Are you all amped up from all of the white cards from Guilds of Ravnica?! Well get ready for some more coming at you hard and fast with all of the blue cards. There are some great cards that will get the deckbuilding mind racing so why don't you scroll down and read about them then. Go on, do it.
Capture Sphere
A good, fast removal spell in blue that will only see limited play.
Capture Sphere is easy to splash which is nice if you’re shallow in
removal and can run an island or two.
Chemister’s Insight
We’re losing Glimmer of Genius and Hieroglyphic Illuminations but Chemister’s Insight is going to be a good replacement for them. Four mana for two cards is a good rate but being able to ditch a dead card to recast it later on in the game is the real kicker. Chemister’s Insight is splashable too so it’s not just resigned to heavy blue decks, get ready to see a fair bit of this in standard to come.
Citywatch Sphinx
This could be a limited bomb, there are creatures that have had abilities similar to this but Surveil can be incredibly powerful in comparison to something like Scry. Slow he board down, get to the late game and drop Citywatch Sphinx to get deeper into your deck, have a flying threat and fuel your graveyard to use as a resource, all of this is good. It’s splashable but I would only play one in limited because it’s steep on the mana cost.
Dazzling Lights
Dazzling Lights could help you net some combat value in limited for a single mana and it gives you a decent amount of card selection. You probably don’t want to run multiple or at least more than two as they can get clogged up in your hand but at least the Surveil 2 helps get you to more gas.
Devious Cover-up
Four mana counterspells in the past have been up and down, they usually have to do some really good to see play - like Cryptic Command - and unfortunately Devious Cover-up isn’t good enough. Exiling the countered spell is good, especially in a format that will have heavy graveyard strategies, and shuffling up to four cards back in will help later on in the game but overall it’s a big mana commitment. Maybe in limited if you really need it but I’m not a fan.
Dimir Informant
It’s cheap, can fuel your graveyard and therefore dig you deeper into your deck and it blocks well. Dimir Informant won’t be the MVP of your deck but one if fine in limited especially if you can utilise your graveyard.
Disdainful Stroke
With the reprinting if Disdainful Stroke it implies that there’s going to be a lot more high mana cost cards to come. In Guilds of Ravnica limited there will be good opportunities to use this two mana counterspell as Convoke cards can often cost more thanks to its additional casting ability, so it’s not no mans land right now at all. In constructed it can hit a lot of planeswalkers and other threatening spells and just for two mana. Disdainful Stroke will happily sit alongside Negate and Essence Scatter without pushing either of them out, it’s slightly more versatile in the late game so a one or two of could be fine in control.
Dream Eater
A nightmare Sphinx huh? Alright then. Dream Eater brings a lot of value with it other than its 4/3 flying body. Equipped with a bounce effect, Surveil 4 and Flash Dream Eater is a bomb creature in limited and, if the format is slow enough, may see constructed play. I think it’s been pushed enough for constructed though it’s fragile for its mana cost, I could see it as a one or two of in a tempo/control deck.
Drowned Secrets
If there ends up being a mono blue control deck then Drowned Secrets will see play, it won’t particularly shine in a two or three colour deck as much but it might work. Limited wise, this card puts you in a horrible position of playing worse cards that are blue to trigger it more consistently and that’s something you shouldn’t fall for, it’s not worth it.
Enhanced Surveillance
This is value all over! It’s cheap, gives you not one additional Surveil card but two and gives you a reset button if things start to go wrong and you need a bomb or utility spell back in your deck. I would love to see this 2 mana enchantment in constructed and it has a good chance, being costed at 2, but I think it has to wait until Search for Azcanta rotates out of standard. In limited Enhanced Surveillance is amazing, Surveil is a huge mechanic in Guilds of Ravnica so you’re going to get your monies worth and in multiples the card selection is probably going to win you games as you bury your opponent with answers to everything.
Guild Summit
So the gates are back, yay. I wasn’t personally a fan of how big of a game mechanic they were last time we were in Ravnica but I did like the flavour. It seems that they’re are still alive and kicking on this trip back to Ravnica and can be utilised as card draw with Guild Summit. A cheapish enchantment that draws you cards isn’t bad but the first ability on it means that it doesn’t want to be played early. Guilds Summit starts at three mana but actually wants you to tap additional gates to get an immediate pay off, this isn’t good for any deck fast or slow. I do however like the second ability it has, the gates already enter the battlefield tapped so you might as well get a card out of that. I don’t thin Guild Summit is going to see play outside of the casual tables, it’s slow and clunky and, despite how it looks at first glance, surprisingly inefficient.
Leapfrog
Leapfrog is fragile but versatile: it could be a decent blocker that trades up, surprise flying blocker or can get over the top thanks to the evasion. You do have to trigger it but I’m sure that won’t be too hard.
Maximize Altitude
Mission Briefing
The closest comparison I make to this card is Snapcaster Mage. Snapcaster Mage was way too good but saying that Mission Briefing has been pushed a lot, the mana cost is tougher but the reward is the same and then some. Surveil 2 and Flashback a spell is going to be happening a lot in standard I think, Mission Briefing is never a dead card as it always gives you more information at instant speed. It’s not a four of like Snapcaster Mage once was mainly thanks to the mana cost but it’s going to see play in control decks for sure.
Murmuring Mystic
This four drop is fine. If you need some board advantage and you have enough gas to fuel Murmuring Mystic then it could end up clogging up the board and causing a stall. The tokens do come with evasion in the form of flying which is nice as that can allow you to go over the top and Murmuring Mystic having 5 toughness means that it’s probably going to stick around for a while. The four mans casting cost puts it out of constructed range but in limited it could end up being a good mid game creature.
Muse Drake
It replaces itself but Muse Drake isn’t that good. It’s probably good enough to run one of in limited but the replacement and Flying doesn’t accent its power and toughness enough I don’t think, it’s going to block maybe once before dying and almost certainly won’t take anything with it.
Narcomoeba
It’s back and as a rare. Narcomoeba has had a decent stint in Magic since Futuresight and has made decks like Dredge and Vengevine viable and very destructive. A two mans 1/2 flyer isn’t much to look at and the problem with Narcomoeba’s printing the first time around was that there weren’t many ways of milling it (putting cards from the top of your deck into your graveyard) and allowing it to appear on the battlefield. The dredge mechanic in modern was a big help with that aspect and now the Surviel mechanic, brought to use by the hour of Dimir, can give Narcomoeba a much needed boost in ways of being played in constructed. It’s still and under powered card but if you can consistently mill it then having free 1/1 flyers isn’t a bad thing.
Nightveil Faerie
I really like this card in limited. Nightveil Faerie can help you tear through your deck at an alarming rate just for playing the game naturally, it blocks well in the early game and it has evasion. In multiples you do run the risk of decking yourself but the early game card selection Nightveil Faerie gives you access too is great.
Omnispell Adept
This feels very kitchen table magic to me. It’s high costed at 5, though it does come with a decent body and you have to wait a turn to activate it, Omnispell Adept can allow you to start dropping spells for 3 mana that you have no right playing. I don’t think this guy is good enough for limited let alone constructed because you have to put in so much effort, could be fun in casual or commander though.
Passwall Adept
It blocks well in the early game and can help force damage through a ground stall. You’ll play one in limited and that’s about it.
Quasiduplicate
I love the name and the effect is good but I don’t think Quasiduplicate will be seeing constructed play. It could’ve been pushed and been made an instant but with the Jump-Start mechanic I don’t think that would’ve been a good idea. Good in limited to put more pressure on but that’s an issue I have with Quasiduplicate, you can only target your own creatures. So there’s no imitating your opponent’s bomb to be had here.
Radical Idea
Card draw is good and reusable card draw is even better. Radical Idea reminds me of Oona’s Grace, a three mana, draw a card spell with a mechanic called Retrace that worked similarly to Jump-Start except it didn’t exile the spell. I can see Radical Idea being played in constructed and it’s a good limited card to dig you deeper and find your outs.
Selective Snare
Meh. It’s sorcery speed which is the first problem but the main issue I have with Selective Snare is that you can’t even bounce the majority of your opponent’s board unless they’re running a pseudo-tribal deck. If you need some temporary removal then it’s probably fine as a 23rd card but I don’t think it’s worth running Selective Snare.
Sinister Sabotage
It’s Cancel with upside! Three mana, counter target spell is good but when it gives you a pseudo-Scry effect then the power level jumps up a few notches. Surveil is like Search for Azcanta: you can’t put it on the bottom, just in your graveyard or keep it on the top. This can help you dig to find certain spells or fuel your graveyard, both being a plus especially if you can utilise your graveyard as a resource. Constructed playable for sure.
Thoughtbound Phantasm
Even with the reliance on Surveil to help Thoughtbound Phantasm attack I think it could have been pushed a little more and been given flying. I think it’s only going to see play in limited and only if you have a heavy Surveil strategy going on and when it can attack its going to command combat.
Unexplained Disappearance
I have a feeling the Surveil mechanic is going to be good in Guilds of Ravnica. Even a simple Boomerang type spell like Unexplained Disappearance looks constructed playable with card filtering attached. Good in limited and I think it will see constructed play.
Vedalken Mesmerist
On curve it’s a decent bear, later on in the game you could get a chance to either force damage through force an inefficient block from your opponent. Vedalken Mesmerist will meet and end quickly but even with just one attack it could mess up some combat math.
Wall of Mists
It’s Wall of Mists, if you’re a slower deck then it can help you get to the late game to cost your bombs but it won’t be doing much else but clog up the ground.
Watcher in the Mist
Decent late game limited creature, 5 mana for a 3/4 flyer is good enough to play and the Surveil 2 just sweetens the deal. Play one in limited unless you need something else near your top end but you don’t want to end up clogging up your hand with multiples that you can’t cast.
Wishcoin Crab
I like Wishcoin Crab because it’s not just super defensive. Four mana for a 2/5 isn’t the best but it will block well and could get in for some damage later on.
The blue cards are all done with but we still aren't even half way through the week. There's a lot more coming your way in the coming days continuing with all of the black cards tomorrow, so check back to Game Changers for that. And don't forget to check us out on Twitter at @gcgamingtank.
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