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Welcome, welcome! Today we'll be going over the Green cards, Artifacts, and Lands in Guilds of Ravnica. Tomorrow we'll be going over what you've all probably been waiting for, the multicolored cards, and there are a ton! Before we begin, let's go over my grading scale.
I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard. For example, cards like Flight of Equenauts and Tenth District Guard 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 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 given a rating of 1-5. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, it's 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. (Cast Down, Disdainful Stroke)
4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. ( Seal Away, Settle the Wreckage, Legion Warboss)
5 - Format warping. If you're in these colors, you play that card. (Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, Goblin Chainwhirler)
Let's get to it!
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2.5 - I really like this card. At the very least this slots into Sideboards for attrition against other midrange decks, especially since Lifecrafter'sBestiary is no more. |
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2 - This reminds me of Might of Oaks, a cheesy "gotcha" spell that people might run as a one of to get people. Could also be a decent Sideboard card against combo decks to just race the opponent and kill them before they have time to set up a Primal Amulet, The Mirari Conjecture, Thousand-Year Storm, or what have you. |
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3 - Explosive Vegetation is good and Circuitous Route is slightly better. We really don't have anything to ramp into outside of Zacama, so I could see Circuitous Route being played in a Big Dinosaur deck. |
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3 - Civic Wayfinder but also slightly better. District isn't anything fancy. It won't kill your opponent or deal a ton of damage, but it insures you hit your colors and land drops. That's usually enough. |
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2 - I like Raiders as a play after a battlefield wipe like Cleansing Nova or when your control opponent taps out so you can send in a ton of haste damage. So, maybe a singleton in Golgari decks main deck and then you could have more in your Sideboard for pseudo reach. |
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2 - Too much mana for a mediocre affect. I'd rather play Izoni, Thousand-Eyed. Izoni provides more bodies for life gain (blocking) and provides actual card advantage. |
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2.5 - Solid Sideboard card that also has a good body for 2 mana. I am a fan of this warrior insect. |
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3 - Nullhide Ferox will see play in creature heavy Mono-Green decks and Golgari decks. He's also a solid Sideboard card against cards like Disinformation Campaign. |
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2 - Another "gotcha" card in the sideboard for Green decks when potentially facing other midrange decks. However, I really wanted to talk about this card because it's another Fog that Bant Fog could incorporate into its arsenal. Costing three really hurts but it gives them access to another Fog. |
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3.5 - The best Mono-Green card in this set. Pelt Collector is like a Champion of the Parish for these Green/x decks and it can kill quickly, especially since it picks up trample after three counters... Yikes! |
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2 - I love versatile Sideboard cards and Sprouting Renewal is very versatile. I don't like it when Naturalize rots in my hand because my opponent didn't draw or play his artifact/enchantment so now you can just continue to the beatdown instead of waiting to blow up that Ixalan's Binding or Conclave Tribunal. |
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2.5 - I love cards like Vivid Revival. Seasons Past is a favorite of mine and Vivid Revival is no Seasons Past, but boy does it generate a ton of value. I expect this card to see play in Sideboards, especially after the next set comes out and we get even more multicolored cards. |
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2 - I don't even know... This thing is huge and indestructible, but does it do anything...? I don't think so, big dumb Green creatures without some sort of evasion have always been bad and I don't see Impervious Greatwurm being any different. |
Top 5 Green Cards
Green made out well but still not better than Red. My vote would go to Red for having the best mono colored cards in Guilds of Ravnica. Still, Pelt Collector and Nullhide Ferox are solid upgrades to the Green Stompy archetype.
Next up let us look at artifact and lands.
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2.5 - I like lockets and every 3-color deck that wants to ramp up a little bit will be playing the Lockets instead of Chromatic Lantern. I especially like the Izzet Locket since Niv-Mizzet, Parun can be hard to cast even when you're just two colors. |
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2 - Walking Ballista, you are not, I do like that it reward playing five colors but right now that is a little hard to do since we don't have all the shocklands and more multicolored cards. This card is not insane, but I'd keep an eye on it when future sets come out. |
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3 - I'm biased toward this card. I've built many a deck where Chromatic Lantern was the backbone. Fixing all your mana and ramping you is just so... Nice. It also plays very well with Jodah, Archmage Eternal. |
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2 - With the recent trend of self-mill cards getting better and better I'd be silly not to at least mention Wand of Vertebrae. Especially with Golgari, Narcomoeba, Blood Operative, and Creeping Chill in the set. Re-buying those Creeping Chills seems valuable in that sort of deck. |
And the lands of Guilds of Ravnica!
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4 - We all know shock lands are great and they will see a ton of play. Nothing to see here folks. |
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2 - If you're playing four or more colors, you might want to consider running one or two Gateway Plazas. This is the type of card that also gets better when we have access to more multicolored cards. |
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3 - Lands like these have always see some amount of play. The last time we had one was back with Ruins of Oran-Rief. Making your Mentor creatures bigger seems like a great deal, or putting your Concalve Cavalier / Trostani Discordant out of Lava Coil range. Even something as simple as making Glowspore Shaman a 4/2 to put it out of Goblin Chaninwhirler range or having your Swiftblade Vindicator come into play as a 2/2. Guildmages' Forum should see play sometime while it's in Standard. |
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2.5 - Sometimes your two-color decks just need a tad more mana fixing, so you'll play a couple of Guildgates. That or you're playing Circuitous Route / District Guide and you want one or two Guildgates to fetch up. |
I'm not going to rank these since there are only four of each and you can easily see what's better than the other. Guilds of Ravnica doesn't have many artifacts and I'm honestly happy about that, especially after Kaladesh block.
That's it for today, make sure to tune in tomorrow where we'll go over all the multicolored cards from Guilds of Ravnica, it is going to be super fun!
Thanks for reading,
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
