A Look Back At Ravnica Remastered

Ravnica Remastered is the third Remastered set to come out in as many years.  This set was released in January, 2024 and featured reprints of cards from 14 sets. Let's take a look through some of the impactful cards we gain access to from this set.  

While I was somewhat disappointed in Dominaria Remastered, this set and Time Spiral Remastered were great and provided us access to so many cards that make retro decks more viable.  There are several cards not represented in this post that were reprinted in this set but I tried to avoid cards that we already had access to.  The cards that helped to sell this set were the shock lands and the demand for these cards helped to sell lots of boxes which helped to lower the prices of everything in the set.  

White

Rest in Peace is an insanely powerful card that flat out shuts down all graveyard and aristocrat strategies making it so dies triggers don't even occur since the effect is replaced by Rest in Peace and exiles creatures instead.  Blind Obedience is a card that wins games and is one I always fail to keep in my decks but I wish I didn't!  It's a card that will sit around and be a huge inconvenience to your opponents but not pose such a threat that it needs to be removed.  You will get steady lifegain out of it from the extort ability while slowly damaging your opponents.  Ghostaway is great board wipe protection and is a great piece of tech for blink decks (of which we don't currently have access to a great blink commander).  Sphere of safety & Divine Visitation are great enchantments that can work in enchantress decks or token decks.  I've put Divine Visitation in a Rith enchantress deck to create a massive army of angel tokens.

Blue

This set gave us access to one of the best blue cards in the commander format in Cyclonic Rift.  I am someone who windmill slams this card into every blue deck I play.  I know this card can lead to feel bads, and to combat this I try and only use it responsibly.  I will never cast it to just prolong the game, I usually will cast it defensively and follow it up with an alpha strike.  I love to copy opponents toys and a card like Copy Enchantment does this perfectly.  Typically if a deck is running an enchantment, it is something strong and therefore worth copying!  If one copy of your commander was good enough to build an entire deck around, usually two copies of it is even better!  Spark Double is the best version of this type of card that exists and can fit into any deck.  I don't typically include Aetherize in deck lists but if you look at is a fog effect with a huge tempo swing, it can be great.  I want to try and make myself include it more often and see how it plays out.  I have become increasingly fond of fog effects in this game and if you're playing blue, leaving 4 mana open is not unheard of.  I've also found that you usually can get an idea as to when you will need to keep that mana open for the fog.  Tidespout Tyrant is a really fun card to play and I've put it in a grixis reanimator deck since blue is so good at putting cards in the graveyard.

Black

Dark Confidant has been available to us in retro frames but it was only available as spendy promo version.  Dark Confidant is synonymous with black and has the most black flavor text imaginable "Greatness, at any cost."  Vindictive Vampire is a great add in aristocrat decks rewarding you for killing off your creatures.  At this time, there are not a ton of creatures that reward you for death as of yet.  Crypt Ghast is great for big mana black decks and I am particularly excited to put it in a Syr Konrad deck.  Massacre Girl is underrated in my opinion and it does work every time I've seen it played.  I like that it can be reanimated when you need another board wipe and can work to trigger things like Vindictive Vampire or can be sacrificed to help you draw cards, etc.  Lord of the Void is a really strong card that can serve as a beater and reanimation target while helping you with card advantage.

Red

Guttersnipe provides us with another tool for spell slinger decks, or even a Feather deck.  I love incidental damage, especially when it scales to all opponents.  Light Up the Stage is a great start in giving us card advantage options for red decks.  The impulse draw cards are relatively new to Magic and as a result have not made it to retro cards yet.  Mizzix's Mastery is another great piece of tech for spell slinger and can be a wincon in it's own right.  Ilharg is a legendary creature version of Sneak Attack and can be a really fun commander to build around.  hellkite Tyrant is a fun alternate wincon but always use caution when playing this card.  It can be devastating if it is stolen or copied.

Green

Utopia Sprawl gets a reprint in retro frames and the price of this card has plummeted.  One mana enchantment ramp is under valued but it's very powerful.  Casting it late game will work as a can trip since you will probably have an enchantress in play.  The one downside is the land you enchant becomes a great target to be Strip Mined.  Life from the Loam is a great include in Titania builds and hopefully we will eventually get a Zendikar Remastered set that will help with more synergies.  Wilderness Reclamation and Guardian Project are great cards, I don't include Wilderness Reclamation that often in my decks but I really should.  Every time I see it in play it just does work.  Protean Hulk is a lot of fun in a deck where you are able to sacrifice it whenever you want and is so powerful that it was banned for a while in commander.  The other card in the two card combo is still banned (Flash).

Multi-Colored

Rakdos, the plane of guilds is best known for two-color cards.  As a result, there were a number of great multi-colored reprints.  To keep this section from being huge, I kept it to one card for each color pair that I feel can be the most impactful.  Boros and Selesnya had, in my opinion, the worst reprints in the color pairs and Aurelia & Tolsmir are more of just "honorable mentions" than something great.  I do like that they open up new build around commanders and for that reason, they're the two I chose for this section.  Deathrite Shaman was the first hybrid mana card printed in retro frames and I think it looks absolutely awesome!  Plus, it is a card that will always be playable.  Mayhem Devil is fantastic in a world where people sacrifice artifact tokens left and right.  I think Haste is one of the strongest key words in Magic and because of that, Rhythm of the Wild is a terrific card to put in your decks.  The added line of text saying your creatures can't be countered is just gravy.  Supreme Verdict is a fine board wipe since it can't be countered.  I'm not sure how important that line of text is and I'm unsure we will ever truly know!  Lazav is a really fun commander to build around.  Unfortunately, one of the best cards in a Lazav deck is Vector Asp which is not currently available in a retro frame but the other great card to use is Phyrexian Dreadnought and that one is available to us.  Teysa is a really fun build around commander and is currently the best aristocrat option probably for us to use.  It can be built as a combo deck using Painter's Servant effects.  If you're using Painter's Servant, you might as well throw in a Grindstone as well. Goblin Electromancer gives great ramp for spell slinger decks and can help you to storm off.

Artifact

Ravnica is not a plane that has a ton of really strong artifacts but we did get some pretty good ones in Ravnica Remastered.  Illusionist Bracers is one of those cards that doubles things which can always be powerful.  Magewright's Stone helps to double activated abilities of creatures.  Cloudstone Curio & Sword of the Paruns can also serve as combo pieces with Sword of the Paruns being particularly strong in elf ball decks on cards like Priest of Titania.  Chromatic Lantern is a card that I refer to as a budget fixer.  It can take a budget mana base and make it function like an elite mana base when it is in play.  It was, at one time, a very popular commander card that cost nearly $20.  It has since fallen out of favor but I think it still has purpose in budget builds.

Land

Shock Lands!!! Because of this set, we can finally have a really strong mana base without having to spend the money on OG dual lands.  These combined with Fetch Lands (of which we now have access to all 10 of those too) will allow you to have the lands you need when you need them.  The first article I chose to write in this blog was about investing in real estate and these are the lands I recommend.  The easiest way to tune your deck is by improving your mana base and reducing the amount of lands that enter tapped.