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RED
Common:
Artifact Blast**
Atog***
Bird Maiden*
Goblin Bully**
Goblin Cavaliers**
Goblin Caves**
Goblin Firestarter***
Goblin Shrine**
Gorilla War Cry**
Lava Flow****
Ogre Taskmaster***
Rockslide Ambush***
Finally, a color with a strong common base! Atog as common is incredibly awesome, and I can easily imagine it as the centerpiece of successful Draft decks. The only reason he didn’t get four stars is that requires other cards (and is rather weak on his own).
Reprinting Artifact Blast over Shatter is disappointing, but I guess they didn’t want to give red too much raw power. It makes sense, sense red got two other strong removal spells (despite one’s strength depending on how committed to red you are). And Rockslide Ambush shouldn’t be too bad; thanks to the Goblin theme, you want to end up as mono-red from time to time. Except for Firestarter, they are kinda weak on their own, but it’s possible to end up with multiple lords. Goblin Shrine and Goblin Caves help with that, too.
Ogre Taskmaster as common is also great, as it has the critical 4 power, allowing it to break through Giant Tortoise and Yotian Soldier (yes, this card is relevant).
The aggressive decks even have another card tailor-made for them, Gorilla War Cry, and (at least on paper) it looks very playable. I’ve rated it kinda low, since it’s not a high pick to begin with and doesn’t do anything on it’s own.
Bird Maiden is the only card that stinks, but even it will make minor appearances out of the sideboard to deal with Island Sanctuary.
Uncommons:
Detonate***
Fire Imp****
Fireball*****
Goblin General***
Goblin Warrens***
Orcish Mechanics***
Primitive Justice***
Roc of Kher Ridges****
Two-Headed Giant of Foriys****
A brief warning: maybe I overvalue the red uncommons, but man, they are all so damn good!
Detonate will always find a target and often burn your opponent’s brains out. Fire Imp is just as great as Nekrataal! (Okay, I’m lying- it’s not, but it deals with a lot of things and should always present card advantage opportunities.) And Fireball is obviously amazing, and thanks to the high quality of red, I will usually first-pick it.
Roc of Kher Ridges is (of course) not in the same league as the 4 power flyers of the other colors, but a decently cost red flyer has to be valued. Two-Headed Giant is similar to Ogre Taskmaster, featuring the desirable power of four.
Most interesting are the cards that play into the set’s themes. Primitive Justice will often be a one-sided Shatterstorm. Orcish Mechanics was pretty mediocre in MED but shines in this set. Goblin General and Goblin Warrens are critical for a working Goblin deck. Seeing Warrens at uncommon amazes me somehow, as it is pretty easy to make infinite green men with it.
Rares:
Aladdin****
Ali from Cairo****
Devastation**
Fiery Tempest**
Fork**
Last Chance*
Mijae Djinn**
Rock Hydra***
Sedge Troll**
Shivan Dragon*****
Smoke**
Thunder Dragon****
Wheel of Fortune**
After the amazing uncommons, it could only get worse… 
Aladdin has bomb potential in this format; he is kinda weak on his own, but your opponent need to handle him or he can’t play any more artifacts. And Ali from Cairo is similar your opponent deals with him, or he can’t win anymore…
Devastation and Fiery Tempest are both devastating indeed. Both cost seven mana (which is a lot) and nuke down the whole board- Devastation even takes the lands with it! Even though they offer powerful effects, I don’t like these cards due to their situational nature. Have you ever tried rebuilding after just casting a 7 mana spell? It is hard. At least Fiery Tempest can win games out of nowhere if you plan for it correctly.
Fork is okay; if you wait long enough, there will be always something for it to do. Sometimes it is cute; sometimes it is devastating. Sometimes… you die with it in your hand. Playing Last Chance really only happens if it is your last chance the card is too risky to ever fathom using. And Mijae Djinn is just random- his best role is as a wall. On the bright side, he is cheap and occasionally breaks down through 4 toughness annoyances.
Rock Hydra is a flexible monster that is good at every point of the game. It is hard to take down, a great attacker, and a great defender. Sedge Troll is either garbage or just good; the problem being that he never is amazing since his power caps out at three. I have no idea why he appears in the rare slot.
Shivan Dragon is not only an amazing throwback to good old times, it is also what it was back in 1994a bomb. And it gets bonus points for featuring one of the most iconic artworks in the history of the game. I’d like to thing Wizards designed ME4 so that the old bombs would reign again and can’t wait to win games with cards like Shivan. Thunder Dragon is similar in bombiness, but not even a tenth as recognizable. As mentioned before, seven mana can be tough at some points, but this flying menace’s battlefield entrance makes it worth the cost.
Smoke is one of the more interesting red cards in ME4- it might be useful in control decks. But even there, I prefer cards that actually do something. The other interest red rare, Wheel of Fortune, is too fair in Limited (despite its sickness in Constructed). Sure, sometimes it will help you to find the lethal Fireball, but as often you will give your opponent the countering Healing Salve as well. Refilling both hands just doesn’t sound like it will be a good idea.
Conclusion: Red is easily the best color in this format. It is pretty deep in every rarity and has two deep, build-around themes in sacrificing artifacts and tribal Goblins. This color looks like it will be over-drafted all the time.
Possible Archetypes:
Rx Goblins
Rx Atog
RW Aggro
RB Removal
RU Control
Wood Elemental dominates every game. Even when he isn’t legal or played. Such an awesome card.
It’s kind of unfortunate that we don’t have autocard working for ME4 yet, since it’s too difficult to read a draft review without knowing the cards on-demand.
Also, the colourless link isn’t working.
Fixed colorless link, I think. Autocard works for me, except on a few occasions, it seems to mess up with Portal-only releases. Is this the same issue you are having, Arthur?
Yeah it is, didn’t realise it was just Portal since I started with white commons and I guess there were a lot of Portal-only releases there. Will reread it now. Colourless link now works.
So now that you are a published author on a site, are you going to quit being a total douchebag and berate people in chat when you lose?
thanks dunkle. this is the only guide about me4 i could find, very valuable
That hasn’t reformed every author here whitemeat.
Nice review but I think some of the ratings are a bit spotty. The elephants are much better than you suggest, for example.
Of course I will work on me not to look like a total douchebag… I have no idea when it started, but it somehow is exclusive to legacy events only.
Some of the ratings might a bit spotty or off, but don’t forget that I wrote about the set without ever playing it. Some things are obviously wrong, like that I overrated serra bestiary a lot and probably underrated ze elephants ( but I still think green is the worst color to go ).
Just so everyone knows, Overwhelming Forces the black rare is the biggest beating you’ll ever receive in limited. Turns out the format, at least so far, is slow enough that its just about the nastiest bomb I’ve ever run into.
You surely are Mr. Dark. You gave Black rares high marks. Terror is definitely not so great in this format but you underestimate Word of Command in constructed. Word can be put on a stick for some lolz.
Ze Elephants would be great in draft if you can pick yourself an Elephant Graveyard. Green should have gotten Norwood Riders instead of Ironhoof Ox IMO.
Overall a very commendable set review. Its very difficult to assess 150+ cards unplayed.
Serra Bestiary, Ali From Cairo, and Bee Sting are overrated.
WW is a lot to pay every turn.
Ali has the same problem as the Archivist. Plus it doesn’t win you the game, it just stops you from losing temporarily.
Bee Sting is a sorcery not an instant and it still costs 4x more than Shock.
fyi, just fate cannot stop howl from beyond. Just fate works only in the declare attackers phase (I lost a game because 2 turns in a row I was too happy fingers and clicked ok into declare blockers phase). You wont even know which creature will be unblocked to use howl on until the declare blockers phase, and its to late to use just fate by then (so only sword to plowsheres or on the board power can save defender by then).