Magic Origins Spoilers - Limited Review for July 2
We've reached the final day of spoilers before the full set is revealed tomorrow. I'll be reviewing these 12 spoilers from the standpoint of how well I expect them to perform in Limited. 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 can find all the latest spoilers on the Magic Origins 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. (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
C
This spell's upside is also its downside. It doesn't target or destroy, so it can get around Hexproof and Indestructible, but because it doesn't target, it doesn't always kill the exact creature that you want it to. The number of these you'll want in your deck will depend on the other removal available in the format and the prevalence of token creatures.
Blue
B-
As far as Mythics go, this Wizard is fairly confusing. This creature fails the vanilla test, but its abilities can be quite good with enough goodies in your graveyard to exile. The most common use will probably be to tap down your opponent's largest creatures for a turn or two's worth of attacks. Another odd interaction worth noting is that this creature actively works against one of the two new mechanics in the set: Spell mastery.
C-
Having been reprinted in the last six Core Sets, it's not much of a surprise to see Negate back again. While some like playing this main deck, I view it as more of a sideboard card once I know that my opponent has spells that are worth countering. Its value should increase a bit for this set since players may play extra instants and sorceries to get Spell mastery bonuses.
B-
This Rare is quite interesting to evaluate. It's like a Sower of Temptation with a higher setup cost. This doesn't really work with kill spells, but there are plenty of other effects that enable you to borrow your opponent's creatures. Tap effects such as Send to Sleep show up in Blue a lot and can be used for this effect. Interestingly, according to a judge I asked, this creature turns Act of Treason into a permanent Mind Control due to the trigger resolving first and Act of Treason "returning" the creature stolen to you at end of turn.
Black
B-
It will be a very rare occurrence when either of this Giant's abilities are relevant in Limited. Your opponent is usually going to have some creatures lying around and won't be displacing their creatures from their graveyard too often now that Delve is out of the format. If you have enough Black mana sources to power this out on turn four, it's an efficient beater — and that's good enough.
C
While some players were asking for Bloodthrone Vampire, I actually prefer this Zombie version. It's a lot better in decks that don't have the sacrifice synergies due to having a 2/2 base, and in the decks that really want it, it's a late game card whose cost increase won't be a huge deal. Although we haven't seen many yet, there will presumably be Black and/or Red token makers, or recurrable creatures for the Black/Red sacrifice archetype to really take advantage of this effect.
Red
D+
This is an excellent sideboard card against the Artifacts archetype but is likely too large a risk to try to run main deck. This card could provide slight incentive to play a mediocre creature over a mediocre artifact if you have no other artifacts in your deck, but the proportion of people trying to run this main deck is probably too small for this to be a concern.
Green
C
This pump spell takes a bit of work before it's as good as the iconic Giant Growth, but it can become even better with the right support. This is the type of card that you'll need if you want to get your Renown creatures past the creatures your opponents will be very eager to block with.
C+
Is this card consistent enough to be good? We already know of Dragonlord's Prerogative as a recent comparison and a high pick in its Limited environment. If this card said, "Scry 5, Draw 4 cards, Gain 4 life", that would probably be good enough. So how easy is it to get there? Having five creatures with 4+ power in your deck gives a 52% chance of seeing one of them in the top five cards of your library. Most Limited decks won't be running more than five 4+ power creatures, so this card is going to be inconsistent. Whether it's good enough when it draws 4+ cards to make up for the times it only draws 2-3 cards, or worse, is stranded in your hand when you die, remains to be seen.
B-
When I first saw this card, I thought it was a bad Survival of the Fittest. Since then, I have decided it's closer to a good Culling Dais. It requires mana each time you want to activate it, but you get your card right away and can use the enchantment indefinitely and more than once a turn. Not being able to draw lands is probably worth also not being able to draw sweet instants and sorceries. The weirdest part of this card is that it's neither Black nor Red and thus will have to be splashed if included in the Sacrifice archetype that we've been told is coming.
Colorless
C
Utility lands are great to pick up while drafting because it's like putting an extra spell into your deck without messing with the number of lands you should be playing. Only producing colorless mana is a significant downside though. I expect the cost associated with this to be high enough that only players specifically in the Artifacts archetype will draft this card highly.
B
Mage-Ring Responder is huge and demands an immediate answer, although that answer could be either a creature or artifact destruction spell. If your opponent can't kill it, they'll likely lose either the game or lose three of their best creatures (the biggest gets shot for 7 while two medium size creatures double block).
Also, I'm going to need a flavor judge to tell me whether this creature is a Mage-Ring Responder because it responds to Mage-Rings or because its head is made out of one.
Conclusion
This is the final day for spoiler articles for Magic Origins, and I hope you've enjoyed it. Tomorrow will bring the unveiling of the last 90 cards in the set, which is too much for any one article to talk about, so I'll most likely just pick out some highlights. Reach out to me on Twitter @JakeStilesMTG or in the comments below with your thoughts on the new cards.
