Bizarre how it's not nearly as good as the rare cleric angel. did they mess up the rareties by accident?
This angel has potential in Pyre of Heroes decks. The other angel doesn't so much. This one gives for devotion. Etb + die triggers on a single card involving counters is more powerful than a conditional buff that can be shenanigan'ed with a removal spell. This angel fits in warrior decks, the other in cleric decks.
Don't judge a card on the community's first impressions, we might be surprised which one will see the most play.
The runes are very likely to be artifacts, like some said, dwarves & turning the cmc into are good hints.
It's CRAZY powerful to make a spell cost only 1 generic mana, so those rune cards either have to be utter garbage (narrow stuff, anti-synergistic with creatures or sthg) or imply alternate mana costs. Like :
"if you don't pay the full cmc, when ~~ etb, sacrifice a permanent with cmc = to the difference", or
"attach ~~ to target permanent you control with cmc = or less than the amount of mana spent to cast ~~".
There MUST be a drawback to the dwarf's super-broken ability. Otherwise there's a risk we witness a new kind of brokenness.
I like the idea they combine tribes, it pushes synergies between two creature types instead of pushing a single one. It makes Cavern of Souls and Unclaimed Territory less powerful in tribal decks. It is swomething that would've minimized the impact of those lands if they had thought about it years ago. Better late than never.
Angels were crowded with 4 & 5 cmc powerful creatures, it's good news they give the tribe something playable earlier in the curve. The archetype has been weak for constructed so far, so this set gives it a chance to shine in Historic and Pioneer. Good news.
Really depends what meta you expect, as always. If you stick playing in your store and you know the meta over there, you pretty much know whether Karakas is good in your deck. The card is insanely good but very expensive. It deals with Dark Depths, Griselbrand, Emrakul, and protects your Thalias... is it something you encounter in your games ?
The canopy lands are good too. Since you're aggro, you don't care pinging yourself and it's anti-flood insurance. Sunbaked Canyon and Silent Clearing are more affordable than Horizon Canopy, choose according to your splash of choice.
Aether Vial should be a 4-of, it's actually your best way not to be mana screwed ! Champ of Parish and Lieutenant should be 4-ofs too, it's your most aggro start possible.
You play 1-ofs that make little sense to me, like Kytheon (he's a filler card, not highly competitive), Big Thalia is only decent VS Tron (and Amulet according to the situation) afaik. Maybe that's the meta you expect ?
Broodmoth makes no sense to me, it's expensive, while a card like Selfless Spirit answers more situations and can be vialed in or easily hardcast. But overall, Giver of Runes is the cheapest way you protect your dudes and is a target for Ranger. Your deck should accept to lose creatures to removal spells, protection is not as important as in Coco decks with a combo win, where you want to protect Walking Ballista for example. In your deck, Giver is also good because it helps creatures attacking through blockers (Humans lack evasion and that's a big problem).
Shelter is bad with Thalia in your deck. 21 lands is enough if you don't run 4-drops and 4 Vials anyway. To protect your dudes, once again Giver is the most synergistic.
Maybe there's budget considerations too ? I would consider 4 Cavern of Souls in this deck, but I know they're expensive.
Don't get me wrong, I can see you're experimenting a lot of builds, and I wish you loads of fun ! Just objective criticism here (from proven history of the cards).
Augur of Bolas is good at finding land spells, so it can fix the mana. necessary evil to block early dudes. Valakut Awakening is great in the deck, lets me bottom the minotaurs I drew and dig for everything else.
alot of decks will use fetch lands that are not the color pairs of their deck(for instance using the Blue/Green fetch land in a Blue/Red deck). Is there a reason for this?
Many decks play 8 fetchlands, especially in 3 color decks. In 2 color decks it's also an interesting choice. Izzet decks will run blue spells you want to play on turn 1, for example Opt and Serum Visions. It's very important to be able to fetch for a basic Island on turn 1 (even more so against aggro decks), that's why the deck might play 8 "blue" fetchlands. They stil let you search for Steam Vents, so that's fine.
On turn 1, you may hide the kind of deck you play if your play a Misty Rainforest while your deck has no green spell. A deck like Infect play 2 copies of each of the five "green" fetchlands sometimes.
Anyways, here is what I have so far for the deck I am looking at building.
All in all, don't buy cards right now, go on testing online for free, take your time and get a feel for the cards you try. When you sure you love certain cards, you'll know what direction you wanna choose.
If we speak for Pioneer, this set offers at least 30 playable cards in many fringe (or not) decks, every set is good food for the variety of the format.
Now going beyond Pioneer (i.e. Modern, Legacy & Vintage), as usually in recent sets, some combo-ish cards will be either too cute or will make a viable deck, I'm not the one to figure those out. Going by color, not necessarily the ones that look the strongest, but the most interesting for what they offer :
1- Feed the Swarm : this card will be played and remembered as a heck of a break. I'm happy to see it and hope it's gonna be the only one card to do it in black for a long time.
2- Scourge of the Skyclaves : this goes in many aggro decks with Bolts and 1-cmc creatures. I love a blue sky on a black card art too.
4- Thieving Skydiver : go steal a mox, Dack Fayden's niece. Memorable design no matter whether it's gonna see competitive play.
5- Turntimber Symbiosis : I think Amulet, who knows, it might go somewhere else. The black one of this cycle might be good too, but it requires a shell that I'm unaware of.
This angel has potential in Pyre of Heroes decks. The other angel doesn't so much. This one gives for devotion. Etb + die triggers on a single card involving counters is more powerful than a conditional buff that can be shenanigan'ed with a removal spell. This angel fits in warrior decks, the other in cleric decks.
Don't judge a card on the community's first impressions, we might be surprised which one will see the most play.
It's CRAZY powerful to make a spell cost only 1 generic mana, so those rune cards either have to be utter garbage (narrow stuff, anti-synergistic with creatures or sthg) or imply alternate mana costs. Like :
"if you don't pay the full cmc, when ~~ etb, sacrifice a permanent with cmc = to the difference", or
"attach ~~ to target permanent you control with cmc = or less than the amount of mana spent to cast ~~".
There MUST be a drawback to the dwarf's super-broken ability. Otherwise there's a risk we witness a new kind of brokenness.
Angels were crowded with 4 & 5 cmc powerful creatures, it's good news they give the tribe something playable earlier in the curve. The archetype has been weak for constructed so far, so this set gives it a chance to shine in Historic and Pioneer. Good news.
I love when the rules feel for the players.
It also steals Stoneforge Mystic and Recruiter of the Guard targets.
It also messes up with a few Storm plays (Dark Petition and Wishclaw Talisman in mind).
It also steals GSZ, Natural Order, Veteran Explorer, Crop Rotation and Gamble targets.
Without considering the fetchland impact but adding other tutor effects in various archetypes, it's useful against 30+% of the metagame. Not bad.
The canopy lands are good too. Since you're aggro, you don't care pinging yourself and it's anti-flood insurance. Sunbaked Canyon and Silent Clearing are more affordable than Horizon Canopy, choose according to your splash of choice.
Aether Vial should be a 4-of, it's actually your best way not to be mana screwed !
Champ of Parish and Lieutenant should be 4-ofs too, it's your most aggro start possible.
You play 1-ofs that make little sense to me, like Kytheon (he's a filler card, not highly competitive), Big Thalia is only decent VS Tron (and Amulet according to the situation) afaik. Maybe that's the meta you expect ?
Broodmoth makes no sense to me, it's expensive, while a card like Selfless Spirit answers more situations and can be vialed in or easily hardcast. But overall, Giver of Runes is the cheapest way you protect your dudes and is a target for Ranger. Your deck should accept to lose creatures to removal spells, protection is not as important as in Coco decks with a combo win, where you want to protect Walking Ballista for example. In your deck, Giver is also good because it helps creatures attacking through blockers (Humans lack evasion and that's a big problem).
Shelter is bad with Thalia in your deck. 21 lands is enough if you don't run 4-drops and 4 Vials anyway. To protect your dudes, once again Giver is the most synergistic.
Maybe there's budget considerations too ? I would consider 4 Cavern of Souls in this deck, but I know they're expensive.
Don't get me wrong, I can see you're experimenting a lot of builds, and I wish you loads of fun ! Just objective criticism here (from proven history of the cards).
With the new cards from ZNR, the deck gets a bit better :
3 Star of Extinction
2 Fanatic of Mogis
2 Kragma Warcaller
1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
1 Neheb, the Eternal
1 Rageblood Shaman
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Irencrag Feat
4 Valakut Awakening
2 Silundi Vision
4 Shimmer of Possibility
4 Opt
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Shivan Reef
4 Riverglide Pathway
2 Clearwater Pathway
2 Mountain
Augur of Bolas is good at finding land spells, so it can fix the mana. necessary evil to block early dudes.
Valakut Awakening is great in the deck, lets me bottom the minotaurs I drew and dig for everything else.
Not sold on Silundi Vision (is more 3-cmc digging necessary ?) nor Clearwater Pathway (to hardcast Kragma).
Many decks play 8 fetchlands, especially in 3 color decks. In 2 color decks it's also an interesting choice. Izzet decks will run blue spells you want to play on turn 1, for example Opt and Serum Visions. It's very important to be able to fetch for a basic Island on turn 1 (even more so against aggro decks), that's why the deck might play 8 "blue" fetchlands. They stil let you search for Steam Vents, so that's fine.
On turn 1, you may hide the kind of deck you play if your play a Misty Rainforest while your deck has no green spell. A deck like Infect play 2 copies of each of the five "green" fetchlands sometimes.
Your deck is in between 2 archetypes, which is not comeptitive viable most of the time. Bump in the Night and Lava Spike are aggro spells we see in Burn. On the other hand Kroxa, Mishra's Bauble, Fatal Push and Thoughtseize are midrange cards, that we find in Jund.
If you want a viable deck you need to choose one of the 2 paths.
To go aggro, cut Kroxa and add in 4 Scourge of the Skyclave instead. Add Monastery Swiftspear, Goblin Guide (or Soul-Scar Mage if your budget is limited), get Skewer the Critics and Rift Bolt.
To go midrange, cut Spike and Bump, add Terminate and/or Dreadbore, i.e. spells that deal with the opponent's permanents. The new Feed the Swarm is interesting vs enchantments. Dark Confidant is interesting but Dreadhorde Arcanist or Young Pyromancer can be more affordable. The new Magmatic Channeler is promising.
All in all, don't buy cards right now, go on testing online for free, take your time and get a feel for the cards you try. When you sure you love certain cards, you'll know what direction you wanna choose.
Now going beyond Pioneer (i.e. Modern, Legacy & Vintage), as usually in recent sets, some combo-ish cards will be either too cute or will make a viable deck, I'm not the one to figure those out. Going by color, not necessarily the ones that look the strongest, but the most interesting for what they offer :
1- Feed the Swarm : this card will be played and remembered as a heck of a break. I'm happy to see it and hope it's gonna be the only one card to do it in black for a long time.
2- Scourge of the Skyclaves : this goes in many aggro decks with Bolts and 1-cmc creatures. I love a blue sky on a black card art too.
3- Sea Gate Stormcaller : the value is bonkers, I want to double Cleansing Wildfire, Lightning Axe or Fatal Push everyday now. Aether Vial and Eternal Command revival anyone ?
4- Thieving Skydiver : go steal a mox, Dack Fayden's niece. Memorable design no matter whether it's gonna see competitive play.
5- Turntimber Symbiosis : I think Amulet, who knows, it might go somewhere else. The black one of this cycle might be good too, but it requires a shell that I'm unaware of.
6- Wayward Guide-Beast : I love the weird design and the flavour. Along with Akoum Hellhound and Skyclave Pick-Axe, it might give Landfall decks an interesting turn.
7- Cleansing Wildfire : makes me wanna play Blue Moon or put it in any UR deck with either Snapcaster or Stormcaller.
8- Archon of Emeria : Nice D&T creature (that might not nsee play in Legacy), and I always dig white material.
9- Lithoform Engine : what is this ? Not my jam but the potential is there, maybe a tool for Baby Karn or Mishra's Workshop ?
10- Myriad Construct : I like the Illusion design, and they pushed it in an original direction here.
Atarka's Command & Enter the Unknown are cheaper than Azusa.
Traverse the Ulvenwald, Elvish Reclaimer.
Knight of the White Orchid in white.