Best Value: Two Mana Spells in Theros Beyond Death

[DelverMage]

Two mana spells.  The bread of butter of any limited deck and most constructed decks.  There are always so many to choose from in a new set.  Most of them are worth the cost of 2 mana, and occasionally there is a stinker or two that can't even carry that much value, (I am looking at you Mirror Shield). 

Theros Beyond Death has 62 two mana cards in it.  6 of them are reprints, with most of those already legal in Standard.  With all the cards in all the sets to chose from for a new release, they cannot find a card with a similar effect, they just need to add these in again?  That is so annoying.  I have pared that list down to 10 cards that provide value of more than twice your two mana investment.  One of the cards in this set has a value more than FOUR times your cost!  I want it banned, and we haven't even seen it hit paper Standard yet!  (It did knock me out of contention for top 8 at my prerelease, even when I had Ashiok, Nightmare Muse on the board.)

Half of these cards are rare or mythic, and those ones are very powerful.  Expect to see a number of these in competitive play and expect their price tag to be up there a bit.


Aphemia, the Cacophony - As a 2/1 Flying creature for 1B, this is a very playable card.  The extra ability to exile enchantments from your graveyard to generate zombies is a really nice effect.  Even pulling this off once makes the card a great value.  By the way, enchantment creatures are still enchantments.  In current Standard and limited formats, the enchantment requirement can still be effective because there are plenty of quality cards that fill the bill.  Outside of Standard, this becomes less competitive but we are not too worried about that here.


Bronzehide Lion -  This is a blatantly strong card.  3/3 for GW that can be made indestructible is already enough to put this card on the list.  The afterlife aura effect just makes this card nuts.   As one of the four rares, it may end up with the least monetary value unless a strong deck using Green and White finds it way into the meta as this is not a build around card.  This is quite the hat tip to Narnia…..


Daxos, Blessed by the Sun –  Once this hits the battlefield, it becomes a 2/2 minimum due to it own casting cost, but as your battlefield grows with White permanents, so does toughness of this Demigod.  In the last number of Standard formats, creatures that gained you life for other creatures entering the battlefield or dying have found their way into playable decks.  Daxos, Blessed by the Sun will be no exception. 


Destiny Spinner – This is one of the more enigmatic cards on my list.  It is one of those cards that makes you wonder if you can build a deck around it, and break open Standard….. But I am not sure that it can (Will she just break my heart like every other enchantments matter creature I tried to use?).  It does do some interesting things.  Your creature and enchantment spells become safe to cast, which is really nice for Green and or White decks.  The ability to animate a land, with the power and toughness equal to your "devotion" to enchantments.  Notice that this is a permanent animation, which is what makes this potentially more viable. 


*Eidolon of Obstruction – Tax time for Planeswalkers!  If I am not mistaken, this is a first time ability that forces planeswalkers to pay mana to activate.  Although that ability is not universal, it certainly can change up a game against the right decks.  As a 2/1 First Strike for 1W, it is playable with some value and the newness of this ability is what put it over the top for this article.  As I type this, I am wondering if I over valued this ability.  I am not sure this should be in the main deck, but a strong sideboard card.  It depends on the meta, so I will give it an asterisk.


Gallia of the Endless Dance –   2/2 Haste Satyr Lord for RG.  That sounds like fun, and looks like it too in the artwork.  When that party becomes a war party, attacking with at least 3 creatures, you discard one card to draw TWO!!  That is a nice bonus on the traditional red card draw.  Gruul players are going to have fun with this, not to mention playing tribal Satyr decks!


Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger – I don't even want to talk about this card.  It is beyond stupid. 6/6 for BR.  That is already stupid.  Then, when it comes into play from your hand, opponents discard a card, and take 3 points of damage for a discarded land or no discard.  This also happens every time Kroxa attacks as well.   That is a bunch of suck for 2 mana.  But it gets worse!!!  Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger has Escape….  And when used it gets to stay on the battlefield….  Ridiculous.  Also this is the highest valued two mana card I have ever rated…..


Slaughter-Priest of Mogis – There are a number of cards in this set that have two abilities. One that triggers, and a second that can activate the trigger.  Slaughter-Priest of Mogis is one of them.  When ever you sacrifice a permanent it gets +2/+0 until EOT.  Sagas are sacrificed when complete, there is food tokens, Omens… yes plenty of useful things in your deck that can trigger this.  The second ability lets you sacrifice a different creature or enchantment to get first strike, which also gets you +2/+0…  4/2 first strike, or worse.  Don't let your opponents keep this in the game, you will regret it very soon.


Underworld Rage-Hound – The first time around, this ELEMENTAL hound is a 3/1.  So what that it can't block, you don't usually play Red so you can stand around and block stuff all day.  When it escapes it is a 4/2, and it will escape, again and again.  If your opponent tries to exile it, sacrifice it to your Slaugher-Priest of Mogis.  Then bring it back next turn