I'm wondering if the 4 power thing that has been sprinkled in this set and the last is just hinting at the Eternal army Nicol Bolas will bring to Ravnica. Given that Eternals are 4/4s.
I found that the 10th district whatever it is ends up great in orzhov afterlife builds. I just started listening to you guys in war of the spark, so way behind and did not watch this before going into the arena event with this set, but as you said...afterlife creatures can put the screws in. The opponent doesn't always want to kill them. Especially with deathtouch, allowing them to pop back upright after your opponent had a fleeting moment of feeling safe was pretty good in my last deck that went 7-1 in bo1. Not a huge, obvious pay off but still damned good.
When Depose // Deploy came up at first, I was like "why didn't you rotate it!?," and then it rotated before me as usual. :) Great content as always guys! Thanks so much for the hard work!
Rumbling Ruin isn't actually phrased that strangely. They rewrote it to match the way people will actually solve the problem of applying that rules text. The problem is that long time magic players are used to a very specific wonky templating for some effects, so it's very confusing when it's phrased any other way. I am confident if I showed Rumbling Ruin to a novice player, they'd understand it pretty quickly and make no note that it's "phrased weirdly".
It feels like it tells you what to do rather than what it does. If it were constructed playable I would find reading it very annoying but in limited where almost every person reading it will be reading it for the first time, sure.
I think Rally To Battle is amazing aggressively. One of the things that can hold you back is your inability to have attacking creatures to block. This lets you attack and live the next turn. Edit: Just played that card in pre-release. Savage. Surprised my opponent every time. Helps if you feign impatience. Think of a situation where you both have 10 life. You have about 6 power worth of creatures, they have 7 but you are Orzhov so you make spirits. They have some burn, lets say 3 damage. You attack. They don't block because you are dead to the field and their hand and don't want to trigger your spirits so you have nothing to chump. Facing a lot of Gruul and Rakdos right now, so you opponents have a power and burn advantage. This card lets you wipe their board on their counter attack. The +3 toughness means your board lives. The card is a tactical, sneaky advantage. Which is exactly the point.
For Clear the Stage.... From Gatherer... " Card Text: Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, you may return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. You can’t cast Clear the Stage without a target creature to get -3/-3. If either target is illegal when Clear the Stage tries to resolve, the other is still affected as appropriate. You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater. Whether you return the creature card is determined only as Clear the Stage resolves. You check whether you control a creature with power 4 or greater after the target creature gets -3/-3 but before it dies, if appropriate. " So, CTS has to have a legal target when cast. If it's not there, the graveyard returning still happens. Checks for power happens when CTS comes up on the stack.
Biogenic upgrade has one potential downside, I think. Which is that if you target multiple creatures, and they kill any of them in response, you don't get any of the effect. Is that right?
It'll resolve if at least one target remains. Did you play RIX? There, you could use Reckless Rage targeting your own Fanatical Firebrand and activating it for an extra point of damage
1:31:45 The Mockery can res one of their creatures during their combat step and block one of their attackers, making it have a situational "destroy target attacking creature" mode. That must push it above the D range, right?
The purpose of Bolrac-Clan Crusher having big stats and a tap ability is so that you still have a relevant body after you run out of counters to throw at things. It's the same logic as any utility creature with an ability that can make itself a late-game threat.
Slightly disappointed that LSV didn't called the flavor Judge for Sky Tether because it's an enchantment attached to a creature with Protection from enchantment (Fyi, see Azorius First wing).
Steeple creeper is a 3 mana 4/2 which we rarley get at common, trades with 95% of the C/UC 3 and 4 drops in the set and has a relevant late game upside and gets a D+. Acording to this metric, every 3/2 for 3 ever should be a D-. This card is the bread and butter of a draft deck and should be a solid C.
The problem is, the ability is expensive and the creature also trades down a lot. Also, with all the 1/1 flyers, having an expensive, temporary flying means it's trading with smaller creatures a lot of the time.
Without that ability it is still a 4/2 for 3. I See it as a perfect defensive card turn 4+ that can trade with everything you want. And threat of activation in defense to hold their 4+ Mana flyer back for a few turns while you adapt your other dudes sounds not bad at all. And if they don't have a 2 drop or the sky is clear late...4 is nothing to scoff at
It's probably a C-. They tend to rate anything above two mana with two toughness fairly low. They are mostly correct about them trading down but they can also trade up on defense. The sink is fine, but it's in the most mana intensive guild.
@@Dragon-eu8cb different set. This is where people go wrong. There were a ton of 2/2s in ixalan block. This set has bigger creatures. I've already like the 5/2 in red more than I ever thought I would because it lines up well with a number of 5 toughness commons.
I don't really understand the "high set-up cost" point with High Alert. It's a build around, which entails that it has set-up cost. But as far as build-arounds go, doesn't it have extremely low set-up cost? It's cheap. It doesn't need to be played on curve. It meshes well with the creatures of in its colors. Something like 10 of 19 common creatures in UW have higher toughness than power. Many of those have a delta of more than 1. Go into a draft with the goal to grab as many Concordia Pegasus and Senate Couriers, Humongulus and Azorious Knight-Errants as you can, and you're going to end up with a pile of them. And it's not like they're BAD without High Alert. It's just that High Alert makes them great so you will always prioritize them more than the other people at the table. A 3/3 flyer for 1W swinging in on turn 3? A 4/4 flyer for 2U? A 5/5 for 3UW that is unblockable and has vigilance? Those are limited bombs. Those things win games, and fast. And you'll get them throughout a pack. Literally last pick sometimes. Bottom line: The set is full of cards that not only fit the deck, but cards that fit the deck perfectly that are otherwise not cards people would splash for, and not cards that other drafters in your colors are going to prioritize. Isn't this the textbook definition of the kind of card you want to consider building around if you get it early?
I honestly don't feel it's necessary. I think you're going to be more worried about board position rather that getting in a few more points of damage. Imagine being on the draw against radkos and this is your turn 3 play. I don't see winning from the position often. High alert is sweet though. I will definitely be jamming it in my bant decks
@@oldirtysean00 High Alert is not a card that needs to be played on curve. That's part of the point of why it's such an easy build around. Cheap, easy to cast, sufficiently low-rarity to frequently be available in multiples, flexible in terms of timing. In fact, often you affirmatively SHOULDN'T play High Alert on curve if you have anything else to do. It can be used as essentially a main phase combat trick after you've developed your board when you're ready to alpha strike. If it's turn 3 and you have High Alert and Senate Courier in hand, it's obviously wrong to play High Alert. Play the bird, and you can just play High Alert on turn 4 or 5. And, another nice thing is that the sort of creatures you want to play with High Alert are naturally good early-game blockers to jam up something like Rakdos. Their 1/1s and 2/2s aren't going to have much luck against a 1/3 and 1/4 flyer. That buys you the time you need to cast High Alert. And the key point with High Alert is that we're not talking about a few points of extra damage. Especially not if you're splashing slightly into green for Tower Defense, an uncommon that is game winning with High Alert and not especially exciting if you're anyone else. You have the option to play High Alert and Tower Defense on the same turn once you get to turn 5 or 6. Imagine you just have your 3 bread-and-butter 2/3 drop commons out at the end of turn 4: Pegasus, Senate Courier, and Faerie Duelist.. A fine, but unremarkable curve-out in a deck hoping to run multiples of each of these commons. You're representing 3 power on board at the start of turn 5. Play a land. Tap 1UW for High Alert on 1st main. Swing,. Tap 1 and a Simic Guildgate to play Tower Defense, and your three 1-power creatures are suddenly swinging in for 24 points of flying damage. On turn 5. In limited. With 3 generic commons and 2 uncommons that almost nobody would pick early in a pack. That's why you build around High Alert. (And even if you don't get Tower Defense or feel you can't manage a splash, Rally to Battle is a fine Plan B alternative in white).
@dcnole - the High Alert build-around archetype might just be the strongest in this set. Although maybe not quite at the level of the Golgari Saproling archetype from Dominaria, I think it's in the same league. In fact, one could argue that a High Alert deck is actually the less demanding build because once you secure the linchpin uncommon (Slimefoot and High Alert respectively), a higher ratio of the interactive drivers and payoff cards for High Alert are in the common slot as opposed to being uncommons. That being said, Dominaria's Saproling deck has a greater sheer number of synergistic cards which is why I think it still gets the edge. But another nice thing about the High Alert deck is that you can build an alternate win condition into the deck...Mill! Two key cards Wall of Lost Thoughts and Screaming Shield play double duty nicely. For someone who likes building grindy white/blue control decks, I'm having a lot of fun slamming High Alert pack 1 every time I see it. Now, let's stop talking about it and spreading the gospel of High Alert in limited so we can keep up the win rate % lol
@@jeremymorley5670 It's proving to be almost too good. I think its now becoming a card any Azorius drafter will prioritize, even in pack 2 or 3, which reduces your chance of picking up additional copies later in the draft. The fact that only 6 of your creatures become better is still worth it because they become so much better. Especially the smaller ones. It gives Concordia Pegasus and Senate Courier late-game relevance beyond just being chump blockers. Marshall and LSV whiffed pretty badly on this one, and I was far from the only one to call it out before the set released for play. But I still love them.
@@dcnole All very true - Concordia Pegasus and Senate Courier are the on-color common-slot all-stars of this build. Adding Azorius Knight-Arbiter and Humongulus also at common is what makes this so viable, especially on Arena where I don't think the AI does a sufficient enough job simulating another drafter in a pod taking a specific build-around archetype such as this one. Even on MTGO or IRL if you're short playables, as long as you have a High Alert or two, you can have some success splashing some Orzhov GuildGates and Catacomb Crocodiles in a pinch, or another direction is splashing Simic for the dream combo of a Tower Defense. Even without the Simic GuildGates High Alert even makes Scuttlegator quite playable. In these Ravnica sets it's hard to find an archetype beyond the cookie-cutter "pick-a-guild" deck, I'm fairly confident this build is the only (?) best true build-around in this RNAx3 format that doesn't rely on a mythic or rare.
will you consider doing the sealed review before the draft review? I would want it to be like that because i often want to listen to your review in preparation for the prerelease.
Common/Uncommon reviews are generic enough limited reviews. They work for draft and sealed. Grades are just a relevant in sealed when making cuts/finding what colors you're in. Just expect to see more C's and D's in your sealed deck.
@@shawndiaz7528 that's not true a lot of the time for example bring to trial is barely maindeckable in draft but in his written review lsv said he'll happily main deck two that's a major difference that can really effect your deck building. Edit: spelling mistake
@@shawndiaz7528 yeah but I don't think that's why he said he'll maindeck two of them. I think he said that because sealed tends to have more midrange and control decks because in draft you can get more two drops nobody else wants and in sealed you only have a relatively limited amount of them so it's harder to have a two drop every time and an aggro deck really needs that.
@@urirose3671 LSV also said that in this episode. This review should be helpful enough to prepare you for pre-release. What they have to say here is based on their initial thoughts for the cards in limited; if they believe a card has better value in a different format, they usually seem to say so.
Persistent Petitioners can use any advisor, not just other copies! but... there is exactly one other Advisor in the set: a rare, Teysa Karlov, which is black-white and has no other synergies. In fact, when this set becomes a part of Standard in a few days, those will be the only Advisors in Standard, barring Arcane Adaptation shenanigans.
Yes. You technically can. Useful, for example, if your fatty gets double blocked and you don’t want to trigger a death ability on one of the creatures. You can assign all damage to the other one, even if you have enough power to kill both.
The soundboard thing at the start was so fucking funny. Also, I love how every episode that has Luis with Marshall, Marshall starts the show out giggling like a kid. He takes it way too.seriously without the troll god.
Luis Walk was wrong on clear the stage. On the pre-pre-release the judge let the creature come back when it was bounced. (Well, or the judge was wrong in the game, might want to clarify).
to back the judge ruling: a quote from rule 608.2b, "Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them." Edit: after reading the quote in a vacuum, it's not very clear. I recommend reading the entirety of 608.2b for the point. Boiled down version is the same as Nelson said during the PPR: if a spell has more than one target, as long as one of the targets is legal when it's the spell's turn to resolve, it does. it only affects legal targets. -not a judge
From Gatherer... " Card Text: Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, you may return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. You can’t cast Clear the Stage without a target creature to get -3/-3. If either target is illegal when Clear the Stage tries to resolve, the other is still affected as appropriate. You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater. Whether you return the creature card is determined only as Clear the Stage resolves. You check whether you control a creature with power 4 or greater after the target creature gets -3/-3 but before it dies, if appropriate. " So, CTS has to have a legal target when cast. If it's not there, the graveyard returning still happens. Checks for power happens when CTS comes up on the stack.
Lsv pointed out that if you have one 4 power creature and the creature leaves the battlefield then you do not get the retrun. Also the fuor power creature is not a target and the creature return happens only if the spell resolves.
@@apa_19 of the 5 cards at common/uncommon that hate on the graveyard, the Orzhov split card seems to be positioned for Standard, Carrion Imp just does it incidentally while gaining you life, and Cry of the Carnarium is primarily a board wipe that hates on Orzhov and is also positioned for Standard. Junk Troller fits the Defender archetype while also being able to target yourself so that you can slow down being decked, with the only pure Graveyard Hate card being Scrabbling Claws.
Marshall wants to discount the spectacle ability on hackrobat, but I feel he's underestimating the ability to play it on turn 4-5 with another cheap creature or a combat trick.
@@Dragon-eu8cb That's true, but things don't always work out like that. Especially in an aggro deck, it's not unusual to play a scorchmark, grotesque demise, storm strike, whatever! Having a cheap play to make alongside those is valuable if you have a hand with a different 3 drop. Versatility is important.
The set was pretty powerful. Steeple Creeper was OK in combat, but if I had a choice between that card and one with Afterlife I would pick the latter (assuming I was open to either guild)
@@RussianBot1998 it's not like you can't plan on that - if it was "gets +1/+1 until eot" i would agree - but this is a permanent counter - so where's that "does nothing" coming from? this is on curve. 1 Mana = 1/1 - and a bonus. combine that with a lizrog or biogenic upgrade - not to mention constructed simic w/ hardened scales or ana decks w/ corpsejack menace and the likes
How did they not see the point of the Veteran's untap ability so soon after reading a card that untaps your whole board? Azorius wants to be aggressive while being able to be defensive. Same thing with the Rare that gives your board vigilance and indestructible, allowing them to attack and block.
Rhythm of the Wild is an +A card in limited, in my experience playing it and playing against it in limited, it's strait up broken. It's extremely difficult to deal with if it comes out early, there is simply not enough enchantment removal in this set, especially at common level to even deal with this, and in my experience, it has a nearly 100% win rate in limited if it comes down in the first 4 turns and does not get destroyed right away (I have only seen this enchantment countered or destroyed once in all the games I played it or played against it).
I think macabre mockery will play out a lot better than you expect, because I think it will be relevant in and against strong decks, which is what matters. Good decks will play creatures with strong ETB effects, afterlife and sacrifice outlets because those seem to be good cards in this set already on their own right. It does require some setup, but you can use it defensively and offensively. But I appreciate that you guys are critical instead of giving every card a good rating. Goals for RNA draft: cast this in response to opponent's Clear the Stage :).
I'm surprised no one in the comments has questioned LSV and Marshall's review of Wilderness Reclamation. They flatly dismiss the card's playability in limited with an F grade. I see it more of a C- in the average control/mid-range Simic deck. Granted, the casting cost is a little high...if this had a CMC of 3 I think it would be a solid C. But they overlook the card's utility in Simic...firstly leaving all your mana open on opponent's turn lets you play (or represent) counter spells and flash cards. Probably more importantly, it lets you adapt or otherwise find mid/late game mana sinks which plays into Simic very nicely. In the right build, it's easy to recuperate this cards initial investment as Simic is the guild that lets you spend mid/late game mana the best. I'm pretty much never taking this card early, and if it does make the cut in my Simic deck it probably is the 23rd card...however F cards by LR's grades are wholly unplayable and I don't think that accurately describes Wilderness Reclamation. PS - love LR and the content, you guys are the best!
LSV: a 3/3 for 4 mana is below average for the vanilla test. A pretty sub par card 3 mins later... LSV a 3/3 for 3 is above average expecially in white. LOL!
Both those statements are true though. You don't want to pay more than 3 for a vanilla 3/3 you just have better things to do with your mana. That being said 3/3s for 3 is just something you don't see much outside of green and are really the sorts of cards you want to curve out with. The difference between 3 and 4 mana is huge
Why the unnecessary snark about High Alert and Senate Courier? There are 17 common/uncommon creatures with greater toughness than power in White/Blue/Colorless, many of which are already considered playable in the average Azorius deck. I really don’t like Marshal’s attitude about these kinds of things.
running any permanent without power and toughness is a huge down side. getting marginal benefit doesn't justify the huge negative of it simply doing nothing, or worse making your creatures worse. However if i had 3 copies of high alert, and a bunch of things like the 0/6, the 3/7 and the 1/3 flyers, then it's insane
@@RussianBot1998 There's an area between nothing and insane. Would you play an enchantment for 3 that effectively gave half of your creatures anywhere from +1/+0 to +6/+0, and boosted all toughness boosting combat tricks? I'm not calling it a high pick or an auto-include, but my point is that the cards that this goes with are ones you are likely to want to play already, so you aren't prioritizing mediocre cards, and it still has the minimum ability to untap a creature.
@@Dragon-eu8cb Do you not read what I wrote? I specifically pointed out how many of the cards that benefit from it are already considered playable, so you aren't picking bad cards just to support it.
I love listening to LSV in these reviews. I learn a ton. I cant stand listening to Marshall sometimes though. Some of his thoughts arent very well thought out at times. He also likes to restate what LSV just said or ask LSV questions that he just answered.
@@RussianBot1998 what the... how far is one half turn... ?? you get to spend all the mana you spent on it back in your opponent's turn and after that you are up a whole land base each of your opponent's turns... what do you not get/ do i not get about this? you ALWAYS get to keep your opponent at cautious state for you always have the mana to counter/flash/trigger anything on his turn... i really must've slept thru something here... if it was a sorcery i'd be all F on this - but it's a permanent... You only get behind on playing creatures and sorceries - but you still get to play tokens on his turn and twice as many all the following turns - or pump "until end of turn" another time on his turn - i am really not getting your "reclamation" ;)
Consecrate consume os tailored golgari hate best Deck on the game "b-" lol consume is Killers carnage tyrant behind an elf and u gain 7 life. Seems pretty good...
Thanks for the Video set review. It really helps me learn the cards seeing them on the screen as you guys talk about them :)
Same, I have a hard time not forgetting what cards they're talking about halfway through so being able to glance at the screen is super helpful.
I'm wondering if the 4 power thing that has been sprinkled in this set and the last is just hinting at the Eternal army Nicol Bolas will bring to Ravnica. Given that Eternals are 4/4s.
My thoughts too
GalaxyBrain.gif
Unfortunately you put more thought into this then they did.
I found that the 10th district whatever it is ends up great in orzhov afterlife builds. I just started listening to you guys in war of the spark, so way behind and did not watch this before going into the arena event with this set, but as you said...afterlife creatures can put the screws in. The opponent doesn't always want to kill them. Especially with deathtouch, allowing them to pop back upright after your opponent had a fleeting moment of feeling safe was pretty good in my last deck that went 7-1 in bo1. Not a huge, obvious pay off but still damned good.
As professional as the show requires. My new motto.
big thanks for rotating the spilt cards, on mobile it tends to mess with landscape if changing the viewing angle
Listening to this to prepare for prerelease! Thank you for all the help!
When Depose // Deploy came up at first, I was like "why didn't you rotate it!?," and then it rotated before me as usual. :) Great content as always guys! Thanks so much for the hard work!
Thank you Luis and Marshall :) Always looking forward to LR's review. Reviews from other TH-cam channels just aren't as good. Much appreesh!
Reminder to Everyone: Magic's new motto/acronym F.I.R.E stands for... F It, Reprint Everything.
:D
I need this on a playmat.
@@NaughtyShrink LMAo right? Credit goes to Adam from LRR during the Pre-Prerelease.
So why the reminder? Reprinting everything isn't going to happen, nor should it.
@@-RiZeN- You might want to watch LoadingReadyRun's latest Pre-Prerelease to understand. It happens during the Gavin vs Marshall Match.
Rumbling Ruin isn't actually phrased that strangely. They rewrote it to match the way people will actually solve the problem of applying that rules text. The problem is that long time magic players are used to a very specific wonky templating for some effects, so it's very confusing when it's phrased any other way. I am confident if I showed Rumbling Ruin to a novice player, they'd understand it pretty quickly and make no note that it's "phrased weirdly".
It feels like it tells you what to do rather than what it does. If it were constructed playable I would find reading it very annoying but in limited where almost every person reading it will be reading it for the first time, sure.
Macabre Mockery can grab a afterlife creature, swing,, then you get the tokens?
It dies under your control, so yeah, seems like it.
Loved watching Marshall at the pre-Prerelease, that Azorious deck was sweet
I think Rally To Battle is amazing aggressively. One of the things that can hold you back is your inability to have attacking creatures to block. This lets you attack and live the next turn.
Edit:
Just played that card in pre-release. Savage. Surprised my opponent every time. Helps if you feign impatience. Think of a situation where you both have 10 life. You have about 6 power worth of creatures, they have 7 but you are Orzhov so you make spirits. They have some burn, lets say 3 damage. You attack. They don't block because you are dead to the field and their hand and don't want to trigger your spirits so you have nothing to chump. Facing a lot of Gruul and Rakdos right now, so you opponents have a power and burn advantage. This card lets you wipe their board on their counter attack. The +3 toughness means your board lives.
The card is a tactical, sneaky advantage. Which is exactly the point.
For Clear the Stage....
From Gatherer...
"
Card Text:
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, you may return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
You can’t cast Clear the Stage without a target creature to get -3/-3. If either target is illegal when Clear the Stage tries to resolve, the other is still affected as appropriate.
You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater. Whether you return the creature card is determined only as Clear the Stage resolves.
You check whether you control a creature with power 4 or greater after the target creature gets -3/-3 but before it dies, if appropriate.
"
So, CTS has to have a legal target when cast. If it's not there, the graveyard returning still happens.
Checks for power happens when CTS comes up on the stack.
Biogenic upgrade has one potential downside, I think. Which is that if you target multiple creatures, and they kill any of them in response, you don't get any of the effect. Is that right?
It'll resolve if at least one target remains. Did you play RIX? There, you could use Reckless Rage targeting your own Fanatical Firebrand and activating it for an extra point of damage
1:31:45 The Mockery can res one of their creatures during their combat step and block one of their attackers, making it have a situational "destroy target attacking creature" mode. That must push it above the D range, right?
If you like to play four mana for sometimes killing a creature and others stooping some damage yes.
Also, I love the Boondock Saints reference Marshall throws in slyly for Twilight Panther.
Marshall made at least one Boondock Saints reference on the Pre-Prerelease as well.
The purpose of Bolrac-Clan Crusher having big stats and a tap ability is so that you still have a relevant body after you run out of counters to throw at things. It's the same logic as any utility creature with an ability that can make itself a late-game threat.
Rakdos Trumpeter is a menacing mana sink
Don't forget to check description for guild and colour timestamps!
How do I get the code for your background on the Lifelinker app? Any help is appreciated!
Question for y’all. Do you think ill gotten inheritance is a good spectacle enabler?
It's pretty slow, but it works.
Slightly disappointed that LSV didn't called the flavor Judge for Sky Tether because it's an enchantment attached to a creature with Protection from enchantment (Fyi, see Azorius First wing).
Who said it's that card specifically? Azorius have lots of Griffins.
Ah, pure nitpicking, my favorite
In senate griffin the flavor text references that their are many griffins not just one.
Steeple creeper is a 3 mana 4/2 which we rarley get at common, trades with 95% of the C/UC 3 and 4 drops in the set and has a relevant late game upside and gets a D+.
Acording to this metric, every 3/2 for 3 ever should be a D-.
This card is the bread and butter of a draft deck and should be a solid C.
The problem is, the ability is expensive and the creature also trades down a lot. Also, with all the 1/1 flyers, having an expensive, temporary flying means it's trading with smaller creatures a lot of the time.
Without that ability it is still a 4/2 for 3.
I See it as a perfect defensive card turn 4+ that can trade with everything you want. And threat of activation in defense to hold their 4+ Mana flyer back for a few turns while you adapt your other dudes sounds not bad at all.
And if they don't have a 2 drop or the sky is clear late...4 is nothing to scoff at
It's probably a C-. They tend to rate anything above two mana with two toughness fairly low. They are mostly correct about them trading down but they can also trade up on defense. The sink is fine, but it's in the most mana intensive guild.
Check out ixalan block with all the 4/2s that you did not play. I do not think that the activated ability changes its grade so I would put it at a C
@@Dragon-eu8cb different set. This is where people go wrong. There were a ton of 2/2s in ixalan block. This set has bigger creatures. I've already like the 5/2 in red more than I ever thought I would because it lines up well with a number of 5 toughness commons.
I don't really understand the "high set-up cost" point with High Alert. It's a build around, which entails that it has set-up cost. But as far as build-arounds go, doesn't it have extremely low set-up cost? It's cheap. It doesn't need to be played on curve. It meshes well with the creatures of in its colors. Something like 10 of 19 common creatures in UW have higher toughness than power. Many of those have a delta of more than 1. Go into a draft with the goal to grab as many Concordia Pegasus and Senate Couriers, Humongulus and Azorious Knight-Errants as you can, and you're going to end up with a pile of them. And it's not like they're BAD without High Alert. It's just that High Alert makes them great so you will always prioritize them more than the other people at the table. A 3/3 flyer for 1W swinging in on turn 3? A 4/4 flyer for 2U? A 5/5 for 3UW that is unblockable and has vigilance? Those are limited bombs. Those things win games, and fast. And you'll get them throughout a pack. Literally last pick sometimes. Bottom line: The set is full of cards that not only fit the deck, but cards that fit the deck perfectly that are otherwise not cards people would splash for, and not cards that other drafters in your colors are going to prioritize. Isn't this the textbook definition of the kind of card you want to consider building around if you get it early?
I honestly don't feel it's necessary. I think you're going to be more worried about board position rather that getting in a few more points of damage. Imagine being on the draw against radkos and this is your turn 3 play. I don't see winning from the position often. High alert is sweet though. I will definitely be jamming it in my bant decks
@@oldirtysean00 High Alert is not a card that needs to be played on curve. That's part of the point of why it's such an easy build around. Cheap, easy to cast, sufficiently low-rarity to frequently be available in multiples, flexible in terms of timing. In fact, often you affirmatively SHOULDN'T play High Alert on curve if you have anything else to do. It can be used as essentially a main phase combat trick after you've developed your board when you're ready to alpha strike. If it's turn 3 and you have High Alert and Senate Courier in hand, it's obviously wrong to play High Alert. Play the bird, and you can just play High Alert on turn 4 or 5. And, another nice thing is that the sort of creatures you want to play with High Alert are naturally good early-game blockers to jam up something like Rakdos. Their 1/1s and 2/2s aren't going to have much luck against a 1/3 and 1/4 flyer. That buys you the time you need to cast High Alert.
And the key point with High Alert is that we're not talking about a few points of extra damage. Especially not if you're splashing slightly into green for Tower Defense, an uncommon that is game winning with High Alert and not especially exciting if you're anyone else. You have the option to play High Alert and Tower Defense on the same turn once you get to turn 5 or 6. Imagine you just have your 3 bread-and-butter 2/3 drop commons out at the end of turn 4: Pegasus, Senate Courier, and Faerie Duelist.. A fine, but unremarkable curve-out in a deck hoping to run multiples of each of these commons. You're representing 3 power on board at the start of turn 5. Play a land. Tap 1UW for High Alert on 1st main. Swing,. Tap 1 and a Simic Guildgate to play Tower Defense, and your three 1-power creatures are suddenly swinging in for 24 points of flying damage. On turn 5. In limited. With 3 generic commons and 2 uncommons that almost nobody would pick early in a pack. That's why you build around High Alert. (And even if you don't get Tower Defense or feel you can't manage a splash, Rally to Battle is a fine Plan B alternative in white).
@dcnole - the High Alert build-around archetype might just be the strongest in this set. Although maybe not quite at the level of the Golgari Saproling archetype from Dominaria, I think it's in the same league. In fact, one could argue that a High Alert deck is actually the less demanding build because once you secure the linchpin uncommon (Slimefoot and High Alert respectively), a higher ratio of the interactive drivers and payoff cards for High Alert are in the common slot as opposed to being uncommons. That being said, Dominaria's Saproling deck has a greater sheer number of synergistic cards which is why I think it still gets the edge. But another nice thing about the High Alert deck is that you can build an alternate win condition into the deck...Mill! Two key cards Wall of Lost Thoughts and Screaming Shield play double duty nicely. For someone who likes building grindy white/blue control decks, I'm having a lot of fun slamming High Alert pack 1 every time I see it. Now, let's stop talking about it and spreading the gospel of High Alert in limited so we can keep up the win rate % lol
@@jeremymorley5670 It's proving to be almost too good. I think its now becoming a card any Azorius drafter will prioritize, even in pack 2 or 3, which reduces your chance of picking up additional copies later in the draft. The fact that only 6 of your creatures become better is still worth it because they become so much better. Especially the smaller ones. It gives Concordia Pegasus and Senate Courier late-game relevance beyond just being chump blockers. Marshall and LSV whiffed pretty badly on this one, and I was far from the only one to call it out before the set released for play. But I still love them.
@@dcnole All very true - Concordia Pegasus and Senate Courier are the on-color common-slot all-stars of this build. Adding Azorius Knight-Arbiter and Humongulus also at common is what makes this so viable, especially on Arena where I don't think the AI does a sufficient enough job simulating another drafter in a pod taking a specific build-around archetype such as this one. Even on MTGO or IRL if you're short playables, as long as you have a High Alert or two, you can have some success splashing some Orzhov GuildGates and Catacomb Crocodiles in a pinch, or another direction is splashing Simic for the dream combo of a Tower Defense. Even without the Simic GuildGates High Alert even makes Scuttlegator quite playable. In these Ravnica sets it's hard to find an archetype beyond the cookie-cutter "pick-a-guild" deck, I'm fairly confident this build is the only (?) best true build-around in this RNAx3 format that doesn't rely on a mythic or rare.
will you consider doing the sealed review before the draft review? I would want it to be like that because i often want to listen to your review in preparation for the prerelease.
Common/Uncommon reviews are generic enough limited reviews. They work for draft and sealed. Grades are just a relevant in sealed when making cuts/finding what colors you're in. Just expect to see more C's and D's in your sealed deck.
@@shawndiaz7528 that's not true a lot of the time for example bring to trial is barely maindeckable in draft but in his written review lsv said he'll happily main deck two that's a major difference that can really effect your deck building.
Edit: spelling mistake
@@urirose3671 Overall card quality in sealed is much worse. I did just say that
@@shawndiaz7528 yeah but I don't think that's why he said he'll maindeck two of them. I think he said that because sealed tends to have more midrange and control decks because in draft you can get more two drops nobody else wants and in sealed you only have a relatively limited amount of them so it's harder to have a two drop every time and an aggro deck really needs that.
@@urirose3671 LSV also said that in this episode. This review should be helpful enough to prepare you for pre-release. What they have to say here is based on their initial thoughts for the cards in limited; if they believe a card has better value in a different format, they usually seem to say so.
Thanks for the set review!
Persistent Petitioners can use any advisor, not just other copies! but... there is exactly one other Advisor in the set: a rare, Teysa Karlov, which is black-white and has no other synergies. In fact, when this set becomes a part of Standard in a few days, those will be the only Advisors in Standard, barring Arcane Adaptation shenanigans.
Jeez, white seems ultra solid.
2:32:17 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
If I attack with a 5/5, they block with 2 creatures, can I assign all 5 points to 1 creature and 0 to the other?
Blocks with 2 1/1s let's say
Yes. You technically can. Useful, for example, if your fatty gets double blocked and you don’t want to trigger a death ability on one of the creatures. You can assign all damage to the other one, even if you have enough power to kill both.
@@davidwoodroffe3986 what I was wondering, thanks
High Alert does combo pretty nicely with the Azorius Knight-Arbiter though!
the 0/6 defender for 4 and the 1/3 flyer for two are pretty gross as well
And you play a one of it and late game top deck it with no board instead of that senate griffon your playing not playing over it.
The soundboard thing at the start was so fucking funny.
Also, I love how every episode that has Luis with Marshall, Marshall starts the show out giggling like a kid. He takes it way too.seriously without the troll god.
Missing Patron link in the description
gift of strength is from amonkhet (or HoD not sure)
1:55:25 I kept waiting for a comparison to Magma Spray lolz
I'm so stoked for this!
I attacked with a 10/8 Vizkopa Vampire thanks to Angelic Exaltation, and that was against Rakdos.
Luis Walk was wrong on clear the stage. On the pre-pre-release the judge let the creature come back when it was bounced. (Well, or the judge was wrong in the game, might want to clarify).
to back the judge ruling: a quote from rule 608.2b, "Illegal targets, if any, won’t be affected by parts of a resolving spell’s effect for which they’re illegal. Other parts of the effect for which those targets are not illegal may still affect them."
Edit: after reading the quote in a vacuum, it's not very clear. I recommend reading the entirety of 608.2b for the point. Boiled down version is the same as Nelson said during the PPR: if a spell has more than one target, as long as one of the targets is legal when it's the spell's turn to resolve, it does. it only affects legal targets.
-not a judge
but what LSV said was different. if you no long satisfy the if clause, you do not get the return effect.
From Gatherer...
"
Card Text:
Target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, you may return up to one target creature card from your graveyard to your hand.
You can’t cast Clear the Stage without a target creature to get -3/-3. If either target is illegal when Clear the Stage tries to resolve, the other is still affected as appropriate.
You may always choose a target creature card in your graveyard, even if you don’t control a creature with power 4 or greater. Whether you return the creature card is determined only as Clear the Stage resolves.
You check whether you control a creature with power 4 or greater after the target creature gets -3/-3 but before it dies, if appropriate.
"
So, CTS has to have a legal target when cast. If it's not there, the graveyard returning still happens.
Checks for power happens when CTS comes up on the stack.
Lsv pointed out that if you have one 4 power creature and the creature leaves the battlefield then you do not get the retrun. Also the fuor power creature is not a target and the creature return happens only if the spell resolves.
I remember when 2/2 flyers for 4 were considered decent playables. now 2/3 flyers with minor upside get D ratings :D
It looks like there is a lot more graveyard hate than graveyard as a resource. Does someone know why?
There's lots of graveyard stuff in Standard right now, and we may be getting more with Bolas's Eternals being in the next set.
@@Mordalon Yeah but I mean graveyard hate in random commons like Carrion Imp or Junktroller, that are meant to only be played in limited
@@apa_19 of the 5 cards at common/uncommon that hate on the graveyard, the Orzhov split card seems to be positioned for Standard, Carrion Imp just does it incidentally while gaining you life, and Cry of the Carnarium is primarily a board wipe that hates on Orzhov and is also positioned for Standard. Junk Troller fits the Defender archetype while also being able to target yourself so that you can slow down being decked, with the only pure Graveyard Hate card being Scrabbling Claws.
Two words, Arclight Phoenix.
Golgari.. Arclights
Bankrupt in blood is great with afterlife
Uhh, Riven Turnbull taps for black mana, @LSV! Know your legend cards!
Simic putting frog DNA into everything is a shout-out to Jurassic Park.
Rythm of the wild = the new Fires of yavimaya?
So, azorious fliers or bust? What it seems like anyway.
Eric Hallam you usually don’t want to stray away from the guilds. You won’t have synergy and the powerful gold cards.
There are plenty of flyers, you have no trouble getting them
Thanks for the effort I really enjoyed the video :)
very good podcast, thanks a lot. Just subscribed to your channel
Marshall wants to discount the spectacle ability on hackrobat, but I feel he's underestimating the ability to play it on turn 4-5 with another cheap creature or a combat trick.
It's also just a really solid 3 drop
Your playing a hackrobat on turn five?
You should be playing removal or big creature on turn five
@@Dragon-eu8cb That's true, but things don't always work out like that. Especially in an aggro deck, it's not unusual to play a scorchmark, grotesque demise, storm strike, whatever! Having a cheap play to make alongside those is valuable if you have a hand with a different 3 drop. Versatility is important.
@@ExKiwi-yw8er Yes but you would be better of just playing a versatil 5 or 4 drop
@@Dragon-eu8cb Awright man, you do you!
High alert untaps a creature so you can hit with a wall and untap it
Rally to battle is great at parody decent when ahead and horrid when behind
Man 3 mana 4/2 that can fly gets a D+?
The set was pretty powerful. Steeple Creeper was OK in combat, but if I had a choice between that card and one with Afterlife I would pick the latter (assuming I was open to either guild)
Disagree hugely on Stoney Strength. The untap part turns it into a removal spell on the defensive or let's you get fancy with activated abilities.
It does nothing very often, and when it does something, it can screw you over by turning off adapt.
@@RussianBot1998 Agree
@@RussianBot1998 it's not like you can't plan on that - if it was "gets +1/+1 until eot" i would agree - but this is a permanent counter - so where's that "does nothing" coming from? this is on curve. 1 Mana = 1/1 - and a bonus. combine that with a lizrog or biogenic upgrade - not to mention constructed simic w/ hardened scales or ana decks w/ corpsejack menace and the likes
Is there any channels like this but for EDH?
How did they not see the point of the Veteran's untap ability so soon after reading a card that untaps your whole board? Azorius wants to be aggressive while being able to be defensive. Same thing with the Rare that gives your board vigilance and indestructible, allowing them to attack and block.
you can also steal a planeswalker. if they get one
I'm just upset that wild beastmaster got neutered by the gruul clan
Did none of you play Mass Effect 2? Justikar not Justisar
Did we manage to take away the soundboard from you this week?
DEAD
When you play your 2\1 on first turn than play colossus turn two to hit 6 damage on turn two with a 6\3. Would feel amazing
Rhythm of the Wild is an +A card in limited, in my experience playing it and playing against it in limited, it's strait up broken. It's extremely difficult to deal with if it comes out early, there is simply not enough enchantment removal in this set, especially at common level to even deal with this, and in my experience, it has a nearly 100% win rate in limited if it comes down in the first 4 turns and does not get destroyed right away (I have only seen this enchantment countered or destroyed once in all the games I played it or played against it).
I think macabre mockery will play out a lot better than you expect, because I think it will be relevant in and against strong decks, which is what matters. Good decks will play creatures with strong ETB effects, afterlife and sacrifice outlets because those seem to be good cards in this set already on their own right. It does require some setup, but you can use it defensively and offensively. But I appreciate that you guys are critical instead of giving every card a good rating.
Goals for RNA draft: cast this in response to opponent's Clear the Stage :).
You want you opponent to have strong ETB effects?
Blood raid could hit that card and cast carnage
Why would people dislike this?
Because you're a dick
Ball bag crusher?
what-a-set
Watchful Giant over 10th District? Really?
I'm surprised no one in the comments has questioned LSV and Marshall's review of Wilderness Reclamation. They flatly dismiss the card's playability in limited with an F grade. I see it more of a C- in the average control/mid-range Simic deck. Granted, the casting cost is a little high...if this had a CMC of 3 I think it would be a solid C. But they overlook the card's utility in Simic...firstly leaving all your mana open on opponent's turn lets you play (or represent) counter spells and flash cards. Probably more importantly, it lets you adapt or otherwise find mid/late game mana sinks which plays into Simic very nicely. In the right build, it's easy to recuperate this cards initial investment as Simic is the guild that lets you spend mid/late game mana the best. I'm pretty much never taking this card early, and if it does make the cut in my Simic deck it probably is the 23rd card...however F cards by LR's grades are wholly unplayable and I don't think that accurately describes Wilderness Reclamation. PS - love LR and the content, you guys are the best!
I think F was generous
I agree with Cyclamen and I have a question for Jeremy in that you drafted counters and the use for adapt is to small for it to be considered highly
Ha! Feral Maaka = Bear Cat
This set makes M19 look really OP
Nah. You forget how M19's Rares were mostly Modern sideboard cards or niche build arounds.
Is it just me or does Frilled Mystic kind of look like Halsey? lol
Get some oil for the chair.
Blood braid couldn't hit this anyways....it could
Is it just me, or does Macabre Mockery just scream Addendum? It's like Rakdos mocking Azorius for having such a mediocre keyword XD
Yes they are cuz Azoruis is shit
LSV: a 3/3 for 4 mana is below average for the vanilla test. A pretty sub par card
3 mins later...
LSV a 3/3 for 3 is above average expecially in white.
LOL!
Based off what LSV said i guess the average 3/3 is 3.5 mana?
Both those statements are true though. You don't want to pay more than 3 for a vanilla 3/3 you just have better things to do with your mana. That being said 3/3s for 3 is just something you don't see much outside of green and are really the sorts of cards you want to curve out with.
The difference between 3 and 4 mana is huge
Why the unnecessary snark about High Alert and Senate Courier? There are 17 common/uncommon creatures with greater toughness than power in White/Blue/Colorless, many of which are already considered playable in the average Azorius deck. I really don’t like Marshal’s attitude about these kinds of things.
running any permanent without power and toughness is a huge down side. getting marginal benefit doesn't justify the huge negative of it simply doing nothing, or worse making your creatures worse.
However if i had 3 copies of high alert, and a bunch of things like the 0/6, the 3/7 and the 1/3 flyers, then it's insane
@@RussianBot1998 There's an area between nothing and insane. Would you play an enchantment for 3 that effectively gave half of your creatures anywhere from +1/+0 to +6/+0, and boosted all toughness boosting combat tricks? I'm not calling it a high pick or an auto-include, but my point is that the cards that this goes with are ones you are likely to want to play already, so you aren't prioritizing mediocre cards, and it still has the minimum ability to untap a creature.
@@Mordalon high alert also could lower power and if you do not draw it...
@@Dragon-eu8cb Do you not read what I wrote? I specifically pointed out how many of the cards that benefit from it are already considered playable, so you aren't picking bad cards just to support it.
@@Mordalon The Fact is that you are wasting a pick for high alert.
Geez, Frilled Mystic is the worst to have as the bg image. Gross!
You guys missed out on a lot of puns.
I love listening to LSV in these reviews. I learn a ton. I cant stand listening to Marshall sometimes though. Some of his thoughts arent very well thought out at times. He also likes to restate what LSV just said or ask LSV questions that he just answered.
no
WTF why do you both hate Wilderness Reclamation. Don't you want to cast more Spells?
Yes, but they dont want to spend a card on something that does nothing. also using your turn 4 on that is so bad. you fall so far behind.
Agree with cyclamen
@@RussianBot1998 what the... how far is one half turn... ?? you get to spend all the mana you spent on it back in your opponent's turn and after that you are up a whole land base each of your opponent's turns... what do you not get/ do i not get about this? you ALWAYS get to keep your opponent at cautious state for you always have the mana to counter/flash/trigger anything on his turn... i really must've slept thru something here... if it was a sorcery i'd be all F on this - but it's a permanent... You only get behind on playing creatures and sorceries - but you still get to play tokens on his turn and twice as many all the following turns - or pump "until end of turn" another time on his turn - i am really not getting your "reclamation" ;)
Consecrate consume os tailored golgari hate best Deck on the game "b-" lol consume is Killers carnage tyrant behind an elf and u gain 7 life. Seems pretty good...