Morningtide Standard Review - 14000 words

[GenericKen]

For those of you who missed my Lorwyn review, I must confess I never wrote one. At least, I never finished writing it. Lorwyn never quite caught my fancy. I suppose I’m just a combo-agro-player at heart, and the lack of engines and plethora of hate/blockers brought me down. Morningtide however, has re-piqued my interest.


I’m going to change up the review slightly, to bring the ultimate format definers to the front of this review. The rest of the set has to be viewed in light of the format-definers, so it only makes sense to lead out with them and contextualize the rest of my rankings.
I’m also adding a star to make it a 3 star system. There are a lot of could-be-playables that you probably don’t need to know about, but don’t deserve to be lumped in with the dreck. Zero is unplayable, * has potential, ** is important, and *** is format-defining. A card described as simply “Limited” is a card that’s clearly designed for limited and not constructed, being vanilla, overly combat-oriented, or generally just costing one mana too much. The star rankings are based on T2 playability, but I’ll try to make note where cards have potential in other formats (though I have less experience with older formats).

Okay? Okay.


There probably won’t be any surprises among my three most important cards in Morningtide:

***Mutavault
Land
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{1}: Mutavault becomes a 2/2 creature with all creature types until end of turn. It's still a land.

Not that none of you saw this coming.
Mishra’s factory, eat your heart out. Win condition, free slots, synergy enabler, cheap to animate in almost all circumstances, and free to be run by almost any deck. It’s immune to Eyeblight’s ending, all WoGs, Shriekmaws, Oblivion Rings, and other sorcery-speed removal. It actually serves as anti-synergy against a number of other symetrical tribal themes (only Coat of Arms and Elvish champion come to mind from previous sets, but there are a number of cards in Morningtide that hate to see a Mutavault across the table). If there were a potently good reason to run WoG before in this man-land metagame, it’s gone now; you could run WoG alongside Mutavault, but they could just run Mutavault too, and their color requirements probably wouldn’t be as harsh as yours. I won’t go so far as to say that other black targeted removal will start seeing play over Shriekmaw, but it just might. I’m a fan of Slaughter pact (deferring the cost while animating the Mutavault), but I can’t say for certain it’ll usurp Shriekmaw.
Its drawbacks are limited, but they do exist. It’s not a changeling, so it doesn’t help roughly half of the best tribal synergies in block (Wren Run’s Discount, Tribe lands, triggers on tribes being played, Haakon). The inability to synergize with tribe lands particularly hurts, making even dual-color decks somewhat difficult. Cloudthresher, Gaddock Teeg, Wizened Cenn, and Lord of Atlantis in particular come to mind as cards that don’t play that well with Mutavault. Not to say that Mutavault will see less play because of the aforementioned four; it will more likely be the other way around.
Having only 2 toughness if you animate it is also a moderate liability, in the face of opposing Garruk tokens and Treetop villages. That’s if you animate it. Still, alongside several other cards, it sets the toughness watermark for removal in this format to 2, and makes running Tarfire and Goyf that much better.
That’s the beauty of the card- it costs very little, but gives you boundless options. It fulfils the promise of changeling- a wildcard anyone can run. It’s the cheapest giant, the earliest 2 toughness faerie, the hardest to kill goblin, a backup rogue for prowl, an extra sliver, and a spare elf. Champion anything for 1 mana more. Deal combat damage with a tribe the turn you lay down the synergy for 2 more.
The only real liability is the cash it’s going to cost. It’s everything to everybody, and is sure to be in high demand.



***Chameleon Colossus - 2GG
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times)
Protection from Black
{2}{G}{G}: Chameleon Colossus gets +X/+X until end of turn, where X is equal to its power.
4/4

Obscene. 4/4 for 4, pro-black. Already ridiculous, even ignoring the doubling ability. Shrugs off Doran and Shriekmaw. Wins any combat if necessary, even against goyf. A good reason to run Oblivion ring, and maybe even condemn again. A good reason to run Vesner. A good reason to run Dead//Gone.
This is the first real liability creatures have had for being black in standard. With some help from Garruk, he becomes a 16/16 pretty easily. He lacks general evasion, but between protection from black and maybe slaughter pact, it shouldn’t be too hard to force him through once in a while.



***Countryside Crusher - 1RR
Creature - Giant Warrior
At the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. If it's a land card, put it into your graveyard and repeat this process.
Whenever a land card is put into your graveyard from anywhere, put a +1/+1 counter on Countryside Crusher.
3/3

Mana severance on a body. A really fantastic body, in fact. He easily rivals Teravore and goyf in size while pumping himself up in progressive turns.
There is some subtlety to him though. You will never draw another land again, so your curve had better be low. He will not set up your sorcery-speed clashes, as you draw the first non-land card you reveal. Effects like Terramorphic expanse and Horizon canopy are cute, but tiny compared to the number of lands he flips over himself. Abusing the trigger on his ability is most readily achieved with a suspended gargadon, dissuading anybody from trying to burn him out.
Hilariously, he’s terrible in the Giants deck. That deck needs to draw its lands for its more expensive creatures, so the worst tribe sadly doesn’t get to run the best card.



Other context notes about the set’s mechanics:

-Like clash, Kinship will miss at least 33% of the time because of lands. The chances of hitting’ll be closer to 50% in a realistic deck.
-Kinship won’t help your sorcery-speed clashes, as you draw the card you look at.

-The tribal cost reduces are interesting with changelings and cross-tribe/class creatures, but this probably won’t come to anything.

-The +1/+1 counter lords kind of suck. Where the regular lords give you an immediate power boost for the attack that turn, the +1/+1 counter lords will typically take 2 turns for their power boost to reach the opponents’ dome (excluding haste guys and dropping the lord later in the game alongside creatures).
-If the +1/+1 counter synergies really were powerful, Spike feeder could see maindeck play. I doubt it though, as there are only like four +1/+1 counter synergies, and most aren’t worth spending a card to enable.

-The clash buybackers (“clash. If you win, return ~ to your hand”) make for pretty decent card advantage. The average advantage is roughly a geometric series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_series), and should converge to between 1.6 and 3 for most clash decks. They’re a bit slow, and quite expensive to iterate though.

-Prowl is enabled well by mutavault, nightblade stinger/cloud sprite, and Bitterblossom, but not by faerie conclave.
-Prowl is obscene. Remember when Wizards did a retrospective about the mistakes they made with affinity? How it was a linear mechanic that grew more powerful the more of it you ran in your deck, and how cost reduction in these mechanics was inherently broken? How allowing lands to fuel the mechanic removes any hope of tempering that mechanic to a reasonable power level? Yeah, I do too. A shame they didn’t. Only time will tell just how obscene it is. The one thing that’s certain is that Pyroclasm’s stock just went way up.




Ballyrush Banneret - 1W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
Kithkin spells and Soldier spells you play cost {1} less to play.
2/1

Kithkin don’t look like they got any color-fixing tribeland, any sort of evasion, or any sort of removal. It’s a solid, aggressive card with no home above tier 2.5. Too bad.



Battletide Alchemist - 3WW
Creature - Kithkin Cleric
If a source would deal damage to a player, you may prevent X of that damage, where X is the number of Clerics you control.
3/4

Five mana is awfully expensive for a defensive effect that relies on a tribe with primarily defensive abilities. It’s not too bad on its own, as an urza’s armor on a stick, but I just don’t see what sort of deck this would go into.



Burrenton Bombardier - 2W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
Flying
Reinforce 2 - {2}{W}
2/2

Limited, though it’s great in limited. Not much of a combat trick for constructed, though, where Doran is the measuring stick for beats, and 2 toughness for 3 mana might as well be an herbal poultice. When was the last time Griffin Guide saw play?



Burrenton Shield-Bearers - 4W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
Whenever Burrenton Shield-Bearers attacks, target creature gets +0/+3 until end of turn.
3/3

Limited.



Cenn's Tactician - W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
{W}, {T}: Put a +1/+1 counter on target Soldier creature.
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it can block an additional creature.
1/1

Defensive 1/1 for 1 with synergy with +1/+1 counter effects. It’s not too bad on its own, but it seems worse than a lot of other 1/1 for W options, none of which see play. From what I’ve seen of the +1/+1 counter effects, none of them make this playable.



Changeling Sentinel - 3W
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
Vigilance
3/2

Vigilance isn’t going to do a whole lot with 2 toughness. Vanilla, limited.



Coordinated Barrage - W
Instant
Choose a creature type. Coordinated Barrage deals damage to target attacking or blocking creature equal to the number of permanents of that type.

Much worse than Condemn, which doesn’t see play. The problem with condemn wasn’t the lifegain, it was the timing. The spell could not be played outside of the combat step and unless your opponent wanted to play into it. Being totally blanked by Teferi didn’t help.



Daily Regimen - W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
{1}{W}: Put a +1/+1 counter on enchanted creature.

Shockingly terrible. Worse than dreck. A huge mana and risk investment for miniscule gain.



*Feudkiller's Verdict - 4WW
Tribal Sorcery - Giant
You gain 10 life. Then if you have more life than an opponent, put a 5/5 white Giant Warrior creature token into play.

Think of it as a 5/5 for 6 with 10 lifegain tacked on. With any sort of decent play in the preceding 5 turns, you should be able to make a 9 point spread after combat on your 6th turn. The question then becomes whether a 5/5 for 6 with no evasion has any place in a Doran world. I suppose it depends on how valuable that 10 life winds up being in the meta.



Forfend - 1W
Instant
Prevent all damage that would be dealt to creatures this turn.

Strictly inferior to both Holy day (with blocking) and Dolmen Doorway. True, it combines the effects, but I can’t really imagine a deck that would want both.



*Graceful Reprieve - 1W
Instant
When target creature is put into a graveyard this turn, return that card to play under its owner's control.

Mostly inferior to momentary blink, but that’s okay. Blink decks will take the redundancy. I’m still not sure if a blink deck is viable, but one should be with Epochrasite and some of the new evokers.



*Idyllic Tutor - 2W
Sorcery
Search your library for an enchantment card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Finally, an out-and-out tutor. Teferi’s moat comes to mind, perhaps persuasion. There are a lot of combo-ish enchantments that have seen no play because of a lack of redundancy. I don’t know that this will help, but I’m hopeful.



Indomitable Ancients - 2WW
Creature - Treefolk Warrior
2/10

I know a certain siege tower that would like this guy, but honestly, it’s a bit pointless. No evasion, and without Doran, he’s a 4 mana wall.



*Kinsbaile Borderguard - 1WW
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
Kinsbaile Borderguard comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it for each other Kithkin you control.
When Kinsbaile Borderguard is put into a graveyard from play, put a 1/1 white Kithkin Soldier creature token into play for each counter on it.
1/1

A little uninspiring as a beast of burden, but it gives kithkin toughness and survivability they don’t ordinarily get and that’s worth something, even if I’ve all but written the tribe off.



Kinsbaile Cavalier - 3W
Creature - Kithkin Knight
Knight creatures you control have double strike.
2/2

A quick gatherer search reveals that Haakon is the only playable knight with more than 2 power. A couple of the changelings have potential, and I always say that double strike is underrated, but I don’t think this 2/2 for 4 is at all viable.



Kithkin Zephyrnaut - 2W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Kithkin Zephyrnaut, you may reveal it. If you do, Kithkin Zephyrnaut gets +2/+2 and gains flying and vigilance until end of turn.
2/2

That vigilance isn’t going to be worth much when this guy goes back to being a non-flying 2/2 on your opponent’s turn. There are better 4/4 fliers for 3.



Meadowboon - 2WW
Creature - Elemental
When Meadowboon leaves play, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature target player controls.
Evoke {3}{W}
3/3

Is glorious anthem worth 4 mana? Even with the body, I have my doubts.



Mosquito Guard - W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
First strike
Reinforce 1 - {1}{W} ({1}{W}, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.)
1/1

Limited.



Order of the Golden Cricket - 1W
Creature - Kithkin Knight
Whenever Order of the Golden Cricket attacks, you may pay {W}. If you do, it gains flying until end of turn.
2/2

Pretty much inferior to white shield crusader. It’s better against desert and mogg fanatic and is much more splashable, but seriously, pro-black vs not-pro-black.



Preeminent Captain - 2W
Creature - Kithkin Soldier
First strike
Whenever Preeminent Captain attacks, you may put a Soldier creature card from your hand into play tapped and attacking.
2/2

This feels pretty fun, particularly with big expensive changelings, but I can’t quite recommend it. It’ll draw unfair comparisons to Elvish piper (it’s several turns faster, in cost and summoning sickness), but there’s still not many better things to cheat into play with it, besides Changeling Titan and Chameleon Colossus.



Redeem the Lost - 1W
Instant
Target creature you control gains protection from the color of your choice until end of turn. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Redeem the Lost to its owner's hand.

I’m going to say no on this one, but I could be wrong. Protection effects on instants have seen play because of their versatility (and raw power, in the case of Bathe in Light), but this one seems way too expensive for the size of its effect. Plus, the protection will be blank against Epochrasite, Phyrexion Ironfoot, and Mutavault.



**Reveillark - 4W
Creature - Elemental
Flying
When Reveillark leaves play, return up to two target creature cards with power 2 or less from your graveyard to play.
Evoke {5}{W}
4/3

There’s no way that double-zombify doesn’t make a winning decklist somewhere. The targeting restriction seems excessive, but isn’t really. It’s just a question of finding the correct 2-card insta-combo win. Consider Saffi, Nantuko Husk, and Vesuvan shapeshifter. Body Double is absolutely obscene copying Reveillark in the yard. Upon sacrificing, the Body double can target itself and one other creature. Throw in Bonded fetch or Muldrifter to draw your deck.



Shinewend - 1W
Creature - Elemental
Flying
Shinewend comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it.
{1}{W}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Shinewend: Destroy target enchantment.
0/0

Limited.



Stonehewer Giant - 3WW
Creature - Giant Warrior
Vigilance
{1}{W}, {T}: Search your library for an Equipment card and put it into play. Attach it to a creature you control. Then shuffle your library.
4/4

Turn 6 seems awfully late in the game to be tutoring up creature-enhancers. The currently standard-legal equipment is interesting, but its nowhere near as broken as Tatsumasa was with Godo or Steelshaper’s gift was with skullclamp.
I like a lot of the interesting plays possible with Stonehewer Giant, but I don’t like that they start coming so late in the game. I don’t think any of the available equipment makes for a particularly impressive effect at that point in the game (though cumulative loxodon warhammers are always appealing).



*Stonybrook Schoolmaster - 2W
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Whenever Stonybrook Schoolmaster becomes tapped, you may put a 1/1 blue Merfolk Wizard creature token into play.
1/2

I’m intrigued by the prospect of a wizard token generator. This seems like a great cog in the merfolk engine, but I still don’t know if the merfolk engine is all that good. Lots of bodies, not much power.



Swell of Courage - 3WW
Instant
Creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
Reinforce X - {X}{W}{W} ({X}{W}{W}, Discard this card: Put X +1/+1 counters on target creature.)

Seems worse than Fortify to me. If you’re pressing with +2/+X, you should probably be winning the game and not really caring how many creatures survive.



Wandering Graybeard - 3WW
Creature - Giant Wizard
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Wandering Graybeard, you may reveal it. If you do, you gain 4 life.
4/4

I miss Loxodon Heirarch.



Weight of Conscience - 1W
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature can't attack.
Tap two untapped creatures you control that share a creature type: Remove enchanted creature from the game.

Pretty good as a limited common, but it’s pretty much worse than pacifism. It’s not too hard to activate the ability to RFG the problematic creature with Mutavault at your disposal, but it’s painfully slow.





*Declaration of Naught - UU
Enchantment
As Declaration of Naught comes into play, name a card.
{U}: Counter target spell with the same name as the named card.

An interesting update to medling mage, it’s a bit costly when an opponent decides to play into it, and it can’t stop the card if you drop it turn 2 (or without mana open).
It’s an interesting potential sideboard option. It can contain storm or other spell recursion (masked admirers comes to mind) without having to commit to either trickbind or graveyard hate.



Dewdrop Spy - 1UU
Creature - Faerie Rogue
Flash
Flying
When Dewdrop Spy comes into play, look at the top card of target player's library.
2/2

Can this compete with pestermite? The extra toughness would be nice against desert, but the colorless desert is under pressure from Mutavault, and this guy’s color requirements also don’t help.
The information from the peek would be nice when the twiddle from Pestermite is worthless, but not that nice.



Disperse - 1U
Instant
Return target nonland permanent to its owner's hand.

Is this more like boomerang or like unsummon? There are a number of non-land, non-creature threats that would be nice to bounce into hand, but in standard, most of them are pretty cheap, and below 4 mana.
I think this guy is just outclassed by the other awesome bounce available right now. Compared to Vesner, Cryptic command, and Riftwing cloudskate, I’m just not impressed by this.



*Distant Melody - 3U
Sorcery
Choose a creature type. Draw a card for each permanent you control of that type.

It’s generally not a good sign when a card is capable of doing absolutely nothing, but the card is bolstered by the availability of Mutavault and the ability to draw off random creature types like wall of roots and Garruk’s elephant tokens, faerie tokens (see below), and perhaps kobolds.
It costs half as much as the first activation of slate of ancestry for just about as much of effect you would ever expect from it.



Fencer Clique - 2UU
Creature - Faerie Soldier
Flying
{U}: Put Fencer Clique on top of its owner's library.
3/2

Limited. A small faerie with no flash and no effects outside combat.
You could argue that the ability helps you set up clashes or kinships, but doing so just puts you down a full card.



Floodchaser - 5U
Creature - Elemental
Floodchaser comes into play with six +1/+1 counters on it.
Floodchaser can't attack unless defending player controls an Island.
{U}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Floodchaser: Target land becomes an Island until end of turn.
0/0

Sea Serpant doesn’t see much constructed play. I don’t see why Clockwork Sea Serpant would.



*Grimoire Thief - UU
Creature - Merfolk Rogue
Whenever Grimoire Thief becomes tapped, remove the top three cards of target opponent's library from the game face down.
You may look at cards removed from the game with Grimoire Thief.
{U}, Sacrifice Grimoire Thief: Turn all cards removed from the game with Grimoire Thief face up. Counter all spells with those names.
2/2

Voidmage Prodigy meets Jester’s scepter, plus one toughness. I’ve got to admit that I’ve always been partial to prohibitive, spiketail-hatchling-esue cards, so I’m probably overrating this 2/2 for UU with no evasion card, but I guess I’ll stand by it.
It certainly gives blue agro an out against storm.



Ink Dissolver - 1U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Ink Dissolver you may reveal it. If you do, each opponent puts the top three cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
2/1

He has to survive a turn to maybe get a 50% shot and milling an opponent for 3. At those piddling numbers, you’re more likely to help your opponent than hurt him (Haakon, Goyf).



Inspired Sprite - 3U
Creature - Faerie Wizard
Flash
Flying
Whenever you play a Wizard spell, you may untap Inspired Sprite.
{T}: Draw a card, then discard a card.
2/2

As excited as I first was when I saw this card, it just isn’t very good when considered. It’s a 2/2 for 4 with flash… looter? As nice as it is to untap him over and over, he doesn’t generate card advantage or mana, and wizards don’t exactly have buyback.



*Knowledge Exploitation - 5UU
Tribal Sorcery - Rogue
Prowl {3}{U}
Search target opponent's library for an instant or sorcery card. You may play this card without paying its mana cost. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

Bribery saw play, but then most everybody runs creatures. I’m a bit tentative about paying 4 mana mainphase for what may be an opponent’s 3 mana spell, but the idea of stealing cryptic command, harmonize, or anything really is pretty appealing.
What’s most interesting about this card is how it would behave in the mirror. The first player to fire one off extirpates all of the copies in the other player’s deck.



*Latchkey Faerie - 3U
Creature - Faerie Rogue
Flying
Prowl {2}{U} (You may play this for its prowl cost if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Faerie or Rogue.)
When Latchkey Faerie comes into play, if its prowl cost was paid, draw a card.
3/1

Can this compete with pestermite?
As a three power cantrip flier for 3, I think it can. You lose the flash, so the deck would be less draw-go oriented, but as far as 3 mana cantrips go, you could do a whole lot worse than a 3/1 flier. Being a rogue himself, he goes quite well with other prowl cards.
Its biggest drawback is really just that it’s competing with Vendilion Clique for the 3 drop spot.



Merrow Witsniper - U
Creature - Merfolk Rogue
When Merrow Witsniper comes into play, target player puts the top card of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
1/1

Finally, the second merfolk one-drop to allow for an actual aggressive merfolk deck to be built. Unfortunately, it’s hugely, hugely outclassed by Mothdust Changeling, and is marginally worse than the existing Tideshaper mystic.
His rogue-ness helps his case over tideshaper mystic, and perhaps prowl potential in the merfolk deck alongside the changeling, but I have my doubt’s about prowl’s ability to fit into merfolk.



**Mind Spring - XUU
Sorcery
Draw X cards.

A fine, fine reason to empty your chargelands, some control player always seems to find a way to turn draw X cards into a winning deck. The mana to draw ratio is 1 below tidings, but I expect that this will be drawing 5 or more cards most of the time. It’s got a definite edge on Aeon chronicler, hunting for your cards immediately.



**Mothdust Changeling - U
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
Tap an untapped creature you control: Mothdust Changeling gains flying until end of turn.
1/1

A low 2-stars, bear in mind that this competes with mutavault as being the cheapest, lowest-investment changeling available. It’s a decent sliver, and a pretty good knight, but it’s an awesome merfolk.



Negate - 1U
Instant
Counter target noncreature spell.

This is a creature heavy format, where even maindeck remove soul is viable because of evokers. This card has no place in standard.



Nevermaker - 3U
Creature - Elemental
Flying
When Nevermaker leaves play, put target nonland permanent on top of its owner's library
Evoke {3}{U}
2/3

Blue gets its own little oblivion ring, but Time Ebb never saw much play. It’s not exactly great against plainswalkers after they’ve already used the ability once.
There’s potential alongside Teferi to vindicate something outright in response to an opponents’ shuffling effect, and I like the option of having a body, but I’m going to tilt towards no here.



**Notorious Throng - 3U
Tribal Sorcery - Rogue
Prowl {5}{U}
Put X 1/1 black Fairy Rogue creature tokens with flying into play, where X is the damage dealt to opponents this turn. If the prowl cost was paid, take an extra turn after this one.

Six mana timewalks like walk the aeons don’t usually see much play, but how many timewalks triple the damage you do in one turn?
The ultimate question becomes how do you swing 6 mana in an aggressive deck? The cantrip prowler helps, but I’m still not sure I have an answer to that question.



*Research the Deep - 1U
Sorcery
Draw a card. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Research the Deep to its owner's hand.

It’s a nice thought, running this alongside Sylvan Echos or Rebellion of the Flamekin. It’ll replace itself while giving you a clash, with additional potential for good card advantage, but I do worry that it seems too expensive while not affecting the board. A very tentative one star.



Sage of Fables - 2U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Each other Wizard creature you control comes into play with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
{2}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control: Draw a card.
2/2

This card feels like it should be powerful, but something’s just not clicking with it for me.
It’s a wizard lord that only helps wizards that are played after it, but that’s not the thing. Two mana seems like a reasonable price for drawing a card, but removing that +1/+1 counter seems unusually expensive.
I think the mana curve just doesn’t play nice with this guy. Each wizard you play has kicker 2 for cantrip. The two mana combined with the cost of the second wizard pretty much occupies all of your mana on turn 4 without affecting the board. You could remove a counter from some other creature, I guess, or from reinforce or llanowar reborn, but it’s starting to seem awfully expensive for drawing a card.



Sage's Dousing - 2U
Tribal Instant - Wizard
Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. If you control a Wizard, draw a card.

While the Mutavault could help the wizard condition on this card, it brings this card to 4 mana for a counter cantrip, and the card is just painfully outclassed by Cryptic command and rune snag.
It’s nice to have a splashable 3 cmc counter, but that doesn’t quite redeem this. It performs poorly next to rune snag.



Sigil Tracer - 1UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
{1}{U}, Tap two untapped Wizards you control: Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy.
2/2

The ability could help win a counterspell war, but it’s absurdly expensive in what it requires of you, on top of having a vulnerable 2 toughness.



*Slithermuse - 2UU
Creature - Elemental
When Slithermuse leaves play, choose an opponent. If that player has more cards in hand than you, draw cards equal to the difference.
Evoke {3}{U}
3/3

Four mana’s a bit pricy for conditional discard, but in a dedicated turbo deck, I could easily see this drawing 10-15 cards. As expensive as it is, the effect is too massive to write off.
This’ll probably be more important in some older format where fast mana is more readily available, as well as Upheaval. Imagine it on turn 1.



*Stonybrook Banneret - 1U
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Islandwalk
Merfolk spells and Wizard spells you play cost {1} less to play.
1/1

I’m giving this one star, though it probably doesn’t deserve it. As nice as it would be to get a discount on Summon the School and Silvergill adept, they’re just about the only cards that get repeatedly replayed to leverage the discount, and I don’t think the merfolk engine deck can break into tier 1. The rest of the aggressive, tempo-critical merfolk and wizard cards are incredibly color-intensive, and don’t get discounts from this (the 1 drops, Lord of Atlantis, Sygg, Voidmage prodigy, etc).
A turn 3 Fallowsage would be nice, but I still don’t think that the merfolk engine deck will matter that much. Not that I would mind being wrong, in this case.



Stream of Unconsciousness - U
Tribal Instant - Wizard
Target creature gets -4/-0 until end of turn. If you control a Wizard, draw a card.

I see that Healing Salve has been colorshifted to blue. Dreck.



Supreme Exemplar - 6U
Creature - Elemental
Flying
Champion an Elemental (When this comes into play, sacrifice it unless you remove another Elemental you control from the game. When this leaves play, that card returns to play.)
10/10

As much as I love a 2 turn evasive clock, I don’t think I’d be comfortable paying 7 mana for a creature with champion who could disappear suddenly if an opponent had some trick to deprive me of a champion target. I think it’s just too much risk for the investment, especially when there are so many other quality fatty options available.
It’s not like this guy has haste or any affects, or any protection against black/white removal or blue bounce.



*Thieves' Fortune - 2U
Tribal Instant - Rogue
Prowl {U} (You may play this card for its prowl cost if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Rogue.)
Look at the top four cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library.

Peeking 4 cards deep is not something you usually get for 1 mana, so this has massive power potential.
This card is most interesting in how vastly different its prowl and regular costs are. This is not a card you would want to ever hardcast, and it makes the importance of successfully sticking an early rogue absolutely huge.



**Vendilion Clique - 1UU
Legendary Creature - Faerie Wizard
Flash
Flying
When Vendilion Clique comes into play, look at target player's hand. You may choose a nonland card from it. If you do, that player reveals the chosen card, puts it on the bottom of his or her library, then draws a card.
3/1

Now this is what a flash looter is supposed to look like. 3 power 3 drop, flying, disruption option. I love the pseudo duress at instant-speed. I love the free peek. I love the ability to looter yourself. I love pretty much everything about this card.



Waterspout Weavers - 3UU
Creature - Merfolk Wizard
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Waterspout Weavers, you may reveal it. If you do, each creature you control gains flying until end of turn.
3/3

Limited.





*Auntie's Snitch - 2B
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Auntie's Snitch can't block.
Prowl {1}{B}
Whenever a Goblin or Rogue you control deals combat damage to a player, if Auntie's Snitch is in your graveyard, you may return Auntie's Snitch to your hand.
3/1

If Oona’s prowler has taught us anything, it’s that a 3/1 for 2 in black is pretty damn good.
The lack of evasion obviously puts this a notch below prowler, and the inability to block is an absolutely huge part of keeping the recursion ability fair, but this guy just keeps coming back (particularly with looter il kor, who turns into ophidian with shadow). Just imagine playing him over and over into blue counters. Imagine playing with him in the late game alongside a Mutavault. Imagine him in multiples.
They gave black Masked admirers, and at a discount.



**Bitterblossom - 1B
Tribal Enchantment - Faerie
At the beginning of your upkeep, lose 1 life and put a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying into play.

Phyrexian arena-esque card advantage, and splashable at that. Consider for a moment how awesome this is with spellstutter sprite. Consider how good this is to prowl decks. Any black deck can run it comfortably, and it deserves a lot of the effusive praise it’s going to get.
That having been said, it’s important to remember that this is a control card, not an agro card. Unlike the arena, the token you get for losing 1 life isn’t going to turn the game around that turn. You don’t attack with your first token until turn 4 and the break-even point for life you lose vs damage dealt in attack with doesn’t come until turn 5. You’re going to be chump blocking with a lot of these faeries, and you’re going to have to run some sort of lifegain or some sort of big token interaction to support this over time. Unfortunately, the faeries can’t chump-block Chameleon Colossus, so I think the card falls just short of format-defining.



Blightsoil Druid - 1B
Creature - Elf Druid
{T}, Pay 1 life: Add {G} to your mana pool.
1/2

Worse than most green elves in the elf deck, worse than artifact accel in black decks. A card without much of a point.



**Earwig Squad - 3BB
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Prowl {2}{B}
When Earwig Squad comes into play, if its prowl cost was paid, search target opponent's library for three cards and remove them from the game. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
5/3

There’s a new 5/X for 3 in town, and he dies to the old 5/5. Still, you have to respect that he exists, is huge, and has a pretty decent 187 trigger. It’s an agro bullet against certain combo, and certain threat-light control.



Fendeep Summoner - 4B
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
{T}: Up to two target Swamps become 3/5 Treefolk Warrior creatures in addition to their other types until end of turn.
3/5

Limited. Cute with Doran, but just with Doran.



Festercreep - 1B
Creature - Elemental
Festercreep comes into play with a +1/+1 counter on it.
{1}{B}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Festercreep: All other creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn.
0/0

4 mana for -1/-1, plus a chump block. It’s not that much worse than hideous laughter, but I don’t think hideous laughter has a place in standard right now. It’ll hurt some faeries, it’ll hurt some elves and goblins, but there are a large number of very large creatures that need to be dealt with by sweepers. Between Doran, goyf, Ironfoot, and Garruk tokens, this doesn’t seem constructed-worthy.



*Frogtosser Banneret - 1B
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Haste
Goblin spells and Rogue Spells you play cost {1} less to play.
1/1

With the words “haste” and “less to play” printed on this guy, it’s natural to draw comparisons to goblin warchief. While he’s not exactly that caliber of card, he certainly seems playable. He’s certainly not the super-agressive fires-of-yavimaya sharpshooter+piledriver engine warchief was in onslaught goblin decks, but the current ones probably wouldn’t mind this discount on their 3 and 4 drops. Will this make goblins tier 1 or 1.5? I kind of doubt it, with all the blockers and so little explosiveness, but there are agro-control possibilities.
On the other hand, the rogue discount is decent, and could find its way into prowl decks as both an enabler and an extra accelerant. Remember that haste is a form of evasion. =O)



Final-Sting Faerie - 3B
Creature - Faerie Assassin
Flying
When Final-Sting Faerie comes into play, destroy target creature that was dealt damage this turn.
2/2

Orzhov Euthanist saw very little play outside limited. I don’t know why WotC felt the need to tack 1 mana onto an inferior variation.



*Maralen of the Mornsong - 1BB
Legendary Creature - Elf Wizard
Players can't draw cards.
At the beginning of each player's draw step, that player loses 3 life, searches his or her library for a card, puts it into his or her hand, then shuffles his or her library.
2/3

Much has been said about this card, but I’m less impressed. The opponent getting the trigger first isn’t like howling mine or other symmetrical effects, where your opponent might not find an answer or a viable gameplan to operate under the game conditions you set. If the opponent’s deck contains an answer, or a viable way to operate under the game conditions, it’s the first thing he’ll fetch. You could try to break her with Aven mindcensor, but both cards are fragile and moderately expensive, and the opponent still sees the top 4. You can try to protect her with countermagic the turn you lay him, but mostly, I think it’s going to be rune snag vs nameless inversion on turn 5, and I don’t like the chances of Maralen sticking.
She does have many merits. She’s a face burn spell for black for 3 mana. She can proactively fizzle a lot of card draw (particularly ancestral vision and aeon chronicler). But I don’t think she’s the best thing since sliced bread. I think she’s niche like Haakon.
But she’s a pretty good reason for other decks to run 1-of answers on occasion, just in case.



*Mind Shatter - XBB
Sorcery
Target player discards X cards at random.

Two random cards at 4 mana seems a lot more fair somehow. Also, not having dark ritual to power out a turn 1 hand rape. The effect vs cost of this is about the same as haunting hymn and mournwhelk, so it’s slightly better than them. One random discard for 3 mana is roughly what you expect from Hypnotic specter, who sees some play sometimes.
A fair card. A decent sideboard option, maybe even one or two maindeck, despite an agro/non-combo metagame. Fair is worth maybe 1 star.



Moonglove Changeling - 2B
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)
{B}: Moonglove Changeling gains deathtouch until end of turn. (Whenever it deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
2/2

Activated deathtouch is a bit like activated first strike, in that both deathtouch and first strike are mostly effective as deterrents anyway; you get a lot of mileage out of the abilities without having to activate them that much. For moongrove, you’d presumably only ever have to activate it once (unless big 0 and 1/Xs tend to be a problem in your area, I guess).
What’s more interesting about the ability is the fact that you’re able to activate it many times, and each one will trigger on combat damage. So if you ever want to destroy the hell out of an attacking or blocking creature (perhaps a regenerator), this guy could help.
The fact remains, though, that he’s a gray ogre. Changeling is nice, and he’s okay with Haakon (except against fliers), but would either elves or goblins really want to run this guy?



**Morsel Theft - 2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Rogue
Prowl {1}{B}
Target player loses 3 life and you gain 3 life. If Morsel Theft's prowl cost was paid, draw a card.

What do you get when you take one of the most powerful instants of all time, make it a sorcery that can only target players, and tack a tribal mechanic onto it? You get Lava Spike from Lightning bolt, but you also get this card from lightning helix.
The power level is high for this sort of tempo swing, and the cantrip is just gravy. The question is whether the prowl deck is aggressive enough to actually utilize face burn like this, and I think it can.
Do note, though, that causes life loss and not damage, so it won’t enable prowl itself.



Nightshade Schemers - 4B
Creature - Faerie Wizard
Flying
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Nightshade Schemers, you may reveal it. If you do, each opponent loses 2 life.
3/2

Limited. 5 damage a turn seems like it could be constructed worthy, but seriously, the kinship is maybe a 50% chance of hitting, and this competes with Mistbound Clique.



Noggin Whack - 2BB
Tribal Sorcery - Rogue
Prowl {1}{B} (You may play this card for its prowl cost if you dealt combat damage to a player this turn with a Rogue.)
Target player reveals three cards from his or her hand. Choose two of them. That player discards those cards.

Should the prowl deck be aggressive with weenies or disruptive with looters? This is a fine question, but my intuition says that it should be aggressive. Prowl is at its heart a tempo mechanic, giving your discounts on effects earlier in the game. Later in the game, when control is more stable and it’s more difficult to enable prowl, you can still hardcast it. But while threats are always threats, disruption is not always useful.
Your risk is significantly higher when playing prowl as disruption. There’s only a small window for disruption to force itself through, and if you cannot enable prowl in that window, you might never get to play that card before it’s blanked. Your payoff has to be pretty huge to open yourself to that risk.
And the payoff on this is not very huge. The effect itself is slightly stronger than stupor, but it because it requires the investment of an attacking rogue, it can’t fill stupor’s role as just raw card advantage. As far as attacking card quality goes, it feels roughly like blackmail, given what hands you can hit and what hands you can’t.
Not a bad card in a vacuum by any means, but poorly positioned, I think.



Offalsnout - 2B
Creature - Elemental
Flash
When Offalsnout leaves play, remove target card in a graveyard from the game.
Evoke {B}
2/2

Limited. Black gets a flash gray ogre and sometime graveyard hate. Not that this is maindeckable in constructed, or even the first black flash creature.



Oona's Blackguard - 1B
Creature - Faerie Rogue
Flying
Each other Rogue creature you control comes into play with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card.
1/1

It’s appealing to think of teaming this up with Bitterblossom from massive unrelenting hand destruction, but it’s important to remember that this guy has to survive in play through two of your upkeeps before his two abilities interact with each other (and 3, if you play bitterblossom the turn after you lay him and wait for the rogue token).
Turn 1 Llanowar Reborn or turn 2 Quirion Dryad into turn 3 discard trigger are about the earliest plays you can expect to have interact with the Blackguard’s discard in standard (aside from turn 3 reinforce on Blackguard). The next possible discard triggers with blackguard come turn 4 or later, and in moderate amouts.
It’s reasonable to evaluate Oona’s Blackguard mostly on the merits of his other abilities, and his other abilities aren’t great. The +1/+1 lord mechanic is woefully slow, not applying any pressure on offense until 2 turns after you drop the lord, unlike regular lords who apply their boost immediately.



Pack's Disdain - 1B
Instant
Choose a creature type. Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn for each permanent you control of that type.

Dreck-ish. An interesting limited card, as conditional removal, but so often blank in constructed.



*Prickly Boggart - B
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Fear
1/1

An unusual choice for a star, I know. I’m probably overrating it, to be sure. Hear me out.
Black does not usually get 1 drops with evasion. It gets swampwalkers and islandwalkers, to be sure, and for some reason creatures that can’t be blocked by walls, but Nightshade stinger is actually the first 1/1 black 1 drop with natural, ordinary evasion. Prickly Boggart represents the second. With a full set of evasive, curve-powered creatures in the 1 and 2 drop slots, and a number of power boosts and finishers in Bad Moon, Profane command, and Morsel theft, a potent black weenie agro is possible.
The reason why it’s not, of course, is because in standard fear is barely evasion anymore. Between Doran, Shriekmaw, Phyrexian Ironfoot, Epochrasite, and Bitterblossom, there’s no way this guy’s connecting with an opponent. The existence of Chameleon Colossus may dampen the likelihood that black blockers will be played, but it won’t be enough to make this guy actually playable.



Pulling Teeth - 1B
Sorcery
Clash with an opponent. If you win, target player discards two cards. Otherwise, that player discards a card.

Given the likelihood of connecting with a clash under ideal circumstances, is “target player discards 1.6 cards” worth 2 mana? I’m going to say no. It doesn’t help that you’re letting your opponent scry 1 while trying to disrupt him.
There are better clash engines if you just want the clash effect on the cheap.



*Revive the Fallen - 1B
Sorcery
Return target creature card in a graveyard to its owner's hand. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Revive the Fallen to its owner's hand.

This set’s recursive raise dead variant. Like the blue one, it has good potential for card advantage, but unlike the blue one, it can make up some of the tempo loss from its cost with the creatures it revives (Shriekmaw, Wall of Roots).
It won’t rock your world and it probably won’t even usurp Grim Harvest (which is has a natural loop with evokers), but it’s playable.



Scarblade Elite - BB
Creature - Elf Assassin
{T}, Remove an Assassin card in your graveyard from the game: Destroy target creature.
2/2

There are hilariously few assassins in standard, with most of them coming in through morningtide.
It is a good way to get a second kill out of Nameless inversion, but along with the barely playable black deathtouch changeling, that’s about it. Maybe in block.



Squeaking-Pie Grubfellows - 3B
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Squeaking-Pie Grubfellows, you may reveal it. If you do, each opponent discards a card.
3/2

Discard on turn 5. That is to say, maybe-discard on turn 5. Nath of the Gilt Leaf is better in most every way, and sees very little play. Wort, Boggart Auntie is pretty much better in every way in the goblins deck. And I don’t see why a shaman deck would want discard this badly.



**Stenchskipper - 3B
Creature - Elemental
Flying
At end of turn, if you don't control a Goblin, sacrifice Stenchskipper.
6/5

Interestingly, you don’t actually have to run this in a goblins deck. In theory, Mutavault alone could support it.
But seriously, it’s a 6/5 flier for 4. If anything’s going to race Chameleon colossus, it’s this guy plus mogg war marshal. Just be sure to run a playset of Mutavaults so that it’s rarely blank.



**Stinkdrinker Bandit - 3B
Creature - Goblin Rogue
Prowl {1}{B}
Whenever a Rogue you control attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +2/+1 until end of turn.
2/1

+2/+X effects are easily worth 4 mana. The danger with laying this guy turn 4 is that he has to survive through the blockers step to give the boost.
How fortunate that they’ve made him a 2/1 for 2 with the prowl. He won’t grant the boost the turn you prowl him out, but he’s a rogue himself and will have a chance as the massive boost the next turn.
Consider the sequence turn 1 Nightblade Stinger, turn 2 swing, Mutavault, prowl Stinkdrinker Bandit, turn 3, swing for 10.



Violet Pall - 4B
Tribal Instant - Faerie
Destroy target nonblack creature.
Put a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying into play.

Limited. The spell is absurdly expensive for the effect, and the card advantage negligible. Compare to Shriekmaw. Compare to Seize the Soul. It’s just in a lower league.



*Warren Weirding - 1B
Tribal Sorcery - Goblin
Target player sacrifices a creature. If a Goblin is sacrificed this way, that player puts two 1/1 black Goblin Rogue creature tokens into play, and those tokens gain haste until end of turn.

I’m a fan of the versatility, and the explosive potential of getting 2 black rogues with haste (Mad auntie, Bad Moon, etc).
But really, you’re getting one black rogue with haste. The 1/1 goblin you’re sacrificing probably could have swung anyway, and the only advantage you reap for cycling him is out of Knucklebone witch, Mogg war marshal, and Mudbutton torchrunner.
Used as removal, it’s not much better. Most of the time, you’re probably going to hit their Mutavault, unless you *right then* have a tarfire in hand.
I’m not sure how much of a problem Mutavault will be for this card in older formats, but in standard, I think it’s teetering too dangerously close to tier 2 to be anything more than just playable.



Weed-Pruner Poplar - 4B
Creature - Treefolk Assassin
At the beginning of your upkeep, target creature other than Weed-Pruner Poplar gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
3/3
Limited, though nice in limited.



*Weirding Shaman - 1B
Creature - Goblin Shaman
{3}{B}, Sacrifice a Goblin: Put two 1/1 black Goblin Rogue creature tokens into play.
2/1

Being reminiscent of Skeletal vampire is a pretty good indicator for a card. He puts inevitability on your side while offering chump blocks, and can sac himself off in a pinch. He doesn’t have the survivability of Skeletal vampire, but that’s okay for a 2/1 2 drop.
The trouble is, skeletal vampire didn’t have to face down Chameleon Colossus, and could block fliers. Block-sac is fine against Doran, but given that his expensive ability is firmly planted in the mid-game or later, he would have to face down those unblockable monsters sooner or later and somehow hope to race.





Boldwyr Heavyweights - 2RR
Creature - Giant Warrior
Trample
When Boldwyr Heavyweights comes into play, each opponent may search his or her library for a creature card and put it into play. Then each player who searched his or her library this way shuffles it.
Even if giants bring nothing else on a journey, they bring attention.
8/8

For the most part, this will be pulling Shriekmaws and Sowers of Tempation out of your opponents decks. Don’t play it. Don’t bother trying to break it outside of casual.



Boldwyr Intimidator - 5RR
Creature - Giant Warrior
Cowards can't block Warriors.
{R}: Target creature becomes a Coward until end of turn.
{2}{R}: Target creature becomes a Warrior until end of turn.
5/5

A reprint- how much play does Boldwyr Intimidator see right now?



*Borderland Behemoth - 5RR
Creature - Giant Warrior
Trample
Borderland Behemoth gets +4/+4 for each other Giant you control.
4/4

It doesn’t seem like it’d be that hard to get him into play with 3 or 4 other playable giants (i.e. Mutavault and other changelings), and the built-in evasion is nice.
The difficulty is in conceiving the deck he’d go into. He still dies to all black removal and all the white and blue removal that’ll come in to deal with Chameleon colossus, so he’ll have to survive a turn, and you’ll have to survive 7 until you can get him into play. Additionally, few other cards benefit from having 3-4 giants in play; most rely on having just one or two, so there’s a question of redundancy and consistency in the borderland gameplan.
The card has some potential, but the deck does not.



*Brighthearth Banneret - 1R
Creature - Elemental Warrior
Elemental spells and Warrior spells you play cost {1} less to play.
Reinforce 1 - {1}{R} ({1}{R}, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature)
1/1

Elementals being the storm and evoke tribe, and warriors being a pretty aggressive tribe, this card has some potential. Not much that’s explicitly broken, but it’s pretty useful in many circumstances.
Note that this does NOT generate infinite storm with Grinning Ignus. Much like the old non-combo with cloud key, it costs 1RR to bounce and replay and only generates 2R. Still, it will generate a storm as large as you have red mana, and that could be enough.



***Countryside Crusher - 1RR
See the beginning of the review.



Fire Juggler - 2R
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Whenever Fire Juggler becomes blocked, clash with an opponent. If you win, Fire Juggler deals 4 damage to each creature blocking it.
2/2

It’s like evasion, but not really, and not always. And your opponent controls when it clashes and when it doesn’t. And it’s still a gray ogre.



Hostile Realm - 2R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant land.
Enchanted land has "{T}: Target creature can't block this turn."

It’s not exactly removal, but it’s close. I was personally a fan of Frenzied Goblin, and this is roughly on the same power level. It won’t attack for 1, but it also won’t die to creature removal or misc blockers.
On the other hand, it costs 3 mana, and is essentially a gimped icy manipulator. They would’ve had me at 1R, but at 2R, I can’t in good conscience say that it’s playable.



Kindled Fury - R
Instant
Target creature get +1/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.

Limited.



Lightning Crafter - 3R
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Champion a Goblin or Shaman (When this comes into play, sacrifice it unless you remove another Goblin or Shaman you control from the game. When this leaves play, that card returns to play.)
{T}: Lightning Crafter deals 3 damage to target creature or player.
3/3

Recursive removal, but limited. Masticore this ain’t.



Lunk Errant - 5R
Creature - Giant Warrior
Whenever Lunk Errant attacks alone, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn.
4/4

Limited.



Mudbutton Clanger - R
Creature - Goblin Warrior
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Mudbutton Clanger, you may reveal it. If you do, Mudbutton Clanger gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
1/1

Not exactly a jackal pup. Given that it competes with both knucklebone witch and mogg fanatic, there’s pretty much no chance this card gets played.



Pyroclast Consul - 3RR
Creature - Elemental Shaman
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Pyroclast Consul, you may reveal it. If you do, Pyroclast Consul deals 2 damage to each creature.
3/3

Plain old pyroclasm is legal in standard, and will kill the weenies the turn you need them dead, not turn 6. Or turn 6 maybe.
There’s an appealing combo here with vigor, but it’s slow, creature dependant, and incredibly color-instensive. Maybe in block.



**Rage Forger - 2R
Creature - Elemental Shaman
When Rage Forger comes into play, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Shaman creature you control.
Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it attacks, you may have that creature deal 1 damage to target player.
2/2

A reverse +1/+1 counter lord, this gives you straight up +2/+X the turn you lay him. To put his damage potential and versatility into perspective, consider that with a mutavault and this guy and 5 lands total, the vault swings for 4 damage.
It’s got a cute interaction with keen sense on your shamans, drawing 2 cards



Release the Ants - 1R
Instant
Release the Ants deals 1 damage to target creature or player. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Release the Ants to its owner's hand.

The mana to damage ratio is way too low for this to be playable, even if you won most of your clashes. It’s like playing grapeshot in a deck without pyromancer’s swaith.



Rivals' Duel - 3R
Sorcery
Choose two target creatures that share no creature types. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other.

While this might look like a bad one-shot arena, note that you don’t have to choose any of your own creatures. This is a variation on Barter in Blood, not arena.
That being said, I think you’ll have extraordinary difficulty killing two creatures with this. Between race and class types, the vast majority of creatures have some overlap. Those that don’t are typically wall of roots or doran. Even if your opponent’s best creature and his second best creature didn’t share creature types, their p/t ratios usually won’t be in a position to kill each other.
I just don’t see this fulfilling its potential.



Roar of the Crowd - 3R
Sorcery
Choose a creature type. Roar of the Crowd deals damage to target creature or player equal to the number of permanents of that type you control.

Limited. Compare it to skred, while being 4 times as expensive. It could aim for the dome, but then compare it to Distant melody in terms of effect.



Seething Pathblazer - 2R
Creature - Elemental Warrior
Sacrifice an Elemental: Seething Pathblazer gets +2/+0 and gains first strike until end of turn.
2/2

Limited.



*Sensation Gorger - 1RR
Creature - Goblin Shaman
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Sensation Gorger you may reveal it. If you do, each player discards his or her hand and draws four cards.
2/2

Wheel of fortune every turn, whee!
Okay, so not every turn. The deck would have to contain significant numbers of goblins or shamans to keep this guy running (x4 tarfire helps), and he’d have to survive to your upkeep with 2 toughness.
This will probably be a lot more powerful in older formats, where goblins are more explosive and hasty than they are in standard right now.



***Shard Volley - R
Instant
As an additional cost to play Shard Volley, sacrifice a land.
Shard Volley deals 3 damage to target creature or player.

A format definer, though not quite top 3. It’s freaking lightning bolt, period. In the grand tradition of lava dart, firecat blitz, and fireblast, you do not care about your lands while winning the game.
The interactions in standard are pretty sweet too. It pumps countryside crusher and sacs mutavault with damage on the stack. It doesn’t play too nicely with molten disaster, you could mana-screw yourself with countryside crusher, and it’s not the greatest strict creature control, but it’s hard to think of something bad to say about this.



Shared Animosity - 2R
Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control attacks, it gets +1/+0 until the end of turn for each other attacking creature that shares a creature type with it.



**Spitebellows - 5R
Creature - Elemental
When Spitebellows leaves play, it deals 6 damage to target creature.
Evoke {1}{R}{R} (You may play this spell for its evoke cost. If you do, it's sacrificed when it comes into play.)
6/1

Not an extraordinary card of his own right, he’s made more valuable by the conditions of the card pool. Six damage for 3 mana solves a lot of red’s problems with Doran and Tarmgoyf that it had been trying to solve with dead//gone, and kills pretty much everything short of gargadon. In fact, between black threats for black removal, elves for Eyeblight’s ending, and bounce for oblivion ring, I think red just got the most reliable spot removal in standard.
The ability to hardcast the body isn’t bad, but remember that like Bogardan Firefiend, the trigger can be a liability. It’s got a fun interaction with stuffy doll though. That deck might rise to tier 1.5 again.



Stingmoogie - 3R
Creature - Elemental
Stingmoogie comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it.
{3}{R}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Stingmoogie: Destroy target artifact or land.
0/0

Avalance riders just seems better. I mean, if you’re paying 8 mana for your first land d, something’s wrong (unless that first land d is Obliterate or something).



Stomping Slabs - 2R
Sorcery
Reveal the top seven cards of your library, then put those cards on the bottom of your library in any order. If a card named Stomping Slabs was revealed this way, Stomping Slabs deals 7 damage to target creature or player.

Offensive in its dreck-i-ness. An embarrassingly bad card. It compares poorly even to ripple; ripple cards would at least give you their effect once, while stomping slabs has a chance, and is even likely, to do absolutely nothing (worse than nothing, in fact, since it reveals 7 cards of your deck to your opponent).
Running through the math, you have 3 slabs remaining in a forgiving deck of 42, you’ve got a 50% chance to connect in the top 7. Remember that you do NOT get multiple applications of the effect if you reveal multiple copies of the card. If you reveal two, the next copy you draw (the 4th copy) will be blank.
There’re just so many things going against this card, it boggles the mind.



Sunflare Shaman - 1R
Creature - Elemental Shaman
{1}{R}, {T}: Sunflare Shaman deals X damage to target creature or player and X damage to itself, where X is the number of Elemental cards in your graveyard.
2/1

Limited. Under ideal circumstances, I imagine it would be doing an average of 3 damage when it activates, which puts it roughly on par with Emberwide Auger, except with an expensive mana activation cost.
Maybe block constructed, with evokers to fill the yard.



**Taurean Mauler - 2R
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times)
Whenever an opponent plays a spell, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Taurean Mauler.
2/2

Fits well in goblins, fits well in giants, fits well in most non-tribal decks. He grows naturally without too much investment; he is a constant application of pressure, *and* he benefits from interaction with the opponent. He’s red’s Tarmgoyf, but priced correctly. I expect to see 8goyf.dec soon.



Titan's Revenge - XRR
Sorcery
Titan's Revenge deals X damage to target creature or player. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Titan's Revenge to its owner's hand.

As tempting as repeatable removal is, tapping out on successive turns for middle-sized fireballs doesn’t seem like winning magic to me. There are just too many good fireball variants already available.



Vengeful Firebrand - 3R
Creature - Elemental Warrior
Vengeful Firebrand has haste as long as a Warrior card is in your graveyard.
{R}: Vengeful Firebrand gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
5/2

I want to give this guy a star. I loved Giant solifuge.
But two toughness is extremely vulnerable against Mutavault removal (and probably Mutavault blockers), and he’s only marginally better than lightning elemental at best. The lack of evasion is painful, and his damage to mana ratio for an alpha strike is the same as Lightning Serpant- decent, but nothing to write home about, especially without evasion. You get 3 turns to get a warrior into your graveyard before pressing with this guy turn 4 with haste, and your opponent might not cooperate (i.e. blocking with wall of roots). He’s not exactly impressive against Doran either. And for the record, none of the evokers are warriors.
That’s a long list of cons, without many pros. He’s got natural power greater than his toughness and some-time haste, which is pretty good, but can’t outweigh the sheer number of cons.



War-Spike Changeling - 3R
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
{R}: War-Spike Changeling gains first strike until end of turn.
3/3

Much like I described for Moonglove Changeling, first strike is a prohibitive ability, generating advantage without actually needing to be activated.
However, also much like moonglove changeling, this guy’s stats just aren’t up to snuff for constructed play.





Ambassador Oak - 3G
Creature - Treefolk Warrior
When Ambassador Oak comes into play, put a 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature token into play.
3/3

A 4/4 for 4, but this guy competes with Garruk, Masked admirers, and Chameleon colossus. You get two warriors here, but I doubt that’s worth anything next to the awesome power of the other green 4 drops in Lorwyn.



Bosk Banneret - 1G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
Treefolk spells and Shaman spells you play cost {1} less to play.
1/3

Doesn’t exactly help Doran, and it’s pretty small for a generic shaman deck. The shaman cost reduction has a nice redundancy with the Elemental/Warrior cost reducer, but I don’t think an elemental deck would want to be weighed down with this.



Bramblewood Paragon - 1G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Each other Warrior creature you control comes into play with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
Each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it has trample.
2/2

I’m iffy on this one. A lot of the most potent (and larger) elves are warriors, and a little bit of trample never hurt anyone. This may just be the best +1/+1 counter synergy in standard, but I still don’t know if I’d play reinforce in constructed. More important than the trample is that this guy helps protect Imperious perfect from Tarfire.
But the +1/+1 counter lords still kind of suck in how slow they are to apply pressure. Would elves honestly want to run this over Tarmgoyf or the new Wolf-Skull Shaman?



***Chameleon Colossus - 2GG
See the beginning of the review.



**Cream of the Crop - 1G
Enchantment
Whenever a creature comes into play under your control, you may look at the top X cards of your library, where X is that creature's power. If you do, put one of those cards on top of your library and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

I like the idea of drawing and playing a creature every turn. Digging through half your deck to find an answer to something isn’t half bad either. There’s combo potential, too, with larger, shorter lived creatures.
This doesn’t go into every deck, naturally. The trigger doesn’t do anything for 1 drops. The minimum sweet spot for consistency is around 3 power, and this card loves Garruk and Masked Admirers.



*Deglamer - 1G
Instant
Choose target artifact or enchantment. Its owner shuffles it into his or her library.

Is this better than naturalize? In older formats sure, but in standard the question is more tricky. There’s very little in the way of must-kill enchantments and artifacts, and among those, almost none of them recurse from the graveyard. Academy Ruins is legal, but I don’t remember the last time I saw it play in standard.
It keeps Tarmgoyf smaller sometimes, it can shuffle your opponent’s library if they’re stacking it (i.e. Cream of the Crop), and it’s actually not a bad way to deal with Epochrasite. It just may see some sideboard play.



Earthbrawn - 1G
Instant
Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
Reinforce 1 - {1}{G} ({1}{G}, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.)

Limited, no evasion.



Elvish Warrior - GG
Creature - Elf Warrior
2/3

Reprint, hasn’t seen much play.



Everbark Shaman - 4G
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
{T}, Remove a Treefolk card in your graveyard from the game: Search your library for up to two Forest cards and put them into play tapped. Then shuffle your library.
3/5

Limited, 3/5 for 5. It’ll certainly thin your deck in a hurry, and doesn’t mind removing Nameless inversions, but turn 6 is way too late to be fixing mana.



Fertilid - 2G
Creature - Elemental
Fertilid comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it.
{1}{G}, Remove a +1/+1 counter from Fertilid: Target player searches his or her library for a basic land card and puts it into play tapped. Then that player shuffles his or her library.
0/0

Limited 2/2 for 3, as the ability seems awfully expensive (as much as explosive vegetation, on top of the cost for the body). It *is* a 0/0 with +1/+1 counters, but spike feeder’s probably better for those sorts of shenanigans.



Game-Trail Changeling - 3GG
Creature - Shapeshifter
Changeling
Trample
4/4

Spectral force is still legal, you know. 4/4 for 5 is kind of pathetic next to Chameleon Colossus, too.



Gilt-Leaf Archdruid - 3GG
Creature - Elf Druid
Whenever you play a Druid spell, you may draw a card.
Tap seven untapped Druids you control: Gain control of all lands target player controls.
3/3

The elf mana-bugs are druids, but that’s about it besides changelings and Mutavault. Having 7 creatures in play, much less 7 druids, is pretty tricky, though it would probably win you the game (maybe).



Greatbow Doyen - 4G
Creature - Elf Archer
Other Archer creatures you control get +1/+1.
Whenever an Archer creature you control deals damage to a creature, that Archer deals that much damage to that creature's controller.
2/4

Janky. There’s not much of a tribe among archers, and most archers capable of forcing damage to creatures only target fliers. And why does this guy not have reach?



*Heritage Druid - G
Creature - Elf Druid
Tap three untapped Elves you control: Add {G}{G}{G} to your mana pool.
1/1

The ability ignores summoning sickness, both for itself and any other elves you play (masked admirers), and there’s something intensely appealing about that. It almost feels like playing dark ritual, plus some intense combo potential with big elf token generators (Elvish promenade, maybe). This is the closest thing the format’s gotten to fast mana in a while.
I don’t know if the deck’s there, but I certainly want it to be.



*Hunting Triad - 3G
Tribal Sorcery - Elf
Put three 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens into play.
Reinforce 3 - ({3}{G}, Discard this card: put three +1/+1 counters on target creature.)

3 tokens for 4 mana. Pretty fair for card advantage and upping a tribal count, though I would’ve preferred something a bit less fair.



*Leaf-Crowned Elder - 2GG
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Leaf-Crowned Elder, you may reveal it. If you do, you may play that card without paying its mana cost.
3/5

Probably the best Kinship card in the set. Card advantage and tempo advantage combine to make for an overwhelming flood. Combine with Cream of the Crop for fun times.



Luminescent Rain - 2G
Instant
Choose a creature type. You gain 2 life for each permanent you control of that type.

This is somewhat interesting, capable of gaining 10-20 life pretty easily. Could it honestly find its way into an agro-control racing sideboard when Loxodon Warhammer’s available? I guess it could, but I don’t think it will. There are other, more well rounded lifegain options for green (Primal command, Essence warden, Rhys).



*Lys Alana Bowmaster - 2G
Creature - Elf Archer
Reach
Whenever you play an Elf spell, you may have Lys Alana Bowmaster deal 2 damage to target creature with flying.
2/2

It fights for sideboard space with Cloudthresher, but it’s more splashable and versatile, and comes out earlier in a pinch. It may be prove to be critical against prowl faeries, and the occasional fat flier without having to swing 2GGGG.



Orchard Warden - 4GG
Creature - Treefolk Shaman
Whenever another Treefolk creature comes into play under your control, you may gain life equal to that creature's toughness.
4/6

Cute combo and loop with Deadwood Treefolk, but the lifegain comes so late in the game, I don’t know that this can really command slots in any proper deck.



**Reach of Branches - 4G
Tribal Instant - Treefolk
Put a 2/5 green Treefolk Shaman creature token into play under your control.
Whenever a Forest comes into play under your control, you may return Reach of Branches from your graveyard to your hand.

Absurd amounts of card advantage, particularly against blue. Much like masked admirers, but easier to run and loop. A fine reason to think about running faerie trickery again, and a huge attacking force when you drop doran, or just pop garruk. It’s not a bad 1-of fetch with Treefolk Harbinger, either.



Recross the Paths - 2G
Sorcery
Reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a land card. Put that card into play and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. Clash with an opponent. If you win, return Recross the Paths into its owner's hand

It’s kind of nice that it thins a land before it clashes, though given the method of thinning the land, I don’t know that it actually improves your clash chances.
According to the regression statistics, this should be close to the same as Kodama’s Reach (in a 24 land deck, regresses to 5/3rds cards), but Kodama’s reach didn’t demand that you played it over and over to generate card advantage. I think this is a no-go.



Reins of the Vinesteed - 3G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.
When enchanted creature is put into a graveyard, you may return Reins of the Vinesteed from your graveyard to play attached to a creature that shares a creature type with that creature.

Feels like Gaea’s anthem, but significantly worse (you know, removal in response, bounce/RFG of creatures, losing your last creature, etc).



**Rhys the Exiled - 2G
Legendary Creature - Elf Warrior
Whenever Rhys the Exiled attacks, you gain 1 life for each Elf you control.
{B}, Sacrifice an Elf: Regenerate Rhys the Exiled.
3/2

Though he’s sure to be overrated, he’s still pretty damn good. A very good 3/2 for 3, the regeneration ability cost is quite reasonable, and the wellwisher-ish life gain can easily get quite absurd if left unchecked. He’s a sac outlet too, against Tendrils and Sower of Temptation.
It’s temping to imagine that elves can now race anything, without giving much through to blocking or removal. Always be conscious of the number of black sources you have available, though, when attacking with Rhys. Elves will probably start running Urborg.
Nameless inversion and Teferi’s moat are fine answers, as is Tarfire/Shock if your opponent lays this out on their turn 3.



*Scapeshift - 2GG
Sorcery
Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for that many land cards, put them into play tapped, then shuffle your library.

This will probably have a much greater impact in older formats, where a specific combination of lands could wind up doing something obscene (Urza lands, Cloudposts and Vesuvas for 64 mana).
It does have some potential in standard though. It could fetch WUBRG, it can fetch a bunch of manlands, it can fetch a bunch of vesuvas. I have a bit of a dream where this fetches 8 hideaway lands and proceeds to stack your deck. A maybe-playable.



Unstoppable Ash - 3G
Creature - Treefolk Warrior
Trample
Champion a Treefolk or Warrior (When this comes into play, sacrifice it unless you remove another Treefolk or Warrior from the game. When this leaves play, that card returns to play.)
Whenever a creature you control becomes blocked, it gets +0/+5 until end of turn.
5/5

Effectively a Dolmen doorway for your attackers, and the Treefolk harbinger finally gets something to champion him. Still, I kind of doubt this is playable, and most other treefolk are more expensive and particularly don’t like being championed.
If you have a doran out, you opponent isn’t going to block this guy- it’s the same problem rampage had. You could go nuts with lure effects, I guess, but this card still competes with Chameleon Changeling. No dice.



Walker of the Grove - 6GG
Creature - Elemental
When Walker of the Grove leaves play, put a 4/4 green Elemental creature token into play.
Evoke {4}{G}
7/7

Limited, though cool. It’s a token generator for evoke-blink decks, and an interesting play with saffi (11 power!), but I can’t think of any other circumstance where I’d want to pay 5 for this, there’s no evasion or reach against faeries, and it’s pretty slow against Doran, rock, and combo decks.
There’s potential here, like with makeshift mannequin, for raw card advantage and ground pressure, but I don’t think it’ll hit tier 1.



Winnower Patrol - 2G
Creature - Elf Warrior
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Winnower Patrol, you may reveal it. If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on Winnower Patrol.
3/2

Competes with Rhys, Imperious Prefect, and Troll ascetic. This card’s not bad, but it’s just outclassed.



**Wolf-Skull Shaman - 1G
Creature - Elf Shaman
Kinship - At the beginning of your upkeep, you may look at the top card of your library. If it shares a creature type with Wolf-Skull Shaman, you may reveal it. If you do, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token into play.
2/2

Isn’t this so much nicer than putting a +1/+1 counter on the creature? Not bad with Cream of the Crop, to push out an extra dead card, and not bad with the elf champion that gives wolves deathtrouch. Garruk is probably a better combo here than the others, though. But even by himself in an elf deck, he just gives you spare dudes to block and attack.
At 1/3rd elves in your deck, this is essentially a thallid, so you definitely want to shoot for 50% or better. Could this see play over Tarmgoyf in elves? Quite possibly. At least until people start playing pyroclasm again.

[GenericKen]

*Cloak and Dagger - 2
Tribal Artifact - Rogue Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has shroud.
Whenever a Rogue creature comes into play, you may attach Cloak and Dagger to it.
Equip {3}

A wonderful variation on whispersilk cloak, paying 2 mana for free shrouds makes this remind me of Lightning Greaves. Many rogues have their own evasion, and there are a lot of individual, powerful rogues worth shrouding. Earwig squad comes to mind.
Pyroclasm is the balancing factor that decides whether or not this sees play. It’ll probably see a lot of play until pyroclasm catches back on again.


Diviner's Wand - 3
Tribal Artifact - Wizard Equipment
Equipped creature has "Whenever you draw a card, this creature gets +1/+1 and gains flying until end of turn" and "{4}: Draw a card."
Whenever a Wizard creature comes into play, you may attach Diviner's Wand to it.
Equip {3}

The effects are much too expensive, and keeping a wizard alive while keeping 4 mana open seems arduous.



Door of Destinies - 4
Artifact
As Door of Destinies comes into play, choose a creature type.
Whenever you play a spell of that type, put a charge counter on Door of Destinies.
Creatures you control of that type get +1/+1 for each charge counter on Door of Destinies.

I look at this card, and I see coat of arms. True, you keep the counters if your creatures get wiped out, and it can get absurd in an elf deck with masked admirers, or maybe elemental evokers. It’s especially nice with Mutavault. Extremely nice, to the point that I’m tempted to rank it playable or even format defining.
But the turn it comes into play, it doesn’t do anything, and it needs a hand with a good amount of gas to get going. At 3 counters, it starts being an imposing presence on the table, especially against the new red 6 damage removal, but after investing 4 mana and 3 cheap creatures, it’s just so easy to oblivion ring or bounce with blue that it makes any deck that runs it topheavy.



**Obsidian Battle-Axe - 3
Tribal Artifact - Warrior Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+1 and has haste.
Whenever a Warrior creature comes into play, you may attach Obsidian Battle-Axe to it.
Equip {3}

It’s reminiscent of Fires of Yavimaya. It gives haste to the creature that needs it, and the power toughness boost is quite substantial.
Can warriors bust through attacking on the ground through tarmgoyf, though? Red did get the 6 damage removal, but I honestly don’t know, and I’m rating this at 2 instead of 1 mostly on gut instinct.



Thornbite Staff - 2
Tribal Artifact - Shaman Equipment
Equipped creature has "{2}, {T}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature or player" and "Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard from play, untap this creature."
Whenever a Shaman creature comes into play, you may attach Thornbite Staff to it.
Equip {4}

The pinging is priced at limited prices, so Goblin sharpshooter this ain’t. The untap trigger is tempting as an engine component, but there aren’t really any legal Shamans that combo well with this, and non-shamans probably aren’t worth paying 6 mana to start untapping. The Elemental shamans might, but eh.



Veteran's Armaments - 2
Tribal Artifact - Soldier Equipment
Equipped creature has "Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn for each attacking creature."
Whenever a Soldier creature comes into play, you may attach Veteran's Armaments to it.
Equip {2}

There’s something really appealing about this and Militia’s Pride. It doesn’t give much more of a boost than Cenn’s Heir, but I think Cenn’s heir is underrated. It just needs a better deck that can successfully attack through the ground, but I just don’t see one.





**Murmuring Bosk
Land - Forest
({T}: Add {G} to your mana pool.)
As Murmuring Bosk comes into play, you may reveal a Treefolk card from your hand. If you don't, Murmuring Bosk comes into play tapped.
{T}: Add {W} or {B} to your mana pool. Murmuring Bosk deals 1 damage to you.

The first non-basic forest since Rav rotated, this is a handy fetch with Yavimaya dryad, Acid moss, and Treefolk harbinger. It’s a whole lot better in older formats with fetchlands, where it’ll probably see play as a 1-of in non-doran decks, but it’s still got a lot of play in standard.
It’s really one of the best ways to hit Doran mana. Though it actually doesn’t need to play in a Treefolk deck, it’s best there in standard.



***Mutavault
See the beginning of the review.



*Primal Beyond
Land
As Primal Beyond comes into play, you may reveal an Elemental card from your hand. If you don't, Primal Beyond comes into play tapped.
{T}: Add {1} to your mana pool.
{T}: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to play Elemental spells or activated abilities of Elementals.

Unlike Pillar of the Paruns, this is capable of generating generic mana for non-elemental spells and activated abilities. It’s pretty safe to run, and makes 3 color elementals viable- maybe even domain elementals.



Rustic Clachan
Land
As Rustic Clachan comes into play, you may reveal a Kithkin card from your hand. If you don't, Rustic Clachan comes into play tapped.
{T}: Add {W} to your mana pool.
Reinforce 1 - {1}{W} ({1}{W}, Discard this card: Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature.)

No GW tribe land for kithkin, how sad. In theory, these are free slots for the kithkin deck, but it doesn’t really help make kithkin playable. It needs better blocker removal or evasion, not to be marginally faster.
It could see play outside the kithkin deck as redundancy for llanowar reborn if some deck really, really wants +1/+1 counters on a particular creature, but it’s really not that good.



So that’s it. A lot of obvious bombs, a couple of less obvious workhorses, some cards filled with some false promise, and a couple of cruel jokes. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a good supplement to the metagame, with some good chances for combo. We’ll see if I can improve on my unwritten Lorwyn projections, or if I should get out of the set review game. =O)

[GenericKen]

Bump.

A couple of the star ratings don't seem consistant with my descriptions, and I somehow missed a card review on Shared Animosity.

A 2 mana discount on coat of arms is tempting, but it does happen to be blanked by doran.


I'll patch up the review if I get complaints. But thus far, it doesn't look like anybody's read it.

[Card Slinger J]

I've read some of it, and unfortunately considering that I'm a Type 1 player there was hardly anything good I saw from this set that I could use for my decks besides maybe Declaration of Naught and Disperse since it's like Echoing Truth.

My Type 1 Elf deck already got enough support last set in Lorwyn with Imperious Perfect and Elvish Harbinger which are great in Mono-Green Elves. Rhys the Exiled is a waste in Type 1 Elves but definitely worth running in Standard Elves cause that format hardly has any Wellwisher type effects and of course Essence Warden I believe is still Standard legal right?

Mind Spring to me seems like it wants to be a mill deck spell but it wants to let you draw cards instead. Why run it when you could run something like Careful Consideration, plus Urzatron isn't Standard legal anymore and If it was in 10th Edition it'd be nuts with Mind Spring.

The whole set focuses too much on tribal themed decks besides support to help other decks in general. Mutavault seems pretty good, almost like Faerie Conclave but all around more like.

There were some weird "reprints" in this set as Wizards brought back cards like Oath of Druids (Cream of the Crop), Brainscrew (Mind Twist), Mind Spring (Braingeyser), Door of Destinies (Coat of Arms), ya know.

In general Morningtide was more of a set that benefits more exclusively for Type 2 Standard, while Type 1 hardly got anything good out of this set unfortunately.

[thewood]

I've read the review and i like it a lot, the only thing i have to say is that you only give 2 stars to murmuring bosk, while this also is one of the best cards in the set. C'mon have we ever seen a nonbasic-land that is a forest and gives you the abillity to tap it for 3 kinds of mana??? No! it's just very nice....i would give it 3 stars.

Nice work

[bigblopper]

nice review, but id just like to say you've spelt Emberwilde Augur wrong if it means anything to you.

[tony28]

I read your review. Disagreed with what you said about Obsidian Battle-Axe though, and ONO.dec disagrees too.

[Wishful_Thinking]

Basically I am not all that impressed with Lorwyn or Morningtide. There was a lot of hype about Plains walkers but it was clearly just hype. They may do great things, but there easily countered/removed from game. However there were some good cards to come out of both blocks.

Two of my favourte are Oblivion Ring and Preeminent Captain. Preeminent Captain is a 2W 2/2 first strike kithkin soldier. when he becomes tapped you may play a soldier creature card with out paying it's mana cost, that card comes into play as if it was attacking. I think he's brilliant, even though he's a little guy he can bring out a bigger guy, and there's no stopping you from buffing up this little guy.