Stormchaser Mage seems really nice. For 1 blue on top of Monastery Swiftspear's casting cost, you get 1 extra toughness and flying. Could be constructed playable for sure!
All of these uncommons are quite cool and some of these can see play in Standard/EDH as well, but the art on these, particularly Weapons Trainer and Baloth Null is really disappointing.
Null is strong in limited cause CA on a decent body, mediocre in constructed
Vampire is OK, can bleed out opponents in limited in the right deck, too expensive for constructed
Stormchaser Mage could be spicy in constructed, seems less exciting in limited
Voidgrafter is OK, it has respectable P/T and can potentially blow out the opponent , I don't see it making the constructed cut
Weapons Trainer has fantastic P/T with strong upside (more versatile in a way than warriors get +1/+0), seems good in both
Now these are some FINE cards! This is how you do it Wizards! Making fun, great, powerful cards at uncommon!
I can't say I care much for Null Beast, but Cliffhaven Vampire, wow! Just what daddy Karlov wanted! Stormchaser Mage is fantastic too. I love Prowess and that's one effecient UR creature.
Void Grafter is super awesome as well. Not just because it's a modern day Plaxmanta, which I loved back in the day, but also because it has impressive stats for a flash creature. Throw it out, protect a dude and easily eat a smaller creature for profit. Weapons Trainer also has fantastic stats on top of a pumping ability, and hey, more equip support cards! Those are always fun, even though I don't have an equipment-themed deck at the moment. Maybe we can make something happen with this guy and Bonesaw!
All of these are definitely decent, at the very least, and range to pretty good. Stormchaser Mage looks like it could be very strong. Baloth Null I like for some odd reason.
Holy card-advantage-strapped-to-a-huge-body!
Those are all freaking awesome.
How cute of that Vampire to whole heartedly join the allies. He even got those shiny kor tattoos.
I was really missing a UG eldrazi. Im hoping for at least one more.
The prowess 2 drop is all UR ever wanted.
And its nice and funny how the WR only requires you to control an equipment
Baloth Null seems REALLY good in Limited. Getting a 4/5 and Raise Deading your two best creatures will often give you a HUGE advantage, especially in games where both players are relying on topdecks to close out games.
The Vampire has a decent body, and its trigger almost becomes a wincon by itself when paired with stuff like Kalastria Healer and Zulaport Cutthroat. It's just too bad that we won't see nearly as many of those cards in draft anymore.
Stormchaser Mage seems good, because it can either nickel-and-dime an opponent's life total or keep 2-power creatures at bay as early as turn 2.
Void Grafter is sweet. A 2/4 with flash will mess up a lot of combat steps, and it has the added utility of blanking an opponent's removal spell.
Weapons Trainer reminds me of Chief of the Edge, but we'll need to see some solid Equipment before we start treating him as anything more than a vanilla 3/2.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Cliffhaven Vampire: Card #4 weaponizing life-gain. I can't wait to build that Ayli deck.
Edit - Vampire not as good as I thought, still decent. It works much better with a bunch of small life-gain triggers rather than the big chunks I want.
I don't know about everyone else, but zombie baloths would scare the crap out of me.
Baloth is OK (And great flavor), the Stormchaser has definitely potential in Constructed, Vampire is a good buddy to Drana's Emissary, Grafter is no Plaxmanta, but it will do...and Trainer makes Bone Saw a tad better than just surge enabler.
Overall, great cards. Better than the allied (on average).
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Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
That art and flavor text for Weapons Trainer don't really seem like they belong on a Magic card to me. Other than that the rest of the cards look pretty cool.
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Modern RGTron UGInfect URStorm WUBRAd Nauseam BRGrishoalbrand URGScapeshift WBGAbzan Company WUBRGAmulet Titan BRGLiving End WGBogles
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Isn't Void Grafter essentially a kind of Mystic Snake? Currently no-drawback counter-spells cost 3 anyways, so this is a free body in exchange for a little less application.
That works right? If you try to killspell my guy, and I give it hexproof at instant-speed, it becomes an illegal target, your spell fizzles?
Solid uncommons all around. Really surprised by Weapons Trainer, that would never of been printed in the past. So Boros it hurts.
I feel like this cycle is basically a different cycle to the alied 3-dtops we had already - those were just generically good (except Joraga Auxiliary), while loosely fitting a theme. These, on the other hand, feel much more geared towards their synergy deck (except the UG Eldrazi, but UG barely has a theme anyway...
Isn't Void Grafter essentially a kind of Mystic Snake? Currently no-drawback counter-spells cost 3 anyways, so this is a free body in exchange for a little less application.
That works right? If you try to killspell my guy, and I give it hexproof at instant-speed, it becomes an illegal target, your spell fizzles?
Solid uncommons all around. Really surprised by Weapons Trainer, that would never of been printed in the past. So Boros it hurts.
Read Mystic Snake again. It says counter target spell. If I summon my commander, and someone casts mystic snake, they can counter my commander. If I cast Wrath of God, they can counter it with Mystic Snake. Mystic Snake is so good that you can't compare it Void Grafter. In essence, void grafter is terrible in comparison. It would be better to compare void grafter to Plaxmanta. WHich is still better than void grafter unless you your playing enchantments/equipment.
Yeah I wasn't equating power levels of the card, just general design. Both are UG flash creatures that interact defensively against spells (why else would you grant hexproof at instant speed?). I feel like I'm supposed to use Void Grafter like Plaxmanta / Mystic Snake, albeit more limited but offset by the Eldrazi tribal support.
I think in the context of limited, Karric is probably right. Most spells that your opponents cast on your creature are spot removals. So Void Grafter in that context is a Mystic Snake, and a better body to go with it.
What I hate about this card is that Simic in BFZ block has such a poor theme. No wonder it has never made any standard waves since Simic Madness years ago.
http://lrcast.com/exclusive-oath-of-the-gatewatch-preview-cards/
BRWC Mardu Shops - Tymna and Akiri Artifacts BRWC
Blue lives don't matter in the slightest.
All of these seem like fairly strong cards
Vampire is OK, can bleed out opponents in limited in the right deck, too expensive for constructed
Stormchaser Mage could be spicy in constructed, seems less exciting in limited
Voidgrafter is OK, it has respectable P/T and can potentially blow out the opponent , I don't see it making the constructed cut
Weapons Trainer has fantastic P/T with strong upside (more versatile in a way than warriors get +1/+0), seems good in both
I can't say I care much for Null Beast, but Cliffhaven Vampire, wow! Just what daddy Karlov wanted! Stormchaser Mage is fantastic too. I love Prowess and that's one effecient UR creature.
Void Grafter is super awesome as well. Not just because it's a modern day Plaxmanta, which I loved back in the day, but also because it has impressive stats for a flash creature. Throw it out, protect a dude and easily eat a smaller creature for profit. Weapons Trainer also has fantastic stats on top of a pumping ability, and hey, more equip support cards! Those are always fun, even though I don't have an equipment-themed deck at the moment. Maybe we can make something happen with this guy and Bonesaw!
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Those are all freaking awesome.
How cute of that Vampire to whole heartedly join the allies. He even got those shiny kor tattoos.
I was really missing a UG eldrazi. Im hoping for at least one more.
The prowess 2 drop is all UR ever wanted.
And its nice and funny how the WR only requires you to control an equipment
The Vampire has a decent body, and its trigger almost becomes a wincon by itself when paired with stuff like Kalastria Healer and Zulaport Cutthroat. It's just too bad that we won't see nearly as many of those cards in draft anymore.
Stormchaser Mage seems good, because it can either nickel-and-dime an opponent's life total or keep 2-power creatures at bay as early as turn 2.
Void Grafter is sweet. A 2/4 with flash will mess up a lot of combat steps, and it has the added utility of blanking an opponent's removal spell.
Weapons Trainer reminds me of Chief of the Edge, but we'll need to see some solid Equipment before we start treating him as anything more than a vanilla 3/2.
All in all, I like 'em!
Just having an equipment, not equipped, is really good. The baloth, well it's a late-game fatty that draws you 2 cards, so looks pretty powerful.
The UR mage is a nice follow-up to Monastery Swiftspear and a fine limited body for 2 mana anyway.
Void grafter is super strong. A good counterspell strapped on a good body. UG Flash/Hexproof should become a thing!
Edit - Vampire not as good as I thought, still decent. It works much better with a bunch of small life-gain triggers rather than the big chunks I want.
I don't know about everyone else, but zombie baloths would scare the crap out of me.
Baloth is OK (And great flavor), the Stormchaser has definitely potential in Constructed, Vampire is a good buddy to Drana's Emissary, Grafter is no Plaxmanta, but it will do...and Trainer makes Bone Saw a tad better than just surge enabler.
Overall, great cards. Better than the allied (on average).
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
Weapons Trainer seems to confirm a RW Equipment theme in OTG, which makes me hopeful for more red Equipments matter cards. Maybe Goblin Gaveleer or something similar? Stone Haven Outfitter likes.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
But that's not to say these uncommons are't good. They're mostly decent-ish, and "tries" to tie you into the archetype.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
That works right? If you try to killspell my guy, and I give it hexproof at instant-speed, it becomes an illegal target, your spell fizzles?
Solid uncommons all around. Really surprised by Weapons Trainer, that would never of been printed in the past. So Boros it hurts.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Yeah I wasn't equating power levels of the card, just general design. Both are UG flash creatures that interact defensively against spells (why else would you grant hexproof at instant speed?). I feel like I'm supposed to use Void Grafter like Plaxmanta / Mystic Snake, albeit more limited but offset by the Eldrazi tribal support.
What I hate about this card is that Simic in BFZ block has such a poor theme. No wonder it has never made any standard waves since Simic Madness years ago.
UR Melek, Izzet ParagonUR, B Shirei, Shizo's CaretakerB, R Jaya Ballard, Task MageR,RW Tajic, Blade of the LegionRW, UB Lazav, Dimir MastermindUB, UB Circu, Dimir LobotomistUB, RWU Zedruu the GreatheartedRWU, GUBThe MimeoplasmGUB, UGExperiment Kraj UG, WDarien, King of KjeldorW, BMarrow-GnawerB, WBGKarador, Ghost ChieftainWBG, UTeferi, Temporal ArchmageU, GWUDerevi, Empyrial TacticianGWU, RDaretti, Scrap SavantR, UTalrand, Sky SummonerU, GEzuri, Renegade LeaderG, WUBRGReaper KingWUBRG, RGXenagos, God of RevelsRG, CKozilek, Butcher of TruthC, WUBRGGeneral TazriWUBRG, GTitania, Protector of ArgothG
Stormchaser Mage is pretty powerful and certainly constructed playable
Void Grafter and Baloth Null are quite strong in limited, meh in constructed.
Weapons Trainer is cute but lacks the punch.