Beginner's Guide to Ravnica Allegiance Limited on MTG Arena

Tzu-Mainn Chen
January 17, 2019
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Ravnica Allegiance is almost here, available to play on Arena on Thursday - and if you play in a paper pre-release, you’ll find a code good for one free Traditional Draft! Playing with a new Magic set is awesome, exciting… and also a little confusing. Let’s break down the guilds and their mechanics, and then do a guild-by-guild examination of various Limited strategies.

What’s in Ravnica Allegiance

Ravnica Allegiance is designed around the five two-color Ravnican guilds that were left out of Guilds of Ravnica: Azorius (White-Blue), Simic (Blue-Green), Gruul (Red-Green), Rakdos (Black-Red), and Orzhov (White-Black). Each guild has its own unique keyword mechanic and playstyle.


The Azorius Senate (White-Blue)

The Azorius are Ravnica’s lawmakers, and their colors and controlling playstyle reflect that. Theirs is the way of order, and to achieve that they willtake your plans and render them ineffective. Their mechanic is Addendum: instant spells that give you an added bonus if you cast them during your main phase.

 

The Senate Guildmage is a good representive of Azorius’s strategy: patience. Let your opponent tire themselves out with neutered attacks, all the while digging deep to find your own means of victory. The Azorius don’t need a lot of win conditions; they just need one, and the time to find it.


The Simic Combine (Blue-Green)

The Simic believe in the power of biological growth, and they are willing to use extreme scientific experimentation on others - or themselves! - to achieve it. Seemingly harmless mutations can grow to monstrous sizes with monstrous abilities. Their mechanic is Adapt: creatures with an activated ability that allow them to put +1/+1 counters on themselves. Other cards manipulate those counters or give bonuses to creatures with counters.


The Combine Guildmage is a good example of how the Simic like to both grow their creatures and to manipulate them. Their forces may start out small, but given enough time they will evolve into powerhouses that none can withstand. And even opponents who think they have a handle on the Simic’s threats will often learn that they are mistaken: a single spell can trigger unexpected results that spell doom.

The Gruul Clans (Red-Green) 

Pushed to the edges of society, the nature-worshipping clans of the Gruul are ready to bring the wilderness back to Ravnica, one shattered building at a time. Their mechanic is Riot: creatures that either come into play with Haste or a +1/+1 counter - a choice between wreaking havoc now versus promising greater destruction later.

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The Clan Guildmage showcases the aggressive nature of the Gruul. They aim to attack and attack and attack again, whether by stopping their opponents from blocking or calling upon the very wrath of the land.


The Rakdos Cult (Black-Red)

The Rakdos believe in living their entire life to the fullest, a goal made easier by having an extremely low life expectancy. They throw circuses that combine raucous entertainment with willful destruction harmful to performers and audience alike. Their mechanic is Spectacle: cards with alternative casting costs that give bonuses, but can only be cast if an opponent has taken damage that turn.

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The Cult Guildmage is reckless and inevitable: one cut may not do much, but take nineteen more and you’re dead. They will cause their opponents pain at any cost, even that of their own lives, and the few survivors will revel in blood.


The Orzhov Syndicate (White-Black)

 

The Orzhov present a pious front, but that only serves to hide a merciless soul. Those unwise enough to fall into a contract with them may find themselves suffering an everlasting debt - literally, as your spirit may be forced into eternal servitude. Their mechanic is Afterlife: creatures that, when they die, create one or more 1/1 flying Spirits.

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The Syndicate Guildmage understands the value of patience. It does not need to kill an opponent’s creatures - merely tap them down turn after turn while the Orzhov call in their debts and summon a swarm of spirits to render you helpless.



Ravnica Allegiance Limited

How does each guild expect to win in Limited? Let’s take a look at them one by one, understanding both how they expect to operate and how their neighboring guilds might help.

Azorius

Azorius creatures are typically low in power and high in defense, designed less to attack and more to frustrate an opponent’s attacks. The exception is the large contingent of White and Blue flyers. Clog up the ground long enough and your evasive creatures will carry you to victory.

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It can take a while to build up an effective force, however, and in the meantime the Azorius can take advantage of cards such as Arrester’s Admonition to delay their opponent while digging for their own answers.

Their slow playstyle also means that the Azorius may be most effective in splashing for powerful cards in other colors, as they have the time and ability to dig deep and find the right lands to cast spells from other guilds.


Allied Guilds

  • Orzhov (White): Orzhov has expendable creatures that turn into flying threats - a good match for what the Azorius want to do.
  • Simic (Blue): The Simic’s small creatures reward decks that have the time to grow into unstoppable monstrosities, and that plays perfectly into the Azorius playstyle.

Simic

 

Simic creatures take time to grow, but matters can be accelerated. The Simic are very good at ramping through various means, speeding up their mutations or just allowing them to slam down huge threats.

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+1/+1 counters are all well and good, but there are times when “counters-matters” cards are needed to push through an opponent’s defenses. Fortunately such cards exist, and should be drafted highly if you’re intent on winning with the Simic.



Allied Guilds

  • Azorius (Blue): If you need time to Adapt your creatures, the Azorius will happily delay your opponent’s into oblivion.
  • Gruul (Green): Some opponents will attack faster than the Simic can evolve. Gruul’s bulkier creatures are excellent at playing defense by clogging up the ground, and can enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter to boot.

Gruul

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Gruul decks want to stampede all over their enemies, but are cunning enough to choose between the options of striking fast or waiting a turn and striking hard. This flexibility allows a canny Gruul player to face off against different tactics and still come out on top.


Of course any enemy can prepare a sound counter-strategy if they know exactly what’s coming, and so it’s important to have a few tricks ready. However most of these tricks will be creature-based. That means that Gruul players should always remember to include a large number of creatures in their decks.


Allied Guilds

  • Rakdos (Red): The Rakdos provide both aggressive creatures and Red’s odd “impulse” card draw, providing utility in both the early game and the late.
  • Simic (Green): Looking for creatures that provide a threat no matter when they’re played? The Simic’s adaptable menagerie are a good place to find them.

Rakdos

 

If you’re playing a Rakdos deck, then you’re all in from the start. Attack recklessly and heedlessly… and maybe prioritize Spectacle cards that help you draw more cards, offsetting your inevitable losses.

 

Sadly, an aggro deck that plays lots of small creatures will find itself outclassed if a game runs long. So a few cards that help push through those last few points of damage may be exactly what’s required.


Allied Guilds

  • Orzhov (Black): The Orzhov provide cheap fodder that turn into even more cheap (and evasive) fodder when they die.
  • Gruul (Red): Rioting aggressive creatures? Yes please!

Orzhov

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Orzhov creatures are not always efficiently sized, but Afterlife makes them persistent. Rioting beasts and adaptive mutants are both helpless to a swarm of flying threats, and if your Afterlife creature can trade with an enemy as it dies, well, all the better!


But what if your Afterlife creatures are too small to compete? The Orzhov have ways to forcibly sacrifice their own creatures for advantage - a payoff mechanic that gives a deck additional ways to survive and win.


Allied Guilds

  • Azorius (White): Azorius flyers and defensive creatures supplement Orzhov spirits perfectly.
  • Rakdos (Black): Black Rakdos cards often provide card advantage (or card disadvantage for the opponent), and their Spectacle costs are easily attainable through a single flying spirit.

Non-Guild Options

There are other possible strategies. Many cards in a Ravnica Allegiance synergizes with Gates – dual color lands that appear once in every pack. A Gate deck uses these cards along with splashable cards of any color.


And then there’s Persistent Petitioners, which is an entire strategy contained within one card. Someone’s going to draft this deck; it might as well be you!

I hope this breakdown gives you a good idea of what to expect from your first Ravnica Allegiance Draft or Sealed Event. Good luck!