I will rate cards on a scale of one to ten. These grades take into account a lot of factors besides just power-level. For example, a colorless 4/5 for 5 might get a higher grade than a green 5/5 for 5 simply because you’ll likely want to pick the colorless card early since you’ll definitely be able to play it. However, later in the draft if you’re already cemented in green you’d definitely want to take the green card. Other cards might receive higher grades because they synergize really well with specific other cards even though most decks may not want them. So keep in mind that you may often find yourself picking a card I graded 3 over a card I graded 5 just because it fits your deck better. But a basic explanation of grades follows:

Completely unplayable. It would take a miracle for your deck to want to play this card. Usually really bad but possible that if your deck has some very specific synergies it might make the cut. Will make your maindeck 1% of the time that you’re in these colors. Also very bad but a little more likely you’ll play the card, either because you didn’t get enough playables or it’s a little more likely to synergize with your deck. Will make your deck about 10% of the time. Mediocre filler. You usually won’t want to play this but often will have to. Will make the deck about 50% of the time. Good filler. You’ll usually play this if you’re in the colors. Will make your deck about 90% of the time Very solid card. You’ll virtually always play this. Will make your deck about 99% of the time. Top tier common or uncommon or middle tier rare/mythic. Will make your deck 100% of the time. “mythic” common or uncommon or great rare. Only about 10% of sets will have a common in this level and maybe 75% will have an uncommon. Unless Wizards made a huge mistake, there should never be a common or uncommon in this level. Nearly unbeatable bomb level rare or mythic. This is the extreme top tier. You are going to win most games you resolve a card from this level.

Keep in mind, in this set synergy is especially important, so you’ll end up playing lower rated cards more frequently and higher rated cards less frequently than in a normal set. With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Aerial Modification

6: If your opponent doesn’t have removal, this is probably going to end the game in short order for you. If they do have removal, then it’s far more likely they will win. What you really want to be doing is taking this early and then forcing white/blue and slamming as many Bastion Inventors as possible. If you get this on a Bastion Inventor you’re almost 100% going to win the game. If you’re not playing any Bastion Inventors you’ll want to side this out against decks with lots of bounce and removal, and side it in vs decks without a lot of removal. I think I’d default to playing it maindeck, unless your deck is just already great without it.

Aeronaut Admiral

5: This card is great in a deck with lots of vehicles and bad in decks with none. I’d rate it a 3 if you have no vehicles, so keep that in mind. I think I’d want at least 2 vehicles that don’t already have flying before I’d start wanting to play this, and at 3 or more it becomes pretty great.

Aether Inspector

4: White decks tend to be the least reliant on energy, and a 2/3 for 4 is just a very bad rate. Vigilance is kind of nice though as one of the problems with the thriving creatures was that you sometimes really wanted to leave them back to block, but also wanted to start triggering their +1/+1 counters, and this can do both. But you can hopefully do better than this.

Aethergeode miner

7: a 3/1 for 2 with the ability to protect itself is great and this card is going to be insane in revolt decks.

Airdrop Aeronauts

6: This card is a lot like Arborback Stomper which is an amazing card. Flying is significantly better than trample but obviously that stats are worse, and you’re not always going to get the lifegain. Still I can’t imagine this ever missing the cut in a white deck unless your curve is way too high and your other 5-drops are even better, which I think is very unlikely. This card is especially great in a racing situation. Also the flavor text is incredibly well fitting.

Alley Evasion

4: I tend to dislike combat tricks more than most but I also like modal spells more than most, so while part of me really wants to give this a 3, I think people tend to highly underestimate cards that give you options, and I can imagine a lot of situations where this is decent, such as bouncing your best creature in response to removal or helping your creature in combat. However, I believe situations where this is downright great are going to be few and far between.

Audacious Infiltrator

6: Kor castigator was a good card in BFZ and this is slightly better. This is the kind of card aggressive white decks are built upon, so take this and play it if your aggressive, which most white decks will be. And probably play it if your defensive too. You’ll want creatures that can trade with their early threats.

Bastion Enforcer

2: If you find yourself having to play this card, you were in the wrong colors. Herald of the Fair was basically unplayable, and this is strictly worse.

Call for Unity

7: I think this card will prove to be fairly powerful, especially if you draft a bunch of token makers, and revolt enablers. Still, this will sometimes be too slow, and it doesn’t trigger on your opponents turn so chump blocking won’t work, and sometimes this will be a “win-more” card. If you take this early and build around it, this can easily be the most powerful card in your deck.

Caught in the Brights

7: This is obviously worse than Revoke Priveleges if you don’t have any vehicles, but I think with all the bounce and flicker effects in the format, this is actually going to be better than Revoke. Either way, Revoke was great, and this will be too. Occasionally this will help you trigger revolt as well, and then you’ll really feel great about your life choices that led you to this point. You don’t really have to prioritize vehicles any higher if you pick up one of these, but it can be a tiebreaker.

Consulate Crackdown

7: This card is going to range from mediocre to insane depending on your opponents deck. You should definitely start this in your maindeck, and consider siding it out in some matchups. Even if they end up having an enchantment removal spell, you still swept up all their servos and thopters.

Conviction

3: There are some decks very heavy on the revolt mechanic where this will be ok, but I think most decks won’t want it. It basically puts you back a land drop by forcing you to leave a land untapped for the rest of the game if you don’t want to risk getting two-for-oned. I mean that’s not exactly true because if you attach it to say a vanilla 2/2 and then cast for example a 4/5 your opponent would be wise to kill the 4/5 rather than the 3/5. Still, you’ll usually want to cast this when your opponent is tapped out or risk them having instant speed removal in response. Though you can mitigate this risk by putting it on a servo, and then it’s really more like a one-and-a-half-for-one. So maybe this should be rated 4 but I think it’s closer to 3.

Countless Gears Renegade

6: This is solid even with no real revolt enablers as a vanilla 2/2 for 2 is fine to play turn 2, especially if you have some vehicles with crew 2, and often you’ll be able to cast it after trading off in combat, and then it’s just great. Glint-Sleeve Artisan was arguably the best white common in Kaladesh, and this is usually just better if you can reliably trigger “revolt.”

Dawnfeather Eagle

6: This is great in a racing situation which is what it seems like white wants to do. Still I’m a little wary of having too many 5 drops in my aggressive white deck, so this sometimes won’t make the cut. Especially good with flicker effects and tokens.

Deadeye Harpooner

7: Once again, this is great in a racing situation, or in a defensive deck, and completely ridiculous with flicker-effects. You do probably need some revolt enablers to make this work however, because if your opponents creatures are tapped, you might not be able to count on trading off in combat on your turn.

Decommission

5: It’s fine to maindeck this card in this format, though, I’d still prefer not to. It’s great to have at least one enchantment/artifact removal card in the sideboard, so I’d take this over a mediocre card for your maindeck.

Deft Dismissal

4: This card isn’t ideal in an aggressive deck since your creatures still got blocked so you didn’t get any damage in this turn. and it’s worse in a defensive deck since if you skipped your turn to leave this up, and your opponent is smart, they may play around this, and leave you wasting your turn. The potential for a blow out is there, but both Impeccable Timing and Furious Reprisal ended up being worse than they looked, and I think this will be too.

Exquisite Archangel

8: This is quite similar to platinum angel. If your opponent doesn’t have a hard removal spell (i.e. not malfunction, etc.) it’s going to be very hard for them to win. Plus, it’s also big enough to dodge all the red removal and some of the black removal. And a 5/5 flyer is going to be great at closing out the game before they can find removal. Still, seven mana is a lot, and the game may just be over before you get there. Or your opponent may just be holding a Daring Demolition, or even just a bounce spell is decent.

Felidar Guardian

5: Some decks will really want this. A lot of decks really won’t. It’s great if your flickering Deadeye harpooner, or some of the other creatures with great etb effects, and ok if you get at least a servo out of the deal. If your white, you should be picking this relatively early, because even if you don’t end up playing it maindeck, it’s a sick sideboard card against white and blue enchantment-based removal. Also if you open a Saheeli Rai pack 3, abandon your current plan and splash for it!

Ghirapur Osprey

4: Wind Drake was bad in Kaladesh. White Wind Drake will be moderately better since white is much more aggressive than blue was.

Restoration Specialist

7: This card is the real reason why I think Caught in the Brights will be better than Revoke Priveleges. I mean obviously it’s unlikely you’d pass Caught in the Brights anyway, but if pick up a Restoration Specialist, definitely don’t pass it up. And also take vehicles and other artifacts that will eventually end up in the graveyard a bit higher as well. It’s also great with Aerial Modification as well. This is even ok with cards like Revoke Priveleges and Malfunction, because if they flicker their creature, you can at least get your removal spell back. And it’s just gravy that this also triggers revolt for only one mana

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Solemn Recruit:

8: A 2/2 double strike for 3 would be great, and this is much better than that. This is the kind of payoff card that would make me take revolt enablers significantly higher than normal. Like all double-strikers, it also makes equipment, auras, and pump spells slightly better.

Sram, Senior Edificer

7: If Sram draws you even one card, he’s well worth it. Considering Caught in the Brights and Revoke Priveleges are auras, and there are a ton of good vehicles, I think Sram will draw you at least one card most games. What’s really sweet about Sram is that your pretty much guaranteed to be able to pick up a Conviction and just go off. I think I’d still probably only play one copy of Conviction with Sram, though.

Sram’s Expertise

5: I just don’t think this card is very good, I almost gave it a 4. There’s only one pack of Kaladesh to pick Inspired Charge. It’s decent with Dawnfeather Eagle, but not as good as it would be with Inspired Charge. I don’t think the free spell ability will be nearly as important in limited as it is in constructed. Maybe you’re playing a bunch of spells with improvise, or maybe you also get lucky and also pick up a Call for Unity or an Inspired Charge in pack three. But barring those situations, I think Sram’s Expertise is mediocre at best.

EDIT 1/10/17: After thinking about it for a while, I think this is a 6, possibly 7. It’s gonna be pretty solid in most decks and I actually think if you can curve this into Dawnfeather Eagle is going to be an insane play and likely win you the game. I still don’t think it’s amazing but it will be amazing in some decks. I think I rated it so low because I was trying to prove a point that this isn’t as good as it looks but I went a little too far the other way by giving it a 5.

Thopter Arrest

7: 99% of the time this is just Banishing Light, which of course is a great card.

Top 3 commons:

Caught in the Brights Countless Gears Renegade Audacious Infiltrator

Honorary mention to Dawnfeather Eagle, which is pretty much tied with Audacious Infiltrator and Countless Gears Renegade, but got edged out simply because it’s a 5-drop.

Top 3 uncommons:

Thopter Arrest Restoration Specialist Deadeye Harpooner

Top 3 Rare/Mythics

Solemn Recruit Exquisite Archangel Aethergeode Miner

Overall, white seems like it will usually be aggressive, and has cards to trump even more aggressive decks in a race. It can also be a lot more durdly and value-based with cards like Restoration Specialist, Felidar Guardian, and Call for Unity, but is more of a support color than main color for these strategies. White is mostly focused on the revolt mechanic, doesn’t have any cards with improvise, and doesn’t care much at all about energy.