And we’re off! Thanks to readers for pointing out some errors in reading the plain English on the cards. I definitely have a newfound respect for the content creators churning out the grades. It is not easy.
Ritual guardian
Rolling Ratings: 9-6-21
Rolling Ratings: 9-5-21
Appears to be a brief respite on Sunday, with only a few spoilers dropping. That said, it could just be that the mythicspoiler.com admins are enjoying the long weekend. We can catch up on some skipped ones too.
rating system
- Game-Changers (aka bombs, As)
- Power (aka Bs)
- Draft-Changers (aka Build-arounds)
- Signals (top commons)
- Variable Playables (playable cards that have a home)
- Filler (borderline playables that don’t have a home)
- Avoid (Fs & D-. Or just too narrow to plausibly make work)
Ghoulcaller’s harvest
Rolling Ratings: 9-4-21
I suppose I shouldn’t be too impressed with myself that I managed to continue this a whopping two days in a row, what with being on vacation and all. But still! Two days! Go team! Let’s see what Wizards has brewed up for us to salivate over.
diregraf rebirth
Rolling Ratings, Ep. 1
Trying something new in the spoiler season, especially with being completely tired of Adventures in the Forgotten Realms. Using my hand-crafted rating system, I’m going to try and pick some–perhaps even most–of the spoilers and try to rate them as they drop. Obviously there will be a ton of context missing. Actually, pretty much *all* of the context will be missing. But it will still be a good exercise for me to do some card evaluation.
A quick primer on the Benalish Dad’s, no-it-really-IS-different-from-LR’s-grades, rating system
- Game-shifters (Bombs). They are (pick two to three) efficient, powerful, sustainable advantage, and/or catch you up when behind.
- Power (Reasons) These powerful cards usually only fulfill one of the ‘bomb’ criteria. They tilt the battlefield rather than remake it like a true bomb.
- Draft-shifters (build-arounds). When placed with proper support, these can be as powerful as bombs/power cards. Build-a-bomb!
- Signals (best commons). A common that fits in any deck of that color (most frequently reliable removal or a very solid 2/3-drop) can be one of the best signals.
- Variable Playable. These are good cards that generally have a home in a few of the color’s archetypes, but not all of them.
- Filler. Signals’ lamer cousin. Generally these are cards that are totally playable, but don’t really have a good home
- Avoid. The weird rares, the off-rate creatures. Generally speaking, if you never put one of these cards in the 40 you’ll be better off.
What does smooth, clean efficient removal look like? This! Clearly a powerful card, this draws the line on the difference between “power” and “bomb”. This is not a bomb. It answers a threat, probably with a hefty mana advantage. But it doesn’t fulfill the “multiple” categories of a true bomb, of which the most important are “repeatable advantage” and “turns around a losing situation”
power
Format Review: Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Riddle: when is a core set not a core set? When an entire color is nearly unplayable! It’s hard to recall if blue in AFR is *as bad* as green was in Battle for Zendikar, but it was very very bad. Fresh on the heels of 1.5 guilds missing in a “guild set”, it sort of sucked having back to back gaps in Limited.
Trophies
17lands was going a little haywire as I switched around between phone and computer. I did end up with 8 trophy decks, which is pretty good. Of the ones I captured screenshots, once again red is overrepresented. Given how it was such a solid color in the format, I don’t feel too badly about that.
The last deck, the GB splashing Drizzt was one of the most fun decks to pilot. It was a bit of a mess, but had a great ‘stalling’ game plan along with some ramp courtesy of the Clever Conjurers.
Most Drafted
Commons
A little shocked to see Steadfast Paladin on the list as it’s “too good” to usually be drafted that frequently. But once again, Boros is here to visit and smash faces.
Uncommon
During coaching sessions, Ethan would always make fun of me for Bag of Holding, calling it “My pet card” Looks like the data supports him on that one! It is a sub 50% win-rate when main-decked card, which… is a shame. However Lurking Roper (55% WR) was super fun in the set and could be a great ‘pocket of synergy’ with any incidental lifegain or untappers. And Battle Cry Goblin was just a great mythic uncommon (58% WR), shocked I got so many.
personal lessons
A return to core set is usually a return to the basics of creature-based magic cards. My favorite lesson was the ‘sticking to one’s bombs‘ as well as doing my homework and rating cards so I know when I have a bomb to stick to. This is good homework I should carry with me.
Yeah, and playing Magic on mobile is pretty sweet. I got a new phone, one edging into “tablet” territory. But it fits Arena pretty nicely and I’ll admit to copping a number of games during little windows here and there.
overall record: 57%
A little hard to tell due to odd bookkeeping and switching between Bo3 and Bo1. But it felt solid.
Summary
I agree with most of the commetariat that this set was a bit of a dud. The Dungeon mechanic was too heavily tilted towards just the ONE dungeon (Phandelver) and blue was almost a nonentity at the draft table. However, this was the set I’ve drafted most in quite some time due to installing Arena on my phone and just making the leap to Best of 1. In turns out you can fit in a lot of Magic in 5-10 minute snacks throughout the day! Even the empty calories of AFR are still delicious! Hoping for more and better from Return to Return to Innistrad.
Sticking to your bombs
I’ve been quiet posting, as it’s been one of those months where I felt like I had to choose between writing about magic or just… playing Magic. I honestly don’t see how content creators manage it at all. But I had a good coaching session with Ethan (of Lords of Limited) and he had some really interesting feedback on one of my drafts.
the draft
So let’s talk Westgate Regent, shall we? Despite sounding like a mid-range business hotel, it’s a powerhouse card the likes of which Sengir Vampire can only dream. It’s… pretty close to an Quadrant All-Star. It breaks board stalls, is reasonably priced, its Ward defense almost ensures a 2:1 if oppo has removal for it, and it snowballs ridiculously. And I was fortunate enough to open it.
Read moreWho wore it better?
Lil Chandra broke curfew and stealthed into my office. I didn’t know she was there until she blurted out, “Pick that card.” Which card?
A surprisingly decent card in the format, but I suspect the real draw was seeing herself in the mirror. After all, who wore it better?
(it’s tough to get toddlers to hold still for the right camera angle)
Format Review: Strixhaven
Ah Strixhaven, the Harry Potter mash-up that we never new we wanted, but we definitely needed. An interesting return to the ‘guild’ sets where there are only five supported color pairs. How was it?
Trophies
Five trophies is a little above average for me in a given set. Funny how my trophies fell into two camps: either straightforward Silverquill BW aggro or pure Prismari power
Most Drafted
Commons
Three way tie for most-drafted common. And–unsurprisingly–they are all aggressive cards! Expanded Anatomy won the award for “best card that would be mediocre in the 40, but INCREDIBLE in the lessonboard”. The learn/lesson mechanic really rewarded situationally powerful cards and Expanded Anatomy wasa great “slam the door when ahead on board” card. Heck, you can see it turning the Pledgemage into a 5/3 attacking flier.
The Enthusiastic Study shows a bit more of my biases. The card was not widely loved because the +1 toughness didn’t do great with all the x/1s in the format. I saw it as a “win a combat, drive some damage, and draw more fuel”. Again, I might just be a red mage at heart. Alarming!
Uncommon
More mountains! ALARMING. Academic Dispute I loved since it enabled attacks & magecraft AND learn. Rootha–not an aggro card!–just made for a bunch of super fun things in the set. Everybody loved Rootha.
personal lessons
Similar to the “always identify two cards in a pack: fit & power”, Strixhaven really helped drive home the “speculate on a different lane” move. Since there are only five lanes (fewer if you count how badly Lorehold missed), it is vital to find the proper lane for your seat. Thus practicing being open-minded, taking that P1p5 Killian after four green/blue cards juuuust to make sure that you aren’t supposed to be Silverquill. Interesting that I’m much better at this than the ‘flat, cube/Kaldheim-esque create-your-lane’ style drafting
overall record
| # Drafted | Win Rate | |
| Lorehold | 3 | 56% |
| Prismari | 9 | 67% |
| Quandrix | 4 | 50% |
| Silverquill | 7 | 76% |
| Witherbloom | 3 | 50% |
Overall, I clocked in at a 60% win rate over 28 drafts and 5 trophies. Not bad!
Summary
I really enjoyed Hogwarts: The Gathering but I tend to really love the guild sets with the clearer channels. The Lesson/Learn mechanic was a clear headliners for the set and a really good one. Balancing when to draft which half was fun and the flexibility for which lesson to pick during gameplay was also enjoyable. Honestly, it is kind of remarkable how enjoyable Strixhaven was given how badly Lorehold missed (the graveyard dynamic whiffed so it was really just budget Silverquill aggro) and Witherbloom was mediocre, needing uncommons to get there. Final Jed-Grade: B+ set.
A Terrifying Glimpse of the Future
I think an interesting tweak in parenting is the rise of the balance bikes over the tricycle/training wheels. Since the tricky part of riding a bike is the counter-steering (that you steer left to shift the balance right), it makes sense to be practicing that first and then add the pedals. They’ve probably been doing this in Germany for the past twenty years for all I know. But the results are indisputable: Chandra is pedaling at age 3. The Benalish Dad only got on a bike with extreme reluctance at age–ah–eight. After being shamed by his little sister zipping around.
Benalish Dad 