Core Set 2020 Limited Set Review: Blue

[@NizzahonMagic]

As some have pointed out, I misunderstood Yarok's Wavecrasher. It doesn't have to bounce itself on empty board. That means it is at least a C+, maybe even a B-.

[@erenjaegerbomb8653]

If your other creature doesn't have a decent etb trigger, this just makes you lose tempo for no reason, for a vanilla 4/4. Something with such a high risk of downside and not even that high an upside, can't be B minus, that would make it first pickable in weaker packs

[@skorpanlejonhjarta5897]

@@erenjaegerbomb8653 I think it's a D+. You don't want this card most of the times. It's a C+ if you have a lot off enter the battlefield creatures. Notice that it is an elemental too.

[@comicsans6254]

Since wavecrasher says bounce another target creature, can’t it played on an empty board, since it can’t target itself?

[@Erin_365]

Yes that is correct

[@jasperavisser]

No. This is an ability triggered by it coming into play, not a cost of the spell. So you can play Wavecrasher just fine, even on an empty board. When it comes into play, the ability will trigger. If there is no _other_ creature you control, the ability simply has no effect.

[@morgunkorn_]

Release note for Yarok's Wavecrasher from the Wizards of the Coast Website: "If you control no other creatures when the triggered ability resolves, you simply don't return anything. There's no penalty for being unable to do so."

[@passiertwas3888]

So i guess adding the ability to play it on an empty board gets it up to C+? 4mana 4/4 looks decent for blue..

[@NizzahonMagic]

Oh, yeah. Not sure how I missed that, probably a C+

[@rattlesnek3847]

Giving this video the highest compliment I can, falling asleep to it. Don’t worry, I’ll come back and pay attention tomorrow XD

[@EndTheEnding]

Glad I'm not the only one

[@OneOfDisease]

Flood of tears can also cheat a card into the battlefield, the text doesn't require you return one of the bounced permanents. Won't happen often but if you had something hard to cast you are missing colors for a spash bomb it could be nice.

[@marcellocrocitti463]

Don't underestimate leyline of anticipation, remember that with m20 we will have the London mulligan and mulligans will be more frequent. Also, I'm calling it, Zephyr charge will be one of the biggest commons in the set.

[@EndTheEnding]

Even when it starts in your opening hand, you still waste one card for an effect that I don't think worth a card. Imagine the emergency protocol but without mana abilities, I'd still think it's a bad card in limited, and that's the best case scenario of this leyline.

[@Buster_Scruggs]

Aether gust actually hits a lot more than 40% of decks, it hits 40% if everyone is running one color, but often in limited it's 2 color decks, which would mean there are 3/10 color combinations that don't involve red OR green, so 70% would run one of the two colors.

[@nilsjonsson4446]

Mike S Mike S Exactly! I wondering if some are worth mainboarding. Especially the white one. An overpowered card in 70 % of matches but literally useless in 30 %. Any comment @Nizzahon

[@gamma-bv6ty]

@@nilsjonsson4446 It also depends on what the best colors on the set are. Imagine the white hate card in WAR limited where almost everyone was in either black or red if not both. I could see mainboarding that even in Bo1.

[@nickbalmes6640]

With the London mulligan rule coming up with the release of this core set, I think leylines deserve some consideration especially the blue one.

[@tryzydrate]

Anticipation is not an F. Worst case its a do nothing enchanment that if you untap with it will give you a ton of control over the game. Best case is you drop it for free and cast everything with flash. Worst case its a D best case it's a B

[@pandosham]

Leylines is an F until your board gets bounced at instant speed

[@niekdekleijn134]

So after seeing all the color hosing spells it seems Aether gust does have the upside of always doing something if you are playing red or green right? At least you can target one of your own spells to save it from a counter or removal? I imagine it doesn't change your opinion of it that much since it doesn't bounce to the hand, but still it is a slight upside.

[@raynmanshorts9275]

If all 2-color combinations are played equally, you can figure that you'll run into the enemy color for these hoser effects about 70% of the time (3 color combinations lacking them, 7 containing them). It's not going to be extremely useful in every case with that 70%, though. If your opponent is playing Rakdos and their most powerful cards are black, then Aether Gust isn't quite as useful, for example.

[@andyspendlove1019]

"When you play someone who's playing red, they're more likely to have red cards." --Nizzahon, 2019

[@NizzahonMagic]

Haha it is true, if axiomatic

[@corey2232]

Well he's not wrong lol

[@ClarkPotter]

🤣 lmao

[@int0the3p1t32]

Is it me, or does blue white flyers have a good shot in standard? At least until the fetch lands rotate out...

[@NizzahonMagic]

It might. Favorable Winds could be a thing.

[@Numsy18]

Great review as always. I would have like to have seen the artifacts for renowned weaponsmith. I know they belong in another video but they are important to the review of that card.

[@claytonnewlon3747]

It’s actually a higher chance for your opponent to be affected by these color hate spells than you might think. If everyone is playing two color decks (the norm in limited) and all of the colors are balanced equally, you have a 70% chance for your opponent to be playing at least one of the hated colors. 30% of the time they do nothing, 60% of the time they are good to very good, and 10% of the time your opponent will be playing both colors and they will be close to the best cards in your deck. All of this means that it might be worth it to start these color hosers main board. Just something to think about.

[@claytonnewlon3747]

This can be seen by looking at the guilds. For this example, the three unaffected guilds would be Orzhov, Dimir, and Azorius, while the seven others( Gruul, Simic, Selesnya, Golgari, Izzet, Rakdos, and Boros) would all get at least partially hit by Aether Gust

[@RasmusVJS]

While it might be good 70% of the time, is it worth main decking something that is "great", lets say a B like Aether Gust, 70% of the time if it as an F of the worst kind 30% of the time. I don't think so, though I could be wrong.

[@saw2135]

@@RasmusVJS it also depends on the colors you are in. In U/R or U/G? Run that to bounce your creature with a good ETB on the opponent's end step, or your bomb that got hit with Murder. Then just replay it next turn. Aether Gust has the advantage of being beneficial to you no matter who the owner of the card targeted is, compared to the other ones.

[@atomicsquirrel6457]

Re: The Crab. Are there a lot of creatures with less than 1 toughness running around in the set? :)

[@SpitefulAZ]

Reprint sets have come a really long way!

[@luizgagliardi6614]

Actually, it's the Sultai colors that have a strong ETB theme. At least according to Mark Rosewater. magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/core-point-2019-06-17

[@NizzahonMagic]

Yeah, mispoke.

[@JusSomeGuyOnInternet]

Shouldn't the color hating cards (aether gust) be mainboards that get sided out? Assuming equal distribution of 2 color decks, 7 out of 10 of them will have at least one of the colors you are hating on. The strength of these cards seems totally worth the 30% chance of one dead card in game one.

[@ashra8281]

You want a 30% chance a card does literally nothing in a game? It gives you're a opponent essentially a 2 for one, at the start of the game Put it this way, how much better would you're games go if you got a free divination at the start of the game?

[@saw2135]

@@ashra8281 It is actually an 0 for 1.

[@ashra8281]

@@saw2135 yeah... which is basically the same thing as a 2 for 1

[@saw2135]

​@@ashra8281 except it isn't. And there are ways with Aether Gust to have it be useful even against non-R or G decks. If you are running U/R or U/G you can now bounce your creature with a good ETB, or that has been targeted with removal. I think Aether Gust is mainboardable, if you are running R or G, and in that situation I'd say it is a D+ with upside if the opponent is in either of those colors.

[@ashra8281]

@@saw2135 ok fair enough there. Yes some are more useful than others, but you don't wanna run some of them mainboard

[@RafiRuff]

Atemsis should not have the same raiting as Frost Lynx ... Atemsis is more like a B+ I think :)

[@Blackvolttage]

clearly you are mistaken about blue leyline. For the rest of the video you went on talking about good etb triggers and what not and... leyline turn those etb much more deadly. london mulligan on a 40 card deck makes really easy to find it, but honestly, veldakean orrery is busted and also cost 4. Its not universally good, but in this format, especially with plenty of etb and color hosers (that you got wrong also btw) blue leyline is amazing.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Definitely could be.

[@brandonfearer4421]

Agent of treachery seems high at A-

[@ashra8281]

Ughh, it's a mind control with a 2/3 Generally it's going to be a 3 for 1 That's pretty amazing. Then you could flicker it and you probably win the gamw

[@erenjaegerbomb8653]

In bolas' clutches only gained control as an aura, it cost one less and was a very strong limited card

[@Matt-dc8lp]

I'm calling it now...I think the biggest card you will get wrong (biggest difference in grade) is leyline of anticipation. You rarely miss cards by more than half a grade but I think this is going to be at worst a C+ maybe even B-. Sorceries become instants, creatures played during combat, etc.

[@ashra8281]

And an entire turn doing nothing? I think it's amazing if it comes down at the start but, if you have to pay for it, you may really feel the tempo loss

[@madlib7108]

Flood of Tears into Omniscience :^)

[@pill0w.climbs]

Creepy Rudy sent me

[@NizzahonMagic]

Wut

[@jellosapiens7261]

I think Flood of Tears is way too situational to be a B

[@rjphilla]

I think Nizzahon hates blue magic 🤔

[@NizzahonMagic]

Nope

[@aydensauvageau9393]

Zefer charge is totaly a c+!

[@WillArtie]

Yeah- if it was tap and pay it would be just ok, but if you have the mana you can just make your whole board airborne.

[@JaakeBubba]

Whoop whooooop

[@ic0n67]

You "first pick" what seems like 85% of the cards in a given review. Hyperbole for sure, but it happens a lot more than i'd expect to hear.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Funny you say that, because another comment claims I give everything a C! Think you both have a bit of confirmation bias.

[@Hagot428]

Part of is that there's a lot of rares and mythics in each set, but only one per pack, and you pick the rare a decent portion of the time.

[@corey2232]

Well a lot of rares and mythics are supposed to be first picks, and there's a lot of them. Then you have powerful uncommons that tend to fit the bill, so combined with opening 3 packs, there will be a lot of first picks

[@MrYost-xx5bj]

3rd I am sorry I had to.

[@cspeeds96]

Whooooo

[@chadblair8294]

yarok say another creature. so it can't target it self.

[@IsaiahBuchanan175]

first

[@IsaiahBuchanan175]

shit

[@KaterynaIsBored]

@@IsaiahBuchanan175 so close