Hello, again. Hot off my initial return to the StarCity scene, which caused me to be all of thirty dollars richer (I can fill half of my gas tank!), I've decided to fall in line with every other Magic journalist and give you what you want. And by "what you want", I mean "Post the article style that all veteran writers dredge up when they don't feel like talking about fake matchup results." I am, of course, talking about a List article.

Ravnica is the word and everyone is speculating on what the new metagame will be. Will Gifts show its Kami Block dominance in Standard? Will White Weenie, a deck-type that has actually never been playable, suddenly vindicate the thousands of awfuls who have stuck to their imaginary legacy for so many years? With all these talks of guilds and gold cards, the color combinations for decks are sort of laid out for you. What cards from Ravnica will help define the new world of Type Two?

When a new set first begins to leak, some cards will literally invoke rivers of gamer drool upon first sight. There are your obvious choices in Ravnica, like Putrefy. Sunforger could be another, as well as some of the Black and Blue guild cards. But for every Skullclamp, Shadowmage Infiltrator and Call Of The Herd, there's a Dream Halls, a Memory Jar and a Mirari waiting to be discovered after the smoke clears. On the flip side of things, a lot of people may invest a lot of money in buying a lot of cards that turn out to be a lot of absolute crap. Just because a card seems b-a-n-a-n-a-s on paper does not mean that it's going to be a dynamo in the format. After I take a look at the buried treasure, I'll try to take the cards that people are overrating and toss them in the hole I just dug.

I'll be giving you the rundown on what I think are some silent but deadly threats that the majority of people might overlook when scrambling for new cards at the Prereleases and upcoming tournaments. After that, we'll dissect the Vince Carters and Peyton Mannings of the MTG world and go through the H-Y-P-E section.

7.) Devouring Light
Exile. Chastise. Reciprocate. Oblation. What's your favorite awful Swords To Plowshares replacement? Since STP expired, Wizards has been tossing out these meager stand-ins and wondering why white has been typically a neglected color in tournament play. Finally, there is hope. (Great White Hope?) While Wing Shards was a little more build to control decks, this Swords stunt double pats you on the back for playing with little alabaster men. Tap a Savannah Lion, a Eight-And-A-Half-Tails and a Suntail Hawk and you can do away with an opposing creature for absolutely no money down and no payment until ever. It will be a great tool for White Weenie decks and, even hard-cast, a pretty solid inclusion for white control.

6.) Suppression Field
Damping Matrix was one of my favorite cards, because I hate SKULLCLAMPSJITTESRAVAGERSWARHAMMERSSWORDSOFFIREANDICE and all of the other stupid artifacts that I never seen to open in drafts. No matter how you slice your pie, you've got to accept the fact that the flavor is, wasm and will be Umezawa's Jitte cobbler. You're not going to wake up tomorrow and not have to fear Jitte. It's out there. It's waiting. And you know what else is? Sensei's Divining Top. Those two are reason enough to bring this puppy in, but Ravnica provides even more evidence for its inclusion. The only downside of this, basically, is that it doesn't have good synergy with the Jitte or the Top should most likely should be running.

5.) Moonlight Bargain
If this format is going to be as slow as I think it is (we're talking Matt Stairs slow), a card like this could be an incredible asset. While the cost is a bit higher than it was in the Necro days, it's still allowing you the option to draw five cards at instant speed and not mortgage your board position to do so. Typically, I would assume you're going to be drawing three cards for six life, choosing to toss back the two lands. Another interesting facet of this card is its use for reanimation effects. With dredge and the small handful of reanimating goodness available in the format, you might just be able to toss that Kokusho and that Kuro, Pitlord into the graveyard and bring them back with one of the cards you drew into. The delicious mana fixing in this environment means that the two black you see in the casting cost ain't nothing but a S(akura)T(ribe)E(lder) thing, baby

4.) Farseek
Rampant Growth has been working out in anticipation for the new dual lands. While it may appear that this card is simply a poor version of a Tribe Elder, look again. Thems duals in those hills, pardner. Not a lot of cards allow you to benefit of sifting through your stack and dropping your red-hot duals into play, so this card is definitely the card of choice for the multi-colored mage. It also works out nicely as an additional shuffle effect so that episodes of Sensei's Divining Top aren't always reruns. This card will be a wondrous inclusion in Gifts.

3.) Primordial Sage
Sakura-Tribe Elder, Llanowar Elves, Birds of Paradise, Elves of Deep Shadow. Get Fyndhorn Elves in here and we'd have just about every Green mana acceleration creature you'd ever want to get down with. With so many quick ways to cast large and angry threats, why not think big? Sage, in the right deck, is a turn 4 play. Get him in there and start dropping your army of replenishing terror with reckless disregard for the safety of your opponent. The Timmy in all of us sees this card and gets all happy, but then the Johnny quickly steps in and tells us that we shouldn't. Why not get a little bit Timmy? It's not like Tooth and Nail was a masterful, cerebral construct of skill, formula and intuition. That deck was the biggest, worstest, awfulest Timmy Deck the world has ever seen. Sage is a good one; give him a shot.

2.) Crown of Convergence
So if you're lucky enough to have 1.) Crown of Convergence and 2.) Sensei's Divining Top in play, you're basically 3.) infinite. Throw in enough mana to adequately stack your deck and you won't have a worry in the world. This card has gone generally unheralded, but at its worst, it's a Glorious Anthem with no colored mana requirements and with the added ability of being able to negate drawing unneeded lands and whatnot. This card reminds me a little bit of Mirari's Wake, which never really caught on until the end of Odyssey's run in Type Two. When people finally figured out what that deck was capable of, a lot of seriously stupid games happened. I look for Crown to have a similar impact, maybe just a little sooner.

1.) Vinelasher Kudzu
I recently pre-ordered four of these on the cheap.

So, uh, remember Quirion Dryad?

You're going to play lands. Sometimes, when you cast a Tribe Elder or use a Rampant Growth-style effect, you're going to get extra lands into play in a turn. This card, in my opinion, is the ultimate sleeper and one of the highlights of the set. You invest two mana into a creature that will continue to increase in size until an opponent finds an answer for him. He's Slith Firewalker without having to attack. Any card that allows you to benefit from things you're already doing, such as playing lands or spells or whatever, has the opportunity to be something special. You don't even need to create a deck around this guy, like people did with Miracle Grow. Just stick him in any green-based deck with some Elders and you're going to have a good time. Grab this guy up now, because I have a feeling he'll be a star in no time.

Now, here's where things get interesting. You've gone up and down the spoiler for the last few days and told all your friends about how awesome this card is or how you spent this much on this other card. Let me tell you, people, you don't want to be a member of the Ten Dollar Mobilization Club. Walk this way and I'll try to help you steer clear of what could be a seriously poor investment on your part.

4.) Dark Confidant
What about Bob? Well, I like Bob just fine, and as a Wisconsin native, he helped put my former stomping ground on the map. Unfortunately, this card is a more D.O.A. than B.O.B. The initial investment is fine - a 2/1 for 1B is perfectly reasonable. You're lucky if you don't get a pecking drawback on similar cards, nowadays. His ability, however, is the killer. And boy, do I mean killer. If your opponent doesn't kill him off quickly enough, they'll just apply pressure and eventually let the suicidal wizard do you in. When Legions hit and everyone quit Magic (even though it is, somehow, the best-selling Magic expansion of all time), there was a card in that set named Graveborn Muse. I was very excited for this card, but was sadly disappointed as it failed to ever make a serious splash. I have a feeling that Confidant will lack the confidence to make a solid splash in Standard, and instead be tossed into the Invitational Scrap Heap with Sylvan Safekeeper and Pregnant Dancing Kai.

3.) Hunted Troll
Everyone is hot for Troll. Different people I know have been shelling out top dollar for these guys, whereas I just can't justify it. People going hunting for value in this Silvos-sized monster had better pack a lunch, because it's going to be a long day. The initial investment, as with all of the Hunted cards, is great. An 8/4 for four. He can regenerate! Even better! What could possibly stop him? Well, a lot of things. Unlike his Troll brother, Mr. Ascetic, Hunted is very easily targeted. The removal in this format is pretty solid; Putrefy and Dark Banishing both carry the No-No when it comes to regeneration. He doesn't trample, so the Green player just blocks him with Llanowar Elves and Tribe Elders and he gives control players extra win conditions, so they just bounce him and wait for you to play him again. Let's take a look at these pixies he brings into play. That's not just a couple of Tinkerbells, people. You're basically shipping your opponent an Air Elemental in four convenient packages, ready to assemble and fly over to bowser you. Friends don't let friends buy Trolls, people.

2.) Dimir Cutpurse
He's Ophidian! He's Hypnotic Specter! Well, not quite. Did you ever see the scene in Escape From L.A. where Snake has to shoot so many baskets in so much time to save his life, and drains a full-court shoulder-launch as time expires to win? (Worst movie sequence ever? Discuss!) Your chances are better trying to do that than they are of getting into the end zone with this guy. The power level is there, sure, but without any sort of evasion, you're left with the phone number for a Gray Ogre with a killer body, but she's grounded this weekend and can't leave the house. He's going to hold value because of how flashy the ability is, but don't go around trading your first born children for this one.

1.) Sunforger
Since we are dealing with the people who brought us Skullclamp and Umezawa's Jitte, I am happy to report that this piece of rare equipment is, in fact, pretty bad. I like going and getting all sorts of fun burn spells out of my deck, but look at what you need to actually get any production out of this card. You start out with the base investment of three, then an additional three mana to even get it online, then an additional two to activate it. What you're essentially doing is paying 6RW for an effect that you can only use if they don't off your creature in response to equips. Even after you get past the initial turn, you still have to invest five mana into every use. Not what I would call efficient, friends. You'll sign this one for eleventy-billion dollars and he'll end up punching a dugout wall and breaking his hand after he misses the entire regular season with namby pamby injuries. Yes, this card shall be christened "KevinBrownforger".

Aside from these fine frauds, I'd also take a good, long look at the Guildmages before you auto-include them in your decks. The abilities are great and all, but I don't really want to depend on pumping out 1/1 guys at four mana a pop as my best technology. I'm definitely going to get my Pre-Release on, so if you plan on being at the Minnesota one, feel free to say hi. Josh Day is on injured/reserve so we won't be able to conjure up memories of past team sealed success, but I hope to do well and have a good time without Mr. Day. Here's some stuff that has very little to do with Magic. Enjoy.

Here is what happens when you become a high-profile Magic journalism like me.

dbdbz12078 (10:15:13 PM): yo whats your composite rating in real life
dbz12078 (10:15:16 PM): since you write for starcitygames.com
dbz12078 (10:15:16 PM): ?
jessesigler61 (10:37:06 PM): so you've added me to your list and messaged me for the sole purpose of inquiring about my rating?
dbz12078 (10:37:18 PM): yeah i like to know rating
dbz12078 (10:37:42 PM): on poeple obvisioly your good
dbz12078 (10:37:54 PM): you write for starcitygames
dbz12078 (10:39:17 PM): and now your going to say one thing and now not respond?
dbz12078 (10:43:31 PM): what a dumb*ss say your one thing then not respond amazing you think im dumb for adding you to my friends list and asking your rating i just wanted to know but your slow so
dbz12078 (10:43:38 PM): its probaly *ss anyway

Fun Stories In Retail Loss Prevention!
Not too long ago, I was working late and felt my Crackhead Sense start to tingle. I threw a camera over onto the front doors of the store, and sure enough, a female crackhead of extreme crackitude had grabbed a cart and was headed towards Electronics. Now, a keen Loss Prevention investigator like me obviously knows that a crackhead will not have sufficient funds to purchase anything large enough to use a cart for, so all I really had to do was watch and wait. It wasn't long before she did her dance over to the back wall of Electronics and selected a $1250 computer and tossed it into the cart, dropping it twice before finally securing it. Said crackhead then began a long, strange journey throughout the store, with me close behind, waiting for her to finally push it out the door. After about forty minutes of walking in circles, she stops, chews on her hands for a minute and then turns around to face me.

"I can't find the front doors in this store, do you know where they are?" she asks.

I speak fluent crackhead, so I knew I wasn't losing anything in the translation. "Sure. In fact, I'll even walk you up there." So I walked Cracky to the front and pointed out where the exits were. She thanked me, and proceeded to stumble outside, our computer in tow. Long story short, I stopped her and recovered the computer. She ended up going away to jail for felony theft and possession of a controlled substance (No, really?), but before she did, she made sure to apologize for taking so long to walk out. "I kept on forgetting I was at Wal-Mart. It's different from my house."

Until next time,
Jesse Sigler
Jessesigler61 on AIM