Guildpact continues the saga of Ravnica by introducing three more of ten guilds: the Orzhov, the Izzet, and the Gruul. Just like in Ravnica, there are two different general categories for creatures in each guild.  For instance, the Dimir had creatures that specialized in milling or evasion.  For the Boros Legion it had both weenies and controllish creatures. In this article I hope to enlighten you on each of the Guildpact guilds in terms of the 'limited' format with a look at the different types of creatures and a closer look at some specific creatures in the set.

The Gruul Clans.

Gruul sports two different types of creatures: Big and small.  These two categories might seem simple at first glance, but there is a lot of hidden distinctions between the two.  Big Gruul creatures pack loads of power but at the cost of a slow and unimpressive start. Small Gruul creatures rush out quickly but they run out of power later on (or even by the second or third turn).

Unlike the oil ‘n water Dimir, a Gruul drafter needs to have a balance between slow and fast. An optimal Gruul deck needs some small creatures not as a win condition but as bloodthirst enablers. Big creatures look impressive but they shouldn’t be relied on too much. An optimal gruul deck should have a mana cost like the graph to the right. (Sorry.. the graph didn't transfer well into Frontpage ~Streetz~)

Creatures of Note

Ghor-Clan Savage: This is a great 5/6 creature for five mana and is very hard for any deck to deal with that isn’t loaded to the gills with pillories. The problem is that greatness has a cost. When you’re in between a rock and a hard place this guy can really let you down. Often this card is a great card when your winning and a bad card when your losing.

 

 

Silhana Ledgewalker: Hmmm... an elf rogue that is basically a flyer when attacking. What makes the Ledgewalker great is that it can’t be targeted by your opponents (no pyromantics on this guy) and yet you can still boost it with your own Magemarks. The best use though is sneaking it in for a damage to trigger bloodthirst.

 

 

Streetbreaker Wurm:  At 5 mana this is the “better craw wurm” but without trample. This card is usually chump blocked, still this card is amazing and able to trade with almost every creature in Guildpact. The best thing is that it is possible to get multiples of these gems consistently.

 

The Izzet League.

The Izzet’s two types of creature categories are those that are based on non-creature spells and those that aren’t. Cards like Wee Dragonaut love instants and sorceries while cards such as Ætherplasm like creatures.  With that in mind, a Torch Drake, an Izzet creature, isn't very exciting when your playing cards like Repeals to stay alive, whereas the Wee Dragonauts are.  Thus, an Izzet drafter should be careful not to just throw any old Izzet card into their deck if they want it to be effective and finely tuned. Be mindful of the cards you are working with in your Izzet deck to optimize the synergies between them.

The Izzet also have a sub theme going on: pinging in small doses.  Pingers are powerfull but if you put too many into a deck, problems can arise. Many of the blue/red creatures tend to be a bit on the slow side *cough* crystal seer *cough* and so cards like vertigo spawn can stall long enough for Gelectrodes and Steamcore Wierds to come online.

Also, Izzet is most often underdrafted which can net you two to four of the “guild staples” consistently.

Creatures of Note

Stratozeppelid: It's big enough that it should end the game quickly, few cards can deal with a 4/4 flier. The inability to block is minimal because with this creature you usually want to be attacking as often as possible.

 

 

 

Steamcore Weird: Shock built in on a creature is nice but this creature has number major advantages. First, it usually kills a creature when it comes into play. Second, it can hang around and block Steetbreaker Wurms and similar non-trampling fatties.  Third, it is easy to get three or more of these guys. Though it’s no Flametongue Kavu it is still a pretty good common for limited.

 

 

Gelectrode: At the same converted mana cost as prodigal sorcerer, gelectrode is a far better card  (despite it being a 0/1 instead of a 1/1 like Timmy). With just one spell Gelectrode can kill a 2/2. It is unfortunate that he doesn’t trigger off of replicate.

 

 

The Orzhov Syndicate.

The Orzhov’s two types of creatures are the ones that want to attack and the ones that don’t. Daggerclaw Imp exists for one purpose: to attack for 3 points of evasion damage a turn. Droning Bureaucrats would rather sit by and have enemy creatures fill out forms. As a 1/4 he offers little offensive incentive.

The types of creatures that want to attack tend to go in fast paced aggro decks where as the ones that don’t tend to go along side some of the orzhov’s life draining cards. However, this doesn’t mean that a deck full of flyers won’t take Souls of the Faultless. Cards like Agent of Masks and Droning Bureaucrats have great synergy together that can be very powerful!

Unfortunately, the Orzhov tend to be overdrafted which can make it hard to get staples like Blind Hunter, Agent of Masks, and Ostiary Thrull.

Creatures of Note

Shrieking Grotesque: A 2/1 flyer for 3 is okay but with the discard, the grotesque almost always is card advantage. Causing a discard and trading with another creature results in a 2 for 1 deal! The evasion is very relevant because The Gruul have no flyers and just about every other flying creature has a toughness of 2 or less.

 

 

Restless Bones: At first glance, 'ol Restless might seem like a bad dredge skeleton but think about it. Against Gruul this is a great blocker. Against Orzhov his ability to give a creature swampwalk can be a game breaker. This card tends to get shot down a lot (as soon as you run out of mana) by the Izzet but it is still an okay card that fills in some of the Orzhov’s weaknesses.

 

 

Revenant Patriarch: The Patriarch is simply an Ogre Taskmaster with a built in Ethereal Haze. The in ability to block isn’t really a weakness because after you play him your opponent can’t attack for a turn and you get to start attacking with him. Many of the Orzhov’s creatures are small and can’t hit for very much.  However, with the Revenant Patriarch being the biggest common/uncommon he can do some good damage and even get you out of a pinch in certain situations.

 

Controversial creatures in Guildpact.

Wondering why I didn't mention some cards above?  Well, that's probably because they are not seen in everyone's eyes as the same -- good or bad.  Some of the Guildpact cards are controversial in limited.  Take, for instance, the following cards:

Guildpact Guildmages

The Izzet Guildmage is really a U/R grizzly bear; with only two targets that don’t have replicate (Repeal and Quicken) there isn’t much reason to play this guy other than the 2/2 frame.

Orzhov Guildmage is merely a 2/2 early and an agent of masks late in the game. His best use is hitting everyone for two damage a turn once you’re high on life (from Blind Hunter, Mourning Thrull, Agent of Masks, etc.)  Though he's not very fast, the Orzhov Guildmage can really help out in the long run by killing your opponent faster or preventing your opponent from killing you faster.

Lastly, the Gruul Guildmage: some people love him while others just don’t see the point in him. The strength of this guild mage is that he is good early in the game and good late in the game. While the Gruul are an aggressive guild, they can sometimes run out of steam.  The +2/+2 ability of this guildmage really makes the difference. Even if you don’t use it you can still bluff (like attack with a 1/1 into a 2/2 if your opponent doesn’t block they take 1 and you can play your stuff 2nd main phase).

Orzhov Euthanist

Some people see this card and they see a really good creature “wow that’s better than dark banishing” others say “ohh boy another Gray Ogre…”

This card is a little of both. The “come into play” part is meant for the second main phase. If you can deal damage to an opponent's creature with another source (i.e. creature or spell) during the combat phase, during your second main phase the Euthanist comes into play with optimal effectiveness - destroying that creature as it comes into play.  What's really cool is the fact that this will all be unpredictable (in certain situations) to your opponent.  It's that unpredictability that makes the Euthanist a little bit better than Gray Ogre.  Then there's Haunt!

The second part of his ability triggers as an instant but haunted creature must be put in the graveyard in order for the trigger to happen. This gives you less control (as your opponent can kill/bounce the haunted creature at an inopportune time).

The best use of haunt to maximize your control of it is to 'haunt' a small creature you control with at least one power.  When your opponent attacks with a big creature just block with the haunted creature and *poof*!  Your creature dealt damage to the attacker and thus the attacker to your haunted creature.  You creature goes to the graveyard, triggering haunt.  Target the attacking creature that just took damage and destroy it (thus the *poof*).

The euthanist is a solid creature but it shouldn’t be relied on as creature kill.

Burning-Tree Bloodscale

The Bloodscale comes into play as a 2/2 for 4; he could possibly be a 3/3 but ya’ shouldn’t play the Bloodscale for its power/toughness; the reason to play (or not to play) the bloodscale is it’s two abilities. The first ability is simply evasion from annoying blockers (see Souls of the Faultless); the 2nd ability is like provoke and it forces blocking.

The reason some people don’t like the Bloodscale is that he is overcosted all around, both to cast and to activate his abilities. The pro is that he can attack and kill small creatures (even without bloodthirst) repeatedly, and later in the game swoosh by for the win. Another con is that the Gruul have much faster creatures (Scrab-Clan Mauler has the same power/toughness at half the cost).

Well, that ends my journey into limited with the guilds of Guildpact.  Hopefully I've given you a little insight into the Gruul, Izzet and Orhzov guilds while drafting them. 

Please let me know your thoughts on this in the forum!

Kishiesties

:Edited by Streetz:

You can discuss this article in the MDV forums here.

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