This is very, very good as blue removal goes. Yes you don't want a deck with like 5 of them in limited as they don't multiply that well, but locking down their best creature for 1 mana is an insane tempo play even if you take like 4 in the process.
This is terrible imo. If you compare to something like Abominable Treefolk it doesn't really match up that well. An 8/8 with no evasion is just meh by the time you will actually be able to play it. The ice part isn't as good as it looks as it doesn't actually tap the creatures, so they need to be tapped in the first place, and the protection while ok if the rest of the card was decent will likely mean you probably can't even replay it next turn. It's not even playable in limited given you won't be able to support it with enough snow lands.
Absolutely terrible card in real terms. You've got to invest 2 mana and 6 power of creatures for a 6/3 with no evasion with an ability that is probably mostly useless by the time you can crew this that will likely just trade off with their 3 drop. There's the Giant Ox combo, but without the combo they aren't particularly cards you want in your limited deck.
I actually wish they would push vehicles a bit more, it feels like they have gone the way equipment went for several years, where they are all terrible.
They've been pushing aura's for ages. Still I'm not really sure what would want this. Bogles style decks want 1 mana aura's or something even more pushed than this, so then you're looking for a deck that wants the becomes every creature type part, and I can't really think why any deck would want that on an aura. So basically you are left with a card that in limited you bring in when you think your opponent is light on removal to cheese them out.
Yer I don't see it for this. The 1st chapter is likely to just be gain 2 life. Foretell generally has the problem that it involves taking turn 2 off, this card wants you to pretty much take turn 3 off as well, you just can't do that in competitive Magic, you will be too far behind by the time you are getting to the board.
Again it's a lot of action for 2 mana in the right match up. I mean if you actually go off with this you're removing a creature, ramping something out, getting 2 +1/+1 counters on something, and likely gaining about 5 life, all for 2 mana! Of course it's much less exciting if your opponent is just removing your creatures every turn.
I feel like this card saying equal rather than equal or less than is a significant thing holding it back. As it's worded you are going to run out of things to do with this real fast. Still there's always a chance there's some gimmick out there or in the future that will likely allow easy continual bouncing of your own permanents to hand while getting value that makes this busted.
This is such a bomb in limited that I'm kind of surprised it isn't Mythic for that alone. Given angels are a thing in this set and this isn't just a standalone you can barely see how you even beat this card in limited.
I guess for Standard it really depends how many other playable, especially cheaper angels there are. If there's nothing really notable it's not going to be enough alone, as they can just kill the token and the rest of the card does nothing, but if you can reasonably have a deck with 12+ angels in it with CMC 3 or lower then this is a pretty powerful top end for a deck.
Other than that, what noncreature, nonland permanents try entering the battlefield directly from the graveyard? I can't think of any right now, so Grafdigger's Cage is probably better.
Things like Mishra's Bauble or generally Emry, Lurker of the Loch decks. I am with you though, I don't see this actually seeing play unless those decks takeoff huge as what you are hitting over Grafdigger's Cage is so narrow that it's not worth the extra mana in most cases right now.
It has potential to be a thing for sure. At first I was thinking this could cut it in Pioneer alongside Satyr Wayfinder and friends, though with Uro running around it probably doesn't make the cut.
This seems terrible. Even in limited I am not excited to run this. Yes theoretically you can set it up to discard something large to the 2nd chapter and reanimate it in the 3rd chapter, but you're going through a lot of hoops to do that, and it's not like you will be reanimating Emrakul's. A lot of the time you will just end up with nothing good to reanimate and a sub-par card.
I actually wish they would push vehicles a bit more, it feels like they have gone the way equipment went for several years, where they are all terrible.
I guess for Standard it really depends how many other playable, especially cheaper angels there are. If there's nothing really notable it's not going to be enough alone, as they can just kill the token and the rest of the card does nothing, but if you can reasonably have a deck with 12+ angels in it with CMC 3 or lower then this is a pretty powerful top end for a deck.
Things like Mishra's Bauble or generally Emry, Lurker of the Loch decks. I am with you though, I don't see this actually seeing play unless those decks takeoff huge as what you are hitting over Grafdigger's Cage is so narrow that it's not worth the extra mana in most cases right now.
I don't think it sees constructed play in the current environment, but it's almost certain to be the best common in the set for limited.