"Renouncing the Guilds"

"Renouncing the Guilds"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

There seems to be a lot of riots on the hands of the Boros lately and it seems that these problems are getting bigger and bigger each passing day. Specific problems require specific solutions...In the case of the current standard which has an abundance of multicolored permanents Renounce the Guilds is indeed a very specific solution. A painful one when timed right to both players on both sides of the playing field as it does require the sacrifice of a multicolored permanent for each player. 

Of course there is a drawback to this particular card which makes me believe that it will be pushed back to the sideboards of most standard players. It has no effect on mono-colored creatures!!!. It can be quite lethal to Boros Reckoner  , Geist of St. Traft or any Rakdos creature who want to damage early but it has no effect on Thragtusk or Restoration Angel or any mono-red creature that threatens to damage you during the early turns. There are still a whole slew of creatures that are in the mono colored category that can whittle your life points to nothing in very short order.

Still there is a reason why it is in the Rare Tier of cards and not in the Uncommon slot. Imagine dealing with four of these against Guilds that normally have great removal historically. Guilds like the Orzhov , Azorius and Boros which have access to white mana and awesome spot and mass removal. Just another option that could frustrate other opponents who depend on certain multicolored cards for their win. 

So all in all we expect that Renounce the Guilds will make quite a killing on the battlefield even if its not the intended target most of the time because players can still sacrifice a permanent that is of less strategic value in the long run rather than their main pieces.