We all probably know how there is a tight cycle of 2/4 gatekeepers for four mana in Dragon's maze. Covered in a preview article
here, each one costs three colorless and one colored mana, and provides a significant bonus if you control two Gates when they
come into play enter the battlefield.
These are all good value in their own way, "strictly better" than Pillarfield Ox, which was a fine card in a deck that wanted some ground defense with bite.
But every cycle has a Lightning Bolt and every cycle has a Healing Salve, so I'll go through each gatekeeper and identify which guild or combination of guilds wants each one as well as when you might be better off to leave them in the draft pack or the sideboard.
First, just how much should you stretch your mana to accommodate gatekeepers? Barring Greenside Watcher shenanigans, playing a gate costs you one mana on the turn you play it. Generally, you can maneuver gates in your opening hand to a point where they don't hurt your board development, but sometimes you end up behind a turn on your curve and later in the game, if you need another mana this turn and draw a gate off the top, it is a true dagger. If you pack six gates into your deck, that gets much more likely.
On the positive side of the ledger, in addition to enabling gatekeepers, Gateway Shade and Ogre Jailbreaker, gates fix your mana, which will be a boon in the likely three or more color decks of Dragon's Maze limited.
Aggressive decks that need to get off to a quick start can ill afford to stumble due to lands that essentially cost one mana to play. Quick, focused decks will also need the color-fixing less, since they should be closer to streamlined, two-color machines. Lastly, they would not mind the the extra value provided by gatekeepers, but a 2/4 for four is not the ideal four-drop.
However, the slower, more controlling or evasive-damage based decks will appreciate a 2/4 ground guy and the extra value provided is even better. In a three-color, three-guild deck, of the ten available guildgates, three will be fully in-color, six more will provide one color you need, and only one will be utterly useless. In a slow sealed deck or a controlling draft deck, I would replace a basic land with a one-color gate (up to about 8 maximum) if I needed to support a few gatekeepers.
This calculation you will need to make reminds me of the "bouncelands" in original Ravnica, which I would pack into my deck even if they were only one of my colors and sometimes fully off-color, just for the virtual card advantage provided by the extra mana and the opportunity to shave a land or two.
As usual, green and lifegain get the short end of the stick when it comes to a tight cycle of cards. But let's not be too hasty to dismiss these Elf Warriors. The sheer amount of lifegain "for free" has certainly been pushed, adding more than one third of your starting life total. This card can really swing a race in your direction.
The guild that i see wanting Saruli Gatekeepers the most is Simic, which has plenty of use for a 2/4 gound-pounder that can evolve the early drops one more time and hold the fort while the evasive beaters get in there. Simic made good use of Scab-Clan Charger and while some of that was due to the +4 toughness bloodrush, seven extra live goes quite a way towards stabilizing against an early rush deck while your creatures grow ever larger.
Golgari could make good use of the big chunk of life gain as well to stabilize their life total while their slow attrition game plan of expensive scavenging gets in gear. I might prefer a Tower Indrik, but I'll play both.
Gruul and Selesnya seem too aggressive to me for sheer lifegain to be worth playing an otherwise vanilla 2/4.
Red gets an unfocused card as part of this cycle, but I can see a format where Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers goes late in drafts to one specific deck that will get great value from this effect.
Boros and Gruul both appreciate the Ray of Command half, but I expect a 2/4 for four mana with a conditional Threaten is just not good enough. The body left behind is not up to snuff in an aggressive deck and the chance of missing completely by not having the two gates means this will probably be a 23rd card and they would probably prefer Act of Trason based on efficiency. Boros may like Smelt-Ward a little more since that deck requires a critical mass of creatures.
Izzet is a strange guild and I'm not sure what to expect there. This card could grab a big chunk of damage early then hold the ground until the combo-kill comes online with Teleportal or Blustersquall.
My best bet for Smelt-Ward Gatekeepers is a slow "Borzhov" deck featuring red, white, and black. Both this card and Act of Treason (and even the rare Molten Primordial) could combine with sacrifice outlets such as Cartel Aristocrat, Undercity Informer, or Corpse Blockade to turn into unexpected damage plus creature removal.
My pick for the middle of the three might be a surprise, but Opal Lake Gatekeepers does not excite me. It is great value if you get a free card back, but it doesn't push me in one direction or another. It's just general value, and I think I may draft fewer of these than any other gatekeeper if other drafters value them higher than I do.
Blue can already get a great 1/4 in Izzet that can adjust its power and toughness in the form of Frostburn Weird. In Azorius, you will be happy for the ground defense, but you can also trade that chance at a card for flash and vigilance with Hussar Patrol which will often eat a small attacking creature.
Dimir, which needs all the help it can get, will appreciate the body first and foremost, again holding off the Boros Legion while unblockable Rouges take care of the offense.
Just like the green version, Simic could find good use for the 2/4 body as an evolve enabler. A 2/4 takes Cloudfin Raptor to 3/4, Experiment One to 4/4, and Shambleshark or Battering Krasis to 5/4.
Sunspire Gatekeepers was very impressive for me in the pre-release sealed deck event, usually providing a total of four power and six toughness for a mere four mana. I don't think it perfectly slots in to any one guild, but it is great value for any deck.
This effect seems tailor-made for Selesnya, but I'm not sure it will fit. Sure, it creates a token creature, but the 2/2 vigilance knights are one of my least favorite populate
target tokens, ahead of only 1/1 oozes and soldiers. Plus, as with the green version, aggro Selesnya doesn't necessarily need the 2/4 body.
Azorius would probably prefer the card of Opal Lake than the free bear, but again, I'd rather Hussar Patrol and the opportunity to counter a key spell if I'd rather spend the mana that way.
Boros doesn't need a 2/4, but two bodies for four mana is a great deal when striving for battalion triggers to keep the pressure going. The only problem is finding time to play two comes into play tapped lands while curving out.
Orzhov, which loves blocking and gates anyway, will make great use of the combined 4/6, but it doesn't necessarily fit the plan.
An aggressive Orzhov deck (don't laugh; it exists) or a Boros deck that picks up one or two of these should be on the lookout for Court Street Denizens from the Gatecrash pack, since you get two tap triggers, which can be very situationally effective, much like Knight Watch.
Keep in mind that Armory Guard is also in this format at pretty much the same baseline stats of 2/5, but it gets vigilance if you have just one gate in play.
Not too surprisingly, Ubul Sar Gatekeepers are my pick for best of the cycle, since nearly unconditional removal is welcome at any point of the game. This effect picks off utility creatures, evasive threats, and sometimes you can even use it to kill a large body on the other side after attacking in. If they smell this coming and elect not to block, that isn't so bad either, since you get free damage that way.
Of the black guilds, Rakdos will want this the least, for the same reasons Boros may not be interested. There is just not the space in the curve to play two comes into play tapped lands and still hit this creature in a timely fashion.
Golgari, Dimir, and especially Orzhov will love this guy, first for the -2/-2 he hands out but also because controlling black decks don't often get a 2/4.
Due to sheer power level of the full cycle of these cards, I expect to see these all over sealed tournaments and draft pods. Just the fact that a strong cycle of common, 2/4 creatures should cause the format to slow considerably and put more emphasis on evasive threats.
