Return to Ravnica is imminent, and it certainly looks to be one of the sweetest, most stacked sets in quite some time. Almost every rare or mythic spoiled was met with cries of joy from some segment of the online community, and the brewers were sent scrambling for their notebooks, pen nibs moving a mile a minute as the hand tried in vain to keep up with the speed of thought. I tried hard to avoid any brewing until the whole set was spoiled, but now that we have it I am only too hapy to share my thoughts on some of the cards we’ll all be flopping in a few short days.
Bear in mind that every card I evaluate here will be from the perspective of an FNM brewer. Some of my ideas might end up being good enough to take further, but right now I only build and brew for my local events. If I accidentally come up with something better, who’s complaining?
[card]Angel of Serenity[/card]
My friend Mark, who is prone to exaggeration when it comes to new cards, thinks this card will be one of the best in the set and is an auto-include in a Junk Reanimator deck. He was similarly enthusiastic about [card]Restoration Angel[/card], which obviously has proven excellent (though not quite as excellent as he thought…) and [card]Cloudshift[/card]. Yup, [card]Cloudshift[/card]. How’s that working out for you buddy?
Jokes aside, this lady is very strong. I’m not convinced she’s the best threat for a reanimation strategy ([card]Griselbrand[/card] isn’t rotating, neither is [card]Craterhoof Behemoth[/card]) but she’s certainly playable. I think she’d be amazing out of the board to take out three threats, especially in a mirror match where returning the creatures to hand is a big blow. I just don’t think she’s amazing five-star material. The ability to remove her in response to the ETB trigger is powerful (3 times as powerful as with [card]Fiend Hunter[/card], for example), but the best way to do that in Standard ([card]Restoration Angel[/card]) sadly doesn’t work with her. Hmmm…maybe that [card]Cloudshift[/card] call isn’t so bad after all…
Bottom line: she’s a fat flyer for 7 mana who takes out anything that can threaten her. In that event that you find a SECOND one, ugly things can happen. Sure, kill my Angel. I will play this one, exile the one you killed and your two guys, and dare you to kill her again. She provides built-in sweeper protection too if you need it. Mark might once again be a little over-enthusiastic in his love, but not by much.
[card]Azorius Arrester[/card]
I like this. As a Human he’s relevant, he starts a good curve of lockdown creatures (with [card]Lyev Skyknight[/card] at 3 looking particularly good) and a 2/1 for 2 is not terrible on the efficiency scale. I can actually see this in constructed, though it’s more likely in Limited where it can give you an early jump or break a stall late. In fact it might be better later in the game when you can cast it and something else, like Jace or Tamiyo. He can also keep Zombies off its crazy-fast starts, allowing you to get to some of the midrange lifegain creatures that Selesnya and possibly Bant decks will be using to stave off the undead menace.
[card]Ethereal Armor[/card]
Why, Wizards? WHYYY? Why do you start printing good enchantments, both of the Aura and non-Aura variety, when the only Enchantress in Standard is rotating??? Why must you torment me so? I adore Enchantress decks, and this card would be incredible in a Standard version of the deck if such a deck were viable. Sadly, without the insane card advantage provided by Mesa Enchtantress (or her Argothian and Verduran sistren) the deck is just a control deck that has slightly harder-to-deal-with elements. I’m not giving up on it being a deck just yet, but I’m not terribly optimistic.
[card]Eyes in the Skies[/card]
Worst-case scenario, this is a slightly worse [card]Midnight Haunting[/card]. That card was great in limited and saw some amount of constructed play. If you ever have another, larger token in play this becomes significantly better than Haunting. If you have Talrand, by the way, the Drake he gives you WILL be in play in time to populate with this. Two Drakes and a Bird for 3W? Sold. Of the spells that populate this is the only one that is guaranteed to get you two tokens, but if a tokens deck does take off I reckon this will be just a turn too slow.
[card]Fencing Ace[/card]
There is only one God, and his name is death. And there is only one thing we say to death: “Not today.” If this guy wasn’t modelled on Syrio Forel, I’d be rather surprised. People have compared him with [card]Boros Swiftblade[/card], which I never got a chance to play, but from what I have been told he saw constructed and limited play. We won’t get a chance to give him a Sword, but Rancor is still a card, as are [card]Runechanter’s Pike[/card] and [card]Silver-Inlaid Dagger[/card]. When you add in [card]Gavony Township[/card] and scavenge, ol’ Syrio starts to look REALLY good. If there is a W/X aggro deck in the format, especially one that can use Township (or even [card]Vault of the Archangel[/card]), I’m down with some water dancing.
[card]Keening Apparition[/card]
Don’t overlook that he/she is a Spirit. There are plenty of powerful enchantments in this set and the ability to blow them up while having a relevant body that might be getting pumped by a [card]Drogskol Captain[/card]) could prove important. I bet this will look pretty sweet as a foil too.
[card]Knightly Valor[/card]
Wow, you get a vigilant Knight AND a hefty creature buff AND a relevant ability on one Aura? Value!
It costs 5.
But token! Vigilance!
It costs 5.
But I wanna…
IT COSTS 5. And it’s an aura. Next.
[card]Martial Law[/card]
I want Marshall Sutcliffe to sign one of these for me, with the message “Don’t play [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card].” The effect on this card is really strong for no investment each turn, but I wonder if the effect is worth the fact that it does nothing to impact the board for a full turn. It only targets creatures, and at 4 mana UW also has [card]Supreme Verdict[/card] and Jace.
That might be its real strength though. If you have been reading my columns you would have seen me complain about the classic control one-two punch against aggro: Gideon and Day of Judgement. If you don’t over-extend to kill Gideon, he will take over the game. If you do, you play right into Day. [card]Martial Law[/card] is not Gideon, but combined with Jace and/or Tamiyo it forces your opponent to commit more threats to the board in order to get any damage through. BLAMMO! Sweeper.
And I mean hey, dude in the artwork is getting his face caved in by a mallet.
[card]Palisade Giant[/card]
Well, it answers Bonfire in a fairly decisive fashion. I mean at 6 mana with no vigilance you’ll likely only play this in limited (and might not feel good about it then), but uhh…yeah, it answers Bonfire. And blocks all day. Come to think of it, an alpha strike with this guy out is a fun exercise in combat math, either blocking or attacking.
[card]Phantom General[/card]
It’s a [card]Leyline of the Meek[/card], on a dude, that only affects your own tokens. I like this, it’s a Spirit too which might mean the old Esper Spirits deck comes back. It lacks [card]Phantasmal Image[/card] but turn 3 [card]Drogskol Captain[/card] turn 4 this guy is formidable. Oh yeah, there’s that [card]Lingering Souls[/card] card too. Geist of Saint Traft? A Spirit. That makes a token. This might get very silly indeed.
Oh God I just realised that [card]Cackling Counterpart[/card] on this might just be hilarious. I think with populate and the love for tokens in this set, I shall be actively picking those up. Yeah, Esper Spirits might have to be a thing that I play, and sooner rather than later.
[card]Precinct Captain[/card]
Captain of the Watch’s baby brother. If you can get him early he’s hard to block profitably, and once he starts connecting those dudes add up. If [card]Captain of the Watch[/card] IS playable, this gets VERY good…but that’s a stretch. I really like it, but I don’t know where it will fit. Well, [card]Intangible Virtue[/card] and [card]Phantom General[/card] are cards too I guess, but you still have to get this guy to connect. He’s always going to be the one chump-blocked, right? Unless we cast the Arrester to detain their blocker? Or just, you know, Rancor him up. Then he can flick that toothpick right in your opponent’s face.
Going up the chain in white, you can put together quite the army. This guy into [card]Attended Knight[/card] into [card]Restoration Angel[/card] into [card]Geist-Honored Monk[/card] into [card]Captain of the Watch[/card]. Adding green makes things flat-out disgusting: [card]Wayfaring Temple[/card], Trostani, [card]Thragtusk[/card] and [card]Armada Wurm[/card] join the party. And [card]Gavony Township[/card]. There aren’t enough [card]Restoration Angel[/card]s!
[card]Rest in Peace[/card]
My GOD this is a hoser and a half. It’s symmetrical unlike [card]Leyline of the Void[/card] but it also only costs 2 instead of 4. Unlike [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card] it not only exiles the existing graveyard, it also prevents it from being restocked. As an enchantment it will be hard for black-based reanimation or Zombie strategies to destroy too.
[card]Rootborn Defenses[/card]
We’ve known about this card for a long time, and I still think the best thing to do with it is save your [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] and copy the Angel token. Not that that’s a BAD thing. Of course there’s also [card]Armada Wurm[/card], but that thing is plain silly on all fronts.
[card]Soul Tithe[/card]
My testing with this card has shown it to be flat-out removal in most cases. The opponent either loses their creature or quasi-Time Walks themselves, and last I checked neither of those was a bad thing for us. Now playing it on a creature that will win the game is not necessarily going to help, but reanimation strategies will hate to see this coming. Sadly it can’t target Emrakul in older formats, but stuff like [card]Griselbrand[/card] and [card]Blazing Archon[/card] are fair game.
[card]Sphere of Safety[/card]
I want to build around this in the worst way. An enchantment that makes you want to play more enchantments AND makes you harder to hit? I’m not a Legacy expert, but might this see play in Enchantress? My gut feeling is that 5 is too much, but it does flat-out beat certain decks.
There are a few playable enchantments in this set ([card]Detention Sphere[/card], [card]Martial Law[/card], [card]Underworld Connections[/card], NOT [card]Search the City[/card]), and combined with [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] there might be the start of a deck here. We’ll have to see what the rest of the block gives us.
[card]Trostani’s Judgment[/card]
It’s a crazy powerful effect, and one that we don’t have access to right now in Standard. That said, it costs 6. At 5 I think it’s good, but this feels too expensive. A shame, because being able to exile a [card]Geralf’s Messenger[/card] or giant monster while making another blocker is a big swing that white could really use.
White has a lot more defensive tools than it does offensive weapons, which is somewhat unusual. If the environment slows down (and it looks like it might, faster than normal after rotation), white is in a good spot. I’m most excited to build around [card]Phantom General[/card] for sure, though [card]Sphere of Safety[/card] could jump to the top of that list if anything synergistic comes along. What has you excited?
Chris is a deck brewer, podcaster and lover of bacon. He’s recently realised he isn’t completely terrible at this game.