There are two sorts of multicolored cards in Ravnica. Yesterday we looked at the “traditional” two-color cards, where R&D forces us to choose both Red and White, both Black and Green. Today’s Guild mana is the opposite: though the cards are multicolored, both Green and White for a Selesnya card, let’s say, you can pick either color of mana to pay the cost. As such, it shouldn’t surprise you that these cards are less strong in general than the multicolored cards. For yesterday’s group, the cards are undercosted for their effects; the tradeoff is that you have to get your mana right. Today’s crop makes it easier to play your cards. For example, you can run a R/W Bear in a Red Deck just because the White half gives you a handy no drawback 2/2 and you don’t have to settle for Goblin Raider.
Ravnica artifacts are not exactly on Mirrodin level, but there are some gems. Speaking of gems, there is also a new take on the Diamond cycle from Mirage.
For the penultimate time, 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. In the case of multicolored cards, the effect may be a powerful one, but not justified by its cost. Example: Brass-Talon Chimera, Lead-Belly Chimera
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: Frogmite, Pyrite Spellbomb
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: Cursed Scroll, Sensei’s Divining Top
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: Arcbound Ravager, Isochron Scepter
Guild Mana
Boros Guildmage
It’s been said before, but it bears repeating here: the Boros Guildmage is a playable Constructed card if for no other reason, it’s a 2/2 for a Red Deck. I don’t know if it will actually make the cut in any Boros decks outside of block – it seems to me that they can skew their lands to play superior White creatures on two mana and use Red for gravy, forming feet and legs, arms and torso, while Lightning Helix forms the head of the most focused cream dream in the history of the beatdown. No straight White deck is going to pick this Guildmage under normal circumstances, either. But still, being half Red has its privileges; both abilities will be relevant on a regular basis, and straight Red will be happy to welcome it right in.
Playable – Staple
Boros Recruit
Aaron Forsythe recently talked about how this card is strictly worse than Tundra Wolves in a White Weenie deck. No one games with Tundra Wolves. Tundra Wolves, despite the Quinton Hoover illustration (mine are in Legends black border), are less popular than blocking. But again, you never know what kind of whorish mood a Red Deck will be in; this guy is better than Mon’s Goblin Raiders, after all!
Playable – Role Player (wouldn’t count on it, though)
Centaur Safeguard
In the right matchup, Centaur Safeguard is golden. I don’t think you will want it main deck, just because the one toughness is so fragile, but I’d be willing to play this card in many fights. Once upon a time, I loved the fact that Jolrael’s Centaur couldn’t be targeted Just So I Could Block Ironclaw Orcs – a cheaper card – with it. That made my G/R deck win. Centaur Safeguard has no automatic “will make it to declare blockers” text, but even if it is eliminated pre-combat, this Centaur Warrior will contribute to the team. Imagine if the opponent blows a Shock to get a creature through without trading… You’ve just eaten 2 and gained 3 for a +.5 card advantage and a not insignificant life boost. In games where overload damage is not coming and the Philosophy of Fire is desperately trying to pinch one out, Centaur Safeguard can be an important racer that the opponent is scared to block. Not great, but definitely a thorn in the side of some opponents.
Playable – Role Player (sideboard mostly)
Dimir Guildmage
With its flowing cape and determined visage, this card boasts one of my three favorite illustrations in the set, and is also arguably the strongest Guildmage in terms of superpowers. Forget about the fact that “Blue doesn’t have good weenies,” the tag we put on Boros Guildmage with regard to Red; I’d Actually Like To Play Dimir Guildmage’s Abilities. The Black ability is not so far off of Nightmare Void, a card that can single-handedly win matchups according to Zvi, and I’d definitely run out the 3U to draw a card… that’s Jayemdae Tome land, at least, and can pump more than one card per turn in some situations. Don’t forget you can hold this card until you have six mana and then just play it to net a card if you expect removal. If none comes, all the better.
In a sense, the fact that Dimir Guildmage is a 2/2 creature is a bit of a liability. He’s not hard to kill, and much of the time, you’ll either want to trade him or greedily fail to trade him when you should. Moreover, despite the fact that I like his abilities more than any other Guildmage’s, he is the least likely to see widespread play, just because Black has better weenies and Blue doesn’t usually want weenies. Given their caliber, it’s odd, isn’t it?
That said, this card has some nice punch for its cost and might find a home in a deck like Macey Rock, doing double duty on the Duress and threat side. Stranger things have happened.
Playable – Role Player
Gaze of the Gorgon
Neat combat trick.
Constructed Unplayable
Gleancrawler
The beauty of this card is that it probably works better in a deck like the Conclave or even a Critical Mass variant than it works in the Golgari. Sakura-Tribe Elder into Loxodon Hierarch? Ravenous Baloth in Extended? Double Keiga anyone? Gleancrawler has everything – perfect cost-to-power ratio, huge JLo-like ass, and trample. Unlike Spiritmonger, Gleancrawler can actually get in there, which is a huge plus for any long game Green deck, especially when facing another long game Green deck. Randy Buehler once said that Spiritmonger would forever be knocking on the door of the “best creatures ever” room but have problems getting in due to lack of evasion. Spiritmonger was snubbed by Wild Mongrel, Psychatog, Merfolk Looter, and Birds of Paradise while he kept running into chump blockers on the way to the tea party… I don’t know if Gleancrawler will make it into that club, but his mild evasion is a big step in the right direction for B/G 6/6 creatures.
Playable – Staple
Golgari Guildmage
Golgari Guildmage is a nice combination of unlike elements, which is appropriate for a card crafted from opposite ends of the mana spectrum. It is an early drop with long game mana requirements. It, like the Golgari themselves, espouses both sacrifice and growth.
That said, I don’t think that this card’s abilities will be dominating many Constructed formats. They’re just really expensive. Either ability will be useful in winning an attrition war, should the Guildmage live, but neither one can be the centerpiece of a strategy that doesn’t involve nigh-infinite mana.
But you know what? This creature is still a bear, and bears make the cut. I’m sure we’ll see this card in Block or even Standard play as a redundant drop with some amount of late game utility. As Jamie mentioned recently, Golgari Guildmage is a 2/2 Elf for two mana, and for that reason alone, has decent interactions.
Playable – Role Player
Lurking Informant
Worse than Millstone, worse than Merfolk Looter.
Constructed Unplayable
Master Warcraft
This card has one of the awesomest names in recent history. It is also an insane, game-winning spell. You know all those games that White Weenie fails to bust through? If they had a master swinging the rudder of the old warcraft, they would have. Remember all those times Red Decks were out-classed on the ground? Okay, okay, I know they just swung with everything to get two in and then dumped the grip for the win, but imagine they didn’t. With Master Warcraft, they would be able to win without, you know, spending cards in hand… other than Master Warcraft.
No one races, everybody dies.
Playable – Role Player
Privileged Position
This card is quite powerful. I don’t know if the level of power justifies its cost, but I’m sure someone will spend the deck finding out. Think about what this card does in conjunction with a key permanent… Hokori or Suppression Field in White, any Dragon when you are ahead… Privileged Position can be brutal. It can draw out removal in matchups where each of the opponent’s Disenchants have to matter and makes usually unreal threats like Visara less threatening. On the downside, I generally dislike playing cards that don’t do very much on their own, and I like paying five mana for them even less.
Playable – Role Player
Selesnya Guildmage
This Guildmage is a self-contained army. I think that it is funny that they gave him the hairstyle that they did because, the Selesnya Guildmage really does remind me of Jew-fro sporting former Star City Games dot com columnist One Man Crowd. He makes a crowd, he makes them big. On the right squad, this Guildmage can play Overrun. With eight mana unchecked, he sets up lethal damage very quickly. Better in Green than White, Selesnya Guildmage is still solid, if unspectacular, next to some of White’s more efficient options.
Playable – Role Player
Shadow of Doubt
They saved the best for last, apparently. Shadow of Doubt is the best of the Guild Mana cards, and one of the most flexible and subtly powerful cards overall in Ravnica. It is funny to me how countermagic has been systematically disempowered… but then a card like this one gets through without obviously countering anything. Shadow of Doubt is an amazing faux permission spell against Kodama’s Reach or Sylvan Scrying… cards you would counter anyway. When Blue fights Green, this card robs the faster color of the core of its advantage. It even counters deck manipulation through Boseiju. Shadow of Doubt laughs at Gifts Ungiven and (mostly) Cranial Extraction. And It Draws A Card. Don’t forget you can burn Shadow of Doubt like a cycling card if you don’t want to profit from the opponent’s Wooded Foothills, Sakura-Tribe Elder, or Krosan Verge.
Playable – Staple
Artifacts
Bloodletter Quill
This card isn’t going to see universal play by any means, but it might be good enough in block. Good analogues include cards like Scrying Glass, highly conditional card drawing that was good enough for control-on-control in a small environment. The singular upside to Bloodletter Quill is clearly its mana: three mana investment plus two mana to draw is a great deal for a recurring engine. The life loss is going to be important in some matchups but not others, and may or may not bend the card towards Dimir exclusivity. All in all this isn’t the best Tome/Glass/Aperture in the world, but I can definitely see it making some sideboards.
Playable – Role Player
Boros Signet
The Signets in general are slightly worse than the Mirrodin counterparts. They don’t make mana on turn 2 without help, and facing Hokori, Dust Drinker, they offer considerably less lift. The playability of the Signets as cards in the abstract is not in question… it’s just a matter of to what decks, if any, they can contribute.
I don’t like Boros Signet overmuch. In Standard, it doesn’t seem to accelerate to anything that knocks my socks off. Even hitting Wrath of God on turn 3 is underwhelming because the opponent is less committed. I guess there are worse things in life than a third turn Sunhome Enforcer. Possibly this card can contribute to Sunforger or a more controlling R/W deck… But for Boros as an attacking Guild, it’s nothing to write home about.
Playable – Role Player
Bottled Cloister
Pat Chapin told me to give the Cloister the once over, so I already know that it has to have some virtue that escapes obvious inspection. This card is an extremely interesting tool, sort of like a terrible – but terribly inexpensive – Jayemdae Tome. For players who have wanted their own, personal, Howling Mines in the past, Bottled Cloister is a nice attempt. It’s a little expensive, and has a potentially terrible downside, but against most decks main deck, that downside is minimal.
Obviously Bottled Cloister works best in decks with few instants, or little strategic reliance on playing cards on the opponent’s turn. In a controllish deck, that might mean lots of Dream Leashes, in an aggressive deck, it might mean staying power in a listing that taps out and spends its hands anyway, such that it loses little or nothing if the Cloister is removed. Real-Time Update: In the process of writing the past paragraph, I decided I quite like this card.
Playable – Role Player
Cloudstone Curio
Once upon a time there was this card Aluren. Aluren was printed in 1997, alongside more commonly played threats like Jackal Pup and Cursed Scroll. Somewhere between 1997 and 1999, terrible Aluren decks, mostly trying to break Recycle, were played… Few if any found any success on the greater stage. In 1999, one of the best players in the history of Magic: the Gathering brought Aluren to an Extended Pro Tour… and promptly fell on his face as more well known decks like Oath of Druids and good old Necropotence finished at the top of the standings. Time and again, Aluren returned to Extended, paired with Man-o’-War, Academy Rector, and eventually the familiar Soul Warden/Cavern Harpy combination from the last few years. They had varying levels of success, and some decks were quite good… But we had to have an awful lot of lousy Aluren decks before Masashi Oiso won GP: Boston.
Cloudstone Curio is one of those cards that makes the gears turn. Its bouncy bouncy velocity theme is quite Aluren-like to me. Visions of the infinite Aluren combo dance through my head when I look at this card… and it is certainly capable of some annoying and potentially powerful infinite combinations. Crookshank, Kher Keep, Brain Freeze, anyone? I’m sure you could kill on turn 2 in Legacy with that. Heck, it probably isn’t too hard to Fastbond 21 mana into play, if that is your style.
Playable – Flagship (could be a leaky ship, though)
Crown of Convergence
This card is basically the worst Crusade ever… that is sometimes much better and more helpful long game. Instead of pumping all White creatures, the Crown pumps your guys about 1/3 of the time, might pump them anyway, and, mana willing, can team up with Sensei’s Divining Top or other shenanigans. In general I like this card because, like the Top, it can help to regulate your draws as an interactive game progresses. If you have sufficient mana, for instance, this card should make it next to impossible to lose to a control deck. In the midgame, you can use Crown of Convergence to set up a threat after you’ve been swept; if nothing else, you can’t complain about late game mana flood.
Playable – Staple
Cyclopean Snare
For five mana you can get an Icy Manipulator + Tap and don’t have to return the stupid Icy back to your hand.
Constructed Unplayable
Dimir Signet
As with Boros Signet, Dimir Signet is slightly worse than Talisman of Dominance and conditionally worse than Fellwar Stone. Unlike Boros Signet, Dimir Signet is much more likely to make it in Constructed deck just because this card isn’t competing with a bear on turn two (though it may be competing with a Mana Leak). I can see playing this to ramp out Cranial Extraction or Circu on turn 3. A faster Gifts Ungiven and recurring source of additional mana is always welcome.
Playable – Role Player
Glass Golem
“The specimen seems to be broken.”
That is the flavor text on Deep Analysis. They are looking at a Masticore. But the Masticore is broken. But it’s also a play on words. Because Masticore is really good, and we term those cards “broken” too… It’s R&D lingo. Get it?
Glass Golem has a glass jaw. If you hit it, it breaks. Like anyone can hit it and it will break. A Birds of Paradise can probably knock it down. Heh. It’s made of glass. Bam! Right in the kisser!
Constructed Unplayable
Golgari Signet
This is probably the least likely of the Signets to see Constructed play, simply because it is in Green. You wouldn’t play this card, typically, over any of the one mana accelerators… And most of them can carry a Jitte. You wouldn’t play this card over Sakura-Tribe Elder. You might play Golgari Signet in Block, but even then, the card is competing with the faster Elves of Deep Shadow and the almighty Birds of Paradise… Scratch that, you probably wouldn’t play it in Block. But it is a perfectly reasonable card, and Moss Diamond saw play in especially G/W decks in the past, ramping up to Armageddon and falling victim to Swords to Plowshares less often, so I can’t see calling it unplayable.
Playable – Role Player
Grifter’s Blade
This card is worse than Leonin Scimitar in every way but one, and the ability to play Grifter’s Blade as an instant probably won’t be enough. Constructed almost never comes down to combat tricks, and this is little more than a three-mana Battlegrowth. The long-term damage posed by this card is not great, certainly not on par with the choice equipment we see in Constructed… This is no Jitte, no Sword of Fire and Ice.
Constructed Unplayable
Junktroller
I can’t think of a worse way to fight a Millstone strategy than a card that is half as powerful as Millstone, costs twice as much, and is an 0/6 creature to boot. Perhaps if it blocked flyers, Jon Becker would like it.
Constructed Unplayable
Leashling
The last time I spent six mana on a creature, it was a 5/5 flyer with Control Magic stapled to it. This card is absurdly bad when compared to that card, and that card wasn’t even the consensus best six drop. If Leashling had Affinity for Artifacts, I don’t know if it would be good enough.
Constructed Unplayable
Nullstone Gargoyle
I like the potential of this card, but greatly dislike the price tag. Possibly in a modern UrzaTron deck… But I don’t think so. Nine mana is too slow to fight a good combo or control deck, and creature decks have got a 4/5 kold around turn 4, let alone when you have nine mana out.
Constructed Unplayable (could be Role Player if the stars align in a certain way that I’m not seeing now)
Pariah’s Shield
If you look up “unplayable equipment” in the dictionary…
Constructed Unplayable
Peregrine Mask
I keep trying to figure out how to make the creature lose defender. Even if that were a possibility, all the good equipment pumps power or draws extra cards, or both, and Peregrine Mask just makes it so your guy can’t attack.
Constructed Unplayable
Plague Boiler
Plague Boiler has amazing strategic potential. In a B/G deck, you can keep counters off the Boiler, leashing the opponent along while you have board advantage. He will be forced to over-commit… at that point, you can blow up the world, but not before. I mean, sure, you can just blow up the world post haste. That will be fine sometimes, and Plague Boiler is fundamentally faster than Nevinyrral’s Disk for a reason. Just don’t overlook the fact that you can use this card to milk and manage the opponent as well as sweep him immediately. In a sense, it is more valuable than Pernicious Deed, if less flexible.
Playable – Staple
Selesnya Signet
Selesnya Signet is right behind Golgari Signet in the playability department. It’s not QUITE as clumsy, but it’s still competing with aggressive and appropriate two drops, as does Boros Signet. While Dimir and Boros might need some degree of mana fixing, Selesnya will not, so this card is going to be marginal… I’m still not sure where we’ll see these cards in constructed.
Playable – Role Player
Spectral Searchlight
This is a very nice mana fixer. It’s not indestructible, so it isn’t quite the predecessor in an Obliterate deck, but Spectral Searchlight can make the opponent mana burn, so it’s kind of like a really terrible Honden of Infinite Rage on top of being a slightly slow but more or less serviceable mana accelerator.
Playable – Role Player
Sunforger
This card is actually better than it looks. I Know it looks pretty good. It’s better. In writing those sentences, I made up a Sunforger Guild deck. What do you think?
4 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sunforger
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon Fang
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
4 Lightning Helix
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Watchwolf
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Char
4 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Reciprocate
1 Seed Spark
5 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple Garden
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
2 Vitu-Ghazi, the City Tree
Consider having Sunforger in play. A full cycle of equipping it, crashing, and unequipping it is only five mana. Four mana is what drawing an extra card per turn usually comes down to, except Sunforger also pays the cost, so you are netting mana. Would you, say, tap three to put Lightning Helix in your hand and then gladly pay RW to Helix the face? This card does that for you. It also pays for your Char and tricks out your Seed Spark (sad, I know). You can’t ignore the side benefit that Sunforger shuffles your deck for Sensei’s Divining Top left and right while drawing extra cards every turn.
Playable – Role Player
Terrarion
Once upon a time, players like Dave Humpherys and Chris Pikula disliked mana fixers like Chromatic Sphere. “Why would I want my cards to cost one more mana?” they asked. In the days of Invasion or even Barbed Sextant beforehand, this was a reasonable question. However decks like Affinity have taught us that sometimes we want an artifact fixing our mana and drawing us cards. In cases like those, Chromatic Sphere is pretty good. Terrarion is not, however, Chromatic Sphere. Unlike the predecessor, it requires two mana to activate. This might seem like a small thing as you get two mana back (similar to how Chromatic Sphere gage you one mana back), but when you are using a card like Terrarion to cheat on lands cantrip style, that second mana is a consideration. It shouldn’t prohibit you from using this card by any means, but be aware of the additional limitation.
I can see this card being played in Standard to go a little Comer. If Sunburst or Domain get big in Extended, this card will likely make the transition.
Playable – Staple
Voyager Staff
It’s one more mana than Otherworldly Journey, but with no bonus attached. The bonus was a dual edged Sword for White Weenie because, frankly, sometimes you were aiming at the other guy’s Yukora, the Prisoner. Voyager Staff gives other colors the chance to play Otherworldly Journey themselves, in much the same way Wayfarer’s Bauble offered an inferior Sakura-Tribe Elder or Rampant Growth effect. The question is, would any decks want this ability?
With Suppression Field in the same set, the activation cost on Voyager Staff has to be a consideration. It’s much worse than Otherworldly Journey in a White deck, and isn’t Arcane, so it has no combination with Celestial Kirin or Waxmane Baku. Would a Blue deck ever want this card? It’s one mana, so that means Trinket Mage. Big Trinks can already get Aether Spellbomb, which is in-color and cheaper, though. Green might like this card… Green is weak in creature finesse, and Red has almost no outs against big guys other than going to the face. Voyager Staff is a little ugly… but it has some applications.
“Nice Sutured Ghoul, by the way.”
Playable – Role Player
Summary:
The Guild cards are pretty hit and miss. For the most part they are a bit worse than the Multicolored cards, and generally lack the exciting mechanics like Dredge that get the Johnny gears turning. That said, there are some really great cards in these mere twelve, with Gleancrawler and Shadow of Doubt standing out like bright beacons of… err… Black mana.
As for the artifacts, what did you expect? We don’t have the Skullclamps and Ravagers of Darksteel, and the equipment is worse than the last block as well. Plagueboiler should be the almost unanimous best card of the bunch, and might be the most important card in the set; we’ll see. Tomorrow we wrap up the Ravnica preview with Lands and Cycles.
LOVE
MIKE