Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Guilds of Ravnica, where prerelease week is in full swing.
Yesterday I went through the ten Commons you'll find in each pack and highlighted the best of the bunch. Today we're upping the power as I look at the those three cards per pack called uncommons. I find that the uncommon card slot has some of the most powerful Limited cards to help you build your deck. Rares and mythics can be powerful, but only when in the right deck. Here's a list of uncommons from Guilds of Ravnica you'll want to play this weekend!
Conclave Tribunal – One of the best all-encompassing removal cards in the entire set. This will take care of any nonland permanent on the battlefield and can be cast for as little as zero mana. The Convoke part of this card is nice, but even at four mana you'll want this card in your deck.
Flight of Equanauts – At eight casting cost, this seems quite expensive for a 4/5 Flying creature. However, I’m here to tell you it's not! More likely, you'll be casting this for anywhere from four to seven mana. Besides, there are few flying creatures in the game with better stats than this Knight.
Roc Charger – Pegasus Courser has morphed into the almost identical Roc Charger. This creature can win games by taking your otherwise blockable ground creature and turning it into a threat in the air every turn. Do not forget to have this in your deck.
Sunhome Stalwart – To start off, I will play any creature that's a 2/2 first strike for two mana in Limited. It can prevent attacks from your opponent and makes it harder for them to block it. With the addition of Mentor, this card gets even better.
Chemister’s Insight – This is great for Izzet and Dimir decks looking to fill their hand with resources. Having a draw four, discard one spell that's cast over two turns will help turn the tide of the game in your favour. It’s great to have this spell at Instant speed as well.
Murmuring Mystic – At five toughness this should be able to block most creatures that come your way. Plus you get a bonus 1/1 Flying creature whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell. These flyers can be used defensively, or attack for the win once you build up a swarm of them.
Sinister Sabotage – Straight up unconditional counter spell is powerful in a Limited format. On top of that you can Surveil 1 to help your next draw step and fuel up the graveyard.
Necrotic Wound – This one mana removal spell works well no matter when you cast it. Early in the game you won’t have many creatures in your graveyard, but the creatures you need to target won’t be that large either. The later the game goes, the bigger the creatures will get, but thanks to Undergrowth this card will be able to keep up.
Price of Fame – I’d be fine playing this card in Limited if for four mana at instant speed, it just said “Destroy target creature.” The fact is that there aren't a lot of legendary creatures in this set. But, you'll want to kill the ones that are for only two mana with this spell. The value train continues with the ability to Surveil 2 when you cast this as well.
Whispering Snitch – I have learned in recent Limited formats that having a creature with three toughness on turn two goes a long way. There are so many spells in Guilds of Ravnica with Surveil that even if you trigger this ability twice or more in a game, you'll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Goblin Banneret – This one drop Goblin is ready to Mentor his friends. This card basically has a one to one ratio of mana to power when it comes to pumping itself up. That means that you can make sure it can mentor another creature at any power. Plus it can deal a lot of damage if it goes unblocked, based on how much mana you have.
Goblin Cratermaker – This Abrade on a stick is a must have for any deck playing red. This solid 2/2 Goblin for two mana also acts as three mana removal spell for smaller creatures and artifacts. A very versatile creature to have in your deck.
Lava Coil – This is one of the only cards in the set that will exile a creature, which is important against strategies that want to use creatures in their graveyard as an advantage. Even without that, four damage for two mana is a great return.
Arboretum Elemental – Creatures with hexproof are darn near impossible to deal with in this Limited format. Especially ones that have five toughness. Your opponent will be forced to put multiple blockers in front of this creature to kill it before it takes over the game.
District Guide – There is a good chance that most players might splash a third colour if they have a good spell or two from a different colour that they want to put in their deck. With Gate lands a plenty in this set, you'll be able to get the missing colour of mana needed to cast those splash cards. You are even left with a solid 2/2 Elf afterwards.
Might of the Masses – This reprint is a solid pump spell that works perfectly with what green is trying to accomplish, especially in Selesnya. At only one mana, this spell can surprise your opponent by adding a ton of power quickly. If you have lots of creatures and you need to get in some last points of damage, you can do an alpha attack knowing that if only one creature gets through you can pump it with Might of the Masses to finish them off.
Sprouting Renewal – This is another great versatile card that allows you to choose between a 2/2 Knight with vigilance or destroying an artifact or enchantment. This will never be a dead card and thanks to Convoke you can perhaps cast this for as little as 0 mana with a little help from your friends.
Boros Challenger – Like Goblin Banneret this is another creature that you can pump up to make it more likely that your Mentor ability will trigger. It’s still a great 2/3 two-drop creature that can bluff its pump ability when needed.
Conclave Cavalier – This is one of the best cards in the set and it’s an uncommon. You get a total of eight power and toughness with one creature. Your opponent will have to spend three removal spells if they want to get rid of all the creatures that spawn from this.
Dimir Spybug – This is an innocent looking enough 1/1 flying creature for two mana. But add menace to the equation and it makes it becomes much harder to block. Then you start adding +1/+1 counters by naturally casting your spells throughout the game and it becomes a greater threat to deal with.
Glowspore Shaman – I love this creature, it does everything that Golgari wants. It provides a nice three power creature on turn two. It feeds your graveyard with creatures that will help any spell you play later in the game with Undergrowth abilities. And, if you are tight on mana, you can even throw a land back on top of your library.
House Guildmage – I’m underwhelmed by some of the Guildmage creatures in the set, but this one seems to be the best of the bunch. It has two abilities that are relatively cheap and impactful. Locking down a creature each turn that’s already tapped (it doesn’t tap it) can be strong. Plus, being able to surveil every turn has a stronger synergy with a lot of cards in the set, including the previously mentioned Dimir Spybug.
Join Shields- This another one of those cards that can win you the game on the spot. If your opponent plays a mass removal spell, it can protect all of your creatures until end of turn. You can also use it to provide a slew of unexpected indestructible blockers.
Ledev Champion – This Knight can either become very large and attack by itself or you can hold off and keep building your army of Elf Knights to take over the game.
Nightveil Predator – Like Arboretum Elemental, this hexproof flying creature will be hard to kill. It even avoids the mass removal spells in the set, Citywide Bust and Ritual of Soot. There are 12 other flying creatures in the set that can block and kill it, which might be your only way to defeat this creature.
Truefire Captain – This Knight is a great creature to have in the four-drop mana slot. It is one of the largest creatures in the set to have Mentor meaning it will pump up most creatures it attacks with. It also has the Boros Reckoner like ability to make sure your opponent will take damage even if it gets blocked.
Intergrity // Intervention – This is another versatile card that is good early in the game and late in the game. A one mana pump spell is great to save one of your creatures or even pump a Mentor creature before it attacks so that it adds a +1/+1 counter to another creature. Dealing three damage to any target and gaining three life is always a great swing in the life total war.
Status // Statue – Another split card with two great halves of the card. This is basically two removal cards with one having to be applied to a creature you control. Another card that works both early and late in the game.
Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose. In the past couple of weeks, I gave you the lowdown on most of the rares and mythics from Guilds of Ravnica, and this week I've talked about some of the best commons and uncommons. These articles should give you some insight on which cards you want to play in your deck.
The next step is to know what your opponent could be casting across from you. Join me again tomorrow as I provide a combat trick and removal guide for Guilds of Ravnica to help you prepare for what your opponent could cast with two untapped lands.
