I no sooner finished the Best One and Two mana cards in Ixalan Standard run, and the new Rivals of Ixalan show up. I will be discussing all of the best one mana cards from the new set in this article.
The main new ability in Rivals of Ixalan is called Ascend. When an Ascend card is cast, or when in play, it will check to see if you have 10 permanents on the battlefield. If you do, you are considered to have Ascended, and from that point until the end of the game any card that has Ascend will provide you the additional benefits listed. That makes Ascend useful for mid to late games. The lists that I have been creating are specifically focused on early game, mostly the first two turns, and leading into the third. Ascend does not lend itself to early game impacts in Rivals of Ixalan Standard. The
opportunity to have 10 permanents on turn two is not possible, and even turn three is slim. There are a number of one and two mana Ascend cards that have strong Ascend effects and abilities and if the card is on the cusp of being one of the best then Ascend will put it over the top.
WhiteThere are only 4 one mana spells in White, and two of those are very interesting.
Snubhorn Sentry seems like potentially a great card. 0/3 for W that aspires to a 3/3. As was just mentioned above, Aspire is not an early game effect, and we are grading early game cards. By the time the snubhorn reaches its aspirations 3/3 isn’t going to be too impressive any more.
Another unique card here is
Blazing Hope.
Exile target creature with power greater than or equal to your life total. Thr first strike against this is the targeting, which eliminates the choice of any hexproof targets. Second strike is that this could only be used mid to late game. Unless you are running a very close game and nearing the end, the chances are even the successful use of this spell would provide you with
Blazing Hope, so this is well titled.
Please top deck the winning card before I die next turn……
Moment of Triumph – A very good combat trick for W. +2/+2 for a creature, and two life for you can keep your
momentum, or start to build it with the surprise shift. Not very useful in a creature lite deck, but RIX Standard will likely be even MORE creature heavy with the new additions to Merfolk and Vampires.
BlueBlue has very interesting cards at one mana but really nothing that qualifies for this best cards list. The
Mist-Cloaked Herald is a great addition to the Merfolk tribal decks as a 1/1 unblockable creature for U.
Sea Legs is just ok unless you are playing Pirates, in which case the card delivers nice choices between boosting your Pirates defense, or nerfing an opposing creatures power. A permanent effect at instant speed makes this even better.
Curious Obsession is almost good enough to make the list but the use it or lose it clause keeps it off the list. There are a number of deck arrangements you can make to take great advantage of this card, like the Mist-Cloaked Herald I just mentioned, but as a general use card without the guarantee that it gets you at least a replacement card back, you would be better off using a cantrip.
BlackReally?
Grasping Scoundrel? There was a time when Black got some of the best one mana cards. I remember when…. Oh,
Fatal Push. Ok, I will shut up now.
RedDaring Buccaneer needs a Pirate deck to be a good card and
Reckless Rage is a very situational combat trick that may have a home in a R/W
Enrage deck. That brings us to
Mutiny. Again, very situational, but in the early game if your opponent is running on curve and already building a
dangerous line of creature threats, this card can dull the edge quickly. It would be way better as an instant, maybe even close to the best list.
Fanatical Firebrand – This is the improved Pirate version of the
Mogg Fanatic. Improved in the fact that as a hasted 1/1 Goblin Pirate for R, I also have the choice to tap and sacrifice it to ping a target for one. The older Fanatic could ping on demand, but did not have the option of attacking with haste instead. That makes
Fanatical Firebrand more flexible.
GreenJade Bearer is another Merfolk that is really nice for tribal, but not useful without cousins.
Enter the Unknown – Requires a creature on your battlefield, already eliminating this as a turn one play unless you also have
Ornithopter. As a sorcery that grants
explore ability for a turn,
Enter the Unknown is a nice trick. Your creature is either going to get a counter boost of one and a modified scry effect, or you are going to get a land in your hand. Conveniently this card also let you play an additional land, UNTAPPED! So either result has an immediate impact on the battlefield, and both are great early game impacts.
Sideboard
Silent Gravestone – Here we are dipping our toes back into to history for
inspiration.
Silent Gravestone is an artifact that shuts down
the Scarab God and a number of other effects that target the graveyard to advance the battlefield. It effects all players not just your opponent, but what it doesn’t do is shut down embalm or eternalize abilities. For 4,
Silent Gravestone can be sacrificed to
exile the contents of all the graveyards and draw you a card. Two different effects at different stages of the game. This is a worthy sideboard addition in RIX Standard.
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