Last week
, I took a look at some of the early previews from Guilds of Ravnica. This week, we have the whole thing, so I’m
rolling up my sleeves and diving in. Even though it seems like we’re
getting new cards at a breakneck pace, it’s always exciting to see them
coming. Guilds of Ravnica is no exception.
As is my usual, I’ll point out that this is a review for Commander only.
There are some Limited and other Constructed format superstars in the set
which won’t get a mention because of they’re less than appealing for the
100-card decks. In fact, my first look over this set tells me that it’s
going to be extremely good for Limited, so take any less-than-enthusiastic
grades with a grain of salt. I’ll go through each color, pointing out what
I see as the significant cards, rate the color as a whole, and pick a Top
3.
White
There’s some level of flexibility built in here for at a low mana and
activation cost. We know for a fact that there will almost always be at
least a creature target for you. Be careful if you’re playing Bounty Agent
with Martyr’s Bond-the opponent can always sacrifice to the trigger
whatever you’ve targeted. Bounty Agent will make its bones either in a deck
with recursion, such as Karador, Ghost Chieftain, or one which can keep
bringing it back with Sun Titan.
Often, Citywide Bust will get all or most of the creatures on the
battlefield. This is a Commander game, after all, in which even toughness
is large. When you’re ready for it, like in your token-production decks,
you’ll end up with asymmetrical value tilted in your direction.
Maybe since it has convoke there’s a little value to playing it over
Banishing Light, since you can effectively cast it for next to nothing.
At the same converted mana cost as Return to Dust, you get a more
splashable card which will always get two targets, not just during your
main phase, but the limitation is that you can’t get two of either, you
need one of each. There are enough juicy targets in Commander that it’s not
much of an issue, and there’s no reason you can’t play both.
This might be comparable to Well of Lost Dreams. It’s two mana cheaper,
plus it makes tokens (albeit somewhat expensively). The trigger costs one
more and you can only get a single card off it. My experience with the Well
is that it’s not too often that I pay more than two or three, which is
still better than Dawn of Hope, so the reason to play the newer one is
combining the card’s two abilities.
One of last week’s favorites, and there’s no reason to come off that
stance. This card is destined to have a huge impact on the format. Get your
Containment Priest ready. This card is truth.
There are plenty of “+1/+1 counters matter” decks with white in them
(here’s to you, Ghave, Guru of Spores and even moreso, Rhys the Redeemed),
so Light of the Legion will find a home. It’s already beefy enough at 5/5
to make it worthwhile just having mentor; the dies trigger is just spicy
gravy.
Now we’re talking. We all like convoke because it lets us cast bigger
spells, but we dislike having our creatures tapped. Venerated Loxodon lets
us reward them a little for their service. Extremely well-designed card.
Top 3
Grade: C
. It has one of the absolute best cards in the set but falls off after that
and the density of playable cards is a little low. Still, that Divine
Visitation.
Blue
Making Sphinx tribal possible is okay by me. I’d like a few of them to be
cheaper, but you don’t get big, fat flyers for four mana.
Regular readers will know that I’ve long been a proponent of counterspells
needing to do something else for them to be worthwhile in Commander.
Devious Cover-Up fits that bill. The exile part is significant on a
creature because this format tends to recur them. The shuffling bit is nice
because it lets you put good stuff back into your library, but note that
you can’t shuffle back in Devious Cover-Up since it’s not in the graveyard
yet.
The thing that pushes Dream Eater over the top is that it has flash.
Instead of using it preemptively, you can thwart a combat, especially one
in which an opponent has invested significant resources into a single
creature. Surveil 4 is a large number, so you can also sculpt your
graveyard and future hand to do the neat stuff you want to later.
Looking at more cards is more better. The tiny mana cost makes it
worthwhile.
I dunno. You probably have to be playing it in your Maze’s End five-color
deck to even think about it being worthwhile. Very, very narrow, but kind
of cool nonetheless.
Another one of last week’s picks, I’m still intrigued by the possibilities
of playing Mission Briefing in Snapcaster Mage-like fashion.
Seven days has only raised my estimation of Omnispell Adept. The mana cost
might keep it reigned in, but it also might be a non-factor.
There must be decks that like to cast lots of sorceries and instants, like
Talrand, Sky Summoner or Mizzix of the Igmagnus, which would like to copy
some of their creatures. There are also just lots of creatures you have
that are worth copying.
Top 3
Grade: C-
. Top stuff nice, but not so much after that.
Black
Not just something for your Vampire decks, but a little graveyard control
for any black deck. You don’t need to remove entire graveyards to neuter a
strategy; you can often do it selectively. There might be more efficient
ways of casting it multiple times but paying life doesn’t always have to be
bad-like with Repay in Kind.
One of the issues I have with my Halloween with Karador deck is that it
sometimes isn’t great at dealing damage. Doom Whisperer will help in that
regard while letting me fill up the graveyard with goodies. The deck gains
enough life that I shouldn’t have to worry about paying the cost. Love this
card.
A little narrow, perhaps, but getting to reanimate three cards with one
spell is quite a thing. Note that the spell doesn’t have targets, so you
can play it even if you just want (or need) to bring back one or two
things.
It’s a Zombie. There are Zombies in your graveyard. This thing is dealing
some damage.
Instant tutors are a little scary. This one has limitations, but you don’t
really need that many creatures in your graveyard to be able to make get
whatever you need with this. The limitation of it being only a black card
might keep it from being busted. Might.
You obviously need to keep an eye on things, but you’ll have built in
enough lifegain to your deck that you won’t have to worry about the
Midnight Reaper killing you. I will gladly pay one life for a card, so this
is another Zombie that might go into non-tribal decks.
I’m telling you, this thing is going to kill people. It’s somewhat pricey
and conditional, which keeps it from being problematic, but there are
plenty of circumstances in which just giving something menace will be
enough to make the target lethal.
I was out until the last sentence. I came back in.
A strict upgrade to Fleshbag Marauder, I can see it as an out-and-out
replacement in decks that want to use the mechanic a little and a strong
addition to the ones who want to use it a lot. Tharaximundar says hello.
Not quite as saucy as Citywide Bust, but on target enough to keep those
annoying swarm decks in check-you just have to get them before they upgrade
with Beastmaster Ascension and whatnot.
While one-for-ones aren’t often great in Commander, destroying someone’s
best creature while gaining some life is fine. It’s the setting up of other
things you want to do which make the card worth considering. There are
creatures that do their business and then you want them in the yard.
Instead of just sacrificing them to an outlet like Phyrexian Altar, you can
get more upside. Unfortunately, it’s a sorcery, so you can do tricks like
sacrificing your Karmic Guide with the echo trigger on the stack.
Nonetheless, this is a worthwhile common.
Top 3
Grade: B-
. Slightly more playable cards than white, with the top stuff about the
same.
Red
Three spells seems like a lot; two seems too easy, so I can see the design
problem here.
Plus Psychosis Crawler? Seems okayish. Plus Chasm Skulker? Getting better.
Plus Niv-Mizzet, Parun or Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind? Ouch.
Worst playability to cool name ratio ever.
Seems like we’re leaning toward some sort of combo deck here to get any
real usefulness out of it. Saving grace is that it damages each opponent.
Wonderfully wacky and seemingly not all that useful unless you’re playing a
hellbent deck. Combine with Possessed Portal? Play with Words of Wind as
both an offensive weapon and safety outlet? This is one I think the mad
scientists will have some fun with.
Even with the exile part, I don’t think the card will see much play. It’s
just an opportunity to mention the awesome
Lacuna Coil
.
Creating Goblins that are going to get bigger can only lead to bad things
for your opponents. The problem will be in keeping the Warboss alive long
enough to mentor repeatedly.
Yeah, because there aren’t enough Browbeats in the world. I actually think
it will make a splash in Standard, but the amount of damage just isn’t
enough in Commander until we start adding Furnace of Rath and the like.
It looks like there could be some combo potential here, but there are too
many hoops to jump through to make it work with any regularity.
Top 3
N/A
Grade: F
. Red, at least mono red, once again gets the short end. There aren’t even
enough for a Top 3.
Green
Cast creatures, draw cards. Now you’re talking my language.
The most useful circumstance with this card seems to be giving a commander
+9/+9. Or maybe killing three creatures if you’re playing Dismiss Into
Dream.
A nice sideways step from Ranger’s Path. You can only get basic lands (or
Gates), but you’re not hemmed into getting only Forests.
Haste is what pushed me over the top here. Clearly, you’re playing Doubling
Season since you’re in green already, so it won’t take much to be pretty
large. It doesn’t have all the dredge goodness of Golgari Grave-Troll, but
this thing has some game.
Smart design move making the undergrowth ability a cast trigger instead of
enters-the-battlefield, because it could otherwise get pretty broken even
at seven mana.
This is the kind of card I expect to see as the buy-a-box promo. Huge.
Splashy. Designed for the casual crowd. I’m definitely playing it in a deck
with Xenagos, God of Revels.
Reasonable enough when you’re gaining double digit life.
For one mana, it’s worth going for that big kill when the opponent can
block all but your smallest creature.
Funny story: Nullhide Ferox is a Beast and I have a Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
deck that’s Beast tribal and has maybe six spells in it. For anyone not in
the same situation, the card is probably of middling value. Sure, it’s a
6/6 for 2GG, but the ability for people to take away hexproof makes it
sketchy even then. The card will, however, is poised to become a bomb in
Standard.
No mana? No worries. Tap some creatures and Fog.
The simple flexibility might make it worth considering.
If you play in an environment in which there isn’t much land destruction,
Urban Utopia becomes worthwhile ramp since it replaces itself. It’s not
likely to get disenchanted, save for mass effects (or the odd Aura Shards),
since there are almost always way more dangerous targets for enchantment
removal.
More and more, I see undergrowth as a commander damage enhancer. The back
half of Vigorspore Wurm isn’t all that exciting but the triggered ability
could be a game-ender.
Obviously, if you’re playing Vivid Revival, you’re putting it into a deck
that will use it. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth the cost.
Top 3
Grade: B-
. The density is better but the best cards are merely very good, not great.
Finishing the mono-color cards, I’m hoping that the multi-colored ones are
better (and to some extent expect them to be in a set featuring guilds).
Multi-Color
Likely a high value card in other formats, its ability to destroy any
permanent at a very low cost will also make it one of the few one-for-ones
that Commander players like.
Maybe red just needs another color added to it to get some love. The
vigilance part is nice, but trample is the operative. Trample kills
players.
Is there some crazy combo here with Mirrorweave, turning all your creatures
into Beamsplitter Mages, then doing something wild? Come on, brewmasters!
Give us your best shot.
If you control a huge swarm of creatures, Camaraderie is just a win-more
card. Its value is going to be in the middle range, where you’re drawing
five or six cards. It’s still worth the mana and the little buff to your
creatures won’t hurt.
Folks have already pointed out if you manage to skip the extra turn’s end
step, you don’t lose the game. What I think gets lost in the chatter is
that if you do that, your creatures that were around when Chance for Glory
resolved are indestructible for good. Nice upside.
My local environment is a little Wrath-happy, so when creatures replace
themselves or when they do something on the way out that helps me recover,
I like them.
Getting larger as the game progresses is good enough to want to play with
Crackling Drake already. The card draw just makes it better.
It’s no Dimir Cutpurse.
The option to choose both seems neat, especially if your creatures have
bigger backsides than everyone else’s or if you’re playing Mark of
Asylum-or this set’s Tajic, Legion’s Edge. Or Purity. Definitely Purity. We
can keep going down the road with Firesong and Sunspeaker and Soulfire
Grand Master.
I’m not often a fan of discard in Commander because it always seems like
there are things people want in their graveyards, but I’m willing to make
an exception for Disinformation Campaign. Drawing one while everyone else
discards is strong and the fact that you can bring it creates a great deal
of value.
Glare of Subdual is the first card that came to mind when I saw Emmara. I
think we’ll see it leading all kinds of token-creation decks.
Do not be alarmed! Etrata will not break the format, even if you can put it
back into the command zone instead of shuffling it into your library. It
will, however, make a huge splash. The fact that it can’t be blocked
already starts us down a powerful path. Even if you don’t kill players with
the triggered ability, you’re exiling their creatures, which is way better
than destroying them. It’s a card that you should respect when it shows up
on the battlefield, but nothing that’s going to change the nature of the
format.
So, you’re basically drawing a card for every two instants or sorceries
that you cast? Forget the red ability, the blue half is all we need.
The card has some early game value, especially if you cracked a fetchland
in order to cast it. In the later game, it’s a nice rescue outlet for an
important land that, like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which someone has
destroyed. You can also get back your Wasteland to take out something else
of theirs that might cause you trouble.
Not quite Eternal Witness, but still a fine card.
Last week’s number one, I’m still very high on this card. @CMDTower on Twitter asked why I
think the cost of the card is so high. I think it’s reasonably costed at
six mana and the double colors reflect its deep Golgari-ness. The upside is
high enough that while it might be okay at five mana, that might be too
good for when Izoni is a commander. Plus, there’s the card draw. The card
is awesome and shouldn’t be cheap. It will be a little painful to pay eight
then ten to cast it again, but it will be worth it.
Fine flexibility in a cheap package.
Multifarious indeed. Lazav’s ability to shift around at will means you can
change forms during combat to become something huge, then if need be, shift
to something else to protect it; obviously, those are mana-hungry choices.
It’d be pretty amusing to turn him into Abyssal Persecutor for a while,
deal enough commander damage, then change him to something else.
There’s the obvious end of turn trick to do with March of the Multitudes
but consider that you might engage in some blocks which will keep you alive
but kill the creatures you’re blocking with. After blocks, use them to
convoke more of the multitudes onto your side. The presence of convoke
means you must pay attention even when it looks like someone is tapped
out-and you can use the fact that others might not be paying the same kind
of attention.
This is one that seems better than it is. You still need to cast the spells
and you can’t play any of the lands. It’s a sorcery, so you can’t use it
for combat tricks to shrink someone’s Lord of Extinction. The
top-of-my-head use for Mnemonic Betrayal is to create a temporary empty
graveyard situation for everyone but you to cast Living Death. Useful, but
a little narrow.
No one is every paying nine mana for this, but the dredge players will like
it. I’d like it a little better if it had trample or deathtouch, but I
don’t want to be greedy.
Niv-Mizzet is one of those characters that you must make strong in any
incarnation it’s printed in and this one is no exception. The all-colored
mana thing is a little awkward, but you should be able to manage it. Not
sure why it can’t be countered (like what part of the lore is that
invoking), but I’m not going to argue. Play alongside the other two
Niv-Mizzets and start the damage-dealing tomfoolery.
I’ve already mentioned being happy to pay a life per card, so I’m okay with
Notion Rain also letting me put something into the graveyard if I want.
Lure creatures don’t tend to do well historically in Commander, but Ochran
Assassin might be an exception because of deathtouch. You’ll want to find a
way to regenerate it or make it indestructible so that you can do it again
next turn.
A nicely balanced planeswalker, Ral’s +1 ability is strong. You’ll only use
the -3 in a desperate situation. If you get to the emblem, great; it’ll be
more about drawing the cards and the four damage will be incidental (unless
someone else has planeswalkers that need to go).
I like this move toward more fair tutoring. They’ve added two mana and an
additional color requirement to Elvish Visionary (and one more power for
all that matters), but you get your pick of the top four, so long as it’s a
creature or enchantment. If you’ve put this into your deck, you run a
decent chance of getting a hit.
Getting a bunch of chumps out of the way before blocks are declared is a
nice way of getting your damage through. Move into Mardu and combine with
Death Pits of Rath, and the road will always be clear.
Playing Tajic leaves you safe to play Powerstone Minefield or Lightmine
Field while your opponents are still struggling with those effects. They
probably didn’t need to tack on the first strike bit.
Richard Garfield would approve of casting other peoples’ spells, so he
would like Thief of Sanity. The worst-case scenario is that you just exile
something really good and keep the other player from getting their hands on
it.
You’ll need to get creative to cast enough spells to make it work, but
especially if you’re running through spells that draw cards, you’ll be
quite happy to copy them.
This version of Trostani suggests a much different deck than Trostani,
Selesnya’s Voice. For those who don’t like other people touching their
stuff, she’s also valuable as 1 of 99 to take the place (if you’re playing
white) of or add to Brooding Saurian.
Cousin to Boros Reckoner (which can damage any target), Truefire Captain
might be used politically, running him in front of a huge creature in order
to deal with a third player. Sure, it’s a rattlesnake as well, but I like
the idea of taking out the uninvolved party who might be otherwise
untouchable.
Clearly, the card doesn’t need the indestructible part to be good. Any kind
of self-mill, graveyard recursion, or dredge deck will be very excited to
have Underrealm Lich on their team. The card gets you around draw triggers,
like Nekusar, the Mind Razer, since you’re replacing the draw. Speaking of
replacing the draw, try out Sylvan Library with Underrealm Lich. Since you
haven’t drawn any cards, you get to keep them all.
Other players should rightly be concerned when this Vraska hits the
battlefield. It’s in colors that like to sacrifice permanents, so the +1
ability is quite valuable. Like with many planeswalkers in Commander, we
don’t focus so much on the middle ability, because we want to get to that
juicy ultimate and its deadly emblem.
I imagine Assure will be what you use most, and often in response to some
kind of sweeper.
With four mana (like Zombify) being the baseline standard of reanimating a
creature, I’m on board with paying one more for Concoct and getting to
surveil 3 as well. Connive seems pretty narrow.
Expansion seems useful in the early game to copy a ramp spell, like
Cultivate. Explosion might get you home in the late game.
Find seems useful if you’re not doing too much reanimation but going the
Regrowth route. Finality is going to hit some percentage of the creatures
on the battlefield, so it’s situationally either very good or somewhat
useless.
Response is an emergency punch out. Resurgence is a deadly battle plan.
Flexibility is the real reason to play this card. It’s still a one-for-one,
so less valuable in Commander.
Top 3:
Grade: A+
. Strong cards and lots of other good middle-of-the-pack stuff. They
brought it around in the multicolored section, and this is indeed the
strength of the set. I’m not high on Guildmages that tap, but otherwise,
the set’s focus is a winner.
Artifact
Nice upgrade to Cluestones. You’ll see plenty of these running around,
especially in the non-green colors.
The remainder of the artifacts aren’t all that interesting, and there are
too few of them to provide a real grade. I’m mostly happy that they stayed
away from powerful artifacts in the set and focused on the colors.
Land
A Gate that’s a Rupture Spire is fine.
Variations on a theme of Opal Palace, also seems good if you need colorless
mana to active your Eldrazi Displacer.
Grade: A.
Simply for reprinting the shocklands. Making the Gates available again and
worthwhile is a thematically decent choice.
While I was clearly pretty cool on the mono-colored sections, the
multi-colored one makes the whole set worth the price of admission. Based
on that section alone, Guilds of Ravnica gets a solid B. There are
a few new commanders to explore and some individual cards that you’ll want
to rush out and get as soon as possible, both for building around and
stuffing into existing decks.
Question of the Week will return after release season.
Check out our comprehensive Deck List Database for lists of all my decks:
SIGNATURE DECKS
Purple Hippos and Maro Sorcerers
;
Kresh Into the Red Zone
;
Halloween with Karador
;
Dreaming of Intet
;
You Did This to Yourself
.
THE CHROMATIC PROJECT
Mono-Color
Heliod, God of Enchantments
;
Thassa, God of Merfolk
;
Erebos and the Halls Of The Dead
;
Forge of Purphoros
;
Nylea of the Woodland Realm
;
Karn
Evil No. 9.
Guilds
Lavinia Blinks
;
Obzedat, Ghost Killer
;
Aurelia Goes to War
;
Trostani and Her Angels
;
Lazav, Shapeshifting Mastermind
;
Zegana and a Dice Bag
;
Rakdos Reimagined
;
Glissa, Glissa
;
Ruric Thar and His Beastly Fight Club
;
Gisa and Geralf Together Forever
.
Shards and Wedges
Adun’s Toolbox
;
Angry, Angry Dinos
;
Animar’s Swarm
;
Borrowing Stuff at Cutlass Point
;
Ikra and Kydele
;
Karrthus, Who Rains Fire From The Sky
;
Demons of Kaalia
;
Merieke’s Esper Dragons
;
Nath of the Value Leaf
;
Queen Marchesa, Long May She Reign
;
Rith’s Tokens
;
The Mill-Meoplasm
;
The Altar of Thraximundar
;
The Threat of Yasova
;
Zombies of Tresserhorn
.
Four Color
Yidris: Money for Nothing, Cards for Free
;
Saskia Unyielding
;
Breya Reshaped
;
Yidris Rotisserie Draft Deck
.
Five-Color
Partners
Tana and Kydele
;
Kynaios and Tiro
;
Ikra and Kydele
.
THE DO-OVER PROJECT
Adun Oakenshield Do-Over
;
Animar Do-Over
;
Glissa Do-Over
;
Karador Do-Over
;
Karador Version 3
;
Karrthus Do-Over
;
Kresh Do-Over
;
Steam-Powered Merieke
Do-Over;
Lord of Tresserhorn Do-Over
;
Mimeoplasm Do-Over
;
Phelddagrif Do-Over
;
Rith Do-Over
;
Ruhan Do-Over
.
If you’d like to follow the adventures of my Monday Night RPG group (in a
campaign that’s been alive since 1987) which is just beginning the saga The Lost Cities of Nevinor, ask for an invitation to the Facebook
group “Sheldon Menery’s
Monday Night Gamers.”