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Acclaimed Contender
On rate alone, Acclaimed Contender ticks the right boxes. 3/3 for 3 is acceptable but nothing great these days, but Knight typing is real upside this time around, as we'll see in other cards. Assuming you can build a deck largely of Knights, Acclaimed Contender is incredible, as it hits so many different types of cards you're often going to have a choice of cards to draw. With the floor as high as it is here, I expect to take Acclaimed Contender highly and bias my future picks toward making it work.
Rating: 4/5
All That Glitters
By itself, you're getting +1/+1 for 2 mana, so we know we're going to have to work to make this one acceptable. There's no hexproof in this set whatsoever, so no easy to protect creatures to mitigate the risk of auras. There's a couple one mana artifact creatures, and I expect that to be the best way to maximize All That Glitters, as the curve of 1 mana creature, All That Glitters, into future artifacts/enchantments is a powerful strategy that uses a lot of cards I don't expect many people to want. The most interesting part of All That Glitters is the mana cost, as in a deck heavy on Food creation or artifacts and enchantments in general, it's a very cheap way to make an incredibly threatening creature. I don't think the risk/reward ratio gets there on this one, but I expect All That Glitters to shine once in a while.
Rating: 1.5/5
Archon of Absolution
Protection returns again, although just as a one-off this time around. This is a powerful overall package, as 4 mana 3/2 Fliers are acceptable enough on their own, and the taxing ability really ruins the day of anyone trying to be aggressive, or even anyone with a lot of creatures at all. Aside from protection, I expect Archon of Absolution to be absolutely fantastic, and a card I'd be stoked to have in any of my white decks. Against White decks, this card feels almost unfair, and will often win games all on it's own.
Rating: 4/5
Ardenvale Paladin
Our first Adamant card, Ardenvale Paldin is pretty strong whenever you're paying 1WWW for it, and pretty poor when you're not unless you're in the market for Wishcoin Crab. A note on Adamant cards in general, the vast majority will want you to have a minimum of 10 sources of that color to cast them often enough, and you'll really want 12+. These are real monocolor incentives, as the only time you're getting them consistently is if you're committing hard to their respective colors. Depending on powerlevel, the source count will shift, as cards that are good without Adamant will have a much smaller burden on the sources you'll want than cards like Ardenvale Paladin, which are relatively weak without Adamant.
Back to Ardenvale Paladin, I don't expect to want this unless I've already decided to be mono White or close; there's not enough power here to get pulled toward that strategy.
Rating: 1.5/5
Ardenvale Tactician
A much more appealing member of the Ardenvale neighborhood, Ardenvale Tactician is a fantastic card. 3 mana 2/3 fliers have a storied Limited history, and I don't expect this one to be any different especially with the tapping Instant attached. Don't get fooled here by the Adventure spell, as you can't go wrong just casting this as a creature, although sometimes the upside will be worth it. The Knight text really seals it for me, and I expect Ardenvale Tactician to be one of the best White commons.
Rating: 3.5/5
Bartered Cow
Hill Giants haven't been good enough in Limited for a long time, and getting a Food on death or discard isn't enough to sway me here. I'm most interested in this card for its ability on discard, as with Thrill of Possibility you might be able to create a powerful engine that generates free resources. I think it takes too many discard effects to make this work for that case either, although I plan on giving Bartered Cow a try in decks that can't even cast it. You'll want Bartered Cow to shore up a general lack of creatures, or as a sideboard card when it lines up well, but we're going to try our best to leave this one at market.
Rating: 1.5/5
Beloved Princess
Once in a while this will line up well against a deck where it's unblockable or a deck full of 1 toughness creatures, but I just can't imagine wanting this very often. Maybe you'll have a White heavy deck full of effects that pump all of your creatures and this will be acceptable, but as this isn't even a Knight I just don't want this card in my deck.
Rating: .5/5
Charming Prince
There's a lot of options available here, but none of them are super exciting. At the end of the day this is a 2 mana 2/2 that will either help you find cards you want or occasionally help you stabilize or race. Charming Prince gets the most exciting when you can take advantage of the blink ability, as freeing a creature from a negative Aura or getting extra use out of a more powerful comes into play ability is very exciting on our flexible 2 drop. Adventure cards offer the greatest competition here, as in general you'll not want an above average 2 drop as much as usual when you can get ones that have spells attached to them instead. I like this one, but I don't expect to pick it too highly.
Rating: 3/5
As long as you care about Knights in some capacity, I can't imagine any card you'd rather have in your deck. This pumps your team and effectively makes 3/3 Knights with Vigilance for only 4 mana, which is close to what you'd pay for them normally but here we're not paying any card cost. At 6 mana I think this is a bit steep, but even at 5 I'm very excited about this and every mana less than that we pay it gets much scarier. There are a lot of Legends in this set, with multiple cycles in the set including one at Uncommon, so I'd expect to even make a free 3/3 Vigilance Knight once in a while. While this card does require some building around to be truly effective, I expect it to be one of the best cards in the set.
Rating: 4.5/5
Deafening Silence
No matter how little you're paying for your Rule of Law style effect, unless it has a creature attached I'm not interested. The best case I can imagine for this is a sideboard card against decks heavy on sorcery speed ways to draw cards, and even then you're probably better off exerting pressure rather than playing a weak Enchantment.
Rating: 0/5
Faerie Guidemother
Neither half of this one excites me whatsoever, and the combination of the two is certainly not incredible. There's some real tension here, as a 1 mana 1/1 flier is only ever relevant when cast on turn 1, but you'll have to wait some time if you ever want to get some mileage out of the Adventure. This does give White decks more reach than they'd normally have, as your decks would normally not have room for an effect like this. As I don't like the play pattern here, I can't imagine this card will be good enough.
Flutterfox
With Food plentifully available in Throne of Eldraine, I expect this to have Flying the vast majority of the time. This is the White creature I want to start my aggressive curves with, and the rate on this is good enough I'm just happy to include Flutterfox in any White deck at all. Expect to take this card aggressively for a 2 mana common creature.
Rating: 3/5
Fortifying Provisions
Here we have yet another mediocre Food generator, that will pump your entire team's toughness a notch. Fortifying Position looks to be an alright sideboard card if it causes your creatures to line up more favorably, and might even foot the bill if you're just desperate for Food creation. Notably this card gives you an Artifact and Enchantment at the same time, which turns on quite a few synergies among White cards. When you actually want this, it'll be as a synergy card.
Rating: 1.5/5
Giant Killer is the exact type of Adventure card I'm looking for. Chop Down is a powerful card in its own right, but certainly fails to find targets against some decks. Its creature half is always effective, as a cheap enough tapper that you're happy to include it for the utility. Whenever you get the full package you're getting away with something, as killing your opponents best creature and having a tapper left over is an incredible deal for 4 mana only. This is even splashable in a pinch, although you're going to have to wait quite a while until you can get everything this card offers.
Rating: 4/5
Cheap removal that exiles is always great in Limited, although the condition on this one will restrict it from killing the things you really want. At 2 mana you can't ask for too much, and you should still play this readily, just be aware if you have a bunch of these that you'll have a blindspot for big things.
Rating: 3.5/5
Happily Ever After
If you're still interested in some conjecture, I'm excited for wasting a weekend trying to win a singular game with this card. You say it's the worst card in the set, but I call it a challenge.
Harmonious Archon
10 power and 11 toughness for 6 mana is an unbelievable deal, and this only gets ugly if your opponent has a pile of small creatures in play already. This isn't as resilient against removal as your typical creature that makes a bunch of bodies, as once Harmonious Archon eats it you don't have a whole lot to show for it. As you're threatening to win a single turn or two after this hits play, I expect big things.
Rating: 4.5/5
Creepy art notwithstanding, this is a tough one to rate. Tocatli Honor Guard was pretty weak in Ixalan Limited, although it often saw play just to pump up 2 drop counts, as it was generally too symmetrical. I like this card a lot in my deck with very few abilities on entering the battlefield or dying, but as I don't expect decks with that restriction to be good I'm not looking to build around this. I value this effect as an incredible sideboard card, but it's just not good enough otherwise.
Rating: 1.5/5
Knight of the Keep
The last time I recall a card like this performing well was during Aether Revolt, when it could crew Irontread Crusher. While this is a Knight and that certainly has some worth, Limited in general has left cards of this powerlevel behind. As with just about any card with the text "creature", you'll play this once in a while. Try not to make a habit out of it.
Rating: 1/5
Linden, the Steadfast Queen
Linden is definitely the type of card to pull me toward a White heavy deck, but without some lifegain synergies this just isn't that exciting considering how hard it is to cast; I'm never taking this early as it's just too restrictive. If you can consistently cast Linden on time, she's only a notch above the curve, and I just don't think that's a hoop worth jumping through.
Rating: 2/5
Lonesome Unicorn
Altogether you're paying a grand total of 8 mana for a 2/2 Vigilance and a 3/3 Vigilance, with the 2/2 having the benefit of being a Knight. Sure, you can pay for this in installments, and it can work quite well with the various cards that reward you for casting Adventures, but the price on this is just nonsensical. There's a time and a place for this, but I have trouble believing how overcosted this card is. Avoid Lonesome Unicorn just like everyone else in Throne of Eldraine, unless you have the requisite Adventure pay-offs.
Rating: 1.5/5
All White decks should want this unless they somehow tow the line of high card quality with no Adventures whatsoever. Any card that reminds me of my personal friend Good-Fortune Unicorn is great in my book, and as this is only one color and has evasion it should actually tango once in a while. Many of the Adventures are strong enough on their own, so building around this doesn't cost a whole lot unless you're reduced to casting Lonesome Unicorns or something.
Rating: 3.5/5
Outflank
Outnumber with a combat restriction is still a card I'm interested in, although you're going to need an awful lot of creatures to turn this into a real removal spell. As this requires such a high creature count, be mindful of your spell count by extension as Outflank will serve you a lot better when you're leaning on Adventures to interact with your opponent rather than Instants and Sorceries as printed. Creatures in this set don't seem to be too massive on average, so I expect most White decks to want the first one of these.
Ratings: 2.5/5
Prized Griffin
3/4 Fliers vary widely between sets when they have no other upsides, so it's hard to judge how strong this actually is without having any games in. Evasive creatures are fantastic ways to top aggressive curves, and 3/4s block relatively well, too. At 5 mana Prized Griffin is just never powerful enough, and as such this card will often stay in the sideboard.
Rating: 2/5
Rally for the Throne
Yet another mediocre White card that incentivizes you to be mono White. Even if I was getting the Adamant effect every time at 2W, Rally for Throne is mediocre but playable if you're interested in having lots of creatures in play, and as you're just missing out on a few life the value doesn't change much without it. It's tough to keep panning White cards, but pan White cards I must.
Rating: 1.5/5
Realm-Cloaked Giant
I'm not sure how Mythical the flavor on this is, but the power level is certainly there. Destroying all non-Giants kills the vast majority of the creatures in the set, and having a 7 mana 7/7 Vigilance stapled to it won't generate any complaints from me. I dream of casting this as a 7/7, getting my opponent to overextend to try to get around it, and bouncing it back to my hand on end step to crush my opponents hopes and dreams on my following turn. I only play Magic to destroy my opponents hopes and dreams.
Rating: 5/5
Righteousness
This has always been a fancy way to write "Gains Deathtouch and Indestructible", although +7/+7 sounds substantially more exciting. As has been already written about to death, this combines incredibly well with Fling, so in a R/W deck hoping to race or lacking cheap interaction, Righteousness might be worth how conditional it really is. Without Fling in the set I think this is not worth playing, but that combo alone raises the stock here substantially.
Rating: 1.5/5
Shepherd of the Flock
Offensively and defensively Shepherd of the Flock performs, as it can save your creatures from removal while acting as an aggressive 2 drop creature in more desperate times. Ideally you're playing the full package here, so it's a good idea to include some cards in your deck that are beneficial to bounce to reduce the risk of holding up Usher to Safety forever. With high flexibility and the ability to go up resources over the opponent on the cheap, this card is excellent and should be picked accordingly.
Rating: 3.5
Shining Armor
Combat tricks that leave something behind are exactly the kind I like best, and at 2 mana I expect this one to perform that role well. Lacking a pump in power is rough here, and this only acts as an Instant speed trick for Knights, so this armor doesn't shine that bright. Your attentive opponents will always know when you can have this based off of creature typing alone, and that really restricts the power as it's all in the surprise value.
Rating: 1.5/5
Silverflame Ritual
For the entirety of the White cards in Throne of Eldraine, I've been hoping for some good pay-off for being either mono White, trying to put a lot of creatures in play, and hopefully both. While this certainly does a good impression, the mana cost is still steep and the Adamant cost just isn't worth it for how little it adds. I do envision this working in "cards no one wants tribal" where you play the various 1 mana 1/1 White creatures combined with a bunch of these, but that would be a last ditch strategy. Silverflame Ritual is a weak card, but the effect is specific enough that it's going to see more play than the power level would dictate.
Rating: 1.5/5
Silverflame Squire
At a more aggressive cost on the Instant half, this would be one of the best White commons as it doubles as a strong combat trick and a way to fill out the curve, where when you get both halves out of it you're often at a nice board advantage. As is, the best thing about this card is that it allows you to interact and pad your 2 drop count, which is going to be very important for any White aggressive deck. This is worse than Flutterfox, but not by much and you're definitely going to want a couple of these in White aggressive decks, and potentially even in slower White decks to fish for the slow card advantage mode. Be mindful that blocking against this can be pretty awful, so be careful against a White opponent on turn 5 especially.
Rating: 2.5/5
Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw
Finally, the "go-wide" pay-off every White card wants. This checks every possible box; it's hard to block, it's efficient, and it pumps your entire team. Of course it's also a Knight, and a legend which is relevant for The Circle of Loyalty. Defensively, giant First Strike creatures play an awful lot like Moat, and with Youthful Knight at common as well it's realistic to turn off ground attacking entirely by having lots of First Strike creatures. Take Syr Alin aggressively.
Rating: 4/5
Pacifism that trades the ability to hit Flying creatures for the ability shut-off text from Arrest, it's easy to play this and splash it but it's not wonderful for a cheap removal spell. White seems to have a vested interest in dealing with opposing fliers this time around, so we're only overlooking the restriction because 2 mana is so little to pay. With Run Away Together and a bunch of strong, maindeckable Disenchant variants at common in this set, Aura based removal has never been more vulnerable. Controlling an Enchantment matters for a decent amount of cards, but I don't think that outweighs the overall risk.
Rating: 3/5
True Love's Kiss
Speaking of strong, maindeckable Disenchants, True Love's Kiss belongs in every deck that can cast it. I'd love to have a second copy in my sideboard, but I'm not confident enough in Disenchants that I want more than the first to start. Exiling is great upside, drawing a card puts you at an advantage, and as this is also an Instant for some reason it even allows you to get tricky. I wouldn't feel bad about firing this off against anything it could target.
Rating: 3/5
Venerable Knight
Efficiency is super high on this one, and that's its strongest attribute. Trading this off is amazing if you control another Knight, as getting a trade up on mana and a +1/+1 counter in a given exchange at 1 mana is gamebreaking. So many of the other White creatures are Knights in this set that you don't have to put in any real work to make the triggered ability function, and as such I really want to start games with Venerable Knight.
Rating: 3.5/5
Worthy Knight
Hero of Precinct One was an amazing card in Ravnica Allegiance Limited, and as this is slightly easier to build around it should get jammed in as many Limited decks as possible. As I've said numerous times already, the majority of White creatures in this set are already Knights, so you're only asked to play casual attention to the creature types you draft and that's about it. There's a real lack of pay-offs for making a bunch of tribeless tokens but with Equipment you can turn them all into threats, so I reccomend getting some power and toughness pumping equipment in with this one to maximize it.
Rating: 4/5
First Strike when attacking or when its your turn has been a common trend in recent sets, and this is better in a pile of ways. As this is even a Knight surprisingly enough, it's only competition is Flutterfox and sometimes you'll want Youthful Knight more anyways. If this format is more hostile to X/1 creatures than I've realized than this will lose points, but a 2 drop that loves to get pumped and works great on offense and defense is one I'm really happy to have along for the ride.
Rating: 3/5
Takeaways
White looks to continue its dominance as the worst color in Limited once again, although I think that we're quite a bit better here than in any of the previous few formats. Commons in general are relatively weak, with some major blindspots. It's really tough to deal with opposing flying creatures as the removal just doesn't work against them once they cost 4 mana or more, and only Ardenvale Tactician and Flutterfox are both strong enough and battle in the air. Some of the White rares are busted, so I expect to start with a powerful White card whenever I choose to draft White. The two drops available to us are quite strong, but mono White looks largely like a miss.
Ardenvale Tactician:
Flying, Knight text, and an efficient body stapled to a two mana tap spell is an incredible package, and I expect any way you play this to excel. Trapped in a Tower is a tad too restrictive to edge out Ardenale Tactician.
Best Uncommon
Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw
The only card to really support the overall stratetgy of having a pile of creatures in play effectively, at least at a rarity where you'll see it consitently.
Best Rare/Mythic
Realm-Cloaked Giant
With stiff competition from The Circle of Loyalty and Harmonious Archon, this is just so difficult to play around or interact with that it gets the highest marks.
Until next time,
Kevin
@sealedawaymtg on Twitter
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