dome someone for a significant amount of damage which leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn't laugh at someone for playing the card, in the right setting it can probably hold its own, but in general I don't think that it's a good idea to play with these kinds of cards when you could just as easily slam things like Earthquake into your lists. I'm not altogether sure if I need to rate cards like these, I don't know if people actually question their playability, so feel free to leave comments either way. I try to touch on cards that people might be on the fence about to help push/pull them towards one of the sides which is why I still talk about cards that I consider to be mostly unplayable trash.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Scab-Clan Berserker: The fact that I'm giving this card second and third looks should give you a general idea about the torrid state of Red's cheap creature base. Triggering her Renown seems rather trivial to me, especially in large 5+ player games, so she definitely has that going for her. I like that she's asymmetrical since shooting yourself is a real drawback and a "3/3 for 3" is a somewhat reasonable blocker. I also actively like the mana cost because I love me some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx decks and I mean what better card to jam alongside Eidolon of the Great Revel, Dragon Whisperer, Sulfuric Vortex, Manabarbs, Fanatic of Mogis, etc.? The "burn" plan isn't exactly stellar in a multiplayer setting in general, you usually die before everyone else does, but every time they print an asymmetrical effect the archetype gets that much more competitive. Who knows, one day it may even be legitimately good! It's worth nothing that I think that these kinds of cards are unplayable trash in EDH because 10% of someone's health is a decent amount in Constructed/Cube but 5% may as well be nothing. Of all the weak gameplans to try and enact in the all ramp/tutor/card draw/combo kill format some piddly burn plan is among the worst. I suppose I should probably close by saying that this card gets better the more unfair decks are. Simply put most modern decks (think Standard) are creature-based whereas most eternal decks (think Legacy) are spell-based and you really don't want to play this type card in the former environment. A 3/3 for 3 that pings people for 2-4 over ~5 turns is just terrible because it's going to be significantly worse than that a huge % of the time.
Constructed + Cube Grade D
EDH Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Thopter Engineer: This is closer to a playable than Ravaging Blaze is but only because of the Haste bonus. The "2/4 for 3" doesn't interest me in the least (nor should it appeal to you) but any persistent form of Haste has a home in multiplayer (especially EDH). All of your Steel Overseers, Master Transmuters, Wurmcoil Engines, Myr Battlespheres, etc. get that much more powerful when they have an immediate impact on the game. That being said I would still never play with this card myself but Haste is too powerful of a keyword for me to completely dismiss her. No matter how you slice it she's a no-go for Cube but there's still some possibility for her to exist in the other formats. For example, I think that cards such as Temur Ascendancy and Urabrask the Hidden are criminally underplayed given their power-level and that more people should give "mass Haste" a whirl. If you're playing an Artifact-based deck you'd be amazed at how much of a difference it can make.
Constructed + EDH Grade D-
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D Closing Thoughts: Red was one Flameshadow Conjuring away from an F and I can safely say that it's the only Red card that even remotely interests me. Pia and Kiran Nalaar is a solid playable for fair decks if you're just looking to beat spot removal but don't go tricking yourself into thinking that they're a top-tier threat. At the end of the day it's still just a marginal 4 drop that can't do much other than block and ping a few small critters. The other interesting cards are Magmatic Insight, Molten Vortex and I guess Chandra's Ignition but none of them strike me as being staples in the present and/or near future. The only remotely unfair effect that Red received was a glorified version of Minion Reflector but I'll still happily accept the gift. The silver-lining to this sad tale is that Flameshadow Conjuring figures to overperform in most multiplayer settings regardless of the level of competition. It's an also an effect that will appeal to most people (unlike say Vryn Wingmare) since it's both fun to play with and against which ultimately prevents Red from experiencing a total write-off on the set. It's hard to get excited over a single playable that's still nowhere near the power-level of something like Sneak Attack but it's something :).
Green
Animist's Awakening: I'll starrt by expressing my gratitude that it doesn't specify "basic lands" and having them ETBU is a very real bonus that makes hitting the Spell Mastery worthwhile. It enables you to still resolve something relevant that turn to avoid tapping out "to do nothing" in the later stages of the game. That being said my problem with this card is just that; it doesn't do anything. At X=4 you're looking at a 5 mana Explosive Vegetation of sorts which isn't saying very much. Obviously hitting nonbasics is a plus but it can also whiff and it costs more mana so there are serious drawbacks to consider as well. As cool as it sounds to fire this off at X=10 (or whatever) I can't actually get excited about that because it doesn't actually win the game. Green is likely the single best color at converting 8-10 mana into a game win using a single card (Tooth and Nail, Craterhoof Behemoth, Primal Surge, etc.) so I just don't see where this card fits in the global multiplayer sphere. After all, it's not like you see many Boundless Realms decks and this is basically the same type of card. I tend to think that these "mass ramp" effects (not named Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial) fall into the win-more side of the spectrum but I'll recognize the fact that they're probably a lot of fun to play with even if they aren't uber competitive. I know plenty of people who're excited about this card but ultimately it's just never going to be a staple like Genesis Wave.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Caustic Caterpillar: I've played with and against Yisan, the Wanderer Bard enough in EDH to know that there's a market for these kinds of creatures. From Green Sun's Zenith to Birthing Pod actual CMC matters a lot which makes these kinds of cards significantly more playable than they probably seem. It's also a creature which helps for things like Survival of the Fittest, Eladamri's Call and Oversold Cemetery so don't go thinking that this some terrible 3 mana Naturalize. I can't imagine fielding it in any other format but heed my words when I say that you should grab one for EDH just in case.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen: For 4 mana you get a crappy lord with crappy stats and a crappy set of mismatched abilities. Reach on a critter that wants to attack? Really? I don't like to rate lords harshly in general but the Elf tribe is just so freaking powerful and competitive and so the competition is about as stiff as it gets. I would be shocked to see this in the best versions of the best Elf decks because the reality is that she isn't up-to-snuff. If you want to play with this card because it's fun, cool, affordable, whatever, knock yourself out. It's not terrible or anything, it's just never going to be better than dozens of significantly more powerful alternatives. Oh, and hopefully I don't have to say this for every Elf card but these are clearly terrible in Cube unless you support the Tribe in a big way. I'm kinda hoping that that's obvious so don't be surprised if I don't explicitly state it for every card.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Dwynen's Elite: I won't speculate on it's playability in 1v1 decks but I can tell you that this thing is virtually unplayable in multiplayer in my mind. It doesn't draw cards, it doesn't tap for mana, it doesn't do anything except attack and block. Sure, you can Wirewood Symbiote it to generate 1/1s, but is that really what you want to be doing in a MP setting? If your plan to win involves turning small creatures sideways then you're fighting a losing battle my friends. Stick to the cards that have relevant for text for multiplayer purposes and ignore the ones trying to play Watchwolf. The only reason I won't give this an F is because I've lost plenty of games to Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Thunderfoot Baloth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Craterhoof Behemoth, etc. and so I could see a world when the 2 bodies was "good enough" to see play. I'm still extremely skeptical but Green decks are just so good in formats such as EDH that I can't discount any multi-bodied Elf. I'll hang on to 1 just in case but I couldn't imagine needing more than that.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Elemental Bond: We've come a long way since Kavu Lair my friends. If it's one trend that I've consistently noticed when playing multiplayer it's that newer players tend to underestimate the value of mana acceleration and card advantage across every format. Be it EDH, Cube or Constructed if you're not consistently acquiring card advantage then you're probably not going to fare very well in your games. While EDH puts a higher emphasis on tutors it's still imperative to avoid finding yourself in topdeck mode in the mid-to-lategame which is why I'm always bothered when people omit things like Skullclamp and Sylvan Library from their lists. Given that creatures such as Kalonian Tusker exist it's safe to say that you can easily build decks in which the vast majority of the creatures will trigger this badboy. I imagine that you'll still want to play some cheap acceleration such as Elvish Mystic but I'm not going to lose any sleep if a handful of the creatures in my brews fail to trigger this thing. Realistically speaking you just need cast 3 creatures before it becomes actively good and everything beyond that is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. That's not asking for very much even if it's just your 4+ drops that actually trigger it. Given that you can consistently jam this thing on turn 2 off of a turn 1 accelerant that seems more than reasonable to me. Beyond that it literally doesn't matter what you pair it with as long as they're competitive creatures with 3 or more power. This is just a solid card in every format (although it's probably at its worst in Cube) and I expect to see it bunch in both EDH and Constructed.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade C Cubeworthy
Elvish Visionary: This is what a 2 drop Elf should look like in my mind. Between Wirewood Symbiote and Skullclamp it can generate a ton of card advantage but even as a standalone effect it's still a threat that cantrips. Elf decks typically need a critical mass of threats and mana before they can seal the deal which is why these kinds of filler cards are perfect. You want cheap bodies to fuel mana engines such as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Gaea's Cradle, Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid but at the same time you don't want to "waste" those slots on generic beaters such as Dwynen's Elite that have no other significant value. They dig you into the cards that you'll need while providing you with bodies to fuel your inevitable Ezuri, Renegade Leader/Craterhoof Behemoth style finishers. It's also important to note that can happily play these kinds of cards outside of dedicated Elf decks insofar as you're just looking to rip through your deck and/or fuel cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx/Gaea's Cradle. I've happily played 4 alongside creatures such as Wistful Selkie/Yavimaya Elder and Masked Admirers/Eidolon of Blossoms if for no other reason than to avoid card disadvantage while digging towards cards like Genesis Wave, Primeval Titan, Sylvan Primordial, Tooth and Nail, Primal Surge, etc. that can all take complete control of the game. In Cube the card is playable but unexciting because you're usually better off playing ramp in that slot since you're rarely going to be able to abuse a card like Gaea's Cradle unless you get very lucky and somehow avoid mass removal.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Evolutionary Leap: Finally Green has an amazing sac outlet. Anyone who's ever sleeved up a whack of Forests probably knows all too well what it's like to have your dudes killed by removal. Up until now there's been nothing remotely playable that they could use to offset the risk of being Doom Bladed out of the game which has left many Green mages sad pandas. While this card isn't the next Survival of the Fittest it's going to see play in 100% of my Constructed/EDH/Cube decks as a means of blanking spot removal and converting my mana dorks into threats in the later stages of the game. I realize that that last part is a relatively mana intensive process but paying GG to "Cycle" an Elvish Mystic isn't overly taxing. Another thing that I like about this card is that it creates plenty of deckbuilding opportunities that might normally go overlooked. Instead of fielding Elvish Mystic and Sakura-Tribe Elder you can jam Utopia Sprawl and Fertile Ground (or whatever) into your brews and leave yourself with nothing but "hits." Alternatively you can still field your mana dorks because you'll always have an opportunity to trade them up in the later stages of the game. It also makes things like Strangleroot Geist, Viridian Emissary, Elvish Visionary, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Elder, Solemn Simulacrum, Thragtusk, token generators, on and on and on that much more appealing. Worst comes to worst you get your value and dig for another critter to keep the chain going ala Birthing Pod. I also want to stress that throughout this time this card has been making life miserable for people trying to beat you with removal because all of those exchanges will be horrendously unfavorable for them. I'm not saying that you're forced to keep mana up for the entire game but the option will always be there which should drastically reduce the risk of over-extending. This is just a total bomb that everyone needs to acquire because it's good in 100% of Green decks across all formats. You might not run 4, I could easily see an argument for treating this like a Sylvan Library type effect, but cutting the first from any Green deck seems like it would be a big mistake to me. My only hope is that it doesn't cost millions of dollars because I really want casual players to be able to get their hands on as many copies as they desire.
Global Grade B+ Cubeworthy
Gaea's Revenge: Once upon a time I advocated playing this card given his ability to trounce non-interactive control decks that sought to seize control of the game with removal and counters. Fast forward many years to the present and Magic is all about creatures and so your 7 drop is basically just trading for a 5 drop at no additional benefit. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Anyways, I don't expect this type of finisher to see play, especially in formats like EDH where it doesn't even come close to sealing a game in your favor. This thing can connect with someone twice and they literally wouldn't have to bat an eye at it. Meanwhile cards like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Thunderfoot Baloth, Craterhoof Behemoth, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and more can decimate an entire table with little-to-no effort. Sorry GR, at some point in the distant past you were a reasonable Magic card but now you just sheepishly trade for half of a Thragtusk before crying yourself to sleep in the corner of your room.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Gather the Pack: As someone who's resolved his fair share of Grisly Salvages I'm going to be picking up a few of these just in case. BG/x graveyard-based decks have been a staple for quite some time now and so anything cheap that can dump a whack of cards into your 'yard is a potential playable. The fact that this can only nab creatures is a bit of a letdown and the Spell Mastery bonus isn't quite enough to offset that in my mind. I'm inclined to think that lists will only run 1-2 of these to support playsets of more powerful cards (Grisly Salvage, Commune with the Gods) but until I can play with the thing it's kind of hard to say one way or another. In general I prefer versions of the deck that abuse things like Animate Dead, Necromancy and Diabolic Servitude whereas a card like Gather the Pack works better with things like Reanimate, Exhume and Dread Return. I don't know how significant these small differences are but it's enough to make me question its playability.
Regardless of how it fares in Constructed the best home for this card is probably EDH. The most competitive versions of The Mimeoplasm, Karador, Ghost Chieftain, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord etc. won't field it but who really cares? This is the exact style of card that those kinds of decks want and they won't cost you a ton of money like Intuition and whatnot will. Reanimator decks are extremely powerful in my experience, especially since it's so easy to Survival of the Fittest/Buried Alive/Intuition for Necrotic Ooze with a Triskelion + Phyrexian Devourer in your graveyard. At that point you can just exile the top card of your library and shoot people until you win and no amount of spot removal can thwart you. Even ignoring Ooze combos you can still do busted things with Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Boonweaver Giant + Pattern of Rebirth to put your entire deck into play, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Iona, Shield of Emeria, etc. From combo kills to busted fatties games can virtually end as early as turn 2 which makes it one of the premiere archetypes of the format and Gather the Pack is the type of spell that can make the strategy sing.
EDH Grade C
Constructed Grade C-
Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
The Great Aurora: Do the people who look at this and say "wow that's an amazing board wipe" realize that they're referring to a 9 mana spell? I'm legitimately curious because I have no idea how anyone can get excited over hot garbage such as this. I know that I rag on people who call every big spell "good in EDH" a lot but sometimes I question if they could even explain the rules of the format let alone share personal experiences playing it. Like, let's get real people, this isn't the next Ugin, the Spirit Dragon or anything. It's some wonky Perilous Vault + Time Walk hybrid that drastically alters the state of the game but by no means does it lock the game up for you. It can be fun, it can be cool, it can make for interesting stories, it can be all of those things and more but it's never going to be competitive as far as I'm concerned. Craterhoof Behemoth, Tooth and Nail, Primal Surge and more represent cards that actually win the game for 8-10 mana so when people start lauding the efforts of a 9 mana board wipe I'm left scratching my head. Wouldn't you rather just outright win the game? Now, let's make something clear. I get that it can do some fancy Warp World shenanigans by abusing tokens to increase your cards drawn. I get that it can hose combo/control decks that cheat on lands. I get that it "kills everything" even it's hexproof or indestructible. I get that the lands are untapped so it's virtually "free." None of these facts are lost on me. What is lost on me is why you wouldn't rather cast a spell that figuratively wins games. After all, EDH isn't a format where you can blindly start on 6 CMC and go up from there. When you add this type of card to your lists it's coming at the expense of another 8+ CMC finisher. Given that there's dozens of superior alternatives for you to choose from it's hard to imagine scenarios where this thing makes the cut.
With respect to Constructed I see no reason to think that this card would ever be remotely playable. I refuse to believe that it's abusable with things like Dream Halls or Omniscience given that you'll be forced to re-shuffle the Enchantments back into your library and I mean I don't see how it could possibly beat Warp World at its own game. Between Tunnel Ignus and Archivist effects it's trivially easy to kill people with WW and the fact that GA exiles itself means that it's hard to go too deep off of it. If there's something legitimately powerful that you can do with this in Constructed let me know because I'm unwilling to expend mental energy trying to make it work.
In Cube it's just a 9 mana spell that doesn't win the game. 'Nuff said.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Herald of the Pantheon: Much like the other "Enchantments matter" cards don't bother with these kinds of effects in Cube unless you're actively trying to support Enchantress decks. They're far too narrow to provide adequate value in most builds.
With respect to Constructed and EDH, this is a mid-tier playable. The reason why Enchantment-based decks are so powerful is because no amount of creature removal significantly affects them. When you curve Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl into Argothian Enchantress/Enchantress's Presence/Eidolon of Blossoms and proceed to jam cards like Elephant Grass, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety before sealing the deal with Luminarch Ascension/Sigil of the Empty Throne the reason it works is because no one can interact with you. Opposing creatures become anemic threats, removal becomes worthless, everything becomes inconsequential. This card will never be amazing in those kinds of lists simply because it dies to removal. In deck with few-to-no other targets for removal that's a much bigger strike against it than you probably think. After all, you're basically just mulliganing every time that you draw one. In a vacuum the Grizzly Bears + Emerald Medallion + Staff of the Wild Magus sounds powerful but if the creature just dies then it's not exactly fantastic.
That being said there are still ways to make this card work in Constructed/EDH formats. While I've explained why the "best" versions of the best Enchantress decks might not want this card that still doesn't mean that "good" versions couldn't effectively employ him. Green Sun's Zenith has become a staple in most of those builds (to fetch things like Argothian Enchantress and Eidolon of Blossoms) and having some of these as optional targets isn't the strangest idea that I've ever heard. It's also very possible to build versions of the deck with Mesa Enchantress and Verduran Enchantress at which point you probably want to run cards like Dense Foliage to begin with. Once this guy gets Hexproof you can at least dodge spot removal which is better than nothing. The idea here is that there's tons of ways to build these kinds of decks and they don't all have to be the absolute most cutthroat versions possible. This a powerful creature with 2 amazing effects that should be a lot of fun to play with. I still can't bring myself to give the card an especially high rating but please don't let that stop you from giving it a go in your own lists.
EDH + Constructed Grade C
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Honored Hierarch: Swing and a miss on this one. Best-case scenario it starts ramping on turn 3 meanwhile you've wasted an entire turn hitting someone for 1... in multiplayer. Given the choice of having a 2 power beater to actively piss someone off or having a critter that starts ramping a full turn earlier it's a no-brainer for me. Stick to the mana dorks like Elvish Mystic and Arbor Elf.
Llanowar Empath: Even if this just drew a card it still wouldn't be playable. Eidolon of Blossoms is fine because she can provide an insane amount of card advantage over time but something like this just isn't good enough to earn a slot.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Managorger Hydra: The only keyword that I've ever wanted on Taurean Mauler was Trample and this thing even triggers off of your spells ala Forgotten Ancient. Green is also the de facto +1/+1 counter color in my experience and a day doesn't pass that I don't see cards like Kalonian Hydra and Doubling Season making their way into decks. While it's completely true that this is just another big dumb Green idiots who's likely going to die to removal the truth is that I don't really care. Taurean Mauler has been underperforming for me for 7 years yet I'm still happy to play it and I'll be damned if I don't play the Hell out of this card for the foreseeable future. Besides, this provides me with even more incentive to jam cards like Dense Foliage into my decks and some point I'll be able to play 2-3 and feel actively good about it. Turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Foliage, turn 3 Hydra is a pretty sick draw and basically forces mass removal on its own. Otherwise, again, this card has tons of inherent synergy with all of the "+1/+1 counters matter" cards and sometimes you'll just "get" people with your 3 mana 10/10 Trampler. They won't have removal for it 100% of the time.
Global Grade B Cubeworthy
Nissa, Vastwood Seer + Nissa, Sage Animist: Can someone please enlighten me as to the last time people were happy to play Borderland Ranger? I'm not saying that it's never seen competitive play, I just don't understand why so many people are hyped over a bad version of a nearly unplayable card. Critters such as Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf are powerful because they provide immediate ramp and the latter even color fixes. Nissa here doesn't provide you with an immediate mana advantage nor does she help you nab that 2nd-3rd color that you might be lacking. In formats such as Cube and EDH that's usually a tremendous drawback since it often means you're waiting additional turns to jam your Commander and/or powerful spells. I also refuse to acknowledge the 2/2 body as a significant benefit, especially in EDH, because you're not fooling anyone by calling that "pressure" or "a deterrent." To people's credit the flipped version of Nissa is decent given that her +1 is just plain better than drawing a card and her -2 does add to your board. I don't expect a 4/4 to be relevant when people have access to 7+ lands but it's better than nothing I guess. I like her ultimate, that's a lot of burst damage to be threatening, but you can't even Doubling Season into it which is kind of a shame. Then again even if you could you probably wouldn't want to because at that point you're just dead to a mass removal spell and king-making isn't exactly a profitable strategy. In summary I just don't see why you'd ever want to play with a marginal version of a virtually unplayed card (Borderland Ranger) just for the off-chance that it draws a card or two in the ultra lategame. I would much rather stick to my Cultivates and Wood Elves and rely on cards like Maelstrom Wanderer to win my games as opposed to puny 4/4s and/or random cards. I'm always willing to be wrong about these kinds of cards but she really doesn't strike me as being anything special.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Nissa's Pilgrimage: Cultivate and Kodama's Reach should suffice for Cube and Constructed but I see very little reason to omit this from most Green EDH decks. The fact that it can only fetch basic Forests obviously sucks but I still have to imagine that you're going to play this thing more often than not. It's 2-3 cards + ramp for 3 mana and a card which is a perfectly fine rate as far as I'm concerned. In my mind the best Green EDH decks start with a dork on 1 and follow it up with another piece of ramp (assuming that their general doesn't cost 3 or less mana obviously) and you could do far worse than something like this.
EDH Grade B
Cube + Constructed Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Nissa's Revelation: The hits just keep on coming for Green. When I first read this card I couldn't help but think of Sphinx's Revelation because that's exactly what this is for ramp decks. In an ideal world everyone would be able to afford things like Green Sun's Zenith and Genesis Wave for their lists but unfortunately the real world is influenced by supply and demand. Good cards are expensive and that makes it hard for average players to build competitive decks on reasonable budgets. What I love about this card is that it enables budget-minded players to build lists that have access to a powerful draw engine that even gains them some life. I realize that Scry 5 means that there's always going to be some degree of risk involved but that's not enough to dissuade me from promoting this thing. It may not be the next Tooth and Nail but if it's ~$1.00 like I anticipate that it'll be then it serves a critical role in the casual community. Up until now I've had to push things like Lifeblood Hydra and Harmonize but even those are creeping well past the "budget" market. Assuming that this card is virtually free it'll mean that players of all walks of life can jam 4 of them in builds filled with ramp and fatties to ensure a continuous supply of cards and health. You may need to tweak your lists slightly to support it (more cards like Polukranos, World Eater, fewer critters such as Forgotten Ancient) but I still think that this is a solid playable that everyone should acquire.
One thing that I'll caution is that this card probably won't make the cut in EDH simply because it's hard to have a deck that's threat-dense enough to support it. More often than not lists feature a small number of extremely powerful finishers that they can tutor for and/or draw into as opposed to simply filling their 99 with a ton of fat. This is primarily because you're able to run powerful generals such as Maelstrom Wanderer that function as fatties that you'll always have access to. In that sense I think of this more as a Constructed/Cube card but obviously some % of EDH lists will have enough battlecruisers to support it. Generals such as Momir Vig, Simic Visionary certainly help and I haven't see a Green list that hasn't run Sylvan Library so by no means is the card unplayable in the format. It's just significantly easier to Mirri's Guile/Sensei's Divining Top/Brainstorm/Sylvan Library something big on top of your library when your deck has fewer cards in it.
Constructed + Cube Grade B
EDH Grade C Cubeworthy
Reclaim: You may as well go ahead and assume that this card isn't isn't remotely playable in any setting. Regrowth and Eternal Witness are infinitely superior alternatives as they don't inherently cause card disadvantage. 1-for-0s need to be on Vampiric Tutor's level in order to be actively good in most settings and a wanna-be Regrowth doesn't even come close to qualifying. There's no reason to ever field this thing; not even in EDH.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Sylvan Messenger: Obviously this card is useless in Cube unless you support Elf tribal so let's just go ahead and ignore that format.
Moving on to EDH I don't think that she's amazing/mandatory but that's mostly because every Elfball EDH deck is going to differ with respect to its total number of Elves. Some have close to 50 whereas others have as few as 25 so you'll just have to run the numbers yourself and see how likely you are to hit at least 2 bodies and decide from there. Personally I see more of the ~50 creature decks than the ~25 creature decks so the card has always been decent for the people in my circles. YMMV but I've never seen much of a reason to cut her. Unless you've substantially cut back on the critter count she's going to hold her own. Either way let's shift the focus towards Constructed since that's the most pertinent format for the card in my mind.
While it's true that Elf decks have access to superioroptions with respect to card draw that doesn't change the fact that Sylvan Messenger is an extremely powerful Magic card. Elf decks play Wirewood Symbiote for a reason and if you thought that casting this card once was good try doing it 2-3 times per circuit. While it's true that a 2/2 Trampler for 4 is a ridiculous set of stats she could be a vanilla 1/1 for all I care because it realistically wouldn't change anything significant about the card. I'll be the first to acknowledge that the absolute best versions of the absolute best Elf decks frequently omit her but until things like Glimpse of Nature dramatically decrease in price I see absolutely no reason to hate on a "Goblin Ringleader" style threat played in decks that employ an extremely powerful bounce critter. For this card to be actively bad the other decks in your meta have to be insanely good and that's just not what I'd expect from a typical MP meta. So yeah, by all means, grab your 4-5 copies and play the maximum number of copies in all of your pertinent lists.
Constructed Grade B+
EDH Grade C
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Valeron Wardens: While this would be playable if it were a 3/5 for 3 that draws a card the conditional aspect makes her significantly less appealing as far as I'm concerned. Wood Elves, Courser of Kruphix, Yavimaya Elder, Reclamation Sage... why risk missing out on your 2-for-1 for a slightly bigger body?
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Woodland Bellower: Between Scavenging Ooze, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, Fauna Shaman, Eternal Witness, Courser of Kruphix, Reclamation Sage and Fierce Empath there's a ton of inherently awesome things to fetch with this guy. Keep in mind that that's even before you start taking multicolored options such as Gaddock Teeg, Qasali Pridemage and Edric, Spymaster of Trest into account. While we aren't exactly looking at the next Primeval Titan we're still dealing with a juicy 6 drop that laughs in the face removal and which provides additional consistency and tutoring to your lists. I'll be the first person to admit that a vanilla 6/5 is hardly impressive and not something that I'd ever expect to win a multiplayer game but at the same time it's not horrendous or anything. It still trades with Titans/Souls and given that you can just Fierce Empath for finishers such as Thunderfoot Baloth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Craterhoof Behemoth it shouldn't be that hard to put his body to use. He's probably at his worst in Cube but that isn't saying much because he's still probably going to make the cut in the vast majority of your lists. One thing to note is that since he's a Beast so if you do pair him with cards such as Urza's Incubator and/or Krosan Warchief it's possible to create large chains of Bellowers + Fierce Empaths very early on. You don't need cost reduction effects, time also works, but the point is simply that there are numerous approaches for Constructed versions of the deck. I'm really hoping that this card end up being affordable, I hope that it sees 0 Standard play at all, because I want casual players to be able to pick them for their lists as a Primeval Titan substitute.
Global Grade B Cubeworthy
Zendikar's Roil: I like grindy cards as much as the next guy but it takes about twenty 2/2s to win a multiplayer game and that's just asking for way too much in my opinion. Even in lists with 8-12 Fetchlands it's not as though you'll be able to sandbag them all until you hit 5+ mana. It does make those Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanses slightly more tolerable but don't trick yourself into thinking that ~four 2/2s is a big game. Unless your plan of attack involves curving Sylvan Primordial into Genesis Wave/Scapeshift you'll probably struggle to get your money's worth on this thing and even then any mass removal spell will still do you in. I'm not saying that this thing is unplayable, it's just significantly weaker than you probably think. Small creatures just aren't very good at closing games out because it takes significantly fewer blockers than some people might otherwise think to blank them. Unless your games run extremely long and/or you're jamming a ton of lands into play I wouldn't bother with this card personally.
Global Grade C- Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: B Closing Thoughts: I would have settled for Evolutionary Leap but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Woodland Bellower will hopefully become a budget Primeval Titan given its ability to abuse things like Fierce Empath and Eternal Witness to generate a ton of card advantage. On the casual end of the spectrum we have Nissa's Revelation which does a pretty decent Sphinx's Revelation impersonation if I do say so myself. It may not be the most competitive card in the world but assuming that it's cheap it'll find an immediate home in all of those Green decks in desperate need of affordable card advantage. There's also Herald of the Pantheon and Zendikar's Roil which are both decent cards that will surely appeal to the casual playerbase. Any free + powerful + persistent effect is going to turn heads and these were pushed just enough to tantalize the imagination. Managorger Hydra may simply be another big idiot who dies to removal but I love that card design to death and I'm looking forward to nabbing some for my collection. Nissa's Pilgrimage seems like an easy staple for EDH give the ubiquitous nature of Cultivate and Kodama's Reach. It might not make the cut in every deck but most of them will probably elect to field it. Moreover, Elf decks received some awesome reprints in the form of Elvish Visionary and Sylvan Messenger which are both extremely competitive Magic cards. Lastly, even Caustic Caterpillar has a good shot at seeing competitive play, especially if we start seeing more cards like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and Birthing Pod in formats such as EDH. All-in-all it was an embarrassment of riches for Green this time around as the color blew the others out of the park.
Multicolor
Blazing Hellhound: Good sac outlets tend to be cheap, free to activate and typically have worthwhile effects. This is none of those things.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Blood-Cursed Knight: A 3/2 for 3 is obviously unplayable and the prospect of a big lifelinker isn't enough to convince me that this is a solid Magic card. Even if it were simply a 4/3 lifelinker for 3 that's still basically only going to see play in Constructed assuming that your meta was on the aggressive side of the spectrum and that you needed early blockers. Given that some % of the time this card is just worthless I can't say that I recommend acquiring them.
Constructed Grade D-
EDH + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Citadel Castellan: A vigilant 4/5 for 3 is still basically just a Leatherback Baloth which isn't a card that you generally want to field in a MP setting. Medium-sized beaters can only take you so far because turning them sideways is probably the worst possibly way to go about winning. Vigilance obviously helps since your attacks become "free" but that's still an extremely fair gameplan that probably won't cut it in most settings.
Constructed Grade D-
EDH + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Possessed Skaab: The fact that it's a Snapcaster Mage of sorts makes me think that there's a home for this in EDH. Every Thraximundar deck that I've ever faced has played Rooftop Storm and so if you're aggressively tutoring for it anyways then this card could potentially make its way into the 99. This obviously also applies to Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and other Zombie EDH decks as well but the most competitive list is probably Anthrax himself which is why I used him as the primary example. The card seems mostly unplayable otherwise though.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Reclusive Artificer: A 2/3 Haste for 4? Right... Either way this card is actually decent in the right shell, namely one that fields things like Darksteel Citadel, Seat of the Synod, Great Furnace, Mox Opal, Thoughtcast, etc. At some point she becomes a Flametongue Kavu which is a decent playable in most settings. She's obviously complete garbage in formats such as Cube and even in EDH I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeving her up. Not only is she low impact but you'll struggle to get value from the 2/3 body and it'll be tough to guarantee kills with her nuke. I still think that she has a shot in Constructed though because it's just so easy to play a deck that's comprised almost entire of artifacts and she definitely holds her own in those kinds of scenarios.
Constructed Grade D+
EDH + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Thunderclap Wyvern: Lords are usually worthless in Cube but otherwise people can't seem to get enough of them. The stats on this thing aren't impressing by any means by anyone playing a UW/x "fliers" deck is still probably going to want some. If you're curving Pride of the Clouds into Warden of Evos Isle into Radiant, Archangel I just have to imagine that you'll be in the market for this as well. This is one of those things where true playability doesn't matter insofar as it promotes synergy and enables people to dream big. I don't personally care for it but at the same time I know that it will make a lot of casual players happy and that in turn makes me happy.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D- Closing Thought: Nothing stands out to me as a powerful playable that you should make a concerted effort to acquire. I could easily live without all of these.
Artifact
Alchemist's Vial: Anytime you see a cheap artifact that says "draw a card" on it think of Second Sunrise, Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults. By combining the two it becomes ridiculously easy to draw your entire deck, generate arbitrarily large sums of mana (think Krark-Clan Ironworks) and kill people with just about anything under the sun. The end goal is usually to draw your deck, enter an infinite combo where you sacrifice Pyrite Spellbomb to deal 2 damage, recur it with one of your White spells, put it on the bottom of your library and redraw it with Conjurer's Bauble. While I couldn't imagine playing this card in any other archetype (and even then it's probably not optimal) it's worth keeping all that in mind.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Alhammarret's Archive: I'm going to start by saying that these kinds of cards are terrible in Cube (too slow and inconsistent) and they're virtually always going to be too clunky for Constructed. Remember, we're not talking about a Staff of Nin-esque draw engine that naturally rips an additional card per turn. Your 5 mana investment inherently returns nothing. Even if you then cast a draw spell, say Jace's Ingenuity, you've still paid 5 Sorcery-speed mana to draw 3 cards on a later turn. That's terrible. Realistically you have to cast at least 2-3 decent draw spells before you'll see a return on this type of investment. Doubling lifegain is "fine" too obviously but Boon Reflection never has and never will a strong playable in any format so think of that as a bonus and not the primary benefit (unless you're playing a dedicated lifegain deck obviously). Anyways, this is the reason why you don't see cards like Doubling Cube and Mirari's Wake very frequently in Constructed. They're slow, mana intensive and require that you draw and play other powerful spells prior to sticking them. By the time you start being paid dividends the game can already be over.
Moving on I'd like to address to subject of EDH. While there are plenty of different ways to analyze this card in the format I want to stress that it's still a 5 mana spell that "doesn't do anything." As such the best versions of the best decks probably won't play it. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that the absolutely most competitive version of Oloro, Ageless Ascetic wouldn't even touch it. Ultra competitive EDH is a turn 4 format and even tier 1.5 decks are still winning games on turns 5-6 with reasonable consistency so this is by no means some insane bomb that will revolutionize the format. I'm not saying that it's unplayable, I'm just reminding everyone that "good in EDH" means different things to different people so don't be surprised when you see a card like this that has a ton of lovers and haters. The fact of the matter is that it'll be a bomb in some circles and a complete dud in others.
With that out of the way I want to stress that I do still love this card for EDH. While there's a very small subset of people who play Magic at an ultra-competitive level it represents but a tiny fraction of the total MTG population. The vast majority of Magic players sling it casually on kitchen tables and not in LGSes or venues competing for points. While the best versions of the best decks won't field this thing it's perfect for the overwhelming majority who just want to play big silly cards with over-the-top effects. This doesn't mean that you should play with bad cards like Alhammarret, High Arbiter but you should feel free to go nuts with extremely fun and powerful build-around-mes. Hammy's Archive is a powerful card in the context of a fair, grindy, 10+ turn game of Magic in which you draw cards and gain life on a consistent basis. Moreover, these kinds of cards also lead to fun and exciting stories which are usually more important than the results of the match. Curving one of these into a Sphinx's Revelation is just plain fun and win or lose it's something that you're going to remember. That's why these kinds of cards are so important to the health of the game: they get people excited and coming back for more.
EDH Grade B
Constructed Grade C
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Chief of the Foundry: It's no Master of Etherium but I have to imagine that people playing decks with Steel Overseer and Cranial Plating are probably going to want this guy. While I wouldn't label him as "competitive" I have a healthy amount of respect for cards that make casual players happy and any Lord qualifies in that department. People love playing with them no matter how good/bad they actually are because the effect feels relatively unique, powerful and fun to experiment with. Just don't go jamming this thing into your Cubes because he's not going to accomplish much of anything.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Hangarback Walker: Now this is what I'm looking for in a scaling threat. I want to start by saying that this is a 2 drop and that you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking that this card is a bomb that scales well into the lategame. Paying 10 mana for a vanilla 5/5 that does something when it dies isn't much of payoff. Rather, this card is at its best when it's jammed on turn 2 or 3 (turn 3 following a turn 2 mana rock is sweet) at which point you can grow it whenever you have spare mana and not have to worry about what happens to it. Obviously if you have nothing better to do with your mana just run it out for as much as you can but I don't see any reason to sandbag it in the hopes of a "big payday" down the road. By jamming it early on it doesn't matter how big it gets nor when it dies because at that point it's a low risk investment with a potentially high reward. If you pay 6 mana total for a 5/5 that produces 5 1/1 fliers when it dies then that's a good deal. If you never get there, well, that's ok too. Don't feel as though you must grow it every turn and don't sweat it if your 2 drop doesn't win the game.
Helm of the Gods: I'll give the usual disclaimer that these kinds of cards are worthless in Cube and remind you that the other ratings reflect the card as it exists within the sphere dedicated Enchantment decks. It just makes absolutely no sense to rate it "in a vacuum." Ethereal Armor is an extremely powerful Magic card when you're jamming them on a Slippery Bogle/Gladecover Scout type threat (i.e. a cheap Hexproofer) and are then following it up with something like Daybreak Coronet. It kinda sucks that this card is an Artifact and given that it has a non-0 equip cost it's probably just worse than Ancestral Mask but the option is still there to play it if you want more cheap pump spells for your Bogle decks. I wouldn't expect those shells to play it over their current suite of Auras, especially versions of the deck with Daybreak Coronet, but it's possible that running 1-2 turns out to be correct. The other archetype that could play it would be the Enchantress style Prison decks who could, in theory, pair it with something like Mobilization to beat people down. I can't tell you why you'd ever elect to run that over Rest in Peace + Helm of Obedience, Luminarch Ascension, Sigil of the Empty Throne or any other good win condition for that matter but it's an option I guess. Otherwise I couldn't even begin to imagine a single EDH deck that would play this thing either, the Voltron generals have access to vastly superior options, but maybe the Bant pillow-fort deck (think Stony Silence, Sterling GroveRest in Peace, Solitary Confinement, Ghostly Prion, Propaganda, Sphere of Safety, etc.) might play it for Commander damage kill potential. It's unlikely, I'd never add it to my own versions of the deck, but it's conceivable.
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Jayemdae Tome: Not remotely playable in any format. If you've sleeving this up in EDH (I don't care if you're playing mono-White/Red) then you're doing it wrong. When you're paying 16 mana for a Jace's Ingenuity or 20 mana for an Opportunity there's just no possible way for you to be pulling ahead of a serious multiplayer group. You're just spinning your wheels and delaying the inevitable.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Mage-Ring Responder: This card it trash. Hell, it would still be trash even if it didn't cost 7 to untap. That my friends should tell you everything that you need to know about its playability lol. Myr Battlesphere or this? Wurmcoil Engine or this? Sundering Titan or this? Sylvan Primordial or this? Sepulchral Primordial or this? Angel of Serenity or this? Deadeye Navigator or this? Insurrection or this? Yeah, we're done here. This is a 7 drop that doesn't even come remotely close to winning the game in a world where plenty of alternatives can. The fact that it has to attack in order to extract any significant value is just sad.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Orbs of Warding: I can't remember the last time that I've seen Witchbane Orb played and a 5 mana version with a trivial upside probably isn't going to drastically alter that figure. Very few decks must target players in order to win games and MP isn't the time nor the place to whip out lists filled with burn and/or targeted discard. Unless you're trying to counter a specific subset of combo decks the effect isn't especially relevant in most games. I still plan on acquiring a copy of this card, you never know when you'll need it for EDH or Cube, but I wouldn't maindeck this effect unless I had a strong suspicion that I'd need it.
Global Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Prism Ring: Pure lifegain in all of its forms has never been especially competitive and I don't see why this card would break that mold. While I could easily envision games where it gains 10-15 life (if not more) that figure doesn't impress me because MP typically has nothing to do with racing, trading hits, burning players out, etc. When someone wins it's usually in a spectacular fashion and it's not uncommon to see 3 digits of damage dealt during the final turns of games. While 10-15 life may buffer you against Exsanguinate effects you're still fighting a losing battle at that point because "bad spells" are rarely effective answers to "good spells." You basically have to be doing something powerful/unfair yourself because otherwise you're just delaying the inevitable. I'm also ignoring all of the occasions where you don't draw this on turn 1, when it dies to mass removal, where people play combo decks, etc. so when you think about there's not much going for this thing. I can somewhat get behind Sun Droplet, I don't play it myself but I can see why others would, but this isn't on that level I don't think.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Pyromancer's Goggles: I'll echo what I said about Alhammarret's Archive in that this card is probably too slow for Constructed and too conditional for Cube which realistically only leaves EDH. While I like the idea of paying negative mana for a Reverberate effect what worries me about this card is how few Red spells actually benefit from doubling. Red deck typically play cards such as Vandalblast, Past in Flames, Ruination, Obliterate, Blasphemous Act and Insurrection that just plain don't benefit from being doubled. Now, it obviously also plays cards like Gamble, Comet Storm, Chaos Warp and Mana Geyser as well, I'm not suggesting otherwise, but my point is that a large % of its spells won't benefit from a Fork. Remember, a big reason why Reverberate and Wild Ricochet are employed is because they can target opposing spells so they're realistically never going to be dead. The Goggles, on the other hand, sometimes they do nothing. It's also worth nothing that whereas duel decks usually play a ton of spells like Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, again, you just won't see those in large numbers in a multiplayer sphere. All-in-all I have low expectations for this thing and I don't really expect it to make many waves. I jope to one day be proven wrong about it, I'd love for this kind of card to be actively good, I just don't see how that's probably when it figures to have no effect on a huge % of your spells.
EDH Rating D+
Constructed Rating D
Cube Rating F Not Cubeworthy
Sigil of Valor: Most people probably just glossed over this card but it's way closer to being playable than you probably think. Any piece of Equipment that's cheap to cast and Equip but that still has a potentially powerful effect is worth considering in your creature-based builds. I can almost guarantee you that if it didn't say "each other creature" that it would basically be a staple. I've played against Sublime Archangel enough to know just how powerful that effect is and while you lose the 4/3 flier you gain a ton of durability. Ultimately I don't think that this card makes the cut, that "lost" +1/+1 does break it for me, but this significantly closer to being a legitimate bomb than most of the crap that Wizards has churned out in these past few years.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Sword of the Animist: This card reminds me of Mask of Memory in many ways. While it'll never rival uber equipment such as Skullclamp and/or Sword of Light and Shadow it's still powerful enough to provide a lot of value in a casual, multiplayer setting at a price point that average players can afford. I'm not entirely sure that that second part is true, I think that it might be pre-selling for like $6.00, but hopefully it'll crash and burn once it sees 0 play. Assuming that this thing becomes virtually free I do strongly encourage casual players to scoop some up to flesh out their lists. Much like Mask of Memory it's a fantastic way to squeeze some extra value from your critters since it's usually easy to find "open" players in large, Chaos games. Obviously Sword of the Animist doesn't even have to connect, just an attack is fine, but it's nice when you're not suiciding threats in the process of ramping. I'm glad the Equip cost is only 2 since it would have been unplayable otherwise but that's just low enough that you can equip, attack, and still cast a spell every turn (more or less).
For what it's worth I think that these cards are significantly more "fun" (I know how subjective that term is) in formats such as Cube than things like Sword of Body and Mind. This is just a small rant so feel free to skip ahead but I personally hate what Swords of X and Y do to multiplayer games. Far too often they'e 1-card kill conditions that slaughter players outright. The protections usually blank anything and everything that they could otherwise do to interact at which point they become a fish in a barrel. Seeing someone lose 15 minutes into a 2 hour EDH game is just disheartening and so I personally advocate against the use of Swords whenever possible. I also refuse to add them to my Cubes because I just don't like the play patterns that they create. The point here is that even though cards like Sword of the Animist and Loxodon Warhammer are objectively worse than things like Swords there is some merit to omitting them from your decks/Cubes.
Global Grade C- Cubeworthy
War Horn: Anything that says "attacking creatures" on it is probably unplayable and War Horn is no exception. Multiplayer Magic just isn't a format that revolves around curving out with lots of small dudes and turning them sideways. There's way more blocking, ramping, card drawing and overpowering your adversaries with unfair tactics.
Global Grade F Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: C Closing Thoughts: For better or for worse Alhammarret's Archive is going to see a lot of EDH play and even if I don't plan on abusing the card much myself it would be foolish of me to dismiss such an obvious casual staple. People just love doubling effects in general and a double double (where are we, Tim Horton's?) is twice as nice. Otherwise I really like Hangerback Walker as a cheap 2-drop in Artifact-based decks because other than Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer that slot is hurting. Also bear in mind that neither card is especially budget-friendly so let's not assume that everyone can afford to run either. While he's not my cup of tea I expect Chief of the Foundry to straddle next to Master of Etherium in said artifact decks because casual players just plain adore lords. Nothing else jumps off the page at me but Sword of the Animist is a tier above the other potential playables and I do expect to see it a fair amount in slower formats such as EDH. Finally, Helm of the Gods, Pyromancer's Goggles and even Orbs of Warding could all see some amount of play but I'm not much stock in any of them.
Land
Battlefield Forge et al.: As much as I dislike hating on dual lands that don't ETBT I cannot stand Painlands in a Constructed/Cube multiplayer setting. Games go long and life total matters a lot and you just plain can't afford to take 6+ extra damage from your spells in most instances. While these aren't quite as bad as Mana Confluence and the like it's still extremely difficult to make them work in my experience. If you have absolutely nothing better to run and can't afford to play with ETBT lands then do what you have to do but in general I strongly discourage investing in these kinds of lands for casual, multiplayer purposes. That being said they're basically always going to be staples in EDH since you'll need the color fixing and playing lands that ETBT usually isn't acceptable once you reach a certain threshold of competition.
EDH Grade B
Constructed + Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Evolving Wilds: As much as we'd all love to crack a Polluted Delta for an Underground Sea on turn 1 every game the reality is that most Magic decks are built on relatively tight budgets. While Evolving Wilds will never be the best option for color fixing it's extremely cheap, trivial to acquire and does an adequate job of fixing your colors. Beyond that I'm not exactly sure how to grade these types of lands because they're significantly worse than the versions that are 72x more expensive but from a practical standpoint they're cheap and get the job done. If you owned real Fetchlands then you'd clearly never play with them but for your average Joe they're the glue that bring your lists together. Whether you want to call that a B, C, D, F, it doesn't really matter because you're not playing it because you want to. Rather, you field these kinds of cards because you have to and at that point it's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons between things like Evolving Wilds and other budget options such as Guildgates, Bouncelands, etc.
Global Grade D Cubeworthy
Foundry of the Consuls: I'm all for "spell lands" that still have value in the later stages of the game but a pair of 1/1 fliers isn't going to cut it in a competitive sphere. Even if your gamplan involves jamming Life from the Loam and/or Crucible of Worlds you're still not going to make much head-way. For a 1/1 flier to have relevance you'd need to be playing with Auras, Equipment and/or Bestow effects but even then this card is a far cry from amazing. I suppose that it's better than actual nothing if your 1-2 color deck has no need for basics (Vedalken Shackles et al.) but by no means is this a powerful card that you should be actively looking to play.
Global Grade D- Not Cubeworthy
Mage-Ring Network: A colorless version of Dreadship Reef isn't going to interest most people but the fact that it doesn't cost mana to activate is a decent bonus. Mono-colored decks probably won't care much about the color of the mana to begin with so any increase in quantity is probably a significant upgrade. Obviously you have have to tap it so you can't split the mana across multiple turns but that's a largely irrelevant drawback in my mind. Paying the 1 is significantly worse than the tap requirement. Anyways, I think that these kinds of Storage Lands are underplayed for their cost. While they may not be able to compete with the likes of Gaea's Cradle, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Cloudpost, Cabal Coffers, etc. they're basically free to purchase and they can still enable you to cast stupidly expensive spells pas ta certain point. I personally feel that if you're not fielding some amount of "Insurrection" type spells that you're just plain doing it wrong. Turning fair creatures sideways and casting removal spells can only take you so far so you really should be looking to support the most unfair gameplans imaginable. Anyways, Storage Lands are sweet because 1-2 of them ramp-up quickly and before long they allow you to jam things like Debt to the Deathless for millions. Given that they don't ETBT to begin with they don't exactly slow you down and you only have to store mana when you don't have anything else to do with your mana. Since the payoff is the ability to cast an extremely unfair spell/sequence of spells I see very little reason to omit these kinds of lands from your 1-2 color builds assuming that you don't have access to superior alternatives.
Global Grade C Not Cubeworthy
Rogue's Passage: This is one the cards that I completely overlooked when it was first printed. Paying 5 mana for a "marginal" effect didn't interest me at the time but since then I've come to appreciate just how powerful it actually is. From Wight of Precinct Six to Hydra Omnivore Black and Green can field a ton of extremely large creatures that struggle to actually connect with people but when they do, watch out, because they don't mess around. While this card has basically no value in the early stages of the game it's still a land that doesn't ETBT so unless you're playing with 3+ colors and have strict requirements it doesn't cost much to run it. Where the card shines is in the later stages of the game where board stalls and chump blockers become a serious problem. The ability to connect with the aforementioned "Lord of Extinction" type threats is a huge game and Commander damage is a very real win condition in EDH. Even if you look outside of Black and Green the others still have some large beaters at their disposal (think Taurean Mauler) and Equipment is still a thing. You usually don't need many hits from a Strata Scythe/Bonehoard to take someone down so anything that can force them through is a worthwhile effect.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade D Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D- Closing Thoughts: Nothing to see here folks. Painlands suck, Rogue's Passage/Evolving Wilds were never expensive nor difficult to acquire, Foundry of the Consuls is too weak to see serious play and Mage-Ring Network only works in a very small subset of 1-2 color decks as a budget alternative. Cue the "whan whan" foghorn sound effect.
Conclusion
I think that I speak for most people when I say that Wizards did a bang-up job with Magic Origins and that it was a fitting end to the Core Sets. Each color received at least 1 powerful, new card in addition to some key reprints. In White I'm looking forward to testing Relic Seeker and anyone who hasn't acquired some Knight of the White Orchids should probably pounce on their opportunity to now do so. Blue saw Day's Undoing and Harbinger of the Tides which both have potential to exist in a competitive MP sphere. The former is potentially relevant in unfair decks (Notion Thief anyone?) while the latter will likely function as a secondary (albeit weaker) Venser, Shaper Savant. In Black I'm excited to test Dark Petition in unfair Dark Ritual that're looking to end games with degenerate combo kills. Beyond that Shadows of the Past has me excited for formats such as EDH and Cube and I could ever see myself playing it in Constructed. Otherwise Tainted Remedy is a welcome sight given how miserable Rain of Gore is and Languish may not be Damnation but it'll do the trick for now. Red got the shaft this set but Shadowflame Conjuring is the real deal. It won't be the next Sneak Attack or anything but any list with "good creatures" is probably going to want this badboy. The real winner of the set was Green which boasts Evolutionary Leap, Managorger Hydra, Woodland Bellower and even Nissa's Revelation as its spoils. Given that it also 2 extremely powerful reprints in the form of Elvish Visionary and Sylvan Messenger Green mages have a lot to look forward to in this set. Things peeter out from there but Hangarback Walker and Alhammarret's Archive pick things back up as the set comes to a close. Neither is busted or anything but the 'Walker is a solid 2 drop that scales well into the lategame and the Archive is just EDH gold for the casual players of the world. It doubles the fun twice over which is going to appeal to most people in a big way. With that I've officially finished my review of Magic Origins and so now I encourage you to leave your own comments, concerns and outbursts. Let me what you agreed/disagreed with, what you liked/disliked, what I could have done better, anything. I want these reviews to be as relevant and useful as possible so don't be shy about pouring on some criticism!
"...cry 'foul'"
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I think FREE Scrying on Jace's Sanctum pushes it over the threshold for me. That is what I am most looking forward to with this card. (U/R Counterburn) The reduction is just icing, really. It should see play that neither Arcane Santum nor Eyes of the Watcher saw, imo, and I bet that was their hope in designing it.
Similarly, FREE Scry on Shadows of the Past should be pretty incredible. Eager to try it out in a few decks. I will be very surprised if this doesn't become a new staple.
Same with Touch of Moonglove. You can cause all kinds of mischief in MP games with it. I picked up two playsets--snap buy.
I really want Archangel of Tithes to get there but I fear her lack of protection (in a MP game) + high 'bullseye quotient' make her hard-to-justify without some support. She would frequently suffer an untimely demise at our tables too.. Certainly keeping an eye on her though.
Definitely look forward to these reviews, every set. They are very well-done so thanks for doing them!!
I think FREE Scrying on Jace's Sanctum pushes it over the threshold for me. That is what I am most looking forward to with this card. (U/R Counterburn) The reduction is just icing, really. It should see play that neither Arcane Santum nor Eyes of the Watcher saw, imo, and I bet that was their hope in designing it.
Similarly, FREE Scry on Shadows of the Past should be pretty incredible. Eager to try it out in a few decks. I will be very surprised if this doesn't become a new staple.
In situations such as this I have much more faith in the cheaper card than the more expensive one. The ratio of "creatures that die" vs "spells that I cast" in MP is usually massively lopsided towards critters biting the dust and the fact that it's 2 vs 4 mana makes this is a no-brainer for me. If either of these cards are going to be a staple it's the latter. The reason why I don't really care for the Sanctum is because for 4 mana you're not getting an immediate effect and it's not as though it'll pay itself off after a few circuits either. Considering that you could just slam a Fact or Fiction (or whatever) instead I'd rather get my 3 cards "right now" than have to wait until I cast ~6 spells to get enough value from my Sapphire Medallion + Scry Bot to pay for my card. Obviously you could go on to cast 10 or more spells before the game ends but that feels a bit unrealistic to me. This is especially true given that it doesn't combo well with Blue's 1 CMC cantrips such as Ponder, Preordain and Brainstorm. You could arguably play a deck with like 4x Impulse and 4x Accumulated Knowledge, that sounds sweet to me, but in general I think that most "20 spell" decks should have a ton of cantrips.
It's possible that I'm massively underestimating Shadows of the Past, I overlooked Blood Artist for a long time, I just know that Scry is a lot worse than it seems when it's not tacked-on to a useful spell/effect. The card has no other relevant text for like 95% of the game and even then it's a very bad win condition. The Scry also has diminishing returns in the sense that creatures often die "all at once" which means that a ton of them will probably be wasted on average. That being said I've never been especially fond of Sign in Blood variants but I could easily see myself getting behind this thing.
I really want Archangel of Tithes to get there but I fear her lack of protection (in a MP game) + high 'bullseye quotient' make her hard-to-justify without some support. She would frequently suffer an untimely demise at our tables too.. Certainly keeping an eye on her though.
I have a hard time trying to strike the right balance between "competitive" and "casual" when it comes to generic multiplayer reviews. On the one hand I completely agree that 4 drops that "die to removal" will never be amazing which is why I gave cards like Erebos's Titan the Grade that it received. Even if they're "big" and have multiple upsides they still die to removal which kind of sucks. Still, I mean, what do you run? Small value creatures like Oracle of Mul Daya or Disciple of Bolas? Those kinds of cards certainly have a home in MP, I'm not suggesting otherwise, but what if people just plain need blockers? The overwhelming majority of the "good" 4 drops are small to the point where they can't even tangle with most 1 drops. If your meta is aggressive, which many are, you just can't afford to run nothing but dorks that can't actually block for you.
Still, I love comments like these. I'm mostly bound by my personal meta and can realistically only supplement that knowledge base with the things that I read online. That's why it helps me so much when people make comments like this. I too am apprehensive about 4 drops that die to removal and if people are also putting out that vibe then it can help me shape future opinions of cards.
Thought: Rather than having to rate and extensively comment on a lot of limited-only chaff, why not just highlight the C or greater cards from each section, and maybe touch lightly on some stuff that looks like it could merit a C but is really a trap?
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Thought: Rather than having to rate and extensively comment on a lot of limited-only chaff, why not just highlight the C or greater cards from each section, and maybe touch lightly on some stuff that looks like it could merit a C but is really a trap?
I thought that I was already doing that >.<. As you can see I have left a lot of the real crap out of the review but at the same time I don't know how other people view cards like Auramancer or Rabid Bloodsucker. I was very new to and very bad at the game once upon a time and so I know what it's like to struggle with card evaluations. That isn't a knock against anyone who agrees/disagree with my ratings, it's me trying to help other players develop a stronger set of analytical skills. I learned to evaluate cards by having other people show me what was good, what was bad, what worked, what didn't, etc. That's why I try to hit on cards that I think other people might be playing even though they shouldn't be.
I'm also worried that I'd be missing out on so much discussion if I just rated the Cs or above. The reality is that a C is a "solid playable" and in a game of 10, 000+ cards that's not going to encompass a large % of them. Even in formats like EDH it's still extremely difficult for a card to "make it" (a fact that I know isn't lost on you) and while it's obvious that I'm lenient (I'm sure you can tell that I try to avoid looking at everything from a hyper-competitive point of view) I still refuse to call cards like Alhammarret, High Arbiter playable threats. It's because people see those kinds of cards and say "good in EDH" that I make it a point to discuss them even if they're Fs. I understand that not everyone plays with lists that can win the game as early as turn 3 (or consistently by turn 5 if left unchecked) but I still refuse to acknowledge them as worthwhile investments. I feel as though more people with more experience need to step-up and explain why these kinds of cards aren't good.
Still, I agree that less is probably more, something that my writing has struggled with my entire life. I tried to cut back this time around and kept more of the reviews on the shorter end of the spectrum but I still ended up writing a lot about a good % of the cards.
I don't think Avaricious Dragon is quite as bad as you think it is. I feel like there are enough ways to make its downside of discarding your hand an upside. The card has enough interesting interactions to make me at least want to experiment with it.
I'm not saying its the greatest card ever, and I haven't given it all that much thought yet, but your "unplayable in any format" seems a bit far to me. 4 mana for a 4/4 flier in a deck where I want to dump my hand anyway and I get another draw each turn until it dies seems to offer some potential to me.
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I was the guy playing the relentless rats deck back during mirrodin and kamigawa blocks. Yes, cranial extraction was used on me. No, I didn't win much. Yes, I do have a relentless rats edh deck. No, it doesn't win much either...
I'm not saying its the greatest card ever, and I haven't given it all that much thought yet, but your "unplayable in any format" seems a bit far to me.
I can understand where you're coming from but I stand by my grade. While I typically opt to give similar cards (high risk, medium reward) a D rating I just couldn't bring myself to give it anything other than an F. I didn't articulate this point very well in my review but the "GOTCHA!" mentality is ubiquitous in my experience and I'd reasonable expect players to pounce on an opportunity to screw someone over by killing their 4 drop after they discard their hand. Even if your deck has Delve cards, Spell Mastery cards, Ghastly Demises, AoWoes, so what? You have no hand and you're topdecking into generic threats and answers. I'm not trying to straw-man your argument by attacking the weakest aspects, I realize that you were just listing off potential uses for the card, I just can't think of anything actively good to do with the Dragon. Rather, I think that it's a card that tricks you into thinking that it has potential only to completely screw you over in the process of playing it.
If you/others can make the card work, that's awesome! Believe me when I say that I'm happy to be wrong about about cards being bad. I know that I probably seem overly pessimistic but the reality is that I don't like being pigeon-holed into playing with small subsets of cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Sylvan Primordial that obsolete all alternatives. I play with them and promote them because I like winning but don't confuse that with "I like winning with cards that I deem cool." I'll happily play with any "winning" cards regardless of what I may have said about them in the past. I've been wrong about dozens of cards before and I'll be wrong about many more in the future.
As it stands I would actively put that Dragon in every EDH/Cube/Constructed decks that my opponents built because I legitimately believe that it would hinder their overall chances of winning. I say this knowing full well that people try and abuse it because I maintain that said "abuse" would still be too weak to compete with an average MP group. Still, I do appreciate these kinds of comments because they get me to think about my opinions/arguments and critically assess their merit. I'm not compelled to change my point of view just yet but that could easily change if someone were able to highlight its potential.
This review is ordered as the cards appear on the MTGS visual spoiler (aka alphabetically). This is to make things easier for you to follow along at home. If you're looking for a specific card (one that was recently spoiled for example) good old Ctrl + F is just as handy as it's ever been. You don't have to scour the entire review to find it. I never evaluate every card because there's absolutely no reason to repeat "this card was designed for Limited" 100 times every set. I'll hit on what I consider to be the key multiplayer cards with an emphasis on the ones that you should make a concerted effort to acquire all things being equal. Bear in mind that all ratings discussed in this evaluation should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm not looking to pin down the perfect letter grade for every single card. I'm merely trying to provide you with a rough estimation of its overall worth.
Grading Scale:
A: Oppressive cards with a relatively unique effects that figure to routinely dominate games in which they're left unchecked. Most of them are going to be insanely powerful "build-around-mes" that'll dramatically increase the overall power-level of any deck that they're slotted in to. These are format definers that can completely warp fledgling metas. Think Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Humility, Consecrated Sphinx, Primeval Titan, Repercussion.
B: Formidable cards that don't offer anything truly unique and that aren't oppressive. People shouldn't have to bend over backwards in order to beat them but decks full of these won't just roll over to any old brew. Think Syphon Mind, Earthquake, Wrath of God, Fact or Fiction, Lurking Predators.
C: Powerful cards that winning decks will want to play. They're not going to blow you away but you'll rarely be disappointed with their performance. A deck full of these won't crush a table but a solid foundation of Cs should be good enough to keep you competitive. Think Vampire Nighthawk, Clever Impersonator, Taurean Mauler, Thragtusk, Restoration Angel.
D: Marginal playables that're unexciting to field. It's not that you can't or shouldn't play them, just don't expect them to yield impressive win %s. Most fun, cool, niche, build-around-me, etc. cards will fall into this category alongside the ones that you'll unhappily field given a lack of alternatives. I don't recommend playing Ds if you can avoid it and I strongly advise that you look for suitable alternatives if it's a realistic option.
F: Weak cards that're unlikely to boast respectable win %s that probably shouldn't be played.
+/-: Used to denote a better or worse N. That is, a B+ represents a strong B whereas C- implies a weak C.
Cubeworthy: simple "yes" or "no" of whether or not I'd Cube with the card myself. That is, would I both put this card in one of Cubes and actively draft it a reasonably high % of the time with plans to maindeck it in a relatively "normal" Cube.
White
Archangel of Tithes: A 3/5 flier for 4 with two very real upsides is a solid playable in most MP settings. While her sizable booty will naturally keep most 1-4 drops at bay her defensive utility still figures to be relevant at most stages of the game. When it comes to attacking in multiplayer (MP) there's usually a lot of "all things being equal" logic floating around so when things stop being equal it's amazing how much of an impact it can have. I can't offer hard data but I'd be willing to wager dollars to donuts that someone with a 3/3 staring down two opponents with empty boards and a third with an 0/1 is significantly less likely to tangle with the latter. Otherwise she has obvious utility against token/swarm/combo strategies and the effect stacks amazingly well (Ghostly Prison, Sphere of Safety). At 3 power she's not exactly going to race a table down but if you can jam a piece of Equipment on her then she'll get the job done eventually. White decks typically benefit from fielding some in the first place and cheap + powerful creatures are great at showcasing their value.
Getting back to her defensively ability, I for one love to build "Armageddon" style Prison/Stax/mana denial decks every now and then and she seems like a natural fit in the archetypes. I recognize that most 'Geddon decks don't really want 4+ drops in general, you'd rather cap out at something like Brimaz, King of Oreskos, but a 3/5 flier + "Moat" for 4 is enough to get me excited. Still, even if you ignore extremely unfun + degenerate decks there's still plenty of value in having a generic Ghostly Prison that also adds to your board. I've always hated Ghostly Prison as a standalone defensive measure because it's just plain never done anything for me nor the people in my circles. People just pay the mana. What I like about this card is that it's not some weak defensive measure with a built-in counter. It forces payment and comes with a powerful 3/5 flying body.
While the "can't block" offensive clause may seem lackluster I'm rather excited about that aspect of the card as well. I'm a sucker for token strategies but the historic problem with them is that it's really freaking hard to clear a MP table with a bunch of small critters. Even if you have ten 2/2s it's still legitimately difficult to kill as few as 2 opposing players with blockers. This is one of the primary reasons why I've never understood the love for finishers such as Mobilization over Sacred Mesa or Luminarch Ascension. Even in situations where I've found myself producing numerous "free" 1/1s a turn I've never been able to convert it into a win. The ability to EOT Secure the Wastes/White Sun's Zenith with an Archangel in play allows you to mercilessly hammer anyone without having to worry about running your small dudes into bigger blockers. This concept applies to generic creature-based decks too obviously but the effect is compounded in token decks.
With respect to the EDH/Cube/Constructed spectrum, I expect her to be at her best in formats such as Constructed and EDH where you can guarantee a theme and gameplan. That being said she's a touch weak in EDH where people tend to ramp out card draw and bombs but even then you can play her in Token and/or Armageddon decks and reasonably expect her to carry her weight. I probably wouldn't jam her as a generic playable but even then she can only ever be so bad. In Cube, meh, it's going to depend on your build and your supported archetypes. If GW Tokens is a thing then she's awesome, if your Cube has Wildfires then she's amazing, if you have all of the Armageddons she's a house, etc. She's an easy C-B but I'll just a just a assume a generic "good stuffs" Cube that won't feature much synergy and call it a "C." After all, 1WWW is rough to achieve on turn 4 and she's probably never going to win you a game outright.
Constructed Rating B
EDH Rating C+
Cube Rating C
Cubeworthy
Auramancer: For a card that does a decent Eternal Witness impersonation it always surprises me how unplayable she actually is. In brews where she's "good" Replenish and/or Open the Vaults are usually "insane" which is why you just plain don't see her in competitive lists. For all the blinking and recurring that White can pull off there's just better things to do with your time and mana.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Blessed Spirits: I'm all for scaling threats but this isn't on the same level as a Scavenging Ooze nor a Taurean Mauler. Flying is nice and all but the effect is too narrow and the card is too weak when it's drawn in the mid-to-lategame.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Enlightened Ascetic: A bad version of War Priest of Thune (with worse creature types I might add) isn't going to make the cut in anything midway competitive. The reality is that cards like Reclamation Sage are many orders of magnitude more powerful than alternatives that can only nail Enchantments. I've never been impressed with War Priest of Thune and have routinely cut it from all of my decks/Cubes and as such I don't think that this is playable Magic card.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Gideon's Phalanx: A White Sun's Zenith at X=4 (no more, no less) is an extremely narrow effect that most decks simply won't want. After all, four 2/2s isn't an especially reliable win condition in a multiplayer setting. Even a 3/3 blocker is going to trump that to say nothing of the collected bodies/removal of an entire table. Obviously pump spells (Cathars' Crusade, Dictate of Heliod) help but as a standalone card I wouldn't expect much from it. What this means is that if you're going to play this card it's only because you place a high value on the Spell Mastery aspect of it. What bothers me about that tactic is that it's virtually impossible to hold 7 mana up as far as I'm concerned. If you're sitting there with 7 untapped mana in play and this thing sitting in hand I don't see how you can possibly afford to "run it again" and not cast it at EOT. I know that the prospect of countering a Wrath of God or ambushing someone in combat seems sweet but is that a realistic gameplan? The notion that you could just sit there passing the turn and doing nothing with 7+ mana at your disposal seems absurd to me. As such I wouldn't advocate playing with this card even if you do like the indestructible aspect of it. For every occasion that it "gets" someone's Wrath/attack I imagine that that there'll be 7-8 other occasions where it simply produces some 2/2s.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Hallowed Moonlight: Containment Priest is an amazingly powerful card that you really should be playing in EDH almost 100% of the time. Depending on your personal meta she can be a Constructed all-star as well and there are definitely Cubes out there that are going to want to play her. While a random card may seem better than a 2/2 body (in a vacuum it would be) the reason why Hallowed Moonlight isn't nearly as good is because it's short-lived and significantly harder to tutor for, recur, etc. Disruptive creatures buy more time and force actual answers out of players, answers that they don't always want to use/play/have. Yes, Containment Priest dies to removal, but someone has to draw and cast it before they can resume their unfair gameplan. People like to trivialize these requirements whenever possible but in a competitive setting anything that you can do to disrupt your opponents and force a reaction out of them is a significant benefit. This is especially true in formats such as Constructed and EDH where players often attempt to play completely non-interactive decks that simply race to achieve a combo kill.
That being said this still basically reads "Counter target spell. Draw a card." to me and for 2 mana you realistically can't ask for much more than that. This card gets better the more unfair your meta is because it shines when people are trying to Tinker for Blightsteel Colossuses or Entomb and Animate Dead some Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augurs. Most White EDH decks are probably going to want this thing because worst-case scenario you just cycle it away if needed. Still, for this card to be actively bad your opponents have to be playing extremely fair strategies which is just now what I've come to expect from EDH. This card will hold its won nearly 100% of the time in my mind so you it's definitely worth acquiring.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Hixus, Prison Warden: One of my favorite combinations of cards to employ in a multiplayer setting is No Mercy + Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I simply love the strategy of gaining trillions of life (Exsanguinate always helps on that front) and using it to obsolete fair, creature-based decks. When you're at 140 life and everything is a Lava Axe at best it's not hard to lock a fair few of your opponents out of the game. While Aurification has never quite done it for me in White I've always wished that it too could convert mass lifegain into a lock of sorts. I realize that cards such as Test of Endurance exist but real-world Magic isn't always as simple as tournament Magic and you can't always play the cards that win games on the spot. Unfortunately Hixus is too slow, too narrow and too vulnerable to actually convert mass lifegain into a dominant board state but at least he has an interesting design. Still, Angel of the Dire Hour has never impressed me in MP (she rears her head in EDH every now and then) but then again I tend to shy away from decks that need to attack in order to win. I have seen her blank things like Insurrection and Rite of Replication but "not losing" isn't the same thing as "winning." All-in-all I'd rather play the 5+ drops that can win the game as opposed to the ones that can sometimes prevent another player from immediately doing so. While I recognize that Hixus can act as "Flametongue Kavu" by jumping in front of a ~3/3 (or whatever) that still doesn't justify his inclusion in my mind. He strikes me as a below-average 5 drop that may make for a cool story every now and then but ultimately he's a fair card that's slow and vulnerable to removal.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Knight of the White Orchid: White has no shortage of solid 3 drops (let's get real; this isn't a 2 drop) but hard ramp is not something that you generally see in the color. A free 2-for-1 that ramps your mana and expands your board is about the best you can hope for at that stage of the game making this one of the single best options available to you. Now, clearly you wouldn't field these kinds of cards in a Vintage-esque setting but in terms of generic, casual, kitchen table play it doesn't get much better than this. It dissuades attacks, it generates card advantage, it generates a mana advantage, it's everything that you're looking for. Besides, fetching things like Mistveil Plains is sweet in Squadron Hawk decks and even basic Plains is still a useful Magic card if you're building up to 6+ drops and/or are relying on something like Emeria, the Sky Ruin to shore-up your lategame. It's hard to go wrong with this little guy if you're playing some Sun Titan, Angel of Serenity style deck because not only is he fine to blink/bounce/recur but he even powers you into the higher mana counts that you'll need to cast your bombs. On that note he loves flicker effects such as Flickerwisp and Restoration Angel because who doesn't want more lands? This is just a solid 3 drop in any format and I highly recommend acquiring your playset.
Global Grade B
Cubeworthy
Gideon, Battle-Forged + Kytheon, Hero of Akros: Never in my life have I wanted to cast a 2/1 for W and start attacking with it in an MP setting. People may look at his indestructibility as a worthwhile asset but, again, I have absolutely no idea how 3 mana "regeneration" is enticing anyone. Holding that much mana up is a ludicrous investment for basically no return and I would gladly have my opponents elect to spin their wheels doing so in our games. Moving on, Gideon himself is equally unimpressive. His +2 is a passable form of removal but that's not something that I'd ever want to rely on myself. His +0 is worthless as far as I'm concerned because, again, I've never sat down and built decks that actively wanted to turn tons of small dudes sideways and somehow expect to ever beat a Wrath of God. While I don't mind his +1 defensive ability you're never building up to anything with it and that effect isn't worth the time, effort, mana and card. Gideon isn't designed for MP and I wouldn't recommend fielding him in any setting.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Kytheon's Irregulars: Renown is a decent MP mechanic in the sense that you only need a single "open" opponent to extract value from it and that's usually not asking for very much. YMMV obviously but when you play with 6+ people like I do someone is going to have a ~bottom 25% draw and that usually makes these kinds of requirements "free." As for the card itself, meh, it's not great. Tapping is at its worst in MP (in my opinion obviously) because I personally find that it's extremely difficult to properly utilize. I understand that you can use "politics" (i.e. manipulation) to reduce the risk but I personally try to avoid that as much as possible when I play. Still, the effect is moderately powerful and a 5/4 for 4 is no joke. I don't expect it to win a game of Magic but I do expect it to keep most early ground-pounders at bay. Ultimately I'm never going to purchase and/or play with this card myself, it's just not what I personally want to be doing in MP, but I don't think that it's completely unplayable. I mostly just wanted to briefly discuss the Renown mechanic and acknowledge that a big body + efficient, repeatable effect for 4 mana is probably a decent Magic card.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Relic Seeker: This is a card that I have to play with before I can form a realistic opinion of it. White sucks at drawing cards in general and so a free 2-for-1 with a decent body is always going to be a good way to start a game. The obvious comparison is Stoneforge Mystic and while we all recognize that she's no SFM she still shows promise. In my large 6+ player MP games there's always someone "free" to attack on turns 3-4 so I'm not altogether worried about triggering her early on. I recognize that she can't plop a Batterskull into play the following turn but any solid piece of equipment is still fine and there're plenty of amazing ones out there.
What troubles me with this card then? First of all this card is just the nut-low when it gets swept-up by a sweeper before it manages to trigger. I'm not saying that that's her average use-case or anything but this is nothing close to an ETB trigger. A non-trivial % of the time she's going to die as an "unknown" and those games are probably going to suck. Moreover, as good as she is on turn 2 I can't imagine what I'd ever do with one on say turn 6. I never have and never will want to draw a Grizzly Bears in any MP setting and the reality is that you don't always draw your ideal 2 drop for turn 2. Triggering her early seems easy but after that, meh, I have no idea. While I'm not exactly worried about people killing her (even on turn 2) a 2/2 isn't going to do me any good come turn 8 so I'm quite skeptical about how powerful this card will prove to be. The best argument that I can make for her is that MP is a "go big or go home format" that also happens to have a free mulligan so sometimes it does make sense to play for your ~35% "nut draw" given that your chances of winning are roughly 1/N to begin with. If drawing this card for turn 2 plays out like something close to a SFM, hey, that's not so bad!
If I had to pick a "best format" for this card it would be EDH mostly because you don't actually want to fetch Batterskull to begin with. Rather, you're almost always going to nab a Sword of X and Y because of how stellar they are in the format (to push Commander damage mostly). She lands early enough to hit someone and tutor one out since most players should still be jamming mana rocks and draw spells when she hits the Red Zone. She's obviously powerful in other formats as well but the reality is that equipment such as Batterskull and Umezawa's Jitte won't magically defeat a table of opponents but Swords are nuts when you only need to land a couple of hits to pick someone off.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Sentinel of the Eternal Watch: I'm only listing this card as an example of a classic MP trap card. This 6 mana do-nothing has weak stats and a marginal ability and I'd never touch it with a 10-foot pole. In a world of Sun Titans, Martyr's Bonds and True Convictions you need cards that "do something" and random 4/6s that somewhat interact with creatures don't even come close to qualifying. Just because a card says "each opponent" on it that doesn't mean it's a solid MP option.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Sigil of the Empty Throne: Other than Luminarch Ascension this has always been my de facto win condition for Enchantress decks. When every single card in your deck cantrips and puts a 4/4 flier into play it doesn't take very long to win. Removal, Wraths, Moats, none of them actually stop this from winning the game which is why it's still the tried, tested and true method to seal the deal. It doesn't get much better than this if your deck is just a pile of defensive/disruptive Enchantments. Obviously the card is virtually unplayable in Cube unless you really support the archetype but that's neither here nor there.
Constructed + EDH Rating B
Cube Rating F
Not Cubeworthy
Starfield of Nyx: When this card was first spoiled I was immediately taken back to the days of Attunement + Replenish + Opalescence. Suffice it say that Attunement + Starfield of Nyx is already looking sweet and nowadays we even have Open the Vaults as a budget version of Replenish. Beyond that I can also see myself playing this in good old Enchantress decks that're loaded with Wild Growths, Utopia Sprawls, Sterling Groves, Enchantress's Presences, Eidolon of Blossoms, etc. Recurrable Sterling Groves? Count me in! People killing your Eidolon of Blossoms? Let them! We can't all afford Argothian Enchantress but with this new form of recursion that's potentially much less of a big deal. While I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of opening my Enchantments up to creature-based removal it does allow for some explosive kills in much the same way that a Helm of Obedience + Rest in Peace can provide. One turn you're alive, the next you're dead. I probably wouldn't play 4 of them in a generic Enchantress deck but a singleton seems fine and I mean I would play a whack of them in any Attunement-based shell. Now, these kinds of cards tend to be at their worst in Cube because they typically have very little inherent value and so unless you're supporting a small subset of very linear, niche archetypes then it's probably not for you. I do expect to see it a fair amount in EDH and Constructed though as this is a perfect example of a powerful build-around-me that contains both a "grindy" element and a "combo finish" aspect which makes it a solid MP playable in my mind.
EDH + Constructed Rating C
Cube Rating F
Not Cubeworthy
Totem-Guide Hartebeest: 2-for-1s are nice and all but the body sucks, the CMC is way too high and Auras tend to be crappy Magic cards. You might play this in your Control Magic/Angelic Destiny deck or something but even that's stretching it quite a bit. This just isn't a very powerful magic card and it realistically shouldn't be played.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Tragic Arrogance: It took me about 5 re-reads of this thing before I realized that it didn't affect lands. Boo-urns. In my defense it was early in the morning coupled with the fact that I'm a very dumb man. Either way we're not looking at Cataclysm 2.0 which is probably better for Magic on the whole but from a selfish perspective I'm a little disappointed. Embarrassing anecdote aside when you remove lands from the equation then you're no longer dealing with some S-tier bomb. We're back in the realm of Planar Cleansing which is just a powerful-yet-fair card. Now, the cool thing about this card is that you choose to leave yourself with your best stuff while leaving your opponents with their worst. It's also worth noting that if they have a card like Courser of Kruphix that you can select it for their Creature and Enchantment to put them in an even deeper hole. Beyond that it's also only a 5 mana spell and even though it doesn't clear the entire board it's cheap enough and powerful enough to have a dramatic impact on the game. As long as you can nail "most things" that's usually good enough to stabilize until you can enact your own powerful gameplan. Furthermore, cards like these allow for political play in the sense that you can conspire with one or more players to take others out. By leaving one or two with their best cards and the others with their worst it becomes realistic for people with weaker decks/worse skills to defeat stronger adversaries.
The biggest weakness of this card is that it's very bad at removing key threats because there's no guarantee that people will have multiple of that permanent type in play. If someone goes turn 2 Luminarch Ascension/Survival of the Fittest and just never plays another Enchantment then you're screwed. This is a very real concern and it's why this card will never be a top-tier staple (at least not in my mind). Again, Cataclysm gets a pass because it's also a Armageddon whereas Tragic Arrogance isn't. As to how this card compares with something like End Hostilities, I don't really know, but I'm inclined to believe that it has a higher power-ceiling and only a slightly lower power-floor. As such I'm hoping that that it'll be the next Austere Command in the sense that you can just blindly jam it in any deck and be reasonably happy with the results. Having never played with the "choose 1" effect outside of Cataclysm it's tough to know one way or another but the fact that you choose is a big deal and makes it significantly less risky than it otherwise would have been. I also think that the "political aspect" is a very real thing that will make the card more competitive than it may otherwise appear to be.
Global Grade C+
Cubeworthy
Vryn Wingmare: For starters I never have and probably never will see Glowrider in Cube so let's just go ahead and assume that this little Brony won't
marefare any better. With that out of the way we can move on to Constructed and EDH where this thing figures to be a S-tier staple in Prison/Stax/Mana Denial strategies. The arguably most powerful multiplayer EDH deck is Derevi, Empyrial Tactician Prison/Stax/Mana Denial and that deck already plays Glowrider so this is automatically a shoe-in for ultra-competitive EDH. If it's good enough for the best deck in the format then you can't ask for anything else. Brago, King Eternal and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV are other examples of A/S-tier Commanders (they're both Prison/Mana Denial/Stax Generals as well) and those decks also play Glowrider so it's clear to me that this card figures to see a lot of competitive EDH play. The simple fact of the matter is that you can very easily Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Winter Orb, Static Orb, Tangle Wire, Rising Waters, etc. an entire table out of the game as early as turn 3 and this is a perfect card for that archetype.Moving to Constructed I'm very much looking forward to playing this thing in all of my Limited Resources and Armageddon shells. The gist of my favorite Limited Resources shells is to mulligan/Serum Powder/Enlightened Tutor into a Limited Resources and proceed to win the game with durdles such as Mother of Runes, Student of Warfare, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Serra Avenger and Vryn Wingmare. Æther Vial helps cheat them into play and various Thorn of Amethyst effects can be employed to completely shut spells out. Since your 1-3 drops are better than everyone else's winning the game is trivial from there. Yeah baby! The deck is as obnoxious as it looks and I've been anxiously awaiting an excuse to play it again. I obviously don't expect the Flying to actually matter, I'm mostly looking for some justification to be a dick, but who are you to judge me? Armageddon decks will play out similarly but you lose those "turn 1 wins" which is why I prefer LR. It doesn't matter much either way though.
While I think that the card is basically unplayable trash outside of "Armageddon" style Prison/Denial/MLD decks if your gameplan involves sucking the very fiber of life from the entire room then this is where you want to be. Cards don't have to be good in every deck, or even most decks, to still have a home in a competitive MTG sphere. This is an extremely powerful Prison card and fans of the archetype would do well to acquire some.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: B
Closing Thoughts: Between Relic Seeker, Hallowed Moonlight and Archangel of Tithes White picked up some decent playables that can realistically be jammed into most lists. Otherwise Knight of the White Orchid and Sigil of the Empty Throne are sweet reprints that have a ton of competitive value. The overall most competitive card is probably Vryn Wingmare but I know that most people frown against Prison strategies so not I'm expecting it to generate a ton of hype. Otherwise I like Tragic Arrogance and Starfield of Nyx and could easily foresee myself playing either in any multiplayer format. Since I've just rattled-off a half-dozen or so cards Magic Origins is a big success as far as White is concerned. These are not cool-but-bad cards; they're legitimate playables in highly-competitive fields. 2 big thumbs-up!
Alhammarret, High Arbiter: Good in EDH.
You're still reading this? Why? No, seriously though, I can't be the only person who rolls his/her eyes whenever he/she reads those kinds of comments about these unplayable pieces of garbage. For similar amounts of mana I could be casting a kicked Cyclonic Rift/Rite of Replication, Deadeye Navigator, Palinchron, Diluvian Primordial, Sphinx of Uthuun, on and on and on. The prospect of jamming a big doofus with an irrelevant line of text seems laughable to me. Give this guy Hexproof and let him name Commanders and maybe then you've got something worth discussing (even then it's still one Hell of a maybe). Pay no heed to the people calling this an EDH playable.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Artificer's Epiphany: I'm still waiting for an instant-speed Divination just to see how good it actually is. I know that we'll never have an instant-speed draw 2 for 2 (without some drawback) but I don't see why we can't have it for 3. Until then I'm not desperate enough to test a conditional one because it just doesn't seem worthwhile to jump through hoops for a 2-for-1. This card is many orders of magnitude worse than something like Thirst for Knowledge even if you assume that you always have an Artifact out. I wouldn't even play it over Compulsive Research let alone "good" draw spells such as Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Trade Secrets, Fact or Fiction, etc. The reality is that some % of the time you won't have an Artifact out and the upside of having one is hardly spectacular which makes me think that this card won't see any play.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Bone to Ash: I'm fine with Dismiss as a budget alternative to Cryptic Command but Bone to Ash doesn't quite cut it for me. Paying 4 mana for a conditional Counterspell is asking way too much and the "free card" doesn't change that.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Day's Undoing: It's difficult to evaluate just how powerful this card will prove to be until we get an opportunity to play with it but I for one remain hopeful. I know that Time Reversal was a total dud but 3 is significantly less than 5 and I can envision plenty of legitimate ways to abuse this thing. The most basic example involves playing a whack of mana rocks and draw7s in addition to some degenerate combo. A large % of the time you can start the game by jamming a couple of mana rocks before resolving a draw7 to refill your hand in preparation to combo-off. You're basically just restarting the game on turn 2-3 except you'll have some fast mana in play whereas other players might not. Otherwise things like EOT Notion Thief into this + Counterspell backup on turn ~4-5 is looking sweet and I can't think of many 2 card combo combo decks that wouldn't want to have access to some additional draw7s. I personally like to play Hive Mind decks for example and I'm perfectly happy to cast this on turn 3 to set up for a turn 4 Hive Mind + Pact of the Titan. While it's generally not advisable to enable your opponents to draw cards in the context of combo decks card disadvantage isn't significant. If you win, you win, and it doesn't matter if you were "down" 30 cards in the interim. Beyond that cards like Quicken and Leyline of Anticipation exist for a reason and it's not exactly hard for Blue decks to locate them. Quicken's opportunity cost isn't exactly staggering given that it innately cantrips but I mean people seem to love playing with the Leyline anyways from what I've seen.
Now, I will stress that that this card is atrocious in fair decks. If your primary gameplan involves casting creatures, counters, bounce spells, etc. then you do not want to be playing with global draw7s. I'll also stress that it's not going to be easy to make it work in Underworld Dreams style brews because ending the turn is a pain the rear when you're dealing with triggers. Notion Thief still works because it's a replacement effect, trust me on that one, but triggers won't. Still, if your deck wins by pairing card A with card B then a 3 mana draw 7 is probably something that you should be in the market for. With respect to Cube, I'd wager that it's mostly unplayable unless yours is extremely degenerate and combo-centric. Even then I don't know how good it'd be and I wouldn't want to the guy that'd have to find out. My rating will reflect that but remember to take it with a grain of salt. It could easily be busted but it just doesn't strike me as a playable Magic card in most Cube decks/archetypes.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Disciple of the Rings: Another "close but no cigar" 5 drop for Blue. It's too small and too conditional to see any amount of serious play as far as I'm concerned. The double-whammy of "requiring mana" and "requiring spells to exile" makes the activated ability way too clunky. I recognize that Blue can Ponder into Preordain into Brainstorm for days but if your payoff is this as opposed to something like Ancestral Recall then you're probably not going to win very many games. If it could counter any spell, creatures and all, then we'd probably be talking about something that could see play across all 3 formats. As it stands these kinds of cards just aren't any good in the current era of "all creatures all the time." That goes doubly so for EDH where she can't even counter the (arguably) most important card in everyone's deck. The final nail in the coffin, at least for me, is that it can only untap creatures which means there's just plain no room for abuse if you wanted to play things like mana rocks and Winter Orb effects. At least then you could untap your Basalt Monoliths or whatever but as it stands he can't even do that. The only competitive EDH deck that might want this card is Azami, Lady of Scrolls since she can technically untap your dudes to draw more cards but even then I'd be surprised if the best versions of the deck actually played her.
Global Grade C-
Not Cubeworthy
Displacement Wave: Unless your meta is riddled with token decks to the point of oppression this card is significantly worse than any number of vastly superior alternatives. Cyclonic Rift, Evacuation, Devastation Tide, Upheaval and more are all stark upgrades.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Harbinger of the Tides: This little guy has a lot going for him. Merfolk and Wizard are the two most competitive Blue tribes (I don't count Human) and anyone who's ever faced Azami, Lady of Scrolls in EDH knows that that deck is no joke. I also actively like the UU mana cost for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx even though it does make this card slightly worse in Cube. Venser, Shaper Savant has been a staple in basically every Blue deck since it's been printed and while this card is obviously worse a bad Venser is still a potentially powerful card. Riptide Laboratory has always been a staple in the Wizard decks and so they're always in the market for more ETB triggers. Blanking a big attacker each combat can be very relevant in formats such as EDH (nailing Commanders is sweet) but even in Cube and Constructed the effect is still relevant. The fact that he only bounces tapped creatures means that you can't do much offensively with the guy but even if he's mostly on sitting back on D that's fine with me.
I want to stress that he's not the next Venser or anything, he can't bounce spells/untapped creatures and that's a real drawback, but at the same time it's not enough to get me to count this guy out. I don't expect much from my 2-3 drops in general; just something with a solid ETB trigger and decent stats. He comes with both of those things and 2 relevant creature types. While this isn't the 2 drop of my dreams it's flexible and scales decently well into the midgame which leads me to believe that he's at least playable in most formats.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy + Jace, Telepath Unbound: At some point I was trying to rate the flip-Walkers from best-to-worst until it occurred to me that I was so indifferent that I couldn't be bothered to figure it out. Regardless I had Jace at or near the top for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost he has the best "creature form" as far as I'm concerned because all of their bodies are equally useless past turn ~4 but a looter is potentially a real card at every stage of the game. I for one love me a graveyard-based deck and I don't need much incentive to jam something like this in The Mimeoplasm EDH or UBx Reanimator (Constructed) as an example. Looters are decent in Cube as they can help you dig into your colors and bombs but I will concede that their efficacy is greatly diminished when all of your cards are awesome and mana flood isn't a serious concern. Either way it doesn't take a genius to see that between cards like Animate Dead, Necromancy, Yawgmoth's Will Wonder, Living Death, Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, etc. you can do some extremely overpowered crap with a well-stocked GY whereas having a couple of 2/2s on your board is almost always going to be trivial. Moreover, I like the 'Walker version of Jace because he has a legitimately useful mode. Casting an Instant/Sorcery, even if it's just a humble cantrip/draw spell, is immediate and significant impact and some % of the time you'll be able to loot away and later recur something silly like Decree of Pain, Army of the Damned or Rise of the Dark Realms (I realize that you have to pay the mana). The additional aspects of the card don't impress me but even if they're relevant ~5% of the time then that's still value.
Now that the "worthwhile" discussion is out of the way it's time for a small (see: large) rant. For the love of God stop talking about how you can "protect him from removal" by looting and flipping him. That's the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. First, your opponents would have to be a brain-dead morons to actually fall for that. Moreover, you don't actually win the stand-off when the base threat is an 0/2. If you decide to never loot with him to "beat removal," congrats, you played a 2 mana 0/2 with no text. You somehow managed to justify maindecking Mudhole in multiplayer. No, you're going to loot with him every turn because doing nothing is a ridiculous proposition. Your 0/2 isn't doing jack squat so if people want to kill your 2 drop then they're going to "get you." Also, have we lost sight of the fact that people are using removal on a Merfolk Looter? Is that supposed to be a victory for someone? There is a 0% chance of me or anyone I respect using a precious targeted removal spell on a freaking Merfolk Looter when we could just easily be facing down an Animate Deaded Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur the following turn. If you want to loot, flip and get your "Snapcaster Mage" effect then God bless.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Jace's Sanctum: Arcane Melee was a steaming pile of garbage that auto-lost the game so I'm glad that Wizards finally decided to print a reasonable alternative. I can't say that I'm thrilled at the prospect of paying 4 mana for a 2 mana effect but the Scry takes some of the edge off and I won't overlook the fact that this reduced spells of any color. I still don't see a hyper-competitive card that'll see play in the best Constructed/EDH decks but what I do see is a relatively powerful, cool, unique and durable effect that players will surely enjoy playing with. I know some Talrand, Sky Summoner and Grand Arbiter Augustin IV lists that will excited to jam this in their 99 and I'm sure that some casual Storm decks will run it over Goblin Electromancer to blank opposing removal. Again, I don't expect every card printed to compete with the likes of Mana Drain and Rhystic Study so I'm not going to cry fowl just because Wizards isn't printing incredibly degenerate spells and effects. While eminently fair there's still enough power here to justify fielding this type spell in EDH and Constructed insofar as you're playing a spell-based shell. The card is completely unplayable in Cube, don't even consider adding it to yours, but otherwise it seems fine to me.
Constructed + EDH Grade D+
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Jhessian Thief: While Ophidians are often reasonable turn 2-3 plays they're usually mulligans when topdecked in the mid-to-lategame which is why you rarely see them played competitively. For every game that you run one out on turn 3, clear all blockers and draw 2 cards a turn there's many more games where they sit around and do nothing. Moreover, mutiplayer has significantly more blocking than attacking (trading hits is suicide, racing a table down is nigh impossible) which means that you have even less incentive to field purely aggressive creatures. They're too slow, too aggressive, too unreliable and/or too weak to field in any midway competitive environment.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Mizzium Meddler: Riptide Laboratory is still a card and so any Wizard with a solid ETB trigger is a potential playable as far as I'm concerned. This thing can soak a ton of spot removal using the blink + bounce tactic in addition to catching people off-guard by stealing buffs and Auras. Even if you ignore Dexter's Lab it's still a solid defensive threat with a potentially relevant ETB trigger and any Flash creature can allow for some surprise combat shenanigans. As such the floor on this thing can only ever go so low. Your 1-3 drops aren't going to win you very many games to begin with so it's not the end of the world if they're not all 10/10s. Lastly, Azami, Lady of Scrolls is one Hell of an overpowered EDH general (Mind Over Matter.... *shudders*) and having another way to protect her that cantrips seems pretty absurd to me. As a result I personally expect to see this card in EDH more than any other format but, again, Riptide Lab + Wizards is a real thing and I could easily see any Wizard decks playing 1-2 of these to blank removal. In Cube the card is extremely unexciting but I suppose you could consider drafting it to block for you and/or protect your bombs or something. /shrug
EDH Grade C
Constructed + Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Sigiled Starfish: I've played this card in low-powered environments to see how much value I could extract from a defensive 2 drop with a reasonable + free activated ability. Some of the deck were a bit silly (think Quest for Ula's Temple) but most were still reasonable. Anyways, what I found while playing the card is that the power-level just isn't there. Even on turn 2 I still felt like I was wasting my time/mana/cards and it always sucked drawing them in the mid and lategame. Waiting a full turn to Scry 1 is way worse than immediately drawing a card which is why you never see something like this played over Augur of Bolas or Sea Gate Oracle.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Soulblade Djinn: As much as I underestimated Jeskai Ascendancy I don't think that this is a playable Magic card. There's some merit in trying to make him work in decks with Young Pyromancer, Monastery Mentor and/or Talrand, Sky Summoner type threats but ultimately he's too clunky and unreliable in my mind. Blue just isn't a very good color at churning out tokens in general and even lists that can still probably want something more consistent. You kinda have to build an army, cast this guy, untap and then go off with a ton of spells just to get your value's worth. That's a few too many hoops for my tastes. I want to stress that I have an immense amount of respect for this effect in general, this card is close to being a legitimate playable, it's just slightly too unrealistic to think that his average use-case will be worthwhile even if your deck does have Ponders, Preordains, Impulses, etc.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Sphinx's Tutelage: If it's one thing that never ceases to amaze me it's the sheer volume of Jace's Erasure decks that get posted on casual, kitchen table forums across the world. It's a card that kills over 93, 136, 792 turns (I counted twice just to make sure) yet for some reason people flock to it like it's an Ætherling. I don't get the appeal, I never have and never will, but what I do know is that casual players LOVE these kinds of cards. As such I highly recommend hanging on to these because they make perfect gifts for newer players. They seem to love working with these kinds of engines and far be it from me to stop someone from having fun. I'm not going to review the competitive merits of this card (hint: there are none) but at the same time I'm a casual, kitchen table player first and so I have to tip to hat to wizards for printing cards like these that appeal to the masses.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Talent of the Telepath: I dislike this card for many of the same reasons that I dislike Stolen Goods. For all the cool stories where you nab things like Insurrection or Emrakul, the Aeons Torn there's going to be a throng of scenarios where you hit something marginal. Multiplayer, to me, is all about enacting a consistently powerful gameplan that's capable of defeating multiple opponents. What this means is that you generally need powerful and reliable cards capable of thriving in the harshest of environments. Now, let me make something clear. Memory Plunder is a very powerful card that I routinely play because I can consistency copy a powerful spell with it. Even though the card doesn't reliably do anything specific you can count on it to pull its weight. This cannot be said for cards like Talent of the Telepath because you're literally just hoping and praying that you picked the right person at the right time. When the stars align these cards are bonkers overpowered but their average use-case tends to be lackluster at best. Hitting 2 worthwhile spells in someone's top 7 isn't easy and you will legitimately whiff a non-trivial % of the time.
Global Grade D+
Not Cubeworthy
Thopter Spy Network: I'm just going to state the obvious and express my annoyance for the "one or more" line of text on the card. A 4 mana conditional Phyrexian Arena + Bitterblossom hybrid probably sounds powerful but I'm not expecting much from this thing. The last time that I saw Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa played was in an EDH game against an Edric, Spymaster of Trest deck filled with mana dorks and cheap, evasive beaters. It very easily won the game but at the same time Piracy/Bident wasn't what made the deck powerful and I wouldn't expect the best version of the list to play either. Since TSN has a significantly lower power-ceiling I'm not expecting to see much of it in any format although I'm sure that some people will try and make it work in various Esper artifact shells. Even if it's not the best card in the world I'd expect Bitterblossom + Phyrexian Arena lovechild to appeal to a large % of the casual playerbase so good or bad I think this will see a fair amount of play. As long as your deck has artifacts it's probably a reasonable inclusion but not one that you'd ever write home about. It takes a long time for this to generate enough 1/1s to be relevant and in terms of draw engines this isn't going to outperform Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Mind's Eye, etc. It can certainly co-exist alongside them but we're not talking about an overpowered card advantage engine or anything.
Global Grade C-
Not Cubeworthy
Tower Geist: As much as I love cantripping threats I'm not about to play a 2/2 flier for 4. In many ways it feels like that mana is only being used to "draw 2 loot 1." While the flying body would be a legitimate threat in a duel environment it's irrelevant in the context of a large multiplayer game, especially in formats such as EDH.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Whirler Rogue: I wasn't expecting to see a creature like this in Blue and it's refreshing to see something powerful at the Uncommon level. A 2/2 and two 1/1 fliers is significantly more powerful than a 4/4 and "can't be blocked" is a relevant effect in every MP setting. It's especially good in EDH with its Commander damage but even in Cube and Constructed you still have to kill people and blockers are a ubiquitous concern. While I wouldn't be excited to play with this thing in EDH, the power-level just isn't there, I could see myself playing it in low-powered Cube and Constructed environments. It "beats removal" in a big way which is important if people are mostly playing duel decks. It's also a trump when/if board stalls occur which is another common problem in casual multiplayer formats. Otherwise the 2 flying power is a clock in-of-itself, especially if you're playing with Equipment. Beyond that it's important to stress that this is ostensibly a 4/4 for 4 which is a legitimately meaty blocker for a color that doesn't normally get those. Being able to trade with big Green idiots isn't something that most Blue creatures can threaten to do. Lastly it's somewhat relevant to note that generating multiple 1/1 Artifacts makes cards like Skullclamp, Steel Overseer, Master of Etherium and Thoughtcast that much more powerful. This won't matter for every deck but it will affect some of them. While this isn't some bomb that you'll play in every Blue deck it strikes me as being "just good enough" to see a fair amount of casual play.
Constructed + Cube Grade C-
EDH Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Willbreaker: From Beguiler of Wills to Roil Elemental to Memnarch there's no shortage of big Blue idiots with their sights set on global domination. On paper they're some of the scariest baddies but in practice they rarely live up to their hype. Ultimately Willbreaker is just another 5 drop that dies to removal at no benefit and who doesn't accomplish anything on her own. The fact that the creatures are returned when she bites the dust is another strike against her and the 2/3 body isn't doing her any favors either. Furthermore, she suffers from what I like to call "best case scenario mentality" where your opponents, especially weaker players, can only ever envision her best possible outcome. The prospect of having all of your creatures stolen is enough an incentive to justify killing her which is why these kinds of cards tend to draw more hate than they may have otherwise warranted. People can and will kill these kinds of cards long before they actually do something relevant out of fear of "what's to come." Otherwise I want to stress that she's actually somewhat hard to abuse in the sense that you still need something that targets but that doesn't kill/bounce/exile/etc. Disciple of the Ring is one example but the fact of the matter is that targeting is hardly a given unless you're building your deck in a specific fashion. One EDH Commander that comes to mind is Nin, the Pain Artist but in general I think that she's actually quite difficult to support unless you purposely add weak cards to your deck. Like, I get that Sea Kings' Blessing is a card, it's just not one that I want to add to any of my decks. Even if I could magically draw it and Willbreaker every game that 2 card combo still loses to Doom Blade (or whatever) so I'm not thrilled about the idea of actively trying to abuse her. Curse of the Swine might be the overall best option but there isn't much else that I'd be excited to play in most MP settings.
Global Grade D+
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D
Closing Thoughts: I'm reluctantly giving Blue a D even though I strongly considered giving it an F. Day's Undoing has some potential in extremely unfair combo decks and Harbinger of the Tides is a powerful 2 drop that still has relevance in the mid and lategame. I could still easily live without them, they don't jump out at me as being top-tier playables, but there's definitely something going on with them. Otherwise I'm sure that Jace, Vryn's Prodigy will see a bit of play alongside fan-favorites such as Jace's Sanctum, Sphinx's Tutelage, Thopter Spy Network and Willbreaker. I want to stress that none of these strike me as being competitive Magic cards but they do come across as ones that will appeal to a large % of the playerbase.
Blightcaster: Doomwake Giant this is not. "Cast" is significantly worse than "enters the battlefield" (see Pharika, God of Affliction) and a global -1/-1 is almost always going to outperform a targeted -2/-2. Doomwake also gets a free shot when he ETB whereas Blightcaster accomplishes nothing without adequate support. While you could arguably play both in your Enchantment-based shells the reality is that Blightcaster doesn't have the required power-level to pull its weight in a multiplayer setting.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Cruel Revival: Wight of Precinct Six, Fleshbag Marauder, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and more are all fantastic Zombies that you could happily play in most Black shells. Unfortunately this will never change the fact that Cruel Revival is basically unplayable. Paying 5 to Murder and Raise Dead is just too clunky for any midway serious multiplayer setting. 2-for-1s are nice and all but card advantage isn't difficult for Black mages to obtain so you're better off playing with better removal, better revival and generating your card advantage elsewhere.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Dark Petition: It may not be Demonic Tutor but I don't understand why this card is taking so much flak. Last time I checked Necropotence, Doomsday, Yawgmoth's Will and many more are all cards that you can legally play in EDH and I don't need much of an incentive to tutor them out. With respect to Constructed there's a million Storm-based Dark Ritual decks out there most of them need to hit at least 6 mana before they can win anyways so I don't see why having to hit 5 is such a big deal. You almost always need some sort of Past in Flames/Ill-Gotten Gains/Pyromancer Ascension/Syphon Mind/Yawgmoth's Will chain/sequence to Exsanguinate/Tendrils of Agony a MP table down and those are not cheap (mana wise). I recognize that this thing can't tutor up a Sol Ring on turn 2 but if every card is held up to Demonic Tutor's standard then we may as well label 2490 of the 2500 Black cards unplayable pieces of trash. The reality is that Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual are very real cards in Constructed formats and multiplayer EDH isn't exactly known for being a format dominated by aggressive, creature-based decks. This isn't the be-all-end-all of tutors but it's still a powerful Magic card in the right shells and that's more than good enough in my books. If you're playing with a degenerate spell-based deck I have a hard imagining that this thing could be actively bad. When properly supported this is an extremely powerful Magic card and even though I agree that it's very bad in generic creature-based decks and Cube I could easily see myself sleeving this badboy up in relatively competitive EDH and Constructed decks (as in consistent turn 4-8 kills in EDH and consistent turn 4-5 kills in Constructed).
EDH + Constructed Rating B
Cube Rating F
Not Cubeworthy
Demonic Pact: I'm kind of at a loss about what to say about this steaming pile of crap. Part of me thinks that I should just treat it like a fun, casual card that can be sacrificed, flickered or even Donated for lulz. Another part thinks that some people might mistake this for a playable Magic card which means I should do a more formal review on it. The last part of me just wants to sink in my chair as Black receives yet another unplayable Mythic. Either way I'll try and salvage this review with at least some educational content. The reason why these kinds of cards are so bad are almost too numerous to count. First and foremost even if we were to assume that Donate + Pact was a decent combo (hint: it's not) it still only kills one person... maybe. People will still have an opportunity to destroy the thing and it's not like it's going to catch people off-guard. You get to see it coming for 4 turns aka eternity. This means that your combo deck realistically can't win a game of Magic unless your opponents are literally goldfish. More importantly it's slow, vulnerable to removal, it's slow, if people counter your Donate then you're screwed, it's slow, if you pair this with blink effects and they get answered you lose, it's slow, if you draw part of the combo but not the other you lose and did I mention that it's slow? Yes? 7 times? Guess what, there's still 2 more upkeeps until the person dies. Yeah, sure, some % of the time you'll get someone. Whoopieee! You still lose the game because your combo deck kills exactly one player every full moon. The card is just awful.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Despoiler of Souls: So you're saying that this thing can't block and that it costs 2 mana and 2 creatures to recur? Thanks but no thanks Wizards. This isn't going to replace cards like Bloodghast or Reassembling Skeleton anytime soon... or ever for that matter. I'm all for playing and supporting Skullclamp in formats such as EDH but this is not what I want to be pairing it with.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Erebos's Titan: I'm truly at a loss for how to evaluate these kinds of cards. On the one hand you'll never see them in truly competitive/degenerate decks because they just plain don't accomplish anything worthwhile. When compared to cards like Crypt Ghast you realize that having a big body is irrelevant when similarly costed cards can threaten to end games on the spot. A random 5/5 beater isn't going to magically defeat a table of competent opponents and a few trivial upsides isn't going to change that. That being said it's hard to label these cards as "bad" because they block well, they have multiple upsides and you can always feel good about casting them on curve (unlike say Disciple of Bolas). Now, I don't think that Erebos's Titan is better than Disciple of Bolas in formats like EDH but if you're playing Constructed and you just plain need a 4 drop that can actually protect you then this isn't your worst option. That being said he's far from your best because both of his abilities are extremely unreliable. The fact of the matter is that it's hard to find 4 drops that both ignore removal and that have relevance at every stage of the game so in many ways you have to compromise by picking and choosing your battles. Only a small subset of 4 drops are legitimately amazing "most of the time" in multiplayer so sometimes you have to make due with marginal options such as these. With respect to abusing him, meh, I wouldn't put much stock in it. Cards like Bojuka Bog, Withered Wretch and Scavenging Ooze are all fine and even things like Nezumi Graverobber are passable. That being said you're still going to have to work if you want to recur him and given that he's just a vanilla 5/5 I can't say that it's worth the time and effort to do so. If I were going to play with this guy it would be in generic Gray Merchant of Asphodel decks that sometimes need big, cheap blockers. You could try and abuse him in some weird Tortured Existence/Necromancer's Stockpile/Recurring Nightmare/Stinkweed Imp/Krovikan Horror/Veilborn Ghoul deck but I really don't think that it's worth the effort.
Global Grade D+
Not Cubeworthy
Eyeblight Massacre: Elves are the most competitive Tribe in Magic which means that there's a floor on how bad this card can actually be. You'd obviously never play it over things like Drown in Sorrow and Massacre in generic Control decks (even in EDH and Cube) but there's clearly merit to jamming it in GB Elves. Even then this card doesn't seem great given that it costs 4 mana and that it's not a creature (i.e. you can't Survival of the Fitttest/Green Sun's Zenith/Chord of Calling/Birthing Pod/etc. for it) but at the same time it's hard to call a one-sided Infest bad. I still think that it's mostly unplayable but a "good" mass removal spell for the "best" tribe is probably worth acquiring. I just don't see myself/others playing it in the best versions of the best Elf decks though.
Constructed + EDH Rating D
Cube Rating F
Not Cubeworthy
Fetid Imp: People like Deadly Recluse a fair amount but having to Sinkhole yourself to threaten trades doesn't sit well with me. Moreover, "Walls" are never going to be especially powerful/competitive cards because best-case scenario they prevent you from losing in the short-run. That's it. This card will never win a game of Magic, kill a player, cement your victory, etc. At best it's a blocker that trades. Those kinds of cards can only take you so far and so I personally wouldn't advocate acquiring and/or playing with this this little bugger. Still, I do expect to see it fielded as a defensive blocker a fair amount in casual decks.
Before moving on, I should probably explain that this card isn't like Stinkweed Imp. The reason why I advocate playing with little Stinky is because Dredging 5 is often the same thing as drawing 1-2 additional cards. Volrath's Stronghold, Unholy Grotto, Phyrexian Reclamation, Animate Dead, Oversold Cemetery Necromancy, Nighthowler, Bridge from Below, Whip of Erebos, Dread Return, Sever the Bloodline, Living Death, Demigod of Revenge, Vengeful Pharaoh, Soul of Innistrad, the list of reasons why goes on and on. It's true that I appreciate the 1/2 flier that trades with "anything" but if that was all that I wanted I would just play with Vampire Nighthawk instead. Rather, I play with Stinky because it's both a "Wall" and a source of card advantage.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Fleshbag Marauder: On the surface this thing may appear to be a variation of Innocent Blood "for everyone else" but in practice it's so much more. Unholy Grotto and Volrath's Stronghold are almost free to run so having creature-based removal is virtually always better than playing with spells when applicable. Moreover, cards like Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos double-dip the effect and you can even sac the dude to things like Attrition and/or Infernal Tribute with the trigger on the stack for more value. Obviously if you had other creatures out you'd still have to sac one but otherwise you'd be sitting pretty. "Creature-spells" also trigger things like Dark Prophecy and they're much easier to tutor for and recur with things like Survival of the Fittest and Genesis. For all these reasons and more this card is significantly more powerful than it probably seems and I personally consider it to be a top-tier playable in any format. While the most overpowered versions of the most overpowered decks won't want to play it the overwhelming majority of fair decks that compete in fair metas will definitely want to give this guy a go. I've curved a lot of Wight of Precinct Sixes into a lot Fleshbag Marauders and let me tell you right now that it never gets old. This is a "must have."
Global Grade B
Cubeworthy
Gilt-Leaf Winnower: In Constructed there's just no possible way for this to be your best option so I'm not really considering her for that format. Paying 5 mana for conditional removal and a marginal body just isn't where you want to be. After all, Bone Shredder, Nekrataal, Shriekmaw and more can all accomplish the same thing for less mana. Moving on, I'm fine playing the one Shriekmaw in EDH but it's not a card that I want to field a ton of. I don't like marginal 2-for-1s in general so I'm willing to play the best variation of the effect but not much else beyond that. As such I'm not loving this card in that format either. With respect to Cube, again, she's just too slow and conditional to make the cut in my mind. The only aspect that I'm attracted to is her evasion given the existence of things like Nighthowler, Lashwrithe and Bonehoard. I love making huge + unblockable creatures in MP so evasion is always a bonus in my books. Regardless she's still not up to par with the rest of Black's minions so I don't expect to see much of her in any multiplayer setting.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Gnarlroot Trapper: A BLACK MANA DO... oh... nevermind. I've never seen an Elf deck that's A) not played spells B) had an easier time producing B than G on turn 1 and C) couldn't use Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Arbor Elf (you get the idea) instead so I don't think that this card is even playable in Elves. I'm willing to be proven wrong and it's possible that this will see play in EDH as an additional mana dork but I'd be legitimately surprised if that proved to be the case. I'll probably pick one up just in case but I'm not holding my breath on that front.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Graveblade Marauder: Unlike Guiltfeeder this card is a legitimately decent blocker at every stage of the game and much like it he can put a serious hurt on people in the later stages of the game. You obviously can't just play this guy in any old deck, you need to pair him with cards such as Entomb, Satyr Wayfinder, Stinkweed Imp, Buried Alive, etc, but at some point he becomes a legitimate threat. Now, where would I play him myself? Nowhere. The fact is that you need to work really hard for a very long time to extract any semblance of value out of this guy. Something like 85% of the time you're just going to trade him off or have him die to a sweeper. 10% of the time he'll probably deal a decent amount of damage and 5% of the time he might actually connect twice and kill someone. Nothing that I've said should strike anyone as amazing because what I've just described is a terrible Mortivore that doesn't benefit from lifelink nor the increased number of players. I've basically just listed a bad card that trades slightly better early on. As such I'm going to have a take a pass on this guy and discourage people from playing him if possible.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Kothophed, Soul Hoarder: I'll take a 6/6 flier over a 5/5 Deathtouch any day of the week and triggering off any any permanent, even fetchlands, has me intrigued. The lifeloss is a bit disconcerting though and will probably be enough of a deterrent that most people won't risk playing him. If anything I'd play him in EDH where you get that extra cushion to play with under the pretext that I never expect creatures to live for very long to begin with. Still, my problem with this card, the same problem that I have with Harvester of Souls, is that I don't want my 6 drops to just be drawing me cards. See, even in EDH I can still field Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, Syphon Mind, Disciple of Bolas, Graveborn Muse, Necrologia on and on and on to ensure smooth, consistent draws filled with gas for most of the game. That's easy. What's not so easy is developing a mid and lategame plan to actually win the game. What I will say is that I don't want to wait until I stick a 6 drop before I start drawing cards and if I've already been doing that all game then I want my 6 drops to actually do stuff. That's when you want to be jamming things like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Massacre Wurm, Grave Titan, Rune-Scarred Demon, Sepulchral Primordial, etc. and proceed to Living Death and Wake the Dead them all back as needed. Now, while I do think that these kinds of cards are playable in basically every MP setting it's basically only as budget alternatives. If Harvester of Souls is in your deck it's probably because it's 3-4x cheaper than Grave Titan and not because the card is inherently better. If you're especially worried about the lifeloss on Kothoped, try to remember that cards such as Exsanguinate, Crypt Ghast, Gray Merchant of Asphodel all exist for a reason so don't feel too afraid to give him a go if you need a cheap finisher and you can't/don't want to use Sepulchral Primordial. The point is that powerful + inexpensive lifegain options exist! In Cube the card is mostly garbage because you can't really guarantee a deck full of mass removal and/or lifegain which does make the auto lifeloss trigger a bit sketchy.
Constructed + EDH Grade C
Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Languish: This is a "middling" sweeper like Barter in Blood that's neither good nor bad; just average. I put almost no stock in the "you can build around it Wildfire style" but it's obviously going to be relevant some % of the time. After all, it's not going to sweep your Abyssal Persecutors and/or Grave Titans away. The reason why this doesn't interest me is because the reality of MP is that you're usually behind on board, often in a big way, and allowing everyone to keep their large threats is a serious drawback. This card is certainly playable but it's not a Damnation or even a Crux of Fate and no 26+ Swamp deck should play it over Mutilate I don't think. It's going to kill cheap dorks but anything that costs 5 or more is going to be iffy and its inability to remove game-ending fatties doesn't sit well with me. At least Barter in Blood can still nail that Sheoldred, Whispering One who was Animate Deaded on turn 2 wheres this card isn't good against unfair starts. If it's good enough to see ultra-competitive play it's going to be by the skin of its teeth.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Liliana, Defiant Necromancer + Liliana, Heretical Healer: Of all the cards in this set this is the one that I'm the least sure of. In my heart of hearts I think that she's over-hyped as Hell but I'd like nothing more than for Black to have another powerful "Planeswalker" at its disposal. Her "creature mode" is horrendous (only Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh is worse) and people need to stop acting like a 2/3 lifelink for 3 is even remotely playable. It's not. Beyond that flipping her requires actual effort and additional cards because simply having a creature is by no means a guarantee that you'll be able to trigger her. Obviously if you have a creature + sac outlet then she's good to go but that's easier said than done. Now, once flipped she becomes a significantly more attractive card because all 3 of her modes seem actively powerful to me. Her "Unearth mode" is probably going to be over-valued in multiplayer but I'm loving her +2 and if you can reach her ultimate then it's also insane. I'm embarrassed to admit that I wasn't especially hyped about playing Liliana of the Veil in multiplayer but I've since come around on the card in a big way. Waste Not certainly helped on that front but even things like Syphon Mind make the discard much more taxing than it may otherwise appear to be. I also grossly underestimated the value of having "Cruel Edict" because even in multiplayer it's nice to have quick answers to overpowered creatures. As much as I'd like to provide more insight this is just a card that I'll have to play with and against before I can make an informed opinion of it. I just don't know if the "good flipped mode" can offset the "outrageously bad creature mode." I'm leaning towards "no" but I've been wrong about these kinds of cards in the past so who knows?
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Malakir Cullblade: Unless you're playing Vampire Tribal and need another marginal 2 drop with a relevant creature type just stick to Wight of Precinct Six. The problem with "Scavenger Drakes" is that Mortivores tend to be infinitely better because you can cuve [mass removal spell] into [jillion/jillion threat on an empty board] whereas with "Scavengers" you're forced to draw them first, cast them first, have them survive and wait long enough for many creatures to die but not so long that mass removal sweeps them away. They're extremely clunky and inconsistent in that sense which is why you rarely see them.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Nantuko Husk: If you want a free, creature-based sac outlet for Constructed/EDH play with Viscera Seer. If you want to recur Bloodghast/Nether Traitor/Reassembling Skeleton and beat people down play with Bloodthrone Vampire. Nantuko Husk is just that, a washed-up husk of a Magic card that no longer serves a purpose.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Necromantic Summons: To give you an idea I don't even think that Beacon of Unrest is remotely playable which should tell you everything that you need to know about this card. It's just way too slow and weak to compete in any sort of remotely competitive MP environment. "Any creature" from "any graveyard" might seem like a steal for 5 mana but the reality is that you can get it for one, two, three... you get the idea lol.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Priest of the Blood Rite: I'm just going to cut to the chase and state that never in a million years would I play with this card. I understand that you're supposed to sac the human and keep the Demon but that doesn't interest me in the slightest. That's way too fair given that the payoff is just a dumb beater that puts out a slow clock and that dies to removal at no benefit. Now, let me be clear; I can think of dozens of ways to "abuse" this card. Viscera Seer, Skirsdag High Priest, Fleshbag Marauder, Infernal Tribute, Dark Prophecy, Attrition, Rotlung Reanimator, Xathrid Necromancer, Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, the list goes on and on. I can envision all of these scenarios and more; I just don't care. Bloodgift Demon is a 5 power flier for 5 that acts as a Phyrexian Arena. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is a powerful form of drain. At 6 mana you get things like Grave Titan which put these kinds of beaters to shame. I just don't feel like working for a big dumb flier in the hopes that I'll be able to attack with it 16 times to win the game. That doesn't appeal to me on any level.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Rabid Bloodsucker: I have 4 words for you: Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Welcome to a world where every Black 5 drop has to (virtually) win the game on its own just to compete with a 50 cent common from a recent set. Hyperbole aside this card is just objectively weak and shouldn't be played if at all possible. Bloodgift Demon, Shriekmaw, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and more are all many orders of magnitude more powerful.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Read the Bones: While it's too marginal for Constructed (Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence, etc. are all superior alternatives) I'm pretty sure that it's always made the cut for me in EDH and I've happily played in Cube as well. Even if it's not the most powerful draw spell in existence it's currently still good enough to earn its slot in the "one and done" formats which is more than I can say about most cards. Read the Bones will never blow you away nor completely lock a game up but you get to see a lot of cards for 3 mana and make no mistake that the Scry 2 puts it head-and-shoulders above a simple Divination.
EDH + Cube Grade B
Constructed Grade C-
Cubeworthy
Shadows of the Past: I'll start with stating the obvious and highlight the fact that you only gain 2 life regardless of the number of opponents. Think Palace Siege, not Syphon Soul. With that in mind I assign very little value to the activated ability although I will concede that it doesn't hurt to have it. From what I can tell it was basically tacked-on for free so I'm not going to complain. With that in mind I'm extremely interested in this card, particularly for formats such as EDH and Cube. The fact of the matter is that 2 mana is only going to net you two cards so this card doesn't have to bottom many cards in order for you to get your money's worth. People typically assign a 0.5 card value to "Scry 1" but even on a conservative estimate of 0.3 I have a hard imaging games where I wouldn't derive sufficient value from this thing. I will concede that in the mid-to-lategame it's harder to justify waiting 4-5 turns to get your ROI but it's not as though this card has to played on turn 2 to do work. Much like Blood Artist it's just plain going to be relevant at most stages of the game, especially in a list that has access to reasonable amounts of mass removal. With respect to Constructed, I'm not the type to overlook durable forms of Devotion given my love for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. I'm also extremely fond on 8-12 Wrath decks filled with Damnations, Mutilates, Crux of Fates, etc. and those decks can never get enough card draw/filtering. For 2 mana I'm more than willing to stick my neck out and give this thing a whirl because this could easily be a multiplayer staples across every format in the same way that Blood Artist is.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Tainted Remedy: Many years ago Wizards, in their infinite wisdom, decided to print a card called Rain of Gore. While a cursory glance of it suggests that it has relevant text a deeper investigation proves that no such relevance can be located. Anything and everything that you think the card does, it doesn't actually do. If you're one of the many poor souls who believes that it any way, shape or form interacts with lifegain, ho ho, you're in for a rude awakening my friend. To say that this card does nothing is an insult to One With Nothing because at least that card is a hard counter to Ebony Owl Netsuke. Damn right yo! Moving on to the actual card in question, how the Hell has it taken Wizards 20 years to print this thing? People have been waiting for the Enchantment version of False Cure since Onslaught and it's about damned time that we got it. I'm extremely happy that they didn't wuss out and make it some 5 mana pile of trash because we realistically couldn't have asked for more than this. I love that it's asymmetrical and I'm glad that it works with all of the usual suspects (Beacon of Immortality, Pack Hunt + Skyshroud Cutter) to kill players outright. Now, lifegain is by no means the most oppressive form of resource but this effect is still loved by the masses so it doesn't matter if you won't see this card in the best versions of the best decks because that's not what the average person cares about. Unfortunately this effect is just too narrow for Cube, some hosers are fine but this one just isn't consistently powerful enough, but you can bet your boots that you'll see this in Constructed alongside Congregate and Beacon of Immortality and I fully expect to see it used against me in EDH as well. If those dirty, dirty Black mages *cough*ME*cough* are going to jam Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Exsanguinate into 100% of their decks then someone has to punish them. I'll end the review by saying that I love seeing these "unique name" reprints not only for formats such as EDH and Cube but also because tier 1.5-2 combo decks get that much more consistent when they can elect to play as few at 4 or as many as 8 of a given component. Whereas it's hard to make the deck work when you must draw False Cure, Pack Hunt and Skyshroud Cutter it's not so bad when you can start to double up on some of the pieces if needed.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Thornbow Archer: Pulse Tracker and Mardu Shadowspear have acquired a new brother-in-arms. While I wouldn't exactly call "Black Sligh" competitive it's an extremely funny archetype that can pick up a few wins every now and then. The versions that I play tend to dump their hand with the 1 drop critters and Bloodchief Ascension at which point it can use things like Syphon Mind to refill its hand at which point it can abuse Gray Merchant of Asphodel to clear everyone out. The reason why this strategy sometimes works is because you only need one "open" opponent to get in for global damage which quickly adds up over 2-3 turns. Furthermore, I also play with Extorters such as Thrull Parasite and even Leechridden Swamp to offset the risk of mana-flood so the damage can really pile on even in the mid stages of the game. The deck is obviously silly, I'm not pitching a top-tier archetype or anything, but I do love dumping my hand on turn 3 and nailing everyone for 10 before losing the game to mass removal. If nothing else it makes for fast, exciting games even though you'll rarely clinch victory for yourself.
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not cubeworthy
Undead Servant: Given the existence of cards such as Necromancer's Stockpile, Oversold Cemetery, Buried Alive, Stinkweed Imp, etc. I always give these kinds of cards a few reads just to make sure that I'm not missing anything obvious. As it stands I don't expect to see this card played in a "serious" deck but it never hurts to consider your options.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D
Closing Thoughts: I'm a mono-Black mage at heart and so I care way more about this section than I do the others. When I say that I'm excited about a Black card you can take that on face value and assume that I probably know what I'm talking about. If I don't advocate buying a card then it probably means that you can live without it. What, then, am I looking to acquire from this set? 4x Dark Petition, 1x Languish, 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder and something like ~5x Shadows of the Past. Tainted Remedy just doesn't do it for me because I'd rather play Erebos, God of the Dead (one of my favorite EDH Generals btw) because that card is more durable, it's a draw engine, it can attack/block, etc. I'm also not interested in building combo decks that abuse it so I see very little reason to acquire them. Languish I can easily live without but I'm going to grab one for my Cube and maybe one for EDH. I see no reason to play it in Constructed because it's just not that good. I already own more than 4x Fleshbag Marauder and some Read the Bones but make sure to grab those if you don't already have them. Thornbow Archer is cute and I'll steal some from friends for my janky Pulse Tracker, Mardu Shadowspear deck but I'd never actually purchase them. Liliana, Defiant Necromancer is a wild-card but I'm secretly hoping that she fails to live up to her hype so that I can acquire some on the cheap. It'll suck if she turns out to be awesome but that's a risk that I'm willing to take. The only cards that seem legitimately busted to me are Dark Petition and Shadows of the Past which is why I plan on snagging them in large quantities. I can't state definitively that they'll both be awesome but tutors/utility/card draw tend to be much more valuable than generic threats/answers in multiplayer in my experience so I'm willing to invest in cards that have a higher chance of being unfair. Things like Graveblade Marauder and Priest of the Blood Rite can never be broken Magic cards in my mind; there's just a 0% chance that I'll regret not having them in my collection. Still, there could easily come a day where I want to build some busted Constructed/EDH deck that Dark Petitions into a Necropotence or Doomsday or a Control deck that casts a million mass removal spells until it can find some insanely strong win condition/combo kill. Shadows of the Past can enable you to see a lot of cards throughout a game and I'm willing to give them a go in every format.
Abbot of Keral Keep: I wouldn't play a 2/1 Prowess for 2 and the prospect of a free card isn't enough to change that. These kinds of cards are too unreliable and have too little impact to see any amount of serious play.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Avaricious Dragon: Anything that states "discard your hand" on it better be freaking amazing and a creature version of Phyrexian Arena doesn't even come close to qualifying. You basically need an empty hand before you can comfortably cast this thing which is a scary prospect in a multiplayer setting. After all, people are probably going to pounce on the opportunity to mess you up if you just run this out on turn 4 because watching a player lose their strongest threat and their entire hand is almost equivalent to a game loss. Besides, it's not as though a 4/4 flier isn't a realistic win condition by any standards, especially when you need a deck that's low-to-the-ground to support him. Given that you still have to pitch your hand every turn you don't want to draw spells that you can't cast which somewhat rules out bombs such as Insurrection. At the same time cheap burn + creatures are terrible when you're facing multiple adversaries so the "best decks" for this thing aren't exactly good to begin with. I'm always happy to see Red card draw but the drawback here is far too outrageous which makes me think that this thing is unplayable in every format. It's just too hard to discard the discard mechanic when you're pitching your entire hand and even in the best-case scenarios it's hardly game-winning synergy.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh + Chandra, Roaring Flame: Chandra herself can only ping players and given that she's just a 2/2 for 3 there's nothing positive to say about her first form. She has the weakest "creature mode" by far and it's not particularly close. For her to do anything you need to stick something like Curiosity on her but unless you're playing with Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind or Guttersnipe that's probably not going to happen. Regardless she's worthless without support which is why I dislike her first form so much. Flipping her doesn't seem especially hard (attack, cast a spell, ping that person) but even then you're faced with the problem of being stuck with a 'Walker with two trivial activated abilities and powerful ultimate (yes, that's generally going to be a drawback). As much as I like the idea of igniting the entire table the card will surely suffer from the Liliana of the Veil problem of "my opponents would have to be brain-dead idiots to allow me to reach this." The only time that I've ever ulted Liliana was in spots where I'd already won the game by casting giant Death Clouds or whatever at which point anything could have finished the job. No one in any of our circles has reached it in a normal, competitive game where people were still jockeying for position. While I could see an argument for playing her in RG decks with Doubling Season (instant ult) that still seems loose given how bad the card naturally is. All-in-all I just can't think of a compelling reason to play her in any format.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Chandra's Ignition: As much as I'm trying to like some of the new Red cards it's hard to get excited when they're unwilling to push anything the right way. A 5 mana Sorcery speed, unreliable and conditional Duneblast is uninspiring to say the least. As such you need some seriously attractive "best-case scenarios" before you should strongly consider running this thing. Sequences that come to mind include big + inexpensive creatures such as Taurean Mauler and/or Malignus, lifelinkers such as Brion Stoutarm (the creature deals the damage), deathtouchers, infecters, things of that nature. The card still seems awkward and marginal even when you have some of those but least they provide you with some additional incentive. The tragedy with this card is that it's just awful against removal and since your opponents are all-but priced into using it that's a worrisome proposition. I don't think that it's particularly good or bad in any one format, not enough to warrant a discussion anyways, so I'll probably just leave it at that.
Global Grade D
Cubeworthy
Dragon Fodder: Any token maker is arguably playable in Purphoros, God of the Forge decks (both EDH and Constructed) and things like Shared Animosity/Impact Tremors can also put them to good use. Otherwise I don't think that these "Raise the Alarm" type spells are especially playable, a couple of 1/1s just isn't going to accomplish much, but at some point synergy trumps power at which point these are fine to run. With respect to actual Goblin decks Mogg War Marshal is vastly superior so unless you're desperate for 2 drops, again, don't bother running this. The fact that Goblin Ringleader doesn't nab it is just too much of a disadvantage.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Embermaw Hellion: A 5 mana 4/5 trampler with "Power +1, Spellpower +1" makes for a decent but unexciting midrange beater. At 4 CMC I could've gotten behind it but at 5 there's just not enough going on to get me excited. Ultimately it's just another marginal 5 drop that dies to removal, that has a marginal effect, that doesn't benefit from being copied/cloned/Sneak Attacked/etc. and that doesn't have much relevance at any stage of the game. I have to imagine that you're just plain going to struggle to get any significant value out of this thing in an average game. The best use for it, in my mind, is token/swarm decks since the body is efficient and the global +1/+0 is a welcome addition when you have 10 critters on your side of the field. It stales pales in comparison to something like Eldrazi Monument or Coat of Arms but at least that doesn't sound terrible. While it's not particularly good or bad in any one format I also couldn't name one where I'd expect it to shine. I'd just take a pass on this one if I were you; just stick to things like Siege-Gang Commander and Zealous Conscripts.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Flameshadow Conjuring: Finally we've hit a worthwhile Magic card. Holy Hannah that took a long time! I've always loved Mimic Vat style cards in multiplayer and while Minion Reflector has always proved to be a touch too slow when you slash 1 off of both costs you're suddenly talking about an extremely powerful effect. The vast majority of the most commonly played multiplayer critters (especially ones that're likely to hit play at 4+ mana) have solid ETB and/or combat triggers which means this thing figures to generate obscene amounts of value over the course of a typical match. Solemn Simulacrum, Siege-Gang Commander, Zealous Conscripts, Inferno Titan, Scourge of the Throne, Molten Primordial, Dragon Mage, the list goes on and on of critters that you can pair with it. Paying a single Red mana to nearly double their value an absurd rate which is why I wouldn't be surprised to see this thing played in any Red deck that I see for the next 4-5 years. As long as your deck plays a fair number of "good" creatures it's probably going to want this thing in a big way. It's a no-brainer, must have that you could happily play in any multiplayer format.
Global Grade B
Cubeworthy
Ghirapur Æther Grid: As much as I like repeatable sources of removal and inevitability this isn't what I have in mind when I think of multiplayer win conditions. It's far too unreliable for Cube and the power-level isn't present for EDH but this might be a marginal playable in Constructed I guess. Artifact lands make this slightly more palatable, especially if you have some Unwinding Clocks on your side of the field. That still seems loose, you should probably just run a Lux Cannon or whatever, but eh, maybe as 1-of it would be fine...
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Goblin Piledriver: Ignore Cube and let's assume that we're talking about an EDH/Constructed Goblin deck. How good is this guy under the ideal conditions? In my opinion; not very. Cheap, purely aggressive beaters are fairly miserable in multiplayer because mass removal and/or blockers will ruin you but it's not like you can keep him back on D and expect it to accomplish anything. These kinds of cards make decent king-makers in the sense that you'll take someone out before losing but that shouldn't exactly tempt you to field him. Rather, it makes much more sense (in my mind) to field all of the Mogg War Marshals, Goblin Matrons, Goblin Ringleaders, Krenko, Mob Bosses, Siege-Gang Commanders, etc. before sealing the deal with effects such as Shared Animosity, Purphoros, God of the Forge, Coat of Arms, Eldrazi Monument, etc.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Magmatic Insight: A lot of people are telling me that I should like this card but I don't really understand why. Tormenting Voice has never blown me away and I don't see what's so exciting about a cheaper version with more restrictions. Unless you're playing a RG Life from the Loam deck discarding a land isn't going to lead to any turn 2 Animate Deaded Griselbrands so I fail to see why people think that this will be an overpowered Magic card. Hell, I don't even think that it's better than Faithless Looting. If your deck has Loam, ok, sure, I can get behind that. Otherwise, meh, I don't build Red decks that can't put lands number 7 and 8 to use.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Molten Vortex: Speaking of Life from the Loam, it looks like it just found itself another friend. In a perfect world this card is significantly worse than Seismic Assault but for budget-minded players not needing RRR could be a big deal. It's also a new version of the effect which is always relevant for Cube and EDH. My biggest concern with this card is that it feels way too fair to me. While it "only" costs 1 mana to cast it's not free to activate which will seriously dampen your ability to fire it off ~40 times come the lategame. Even if you treat Seismic Assault as a 5-6 mana card I still prefer it because it has a significantly higher power-ceiling once you reach a stage of the game where you're cycling Tranquil Thickets and Forgotten Caves into multiple Dredged Life from the Loams. Beyond that a big strike against both cards is that they're fairly low-impact. While they can grind people out in theory in practice they're slow and unreliable. It's extremely difficult to completely cement a gave in your favor because anything remotely unfair will probably trounce your gameplan. Rather, I like to think of these kinds of cards as strong pieces of removal that have the added benefit of sometimes being win conditions. "Plan A" isn't to ping 200 life down 2 at a time but some % of the time it'll work and that's a sweet bonus.
I still have a hard time liking Molten Vortex in general though. I don't even think that the "good" Seismic Assault decks are noteworthy and this card feels significantly weaker to me. It's better than nothing since it'll give people something to play around with in EDH/Cube if they're so inclined but I have very tempered expectations with respect to its performance.
Constructed Grade C-
Cube + EDH Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Pia and Kiran Nalaar: Mini-Siege-Gang Commander has my interests piqued. Playing 4+ CMC creatures that die to removal at no benefit is rarely where you want to be in a multiplayer setting which makes a card like this an instant playable in my mind. For starters 1/1 fliers are way better than generic 1/1s so please don't be fooled into thinking that this is just a glorified Beetleback Chief. Any evasive beater can become a game-ender eventually, especially if you're packing some solid equipment. A flying Bonehoard is many orders of magnitude more threatening than a Mortivore so don't go discounting those thopters. Moving on, the sac ability is unexciting but given that it's virtually "free" I'm not going to complain. Multiplayer is still filled with small-yet-powerful creatures such as Goblin Welder, Hermit Druid, Crypt Ghast, Master Transmuter and many more that can all take complete control of the game if left unchecked. Shock isn't always going to be great but it can definitely be a necessary evil at times. I do realize that if Shock is bad that a 3 CMC version of the spell that requires a sacrifice is horrendous but if the alternative is to lose to Crypt Ghast then you don't have much of a choice now do you? Otherwise it's a creature with an ETB trigger meaning that it works with Mimic Vat, Sneak Attack, Flameshadow Conjuring, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and all of the other usual suspects. Those aren't overpowered synergies/interactions by any means but it's still potential value. What I like most about this couple is that it's an "every person" card. It may not have a home in the absolute top tier degenerate strategies but for kitchen table players who just want durable threats that don't lose to removal then they're perfect for the job.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Ravaging Blaze: I don't mind Clan Defiance but I generally hate 2X burn spells because they're ridiculously slow and awkward to use in my experience. The Spell Mastery bonus is nice and all but you still need 7 mana to kill a 5/5 and dome someone for a significant amount of damage which leaves a lot to be desired. I wouldn't laugh at someone for playing the card, in the right setting it can probably hold its own, but in general I don't think that it's a good idea to play with these kinds of cards when you could just as easily slam things like Earthquake into your lists. I'm not altogether sure if I need to rate cards like these, I don't know if people actually question their playability, so feel free to leave comments either way. I try to touch on cards that people might be on the fence about to help push/pull them towards one of the sides which is why I still talk about cards that I consider to be mostly unplayable trash.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Scab-Clan Berserker: The fact that I'm giving this card second and third looks should give you a general idea about the torrid state of Red's cheap creature base. Triggering her Renown seems rather trivial to me, especially in large 5+ player games, so she definitely has that going for her. I like that she's asymmetrical since shooting yourself is a real drawback and a "3/3 for 3" is a somewhat reasonable blocker. I also actively like the mana cost because I love me some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx decks and I mean what better card to jam alongside Eidolon of the Great Revel, Dragon Whisperer, Sulfuric Vortex, Manabarbs, Fanatic of Mogis, etc.? The "burn" plan isn't exactly stellar in a multiplayer setting in general, you usually die before everyone else does, but every time they print an asymmetrical effect the archetype gets that much more competitive. Who knows, one day it may even be legitimately good! It's worth nothing that I think that these kinds of cards are unplayable trash in EDH because 10% of someone's health is a decent amount in Constructed/Cube but 5% may as well be nothing. Of all the weak gameplans to try and enact in the all ramp/tutor/card draw/combo kill format some piddly burn plan is among the worst. I suppose I should probably close by saying that this card gets better the more unfair decks are. Simply put most modern decks (think Standard) are creature-based whereas most eternal decks (think Legacy) are spell-based and you really don't want to play this type card in the former environment. A 3/3 for 3 that pings people for 2-4 over ~5 turns is just terrible because it's going to be significantly worse than that a huge % of the time.
Constructed + Cube Grade D
EDH Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Thopter Engineer: This is closer to a playable than Ravaging Blaze is but only because of the Haste bonus. The "2/4 for 3" doesn't interest me in the least (nor should it appeal to you) but any persistent form of Haste has a home in multiplayer (especially EDH). All of your Steel Overseers, Master Transmuters, Wurmcoil Engines, Myr Battlespheres, etc. get that much more powerful when they have an immediate impact on the game. That being said I would still never play with this card myself but Haste is too powerful of a keyword for me to completely dismiss her. No matter how you slice it she's a no-go for Cube but there's still some possibility for her to exist in the other formats. For example, I think that cards such as Temur Ascendancy and Urabrask the Hidden are criminally underplayed given their power-level and that more people should give "mass Haste" a whirl. If you're playing an Artifact-based deck you'd be amazed at how much of a difference it can make.
Constructed + EDH Grade D-
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D
Closing Thoughts: Red was one Flameshadow Conjuring away from an F and I can safely say that it's the only Red card that even remotely interests me. Pia and Kiran Nalaar is a solid playable for fair decks if you're just looking to beat spot removal but don't go tricking yourself into thinking that they're a top-tier threat. At the end of the day it's still just a marginal 4 drop that can't do much other than block and ping a few small critters. The other interesting cards are Magmatic Insight, Molten Vortex and I guess Chandra's Ignition but none of them strike me as being staples in the present and/or near future. The only remotely unfair effect that Red received was a glorified version of Minion Reflector but I'll still happily accept the gift. The silver-lining to this sad tale is that Flameshadow Conjuring figures to overperform in most multiplayer settings regardless of the level of competition. It's an also an effect that will appeal to most people (unlike say Vryn Wingmare) since it's both fun to play with and against which ultimately prevents Red from experiencing a total write-off on the set. It's hard to get excited over a single playable that's still nowhere near the power-level of something like Sneak Attack but it's something :).
Animist's Awakening: I'll starrt by expressing my gratitude that it doesn't specify "basic lands" and having them ETBU is a very real bonus that makes hitting the Spell Mastery worthwhile. It enables you to still resolve something relevant that turn to avoid tapping out "to do nothing" in the later stages of the game. That being said my problem with this card is just that; it doesn't do anything. At X=4 you're looking at a 5 mana Explosive Vegetation of sorts which isn't saying very much. Obviously hitting nonbasics is a plus but it can also whiff and it costs more mana so there are serious drawbacks to consider as well. As cool as it sounds to fire this off at X=10 (or whatever) I can't actually get excited about that because it doesn't actually win the game. Green is likely the single best color at converting 8-10 mana into a game win using a single card (Tooth and Nail, Craterhoof Behemoth, Primal Surge, etc.) so I just don't see where this card fits in the global multiplayer sphere. After all, it's not like you see many Boundless Realms decks and this is basically the same type of card. I tend to think that these "mass ramp" effects (not named Primeval Titan and Sylvan Primordial) fall into the win-more side of the spectrum but I'll recognize the fact that they're probably a lot of fun to play with even if they aren't uber competitive. I know plenty of people who're excited about this card but ultimately it's just never going to be a staple like Genesis Wave.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Caustic Caterpillar: I've played with and against Yisan, the Wanderer Bard enough in EDH to know that there's a market for these kinds of creatures. From Green Sun's Zenith to Birthing Pod actual CMC matters a lot which makes these kinds of cards significantly more playable than they probably seem. It's also a creature which helps for things like Survival of the Fittest, Eladamri's Call and Oversold Cemetery so don't go thinking that this some terrible 3 mana Naturalize. I can't imagine fielding it in any other format but heed my words when I say that you should grab one for EDH just in case.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Conclave Naturalists: Reclamation Sage, Wickerbough Elder, Acidic Slime, Bane of Progress and Sylvan Primordial are too much better at the job to justify adding these kinds of cards to your decks. Even in EDH there's just no realistic way for a competitive list to find room for it.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen: For 4 mana you get a crappy lord with crappy stats and a crappy set of mismatched abilities. Reach on a critter that wants to attack? Really? I don't like to rate lords harshly in general but the Elf tribe is just so freaking powerful and competitive and so the competition is about as stiff as it gets. I would be shocked to see this in the best versions of the best Elf decks because the reality is that she isn't up-to-snuff. If you want to play with this card because it's fun, cool, affordable, whatever, knock yourself out. It's not terrible or anything, it's just never going to be better than dozens of significantly more powerful alternatives. Oh, and hopefully I don't have to say this for every Elf card but these are clearly terrible in Cube unless you support the Tribe in a big way. I'm kinda hoping that that's obvious so don't be surprised if I don't explicitly state it for every card.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Dwynen's Elite: I won't speculate on it's playability in 1v1 decks but I can tell you that this thing is virtually unplayable in multiplayer in my mind. It doesn't draw cards, it doesn't tap for mana, it doesn't do anything except attack and block. Sure, you can Wirewood Symbiote it to generate 1/1s, but is that really what you want to be doing in a MP setting? If your plan to win involves turning small creatures sideways then you're fighting a losing battle my friends. Stick to the cards that have relevant for text for multiplayer purposes and ignore the ones trying to play Watchwolf. The only reason I won't give this an F is because I've lost plenty of games to Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Thunderfoot Baloth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Craterhoof Behemoth, etc. and so I could see a world when the 2 bodies was "good enough" to see play. I'm still extremely skeptical but Green decks are just so good in formats such as EDH that I can't discount any multi-bodied Elf. I'll hang on to 1 just in case but I couldn't imagine needing more than that.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Elemental Bond: We've come a long way since Kavu Lair my friends. If it's one trend that I've consistently noticed when playing multiplayer it's that newer players tend to underestimate the value of mana acceleration and card advantage across every format. Be it EDH, Cube or Constructed if you're not consistently acquiring card advantage then you're probably not going to fare very well in your games. While EDH puts a higher emphasis on tutors it's still imperative to avoid finding yourself in topdeck mode in the mid-to-lategame which is why I'm always bothered when people omit things like Skullclamp and Sylvan Library from their lists. Given that creatures such as Kalonian Tusker exist it's safe to say that you can easily build decks in which the vast majority of the creatures will trigger this badboy. I imagine that you'll still want to play some cheap acceleration such as Elvish Mystic but I'm not going to lose any sleep if a handful of the creatures in my brews fail to trigger this thing. Realistically speaking you just need cast 3 creatures before it becomes actively good and everything beyond that is just a bonus as far as I'm concerned. That's not asking for very much even if it's just your 4+ drops that actually trigger it. Given that you can consistently jam this thing on turn 2 off of a turn 1 accelerant that seems more than reasonable to me. Beyond that it literally doesn't matter what you pair it with as long as they're competitive creatures with 3 or more power. This is just a solid card in every format (although it's probably at its worst in Cube) and I expect to see it bunch in both EDH and Constructed.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade C
Cubeworthy
Elvish Visionary: This is what a 2 drop Elf should look like in my mind. Between Wirewood Symbiote and Skullclamp it can generate a ton of card advantage but even as a standalone effect it's still a threat that cantrips. Elf decks typically need a critical mass of threats and mana before they can seal the deal which is why these kinds of filler cards are perfect. You want cheap bodies to fuel mana engines such as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Gaea's Cradle, Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid but at the same time you don't want to "waste" those slots on generic beaters such as Dwynen's Elite that have no other significant value. They dig you into the cards that you'll need while providing you with bodies to fuel your inevitable Ezuri, Renegade Leader/Craterhoof Behemoth style finishers. It's also important to note that can happily play these kinds of cards outside of dedicated Elf decks insofar as you're just looking to rip through your deck and/or fuel cards like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx/Gaea's Cradle. I've happily played 4 alongside creatures such as Wistful Selkie/Yavimaya Elder and Masked Admirers/Eidolon of Blossoms if for no other reason than to avoid card disadvantage while digging towards cards like Genesis Wave, Primeval Titan, Sylvan Primordial, Tooth and Nail, Primal Surge, etc. that can all take complete control of the game. In Cube the card is playable but unexciting because you're usually better off playing ramp in that slot since you're rarely going to be able to abuse a card like Gaea's Cradle unless you get very lucky and somehow avoid mass removal.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Evolutionary Leap: Finally Green has an amazing sac outlet. Anyone who's ever sleeved up a whack of Forests probably knows all too well what it's like to have your dudes killed by removal. Up until now there's been nothing remotely playable that they could use to offset the risk of being Doom Bladed out of the game which has left many Green mages sad pandas. While this card isn't the next Survival of the Fittest it's going to see play in 100% of my Constructed/EDH/Cube decks as a means of blanking spot removal and converting my mana dorks into threats in the later stages of the game. I realize that that last part is a relatively mana intensive process but paying GG to "Cycle" an Elvish Mystic isn't overly taxing. Another thing that I like about this card is that it creates plenty of deckbuilding opportunities that might normally go overlooked. Instead of fielding Elvish Mystic and Sakura-Tribe Elder you can jam Utopia Sprawl and Fertile Ground (or whatever) into your brews and leave yourself with nothing but "hits." Alternatively you can still field your mana dorks because you'll always have an opportunity to trade them up in the later stages of the game. It also makes things like Strangleroot Geist, Viridian Emissary, Elvish Visionary, Wood Elves, Yavimaya Elder, Solemn Simulacrum, Thragtusk, token generators, on and on and on that much more appealing. Worst comes to worst you get your value and dig for another critter to keep the chain going ala Birthing Pod. I also want to stress that throughout this time this card has been making life miserable for people trying to beat you with removal because all of those exchanges will be horrendously unfavorable for them. I'm not saying that you're forced to keep mana up for the entire game but the option will always be there which should drastically reduce the risk of over-extending. This is just a total bomb that everyone needs to acquire because it's good in 100% of Green decks across all formats. You might not run 4, I could easily see an argument for treating this like a Sylvan Library type effect, but cutting the first from any Green deck seems like it would be a big mistake to me. My only hope is that it doesn't cost millions of dollars because I really want casual players to be able to get their hands on as many copies as they desire.
Global Grade B+
Cubeworthy
Gaea's Revenge: Once upon a time I advocated playing this card given his ability to trounce non-interactive control decks that sought to seize control of the game with removal and counters. Fast forward many years to the present and Magic is all about creatures and so your 7 drop is basically just trading for a 5 drop at no additional benefit. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Anyways, I don't expect this type of finisher to see play, especially in formats like EDH where it doesn't even come close to sealing a game in your favor. This thing can connect with someone twice and they literally wouldn't have to bat an eye at it. Meanwhile cards like Kamahl, Fist of Krosa, Thunderfoot Baloth, Craterhoof Behemoth, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and more can decimate an entire table with little-to-no effort. Sorry GR, at some point in the distant past you were a reasonable Magic card but now you just sheepishly trade for half of a Thragtusk before crying yourself to sleep in the corner of your room.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Gather the Pack: As someone who's resolved his fair share of Grisly Salvages I'm going to be picking up a few of these just in case. BG/x graveyard-based decks have been a staple for quite some time now and so anything cheap that can dump a whack of cards into your 'yard is a potential playable. The fact that this can only nab creatures is a bit of a letdown and the Spell Mastery bonus isn't quite enough to offset that in my mind. I'm inclined to think that lists will only run 1-2 of these to support playsets of more powerful cards (Grisly Salvage, Commune with the Gods) but until I can play with the thing it's kind of hard to say one way or another. In general I prefer versions of the deck that abuse things like Animate Dead, Necromancy and Diabolic Servitude whereas a card like Gather the Pack works better with things like Reanimate, Exhume and Dread Return. I don't know how significant these small differences are but it's enough to make me question its playability.
Regardless of how it fares in Constructed the best home for this card is probably EDH. The most competitive versions of The Mimeoplasm, Karador, Ghost Chieftain, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord etc. won't field it but who really cares? This is the exact style of card that those kinds of decks want and they won't cost you a ton of money like Intuition and whatnot will. Reanimator decks are extremely powerful in my experience, especially since it's so easy to Survival of the Fittest/Buried Alive/Intuition for Necrotic Ooze with a Triskelion + Phyrexian Devourer in your graveyard. At that point you can just exile the top card of your library and shoot people until you win and no amount of spot removal can thwart you. Even ignoring Ooze combos you can still do busted things with Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Boonweaver Giant + Pattern of Rebirth to put your entire deck into play, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Iona, Shield of Emeria, etc. From combo kills to busted fatties games can virtually end as early as turn 2 which makes it one of the premiere archetypes of the format and Gather the Pack is the type of spell that can make the strategy sing.
EDH Grade C
Constructed Grade C-
Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
The Great Aurora: Do the people who look at this and say "wow that's an amazing board wipe" realize that they're referring to a 9 mana spell? I'm legitimately curious because I have no idea how anyone can get excited over hot garbage such as this. I know that I rag on people who call every big spell "good in EDH" a lot but sometimes I question if they could even explain the rules of the format let alone share personal experiences playing it. Like, let's get real people, this isn't the next Ugin, the Spirit Dragon or anything. It's some wonky Perilous Vault + Time Walk hybrid that drastically alters the state of the game but by no means does it lock the game up for you. It can be fun, it can be cool, it can make for interesting stories, it can be all of those things and more but it's never going to be competitive as far as I'm concerned. Craterhoof Behemoth, Tooth and Nail, Primal Surge and more represent cards that actually win the game for 8-10 mana so when people start lauding the efforts of a 9 mana board wipe I'm left scratching my head. Wouldn't you rather just outright win the game? Now, let's make something clear. I get that it can do some fancy Warp World shenanigans by abusing tokens to increase your cards drawn. I get that it can hose combo/control decks that cheat on lands. I get that it "kills everything" even it's hexproof or indestructible. I get that the lands are untapped so it's virtually "free." None of these facts are lost on me. What is lost on me is why you wouldn't rather cast a spell that figuratively wins games. After all, EDH isn't a format where you can blindly start on 6 CMC and go up from there. When you add this type of card to your lists it's coming at the expense of another 8+ CMC finisher. Given that there's dozens of superior alternatives for you to choose from it's hard to imagine scenarios where this thing makes the cut.
With respect to Constructed I see no reason to think that this card would ever be remotely playable. I refuse to believe that it's abusable with things like Dream Halls or Omniscience given that you'll be forced to re-shuffle the Enchantments back into your library and I mean I don't see how it could possibly beat Warp World at its own game. Between Tunnel Ignus and Archivist effects it's trivially easy to kill people with WW and the fact that GA exiles itself means that it's hard to go too deep off of it. If there's something legitimately powerful that you can do with this in Constructed let me know because I'm unwilling to expend mental energy trying to make it work.
In Cube it's just a 9 mana spell that doesn't win the game. 'Nuff said.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Herald of the Pantheon: Much like the other "Enchantments matter" cards don't bother with these kinds of effects in Cube unless you're actively trying to support Enchantress decks. They're far too narrow to provide adequate value in most builds.
With respect to Constructed and EDH, this is a mid-tier playable. The reason why Enchantment-based decks are so powerful is because no amount of creature removal significantly affects them. When you curve Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl into Argothian Enchantress/Enchantress's Presence/Eidolon of Blossoms and proceed to jam cards like Elephant Grass, Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety before sealing the deal with Luminarch Ascension/Sigil of the Empty Throne the reason it works is because no one can interact with you. Opposing creatures become anemic threats, removal becomes worthless, everything becomes inconsequential. This card will never be amazing in those kinds of lists simply because it dies to removal. In deck with few-to-no other targets for removal that's a much bigger strike against it than you probably think. After all, you're basically just mulliganing every time that you draw one. In a vacuum the Grizzly Bears + Emerald Medallion + Staff of the Wild Magus sounds powerful but if the creature just dies then it's not exactly fantastic.
That being said there are still ways to make this card work in Constructed/EDH formats. While I've explained why the "best" versions of the best Enchantress decks might not want this card that still doesn't mean that "good" versions couldn't effectively employ him. Green Sun's Zenith has become a staple in most of those builds (to fetch things like Argothian Enchantress and Eidolon of Blossoms) and having some of these as optional targets isn't the strangest idea that I've ever heard. It's also very possible to build versions of the deck with Mesa Enchantress and Verduran Enchantress at which point you probably want to run cards like Dense Foliage to begin with. Once this guy gets Hexproof you can at least dodge spot removal which is better than nothing. The idea here is that there's tons of ways to build these kinds of decks and they don't all have to be the absolute most cutthroat versions possible. This a powerful creature with 2 amazing effects that should be a lot of fun to play with. I still can't bring myself to give the card an especially high rating but please don't let that stop you from giving it a go in your own lists.
EDH + Constructed Grade C
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Honored Hierarch: Swing and a miss on this one. Best-case scenario it starts ramping on turn 3 meanwhile you've wasted an entire turn hitting someone for 1... in multiplayer. Given the choice of having a 2 power beater to actively piss someone off or having a critter that starts ramping a full turn earlier it's a no-brainer for me. Stick to the mana dorks like Elvish Mystic and Arbor Elf.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Leaf Gilder: An extra point of power isn't a worth a turn so you should never run these kinds of cards over their 1 CMC variants. If you're going to run an actual dork at 2 (as opposed to things like Sakura-Tribe Elder or Rampant Growth) at least make it something like Voyaging Satyr that can untap your Gaea's Cradle, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, or even your basic Forest with things like Utopia Sprawl and/or Overgrowth on it.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Llanowar Empath: Even if this just drew a card it still wouldn't be playable. Eidolon of Blossoms is fine because she can provide an insane amount of card advantage over time but something like this just isn't good enough to earn a slot.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Managorger Hydra: The only keyword that I've ever wanted on Taurean Mauler was Trample and this thing even triggers off of your spells ala Forgotten Ancient. Green is also the de facto +1/+1 counter color in my experience and a day doesn't pass that I don't see cards like Kalonian Hydra and Doubling Season making their way into decks. While it's completely true that this is just another big dumb Green idiots who's likely going to die to removal the truth is that I don't really care. Taurean Mauler has been underperforming for me for 7 years yet I'm still happy to play it and I'll be damned if I don't play the Hell out of this card for the foreseeable future. Besides, this provides me with even more incentive to jam cards like Dense Foliage into my decks and some point I'll be able to play 2-3 and feel actively good about it. Turn 1 mana dork, turn 2 Foliage, turn 3 Hydra is a pretty sick draw and basically forces mass removal on its own. Otherwise, again, this card has tons of inherent synergy with all of the "+1/+1 counters matter" cards and sometimes you'll just "get" people with your 3 mana 10/10 Trampler. They won't have removal for it 100% of the time.
Global Grade B
Cubeworthy
Nissa, Vastwood Seer + Nissa, Sage Animist: Can someone please enlighten me as to the last time people were happy to play Borderland Ranger? I'm not saying that it's never seen competitive play, I just don't understand why so many people are hyped over a bad version of a nearly unplayable card. Critters such as Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf are powerful because they provide immediate ramp and the latter even color fixes. Nissa here doesn't provide you with an immediate mana advantage nor does she help you nab that 2nd-3rd color that you might be lacking. In formats such as Cube and EDH that's usually a tremendous drawback since it often means you're waiting additional turns to jam your Commander and/or powerful spells. I also refuse to acknowledge the 2/2 body as a significant benefit, especially in EDH, because you're not fooling anyone by calling that "pressure" or "a deterrent." To people's credit the flipped version of Nissa is decent given that her +1 is just plain better than drawing a card and her -2 does add to your board. I don't expect a 4/4 to be relevant when people have access to 7+ lands but it's better than nothing I guess. I like her ultimate, that's a lot of burst damage to be threatening, but you can't even Doubling Season into it which is kind of a shame. Then again even if you could you probably wouldn't want to because at that point you're just dead to a mass removal spell and king-making isn't exactly a profitable strategy. In summary I just don't see why you'd ever want to play with a marginal version of a virtually unplayed card (Borderland Ranger) just for the off-chance that it draws a card or two in the ultra lategame. I would much rather stick to my Cultivates and Wood Elves and rely on cards like Maelstrom Wanderer to win my games as opposed to puny 4/4s and/or random cards. I'm always willing to be wrong about these kinds of cards but she really doesn't strike me as being anything special.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Nissa's Pilgrimage: Cultivate and Kodama's Reach should suffice for Cube and Constructed but I see very little reason to omit this from most Green EDH decks. The fact that it can only fetch basic Forests obviously sucks but I still have to imagine that you're going to play this thing more often than not. It's 2-3 cards + ramp for 3 mana and a card which is a perfectly fine rate as far as I'm concerned. In my mind the best Green EDH decks start with a dork on 1 and follow it up with another piece of ramp (assuming that their general doesn't cost 3 or less mana obviously) and you could do far worse than something like this.
EDH Grade B
Cube + Constructed Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Nissa's Revelation: The hits just keep on coming for Green. When I first read this card I couldn't help but think of Sphinx's Revelation because that's exactly what this is for ramp decks. In an ideal world everyone would be able to afford things like Green Sun's Zenith and Genesis Wave for their lists but unfortunately the real world is influenced by supply and demand. Good cards are expensive and that makes it hard for average players to build competitive decks on reasonable budgets. What I love about this card is that it enables budget-minded players to build lists that have access to a powerful draw engine that even gains them some life. I realize that Scry 5 means that there's always going to be some degree of risk involved but that's not enough to dissuade me from promoting this thing. It may not be the next Tooth and Nail but if it's ~$1.00 like I anticipate that it'll be then it serves a critical role in the casual community. Up until now I've had to push things like Lifeblood Hydra and Harmonize but even those are creeping well past the "budget" market. Assuming that this card is virtually free it'll mean that players of all walks of life can jam 4 of them in builds filled with ramp and fatties to ensure a continuous supply of cards and health. You may need to tweak your lists slightly to support it (more cards like Polukranos, World Eater, fewer critters such as Forgotten Ancient) but I still think that this is a solid playable that everyone should acquire.
One thing that I'll caution is that this card probably won't make the cut in EDH simply because it's hard to have a deck that's threat-dense enough to support it. More often than not lists feature a small number of extremely powerful finishers that they can tutor for and/or draw into as opposed to simply filling their 99 with a ton of fat. This is primarily because you're able to run powerful generals such as Maelstrom Wanderer that function as fatties that you'll always have access to. In that sense I think of this more as a Constructed/Cube card but obviously some % of EDH lists will have enough battlecruisers to support it. Generals such as Momir Vig, Simic Visionary certainly help and I haven't see a Green list that hasn't run Sylvan Library so by no means is the card unplayable in the format. It's just significantly easier to Mirri's Guile/Sensei's Divining Top/Brainstorm/Sylvan Library something big on top of your library when your deck has fewer cards in it.
Constructed + Cube Grade B
EDH Grade C
Cubeworthy
Reclaim: You may as well go ahead and assume that this card isn't isn't remotely playable in any setting. Regrowth and Eternal Witness are infinitely superior alternatives as they don't inherently cause card disadvantage. 1-for-0s need to be on Vampiric Tutor's level in order to be actively good in most settings and a wanna-be Regrowth doesn't even come close to qualifying. There's no reason to ever field this thing; not even in EDH.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Sylvan Messenger: Obviously this card is useless in Cube unless you support Elf tribal so let's just go ahead and ignore that format.
Moving on to EDH I don't think that she's amazing/mandatory but that's mostly because every Elfball EDH deck is going to differ with respect to its total number of Elves. Some have close to 50 whereas others have as few as 25 so you'll just have to run the numbers yourself and see how likely you are to hit at least 2 bodies and decide from there. Personally I see more of the ~50 creature decks than the ~25 creature decks so the card has always been decent for the people in my circles. YMMV but I've never seen much of a reason to cut her. Unless you've substantially cut back on the critter count she's going to hold her own. Either way let's shift the focus towards Constructed since that's the most pertinent format for the card in my mind.
While it's true that Elf decks have access to superior options with respect to card draw that doesn't change the fact that Sylvan Messenger is an extremely powerful Magic card. Elf decks play Wirewood Symbiote for a reason and if you thought that casting this card once was good try doing it 2-3 times per circuit. While it's true that a 2/2 Trampler for 4 is a ridiculous set of stats she could be a vanilla 1/1 for all I care because it realistically wouldn't change anything significant about the card. I'll be the first to acknowledge that the absolute best versions of the absolute best Elf decks frequently omit her but until things like Glimpse of Nature dramatically decrease in price I see absolutely no reason to hate on a "Goblin Ringleader" style threat played in decks that employ an extremely powerful bounce critter. For this card to be actively bad the other decks in your meta have to be insanely good and that's just not what I'd expect from a typical MP meta. So yeah, by all means, grab your 4-5 copies and play the maximum number of copies in all of your pertinent lists.
Constructed Grade B+
EDH Grade C
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Valeron Wardens: While this would be playable if it were a 3/5 for 3 that draws a card the conditional aspect makes her significantly less appealing as far as I'm concerned. Wood Elves, Courser of Kruphix, Yavimaya Elder, Reclamation Sage... why risk missing out on your 2-for-1 for a slightly bigger body?
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Woodland Bellower: Between Scavenging Ooze, Yisan, the Wanderer Bard, Fauna Shaman, Eternal Witness, Courser of Kruphix, Reclamation Sage and Fierce Empath there's a ton of inherently awesome things to fetch with this guy. Keep in mind that that's even before you start taking multicolored options such as Gaddock Teeg, Qasali Pridemage and Edric, Spymaster of Trest into account. While we aren't exactly looking at the next Primeval Titan we're still dealing with a juicy 6 drop that laughs in the face removal and which provides additional consistency and tutoring to your lists. I'll be the first person to admit that a vanilla 6/5 is hardly impressive and not something that I'd ever expect to win a multiplayer game but at the same time it's not horrendous or anything. It still trades with Titans/Souls and given that you can just Fierce Empath for finishers such as Thunderfoot Baloth, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Craterhoof Behemoth it shouldn't be that hard to put his body to use. He's probably at his worst in Cube but that isn't saying much because he's still probably going to make the cut in the vast majority of your lists. One thing to note is that since he's a Beast so if you do pair him with cards such as Urza's Incubator and/or Krosan Warchief it's possible to create large chains of Bellowers + Fierce Empaths very early on. You don't need cost reduction effects, time also works, but the point is simply that there are numerous approaches for Constructed versions of the deck. I'm really hoping that this card end up being affordable, I hope that it sees 0 Standard play at all, because I want casual players to be able to pick them for their lists as a Primeval Titan substitute.
Global Grade B
Cubeworthy
Zendikar's Roil: I like grindy cards as much as the next guy but it takes about twenty 2/2s to win a multiplayer game and that's just asking for way too much in my opinion. Even in lists with 8-12 Fetchlands it's not as though you'll be able to sandbag them all until you hit 5+ mana. It does make those Evolving Wilds and Terramorphic Expanses slightly more tolerable but don't trick yourself into thinking that ~four 2/2s is a big game. Unless your plan of attack involves curving Sylvan Primordial into Genesis Wave/Scapeshift you'll probably struggle to get your money's worth on this thing and even then any mass removal spell will still do you in. I'm not saying that this thing is unplayable, it's just significantly weaker than you probably think. Small creatures just aren't very good at closing games out because it takes significantly fewer blockers than some people might otherwise think to blank them. Unless your games run extremely long and/or you're jamming a ton of lands into play I wouldn't bother with this card personally.
Global Grade C-
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: B
Closing Thoughts: I would have settled for Evolutionary Leap but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Woodland Bellower will hopefully become a budget Primeval Titan given its ability to abuse things like Fierce Empath and Eternal Witness to generate a ton of card advantage. On the casual end of the spectrum we have Nissa's Revelation which does a pretty decent Sphinx's Revelation impersonation if I do say so myself. It may not be the most competitive card in the world but assuming that it's cheap it'll find an immediate home in all of those Green decks in desperate need of affordable card advantage. There's also Herald of the Pantheon and Zendikar's Roil which are both decent cards that will surely appeal to the casual playerbase. Any free + powerful + persistent effect is going to turn heads and these were pushed just enough to tantalize the imagination. Managorger Hydra may simply be another big idiot who dies to removal but I love that card design to death and I'm looking forward to nabbing some for my collection. Nissa's Pilgrimage seems like an easy staple for EDH give the ubiquitous nature of Cultivate and Kodama's Reach. It might not make the cut in every deck but most of them will probably elect to field it. Moreover, Elf decks received some awesome reprints in the form of Elvish Visionary and Sylvan Messenger which are both extremely competitive Magic cards. Lastly, even Caustic Caterpillar has a good shot at seeing competitive play, especially if we start seeing more cards like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard and Birthing Pod in formats such as EDH. All-in-all it was an embarrassment of riches for Green this time around as the color blew the others out of the park.
Blazing Hellhound: Good sac outlets tend to be cheap, free to activate and typically have worthwhile effects. This is none of those things.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Blood-Cursed Knight: A 3/2 for 3 is obviously unplayable and the prospect of a big lifelinker isn't enough to convince me that this is a solid Magic card. Even if it were simply a 4/3 lifelinker for 3 that's still basically only going to see play in Constructed assuming that your meta was on the aggressive side of the spectrum and that you needed early blockers. Given that some % of the time this card is just worthless I can't say that I recommend acquiring them.
Constructed Grade D-
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Citadel Castellan: A vigilant 4/5 for 3 is still basically just a Leatherback Baloth which isn't a card that you generally want to field in a MP setting. Medium-sized beaters can only take you so far because turning them sideways is probably the worst possibly way to go about winning. Vigilance obviously helps since your attacks become "free" but that's still an extremely fair gameplan that probably won't cut it in most settings.
Constructed Grade D-
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Possessed Skaab: The fact that it's a Snapcaster Mage of sorts makes me think that there's a home for this in EDH. Every Thraximundar deck that I've ever faced has played Rooftop Storm and so if you're aggressively tutoring for it anyways then this card could potentially make its way into the 99. This obviously also applies to Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and other Zombie EDH decks as well but the most competitive list is probably Anthrax himself which is why I used him as the primary example. The card seems mostly unplayable otherwise though.
EDH Grade D
Constructed + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Reclusive Artificer: A 2/3 Haste for 4? Right... Either way this card is actually decent in the right shell, namely one that fields things like Darksteel Citadel, Seat of the Synod, Great Furnace, Mox Opal, Thoughtcast, etc. At some point she becomes a Flametongue Kavu which is a decent playable in most settings. She's obviously complete garbage in formats such as Cube and even in EDH I wouldn't feel comfortable sleeving her up. Not only is she low impact but you'll struggle to get value from the 2/3 body and it'll be tough to guarantee kills with her nuke. I still think that she has a shot in Constructed though because it's just so easy to play a deck that's comprised almost entire of artifacts and she definitely holds her own in those kinds of scenarios.
Constructed Grade D+
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Thunderclap Wyvern: Lords are usually worthless in Cube but otherwise people can't seem to get enough of them. The stats on this thing aren't impressing by any means by anyone playing a UW/x "fliers" deck is still probably going to want some. If you're curving Pride of the Clouds into Warden of Evos Isle into Radiant, Archangel I just have to imagine that you'll be in the market for this as well. This is one of those things where true playability doesn't matter insofar as it promotes synergy and enables people to dream big. I don't personally care for it but at the same time I know that it will make a lot of casual players happy and that in turn makes me happy.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D-
Closing Thought: Nothing stands out to me as a powerful playable that you should make a concerted effort to acquire. I could easily live without all of these.
Alchemist's Vial: Anytime you see a cheap artifact that says "draw a card" on it think of Second Sunrise, Faith's Reward and Open the Vaults. By combining the two it becomes ridiculously easy to draw your entire deck, generate arbitrarily large sums of mana (think Krark-Clan Ironworks) and kill people with just about anything under the sun. The end goal is usually to draw your deck, enter an infinite combo where you sacrifice Pyrite Spellbomb to deal 2 damage, recur it with one of your White spells, put it on the bottom of your library and redraw it with Conjurer's Bauble. While I couldn't imagine playing this card in any other archetype (and even then it's probably not optimal) it's worth keeping all that in mind.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Alhammarret's Archive: I'm going to start by saying that these kinds of cards are terrible in Cube (too slow and inconsistent) and they're virtually always going to be too clunky for Constructed. Remember, we're not talking about a Staff of Nin-esque draw engine that naturally rips an additional card per turn. Your 5 mana investment inherently returns nothing. Even if you then cast a draw spell, say Jace's Ingenuity, you've still paid 5 Sorcery-speed mana to draw 3 cards on a later turn. That's terrible. Realistically you have to cast at least 2-3 decent draw spells before you'll see a return on this type of investment. Doubling lifegain is "fine" too obviously but Boon Reflection never has and never will a strong playable in any format so think of that as a bonus and not the primary benefit (unless you're playing a dedicated lifegain deck obviously). Anyways, this is the reason why you don't see cards like Doubling Cube and Mirari's Wake very frequently in Constructed. They're slow, mana intensive and require that you draw and play other powerful spells prior to sticking them. By the time you start being paid dividends the game can already be over.
Moving on I'd like to address to subject of EDH. While there are plenty of different ways to analyze this card in the format I want to stress that it's still a 5 mana spell that "doesn't do anything." As such the best versions of the best decks probably won't play it. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that the absolutely most competitive version of Oloro, Ageless Ascetic wouldn't even touch it. Ultra competitive EDH is a turn 4 format and even tier 1.5 decks are still winning games on turns 5-6 with reasonable consistency so this is by no means some insane bomb that will revolutionize the format. I'm not saying that it's unplayable, I'm just reminding everyone that "good in EDH" means different things to different people so don't be surprised when you see a card like this that has a ton of lovers and haters. The fact of the matter is that it'll be a bomb in some circles and a complete dud in others.
With that out of the way I want to stress that I do still love this card for EDH. While there's a very small subset of people who play Magic at an ultra-competitive level it represents but a tiny fraction of the total MTG population. The vast majority of Magic players sling it casually on kitchen tables and not in LGSes or venues competing for points. While the best versions of the best decks won't field this thing it's perfect for the overwhelming majority who just want to play big silly cards with over-the-top effects. This doesn't mean that you should play with bad cards like Alhammarret, High Arbiter but you should feel free to go nuts with extremely fun and powerful build-around-mes. Hammy's Archive is a powerful card in the context of a fair, grindy, 10+ turn game of Magic in which you draw cards and gain life on a consistent basis. Moreover, these kinds of cards also lead to fun and exciting stories which are usually more important than the results of the match. Curving one of these into a Sphinx's Revelation is just plain fun and win or lose it's something that you're going to remember. That's why these kinds of cards are so important to the health of the game: they get people excited and coming back for more.
EDH Grade B
Constructed Grade C
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Chief of the Foundry: It's no Master of Etherium but I have to imagine that people playing decks with Steel Overseer and Cranial Plating are probably going to want this guy. While I wouldn't label him as "competitive" I have a healthy amount of respect for cards that make casual players happy and any Lord qualifies in that department. People love playing with them no matter how good/bad they actually are because the effect feels relatively unique, powerful and fun to experiment with. Just don't go jamming this thing into your Cubes because he's not going to accomplish much of anything.
Constructed + EDH Grade D
Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Hangarback Walker: Now this is what I'm looking for in a scaling threat. I want to start by saying that this is a 2 drop and that you shouldn't fool yourself into thinking that this card is a bomb that scales well into the lategame. Paying 10 mana for a vanilla 5/5 that does something when it dies isn't much of payoff. Rather, this card is at its best when it's jammed on turn 2 or 3 (turn 3 following a turn 2 mana rock is sweet) at which point you can grow it whenever you have spare mana and not have to worry about what happens to it. Obviously if you have nothing better to do with your mana just run it out for as much as you can but I don't see any reason to sandbag it in the hopes of a "big payday" down the road. By jamming it early on it doesn't matter how big it gets nor when it dies because at that point it's a low risk investment with a potentially high reward. If you pay 6 mana total for a 5/5 that produces 5 1/1 fliers when it dies then that's a good deal. If you never get there, well, that's ok too. Don't feel as though you must grow it every turn and don't sweat it if your 2 drop doesn't win the game.
Beyond that the fact that this card has a CMC of 0 is a big game. Trinket Mage, Artificer's Intuition, Auriok Salvagers and more all reward you for having relevant 0 CMC cards in your lists. Moreover, it works extremely well with cards like Hardened Scales, Coretapper, Kalonian Hydra, Doubling Season, Contagion Engine, on and on and on. Even plain old Steel Overseer is happy to see these kinds of critters and Skullclamp and Cranial Plating can effectively conscript armies of 1/1 Thopters. Tempered Steel can also get down and dirty once it pops so there's just a ton of reasons to slot this thing in your brews.
Global Grade C
Cubeworthy
Helm of the Gods: I'll give the usual disclaimer that these kinds of cards are worthless in Cube and remind you that the other ratings reflect the card as it exists within the sphere dedicated Enchantment decks. It just makes absolutely no sense to rate it "in a vacuum." Ethereal Armor is an extremely powerful Magic card when you're jamming them on a Slippery Bogle/Gladecover Scout type threat (i.e. a cheap Hexproofer) and are then following it up with something like Daybreak Coronet. It kinda sucks that this card is an Artifact and given that it has a non-0 equip cost it's probably just worse than Ancestral Mask but the option is still there to play it if you want more cheap pump spells for your Bogle decks. I wouldn't expect those shells to play it over their current suite of Auras, especially versions of the deck with Daybreak Coronet, but it's possible that running 1-2 turns out to be correct. The other archetype that could play it would be the Enchantress style Prison decks who could, in theory, pair it with something like Mobilization to beat people down. I can't tell you why you'd ever elect to run that over Rest in Peace + Helm of Obedience, Luminarch Ascension, Sigil of the Empty Throne or any other good win condition for that matter but it's an option I guess. Otherwise I couldn't even begin to imagine a single EDH deck that would play this thing either, the Voltron generals have access to vastly superior options, but maybe the Bant pillow-fort deck (think Stony Silence, Sterling Grove Rest in Peace, Solitary Confinement, Ghostly Prion, Propaganda, Sphere of Safety, etc.) might play it for Commander damage kill potential. It's unlikely, I'd never add it to my own versions of the deck, but it's conceivable.
Constructed Grade D
EDH + Cube Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Jayemdae Tome: Not remotely playable in any format. If you've sleeving this up in EDH (I don't care if you're playing mono-White/Red) then you're doing it wrong. When you're paying 16 mana for a Jace's Ingenuity or 20 mana for an Opportunity there's just no possible way for you to be pulling ahead of a serious multiplayer group. You're just spinning your wheels and delaying the inevitable.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Mage-Ring Responder: This card it trash. Hell, it would still be trash even if it didn't cost 7 to untap. That my friends should tell you everything that you need to know about its playability lol. Myr Battlesphere or this? Wurmcoil Engine or this? Sundering Titan or this? Sylvan Primordial or this? Sepulchral Primordial or this? Angel of Serenity or this? Deadeye Navigator or this? Insurrection or this? Yeah, we're done here. This is a 7 drop that doesn't even come remotely close to winning the game in a world where plenty of alternatives can. The fact that it has to attack in order to extract any significant value is just sad.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Orbs of Warding: I can't remember the last time that I've seen Witchbane Orb played and a 5 mana version with a trivial upside probably isn't going to drastically alter that figure. Very few decks must target players in order to win games and MP isn't the time nor the place to whip out lists filled with burn and/or targeted discard. Unless you're trying to counter a specific subset of combo decks the effect isn't especially relevant in most games. I still plan on acquiring a copy of this card, you never know when you'll need it for EDH or Cube, but I wouldn't maindeck this effect unless I had a strong suspicion that I'd need it.
Global Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Prism Ring: Pure lifegain in all of its forms has never been especially competitive and I don't see why this card would break that mold. While I could easily envision games where it gains 10-15 life (if not more) that figure doesn't impress me because MP typically has nothing to do with racing, trading hits, burning players out, etc. When someone wins it's usually in a spectacular fashion and it's not uncommon to see 3 digits of damage dealt during the final turns of games. While 10-15 life may buffer you against Exsanguinate effects you're still fighting a losing battle at that point because "bad spells" are rarely effective answers to "good spells." You basically have to be doing something powerful/unfair yourself because otherwise you're just delaying the inevitable. I'm also ignoring all of the occasions where you don't draw this on turn 1, when it dies to mass removal, where people play combo decks, etc. so when you think about there's not much going for this thing. I can somewhat get behind Sun Droplet, I don't play it myself but I can see why others would, but this isn't on that level I don't think.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Pyromancer's Goggles: I'll echo what I said about Alhammarret's Archive in that this card is probably too slow for Constructed and too conditional for Cube which realistically only leaves EDH. While I like the idea of paying negative mana for a Reverberate effect what worries me about this card is how few Red spells actually benefit from doubling. Red deck typically play cards such as Vandalblast, Past in Flames, Ruination, Obliterate, Blasphemous Act and Insurrection that just plain don't benefit from being doubled. Now, it obviously also plays cards like Gamble, Comet Storm, Chaos Warp and Mana Geyser as well, I'm not suggesting otherwise, but my point is that a large % of its spells won't benefit from a Fork. Remember, a big reason why Reverberate and Wild Ricochet are employed is because they can target opposing spells so they're realistically never going to be dead. The Goggles, on the other hand, sometimes they do nothing. It's also worth nothing that whereas duel decks usually play a ton of spells like Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, again, you just won't see those in large numbers in a multiplayer sphere. All-in-all I have low expectations for this thing and I don't really expect it to make many waves. I jope to one day be proven wrong about it, I'd love for this kind of card to be actively good, I just don't see how that's probably when it figures to have no effect on a huge % of your spells.
EDH Rating D+
Constructed Rating D
Cube Rating F
Not Cubeworthy
Sigil of Valor: Most people probably just glossed over this card but it's way closer to being playable than you probably think. Any piece of Equipment that's cheap to cast and Equip but that still has a potentially powerful effect is worth considering in your creature-based builds. I can almost guarantee you that if it didn't say "each other creature" that it would basically be a staple. I've played against Sublime Archangel enough to know just how powerful that effect is and while you lose the 4/3 flier you gain a ton of durability. Ultimately I don't think that this card makes the cut, that "lost" +1/+1 does break it for me, but this significantly closer to being a legitimate bomb than most of the crap that Wizards has churned out in these past few years.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Sword of the Animist: This card reminds me of Mask of Memory in many ways. While it'll never rival uber equipment such as Skullclamp and/or Sword of Light and Shadow it's still powerful enough to provide a lot of value in a casual, multiplayer setting at a price point that average players can afford. I'm not entirely sure that that second part is true, I think that it might be pre-selling for like $6.00, but hopefully it'll crash and burn once it sees 0 play. Assuming that this thing becomes virtually free I do strongly encourage casual players to scoop some up to flesh out their lists. Much like Mask of Memory it's a fantastic way to squeeze some extra value from your critters since it's usually easy to find "open" players in large, Chaos games. Obviously Sword of the Animist doesn't even have to connect, just an attack is fine, but it's nice when you're not suiciding threats in the process of ramping. I'm glad the Equip cost is only 2 since it would have been unplayable otherwise but that's just low enough that you can equip, attack, and still cast a spell every turn (more or less).
For what it's worth I think that these cards are significantly more "fun" (I know how subjective that term is) in formats such as Cube than things like Sword of Body and Mind. This is just a small rant so feel free to skip ahead but I personally hate what Swords of X and Y do to multiplayer games. Far too often they'e 1-card kill conditions that slaughter players outright. The protections usually blank anything and everything that they could otherwise do to interact at which point they become a fish in a barrel. Seeing someone lose 15 minutes into a 2 hour EDH game is just disheartening and so I personally advocate against the use of Swords whenever possible. I also refuse to add them to my Cubes because I just don't like the play patterns that they create. The point here is that even though cards like Sword of the Animist and Loxodon Warhammer are objectively worse than things like Swords there is some merit to omitting them from your decks/Cubes.
Global Grade C-
Cubeworthy
War Horn: Anything that says "attacking creatures" on it is probably unplayable and War Horn is no exception. Multiplayer Magic just isn't a format that revolves around curving out with lots of small dudes and turning them sideways. There's way more blocking, ramping, card drawing and overpowering your adversaries with unfair tactics.
Global Grade F
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: C
Closing Thoughts: For better or for worse Alhammarret's Archive is going to see a lot of EDH play and even if I don't plan on abusing the card much myself it would be foolish of me to dismiss such an obvious casual staple. People just love doubling effects in general and a double double (where are we, Tim Horton's?) is twice as nice. Otherwise I really like Hangerback Walker as a cheap 2-drop in Artifact-based decks because other than Arcbound Ravager and Steel Overseer that slot is hurting. Also bear in mind that neither card is especially budget-friendly so let's not assume that everyone can afford to run either. While he's not my cup of tea I expect Chief of the Foundry to straddle next to Master of Etherium in said artifact decks because casual players just plain adore lords. Nothing else jumps off the page at me but Sword of the Animist is a tier above the other potential playables and I do expect to see it a fair amount in slower formats such as EDH. Finally, Helm of the Gods, Pyromancer's Goggles and even Orbs of Warding could all see some amount of play but I'm not much stock in any of them.
Battlefield Forge et al.: As much as I dislike hating on dual lands that don't ETBT I cannot stand Painlands in a Constructed/Cube multiplayer setting. Games go long and life total matters a lot and you just plain can't afford to take 6+ extra damage from your spells in most instances. While these aren't quite as bad as Mana Confluence and the like it's still extremely difficult to make them work in my experience. If you have absolutely nothing better to run and can't afford to play with ETBT lands then do what you have to do but in general I strongly discourage investing in these kinds of lands for casual, multiplayer purposes. That being said they're basically always going to be staples in EDH since you'll need the color fixing and playing lands that ETBT usually isn't acceptable once you reach a certain threshold of competition.
EDH Grade B
Constructed + Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Evolving Wilds: As much as we'd all love to crack a Polluted Delta for an Underground Sea on turn 1 every game the reality is that most Magic decks are built on relatively tight budgets. While Evolving Wilds will never be the best option for color fixing it's extremely cheap, trivial to acquire and does an adequate job of fixing your colors. Beyond that I'm not exactly sure how to grade these types of lands because they're significantly worse than the versions that are 72x more expensive but from a practical standpoint they're cheap and get the job done. If you owned real Fetchlands then you'd clearly never play with them but for your average Joe they're the glue that bring your lists together. Whether you want to call that a B, C, D, F, it doesn't really matter because you're not playing it because you want to. Rather, you field these kinds of cards because you have to and at that point it's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons between things like Evolving Wilds and other budget options such as Guildgates, Bouncelands, etc.
Global Grade D
Cubeworthy
Foundry of the Consuls: I'm all for "spell lands" that still have value in the later stages of the game but a pair of 1/1 fliers isn't going to cut it in a competitive sphere. Even if your gamplan involves jamming Life from the Loam and/or Crucible of Worlds you're still not going to make much head-way. For a 1/1 flier to have relevance you'd need to be playing with Auras, Equipment and/or Bestow effects but even then this card is a far cry from amazing. I suppose that it's better than actual nothing if your 1-2 color deck has no need for basics (Vedalken Shackles et al.) but by no means is this a powerful card that you should be actively looking to play.
Global Grade D-
Not Cubeworthy
Mage-Ring Network: A colorless version of Dreadship Reef isn't going to interest most people but the fact that it doesn't cost mana to activate is a decent bonus. Mono-colored decks probably won't care much about the color of the mana to begin with so any increase in quantity is probably a significant upgrade. Obviously you have have to tap it so you can't split the mana across multiple turns but that's a largely irrelevant drawback in my mind. Paying the 1 is significantly worse than the tap requirement. Anyways, I think that these kinds of Storage Lands are underplayed for their cost. While they may not be able to compete with the likes of Gaea's Cradle, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Cloudpost, Cabal Coffers, etc. they're basically free to purchase and they can still enable you to cast stupidly expensive spells pas ta certain point. I personally feel that if you're not fielding some amount of "Insurrection" type spells that you're just plain doing it wrong. Turning fair creatures sideways and casting removal spells can only take you so far so you really should be looking to support the most unfair gameplans imaginable. Anyways, Storage Lands are sweet because 1-2 of them ramp-up quickly and before long they allow you to jam things like Debt to the Deathless for millions. Given that they don't ETBT to begin with they don't exactly slow you down and you only have to store mana when you don't have anything else to do with your mana. Since the payoff is the ability to cast an extremely unfair spell/sequence of spells I see very little reason to omit these kinds of lands from your 1-2 color builds assuming that you don't have access to superior alternatives.
Global Grade C
Not Cubeworthy
Rogue's Passage: This is one the cards that I completely overlooked when it was first printed. Paying 5 mana for a "marginal" effect didn't interest me at the time but since then I've come to appreciate just how powerful it actually is. From Wight of Precinct Six to Hydra Omnivore Black and Green can field a ton of extremely large creatures that struggle to actually connect with people but when they do, watch out, because they don't mess around. While this card has basically no value in the early stages of the game it's still a land that doesn't ETBT so unless you're playing with 3+ colors and have strict requirements it doesn't cost much to run it. Where the card shines is in the later stages of the game where board stalls and chump blockers become a serious problem. The ability to connect with the aforementioned "Lord of Extinction" type threats is a huge game and Commander damage is a very real win condition in EDH. Even if you look outside of Black and Green the others still have some large beaters at their disposal (think Taurean Mauler) and Equipment is still a thing. You usually don't need many hits from a Strata Scythe/Bonehoard to take someone down so anything that can force them through is a worthwhile effect.
Constructed + EDH Grade B
Cube Grade D
Not Cubeworthy
Overall Grade: D-
Closing Thoughts: Nothing to see here folks. Painlands suck, Rogue's Passage/Evolving Wilds were never expensive nor difficult to acquire, Foundry of the Consuls is too weak to see serious play and Mage-Ring Network only works in a very small subset of 1-2 color decks as a budget alternative. Cue the "whan whan" foghorn sound effect.
I think that I speak for most people when I say that Wizards did a bang-up job with Magic Origins and that it was a fitting end to the Core Sets. Each color received at least 1 powerful, new card in addition to some key reprints. In White I'm looking forward to testing Relic Seeker and anyone who hasn't acquired some Knight of the White Orchids should probably pounce on their opportunity to now do so. Blue saw Day's Undoing and Harbinger of the Tides which both have potential to exist in a competitive MP sphere. The former is potentially relevant in unfair decks (Notion Thief anyone?) while the latter will likely function as a secondary (albeit weaker) Venser, Shaper Savant. In Black I'm excited to test Dark Petition in unfair Dark Ritual that're looking to end games with degenerate combo kills. Beyond that Shadows of the Past has me excited for formats such as EDH and Cube and I could ever see myself playing it in Constructed. Otherwise Tainted Remedy is a welcome sight given how miserable Rain of Gore is and Languish may not be Damnation but it'll do the trick for now. Red got the shaft this set but Shadowflame Conjuring is the real deal. It won't be the next Sneak Attack or anything but any list with "good creatures" is probably going to want this badboy. The real winner of the set was Green which boasts Evolutionary Leap, Managorger Hydra, Woodland Bellower and even Nissa's Revelation as its spoils. Given that it also 2 extremely powerful reprints in the form of Elvish Visionary and Sylvan Messenger Green mages have a lot to look forward to in this set. Things peeter out from there but Hangarback Walker and Alhammarret's Archive pick things back up as the set comes to a close. Neither is busted or anything but the 'Walker is a solid 2 drop that scales well into the lategame and the Archive is just EDH gold for the casual players of the world. It doubles the fun twice over which is going to appeal to most people in a big way. With that I've officially finished my review of Magic Origins and so now I encourage you to leave your own comments, concerns and outbursts. Let me what you agreed/disagreed with, what you liked/disliked, what I could have done better, anything. I want these reviews to be as relevant and useful as possible so don't be shy about pouring on some criticism!
Overall Set Grade: C-
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
My 540 card Free-for-All Multiplayer Cube
My Powered 630 card Vintage Multiplayer Cube
cEDH: WUBR Blue Farm WUBR, UG Kinnan Flips UG, U Urza Scepter U
Because the old one was so pleasing to the eye right /s?
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
My Powered 630 card Vintage Multiplayer Cube
cEDH: WUBR Blue Farm WUBR, UG Kinnan Flips UG, U Urza Scepter U
You've never played Left for Dead have you? BOOMER!
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
My Powered 630 card Vintage Multiplayer Cube
cEDH: WUBR Blue Farm WUBR, UG Kinnan Flips UG, U Urza Scepter U
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I think FREE Scrying on Jace's Sanctum pushes it over the threshold for me. That is what I am most looking forward to with this card. (U/R Counterburn) The reduction is just icing, really. It should see play that neither Arcane Santum nor Eyes of the Watcher saw, imo, and I bet that was their hope in designing it.
Similarly, FREE Scry on Shadows of the Past should be pretty incredible. Eager to try it out in a few decks. I will be very surprised if this doesn't become a new staple.
Same with Touch of Moonglove. You can cause all kinds of mischief in MP games with it. I picked up two playsets--snap buy.
I really want Archangel of Tithes to get there but I fear her lack of protection (in a MP game) + high 'bullseye quotient' make her hard-to-justify without some support. She would frequently suffer an untimely demise at our tables too.. Certainly keeping an eye on her though.
Definitely look forward to these reviews, every set. They are very well-done so thanks for doing them!!
Fully-powered 600-Card "Dream Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/dreamcube
450-Card "Artificer's Cube" https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/artificer
Cubing in Indianapolis...send me a PM!!
In situations such as this I have much more faith in the cheaper card than the more expensive one. The ratio of "creatures that die" vs "spells that I cast" in MP is usually massively lopsided towards critters biting the dust and the fact that it's 2 vs 4 mana makes this is a no-brainer for me. If either of these cards are going to be a staple it's the latter. The reason why I don't really care for the Sanctum is because for 4 mana you're not getting an immediate effect and it's not as though it'll pay itself off after a few circuits either. Considering that you could just slam a Fact or Fiction (or whatever) instead I'd rather get my 3 cards "right now" than have to wait until I cast ~6 spells to get enough value from my Sapphire Medallion + Scry Bot to pay for my card. Obviously you could go on to cast 10 or more spells before the game ends but that feels a bit unrealistic to me. This is especially true given that it doesn't combo well with Blue's 1 CMC cantrips such as Ponder, Preordain and Brainstorm. You could arguably play a deck with like 4x Impulse and 4x Accumulated Knowledge, that sounds sweet to me, but in general I think that most "20 spell" decks should have a ton of cantrips.
It's possible that I'm massively underestimating Shadows of the Past, I overlooked Blood Artist for a long time, I just know that Scry is a lot worse than it seems when it's not tacked-on to a useful spell/effect. The card has no other relevant text for like 95% of the game and even then it's a very bad win condition. The Scry also has diminishing returns in the sense that creatures often die "all at once" which means that a ton of them will probably be wasted on average. That being said I've never been especially fond of Sign in Blood variants but I could easily see myself getting behind this thing.
I have a hard time trying to strike the right balance between "competitive" and "casual" when it comes to generic multiplayer reviews. On the one hand I completely agree that 4 drops that "die to removal" will never be amazing which is why I gave cards like Erebos's Titan the Grade that it received. Even if they're "big" and have multiple upsides they still die to removal which kind of sucks. Still, I mean, what do you run? Small value creatures like Oracle of Mul Daya or Disciple of Bolas? Those kinds of cards certainly have a home in MP, I'm not suggesting otherwise, but what if people just plain need blockers? The overwhelming majority of the "good" 4 drops are small to the point where they can't even tangle with most 1 drops. If your meta is aggressive, which many are, you just can't afford to run nothing but dorks that can't actually block for you.
Still, I love comments like these. I'm mostly bound by my personal meta and can realistically only supplement that knowledge base with the things that I read online. That's why it helps me so much when people make comments like this. I too am apprehensive about 4 drops that die to removal and if people are also putting out that vibe then it can help me shape future opinions of cards.
You're welcome. Now I just have to stop being lazy and finish the last colors >.<.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
Currently Playing:
Legacy: Something U/W Controlish
EDH Cube
Hypercube! A New EDH Deck Every Week(ish)!
I thought that I was already doing that >.<. As you can see I have left a lot of the real crap out of the review but at the same time I don't know how other people view cards like Auramancer or Rabid Bloodsucker. I was very new to and very bad at the game once upon a time and so I know what it's like to struggle with card evaluations. That isn't a knock against anyone who agrees/disagree with my ratings, it's me trying to help other players develop a stronger set of analytical skills. I learned to evaluate cards by having other people show me what was good, what was bad, what worked, what didn't, etc. That's why I try to hit on cards that I think other people might be playing even though they shouldn't be.
I'm also worried that I'd be missing out on so much discussion if I just rated the Cs or above. The reality is that a C is a "solid playable" and in a game of 10, 000+ cards that's not going to encompass a large % of them. Even in formats like EDH it's still extremely difficult for a card to "make it" (a fact that I know isn't lost on you) and while it's obvious that I'm lenient (I'm sure you can tell that I try to avoid looking at everything from a hyper-competitive point of view) I still refuse to call cards like Alhammarret, High Arbiter playable threats. It's because people see those kinds of cards and say "good in EDH" that I make it a point to discuss them even if they're Fs. I understand that not everyone plays with lists that can win the game as early as turn 3 (or consistently by turn 5 if left unchecked) but I still refuse to acknowledge them as worthwhile investments. I feel as though more people with more experience need to step-up and explain why these kinds of cards aren't good.
Still, I agree that less is probably more, something that my writing has struggled with my entire life. I tried to cut back this time around and kept more of the reviews on the shorter end of the spectrum but I still ended up writing a lot about a good % of the cards.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold
1. Some decks like to fill their graveyard
2. Madness
3. Hellbent
4. Spell Mastery
5. Delve
6. Bunch of niche cards like ghastly demise, avatar of woe, mindstorm crown
I'm not saying its the greatest card ever, and I haven't given it all that much thought yet, but your "unplayable in any format" seems a bit far to me. 4 mana for a 4/4 flier in a deck where I want to dump my hand anyway and I get another draw each turn until it dies seems to offer some potential to me.
I can understand where you're coming from but I stand by my grade. While I typically opt to give similar cards (high risk, medium reward) a D rating I just couldn't bring myself to give it anything other than an F. I didn't articulate this point very well in my review but the "GOTCHA!" mentality is ubiquitous in my experience and I'd reasonable expect players to pounce on an opportunity to screw someone over by killing their 4 drop after they discard their hand. Even if your deck has Delve cards, Spell Mastery cards, Ghastly Demises, AoWoes, so what? You have no hand and you're topdecking into generic threats and answers. I'm not trying to straw-man your argument by attacking the weakest aspects, I realize that you were just listing off potential uses for the card, I just can't think of anything actively good to do with the Dragon. Rather, I think that it's a card that tricks you into thinking that it has potential only to completely screw you over in the process of playing it.
If you/others can make the card work, that's awesome! Believe me when I say that I'm happy to be wrong about about cards being bad. I know that I probably seem overly pessimistic but the reality is that I don't like being pigeon-holed into playing with small subsets of cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Sylvan Primordial that obsolete all alternatives. I play with them and promote them because I like winning but don't confuse that with "I like winning with cards that I deem cool." I'll happily play with any "winning" cards regardless of what I may have said about them in the past. I've been wrong about dozens of cards before and I'll be wrong about many more in the future.
As it stands I would actively put that Dragon in every EDH/Cube/Constructed decks that my opponents built because I legitimately believe that it would hinder their overall chances of winning. I say this knowing full well that people try and abuse it because I maintain that said "abuse" would still be too weak to compete with an average MP group. Still, I do appreciate these kinds of comments because they get me to think about my opinions/arguments and critically assess their merit. I'm not compelled to change my point of view just yet but that could easily change if someone were able to highlight its potential.
Guilds of Ravnica - Commander 2018 - Core 2019 - Battlebond - Dominaria - Rivals of Ixalan - Ixalan - Commander 2017 - Hour of Devastation - Amonket - Aether Revolt - Commander 2016 - Kaladesh - Conspiracy 2 - Eldritch Moon - Shadows Over Innistrad - Oath of the Gatewatch - Commander 2015 - Battle for Zendikar - Magic Origins - Dragons of Tarkir
Green - Blue - Red - White - Gold