Welcome back to the Daily Dose! It’s been a while since we saw each other back before Dominaria launched, and now it’s time to get back into preview season with some brand new cards from Core 2019.
It has been three years since our last core set with Magic Origins and I’m excited to see what this one brings to the table. Dominaria brought some new life into the Standard format, and I’m hoping that Core 2019 will do the same. At over 280 cards, this set will have plenty to offer when it comes to new cards. But, as with any core set, I expect some solid reprints as well. I’m okay with seeing less new cards in the set if it can provide some reprins that work well in the current Standard format. Today I’m going to start things off by talking about three new green cards from Core 2019.
First off, we have one of the new FNM promos that you’ll be seeing in the coming months. Here is Elvish Rejuvenator:
We've seen plenty of cards like Satyr Wayfinder and Oath of Nissa that let you search the top few cards of your deck and choose a land from among them to put into your hand. But very few of these put those lands directly onto the battlefield. Among those, the number of creatures with this as an enter the battlefield ability is currently zero.
There have been spells like Animist’s Awakening and planeswalkers like Xenagos, the Reveler that have had a similar effect, but no creatures. Until now, that is. Elvish Rejuvenator is the first creature to do it, which makes figuring out its value a unique challenge. The math tells me that with the average deck having 40% lands, you will hit at least one land 92.5% of the time. This means that you are looking at a Rampant Growth on a 1/1 body for just one more mana. That ramp from three to five on turn four could be significant if you happen to be holding a nice five-drop in hand.
Next up is a card that begs to be used in a green devotion deck. Now if only devotion was a current mechanic in Standard, this card would be a beast. Instead, it’s a beast of a different kind, another large Dinosaur! Let's look at Gigantosaurus:
In Ixalan we saw the emergence of Dinosaurs, and in each set since we’ve seen a few more Dinosaurs to make us feel all tingly inside. Core 2019 continues this trend with a big bad vanilla Dinosaur. How big do you ask? How about 10/10 big?
Gigantosaurus is the largest vanilla creature (one with no ability text) that they’ve ever printed, and it’s only five mana. There have only been two other creatures in the history of Magic to be that big for that cheap. Leveler was a 10/10 for five generic mana, but when it entered the battlefield you had to exile your library. Etched Monstrosity was also a 10/10 for five generic, but it came onto the battlefield with five -1/-1 counters.
Unlike those, there is no drawback for Gigantosaurus other than you need five green mana to cast it. I think the best part about this dino is that when it’s on the battlefield, you can then cast Ghalta, Primal Hunger for only two mana!
After years of seeing the same group of Planeswalkers in set after set after set, we've recently seen some new sparks brought into the fold. This trend continues in Core 2019 with the arrival of Vivien Reid:
Let me break down the abilities of this new five-loyalty planeswalker.
[+1]: Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. – I don’t need to work out the math to know that you're going to be hitting a land or creature with this great new ability. Not only do you gain card advantage by getting an extra card each turn, but you also get increased card selection. You can pick and choose the card you draw based on what you need.
[-3]: Destroy target artifact, enchantment, or creature with flying. – Although I see this as secondary ability, as most often you will just want to gain card advantage with the first ability, there will be times when you need to destroy a specific threat. I would have been satisfied with the ability to just target an artifact or enchantment, but the bonus of destroying a flying creature is great for all you green mages out there.
[-8]: You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +2/+2 and have Vigilance, trample, and indestructible." – This is a classic Planeswalker ability that basically says, “you win the game.” Being able to attack and defend each turn without fear of losing any of your creaturesmeans that unless you are severely outnumbered, you will take over the game in just a few turns with this emblem on the battlefield.
There you have it everyone, a great start to the new preview season with some quality new green cards from Core 2019. This preview season will have a different feel to it since Dominaria had so many cards leaked early in the preview season. I hope it stays nice and slow this time so that we can analyze and enjoy all the new cards from Core 2019!
Thanks for reading the Daily Dose of Core 2019, and be sure to join me tomorrow as I investigate some cards that blue mages will enjoy.
