Hello everyone, thank you for stopping by! Today I will be reviewing cards from the newest set, Ravnica Allegiance! I decided to review a few different cards that do not necessarily have potential in the deck, but that some may consider playing in their builds of Momir Vig. This time around I am going to try giving the cards a rating on a 5-point scale.
5.0: This card is an automatic staple in the deck, and is a critical component of the win package, such as Temur Sabertooth.
4.0: This card is a staple in the deck, but is not generally a part of the winning combo. Cards like Vizier of the Menagerie fit this rating.
3.0: It's not a very exciting card, but it gets the job done, and I will play it until they print something much better. Cards like Counterspell.
2.0: I will play this card only if I need it and don't have anything better to play, OR this is a good budget version of another card in the deck. Peregrine Drake fits here.
1.0: I will not play this card in the deck, it is too narrow/cost-prohibitive to consider.
With that, let's get down to the fun stuff! We will start out with the card everyone is most excited about!
Rating: 3.5
Explanation: In short, this card is amazing. Being a Birthing Pod on a legendary creature is incredibly powerful. This card genuinely made me consider whether she could be a better commander than Momir Vig, and people in the CEDH community seem to think she has a lot of speed to her combo. However, building her would require reworking the deck from the ground up, and ultimately turning into a completely different deck. So in this context, this is only a rating of her in the 99.
So right off the bat, she has several advantages to Birthing Pod itself. She is a creature, which means she can be tutored for by Momir Vig. She is , which means that she will fully trigger Vig. She is also an Elf Wizard (and Ooze!), meaning that her creature types are directly matching Momir Vig's, which is relevant in the deck (especially if Azami ever comes back). And finally, she does not have an additional activation cost, unlike Pod, which costs 1 and a green Phyrexian.
What is preventing me from giving her a full 4.0 rating is her biggest, glaring drawback: She cannot activate the turn she comes down. For 4 colorless mana and 4 life, you can play and activate traditional Pod on the same turn. With the new Prime Speaker, you must wait until the next turn to use her at all. Plus, she always costs , meaning that you cannot play her on turn 3 without additional ramp (unlike Pod).
Right now, I think Vannifar's benefits outweigh her cons. Being able to tutor for her and also trigger another search with her is very powerful. Creatures matter in this deck. While she is not necessary to the ultimate game plan, neither is Birthing Pod. She is almost certainly going to be swapped in for Birthing Pod.
Rating: 3.5
Explanation: This card a strict upgrade to Training Grounds for me. Just like with Vannifar and Pod, this is a creature with an effect that I already make use of in the deck. While it does cost more mana than traditional Training Grounds, I believe the extra mana is worth the fact that it is a blue green creature. Whether you need this effect at all is a matter of some debate, but I think it is justified in running it.
Rating: 1.5
Explanation: This card should not be viewed as a creature per se, but as an infinite mana outlet plus tutor (though if you have infinite mana, you probably already have an infinite tutor too). The important aspect of this card is that its ability - draw half and gain half of X - triggers on cast rather than ETB. This makes it a very powerful effect to draw your entire deck in an uncounterable manner (unless they have Stifle or Trickbind, but those cards are rare).
I would not play this card in this deck, but if you want to make sure you have a way to draw lots of cards in a way that isn't easily counterable, this card may do it for you.
Rating: 0.0
Explanation: Oof. Seems like Zegana lost everything when she was deposed as Prime Speaker. This a card that we in the business like to refer to as "very bad." When you can get the same effect from an uncommon in the same set, for less mana and fewer color restrictions (See Trollbred Guardian) you know this card is not doing very well. I would not play this card even in a +1/+1 counters themed deck.
Rating: 3.0
Explanation: The LIZARD WIZARD is here! For all intents and purposes, this is a more difficult-costed Mystic Snake, especially given the fact that Azami is not currently featured in the deck (thus we are unable to make use of the Wizard typing). That said, I think that having a second tutorable counterspell is pretty useful. This is not the most optimal card to play, but I may be testing this in lieu of a current counterspell (either Mystic Snake itself, or Counterspell).
Rating: 2.0
Explanation: While this deck does not shy away from playing CMC 3 mana dorks, they must be more useful than just producing 2 mana. Shaman of Forgotten Ways is an integral part of the deck because its second ability is the primary way the deck closes the game out. Somberwald Sage taps for 3 mana. While both these dorks are limited to creatures only, creatures are the primary card type in the deck, so it's not a big restriction.
I think this card is okay at best, and could potentially make the cut for budget versions of this deck, particularly because it is a UG creature and a Wizard to boot.
Rating: 2.0
Explanation: I think this card has a lot of potential to be quite good, but it needs the right deck to be good in. You do not want to play this card with the intent of activating its Adapt ability to give it the counters, even if you can reduce the cost (through Biomancer's Familiar). I do not think that this deck is able to support this kind of mana dork, and it will usually tap for just one mana. In Ezuri and other +1/+1 counter decks, I could see this doing a lot of good work, but I do not think it is good enough here.
Rating: 1.0
Explanation: This is a neat card for limited, and a great card for +1/+1 counter decks. However, it does not have a place here. It would only be an infinite mana outlet, and at that point I think it would be more useful to just play Helix Pinnacle, which has several advantages over this card, and Pinnacle was cut a very long time ago.
Rating: 1.0
Explanation: Explore became an instant! So I guess that justified adding another color to it? This card is not very good as a ramp spell. If they had put this on a 1/1, such as a Coiling Oracle, I would absolutely play it. However, as an instant it just is not good enough for the deck.
Rating: 2.5
Explanation: I think this is a neat card that has its uses in many Simic decks. I do not think that those uses extend to this deck. I have previously declined to play cards like Stifle, Trickbind, or even their versatile creature version, Nimble Obstructionist. I have also taken out most of my clones over the years of refining this deck, as I learned that their usefulness is very limited (I used to run four clones!). While putting these two effects onto one card makes it better than having just one effect, I do not think either effect is necessary enough to justify playing this card. However, if you are on a budget and your meta calls for countering abilities, this may be decent.
Rating: 3.0
Explanation: Incubation/Incongruity is a neat card. It is essentially a modular card between card selection and removal. I am hesitant to play noncreature spells in lieu of creatures, but I think that this is a very solid card that I will consider adding to the deck. I do not currently run any removal, which is a conscious decision that not everyone agrees with. If you think you need a piece of removal, this is an excellent choice, and I would play this over Reality Shift if I had to choose one. I would also play this over Beast Within, but the two are closely matched in usefulness.
Boy oh boy! Those were a lot of cards to rate when I usually don't even consider most cards in sets! There are at least TWO new cards for my deck, both of which are creatures, AND are colors! You can't get better than that. Prime Speaker Vannifar and Biomancer's Familiar I think are going to be excellent additions to the deck. I will be updating the master list once I get some testing done with them. I will also be testing out Frilled Mystic in a potentially controversial swap in for Counterspell.
Thank you again for coming by and reading my review! I am excited to talk about these cards, so please comment if you have any thoughts you want to share!
- duffman913
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Member for 18 years, 4 months, and 16 days
Last active Fri, Nov, 12 2021 19:34:24
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GoldenCapitalist posted a message on Momir Vig, Simic Visionary - A Simic CombonaryPosted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists -
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Ophidia posted a message on Brago, King Eternal CSL StreamI guess now he is really king "eternal".Posted in: The Rumor Mill
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Medussa posted a message on [OGW] Kozilek, the Great Distortion and New Basic Land - Wastes???a few years ago, wizards cleared up a lot of ambiguity with their wordings. "play" became "cast" for spells, and "in play" became "on the battlefield" being the most important.Posted in: The Rumor Mill
one that they didn't fix then, though, was {1}. adding {1} to your mana pool is much different than paying {1} as a cost. The first is adding colorless mana, the second is paying generic mana. I think this is wizards' attempt to fix that. {1} is now always going to mean generic mana, and {<>} will always mean colorless mana. While this is a flavorful plane to make this change, it is not Eldrazi dependant, and will persist into all Magic sets.
assuming, of course, that any of these pictures are even real in the first place. -
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Lully posted a message on Damnable Pact (TheManaSource preview)Posted in: The Rumor MillQuote from lukey52 »Quote from sirgog »Mind Spring never saw play, this is mostly worse.
There'll be the odd race you might win with casting this at the opponent, but that will be rare.
Ten cent card within six months.
100% disagree. This is far better because you can target your opponent and mill them out and also use it to fireball them for the last 5-10 damage late in the game.
I don't know if I could go that deep to get a lava axe... I mean, one out of ten games, sure, but... Mill? Burn? What went wrong in that game? -
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fireshoes posted a message on [[CNS]] Announcing - MTG: GVYJTHQXGR (Conspiracy)20+19+18...+3+2+1 = 210Posted in: The Rumor Mill
210 cards in the set. I don't know if that means anything. -
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Sparki posted a message on [[Official]] Off-Topic Community ThreadThis almost tells me I made the wrong decision passing up japanese foil ports at 525.Posted in: Market Street Café
THE ADDICTION IS REAL. -
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RevolverGunman posted a message on Legendary, Planeswalker Uniqueness, and Sideboarding Rules ChangedI think I've made the correct image to display these current events.Posted in: The Rumor Mill
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Teia Rabishu posted a message on Ayu wonders WWTDThis seems relevant:Posted in: Speakeasy Archives
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AsianInvasion posted a message on Ayu wonders WWTDPosted in: Speakeasy ArchivesQuote from duffman913Kdizzle laid the smackdown!
I'm gonna miss you this summer, Duffsy!
Quote from DaftmouseTotally missed this before but I've had this quote going through my head a lot lately and this is a good place to use it.
Die young and leave a beautiful corpse.
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So far this product has actually exceeded my expectations, look forward to the rest of the cards to be spoiled in the next 3 days.
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http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/86161036838/if-conspiracy-is-successful-will-more-boosters-be
Here ya go
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Pretty sweet blink commander.
My friend's mono-black deck is going to love price of knowledge.
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Mediocre, at best.
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I'll be there. My first grand prix ever! Mostly because there hasn't been a GP in this area for a very long time.
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Need to go back to Replay in Lansing and dig through more common/uncommon/bulk rare boxes so I can maybe find something else besides the Remand I found.
Random posts are random
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*A wild Yomako has appeared*
This place is whatever you want it to be
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I'll be back in the EL area shortly, you can do that in real life
*A wild Sparki has appeared*