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Ravnica Allegiance will be legal by the end of this week and I'm here to give you my Standard Set Review. I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard. For example, cards like Azorius Skyguard and Senate Griffin will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and 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 may mention Modern/Legacy applications, but my goal is focused on Standard.
Each card will be listed by color/guild, then alphabetically by name.
Each card will given a rating of 1-5. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, its rating is left off the list.
Rating - Explanation - Standard - Examples
0 - Will never see play in this format (0 ratings are not listed).
1 - Unlikely to see play. (Light of the Legion)
2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. (Drowned Secrets)
3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Wildgrowth Walker, Disdainful Stroke)
4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (History of Benalia, Settle the Wreckage, Arclight Phoenix)
5 - If you're in these colors, you should almost assuredly be playing that card. (Teferi, Hero of Domanira, Niv-Mizzet, Parun, Carnage Tyrant)
Now that we have that out of the way, let's get started.
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2 - This could see play in fringe decks like Merfolk and maybe Mono-Blue tempo since it is a wizard. Its ability is lackluster; it's an over-costed Silvergill Adapt but you have to discard a card. |
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2 - Would see play in tempo decks only and if the metagame was creature heavy, we are not there at all. Control decks would rather play Essence Scatter. This card will not see play in the current environment, even the aggressive decks play key spells that aren't creatures like Heroic Reinforcements, History of Benalia, or just straight up burn spells. |
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2 - In Bolas's Clutches sees some fringe play. Mass Manipulation is better than In Bolas's Clutches and is less of a liability, I expect this card to see play in some control or ramp decks as a singleton. |
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2.5 - A decent Prime Speaker Vannifar target but nothing more than that. |
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3 - Fantastic card draw for a control deck. Being able to cast this with Addendum against non-control decks is going to give you a ton of card selection. I expect control decks to play this as a one or two of. |
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3 - A different kind of Delver of Secrets that will see play in tempo decks and/or flash decks. This card especially shines in older formats like Legacy. |
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2.5 - Control would rather have Negate or Syncopate but a Tempo/Flash deck would rather have Quench since those types of decks shine in the mid-game and that's where they try to close the game out. It just so happens that is the same time where Quench shines. |
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2.5 - Possible inclusion in combo decks. Home I could see it sliding into right away would be Nexus of Fate decks as a one or two off. |
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2 - I don't see it, I think this card is overrated and I don't really get all the hype. Scry 3 is great and all but if you build your deck correctly you shouldn't need to rely on that. 4 mana for a 4/4 flier that Scrys 1 on your upkeep is not good enough in this day in age. Look at other cards in the 4 mana slots, Crackling Drake, Golgari Findbroker, Experimental Frenzy, Karn, Scion of Urza, etc. |
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1.5 - Bulk rare honestly. Even if an elf combo deck breaks out that generates a ton of mana, by the time you get this down the game is over. You've either wiped the battlefield and played this on an empty board (you should be wining that game anyway) or you tap out for it and they just combo kill you. |
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4 - Three life is a ton, control decks need this card, especially three-color control decks. It helps off set the life loss from shocklands or just counters two spells against burn decks since the three life will counter one of the future Lightning Bolts your opponent will cast against you. |
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4 - This card is good and is my sleeper for the Azorius. If you like Reflector Mage tempo/midrange decks in Standard, then I highly recommend you pick these up while they're two dollars a pop. This is just another cycle of the Spell Queller, Reflector Mage, and Detention Sphere. |
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3.5 - Dovin gets my vote for the best planeswalker in the set. People are trying him in control and he's okay there, but he will really shine in   aggressive decks. Think Mono-White aggro splashing Blue for Dovin / Spell Pierce and countermagic out of the Sideboard. |
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2 - Fun card with things like Sunbird's Invocation or Smothering Tithes but I don't see this card seeing competitive play. |
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2.5 - Let's you play Arcades, the Strategist affect 5-8. Honestly this card could push that archetype into tier 2 territory. |
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2 - It's a fine Sideboard card for Wilderness Reclamation decks that are trying to cast Nexus of Fate as quickly as possible and only have fogs as their removal/stall. Just watch out for Teferi. |
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3 - A fantastic card that will see play in all sorts of decks. Depose is solid but Deploy is what we are playing this card for. Minimum two life and two 1/1 fliers at instant speed is really good. |
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2.5 - Could replace Seal Away in control decks since it does basically the same thing but getting rid of pesky threats like Adanto Vanguard but if Gruul Spellbreaker breaks out than this card becomes a liability. We've come a long way since Serra Angel but it's nice to have that option for free. |
Top 5 Azorius/Blue cards
Solid top five and we still have some leftover powerful cards like Depose // Deploy that will also see play in Standard. Blue decks got some solid cards from Ravnica Allegiance. We are off to a very solid start. Make sure to tune in tomorrow where I'll go over the Orzhov and White cards.
As always, thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
