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With the latest set of Magic: The Gathering showing up in the form of Streets of New Capenna, it’s important to look at interesting new cards. In most expansions, each color will receive cards that fit their color’s philosophy and personality.
This happens most frequently when a Magic: The Gathering set in question has guilds, factions, or other groupings that are divided by color. In this case, it’s the various groups within the New Capenna setting. Each color/faction has its own Initiate that can be useful across a variety of settings.
Each color in Magic: The Gathering has an Initiate in ‘Streets of New Capenna’
Seeing cards like Magic: The Gathering’s Initiates is not especially uncommon across the franchise. Especially any set that has factions or guilds. In this case, the Initiates are one per color, are all Common rarity and low-cost when it comes to casting.
Each of these Initiates also have a special ability they can tap into, which requires colorless mana and one of two colors (hybrid activation cost). An example is Cabaretti Initiate, which has an ability that costs 2 colorless and either 1 red or 1 white mana.
None of these cards are going to be game-breaking, world-busting powerhouses, but they have some uses, such as in Limited/Draft settings. Some of these could very well be useful in other settings, however.
They aren’t the strongest creatures in the game, but when used in the draft, they can turn games around or make a player’s early game much stronger.
Initiates for Magic: The Gathering’s new expansion
- Cabaretti Initiate (Green)
- Obscura Initiate (Blue)
- Riveteers Initiate (Red)
- Maestros Initiate (Black)
- Brokers Initiate (White)
What can players do with these though?
Cabaretti Initiate (Green Creature - Raccoon Citizen)
A 1-cost ½ isn’t so bad, but for 3 mana (1 colorless, 1 red/white), it can gain Double Strike until the end of the turn. A ½ with Double Strike isn’t that great, to be honest, but in the early game, it can absolutely dominate weak enemy creatures.
However, players can also cast Voice of the Vermin, a 2/2 green creature for 4 mana. When it comes into play, it gives a creature that the player controls base power/toughness of 4/4 until the end of the turn.
Suddenly, the Cabaretti Initiate in Magic: The Gathering is a 4/4. Other buffs to the creature will stack with it on top of that. Now the Initiate can hit for 8 damage total. That’s far more intimidating.
Obscura Initiate (Blue Creature - Bird Citizen)
The Obscura Citizen is a 2/2 Flyer for 3 mana, and that tracks with what players have come to expect from blue flyers. It’s not great, but it’s not terrible. However, its ability is a low-cost, high-value ability of granting Lifelink. It costs 1 colorless and 1 white/black mana.
This could be a useful card early in the game. Even if it winds up trading and the creature dies, it means the player gets at least some life back as a result. Players can combine this with counterspells and removals to keep dealing safe damage in limited amount.
Riveteers Initiate (Red Creature - Viashino Citizen)
When it comes to Magic: The Gathering Initiate cards, Riveteers is one of the better cards out of this collection of cards. The Riveteers Initiate is a 2/2 for 2, and for 2 mana (1 colorless, 1 black/green) it can gain Deathtouch until the end of the turn.
In red/black, or red/green, this card could be a whole lot of fun. One of the best parts about the card is that sudden Deathtouch is a major threat. If this card has Deathtouch and it deals any damage to a card, that card dies. Just leave the mana untapped and a player will think twice before attacking or blocking.
Maestros Initiate (Black Creature - Human Citizen)
While this card has an incredibly high ability activation cost (5 mana, 4 colorless, and 1 blue/red), I think it still has potential use in other metas as a backup card. A 3-cost Human Citizen, this 3/1 can potentially be used to deal early damage, but that’s not where its power lies.
Black, red, and blue as a color combination often find themselves having synergy with the graveyard. This card wants to be in the graveyard, so play it aggressively. When the player exiles this card from the graveyard and pays that mana cost, the player can draw two cards, and discard a card. Why is that so great?
Black is very fond of graveyard retrieval. It’s not great in limited at all, but it could potentially be used in revival decks in the future. Not as the main card to win with, but as a backup in case other options don’t present themselves.
Brokers Initiate (White Creature - Cat Citizen)
This is not an especially great Magic: The Gathering card, to be honest. As far as the Initiates in Magic: The Gathering, it’s okay, since it’s a 0/4 for 1 White mana. That part is pretty great, at the very least. It’s a terrific defensive card. It can also be buffed to be useful in actual combat.
However, for 5 mana (4 colorless, 1 blue/green), the Brokers Initiate can change its base Power/Toughness into a 5/5 until the end of the turn. That’s pretty pricey, frankly. It doesn’t have any further useful abilities, it’s just a temporary 5/5 beat stick. It might be okay as a defensive option to get rid of incoming attackers, but it’s honestly not that great of a card.
None of these Initiates in Magic: The Gathering are especially powerful, which makes sense. They’re all common, and none of them are expensive to cast. That said, they’re still, for the most part, useful cards in Limited/Draft. This is set to come out later this week, on April 28, 2022, and will have quite a few cards to make the game quite interesting.
