MTPW - A New Beginning

This month's edition was tricky. Upfront I'll admit, I'm terrible at evaluating things. I know which deck this card wants to be in, but I'm not sure that deck wants this card. A New Beginning is another option for Combrei Ramp, but Combrei Ramp (even in Expedition) already has several viable ramp options. So we have to ask whether this promo is better than what's already available (in this case, cards like Conspire, Repel Darkness, and Expand the Reach). Personally, I think it's a toss-up.

I think we can consider Conspire to be the baseline for expedition spell-based ramp. It's good enough, not fantastic. Draw a power, or play it depleted if it's a sigil. This allows you to draw Runes and Sketches when you need them, which is nice. Repel Darkness, a modal spell that includes Seek Power, probably isn't worth including because the other two modes are too situational. Expand the Reach edges out the above cards with Plunder. You can make power in the early game when you need it, or make treasures in the late game when you need cards.

A New Beginning is a weird ramp spell. It plays a random sigil from your deck, then draws a card, giving you another copy of itself if the card you draw is a power card. In my experience playing this card, drawing a power is pretty underwhelming, especially in the early game; it just means you get to play it again the next turn and roll the dice again. Drawing a non-power card, by contrast, pretty much always feels good.

This deck is based on Big Combrei is Back by Serus. We're ramping toward identical targets using different methods, so I figured it would be an accurate test.

This card could be ideal ramp for cards that want to draw a lot of cards, since both the draw and the copy would count as drawing a card, perhaps the famous relic combo of Dichro's Ruin and Pinnacle of the Reach (the benefit being triggering extra draws for Meditative Trance), but I doubt that adding a color to that deck would help it much.