Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Guilds of Ravnica, where we are in the second week of previews and cards are flying at us!
With four sets rotating out, there are some key removal cards going with them. You'll no longer have the likes of Abrade and Fatal Push at your disposal when it comes to Standard removal cards. This gives cards from Ixalan to Core Set 2019 a chance to move to the forefront, in addition to new arrivals from Guilds of Ravnica. Today I'm looking at two removal cards with one creature and what is possibly one of the best removal cards we've seen in a long time.
But before I get into those cards, I want to quickly talk about a great reprint to look forwards to. This artifact will help players play three or possibly even four-colour decks in the coming months. It's the return of Chromatic Lantern:
With so many dual lands rotating out of Standard, and only a half a cycle of dual lands coming in, the future of multicolour decks looked bleak. But thanks to the return of Chromatic Lantern, the ultimate mana fixer will give players the chance to experiment with even three or four-coloured decks!
With so many multicoloured cards in the sets to come, having something other than the instability of lands to get the mana you need is a great comfort. Always a Commander staple, this could see some play in Standard in the coming months until the Standard mana base gets larger.
Next up is a creature that could become situational removal if needed. Here is Bounty Agent.
Welcome to the family of hate bears.
This 2/2 creature for two mana packs a punch. To start off, having Vigilance means that it's valuable both as an attacker and a defender. With Selesnya’s mechanic being Convoke, it also means you can attack with it during your turn and use it afterwards to help pay some mana for a Convoke spell you might have.
Now for the good stuff! Do you remember Dominaria and all those Legendary cards that were lying around? Bounty Agent doubles as a sweet removal spell for them. There will also be plenty of powerful Legendary creatures in Guilds of Ravnica as well. This is a must play in Limited, but when it comes to Standard, unless the meta game goes a certain way, I believe this card will be coming out of the sideboard.
Finally, it's the card that everyone is talking about. A removal card so spectacular that it's being talked about in every Magic format there is. It's time to look at Assassin’s Trophy:
When I first read this card, I had to reread it because I didn’t quite believe what I was reading.
So, I read it again, and I still thought I had missed something. Only two mana? Check. Instant, not sorcery speed? Check. It can destroy target permanent, including lands? Check.
Let me read that again. Nope, it’s still the same.
Wow. I still can't believe that this card was printed.
This Path to Exile for permanents is aggressively costed with its only drawback being that you need two different coloured mana to cast it. Like Path to Exile, your opponent gets to search for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield. Something I didn't notice until my fifth read is that the land they search for comes into play untapped. You'll have to be careful since this could give your opponent the ramp needed to cast a removal spell or make a play they previously couldn't.
I think this card will see play in Standard, Modern, and Legacy and will have strong impact. Golgari hasn't received many strong removal spells. I'm cusious to see if this causes the early metagame to move towards those colours just to include this in their deck.
Guilds of Ravnica is bringing it when it comes to the excitement level surrounding a new set. Each day we're getting seeing more exceptional cards and being presented with some great possibilities when it comes to future deckbuilding opportunities.
Thanks again for joining me on the Daily Dose. Join me again tomorrow as I investigate some more new cards from Guilds of Ravnica!
