It's playable in a lot of formats. At it's absolute worse, it's still okay for what it is, but the efficiency is nothing but gravy beyond that. At it's best, it's a one mana 4/4 with no other requirements.
Being able to select specific cards to exile gives it power against Goyf, while having a lot of wiggle room for your own graveyard sensitivities. The earliest you can play it is turn three, regardless of what you do, but a 4/4 with trample for three or less is still on curve, and still relevant going into the late game.
It is quite obvious that this card it far too week for modern.
It is a conditional 3-mana 4/4 trample. Goyf is good because he is always a two drop, and you can easiely play multiples.
In limited it's gonna be a house assuming there are some fine self milling cards in sultai (there have to be)
The efreet seems fine. When you are in Jeskai you pick him up. I don't think he is a high pick, but that's probably true for any 3-color common in the set. Maybe morph can help there a bit.
I like their decision to make the artifact morph guy uncommon otherwise you see to many of him and the morph guessing game is even more impossible.
Why isn't this Butcher a mythic. I really hate that they print all the unplayable commander stuff at mythic and then this at rare. I mean how are you supposed to beat that card in limited?
No matter. It's not just the quantity of counter-magic, it's the quality too. There's no point in discussing him being anything else then a cheap flash beater unless counter-magic suddenly gets considerably better and more common, which you guessed it, won't happen. Can you name a single playable/played counter in our current Standard environment?
Dissolve and Syncopate. I mean Syncopate rotates but with all the midrange cards from khans the new standard seems to be a perfect place for Dissolve. And don't forget Mindswipe.
Anyways it seems really fishy to me, that MythicSpoilers spoiled two cards for which the artwork was already known (this and Jeskai Ascendecy). I am not buying it so far.
I was brainstorming a bit about a way to abuse all the nice enchantment synergies now that we have the full block.
I arrived at the list after some testing on cockatrice (not the best way to test for sure).
Against all the aggro and midrange decks you are the control deck,
since the card advantage you can genrate in the lategame is insane.
Banishing Light and recursion with Odunos River Trawler gives you an answer against almost any threat.
Against UWx-Control we have to be agressive since we can't deal with Sphinx's Revelation and Aetherling
(only temporaryly with Brain Maggot).
The matchup is thus quite bad preboard because our agressiveness isn't that impressive.
Hopefully all the sideboard available hate is gonna be enough.
Dissolve: "OH MAN, wizards is so uncreative.... just putting stupid scry 1 on a Cancel. I hate this, I quit Magic. This game is getting too uncomplex."
3/3 for 3: "Nothing exciting, but its fine for limited."
The hexproof deck is hopefully dead after rotation (gladecover scout + witchstalker, doesn't seem strong). Then those auras are just unplayable. And I think there are better options for auras like Unflincing Courage, Madcap Skills if you really wanna play an aura deck.
Could this guy be good in control?
I mean, because he blocks some important early threads (Rakdos Cackler, Dryad Militant, Voice of Resurges and its token, Burning Tree Emissary) while gaining you life in the process.
And you are even happy if they spend removal on this, cause it costs more mana and they are not developing their board the turn they kill it.
At the very least you can trade with their monocolored creatures, if they dont play any muticolor (question is: will there be such decks).
I mean I like blue, but still it would be a pain if you play something, they think for half a minute, then counter your play, then take a look at the top 2, then put them asside, take a look at their hand, take a look at the top two, think for a while, put one on bottom and one on top.
I was already annoyed by turn one ponders which took probably 30 seconds for some people.
It would be impossible to finish control mirrors in time against slow opponents.
Whip + Shadowborn Demon sounds like a good interaction. Or just Whip + any creature with a strong etb effect.
Good thing Thragtusk is not in standard anymore, that would have been pretty overpowered.
Relying on your opponent to be bad might work at FNM, but otherwise playing against anyone competent you will almost never get what you want or what they don't have an answer for. I'd rather just play opportunity.
Opportunity is just a totally different card. The 2 mana difference is huge.
Supreme Verdict has no place in the deck, because
a) color requirement (only 12 white sources)
b) I am playing too many creatures for that (especially young pyromancer)
c) I feel like there there are going to be enough anti-verdict cards in the decks (experiment one, voice, boros charm, legions initiative, planeswalkers)
d) I have enough single target removal and chump blockers to reach lategame, unlike supreme verdict decks
Mizzium Mortars is a good inclusion. I was almost never impressed by the fuse of turn//burn and it could even be the decks supreme verdict for 6 mana.
I've been experimenting lately with some control decks, and all I found was, that they are just not fast enough to put up a defence against Red decks and Selesnya Aggro decks.
Then I saw Steam Augury and thought there has to be some way to abuse that. I came up with the idea of a control deck that features Young Pyromancer and that seems to be pretty good against the agressive decks, because you can produce a stream of chump blockers to stay alive and in the end fire a big Sphinx's Revelation from which it is hard to recover for them.
3 Jace, Architect of Thought:
The only downside of this guy is, that he is no instant/sorcery. Otherwise he buys time and digs for answers, a pretty good package all by himself.
Card advantage engines:
3 Sphinx's Revelation, 3 Steam Augury.
I really liked the split so far. Steam Augury is for the midgame, to dig for more removal/burn while being not to expensive, and Sphinx's Revelation is the finisher of the deck (although you might think it's Aetherling)
4 Azorius Charm:
Probably the most versitile card in UW. With this card alone its even possible to play the tempo game against some decks.
Creatures:
4 Young Pyromancer the key card of the decks in many matchups: Against the agressive decks it provides chump blockers, against control decks it is a pretty good clock. Usually here you should be a bit more tentative about when to play it, so it does not get removed immidiately.
4 Goblin Electromancer this i put in due to curve consideration and its quite good. We have not a single 3cc spell in the deck, but with this on turn 2 we can curve out perfectly if it stays alive. Otherwise, they used a removal spell on something else than young pyromancer and thats fine, too.
2 Aetherling best weapon to finish the game fast.
It is quite obvious that this card it far too week for modern.
It is a conditional 3-mana 4/4 trample. Goyf is good because he is always a two drop, and you can easiely play multiples.
In limited it's gonna be a house assuming there are some fine self milling cards in sultai (there have to be)
I like their decision to make the artifact morph guy uncommon otherwise you see to many of him and the morph guessing game is even more impossible.
Dissolve and Syncopate. I mean Syncopate rotates but with all the midrange cards from khans the new standard seems to be a perfect place for Dissolve. And don't forget Mindswipe.
Anyways it seems really fishy to me, that MythicSpoilers spoiled two cards for which the artwork was already known (this and Jeskai Ascendecy). I am not buying it so far.
I arrived at the list after some testing on cockatrice (not the best way to test for sure).
Here is my list:
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
3 Herald of Torment
2 Odunos River Trawler
3 Font of Fertility
4 Banishing Light
1 Stab Wound
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Underworld Connections
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Kruphix's Insight
1 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
1 Golgari Guildgate
4 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Plenty
3 Temple of Silence
2 Temple Garden
3 Sin Collector
4 Golgari Charm
1 Primeval Bounty
2 Underworld Coinsmith
2 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Aegis of the Gods
Some comments on my experience so far:
The card that make the deck tick are the new Kruphix's Insight and of course Courser of Kruphix.
In the lategame you have so much gas thanks to Eidolon of Blossoms.
Against all the aggro and midrange decks you are the control deck,
since the card advantage you can genrate in the lategame is insane.
Banishing Light and recursion with Odunos River Trawler gives you an answer against almost any threat.
Against UWx-Control we have to be agressive since we can't deal with Sphinx's Revelation and Aetherling
(only temporaryly with Brain Maggot).
The matchup is thus quite bad preboard because our agressiveness isn't that impressive.
Hopefully all the sideboard available hate is gonna be enough.
3/3 for 3: "Nothing exciting, but its fine for limited."
I mean, because he blocks some important early threads (Rakdos Cackler, Dryad Militant, Voice of Resurges and its token, Burning Tree Emissary) while gaining you life in the process.
And you are even happy if they spend removal on this, cause it costs more mana and they are not developing their board the turn they kill it.
At the very least you can trade with their monocolored creatures, if they dont play any muticolor (question is: will there be such decks).
So I don't think this is playable over Negate.
Plus: Negate counters Planeswalkers and Artifacts
Bad because then you play two useless cards in your deck.
I mean I like blue, but still it would be a pain if you play something, they think for half a minute, then counter your play, then take a look at the top 2, then put them asside, take a look at their hand, take a look at the top two, think for a while, put one on bottom and one on top.
I was already annoyed by turn one ponders which took probably 30 seconds for some people.
It would be impossible to finish control mirrors in time against slow opponents.
Good thing Thragtusk is not in standard anymore, that would have been pretty overpowered.
Opportunity is just a totally different card. The 2 mana difference is huge.
a) color requirement (only 12 white sources)
b) I am playing too many creatures for that (especially young pyromancer)
c) I feel like there there are going to be enough anti-verdict cards in the decks (experiment one, voice, boros charm, legions initiative, planeswalkers)
d) I have enough single target removal and chump blockers to reach lategame, unlike supreme verdict decks
Mizzium Mortars is a good inclusion. I was almost never impressed by the fuse of turn//burn and it could even be the decks supreme verdict for 6 mana.
Then I saw Steam Augury and thought there has to be some way to abuse that. I came up with the idea of a control deck that features Young Pyromancer and that seems to be pretty good against the agressive decks, because you can produce a stream of chump blockers to stay alive and in the end fire a big Sphinx's Revelation from which it is hard to recover for them.
Here is the list I am using right now:
3 Steam Augury
3 Warleader's Helix
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Magma Jet
2 Searing Spear
4 Azorius Charm
2 Izzet Charm
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Young Pyromancer
2 AEtherling
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Steam Vents
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Sacred Foundry
6 Island
4 Mountain
Card choices:
A removal package of Searing Spear, Magma Jet, Izzet Charm and Turn // Burn, Warleader's Helix which is not really set in stone and can be changed depending on the metagame.
3 Jace, Architect of Thought:
The only downside of this guy is, that he is no instant/sorcery. Otherwise he buys time and digs for answers, a pretty good package all by himself.
Card advantage engines:
3 Sphinx's Revelation, 3 Steam Augury.
I really liked the split so far. Steam Augury is for the midgame, to dig for more removal/burn while being not to expensive, and Sphinx's Revelation is the finisher of the deck (although you might think it's Aetherling)
4 Azorius Charm:
Probably the most versitile card in UW. With this card alone its even possible to play the tempo game against some decks.
Creatures:
4 Young Pyromancer the key card of the decks in many matchups: Against the agressive decks it provides chump blockers, against control decks it is a pretty good clock. Usually here you should be a bit more tentative about when to play it, so it does not get removed immidiately.
4 Goblin Electromancer this i put in due to curve consideration and its quite good. We have not a single 3cc spell in the deck, but with this on turn 2 we can curve out perfectly if it stays alive. Otherwise, they used a removal spell on something else than young pyromancer and thats fine, too.
2 Aetherling best weapon to finish the game fast.
EDIT:
Changed so far:
- 2 Turn//Burn
- 1 Goblin Electromancer
+ 3 Mizzium Mortars