Guilds of Ravnica Set Review - Artifact, Land and Planeswalker Decks

There aren’t that many artifacts in Guilds of Ravnica, 12 to be exact, so this first part is a short one but the land are still to come along with the planeswalker deck cards. Let’s begin on this last day of Set Review week.

Core 2019 Set Review - Artifacts and Lands

So we're here again. The end of the set review. It always feels sad when things end but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy them while they last and I hope you all have. Today we're looking at all of the artifact and lands from Core 2019, a lot of mechanical hijinks and mana mayhem to come your way, so why don't we get started.

Dominaria Set Review - Colourless, Artifact and Land

It’s the end of the week which means it’s the last in our look through all of the cards in Dominaria, Artifacts and lands. Before that however, there is one colourless card we’re going to take a look at.

Rivals Of Ixalan Set Review-Artifact and Land

It’s almost over, but I have one last bunch of cards for you guys: the artifacts and lands. Here we go.

Ixalan Set Review - Artifacts and Lands

The end draw nigh and all that's left to do is to have a look at all of the Artifacts and Lands, the bulk of the DFC's and return of a core set favourite. Let's get started!

Hour Of Devastation Set Review - Artifact and Land

Abandoned Sarcophagus

I love the look and feel of this card. It's flavourful, cheap (ish) and has a lot of potential. Abandoned Sarcophagus is a build around me through and through and if you can snap this up in limited and grab all the Cycling cards you can, you could get so much value out of it being able to turn all of you spells into card draw in addition to what they normally do. I am excited to try this in constructed but you do have to be a little careful not to throw away any spells you may need in the moment and lose them forever. It's just so much value to pass up in my opinion to not at least try it out.

Crook Of Condemnation

First things first, Relic Of Progenitus has nothing to worry about in modern as it's cheaper and it gives you a card, it does give your opponent the choice of what card gets exiled but it's a small price to pay. Crook Of Condemnation plays really well in limited against all the Embalm and Eternalise creatures so your opponent doesn't get the extra value out of them, it could backfire a little with the second ability but hopefully you can play around your own card well enough for that to be negligible. Constructed might like this card but as it stands, not many decks really rely on their graveyards, with the exception of Zombies, so I think it will sit in sideboards.

Dagger Of The Worthy

Equipment are good in limited and I think the Afflict will be great in limited as well. Two mana isn't much to cast and t is colourless meaning you'll probably play it in all of your decks, and only two to equip isn't asking for much either when it's giving you +2/+0 and Afflict.

God-Pharaoh's Gift

Gate To The Afterlife gave us a glimpse of a card from Hour Of Devastation and here it is, and it's very powerful. Both cards work nice in tandem, not only because On allows you find the other and put it into play but because you have to have at least six creature cards in your graveyard to activate Gate To The Afterlife and thus giving God-Pharoah's Gift a lot of gas to work with. The best part about God-Pharaoh's Gift is that it gives the creature token Haste, adding more things for your opponent to worry about, and makes it a base 4/4, sometimes you might trade down with the original creature but most of the time it will be adding so much value to them. It plays well in limited because it's more aggressive so you're more likely to be playing more creatures, and it's a bit too much for constructed.

Graven Abomination

An aggressive, but fragile, creature that can deal very nicely with any graveyard shenanigans your opponents might have. It will die but could trade up and you'll play it in every limited deck as it's colourless.

Hollow One

Hollow One is a good creature to pair with Abandoned Sarcophagus because it becomes cheaper for each card you Cycle, so you can have a free creature and then you can play the Cycles cards again for extra value. Other than that it plays well in limited as Cycling is a big part of the limited meta game that having a colourless, possibly free creature, is always good especially when just Cycling one card makes Hollow One a three mana 4/4.

Manalith

It's colourless and it fixes and ramps mana, every deck plays this in limited and no deck play it in constructed. That's about it really.

Mirage Mirror

This is an interesting one, it's colourless and therefore easy to play in any deck and it can become your opponents best threat on the board or an additional copy of a threat you have. In the right deck it could be very good but most of the time I think it's going to be a bit slow in limited and the fact that you have to pay for it every turn won't help.

Sunset Pyramid

Some of the artifacts from Amonkhet and Hour Of Devastation gain brick counters, Sunset Pyramid removes them. Two mana to draw a card is a good trade off and when all of those brick counters have gone you can still pay two mana to Scry 1 which is still very good. It will only see play in limited as it's way too slow for constructed but it could get you some nice card advantage in limited.

Traveler's Amulet

It's back, it fixes mana making it easier to play three or more colours in limited and it's cheap.

Wall Of Forgotten Pharaohs

This is nice little blocker that's great for limited mainly because it's colourless but also because it gets some extra damage in each turn, slowly chipping away. You do have to have a Desert but as we've established, you will probably have one. Worst case scenario, it blocks almost everything and lives.

Visage Of Bolas

Lastly, an Artifact appearing in the Bolas intro deck, one that lets you find Nicol Bolas, The Deceiver and helps you cast it as well. You will have another couple of turns waiting to get to eight mana but in the mean time it will fix your mana nicely.

Onto the lands

Crypt Of The Eternals

Other than the basic lands, this is the only land in Hour Of Devastation that isn't a Desert. What it is is good mana fixing, it does gain you a life and it doesn't come into play tapped meaning you can use it straight away. You'll play this in limited when you're in either at least two of these colours or maybe all three helping you curve out in all your colours nicely.

Desert Of The Fervent, Glorified, Indomitable, Mindful and True

All of these lands make up the cycle of Cycling Deserts in Hour Of Devastation. They all come into play tapped, tap to add a colour and if you don't need them you can pay two to Cycle it. It's going to help massively in limited when you need a Desert in your graveyard to help your other cards with power or effect boosts, but other than that they are useful all the time as they can thin your deck out, possibly giving you better options when you need them. I could see some of these lands making it into constructed but I think right now they might be a bit under powered when compared against both the mana base we currently have and the card draw spells.

Dunes Of The Dead

Dunes Of The Dead is a fine land, it doesn't fix your mana or ramp you,  but if you can find a way to destroy it it will give you a 2/2 zombie for your troubles. It will then also give you a Desert in your graveyard which can result in bonuses and additional effects for other cards. You play it in limited especially when you're in one or two colours as it won't hinder you as much.

Endless Sands

Endless Sands is a bit of a weird land, you can use it to protect your creatures, maybe after they've blocked to save yourself some damage, but you then are a creature down and you can only do it once per turn. The good thing is, if you have a lot of enter the battlefield triggers you can get a lot of value out of Endless Sands when you bring them all back. The set up might be a bit too much for constructed and maybe even limited but even exiling two of your creatures with it and bringing them back whenever you want for four mana, you've gotten a nice bit of value out of a land.

Hashep Oasis

I love lands that are also spells and in Hashep Oasis you get a Giant Growth on a stick, granted at three times the cost (four if you include itself) and at the loss of a Desert, but being able to reuse it will be invaluable. It's an on board trick so your opponent has more chance of being able to play around it but it's still a big power/toughness boost that's hard to deal with and could easily give your creature enough power to close out a game. Sacrificing a Desert won't be too hard as you will have a couple in limited and it counts itself so you could always sacrifice it in a pinch.

Hostile Desert

Manlands in the past, and present, have been very good, giving you a creature that hides from removal very well and is always an on board threat turns out to be quite powerful. Now we have Hostile Desert, a colourless 3/4 manland that only takes two mana to activate which sounds insanely good, you do have to exile a land from your graveyard which is the downside, but in limited you're going to have picked up a couple of Cycling lands or maybe even spell lands to fuel Hostile Desert. I could see this being a player in constructed as most of the manlands before have but you do have a couple more hoops to jump through to get your worth out of it.

Ifnir Dreadlands

I think this will be the most played of the spells lands purely because it has a permanent effect on the board. Four mana, five if you include itself, may sound a lot but it reduces an opposing creature's power and toughness by two which is a big deal in combat. It plays fantastically in limited and I think could see some constructed play as well being a good utility land.

Ipnu Rivulet

Unfortunately, in a cycle of these kinds of cards the blue one usually turns out to be the weakest, nothing's changed. It is cheapest to activate which is a plus but milling just isn't always that's good, except when you point it at yourself as opposed to your opponent. If you can abuse your graveyard as a resource then Ipnu Rivulet could be a viable card, being able to fill your graveyard with Embalm, Eternalise, Flashback and so on, I just think it might be a bit weak and there are other cards that do this better.

Ramunap Ruins

Ramunap Ruins is a good land for getting the last couple of points through, it's a lot of mana for two damage but being reusable will make it worth while. I could see it seeing some constructed play as it's direct damage but I think it may cost a little too much, as for limited it's a slam dunk and another problem for your opponent to have to deal with especially in the late game when it becomes a very real threat.

Scavenger Grounds

Thematically, Scavenger Grounds will play well in limited with all the Embalm and Eternalise cards running around but be careful because it does get your graveyard as well. This is a card that will see more play in modern as it just reads "2 mana, sacrifice: Exile Graveyards." which is great against decks like Dredge.

Shefet Dunes

I love this land for limited, it encourages you to go wide instead of tall and play more creatures just making it harder for your opponent to deal with them, and a temporary Anthem effect every turn is brilliant. Again a virtual five mana might be a bit much but even using this once can get you so much value in limited.

Survivor's Encampment

It's Springleaf Drum in land form and will do a lot of work for you in limited when you need to fix your mana. It can even get you to the Aftermath side of a card that you didn't expect to need to play just for a creature. Play this always in limited as even if you don't need the coloured mana it's still a land that comes into play untapped.

And finally,

Woodland Stream and Cinder Barrens

These two lands are going to appear in the intro decks and well give them some good colour fixing as they are both dual lands. They both enter tapped but do give either blue/green or red/black respectively and is just what they need.

So that brings us to the end of our look through all the Hour Of Devastation cards, I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have and we'll be doing it all again soon with the release of Ixalan; Prereleases on the 23rd and 24th of September with the release the following week.
Until then however, keep checking back to Game Changers for more gaming news and updates.

Amonkhet Artifacts and Lands

Bontu's Monument

We start out look at the artifacts with one of the Monuments. Each god has a Monument devoted to them and each of the Monuments are legendary and for good reason. They cheapen the cost of creatures that share a colour with that god, so for example; Bontu is black, so black creature spells cost one less to cast, in multiples, having these artifacts not be legendary would be insane as it would give you access to essentially free mana. Aside from that first effect, the Monuments have another effect that triggers whenever you cast a creature spell, in this case draining your opponent for one life. Two things about this ability, one; it's not whenever you cast a black creature spell, just a creature spell in general and this is true for all of the Monuments. Two; the creature spell you cast to trigger it doesn't even have to resolve, just the fact that your paid mana for it will cause Bontu's Monument to drain one life from your opponent. Bontu's Monument is fine in limited, it will keep up the tempo into addition to you making another creature will and, if it's on colour with some of your creatures, you can get a nice mana reduction that essentially brings you a turn ahead. Probably not for constructed but as it's colourless and therefore can be cast in any deck, this is one of the five I would like to try.

Edifice Of Authority

The first card were going to look at involving Brick counters, Edifice Of Authority is great card to have in your slower decks in limited. It can come down on turn three, only takes one mana to activate and it's colourless. Being able to keep just one creature from attacking can extend the game for a long time in limited and, after you've kept a creature at bay three time, you can stop a creature from doing pretty much anything with Edifice Of Authority's second ability. If you could find a way to untap Edifice Of Authority, being able to halt most of your opponents army could be brutal.

Embalmer's Tools

Another artifact that offers a mana reduction, Embalmer's Tools isn't legendary though so you can have multiples in play at once. Obviously, Embalmer's Tools plays really well with Embalm, allowing you to pay less for the Embalm cost and get value out of the zombie token as soon as it comes into play. As for outside of Amonkhet limited though, you can also use Embalmer's Tools for other creatures activate abilities like Dreadwalker and Scrapheap Scrounger, although I don't think Embalmer's Tools will see constructed play, but it could end up in a fringe deck.

Gate To The Afterlife

This artifact isn't as big of a fan of Embalm as Embalmer's Tools, in fact it would prefer you keep your creatures in your graveyard. Each time a non token creature dies, another reason Gate To The Afterlife doesn't like Embalm creatures, you get to gain a life and then have to option of Looting, drawing and then discarding a card. When you have six or more creatures in your graveyard, you can sacrifice Gate To The Afterlife and search for a card that we haven't seen yet called God-Pharoah's Gift and put it onto the battlefield. That to me seems like God-Pharoah's Gift is a permanent, probably enchantment, and the God-Pharoah in question I think is Nicol Bolas. Other than that I have no more speculation on God-Pharoah's Gift, but as for Gate To The Afterlife as a way to gain life and sculpt your hand, it's fine, it's not going to break the limited format and definitely won't see constructed play at least until we know what God-Pharoah's Gift is.

Hazoret's Monument

The red god's Monument allows you to Rummage, which is similar to Looting but instead of drawing and then discarding, you discard first and then draw a card. Hazoret's Monument is alright, I can see arguments for playing it in limited, maybe if you have a lot of Embalm creatures and you don't want them all to clog your hand up, but apart from that I don't think it's going to see much play out of limited.

Honed Khopesh

Simple Equipment; it costs one mana to cast, one mana to equip and gives the equipped creature +1/+1. It's nothing spectacular but it will do work in limited as you will be able to move it from creature to creature to maximise your attack or block.

Kefnet's Monument

Kefnet's Monument is going to be very good on limited as it works nicely on a tempo deck and a slower controlling deck. Being able to tap your opponent biggest creature and not have to worry about it for another couple of turns is good value and can allow you to play multiple guys in a turn to clear the path for an alpha strike. It's a by slow for constructed play though even if it does reduce the cost of your blue creatures.

Luxa River Shrine

More Brock counters. Luxa River Shrine fits into any deck just because every deck likes to gain life, the problem I have with it though is paying one mana to gain one life fine just to get the Brick counters but I would have liked more than two life when you have the three Brick counters on it. Maybe it would have been too powerful if it let you gain three life but two life just doesn't seem like much and especially when you've spent three turns to turn that effect on.

Oketra' Monument

This is the other Monument I would like to see in constructed. I love tokens and token decks tend to create speed bumps for your opponent in constructed because it's a fringe deck that won't have much hate devoted to it. Each creature you play is two creatures and I think that is powerful enough to play but the problem is you usually spend your turn three doing more impactful things. In limited this is obviously great even if your not playing white as you can overwhelm your opponent with a load of small guys and just outnumber their creatures.

Oracle's Vault

Who likes free spells? If you do then this is the artifact for you. For two mana you can exile the top card of you library and play that card until the end of your turn. When you get three Brick counters on Oracle's Vault however, you get to just tap it and play a free spell off the top of your library. I think three turns is a pretty good wait for free spells and if left unchecked, Oracle's Vault can take over a game by giving you so much value and card advantage; if you can somehow look at the top X cards of your library, you could suddenly have flash blockers or end of turn creatures. As it stands, I think constructed has more going on right now with free Ulamogs on turn four which makes Oracle's Vault slow in comparison. Obviously stupid good in limited as you can always play it because it's colourless and just gives you value.


Pyramid Of The Pantheon

Pyramid Of The Pantheon looks pretty powerful, when it has three Brick counters on it, it becomes Gilded Lotus. The route to get to that stage though is awkward, you can play Pyramid Of The Pantheon on turn one and then on turn two, if you want the Brick counter, can still only cast a one mana spell. It kind of sets you back a turn for the near future. However, it does fix your mana and when you get to three Brick counters, hopefully by turn turn four to use on turn five, it puts you really far ahead and will be a significant card if your opponent stumbles on mana at any point. Pyramid Of The Pantheon may see constructed play as it's easier to gear your curve towards it for maximum value, but it would probably be a control deck to make it easier for them to cast all the spells.

Rhonas's Monument

Probably the most aggressive or the Monuments, Rhonas's Monument is the one that you love in limited when you get the aggro deck. If it was just the power/toughness boost it would still be playable but it gives a creature trample as well and all for free. This artifact will do work for you in limited but is too slow for constructed.

Throne Of The God-Pharoah

A legendary artifact that's linked to the God-Pharoah, obviously because in multiples this would just be nuts. Throne Of The God-Pharoah loves creatures attacking and especially the Exert creature, getting almost two guaranteed triggers with one Exerted creature in play. It also works well with creatures with tap activated abilities, if you need to use them in your turn. Dropping Throne Of The God-Pharoah on turn two and then attacking with creatures will very quickly snowball and that's probably what it's going to be played as most in limited, I could see it in constructed, again in a very aggressive deck, but right now I think there are better things you can do.

Watchers Of The Dead

This is a card that is made just in case graveyard strategies, I.e. Embalm, get out of hand in constructed. Other than that it could see play in modern for Dredge or the kind. It's a colourless Grizzly Bear and it comes with an effect, granted it won't be especially good because your opponent gets to choose the cards they keep, but it could still come up.

Lands

Cycling Lands

We'll start with the Cycling lands as even though they will appear in different decks, they all play the same. They all come into play tapped and Cycle for two colourless mana but they are both land types of the colours they produce leading me to think Fetch Lands might come back. These are very versatile in constructed as you can just trade them in when you're getting flooded giving you a small opportunity to draw out of your land abundance. In limited they're good to play almost all the time, they could help your mana and at worst, like in constructed, they just Cycle when you don't need them.

Deserts

Next up are all the Desert cards and, because it didn't show up here, this also lead me to think that actual Desert might show up in Hour Of Devastation. Anyway, all the Desert land cards are type Desert, meaning they can be found why you Cycle Shefnet Monitor and may have some relevance with cards in Hour Of Devastation, and they all add colourless to your mana pool.

Cradle Of The Accursed

Cradle Of The Accursed allows you to pay three mana, tap and sacrifice Cradle Of The Accursed for a 2/2 zombie token. Always good in limited just because it acts as an additional creature whenever you need it. The ability can only be used at sorcery speed though.

Grasping Dunes

Grasping Dunes let's you pay one mana, tap and sacrifice Grasping Dunes to put a -1/-1 counter on target creature, again great in limited to mess with numbers on the opposing side. Only at sorcery speed again.

Painted Bluffs

Painted Bluffs is a good mana fixer for limited as it just filters a mana, meaning for one mana you can tap Painted Bluffs to add one mana of any colour to your mana pool.

Sunscorched Desert

Sunscorched Desert pings your appointed for one. It's probably the weakest of the Cycle but it's still good in limited, and there might be those very rare times your opponent is on one life and it can win you the game.

Evolving Wilds

Standard mana fixer in most sets as a staple. You will probably always play Evolving Wilds in limited all the time just to make sure you don't stumble on your colours and you play it in constructed as it's the only Fetch Land we have at the moment.

Lastly, Cascading Cataracts

This indestructible land has lovely art, very colourful and pristine looking that seems right at home in the Amonkhet environment. The effect is fine, it adds colourless for the early game, but if you need it and can pay the five mana for it in the late game, Cascading Cataracts becomes the best mana fixer you could want in limited. It gives you five coloured mana of any combination, which if you're playing three or more colours can be a life saver for those times you just get the wrongs lands in the wrong order. It does take five mana to get there though so it is still kinda clunky. Constructed probably won't see Cascading Cataracts because you don't need it, you have access to plenty of Dual Lands that are a lot smoother.

So that concludes our look at the Amonkhet cards, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and maybe picked up a few deck ideas for the future. We'll be back taking a look at all the cards in Hour Of Devastation come July but until then, keep checking back to Game Changers for more news and updates.