Locations
Though we didn't do a set review for Rise of the Eldrazi, we are back with our set review. This time around I sat down with Billy Postlethwait, one of the top 50 Magic players in the world and the current reigning WoW TCG World Champion. Along with him are Shane Myerscough, an ex-Pro player (well... he's been to one) and Jason Brown, a solid deck builder and Magic player with no real credits to his name. And of course myself. The humble host of ManaNation, Trick Jarrett.
Over the course of two lunches we reviewed the entire set. No ratings this time around, just observations and thoughts. In these reviews you will skipped cards, largely commons. These are cards that any comments end up being fluff or pointless and so we chose to skip them in our review. They're included here for completeness.
White
This one is not really a surprise, the design is elegant and strong. He's been overshadowed recently with Elspeth in standard but he in truth just needs to bide his time until a W or Wx aggro deck reaches the top tier and calls him up from the minor league. The supporting spells in M11 only serve to make him better.
In the words of Lee Steht, "It's Poop." It's got synergy with the life-gain strategy for limited, but one life per turn for two mana is a little iffy.
I really like this guy. He's going to be solid and could be awesome. Running an aggro deck with Soul's Attendant. Drop Attendant on turn 1 and this guy lands as a 3/3, potentially 5/5 on turn 3. Seems strong. A slightly weaker limited pick, but again has a strong draft strategy in his synergy.
Another angel for control, and this one more expensive than most. Her cost is a major issue here as by the time she hits the table, she should be busy winning you the game and not just trying to stop your opponent from winning. Sure a 5/6 flying beater is nothing to sneeze at, but wouldn't you rather beat with Baneslayer?
Limited bomb, not likely to go big in constructed as it's too big to be worth the single creature pump.
Assault Griffin - Skipped
This card is horrible! It dies to everything! Though I hear it races Progenitus... and of course - Blame Kibler.
A tapper is an unbelievable tool in limited, always a strong pick and can bring even the biggest creature of this block to uselessness. However, it won't be likely to break out in constructed.
Celestial Purge - Skipped
Is first strike work losing 2 power and 1 toughness ala Serra Angel? I don't think so, but it shouldn't be discounted in limited. It runs as a common rather than Serra Angel's uncommon rarity.
All hail the prince! He who shall inherit the throne upon Path to Exile's departure. It may not be quite as powerful as Path, but it is the same cost. Removal is always a big part of succeeding at limited.
Wraths are almost always good. As creatures get bigger and scarier it becomes more and more necessary to see them wiped off the battlefield.
Would have been so much better if this was a knight rather than a soldier, but as a soldier it actually seems worse in this set. But then again, I'm whining about a 2/1 for 
.
Excommunicate - Skipped
Honestly, I saw this card and went WTF. It just seemed so random to bring back a Kamigawa Shadowmoor moth to M11. Now with its ability and the synergy with the life-gain strategy for limited it makes more sense. This will go mid to late in draft, so don't stress over picking it up early.
Holy Strength - Skipped
Like Ajani, it's waiting to be called upon. It's a good card in a metagame that doesn't have a space for it yet.
Another soldier. I like his ability, but it won't see a great deal of play. It was originally printed in Visions, creatures have come a long way since then and the ability to pump one creature a turn with +1/+1 is just not amazing. Is it a bad card? Not at all, but it just isn't going to break out.
A great limited combat trick but it's just too expensive for constructed unless a mono-white deck finds it must have some way to power through those last points of damage, but that seems a stretch.
I so badly want to like this guy. I'm a white weenie player at heart and knights are white usually (damn you Black Knight) but it just doesn't seem like Knights will be a viable archetype. This appears, at this moment in time, to be destined for casual players. Am I wrong? I hope so. I'd love to play a Knight deck.
I love this card. It's a better Ivory Mask. You get troll shroud (named for Troll Ascetic's ability) and the potential to play it for free. But will it be big in Standard? I'm not sure. I want to say it will, it provides a level of protection not recently available in Standard, but we're not in a format overwhelmed with player-targeting Magic.
Mighty Leap - Skipped
Pacifism - Skipped
Another soldier and not a knight. Sigh.
Another card I want to love but I just can't see it. You can recur it with Sun Titan I suppose but I'm not sure how potent that would really be. It's 3 mana for an 0/3 that will one day maybe turn into a 3/3 for you. Meh.
TurboSafePassage anyone?
Looking a lot more haggard and a little more frail. Might as well hand her a walker these days. She won't see Constructed play with Serra++ running around.
EDH loves this guy. A turn one 6/6 flyer seems ridiculous. In constructed, he might find a home in an aggro-life gain deck. Picking him early in draft locks you into a strategy of life gain, otherwise he becomes an almost dead card in your draft.
Siege Mastodon - Skipped
This guy seems poised to break out. He needs a RedBull to get his wings. He can do so much and yet hasn't yet. He does break Vengevine since they can't cast creatures to return him.
Silvercoat Lion - Skipped
Solemn Offering - Skipped
This guy is awesome. At common imagine picking up 4 or 5 of him in draft. Then when you open your hand and cast him on turn you, you go grab three more until you get them all in hand to drop your early bird air force. In constructed he provides better card advantage than Ranger of Eos. This guy could seriously be big. But he's a small 1/1 creature, so will he? Only time will tell.
Stormfront Pegasus - Skipped
Seems like a great card. Like Reivellark, bigger, meaner, and more abusable. He returns any permanent with 3 or less casting cost. That means he has great synergy with lots of cards including Jace Beleren, which could prove broke. I really like this guy and think there's a high possibility of him going nuts. He's of course a limited bomb who will be winning many games of triple-M11 draft.
Tireless Missionaries - Skipped
Coming soon to a draft or EDH game near you. This guy is a house. A big brick house. With spikes. And guard dogs. And a f*ing moat. Seriously, this guy is going to warp EDH and Limited in horribly awesome ways. Constructed? Probably not so much. He might see play, but he won't be the end-all be-all.
Kami of Ancient Law returns! You better respect this guy, especially with Leylines and all the other excellent enchantments floating around. He'll be a likely sideboard for white aggro etc.
Knight! That is all.
Wild Griffin - Skipped
Blue
This one drew a lot of attention as a reprint of Man-o'-War despite the added difficulty in casting cost. 
vs 
.
A fun limited card as a reasonably easy to cast evasive creature with the added ability of possibly tapping other creatures, but the fact that the ability is limited to just tapping flying creatures pretty much negates its added benefit.
Meh. 2 mana for a 1/1 that taps forcing a creature to attack. Can be used in some form of removal, but very weak and troublesome.
A crab. One day I will build a crab deck. Other than that, this is only going to be seen in limited.
This thing looks strong. It's definitely better than its predecessor Sage Owl. The main reason this is better is that with Sage Owl, you simply get to see what is coming up and shuffle them around. If they are all bad, then you're just screwed. With Augury Owl you can now Scry which allows you to bury the cards if none of them are good for you.
Azure Drake - Skipped
Not much to say on this one, can prove strong though it's hurt by being a Sorcery. Also it would be good to try and combo with Pyromancer Ascension but that might prove troublesome.
Cancel - Skipped
Clone - Skipped
Cloud Elemental - Skipped
This is another card that deserves to see play but doesn't have an obvious home. It is an efficient beater for blue but it goes directly up against Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
It's going to see play in limited as a sort of removal for blue. Imperfect but it will fill a need.
Flashfreeze - Skipped
A very strong card, but obviously drawing is only made better if the card were to be an instant rather than a sorcery. That's the only criticism of it though. Shuffle and move four cards, then draw two.
Perhaps the weakest of the Titans, I am partial to the name 'Twiddle Titan.' I think we credit Brian Kibler with the name, but not positive that he is the true source. It's not a bad card, it's just underwhelming compared to the other titans. At six mana... it should be more offensive.
Interesting? Not to say it's good, but that it's an interesting concept.
Ice Cage - Skipped
Not Jace TMS, but it still has a home in constructed. And with the possible recursion through Sun Titan, it might see a return to dominance.
Obviously it combo's with Jace Beleren, but also it poses as a key piece of a limited archetype of mill.
Drawing three cards is never bad. It might be too expensive for constructed but it also is a piece of the mill draft archetype.
Leyline of Flash, but is Flash so important as to make it worth a sideboard slot? What does this really benefit in terms of matchup?
OMG! Mana Leak! How times have changed. When Mana Leak used to be a bad counterspell (in comparison to Counterspell) but now it's going to be a powerful part of a counter magician's arsenal. There's a very real possibility that this card is going to prove to be the most important card in the new set.
Maritime Guard - Skipped
This card struck us as the Warp World of the set. It's going to be the one people try to break every set. It might be broken sooner than later, but we'll have to wait and see.
Another Merfolk lord. Great. Just what Legacy and Extended needs. Being a reprint it is not going to overly exciting to the Legacy Merfolk players. And it doesn't currently look like Merfolk have enough to make a run in Standard right now, perhaps with Scars of Mirrodin.
Merfolk Spy - Skipped
It's got much much much better art than last year's deformed brain baby art.
Negate - Skipped
Phantom Beast - Skipped
It's the new Ponder. And... it's AWESOME. Going to see definite limited play and could be constructed.
It is a cool card and will be quite popular in casual and possibly limited, but these rarely make a strong appearance in constructed.
Shadowmage Infiltrator didn't get played really, so there's little reason this guy should see any more play. It might find a home in Merfolk specific decks, but largely it's going to be passed over.
So much better if it was an Instant, but in truth becomes broken at that point as you're effectively locking down your opponent for two turns. Also better if it had cantripped (a twitter reference for those who didn't get it.) The card is strong but again doesn't really have an apparent home in Constructed as it goes up against Jace TMS in casting cost.
This is one of those creatures that if you untap with it, you should likely win. Usually. It's not an auto-win but it seems to be close. Is a potential target for Polymorph, so long as both are in Standard together, though it seems silly when compared to getting an Eldrazi or something.
So overhyped. A good card? Of course. But this is the Abyssal Persecutor of this set, its overpriced right now but it won't really find a home in Constructed.
A continuing piece of the Mill archetype, Tome Scour is one of the key pieces for the Limited Mill archetype.
The coup-de-grace for a drafted Mill deck. Likely not going to ever see play in constructed, but it's possible. I guess? One day over the rainbow?
Unsummon - Skipped
Wall of Frost - Skipped
It's Morphling--, the lighter version. It's just not good enough in this form though, so don't expect to see much of it in Constructed.
