Magic Origins Spoilers - Limited Review
Magic Origins spoilers have started being released a full two weeks before spoiler season starts! I'm going to review each of the 27 brand new cards in the context of Limited play. I'll also mention the 22 confirmed reprints. You can find all the latest spoilers on the Magic Origins page. Of course we can't rate the cards accurately without knowing the entire set, but we can evaluate the cards in an "average" limited format.
You may notice a change in the keywords you usually see; Magic Origins is introducing two new (as of yet, unknown) keywords, but also shaking up the evergreen keywords by getting rid of Intimidate and Landwalk and cutting back on Protection from <x> . Our three new evergreen keywords that we'll see in the set include Menace (newly keywording the Goblin War Drums effect), Scry, and Prowess. Mark Rosewater's article here is an interesting read if you want to learn about the reasoning behind these changes.
Grading Scale
A: This card will often be the best card in one's deck. I'd consider splashing it where possible. (Citadel Siege, Dragonlord Atarka)
B: This card is rarely cut from a deck that can cast it. In draft, it signals that a color or archetype is open. (Abzan Beastmaster, Death Wind)
C: Cards like this make up the majority of limited decks. You're neither excited nor embarrassed to have them in your deck. (Soul Summons, Screamreach Brawler)
D: I'm not putting this in my main deck unless I have a specific reason or I'm low on playables. (Abzan Advantage, Blessed Reincarnation)
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. (Crucible of the Spirit Dragon, Keeper of the Lens)
White
D+
Dromoka Dunecaster has recently shown us that an expensive tap effect on a tiny creature isn't always great. Compare this to Gideon's Lawkeeper, which was a good card in Magic 2012. Holding up one mana each turn to activate and blank a big creature is an acceptable price to pay. Using three mana each turn is much, much more difficult and makes Akroan Jailer much less exciting. Gideon Jura is one of the five lead Planeswalkers in this set, but apparently the balance of Limited was important enough for them to not reprint his Lawkeeper.
D+
C-
B+
C
Blue
C+
C
C-
B-
Blue's reprints:
Black
C+
C+
D
C
B-
C+
C+
Black's reprints:
Red
C+
Stormblood Berserker is a quality uncommon in red aggressive decks. Boggart Brute is extremely close to a common version of the berserker except that triggering Bloodthirst isn't a requirement and you lose one point of toughness. The mana cost increase isn't that huge of a deal since Stormblood Berserker only comes out on turn two the games that you're lucky enough to have a strong 1-drop in your opening hand.
C+
Wizards likes to test our devotion to burn spells and see just how bad they can make them before we won't play them in Limited. Comparing to recent sets, this is worse than Bolt of Keranos or Bathe in Dragonfire. Comparing it to other removal in the format, it's worse than Claustrophobia, Cruel Revival, and Reave Soul. That said, this can still kill some relevant creatures and can target your opponent for the last few points of damage so I still expect to play it in every one of my red decks.
C
This won't provide inevitability like a Goblin Tunneller, but the reasonably costed size and reasonable effect will slot nicely into faster decks.
C+
Scholar of Athreos was a good card in Theros and this creature is just better due to being mono-color. Choosing between risking this creature in combat or holding back to ping for two each turn will be difficult to decide between. I don't want too many 6-drops in my deck, but I'll generally be happy if one of those 6-drops is a Volcanic Rambler/
B-
Even if you can't afford to attack with your own creatures the turn Enthralling Victor comes down, it will still be a source of two damage most of the time. In the event that you're able to swing with the rest of your team, this is a very efficient Act of Treason. I wouldn't want this card in a controlling deck, but Red decks don't often fall into that camp.
C+
Seismic Stomp's biggest problem is that it doesn't affect the board. If you're losing, it doesn't help you recover at all. Putting the effect onto a creature is a great change and means this card is never useless, even if you ignore the ability.
A-
This Dragon's flavor text gives basically all the information necessary. If you waste your cards by throwing this creature out on turn four, discarding a couple spells, and expecting your opponent to not have removal, you're probably going to be blown out a good portion of the time. If you wait until your opponent has spent a removal spell or two on other creatures, and you play this out as the last or second to last card in your hand, it's going to demand an answer or win the game very quickly.
Red's reprints:
Green
C
This Spider is a solid blocker, but not at all exciting. Its best feature will probably be holding off 2/1s and 3/1s since we haven't yet seen any one toughness flyers in the set.
D-
I expect this to go the way of the Runemarks and be mostly ignored. If this card was red, it'd be worthy of a bit more consideration, but green generally isn't aggressive enough to want bad Auras
C+
This creature is playable even without the Naturalize effect, but occasionally blowing up a Claustrophobia or other annoying permanent is enough upside to make this card quite good.
B+
This card is an absolute house. If you have as many or more creatures than your opponent when you cast this, you're almost guaranteed to force chump blocks. If each player has four 3/3s, one player is losing all their creatures when this gets cast. The only way this card isn't first pick material is if this set is very, very strong or Green is just absolutely horrible in Limited. From the cards we've seen so far, it's a safe bet that neither of these are the case.
Green's reprints:
Colorless
D
A worse Leonin Scimitar isn't really what you want to be packing in your deck, but I suppose there are worse options out there for powering up your creatures (think Infernal Scarring and Mantle of Webs). If there's an Artifact subtheme like in Magic 2015 (and like the healthy number of colorless reprints below suggest), this could go up in value.
Colorless reprints:
Conclusion
These spoilers have easily done their job of getting me excited for Magic Origins. It's hard to accept the fact that the pre-release events for the set are still a month away. Join me again on June 22 when the official spoiler weeks for Magic Origins begin.
