Shadows over Innistrad Spoilers: Limited Review for March 21
Greetings all and welcome back to another day of Shadows over Innistrad spoiler hype! Today we get the Red Dark Confidant and a glimpse of a Sea Horror that may or may not be Marit Lage.
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 completely 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 Shadows over Innistrad page. Please note that if I haven't yet reviewed a card, it's probably because the official 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. (Dragonmaster Outcast, Linvala, the Preserver)
B: This card is rarely cut from a deck that can cast it. In draft, it signals that a color or archetype is open. (Clutch of Currents, Baloth Null)
C: Cards like this make up the majority of limited decks. You're neither excited nor embarrassed to have them in your deck. (Culling Drone, Akoum Flameseeker)
D: I'm not putting this in my main deck unless I have a specific reason or I'm low on playables. (Geyserfield Stalker, Dazzling Reflection)
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. (Prism Array, Hedron Alignment)
Blue
Engulf the Shore
B-
Pulling off drafting mono color in Limited is a feat not often worth the payoff, and Engulf the Shore is not enough to sweeten the deal. In a two color deck where only half the lands are Islands, Engulf the Shore is probably not worth casting until Turn 7 or 8. I'd main deck this instant in most Blue decks, but it could end up in the sideboard against opponents lacking small aggressive creatures and tokens.
Black
Call the Bloodline
C-
Translation:
Call the Bloodline 1B
Enchantment
{1}, Discard a card: Put a 1/1 black Vampire Knight token with lifelink onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only once per turn.
A 1/1 Lifelink for one mana isn't a card, so when would it be worth spending an entire card on Call the Bloodline to get this effect repeatedly? You either need to be short on discard outlets and have a deck full of Madness and Delirium cards, or you need to have very strong Vampire synergies. Once either condition is filled, Call the Bloodline becomes a decent pick up.
Red
Burn from Within
B+
Translation:
Burn from Within - XR
Sorcery
Burn from Within deals X damage to target creature or player. If a creature is dealt damage this way, it loses indestructible until end of turn. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead.
Fireball effects are always great in Limited, but Burn from Within's exile effect makes it even better in a graveyard set with plenty of recursion. The indestructibility clause will only come up in one game out of a hundred, but don't be the player who forgets about it in that one game.
Sin Prodder
B+
Boggart Brute with upside is a great card in Limited. It has aggressive stats and evasion for a fast deck, and game-ending potential for a control deck. We can argue all day about how much upside exists due to your opponent getting the choice, but I'd be surprised if Sin Prodder isn't a first pick card out of any pack you open it in.
Green
Tireless Tracker
A-
Tireless Tracker is a hyper-efficient three drop that turns your lands into Clues and your Clues into +1/+1 counters. What's more, Tireless Tracker doesn't require putting bad Clue cards into your deck to make it work. It can end the game by itself with nothing but land drops to fuel it.
Ulvenwald Mysteries
B
Ulvenwald Mysteries fuels a deck full of creatures and can get you value even when you're falling behind. If you're forced to make a chump block, you get to draw a card for your trouble, and then you get another free 1/1 token to chump block again. When the board is stalled with lots of creatures, Ulvenwald Mysteries will make sure you have the cards needed to keep casting relevant spells.
Multicolored
Invocation of Saint Traft
C+
Geist of Saint Traft was good because it had Hexproof. Remove the most important part of the card, stick in on an Aura that requires a creature to work, and you get a card that's a decent amount worse. Luckily for us, something that's a decent amount worse than Geist of Saint Traft still has plenty of room to be playable. If you have enough evasive creatures, Invocation of Saint Traft could be good for 8-12 damage, and that's sometimes going to be enough to kill your opponent before they remove the enchanted creature and 2-for-1 you.
Colorless
Corrupted Grafstone
C-
When a mana rock doesn't start producing mana on Turn 3, it's hard to classify it as a two-drop mana rock. When it comes to gameplay, it seems more like a bad version of Manalith than anything else.
Rare Land Cycle
C+
Despite having higher equity, these Rare lands aren't much more exciting than their enemy colored Uncommon counterparts, like Forsaken Sanctuary. When you're in their color combination or have something to splash, you'll play them, but they won't have a huge impact on your deck.
Conclusion
Shadows over Innistrad is shaping up quite nicely, and there are still a ton of cards we haven't even seen yet. Please join me for more spoilers and Limited review until Friday when the full set is revealed. Reach out to me on Twitter @JakeStilesMTG or in the comments below with your thoughts on the new cards.
