Potentially notable thing about Skithiryx's Infect in this format, is that he does hit battles normally, since the Infect text only mentions what to do with damage to creatures and players.
After playing kenrith a absolute ton of times on Arena cubes, he is going to massively over perform the B+ grade. He obviously has no impact if dropped at 5 and immediately eats a removal spell, pretty much excluding him from A+ territory, but if you untap, he feels A++. Even if you only have access to white, it makes the game almost impossible for most board positions to get outraced. First time you top deck a land and gain 10 life instead of doing nothing, it's incredible.
This. Hell, a vanilla 5 mana 5/5 is usually just playable enough in limited, and this is a 5 mana 5/5 that just wins you the game if you untap with him. So yeah, definitely an A, and certainly performs as an A++ if you untap with him. Not to mention that if the game goes long and you topdeck him? Who-boy, does he set you up to win from there by being activated immediately.
For Firja's "second spell" trigger, it's worth noting that defeating a battle and casting the back side of it gives you +1 spell count for the turn without spending any mana.
This sets amazing. We get to see creatures like Kenrith who’s never been in limited. And we get to use limited all stars again!! It’s so awesome. Can’t wait to play Daxos again. He won me a Theros pre release 💜
Love the video, quick aside, I think you may have misread Firesign and Sunspeaker though. Only red spells not white get lifelink, so you don’t get the bolt or lifegain
39:50 While I agree with many of the other card analyses in this vid, I believe Lathiel is probably one whose potential is not fully understood. It's correct to view her in a lifegain lens. However, in the Selesnya Counters archetype, Lathiel is an excellent target for all of the backup triggers that are in Green and White. I believe she will often become a force to be reckoned with if you manage to stock up on a fair number of Backup cards to boost her statline and, by extension, make it easier for her to attack to grow the entire board.
it is kinda wild listening to you try and examine made-for-commander legends for a limited environment. Arixmathes is either insane or it's bad, with no real in-between. a lot of the time it gets played in EDH decks that are all aboutspamming Untappers and the likes of Freed from the Real and Pemmin's Aura to get the slumbering isle to make infinite green. It also gets used as sea serpent tribal commander, but that is decidedly less exciting.
With Skithiryx around, it's worth noting that -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters on the same permanent are removed (up until they no longer cancel out; i.e. putting four -1/-1 counters on a creature with three +1/+1 counters leaves you with a creature with just one 1/-1 counter). This is relevant for Furnace-Blessed Conqueror and Elvish Vatkeeper. Not something that will come up often of course, but I definitely see it causing arguments at someone's LGS haha
I'm gonna make an argument that radha will potentially play better in this format than they did in dmu. In dmu they were pretty mediocre cause you had to attack with it to get the bonus and it couldn't buff itself, in this set though we have convoke. With sorcery speed convoke you can apply the bonus without attacking with them, and with instant speed convoke you can even use it as a combat trick to potentially blow your opponent out. I don't know if it'll work out that way too often but rahda was pretty disappointing in dmu and convoking so they don't have to attack is definitely a consideration I think.
The proliferation of Backup in this set definitely makes Thalia and Ragavan better, although maybe not enough for an upgrade (especially in Ragavan's case)
Hello Nizzahon, I'd really like if you make something as a list of bombs that have been A+ in their respective format, since A+ cards are not that common.
He did a similar video to this last year if you haven't seen it called "the ten most busted limited bombs ever". A Nizzanotes episode on the concept of A+ power level more generally might be interesting, talking about different types of etb value and such.
If the format is really slow, yeah it’s kinda like a better Firemind’s vessel. But most limited formats for the past year or two have been so fast that this wouldn’t stand a chance. And with battles being such a big thing in this set, I think maintaining tempo will be critical. So this probably isn’t playable.
I actually think yorion is going to be an A+. the reason is because Dimir has sooo many mill cards, mill 10, mill 8, mill 4, that's 40 percent. And it mills both players. Players are going to be constantly checking their libraries. I was already considering going 60 cards before I knew about yorion. Now, you can blink a bunch of etb effects. You can blink battles with removal spells. You can blink reanimators. You can blink creatures that incubate. I think it's actually busted in the format.
Do you think both players constantly attacking battles means that this format is more likely to trigger inga's second ability than kaldheim? Edit: there are so many 2-mana transforming phyrexians in this set that I think lurrus companion might actually be reasonable.
In the last 10 sets (that's as far back as I went) Blue's average score is wildly lower than every other color. These legends are a perfect example of this pattern. Wizards really doesn't like to build Blue cards that affect the board meaningfully, and of those that do, it's stuffed with bad mechanics like lowering power. The power creep is just so bad it's getting left behind with the current mechanical distribution.
That's because it's not in blue's color pie to play to the board. Blue plays primarily on the stack, and building a good control deck is hard in limited. Blue's best weapon are counterspells, and those just pull less weight when the card quality and consistency is lower.
@@2424Lars I 100% agree with that analysis. I just think Wizards needs to innovate something to allow it to keep up. With the massive creature power creep, Blue's play style just doesn't cut it anymore for a balanced game (specifically Limited, Standard- eternal formats are fine). Even counterspells: not only are creatures far more efficient, but more and more things are uncounterable, or have Hexproof, or have cast triggers, etc.
Blue getting worse cards means less of them are getting into eternal formats. Which is good for the health of the game. Screw blue, and screw control decks.
@@anannoyedpanda Found the eternally salty fogie who can't get past an age of the game long since past, so rules it fine to distort balance. It's been like 20 years dude.
Thank you for the answer, i googled aswell and it seems they are legal in whatever format the original is. Sometimes arena is weird… so i wanted to make sure. Thank you for your content. Big fan since dom united.
Captain lannery storm has the second highest winrate in the set in red after chandra. She is A This set is just so curve heavy and slamming her and even if trading the game is just over. Only way you lose is if your opp has a 2/3 somehow or they are on the play and have a 3/3
Kind of disappointed that about 90% of the cards here are recent cards already available in Arena. Would have been good to includw more cards from older sets.
These are some very VERY confusing theming with the artwork. Some cards look amazing, while some cards have art work that looks more like it's draw by someone who just learned how to use Photoshop. Still, it doesn't take away from what the cards do... but art-wise they look horrid and I would look for the original version of the card to trade with. Edit: Slight correction: You called Yorion a "Bird Spirit" instead of a "Bird Serpent" Also, correct me if im wrong: in your Firesong and Sunspeaker segment, I don't think the Smite would work with it. Firesong and Sunspeaker looks only white spells when it causes life gain... and only gives red spells lifelink. Btw how does Firesong and Sunspeaker work with cards like Lightning Helix? Does it trigger the White Part of Firesong & Sunspeaker twice?
Do you really think so when it comes to alt art here? To me, the only ones that look Photoshopesque are the Dominaria ones, especially of black characters (dunno if it's a coincidence, hope it is, but look at Shanna for example). Seems like this card style underwent some downgrade in quality since DMU because originally this Photoshop-like look wasn't there. I also don't like the Praetor ones, but that was also true for me in ONE where a lot of the cards had it, so... eh... The rest of the card styles range from pretty good to amazing for me, I especially like the Ravnica one, it kind of mimics watercolour and I like the detail of stacks of buildings being in the colour of the side of the card in the plain style.
I hate when people say slight correction. If it isn't impacting anything meaningful, don't make the comment. It's so irritating to read. You're just being a nuisance. Sorry, but I'm over reading these comments in most mtg comment sections.
He may be one of the most popular commanders, but that is mainly because he is 5 colors with plenty of ways to spend all the insane mana that you can produce in casual games. Kenrith is nothing too special outside of casual commander. He will still be good, but I think a high B was an appropriate grade.
As has been pointed out, my discussio of Elspeth's Smite + Firesong and Sunspeaker is wrong, it isn't quite as busted as I was thinking
I was just about to comment on this but it figures it was already pointed out seeing how late I was
Potentially notable thing about Skithiryx's Infect in this format, is that he does hit battles normally, since the Infect text only mentions what to do with damage to creatures and players.
Another upside of Bruniclad is that he freely wakes up all your incubates if you want by turning the egg artifact into a 2/1 myr.
Also buffs them significantly too
Well an incubator with 5 +1/+1s becomes at LEAST a 7/6, which is better. Or buff them up even more by changing them to other tokens.
He mentions this in the video
@@andyspendlove1019 yeah oops. Was watching without volume cause i was in a library
thats a good point, I should slot some incubator cards into my commander deck of him
After playing kenrith a absolute ton of times on Arena cubes, he is going to massively over perform the B+ grade.
He obviously has no impact if dropped at 5 and immediately eats a removal spell, pretty much excluding him from A+ territory, but if you untap, he feels A++.
Even if you only have access to white, it makes the game almost impossible for most board positions to get outraced.
First time you top deck a land and gain 10 life instead of doing nothing, it's incredible.
This. Hell, a vanilla 5 mana 5/5 is usually just playable enough in limited, and this is a 5 mana 5/5 that just wins you the game if you untap with him. So yeah, definitely an A, and certainly performs as an A++ if you untap with him. Not to mention that if the game goes long and you topdeck him? Who-boy, does he set you up to win from there by being activated immediately.
29:21 firesong and sunspeaker only give lifelink to red spells, so Elspeth's smite won't give you any life.
For Firja's "second spell" trigger, it's worth noting that defeating a battle and casting the back side of it gives you +1 spell count for the turn without spending any mana.
This sets amazing. We get to see creatures like Kenrith who’s never been in limited. And we get to use limited all stars again!! It’s so awesome. Can’t wait to play Daxos again. He won me a Theros pre release 💜
Love the video, quick aside, I think you may have misread Firesign and Sunspeaker though. Only red spells not white get lifelink, so you don’t get the bolt or lifegain
Yup, there’s no white instants or sorceries in this set that gain life. (There is a Planeswalker and a battle tho)
Right ok... I thought it was just me... but yea... it seems Nizzahon may have misread the card effect...
@@bluedestiny2710 don't blame him, this card, just like Kenrith, has never been in Limited
39:50
While I agree with many of the other card analyses in this vid, I believe Lathiel is probably one whose potential is not fully understood.
It's correct to view her in a lifegain lens. However, in the Selesnya Counters archetype, Lathiel is an excellent target for all of the backup triggers that are in Green and White.
I believe she will often become a force to be reckoned with if you manage to stock up on a fair number of Backup cards to boost her statline and, by extension, make it easier for her to attack to grow the entire board.
it is kinda wild listening to you try and examine made-for-commander legends for a limited environment. Arixmathes is either insane or it's bad, with no real in-between. a lot of the time it gets played in EDH decks that are all aboutspamming Untappers and the likes of Freed from the Real and Pemmin's Aura to get the slumbering isle to make infinite green.
It also gets used as sea serpent tribal commander, but that is decidedly less exciting.
With Skithiryx around, it's worth noting that -1/-1 and +1/+1 counters on the same permanent are removed (up until they no longer cancel out; i.e. putting four -1/-1 counters on a creature with three +1/+1 counters leaves you with a creature with just one 1/-1 counter). This is relevant for Furnace-Blessed Conqueror and Elvish Vatkeeper.
Not something that will come up often of course, but I definitely see it causing arguments at someone's LGS haha
I'm gonna make an argument that radha will potentially play better in this format than they did in dmu. In dmu they were pretty mediocre cause you had to attack with it to get the bonus and it couldn't buff itself, in this set though we have convoke. With sorcery speed convoke you can apply the bonus without attacking with them, and with instant speed convoke you can even use it as a combat trick to potentially blow your opponent out.
I don't know if it'll work out that way too often but rahda was pretty disappointing in dmu and convoking so they don't have to attack is definitely a consideration I think.
The proliferation of Backup in this set definitely makes Thalia and Ragavan better, although maybe not enough for an upgrade (especially in Ragavan's case)
A note on Harobi, you can target opponents creatures with backup. So if you play him all your opponent has to do is play a backup creature to kill it
Hello Nizzahon, I'd really like if you make something as a list of bombs that have been A+ in their respective format, since A+ cards are not that common.
He did a similar video to this last year if you haven't seen it called "the ten most busted limited bombs ever". A Nizzanotes episode on the concept of A+ power level more generally might be interesting, talking about different types of etb value and such.
Arixmethus is not an f imo. It’s not bad ramp. Easily a d+. Maybe around a c if large cmc decks are a thing in simic.
If the format is really slow, yeah it’s kinda like a better Firemind’s vessel. But most limited formats for the past year or two have been so fast that this wouldn’t stand a chance. And with battles being such a big thing in this set, I think maintaining tempo will be critical. So this probably isn’t playable.
The ravnica art is lovely
How does Elspeth's Smite give you life? It only does damage and the minotars only give *red* instant/sorceries spells lifelink
Yeah, it does neither thing.
In fact, Elspeth's smite will not interact with the legendary minotaurs at all.
this is correct.
Yeah I was like “wait what am I missing here?” 😆
I was just leaving the same comment then saw this one lol
I actually think yorion is going to be an A+. the reason is because Dimir has sooo many mill cards, mill 10, mill 8, mill 4, that's 40 percent. And it mills both players. Players are going to be constantly checking their libraries. I was already considering going 60 cards before I knew about yorion. Now, you can blink a bunch of etb effects. You can blink battles with removal spells. You can blink reanimators. You can blink creatures that incubate. I think it's actually busted in the format.
Teeka's Dragon was the hero the multiverse needed, but not the one it deserved.
please try making another joke
@@demilembias2527 The power of Teeka's Dragon is no joke.
Jebać Smoka Teeka
Atris always gives you a 3for1 if you want to. You can always take the pile with 2 cards
Horobi, Death's Wail seems like a decent sideboard for Backup or +1/+1 Counter Decks.
Do you think both players constantly attacking battles means that this format is more likely to trigger inga's second ability than kaldheim?
Edit: there are so many 2-mana transforming phyrexians in this set that I think lurrus companion might actually be reasonable.
In the last 10 sets (that's as far back as I went) Blue's average score is wildly lower than every other color. These legends are a perfect example of this pattern. Wizards really doesn't like to build Blue cards that affect the board meaningfully, and of those that do, it's stuffed with bad mechanics like lowering power. The power creep is just so bad it's getting left behind with the current mechanical distribution.
That's because it's not in blue's color pie to play to the board. Blue plays primarily on the stack, and building a good control deck is hard in limited. Blue's best weapon are counterspells, and those just pull less weight when the card quality and consistency is lower.
@@2424Lars I 100% agree with that analysis. I just think Wizards needs to innovate something to allow it to keep up. With the massive creature power creep, Blue's play style just doesn't cut it anymore for a balanced game (specifically Limited, Standard- eternal formats are fine). Even counterspells: not only are creatures far more efficient, but more and more things are uncounterable, or have Hexproof, or have cast triggers, etc.
Blue getting worse cards means less of them are getting into eternal formats.
Which is good for the health of the game.
Screw blue, and screw control decks.
@@anannoyedpanda Found the eternally salty fogie who can't get past an age of the game long since past, so rules it fine to distort balance. It's been like 20 years dude.
Just finished the green part of your set review, time to get fully prepared for prerelease!
This format is going to be bomb heavy!
Powerful set and some of the art is amazing
Kwende might be a touch better than ya think with all the counters and backup. Not a lot but just a touch
The elspeths smite thing doesnt work because its not red. Sadge
When the companions showed up I threw up in my mouth
What happens when yedora turns my guy into a forest and the forest goes to the graveyard? It enters the grave as a land then is a creature again?
Yep that's what happens. Yedora is a little weird but pretty cool.
are these going to be standard legal cards?
Nope.
Noob question: where are the multiverse legend cards legal , outside of limited ? On arena i mean. Are these legal anywhere?
Historic, some in Explorer
Thank you for the answer, i googled aswell and it seems they are legal in whatever format the original is. Sometimes arena is weird… so i wanted to make sure. Thank you for your content. Big fan since dom united.
Captain lannery storm has the second highest winrate in the set in red after chandra. She is A
This set is just so curve heavy and slamming her and even if trading the game is just over. Only way you lose is if your opp has a 2/3 somehow or they are on the play and have a 3/3
29:10 If I'm not wrong, Elspeth's Smite does not gain life, and shouldn't trigger Firesong and Sunspeaker.
Kind of disappointed that about 90% of the cards here are recent cards already available in Arena. Would have been good to includw more cards from older sets.
It’s interesting to see ragavan in a format where he isn’t the top of the food chain lol. Like yes In modern he’s amazing but limited who knows
Oh gosh, companion is a little bit back.
This Set is Sck !
Kenrith is really broken 😰
I think it's funny that Firja's flavor text is a reference to Fjola Lightbane from Hearthstone.
I play a lot of 5 colour casually and so it's probably time to bag some Jesus...I mean, Kenrith, for my decks.
Elspeths SMite does not have life link from Firesong and Sinspeaker. So you don';t get the three damage
These are some very VERY confusing theming with the artwork. Some cards look amazing, while some cards have art work that looks more like it's draw by someone who just learned how to use Photoshop. Still, it doesn't take away from what the cards do... but art-wise they look horrid and I would look for the original version of the card to trade with.
Edit: Slight correction: You called Yorion a "Bird Spirit" instead of a "Bird Serpent"
Also, correct me if im wrong: in your Firesong and Sunspeaker segment, I don't think the Smite would work with it. Firesong and Sunspeaker looks only white spells when it causes life gain... and only gives red spells lifelink.
Btw how does Firesong and Sunspeaker work with cards like Lightning Helix? Does it trigger the White Part of Firesong & Sunspeaker twice?
Do you really think so when it comes to alt art here? To me, the only ones that look Photoshopesque are the Dominaria ones, especially of black characters (dunno if it's a coincidence, hope it is, but look at Shanna for example). Seems like this card style underwent some downgrade in quality since DMU because originally this Photoshop-like look wasn't there. I also don't like the Praetor ones, but that was also true for me in ONE where a lot of the cards had it, so... eh... The rest of the card styles range from pretty good to amazing for me, I especially like the Ravnica one, it kind of mimics watercolour and I like the detail of stacks of buildings being in the colour of the side of the card in the plain style.
@@sallomon2357 I only like sheoldred's and urabrask's
I hate when people say slight correction.
If it isn't impacting anything meaningful, don't make the comment. It's so irritating to read. You're just being a nuisance.
Sorry, but I'm over reading these comments in most mtg comment sections.
Those arts...
Putting Kenrith at anything other than the biggest bomb in the format is underrating him.
I don't think that's true. Its a great card, but because it doesn't immediately give you value it really can't be a big bomb.
He may be one of the most popular commanders, but that is mainly because he is 5 colors with plenty of ways to spend all the insane mana that you can produce in casual games.
Kenrith is nothing too special outside of casual commander. He will still be good, but I think a high B was an appropriate grade.
They reprinted too many cards that are already on arena... wtf this is a money making scheme to just give us doubles. TRASH
Yarok is female.
Fimst
Sorry
It's ok to be first