Rivals of Ixalan Limited Set Review Part 1

Welcome to my limited set review. I drafted Ixalan twice and also called One With the Wind "unplayable garbage" so I think I'm qualified to tell you good and bad cards in limited in Ixalan. We're starting with the white cards and going alphabetically. I'm not even good at drafting. Why am I doing this. Cards will be rated on the LSV 0.0 to 5.0 scale with 0.0 being unplayable garbage like One With the Wind and 5.0 being unbeatable bombs.

Rating: 3.0

This card looks pretty good. It's Silkwrap with downside, but not much because who maindecks enchantment removal in limited? Might be worth cutting game 2 against green decks or blue decks with nonland permanent bounce spells (notice the "leaves the battlefield" clause") but this is fine, if unexciting removal.

Rating: 3.5

This card is one more mana than Fiend Hunter for a pretty significant upside. This only gets better in aggressive and/or Vampire decks and is a card you basically never cut. It also has some pretty crazy blowout scenarios exiling a 5+ drop then swinging for 6+ on the next turn. This probably gets even better in blue decks that can protect it with counterspells or green decks with pump spells.

Rating: 0.5

This card sits in your hand and does nothing until you're about to lose the game, in which case exiling a single target will probably not make you not about to lose the game. Don't play this against control decks because it will never be active or against aggressive decks because it's too little too late. In fact, don't play this.

Rating: 1.0

Say it with me: "S I D E B O A R D  O N L Y." This card is a nice silver bullet against other white decks that I wouldn't mind picking up late in a pack. I still wouldn't maindeck this in sealed, unlike some decks that want Naturalize.

Rating: 2.5

I'm not as big on attack/block restricted removal as much as other people, especially at this mana cost. You still basically always play this because the blocking clause makes it playable in aggressive decks, but you're not too happy about it.

Rating: 3.5

This card looks pretty nuts, even with the restrictive mana cost and lack of a relevant tribe. It's an impervious blocker and even better attacker if you can stick some buffs on it. I'm never not playing this card, and can shine in aggressive white decks, which seems to be a common theme in a lot of powerful uncommons lately.

Rating: 3.0

This card is very similar to the last one; 2/3 flyers are cards I gladly pay four mana for so at three, if a restrictive three, this is a steal. Better in aggressive than slower decks, but more than playable in both and there's very few decks this gets cut from.

Rating: 2.0

In the dedicated Vampire/lifegain deck that basically never comes together in my experience, this can get there on its own, but that is pretty magical christmas land. This is just a solid blocker for the most part, it stonewalls 2 drops and will usually trade with a 3 or 4 drop, which is fine. Definitely play this if you have ways to activate it, consider it if you're a slow white deck, cut it otherwise.

Rating: 3.0

This card seems pretty good in any deck that plays one or two good vampires like Bishop of Binding, or any utility Vampires. It's great in the vampires deck obviously, but again I wouldn't count on that coming together that often. I would note, that this does border on insane if you're playing the dream Legion Conquistador deck. The card is playable in most semi-aggressive white decks, and play it if you have quality vampires worth tutoring up.

Rating: 2.0

This card is just a dumb idiot, which some decks need. It seems slow for the aggressive red white dinosaur decks, and there are probably better options in green based dino decks, but this is a fine 23rd playable that could steal a game against an aggressive deck. I'm not a fan of this statline at 5 mana, as it could just get pooped on by a 5/5, but if you have synergies or lack of playables, knock yourself out.

Rating: 1.5/2.5/3.0/3.5 (per copy of the card)

This was my favorite card in Ixalan limited since I got like 4 of them in this draft I had and it was some good, clean value. There are worse cards in a vampire deck if you're not even drawing any copies, but 2/2 draw a card is good, draw 2 is great, and draw 3+ borders on game winning. Don't prioritize the first one, or even the second one, but you can probably sneak under the radar with the Conquistador deck if you play your cards right. If you luck into this deck in sealed, I envy you. 

Rating: 3.5

A Pacifism is a Pacifism, no matter how expensive. This card is boring as hell but also good as hell and you should never not play the first two copies of it.

Rating: 3.0

A 2/2 flyer for 4 is a little underbudgeted, but fine in a pinch. This can be a house in a dino deck though, letting your dumb idiots get in with flying and close out a game quickly. With 3+ decent dinos, this becomes a good pickup, and its mediocre without that.

Rating: 2.5

This card is the definition of dece. It's a good, if not great, two drop in aggressive white decks or decks with Vampire/Lifegain synergy. It can trade with two drops on defense and leave another blocker behind, making it a fine card to fill the curve of a slower deck. I'm a pretty big fan of this card even if it doesn't do anything particularly special.

Rating: 1.5

I don't like narrow combat tricks like this. Now the card is flexible, but good combat tricks like Skullduggery and the vampire first strike one from last set have the initial combat trick value but additional strengths beyond them that make them something beyond mediocre. This card is pretty mediocre in aggro decks and basically unplayable in slower decks.

Rating: 2.5

This card is really weird but I'm kind of a fan. It's a decent deterrent to being attacked if you're playing a slower deck and has a relevant tribe and some synergy with the lifegain. This will be far from the best card in your deck but is a fine two drop that can be relevant in the late game, which is something most decks are in the market for.

Rating: 1.5

This is a decent combat trick and decent finisher in faster white decks, but without ascend this card is way too situational. It's yet to be seen how well Ascend plays out, but for the most part I don't think most decks will be able to consistently activate it before turn 6 or so, which kind of eliminates the potential highroll potential this card offers. If your deck can support it, this could be your finisher, but I'd try to look somewhere else.

Also kind of W I N  M O R E

Rating: 1.5

If you're playing a deck where this can be used to its full potential you probably already have a really good deck, so congratulations. This card being pretty bad usually also means you could just end up with the best card in your deck 7 picks into pack 3. Awesome. White decks look to be decently token and vampire based in Ixalan, so once again, if your deck can support it, this card can be solid. The deck that supports this to the point where its playable isn't very common though, so be wary of trying too hard to build around a single card and ruining your draft. Always Watching this is not. Let the deck come to you, and if it doesn't set it free. #Inspirational

Rating: 2.0

This card ended up being pretty solid in R/W dinosaurs in Ixalan I think, so I see no reason it shouldn't be this set too. The card is pretty fragile in other aggressive white decks like vampires but does do a good job of punishing slow starts from your opponent.

Rating: 3.0

The main focus of white seems to be go wide vampires, and this is one of the biggest payoffs for it at common. A 4 mana 4/4 in stats with some of it having haste is excellent, especially when the 3/3 is also the relevant tribe. This seems pretty comparable to Jade Guardian, and may not be quite as powerful but there are more Vampires now than there were Merfolk last set, so I can see this card filling a similar role.

Rating: 3.0

This is a great example of a good 1 drop that is also very relevant in the late game. It's not too flashy but if you're in the Vampire deck and/or the go wide aggro deck, this is a great pick that can punish slow starts early and gives white some much needed evasion late.

Rating: 2.0

This is absolutely not a 3 mana Wrath of God, but does serve its purpose primarily against ramp and Dinosaur decks that are likely to have multiple medium to big sized dumb idiots that this takes care of. This kind of effect seems really narrow, and could very well just sit in your hand and do nothing, but when it's good it's potentially game winning. I would not play this in any dinosaur decks as it runs too high a risk of blowing yourself out, and if you maindeck this be willing to side it out against weenie decks.

Rating: 1.5

I like this card a lot less than Skymarcher Aspirant, mostly because both "halves" of the card seem worse. A 3/3 is better than a 2/1 flyer in the early and midgame, but in late game board stalls where Ascend is most likely to come into play I'd almost always rather have the flyer. The front half of this card is just a bad wall, but it is a dinosaur so if you're really in need of some defensive cards in the early game you could consider playing this. This is a far cry from Disowned Ancestor, so don't expect it to put in a similar amount of work.

Rating: 0.0

This card sucks large wieners, please do not put it into your deck. There's not much to say about it so it's worth noting that when I first saw the art I thought Azor was showing the lady his ass, but unfortunately it's only his shoulder.

Rating: 2.5

I normally hate auras, but with the decent amount of evasive threats like the 3 mana 2/3 flyer in white I can see this stealing some games. If you're playing a deck that is very reliably going to curve into this on turn 3 to win a combat, and can take advantage of the Vampire token, this seems pretty good. Otherwise, I'd pass, but white is leaning so aggressive this set I'd count on playing this fairly often.

Rating: 2.5

If this card were a vampire it'd be even better, but if you're playing a deck that wants 2 drops, which is every deck, this will usually make your mainboard, even if it isn't the most exciting card. Another solid two drop in the same vein as Bishop's Soldier is important to making aggressive decks more consistent, so I'd count on seeing this little guy a lot.

Rating: 2.0

I'd normally consider vigilance to be one of the weakest combat keywords, but in this case of a large butt evasive creature it's one of the best because it's unlikely to die swinging at will basically never die blocking. I wouldn't play this in the aggressive go wide decks that will probably be the predominant strategy in the color as it's pretty slow, especially compared to the 3 drop, but in Dino decks if you need another finisher this card is fine.

Rating: 0.5/3.0

This card is pretty obviously unplayable in non-dino decks, but you'd always play this in decks with a decent amount of dinos. It isn't as ridiculous as it initially sounds, as it doesn't actually protect itself and if you're in a situation where you have multiple dinosaurs you want to not die, you were probably winning the game anyway. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but it's far from great.

Rating: 4.0

Now this card is great. a 5 mana 5/5 dino is already fairly playable, but combine it with the fact that this will more often than not Fiend Hunt something and this card is about as good as it gets in limited. Worst case scenario it's a vanilla minion that will almost always make the cut in a deck, but best case (which I think will happen around half the time) it completely stops your opponent from attacking until they have removal for the tyrant. I would advise you not to pass this card.

Rating: 3.0

This card that kinda looks like something out of whymtgcardsmith basically says, "Exile or Pacify me before I untap with this or lose." The way white decks are looking in this set, I don't think many of them would want to play an 8 drop, even if it is almost guaranteed to win the game in a turn or two. Think of it this way; for you to be able to play this card in most decks (i.e. excluding Otepec Huntmaster shenanigans) you have to draw through more than half your deck to get to more than half the lands you put in your deck. The card is good if you can support it, but don't just jam this into your vampires deck.

So those are the white cards. White looks really aggressive this time around mostly centered on B/W vampires and R/W dinos, but did get some good removal tools at common that will allow it to support the G/W dinos deck and the time honored tradition of "blue/white pile of flyers and removal" that has won me many a game of limited Magic. I'll try to get out my Blue set review tomorrow, but I'm planning to build my computer and not electrocute myself, so I might be too preoccupied. Catch you nerds on the flippity flop. Please remind me never to say that again.

Top 5 White Commons:

1. Luminous Bonds

2. Exultant Skymarcher

3. Sanguine Glorifier

4. Martyr of Dusk

5. Sun Sentinel