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Five guilds, five mechanics
What this set is
Guilds of Ravnica covers five of Ravnica's ten guilds: Boros, Dimir, Golgari, Izzet and Selesnya. Ravnica Allegiance took the other five three months later, so between them all ten had a mechanic in the same Standard.
Surveil is the one that lasted. Look at that many cards from the top of your library and put each into your graveyard or back on top, in any order. It is card selection that fills a graveyard on purpose rather than as a side effect, which is why it kept coming back long after Ravnica did.
The structure is the rest of the appeal. One mechanic per guild, no sharing, so the guild you draft tells you exactly what your deck is trying to do. That is the same clean mapping Ravnica Allegiance uses and the reason the two sets are usually discussed together.
Themes
Every mechanic in Guilds of Ravnica
Surveil
Dimir. Look at that many cards from the top of your library, then put any of them into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order. Unlike scry it can bin cards, which is the point: it is selection and self-mill at once.
Mentor
Boros. Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on another attacking creature with lesser power. It rewards attacking with a spread of sizes rather than a flat board, and it only works on the attack.
Undergrowth
Golgari. An ability that scales with the number of creature cards in your graveyard. It makes trading creatures early into a resource rather than a loss, which is what the guild has always wanted to do.
Jump-start
Izzet. Cast the card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its cost, then exile it. Flashback with a discard attached, which turns a dead card in hand into the fuel for a spell you already used.
Convoke
Selesnya. Tap creatures you control to help cast the spell, each paying for one generic or one mana of its colour. Back from the original Ravnica block, and the reason the token half of the set curves out faster than it should.
Where You Can Play It
Format legality
Guilds of Ravnica has left Standard, but that is the only format it left. Here's where each code is legal now.
A bonus-sheet printing doesn't change a card's legality, so each card is legal wherever that card already was. The sheet itself is a Commander, Legacy and Vintage product.
Not Standard-legal. Standard only ever holds the last few years of sets, so everything this old has long since left it. These cards are still playable in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander. Commons from any set are Pauper-legal; that isn't listed per set here.
Limited
Five guild archetypes
Five two-colour guilds rather than ten pairs, which makes the format unusually legible: pick a guild and you have picked a deck.
Boros
Red-white, mentor
Aggression with a curve, where a spread of creature sizes is worth more than a board of identical bodies.
Dimir
Blue-black, surveil
Control and the graveyard, using selection to set up rather than to dig.
Golgari
Black-green, undergrowth
Trading early and cashing the graveyard in late, the slowest guild in the set.
Izzet
Blue-red, jump-start
Spells twice over, turning spare cards in hand into a second casting.
Selesnya
Green-white, convoke
Tokens into bigger spells, where a wide board is mana as much as it is damage.
Boosters, precons and singles from Guilds of Ravnica are on TCGplayer.
FAQ
Common questions
Is Guilds of Ravnica still Standard legal?
No. Standard only holds the last few years of sets, so a 2018 release left it long ago. GRN cards are still legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Commander.
Which guilds are in Guilds of Ravnica?
Boros, Dimir, Golgari, Izzet and Selesnya. Ravnica Allegiance took the other five three months later, so between the two sets all ten guilds had a mechanic in the same Standard.
What is the difference between surveil and scry?
Scry only lets you keep cards on top or put them on the bottom. Surveil lets you put them in your graveyard instead, which turns it into selection and self-mill at once. That is why it turns up in graveyard decks and scry does not.
How does jump-start work?
Cast the card from your graveyard by discarding a card in addition to paying its cost, then exile it. It is flashback with a discard attached, which turns a dead card in hand into fuel for a spell you already used.
What does mentor do?
Whenever a creature with mentor attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on another attacking creature with lesser power. It only works on the attack, and it rewards a spread of creature sizes rather than a board of identical bodies.
Are the Guilds of Ravnica Guild Kits Standard legal?
The Guild Kits (GK1) are a reprint product, and a reprint does not change a card's legality. Each card is legal wherever that card already was.
All card names, art, and mechanics belong to Wizards of the Coast. Guilds of Ravnica released on Oct 5, 2018; details reflect the set as published. Sources: Wizards of the Coast set pages and release notes, Draftsim, Untapped.gg.
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