When I first saw Cryptolith Rite, my first thought was: is this an actual Magic the Gathering card? When I read the comments that people were leaving about it, my thought was confirmed. This seems too good.

Turning all of your creatures into Birds of Paradise seems pretty broken to me. This seems like it could make Green builds of Eldrazi extremely quick. There's a lot of talk of turn 4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. This with Scion tokens seems pretty busted.

There's really only one problem with this card. It's extremely bad to draw multiple copies. In Commander, that's perfectly fine since you're only going to ever play one anyway. But the power of this card can't be underestimated. With enough creature tokens on board, you can have all the mana you could ever want.

Many players called Cryptolith Rite a "win more" sort of card. What I mean by that is it's a bit tricky to build around it because if you draw more than one, it can be bad. Sure, there's enough enchantment removal around that having a back-up copy in hand is fine. But the best enchantments are those that actually benefit you in multiples. So while the power level of this card is undeniable, it's hard to say just how much it will impact Standard. It's probably a bit slow for Modern, but if Eldrazi Temple and/or Eye of Ugin get banned, this may be a viable option to keep the deck in contention.

There's one other deck that loves this card: Slivers. Gemhide Sliver in Legacy and Manaweft Sliver in Modern are 2 drops that gives all your slivers the same ability as Cryptolith Rite. You probably only would need this as a one-of or two-of to make it worth playing. But you already have ways of making all 5 colors easily in Modern, in Slivers and Allies both. So it's not a must for Modern.

Back to Commander, though, this card is absolutely busted in token decks that run Green. There are plenty of them, too. A lot of five-color decks will want this, too. Cards that are best as one-ofs tend to scale up in Commander. Also, if this draws out enchantment removal, it's probably worth the two mana. Really, mana fixing is so important in Commander that you can end up losing games just by not getting enough of one color. So at the very least, Commander players all over the place will buy it.

So, where does this card fit in Standard? I definitely see Green Eldrazi decks of all stripes seeing ways to plug it in. Losing fetch lands may make it necessary. I don't think it's really necessary in Modern. The good news about this card is while it has an inherently powerful ability, there are ways to do away with it fairly easily. Also, once you draw a second copy, it's most likely just going to be discard fodder, anyway., Still, this is a sweet card and I can't wait to get a chance to play with it.

"My faith guides my hand..." says the Pious Evangel.

Whenever our Human Cleric friend or another of our creatures enter the battlefield under our control, we gain 1 life. We have no choice in the matter. It is not a may effect. Just gain the one life. There's nothing wrong with this ability. Of course, when you compare it to the famous "Soul Sisters" Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant (or even Auriok Champion if she's more your fancy), it's pretty underwhelming. The Soul Sisters give you one life whether it's your creature or an opponent's.  And those gals cost only a single mana to cast. This dude costs 3 - 2 and a White.

However, for a cost of 2 mana and sacrificing another permanent of yours, you can transform him...

"...and I will prove my devotion." the Wayward Disciple says.

How exactly does the Wayward Disciple prove his devotion? By becoming a 2/4 clone of Zulaport Cutthroat. Seriously, he does exactly the same thing. Does this make him bad, having to essentially pay 3 more mana plus the sacrificing of one of your permanents to get what the Cutthroat can give you for just 1 and a Black? Many players seem to think so.

While he may not be in the realm of "Constructed playable" land, I do think that this flavorful dude can do some work in Drafts and sealed deck tournaments. You know, there are plenty of cards designed for just that environment. This is one of them. Also, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim has become a fairly popular Commander who loves having more Clerics around. Being both White and Black, it's no problem for Pious Evangel and his flipside to be jammed in there. I mean, in Commander, Blood Artist is better. But maybe you don't want to pay $4 a copy for one (yeah, seriously $4). This is a cheap alternative, albeit one that makes you do a lot for it. And Blood Artist is actually better, since his ability activates when anyone dies.

Still, I love the flavor of Shadows Over Innistrad, and this guy is a win from a flavor perspective. But yeah, I'll stick with Zulaport Cutthroat, Blood Artist and the Soul Sisters in my Commander decks. Nice try my Evangel friend, but your devotion will not sway my faith.

Soul Swallower is definitely one of the more interesting creatures with Delirium from Magic the Gathering's Shadows Over Innistrad set. Delirium abilities only activate once you have four or more different card types in your graveyard (e.g. Artifact, Creature, Instant, Sorcery, Land, etc.) What’s especially interesting about Soul Swallower is that he essentially “swallows souls” without actually removing any cards from your graveyard.

On his own, Soul Swallower is a 3/3 Wurm with Trample for 2GG. But once you have Delirium active, at the beginning of each upkeep, you get to put 3 +1/+1 counters on him. Very quickly, he can become very big. Having Trample means your opponent can’t simply chump-block, either. His effect is a bit slow for Constructed, though. Soul Swallower is pretty good in Limited, though, as seen in this winning Shadows Over Innistrad Sealed pool.

There is an Enchantment called Hardened Scales, which gives a creature an extra +1/+1 counter whenever they would gain one. Unfortunately, it was no longer in Standard when Soul Swallower arrived. It's  not like such a deck has very good synergy with Delirium anyway. Still, Soul Swallower was a bomb in Limited once you hit Delirium.

Soul Swallower does see some EDH / Commander play in graveyard-based decks like those led by The Gitrog Monster, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, and Ishkanah, Grafwidow (who has Delirium herself).  Soul Swallower is another well-designed creature from the Shadows Over Innistrad set.

We all knew that Avacyn was returning in Shadows Over Innistrad. Not only has she returned, but she comes with a flip-side! A red-white Avacyn was speculated by some people when the set was first announced. Those that did so are quite correct. Archangel Avacyn is a 4/4 for 3WW with Flash, Flying, and Vigilance. When she enters the battlefield, creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn. This is a pretty good effect and would make her a playable creature just with that.

But it's the flip-side that really makes this new Avacyn interesting. Whenever a non-Angel creature you control dies, you transform Avacyn at the beginning of the next upkeep. This means that you could Flash her in during an opponent's turn after one of your creatures die. She'll then transform as your turn begins. Avacyn becomes the Purifier, who deals 3 damage to each other creature and each opponent as she transforms.

The effect seems counter-intuitive since your creatures will no longer have indestructible at that point. There is Make a Stand from Oath of the Gatewatch, an 2W Instant that makes creatures you control gain +1/+0 and indestructible until end of turn. Also, Avacyn becomes a 6/5, although loses vigilance.

This new Avacyn is like a super-charged Serra Angel. She seems playable in a Red/White/X mid-range deck, although you don't actually need to play Red to play her in Constructed. Red/White/X Commander decks will really have fun with this new Avacyn, though, especially Kaalia of the Vast. She could prove to be a fairly good Commander herself, especially with Flash. Timing her ability is very important, but she can be pretty devastating.

In most cases, Avacyn the Purifier will wipe the board, deal 3 to your opponent, then swing for 6 more. Those 9 points of damage will likely be enough to win the game most times. Some players have noted that it doesn't seem fair that she doesn't deal the 3 damage to you - flavor wise. But this was probably done for play-ability reasons. She strikes me as a land stand sort of card that can turn things around when you're behind. Saving you from a board wipe seems worth it. You just have to be careful how and when she transforms. It's possible she'll be a format-defining card. Heck, she may even be playable in Modern. Only time will tell.

Grave Betrayal has been a popular card among Commander players since it was first released in Return to Ravnica. This Enchantment has a very splashy effect, taking any creature that isn't yours that dies and putting it back onto the field under your control. Even more flavorfully, it also becomes a black Zombie in addition to whatever colors and types it already had.

With how popular Zombies are as a casual tribe, Grave Betrayal has found itself in quite a number of mono-Black and Reanimator decks. But being a 7-drop, and the fact you'll ever only want to play one copy, it's been roughly a 50-cent to dollar rare for years. Even foils, which are a favorite of Commander players, have barely passed over $1.50.

In July 2015, however, foil Grave Betrayals began being listed for at least $3 a piece on Ebay and Amazon. Non-foil copies have been in and out of the top 100 best selling Single Cards on Amazon since then, as well. So why the sudden interest? At that time, it had little to do with the supply of Return to Ravnica drying up. It had more to do with speculation around the release of a hot new creature from Magic Origins: Liliana, Heretical Healer.

The -8 ability on Liliana, Defiant Necromancer looks familiar. It's not quite Grave Betrayal but it's close enough. The new Liliana flip-walker proved to be a key piece to a new and improved Zombie archetype in kitchen table Magic and Commander. Of course, if your end game is going to revolve around Liliana's "ultimate" ability, then why not have Grave Betrayal to give you redundancy?

With the reveal of a powerful new Zombie called Relentless Dead from Shadows Over Innistrad, many Zombie related cards started flying out of inventories everywhere. Not only are Grave Betrayal foils finally starting to show an uptick in price, but non-foil copies are seeing steady growth, as well. Between February and March 2016, Grave Betrayal saw a 30-day increase from $0.68 to $0.86 on TCGPlayer. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a 26 percent jump for a card that sees zero competitive play.

Grave Betrayal foils are now listing for about $6 on Amazon. Non-foils are now selling over $2. This time, however, eBay is showing the opposite trend. You can buy playsets - 4 copies - for around $1 a copy. If you're looking for this card, investing in either non-foils or foils isn't a bad idea at all. The sudden new demand from casual and Commander players will likely push the price much higher.

Grave Betrayal has been a casual hit for a long time and it could easily be a $5 card in non-foil before long.  It could be reprinted in the new Innistrad sets, but unlikely. But being a casual hit, these tend to show up in pre-constructed decks such as Commander and Duel Decks. If you can, try to find cheap foils if you need this card. They're always a much safer investment when it comes to these kind of cards.