This is a fine guy for limited just as a four mana 4/4. He plays really well in an aggressive Exert deck when you drop him in turn four and then Exert your guys on turn five, Ahn-Crop Champion allows you to have blockers up while getting full value out of them plus being able to Exert your other creatures again next turn. I don't think we'll be seeing him in constructed as it has no immediate impact and will just get taken out by Unlicensed Disintergration, Murder or maybe even Skywhaler's Shot.
Aven Wind Guide
This is the four drop I want to see in limited. It plays so well with Embalm creatures and even zombie tokens and has Embalm itself. Playing a blue/white flyers deck seems pretty viable with this sudo lord to help them fly over your opponents creatures while still being able to block. Again, nothing in constructed as it costs too much and isn't fast enough.
Bounty Of The Luxa
I don't get this card, it seems powerful but I get the feeling it isn't. From what I can grasp, you drop it on turn four and then on turn five get to draw a card off it. Then on turn six you get to add three mana to your mana pool taking you up to nine mana. I'm all for ramping but the issue I have with this is that by turn four you should have been ramping all those previous turns and have a five, six or even seven drop already, and you don't get the effects quick enough in my opinion. It will see play on the casual tables but nowhere else.
Decimator Beetle
Decimator Beetle pretty much always comes down as a 3/4, unless you're sure you opponent has multiple Splendid Agony in their hand, because as soon as it attacks it turns into a 4/5 and shrinks an opposing creature. This is the creature you want on your top end in a deck that abuses -1/-1 counters as it can really take over a game making combat a nightmare for your opponent. I would love to see this break into constructed but I think it would get hit by a removal spell a lot of the time.
Enigma Drake
In the right deck, Enigma Drake could be a powerhouse, but that does involve playing less creature to get the mileage out of him. It sits in the same deck with Warfire Javelineer and a lot of Cycling instants and sorceries. It's not a bad deck and you only need at least three instants and sorceries in your graveyard to make either Javelineer or Enigma Drake worth playing, which won't be hard just by playing the game of Magic. The other good thing about Enigma Drake is that you can use or Cycle cards in combat and effectively use them as pump spells. In limited he's fine, you want to drop him on turn three and hold of some early attackers while dumping instants and sorceries into your graveyard to allow him to swing over the top. In constructed I could see Enigma Drake as a cheap threat for Dynavolt Tower decks as it's on theme with what they're doing anyway, but at three mana it is battling with Dynavolt Tower itself and it doesn't play nicely with Torrential Gearhulk either.
Hapatra, Vizier Of Poisons
I like the idea of this card, but I don't think it's as powerful right now as it has the potential to be. Obviously it's nuts in limited, especially when you can drop it on turn two and hopefully start building an army of Snakes. But even if your opponent doesn't have any creatures for you to put the counters on, and it is a may ability so you don't have to start weakening your own creatures, you can use your other creatures that put -1/-1 counters on a creature you control and start amassing 1/1 deathtouching Snakes that are hard to battle with as they kill everything. A lot of potential in Hapatra but at the minute I don't think it will see much constructed play.
Honored Crop-Captain
Honored Crop-Captain will make your limited deck super aggressive meaning games probably won't last that long. But even without being a power boost for your other attacking creatures, it's a two mana 3/2 so if you're in red and white you always play this in limited. I could see it appearing in constructed maybe in vehicles but it is fighting for the same spot as Veteran Motorist and Motorist gives you so much more value.
Khenra Charioteer
Another super aggressive creature that you are going to love in limited, Khenra Charioteer giving all of your other creatures Trample makes blocking incredibly hard for your opponent. Even as a 3/3 for three mana it's efficient enough so if you can drop a couple of early big creatures then Khenra Charioteer, being able to squeeze a couple of points through each attack is quickly going to add up. This guy should make it into constructed, get some hasty creatures and some pump spells and you have a good old aggro deck which can be surprisingly difficult to deal with.
Merciless Javelineer
The Minotaur tribe gets well represented in Amonkhet and one of the more powerful Minotaurs is Merciless Javelineer. A four power four mana creature is on curve and if you get to untap with it Merciless Javelineer can start gunning down creatures and stop them from blocking at the same time. You can trigger all your discard effects as well, so if you control Archfiend Of Ifnir and Merciless Javelineer, for two mana you get to put a -1/-1 counter on each creature your opponent controls, making it harder for them to block, and an additional counter on a creature of your choice stopping it from blocking entirely. This is a limited powerhouse and you will love it every time.
Neheb, The Worthy
Keeping with Minotaurs, Neheb is a kind of Minotaur lord. He doesn't give your other Minotaurs a power/toughness boost as a static effect but he does grant them First Strike while having it himself, and a three mana 2/2 First Striker is pretty good. He does however give your Minotaurs +2/+0 if you have one or fewer cards in your hand, not other Minotaurs, all your Minotaurs so he does effect himself turning Neheb into a 4/2 First Striking creature for three mana. Lastly, he also helps you get to one or fewer cards by making each player discard a card every time he deals combat damage to a player which will help trigger all you discard effects and turning Neheb into a formidable Minotaur. I like the idea of tribal Minotaurs but I don't think it will be top tier, just playing Neheb as a three mana 2/2/ First Striker is good enough in limited though and hopefully will effect one or two of your other creatures in your deck.
Nissa, Steward Of Elements
The first planeswalker to have an X in its mana cost, Nissa has a lot of potential in a ramp style deck. Playing. Nissa as early as turn three and then using her +2 ability to Scry 2, which is really powerful, essentially means you have just cast a three loyalty planeswalker for three mana with an ability on par in my mind to Jace Beleren's first ability except you're not letting your opponent draw a card. Nissa, Steward Of Elements will certainly see constructed play and I think she will surprise a few people. You always play her in limited as she's a bomb and the card advantage that she can generate will probably win you the game.
Samut, Voice Of Dissent
What on earth happened here?! This is the card you make when you're mocking up stuff with Magic Set Editor and you wanna make a stupidly powerful creature because you can. Why does she have all these keywords? Samut is a combat trick that will almost always win, an end of turn threat, she plays well with Exert creatures or just to give another creature sudo vigilance. I love the card but the design feels all over the place, there is immense power in Samut though and I think she will be another card that will surprise people but maybe take a bit of time to do so.
Shadowstorm Vizier
In limited Shadowstorm Vizier will be annoying to play against. It's good at block in the early turns and can take a decent chunk out of your life if left unblocked. Granted it is two colours, which means the likelihood of casting Shadowstorm Vizier on turn two consistently are much lower than in constructed, and it does require a lot of Cycling cards or discard effects, which in limited is more likely to happen as you will play some cards just because they Cycle whereas those cards in constructed aren't going to see play even with Cycling, but if you're in blue/black I think you should always play this guy. It's a cheap threat with a great combat ability that will always keep your opponent thinking.
Temmet, Vizier Of Naktamun
Temmet is the type of creature in limited that, no matter what else I've opened and how much synergy there is between my other cards, if I have enough token makes and Embalm creatures in playing Temmet and tokens. This guy has enough synergy with himself to justify playing him even with literal zero token makers or Embalm creatures, as he is a bear at worst and at best, when you Embalm him, he's a 3/3 unblockable. If you do have enough token makers or Embalm creatures, then Temmet makes combat misery for your opponent, because they have to generate so many creatures to do a significant amount of damage, as you keep all but one back and that one is an unblockable creature token. I could see Temmet in constructed in a token control deck, maybe using Saheeli Rai to blink a Gearhulk and then use Temmet's ability to have a 7/7 unblockable three turn clock.
Wayward Servant
Wayward Servant ties the zombie tribal deck together in limited. Having even just one in your deck means that every Embalm creature you have or spell that creatures tokens is slowly chipping away at your opponents life total. Having two is just silly as then you have your zombies draining two life just for casting them. Yes in constructed if Zombies becomes a big deck.
Weaver Of Currents
Creatures that ramp you for two mana are great; jumping from two to four puts you so far ahead of your opponent. Weaver Of Currents however costs three, which isn't bad but it is slightly worse than a two mana ramp creature, and yes it adds two mana as opposed to one so you can go from three to six, but that mana is colourless, so if you only have an Island, a Forest and say a Wastes, you have to find a coloured land on turn four to play most things in constructed. Fine in limited as the body is an actual thing and it can help by getting to New Perspectives or Approach Of The Second Sun.
Onto the Aftermath cards. The way Aftermath works is that it will be split into two cards, the top card acts like a normal card where the one on the bottom can only be cast from your graveyard. Ideally you play the top half to get access to the Aftermath on the bottom half.
Dusk Till Dawn
Wrath Of God is too good for White now, it's kind Blacks thing and even than you get cards like Languish. White looks after the little guy, so Dusk destroys everything three power or greater, hopefully leaving your small dudes unscathed. It's quite good against something like GB Delirium because they play a lot of value guys that tend to have more than three power like Grim Flayer or Sylvan Advocate. Moving onto Dawn and the small creatures theme is kept allowing you to return all creatures with power two or less from your graveyard to your hand to build you army all over again. Dusk Till Dawn is alright, it will appear in weenie builds and the like but the great part about Wrath Of God was that you got to play it in Blue/White control decks as a way to keep the board in check efficiently. Playing Dusk Till Dawn in a control deck makes the Dawn part pretty useless.
Commit To Memory
Commit To Memory looks fantastic. It may be four mana to cast but it gets rid of anything, any nonland permanent and it works as a great counterspell but the best part about either situation, you won't see it until two turns later. The Aftermath side, Memory, is an immensely powerful card, it's TimeTwister. Yes it costs twice as much but this is the fair cost for TimeTwister, at any cost it's still so much value just because it gets you a whole new hand. An amazing interaction between Commit To Memory and Torrential Gearhulk is that you can Commit at some point to delay your opponents Aetherworks Marvel or whatever and then a couple of turns later cast Torrential Gearhulk targeting Commit To Memory and cast the Memory part instead, resulting in an end of turn 5/6 and an end of turn TimeTwister which is just insane. Obviously best case scenario involves you not having many cards in your hand when you cast the Memory side but like I said, the value is incredible. Limited always and I'm sure we'll see it in constructed
Never To Return
A sorcery speed Hero's Downfall with a sorcery speed, four mana Vile Rebirth attached. The removal side of Never To Return, Never, will be great at almost any point of the game, the Return side won't be as exciting but it still gets you a creature and may be able to get a good reanimation target out of your opponents graveyard. Always play this if you're in black in limited as its removal and the rest is gravy, in constructed I'm sure this will see play even if it's just as a three mana, destroy target Gideon and just so happens to be able to make a guy later on.
Insult To Injury
Insult loves aggressive decks, you can steadily beat down on your opponent and out of nowhere cast Insult and wipe them out. It also turns the second half, Injury, into one hell of a red removal/burn spell. For six mana, provided you have both targets, you can double any damage you do turning Injury into deal four damage to your opponent and a creature they control. Six mana is a lot, especially when I see this turning up in all-in red decks, but it gives them something to do in the late game when they've run out of burn spells or just cards in their hand. In limited I can see arguments for playing Insult To Injury, but most of the time I think Insult will be played at minimum value just so you can cast Injury later on.
Mouth To Feed
On one side you have Call Of The Herd, but instead of having flashback as the other side, you get to draw a card for each creature with power three or greater you control. So Mouth provides you with a 3/3 Hippo and Feed lets you draw at least one card providing you still control that Hippo. This is a limited powerhouse, it gives you a guy and card advantage in one neat little package. Constructed on the other hand probably won't see this as Mouth To Feed wants to be played in a midrange aggro deck and there aren't many of those around at the minute beside Delirium, which uses its graveyard as it's card advantage.
Start To Finish
Almost a perfect black/white tokens card in Start To Finish; on the front end it gives you two guys at instant speed and the back end is a removal spell, in exchange for one of those tokens you've just created most probably. Start To Finish does cost six mana in total but the Start side is an instant so you can make two guys at the end of your opponents turn, untap and sacrifice one of those guys to Finish to take out an opposing blocker. It will play well in limited especially if you can make the best of both sides, I will be trying this in constructed as a love a token deck and this has two cards in one which cuts down on card choices.
Reduce To Rubble
Reduce To Rubble is a controlling blue/red card, you get a counterspell that will either successfully counter a spell your opponent has cast, or make them pay three mana to let it resolve, at which point you get to cast Rubble ensure that those lands, or just three lands of your choice, don't untap next turn. The cards fine, in limited you don't mind having a slightly more expensive Mana Leak and the Rubble part can set your opponent back a turn giving you an advantage, but I don't think we'll be seeing it in constructed anytime soon as the counterspells are much more efficient and spending three mana to make sure your opponent can't spend three mana isn't good enough.
Destined To Lead
As far as combat tricks go, Destined is pretty good. It's only two mana and it gives your creature indestructible so it can live to fight another day, the power boost is ok but I don't think it will be doing much. The other side of this card, Lead, is straight up Lure. It costs more but it does the exact same thing, the good thing about this type of effect is that you can amass an army and then cast Lead on your smallest guy to guarantee that your bigger creatures will get through, hopefully to deal enough to win you the game. The interaction between Destined To Lead is quite nice, you can cast Destined on a small creature to keep it from dying in combat, then cast Lead on the same creature so it has to be blocked by everything but it still won't die, and maybe take out a creature in the process. Limited all star but probably nothing in constructed.
Onward To Victory
Another very aggressive Aftermath card, even just being able to cast the Onward half is good enough. Onward is along the same power level as Berserk, well that might be a bit optimistic, but it does give your creature +X/+0 at instant speed, but whereas Berserk gave your creature Trample an made you sacrifice it at the end of turn, Onward lets you keep the creature but doesn't give it Trample. The really sweet things happen when you can cast both sides of Onward to Victory on the same creature. Say you have a 4/4 and you cast Onward in your main phase to give it +4/+0 and then we're able to cast Victory on it as well, it suddenly can survive any attack and if it goes unblocked, hits your opponent for sixteen in one hit, yes it would cost six mana to do so but that's over 75% of your opponents starting life total. I think Onward To Victory will be resigned to limited but there could be a shout for it in some sort of Red/White aggro deck in constructed.
Spring To Mind
I think Spring to mind might be constructed playable, yes it's a turn slower than Rampant Growth but it does have card draw attached. The Spring half takes you from three to five mana leaving a turn in between casting Mind to deal with any threats or put some pressure on, then you can cast Mind to find more answer or threats. It is quite mana intensive but in the right deck I think Spring To Mind can be quite powerful. In limited it thins your deck out when it finds you a land making it more like that when you cast Mind you will find your bombs or answers.
Prepare To Fight
Another Aftermath card I think will see constructed play, Prepare To Fight looks so good in a G/W midrange deck. If you can cast both sides in one turn, it will cost you six mana but will result in destroying an opposing creature and gaining life and then being able to attack to gain even more life. The life gap that Prepare To Fight can put between you and your opponent can be massive and make it very difficult for them to come back and having multiples in one game will just be insane, letting green and white decks have removal spells like this is brutal. Obviously limited lives this card and it could easily win you the game with the value and power you get from it.
Failure To Comply
Failure To Comply looks like it would be a good card but unfortunately I think it's a bit of a trap. The intention is that you cast Failure and then name the spell you returned with Comply, but that only works if they used all there mana to cast that spell otherwise they could just cast it again before you get to play Comply. Also Failure To Comply only works in constructed really because it's a more refined format, but if you just cast Comply without having that extra little bit of information given to you by Failure, maybe because they just cast that spell again, or being able to look at your opponents hand you're effectively going in blind and might not hit anything. You could maybe argue it for U/W control but I would rather play more counterspells that will always counter a spell not just hold it off for a couple of turns.
Rags To Riches
Rags is the antonym of Dusk, where Dusk deals with creatures with power three or greater, Rags can deal with creatures on the lower end, it doesn't straight up destroy them but -2/-2 to your opponents teams is usually pretty good even just to get a value attack. Riches seems like the card you want in EDH, it costs a lot of mana and could get you a creature from each opponent. Once you get more than one creature that seven mana doesn't seems like that much. In limited I think you play this just for the front end of Rags but I would love to see it in a U/B control deck that has something right into the late game, imagine being able to take out your opponents dudes and then cast Riches forcing them to give you their Ulamog.
Cut To Ribbons
Cut To Ribbons is really good, Cut gets most creatures out of your way for two mana and then it can just sit in your graveyard for a while until you have enough mana to end the game by casting a huge Ribbons. This is the perfect spell, or spells, that something like B/R aggro or Jund love to have, a great value removal spell and a win condition rolled into one package. Nuts in limited and very powerful in constructed.
Heaven And Earth
Hurricane and Earthquake together at last, well it might just be the "damage to creatures" side of both of those spells, but that is because if they both did damage to players as well then this card would be absurd. Being able to cast Heaven, at instant speed no less, to deal with flyers is good enough without it being an instant speed Fireball for both players as well. As for Earth, it may cost one more red than OG Earthquake but don't worry it's still just as powerful and the best part about Heaven And Earth is that you can play Heaven to deal with your opponents flyers or even just for zero at the end of their turn, untap and cast Earth from your graveyard to wipe out all the ground creatures. In an aggressive meta game Heaven And Earth will easily see play and be very good, right now though we're in a sort of combo/control kind of meta which means it's kinda weak. It can be a bullet in limited, giving you the choice of which of these two powerful spells you would like to cast when appropriate to get maximum value.
That's the end of the Multicoloured and Aftermath cards, our last groups will be the artifacts and lands in Amonkhet so keep checking back for Game Changers for the end of the set review.
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