The takeaway here should be about what each color looks like in context of a deck. What points on the curve you are weak at if you have common finishers or card advantage to support a control deck and what spells synergize best with your game plan.
Uncommons
One big change: I am not curving out uncommons.
Why?
Data density is an issue. There will be triple the number of converted mana costs charts here compared to a normal review. Care to deal with double that and still try to figure out what matters?
There’s also the fact that any given uncommon showing up is drastically decreased by it being a three set format. In fact, you are less likely to see a given Return to Ravnica uncommon in DGR Draft than you were to see a given rare in Return to Ravnica Draft. Commons from those sets now have the same approximate rarity per draft as an uncommon did in their original formats. For those who like actual numbers, see below:
Odds of opening a given rare in a single RTR pack: 2/121. Odds per 24 packs (1 draft): ~30%.
Odds of opening a given uncommon in a single RTR pack: 3/80. Odds per 8 packs (1 draft): ~25%.
Odds of opening a given uncommon in a single RTR pack: 3/80. Odds per 24 packs: ~60%.
Odds of opening a given common in a single RTR pack: 10/101. Odds per 8 packs: ~57%.
Obviously, the odds are slightly increased for Dragon’s Maze cards, but even then you are looking at a given uncommon showing up 40% of the time.
Some notes to fill in the gap:
Return to Ravnica Forward Benefits
- Guttersnipe plus cipher
- Hellhole Flailer plus bloodrush
- Golgari Decoy plus bloodrush
Gatecrash Backwards Benefits
- Crowned Ceratok plus unleash and scavenge
- Dinrova Horror versus scavenge and tokens
- Gift of Orzhova to negate the drawback on unleash
- Mark for Death against unleash
- Rapid Hybridization as a token source for populate
- Simic Fluxmage versus unleash to eliminate blockers
- Smog Elemental and Voidwalk against tokens (Birds for the former)
Dragon’s Maze Uncommons
- Give // Take is quite good. Auras were already good in this format, and Oakenform + Moldervine Cloak were historically awesome rates. I just don’t expect to play the blue half often.
- Down // Dirty is much better than normal discard spells. The late-game cash-in mode of Regrowth solves the bad topdeck issue inherent with most of these cards.
- Maw of the Obzedat is basically Overrun.
- Toil // Trouble is at worse four to the face for six. Not an insane rate, but a Lava Axe nonetheless.
- The split cards make the uncommon scene interesting. There isn’t much specific to each color pairing, but the three gold cards per color are pretty awesome. Maybe two of them aren’t extremely playable. The split cards are also great, but they are good across the board and won’t stay around in packs for long as they are the open options.
Overall Uncommons
Gruul and Selesnya can rely on four-drops at uncommon. Boros can get two- and five-drops. Dimir can get six-drops.
Another note on odds: Each count on Dragon’s Maze commons is about 2/3rds of what the corresponding total would be for a large set. Basically, a common from Dragon’s Maze is about 1.5 times as common as a similar card from the other sets.
The Guilds
Note: When I say pack 1, I mean Dragon’s Maze. Pack 2 is Gatecrash, and pack 3 is Return to Ravnica.
Simic
Main Set
|
1 |
0/1+ Flying |
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2 |
1/3–>3/5 |
1/2–>2/1 Flying |
2/2 |
2/1 |
2/1+ |
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3 |
2/3 |
1/3+ Reach |
3/2 |
+1 Mana |
3/1 Flying |
2/2 “Unblockable” |
|
4 |
1/4+ Defender |
3/2 Unblockable |
2/3+ |
2/4 |
+2/+2 Unblockable |
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5 |
5/5 |
6/2+ |
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Removal: 5 |
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Trick: 4 |
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Other: 5 |
Weak Set
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
2/2 Scavenge |
0/2 Defender |
2/1 |
0/4 Defender |
1/4–>4/1 |
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3 |
0/3 Defender |
3/3 |
3/2 |
2/2 |
2/X Flying |
2/2 Flying |
|
4 |
3/3 Scavenge |
2/4 Reach |
2/2 Flying |
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5 |
3/4 Hexproof |
5/4 |
1/4 Bounce |
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6 |
3/3 Flying, Detain |
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7 |
6/7 |
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8 |
4/4 Populate |
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Removal: 3 |
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Trick: 5 |
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Other: 1 |
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What was it good at: Curving out in a way that resulted in a board full of bulky creatures.
What was it bad at: The spells were terrible.
Evolve gets BETTER in non-multiples. While Simic won’t be quite the same as it was before when you could just curve out Cloudfin Raptor – Shambleshark – Crocanura, the individual cards will do much more per game.
Much of the spell side weakness of Simic is solved in Return to Ravnica. There are also a lot of 3/3 creatures, which happens to be the perfect size on both ends to really push your evolve guys into awesome territory.
Dragon’s Maze
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
2/2–>5/5 |
0/5 Defender |
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3 |
2/1+ |
2/2?4/4 Flying |
2/2 Flying |
|
4 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
3/3 Reach |
|
5 |
— |
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6 |
5/4 Trample |
3/5 Flying |
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Removal: 3 |
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Trick: 1 |
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The jump between four and five in this format is pretty marginal. Both of the two-drops in Simic make this distinction, but one is obviously much better than the other. It’s not like there is a shortage of blue x/4 walls, and adding another without flying is irrelevant. Kraul Warrior, however, is awesome. It’s a two-drop that breaks through later in the game without the assistance of other cards.
Beetleform Mage is even better.
Hidden Strings could be playable, but I’m inclined to think otherwise. Two mana to tap two creatures is not playable, and making two mana to cast only spells past your first each turn isn’t really awesome either.
Uncovered Plans is maybe an Impulse for a spell at best. Not playable, don’t get tricked into it.
Mending Touch is similar to Shielded Passage. As the format transitions towards 2/4s versus 3/3s, tempo-based trades will become rare. Tricks that don’t let you trade up into a larger creature lose a lot of value.
Runner’s Bane dies to pump spells. Be aware of this.
Also, how does anyone beat a Thrashing Mossdog? Our Towering Indrik comes with an additional huge upside this set.
The spells are all reminiscent of the Gatecrash configuration of Simic. Look to pack 3 for your combat tricks and just take creatures early. Also note that the abundance of 2/4s makes the “power” based evolve creatures better than before, while Crocanura and Elusive Krasis are marginally less awesome.
Dimir
Main Set
|
1 |
0/1+ Flying |
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2 |
1/2 Flying |
2/2 |
1/3 |
1/2–>2/1 Flying |
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|
3 |
1/4 Defender |
2/2 |
2/3 |
1/1 |
2/2 “Unblockable” |
|
4 |
2/3 Flying |
3/2 |
1/4+ Defender |
3/2 Unblockable |
+2/+2 Unblockable |
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5 |
3/4 |
5/5 |
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Removal: 7 |
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Trick: 1 |
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Other: 3 |
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Weak Set
|
1 |
+2/+1 |
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2 |
2/1 |
0/4 Defender |
1/1 Flying, Lifelink |
1/1–>2/2 Regenerate |
1/4–>4/1 |
2/1 Haste |
|
3 |
2/2 |
2/1 Flying |
2/3–>3/4 |
2/1 Swampwalk, Scavenge |
2/2 Flying |
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4 |
2/2 Flying |
4/4 Defender? |
0/4 Shade |
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5 |
1/4 Bounce |
2/6 |
5/4 |
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6 |
3/3 Flying, Detain |
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7 |
5/5 Scavenge |
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Removal: 4 |
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Trick: 4 |
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Other: 3 |
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What it was good at: Skies style play. You make blocking decisions and tempo plays; they can’t.
What it was bad at: Having appropriately sized creatures
Cipher can’t get worse, right? Assuming that this format is closer to Return to Ravnica Draft where random evasive dudes usually connected instead of just dying or being irrelevant, you should be able to get an Inspiration of value out of most of the “too clunky” cipher spells.
Your Return to Ravnica options in Dimir are just embarrassing. I would almost assume that you have to lean on having two guilds in that pack to make up for this, meaning Dimir would almost have to be Dimir-Izzet-Rakdos. Azorius might be deep enough and Orzhov is good enough to go for the Dimir-Orzhov-Azorius trio, but I feel like Dimir-Simic-Golgari is not feasible or just a variant of X-Green where you stumble into the right Dimir colored cards.
Dragon’s Maze
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1 |
— |
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2 |
0/5 Defender |
1/3 |
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3 |
2/3 Defender |
1/2–>2/3 Flying |
2/2 Flying |
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4 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
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5 |
— |
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6 |
3/5 Flying |
4/5 Deathtouch |
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Removal: 4 |
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Other: 1 |
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These two-drops are here only under the loosest definition of playability. Past them, the commons are all pretty awesome. There’s a Shriekmaw (Ubul Sar Gatekeepers), three good fliers (Wind Drake, Rakdos Drake, and Maze Glider), and two more good removal (Fatal Fumes and Runner’s Bane). The card draw spell, Pilfered Plans, is also pretty cool in that it potentially is worth extra cards alongside scavenge. Shallow on numbers, but high on power.
My gut call on Dimir is that if I end up in it, I took all the good cards pack 1 and then figured out which direction to split off into for the later packs and leaned on the guilds it branched into.
Orzhov
Main Set
|
1 |
1/1 Regenerate |
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2 |
3/1–>Flying |
2/2 |
1/2 Flying |
2/2 |
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3 |
1/4 Defender |
2/2 |
1/4 Defender |
2/2 |
2/2 Flying |
2/2 “Unblockable” |
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4 |
3/2 Flying |
2/3 |
2/3 Flying |
3/2 |
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5 |
2x 2/2 Vigilance |
3/5–>4/6 Vigilance |
3/4 |
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Removal: 6 |
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Trick: 3 |
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Other: 2 |
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Weak Set
|
1 |
+2/+1 |
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2 |
1/1 Flying, Lifelink |
1/1–>2/2 Regenerate |
2/1 Detain |
1/3 Flying |
2/2 |
2/1 Haste |
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3 |
2/3–>3/4 |
2/1 Swampwalk, Scavenge |
3/2 |
1/1 Flying + 1/2 |
2/3 Flying |
2/2 Flying |
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4 |
4/4 Defender? |
0/4 Shade |
2/5 Vigilance? |
1/1 Flying + Populate |
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5 |
2/6 |
2/2, +2/+2 Vigilance |
5/4 |
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6 |
— |
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7 |
5/5 Scavenge |
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Removal: 4 |
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Trick: 2 |
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Other: 1 |
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What it was good at: Death by accounting.
What it was bad at: Not much.
Orzhov was by far the best guild in Gatecrash Draft, and it only gets better in a slower format. Extort was amazing in a faster format, and in a presumably slower format where the incremental advantage builds up more it will be even better.
That said, your Return to Ravnica cards are not up to par. The loss of extort and the general mediocrity of your creature options is very evident. You get a bunch of 1/1 fliers which range from decent chip shots to absolutely terrible very easily.
Dragon’s Maze
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
1/3 |
2/2 Boros Mastiff |
2/1 Lifelink |
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3 |
1/4 |
2/3 Defender |
1/2–>2/3 Flying |
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4 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
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5 |
3/1 Flying, First Strike |
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6 |
4/5 Deathtouch |
3/6 Vigilance |
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Removal: 1 |
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Trick: 2 |
Again, these two-drops aren’t good aside from the one with extort, which could literally have any non-drawback stats and be fine.
Most of these cards are just mediocre. Haazda Snare Squad is nice as blocker/attacker pairing as needed in the control decks to squeak in damage. Assuming you can double Gate the 2/4s here are probably the best, but your six-drops are the worst.
You do have the awesome black cards to carry some weight, but that’s about it.
Boros
Main Set
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
1/2 |
2/1 |
+3/+0 |
3/1–>Flying |
2/2 |
3/2–>First Strike |
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3 |
3/4 |
2/3–>4/3 Warmind Infantry |
1/4 Defender |
2/2 |
2/2 Flying, Haste |
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4 |
5/1 |
3/2 Flying |
2/3 |
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5 |
4/4 Vigilance |
2x 2/2 Vigilance |
3/5–>4/6 Vigilance |
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Removal: 5 |
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Trick: 7 |
Weak Set
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
2/1 Detain |
1/3 Flying |
2/2 |
2/1–>3/2 |
+2/+2 |
1/4–>4/1 |
2/1 Haste |
|
3 |
3/2 |
1/1 Flying + 1/2 |
2/3 Flying |
0/4 Defender |
2/2–>3/3First Strike |
2/2 Flying |
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4 |
2/5 Vigilance? |
1/1 Flying + Populate |
5/2 |
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5 |
2/2, +2/+2 Vigilance |
4/3 |
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6 |
5/4 Haste |
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Removal: 5 |
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Trick: 4 |
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What it was good at: Maximizing mana efficiency for quick, decisive victories.
What it was bad at: Fighting late games.
My first assumption here is that the size discrepancy between Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash is really going to hurt Boros. The early Boros drops relied on 2/3 being the primary defensive size of the format, while in this format 2/4 is normal. The addition of the five Gatekeepers only makes this more common.
I left the one-drops off the curves since they were quite bad in their respective formats aside from when you jammed multiple Ethereal Armors on a Trained Caracal. That said, I’ve had success in previous multicolored formats with the plan of playing two colors instead of the usual three and just jamming all the “bad” one- and two-drops. Everyone else is too busy playing comes into play tapped lands and mana rocks while you put them in a situation where a single good block isn’t enough to stop the beatdown.
[Editor’s Note: Now you’re speaking my language! Carry on!]
It’s worth noting the “off” pack is quite awesome for Boros. You have access to a ton of removal ranging from the conditional Avenging Arrow to the clunky but universal Trostani’s Judgement to an expensive but versatile Lava Axe in Explosive Impact. There are also three really high quality bodies to fill in your curve (Knightly Valor, Lobber Crew, and Splatter Thug). The depth of the off-guild cards implies you can afford being short a guild pack 3, which describes the Boros-Orzhov-Rakdos trio but not the other two options.
Dragon’s Maze
|
1 |
— |
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2 |
2/2 |
2/1 First Strike |
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3 |
1/4 |
4/4–>2/2 Haste |
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4 |
3/3 |
2/4 |
2/4 |
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5 |
3/1 Flying, First Strike |
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6 |
6/3 Haste |
3/6 Vigilance |
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Removal: 2 |
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Trick: 4 |
An assortment of solid, if unexciting, cards. Only a few of the tricks are actually good when attacking. Lyev Decree is the kind of card that makes me want to believe a super aggressive deck is possible, but I might just be trying to make fetch happen.
Regarding Awe for the Guilds, remember there are only a few multicolored creatures at common to block with.
Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers is awkward. Guildgates plus aggression don’t mix, but Threatens plus aggression do.
Gruul
Main Set
|
1 |
— |
|
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|
|
2 |
2/2 First Strike |
2/1 |
1/2 |
2/1 |
+3/+0 |
|
3 |
1/3+ Reach |
3/2 |
+1 Mana |
3/4 |
2/3–>4/3 |
|
4 |
2/3+ |
2/4 |
5/1 |
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|
5 |
6/2+ |
4/4 |
+3/+3 |
5/4 |
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|
6 |
7/6 |
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Removal: 3 |
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|||
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Trick: 7 |
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Other: 3 |
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Weak Set
|
1 |
— |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
2/1–>3/2 |
+2/+2 |
2/2 Scavenge |
02 Defender |
1/4–>4/1 |
2/1 Haste |
|
3 |
0/4 Defender |
2/2–>3/3 First Strike |
2/1 |
0/3 Defender |
3/3 |
3/2 |
|
4 |
5/2 |
3/3 Scavenge |
2/4 Reach |
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5 |
4/3 |
3/4 Hexproof |
5/4 |
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6 |
5/4 Haste |
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7 |
6/7 |
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8 |
4/4 + Populate |
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Removal: 4 |
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||||
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Trick: 5 |
What it was good at: Making blockers die.
What it was bad at: Actually gaining advantages on said exchanges.
Verdant Haven gets much better, as do Ruination Wurm and Greenside Watch. There is a whole bunch of mana ramp style green cards in Return to Ravnica to supplement these along with the Cluestones in Dragon’s Maze. I expect there to be a decent number of 4/4 Rhino tokens made in DGR Draft. Gruul may or may not be the best color combination for this, but Tenement Crasher and Ruination Wurm are definitely some awesome monsters to ramp into.
Also, how does anyone ever beat a Towering Indrik? Also, how does anyone beat a Crocanura?
Dragon’s Maze
|
1 |
— |
|
|
|
|
2 |
2/2–>5/5 |
1/1 |
2/1 First Strike |
|
|
3 |
2/1+ Trample |
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|
|
|
4 |
2/4 |
3/3 Reach |
3/3 |
2/4 |
|
5 |
— |
|
|
|
|
6 |
5/4 Trample |
6/3 Haste |
|
|
|
Removal: |
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||
|
Trick: |
The six-drops seem very important here. The Gruul decks I’m imagining are all very ramp centered on the back of Cluestones, Verdant Haven, Greenside Watcher, and Zhur-Taa Druid, and obviously ramp requires things to ramp to.
Riot Piker is probably embarrassing here. Your two-drops should bridge the gap to six, not randomly crash in and provide no defensive benefit.
I also am now understanding why the green Gatekeeper has the least immediately powerful trigger. Green already wants a ton of Guildgates for Greenside Watcher, Gatecreeper Vine, and just generally being four-to-five colors, so the ability is most likely just on with little effort. If it was a super impactful ability, the card would be absurd. As is, it’s just very good.
You can find the rest of Ari’s Dragon’s Maze Limited set review here!
 |
My guild is House Dimir. It’s all about information. I want it, and they shouldn’t have it. Thoughtseize, Vendilion Clique, and Gitaxian Probe are some of my favorite cards. Even when I’m playing aggro, it’s all about knowing how far I need to go before my reach kicks in and forces them to guess. |
