Last updated on January 31, 2024
Liliana, Dreadhorde General | Illustration by Chris Rallis
Greetings planeswalkers! Ravnica Remastered brings all of your favorite heroes, villains, and lands to a new Draft format. You may know all the cards individually, but what about how they come together in Limited. Well, this draft guide has you covered! After all, why go into a new set alone when you could read this guide instead?
Let’s get straight into the nitty-gritty.
Format Big Picture
Golgari Grave-Troll | Illustration by Jakub Kasper
Ravnica Remastered is another remastered set, similar to Time Spiral Remastered and Dominaria Remastered. The set draws from nearly two decades of cards from the Ravnica plane to create a unique drafting experience. After studying the set and doing some fake drafts on our Simulator, I’ve noticed some important things to bring up:
- There’s a bit of everything in this set, with cards from each of Ravnica’s three blocks (original, Dragon’s Maze,and War of the Spark).
- The power level of the set doesn’t seem all that high, but there are a handful of notable rarity downshifts (Boros Elite, Thrill-Kill Assassin, Call of the Conclave, Glowspore Shaman, etc).
- Many of the cards in the set seem aimed at a Constructed audience (Wild Cantor, Arboreal Grazer, rare artifacts, etc).
- Most decks will be two colors and may or may not splash. This doesn’t seem like the kind of set that rewards drafting five-color greed piles.
Top Commons
You’ll likely recognize many of the cards here, as many of the top commons of Ravnica Remastered were some of the best commons in their original sets. I’ve picked out four commons from each color that stand out to me as good/important cards.
White
Faith's Fetters is premium removal and one of the best commons in the set. It answers most threats at a fair rate while padding your life total.
Key creature for aggro decks, 3/3 for 1 mana is incredible if you can support it. Avoid playing it if you can’t.
This is a good 2-drop that shines in aggro/tempo decks.
Summary Judgement is an efficient removal spell. Kills nearly everything in the format, though it misses Kiora's Dambreaker, vigilant creatures, and a handful of rares.
Blue
It’s a strong card draw spell that rewards defensive play and 1-for-1 trading. If you draft multiples, consider running an extra land.
Efficient 1-drop that requires some help to get going. Best in aggro/tempo decks, would avoid it if my creature count isn’t high enough (15+?).
A good tempo card that I’d want in any blue deck. Particularly efficient versus tokens.
Beefy 6-drop that plays well with evolve creatures and Helium Squirter. Outclasses other common 6s like Bulwark Giant and Merfolk of the Depths on rate.
Black
Last Grasp is a top-notch removal spell. Especially versus aggro decks where its speed and low mana cost shine.
This is one of the best commons in Ravnica Allegiance, so I’d be surprised if it wasn’t great here. Good 2-drops are ideal companions, but occasionally paying 5 is fine.
Solid 2-drop for any deck that feels like a split card of sorts. Whether or not to unleash this will be a key decision.
Another great common from Ravnica Allegiance. This provides reach for aggro decks or a slow life-padding win con for control decks. It doesn’t affect the board, though.
Red
Ravnica Allegiance is on a roll in this set! This is mediocre when cast fairly, but the potential for it in aggro decks is immense.
Great creature on both rate and flexibility. Rummaging can help avoid mana flooding, too.
Better as a combat trick than a Hill Giant, but having both options is nice.
3/3 for 3 + mentor is a good enough rate to risk not attacking sometimes. Pair it with cards like Tin Street Dodger and Krenko's Command.
Green
Green rarely gets removal this good. Being able to use two creatures for an instant Rapid Bite makes this less risky than usual green options.
Yet another Ravnica Allegiance standout. Fat common creatures don’t get much more efficient than this.
Free trick! +2/+2 for would be reasonable even without convoke, but this has a fair amount of potential to “get people” too.
Good defensive creature that grows quickly thanks to its lower power. Blocks every single common flier after it evolves once.
Other
How was this acceptable to print at common in 2006? Creatures used to be terrible! Even today, this is a great rate on both offense/defense, and one of the best reasons to be Orzhov in draft.
Boring, but it’s simple value goodness. This gets even better with cards like Keymaster Rogue. The only drawback is that it commits you to two colors.
3/3 for is awesome, and this goes off with Rootborn Defenses and Eyes in the Skie too. Repeal is a rough beat though.
Good aggressive flier that has synergy with battalion creatures and Wojek Bodyguard.
Commons to Avoid
Given that it drew from about 20 years of Ravnica cards, Ravnica Remastered was bound to pick up some stinkers. Here are some commons you are best off not playing in most cases:
If you can stack these with Bruvac the Grandiloquent, you might have a deck on your hands. Wouldn’t bother otherwise.
Classic junk common that has been phased out of Standard draft sets for a long time. Doesn’t hit much as a sideboard card (the rare artifacts in this set are largely EDH fodder).
This can be playable, but only in dedicated tokens decks. Without Krenko's Command, it’s hard to get this to do more than 2-3 damage (which is conditional upon attacking too).
This creature has “2005” written all over it. The rate is just not good at all, so try to draft Rampaging Rendhorn instead.
Dedicated ramp decks might play it, but for the most part this just isn’t worth a card. Don’t be fooled by its surprising pedigree in Pioneer/Modern!
Silhana Ledgewalker is the only reason I’d ever consider this sluggish and risky aura.
Good sideboard card, but this doesn’t seem like a format where I’d ever main deck it.
Similar to Arboreal Grazer, since both are accelerants that put you down a card. Wouldn’t play it.
You can sacrifice/mill this for some value, but any game where you can’t it will often feel like a dead card.
Reading this card gives me second-hand embarrassment. I would have to be down bad on playables to ever consider this!
Archetypes
As with most other sets, there are 10 main archetypes in Ravnica Remastered (one for each guild/color pair). These play pretty similar to how the guilds have historically, though a couple of unloved mechanics (like cipher) are missing in action.
Azorius Tempo
Azorius is an aggressive deck built around fliers/tempo plays. It tends to be less controlling than other blue color pairs, though it still has some great value cards like Sky Hussar and Compulsive Research. Cloudfin Raptor, Judge's Familiar, Faith's Fetters, Summary Judgment, and Syndicate Messenger are some of my favorite commons for this archetype. Hold the ground down with fat blockers (Armory Guard, Bulwark Giant, etc) and peck your opponent down with annoying birds!
Dimir Control
Dimir wants to execute a straightforward control strategy. Compulsive Research gels great with strong black removal like Last Gasp. Nightveil Predator and Moroii can count to 20 on their own, as Dimir is rarely in much of a hurry to win games. There isn’t much trickiness to Dimir in this set, so focus on bombs, removal, and card advantage.
Rakdos Aggro
Rakdos is an aggressive deck with a sacrifice subtheme. If you want to try the subtheme, Scorched Rusalka, Dreadmalkin, Dimir House Guard and Priest of Forgotten Gods can be paired with payoffs like Act of Treason and Mayhem Devil. Most Rakdos decks will not bother though, and instead focus more on straightforward dudes + kill spells gameplay. One nice thing about Rakdos in Ravnica Remastered is that it has a substantial amount of reach through cards like Skewer the Critics, Ill-Gotten Inheritance and Demonfire.
Gruul Stompy
Gruul is somewhere between a stompy deck/ramp deck, depending on how you build it. You can either go lean with early creatures + Rubblebelt Maaka, or try a bigger approach. My preference is definitely to be aggressive in Gruul, as most of its multicolor cards are quite aggressive. Rhythm of the Wild, Sunder Shaman and Domri Rade are the best reasons to get into Gruul!
Selesnya Tokens
Selesnya has one of the more synergistic gameplans in Ravnica Remastered, and leans pretty heavily on tokens to support convoke and populate. It also has some of the better 2-color cards in the set: Call of the Conclave, Conclave Cavalier, Selesnya Evangel and Selesnya Guildmage are pretty strong. This is the best deck for cards like Siege Wurm and Conclave Equenaut, which underwhelm otherwise. One cute trick I’d like to pull off in Selesnya is to use To Arms! as a “ritual” with convoke!
Orzhov Extort
Orzhov is a grindy deck that wants to nickel and dime your opponent’s life total. You won’t be dealing damage in big chunks, but the count to 20 is happening whether your opponent likes it or not. Blind Hunter, Basilica Guards, Syndicate Messenger, and Faith's Fetters are exemplary cards in this kind of strategy. Another option would be to build around sacrifice synergy, as Orzhov has a number of afterlife cards, Cartel Aristocrat and Teysa, Orzhov Scion.
Izzet Spells
Izzet spells is a classic archetype, and one that any veteran MTG player should be intimately familiar with. You’re looking to pair creatures like Murmuring Mystic, Crackling Drake, and Burning Prophet with as many instants and sorceries as you can. Good instants and sorceries are essential, so try to pick up some of the set’s best ones:
Izzet is usually fairly controlling, but can end games quickly once it sets up. The best Izzet decks always have a mix of quality spells + creature payoffs.
Golgari Graveyard
Golgari is another grindy color pair that was advertised as a graveyard deck. Greater Mossdog and Glowspore Shaman make filling up your graveyard easy, but there is a severe lack of payoffs in this set for doing so (basically just Golgari Grave-Troll). Because of this, I don’t recommend focusing on dredge, graveyard payoffs, or anything like that. Golgari is still potentially great, but it leans on individually powerful cards (Golgari Findbroker, Find // Finality, Putrefy, etc) rather than graveyard synergy.
Boros Aggro
Boros is an aggressive color pair that also happens to have the best multicolor cards in the set. A cursory glance at Boros’s 2c color cards shows several winners (Assemble the Legion, Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice, Tajic, Legion's Edge, Lightning Helix, etc) and not a single dud! Most RW decks will be pretty straightforward, and focused around cheap creatures plus powerful multicolor spells. Haste creatures are synergistic with battalion creatures like Makeshift Battalion and Boros Elite.
Simic Ramp
Simic is an interesting color pair that either be the basis for a ramp/control deck or a straightforward creature deck. Most ramp builds will want to splash for removal/bombs if possible. The creature build is more of a +1/+1 counter deck, and should be built around cards like Cloudfin Raptor, Simic Guildmage, Sharktocrab. Simic always struggles with removal, so take Band Together highly.
Other Decks
Gruul “Bogles”
Murweaver Coil
Silhanna Ledgewalker is a common that I have yet to mention, and can be the centerpiece to an annoying deck. This set has a number of auras that no one else should be prioritizing, including:
If you can get a handful of these + multiple Silhanna Ledgewalker, you can try to ruin someone’s FNM! Do be careful of edicts (Plaguecrafter, Undercity's Embrace, Woebringer Demon) though, as the set has several. Scab-Clan Mauler is another card that plays well with Silhanna Ledgewalker too.
3-Color Decks
Most 3-color decks will just be 2-color decks with a splash, or attempts to cast Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God. It is possible though to do 3-color for strategic overlap, such as:
- Going (Mardu) for more sacrifice synergy/outlets.
- Using Rhythm of the Wild with Simic +1/+1 counter payoffs.
And that’s really about it to be honest. This is a fairly straightforward set, so try not to get too fancy with splashes. I’d generally recommend just sticking to simple 2-color baselines and only splashing for the very best bombs/removal spells.
5c Control (Gates)
Some introductory articles to the set promised a “gates” archetype, but after reviewing the spoiler I’d accuse them of false advertising! Here’s every single Gates payoff card in the set:
And that’s it! They didn’t bother including Gates Ablaze, Guild Summit, Gatebreaker Ram, or even Gateway Sneak. As such it’s hard to care much about “Gates” as an archetype; you might play a bunch of Gates to tie together a greedy manabase, but there’s little incentive to do so otherwise.
Bomb Rares
Here I want to touch on some great rares that you should happily P1P1. One thing to keep in mind is that this set isn’t all that stacked in the rare department. Most rares not listed here are outclassed by the best commons in the set.
4/4 for 3 mana that buffs creatures and builds into an exiling removal spell. Any game where this goes uncontested is an easy win.
Mega busted 6-mana planeswalker that protects itself and generates a ton of value.
A huge trampling fatty that dumps another attacker into play. Also has pseudo-recursion for non-exile/Faith's Fetters removal.
Your opponent answers this or they die. Faith's Fetters won’t necessarily do the trick either!
This requires a bit of build around, but the payoff is so high that you should certainly try it. IllGotten Inheritance and Mourning Thrull are great cards to pair him with.
You’ll have to splash it to play it, but this is one of the best incentives to play 3 colors in the set. Protect it and +1 it to victory.
Drag Under that leaves behind an annoying planeswalker. If you can -3 twice, he tends to put you very far ahead of your opponent.
Powerful go-wide card for white aggro decks. Will usually be mainphased.
One of the few sweepers in the set. The set has plenty of x/1s for her to combo off of, and you even get a 4/4 with menace after you wipe the board.
Amazing value creature that makes trading a nightmare for your opponent. Gets a 2-for-1 even if it dies to a Mugging!
Can win the game on his own if he doesn’t eat a removal spell. Best with other Goblins (Krenko's Command, Tin Street Dodger) but good on his own.
Highly threatening aggressive creature that provides its own backup. Best with removal/pump spells to clear the way of blockers.
Easily wins the game on its own if it sticks around a few turns. Only dies to Keening Apparition and Sprouting Renewal; normal removal doesn’t help versus this.
Possibly the most broken rare in the set! You’ll have to be UR (ideally with some Izzet Guildgates), but wow is this worth the trouble.
Powerful value creature that requires a bit of setup. Try to get at least three cards/counters off this.
Famous durdle win condition. Not as good here as in Constructed, but I’d still build a control deck around it. Worth splashing in blue decks too.
Another aggro creature that is way above normal rate. Try to keep it around if you can (the threat of activation on first strike helps).
Efficient removal spell/Serra Angel stapled together. Beware of making a token against Repeal.
Explosion is the reason to play this card in Limited, and is quite the late game haymaker.
Find is an improvement over Macabre Waltz, but Finality is the real draw. Getting to keep something while sweeping the board makes this a top-notch bomb.
Top Uncommons
I’d also like to touch on the best uncommons in the set. Try not to pass any of these if you can!
Best uncommon in the set, probably better than many rares. Best in UR but great in any U deck.
Lightning Bolt + free life gain for the low rate of two mana. And don’t forget we’re getting this in Standard soon!
Fireball with a nice hellbent bonus for trolling Sinister Sabotage players. A reasonably efficient removal spell that can also randomly steal games.
Signets are amazing in all but the leanest decks. The fact that the set has 10 of them makes expensive creatures/spells better than they might otherwise be.
These are some of the strongest creatures in the set, but all carry the caveat of having restrictive mana costs. I treat them as the “signpost uncommons” of Ravnica Remastered, as there are few better incentives to solidify into a guild than this cycle.
Junk Rares
This section is giving you a list of rares to avoid. Many of these cards are either inherently weak or just poorly supported in this set.
Take it for Constructed if you want, but you won’t be able to build a good -2 wishboard in this set.
You might be able to go off with this and cheap ETB creatures, but otherwise it’s pretty useless.
Too expensive for most decks/games.
Won’t be castable most of the time.
There’s no storm in this set or anything, so I probably wouldn’t bother.
As powerful as this in Constructed, it won’t do much in your average 40-carder.
Highly disappointing planeswalker, doesn’t protect itself or do all that much.
Probably too expensive to be good, even if the trigger is tempting.
There are decks that I’d play this card in, but I’d want serious sacrifice support. 4 mana for a 2/2 is just too terrible of a rate otherwise.
Good rate if you’re lucky, but the risk of bricking makes it quite gimmicky.
Needless in Limited.
EDH players rejoice, Limited players avoid.
Too slow, though I wouldn’t blame you for trying it with Phytohydra.
Another EDH card, no Limited deck will have enough velocity/card advantage for this.
Overcosted equipment, not a terrible effect but not worth paying 7 mana for.
Draft Strategy
As with any 2c set, finding the right lane in Ravnica Remastered is essential to success. Here’s how that looks in practice:
- Most P1P1s are going to be the rares/uncommons above, or a top common like Faith's Fetters. Monocolor cards should win tiebreakers to stay open.
- As you get passed cards, pay close attention to multicolor cards you are passed. Getting strong 2-color cards late is an easy way to tell what guild is open.
- In P1, I’m not usually looking to lock in early (though certain rares like Niv-Mizzet, Parun are exceptions). The goal is instead to survey the landscape and get a feel for what cards other players are passing.
- To this effect, the single best cards you can pick in P1 are monocolor staples. You can never go wrong with picking up staples like Faith's Fetters, Last Gasp and Compulsive Research.
- Once the wheel comes, you should be able to get a feel for which guilds are underdrafted.
- If you are playing an 8-man draft, remember that there are more guilds than there are players! Read signals carefully and find out where you are supposed to be!
- Lastly, if you are flush on playables, you can always draft sideboard cards like Sprouting Renewal, Forced Landing, Crocanura and Mephitic Vapors. These shine against fliers or certain archetypes.
Wrap Up
Watery Grave | Illustration by Raymond Swanland
And with that, we have covered Ravnica Remastered! This set seems a bit underpowered to me, but I still look forward to drafting it. It also doesn’t hurt that you can open a lot of excellent Constructed staples while doing so.
Make sure to also fire off a couple test drafts using our Draft Simulator! You could even top that off with some strategic discussion in the Draftsim Discord.
Until next time, may your 40-card decks always be winners!
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