Return to Ravnica (But it isn't October Yet!) Part 4

After my last couple of posts like this, it is time to reveal more about the set. There will be some pretty cool mechanics from this set, and we'll also have some really awesome cards.

So first of all, Jace has been revealed to be.... A solid blue planeswalker. Sorry everyone who wanted a Blue/Red. It would have been somewhat cool and made a bit of sense since two other planeswalkers of the original 5 are dual-colored now (Ajani uses White/Red, Garruk is now Green/Black). But Blue won out. Honestly, I don't see him being in play other than for multi-player matches since the ultimate deals with exiling  cards from multiple opponent's libraries. I I use the new Jace at all, it will be in a Commander Deck, a multiplayer deck, or I won't use his ultimate.

Next up are the other revealed mythic rare cards:

Rakdos Return looks like a great card for my Black/Red deck that is completely creatureless...

The new Niv-Mizzet looks like an exact opposite of the original card. The original cost the same to cast, but you could tap him to draw a card, and every time you draw a card he would deal 1 damage. Now with Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, you pay 1 Blue and 1 Red to deal 1 damage, and every time you deal one damage, you draw a card. He looks like he'll be a great commander if you play EDH/Commander format.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord looks like a good card for use in Commander and also will be a great card to use in Standard. He's got three abilities that could work well in a deck in Standard for sure.

Isperia, Supreme Judge allows for card draw late in the game which depending on what is in your deck, you may have something to prevent damage when you block (possibly draw a Restoration Angel and flash it in for better defense of yourself or a Planeswalker) I think all four of these will see play once everyone gets their hands on them.



A couple more things before I go (these posts are late because I'm in college and have classes first, but you still get them today, albeit in the afternoon...)

Shocklands are back!

We have Blood Crypt, Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, Steam Vents, and Temple Garden reprinted. There are also some other cool lands coming out too.




Transguild Promenade looks like a really nice card for producing and land color you need (and it is similar to the Shimmering Grotto from Innistrad except it sets you back a turn and you have to pay one mana to cast it in the beginning, not each time you want another color).

Golgari Guildcate (of which there will be one for each guild) is a dual land (sort of, but not really since the subtype is "Gate") that enters tapped and gives you either color of the guild. This will definitely be useful in two-color, and even three-color, decks as well as in Commander. For now, those are the cards I'm going to be looking for, but we are only at 76 of 274 cards previewed, and of those 76 are 25 basic land! That's right, there are going to be 5 of each color, even more land art than in the core sets. I'm not quite certain on this, but I think this will be the first set with 5 different artworks for each basic land type (Zendikar had 4 of each art, but had 8 per basic land per color given the cropped art "###a" basic lands found only in Intro Packs).



So, given the current spoilers, what do you like so far? Will Return to Ravnica live up to expectations? Anything you are still hoping for in this set? Let me know in the comments below!