I don't think it's a good body, as I said it's completely average. I just don't think it's bad as you said, not within the common range at any rate. Given what is on offer for common flyers, the body is solid and I don't think it should not be considered a downside. What makes Custodi Squire good is the ability, but it's got the same solid base line as the Owl and wouldn't be played without that.
Either way, I'm not disagreeing with your assessment of Owl, I just think you make the card sound worse than the rating you gave it. It's unremarkable, not unplayable.
Ringwarden Owl: Prowess is not a very good ability, because it wants you to play your noncreature spells before combat. The upside, that prowess can be used as pseudo-evasion is only relevant, when the body is good enough without the pump, which this isn't.
Not saying the Owl should be better than borderline, but I feel like your description doesn't do it justice. I think you should rephrase that.
The point of Prowess is to threaten instants and cantrips during combat, which is significant as there are very few flyers who even get to trade with Owl at just one Prowess trigger (I couldn't name any that outright kill it and survive off the top of my head). Not every cube may have the critial mass of instants and cantrips to make this work all the time, but that doesn't make Prowess bad in general and your opponent still has to consider almost every block against the owl because of it's stat line in combination with the threat. Plus, the body is in fact fine and completely average, as there is only one blue flyer at 5 who's got a better stat line (Prescient Chimera).
(Also: Hey guys, been lurking since last year when I started Pauper cubing with a copy of Alex Ullman's cube and am currently building my own. This threat has been a great resource to get to know cards.)
Either way, I'm not disagreeing with your assessment of Owl, I just think you make the card sound worse than the rating you gave it. It's unremarkable, not unplayable.
Not saying the Owl should be better than borderline, but I feel like your description doesn't do it justice. I think you should rephrase that.
The point of Prowess is to threaten instants and cantrips during combat, which is significant as there are very few flyers who even get to trade with Owl at just one Prowess trigger (I couldn't name any that outright kill it and survive off the top of my head). Not every cube may have the critial mass of instants and cantrips to make this work all the time, but that doesn't make Prowess bad in general and your opponent still has to consider almost every block against the owl because of it's stat line in combination with the threat. Plus, the body is in fact fine and completely average, as there is only one blue flyer at 5 who's got a better stat line (Prescient Chimera).
(Also: Hey guys, been lurking since last year when I started Pauper cubing with a copy of Alex Ullman's cube and am currently building my own. This threat has been a great resource to get to know cards.)