Ravnica Remastered

I always loved the original ravnica-block. It was my first non-core set block and 3x RAV remains my favorite draft fromat until today. But it had one big flaw: It was lacking 6 awesome guilds. But when the whole Ravnica block was released and drafted, and we got to draft with all 10 guilds, another flaw was showing up: Decks were at least 3-, often 4- or 5-colored, and decks actually based upon a guild and their strategy were almost impossible to assemble.

I wanted to erase these flaws. I wanted to create a draft format with the focused, synergistic decks from RAV/RAV/RAV but include all ten guild like in RAV/GP/DIS.

So i decided to do a "remastered set". I cut down all the useless crap (hello Zephyr Spirit), especially in multicolored commons, to lower the numbers of cards, that required 2 colors of mana. I also allowed myself to add a few simple commons to fill holes from either RtR-block or the coresets 10th - M14. Obviously I tried to keep as much flavor and nostalgia as possible everywhere.

I play it with seeded packs, so it's maybe not a cube, depending on how you define, but rather a drafting simulations. But if you want to give it a run, I figured out the number for cubetutor to come close to 11-3-1 packs. There's a link in my signature.


The actual list:


{W} commons
(52)
4 Suntail Hawk
4 Veteran Armorer
4 Ghost Warden
4 Keening Apparition
4 Freewind Equenaut
4 Nightguard Patrol
4 Seller of Songbirds
4 Guardian of the Guildpact
4 Charging Griffin
4 Conclave Equenaut
4 Pacifism
4 Faith's Fetters
4 Knightly Valor

{U} commons
(52)
4 Surveilling Sprite
4 Drift of Phantasms
4 Wind Drake
4 Vedalken Entrancer
4 Tidewater Minion
4 Helium Squirter
4 Vedalken Dismisser
4 Repeal
4 Peel from Reality
4 Compulsive Research
4 Cancel
4 Flight of Fancy
4 Ocular Halo

{B} commons
(52)
4 Thoughtpicker Witch
4 Gutter Skulk
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Orzhov Euthanist
4 Demon's Jester
4 Dimir House Guard
4 Last Gasp
4 Macabre Waltz
4 Seal of Doom
4 Delirium Skeins
4 Strands of Undeath
4 Disembowel

{R} commons
(52)
4 Sell-Sword Brute
4 Riot Piker
4 Bloodscale Prowler
4 Viashino Fangtail
4 Batterhorn
4 Mugging
4 Seal of Fire
4 Taste for Mayhem
4 Krenko's Command
4 Rain of Embers
4 Galvanic Arc
4 Incite Hysteria
4 Cackling Flames

{G} commons
(52)
4 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Spire Tracer
4 Aquastrand Spider
4 Silhana Ledgewalker
4 Civic Wayfinder
4 Golgari Brownscale
4 Sporeback Troll
4 Towering Indrik
4 Siege Wurm
4 Fists of Ironwood
4 Naturalize
4 Wildsize
4 Scatter the Seeds


{W/U} commons
(16)
4 Azorius First-Wing
4 Minister of Impediments
4 Plumes of Peace
4 Azorius Chancery

{U/B} commons
(16)
4 Lurking Informant
4 Consult the Necrosages
4 Induce Paranoia
4 Dimir Aqueduct

{B/R} commons
(16)
4 Gobhobbler Rats
4 Rakdos Ickspitter
4 Wrecking Ball
4 Rakdos Carnarium

{R/G} commons
(16)
4 Scab-Clan Mauler
4 Burning-Tree Bloodscale
4 Streetbreaker Wurm
4 Gruul Turf

{G/W} commons
(16)
4 Selesnya Evangel
4 Transluminant
4 Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi
4 Selesnya Sanctuary

{W/B} commons
(16)
4 Blind Hunter
4 Castigate
4 Pillory of the Sleepless
4 Orzhov Basilica

{B/G} commons
(16)
4 Shambling Shell
4 Golgari Rotwurm
4 Gaze of the Gorgon
4 Golgari Rot Farm

{G/U} commons
(16)
4 Coiling Oracle
4 Vigean Hydropon
4 Assault Zeppelid
4 Simic Growth Chamber

{U/R} commons
(16)
4 Wee Dragonauts
4 Izzet Chronarch
4 Leap of Flame
4 Izzet Boilerworks

{R/W} commons
(16)
4 Thundersong Trumpeter
4 Skyknight Legionnaire
4 Rally the Righteous
4 Boros Garrison



Signets are pumped up to uncommons, the only rarity shift

{W} uncommons
(14)
2 Mistral Charger
2 Sandsower
2 Belfry Spirit
2 Auratouched Mage
2 Condemn
2 Bathe in Light
2 Devouring Light

{U} uncommons
(14)
2 Lore Broker
2 Vertigo Spawn
2 Belltower Sphinx
2 Mark of Eviction
2 Telling Time
2 Thunderheads
2 Flow of ideas

{B} uncommons
(14)
2 Plagued Rusalka
2 Golgari Thug
2 Daggerclaw Imp
2 Keening Banshee
2 Mausoleum Turnkey
2 Exhumer Thrull
2 Hissing Miasma

{R} uncommons
(14)
2 Scorched Rusalka
2 Frenzied Goblin
2 Gnat Alley Creeper
2 Rabble-Rouser
2 Wojek Embermage
2 Skullcrack
2 Cleansing Beam

{G} uncommons
(14)
2 Dryad Sophisticate
2 Trophy Hunter
2 Carven Caryatid
2 Indrik Stomphowler
2 Moldervine Cloak
2 Recollect
2 Predatory Focus

{c} uncommons
(4)
2 Junktroller
2 Codex Shredder


{W/U} uncommons
(8)
2 Azorius Guildmage
2 Court Hussar
2 Sky Hussar
2 Azorius Signet

{U/B} uncommons
(8)
2 Dimir Guildmage
2 Clutch of the Undercity
2 Psychic Drain
2 Dimir Signet

{B/R} uncommons
(8)
2 Rakdos Guildmage
2 Jagged Poppet
2 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 RakdosSignet

{R/G} uncommons
(8)
2 Gruul Guildmage
2 Feral Animist
2 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
2 Gruul Signet

{G/W} uncommons
(8)
2 Selesnya Guildmage
2 Watchwolf
2 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
2 Selesnya Signet

{W/B} uncommons
(8)
2 Orzhov Guildmage
2 Souls of the Faultless
2 Mortify
2 Orzhov Signet

{B/G} uncommons
(8)
2 Golgari Guildmage
2 Drooling Groodion
2 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb
2 Golgari Signet

{G/U} uncommons
(8)
2 Simic Guildmage
2 Plaxcaster Frogling
2 Novijen, heart of Progress
2 Simic Signet

{U/R} uncommons
(8)
2 Izzet Guildmage
2 Gelectrode
2 Electrolyze
2 Izzet Signet

{R/W} uncommons
(8)
2 Boros Guildmage
2 Flame-Kin Zealot
2 Lightning Helix
2 Boros Signet




I'm really kinda proud of this project, because it was hard to figure it out, and it's probably still not perfect. Take a look or do a draft if you want and maybe give me some feedback :)
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Ah, yeah, you have to be a patreon to be able to do that. For me it's absolutely worth it, because it also allows me to upload custom cards :D

If you want to I could clone your cube under my account and add a drafting profile of your liking! PM or quote me if you'ld like that (so I get a notification ;)).
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Clarification: Technically you can't upload custom cards. You can only add existing cards to your cube. What you can do, however, is upload custom scans for cards in your cube.

What I usually do when I want to add a custom card to my CubeTutor list is find an existing card that is close in casting cost and function, then tag it as "Custom", then upload an image of my custom card that I exported from Magic Set Editor replacing the art of the existing card with my custom card.

When you view the cube by curve you will still see the card name of the existing card (in my case with a purple background, because that's the color I associated with the tag "Custom" in my account), but when you view the visual spoiler of your cube or draft it you will see the custom scan you uploaded. When you use the autocard function in blogposts, CubeTutor will also fetch the custom scan of a card if it has one in your cube, which is pretty neat!

A bit of a weird aside in your cube thread, sorry for that :)
 
Ah, yeah, you have to be a patreon to be able to do that. For me it's absolutely worth it, because it also allows me to upload custom cards :D

If you want to I could clone your cube under my account and add a drafting profile of your liking! PM or quote me if you'ld like that (so I get a notification ;)).

Wow, this would be super nice! You would really help out a fellow cardboard addict.
The distribution would be the usually 11 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare =)
But you probably would have to check the rarities if some cards that have been shifted up or done, and the Signets are uncommons in RRM. It's okay if this would be too much hassle for you!
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Wow, this would be super nice! You would really help out a fellow cardboard addict.
The distribution would be the usually 11 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare =)
But you probably would have to check the rarities if some cards that have been shifted up or done, and the Signets are uncommons in RRM. It's okay if this would be too much hassle for you!

Admittedly you'll probably want to go with the original rarity anyways. Ravnica is a REALLY different draft envoirnment with Signets and bouncelands at uncommon
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Ah, yeah, you have to be a patreon to be able to do that. For me it's absolutely worth it, because it also allows me to upload custom cards :D

If you want to I could clone your cube under my account and add a drafting profile of your liking! PM or quote me if you'ld like that (so I get a notification ;)).


That has got to be one of the nicest things I've seen someone offer to do on a forum. Onder, you're a class act.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Wow, this would be super nice! You would really help out a fellow cardboard addict.
The distribution would be the usually 11 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare =)
But you probably would have to check the rarities if some cards that have been shifted up or done, and the Signets are uncommons in RRM. It's okay if this would be too much hassle for you!

Ok, will do! It's going to take a bit of time because I can't clone your set choice. CubeTutor automatically assigns the newest set to a card you add. That means I have to set all cards to the right set by hand. Luckily rarity automatically changes when you do this :)
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I have drafted this a bunch of times today (didn't save all the drafts though), and I had a blast. I did miss one specific thing though, and that was the lack of cantrips outside of blue and green. The original Ravnica block had a few cantrips at common and uncommon in all of the colors (in the full block draft at least).

There's also one card I'm passing all the time: Suntail Hawk. It just doesn't seem that impactful, not does it serve a greater purpose from what I can tell, and it's not even from Ravnica. No idea what I would replace it with, though Gideon's Lawkeeper would work well with Plumes of Peace. That swap might mean you get too much removal in white however, in which case Pacifism is probably due for a replacement as well?
Edit: Oh, but Gideon's Lawkeepers steps on the toes of Minister of Impediments...

By the way, Spire Tracker looks fine, because it can trigger bloodthirst, and because green has a few ways to pump him :)
 
I have drafted this a bunch of times today (didn't save all the drafts though), and I had a blast. I did miss one specific thing though, and that was the lack of cantrips outside of blue and green. The original Ravnica block had a few cantrips at common and uncommon in all of the colors (in the full block draft at least).

It's appreciated a lot, and I'm glad you (and others) like the set. I haven't noticed that I missed out on white/black/red cantrips so badly, hm. The red ones suck though, imo, but white has a few decent ones, and in black I could find room for Cremate or Brain Pry. But room is limited in black, which has so many awesome cards to offer.


There's also one card I'm passing all the time: Suntail Hawk. It just doesn't seem that impactful, not does it serve a greater purpose from what I can tell, and it's not even from Ravnica. No idea what I would replace it with, though Gideon's Lawkeeper would work well with Plumes of Peace. That swap might mean you get too much removal in white however, in which case Pacifism is probably due for a replacement as well?
Edit: Oh, but Gideon's Lawkeepers steps on the toes of Minister of Impediments...

By the way, Spire Tracker looks fine, because it can trigger bloodthirst, and because green has a few ways to pump him :)

Yeah, Hawk is on the watch list for me too. And you're right about the Tracer, he's mostly in there for the Scab-Clan Mauler decks. The idea behind Hawk was, to give Boros Aggro a 1-drop at common.
If he gets the axe, what do you think of Carom or Withstand?

Oh, and I noticed one problem with the list, Pillory of the Sleepless is listed from the wrong set as an uncommon, making it appear in the wrong slot.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
It's appreciated a lot, and I'm glad you (and others) like the set. I haven't noticed that I missed out on white/black/red cantrips so badly, hm. The red ones suck though, imo, but white has a few decent ones, and in black I could find room for Cremate or Brain Pry. But room is limited in black, which has so many awesome cards to offer.
Ignorant Bliss is actually quite decent as a surprise hellbent enabler that cycles. It's also pretty cute tech against discard spells. Psychotic Fury is a decent combat trick, and Smash is a usually a good sideboard card, though there aren't really many must kill artifacts in your cube, so... meh. Let's not talk about Reroute. Anyway, I think Ignorant Bliss and Psychotic Fury aren't nearly as bad as you think.

Yeah, Hawk is on the watch list for me too. And you're right about the Tracer, he's mostly in there for the Scab-Clan Mauler decks. The idea behind Hawk was, to give Boros Aggro a 1-drop at common.
If he gets the axe, what do you think of Carom or Withstand?
I remember both Carom and Withstand being very decent limited tricks. Withstand is better at saving your creatures in general, and can also target yourself, but Carom is more devastating when it works. Imagine a situation where a 3/3 and a 3/1 are attacking into your 3/3 and you have a Carom in hand. That kind of devastating.

Oh, and I noticed one problem with the list, Pillory of the Sleepless is listed from the wrong set as an uncommon, making it appear in the wrong slot.

Rarity (and art) have been fixed!
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you again :p

I linked to your version of RRM in my signatures, I guess that's fine for you?

I just drafted this version of my favorite deck back in the day at work. Can't wait to draft and play something like this at my kitchen table soon:

Dimir Mill is love from CubeTutor.com









 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Thank you, thank you, thank you again :p

I linked to your version of RRM in my signatures, I guess that's fine for you?
Yeah, that's totally fine with me! Be sure to notify me of any changes though, otherwise people will be drafting an outdated list ;)
 
I have a problem with the Gruul Clans, and I might need some advice ... in set design, not in fighting wild tribes. The problem ist, that Gruul cards suck. Most of the commons and uncommons at least. And I tried to give every guild a single, clear strategy, which is difficult with the pile of {R}{G}-cards aviable. Besides the obligatory Guildmage, Bounceland and Signet, I run the following right now:





This is a more aggressive way of Gruul, mostly tailored towards the Sac-Clan Mauler. I'm even running cards like Spire Tracer to support this kind of deck. But I'm wondering if a more midrange-y beatdown strategy would be the better fit fot this guild (Boros and Rakdos are alreadypretty aggressive). Then I would consider cards like:



which would replace the not great Feral Animist. But the I would also like to have a more midrange-y replacement for the Mauler. And this is literally the best to choose from:



I could downshift something like Feral Animist, but I'd hate to do this aesthetically. What would you guys do?

Edit: Oh, by the way, the multicolored cards are all only from the og Ravnica block, so something nice like Zhur-Taa Druid wouldn't be the solution here.
 
If it were me, I’d probably stretch at least one of my constraints. DownshiftingRumbling Slum to uncommon might be where I’d start to cement Gruul as a midrange guild. A vanilla 5/5 for 4 is good but not broken.

Otherwise, you’re probably going to need to look at Return block gold cards.
 
Well, I think I have pretty good uncommons. I'm very happy with the Rage Pits, and I think the Skybreaker will be a very decent fattie.
Mostly I'm worried about the third common slot. Is Mauler still playable in midrange? Should I downshift Animist? Or do I have to look for Ravnica 2 cards?
 
Did a sealed last night with my best buddy and went 2-1 with my Rakdos control deck against his Abzan good stuff pile. My deck looked like this:


Rakdos Control











It was pretty brutal, Cloister drew me a lot of cards, tons of removal cleared every threat away and Firebird and Vampire were excellent finishers.

I fear that Rakdos might have access to too much removal. I got no copies of Last Gasp or Seal of Fire or Cackling Flames even. I think i have to check the numbers. And if I decide to allow downshifts, I could the strong but boring Wrecking Ball with something more spicy like Hellhole Rats maybe.

White has only Faith's Fetters and Pacifism at common.
Black has Last Gasp, Disembowl and Seal of Doom, but that's just okay I guess.
Red on the other hand has Sealf of Fire, Mugging, Galvanic Arc and Cackling Flames, which is at least one too much I guess. I had Mugging in for Izzet Guildmage, but it's not from OG Ravnica and steps on the toes of Seal of Fire, so I will cut it in favor of Seismic Spike I guess.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
I don't know how original Ravnica you want to keep your cube, but...



This card secretly pushes midrange as well, because you want to have bigger creatures than your opponent to make use of it. Streetbreaker Wurm feels fine as a midrange option still, or if you want to go bigger, there's...



Also, there's mana ramp in the form of...



I know these all aren't OG Ravnica, but I feel all of them work pretty well in a midrange strategy. Maybe drop bloodthirst if you want to make Gruul midrange and use bloodrush instead. After all, the boar is a great midrange option as well!

 
As much as possible. My goal was, to only add cards from other sets, that look and feel like they could be from OG Ravnica, as long as you don't check the set symbol. So stuff like bloodrush would be out of place following that paradigm.

For the moment I want to give Scab-Clan Mauler the chance to proof himself in a midrange-y guild. If this doesn't work out, I would go with downshifts from U to C. I would also be interested to downshift these cards then maybe:

 
I think in the end it will come down to the question: Is he still good in turn 3, 5 and 12? Is a 3/3 trample still good enough in the mid and late game in this certain limited format?
And I think, when I go through the creatures in the common slots, this might be the case.

Oh, and I made a few adjustments:

Flaring Flame-Kin replaces Gnat Alley Creeper
The Elemental doesn't support a guild's strategy, but the pay off is still worth it over a almost vanilla 3/1.

Seismic Spike replaces Mugging
Too much removal in red, even though this change makes Izzet Guildmage sad.

Skarrgan Skybreaker replaces Feral Animist
 
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