Welcome to my take on the pre-release primer! Instead of trying to be a sad photocopy of the fine work Limited Resources, et al do, I like to do a quick breakdown of the major properties of a limited set: removal, combat tricks, blue nonsense, and splashing. How these four stack up go a long way in determining the speed of the format, viability of enchantments, etc.

Removal

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So we have 17 pieces of removal, 8 of which are uncommon. This is richer than M20, which had 10 common and 3 uncommon. Naturally some of these have conditions attached: three pieces need opponents with deep graveyards (see Milling, below), four (!) are enchantment-based, which might be weak with above average bounce effects. Removal will always be a premium and I think this set will be no exception.

Combat Tricks

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Now this looks fun! We have combat tricks attached on the Adventure, so you can cast the trick then get the creature. Kind of a neat flexibility. The ones that take a full card look rather weaker to me, though Insatiable Appetite could clock an opponent out of nowhere.

blue nonsense

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More so than other colors, blue always feels like more of a wildcard to me. Sometimes tempo, sometimes controlling, sometimes the home of weird alternate win-conditions. Here in Throne, we *clearly* have milling. Interestingly, none of it looks to be recurring. One will have to figure out how to bounce/flicker the creatures, though milling 4 is no joke.

All counterspells appear to be 3-mana, which is good to know. Three solid bouncing options. I think bodes poorly for enchantment-based removal.

There are two good card-draw spells, but no 3-mana draw two cards. So you won’t be able to rely upon Divination to smooth out land draws and such.

splashing

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Colorless fixing is in a grim state. A single uncommon (that looks sneaky good), and a one-shot cantrip-y Golden Egg. I’m dubious of signpost Scarecrow, though maybe it has enough defensive value for a control deck to use it to help enable a splash. Green has a solid common to ramps & fixes and an uncommon Evolving Wilds. If you’re not green, I think splashing will be hard to pull off, which makes sense if they’re trying to make Adamant (3 mana of the same color) a thing.

conclusion

The biggest question I have is how the Adventure combat tricks will work in Eldraine. I was a huge fan of Storm Strike in Ravnica, as the Scry 1 just made it such a less of a cost to put into your deck. Given how every Adventure card is basically two cards in one, this might give the aggressive decks more legs than the control.