I'll be honest - Zendikar Rising doesn't seem particularly fantastic for my suite of decks. In fact the set feels a tad bland overall by itself.
Party is going to be pretty much an insufficiently-supported "tribe of four" that's mostly not going to work in the format (although I think they knew this when they designed it, it wasn't for the format to begin with). Even in Changelings, the payoffs feel pretty meh.
Landfall and Kicker are generally good mechanics, but once you take out the typical Limited chaff around them, there aren't too many significant standouts compared to the past. Granted, it's a natural decay of interest since these are all returning mechanics, but when both are slapped together with something like Party, the set does feel "lacking" in a way.
To be fair to both sides, my decks are streamlined over the years, so what catches my eyes will be few, what actually has a chance of making in is fewer and they're mostly going to be (Mythic) Rares. So without ado, my personal opinion on some cards in the set:
Eye-Catching but not (a priority) for me
Angel of Destiny - 2 power means it's
Alesha-applicable and it does have evasion. Ultimately though it feels like a
Master of Cruelties with many more hoops to jump through.
Attended Healer – If you have ways to gain life every turn, this card is actually pretty potent and a token a turn is very good value, be it as a blocker or sacrifice fodder. Not going out of the way to make that value myself, but there are definitely decks out there that this is at least worth an immediate try.
Felidar Retreat –
Field of the Fair I suppose (even if Field itself is manageable in the format). I might need to find wriggle space for this though, being generic good doesn't cut it too well in synergy if the only synergy is many land drops in
Horde lands.dec
Feed the Swarm – Not for me since I don't have a Mono-Black deck, but for them direct enchantment removal is direct enchantment removal. Even in multicolored it's pretty well-costed, just not optimal, but a respectable choice for new players who might not have access to many cards.
Cleansing Wildfire – Every deck should always run spot removal for problematic lands. Like the Feed the Swam, this is a respectable choice for newer players. Even for older players, it's a pretty acceptable choice considering there are fewer efficient choices, but for those with access I'd personally still prefer one tacked with other utility that isn't just replacing itself because problematic lands don't always show up either.
Ashaya, Soul of the Wild – I do run
Planar Outburst in
Horde and this does protect against other nonland wipes, but at the same time I have reservations of otherwise playing a beatstick that is situational. I don't really gain a lot turning creatures into dorks because Horde's creatures are on the bulkier side and this sort of encroaches of the already tight bulky space.
Omnath, Locus of Creation – I want to like 4C Omnath, but he feels even less impactful than 3C
Omnath (although in fairness I do run Horde with some Elementals as well)… and I didn't play 3C but stuck with 2C
Omnath because that was the big explosive Omnath that reviving with 5 mana was more value/fun (also because I never found a 3C Omnath yet, I actually oughta try that one).
Phylath, World Sculptor – Bootleg
Avenger of Zendikar is bootleg. Checking only basics pretty much cripples it for Horde or Animar to even consider.
Verazol, the Split Current – Legendary serpent always catches my attention, but with no kicker in Animar, it's just a beatstick. I love its design though, but not enough to divert my currents around it (
Yorion already met my Serpent wants with minimal disruption).
Myriad Construct – Honorable mention because if I shoved Verazol this naturally goes into Animar for wackiness (0 mana for 2 extra-large beatsticks that split into a wide-field), but two cards that result in only beatsticks don't make the cut no more nowadays, but it was fun thinking about it.
Lithoform Engine – Fun on paper, flexible in theory, but I doubt really functional in practice for me because it does demand resources.
Pathways – I run fetch-shock-check-filters for all my 3C decks (and Horde has its own requirements), so these are unfortunately already optimized out for me (yes, they're "better" than check-filters if I screw, but generally way more rigid later on). In 2C though, its rigidness later-game matters way less though, so I'll get a couple for my 2C decks only. All being said though it's a pretty swell choice for newer players (even in 3C) because it does teach the value of untapped dual lands, even if its flexibity as a dual is sorta half-baked.
Likely going to get one
Skyclave Apparition – It's fantastic removal recurrable by Alesha. Creatures are easy to remove, other card types less so and this takes care of it. Likely going swap out
Duplicant for this, especially when it's much easier to just cast by itself.
Thieving Skydiver – I think this one's obvious, the great mana rocks are have low costs. In
Animar since cost reduction affects kicker, this can also potentially steal the big artifacts as well for 1 mana later in the game. Fantastic any stage of the game in the deck, I'd say.
Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire – I'm tempted to risk turning one of my swamps into a CIPT land in
Grimgrin so that I have a bonus flexible card that can re-trigger
Grave Titan and reset a clone-copy since that deck easily sacrifices-on-demand. It's not worth a non-land slot due to its situational status, but risking a swamp CIPT instead might be worth it.
Leyline Tyrant – I run
both Nehebs (and
Treasonous Ogre) in
Ryusei and this is mighty tempting. Being a typical flying dragon keeps it protected from the Commander and even without combos, it allows to float any red mana, so it's useful for stockpiling for bigger/X-spells even on its own. I also do feel that it's not going to perform as spectacularly as I would like it to because it's visible and vulnerable, but it does at least cover for itself if it dies, so I guess it's the borderline where I'm willing to give it a try.
Nahiri's Lithoforming – It carries the risk of not replenishing lands (which I must sacrifice all of if X is larger than the total number of lands I have) for the big plays, but if I can also run this at smaller amounts while I already have lands in hand for a self-wheel of sorts. Like Tyrant, this gets a trial run over
Commune with Lava because they sort of occupy the same space of risk-draw although their risks are different.
Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge – I don't even need the land half, this is custom wheeling/sculpting less risky than Lithoforming (at the cost of no exploding potential). Unlike Malakir Rebirth, this by itself is worthy of a non-land slot (I do want my Mountains for Valakut anyway).
Valakut Exploration – Remember when
Outpost Siege was pretty much one of the few "draw" engine choices we had? This demands timely land-drops to function (and has potential to explode in some decks, not mine) but in return it has the courtesy to send unplayed cards to the graveyard with a serving of damage and for 1 mana cheaper to boot. Like Lithoforming, it carries a different type of risk (do-nothing when mana screwed) compared to Outpost, but worth a trial try. Man, all these red cards are all risk trial runs replacing other cards that have their own risks (although I might run both in this case, because draw engines are better than single-cast draws).
Ancient Greenwarden – Time to wave goodbye to
Muldrotha in Horde I guess. I never really got the chance to utilize Muldrotha's full potential, because I mainly put it as a bulkier
Ramunap Excavator that the Commander can bring back rather than a combo engine of any kind. This provides a better bonus for landfall triggers, even if it's mostly
Angry Omnath for me, it's still a passive bonus.
Nissa of Shadowed Boughs – Horde is lands.dec, this has potential to enable me to drop one my bulkier creatures (Omnath) in a burst without having to pay mana. Even without burst potential, Nissa can still untap 1 land, so it's a weaker
Garruk, although her land-animation is a tier lower than her
other versions I run when it comes to protecting her from combat due to EOT, but the burst potential makes up for it.
Forsaken Monument – I need this in creature card-less
Freyalise, buffs Eldrazi Spawns/Scions, Myr and Spirit tokens and goes infinite with
Basalt Monolith so that
Helix Pinnacle can actually become threatening. Bonus points because the deck also runs
Eldrazi Monument (so tokens could block and defend my otherwise frail deck/commander).