Prying Eyes costs 6 mana. Opportunity is functionally better in 2 ways... and significantly more simple.
Undercity's Embrace - Diabolic Edict + ferocious-light feels bad. The fact this doesn't work with any block mechanics is also disappointing. Finally, "each" vs "target" makes all the difference for Commander and 2HG. This fails even that test.
Skewer - Twice worse Lightning Bolt is bad, save MAYBE modern mono red burn... you know, the bad version of the tier 2-3 modern deck that doesn't get Boros Charm or Lightning Helix... notably 2 cards from Ravnica expansions.
Undercity Scavenger - Uh.... Demon of Catastrophes, which is unplayable as Doom Whisperer outclasses it. Undercity's Embrace - Vona's Hunger, Plaguecrafter - Ferocious-light is just not a viable mechanic, and is out of place here. Aeromunculus - I am unprepared to talk about this card, as it dies to everything, has an ability you're losing if you even consider using, and doesn't affect the board. There are dozens of cards I could point to, but let's compare it to Trygon Predator - a card you might know as it has a repeatable practical ability that lets it see play.
...
I saw a couple of comments mentioning how some common cards are strictly worse than cards at higher rarities as proof that this set has bad commons. Strictly worse commons have existed for a long time. Kill shot is strictly worse than Immolating Glare. So is Rebuke. Final reward is strictly worse than Hour of glory.
Commons can be strictly worse than uncommons and rares. It can help balance the set in limited and standard. If Lightning bolt were printed at common in RNA, draft would probably heavily favor red. To say nothing of if Doom whisperer was a common.
Dangit. Could something be done with Aven Surveyer instead?
Well if you had a generic mana and a instant or a sorcery in your graveyard you could use Disciple of the Ring.
Other than that, you'd need access to red cards, Zealous Conscripts being the culprit. Trust me, me and my buddies went through every option back in the day when we tried to abuse Pod Comboes, both in Legacy (please don't ask about that) and Modern.
Unstable Mutant(G/U)
Creature - Mutant Elf
Unstable Mutant enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a +1/+1 counter from Unstable Mutant.
0/0
Faerieland Banquet5UU
Tribal Enchantment - Faerie
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, gain control of that creature. If you do, it’s owner creates a token that's a copy of it.
Creatures you control but don’t own don't untap during your untap step.
Creature tokens can’t attack you.
I'm surprised that no one has brought up power creep yet. Extra Credits does a good job of explaining what power creep is and why it's important. I hope it's okay to post a link, because it's worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxszx60ZwGw
So basically, when each new set only contains cards that are strictly better than old cards, there is little reason for players to be invested over long periods of time. (I personally am a little sad every time a card is printed that is strictly better than Norwood Ranger.)
Also, I would point out that Magic designers are making a set as a whole. They are not only making cards to be played in standard, but they are also making cards to be drafted. Perhaps at one point in development this card did have Cycling G or something, but the testers found that it made a certain draft archetype too powerful, and they decided to remove it.
Also also, As pierrebai pointed out in an earlier post, this is not the first time a strictly better card has been printed. You may be complaining that Basking rootwalla is strictly better than Frilled sandwalla, but also in this set there is Hour of Glory, which is strictly better than Final Reward in a couple of ways. And I've personally had use for Final Reward on a few occasions. If I open a pack with Frilled sandwalla and Hour of Glory I will not be sad about the Sandwalla.
Also also also, Magic design has been, for several years now, trending toward simpler cards at common. Basically, if they give too many cards too many abilities, it becomes too much for some players to keep track of. So for the last several years, there have been more common creatures with only one ability, or no abilities at all. While the uncommon and rare creatures can still have more complex designs. Asking for a Rootwalla with "Cycling 1 Return a land card from your graveyard to your hand" would be far too complex for a common card according to current design philosophy. You can read more about it in Mark Rosewater's article about the New World Order. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/new-world-order-2011-12-02
I personally like the idea of using those 12 red cantrips to great effect. We have some good support for instants and sorceries right now. Have you considered Dynavolt tower?
Assuming you start out with a 1/1 servo in play, you pay 1 sacrifice the servo to the Syndicate Trafficker to give it a +1/+1 counter and trigger the module again, so you can pay 1 and replace your servo.
Basically, Animation Module lets you pay 2 to make the Trafficker indestructible and get a +1/+1 counter. Plus an ETB and dies trigger, if you have somethingtoexploit that.
I saw a couple of comments mentioning how some common cards are strictly worse than cards at higher rarities as proof that this set has bad commons. Strictly worse commons have existed for a long time. Kill shot is strictly worse than Immolating Glare. So is Rebuke.
Final reward is strictly worse than Hour of glory.
Commons can be strictly worse than uncommons and rares. It can help balance the set in limited and standard. If Lightning bolt were printed at common in RNA, draft would probably heavily favor red. To say nothing of if Doom whisperer was a common.
We are not comparing apples to oranges. Please compare commons to commons. For example: Open fire < Lightning Strike < Lightning bolt
You might be able to get away with something like Chakram Retriever, if you have a cheap spell you can cast at the time. That'll get you up to Great Oak Guardian, which can bypass Greenwarden of Murasa to get you a 7 drop.
Creature - Mutant Elf
Unstable Mutant enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters.
At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a +1/+1 counter from Unstable Mutant.
0/0
IIW: A lord for your favorite creature type.
Tribal Enchantment - Faerie
Whenever a creature deals combat damage to you, gain control of that creature. If you do, it’s owner creates a token that's a copy of it.
Creatures you control but don’t own don't untap during your untap step.
Creature tokens can’t attack you.
IIW: A lord for your favorite creature type.
I'm pretty sure that masky person is one of my favorite generals, Sakashima the impostor. An excellent Kamigawa card.
Also I'm surprised no one else pointed out that that enchantment lady looks a lot like Ephara, God of the Polis.
So we have a lotus, a mox, and a time walk. I wonder if we'll get any other imitations of the power nine?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxszx60ZwGw
So basically, when each new set only contains cards that are strictly better than old cards, there is little reason for players to be invested over long periods of time. (I personally am a little sad every time a card is printed that is strictly better than Norwood Ranger.)
Also, I would point out that Magic designers are making a set as a whole. They are not only making cards to be played in standard, but they are also making cards to be drafted. Perhaps at one point in development this card did have Cycling G or something, but the testers found that it made a certain draft archetype too powerful, and they decided to remove it.
Also also, As pierrebai pointed out in an earlier post, this is not the first time a strictly better card has been printed. You may be complaining that Basking rootwalla is strictly better than Frilled sandwalla, but also in this set there is Hour of Glory, which is strictly better than Final Reward in a couple of ways. And I've personally had use for Final Reward on a few occasions. If I open a pack with Frilled sandwalla and Hour of Glory I will not be sad about the Sandwalla.
Also also also, Magic design has been, for several years now, trending toward simpler cards at common. Basically, if they give too many cards too many abilities, it becomes too much for some players to keep track of. So for the last several years, there have been more common creatures with only one ability, or no abilities at all. While the uncommon and rare creatures can still have more complex designs. Asking for a Rootwalla with "Cycling 1 Return a land card from your graveyard to your hand" would be far too complex for a common card according to current design philosophy. You can read more about it in Mark Rosewater's article about the New World Order.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/new-world-order-2011-12-02
There is a reason Sandwalla was printed as is.
Telemin Performance
Stolen Goods
Perplexing Chimera (might be to close to stealing)
Acquire
Bribery
Knowledge Exploitation
Jace, Architect of Thought (if you can manage to use his ultimate)
Assuming you start out with a 1/1 servo in play, you pay 1 sacrifice the servo to the Syndicate Trafficker to give it a +1/+1 counter and trigger the module again, so you can pay 1 and replace your servo.
Basically, Animation Module lets you pay 2 to make the Trafficker indestructible and get a +1/+1 counter. Plus an ETB and dies trigger, if you have something to exploit that.
Another good synergy is Syndicate Trafficker + Tireless Tracker.
Tracker spits out lots of clue token artifacts for the Trafficker to eat, and if you sacrifice a clue to make your Trafficker indestructible, you Tracker still gets the +1/+1 counter from sacrificing a clue.
This guy has a lot of potential to be a good engine piece. What else is he good with?