Theros Beyond Death: Set Review - White
Both Jamie and TJ are using a rating scale of 10 for this set. Jamie is basing hers on limited play, while TJ is giving more of a holistic rating. Melvin is just being Melvin.
Other Colors
Alseid of Life’s Bounty
Jamie: 6/10 Protecting your best creature or enchantment at a cheap cost seems strong.
TJ: 4/10 Single use mother of runes may have some usefulness in constructed, but I doubt it. I expect this to act more as a protection spell that triggers constellation.
Melvin: I hope he doesn't forget the gods in their jealous sky as he walks in fields of gold.
Archon of the falling stars
Jamie: 6/10 Good in enchantment heavy strategy, sort of expensive as just a 4/4 flyer for 6.
TJ: 6/10 Already a fan of a 4/4 flying for 6. If you want to get cute, enchant it with Minion's Return and act like you deserve a doctorate for it.
Melvin: TJ, look! That archon is riding a flying cow! (and not a horse)
Archon of Sun's Grace
Jamie: 10/10 Great stats and will get out of control quickly with lots of enchantments.
TJ: 8/10 I'd slam this card without the constellation in limited. The triggered ability will probably take over games. I'd bet money that someone will build an FNM standard deck around this card, and I'll probably lose to it.
Melvin: A thing that mass produces horses is TJ's greatest nightmare.
Banishing Light
Jamie: 7/10 Great removal, good price. Watch out for enchantment hate though.
TJ: 8/10 Card's good. Use it
Melvin: If you wanted to banish light, I think you can just use the spell "Nox!" Silly muggle.
The BIrth of meletis
Jamie: 3/10 Not sure why you would want to play this card but seems like okay filler. Heavy fliers decks maybe want this to gum up the ground?
TJ: 2/10 A wall of omens that always draws a plains is alright I suppose. Enjoy your speed bump.
Melvin: Does each lore counter represent a trimester?
Captivating Unicorn
Jamie: 5/10 Decent payoff for an enchantment heavy deck.
TJ: 6/10 It’s good stats, and you may be able to string together a few enchantments for an alpha strike at the end of the game or at least eliminate their problem creature. The ability is aggressive but the stats allow you to play defense as well.
Melvin: Someone's thirsty on mane.
Commanding Presence
Jamie: 6/10 Backbreaking on an evasive threat, but 4 mana is expensive. Getting 2 for 1ed is not fun.
TJ: 5/10 Neat? I'll say neat. I don’t see much use to the tokens, if you are able to hit the player than you probably don’t need chump blockers. But it's added value.
Melvin: Even fiery eye drops can’t make you unsee the "Cats" movie.
Dawn Evangel
Jamie: 6/10 Great build-around, aura death value!
TJ: 6/10 A cool way to mitigate the downside of auras. Notable works for creatures you don’t control as well. So any pacifism style effects that you have could end up rebuying a creature from your yard.
Melvin: He's ironically not a morning person.
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
Jamie: 7/10 ETB and death trigger for life gain... at worst a bear... yes please!
TJ: 8/10 Aside from the mana cost being difficult, this card is sweet. enables devotion, keeps you alive with blocking and gaining life. For two mana it offers a lot and would carry auras.
Melvin: His shield is a mask with a tiny pegasus on it. That's like the Mercedes symbol in Theros.
Daybreak Chimera
Jamie: 7/10 This will likely be a 3/3 flyer for WW. That's a deal.
TJ: 6/10 Even a single enchantment put this at a cost that I'm happy with. fliers seem pretty good in an aura set
Melvin: This card is so much better than Windbreak Chimera, which frankly stinks.
dreadful apathy
Jamie: 7/10 More expensive pacisfism that lets you exile when you feel up to it... I'm in
TJ: 9/10 3 Mana removal for creatures without abilities, 6 mana removal for indestructible or activated abilities. Plus you can pay it in installments. thumbs up.
Melvin: This is what I'll picture when people tell me how bad carbs are for me.
eidolon of obstruction
Jamie: 6/10 Great stats.
TJ: 10/10 Is this rating realistic? Not at all, but making cards that diminish the reign of planeswalkers gets style points. Also, If Melvin wants to build a pool 30 feet in the air I'm not gonna stop him.
Melvin: I think this guy works with TJ at the permits office. He's why I couldn't build my rooftop Jacuzzi.
elspeth conquers death
Jamie: 7/10 Fine removal and returning your biggest threat from graveyard with a counter seems solid as heck for 5 mana.
TJ: 6/10 Over-costed removal spell, almost irrelevant ability for turn 6 unless they have an absolute bomb, and reanimating a creature. Seems fine. It's a lot of medium abilities that get better if your deck is built to use it.
Melvin: I'm happy if I can conquer the shrink wrap on a DVD case.
elspeth, sun’s nemesis
Jamie: 8/10 Escape potential huge, great in evasive decks, price is right.
TJ: 9/10 Escape is wild. make a bunch of humans, make your creatures better than theirs, cheap escape cost. don’t worry about needing to always block attacks at her. It's a lot of value if you forget that cards like Oko and Teferi exist
Melvin: Oh no! Elspeth poorly chose to enchant her spear with a low melting- point chocolate base. That won’t set in time for the Food Network “Theros: Beyond Chocolate” dessert competition.
favored of iroas
Jamie: 6/10 Solid build around, enchantment pay off. Put some buffs on this and it becomes a must deal with threat.
TJ: 8/10 I may be rating it highly. But I expect that most of the constellation triggers will be auras. and if you are putting auras on a double strike creature, you are living happily. Get to swinging and make them have a removal spell.
Melvin: Why is this soldier wearing a diaper? I thought this said "Flavored of Iroas" at first and assumed it's almost but not quite vanilla.
flicker of fate
Jamie: 4/10 Not sure how strong a flicker effect will be... if you have a creature with a great ETB might be worth it or protection against removal. Fine filler
TJ: 5/10 Protect a creature, get a constellation trigger, abuse an ETB. In the right deck I light this a lot, versatility is sweet
Melvin: Suddenly the centaur was less a presence and more an abcentaur.
glory bearers
Jamie: 5/10 Filler with decent stats, the ability isn't exciting.
TJ: 3/10 Nothing I like more for attacking creatures than an additional toughness.
Melvin: If you want to bear glory, you have to urn it.
heliod, sun-crowned
Jamie: 8/10 Life-gain build-around to really take off... being able to grant lifelink huge plus, can get of of control quickly, low cost low risk
TJ: 9/10 Lol. This card is good, aside from its Frontier implications with walking ballista, this card does a great job at enabling itself and scaling your creatures throughout the game
Melvin: Heliod's crown was the sun. His robes, the sky. His muttonchops, a cloud. His teeth, just teeth.
Heliod’s intervention
Jamie: 6/10 Lots of artifacts and enchantments, I would play this in all my white decks. Although, not first picking probably.
TJ: 2/10 Thank goodness Heliod was here to gain me life. It's probably better than I give it credit for but I expect to see this at the Commander table more than anything.
Melvin: They had an intervention for Heliod after the other gods noticed what those white clouds he kept snorting actually were.
Heliod’s Pilgrim
Jamie: 5/10 Fine if you have great enchantments.
TJ: ?/10 Like most tutors, it's a lot better if you have good cards to find.
Melvin: All pilgrim cards should either search for turkey, stuffing, or pumpkin pie. I have spoken!
heliod’s punishment
Jamie: 6/10 Good enough removal TM.. takes a while to get this off so temporarily deal with opponents biggest threat on the cheap will probably be enough in most cases
TJ: 6/10 A pacifism for 4 turns is still a pacifism. add on that it removes all abilities and this card will do a lot to buy you time to push through some damage or to develop another answer
Melvin: And if you don't love Heliod now, you'll never love him again, I can still hear him saying, He would never break the chains. (Never break the chains)
hero of the pride
Jamie: 6/10 Bear with upside and pump whole team with combat tricks or enchantments.
TJ: 5/10 Bears are probably better than usual in a set with so many auras and tricks. but it's still a bear that will trigger once or twice. as a 3/2 wearing an enchantment it's medium, if you end up going wide with satyrs this card gets significantly better.
Melvin: I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the fight. He's gotta be strong, and he might be a cat, and he's gotta have pecs that are tight.
hero of the winds
Jamie: 7/10 Evasive threat that can pump your team with a combat trick or flash enchantment.
TJ: 5/10 I'm not excited about 1 power flying creatures. a lot of the text for hero of the pride can carry over to this card. if you go wide or have some sweet auras then it's great. otherwise it's unexceptional.
Melvin: I hope someone breaks hero of the winds in some format.
idyllic tutor
Jamie: 3/10 Unless you have a BALLER enchantment to find, probably not playing this in limited too much.
TJ: 2/10 Unless I drafted an absolute bomb. which is less likely because this is one of my rares
Melvin: And thus, Heliod reached down and said unto his pupil, “Thou shouldst pulleth my finger.”
indomitable will
Jamie: 4/10 Fine filler, maybe okay as a combat trick that sticks around.
TJ: 4/10 Neat. I guess. if you need an aura, this is an aura. I wanted to give it a 3 but having flash makes it cooler than that.
Melvin: Wasn't this the title of Wil Wheaton's autobiography?
karametra’s blessing
Jamie: 7/10 This is going to be such a gottem card in response to removal. yuck.
TJ: 8/10 Jamie convinced me on the January 16th episode that this card is good. I'd be happy to have one in the deck for all the tricks this card can be up your sleeve.
Melvin: Don't kill that elk! After the last set, it could be someone we know!
lagonna-band storyteller
Jamie: 6/10 Great in heavy enchantment decks, fine stats even without getting an enchantment back.
TJ: 6/10 Sweet card. buy back your removal or auras. gain a bit of life incidentally, and have a reasonable body to wield whatever you are getting back. putting it on top of the library is a real bummer so make sure you are going to want the enchantment more than an average card next turn.
Melvin: A much more popular creature than the Lagonnna-Band Limerick Reciter
leonin of the lost pride
Jamie: 4/10 Filler.
TJ: 2/10 Eh? Dies to everything. might be useful once it does. fills your curve. turns sideways.
Melvin: Two leonin warriors, on a routine expedition, met the greatest earthquake Theros's ever known. High on the rapids it struck their tiny raft, and plunged them down a thousand feet below. To the Land of the Lost (Pride)…..
Nyxborn courser
Jamie: 4/10 Filler, 2/4 for 3 is decent but not horribly enticing.
TJ: 3/10 Triggers constellation and blocks reasonably. not bad as a way to fill the curve in deck building and have some small upside in the late game.
Melvin: I'm more worried about airborne coursers.
OMEN of the sun
Jamie: 5/10 Not terribly exciting.
TJ: 6/10 Raise the alarm, but it costs one more, triggers enchantment abilities, scrys in the late game and can be rebought with something like shimmerwing chimera. I actually don't mind this card at all. it's a big pile of useful medium.
Melvin: If I want two people to show up suddenly out of nowhere, I'll just say I have extra playoff tickets.
phalanx tactics
Jamie: 6/10 Can be backbreaking with a ton of little duders, fine as a combat trick even without a huge board.
TJ: 9/10 For flavor, 5/10 for usability. in the deck where this is good (red/white heroic) it will be amazing as a 1 or 2 of. in everything else you'll play a different card. but casting this on one of the heroes to give your team +2/+1 is going to feel amazing when it happens.
Melvin: I can't tell if this is a good card. I flunked phalanx.
pious wayfarer
Jamie: 4/10 Fine include in enchantment heavy decks but not super exciting.
TJ: 3/10 Boring card. doesn't seem effective in the early game and it doesn't seem to scale well into the late game. if I need a creature I suppose it will do.
Melvin: I go on piouswayfarer.com to order throw pillows and wicker pews for my temple.
reverent hoplite
Jamie: 8/10 Super strong in mono W, unplayable otherwise. This should reliably create at least 5-6 tokens, which is great stats for 5 mana.
TJ: 8/10 Curving into this card will be incredible. terrible on an empty board so you won't be splashing for this card alone. but in a white heavy deck this card can really turn a game around offensively or defensively.
Melvin: Why would you want a hoplite? The more hops the better, I say.
revoke existence
Jamie: 8/10 Will run 1-2 main deck, will always have a good target.
TJ: 6/10 Didn't really think I'd want to maindeck this in limited, but here we are. exile is super relevant in a set named "beyond death", enchantments will be plentiful, hitting an enchantment creature with this won't feel fair.
Melvin: Don't revoke existence now! I'm only halfway through The Mandalorian!
rumbling sentry
Jamie: 4/10 Filler.
TJ: 4/10 A big beardy blocky boi.
Melvin: It would take a boulder person than I to bother that sentry.
sentinel’s eyes
Jamie: 5/10 Efficient.
TJ: 6/10 Eliminates the card disadvantage of auras. vigilance is sweet for being able to keep the shields up.
Melvin: These eyes have seen a lot of auras but they're never gonna see another one like I cast on you.
shatter the sky
Jamie: 7/10 Wrath effects are great fail-safes but tough to play optimally.
TJ: 9/10 Oof. Killing everything is a nice option to have in limited. even if your opponent is drawing a card it's probably less good than whatever you are killing. might replace itself in your hand as a consolation for what you lost
Melvin: Original title was “Scatter the Shy”.
sunmane pegasus
Jamie: 5/10 Would look great with enchantments/buffed but not impressed with 2/3 flyer for 4.
TJ: 6/10 I would already draft this without the ability and feel medium. adding vigilance and lifelink as a mana sink seems really good if I can suit it up with anything at all.
Melvin: This pegasus is sunny on mane.
taranika, akroan veteran
Jamie: 9/10 Great stats for cost, and the ability is HOLY HECK.
TJ: 9/10 Castable mana cost, good pips for devotion. 3/3 for 3 with vigilance that grows another creature and gives it vigilance? notably the other creature you target doesn't need to be attacking. could be used on mana dorks, activated abilities, or even creatures locked up with Heliod’s Punishment.
Melvin: Wasn't she in the first Wonder Woman movie?
transcendent envoy
Jamie: 4/10 Good in heavy aura deck/enchantment matters deck? but very meh otherwise.
TJ: 5/10 It's better than bad, but worse than good.
Melvin: “Alright, which god dropped their contact lens?”
triumphant surge
Jamie: 4/10 Not a big fan of conditional removal.. this probably shouldn't be main board in every deck. There will be some decks where this has 0 targets.
TJ: 5/10 I think this condition will be satisfied more often than usual because of all the auras. but I don't love the idea of having a dead removal spell against aggro decks.
Melvin: I prefer Triumphant Sierra Mist, or Triumphant Mountain Dew.
