The Best of the Rest

The last of the Spoilers!! They have arrived. Last week here at Wizardden.com we took a look at the first third now lets brush over the rest of them and see what gems we can uncover. Also be sure to get your preorders and prerelease schedual worked out asap.

The cycle has been finished and it looks good. Atarka gives big devotion decks and dragon lovers and great new toy. Ojutai is a great casual card, but without any kind of protection there little to no chance of seeing it in standard.

Finishing our mythic and rare hybrid ability cycles we have some interesting cards. Alesha could be a fine midgame play in the small aggressive decks we expect to see grow in popularity. Tasigur likely wont see much play outside of EDH but is still a decent design. Warden of the First Tree has been quite polarizing since it's announcement. Every one seems to have a strong opinion that it will be amazing or is just over hyped.

The final white rares do a fine job or bringing up the rear. The card advantage and relatively low cost of Mastery of the Unseen could earn it a spot in fringe decks. Rally the Ancestors may be far better than Return to the Ranks, but I am unsure if it will see any more play than it's predecessor.

Weird...funny sure, but still quite weird. Casual players have at it.

Bringing up the rear of the red rares are too amazing new toys. Arcbond will no doubt make you think twice about blocking that goblin token with your rhino when your life is low. Mob Rule could be the finisher green and red devotion decks have needed to smasher through all the heavy midrange decks out there.

Cute with outlast and hydra related effects. Worst case scenario you get a creature with power and toughness equal to what you paid for.

The jank is strong with this one. I can think of a few commanders that might like it but other than I wouldn't play it, even in limited.

Starting off our look at uncommons today is this cycle of dragons. These will all be huge bombs in limited, better get your Windstorms in when you draft.

The rest of the of the white uncommons seem pretty good for limited. White seems to serve a strong support role in this set.

Lets take a moment to point out this card. Scavenging Ooze's little buddy here is easily the missing piece that small aggro decks needed to take on all those Whips out there.

Over all blue uncommons seem fairly weak for limited play. If you're not going Jeskai it may be best to make your blue splash fairly light.

I do want to pay special attention to these new toys that control decks are getting. Reality Shift in particular is absolutely amazing. Picture that moment when Courser of Kruphix reveals a Siege Rhino on top of their deck you can exile their on board threat and deny them their next rhino trigger. Fascination is included here mostly for EDH, but I am or may not be releasing a standard decklist containing it in a few weeks. 

Black seems like it will handle very similar to how it did in Khans.

These two are quite interesting. I am not sure why they didn't just reprint Fleshbag Marauder but this will likely find it's way into warrior sideboards. Dark Deal seems to have some implications for enabling reanimator, delve, and discard strategies.

Red seems a bit more aggressive this set with plenty of tools and aggressively costed power to break through the standoff limited format of Khans. 

I am thoroughly impressed by the general power level of red in this set. Humble Defector likely won't see standard play but it isn't terrible for limited and has an immediate home in Zedruu EDH decks. Wild Slash is easily the best Shock ever! I say that because it has no draw back and can occasionally allow you to deal damage to creatures with protection since damage dealt can't be prevented by the protection. Break Through the Line and Dragonrage can be pretty big blow outs in limited or constructed play.

Beefy green cards doing what green does best. If you can keep your threat in play not much in the format will be able to take it on.

Temur Sabertooth I could write an entire article on. Simply put how is it not a rare? It's all upside if you build and play with it smart. One sided Fogs are always great blowouts. Drawing cards for playing green seems pretty good and Ruthless Instincts could be the tool that Temur tempo has been looking for. 

Overall the artifacts of this set are unimpressive but well designed. It's always good to see new card designs but I won't be early picking any of these in drafts.

Looking at the rest of this cycle I will say that I hope to pull a fair amount of these that are in the same colors as my bombs this weekend.

I'm not usually a fan of suiting up a dude but these are pretty powerful.

Small aggressive white based Jeskai or Mardu stands a strong chance of being the top limited pick.

Blue will likely settle into a support role in limited play, but still is a force to be reckoned with.

Typhoid Rats are back! Remember that when playing with and against black, for things will die.

Red seems so good now. It is fast and can actually get through the opponent's mid and late game defenses now. This is why my eye is going to be on Jeskai and Mardu based limited play.

Ugin had a baby with Beacon of Destruction and made a limited powerhouse at common. Lightning Bolt also got yet another cousin in the family of one cost three damage spells.

Green will be big, kill it fast or get stomped on this weekend and in your drafting in months to come.

The new 'elf' is fun but vulnerable. Hard to say how much play it will see. The second card here I point out for entirely different reason. The new art of Hunt the Weak appears to be a clear message to a certain Nintendo franchise.

All of these seem super powerful but are reliant on building around them to get the full effect. With that we bring this final spoiler review to a close. Thank you for joining us again at Wizardden.com and I hope to see all of our local readers throughout this weekend's prerelease events. Don't forget your preorders!