Chillax man. Lightning Stormkin is nothing more than a decent limited card. I keep hearing people screaming from the rooftops about "power creep" with this set. Couldn't be further from the truth. If you want to see power creep, take a look at M11. Lightning Bolt, Preordain, Birds of Paradise, Baneslayer Angel and the Titans are all more powerful than ANYTHING in M20.
Mate, powercreep entails alot more than X card being alot more powerfull than Y in a vacuum, or its playability. We went from savana lions + Jackal pup to Dauntless bodyguard. Serra Angel to Baneslayer angel. Thats THE definition of powercreep, it doesnt matter if in the grand scheme of magic its balanced OR necessary OR even will see play. You have a certain template that is colour + P/T + additional abilities + rarity == CMC. When you have a vanilla creature that trumps all previous set standards that IS powercreep.
Now Goblin guide sees modern play and Mantis Rider sees modern play. This card is literally in between with two very relevant creature types.
If you think this is only limited viable than I honestly dont know what to say anymore.
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Give credit, where credit is due. Give irony and sarcasm, when ignorance and stupidity is found. The whip is kept for special occasions
The Internet was a revelation to me, I never imagined there are so many idiots on this planet.
Though I appreciate the jest, no it isnt.
Of all the vanilla keywords, flying AND haste are far above the rest in value. Haste even more so than flying. Haste because it for all intents and purposes makes a creature cost 1 mana less, and flying because its the best form of evasion (unblockable is not really a vanilla keyword).
This is something R&D very well knows, and having either of the keywords will affect the CMC AND the rarity.
There have been 3 2/2 fliers printed for 2 cmc WITHOUT any drawback in the history of magic. Gaea's Skyfolk is green and only has flying. Azorius First-Wing pretty much is a 2/2 flier for all intents and purposes. Sky Terror now this is the only card with multiple keywords AND printed very recently. However it has flying AND menace, which can almost read unblockable but not quite yet. They are 2 keywords that make eachother relatively redundant so to speak.
Now Goblin Guide is still a mainstay card in modern and even sees some fringe play in legacy goblins. It is THE de-facto card of how much creatures should cost. Even though the down-side is quite substantial if your opponent hits, the power of a 2/2 haste for 1 is so high, its downside doesnt matter.
There have been 0 cards that come even close to GG, aside from Monastery Swiftspear which is honestly a mistake on its own, but at least scales with the powerlevel of a format.
This is just pure and simple Powercreep, and not on a small scale.
Its the same as printing a 1 cmc watchwolf without drawback. It sets precedent for all other cards
Kinda silly that this card simply trumps Skyknight Legionnaire.
Dont know when UR got more efficient creatures than WR by an entire manacost, but here we are I guess.
1 more mana to remove the drawback from Goblin Guide and give it flying?
Plus it has 2 very relevant creature types.
This card will see constructed play 100%
Edit
Actually the more I think about it, the more I realise this is one of the most disgusting examples of power creep we have witnessed yet.
Mate, powercreep entails alot more than X card being alot more powerfull than Y in a vacuum, or its playability. We went from savana lions + Jackal pup to Dauntless bodyguard. Serra Angel to Baneslayer angel. Thats THE definition of powercreep, it doesnt matter if in the grand scheme of magic its balanced OR necessary OR even will see play. You have a certain template that is colour + P/T + additional abilities + rarity == CMC. When you have a vanilla creature that trumps all previous set standards that IS powercreep.
Now Goblin guide sees modern play and Mantis Rider sees modern play. This card is literally in between with two very relevant creature types.
If you think this is only limited viable than I honestly dont know what to say anymore.
Give irony and sarcasm, when ignorance and stupidity is found.
The whip is kept for special occasions
Though I appreciate the jest, no it isnt.
Of all the vanilla keywords, flying AND haste are far above the rest in value. Haste even more so than flying. Haste because it for all intents and purposes makes a creature cost 1 mana less, and flying because its the best form of evasion (unblockable is not really a vanilla keyword).
This is something R&D very well knows, and having either of the keywords will affect the CMC AND the rarity.
There have been 3 2/2 fliers printed for 2 cmc WITHOUT any drawback in the history of magic.
Gaea's Skyfolk is green and only has flying.
Azorius First-Wing pretty much is a 2/2 flier for all intents and purposes.
Sky Terror now this is the only card with multiple keywords AND printed very recently. However it has flying AND menace, which can almost read unblockable but not quite yet. They are 2 keywords that make eachother relatively redundant so to speak.
Now Goblin Guide is still a mainstay card in modern and even sees some fringe play in legacy goblins. It is THE de-facto card of how much creatures should cost. Even though the down-side is quite substantial if your opponent hits, the power of a 2/2 haste for 1 is so high, its downside doesnt matter.
There have been 0 cards that come even close to GG, aside from Monastery Swiftspear which is honestly a mistake on its own, but at least scales with the powerlevel of a format.
This is just pure and simple Powercreep, and not on a small scale.
Its the same as printing a 1 cmc watchwolf without drawback. It sets precedent for all other cards
Give irony and sarcasm, when ignorance and stupidity is found.
The whip is kept for special occasions
Dont know when UR got more efficient creatures than WR by an entire manacost, but here we are I guess.
1 more mana to remove the drawback from Goblin Guide and give it flying?
Plus it has 2 very relevant creature types.
This card will see constructed play 100%
Edit
Actually the more I think about it, the more I realise this is one of the most disgusting examples of power creep we have witnessed yet.
Give irony and sarcasm, when ignorance and stupidity is found.
The whip is kept for special occasions