The first day of Phyrexia: All Will Be One spoiler season was packed with powerful Rare and Mythic Rare bombs that have players salivating over their potential in a variety of Constructed formats.
Magic: The Gathering’s next set releases on Friday, Feb. 10 and marks the return of the Phyrexians with plenty of strong Artifacts, big-mana spells, and the return of poison counters. However, when looking at some of the best decks in any format, Common and Uncommon cards are just as important to a successful deck functioning.
These utility spells can fill different roles, from removal to card draw. Oftentimes, a good Uncommon spell can push a deck from the fringes to the spotlight and that’s why it’s important to keep track of these lower-rarity spells during spoiler season.
Today brought a pair of signpost Uncommons which will play key roles in Limited and two removal spells primed to become Standard staples when ONE releases.
Ossification
It’s always exciting to see what new twist Wizards of the Coast puts on the classic Oblivion Ring effect each set. Ossification enchants a basic land you control, then exiles an opponent’s creature or Planeswalker until Ossification leaves the battlefield.
This is a nice two-mana removal spell that gives White lists a way to remove threats while also working well with any potential Enchantment synergies.
The cost of having to enchant a basic land is a neat way to balance the card. To reliably cast this card on turn two, players will need to run enough basics to make that happen. This prevents greedier multicolor decks from maximizing Ossification, rewarding one or two color lists instead.
Sheoldred’s Edict
Creature decks are going to have a bad time when ONE releases. Sheodlred’s Edict is a two-mana removal spell that forces the opponent to sacrifice either a creature, creature token, or Planeswalker. This will slot directly into Black decks in Standard and will get around any early-game Ward or other protection abilities. It’ll be a frustrating spell when packaged with Black’s other sacrifice spells like Invoke Despair.
Myr Convert
Keep a look out for this card in the upcoming Standard format. It’s a simple two-mana 2/1 mana dork that requires a flavorful two life to activate its ability. There’s plenty to like about Myr Convert. It’s a cheap way to ramp into the powerful big-mana Artifact spells. It is also an Artifact creature, which may be relevant to maximize value out of various effects. If an Artifact deck pops up in Standard, Myr Convert might be a useful cog in the machine.
Bladehold War-Whip
The R/W archetype in ONE Limited uses the For Mirrodin! Mechanic and using Equipment to turn creatures into bigger threats. Bladehold War-Whip is a signpost uncommon that gives the equipped creature Double Strike, an effective way to force the opponent into tough combat situations. This card is made better by its ability to reduce equip costs, which is consistently a strong effect in Equipment-based decks.
Slaughter Stinger
The G/W color pair in ONE is based around the Phyrexian mechanic Toxic, which puts a number of poison counters on opponents when a creature with it deals combat damage to them. Slaughter Stinger is an excellent way to turn combat situations in your favor by giving attacking creatures with Toxic +1/+1 until end of turn. This will break open the early game by making your small threats bigger than theirs, forcing them to either double block or risk-taking on poison counters. It only takes 10 for them to lose the game.
