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| WARNING: Not for the faint of heart. |
10 – You are better at opening packs than I am, because this card is way better than the promo Prism Array I'm going to open. A 10 is a card you always want to play, as it is wicked strong. A recent example is something like Kalitas or Gideon.
8-9 – This bracket has the type of cards that you take home to meet your mother. They're some of the best around, and the only thing keeping them from being a 10 are tough color requirements, or some other small drawback. A good example would be Mantis Rider or Thunderbreak Reagent.
5-7 – You were really looking forward to a steak, but all the restaurant had was a burger. It's not bad, but not quite what you were hoping for. You take your burger and eat it and are satisfied, but won't go telling stories about it. These cards are most of your deck. Stalking Drone and Kor Shadowglider fit in this section.
2-4 – This level is when cards start getting sad. Crappy sub-optimal cards you usually don't want to play live here, and also side-board only cards. Loam Larva, Ancient Carbs, or artifact/enchantment hate land here.
1 – Something went horribly, horribly wrong if you're running one of these. Maybe you cracked a pack and it was just 14 token cards and one of these, so you have no choice. Fugitive Wizard, and my favorite, Harvester Troll, belong in this bracket.
As we look at each card, we'll give it a rating for Limited, which encompasses both sealed and draft format, since typically they're similar. We'll also tack on a rating for Two-Headed Giant if the card performs better or worse in an environment with more players. Our reviews will be separate, as sometimes we'll have a difference of opinion on cards. Use this to your advantage to get multiple perspectives on a card, or just make fun of the person you disagree with.
Black looks like it's going to be a good time, and brings a lot of cool cards into the mix, so let us attend thiszombie party monster mash together!
As we look at each card, we'll give it a rating for Limited, which encompasses both sealed and draft format, since typically they're similar. We'll also tack on a rating for Two-Headed Giant if the card performs better or worse in an environment with more players. Our reviews will be separate, as sometimes we'll have a difference of opinion on cards. Use this to your advantage to get multiple perspectives on a card, or just make fun of the person you disagree with.
Black looks like it's going to be a good time, and brings a lot of cool cards into the mix, so let us attend this
Time to get Swampy:
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| The curse is horns? Sign me up. |
Dan:
Limited: 7
Her stats aren't terrible, and she can swing in for damage, but she is a lightning rod. Luckily, once she dies, you can target your enemy more cheaply, they lose life, and you gain life. All of those are great in a controlling deck, especially if you're casting hand disruption spells at at em. More importantly, this is an Aura curse, which I haven't seen before, so that's neato.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
If this enchanted each opponent it'd be a slam dunk, but one is acceptable. It still does some damage with the curse side and gains you a bit of health, and you can just pick one of the opposing heads to harass with stuff. Typically, just pick the blue head, cause they're annoying.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
You bet your werewolf flipping ass I'm gonna run 4 of these even though in a best case scenario I'll probably pull 1. I haven't figured out the logistics yet, but I'll get there. Also when you ultimately have to show your opponent what happens when they kill this they might be less inclined to take 1 damage a turn and gain you life, so I'm not saying they'll just take the 4 damage, but they might just take the 4 damage.
Two-Headed Giant: 8
It's not better or worse in 2HG. I'm just typing this cause Dan said something. STILL GOOD THOUGH.
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| AKA "Rally the Fam" |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
This will be my "I'm gonna play everything at instant speed on your turn and get a vampire to gain me life on top of that" card. Flash in a guy as a blocker. Play a sorcery at instant speed. Each time getting a small life-linker. In 4 turns with good draws I can also trigger delirium right away with this. The only downside is that you can only do this once a turn. If I could I'd just discard my whole hand in one turn and get 7 1/1 creatures and start life linking my way to victory.
Dan:
Limited: 7
In this vampire madness deck, this card will get you a bunch of free guys. If a lot of your deck has madness, now a lot of your deck also makes lifelink tokens. For only one mana each, that's a bargain, and this enchantment isn't expensive to get onto the field.
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| He already has bandages, so this isn't his first rodeo. |
Dan:
Limited: 6
This card fits in the aggressive vein of the madness deck. It does a good amount of damage for very cheap if you can discard it, and it also gives you a bit of a buffer to stay alive from swingbacks. Without madness this is not a great card, and I wouldn't run it unless you have plenty of reliable discard outlets, or are turbo agro.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Use this with the above mentioned card and you get a 1/1 lifelink and then you gain three and they lose three for only 2 mana. That is a bargain and a nice swing in life. I really like this card; even at face value a 6 life swing isn't bad at 3 and if you can do this with madness it's only better. Plus with madness making this instant speed gets me all hot and bothered.
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| That's nice of her to visit the ill. |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
A 3/1 for aggro in BR vampires is great on it's own and good in any aggro deck where you are running B. If you pair this with the vampire bakery from above (pay 1, discard a card get a 1/1 with loaf link. ya know Call the Bloodline) you can get a vampire and can flash this either at the end of their turn or right before their upkeep so you can draw a card and lose a life. That's ok because you just got a loaf link vampire (whenever this creature deals damage you get that much bread).
Two-Headed Giant: 9
With maximum potential putting you at drawing an additional 4 cards plus your draw step draw, you could get 5 cards in a single turn if it's a top deck fight. This can get you out of some sticky situations late game if you're stalled out or topdecking.
Dan:
Limited: 8
This is a card that vampire agro desperately wants. First of she's a 3/1 for two, which black doesn't see all the time. You'll often be dumping your hand to swing in early and often with vampires, and once you're empty, this draws you extra cards. If your opponent is dumb and goes empty as well, this draws you cards on their turn as well. If you can cast them on their turn, you still get an extra during your next upkeep. This does a lot, and is a great pull into an agro madness deck.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
The fact that this triggers for each player makes this card insane. If you and your teammate are both topdecking, you'll be drawing three cards per turn instead of one, and you'll be able to throw down a ton of vamps. You'll also get cards any time an opponent goes all out, punishing them for using all of their cards. Way to go, scary vampire lady.
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| Oh no, Murlocs! |
Dan:
Limited: 6
If you have a bunch of little dudes, this makes them all able to get in quite often. The activated ability lets this pair well with white little dudes and human tokens, since they'll be able to skulk in unblocked, and then you pump them to send in a bunch of damage. This doesn't help much if you have mostly big dudes, so be sure your deck can utilize the skulk before picking this.
Gaige:
Limited: 6
This card will give a weird power to your creatures. 1 and 2 powers are now probably unblockable, 3 and 4 are the same, and 5+ power doesn't matter if they have skulk because they're big and spooky enough. I wouldn't use this in aggro because you're wasting a turn that you could be playing a creature to throw at them but in a midrange deck this can get you some free damage with all your small creatures.
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| We have received confirmation from the artist that this is not a Sharknado. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
In a perfect world with infinite mana, you just discard your whole hand and then play them all for their madness costs and then get whatever three cards you want. But that won't happen. You might be able to get off a card maybe two if theyre cheap and you have a lot of mana. Or it's super late game and you top deck this and discard nothing to get three cards of your choice.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
Now that you have a partner to keep you safe you can spend a turn dumping your hand for three bombs next turn. If I pull this I will force run this in whatever deck I'm playing. So I can fetch my foil promo Avacyn plus my other two foil non-promo Avacyns.
Dan:
Limited: 5
It really, really depends on how slow games are going to know if this is good. If games are frequently going nine or ten turns, this card gets bumped up a ton. Then it becomes "Hmm, turn 7, what cards do I need to finish this bullshit?" Hopefully your hand is mostly empty, because casting madness cards along with this card's whopping price tag is going to be difficult.
Two-Headed Giant: 7
2HG naturally lasts a bit longer than regular games, making this a safer card to include. If your decks are slow and you have a few bombs or good removal, this is a very effective tornado.
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| I'm convinced there is absolutely nothing positive about life on Innistrad. |
Dan:
Limited: 8
Another -2/-2 card? This standard has so many of these. I think this particular one is set to do some work in this format. There are a lot of low toughness creatures, and a whole lot of tokens floating around, so this should be able to pick up quite a few cards, and you can be sure to build your deck to have some fatter butts so you don't kill yourself. This is also one of the few madness cards that is a shitty card for the vampire agro deck, so don't play it in that shell.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
Boardwipes are spectacular in 2HG, since your teammate can plan around them and leave you with a solid board presence afterwards. I think in this particular format this is gonna fuck shit up, and I wouldn't be surprised if over 5 creatures die in this storm.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
You're probably thinking that there aren't that many creature that will die to a soft rain but let me tell you how many will. Well, I don't have a number, but it's a lot. If you're playing against a token deck or aggro deck you just wipe there board. If you have some creatures you know you're going to lose, swing in first and do some damage to their bigger guys so that this may hit them as well.
Two-Headed Giant: 9
With one more person playing things that is just more for this rain to sweep away. As stated before, go out in a blaze of glory with everything you know is going to die anyways and maybe get some extra damage in. Soft rain = hard consequences.
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| Bottom is MIA and you know Nocturne about to jump out the jungle on your ass. |
Gaige:
Limited: 2
Limited: 2
Yes I definitely want a card that enables my opponent to play madness spells on my turn. The three potential damage is not worth them casting whatever they want at instant speed on your turn. They could then cast soft rain on your turn and wipe your board.
Two-Headed Giant: 1
The only way you will get 6 damage a turn out of this is if your opponents are top decking and refuse to play what they draw AND the cards they are holding are the same type. Your opponents can make sure they always discard a different type from the other so they take 3 damage at most, plus you are now giving two opponents madness potential.
Dan:
Limited: 3
If your deck is drawing a ton of cards, this is a way to keep yourself ahead, and occasionally poke them a bit. Problem is, if they dump their hand on their turn, you just discard a card. I have a creeping feeling that it will happen too often, cause once you make them discard a few times, they're probably topdecking and going to just play what they draw. The upside is just not enticing enough to make it worth it, though it might be able to be sided in for a controlly mirror.
Two-Headed Giant: 1
No sideboard here, and this can hurt your teammate too. If somehow you're running an amazing black/blue with tons of advantage, and your teammate has a spectacular white/green with tons of investigate and draw, go ahead and try it, but I wouldn't be too optimistic. It is sort of cool that you have a chance to hit them for 6 if you all discard the same type.
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| All these Scarecrows, and only one Crow? |
Dan:
Limited: 5
The zombie deck wants mill, but I don't think the zombie deck looks too hot. There are ways to use your GY, but a surprisingly small amount of cards that can straight come back to the field from the yard, and two of those are mythic. But a 2/1 flier for three is alright, and if you desperately need a way to dump cards in your yard, he does that very efficiently.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
Innistrad's last surviving crow after the great scarecrow takeover. Now some people may disagree (probably anyone who has any real grasp of this game) but I'll take a shitty flyer over a slightly better grounder. This card isn't great but you can swing overtop or block their flyers. You also get potential delirium feeder when it enters the battlefield.
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| At least he's dressed nicely. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
Get it? Dead Weight? He's about to be killed. Making him dead. Well either way, it's 1 cost removal for anything toughness 2 or less and can be used to bring there bigger creatures down so you can kill them with a gentle kiss of rain
Dan:
Limited: 7
Break out the fuzzy handcuffs, cause this is great removal. Shackle up a big creature to make it less of a threat, or put a weight so heavy on a tiny dude that he outright dies, and this this aura feeds your delirium. I'd definitely grab any of these I see in black, and would be fine with running a couple of them.
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| Oh no, the zombies turned into the Megazord. |
Dan:
Limited: 8
Megazomb has an outrageously high ceiling if you can build a good zombie deck. First off, if you've self-milled or just had a few guys die, he enters as a reasonable threat himself. Then having every single zombie enter with another zombie is extremely dank. You can just shamble at them with a button of zumbies, and drown them in bodies. On a side note, cards like this are why I feel Biting Rain is going to be so strong.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
With all the zom-sense your about to do with this card, being a 2/2 for three is something you should be ok with. If you can wait to play this until at least mid game and were able to get a fair amount of zombies in your pulls, then you get zombie man but bigger. Then any zombies you have left that aren't in the graveyard give you more zombies when played.
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| Totally thought the backside was a birthday cake, and I was like "This isn't so bad." |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
The obvious idea behind this card is to swing in with mist and before damage flip it to do for which is a 5 turn timer and super good, but remember you don't have to flip it. If you decided to run any enchant creatures, you can just throw them on your hexproof, indestructible, unblockable mist. If you manage to get it +2/+2 you put it outside of what a single biting rain can do so it is basically unkillable at that point. Now I'm not saying this is a good idea at all, but something to keep in mind. But yes, good because madness and 4/4 for 4 and mist things.
Dan:
Limited: 8
This is a perfect finisher for a controlling deck, and she gets purtier with some madness cards. A 4/4 for four is good to begin with, and this lady defends herself really well. You can swing in, and if they try and shenanigans to kill her, just turn her into smoke and she lives. Then next turn you can attack with your cloud, and then flip her for three mana after blocks to do four damage unblockable. Oh, what's that, they tried to kill her before damage? Dang, guess you flip her back and wait until next turn. Super resilient, and a great include in most black decks, especially ones that are fine with a long game.
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| Until death do us just kind of hang out. |
Dan:
Limited: 8
This is supposed to go into a zombie deck, but who really cares what creature types you're playing, cause this is really good. Bring back your two scariest beasts from the bucket, and resume the smashing. This also goes back in your library as well, so you may get the chance to do it again.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Zombie deck not required to play this. Hell even black isn't required if you just want a useless card in your deck that you won't feel bad about discarding. I will be using this when my first two Avacyns die to bring them both back and then still have a third Avacyn in hand. Use this to get any bombs you lost or shitty creatures if you're feeling that. You do you.
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| How do spooky ghosts lure people? I would definitely not follow this guy. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
It's a little expensive for a 1 power creature but it's almost unblockable and will give you one life a turn. You can either ping them or keep it back to block there smaller creatures and either way you get to slowly gain life. This is the card I will want to play that Dan will tell me I shouldn't because there are better things.
Dan:
Limited: 6
This is nice filler in a slow deck, though nothing special. It can block small guys and gain you some life while he does it, and then when you're ready, you can blap them for one, and chances are it'll go through thanks to the low power and skulk. Also Gaige is wrong, for once I fully support this life decision, and I hope he plays it.
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| See, this is what you get for hiding bodies in the crawlspace. |
Dan:
Limited: 9
Black has some bomb-ass rares, and this one definitely fits. As just a five cost to get three 2/2s and gain three, this would be a great card. Throwing in the madness option pushes it over the top, since you have options from an early zombie and one life, all the way up to a metric shit ton of zombies and an equal huge amount of life. That's really versatile, and a smart play whether ahead or behind.
Gaige:
Limited: 9
As a stand alone getting 3 creatures for 5 is good, and 3 2/2 creatures are even better. What's that you say? OH RIGHT. You also gain three life. Now if you have something to trigger this madness cost and are able to do so at instant speed, you are going to ruin someones day. You'll need at least 5 mana in addition to any mana costs to active the discard ability, but if its late game and you pay 1 to discard and have 8 or so mana open...well that's how people quit playing this game.
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| It's Gregor Clegane posing as a Magic card. |
Gaige:
Limited: 5
It's filler. It's a 2/2 for 2 which is fine. The ability does give you the option to get another creature on the field if you've run out of cards to play or have some super clever thing planned out with a zombie token. I'm taking points away because I can only get the zombie token at sorcery speed. I mean come on, what's even the point then if I can't let you forget about this in my graveyard and flash in a token to kill your 5/2?
Dan:
Limited: 7 6
This is a great filler card, and one of blacks better common critters. A 2/2 for two is good to play already, and this one can even do extra after he dies. The zombie even enters untapped, so you can use this to surprise your opponent during combat once they forget this died earlier. LOL no you can't Dan, you dumb idiot. You can only activate this as a sorcery, so don't get too excitebike here. Still a fine card, though.
Sidenote: Like half of these zombies enter tapped, and half enter untapped, and it's almost as confusing as picking out what is an Ally and what isn't from BFZ. Be sure to read before you try to ambush someone with a tapped zumbie.
Gaige's Sidenote: From what I can tell, anything that can re-enter the battlefield multiple times enters tapped. This prevents you from flashing them in from the graveyard as a chump blocker, having it die, then flashing it in again at the end of their turn as an attacker. Since token's only can enter the one time cause you have to exile a card and it's sorcery speed it comes in untapped.
Sidenote: Like half of these zombies enter tapped, and half enter untapped, and it's almost as confusing as picking out what is an Ally and what isn't from BFZ. Be sure to read before you try to ambush someone with a tapped zumbie.
Gaige's Sidenote: From what I can tell, anything that can re-enter the battlefield multiple times enters tapped. This prevents you from flashing them in from the graveyard as a chump blocker, having it die, then flashing it in again at the end of their turn as an attacker. Since token's only can enter the one time cause you have to exile a card and it's sorcery speed it comes in untapped.
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| If it was Shadowmere from Skyrim it'd just never die in the first place. |
Dan:
Limited: 7
See, now this guy enters tapped. Make up your mind, zombies. (Edit: Thank you for explaining this to me Gaige, for I am a stupid) But anyways, 4/4 is a decent horse bod, and can fight quite well. If you have madness or other cards that don't mind waiting in the bin for a bit, recurring him is no problem, and he is a resilient horsey threat.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Unless I'm lacking something else to play, I'll just ignore this guys actual mana cost and get it into the graveyard as soon as I can so I can madness two cards and bring this guy onto the battlefield for cheaper. You can't flash block with him but you can bring him back at the end of their turn so you have a 4/4 zompony to attack with, and mana open on your turn.
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| I'd be so pissed to be brought back as a zombie. I mean, I finally get to chill, and you make me do more shit? |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
I don't have much for you on this one. If you want zombies play this, if you don't want zombies and want to lose then don't. I guess if your not running black it would be a good idea not to play this as well. You can get two zombies or if you have madness things you can get them cheaper and flash them in at a weird time to surprise your opponent.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Ok, I get it guys, the zombie deck doesn't look too terrible. At least, a token-based zombie deck looks pretty good to me. There are a lot of things to spawn 2/2's, and the best of the bunches use madness to do so more efficiently, so make sure you have some discard outlets if you want to live the dream.
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| This is somebody's fetish. |
Dan:
Limited: 6
This is a sweet trick. It can make you win combat and gain a ton of life, or do a bunch of damage and still gain a ton of life, all on the cheap. Good ol' lamprey hands is a safe include and surprising your opponent with one copy of this will make them regret that "good luck" handshake when they see your nasty tentacle grabber.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
Read this as "Gain 3+ life and do 3 damage to target creature or player." Actually don't read it like that because it makes the card seem better than it is. It does have the potential to do that, but they also have potential to block something and blink it away so you gain no life and do no extra damage. I will want to play this card but hopefully will have strictly better cards to play instead.
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| By day, a vampire, by night, also a vampire. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Fun fact: well actually it's not that fun but regular fact I guess: If you look at her exposed skin in the front image it makes the shape a of a bat. Because she's a vampire. And vampires can turn into bats. Except this one apparently. She just gets an angry face and starts flying around. With this on the field, if you have cards in hand your opponents are going to have to be careful what they do because you can flip this for 0 mana and give it flying and +1 power. Also use it to swing it (duh).
Dan:
Limited: 7
Shouldn't it be Heiress? Or do they not do that? I don't know how titles work. But anyways, she's going to be a mainstay of the vampire deck. She's a good way to throw down a madness card, and can be hitting them for three in the air as early as turn three, which is a scary clock to fight.
Dan:
Limited: 3
This is a mediocre puppy, and I wouldn't want to play him most of the time. If you really need a five drop, he can sneak in some damage with menace, but he is very, very bad if you can't get delirium on. Granted a zombie deck should be able to do that, but I'd still steer clear until I have no other choice.
Two-Headed Giant: 1
I don't like menace too much in 2HG since there are a lot more creatures to chump with, and this guy could die to two tokens even if you have delirium on. I would look for better creatures in your team's prerelease pool.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
With as much token production there is in this set, he'll be easy to kill and going 2 for 1 with their tokens might not put you that far ahead. If you can give him menace he'll probably be able to do some damage before he's ultimately destroyed. A sizeable chump blocker if you need it but you shouldn't add him to your deck for that reason. The only reason you really should add him is if you're lacking in the better cards department.
With as much token production there is in this set, he'll be easy to kill and going 2 for 1 with their tokens might not put you that far ahead. If you can give him menace he'll probably be able to do some damage before he's ultimately destroyed. A sizeable chump blocker if you need it but you shouldn't add him to your deck for that reason. The only reason you really should add him is if you're lacking in the better cards department.
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| The Hedonism Bot of Vampires. |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
So the more vampires on the field the better because then more +1/+1 counters (there has to be an easier way to type +1/+1 than actually type that every time) that fall on guys. If you can get some gross hybrid zombie vampire deck you can sac tokens or sac things that come back and give even more tokens. Even if you don't have lots of vampires I would run this if you get it because at a minimum he can feed himself and then he gets all vampire spooky with his loaflink.
Dan:
Limited: 7
This guy can be an 8 in the right vampire deck, since you can sacrifice guys who would die in combat to make your others strong. He could also be a 4 if you don't have enough vampires, so make sure you have plenty of support. It is very nice that he even puts a counter onto himself, so he could easily become a large lifelink threat on his own. Or, if you really need to close out the game, he can sacrifice himself to buff your other guys.
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| Furthering my fear of old people. |
Dan:
Limited: 8
Grandmammy flip'n'kill is the meanest old lady on the block once you can get delirium on. A 2/3 for three isn't the end of the world, and if you had a bit of self mill or the green Vessel, she can kill someone the very first turn you untap with her, and turn into a strong attacker. Later game she'll be great, as once at six mana, you'll be able to drop and flip to kill something. Definitely one of the better uncommons, and I'd pick it highly since it can fit into a variety of decks.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
This card is good, but you'll never have delirium when you want it. They'll drop a bomb and you'll want to flip kill it with this crazy old woman and you won't be able to until next turn. That being said, this crazy old lady has some arthritis strength. When delirium is online you'll be able to get a stronger creature for 3 and then kill something for that same three mana. Removal is always good even if it's done by a terrifying kind old lady.
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| C'mon you two, just bone already and get it over with. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
I want this card to be better than it is, because I want you to just dump 10 creatures in the graveyard and kill your opponent right there. Now for you to do that you'd need at least 11 mana and the best luck in the world to get all 10 cards as creatures. Hopefully by the time you play this you've blapped them a couple times already so you don't need the full 10 creatures. This is also nice to help delirium and just fill up your graveyard if you have some other graveyard shenanigans.
Dan:
Limited: 5
The potential to whiff is real, and I don't think paying a bunch of mana at sorcery speed is the right way to enable delirium in black. However, this could be a good finisher for a black deck heavy on creatures, and it has potential to be scary strong if you're running over 16 dudes. Also, Gaige's standard deck is running this as a finisher, and it hurts.
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| Oh nevermind, looks like she has someone else. |
Dan:
Limited: 5
That zombie dances exactly like I do, so I appreciate the equal representation here. This card wasn't so great last time we saw it, but with the crazy amount of self mill, delirium, and graveyard stuff, this is poised to be significantly better, and it's fine to include a copy if you will be tossing cards into your yard a lot.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
There is definitely potential with this card considering how much you'll probably put into the graveyard, but sometimes you have just have to let go. It's not a bad card but when my creatures die I'll either just let it be or try and find a better way to bring them back. Since they only go to hand you still have to pay whatever they cost on top of the two, which may be small if its Sin Prodder, or bigger if it's Ulvenwald Hyrda.
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| You fuck with Sorin, you fuck with Innistrad. |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
He's a big man with swords, or spears? Something hurtful. And he'll just get bigger. Unless you have the 1 cost madness spells, it will be a bit difficult to use him to trigger madness since his discard already costs 3, but if you do have the mana you'll be able to do something fun and make him bigger. As I'm sure you can read he is a vampire so he would go good in a vampire deck but if you're already committed to something else that's running black he's perfectly good as a standalone.
Dan:
Limited: 8
This is the top end of the Vampire deck, no doubt about it. He looks metal as fuck, which is a big point in his favor, and he's just super powerful. A 3/3 flying for five is not a bad place to start, and you can make him a 7/7 the second you untap with him if you please. Alternatively, you can pitch a madness card and cast that, and you still have a 5/5 flier. Seeing this in my first pack would make me go Vampires, and seeing this in my third pack if I'm already in Vamps would make me go coocoo for vampire puffs.
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| Not a fan of Nahiri's choice of interior design. |
Dan:
Limited: 5
Instant speed makes this playable, since you can just sacrifice a chump blocker to draw two. Having the option to put a land in the yard to turn on delirium isn't bad, but chances are if you're running this, you'll be in a slow controlling deck or the zombie token deck, so you should have self-mill to turn on delirium.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Fairly inexpensive instant speed card draw in black. It's not quite Read the Bones but I'll play this anytime I'm playing black. The option to sac a creature in response to something or a land to get delirium online is more helpful than it is hurtful, and then after all that you get to draw two. You can use this as a desperate last ditch effort for an answer to something they're playing on their turn.
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| "Magic wand, make my monster GROW" - Rita Repulsa |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Flying and trample, what a good combination. I still never really get how you can trample something in the air. I would think it would be just easier to go under or over them, but my only experience with flying was that one dream I had where Kate Upton took my hand and pulled me into the sky and then when I woke up my bed was all sticky. I wouldn't worry to much about the back effect of taking damage if you don't have delirium because you dump 4 in the graveyard to begin with, and there are enough things in black to get you to discard or sacrifice something.
Dan:
Limited: 9
Oh boy, that is scary in both art and stats. Flying tomple doesn't get stopped by much, and 4/5 is not easy to kill. The fact that you could plop this on turn four and already have delirium on is very scary, and I'd expect a G/B delirium deck to wreck face with this. The card is aggressive enough that even if you have to wait a turn or two before turning delirium on, chances are that you're still ahead in the race.
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| There is however, enough salt on MTGO to wither it. |
Dan:
Limited: 4
The only time I'd even attempt this is if you have a ton of zombie tokens, and even then I'm hesitant. He is absolutely massive, but you if they have tokens, you can only swing a few times before you're out of stuff to sac. If you're pitching creatures to him, then they're going to have a very strong swingback, and you won't be able to do shit about it cause you were busy sluggin' away.
Two-Headed Giant: 2
Menace is more easily chumped in 2HG, and it only takes a few turns before you've fucked up your board state, so I'd try to avoid this unless you have a ton of token creatures.
Gaige:
Limited: 3
He is big, and his power is greater than his mana cost which is a good sign, but having to sacrifice something everytime you want to attack or block is gonna be rough. It will be fine at first but then after they give -2/-2 to all your creatures and all your sacrifice fodder is gone. Menace is nice but not that big of an upside. I might run this if desperate but hopefully I won't hit that level.
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| "Hey buddy, could you hold this?" |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
I wish this was sorcery speed but with madness it almost is. You don't need a reduced madness cost because you can now play this right after they declare attacks with madness. Use in combination with Heir of Falkenreath to get a flying blocker and kill whatever big guy they are trying to hit you with.
Dan:
Limited: 8
Cheap and easy removal, it doesn't get much better. They have to attack at some point, and at that point you just eat their dude. Having madness is nice, since with the right enablers you can compulsively murder at instant speed, which can put you in a neat spot.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Olivia's whole family is just fast and angry, and this guy helps it be faster. He's already aggressive on his own, and he makes your other vamps that lack haste much more fearsome. If you're looking to close out the game before your opponent can amass a giant pile of clues, this is the dude to do it.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
If you play this turn 2 you can swing with it on turn 3. If you play this turn, you can swing with this turn 3. You get an attacker in the air that will make all your vampires even faster, including this one. Just keep poking them with this and force their hand to remove your small vampire so you can play Olivia "I was your favorite commander of this set until you saw the Gitrog." Voldaren.
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| This art looks way creeper and way better than a lot of the other stuff. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
With as much madness and delirium as there is, discarding just isn't a downside. Skulk probably won't do a whole lot but I'm sure you'll find a situation where you get to use it and it'll feel alright. You get a 3/3 for 2 so why would you not run this spirit horse. I guess that is his/her downside. It is neither vampire nor zombie so you get no synergy bonus, but you should probably play it still.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Scary horse spirit is excellent at most points in the game. Early on, if you want to drop him on turn 2 and activate the turbo agro, that's your right and you may discard some crappy card to do so. If you draw him late, you can cast him and play a madness card. Skulk starts to be less valuable once the power gets higher, but he still can dodge big dudes, and with reasonable toughness, he can usually plow through things smaller than him.
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| He's here to sign up for Four-Headed Giant. |
Dan:
Limited: 2
I'm not a big fan of this kind of hand disruption, but sometimes making them exile their best card is a huge play. Sometimes they reveal a hand full of land, and, well, that sucks for both them and you. Delirium doesn't make a ton of difference, since at most they'll have two or three copies of common. Maybe just side this in if they have a huge bomb and you want to roll the dice and see if you can snipe it. But probably don't do that.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
I expect a lot of people to play this in limited and I don't blame you but I will hate you forever. It makes sense in control if you want to see what they have to play but also to get rid of their best card. I wouldn't worry too much about getting delirium online because if you are trying to get rid of their bomb I doubt they'll have multiple copies. Doesn't hurt to check though.
Two-Headed Giant: 3
You might get unlucky and pick the one who had the shitty hand anyways. It's less good because you know have to pick an opponent. Realize that this card only lets them pick one opponent so don't let them trick you into showing both your hands and then they just pick one card from either of you.
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| How long until they run out of illiterative rat names? |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Dies to everything and there are better two drops but this can be either an "unblockable" one damage for a while or deterrence to keep them from attacking you. Your deck may need this, it may not. Maybe you acknowledge that your deck doesn't need this but you just have a special place in your heart for rats so you play it anyways.
Dan:
Limited: 4
The token 1/1 deathtouch is always good, but usually it's for only one mana. Skulk is cool, but usually they wouldn't block your 1/1 deathtouch with their huge guys anyways. I dunno, if you need more zombie types you're welcome to play this, but it just seems like a more expensive version of our beloved deathtouch rats without much upside.
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| <gaige put something funny here, I can't think of anything because I'm too turned on by how good this is> |
Dan:
Limited: 9
I suppose here's a reason to play the zombie rat. Relentless Dead lives up to his name, and no matter how many times he gets knocked down, he gets back up again. Just like Chumbawamba.
If you're lucky enough to open our zombie friend, be sure to grab plenty of zombies to go along with him for his second ability. I also recommend keeping that one black up anytime he's on the field, so that you don't lose him in your yard without a way to bring him back.
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| Greatest album of our time, or greatest album of all time? |
Gaige:
Limited: 10
Even if your not doing zombies, use this as a sac machine for your vampires or a chump blocker or even just swing in with this menace to the church. It's super versatile and it can keep coming back. This is one of my favorite card's of the set and can't wait to not get any in the prerelease and then die to this card because they kill one of my two creatures and I have nothing to block with.
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| Lili just burned you from beyond the grave. |
Gaige:
Limited: 4
If I was desperate for zombies I'll play this. It's not great and can trigger madness, but I would definitely be hesitant about making an opponent discard a card unless they are tapped out. It's a little to expensive to be an early game fat butt and won't do a whole lot of damage to anything.
Dan:
Limited: 5
It doesn't take much convincing for me to want to play a butt this fat, and the upside just makes me love his zombie butt even more. You don't need to be in a zombie deck to play this; any slower deck should be happy to run him. Granted Gaige does remind me that this activate madness or delirium for your opponent, which kind of sucks, but I'll risk it for that zombie biscuit.
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| Only on Innistrad do you need to restrain dead people. |
Dan:
Limited: 6
Yes, ok, I know I'm overrating this, but I've had good experiences with infinitely recurring chumpers. I've rocked Tenacious Dead more times than I should, and he always saves me. This guy isn't quite as good, but any time I can block and possibly kill something without permanently losing my bro, I am interested.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
He's probably super lonely because not only is he locked up but he is the only skeleton on all of Innistrad right now. This is a nice early drop for slow or control decks that will prevent 1/1 creatures from poking you early and will give you the option to bring him back if you have some extra mana at the end of their turn or run out of cards to play.
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| Ay you got a bird stuck in your hair. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Stop your opponents delirium. Stop your opponents zombies from coming back. Exile a creature you don't need in a time when you do need a creature. This card is super cheap and it gives you a 2/2 and 2 life for B. Exiling a creature from any graveyard as an added cost really only helps you out as it grave blocks them from doing some things.
Dan:
Limited: 7
I believe this card is Certified Balling™. I would pay one mana for a 2/2, and gaining two life is sweet. Sure, you need someone to have a creature in the yard, so this won't drop turn one, but a 2/2 for one is decent at most times, especially with some ETB lifegain. Also this can break up delirium strategies and any sort of graveyard recurring, so that's a bonus.
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| That's probably just the nasty Sock Soup my grandparents make for Christmas. |
Dan:
Limited: 7
In a madness deck this is absurd, and a total slam dunk. If you can cast a madness card with the discard portion of it, this is like BB and one life to kill a creature, which is primo. In any other deck it's alright, and I'd still probably use it, just not as happily. I often have an extra land or some junk in hand that I'd be willing to pitch to this.
Gaige:
Limited: 8
"Pay 1 life, activate delirium, trigger madness, sacrifice this, kill a creature for 2 mana." Other than the 1 life you have to pay there is no real downside to this card either. With limited enchantment removal you can just keep this on the board to make your opponents pee themselves in constant fear of losing whatever they might play. Just keep 1 mana open at all time and don't get down to 1 life or just 1 card in your library and use this when they need to or when they try to get rid of it.
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| Is it a horse of nightmares of just a mare who likes night time? |
Gaige:
Limited: 5
I like my horses like I like my coffee. Dead. Well, I don't want any real horses dead. What I'm saying is that I wish this was another zombie horse for zombie synergy. A 3/3 is annoying for your opponents and with enough mana you can make this pretty spooky pretty quick.
Dan:
Limited: 6
This horse is some fine filler. A 3/3 for four does stuff, and delirium makes combat trickier for your opponents. If you have plenty of open mana, you can pump this guy quite a bit.
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| How will fencing save you from something that only dies to sunlight and wood stakes? |
Dan:
Limited: 5
A two-butt dies pretty easily, so that makes me nervous, but being able to throw another point of power on something is nice. Play him in a vampire deck, but I wouldn't even look at him unless you can guarantee to have a vampire on field when you play him.
Gaige:
Limited: 5
You can't put a +1/+1 counter on himself so if he is your only creature then you just kind of whiff and that will make you feel bad. The last thing I want for you to feel is bad. This is also only good in a vampire deck because if you have other non-vampire creatures you whiff again. His power is good but he'll die to a mean mug from Nahiri.
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| C'mon guy, hit him with your spiky pickaxe thing. |
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Don't let the cost scare you away. It's instant speed and if the -4/-4 doesn't outright kill what you want, use it during combat to have your chumper finish the job for you. This card will just about kill anything that isn't their biggest creature and should go in any controlly deck running black. Even midrange decks running black. This should go in black decks.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Lookie, it's the crappy expensive removal that you'll be frequently using! Sure, it costs a lot, but -4/-4 at instant speed kills most things, so play it and be happy that you got it.
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| I still think it looks more like a pig than a sheep. |
Dan:
Limited: 5
Them choosing makes this significantly worse with all these tokens running around, and I don't think the planeswalker part is going to matter often. Although, when it does matter, it's going to feel really fucking good. I'd only run this if I have very few removal spells.
Gaige:
Limited: 7
Once you have delirium online this will get rid of their planeswalker and at that point who cares what creature they sacrifice because it's a twofer for 3. They could sacrifice a shitty spirit token but with planeswalkers being even harder to deal with in limited I'm ok with them losing a small thing to get rid of their planeswalker. If they have two planewalkers then you just weren't meant to win and you need to accept that.
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| The toothfairy has fell on hard times. |
Gaige:
Limited: 8
Token removal hooray! When it enters you can kill something small or bring something big down a notch to make you swinging in easier. Once delirium goes online every one of their turns you can either kill something small or keep their big things smaller.
Two-Headed Giant: 8
This hits both opponents as long as your graveyard has delirium so on their turn each of them has a target creature get -1/-1 which can really start changing the board state if this happens a couple turns in a row.
Dan:
Limited: 7
Eyeblight Assassin was playable, and she was a 2/2 for three that only did the -1/-1 once. Getting a 3/2 for the same cost, and the ability to zap something a little each turn with delirium is very good, and I'd love this in a GB delirium deck. Or most black decks, honestly.
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| I will also pronounce this incorrectly 13 times. |
Dan:
Limited: 3
It takes a madly controlling deck to make this work. You have to be able to block everything, and also be able to chip away tiny chunks of health to make sure you can land them at the right spot. You can get a bit of heal if you're down in a race, bu then they do too... I don't think it's worth playing Triplediscophobia, but lets be honest, this card is so cool that if you open it, you're probably gonna play it cause it's hilarious.
Two-Headed Giant: 1
Managing to hit an odd number is a little more difficult when you go in increments of two.
Gaige:
Limited: 4
Me giving this a rating of 4 will not stop me from playing this no matter what. This card will be the death of me but I will play it any time I get it. It will be really hard to win with this because you'll need to hit them with creatures and whatever else to get them to exactly 13 while avoiding being at exactly 13 yourself.
Two-Headed Giant: 1
Good luck trying to get me to not play this, Dan.
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| I am also afraid of children now in addition to old people. |
Gaige:
Limited: 6
A vampire madness deck will be a little more aggro-y than this so you might want to avoid it if you can. If you aren't running vampires but can still get the madness trigger this card is worth playing. It will be able to do some damage and prevent anything medium sized from coming at you.
Dan:
Limited: 5
In the Vamp deck, this is no Incorrigible Youths. This card is much slower, and shoves in less damage. I think the real home for this is in a more controlling deck that uses madness, because a 3/5 is a way better blocker than a beater. I'd skip this in vamps, but possibly pick it up in U/B or W/B control with madness.
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| The Sultai would get along with these guys. |
Dan:
Limited: 3
The stats for the cost are acceptable in the vampire deck for filler. Nothing exciting here, but if you're desperate for a three drop that can attack, you can settle for her.
Gaige:
Limited: 3
Filler for when you want to force vampires because you pulled Olivia "I need to cut back on humans because someone has been calling me fat" Voldaren. If you don't have enough vampires this will work but it's not great. Too vanilla for me and even at 3 power for 3 it will die to just about everything.
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| Even the books are evil? Get your shit together, Innistrad. |
Gaige:
Limited: 4
This could be interesting for when they only have two cards in hand or you know what is in their hand already. In general it stops any madness they want to try and won't trigger delirium, so it gets rid of two cards (of their choice, which is sad) without allowing them to utilize dump mechanics.
Dan:
Limited: 4
It's hard for me to say if I dislike the red or the black Vessel more, but at least the black one seems to be useful more often. Four mana split amongst two turns in not a lot to pay for a Mindrot that fucks up graveyard stuff. It also does what Vessels do and enables delirium. It's an OK filler card, and if you're controlling and need a reliable way to get that fourth type for delirium, feel free to run this book in a jar. Also I just decided I like this more than red, though red has way better flavor text.
Coolio. Way to go, Black. This color gets quite a few good bombs this set, especially if you count the split color cards with Sorin and Anguished Undoing. It does seem that several cards get worse in 2HG games though, but I'm sure it's still deep enough to base a deck off of. Zombie-token swarm looks very strong, and I'll probably die to that.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for our second to last review. We'll be loudly yelling "NO YOU MAY NOT" at our opponents as we take a look at the color of people who don't value their friendships play. Blue.
Like the stuff? Think zombies are actually the best and that I'm a dick for dissin' your tribe? Wanna talk about girls? Whatever the reason, we'd love to hear from you, so drop a comment below or send us a message with the form on the sidebar!
Be sure to check back tomorrow for our second to last review. We'll be loudly yelling "NO YOU MAY NOT" at our opponents as we take a look at the color of people who don't value their friendships play. Blue.
Like the stuff? Think zombies are actually the best and that I'm a dick for dissin' your tribe? Wanna talk about girls? Whatever the reason, we'd love to hear from you, so drop a comment below or send us a message with the form on the sidebar!
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