 |
| oooOOooo spooky |
Speaking of draft and pre-release, you may be asking yourself, what the hell am I supposed to play? Which cards are good, and which should be burnt upon opening? Should I play all five of these Chaplain's Blessings? No, you shouldn't. We're going to try and help you out a bit by giving our recommendations and ratings on the cards from Shadows over Innistrad. This slew of reviews will be only for Limited (both draft and sealed) and Two-Headed Giant. We'll be ranking the cards from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best cards you can draft, and 1 being the Fugitive Wizards. Here's a more in depth breakdown of our rating system:
10 – This is the kind of card that you want to take
home at the end of the night and give it breakfast in bed in the morning. If
this card isn't in your colors you should probably change your colors. A recent example is something like Kalitas or Gideon.
8-9 – Sometimes a card comes along and it is absolutely perfect in every way. Except you didn't get that card, and you got this one instead. It's still really good and you're happy but sometimes you wonder how things could have been... but anyways, Mantis Rider is kind of like this.
8-9 – Sometimes a card comes along and it is absolutely perfect in every way. Except you didn't get that card, and you got this one instead. It's still really good and you're happy but sometimes you wonder how things could have been... but anyways, Mantis Rider is kind of like this.
5-7 – Pretty good, and these will be the stock to your chunky deck soup. I think the good cards are the meat junks. Maybe vegetable bits? I dunno, I don’t really eat soup all that often. Stalking Drone, and Kor Shadowglider fit in this section.
2-4 – Desperate times, desperate measures. Either sub-optimal budget cards, sideboard, or only fit in a specific shell. Loam Larva, Ancient Carbs, and the older lady who hangs out at the bar during the middle of the day and keeps winking at you are all good examples of this range.
1 – If your opponent drops this against you, you have my permission laugh at them, slap them in the face, and banish them to the shadow realm. Fugitive Wizard, and my favorite, Harvester Troll, belong in this bracket.
So draft and sealed ratings are pretty similar, so they'll be lumped, to save some space. We'll also talk about cards that have a special place in Two-Headed Giant (2HG from here on out), AKA the best limited format ever. If a card is functionally identical in normal Limited as it is in 2HG, then we will just post a single rating because this will already be way too much text as is. Our reviews after the multicolored/colorless cards are going to go in reverse-WUBRG, affectionately labeled GRBUW (pronounced "Grr-Boo" to represent the werewolves and spoopy ghosts). Also, we're going in reverse-alphabetical order, because that's how I started doing it and by then it was too late to turn back. Gaige and I did our reviews totally separate, so we didn't actually see how we rated stuff until compiling this, and apparently we disagree on like most things. Anyways, let's kick this shit off.
Multi-colored goodness:
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| Any time I look at this art I hear Iron Maiden playing in my head. |
Dan:
Limited: 10
What a card to kick this off with, right guys? Sorin is just about as strong as they come, and I don't look forward to my opponent slapping this down. He's an end-game murdermachine. Plus him to draw and do damage, minus to kill a threat and gain life, and ult to like... win, if it gets to that. I wouldn't be surprised if you never get to ult him because his +1 just wins you the game. If you pass this you're probably a big dumbdumb. Holy shit, he starts at six loyalty? This card is bonkers.
Two-Headed Giant: 9 10
I originally had this a bit lower, but then Gaige actually read the card and made me realize his plus 1 is each opponent, meaning this card is absolutely horseshit. Always play it always.
Gaige:
Limited: 10
A planeswalker in limited is like a PBJ (peanut blow job), it might be all toothy and had to kill it's own daughter but it's hard to have a bad one. He is a little expensive at 6 but starting at 6 loyalty plus getting a free card and making them lose life is pretty damn tasty. My only complaint about this card is his ultimate is a little underwhelming. Unless you are just in real bad shape and need a lot of creatures, I'd rather keep using his +1. Although it would be silly to -9, use lifelink vampires, then -9 again later for more lifelink vampires. If you have a chance to do that though, you won a long time ago.
Two-Headed Giant: 10
OH WHAT'S THAT SAY? EACH OPPONENT YOU SAY? YES I WILL GET THIS FREE CARD AND HAVE MY OPPOSING TEAM TAKE 8 DAMAGE (probably...hopefully). He'll die quicker but if you can manage to +1 him just a few times and don't whiff on lands, your opponents are gonna feel some pain.
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| "My bird-scythe brings back humans from the yard, damn right, they're whiter than yours" |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
This card will obviously be good in limited, but to be used to it's true potential you need lots of humans, which you'll only pull so many. On the upside you can exile all your things in your graveyard that your opponents kill for more humans. On the downside, they may be hexproof, but they die to a strong gust.
Two-Headed Giant: 8
As a card about the same in limited although just having a big flier in 2HG is nice. You do have a bigger pool of potential humans for this to help along. Also you're hexproof. That must feel nice.
Dan:
Limited: 9
This is a big flying bomb, but I'm sure you could have figured that out for yourself by reading it. A 4/5 flying for five is worth the manas, and the extra abilities are like crispy onions on a Red Robin burger (very good). Her giving you hexproof is pretty tight, as there may be some dummy with a red deck trying to shoot you, or black making you sacrifice shit. All of your humans having it is awesome too, as you're probably rockin' the GW human tokenswarm deck if you're playing her. Also, she makes tokens from crap in your yard. Overall very strong, it's just sad that she doesn't have hexproof herself, though that's probably for the best cause that would be bust-o.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
Same rating as she is still very powerful, but worth noting that she only gives you hexproof. Burn can still shoot your teammate, and still melt your teammate's human creatures. You've been warned, kiddo.
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| "Ah fuck, I put too many arms on it again." |
Dan:
Limited: 6
This card is certified dope-a-roni, right? He just keeps coming back! How strong! But the issue is that there are only like 6 cards in these colors that go from the yard back to the battlefield, and two of those are Mythic. If you can snatch up one or two of the uncommons, then this guy can put in some real work and earns some points. Without some other recurring critters, he's just a 3/3 for three, which is certified "meh."
Gaige:
Limited: 3
For all forms of limited including 2HG, this card is just too hard to get his ability to go off. If it was graveyard to battlefield or hand it would be manageable, but you'll need the best pulls in order to get this synergy. A 3/3 for three is alright I guess. Too bad this had to be your rare for that pack. I dunno, try him in standard I guess.
For all forms of limited including 2HG, this card is just too hard to get his ability to go off. If it was graveyard to battlefield or hand it would be manageable, but you'll need the best pulls in order to get this synergy. A 3/3 for three is alright I guess. Too bad this had to be your rare for that pack. I dunno, try him in standard I guess.
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| Might as well just call her "Vampire lady, Prepared to Fight Stuff" |
Gaige:
Limited: 10
If we took away it's long text ability, this card is probably like a standalone 5/10 for being a 3/3 flyer for 3 in limited. Now too add on to that you can trigger any madness spells you have to start shoving creatures at face. Just start discarding an turning everything sideways
Dan:
Limited: 9
Despite the most awkward sounding name in the set, this card is wicked stronk. Olivia will fuck you up with her weird empty sword as a 3/3 flying for three, and if you get to use the rest of her text, you're set and will probably kill your opponent before he can say "man I wish I would have drafted R/B Vampires." She does die pretty easily though, and her ability doesn't make her any stronger as time goes on.
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| Single and ready to get revenge on Sorin...I mean mingle... |
Dan:
Limited: 8
She good, man. Coming down at four loyalty for four mana sets her up to shake the game up right away, either exiling something that just hit you, or she rummages her way to six loyalty while improving your hand. Her ult is easy to activate due to the huge +2's, but it's fairly mediocre. I mean, it doesn't even stay on the field. Who's idea was that? She won't win you the game on her own, but her plus is quite helpful, and her minus probably kills something the turn she comes down, and then makes them nervous to swing with their best creatures. I'd need to be strongly in other colors before I pass this badass lady up.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Nahiri doesn't have the madness mechanic, she has the maddest mechanic. On Innistrad and super pissed use her +2 to trigger madness and/or draw a card when your stuck. Her -2 is real self explanatory, channel her rage at your opponents nice things. Now her ultimate is the weirdest and I want someone to find a way to break it. All I've got so far is -8 to grab Avacyn the people hater, make everything you have indestructible, swing in with everything, then she bounces to your hand. Now you have mana open to flash her in on your opponents turn if they try to kill all your creatures. IT'S NOT GOOD BUT IT'S ALL I GOT.
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| I want a ghost to give me a shoulder rub... |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
I'm just glad Saint Taft hung around to help the nice people of Innistrad. I like this card and maybe with skulk it could do something but it will be pretty easy to kill anything this is attached to. If you do happen to get a couple angles then you're probably going to do some damages.
Dan:
Limited: 6
I'm really not big on auras, as they usually just get you blown out when that creature is inevitably bounced/removed/has Monster™ spilled on it. But this one gives sweet bang for your bucks. A free 4/4 on attack is tasty, but you do have to attack, so there's even more risk there. If you've got good evasive creatures, putting this on them can easily make you win the game, but this is super risky, since they can shoot your guy in response and then you just have two ghosts and no angles.
Two-Headed Giant: 5
I know I shouldn't play this in 2HG, since two people are then gunning for my aura'd critter, and there are twice as many butts to avoid, but I know I'm going to play it. The potential payoff is huge, and I'm stupid so let's roll bitches. Gotta risk it to get the biscuit.
Limited: 9
This frog fucks. His stats are ahead of curve, he has deathtouch, he gets you card advantage, and he lets you lay extra lands. I am toadally into all of those things. Gitfrog Monster does have a very real downside though with all that saccin', and not finding a land off the top of your deck can easily wreck you. Especially if they kill him right after, which I know they instantly will if I play him. Luckily he is big, and won't go down easy. I'd always shove this in your decks, and even if I was in just one of these colors, I'd probably splash him in.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
This is just another card where I look at it and I know there has to be some way to make this card to silly and incredible things. It's definitely a frog commander for your frog tribal deck. Maybe some weird thing with Sphinxes Tutelage? I dunno. Two lands a turn is good so even if when you sac one you still end up positive land a turn.
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| Brazzers™ |
Gaige:
Limited: 5
Risky card of the day. Depending on your matchup you might be better off not letting your opponent draw cards than have them always have at least 4 cards in hand.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
Like comparing an octopus and a squid. The octopus is clearly better but they both don't do that much. You do now give your self and your teammate more card draw, but same to your opponent. You have the potential for them to take 4 damage a turn so at full like they are on a 8 turn timer if it hits every tim.
Dan:
Limited: 6
I like the idea of hitting your opponent for two, and I like the idea of drawing more cards, but I'm not as stoked about that idiot on the other side of the table drawing cards. If dropped on curve this can probably pop them for 6 or so before they empty their hand out, but I personally think it's too dangerous. It always seems like the cards in my opponents library are way fuckin' better than mine, so I don't want them to have any.
Two-Headed Giant: 4
First off, I like that Gaige and I have opposite opinions on this card. We always play as a team, and this is probably why we don't win. Sure, both of you draw cards, but both of them do as well. You may be able to live the dream and whack em for 4 per turn, but you also just fuel their murdermachine. I'd steer clear, but if you try it, please tell me about it.
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| By day, a nicely dressed professor, by night, an asskickin' wolf-lady. |
Dan:
Limited: 9
Man, a lot of these multicolored cards are insanely strong, and Arlinn is no exception. The Arlinn Kard has crazy good abilities, and has so many that they had to use both sides of the card. I mentioned in our Planeswalker speculation article that it's likely that just using her 0 and -1 over and over to flood the board and kill threats is very likely, and I stick to that. Her other abilities are equally balling, and will make whatever creatures you have able to stomp over the stupid goobers that the other player has.
Two-Headed Giant: 10
She's a solid 10 out of 10 (seriously, she looks great for her age, good for her) here as well. Just wanted to mention that her human side +1 can hit your ally's creatures as well, which gives her the tiniest bit of extra flexibility. Or I guess it can hit their's, if you really need to snap off that Humble the Brute.
Gaige:
Limited: 9
Unlike Dan I'm not going to separate it into different formats. Obviously Marvel's Wolf Woman the change walker is good. If you want to play her weird you can get a wolf one turn then shot a creature for 3 and repeat this over a span of 6 turns except oh look she died after she flipped. Hopefully you were able to play a creature turn two or three and you can make it spookier with vigilance. Then when she's nice and big flip her over like a nice ham and give all your creatuer +1/+1 and trample.
NOTE: After re reading the card I will say yes she is better in 2HG because she can hit your allies creatures.
NOTE: After re reading the card I will say yes she is better in 2HG because she can hit your allies creatures.
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| DAD, WHY |
Gaige:
Limited: 10
Utter End but better. That is all.
Two-Headed Giant: 10
Dan:
Limited: 8
This is the best removal you're gonna get, and you should be fucking pleased about it. Three mana instant to knock any non-land off the table is constructed playable removal, so if your deck can run this, you better. Otherwise I'll find you and take this so that I can run it.
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| If there was a giant version of me trying to kill me, my first thought would be how huge altered-me's dick is. |
Dan:
Limited: 8
Wow, this card is sexcellent. Choose the best creature, make a better version, blast their face with your ghost monster thing. If you're in blue/green, first of all I'm sorry cause I hate that color combo, but once you get over that, you should put this card in your deck.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
In 2HG I'd splash for this, and definitely make sure one head plays it. Four players, there are bound to be some bombs floating around, and this gives you your own copy thats bomb-er.
Wow, this card is sexcellent. Choose the best creature, make a better version, blast their face with your ghost monster thing. If you're in blue/green, first of all I'm sorry cause I hate that color combo, but once you get over that, you should put this card in your deck.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
In 2HG I'd splash for this, and definitely make sure one head plays it. Four players, there are bound to be some bombs floating around, and this gives you your own copy thats bomb-er.
Gaige:
Limited: 9
Here's how you play this card:
Opponent (with heavy lisp): "Yeth I play thith dope ath card that you thurely have no counter for"
You (lisp optional): "NAH BITCH I PLAY YOUR CARD BUT BETTER AND FOR PROBABLY CHEAPER"
Opponent (with heavy lisp): "Yeth I play thith dope ath card that you thurely have no counter for"
You (lisp optional): "NAH BITCH I PLAY YOUR CARD BUT BETTER AND FOR PROBABLY CHEAPER"
And with the new flip copy rule you can probably do some weird stuff where you pick which side of a card that you want and you have that forever. And by forever I obviously mean until it dies.
Boo-howdy, that was fun. How about we cleanse our pallet with some colorless stuff:
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| "Don't mind me, I'll just sit here." |
Dan:
Limited: 6
There aren't any Crow creatures in this type, so this guy isn't going to scary anything, but a 1/4 defender is not bad, and his ability makes him great. He can kill some weak duders early, then when something bigger comes along, block and explode him for some ramp. Most importantly, as we'll see more and more as we go through all this colorless junk, he's an artifact, and sacrificing him is an excellent way to enable delirium. Edit: Fuck, there is a crow. I failed you all and I am a piece of shit.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
Fine his creature type is actually bird but still.
Fine his creature type is actually bird but still.
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| We will review this later. Don't worry about it. |
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| See, no crows. What's that other scarecrow doing? |
Gaige:
Limited: 3
That art is a thing of nightmares and by her name I don't know if it's a scarecrow come to life or a basement-witch-scarecrow-kin. Sadly this card as not as scary as it's art and flavor.
Dan:
Limited: 4
You gotta be a little bit desperate to play a 3/1 for three mana. But if you really needs something besides instants, sorceries, and creatures to enable delirium, this is one way to do it. They'll be hard pressed to block it without it dying and activating your delirium buddies.
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| Bruh, that ain't incense #420blazeit |
Dan:
Limited: 4
This card is alright, as vigilance and +1/+1 is fairly strong. An extra point of power is coolio if you're a human like me. This is best put on an evasive creature with flying, and sadly we hoomins aren't known for our flying skills. There is sort of an equipment subtheme in White, with a couple of payoff cards. If you're running any of those, this gains a bit of value, but don't go out of your way to force some bullshit by picking 8 Militant Inquisitors. Actually, that sounds kind of fun, so do that.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
In limited sure I might play this. Giving things vigilance is good. Human's is a theme and will definitely be playable so this could be a card you play. Or don't. Probably don't. There are better cards. Unless you got pulls more horrifying than the straw lady from above, don't use this.
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| Nahiri is really fucking shit up, isn't she |
Gaige:
Limited: 6, 2
This card gets two separate ratings because part of it is good but part of it is super poopy. Even with defender, a 2/2 on turn one at least gives you a couple turns to breath and stops some aggro. Now a 6 cost 4/2 flyer is bad. You pay 6 to transform him when you run out of cards and you top deck a land and somehow this has managed to stay on the battlefield through everything else.
Dan:
Limited: 7
I already know I'm grossly overrating this card, but I'm sticking to my guns. A 2/2 defender for only one mana can block a ton of shit early on, and it's all flippy for sexy late-game relevance. Also if he dies, delirium fuel. The more and more I look at the colorless cards and such in the set, I get the feeling that delirium really won't be that difficult to activate, and that the delirium cards are going to be quite dank.
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| God damnit Jace, first you take Tamiyo's spot in the set, and now you steal her fuckin' |
Dan:
Limited: 6
This card will not instantly win you the game, but it sure as hell can help. Poppin' clues to draw an extra card is pretty sweet, and being able to just pull a card from your deck every three turns is very stronk. As an expert magic payer, over the long years, I've gained the wisdom to realize that this should only be rocked in control decks, because five cost artifacts that don't do anything right away tend to be shit in agro.
Two-Headed Giant: 8
If we open this next weekend, we'll be sure to have one head play it. Usually 2HG games run long, and being able to keep a full hand or dig for a specific answer is almost as good as a handful of post-match light beers in the dirty alley behind our LGS.
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| We recommend this model. |
Gaige:
Limited: 5
Unlike the Hamm's featured above, it's expensive. For a 5 drop I would rather play just about anything. If this was a 4 or 3 drop I'd love it. Now that won't stop me from running it in limited but I will be pretty unhappy if that is my best turn 5 play.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
This can go to the aggro head that won't have a bunch of card draw. The clue tokens can help with card draw (because that is what they do) and or you can go and seek out your bomb which is also always nice.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
This can go to the aggro head that won't have a bunch of card draw. The clue tokens can help with card draw (because that is what they do) and or you can go and seek out your bomb which is also always nice.
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| "I dunno, man. I'm starting to think we should have made this crossbow shoot five bolts." |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
If you are able to get enough humans this plate is going to feel real good on your human's bodies. Get stronger humans and then a replacement creature when it finally joins Avacyn in the sky. Continue this process until your opponent runs out of either removal or a will to keep playing.
If you are able to get enough humans this plate is going to feel real good on your human's bodies. Get stronger humans and then a replacement creature when it finally joins Avacyn in the sky. Continue this process until your opponent runs out of either removal or a will to keep playing.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Bro is carrying like 15 different implements that can kill you, including his shoulder pads, so no wonder this gives +4 power. Humans exploding into spirits is pretty awesome, and this gains quite a bit of value in the GW human tokenswarm thing. Don't feel bad just equipping this on a random spirit/evasive thing even if it isn't human, because this is just a fuckload of damage, and this will end the game super quickly.
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| It can open any door other than the one to Avacyn's heart. |
Dan:
Limited: 5
Normally I'd rate something like this way lower, but looting is pretty strong in this set. Pitching a madness card is awesome, and basically makes this "Draw a card," not to mention the delirium enabling from this. It's pretty cheap include in a deck, but I'd only throw it in if you're down with the madness, or if you don't have enough ways to rustle up some delirium. Definitely don't play two.
Two-Headed Giant: 3
I think skulk is going to lose a bit of value in 2HG, since there's a much better chance they have a low-power creature to block with. I hope none of you get a pool so bad that you have to use this for delirium, but it could happen.
Gaige:
Limited: 6
I like the idea of skulk but I'm not sure how effective it will be. If anything I guess just throw it on a flyer and maybe get some extra card looting.
Two-Headed Giant: 6
Still ignoring the skulk part, which I realize is the main part, if you just give this to the aggro less draw card head and attach it to something that is going to hit once or twice they can sort through the cards they don't need.
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| So sharp even the glass is screaming. |
Gaige:
Limited: 3
There is delirium and a lot of graveyard things to do but I'm not sure how much or how often you'll actually want to dump things in the graveyard from your library. I mean I have a lack of understand for this game so don't listen to me but I would think you should just discard things for madness rather than just flop them in the graveyard. I won't play this. It is a may effect so I guess +1/+0 for 1 is something?
Two-Headed Giant: 1
The card pool you've been given has to have better cards than this. It just has to be. You can do better than a broken piece of glass. I believe in you.
Dan:
Limited: 2
This seems bad, right? Even in the art the dude using it is probably regretting his decision. If you're super desperate for delirium, have a bunch of the white equipment dudes, or have a cheap evasive flier, I guess try it. But even then, I wouldn't recommend it, since it's basically Bonesaw without the awesome name.
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| "Shit Frank, I told you we shouldn't have used the ghost horses." |
Dan:
Limited: 3
Hey look more delirium shit. This card does a lot of damage or blocks a medium thing, then dies to turn on the D. Hooray! I guess. I wouldn't feel super great about playing it, but again, desperate times, desperate ghost-horse-carriages.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
With cards like this I just don't know what to tell you. Man it's a carriage and it's running away. Trample, get it? So yes, play for 4 and trample for some amount then it dies no matter what. You could have the carriage just run laps around them as it waits to sacrifice the it's ghost horses to keep you safe.
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| Oh, turns out that shitty sword in grandpa's attic is pretty strong. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
Without playing in a limited environment yet, I have a feeling getting this to flip is going to be easier than it appears (boy how I can't wait to re-read some of these after actually playing this set). If it happens to be as hard as you expect well then you not only wasted a deck slot but gave your creature +1/+1 for 2 mana. Nice going.
Dan:
Limited: 6
This isn't exactly the card you wanna windmill slam onto your pile as you shout "Get wrecked, assholes," but it can do major work in the right deck. A beatdown deck with flippies, most likely either B/R or G/R can utilize this, and do a buttload of damage with it. It's kind of sad that it doesn't flip back and costs way more to equip when flipped, but what can ya do.
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| Aww it has a bow, how cute. |
Dan:
Limited: 3
This is made for delirium and madness just like 90% of the colorless stuff, but this seems like one of the worst ways to get it. Sure, once it's on the field and you have some madness cards, it's pretty good, but a whopping four mana to drop it on the board doesn't seem worth it to me.
Gaige:
Limited: 6
This is just an excuse to trigger madness. You can just equip this for the sake of discarding and the +2/+2 is a bonus. Yes it's 4 cost but consider the equip cost is 0 mana it's still alright. Yes you need mana for madness so you can call the madness cost the equip cost, but you can also just always equip this after you've spend all your mana on important things for a bonus 2 damage to something.
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| This art awakens my fear of Bot Flies. If you don't know what those are, don't fucking Google image search it. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
I honestly just ignore the investigate part of this card. It's alright on it's own for some ramp. The investigate cost is just so costly. Sure if I'm top decking garbage and I have a bunch of mana up I can pay six to draw a card. With Tamiyo's journal and some other good pulls I'm ok with it though.
Dan:
Limited: 4
Gaige said he ignores the best part of this card and still rated it higher than me. I dunno what's up with that, but then again, I really have no idea what I'm doing either. This little guy is OK to accelerate, and has a bit of sooper expensive value late game. I don't think it'll be great, though, as there aren't any cards that need the kite mana like in OGW, so this is just ramp and "6 <tap>, draw a card". The lack of huge-costed ramp targets (other than just poppin' clues late) makes this seem much less appealing.
Two-Headed Giant: 5
Drawing cards with clues will be nice as the game goes to time, and even very expensive card draw is still card draw, which is comforting when you have 8+ lands and just top-decked number 9.
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| Why does that deer need a cape? |
Dan:
Limited: 2
Those are a lot of keywords, some of them good, and the equip cost is very cheap. The cost to poop it onto the field is not though, and this doesn't even enable any of the weirdy mechanics in this set. The only real reason to keep it is again, if you have a bunch of the white common equipment guys. I'd usually skip this cape.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
The initial cost is a little high (I guess) but basically once it's on the field you pay 1 every turn to give whatever creature you just played haste. Oh also, he doesn't when he attacks on this turn in which you just played him. OH ALSO, he can trample through given the right circumstances.
Two-Headed Giant: 4
This will be a card that I pull and I try to convince Dan that we should use it and ultimately we don't because it's not that good, but I still like it and will try and make it work.
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| She is literally use using his dead body as a weapon. |
Dan:
Limited: 2
A 2/2 for three is not very good. I think we can all come to an agreement with that. Getting +1/+1 and menace on an equipment that costs two to equip is also not good. Is the two combined into one good? Eh. I don't think so. I would feel dumb playing this 2/2, even if I do get to hit my opponent with his corpse after. I like the idea of a dude exploding into equipment, it's cool design, I just don't think this one is worth putting in a deck.
Gaige:
Limited: 3
A 2/2 for 3 is bad. +1/+1 for 2 is bad. Adding menace for humans doesn't make it much better. Although the flavor of this card is hilarious. Especially if you read it as that humans are a menace to the scarecrow race.
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| That bomb is super leaky, OSHA will have a fit. |
Gaige:
Limited: 2
So you're telling me I have to pay 1 to play this then 3 to do 2 damage? No thank you. Plus, cmon buddy, you have better cards than this to play.
Dan:
Limited: 5
I hate how highly I'm rating this. This card is dumb, and definitely not good, but now that burn doesn't exist, this is what we got. It will kill things, and it can just sort of sit on the field for a while looking scary. Also, artifact for delirium, so that's a nice little bonus.
Two-Headed Giant: 10
Not actually a 10, but I post it ironically cause this card is terrible and it's still going to get played and for some reason that makes me angry. Wizards plz print cheap burn.
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| I bet Nahiri did this, too. We get it, you can make rocks move, please stop. |
Dan:
Limited: 5
Tombstone-head is super interesting to me. From my experience, 3/5 for five on the ground is pretty formidable, and blocks a lot of shit without dying. His ability is weirdly relevant for delirium, too. You only need one of whatever four card types in your yard for delirium to be sprung, so if you have three creatures, you can recycle two of those back into your library. A deck with quite a bit of self-mill would really like this effect, and I could see him getting picked fairly often.
Two-Headed Giant: 6
Some asshole is going to try to mill someone out in 2HG, and this guy can help stop it. Or more likely, this will just let you get your huge bombs and removal back into the library. If you need a five drop creature in some random deck, you could do worse.
Gaige:
Limited: 6
The anti-mill golem. If someone happened to get Startled awake and mills half your deck immediately start putting them back into your deck one at a time. Like breaking something valuable and trying to fit the pieces back together.
Two-Headed Giant: 6
Still anti-mill but if they really want to mill you out they two people to focus you down. Slowly put your deck back together from the bottom up. Plus you know, decent sized blocker until they fly all over you.
Two-Headed Giant: 6
Still anti-mill but if they really want to mill you out they two people to focus you down. Slowly put your deck back together from the bottom up. Plus you know, decent sized blocker until they fly all over you.
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| After they finished the set, they did a CTRL+F for "Grave" and replaced them with "Graf" to sound cooler. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
You won't be able to use this the turn it comes out but in a turn or two as you cast almost anything, it will be online. You may be limited to one color for some time but it's extra mana to ramp in to Emoonkul or Avacyn or whatever other pull you got that was better than mine.
Dan:
Limited: 4
As an accelerator this isn't great, since you need shit in the yard to actually use this, but it is good for fixing, as I assume the cards in your graveyard are going to be the color of the cards in your deck. If you're trying three colors, or if you have self-mill and are playing big fatties, this could earn a slot in your deck. But I wouldn't just shove it in anything, unlike some other things >.>
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| Someone alter this so it's Nixon's head from Futurama. |
Dan:
Limited: 6
This card has the potential to fuck people up if you have quite a few non-critter cards. It'll take some luck to build that deck, but if you do, this card is super strong in it. In an especially controlly deck, the scry is very nice as well, not to mention being able to reset your jar to whatever cost you think you'll want next.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Yisan, the Brain in a Jar. Use this to cast your high spells for one so you can keep mana open for counter spells or other weird things...like creatures I guess if you're going to be one of those magic players. Gross. It's also nice that you can manipulate the charge counters on it so you can 1. scry a bunch and 2. replay things at lesser mana costs for 1.
Last and least, let's take a look at the spiffy lands we're offered:
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| Innistrad guildgates! |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Color fixing in limited is always good. The rare lands are strictly better but in ally colors. This will be all you have other than basics so make good work of it.
Dan:
Limited: 6
Dual lands are not complicated. Don't pick them first, but if they're in your colors and there isn't a very strong card in the pack, grab em. You do you, buddy.
Gaige:
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| These are arranged differently just to bother you. |
Dan:
Limited: 7
These are slightly better than the uncommon dual lands. If you can't read that tiny ass font, these lands enter untapped if you reveal a land of the respective colors. For example, on Game Trail, reveal a mountain or a forest and it entered untapped. Hooray! I wouldn't first pick these to be competitive, but I'd definitely first pick them cause they might be worth a few bucks and I'm shit at draft anyways.
Gaige:
Limited: 9
For draft sure don't pick this as your first pick (or do I don't care how you live your life) but you can more than likely get it to come in untapped with all the basics you hopefully have. If not it's still two colors fixing which is almost always necessary since it's hard to run monocolors in limited.
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| Oh, turns out that church wasn't such a good place. |
Limited: 10
Just ignore the life cost when you're pooping out clerics. It might be sad to be paying 5 for a 1/1 so I hope you have other creature you don't care about. Five should be pretty easy to hit and then you flip and oh boy you just get to gain 9 life and they can't kill this giant horrific thing you brought into this world. It may be difficult to get but when you do, you win.
Dan:
Limited: 10
I don't see any reason to ever not pick this. It makes you guys, you'll be playing guys anyways, and then once you get five or more guys, you get a demon with text that sort of says "you win". The only time I'd ever pass this is if I'm in a three or more color control deck with very few creatures. I will never draft or try to make that deck, so I'll never pass this.
Dan:
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| What is it with Nahiri playing with planes' mana? IS SHE EMRAKRUL?! |
Limited: 6
For the most part I'd just pretend this is Evolving Wilds, and play it like fixing. Sure it costs 2 to pop, but it does tap for colorless before that, and is also another creative way to turn delirium on.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
It's like a worse evolving wilds with the upside of being able to just tap it for land. This does give you the advantage of using it for a boost early on, and when you have some extra mana open then you go get the color you need.
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| Thanks for pointing out that they all point to that circle, Jace. Super couldn't tell by looking at it. |
Limited: 6
With as much graveyard shenanigans there are, I'm sure there is a good way to use this. You can use it in combination with Frog lord as one of your sacrifice lands and then bring it back. It's definitely not efficient but it's a 3 cost card draw and you can do it and your opponents end step when you have mana still open. It can also be your permanent you sac with Angelic Purge.
Dan:
Limited: 5
The situations where this is good, it's very good, but not every deck can use it. Gitrekt Monster and this is just disgusting, and self-mill decks can bring this back if they don't need it for delirium. I'd only take this if you have a deck that sacrifices lands, or will accidentally throw random shit in the GY.
Boy, that was a doozie, wasn't it? My favorite part is that we don't actually agree on most things. The multicolored cards in this set seem exceptionally potent. Then again, like half of them are Mythics, so I dunno what I expected. There are a lot of artifacts as well, and lot of them have dope synergies with delirium, so to me it's looking like delirium will be fairly simple to activate. The lands help too, with an Evolving Wilds-style land at common. Delirium will be a ton of fun, and I can't wait to perfectly craft my deck so that I can always activate delirium and then do nothing with it because I forgot to draft cards that care if delirium is active.
Thanks for taking the time to read our rambling. I love you. If you had a good time, be sure to keep an eye out through to week to catch our other reviews! We'll tell you what cards are good, what cards are bad, and what cards are definitely bad but we're going to play anyways cause we're stupid idiots.
Think our evaluation is wrong? Is Shard of Broken Glass actually going to totally warp the meta? Doubt it, but who the fuck knows. We'd like to hear from you either way, so drop a comment below, or send us an irate email using the form off in the sidebar!
Thanks for taking the time to read our rambling. I love you. If you had a good time, be sure to keep an eye out through to week to catch our other reviews! We'll tell you what cards are good, what cards are bad, and what cards are definitely bad but we're going to play anyways cause we're stupid idiots.
Think our evaluation is wrong? Is Shard of Broken Glass actually going to totally warp the meta? Doubt it, but who the fuck knows. We'd like to hear from you either way, so drop a comment below, or send us an irate email using the form off in the sidebar!
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