As others have stated: The value for playing this guy face down is that you can bait your opponent into making a decision that would result in you drawing a bunch of cards that he would not necessarily make if Haruspex was face up.
Some example situations:
Your opponent has a Bile Blight and a Drown in Sorrow in hand. You have a morph and a bunch of other little dudes. Your opponent likely untaps and Drowns in Sorrow, which you can respond to by unmorphing this guy to draw a bunch of cards. Had you laid him face up, your opponent would have likely Bile Blighted him endphase, then untapped and Drowned.
You swing with a bunch of creatures. Your opponent makes blocks to trade with those creatures, or to kill them. You flip him up and draw a bunch of cards. If he was face up, your opponent would likely have let some more of those guys through.
Your opponent swings a bunch of guys at you when you are able to chump block and/or trade with those creatures. You flip him up and draw a bunch of cards. If he was face up, your opponent would have likely held some or all of his creatures back to avoid the 2-for-1's.
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The morph lets you hide the card's identity to protect it from removal (as this would otherwise be the #1 target), letting you keep it as a 2/2 for the same cost until you are ready to actually use the ability. Flipping this before one of your creatures dies is a much bigger impact than flipping a ripper would be.
Yeah, I know that... But as I said (and you all seem to ignore), I was talking about standard. In an aggro deck (which is where I supose this creature should be played), if you spend 3 mana to play a vanilla bear you are doing it wrong, so you won't be playing many morphs; and if this is the only one you play, you are not going to surprise a lot of people (he's going to be the #1 target morphed or not), so you'll usually play him faced up. And as I also said, limited is another thing because you'll be playing lots of morphs.
Of course I can be wrong and this creature might end up being played in other decks than aggro, or several other aggro creatures with morph are revealed, but that's what I think.
While it is true that it is very likely that an aggro deck with this wouldn't have any other morphs (meaning the opponent might assume that any morph creature is this), if you are playing another morph card then you can get them to waste removal on a weaker card. However, it is true that in aggro this is likely the only morph card you would want to play, so you would usually want to just play it face-up.
This isn't just an aggro card though. Drawing a card when your creatures get killed is also fantastic in a midrange deck, where it can force the opponent to use unconditional removal (like downfall) on your 3-drop instead of using it on your 5- or 6-drop (or trade 1-for-2 for your creatures, usually even worse due to those creatures abilities). While the morph would be more helpful if it was in Temur colors (which have a lot of midrange creatures with morph), Haruspex's easy casting cost enables it to fit into a variety of midrange decks, where morph creates more of a mystery.
Yeah, Charging Badger was just a 1/1 trampler for G, but was in a set full of creature auras. So the Badger having trample makes perfect sense in that environment. Just like the morph on this guy makes perfect sense in this set's environment.
Also, there are more formats than just Standard, and different tiers within Standard. I guarantee that some folks will run this guy along other morph creatures at an FNM (or at the kitchen table or in an EDH deck, like I plan to do with Vela). So just because you play competitive Standard and view this card through that lens, it doesn't mean that the morph ability on this card is irrelevant. Far from it. The morph ability is what makes this card stand out so much.
Yeah, Charging Badger was just a 1/1 trampler for G, but was in a set full of creature auras. So the Badger having trample makes perfect sense in that environment. Just like the morph on this guy makes perfect sense in this set's environment.
Also, there are more formats than just Standard, and different tiers within Standard. I guarantee that some folks will run this guy along other morph creatures at an FNM (or at the kitchen table or in an EDH deck, like I plan to do with Vela). So just because you play competitive Standard and view this card through that lens, it doesn't mean that the morph ability on this card is irrelevant. Far from it. The morph ability is what makes this card stand out so much.
This guy is in a set with some cards that gives bonus for playing morph too...
Sweet sweet card. I'm going to be using it primarily for EDH and Cube and I don't see that morph ability being all that relevant in those cases. Having him as Wrath insurance or a means of continual card draw with a Gravecrawler loop or something is just so sweet. Awesome card with awesome art.
Yeah, Charging Badger was just a 1/1 trampler for G, but was in a set full of creature auras. So the Badger having trample makes perfect sense in that environment. Just like the morph on this guy makes perfect sense in this set's environment.
Also, there are more formats than just Standard, and different tiers within Standard. I guarantee that some folks will run this guy along other morph creatures at an FNM (or at the kitchen table or in an EDH deck, like I plan to do with Vela). So just because you play competitive Standard and view this card through that lens, it doesn't mean that the morph ability on this card is irrelevant. Far from it. The morph ability is what makes this card stand out so much.
Haha. I fulfilled my own prophecy (cheat much?) by brewing a janky BUG Trail of Mystery/Secret Plans/Morph deck for Game Day. I'm running three of this guy.
I would like to point out how the morph is relevant for constructed. If they know he is there, they will just kill him instead of any other creature. If you have this guy sitting on the field they aren't going to keep throwing downfalls and lightning strikes at your other dudes.
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I would like to point out how the morph is relevant for constructed. If they know he is there, they will just kill him instead of any other creature. If you have this guy sitting on the field they aren't going to keep throwing downfalls and lightning strikes at your other dudes.
Except, y'now...when the only two playable mono-black morph cards are the barely-passable 1/1 deathtouch girl and this guy they won't have much guessing to do
But your opponent probably wouldn't board wipe if he was face up! Or they would kill him separately first! That's the point.
Some example situations:
Your opponent has a Bile Blight and a Drown in Sorrow in hand. You have a morph and a bunch of other little dudes. Your opponent likely untaps and Drowns in Sorrow, which you can respond to by unmorphing this guy to draw a bunch of cards. Had you laid him face up, your opponent would have likely Bile Blighted him endphase, then untapped and Drowned.
You swing with a bunch of creatures. Your opponent makes blocks to trade with those creatures, or to kill them. You flip him up and draw a bunch of cards. If he was face up, your opponent would likely have let some more of those guys through.
Your opponent swings a bunch of guys at you when you are able to chump block and/or trade with those creatures. You flip him up and draw a bunch of cards. If he was face up, your opponent would have likely held some or all of his creatures back to avoid the 2-for-1's.
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While it is true that it is very likely that an aggro deck with this wouldn't have any other morphs (meaning the opponent might assume that any morph creature is this), if you are playing another morph card then you can get them to waste removal on a weaker card. However, it is true that in aggro this is likely the only morph card you would want to play, so you would usually want to just play it face-up.
This isn't just an aggro card though. Drawing a card when your creatures get killed is also fantastic in a midrange deck, where it can force the opponent to use unconditional removal (like downfall) on your 3-drop instead of using it on your 5- or 6-drop (or trade 1-for-2 for your creatures, usually even worse due to those creatures abilities). While the morph would be more helpful if it was in Temur colors (which have a lot of midrange creatures with morph), Haruspex's easy casting cost enables it to fit into a variety of midrange decks, where morph creates more of a mystery.
Playtesting | Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Narset, Enlightened Master | Ephara, God of the Polis
Established | Gahiji, Honored One | Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker | Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo | Rubinia Soulsinger
Retired | Medomai the Ageless | Diaochan, Artful Beauty
Also, there are more formats than just Standard, and different tiers within Standard. I guarantee that some folks will run this guy along other morph creatures at an FNM (or at the kitchen table or in an EDH deck, like I plan to do with Vela). So just because you play competitive Standard and view this card through that lens, it doesn't mean that the morph ability on this card is irrelevant. Far from it. The morph ability is what makes this card stand out so much.
This guy is in a set with some cards that gives bonus for playing morph too...
Haha. I fulfilled my own prophecy (cheat much?) by brewing a janky BUG Trail of Mystery/Secret Plans/Morph deck for Game Day. I'm running three of this guy.
Credit goes to Brofoux for the Sig pic.
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http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11006564#post11006564
Except, y'now...when the only two playable mono-black morph cards are the barely-passable 1/1 deathtouch girl and this guy they won't have much guessing to do