cephille's Wilds of Eldraine (WOE) Limited Preview — White

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

This article follows the Limited grading scale and writing format that LSV and Reid Duke, two giants, published on the Channelfireball (CFB) site for The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth (LOTR) Limited.

Grading Scale

The retired rulers who have entered the Limited bomb hall of fame: Pack Rat, Umezawa’s Jitte, The Scarab God.

• 5.0: Chrome Host Seedshark. Breach the Multiverse. Sunfall.
• 4.5: Doomskar Warrior. Archpriest of Shadows. Borborygmos and Fblthp.
• 4.0: Preening Champion. Bloated Processor. Invasion of Amonkhet.
• 3.5: Final Flourish. Ephara’s Dispersal. Stormclaw Rager.
• 3.0: Vanquish the Weak. Eyes of Gitaxias. Zhalfirin Lancer.
• 2.5: Oracle of Tragedy. Ichor Drinker. Marauding Dreadship.
• 2.0: War Historian. Gloomfang Mauler. Order of the Mirror.
• 1.5: Expedition Lookout. Akki Scrapchomper. Infected Defector.
• 1.0: Disturbing Conversion. Tenured Oilcaster. Coming In Hot.
• 0.0: Invasion of Arcavios. One with Nothing.

White

Limited rating: 4.5

A four-mana 4/4 flier that also makes the creature you enchant with Auras have base power and toughness 4/4 and become a flier. A super bomb. But when you happily take the whole family flying to attack, watch out that your opponent can kill it and send your entire family back to their original forms.

Limited rating: 1.5

A plain +2/+2 trick that generally wouldn’t see much play outside of prowess-style decks; with bargain it additionally gives flying and lifelink but it is probably still a slight loss, and the problem of tricks easily getting two-for-oned must also be considered when deciding whether to bargain it.

Limited rating: 2.0

Mostly just a plain white two-mana 3/1, and it’s fine when it becomes a 3/3 after triggering celebration. Note that Mice will not get the bonus from Rats.

Limited rating: 2.5

Do you think a human and a fox could ever be together? …

A four-mana 3/3 is merely playable in Limited, but the Adventure side giving a Royal role is decent. Remember that this kind of Adventure card that gives roles to tokens cannot put the role on the card itself.

Limited rating: 3.0

Through the Snow Queen’s kiss, the hero slowly awakens from frozen sleep.

This set has lots of enchantments, plus the influence of the Enchanting Tales, so it is a good card worth main-decking, and sometimes being able to destroy an opponent’s enchantment is critical to the game. As for destroying your own enchantment to draw a card, you would only do it to trigger enchantment-to-graveyard effects or to avoid the side effect of a Saga’s final chapter, though you can also do it if needed.

Limited rating: 3.0

A five-mana 3/3 flier that on entering can also attach a Royal role to another creature you control. It is usable in any deck with white, and cards like this that give two bodies’ worth can trigger celebration, so keep that in mind when building.

Limited rating: 1.5 (Sealed)
Limited rating: 3.0 (Draft)

In Sealed I would say unless you lack a low curve you can leave it out; in Draft, the more aggressively you play, the stronger this Rat gets. The Adventure side doesn’t necessarily get to trample, but sometimes you are short just that 1 or 2 life.

Limited rating: 3.5

In an environment where enchantments interact, Pacifism-style cheap Auras are all very strong, but there are probably more cards that can remove it now, so it may not lock things down as firmly as in other sets. If needed, you can pay five mana in installments to make an exile, which is also fine. There will be more synergy in black-white, which focuses on enchantments going to the graveyard.

Limited rating: 1.5

A three-mana 1/1 lifelink. The unlucky Cursed role attached to it can be fed to bargain, but white doesn’t have many bargain cards, so don’t rely too much on that. It may be more practical as a celebration trigger source, but if you have creatures with better stats, don’t play it.

The Frog Prince, but the face is drawn so much like a frog that it makes people a bit uncomfortable.

Limited rating: 2.0

A three-mana 2/3 with ordinary base stats, and it makes a Treasure only when you fall behind in development, so basically you would rather not have this Treasure and have your development go smoother, which makes it seem to have no need to be played; and giving the opponent a Treasure for three mana so you can draw a card needs careful selection of the board state, as your opponent may be stuck on just that bit of color and be able to cast a bomb stuck in their hand…

In short, when you can make a Treasure it means your development is not smooth, so the Treasure you make basically can’t be kept to give away for a card. When there are better three-mana options, don’t play it. I think this is a trap card in Limited.

Limited rating: 3.5

A five-mana 4/4 is probably the best flier body at uncommon or below in this set, and late in the game you sometimes get the chance to sacrifice two enchantments to bring it back. A five-drop creature worth main-decking.

Limited rating: 0.0

Effects similar to Fog won’t win you games in Limited. The ceiling of this card is at most letting you trade off your opponent’s creatures without taking damage while blocking, but you can do the same thing with proper blocks without spending an extra card. Conclusion: don’t play it.

Limited rating: 5.0

At the minimum, choose 0 and it is a five-mana sweeper, and you can decide the most favorable situation depending on the board. Although it isn’t as mindless and absurd as Sunfall, if chosen well you’ve pretty much won.

Limited rating: 2.5

A two-mana bear that can become a tapper in the mid to late game, which is fine, and it recoups higher value in white-blue tap decks.

Limited rating: 3.0

A three-mana 2/3 first striker that is good on both offense and defense, and if celebration triggers it even has double strike. One serving not enough? Then I’ll treat you to two! Aren’t you happy!

Limited rating: 3.0

Although it can only remove people or tokens of mana value three or less, you can basically still run one. Against blue-green five-mana ramp you can consider cutting it for another removal spell (but if the opponent has Mother Goose, you can still suppress it!).

Is Snow White’s sleeping posture in the glass coffin training her core?

Limited rating: 2.5

Giving two bodies’ worth is a good friend of celebration and bargain abilities, and a voluntary sacrifice can also trigger enchantment-to-graveyard effects, which basically covers all the new mechanics that involve white. But this set has too many 2/3 creatures, so I currently feel you shouldn’t put too many in, and running more creatures with 3 or more power may be better for offense. Of course, it’s a different story if you have ways to make the 2/2 knights bigger.

Limited rating: 3.5

A two-mana instant that deals 3 damage to an attacking or blocking creature, and with bargain it destroys it instead. In white it is a very efficient removal spell.

Note that if the opponent’s creature isn’t attacking or blocking and you bargain it by sacrificing a token to cast this card, because it is an illegal action, the game rewinds to the state before you tried to announce casting the spell, and the token will not be sacrificed and lost.

Limited rating: 2.5

You need enough enchantments and a way to put them into the graveyard to make 1/1 birds, so if you don’t have much support you can skip it; but it is only worth it if you can reliably trigger it 2-3 times. The 1/1 bird has no special synergy in this set, and this set has quite a few fliers; I feel the requirement is high but the payoff isn’t that explosive. Being a three-mana 1/3 that can’t beat anything is the key point deducted.

Limited rating: 2.5

A Valorous Stance that destroys power greater than 4, and it may have more targets against green-based decks. Although most of the time it is used to kill big creatures, the two options make it more flexible, so I give it a practical 2.5.

Limited rating: 4.5

Billed as the white Craterhoof Behemoth: on entering it gives the whole family flying and lets everyone but it hit one more time; as long as your board isn’t too weak you should win. But eight mana in white is basically very hard to hard-cast without ramp; splashing black to dig for it or green for some ramp makes it easier to land.

Limited rating: 2.0

An instant-speed tap + draw a card. Basically, unless you’re in a white-blue tap deck, you shouldn’t need to play it.

Limited rating: 3.5

Rapunzel, take me flying!

A three-mana Saga whose Chapter I on entering suppresses a creature, and Chapter II lets one of your creatures fly over to hit people, which sounds like a huge gain; although Chapter III returns the suppressed creature, which looks like a sizable side effect, if you only need Chapters I and II to steadily head toward victory, Chapter III may be acceptable. Or you suppress a creature token (it doesn’t come back), or a creature that isn’t strong itself but carries many +1/+1 counters (it returns but weakened), or a creature you control that can earn another enter-the-battlefield ability. In all these cases, as long as the conditions are acceptable, this Saga is worth using; and in my expectation the card is still more benefit than harm, so I gave it a relatively high score.

Of course, if all your removal is of this kind and you have no way to remove it before Chapter III, you may still face big trouble a few turns later!

Limited rating: 2.5

A three-mana 3/2 that, when it dies, puts a Young Hero role on a creature you control, which is quite nice, and the Young Hero role is stronger than I imagined: a creature with toughness 3 can still get counters when it attacks with the role attached.

But the mood of the card is a bit heartbreaking: child, your parents have passed away, and you can only rely on yourself…

Limited rating: 4.0

Basically in the WOE environment, with roles and Food tokens everywhere, this Unicorn Rabbit should become very big. Basically, fatten the rabbit up before going out to beat people! Note that if it is enchanted with any of the other four roles besides Cursed or Young Hero, it gets +2/+2 each in power and toughness (the role’s +1/+1 and the rabbit’s passive effect are counted through to the role). Of course, with a Cursed role on it, it is truly a hellishly unlucky 1/1.

Limited rating: 2.5

Recently white often gets this kind of two-mana card that digs up a creature of mana value three or less, for example BRO’s Recommission, and in comparison this sorcery’s power, with a Young Hero role attached to the returned creature, may be even a bit stronger.

Limited rating: 3.0

To tap people you have to wait for enchantments to enter, and the enchantments in this set mostly still enter at sorcery speed, making this tapping ability lean offensive. And when you can’t reliably trigger the tap, it comes back to its stats; a four-mana 3/4 is an acceptable body, and in black-white and white-green with more enchantments, or white-blue with many Auras, the score can be a bit higher.

Limited rating: 2.5

A three-mana 2/3 with vigilance that puts a +1/+1 counter on itself when an enchantment goes to the graveyard. Although enchantments going to the graveyard won’t necessarily happen often, basically just triggering it once is quite impressive, and vigilance combining offense and defense gives bonus points.

Limited rating: 1.5 (Sealed)
Limited rating: 3.0 (Draft)

In Sealed it isn’t easy to get many enchantments, but in Draft, as long as you aren’t cut, you should be able to draft a very aggressive white-based enchantment deck; if there are 3-4 enchantments on the battlefield, paying three mana each turn from the midgame on to become a 4/4 or bigger and beat people up really hurts.

Limited rating: 3.5

This is what all Disney castles look like.

A three-mana card that taps a creature and puts a stun counter on it on entering, and when you tap a creature your opponent controls you can put +1/+1 counters, which can clear the way and grow your own creatures; in white-blue tap decks it is even worth 4.0, exactly filling the weakness of white-blue creatures being small, and if you can get or copy it, it becomes absolutely explosive!

Limited rating: 4.0

Young man! I see a gleam in your eyes and exceptional bones, you must be a martial arts prodigy! Come, come! I happen to have a super powerful secret manual here, yours for just one dollar!

A very strong two-mana vigilance person: during combat on each of your turns you can pay one to put a Sorcerer role on one of your creatures, which, besides making it bigger, lets you scry 1 when attacking, strengthening your board while also improving your next draw. It is a card I badly want to get when playing white in Limited.

Limited rating: 3.0

“What? I just wanted to save it to eat later.”

A three-mana 3/2 that on entering can return a permanent you control to hand, and if you do, you may scry 2. This depends on whether you have other permanents on the battlefield that can earn you leave-the-battlefield abilities; if so, it is a very good smoothing curve play. It can also return a creature enchanted with an Aura to trigger enchantment-to-graveyard effects, or to rescue a creature stuck with a Cursed role.

Limited rating: 3.5

At the stroke of midnight, Cinderella could only leave in a hurry…

A three-mana instant-speed answer to any nonland permanent, with the side effect of letting the opponent make a 1/1 Human token. But Humans don’t have much synergy in WOE, and given that it removes a huge threat, this return on investment is still worthwhile.

Limited rating: 3.0

A two-mana enchantment that gives enchanted creatures you control +2/+2, which should be worth playing in the WOE environment full of various role tokens; but for me the team-pump effect is still a bit unstable, so I can’t give it a very high score.

Limited rating: 4.0

At worst it makes three 1/1 Mice, which grow big after turn four and all attack; and the more varied the tokens you can copy, the stronger this card gets. Very profitable.

Limited rating: 3.5

A plain four-mana 2/3 flier and a 3/3 lifelink flier after celebration triggers have vastly different effects on the board, which is worth an extra 0.5 from me for the celebration effect.

Limited rating: 2.5

A two-mana vanilla Grizzly Bears, or a four-mana Hill Giant that can scry 1 when attacking; neither is strong enough alone in Limited, but combined in one card it makes your deck building smoother, and Unassuming Sage is your good friend for filling the curve.

Limited rating: 5.0

The Adventure first makes a 2/2 vigilance Knight with flash for two mana, and after hard-casting for five mana, at the end of each of your turns it puts +1/+1 counters on all creatures you control and untaps them all. A certified big bomb! If your opponent opens this card, remember to bring in cards that destroy enchantments from the sideboard.

Limited rating: 4.5

A three-mana 2/2 flash that on entering suppresses a non-Fox creature, and can also be sacrificed for two mana to gain 2 life. Used well, it’s at least a three-for-one (i.e., suppress the opponent’s big creature, block, sacrifice, and gain 2 life; or suppress your own strong creature that is about to be killed, sacrifice it to gain 2 life, then the strong creature re-enters to earn its enter-the-battlefield ability again, and may even make the opponent miscalculate the life total needed for lethal)

…In times of danger, the sincere friendship between human and fox is fully revealed…

That’s the white Limited analysis for WOE this time. I hope everyone can find their own fun in the upcoming Sealed and Draft events!