Welcome all to another edition of the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine! Today, I’m going to be talking to you about all things Knights! Knights are a strong theme in Throne of Eldraine and appear primarily in Mardu colours. It is great to have another tribal deck emerge from the new set. I'm also glad to see that they are printing enough cards to support it in Limited and in Standard play. All three of the Cavaliers from Core Set 2020, including Cavalier of Night are Knights. Corpse Knight is another strong Knight that will make your opponent lose some life. Knight of the Ebon Legion is one of the strongest one-drop creatures in the format, but it being a Knight makes it that much better. Midnight Reaper allows you to gain some important card advantage from all those Knights on the battlefield. Truefire Captain could start to see some play thanks to it being a Knight.
Let’s start off by looking not at a Knight, but a new land. Here is Tournament Grounds.
With the announcement of no Rare dual land cycle in Throne of Eldraine, other lands like Tournament Grounds will fill its slot. With the loss of Unclaimed Territory because of rotation, tribal decks were left without a land to help them cast their creatures. Tournament Grounds becomes a land like that, but only for Knights and Equipment. Coming onto the battlefield untapped and being able to tap for colourless mana make this land even better.
Next is a Knight lord that will make sure all your other Knights get bigger. Here is Inspiring Veteran.
This appears to be the new mold for simple Lord creatures as it is like Legion Lieutenant and Merfolk Mistbinder that we saw in Rivals of Ixalan. It is a great two drop 2/2 creature that can pump up pretty much all other creatures in your deck. The only thing to see will be if there is competition in the 2-mana slot for this creature, but I don’t see how you can’t be playing Inspiring Veteran in a Mardu Knights deck.
Next, I want to look at one of my early pics for best card in the set. Here is Murderous Rider.
I would be fine if this was just the Instant – Adventure part of this card as its own spell. This becomes a marquee removal spell for black decks and can be used in more decks than a card like Bedevil that forces you to play Red as well. Losing 2 life can be painful against some decks, but the creature part of Murderous Rider makes up for that loss of life. Getting a 2/3 Lifelink creature for three mana is solid by itself, even without the Adventure. It will help you gain back the 2 life that you lost casting the Adventure. As well, third point of toughness will go a long way into lasting multiple combats.
Finally, I want to talk about a Legendary Artifact that will not only help your creatures, but help in making creatures. Here is The Circle of Loyalty.
Any spell that has cost reduction built in must be looked at with great wonder. This legendary artifact is even pretty good at four mana. This is even better though once you factor in casting it earlier than turn six. With three 1-drop creatures in your first two turns you can cast this on turn three. Therefore, adding three additional power to the battlefield. You can use it on turn four to make a Knight or cast cards like Oath of Kaya to get a 3/3 Knight onto the battlefield. There are only 2 good 1-drop Knights that we have seen so far in Knight of the Ebon Legion and the 2/1 Venerable Knight. Hopefully a few more cheap Knights will be seen in the coming weeks.
This is only a small subset of the wonderful Knight cards from Throne of Eldraine. That along gets me excited to make a Knights deck in the next Standard season. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Throne of Eldraine. Join me tomorrow as I continue my look into all the wonderment that is Throne of Eldraine.
