Here are some nobody's mentioned yet that get better the more swamps you play.
The main payoff of mono black is big mana, so mana sinks are worth considering.
Since you're getting big mana and have a few ways to search up lands, an Eldrazi package doesn't hurt. Toss in an Eye of Ugin and a few of your favorites.
It's a functional reprint of Cobblebrute, and in a block without Izzet tricks like Teleportal. And in EDH, Xenagos always had Hunted Troll, Chameleon Colossus, etc at 4cmc if you don't care about evasion.
It never hurts to have another option. Until recently the list of stable 5+ power for <5cc creatures for Gruul was extremely short. Right now, it's basically this:
Oops! Careless bleed-over from my general multiplayer assessment. Red really fared poorly this set compared to the other colors. Plenty of decent ones, but few standouts. Whatever I replace it with won't be anything worth celebrating.
The overly juicy flavor department sold me a lot of cards, admittedly. I wouldn't probably have considered something like Topplegeist for example if it wasn't just so... "Imma douse these candles because I can. Nehe."
Even Topplegeist, which looks mediocre at first glance, is a perfectly good choice in Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, which just happens to be a very popular deck in competitive circles and can be built in any number of ways casually.
A similar example is Hulking Devil, which looks like limited chaff, but Xenegos, God of Revels players should recognize it as one of the cheapest stable 5-power creatures ever printed, which is pretty much all the glass-cannon builds care about. 5-power 4-drops without significant downsides are the bread and butter of certain builds Xenagos, so even this card is pretty exciting.
That's what I love about this set! Even many "bad" cards have a place. Even if they're not the best choice, there are many cards that are still fine to run and will probably be cheaper than the optimal choice. This is really good for the format.
Having C-Tier also include niche cards, and having a rarely-used S-tier reminds me a lot of how Johnny Walker grades their whiskey.
F - Red Label - Lowest quality (still good though)
D - Black Label - Simply put, a better version of red.
C - Green Label - A little better than black, but a unique flavor that not everyone will like. The niche one.
B - Gold Label - Just like black, but tastier.
A - Blue Label - Like gold, but very, very smooth.
S - JW Blended Scotch - Not mass produced so each one is very rare and unique, but blows away most of the competition.
I'm thinking the 1-5 (A-F) system is fine, but there's probably no harm in having an S ranking for things that are in the top 1% of all cards ever printed.
Furthermore, what do you think of the idea of an N and N+ tier? N would be for cards that are decent (B or C) but only in certain niches, and N+ would be for cards that are A, or very rarely, S-tier within a narrow niche.
I would probably rate new Jace over Thing in the Ice. Even with how tough it is to get value out of PWs in more competitive circles. Also, Pieces of the Puzzle over a corner case counter like Invasive Surgery.
Jace is definitely strong in 1v1, but I'm not ready to go out and recommend it for multiplayer just yet.
Invasive Surgery vs Pieces of the Puzzle is pretty close in my mind, honestly, and if I could list 6 cards they'd both be in there. You may be right that Pieces is the stronger of the two. The thing I like about Surgery is that you only need to hold up U and you can always counter a lot of the game-winning haymakers that competitive players tend to use, but it does depend a lot on your meta. Pieces vs. Drownyard is another comparison I wouldn't mind hearing opinions on.
Thing in the Ice is one of the best blue two-drops ever printed, but if you don't need mass bounce, I guess you don't need mass bounce.
Here are my picks for best 5 cards in each color, including multicolored. Please note that this list is for competitive circles, although these cards are mostly good anywhere.
What has me interested in the case of Sin Prodder is that it costs 3 mana. Grindy 4-drops are a dime a dozen but 3-drops are noteworthy.
Are grindy 4 drops really that common? The ones that I play myself are Graveborn Muse, Outpost Siege and Oracle of Mul Daya but beyond that I nothing comes to mind that I field on a routine basis. There are clearly other 4 drops that provide card advantage (Greater Good, Flameshadow Conjuring, Well of Lost Dreams) but most are conditional and/or mana intensive. Just curious if you find yourself fielding anything else because I personally don't feel as though there's many "safe" 4 drop value engines that you can fire-and-forget.
There are already many very strong Golgari commanders but this one is so good at what it does that I have trouble imagining that it won't find a place leading some strategies since it's so good at turbo charging what you're probably already doing anyway. The fact that you can randomly combo out with it and just win is insane.
And in the case that you'd rather run another commander, this is still one of the first cards you should consider slotting in since it's so easy to support.
Tajic likes a hybrid approach. Try to grind out tokens and value and swing when you get a chance. Wipe the board when it will save you or put you way ahead. If you can pummel someone with 21 damage from Tajic over 2-3 turns, go for it. If such an opening doesn't present itself, try to find a way to get there with equipment and/or token swarms.
You have three gears - Grinding, Voltron, and Swarm - and it's important to be able to judge well when you should be in each gear. A reasonable time to consider switching is whenever anyone, yourself included, wipes the board.
Tajic, Blade of the Legion likes equipment that create tokens. You're running equipment tutors for Worldslayer and Sunforger anyway, so it's efficient to make some of your token generators equipment.
The first one is good on Tajic himself.
The second one is unpopular in EDH, but it gives Tajic some needed evasion and creates bodies, so it's fine.
Please remember that the first one creates a creature that is already attacking, so it doesn't count as an attacker that turn when you're looking to trigger Tajic's +5/+5 ability.
Blade of Selves doesn't work for this reason coupled with the fact that the tokens don't stick around, but you should still consider the card because it can be bonkers.
I'd really like modern borders and perhaps artwork for some older cards, as well as non-foil availability. #1 is probably Imperial Recruiter followed by Sylvan Library, as these are stellar in almost everything, and to me are fun cards that enable interesting decision trees. I also would really love to see a reprint of Eladamri's Call.
If you're going to play it, make sure you have reliable access to a sac outlet.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is the best fit for the card, so permission and a few sac outlets should suffice. This shouldn't be a problem since both synergize with Derevi's flash recursion anyway.
The main payoff of mono black is big mana, so mana sinks are worth considering.
Nightmare Lash
Lashwrithe
Strata Scythe
Erebos, God of the Dead
Chainer, Dementia Master
Nightmare
Helldozer
Abhorrent Overlord
Pestilence Demon
Gatekeeper of Malakir
Sadistic Sacrament
Tendrils of Corruption
Mutilate
Pestilence
Liliana of the Dark Realms
Infernal Tribute
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Cabal Coffers
Deserted Temple
Vesuva
Thespian's Stage
Expedition Map
Jet Medallion
Extraplanar Lens
Crypt Ghast
Magus of the Coffers
Gauntlet of Power
Nirkana Revenant
Caged Sun
Here are some mana sinks:
Exsanguinate
Profane Command
Rings of Brighthearth
Sadistic Sacrament
Erebos, God of the Dead
Chainer, Dementia Master
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Geth, Lord of the Vault
Steel Hellkite
Nirkana Revenant
Since you're getting big mana and have a few ways to search up lands, an Eldrazi package doesn't hurt. Toss in an Eye of Ugin and a few of your favorites.
It never hurts to have another option. Until recently the list of stable 5+ power for <5cc creatures for Gruul was extremely short. Right now, it's basically this:
Others are almost as good, such as Marauding Maulhorn, Iwamori of the Open Fist, Adamaro, First to Desire, and Hunted Troll, but as someone who occasionally likes to play Xenagos, I'm always happy to have more stable options.
It's also great for budget-minded players.
Oops! Careless bleed-over from my general multiplayer assessment. Red really fared poorly this set compared to the other colors. Plenty of decent ones, but few standouts. Whatever I replace it with won't be anything worth celebrating.
Good catch!
Amen to that! I think we all need a long break from Jace.
Even Topplegeist, which looks mediocre at first glance, is a perfectly good choice in Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, which just happens to be a very popular deck in competitive circles and can be built in any number of ways casually.
A similar example is Hulking Devil, which looks like limited chaff, but Xenegos, God of Revels players should recognize it as one of the cheapest stable 5-power creatures ever printed, which is pretty much all the glass-cannon builds care about. 5-power 4-drops without significant downsides are the bread and butter of certain builds Xenagos, so even this card is pretty exciting.
That's what I love about this set! Even many "bad" cards have a place. Even if they're not the best choice, there are many cards that are still fine to run and will probably be cheaper than the optimal choice. This is really good for the format.
Whoever picked the names for the cards did a great job as well. I'd like to hear some of the backstory behind that.
F - Red Label - Lowest quality (still good though)
D - Black Label - Simply put, a better version of red.
C - Green Label - A little better than black, but a unique flavor that not everyone will like. The niche one.
B - Gold Label - Just like black, but tastier.
A - Blue Label - Like gold, but very, very smooth.
S - JW Blended Scotch - Not mass produced so each one is very rare and unique, but blows away most of the competition.
I'm thinking the 1-5 (A-F) system is fine, but there's probably no harm in having an S ranking for things that are in the top 1% of all cards ever printed.
Furthermore, what do you think of the idea of an N and N+ tier? N would be for cards that are decent (B or C) but only in certain niches, and N+ would be for cards that are A, or very rarely, S-tier within a narrow niche.
Yeah, I do. Tormenting Voice is a reprint also.
Here are some other great blue cards for those who are interested:
Blue
Essence Flux
Forgotten Creation
Pieces of the Puzzle
Rise from the Tides
Red didn't get as many good cards as some other colors this set, but if I had to pick one more, Burn from Within is decent enough.
Jace is definitely strong in 1v1, but I'm not ready to go out and recommend it for multiplayer just yet.
Invasive Surgery vs Pieces of the Puzzle is pretty close in my mind, honestly, and if I could list 6 cards they'd both be in there. You may be right that Pieces is the stronger of the two. The thing I like about Surgery is that you only need to hold up U and you can always counter a lot of the game-winning haymakers that competitive players tend to use, but it does depend a lot on your meta. Pieces vs. Drownyard is another comparison I wouldn't mind hearing opinions on.
Thing in the Ice is one of the best blue two-drops ever printed, but if you don't need mass bounce, I guess you don't need mass bounce.
Either way, blue got plenty of goodies this set.
White
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Gold
There were some tough decisions and a lot of cards almost made the list.
This is a REALLY good set for us!
[edit]: I put Westvale Abbey in for black. I overlooked it because it's a land.
[edit]: Just realized Insolent Neonate is basically Hapless Researcher with evasion. That's decent utility for a 1-drop, and probably gives it a niche somewhere.
[edit]: Pieces of the Puzzle is in over Invasive Surgery for a few reasons, but it's close.
Aren't you all about Deathreap Ritual? I don't think Reaper of the Wilds is that bad either if you just want some defense and digging.
How do you feel about Thopter Spy Network and Ephara, God of the Polis?
There are already many very strong Golgari commanders but this one is so good at what it does that I have trouble imagining that it won't find a place leading some strategies since it's so good at turbo charging what you're probably already doing anyway. The fact that you can randomly combo out with it and just win is insane.
And in the case that you'd rather run another commander, this is still one of the first cards you should consider slotting in since it's so easy to support.
You have three gears - Grinding, Voltron, and Swarm - and it's important to be able to judge well when you should be in each gear. A reasonable time to consider switching is whenever anyone, yourself included, wipes the board.
Tajic, Blade of the Legion likes equipment that create tokens. You're running equipment tutors for Worldslayer and Sunforger anyway, so it's efficient to make some of your token generators equipment.
Here are two good ones:
Captain's Claws
Sword of Body and Mind
The first one is good on Tajic himself.
The second one is unpopular in EDH, but it gives Tajic some needed evasion and creates bodies, so it's fine.
Please remember that the first one creates a creature that is already attacking, so it doesn't count as an attacker that turn when you're looking to trigger Tajic's +5/+5 ability.
Blade of Selves doesn't work for this reason coupled with the fact that the tokens don't stick around, but you should still consider the card because it can be bonkers.
For the same reasons, it would be nice to get some among Vampiric Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Worldly Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Personal Tutor, Imperial Seal, Sylvan Tutor, and Gamble.
A less gross art for Consecrated Sphinx would be welcome. Finally, I love the new Fyndhorn Elves art, but would be ecstatic to have it unfoiled.
Temporal Manipulation, Upheaval, Capture of Jingzhou, Burning of Xinye, Rolling Earthquake, Doomsday, Winter Orb, Static Orb, Null Rod, Earthcraft, Humility, Mirri's Guile, Seeker of Skybreak, Cloud of Faeries, Great Whale, Palinchron, Shanodin Dryads, Scryb Sprites, Eladamri, Lord of Leaves, Birchlore Rangers, Quirion Ranger, Aluren, Omen of Fire, Nature's Wrath, Hall of Gemstone, Su-Chi, Transmute Artifact, Power Artifact, Mind Over Matter, Carpet of Flowers, Seedtime, Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, The Abyss, Chains of Mephistopheles, Hermit Druid, Phyrexian Devourer, and Aven Mindcensor, among others, would also make me very happy.
Obviously some of these are on the Reserved List or not huge in other Eternal formats, but it would be nice for these to have an aesthetic upgrade.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician is the best fit for the card, so permission and a few sac outlets should suffice. This shouldn't be a problem since both synergize with Derevi's flash recursion anyway.