Hey I’m James, and in honor of launch weekend I’m writing this Born of the Gods Preview and which cards I think will be useful. Enjoy!

So in preparation of the pro tour qualifier coming up in March I’ve been looking over several of the cards in Born of the Gods and I like a lot of what I see. Some of it is overrated and some of it you may have completely glanced past but here is where I’ll talk about the potential that I see.

First up is Xenagos, God of Revels. I hear a lot of people saying he is going to be great, but I actually don’t see it. Jund colors might run it but honestly Exava and rakdos are better 4 drops, especially with all the new removal that can clear out the indestructibles.

Mogis, God of Slaughter on the other hand, looks like he is going to be a powerhouse. The simplest of the gods so far, he makes your opponent choose to lose life or a creature every turn, and in his colors either one is a big loss. Watch out for this guy.

Ephara, God of the Polis is nifty, but won’t really be played unless Bant becomes good and Prophet of Kruphix makes her really shine, though she may see some sideboard play in blue/white aggro or esper control. Won’t see much of her though.

Hero of iroas is a guy that a lot of people are overlooking, but 2/2 heroic for 2 is decent by itself, but the fact he makes things like unflinching courage and gift of orzhova 2 costs makes him great, not to mention that everything with bestow cost one less to bestow. Any deck running white and enchantments should be mainboarding this guy, and he’ll be a welcome new addition to the Sphere of safety decks.

Then we have Brimaz, king of Oreskos. I’m impressed because a 3/4 Vigilant for 3 mana is already great, but one that creates an attacking and blocking token every time he does either is unbelievable. The only problem is that in Standard drown in sorrow and bile blight are going to make those tokens all but obsolete especially when illness in the ranks can hop in from the sideboard. He has a chance to be really good, and Modern and EDH will play the crap out of him.

Hero of Leina Tower has the potential to become big but the only current deck that could take advantage of this is Naya Beats. With the release of this set however, Bant has a chance to be a real threat to every current deck and Hero of Leina Tower couldn’t ask for a better set up than Bant-chantments with bestow creatures, or green-white heroic weenies with instants.
Karametra, god of the harvests is at first a little disappointing. In green white there was a good chance to make a decent token pumper or life giver and instead we got a land fetch. After another look though, in bant or naya deck it has the potential to really let you get ahead. Naya beats is full of cheap creatures that could snag out those lands and let you shufle your deck and let you play multiple hasty’s and stormbreaths. In bant when combined with the prophet of kruphix this card becomes a juggeraut and if you’re running elvish mystics and sylvan caryatids this thing could have you up to playing a Worldspine Wurm turn 7.

There are 5 ‘fated’ cards. The first fated retribution is a 7 cost that wipes out creatures and planeswalkers. Awesome for commander but in a format with merciless eviction and supreme verdict everywhere, it won’t really see play.

Fated conflagration is ok, but has the same problem Xenagos the god does. It’s a 4 drop in decks that have better 4 drops. it may be sideboarded in naya beats but don’t look for value here.
Fated Return may not see play in standard but in EDH and possibly Legacy a card that grabs a creature from anyone’s graveyard, makes it indestructible and then lets you scry will be golden. Fated Intervention is interesting and the only reason it’s playable is because it is an instant and lets you drop 2 suprise blockers. Otherwise, not all that great, I’d rather play Advent of the Wurm.

Finally Fated Infatuation looks good, and I feel like it could see play, but esper control will be loosening it’s grip on the meta and this card might not have room as the control players shift towards being more anti green or anti white as the heroic weenies pick up speed.

The archetypes that came in the set are cool, though only the white and red ones will see play instandard. 3 cost creatures that give and take away trample and first strike sound pretty great to me, though I belive the black and green ones will see a lot of play in Commander EDh decks just for the extra kick of everything having hexproof and deathtouch.

Satyr Firedancer finally makes burndecks not only viable byt good by turning magma jet into a 2 cost 2 damage to a player, 3 damage to a creature and a scry 2.

Spirit of the labrynth is really going to be hurting those esper control players and you can expect to see a lot of this in sideboards to stop blue from gaining too much card advantage, grab these early if you want to get a little value.

Chromanticore has to be my favorite just because I love 5 color cards especially for Commander games and this guy is just there for fun. he may not be great, but he will certainly be fun to play.

Gild finally provides a good and consistent way to get rid of those pesky indestructible gods along with revoke existence and unravel the aether so you can be guarenteed the gods won’t be providing the same force they did beforehand with every color now having access to a way to easily pop them off the field.

And last on my list is the Eidolon of Countless battles. H’ll be ood in Naya beats, but in white weenies with brimaz and Precinct captain running around this card is going to make every hit a little bit worse, and blue white decks are really going to enjoy having this thing to put all their enchantments on. Watch out for this guy here, he’ll see plenty of play.

Thats it for this article but check in next time and I’ll be discussing the merits of Theros block mechanics and what I want to see from Journey into Nyx.

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