| #GPAtlanta is this weekend, and it's time to crack some packs! With the Open Series on sabbatical this week, StarCityGames.com is running what is sure to be one of the best events of the year in Atlanta. Will it be another weekend of Siege Rhinos crashing into to Mantis Riders? Absolutely not, as #GPAtlanta will place Battle for Zendkiar Limited in the spotlight, challenging the skills of some of the best players in the world. Battle for Zendikar Limited is a complicated beast, with many new mechanics and different archetypes. Today, I am going to look at ten cards that may be easy to gloss over as you open your packs, whether to be build a sealed deck or draft. Cards like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Ruinous Path, and Rolling Thunder are obviously good and will draw you into playing a color, there are a number of powerful cards in the set that can easily be overlooked. #10 Grip of Desolation  "A six-mana removal spell with marginal upside? Yawn" … was my first thought, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Grip of Desolation is one of the best removal spells in the format. Battle for Zendikar is about making lands into creatures, playing huge Eldrazi, and taking advantage of exiled cards, and Grip of Desolation handles all of these things while also being an instant speed removal spell. It can kill the biggest creature and keep your opponent off of their converge colors or seventh mana for that Eldrazi or awaken cost. Grip of Desolation does it all, and should be respected as one of the top uncommons in the format. #9 Drowner of Hope  There are only two rares on this list, and while to the untrained eye they might just look like ten cents at the StarCityGames.com® dealer booth, they are bombs in Limited. Drowner of Hope dashes any hopes your opponent has of winning the game. The 5/5 body is plenty big enough, and the Opposition effect makes combat impossible for your opponent. Very often you will have some creatures in play, drop Drowner of Hope, tap your opponent's creatures in their attack step, and then win the game the following turn. Drowner of Hope completely turns any race in your favor, and is also very splashable. If you open a Drowner of Hope, do what you can to play it. #8 Sludge Crawler  Sludge Crawler may not look like much more than a cheap processer enabler, but it is much more. Sludge Crawler battles pretty hard for a one-drop, and remains relevant for the entire course of the game. The fact that it is a great enabler for both devoid decks and processers really puts it over the top as one of the more surprising good creatures in the format. Sludge Crawler may just look like filler, but it deserves more respect than that. #7 Guardian of Tazeem  Our other rare is also big, blue, and completely takes over a game. The landfall 'double effect for basic land' rare cycle is pretty underwhelming, but Guardian of Tazeem is the clear standout. A 4/5 flyer for five mana is already very good, and like Drowner of Hope, the landfall ability completely decimates your opponent's ability to do combat properly. An unanswered Guardian of Tazeem will take the game over in short order. Unfortunately, it is not splashable like Drowner of Hope, but considering blue is one of the best colors in the set, it shouldn't be hard to play if you are fortunate enough to open one. #6 Roil Spout  Speaking of great tempo cards, Roil Spout is much more than just a Time Ebb/Excommunicate — and that's coming from someone who loves the Time Ebb effect. Roil Spout is a great tempo tool if cast without awaken, and an amazing top end finisher when you pay the full amount. The tempo swing of adding a 4/4 to the board while removing your opponent's best creature while denying them a draw step is phenomenal. Like Grip of Desolation, Roil Spout is also fantastic because of its context in the format. Tempo plus flyers is already a great strategy, and Roil Spout works very well against expensive Eldrazi and awakened lands. #5 Drana's Emissary  While Drana's Emissary is clearly a fine card, I don't think it is fully appreciated for how good it actually is. Drana's Emissary is the best enabler for the lifegain decks and is also an Ally for Ally decks. Drana's Emissary is essentially a three-power flyer for three mana that also gains you some life, and flyers are fantastic in this format. Like Sludge Crawler, what makes Drana's Emissary so good is that it is a great card that is also a great enabler. #4 Vile Aggregate  Unlike some of the other enabler cards, Vile Aggregate is not as amazing on its own. However, once it has some friends it is simply a monster. Vile Aggregate is one of the biggest draws to a U/R or B/R devoid deck, as it smashes harder than almost any other card at its manacost. Trample pushes it over the top to make it one of the most desirable threats in the devoid deck, making it a big reason to move in on devoid. #3 Retreat to Emeria  The cycle of Retreats are pretty hard to evaluate, but the best one is definitely Retreat to Emeria. In an odd way, Retreat to Emeria reminds me of Elspeth, Sun's Champion. It's a very good control card that just keeps producing a board presence to help you grind your opponent out, and then it can turn the corner in the late game and win you the game in a few turns. That kind of power and versatility is fantastic in Limited, and while it asks you to play a certain type of longer game, the payoff is excellent. #2 Dampening Pulse  An amusing answer to Retreat to Emeria, Dampening Pulse is much more powerful than it looks. Like Cumber Stone before it, Dampening Pulse puts a huge weight onto your opponent's creatures, completely halting their offense. Dampening Pulse makes combat a nightmare for your opponent, and makes sure your creatures match up great against theirs. Dampening Pulse is a maindeck card in most matchups. #1 Tajuru Warcaller  Green is definitely the worst color in Battle for Zendikar Limited, and allies aren't really that impressive. So a five-mana, green 2/1 can't be that good, right? Wrong. Tajuru Warcaller is a brutal beating and, in the right deck, is an absolute bloodbath for your opponent. Tajuru Warcaller takes a little bit of deck building finesse to work, but is potentially a repeatable Overrun on a body — and that's awesome. Battle for Zendikar Limited is very deep, and we've only scratched the surface. May your Sealed pools be filled with bombs and your drafts filled with Expeditions! — Jim Davis, @JimDavisMTG | 
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