Feels a bit outta color pie to me, but I guess spells matter is five color in the set. Card's super powerful-- not better than Young Pyromancer, but has a ton of upsides for one more mana.
Evasion makes it a pretty good aggro card, and to remove it, you have to bolt yourself. The life gain on pests starts to really matter here. It reminds me of Woe Strider as a 3-drop that does it all.
I'm a sucker for versatility. 1U: Opt 2U: Edict style bounce (often targeting self) 3U: a 4/4 (a base rate that would've been implausible in the past) 4U: The whole shebang (kind of a nonflying Mulldrifter/ Dream Eater hybrid)
This set is full of efficient answer spells in guild slots, and they're fantastic options to have. Such cards are never the most exciting guild cards, so playing them or not is just a matter of taste. This is perhaps weaker than Rip Apart or Vanishing Verse, but the removal half isn't weak so much as it's conditional.
So, it's a creature on one side and a spell on the other, but the spell is effectively a creature with an ETB trigger, which sorta defeats the purpose of being a spell.
I don't think a cantrip with selection is as low impact as people are suggesting. It's a low cost ability on a low cost card, but a Preordain effect is often eventually the thing that decides a game. It's just more subtle about it than Lightning Bolt.
I do deeply appreciate that the same forum that reverberates with constant complaints about "samey" art, and how it's all "CGI" and "why don't they do weird stuff like they used to" is also the fastest to spring to complaining about the art anytime they do something slightly different. It's fun.
People I've seen here have generally applauded the stylized approach to the mystical archive art (though many are experiencing "frame fatigue"). This artist's style is particularly disruptive, so it's not surprising it got a reaction. I have no disrespect or Carly Mazur, but this isn't the context for that style, just like Reverse Polarity before it. But again, you don't know if you don't try.
That finger on the far left though... it makes me ill at ease.
Nevertheless, it's a powerful card that serves as a signpost for a tokens archetype. Unfortunately, it's pretty unplayable in a deck without tokens, so it's a "commit to me" kind of card. I'm playing Growing Ranks in my big cube, so I can't just dismiss this.
I love the art on these. Way better than standard set art. But I agree these would look better in the normal frame, or even the original frame, which always looked better (thanks, TSR for reminding us).
Everyone: STOP TRYING TO WIN THE CULTURE WAR BY POSTING ON THE INTERNET!!!
No matter how smart and compelling your post/ article seems to you, it is not going to change hearts and minds. None of us had ever heard of either of these two people before this nonsense: it is just an excuse to rehash a bigger issue that will never be resolved by making posts and counter-posts on message boards. (Yes, I know saying that here is hypocritical.)
It's like people don't even know that Anointed Procession will be eight bucks in five years. How is it this kind of card always follows this pattern? It seems investors would have destroyed that easy plunder by over-exploiting it.
Not that I mind. I'm happy when cards are cheap, and easily available. Order now for your casual fun purposes, or you'll end up paying way more for the same card. In the mean time, almost every other card in the set will tank in value. Business as usual.
Perhaps its a response to the argument "You'll print absurdly pushed creatures like Questing Beast set after set, but you're afraid to print efficient answers like Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, and Wasteland into standard. What gives?"
And so Wizards's answer with Strixhaven is "You can have all the answers you want, but they're gold cards."
This card's not as great as some of the others, but it's clearly part of a pattern.
Evasion makes it a pretty good aggro card, and to remove it, you have to bolt yourself. The life gain on pests starts to really matter here. It reminds me of Woe Strider as a 3-drop that does it all.
1U: Opt
2U: Edict style bounce (often targeting self)
3U: a 4/4 (a base rate that would've been implausible in the past)
4U: The whole shebang (kind of a nonflying Mulldrifter/ Dream Eater hybrid)
Mulldrifter is better, but I'd play both.
They often do that with unconditional 3-5 mana removal + upside that they think they've made efficiently: Murderous Rider, Never // Return, Eat to Extinction, Gild, Vraska's Contempt, etc..
You might think it's strange with Heartless Act and Go for the Throat at uncommon and cards like Blood Curdle and Feed the Swarm at common, but it's pretty normal.
I know it's a 4-drop and all, but golly what a trigger!
The card is playable everywhere, and will be no matter how many broken boros mythic creatures they print. But nobody should feel obligated to play it.
People I've seen here have generally applauded the stylized approach to the mystical archive art (though many are experiencing "frame fatigue"). This artist's style is particularly disruptive, so it's not surprising it got a reaction. I have no disrespect or Carly Mazur, but this isn't the context for that style, just like Reverse Polarity before it. But again, you don't know if you don't try.
That finger on the far left though... it makes me ill at ease.
Nevertheless, it's a powerful card that serves as a signpost for a tokens archetype. Unfortunately, it's pretty unplayable in a deck without tokens, so it's a "commit to me" kind of card. I'm playing Growing Ranks in my big cube, so I can't just dismiss this.