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Apocalypse is the newest expansion for Magic: the Gathering, completing the three set block that includes Invasion and Planeshift. This new expansion pushes the idea of multiple color strategies to the very limit in a way never before seen in Magic. This set is full of two and three color cards, and several using all five colors. Many of the cards in this set are going to be used right away in constructed formats. There are many powerful cards in the set that players are going to want four of right away. Unfortunately for players and collectors, most of the best cards in the set are rares.
The following is a look at the best cards in the set, as I see it. The focus of this article is on commons, because these are the cards that you will see most often in limited play.

Top Five Gold Apocalypse Commons
The gold commons in Apocalypse are by far the best commons in the set, and every one of them is very playable in limited formats. Temporal Spring is a sorcery for 1GU that puts target permanent on top of its owner's library. This card is good, but would be a lot better if it were an instant. Llanowar Dead is a 2/2 Zombie Elf for BG that taps for one black mana. Putrid Warrior is a 2/2 Soldier Zombie for WB. When Putrid Warrior deals damage you can either have each player gain one life or lose one life. Razorfin Hunter is a 1/1 Merfolk Goblin for UR that taps to do a point of damage to a player or creature. Quicksilver Dagger is a creature enchantment for 1UR that allows enchanted creature to tap to do a point of damage to a player after which you draw a card. There is so much removal in these sets that creature enchantments have become a little less popular. Nonetheless, this is still a very playable card in limited formats. Here are the best five gold commons:
5. Gaea's Skyfolk is a 2/2 Elf Merfolk for GU that has flying. This card is simple and elegant. This is a legitimate 2/2 flyer that comes into play on turn two with no other downside other than the necessity for opposing colors of mana. In limited, evasion is still important, and having two toughness AND two power for just two mana is very exciting.
4. Soul Link is a creature enchantment for 1WB that says that whenever enchanted creature deals or is dealt damage, you gain that much life. At first glance, this is just Spirit Link one more time, but unless this card gets errata, this card is actually a little broken, since you gain life BOTH when your creature deals damage AND when it receives damage. When you attack with a 3/3 creature with this enchantment on it and he is blocked by another 3/3, for example, both creatures will die, but you will gain SIX life. When a creature enchanted with this card is blocked by another creature, it is more like your creature has two Spirit Link enchantments on it.
3. Squee's Embrace is a creature enchantment for RW that gives enchanted creature +2/+2 and returns the enchanted creature to the owner's hand when enchanted creature goes to the graveyard. An enchantment like this would usually be played only in an aggressive limited deck, but with the second function of the card to return the creature to your hand if it goes to the graveyard, this card will be a must-play in limited decks playing red and white (a fairly unusual color combination in limited these days, to tell the truth).
2. Consume Strength is an instant for 1BG that gives a target creature +2/+2 and gives another target creature -2/-2 until end of turn. What makes this card so special is that it is an instant. Even as a sorcery, this would have been a good card, but as an instant, this card offers the ability to provide all kinds of card economy during your combat step. Remove the pesky one or two toughness creature with regeneration that has been in your way and pump up one of your own creatures as well. At the very least, this card evens an uneven matchup between your opponent's 5/5 attacker and your own measly 2/2 blocker. The cost of this card is also very good.
1. Goblin Legionnaire is a 2/2 Goblin Soldier for RW that can either be sacrificed for one red mana to do two points of damage to either a player or a creature, or can be sacrificed for one white mana to prevent the next two damage dealt to either a player or creature. Both of these abilities are very "stack friendly" in that they can be played for maximum value after this creature's damage is put on the stack, making this a very valuable card for limited that will probably be seen in some constructed decks as well.

Top Five Green Apocalypse Commons
All nine green commons in this set are potentially useful in limited formats. Strength of Night is an overpriced instant for 2G with a kicker of one black mana that gives all of your creatures +1/+1 until end of turn. Paying the black kicker gives Zombies you control an additional +2/+2 until end of turn. Tranquil Path is a sorcery that destroys all enchantments and is a cantrip. The casting cost of 4G seems a little high, but maybe we're all just getting a little spoiled from the relatively low casting costs of spells these days. Urborg Elf is a 1/1 Elf for 1G that can tap for green, blue or black mana. Bog Gnarr is a 2/2 Beast for 4G that gains +2/+2 until end of turn whenever any player casts a black spell. This would be a lot better creature if it cost at least one mana less. When you get to five casting cost creatures, you generally would like something better than a 2/2. Here are the best green commons in the set:
5. Ana Disciple is a 1/1 Wizard for one green mana. For one blue and tap, target creature gains flying until end of turn. For one black and tap, target creature gets -2/-0 until end of turn. Granting flying will probably be enough to make this card marginally useful in limited decks. The black ability will slow down the beats from your opponent until you can find a better answer.
4. Glade Gnarr is a 4/4 Beast for 5G that gains +2/+2 until end of turn whenever any player plays a blue spell. This card is similar to the Bog Gnarr, but costs only one more colorless mana for a 4/4 creature instead of the 2/2 Bog Gnarr. This card will be most useful when you are the one casting the blue spells, pumping up this big guy before you attack with him. With all the good blue bounce spells in use in limited decks, this should not be a problem.
3. Lay of the Land is a sorcery for one green mana that lets you search your library for any basic land and put it into your hand. This card can almost functionally replace some land slots in your deck, much as Land Grant has in the past. In today's limited deck, as well as in the new multi colored constructed decks, this card is a fast efficient way to get to your different colors of mana in a green deck.
2. Penumbra Bobcat is a 2/1 Cat for 2G. When this creature is put into a graveyard from play, you put a 2/1 black Cat creature token into play. You essentially get two 2/1 creatures for the price of one. Imagine having your opponent down to two life, and now not even Wrath of God can save him! Even stranger could be you casting your own Wrath of God to destroy all creatures in play, only to have some of your own creatures pop back into play as creature tokens. It's called card economy… look into it!
1. Savage Gorilla is a 3/3 Ape for 4G that can be tapped and sacrificed for UB to give a target creature -3/-3 until end of turn. Oh yeah, when you use this ability, you also draw a card. It is very unusual for green to have removal spells, and this is the first green creature I can think of that also does double-duty as creature removal. AND it's a cantrip. If you are playing green in a limited tournament, you just have to play this creature

Top Five Black Apocalypse Commons
The news is not all that good for the nine black common cards in this set. Several of them are playable in limited, but only one or two are likely to ever appear in constructed decks. Mournful Zombie is a 2/1 Zombie for 2B. When you spend one white mana and tap this creature, target player gains one life. If this was damage prevention to another creature, this card would be slightly better. Necra Disciple is a 1/1 Wizard for one black mana that has two abilities, like all the other Disciple creatures in the set. Spend a green mana and tap this creature and you can add one mana of any type. Chances are, though, if you have this creature in play and green mana available, you probably already have access to the mana you need. Necra Disciple's other ability is spend a white mana and tap to prevent the next one point of damage that would be dealt to target creature or player this turn. This second ability makes this card playable in limited, but not very good. Mind Extraction might be the worst black card in the set, and maybe one of the worst cards overall. Mind Extraction is a Sorcery for 2B that has for an additional cost the sacrifice of one of your creatures. Target player reveals his or her hand and discards all cards of the of the colors of the sacrificed creature. I suppose if you used this card to sacrifice a five colored creature, you could remove all of the cards from your opponents' hand, but that doesn't seem very likely. On second thought, though, this card could probably be somewhat useful in mirror matches where your opponent has cards of the same color as your own. Dead Ringers is a Sorcery for 4B that destroys two target non-black creatures as long as they are both exactly the same color or combination of colors. At first glance, this looks like great two-for-one removal, but it really is not. Not only do both targets have to be non-black, they must be EXACTLY the same colors, so you cannot destroy a green creature and a green and red creature, or a green creature and a red creature. The high casting cost of this card, while also making this card less desirable, does make this card possibly useful in late game situations. Here are the best black commons:
5. Quagmire Druid is a 2/2 Zombie Druid that you can spend a green mana and tap and sacrifice a creature to destroy a target enchantment. Enchantment removal in the form of a creature is generally welcome in limited events, and this is still a 2/2 for three mana, making him certainly playable, if not wonderful.
4. Last Caress is a sorcery cantrip for 2B that causes target opponent to lose one life and causes you to gain one life, after which you draw a card. This card would not make the cut in a three colored limited deck very often, but it might be the 22nd or 23rd best card in a two colored limited deck. This card would be a little better if it were an instant.
3. Urborg Uprising is a sorcery for 4B that returns up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand, then you draw a card. This card is good for the most obvious reason of all: you can get two important creatures from your graveyard back to your hand. The addition of drawing a card only makes this card better. Less obvious is that this card can be cast without any creatures in your graveyard just in order to draw a card, and it is nice that you can cast this card with zero, one or two creatures being targeted. The high casting cost makes this less useful in general, and probably keeps this card out of constructed play. Also, I think the face in the upper left hand section of the card looks like Dennis Hopper.
2. Zombie Boa is a 3/3 Zombie Snake for 4B. For 1B, you can choose a color give the Zombie Boa "hate" for that color, specifically, whenever the Zombie Boa is blocked by a creature of that color this turn, destroy that creature. This ability can only be played when you could play a sorcery. This guy is quite good. Late in the game, you can activate this creature's ability for as many colors as you need to, even all five colors, then send him. Creatures destroyed by his ability do not deal any combat damage, so your Zombie never dies. This guy definitely makes the cut in limited decks. Even though he costs five mana, his special ability is sort of evasive and destructive at the same time.
1. Phyrexian Rager is a 2/2 Horror for 2B that causes you to lose a life when he comes into play and causes you to draw a card. A 2/2 bear for three mana is reasonable enough, and when you can play several of these early in a limited format game, the card economy that you gain from the extra cards far outweighs the loss of life. When you consider all the cards in Invasion and Planeshift and Apocalypse that either bounce this card back to your hand, or bring it back from the graveyard, you can see how this creature can end up drawing a lot of extra cards for you.
It is hard to say whether this guy is good enough for constructed decks, but you can feel good about playing as many of these as possible in limited decks.

Top Five Red Apocalypse Commons
The nine red common cards in this set are unusually weak. There are no common direct damage spells, or creatures of note. The lack of good red commons in this set will probably cause drafters to move away from red somewhat. Of the four weakest red commons, the worst is certainly Tahngarth's Glare, a sorcery for one red mana that lets each player look at and rearrange the top five cards of the other player's deck. This card should not be played by anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances. Minotaur Tactician is a 1/1 Minotaur for 3R that has haste and gets +1/+1 as long as you control a white creature and gets +1/+1 as long as you control a blue creature. For four mana, you can put a lot of better creatures into play. If your limited deck was extremely tight in blue, white and red, it is conceivable that you would play this card. Dwarven Landslide is a sorcery for 3R that destroys a target land. If you pay the kicker of 2R, you can destroy another target land. This card is not too bad, but it's hard to imagine where it would fit in many constructed land destruction decks, and land destruction spells don't see much play in limited decks, either. Smash is an instant for 2R that destroys a target artifact and causes you to draw a card. This card could be fairly useful from the sideboard in limited decks, since this set contains a number of playable artifacts. Here are the best five red commons.
5. Bloodfire Infusion is a creature enchantment for 2R that can only be used on creatures you control. By spending one red mana and sacrificing the creature enchanted with this card, damage equal to the sacrificed creature's power is dealt to all creatures. This is NOT quality removal, but sometimes you have to play bad cards in order to win.
4. Bloodfire Dwarf is a 1/1 Dwarf for one red mana. When you pay one red and sacrifice this creature, Bloodfire Dwarf deals one damage to each creature without flying. This card looks a little better than it is. In the three color reality of today's limited environment, you usually either have one toughness creatures of your own that you wouldn't want destroyed by this card, or else this tiny earthquake just doesn't manage to do much except provide you with a chump blocker.
3. Tundra Kavu is a 2/2 Kavu for 2R that can be tapped to turn a target land into a plains or island until end of turn. This is a solid, if not exciting 2/2 creature that can help you smooth out your mana problems in the early game.
2. Kavu Glider is a 2/1 Kavu for 2R with the ability to pump +0/+1 until end of turn for white mana and can gain flying for one blue mana. You can count the common red flying creatures in the game of Magic on one hand. Kavu Glider is certainly playable in limited (it's not a big risk to imagine that nobody will ever construct a tournament-worthy deck that includes this card).
1. Raka Disciple is a 1/1 Wizard for one red mana. If you spend a white mana and tap the Disciple, you can prevent the next point of damage to a target player or creature. If you spend a blue mana and tap this card, you can give a target creature flying until end of turn. These seem to be the best of the five Disciple abilities in the set, and since this 1/1 easy-to-cast creature has both of them, the Raka Disciple is probably the best red common in this set.

Top Five Blue Apocalypse Commons
A number of the nine blue commons in this set are quite good, and at least one of them, my choice for best blue common, will likely see play in constructed formats. The best five blue commons are all very playable in limited formats. Shimmering Mirage is an instant for 1U that changes a target land into the basic land type of your choice until the end of the turn and causes you to draw a card. Cantrips are nice, but this card just won't be useful enough in any three colored limited decks to get played. Jaded Response is an instant for 1U that counters target spell if it shares a color with a creature you control. At any given moment during your game, this card will either be an effective counterspell for anything your opponent casts, or will be completely worthless. More often than not, this card will be incapable of countering your opponent's spell. It is possible that this card could come in from the sideboard in limited format matches when your opponent is playing the same colors as you, and it still won't be very good then! Index is a sorcery for one blue mana that lets you look at the top five cards of your library and rearrange those cards in any order. This card is NOT an Impulse or even a Brainstorm. At best, this card will be like a very weak Tutor card. In limited, one could see where this would be a useful spell on the first turn to help you get started. This card will help you find a useful spell later in the game, as well, but you're going to wish this card actually let you draw a card every time you cast it. Whirlpool Rider is a 1/1 Merfolk for 1U that, when it comes into play, causes you to shuffle the cards from your hand into your library and then to draw that many cards. This card has two things to offer, a low casting early game creature and the chance to ditch your hand and draw a new one. Unfortunately, whenever one of this is actually a good ability, the other will probably not be useful. Changing your hand could be nice late in the game, if you are holding a couple of lands you don't need to play, but the 1/1 Merfolk creature will probably not be useful then. On turn two, it might be nice to have a 1/1 Merfolk in play, but you might not want to ditch your hand at that time. The top five blue commons are a lot easier to love.
5. Reef Shaman is a 0/2 Merfolk for one blue mana that taps to change a target land's type to become the basic land type of your choice until end of turn. This card should become as popular in limited play as Invasion's Dream Thrush. The two toughness of the Reef Shaman, and the ability to block 1/1 creatures safely, makes up for the fact that, unlike the Dream Thrush, the Reef Shaman cannot fly.
4. Ceta Disciple is a 1/1 Wizard for one blue mana that has the following abilities; spend a red mana and tap to give a target creature +2/+0 or spend a green mana and tap to add one mana of any color to your mana pool. This card offers good flexibility for blue decks containing green or red. The red ability is perfectly suited for pumping up the flyers in your deck that are less likely to be blocked, or just to pump up a creature so that it can destroy a larger creature that it would not ordinarily trade with. The green ability is a great mana smoother that is particularly useful considering the large amount of good blue-green cards in this set, like this next card…
3. Living Airship is a 2/3 Ship for 3U with flying that can regenerate for 2G. This card is very good for limited, even if it never appears an any constructed format decks. Flying creatures with the ability to regenerate are extremely unusual in Magic. This card is perfect for splashing in a green deck without much blue, since the casting cost is only four, with only one blue mana needed. This is a reasonably costed creature, especially since it can block just about every creature out there and live to tell about it.
2. Coastal Drake is a 2/1 Drake for 2U that has flying. For 1U and tapping, you can return target Kavu to its owner's hand. This card is a reasonably priced 2/1 flyer, first of all, but the ability to return a Kavu to its owner's hand is quite good. There are A LOT of Kavu creatures in the Invasion block. Continuously returning your opponent's high-mana cost Kavu to their hand for just two of your own mana is very fun. Returning your own Kavu Climber to your hand each turn in order to draw an extra card each turn is even more fun!
1. Jilt is an instant for 1U that returns a target creature to its owner's hand. If you pay the kicker of 1R, Jilt deals two damage to another target creature. This card is extremely solid. The un-kicked cost of this spell is entirely reasonable and can be played in decks relying heavily on blue as well as those with just a splash of blue in them. With the kicker paid, this card becomes extremely powerful, giving you huge amounts of control over the playing field. It is particularly satisfying to use this card to save your own creature in response to being targeting by an Assassin while destroying the Assassin with the same spell. If there is any constructed format future for blue-red decks, this card will be in them.

Top Five White Apocalypse Commons
Most of the nine white commons in this set are playable in limited, but only the top five are likely to be played very often. Shield of Duty and Reason is a creature enchantment for one white mana that gives enchanted creature protection from blue and from green. Of all the cards in this set, this card is the weakest link, GOODBYE! Angelfire Crusader is a 2/3 Soldier for 3W that pumps up +1/+0 for red mana. This card is playable, but may be too expensive to make the cut much of the time. Orim's Thunder is an instant for 2W with a kicker cost of one red mana. This card destroys a target artifact or enchantment. If the kicker cost was paid, Orim's Thunder deals damage equal to that artifact or enchantment's converted cost to target creature. Although this card cannot do damage to a player, it certainly would be fun to remove a creature and an enchantment or artifact on your opponent's side of the table for just four mana. Divine Light is a sorcery for one white mana that prevents all damage that would be dealt this turn to creatures you control. This card has some possibilities, but won't be good very often because it simply does not help you deal more damage to your opponent. The following cards are quite a bit more useful.
5. Dega Disciple is a 1/1 Wizard for one white mana that has two tap abilities, either spend one black mana and tap to give a target creature -2/-0 until end of turn, or spend one red mana and tap to give a target creature +2/+0 until end of turn. Since black-white strategies abound in this set, the black ability of this card will be more popular than the red ability.
4. Manacles of Decay is a creature enchantment for 1W that makes the creature enchanted with it unable to attack. Furthermore, this enchantment lets you spend a black mana to give the enchanted creature -1/-1 until end of turn, or spend red mana to make the enchanted creature unable to block this turn. This card is most effective in a deck with a lot of black mana in play, since you could activate the black ability of this enchantment many times, if necessary, in one turn to reduce a creature's toughness to zero and, in effect, destroy it. (even if it is a regenerating creature).
3. Standard Bearer is a 1/1 Flagbearer for 1W that uses a new mechanic. If an opponent plays a spell or ability that could target a Flagbearer in play, that player must choose at least one Flagbearer as a target. This means that if you have this creature in play, your opponent must destroy your Flagbearer before he can use his targeted spells on any other creature. Your Flagbearer is a "lightning rod", requiring your opponent to direct spells and abilities at the Flagbearer instead of any of the more powerful creatures you may have in play. A more interesting aspect of this game mechanic is that if your opponent has creature enchantments in his hand that he would like to use on his own creatures, he will not be able to while you have a Flagbearer in play (unless he has a Flagbearer of his own in play in his own control). The reason this card is good is simply because, for a very low mana cost, you have a card in play that forces your opponent to change the way he plays his own cards.
2. Helionaut is a 1 /2 Soldier for 2W that has flying that you can spend one colorless mana and tap to add one mana of any color to your mana pool. This card is well costed at three mana for a two toughness flyer. Among the various "mana smoothers" in this set, this is the only card that lets you turn one mana of any color into one mana of any color you choose. This card is particuarly well-loved by Helio Rosenthal, a Magic player who works on the Portuguese translation of Magic cards, since the card appears to be named after him!
1. Coalition Honor Guard is a 2/4 Flagbearer for 3W. This creature offers all the advantages of the Standard Bearer described above, only with a 2/4, making Coalition Honor Guard a VERY difficult card for your opponent to deal with.

Apocalypse is a great expansion with lots of cards that will be both very playable and very collectible. While most of the very good cards in this set are rares, the commons in this set will definitely affect the way that this block is played in limited formats. This set is very well-designed, continuing the playing themes found in Invasion and Planeshift. These three sets, more than any other ever created by Wizards of the Coast, require the player to balance powerful cards with mana considerations. Over the next few months, it will be very exciting to see how players use this set in both constructed and limited formats. In limited formats, this set will require more deck building skill than any other block of card sets has in the past.

Jeff Zandi
DCI Level II Judge
Texas Guildmages
Zanman@ThoughtCastle.com