Our Top 10 Cards for Ravnica Remastered
After the success of Dominaria Remastered last year, it should come as no surprise that Wizards of the Coast was eager to release a follow-up. This makes Ravnica Remastered almost feel like a no-brainer. The plane is also home to many popular cards that have become staples in various formats, so there’s plenty of potential for excellent reprints that will appeal to almost any Magic player.
Dominaria Remastered was one of the best reprint sets in recent memory, which means that Ravnica Remastered has pretty big shoes to fill. How does it measure up? In this article, we (Chief, Waiting for Retro Frame Smothering Tithe and Exxaxl, Transmuting Muddle the Mixture to Fetch Cyclonic Rift) will go over our favorite reprints from the set for the Commander format and see just what this set has to offer. Let’s do this!
Wait! Let’s talk about shockland reprints. These are obviously some of the best and more desired reprints in the set, but it would be really boring if we just put a bunch of these in our top 10 and there wouldn’t be room for much else.
Spark Double
Chief: Creatures in Magic are better than ever, which means that cards like this one continue to grow in value. Not only does Spark Double circumvent the legend rule, but it can also copy a planeswalker. This opens up some combo lines or just allows you to return the favor when your friend uses Oko, Thief of Crowns on your commander!
This card can go in any deck with blue and probably put in work, but commanders like Sakashima of a Thousand Faces or Atraxa, Grand Unifier will enjoy it even more. I’m not a huge fan of seeing too many cards that break the legend rule, but Spark Double is still a great card that has tons of appeal in Commander.
Birds of Paradise
Exxaxl: We’ve definitely seen this card get reprinted a few times already, but every time a new set rolls around, the other options for mana-fixing for any color seem significantly worse. Being able to make any color mana on a one drop creature is not something that should be underestimated.
Even the recently printed Delighted Halfling got restricted in its mana generation and Birds of Paradise got printed in Alpha. We can discuss power creep all you want, but a nearly identical card getting printed more than 30 years later with a restriction set to it should give you an idea of how good of a card this is. The new art on the borderless anime version is magnificent too.
Crypt Ghast
Chief: One of the most exciting things about playing black is its potential to explode with huge burst of mana, which has made Crypt Ghast into a favorite for Commander players. There are so many great X spells and other outlets for a card like this one, and it even synergizes with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to create mana with any land.
Even though the reminder text causes color identity confusion, extort is one of my favorite keywords in the game and you’ll have plenty of extra mana to spend on draining your opponents when you cast spells. In particular, I’m a big fan of the look of the retro frame version of this card. Cast that huge Torment of Hailfire in style!
Teferi, Time Raveler
Exxaxl: It’s time to turn off all counterplays and stack-shenanigans your opponents had in mind on not their own turn. Banned in Pioneer, banned in Explorer and regularly played at incorrect times in Commander ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). Yes, you’re completely shutting down your opponents’ interaction. This also means it is now your responsibility to handle all that interaction in case an opponent tries to win.
Don’t just cast Teferi and pass the turn unless you have a hand full of (free) counterspells. Use this card before you’re trying to win yourself and less as a ‘haha funee you don’t get to play on my turn anyhow that’s all I had’ type of effect. Too often have I seen people resolve this spell and the player next in turn goes for a win, while the controller of Teferi could not stop that player from winning. Friends don’t let friends resolve Teferi at the wrong time.
Cloudstone Curio
Chief: If you love creatures with enters-the-battlefield abilities (ETBs), this is one of the best tools this side of Panharmonicon to get more bang for your buck when playing them. There are a lot of novel things that you can do with this artifact, but you can also use it to loop Dockside Extortionist if you just want to win the game.
I’m actually very excited about this reprint, even though this card was just reprinted last year. This card was upshifted to Mythic after its initial printing in Ravnica: City of Guilds, which means that it still holds a lot of value. The retro frame and anime versions also offer cool options for people who want to bling out their favorite decks.
Mizzix’s Mastery
Exxaxl: This is quite a weird pick for me because I almost never play red in Commander. I truly just enjoy this one for its usefulness in a Limited environment. If a card is worth casting, it’s worth casting more than once and Mizzix’s Mastery offers you the option to either cast your best instant or sorcery twice per game, or recast your entire graveyards worth for 8 mana.
That’s not an unachievable amount of mana to generate, be that in Limited or EDH. Of note, you’re still casting the spells you copied, so yes, this card does work with Guttersnipe the way you want it to, which is also in this set. Anyhow, take 18 damage, please. Game 2?
Divine Visitation
Chief: There are so many cards these days that create tons of creature tokens at once, but the majority of those cards create 1/1 creatures with no keywords. Wouldn’t you rather have a bunch of 4/4 Angels with flying and vigilance? This is my favorite cards for go-wide decks in Commander, because the extra damage and evasion can really turn the tide.
Divine Visitation helps cards like Hero of Bladehold scale better to Commander’s higher life totals without much downside. The only time that I don’t love this card is when I want to use Skullclamp to draw cards by killing my 1/1 tokens. I guess you can’t always have everything, but at least there’s a new borderless version for anime fans.
Dark Confidant
Exxaxl: Yes I would very much like to put extra cards into my hand in my upkeep. Especially if those cards don’t have to abide by ‘draw card’ rules, meaning you get around restrictions such as an opponent’s Narset, Parter of Veils or you avoid your opponent flashing in an Orcish Bowmasters, even though it’s still a good target for a Bowmasters ping. The life loss is probably worth that extra card per turn, or you can turn it into even more of an advantage by slotting a Vilis, Broker of Blood!
Chord of Calling
Chief: Tutors are strong in a singleton format like Commander, and tutors that put things directly onto the battlefield are even stronger. This card has always stood out to me as a really powerful and elegant design due to it being an instant that has convoke. This means that you can often tutor out a key creature for no mana when shields are down.
Whether you’re tutoring up your favorite pet card or a game-winning combo piece, Chord of Calling can be a very fun and very powerful card for decks based around creatures. I always enjoy this card when I see it during Commander games. The iconic original artwork by Heather Hudson looks fantastic in the retro frame style too.
Cyclonic Rift
Exxaxl: Without a doubt, this feels like one of the most iconic board wipes in our format, which is understandable. Asymmetrically wiping nonland permanents and leaving your own board untouched is a very strong effect. Because of that, it’s always a pricey card. I’m not entirely happy with the upshift in rarity to mythic. Any type of ‘for the sake of Limited’ argument should look at all the previous times this card got printed and notice it’s always been a rare.
It doesn’t seem to matter how often Cyclonic Rift gets reprinted, it’s always between 20 and 50 dollars or more. We are getting 3 printings this time however, so here’s to hoping the ‘plainest’ printing sees enough of a price decrease. If you notice this card dipping below 15 dollars, don’t hesitate to pick one up, because it always gets more expensive over time.
Chief: My overall impression of Ravnica Remastered is that it does have some great reprints, but I can’t help but feel like there were also missed opportunities to reprint iconic cards such as Smothering Tithe, Doubling Season, and Finale of Devastation. While each of these cards has been reprinted within the past year, there have been several other back-to-back reprints and it might offer a chance for these Commander staples to truly become affordable and accessible for players.
Exxaxl: I expected more tutors in this set. We haven’t seen Three Dreams in a while, Congretation at Dawn is noticeably absent as well. I wonder if these remastered sets count as ‘having been on a plane’, because if that’s the case, it’ll be a good while until we go back to Ravnica, and there’s quite a few commanders I would have loved to see in a retro or anime frame like Circu, Dimir Lobotomist or Prime Speaker Vannifar.
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