Magic Origins Spoilers - Limited Review for June 23
Today we have another eleven Magic Origin spoilers revealed and ready to be analyzed. I'll be reviewing these new 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
B-
In Mark Rosewater's recent article he wrote "Design and development worked hard to make sure there are ten different draft archetypes, usually centering around the two-color pairs. Ten worlds—ten two-color pairs. The themes of the draft archetypes could each be attached to a different world." This creepy card is probably a build-around card for a White/Black enchantment archetype centered in Theros or Innistrad. Even without combos in the deck, a Wind Drake is a fine limited card. Once this card has the potential to get counters for free, it becomes great.
C+
The only Equipment we've seen in Magic Origins so far is Veteran's Sidearm, a card I wouldn't be excited to play even with two Relic Seekers in my deck. Still, a Glory Seeker with upside is going to be fine in Limited and could become a high priority for your opponent to block if they print good Equipment in the set. This card is quite unexciting for a Rare though.
C-
It doesn't seem realistic to enable the Opalescence portion of this enchantment given the need for four other enchantments in addition to Starfield of Nyx all in play simultaneously. The first half of the card could be good enough by itself however. At the worst, you can try to pick up a Weight of the Underworld and keep reusing it to kill your opponent's smaller creatures. Depending on the rest of the set's enablers, this could be a fun card to build a deck around, but it seems like a fairly inconsistent strategy.
Blue
C+
It looks like they've casually reprinted one of the Power 9. Whether the potential for card advantage is worth letting your opponent untap first with the extra cards depends on the speed of your deck. If you can deploy a couple of threats faster than your opponent before casting this, it can be do more good for your hand than your opponent's. However, if you have a slower start, this card could be close to uncastable. Having ways to catch up to your opponent also makes this card better. A card like Languish or Displacement Wave (see below) can help regain the tempo lost by giving your opponent seven cards and then passing the turn.
B-
Displacement Wave has a strong effect but it's really not close to a wrath. Your opponent gets to replay their threats, and they get to be the first one to do so. Still, there are situations where you can maneuver this effect to be mostly one-sided and it will lead to blowouts. Extra points for bouncing your own Separatist Voidmage to reuse the following turn.
B-
Mizzium Meddler is a hungry, hungry Wizard. It can ambush and eat 2/1's and 3/1's in combat. It can eat removal spells like Lightning Javelin and Fiery Impulse. It can even steal combat tricks like Titan's Strength or the pump effect from a Yeva's Forcemage. And the best part is that since it's a Rare, your opponent will rarely play around it.
Black
B-
This card shouldn't really be given a rating since it depends very much on the other cards in your deck. With a Languish, a Kothoped, Soul Hoarder, and a Cruel Revival in your deck, this card is incredible. If you've drafted a mediocre aggro deck with a bunch of interchangeable creatures and a few removal spells and no bombs, you may not even play Dark Petition in your main deck. The Spell Mastery bonus can be mostly ignored since you'll often be tutoring a card too expensive to cast even when given three mana for free.
D-
We've haven't yet seen any combo cards with this in the set such as Devour Flesh so it will likely only be used in one or two scenarios: 1) You've drafted a Starfield of Nyx deck that is okay with playing a three mana enchantment with no text or 2) Your opponent has played 4+ cards that gain life (such as Lifelink creatures), and you've drafted a deck aggressive enough to care.
Red
B
They just won't stop finding ways to explore Red's slice of the color pie! I'm not complaining about this one though because this card is sweet. I view this card as being very similar to an Outpost Siege in that it requires an upfront investment but will gain you a sizable advantage as the game goes longer. This card also gives you fodder for sacrifice outlets such as Blazing Hellhound or Fiery Conclusion.
Green
D+
This card is bad. If you could guarantee it would always be in your opening hand, it'd be a bit better than a Leaf Gilder. Unfortunately, the chances of drawing this later in the game when you need a spell that actually affects the board means it won't often be worth running.
C-
While this is better than Cultivate in mono-green decks and for EDH players with their shocklands and dual lands, it fails to find other colors of mana in Limited. Many similar spells have been bad in Limited even when you need both the ramp and the color fixing, and this spell only ever works toward that first goal. Still, if your deck has a higher mana curve, it can be worth running this card. It also helps you transform its namesake, Nissa, Vastwood Seer, if you're lucky enough to open it in draft. I would not be willing to run mediocre spells in order to trigger the underwhelming Spell Mastery trigger on Nissa's Pilgrimage.
Multi-colored
B-
This creature has solid stats, a good effect, and the best type line we've seen in a while: Fish Lizard. This creature opens up a ton of options in combat: play it on your turn to tap a potential blocker, play it before an opponent's attack to nullify an attacker, or even play it after attacks for an ambush. If the Green/Blue archetype is even just average, I'll be happy to draft this creature and move into Simic.
This card is also going to have the curious effect of making Mizzium Meddler worse. Players will be expecting the Uncommon Bounding Krasis which will lead to the Rare counterpart being slightly less valuable.
Conclusion
And just like that, another epic day of spoilers is complete! Please join me for more spoilers and more Limited review throughout this week and next. Reach out to me on Twitter @JakeStilesMTG or in the comments below with your thoughts on the new cards.
