If you squint real hard and **** your head a bit to the left you can almost see a spot for it in Toshiro Umezawa. I think if the cmc were 3 I could see it seeing play in a Dimir Spellslinger deck but that isn't my play some so I'm probably wrong.
I have a U/B faerie tribal deck, and I run this. It's mostly in because it's a faerie, but the ability has come in handy a few times. Most of my spells are cheap enough that playing multiples isn't that far fetched, so killing larger creatures can happen. It just won't happen often. It's an eztremely niche card, but not totally unplayable.
If there's one thing this card does well, it's cause sighs when you have to ask everyone how much life they lost this turn and re-calculations happen because everyone uses spindowns instead of pen & paper.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Dat flavor: So it's a Bant sigil with Esper's signature "colored artifacts" theme corrupted by Grixis? I mean, technically speaking, the same can be said for Veinfire Borderpost, Firewild Borderpost, and Wildfield Borderpost, but still, having three shards together on one card is weird.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
So it's a Bant sigil with Esper's signature "colored artifacts" theme [...]
Alara Reborn was an all-multicolor set, colored artifacts weren't specific to esper in it (see Mage Slayer and, as you've pointed out, Firewild Borderpost)
It's just a corrupted Bant sigil. Alara Reborn (and even parts of Conflux) was all about displaying that the shards and there components were being changed by the new "exchanges".
If there's one thing this card does well, it's cause sighs when you have to ask everyone how much life they lost this turn and re-calculations happen because everyone uses spindowns instead of pen & paper.
I do like this card, but I feel that more often than not, you're going to be using because you've deliberately lost a lot of life and want to get it back - Hatred, Ad Nauseam, Necropotence, Selenia, Dark Angel plus life swapping etc., in which case Children of Korlis is probably better due to only costing W. Still, this does have upside over sacrificing children, and even if you're not really getting huge use out of the fact that it counts opponents life loss too, it's still a second copy of the effect if that's something your deck could benefit from.
2/4 Flash for 1UG isn't a bad deal, being Eldrazi opens it up to some tribal interactions, and being able to shield a commander from spot removal (Or another important permanent) isn't unwelcome either. It also triggers Ezuri, Claw of Progress, so there's that too. All this combine to make an effective package that does ONE thing very well, and if you're in the market for that one thing, this is a good card.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Counters removal. If it were monogreen, that would be something worth considering. But still, a 2/4 with flash and an ETB trigger for three mana is good.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
It's single target, can only protect creatures and the body is pretty irrelevant in this format. It's not an awful card, but it's not really one that you want to be running.
If you want a creature that can protect your guys, run Sylvan Safekeeper
Funny enough this is a Pirate as well. So it has two interesting tribal synergies, draws you cards...and it's a 5 mana 1/1. Yeah.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
For five mana, you can get Jace's Ingenuity; for four, you can get Concentrate, and even those aren't really good. If you're in three or more colors and have trouble with mana fixing, 4U nets you Brilliant Plan, and 2U gives you Borrowing 100,000 Arrows. Bident of Thassa, hell, even Coastal Piracy would usually be a better card. This also fails next to Sword of Fire and Ice, considering blue is the color of evasion. It has two long-standing tribal synergies and one nascent one as a Human Pirate Wizard, but those decks (and Merfolk, and Faeries, and Myr, and Zombies, and Golems) would prefer Distant Melody, which is sort of a cheap blue tribal Collective Unconscious. In fact, the fact that its only selling point is granted to every wizard by Azami, Lady of Scrolls automatically negates any benefit, unless your wizard deck has a really bizarre mana base, like, if you have no nonbasic lands, ramp spells, or mana rocks in a three- or four-color deck or something.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
It actually amuses me that I find Azure Mage far superior to this card. Of course not strictly better. I feel it's better, but cannot explain why. Four mana per card is quite a lot, and although it's instant speed, meaning you can hold up mana, why is it that Azure Mage plays superior to dropping this turn five?
It is pretty bad, but I have to play it in my Pirate themed pirate deck where every card has to either be a pirate or be a card that can logically be associated with pirates.
This means that my card draw options are very limited, as they must make sense with pirates, thus cards like Coastal Piracy and Greed.
Those are still better than this card, but I need to make sure I have enough.
Archivist and Sea Gate Loremaster, as pointed out, do this better by having no timing restriction - Archivist costs 1 less, Oracle is a 1/3 and can go nutso if you run more allies. You are also in the slot of Azami, Lady of Scrolls which has "haste" for the effect if you can swing the triple blue cost, and she's sort of the gold standard for five mana card engine critters. For one more, Arcanis the Omnipotent is pure timmy goodness.
So for Wizards, this is unplayable - Archivist and Oracle already see no play. For Pirates, there are so few Pirates in MTG (59 + changelings at this counting, and 16 are part Red) that it's at least worth considering but I imagine it doesn't stick in the deck long after Rivals of Ixalan, especially since Admiral Beckett Brass and Ramirez DePietro want to be aggressive and this is a slow durdling engine. It isn't the worst pirate in existence (Smuggler Captain takes that honor, at least outside of Cube/Draft), but it's pretty close so it'd be unusual to run it. It does have Foglio art for sweet synergy with Pietro though :).
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Its only use was in jank theme decks like Skeleton Ship Pirates and tap shenanigans, or Ramirez "I REALLY WANT TO PLAY PIRATES" tribal, and its days are numbered; if it hasn't already been kicked out of the crew thanks to Ixilan, its gone with Rivals.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It actually amuses me that I find Azure Mage far superior to this card. Of course not strictly better. I feel it's better, but cannot explain why. Four mana per card is quite a lot, and although it's instant speed, meaning you can hold up mana, why is it that Azure Mage plays superior to dropping this turn five?
You can draw more than one per turn, Training Grounds, and in a pinch, Azure Mage can attack the same turn she draws a card (and if she does, then cards like Coastal Piracy come to mind), or you can tap her with Azami, Lady of Scrolls to make the first card free. Instant speed also means any GU deck can use Seedborn Muse, any deck can use Sword of Feast and Famine with Invisible Stalker, or Draw-Go can just draw cards at the player to your right's EOT instead. And of course a turn 6 or later Azure Mage can just draw a card that turn; it's not as good as Elvish Visionary, but it can draw you more without needing a blink card.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
If you run a red deck that somehow makes black tokens this isn't bad removal. If you run RBx, there's roughly 57 better removal cards available.
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My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Then we have a lost list of removal that isn't necessarily "Strictly" better since there will be numerous situations where Dark Temper wins, but on the whole I'd be more likely to include:
Once we get too far beyond 3 mana, we start hitting a range where we can sledgehammer the whole board instead, and for a controlling RBx deck I'm likely to start using my slots on Damnation, Life's Finale, Rolling Earthquake, etc instead. I actually think this card is underrated in a super controlling, enchantment heavy deck (say, Mogis or Kaerevek), however. It is worse than those top four cards, but it isn't too noticeably worse than the next list of stuff.
amazingly epic sig courtesy of DarkNightCavalier at Heroes of the Planes.
If there's one thing this card does well, it's cause sighs when you have to ask everyone how much life they lost this turn and re-calculations happen because everyone uses spindowns instead of pen & paper.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Dat flavor: So it's a Bant sigil with Esper's signature "colored artifacts" theme corrupted by Grixis? I mean, technically speaking, the same can be said for Veinfire Borderpost, Firewild Borderpost, and Wildfield Borderpost, but still, having three shards together on one card is weird.
On phasing:
Alara Reborn was an all-multicolor set, colored artifacts weren't specific to esper in it (see Mage Slayer and, as you've pointed out, Firewild Borderpost)
So as a Grixis-meets-Bant card it's really neat.
- Rabid Wombat
Hatred makes you powerful.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
2/4 Flash for 1UG isn't a bad deal, being Eldrazi opens it up to some tribal interactions, and being able to shield a commander from spot removal (Or another important permanent) isn't unwelcome either. It also triggers Ezuri, Claw of Progress, so there's that too. All this combine to make an effective package that does ONE thing very well, and if you're in the market for that one thing, this is a good card.
Just don't try to trigger Momir Vig, Simic Visionary with it.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
On phasing:
If you want a creature that can protect your guys, run Sylvan Safekeeper
Funny enough this is a Pirate as well. So it has two interesting tribal synergies, draws you cards...and it's a 5 mana 1/1. Yeah.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Azure Mage or Sphinx of Magosi would be another comparison, both being mana sinks that draw cards.
On phasing:
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
It actually amuses me that I find Azure Mage far superior to this card. Of course not strictly better. I feel it's better, but cannot explain why. Four mana per card is quite a lot, and although it's instant speed, meaning you can hold up mana, why is it that Azure Mage plays superior to dropping this turn five?
This means that my card draw options are very limited, as they must make sense with pirates, thus cards like Coastal Piracy and Greed.
Those are still better than this card, but I need to make sure I have enough.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
So for Wizards, this is unplayable - Archivist and Oracle already see no play. For Pirates, there are so few Pirates in MTG (59 + changelings at this counting, and 16 are part Red) that it's at least worth considering but I imagine it doesn't stick in the deck long after Rivals of Ixalan, especially since Admiral Beckett Brass and Ramirez DePietro want to be aggressive and this is a slow durdling engine. It isn't the worst pirate in existence (Smuggler Captain takes that honor, at least outside of Cube/Draft), but it's pretty close so it'd be unusual to run it. It does have Foglio art for sweet synergy with Pietro though :).
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
You can draw more than one per turn, Training Grounds, and in a pinch, Azure Mage can attack the same turn she draws a card (and if she does, then cards like Coastal Piracy come to mind), or you can tap her with Azami, Lady of Scrolls to make the first card free. Instant speed also means any GU deck can use Seedborn Muse, any deck can use Sword of Feast and Famine with Invisible Stalker, or Draw-Go can just draw cards at the player to your right's EOT instead. And of course a turn 6 or later Azure Mage can just draw a card that turn; it's not as good as Elvish Visionary, but it can draw you more without needing a blink card.
But the real better (still not strictly) is Archivist, and Sea Gate Loremaster is in fact strictly better. Basically short of a Nameless Inversion or Conspiracy/Donate (which actually was a combo at one point, but wouldn't work under Magic's rules as they exist: tl;dr they needed to make Mistform Ultimus able to attack), Sea Gate Loremaster > Talas Researcher.
On phasing:
If you run a red deck that somehow makes black tokens this isn't bad removal. If you run RBx, there's roughly 57 better removal cards available.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
I imagine it might actually be 57 for a B/R deck; first we have removal spells that are just straight up 100% superior to this.
2 Dreadbore
3 Chaos Warp
3 Unlicensed Disintegration
Then we have a lost list of removal that isn't necessarily "Strictly" better since there will be numerous situations where Dark Temper wins, but on the whole I'd be more likely to include:
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Tragic Slip
1 Vendetta
2 Abrade
2 Devour in Shadow
2 Chainer's Edict
2 Cut // Ribbons
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
2 Malicious Affliction
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Terror
2 Ultimate Price
3 Ashes to Ashes
3 Bone Shredder
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Murder
3 Never // Return
3 Reckless Spite
3 Ruinous Path
3 Seal of Doom
4 Aftershock
4 Nekrataal
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Sever the Bloodline
4 Snuff Out
4 Vraska's Contempt
4 Wrecking Ball
5 Shriekmaw
5 Volcanic Offering
6 Spitebellows
Once we get too far beyond 3 mana, we start hitting a range where we can sledgehammer the whole board instead, and for a controlling RBx deck I'm likely to start using my slots on Damnation, Life's Finale, Rolling Earthquake, etc instead. I actually think this card is underrated in a super controlling, enchantment heavy deck (say, Mogis or Kaerevek), however. It is worse than those top four cards, but it isn't too noticeably worse than the next list of stuff.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG