DG's Back With a Return to Ravnica Breakdown!

HELLO ONE AND ALL! DG IS BACK!!!! Sorry for the extend absence. I was forced to move my younger siblings and mother 35 miles north. On top of this I had to deal with a family member’s passing, college, moving away from the rest of my family to continue my pursuit of college, dislocating my knee, and being financially strapped for a few months. All has started to calm down now and my life is starting to stabilize once again.

Anyways, enough about my personal life and problems. I know you all came here for one thing, an article. I am again starting article releases biweekly. The only exception to this is if I become increasingly busy with college and have to use my time to writing college papers instead. Now that all of the boring crap has been addressed, on with the article.

Return to Ravnica is just around the corner. We have over 1/3 of the set already spoiled. I am going to analyze a few of these cards and break down just how much we are dealing with. Starting with card number one.

Abrupt Decay

This card is going to take names. Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful cards in the set. At a low cost of two mana, this answers any non-land permanent at instant speed and cannot be countered. This cards impact will be huge in all formats (especially modern and legacy). Furthermore, one thing that needs to be seen right now is this is one heck of a card when paired with Snapcaster Mage. I sense a BUG control deck in the midst. I have also been brewing a BUG Superfriends list that may just become a hit. It certainly seems possible with the amount of pressure that is gained from this combined with Snapcaster.

Moving along we have Dreadbore

This card is another staple across formats. While it may be only a sorcery speed kill spell, it does have relevance. First of all, the colors this card fits in are two of the most supported archetypes after rotation. This being Jund and Grixis. It helps the midrange and aggro Jund deal with planewalkers and annoying creatures. In Grixis, it just acts as a catch all removal spell against anything you need it for at the time. This cards impact will be more than likely greatly seen in the modern Jund deck. The reason for this is the Jund decks biggest problem is resolved planeswalkers. While Maelstrom Pulse does deal with planeswalkers, decks like Tron have too many threats. The Jund deck starts to fold against a resolved Karn Liberated and cannot deal with it easily unless they have one of the normal 2-3 MD pulse, are far ahead on the board, or have enough burn in the hand to effectively 3 for 1 themselves. And even if they did deal with the Karn, Tron runs way too many threats out too quickly to be stopped at such a slow rate. This will give modern Jund more of a fighting edge against Tron and even the playing field a bit.

Next we have Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius

This card is sure to make a splash in UR decks and Grixis decks alike. I believe this card is easily playable in standard due to the card advantage you can gain off of this beast. Assuming you untap on turn 7 with this guy and pass your turn, you gain complete control. A very believable scenario could look like this. Dracogenius in play with a Snapcaster, Pillar of Flame and Dissipate in your hand while a Searing Spear, Dissipate, Pillar of Flame, and Think Twice are in the graveyard. This scenario provides plenty of options and is in no way farfetched. If something scary comes down, you have the Dissipate. If a Strangleroot Geist or Gravecrawler is played you have the Pillar of Flame. If nothing big happens, you can burn the opponent for 3 and draw three cards with Dracogenius. The possibilities are endless with this card and the advantage he provides.

Continuing our breakdown, UW looks like it’s getting plenty of goodies this time around. Supreme Verdict is an uncounterable wrath effect while Detention Sphere is like a Maelstrom Pulse/ Oblivion Ring hybrid removal spell. The color combination also gets instant speed draw in the form of Sphinx’s Revelation with the added benefit of lifegain for the control deck’s lastability against aggro. The mechanic Detain is also looking really solid. The card Archon of the Triumvirate is just oppressive if the opponent has no answers. Being able to detain planeswalkers and your opponents creatures every turn while you swing away at your opponent is just powerful for a control deck. Even Isperia, Supreme Judge looks powerful enough for constructed play. It gets around the Searing Spear test and draws you plenty of cards if the opponent goes on the offensive.

Big news, for those of you who have not heard, Shocklands are back. Expect the price to go down on these once the set is released and more are in circulation. It seems Wizards is finally starting to follow through with their promise and reprint modern staples for those who missed them the first time around. Expect more staple reprints in the future.

Limited RtR is looking fantastic. Mercurial Chemister is looking to be one of if not the best limited rare in the set. The ability to draw each turn while having removal on a stick is just powerful. What’s more is Ultimate Price can’t deal with him. If not answered quickly, expect to lose to the sheer card advantage this guy creates on the draft tables.

Two planewalkers have been announced for RtR. First we have

Jace, Architect of Thought

Although he is not entirely bonkers right off of the bat, I feel he does have potential. His first ability wreaks havoc on combat math while effectively neutralizing small 1/1 threats. His second ability is where it’s at. A mini Fact or Fiction is good enough for control decks that are unable to play the new UW instant speed draw spell. His ultimate is not too impressive, and is improbable anyways. This card should mainly be looked at for his FoF esque ability.

Next is Vraska the Unseen

This card is pretty huge. While coming into play with 5 loyalty, her +1 is just nuts. Giving your opponent the choice to deal with her at the cost of losing their creatures is just painful. This creates 2 for 1 scenarios and is bound to be seen all of the time by decks that can take advantage of it. Her second ability is hugely relevant. Vraska is one of the few planeswalkers who can deal with other planeswalkers right away. This is a great tool for control decks that can use the ability effetivley to stabilize the board until they lay down a win condition. Her ultimate is cool enough if it can be obtained in a game. I don’t see it happening often, but the ability to create Phage the Untouchable esque tokens is cool. It’s more of an “oops, I win” ability than anything else. Don’t expect to win games this way often.

I have barely scratched the surface of what this set contains. We still have cool things like Pithing Needle as a reprint Guildgates and Chromatic Lantern for the EDH players while a card like Epic Experiment screams out to the Johnny players. Also, to those who feel like playing the lottery, you may want to buy up as many Cackling Counterpart as possible. Why? While this is just pure speculation (I am not employed by WotC) the card may pull a Splinter Twin on us. That is, if they print a creature with ETB populate, it is an infinite combo. Just thought I would point that out. There is still plenty to cover. But that will have to be for a different time. I will conclude this article as always,

Until next time, keep it real and have fun!

WB DG! Great article like always!

Good read👍. I was waiting for Jarad, Golgargi Lich Lord, but, alas, my dreams could not be true 😢

Ah, DG, I was sorely missing you around here. Can I ask for your thoughts on all the uncounterable spells we're getting? If its good or bad?

Now I see why people were missing your articles. Very interesting.

Good to see you back.

Welcome back DG! I've missed your articles! I'm also curious what your opinion is on what will reign supreme in competitive standard play at this point: golgari or azori?

Yay!!! Welcome back Death Gaara!!!!

@Maximo

Its good that these uncounterable spells are entering the card pool. People are whining about how it hurts control and what not. When they fail to see the simple idea that this is just the opposite. These cards will be powerful in control. Slaughter Games deals with threats in the hand. A card Grixis would love to play. Abrupt Decay deals with many threats on the table and is best buddies with Snapcaster. This allows flexibility for the BUG control deck I think is coming. Counterflux lets you win the counter war in a control mirror and should not be easily dismissed as SB material. Supreme Verdict is solid enough to see play at 4 mana. While limited to UW decks, it is good for control to have a weapon against other creature decks. While I do not think the "cannot be countered" clause will matter much in standard, it will be huge in EDH. The only time it will really matter in standard is game 1 if you MD it and get paired up against another control deck. And finally Loxodon Smiter. This card is bad for control, but good for aggro. Yes it is just a vanilla beater, but a 4/4 for 3 mana that cannot be countered is huge against control. Meaning that if they are not holding spot removal, then the game will turn entirely around quickly. The Obstinate Baloth esque ability is nice against UB(x) control decks that play the discard, but I dont see its (the ability) relevance in standard as much as the other 4 spells.

@Quackmaster5

Neither in my opinion. GB may have some showings in an aggro type deck. UW may see some play as control. But where its really at is 3 colors at the moment. Specifically UWR (Team America), RBU (Grixis), BUG (BUG? lol), and GRB (Jund). The other two may be playable, but will need further testing. As far as two color decks that will be playable I think UR (Izzet) just because of the mass amount of tools it has at the moment and Rakdos (BR). Not so much the guild cards, but the BR zombie deck is getting a lot of love from RtR. That deck had some problems with its curve, but it is looking more and more refined as new cards are announced. That will be the deck to beat right off of the bat in my opinion. Expect Jund to show up as either an aggro or midrange build. As for the other 3 color decks I mentioned, that is just pure speculation on my part. They have alot of the tools they need. The only thing left is to decide which ones are the best.

Great read as always

So much information. @_@ feels great to see how cards can be utilized. Great new ideas DG! Also, Gaara is best kazekage.

Glad your back....good read, spot on.  I am w/ you in regard to shock lands falling in price.  I track card prices a lot and I am pretty sure these lands will all be well under $10 and we may see some closer to $5.  I just think it is awesome that the non- dual lands like blood crypt and overgrown tomb are higher than the duals w/ .  But like you stated Rakdos and Golgari really got some love....not a fan of scavage but we will see what else comes.  I know dredge was considered a junk mechanic when it came out and look at what dredge has become.....with that said I still do not see scavege becoming anything great.

I feel like there'll be an enchantment or artifact that will reduce the cost of scavenge to make it more viable/cheaper because Golgari has ways to get creatures into the GY. I think WotC knows what they're doing with the spoilers. They're just whetting our appetite and I hope the best of RtR is yet to come.

I'm high on Loxodon Smiter myself. A 4/4 by turn 2 is Delver of Secrets territory. I know Lox isn't flying, and can't swing the same turn, but he's putting 4 power on the board and racing by turn 3. Hit him with some Rancor and you're off.

I think it's got some pretty serious Standard implications.

And welcome back DG.

Quote from: Dudecore on September 15, 2012, 12:25:58 PM

I'm high on Loxodon Smiter myself. A 4/4 by turn 2 is Delver of Secrets territory. I know Lox isn't flying, and can't swing the same turn, but he's putting 4 power on the board and racing by turn 3. Hit him with some Rancor and you're off.

I think it's got some pretty serious Standard implications.

And welcome back DG.

Are you talking turn 2 via Arbor Elf?

or avacyn's pilgrim or birds of paradise