For the TL;DR version you can skip to the TOP 15<\/a>\u00a0list at the end.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n GENERAL NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n CARD-SPECIFIC NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n Some cards have individual comments but most cards will just be listed in one of these categories. They are sorted by\u00a0rarity as a power boost is more relevant for lower rarities. That a bomb mythic is even better doesn’t really factor in your\u00a0decision to play it or not.<\/p>\n MORE PLAYERS<\/strong><\/p>\n These cards affect all players\/opponents. They’re\u00a0the most obvious ones to get better. With two opponents these cards have abilities that are\u00a0twice as effective!<\/p>\n It should be noted that the templating choice of using\u00a0“target opponent” instead of “each opponent” that was in effect\u00a0for Oath of the Gatewatch, the 2HG set, seems to be continued here. Cards like Alms of the Vein<\/a> and Wayward Disciple<\/a> that would’ve probably said “each opponent” a year ago are targeted now. Although this means less hidden gems overall this is good news for 2HG enthusiasts as this means less unfun broken cards. Let’s see if this trend continues in the next few sets. If the change persists that\u00a0means that 2HG has won out over MTGO streamlining!<\/p>\n Gibbering Fiend | Topplegeist | Tooth Collector | Ongoing Investigation | Creeping Dread | Fevered Visions | Sage of Ancient Lore | Archangel Avacyn | Sorin, Grim Nemesis | Jace, Unraveler of Secrets<\/em><\/p>\n Obsessive Skinner<\/em><\/p>\n The uncommon Delirium cycle with “at the beginning of each opponent’s upkeep” triggers is awesome\u00a0in 2HG and the green one gets one of the biggest boosts of all. The others\u00a0all affect a specific opponent and thus can’t be combined, for example the black one can’t give one creature -2\/-2 and the white one can’t tap two creatures from one opponent, but the green one does have\u00a0the option of targeting the same creature twice.<\/p>\n (For the other cards in this cycle, see above and way down below. Interestingly, the blue one gets weaker in 2HG and is in the Hidden Duds section)<\/p>\n Clip Wings<\/em><\/p>\n Clip Wings\u00a0has\u00a02-for-1 potential, but depending on how abundant\u00a01\/1 flying spirit tokens are\u00a0this might be a 0.5-for-1 too often, even in 2HG.<\/p>\n Hermit of the Natterknolls<\/em><\/p>\n Most werewolves lose a lot of value in 2HG (see Hidden Duds below) but this one is\u00a0very good even without the backside. Because counterspells are much better in 2HG you can count on this ability to be relevant in most 2HG games.<\/p>\n Asylum Visitor<\/em><\/p>\n In a normal game you need to be hellbent yourself to make good use of this ability which can be stymied by drawing too many lands. In 2HG you can sculpt a\u00a0situation where your teammate is hellbent all the time so that you consistently draw at least one extra card each turn.<\/p>\n MORE CREATURES<\/strong><\/p>\n These cards affect all creatures. They scale well in 2HG because two opponents means twice as many creatures on the board to get with these. Situational ones will have an increased chance to be relevant but they might still be too situational overall.<\/p>\n Magnetic Chasm | Biting Rain | Thing in the Ice | Engulf the Shore | Descend upon the Sinful | Archangel Avacyn<\/em><\/p>\n MORE LIFE<\/strong><\/p>\n These cards get better because you start at 30 rather than 20 life.<\/p>\n Sorin, Grim Nemesis<\/em><\/p>\n MORE OPTIMAL CONDITIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n These cards are powerful because they’re situational; they require certain targets or board states to be effective. In a 2HG game, with twice as many permanents as\u00a0a duel, that is simply more likely.<\/p>\n Emissary of the Sleepless<\/em><\/p>\n This throwback to Morbid requires a creature to have died which is much easier achieved by\u00a0a teammate with a turn’s worth of mana.<\/p>\n Dissension in the Ranks<\/em><\/p>\n This requires multiple blockers and ideally two blockers that can kill each other. More likely with more creatures overall.<\/p>\n MORE TARGETS<\/strong><\/p>\n Current Magic templating uses a lot of “you control” and “an opponent controls” in targeting restrictions, especially for triggers. (Too bad MTGO streamlining still wins out over Emergent Gameplay.) There are exceptions\u00a0and we’ll mention all of those here.<\/p>\n Auras and combat tricks almost always fall into this category as well but by default they won’t be\u00a0listed. The 2-for-1 downside of auras is even more prominent in 2HG where two opponents can have removal.<\/p>\n Ulrich’s Kindred | Drunau Corpse Trawler | Olivia’s Bloodsworn | Rattlechains | Nephalia Moondrakes<\/em><\/p>\n Veteran Cathar<\/em><\/p>\n The uncommon ‘multicolor’ tribal cycle has no “you control” restriction (except for Spectral Shepherd<\/a>, the white\/blue one). Veteran Cathar will be the most relevant as every color has lots of Humans so keep your teammate’s creature’s types in mind when you have this.<\/p>\n The other members of the cycle are much less likely to be relevant, as Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves and Wolves all stay within their two colors.<\/p>\n Reckless Scholar<\/em><\/p>\n We can help our teammates with this because this is a reprint, if this was a new design it probably wouldn’t target. So let’s make the most of this one while we can!<\/p>\n Weirding Wood<\/em><\/p>\n Enchant lands are much rarer than enchant creatures and also much less susceptible to card disadvantage so this one gets a special mention. How often have you wished to share mana with your teammate? Well, now you can!\u00a0With multiple of these, the green deck doesn’t have to be the 3-color deck. A 2-color green deck could run these to fix the teammate’s 3-color mana.<\/p>\n HIDDEN DUDS<\/strong><\/p>\n These are the cards that get worse in 2HG.<\/p>\n Werewolves<\/em><\/p>\n The 2HG prerelease will not be the night\u00a0where the werewolves get to shine. They have two problems:<\/p>\n Therefore you should evaluate\u00a0werewolves mostly on their front side. If their front side alone isn’t a decent\u00a0card, they’re probably not cut out for 2HG.<\/p>\n Manic Scribe<\/em><\/p>\n Interestingly this member of the cycle gets worse in 2HG. Milling yourself is an upside in this set as there are so many mechanics and cards that care about the graveyard. You only want to mill an opponent if you have a dedicated mill deck and plan to mill them out. As most mill cards target a single player, that means you want to focus on one of the opponents. This card gets worse as you don’t want to also mill the teammate.<\/p>\n Flameblade Angel<\/em><\/p>\n See the 2HG Release Notes for the specifics but the “to you” part basically does nothing in 2HG. Still a good card though.<\/p>\n TOP 15<\/strong><\/p>\n To summarize here are some lists with the cards that have the\u00a0biggest increase in power relative to their value\u00a0in a normal duel. These are NOT the best cards\u00a0to open overall, good removal is still good removal, etc. These are simply the cards that\u00a0warrant special attention at a 2HG tournament.<\/p>\n The 10 commons\/uncommons that gain\u00a0the most:<\/p>\n Honorable mention: Weirding Wood<\/a><\/p>\n And then the 5 rares\/mythics that gain the most. There aren’t\u00a0a lot of contenders for these slots actually. Sorin’s plus becomes insane but other than that most of these aren’t boosted significantly:<\/p>\n Do you disagree with this list? Are you missing a card in this article? How was your experience at the prerelease? Comment below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This guide shows which Shadows\u00a0cards become better\u00a0in Two-Headed Giant and which don\u2019t. If you\u2019re playing in a 2HG prerelease these are the cards to pay special attention to! If\u00a0you want to know more about the rules interactions, check out the 2HG Release Notes. For the TL;DR version you can skip to the TOP 15\u00a0list at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194,"featured_media":334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5,23,22,6],"language":[],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","tag-2hg","tag-hidden-gems","tag-shadows-over-innistrad","tag-two-headed-giant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/194"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":619,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions\/619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/2hg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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