Xenagos, God of Revels – this is where I am really getting interested in playing a very aggressive GRuul deck. Looking at the recently spoiled Fanatic of Xenagos paired up with his God we already see a huge potential to end games quickly but then add Boon Satyr into the equation and we have what amounts to a serious beatdown.
Karametra, God of Harvests – while on the surface it appears to be a pretty interesting ramp card the fact that you need to follow her up with a stream of creatures to trigger the search out your lands. If it triggered whenever you had a creature enter play aside from being completely bah-roken it would have been much more reliable. It’s hard to feel out how this card is going to play out but it looks like it doesn’t quite live up to the expectation.
Mindreaver – a new and interesting spin on Grimoire Thief, this snappy little wizard could pose as a nuisance against some decks. While very situational and also requiring a spell to target him for his trigger you can often get lucky and hit a relevant spell on the first try. Just be sure to always keep up two blue or they’ll try to jam it through as soon as they see an opening. Would have been miles better if the cards were exiled face down the same as the Thief.
Ragemonger – minotaurs are the stuff made of legend and this block is certainly rife with their legendary lore. The most appealing part of this new minotaur is that you chain out additional copies for just one colorless mana so you can get a small army assembled with ease. And while the cost reduction only applies to red and black mana there is still a plethora of creatures it will work to make cheaper, and in multiples even your Boros Reckoners can become free.
Searing Blood – following along a similar vein of Searing Blaze, this guarantees a bolt to the dome as long as the targeted creature dies. Just be sure your opponent doesn’t have a buff to save his creature and you’ve basically got a handy two for one, in a sense. I can’t wait to hit a Firedrinker Satyr with this one and hit my opponent with a nasty five blast to the face.
Unravel the Æther – this one was definitely designed specifically to deal with the Gods Indestructibility within the block. The shuffling back into the library also prevents and kind of graveyard recursion shenanigans. While exile would have been much more permanent it also would have made the cost much higher.
Bile Blight – not too bad as a spot removal for the cost and capable of demolishing token armies, but it certainly isn;t enough of a catchall to warrant taking a spot from other removal. Also at issue if you are in a mirror match there is a high risk that you’ll be hindering yourself in the process. The time I’d most want to see this is when facing down multiple Boros Reckoner.
Thassa’s Rebuff – why not slot this into Mono-Blue Devotion shell, certainly not as a four-of but I could easily see utility with two. Sure you’ll have those turns where the devotion count just isn’t high enough but with Thassa, the Bident and Domestication in your deck as non-creature sources of devotion I wouldn’t think it to be all too hard to get what you need.
