Master 5 Magics

They've released the list of mechanics for Guilds of Ravnica so let's take a look!

Surveil, the U/B mechanic is something that I wish it allowed players to look at opponent's libraries. THAT feels more House Dimir, honestly-knowing someone else's plans. However as much as I like that notion, the fateseal element of that is bad news. Many players really wouldn't like having their deck manipulated like that but it also seems really, really powerful. Maybe if it milled both players? Or Fatesealed both players-I look at the top two cards of my library and yours and either put them back in any order or mill them but I have to make the same choice for both players.

 My dreams aside, this one will depend a LOT on the support it can get. By itself, the mechanic doesn't do anything but filter cards. That's fine on a card like Opt, but less awesome when that effect costs you 3 mana for a 1/1.

Jump-Start is the mechanic that has the most reach, I think: the discard effect can play with other mechanics (Madness, Undergrowth, Dredge, Flashback) and getting to replay a spell is a very powerful thing, as seen by Snapcaster Mage. Removing the restriction that Retrace had means you can use Jump-Start at any point in the game, where Retrace was really limited to reuse at the late game. Plus, being U/R means it's in the right guild.

The Golgari mechanic, Undergrowth is underwhelming. That's the second underwhelming mechanic from G/B in Ravnica. It is, as Scavenge was before it, a Very Strong Reaction to Dredge and not making that mistake again. The fact that it's card type dependent is not a plus (except for flavor), the restriction being a limiting problem similar to Threshold's and I just finished explaining why Jump-Start has more flexibility than retrace. The wording suggests that it's only going to be useful in late game situations, if at all. If it's a cool comeback mechanic, awesome! I think the game needs more of them. But I'm not currently impressed and the cards they've shown aren't very encouraging.

Still, I have only seen one card and I'd be happy to be wrong about it.

Mentor is something that I think will payoff in Ravnica Allegiance when the Simic mechanic (U/G) is revealed. It's not bad, but it isn't interesting at all. This is, sadly, what we've come to expect from the R/W guild and it's a shame. That color combination needs more to do-red especially- but every time all that players are given are 'attack with creatures'.

Convoke is safe: they've done it multiple times and nobody's ever broken it. It was popular enough to bring back so hopefully they'll try and use it in novel ways. At least, that's what I'd like to see and one of the preview cards, Conclave Tribunal, is only the second enchantment with Convoke. So that gives me some hope!