Smoke Teller

You want a solid Limited creature? Well, here;s a solid Limited creature. I've seen many of these get passed in drafts (I ended up with 6 in one draft) because they don't think it's that great, but that's based mostly on the ability. The ability is sometimes useful (depending on what your opponent pulled), but that's not what makes this card a solid Limited pick. It's a bear. Bears are good in Limited. It can trade with a face-down creature and it's a quick drop for faster decks. Is it a snap first-pick? No. Is it a fourth+ pick? Yeah, I'd say so. 

Pros: Bear with an ability

Cons: Off-colour sometimes useless ability

Rating: 3/5

Foresight/Manipulate Fate

Both of these cards probably look pretty bad. "Why would I want to exile three cards from my library and only get one in return?" I hear you cry in classic internet rage, but these cards are actually pretty good Game 1 cards. Think about it this way: how many times have you played an FNM match where you've drawn a completely dead card, either because your opponent is running the wrong kind of deck (ie: drawing a removal spell against a hexproof deck) or because you're running a combo deck and you didn't draw your last piece? It doesn't seem like my, but these cards both improve your chances of drawing something you need by taking out the chaff that you don't want. At the very least, you can use them to remove lands from your deck once you've got your land base set up. I say they're "Game 1" cards because I think they're good to have in the first game before you sideboard them out once you know what your opponent is playing.

Foresight

Pros: Allows for deck tuning on the fly

Cons: Slow trip, sorcery speed

Rating: 3/5

Manipulate Fate

Pros: Allows for deck tuning on the fly, cantrip

Cons: Sorcery speed

Rating: 3.5/5

Whirlpool Whelm

I think too many people underestimate this card. At the very least, it's an Unsummon with Scry 1. At most, it's a Repel for two less. Either way, it sets your opponent back a turn in regards to what they have on the field. However, I think the clash is also a very important part of this card. Knowing what your opponent is about to draw (or isn't, depending on what they choose) is important. Not great outside Limited though, there are much better options, so I'm not sure you'll see this outside of drafts and Sealed.

Pros: Potentially cheaper Repel

Cons: Only hits creatures, may only be Unsummon

Rating: 3/5

Rumbling Slum

You want to talk about a pressure card? For starters, this guy is a 5/5 for 4, which is already above-average since most creatures are are power = CMC. But the ability on this card is what makes this a real pressure card. Even though it's dealing you the damage as well, it can really put you ahead in the race. The only real problem I have with this card is that it's really colour-intensive. I know that making this 2RG would probably make it a bit too powerful for what it is, but it might be a challenge to cast sometimes. Otherwise, I like this card.

Pros: 5/5 for 4, constant damage

Cons: Colour-intensive

Rating: 3.5/5

Lymph Sliver

I, for one, think Absorb is a great mechanic that should be brought back at some point. It essentially gives creatures some extra points of toughness each time something resolves, which is pretty cool. As for this card, I think it's pretty balanced. 5 mana for effectively a 3/4 that gives every other Sliver better +0/+1 is kind of powerful in the sense that it makes your Slivers that much harder to remove. That being said, a five-drop in a Sliver deck should just win you the game outright, like Thorncaster Sliver, Sliver Overlord, or Sliver Legion. Still, this isn't a bad addition to a Sliver EDH.

Pros: Gives Absorb to Slivers

Cons: 5-drop that doesn't win the game

Rating: 3/5

Balancing Act

I like Balance-like cards because they really punish players who are running away with the game. Whilst this won't hurt, say, a token player as much as original Balance, it's a pretty solid substitute I think. Yeah, it costs double and doesn't specify permanent types but it can hit enchantments and artifacts so that's a bonus. Also, it's legal in all formats. That's a plus.

Pros: Balance that can force enchantment/artifact sacking

Cons: Doesn't force creature/land sack, costs twice as much as Balance

Rating: 3/5

Poison the Well

I like me some land destruction and the damaging kind is all the sweeter. This is a decent card, especially since it can be used in either mono-black, mono-red, or any deck running either colour, although the double colour requirement does kind of make it a bit worse than Despoil. Despite that, I still like this card. 

Pros: Land pop and Shock, colour flexibility

Cons: Double colour requirement

Rating: 3/5

Tidal Wave

I like instant-speed Lava Axes for creatures, and that's basically what this is. Toss this in front of an unblocked creature and you'll probably end up trading with it. That said though, this does only produce a 5/5 wall for one turn, so unless you're being swung at, this won't be of much use to you.

Pros: Instant-speed blocker for 3

Cons: Only makes a wall, must sack at end of turn

Rating: 3/5

Kin-Tree Invocation

This thing is a surprise waiting to happen, mostly because of the decks it will be run in. I can easily see this being the win-con on some abhorrent Wall deck and it will be great. When people think of Walls, they normally think of things like Wall of Omens or Wall of Blossoms, you know, Walls that have some use outside of being a blocker. This card, however, enables other Walls to be as useful by allowing for the creation of big stompy things. Shield Sphere? Why yes, I'd like a 6/6 on turn 2. Wall of Junk? I guess a 7/7 on turn 3 is okay. Wall of Shards? More like "Wall of Better Phyrexian Soulgorger". Now, I know the creature created doesn't have evasion and can easily be killed, but aren't those the same complaints that can be made about Tarmogoyf? There are only two big issues with this card. First is that it is based around toughness instead of power, so if you're going to use it to its full effect, you'll need either early Walls to be able to hold out until you've got big creatures. But even if you don't have huge creatures or Walls, it can be used as a cheap mini-Cackling Counterpart for your biggest creature on your turn, which isn't all that bad on its own. The second issue is the timing. As a sorcery, you can't use this as a combat trick nor can you use it to give you creature pseudo-Haste by having it ETB on an opponent's end step. Despite both those issues, I really like this card. I expect to make a deck around it in the near future.

Pros: Mini-Cackling Counterpart on your toughest dude

Cons: Sorcery speed, based on toughness

Rating: 3.5/5 

Saving Grasp

It doesn't look like much, but a card like this can be very valuable more times than you think. Against a boardwipe, it can save your problem creature. In the late game, you can bounce one of your own creatures with an ETB trigger to get more value out of it. If this were a one-shot card, I would not rate it too high but because of its Flashback, it becomes a fairly solid card.

Pros: Bounce one of your own creatures twice

Cons: Only hits your creatures, different colour mana for Flashback

Rating: 3.5/5

Tivadar's Crusade

Considering how fast Goblins can get out of control, this isn't a bad option as a boardwipe. Since it only targets one type of creature, it's pretty much relegated to the sideboard, but it still functions nicely for what it does. It comes out one turn earlier than Wrath of God and can easily be a one-sided wipe, which makes this situationally great.

Pros: Cheap Goblin wipe

Cons: Only hits Goblins

Rating: 3/5

Brainstorm

I'm not a big fan of this card. Now, before you crucify me for such a heretical statement, I'm well aware of this card's power in combo decks. It lets you dig three cards for that last piece at instant-speed for a very low mana investment. However, the reason I don't really like this card is because of what happens when it whiffs. If you dig three and don't find what you want, you're basically losing your next two draws. It's a card that I've never liked topdecking, and because of that, I can't really say that I love this card as much as everyone else seems to. Sorry folks.

Pros: Draw 3 for 1 at instant-speed

Cons: Put two cards from hand to top of deck

Rating: 3.5/5

Wakedancer

This here is a Limited all-star. Heck, I remember some Standard decks running these ladies back when Dark Ascension was still in that format. I really like it because it helps you gain tempo if you're playing it with the Morbid trigger and if you're ever in a situation where you can't trigger Morbid, you're either winning by a fair bit, losing by a fair bit, or playing against America control. It's a great little card if you can get the Morbid trigger.

Pros: Comes in with a buddy on Morbid

Cons: 2/2 for 3 without Morbid

Rating: 3.5/5

Ghastly Discovery

Not a bad bit of looting. It's worse than Catalog on its own since that is instant whereas this is sorcery-speed, but the conspire ability on this allows it to be copied for little extra cost. And casting Thoughtflare on turn 3 is pretty cool.

Pros: Thoughtflare for 2U and two creatures

Cons: Worse Catalog is you have no board

Rating: 3/5

Enrage

Good combat trick. It's one shot of firebreathing to that creature that got through. This is really fun when you swing with firebreathers and non-firebreathers alike and your opponent, thinking that they are making smart plays, block all of your firebreathers just to get suckered by this card on one of the unblocked non-firebreathers. Of course, it's only a one-shot combat trick, so its value is kind of limited by that, but it's still at the top of the "one-shot combat trick" class. It's no Berserk, but that thing's the valedictorian of the class, so it's not really a fair comparison. This card is that one guy who always got straight As but never really stood out socially. Good at what it does, but you know that there's something better than it.

Pros: Good combat trick

Cons: Only a "good" combat trick

Rating: 3/5

Engineered Plague

This card is really great against token decks. I'm a little hesitant to say it's "great" against tribal decks, as tribal decks are apt to run lord effects that will negate the -1/-1 quite easily, but it can happen tribal decks as well. Against non-tribal, non-token decks however, this is pretty garbage to be honest. You might hit one or two creatures with this against those types of decks, but I don't think it's worth it that that point. It's a situationally great card and that's the best I can give it.

Pros: Weakens a specified type of creature

Cons: Pretty useless against non-token/tribal decks

Rating: 3/5

Time Spiral Split Seconders

Angel's Grace

What can I say about this card that hasn't already been said? It's an important part of Ad Nauseam decks and it's just pretty great all around. It's also great against storm decks since they've usually only got one shot in them anyway. The only issue I have is that it doesn't completely stop life loss, so if you have no way to get to 1 life before the end of the turn, you're out of luck. Still, it's a great card.

Pros: Stops you from losing the game

Cons: Doesn't stop life loss

Rating: 5/5

Stonewood Invocation

This is the runt of the litter. +5/+5 and shroud until end of turn is great, but for four, I wish "trample" was also on this card. At common, +5/+5 tends to cost at least 6 for instant-speed (see: Explosive Growth). At rare, similar cards give trample and other such niceties (see: Titanic Ultimatum). Again, I'd like this to have trample instead of shroud. Still, it's an okay combat trick that can't really be countered.

Pros: +5/+5 and shroud at instant-speed

Cons: No evasion

Rating: 2.5/5

Sudden Spoiling

I've talked about this card here. I don't think I need to elaborate on it any more. It's amazing.

Pros: Makes a field useless

Cons: Doesn't affect any tokens on creatures

Rating: 5/5

Trickbind

Stifle's big brother. For double the cost, it really does double the work. Some permanents (like Memnarch) can recover easily from having their first activation countered, but they are stymied if they can't activate for an entire turn. For the price that it's act, you can't really get much better.

Pros: Stops and locks activated/triggered abilities

Cons: Costs 2

Rating: 5/5

Word of Seizing

This is a card that I don't see enough of. Yes, it costs two more than Mark of Mutiny and one more than Ray of Command for what people think is basically the same thing. But, it's not the same thing. Not even close. Say your opponent has spent a while getting his Domri Rade up to 7 loyalty. What would you rather in your hand: this or Mark of Mutiny? Say your opponent just dropped an Akroma's Memorial and you survived. What would you rather: Ray of Command or this? I'm not saying it's amazing (it does cost 5 after all), but it's good enough that it deserves more play than what it gets.

Pros: Steals a permanent for a turn

Cons: Costs 5

Rating: 4/5

Rats of Rath

People think this card is dumb, but it's basically just another sack outlet. Sure, you don't get any benefits from it, but it can do in a pinch. It also gets around pesky sack preventers like Angel of Jubilation and It That Betrays. I'm not saying it's a perfect sack outlet; I'm saying it's a backup sack outlet. Kind of. Outside of that, it's a 2/1 for two so it's average.

Pros: Backup sack outlet, can sack non-creatures

Cons: No benefit to sack, can't sack indestructible things

Rating: 3/5

Spawning PIt

As Altar of Dementia and Ashnod's Altar have shown us, anything that allows instant-speed creature sacking opens the door to some pretty crazy combos. This is a combo-enabler that allows you to combo off itself later on, but at a price. I understand that if it just straight-up turned any sacrificed creature into a 2/2 artifact creature, it would be broken (lookin' at you, Disciple of the Vault + Carnival of Souls), but I still can't help but feel like that is hampering this card a little bit. Maybe if it didn't cost mana for the second ability? I don't know. There's a amazing card in here somewhere, but for now, we'll have to settle for a solid "good" rating.

Pros: Instant-speed creature sack, makes bears

Cons: 2:1 ratio of dead things to bears

Rating: 3.5/5

Quickies 4: Middle of the Road Edition

Time for more quickies to make up for my recent internet issues!

Wind Drake

It's a Wind Drake. It's the archetype that gave out its name to all other 2/2 flyers for 3. It's pretty cool in Constructed and amazing in Limited.

Pros: 2/2 flyer for 3

Cons: Just a 2/2 flyer for 3

Rating: 3/5

Singe

It's a tim card that changes colour. It can be used for cool combat tricks in order to stop colour-based anthems from working or on your own guys to take away other creatures' protection for it's colours. But, it can only hit creatures and only does 1 damage. Not exactly great, but quirky.

Pros: Creature damage that changes colour

Cons: Only hits creatures for 1

Rating: 2/5

Land Leeches

If we have a term for 2/2 flyers for 3 (Wind Drake), I move that we use this card as the name for all 2/2 first strikers for 3. While not as good as Wind Drake, it's still pretty good in Limited.

Pros: 2/2 first striker for 3

Cons: Just a 2/2 first striker for 3

Rating: 2.5/5

Sanguine Guard

It's a Land Leeches that can regenerate. It is therefore better than a Land Leeches (is that proper grammar?).

Pros: Land Leeches that can regenerate

Cons: Just a Land Leeches that can regenerate

Rating: 3.5/5

Forget

I like this card, but can't remember why.

Pros: Cycles 2 cards, usable on opponents

Cons: Discard before draw

Rating: 3.5/5

Thunderheads

This card allows a blue deck to swing in with complete abandon. Getting a 3/3 flyer for 3 is pretty great. Giving them defender was necessary since this card would be really powerful otherwise. It's like a better Angelic Favor since you can repeat it.

Pros: 3/3 flying blockers for 3 each

Cons: Only useable as blockers

Rating: 3.5/5