I'm in agreement with @Urabrask on the conditions for white/black/green, but I'm going to say that Bontu will be something like "B, Sacrifice a nontoken creature: Draw a card/Scry 2." (one of those two abilities, not modal), because Embalm loves you. It also has synergy with these previewed black cards that care about things dying, so there you go.
Well, if Lili is accurate, I think we can go for Mummy tribal with Wither returning. No reason for -1/-1 counters without something like Persist or Wither.
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.
I actually said 'oh wow' to Aradara Express, because of Limited. It's not Ulamog's Crusher levels, but an 8/6 common with menace is not something to sneeze at. All three seem VERY solid for Limited.
Anybody else annoyed at the energy icons? I mean, they're kind of pain in the ass to count when they're all bunched up in a line. Why not got with "pay eight energy" and just leave off the who symbol thing? They're not saving card space when it takes a whole line to show the symbols anyway.
They got all the shiny symbols, and they push whatever idea they have.
Its a bad idea and its blatanly obvisious to anyone that anything like 5+ energy counter symbols is a pain for the eye.
However, it might just be another "lesson" they have to learn, Maro probably already wrote his article about that for Kaladesh.
An "un-card" for the energy symbol overkill would be one that has so many energy counters (literally over 9000) that you cannot read anything on the card at all.
To answer the eyesore complaint:
The PAX panel's general answer was: to make it stand out so that you didn't simply pass on the card particularly if you were going to do the Energy Deck in Draft/Sealed. They figured it wasn't ideal, but - and this is me talking now - the insinuation here that it's some kind of 'vendetta' and/or to push Energy is patently absurd. It's like saying that they shouldn't use the Oxford Comma in rules text because it's superfluous.
There's also this response RE: words/numbers versus symbols, from Blogatog:
organizedhysteria asked: Cards with big energy costs tough to read. I find that counting objects like that becomes annoying when it's more than three or so. Is part of the visual appeal that you see the symbol a lot of times? Was using numbers ever considered?
Numbers were tried. Interestingly, playtests showed that having more symbols made it easier to note when things required more energy. I admit that separating larger numbers is trickier.
I'm not saying this would be a good strategy, but let's keep in mind that you can turducken vehicles. I.e. crew a Smuggler's Copter with a 1/1 Servo, then use that to crew a Bombat Bazaar Barge. The flavor of stuffing a servo inside a vehicle and then stuffing that vehicle inside another is pretty weird, but ... in a pinch, you can do it.
It's pretty obvious that Kaladeshi artifice is all about robots in disguise; Vehicles on Kaladesh are secretly Transformers, obviously!
But on the serious, I think we know enough now to make a few inferences on some mechanics. Vehicles still have the jury out until the rest come in next Friday (when the set is all up on the gallery), but as far as Energy goes I'm very very interested from a Limited standpoint, and the +2E Thriving common cycle was kind of startling, particularly the blue and red ones. If that cycle is an idea of how common Energy creatures are going to be, my head is probably going to spin.
Fabricate is Limited glue like Cycling, except it's "choose your own adventure" kind of glue, based on what I suspect are either your Vehicles in play and/or how you are producing Energy for your hungry hungry hippos. For example, I would not be particularly surprised to see something like a Vehicle that generates Energy based on how many creatures crew it, and/or awards Energy if it connects (think Rapacious One for a comparison.)
Yeah it's recurring, whatever it is. This is mostly seen while I'm typing in posts, but not 100% always there. Honestly, I'm wondering if it's something Chrome is trying to do for loading an ad, but that still doesn't make sense. I tried glancing through the page code but nothing immediately jumped out; my Javascript is rusty for one.
Our scripts shouldn't be doing this, it sounds like an ad doing something it shouldn't.
Is it ongoing?
Hold CTRL and press F5 to redownload everything just in case.
Let me know.
It occurs a lot. By that I mean closing the browser completely, coming back to the site a different time, even the from-scratch reload you mention. I haven't observed consistency in ads yet, so if I see that I'll holler.
EDIT - I killed my cache and whatnot in case it is on my side (can't imagine what specifically would cause this though). So far so good, but there is SOMETHING still causing a quick load on every page right after the main content comes in.
This is hard to explain, but recently while using Chrome (I don't use other browsers here) any page on MTGS that I view will be frequently loading in something, and the refresh page button will be rapidly flickering between refresh and the X/stop button, as well as the icon in the tab up top. This interferes with doing anything else. For instance, as I'm typing this, nothing will appear unless the rapid loading/flickering does its thing and finishers. It's usually 2-3 seconds, but it happens a LOT, meaning there's about 2-3 seconds interval before whatever is going on does so again. I assume it's a script, but still...
These are very powerful commons, each of them are way above Vanilla test when the +1/+1 occurs, and it allows +1/+1 counter and energy shenanigans...
I would have preferred them less pushed in raw stats and with more intriguing/diverse use of the energy (like e:gains flying, things like that)... Non very passable in drafts, probably picks 3-6 every time...
Overall I hate them because flavor with energy is bad for non mechas/geared creatures and they are boring and too pushed at the same time...
Just jumping in on this point:
They called it Energy over Aether for 'generic' reasons, so that the mechanic can more easily slip into another block (future Phyrexians, anyone?*). As far as Kaladesh the plane goes, Energy IS Aether, and the wildlife benefits and grows from it as much as the technology thrives on and is powered by it.
That said, this cycle is really farking good for Limited; every said everything already about Constructed, but even a 2/3 for 1B after a turn is above the curve.
* This is just conjecture, not a WotC staffer hinting at things.
I understand your aether point though it's called energy, its symbol is a bolt, so this remains a flavor issue. They could have at least make them look load with electricity or something. Plus, they are also producers, not just consumers, I think every card with energy should have been at least geared with some device. Art here just does not fit at all.
The symbol design was actually talked about during the PAX panels; long story short, it made it easy to identify for what it was rather than an attempt to tie it in directly with Kaladesh. Which segues into the art point: the aether/energy production isn't direct or obvious, we're in agreement, but one thing that you can see is the characteristic swirls (very predominant on Thriving Rats and Thriving Rhino) that symbolizes being affected by Kaladesh's aether at the minimum. So at minimum, the art conveys using energy.
The effect on Limited, I would guess. Evasive, anthem, potentially 4-power lifelink for CMC 5? You wouldn't want Gisela showing up a lot in Draft/Sealed, would you? This is pretty close to her level, and arguably more versatile.
One strong rare wouldn't be enough to warp an entire format. Besides, I'd rather have overpowered bomb rares in Limited than useless ones like the Resevoir and Panharmonicon.
Panharmonicon is going to do a lot more than you think, even in Limited. The chances of that happening are lower, because you have to have it out before your ETB critters (Fabricate, anyone?), but don't underestimate that potential.
I'm in agreement with @Urabrask on the conditions for white/black/green, but I'm going to say that Bontu will be something like "B, Sacrifice a nontoken creature: Draw a card/Scry 2." (one of those two abilities, not modal), because Embalm loves you. It also has synergy with these previewed black cards that care about things dying, so there you go.
- 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.
No capes!
That said, I don't get the stats on the Aviator at all. "2/5" flying for 5 at uncommon? I feel like there's something missing here.
And clearly I need to stop posting on message boards after 11pm if I forgot I already posted in this thread, if unrelated to the topic.
The PAX panel's general answer was: to make it stand out so that you didn't simply pass on the card particularly if you were going to do the Energy Deck in Draft/Sealed. They figured it wasn't ideal, but - and this is me talking now - the insinuation here that it's some kind of 'vendetta' and/or to push Energy is patently absurd. It's like saying that they shouldn't use the Oxford Comma in rules text because it's superfluous.
There's also this response RE: words/numbers versus symbols, from Blogatog:
But on the serious, I think we know enough now to make a few inferences on some mechanics. Vehicles still have the jury out until the rest come in next Friday (when the set is all up on the gallery), but as far as Energy goes I'm very very interested from a Limited standpoint, and the +2E Thriving common cycle was kind of startling, particularly the blue and red ones. If that cycle is an idea of how common Energy creatures are going to be, my head is probably going to spin.
Fabricate is Limited glue like Cycling, except it's "choose your own adventure" kind of glue, based on what I suspect are either your Vehicles in play and/or how you are producing Energy for your hungry hungry hippos. For example, I would not be particularly surprised to see something like a Vehicle that generates Energy based on how many creatures crew it, and/or awards Energy if it connects (think Rapacious One for a comparison.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/51u0zd/kld_need_translation_for_a_foreign_italian_spoiler/
Supposedly, it was first shown on Twitter somewhere, so... who has done previews in Italian in the past...???
Is it fair to say that Vehicles have a lot of parallels to Totem armor?
EDIT - I killed my cache and whatnot in case it is on my side (can't imagine what specifically would cause this though). So far so good, but there is SOMETHING still causing a quick load on every page right after the main content comes in.