Many of these commons aren't removal or are terrible cards. That said, there's some good other removal in the set for sure. Not to mention that some of the bad removal you linked is actually better for aggressive decks than against them.
Dolphan: Not quite. It's a different form of 'turning off'. Let's do a comparison of the two.
1) Viper's Kiss can actually kill something. Playing Viper's Kiss on a 1-toughness creature kills it. Oppressive Rays doesn't kill.
2) Viper's Kiss completely shuts off activated abilities. Oppressive Rays doesn't.
2a) However, having said this, Rays is just as good against most ramp. Most people won't pay 3 mana to untap a land or produce a single mana, barring corner cases (Nykthos, extreme color screw).
3) Viper's Kiss does not prevent attacking or blocking. Oppressive Rays can. This is important on ramp creatures, for if you play Kiss on a Satyr or Unicorn, I can still chump block. Depending on situation, it may not be able to block with Rays.
4) Because of 3), Rays is likelier to increase your Devotion to White longer than Kiss. (It's easier to lose the creature that Kiss is on.)
I dunno. Rays seems very punishing in the sense that you have to pay 3 mana every time you want to attack or block. At the very least, this will hamper the player's development (or assault on your life total).
It's not removal or answer for a Voltron, but it is a general 'slowing down' card.
As an example of this latter point, let's say that you're playing against Heroic deck du jour, and they put down Skyguard or Wingsteed on curve. You reply with Rays on them. Now, next turn I can't think of a single Bestow or Ordeal they could play on their card and attack with it. You could play a 1-mana Aura (Dragon Mantle?) on Wingsteed and attack, but that's about it.
So, on that turn, you've turned a 4-point (or more) attack into a 2-point attack (assuming Wingsteed), and they're still having to get choked in developing either their board or their Voltron.
Finally, something that's cute about Rays is that it's much less of an issue to play on your own creatures for two purposes. One, to trigger huge Heroic effects (thinking mainly Agent of the Fates here). Two, to prevent 'must block' clauses from affecting it. (These are incredibly narrow applications, but it's good to remember all of them.)
Dolphan: In which case, the fact that it stalls the opponent by their not being able to attack/Voltron up immediately is useful in its own right.
I'm not saying that the card is 'good' by any stretch of the imagination. But its use is in stalling the opponent.
The fact that it shares the same set with both the new O-Ring and Reprisal does make it 'worse', though. The card would have been much better in Theros, I think.
Let's say I bestow Leafcrown Dryad onto Wingsteed Rider on my fourth turn. If my opponent puts Oppressive Rays on it their fourth/fifth turn, they still had better have either something that can answer my Wingsteed or is more threatening than it that they play on the same turn as Rays (highly unlikely) or else I'm probably paying 3 for my Lava Axe because they're awfully close to dead at that point. This is Theros after all. The W/x heroic deck is more than fast enough to just lol at the durdle and pay 3. Playing Rays on dragons doesn't seem awfully effective to me.
Now, if you cast it on a blank Wingsteed then I treat it as removed. It seems like a silly card to me because if my threat is big and bad enough, I'll just pay three. If it's at base stats, I won't and I'll develop my board instead. I think its best use is on heroic creatures that haven't been heroic'd up yet. Playing it on dragons doesn't seem to accomplish a whole lot. I will pay to reduce a 3-turn clock down to 2. I will not pay to reduce a 9-turn clock down to 8. Of course, if I choose not to pay, then you still spent a card that could have been something else.
I'm not sure why people are having such a hard time evaluating a card that isn't particularly different from the recent (and terrible) Soul Tithe. Soul Tithe is a stronger card than Rays is in pretty much every context, and was still really bad.
I don't think "can't deal with a wingsteed rider with a leafcrown dryad on it" is the right test for a 1-mana common. This format is about either having the fast aggressive deck or being able to deal with that deck long enough to get something big enough to go over the top. This card helps in the early game in both of those scenarios. Sure it's bad against a 5/5 flyer. So is nearly every piece of removal in the set.
Soul Tithe costs twice as much and is much less effective in the aggressive deck since it does nothing the turn you cast it. I am thinking I was probably too high on it, but I still don't think it is unplayable.
I don't think "can't deal with a wingsteed rider with a leafcrown dryad on it" is the right test for a 1-mana common. This format is about either having the fast aggressive deck or being able to deal with that deck long enough to get something big enough to go over the top. This card helps in the early game in both of those scenarios. Sure it's bad against a 5/5 flyer. So is nearly every piece of removal in the set.
Soul Tithe costs twice as much and is much less effective in the aggressive deck since it does nothing the turn you cast it. I am thinking I was probably too high on it, but I still don't think it is unplayable.
But that's exactly what you want removal to be able to do in this format. You want it to either be able to deal with the Wingsteed Rider at instant speed when you try to buff it up (Magma Jet, Lightning Strike, Fall of the Hammer, Phyrika's Cure, etc.) or handle it once it's buffed (Sip of Hemlock, Griptide, etc.).
Trying to say it's better than Soul Tithe is silly. The reason it's so bad is that if my threat is killing you, I can pay it and just stay ahead. If I'm behind, I can just let it sit there and develop my board until I have free mana. Soul Tithe forces me to make the decision EVERY turn and to pay it before I even see what I'm going to play. That's easily worth one more mana and the fact that it doesn't do anything when you first play it. Soul Tithe is undeniably superior and is a really bad card.
Burden of Guilt was only a decent removal card and that was miles ahead of this. I will absolutely be upset if I have to play this card and likely never will. The fact is that you're using a card, even if it's just one mana, to only occasionally, sometimes, tie up a little bit of their mana when they probably don't mind having their mana tied up. That's absolutely not worth an entire card.
There is still so little unconditional removal, though. There isn't a Lightning Strike quality card in the set honestly. Nyx Infusion and Magma Spray are both good but limited (pun intended) cards, as is Reprisal... Oppressive Rays works for a turn where they're tapped out, or if you are super aggressive... There just isn't the removal quality in this set at common and uncommon due to the enchantment theme, as expected.
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1) Viper's Kiss can actually kill something. Playing Viper's Kiss on a 1-toughness creature kills it. Oppressive Rays doesn't kill.
2) Viper's Kiss completely shuts off activated abilities. Oppressive Rays doesn't.
2a) However, having said this, Rays is just as good against most ramp. Most people won't pay 3 mana to untap a land or produce a single mana, barring corner cases (Nykthos, extreme color screw).
3) Viper's Kiss does not prevent attacking or blocking. Oppressive Rays can. This is important on ramp creatures, for if you play Kiss on a Satyr or Unicorn, I can still chump block. Depending on situation, it may not be able to block with Rays.
4) Because of 3), Rays is likelier to increase your Devotion to White longer than Kiss. (It's easier to lose the creature that Kiss is on.)
I dunno. Rays seems very punishing in the sense that you have to pay 3 mana every time you want to attack or block. At the very least, this will hamper the player's development (or assault on your life total).
It's not removal or answer for a Voltron, but it is a general 'slowing down' card.
As an example of this latter point, let's say that you're playing against Heroic deck du jour, and they put down Skyguard or Wingsteed on curve. You reply with Rays on them. Now, next turn I can't think of a single Bestow or Ordeal they could play on their card and attack with it. You could play a 1-mana Aura (Dragon Mantle?) on Wingsteed and attack, but that's about it.
So, on that turn, you've turned a 4-point (or more) attack into a 2-point attack (assuming Wingsteed), and they're still having to get choked in developing either their board or their Voltron.
Finally, something that's cute about Rays is that it's much less of an issue to play on your own creatures for two purposes. One, to trigger huge Heroic effects (thinking mainly Agent of the Fates here). Two, to prevent 'must block' clauses from affecting it. (These are incredibly narrow applications, but it's good to remember all of them.)
I'm not saying that the card is 'good' by any stretch of the imagination. But its use is in stalling the opponent.
The fact that it shares the same set with both the new O-Ring and Reprisal does make it 'worse', though. The card would have been much better in Theros, I think.
*shrug*
Let's say I bestow Leafcrown Dryad onto Wingsteed Rider on my fourth turn. If my opponent puts Oppressive Rays on it their fourth/fifth turn, they still had better have either something that can answer my Wingsteed or is more threatening than it that they play on the same turn as Rays (highly unlikely) or else I'm probably paying 3 for my Lava Axe because they're awfully close to dead at that point. This is Theros after all. The W/x heroic deck is more than fast enough to just lol at the durdle and pay 3. Playing Rays on dragons doesn't seem awfully effective to me.
Now, if you cast it on a blank Wingsteed then I treat it as removed. It seems like a silly card to me because if my threat is big and bad enough, I'll just pay three. If it's at base stats, I won't and I'll develop my board instead. I think its best use is on heroic creatures that haven't been heroic'd up yet. Playing it on dragons doesn't seem to accomplish a whole lot. I will pay to reduce a 3-turn clock down to 2. I will not pay to reduce a 9-turn clock down to 8. Of course, if I choose not to pay, then you still spent a card that could have been something else.
Soul Tithe costs twice as much and is much less effective in the aggressive deck since it does nothing the turn you cast it. I am thinking I was probably too high on it, but I still don't think it is unplayable.
But that's exactly what you want removal to be able to do in this format. You want it to either be able to deal with the Wingsteed Rider at instant speed when you try to buff it up (Magma Jet, Lightning Strike, Fall of the Hammer, Phyrika's Cure, etc.) or handle it once it's buffed (Sip of Hemlock, Griptide, etc.).
Trying to say it's better than Soul Tithe is silly. The reason it's so bad is that if my threat is killing you, I can pay it and just stay ahead. If I'm behind, I can just let it sit there and develop my board until I have free mana. Soul Tithe forces me to make the decision EVERY turn and to pay it before I even see what I'm going to play. That's easily worth one more mana and the fact that it doesn't do anything when you first play it. Soul Tithe is undeniably superior and is a really bad card.
Burden of Guilt was only a decent removal card and that was miles ahead of this. I will absolutely be upset if I have to play this card and likely never will. The fact is that you're using a card, even if it's just one mana, to only occasionally, sometimes, tie up a little bit of their mana when they probably don't mind having their mana tied up. That's absolutely not worth an entire card.