Magic’s newest expansion takes us to the newly introduced plane of Thunder Junction for a rootin’ tootin’ treasure huntin’ time. A new set means new cards, and we’re continuing our review with the monocolor cards from the set.
Last time we covered the multicolor cards, and this time as usual we won’t be looking at everything, and we’ll be doing this primarily but not exclusively with an eye for Commander play.
Monocolor Cards
Another Round
Marcy: There is certainly a way that the Boros decks that try to use Warleader’s Call could certainly take advantage of this as a secondary finisher. The only downside for those decks is that they tend to rely on token generation and if you did that, those tokens are going bye-bye. Still, if you had 3 creatures that you flickered even twice, that’s 6 life your opponent is losing just from the call ETB, and could turn certain cards that make creature tokens even scarier. There are some other decks that have toyed with ETB effects that might like this card too, and even if you do it at 5 CMC (so, 2 flickers) that is still potentially very strong.
BPhillipYork: Decent finisher for an ETB deck, especially something like Brago that is going to be able to generate a ton of mana off rocks, but the sorcery speed makes it difficult to really leverage that. Nonetheless, once you hit around 7 mana that is an awful lot of potential triggers.
Ryan: Do you like ETB effects? Well, this card is right up your alley. The only problem with this card is that it is guaranteed to drag your turn out for a long time while you resolve all your triggers 3-4 times. Your opponents might scoop but a win is a win I guess?
Loxi: Blink has always been a powerful archetype, and it’s easy to generate a lot of resources with it. The issue with Blink, however, is that it’s always struggled to close out games. This is a really good mana sink when you can stick a card that has a really strong payoff for the archetype, or at the bare minimum provide a good way to swing yourself into a more advantageous position. Solid card, I don’t know if I’d play it outside of blink unless you really have good synergy with your commander.
Aven Interrupter
Marcy: Three mana isn’t really bad for what amounts to a white counter spell. Sure, it doesn’t completely get rid of it, acting something like a Soul Partition for an extra mana, but the added tax on the evasive body is a nice touch. Of course, it does die very easily, but you aren’t likely casting this specifically to beat your opponent’s face; you’re doing it to fizzle their spell and potentially tax them if they can’t remove it immediately and cost them a removal spell if they do.
BPhillipYork: Neat “counter” spell that only delays but can counter uncounterable spells, with a pretty solid stax effect stapled on, and a 2/2 flyer on top of all that to clear out planeswalkers.
Ryan: This is a neat card with some interesting lines that can really trip up your opponent. Hitting a card like a counter spell basically renders it useless since you can only cast plotted cards at sorcery speed. Not sure if this will see a whole lot of play outside of Standard, but in the format it will be exceptional.
Loxi: I don’t particularly care for the counter effect, only because it will really just delay the card for one turn. While that’s great information and will let the table adapt to it, it also means they get to use it for free, which can potentially make for an explosive turn. I guess it has some play in that it can make an instant stuck at sorcery speed, so it effectively nukes counterspells’ usability.
The bottom half of the text is a good but situational hatebear effect, so it probably has enough versatility to see some play. Being a Rogue is always nice, even in off colors for most of the commander choices.
Bovine Intervention
Marcy: In the tradition of White removal that ‘gives’ something in return for the destruction. The only reason I like this less than Get Lost is that you can’t hit Enchantments and Planeswalkers with it, but a mixture of this and Get Lost will probably be a better combo than Fateful Absence. Sure they get a 2/2, but there are so many extremely easy ways to get rid of a 0 CMC token that the value given here is very low; you aren’t getting card draw or Explore triggers, you get a cow.
BPhillipYork: Flexible permanent destruction that gives a 2/2 is really reasonable, and helps push more interaction in Commander which is always nice.
Ryan: A two-mana removal spell in white that also hits artifacts is pretty good. White has been slowly upgrading its removal package, usually with the drawback of giving your opponent something in return. A 2/2 Ox is pretty darn fair for getting rid of creatures like Rakdos or a Terror of the Peaks.
Loxi: I expect this to be a budget white removal staple, which I’m always happy to see. Nothing bad to say here, it’s a nice piece of removal at a good cost and is different enough (cheaper, more conditional, doesn’t exile) from existing cards like Generous Gift that there is a solid argument for one over the other. You can also just avoid choices and run both. Cutting removal is cowardice.
Claim Jumper
Marcy: This is potentially very good in mono-white mid-range, but there are a lot of 3 CMC this is going to rub up against. I think there is some potential this sees play in some of the ramp and domain decks, but if you’re behind on lands 3 CMC gets you a vigilant body and up to 2 lands out of your deck.
Ryan: This is a Commander card that slipped into the main set right? Land Tax on a bunny. White is all in on these catch-up cards which is cool, but what’s the right number of these cards to be playing? There are a couple of these cards out there now and none of them are particularly hard to come across. It’s a neat effect, but maybe it’s time to slow your roll WotC?
Loxi: I like it, it’s a solid piece of catchup ramp that scales well with…well… how much you’re in the dust. Mono white will like this one for sure.
Dust Animus
Marcy: I suppose if you need a 2/3 on turn two you play this, otherwise I see no reason why you would not put this away at the Plot cost early game. Also means you are doing essentially nothing on turn two, which right now in Standard is very close to being a death sentence.
Ryan: Dust Animus is kinda like one of the level up creatures from the old Zendikar block, but instead of a mana commitment it has a time commitment. While this card is really neat and plays with the plot mechanic in a way most other cards don’t, it might be one of the least fun to play since you have to wait until turn five to really make the most out of it.
Final Showdown
Marcy: The joke about making a Standard legal deck that is nothing but board wipes and a 4 Mirrex returns, because now there’s this card, a basically 6 mana board wipe that is instant speed. It also does other things, I guess.
BPhillipYork: Basically a really expensive Wrath, though kind of flexibly modal. Instant speed Wrath of God is really powerful though, and potentially worth the 6 mana since it lets you set up your turn to take people out, or clear out stax or something like that.
Loxi: Alright, ignore everything on this card for a minute. This is a 6 mana instant speed wrath with flexibility. I think that’s fine on it’s own, but when that flexibility lets you also kill indestructible creatures, it becomes really really appealing. While I think it isn’t the best White wrath by any means, if you value instant speed and have the mana to keep the options available, this one’s a keeper.
FromTheShire: Genuinely think it is immediately one of the best wraths actually. 6 mana for instant speed was already often worth it for Rout, making it remove indestructible, undying, etc in addition is super worth it. It’s no Cyclonic Rift but the overwhelming popularity of that card shows you how feasible it is to hold up 7 mana in Commander.
Fortune, Loyal Steed
Marcy: I don’t know why this is bothering me, but shouldn’t it say “at THE end of combat”? An interesting flicker effect but I’m unsure it is strong enough to earn a spot in current shells, but perhaps a flickering based one might like this?
BPhillipYork: Interesting repeatable exile trigger on its own, pretty decent with something like Solemn Simulacrum or any of white’s other fetch plains or basics, or any of the myriad of ETB effects that are running around.
Loxi: It’s a pretty cost efficient way to blink creatures reliably on board, and even though it can only realistically trigger once per turn if you aren’t taking extra combats, it’s not bad for how easy it is to get value out of in the type of Blink-y decks that want to run it. Scry 2 every time you pull it off is a nice touch.
Frontier Seeker
Marcy: While you get a lopsided body (2/1 is very fragile), you also get to filter your deck and scry. I don’t know if that makes it worth including, but it could be good in limited.
Ryan: It’s a solid Limited card for sure, being able to curve out your mana nicely or grab your bomb Mount-themed rare from the top few cards of your deck is nice.
High Noon
Marcy: 
Getting that out of the way, White Stax is looking pretty possible. Thalia is still legal, and this set has provided some very good ways to make a disruptive White deck that really get in the way what your opponent’s wish to do.
BPhillipYork: Yet another Rule of Law effect, though this requires red, so a bit more limiting, but neat to have a sacrifice effect on it so if you are running a bunch of them you can turn it into something else.
Loxi: I’m with BPY, but I think if you’re in the colors and want to run Rule of Law, this will basically always be better since it’s cheaper and has a “Big Red Button” for when you need to pop off.
One Last Job
Marcy: I think it is kind of funny to realize you can just play these cards and then do actually nothing. I can’t wait for the constant trigger sticks in Arena when people don’t realize they have priority. As far as the card itself, 5 mana gets you a reanimator effect, 6 mana gets you potentially 2 creatures or a creature and a vehicle, and 7 mana gets you all that and an enchantment (Obviously you can also pay less). It’s quite in line with other reanimator type cards in white currently, and flexible.
Ryan: A five-mana reanimate is pretty good, and might just be a solid enough card for a niche deck in Standard, especially if you’re able to get some bomb Aura or Equipment along with it. Otherwise, One Last Job might just be more of a Commander/Brawl card if you’re building around a theme.
Loxi: I think it’s a little expensive for my taste, but if you’re playing Equipment or Auras regularly (or Vehicles, you hooligan), it’s a good amount of value per card, even if the mana cost isn’t anything to write home about.
Archmage’s Newt
Marcy: This card is potentially insanely dangerous, if you can get the creature into combat damage range. I think the weaker side is that the Saddle cost is quite high (for good reason), but I have a feeling someone will find a way to make this card annoying and I will not be surprised in the least.
Ryan: Archmage’s Newt feels like an incredibly pushed card that still just doesn’t quite get there, unfortunately. You need to be able to connect with the Newt to trigger its effect, but since it’s just a little 2/2, it’s not hard to block, so you need to spend extra spells to give it evasion if you want to guarantee you flashing back a spell. And then you have to use a creature with power three or more to saddle it, so you’re removing a potential blocker from your board for the chance to be able to flash something back. I have no doubt that Archmage’s Newt will devastate unfortunate players from time to time, but it doesn’t seem reliable.
Double Down
Marcy: If you had a cares about outlaw deck, then this could be very strong. A lot of the very strong Outlaws are in Grixis, though, so I’m a little unsure; a lot of them are also legendary, to boot.
BPhillipYork: Well this definitely will lead to a horde of creatures and has some potential with other “cares about outlaw effects”, most of the Assassins you’d really want to copy are legendary sadly.
Loxi: If you’re in a Rogue or Pirate deck, I think this is really good as a way to get more value in the mid-to-late game out of the 1-2 drop creatures you’re definitely running a bunch of. It’s a bit awkward if you’re trying to be aggressive and push the tempo, but it’s a nice card the help push some more power out of your cards that might lose some power later on.
Duelist of the Mind
Marcy: That once a turn clause really hurts this, because playing something like March of Swirling Mists to phase out your opponent’s board, then draw you a ton of cards, and hit for lethal. Instead, you have to do quite a bit more work to get this card above a 2/3.
BPhillipYork: For a world champion card this is super tame; kind of boring honestly. It’s an okay beater maybe and incentivizes crimes, can be really worked out with something like Conspiracy Theorist.
Loxi: This is a friendly reminder of how easy it is to commit crimes. It’s not the most explosive of effects, but in some decks you can easily just commit crimes on each player turn and loot 4 times in a turn cycle.
Fblthp, Lost on the Range
Marcy: A fun card. I think his strength in something like Standard is going to depend on if or how people find ways to break Plot. Otherwise, he does at least skip by Temporary Lockdown range, but dies to almost any board wipe; it is fair at least that a 3 mana Cut Down on Fblthp is a probably BAD investment, so he has some decent protection there. Unfortunately, he’s not going to do a lot for your board state.
BPhillipYork: Fbhlthp is pretty popular and this is really a solid cast from the top effect. Sadly really low toughness so going to get swept by pretty much anything. You can’t really break this, because plotted cards are inherently on a delay, but still a really solid value piece. Weirdly lets you plot the original Fbhlthp but not get the bonus draw.
Loxi: I quite like this as a Blue Big Spell deck. Plotting is a really nice way to get around annoying casting costs, so with some neat scrying and deck manipulation you can gain some pretty crazy value from this. Big Blue is a really fun archetype to toy around with, and I think there might be some nice play here for our favorite little goober.
Geralf, the Fleshwright
Marcy: I think this is a card that could have potential with Plot, because stacking up a bunch of Plotted cards to generate not just a lot of tokens, but then pump the tokens as they enter, means that you could have quite an army quickly. Because this is in Blue, there’s also potential to stack your Plots and then protect your new army with counter spells and disruption.
BPhillipYork: This has pretty crazy potential to make a lot of Zombies and make your Zombie horde really big really fast, especially with plotting in. Stack up several Zombies then cast them all in succession and you’ll get a lot of fat Zombies.
Loxi: Zombie-Storm? Hell yeah, aside from being absolutely metal this card is a fun take on Zombies that leans harder into a spellslinger-y style of deck like Talrand, Sky Summoner, only more focused on having fewer explosive turns rather than spreading out your spells over the game. Notably, they’re also Rogues, so there are tons of Typal synergies you can get here.
Jace Reawakened
Marcy: The restriction to casting is maybe negligible, as there are a lot of ways to get this onto the battlefield if you’d really like to. I don’t actually think the timer matters, either, because protecting this card is important, and slamming this on turn 2 or three is unlikely to come with proper protection. Once down, he has little ways to protect himself, letting you loot or Plot, which is fine. You need him to get to -6.
BPhillipYork: The ultimate here is fairly dangerous; the rest of it is pretty meh. Autoplotting 3 or less things is fine, but copying everything for a turn is fairly nasty, so best use for this is with sufficient counter doublers that you play this out and immediately ultimate.
Loxi: I want to like this card for Commander, but realistically I think this is going to be a card you’ll hope to get a few loot/plots out of for some good value, since I can’t imagine he’ll be easy to protect. If you can stick him however, it’s a lot of value for two mana.
Step Between Worlds
Marcy: Mill is quite strong in Standard at the moment, and this is the first card in Standard that gives you some sort of chance to get around it. Of course, it allows all players to do this too, so the trick is going to rely on having some way to remove your opponent’s graveyard and then protect your Graveyard to refill your library.
BPhillipYork: A may Timetwister is an interesting card; 5 mana is relatively cheap on this. Plotting for 6 really lets you telegraph it, but also empty your hand, then refill.
Loxi: Speaking of Storm-esque decks, this has really good synergy there since it lets you prep a new hand for that pop-off turn. It does mean other players might draw answers as well, but that’s a risk you have to run when you spin the ol’ wheel.
Stoic Sphinx
Marcy: Limited bomb for sure. Kind of whatever otherwise, the 3 toughness is a big weakness. Of course it does have flying, and if you aren’t casting spells on your turn, he’s far harder to get rid of.
Ryan: Sphinx-themed Commander decks got a new creature to add, and that’s about it.
The Key to the Vault
Marcy: I think this is a good card for Not Standard, because I don’t think you get to even equip this card before you’re already teetering on death. Commander could quite like this though.
BPhillipYork: This is pretty solid really, equip it onto some kind of beater and or add double strike for more fun. Will likely let you grab a lot of value pieces or some removal.
Loxi: Really good equipment for basically any equipment deck with blue or something that swings in a lot. I might not run it in Rogues or small-but-evasive creature decks, but if you’re regularly slapping in for good chunks of damage, this is a nice include.
Three Steps Ahead
Marcy: A hard counter at 3 mana, the other modes do give you some flexibility for when countering isn’t going to get things done. The ability to copy or loot is also nice, as the card has some potential in Blue decks that don’t focus on hard control to give you a flex counter spell.
BPhillipYork: Solid enough spree instant. 3 mana to counter target spell is fairly mediocre, but the flexibility of being able to turn it into card selection or copying a creature or an artifact makes it pretty good, especially given those kind of copy spells are typically sorceries.
Loxi: Flexible cards are really valuable and usually worth a slight tax for each individual effect, but this provides a lot of useful abilities at a nice rate. You might not want them all at once, but that’s why it has the beauty of options. Very solid blue spell, pretty generically good in most Blue decks.
Caustic Bronco
Marcy: Snorse.
Ryan: Horske.
Loxi: Sn…Snormo?
Forsaken Miner
Marcy: Insane value card, considering that it does not return to the battlefield tapped, and you’re playing Black, a color that has no shortage of ways to commit crimes.
Ryan: Do you like infinite combo enablers? Forsaken Miner slots right into any number of infinite combos, like with Goblin Bombardment and Pitiless Plunderer.
Loxi: I’m pretty sure my parents called me that in my youth at some point. Great sacrifice fodder in decks that target things off the triggers, like say Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, since you’ll likely sacrifice something later to Yawg to just get this back for chips.
Gisa, the Hellraiser
Marcy: A fairly beefy Skeleton/Zombie lord that will start taking over the board if she’s allowed to stick around. Ward 2 AND 2 life is nothing to scoff at, and her zombies don’t immediately die; they do come in tapped, and you can only make 2 zombies a turn, but she has potential to help Black decks swing aggro in their favor, in a format in which mono-Black has fallen off quite harshly of late.
BPhillipYork: Another crime payoff, decent enough commander and a horde generator that also buffs your Zombies is pretty solid all in one.
Loxi: I think this requires a bit of a different approach to other Zombie decks, and while alone she’s a good payoff for decks that commit crimes regularly, there are some fun ideas for targeting things on the cheap.
Let me teach you, my sweet summer children, the ways of losing friends with Horobi, Death’s Wail. That deck usually wants to target things for cheap as a way of removal, but with Gisa we can use some of those ideas to make an army. Retribution of the Ancients? That’s one mana to make two zombies each turn. Liquimetal Torque becomes a way to make creatures when you don’t need to ramp. Obviously, you can only use one of these effects per turn so you don’t need to go super deep on this idea, but it’s a fun concept to play around with.
Insatiable Avarice
Marcy: Really great tutor. You can set up for your next turn, or if you are worried you’ll lose the card or want to secure it, you can pay the rest of the cost easily. Also scales well; early game, you likely don’t need to worry about the extra 2 mana, late game, you can dig for the thing you need right now, and as an alternative, you could just pay 3 life, 3 mana, and draw 3 cards.
BPhillipYork: Solid tutor with the ability to staple draw onto it to get the card and 2 others instantly at the cost of 2 more mana, which nets to 5 for search your library for a card then draw 2 additional. Expensive but that’s really solid tutor + draw all in one.
Kaervek, the Punisher
Marcy: Other than allowing you to Storm off in Black potentially, you’re getting the chance to recast any of your Black cards–not just instants or sorceries–which can be really valuable for retrieving important creatures, and potentially chaining removal together, provided you have the life to pay.
BPhillipYork: This is ideal for a storm scenario, if a bunch of the spells in your yard are crimes, then you can just keep casting assuming you have the mana. You can also use this to generate some mana off things like Dark Ritual and other analogous effects. In any case this is a great accompaniment for K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, in fact may turn into a win con with him since running out of juice is one of that deck’s frequent concerns.
Pitiless Carnage
Marcy: Some form of Aristocrats is going to make very good use of this card, and the Plot cost will allow you to set it up so that while people see it coming, it also means you’ve got time to get your combo exactly the way you want it, and to just go for the throat from there.
Ryan: Do you ever look at a card and know there’s potential for some shenanigans but just don’t know what do to with it? That’s what I’m looking at here. I know there’s potential here but is it worth it?
Loxi: Surely this card will allow you to kill your own things and let you draw some astronomical amount of cards. I can’t stress enough that plot makes this potentially very powerful, since it will let you get a lot of cards in hand and death triggers for the hefty cost of nothing.
Rush of Dread
Marcy: Ever since Invoke Despair left standard, Black has kind of struggled to have something even close to as scary. I don’t know if this is that card, but for 6 mana, you can get 2 modes off of this that can possibly impact the board very heavily. The 8 CMC of all three modes seems a little unrealistic, though.
BPhillipYork: Wow this is fairly mean, I think the default is the first mode, forced sacrifice of several creatures creates sacrifice and death and a crime trigger, if you have a lot of mana you can share the love, which helps balance table dynamics and the politics.
Ryan: Here’s a card with combo potential. Slap this bad boy down with a Bloodletter of Alcalotz and pick the mode where you have your opponent lose half their life and you have a turn five kill.
Shoot the Sheriff
Marcy: Sorry but there are just so many better removal spells.
Loxi: …I’m not so sure, I think she plans to shoot the deputy too. Bob Marley’s rolling in his grave.
It’s a nice card, but it is worth noting there are just enough cards that regularly show up at tables that it can miss. I wouldn’t chance it personally and just run something else unless you know your group. Having a removal spell that can’t remove the creature you need sometimes can be pretty tough.
BPhillipYork: This should be fine to just straight up run as a creature control card, really depends on your opponents’ known commanders, but overall a pretty solid 2 cost removal.
Ryan: It is a Go For The Throat but with Outlaws, so it’ll probably see a fair amount of play, especially as other sets are released and the number of Outlaw creatures in Standard starts to get diffused a bit as more sets are released.
Tinybones Joins Up
Marcy: A single mana discard (which can also allow you to discard), that then drains your opponent every time you play something legendary, the thing keeping this card in check is that it, too, is legendary, because otherwise you’re slamming a Sheoldred and your opponent is just picking up their cards.
BPhillipYork: This seems potentially really dangerous to me, there are some legendary creatures you could loop with this and turn into a win con. The built in discard alone is pretty solid, and if you’re running several legendaries will generate a lot of value there also.
Loxi: I do agree, I think this is a real threat if you can loop it in a combo. I probably wouldn’t just jam it for value unless you really are deep on both legendaries and renanimation/mill.
Tinybones, the Pickpocket
Marcy: If you can make him evasive, this has some potential to be really dangerous the longer the game goes on. Also fun to abuse in Black control shells that focus on discard and mill. He dies real easily, though.
Loxi: This is a fun way to make a deck that really scales it’s power to the table without being too intrusive and obnoxious. You might want to try and pack some extra evasion for him so he doesn’t get eaten alive by a stray Quarum Trench Gnomes or something.
BPhillipYork: Not as good as the original, but kind of funny to have a 1/1 for 1 that has deathtouch and just lets you grab permanents from other players’ yards. Can just choose solid value pieces or things like that.
Vadmir, New Blood
Marcy: The only once each turn is again a nerf to a card that would otherwise be ‘ok’, but not busted; as is, it is barely playable.
Loxi: Cowboy Vampires. Surely Twilight had one of these, right?
BPhillipYork: Honestly kind of a boring, ramping-set mechanic Vampire which is kind of a checkbox they tend to fill each set.
Calamity, Galloping Inferno
Marcy: A six mana body in red is just such a big ask. That said, it really depends on what you’re copying, but the ‘repeat the process once’ trigger is what has me the most interested. I think maybe too expensive in Standard unless it is going into some sort of combo deck to copy scary things, but most of those are legendary.
Loxi: While the effect is certainly powerful, I think it’s a bit of a more expensive and fragile way to Splinter Twin a creature. It’s good for some big value cards that have strong ETB effects or just powerful combat threats though.
Caught in the Crossfire
Marcy: An interesting sweeper for sure; 3 (or 4, if you need both modes), could be very useful in decks trying to counter Boros swarms which usually have lopsided Power/Toughness and don’t get above 2 very often.
Loxi: A good sweeper for decks like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell that can reliably amp up damage numbers.
BPhillipYork: Neat instant speed 2 damage to all creatures or some creatures.
Great Train Heist
Marcy: Very interesting Spree card; it might be one of the most interesting of the ones so far in that I think almost all of these modes have a use or place. It doesn’t feel like you’re going to lose value by using only one of these, and if for some reason you were able to combine a few, it might just be game over.
Loxi: I quite like the ability to make a lot of Treasures off this in a go-wide deck. The extra combat can be a really good way to close out a game, and the Treasures can be a nice way to keep your foot on the gas to get there. Nice flexibility here with some extra juice for your creatures if you need it.
BPhillipYork: Well this is another extra combat spell, which is always useful; stapling first strike on can be quite nice, and the Treasure thing could also potentially be quite useful.
Hellspur Posse Boss
Marcy: I suppose if you’re running a red shell for Outlaws, this could be useful, but I’m not really convinced. The tokens don’t really feel that impactful either.
BPhillipYork: Probably not very worthwhile unless you really need speedy outlaws or something. 4 mana for 2/4 that gives outlaws haste and also gives you 2 1/1s is fine; it’s just kind of boring. I’m a little baffled that all of these Mercenary tokens can’t commit crimes, like they are specifically limited from giving +1 power to your opponents creatures and thus committing a crime.
Hell to Pay
Marcy: A very funny way to refund yourself for your next turn to get rid of some troublesome thing. Although it is only sorcery speed, there’s some play here for Red which struggles to get past thick assed creatures at 4 or above toughness.
Loxi: This really can go one of two ways; flexible removal, or crazy Treasure ramp. Both are always solid options, so decide if you want to blast some poor schmuck to smithereens and get rich or fell the biggest thing on the table.
BPhillipYork: I’m a big fan of the excess damage mechanic, and generating a bunch of Treasures off of it is potentially really useful for decks that really want to generate a lot of Treasures, which typically live in Izzet.
Magda, the Hoardmaster
Marcy: I really hate the once per turn thing, but in this case, I think it is required, or there are just too many ways to crap out a ton of hasted tokens.
Loxi: I’ve liked the other Treasure cards this set for at least trying to be unique, but this one’s a bit pushed. It’s way too easy to make treasures for how cheap this card is, and getting to turn those into Dragons is a scary prospect.
BPhillipYork: I’m not sure I’m a big fan of this thing where WotC invents some legends then just reprints them with the set’s mechanics stapled over the original mechanic. But that’s what this is.
Magebane Lizard
Marcy: Very interesting card to punish players for trying to cast multiple spells or storming off. Really like it as a potential counter play and form of soft control in Red.
Loxi: I really love this one for group slug since it specifically punishes spellslinger decks. A lot of group slug decks tend to lean into punishing creature heavy decks or big mana decks, so it’s nice to have some more support for blasting other wizards off the table.
BPhillipYork: Very solid group creature with even more toughness than usual for a group slug creature. This will safely survive almost all the non-X damage based board clears.
Resilient Roadrunner
Marcy: This is the funniest card in the world. I love it; it’s also really not bad for hasty aggro.
Loxi: This wasn’t on my bingo card.
BPhillipYork: Wow. They shoehorned a road runner coyote thing that’s um. Is there an ACME artifact that does several different things but then blows up on you? Is this the first card from Universes Beyond: Merry Melodies?
Slickshot Show-Off
Marcy: The most interesting thing here is Plot since it has haste; get it plotted safely and pull him out of exile when your opponent is shields down.
BPhillipYork: Solid for aggro red decks. Not sure why you’d want to plot this, unless it’s to board clear or something like that, or just generate storm count.
Stingerback Terror
Marcy: Well, red is famous for vomiting it’s hand early, although it feels a little whatever. The plot is nice to make it wait.
Loxi: Not really a Commander card, but I’m sure you could absolutely mash someone’s face in limited with this.
BPhillipYork: I like this though I’m not sure I’m a fan of Scorpion Dragons because that’s kind of uh, whatever.
Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
Marcy: Oh I’m sure no one will find some way to make that activated ability broken at all.
Loxi: I like this card, but I like it most as a supplementary card to already existing landfall decks, since I don’t necessarily think it’s as exciting to build around but provides a nice way to add some finishing power to your deck if he comes down early.
BPhillipYork: Well this is the kind of thing that durdle decks love. Getting +1/+1 counters onto creatures that don’t normally get them or that are power or toughness based is really useful, and the ability late game to double the number of counters on creatures you control is decent.
Colossal Rattlewurm
Marcy: Cares bout Deserts wasn’t something I expected in this set, even given the setting. I will say that the effect is interesting, too, as a sort of weird filtering/cycle. Could perhaps see use in some sort of self-mill shell?
BPhillipYork: Interesting card, I’d love to see “cares about Deserts” be more of a thing. Deserts hold a special place in my heart back to when I was convinced that Arabian Nights would have yellow mana from Deserts (spoiler, it didn’t). The ability to ditch this to grab a Desert is really nice, mill it away and get a Desert, which now includes mana fixing.
Freestrider Lookout
Marcy: Green does love ramp, and this is an easy ramp.
Loxi: In decks that commit crimes at instant speed, this is real sweet. Even getting one or two triggers from this makes it a really effective ramp card. Any more than that and you’re just swimming in value. Make sure to run enough lands that you won’t miss these triggers though.
BPhillipYork: IMO this is one of the more solid crime payoffs, just ramping you up and thinning your library, incentivizing blowing things up or even just removing cards from graveyards. With artifacts that remove lands and things you could commit a lot of crimes really rapidly.
Goldvein Hydra
Marcy: I like that you can recycle this, and I bet there are some combo decks that would love to just vomit this thing out, kill it, and generate a million tokens off of it for something.
Loxi: It’s a good Hydra to add to the existing pool, almost exclusively because it’s got a really nice rate (only one extra green pip), great keywords, and provides mana back to a deck that is basically made of mana sinks.
Intrepid Stablemaster
FromTheShire: Now that’s one angry Chocobo. 2 mana for your mana dorks has been the new standard since Wizards has said they are reluctant to print 1 mana ones into Standard because of the warping effect they have on the meta, and this one comes with a bunch of little upsides. Being a 2/2 instead of the usual 1/1 or 1/2, having reach so it’s maybe slightly less of a dead draw late, and having the possible upside of tapping for 2 means we will definitely be seeing this in at least Standard play. I wouldn’t be surprised if it also enabled some kind of Against the Odds Pioneer Vehicle deck or something weird like that.
Marcy: I think this is going to depend on how important Mounts or Vehicles are for you, because if the answer is ‘not very’, this is a really expensive dork that only makes green.
Ornery Tumblewagg
Marcy: This is pretty good if you keep it alive, and I think there are a lot of scary possibilities here. One of the better mounts, I think.
Loxi: I wasn’t super-sold on Saddle before, but this has the potential to add a lot of counters to the board and makes for a good use case for all the mana dorks you have on board when your big, counter-ed up creatures start swinging.
Outcaster Trailblazer
Marcy: Mini refund on a lopsided body, but the card draw is a nice effect. Plotting it, then bringing it out to give you extra mana and slamming something big and drawing a card sounds like a nice sequence.
Loxi: These green draw spells are always good. The mana is a nice touch and I can see that they’re trying to use this as a way to make it useful for a powerful pop-off turn, but in reality this is just another nice draw engine. That’s never a bad thing to have though.
BPhillipYork: It seems like the combo that emerges from this is plot then cast it for the one mana to get out a big fattie which is.. fine. Really the card draw of 4+ power creatures is plenty decent for stompy and such decks.
Railway Brawler
Marcy: Lot of multipliers in this set, and I think it might help Green get back into the game in terms of aggro and going over the top of opponents with cards like this. The issue is surviving to turn 4+.
Loxi: A real nice force multiplier for your board. It’s pretty hard to go wrong for Stompy decks with this one.
BPhillipYork: Well this is solid, the plot makes perfect sense here to get it out faster, and having every creature come out with +1/+1 counters equal to its power is pretty dangerous.
Smuggler’s Surprise
Marcy: 2 mana to make everything hexproof and indestructible is nuts. The rest of this card is pretty good too, but that is just… way too cheap for what that does.
Loxi: Wait a minute, ignore the first two lines for a minute (which, I may add, are very good). 2 Mana hexproof and indestructible for basically every creature that matters at instant speed? I think this is the best green card in the set, since it does literally everything you want in a green deck at a really good rate for how flexible it can be.
BPhillipYork: 6 mana put 2 creatures into play at instant speed is pretty dangerous. If it’s Leveler + Thassa’s Oracle, that’s game. At instant speed. Sure 6 mana is a lot, but that’s the game. Using it to just pump out fatties is fine also, or milling away, and giving hexproof and indestructible for your fatties is solid too.
Next Time: The Big Score
That wraps up our look at the set’s monocolored cards. Join us next time as we review The Big Score cards, picking out our favorites, and talking about the future build-arounds. In the meantime, if you have any questions or feedback, drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
