Welcome back to another weeks of Ideas Unbound. We are deep into Dragon’s Maze spoiler season, so I thought today we would like at some of the cards spoiled. I’m going to break this down, and look at my favorite card for each guild so far.

Selesnya – Voice of Resurgence

We are starting with a heavy hitter here. This card is going to see play and not just in Standard I think. First of all, he’s a 2/2 for cmc 2. That’s good enough to at least get him in the door in an aggro deck. Then we get to his ability. What this guy does best is make your opponent fight fair. Many control strategies rely on playing cards during their opponent’s turn to conserve resources. If they wait until the end of your turn to choose what to play, they get the most information possible. With this guy out, if they hold their instants until your turn, they will get punished. This card is also very resilient to removal giving you an extra body when it dies. I could see this card definitely seeing play in Naya based aggro decks as a way to counteract the tempo strategies.

Azorius – Lavinia of the Tenth

At this point, the Azorius cards have not really impressed me. If I had to pick one at this point, it’s Lavinia. The protection from red is very relevant in a world full of Burning-Tree Emissary. The detain ability is very good against those same decks as well. This card will serve the purpose of stalling the aggro decks and allowing you to get control of the game. Also, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to tell you how good this card will be with Restoration Angel.

Dimir – Far // Away

For Dimir, I chose the blue/black split card. This card has a lot of value rolled up into a neat little package. This card presents you with a lot more options then you first realize. First of all, it is going to be good against the Hexproof decks that pop up from time to time in Standard because it gives you an extra edict effect. This one has the added bonus of allowing you to bounce another creature they have first so they have to sacrifice a better creature.

However, this card has another use in being able to bounce one of your own creatures. This allows you to save one of your creatures from a removal spell or combat damage, and still getting rid of one of your opponent’s creatures.

Rakdos – Sire of Insanity

This guy is going to give control decks fits. They had better have a removal spell the turn you play this guy. If not, they are going to have a hard time fighting back. The fact that this guy works on both turns is incredible. Chances are, if you are playing this guy, your deck is designed to make use of the fact that you won’t have a hand. And your opponent is probably not on the same plan. One weakness this guy has is bounce effects. If your opponent bounces this guy in response to the trigger, he will get discarded with the rest of your hand. I could definitely see this guy at the top end of a Jund list or possible a new black/red midrange deck.

Grull – Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

In my opinion this card is the best of the Guild Champions. He has an immediate impact on the game, and it will very difficult for your opponent to remove this guy. He almost reminds me of the Titans of old. He has a 6/6 body for 6 mana and is going to put your opponent in a bind if they don’t deal with him immediately. Also, the fact that he is a Warrior means he plays very well with Cavern of Souls. If we look at other Warriors in Standard right now a few names stick out: Rubblebelt Raiders, Ash Zealot, Splatter Thug, Wolfir Avenger, Zealous Conscripts, and Wolfir Silverheat. Also, don’t forget that Varolz is a Warrior too.

Orzhov – Sin Collector

There are a lot of Orzhov cards that I am excited about. The one I have chosen for today though is Sin Collector. There seem to be a lot of cards in this set designed to combat the Sphinx’s Revelation decks. This card does a good job of getting a good card out of their hand, be it an Azorius Charm, a Supreme Verdict, or a Sphinx’s Revelation. I think it might also have a place against Junk Rites, removing the Unburial Rites before they ever get to use it. And the fact that it exiles the cards prevents them from flashing it back as well.

Izzet – Turn // Burn

I know you probably expected Ral Zarek here, but I feel like Ral Zarek will be discussed at length as the only Planeswalker in the set. I think Turn // Burn is going to see a lot of play however. This card deals with both Thragtusk and Boros Reckoner without having to worry about the drawbacks. This card also plays very well with Augur of Bolas. First, the Augur can grab the card. Second, Augur of Bolas can kill an 0/1 in combat. So imagine a situation where you block a Thragtusk with your Augur of Bolas and Turn the Thragtusk and then Burn another creature or even the opponent. Snapcaster is good here too. Even if you can’t fuse when you flashback, you can still flashback Turn, make the creature an 0/1 and then block with the Snapcaster Mage to kill it.

Golgari - Varolz, the Scar-Striped

I think Varolz is underrated right now. He gives all of your creature cards extra value, and provides a mana sink in the late game. Following a Lotleth Troll with this guy could give your opponent fits (don’t forget they are both Trolls *cough*Cavern*cough*). I could see this guy as a 1 or 2 of in Junk rites, or even more in a new Jund Aggro list. I could also see this guy in Modern as well. Tarmogoyf’s ability works in all zones, even the graveyard. Plus, there’s always Death’s Shadow…

Boros – Legion’s Initiative

For Boros decks, this card does a pretty fair impressive of Glorious Anthem for one less mana. Plus, it gives you the advantage of avoiding board sweepers. There are a couple of other interesting situations that can occur with this card though. You can use during your first main phase to give something haste to close a game out. Or, it could be used with Aurelia after combat. This will create a new version of Aurelia who will trigger again. We might see aggro decks leaning away from Naya and more toward Boros with this card.

Simic – Bred for the Hunt

I like this card quite a bit. There are a lot of ways to get +1/+1 counters on your creatures, especially early aggressive creatures. Expirement One, Cloudfin Raptor, and Strangleroot Geist come to mind. There has been a BUG aggro deck lately taking advantage of similar situations using Zameck Guildmage. This card could be just the thing to give Simic Aggro a way to keep up versus the control strategies. This card also works well with Varolz and Lotleth Troll, so we might see something of a new BUG aggro list here.


Today we looked at just a few cards from the new set, but there are still plenty more out there. I think next week, we will take a look at some cards more in depth and start looking at a couple of possible deck lists.

Eddie Walker