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Continuing where we left off, today we will be going over the Red cards from Rivals of Ixalan. Red's got us transforming into dinosaurs, making a billion treasure tokens, and even casting free spells! Red may not be doing it all but is sure doing some cool stuff. I'm ready to dive in but before we start, let's review what I will be doing and my rating scale.
I will not be reviewing cards that I believe will not see play in Standard. For example, cards like Divine Verdict and Imperial Ceratops will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and me saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. Don't worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the set. So, if you like a certain rare or mythic, it will be mentioned in the review.
Keep in mind I'm rating all these cards for Standard playability. I will also mention Modern applications if I believe the card has any.
RATING -- Explanation -- Standard Examples
0 -- Will never see play in Standard. (0 ratings are not listed).
1 -- Unlikely to see play. (Dubious Challenge)
2 -- Could see fringe play, or is an occasional sideboard card.(Authority of the Consuls, Deadlock Trap)
3 -- Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Harnessed Lightning, Abrade)
4 -- Format staple, sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (Torrential Gearhulk, Vraska's Contempt, Glorybringer)
5 -- Standard all-star. When building a deck, you keep this card in mind. If you're playing this color you have this card in your main deck or at the very least, in your sideboard. (The Scarab God, Hazoret the Fervent, Chandra, Torch of Defiance)
Come on baby light my fire!
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2 -- A card that is much better in older formats than it is in Standard. I could see this in the Sideboard of Standard decks that can't afford to run Field of Ruin to shut off lands like Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin. I imagine Modern is where Blood Sun will be able to shine. |
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2 -- Revel in Riches and Brass's Bounty?! While fun to play, I would never expect this card to be a tier one deck. A 7 mana sorcery that needs another specific card in order to do anything isn't where I want to be. You have to play Revel in Riches or Marionette Master with this card so that it wins, that's a two-card combo that is still susceptible to removal. I don't see the treasure in that. |
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2.5 -- This is a decent card. A 2/2 for 1 mana is a good deal, but I'm not sure if Pirates are good enough. If they are, I expect Daring Buccaneer to put in some work. |
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2.5 -- The power level of this card is really going to depend on your opponent's deck and the metagame. In an unknown metagame I would not play Dire Fleet Daredevil main deck. However, she is a solid Sideboard option for the time being. |
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2 -- Stomp, stomp, ROAR! Etali is a sweet (not like your grandma kind of sweet but like the I'm going to eat your face off and cast free spells kind of sweet) dinosaur, especially if you're curving her from Regisaur Alpha. Maybe hitting Nicol Bolas off your opponent's deck and Zacama, Primal Calamity off yours? Magical Christmas land you say? Sure, but a man can dream! |
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3 -- While Fanatical Firebrand isn't too exciting it is a 1-drop with haste that can trigger Path of Mettle in your   deck. It gets the job done and will see play, at least in the Path of Mettle deck. |
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2 -- Why be a dragon when you can be a dinosaur? Resetting your life total to 15 is awesome, but having to fight a creature every upkeep, while very cool, can backfire. Especially if the only creature your opponent controls is a God like Hazoret. You can always gain more life by playing more Form of the Dinosaurs, Approach of the Second Sun, or even Oketra's Last Mercy. A sweet design, but I don't think it will be good enough to be tier one but not everything is about tier one and that's never stopped me from brewing before. |
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2 -- A terrific way to trigger Enrage on your dinosaurs, my two favorites are Ranging Raptors and Ripjaw Raptor. Kill an opponent's creature and Rampant Growth? Don't mind if I do! |
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3 -- This card is very good. I think it's the best phoenix Standard has gotten. The only problem is it's come at an inconvenient time. The 4-drop slot for Red decks are already packed with Hazoret the Fervent and Chandra, Torch of Defiance. I'm sure it will still see play. Curving this into Glorybringer is eight damage in the air, and not many decks can deal with flyers right now. The ones that can are usually doing it with 1/1 Thopter tokens which means your fliers should rarely die in combat when they are attacking your opponent's face. |
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2 -- I've died to worse pump spells. While I don't see exactly where this card fits in, it will put my health into the red zone at least once while it's legal in Standard. |
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2 -- A sweet sideboard for token decks! It's also a pretty good card to trigger enrage for you dinosaurs if you want to play it main deck. This card should be staple in Sideboard for as long as it's legal in Standard. |
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1.5 -- Too much mana for this card. You must pay 7 mana for an 8/5 that doesn't do anything when it comes into play then on top of that you must jump through hoops of fire to trigger its enrage. The enrage trigger isn't even all that great at the point in the game where Silverclad Ferocidons joins the battlefield. No thank you. |
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3 -- I like this card. It seems like a terrific way for Red decks to push through damage as well as helping you the City's Blessing early. I even like it in the sideboards of control decks playing Red. It's like Dragonmaster Outcast in that regard. |
Top 3 Red Cards
I really like how Red's two top cards can be played in aggressive or midrange/control decks. Rekindling Phoenix is an excellent blocker that asks your opponent to kill it twice if they want it gone for good. Tilonali's Summoner is Fireball for 1/1 Elemental tokens, it also has Ali in its name so what's not to like? I could be wrong about Fanatical Firebrand, a strictly better Raging Goblin isn't something to get excited about but it's versatile. If Fanatical Firebrand ends up being a flop, Red still has Dire Fleet Daredevil and Daring Buccaneer to work with for low casting cost creatures. Red did good in Rivals of Ixalan.
We are nearing the end of the Rivals of Ixalan set review. Make sure you join me tomorrow as we go over all the green cards, the lands, multicolored cards, and artifacts. It's not one you'll want to miss!
See you all tomorrow and thanks for reading!
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
