It’s time for everyone’s favorite part of the timeframe between right before a set’s release and three weeks after that set’s release: Seismic’s classic blog series Big Talk – Tarkir: Dragonstorm edition! For those new to the scene, this is my comprehensive card-by-card review for the Gladiator format of every new-to-arena card from each new set that gets released (except Alchemy: Aetherdrift because I got really depressed while previews for it were coming) and you can follow along on my clown antics from Poised Practitioner to Songcrafter Mage. Like always, I’m covering nearly 300 cards in this article, so feel free to cozy on up to Ctrl + F and look for your favorite card to see what jokes I made at the expense of it. Alright, dragonstorms, Start Your Engines let’s fly:
White
Anafenza, Undying Lineage: Having flash (and also the combo of flash first strike) is really nice here, and makes her a really interesting piece of tech against most played wraths other than Sunfall, allowing you to get an instant board post-wrath, or just coming in response to a piece of removal to make attacks for the opponent relatively impossible. Endure is a really versatile mechanic and here it really shines for both options.
Arashin Sunshield: This is cool and surprisingly new for limited play, but it’s just nothing for us, which is better than a lot of commons I’m used to, frankly.
Bearer of Glory: Doesn’t have flagbearer text 1/10
Clarion Conqueror: Why’d they have to make better Collector Ouphe on-rate, evasive, and wider reaching? This is going to be utter hell to play against and I can’t wait to give very specific players an aneurysm dealing with this idiot instead of the things that are also killing them.
Coordinated Maneuver: I’m glad this effect is now one that appears in essentially every set. It’s a cool way to have removal.
Dalkovan Packbeasts: I’m excited by this card for tokens, especially if you want to do the wild thing of playing combat tricks in tokens, especially WG, where you can use a Might of the Masses effect to punish your opponent however they choose to block - either by getting rid of the thing making tokens, or trying to stop damage.
Descendant of Storms: Savannah Lions have a big bar to clear in the current era of magic, and this girlie gets really close–being a more modular but less well-timed version of Usher of the Fallen goes a long way, especially because it clears Usher’s greatest flaw of not being able to be relevant in the late game, even when played in the early game, while a growing version of Descendant will continuously be relevant for a while.
Dragonback Lancer: Mobilize seems to be costed pretty aggressively, in that even the bad limited flier looks better than average with a bit of mobilization.
Duty Beyond Death: This card is intuiging, especially as a mass pump effect, but I think it’s not really worthwhile, especially when you definitely aren’t playing Flare of Fortitude.
Elspeth, Storm Slayer: Frankly, everything that says “double the tokens you make” is far more likely to be a trap for us than anything else, but here I could see it working out purely for her 0 to jump all your creatures for a wild swing in a Go-Wide strategy. If she sees significant play, it’s probably for that line, but also it’s the game-ending quality that 5 drops in our format desperately need.
Fortress Kin-Guard: I really like endure as a mechanic, and I think here it works pretty well for counters decks to have a baseline of a 2/3 for 2, but in certain hands or boardstates, flip to two bodies, say if you have a decent amount of board-wide counters options. I don’t know how much it pushes past your other options, but it’s absolutely a good budget option if nothing else.
Furious Forebear: This is such a cool card, and if it returned itself to the battlefield, I’d be really into it, but only going to hand already makes the lines you can use with this a lot less interesting and being 4 mana to return a pretty useless creature to the battlefield is a lot less intriguing when we can just keep recurring Reassembling Skeleton already.
Lightfoot Technique: We have cooler and better options, and those cards already just don’t have a spot in our format, and that seems on track to continue.
Loxodon Battle Priest: Luminarch Aspirant outhere like “Look what they have to cost to achieve a fraction of our power!” and she’s pointing to the uncommon rarity, can someone make that and send it to me?
Mardu Devotee: You know, I think this is almost close to being playable in the same way that, say, Thraben Inspector is playable, but ultimately it’s not for the mana ability and Scry is a lot less impactful on the game than a token that can draw a card is.
Osseous Exhale: I thought this was going to be a Sandblast reprint and I’m just gonna say it I am disappointed but I will take a Sandblast that’s better in two ways… in limited, to clarify, not gonna touch conditional 2 mana removal in white here.
Poised Practitioner: Sorry, I only advocate for limited archetype commons when they’re on-rate statswise.
Rally the Monastery: I think if you are playing this as a Raise the Alarm in a very low to the ground 2 color tokens deck or a Heroic deck, this slots in well, especially because of its versatility to also be removal, but I think if you’re expecting to play this as removal a decent amount of time, you should just slot in a consistently good removal spell over this versatility.
Rebellious Strike: This is honestly a bit interesting for Heroic decks, but I’m skeptical that this clears the bar that costing 2 mana would make for it, but I’d be stoked if I was wrong.
Riling Dawnbreaker: The fact that the Omen to make a Soldier is at sorcery speed makes this unplayable, which makes sense, because it’s a common, but it’s still a little sad.
Sage of the Skies: The base rate on this guy is not where I want to be, but running out a 1 drop or a Solitude makes this go very hard. Additionally, this is a great addition to the “Really messed up with Ocelot Pride” list.
Salt Road Packbeast: I learned with Search Party Captain that this kind of effect is not really anything special, but I do genuinely love them so much.
Smile at Death: This card is interesting for aristocrats decks with effective sac outlets and good utility creatures, but being 5 mana and not having an immediate impact on the board is really rough. I do think some decks will have good enough hits, though, to want to include this, either now or in the medium future.
Starry-Eyed Skyrider: Being an anthem that gives tokens flying is interesting, but this costs enough and doesn’t do much past that token anthem that I’m not willing to slot it into a token deck right now.
Static Snare: Unlike its red cousin Witchstalker Frenzy, this O ring requires 2 creatures attacking for it to feel on-rate, and 3 creatures attacking for it to feel competitive, and while I’ve played a lot of Frenzy, I’ve loved it because it was very close to on-rate at base, and got to on-rate with just one attacker, so one that is a mana more expensive than I’m used to is a hard sell, especially in a color with extremely competitive removal slots.
Stormbeacon Blade: This really is Glimmer Lens at home, but it’s got the mana cost that it might make it in a dedicated equipment deck. That said, it does really fail on so many metrics when compared to the Lens, specifically coming with a creature.
Stormplain Detainment: It’s another O ring, which I do think is surprisingly playable, but no deck wanted more than 2 of them, and has already settled on their favorites, so it’s not like this is adding anything to the format.
Sunpearl Kirin: I’m a little interested in seeing if the “Pixie” deck from standard is transferable to Gladiator, and if it is, I think this makes the cut in that deck. Otherwise, it’s too cute to run in decks where that play pattern isn’t the point.
Teeming Dragonstorm: This is notably the only dragonstorm that goes right back to the hand with a Maskwood Nexus or similar effect, but this effect’s still pretty bad and not interesting for our format.
Tempest Hawk: I think this bird’s just too weak at a baseline for me to be interested in.
United Battlefront: I think this card’s almost always pretty bad. Collected Company variants in our format were already quite bad just with 100 singleton cards to really increase the margin of error on hitting with it, and this one is a sorcery, can’t hit the things that will more often win you the game, and is really relying on you hitting 5+ mana worth of hits, even more than the original CoCo did. Its Christmasland is hitting 2 enchantress pieces, but even in those decks it’s rare that you will hit what you want at the right mana values and this card gives you immense pressure to do so.
Voice of Victory: Grand Abolisher effects are sometimes a bit lackluster in our format just due to how medium they are attacking, but Voice here represents the most important part of the effect and also represents 3 power on attack, with a body that is hard to eat early in the game, so I’m pretty confident it’ll get its use.
Wayspeaker Bodyguard: If this did a 3animate on entering, I’d be so stoked, but that’s just straight up a fully different card here.
Blue
Aegis Sculptor: Ok I get that your graveyard is gonna be thicc as hell in limited for this set, but also, what’s this bird trying to do? All I know is that it’s not worth considering in a 4 drop slot.
Agent of Kotis: These cards are better than they look, and I expect some Renew cards to play particularly well, just due to the fact that they represent an extra card in the yard, but this one is still bad.
Ambling Stormshell: I don’t think you’re in the business of casting 3 Turtles to untap this guy: I think you’re just going for slamming down a 9 toughness blocker, giving it vigilance, and getting 3 cards each time. That said, I think this card is also bad, but there’s a cool line with it if you want to slam a Thraben Watcher down after this.
Bewildering Blizzard: You know, this is one of those cards that I could see getting played occasionally when someone’s making a bold meta call–that go-wide decks are going to be present and give them just enough time to cast spells like this. That’s not an easy call and it’s pretty optimistic, but if it’s right, this is a great reward for it.
Constrictor Sage: This nerd just doesn’t do anything you want to slot in a creature for, including on the renew side.
Dirgur Island Dragon: The omen side’s pretty cool. Not cool enough to justify playing, but it’s pretty cool.
Dispelling Exhale: I’m struggling to come up with a deck that both has a density of dragons and is playing blue in the current year, but if that deck ever exists, a suped up mana leak is rad for it.
Dragonologist: I like these cards that are just cool for their own sake–they’re not really trying to make a standard deck happen, they’re not going to be seen often in limited, and they’re far too narrow to be anything in a format like Gladiator, and yet, they’re still sweet. I love that for her.
Dragonstorm Forecaster: I’m a little disappointed the Renowned Weaponsmith of the set doesn’t do anything besides searching for cards, because the cool part of weaponsmith was always that it could cast 5 drops on turn 3, and the cards surrounding it are not interesting enough to sway me :(
Essence Anchor: I feel like I should be a little higher on this than I am, but not intrinsically being a creature does a lot to hurt this card’s chances of being playable, and a 2/2 every turn is worthwhile, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not a super high or super immediate impact that you often expect in slots like this. That said, it does one of the many good parts of Abhorrent Occulus and that shouldn’t be discounted, so I wouldn’t be shocked if this slotted into decks running the Occulus and also Scavenging Ooze.
Focus the Mind: I’m not a fan of the hoop I have to jump through to get this spell at a reasonable cost. I feel like I should just always be playing Quick Study and Brainsurge for consistency, rather than trying to make Sift happen at a reasonable rate and getting punished for it.
Fresh Start: Losing all abilities is the part of these effects that really matters, and -5/-0 is enough of a shrinkage that it should generally be removing a creature from any consideration of pressure. It’s not the best removal spell we could ask for, but it gets the job done, especially in a color that usually has a hard time doing so. That said, when was the last time you saw an Utter Insignificance resolve here?
Highspire Bell-Ringer: I think I’d be into this card as a 2/3 flier more than I should be, but these effects just don’t interest me much unless they’re on surprisingly competent bodies already.
Humbling Elder: I’ve never been a fan of these effects, but at least this one has dope flavor :)
Iceridge Serpent: Ah, 5 mana Man-’O-War how I missed thee when you last showed up… last set.
Kishla Trawlers: This card is weird, because it’s not really repeatable in the way our other Archaeomancers are, but it does offer a ridiculously good rate if you’re not trying to just infinite combo out, so it’s great for a Time Walk deck that’s just trying to cast like 3-5 time walks instead of 30.
Marang River Regent: Sift is a pretty good card as an Omen, and the Dragon side isn’t anything to scoff at either, though I fear they won’t find a home in our format just due to both sides’ high costs.
Naga Fleshcrafter: This is, for me, the most interesting clone effect we’ve gotten in a long while, because while the front side is, without a doubt, bad, the Renew side is quite good, and with a Lord effect, Luminarch Aspirant, any of the Titans, or even something that can produce mana (Priest of Titania is my pick), this can go pretty hard. Is that enough for it to make the cut anywhere? I’m a little skeptical, but it does create some real interesting Magic.
Ringing Strike Mastery: Freeze auras aren’t good for constructed formats, and this one is absolutely no exception.
Riverwalk Technique: This card’s kind of funny, because it’s a great version of Misleading Motes, but it’s also a horrible version of Negate! And here, it’s just horrible!
Roiling Dragonstorm: I’m not super excited about the base rate of this card, so I think you need to have a dragon hit the field before you’re impressed by how it does, but if you can reliably do that, it goes pretty hard.
Sibsig Appraiser: I love cantrip creatures more than most, frankly, but these days they just gotta be 2 mana or you’re shooting yourself in the foot by not adding more to the board.
Snowmelt Stag: Honestly, I think that it having 2 toughness on attacks is its biggest weakness, because otherwise I’m surprisingly here for a 2/5 Vigilance blocker that also attacks decently, but getting shocked is not fun.
Spectral Denial: I like this card as a riff on Clash of Wills, but it’s a little awkward in that the decks that want this are hyper-specific: you need to be a deck playing blue, a lot of creatures that are 4 power, and you want to be playing a card that will often just be a 2 mana Force Spike, but in lists that check those boxes, I could legitimately see it.
Stillness in Motion: I sleep.
Taigam, Master Opportunist: I think Taigam is super cool, but rarely is going to be super impactful with the speed of our format, and the necessity to play blue but also play proactively enough to trigger flurry. That’s enough to dissuade me from brewing much with him, but someone braver than I should not be discouraged.
Temur Devotee: I like the cut of this card’s jibb, but it’s not good for us.
Unending Whisper: Sorcery speed is really hard for this card, but in decks that have 4 power creatures that you can cast for 3 mana and blue, it has some wild potential. That said, I think the rates offered by Deduce, Think Twice, and others are pretty mid, and this one doesn’t punch that much higher.
Ureni’s Rebuff: The plight of the sorcery speed bounce spell is truly sad.
Veteran Ice Climber: A 1/3 for 2 that can’t be blocked and still gets to block is interesting, but not that exciting, in my eyes, though I’m also not one to really bite at any part of this card’s enticing features.
Wingblade Disciple: This flier’s super good for my Peasant cube, but not for Gladiator.
Wingspan Stride: We don’t have many options for self-bouncing enchantments (especially not this cheaply), but we do have lots of options for self-bouncing creatures, and I think most of those outclass this one any day if you’re not trying to repeat constellation/eerie effects specifically.
Winternight Stories: I like Thirst For effects, and this one having a flashback of any kind is enough to intrigue me at least a little. Unfortunately, requiring a discard of the card type I want the most is rough, and the fact that if I flash it back, I’m likely tapping a creature that is decently big to make it cheap makes me really skeptical of the number of homes it could have. I could see it in 3animator, but I’m not holding my breath: this is a lot of mana for an effect that’s not super needed out of a noncreature slot for the deck.
Black
Abzan Devotee: This is one of the better Devotees, but I’ve gotten more and more proof that easily recurrable guys are a much more inclusive club than 5 years ago when Reassembling Skeleton was the bee’s kneecaps.
Adorned Crocodile: I had to double-check what this card does four times before writing this segment, partially because I was also feigning doing actual work, but also because this card is so desperately forgettable.
Aggressive Negotiations: 3 mana for hand attack that isn’t an X=2 Mind Twist is a no-go.
Alchemist’s Assistant: I feel like I overvalue Lifelink as a keyword, but I have a pretty good track record of correctly clocking cards with lifelink as playable, so I give this my official stamp of “Light play but nothing super significant.” If the renew was a single B cost, I would probably change my tune.
Alesha’s Legacy: The Trans Agenda - 1. Deathtouch. 2. Indestructible.
Avenger of the Fallen: Oh hey it’s Graveblade Marauder if he was rad as heck and killed your opponent with startling efficiency. I’m so stoked to slam this in a volume-based graveyard deck and just get like 6 tokens swinging with it… hell I can do that in standard!
Caustic Exhale: If it’s comically easy to behold a dragon after this set drops, I’d be willing to try out a -3/-3 for 1. Otherwise, you can forget about this card, and that’s probably what I’ll be doing, too.
Corroding Dragonstorm: I can’t see this seeing play, partially because the “dragon deck” that I’m envisioning is probably not black as anywhere near a support color, and this card is nowhere near impactful enough otherwise.
Cruel Truths: I think we’re just in a spot where you don’t want to pay 4 mana for your Sign in Blood effects, and this one certainly is 4 mana.
Delta Bloodflies: I’m just so tired of my below rate fliers that are still not great when you jump through a hoop. It’s the most dull kind of card for me to talk about on this blog, full stop.
Desperate Measures: Instant speed one-off Skullclamp honestly sounds quite cool and good, especially in the reasonably likely worlds where this causes your creature to trade up. That said, I think it’s a hard sell to swap out either a Village Rites or a Revitalizing Repast here, as they do either part of the best scenario really damn well, and I think you’d rather either part separately than the power add and death trigger together.
Dragon’s Prey: You just don’t need to play a Murder these days, regardless of who wrote it.
Feral Deathgorger: The cantrip Omens are really enticing, but this one’s still just a bit too weak to consider either side.
Gurmag Rakshasa: It’s kind of wild how the medium quality 6 drop that gives a small debuff to a creature is uncommon now. Weird.
Hundred-Battle Veteran: I like seeing “You may cast this card from your graveyard.” I dislike seeing it on a creature I don’t want to cast from anywhere.
Kin-Tree Nurturer: This card is surprisingly close to playable, but I usually only say that for cards that still aren’t playable. This isn’t an exception.
Krumar Initiate: As opposed to the Harold Initiate, I guess. It is a little nice that this can always represent a creature if you draw not-gas, but also the card isn’t good if you are playing a lot of Gladiator cards by comparison.
Nightblade Brigade: I love my decent-in-limited-commons-with-internal-rhyme. Gotta be in at least my top 10 favorite genders.
Qarsi Revenant: Vampire Nighthawk and those similar are already cards that get moderately close, and this not only is bigger and therefore better, but also works to jump a creature from the graveyard incredibly well and makes other serviceable creatures into game ending threats from, at the very least, evasion and a bigger life total swing.
Rot-Curse Rakshasa: This is a pretty good Lava Axe, especially since later in the game this can be a total Falter, and even when it isn’t, it renders many very potent creatures a lot less powerful when they only get to swing in once more. My favorite application, though, is using this as a mass sacrifice outlet in a pinch if you’re missing your Woe Strider but have all the other pieces to kill your opponent.
Salt Road Skirmish: This is a cool idea for a kill spell that I appreciate, but sorcery speed does really kill it for me here. I do want to state that this card would be totally messed up if it were an instant, though.
Sandskitter Outrider: I love the vibes of this guy, but the bar for vanilla four drops is through the goddamn roof.
Scavenger Regent: This creature’s body and protection is fine, but nothing to write home about. The versatility of a decent higher-end body and a potentially one-sided wrath is definitely worth phoning home for, and I think this will slot in decks with swamps and a desire for utility slots.
The Sibsig Ceremony: I really can’t see a world where this is worthwhile: Replacing all your creatures with 2/2’s and cheapening them is unlikely to change much in monoblack, playing it outside of monoblack is very dubious with the cost, and all in all, the cost reduction doesn’t seem like what it’s cracked up to be. I’m almost tempted to suggest it for Sacrifice combo, but I’m pretty sure it would make the deck demonstrably worse.
Sidisi, Regent of the Mire: A reverse pod is really cool, and I am incredibly confident that you can go up chains well in this format, or can just use this generically effectively in a well-made deck. I have no desire to make that deck, but I do kind of want to play that deck, so if you have a Sidisi Pod deck and you’re reading this in the future, send it my way plz.
Sinkhole Surveyor: I think this Bird’s the word, and kind of takes a good portion of Preacher of the Schism’s role for itself at a cheaper rate, with a great modality to either pump itself up or make chump blockers each time it gets into the red zone. Attacking as a 2/4 goes a long way to defend itself in the air, and if it gets bigger then it’s largely untouchable for non-white decks (which, I will note, is something the council has talked about being an issue as far back as January).
Strategic Betrayal: Sorcery speed really roughens up this card, though hitting the graveyard is a very nice touch. I don’t think this is getting a consistent home, but it’s a great card for Season-End matchups where you’re confident the graveyard is going to be at play. Otherwise, I’m much more likely to sleeve up Sheoldred’s Edict instead.
Unburied Earthcarver: 2 mana sac outlet is enough to make me gag. Next.
Unrooted Ancestor: She should wear a T-shirt that says “Don’t talk to me before I’ve had my kin-tree roots” … If someone makes that I will buy that T-Shirt and include it in the next Big Talk I make after receiving it this is not a joke.
Venerated Stormsinger: I get why they keep giving us 4 mana blartist effects, but they should give me more cool 2 mana ones (I’m normal and can be trusted with more Zulaport Cutthroat cards).
Wail of War: HEEEEEEEY YOUUUUUUUU GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUYS
Worthy Cost: I heavily disagree that the Cost is Worthy here.
Yathan Tombguard: If this girlie had 4 toughness or some way to enable herself, I’d be super stoked, but I’m instead far more underwhelmed by this card for counters decks, especially because that bar just keeps going up.
Red
Breaching Dragonstorm: I am pretty confident that this card will be played somewhere eventually, as it has some good potential to cheat mana costs even the first time around, and if we ever have a legitimate Cascade shell, this gets us to either something big enough we’re happy to play it or something that cascades us further down, but I think right now we’re not quite in a position to really abuse it.
Channeled Dragonfire: I feel like most of the time, you can treat this like a Firebolt, and while tapping a 2-power creature to get you to the same total cost may seem unappealing, I really like the effect in decks with 3 drops with 4 power, where tapping that creature lets you cast both halves for a combined 4 mana, which is a pretty gnarly rate for Firebolt.
Cori-Steel Cutter: This is a neat card for blitz decks to get some easy trample and haste, but also to create more bodies to target, especially where many of a heroic deck’s threats have prowess or appreciate a wide board that the Cutter enables. I legitimately don’t think this is interesting with a Stoneforge Mystic package, but I think it will find a home in Equipment and Heroic decks regardless.
Devoted Duelist: People will get excited for far worse goblins, and the fact that this is almost a reasonable body and has other words that will occasionally matter puts it a good step over a lot of other Goblins.
Dracogenesis: I think for a format like ours, there is just no reason whatsoever to go for this over Omniscience. I think you should go for a broader and better card that also already sees play instead of a far more narrow one that requires playing bad cards and incentivizes overcommitting to the board.
Equilibrium Adept: Dog Monk is a great typeline to see, but it is also 4 mana and doesn’t kill my opponent, so I’m not super stoked.
Fire-Rim Form: I don’t like Form-fitting auras, sorry.
Fleeting Effigy: I think this card is interesting in decks that presently aren’t explored/good, but that doesn’t mean it won’t see play sooner. That said, I don’t think you’re playing this card to be aggressive, but rather just to get continuous value off of playing a creature/elemental/extra spell each turn.
Iridescent Tiger: This card is cute, but cards that refund their mana typically just aren’t needed and don’t find slots in this format, and as far as I know there aren’t any Meat Storm lines using this card that would be worth it.
Jeskai Devotee: I just don’t see a reason you would… uh… think about playing this card in your deck. You know, normally with these blatantly bad commons I can think of something a little thoughtful to say but truly this card defies explanation, because it’s just not a real card.
Magmatic Hellkite: I think “4 drop that punishes a nonbasic land” is rarely if ever a slot that you actually want to fill in your lists, but if it is, I genuinely think this is the best option, at least for having 5 toughness and still being a significant tempo hit to your opponent. My guess is that medium red decks will want one of this effect, and this will barely edge out Town-Razer Tyrant.
Meticulous Artisan: Look, no one cares if you make one Treasure in this business: my cousin, he’s not doin so hot, and he can make one Treasure when he enters. Now, if you make two Treasures, well, my friend, there’s two names and four eyes you’ll catch the attention of: Ellesandra, and Satoru Umezawa. Alright, now scram, kid, and don’t come back until you make me an extra Treasure, and no Xorning either! If you can only make two Treasures with a Xorn, you’re worth nothing to ‘em!
Molten Exhale: I could see this seeing some play in medium red, but I’m not too keen on it otherwise, especially since cards like Molten Impact have such a high ceiling.
Narset’s Rebuke: I hate that this is true, but if this did not target, there’s a nonzero chance that it could see play in Thousand-Year Storm. More specifically, the fact that it does ruins its chances at ever seeing play here.
Overwhelming Surge: I don’t particularly want to play this, but I want someone to try it. The allure of getting both sides of this are intriguing and would probably make it worth the extra mana, but it’s awkward for White or Black decks where you have things like Molten Collapse or even just hyperefficient creature removal. Keep an eye for this if people are getting a lot of Stoneforge Mystic packages for Cryptic Coat.
Rescue Leopard: This card is really cute for limited and also connecting with other themes from the past year of sets, but that’s where I run out of interesting words for this card.
Reverberating Summons: I refuse to read enchantments that turn themselves into mediocre creatures on principle. Someone tell me what the rest of this card does.
Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant: I do legitimately like this card for Medium Red, perhaps more than I should, because getting to 4 mana on turn 3 is really nice for the deck, and if doing that also rewards you with an ability to swing in with a 3 power flier, I might be on board to try building that deck.
Seize Opportunity: I’m not an enormous fan of this card, especially the more broad of a strategy you are building for, but in specifically RW heroic, this card pulls double duty of acting as card draw that you can hold up until the end step, and can use to get 2 heroic triggers in the face of either toughness-based removal or an opening to possibly kill your opponent with 4-6 extra damage.
Shock Brigade: I don’t think this is going to be anything special, but no one was expecting it to be and that’s totally fine.
Shocking Sharpshooter: I don’t like Impact Tremors for our format, and being attached to a creature is a good way to make me more excited, but this body doesn’t make me excited at all, and makes me think it’s more of a liability than a boon.
Stadium Headliner: Look, people have gotten unreasonably excited about Goblins that did infinitely less than this, so frankly, making a token and sacrificing for a good effect is more than most Minks can ask for.
Stormscale Scion: I will say, casting Dragonlord Kolaghan into this gets you 6+4+4+2+2=18 damage in the air, and that will kill most players in a lot of board states. Is it a meme? Yea. Does it have some potential? I think maybe?
Stormshriek Feral: A Tormenting Voice that shuffles itself in is actively bad in essentially all the decks that would want to use it. Pass.
Summit Intimidator: I love this goddamned yeti, it was around in the Khans timeline, it was chilling in the dragons timeline, it’s chilling now, except now it has text that isn’t just for flavor!
Sunset Strikemaster: I don’t know if this card is good, especially for being a mana dork, but having the utility of killing fliers for pretty cheap is nothing to scoff at. I think Medium Red will be a really neat thing to look at, and this girl is exciting for the deck.
Tersa Lightshatter: Now, I normally don’t love 3/3s with haste for 3 and some utility, but this one provides pretty nice card selection and also often quickly puts you back in the game if you draw it late by giving you a random card that was good enough to be in your deck. Being able to get a lot of help sculpting your hand early and rebuilding if it’s ever in a spot where its last ability triggers is really nice.
Twin Bolt: oh hell yeah I love Twin Bolt. It’s not like great but it’s a classic, you know all the way back in… what the hell this is from DTK??? That’s like from– HOLY HELL DTK WAS 10 YEARS AGO?!?!??!?1???!?
Underfoot Underdogs: They’re just little guys!
Unsparing Boltcaster: I legitimately don’t know why they keep printing these “kill something that’s already gotten beat up” effects, but at least it’s a little better in this limited format.
War Effort: I’m generally not a fan of such impactful effects, and this card does very little to impress me. I’m sure it’ll be cool in limited where the bar is lower and there are going to be a mass of tokens around often.
Wild Ride: For specifically the Heroic or Blitz decks, I will take any Reckless Charge I can get my hands on, and this certainly counts.
Zurgo’s Vanguard: Inside of you are two dogs: one is an X/3, and the other is a 1/1 red Warrior token that you sacrifice at the beginning of your end step.
Green
Ainok Wayfarer: I don’t think you’re in the business of playing another Blanchwood Prowler and I’d rather an Elemental the vast majority of the time.
Attuned Hunter: This card’s not that good but I will say I really love the “leave the graveyard” payoffs they’ve been printing.
Bloomvine Regent: The dragon part of this card is pretty unexciting, all things considered, but the fact that this is a cultivate that also isn’t horrible in the late game is pretty exciting, and lowers the bar for it to slot into mildly ramp-y decks by a lot, so I could see it popping up pretty easily.
Champion of Dusan: Adding a trample counter to a creature is interesting, but this card’s just not good on either side.
Dragon Sniper: I’m legitimately interested in this card, as 1 mana Reach Deathtouch goes pretty hard, but I don’t think it’ll make the grade long-term.
Dragonbroods’ Relic: You don’t need another Springleaf Drum that costs 2 including a colored pip and you’re certainly not going to pay 8 more mana for a Dragon that does a Lightning Helix. (If you do in gladiator though, send me a screenshot because that’s rad.)
Dusyut Earthcarver: You know, you could do worse than a modal 6 drop that is either a 7/7 or 2 bodies that equal the same. You can do much, much, much better, but you can also do worse.
Encroaching Dragonstorm: Explosive Vegetation effects like this one are the most unnecessary effects that you could have in the format. It’s already at a mana cost that’s prohibitive, and the boost it gives you isn’t substantial enough to go anywhere exciting, and being able to cast it more often doesn’t help its case.
Formation Breaker: It’s pretty rare that I like counters cards that don’t get counters themselves, but this one seems good enough, needing only a thing with a counter on it to truly make it above rate.
Herd Heirloom: A decent amount of the time, I would rather my cheaper mana producers be rocks, so I’m not opposed to Heirloom as a mana dork to replace, say, a Paradise Druid. On top of that, being able to get some card advantage later on and instant speed trample granting is nothing to scoff at. I want to try it in at least Sneak Attack decks, but I feel it’ll make the cut in some other Big Mana decks.
Heritage Reclamation: Naturalize + is a hard sell almost all the time, especially when it’s not always tied to something you want, like a creature, though cantripping and stopping a reanimation spell might be a step in the right direction here.
Inspirited Vanguard: This is an incredibly cool design for limited (and my Peasant Cube :3 ), but it’s not anything special for Gladiator.
Knockout Maneuver: You weren’t play Signature Slam already, and this is worse in every way.
Krotiq Nestguard: This is bad in the Walls deck, an already bad deck!
Lasyd Prowler: This card’s pretty interesting, but it’s quite awkward in practice. The creature side is pretty bad, especially with the competition for 4 drops being higher than arguably any other mana cost in the format. The Renew side is really good, but without an easy way to reliably get it into the graveyard and not need to cast it, you’re far more likely to play a bad card to get access to a good card, and that exchange does not seem worthwhile to me.
Nature’s Rhythm: I think this is on the whole worse than Chord of Calling, Invasion of Ikoria, and Finale of Devastation, but there are multiple different decks that legitimately want a fourth one, and this should be that fourth one, if not to just get you multiple shots at a winning play. Also, with 19 mana (13GGGGGG) you can just win the game with this if you have Ureni, the Song Unending and Xenagos, God of Revels in your deck, and that’s not nothing!
Piercing Exhale: I’m almost intrigued by this one, as Cosmic Hunger doesn’t really have relevant upside, but for almost all intents and purposes, you won’t be actually seeing the benefits of this card in anything other than RG, but if I have even like 3 or 4 dragons in Monogreen I will pretty heavily consider this as my punch effect.
Rainveil Rejuvenator: This set is wonderful for my Peasant Cube, but you don’t want to play 4 mana dorks in Gladiator unless they’re the back side of a 2 mana dork that can add 4 mana sometimes.
Rite of Renewal: I am simply not interested in Regrowth effects that grab an amount of cards between 2 and most of your graveyard. I like my Regrowth and the Turtle that instant speed regrowths, and I like my Seasons Past, but I am wholly uninterested in anything in between.
Roamer’s Routine: Rampant Growth effects have an extremely high bar to clear, and this one doesn’t get particularly close.
Sage of the Fang: Unfortunately, both sides of this creature are between half a mana and one mana too expensive for me to be excited.
Sagu Pummeler: Love me big idiot, but no.
Sagu Wildling: We Sagu Wildin up in here. I think this is honestly pretty good for us, but Bushwhack takes up an enormous amount of that slot’s real estate and that more likely than not pushes this out of a slot in decks, even though I think a creature side to Lay of the Land is quite nice.
Sarkhan’s Resolve: At time of writing, I’m unsure if this is a cycle, but by the time you read this, you know. If it’s a cycle, the “bad Giant Growth, great Plummet” bit has gotten really old by now, but it’s still true for this card. In this case, I think it is legitimately playable in blitz decks that have green, because you’ll pay whatever you need to for the giant growth side, and the versatility of the Plummet makes it worthwhile, especially if you hate some Thieving Avens or other fliers from this set.
Sultai Devotee: You know, if you are really desperate for mana fixing, a creature with deathtouch is much closer to fine than I want to admit.
Surrak, Elusive Hunter: Surrak is really good, but he’s also pretty awkward. Dying to bolt is a bit unfortunate, but the fact it replaces itself in the face of any removal is great. Unfortunately, the slightly more awkward part is that you will just draw out your deck to bowmasters, so in certain matchups, playing this card in your deck means needing to have a way to answer bowmasters at instant speed for whatever mana you have left, which is a moderately tall ask. Even in the face of this, I think it’s good enough to slot into Gx Aggro-slanted Midrange, where the x is some color that can for 0 or 1 mana answer bowmasters. It actually works pretty well in white, where a Solitude is a pretty clean and free answer to the bows if they try to kill you.
Synchronized Charge: I do like this for the counters deck, where even without a massive board pump, this can feel like a very cheap Overrun, but I fear that you just might already have too many counters lords that grant trample or other forms of evasion already to care about this card.
Trade Route Envoy: I think this card is surprisingly interesting in counters decks, where it either is a decent size or replaces itself, but those decks are just getting so tight that I think this card only would’ve made it in, say, 2021 or 2022.
Traveling Botanist: 2 mana 2/3 doesn’t impress me much anymore, and the counterless explore here doesn’t push me over the edge.
Undergrowth Leopard: God I love 2 drops that sac for 1 to Naturalize, gotta be one of my favorite genders.
Warden of the Grove: The fact that this realistically has to survive a turn to enable a gross set of plays turns me off the card a little bit, and I think it entices you to commit a bit too much to the board, so is really more of a liability than anything I actually want to slot into a counters deck.
Multicolor
All-Out Assault: I like extra combat effects a good amount, and the fact that this also adds a permanent +1/+1 and deathtouch is kind of rad. That said, in deckbuilding, 3 color cards and extra combats have a high bar to clear to slot into a deck.
Armament Dragon: Each dragon-themed set has been great for the part of me that wants to review cards that are interesting but far too expensive to ever be playable. Unfortunately for the greater macroorganism that is me, I quite dislike that part of me.
Auroral Procession: It’s really simple: if you’re playing combo and blue and green, this card’s really freaking good. That’s about all there is to it. I plan on slotting into Nadu combo decks, paradorks shells I try in the future, and I would put it into Temur Turns if I was playing it.
Awaken the Honored Dead: 3 color vindicate is not super exciting, but all of these chapters are things the Sultai 3animator deck wants to do, even if the second and third chapters are pretty middling. If you want to spec into “leave the graveyard effects,” however, you’ll be glad to know you can discard a creature or land, then grab it back to hand off of the third chapter to get a free trigger of those effects.
Barrensteppe Siege: Neither of these effects are of much interest to me, though the Mardu side is probably worthwhile if you’re playing a Doom Foretold deck with a moderate density of creatures, which is a way to get me interested in a card. So actually, I like this card in exactly one place, but I’m excited to see if someone makes Abzan counters work with this card and if this card makes the grade.
Betor, Kin to All: A 5 drop with no protections that needs other bodies to do anything is not a recipe to get me excited for a magic card.
Bone-Cairn Butcher: I really like Mobilize, but I think it’s just shy of getting this card all the way there–the bar for 4 drops is just so high, especially in a color combo that you can play an indestructible Tajic in.
Call the Spirit Dragons: Sometimes a card is bad enough that it’s a good bit funny. This is one of those times.
Cori Mountain Stalwart: This is a pretty good payoff for double-spelling, but not having other words than Flurry makes actually running this card a hard sell.
Death Begets Life: It turns out a really big part of Decree of Pain was that it also can cycle for less than 8 mana and was often good when cycled. This card has not learned that lesson, and I think is going to always be mid or bad because of it.
Defibrillating Current: Unironically, if this gave back 4 life, I’d probably talk so much higher on this card, but it’s kind of bad as is.
Disruptive Stormbrood: I’m almost excited about this card for Gladiator, but Sorcery speed on the Omen and 5 mana on the Flying Rec Sage are enough to make me hesitant to ever slot it in.
Dragonback Assault: The awkward truth is that 3 damage wraths have a very short window that they actually kill as much as you want them to, and by the time you can cast a 6 drop, that window as very likely already passed. Making a 4/4 flier on landfall is nice, but I don’t think it gets there most of the time.
Dragonclaw Strike: There’s a wild number of cards in this set that I think are just gutted by the fact that they say “Sorcery” instead of “Instant.” This might be one of the biggest examples. This would be rad as hell at instant speed, but instead is pretty vulnerable and unexciting.
Effortless Master: 4 mana 4/3 with 2 keywords and added payoff is interesting, but I think it doesn’t get there for us, mainly on the basis that the base version dies to bolt.
Eshki Dragonclaw: All the words on Eshki are good, and the play patterns of decks that would slot her in, like Temur Bard Class or High-combo Nadu, are surprisingly likely to meet her condition of casting a creature and noncreature, especially because the play pattern of “play proactive threat, bolt your blocker” rocks and is something not too unlikely already.
Fangkeeper’s Familiar: I love a Mystic Snake, and this also has added utility to hit other things or just smooth out your draws and that’s quite nice. That said, I think the best Sultai midrange deck is 3animator, and that deck doesn’t need a 4 like this.
Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan: I would really like Aristocrats to be a Mardu deck, at the very least thanks to cards like Mayhem Devil and Goblin Bombardment, but Felothar makes a damn good argument for making an Abzan or even 4 color version. Hell, maybe it’s just rad to swing in with Felothar and Ocelot Pride and sac the token you made on turn 2 and my second favorite trans girlie from Tarkir doesn’t really need a dedicated shell to still be rad.
Flamehold Grappler: I think this card is rad, and while it requires you to double spell (putting its effective cost a bit higher than 3), it also is a fine body for its cost, and copying pretty much anything makes the card massively worthwhile, from a Swords or evoked Solitude to an Ocelot Pride (which is not ok if you can get a copy of itself), you don’t need to spend a lot of mana to make the card worthwhile, but if you do, it also still works wonders.
Frontline Rush: This card is pretty standard-looking for tokens and Heroic, but it can represent a metric ton of damage in both, and when it doesn’t it’s still Raise the Alarm, so how bad can it really be?
Frostcliff Siege: I’m pretty intrigued by the Jeskai side of this card, but I’m pretty whelmed overall, and skeptical that this will see a home anywhere when other haste enablers and smaller scale Reconnaissance effects are rarely if ever seen here.
Glacial Dragonhunt: The fact that you need to discard a nonland card to get a bolt out of this card makes me skeptical it’ll get anywhere but really dedicated discard decks, but in those shells, it goes really hard, and you’ll probably be happy tapping a Hollow One to get a second copy of this for 2 mana.
Glacierwood Siege: With each new Crucible effect I’m a little more dubious of its ability to be able to set itself apart and slot into lands decks, and I think this might be the part where I’m convinced it’s not worth it: the added utility isn’t really present, since the second mode is so much more broad, and two different color pips makes it stack up real poorly to the other 3 quite good options at 3 mana.
Gurmag Nightwatch: If this drew me a card in some fashion, I’d be so unbelievably down for this, but just doing a more constrained surveil 3 is not interesting to me.
Hardened Tactician: Say those seven words and I’m yours–”one, sacrifice a token: draw a card.” Actually, you know what, I think I’m good.
Hollowmurk Siege: I think either side of this is pretty good for BG counters decks, and there’s a universe where Black Mold could be interested in the Abzan side specifically. It’s nothing too exciting though–just gets the job done, more or less.
Host of the Hereafter: I think cards like Reyhan, Last of the Abzan are cool and good for the format, but at this high cost with this few counters on it, I’m not chomping at the bit to slot it into counters lists.
Inevitable Defeat: 4 is a lot to pay for removal, but you’re generally fine to do it to hit anything and also get a 6 point life swing, so I think this will get sleeved up. Not getting hit by an errant counterspell is also pretty nice, so there’s not really room to complain.
Jeskai Brushmaster: Cool card, but it’s nothing for our format.
Jeskai Revelation: I will be trying it in an Omnispell Adept deck, but that’s unfortunately the only home I can realistically see for it, and it’s a pretty awful home at that.
Jeskai Shrinekeeper: Who else up keeping they shrines? No one? Yea that tracks.
Karakyk Guardian: Not one single person has played Palladia Mors, the Ruiner in our format to my knowledge, and I doubt that’s changing here with a worse card in an arguably worse color.
Kheru Goldkeeper: This dragon is fine, but it doesn’t make me feel anything. I will say, though, that it will produce a good chunk of mana for the Dredge-style decks.
Kin-Tree Severance: You know I just really enjoy Kin-Tree Adam Scott’s performance, and the Kin-Tree Thriller genre has undergone some really damn cool innovation in the past decade. Plus, oh my god, the Kin-Tree cinematography is to die for, it really makes for a believable but unknowable Kin-Tree office space.
Kishla Skimmer: It’s so easy to trigger this once a turn, either from Deathrite, Scooze and company, or by just playing a deck like 3animator, and that card a turn is huge to put an on-rate flier a cut above most other fliers at that mana cost and really make it worthwhile. This seems like a slam dunk in pretty much any Sultai Graveyard list, and truthfully any 3animator list playing UG.
Kotis, the Fangkeeper: Villainous Wealth for 2 is about the worst amount to hit for, and the fact that it’s the baseline for this guy means he’s probably better as just a blocker the majority of the time. That tells me enough to know that this guy is almost certainly just bad, which is sad, because I really like casting Villainous Wealth for more than 2.
Lie in Wait: Is that when the Crocodile says “No there is definitely no big crocodile waiting to eat you in Gurmag Swamp definitely not” or is that something else. Oh also this card is mid, each of these effects you’d really like at 1 mana.
Lotuslight Dancers: I can’t believe the Sacrifice deck is getting more ways to tutor combo pieces into the graveyard–it’s kind of gross at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if the deck started playing a bit more green (it already needs different named lands if it wants to Thoracle Pact) and this card just instantly enables a win with dozens of combo starters.
Mammoth Bellow: This card is rad, but it’s not Gladiator playable.
Mardu Siegebreaker: This card seems fine, and people are going to do some goofy stuff with it, but I’m just not really excited about it. It does get you a lot of death and enters triggers, and it does go crazy with Ocelot Pride, so maybe that’s enough to give it staying power, but I think it’s not enticing enough to me to be really something I’m building for (and I’d probably rather be playing Jeskai or Abzan at the moment in decks that generically want a card like this).
Marshal of the Lost: This isn’t meant for us to necessarily be playing, but it does feel nice in a WBx tokens list to be able to really pump up a flying token to beat in, but I think 3 toughness and 4 mana make that pitch a hard sell.
Monastery Messenger: Following the other two-brids, I do decently like this at 3 mana, though it is a hair under-rate, but if you’re banking on swapping out a pip for 2 mana I think this doesn’t have a shot of making the cut (though I’ll say it’s interesting to think about for RW just because it’s an effect you otherwise wouldn’t get).
Narset, Jeskai Waymaster: I’m not stoked about Narset here. It lets you refill-ish your hand each turn, and it’s a good enough rate that you’re not too attached to what it does, but it also just is not super impactful compared to everything else I’m seeing from the set.
Neriv, Heart of the Storm: This guy’s deeply fine. It’s certainly nothing to write home about, but making your incidental haste threats to a lot more damage is nice. Also, it works scarily well with Bowmasters and other flash threats.
New Way Forward: I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen Deflecting Palm make any waves in our format, and while the payoff here is a lot larger, the 3 extra mana it costs makes the idea that it could make any waves pretty unrealistic, especially because at that cost you’re probably making your opponent think you have The Wandering Emperor or, if your opponent’s a comparative Boomer like me, Settle the Wreckage and that will probably also point them to playing around something.
Perennation: Hexproof and Indestructible make a lot of threats really annoying, but A) 6 mana is quite a lot, and B) this requires you to be playing Abzan, and while a decent reason, it’s not super compelling to me to build an Abzan deck for this card’s purposes. That said, if you’re in Abzan and curve out in a way that makes even 1 6 drop viable, this is a damn good option, and leaves little room for failure.
Purging Stormbrood: Stormbrood is cool, and I really like the idea of having a protection spell as an omen on a big dragon, but this dragon isn’t really powerful enough to get me the rest of the way to slotting it in a deck. On top of that, the Omen doesn’t really play to its strengths: Lifelink makes this half of the card feel like the more correct option far more than the dragon side ever will be, and the card is just not quite there for me to be interested in. I do think this could see play in RW heroic decks that are happening to play some black sources (and even that’s negotiable) because competitive cards that give lifelink are crack for those lists.
Rakshasa’s Bargain: 3 mana at instant speed makes me excited for how this does, but I’m not stoked at all in anything other than Sultai decks, and probably only in something like 3animator.
Rediscover the Way: Anticipate is a pretty nice thing to get twice, though at 3 different pips, it’s a bit harder of a sell. Another strike against it is that Showdown of the Skalds slots in a similar slot, puts more staying power, and more often than not gets more cards played, so I’m not that optimistic about its prospects.
Reigning Victor: In a bit of good news and bad news, I don’t think the 2brid cards will be any good in a 2 color deck here, but this is one that gets surprisingly close. I could see this in a Mardu tokens list (opinion given at start of preview season) but I’m also expecting that there are far cooler Mobilize cards to make me forget I ever saw this card, too.
Reputable Merchant: You’re right, that turtle is reputable!
Revival of the Ancestors: I’m not really stoked about this card on any individual chapter or for the sum of its parts: it’s just too low impact.
Riverwheel Sweep: I really like that this does two effects I’m a little dubious of putting into decks on their own, but I think tapping and stunning is just not enough impact on the board to be worth it in our format unless it also just wins the game (like a Sleep effect).
Roar of Endless Song: I really wish these Elephants had trample, but if you’re playing a Temur Midrange that incidentally has a ton of trample, this card does make two bodies and then provides a massive power boost, so you could do far worse.
Runescale Stormbrood: I honestly like the Chilling Screech, but not enough to probably slot it into decks (2 mana is just kind of rough), and the creature side of it is not really enticing to me at all.
Severance Priest: This is a good pile of stats and all, but I don’t really want to play Abzan blink, and without an Ephemerate, I really don’t care about this card.
Shiko, Paragon of the Way: If you’re in the business of getting your graveyard pretty filled up incidentally, then you’ll feel good about slamming this and getting a removal spell or a decent threat for free, but in certain matchups where there’s more graveyard hate or just where your graveyard filling doesn’t come together, these kinds of creatures really tend to falter in our format.
Skirmish Rhino: Look, Abzan Hatebears might just be a thing after this set, and I don’t know how much Siege Rhino is going to be played, but let me tell you a 3 mana 3/4 with some really good feeling text does certainly get me going.
Songcrafter Mage: If you are playing Temur colors and Snapcaster Mage, you should also play Songcrafter Mage. It is that simple.
Sonic Shrieker: 5 mana is a metric ton, especially for a creature that gives you an effect you really only want to spend 2 mana on, and while the body is nice, it’s nothing you’re hugely excited for.
Stalwart Successor: I have no clue if BG counters decks are playing Cursed Wombat, but I am not really a fan of this card knowing I could be getting the same effect cheaper and with a way to self-enable. Menace is a nice touch, and if you’re already playing Wombat, then this is another copy of it, and an effective one.
Temur Battlecrier: Dying to Bolt is a little bit rough for this nerd, but immediately making spells cost 1 less and being super relevant later in the game is quite nice. I think it should find a home in Temur Sneak decks, where it can pretty easily drop the cost of your spells by 2 or 3, which is the difference between an Etali that takes your whole turn to cast and an Etali that chains into something like a Tooth and Nail pretty easily.
Temur Tawnyback: I want my Tawnybacktawnybacktawnybacktawnyback I want my Tawnybacktawnybacktawnyback BEAST!
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue: I’m gonna be real, I don’t think Teval is looking particularly good, including in the volume graveyard decks, but it does look totally rad, and decks should play them if you want to, I don’t know, feel something that isn’t embarrassment?
Thunder of Unity: You know, I was down on this card for a while, but I could be into this for specifically Mardu Tokens, where you curve this into a pile of let’s say 4 tokens and then into an new Elspeth and go for like a 10 point life swing overall. I think I could be happy with that.
Twinmaw Stormbrood: Roast isn’t the most exciting card, but Roast that can instead be a creature that wins you the game is pretty nice to see, even if it is just to replace a largely unplayed card in the format.
Ureni, the Song Unending: Dragonlord Atarka but bigger is pretty nice, actually. Specifically, being pro-color that has Swords to Plowshares and pro-color that has Go for the Throat means that this is another hit for the Xenagos, God of Revels plus big flier combo to get your opponent from 20 to 0. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be making the swap in at least the temur version, but I’m a little more dubious of the RG version utilizing this any better than an Emrakul, though a big chunk of damage to any coincidental blockers is a nice touch.
Whirlwing Stormbrood: Dynamic Soar is not that bad of a spell for UGx counters decks if they ever decide to exist. The dragon side also having Flash and giving some nice spells flash is pretty cool, too, but I think you need to be getting synergy out of the Omen in order to feel good about this one.
Windcrag Siege: I think if you’re including this card, you want to be playing it for the Mardu side, but it comes with a good insurance of making lifelinkers if you don’t need the Mardu side in a particular boardstate. That said, I think it’s dubious whether that trigger doubling is worthwhile at 3 mana.
Yathan Roadwatcher: I do love idiots that come with a friend, and this one is pretty good on its own in an Abzan 3animator style deck even if you don’t have a target already, and if you do, this does a lot to fill up the yard as well.
Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree: I like the conceit of this Zurgo, and I’m willing to try him out, but I do fear for how dependent he is on surviving in order to feel liker anything special, and if he dies on his first attack, it feels like a huge waste of space. However, if it proves that he doesn’t get outclassed early, then I’m pretty happy if I get to see my Orc boyfriend more often.
Commanders
Betor, Ancestor’s Voice: I’m not super enthusiastic about a 3/5 flier for 5 without protection, and I’m especially disinterested when it kind of needs to get in for damage in order to be worthwhile. On top of that, it doesn’t even do that much on its own, and really needs the help of specifically life loss in order to make any of the words on it relevant.
Elsha, Threefold Master: Being a 3 mana 1/1, regardless of the other nonprotective text, does a metric ton to dissuade me from trying it in our format. Elsha, unfortunately, doesn’t give me enough to make me that bummed out to throw her to the wayside either.
Eshki, Temur’s Roar: I like that it always grows on every creature spell, and also in decks that play her, you’re also quite likely to cantrip on the creatures you play. I think the 6+ clause is a bit of a pipe dream, but I also think you don’t need to hit that to be happy with the output she gives. The worst thing about her is that she is not white or black, so the midrange deck that houses her is going to generally be pretty mid or bad.
Felothar the Steadfast: I don’t think you should play the Walls deck in our format, and this card is just bad if you’re not.
Kotis, Sibsig Champion: This Kotis is cool, and largely just fine. Being limited to once a turn is probably for the best, and the payoff for playing cards from graveyards is pretty middling, but the utility of being able to cast spells out of your graveyard is legitimately exciting.
Neriv, Crackling Vanguard: Lmao get commanderbaited. Dude’s a 4/4 that makes 2 goblins and also exiles your deck forever for no reason. Honestly, this design’s funny.
Shiko and Narset, Unified: If I was going to be sold on this card, it’d be by it being a 4 mana 4/4 flying vigilance threat. I don’t think the flurry ability is as exciting as I want it to be, especially since I’m unlikely to trigger it when I can assure they’ll be alive, but it is gravy on a moderately well-statted creature.
Teval, the Balanced Scale: OK I love this dragon, and it’s easily the card I’m most excited about from these commanders. A more consistently sized Insidious Roots that enables itself and also has added utility and threat potential is so cool to see, and it really makes me want to make the Sultai Dredge deck work.
Ureni of the Unwritten: I think this card will rock in commander, where you can build around hitting it, but in our format, the best strategy with any density of big idiot dragons is Dragonstorm, and this is not anything for that combo.
Zurgo Stormrender: This guy kind of just rules. He’s not that desperately important, so he’s still decently likely to get in, and it creates a huge cost to board wipe in the Mardu tokens deck, meaning the only real way to beat a tokens player with Zurgo out is to either Settle the Wreckage pretty specifically, or deal with Zurgo first, erasing a good chunk of the value from playing a sweeper in the first place.
Colorless
Ugin, Eye of the Storms: I think this card will see a lot more play than it should, but it’s an amazing topend for a GxC ramp shell, and I really want to make a GU ramp deck with colorless topend work with this set, and Ugin works amazingly well in that slot.
The Monuments (Abzan, Jeskai, Mardu, Sultai, and Temur): None of these are competitively costed to make them viable in our format, though I will say the Abzan Monument gets decently close in a deck that doesn’t exist in our format (but maybe could if the stars align here). The rest of them are just not interesting for the format.
Boulderborn Dragon: This is a good place to put the obligatory joke that I shouldn’t look at every single card because some are admittedly just here to increase the as-fan of a certain thing, like Dragons, and aren’t meant to be exciting for frankly even limited. I don’t think this counts as making that joke, but this would be a good place to put it.
Dragonfire Blade: I’m trying to figure out just how good this is, and the answer I keep coming to is that it’s barely passable on 2 color creatures and not so much better on 3 color creatures that it makes up for the kind of mid rate on 2 color creatures and the atrocious rate on monocolored or colorless creatures.
Dragonstorm Globe: I don’t like Manalith’s and if I wanted a manalith for medium red I think I both have better options and don’t want more than one of them.
Embermouth Sentinel: Ok this card kind of rocks with the really cheap dragons or changelings that run around, and if you can play this before turn 5 and get your land onto the battlefield, I think you’re honestly pretty happy with this guy. That said, it’s also not close to exciting enough to actually put into your decks.
Jade-Cast Sentinel: You shouldn’t play this in either Ape or Snake typal, and that’s frankly saying something.
Mox Jasper: I think this Mox is pretty bad, and using bad cards to turn it on also feels pretty bad. I don’t think this one gets there.
Watcher of the Wayside: This guy’s really cute and I love the watchers from FRF but also no one really cares about what this guy’s doing. Although Ellesandra is probably going to yell at me about how it’s secret tech for Engineer but also won’t play it in syr next list of Engineer, but that’s also assuming se reads this.
Cori Mountain Monastery: This card is saved by the fact that it says “until the end of your next turn.” The fact that this can be used for the same as the Kishla Village or Castle Vantress and will get you a card out of it is huge, and I think it’s the most playable in decks outside of those that can get it untapped often.
Dalkovan Encampment: I think this is maybe playable in Mardu or RW or WB tokens specifically, and maybe WBx aristocrats, but I think this is the weakest of the cycle often.
Great Arashin City: More like Mid Arashin City amirite gladiators? Am I right? Someone please tell me if I’m right I desperately need to know is this mid? Wait shit that’s my job–eh, it’s fine I guess? Permanent tokens are cool, but the fact that this eats into your creatures in yard is rough: those are a super valuable resource.
Kishla Village: I was initially very low on this card, but now I think in slower decks, this is better than Castle Vantress provided you’re in two of the colors, and that’s some shockingly high praise. This one’s pretty guaranteed to see some play but I think it’ll be the second most powerful/most played behind Cori Mountain Monastery.
Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon: Play it in dragon decks. Don’t play it elsewhere. Also probably don’t play this in Dragonstorm, the premier Dragon deck in the format. So maybe just don’t play this card?
Mistrise Village: I think this card is a fine nonbasic to run in 2-3 color decks that have islands, and either mountains or forests, but also just hate control players and play big idiots. In Temur Sneak, Nadu Combo, or the mysterious but important Temur Bard class, this card is alright to ensure you’re landing your super powerful cards when you are very confident in a counterspell, and might even be good enough in control when combo decks using Thoracle are more rampant than usual.