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Welcome back to my Rivals of Ixalan set review. If the title didn't give it away, today we will be talking about everybody's favorite color from Rivals of Ixalan. Blue got some very sweet spells from this set that I can't wait to try out. Are you ready? I hope so, 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)
Here we go!
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2 -- I don't understand the hype around this card. I know it's great against Settle the Wreckage, but that's it. This isn't worth a main deck slot just for Settle the Wreckage and Negate is a better card in your Sideboard against control decks. 2 mana is a lot more than three when your opponent is playing Approach of the Second Sun and you're trying to kill them with creatures while holding up countermagic. |
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2 -- I wasn't going to list this card because two 1/1 for 4 mana isn't great. However, those 1/1s do have Hexproof and we all know how powerfully annoying that ability can be. On top of that, the enchantment can give those Hexproof creatures or any other creature unblockable. This card seems like a reasonable Sideboard card to me depending on how the metagame shapes up. Curving from Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca conveniently gives you the perfect number of Merfolk to start drawing an extra card every turn. |
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2 -- For 4 mana, I want this card to steal all tokens forever. The card is already super narrow and just until end of turn makes it worse. I don't see a world where you'd want this creature in Standard. Even against Oketra's Monument I'd rather just kill the monument, not steal a 1/1 they made for free. |
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2.5 -- Repulse is a good Magic card. If the Merfolk deck ends up being more midrange then they will play this card. If they are hyper aggressive then they will most likely just play Unsummon instead. |
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2.5 -- This is the best Curiosity ever printed. We have Keen Sense too. On top of those two cards, we also have three unblockable creatures that cost two or less in Standard. This is a powerful card and I'd be surprised if it didn't see any Standard play. |
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2 -- Decks have played Disperse before in Standard, while not exciting this is a Disperse with upside. Putting a God or Planeswalker on top of your opponent's deck and then milling it with something like Ipnu Rivulet is a possibility. Even just saving your nonland permanent from removal is a fine play. |
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3 -- This card must see play, right? It's such a powerful ability. The trick is going to be triggering the second part without much effort. Something like   Control / Approach with Induced Amnesia and Hour of Revelation is where my head is going. |
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2.5 -- We do have Haze of Pollen and Commencement of Festivities in Standard. A Howling Mine type card goes a long way in helping to make a Turbo Fog deck. The deck does need a cheaper Howling Mine affect. Kumena's Awakening and Bounty of the Luxa are good but both costing 4 mana could cost us. This won't stop me from trying to make this deck work though. |
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3 -- Merfolk got its second good 1-drop creature which makes it the best tribal deck out of Ixalan block. Mist-Cloaked Herald also curves nicely into Curious Obsession even outside of Merfolk decks. |
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2.5 -- Nezahal is a sweet card. Control will lean toward Torrential Gearhulk as its finisher. When Torrential Gearhulk rotates, then control might pick up Nezahal. This elder dinosaur will be great against control out of the sideboard or even in a ramp deck. This card will be in Sideboards to start but as Standard goes on, I would expect to see a copy main deck. Reminds me a lot of Pearl Lake Ancient. |
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3 -- Could this be the card that makes Induced Amnesia good? Maybe. Release to the Wind is just a solid blink card. Remember, it lets the controller cast the exiled spell for free! Imagine a scenario where a control player Releases to the Wind on a Torrential Gearhulk. Then they could tap out for something like Azor, the Lawbringer and protect it with the exiled Torrential Gearhulk. That's game over, especially since now you can just put all your mana into Azor and still hold up Torrential Gearhulk from exile. I'm a fan of this card and its many applications. It probably does a lot more in Modern. |
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2 -- Brainstorm on a creature. If this thing had flash or cost 3 mana it would be a Standard all-star. Still, even for 4 mana it could see play, especially if you have an effective way to shuffle your library after putting cards back on top of it. I would have more hope for this card if Ramunap Red wasn't as dominate. |
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2 -- Merfolk are going to want to kill you much quicker, I don't think they'll want 4-drops. Kumena is a good enough merfolk to draw you some cards and he does plenty of other things as well all while costing less. |
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2.5 -- Divination is playable but not exciting. Torrential Gearhulk rewards you for playing instants. Even still this card could creep into slow midrange/control decks as a singleton but it's not the card Control decks were hoping for. |
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3.5 -- The best card out of the set. Silvergill Adept backed up by Mist-Cloaked Herald in the same set is what's going to make Merfolk playable. This is especially true if Rogue Refiner gets banned (written before Rogue Refiner was banned). |
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2 -- I love extra turns more than anyone I know. This one is very hard to build around. You'll need the City's Blessing and on top of that, if you top deck Timestream Navigator you won't be able to take an extra turn right away. I don't like my extra turn cards to be vulnerable to removal spells like Shock. All that being said, it does work well with Saheeli Rai. Will that be good enough? I don't think so. |
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2.5 -- A sweet pirate creature! Warkite Marauder can even see play in non-pirate decks. Turning The Scarab God or Hazoret the Fervent into an 0/1 creature and then pinging it with Walking Ballista is the dream! This flying pirate is a terrific way to deal with large or annoying creatures. |
Top 3 Blue Cards
Honorable mentions go to Release to the Wind and Nezahal, Primal Tide. Blue looks to be a lot better than White in this set. Merfolk being the two best Blue cards out of the set is what leads me to believe we will have a viable Merfolk deck in Standard. Induced Amnesia is a sweet card with a powerful affect. It would be a shame if it didn't see play. I have faith that it will, I know I will be trying out at some point!
Thanks for reading and make sure you come back tomorrow where we'll be going over more Rivals of Ixalan cards!
Ali Aintrazi
Follow me @AliEldrazi
