Magic: The Gathering‘s next set, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, finished up its first week of spoiler season today with a collection of nice lower-rarity cards that could make an impact in various formats.
The new set marks the full-fledged return of the Phyrexians. This Artifact set is shaping up to be a solid Limited environment and appears to be introducing some standout utility pieces for established Constructed archetypes.
Usually, Fridays during Magic spoiler season are lighter days, but they still contain useful spells at the Common and Uncommon rarities. Most decks rely on lower-rarity cards to enable their gameplan. Today’s spoilers feature a new five-card cycle and a powerful combat trick.
Try out these cards at ONE pre-release starting Feb. 3, followed by a global release on Feb. 10.
The Skullbomb cycle
ONE contains a new five-card cycle that calls back to the spellbombs, a collection of one-mana Artifacts that generate value when sacrificed.
The five cards in the skullbomb cycle are Furnace Skullbomb, Surgical Skullbomb, Maze Skullbomb, Basilica Skullbomb, and Dross Skulbomb. Each card costs one mana and has a one-mana activated ability to sacrifice it to draw a card. They also have a second activated ability with a color requirement and a relevant effect in line with their slice of the color pie.
Dross Skullbomb can be activated for 2B to return a creature from the graveyard to your hand, and draws a card. Basilica Skullbomb costs 2W and gives a target creature +2/+2 and Flying alongside drawing a card. Maze Skullbomb has a similar ability for 2G, drawing a card and giving a creature +3/+3 and Trample. Surgical Skullbomb is a disruptive tool that draws a card and bounces a creature for 2U. Furnace Skullbomb is the most narrow effect that draws a card and puts two oil counters on a target Artifact or Creature you control for 1R.
Each of these Common Artifacts will help define ONE’s Limited format and could show up in Constructed formats as value spells in Artifact-focused archetypes like Affinity.
Transplant Theorist
If Transplant Theorist doesn’t find a home in a format like Historic, it’ll definitely be a valuable tool for Artifact Commander decks. Whenever this card or another Artifact enters the battlefield under your control, you get to loot. This triggers with both token and nontoken permanents. The triggered ability is a great source of card draw that lets you dig deep and find answers. The 2/4 body is decent and can act as a fine blocker in combat.
It also acts as a redundant way to fill the graveyard to enable reanimation strategies, as the two-mana activated ability is a decent way to get cards you’ve discarded out of the graveyard. It’s not the first choice, but in the absence of other recursion effects, it’ll work fine enough in 60-card formats.
Blightbelly Rat
Blightbelly Rat is a sneaky-good card. This two-mana 2/2 creature has Toxic 1, making it a pretty ideal two-drop for poison decks. The key to this Common’s power is the death trigger. When Blightbelly Rat dies, you get to Proliferate. In Black decks from Standard to Pauper, sacrificing creatures for value is commonplace. Having a creature with a good death trigger is an added payoff for doing something your deck naturally wants to do. Looking at Standard, there are all kinds of counters that black decks already want to proliferate. There are +1/+1 counters, loyalty counters, and lore counters within nearly every Black list. Blightbelly Rat is cheap and good enough body that it should find a home in the format.
Tyvar’s Stand
This card might be worth running over Tamiyo’s Safekeeping. Instead of gaining life, this protection spell is also a combat trick. One mana to give a creature Hexproof and Indestructible is established as a playable card. Tamiyo’s Safekeeping has a nice home in Standard, but this offers the same protection with the ability to buff a creature +X/+X. In Limited, this will win plenty of games as a versatile combat trick or saving a key bomb from removal. In Standard, it’s hard to see how this isn’t playable in creature decks considering how dominant Black decks with loads of removal are in the format.
Necrogen Communion
Necrogen Communion is a two-mana Uncommon Aura that is a way to enable poison decks while doubling as a protection spell. Giving a creature Toxic 2 is alright, but outside of a deck that wants to win with poison counters, it’s unlikely to really threaten to win the game. This card will be decent in Limited, and in the right shell could be worth running in Standard.
The death trigger is wonderful and will make or break the card’s playability. When the enchanted creature dies, it returns to the battlefield. It will blank an opponent’s removal spell or allow you to aggressively block in combat. If that creature has any enter-the-battlefield triggers, that’s even better.
All images via WotC.
