If this gets through and powers a creature, your opponent is all the weaker on the next turn.Įasily the best common removal spell. Solid mentor, and even though it dies easily, 5 power is nothing to laugh at. Three mentors, a decent curve topper, and semi-decent target for mentor. So, we had a decent start to a Boros deck.
It’s better for this to be killed early and have that counter put on the lifelink soldier instead.Ī bit slow for what Boros is looking to do, but it can open up a path for your creatures to get through later in the game.ĭecent combat trick that helps secure your life total. Solid target for an early mentor counter. Wojek Bodyguard is better since it is more resilient and cheaper, but Barging Sergeant is fine in a slower Boros deck looking to ambush an opponent.
Excellent for weakening opposing creatures and blocking survivors when they crack back on the following turn.Ī pair of common mentors. One of the best split cards in the set, this is a cheap combat trick or a powerful removal/lifegain spell for four mana.ĭecent top of our curve. This pack used only cards that were designed to give Boros a boost in power, and it turned up pretty well. Guilds of Ravnica‘s pre-release is unique among recent sets in that, rather than the usual six normal booster packs, it came with five booster packs and a special sixth pack that was seeded specifically with the Guild you’ve chosen. With this in our deck, we’re looking for smaller creatures to pump up and jam in early with, keeping our opponents on the ropes and unable to stabilize. Tajic, Legion’s Edge is exactly what we want, an aggressive creature with haste, mentor, and the ability to gain first strike for just two mana. I was excited to see this appear as our promo card. With Boros, we’re looking for smaller creatures with aggressive stats and offensive abilities.
I’ll explain with the breakdown of my packs. This leaves a deck that doesn’t have nearly the same level of synergies as one you might have created in a Draft. All of your bomb rares might be in one Guild, but the support commons and uncommons might be better served in another Guild. Guilds of Ravnica seems a lot like Ixalan in that Sealed might not be the best way to play. 29.It’s all in the Sealed Pool, and it’s all what the Magic Gods deliver in your packs. The pre-release weekend for Guilds of Ravnica, when players will have their first chance to use the new cards in games, starts Sept. “Additionally, if you cross the streams a bit and play with any of Golgari’s (the green-black guild) undergrowth cards in your deck, dropping extra creatures into your graveyard can help fuel those as well.” Wizards of the Coast
“Black always has a penchant for pulling cards out of your graveyard,” Verhey wrote. The set’s codename during development was Spaghetti. Similar to scrying, cards with the surveil keyword allow players to keep those cued up to be drawn next or toss them into their graveyard. It’s an ability written into the rules on certain cards that allows Dimir players to look at cards on the top of their own libraries. To that end, Dimir’s unique mechanic is to surveil. “From across the table, Dimir decks often look like they’re on the back foot, getting slow starts and being attacked early,” Verhey wrote, “while the player piloting them knows that they’re actually winning and carefully assembling the right cards to counteract your opponent’s strategies.” Verhey said that those playing Dimir would do well to try and bluff their opponents, at least early in the season while players are still getting to know the different factions. After the opponent’s board of creatures are removed or rendered ineffectual, and your opponent’s resources are drained, Dimir comes in for the kill with flying or otherwise difficult to block creatures that gracefully perform the coup de grâce on your opponent.” Key art for the Dimir Informant, part of the Guilds of Ravnica set for Magic: The Gathering. In the meanwhile, it carefully casts removal, countermagic, and discard spells to take out the problematic threats that mount on the other side of the table - all while drawing more cards for itself in the process. “Dimir decks in Guilds of Ravnica tend to play a slower game,” Verhey wrote in an email interview, “gumming up the ground with creatures effective at dealing with your opponent’s attackers or providing you with some kind of advantage without needing to attack themselves. He stressed that Dimir is an excellent faction for players who enjoy holding back in the early game and then swooping in for the kill.
Polygon spoke with Gavin Verhey, a former professional Magic player and member of the research and development team at Wizards, about the Dimir guild. Alexander Deruchenko/Wizards of the Coast