Best New Two Mana Spells in Core 19 for the Standard format

[DelverMage]

Core 19 has provided a very nice suite of two mana cards for your casting pleasure.  Certain colors received more than a fair share, but all in all every color got some very decent spells at the two mana point.  There are quite a few reprints, but I am not going to officially score them, as they are reprints, and we have seen them before.  There are 3 in particular that are welcome back to Standard: Anticipate, Doomed Dissenter, and Reassembling Skeleton all have had a turn in the format before.  I particularly like the fact that Anticipate is back, it is a fun card to play with. 

White
Ajani’s Pridemate is the newest version of Longtusk Cub, but replace Energy with Lifegain.  There are so many ways you can start bumping it up, and at just about any phase of the game.  Ajani’s Pridemate can skyrocket in just a turn or two to demolish your opponent given the right circumstances.  This is one of my top 5 pics for M19.  There is a handful of mentionable cards in White to discuss here.




Take Vengeance – 1W to destroy target tapped creature.  We have seen this in White plenty of times before.  This and similar cards in the past, will find themselves used in the main deck, or as a sideboard card, depending on the Meta.  The fact that a tapped creature is a required target to use this discounted removal spell limits it usefulness.  There are plenty of creatures that will not fit this criteria that will see play in the current Standard.  As with all core sets, core abilities are plentiful right now.  Vigilance abounds in White and Green right now, which certainly keeps you from Taking Vengeance on them.  Even with that restriction, Take Vengeance is a powerful card for its cost.


Ajani’s Pridemate –  I will come right out and say this is my new favorite two mana card in Standard, certainly my favorite from M19.  A 2/2 Cat Soldier for 1W that gets a +1/+1 token every time you gain a life. 
Every Time You Gain A Life.
Let it sink in.
No energy required.  Lifelink abounds in the set and in Standard.  Ajani’s Pridemate loves taking cool drinks from Fountain of Renewal and talking long walks with Leonin Vanguard.
They prefer the company of Chaplins, Angles, Vampires, and they love to Revitalize over a cold beer and discussions with a Dwarven Priest.


Cavalry Drillmaster – A 2/1 Human Knight that gives another target creature +2/0 and First Strike until EOT when it comes into play for 1W.  That is an immediate impact even with summoning sickness.  Knight tribal has enough cards in Standard to be a thing, btw.  Too bad Ajani’s Pridemate is just a Soldier.


Remorseful Cleric – I asked my opponent, if he truly believed his Cleric was Remorseful.  They said they didn’t know for sure, but the Remorseful Cleric seemed sincere.  Then on my turn, I dropped a Skeleton Archer targeting the Remorseful Cleric, who dutifully emptied my graveyard on the way to his.  A decent presence as a creature; the graveyard cleanup is a nice bonus.  You can even target yourself to keep you opponent from rummaging around in your corpses.  A 2/1 Flier for 1W, that can be sacrificed to empty a target players graveyard.  The graveyard ability does not require a tap or any mana, so more often than not, Remorseful Cleric won't go away empty handed.


Blue
Blue has a decent selection of two mana cards to mention here.  I would not place any of these cards in my top 5 list, but they all are above average and have some interesting tricks and lots of flexibility.


Metamorphic Alteration – An Aura for 1U that turns enchanted creature into a copy of another target creature.  How many different ways can we use this?  Well, you can turn your 1/1 Servo into a copy of your Glorious Endbringer.  You can turn their Glorious Endbringer into a copy of your 1/1 Servo.  You can turn their Nicol Bolas, The Ravager into a copy of their Hazoret the Fervent, and watch one of them go away…..  How much fun can you have with this?


Departed Deckhand – A 2/2 Pirate Spirit for 1U.  That is fun already!  Plus only other Spirits can block it, AND for 3U it can make another creatures “Ghostly” as well.  Just beware, that your Departed Deckhand cannot be the target of spells, as that causes the spirit to go away. (You can still equip one though… hehehe)


*Supreme Phantom – A 1/3 flying Spirit, who would be considered a Spirit Lord, as it gives all other Spirits +1/+1.  For a 1U casting cost, this is an effective creature.  As most Lords, they do a good job of boosting each other while double boosting the other Spirits on your battlefield.  It is a decent card outside of the tribal use, but Blue has better choices at the two mana slot, so I put an asterisk on this.


Surge Mare – A 0/5 creature for UU that lets you draw a card and discard a card if it deals damager to your opponent.  In addition for 1U, you can give it +2/-2 until end of turn.  Surge Mare has its own combat tricks built in.  Later in the game it can be a nasty 4/1 creature after blocks have been chosen.  In the meantime, it can block creatures for quite some time before the Surge Mare gets outclassed.  Something Blue creatures have done it the past, but not with this much opportunity to be effective in the mid to late game.  It is a great target for combat tricks in the meantime.


Black
I only have one card here to mention.  Usually Black has a few strong two mana spells but for M19, we will talk about…..


Graveyard Marshal – A 3/2 Zombie Soldier for BB, are stats that already elevate this card over its peers.  For an activation cost of 2B and the removal of a creature card from your graveyard, you get a Black 2/2 Zombie token that comes into play tapped.  There is no restriction on when you can activate it, so doing this at the end of your opponents turn is the most opportune time.  Your opponent keeps putting them down, and the Graveyard Marshal keeps digging them up.


Red
There are some decent two mana spells in Red in M19.  All of them are creatures, as the majority of the other Red cards in the two slot are staple reprints.


Dismissive Pyromancer – The first of two pyromancers on this list, it's a 2/2Human Wizard for 1R.  For R and tap, you can discard a card and then draw one.  For 2R, tap, and sacrifice of the pyromancer, you get to deal out 4 damage to a target creature.  This wizard does a lot of work, at all levels of your game.  It is a solid bear, it helps filter through your cards AND is can go off to kill a creature twice its size.


Lightning Mare – It is a 3/1 uncounterable elemental horse that cannot be blocked by Blue creatures.  In addition, it has a built in Dragons Breath, getting +1/0 for every 1R you pump into it.  The one toughness is a big concern here though as it is not terribly hard to remove.  It can, however, take out some of the biggest beasties your opponent can send your way.


Viashino Pyromancer – Here we have another top 5 pick.  A 2/1 creature who is a Wizard, that deals 2 damage to target player or planeswalker when it comes into play.  It basically boils down to being a targeted Shock and a chump blocker, that could occasionally support wizardly things.  Don’t expect Viashino Pyromancer to hang out on the battlefield for too long, but as this card should be included as a four of, in your deck, you will have a few chances to see this wizard do its thing.

Green
There are four interesting cards listed for Green.  They have a bit of normal Green flavor, but each of these also has some different spices added.  Some real interesting ability combos and slightly different twists for this set.   Green, in general, seems to taking on some more subtle tricks that resemble Blue card behaviors.   They are slowing starting to pull Green away from being a more straight forward creature beats approach, and giving it some flair.



Talons of Wildwood – For 1G this card gives your creature +1/+1 and Trample, but for 2G you can take it out of your graveyard and put it back in your hand.  This aura can take away the usual sting of getting twofered.  It is a bit pricy to bring back, but having the option mid to late game can make a big difference. 


Elvish Clancaller – At 1/1 for 1G, this new Elven Lord gives your other elves +1/+1.  It is a bit light on staying power.  Mid to late game though, for 4GG the clancaller can start to search your library for other Elvish Clancallers and put them directly onto the battlefield.  This can steamroll you opponent quickly once you get to that point.  Do you have any idea what an Elvish Clancall would sound like?  Maybe we could steal a Mockingjay reference here….



Hungering Hydra – XG to summon this hydra who comes into play with X +1/+1 counters.  It cannot be blocked by more than one creature and gets a new +1/+1 counter for every point of damage it survives!  This thing can grow fast, and will be a strong target for removal as soon as it hits the battlefield.  I have it under the two mana category, because it cannot be effectively cast for less than that.  Of course, it can be summoned for more, but that is part of what makes the Hungering Hydra dangerous.  Sneaking this hydra into your dinosaur decks so it can grow off the same pings you use to anger your dino army may work, but that is only theory.  Historically, and likely including this one, Hydras always fall short of being considered a Tier 1 staple card.  Personally, I am a sucker for Hydras, and yes, I will be trying to use Hungering Hydra in Green decks soon.



Thorn Lieutenant – A 2/3 Elf Warrior for 1G is a great deal, but the fact that it will generate a 1/1 Green elf token every time your opponent tries to target it, makes it even better.  This gives the Thorn Lieutenant a chance to survive to mid to late game, where its third ability becomes an option.  For 5G you get to beef it up by +4/+4 until end of turn.  A 6/7 Thorn Lieutenant is going to hurt something.


Colorless
There is one more artifact that I think is worthy of being on this list.  M19 is not artifact heavy by any means and there are some nice ones in there.  Millstone is back… and it is still too slow.

Amulet of Safekeeping – For 2 you get this artifact that requires your opponent to effectively pay a 1 mana tax to target you directly, or have their spell or ability get countered.  It also gives all token creatures a -1/0.  Amulet of Safekeeping reeks of Blue and control decks can use this artifact quite effectively.  It is not even expensive at 2, giving you two early game effects that are traditionally instant speed, and keeping them around turn after turn.  This is obviously a nice sideboard card for many decks, but control and combo decks can easily put this in the main.  (Provided their strategy does not include token creatures).