Saturday, January 9, 2016

Oath of the Gatewatch Review: White

We did get a White Eldrazi!


Eldrazi Displacer: good flicker effect on a 3-drop, must play. Very useful to take out boosting counters on an opponent's creature.
Allied Reinforcements: useful tokenizer.


Affa Protector: needed in limited.
Call of the Gatewatch: a planeswalker tutor for the super friends deck. A must play for me since I love planeswalkers.


Dazzling Reflection: life gain and fog effect good for limited if you don't have better options.
General Tazri: five color Ally deck coming up! I am not that interested in playing that.


Expedition Raptor: limited.
Immolating Glare: battle trick. Well costed, a very playable uncommon.


Iona's Blessing: too late a drop to be very good, useful in a pinch.
Isolation Zone: good in limited.


Kor Scythemaster: good in limited.
Mighty Leap: reprint for limited as a battle trick.


Kor Sky Climber: Nice flying activated ability, I am surprised it is a common.
Make a Stand: solid battle trick but better as a common in limited.


Linvala, the Preserver: more like Linvala, the Battle Cruiser, a slower version the previous Linvala (2WW 3/4 Flying "Activated abilities of creatures your opponents control can't be activated.") These effects are good, but a six drop that does not on its own wins games is a Standard-only card.
Munda's Vanguard: Cohort looks like a dud. You are tapping this creature and another one of your creatures for a bunch of +1/+1 counters. You will need lots of creatures on the board for this effect to be useful. This card should have been an uncommon.


Makindi Aeronaut: limited.
Oath of Gideon: I can't wait to play this in the super friends deck. I have already drawn up which planeswalkers are good for this interaction in a separate post.


Ondu War Cleric: limited. Cohort seems like it sucks.
Relief Captain: lame if you have gotten a bunch of your creatures removed before you cast this, and great if you have a bunch of creatures on the board. A long way to say it is very situational. I am betting it will be an auto-include in a future Deckbuilder's Toolkit.


Searing Light: good early game, especially in limited.
Wall of Resurgence: key phrase missing here is "until end of turn." I really like this card. I am looking to build a better awaken deck with this card.


Shoulder to Shoulder: very useful battle trick in limited, and maybe even in Standard constructed.
Stone Haven Outfitter: auto-include in the 'equipment matters' deck that OGW enables. Looks like left-over artwork from Khans of Tarkir block.


Spawnbinder Mage: Cohort -- Don't play this card.
Stoneforge Acolyte: tempting even though it has Cohort... may be an auto-include in the 'equipment matters' deck.


Steppe Glider: useful in limited.