Return to Ravnica Limited Review - Black

Catacomb Slug

Insert Slugfest joke.

2 - Sometimes you just need that extra dude, but I would rarely play this. Better if you have a massive fatty in your deck that you want to see.

Cremate

2 - Cantrips, so its playable. Relatively good sideboard card for upkeep exiling those scavengers. Could see the maindeck if you are low on playables as a 23rd.

Daggerdrome Imp

3.5 - This is is an acceptable card to play when in a non-aggro black deck, but it really shines in Golgari with lots of scavengers to pump up this guy and swing with a big flying lifelinker.

Dead Reveler

5.5 - I like this guy a lot, on curve he's awesome. Unleash him for a 3/4 on turn 3. Good deal, you aren't losing as much as you are when you Unleash a Grim Roustabout or Splatter Thug feel free to do it the vast majority of the time.

Destroy the Evidence

Quickly, find some evidence worth destroying.

0.5 - You should never be maindecking this card and unless you're opponent is running loads of land Auras this is terrible, as the only "spell" non-basic worth bothering with, can just be sacced in response. The milling is also irrelevant as Dimir is largely impossible to run well in this set.

Deviant Glee

If thats a gleeful Massacre Girl, imagine an angry one.

4.5 - So Unholy Strength gets optional trample and it becomes a good card, weird but true. This keeps you ahead of your opponents really well. So many times I've been playing a Rakdos deck and they've slammed a Trestle Troll on turn 3 and it would completely brick wall, if not for the Deviant Glee.

Drainpipe Vermin

1.5 - Sideboard card against the hyper-aggressive decks just to chump and save some damage, sometimes you get them with the discard but unless you are blocking an X/1 without First Strike it is still just a 1-for-1.

Grim Roustabout

5.5 - The great decision, to Unleash and jam damage or to sit back and chump block forever? It does both very well, but if you're deck isn't getting through or you just want to hold for Impact to kill them with, best to leave the +1/+1 counters at home.

Launch Party

Is this Wizards joking about the destruction of said event?

3.5 - Not great but it does the job, and in Rakdos decks you can just sac the annoying Unleash guys who just can't get past their walls anymore. The Shock feels free which is nice.

Mind Rot

2.5 - The old limited staple, isn't a staple in this set. Sure its a 2-for-1 but this format is just a little too fast for its effective use. You can always throw it in at the 22nd or 23rd spot and get the last two cards but they have often killed you by that point.

Ogre Jailbreaker

So he can't attack if there are no gates? Thin flavour grounding there...

6 - I love this guy. He's a 4/4 for 4, he blocks well and if you have 2/3 gates he's almost always an auto-include. I've seen a deck with 3 of these on the field at one time, I didn't last long.

Perilous Shadow

3 - How good this guy is depends entirely on your deck, if you are playing aggro that finishes at 3 drops with just this guy at 4, he's normally pretty good as you can swing with a 4/8 pretty much every turn. In a higher end deck, not so great.

Sewer Shambler

4 - Despite the Swampwalk being high variance you can normally always maindeck this guy as the cheap scavenge gives you quite a few options, as he is normally always going to die in the first combat in which he is involved. Fits nicely into both Golgari and Rakdos.

Stab Wound

8 - All-star. I find that I rarely want to kill a creature with this unless its a Guildmage. I'd rather just sit back and watch my opponent's life total slowly disappear. Best on Unleashed creatures so you can continue to bring the beats whilst not worrying about losing your source of constant damage. That being said, I once put it on a Leashed Dead Reveler and sat back whilst my opponent could do nothing with his 0/1.

Terrus Wurm

3.5 - I have never seen this cast or have cast it myself. I don't think it's great but if you can make it to 7 mana, why not? The only 7 drops I have seen cast are Archon and Axebane Stag, admittedly someone killed me with Utvara Hellkite, twice...

Assassin's Strike

3.5 - 6 mana is a lot and often their hand is empty at this point. Far worse than Trostani's Judgement but unconditional removal is unconditional removal. I'd play this most of the time in non-aggro black decks.

Dark Revenant

4 - This is a high variance card, sometimes you want a flier that just won't go away but when its just on chump block mode. When your opponent has to throw a removal spell at this, you're in pretty good shape.

Shrieking Affliction

3 - If the matchup is aggro vs. aggro this is often a great card, with you both Unleashing guys and swinging in this will put you ahead in the race. In any other scenario, it's pretty bad. A Lava Spike often isn't worth the card in limited.

Slum Reaper

Reaping a Hastings near you.

3.5 - If your opponent is brick walling you with one guy, this is often sweet just acting as a removal spell but it gets worse the less dudes you have in play and the more that your opponent has. Variance isn't great in this type of removal spell.

Tavern Swindler

3.5 - A grizzly bear with a 50/50 chance that in a scenario where you would die by less than 3 life and this is untapped, you would not. Never tap this unless you would otherwise die.

Thrill-Kill Assasssin

6.5 - Another one of those decisions, to block or not to block? Unleash this and you probably have 3 turns of free damage, leash it and you can trade with their massive fatty, either way is a 1-for-1. One gets you damage in, the other saves damage. Work it out when you play it.

Ultimate Price

7 - Removal is removal and the cheaper the better. It kills 62/92 of the common/uncommon creatures in the format. So slam it in.

Zanikev Locust

4 - Overcosted but solid scavenge, you tend to get your money's worth with this. I'd run it if my deck got to 6 drops.

Desecration Demon

8 - Fatties that either kill all your creatures or kill your opponent. Only ineffective against Selesnya decks that produce lots of tokens.

Grave Betrayal

3 - 7 mana enchantments that don't immediately impact the board are great but if the game continues for 2 more turns, you probably win the game.

Pack Rat

The Pack contains a Legacy Merfolk deck.

9.8 - The best limited creature possibly ever. The best limited card since Jitte. Take it pack 3 when you are playing all colours except Black and still win. It's that good. Unless they have Supreme Verdict or on-time removal spell, they can't win.

Underworld Connections

Do they have Arenas in the Underworld?

7 - Whilst this slows you down by a turn but drawing an extra card from turn 4 onwards, is insane and will get you so far ahead.

Necropolis Regent

Innistrad gets its obligatory nod.

8.5 - A 6-drop that wins you the game, have to have a fair amount of fixing in order to enable 3 colours with this beast, but its is worth running.

Limited Review - Return to Ravnica - White

First time I have done this on a blog. Thought I'd do a limited review for the set Return to Ravnica.

Foreword:
The cards will be ordered into rarity and sub-ordered into colour. Rating from 0-10.
Nods will be given to suitable previous cards were necessary, if you don't the cards I'm talking about you should or I'll tell you what it is.
Occasional pop culture references will pop up where I can be bothered.

Thought I'd kick off the review with White (first on the colour pie and all that...)

Armory Guard

3 - A 2/5 for 4 mana isn't great. A 2/5 vigilance for 4 mana isn't much better.

Avenging Arrow

He's going to hit you before he gets destroyed.

6 - Removal is removal, even if you get hit (unless it's Phage or a 1/1 Assassin Token). Rarely matters with creature damage, or if it does it isn't profitable.

Azorius Arrester

Justice is sorcery speed.

4 - Relevant both late and early game, if only briefly. Allows you to both stall out the aggro decks and punch through the high-end big creature decks.

Concordia Pegasus

4 - 20 turn evasive clock? Solid blocker in the early game which should help to slow down the inevitable hyper-aggro Rakdos/x decks that appear.

Ethereal Armor

A little too ethereal...

2 - Basically always +1/+1, if it isn't then you are most probably losing, as the vast majority of the enchantments in this set are sub-par (exempting Martial Law which won't show up often and doesn't really fit in with this kind of card). This also has all the typical downsides of auras, dies to bounce and in response removal/bounce target. Card advantage is king in limited, the person who can play the most cards wins, therefore the person who has to use the least cards to favourably deal with a scenario wins.

Eyes in the Skies

The skies have eyes.

6 - At minimum it is a Midnight Haunting for 1 extra colorless mana, at best it gets you an 8/8 vigilance. In the right deck this card does a lot of work. If not, it gives blockers and allows you to trade profitably in combat.

Keening Apparition

White bear with an upside.

4 - Grizzly Bears is an exceptable card to play, this one has an upside. Effective against being targeting by Trostani's Judgement and Dramatic Rescue, as long as you have a target. Once, I killed my own Martial Law  in order to stop my opponent from populating his 8/8 vigilance Elemental and crushing me into a pulp.

Knightly Valor

4 - Makes tokens which can be populated and pumps a dude. Vigilance wins races. Doesn't suffer from all of the standard aura downsides, just the in response removal/bounce. 5 mana is a lot though...

Rootborn Defenses

3 - Sometimes this will be a blowout and those are the times people will remember because people often forget the times they had an empty board and this card sat dead in their hand as they lost. However, if you are a solid Selesnya/x deck, this can be used on either offense or defense. At unlike most combat tricks, this is much more likely to get you card advantage as there are 2 different ways in which that could happen.

Selesnya Sentry

3- So in M12 limited, Warpath Ghoul was fairly playable. This format is a lot slower and whilst you should probably be using/be able to use the regenerate ability, it is still makes the card card that much better. 

Seller of Songbirds

4 - The token making 3 drop is back! Sizable downgrade from Blade Splicer, but I guess this provides targets for populate.

Sunspire Griffin

5 - Evasion, hooray. Staple in any white deck, great card. It flies, beats and blocks, doing the last two fairly well.

Swift Justice

5 - If such a thing as a premier combat trick exists this is it. Throwing life gain and first strike can lead to some blowouts and will enable you to win races.

Trained Caracal

0.5 - This sucks and should only ever be played as a sideboard card if your opponent has a ridiculous number of Rakdos Cacklers (so virtually never).

Trostani's Judgment

6 - A catch-all removal spell, nothing that this can't get rid of. The exile means that Scavenge is turned off. The populate tends to have some targets once 6 mana has been reached.

Arrest

7 - Cheap, splashable, a basic catch-all stopped, countered only by enchantment removal. Bonkers against guildmages.

Azorius Justiciar

6 - Good in either aggro decks or control decks, good as a high end finisher in an aggro deck to get the last points of damage through and good in control to stabilise and hold off attacks.

Bazaar Krovod

2.5 - A 2/5 for 5 isn't great, but I supposed he gives your best other creature vigilance and a toughness boost.

Fencing Ace

4.5 - A little better than a 2/1 for 2 as it doesn't trade with X/1s, sticking equipment, Auras and combat tricks make it a lot better.

Phantom General

2.5 - A 2/3 for 4 isn't terrible and it gets better with every token creator you have and subsequently marginally better with every populate card you have.

Security Blockade

Stop! Don't play me.

2.5 - A 2/2 for 3 isn't great and the land ability would leave you behind on mana if you were to continually use it. The ability can only prevent damage to you anyway so if you are being hit multiple times you are probably losing anyway.

Soul Tithe

1.5 - In the early game, this is normally an upkeep edict. However, it's use diminishes as the game continues and your opponent is happier to pay for the cost. When this is bad, it is terrible and variance is not often good in a card.

Sphere of Safety

0 - In limited, this effect is absolutely terrible, never ever run this. It is overcosted and the effect is not worth at all, you'd be better off playing a 5 mana 0/5. If you choose to build around this you'll be wasting your time as not many of the enchantments are good in the set.

Martial Law

6.5 - Lock down their best dude completely every turn, nutty. Pre-board the majority of decks have nearly no answers to this. Post-board, there are a few more but even so...

Getting detained by Bruce Lee, not something you want...

Palisade Giant

7 - You get to pick the best option, block, kill and don't trade with almost any X/2. If not soak up the damage. At the worst, it gains you 7 life. At best, it keeps you alive forever and you never die.

Precinct Captain

6.5 - If this comes down on turns 2 or 3, it will just dominate. The card is nuts.

Rest in Peace

0.5 - Sideboard card only against all-in scavenge decks.

Angel of Serenity

 8.5 - The only downside to this card is getting to 7 mana, if you get to play this you should just straight up win. If they should somehow kill it you get you best creatures back. Bonkers.