Locations
Today we continue our set review of Streets of New Capenna. Yesterday we went over the Blue and White cards and today we will be going over the Black cards. But first, how I will be rating the cards.
I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard and I will not be going over the Commander cards that will not see Standard play. For example, cards like Angelic Observer and Ballroom Brawlers will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. Do not worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the actual Streets of New Capenna. 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 mention Modern applications if I believe the card has some.
Each card will be listed by color, then alphabetically by name.
Each card will be 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. (Divine Gambit)
2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. (Disdainful Stroke, Annul, Candletrap, Shadows' Verdict)
3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Righteous Valkyrie, Behold the Multiverse, Farewell)
4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (Esika's Chariot, Elite Spellbinder, The Wandering Emperor)
5 - Format warping. If you are in these colors, you play that card or keep that card in mind when building decks. (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Hullbreaker Horror)
Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin!
Black
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Angel of Suffering - 3 - The fact that this mills instead of exiles is very nice. You will want to build your deck accordingly so that you can use your graveyard. In older formats having just one eldrazi titan like, Emrakul, the Promised End means you cannot die unless they kill the angel first. In Historic, Gaea's Blessing works the same way. |
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Body Launderer - 3 - This seems all right if you want something slightly different than Edgar, Charmed Groom // Edgar Markov's Coffin in your BW/x sac deck. I'm still a fan of Edgar in the token decks. |
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Cemetery Tampering - 2.5 - I like this even though it is a bit slow. It does mill a ton of cards as the game gets going. Mid to late game extra copies of this allow you to cast the Hideaway card easily. |
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Cut of the Profits - 1.5 - This is way too much life loss unless you have literally Queza, Augur of Agonies in play. Otherwise, it is extremely risky to cast this one. |
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Dusk Mangler - 2 - Interesting reanimate target because it works so well with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, soft locking your opponent out when you copy it on your opponent's draw step. |
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Extract the Truth - 3.5 - Discard for two has been solid in Standard and this one can kill enchantments to boot. That's huge for a card like this and makes it playable. |
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Grisly Sigil - 3 - Great with Eyetwitch and Shambling Ghast, this is a Black Voltaic Surge. |
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Night Clubber - 2 - Solid mini Infest option for the Sideboard against small creature or token decks. |
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Sanguine Spy - 2 - Just too slow to really do anything. Reminds me of Tameshi, Reality Architect but with even worse abilities overall. Not a fan. |
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Shadow of Mortality - 2 - Death's Shadow at home. This card is not quite good enough for Constructed unless you can also abuse its mana cost with something like Hidetsugu, Devouring Chaos. |
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Shakedown Heavy - 2 - The fact that this will never be able to kill your opponent makes it not great. Much prefer Rotting Regisseur to this ogre. |
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Tenacious Underdog - 3.5 - Recurring card advantage from the graveyard and it is a decent turn two play as well. This one is good. |
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Whack - 2 - Ray of Enfeeblement is just way better here but when Ray rotates, then Whack can take its place. |
Top 5 Black Cards
Black did all right here with Extract the Truth and Tenacious Underdog. Again, this is a multicolored set so I'm excited to see where these cards in up.
Tomorrow we will be going over the Red and Artifact cards, make sure to tune in!
As always, thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
