Reading LSV's limited set review for blue, he gives this card a 3.5.
What am I not understanding? You get a 0/3 flyer and two 1/1 flyers for 5. That's 2 flying power for 5. I guess if you bounce it then you could get 4 flying power for 10, which still doesn't seem impressive to me; flicker will give you 4 flying power for maybe 6 or 7 (can't remember what the cost of flicker cards in this set is).
I just don't get it. LSV has rated every single fabricate card highly, usually drooling over the prospect of using the "create a token" side of the equation. And now he's rating a card that costs 5 and creates two measly flying power at 3.5. This is so far removed from my own evaluation that I feel that I must be missing something. So what is it?
If I played this card, I can guarantee you, without fail, that I'd be facing a large green creature or two on the other side of the board, possibly with some trample involved, that would make my 5 mana investment on this card look downright pathetic.
Yeah I don't see how this card is as good as they seem to think it is. It's a 5-drop (and uncommon!), of which you can only have a few, that only ads 2 flying power to the board. Maybe this would be fine in some sets, but let's look at the non-rare 5-drops other colors get - White gets a common 3/4 flyer (which seems WAY better as it can both attack and block better), not to mention the 2/1 fabricate 2 for 4 which also seems like a much better card, black gets the 4/3 fabricate which is meh, but it also has the 3/1 fabricate 1 with menace at 4 and the instant speed removal spell that gains you some life at 5 and common, red gets a 4/5 menace which also seems better. And then there's green. Holy ***** green. Green gets a 5/4 trample that gains you 5 life, a 4/4 trample that attacks as a 6/6 trample at least once, and a freaken 3/3 trample fabricate at 4!
The 1/1 flyers also seem very unimpressive in this set given how many 1/1's are running around. This card seems like a classic C or C- to me, a wholly replaceable 5-drop. Maybe the grade is higher because blue is so meh? I get that spreading out your bodies is great, but a 5-mana sorcery that made 3 1/1 flyers would probably be better than this card, and I think THAT card would be a 3.5. This card somehow got the same grade as Aerial Responder, which I think shows how absurdly inflated its grade is.
I think the card is fine. I'd probably always play the first one. But look at the example cards for 3.5 grades - Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper. - and tell me that aviator is remotely close to those. It's not. He also said in the LR podcast that your opponents would be tempted to remove it in case you had some way to return it to your hand and case it again. I think that won't happen. Unless I have seen exactly the 3 cmc white blink card, I'm not wasting removal on this. You want to spend 10 mana and 2+ turns making 4 1/1 flyers and an 0/3 flyer? Be my guest lol. I'll just beat you down with the insanely efficiently costed (for recent limited) creatures this set has, or vehicles with trample.
Obviously LSV is a very, very good magic player, much better than me and obviously much better at evaluating cards. However, I think he got this one wrong.
Yeah I don't see how this card is as good as they seem to think it is. It's a 5-drop (and uncommon!), of which you can only have a few, that only ads 2 flying power to the board. Maybe this would be fine in some sets, but let's look at the non-rare 5-drops other colors get - White gets a common 3/4 flyer (which seems WAY better as it can both attack and block better), not to mention the 2/1 fabricate 2 for 4 which also seems like a much better card, black gets the 4/3 fabricate which is meh, but it also has the 3/1 fabricate 1 with menace at 4 and the instant speed removal spell that gains you some life at 5 and common, red gets a 4/5 menace which also seems better. And then there's green. Holy ***** green. Green gets a 5/4 trample that gains you 5 life, a 4/4 trample that attacks as a 6/6 trample at least once, and a freaken 3/3 trample fabricate at 4!
The 1/1 flyers also seem very unimpressive in this set given how many 1/1's are running around. This card seems like a classic C or C- to me, a wholly replaceable 5-drop. Maybe the grade is higher because blue is so meh? I get that spreading out your bodies is great, but a 5-mana sorcery that made 3 1/1 flyers would probably be better than this card, and I think THAT card would be a 3.5. This card somehow got the same grade as Aerial Responder, which I think shows how absurdly inflated its grade is.
I think the card is fine. I'd probably always play the first one. But look at the example cards for 3.5 grades - Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper. - and tell me that aviator is remotely close to those. It's not. He also said in the LR podcast that your opponents would be tempted to remove it in case you had some way to return it to your hand and case it again. I think that won't happen. Unless I have seen exactly the 3 cmc white blink card, I'm not wasting removal on this. You want to spend 10 mana and 2+ turns making 4 1/1 flyers and an 0/3 flyer? Be my guest lol. I'll just beat you down with the insanely efficiently costed (for recent limited) creatures this set has, or vehicles with trample.
Obviously LSV is a very, very good magic player, much better than me and obviously much better at evaluating cards. However, I think he got this one wrong.
He's using Reid Duke's limited scale for this review, and that scale is way off as Duskwatch Recruiter is the best uncommon in SoI and should be a 4.0. 3.5 is akin to best commons, so you compare this to something like Choking Restraints or whatever.
Anyways, I think this card is more important for the combo potential than it is for the bodies. Blue has a fair amount of things that care about the artifacts you have on the board (Shrewd Negotiation is the best one, with the flying 3/3 and the serpent at common), and putting 3 bodies and 2 artifacts on the board matters a ton for cards like Salivating Gremlins, Reckless Fireweaver, Inspired Charge, Gearseeker Serpent etc. Couple that with how blue actually just has 0 artifact producers outside of this card, and I think this card plays a more important role than you would think, especially in UB and UR where it's going to be hard to make a deck that doesn't care about artifact count. White also has the flicker effects for more value: obviously the bear is super slow, but the 3 mana cloudshift cantrip seems pretty damn good with this card. I wouldn't rate it as high as 3.5, but this seems like a solid 3.0 for most decks. It's sort of like Foul Emissary which was a very high pick in EDM despite being somewhat narrow, although I don't think this card is quite as good as that.
Also just in case you guys think building for synergy is silly - Enlightened Maniac is a card that is very mediocre if you can't emerge it, but it ended up being a solid midpick card because the upside was so high, and in some formats even the chance of going off is worth it as it significantly increases your win percentage. This card seems to fall under the same boat, as there are a good amount of artifact payoff cards, and the card's still fine without them just like the maniac. The 0/3 body is more relevant than you think, as Wind Drake, Sky Skiff, Propeller Pioneer are all in this format and will see play in the majority of decks.
He's using Reid Duke's limited scale for this review, and that scale is way off as Duskwatch Recruiter is the best uncommon in SoI and should be a 4.0. 3.5 is akin to best commons, so you compare this to something like Choking Restraints or whatever.
I don't see why it matters what scale he's using, as LSV HIMSELF says at the lead of the article that on the scale he's using for this review, "3.5: Top-tier common or solid uncommon. (Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper.)" - http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/kaladesh-limited-set-review-blue/
So yeah, he's saying that these cards are 3.5 cards, and that, by extension, the aviator is close enough to as good to get the same grade.
He's using Reid Duke's limited scale for this review, and that scale is way off as Duskwatch Recruiter is the best uncommon in SoI and should be a 4.0. 3.5 is akin to best commons, so you compare this to something like Choking Restraints or whatever.
I don't see why it matters what scale he's using, as LSV HIMSELF says at the lead of the article that on the scale he's using for this review, "3.5: Top-tier common or solid uncommon. (Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper.)" - http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/kaladesh-limited-set-review-blue/
So yeah, he's saying that these cards are 3.5 cards, and that, by extension, the aviator is close enough to as good to get the same grade.
Apologies, I meant that the examples that he used were written by Reid Duke (See here), who tended to undervaluate cards compared to LSV. LSV has been using the same limited scale for quite some time, and the actual definition of a 4.0 on the scale is "Good rare or top-tier uncommon." I think that Reid Duke was a bit off during his calibration, since the actual words that describe a 4.0 is a perfect fit for Duskwatch Recruiter. I personally would use what the scale is actually defined as for the basis of what each rating means as opposed to the examples shown, since I think the examples (specifically Duskwatch Recruiter) are off this time around.
For this particular card, I agree with your assessment that it doesn't seem as good as a 3.5 card like Fiery Temper or Breakneck rider, but I don't think it's that far off so meh. I gave it a 3.0, and a 0.5 difference is within the margin or error as opposed to someone making a serious mistake.
Apologies, I meant that the examples that he used were written by Reid Duke (See here), who tended to undervaluate cards compared to LSV. LSV has been using the same limited scale for quite some time, and the actual definition of a 4.0 on the scale is "Good rare or top-tier uncommon." I think that Reid Duke was a bit off during his calibration, since the actual words that describe a 4.0 is a perfect fit for Duskwatch Recruiter. I personally would use what the scale is actually defined as for the basis of what each rating means as opposed to the examples shown, since I think the examples (specifically Duskwatch Recruiter) are off this time around.
For this particular card, I agree with your assessment that it doesn't seem as good as a 3.5 card like Fiery Temper or Breakneck rider, but I don't think it's that far off so meh. I gave it a 3.0, and a 0.5 difference is within the margin or error as opposed to someone making a serious mistake.
Ah. Fair enough.
I agree that .5 isn't that much of a difference, but it's the way this card is billed as a 3.5 in the LR podcast (which in my head I was mixing up with the set review - I was thinking the set review was heaping a lot of praise on this card when really it's a pretty basic description) by both Marshall and LSV as this amazing card that was so much value that I found boggling. Which wasn't even mentioned in the OP, so I guess that's on me =P
Either way, time will tell if this is the sort of format where you can durdle around with blinking 5-mana creatures or not.
Apologies, I meant that the examples that he used were written by Reid Duke (See here), who tended to undervaluate cards compared to LSV. LSV has been using the same limited scale for quite some time, and the actual definition of a 4.0 on the scale is "Good rare or top-tier uncommon." I think that Reid Duke was a bit off during his calibration, since the actual words that describe a 4.0 is a perfect fit for Duskwatch Recruiter. I personally would use what the scale is actually defined as for the basis of what each rating means as opposed to the examples shown, since I think the examples (specifically Duskwatch Recruiter) are off this time around.
For this particular card, I agree with your assessment that it doesn't seem as good as a 3.5 card like Fiery Temper or Breakneck rider, but I don't think it's that far off so meh. I gave it a 3.0, and a 0.5 difference is within the margin or error as opposed to someone making a serious mistake.
Ah. Fair enough.
I agree that .5 isn't that much of a difference, but it's the way this card is billed as a 3.5 in the LR podcast (which in my head I was mixing up with the set review - I was thinking the set review was heaping a lot of praise on this card when really it's a pretty basic description) by both Marshall and LSV as this amazing card that was so much value that I found boggling. Which wasn't even mentioned in the OP, so I guess that's on me =P
Either way, time will tell if this is the sort of format where you can durdle around with blinking 5-mana creatures or not.
Yeah, I didn't listen to the LR podcast so can't agree or disagree with what they said. One interesting thing I found between my reviews and LSV is that he seems to think that blinking is a big deal while I think that artifacts matter is a big deal: time will tell what turns out to be more important.
Apologies, I meant that the examples that he used were written by Reid Duke (See here), who tended to undervaluate cards compared to LSV. LSV has been using the same limited scale for quite some time, and the actual definition of a 4.0 on the scale is "Good rare or top-tier uncommon." I think that Reid Duke was a bit off during his calibration, since the actual words that describe a 4.0 is a perfect fit for Duskwatch Recruiter. I personally would use what the scale is actually defined as for the basis of what each rating means as opposed to the examples shown, since I think the examples (specifically Duskwatch Recruiter) are off this time around.
For this particular card, I agree with your assessment that it doesn't seem as good as a 3.5 card like Fiery Temper or Breakneck rider, but I don't think it's that far off so meh. I gave it a 3.0, and a 0.5 difference is within the margin or error as opposed to someone making a serious mistake.
Ah. Fair enough.
I agree that .5 isn't that much of a difference, but it's the way this card is billed as a 3.5 in the LR podcast (which in my head I was mixing up with the set review - I was thinking the set review was heaping a lot of praise on this card when really it's a pretty basic description) by both Marshall and LSV as this amazing card that was so much value that I found boggling. Which wasn't even mentioned in the OP, so I guess that's on me =P
Either way, time will tell if this is the sort of format where you can durdle around with blinking 5-mana creatures or not.
Getting 2 potential chump blockers with your 5 drop certainly makes it easier to durdle around long enough to blink it.
Getting 2 potential chump blockers with your 5 drop certainly makes it easier to durdle around long enough to blink it.
So you're saying an upside to casting a 0/3 flyer for 5 is that you also get two chump blockers that can help you survive long enough to spend more mana and another spell on blinking the 0/3 so that you can get ... two more chump blockers?
I just can't see this card being good, even in decks that care about artifact ETB effects. You will be dead in the water against someone who creates an actual threat with their 5 mana instead of some little turds.
I agree and I made a comment about this card on the Limited Resources reddit as soon as I saw the review. I don't like this card and may not play it much at all. 5 mana is a lot and then to just put out a 0/3 flyer and two 1/1 flyers is not my cup of tea. I could see it being okay in a deck with self-bounce value (not just self-bounce but getting additional value from it) and/or anthem effects but even then this does almost nothing for me if I'm being beaten down and need to stabilize, and it does little if I'm trying to finish or to win a race.
"LSV has rated every single fabricate card highly"
I think that is the issue, and I see it in his review of black especially. For LSV flexibility is very powerful because he is expert at using the best strategy. For someone like me who is okay but not expert, I want power level.
So you're saying an upside to casting a 0/3 flyer for 5 is that you also get two chump blockers that can help you survive long enough to spend more mana and another spell on blinking the 0/3 so that you can get ... two more chump blockers?
I just can't see this card being good, even in decks that care about artifact ETB effects. You will be dead in the water against someone who creates an actual threat with their 5 mana instead of some little turds.
The fact that you get 2/5 over 3 bodies is particularly relevant in this format. There is a lot of quality removal so putting all your eggs in one basket is a good way to end up sad. Also, spread over 3 bodies allows the tokens to immediately crew a vehicle and attack while leaving behind a fairly respectable 0/3 flying blocker. Not to mention the thopters fly, making them significantly better than regular fabricate cards that only make servos.
It's a very flexible card and has a high number of good uses. 3.0 to 3.5 sounds about right without having actually played the set yet.
I understand that it is flexible. However, it is an expensive utility piece that itself doesn't ever put any pressure on your opponent. I do not rate such cards highly because by themselves they do very little to win the game. I would rate it at a 2.0. Like any card, there are situations where it will be exactly what you need. But like many utility cards, it isn't valuable except when the board state is arranged in a certain way. I reserve 3.0 and above for cards that can have a significant impact on the game regardless of board state.
What hurts this card in my mind is that the slots that would typically have equipment which could make a 0/3 flying body into a relevant threat are instead mostly occupied by vehicles, which a 0/3 can't make use of. I don't see this as a ground-stall format, so multiple 1/1 fliers don't seem like they'd be a secretly good threat either. (Granted, this set DOES have a +2/+0 equipment, so...)
My assumption is that this card used to cost 4 but they bumped it to 5 so that it would float to only the most synergistic decks. Start Your EnginesRU and/or UW flicker.
In UW your 2-drop can return the 0/3 to your hand at no cost and having 4 flying 1/1s is kind of relevant, if slow.
But as 5-drops go, I prefer mine to be able to ward off attackers immediately, so it wouldn't be something I'm looking for.
As a test: How much would you like this if it was just two 1/1 thopters for 2UU? Would you run it even if it didn't have any synergy with your deck?
I don't like two 1/1 flyers for 4 mana, unless there was some synergy such as delirium (for the sorcery in EMN) or anthem effects.
If this card cost 4 -- a 0/3 flyer and two 1/1 flyers -- then I would like it without synergies, but at 5 mana it's sub-par in my view unless there are synergies.
Going to chime in on a more general subject, but first I'll say that I, too, found it weird that this is an uncommon. Now that we know the whole set, though, I did a little digging and noticed some interesting choices that were made (for Limited?) in regards to the tokens:
- Fabricate: No card with Fabricate 2+ is common. In Kaladesh, all the commons with Fabricate are Fabricate 1, without exception. I presume this has to do with the quantity of token generation, in addition to ensuring Gearseeker Serpent didn't go Myr Enforcer levels on us.
- Any cards that create flying and/or multiple tokens are uncommon.
Given the union of these two things, it's clear they did not want a lot of token production at common. I assume that was to avoid dragging out the game with Servos and Thopters chumping left and right.
So in short, this card may be a "2/5" for 5 at uncommon, but keep in mind two things:
- They're flying tokens.
- W/U have more than one way to bounce and flicker creatures, which I think is another major reason this got pulled to uncommon. Flying and similar evasion is a premium in this set, due to the Fabricate 2+ cards potentially clogging up the board with Servos.
Played against this in Pre-release. It's SUPER stabilizing if you are trying to close the game out, with say a Sky Skiff.
It seems it's pretty bad against giant green tramplers.
FWIW, I saw someone win a game off this card and decoction module. For 9 mana, you make 2 thopters per turn. You can spend it over two turn, until you get 9 lands out. It was pretty hilarious. (If you can get the fabrication module out, then you get 2 2/2 flyers per turn....)
I had two in my last deck, and it's pretty good. Providing a blocker for small creatures and two evasive power is pretty good for control decks. I didn't have much faith in it, but often, it was the card I wanted to cast, and those thopters did good work. Interacts well with a lot of the set.
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Played against this in Pre-release. It's SUPER stabilizing if you are trying to close the game out, with say a Sky Skiff.
It seems it's pretty bad against giant green tramplers.
Sky skiff is garbage, and this kind of flawed initial view of the format is the reason anyone thinks this 0/3 is passable.
Card is great. Played a deck with 2x green fabricate two dude, 2x aviator, 2x blink, 1x aether tradewind, 1x decoction module, and just drag out the game till combo win.
Card is great. Played a deck with 2x green fabricate two dude, 2x aviator, 2x blink, 1x aether tradewind, 1x decoction module, and just drag out the game till combo win.
Then you lucked into a win, because there is no way you're winning against the fast aggressive decks of this format with that without a lot of luck involved.
I've seen the aviator on the other side of the board a few times. It's never done anything in my experience.
I'd say it's at it's best against aggressive decks, because those are the ones where an 0/3 is the most likely to be a relevant blocker and a 1/1 may even trade for a real card. It's not great, but getting 2 evasive creatures and a blocker for a single card is pretty decent card advantage, at the cost of paying 5. Once you add in blink effects and synergy cards it goes from mediocre to decent. I don't think I'd ever first pick it, but saying it doesn't do anything is needlessly negative hyperbole.
Played against this in Pre-release. It's SUPER stabilizing if you are trying to close the game out, with say a Sky Skiff.
It seems it's pretty bad against giant green tramplers.
Sky skiff is garbage, and this kind of flawed initial view of the format is the reason anyone thinks this 0/3 is passable.
Perhaps I'm playing the set in some kind of alternate reality, but in the Kaladesh I draft evasion is a premium, even moreso Flying, and the set is full of 1/1 tokens waiting to be upgraded into a 2/3 flier.
After having played with (and against) this card, I'm surprised to hear such a negative review of it. Sure, it doesn't do much when you're facing down a Riparian Tiger etc., but the kind of decks you run this in hope to have answers for cards like that anyway. Aether Tradewinds is an excellent example of a card that makes Tiger worse and Experimental Aviator better. It obviously fits best into the UW bounce shell. Once you've blinked this and gotten 4 thopters out of it, it feels busted, and with cards like Aviary Mechanic floating around, that's just not very hard to do.
Plus, if you have any buffing nonsense such as Chief of the Foundry or Durable Handicraft, or if you're going wide with Inspired Charge, then all of a sudden having multiple flying threats looks terrifying. And if you have Artificer's Goggles lying around when this ETBs, a 1/5 flyer + 2 1/1 flyers brickwalls most flyers your opponent may be fielding.
Basically, this card is good enough in enough situations that I'm not surprised at the grade. If you think this card is mediocre, I think you just haven't lost to it enough yet. I've lost count of the number of times I've won drafts with Experimental Aviator being a key player.
EDIT: Speaking of LSV, watch him draft and use this card. You don't have to take his word for it -- you can see him in action with it.
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Reading LSV's limited set review for blue, he gives this card a 3.5.
What am I not understanding? You get a 0/3 flyer and two 1/1 flyers for 5. That's 2 flying power for 5. I guess if you bounce it then you could get 4 flying power for 10, which still doesn't seem impressive to me; flicker will give you 4 flying power for maybe 6 or 7 (can't remember what the cost of flicker cards in this set is).
I just don't get it. LSV has rated every single fabricate card highly, usually drooling over the prospect of using the "create a token" side of the equation. And now he's rating a card that costs 5 and creates two measly flying power at 3.5. This is so far removed from my own evaluation that I feel that I must be missing something. So what is it?
If I played this card, I can guarantee you, without fail, that I'd be facing a large green creature or two on the other side of the board, possibly with some trample involved, that would make my 5 mana investment on this card look downright pathetic.
The 1/1 flyers also seem very unimpressive in this set given how many 1/1's are running around. This card seems like a classic C or C- to me, a wholly replaceable 5-drop. Maybe the grade is higher because blue is so meh? I get that spreading out your bodies is great, but a 5-mana sorcery that made 3 1/1 flyers would probably be better than this card, and I think THAT card would be a 3.5. This card somehow got the same grade as Aerial Responder, which I think shows how absurdly inflated its grade is.
I think the card is fine. I'd probably always play the first one. But look at the example cards for 3.5 grades - Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper. - and tell me that aviator is remotely close to those. It's not. He also said in the LR podcast that your opponents would be tempted to remove it in case you had some way to return it to your hand and case it again. I think that won't happen. Unless I have seen exactly the 3 cmc white blink card, I'm not wasting removal on this. You want to spend 10 mana and 2+ turns making 4 1/1 flyers and an 0/3 flyer? Be my guest lol. I'll just beat you down with the insanely efficiently costed (for recent limited) creatures this set has, or vehicles with trample.
Obviously LSV is a very, very good magic player, much better than me and obviously much better at evaluating cards. However, I think he got this one wrong.
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He's using Reid Duke's limited scale for this review, and that scale is way off as Duskwatch Recruiter is the best uncommon in SoI and should be a 4.0. 3.5 is akin to best commons, so you compare this to something like Choking Restraints or whatever.
Anyways, I think this card is more important for the combo potential than it is for the bodies. Blue has a fair amount of things that care about the artifacts you have on the board (Shrewd Negotiation is the best one, with the flying 3/3 and the serpent at common), and putting 3 bodies and 2 artifacts on the board matters a ton for cards like Salivating Gremlins, Reckless Fireweaver, Inspired Charge, Gearseeker Serpent etc. Couple that with how blue actually just has 0 artifact producers outside of this card, and I think this card plays a more important role than you would think, especially in UB and UR where it's going to be hard to make a deck that doesn't care about artifact count. White also has the flicker effects for more value: obviously the bear is super slow, but the 3 mana cloudshift cantrip seems pretty damn good with this card. I wouldn't rate it as high as 3.5, but this seems like a solid 3.0 for most decks. It's sort of like Foul Emissary which was a very high pick in EDM despite being somewhat narrow, although I don't think this card is quite as good as that.
Also just in case you guys think building for synergy is silly - Enlightened Maniac is a card that is very mediocre if you can't emerge it, but it ended up being a solid midpick card because the upside was so high, and in some formats even the chance of going off is worth it as it significantly increases your win percentage. This card seems to fall under the same boat, as there are a good amount of artifact payoff cards, and the card's still fine without them just like the maniac. The 0/3 body is more relevant than you think, as Wind Drake, Sky Skiff, Propeller Pioneer are all in this format and will see play in the majority of decks.
I don't see why it matters what scale he's using, as LSV HIMSELF says at the lead of the article that on the scale he's using for this review, "3.5: Top-tier common or solid uncommon. (Duskwatch Recruiter. Breakneck Rider. Fiery Temper.)" - http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/kaladesh-limited-set-review-blue/
So yeah, he's saying that these cards are 3.5 cards, and that, by extension, the aviator is close enough to as good to get the same grade.
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Apologies, I meant that the examples that he used were written by Reid Duke (See here), who tended to undervaluate cards compared to LSV. LSV has been using the same limited scale for quite some time, and the actual definition of a 4.0 on the scale is "Good rare or top-tier uncommon." I think that Reid Duke was a bit off during his calibration, since the actual words that describe a 4.0 is a perfect fit for Duskwatch Recruiter. I personally would use what the scale is actually defined as for the basis of what each rating means as opposed to the examples shown, since I think the examples (specifically Duskwatch Recruiter) are off this time around.
For this particular card, I agree with your assessment that it doesn't seem as good as a 3.5 card like Fiery Temper or Breakneck rider, but I don't think it's that far off so meh. I gave it a 3.0, and a 0.5 difference is within the margin or error as opposed to someone making a serious mistake.
Ah. Fair enough.
I agree that .5 isn't that much of a difference, but it's the way this card is billed as a 3.5 in the LR podcast (which in my head I was mixing up with the set review - I was thinking the set review was heaping a lot of praise on this card when really it's a pretty basic description) by both Marshall and LSV as this amazing card that was so much value that I found boggling. Which wasn't even mentioned in the OP, so I guess that's on me =P
Either way, time will tell if this is the sort of format where you can durdle around with blinking 5-mana creatures or not.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
Yeah, I didn't listen to the LR podcast so can't agree or disagree with what they said. One interesting thing I found between my reviews and LSV is that he seems to think that blinking is a big deal while I think that artifacts matter is a big deal: time will tell what turns out to be more important.
Getting 2 potential chump blockers with your 5 drop certainly makes it easier to durdle around long enough to blink it.
So you're saying an upside to casting a 0/3 flyer for 5 is that you also get two chump blockers that can help you survive long enough to spend more mana and another spell on blinking the 0/3 so that you can get ... two more chump blockers?
I just can't see this card being good, even in decks that care about artifact ETB effects. You will be dead in the water against someone who creates an actual threat with their 5 mana instead of some little turds.
"LSV has rated every single fabricate card highly"
I think that is the issue, and I see it in his review of black especially. For LSV flexibility is very powerful because he is expert at using the best strategy. For someone like me who is okay but not expert, I want power level.
It's a very flexible card and has a high number of good uses. 3.0 to 3.5 sounds about right without having actually played the set yet.
My assumption is that this card used to cost 4 but they bumped it to 5 so that it would float to only the most synergistic decks. Start Your Engines RU and/or UW flicker.
In UW your 2-drop can return the 0/3 to your hand at no cost and having 4 flying 1/1s is kind of relevant, if slow.
But as 5-drops go, I prefer mine to be able to ward off attackers immediately, so it wouldn't be something I'm looking for.
As a test: How much would you like this if it was just two 1/1 thopters for 2UU? Would you run it even if it didn't have any synergy with your deck?
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
If this card cost 4 -- a 0/3 flyer and two 1/1 flyers -- then I would like it without synergies, but at 5 mana it's sub-par in my view unless there are synergies.
- Fabricate: No card with Fabricate 2+ is common. In Kaladesh, all the commons with Fabricate are Fabricate 1, without exception. I presume this has to do with the quantity of token generation, in addition to ensuring Gearseeker Serpent didn't go Myr Enforcer levels on us.
- Any cards that create flying and/or multiple tokens are uncommon.
Given the union of these two things, it's clear they did not want a lot of token production at common. I assume that was to avoid dragging out the game with Servos and Thopters chumping left and right.
So in short, this card may be a "2/5" for 5 at uncommon, but keep in mind two things:
- They're flying tokens.
- W/U have more than one way to bounce and flicker creatures, which I think is another major reason this got pulled to uncommon. Flying and similar evasion is a premium in this set, due to the Fabricate 2+ cards potentially clogging up the board with Servos.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
It seems it's pretty bad against giant green tramplers.
My Decks:
EDH: Sygg, River Cutthroat , Road to Scion
Grimgrin, Corpseborn
Modern: Polytokes
IRL: Progenitus Polymorph , Goblins
Just a friendly reminder that I will drive this car off a bridge
Sky skiff is garbage, and this kind of flawed initial view of the format is the reason anyone thinks this 0/3 is passable.
Then you lucked into a win, because there is no way you're winning against the fast aggressive decks of this format with that without a lot of luck involved.
I've seen the aviator on the other side of the board a few times. It's never done anything in my experience.
It didn't do anything in the games I played against it. Not hyperbole, fact.
Balunu is my other account, BTW.
Perhaps I'm playing the set in some kind of alternate reality, but in the Kaladesh I draft evasion is a premium, even moreso Flying, and the set is full of 1/1 tokens waiting to be upgraded into a 2/3 flier.
Thanks to DNC from Heroes of the Plane Studios for the sig
Check my Pauper Cube!
Plus, if you have any buffing nonsense such as Chief of the Foundry or Durable Handicraft, or if you're going wide with Inspired Charge, then all of a sudden having multiple flying threats looks terrifying. And if you have Artificer's Goggles lying around when this ETBs, a 1/5 flyer + 2 1/1 flyers brickwalls most flyers your opponent may be fielding.
Basically, this card is good enough in enough situations that I'm not surprised at the grade. If you think this card is mediocre, I think you just haven't lost to it enough yet. I've lost count of the number of times I've won drafts with Experimental Aviator being a key player.
EDIT: Speaking of LSV, watch him draft and use this card. You don't have to take his word for it -- you can see him in action with it.