G-Dubs, Captain Awesomepants (By Tobi)

“Gideon, Champion of Justice” has an appropriately hammy name for an appropriately meaty Planeswalker. Unlike his Gatecrash cohort Domri, and much more in the vein of RtR’s Jace and Vraska, Gideon’s newest incarnation explores some new ground in our planeswalking. He costs 4, and starts with (at least) 4, which is nothing impressive, but solid.

Gideon’s new +1 is something exciting, to be sure. He gets one counter for certain, and an additional counter for each of your opponent’s creatures (but only one opponent, to prevent him from becoming bonkers in multiplayer), allowing him to rocket up to an impressive height. It’s not unreasonable to assume he could get to 10 or 12 counters inside of 3 turns, especially… Well, we’ll get to that later. His 0 ability is similar to his 0 ability, but a little better. His power and toughness now scale to the number of counters on him, instead of just being 6. This allows him to trundle on in as his own win condition. Finally, his last ability, -15, is to exile all other permanents. It’s incredibly expensive, but his juicy +1 ability provides an opportunity to actually get him there in the right deck… And if you manage to get him to 20 or so, before using that -15, it’s basically a forced concession, as while you’re both scrabbling to get land back down, he’ll come barreling in for 5 every turn.

Gideon’s new home is most likely going to be in a new planeswalker-themed control deck, much like the one from Zendikar block, where he hung out with Jace, Elspeth and occasionally Ajani. This time, though, it will be Jace, Tamiyo and Sorin holding down the fort while G-Dubs charges up to make it a 1-man show. Jace and Tami are excellent at controlling a crowd, and Sorin’s legion of 1/1 lifelinkers can provide ample blocking, especially if he’s had time to throw down a couple emblems. I can see a deck like this taking off. Gideon is a little awkward in that it takes him a long time to build up against an empty board, but that’s probably when you’d just use him as a straight creature. He has some trouble protecting himself, too, which is why you want a shell of other planeswalkers to distract your opponent with.

Good:

-          -Dat -15

-          -0 Ability is better than old 0 ability

-          -Innovative +1

-          -Cheaper than last Gideon

Bad:

-          -Not as strong defensively as last Gideon

-          --15 is a LOT, and you need more if you want to be sure he can survive it

-          -Needs a lot of support/protection from other cards

Scully Rating: 9.3 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: 20$

Domri Rade (By Tobi)

“Domri Rade” is a new planeswalker from Gatecrash, and in the trend of red planeswalkers, he is boring (But nowhere near as bad as Tibalt, thankfully). At a cost of a red, a green, and a colorless, he’s certainly priced right. 3-mana planeswalkers have all been constructed-playable, and Domri is no exception. He comes into play with three counters, which is certainly reasonable.

His +1 looks at the top card of your deck, and if it’s a creature, you reveal and draw it. Using the average deckbuilding metric, you’ll draw the card about 1 out of every 3 times, and moreso if you skew your deck’s composition in his favor (Bloodrush helps with this). His -2 has one of your creatures fight target creature. This is decent for protecting himself, but still relies on another creature holding back to block for him, which is not what a R/G deck wants to be doing. Finally, his -7 gives your team the kitchen sink – most every ability your team could want (sans lifelink and unblockable), they get.

He’s a solid card, to be sure, he’s just boring. A ho-hum minor card advantage +, a destructive/protective -, and a big, flashy ultimate. He’s costed appropriately, but there’s little to no good flavor behind him. He’s a guy who likes to fight. Go, go, fight guy! Fight! As obnoxious as Jace’s ever-present character is, there’s at least a reasonable story behind him. This guy is basically a smaller, whinier Garruk, and the only reason he isn’t a Garruk is because there are already two of them in standard right now (both of which are more exciting than this guy). He’ll fill his role in the deck as a minor card advantage engine and gaining you a couple life, but this guy is a huge flavor miss for me.

Good:

-          -Reasonable abilities

-          -Cheap Cost

-          -Not Tibalt

Bad:

-          -Boring as all get out

-          -Seems like a filler “we needed another planeswalker” card.

-          -Not Garruk

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10

Projected Settled Value – 15$

Enter the Infinite (By Tobi)

“Enter the Infinite” is a Mythic Rare sorcery from Gatecrash. And wow. It’s big. Big effect, big cost. At 11 mana, it’s one of the most expensive cards in the whole game. As soon as something passes 10, it had better win you the game immediately or pretty close to it. Unfortunately, Enter the Infinite just makes it really easy to lose. It would probably read better as “Endure the Infinite,” because if someone plays this, all you have to do is live for one turn, and they’ll kill themselves.

You draw all of the cards in your library, then put one back. Then, until your next turn, you have no maximum hand size. Basically, next turn, you will have your whole deck in your hands… and then what? You deck yourself? The problem is, at 11 mana, you won’t be able to cast any of the cards you draw the turn you play Enter the Infinite. And then you’ll die if your opponent has any targeted card draw at all, or if you just can’t manage to kill them during your next turn, which is quite likely, certainly in standard. And in legacy or modern, there are just more efficient ways to gain access to your whole deck.

Good:

-         - Draw all of your cards!

Bad:

-          -You lose the game if you can’t win in one turn

-          -It. Costs. 12.

Scully Rating: 1.5 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: $1.50

Duskmantle Seer (By Tobi)

“Duskmantle Seer” is a Mythic Rare creature from Gatecrash. As a 4/4 flier for 4 in U/B, a color combination not known for its efficient creatures, this vampire does some work already. He also carries with him the vaunted Dark Confidant ability (during upkeep, reveal the top card of your library, lose life equal to its cost, put it in your hand). Now, he does give this ability to both players, which can be seen as a significant drawback. Who wants to let your opponents draw cards? You do! When you get to see what they draw, AND they lose life for it?

Duskmantle does require a specific deck to be built around him. There’s no sense in throwing him into your planeswalker control deck, as he’s going to be burning you for 5 every other turn. But a small, quick, u/b/w aggro deck? Yes, please. This guy plays beautifully as a follow-up to Geist of St. Traft, and gives reach in a color combination that rarely gets it. He’s also great as a sideboard against control decks, as he demands an answer, or you get to start playing erratic explosion every turn. When a 5-turn clock is already swinging, your opponent’s life will disappear in a flash. Just make sure to sideboard him out against other aggro decks, particularly red ones. He can backfire if you’re not careful.

Good:

-Impressive body for a blue creature

-Card drawing, evasion, AND burn in one card

-Great vs. control

Bad:

-Dangerous to you, too, so be very careful when playing with him

-Requires a specific kind of deck

-Awful against burn spells

Scully Rating 8.5 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: 15$

Aurelia’s Fury (By Tobi)

“Aurelia’s Fury” is a Mythic Rare instant from Gatecrash that is astoundingly versatile. For a red, a white, and then however much additional mana, you can deal that much damage, divided as you choose. Without anything else, this would already be a constructed-playable card, since you could use it to burn a player out of the game or deal with either a big creature or a number of small ones. Fireball without the “additional target” cost, but with the “additional target” trigger, is pretty awesome.

But that’s not all! In addition, any creature damaged this way gets tapped and any player damaged this way cannot cast non-creature spells this turn! This has amazing potential. An aggro deck can use it to clear out a line of blockers and make the opponent “play fair” during combat. A control deck can gum up all sorts of works by casting one of these during the upkeep. This card has an incredible amount of potential, once you get past 4 or 5 mana.

This is easily going to be one of the value cards of the set, as at least 2 copies are playable in your red/white deck, no matter what kind it is.

Good:

-          -Scaling burn spell, targeting creatures or players

-          -Instant

-          -Can split up damage

-          -Bonus “stun” effects on targets

Bad:

-          -Mana intensive; if you cast one of these, you likely aren’t casting anything else this turn

-          -As with any X-spell, it opens yourself up to be easily countered.

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: 25-30$

Magic the Gathering: Gatecrash (Written by Tobi)

“Gatecrash” is a first for Magic: The Gathering – the second “big” set (at 249 cards, as opposed to ~120) released in a row. Coming off the heels of “Return to Ravnica,” “Gatecrash” covers the five guilds we didn’t see last time: Boros (R/W – the police force/military), Gruul (R/G – the hippies? I’m not really sure what the Gruul do other than break things and complain. But they’re quite good at breaking things), Orzhov (W/B – the lawyers and the priests), Simic (G/U – the environmental biologists), and Dimir (U/B – Whatever you want done, for a price, the information specialists).

Red/White Boros gives us a straightforward keyword, much like themselves – Battalion. When a creature with Battalion attacks along with at least two other creatures, it triggers a special effect. Battalion rewards you for playing lots of mans and turning lots of mans sideways. Easy to understand, but it seems like the weakest of the new keyword abilities, both for limited and constructed. That said, I do expect to see a lot of creatures with Battalion being used, just not necessarily as a dedicated “Battalion” deck.

  

Red/Green Gruul provides the versatile Bloodrush mechanic. Creature cards with Bloodrush may be discarded from your hand (and a cost paid, of course) for some kind of boost or pump effect. It seems a little boring at first blush, but it’s actually a very intriguing mechanic for limited. I think one or two Bloodrush cards will be constructed-playable, but not overly many.

White/Black Orzhov introduces Extort, and ability which will be pretty important in a lot of multiplayer matches in the future. Extort allows you to pay a black or white mana in addition to the cost of a spell you’re casting to perform a mini drain life – 1 damage from every opponent, and 1 healed to you for each life lost this way. It’s important to note that Extortion triggers stack, so for each instance of Extort you control, you’ll be able to suck more and more life away. I can see extort being a major player in some control decks, too.

  

The Blue/Green Simic guild has the most exciting (in my opinion) keyword mechanic, Evolve. Evolve allows a creature to get a +1/+1 counter every time a creature bigger than it comes into play under your control. This allows you to work on a perfect curve and end with a field full of massive guys. Some even have additional abilities that cost +1/+1 counters, so you can get some additional benefit and keep growing your guys, too!

Finally, Blue/Black Dimir gets Cipher, an intriguing mechanic that lets you “encode” spells onto creatures after you cast them, giving you the ability to trigger those spells again when that creature hits your opponent. Many Cipher cards appear overcosted right now, but that’s just because I think the repeatable effects are being underestimated. It is important to note that if the encode-carrying creature gets killed, you lose your Cipher spell, too. So I think we’ll see a resurgence of hexproof! (Hello, Invisible Stalker!) 

Some Notable Cards Include:

-          The other half of the Ravnica Dual land reprints! Fixes all the holes in mana bases we’ve had over the last few months

-          More charms and multicolor, multi-option spells

-          Some big, impressive mythics

Good:

-          The last 5 guilds (and their mana fixing)!

-          Some impressive mythic rares

-          Cipher and Evolve are very intriguing mechanics

Bad:

-          The rares are nowhere near as exciting as RtR’s

-          Bloodrush and Battalion are fairly ho-hum for constructed

-          Some seriously unimpressive mythic rares

Scully Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Deathrite Shaman

“Deathrite Shaman” is yet another outstanding Black/Green creature from Return to Ravnica, and this time, one with multi-format appeal! As a 1/2 for one, his body is certainly reasonable, but it’s his incredibly flexible glut of abilities that really define him. This creature does it all, and while messing with any graveyard shenanigans your opponent may have going on. Deathrite has three abilities, each one revolving around removing a card in a graveyard from the game (it is important to note that it is any graveyard – yours or your opponent’s).

He can dig a land out of the graveyard to produce a mana of the color of your choice. In standard, this doesn’t do much of anything, unless you run Ghost Quarter [Innistrad] (which may not be a bad idea, considering how many fantastic nonbasic lands are running around the format), but in old formats, this is incredible. A first turn fetchland [Onslaught, Zendikar] into Deathrite is a frightening set-up in either modern or legacy – especially legacy, where Wasteland [Tempest] is very much a thing.

Deathrite can also dig up creatures or instant/sorceries, at a boon of +2 life/creature or -2 life/spell. This is quite relevant in both standard and older formats. He’s hell on wheels against a reanimator deck as Deathrite can pop off the ideal reanimation target before the resurrection spell is cast. And in any given game of Magic, instants and sorceries will fly around, letting Deathrite turn into a repeatable source of burn, which can finish out some games that stall. These abilities do require a specific green or black mana, meaning he’s only at his best in a deck using (or splashing) both.

Good:

-One mana cost, in either of two colors, allowing for consistent easy casting

- 2 OUTSTANDING abilities, if you have access to the colors

- 1 very relevant Legacy acceleration ability

- Messes with graveyard strategies

- Uses either graveyard, so should have no shortage of ammo

Bad:

            - Small body

            - Specific color requirements for abilities, so only thrives in black/green

            - Mana ability isn’t relevant at all in standard

            - He’s an elf. No one likes elves. :p

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: $6-8

Rakdos, Lord of Riots

“Rakdos, Lord of Riots” is one of the “Paruns,” leaders of the 10 guilds of Ravnica, and our second returning Parun from the original Ravnica set (Niv-Mizzet, Parun of the Izzet guild, and Isperia, Parun of the Azorius (though she was only lieutenant in the first block) also received new versions). He’s an incredibly aggressively costed 6/6 for four mana, with some heavy beating abilities.

He flies, he tramples, he makes your other guys cheaper when he beats some faces. What could possibly be bad about this guy? Well, he’ll only come out if there’s a party, you see. You need the incredibly specific cost of double black and double red, which means that pretty much only red and black decks can support him. This isn’t the kind of color requirement you just splash for. Rakdos also can only be cast if your opponent has lost some life this turn, which is a taller order. If you’re curving out well with your red/black deck, this should be no problem whatsoever. But when you draw him in the late game, after the stalemate has set in against control, you may have to sacrifice some serious board position to let him come down. Or waste a burn spell prematurely to get him into play. A 6/6 for 4 is usually worth the stretch to get him on the field, though.

Good:

- Girl, look at that body. He works out. With fire scythes.

- Can help you get other creatures into play more efficiently. Things like Rakdos Hellsteed and Chaos Imps are a lot more reasonable when you take two to four mana off their costs.

Bad:

- Restrictive mana cost means he’ll only show up in one type of deck

- A restriction to being able to cast him means he’s a rough topdeck in the late game

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: $10-15 (10/09/12)

Lotleth-Troll

“Lotleth Troll” is a rare creature from Return to Ravnica set and one of the premiere monsters from the expansion. At an incredibly efficient two mana, the troll comes out of the gate quickly, and makes a substantial threat with very little investment. Having a cheap regenerate and trample on a two mana creature is already solid, especially with Rancor running around, but throw in the ability to grow himself permanently (at instant speed, no less!) and you’ve got a powerhouse creature, ready to rip through other decks.

The most obvious application of the troll’s discard ability is to throw creatures featuring the new Scavenge mechanic, and then activating Scavenge and making the troll even bigger. But what if the creatures you threw down didn’t actually stay down? “Lotleth Troll” is actually a zombie troll, which means that you can toss a Gravecrawler (from Dark Ascension) and then cast it out of the graveyard! Talk about having your cake and eating it, too (though it appears the troll prefers… other delicacies).

Good:

- Efficient body at an affordable cost in a color pair that’s getting a lot of support

- Lets you play a bluffing game with the cards in your hand (Are they three creatures to make the troll +3/+3 bigger? Or are they lands?)

- Trample, because just regenerate on a monster that gets huge wasn’t enough of a beating

- Combos well with the other zombies running around from Innistrad block

Bad:

-It’s not free? There is so little bad about this card, it’s hard to say. It does have a very specific mana cost, which may delay the troll’s arrival in some less-than-perfect hands

Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Projected Settled Value: $8-10 (10/08/12)