Soul of the Rapids is a bit underrated, but it’s still not great. In Sealed, again, it’s okay, but you need Vampires to get the most out of it. Voracious Vampire is a good card, but I’d only seriously consider it in a Draft if I had enough Vampires to target. However, piling Menace and +1/+1 onto another Vampire when it comes into the battlefield is a nice bonus for just three mana. A 2/2 Menace is difficult to block and can slip by opposing defenses effectively, which is just what you want in Rivals of Ixalan. One of the better Green commons, and it should have made the cut. Still, I like this card a lot more now than I did a week ago. It’s much less effective on defense, so you’ll want this in an aggressive deck. Hardy Veteran works in any deck, making it a more verstile card, and it can rumble! A turn-2, 2/4 attacker can brawl rumble with anything on the battlefield for three or four turns before it meets its match. Overgrown Armasaur is tough to take advantage of, and Knight of the Stampede is better, but only in very specific Dinosaur decks. However, I would take both of those judgments back. This is a card I originally had lined up in the best Green commons section, but then I removed it in favor of Overgrown Armasaur and Knight of the Stampede. This would definitely make it into a Black sealed pool, and in a Draft, I would take it fifth, sixth, seventh pick if I was leaning towards Pirates or even Vamps. It’s a small price to pay to have a dominant creature on the board.

Don’t mind the life loss if you’re not playing Pirates. 3/3 will usually be the biggest creature on the board on turn-3, and casting it for three is a good deal. It can be a blowout in your favor, again, against the right decks. Still, sideboard it as quickly as you can. Solid card to take late in a Draft, and something you might require less in a Sealed since opponents have limited access to removal. When it works, it feels so good, but if you have no targets, it sits in your hand and gets heavy after so many turns. You’ll want to keep this in your sideboard and use it against specific decks, meaning any deck that has a lot of removal spells. In Sealed, it’s not enough alone to push you into Vampires or a White deck, but it will likely make the cut if you do go that direction.Ĭlassic, very playable counterspell. This is the kind of card you pass around the table in a Draft and feel lucky if it wheels back to you. It’s a solid card, but I would never take it early. In a Vampire focused deck, it also triggers powerful abilities on certain creatures. Why? Well, the 2 points of lifegain help aggressive decks win races. Vampire’s Zeal filled a similar role in Ixalan, but Moment of Triumph can be played in any White deck with no regrets.

One-mana combat tricks can easily help you survive most combat encounters in Ixalan, and this one will do just that, boosting your Vampire out of range of its enemies for a minimal price. Nice little combat trick, especially if you are playing a Vampire deck.

Not dreadful, but not something you actively want. In Draft, I’d pass it most of the time, and in Sealed, I would ignore it unless I needed a two-mana creature. I’ve seen games that dragged on long enough to make one of these guys 10/2 Trample. Of course, it probably dies in the process, but that’s its purpose. Then, it’s a 7/2, and those stats can overrun most creatures and still hit the opponent for quite a bit. It only really shines on turn-6 if you’ve gotten all of your land drops. This card can be played on turn-2 as a small investment, but it won’t be effective until turn-4 if you want to skip casting a creature to make him a 4/2 Trample… meh, that dies easily and only gets a point of damage or two through at that point. Sun-Collared Raptor is not strictly aggressive, fitting more into the Red and Green spectrum of Dinosaurs. For those that don’t know, Boros is the name of Ravinca’s White and Red guild, and usually, they are strictly aggressive cards. If that’s not the best name for a Magic: The Gathering artist of all time, I’m not sure what else could be. Before I talk about the card itself, I just want to mention the artist’s name… Zoltan Boros.

Quick draft rivals of ixalan