Battle for Zendikar Spoilers - Limited Review for August 30
Hello friends and welcome to the first spoiler discussion article for the newest set, Battle for Zendikar. I'm extremely excited for this set and am looking forward to casting Eldrazi in Limited!
We received a bunch of new spoilers this past weekend from PAX Prime, so I'll be reviewing these cards from the standpoint of how well I expect them to perform in Limited. We can't rate the cards with complete accuracy without knowing the entire set, but we can evaluate the cards in an "average" limited format. In addition to the spoilers from PAX Prime, I've included cards that were spoiled previously and not yet reviewed.
You can find all the latest spoilers on the Battle for Zendikar page. Please note that if I haven't yet reviewed a card, it's probably because the official English spoiler for it has not been released yet.
Grading scale
A: This card will often be the best card in one's deck. I'd consider splashing it where possible. (Dragonlord Atarka, Tragic Arrogance)
B: This card is rarely cut from a deck that can cast it. In draft, it signals that a color or archetype is open. (Death Wind, Blessed Spirits)
C: Cards like this make up the majority of limited decks. You're neither excited nor embarrassed to have them in your deck. (Screamreach Brawler, Aspiring Aeronaut)
D: I'm not putting this in my main deck unless I have a specific reason or I'm low on playables. (Blessed Reincarnation, Gather the Pack)
F: This card will have little or no impact on the game if I draw it or is strictly sideboard-material. If I cast this card, please stage an intervention for me. (Keeper of the Lens, Jace's Sanctum)
White
C
Fourth in the line of Kami of Ancient Law copies, this Cub's playability will be very dependent on the speed of the format and the prevalance of annoying enchantments at low rarities. If the format is slow (as we can pretty safely guess that it will be), 2/2s for 2 will not be what most players are looking for.
A
This seems like a pretty fair card compared to most Planeswalkers. His +1 ability doesn't protect himself and doesn't allow attacking the turn he is played. His 0 ability is decent and can flood the board if your opponent can't find any good attacks. His ultimate is nice and can be obtained immediately (making it an overcosted Glorious Anthem). He adds two power and toughness to the board each turn when using his 0 ability, making him like a Citadel Siege that has extra abilities but can be removed by your opponent attacking it.
B-
This is an efficient removal spell that feels a lot like a white Doom Blade. Four damage takes down any reasonably-sized creature and can even combine with blocking to take down larger creatures. Additionally, leaving up only two mana isn't all that suspicious and may not alert your opponent that you have a removal spell at the ready.
B+
Turning your opponent's trades into chump blocks and resisting combat-removal such as Gideon's Reproach is a really sweet deal. The fact that this is repeatable is definitely the tipping point. While it doesn't make your creatures unblockable, it does heavily incentivize your opponent to not block.
C+
I really like the role that I foresee Awaken filling in Limited. Getting the ability to augment your board state by overpaying for a spell rewards players for surviving to cast 6-drops without requiring that they put too many 6-7 mana cards in their deck. As an easier to cast Assassinate, this is already a decent card and the additional option is pure upside.
Blue
A-
A flyer with stats this great is sure to be good in Limited. This Sphinx sweetens the deal with a Landfall effect that can either pave the way for an attack or "freeze" an opposing creature to keep it inactive for a while. It's hard to topdeck a useless card when Guardian of Tazeem is on the battlefield since all cards are spells which you can cast or lands that trigger the Sphinx.
C+
While this doesn't quite reach the great levels of Kozilek's Predator, it's better than the Aspiring Aeronaut we had to put up with in Magic Origins. We won't know how high of a pick this is until we see other cards, but I'm guessing it will be in the upper half of blue Commons. Note: I'm including Devoid cards in their corresponding colored sections for ease of categorization.
D
It would take Ingest and Devoid synergies being very strong to make a worse Territorial Roc or colorless Storm Crow playable. There may end up being decks that want this card, but I don't anticipate this ever being a high pick.
Black
C
This card is overcosted for the size of its body and the effect it gives is not going to matter enough to make up that deficit. While I'm looking forward to casting 7-drops in the format, I'm hoping they'll be a bit stronger than this one.
B+
I predict that in order to make Eldrazi playable in Limited, there's going to be very few cheap unconditional kill spells in the set. Even at Sorcery speed, having Eldrazi insurance is so important that this will be a very high pick. The seven mana option to also animate a land makes this card that much sweeter.
C
This card is what Rabid Bloodsucker wishes it was. Three mana 3/2s aren't generally exciting, but throwing Devoid and Ingest synergies into the mix with the potential for a one-sided drain of two life moves this card ahead a fair bit. I don't think it will be a top Common for Black, but it should always be playable.
Red
B
This Eldrazi has huge potential. It's a great finisher in aggressive decks by granting late game reach for those last few points of damage, and if an Act of Treason effect is printed, it could even provide a way to take down opposing Eldrazi.
D
This format is probably going to be slow so killing tiny creatures is probably not going to be high on the to-do list. Even with the ability to modulate the damage this deals, it will be hard to really blow out your opponent. If you can somehow constantly get three colors of mana with which to cast this, it could be a nice pseudo-Anger of the Gods and wipe out two or three of your opponent's small creatures; but that seems like a lot of work and deck-warping for a mediocre reward.
A-
This card is incredible in Limited and you should almost never pass it if you're drafting red. That said, Wizards is good at making fun Limited formats, and they know how great this card has been in the past, so I trust they wouldn't reprint it without thinking seriously about it first. For this reason, I suspect that this card will not be unbeatable in the format and will mainly be used for cleaning up 1-2 smaller creatures to pave the way for the larger threats like Eldrazi in the set.
Green
B+
This Hydra can really pack a punch. If it doesn't get removed, the inevitable passage of time and land drops will make this big enough to kill your opponent in one or two hits. It even plays great defense while you're waiting for the right time to attack.
C-
Reminiscent of Vinelasher Kudzu, this enchantment is great if cast on turn three and drops off in value each turn thereafter. If you stick to the first option (which is usually going to be correct), this is sort of like an underpowered Citadel Siege; but being only half as effective and also inconsistent means this has nowhere near the Siege's power level. If the game goes long, this will eventually become worth the three mana investment, but I don't think powering up tiny creatures is how players are going to win games in this format.
Multicolored
B-
A two mana 3/2 is fairly aggressive and the activated ability is great for aggressive deck making all your colorless creatures (including itself) able to attack quickly for just one extra more mana. Even in a non-aggressive deck, giving a 7- or 8-drop Eldrazi bomb haste can be game changing since it lets you get attack triggers and damage through even if your opponent has sorcery speed removal.
A-
Omnath is back and this time he's mad! This Legendary creature has a ton of potential, but it really needs Landfall triggered once or twice to be incredible. If not under pressure, I would highly consider holding onto this until I have eight mana to cast Omnath and trigger Landfall on the same turn before my opponent has a chance to kill it. If your opponent doesn't have removal, they're going to have a very hard time beating an army of 5/5s that give out free Bolts when they die.
C+
This power/toughness defining feature is one we've seen a few times now throughout Magic and three mana has proven to be a fair cost for those variable stats. Interestingly, the order of the keywords on the card is roughly the order you should be using them in: When the Warleader is small, First strike is going to be most potent; when he gets a little bigger, Vigilance may be the best option, and when he gets huge, Trample is where it's at.
Colorless
B+
This Eldrazi Processor is the real deal. Offering 7 power and 8 toughness for 5 colorless mana is a great rate and it only takes two Ingest hits to enable it. When we only had 0/1 Spawn tokens, they couldn't really be used in combat for anything other than chump blocking. Now that there are 1/1 Scions running around, especially in multiples, we may see Scions used more often for combat than for their mana ability.
C-
Pilgrim of the Fires was underwhelming in Fate Reforged, but ramp and Devoid synergies may be enough to make this an acceptable curve-topper in this Limited format. If this turns out to be an above-average card in Limited, then Battle for Zendikar will truly have shown how slow the format is. While this is certainly no Ulamog's Crusher, that's probably a good thing. Annihilator is a pretty overpowered keyword to face at Common.
B-
I absolutely love this card's design. When you have many cards or expensive cards in hand, the extra 2 mana helps you cast your spells. When your hand dries up, you can sacrifice this to draw two cards and give you more spells to keep the action going. While you don't want many expensive cards that don't affect the board, I'll always be happy to play at least one copy.
C
If this card is good in Limited, then this format is going to be great. If the "real" threats don't start until 6+ mana, then we're in for the slow, battle cruiser-Magic, Eldrazi-focused set that we're all expecting. While a 5-mana 4/4 isn't great, the mana ramp just might be worth it if you can pick up a few Eldrazi. Even at common, Eldrazi Devastator is a possible, if not exciting, reason to put Kozilek's Channeler into your deck.
B+
The headliner Eldrazi of the Zendikar vs Eldrazi Duel Deck, Oblivion Sower is one of the creatures making Ingest a keyword that does more than mill your opponent. This card is basically a Rare version of Kozilek's Channeler: it offers a decent sized body for the mana cost and then ramps you into even higher mana territory for casting even larger Eldrazi. As might be expected, this card does each of those things better than it's Common counterpart and is going to easily be first-pickable in Limited.
C+
This is a really weird card to judge. Its closest comparison in recent sets is probably Silumgar's Scorn. Scorn, however, is always castable as a Force Spike while Titan's Presence is useless without a colorless creature in hand. There are two things in Titan's Presence's favor: 1) Colorless creatures appear to be more common than Dragons and 2) Removal spells are much better than counterspells in Limited. Whether this is more likely to be a blank or a colorless Unmake will depend on the proportion of playable large colorless creatures in the set, but I'm guessing this will turn out to be above average quality removal.
A
We all know how unbeatable Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is in Fate Reforged Limited, and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is looking to be similar. He can eat an entire library in two attacks even if chump blocked, and his devastating cast trigger makes it nigh impossible for your opponent to race you. If that weren't enough, his indestructibility resists many forms of removal including deathtouch creatures and the newly spoiled Ruinous Path. With cards like Kozilek's Channeler running around, it will probably be easier to cast Ulamog in this draft format than it was to cast Ugin in his formats. If casting Ulamog doesn't win you the game, it'll be hard to find a card that would have.
Lands
C+
Mana fixing is generally less important in two color formats, but the Converge keyword spoiled indicates that playing three or more colors may be common in Battle for Zendikar. Keeping basic land types is really neat for the cards that care such as Oran-Rief Hydra. Regardless of play value, these lands will likely always be first picks because of their monetary value.
A++
Fetch lands trigger Landfall twice, and shock lands are good mana fixing but ignore all that. Showing up as frequently as foil Mythic rares and being a lot more desired than many Mythics, these cards will be very expensive and you should probably first pick them any time you see one unless you're at a Pro Tour. Heck, Pascal Maynard showed us you should probably take these anyway. They're also gorgeous.
Conclusion
Congrats for hanging in through the 31 Battle for Zendikar cards reviewed so far. Please join me for more spoilers and more Limited review when the official spoiler weeks kick off on September 14. Reach out to me on Twitter @JakeStilesMTG or in the comments below with your thoughts on the new cards.
