Magic Origins Spoilers - Limited Review

magic origins limited

Magic Origins spoilers have started being released a full two weeks before spoiler season starts! I'm going to review each of the 27 brand new cards in the context of Limited play. I'll also mention the 22 confirmed reprints. You can find all the latest spoilers on the Magic Origins page. Of course we can't rate the cards accurately without knowing the entire set, but we can evaluate the cards in an "average" limited format.

You may notice a change in the keywords you usually see; Magic Origins is introducing two new (as of yet, unknown) keywords, but also shaking up the evergreen keywords by getting rid of Intimidate and Landwalk and cutting back on Protection from <x> . Our three new evergreen keywords that we'll see in the set include Menace (newly keywording the Goblin War Drums effect), Scry, and Prowess. Mark Rosewater's article here is an interesting read if you want to learn about the reasoning behind these changes.

Grading Scale

A: This card will often be the best card in one's deck. I'd consider splashing it where possible. (Citadel Siege, Dragonlord Atarka)

B: This card is rarely cut from a deck that can cast it. In draft, it signals that a color or archetype is open. (Abzan Beastmaster, Death Wind)

C: Cards like this make up the majority of limited decks. You're neither excited nor embarrassed to have them in your deck. (Soul Summons, Screamreach Brawler)

D: I'm not putting this in my main deck unless I have a specific reason or I'm low on playables. (Abzan Advantage, Blessed Reincarnation)

F: This card will have little or no impact on the game if I draw it or is strictly sideboard-material. If I cast this card, please stage an intervention for me. (Crucible of the Spirit Dragon, Keeper of the Lens)

White

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

D+

Dromoka Dunecaster has recently shown us that an expensive tap effect on a tiny creature isn't always great. Compare this to Gideon's Lawkeeper, which was a good card in Magic 2012. Holding up one mana each turn to activate and blank a big creature is an acceptable price to pay. Using three mana each turn is much, much more difficult and makes Akroan Jailer much less exciting. Gideon Jura is one of the five lead Planeswalkers in this set, but apparently the balance of Limited was important enough for them to not reprint his Lawkeeper.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

D+

In an aggressive deck, keeping a creature from blocking for the rest of the game can be as good as removing that creature. The problem with this Aura is that your creature can still be blocked by other creatures and cause you to lose the repeatable tap effect. The good news is that forcing your opponent to leave back extra creatures and play on the back foot is a good enough effect that an aggressive deck with enough 1 or 2-drop creatures to support it will want this card. This easily rates a D in non-aggressive decks.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C-

This creature is passable as a mediocre top-end card for an aggressive deck or as a way boost your creature count if you need a random 5-drop. I don't foresee it having a lot of utility outside of these cases.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

B+

A creature of this size is respectable by itself and the tap effect keeps your opponent's best threat out of the picture indefinitely. Your opponent will be hard pressed to find a good attack through this creature without having a creature with Flying or other form of evasion.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C

I'm rating this card with the assumption that Raise the Alarm is a common in the set. Since it was printed in the most recent core set Magic 2015, this is definitely possible. If your opponent has to order blockers with Valor in Akros on the board and a Raise the Alarm in your hand, they really can't win. If they block, you get to surprise them with Raise the Alarm . If your opponent is too afraid to block, you simply save the Soldiers for your next attack or use them as 3/3 blockers with Flash.

If you can't put out more than one creature each turn, this card is an expensive, conditional Glorious Anthem and should be rated at D.

White's reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Blue

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Even with zero non-creature spells in your deck, a 3/3 flyer that your opponent has to constantly pretend is a 4/4 flyer is a good card. Since most Limited decks will have significantly more than zero non-creature spells (six is a conservative estimate), this Owl is even better than that. While you don't want to overload on 5-drops, this is the type of 5-drop you want in your deck.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C

In honor of Man-o'-War 's legacy and Separatist Voidmage 's long unwieldy name, I hereby dub this card May-o'-War despite it also sounding like a food fight involving mayonnaise. This card isn't as good as some of its counterparts like Mist Raven or Aven Surveyor , but getting rid of tokens or Auras or simply using this as a tempo play means it will still be a good card.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C-

This is probably the most efficient cost we've ever seen for this kind of an effect, but it still feels underwhelming. It always cycles and triggers Prowess at minimum, but the effect isn't high impact enough to make you really want this card in your deck. This card can allow you to be greedy with a large attack or double block and not suffer terribly for it, so it may end up being better than I estimate here.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

B-

I'm excited for a chance to play Scroll Thief with upside. Making your opponent decide to risk losing a blocker to Prowess shenanigans or let you draw a card is going to be a great feeling.

Blue's reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Black

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Three power for three mana is a great starting point, and this creature gets better from there. This creature's downside: having one toughness and trading with anything is also its upside. You want Deadbridge Shaman to die while your opponent still has cards in their hand so you don't mind trading it off early.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

A card like Forge Devil generally needs an environment that fits it to be playable. Eyeblight Assassin , on the other hand, has relevant stats which means this card will be good even if it only kills an opposing creature 25% of the time.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

D

This card asks a lot for not a lot of return. It asks that you be an aggressive deck, that your opponent not be playing bounce spells, and that the creature it enchants to be tough enough that the failure of this card to boost toughness doesn't hurt too much. With one or two good 1-drop creatures or a very aggressive deck, I could see this becoming good. If you have synergy cards such as a creature with Double Strike or Menace, this Aura obviously gets a bit better as well.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C

This creature effectively has Haste by hitting your opponent for 2 the turn it is cast in an aggressive deck. In a defensive deck, you'll want to be careful to ensure that you can afford the life loss needed to put this blocker in the air. Aggressive decks will definitely want this effect, while defensive decks will probably be looking for replacements.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

B-

I'm upset that Wizards wasted a good name like Defeat on a card they made obsolete so soon afterwards. I checked the numbers and Reave Soul can kill 84% of the Commons in Standard right now. Compare that to Bathe in Dragonfire — a premium removal spell in Khans block — which can kill a comparable 86% of those Commons. I expect this card to very easily be among Black's best commons.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

I think that this card is great, but that its downside will be dismissed as being less relevant than it is. On the draw, entering tapped means that it can't block your opponent's turn two play. That's equivalent to paying 1-2 life in about half of your games for the benefit of the additional point of toughness. In general this is worth it, but this downside isn't nothing.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Malakir Cullblade is cheap at only two mana. This allows you to cast it early and have it grow throughout the game into a devastating size. Waiting to cast your more aggressive 2-drop or 3-drop to play this out will cause your deck's speed to take a hit, but forces your opponent to use removal or be able to race the large threat that this Vampire can become.

Black's reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Red

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Stormblood Berserker is a quality uncommon in red aggressive decks. Boggart Brute is extremely close to a common version of the berserker except that triggering Bloodthirst isn't a requirement and you lose one point of toughness. The mana cost increase isn't that huge of a deal since Stormblood Berserker only comes out on turn two the games that you're lucky enough to have a strong 1-drop in your opening hand.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Wizards likes to test our devotion to burn spells and see just how bad they can make them before we won't play them in Limited. Comparing to recent sets, this is worse than Bolt of Keranos or Bathe in Dragonfire. Comparing it to other removal in the format, it's worse than Claustrophobia, Cruel Revival, and Reave Soul. That said, this can still kill some relevant creatures and can target your opponent for the last few points of damage so I still expect to play it in every one of my red decks.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C

This won't provide inevitability like a Goblin Tunneller, but the reasonably costed size and reasonable effect will slot nicely into faster decks.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Scholar of Athreos was a good card in Theros and this creature is just better due to being mono-color. Choosing between risking this creature in combat or holding back to ping for two each turn will be difficult to decide between. I don't want too many 6-drops in my deck, but I'll generally be happy if one of those 6-drops is a Volcanic Rambler/

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

B-

Even if you can't afford to attack with your own creatures the turn Enthralling Victor comes down, it will still be a source of two damage most of the time. In the event that you're able to swing with the rest of your team, this is a very efficient Act of Treason. I wouldn't want this card in a controlling deck, but Red decks don't often fall into that camp.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

Seismic Stomp's biggest problem is that it doesn't affect the board. If you're losing, it doesn't help you recover at all. Putting the effect onto a creature is a great change and means this card is never useless, even if you ignore the ability.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

A-

This Dragon's flavor text gives basically all the information necessary. If you waste your cards by throwing this creature out on turn four, discarding a couple spells, and expecting your opponent to not have removal, you're probably going to be blown out a good portion of the time. If you wait until your opponent has spent a removal spell or two on other creatures, and you play this out as the last or second to last card in your hand, it's going to demand an answer or win the game very quickly.

Red's reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Green

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C

This Spider is a solid blocker, but not at all exciting. Its best feature will probably be holding off 2/1s and 3/1s since we haven't yet seen any one toughness flyers in the set.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

D-

I expect this to go the way of the Runemarks and be mostly ignored. If this card was red, it'd be worthy of a bit more consideration, but green generally isn't aggressive enough to want bad Auras

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

C+

This creature is playable even without the Naturalize effect, but occasionally blowing up a Claustrophobia or other annoying permanent is enough upside to make this card quite good.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

B+

This card is an absolute house. If you have as many or more creatures than your opponent when you cast this, you're almost guaranteed to force chump blocks. If each player has four 3/3s, one player is losing all their creatures when this gets cast. The only way this card isn't first pick material is if this set is very, very strong or Green is just absolutely horrible in Limited. From the cards we've seen so far, it's a safe bet that neither of these are the case.

Green's reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Colorless

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

D

A worse Leonin Scimitar isn't really what you want to be packing in your deck, but I suppose there are worse options out there for powering up your creatures (think Infernal Scarring and Mantle of Webs). If there's an Artifact subtheme like in Magic 2015 (and like the healthy number of colorless reprints below suggest), this could go up in value.

Colorless reprints:

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Conclusion

These spoilers have easily done their job of getting me excited for Magic Origins. It's hard to accept the fact that the pre-release events for the set are still a month away. Join me again on June 22 when the official spoiler weeks for Magic Origins begin.