Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
This card is a simple combination of effects, a 3/3 token and a card-drawing spell that counts creatures you control with power 3 or greater, including the 3/3 token. It doesn't need to be more complex than that. Life gain, trample, whatever only eats up space other Aftermath cards could use. This card is a rare because in a deck built around 3-power creatures it can be a huge reward. Is it Standard competitive? Hard to say until we see the efficiency and volume of 3-power creatures in the format. Was it meant to be Standard competitive? Probably not. Not every rare is. Heck, most rares aren't. And they don't need to be.
This is a rare that gives you a #@$%ing Hippo token and potentially a lot of card draw. Let it be the elegantly simple creature it is.
Besides, aren't split cards usually overcosted for one mode or the other anyway? If you want to put... let's say put Kalonian Tusker as being a strong vanilla 3/3. That'd make this thing pretty normal. So really, it's about what you'd expect out of a split card at rare, I'd reckon.
It's quite simplistic but I can see why it's rare. Think of this card (which in several ways is worse than Mouth // Feed, though not strictly worse):
2G
Creature - Hippo
~ enters the battlefield with an aftermath counter on it. 3G, Remove an aftermath counter from ~: Draw a card for each creature you control with power 3 or greater.
3/3
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Gaymer
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
25 tokens/emblems according to the already revealed ones
Well, we have already five embalm creatures and six different tokens from various other cards (notably a 1/1 Cat with lifelink in both groups) and one emblem. None of these in red yet either.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Oh well, looks like this was made rare because of Limited, else this isn't particularly remarkable for Constructed, Call of the Herd always gives you 2 elephant tokens, no questions asked, this only gives you one Hippo token, and the other half requires you to have 2 creatures with 3 power or more in order to justify the 4-mana cost, in which case, congratulations, you're probably winning at this point. This would have been much better in a format with Birds of Paradise or similar G-costing mana dorks. Limited will love it however, the token half is right on curve and the drawing half can make the difference in a stalemate where the board is all gummed up by big creatures.
As a guy who likes Garruks Packleader I approve. This set is WAYYYY better than the cars nonsense.
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In case I didn't tell you, I don't care about your opinion I just want your facts. And not the facts that make you seem smart. I want the ones that are actual facts.
Those rare split cards are all awful so far. The aftermath side is win-more. (If you draw that many cards, it means you're already winning.) If you're losing, you will draw few or no cards off it. Baseline is 7 mana for a 3/3 + 1 card. Pretty much not an elvish visionary.
Armchair development aside, can we all appreciate that there's now a Magic: the Gathering card called
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Mouth
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Level 2 Judge
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
Armchair development aside, can we all appreciate that there's now a Magic: the Gathering card called
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Mouth
These split cards are definitely helping Wizards meet their "cards with simple but funny names" quota, along with a spell named Fight that starts a fight, and back from Dragon's Maze, the burn spell named Burn.
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Lapsed DCI Rules Advisor - Retired from playing but still hanging around
Call of the Herd is rare, (in it's reprintings) and this is splashier and more complex. It seems logical that it'd also be rare. In general people need to remember that just like flashback, these cards have inherent card advantage, and it looks like they've tried to avoid pushing mana costs as far up as flashback often does. (So it feels like two spells rather than one and gravy)
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
2G
Creature - Hippo
~ enters the battlefield with an aftermath counter on it.
3G, Remove an aftermath counter from ~: Draw a card for each creature you control with power 3 or greater.
3/3
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Well, we have already five embalm creatures and six different tokens from various other cards (notably a 1/1 Cat with lifelink in both groups) and one emblem. None of these in red yet either.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
As a guy who likes Garruks Packleader I approve. This set is WAYYYY better than the cars nonsense.
Cockatrice username: Blackcat77
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Mouth
Currently playing:
Standard: Superfriends!
Legacy: Nic Fit / Pod
Pauper: Delvar; Tron; Flicker Stuff
Commander: Riku ("Some weird doubple spell thing happened"); Keranos ("I did a Gatherer search for 'random' and 'flip a coin.'"); Superfriends!
These split cards are definitely helping Wizards meet their "cards with simple but funny names" quota, along with a spell named Fight that starts a fight, and back from Dragon's Maze, the burn spell named Burn.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)