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General Magic / Best Value: Two Mana Spells in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths
« on: April 30, 2020, 03:52:45 pm »
Here we go with a pile of rares and mythics for me to talk about that cost way too much per card! That is not quite true. Only two of them, both mythics, are selling for $20 or more as of the time I am writing this. I just need to calm down......
There are 54 Two Mana spells in this set. Eight of them are reprinted from recent Standard, with Anticipate, Cathartic Reunion, and Essence Scatter being the most notable. This list contains 9 cards, with all but one card being Multi-colored. Some of these cards are interesting, but most are just solid value, even if not flashy.
Fiend Artisan – Big dollar mythic, it had best be making this list. For 2 mana, it is a lesser Lhurgyof and a lesser Birthing Pod combined. Which of course, feeds itself and get the next victim lined up… crazy card, crazy cost, crazy to not play this if you have it!
General’s Enforcer – Extra toughness and the ability to exile cards from anyone’s graveyard are the main pieces here. When the exiled card is a creature, then you get a 1/1 white human creature token. These items together are what puts General’s Enforcer on this list. The ability where Legendary Humans are given indestructible, also means you can build a deck around it. Not too useful in limited formats, but you could build towards that for Tabletop and Standard.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy – Super expensive mythic #2, on this list. It doubles your mana generation from creatures and artifacts, and it fetches creatures from the top 5 cards of your library, directly onto the battlefield. As a G/U card it just seems to add more power to a color scheme that already have excessive resources. There are plenty of creatures and artifacts to help support Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy.
Labyrinth Raptor – This card has good value all by itself, but the whole play around creatures with Menace really makes this a build around creature. I know I feel the need to give this a try. The opponent will need to be very particular in choosing how to defend against your Menace creatures, and in the colors of Black and Red, you can have some combat tricks to seriously punish your opponent after they make their plays. Could be lots of fun messing with their heads.
Regal Leosaur – As a normal creature it is a bear, but when mutated, it brings a huge bonus to your other creatures. +2/+1 is a significant power shift and can really turn a Boros army into a game ending alpha strike. If you can pile on additional mutations, either the same turn or future turns you can keep adding this on. Even the mutate cost is still affordable early game.
Savai Thundermane – 3/2 for RW is a great deal but the cycle triggered ability is what really makes this card strong. 2 mana for a 4-life shift is a good deal and it doesn’t require a tap. Savai Thundermane can be a strong piece of an aggressive Cycle deck.
Skull Prophet – Nothing super extravagant or wild here, just a solid creature with 3 power and two standard abilities for BG. Tap it for mana generation, filling your graveyard, or as a fat 3 power attacker, Skull Prophet is value packed.
Sprite Dragon – Flavor Text – Size of a pixie, rage of a hellkite. Totally hilarious. 1/1 Flying, Haste Faerie Dragon that gets +1/+1 bigger every time you cast a non-creature spell. Again, nothing unique here, we have seen its likeness before. I find cards like this fun, but the fact that this has the creature type Faerie means a fun new addition to the tribe.
Valiant Rescuer – 3/1 seems to be popular in this set. As the only card on this list that is mono colored, we have a creature that does not have flashy new abilities, but the combo here brings real value. Generating 1/1 human soldier tokens is always a nice ability. Having that ability trigger off from Cycling is really, quite strong. Add in the fact that Valiant Rescuer also has Cycling and you have another piece of a nasty RW Cycle deck.
There are 54 Two Mana spells in this set. Eight of them are reprinted from recent Standard, with Anticipate, Cathartic Reunion, and Essence Scatter being the most notable. This list contains 9 cards, with all but one card being Multi-colored. Some of these cards are interesting, but most are just solid value, even if not flashy.
Fiend Artisan – Big dollar mythic, it had best be making this list. For 2 mana, it is a lesser Lhurgyof and a lesser Birthing Pod combined. Which of course, feeds itself and get the next victim lined up… crazy card, crazy cost, crazy to not play this if you have it!
General’s Enforcer – Extra toughness and the ability to exile cards from anyone’s graveyard are the main pieces here. When the exiled card is a creature, then you get a 1/1 white human creature token. These items together are what puts General’s Enforcer on this list. The ability where Legendary Humans are given indestructible, also means you can build a deck around it. Not too useful in limited formats, but you could build towards that for Tabletop and Standard.
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy – Super expensive mythic #2, on this list. It doubles your mana generation from creatures and artifacts, and it fetches creatures from the top 5 cards of your library, directly onto the battlefield. As a G/U card it just seems to add more power to a color scheme that already have excessive resources. There are plenty of creatures and artifacts to help support Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy.
Labyrinth Raptor – This card has good value all by itself, but the whole play around creatures with Menace really makes this a build around creature. I know I feel the need to give this a try. The opponent will need to be very particular in choosing how to defend against your Menace creatures, and in the colors of Black and Red, you can have some combat tricks to seriously punish your opponent after they make their plays. Could be lots of fun messing with their heads.
Regal Leosaur – As a normal creature it is a bear, but when mutated, it brings a huge bonus to your other creatures. +2/+1 is a significant power shift and can really turn a Boros army into a game ending alpha strike. If you can pile on additional mutations, either the same turn or future turns you can keep adding this on. Even the mutate cost is still affordable early game.
Savai Thundermane – 3/2 for RW is a great deal but the cycle triggered ability is what really makes this card strong. 2 mana for a 4-life shift is a good deal and it doesn’t require a tap. Savai Thundermane can be a strong piece of an aggressive Cycle deck.
Skull Prophet – Nothing super extravagant or wild here, just a solid creature with 3 power and two standard abilities for BG. Tap it for mana generation, filling your graveyard, or as a fat 3 power attacker, Skull Prophet is value packed.
Sprite Dragon – Flavor Text – Size of a pixie, rage of a hellkite. Totally hilarious. 1/1 Flying, Haste Faerie Dragon that gets +1/+1 bigger every time you cast a non-creature spell. Again, nothing unique here, we have seen its likeness before. I find cards like this fun, but the fact that this has the creature type Faerie means a fun new addition to the tribe.
Valiant Rescuer – 3/1 seems to be popular in this set. As the only card on this list that is mono colored, we have a creature that does not have flashy new abilities, but the combo here brings real value. Generating 1/1 human soldier tokens is always a nice ability. Having that ability trigger off from Cycling is really, quite strong. Add in the fact that Valiant Rescuer also has Cycling and you have another piece of a nasty RW Cycle deck.