Part 1 of this set review can be found here: White
Part 2 of this set review can be found here: Blue
The Rating System:
Constructed Unplayable
This card should not be played in Constructed under any normal circumstances and will never generally be found in a competitive Constructed deck. Example: Hollow Dogs
Playable – Role Player
This card is either unspectacular and competing with cards that do the same thing more efficiently or useful in only a limited number of decks. For whatever reason (redundancy, lack of better alternatives), the card is good enough to fill a role in a reasonable Constructed deck. Example: Terror
Playable – Staple
This card is played in whatever decks and strategies where it would be appropriate, almost without question. When the card is absent, that is when we start asking questions. Example: Cabal Therapy
Playable – Flagship
This card has a powerful or unique effect, so much so that we build decks around it rather than fitting it into decks. Quite often the presence of this card allows for new archetypes to be explored. In some cases, those archetypes are not very good (but without their flagships, we would never even ask the question). Example: Necropotence
Let’s go!
Blood Funnel 1B
Enchantment Rare
Noncreature spells you play cost 2 less to play. Whenever you play a noncreature spell, counter that spell unless you sacrifice a creature.
Black always has these cards that seem like they should be breakable. I mean making essentially every card in your color two mana cheaper is a really powerful ability. Cards that reduce costs by one measly mana like Sapphire Medallion or Nightscape Familiar have consistently won big tournaments, after all.
But then again we have Carnival of Souls.
Constructed Unplayable
Brainspoil 3BB
Sorcery Common
Destroy target creature that isn’t enchanted. It can’t be regenerated.
Transmute 1BB (1BB, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
If this card could destroy anything – including creatures carrying Blanchwood Armors or whatever in their grubby little hands – it would be too expensive for Constructed. As it is there is nothing worse than waiting five turns for your out when suddenly it is no longer applicable.
Constructed Unplayable
Carrion Howler 3B
Creature – Zombie Wolf Uncommon
Pay 1 life: Carrion Howler gets +2/-1 until end of turn.
2/2
At two mana this guy would be marginal but would probably make the cut.
Constructed Unplayable
Clinging Darkness 1B
Enchantment – Aura Common
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -4/-1.
I would say this is Constructed Unplayable except that I myself have cast Mourning in a Constructed Grand Prix before. Sometimes you need to be able to deal with cards that have protection from your removal color or you need to be able to stop other Black creatures and you don’t always have the nicest tools in the box. Clinging Darkness can at least deal with Birds of Paradise at the same speed as a Fireball or some such.
Interestingly, this card also prevents recursion to a degree while containing fairly fat creatures… at times perhaps it’s better to leave the bomb on the board. I don’t know if I like Clinging Darkness main deck, but I’d definitely sideboard it in certain environments… I’m not saying I like this card, just that sometimes the format – especially in Block – will dictate things that you don’t want to hear.
Playable – Role Player
Dark Confidant 1B
Creature – Human Wizard Rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library and put that card into your hand. You lose life equal to its converted mana cost.
2/1
Greatness, at any cost.
This card is better than you think. I know you think it’s good. It’s better than that. Bob Maher, Jr. is good on his own and better with Sensei’s Divining Top; he goes in beatdown or control… and might find space in combo decks, too. In Extended, he can keep from out-living his welcome with Cabal Therapy, but in a deck with all cheap costs, it is likely the opponent who will try to extirpate him. In any case, Dark Confidant is a 2/1 for two mana, more than reasonable whatever the block.
Playable – Staple
Darkblast B
Instant Uncommon
Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Dredge 3 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 3 cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
The price sure is right on this card. As a fan of cards like Sicken over the years, I look at a card like Darkblast and see many dead Birds and Wizards. Unfortunately Lose Hope didn’t see much play, and that card was considerably better than Darkblast at first blush.
The main upside of Darkblast, along with its low cost, is the ability to reuse it turn after turn. There are tons of decks out there that have strong but small bottomed creatures. Because of Darkblast is so cheap, it might be profitable to return it time and again to remove any pesky Elves of Deep Shadow, Hearth Kamis, and so on that the opponent deploys. The problem with Dredge in general is that if you draw the same cards over and over again, you run the risk of missing land drops; therefore it is important to have some other source of card drawing – specifically land access – unless you are Dredging with card advantage (as with Grave-Shell Scarab) or it is the very late game.
Playable – Playable – Role Player
Dimir House Guard 3B
Creature – Skeleton Common
Fear
Sacrifice a creature: Regenerate Dimir House Guard.
Transmute 1BB (1BB, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
2/3
I don’t think that adding Transmute to it will make a horrible creature any more Constructed worthy.
Constructed Unplayable
Dimir Machinations 2B
Sorcery Uncommon
Look at the top three cards of target player’s library. Remove any number of those cards from the game, then put the rest back in any order.
Transmute 1BB (1BB, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
Other than making someone take a ton from his Dark Confidant or ensuring the death of a Sensei’s Divining Top, I don’t see a lot of virtue in Dimir Machinations. If you just want to select cards for yourself, there are better ways of going about it.
Constructed Unplayable
Disembowel XB
Instant Common
Destroy target creature with converted mana cost X.
Think of a good creature kill card. I thought of Terror. Think of something you might kill with Terror. I thought of Iwamori of the Open Fist. Then I thought of Arc-Slogger. The neat thing about Terror is that it kills either fours or fives or whatever and it doesn’t ask you to have five or six mana to do so. At the end of the day, creature kill is mostly only good if it is generating tempo. It you are paying more mana to kill a creature than the creature itself cost, you would 9 times out of 10 be better off just summoning a creature of that size and going to it. Disembowel is just going to pull you further behind when you have to deal with something already. I’m not sure if this card is better or worse than Heat Ray but it’s in the same ballpark, and no one ever gamed with Heat Ray in Constructed.
Constructed Unplayable
Empty the Catacombs 3B
Sorcery Rare
Each player returns all creature cards from his or her graveyard to his or her hand.
This card reminds me of Death Denied. Unlike Death Denied, this card is a sorcery. Unlike Death Denied it hooks up both players. Unlike Death Denied, it is not Arcane and therefore doesn’t have synergy with Spiritcraft. My rating is Empty the Catacombs – Denied!
However Empty the Catacombs might act as some sort of insane component in a combo deck. For example with Fluctuator in play, this card can set up essentially limitless card drawing as long as you have mana available. I guess it could also be a decent reset when playing against an essentially creatureless deck after sideboards.
Playable – Role Player (but barely)
Golgari Thug 1B
Creature – Human Warrior Uncommon
When Golgari Thug is put into a graveyard from play, put target creature card in your graveyard on top of your library.
Dredge 4 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 4 cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
1/1
I don’t know why I would ever want to Dredge up a two-mana 1/1 with a terrible ability. The limited tutor effect is highly conditional and not that good anyway… Certainly it doesn’t make me want to run out and start typing deck lists that begin with “4 Golgari Thug…”
Constructed Unplayable
Helldozer 3BBB
Creature – Zombie Giant Rare
BBB, Tap: Destroy target land. If that land is nonbasic, untap Helldozer.
6/5
Sometimes you go to hell, and sometimes hell comes to you.
I keep re-reading the text for the horrendous drawback… Except there isn’t one. This card is just much better than Demonic Hordes, and Demonic Hordes was honestly not bad. Helldozer’s body is great for the price and his ability is just unreal. In a Mono-Black deck, it makes Dwarven Miner’s ability look pretty weak… and it’s a 6/5 for six! I would play this card at 5/5 for six, or maybe even 5/4 or 4/5 (probably sideboard). As a six power creature with no drawback, no Legendary status, Helldozer is the kind of card for which I would devote up to four copies.
Helldozer’s ability is considerable. I’m not sure if he is best sitting on defense, scaring off attacks while managing the opponent’s resources, taking out two lands per turn (his mana cost implying this ability straight away), or destroying a land, untapping, then cracking for six. Personally, I think the last is the best.
Constructed – Staple
Hex 4BB
Sorcery Rare
Destroy six target creatures.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is completely unplayable. If it said “Up To six target creatures,” Hex would be fine but not that great. As it stands this card will just sit in your hand while you get your tail kicked. It costs more than Mutilate and can’t so much as deal with a one-toughness Gigapede or two-toughness Troll Ascetic at six mana. I mean, what’s the point?
If I’m spending six mana on a Black card, I want a 6/5 body with a nice special ability and all the… I guess I want the previous card to this one on the list.
Constructed Unplayable
Hunted Horror BB
Creature – Horror Rare
Trample
When Hunted Horror comes into play, put two 3/3 green Centaur creature tokens with protection from black into play under target opponent’s control.
7/7
This card is pretty exciting. Check the Cycle review as soon as we get that posted to find out just how exciting.
Infectious Host 2B
Creature – Zombie Common
When Infectious Host is put into a graveyard from play, target player loses 2 life.
1/1
1/1 for three, huh? If the life loss occurred when Infectious Host entered play this card would be bad enough. As it is, there is even less reason it should be played in any kind of a normal deck.
Constructed Unplayable.
Keening Banshee 2BB
Creature – Spirit Uncommon
Flying
When Keening Banshee comes into play, target creature gets -2/-2 until end of turn.
2/2
This card compares favorably to Thornscape Battlemage and Flametongue Kavu, and both of those were staples of their shared constructed era. Like Thornscape Battlemage, Keening Banshee “only” hits for two, and like Flametongue Kavu, it is only good when there is someone to aim at, but those are minor details for what you are getting. A 2/2 flyer is a perfectly solid remainder when you get to 187 successfully. I’m guessing Keening Banshee will be the top end of the new Bob Maher squad in Standard.
Constructed – Staple
Last Gasp 1B
Instant Common
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn.
This card is really solid. Unlike Incinerate from times past it can’t hit players, and for that reason only, I think it will be a sideboard card, but the speed, cost, and effect make Last Gasp a very reasonable play.
Constructed – Role Player
Mausoleum Turnkey 3B
Creature – Ogre Rogue Uncommon
When Mausoleum Turnkey comes into play, return target creature card of an opponent’s choice from your graveyard to your hand.
3/2
I’m not sure if he’s better or worse than Gravedigger. I’m fairly certain he doesn’t make the cut under normal circumstances, but Gravedigger was often around, either in G/B decks (Recur) or B/U decks (Cavern Harpy), and Ravnica has got G/B and B/U Guilds, so you never know.
Constructed – Role Player
Moonlight Bargain 3BB
Instant Rare
Look at the top five cards of your library. For each card, put that card into your graveyard unless you pay 2 life. Then put the rest into your hand.
At instant speed? Sign me up! Note that you don’t have to pay any life at all if you don’t like what you see (at which point you’ve lost card economy but run by a stretch of worthless cards) and sometimes you can just pay 10 and avalanche the other guy with 5 cards. I figure many decks will run at least one copy of this card, especially control decks. Like Infernal Contract before it, Moonlight Bargain will probably help the dirty combo players most of all.
Constructed – Staple
Mortipede 3B
Creature – Insect Common
2G: All creatures able to block Mortipede this turn do so.
4/1
Too little a butt, too narrow.
Constructed Unplayable
Necromantic Thirst 2BB
Enchantment – Aura Common
Enchant creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals combat damage to a player, you may return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
Overall this seems too narrow even for the Auratouched deck. The effect is certainly strong with Dredge, but four mana for a conditional Raise Dead just isn’t exciting to me.
Constructed Unplayable
Necroplasm 1BB
Creature – Ooze Rare
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on Necroplasm.
At the end of your turn, destroy each creature with converted mana cost equal to the number of +1/+1 counters on Necroplasm.
Dredge 2 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 2 cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
1/1
This card is pretty strong, if slow. It only ever gets to 4/4 before blowing itself up, but Necroplasm’s Dredge ability means that you can set up Powder Keg after Powder Keg in certain matchups. It’s a reasonable drop, as well, attacking for 2, then 3, then 4 before petering out. It’s clearly not going to go into your swarm deck, but I can see it being effective in slow decks.
Playable – Role Player
Netherborn Phalanx 5B
Creature – Horror Uncommon
When Netherborn Phalanx comes into play, each opponent loses 1 life for each creature he or she controls.
Transmute 1BB (1BB, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
2/4
Main deck? Definitely not. I once ran a sideboard strategy entirely around Laquatus’s Champion, so I can see the potential in this card, but I don’t think it is ultimately there.
Constructed Unplayable
Nightmare Void 3B
Sorcery Uncommon
Target player reveals his or her hand. Choose a card from it. That player discards that card.
Dredge 2 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 2 cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
I initially gave this card Constructed Unplayable rating, but after reading Zvi’s review, I decided to give Nightmare Void another look. The result? I still don’t like it. Coercion hasn’t seen play since Pro Tour: Paris in 1997, despite being legal in multiple formats. Nightmare Void costs more than Coercion did. That said, the non-Investment of Nightmare Void compares favorably to Disrupting Scepter, and the loss of consecutive land drops due to Dredge may be counterbalanced by a card like Life from the Loam (in B/G, at least). Therefore I am going to upgrade this card to sideboard possibility. I am having difficulty imagining a deck that would want to play it main.
Playable – Role Player
Ribbons of Night 4B
Sorcery Uncommon
Ribbons of Night deals 4 damage to target creature and you gain 4 life.
If U was spent to play Ribbons of Night, draw a card.
This card has to compete with Exile into Darkness. It probably kills slightly bigger threats than Exile into Darkness, but Ribbons of Night doesn’t set up the same kind of card economy, even in Blue. This seems like the kind of card that certain decks would side to win long fights or control decks would play one of in the main without being able to really say why. Either way, it’s passably good and you could definitely do worse.
Playable – Role Player
Roofstalker Wight 1B
Creature – Zombie Common
1U: Roofstalker Wight gains flying until end of turn.
2/1
Not great, but we’ve seen stranger things than decks playing random 2/1 creatures for two mana. If it ever flies that’s just gravy. The main thing holding this card back is that it is in competition with Bob Maher, Hand of Cruelty, and Nezumi Graverobber at the two spot. It might make the cut after rotations or in Block.
Playable – Role Player
Sadistic Augermage 2B
Creature – Human Wizard Common
When Sadistic Augermage is put into a graveyard from play, each player puts a card from his or her hand on top of his or her library.
3/1
If he only hit the opponent he wouldn’t be that good.
Constructed Unplayable
Sewerdreg 3BB
Creature – Spirit Common
Swampwalk
Sacrifice Sewerdreg: Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
3/3
For five mana? Are you kidding me? This card is leagues worse than Crypt Creeper, and Crypt Creeper wasn’t good enough in a format with Wonder. Maybe in Block… If Dredge is huge… If there’s nothing else.
Constructed Unplayable
Shred Memory 1B
Instant Common
Remove up to four target cards in a single graveyard from the game.
Transmute 1BB (1BB, Discard this card: Search your library for a card with the same converted mana cost as this card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
Well, I guess that ends the whole “if there’s nothing else” theory for Sewerdreg. This card is arguably better than Rapid Decay. Rapid Decay ran through Regionals undefeated and helped give Jon Finkel the National Championship… and like I said, this card is probably better. Its “cycling” effect is clearly more limited but you don’t play cards like Shred Memory primarily for their cycling. Bring it on, Replenish!
Playable – Role Player
Sins of the Past 3BB
Sorcery Rare
Until end of turn, you may play target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard without paying its mana cost. If that card would be put into your graveyard this turn, remove it from the game instead. Remove Sins of the Past from the game.
This card is probably going to be best in some sort of a combo deck, but it will take whole turns off of some of the more cost prohibitive combo engines out there. Could this deck make Eternal Dominion playable? If Enduring Ideal is game, what about the Big Blue version?
Playable – Role Player
Stinkweed Imp 2B
Creature – Imp Common
Flying
Whenever Stinkweed Imp deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature.
Dredge 5 (If you would draw a card, instead you may put exactly 5 cards from the top of your library into your graveyard. If you do, return this card from your graveyard to your hand. Otherwise, draw a card.)
1/2
Annoying in Limited perhaps, this card will not be making many main decks. Sadly, I can imagine it holding off Mono-Green’s giant fatties for undetermined turns as their masters try desperately to figure out how to get through the humble 1/2 for three (“I’m not trading my 5/5 for THAT.”).
Their only hope? That no one plays Stinkweed Imp.
Playable – Role Player
Strands of Undeath 3B
Enchantment – Aura Common
Enchant creature
When Strands of Undeath comes into play, target player discards two cards.
B: Regenerate enchanted creature.
If Regeneration ever made the cut in any Constructed deck I’d be happier with this, but it never has. Strands of Undeath’s 187 is nice but as no one ever gamed with Unnerve, I think we can safely assume this card is forty-card decks only.
Constructed Unplayable
Thoughtpicker Witch B
Creature – Human Wizard Common
1, Sacrifice a creature: Look at the top two cards of target opponent’s library, then remove one of them from the game.
1/1
If you didn’t have to actually sacrifice a creature, this card would be pretty neat. Not “good,” necessarily, but certainly neat and worth a look. However the cost of the Thoughtpicker Witch’s ability just seems too steep for me, even though the price is otherwise more than reasonable for Black these days. One thing you can say for the Witch, Black has never had problems emptying the opponent’s hand… It’s always lost to whatever he topdecked. Controlling that element would have been welcome.
Speaking of which, the Witch might be able to combine profitably with Saproling generation cards in the Golgari flavor, but going long, a 1/1 body might be a tad unreliable.
Constructed Unplayable
Undercity Shade 4B
Creature – Shade Uncommon
Fear
B: Undercity Shade gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/1
Yawn.
Constructed Unplayable
Vigor Mortis 2BB
Sorcery Uncommon
Return target creature card from your graveyard to play.
If any G was spent to play this spell, that creature comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it.
I’d run Tendo Ice Bridge in a B/U Reanimator deck just to mise the G ability on this sometimes. This card is very similar in power to Zombify… a little worse, maybe, but not that much worse and possessed of a reasonable incidental ability. Keep in mind that putting the 7th power on a Haste Dragon or Angel cuts your goldfish by a full turn, so this is no small bonus, even if it seems one. Obviously this isn’t going to make the cut in Extended, but in Standard Reanimator? You can’t do better unless Black mana is exceedingly thin.
Finally, this card has the best name of any card in Ravnica, as far as I can tell so far, anyway.
Playable – Staple
Vindictive Mob 4BB
Creature – Human Berserker Uncommon
When Vindictive Mob comes into play, sacrifice a creature.
Vindictive Mob can’t be blocked by Saprolings.
5/5
There is a rich tradition of six-mana 5/5s being great in Black, from Ihsan’s Shade to Visara the Dreadful to Kokusho, the Evening Star most recently, but none of them have asked for a creature sacrifice at the outset. That might be a marginal drawback, though, who knows? The real question is… Saprolings!?! Possibly this is a bomb in Block, one of those cards you don’t immediately see like Cateran Slaver or Lumbering Satyr. For that reason, Vindictive Mob will have no reason to come after moi in terms of rating.
Playable – Role Player (I think)
Woebringer Demon 3BB
Creature – Demon Rare
Flying
At the beginning of each player’s upkeep, that player sacrifices a creature. If the player can’t, sacrifice Woebringer Demon.
4/4
Clearly this card only fits in a certain kind of deck, and clearly decks that can make a lot of tokens or something will be hurt less, if at all, but for everyone else… watch out! Woebringer Demon is The Abyss with wings, perfectly costed at 4/4 for five mana even if it didn’t kill 100 animals.
But it will.
The worst case scenario is when the opponent takes out Woebringer Demon with its ability on the stack, but even then, he is likely to have spent two cards for two. If you don’t have creatures and are facing a significant threat, Woebringer Demon can hook you up and get in the block while you look for something better… I really don’t see a downside to this card. If you don’t want it hanging around, you can always drop the Demon to itself.
Playable – Flagship
Black seems stronger to me than White or Blue so far, not because of the regular cards that accomplish regular actions, but because of the super bombs. Heck, the admittedly appropriate Coercion in this set costs four mana. Helldozer? This is one of the best, realistically playable, fat creatures we’ve seen in a long time. I think Helldozer compares favorably to the Kamigawa Dragons and Ink-Eyes; certainly he seems a harder worker. I quite like Woebringer Demon as well.
Not surprisingly the best overall Black card – and one on the short list for best card in the set – is Dark Confidant. Bob Maher’s Invitational Card is going to be more popular than Rootwater Thief, Sylvan Safekeeper, and Voidmage Prodigy combined. I would not be surprised if Bob outstripped Jonny Magic and Jens Thoren. This card is too small and unassuming to actually define formats, but like Sakura-Tribe Elder, Dark Confidant is cheap enough, and efficient enough, to make tons of strategies, tons of decks, better.
Up Next: Red