I'd say this, plus the decent removal suite B/G
got out of Ravnica block this time, are what
make B/G control viable. This is basically a
free draw every turn, a one-sided Howling Mine,
with the added bonus that any creature you hit
with it goes straight into play. This card is
also singlehandedly the reason why Scavenge
isn't good, as you'd rather get those creatures
back onto the field, wouldn't you? Although if
there's better stuff in your 'yard, maybe you
WOULD want to scavenge the chaff so you have a
better chance of getting the good stuff back?
After all, ten cards plus whatever goes to your
graveyard naturally equals pretty low chances of
sculpting your "deadbridge draw".
The only real concern here is acidentally
milling yourself. Mill as a win condition is
near non-existant in Standard right now- the
Dimir really dropped the ball this time around.
But if you're pairing this with cards like Rot
Farm Skeleton or Drown in Filth, you could run
out of cards on your own. I've heard rumors that
Elixir of Immortality is rotating back into
Standard, but if that's your out then the Chant
now has nothing left to give you back! Maybe
someone will crack it?
Let's consider the second part of this card in
isolation for a moment. What you're effectively
doing with that effect is drawing a card, and
from a smaller library than usual. It probably
also means that those extra cards will mostly be
things you can cast, because there's a good
chance the reason they're in your graveyard is
because you've cast them already. If you cast
them again later, you also have a chance of
drawing yet again further down the line. Now
consider the first part of the card. Even if we
make a tongue-in-cheek comment about it being
dangerous against mill decks, it's undeniable
that it sets up your future stream of extra
cards for a long time (and besides, flashback is
also in a recent set). When you put both
together, you get a card that's well worth
playing, even when compared with the well-known
staples with similar effects.
Today's card of the day is Deadbridge Chant
which is a six mana Black and Green enchantment
that has you put the top ten cards of your
library into the graveyard then at the beginning
of your upkeep choose a card at random from the
graveyard to add to your hand or put into play
if it is a creature. The cost may be a
little high, but with some acceleration to get
it into play this will give you an extra card
each turn with a chance of a free creature as
well. The advantage is noticeable and can
be enhanced by running a primarily creature
filled deck or manipulating the graveyard to
leave only key cards to retrieve. Overall
this is a powerful effect and a card that can
easily have a variety of decks designed around
it which should see play in Casual and Commander
formats, though less likely in other
Constructed.
In Limited the cost is less of an issue and it
can easily be splashed with just one Black and
one Green mana in the casting cost. The
extra card each turn, particularly in such a
creature driven format, can be a huge advantage.
The issue is the ten card mill from the library
as by the time this enters play, usually on the
sixth turn, you can be down to seventeen cards
in the library or less. More than enough
to win barring other effects, but a Dimir
opponent may force you to sidedeck this to avoid
problems. Aside from that concern this is
well worth picking first in Booster and
including whenever reasonable in Sealed as the
advantage far outweighs the potential risk.
