It's very funny that both hosts just instantly agreed every time discussing colour hosers that you play vs X or Y colour 40% of the time, while it's actually 70% - there's only three colour pairs out of ten that do not include either of two.

4:04:14 I love how Overloaded mage ring went _out of its way_ to include rules reminder text implying that the copied spell could be a permanent spell; and yet _everyone_ (including me, I had to have this pointed out to me,) reads it as a sorcery/instant. Makes it significantly more enticing.

Thanks for always uploading these so quickly - the LR set reviews are a real treat and I prefer to watch them on YT :)

for what its worth: battle of kylem giving haste is PROBABLY because thats the THG plane, so the joke is that you would be buffing a creature your team mate just played.

Y'all are crazy with Alabaster Host Sanctifier, 2 mana 2/2 lifelinks have been the nearly the best common in every set they have ever been printed into

For the lore, Ravi was the planeswalker who set off the apocalypse chime on Ulgrotha and then went crazy until Baron Sengir adopted her but never officially turned her.

I did not expect this this early, so excited! Always nice when both episodes are gonna be out before pre release

Assimilate Essence can't be a 2 for 1, you only get the incubate 2 if the controller of the spell pays the 4, it just gives you something in the fail case.

On one hand, LSV is a madman for doing all this when he clearly isn't feeling well. On the other hand, I'm a madman for listening to his snot for over 4 hours in order to hear a set review.

I'm at 38:26 and I'm enjoying watching Luis tilt his head right before reading the next battle while talking about whatever card they're talking about currently.

For Hangar Scrounger you should note that UR really want to cast convoke spells and this lets you rummage every time you convoke.

I dont always play magic but i play a couple sets a year. I always know i can come to you guys and get informed and ready . Thanks for what you guys do for Magic.

These set reviews are some of my favourite videos ever. Thanks for continuing to make them! ❤❤❤

Great job as always! ❤ I love how in many cases Marshall is like "meh.." in the begining but then Luis enlightens him and he suddenly turns to "wow!" 😂

Thank you guys for getting this video up so quickly

Super appreciate having this before the pre-release.

For 2 color hate spells you are 70% to see an opponent with at least 1 color assuming no splash, not 40%. You are 40% to see any simgle given color on average, ie there are 4 guilds that are white and 7 total that are blue or white out of 10.

Great work guys, looking forward to opening ragavan

1:14:27 -> battles have defense counter, so it works From the Comprehensive Rules (April 14, 2023-March of the Machine) 122.1g The number of defense counters on a battle on the battlefield indicates how much defense it has. A battle with 0 defense is put into its owner’s graveyard if it isn’t the source of an ability that has triggered but not yet left the stack. This state-based action doesn’t use the stack. See rule 704.

1:39:09 This combat trick got a good showing during the LRR Pre Prerelease as it broke up some double blocks and almost broke up a quad block.

Hey guys, love the set reviews. The card images being up at the right times and for the right durations could use some work though.

4:55 explaining mechanics 10:43 first card

Driving from Vegas to San Diego for the RCQ this is just what I needed for the drive

I'm not sold on these Battles because they do almost nothing if you're behind on board. The ETB is always overcosted for its effect alone (four mana to bounce a creature? No thank you!) and then they sit there behind opponent's superior board position with you unable to do anything about them. They don't even act as a deterrent for the opponent's attack, because if you counterattack the Battle then you're just opening the way for them to swing for lethal.

Marshall's comment about getting rowdy with hagi troll had me spittin my coffee on the way to work this morning. thank you so much

Really glad to have this out so early this time around! It's a lot of fun for me to digest and compare how you guys think and when it comes out this early it give me a lot more to enjoy doing so.

These colour hosers are undervalued. You will face one colour or the other 70% of the time, not 40%.

To Marshall's question regarding Barrage hitting battles: If it hoses specific colors, you don't want to give the owner control over whether they see that color. If I'm playing this in a UR/WR deck it'll deal 5 to the battles I play.

You can tell just how beaten down Marshall has been by all of these fast sets recently. He just wants a slow set so bad

March of the Machine.

Love the set reviews..I watch every time you guys do one!

Always excited to hear your thoughts on the new cards! I've noticed that I have a different philosophy than y'all with regards to grading on a curve (pun intended). You often give interchangeable 2 drops grades around D through C-, but interchangeable 5 drops often get C+. I have it the other way in my head. Take for example Swordsworn Cavalier and Bonded Herdbeast. You gave the former a C-, and the latter a C+. Sure, the Herdbeast reads well, but how many 5 drops can you really play? The 2nd best common 5 drop in a color is almost always going to shake out at like a C- at best, but more often in the D range. Conversely, the Cavalier is the kind of card that you'll happily play 3 of in any deck with enough knights to support it, which to me says it's probably a C or C+. I think it's important to contextualize how much of a priority a card will be given the availability of slots for that sort of effect, and you guys do that for things like combat tricks and equipment (all but the very premium ones tend to fall below a C).

Fantastic review as always. Thanks for rushing to get this out well in advance of the pre-release :)

Wow, the review is up so early! You love to see it

Other people have mentioned this, but to state it a bit more precisely: If we make the baseline assumptions that all of our opponents will be playing two colors and each two color pair is equally likely, then you have a 70% chance to be playing against at least one of two colors (e.g. white OR blue).

We do get to see him at the PT! Congrats BK and nice episode Marshall and LSV!

GOOD LUCK BK!! Great show you guys, really flew by! Great information. Very pumped about this format both limited and constructed.

As a note on the battles and how likely you are to see them, there is one in every pack. So you will likely see 15+ of them

4:05:00 - not sure if it is aknowledged in the video, but Overloaded Mage Ring can copy any spell including creatures, enchatments etc. I personally think it is more then a C because of that - if you are on the flyer deck you play it on 4, draw some cards and swing one of your 3 mana 2/2 flyers at it. Next turn you swing at it again transform it and you double spell with one of the cards drawn - even if that card is just another 2/2 flyer for three you are looking at 6 flying damage. Pretty good for just curving 2/2 flyer into a card draw spell. The ceilling is also a lot higher for it - it can just as easily copy one of your bombs or a great 2-for-1 card. Probably at least a C+ in my opinion maybe even B- in right decks. The fact that if you top deck it draws you cards to find something to copy also helps a ton. Would be pretty dead later in the game otherwise.

You guys are always the best preparation for prerelease.

Adding my thanks to everyone for getting this out so early!

At 3:51:24 they're discussing Saiba Cryptomancer and Marshall is saying it's a D. This card is essentially Feat of Resistance (I understand protection is better than hexproof) that leaves behind an 0/1. Given how good Feat type cards are, I can't see that being worse than a C-.

Thanks y'all as always! Much appreciated!

This format looks really exciting. Thanks for the set review

This set looks sweet. I love Backup!

LSV is the goat, I respect his opinion as if he was the Pope

What a nice timing guys, thank you for the show as always!

Did I miss the multiversal legend uncommons? Get one every pack.

"there is gonna be a lot of battles getting attacked out of nowhere" - A guy whose favorite color is Blue. "Trade? Nope. Face? Yup" A guy whose favorite color is Red.

3:24:10 One thing to watch out for is flipping battles with Phyrexian Censor on board. The other side is being cast, so if you cast the battle the same turn as you defeat it, it won't flip (or if you've played any other non-Phyrexian spell that turn).

Ichor = Eye-Cur. Looking forward to this set!

By default I expect the white flicker cantrip will have a lot to do because all backup creatures have ETB abilities and they are almost all playable.

I bet Invasion of Eldraine will end up much better than you give it credit for. It reminds me of The Long Reach of Night, a sleeper early during Kamigawa that ended up being a pretty good saga.

love the design of the saiba cryptomancer. so many little things for 2 mana. really fun looking card.

I think Scrappy Bruiser is insane when you see what he can do. cast him, next turn swing and target himself, 5/4 trample that gets bounced back to your hand and now you can cast him again that turn and have a 3/4 blocker. He basically has vigilance that you can pay 4 mana for. You can do this every turn until they decide to block and kill him

43:26 I think the haste is for 1) Convoke creatures (convoke something big for 1, pump it haste it flip the battle) and also 2) Two-Headed Giant since it’s a Kylem (battlebond) themed card. Pump your teammate’s new creature and they attack the battle, etc.

There are some fringe cases where the haste on Invasion of Kylem has a use. Using Quintorious, Loremaster's ability to return it from the grave, or any other effect that puts permanents onto the battlefield from hand or grave like Invasion of Shandalar.

How slow does the draft format have to be, to want to trade 4-6 OP life to flip a battle?

Looks to me like fixing goes way up in this set because those multi-color team up legends are all bombs, if the fixing is this set is good it will be a prince set for sure

Botanical Brawler is interesting because if you put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, it gets an extra counter for each of them (since it seems to check each individual permanent not whether or not any permanent has had a counter on it.) Seems like it can trigger multiple times in a turn this way, and there are a few "put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control" Effects or several incubate multiple times cards. Neat!

Great work as always! That said I think both invasion of Vryn and invasion of amokhet are being severely underrated. IMO the fact that both don’t affect the board is compensated in their sheer powerlevel. Both front side effects could be considered D level sorcery abilities in many limited formats. That means the backsides are gravy, and the gravy here is game endingly powerful. With backup and plenty of other etb/passive creature effects, the amonkhet backside will do plenty on transformation. The backside of Vryn meanwhile allows you to copy any spell (including permeants) meaning 1 activation will gain back a lot of board presence. 1 more and you are pretty much guaranteed to win. And while yes while you do need to generate board presence after resolving their fronts, having these out will make opponents much more hesitant to attack. Additionally I don’t think this format will be as aggressive as the last 2 thanks to worse/less 1 drops and battles existing. So the tempo hit these give aren’t as backbreaking as they could be.

We get the review early and LSV got them GUNS OUT son!

I might have missed lsv correcting himself but the incubate token can be transformed at instant speed.

1:14:11 ...but isn't there a 70% chance your opponent's deck has white or blue? (Or any two colors)

I feel blessed to have the first march !! Oh my!!

I like to think they're both sharing 1 pair of earbuds and just sitting next to each other :)) heehee

LSV's chest is cold but the suns out so, guns must be out.

3:41:54 - You only incubate if they pay the 4.

I don't know if I'm sold on battles being mostly B ratings. They seem either win more, hard to defeat for some colors, or when playing an aggro deck just not worth gaining your opponent life. Some of them are obviously good enough on their front side, but I think maybe the ratings are a tad high on average. My two cents I guess

As for Lithomantic Barrage, I think the reason it's not any target is that it's supposed to be part of the cycle of uncommon color hosers. So, encouraging playing battles of those colors along side Lithomantic Barrage is something I don't think R&D wants for what is supposed to be a color hoser.

we've got some post apocalyptic fashion goin on here :D

I’m probably wrong but I think there might be a good blue control deck in this format.

This set gonna be amazing. Ravagan turn 1 incoming.

I dislike WotC for pumping set after set. Really revealing new set during pre-release. However, this also means my two favorite people on the internet are on duty, so can't stay mad. Keep up the good work gentlemen.

Goats ty for all the content

One point about Change the Equation: it can counter the backside of all the battles (as they are cast and have no mana cost, and thus mana value 0).

Vergant earth seems interesting, as you can make your incubated creature token a 4/4 + the counters it had on. I don't think it's a D as they say it is.

Thanks

i think what you guys are forgetting is that the color hate cards are actually significantly better than 40%. Almost everyone will be playing 2+ color decks, and there's plenty of mana fixing. even if nobody plays 3 color decks, you're still looking at a 70% chance to run into one of the colors you're hating on, and if you factor in all the splashing that's encouraged by the rares of this set, that probably goes to about 75%

Who does the card/graphic editing? Might need to get some AI tools to help them do a better job

1:04:38 LSV mind-slipped into Evangelion...

never under value vigilance in a set with convoke. Convoke makes vigilance MUCH better then it normally would be without convoke. There are many instant speed convoke spells that make vigilance extremely powerful as if the creature is already attacking, it's essentially nearly 100% free mana that can even be used before blockers (ie. attack with 4 creatures with vigilance that include 2 red creatures, tap all 4 of them to Stoke the Flame for no mana).

The maths being done on the hate cards is way off. If you assume your opponent is always playing at least a 2 colour deck, it's 70% you are going to be playing against at least one of the 2 colours. 10 combinations of 2 colours. For WU only the RG, RB and GB options won't have either U or W. Also you are playing one of the other colours, in a IRL draft that increases the chances your opponents will be in the targeted colours which will bump it up a little.

Fliers are extra good with the battles.

Lithomantic Barrage would be busted if you could hit battles with it because you would just be able to flip any of your blue/white battles for 1 mana

4:22:00 the flavor text on Kitesail is on point 😄

I like Converter Beast in decks with pump, convoke, sacrifice, a few of the back up cards. I think it will be better than it looks.

Knight of the New Coalition is also going to be fantastic for convoke cards

Noticing some of the cards that interact with 2 specific colors, I feel that saying "40% of the time blank happens" is somewhat incorrect. In limited most decks are 2+ colors (sometimes mono decks happen but not that often) and if you choose any 2 colors it's actually the case that 7 out of the 10 color pairs contain at least one of those colors (so 70%). Of course every deck containing on of these colors isn't necessarily going to cast the color you want, but I'm saying that you can wait for (and likely will have) a target for cards like Lithomantic Barage in 70% of games, when intuitively we might think it was under 50%. This is a big deal when it comes to sideboarding vs main decking for example.

The uh...the 3 mana remove a counter from any target permanent...that works with battles. Because battles. Use Defense COUNTERS. That's a big part of battles.

joyful stormsculptor seems bad since you're not gonna need to convoke much once you've got 5 mana

i think the counters render inert gets rid of will get rid of the defense counters on battles.

I’m exhausted by these sets. The Machine has beaten me. I may just have to stick to other formats. 😢

For the color hate cards: you actually play againt one of the colors 70% of the time assuming that everyone plays 2 colors.

2:22:53 Atraxa's fall or any other destroy a battle effect doesn't flip the battle then? Battles specifically needs the defense counters to be removed to trigger? Also, does trample overflow to the player if it removes the defense counters from a battle?

1:37:26 This thing poops out treasures, and lots of the sacrifice cards can sac artifacts. That seems like a notable synergy, which might make this thing playable.

Lets freaking go!

You guys should put the grade next to the card in the videos you make like this

YES! Thank you.

Great review!