Came into the office this morning and Effie asked for an express review on the newest set coming to Magic the Gathering: Arena. It’s a Remastered set, which means we’ve got plenty of powerful reprints coming here. If you haven’t guessed it, it’s time for the Homelands Remastered Set Review. I want to remind you that these reviews will not cover every single card, especially in a set like this with so much raw power.
Table of Contents
Open Table of Contents
White
Aysen Crusader
Now, when it comes to threats like this, they can look a little underwhelming at first. Aysen Crusader being only a 2+* for 4 mana, but in these white midrange and aggressive decks you’ll find that you have plenty of incidental Heroes in play as is, which is going to let this card get out of control rapidly. I won’t be surprised to see this be a 4/4 thanks to curving this off of cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
Beast Walkers
A big change to the format because it means we finally have banding. This card is not particularly impressive, but it means that white decks have a way to get around really pesky creatures that can threaten to block or attack through wide board states.
Leeches
Since Phyrexia: All Will Be One, poison has been dominant in the format. It’s been able to kill people out of nowhere with how quickly it can rack up that tenth poison counter. So, this is a nice tool for those white controlling decks that have really been kept down by the prominence of this deck. Moreover, it means that some of these decks that have been half-in on poison can use it as a sort of Fireball.
Prophecy
God-Eternal Kefnet got you down? Approach of the Second Sun not being any fun? Well, let me tell you I have the card for you—Prophecy lets you get a peek at your opponent’s top card, but it also just shuffles their deck, and then you get a free card on their upkeep. This will be a powerhouse of a card.
Serra Aviary
As we all know, World Enchantments are some of the strongest in the game, since there can only ever be one of them. Serra Aviary gives important density to the UW Skies deck. Even though it’s symmetrical, you’ll just always have this with Favorable Winds, so you’ll have even bigger birds than your opponent.
Soraya the Falconer
Saving the best for last in our White cards here, this card is three mana for a lord for one of the more budding tribal archetypes: Falcons. Being able to give these creatures a buff while also giving them access to banding, which (as discussed earlier) is a big deal for being able to deal with pesky creatures.
Blue
Aether Storm
This is a significant card for the blue aggressive decks, being able to effectively represent four mana for four damage, since your opponent is going to want to cast their Summon spells. Plus, if you can recur this, that’s nearly half of their life right there.
Coral Reef
Now, this one might not look like a lot at first, but these polyp counters are nothing to be ignored; being able to be converted into +0/+1 counters is big game. Furthermore, for decks like Mono-Blue Devotion that just want these pips in play to begin with, having an additional way to not have to use their counterspells on red wraths or removal is a welcome addition.
Giant Albatross
When it comes to massive avians, this one may seem unassuming. However, being able to throw this in front of a Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or another massive creature and pay the 1U tax to be able to force them to pay life or lose their creature is huge. Two life is a massive cost for your opponent to pay and could win you some games.
Merchant Scroll
I don’t like to be negative on cards here, but I don’t see how a card that can only find a blue instant or interrupt is going to see any play. Especially when we don’t have any interrupts in the format.
Reveka, Wizard Savant
While the activation cost might seem a bit steep considering they won’t be able to untap, being able to have a pinger that deals 2 damage to any target is massive. Maybe give this one a shot if you need to get some smaller creatures out of the way of your bigger ones, or potentially to kill a planeswalker that just ticked down.
Black
Black Carriage
Considering one of our better free sac outlets is a three-mana 1/1, there is a chance that this card beats up the rest of the competition by being able to be a free sac outlet that is also a massive trampler.
Headstone
Many of us here like to drive home the point of how important graveyard removal is, and this card gets to be graveyard removal while replacing itself.
Irini Sengir
It’s commonly known that Green-White Enchantress is an archetype that racks up many tournament wins. It’s always a threat that’s being evaluated when building any list, so this is a tool for the black decks to keep them back for a bit longer.
Koskun Falls
Another super powerful world enchantment. For the low price of tapping one of your creatures, you can make sure that you can’t easily be attacked.
Sengir Autocrat
This might become one of the best four-drops in Aristocrats. Being four bodies for four mana is a lot. Make sure to sacrifice the Serfs first, but you can also choose to sacrifice the Autocrat with the enters-the-battlefield trigger on the stack. This might catch some of your other Serfs, but will keep the three tokens this one makes safe.
Red
Anaba Spirit Crafter
An excellent tool for the Minotaur decks in the format; it’s just another lord. It even pumps itself, so that 1/3 body at base isn’t as bad as it looks.
Dwarven Sea Clan
This can be an important tool for the red controlling decks that have access to creatures that are always going to attack. You want to make sure you can bridge the gap between your three-power creature and their five-toughness blocker.
Eron the Relentless
While this might seem a bit outclassed when it comes to haste threats, the regenerate clause on this card means it’s just attacking every single turn. The only real card that can get around it is Wrath of God.
Ironclaw Curse
This card has the benefit of being able to shut off some blockers for your red creatures, while also sometimes killing mana dorks on its own.
Retribution
Punisher cards are given a bad reputation. This one is better because you have the option to present a choice between two creatures, and regardless of which choice is made, it’s bad for your opponent. This may be the closest thing to unconditional removal for your red decks.
Green
Faerie Noble
Faeries already have some of the best green creatures, so it’s nice to see a lord come in for them. This card always benefits their survivability and sometimes can give the extra few points of damage needed to kill a creature or present lethal. Plus, if you’re able to untap this card, then maybe some extra fun can be had!
Hungry Mist
This card gets to be like Groundbreaker but trades the trample and haste for a point of toughness and to be able to keep swinging in for 6 damage turn after turn. As we all know, green creatures for four mana often don’t get 6 power, so this is a rare opportunity for Mono-Green Stompy.
Renewal
It’s frequently discussed how bad mana is for some decks. This card is another great option to be able to sacrifice a land you don’t need and turn it into a Basic Land for the colour you’re missing—and it draws you a card!
Spectral Bears
This is a 2 mana 3/3 with basically no downside. The fact that it won’t untap if they don’t control a black card can be underwhelming at times, but it always blocks well and can cruise right in at black planeswalkers all day every day.
Artifacts
Clockwork Gnomes
This one might eventually be outclassed, and is definitely a card for me personally. Being able to regenerate any target artifact is a big deal, with how prevalent these decks with disenchant creatures are.
Didgeridoo
This card is a Legacy all-star, so it’s nice to finally see it here, where it can be used to its full potential. In a singleton format, it may seem a little risky, but being a one-mana artifact means the cost is low for all the powerful Minotaurs you can sneak into play.
Serrated Arrows
While it only has three arrows in its arsenal, being able to represent removal in colours that don’t get access to it normally is a really cool option for decks now.
Lands
Castle Sengir
And of course, we got some powerful new duals in this set. I’ll only talk about this one, but through this, you can see the power of being a land that can filter into three different colours of mana while being an untapped colourless land if your mana is already perfect.