Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Core Set 2020, where today I’ll be ending week number two by talking about some of those wonderful cards you can put in any deck, artifacts. Artifacts are cards we rarely see in any of the top decks now because of a recent power decrease on them. There has been a conscious decision to not have too many in one set as they can be played in any deck and we are seeing more and more artifacts that have coloured mana costs like the 5 seen in the uncommon cycle in Core Set 2020 shown below.
This doesn’t mean though that some artifacts can’t make an impact and show up in some Standard decks in the coming months. Here are a few cards that if played in the right deck could see some play.
First off is an artifact that hopes to gain you some card advantage later in the game. Here is Bag of Holding.
If Bag of Holding was just a card looter, it would still be quite valuable. You can already loot on turn two, making it useful early and later in the game. The cards you discard are exiled, but as you can see you can get those back later. The key to this card going from good to great is that is exiles all cards you discard, not just the ones from Bag of Holding. There are plenty of cards that make you discard your own cards in Standard that you could use with this. Any spell with Jump-Start will allow you to discard a card to Bag of Holding. Chart a Course and Tormenting Voice will allow you to get card advantage early and then gain those cards back later. Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor’s ability gets a little better when you get those discarded cards back later. A card like Rix Maadi Reveler can make you discard your entire hand to draw three cards. Just imagine if you get all those discarded cards back later thanks to Bag of Holding.
Next, is another card that hopes to gain you some card advantage but using your library to your advantage. Here is Mystic Forge.
We have seen cards like this before, but not quite the one with this angle to it. To start off, you get to always look at the top card of your library. Immediately, that is a bonus and valuable information to have. On top of that, you can pay 1 life (a small price to pay) to exile the top card of your library, therefore possibly changing and improving your next draw. It becomes interesting when you add that you can continuously cast the top card of your library if its an artifact or colourless nonland card. Couple thing to remember here. First off, artifacts include the coloured artifacts shown above as well as the 5 that were in War of the Spark. This adds to the list of spells that can be cast. The more interesting one is “colourless nonland card”. There are only 4 currently in Standard that fall under that spectrum, but they do add to that growing list. I know I myself wouldn’t mind casting Karn, Scion of Urza, Karn, the Great Creator, Ugin the Ineffable, or Ugin’s Conjurant off the top of my library.
Finally, I want to talk about a card that urges you to find your favourite creature type and load your deck up with as many as you can. Here is Icon of Ancestry.
Get your Goblins ready, Icon of Ancestry is ready to pump you up! “Creatures you control of the chosen type get +1/+1” seems to be a popular line lately as it currently seen on 2 other cards currently in Standard. Radiant Destiny forces you to play White, but it can add some extra power and toughness if you have Ascend. Vanquisher’s Banner can be played with any deck, but costs five mana to get out before you can start giving your creatures some bonuses. Icon of Ancestry acts as both an army boost and card advantage. With a deck like Goblins, you probably are playing them quite early in the game. Icon of Ancestry allows you to rebuild your army if it happens to get wiped out at any point. I also like the cheaper 3 mana cost, allowing it to have an impact earlier in the game.
There you have it folks, we are at the end of the second week of the preview season and the full Core Set 2020 card list has been revealed. Next week is a big week on the Daily Dose and some of my favourite articles to write. That’s right folks, it’s prerelease week on the Daily Dose. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Core Set 2020. Join me next week when I prepare you to play Core Set 2020 Limited all week long.
