I bought a new pack of Magic: The Gathering cards when I was in Spokane the other day. The Gamer's Haven offers new packs at a slight discount from MSRP. They were out of the new War of the Spark set, though, so here is a look at a pack from the prior set, Ravnica: Allegiance.
The world of Ravnica has been featured in several Magic sets over the years now, and there is even a campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The cards and mechanics depict a world where ten guilds control a planet-wide city. Each guild combines two of the colors used in Magic cards. Ever since the first set usingnthese colors, these fictional names have been used as shorthand. One might say, "I am running an Orzhov deck" as shorthand for any black/white deck regardless the set symbils on the cards in it.
Enough dilly-dallying. Let's open a pack!
Ten commons. That means no foil this time. Some of these have potential, though.
Thirsting Shade has Lifelink, meaning the damage it does to an opponent or creature increases its controller's life pool. Very handy, especially early in the game and at no extra resource cost for the ability.
Knight of Sorrows has the ability to block multiple attackers, and could block and destroy a pair of Thirsting Shades without being destroyed itself. Its opponent would still gain life, but its controllers would not lose any life or defensive creatures. If it blocks something tougher, its destruction nets a token. The cost to play it is a bit high, but it does a lot in exchange.
Sage's Row Savant has the Scry 2 ability. When played, it lets its owner peek at the next two cards in the draw pile and them put them back in any order or put any number of them on the bottom of the draw pile. Blue likes to stack its own deck. Very useful.
The uncommons and rare are nothing to write home about no high dolllar stuff today.
Depose // Deploy is a split card, though, allowing the player to choose which side to play. At least there is a Thopter token included in this pack.
Eyes Everywhere is another way to scry and it allows the blue player to steal something in exchange for it. Both are useful.
Spirit of the Spires offers a nice defensive bonus to other flying creatures. I have a deck that could use this card.
Glass of the Guildpact is very useful in a deck where catds require moren th an one color to play, but utterly useless elsewhere. It is this lack of broad utility that cripples its market value most, I think. But it has a place in Commander.
Fellow Magic players of Steemit, what do you think?