As seems to be a running theme, seems good in Commander - 5 mana tutor is pretty bad, but cycling is good. Probably way, way, way too slow in all other formats...
If the only options were this card at uncommon or the same card for 2BB at rare, which would you rather have printed (knowing that would take up a rare slot in the set)?
I'm thinking an upgraded Diabolic Tutor at rare with cycling would be way more welcome than this alternative take on Increasing Ambition at a lower rarity.
Yeah, rarity doesn't matter as much to me because I don't open packs. I'd take the more playable version - as a strictly better Diabolic Tutor, I might be tempted to play it in Zur Astral Slide. With the higher mana cost, it might as well have not been printed.
I'm actually pretty excited to test this in Ad Naus Zur with LabMan. It's already happy to play a 5cc universal tutor and it needs something that can cycle for 1cc. This card fulfills both roles so I can free up a slot for Solemnity.
It lets you dig 4 deep for anything and ultimately you can decide if you really need the revealed cards or not.
It also fills your graveyard and is easy on the colored mana.
Just don't get hung up on the hidden cards and don't get greedy. Focus on whether or not you need what's revealed.
At instant speed, for 4 mana, this is a very good card.
The FLOOR on this card is Inspiration, which is already almost good enough, PLUS filling your graveyard. The ceiling is pretty high, letting you dig 4 deep for ANYTHING or drawing 3 for 3U instant speed - your choice.
no the floor of this card is worst 2 out of 4 random cards.
Not quite. If you just pick a pile with your eyes closed you'll still end up with an average case.
At least with inspiration you don't have to reveal the cards. You do make a good point with #3, but thats not enough to sell me on the card. Maybe if you are really good at poker then it's fine, but this is miles weaker than fact of fiction and I just can't imagine it being worth playing in any constructed deck except maybe brainless blue. Control certainly doesn't want this over an answer, a planeswalker, or Read the Bones.
This is instant-speed card draw with a strong digging and selection component at a fair mana cost. How could blue control NOT want this?
Crop Sigil is much better than it looks because costing a single G means you can slip it into play when you'd otherwise be wasting a mana, and at worse it's giving you a better Divination later on, since you get selection and at instant speed, while getting an enchantment into your graveyard to help keep delirium going.
I agree somewhat. Divination could very often give you 'only' a land and a creature. But sometimes it gave you more, gave you better. Divination was an all star at fetching Sphinx's Revelations for instance. Divination also has the option to be cast turn 3 or 4 when you needed an extra land drop.
My last point: Divination was never amazing. In either Standard periods it was legal. It was only decent.
All very good points. Crop Sigil definitely needs the right deck to perform, whereas Divination is decent pretty much anywhere. Probably a better comparison is Grim Discovery.
1) If you just want two random cards for 4cmc at instant speed (Inspiration), this gets you there.
2) If you want three random cards for 4cmc at instant speed, sometimes you can that.
3) If you want to dig for a particular card, this digs you 4 deep, and you can always get that card if it was in the 4.
4) If you don't need whatever's face-up, you can always gamble on what's face-down and sometimes get something incredible.
5) This fills your graveyard.
6) In multiplayer, you can choose an ally so you can get whatever you want.
So for 4, you can, at instant speed, dig 4 for any single card, OR two random cards, OR sometimes three bulk random cards, OR sometimes take a chance at getting something incredible if you don't need the face-up card(s), while filling your graveyard.
The FLOOR on this card is Inspiration, which is already almost good enough, PLUS filling your graveyard. The ceiling is pretty high, letting you dig 4 deep for ANYTHING or drawing 3 for 3U instant speed - your choice.
Some people will think this card gives your opponent choices. They think it's a punisher card, like Browbeat or Steam Augury. Actually, Fortune's Favor is a modal card with a very decent floor and a high ceiling. It takes some skill to play optimally, but it should be very good in at least combo and permission, and maybe midrange reanimator.
Crop Sigil is much better than it looks because costing a single G means you can slip it into play when you'd otherwise be wasting a mana, and at worse it's giving you a better Divination later on, since you get selection and at instant speed, while getting an enchantment into your graveyard to help keep delirium going.
Edric, Spymaster of Trest decks are going to love this. The thing they want more than anything else are 1-drop creatures with strong evasion and the ability to counter spells.
The fact that Mausoleum Wanderer can even occasionally hit for more than 1 damage per attack phase pushes it from "amazing" to "mind-blowingly top-tier."
I'm actually pretty excited to test this in Ad Naus Zur with LabMan. It's already happy to play a 5cc universal tutor and it needs something that can cycle for 1cc. This card fulfills both roles so I can free up a slot for Solemnity.
If you have two of these, you are getting 18 power on the board, with 6 of it being flying, lifelink, vigilant.
Eldritch Evolution can find your second AoI, something else synergistic, or it can transmute a Servo token into something more useful.
Filagree Familiar, Matter Reshaper, Eldrazi Displacer, Aerial Responder, Tireless Tracker, and Gisela, the Broken Blade are all good bridges to AoI, and the Displacer is very powerful with AoI on the board.
It lets you dig 4 deep for anything and ultimately you can decide if you really need the revealed cards or not.
It also fills your graveyard and is easy on the colored mana.
Just don't get hung up on the hidden cards and don't get greedy. Focus on whether or not you need what's revealed.
At instant speed, for 4 mana, this is a very good card.
Not quite. If you just pick a pile with your eyes closed you'll still end up with an average case.
This is instant-speed card draw with a strong digging and selection component at a fair mana cost. How could blue control NOT want this?
All very good points. Crop Sigil definitely needs the right deck to perform, whereas Divination is decent pretty much anywhere. Probably a better comparison is Grim Discovery.
Actually, I wonder if Crop Sigil will compete with or be played alongside Autumnal Gloom/Ancient of the Equinox and Grapple with the Past.
1) If you just want two random cards for 4cmc at instant speed (Inspiration), this gets you there.
2) If you want three random cards for 4cmc at instant speed, sometimes you can that.
3) If you want to dig for a particular card, this digs you 4 deep, and you can always get that card if it was in the 4.
4) If you don't need whatever's face-up, you can always gamble on what's face-down and sometimes get something incredible.
5) This fills your graveyard.
6) In multiplayer, you can choose an ally so you can get whatever you want.
So for 4, you can, at instant speed, dig 4 for any single card, OR two random cards, OR sometimes three bulk random cards, OR sometimes take a chance at getting something incredible if you don't need the face-up card(s), while filling your graveyard.
The FLOOR on this card is Inspiration, which is already almost good enough, PLUS filling your graveyard. The ceiling is pretty high, letting you dig 4 deep for ANYTHING or drawing 3 for 3U instant speed - your choice.
Some people will think this card gives your opponent choices. They think it's a punisher card, like Browbeat or Steam Augury. Actually, Fortune's Favor is a modal card with a very decent floor and a high ceiling. It takes some skill to play optimally, but it should be very good in at least combo and permission, and maybe midrange reanimator.
The fact that Mausoleum Wanderer can even occasionally hit for more than 1 damage per attack phase pushes it from "amazing" to "mind-blowingly top-tier."
DISCLAIMER: So far there aren't many spirits balls-to-the-wall Edric might actually want to run. It's basically Mothdust Changeling, Rattlechains, Phantasmal Image, Strangleroot Geist, and occasionally Phyrexian Metamorph.
This card is nuts.
I'll support both of these.