Unfortunately, he's a creature. Funny enough, if he was a enchantment he'd actually be better.
Very good point ^^. As an enchantment, it would be much harder to be removed.
It's so sad that he's printed in a block that has 1,000,000 quality creature removal floating around.
Xyl's translation of the third card has no mistake as i can see.
Quote from Xyl »
Choose a target player and another target player. The first player draws cards equal to the number of creatures he or she controls, then the second player draws cards equal to the number of creatures he or she controls.
It's so sad that he's printed in a block that has 1,000,000 quality creature removal floating around.
Xyl's translation of the third card has no mistake as i can see.
However now the removel costs more and the counters less.
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"No, I specifically heard denim. Looks like so crafty ghost is trying to break our code" -Bravo 3 "I know nothing of the law, only vengence" -Dom, U/G madness
Don't forget that UW is the color of both disrupting and shining shoal. Once there are some UW multicolored goodies to throw around, the viability of these two spells will increase in UW control, and could make a turn 4 arbiter with 'free' protection of some kind available. Also, if they print enough decent UW multi cards, untapping with this in play could very well end the game on the spot.
Sadly, any 'target attacking creature' removal spell is subpar at best. This is the best version in a long, long time, but it won't help WW. It will help combo and control, however.
The senator...yikes. Nice!
The giant Simic spell of doom is not at all that interesting to me. It's very disappointing. I had such high hopes for Simic; having weird-ass creatures that get weird-ass creature abilities and then having their marquee spell be so much worse than any of the rare creature guildmana cards like gleancrawler? Bummer, that. Yeah, one could draw a ton of cards, possibly - but if you're spending 7 mana, you shouldn't have to have a very conditional symmetric effect.
Arbiter makes me happy. I actually thought he'd be something like that, because I really couldn't think of anything else that would mechanically fit both white and blue. This fits, expecially since your opponent has to pay more.
"Condemn" is neat, sweet, and all around a good card. I can definately imagine saying, "Damage on the stack, put my guy on the bottom and your blocker dies. I gain life." I like Reciprocate as well, since it's a pinch hitter for many little nuisances, like Burning-Tree Shaman, Rumbling Slum, and then of course Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. However, New Swords is better in general than Reciprocate, although shuffle effects are still going strong.
With Augustin in play, anything both white and blue looks delicious so long as it costs 2WU or more and is worth the cost. It's nice to be able to lay down threats and still have mana open for cheaper answers.
I'll hold off on saying anything on the Simic guildmana card for now.
Turn 6? What are you smoking? You now have 1CC UNENCUMBERED ATTACKER REMOVAL. Against aggro, play it turn 5 at MOST. 1CC Mana Leak, Remand, Otherworldly Journey.
And once you untap, you win. Because MANA MANAGEMENT, the big problem with control decks, now is trivial.
And I LIKE CAPS! (sorry :D)
And hmm, so you cast it turn 5 (otherworldly journy in UWcontrl???), i cast last gasp at eot, you counter. My turn, i can cast whatever i want free of charge, or i can kill augustus. Your choice. Bro.
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Logical Reasoning is dead; Long Live Stupidity
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I love Joboman, Poggy, Niv, and Vezok, because, while they may not be the best players, they still try to win. Having fun is the most important thing to a game, but I've learned that if you don't try to win, then you're ruining everyone else's fun.
I misread the white instant at first and didn't see "attacking", which would make this almost 100% as good as stp. it's still very good and I won't be at all surprised if it gets played constantly till rav block rotates out. at which point I wouldn't be surprised to see it in 10th edition.
swords is still cooler though. I mean, they take up farming. the creature has just seen too much violence and becomes a pacifist, but it stays loyal to its controller and gives them crops which the mage eats to get healed. and of course stronger creatures are better farmers. STP should be reprinted based entirely on flavour
I hope the split U/G card is worded like it is in the spoiler. it might as well say "start drawing cards. I'll tell you when to stop." it's card drawing for mono green, which should have no trouble hitting 7 mana.
augustus is cool too, as long as you have the backup to keep him safe from removal. he's a bit hard to kill in that their putrefy now costs 4, but the fact that you probably want 1 blue open for a mana leak pushes him into a 5th turn play, which makes me sad.
I feel like not enough people here are noting the fact that Swords was out of flavor for white. It's too aggressive, as White prefers to react defensively. This, flavorwise, is the way Swords should have worked. Depending on the format, RFG and put on the bottom of your library are interchangeable, but considering how powerful Swords is, I feel the card is extremely well balanced.
The simic card has potential only, and that potential simply comes because of the card advantage and possibilities with a card like Shoal.
'Blame/Denouncement/Censure' W
Instant Uncommon
Put target attacking creature on the bottom of it's owner's library. That creature's controller gains life equal its toughness.
Daren Bader
8/180
Another good try, but still not exactly a replacement for Swords. I would rate it as better than Reciprocate, but not as good as Devouring Light.
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 2WU
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor Rare
White spells you play cost 1 less.
Blue spells you play cost 1 less.
Spells your opponents play cost 1 more.
2/3
Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
112/180
Now this guy is interesting. And by interesting I mean extremely annoying. I'm already cringing at the thought of playing against the Augustin/Spelltithe Enforcer/Loxodon Gatekeeper decks that are going to be everywhere once Dissension is released.
Biomantic Mastery 4 G/U G/U G/U
Sorcery Rare
Choose target player and then a different target player. The first player draws cards equal to the number of creatures he or she controls, then the other player draws cards equal to the number of creatures he or she controls.
Dan Scott
142/180
This card is clearly designed for Two-Headed Giant and or large multiplayer games. Blue has millions of better options for card drawing, and a green deck designed for duels would be better off using Collective Unconscious.
And hmm, so you cast it turn 5 (otherworldly journy in UWcontrl???), i cast last gasp at eot, you counter. My turn, i can cast whatever i want free of charge, or i can kill augustus. Your choice. Bro.
1. By "free of charge" you of course mean "for one more mana, but without fear of counters".
2. If you do throw out a Last Gasp (you have three mana open on turn ~five? haven't been doing much, have you?) and it gets countered, congrats, you can play a threat. Or, you can spend 3-4 mana AND another card killing Augustin. The tempo advantage and the 2-for-1 there is well worth it.
However, what makes Augustin really hard to play in control is his being a creature. Like the Guildmage before him, he really discourages Wrath of God and the like. I mean, he's amazing in a vacuum, but try to put him in a deck and things get trickier.
However, let's note that we've yet to really see what Azorius offers a slower control build, so Augustin's current lack of deck (which is pretty much indisputable), this might change.
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"I am so stupid that I cannot understand philosophy; the antithesis of this is that philosophy is so clever that it cannot comprehend my stupidity. These antitheses are mediated in a higher unity; in our common stupidity."
~ Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
Well, the psuedo-stp will certainly be good for alot of decks, maybe not all... It is very much dead against Heartbeat but pretty good against everything else currently seeing play...
I'm still on the fence about Augustin tho... seems like a wait and see sort of thing to me... for now I wouldn't call it an auto-include in any uw control deck, since you'd definitely have to do some degree of building around him, or at least build with him in mind. In any case, there's a lot more to the situation than what the guy does on a base level... for example having him out suddenly makes you care about spot removal far sooner than you would otherwise, which has all sorts of effects that I feel no necessity to elaborate on, the whole wrath your own guy thing, etc. (I'm mostly referring to the traditional form of u/w control here; felt this needed mentioning since I'm starting to envision the possibilty of a u/w deck that uses creatures to control the game; makes sense that wotc might want to avoid having the 'same old' u/w control around in tourneys)
U/G rare seems unplayable in tournament play, barring some sort of wierd combo.
Hello. I live in Hiroshima, Japan. The Simic card translates like this:
Choose target player and another target player. Draw cards equal to the number of creatures controlled by the first target player, then, draw cards equal to the number of creatures controlled by the second target player.
The cards are commented on by Masashi Oiso. Here are his comments:
Oiso's First Impressions:
"Biomantic Mastery"
In Limited games it's no exageration to say that the player who draws the most cards only has to attack to win. In a one-on-one duel "Biomantic Mastery" basically reads, "draw cards equal to the number of creatures in play", which would be at least 5-6 cards, I would imagine. This may be a problem for your opponent!
And because it's a hybrid card, it will be easy to cast in most situations.
I think the white card may be called "Condemn". It has one hit in the Orb.
Oiso's First Impressions:
"Condemn" (?)
Not only is this card strong against one-drops and fast, aggressive decks, it can also be used to safely get rid of the Dragons from Kamigawa block. It has a small draw-back, but your opponent gaining a little life probably won't be much of a problem. Don't overlook the fact that you can also use this card to gain life from your own creatures, as well as other combat tricks.
Like Wrath of God, this card will be indespensable in any white control deck.
Personally, I think "Condemn" is pretty good. Kird Apes have been running wild lately, and this card prevents second turn Scab-Clan Mauler, which is one of the few openings that can overrun a control deck. And versus Gruul/Zoo, with no shuffle or tutor effects, bottom of the library is basically the same as removed from the game.
And hmm, so you cast it turn 5 (otherworldly journy in UWcontrl???), i cast last gasp at eot, you counter. My turn, i can cast whatever i want free of charge, or i can kill augustus. Your choice. Bro.
Using this theory, Meloku' as useless as this guy or anything else.
Oh well, a last gasp cant kill meloku. How about a mortify?
You drop your meloku at whatever, let's say the turn 8. Your oppo mortify it. You hinder the mortify.
Your oppo's turn, s/he can cast whatever s/he want free of charge, or s/he can kill meloku. Why do you use meloku? it sucks..eh, Your choice. Bro.
How is nobody realizing that Augustin is bat**** crazy? In a control deck filled with bounce you could tap out to drop this bad boy on turn 4 (or 3 thanks to a signet) and just use the new StP or bounce or whatever to get a lock on the board. Also note the sickening synergy of this with Aethermage's Touch - drop augustine from your library, Ghostway for 1W (or personally I'd go for Otherworldly Journey for W, making augustine a permanent 3/4 for 4 in U/W)... I mean, there is no freakin way that this guy isn't going to get played in constructed. I'm praying RIGHT NOW that there are lots of UW cards that cost >=4 because this guy is simply sick in a freaking tempo or control deck.
Note: anybody actually know how augustin would interact with Evermind? I mean, my guess is if you announce, let's say, Cleanfall, splicing Evermind that the cost for cleanfall would be 1W and 1U to splice, but that's just an educated guess.
Why the hell is it that Azorius is seeming so... iuno, weenie punishment or something? I mean, we have a 2/2 pro enchantment flyer for 3, a 2/3 UW Nightscape Familiar with a one sided Suppression Field-esque card, a 4/3 flyer for 3UW with forecast and CiP Vitalize, a goofy-ass Morphling mimic'er... seriously, wtf is going on? Not to mention a really weird one-time better-than-Killer Instinct spell and now this new StP variant... wtf is going on?
fourth turn Augustin, next turn Sakashima the imposter copying Augustin.
Now your opponant would love that
Yes, that's pretty good, but that's more slots to Sakashima, and the more slots we dedicate to supporting creatures, the less and less powerful Wrath of God becomes. :\
Although, you might not need it so much with that configuration.
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"I am so stupid that I cannot understand philosophy; the antithesis of this is that philosophy is so clever that it cannot comprehend my stupidity. These antitheses are mediated in a higher unity; in our common stupidity."
~ Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
Well, the white removal seems especially good against Zoo/Heezy Street. Kamigawa dragons just got worried too. W/x control's happy =)
Augustin is something I just want to abuse, but I doubt it really can be done. Control may have no time to install him, and UW aggro is, well, non-existent.
The Mastery... just casual stuff. I'd rather use Biorhythm =))
I think a comparison should be made between an Agustin-based control deck and a normal MUC deck sporting Meloku, Jushi, etc...
Obviously, normal MUC would win in the "mirror," and still dominate aggro. Why play a worse version of an already good deck?
Note: anybody actually know how augustin would interact with Evermind? I mean, my guess is if you announce, let's say, Cleanfall, splicing Evermind that the cost for cleanfall would be 1W and 1U to splice, but that's just an educated guess.
Add all the costs up and subtract by 1. Evermind makes it blue, and only blue. Cleanfall splicing Evermind would thus cost 2WU.
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Always accepting ideas for a new title! PM me with your ideas.
Very good point ^^. As an enchantment, it would be much harder to be removed.
It's so sad that he's printed in a block that has 1,000,000 quality creature removal floating around.
Xyl's translation of the third card has no mistake as i can see.
♪~~~♫~~~~
(\ /)
(♥.♥)
(> <)
Music, Love, Magic and Bunny.
Life is so beautiful...
However now the removel costs more and the counters less.
"I know nothing of the law, only vengence" -Dom, U/G madness
2WUU
instant
Choose one:
Counter target spell - or - Target player may not cast spells or declare an attack this turn.
That for WUU is pretty crazy... The Arbiter will be an enabler of more expensive (and powerful) control cards.
I'd love input and advice!
The senator...yikes. Nice!
The giant Simic spell of doom is not at all that interesting to me. It's very disappointing. I had such high hopes for Simic; having weird-ass creatures that get weird-ass creature abilities and then having their marquee spell be so much worse than any of the rare creature guildmana cards like gleancrawler? Bummer, that. Yeah, one could draw a ton of cards, possibly - but if you're spending 7 mana, you shouldn't have to have a very conditional symmetric effect.
But ooh, it's great in multiplayer! Whatever.
Well, not necessarily. I just had to use the pun.
Arbiter makes me happy. I actually thought he'd be something like that, because I really couldn't think of anything else that would mechanically fit both white and blue. This fits, expecially since your opponent has to pay more.
"Condemn" is neat, sweet, and all around a good card. I can definately imagine saying, "Damage on the stack, put my guy on the bottom and your blocker dies. I gain life." I like Reciprocate as well, since it's a pinch hitter for many little nuisances, like Burning-Tree Shaman, Rumbling Slum, and then of course Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind. However, New Swords is better in general than Reciprocate, although shuffle effects are still going strong.
With Augustin in play, anything both white and blue looks delicious so long as it costs 2WU or more and is worth the cost. It's nice to be able to lay down threats and still have mana open for cheaper answers.
I'll hold off on saying anything on the Simic guildmana card for now.
-Pharmalade.
Banner by Topher!
And hmm, so you cast it turn 5 (otherworldly journy in UWcontrl???), i cast last gasp at eot, you counter. My turn, i can cast whatever i want free of charge, or i can kill augustus. Your choice. Bro.
Logical Reasoning is dead; Long Live Stupidity
On your first turn after he comes out, you can Telling Time + Compulsive Research and still have mana open for double Mana Leak/Remand.
Augustin makes me cry
The white semi-removal is kind of nice but the U/G hybrid sucks bad
- Mega Man
swords is still cooler though. I mean, they take up farming. the creature has just seen too much violence and becomes a pacifist, but it stays loyal to its controller and gives them crops which the mage eats to get healed. and of course stronger creatures are better farmers. STP should be reprinted based entirely on flavour
I hope the split U/G card is worded like it is in the spoiler. it might as well say "start drawing cards. I'll tell you when to stop." it's card drawing for mono green, which should have no trouble hitting 7 mana.
augustus is cool too, as long as you have the backup to keep him safe from removal. he's a bit hard to kill in that their putrefy now costs 4, but the fact that you probably want 1 blue open for a mana leak pushes him into a 5th turn play, which makes me sad.
The simic card has potential only, and that potential simply comes because of the card advantage and possibilities with a card like Shoal.
Former R&D Development Team W leader
For your information, it's pronounced Argh + was.
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Another good try, but still not exactly a replacement for Swords. I would rate it as better than Reciprocate, but not as good as Devouring Light.
Now this guy is interesting. And by interesting I mean extremely annoying. I'm already cringing at the thought of playing against the Augustin/Spelltithe Enforcer/Loxodon Gatekeeper decks that are going to be everywhere once Dissension is released.
This card is clearly designed for Two-Headed Giant and or large multiplayer games. Blue has millions of better options for card drawing, and a green deck designed for duels would be better off using Collective Unconscious.
1. By "free of charge" you of course mean "for one more mana, but without fear of counters".
2. If you do throw out a Last Gasp (you have three mana open on turn ~five? haven't been doing much, have you?) and it gets countered, congrats, you can play a threat. Or, you can spend 3-4 mana AND another card killing Augustin. The tempo advantage and the 2-for-1 there is well worth it.
However, what makes Augustin really hard to play in control is his being a creature. Like the Guildmage before him, he really discourages Wrath of God and the like. I mean, he's amazing in a vacuum, but try to put him in a deck and things get trickier.
However, let's note that we've yet to really see what Azorius offers a slower control build, so Augustin's current lack of deck (which is pretty much indisputable), this might change.
~ Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
I'm still on the fence about Augustin tho... seems like a wait and see sort of thing to me... for now I wouldn't call it an auto-include in any uw control deck, since you'd definitely have to do some degree of building around him, or at least build with him in mind. In any case, there's a lot more to the situation than what the guy does on a base level... for example having him out suddenly makes you care about spot removal far sooner than you would otherwise, which has all sorts of effects that I feel no necessity to elaborate on, the whole wrath your own guy thing, etc. (I'm mostly referring to the traditional form of u/w control here; felt this needed mentioning since I'm starting to envision the possibilty of a u/w deck that uses creatures to control the game; makes sense that wotc might want to avoid having the 'same old' u/w control around in tourneys)
U/G rare seems unplayable in tournament play, barring some sort of wierd combo.
Choose target player and another target player. Draw cards equal to the number of creatures controlled by the first target player, then, draw cards equal to the number of creatures controlled by the second target player.
The cards are commented on by Masashi Oiso. Here are his comments:
I think the white card may be called "Condemn". It has one hit in the Orb.
Personally, I think "Condemn" is pretty good. Kird Apes have been running wild lately, and this card prevents second turn Scab-Clan Mauler, which is one of the few openings that can overrun a control deck. And versus Gruul/Zoo, with no shuffle or tutor effects, bottom of the library is basically the same as removed from the game.
Using this theory, Meloku' as useless as this guy or anything else.
Oh well, a last gasp cant kill meloku. How about a mortify?
You drop your meloku at whatever, let's say the turn 8. Your oppo mortify it. You hinder the mortify.
Your oppo's turn, s/he can cast whatever s/he want free of charge, or s/he can kill meloku. Why do you use meloku? it sucks..eh, Your choice. Bro.
♪~~~♫~~~~
(\ /)
(♥.♥)
(> <)
Music, Love, Magic and Bunny.
Life is so beautiful...
WOW lol... but no, unless you find some other legend that's broken with a clone.
Note: anybody actually know how augustin would interact with Evermind? I mean, my guess is if you announce, let's say, Cleanfall, splicing Evermind that the cost for cleanfall would be 1W and 1U to splice, but that's just an educated guess.
Why the hell is it that Azorius is seeming so... iuno, weenie punishment or something? I mean, we have a 2/2 pro enchantment flyer for 3, a 2/3 UW Nightscape Familiar with a one sided Suppression Field-esque card, a 4/3 flyer for 3UW with forecast and CiP Vitalize, a goofy-ass Morphling mimic'er... seriously, wtf is going on? Not to mention a really weird one-time better-than-Killer Instinct spell and now this new StP variant... wtf is going on?
Biomantic Mastery: Soon to be banned in 2HG?
Yes, that's pretty good, but that's more slots to Sakashima, and the more slots we dedicate to supporting creatures, the less and less powerful Wrath of God becomes. :\
Although, you might not need it so much with that configuration.
~ Søren Aabye Kierkegaard
Augustin is something I just want to abuse, but I doubt it really can be done. Control may have no time to install him, and UW aggro is, well, non-existent.
The Mastery... just casual stuff. I'd rather use Biorhythm =))
Many thanks to Epic Graphics for the great sig!
Obviously, normal MUC would win in the "mirror," and still dominate aggro. Why play a worse version of an already good deck?
At best, GAA.dec will be a metagame deck.
Feel free to argue differently.
Add all the costs up and subtract by 1. Evermind makes it blue, and only blue. Cleanfall splicing Evermind would thus cost 2WU.
If so... that's freakin' awesome!
Y mi cabeza caiga
Cuando mi sangre corra
Cuando a tu memoria llegue
Y domine en la penumbra
O el caos termine..."
—Sigma/Lambda