We've covered all 5 guilds, so now we look at the Guildless of Gatecrash.
Spirit Mantle's big bro. Seems like a fine addition to Uril or any other Aura-themed deck. Pound for pound, I think Spirit Mantle is better value, but go big or go home, right?
The only criticism I can possibly think of for this card is that it needed 5 power for Mayael decks. Like, for reals. Comparing this to the green and black Primordials, there is no way I could ever believe that a 5/6 or even a 5/7 would have been unbalanced.
Since I don't have a Mayael deck, though, I suppose it's not a big deal to me at least. Rest assured, we'll be seeing this guy played in the format for a very long time to come.
Nice throwback to Concerted Effort, from the original Ravnica set. Overall this seems more playable, but not by a huge margin. Fine, but not a huge bomb.
Yawn.
Useful effect, but a tad too expensive.
Looks like an Orzhov card, but plays better with Selesnya's Populate mechanic. Good Limited card, but very sub-par in EDH.
Meh.
Crap. Trust me. He might look powerful, but this is not the kind of thing you want to be doing in EDH. Trade him to the Standard players, kids, before everyone realizes what a stinker this is, and the price drops.
Or, maybe it won't. He might have potential in 60-card Magic, where you can build around and plan for him a lot better. Either way, this is one planeswalker who pretty much exists
solely to Ultimate, and it's not a fun Ultimate.
Amusing, flavorful design. I can't as of yet think of a single good use for it in EDH, though.
Limited fodder, but pretty damn good in a 40-card deck. Might get played in a janky mono-white Angel tribal deck, but definitely not beyond that niche.
Valakut enabler? Urborg on a stick? Not sure what to do with this one. Meh.
Lame. Jumpting through hoops to get a 3/3 unblockable is fine for Limited, maybe, but definitely not EDH material.
Seems marginally playable. Obviously, you'd rather just have Cryptic Command or maybe Blustersquall.
I really love the art, though. Awesome composition and execution.
Duh, of course this is playable. Scratch that, this is sure to be a staple, much like the rest of the cycle. I am thankful, though, that this one does't go infinite with an enemy Rite of Replication.
I belive the Oracle wording of this has been changed slightly. It was errata'd to read: "You win the game."
Drawing cards is, by far, my favorite thing to do in Magic... and this is effing BORING to me.
WotC, what are you doing? WotC, STAHP!
No thanks.
This could be fairly brutal, if timed right. It can really turn things around if used on The Threat at an opportune moment. Leaving 4 mana up at all times is not something every deck can afford to do, though. This is important to consider when weighing this card. If your deck if very heavily defensive/reactive, and your in Blue, then this is probably okay.
Good reason to go Simic in draft.
Sweet! Now we can play two copies of Pongify in our EDH decks! In all seriousness this is a huge boon to some decks, like U/G that need more quality removal.
Limited hole-filler. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Not terrible, as far as removal-with-random-extra-effect spells go. Killin' and millin'.
More "let's completely fail to make Gates compelling" chaff.
Rawr! Rats have deathtouch! Seriously, this is a fantastic boon to Savra decks. Not sure it'll see much play elsewhere, but it'll be welcomed by the Golgari Queen with open arms.
LOL, put this on Kokusho. Because why not?
Question: how big does a completly vanilla beatstick have to be for him to be worth two mana and a card slot?
Trick question: depends on how quickly you can grow him, and how easily. Playing this guy on turn 2, he is basically always going to be a 1/1, MAYBE a 2/2 every once in a while.
Late game, he could be huge, but again, he's vanilla. No evasion, nothing. Best use, in my opinion? Sac him to greater good to draw a shitload of cards for 1B.
Average EDH deck has ~40 lands. Usually more like 38. So... Ghave deck. Make 40-ish tokens. Tap Gaea's Cradle. Play this guy, sac tokens, deck opponent?
Point being, this is one of those cards that if used fairly is likely to be too weak to be any good, but it is easily exploited, if one were so inclined.
In short, you need a lot of disposable creatures, and a lot of mana. Does your deck have both of those in volume? Then this might work out okay.
God what a house. Wrath? No? Okay, I win.
Crap.
Crap.
Amusingly, I think the Primordial above is just flat out better than this. That said, I haven't seen too many Mythic Rare demons that I actually this is worth playing (Griselbrand being the obvious exception).
This guy seems fun. Even if you whiff (unlikely but possible), exiling 7 cards off the top is likely to make your opponent cringe. Hitting something decent is just gravy. Painful, demonic gravy.
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