I was not thrilled when I heard what Ikoria was all about. Companions seem like a stretch, and right away it made me
wonder which other popular game did they get the idea from. Mutate didn’t excite me much in concept. Then I got a chance to play it, and I find that as usual, there are plenty of intricacies and nuances in Ikoria that I didn’t expect. The addition of Cycle really adds to the mix, as well as the play of humans and non-humans. There is some fun stuff here.
As for one mana spells, we have a total of 23 cards. Three of those are reprints from recent or current sets, and nothing to really mention. Half of what was left actually made this list. One stands shoulder and quills above the rest, but the list is pretty strong.
The Ozolith –
The Ozolith Commith… A counter catching artifact that lets you load those counters onto a creature just before combat would have been very interesting BEFORE Ikoria. With the introduction of counters that represent core abilities instead of +1 or -1 (or poison) it makes
the Ozolith a very interesting card that epitomizes the Build Around moniker. Whether or not you can get a deck around this to be competitive is a different story.
Fight as One – A nice spell with choices upon casting, similar to the Charm spells. It brings huge value if you have one of each appropriate target on the battlefield. There are quite a few potential strategies within Standard to allow you to maximize the potential of
Fight as One, as a spoiler or a combat trick. Even if you only have one target, the ability to save it at instant speed still brings value.
Light of Hope – Another Charm spell with all 3 choices providing strong value. These choices are very White, and the +1/+1 being a counter as opposed to end of turn is really nice. 4 life is a good number, and the ability to destroy an enchantment on the fly will often be useful bringing one your permanents out of enchanted exile, or take off some nasty aura that your opponent may be using.
Mutual Destruction – Sacrificing a creature to kill a target creature can easily be an affordable cost. There are some nasty big creatures in competitive decks out there that can be taken out by sacrificing a token creature. The interesting side effect involving
Flash also gets this effect to go off at instant speed, making it that much more effective, allowing your token to block one target, and then be sacrificed to destroy another. Talk about taking one for the team....
Swallow Whole – I know this card comes with some specific situations, but even getting points deducted for that, it still makes the list. Very similar to
Mutual Destruction,
Swallow Whole allow White to do a very similar effect, but instead of the sacrifice, you tap your creature and it grows (ummm Lunch!!) while your opponents creature is exiled. (Get into my belly!!) This would be a phenomenal card if it were an instant. Worst case scenario is you suffer the first attack of your intended target… unless you have a way to tap it down, which White has a plethora of. Bon Appetite.
Almighty Brushwagg – Almighty indeed, and you deserve what you get if you let this creature stay on the board long enough to activate the
Giant Growth ability. Even worse, if they can do it twice! The fact that this doesn’t say once per turn is nice. With all the other ways to enhance your unpumped
Almighty Brushwagg, this card will often be a force to be reckoned with. I already see a tabletop deck designed to win, over and over with Brushwaggs.
Blisterspit Gremlin – A card that can be setup to produce more damage than expected for the investment and it could become a staple in Red Deck Wins. It triggers Spectacle, pumps
Chandra’s Spitfire, and becomes 3 points of damage while
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is in the game. Maybe even over and over if you can keep untapping it. Notice that it says each opponent, which means even more hits in EDH.
Flourishing Fox – This 1/1 fox gets +1/+1 every time you cycle a card. It also has Cycle itself, which means additional copies can help boost the one on your battlefield. Add in the various cycling creatures that get to add tokens to targets when cycled, and you can really make some nasty foxes.
Serrated Scorpion – Originally, this card was not on my list, but after finding it on SBMtG Dev’s list of under-rated cards, I revisited it. It is a 1/ 2 creature, making it a valid blocker for most turn one creatures from your opponent. In addition, the 4 point life shift that occurs when it dies is helpful. (Even more in EDH) Opponents will often avoid killing the
Serrated Scorpion, so you may be able to capitalize on the deterrence.
Whisper Squad – This is a funny card, and when I see it the sneaky noises from cartoons pops into my head…. This ability can not only get you up to 4 creatures on the battlefield quickly, but that is 3 less cards you have to wait for while trying to draw other threats and answers.