Hello everyone and welcome to another Type 4 set review! This time we’re looking at the recently entirely revealed Streets of New Capenna, a set that looks awesome for EDH at the very least. Will it be equally sweet for the King of Formats? Let’s find out.
Buy Your Silence: Unexciting, but if you’re just starting
out a near-vindicate effect at common is pretty sweet. The treasure token might enable some artifact
shenanigans, but unlikely, so this is just Sorcery-speed Utter End. Worth considering if you need good removal.
Depopulate: A wrath effect that might draw you a card if you’re losing a good multicolor dude. Slightly awkward that it does the same for everyone else, though. In the hierarchy of wraths, this one might be skippable, but if you need them this does the job well enough. And who knows, maybe it nets you political points.
Halo Fountain: If you have lots of creatures, this can do a lot of stuff that’s good in Magic. Drawing cards and giving 2 creatures you have vigilance is pretty good, and making 1/1s has some game to it. 15 creatures to win the game is a lot, but not impossible. Having this out and casting Army of the Damned sounds like a blast.
Kill Shot: Again, sometimes you need removal. This is not a good card, but it might be interesting.
Sanctuary Warden: Built-in protection and can draw some cards, this isn’t the
worst 5/5 out there. There’s a decent
amount of power here and it’s a non-insubstantial threat to deal with. Necessary?
Probably not, but worth considering.
All-Seeing Arbiter: Woah, those are some triggers on this boy. Drawing not one, but 2 cards, and shrinking the power of their best dude is an excellent starting place, and this guy is also a 5-power flyer that continues to do this effect every turn you attack with him. Additionally, if you happen to have other looting outlets, you can give more stuff reduced power. Solid addition to the “big blue flyer” suite.
Case the Joint: One of the better inspirations out there, knowing what your opponents have is not an insignificant advantage, especially if you see a Counterspell or wrath. Plus, it’s an instant speed draw 2. You can also cast this during the upkeep of someone who has no cards left if you want to see what they have this turn. Definitely worth considering.
Cut Your Losses: Milling two people for half their deck (or one person for 3/4s) is interesting, but I’m concerned with all the excellent reanimation and flashback out there this might just draw your opponent a bunch of cards. That said, if you’re drafting, this probably gives someone a 5 to 7 turn clock before they die, which isn’t nothing. Probably a skip, but could be neat.
Disdainful Stroke: a reprint of a Counterspell that too often misses what you want it to hit. Worth considering in only the newest stacks.
Out of the Way: bounce their thing and draw a card is an underappreciated effect in Type 4. This isn’t better or worse than any before it, but it’s another option.
Run Out of Town: Unfortunately for this card, the target gets the choice of where it’s going. Fortunately, it does waste their next draw, and you can plan for that if need be. Not a great removal spell, but can deal with a lot of things that can be real annoying.
Undercover Operative: There are a ton of really good clones from the past 5 years. This is just another in that line. Worth considering? Maybe, depends on how much you value a clone, but keep in mind that too many clones is not a great experience when there’s nothing good to copy.
Wiretapping: This is a personal Howling Mine with some potential upside. Getting the cast trigger off is not guaranteed, though, so make sure you don’t lose anything you need to win under here. Also, it is technically a sorcery speed do nothing immediately, which is not the best. Worth considering, but there’s a lot of maybes here.
Angel of Suffering: Damn, this set has some cool ass 5/x flyers at Mythic. Preventing damage is no small game, especially if you have some way to recycle your deck (though such effects are not super highly played in Type 4). Not recommended for shared stack games.
Cemetery Tampering: Another sorcery speed do nothing, this one is much worse than the blue one in its repeated effect for being nearly guaranteed to hit the cast trigger. That said, I can’t see myself ever wanting to play this. Too slow, and 20 cards in the yard is going to be half your deck.
Demon’s Due: Is 2 life worth having 2 Glimmer of Genius? Yes. Absolutely. Glimmer is a busted in half card in Type 4, and this is no different. First true all-star I’ve seen in the set, add for pretty much every stack.
Graveyard Shift: Given the propensity for Type 4 cards to have wildly different costs, the flash condition is not especially difficult to achieve. Even without it, Rise from the Grave effects are all decent even at sorcery speed. Very much worth considering.
Illicit Shipment: It’s a Demonic Tutor that you might be able to copy. I don’t run tutors myself because they make games feel too samey, but this is a good one.
Murder: Murder is Murder, and it’s a decent removal spell. Instant speed, targets anything. Reprint if you didn’t have it yet somehow.
Shadow of Mortality: Costing 15 has some non-zero implications, but they tend to be kinda bad for you. There’s some interesting things you can do here, but it is still just a vanilla 7/7 which isn’t very good.
Arcane Bombardment: Another do-nothing enchantment, but if you can get it to trigger, holy cow it can get insane. You can win counter wars at instant speed, get insane value, the ceiling here is pretty much infinite. The floor is an opponent discards a Counterspell or enchantment removal card, both of which are ok options. If this sticks around and you’ve drafted a deck that can support it at all, you’re in business.
Jaxis, the Troublemaker: Another in the long line of “creature that taps to do something that’s gonna depend heavily on the situation of the board so is in effect impossible to analyze in a vacuum”. Those cards tend to be cool, at the very least, so try her out and see what you get.
Urabrask, Heretic Praetor: 4/4 is a little small, but forcing your opponents to either play their top card or lose it forever is pretty annoying. Jin-Gitaxias this is not, but it’s not a bad card, especially with haste and a little howling mine action of its own.
Torch Breath: Uncounterable infinite damage to a creature or Planeswalker. Can do some interesting combos, but mostly this is just a good removal spell for every stack.
Widespread Thieving: The easiest of these to trigger, but the effect again is not worth considering, and neither is this card.
Broken Wings: another reprint of an excellent disenchant variant. Every stack needs some of these, so pick the ones you like the most, which likely includes this.
Cleanup Crew: a 6/6 with a relevant trigger, worth considering in a lot of newer stacks as having a body alongside your disenchant is not small game.
Courier’s Briefcase: You get a 1/1, and then at any time after that you can draw 3 cards. Watch out for Krosan Grip, but seems decent.
Fight Rigging: Better than the red or black ones, but barely. Getting the trigger will require you to have a big creature that sticks around which is not a super easy proposition. Again a likely skip.
Titan of Industry: Cleanup Crew, but way better and bigger. Disenchant plus a 4/4 are likely the best modes here, but giving itself or something else a shield counter isn’t bad, and hey, maybe you need life. A solid big body that lends itself to the format, definite playable.
Vivien on the Hunt: While again, I’m not into tutors, this looks like big game for a Planeswalker in the format. Birthing Pod, draw cards, or make a 4/4- all the abilities are good and you can activate them all immediately. I’d probably only play it with a lot of creatures since missing on the +1 isn’t great, but certainly a card worth considering.
Broker’s Charm: Yay charms. All the modes on this one are useful, and having “draw 2” means it’s at worse Inspiration. Good playable.
Cabaretti Ascendency: Another personal Howling Mine… sometimes. Unlikely to be good enough unless you are stacked on creatures.
Cabaretti Charm: Much less exciting than the last one, unless you have a lot of creatures the mods on this are not at all useful.
Corpse Explosion: A wrath effect… kinda. Not worth considering unless you need every one of this type of effect you can get your hands on.
Endless Detour: While again, they choose where it goes, this is excellent at dealing with uncounterable spells and indestructible creatures. Worth playing in pretty much every stack.
Falco Spara: Future Sight on a bird, though having to remove counters to cast the spell is not a small ask. Worth considering, but don’t be shocked if it’s not that great.
Glamouous Outlaw: Not Type 4 playable, but I am intrigued by that ability, very interesting mana fixing for limited.
Jetmir, Nexus of Revels: If you’re winning, win more. Requires you to have a ton of tokens to be good, and even then doesn’t protect you from getting wrathed at all. Save him for your EDH deck, Type 4 is not the place for this cat.
Lagrella, the Magpie: I’m pretty sure this fiend hunter’s a dude from everyone’s board, which is not bad. Not the best card for more powerful stacks, but this has some utility.
Lord Xander: ETBs to rip someone’s hand up. Attacks to Traumatize. Dies and nukes their board. Not the best fatty ever printed, but definitely serviceable and a fine playable.
Maestro’s Ascendancy: If you want to errata this so you can play a spell with it immediately it’s… still pretty bad. Given you have to cast the spell on your turn, this is a nonbo with countermagic and requires sacrificing a creature every time you do it.
Maestro’s Charm: Impulse, or some small damage that can kill a utility creature or save you from a sticky situation. Not thrilling, but not unplayable.
Meeting of the Five: Look, if someone goes through the trouble of trying to make this work, I say let them have it. In general, I’m pretty sure this will cast like 2 spells on average, 3 color spells just aren’t the greatest anymore.
Ob Nixilis, the Adversary: Getting 2 planeswalkers can be pretty interesting, especially if the second ultimates immediately to get you a new hand (or kill someone at 7 or less). Another card that’s hard to evaluate without playing, but could be playable. It’ll entirely depend on how easy it is to Casualty it.
Obscura Ascendency: You have to start the chain at 1. This is bad.
Obscura Charm: This one looks way more focused on cheaper formats than this one, though having a Counterspell on it does raise the floor a bit. Still, unlikely to be good enough. No Esper Charm, that’s for sure.
Obscura Interceptor: There’s a lot of text here, but basically this ETBs to remand, filter a card, and is a 4/2 lifelink. Certainly a card worth considering, and probably real good too.
Raffine, Scemeing Seer: A little small, but if you have a bunch of dudes that might no longer be the case. Worth considering in high-token stacks, but unlikely to live long otherwise.
Riveteer’s Charm: Another good one, get your opponent’s best thing, setup for a future turn, or counter a reanimation effect. All decent options that I can see wanting to use.
Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer: A rare X spell creature that can be played in the format. This tutors up your best creature alongside a 3/1. Again, not for me, but at uncommon this is a sweet card.
Scheming Fence: My mind immediately goes to Azorius Guildmage, and this is probably great against that. Other than that, this is pretty situational and hard to judge, but probably not good enough.
Soul of Emancipation: Terastodon but you can kill creatures, but they get flyers. Probably still great. Turn their three best things into 3/3 angels? I’d take that deal attached to a 5/7.
Toluz, Clever Conductor: There’s probably some way to break this. Personally, I prefer my engine cards to be a tad simpler and easier to break though. Probably gonna make an EDH deck for them though.
Void Rend: Oh look an uncounterable Utter End. There is nothing to say about this card besides “autoinclude in every stack from now until the end of time, best card in the set”.
But wait! There’s more! We also have the new commander cards from the New Capenna EDH decks. Let’s check those out too.
Damning Verdict: Another wrath that can miss stuff. These are a dime a dozen at this point, but a wrath is a wrath so it’ll probably be playable at least.
Resourceful Defense: A potentially very powerful effect given it only costs mana, and can accumulate a lot of counters on its own if you have a deck focused on that sort of thing. Note Planeswalkers dying in combat/by damage will not drop their counters on this, but ones killed by direct means will.
Smuggler’s Share: Yes, it’s a do-nothing enchantment, but it does check every turn and each opponent, and can potentially draw you multiple cards. Probably not good enough, but still worth thinking about.
Cephalid Facetaker: It’s another clone, though it can change every turn, but never is a fatty. There’s a lot of restrictions and qualifiers here so probably not worth considering.
Change of Plans: Filter for each creature you control, which is not gamebreakingly awful but still can be incredibly powerful, and then you can have them dodge a wrath. Worth a look at if creature combat is a thing you’re into.
Extravagent Replication: Yet another do-nothing enchantment, but the payoff here is pretty strong. Copies any nonland besides itself (which, tragic, I kinda wanted a ton of these), which can be pretty strong. That said, still requires that both it and something else you want survives a turn cycle, which is not guaranteed.
Flawless Forgery: Sorcery speed is kinda gross, but Memory Deluge is a pretty sweet card, and this can be two of those if you’ve got a 3+ power dude. Again, some hoops to jump through, but could be sweet.
In Too Deep: Split second is a potent ability, though this is not the best split second card ever. It is creature removal, but at sorcery speed, and they can get the creature back if they get rid of this. I expect people are gonna read this, be excited, jam it, and be disappointed in the long run.
Mask of the Schemer: Requires a dude that can attack, but as equipment go this is a pretty exciting one. Drawing a ton of cards is always sweet, and the graveyard remains a big resource in Type 4. Again, not for the most powerful stacks, but not garbage.
Shield Broker: This card is actively terrible. It’s yours until whoever originally played it (or anyone else) wraths or deals random damage to it. Do not play this.
Body Count: A decent way to follow up on a wrath, but still conditional and requires you to have a few creatures. But if you’ve got the creatures, this can draw a lot.
Lethal Scheme: A bizarre card, but it’s still instant speed creature or Planeswalker removal. Destroys rather than exile, but the convoke into connive clause might get it a slot if that’s relevant.
Protection Racket: There’s a lot of these do-nothing enchantments with interesting clauses ain’t there. This one is probably not good enough. Your opponents get a lot of say over what happens, and while the damage might be super high, it still again requires a turn cycle to do anything.
Waste Management: Graveyard exile is significantly underutilized in Type 4, given how many powerful/broken graveyard effects are out there. This is instant speed, takes one person’s entire yard, and can even make you a bunch of 2/2s to boot. An excellent card.
Writ of Return: A Rise from the Grave with potential upside. You can encode this onto the creature you just got back, or something else that can swing and connect now. However, do note that the creature has to come from your graveyard.
Xander’s Pact: A powerful way to cast multiple spells in one turn, potentially copiable, draws on non-mana resources to fit with the theme of the format. This card looks made for Type 4, and while it might not always be the best, it’s always gonna be awesome.
Industrial Advancement: While this doesn’t work with most tokens, being able to trade your expensive vanilla fatty for a real threat is pretty tempting. Plus, unlike a lot of the other enchantments discussed here, this triggers on your end step. Again, hoops and all, but looks interesting at least.
Life of the Party: On its own, this is pretty mediocre, but giving everyone else one that can only attack each other is interesting. If your stack is big into creatures, this raises in value a lot, but even as it this could be interesting.
Rain of Riches: A card that wants you to spend your noninfinite mana on spells. Cascade is a potent ability, though again, do-nothing enchantment. But giving your next two big spells cascade is certainly a draw, and this might just fly under the radar enough to be able to trigger.
Anhelo, the Painter: A pretty fragile creature, and requires you to have more creatures to fuel his ability, but the ability itself is pretty sick. Probably not good enough, but definitely gonna build an EDH deck around him.
Tivit, Seller of Secrets: ETBs, you get two clues, and a 6/6 flyer that gets you 2 more clues every time he hit someone. Certainly a decent ability, and you can also get some random artifacts that might be relevant eventually. Probably not. But maybe you have Rain of Riches? Not super powerful, but certainly good enough.
Brokers Confluence: Counter some tap ability (or Planeswalker ability) and phase out some creatures is likely to be the most common use for this. Decent enough, though not super stunning.
Cabaretti Confluence: Exiling 3 artifacts or enchantments is sweet… is what I’d say if this were an instant. As is, sorcery speed holds this back a lot. It’s playable, but not as exciting as it should be.
Cryptic Pursuit: I don’t think this is good enough, but it’s a unique effect and can potentially get you some good card advantage. Also, you can manually flip creatures. Actually this might be good enough. Try it out and see how it goes I guess?
Grime Gorger: Menace attacker that likely attacks as a 7/7 while exiling cards from their graveyard. Obviously gets better as more stuff gets played, which means it might not be good enough early game for it to be included, but again, grave hate is good.
Maestros Confluence: Again a sorcery, but goading everyone else is a powerful ability and can kill people if timed right. Monocolored instants also tend to be counterspells or card draw spells or kill spells, so that’s pretty good too. Again, likely not super strong, but decent.
Obscura Confluence: Really on the fringes of being playable here. An instant at least, but I’m not sure I’m super into the modes here. Getting 3 creatures back to your hand is something at least, and maybe you can kill some big threats. And connive, as we’ve established is good. Maybe the sum of all of this is a good card, but I’m not convinced.
And that wraps us up! A lot of cards on the fringes of playability, and a lot of stuff that might be sweet with caveats. Some really, REALLY strong utility, and one of the best kill spells in the format takes its place, but compared to previous 3 color sets, a lot of misses sadly. But the good stuff is real good and the cool stuff is real cool.
Next up is Baldur’s Gate, and there’s some spicy stuff from the leaks I’ve seen, so interested in that. See you next time!
