It’s almost over, but I have one last bunch of cards for you guys: the artifacts and lands. Here we go.
Awakened Amalgam
We’ve seen creatures like this before that usually check the amount of different land types you control, if that were the case then Awakened Amalgam could only ever be a 5/5 at most. The fact that it states “with different names” means that Awakened Amalgam could grow a lot bigger than 5/5. 5/5 includes all basic lands but there are a lot of lands in standard right now with a lot of different names. I could see this Amalgam becoming something like an 8/8 in the right deck, not to say it’s constructed playable in any form as it’s a bit clunky. In limited you’re probably paying four mana for a 3/3, maybe a 4/4 if you want to push your luck. It’s not the best but Awakened Amalgam is colourless so it makes casting it a lot easier, there are better things though.
Azor’s Gateway/Sanctum Of The Sun
I like the idea of Azor’s Gateway though it is really awkward to trigger. I think Gateway could fit in nicely with Imminent Doom, not that it helps trigger the enchantment but it does give you the resources to filter through your deck to find different mana cost cards to use for both the three mana enchantment or this two mana artifact. Five or more different mana costs seems a bit much as well, you can only do it once a turn and to stay on curve you have to hit a different mana cost each time you activate the gateway. When you do manage to flip Azor’s Gateway into Sanctum Of The Sun, you get a nice chunk of life for your troubles and a land that can be very powerful and useful, adding a tonne of one colour to your mana pool. It feels like this card could be used in a combo sense but it’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get to the payoff and when you’re there, what do you do with it. Azor’s Gateway could sit nicely in casual constructed decks that want to do big, weird splashy things with there cards, and that’s just fine.
Captain’s Hook
I love the flavour of Captain’s Hook and I think it goes nicely with its power level. It’s got a high-ish casting cost but saves itself by having a really cheap equip cost. A good power bonus, additional creature type along with evasion means that this three mana equipment is going to give you a lot of potential in limited, as most of the time you’ll be able to skate on through their one attacker with your newly made menace pirate. Making something a pirate is going to be dry valuable when triggering other tribal cards. Imagine equipping this to a dinosaur and then being able to use Buccaneer’s Bravado on it. It’s probably a bit slow for constructed but it wouldn’t surprise me, there are plenty of decks that could use something like Captain’s Hook.
Gleaming Barrier
A cheap blocker that will do very well in the early turns and gives you a Treasure for its troubles when it dies. It’s colourless so it’s easy for most decks to play especially if you want a road block to get to your limited bomb.
Golden Guardian/Gold-Forge Garrison
I really like this one. Not only does it clog up the battlefield with its 4/4 body but Golden Guardian also has built in removal. For two mana you could shoot a creature down thanks to its four toughness, unfortunately it can only target one of your creatures. You're going to be blocking as much as you can seeing as you want Golden Guardian to die, at that point you have access to a very powerful land. Remember however, if Golden Guardian dies due to something other than its own ability, you will have to pay the two mana to ensure it flips. Gold-Forge Garrison gives you two mana of any one colour, helping you ramp and fix your mana, pretty good right? It doesn’t stop there. For four mana you can start churning out 4/4’s each turn and these ones can attack. This can start to put a lot of pressure on your opponent especially if they can’t deal with the golems each turn, if you can get a couple out before they have an answer Gold-Forge Garrison gives you have such a board advantage. I think this card will be nuts in limited and I could even see constructed decks wanting something like this, more for the back end to ramp and make dudes but more of a control deck would love access to repeatable creatures.
The Immortal Sun
This card seems busted, four abilities and all of them incredibly powerful enough to put you way ahead and take the game right out of your opponent’s hands. The first ability isn’t always relevant in limited as planeswalkers are a rarity but in constructed it could be a game changer against value decks that really want to abuse their planeswalkers abilities. The second is a personal Howling Mine, great card advantage engine and an easy way to put pressure on your opponent. The third ability makes all of those spells you drew with the extra card draw cheaper, so you can start churning out multiple spells a turn, another way to apply pressure. Lastly The Immortal Sun is an anthem effect for all of your creatures, the original way to put your opponent under the gun. It does cost six mana but for these four abilities I think that could be quite cheap, if you can cheat out The Immortal Sun by turn four then you’ve probably just taken the game.
Orazca Relic
This three mana artifact comes built in with Ascend, just another of the best of ways to get the cities blessing. It’s colourless so any deck can play it if you really need to trigger the Ascend mechanic. Orazca Relic helps you ramp your mana as well by giving you an additional colourless, which can be very helpful to power out those huge dinosaurs. Lastly it can gain you three life just by sacrificing it, provided you have the cities blessing, and you also get a card out of it. I was reminded of a modern deck from a couple of years ago, eggs. This deck used artifacts that fixed your mana and draw you cards before getting them all back with Second Sunrise to do it all over again. Orazca Relic may not fix your mana but it still cycles through your deck and gains you life just in case. It could make it into a deck like eggs but there are better, slightly cheaper things going on in modern so for now it’ll probably just hang around in limited.
Silent Gravestone
This will be a sideboard staple in constructed. Not necessarily standard but it is very useful against God-Pharaoh’s Gift, I’m talking more in modern as graveyard shenanigans are more of a thing. Silent Gravestone is cheap, colourless and when it hits graveyards it draws you a card. It’s pretty standard but I think will be a player in the formats to come.
Strider Harness
This is a nice, colourless way to make your creatures all fast and such. Strider Harness is colourless so it’s easy to cast, comes down on turn three at the earliest and is cheap to equip, so from turn four onwards you could be smashing in very quickly. I love this in limited, it’s almost the perfect equipment for Ixalan sealed because a lot of the time you want to be faster more aggressive.
Traveler’s Amulet
It’s cheap and it fixes your mana, not much else to say about Amulet. You play this in a deck that is a little less consistent in its mana base, maybe playing four colours, and it acts as a tutor for your lesser played basic lands.
Arch Of Orazca
Great colourless land that can provide you with card advantage. Arch comes built in with the Ascend mechanic that it will happily abuse later on, one card for five mana isn’t the best mana to card ratio but it is repeatable which increases this lands power level. Arch Of Orazca is ok in a slower limited deck but I think it’s going to shine in a control constructed deck that is happy to throw some speed bumps in the way and get to the late game to abuse this effect.
Evolving Wilds
It’s Evolving Wilds, it’s nothing special and it helps fix your mana. There isn’t much more to see about it really.
Forsaken Sanctuary/Foul Orchard/Highland Lake/Stone Quarry/Woodland Stream
This cycle of five dual lands are all going to be put to good use in limited. There isn’t that much mana fixing so having a land come into play tapped could be the least drawback you would find in Ixalan, they also give you access to splashing additional colours with ease. Some of these lands may find there way into standard constructed as well, there are better deals but with rotation coming in the middle of the year they could be pushed into the limelight.
You may think that were all done but I have a little treat for you to round off this set review: a look at all the planeswalker deck stuff!
Vraska, Scheming Gorgon
As far as planeswalker deck planeswalkers go, Vraska, Scheming Gorgon is not bad at all. She has a high cost but it’s in a single colour which makes her easier to cast and she has a decent starting loyalty of 5. Her first ability lacks teeth for my liking but it’s by no means bad. Her second ability is a nice, unconditional removal spell right off the bat. Vraska’s ultimate is very powerful though it will take a while to get there, three turns providing she takes no damage, but when you fire it off your opponent needs a good answer to any creatures that may go unblocked. I like the power level and think she could even see play in constructed in a black aggro deck.
Vampire Champion
It’s a four mana 3/3 that will trade with almost anything. It’s a standard creature but it gets the job done.
Vraska’s Conquistador
It’s a bear with upside as long as you control a Vraska planeswalker. It’s nothing to scoff at as there is some potential here, being able to drain your opponent for two every time he Conquistador attacks or blocks can put a good clock in your opponent. Depending if Vraska, Relic Seeker finds a home in a jund midrange deck, or maybe this new Vraska could, Vraska’s Conquistador may be a good early creature to start eating away at your opponent’s life total.
Vraska’s Scorn
Out of the ways to tutor up the planeswalker deck walker I think I like this one the most. It’s a good mid game costed card, it hits your opponent for four and lets you find Vraska, Scheming Gorgon. You will have to wait a couple more turns to play her but it’s a good way of guaranteeing it.
Angrath, Minotaur Pirate
Six mana for five loyalty with Angrath this time. He is two colours so it’s slightly more difficult to cast him and in my opinion his abilities are a lot weaker than Vraska’s. His first is a weird Tremor type effect that pings everything your opponent controls and then for one. This could be really effective if they have a lot of one toughness creatures but if they don’t it’s a bit meh. His second ability is a condition reanimation for pirates, it’s not awful but it would have to be a good pirate for three loyalty otherwise it could just feel like a waste. Finally his ultimate. If you can get to eleven loyalty somehow in the midst of all these sub par abilities, you have a game winning chance to wipe your opponent’s board and hit them for a combined total of those creature’s power. This will often win you the game on the spot and is probably the only reason for trying to play Angrath, Minotaur Pirate. He’s not that bad but his abilities lack a little something, they have no edge or real motivation to be used.
Angrath’s Ambusher
It’s cheap, it’s just about on curve and with an Angrath Planeswalker it’s becomes quite an aggressive creature.
Swab Goblin
It’s a two mana 2/2 that’s also a pirate. It works well with any pirate tribal happenings in the planeswalker deck and is easy and cheap to cast.
Angrath’s Fury
What an underwhelming card. Five mana for a Lightning Bolt and a very restrictive tutor for Angrath, Pirate Minotaur is poor in any condition. Sure you get to find your planeswalker to cast on the next turn but it’s so under-powered anyway that it’s probably not worth playing and just waiting to draw Angrath.
Cinder Barrens
I know it’s nothing special but it’s the last card in the planeswalker decks. Cinder Barrens helps fix your mana for playing cards like Angrath, or god forbid his fury. It comes into play tapped but opens doors to other splashable cards.
That’s the end of the Rivals Of Ixalan set review, it’s all over. I really hope you’ve enjoyed looking at all of the cards in Rivals as much as I have, it’s been a long haul but we got there. Remember it’s going to be happening all again in about three months time so come back for that and if there are any cards that have caught your eye or inspired you, take a look at arcane cards for all your magic singles needs. This year is off to a roaring start with a big bumper week of articles. It’s business as normal next week but as always, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.
No comments:
Post a Comment