Then and Now: Fetch Lands

Back in 2002, WotC introduced a new type of land search cards. They were like the Mirage fetches except that they could be used on the first turn they came out. They were great back in the day, but are they that great in the current environment?

Yes, Yes, they are still good. Very good. Buy some. 

Then and Now: Guild Champions

Welp, I forgot to do the Guild Leaders (maybe sometime down the road), so I'll cover the champions today. I'm also placing bets on who'd win on a one-on-one fight. Not based on the cards, but based on the story.

Boros: Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran vs. Tajic, Blade of the Legion

Starting out with a completely unfair fight eh? Agrus is great, but he's only human, so he dies really easily but he buffs everyone else. Tajic, on the other hand explodes into Konda, Lord of Eiganjo whenever he brings friends to the party. Seriously, that guy's a badass!

Ratings:

Agrus Kos: 3/5

Tajic: 5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: This one's a toss-up. I'm going to say Agrus just because.

Dimir: Circu, Dimir Lobotomist vs. Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker

Both of these guys have their advantages and disadvantages. Circu costs 4 whereas Mirko costs 5. Circu's ability is easier to trigger, but requires more cards. Mirko is going to get more cards a turn on average than Circu, but Circu exiles them as opposed to just milling them. Both have their pros and cons, but I'm going to have to give a slight edge to Circu since he can lock down opponents by exiling a copy of a really good card (let's just say Thragtusk) and making sure that they can't play another copy. That, and he doesn't need to swing to be effective.

Ratings:

Circu: 4/5

Mirko Vosk: 3.5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Probably Mirko. Circu can kill you if you're strapped to a chair, Mirko can fly. 'Nuff said.

Simic: Experiment Kraj vs. Vorel of the Hull Clade

Ugh, this one's not going to make me many friends: the question here is "is baby Glider Bairn better than Experiment Kraj?" and the answer is "Eh". In EDH, Kraj wins since he'll come in with a bunch of really nice abilities and then put on some Lightning Greaves (don't ask me how) and use some right away. In non-EDH, Vorel will be the better choice because he's cheaper and putting counters on creatures (such as Nimbus Swimmer), artifacts (such as Lux Cannon), or lands (such as City of Shadows) is really nice. And for those of you crying "Vorel's terrible since he can't put counters on planeswalkers", Gideon Jura and his best friend Gideon, Champion of Justice would like to have a word with you. Outside. Now.

Ratings: 

Experiment Kraj: 4/5

Vorel: 4/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Hmm... Tough choice. Giant, angry ball of goo that can subdue a demon or a fish guy? I'm going to bet on the goo.

Azorius: Isperia the Inscrutable vs. Lavinia of the Tenth

Is this even a fair fight? Isperia was probably considered the worst champion from original Ravnica by most people and Lavinia is really, really good. Isperia is a sometimes tutor (defeated by your opponent having no hand) and she's really under-powered for her cost. Lavinia is a 4/4 for 5 with a relevant protection and literally locks down the vast majority of everyone else's board when she shows up. Her and her magical Conjurer's Closet make for some fun times...

Ratings:

Isperia: 1/5

Lavinia: 5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Person vs. sphinx. Do I really need to say more?

Rakdos: Lyzolda, the Blood Witch vs. Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch

Lyzolda wins this battle of crazy women. Initially, I gave her the win because instant-speed sac for a good-to-great effect is always amazing, but then I realize why I truly didn't like Exava: her cost. Honestly, if WotC had switched their mana costs, they'd be on the same level, but Exava costs too much. In an Unleash deck, you want to be winning by turn 4 (since you can't block and are probably about to be whumped) and she comes out a turn too late. In block, she'll give 3 things in her guild haste: Chaos Imps (which would be nice), Bloodfray Giant (eh), and Spawn of Rix Maadi (another resounding "eh"). For someone who proports to be all about speed, Exava is just too slow.

Ratings:

Lyzolda: 4.5/5

Exava: 2/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Neither. Knowing Rakdos, they'd both lose to kill the other one.

Orzhov: Teysa, Orzhov Scion vs. Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Holy synergy Batman! Teysa belongs in a Teysa deck and she'll work great with Teysa! New Teysa is a little on the expensive side, but when you take into consideration the vigilance, the protection from creatures, and the super-No Mercy attached to her, you can see the reason for costing. Old Teysa is costed great with two amazing effects (especially when she works with new Teysa). There's not much else to say than Orzhov may have the most consistently awesome champion!

Ratings:

Teysa, Orzhov Scion: 5/5

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts: 5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Teysa.

Izzet: Tibor and Lumia vs. Melek, Izzet Paragon

I slightly prefer Tibor and Lumia to Melek, but only barely. Melek lets you dig through the top of your deck quickly and doubles your spell count, sure and Tibor and Lumia only give flying and hurts everything on the ground, but there are a couple reasons why I prefer T&L to MIP (Melek's new nickname as far as I'm concerned). First, T&L's cost is a lot more in-line with what a speedy Izzet deck would want. Also, they're a centaur that might be able to fly. The big thing that separates these two in my opinion is that while MIP can turn your Shock into an Aladdin's Ring, Tibor and Lumia can turn make it a Shock with an Ashen Firebeast thrown in. All I'm saying is I like T&L's mass control potential over MIP's duality. Also, MIP costs 6, which is a little much for an Izzet deck, don't you think?

Ratings:
Tibor and Lumia: 3.5/5
Melek: 3.5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: It's two-on-one, so Tibor and Lumia get my vote.

Selesnya: Tolsimir Wolfblood vs. Emmara Tandris

Selesnya: what have they done to you? Tolsimir was really, really good for 6 mana, especially since he came with a 4/4 friend (I know it's a 2/2, but it was a 4/4 really). Emmara, just... Well, let's put it this way: if you can be replaced in EDH (the only place a 7-coster will see regular play outside of Limited) by a 3-drop Kamigawa creature (Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant), you've DONE YOUR JOB WRONG! Even IF she saw play, she barely does anything in any environment! Most boardwipes don't do damage (and that's how you usually deal with tokens) and even if you used a Blasphemous Act, she dies to it, so she's basically a fog! She also fails on a flavour level since 5/7 is not the body of an elf.

Ratings:

Tolsimir: 4.5/5

Emmara: 1/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Again, it's a two-on-one fight. Tolsimir wins.

Gruul: Ulasht, the Hate Seed vs. Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

Both great cards. Ulasht usually comes in as a 4/4-6/6 in non-EDH games and is able to deal a lot of damage quite quickly or fling Teds out like nobody's business. Ruric AND Thar (seriously, they're two separate entities) comes in late game and starts beating your everyone equally. The thing that gives Ulasht the slight advantage is that it doesn't have to attack every turn like Ruric and Thar do. If they had some sort of evasion, then I wouldn't count it against them, but since they might have to swing into a Typhoid Rats, they get docked slightly.

Ratings:
Ulasht: 4/5
Ruric and Thar: 4/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Ruric and Thar would probably gets stumped by trying to count how many heads Ulasht has, in which time it's eaten them.

Golgari: Sisters of Stone Death vs. Varolz, the Scar-Striped

Finally, we come to Golgari, where the Sisters lose horribly to Varolz. There are already decks (like this one made by yours truly) that abuse his omni-scavenge ability to destroy opponents at a remarkable rate. The Sisters... cost 8. And require a lot of mana. And a huge gamble, since you are going to be tapping out to play them.

Ratings:

The Sisters: 1/5

Varolz: 5/5

Who I'd Bet On In A Fight: Doesn't matter how trolly you are, being turned to stone kinda means you lose the fight Varolz. Also, it's a three-on-one.

Final Scores:
Ratings: Old Ravnica 3 - 3 New Ravnica (with 4 ties)
Fights: Old Ravnica 7 - 1 New Ravnica (with 2 ties)

Then and Now: Guild Mechanics

Yup, with Gatecrash coming out soon, it's time to look at Guild mechanics! Before anyone flies off the handle, the pictures I'm posting are only to represent the mechanics, not the best or worst of the cards with the mechanics, just the mechanics themselves. Also, sorry about the Gatecrash cards's size since I have to take them off of Magic's Facebook page.

Golgari: Dredge vs Scavenge

Dredge is possibly the most powerful of the original mechanics and I'd suspect it's really high up on the Storm Scale. A properly-made Dredge deck doesn't care about anything: a countered/killed/milled card can be brought back repeatedly to punch you in the face over and over. It is so powerful that a key card to most good Dredge decks, Golgari Grave-Toll, has been banned in Modern. Scavenge on the other hand... kind of sucks. The ability could have been good, but the majority costs way too much to be worth it. There's only 1 good Scavenge card in my opinion and that's Slitherhead and it's only because it costs 0. Everything else costs way too much.

Ratings: 
Dredge: 5/5
Scavenge: 1/5

Azorius: Forecast vs Detain

Forecast had the potential to be a great mechanic, but the cards with the abilities aren't that great. Sky Hussar is probably the best one since its ETB trigger combos the best with the Forecast cost. Many other cards (like Govern the Guildless or Pride of the Clouds) just cost too much to be worth it. Yes, it keeps the card in your hand, but it still costs a ton. Detain, on the other hand, can easily screw with an opponent's field, even if it's just for one turn. The inability to block or attack is one thing, but the added ability to stop activated abilities is just icing on the cake. The fact that it also lasts until your next turn is those little sprinkles on top of that cake. However that cake is quite small since there are only 3 repeatable sources of Detain (Archon of the Triumvirate, Martial Law, and New Prahv Guildmage) and those sources are expensive. But, that's understandable given the power of the ability.

Ratings:

Forecast: 2/5

Detain: 4/5

Rakdos: Hellbent vs Unleash

Card advantage? Where we're going, we don't need card advantage! Hellbent is a great mechanic since it works so well with red's lack of card draw and black's wanton discard that it flows so well. Hellbent is just awesome and there's not much else to say about it. Most of the cards with Hellbent are well worth it (the stuff from outside Ravnica kind of suck though). Unleash on the flip side isn't that great (starting to notice a pattern here?). It definitely works with the "suicide black/red" ideology, but it's still not that great. Not being able to block can and will hurt in the long run. The extra power and toughness the creature isn't really a good trade-off in my books. Some cards are worth it, but the majority aren't worth it because you have to live another turn to use the creature. If it gave haste, it'd be a ton better, but it doesn't.

Ratings:
Hellbent: 5/5
Unleash: 1/5

Selesnya: Convoke vs Populate

Convoke works great in green because of its abundance of tokens. It basically gives token decks a second source of mana which is great. The best example of this usage is with Sprout Swarm being able to recycle the created tokens to cast the spell again. Populate also works great with green for the same reason that Convoke works. The only problem is that both mechanics rely on tokens (Convoke not so much), so a lack of tokens can leave you hurting.

Ratings:

Convoke: 5/5

Populate: 4.5/5

Izzet: Replicate vs Overload

Replicate can be really funny. Like Storm, it has a natural anti-counterspell ability to it since you can make copies of the spell and those copies need to be countered (I have a feeling that Replicate was Wizards way to try and sneak a more balanced Storm back into existence). It also gives decent card advantage since it allows you play multiple copies of the spell but only having to use one card. Overload kind of does the same thing, but it doesn't have the same "natural anti-counterspell" ability. I think it's a little too powerful since the spell can't be turned against you with a Redirect or something similar. Overload gave blue a one-sided Shatterstorm (Vandalblast), a one-sided Swift Silence (Counterflux), and an almost better Plague Wind (Cyclonic Rift; yeah it doesn't kill anything, but it gets rid of everything).

Ratings:

Replicate: 5/5

Overload: 5/5

Boros: Radiance vs Battalion

Radiance is one of those mechanics that's really a double-edged sword. While it can destroy an opponent's field, it can equally hurt your size as well. There are only 6 colours (colourless technically counts too, although it won't ripple through colourless creatures) in Magic, so there's a minimum 16.6% chance it'll hit some of your creatures too. Battalion, on the other hand, looks amazing. I know I'm a little ahead of myself here, but giving bonuses when you attack with several creatures is going to be fun. Lightning Helix every combat is going to be fun.

Ratings:

Radiance: 3/5

Battalion: 5/5 (preemptive)

Simic: Graft vs Evolve

Graft is a great mechanic since it snowballs into some really big creatures. It allows you to trade in your little early drops (like Simic Initiate) for bonuses on later creatures (like a Simic Sky Swallower). The problem is that the +1/+1 counters aren't really replenishable, so the effect is limited. Evolve looks like a similar effect to Graft, except in reverse. Graft can really be fast but Evolve looks like it'll be better in the late game. I personally think that it may be a little too powerful since cards like Wall of Ice will be able to power these cards up since its toughness will probably be bigger than most other creatures's toughness when it's played. It also affects all of your creatures, so it'll probably be very powerful.

Ratings:

Graft: 3.5/5

Evole: 5/5 (preemptive)

Gruul: Bloodthrist vs Bloodrush

Bloodthrist (now a black mechanic) works well with green's trend to have creature superiority and red's ability to do direct damage. Buffing up a creature as a reward for a well-placed Lightning Bolt is great, an fortunately there are a lot of good creatures with this ability (especially since it made the shift to black). Bloodrush on the other hand, looks pretty bad. Mark Rosewater said it's basically going to be "Discard this creature and target creature gets +X/+Y until end of turn where X is the discarded creature's power and Y is the discarded creature's toughness" and I'm not a fan of it. If Rubblehulk is the representative of the effect and the creature's with that effect, it looks like they'll be a bunch of throwaway creatures that aren't going to be worth casting.

Ratings:

Bloodthirst: 4/5

Bloodrush: 2/5 (preemptive)

Orzhov: Haunt vs Extort

Haunt sucks, plain and simple. It just sucks. Sure, you get to cast the spell twice, but it's really unreliable since you may not be able to control when the creature dies. Extort will suck in 1-on-1, but oh man, put that crap in multiplayer and you've got a winner! In a four-player game, an extra white or black mana on each spell for 3 life is definitely worth it. My main question is whether or not each permanent with Extort will stack (I doubt it, but it's nice to dream).

Ratings:

Haunt: 0/5

Extort: 5/5 (preemptive)

Dimir: Transmute vs Cipher

Transmute is a lot more powerful than people think. That Dimir Machinations in your hand? Yeah, it's actually a Vindicate. It always costs 3 too, which means you can start getting your perfect hand early on. However, you do have to have the right card to tutor for the right card. That Dimir House Guard won't get you any closer to that Vindicate you want. I'm not really sure what to expect of Cipher, but it seems like what Haunt was supposed to be. It will really depend on what the spell does, but I'm not sure that this card will be that great. Windfall on a stick doesn't seem like a Dimir ability and it may result in you holding back because you don't want to give your opponent card advantage. Honestly, it seems like just an "okay" mechanic to me. It has potential, to be sure, but without any other cards to back it up...

Ratings:

Transmute: 4/5
Cipher: 3/5 (preemptive)