More multicolor cards to ogle! This time, the Dimir is up for inspection. Let's see how they do.
Dimir
Hey, another Common actually made it into the review. That this even gets a mention at all, though, speaks to the potential power of Surveil. Sure, most decks would still prefer Scry, but EDH is rife with graveyard-based strategies and decks, and it is those decks in which Surveil is going to make a splash. Read the Bones is playable, so in decks that also have Blue and care about their graveyard, this will be even better.
Meh.
Obviously these cards are never good in our format. But one of these days, WotC will just have to print a version of this that does scale for multiplayer. Being able to just go in and preemptively hit everyone's Sol Rings would be funny.
Connive is going to be hard to get real value out of in a format of huge creatures. But, then again, some of the scariest creatures can be small ones - Zur the Enchanter, Brago, Derevi? That definitely makes this a niche/meta call at best.
On the other hand, Concoct is a reasonably good card on it's own. This is definitely the mode you want to be casting most often, but as mentioned the other half has real applications as well.
Holy shit, this card.
I have to rebuild my old Wrexial deck.
I've seen a lot of... tempered... reactions to this card, and I get it. I mean, yeah, you cast this and you still have to cough up the mana to cast all your opponents' goodies.
I maintain that, while that is all very true, this is still a bonkers card.
Geez, twist my arm, will ya? I already said I was rebuilding Wrexial! Get off my case about it.
Seriously, this is basically a Shadowmage Infiltrator that is about 1000% more annoying, and will piss people off enough that you'll likely never actually connect with it.
But, man, do I love it!
Okay, this is odd. The Surveil interaction is all but worthless, as there just aren't enough cards with Surveil overall, and the decks that want to run a lot of Surviel probably don't actually want this card all that much.
But, "blink" decks are a thing, and thanks to Aminatou, they are getting a bit of renewed interest. If you're on any kind of Esper Blink strategy, I'd definitely give this a shot.
Oh, hey, a guildmage that actually MIGHT be sorta playable in a few decks here and there. Again, this speaks highly to the appeal of Surveil and this is one of the only repeatable sources of the ability. In a pinch it can also hold off a Rafiq or some other threat for as long as it needs to.
Slight chance this one breaks out from the rest.
Not super into either half of this split spell. Both modes are fine, but fine just doesn't get you there. It's not a HARD pass - I can envision a world where this winds up in your Wrexial or Lazav deck, but at the same time, there are probably better options for either half.
Well, color me surprised. I think my favorite thing about this set so far is how much the Dimir did NOT get shafted this time! In prior Ravnica sets, they have been, on the whole, on the weaker side of the spectrum. This partly has to do with their main focus being "mill" effects, which are obviously weaker in a format where you need to mill almost 300 cards rather than 60ish. This time, however, they definitely got some sweet stuff. Surveil is possibly the best new keyword in the set. The guildmage is possibly the only one in the cycle (so far) that is good enough to make the cut. That mythic is just insane. And Thief of Sanity is highly playable as well. All told, I'm very pleased with this crop of cards.
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