Core21 (Core-vid 21) Highlander Set Review

Hello Highlander lovers,

Pretty sad that I'm missing another prerelease. A couple Melbourne stores are running some smaller spaced-out prereleases but they're less rounds with much less players. Combine that with a minor Covid19 resurgence and a multiple train transport requirement, I'm staying home. The only prerelease I missed between 8th Edition and Ikoria was Eventide. Breaking continuity hurts me.

On the surface, the biggest influence Core21 will have on Highlander, is monetary:

	Price before Core21	Price after Core21
Grim Tutor	$240 US	$25 US
Ugin, the Spirit Dragon	$80 US	$25 US
Azusa, Lost but Seeking	$45 US	$10 US

Grim Tutor is the real story there. I was lucky enough to get a Grim Tutor a long time ago and I've lost count of how many times I've lent it out. It is very desirable for any black combo deck but often omitted due to its price and average power level.
Ugin and Azusa are a lot more niché, only going in Artifact Ramp and Lands respectively.
Other notable reprints include Containment Priest and Scavenging Ooze, but they've been reprinted a few times already.

Let's get onto the new cards!

Basri Ket (I'm now including card names to ensure successful Ctrl+F searches)

A noncreature threat for hyperaggressive decks. It's good to diversify against sweepers. Ideally you will have plenty of one-drops to maximise his -2 ability. The +1/+1 counters help against Wrenn and Six and Liliana, the Last Hope.

Planeswalkers like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Elspeth, Knight-Errant, are better but it could win a spot over them in a deck that punishes noncreature spells with effects like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Such a deck may also include Human or +1/+1 counter synergies to support Basri's Lieutenant.
Poor against Jace, the Mind Sculptor but Jace has dropped in popularity as more attractive cards joined the points list.
Passes against Chandra, Torch of Defiance and Teferi, Time Raveler.
Against removal you will typically get a knight token out of the deal.
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if I never see this played though.

Nine lives

Use a Donate effect and then destroy or edict it to win the game. And the enchantment itself gives you nine lives whilst you wait to find the combo pieces.

Pack Leader

All Hounds have been errata'd to Dogs as of Core21's release but there was no Hound/Dog tribal payoff until now. Wizards' marketing team are tailoring more and more to the average person though, so expect more Dog payoffs soon. They be like:

Griffin Aerie

Played a lot of Warcraft 2 as a kid, so will always have a softspot for Griffins. Front half eagle, back half lion.
At this stage there is plenty of support for a life gain deck. Honestly, the idea of searching "gain life" in Gatherer scares me, so I haven't got the will to design the deck.

Light of Promise

Infinite with Spike Feeder. A bad combo but it's good to be aware in case a new printing breaks it.

Seasoned Hallowblade

His top half looks as if he's standing still but his bottom half is running. Seems unnatural. And that's not the hair of a Warrior in battle...I'm getting Luigi vibes somehow.
His ability is practically Hexproof. No one wants to spend mana on their (nonexile) removal spell or trade their ≤3 toughness creature for the worst card in your hand. Seasoned Hallowblade is actually pretty strong. The only popular card that truely pwns it is Liliana, the Last Hope.
Good with Madness cards, albeit the wrong colour.

Selfless Savior

That art is some Hearthstone shit.
Strong with Lurrus of the Dream-Den (imagine this combo in Standard before they errata'd Companions, gross).
I've found the very similar Benevolent Bodyguard to be surprisingly good with disruptive creatures (hate bears) and equipment; allowing you to out-tempo the opponent and ride a key creature to victory. This effect is also useful at protecting some creature combos, e.g. Prime Speaker Vannifar.
Unfortunately Wrenn and Six is currenlty unpointed and wrecking X/1's; Even if they only cost one mana, it's still a horrible outcome. Expect Wrenn and Six to get pointed next announcement.

Disc  ont inu it y

Interesting card. Can be used like a two-mana Stifle for triggers you don't want to happen on your turn, e.g. the sacrifice triggers of Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath or Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. Works for Phyrexian Dreadnought too, but I think Dreadnought is too easily dealt with to be worth the risk. At least the Titans give you a positive trigger regardless.
Other two-mana Stifles like Trickbind, can target opponents' things too but Discontinuity has that Time Stop option. With six mana, Discontinuity is never a dead card, whereas Stifle can be.

Barin, Tolarian Archmage

Amazing with Karakas, bounces their dude and draws you a card every turn. Even Riptide Laboratory is worth it for that combo.
Barrin is good against the popular Delve creatures: Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Hooting Mandrills and Gurmag Angler, although Teferi, Time Raveler has begun to reduce their popularity.
Reflector Mage never caught on strong in Highlander. Barrin's blue-only cost, Legendary status and card draw engine will see him succeed where Reflector Mage has not.
Even without bouncing something from the opponent, you can build your deck with ways of returning your own cards so Barrin is not just a Gray Ogre: Gush, Karakas...Greenbelt Rampager.

Ghostly Pilferer

The second set of hands make no sense; He doesn't clone or make a token.
Against Storm combo they'll probably cast enough cards from their graveyard that you'll draw into Force of Will, Force of Negation, Mindbreak Trap or graveyard hate.
Enables Madness.
Decent creature types.
Card advantage against certain decks.
Unfortunately one-toughness against Wrenn and Six / Liliana, the Last Hope. I reference that so often that I'm going to create a shorthand; "W6/LtLH"? "Wrenn&Lili"? The later probably easier to identify. It comes up so often, it really shows how many cards those two push away from playability. I know they're just a couple cards, but when your other options are just as powerful but without the risk, you may as well.

Shacklegeist

I think there is enough tribal payoff for a respectable deck.

Tribal decks often struggle to include sufficient removal because they want to maximise creatures and synergy. Having a create that is ALSO removal, is very valuable.

See the Truth

Game winning if you cast if with one of the following:
Kess, Dissident Mage
Snapcaster Mage
Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Vadrok, Apex of Thunder
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Past in Flames
Underworld Breach
Yawgmoth's Will
Abbot of Keral Keep
Finale of Promise
and many more

Even if you only cast it from your hand, it's a managable tempo loss.

Stormwing Entity

Very easy to cast for 1U with available cantrips.
Especially fast with Rift Bolt, Gitaxian Probe and Manamorphose.

It saddens me that mono blue can be an aggro deck if it wants to.

Sublime Epiphany

Did anyone else have a Mighty Max as a kid?
Worse than Mystic Confluence but still a game winning spell. Casting this with Torrential Gearhulk is spectacular; you can even copy the Gearhulk for another trigger.

Bear in mind that these expensive blue spells risk being countered for one mana by Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast / Dispel / Mystic Confluence postboard, if you don't board them out that is.

Miscast

Too narrow to be maindeck. Good if you expect a counterwar. Worse than Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Mystical Dispute, Dispel, Veil of Summer and Flusterstorm. But hey, when you need as many of an effect as possible, in Highlander the 6th or 7th best is still good enough.

Kaervek, the Spiteful

"Steal the breath from your lungs." Kaervek's just going around pashing everyone who betrays him.

Shrinks your dudes too, so he's good in low creature-count decks. Avoid running X/1's if possible.

Hoses green decks with lots of mana dorks.
Worst against control, but even there he could snag a Vendilion Clique, Brazen Borrower or Baleful Strix.

Static -1/-1 effects are surprisingly useful against combo decks:

- Against Storm you can hit Monastery Mentor or Empty the Warrens.

- Against Flash combo you can hit Wild Cantor, Sacred Guide, Viscera Seer or Carrion Feeder (see my Theros, Beyond Death set review for an explanation of the most recent Flash combo kill; Bear in mind there are many different kills available).

- Shrinks infinite cats from Felidar Guardian + Saheeli Rai.

- Disrupts Birthing Pod / Prime Speaker Vannifar chains and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker loops.

Liliana's Standard Bearer

Not good enough to go in any creature deck. Needs strong synergy to work, e.g. in Zombie or Knight tribal or in an Aristocrats deck.

Gets better postboard when your creatures are more likely to die, especially against sweepers that kill multiple at once.

Peer into the Abyss

I rarely say this for art created with software, but that is creepy as hell and I love it. Oh, it's Izzy, of course it's good.

This could be an "I win" in a deck with lots of free mana and rituals. Draw half your deck and storm combo off.

Mizzix's Mastery could be used to cheat cast it. Simply casting it with some mana acceleration is also feasible.

Archfiend's Vessel

The cheapest 5/5 ever.

You can't rely on your opponent to kill the Vessel for you to bring it back, so you'll either need ways to discard it, ways to sacrifice it or lots of milling effects to hopefully get it in your graveyard. Then you also need ways to reanimate it. Having enough of each effect will take up a lot of slots. Therefore, you'll want cards that perform multiple roles.

Being cheap makes it an option for Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Renegade Rallier, Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord, Rally the Ancestors, Return to the Ranks, Underworld Breach, Yawgmoth's Will, etc.

Note that your opponent will have the opportuity to remove Archfiend's Vessel in response to the trigger to deny the 5/5 due to the "if you do" clause.

Village Rites

Seems familiar:

Same artist, interesting. Hope Bud's ok.

Fine in the Aristocrats deck.

Eliminate

Smother has never really been good enough. Eliminate also hits Planeswalkers though, and more CMC≤3 Planeswalkers are seeing play. Some control decks, particularly Dimir and Esper are low on answers to Planeswalkers.

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Much faster than Sanguine Bond.

You'll want ways of gaining a lot of life for very little mana lest Vito die before you act.

Rest for the Weary, Spike Feeder, Weather the Storm, Zuran Orb, Heroes' Reunion, Feed the Clan, Life Goes On, Chaplain's Blessing, Martyr of Sands, Nourishing Shoal.

Of course all these life gain cards are bad without payoff, so you'll need a lot more than just Vito to make them good.

Sanctum of Stone Fangs

Decent in the life gain synergy deck. 

Some control decks are slow and can struggle against Enchantments; Grixis and Blue Moon especially.

Silversmote Ghoul

I thought ghouls were in thrall of vampires, not actually vampires themselves?

The support for life gain synergies is very good from Core21. I believe there has been a playable critical mass for a while but this may be enough to push some players into trying it.

Works well alongside Creeping Chill and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath.

As a sidenote, Uro has come up in conversation with the committee. Let us know if you've tried adapting to it and you're still struggling.

Chandra, Heart of Fire

Absolutely no one can name every Chandra correctly. They're all "Chandra, Fire Something". Gatewatch get out.

Another near unbeatable 5-drop Planeswalker.

You'll want a relatively low curve to minimise the number of cards you discard and maximise your chances of playing all three exiled cards.

She plays poorly with counterspells, so I would avoid running her in blue control decks.

You should also be wary of running her in combo decks if there's a risk of exiling key combo pieces and not being able to cast them.

Chandra's Incinerator

If you can cast this for ≤3 mana I'd say it's worth it. Too big to get burnt out and too expensive to be Fatal Pushed. Bounce is good against it however.

If you untap with it in a burn deck you should win.

Chandra's Pyreling

That's some terrible art. Like something from a Playstation-1 cinematic.

Good beater for burn decks. Should survive combat a lot better than Kiln Fiend.

Conspicuous Snoop

Conspicuous Snoop has given Goblins a one-card turn 3 kill, pretty crazy. Goblin Recruiter now acts a lot like Hermit Druid; 

> Turn two Goblin Recruiter

> Turn three draw and play Conspicuous Snoop

> Then if you have your third red source you can cast Torch Courier off the top

> Sacrifice Torch Courier to give Conspicuous Snoop haste

> Make infinite Conspicuous Snoops with the Kiki-Jiki on top of your library 

> 

Then the final Snoop copies Goblin Recruiter to put a Sling-Gang Lieutenant on top to sac infinite Snoops.

If you already have Conspicuous Snoop without summoning sickness, Boggart Harbinger also sets up the win.

This is a very conspicuous combo, it's not 'surprise Flash + Protean Hulk you're dead'. It is easily disrupted and if it is, turn four Torch Courier isn't great.

RRR on turn three can be hard; In my opinion Goblin decks should run Pendelhaven, Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors, all of which don't add R. Many lists also run a basic swamp, basic forest, a Mutavault or Bayou.

Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge

That face makes no sense.
Decent beater for the Mono Red Workshop deck.

Transmogrify

Red has long since overtaken blue in Polymorphs (Another shout out to Warcraft 2).

Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast, Sneak Attack, Reality Scramble, Shifting Shadow, Fireflux Squad. Even Possibility Storm acts as a Polymorph when combined with Lutri, the Spellchaser.

Make sure the only real creature cards in your deck are the biggest and scariest available. Then run a bunch of cheap creature token produces and manlands.

Heartfire Immolator

Garruk, Unleashed

At my first Nationals Hunted Wumpus was a playable card in Standard. You get a lot more for 4 mana these days.

The immediate pump ability is handy for taking down Planeswalkers, especially ones which rely on reducing power to defend themselves, e.g. Jace, Telepath Unbound, Liliana, the Last Hope and Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer.
Most Planeswalkers are too slow against combo and should be side boarded out, so it's nice that Garruk effectively has 3-power haste, making him fast enough.

Very rarely will Garruk survive making a second beast. He'll die in labor, not much sanitation out in the forest.

Elder Gargaroth

"Win unless they have removal or a counterspell immediately". Baneslayer Angel was the first such abomination and it happens to be reprinted in this set.

Play a couple discard spells early to remove any answers from their hand, then drop Old Lady Gargaroth.

At least it's beatable with removal, unlike many of the dumb Planeswalkers that have been printed the last few years. Let's call it a step in the right direction. 

Feline Sovereign

Turning your whole team into Trygon Predators and buffing them, that's pretty exciting. I don't think the Cat Deck will get there but for fun I had a look. Here are the direct payoffs:
King of the Pride
Feline Sovereign
Kaheera, the Orphanguard
Regal Caracal

Kaheera is the big payoff, an 8th card is amazing.

Other synergies include Cavern of Souls, Shared Triumph, Green Sun's Zenith, Collected Company, Honor of the Purrrr-e, and:

Animal Sanctuary

We're straight Green White so far. Add Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Mental Misstep and fill it out with reasonable GW cats:
Jungle Lion
Savannah Lions
Steppe Lynx
Loam Lion
Wild Nacatl
Felidar Cub
Leonin Relic-Warder
Adorned Pouncer
Ajani's Pridemate
Bronzehide Lion
Fleecemane Lion
Qasali Pridemage
Watchers of the Dead
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
Qasali Ambusher
Pride Sovereign
Mirri, Cat Warrior
Prowling Serpopard
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Stalking Leonin
Slash Panther
Alms Collector

A juncture in building this deck is whether to run the best cat of all, Leonin Arbiter. If you don't, you get Taj-Nar Swordsmith, equipment and fetchlands, which enable Scythe Leopard and a black splash for Nethroi, Apex of Death, Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt and Spectral Lynx. If you do, you won't run fetchlands or equipment; Instead you get an extra Mox and Suppression Field.

Let's not forget the honorary cat, Darksteel Garrison, which is a fortifiCATion.

Also, a few months ago I adopted a rescue kitten and named her Mirri! So original:

Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

Run all the best cantrips (except Sleight of Hand, which doesn't technically draw a card), run Mishra's Bauble and Urza's Bauble. You could go down the artifact synergy route if you want more eggs.

When you think of her as a '1/2 with U: Create a cat once on your turn', she's seems pretty good.

Jolrael also triggers on your opponent's turn, so effects that draw ≥2 cards at instant speed are golden. Greater Good will quickly discard your hand but you'll see a lot of cards!

Llanowar Visionary

Definitely makes the Elf deck. Low impact but good value. Run Wasteland, Strip Mine, removal and DITS (Duress, Inquisition, Thoughtseize) for disruption. Then fill out the rest of the deck with grindy cards like Llanowar Visionary.

Run Afoul

Good sideboard card against Marit Lage and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Decks that can produce these threats are all-in; If you can answer them you should win.

Niambi, Esteemed Speaker

Versatile two-drop. Can weave some nice lines against removal or blocking and returning in racing situations. Can even grind with the draw ability.

Fits best in Mox Amber ETB decks. Mangara of Corondor became too slow a long time ago, shame.

Believe it or not I once ran the original Niambi in a Highlander tournament with an entry fee.

Radha, Heart of Keld

I'd radha run Radha 3 than Radha 2 or 4 but I like them all.

She's better than Courser of Kruphix in my opinion. Extra power means a lot in this Planeswalker subgame world of ours. If Shahrazad is banned for subgames, so should Planeswalkers.

That wording for looking at the top of your library saves a lot of rules headaches. Sylvan Library + Courser of Kruphix anyone? Funny that Conspicuous Snoop is in the same set yet reveals the top to everyone. I imagine 'Radha, Deathball Horde Warlord' would be even more conspicuous.

Conclave Mentor

Woah, I keep mentioning the Hardened Scales deck. This is a big printing for it. Winding Constrictor 2.0. That is definitely the next deck I build.

Experimental Overload

Super strong with Time Walk and Ancestral Recall. Plays poorly with Delve. Unfortunately this begs players to fork out thousand for those big 4 pointers.

Yet another great card for the 'Drakes' / Arclight Phoenix deck.

Watcher of the Sphere

2/2 fliers for two are very solid in decks with equipment. The pump ability is a little awkward with some of the fliers you'll be running like Aven Mindcensor and Spell Queller, but the cost reduction is so good you don't care about lost potential damage.

Too bad Squadron Hawk is only a one-of in Highlander. I guess Spectral Procession is better anyway.

That concludes the set review! Quick comment regarding Teferi, Master of Time. He loots deep and is hard to kill because he gains loyalty on your turn and their's, but I don't think he effects the board enough for a four drop.

Here are my picks for best cards of the set. They're all roughly the same power level but I still ranked them. To my relief it looks like Wizards have wound the power level back a little. No point worthy cards here:

Barrin, Tolarian Archmage
Stormwing Entity
Radha, Heart of Keld
Experimental Overload
Conspicuous Snoop
Chandra, Heart of Fire

I'd say these are all the same power as the weakest card on my Ikoria and Theros: Beyond Death lists.

Thanks for reading. Hit me up for webcam games. Happy brewing.

Mulch