Future Sight did not have awesome fetches that could fuel the delve fire. This block has. So I would think that is why the delve cards are slightly more expensive second time around. Also cost reduction mechanics are SUPER risky and hard to do well so it is entirely reasonable for them to take the conservative approach.
I have to commend the designers of this block for even considering a cost reduction mechanic as the last time they tried that it led to a rather unpleasant legacy format that ended in a banning.
All Clans have morph, the only thing towards the RUG mechanic we have seen is a 4+ creatures matter, and we aren't even sure if that truly is the mechanic or support for it.
Ok, for all the people out there making comments on my thought saying that the Temur mechanic WASN'T 4+ matters, I am happy to say (though a little saddened) that it is the new mechanic! Having a word attached to it as well as tweaking it a little, making it focus on the ability and not the creature could be interesting. I am glad it isn't just a Naya 5+ clone, but at the same time, think it is kinda cool that a similar mechanic returns for RUG as I play a lot of mad science decks, and my creatures get kinda big sometimes.
Crackling Doom - 3 mana to deal 2 damage to a player and make them sacrifice their biggest creature at instant speed is a powerful play, the fact that it's worded for multiplayer/EDH is just gravy.
Narset - expensive for the stats but hexproof protects it well and that attack trigger is very abusive (flip In Garruk's Wake etc.).
Duneblast - A 7cc wrath where you can save 1 creature is pretty good, 7 is still a lot though.
Temur Ascendancy - a haste giving enchantment that also provides card draw (making it solid in multiples) is pretty powerful, Enchantments do suffer from a lot of splash damage thanks to Theros block though.
Mardu Skillhunter - if you can trigger it it's a better Ravenous Rats, has some nice potential.
Sultai Charm - BUG or Sultai is my favorite 3 colour combination in mtg and this charm is absolutely fantastic - Ultimate Price, Naturalize and Catalog. This is sure to see play in any Sultai deck.
Necropolis Fiend - if you can power your graveyard this can be pretty strong, the fact that the activated ability also requires the graveyard hurts though.
Herald of Anafenza - 1/2 for W with a good human soldier typing and which grows and pumps out 1/1 tokens for 3cc, I don't like outlast too much but this seems pushed enough to see play.
Dragonstyle Twins - 3/3 doublestrike for 5 is okay and prowess works nicely with the doublestrike ability but 5 mana without haste is just too slow.
given that we know that this block will not feature a 4CMC unconditional Wrath effect.
We actually don't know that. We assume that based on some pretty rational deductive reasoning, but it has not been confirmed.
Man, waking up to spoilers just makes my day.
Crackling Doom- seems ok, the damage tack on is pretty good, the fact that it doesn't target is awesome, and the restriction actually makes it a little bit better than the standard edict effect. Being 3 different colors means that the mana fixing needs to be pretty good for this to be a good spell in standard.
Narset, Enlightened Master- Pretty sure this CC is development slapping a big oh hell no on it. She seems very abusable and held in check only by her combat stats.
Duneblast- Because we don't already have enough 7+CC wraths~ Nothing to see here, move along.
Temur Ascendancy- Fervor variant with a pretty awesome upside. Aside from having an instant slot in my Maelstrom Wanderer EDH deck, this seems like it has some major potential. Even just with the cards we have now this seems like a fine precursor to polukranos, stormbreath, boon satyr, etc..
Sultai Charm- Wow! I love this card. Ultimate Price is expensive at 3 different colored mana, but also being a main deckable Naturalize that also happens to have Catalog as a cycle analog is pretty absurd.
Necropolis Fiend- I'm unsure on this one. I really want to like it as I remember [/card]Tombstalker[/card] fondly. Missing that extra point of power hurts, but it isn't too hard to imagine scenarios where you curve Elvish Mystic into Sylvan Caryatid into double enabler on 3 and this guy on 4 with 5 cards in the yard to fuel his second ability. On the other hand, I don't really want to have to run enablers for delve cards, I'd rather just have a couple that happen to be very good when I cast them later in the game at a discount, and maybe fuel them with things like Sultai Charm and Jace, the Living Guildpact. Looking forward with eager anticipation to see what delve goodies we might get ahold of, and with worry that they don't quite cost them aggressively enough.
Herald of Anafenza seems close to really good as well. Outlast being sorcery speed is pretty terrible, but pumping out a token to chump with while it grows might be valuable enough to spend 3 mana on every turn. I don't actually expect this will pan out, but isn't one that can just be forgotten moving into the new format either.
Speaking of Sarkhan... This guy's +1 is pretty full of win. If I'm casting StDs, I don't ever want to be spending 5 mana on Flame Slash. I want to be sailing over the red zone on my way to victory. As an aside, I absolutely love what the ultimate does for decks that contain but don't focus on burn against Ensnaring Bridge. Pretty sure this mode only very rarely gets used in standard though, there are very few ways to kill this guy (although I expect them all to see heavy play).
Finally the elephant in the room- Fetch lands. Stoked that they decided to bring the allied fetches to modern, sad that they put them in the wedge set where having enemy colors would have allowed each wedge access to 2 of them. Instead, we get 2x pain lands *sigh* There are of course a lot more lands to reveal, and maybe we get all 10 fetches(doubtful). All in all though, I, like most magic players, gave a hearty mental fist pump when I heard the news. I was really hoping to not need to crack packs of this set though. Ooops, so much for that pipe dream~
Duneblast seems to be aimed for an EDH deck where you just save your commander and wipe out everything else. I could also see it being a miserable card to play against in limited. If the format is slowed down enough, it could see some block play. As it is, Fated Retribution seems better as it kills PWs too.
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Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
Coming from an EDH perspective:
Outlast is slow and boring,
Delve could be explosively powerful,
Raid makes haste enablers feel sad,
Prowess could be good on a trampler for infinite combos,
Ferocious seems like value-town, really often you'll have a 4+ power.
In terms of Standard, I'm excited for all of these abilities! They each add a distinctive flavor (except Raid) that make the clan scary in its own way.
Is it just me or does Outlast seem bad? Like, really really bad. I have to tap the creature on my turn, so I can't use it to attack, I can't use it to block and I can't use it as a trick. Given we've only seen a few Outlast creatures so far, but as it is I don't see how it could possibly be good.
Now that we've seen a lot of outlast creatures, and Azban has really congregated into a solid force, I've gotta say that the flavour text on Duneblast really is more effective. When it was spoiled, we had like one outlast creature, and the general thought was 'Overcosted wrath... eh'- and I mean it's still overcosted- but it really does crap all over the Azban strategy. Sometimes that might be just what's needed to win, but at the same time... damn.
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I have to commend the designers of this block for even considering a cost reduction mechanic as the last time they tried that it led to a rather unpleasant legacy format that ended in a banning.
Ok, for all the people out there making comments on my thought saying that the Temur mechanic WASN'T 4+ matters, I am happy to say (though a little saddened) that it is the new mechanic! Having a word attached to it as well as tweaking it a little, making it focus on the ability and not the creature could be interesting. I am glad it isn't just a Naya 5+ clone, but at the same time, think it is kinda cool that a similar mechanic returns for RUG as I play a lot of mad science decks, and my creatures get kinda big sometimes.
Narset - expensive for the stats but hexproof protects it well and that attack trigger is very abusive (flip In Garruk's Wake etc.).
Duneblast - A 7cc wrath where you can save 1 creature is pretty good, 7 is still a lot though.
Temur Ascendancy - a haste giving enchantment that also provides card draw (making it solid in multiples) is pretty powerful, Enchantments do suffer from a lot of splash damage thanks to Theros block though.
Mardu Skillhunter - if you can trigger it it's a better Ravenous Rats, has some nice potential.
Sultai Charm - BUG or Sultai is my favorite 3 colour combination in mtg and this charm is absolutely fantastic - Ultimate Price, Naturalize and Catalog. This is sure to see play in any Sultai deck.
Necropolis Fiend - if you can power your graveyard this can be pretty strong, the fact that the activated ability also requires the graveyard hurts though.
Herald of Anafenza - 1/2 for W with a good human soldier typing and which grows and pumps out 1/1 tokens for 3cc, I don't like outlast too much but this seems pushed enough to see play.
Dragonstyle Twins - 3/3 doublestrike for 5 is okay and prowess works nicely with the doublestrike ability but 5 mana without haste is just too slow.
Machius proudly supports R_E's right to Rumour!
I'm so proud to have another mechanic in a set
UR Murktide
Pauper
RW Monarch
UW Caw-Gate
UBR Affinity
20BB
Sorcery
Target player loses 20 life
Delve
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
We actually don't know that. We assume that based on some pretty rational deductive reasoning, but it has not been confirmed.
Man, waking up to spoilers just makes my day.
Crackling Doom- seems ok, the damage tack on is pretty good, the fact that it doesn't target is awesome, and the restriction actually makes it a little bit better than the standard edict effect. Being 3 different colors means that the mana fixing needs to be pretty good for this to be a good spell in standard.
Narset, Enlightened Master- Pretty sure this CC is development slapping a big oh hell no on it. She seems very abusable and held in check only by her combat stats.
Duneblast- Because we don't already have enough 7+CC wraths~ Nothing to see here, move along.
Temur Ascendancy- Fervor variant with a pretty awesome upside. Aside from having an instant slot in my Maelstrom Wanderer EDH deck, this seems like it has some major potential. Even just with the cards we have now this seems like a fine precursor to polukranos, stormbreath, boon satyr, etc..
Mardu Skullhunter- could be ok, black aggro decks typically have a hole at the 2 slot, and with at least 8 different 1 drop black creatures in the format, this could usually just be a 2/1 Ravenous Rats for black aggro decks.
Sultai Charm- Wow! I love this card. Ultimate Price is expensive at 3 different colored mana, but also being a main deckable Naturalize that also happens to have Catalog as a cycle analog is pretty absurd.
Necropolis Fiend- I'm unsure on this one. I really want to like it as I remember [/card]Tombstalker[/card] fondly. Missing that extra point of power hurts, but it isn't too hard to imagine scenarios where you curve Elvish Mystic into Sylvan Caryatid into double enabler on 3 and this guy on 4 with 5 cards in the yard to fuel his second ability. On the other hand, I don't really want to have to run enablers for delve cards, I'd rather just have a couple that happen to be very good when I cast them later in the game at a discount, and maybe fuel them with things like Sultai Charm and Jace, the Living Guildpact. Looking forward with eager anticipation to see what delve goodies we might get ahold of, and with worry that they don't quite cost them aggressively enough.
Herald of Anafenza seems close to really good as well. Outlast being sorcery speed is pretty terrible, but pumping out a token to chump with while it grows might be valuable enough to spend 3 mana on every turn. I don't actually expect this will pan out, but isn't one that can just be forgotten moving into the new format either.
Dragon Style Twins is scary. Catch someone with their pants down and suddenly that Titanic Growth you've been holding represents 16 damage. I expect that if this sees play it is alongside Prophetic Flamespeaker and some pump spells. That said, most players won't be too interested in casting this guy in the same standard format that contains both Stormbreath Dragon, and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker.
Speaking of Sarkhan... This guy's +1 is pretty full of win. If I'm casting StDs, I don't ever want to be spending 5 mana on Flame Slash. I want to be sailing over the red zone on my way to victory. As an aside, I absolutely love what the ultimate does for decks that contain but don't focus on burn against Ensnaring Bridge. Pretty sure this mode only very rarely gets used in standard though, there are very few ways to kill this guy (although I expect them all to see heavy play).
Finally the elephant in the room- Fetch lands. Stoked that they decided to bring the allied fetches to modern, sad that they put them in the wedge set where having enemy colors would have allowed each wedge access to 2 of them. Instead, we get 2x pain lands *sigh* There are of course a lot more lands to reveal, and maybe we get all 10 fetches(doubtful). All in all though, I, like most magic players, gave a hearty mental fist pump when I heard the news. I was really hoping to not need to crack packs of this set though. Ooops, so much for that pipe dream~
Nyx Weaver is in JiN.
Just saying.
(I just realized why Mind Sculpt says "target OPPONENT"; Delve would be insane)
-Commander-
UBGMill, Sidisi, and Other ShenanigansGBU
WUBRGShingeki no TazriGRBUW
You might want to see somebody about that
States '09: 14th place. Aiming for better next year.
States '10: 12th place. Aiming for better next year.
Idaho State Champ: 2011
States '12: 5th place.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
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Ebay - decks/Promos/DVDs
Trade thread (constantly updated)
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Generator Servant.
Conley Woods' Generator Servant shenanigans just got a new toy.
ModernCharms.dec -- here I COME!
DANGIT, I could almost tapdance!
I've been waiting for this day ever since Esper Charm.
(INSTANT discard 2 cards. I mean. HOW can you not LOVE that?)
Outlast is slow and boring,
Delve could be explosively powerful,
Raid makes haste enablers feel sad,
Prowess could be good on a trampler for infinite combos,
Ferocious seems like value-town, really often you'll have a 4+ power.
In terms of Standard, I'm excited for all of these abilities! They each add a distinctive flavor (except Raid) that make the clan scary in its own way.
R Feldon of the Third Path EDH R
X Kozilek, the Great Distortion EDH X
B Sidisi Ad Nauseam Combo EDH B
WUR Geist Midrange WUR
Commander
W Nahiri's Celestial Foundry W
WB Orzhov Inquisition (Cleric Tribal) WB
WUBRG Progenitus's Prismatic Domain WUBRG
WURG Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Love You WURG
WUG Rafiq of the Many Auracrafting WUG
WRG Hazezon Tamar Overrun WRG
G Seton's Druid Ramp G