At first I thought I would not write about Rise of the Eldrazi in Constructed, as so many writers have already given their thoughts. After reading those articles and realizing I would disagree on many points, I deduced that this was actually were the fun was: giving our different opinions, for you readers to try and take the best out of it.
I decided to rate them from 50 to 1, based on how good they should be in Constructed and, most particularly, Standard.
50 – Fissure Vent
The card is much too slow for anything other than Block Constructed, but it can be good a pretty good sideboard card there against Eldrazi decks if they use Everflowing Chalice and/or Dreamstone Hedron.
49 – Momentous Fall
Usually this type of card is pretty bad, as it’s a sorcery and requires a target so it is quite easy to play around. You won’t have this type of problem with Momentous Fall, which can be good against removal decks as well as used with Eldrazi guys. Unfortunately, the card is still a little expensive, and I’m not sure you ever want to sacrifice a big Eldrazi anyway.
48 – Conquering Manticore
The card would be unplayable in any format, as it’s too slow for aggro and as there are many better dragon-type creatures in control. But the possibility to steal an Eldrazi make it at least a good Block Constructed card.
47 – Ancient Stirrings
The card will help you get both the Ancient Tomb style lands and the big guys in a Green Eldrazi deck. Definitely a good card for Block, even though it will probably be a little short to make it to Standard decks. And possibly playable in Vintage.
46 – Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
Either you see the card as what it is – a pretty good five-drop that can win games on its own – or as a card which will never be played, as it is simply worse than Malakir Bloodwitch in most cases.
45 – Naturalize
I don’t need to explain why Disenchant is a good card, do I?
44 – Boar Umbra
The card may look a lot like Elephant Guide, but it should be worse, as you don’t get a huge advantage when your opponent plays Day of Judgment when you return a Birds or a Hierarch to the battlefield.
43 – Prey’s Vengeance
A good alternative for Giant Growth in Green aggro decks, but do they still exist in Constructed? The card will mostly be good against Red mages.
42 – Grotag Siege-Runner
The card would simply be bad in most formats. But Wall of Omens and Overgrown Battlement have been published, which will necessarily make it a lot more playable.
41 – Guard Duty
A one-mana Pacifism for control decks, which usually don’t even attack into non-flyers. How good it is depend on what kind of aggro decks you’re facing. Against White Weenie, for instance, it is pretty good. But against mythic, it won’t help much if you Pacify Rafiq or Birds of Paradise.
40 – Growth Spasm
Played on turn 3, it gives you access to a six-mana spell on turn 4, or “only” searches into a land and a chump block. This makes it, at worst, a Rampant Growth which gains you two life when the land enters the battlefield.
39 – Prophetic Prism
The card may look bad, but it may make the Time Sieve/Open the Vault Standard deck playable again, as the deck had been killed by Elsewhere Flask leaving the format. The deck can’t work without 7 or 8 cheap cantrip artifacts (plus Howling Mine). It now has them, and it’s also lost its only terrible matchup: Faeries.
38 – Kor Spiritdancer
This Enchantress may be targetable, but it still is an Enchantress, so it’s a card which can’t be neglected. A Mono White or GW Enchantress deck also using Mesa Enchantress seems possible, but they seem pretty weak against non aggro mages.
37 – Tajuru Preserver
The Elf is mostly a sideboard card against Vampires in Standard and block (Gatekeeper of Malakir), and against All is Dust.
36 – Oust
I first put Oust higher in my list, and then my brother told me the following: “And when exactly is Oust better than Guard Duty”? Let’s take the current Standard most played creatures and compare:
Jund: They are about as bad. They can play Pulse but you don’t want to bounce Bloodbraid Elf ever. You can also remove a Dragon token with Oust.
Mono Red: You will rarely gain three life by removing one of your guys, but you don’t want to play a false removal spell on Goblin Guide for it to attack two turns later.
Bant: Oust wins, clearly.
UW: They are about as bad.
Meaning you pretty much don’t want to play them, even though Oust is slightly better. And as far as Block Constructed is concerned, I don’t feel like bouncing Kozilek.
I think the card is good, but nothing spectacular, and it will have slightly better chance to shine in Extended (Zoo’s loss of timing, Marit Lage tokens).
35 – Nest Invader
Two blockers for two mana, and the possibility to accelerate into big spells pretty early in the game. Whether the card is playable will mostly depend on what type of creatures it will be facing, as it is not so good against creatures against which the 2/2 can’t trade.
34 – Sphinx of Magosi
I’m having a hard time evaluating this card. I’m pretty sure it is not lower than this, but it might go as far as top 15. The thing is that it’s suffering a great re-emergence of Sphinx of Jwar Isle, which may not look nearly as sexy, but it seems more efficient as it is made to be played in a deck which doesn’t use many creatures. As Sphinx of Magosi will be pretty much your only targetable dude, it probably won’t last long.
33 – Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Maybe slightly worse than Ulamog, as a deck which plans on hardcasting the 12/12 will draw many mana sources from the 4 cards drawn, which, therefore, aren’t such a great advantage.
32 – Realms Uncharted
Clearly one of the cards that has the most potential. You can search for the Urzatron, go for cycle lands you’ll get back with Life From the Loam, and so. But still, in most cases it’s Extended we’re talking about, and Gifts Ungiven would be simply better in its place.
31 – Domestication
The latest Control Magic may be a bit too expensive for what it is, but it’s still meant to make some two-for-one trades and mess up your opponent’s timing.
30 – Enclave Cryptologist
Would look pretty damn sexy if there were not so many one-mana removal spells in Standard (Forked Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Vendetta). However, if you can reach three counters, it will often take you to victory, which makes it probably as good as a good old Merfolk Looter.
29 — Flame Slash
A great removal spell for a control deck. However, I put it in 30th place because, well, we’re talking about a Standard which features good old Lightning Bolt.
28 – All is Dust
Another of the question-marks in this Top 50. The card is good, no question about that, but it still seems a bit too slow for what it is. Akroma’s Vengeance was a bit slow, but it was still played a few years ago as it would destroy Affinity’s lands, and because it cycled. This still seems expensive, and it will be hard to fit more than one copy of this in a Standard deck. In Extended, however, it can be pretty good in a Tron deck.
27 – Evolving Wild
An extra fetchland for any deck which uses landfall (White Weenie, Boros, or Mono Red Aggro, basically), as well as a pretty good fixer for the Zendikar Block Cosntructed, which lacks such options.
26 – Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Maybe the best Eldrazi, if hardcasting it is your plan.
25 — Sea Gate Oracle
A Court Hussar which won’t even force you to play White has to be a good card. There’s surely is a big difference between getting to see 2 and 3 cards, but the card is still definitely playable.
24 – Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Linvala is good, but just how good, exactly? It surely kicks Bant’s ass very badly (bye bye Birds, Hierarch, Thornling, Knight of the Reliquary), and it also seems good against decks using Eldrazi tokens, but the card should never be anything but a good sideboard card, as a four-mana 3/4 flyer which you can’t even double up on is far from the usually standards.
23 – Repel the Darkness
A cantrip Fog in the early game, which is quite awesome. The question is to know in what kind of deck you can run it, as White already has much to take in against aggro decks at the moment. It should be good in an Eldrazi deck in order to save some time.
22 – Kiln Fiend
Rebound, Berserk, or simply hard casting Blasts would make it an absolute must if it didn’t have to coexist with Plated Geopede and Kargan Dragonlord in every single Constructed format. I still like the card a lot when you build your deck around it, and I’m sure it holds some potential.
21 – Joraga Treespeaker
Just like Enclave Cryptologist, the card would be good if the removal in response to its leveling up wasn’t to be expected. Still, it is a very good substitution for Llanowar Elves in Block Constructed, and it accelerates pretty well into Joraga Warcaller.
20 – Mull Daya Channelers
Both a big guy and an accelerator which can use fetch lands to try and switch from one to the other.
The card can be as good as Duress or Thoughtseize, as well as just as bad as Ostracize. It will totally depend in which format it is played. What sucks with most discard spells is that they sometimes miss, which the Inquisition will clearly often do in the late game. Then, if it is played in a format based on cheap decks, the card will become excellent. For now it is, at best, a sideboard card, but I still rate it high for its potential.
18 – Eldrazi Temple
Whoever wants to play Block Constructed will put 4 of those in half the decks he builds at first. The card is part of what makes the Eldrazi archetype work. In Standard, however, I would tend to think Eldrazi are too slow, and therefore the Temple is useless.
17 – Vendetta
The cheapest Black removal spell in a Block Constructed deck shouldn’t be used in control decks because of the current presence of the less-damaging Smother. Still, it has a good chance to make it into Black Aggro decks, and Vampires to start with, as the deck has good cards but suffers a lack of tempo in general.
Fifteen mana surely is a lot, but the card does pretty much say “15: you win the game.” Also, you don’t even have to cast it for it to be awesome, as some cards like Sneak Attack and Summoning Trap can do just as well!
15 – Lone Missionary
It may not be as solid as a Loxodon Hierarch, but Lone Missionary still gains you four life for only two mana, with two power. The card would instantly be in the Top 5 if one- and two-drops were not all so big lately, or if White didn’t already have Kor Firewalker. But the card still has a potential which is too great to be neglected.
14 – Student of Warfare
It won’t replace Figure of Destiny in the heart of White Weenie mage, but it is still pretty big for a cheap price. I could have rated it higher, but I’m a bit concerned that its first transformation doesn’t keep the new Walls from blocking it, nor a Lightning Bolt from striking it down. To put it simply: great card, wrong format.
13 – Consuming Vapors
Pretty good against aggro, it is also an answer against control and Sphinx of Jwar Isle, Umalog, and Emrakul.
12 – Coralhelm Protector
Would be in the Top 5 if there were more strong merfolk at the moment. It is still definitely a card which will have its chance some day.
11 – Staggershock
A pretty good burn spell for Mono Red, which will particularly shine with Kiln Fiend.
10 – Deprive
The card makes Spreading Seas weaker, and it is a good combo with all the enters-the-battlefield-trigger lands, which make the loss of tempo much less annoying. Also, it would be pretty cool to play it in response to a cascade spell into Goblin Ruinblaster with kicker when you only have one non basic land right? Science fiction, I know, but still pretty cool!
More seriously, as far as tempo is concerned, there is a huge difference between a two- and a three-mana counterspell when you need backup, and even though you usually won’t play it on turn 2, it should be better than Cancel.
Vine Trellis was good, and played in many Green decks for quite a while. Even though there is no Tooth and Nail around anymore, Overgrown Battlement is still strictly better than the Mercadian Masques wall. If you can use it in the same deck as Wall of Omens, they should work out pretty well in combination.
8 – Forked Bolt
Fire for only one mana? Unfortunately, Forked Bolt has to coexist with Lightning Bolt and Lightning Burst in Standard, and there are not so many one toughness guys anymore, so a two-for-one will be hard to obtain.
On its own, the card is irrelevant for Constructed. However, add Goblin Bushwhacker and you have a two-card combo which wins on its own most of the time. A must in Block Constructed, but also a card to think of for Standard Mono Red and Boros.
6 – See Beyond
The card clearly is not spectacular, and as far as potential is concerned, it will never be awesome. However, it is still the best early Blue draw spell in a while, and now that they are not printing strong cheap countermagic on which you can rely, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find the card in most blue standard decks for quite a while. Also, it can be strong in decks which have one card they must absolutely not draw, like the combo deck’s one win condition, or a creature to reanimate in Dredge.
5 – Vengevine
Hallelujah! Blightning eventually has a card to be afraid of! As the card can be strong against any Day of Judgment deck, and as it still pretty decent on its own, it can definitely be better than a simple sideboard option.
4 – Consume the Meek
A Wrath of God which can kill manlands has to be good. It can only be played in a deck which doesn’t rely only on it alone to deal with guys, as some removal spells will be needed to back it up and stop Bloodbraid Elf, Broodmate Dragon, or Vengevine.
The comparison with Figure of Destiny is tempting, and it’s not exaggerated. Indeed, as far as Mono Red decks are concerned, the Dragonlord is almost as good as the super Kithkin, as it compensates for its lack of tempo with a stronger capacity to win games on its own.
2 – Wall of Omens
The card White mages have been dreaming about. Tempo and card advantage for a cheap price, Wall of Omens is also a card that, even in its worst match-ups, has “cycling” when a removal spell sits in your hand for ages and does nothing.
1 – Gideon Jura
In my first rating I had it 12th. And then I played it, and put it in first place after a couple of hours The card will clearly be at the core of any White Control Standard deck from now on.
Until next week!
Oli