Felhide Petrifier- Ok, so tribal Minotaurs was scary already and there is a pretty reasonable Budget Standard Minotaur deck…and they got ANOTHER weapon. Felhide Petrifier is a 2/3 for a black and 2 colourless and it has deathtouch and gives all other Minotaurs you control death touch. So, now you don’t even want to block the Man-Bulls. He’s cheap, has HUGE upside for your Man-Bulls, and just makes the board state awful. I like him and might try a Man-Bull deck of my own.
Flamespeaker’s Will- An inexpensive Aura for 1 red that gives target creature +1/+1, so it’s ok right there. However, the extra with this is that when enchanted creature deals damage to a player you may sacrifice Flamespeaker’s Will to destroy target artifact. Frankly, the conditional aspect of the second half of the card is a really a disincentive to playing it because the set up cost to trigger it is actually pretty high. +1/+1 for 1 mana is ok, but hardly exciting…so, you can run this in limited, but you’ll probably want to pass on it.
Flurry of Horns- 5 mana (1 red and 4 colourless) sorcery that gives you 2 2/3 Minotaurs with haste. A friend was talking to me about this card and said that he looked at this as a 4/6 for 5 mana, because in essence, that is the net impact to your board state. When put in those terms, this is actually a reasonable card. It won’t see play in Constructed or anything, but it is a pretty useful card for Limited and is another source of Man-Bulls for the Minotaur deck.
Goldenhide Ox- A 6 mana (1 red and 5 colourless) 5/4 Cyclops that also Monstrosity 3 for 7 mana (2 red, 5 colourless). It’s a useful body and the single red in the casting cost could make him splashable…but he’s really just a dude with a big body that will plug up the board.
Goldenhide Ox- This is an interesting 6 mana (1 green and 5 colourless) enchantment creature ox that has Constellation that when it is triggered forces target creature to get blocked this turn if able. A 5/4 for 6 mana is ok with a solid body to attack or block with, and the single green means you could splash this guy easily enough, and the Constellation ability is potentially useful to take control of combat on your opponent. I think this is mostly just a big body, but the Constellation could become relevant in some decks looking to turn the tide of combat.
Grim Guardian- A 1/4 enchantment creature Zombie with Constellation for 3 mana (1 black and 2 colourless). The Constellation ability, when triggered, says that each opponent loses one life. This is actually a pretty solid card and very grindy in the B/W draft deck featuring Scholar of Athreos and Servant of Tymaret. The high toughness makes this a solid blocker for 3 mana, and the Constellation ability could really be useful to chip away at the life total of your opponent.
Harvestguard Alseids- a 2/3 enchantment creature Nymph with Constellation for 3 mana (1 white, 2 colourless). The Constellation ability, when triggered, says prevent all damage done to target until end of turn. This will be marginal and mostly used for the reasonable body, but is mostly just a big yawn because it’s pretty uneventful.
Hour of Need- A three mana (1 blue, 2 colourless) Instant with Strive that says exile target creature and put a 4/4 flying blue Sphinx token and for an additional 1 blue and 1 colourless you can target additional creatures. This is a pretty awesome card because it is ridiculous combat trick. Cast this, exile your dinky merfolk or little soldier, and trade it for a 4/4 flying Sphinx! That’s ridiculous! I’ll happily trade my little creature for an Air Elemental. The Strive makes this potentially really powerful because 5 mana for a pair of 4/4 creatures is very good. I like this one…if you see this in draft, don’t pass on it.
Hubris- This is a 2 mana (1 blue, 1 colourless) instant that is basically a unsummon effect. You return the creature and all auras attached to it to its owner’s hand. This is useful if you need to save something you have Voltroned up, but is really a removal spell for Blue and sets your opponent back quite a bit, particularly if they have Bestowed a creature (which is quite expensive usually) on the creature you just unsummoned. We saw that Voyage’s End was good in Theros, and Hubris will be similarly quite good.
Humbler of Mortals- A 6 mana (2 green, 4 colourless) for a 5/5 Enchantment Creature Elemental with Constellation. The Constellation ability, when triggered, says creatures you control gain trample. This will a solid 6 drop in limited and could really make your big fatty’s very relevant and help push through the damage, but I feel like what you REALLY want to do is on the follow up turn Bestow something on this guy, trigger the Constellation, and then Smash away. He’s a little conditional, but the big body helps to make this guy more playable.
Knowledge and Power- 5 mana (1 red, 4 colourless) enchantment that says whenever you scry, pay 2 colourless, deal 2 damage to target creature or player. This is a huge set up cost for a shock and frankly is pretty unplayable. Don’t get lured in. Pass this one up and keep moving.
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer- 0/4 Centaur for 1 white mana that has Heroic and gets +1/+1 counters when targeted by spells. He’s already a good blocker with high toughness, and then hit him with a spell of ANY sort and suddenly this guy is VERY good for the amount of investment. Yoked Ox version 2.0 with the improved ability makes this guy very good.
Leonin Iconoclast- A 4 mana (1 white, 3 colourless) for a 3/2 Cat Monk (love the creature type) that has Heroic that says whenever it is targeted destroy target Enchantment Creature your opponent controls. This could be really useful because this block is chocked FULL of enchantment creatures…and now I get a creature a solid body that can attack, get tricked, and takes out an Enchantment creature and can trade up to get a 2 for 1. I like this creature.
Lightning Diadem- a 6 mana (1 red, 5 colourless) aura that gives target creature +2/+2 and when Lightning Diadem enters the battlefield deal 2 damage to target creature or player. 6 mana for +2/+2? No way! Even WITH the Shock on the Enter the Battlefield this is a bad card. Don’t waste your time.
Magma Spray- Well, hello pillar of flame, my old friend, I’ve missed you. This will be useful removal, is cheap and inexpensive and exiles pesky creatures. You’ll play this in limited and it might even find a way to sneak into sideboards in Standard.
Market Festival- A 4 mana aura (1 green and 3 colourless) that targets a land and says that whenever the land is tapped for mana, its controller gets 2 mana in any combination of colours to his or her mana pool in addition to the mana it normally produces. This an interesting ramp spell that essentially produces 3 mana from 1 land, but is expensive to cast. If you cast this you had better have a handful of HUGE fatties you want to drop, but I think it’s a little slow and likely something you will pick up late in your draft and may opt to pass on as far as being in your 23 card deck.
Mortal Obstinancy- 1 white gets you an aura that gives +1/+1 to target creature and when enchanted creature deals combat damage to an opponent you may sacrifice it to destroy target enchantment. It’s still pretty conditional, but I might run this in limited because of the large number of enchantments in the block and might find it useful to take out a troubling enchantment creature.
Nature’s Panopoly- 1 green mana for an instant that also has Strive and says put a +1/+1 counter on target creature and you may spend 2 colourless and a green to target each additional creature. This is an ok combat trick, but lacks a little bite. It might be on the fence for your 23 card deck but likely won’t hurt you much if you run it.
Nessian Game Warden- a 4/5 Beast for 2 green and 3 colourless that has a really neat ability. When it enters the battlefield you may look at the top X cards of your library where X is equal to the number of forests you control, and reveal a creature from among those cards and put it in your hand and the others put them on the bottom of you library in any order. This is interesting card advantage and a big body that makes this one very playable and quite powerful.
Nightmarish End- a 3 mana (2 colourless and 1 black) for an instant that gives target creature -X/-X where X is equal to the number of cards in your hand. First off, the artwork on this is super cool as Ashiok has clearly done awful things to the poor dude in the picture. The ability is good in limited where you will likely have cards in hand because the format is a little slower and could quite seriously take out a big creature or two. You’ll consider this one as being a solid removal spell.
