I actually really like this card for a slower creature deck. I think in limited, especially sealed, this will do a lot of work. I am just worried that it is too slow for constructed formats.
WotC is all about balance at Rare level and below. Mythics are more driven by story and flavor and WotC is willing to let those be a bit off balance. This time Black and White didn't get the love, but that is a just how the story/flavor went. Marc Rosewater has even said in his podcast that mythics are more flavor and story driven and that they will NOT always be balanced.
I think formidable is going to win TIES. In a stalled board state the formidable mechanic is huge; like most good things you can win more. Formidable loses out though if you are behind. When you are behind it isn't going to help you recover well, unlike something like bolster.
Honestly, 1 or 2 drop Dragons are either wimps, i.e. Dragon Hatchling, or they would end up overpowered. If you really want to play a casual dragons deck, look into EDH. Scion of the Ur-Dragon as a general, and you can play all your otherwise "unplayable" dragons. Just go to town and play some solid support cards.
A lot of cards never make it to standard, and personally I couldn't care less. I like him a lot for limited and EDH. And if at the time he swings, if he isn't killing your opponent, you are probably messing up.
Looking at a strictly pre-release view:
All the ___form cards, they are all pretty strong but the white one is definitely a favorite.
The Runemarks are also very decent, in particular the blue (Jeskai) one since it grants flying.
All the cards that give you split options. The flexibility is just super useful, in particular the creatures with the choice of options.
Dragons...enough said.
As always, the Abzan "lords" who grant abilities with +1/+1 counters. *sigh*
In white:
Common - Aven Skirmisher W 1/1 flying. Just any easy card to stack bolster and other buffs onto and get to an early aggro start.
Uncommon - Mardu Woe-Reaper W 2/1. This is a huge card for Mardu strategies when facing delve.
Common - Sandblast 2W Deal 5 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. This set is low on removal, this is playable for the cost.
In blue:
Uncommon - Frost Walker 1U 4/1 When targeted by a spell or ability sacrafice ~. This is just a great early game beater. This buys you time to setup board state or beat your opponent down. Do they really want to waste a spell or ability to target this?
Uncommon - Marang River Proweler 2U 2/1 Cannot block or be blocked, can cast from graveyard if you have a G or B permanent. Easy damage, buff this guy.
Uncommon - Neutralizing Blast 1U Counter multicolor spell. This should just read counter Bomb.
Uncommon - Reality Shift 1U Exile target creature, it's controller manifests top card of their library. PREMIUM REMOVAL IN BLUE!
In black:
Uncommon - Dark Deal 2B Each player discards their hand and draws that many cards less 1. This is a fun way to mess with someone, especially if you have a mediocre hand or they just fetched. If you have a well balanced deck, this can really mess up other players. Also handy if you are using a larger color pie and want to ensure you get your mana.
Uncommmon - Diplomacy of the Wastes 2B Target opponent reveals their hand, choose a non-land card for them to discard. If you have a warrior they also lose 2 life. This can force them to discard a bomb, I like it.
Uncommon - Mardu Shadowspear B Dash 1B When ~ attacks, each opponent loses 1 life. This is everything Mardu wants to do.
Uncommon - Orc Sureshot 3B Whenever a creature you control ETB, opponents creatures get -1/-1. This is huge in a token strategy, which both Abzan and Mardu can manage. You will often destroy morph/manifest creatures.
Common - Reach of Shadows 4B Destroy a creature that is one or more colors. In a set light on removal this will hit almost every bomb. Sadly, this is what good removal looks like right now. Typhoid Rats is still good. Love those 1/1 deathtouch for 1.
In red:
Common - Bathe in Dragonfire 2R Deal target creature 4 damage. Though it is sorcery speed, this will kill most major threats.
Uncommon - Dragonrage 2R. This card will beat me. I probably won't have a deck for it, but in the right deck this is a finisher.
Uncommon - Friendly Fire 3R. Probably going to hit something expensive by the time you want to cast this. I think it will get work done more often than not.
Common - Mardu Scout RR Dash 1R 3/1. This has value early and late to me, I like it.
Common - Temur Battle Rage 1R Target creature gains doublestrike EOT. Ferocious - Trample EOT. This is a battle trick I can get behind.
In green:
Uncommon - Arashin War Beast 5GG 6/6 If it deals damage to one or more blocking creatures, manifest the top card of your library. Hard to block, and the potential card advantage in Abzan or Temur is powerful.
Common - Archers of Quarsi 3G 5/2 Defender, Reach. While theoretically Sultai, I like these a lot for Abzan. Bolster makes these terrifying blockers.
Common - Frontier Mastodon 2G For each creature that you control with power 4+, put a +1/+1 counter on ~ when ETB. 3/2 for 3 is playable early, but this is a great late game draw.
Common - Map the Wastes 2G Fetch a basic land to the battlefield tapped, bolster 1. Midrange Green will be playing this.
Uncommon - Temur Sabertooth 2GG 4/3 1G - Return another creature to your hand that you control, ~ gains indestructible EOT. Protection for bombs and fairly strong, I would expect to see this being played.
Common - Whisperer of the Wilds 1G0/2 Tap for G Ferocious - tap for GG. This will be played in every deck with green as a main color.
I'm stuck between Abzan and Temur, and I'll probably do 2 events and do both. Both look super solid, I am just not sure which will build a better deck. Green will make them super stable as far as mana, and both have solid support.
I like Master for UG. Blue has a lot of inexpensive tempo/control effects while Green has a nice number of beaters. Making your opponent guess on a either a cheap tempo card or a threatening creature will keep the pressure on them and really mess with their game. This is a limited monster, and will make people sad when they see him on your board.
I actually think that just these 5 make sense. RW, GB, and UR all need the lands untapped to be effective (as a pacing issue). WB and GU also suffer on pacing and have not been that strong, so getting the lands helps. BR, RG, GW, UB, and UW are all much stronger right now, so don't need the support. Would I have liked the other 5, absolutely. But WotC printed these 5 for balancing purposes, and I think it makes sense.
Currently, it is simply not good enough. With Khans we may see a deck that can run a lot of artifacts, in which case this would be added to that deck, but not to a mono-R burn. Red burn and aggro/burn both have too much going on for this to be a worthwhile card.
It seems fun for casual shenanigans and simply annoying the hell out of your opponent. I would probably use him as just a beastly blocker as it will kill almost anything it blocks. For Limited formats it does have the potential to get out of hand, simply because it dodges so much removal.
Um...Ruric Thar, the Unbowed is pretty much a R/G good stuff guy in my book. Since R/G is basically all about creatures anyway.
All the ___form cards, they are all pretty strong but the white one is definitely a favorite.
The Runemarks are also very decent, in particular the blue (Jeskai) one since it grants flying.
All the cards that give you split options. The flexibility is just super useful, in particular the creatures with the choice of options.
Dragons...enough said.
As always, the Abzan "lords" who grant abilities with +1/+1 counters. *sigh*
In white:
Common - Aven Skirmisher W 1/1 flying. Just any easy card to stack bolster and other buffs onto and get to an early aggro start.
Uncommon - Mardu Woe-Reaper W 2/1. This is a huge card for Mardu strategies when facing delve.
Common - Sandblast 2W Deal 5 damage to target attacking or blocking creature. This set is low on removal, this is playable for the cost.
In blue:
Uncommon - Frost Walker 1U 4/1 When targeted by a spell or ability sacrafice ~. This is just a great early game beater. This buys you time to setup board state or beat your opponent down. Do they really want to waste a spell or ability to target this?
Uncommon - Marang River Proweler 2U 2/1 Cannot block or be blocked, can cast from graveyard if you have a G or B permanent. Easy damage, buff this guy.
Uncommon - Neutralizing Blast 1U Counter multicolor spell. This should just read counter Bomb.
Uncommon - Reality Shift 1U Exile target creature, it's controller manifests top card of their library. PREMIUM REMOVAL IN BLUE!
In black:
Uncommon - Dark Deal 2B Each player discards their hand and draws that many cards less 1. This is a fun way to mess with someone, especially if you have a mediocre hand or they just fetched. If you have a well balanced deck, this can really mess up other players. Also handy if you are using a larger color pie and want to ensure you get your mana.
Uncommmon - Diplomacy of the Wastes 2B Target opponent reveals their hand, choose a non-land card for them to discard. If you have a warrior they also lose 2 life. This can force them to discard a bomb, I like it.
Uncommon - Mardu Shadowspear B Dash 1B When ~ attacks, each opponent loses 1 life. This is everything Mardu wants to do.
Uncommon - Orc Sureshot 3B Whenever a creature you control ETB, opponents creatures get -1/-1. This is huge in a token strategy, which both Abzan and Mardu can manage. You will often destroy morph/manifest creatures.
Common - Reach of Shadows 4B Destroy a creature that is one or more colors. In a set light on removal this will hit almost every bomb. Sadly, this is what good removal looks like right now.
Typhoid Rats is still good. Love those 1/1 deathtouch for 1.
In red:
Common - Bathe in Dragonfire 2R Deal target creature 4 damage. Though it is sorcery speed, this will kill most major threats.
Uncommon - Dragonrage 2R. This card will beat me. I probably won't have a deck for it, but in the right deck this is a finisher.
Uncommon - Friendly Fire 3R. Probably going to hit something expensive by the time you want to cast this. I think it will get work done more often than not.
Common - Mardu Scout RR Dash 1R 3/1. This has value early and late to me, I like it.
Common - Temur Battle Rage 1R Target creature gains doublestrike EOT. Ferocious - Trample EOT. This is a battle trick I can get behind.
In green:
Uncommon - Arashin War Beast 5GG 6/6 If it deals damage to one or more blocking creatures, manifest the top card of your library. Hard to block, and the potential card advantage in Abzan or Temur is powerful.
Common - Archers of Quarsi 3G 5/2 Defender, Reach. While theoretically Sultai, I like these a lot for Abzan. Bolster makes these terrifying blockers.
Common - Frontier Mastodon 2G For each creature that you control with power 4+, put a +1/+1 counter on ~ when ETB. 3/2 for 3 is playable early, but this is a great late game draw.
Common - Map the Wastes 2G Fetch a basic land to the battlefield tapped, bolster 1. Midrange Green will be playing this.
Uncommon - Temur Sabertooth 2GG 4/3 1G - Return another creature to your hand that you control, ~ gains indestructible EOT. Protection for bombs and fairly strong, I would expect to see this being played.
Common - Whisperer of the Wilds 1G0/2 Tap for G Ferocious - tap for GG. This will be played in every deck with green as a main color.